Rock, Paper, Shotgun

A high quality LCD panel. Or high refresh rates. Take your pick. Because you can’t have both. Well, not unless you think BadgerJump Monitors (or whatever they’re called) sounds like a sensible consumer electronics brand and you’re thus willing to roll the dice on a dodgy Korean panel off eBay. But wait. One of the footnotes to NVIDIA’s recent Titan graphics card launch is a new monitor overclocking feature. Yup, monitor overclocking. But will it give you 120Hz for free? Will it fry your panel? Do you need NVIDIA’s £800 Titan? Should you actually care about high refresh? I’ve got the answers… Read the rest of this entry »

Bit late with this installment due to a near-death experience with pharyngitis. But that’s actually allowed a few things shake out into the public domain. And the overall upshot is that PC hardware took an odd turn this week. The launch of a new high end GPU from NVIDIA really only served to confirm 2013 looks odds on for slim to no progress in graphics technology. More than that, it’s basically the end of the graphics refresh cycle as we know it. Sounds grim, but actually means now is a great time to buy a new pixel pumper. Meanwhile, Dell wheels out a crazy 21:9 aspect ultra-wide display and ye olde graphics benchmarks get an update. Read the rest of this entry »

Something old, something new, something borrowed and something doomed. That’s the remit, chaps, keeping you updated with all things hard and gamey every week. I’ll stick the best of the latest kit and most RPS-relevant trends under your snouts, a mix of kit I’ve tried, stuff I haven’t got my hands on yet but looks interesting and other things wot you need to know. This week, some sexy new screens, a new SSD from Intel, a pint-sized gaming portable, AMD on the ropes and more. So much more. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s true! Top-end monitors for the same price as any old stinky crap in PC World. Read on for details of what/where/how, but please keep in mind even as you tremble in raw excitement that there is A BIG RISK FACTOR.

In a change from your irregularly-scheduled Guy Who Knows A Ton About Hardware, I’m afraid it’s me. But I bring glad, intriguing tidings from the silicon mines. If you cast your minds, or at least your browsers, back a few months, you may recall our recommendation of 27″, 2560×1440 monitors as your point of eyeball-based connection to your beloved gaming PC. Specifically, a 27″, 2560×1440 Hazro monitor for approximately £400, and which used the same LG LM270WQ1 IPS panel as those in Apple’s top of the range 27″ Cinema Displays/iMacs, amongst other £800+ 27 inchers. That was already half the price of its similarly-specced contemporaries, albeit housed within a less gorgeous casing and with but one input. It still, quite understandably, remains prohibitively expensive for a great many people.
Read the rest of this entry »

Hi gang. So, if you’ve read part one of our modern gaming monitor opus, you’ll know at least two things. Firstly, there’s no substitute for a good underlying LCD panel. And secondly, things are looking up for penniless gamers on the hunt for a solid screen on a tight budget. In this second and final part on monitors, I’ll boil the current crop down to the only four screens, ranging from cheapo to aaargh-my-bank-account, that you should consider if you’re in the market for a new display.

Read the rest of this entry »

OK folks, we’ve done CPUs and graphics cards, now for my favourite subject of all, screens. I’ve long said a decent screen is the best investment you can make. Frankly, I’ve long been right. I’ve three 30-inchers of my own, two of which are about five years old. And with the exception of 120Hz support (see below), the game hasn’t moved on dramatically. Any five-year-old CPU or GPU, by contrast, is garbage. That’s the difference.

As it happens, good LCD screens have just become a lot more affordable. You’ll need to check out part two for the whys and wherefores along with a tour of the best currently available options. But things change fast, so a little knowledge can go a long way. Here are the eight most important things you need to know about screens for games.
Read the rest of this entry »