Quote:5G and 5 GHz Wi-Fi are both used for wireless connectivity, but they don’t have anything else in common. Anyone referring to “5G Wi-Fi” actually means 5 GHz Wi-Fi, which is different from the 5G cellular standard.

5G Is The New Cellular Standard

You’ll be hearing a lot more about 5G soon. It’s a cellular standard and is the successor to 4G LTE and 3G. 5G stands for “fifth generation,” as it’s the fifth generation of this cellular standard.

5G is designed to be much faster and have lower latency than 4G LTE. You’ll start seeing the first 5G smartphones in 2019, and cellular carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon will roll out their 5G mobile networks. 5G could transform your home Internet connection by delivering speedy broadband Internet service wirelessly, too.

While 5G is an exciting new standard, it has nothing to do with Wi-Fi. 5G is used for cellular connections. Future smartphones may support 5G and 5 GHz Wi-Fi, but current smartphones support 4G LTE and 5 GHz Wi-Fi.

RELATED: [i]What Is 5G, and How Fast Will It Be?[/i]

Full reading: https://www.howtogeek.com/398620/whats-t...ghz-wi-fi/

Quote:One of the things that PC users have to make sure when they shop for new hardware for their devices is that the new hardware components are compatible with the device.

It is quite difficult for people who are not very tech-savvy to determine if a component, e.g. a video card, memory, or processor, is compatible with a PC.
Information is found in a variety of places, e.g. the motherboard manual or the manufacturer's website.

Amazon launched an option on its website recently that customers may use to find out if a PC component is compatible with their device or another component.

An Amazon Partfinder is displayed at the top of the page if Amazon enabled it for the component.

Full reading: https://www.ghacks.net/2018/12/02/amazon...atibility/

Quote:In our series of Best Video Card guides, here’s the latest update to our list of recommended graphics cards for gaming PCs. All numbers in the text are updated to reflect pricing at the time of writing (Oct 30th).

Best Video Cards for Gaming: Holiday 2018

For gaming PCs that push the pretty pixels on the screens, the video card is the most important component. And given the sheer amount of custom options, choosing the right graphics card for your budget can be very difficult. In our Video Cards for Gaming guides, we give you our recommendations in terms of GPU models and current prices representative of an affordable non-blower custom card. Our guide targets common gaming resolutions at system-build price points similar to our CPU guides.

Given the increased video card prices that have come to characterize much of 2017 and 2018, this holiday season we are seeing much more reasonable prices. The situation also pushes the newly launched RTX series further to the top of the price list.

Full reading: https://www.anandtech.com/show/12050/best-video-cards

Quote:One of the telling conclusions from our original 32-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX review was that because of the arrangement of cores and memory, performance in most applications did not scale from the 16-core, and in some cases regressed. Due to a series of discussions, one potential culprit could be the fact that Windows scheduler seems to prioritize CPU 0 over everything else. We did some testing.

Going After CPU 0

There have been many memes surrounding how most systems prioritize CPU 0: when a program is started, unless it gets moved away, starts on a single CPU core. For applications, like some games, where one thread does most of the work, this leads to a very active CPU 0.

Up until fairly recently, most home systems that had 2-8 cores were in the position where all the cores could be treated exactly the same – they had the same characteristics, the same main memory latency, and the same access to all the resources in the system as any other core. Over time, initially with dual socket systems for the early adopters, but now with processors like Threadripper, not all resources are created equal. In order to get the most of the system, it relies on having a dedicated scheduler to understand the resources available and distribute work accordingly.

There are two main types of schedulers: hardware and software.

Full reading: https://www.anandtech.com/show/13446/the...per-2990wx

Quote:Sometimes choosing a CPU is hard. So we've got you covered. In our CPU Guides, we give you our pick of some of the best processors available, supplying data from our reviews. Our Best CPUs for Gaming guide targets most of the common system-build price points that typically pair a beefy graphics card with a capable processor, with the best models being suitable for streaming and encoding on the fly.

The majority of our recommendations aim to hit the performance/price curve just right, with a side nod to power consumption as well.

Intel Pricing Going Up, and Coffee Lake Refresh Not Available

It is worth noting that since our last Best CPUs for Gaming article, we have had price pressure on Intel’s CPUs. Aside from the fact that the latest 9th Generation Core processors are either expensive or impossible to find, even simple processors like the Core i3 8100 have gone up in price by almost 10%. As a result, we’ve either had to suggest users take the hit of the extra cost, of move down a suggestion (such as from the 8700K to the 8600K) in order to get the best value for a gaming system at current pricing.

There's also the fact that Intel launched its 9th Gen Core Coffee Lake Refresh family of K processors last week. While these might have been the select choice for a few of these segments, unfortunately there's no guarantee of stock almost everywhere. For our Buyer's Guides, we're looking at what you can easily buy today as our recommendations. Maybe they might feature in our Q1 guide in a few months, when demand isn't so high and/or supply isn't so low.

Full reading: https://www.anandtech.com/show/9793/best-cpus

Quote:The latest version of the popular video card tool GPU-Z includes a new option to detect and highlight fake NVIDIA cards.

Fake video cards appear as more powerful video cards on cursory inspection and scammers sell these for a higher price on marketplaces on the Internet and even in retail stores.

