Tech Advisor May 2022

After months of teasing its revolutionary new V-Cache technology, AMD finally unveiled the final key details about the product that serves as its flagship at a special event. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D will hit the streets on 20 April, wielding a massive slab of memory cache directly bonded to the top of the 8-core chip package and a $449 (around £345) suggested price – the same cost as the non-3D version of the 5800X, which launched in 2020. AMD also announced a slew of affordable new Ryzen 3, 5 and 7 processors to flesh out its line-up now that Intel’s 12th-gen ‘Alder Lake’ CPUs are here and kicking butt, and is finally extending official Ryzen 5000 support to older AM4 motherboards. But first, the star of the show. AMD already released most…

Microsoft has announced it is finally making its DirectStorage API available to game developers, promising to bring one of the best features of the Xbox Series X game console, Quick Resume, to the PC. However, the tech giant has yet to say which games will be supported by the new DirectStorage API. Put simply, DirectStorage drastically speeds up load times on a PC, tapping into how the GPU interacts with the SSD to dramatically increase data transfers. In the Xbox Series X, AMD’s integrated GPU interacts with the SSD, allowing ‘Quick Resume’, which essentially saves the state of games that allow it. Instead of loading the application and then the game, Quick Resume simply resumes the game, much like BBC iPlayer picks up a show that’s been previously paused and exited. To…

When you sell, recycle or donate any gadget, you wipe your data off it. That’s just basic computer security, right? It’s why the ‘Reset this PC’ option, a staple of Windows for years, includes the option to ‘Remove everything’, ostensibly wiping the storage drive clean of anything close to personal data. But with the latest versions of Windows 10 and 11, everything doesn’t necessarily mean everything. In a recent support document (fave.co/3tcYsHR), Microsoft warns that files stored in OneDrive accounts might not be removed from a computer’s local storage even after the user goes through the ‘Remove everything’ reset process. Obviously that’s a huge security issue. To work around it, Microsoft recommends that you sign out of OneDrive or unlink your account before resetting your PC. If you encounter the problem…

Two of the biggest laptop vendors have chosen to pass over Microsoft’s blossoming vision for PC chip security, Pluton. But the reason why may be less complex than it appears: both companies are apparently sticking with an established relationship with Intel’s vPro technology, instead. It’s been reported that both Dell and Lenovo plan to skip Microsoft’s Pluton technology in its commercial PCs, which Microsoft introduced two years ago as a better way of integrating security directly into the CPU. The technology originally received somewhat tepid endorsements from both Qualcomm and Intel, and a more enthusiastic response from AMD, which had helped develop the technology to secure the Xbox game console. Speaking to our colleagues at PCWorld, Dell said that: “Pluton architecture depends on support within the SoC – versus a separate ‘chip’…

Windows 11 brings Auto HDR, first introduced on the Xbox Series X/S consoles, to the PC. The feature promises to make older titles look just as bright and vibrant as newer HDR-compatible releases without a major hit to performance. That’s sure to have PC gamers eyeing an upgrade to Windows 11. Is it worth making the leap? We’ve dug deep into Windows 11’s Auto HDR to find the answer. Here’s everything you need to know, from the hardware you need to how to set it up, along with image quality comparisons with the feature on and off, and comparisons of how Windows 11’s Auto HDR compares to the version offered on the Xbox. Let’s dig in. HOW TO USE AUTO HDR Auto HDR is a standard feature of Windows 11 and is available…

Plenty of people like Windows 11, but if you’re not one of them, don’t worry. You can go back to Windows 10. That’s right – even if you bought a computer with Windows 11 preinstalled, you can ditch Microsoft’s latest operating system. The process just varies depending on how you got Windows 11. SCENARIO 1: ROLL BACK AN UPGRADE WITHIN THE FIRST 10 DAYS For this method to work, you can’t have wiped your system when you upgraded from Windows 10 to 11. Instead, Windows Update or the Windows 11 Installation Assistant left your files and apps intact when performing the switch. Also, you must still be within Microsoft’s absurdly short 10-day window for rolling back the upgrade. If you’re not sure about either point, not to worry. You can still follow these steps to see…