PREDICTING THE FUTURE ISN’T EASY, BUT WE LIKE A CHALLENGE
HUMANS LIKE to know what’s coming. Look back through history, and it’s littered with future-gazers, augurs, oracles, and prophets trying to guess what’s going to happen next. We like to think we’ve come a long way from casting bones and imbibing noxious substances in order to foresee what the gods have in store for us, but realistically, a lot of our divinations have just gone a bit more high tech.
Supercomputers may be the stuff of tech dreams, but much of the time, they’re trying to predict the future. From analyzing weather data to ascertain which way a storm is going, to trying to spot trends in the shares market, our greatest technological wonders are dedicated to trying to guess what’s going to happen next. We have whole industries built on trying to foretell the future, and as it underpins the money markets, this means it affects pretty much every other industry, too.
When it comes to our field of interest, knowing what’s around the corner can make a big difference to our purchasing and building decisions. If you’re aware that a new processor is on the way, you can hold off that build you’ve been planning until the reviews drop. The same goes for graphics cards, memory, SSDs, screens—you name it, if you know something bigger and better is on the horizon, it’s often worth waiting to see what sort of impact that will have before you start building.
We’re in a slightly better position than most soothsayers, because the tech industry likes trends, and there’s plenty of information around that shows exactly where things are going. We know, for example, that at some point we’re going to move to DDR5, PCIe 4.0, USB 3.2, and numerous other advances. That’s because a lot of the technologies we rely on are underpinned by welldocumented standards. But what of the specifics? Turn to page 24 to see what our crystal balls have thrown up.
While we’re in the mindset of trying to predict what’s going to be the next big thing, this issue we also take a look at the games that are lining up to keep the PC at the top of the pile. Whether you’re looking to play triple-A blockbusters or genre-shifting indie titles, you’ll find something of interest on page 48.
Our other big feature looks at where we are with solid-state drives. Prices have been tumbling to incredible levels recently, performance is better than ever, and as capacities increase, you can now legitimately build a PC that eschews spinning drives entirely. But there are still a few things you need to watch out for if you want to access the full potential of these drives, particularly when it comes to connecting several PCIe drives. Turn to page 36 to get the lowdown on what’s what in the brave new world of SSDs, and also discover what our recommendations are for adding storage to your own machines.