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Tools of the trade: I upgraded my gaming PC with a 420mm Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 AiO and vertical GPU mount, and now it looks incredible

by admin October 6, 2025

With Battlefield 6 on the horizon – plus plenty of Borderlands 4, MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries and Hades 2 to play – I wanted to upgrade my AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and RTX 4090 Founders Edition gaming PC to better cope with these demanding titles.

The goal here is to improve temperatures, reduce fan noise and maybe make things look a little nicer, so I’ll be swapping the (admittedly chonky) 240mm AiO liquid cooler I currently have installed for a massive 420mm unit from Arctic. With more surface area and larger fans, I should be able to run the fans at lower speeds while still achieving much better cooling performance in these and other CPU-heavy games.

I set aside Friday morning to make the swap, and the results exceeded my expectations. I’ll share what I learned, why I made the choices I did, and also discuss the titanic Havn HS 420 VGPU case that I’ve been using for the past six months.

Part one: Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 Pro RGB install and mini review

I’ve been relatively happy with the Hyte Thicc Q60 240mm AiO CPU cooler I’ve been using for the past few months, with its pleasant black/white colour scheme and surprisingly good thermal performance for its size, but it does have some flaws. First, the display screen attached to the CPU block made it impossible for me to vertically mount my graphics card, as it hung down too far below the CPU socket.

More critically though, despite its incredibly thick radiators, it’s still limited by its dual 120mm fans, which need to spin relatively fast to push enough air through the thick rad. By replacing this unit with a (remarkably, around $100 cheaper) 420mm Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 Pro RGB AiO with three wider 140mm fans, I ought to be able to hit similar or even lower temperatures while running the fans significantly slower, cutting down on noise.

Here’s how my work PC looked before I started this project, with the Hyte Thicc Q60 240mm AiO installed. I dig the white/black colour scheme, but fan noise was relatively high. | Image credit: Eurogamer

Removing the Thicc Q60 was straightforward in the Havn HS 420 VGPU, as the case provides easy access to both sides of the computer and has clearly marked apertures for cable routing. The Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 Pro RGB (hereafter “new CPU cooler”) also has a relatively thick 38mm radiator, so rather than mounting it on the side access panel as I did with the Q60, I’ll be installing it at the top of the case and replacing the storage covers to cover the empty gap. A top placement also ensures that the pump on the CPU block is below the level of the radiator, which is generally good practice.

Installing the Arctic cooler was easy, with the fans installed on the block out of the box in the top-exhaust configuration that I wanted. The only real struggle I had with the new CPU cooler was deciding on which way up it should go. Initially, I wanted to install it with the Arctic logo on the included magnetically-attached CPU block fan the right way up, but this meant that the tubes were at the bottom and they interfered with the vertical GPU mount. In the end, I decided to sacrifice the aesthetics and live with the upside-down wordmark.

Here’s the Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 Pro A-RGB install, starting with the CPU block installed the right way up, then later upside-down to accommodate the vertical GPU mount. | Image credit: Eurogamer

With the new CPU cooler installed, I noted significantly lower CPU and GPU temperatures, with both sitting around 60 degrees celsius in Borderlands 4 (with around 50 percent load on the 9800X3D and 95 percent load on the RTX 4090), versus around 65-70 celsius CPU temperatures with the old setup. Even at maximum load – eg compiling shaders in Borderlands 4, a heavy all-core task that can last several minutes – the fans never ramped up to their maximum speed as they did before.

As well as the boost to performance, I appreciated the lack of a display on the CPU block, as it meant that the entire system only requires a single fan header and a single A-RGB header to run four fans. The last few high-end AiOs I’ve used from Hyte, Asus and NZXT have included displays, requiring a PCIe or SATA power connector and USB 2.0 connections, so going back to a simpler system was an unexpected relief.

Part two: vertical GPU swap

Moving from a traditional horizontal GPU mount to a vertical one provides a bit of an aesthetic boost, and for a large GPU like the RTX 4090 FE I’m using here, an extra sense of stability as well.

There’s plenty of space here between the RTX 4090 FE and the side of the case, which is always a worry for vertical GPU setups. | Image credit: Eurogamer

The Havn HS 420 VGPU case is designed for this, and therefore includes an extra assembly that replaces the usual PCIe slots and provides a PCIe 4.0 riser cable. The downside is a more complicated install process and blocking access to your extra PCIe ports, but given the rarity of second graphics cards or other add-in cards, that’s probably a trade most builders would be quite happy to make.

I found it easiest to install the 4090 into the vertical assembly first, then install the whole deal into the case. That makes pushing in the PCIe riser cable a tad tricky, but means that the graphics card itself doesn’t risk being damaged when you’re trying to pop it into the PCIe socket. Here, the bracket is secured with two thumb screws quite close to the glass window, so it’s easy enough to hold the assembly in place with one hand and secure it with the other.

