Welcome
Custom PC Issue 202
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
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Julie Birrell
PHOTOGRAPHY
Antony Leather, Brian O’Halloran,
Fiacre Muller, Gareth HalfacreePUBLISHING
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR
Russell Barnes
[email protected]This magazine is printed on paper sourced from
sustainable forests. The printer operates an
environmental management system which has been
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.W
iththeUKstillunderlockdowninordertolimit the
spreadofthecoronaviruspandemic,wewanted to
makethisissuelittlebitdifferentfromusual. You’ll
stillfindalltheregularreviews,Labstestsandcolumns, of
course,butourfeaturesthismontharededicatedtoideas for
usingyourexistingPCsetupathome.
Forstarters,if yourPCalreadyhasa half-decentCPU-cooling
setup,there’sa goodchanceyou’llbeabletooverclock your
CPU.Ourmainfeatureonp72isallaboutsqueezingevery last
dropofperformancefromyourprocessor,withouthaving to
upgradetoa newone(althougha coolingupgrademay well
help,naturally).
If you’veeverconsideredoverclockingyourCPU,but
don’tknowwheretostart(oryoujustdon’twanttoend up
accidentallyfryingyourhardware),thenthisfeature tells you
allyouneedtoknow,fromwhathardwarecanbeoverclocked
tothetheoryandthescenarioswhereyou’llbenefitfrom
overclocking.Thereareguidestosafevoltagesandsettings for
allofIntelandAMD’scurrentCPUline-ups,pluswe’ve also had
a chatwithIan‘8Pack’Parryaboutadvancedoverclocking, if
you’reintriguedaboutexperimentingfurther.
It’snotallaboutoverclockingthough.Thismonth, we also
caughtupwiththefolksattheFolding@homeproject about
itsCOVID-19research,andhowyourCPUandGPUcan be a
partofit (seep82).We’veevenresurrectedourFolding@home
statspageonp107,whereyoucangetyournameinthe mag by
foldingforourteam.
Meanwhile,onp88we’veexploredloadsofwaysyou can use
yourPCtoplaywithyourfriendsandfamilyonline,from first-
personshooterstoMMORPGSandpubquizzes,andRick Lane
hasprovidedsomeofhisonlinegamingrecommendations
onp88aswell.Wehopeyouenjoythisissueandgetsome
inspirationfromourideas.Staysafeand,if possible,enjoy
gettingthemostoutofyourPC.
Hobbyism@home
DESIGN
criticalmedia.co.uk
HEAD OF DESIGN
Lee Allen
DESIGNERS
Ty Logan
COMMERCIAL &
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custompc.co.uk/subscribeHALFLIFE:ALYXOURVERDICTONVALVE’SVRSHOOTERSPECCYEVOLVEDFULLZXSPECTRUMNEXTREVIEW- COVUSEFORWTHYOURMEDDFOLDING@HOME (^19) CALRESEARCHGAMINGRESEARCHPC
- SOC+ RACINGPLAYDURINGALWITHGAMLOCKDOWNWHEELSYOURNGFRIENDS
GROUPTEST
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COVD 19 R
RUNFMAKEFIUULNNULTETECOOLERYOURCPU
LEARNTHETHEORY
OVERCLOCKMAKEADVANCEDEXPERIMENTYOURTECHNWITHPCQUESFASTERFORFREE
HOWTO
OVERCLOCKMAKEYOURPCFASTERFORFREE
HOWTO
THEBESTSELLINGMAGFORPCHARDWAREOVERCLOCKNGGAMING&MODDING
ISSUE 202
SUBSCRIBERS
EDITION
ISSUE 202
EDITOR
BenHardwidge
[email protected]
@custompcmag
/ FROM THE EDITOR