connect lcd panel to pc psu site www.tomshardware.com supplier
As shared by @momomo_us on Twitter,(opens in new tab) ASRock has built a new accessory for PC builders that allows you to turn your PC chassis" side panel into an LCD monitor. The gadget is a 13.3" side panel kit designed to be tapped to the inside of your see-through side panel, giving users an additional display for monitoring system resources and temperatures or being used as a secondary monitor altogether.
The screen is a 16:9 aspect ratio 1080P IPS 60Hz display, measuring 13.3 inches diagonally. This screen is the equivalent of a laptop display. It uses the same connection method as laptops, featuring an embedded DisplayPort (eDP) connector.
Unfortunately, this represents a problem for most PC users. The connector was originally designed specifically for mobile, and embedded PC solutions, meaning the connector is not available on standard desktop motherboards or graphics cards.
As a result, only ASRock motherboards support the side panel, and only a few models at best, with less than ten motherboards featuring the eDP connector. The list includes the following motherboards: Z790 LiveMixer, Z790 Pro RS/D4, Z790M-ITX WiFi, Z790 Steel Legend WiFi, Z790 PG Lightning, Z790 Pro RS, Z790 PG Lightning/D4. H610M-ITX/eDP, and B650E PG-ITX WiFi.
Sadly adapters aren"t a solution either since eDP to DP (or any other display output) adapters don"t exist today. Furthermore, creating an adapter is problematic because eDP runs both power and video signals through a single cable.
It"s a shame this accessory won"t get mainstream popularity due to these compatibility issues. But for the few users with the correct motherboard, this side panel kit can provide a full secondary monitor that takes up no additional space on your desk. The only sacrifice you"ll make is blocking all the shiny RGB lighting inside your chassis.
You can never have have enough screens, even if some of them are inside of your case. Gigabyte"s new Aorus P1200W power supply features a full-color LCD screen, which can display custom text, pictures, GIFs, and even videos on its LCD screen. Yes, just imagine watching your favorite movies on the side of your PSU!
This isn"t the first time we"ve seen a power supply with a screen slapped on it. The ASUS ROG Thor has one, but it only displays power draw, not your favorite films. Of course, the more practical use case for a screen on a PSU is showing stats such as your fan speed or temperature.
Unfortunately, Gigabyte hasn"t listed the exact size or resolution of the screen nor do we know what its refresh rate will be. Could one even play games on it? I guess we"ll have to find out.
Designed to compete with the best power supplies, the P1200W features all of the bells and whistles most high-end power supplies come with: an 80-Plus Platinum rating, fully modular cables, 140mm fan, an input current of 15-7.5A, full-range input voltage, >16ms hold up time, active PFC, and Japanese capacitors.
The P1200W brings a lot in a small package, with one 24-pin and 10-pin connector, two CPU EPS-12v power connectors, six peripheral connectors, and six PCIe connectors, and of course, the LCD screen.
I have tried many ways to turn the monitor on but it does not work. Is it because of the motherboard or is it because of something else because everything that I brought are brand new. When plugging in the HDMI or a VGA to DVI port to the graphic card, the monitor doesn"t turn on and it said "no signal". Also, everything boost up and light comes up. I have tried many ways and read many threads that are related to this problem, but it seems that it does not help me in solving this issue. I m so desperate for this new computer, Please help me, PLEASEEE!!!!!
Cyber Monday and Black Friday are over, but new holiday deals are still popping up, and many of the existing deals remain. There are great savings on everything from CPUs, SSDs and graphics cards to laptops, monitors and 3D printers. Despite inflation, prices of PC hardware are on the way down, because of declining demand and a glut of flash memory and GPUs.
If it"s a PC component, a full system, a peripheral or a maker product, you can save a lot of money on it right now and in the days ahead. There are so many holiday tech promotions and it"s difficult to separate the hype from the actual bargains. Fortunately, we"re doing some legwork for you, combing through the best deals on hardware and highlighting them below.
Why you can trust Tom"s HardwareOur expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
We"ve checked all the best tech deals below to ensure they provide valuable savings and notable discounts. But if you see a product on sale and it"s one we haven"t covered, we recommend checking the price history and other vendors" prices on sites such as Google Shopping and PCPartPicker.
Amazon shoppers can use the website CamelCamelCamel and its Camelizer Chrome extension to see a product"s price history. This will give you an idea of the average price and whether or not the current offer is an actual deal.
The Logitech MX Master 3 is available for $60 off its recommended price. It connects wireless with a USB adapter and has 7 programmable buttons. This mouse can reach a speed as high as 4,000 DPI.
This excellent 48-inch 4K OLED monitor/TV with 120Hz Refresh Rate, 1ms (GTG) Response Time, HDMI 2.1, and support for FreeSync Premium has had an amazing $900 cut from its original price.
Just know that to get the last $200 off, you"ll have to deal with an old-school rebate (where you have to mail in the original UPC). Other features include 10-bit color / 98% DCI-P3 / 130% sRGB, and a KVM feature with USB Type-C to control multiple devices. Check out our Aorus FO48U review(opens in new tab) to see why we gave it our Editor"s choice award.
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G:now $127 at Amazon(opens in new tab)(was $259)The Ryzen 5 5600G is a six-core 12-thread APU with a 16MB L3 cache and a base clock of 3.9GHz able to boost to 4.4GHz. This chip contains integrated Radeon graphics with a TDP of 65W. The Wraith Stealth cooler is also included in this retail box.
The best mid-range CPU for gaming is now at a fantastic price. This processor offers 6 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores and up a boost clock of up to 4.9 GHz before you overclock it. It also supports DDR5 RAM and PCIe 5.0.
Alienware x15 R2 (RTX 3060):now $2,449 at Dell(opens in new tab)(was $2,749)This powerful configuration of Alienware"s x15 R2 gaming laptop features a 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, 16GB of DDR5 XMP RAM, and a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD.
This attractive case gives you a panoramic view of your build, thanks to tempered glass on three sides. It also has USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports and plenty of room for fans and components.
Monoprice Dark Matter 42770 (144 Hz 1080p, IPS, Edge-lit) now $169 at Newegg (was $249) Our favorite budget monitor to date, we found this 144 Hz VA panel delivers a wide color gamut, with excellent contrast, aided by edge-lit W-LED backlighting. It also supports FreeSync and G-Sync variable refresh.