The goal with vertical GPU placement is to make sure there’s a good amount of space between the card and the glass, so that hot air leaving the card has a chance to be directed away (in this case, by the three fans below). There’s a good two or three inches between the GPU and the side glass here, so that’s good enough for me.

I’m probably still paying a slight performance penalty for using a vertical GPU orientation, but one that I’m happy enough with given the very modest temperatures at full burn in-game.

Part three: Havn HS 420 VGPU long-term review

The £200/$230 Havn HS 420 is a fascinating high-end PC case that offers quite unusual features and a plethora of fan setups, and I’ve found it every bit as performant and sensibly arranged as the Corsair 9000D I was using before. You have more than enough space here for a full-size ATX board with a huge amount of SATA storage and a 420mm AiO, and this ought to hold it in good stead for custom water cooling as well. There’s even a bit of extra glass included in the box to virtually divide the CPU and GPU areas of the case, though I didn’t end up using it.

I particularly like the aesthetics of the case, with the rounded motif replicated across the top I/O (USB-C, two USB-A, 3.5mm) and power button, the various air inlets in the base and lid, the unusual circular rear fan mounts and so on. The white case works well with the white RAM, white Arctic P14 Pro fans and white Arctic Liquid Freezer 3 Pro A-RGB AiO cooler, and I only wish that I had a white motherboard and graphics card to complete the look.

A great-looking case, with plenty of well-designed space in the rear for accommodating cable clutter, removable frames for AiO installation and a consistent rounded aesthetic for various elements. | Image credit: Eurogamer

The curved glass used for the front and side of the case is also truly impressive, with a well-engineered system that slides it out before releasing it. I’m not such a huge fan of the small screws used to secure each side, as there’s no good place to store these if you want to leave the system in a state where it’s easy to pull apart for maintenance, upgrades or cleaning, and consequently I’ve lost them. However, at least with them removed, it’s easy enough to access each of the dust filters.

In terms of cable routing, the rear of the case provides a useful amount of space, all cable routes are clearly labelled, and there’s a surplus of tie points and so on. Installing fans and radiators is also made easier by the fact that each of the main sections (top, side, bottom) have removable frames, so you can install the rads/fans onto the frame outside of the case, then re-insert the frames.

Overall, it’s not the quietest or coolest case that I’ve ever used – I suspect that I may want to explore alternative fan arrangements, reduce fan RPMs further and/or use extra fans in the side intake to keep CPU temperatures even lower – but that’s OK. The Havn HS 420 VGPU is still comfortably the best-designed PC case I’ve tested, with great aesthetics and streamlined build experience, and I’d happily recommend it.

What I’ve learned, and what’s next

I’m happy with my redesigned gaming PC for now, but it’ll be interesting to see how it fares with next-gen graphics cards when they arrive down the line – especially if they again see an uptick in power consumption and therefore waste heat production. For the more imminent future, I’m planning to upgrade to a 9950X3D, which ought to produce a little more heat on the CPU side and therefore allow me to fully tune the fans to deal with worst-case scenarios.

I’m also curious to hear your comments and suggestions – should I turn around one of the rear fans as an exhaust, as I’ve seen elsewhere online? Add side intake fans? Get in touch with a company that will supply a white graphics card and motherboard? Clean up my cable mess? Some of these are possible, so do get in touch via the comments below or via Bluesky.

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October 6, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Lenovo Gaming Laptop (40GB DDR5 RAM, Ryzen 5, 1TB) Is 62% Off, Amazon Is Cleaning House Like Never Before

by admin October 5, 2025

Gaming laptops usually come at high prices, and for anything decent in the market below $1,500, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. These systems have powerful hardware to support demanding games and creative tasks and that’s why they’re normally that costly. But if you need the best of everything without wasting your savings, Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days is the place to make it happen.

This Lenovo gaming laptop that is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS processor, 40GB DDR5 RAM, and 1TB PCIe SSD is literally amazing today: It was lowered from its regular price of $1,699 to only $649, translating to a massive 62% off and setting an all-time low for the configuration.

See at Amazon

Gaming That Challenges Higher-End Machines in Performance

The AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS processor is the power behind this laptop’s fantasstic performance. With 6 cores and 12 threads running at 3.3GHz base clocks that turbo up to 4.55GHz, this chip edges ahead of Intel’s i7-11800H in several use cases. What does it mean for you? High-definition video editing becomes doable instead of infuriating, programming development environments launch and respond quickly even with multiple programs launched at once and tasks such as rendering in interior design or 3D modeling become doable. The 3MB L2 cache and 16MB L3 cache enable the processor to quickly call up frequently used data and minimize lag when you’re in the middle of intense multitasking sessions.

Complementing this processor is 40GB of DDR5 SDRAM which is a huge improvement from previous DDR4 technology. DDR5 is faster for data transfer and more efficient with power so your laptop stays cooler and more quickly processes information. With 40GB readily available, you can use memory-intensive programs such as Adobe Premiere, Photoshop, or several virtual machines and never see slowdowns. Chrome users who have dozens of tabs up will love never again confronting that nasty “page unresponsive” message. The 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD is storage that is blazingly fast, boots Windows in seconds, loads games near-instantly, and leaves you plenty of space for your entire game library.

