Building one of the best gaming PCs from scratch can be joyous. When everything goes smoothly and you avoid the dreaded Blue Screen of Death while putting together a homemade rig, you feel like you’ve tapped into The Matrix code. You know what makes building your PC even better? When you wrap cutting-edge components inside an absurdly cool case.

Enter the Hyte Y70 Infinite. Dear. Lord. This thing should be illegal. That’s how good it looks… either that or my taste in tech is grossly gauche. A big and brash mid-tower, this chonky case is as alluring as it is spacious.

Sporting enough room to either horizontally (or more impressively) vertically mount an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPU with plenty of space to spare, this is easily the coolest case I’ve owned since I started assembling my own rigs back in ye olden days of 2004.

And I’ve not even gotten to the best part yet. The Hyte Y70 has a full HD touchscreen. Yes, an actual screen on a case. And a good-looking one at that. Whether you use Hyte’s built-in software to create custom backdrops or Steam’s amazing Wallpaper Engine app to spice up the chassis with fully animated desktops, this is the most eye-catching PC case I’ve ever seen.

I’ve had the luxury of constructing a dream rig in 2025, and the resulting “go to sleep thinking about it” build has firmly revolved around the Hyte Y70. As much as I cherish the high-end components inside my PC — like the aforementioned Mega GPU — my inner 14-year-old can’t not go gaga for just how damn cool the exterior of my rig looks.

If you want to put together the ultimate gaming PC that is sure to have fellow pixel-counting dweebs drop their collective jaw in appreciation, I’ve got you covered.

Below, I’ll guide you through the main components of my dream rig, while also providing links to where you can pick them up in enticing deals.

Hyte Y70 PC gaming case

Hot. Damn. Just look at this thing. If you could have offered me as a kid a one-way trip on a DeLorean to 2025 so that he could bask in the glory of the Hyte Y70 Infinite, that little Scottish whippersnapper would have wept the geekiest of tears.

The Hyte Y70 might look gaudy as hell to some folks, but not to my eye. Despite housing a high-res touchscreen that you can set to pretty much any wallpaper you desire, the sheer roominess and quality of this case means it offers as much substance as it does style.

Thanks to its dual-chamber design, you can fit the chonkiest of GPUs in this puppy, install a bunch of case fans and still have ample room to spare. The fact I can also vertically mount my RTX 50090 is massively appreciated. This is comfortably the coolest-looking PC case I’ve ever owned… and it’s in no way close.

Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite ICE motherboard

Who says mobos can’t be sexy? Prior to buying the X870, I always looked at motherboards as the vital (thoroughly no-frills) heart of any PC. It’s only until I really started obsessing over the aesthetics of my Hyte Y70 build that I put real stock in having an attractive board at the centre of my rig.

The all-white version of Gigabyte’s premium board provides plenty of eye-candy, and thankfully it doesn’t sacrifice features in pursuit of its pretty face. This AMD socket AM5 mobo sports 4x dual channel DDR5 DIMM slots, a quartet of M.2 NVMe connections and blisteringly quick Wi-Fi 7 support. With an easy to tweak BIOS that makes overclocking an undaunting doddle, this may well be the best, most beautiful motherboard I’ve bought.

NZXT Kraken 360 RGB

When it comes to stone-cold temps, this awesome CPU cooler has an icier demeanor than Colin Farrell’s Penguin. Oh, and did I mention this is another component of my rig that also rocks a screen? The 1.54-inch display of this liquid cooler is undeniably the main selling point. Whether you just want it to display the current temperature of your processor or a custom, looping video, the NZXT Kraken 360 oozes an elite quality.

It’s also just a damn good CPU cooler. The free NZXT CAM software isn’t only robust, it’s exceptional. Allowing you to not only tinker with this cooler’s display, it also lets you set it to whisper-quiet levels. Before buying this component, I had always been Team Corsair when it comes to coolers. Now? I’ll be NZXT for as long as they’ll take my money.

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

If you crave a whole lot of computational bang for your buck, it doesn’t come much better than the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D. One of the very best gaming processors on the market, if you install this incredible chip inside your rig, it’s super-unlikely you’re going to be CPU-bound in even the most demanding Steam games.

Intel dominated the gaming processor market for years, yet AMD has stepped up massively of late. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D is so good, it broke my almost two-decade commitment of building PCs with Intel chips at their heart.

With 8 cores and 16 threads, a default clock of 4.7GHz and a boost of 5.2GHz, this AMD Zen 5 monster isn’t just a wonderful option for running high-ending games at blistering frame rates, it’s also a good option if you’re a prosumer video editor. I know this is perhaps becoming a tiring theme throughout this piece, but this is the best CPU I’ve ever used.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090

The most powerful consumer graphics card on the planet can still be annoyingly hard to find at MSRP many months after its initial release. There’s no way I’m going to recommend you do what I did. Namely, to pay hundreds of dollars above what this card is worth. STILL…

What. A. GPU. Even removing multi-frame generation from the equation — that can produce 4K/240 FPS results — the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 is still one heck of a card. 30 percent faster than the RTX 4090, it can tame the best PC games around… even the incredibly demanding Alan Wake 2 with full ray tracing enabled.

By all means, pick up this GPU when the market becomes sensible and Nvidia “allows” you to buy it for less than a bank balance-obliterating $2,000. This is the crown jewel of my PC, and if you can buy it at a non-inflated price (and can obviously afford the current overlord of components), absolutely go for it.

Just don’t be shocked if bacon on legs learn to soar through the clouds before this card gets a significant price cut.

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• The best gaming laptops in 2025
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Today’s power picks are the real deal — I’m talking over $1,000 off an RTX 5070 gaming laptop, the best gaming monitor deal I’ve ever seen in 2025 and 38% off my favorite portable SSD.

Given we’re still in the immediate aftermath of Prime Day, I’m shocked we’re seeing savings that are actually better than what we saw during Amazon’s big event. That’s right, every single one of these deals are the same price or lower than I saw them last week.

Not only that, but every single one of yesterday’s power picks are at the same price, so you still have time to get $150 off an M4 MacBook Air and a huge $920 off that RTX 5060 gaming PC! But for now, let’s get into today’s top deals.

Show me today’s best deals

• Hasee T8 Pro 16-inch gaming laptop (RTX 5070): was $2,599 now $1,319 @ Newegg
• Asus TUF Gaming 24-inch gaming monitor (1080p 180HZ): was $139 now $94 @ Newegg
• Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD (2TB): was $209 now $129 @ Amazon
• ABS Cyclone Aqua Gaming PC (RTX 5060 Ti 16GB): was $1,699 now $1,349 @ Newegg with code SS10PER4
• HyperX Cloud III wired gaming headset: was $99 now $79 @ Amazon

Today’s power picks

Nvidia and MediaTek have been rumored to be developing a new APU, and now it looks to shake up the gaming laptop market thanks to a recent report teasing its performance.

According to Taiwanese outlet UDN, Nvidia and MediaTek's joint development of its rumored APU (integrating CPU and GPU chips) for gaming laptops will deliver the same performance of an RTX 4070-equipped laptop, but with far better energy efficiency.

The rumor suggests the Nvidia APU will only use 65W power to match the performance of a 120W RTX 4070 gaming laptop, with the Arm-based chip tipped to incorporate a Blackwell-based GPU — what we've seen in the latest RTX 50-series graphics cards.

There's no word on what GPU it will be based on, with previous claims indicating it would use a smaller GB10 Blackwell chip for laptops. However, there's reason to believe it could use a GB206 model, similar to the RTX 5060 Ti or RTX 5060.

As per the report, Dell's gaming brand Alienware will be among the first to launch new gaming laptops featuring the APU. That means we could see fresh Alienware notebooks that are slimmer and offer better battery life, if rumors about Nvidia and MediaTek's chip are accurate.

The new APU is expected to launch in late 2025 or early 2026, which suggests it could be announced during CES 2026. Originally, the chip was tipped for a reveal during Computex 2025, but now it appears we'll get a closer look further down the line.

Moreover, another rumor from Moore's Law is Dead (via Notebookcheck) revealed Nvidia's APU for gaming laptops, with this leak suggesting the chip would offer a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 80W to 120W. However, it also points to a late 2025/early 2026 release.

The rise of slimmer, more powerful gaming laptops

Nvidia and MediaTek's Arm-based chip already looks set to bolster ultraportable gaming laptops (and possibly PC gaming handhelds) with better power efficiency, which hopefully translates to greater battery life in gaming notebooks.

We've seen Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Series offers major battery and performance boosts, and even how a Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptop can play games — including GTA V.

With Nvidia's own chip sporting its GPU tech, however, gaming on APUs could see major performance gains. It already looks to have some competition, with AMD Strix Halo APU delivering close to RTX 4060 desktop GPU power in benchmarks and Qualcomm expected to deliver its next-gen Snapdragon X2 Series chips later this year.

For now, we'll have to wait and see how Nvidia's chip measures up if it ends up launching later this year. In the meantime, check out what the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme delivers in our hands-on with the MSI Claw A8.