Users may never know that they bought a less-performant GeForce GTS 450 video card instead of the GeForce GTX 1060 that they wanted to buy. Scammers manipulate the BIOS of the video card so that it appears as a different graphics card that is more powerful and thus more expensive.

While GPU-Z's new capabilities may not help prevent purchases of fake video cards, it may very well help users identify fake and do something about it.

Whether you may be able to get your money back or even get the merchant dispelled from a marketplace depends entirely on where you bought it.

Full reading: https://www.ghacks.net/2018/10/13/latest...dia-cards/

Quote:When you shop for a graphics card, most of the time you’ll settle on a specific model you want, then look for the best price—but you’ll find that multiple manufacturers make the same model. Do the differences between them matter?

Why Are There Different Manufacturers, Anyway?

It’s an odd situation—almost like if you went shopping for an F-150 pickup truck, and the salesperson asked you if you wanted the Ford, Chevy, or Dodge version. For example, a quick search for a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 card on Newegg reveals models made by EVGA, MSI, Zotac, ASUS, and Gigabyte—all on the first page! AMD Radeon graphics cards have a similar variety of suppliers. But within the same specific card design, pretty much all of them have the same capabilities. What gives?

Full reading: https://www.reviewgeek.com/7683/does-it-...ou-choose/

Quote:A simple, but great use for a Wi-Fi camera is to set it in front of a window to keep tabs on the outside of your house, but there are some things to be aware of when doing this.

RELATED: What You Should Know Before Buying Wi-Fi Cameras

Ideally, you’d want a security camera mounted somewhere on the outside of your home, but if you don’t have the know-how (or the money to pay a professional), you can usually get by with just placing the camera in a window and pointing it outside.

This works pretty well most of the time, and it’s honestly the best route to go with if you’re looking for a truly quick and dirty method, but you’ll have to put up with some inconsistencies and flaws.

Full reading: https://www.howtogeek.com/367339/can-you...f-windows/

Quote:Do you need to plug in All The Things? If you’re a gadget addict or an incurable tinkerer, you’ll want to keep all your tools charged up. Here are the accessories you want to deliver that juice.

You probably have a standard surge protector behind your desk, but these add-ons will let you plug in and unplug laptops, tablets, phones, and anything else that needs either constant or periodic charging much more conveniently. Some of it’s even designed to complement a standard desk or work table. Any one of them will make it easier to get power to your various gadgets.

Full reading: https://www.reviewgeek.com/6448/the-best...your-desk/

Quote:You’d like to get into the drone sensation, but you don’t want to break the bank to do it. Don’t worry: there are plenty of options in the $100-300 range that include everything you need.
Before we continue: the term “drone” is a misnomer, since it technically describes something that can navigate on its own, not simply a remote control device. But then again, some of the more advanced models available—even a few on this list!—can indeed fly on their own, returning to their operator if a signal is lost, performing some pre-programmed tricks, or even avoid obstacles. So perhaps a persnickety terminology gripe is unwarranted, but we always want to ensure our readers are well informed and end up with a product that meets their expectations.
We’ve selected the best all-around drone for beginners, a cheap and durable one for kids, a drone that folds up for easy travel, one that’s ideal if you want to get into the exciting drone racing scene, and an upgrade model if you’re ready to spend a little more for advanced features.
Oh, and note that for any kind of photo or video recording, you’ll need a MicroSD card. Here are a few that are ideal for the more demanding tasks of drone video.

Full reading: https://www.reviewgeek.com/7741/the-best...beginners/

Quote:Amazon held an Echo event last week where the company unveiled a huge line of new Echo products. It also unveiled some new software additions, one of which is Alexa Guard—a home security helper of sorts.
RELATED: Everything Amazon Announced At Its Surprise Hardware Event Today
In short, Alexa Guard can listen for specific sounds—like glass breaking, the smoke alarm going off, or the high-pitched squeals of a security system alarm. When it detects those sounds, it can send you a notification on your phone letting you know that something is up.

Full reading: https://www.howtogeek.com/367234/what-is...o-with-it/

Quote:Two out of two Review Geek staffers agree: the second “e” in “rechargeable” is awkward and unnecessary. But rechargeable batteries aren’t! They’re frugal and efficient. Here are the best ones you can buy.
Specifically, we’re talking about AA and AAA standardized batteries. Because as much as we wish the world of disposable batteries would fade away for the sake of both our wallets and the environment, they don’t seem to be doing so any time soon. Many, many, products still use these common batteries.
You can end that frustrating cycle of replacement and make your grocery shopping list incrementally shorter by investing a bit of money into some quality rechargeable batteries and the charger sled you’ll need to juice them up. Before making that purchase, I recommend adding up all the gadgets and appliances in your house that use AAs and AAAs, then buying about 20% more than you need. That way you’ll always have a fresh pair or two in reserve for when one set dies out, so long as you remember to charge them up every time you replace them.

Full reading: https://www.reviewgeek.com/7078/the-best...-chargers/

There’s a lot of factors to consider when selecting a voice-assistant platform but what if your biggest consideration is just how they answer your question? We asked Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri a bunch of questions and documented the results.
Now, let’s be clear, we’re not here for a technical breakdown of the minute details of every platform and the devices they come on. We’re here to get to the bottom of important matters like which assistant gives the best weather reports and tells the best stories.
With that in mind, let’s get to the group interviews!

Full reading: https://www.reviewgeek.com/6995/alexa-vs...-face-off/