The 15.3-inch display provides 1920×1200 resolution for a little more vertical screen real estate compared to typical Full HD displays. This additional vertical screen real estate is priceless when editing documents. Color accuracy is ensured from wide viewing angles with the IPS panel and you work just fine in brightly lit rooms or in front of windows due to the 300 nits brightness rating. Eye strain is lessened during long gaming sessions or working marathons with the anti-glare finish. With 45% NTSC color gamut coverage and a refresh rate of 60Hz, the display navigates daily gaming effortlessly. Casual to intense gaming, esports games, and creative programs are taken in their stride by the built-in AMD Radeon 660M processor.

Port selection accounts for all contingencies: two USB-A ports functioning at USB 3.2 Gen 1 levels (5Gbps) for the traditional accessories, one USB-C that doubles for both USB Power Delivery 3.0 for fast charging and DisplayPort 1.2 for attaching high-resolution external displays, an HDMI 1.4 for more display connections, a headphone jack for audio equipment and an SD card slot for speedy file imports from cameras.

Windows 11 Professional is backed up by enterprise-grade features such as BitLocker encryption and remote desktop, while the built-in Copilot AI PC feature is your intelligent aide available from its dedicated keyboard shortcut. There is even a 720p HD camera that has a privacy shutter for users who value their security.

With this Prime Day deal on Amazon, you’re getting gaming-level performance at a cost below that of the majority of business budget laptops.

See at Amazon

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October 5, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Ditch Your iPad, Amazon’s New Gaming Tablet at 40% Off Is Flying Off the Shelves

by admin October 4, 2025

Gaming on tablets has exploded in popularity, with more players discovering that pairing a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi controller with a portable screen creates an incredibly flexible gaming setup. The problem? A decent iPad Pro will set you back $800, and even the base iPad hovers around $400. If you’re looking for a capable tablet experience without the Apple tax, Amazon’s Fire Max 11 represents the company’s most powerful tablet to date, and it’s currently hitting an all-time low at $139, down from $229 (64GB model, with lockscreen ads). This is the newest model in Amazon’s lineup, and seeing it drop 39% during Prime Big Deal Days makes it an accessible entry point for streaming and casual gaming.

See at Amazon

Fire Max 11 is all about its huge 11-inch screen, packing 2.4 million pixels into a 2000 x 1200 screen. That means text is readable enough to read ebooks or browse web pages, with videos and games benefitting from clear detail that does not force you to squint at blurry images. The screen is blue light low emission certified, which is something that stops eye strain when viewing for extended periods.

Performance That Keeps Up With Your Entertainment

Underneath the aluminum shell is an octa-core processor and 4 GB of RAM to offer a seamless experience for multitasking scenarios like keeping multiple browser tabs open while streaming background music. The eight cores divide the load evenly and never permits stuttering and lag that plagues lower-end tablets when jumping between applications. Wi-Fi 6 connectivity offers quicker data transfer rates and improved performance in busy network conditions so you can stream 1080p content on the couch even while family members are bandwidth-thirsty on their own devices.

The build quality of the tablet is a balance of portability and ruggedness through the aluminum frame and reinforced glass display. Amazon states it’s three times more durable than the iPad 10.9-inch in tumble tests which involve dropping the tablet repeatedly from specific heights onto hard surfaces.

Battery life is 14 hours of continuous use, or a couple days’ worth of normal usage patterns if you’re not watching a whole season in one sitting. You get 64 GB of storage built-in at this price point, and you can expand capacity to 1 TB with a microSD card.

The stylus pen and keyboard case option turn the Fire Max 11 into a productivity tablet able to do email, note taking and document editing. The tablet includes a three-month trial of Microsoft 365 Personal so you can use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with full cloud syncing across all your devices. The 8 MP front camera provides excellent video quality when using Zoom calls, so it’s perfect for remote work or keeping in touch with distant family members.

This is a great value for budget-minded customers who want current features without premium prices, make sure you don’t miss that Prime Day deal on Amazon.

See at Amazon

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October 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

If Gaming Is in Your DNA, This Samsung G9 49″ OLED Curved Monitor Is $700+ Off on Amazon

by admin October 3, 2025

Dual monitors are yesterday’s setup. Triple monitor arrays look impressive but waste desk space and demand GPU resources just to manage bezels. The real power move is one massive ultrawide that replaces everything while delivering an experience no multi-monitor rig can match. Samsung’s 49-inch Odyssey OLED G93SC solves the fundamental problem gamers face: you need maximum screen real estate, perfect image quality, and response times fast enough to matter in competitive play. This isn’t a compromise solution: It’s the endgame display that removes every excuse between you and peak performance. Right now it’s dropped to $879 from its typical $1,599 price on Amazon, a 45 percent discount that brings premium QD-OLED technology within reach of gamers.

