Nick Evanson
Nick, gaming, and computers all first met in 1981, with the love affair starting on a Sinclair ZX81 in kit form and a book on ZX Basic. He ended up becoming a physics and IT teacher, but by the late 1990s decided it was time to cut his teeth writing for a long defunct UK tech site. He went on to do the same at Madonion, helping to write the help files for 3DMark and PCMark. After a short stint working at Beyond3D.com, Nick joined Futuremark (MadOnion rebranded) full-time, as editor-in-chief for its gaming and hardware section, YouGamers. After the site shutdown, he became an engineering and computing lecturer for many years, but missed the writing bug. Cue four years at TechSpot.com and over 100 long articles on anything and everything. He freely admits to being far too obsessed with GPUs and open world grindy RPGs, but who isn't these days?
Latest articles by Nick Evanson
![A close-up photo of AMD's AM4 CPU socket](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VMxPwpAXMSumixYB67hAHY-320-80.jpg)
Despite being just a humble CPU socket, AMD 'boldly suggests' AM4 has 'legendary status'
By Nick Evanson published
Legend Few other CPU sockets have lasted as long or supported as many chips as this one, but its history isn't entirely free of hiccups.
![Two images of a custom-built external monitor mod for the Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/PkHT6kBrPuFH2Q3KBukuk3-320-80.jpg)
ROG Ally mod adds an extra touchscreen for more Windows real estate and works as a handy stand
By Nick Evanson published
news Plus it gives the added feeling of some serious Nintendo DS vibes.
![Promotional photo of a Norbauer mechanical keyboard on a table](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6uUykyXNtMCwsfuhr2AjeD-320-80.jpg)
One boutique keyboard maker spent years engineering the ultimate stabilizer by 'recklessly training a personal cash bazooka on the question'
By Nick Evanson published
news John Wick level of focus, commitment, and sheer will just to get the perfect keyboard clack.
![Intel Meteor Lake CPU](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/k5GBTN8VpocH6CDhEaVMs7-320-80.jpg)
Laptops are selling like hot cakes compared to desktops but generally CPU shipments are sluggish
By Nick Evanson published
news Even shipments of server CPUs were down but it's not as bad news as you might think it is.
![Yeyian Phoenix gaming PC](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/jgBvi5jYQMdvGEqi53Cfe3-320-80.jpg)
The cheapest RTX 4080 gaming PC deal we've found sees $500 sliced off the cost of this well-rounded rig
By Nick Evanson published
deal At a cent under $2,000, it's one of the best ways to bag Nvidia's second fastest graphics card of this generation.
![An assembled fleet of different classes of combat vessels, gathered in a planet's upper atmosphere in Homeworld 3.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/GGB5WN72wUKSz9g9BUFwGH-320-80.jpg)
Homeworld 3's latest system requirements won't fill up your SSD but you'll need all the CPU and GPU you can throw at it
By Nick Evanson last updated
news Though a Ryzen 9 7700X an RTX 4070 Ti Super, for ray traced space battles in 4K, isn't too bad.
![Gigabyte G6X gaming laptop](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/aXWnKvvbSCvZ2QchXKWRxM-320-80.jpg)
Gigabyte G6X (2024) gaming laptop review
By Nick Evanson published
Like a G6(X) Intel Core i7 13650HX | RTX 4060 (105W) | 32GB DDR5-4800 | 1TB SSD | $1,300 | £1,198 (16GB)
![Logitech G502 Hero gaming mouse against a teal background, with a white border](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ENC4Pa2z9vJPobmt9EzGoX-320-80.jpg)
Up your game in Helldivers 2 with the brilliant Logitech G502 Hero gaming mouse, now just $35
By Nick Evanson published
deal All of the G502 range are excellent mice and the Hero is no exception.
![A screenshot of a Verilog checked GPGPU design by Adam Majmudar](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/qSMT92fv6hyCsZ8AmArj5P-320-80.jpg)
Self-taught hardware engineer discovers that GPUs really are ridiculously complex and hard to design after all
By Nick Evanson published
news The project is available online if you fancy giving it a go yourself.
![A screenshot of a Nerdforge custom PC video, showing a PC with an integrated coffee machine](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/PSvuykpWxeSQjzqGrBvJdQ-320-80.jpg)
Coffee and PC gaming ground together in perfect harmony, in this fabulous Scandi wood-sauna-themed build
By Nick Evanson published
news Every Nerdforge project makes me miss my engineering days and this could be the one to make me start all over again.