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Computex is sailing towards the finish line for another year. The show is wrapping up its fourth day, so this is our whistle-stop look at what caught our eye during day three of the event.

With most of the big announcements out of the way, we've given out our picks of the best products of Computex 2025 here, but there are still a few items that got our pulses up that didn't make the list. Like an incredible sim racing rig, a custom PC build that looks like a tank and a pair of earbuds that promise real-time language translation.

So, let's take a look at what caught our eye on day three of the show.

Asetek racing rig

This all-new racing rig from Asetek is several months away from release. And while our resident sim racing expert Jason England got some time with it, we're still not allowed to tell you what it's called.

According to Jason, it feels incredible to sit and drive in, but the real kick here is its price. With everything included (such as its wheel, wheel base, pedals and the seat to connect it all to), it'll be land at $1,000. Pricey? Yes, but from what it offers, you'd find other rigs cost twice as much — if not more.

• Read the full story: Exclusive: I got early access to the best sim racing rig of 2025 — but it's so early I can't even tell you what it's called

Asus TUF Gaming T500

This gaming rig from Asus is an interesting proposition — it sports an RTX 5060 Ti GPU and an Intel Core i7-13620H CPU. The latter is a mobile processor made for laptops, so it's very weird to find it tucked away in a gaming desktop.

It might seem strange, but there's method to Asus' madness. By bringing these two components together, the company can keep the cost down (it's looking locked at $1,099), and therefore use other high-quality components that would normally be too pricy to include in a budget gaming PC.

Of course, we'll need to wait and get our hands on it for some proper testing to find out if that laptop CPU and desktop GPU combo works out.

• Read the full story: Meet the weirdest gaming PC I’ve ever seen — desktop GPU with a laptop CPU!?

Thermalright tank mod case

We were marvelling at the custom PC builds on the show floor in yesterday's roundup, but this one takes the prize. It's a custom tank mod case from Thermalright complete with movable wheels.

All of its ports and components are situated on the back, including its power switch, but the real fun is how it was made.

Taking over three months to manufacture, it's built with 500 individual CNC parts and comes with that gamer-ready RGB glow on the railguns.

MSI’s MEG Vision X AI desktop PC

Those who follow the world of Computex closely may recall MSI's MEG Vision X AI desktop PC from last year's show. Back then, it was just a concept; now it's the real deal.

The form factor is the same: it's a gaming PC with an AI-powered touchscreen display on the front. But now we're playing with power, so to speak. For 2025, MSI has packed it with an Intel Ultra 9 285K processor, an Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics card and 64GB of DDR5 RAM. It means the $7,500 price tag isn’t as hard to swallow as it may appear.

My colleague Anthony Spadafora has been following this machine from concept to reality and got some serious hands-on time with it on the show floor this year.

• Read the full story: I watched this beast of a gaming PC turn into an AI power house — but the dashboard-like second screen is its coolest feature

Acer AI TransBuds

Acer can lay a strong claim to the MVP at Computex this year, the company is absolutely killing it with some solid new products. Alongside its new laptops and a smart ring, it also revealed an all-new pair of earbuds designed to break down language barriers.

The Acer AI TransBuds offer real-time translation through earbuds, using AI-based speech recognition and semantic analysis, so you can have a two-way conversation in two completely different languages and know what the other is saying. And there's no overly long, awkward delay, either.

Unfortunately, the company didn't give us any word on pricing or availability, but the Acer AI TransBuds look to be a must-have travel accessory in the future.

• Read the full story: I wore Acer's AI translation earbuds to chat in different languages — and I was blown away

More from Tom's Guide

• Best of Computex Day 1
• Best of Computex Day 2
• Best of Computex 2025: The top 15 gadgets

The world's biggest computing show, Computex 2025, has moved on to its second day and brough a glut of new gadget announcements for us to pore over. And with the dust settling over yesterday's Google I/O announcements in California, there's a lot of tech news happening right now.

Perhaps the most important takeaway from Computex's second 24 hours was AMD's official reveal of the AMD 9060 XT GPU that's set to go toe-to-toe with Nvidia's 5060 Ti. The new card comes in 8GB and 16GB variants with prices set at $299 and $349 respectively.

Elsewhere, gamers will be pleased to see an updated Zotac Zone handheld and some of the fastest monitors we've ever seen.

So strap in for our countdown of the five top gadgets you need to know about from Day 2 and check out Tom's Guide on TikTok for the latest videos from the show floor over in Taipei.

AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT

There's probably no fiercer rivalry in computing right now than AMD vs Nvidia. And since Computex is a computing show, it was only right that AMD reveal its midrange Radeon RX 9060 XT GPU that's set to go toe-to-toe with Nvidia's RTX 5060.

According to AMD, this is the “world’s best graphics card under $350” and it goes on sale June 5th with a starting price of $299. That price bags you 8GB of video memory but if you're prepared to spend $349 you can double that to 16GB — something you're going to want if you're shooting for those AAA titles.

What you need to know is this card brings the fourth generation of AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) technology — which is basically AMD's answer to Nvidia's DLSS 4 and a means of using AI trickery to achieve enhanced frame rates and better detail on top games on these mid-range cards. We can't wait to start testing what AMD has on offer here.

• Read the full story: AMD’s Radeon RX 9060 XT is a direct shot at Nvidia’s RTX 5060 — here’s why I think it will hit the bullseye

Zotac Zone

Just as we were wondering whether the MSI Claw 8 with AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme would be our only gaming handheld of note from the show, along comes the Zotac Zone.

This isn't a new device, but it's been given a refresh for Computex 2025 that includes a much faster Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 chip with Radeon 890M graphics, a 48.5Wh battery, 1TB SSD, a microSD card reader and a pair of USB4 ports.

Oh, it's also now available in white. Nice!

It also ditches Windows for Linux which, when we're talking about a gaming machine, makes a lot of sense. Linux is a more lightweight operating system and tons of the best PC games have already been optimized for it thanks to the Steam Deck.

• Read the full story: I tried the updated Zotac Zone handheld and one big change makes it a true Steam Deck rival

Samsung UT One

Having a big, beefy processor and loads of RAM is worthless if the screen you're looking at has all the clarity of a smudged window. Which is why we took note when Samsung showed off its new ultra-thin, 500Hz QD-OLED panel alongside that age-old question: "Who is Winner?"

These are just prototypes at this point, but Samsung is referring to it's creation as "UT One" where the UT stands for Ultra Thin. It's a new OLED structure that replaces the top glass substrate with ultra-thin organic and inorganic thin films, while retaining the bottom glass layer.

As a result, the panel is 30% thinner and 30% lighter than conventional dual-glass OLED panels, with a weight reduction equivalent to a single standard laptop battery cell (approximately 50g), allowing for either increased battery capacity or improved portability.

Since the market is rapidly moving from LCD to OLED, expect to see this make a splash in the years to come.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Ukiyo-e Edition

Ok, this is basically just a lick of paint on the existing Prestige 13 AI+ Evo laptop, but what a lick of paint.

Part of MSI’s Artisan Collection, this laptop is a collaboration with Japanese lacquerware company OKADAYA that runs deep into the aesthetic — like authentic traditional handcrafted lacquerware using pure gold leaf powder on the lid sporting Ukiyo-e master Katsushika Hokusai’s “Great Wave off Kanagawa” artwork.

There are also subtle details like golden text on the ports, the piano gloss finish atop the keyboard with gold lettering, and the fact that there will only be 1,000 of these made laser engraved with a unique number to let you know which one you got.

It'll certainly turn heads if you whipped one of these out at your local Starbucks.

• Read the full story: MSI just made the most beautiful laptop I’ve ever seen — here’s why the Prestige 13 AI+ Ukiyo-e Edition took my breath away

All the crazy PC builds

This isn't strictly a gadget or a product, but one of the simple pleasures of a show like Computex is walking around and taking in some of the weirdness on the show floor. And to marvel at the truly crazy PC builds that some enthusiasts come up with.

It's an impressive blend of cables, pipes, fans and lighting and truly makes these machines more like pieces of art than actual computing devices.

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• I asked companies for prices at Computex 2025 — they’re tariff-ied to tell me

We know Nvidia is preparing to reveal its GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics card. It's a more affordable GPU, so it's not exactly on the radar of the hardcore PC gaming enthusiast, but it's worth having on your radar if you don't need top-of-the-line.

While not officially revealed by Nvidia, Asus looks to have shown off the first official look at the GPU in a video, even if the company didn't name-drop the card.

While showing off all kinds of Hatsune Miku stuff launching in the East, Asus also featured a yet-unannounced graphics card, which the sleuths at VideoCardz.net have determined to be the upcoming GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, thanks to a previous post by Asus that featured the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti name. Connecting the dots confirms that this is indeed that card.

While the video doesn't tell us much about the upcoming GPU, it does reveal that it'll have a standard 8-pin power connector. Early renders showed a hidden connector, but those images didn't include the power connector.

The card Asus showed off also confirms that the PCIe connector doesn't have 16 lanes attached, which means it's using the PCIe 5.0 x8 spec.

None of the details in this leak are groundbreaking — there's been ample speculation about these specs already.