This excellent 48-inch 4K OLED monitor/TV with 120Hz Refresh Rate, 1ms (GTG) Response Time, HDMI 2.1, and support for FreeSync Premium has had an amazing $900 cut from its original price.
Just know that to get the last $200 off, you"ll have to deal with an old-school rebate (where you have to mail in the original UPC). Other features include 10-bit color / 98% DCI-P3 / 130% sRGB, and a KVM feature with USB Type-C to control multiple devices. Check out our Aorus FO48U review(opens in new tab) to see why we gave it our Editor"s choice award.
Available at an all-time low price, our favorite monitor sports a 2560 x 1440 resolution. Operating at a speedy 144 Hz in FreeSync or G-Sync, this well-built display returns a contrast ratio over 3700 and covers 120 percent of the sRGB gamut.
Our favorite SSD thanks to its epic performance and superb power efficiency, the Samsung 980 Pro 1TB offers sequential read and write speeds of 7,000 and 5,100 MBps.
This config of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 Gaming Laptop has an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU and an RTX 3080 GPU. RAM sits at 16GB and storage at 1TB, plus this laptop has a 300 Hz IPS display.
This wired gaming mouse from Redragon is RGB backlit and has 9 buttons total that can be programmed. It has an adjustable speed that caps out at 8000 DPI.
Noctua NH-D15 CPU Cooler:now $99 at Amazon(opens in new tab)(was $142)(opens in new tab)The Noctua NH D15 CPU Cooler has a dual-tower design with six heat pipes and two fans providing great cooling performance for near-silent systems. It also supports Intel"s LGA1700 socket for Alder Lake CPUs.
The Z690 Aorus Ultra from Gigabyte is an LGA 1700 socketed motherboard that supports Intel"s 12th Generation Alder Lake CPUs and comes complete with PCIe 5.0, USB 3.2, and WiFi 6. This board also uses DDR5 RAM for superfast memory.
The LGA 1700 Z690 UD AX from Gigabyte has three M.2 sockets, PCIe 5.0, USB 3.2, Gen 2x2 type-C, Wi-Fi 6, and lots of thermal cooling on its VRMs. A feature-rich board for a great price whilst it"s on sale.
This 10th & 11th Gen Intel CPU-compatible motherboard packs plenty of I/O, Wi-Fi 6E, 2x PCI Express x16 slots, 6x SATA3 6.0Gb/s Connectors and 3x M.2 sockets — all in an affordable package. Save an additional 3% with promo code FBCFTT2.
The Logitech Brio 4K was the first 4K webcam on the market back when it first debuted in 2017. There are lots of 4K webcams now, but the Brio 4K is still a solid performer with good auto light correction, a 90 degree field of view, and 5x HD zoom. $135 isn"t the cheapest we"ve seen it, but it"s pretty close — and definitely cheaper than most 4K webcams.
The Razer Kiyo Pro is one of our favorite webcams, thanks to its excellent, flattering images and practically headset-level mic quality. It hasn"t been full price for a while, but right now it"s at its lowest price ever of just $87.99.
The Logitech G502 is one of the best gaming mice and it"s at the lowest price we"ve seen — just $89.99 at Amazon. This wireless gaming mouse packs Logitech"s Hero 25K sensor and premium features such as custom weights.
Logitech G413 TKL SE Mechanical Gaming Keyboard:now $49 at Amazon(opens in new tab)(was $69)The Logitech G413 TKL SE Mechanical Gaming Keyboard is a wired device with backlit keys. As the name suggests, it has a tenkeyless form factor so there is no numeric pad. The keys are mechanical with tactile switches.
The Razer BlackShark V2 Pro wireless headset usually costs around $179 but is discounted today to $119. It has 50mm, high-end sound drivers, with a frequency response range of 12 Hz up to 28,000 Hz. According to Razer, the battery can last up to 24 hours.
The Razer Viper Ultralight wired gaming mouse features a Razer 5G optical sensor with a speed of 20,000 DPI. It"s ambidextrous in design and connects using a wired connection. This is one of the best prices we"ve seen for the mouse since it was first released.
Logitech G502 Hero Wired Gaming Mouse:now $29 at Amazon(opens in new tab)(was $79)The Logitech G502 Hero is Logitech"s wired update to its classic Proteus Core mouse. Its optical sensor can reach 25,600 DPI and it has 11 customizable buttons with enough onboard memory to store 5 customization profiles. This mouse also uses mechanical switches, has 1 Lightsync RGB zone and has removable weights to customize its feel.
With a maximum DPI of 6,400, the Razer DeathAdder Essential Gaming mouse stands as a viable mid-tier gaming mouse. It has 5 programmable buttons that use mechanical switches. On the underside is an optical sensor.
Razer DeathAdder v2 Pro:now $67 at Amazon(opens in new tab)(was $129)The DeathAdder v2 Pro is on sale now at an impressive retail price. With a 20,000 DPI optical sensor and patented responsive switches, It’s a true king when it comes to FPS and RTS gaming.
For an industry that’s obsessed with RGB lighting, be quiet!’s Pure Base 500 provides a breath of fresh air for those not hooked on the latest trend. On sale for $85 / £80, this mid-tower chassis could rank as one of the best PC cases out there. It is available in three different color skus -- black, grey, and white -- with or without a window.
Out of the box, the Pure Base 500 looks slick. Those smooth folded corners on the front panel stop it from being just another black box. The front panel is made of ABS plastic with a faux-brushed-aluminum facade, but the rest of the chassis is made from a mixture of steel and tempered glass.
As for the front I/O, you get two USB 3.0 ports, separate microphone and headphone pass-throughs, a power button, and that’s it. Ideally, here in 2020, there would be a USB-C port here as well.
If you carefully pull from the bottom, you can remove the front panel. There’s no integrated RGB lighting or cables to worry about, and the panel itself is held in place via plastic pins.
Running down each edge and at the bottom of the panel are three rather thin dust filters. These have a one-inch gap between them and the front of the panel itself, giving your intake fans access to some much-needed airflow, and they can be removed for cleaning. Sound dampening material lines the front of the panel to help reduce unwanted noise.
Interestingly, be quiet! have opted for two layers of mesh with the front panel’s construction. One is the dust filter, and the other is built into the front panel itself, serving as an aesthetic feature rather than anything practical. This is likely to impede airflow intake. If you do run an AIO in the front of the chassis, we recommend you remove the dust filters entirely and rely solely on the single layer of mesh that’s permanently fixed to the panel.