See at Amazon

The 49-inch curved display has 5120×1440 resolution which provides the equivalent of two 27-inch QHD monitors side-by-side without bezel interruption. That 32:9 aspect ratio dramatically reimagines the experience of games. Racing simulations wrap around your peripheral vision with opponents on each side of you simultaneously. First-person shooters give you situational awareness that is cheating-like, with flanking enemies in sight earlier than players in ordinary displays.

Gamers Will Love It

Quantum Dot OLED is the current leader in display technology, combining OLED’s perfect blacks and infinite contrast with quantum dot color and brightness. Elder LCD screens have bleeder backlights that bleed through black areas, warping shadows and hiding enemies in the shadows. QD-OLED pixels are emitting and can be completely turned off and produce actual blacks with no light bleed. DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification means you can see into deep, rich darks but still have great highlights, so you’ll notice movement in dark corridors that other players just can’t spot on their lower-end panels.

The 0.03ms gray-to-gray response time is essentially click-by-click. For context, the majority of gaming monitors market 1ms response time, and a lot of LCD panels fail to even get close to actually providing that figure. This OLED screen responds 33 times faster and removes motion blur and ghosting even during high-speed camera pans or acrobatic action scenes. Combined with the 240Hz refresh rate, you get 240 separate frames per second with each frame gliding into the next. HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort inputs provide this bandwidth in full so your GPU can send frames at full speed without disruption.

G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro support guarantee the monitor works with both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards, synchronizing the refresh rate of the panel with the output from your GPU in frames. This eliminates screen tearing, stutter and input lag and produces smooth motion even when frame rates are changing during fast motion scenes.

The slim build is just 4.5mm thick at its thinnest, with a premium metal finish that feels expensive sitting on your desk. The height-adjustable stand means you can position the gigantic screen at perfect eye level, and the USB hub makes it simple to plug in peripherals without reaching behind to your PC.

At $879, this is the cheapest way to get into premium ultrawide QD-OLED gaming. This monitor normally retails for $1,599, and other ultrawides with such specs cost even more.

See at Amazon

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October 3, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

This early Prime Day deal has MSI’s gorgeous 34-inch curved ultrawide QD-OLED gaming monitor dropping to $649 at Amazon

by admin October 3, 2025

If you want to view the output from your PC and its accompanying graphics card in fine detail, then you need to splash out on a quality monitor. Depending on your priority, whether it’s working on photo imagery or video, or for pure gaming, you go for the specs that suit your use case the best. In some of these early Amazon Prime Big Deals Day deals, there are some great discounts on popular monitor brands. Today, we have a deal on one of MSI’s fantastic QD-OLED gaming monitors, which will make your games pop, with inky blacks and eye-popping colors.

The MSI MAG 341CQP gaming monitor is on sale for $649 at Amazon, one of its lowest prices in recent history. With its large 34-inch ultrawide display and impressive specifications, this is a luxury gaming monitor for serious gamers who want to experience the best visuals on a QD-OLED panel. This monitor deal is also available directly from MSI, should they sell out quickly on Amazon.

The MAG 341CQP spans 34 inches diagonally and features a QD-OLED panel with an 1800R curvature to wrap around the periphery of your vision. It has an original list price of $899.99, but prices have fluctuated between an all-time low of $575.99 in November 2024, to $780 in May of this year (according to CamelCamelCamel). Currently, it’s discounted to a much more palatable price in this deal.

The MSI MAG 341CQP’s display features support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, handy for reducing screen tearing and frame refresh rate issues. The large 34-inch screen has a 21:9 aspect ratio and sharp 3440×1440 (UWQHD) pixel resolution. The refresh rate can go up to 175Hz. A QD-OLED panel means not only excellent contrast, but also super-low response times of around 0.03ms.

It also supports DisplayHDR True Black 400 and has a good selection of ports for video input. You can take advantage of two HDMI 2.1 inputs and one DisplayPort 1.4a port. It also works as a USB hub, with a built-in KVM. Two USB 2.0 Type-A ports, one USB 2.0 Type-B port, and a Type-C port with 15W charging. A 3.5mm audio jack is also included.

The monitor comes with a 3-year manufacturer’s warranty from MSI, including coverage for OLED burn-in.

If you’re looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, or CPU Deals pages.

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October 3, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Nearly a third of all gaming PCs are still running Windows 10, even as Microsoft prepare to kill it

by admin October 3, 2025

It must have been a stressful few days for Microsoft. Game Pass changes nobody likes, admitting the first Xbox-branded handheld costs a thousand bucks, having to tell the Israeli military that they need to see other people. Yeesh. No wonder they’re so intent on blowing off steam by taking a scythe to Windows 10 security updates this month, a move that will effectively end official support for the operating system.

