Welcome
Custom PC Issue 198
EDITORIAL
EDITOR
Ben Hardwidge
[email protected]
FEATURES EDITOR
Edward Chester
[email protected]
MODDING EDITOR
Antony Leather
GAMES EDITOR
Rick Lane
CONTRIBUTORS
Gareth Halfacree, James Gorbold,
Mike Jennings, Phil Hartup, Richard
Swinburne, Tracy King, Simon Brew
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Julie Birrell
PHOTOGRAPHY
Antony Leather, Ben Hardwidge,
Edward Chester, Brian O’Halloran,
Fiacre Muller, Gareth Halfacree
PUBLISHING
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR
Russell Barnes
[email protected]This magazine is printed on paper sourced from
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assessed as conforming to ISO 14001.
Custom PC magazine is published by Raspberry Pi
(Trading) Ltd., Maurice Wilkes Building, St. John’s
Innovation Park, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0DS.
The publisher, editor, and contributors accept no
responsibility in respect of any omissions or errors
relating to goods, products or services referred to or
advertised. ISSN: 1740-7443.DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME The information in
this magazine is given in good faith. Raspberry Pi
(Trading) Ltd cannot accept any responsibility for
loss, disruption or damage to your data or your
computer that may occur as a result of following or
attempting to follow advice given in the magazine.
If things do go wrong, take a break.T
hepastyearhasbeenonetorememberfortheway it has
shakenupthePCworld. While AMD’s Ryzen debuted
backin2017,thearrival of Zen 2 in August last year has
finallyputtobedanynaggingdoubts about just how fast AMD’s
newCPUscouldbe.Even3rd-gen Threadripper has made a strong
caseforitself,asAntonyLeather explores in our mammoth
24-corePCbuildthisissue,thanks to it taking a huge leap in single-
threadedandgamingperformance over past iterations.
Meanwhile,we’veseenDDR4 and flash memory prices drop
tosensiblelevels,makingRAMand SSDs ever more affordable.
We’vealsohadthearrivalofa swathe of ultra-lightweight gaming
mice,puttingtoanendthestrange trend for big, heavy mice that
weretoocumbersomeformany gamers. Not to mention Nvidia
bowingtopressureandaddingG-Sync support to many Freesync
monitors,givingusanevengreater choice of displays.
So,tocelebrateallthesearrivals and more, we thought it was
theperfecttimetobringbackthe Custom PC Awards. Come
Marchthisyear,we’llbecelebrating all the best tech we’ve seen
overthepast 12 months,andwe want your help in choosing
someofthewinners.Headonover to p15 to get the full lowdown
onwhichcategorieswillbeupfor grabs, and which you can help
uschoose– there’sa prizeinit for one lucky reader too.
A newyearisn’tjusta timetolook back, though, but an
opportunitytocastourgazeforwards, and as you’ll see from the
pagesofthismagazine,there’sone thing in particular that we’re all
excitedforin2020:Half-Life:Alyx.Willit bethegameoftheyear?
Well,asRichardSwinburnelaments,it maynotbeformanyofus
thankstoit beingexclusivetoVR.Butthenagain,maybethisis the
yearmanyofusfinallytaketheplungeandinvestina VRheadset.
HDRlookssettobeevermoreofa bigdealtoo,withmore
gamesincludingit,morevideocontentavailableandmore
screenssupportingit.However,asweexploreinourHDRbuyers
guide,we’llprobablyneedtoseea stepchangeinthequalityand
pricebalanceofHDRdisplaysbeforetheyreallytakeoff.
Here’stoenjoyingthejourneyalongthewayaswefindout.
Happynewyear,folks!
Ayeartoremember
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criticalmedia.co.uk
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Lee Allen
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EDITIONISSUE 198FEATURESEDITOR
EdwardChester
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@custompcmag/ FROM THE EDITOR