To remove the tempered glass window, simply undo the four thumb screws located in each corner and lift the window off. The steel door on the right side is secured via two retainable thumb screws.
Similar to the front panel, right door is covered with sound-deadening material to help reduce any noise produced through vibrations. Note: This does reduce the amount of space you have for cable management.
Be quiet! ships two top dust filters in the box to utilize depending on your setup. You can either opt for the complete mesh variant -- ideal for those installing 2x140mm fans in the roof, or instead go for the more solid version with the triangular cut design in the rear if noise dampening is more of a concern.
Inside, there’s space in the front to mount up to a 360mm radiator, as well as an additional set of fans, as long as you remove the 3.5-inch hard drive cage below. In the roof, the Pure Base 500 also supports a slim 240mm AIO, and in the rear up to a 140mm AIO.
GPU clearance measures at 369mm (14.5 inches), and the Pure Base 500 will support CPU towers up to 190mm (7.4 inches) tall as well. PSU compatibility is also strong at 258mm, as long as you don’t opt for any bottom-mounted fans.
Another important feature is the cable management bar in the front. This doubles as a way of hiding your main 24-pin and front I/O or fan cables without the need for panel cutouts or rubber grommets. This bar also acts as an SSD mounting tray, too. Remove the cable bar from the case, pop off the be quiet! logo plate, install your SSDs with the ports facing towards the hole, reinstall back into the chassis, attach your cables, and then place the logo plate back into position.
It’s nice to see this option in a budget chassis like this. That said, the downside is that, with the SSD cables going through that center hole, it means your bottom-most SSD will be facing in a different orientation than the top one, so the label will be reversed or flipped.
The hard drive cage itself can also house an additional 2.5-inch drive in the top, and a further 2x 3.5-inch drives -- although not at the same time. To install the drives, you slide them in, align with the pre-drilled holes, and secure using the included screws. Pleasingly, the holes are surrounded by rubber on either side to reduce vibrations. The cage can also be removed in its entirety, if you prefer better airflow or a thicker front radiator.
Our first step was to install the motherboard -- complete with fans and memory. This acts as a good compatibility test, as installing your CPU tower onto the board outside of the case is far easier than the alternative. There were no major hiccups outside of a few of the stand-off screws not securing properly, which was easily rectified with alternative screws.
With the motherboard in, the power supply was next up. This attaches to a bracket, which then secures to the case via four thumbscrews. When using a modular PSU, install your cables to the power supply first, then attach the bracket, and slide it all into the case.
We then installed the cables, which unlike our recent review of the Lian Li Lancool II, went without a hitch; no fans needed to be removed and there was plenty of clearance to install the CPU power. When it comes to the 24-pin ATX power, it’s best to remove the cable/SSD bar before installing it.
After that, we installed our SSD onto the bar and resecured the bar into position. When it comes to attaching the cables for your SSD, it’s best to lay the case down on its side to get easier access -- and vision -- to the SSD ports.
Next, we installed the GPU and tidied up the rear cables. For our PCIe power, we opted to run the cables through one of the cutouts in the PSU cover that’s there for the front I/O connectors. Alternatively, you can run them directly through that PSU cover cutout to the right, near the hard drive cage -- which you can remove to allow for bigger radiators -- or behind the cable/SSD bar instead.
As for the space behind the motherboard, the Pure Base 500 comes with three velcro straps installed as standard for the 24-pin/fan cables. We opted to install an additional one at the bottom as well. Then we tidied the rest up by taking advantage of the empty space we’d created by removing the 3.5-inch hard drive cage. If we left that part installed, it would be more difficult to hide these cables. You’d have to rely on a lot more cable ties, as you’re already compromised for rear panel space, due to the additional sound-dampening material.
Overall, the build process was clean and simple. The Pure Base 500 is ideal for those starting a custom PC build for the first time. Not only is it affordable at $80, but it also packs in a lot of features and minor-but-appreciated details -- like the cable bar and the additional velcro straps -- that make building your new PC a cinch.
That said, the Pure Base 500’s stock configuration doesn’t lend itself well to good airflow. Those additional dust filters will likely hamper its performance, creating turbulence with the mesh lining the outside edges of the panel. If you’re taking advantage of an air-tower like ours is here, we’d recommend you remove the dust filters from the front panel, and move the 140mm Pure Wings 2 situated at the rear of the case to the front, to act as an additional intake instead.
I"m trying to make a budget build. I got everything assembled and in the case. When I power the computer on, all the case fans power on, as well as those for the CPU, GPU, and PSU, so I can only assume that those components are at least powering on. Everything looks fine to me, but when I connect a monitor, I get No Signal. I connected the motherboard speaker and powered on again, but there are no beeps whatsoever.
It is probably worth mentioning that this is the second computer I"ve ever built. The first went completely smoothly and I had no problems whatsoever. As such, I never needed to connect the motherboard speaker to check for problems, so I don"t have any idea what the beeps sound like. I would assume that I would have heard them distinctly if I held my head a few inches from the speaker when powering on, correct?
As an aside, would it have been smarter to go with a Core i3 build instead of AMD? It would have costed a little more but maybe it would have been a better idea?
■ Removed every single component and attachment from the motherboard except for the CPU, CPU fan, PSU, motherboard speaker, and power headers from the case. I powered it on again and still got no beeps.
■ The PSU is modular and came with a VGA cable, which I would presume is for the graphics card, correct? There is no place to attach any such cable to the GPU, so I just discarded the cable. That"s valid, right?
■ The CPU/fan did not come with thermal compound, so I just installed them without it. I figured this would be fine since the computer will only be used lightly. There"s no way that the CPU could, like, somehow detect the absence of thermal compound and subsequently not start, right?From what I"ve been reading, I"ve gathered that my only realistic option at this point is to replace each of the components, one at a time, with components from my current computer that I know are working. Is that really the only option I have left? I just wanted to make sure before I went ahead and did it because that would be a lot of work.
Also as I said before, I"m relatively new to building computers, so if you have any general advice for me about anything at all then by all means please throw it at me. I need all the help I can get.
Try hooking to another video display like a TV with HDMI in. Checks to make sure it"s not your monitor. (most likely not, but eliminating possible causes)
Disconnect the drives ( you won"t boot , but goal is to get display up and visible) Weird shorts or power delivery issue may cause failure here, so eliminate all odd possible causes)
Pull the graphics card, connect your display to the onboard graphics. Don"t forget to set the monitor"s input to the new input if your cable type changes and you know the monitor is good.. You may have to reset CMOS to get back to onboard intel graphics depending on how your MB handles that.