GeForce RTX 5060 Ti benchmarks

While we haven't seen anything official yet, benchmarks for the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti leaked recently, giving us a good idea of the power this GPU will bring to the table.

Leaked Geekbench tests emerged showing a 20% performance boost over the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB. The card is slated to launch in 8GB and 16GB models, but the leaked benchmark is for the 16GB version.

Further showing that this is a budget-friendly GPU, it lags behind the RTX 5070 by almost 33% in the benchmarks, which isn't overly surprising considering the two cards will have a sizable price difference once Nvidia officially reveals the RTX 5060 Ti in a few days.

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If you're searching where to find the newly-released Nvidia RTX 5090, you're in luck, as scalpers are happy to sell you one. Maybe lucky isn't the right word because they're also looking for upwards of $7,000 for the GPU, which starts at $1,999 at its regular, non-scalped price.

Nothing about scalpers gouging buyers is surprising — whenever a coveted new item launches, scalpers are the first to buy as many as they can with the explicit goal of reselling them at significant profits. Sure, there's always the risk that an item isn't as popular as scalpers expect, but with high-end video cards, it's a pretty safe bet, especially with Nvidia saying, "stock-outs may happen."

On the eBay solid listing page for Nvidia RTX 5090s, one sold for as much as $10,000. Fortunately, those $10,000 sales seem to be outliers, as plenty went for around $2,700. This is still a hefty profit if the scalper paid $1,999, but it's not nearly as absurd as the one who got $10,000 (or even this one that went for $$6,750).

Only time will tell how fast Nvidia makes more RTX 5090 GPUs, but it's not just the top-of-the-line model going way over retail. Some 5080 GPUs sell for as much as $2,000 on eBay, which is quite the jump from the $999 price tag.

The RTX 5070 Ti and the RTX 5070 are launching soon, and they'll probably suffer a similar fate. If you want one of Nvidia's more affordable cards, you'll need to be in line waiting to get one because they'll be gone before you know it, and you'll have to resort to paying double or triple on eBay.

Early reports suggest we could be looking as many as three months until the stock levels off for the new models.

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Recently, Intel researchers published a blog post that points to a more modular and sustainable future for laptops and mini PCs.

The blog, envisions concepts for laptops that feature standardized motherboards and IO ports for a variety of laptop types including fan-less, single-fan and dual-fan versions.

Part of the argument from the researchers — Roberta Zouain, Intel's Sustainability Product Strategy and Marketing Manager; Reshma PP, Director of System Design; and Gurpreet Sandhu, Vice President of the Platform Engineering Group — is to reduce e-waste, which they say generates over 60 million tons on a yearly basis, with less than 25% of that actually collected for recycling.

The drive for sustainable PC design appears to partner with the right to repair movement. This movement argues that people should be able to repair or upgrade their devices without being penalized for not buying the latest gear or restricted from accessing components and tools to do so.

There are some modular laptop designs already in the wild. Framework has been making customizable gaming PCs for awhile. Asus announced at CES the ROG Strix Scar 16 and 18 which features tooless upgrades for the SSD, no screwdriver required.

What Intel is arguing for is more open source and standardized from the factory floor to repair shops and the home user. This would mean that anyone could find components and tools to repair or upgrade their laptop.

How does Intel's proposal work?

One big change proposed by Intel is a standardized motherboard that is designed into three segments with the motherboard and system-on-a-chip separated from the IO ports.

"The creation of universal I/O boards (left and right I/O boards) that can be utilized across various platforms or market segments leads to cost savings by streamlining the duration of the design cycle and minimizing the engineering investment required," the authors write.

The paper goes on, "This innovative structure allows for targeted upgrades, repairs, and replacements, significantly extending the device's lifespan and reducing electronic waste."

The company also proposes a similar redesign for mini-PC, again separating various components into modules. These changes include removable CPU and GPU chips, hot-swappable storage and even repairable Thunderbolt modules.

"These modules significantly reduce repair costs and simplify the repair process in the event of port or connector damage at the end-user level," they write.

One thing that would need to be fought against here is how components are installed. In a right to repair favored world, any component from the display to a random USB port could be replaced with new components that plug or screw in.

Unfortunately, in some devices (looking at you Apple), components are glued in and nearly impossible to remove without some serious know-how or technical support.

In a race to have the thinnest laptops in the world (outside of the gaming market), I wonder if modular PCs would make sleek laptops a thing of the past. Personally, I would take a chunkier device over a thin laptop if I could easily swap out my RAM or put in the latest CPU to get the most of out my PC without buying a new hunk of plastic.

When could we see this future?

Unfortunately, probably not for a while. Unless Intel is heavily working on this in the background, the blog is a proposal and Intel doesn't make laptops or mini PCs.

Instead, it would need to be adapted in agreements with Intel partners like Dell or Asus.

Assuming Intel is working on this, we would guess the earliest you would actually see modular PCs would be a year, but that may be wishful thinking.

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AMD has just shared gaming benchmark results for its Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" chip (via Wccftech). Based on the company’s internal testing, its upcoming APU outclasses Nvidia’s RTX 4070 laptop GPU in gaming performance. If accurate, the best gaming laptops with Nvidia GPUs could face serious competition from Team Red.

Like the rest of the Strix Halo series, the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip is based on the new Zen 5 architecture for its CPU while its Radeon 8060S iGPU is based on RDNA 3.5 — with the integrated graphics packing 40 compute units and clocking up to 2900 MHz. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 packs 16 cores, 32 threads, and a base speed of 3.0 GHz. This means AMD’s Halo Strix chips have more graphics cores for GPU performance and a faster shared memory interface with quicker bandwidth.

AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 vs Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070

Moving to AMD’s gaming benchmarks, the company compared the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 laptop GPU inside the Asus ROG Flow Z13. The company tested 17 games at 1080p resolution at High settings. These numbers show raw performance free of upscaling from the frame-generation tech found in AMD and Nvidia’s respective laptop GPUs.

As you can see, the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 outperformed the Nvidia RTX 4070 laptop GPU on every game tested. On average, we see 50% better performance across the board. We don’t know the power configurations for the systems AMD tested, but the company’s internal benchmarks are impressive.

Outlook

AMD’s numbers look promising for its flagship AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU. Of course, we’ll need to test these laptop GPUs ourselves to see if AMD’s numbers are close to what we see above. If accurate, laptops with Nvidia GPUs might not be the default choice for gamers.

Given AMD’s internal gaming benchmarks for the AI Max+ 395 and the promise of 87% lower power consumption according to what the company announced during CES 2025, we could be in for a serious treat this year. We can’t wait to try out Halo Strix laptops to see what they can do. Stay tuned for more!

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Nvidia RTX 5090 desktop GPU benchmarks are here and are undoubtedly impressive. But you may have to pay a hefty sum if you're looking for huge gaming performance gains, as a new leak details the prices for RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 custom GPUs.

As posted on Reddit by known leaker IcePopsicleDragon and NeoGAF, RTX 5090 and 5080 custom GPU prices from Asus, MSI and Gigabyte have been leaked, with B&H Photo reportedly listing the cost of several graphics cards via PC PartPicker. The prices match another leak by user JCarnage10 on Reddit.

Despite official starting prices for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-series desktop GPUs being revealed, with the RTX 5090 at $1,999 and RTX 5080 at $999, manufacturers are adding on a hefty sum to several of their custom GPUs.

If the leak is accurate, gamers could be paying as much as $2,799 for an RTX 5090 GPU or $1,899 for an RTX 5080. Unfortunately, that's quite the jump in cost, and prices may rise even higher if scalpers get their hands on them. The good news is that several of these leaked GPU prices aren't too far off Nvidia's asking price.

Here's a look at the RTX 5090 custom GPU prices, according to the leak:

As for the RTX 5080 GPU custom graphics cards, these will also all see a price bump, but not by too much:

An unfortunate RTX 50-series price jump

We've heard previous rumors of RTX 50-series third-party prices being raised, with several Gigabyte RTX 5080 GPU models being up to 35% pricier in Europe. With the new price leak for RTX 5090 and 5080 custom GPUs, it appears many popular manufacturers — from Asus to Gigabyte — will be jacking up the price.

It isn't entirely surprising to see companies offer RTX graphics cards at more of a premium, but I'd be disappointed to see if these high-end GPU models don't offer any more special features than a regular RTX 5090 or 5080.

Luckily, not all of these GPU prices are far off Nvidia's starting prices, with the RTX 5090 MSI VENTUS 3X OC ($2,199) being $200 more while the RTX 5080 MSI VENTUS 3X OC PLUS ($1,139) being $140 more. For reference, here's Nvidia's official pricing:

Of course, these prices may change, and more RTX 50-series custom GPU models are sure to be available. Depending on how many units are available, though, scalpers may scoop up popular units and sell them at a premium.

We've also seen price leaks for Nvidia RTX 50-series gaming laptops, with an RTX 5090-equipped laptop costing up to $4,199. Clearly, costs don't fare much better than their desktop GPU counterparts. Still, this is only a taste of what these graphics cards will cost, and we're sure to see different models (hopefully) at all kinds of budgets.

