Stay ConnectedSteve and Tim from the YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed bring to you a weekly show discussing all the latest news and interesting topics in the PC hardware and gaming scene. With our decades of experience testing and benchmarking hardware, you’ll be sure to enjoy various insights into tech and the occasional guest, especially if you love building PCs and playing PC games.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Copyright: © Hardware Unboxed
Episode 87: We revisit some discussion from last week as we've found more dodgy stuff Microsoft has done, before chatting about the current situation Intel is in with CPUs. They aren't anywhere near as competitive up against AMD now, as AMD were with Ryzen when Intel was dominant. (Note: This podcast was recorded before the recent AMD RDNA 2 driver decision, we'll discuss that in the future)
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
00:29 - Microsoft Does Dodgy Stuff Again
11:34 - Intel CPUs when AMD is Dominant vs AMD CPUs when Intel is Dominant
21:35 - The Discounts Aren't Enough
34:53 - Platform Longevity is Crucial
41:33 - Platform Support is Always Better
1:04:34 - Updates From Our Boring Lives
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Audio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcast
Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfw
SUPPORT US DIRECTLY
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxed
LINKS
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxed
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 86: You all told us what you hated about Windows 11, and we fully agreed. So in this episode we go through all our grievances with the current state of Windows.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
06:21 - Unnecessary Microsoft accounts
10:39 - Search is broken
15:49 - Splash screens and ads
20:52 - The right click context menu
26:53 - Pre-installed bloatware
33:21 - Windows updates hurting performance
38:41 - Telemetry capture and data mining
42:28 - Copilot AI integration
45:45 - Updates breaking things
48:14 - Inability to dismiss pop-ups and updates
50:25 - Janky monitor issues
58:21 - Removing useful customization options
1:01:06 - Driver updates via Windows Update breaking things
1:05:17 - Microsoft Store
1:09:21 - Is Linux an alternative for gaming PCs?
1:14:36 - Summary of the current state of Windows
1:17:44 - Updates from our boring lives
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Audio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcast
Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfw
SUPPORT US DIRECTLY
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxed
LINKS
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxed
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 85: We chat about Battlefield 6 testing and explore the difficulties with testing one-click overclocking features in benchmarks, such as PBO and 200S Boost. We also discuss the latest Intel graphics announcements including Xe3 and XeSS 3, as well as motherboard vendors beginning to say Zen 6 will be supported on AM5
SOURCES
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/intels-xe3-graphics-architecture-breaks-cover-panther-lakes-12-xe-core-igpu-promises-50-percent-better-performance-than-lunar-lake
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/intel-takes-the-wraps-off-panther-lake-first-18a-client-processor-brings-the-best-of-lunar-lake-and-arrow-lake-together-in-one-package
https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-confirms-xe3p-will-mark-arc-naming-switch-to-c-series
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/graphics-cards/intel-announces-xess-3-with-multi-frame-generation-putting-it-ahead-of-amd-in-the-ai-powered-graphics-performance-race/
https://videocardz.com/newz/asrock-confirms-b850-motherboards-to-directly-support-future-zen-6-cpus
https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-officially-confirms-zen6-desktop-support-for-am5-based-b850-motherboard
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
00:43 - Battlefield 6 testing thoughts
09:11 - Battlefield 6 VRAM leak
11:31 - Questionable Battlefield 6 CPU benchmarks?