We"ve expanded this how to and it now includes sections on drawing shapes and objects to the display, how to convert bitmap images for OLED displays and how to animate images.
The Raspberry Pi Pico has no shortage of options when it comes to digital displays. We can use LCD screens, output to VGA / DVI or use bespoke screens such as the Pico Display or Pico Explorer Base’s IPS display. But sometimes we need a small, cheap option to get the job done. OLEDscreens such as the 0.96 inch model used in this tutorial, are trivial to use with MicroPython and they cost only a few bucks (or pounds) making them ideal for projects.
In this tutorial, we will learn how to connect an OLED screen to a Raspberry Pi Pico via the I2C interface, then we will install a MicroPython library via the Thonny editor and learn how to use it to write text to the display.
The OLED screen uses the I2C protocol to interface with the Raspberry Pi Pico. Which means that we only require.A Raspberry Pi Pico running MicroPython
1. From the machine library,import the Pin and I2C classes. These are used to communicate with the OLED screen, attached to the GPIO of the Pico.from machine import Pin, I2C
3. Create an object, i2c, which stores the I2C channel in use, in this case zero, the SDA and SCL pins that we are connected to, and finally the frequency at which we connect to the OLED screen.i2c=I2C(0,sda=Pin(0), scl=Pin(1), freq=400000)
4. Create an object, oled, which will be used to communicate with the OLED screen. It has three arguments, the width and height of the screen (128 x 64 pixels) and the I2C connection details.oled = SSD1306_I2C(128, 64, i2c)
7. Save and run your code. As with any Python script in Thonny, Click on File >> Save and save the file to your Raspberry Pi Pico as oled-test.py. When ready click on the Green play button to start the code and your text will appear on the OLED screen.
Simple shapes and lines can be drawn to the display with just a single command. Each of these commands will need oled.show() in order to be seen. Note that most of these methods have a color parameter but, with a monochrome screen, you’ll always put a color of “1” (0 means pixel off).oled.pixel(x,y,c): Draw a pixel at position x,y and uses c to set the color of the pixel, with 1 being lit, 0 being off. Example:oled.pixel(10,10,1)oled.hline(x,y,w,c):Draw a horizontal line from point x,y that has a set width (w) in pixels, and color ( c ). Example:oled.hline(2,3,4,1)oled.vline(x,y,h,c):Draw a vertical line from point x,y that has a set height (h) in pixels, and color ( c ). Example:oled.vline(0, 0, 64, 1)oled.line(x1,y1,x2,y2,1):Draw a diagonal line from points x1, y1 to x2, y2 with the color ( c ). Example:oled.line(0, 0, 128, 64, 1)oled.rect(x,y,w,h,c):Draw a rectangle starting at point x.y and for a set width (w) and height(h). Use ( c ) to set the color of the pixels. For example:oled.rect(0, 0, 64, 32, 1)oled.fill_rect(x,y,w,h,c): Draw a filled rectangle starting at point x.y and for a set width (w) and height(h) use ( c ) to set the color of the pixels. For example:oled.fill_rect(0, 0, 64, 32, 1)
2. Create a new object, TH which will store an array of bytes that make up our image. For now leave the contents of the array blank, we will fill in the blank later.i2c=I2C(0,sda=Pin(0), scl=Pin(1), freq=400000)
3. Create an object, FB, which will load the image into the framebuffer. We pass the name of the bytearray object, the dimensions of the image (64 x 64 pixels) and then configure the image to be a 1-bit monochrome image.fb = framebuf.FrameBuffer(TH,64,64, framebuf.MONO_HLSB)
4. Clear the screen, and then blit the image onto the screen. Then use show to update the screen. Blitting draws the image to the screen, in this case it places the 64 x 64 image dead center of the screen. Where 32 is the horizontal (x) position and 0 is the vertical (y) position.oled.fill(0)
Our object, TH, currently has no image to display. To create a bytearray of an image we first need a suitable image. The screen is 128 x 64 pixels in size, but an image 64 x 64 pixels will fit nicely into the center of the screen. The image must be in a JPEG format.
6. Save and run your code. As with any Python script in Thonny, Click on File >> Save and save the file to your Raspberry Pi Pico as oled-test.py. When ready click on the Green play button to start the code and your image will appear on the OLED screen.
Creating an animation with the OLED display is a matter of moving or changing objects to give the illusion of movement. In the above GIF you can see the Tom’s Hardware hammer, and logo scrolling across the screen. To achieve this we used two byte arrays, for the hammer (TH) and the logo (LOGO).
4. Create the TH bytearray. In there we store the bytes that make up the Tom’s Hardware hammer.TH = bytearray(b"\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00[P\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x03\xad\xec\x0f\x00\x00\x00\x00\rv\xb6\x1a\x80\x00\x00\x00\x16\xdb[m\x80\x00\x00\x00um\xb5\xb6\x80\x00\x00\x00[\xb5n\xdb\x00\x00\x00\x01\xadW\xb5m\x80\x00\x00\x01w\xed[\xb6\x80\x00\x00\x03\xa8\x1a\xec+\x00\x00\x00\x05@\x17P\x1d\x00\x00\x00\x0e\x00\r\xb0\x06\x80\x00\x00\x08\x00\n\xd0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x08\x00\x17`\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00@\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1f\xa0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\n\xd0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\r`\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x17\xb0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\n\xd0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1b`\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\r\xb0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x16\xa0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x0bp\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1d\xa0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\n\xd0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x17p\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1a\xa0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\r\xd0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x16\xb0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1b`\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\r\xb0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x16\xd0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1bp\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\r\xa8\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x16\xb0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1b`\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x15\xb0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1e\xd0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x13p\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1d\xa8\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x16\xb0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x15\xd0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1a\xb8\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x17`\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1a\xd8\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x17h\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1a\xb0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1d\xd8\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00+h\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x16\xb0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x1b\xd8\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x16`\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x0b\xa0\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00")
5. Create an object, FB, which will load the image into the framebuffer, then clear the screen. We pass the name of the bytearray object, the dimensions of the image (64 x 64 pixels) and then configure the image to be a 1-bit monochrome image.fb = framebuf.FrameBuffer(TH,64,64, framebuf.MONO_HLSB)
6. Use a for loop with a range from -64 to 128, to create a basic sliding animation for the hammer. The negative value hides the hammer to the left of the screen, slowly scrolling the hammer from left to right until it goes out of visible range. By changing the value of “i” inside oled.blit() we create the illusion of movement.for i in range(-64,128):
7. Create a new bytearray for the Tom’s Hardware logo.LOGO = bytearray(b"\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x01\x800\xc0\xc7\xf8~0\xc3\x0c\x1f\x87\xf8\x0c\x00\x00\x01\x800\xc1\xcf\xec\x7f0\xc7\x1c\x1f\xc7\xf8\x0c\x00\x00\x01\x800\xc1\xc1\x8ec\x99\xc6\x1c\x18\xe6\x00\x0c\x0c&`\x180\xc3\xe0\x06a\x99\xe6\x1e\x18f\x00\x1f>\x7f\xf8~0\xc3a\x8ea\x99\xe66\x18f\x00\x0cws\x98d?\xc3a\xbca\x99\xee6\x1f\xc7\xf0\x0ccs\x98`?\xc61\xb8a\x8f
8. Create an object, FB, which will load the image into the framebuffer, then clear the screen. We pass the name of the bytearray object, the dimensions of the image (128 x 64 pixels) and then configure the image to be a 1-bit monochrome image.fb = framebuf.FrameBuffer(LOGO,128,64, framebuf.MONO_HLSB)
9. The remaining code is largely the same as before, the only difference being the for loop range changes to -128 to 128 to accommodate the larger Tom’s Hardware logo scrolling across the screen.oled.fill(0)
Save and run your code. As with any Python script in Thonny, Click on File >> Save and save the file to your Raspberry Pi Pico as oled-test.py. When ready click on the Green play button to start the code and your animation will scroll across the OLED screen.
