The Hardware Unboxed Podcast

Episode 90: Some of you were upset we said the Steam Machine could be dead on arrival, so did we get it wrong? Steve also discusses recent RAM testing, and we look at gaming revenue for both Nvidia and AMD.CHAPTERS00:00 - Intro00:28 - More thoughts on the Steam Machine?22:27 - People didn't understand some RAM testing40:50 - AMD vs Nvidia gaming revenue and sales share54:04 - Updates from our boring livesSUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTAudio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcastVideo: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfwSUPPORT US DIRECTLYPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedLINKSYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxedBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social

Episode 89: Valve has announced a new Steam Machine, which includes entry-level PC gaming hardware at an unknown price. We give our thoughts on whether this sounds any good and what prices would make sense. Steve also shares a motherboard story.CHAPTERS00:00 - Intro00:40 - Initial Thoughts on Steam Machine14:42 - No Upgrade Path20:29 - Game Compatibility and Value35:35 - AMD Roadmaps39:43 - Steve Finds a Motherboard Flaw55:15 - Updates From Our Boring LivesSUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTAudio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcastVideo: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfwSUPPORT US DIRECTLYPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedLINKSYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxedBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social

Episode 88: AMD does AMD things.CHAPTERS00:00 - Intro00:22 - Microsoft Improves a Few Things04:15 - AMD's Disastrous Driver Fumble23:31 - What About Feature Support?46:03 - Reputational Damage vs Nvidia Drivers1:01:39 - How Big of a Mistake? Who to Blame?01:19:52 - Impact on Review Recommendations01:52:59 - Quick Boring Life StuffSUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTAudio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcastVideo: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfwSUPPORT US DIRECTLYPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedLINKSYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxedBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social

Episode 87: We revisit some discussion from last week as we've found more dodgy stuff Microsoft has done, before chatting about the current situation Intel is in with CPUs. They aren't anywhere near as competitive up against AMD now, as AMD were with Ryzen when Intel was dominant. (Note: This podcast was recorded before the recent AMD RDNA 2 driver decision, we'll discuss that in the future)CHAPTERS00:00 - Intro00:29 - Microsoft Does Dodgy Stuff Again11:34 - Intel CPUs when AMD is Dominant vs AMD CPUs when Intel is Dominant21:35 - The Discounts Aren't Enough34:53 - Platform Longevity is Crucial41:33 - Platform Support is Always Better1:04:34 - Updates From Our Boring LivesSUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTAudio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcastVideo: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfwSUPPORT US DIRECTLYPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedLINKSYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxedBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social

Episode 86: You all told us what you hated about Windows 11, and we fully agreed. So in this episode we go through all our grievances with the current state of Windows.CHAPTERS00:00 - Intro06:21 - Unnecessary Microsoft accounts10:39 - Search is broken15:49 - Splash screens and ads20:52 - The right click context menu26:53 - Pre-installed bloatware33:21 - Windows updates hurting performance38:41 - Telemetry capture and data mining42:28 - Copilot AI integration45:45 - Updates breaking things48:14 - Inability to dismiss pop-ups and updates50:25 - Janky monitor issues58:21 - Removing useful customization options1:01:06 - Driver updates via Windows Update breaking things1:05:17 - Microsoft Store1:09:21 - Is Linux an alternative for gaming PCs?1:14:36 - Summary of the current state of Windows1:17:44 - Updates from our boring livesSUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTAudio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcastVideo: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfwSUPPORT US DIRECTLYPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedLINKSYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxedBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social

Episode 85: We chat about Battlefield 6 testing and explore the difficulties with testing one-click overclocking features in benchmarks, such as PBO and 200S Boost. We also discuss the latest Intel graphics announcements including Xe3 and XeSS 3, as well as motherboard vendors beginning to say Zen 6 will be supported on AM5SOURCEShttps://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/intels-xe3-graphics-architecture-breaks-cover-panther-lakes-12-xe-core-igpu-promises-50-percent-better-performance-than-lunar-lakehttps://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/intel-takes-the-wraps-off-panther-lake-first-18a-client-processor-brings-the-best-of-lunar-lake-and-arrow-lake-together-in-one-packagehttps://videocardz.com/newz/intel-confirms-xe3p-will-mark-arc-naming-switch-to-c-serieshttps://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/graphics-cards/intel-announces-xess-3-with-multi-frame-generation-putting-it-ahead-of-amd-in-the-ai-powered-graphics-performance-race/https://videocardz.com/newz/asrock-confirms-b850-motherboards-to-directly-support-future-zen-6-cpushttps://videocardz.com/newz/asus-officially-confirms-zen6-desktop-support-for-am5-based-b850-motherboardCHAPTERS00:00 - Intro00:43 - Battlefield 6 testing thoughts09:11 - Battlefield 6 VRAM leak11:31 - Questionable Battlefield 6 CPU benchmarks?20:49 - Issues with overclocking CPUs29:59 - Why we don't test with PBO or 200S Boost, but do test with XMP40:45 - Overclock tweaking can be a grift50:34 - Intel graphics updates, Xe3 and XeSS 358:32 - Motherboard makers confirm Zen 6 on AM5 publicly1:09:10 - Updates from our boring livesSUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTAudio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcastVideo: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfwSUPPORT US DIRECTLYPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedLINKSYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxedBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social

Episode 84: Tim and Steve respond to their internet crimes of using DLSS while testing and saying APUs suck. Then we chat more about Intel fixing B580 CPU overhead in some games, AMD's FSR 4 INT8 version and Microsoft destroying the value of Game Pass.CHAPTERS00:00 - Intro00:27 - Why we tested Borderlands 4 with DLSS enabled08:58 - APUs are not a good option for desktop gaming today29:26 - Intel fixes B580 CPU overhead in some games45:47 - AMD FSR 4 INT8 is pretty good54:07 - Microsoft makes Game Pass way more expensive1:03:57 - Updates from our boring livesSUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTAudio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcastVideo: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfwSUPPORT US DIRECTLYPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedLINKSYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxedBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social

Episode 83: Intel and Nvidia have formed a partnership, but because APUs are not that relevant to desktop PC gamers, we discuss whether this deal will actually impact gaming significantly. Also, we put Intel's Arc GPUs into our GPU rankings, and chat about some newsCHAPTERS00:00 - Intro00:33 - Intel and Nvidia APU team up, but gamers don't use APUs37:00 - We add Intel Arc GPUs to the rankings45:38 - Ryzen 7 9800X3D drops in price49:52 - RX 9070 BIOS mod52:01 - Updates from our boring livesSUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTAudio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcastVideo: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfwSUPPORT US DIRECTLYPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedLINKSYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxedBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social

Episode 82: A quick update on the YouTube views situation, then into a Borderlands 4 discussion. What is the state of the game currently? What do we make of Randy Pitchford's comments? Is DLSS being used as a crutch instead of proper optimization? Can it be fixed?CHAPTERS00:00 - Intro01:05 - Update on the YouTube views situation17:17 - Initial thoughts on Borderlands 428:27 - The crutch of DLSS upscaling and frame generation44:17 - Bizarre development choices53:01 - Can Gearbox fix Borderlands 4?1:07:14 - Updates from our boring livesSUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCASTAudio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcastVideo: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfwSUPPORT US DIRECTLYPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedLINKSYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxedBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social