With previous Windows version cutoffs, this would have been standard circle-of-life stuff. One system perishes, another is nourished with its bone meal. Except Windows 10 remains in use by millions of PC owners and players, mere days before its scheduled slaying on October 14th.

The exact proportion depends on who you ask, but it’s always a chunky one. The most recent Steam hardware survey puts Windows 10 usage at 32%, showing a strong affinity for the older OS even while most respondents (63%) are on Windows 11. Meanwhile, per The Register, Statcounter’s random sample of assorted web users suggests that just over 40% of all PCs have stuck with Windows 10. That’s barely behind the Windows 11 figure of 49%.

By comparison, Windows 8 and 8.1 merely accounted for 4% of PCs shortly before they had their security updates binned in January 2023, according to Statcounter. So there’s evidently something unusually compelling about Windows 10 – or, perhaps, something offputting about Windows 11 – that’s keeping it disproportionately popular in its final hours. I’ll attest to that, actually. While, as current custodian of the RPS Rig, I’ve long had it running the latest version, I remain too accustomed to the Win10 interface to budge from it on my personal PC.

Sadly, there’s more to this than UI comparisons and market share pie charts. As The Reg point out, it’s one thing to leave unpatched security vulnerabilities on a handful of weirdo Windows 8 holdouts, and another thing entirely to wilfully put millions upon millions of Windows 10 users at risk. For an example of the kind of weakness that would go unfixed, this past June, Microsoft were forced to close a Secure Boot vulnerability that would allow malware wielders to disable your PC’s other security tools before seizing control of the OS. That’s the same Secure Boot, of course, that Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 are making a mandatory system requirement.

There may be other, less dire but more widely-spread consequences, too. Capcom, for instance, recently warned that multiple recent Monster Hunter games might cease to work on Windows 10 after the 14th.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see a last-minute tilt towards Windows 11, as users realise they’ve run out of procrastination time. I’ll be switching over myself, though that’s mainly because I use this rig for work and Ian Games Network said I had to. If you’re determined to stand by Windows 10, the closest thing to a concession that Microsoft will offer is the Windows 10 ESU (Extended Security Updates) programme, where you can get a year of extra updates for free, no strings attached, if you live in the European Economic Area. If not, you can still enrol by either a) backing up your Windows 10 PC, b) spending 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, whatever those are, or c) just bunging Microsoft your local equivalent of $30 USD in cash. No, that is not a joke. Well, in a sense it is. Just not the funny kind.

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October 3, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Amazon Turns To AI Snoop Dogg To Save Failed Cloud Gaming Service

by admin October 2, 2025

Luna, Amazon’s video game cloud-streaming service, is shifting gears. While the service will still feature AAA video games like Fallout and Dead Island, the retail giant has announced new plans to “reimagine” Luna as a way for families to play casual, easier-to-learn games using their phones. And the first one of these games Amazon revealed is a courtroom comedy game featuring an AI-powered Snoop Dogg as the judge. Hmm.

Launched back in 2020, Amazon Luna followed in the footsteps of Google’s video game streaming service, Stadia. But unlike Stadia, which died back in 2022, Amazon has continued to support Luna, offering a subscription service with access to over 100 games as well as giving Prime members a small catalog of games to play for free. It’s never felt like Luna was a big hit, though, despite some publishers like Ubisoft and EA continuing to support it. Well, Amazon seems to have admitted it wasn’t working, because the company just revealed big plans to rebrand Luna as a more casual experience built around couch co-op and new, unique games.

On October 1, Amazon announced that later this year, Luna will change. While the service will still allow you to buy and play AAA games, Amazon is going to target, as explained in a press release about the pivot, “the 100s of millions of people who want to experience the magic of playing games on the big screen but feel left out” due to games being too complicated or consoles being too expensive. Amazon’s play is to turn Luna into a place where friends and family members can gather around the TV, pull out their phones, and play less complicated games together. If this sounds a lot like Jackbox, well, congratulations, you too can be an Amazon Gaming executive.

The big centerpiece of this rebrand is Game Night, a new Amazon-developed hub within Luna that will offer a variety of Jackbox-like, family-friendly, casual games. Players just scan a QR code using their phone, and a few seconds later, they’re having a great time playing… a Snoop Dogg courtroom game powered by AI?

Yeah, the big game revealed today is Courtroom Chaos: Starring Snoop Dogg, which Amazon describes as an “AI‑powered improv courtroom game where players invent outrageous characters, spin wild stories, and do whatever it takes to defend their testimonies before Judge Snoop Dogg.” Gather around, grandma, pull out your Cricket Wireless smartphone, and let’s yell at an AI-powered recreation of a famous rapper who has, let’s say, made some bad choices in recent years.

Will this big pivot work out? I have no idea. A lot of this pitch reminds me of the same stuff Google said about Stadia and what Intellivision promised about the disaster that is the Amico console. Maybe Amazon will find success where others haven’t? Maybe. I mean, it’s not like Luna’s setting the world on fire at the moment. We’ll find out when the big pivot happens later this year.