If you’ve ever needed remote access to a PC, you’ve probably tried VPN or other apps such as TeamViewer. However, this kind of software only works within the remote computer’s OS, which means that it can’t access the BIOS, reboot, install an operating system or power on the computer. There are several solutions that allow you to remote control a PC independently of its operating system, but using a KVM over IP is one of the most convenient and affordable.
While a store-bought KVM over IP device can cost hundreds of dollars, it’s easy to use a Raspberry Pi to create your own. A developer named Maxim Devaev designed his own system called Pi-KVM, which he is planning to sell as a $130 kit. However, if you have the right parts, you can use the software he’s developed and your Pi, to put it together for far less.
Below, we’ll show you how to build your own Raspberry Pi-powered KVM over IP that can output full HD video, control GPIO ports and USB relays, configure server power using ATX functions and more. You’ll be able to control the whole setup via a web browser from another device over the internet via TailScale VPN or on your local network.
The software you need for the Raspberry Pi is all contained on a custom disk image that you must download and burn to a microSD card. Here’s how to do that with Raspberry Pi Imager, but you can also use other burning software such as balenaEtcher.
1. Download thePi-KVM disk image. The first thing we will need is to download the ready made image from pikvm.org. Note that there are different versions, depending on which Pi you use and whether you use the HDMI-to-CSI bridge or an HDMI-to-USB capture dongle. The image file is in BZ2 format so you’ll need to uncompress it.
4. Select “Choose OS” -> “Use Custom”and locate the Pi-KVM image.Pick your microSD cardby clicking Choose SD Card. We will now “Choose SD Card”, make sure it’s the correct one you are choosing.
Now that we have finished burning the microSD Card, we can move on to installing the HDMI-to-CSI-2 bridge or USB-to-HDMI dongle and prepping the OTG USB-c cable
2. Disable the 5V pin on one of the USB Type-A male connectors from your splitter. The easiest way to do this is to place a small piece of Kapton tape over the right-most pin on the connector. You could also try cutting that leads to that pin, but that’s more complicated.
At this point we are ready to start using the Pi-KVM. On first boot it will take longer then expected due to the initial process for enlarging the microSD card so be patient and it will boot.
1. Locate your Raspberry Pi’s IP address. You can do this looking through your router’s control panel to see what devices are logged on, or by using a little method I like to do called ARP.
2. Navigate to the Pi’s IP addressin a browser on your client computer (the one you are using to control the other PC). You will be redirected you to your login page.
Pi-KVM is always getting new features so it’s important to keep the software up to date. Fortunately, you don’t need to reflash the microSD card. To update:
This is a very affordable way to build a very modern, very fast KVM over IP without the high cost. This software is also provided to you for free. There are more features that I have not covered in this tutorial such as VPN, Sharing network from your PI to PC, VNC and many more and if you wish to learn about it, visit the Pi-KVM github page or join the Discord.
Its no secret that Nvidia"s GeForce RTX 4090 will require some serious power supply hardware. It"s following in the footsteps of the RTX 3090 Ti, and we expect it will soon sit atop the GPU benchmarks hierarchy while also being the fastest of the best graphics cards. Still, Nvidia"s AIB (add-in board) partner"s have wildly varying PSU recommendations for their various RTX 4090 models.
Some AIBs follow Nvidia"s standard PSU recommendation of just 850W, but quite a few list 1000W as the recommended PSU capacity, and a few even go up to a staggering 1200W. We"ve referenced all of Nvidia"s partner cards below, mostly sticking with each AIB partner"s flagship card, to see just how far the companies are ready to push the RTX 4090 and Nvidia Ada Lovelace.
Starting with Asus, for its ROG Strix model, the company recommends a 1000W PSU. Asus does note that it assumes users will be overclocking both the CPU and GPU, which of course would increase potential power use. The recommendation ends up 150W higher than Nvidia"s reference Founders Edition. The same 1000W PSU recommendation can be found on Gigabyte"s Aorus Master and Zotac"s AMP Extreme/Trinity RTX 4090 graphics cards.
For MSI, PNY, Galax, and Inno3D"s flagship 4090 GPUs, all these models step down to Nvidia"s reference PSU recommendation of 850W. That"s probably more reasonable, though we"d caution against trying to use a cheaper 850W model — 80 Plus Gold or higher should be the minimum for this level of GPU.
But, the star of the show — or perhaps the supernova in this case — is Palit, with its RTX 4090 GameRock graphics card recommending a whopping 1200W PSU. That"s by far the most demanding spec we"ve ever see from any graphics card company so far, though quad-SLI GTX 980 Ti back in the day could use more power. That"s obviously with four GPUs instead of just one, however.
