Next Gen PC gaming requirements (2024 update)

This year, I'm on time...

Snow is falling, winds are blowing, and it's that time to look back over the year and trend the night away! 2023 was a bit of a disappointment but I've got a good feeling about this year*...

*Okay, let's be honest, I've already seen the data!

How CPU-limited IS a modern mid-range PC...? (Part 2)

I'm always interested in how mid-range PC components perform in games. Previously, I explored this from the standpoint of relative performance on each CPU I had available to test. I came to the conclusion that, even though some games will be CPU-limited by the more powerful mid-range GPUs I tested with, other, more graphically-demanding titles, will still benefit from the stronger GPUs.

I also noted that, in some titles, memory and PCIe bandwidth were also very important. So, today, I wanted to take a look at some of the various situations I can pull out of the data I generated back then...

How Powerful is the PS5 Pro? (Part 2)

Overnight, a Twitter user, "brunno_fast", has uploaded a photo from the Playstation Pro Safety Guide revealing some hitherto unknown information about the PS5 Pro. Additionally, we have a teardown from "TAG" over on YouTube! The dam has broken and Sony no longer has control over the flow of information...

Let's dig into the details!

Testing GPU Variation...

One question I've often wondered about is the performance variability between individual GPUs we buy as consumers. Sure, individual models might have different performance/temperature profiles based on model power delivery or cooling design but the chip-to-chip variation has not really been tested - at least as far as I've been able to discover!

Since I have access to two identical model GPUs, I thought I'd take a VERY limited look into the issue...

The Performance Uplift of RDNA 3... (Part 2)

Ever since I performed the comparative analysis of the 60 compute unit (CU) RX 7800 XT with the RX 6800 one of the background thoughts running around my head has been the question on whether Navi 33 - the monolithic version of RDNA 3 -  does or doesn't have an uplift over the equivalent RDNA2 design.

Since I purchased one each of the RX 6650 XT and RX 7600 XT for the PS5/Pro simulations, I now have the tools available to do the full analysis of RDNA 2 versus RDNA 3! So, let's jump in...