There are sure to be other RTX 50-series desktop GPU models available once they hit shelves, and you can check out where to buy Nvidia RTX 5080 models in the meantime.

More from Tom's Guide

• We tested Nvidia’s RTX 5090 desktop GPU — gaming performance gains are HUGE
• Where to buy Nvidia RTX 5080 — preorder info, pricing and retailers to check
• RTX 5070 gaming laptops will be my new gold standard — here's why

With Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs now officially announced, many are preparing to swipe the RTX 5080 once it arrives on shelves this January. However, despite Nvidia's promising $999 asking price for the desktop GPU, other third-party units may have something else in mind.

As spotted by VideoCardz (via Techradar), Finnish retailer Proshop has listed several Gigabyte RTX 5080 GPU models with their pricing, and nearly all of them appear to be much pricier than Nvidia's MSRP. Unfortunately, some desktop GPUs are up to 35% pricier.

The only desktop GPU that matches Nvidia's pricing is the Gigabyte WindForce variant, which costs €1,229 in Finland (which matches the MSRP of Nvidia's Founders Edition). As for the other six models listed by the site, you can expect around a 15% to 35% increase, going up to a whopping €1,669.

Here's a look at the rumored Gigabyte RTX 5080 pricing:

• Gigabyte RTX 5080 WindForce 3 OC: €1,229
• Gigabyte RTX 5080 Gaming OC: €1,419
• Gigabyte RTX 5080 Aero OC: €1,419
• Gigabyte RTX 5080 Aorus Master: €1,529
• Gigabyte RTX 5080 Aorus Master ICE: €1,559
• Gigabyte RTX 5080 Aorus Xtreme WaterForce WB: €1,639
• Gigabyte RTX 5080 Aorus Xtreme WaterForce: €1,669

Clearly, this isn't ideal for PC gamers looking to get their hands on the high-end RTX 5080. Many will scramble to pick up the more affordable models, and we could see another "scalpers" debacle. For reference, here's the asking price for Nvidia's 50-series desktop GPUs:

Will third-party vendors drive up RTX 50-series prices?

Excitement for Nvidia's RTX 5080 GPUs is real, as its pricing compared to its RTX 5090 counterpart ($1,999) means it's likely to be a popular option for many PC gamers after high-end gaming without spending a small fortune. In fact, our own Tony Polanco is now considering building a gaming PC with an RTX 5080.

However, if prices for these desktop GPUs are far higher than Nvidia's MSRP guidelines, I imagine many will be put off grabbing the latest set of graphics cards. What's worse, many will be charged far more than they should, as many of these high-end GPU models don't offer any more special features than a regular RTX 5080, as the report notes.

Nvidia surprised us when it announced the pricing for its RTX 50-series GPUs during CES 2025, showcasing that each model wasn't going to be as expensive as once feared. Now, it looks like some third-party models will be pricier after all.

While these listings have yet to be officially announced, it isn't unheard of for third-party manufacturers to charge more for Nvidia's GPUs. MSI and Asus RTX 50-series graphics cards have yet to be seen, so here's hoping their GPUs aren't much pricier than Nvidia's asking price.

Hopefully, this won't be the case when more RTX 50-series desktop GPUs come to light as they start to hit shelves. Speaking of pricing, we've also got a peek at RTX 50-series laptop GPU pricing thanks to Best Buy listings, and many are looking fairly pricey, too.

While we wait for Nvidia's next-gen graphics cards to arrive on shelves, we'll check out what it's like to play on an RTX 5090.

More from Tom's Guide

• Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 vs RTX 4090: 5 biggest differences
• I just played games on Nvidia RTX 5090, and the hype is real — here’s why
• Nvidia RTX 50-series gaming laptops spotted at Best Buy — here's how much you'll be paying

I wasn’t surprised when Nvidia finally unveiled the GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs during CES 2025. Not only had I seen several upcoming PCs with “next-gen Nvidia” graphics cards at events before CES, but there had also been months of rumors and leaks—many of which were accurate. Yes, I knew RTX 50 cards were coming, but I didn’t know the reveal would convince me to upgrade my gaming PC.

I bought a gaming PC with an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti almost three years ago, and it has done an excellent job of running the best PC games at 4K resolution and over 60 frames per second with settings set to High or even Max. I was so satisfied with the experience that I skipped the Nvidia RTX 40 series. However, I’ve had to lower graphical settings more frequently as games have become more graphically demanding. That’s a sign that it’s time for me to upgrade.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 graphics cards will be available soon. Of those four, I have my eyes on the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080. I’ll explain why below.

My PC is (kind of) ancient

My current gaming PC might not have impressive specs now but it was kind of a monster back when I had NZXT build it for me. It has an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 11700KF CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 32GB of GDDR4 RAM, 1TB of SSD storage and an ROG Strix Z590-E motherboard.

In all fairness to my rig, it’s still quite capable of handling most games so long as I properly tweak the settings or let the Nvidia Experience app configure them. But with games becoming more demanding, my PC is showing its age. Given that and what the RTX 50-series promises to deliver, I think now is the best time for me to upgrade my gaming rig.

Balance of price and performance

I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m not eyeing the Nvidia RTX 5090 i.e. the king of the RTX 50-series lineup. Don’t get me wrong, the RTX 5090 is very tempting with its monstrous 32GB of VRAM and enhanced AI capabilities. However, if you’ve researched the RTX 5090 then I’m sure you already know why I’m opting for the RTX 5080. The RTX 5090 is one heck of an expensive GPU!

At launch, the Nvidia RTX 5080 will cost an eye-watering $1,999. That’s almost half what I paid for my current rig back in 2022. Toss in other components I want, such as a 14th Gen Intel Core i9 14900K CPU, 64GB DDR5 RAM, 2TB of SSD storage — along with a motherboard, power supply, and PC case (among other things), and I’m likely to spend a small fortune on a new gaming rig.

If I can lower the cost of my next gaming PC by $1,000 by opting for an RTX 5080 instead of a 5090, that seems like the smarter play.

Outlook

While I’m excited about the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-series cards, I won’t make a final purchasing decision until we’ve tested the new GPUs ourselves. Not only do I want raw performance metrics, but I also want to see how graphically demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 benefit from DLSS4 — especially at high graphical settings.

The Nvidia RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 arrive on January 30. If the former card lives up to the hype, then it’ll be time for me to build an all-new rig. If not, perhaps I’ll save some extra money and buy its more powerful sibling. Either way, 2025 should be the year when I upgrade to a new PC — and it’s all due to Nvidia and its impressive (on paper) graphics cards.

More from Tom's Guide

• I ditched my PS5 for the world’s smallest liquid-cooled gaming PC
• Nvidia and AMD plan to launch their own PC chips by 2025
• The new Nvidia app is here to replace GeForce Experience

Nothing’s more annoying than when I’m shooting video with my mirrorless camera and it runs out of storage. That’s why I cannot stress enough having a backup microSD card, which is why you shouldn’t miss out on these deals on SanDisk flash memory, which are some of the best Black Friday deals around right now.

Amazon’s sale going on right now saves you up to 64% off USB flash drives, microSD card, SSDs and much more. You’ll find USB flash drives for as low as $29, along with portable SSDs starting at $99.

I’ve found plenty of situations for these flash memory cards and hard drives, whether they’re used to backup my data — or to simply provide me with more storage, so I don’t have to constantly delete and manage stuff. I’ll highlight some of the best SanDisk flash memory deals going on right now at Amazon below, but you can see the full list above.

Black Friday SanDisk deals — quick links

• SanDisk 1TB Extreme PRO USB Flash Drive: was $279 now $99 @ Amazon
• SanDisk 400GB Ultra microSDXC: was $69 now $27 @ Amazon
• SanDisk 256GB Extreme PRO: was $62 now $29 @ Amazon
• SanDisk 256GB iXpand Flash Drive Luxe: was $89 now $49 @ Amazon
• SanDisk 2TB Extreme Portable SSD: was $149 now $99 @ Amazon
• 5-pack SanDisk 128GB Ultra Fit Flash Drive: was $89 now $59 @ Amazon
• Western Digital 4TB WD Blue SSD: was $249 now $179 @ Amazon

Early Black Friday SanDisk flash memory deals

One of the best things about working from home is that you can easily add new devices to your desk setup. Unlike in the office, you don’t need approval from the IT department to plug them in and you don’t have to worry about bothering your co-workers.

As someone who has worked from home for the last five years and counting, I’m always looking for new devices that can help me get more done with fewer mouse clicks. This way, I can keep my hands on my keyboard without having to reach over for my mouse.

When you’re working at your desk, your feet are one of the most underutilized parts of your body. Your hands do the majority of the work while your feet remain planted firmly on the floor, especially if you’re using one of the best office chairs. Sometimes though, it feels like two hands just aren’t enough. 

To free up my hands while trying to get more done, I decided to try out using a foot pedal for the past week. Although it hasn’t gone exactly as I had imagined it would, having a foot pedal underneath my desk has actually proved quite useful.

