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The 10 Most Anticipated PC Games of 2016

It’s impossible to deny that 2015 was an amazing year for the PC ushering in a new golden era of PC gaming. 2016 will have to produce some truly special games to match last year’s offerings, and so far, it’s not doing too badly but there’s still plenty more games to come. Here are our top 10 most anticipated titles.

Hitman Episode One Review

The new Hitman seeks to combine the strongest elements of the series’ previous entries. All three levels in the first episode, particularly the culminating Paris level, are glitzy sandboxes in the vein of Blood Money, featuring numerous ways to manipulate your targets into meeting a stylish demise. There are guns to fire, vials of poison to pour into drinks, fuseboxes to detonate, winches to release, and wrenches to throw.

Tom Clancy’s The Division PC Graphics and CPU Performance

The Division is set in an open world with immersive and destructive environments based on a mid-crisis Manhattan. Built upon the Snowdrop Engine, Ubisoft aims to take graphics fidelity to the next level with a focus on dynamic global illumination, destruction and a number of cutting edge visual effects, especially on the PC version.

Best Desktop PCs of 2016

When buying a new computer you basically have two options: you can build one yourself or you can buy pre-built. The former will almost always result in better value and upgradeability. But if you need something that works out of the box, or are simply looking for something to recommend to your less DIY-inclined friends, these are the best pre-built gaming systems, AIOs, small form factor and budget PCs.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Review

The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is an excellent phone and easily gets my recommendation for those wanting to purchase something this early into 2016. Samsung has addressed many of the Galaxy S6 issues while adding or improving features that make this year’s flagship an extremely compelling choice.

WD MyCloud EX2 Ultra 8TB NAS Review

The newly released My Cloud EX2 Ultra from WD is essentially a more consumer-friendly version of the existing My Cloud EX2100. The drive can be purchased in capacities from 4TB to 12TB as well as without drives. Under its sleek curved enclouse you’ll find a Marvell Armada 385 1.3 GHz dual-core SoC and 1GB of DDR3 memory, while connectivity includes a single gigabit Ethernet connector and two USB 3.0 ports.

A List of Oculus Rift & HTC Vive VR Games to Look Out for in 2016

If you’re among those who’ve preordered a VR headset or are still on the fence, you may be wondering what are you going to be able to play with it? We’ve compiled a list of some of the most anticipated or interesting titles arriving soon. Keep in mind that many existing games are getting VR support, though for this list we’ve kept it (mostly) to made-for-VR games.

Shortcut Extravaganza: Windows, Chrome, Android, iPhone and More

What’s more appealing than a shortcut? It’s a quick way to take a task and make it less painful and easier to accomplish. With shortcuts, you can cheat time a little bit and find maybe a few extra moments each day.

MSI GS40 Phantom 6QE Gaming Laptop Review

The GS40 Phantom is loaded up with a 14″ 1080p display, a Core i7-6700HQ CPU, GeForce GTX 970M graphics, 16 GB of RAM, and a combination of a 128 GB SSD with a 1 TB disk drive. It also packs the latest connectivity, including a USB Type-C port sporting Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 gen 2. When it comes to looks the GS40 Phantom’s design is both understated and nice enough to stand out from the pack.

Synology DiskStation DS216+ NAS Review

The two-bay DiskStation DS216+ is designed to bridge the pricing gap between the DS716+ and DS216. Priced at $300 it’s the cheapest Synology device to support the more modern B-tree file system (BTRFS). In this review we’ll compare the performance between EXT4 and BTRFS while also checking out the new features offered by Synology’s latest DSM 6.0 Beta software.

Superhot Review

Superhot can be very bossy, and has instructed me to tell people that it’s “the most innovative shooter I’ve played in years.” I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s certainly one of the purest and most enjoyable I’ve played in a while.

TechSpot Best of MWC 2016

It’s been a busy week as more than 90,000 people stormed Barcelona to catch the latest mobile announcements and innovations. This year’s Mobile World Congress brought us new smartphones, hybrid mobile devices, more VR hype as well as wearables and IoT gear. Lets take a look at the highlights of the three-day event.

Corsair Carbide 400Q Review

With its vast experience of case building, Corsair must have foreseen that the Carbide 600C we reviewed last month wouldn’t appeal to everyone with its inverted ATX layout, so its counteroffer seems premeditated. The new The Carbide 400 series is a more traditional approach that still maintains the clean lines and curved solid-steel exterior of the 600 series for a great minimalist look.

10 Tech Predictions for 2016

Looking ahead to 2016, I expect we will see changes that, on the surface, also don’t seem to amount to much initially, but will actually prove to be key foundational shifts that drive a very different, and very exciting future.

TechSpot Best of CES 2016

Here’s our selection of the most innovative, promising, or downright cool products we saw during this year’s massive show. So without further ado here’s the best of CES 2016

Google Pixel C Review

The Pixel C is the first tablet to be fully developed in-house by Google. Not unlike the Chromebook Pixel that runs Chrome OS, with the Pixel line Google means to show off what’s possible to build using their software platforms even if it’s inpractical for most to buy.

