Zak Killian

Texas

Technical Editor at HotHardware

News writer for the Tech Report, general nerdery and weebness.

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Articles

Modder Gets AMD's FSR 4 To Work On Radeon RX 7900 XTX And Runs Benchmarks

1 week ago | hothardware.com | Zak Killian

AMD's RDNA 4-based Radeon RX 9000 series graphics cards are a major step up from the RDNA 3-based Radeon RX 7000 series across multiple key metrics, but arguably the most notable is the added support for the company's FSR4 upscaling. FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 represents a paradigm shift in AMD's image upscaling methodology; rather than using hand-tuned algorithms, FSR4 uses a custom AI model.
Intel Nova Lake Tipped For Up To 52 Cores, Faster DDR5 And Big Upgrades

1 week ago | hothardware.com | Zak Killian

We're going to be welding together a few different Nova Lake rumors in this post. Keep in mind that everything here is totally unsubstantiated rumor, so keep the salt shaker handy, but they do come from sources that have been correct in the past, which is why we're reporting on them.
Intel Core 5 120F CPU Breaks Cover For Gaming Budget PCs With These Specs

1 week ago | hothardware.com | Zak Killian

For high-end gaming PCs, many users will immediately flock to AMD's CPUs with 3D V-Cache, but for an entry-level machine, you can often do better for the money with prior-gen Intel hardware. A good example is the ten-core Core i5-12600K at $149, which gives you very similar performance to a Ryzen 5 7600X in games, yet runs you $50 less before we also talk about the fact that it can be purchased with a cheaper motherboard and DDR4 memory.
Ryzen 7 9800X3D Bundles Rock With X870 Mobo, 32GB DDR5 And 1TB SSD, Just $699

1 week ago | hothardware.com | Zak Killian

X3D versions of AMD's Zen 6 are still at least a full year away, and while Intel's Panther Lake mobile chips look compelling for later this year, the company's Nova Lake next-generation desktop CPUs won't be until the middle of next year—and they may not be the most compelling choice for gamers if the Core Ultra 200 series is anything to go by. So saying, you're not going to beat the Ryzen 7 9800X3D in gaming performance any time soon. If you're eyeing a new gaming PC, the time is ripe.
Switch 2 May Get An Unofficial M.2 To MicroSD Express Adapter For Cheaper Storage

2 weeks ago | hothardware.com | Zak Killian

The Nintendo Switch used regular old MicroSD cards for storage expansion. This was possible because it was a slower machine, and there are plenty of MicroSD cards out there (particularly those with "A2" rating) which could satisfy the Switch software's I/O needs. The Switch 2 is faster, and needs faster storage, so you'll have to use expensive MicroSD Express cards. The problem is, not only are those cards pricey, they're also quite precious—supply is short. What's a geek to do?
Critical Secure Boot Flaw Exposes PCs To Bootkit Malware Attacks, Patch ASAP

2 weeks ago | hothardware.com | Zak Killian

A newly disclosed Secure Boot vulnerability is putting a large number of PCs at risk of bootkit attacks, with security researchers urging immediate patching. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2025-3052, was uncovered by Binarly Research and involves a signed UEFI module that allows attackers to bypass or disable Secure Boot and execute unsigned code during system startup, before the OS even loads.
Matrox Unveils Wild LUMA Pro A380 Octal Graphics Card With Dual Intel Arc GPUs

2 weeks ago | hothardware.com | Zak Killian

If you read that headline and thought "Who, now?" then you're probably not a PC enthusiast or under the age of 30. If you instead thought "That's a name I haven't heard," then you clearly don't work in the medical imaging or digital signage industries. Matrox might not be a direct competitor with AMD or NVIDIA anymore—not since the fateful days of the Parhelia—but the company has survived to this day by focusing on its historical strengths: high-quality multi-monitor display output.
Ayaneo's Flip 1S DS Handheld Is A PC Gaming Salute To Iconic Nintendo

2 weeks ago | hothardware.com | Zak Killian

Back in January of last year, Ayaneo formally unveiled its Flip series of gaming handhelds, composed of two models: the Flip DS and Flip KB. Both models had 7-inch flip-up screens, but the Flip KB had a full QWERTY keyboard underneath, while the Flip DS had a second screen, making it perfect for emulating classic Nintendo DS games. Of course, that was over a year ago, and tech has moved on a bit. To wit, meet the Flip 1S DS.
MSI Unveils MPG B850I EDGE TI WIFI To Build An Elite Compact Ryzen Gaming PC

2 weeks ago | hothardware.com | Zak Killian

Way back when VIA introduced the Mini-ITX standard in 2001, it was initially aimed at low-power systems and highly-integrated machines. VIA's designers probably never imagined a future where you could slap a 150-watt 16-core CPU and a 575W 32GB GPU into a Mini-ITX machine. That's exactly the use case for something like the new MSI MPG B850I EDGE TI WIFI, though.
Here Are The Top 7 Games To Look Forward To From Summer Games Fest 2025

2 weeks ago | hothardware.com | Zak Killian

Summer Games Fest 2025 was last night, and North American game industry hype man Geoff Keighley was on the scene to promote over fifty different games from a wide variety of publishers and developers. Actually, there were even more games than this in the "Day of the Devs" show that proceeded immediately afterward. We watched the stream several times over, and now we've picked out our seven favorites from the show that you should definitely check out if you haven't already.