A foot pedal designed for streamers

When it comes to juggling multiple things at once, few people have as many things going on simultaneously as streamers. Whether it’s switching between cameras or displaying graphics on screen, streamers need to be able to perform multiple actions at the same time. 

To make this easier for them, Elgato launched the first version of its Stream Deck back in 2017. The device is a lot like a macropad but each of its 15 keys actually have small LCD screens that can be customized. Even with the Stream Deck though, you still need to take your hands off your keyboard or controller, which is why Elgato released the Stream Deck Pedal last year.

As the name suggests, the Stream Deck Pedal offers similar functionality to the Stream Deck but instead of pushing buttons with your fingers, it’s actually a food pedal with three buttons: one on either side and one in the middle. With Elgato’s Stream Deck software, you can customize what each button does and if you already have a Stream Deck, you can just copy and paste your existing hotkeys and other actions to the pedal.

The device itself is somewhat smaller than I thought it would be at 9.6 x 6.9 x 1.9 inches. However, since it's a tad larger than a DVD case, you can technically use two Stream Deck Pedals simultaneously. That way, you can have one for each foot and go from three customizable buttons all the way up to six.

The Stream Deck Pedal has a single USB-C port at the rear and the included USB-C to USB-A cable is more than long enough to use with one of the best standing desks. I also really like the fact that Elgato includes three sets of springs so that you can adjust how much tension is required to push the pedal down. The copper springs are soft, the silver ones which are the default are medium and the black springs require the most force to push down.

A whole new way to work

Although I could have achieved a similar outcome with one of the many other USB foot pedals available online, I went with Elgato’s as I knew there were loads of plugins available for its software and the company has a solid reputation. Although I don’t plan to start streaming anytime soon myself, the Stream Deck Pedal was designed and built to withstand the wear and tear that streamers are known for putting their devices through.

After plugging in the Stream Deck Pedal and downloading Elgato’s software, I began thinking about how I wanted to use the device as part of my daily workflow. One of my first ideas was to use it while video conferencing since there are plugins available for Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. Being able to mute or unmute my microphone quickly using just my foot seemed like a good idea at first, but I ended up disabling it entirely and had to unplug and plug it back in to get it working again.

From here, I looked at a few of the other plugins available and the one that intrigued me the most was for Philips Hue. As I only have a small overhead light in my office, I’ve filled the room with some of the best smart lights. Elgato actually makes its own plugin for Philips Hue but it didn’t automatically detect my Hue Bridge. I’m going to try adding it manually when I get some more time though.

After trying out several of the preset actions, I eventually decided to use my Elgato Stream Deck Pedal like a giant macropad by programming a few of my favorite keyboard shortcuts in as hotkeys. This is extremely easy to do and you just need to hold down the keyboard shortcut you want to program to each button to save it.

As I often have dozens of tabs open in my browser and accidentally end up closing one of the tabs I actually need quite frequently, I programmed the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + T to the Stream Deck Pedal’s right button. This keyboard shortcut allows you to reopen closed tabs in any browser and being able to tap on a pedal to recover closed tabs has proved invaluable.

During my workday, I have several different desktops open on my Windows PC as I use one for writing the news, one for editing reviews and another for research. This is why I programmed the middle button with the keyboard shortcut Win + Tab. I also work with a lot of pictures and other files throughout the day which is why I set the button on the left to open a new File Explorer window. The great part about this is that I can tap the pedal a second time to open a second File Explorer window to transfer files back and forth.

Using the Stream Deck Pedal throughout my day has taken a bit of getting used to given the fact that up until now, I never used my foot while at the computer. With enough time and practice though, I’m sure that stomping on it to switch desktops, reopen closed tabs and to manage my files will become second nature. It’s still early days for the Stream Deck Pedal for me but even after using it for just a week, I do plan on keeping it underneath my desk.

More from Tom's Guide

• This is the most underrated accessory for your desk and it’s super cheap
• Forget Logitech — I'm obsessed with this Japanese trackball mouse maker
• I turned an old monitor into a digital dashboard and it's a game changer

Scoring some extra storage is always a welcome upgrade. Whether you want to boost your hard drive size on a PC, video game console or mobile device, you’ll find picking up a Samsung SSD or memory card a worthwhile investment. 

Now is an excellent time to be in the market for a new hard drive as well because Amazon has just slashed the price of several Samsung storage options including external and internal SSDs, as well as microSD cards. Whatever your storage needs, there is likely to be a deal that appeals to you in this sizeable sale. 

Our top pick of the available discounts is a closely fought contest, but this Samsung 1TB T7 Shield portable SSD for $79 is hard to look past. Alternatively, gamers will want to consider the Samsung 980 Pro 1TB SSD for the same price. Or if you’re playing on PS5, you can get the 980 Pro SSD with a heatsink for just $99 — this drive can be slotted right into a PS5 and will more than double your console's storage capacity. 

Amazon has not confirmed an end date for this sale, but with deals of this quality, we always advise shopping as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. So, with that warning out of the way, down below you’ll find our picks for the best Samsung SSD and memory deals available right now. 

Best Samsung SSD and memory card deals at Amazon

Wireless technology is constantly improving and, in the past three years, we’ve seen the introduction of Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E and the latest wireless standard, Wi-Fi 7. However, your internet speed will always depend on your cable modem first and foremost.

While a router sends a Wi-Fi signal throughout your home and provides internet to devices connected over Ethernet, a cable modem handles bringing an internet connection into your house in the first place. Without one, you wouldn’t be able to get online at all.

The best cable modems available today ship with either DOCSIS 3.0 or DOCSIS 3.1 support. However, the DOCSIS 4.0 industry standard has already been approved and it will provide an even better streaming experience as well as faster upload speeds once it finally starts rolling out to consumers.

Until then though, this is everything you need to know about DOCSIS 4.0 and its potential to change the internet as we know it.

History of DOCSIS

First released in 1997, Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification or DOCSIS for short is a telecommunications industry standard that allows for high-bandwidth data to be transmitted over existing cable wires. Although DOCSIS 1.0 had a max downstream speed of 40 Mbps, it was a huge upgrade over dial-up internet which used phone lines and topped off at 56 Kbps.

DOCSIS 1.1 was released in 2001 and while it added VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) capabilities and Quality of Service (QoS) mechanisms, there wasn’t an increase in upload speed until the following year when DOCSIS 2.0 was released and it increased from 10 Mbps to 30 Mbps.

In 2006, the way in which we connected to the internet became even faster with the release of DOCSIS 3.0. This version of the industry standard raised the maximum downstream capacity to 1 Gbps and the maximum upstream capacity to 200 Mbps. It also introduced support for the network layer protocol IPv6 along with channel bonding that combines multiple channels or lanes to increase the amount of traffic a modem can support.

There was a bit of a lull for the next few years until DOCSIS 3.1 was released in 2013.

DOCSIS 3.1 VS DOCSIS 4.0

As you can see in the chart below, DOCSIS 3.1 took things to a whole new level with a maximum downstream capacity of 10 Gbps. It also raised the maximum upstream capacity to 1-2 Gbps. While data can travel 10 times faster than gigabit internet with a DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem, you still need a multi-gig plan from your internet service provider (ISP) to take full advantage of its potential.

Even though DOCSIS 4.0-compatible cable modems haven’t hit shelves yet, the next version of this industry standard will still offer some benefits over its predecessor. While the maximum downstream capacity will still be capped at 10 Gbps, upstream rates are getting their biggest boost ever. With 6 Gbps available for upstream data rates, live streaming, content creation and other upload-heavy activities will be significantly faster.

When can we expect DOCSIS 4.0 to arrive?

Earlier this month, Comcast revealed in a press release that it had conducted the world’s first live, multigig symmetrical internet connection powered by 10G and Full Duplex DOCSIS 4.0.

Besides allowing for ultra-fast speeds, one of the best things about 10G technology (another name for 10 gigabit per second internet) is that it won’t require any new connections to be installed, which means you won’t have employees from your ISP digging up your yard.

Now that Comcast has demonstrated how DOCSIS 4.0 modems and 10G can work together to deliver multi-gig internet speeds, the company is starting a nationwide rollout which it says will reach 50 million homes and businesses in the U.S. before the end of 2025.

If you’re a Comcast customer looking for faster internet speeds, the company plans to begin offering 2-gig plans next year, though its 3-gig Gigabit Pro service is available in some regions. For those that don’t mind switching providers, AT&T offers both 2-gig and 5-gig fiber internet for $110 and $180 per month respectively. As does Frontier which has 2-gig plans for $149 per month. If you happen to live in an area where Google Fiber is available, you can get a 2-gig plan for $100 per month.

DOCSIS 4.0 may be the next big thing but for the next few years, a DOCSIS 3.1-compatible cable modem is all you’ll need to get the fastest internet connection available in your area.

Knowing how to recover data from a hard drive is a skill you'll hopefully never have to use. But if you accidentally delete some critical files, or suddenly discover the drive they're on isn't working correctly, you'll be glad you know how.