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October 2, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Amazon Luna is absorbing Prime Gaming and getting controller-free games in the process

by admin October 1, 2025

After a few years of mostly humming along in the background, Amazon’s game streaming service is receiving a bit of an update. Amazon Luna will still act as a game streaming service with a rotating library of free games for Prime users, but now, Amazon also plans to offer “GameNight,” a collection of social party games that you can play with your friends with just a smartphone. The expansion is about more than just new games: Amazon’s Prime Gaming brand is now also part of Luna.

Amazon says the new GameNight collection includes over 25 multiplayer games, some that are reinterpretations of classic games like Angry Birds, Exploding Kittens or Ticket to Ride, and others that are entirely original and developed by Amazon, like Courtroom Chaos: Starring Snoop Dogg. If you’ve played any of Jackbox’s various multiplayer games, GameNight seems to use a similar setup. You load up the game in Luna, whoever’s playing scans an onscreen QR code with their phone and then they can join the game using their device as a controller.

The hope is that these smartphone-controlled games will lower the barrier to entry for anyone intimidated by a controller, or who hasn’t already taken advantage of Luna as part of their Prime subscription. For everyone else, though, Amazon says the service is getting a collection of new high-profile games in the near future, including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and Dave the Diver. As before, if you’re willing to pay for one of Amazon’s add-on subscriptions you can add even more games to your library, too. Unlike GameNight games, though, all of these titles will require a controller to play, whether it’s Amazon’s Luna Controller or a Bluetooth controller connected to the Luna app.

As far as Prime Gaming is concerned, Amazon’s not retiring the benefits of the plan, but rather using them to bolster Luna. Prime Gaming launched as Twitch Prime, a program that unlocked unique emotes, one free Twitch sub and free PC games every month if you linked your Twitch and Amazon accounts. Those benefits will still be available after Prime Gaming is retired, and Twitch says that any free PC games you redeem will be available “wherever Amazon Prime is available as part of Luna Standard.” That includes regions where you can’t stream Luna yet.

While confusing, adding more games and folding Prime Gaming into Luna suggests that Amazon views the service as the gaming project it’s prioritizing moving forward. It doesn’t have the library of Xbox Cloud Gaming and it’s not clear if Amazon is as gun-ho about streaming as Microsoft is, but if the company is willing to pay, offering more games and more ways to play them seems like a good move.

Update, October 1 2025, 6:07PM ET: The story and its headline have been updated to include details about Amazon’s changes to Prime Gaming.

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Amazon launching “completely redesigned” Luna streaming service later this year, with emphasis on social gaming

by admin October 1, 2025

Amazon will launch a “completely redesigned and reimagined” version of its Luna game streaming service later this year, which remains incorporated into the existing Amazon Prime subscription at no additional cost.

The service is aiming to deliver both a growing library of blockbuster, classic, and indie games, as well as social games through its new GameNight hub. These social games are designed to be played without a controller; instead players join on their phones using a QR code, a bit like Jackbox Games.

GameNight will feature exclusive family friendly games developed by Amazon, and will launch with over 25 games including GameNight-optimised versions of the likes of Angry Birds and Exploding Kittens, as well as board game adaptations.

Introducing: The All-New Amazon LunaWatch on YouTube

The first of these exclusive games will be Courtroom Chaos: Starring Snoop Dogg, featuring an AI powered version of the rapper. It should be noted Snoop Dogg has recently been criticised for homophobic remarks about LGBT+ representation in children’s media.

Elsewhere, Luna will offer a growing library of over 50 popular games, though a further subscription to Luna Premium will be required for the full catalogue. The library will include the likes of Hogwarts Legacy, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Dave the Diver.

Luna will continue to be accessible without a PC or console. Instead, games are streamed using a Fire TV, smart TV, or tablet. Any bluetooth controller is compatible, though Amazon will continue to sell a specific Luna controller too.

“With advances in AI and cloud technology, we see opportunities to create entirely new kinds of games – experiences that were never possible before,” said Luna general manager Jeff Gattis in a blog post. “We have an incredible pipeline of games in the works and can’t wait for you to play and experience the all-new Luna for yourself later this year.”

Image credit: Amazon

Amazon launched Luna in the UK back in 2023. However it has so far failed to gain significant traction, something former Amazon Games boss Ethan Evans acknowledged earlier this year as Amazon couldn’t compete with Valve’s Steam platform.

This update is something of a re-launch for Amazon, then, with its GameNight addition bringing an increased emphasis on social gaming.

“Gaming hardware is too expensive,” said Gattis. “Games are intimidating and hard to learn… and expensive. Games can be isolating. But, at the same time, Prime members know that games don’t have to be this way, and indeed, they tell us that they want games to be a way to bring friends and family together. To build connection. To bond. To have fun!”

