PC Components - Features

Where's USB 3.0?

It seems as if we've been writing about USB 3.0 forever, but it has really been only about two years since Intel and other parties formed a promotional group for USB 3.0 in 2007. The spec was completed in November 2008, at which time the standard's b...

Intel's new Core i7 and Core i5 processors explained

Intel's two new Core i7 CPUs (860 and 870) are mid-range counterparts to its top-of-the-line Core i7 900-series chips, and initial tests (using Intel's new DP55KG motherboard) indicate their performance follows suit. Our early tests also show the new...

Best tech bargains of the week

Pick up some great gear for bargain prices

One set top box (DVR) to rule them all?

The Pitch: Our ultimate set-top box/high-def DVR is a home theater PC that's quiet and turns on in seconds. (That's not an impossible dream either: Microsoft has thought about it, and ASrock has motherboards that use an advanced standby state to boot...

Intel's X25-E SSD runs circles around rivals

There's something special about installing what is arguably one of the fastest, most sophisticated solid-state disk (SSD) drives in your average Dell laptop. It's a little like stuffing a big-block V8 into a Chevy Chevette -- you get amazing performa...

EPA specs to bring energy efficiency to PCs

New power-efficiency specifications being implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday could help consumers purchase energy-efficient electronics while cutting energy costs.

Long live the mouse!

Innovations in voice and speech technologies may make the mouse obsolete, but we've seen plenty of innovations in the way we use our hand to provide input for our PCs.

Gigabyte Open Overclocking Champions 2009

Last week, Gigabyte held its Open Overclocking Championship (GO OC) in Taipei, Taiwan. The world's best overclockers battled it out during a grueling five hour competition. Check out the following slide show for screenshots of the event and its cham...

Coordinated Malware Resists Eradication

How do you make a terrible thing even worse? If you're a crook who operates a botnet -- an often-expansive network of malware-infected PCs -- you link botnets together to form a gargantuan "botnetweb." And you do it in a way that's hard for an antivi...

World's most outrageous PC cases

Without a doubt, the desktop PC is falling out of favor as the world gravitates to equally powerful laptops and ultraportables. But some people out there will never turn in their towers of power

Remove Sensitive Data Before You Sell an Old PC

Anyone with a cheap data recovery program can recover your recently deleted files — even if you've emptied the recycle bin. They can also get files off a freshly-formatted hard drive. So if you want to be absolutely certain that your old PC's n...

The world's weirdest mice

A mouse is such a simple device that not even the worst inventor could screw it up, right? Wrong! We'll give you 13 examples.

Protect yourself from ambulatory gadget fixation syndrome

"Hey. Hey. Hey! hey! hey! Look up. Look up. Look up." That's me walking to work on a busy city street, about to get into a head-on with someone whose full attention is on the smart phone or Kindle they're holding close to their face while walking, pa...