In this step-by-step guide we'll show you a few reliable ways to try and recover those deleted files from your hard drive, on both Windows and Mac PCs. You have a much better chance of being able to recover missing files on a hard disk drive (HDD) than on a solid-state drive (SSD), since physical HDDs don't automatically overwrite data as soon as you delete it.

If the hard drive recovery methods outlined in this article don't work for you, it's probably time to consider taking your drive to a data recovery expert like DriveSavers. While such third-party assistance can be costly, sometimes it's the only way to recover your data.

Of course, if you were wise enough to back up your data there's a good chance that whatever you're looking for is safe and sound in your backup. If you didn't back anything up, this is a good reminder of how valuable regular backups can be — so consider signing up for one of the best cloud backup services to avoid headaches like this in the future.

Without further ado, here's some hard disk data recovery strategies you can use to try and reclaim your lost or deleted data! We also have a guide on how to fix an external hard drive that's not showing up that you may want to consult if you're trying to pull files off an external drive that your PC can't detect.

How to recover data from a hard drive

Recover deleted data from a hard drive in Windows

Windows has a great utility called System Restore, which creates a system image on a regular basis (if you have it enabled — unfortunately, it's disabled by default). Restoring to a system image is a great way to recover files you may have accidentally deleted. However, any files you've added since you made the last restore point will be wiped when restoring to it, so it's good practice to enable System Restore and create restore points regularly. We've covered all of this in our guide on how to use System Restore in Windows.  

1. First, double-check your files to ensure that the one(s) you're looking for aren't lurking somewhere in the bowels of your PC. 

Open the Recycle Bin (hit the Windows key and type "recycle bin", then hit Enter when it appears in the search results) and look around to make sure the the file(s) you're after aren't there. Next, open File Explorer (it's on your taskbar by default, but you can also find it by pressing Win + E), type the name of the file you're looking for in the search field in the upper-right corner and hit Enter. 

Note that you need to make sure your PC's hard drive is selected in the left-hand sidebar. Your hard drive(s) are usually listed under the "This PC" menu, and if you have multiple drives you'll want to run a search on each one!

2. If your file(s) are well and truly deleted, don't panic — there's a chance you could still see them again. Try downloading a free file recovery tool and seeing if you can get your file(s) back that way. One good tool is Recuva, which gives you a simple interface for recovering lost files. It's also portable, which means you can download and install the utility to a flash drive, then plug the drive into the PC that's having trouble and run the app directly from the flash drive.

Recover data from a faulty hard drive in Windows

If your laptop or desktop PC has a hard drive that seems to be having problems, either because you're seeing strange error messages, you're experiencing crashes or Blue Screens of Death in Windows that you think are drive-related, or you can simply no longer boot the machine, there's a chance your hard drive is corrupted or failing. You need to act fast if you want to save or recover data from it.

Importantly, before you start, minimize how much you use the PC or write data to the hard drive. By that I mean stop everything except your data recovery effort, and ideally read this guide on a separate PC or phone. If your PC and/or hard drive is failing, you want to minimize your usage to maximize your odds of getting your critical data off before it dies. Then follow these steps.

1. If you can still boot the laptop/desktop and can access the data you want to preserve, try to copy it over to an external drive or a cloud backup service. If you're not sure which to choose, check out our guide to cloud storage vs external hard disk drives. If using another external drive, make sure to read our guide on how to clone a hard drive. Prioritize the most important data first, as you don't know how long your drive will last if it's on its last legs.

2. If you can't boot your PC or the drive your data is on can't be accessed (say, because of a data corruption error), you still have a chance of recovering the data --but you'll need to remove the drive and place it into either another PC or an external drive enclosure. 

If you have a desktop PC and don't know how to get inside the case to remove the drive, consult your PC's manual or contact the manufacturer. 

If you have a laptop, you may not be able to remove the drive without professional assistance. Consult your laptop's manual or reach out to the manufacturer to see if there's an easy way to remove the drive from the laptop (many of the best Windows laptops are designed to make removing the storage drive or memory relatively straightforward, but not all). If there isn't, you'll need to take it to a qualified repair service or try and get it repaired by the manufacturer. 

3. If you're able to successfully remove the drive, place it into another PC and see if you can access the drive to pull the data off that way. If that doesn't work (or you don't have a second PC handy), consider investing in a USB hard drive enclosure. These are external devices designed to let you slot a drive into them and read/extract the data on another PC via USB. 

To find the right enclosure for your needs, you need to figure out the physical size of your faulty hard drive (hard disk drives are often 2.5 - 3.5 inches wide, while SSDs are smaller and require special enclosures) and what connector it uses to communicate with your PC. You should be able to get this information either directly off the drive itself (it's often printed somewhere) or from the drive manufacturer. Many modern hard disk drives connect via SATA, and some SSDs do as well, but many also connect via PCIe. You need to make sure the enclosure you buy will both fit your drive and be able to connect to it, so make sure you have the right model before you click buy!

4. If you still can't access the data you're after with the drive hooked up to another PC via an external enclosure, you're running out of reasonable ways to retrieve it. Your next best bet is probably to take the drive to a qualified data recovery specialist and see if they can help. Dedicated data recovery experts often have the tools and experience to recover more data from a dead drive than you might expect, so don't give up hope!

Recover deleted data from a hard drive in macOS

Macs have a fantastic backup utility called Time Machine that makes it easy to regularly back up the files on your hard drive(s). If you've been using Time Machine already, you can likely find the deleted data you're looking for by restoring an older Time Machine backup. 

But of course, if you're reading this article, you probably don't have a backup of your deleted data handy. So what can you do? Well, let's start with the simple solutions, which turn out to be effective more often than you might think.

1. The first thing to do, as simple as it may seem, is to look in the Trash. To do this, click the trash can icon (typically found on the right-hand side of your macOS Dock) and check for the file(s) you're looking for. If they're there, you can simply Ctrl + Click on the files and select Put Back from the context menu to return them to their rightful place.

2. If your file(s) are truly deleted, you might still be able to recover them using data recovery software. Some cost money but others offer at least some functionality for free, including Stellar Data Recovery for Mac, which lets you preview what file(s) it can recover for free but requires you to pay for a copy in order to actually recover them. This at least gives you some confidence the utility can recover what you're looking for before you pay for it, and it affords you a simple interface for recovering lost files from Intel-based or M1/M2 Macs. Simply download and install it, then follow the initialization process and choose what file(s) you want the utility to try and recover. 

However, if you're having issues with the hard drive itself, even third-party software will have a hard time accessing the data you're after -- and you may need to try another option: The macOS Disk Utility.

Recover data from a faulty hard drive in macOS

1. If you think your Mac's hard drive is faulty or damaged (you'll often get error messages about the storage drive before it fails completely), you still have a chance to recover data from it if you use the macOS Disk Utility. To find it, head to the Utilities folder inside your Applications folder. If you're having trouble, simply search for it using Spotlight Search, accessible via hitting Command + Space.

2. Once you have Disk Utility running, click the disk you're having issues with and select First Aid from the top-right corner of the Disk Utility window. You'll get a pop-up notifying you that Disk Utility will search for errors and repair them if it can, so let it do its thing. Note that it will give you a warning that the drive will be locked and that you will be unable to access the drive while Disk Utility is working on it, so plan accordingly!

3. If you're in luck, the macOS Disk Utility will be able to find and repair the fault or corruption in your storage drive. If you run into trouble running it, you can also try rebooting into Recovery Mode and running it from there, which may solve the issue. You can also use Recovery Mode to revert to an earlier Time Machine backup, or revert back to an earlier version of macOS. There are two different ways to access Recovery Mode, depending on whether you're using one of Apple's older Intel-based Macs or a newer Mac (like the MacBook Pro 2021) powered by a variant of Apple's M1 chip. 

If you're on an older Intel-based Mac, restart your system by clicking the Apple logo (top left of your screen). Select Restart then, once your machine powers up, hold down Command+R until you see the Apple logo.

If you're on a newer M1-based Mac, shut it down by clicking the Apple logo (top left of your screen). Select Shut Down and then, Once it's completely off, hold the power button down until you see the prompt to "Continue holding for startup options. Once you see "Loading startup options", release the power button. Next, Select Options and click Continue and to enter Recovery Mode.

Choose an account with administrator privileges and enter the account password. 

You should now have access to a number of options in Recovery Mode, including Disk Utility and Time Machine. From here you can try running Disk Utility again, or attempt to restore an old backup from Time Machine. While restoring a backup won't fix a failing hard drive, it may help you recover deleted data. 

You should also see options to reinstall macOS or seek help from Apple, and you may have some luck taking the latter tack if nothing else seems to be working. 

4. If you can't salvage data from your Mac's hard drive using the method outlined above, it may be time to think about removing the drive and trying to pull data from it directly. Unfortunately, the method for doing this (and whether or not it's even feasible) depends heavily on what Mac you're trying to repair. Most MacBooks and iMacs are notoriously difficult to open, so your best bet is to contact Apple and set up an appointment to get your Mac serviced by a specialist (here are Apple's instructions for sending a Mac in for repair in the U.S. and Europe). 

