WE’RE JUST GETTING STARTED

Welcome to our annual PC PowerPlay Hardware & Tech Special! Computex has come and gone for another year, leaving us with our annual hardware withdrawal symptoms. 2018 may not have been the biggest year in the PC world so far, but there’s still a lot of new and refreshed tech on the shelves. We eagerly await the arrival of the goodies we saw presented at Computex and the announcement of new Nvidia GeForce graphics cards later in the year. We were lucky to have a peek at some of the most gorgeous monitors we’ve ever seen and we’re waiting for them with the anticipation of a starving man eyeing off a burger.

Like last year, Computex seemed to lack an overall theme. This seems partly to be a consequence of big hardware manufacturers moving away from conducting major launches at Computex, perhaps in fear of having them drowned out amid the flood of news. That doesn’t mean that the show floor was not packed with items we want to own. Heck no! There’s always a tonne of those.

We’ve packed this issue with loads of tasty tech. We’ve got our massive Computex feature, a big M.2 SSD roundup, budget motherboards, and our guide to all things Mini-ITX. If you’re into SIM racing, be sure to check out Ben Mansill’s comprehensive guide. One day I’ll beat him at Project Cars 2. Maybe. We’re also proud to present our snapshots of the industry. We analyse where we’re at as well as look at what’s to come in the world of CPUs, GPUs, storage, motherboards, and monitors. It’s all here plus a whole lot more.

As always, a big thank you to you, our readers for your support. Please enjoy the 2018 edition of the PC PowerPlay Tech Special!

Chris Szewczyk Editor, Hardware & Tech Special