APC May 2021

As Chris explains in his Two Bits column on page 18 of this issue, we’re switching out the main testbed PC used in the APC Labs from Intel to AMD. The main reason is to take advantage of the PCIe 4 support that AMD’s AM4 platform offers, and has offered long enough for it to be mature, stable and reliable. Intel will surely get there in time too, but with an increasing number of PCIe 4 SSDs being released it’s important we have a platform we can trust for those reviews. “A simple little upgrade can often be a big deal, and sometimes it’s just nice to get something new.” We change the testbed platform once a year or so. Unlike my main gaming / desktop rig at home, which hasn’t been…

Please note that these exclusive downloads will only be available for a limited time, from 19/04/21 to 06/06/21 Ashampoo Burning Studio 2021 Reliable burning software for CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays. Ashampoo Burning Studio 2021 is a powerful disc burning software for CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs. The software quickly burns files, audio and video to all recordable disc types but also specialised media such as BDXL or M-Disc. The built-in disc ripping auto-detects track names and easily turns audio files into custom audio discs complete with individually designed covers and inlays. Playlists can be auto-generated during ripping for easy playback in the desired song order. The program can also finalise discs to make them playable on older retail players or car radios. Built-in disc spanning automatically spreads data across multiple volumes if it…

APC is Australia’s oldest consumer technology magazine – having been consistently in print for forty years, since our first issue way back in May 1980 – and we take that heritage and responsibility very seriously. While our focus is obviously on the personal computer the very definition of the PC has changed and shifted markedly since the early 1980s. As such, we touch on many other areas of tech, too, from smartphones and apps to peripherals, accessories, and beyond. We have two goals: to find the best modern tech and to help you make the most of it. We’re also an open church in terms of platforms. We know most people aren’t wed to a single brand’s products and use a variety of devices. And, like you, APC’s journalists want to…

“Microsoft and Discord are in exclusive talks and could complete a deal soon, assuming the negotiations don’t fall apart,” the WSJ reports after speaking with sources familiar with the deal. There’s no guarantee that Microsoft and Discord will reach an agreement soon, or indeed at all, and even if the acquisition does go through, we likely won’t see any changes to Discord as a service for some time. The acquisition could be a huge boon for the newly renamed Xbox Network, to say nothing of the Windows brand on PC, but Microsoft’s plans for Discord remain to be seen. That said, you don’t spend US$10 billion on a communications app to not beef up your own social network.…

Sometimes the toughest problems have the easiest solutions. Nvidia might claim that its hash limiter on the GeForce RTX 3060 is unhackable, but that doesn’t mean that a workaround doesn’t exist. Cryptocurrency miners have seemingly found the solution to the limiter, and it only costs $5.99. Nvidia almost gave away the keys to its own kingdom when the chipmaker accidentally released a GeForce beta driver that partially disabled the limiter. The driver detects if a monitor is connected to the graphics card, but it can’t tell the difference if it’s a real display or not. Therefore, an HDMI dummy plug, which retails for as low as $5.99 on Amazon, easily tricks Nvidia’s driver into thinking that a display is effectively present when in reality, it isn’t.…

Intel’s new CEO Pat Gelsinger made several big announcements about its 7nm tech at the Intel Unleashed: Engineering the Future event in late March, revealing that the company has solved the primary issues that have resulted in an untenable delay to its 7nm products. As a result, Intel will tape in its first 7nm compute chip for desktop PCs, Meteor Lake, in the second quarter of this year, with the first chips shipping to customers in 2023. Intel also divulged that it will also ship its 7nm Granite Rapids data centre CPUs in 2023. Intel says that 7nm’s issues stemmed from difficulties with series of steps in its manufacturing process and that it has leaned more heavily on EUV manufacturing to rearchitect that series of steps and simplify the design flow. However,…