You can also try taking your Mac to a third-party repair shop or data recovery specialist, and the widespread popularity of Apple computers means there's usually a business in your area that offers such services. Doing so may void your warranty, but it can be worth it when all else fails and you absolutely, positively must recover those critical files.

If you're looking for more computing guides, we also have a tutorial on how to use Task Scheduler on Windows, how to use hot corners on Mac, what to do when AirDrop isn't working, how to split your screen on Mac and how to set Chrome flags.

If you've just picked up some new storage for your PC, knowing how to clone a hard drive on Windows will make the process of transferring your data across a whole lot easier. 

Whether you've just picked up one of the best external hard drives or have gone for an internal drive after figuring out the victor between SSD vs HDD, cloning a hard drive isn't as daunting as you may think it is.

Why is it better to clone your hard drive instead of just copying and pasting everything across? Well, for starters, simply dragging everything from one drive to another can lead to headaches like apps not being able to find program files, and would likely leave your new drive in an unorganized mess, too. Second, you may want to migrate your operating system to your new drive, making it the primary drive, while your older one serves as a storage location — moving operating systems is complex, and therefore requires cloning rather than simple copy and pasting in order to work.

But whatever the reason for wanting to do it, here's how to clone a hard drive on Windows.

Software: although Windows contains a whole load of handy tools, especially in its latest iteration, Windows 11, a drive cloning utility isn't one of them. Fortunately, there's a plethora of useful and free apps that do the job effectively. 

The software we would recommend using when cloning drives is Macrium Reflect Free, which, as its name suggests, doesn't cost a cent. This app offers all the basic functionality you'll need if your goal is to simply clone one hard drive to another, though there are a number of paid apps with more advanced features such as quicker cloning speeds, including O&O DiskImage and Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office. 

But if you're only cloning a single drive one time, it's probably better to go with the free option, right?

How to clone a hard drive on Windows

• Ensure the new drive is installed in or connected to your computer
• Install Macrium Reflect Free
• Select the drive to clone
• Select a cloning destination drive
• Select partitions
• Save your configuration
• Clone

Read on for detailed instructions regarding each step.

1. The first step is to ensure you have your new disk or drive installed in or connected to your computer. You can find out how to install and connect your drive using the manufacturer's instructions. If you're having problems seeing your drive, make sure you check out our troubleshooting guide on how to fix an external hard drive that won't show up.

2. Next, you'll need to install Macrium Reflect Free. Head to the download page and scroll toward the bottom to Reflect 8 Free. Click Download Free then follow the instructions.

3. Open the app, where you'll see the home page, along with a list of every available drive on your computer. Now, click the drive you want to clone, then click Clone this disk.

4. Next, click Select a disk to clone to, which will select where you would like your disk's contents to be cloned to, before clicking the destination disk in the pop-up window. 

5. If the drive you're cloning has partitions, it's recommended to clone every partition without compressing anything. To do this, click Copy Partitions then Exact partition offset and length.

Note: if the drive you're cloning to is smaller than the drive you're cloning from, you'll need to either deselect partitions or allow the app to compress your partitions. This may result in issues if you're cloning your main drive containing your operating system, so you may want to consider getting a larger drive to clone to if this is the case.

It's also important to note that the drive you're cloning to will be completely formatted, so make sure there's nothing important on there before you begin the process.

6. Once you're happy with your selections, click Next to continue.

7. You'll now see a page that allows you to schedule the cloning process to run on a regular basis by clicking Add Schedule. If you just want to clone your drive a single time, however, just click Next to skip this page.

8. You'll now see confirmation of the process that's about to take place. Once you've read through and are happy with the information here, click Finish to head to the next step.

9. You'll now see a final confirmation page. Make sure both of the first two boxes are checked. The second box simply saves the configuration of the process to your computer, in case you want to run it again in the future. This will take up practically no space on your computer, so it won't do any harm to save it in case.

Once you're all set, click OK to continue to the final step.

10. You'll now see a pop-up which warns you that the data on the destination drive will be overwritten. If you're OK with this, check the box then click Continue. Now the magic will finally begin. 

The process will take a while if your original drive contains a lot of data. It's best to not use your PC while it completes the process, since cloning a drive can be quite intensive, though you should keep an eye on it in case any errors occur. Of course, you need to make sure your PC remains powered on, and that both of your drives remain connected.

Once the wait is over, you should have two drives which are exact replicas of each other. 

Now you're good to go, check out some other Windows guides, including how to change the Windows 11 Start menu back to Windows 10, how to install Android apps on Windows 11 and how to enable clipboard history on Windows.

Any computer user will want to know how to fix an external hard drive that’s not showing up. After all, there’s no point having one of the best laptops or best computers if you can’t access the files you need from your external drive.

Obviously, too, there’s the worry that any precious files stored on the drive will be lost — from treasured family photos to important work documents and even your favorite game files. 

Thankfully, if you have an external hard drive that’s not working, there are a few ways to try and fix it.

These range from relatively minor settings tweaks to actual physical triage. 

Do remember, though, that hard drives are not meant to last forever. They have a lifespan which is certainly possible to reach during ownership.

Mechanical hard drives are also notoriously susceptible to physical damage from knocks and drops, rendering them beyond saving. Both of these factors mean, we’re sorry to say, that it is possible your files are gone for good. 

Still, you don’t have much to lose by trying to fix your drive. So, here’s how to fix an external hard drive that’s not showing up.

How to fix an external hard drive that's not showing up

• Check your external hard drive is powered up
• Try a different USB port or computer
• Check your drive is enabled and allocated/mounted
• Check and update your drivers
• Install your hard drive directly into your computer or a new enclosure

Read on for detailed instructions regarding each step.

Check your external hard drive is powered up

This may sound like an obvious step to follow, but the simplest faults are often the most common when it come to tech.

While most external hard drives get their power from their single USB port that also provides the data transfer channel, others may require an external power source, such as an AC supply or a secondary USB port. 

1. Firstly, check the enclosure of your external hard drive to see if it has more than just a single USB port. If it does, connect either an external AC power supply (it's recommended to use the one that it originally came with, or one that matches the ratings printed on the enclosure if you don't have the original) or a USB cable to the port, and it should power on.

You may also need to press a power button or flip a power switch to an "On" position, following this.

Try a different USB port or computer

For all their uses, USB ports like to mess with us from time to time, so it helps to troubleshoot the port.

1. Try plugging your external hard drive into a different USB port on your computer, to see if this makes a difference. It may help to restart your computer if this doesn't work, since this should "refresh" your ports if they're acting up. 

2. If you're plugging your drive into a USB hub, try connecting it directly to its own USB port on your computer instead. Alternatively, check whether your USB hub has an external power port (such as an AC power supply or USB port), since some hubs need an extra boost of energy to power certain devices such as external hard drives.

3. Failing this, try connecting your external hard drive to another computer, if you have one to hand. Since Windows and Mac computers have compatibility issues with certain types of drive format, you may find that your drive works in a Windows PC if you're running a Mac, and vice-versa.

Check your drive is enabled and allocated — Windows

If your external drive is connected and powered up as it should be, you may need to enable it manually in Windows. 

1. Open Disk Management by launching the Start menu and typing "disk management". When it appears, click Create and format hard disk partitions.

2. Next, check if your drive appears on the list of available drives. If it does, and has the label "offline" underneath it, you need to enable it.

To do this, click your drive's name. Right-click inside the gray box, then click Online.

This should enable your drive, allowing you to use it right away. (Note: The screenshot below says "Offline" but it will read "Online" if your drive is working correctly.)

3. If this doesn't work, you may need to allocate a drive letter to your external drive.

To do this, right-click inside the gray box, then click Change Drive Letter and Paths to assign a drive letter. 

4. If you see the dreaded word "Unallocated" by your drive's name, this means you'll need to format your drive before it'll work, deleting its contents in the process.

To do this, right-click on the drive's name, then click New Simple Volume. Before doing this, you may want to try some of the other methods mentioned in this guide, unless you don't mind resetting and deleting your drive. 

Check your drive is mounted and use First Aid — macOS

If you're using a Mac, the equivalent of checking whether a drive is enabled is checking whether or not it is mounted.

1. Open Disk Utility by typing "disk utility" into Spotlight, or via the Utilities folder in Applications. Your drive should appear in the left hand side under External.

If you can see the drive, but its name is grayed out, click Mount in the top right hand corner of the page. If you don't see it at all, skip to step 4 at the bottom of this section.

2. If mounting the drive doesn't work, hit First Aid, then click Run.

3. If First Aid finds no problems, but you still can't mount or access the disk, click Erase to format the drive, then select a Format from the dropdown, give the drive a name and hit Erase.

Again, before doing this, you may want to try some of the other methods mentioned in this guide, unless you don't mind resetting and deleting your drive. 

4. If you can't see your drive at all, restart your Mac with the drive plugged in.

If it still doesn't appear, try a different machine if you have one. Unfortunately, if this still doesn't work, it may be time to look into buying a new drive using our best external hard drives buying guide.