![AMD MI300](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/PznEXES6HPb5mFBapnWeuf-320-80.jpeg)
AMD's start to 2024: Big gains in client and data center, big falls in gaming
By Nick Evanson published
news Data, AI, and compute are where all the money is at right now.
![A collage of Asus motherboards, against a purple gradient background](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/fZjtiNusGcQeARn3KtNHoJ-320-80.jpg)
PCIe 5.0 is nearly four years old and it's still virtually worthless in gaming PCs
By Nick Evanson published
PCIe progress pains Gen 4 stuff is not only cheaper, it's also better. Now that's progress for you.
![A photo of an autonomous driven racing car, in the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FNRAmtn2FK6zKiJ3tH2SgR-320-80.jpg)
I watched the first Autonomous Racing League event and while it certainly wasn't exciting, it was unintentionally hilarious
By Nick Evanson published
news Will it ever be exciting to what a bunch of AIs race against each other? Place your bets now.
![Skyrim VR](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/vUqXBkzk5j293BuXWQ7sr7-320-80.jpg)
Suffering so you don't have to, this streamer has doubled up on haptic suits to feel the real pain of Skyrim VR
By Nick Evanson published
news I'm so bad at VR games that I'd be permanently on the floor, whimpering like a scared puppy.
![Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger holding an engineering sample of a Lunar Lake CPU at the Intel Vision 2024 event](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/RVke6mgeSF9nXLGNouA5ZQ-320-80.jpg)
Early benchmark suggests Intel's Battlemage GPU in Lunar Lake has lots of low-power promise
By Nick Evanson published
news But it's still too soon to tell if it'll be any good at gaming.
![Intel Core i9 14900K CPU on a box and inside a motherboard socket.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/dafyrnGsMwEY789QFppCxA-320-80.jpg)
Intel points at motherboard vendors for recent CPU instability issues but the chip maker isn't entirely blame-free
By Nick Evanson published
news That Spider-Man meme is probably the simplest way to describe the whole debacle.
![An artist's concept painting of the Voyager I spacecraft](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zHcAUqszmxxJoK3VdFYLA6-320-80.jpg)
NASA manages to fix Voyager's garbled data problem, even though it's more than 15 billion miles away
By Nick Evanson published
news With hardware older than an Atari 2600, it's amazing Voyager 1 is still even running, let alone sending gobbledegook.
![A stylised image of AMD's RDNA 3 GPU design for its Radeon RX 7000-series graphics cards](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/b5hZ3jGxuxwssYSDEA4iLE-320-80.jpg)
RDNA 3+ edges closer as AMD hints at refreshed GPU architecture in its Linux firmware
By Nick Evanson published
news Don't expect major changes to the architecture, as that's been all kept for RDNA 4.
![Asus ROG Z790 with DIMM Flex feature](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/urAz6e4xnntkNZNDsRH8P9-320-80.jpg)
Asus adds 'Intel Baseline Profile' to new BIOS files to combat stability issues but the TDP is still higher than Intel's actual baselines
By Nick Evanson published
news Is it really that hard to have a BIOS setting that enforces all of Intel's stock values?
![Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Ep7b4cSDP6vT77D85nsepc-320-80.jpg)
With nine BIOS updates and a new warranty extension, Asus is trying its best to move forward from the ROG Ally's SD card woes
By Nick Evanson published
news There is one significant caveat with that warranty, though.
![null](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/k2GXm8VMuYkKrgPdcid6Qn-320-80.jpg)
A new physics paper suggests that we may all be living in the ultimate 4X strategy game after all
By Nick Evanson published
news My money's on the universe being like Civ 6, with its borked-n-bonkers AI.
![A promotional image for Microsoft's VASA-1 generative AI image](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/h3iHnmfSrncRecwKriZnGR-320-80.jpg)
Microsoft's VASA-1 takes AI-generated video one step closer to 'aw hell, we're all doomed'
By Nick Evanson published
news The researchers are targeting 'positive applications' for their work, so that's alright then.
![An image of the best external hard drives on a red background with the PC Gamer recommended badge](https://cdn.statically.io/img/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FhJmAVqAFq2AefAa9m3Byk-320-80.jpg)
Best external hard drives in 2024
By Nick Evanson last updated
TB on the go Grab one of the best external hard drives to increase your storage space or backup your PC.