Palit neglected to share its reasoning behind the monstrous 1200W PSU recommendation, but it could be due to a number of reasons. It"s possible that with a test setup that includes a power hungry CPU like a Core i9-12900K, heavily overclocked, it might feel 1200W is warranted. Or maybe it"s based on what you might see from extreme cards like a Galax Hall of Fame (HOF). Except Palit also lists a TBP (Total Board Power) of just 450W on its cards.
This wide variety of power ranges can be confusing for consumers. Using the wrong PSU could create problems, and in a worst-case scenario, it might even result in a non-working system. It"s why PSU companies like to push things like 1550W power supplies(opens in new tab). But how much power do you really need?
Most of the RTX 4090 model"s referenced above are flagship GPUs designed to push the RTX 4090 GPU core as hard as possible, while staying within Nvidia"s strict power and thermal guidelines. These cards are designed to push the 4090 beyond its reference or "default" specifications. Usually this is done with overbuilt power delivery, very large coolers, and higher power limits. As a result, power requirements have to go up, and on a GPU that pulls 450W as a baseline, that could mean we"ll see RTX 4090 cards routinely pulling 500W or more.
Thankfully, almost all of Nvidia"s AIB partners have "normal" RTX 4090 SKUs available that stick to Nvidia"s reference power requirements and only recommend an 850W PSU. But its worth noting that PSU wattage isn"t the entire story.
Recommended wattages should be taken with a grain of salt, since they won"t apply to everyone"s personal rig. Some might have a Core i9-12900K overclocked to 5.5GHz that consumes over 300W of power at its peak; others might be running a Ryzen 7 5800X3D that consumes less than 100W of power while gaming. Meanwhile, a Core i9-10980XE with a full blown RAID 10 setup and 10 hard drives could consume gobs of power. All of these combinations result in different levels of PSU power, regardless of what the AIB partner suggests.
We might also be seeing an effort to reduce support calls by recommending significantly more PSU than what most people would actually need. A 450W card with a high-end CPU plus the rest of the system could easily breach 750W under load, which is likely where Nvidia gets its 850W recommendation. But not all 850W PSUs are created equal, so suggesting a 1000W or 1200W PSU gives a bit of breathing room.
And if you thought that wasn"t enough, there"s also the brand new ATX 3.0 power supply specification. These new power supplies are designed specifically with next-generation GPUs in mind, like the RTX 40-series. They should handle these super powerful GPUs and come with new technology standards to handle things like super large transient spikes. They should also be equipped with the new 12VHWPR connector that can provide up to 600W over a single cable — and incidentally also get rid of the nightmarish 4-tentacle octopus adapters(opens in new tab) that ship with the 4090 cards. (Seriously, just try making your cable management look nice with that adapter!)
In short, if you plan on shopping for a new RTX 4090 card next week, you"ll also want to have a good power supply. Anyone with the funds for a GPU that costs $1,600 or more shouldn"t have too much trouble picking up a $200–$300 power supply to go with it. Any of the best PSUs rated at 850W or higher ought to suffice, unless you"re running an HEDT platform (may it rest in peace).
We advise against constantly operating your PSU at maximum capacity, especially under high ambient temperatures. Besides lower efficiency, the unit will also suffer a dramatically reduced lifetime.
Without a doubt, the component that takes the most stress in a cryptocurrency mining rig is its power supply. Of course, when you choose to install multiple GPUs for mining, you have to complement them with a powerful PSU or use more than one power supply to deal with the load. Given lots of demand right now, you might find the highest-capacity models out of stock. While it might be tempting to use a lower-capacity PSU pushed closer to its limit, that can lead to catastrophic results, especially since mining rigs often operate unattended. It goes without saying that mining requires a high-quality and ultra-reliable power source. Capacity and PCIe connector count shouldn"t be the only factors that influence your purchasing decision. So, to help you pick the best PSU for your mining rig, we"re digging deep into our comprehensive database of benchmark results to identify the top models.
A mining PC"s PSU needs to have some specific features and specifications if it"s to survive the job you"re giving it. We"re going to use the requirements set forth by Cybenetics in its Mining-Ready PSU project as a foundation for our project.
We define home miners as folks dabbling in cryptocurrency mining on the side. They don"t want to spend a fortune building dedicated mining machines. Instead, they"re looking for something that"ll yield some profit and won"t cost much. The home miner"s rigs are running somewhere inside the house, subjected to reasonable ambient temperatures. Still, noise can"t be allowed to get out of control.
Below you"ll find our selections for the best PSUs for cryptocurrency mining, a list of our requirements and recommendations, details on the selected PSUs, and some benchmark numbers based on critical criteria. This page is for those mining at home; the following page is for professional mining.
If the PSU is certified by Cybenetics, it must have a LAMBDA-S++ (30-35 dB[A]) noise rating, at least. If it isn’t certified by Cybenetics, we will accept all entries that satisfy the other requirements on one condition: if the PSU is certified by Cybenetics in the future and doesn’t achieve a LAMBDA-B or better rating, it will be immediately removed from the list.
At least six 6+2 pin PCIe connectors on PSUs with up to 1.1kW capacity. For PSUs with over 1.1 kW capacity the number of minimum 6+2 pin PCIe connectors is eight and for PSUs with over 1.45 kW capacity the minimum is ten 6+2 pin PCIe connectors.
At least four 4-pin Molex connectors on two at least cables, in 1 kW and stronger PSUs, and six 4-pin Molex connectors in three or more cables for 1.45 kW and higher wattage PSUs. In case the PSU has more 6+2 pin PCIe connectors than the required, we are covered with four 4-pin Molex connectors regardless capacity.
For 1.4kW and stronger PSUs, a C19 coupler is required. An AC power cord with 14AWG wires should be used. For lower-capacity PSUs, an AC power cord with at least 16AWG wires is required.
Over 17ms hold-up time and an accurate power-good signal, which has to be at least 16ms. The power-good signal has to have at least a 1ms delay, dropping at least 1ms before the rails go out of spec.
Complete EMI filtering stage (minimum components: 4x Y caps, 2x X caps, two CM chokes, an MOV), along with inrush current protection (an NTC thermistor is required, which ideally should be supported by a bypass relay).
Impeccable build quality, including quality MOSFETs and high-quality bulk/filtering capacitors (105°C rating and a majority of filtering caps on the secondary side must have >4000h lifetime). The use of polymer caps on the secondary side is preferred.