20:49 - Issues with overclocking CPUs
29:59 - Why we don't test with PBO or 200S Boost, but do test with XMP
40:45 - Overclock tweaking can be a grift
50:34 - Intel graphics updates, Xe3 and XeSS 3
58:32 - Motherboard makers confirm Zen 6 on AM5 publicly
1:09:10 - Updates from our boring lives
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Audio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcast
Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfw
SUPPORT US DIRECTLY
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxed
LINKS
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxed
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 84: Tim and Steve respond to their internet crimes of using DLSS while testing and saying APUs suck. Then we chat more about Intel fixing B580 CPU overhead in some games, AMD's FSR 4 INT8 version and Microsoft destroying the value of Game Pass.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
00:27 - Why we tested Borderlands 4 with DLSS enabled
08:58 - APUs are not a good option for desktop gaming today
29:26 - Intel fixes B580 CPU overhead in some games
45:47 - AMD FSR 4 INT8 is pretty good
54:07 - Microsoft makes Game Pass way more expensive
1:03:57 - Updates from our boring lives
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Audio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcast
Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfw
SUPPORT US DIRECTLY
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxed
LINKS
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxed
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 83: Intel and Nvidia have formed a partnership, but because APUs are not that relevant to desktop PC gamers, we discuss whether this deal will actually impact gaming significantly. Also, we put Intel's Arc GPUs into our GPU rankings, and chat about some news
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
00:33 - Intel and Nvidia APU team up, but gamers don't use APUs
37:00 - We add Intel Arc GPUs to the rankings
45:38 - Ryzen 7 9800X3D drops in price
49:52 - RX 9070 BIOS mod
52:01 - Updates from our boring lives
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Audio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcast
Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfw
SUPPORT US DIRECTLY
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxed
LINKS
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxed
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 82: A quick update on the YouTube views situation, then into a Borderlands 4 discussion. What is the state of the game currently? What do we make of Randy Pitchford's comments? Is DLSS being used as a crutch instead of proper optimization? Can it be fixed?
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
01:05 - Update on the YouTube views situation
17:17 - Initial thoughts on Borderlands 4
28:27 - The crutch of DLSS upscaling and frame generation
44:17 - Bizarre development choices
53:01 - Can Gearbox fix Borderlands 4?
1:07:14 - Updates from our boring lives
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Audio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcast
Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfw
SUPPORT US DIRECTLY
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxed
LINKS
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxed
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 81: We're back! Lots to discuss in this video, including YouTube weirdness, the future of AMD and Intel's CPU platforms, the good old CPU core debate, upcoming GPU rumors and more.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
03:13 - Our YouTube views are down, this is what the stats say
31:14 - Zen 7 on AM5 and Intel's competing platform
54:13 - How important is platform longevity?
1:07:58 - Six core CPUs are still powerful for gaming
1:17:27 - Will Intel make an Arc B770?
1:26:22 - No RTX Super any time soon
1:29:14 - Updates from our boring lives
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Audio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcast
Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfw
SUPPORT US DIRECTLY
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxed
LINKS
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxed
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 80: It's that time of the year! We're ranking all the current graphics card models from worst to best, based on vibes. Always a very challenging task that brings up a lot of discussion so you can enjoy hearing our thought process as we try to upset everyone by ranking the models they like down the bottom.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
02:03 - Quick Radeon RX 9060 Update
08:40 - Let The Rankings Begin!
1:11:42 - Updates From Our Boring Lives
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Audio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcast
Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfw
SUPPORT US DIRECTLY
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxed
LINKS
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxed
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 79: We chat with Daniel Owen about all sorts of stuff affecting PC gaming right now. His thoughts on the worst parts of the GPU market, plus opinions on upscaling and frame generation (including Optiscaler and driver-based frame gen), game optimization and misleading marketing. We round it out with some listener questions submitted by Patreon members.
DANIEL OWEN
Check out Daniel's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@danielowentech
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Welcome to the Podcast: Daniel Owen
10:03 - Current State of the GPU Market
22:04 - How Good is Optiscaler?
29:58 - Thoughts on DLSS 4 and FSR 4 Upscaling
39:02 - Frame Generation, Does Daniel Use It?
55:07 - Are Gamers Buying the Marketing?
1:05:19 - Game Optimization: Developers vs Hardware Makers
1:16:38 - Listener Questions
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Audio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcast
Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfw
SUPPORT US DIRECTLY
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxed
LINKS
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxed
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 78: Steve gives an update about B850 testing, Tim talks about a new phone that he's bought, and then we chat about whether we've been too negative about the current state of PC graphics cards.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
00:50 - Steve's B850 Testing Struggles
16:44 - Tim Bought a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
27:41 - Are We Too Negative About PC GPUs?
1:21:17 - Updates From Our Boring Lives
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Audio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcast
Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfw
SUPPORT US DIRECTLY
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxed
LINKS
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hardwareunboxed/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HardwareUnboxed
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hardwareunboxed.bsky.social
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