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

I spent 30 brilliant days with this powerful pre-built mini gaming PC: Wired2Fire HAL 9000 review

by admin October 1, 2025

Small form factor gaming PCs are getting ever more popular, but the often fiddly assembly process is one that you don’t need to undertake yourself. This is where the Wired2Fire HAL 9000 Mini PC I’ve been testing recently comes in. It’s a well-specced mini PC with full-size desktop parts, including an AMD Ryzen 7 9700X processor, RTX 5070 Ti graphics card, 32GB of DDR5-6000 RAM and a 2TB Kingston Fury Renegade SSD. All of this fits inside the Cooler Master NR200P Max V2, an 18-litre case that ranks amongst our top Mini ITX PC case recommendations.

The price? From Wired2Fire’s website, this PC will cost you £1924, including the cost of a Windows licence. For context, if you’re willing to shop around and order from various UK retailers, a DIY version of this PC will cost you £1674 at minimum. That works out to a modest £250 premium for a pre-built system with two-week build time, five-year build warranty and two-year part warranty. I particularly like the fact that the use of off-the-shelf parts means that you’ll avoid a lot of the future upgrade woes common to bigger sellers like HP or Lenovo that use bespoke cases, motherboards and power supplies.

In order to be worth recommending though, Wired2Fire needs to deliver on more than just a good parts list. We’ll also be looking at how well the system is packed for delivery, configured in terms of BIOS and software, and supported by its warranty and customer service. And of course, we’ll be checking to see whether we get the expected level of performance from a SFF PC with these particular parts. Click the quick links below or scroll on for our full findings!

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Wired2Fire HAL 9000 – Packaging and Cable Management

When it comes to the packaging, we just want a box that prevents any reasonable damage in shipping, and Wired2Fire does hit that standard.

The PC was double-boxed, with the PC case packaging inside a larger cardboard box filled with air bags. The main PC was wrapped in foam, with bubble wrap protecting the internal components. It’s sometimes preferable for GPUs to be shipped separately, but that does require a certain level of knowledge from the end user – so shipping with it installed is fine if that internal protection is present. In taking the PC out of the packaging, I can’t actually find fault with it – Wired2Fire’s attention here is first-rate.

A gallery of the PC packaging and cable management – click to expand.

Alongside the Cooler Master case box, you also get the boxes for the other components, including the ASRock B850I Lighting WiFi motherboard (an upgrade from the MSI B650 choice listed on the website), an envelope with instruction manuals, a Windows 11 Home licence, a kettle plug power cable and a patch cable.

In removing the packaging and the side panels for a closer look, cable management is also excellent, with good channelling and consistent tie-downs using both the case’s built-in wraps and some handy cable ties. It’s certainly a better job than I could do in a few days of trying, so good marks there, too.

Wired2Fire HAL 9000 – Part Selection

On the front of part selection, the parts installed in this PC aren’t totally consistent with those listed on the Wired2Fire website. However, the discrepancies are generally for the better, with our unit coming with a newer B850 motherboard and a well-regarded Asus Tuf Gaming RTX 5070 Ti. In taking a closer look at the innards of the PC, the RAM used is RGB-enabled Adata XPG Lancer Blade DDR5-6000 RAM with relatively loose CL48 timings – a little off the CL30 kits we recommend but not egregiously so.

The AIO cooler and PSU are the Cooler Master ones that come with the NR200P Max case – this isn’t actually a V2 version, as there isn’t a front-panel USB-C connector, in spite of what the Wired2Fire website says. The PSU inside is a Cooler Master V850 80+ Gold SFX unit that beats Nvidia’s recommended minimum wattage for the 5070 Ti and gives a good amount of headroom and efficiency, too. Overall, it’s a sensible selection, though a proper Max V2 case with front panel USB-C and some tighter RAM timings wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Wired2Fire HAL 9000 – BIOS Configuration

One of the things that Wired2Fire mentions when you configure this PC is that by default they provide a “moderate CPU optimisation” package that they say is “suitable for gaming and workstation usage alike”. This is a free option that’s enabled by default when you spec the system out, with a more extreme overclock available for £80.

In our case, this seems to refer to enabling the gaming mode on the ASRock motherboard BIOS, with the “Zen 5 Gaming Optimisation” setting set to the AGESA default and the “Cinebench profile performance boost mode” enabled. I didn’t see evidence of more substantive changes, such as enabling PBO, but the RAM was at least set to its EXPO 6000MT/s 48-48-48-96 setting at 1.10V. This is about what we’d expect for a free “optimisation” package.

Likewise, the PC was shipped with the latest BIOS version, 3.2, available at the time of ordering. The chipset and graphics drivers in Windows were also updated to the latest versions, which is always nice to see.

Wired2Fire HAL 9000 – Warranty and Customer Service

Another advantage of a pre-built gaming PC is having a support network to turn to if you have any issues, rather than needing to trawl through Reddit and other online forums. Wired2Fire’s support page gives the options of a phone number, email address and a web form.

