Category Archives: Hardware

SteelSeries Apex 3 vs HyperX Alloy Core Gaming Keyboard Comparison

You can game with a standard computer keyboard for a while, but at some point, it’ll be best to upgrade to a gaming keyboard. Gaming keyboards include touches and features that improve your performance and which generally make gaming more enjoyable and comfortable.

You’ll find decent keyboards at all price points, including at the lower end of the scale, which includes the SteelSeries Apex 3 and HyperX Alloy Core gaming keyboards. These two offerings aren’t groundbreaking, but they do offer much of what amateur gamers look for in a gaming keyboard. read more

Razer Blackshark v2 vs Logitech G Pro X Gaming Headset Comparison

A good pair of gaming headphones can significantly impact a gamer’s performance. Not only will they allow you to communicate with team members effectively, but they’ll also be comfortable, which is a necessary requirement for anyone looking to sink into several hours of play.

The market is awash with headphones, but not all are worth your money. Two that are very much worth your hard-earned cash are the Razer Blackshark v2 and Logitech G Pro X headphones, both of which are highly rated and come with plenty of welcome features that make them excellent options for all levels of gamers. read more

Best Laptop Cooling Pads for Gaming

If you play games with your laptop, investing in a laptop cooling pad is a great idea for many reasons. If you regularly work on the couch, or any other position where the laptop is on your lap, a laptop cooling pad can help you quite a bit as well. A laptop cooling pad can provide many benefits, let’s take at a few reasons why you would want to invest in a laptop cooling pad.

Benefits of a Laptop Cooling Pad

First of all, running intense games can generate heat, and a laptop won’t be nearly as good at dissipating heat as a desktop with a mid or full size case. In fact, many laptops draw in at least some air from the bottom. By using a cooling pad, it will give your laptop a good surface so these bottom vents aren’t blocked. The cooling pad itself will then generate even more airflow which will help keep your laptop cool. read more

6 Reasons Your Video Card Is Underperforming

Recently, I had to deal with an issue where a video card was underperforming. This was an odd issue and was really the first time I have seen this particular problem. I did quite a bit upfront research on this and it turns out there are multiple reasons why a video card may be running slow. Let’s get right into the causes and solutions for a video card that is not performing as expected.

Overheating Issue

This is one of the most common reasons why a video card may underperform. One last thing to check is if your video card is overheating. This is especially true if you have been using the same video card for awhile. After months or even years of use, the card gets dirty and dusty, and the thermal paste that helps dissipate the heat break down. Extreme overheating issues can cause blue screens and even damage to the card. However, even minor overheating can keep the card from running at maximum efficiency. If you believe this is the cause, cleaning the dust off your video card and reapplying thermal paste should help. As part of this, you may want to give your whole computer case a good cleaning if you can as that can make a big difference as well.

Driver Software Not Up To Date

Driver software for video cards is updated quite often. If your video card is underperforming, it is worth updating the driver software for your particular card. Even if this doesn’t fix the issue, having the latest drivers is beneficial for many reasons. I would recommend downloading the newest drivers directly from your video card manufacturer’s website. This is generally a pretty quick and easy task, so I would definitely try this first or second.

Video Card Clock Manually Set Below Standard

This is another not so obvious thing to look at. Nowadays, most video card driver software allows for you to lower the clock speeds below standard. Alternatively, the video card speeds can often be changed in the BIOS as well. So, one of the first things to look at is whether or not the clock has been manually lowered in the BIOS or in the video card driver software.

Video Card Not Seated or Plugged in Correctly

This is another simple thing to check. If your card isn’t seated correctly or if it isn’t getting enough power, it could cause issues. Try re-seating your card. Also, while you are in your case, check to make sure that all power connections are properly connected and secure. Before opening up your computer case, make sure to shut down your PC and unplug the main power for safety reasons.

BIOS is not up to date

Another reason why the video card may be underperforming is that your BIOS is not up to date. If you have gotten to this part of the guide and your video card is still slow, you can try updating the BIOS as this may help fix this issue. Also, keeping your BIOS up to date can also help to fix other issues such as compatibility problems.

Virus or Malware

One more thing to check for is a virus or malware. It is pretty unlikely that virus would directly target your video card. However, if you have a virus, your whole PC could be underperforming. So, running a virus and malware scan can help your performance in general. Checking for malware is something you will want to do regularly with or without any performance issues.

Overall, there are a number of reasons why a video card may be underperforming. By checking the possible issues above, you should be able to get your card running at top speeds again.

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Signs of CMOS Battery Failure

The word CMOS is an acronym for “complementary metal oxide semiconductor”. The CMOS battery is a small, round battery that lets you store the day, time, and month on your computer. It allows you to shut your PC down for an extended period of time and still have the correct time and date in place when you use your PC again. More importantly, the CMOS battery stores the BIOS settings of your computer. The BIOS enables us to identify what hardware is on the system and what device drivers to use. When the CMOS battery is weak, the BIOS loses data and the computer can start to malfunction. Let’s take a look at a few signs of a CMOS battery failure.

Symptoms of a CMOS Battery Failure

Your PC consistently has the incorrect date and time settings. Also, the date/time keep getting reset even after you fix them in the BIOS. This is the most common CMOS battery failure sign.

Your PC occasionally turns off or doesn’t start.

Hardware drivers stop working at random.

You may start to get errors while booting that say something like “CMOS checksum error” or “CMOS read error“.

You may see some weird hardware issues such as your computer not being able to locate the mouse, keyboard, or printer.