USE THE PS4 DUALSHOCK 4 CONTROLLER ON A PC
Knowing how to connect a PS4 controller to a PC is useful whether you’re a devoted PC gamer, a PS4 purist, or enjoy both mediums. It’s surprisingly easy, as the PlayStation 4 DualShock 4 controller and other PS4 controllers are compatible with most PCs. So, it’s worth knowing even if you don’t plan to play PlayStation games on your PC. Read the full article here: http://bit.ly/MPCPS4Control
ALTHOUGH WE CONSIDERED properly swapping out the motherboard in our AMD Budget build this issue, ASRock’s Phantom Gaming 4 remains the most affordable full-ATX scale B550 mobo on the market. Stock availability has seen it come off sale though, so we’ve made a slight swap over to the AC model, adding Wi-Fi to this machine. We’ve got a new chip too; high demand for the Ryzen 5 3600 has seen it jump in price, while a sale has made its big brother the 3600X actually come in cheaper. We’ve left the GPU as is: MSI’s RX 5600 XT is still the best-value version of the card.
The AMD build has been peeking at the Intel build’s notes, and is following suit with the same GeiL Evo Spear memory kit at a higher 3,000MHz frequency. Inexplicably, this kit is slightly cheaper than the 2,400MHz kit in the Intel system. Both systems now have upgraded SSDs too: Team Group’s GX2 model as opposed to the GX1 we were using previously, a newer iteration of the same SATA drive at the same capacity for a mere $2 more.
Although the Core i5-10600K and its ilk are now available, we’re holding off on upgrading our CPU in the Intel budget build until they’re at least a little bit cheaper. In the meantime, the pricing on our chip-mobo combo here remains steady, with no change at all from last issue. We were left with a slight price discrepancy between our builds here due to several parts from the AMD system climbing in price, so we’ve decided to spring for a little upgrade.
The upgrade in question? Well, we did contemplate jumping up from a 1660 Super to a 1660 Ti, but the performance improvement is negligible (less than 5fps in most games) for the price jump. Instead, we’ve opted for a new PSU: The CX450M from Corsair, a semi-modular power supply to help keep our system free from cable clutter. Even with this improvement, our Intel system is the cheaper machine this month. Both are still a lot more expensive than a new Xbox Series S, though… we’re saying nothing about that.
YOU’LL NOTICE ONE KEY DIFFERENCE in all of our Mid-range and Turbo builds this issue. When it comes to an operating system, you can purchase a single-use OEM key for Windows 10 Home for significantly less than the full OS price from Microsoft. Be careful to buy these from reputable sources, though.
On the hardware side of things, the ASRock Challenger D RX 5700 is no longer heavily discounted, so we’ve shifted over to MSI’s MECH OC model of the same GPU. It’s a bit more expensive, but still cheaper than the Challenger D currently. We’ve managed to save a bit of money elsewhere, swapping our Corsair Force MP600 SSD for Gigabyte’s new Aorus Gen4 M.2 drive, which keeps the same outrageous transfer speeds but costs 10 bucks less.
Corsair has been shunted aside in the memory department too, as the Vengeance LPX kit we were using has risen in price. To keep things level, we’ve changed it out for G.Skill’s Sniper X Series 2x8GB kit at the same frequency.
Somehow, the Intel Core i7-10700 is already on sale, and barely any more expensive than our previous 9700 chip. Oh, and you get a free copy of MarvelAvengers on PC if you buy one now. Intel Turbo Boost and Comet Lake microarchitecture means that this is a lean, mean, eight-core machine. We’ve paired it with a new MSI motherboard, the MPG Z490 Gaming Edge WiFi, which only costs five bucks more than the previous MSI Z390 mobo we were using.
We needed a new cooler for this LGA-1200 socket, so we’re back with Corsair’s reliable dual-fan A500 air cooler, still a quarter off its RRP at $75. Our Western Digital SSD has risen in price as well, so we’ve made the switch to the T-Force Cardea Zero Z330 to mitigate that somewhat. It’s also netted us an extra 12GB of storage over the WD drive, which is a nice little bonus. Both these systems are cheaper than last month, largely due to our switch over to Windows OEM keys.