The Five Stages of Video Game Disappointment

I think it’s happened to us all at some point or another: a game you’ve idolized from afar finally comes out. You boot it up and brace yourself for magic. Hours pass. Magic still hasn’t happened. This is… unexpected. That is when you begin your Dante-esque multi-stage descent into a very unique sort of madness: disappointment.

Gigabyte P34W v5 Gaming Laptop Review

The Gigabyte P34W v5 is a fairly typical gaming laptop that sacrifices looks to bring value with decent gaming specs. Powered by an Intel Skylake Core i7-6700HQ CPU and a GeForce GTX 970M GPU, a decent display, and a body that won’t be setting any records for slimness or lightness.

Best Graphics Cards of 2016

After extensive testing, we’ve come up with this quick guide to bring you the best graphics card choices available right now, divided into six categories: Best Overall GPU, Best Value Performance, Best Mainstream GPU, Best Budget GPU, Best Compact/HTPC Card and Best Mobile GPU.

The Witness Review

In The Witness, a magnificent new puzzle game from from developer Jonathan Blow you come upon challenges by wandering, in a first-person perspective, through the most beautiful island I’ve ever been to in a video game. The island is densely packed with puzzles, some propped up for you to solve, many others masterfully hidden.

Division Zero X40 Pro Gaming Mechanical Keyboard and M50 Pro Gaming Mouse Review

Metadot, maker of the well-known Das Keyboard today is launching Division Zero, a new brand and product line developed specifically for the pro gaming and eSports community. Its debut offerings include the X40 Pro Gaming Mechanical Keyboard and the M50 Pro Gaming Mouse, both of which we’ll be looking at today.

The Ideal Smartphone for 2016

In 2015 I saw a ton of great smartphones hit the market, but I’m yet to see the elusive ‘perfect’ device — the phone with no compromises in hardware or software. In this article I’ll go through every aspect of the modern smartphone and list exactly what I want to see, with every aspect of it firmly grounded in reality. This is a smartphone that should be possible to create in 2016.

Rise of the Tomb Raider Review

Rise of the Tomb Raider tells the story of young Lara Croft, alone in a dangerous place, exploring ruins, solving puzzles, and shooting lots of guys with flaming arrows. This is an enjoyable sequel and the reason it’s very fun is because it feels upgraded in nearly every way.

Rise of the Tomb Raider PC Graphics and CPU Performance

Rise of the Tomb Raider has been widely praised for its gameplay and visuals and now that the PC version is out, we are taking it for a spin. Rise of the Tomb Raider is arguably the best looking game to hit the PC yet, and without question the cut-scenes are the best I have seen. Now it’s benchmark time.

Finding the Right Components for a Well-Rounded Gaming Laptop

Unlike years past, today there are a vast number of quality gaming laptops available that can not only match most home rigs but occasionally outperform them. If you’re in the market for a new gaming laptop and want to know what components will give you a well-rounded rig, here’s a breakdown of what’s on offer.

Dell XPS 13 Review: The Best Windows Laptop, Updated

The revamped Dell XPS 13 includes just a handful of improvements: a new Skylake CPU, a USB Type-C port that supports Thunderbolt 3, and the option to get the laptop in gold. But considering the Broadwell-based Dell XPS 13 was our favorite laptop of 2015, we just had to get in the new model and see if it’s still a class-leading device.

The Best CPU Coolers

There isn’t a one solution fits all product when it comes to CPU coolers. Folks with spacious full tower PCs might favor massive tower style coolers, but even if you have the space, some prefer to prioritize volume over temperatures… and if air cooling comes off as unadventurous, an all-in-one liquid cooler may be your best bet.

Dying Light: The Following Review

Dying Light: The Following is just what an expansion should be: more of the the same great game, with a number of refinements and small, interesting tweaks. In one respect it’s altogether different: You have an automobile now, and an enormous new explorable area that requires the use of it.

Guide to HEVC/H.265 Encoding and Playback

HEVC’s main advantage over H.264 is that it offers roughly double the compression ratio for the same quality. This means that a video file encoded with HEVC can occupy half the space of its H.264 equivalent with no noticeable change in quality, or the same amount of space with improved quality.

OCZ Trion 150 480GB SSD Review

The OCZ Trion 150 SSD is meant to replace the floundering Trion 100 SSD as a slightly cheaper revision that should improve performance and hopefully reliability as well. By moving away from Toshiba’s A19nm TLC NAND in favor of its newer 15nm TLC NAND, OCZ claims users will see up to a 50% increase in performance in many real world cases such as file transfers.

Samsung Portable SSD T3 1TB Review

The new Samsung Portable SSD T3 drives build upon the T1’s strong foundation with a few key upgrades and capacities all the way up to 2TB. From a performance point of view little appears to have changed but the T1 already topped our performance charts for USB storage. Notable upgrades include the change to a USB Type-C connector and a more durable metal case.

DirectX 12 Multi-GPU Technology Tested: GeForce and Radeon Paired Together

The new Ashes of the Singularity benchmark 2.0 brings support for explicit multi-adapter (EMA), DirectX 12’s multi-GPU technology, which enables support for both AMD and Nvidia GPUs in the same system. This means it’s possible to pair a GeForce GTX 980 Ti with a Radeon R9 Fury X and that’s exactly what we’ll be focusing on today.