Guide
PC Networking Problems Worth Diagnosing First
Bad gaming Wi-Fi, dropping USB devices and a NAT type you cannot change look unrelated. The cheap diagnosis comes first, and it usually costs nothing.
Network & Connectivity3 min read
PC & Gaming guides
Organised by the problem you have, not by the aisle a shop would put the product in.
104 pages in PC & Gaming.
Start here
The broad guides. Read one of these first if you are not sure what your actual problem is.
Guide
What Goes Wrong With a Gaming PC After Year One
Dust, heat, noise, a sagging graphics card and one expensive power event — the problems a gaming PC develops after it is built, in order of how likely each is.
Cooling & Airflow9 min read
Problem guides
One narrow, specific, annoying problem each.
Guide
CPU Contact Frames, and Whether You Need One
They address a real bending problem on one socket, and they are irrelevant on every other. Which platform you own decides this before anything else does.
Cooling & Airflow3 min read
Guide
A Capture Card for a Second Machine
One PC games, another does the encoding. When that split is worth the hardware, and the two specifications people read backwards when buying.
Network & Connectivity4 min read
Guide
A Laptop Battery That Has Swollen
A trackpad that has risen or a case that will not sit flat is not a hinge problem. Stop using it, and here is what to do and what never to do.
Build & Maintenance4 min read
Guide
Repasting a GPU, and When Not To
It voids warranties, it is fiddlier than a CPU, and the pads matter more than the paste. When it is genuinely the fix, and the cheaper things to try first.
Cooling & Airflow4 min read
Guide
Cleaning a Handheld's Sticks and Vents
Grit under a stick and dust in a vent cause two different faults with two different fixes, and the popular tool for both is the one most likely to do damage.
Handheld & Travel5 min read
Guide
Handheld Battery Health Over Years
The battery in a handheld ages on a schedule set by heat and by how long it sits full. Most of what shortens it happens while you are not playing.
Handheld & Travel6 min read
Guide
Handheld Throttling in a Hot Room
A handheld has nowhere to put heat except the room it is in. When the room is warm, the same game runs slower — and the fix is mostly not on the device.
Handheld & Travel5 min read
Guide
Playing a Handheld in Bed
The weight is the problem, not the screen. What makes an hour in bed actually comfortable, and why the blue-light worry is aimed at the wrong variable.
Handheld & Travel5 min read
Guide
BIOS Updates: When, and When Not To
Firmware is not software. There is often no way back, the failure mode is a machine that will not start, and most updates fix nothing you actually have.
Build & Maintenance5 min read
Guide
Bluetooth Audio Latency in Games
A film can hide the delay by holding the picture back. A game cannot, because the sound is a response to what you just did. That is the whole problem.
Network & Connectivity5 min read
Guide
Cable Management for Airflow, Not for Looks
Most cable tidying is cosmetic and the thermal gain is small. Where routing genuinely changes temperatures, and the one arrangement that actually costs you.
Build & Maintenance4 min read
Guide
Cleaning a GPU Without Removing the Cooler
Most of the dust is packed into a fin stack you cannot see. There is a lot you can do before the thermal interface has to be disturbed at all.
Build & Maintenance5 min read
Guide
microSD Corruption and How It Happens
A card that worked perfectly for weeks and then lost everything at once is a specific failure with a specific cause, and it is usually not wear.
Handheld & Travel5 min read
Guide
Moving Windows to a New Drive
Cloning preserves everything, including the reasons the machine felt slow. A fresh install plus a data copy is usually less work than the problems it avoids.
Build & Maintenance6 min read
Guide
OLED Burn-In on a Handheld
Most of what people call burn-in is temporary retention that clears. What causes the permanent kind, and the two settings that matter more than any habit.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Guide
Port Forwarding and NAT Type
Three different things produce the same NAT warning and only one is yours to fix. One address comparison tells you which of them you actually have.
Network & Connectivity6 min read
Guide
Reading Temperatures Without Misreading Them
A peak means almost nothing and a sustained figure means almost everything. Which number to watch, and the threshold the chip decides for itself.
Cooling & Airflow3 min read
Guide
Repasting a Laptop
It is not a desktop repaste with smaller parts. The pads and the screw order matter as much as the paste, and dust is more often the actual fault.
Cooling & Airflow5 min read
Guide
What a VPN Does to Game Latency
A VPN cannot shorten the distance to the server, so it usually adds delay. The narrow cases where it genuinely helps, and what to fix first.
Network & Connectivity5 min read
Guide
When the Case Is Genuinely the Problem
The case gets blamed for most thermal complaints and causes few of them. One free test separates the cases that really restrict from the ones that do not.