In total, we have 15 requirements and five recommendations for PSUs used in home-based cryptocurrency mining PCs. The most important are the efficiency and build quality factors, along with capacity. Inside of a home, where this type of mining rig will operate, climate control maintains comfortable temperatures, so in most cases we accept FDB fans and their derivatives. These don"t have reliability issues below 35°C ambient. The fan does have to use a true FDB or high-quality rifle bearing, and not just a plain sleeve bearing. Those are the cheapest and most unreliable solutions for PSUs running 24/7.
Another recommendation is to use your PSU with 230V input whenever possible. Besides 1-2%-higher efficiency, this also reduces the amperage passing through the AC power cord by half. As a result, the cord endures much less stress. If you live in a region with 115V mains and can afford the installation of 230V sockets in your home, definitely use them for your mining ventures.
Their problem with the majority of failed PSUs has to do with the power-good signals that we measured, which are either lower than the ATX spec recommends or inaccurate (or both). Even in PSUs used for normal tasks, an inaccurate signal can prove fatal. So imagine what happens to your pricey graphics cards if the rails go out of spec and the PSU pretends everything is still good, rather than telling your motherboard to shut down immediately. Very low voltage levels will push the graphics card"s and motherboard"s DC-DC converters to their limits, potentially frying components. It"s a shame to see such high-end PSUs reporting fake power-good signals. Although they satisfy the rest of our requirements, we strongly advise against them.
With a longer hold-up time and an accurate power-good signal, the 1.5kW Toughpower would be ideal for a home mining system since it offers lots of capacity and 10 PCIe connectors on dedicated cables. If Thermaltake listens to our recommendations and fixes this unit, we will surely add it to our list. Cooler Master"s MasterWatt doesn"t fall short by much. Should the company rectify its shortcomings, it"ll only have to tune its power-good signal accordingly. The Enermax Platimax D.F 1200W is only a hair away from the power-ok signal"s requirement, however it only has six PCIe connectors which are too few for a PSU of such high capacity.
Disclaimer: Aris Mpitziopoulos is Tom"s Hardware"s PSU reviewer. He is also the Chief Testing Engineer of Cybenetics, and developed the Cybenetics certification methodologies apart from his role on Tom"s Hardware. Neither Tom"s Hardware nor its parent company, Purch Media, are financially involved with Cybenetics. Aris does not perform the actual certifications for Cybenetics.Round up of today"s best deals
It would be an understatement to say that PC gaming has seen a bit of a resurgence in the last few years, in spite of ongoing GPU supply issues and price gouging. So it"s not entirely surprising that when Valve announced the Steam Deck ($399 to start, $649 as tested), players jumped at the opportunity to play their favorite games on what appeared to be a high-quality handheld device. After all, previous handheld PCs like the Aya Neo aren"t exactly household names, and usually cost much more.
Following a hyped launch and one delay, it"s now time for the Steam Deck to start shipping. And having spent quite a bit of time with it, I think this thing is pretty great, even when it"s a bit wonky. As someone who started my life gaming on consoles before transitioning to being more platform agnostic, I find that the Steam Deck combines the simplicity I appreciate with the customization options I"ve learned to love. It also lets me play games however I"m comfortable playing them, much like the Nintendo Switch.
The build quality is strong and solid, and the anti-glare display is beautiful. I don"t think anyone will be surprised that the battery life isn"t stellar for most titles. But what will compel some people and shock others is how much of a PC this is. Some of that comes from the fact that Valve is still tinkering on the software side, and based on the improvements I"ve seen in my time with the device, I expect it to seem more fully baked soon. Yet it"s also due to the fact that there is so much you can change, and how there are little quirks you"ll have to live with or try to fix.
Most people don"t need a Steam Deck (not that you"ll be able to buy one easily for a long time, anyway), but many will enjoy it, despite any oddities. It"s good for single-player games, indies and for hobbyists who want to mess with Linux or install Windows.
Those who care most about playing their games on the go and are willing to sacrifice fidelity for the cause will be surprised just how much computer they"re getting here.
One note: We got to spend more time with the Steam Deck than we do with some other products, but that came with the caveat that the software was being finished up until release. We didn"t see any major performance changes as our testing progressed, but some features were still being worked on until the very end, and we may write more about those in updates to this review or in upcoming coverage.
Valve"s handheld is an imposing, black plastic machine, measuring 11.73 inches wide, 4.6 inches tall and 1.93 inches deep (298 x 117 x 49 mm). A standard Nintendo Switch is 9.4 x 4 x 0.5 inches, so this is far longer and thicker. Still it"s much smaller than the best gaming laptops.
The build quality is really solid here. Everything feels nice, with the exception of seams that go around the sides. This, however, lets you open the device, which we"ll get to later on. There are a handful of decorative lines that give it a bit of a gamer edge, but they"re tone-on tone and don"t stand out too much. A Valve logo is on the back of the system. There"s a significant bezel around the 7-inch touchscreen. In practice, it didn"t bother me much, but I wish it were smaller so Valve could have fit a slightly larger display in this chassis.
Valve has jammed a lot of inputs into a small space. There"s a D-Pad, two thumbsticks, A/B/X/Y buttons, a pair of trackpads with haptic feedback, as well as view and menu buttons for games and "Steam" and a "..." options button for Steam OS (these two buttons appear to have pad printed legends, which is one of a very few areas about this thing that feels cheap). On the rear, there are four more buttons you can hit with your fingers, like you can see on many controllers aimed at gamers playing FPS titles who don"t want to take their thumbs off the sticks. Additionally, you get standard bumpers and triggers.
The D-pad is next to the left thumb stick, and the A/B/X/Y buttons are to the right of the right stick. This is very unlike what has been popularized by Xbox and PlayStation, but it does work. I"m 5 feet, 8 inches tall and have fairly average-sized hands. For those with smaller hands, I could see an issue where you may have to stretch to reach both the thumbsticks and triggers. One such small-handed person in my life told me they felt they were using their "full wingspan" to get their hands around it.
When you first pick the Deck up, you"ll notice how hefty it feels. It weighs just under 1.5 pounds, which is a lot compared to the Switch, which is about 0.88 pounds. But the Steam Deck has far more powerful hardware packed in.
At first, I did worry about the weight. But as I used it, I rarely had an issue with it. Yes, it"s heavier than the Switch I played hours of Stardew Valleyon, but my hands weren"t cramping up after several hours of games I"ve been bouncing between, like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ace Attorney Chronicles.