For convenience, I used the web form to see if they could diagnose a couple of issues. First of all, I stated that the RAM wasn’t showing as overclocked in the BIOS, and if they could help me with enabling EXPO. They replied with a short and helpful answer just seven minutes later.

To test them a little harder, I went back and noted that one of the RAM sticks had mysteriously become unseated during shipping, and that one of them wasn’t being recognised in the BIOS. They came back with a link to a YouTube video to help me get the theoretically unseated RAM back in the system a handful of hours after my original message.

The terms of their warranty are stated on the website. Desktop PCs are covered by a “Standard Desktop PC Collect and Return Warranty” that covers the costs of labour charges for any repair work within five years, as well as the process of repair, replacement or refund for faulty parts within two years. Replacement parts will be dealt with like-for-like, or one that is “at least as good in terms of performance as the faulty part”, while for refunds, if before six months it’s the full value and after six months it’s the “equivalent second-hand value” of the item. Where an item is shown to be faulty, Wired2Fire will cover the costs of collection and return. As is typical, there are exclusions, such as accidental damage or items damaged in transit due to inadequate packaging.

Wired2Fire HAL 9000 – Gaming Performance

Arguably, the most important piece of this puzzle is how this Wired2Fire HAL 9000 Mini PC performs. We’ve tested its core components previously, but not necessarily together, so it’ll be interesting to see how it performs. The 5070 Ti is a serious contender for our favourite mid-tier GPU, which Rich equated to in our review as in “4080 territory, or more with an overclock.”

As with my testing with the Ryzen 5 5600 PC, I’ve taken a broad selection of games to best judge how this small form factor PC performs across 1080p, 1440p and 4K resolutions. The tests were run at the highest settings at native resolution in most cases for comparison purposes, so it’s often possible to achieve higher performance by dropping settings and/or enabling upscaling using DLSS, FSR or XeSS. All games were tested on a Philips Evnia 32M2N8900, a 4K 240Hz QD-OLED panel.

To provide some extra context, we also have the returning results from the 5600 and 7800X3D systems with an RX 7800 XT, as games were run at the same settings.

Here are the ray-traced performance graphs – click to expand.

You can see the array of graphs and data above and below, and in short, I was thoroughly impressed with the general performance of the system. We’ve got particularly impressive results in the likes of Indiana Jones and Black Myth Wukong that virtually double that of the 5600 PC, with RT performance being seriously potent. There are also healthy margins in F1 24 and Forza Horizon 5. I felt that Stalker 2 and rasterised Black Myth Wukong might be considered slight disappointments, with results that weren’t as high as expected.

Here are the raster performance graphs – click to expand.

Generally, I think this Wired2Fire system is suited extremely well for 1440p and 4K AAA gaming thanks to that combo of the 5070 Ti, as Rich also noted in our 5070 Ti review. The mid-range Ryzen 7 9700X also provides ample power for these games, while being more efficient than its predecessor and providing a solid uptick in both gaming and content creation performance – as Will highlighted in our 9700X review.

To back this up, I put the 9700X through a couple of industry-favourite synthetic benchmarks, with runs of Geekbench 6, Cinebench R20, R23 and 2024. Those results against the 5600 and 7800X3D can be found in the handy table below.

Benchmark
AMD Ryzen 5 5600
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X

Geekbench 6 (Single)
2111
2691
3214

Geekbench 6 (Multi)
9489
14911
14435

Cinebench R20
4375
6878
6320

Cinebench R23 (Single)
1445
1763
2135

Cinebench R23 (Multi)
11224
17541
16073

Cinebench 2024 (Single)
89
110
128

Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
647
1058
832

It seems as if the 9700X is also being adequately cooled by the case’s built-in 280mm AIO, as I noticed a peak average die temperature of 75.6°C when running Cinebench 2024. Likewise, during a run of 4K Furmark, the 5070 Ti hit a 66°C average with the fans at 65 percent utilisation.

Wired2Fire HAL 9000 – Conclusion

The Wired2Fire HAL 9000 Mini PC probably takes the biscuit as one of the most sensible and solid prebuilt PCs I’ve looked at in some time. It’s got a set of components that, for the most part, make a good amount of sense and provide some fantastic gaming and content performance to boot.

It’s also packaged well, with excellent protection. The system itself is logically built and is well cable managed, while its BIOS is pretty much standard. It’s also up-to-date and comes with a clean Windows install you do yourself, complete with product key, so no bloatware or anything is present.

Customer service is also good, with quick and simple responses to the couple of questions I had, while the warranty terms provide a good amount of peace of mind if anything does go wrong.

I think I’d happily put my trust into a smaller builder such as Wired2Fire in this instance, given their excellent attentiveness and attention to detail with the system provided. The markup on the overall cost of the unit isn’t unreasonable either, and it doesn’t seem like they’d take you for a ride. Good job, chaps.

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October 1, 2025 0 comments