Check and update your drivers — Windows

If your external hard drive is powered on and recognized by your computer but still not functioning, it may be a driver issue, though this is unlikely since Windows automatically uses and updates the latest drivers for external storage.

This process is usually fruitless, though it's still worth a shot if you're out of options.

1. Open the Start menu and begin typing "device manager". When you see Device Manager appear, click it.

2. Scroll down to Universal Serial Bus controllers, then click on the arrow to expand the section. You should now see your drive in this list.

If a yellow symbol with an exclamation point appears next to your drive, this means there's an issue with it. 

3. You can right-click on your drive's name and click Properties. Click Driver, then Update driver. Next, click Search automatically for drivers to search online for a new driver, though prepare to be disappointed.

You can also search online for drivers from the drive manufacturer's website.

Check and update your drivers — macOS

macOS works a little differently, and USB driver issues are all sorted by updating the operating system. 

1. Click the Apple logo at the top of your screen then select About This Mac Next, select Software Update to check for updates to macOS. If there is an update ready, click Install Now, and then Install Now again.

Install your hard drive directly into your computer or a new enclosure

If all else fails and you possess the technical know-how, you can triage your hardware by removing it from its enclosure and hooking it up to a computer the old-fashioned way.

If anything, this will allow you to copy its contents to another drive, or upload it to the cloud, in case it fails completely. This only applies to external hard disks or SSDs; it won't work with thumb drives.

1. Open the enclosure and disconnect the drive. Then, connect the drive to your desktop or laptop, following the manufacturer's instructions. 

2. Once connected, you may need to enable the drive in Windows using the Disk Management tool, as detailed in Step 3 above.

3. Alternatively, you can transfer the hard drive to a different external enclosure, if you're not comfortable with opening up your computer. External enclosures are available relatively inexpensively online — just make sure you get one that matches your drive's physical size (2.5 or 3.5 inches.)

Now you know how to fix an external hard drive not showing up, you may want to check out our guide on cloud storage vs external hard disk drive to see if ditching your drive may be the better option.

And to get even more out of Windows, learn how to enable God Mode in Windows 11 or 10, how to clone a hard drive on Windows and how to change the Windows 11 Start menu back to Windows 10.

Sick of Teams? We'll show you how to stop Microsoft Teams from opening on startup.

RAM, or random access memory, is one of the most vital components of the best laptops and the best computers. Where hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD) storage can be considered your PC’s long-term memory, RAM is its short-term memory.

RAM keeps track of apps running in the background and lets you quickly jump back to where you left off. Without enough RAM, your PC will be slow to respond, especially if you have multiple tabs open at once or are playing a graphically-demanding video game.

RAM size usually ranges between 2GB and 64GB for most consumer laptops. How much RAM you need depends on what you intend to use your PC for. Watching YouTube videos or browsing the internet doesn’t require a lot of RAM. Conversely, you’ll need a healthy dose of memory when playing modern video games or rendering 4K videos. So while most people don't need a boatload of RAM for day-to-day computing, others certainly do.

So how much RAM do you need? A good rule of thumb is to have more than you need — but not too much more. RAM can get expensive, so you don’t want to spend more money than you have to. More RAM doesn’t necessarily mean your PC will run faster (in most cases). Though it may seem daunting, knowing how much memory you need isn’t difficult to figure out.

Below, we’ll detail how much RAM you need for desktops and laptops.

How much RAM you need for basic computing: 8GB

For everyday computing tasks like browsing the web, watching streaming content or using word processors, 8GB of RAM is the bare minimum you’ll want. This amount of memory should allow you to keep multiple tabs open and switch between them without significant performance degradation. You can even get away with some light photo or video editing with 8GB of RAM, though you’d likely be in for some lengthy load times.

Gaming with only 8GB of RAM in your system can be a dicey proposition. Yes, there are many games — including modern titles — that run perfectly fine with 8GB of memory. But if you want to play something demanding like Cyberpunk 2077, which requires 16GB of RAM, 8GB simply won’t cut it. You’re better off streaming games from services like GeForce Now or Xbox Game Pass on PC if you only have 8GB of RAM.

Though 8GB of RAM is still decent for most situations, that amount of memory is becoming increasingly rare for many consumer-grade computers. Just keep that in mind, even when shopping for lower-cost machines.

How much RAM most people need: 16GB

16GB is what I recommend to anyone asking how much RAM they need. Why? This amount of memory gives you enough headroom for standard tasks and is well-suited for modern games. Even if you have multiple open tabs while playing a resource-intensive title, 16GB won’t hold you back. Amateur creatives using programs like Adobe Photoshop or Premiere Pro can get away with 16GB of memory, but professionals will probably want more.

My rig packs 32GB of RAM and I’ve yet to utilize more than 16GB of it at once. Granted, the most I do is play games while keeping a couple of tabs open, but that's fairly standard for most people. Not many folks are playing games while simultaneously browsing 30 sites and watching Netflix. If you want a good amount of headroom for gaming and average productivity, you can't go wrong with 16GB of RAM.

How much RAM pros and gamers need: 32GB or more

I have 32GB of memory in my PC but I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s borderline overkill. As I said, I’ve barely used 16GB of RAM even when playing graphically intense games like God of War on PC. So what the heck could you possibly need 32GB of RAM for?

If you’re using one of the best video editing software programs like Premiere Pro to edit and render 4K videos, you’ll want 32GB of RAM at a minimum. The same is true for recording and editing audio and photo editing in Photoshop, especially if you have multiple files open at once. Some professionals (like 3D animators or game developers) may even want 64GB of memory, though these are admittedly specialized fields.

Unless you’re editing an entire movie or creating a game using Unreal Engine 5, you don’t need 32GB of memory.

What about VRAM? 

In addition to standard RAM, there is also VRAM. VRAM (video random access memory) stores graphics data and is located on your graphics card. VRAM acts as a buffer between the CPU and display for rendered images. Video games and 3D graphic design programs benefit most from VRAM. If you’re planning on playing resource-intensive games or creating your own video games, you’ll need a good amount of VRAM.

As with standard RAM, you can all but ignore graphics cards with 4GB of VRAM unless you plan on playing older games. 8GB of VRAM is good, but 12GB is even better. My 3080 Ti GPU has 12GB of VRAM and that amount allows me to enable or max out nearly every graphical setting within an individual game. Most of the titles I play eat up between 6GB of VRAM with all graphics settings turned on, so 12GB gives me plenty of headroom.

Keep in mind that you can’t upgrade VRAM as easily as you can upgrade regular RAM. If you want more VRAM, the easiest way is to buy a graphics card with more memory. However, that can get costly. One method you can try before going that route is to enter your PC’s BIOS settings and see if you can increase the amount of VRAM that gets distributed to the GPU, which can effectively add more VRAM without the need to buy an entirely new graphics card.

How much RAM do you need? 

In summary, 16GB of RAM is what I consider the sweet spot for how much memory you should have on your computer. That amount of RAM will allow you to perform everyday computing tasks and play demanding games without a problem. 16GB of RAM also won’t cost as much as 32GB or 64GB of memory.

If you’re building a PC for the first time, I suggest buying a motherboard with at least four or more RAM slots. This way, you can start with, say 8GB of memory, and purchase additional memory as needed. I think it’s best to start off with the amount of RAM you’ll need from the jump, but your budget may not currently allow for that. With that said, upgrading RAM is fairly easy even for novice PC builders, so it’s okay if you want to start off with 8GB and upgrade later. 

Earlier this month a PS5 system update gave owners the ability to upgrade the console’s internal storage by adding an additional SSD to the previously locked storage expansion slot. This has resulted in huge demand for PS5 compatible SSDs, with several models becoming extremely hard to find in stock.

So it’s a very welcome surprise that not only is this Western Digital SSD currently available it’s also on sale. Right now you can get the WD_Black 500GB SN850 NVMe SSD for $107 at Amazon. That’s a sizeable $42 off its usual price of $149, making it one of the best PS5 hard drive deals we’ve seen so far this year. 

The WD_Black SN850 SSD hits all of Sony’s required benchmarks and has been confirmed as PS5 compatible by the manufacturer. We’ve also tested the drive in a PS5 ourselves and can report that it works extremely well. When running games off the SN850 SSD we actually experienced shorter loading times compared to playing them from the PS5’s stock hard drive. 

Sony does advise that any additional SSD added to the storage expansion slot should have a heatsink attached in order to prevent the console from running dangerously hot. While the SN850 with a pre-installed heatsink is currently sold out, you can easily buy a separate one and attach it yourself. It’s an extremely simple process that will only take a few minutes. This Icepc heatsink costs $13 and is within the required dimensions to fit inside a PS5. 

One of the best things about upgrading your PS5 internal storage is that adding a new SSD doesn’t replace the console’s stock drive. Instead, you get the extra storage space in addition to the 825GB that comes as standard with the PS5. This means you’ll have no trouble storing dozens of the best PS5 games. 

Much like the console itself, PS5 compatible SSDs are becoming increasingly tricky to track down as more and more owners look to boost their internal storage. This deal is unlikely to stay in stock for long, so be sure to grab your SN850 SSD for a discounted price while you still can.