I have to say, I love the inputs. The thumbsticks feel excellent: smooth with just a bit of heft. Most controllers do eventually drift, but the fact that these feel solid gives me the impression that they will last a while. The D-Pad, too, feels excellent, and I"m pretty picky about these things. I think some people might wish it were a bit larger, but there"s just the right amount of resistance and click.
The A/B/X/Y buttons are a bit softer than on my go-to Xbox wireless controllers and make far less noise. That lack of a click felt a bit odd at first, but I grew to appreciate the buttons quietly popping up immediately so I could mash them down again.
The haptic feedback on the touchpads is, frankly, weak. I mostly used the touchpads in games where a mouse would be better than a joystick (or as the mouse on the KDE Plasma desktop), but at least it gave me a small sense of where the cursor was moving. Still, the touchpads work great as a mouse replacement in games like Civilization VI, which was surprisingly playable on the Steam Deck.
Those two Steam OS-focused buttons are inset with the rest of the chassis. This makes it extremely unlikely that you"ll press them by accident during gameplay, but I found that it also made them harder to access than they should be when you need them. They require a much harder press than anything else on the system. Start strengthening those thumbs.
There are very few ports on the Steam Deck. Most of them are located along the top. There"s a 3.5 mm headphone jack next to the volume buttons, and then an all-important USB Type-C port next to the power button. This USB-C port is used for charging (a 45 watt charger is included), but this is a computer, so you can also use USB hubs to connect keyboards and mice or external storage.
On the bottom of the Steam Deck, there"s a microSD card slot. For the 64GB configuration, this UHS-I slot is going to be a must-have for quick and easy expandability.
Occasionally, I used the Deck with a powered USB-C hub to use a mouse and keyboard. Valve says an official Dock is coming in the spring, but right now, that doesn"t help. I wish the Steam Deck had a kickstand built in so that it could be used with controllers or other peripherals anywhere. For now, you may have to turn to the 3D printing community.
The Steam Deck is running on a custom AMD Zen 2 "Van Gogh" APU that the company has dubbed "Aerith." The CPU has four cores and eight threads, with a base clock of 2.4 GHz and a boost clock up to 3.5 GHz. It also has 8 RDNA 2-based compute units.
That"s all paired with 16GB of LPPDR5 RAM. Storage comes in three variations: 64GB of eMMC, which is likely to be quite slow, a 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD, or, in our review unit, a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD.
The potential library of games on Steam is massive, and over the coming months, a lot of people are going to tweak their favorite games to find out how they play. To test the Steam Deck, I played some games on my own, but I also ran some benchmarks.
Those tests were a mix of the ones we run on gaming laptops and desktops, as well as some games from my personal library. But because we"re trying to find out how Steam Deck runs games in different ways, we ran most of them at multiple settings. In each case, we ran the benchmark at the Steam Deck"s native resolution of 1280 x 800, though I imagine some gamers may see bumping down to 720p (1280 x 720) in the hopes of saving a few frames.
Additionally, we wanted to see if there was a noticeable difference between installing a game on the SSD or an SD card, so we ran the benchmarks again off the external storage. The SD card we used in this test was a 512GB SanDisk Extreme(opens in new tab). Your results may vary on other memory cards.
One other note: the weekend prior to the review embargo, Valve implemented a change to SteamOS. Specifically, it created a toggle that, when turned on, caps frame rates at 30 frames per second (fps) and, when flipped off, tops out at 60 fps. VSync was also turned on at the system level, ignoring game settings. Valve told Tom"s Hardware it intends on implementing a more granular slider and the ability to turn VSync off. We have chosen to publish benchmark numbers from tests we ran prior to the implementation, which should give a more accurate showing of what the Steam Deck can do when not tied down. Note that frame rates above 60 fps, when retested, dropped to the cap. Others, however, remained largely unchanged.
First up was Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which has a native Linux version. As of our testing, Steam marked it as "Playable." For this game, we turned off anti-aliasing, but otherwise used the game"s normal graphics presets. On the "Lowest" preset, the game ran at an average of over 63 frames per second, passing just about anyone"s bare minimum for playability. You could even boost it up to low (54 fps) or medium (42 fps on SSD) for a slightly better picture. Even on the highest preset, it ran at 38 fps. I have to imagine that part of why this game performed so well is that it runs on Linux, and doesn"t have to go through the Proton compatibility layer.
I"ve been playing a lot of Guardians of the Galaxy recently, and it happens to have a built-in benchmark. That runs through the Proton compatibility layer (as do the rest of our games, and the majority of games on Steam). On low, it played at 32 frames per second, and at its medium preset the game only lost one frame, but had far lower minimum frames, effectively rendering it unplayable.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of our more punishing benchmarks, so I ran it using Vulkan with every setting as low as it goes. (Additionally, the presets are specific to your hardware.) The game played at an average of 49 frames per second off the SSD and 50 fps of the SD card, a negligible difference.
Borderlands 3 was also extremely playable by its benchmark"s metrics. It was just shy of 60 frames per second on the very low preset, dropping to 51 fps on the low preset and 42 fps at medium. Jumping to high, however, was unplayable at an average of 28 fps.
Of the games we benchmarked, Horizon Zero Dawn is the only one that"s fully Steam Deck verified. On the "Favor Performance" preset, it ran at 48 frames per second, and it reached 40 fps on the "Original" preset designed to emulate the PlayStation 4 version. At "Favor Quality," it reached 35 frames per second, but at "Ultimate Quality," even with a 30 fps average, too many frames ran below that to recommend it.
Civilization VI showed well across its various presets on the Steam Deck. It"s marked playable on the Steam Deck, but even though there"s a native Linux version of the game, you have to force it to use Proton to work, so these numbers are through the compatibility layer.
You may notice from our charts that running games off of the SD card proved effectively identical as playing the game from the built-in SSD. In the few cases where there was a difference, they were actually in the SD card"s favor, although only by a single frame or so. If I didn"t run these tests myself, I wouldn"t believe it, but here we are. Anecdotally, I did find that some initial loading times were longer off the SD card, but these numbers suggest that you shouldn"t worry about getting some external storage, though again, ours was quite fast.
Valve suggested to me that people underestimate SD card read speeds, though write speeds are an issue. The company has made it so whichever drive is playing games won"t see background downloads to avoid them reading and writing at the same time, which could slow down gaming. Valve devs also suggested that many current games don"t use SSDs to their full potential. I"m curious
Ms.Josey 
Ms.Josey