Cooling & Airflow5 min read
Guide
A PC That Will Not POST
Work the list in order of probability, not of what you fear. The cheap causes are far more common than the expensive one, and one connector gets missed constantly.
Build & Maintenance4 min read
Guide
Battery Backup for a NAS
A NAS needs a UPS more than a desktop does, and for a different reason — the risk is not lost work but an interrupted write to an array nobody is watching.
Power & Protection4 min read
Guide
Flying With a Handheld and a Power Bank
Power banks are limited by watt-hours, not by capacity in mAh, and the two are printed differently. How to work out your number before you reach the gate.
Handheld & Travel4 min read
Guide
GPU Thermal Pads and VRAM Temperatures
Memory runs far hotter than the core and is cooled through pads that harden with age. Why pad thickness has to be measured rather than guessed.
Cooling & Airflow4 min read
Guide
Keeping a PC Clean in a House With Pets
Pet hair does not behave like dust. It mats across a filter instead of settling through it, which changes the maintenance interval more than the filter choice.
Cooling & Airflow4 min read
Guide
Mixing Memory Kits, and XMP
Two matching kits are not a matched kit, and the profile on the box is an overclock the board is allowed to refuse. Why adding memory destabilises working machines.
Build & Maintenance5 min read
Guide
PSU Efficiency Ratings and What They Change
The badge certifies efficiency at three load points and nothing else. What it does not tell you is the part that decides whether a supply is any good.
Power & Protection4 min read
Guide
PSU Fan Noise and Zero-RPM Modes
The one fan you cannot control, on the one component you must not open. What a hybrid mode changes, and when the noise is telling you something.
Noise & Vibration5 min read
Guide
Reusing a Power Supply in a New Build
The one component where saving money can cost you everything downstream. What ages, what connectors changed, and when carrying it over is genuinely fine.
Build & Maintenance4 min read
Guide
USB Devices That Disconnect
The device is usually fine. Power management, an unpowered hub and a marginal cable account for most of it, and all three are free to rule out.
Network & Connectivity4 min read
Guide
What a PC Left On All Day Actually Costs
Idle draw is far lower than people assume and the arithmetic is easy. What leaving it on genuinely costs, and the appliance that costs more in an hour.
Power & Protection4 min read
Guide
When an Upgrade Is Not Worth It
Some upgrades buy nothing you can perceive, and a few make the machine worse. How to work out which you are looking at before the money leaves.
Build & Maintenance4 min read
Guide
Where a Radiator Should Go in a Case
Top, front or rear changes what the radiator breathes and what everything else gets. The pump must also sit below the highest point of the loop.
Cooling & Airflow4 min read
Guide
A Drive That Has Started Clicking
Power it off now and decide before you plug it back in. Every spin-up spends recovery odds you cannot get back, and the common first responses are the damaging ones.
Power & Protection5 min read
Guide
Building a Fan Curve That Is Not the Default
The stock curve protects the chip, not your ears, and ships the same regardless of your case. What to change, in what order, and which sensor to drive it from.
Noise & Vibration5 min read
Guide
Coil Whine: What Actually Stops It
A high electrical squeal that changes with frame rate, not with fan speed. Why cleaning and better fans do nothing for it, and what genuinely helps.
Noise & Vibration5 min read
Guide
Fan Bearings, and Which Ones Get Noisy
Sleeve, rifle, fluid dynamic and magnetic bearings fail differently. The bearing decides whether a quiet fan is still quiet in three years.
Noise & Vibration3 min read
Guide
Fan Orientation, and Which Side Is Intake
Two arrows are moulded into the frame and neither is easy to see. Where to find them, the fallback that always works, and what a reversed fan actually costs.
Cooling & Airflow5 min read
Guide
RAID Is Not a Backup
A mirrored array faithfully mirrors a deletion. What redundancy actually protects against, what it does not, and the one rule that separates the two.
Power & Protection5 min read
Guide
Sizing a Power Supply Without Guessing
Online calculators over-specify and the number on the box is a ceiling, not a target. What transient spikes change, and why the biggest PSU is not the safest.
Power & Protection4 min read
Guide
Undervolting to Cut Fan Speed
The only quiet-PC fix that removes heat instead of moving it, and it costs nothing. What it is, why it usually keeps the performance, and how to know it is stable.
Noise & Vibration4 min read
Guide
Adding Reliable Bluetooth to a Desktop PC
The version number matters less than the antenna. A dongle behind a steel case is why Bluetooth on desktops has a reputation for dropping out.
Network & Connectivity3 min read
Guide
Backing Up More Than Game Saves
Games re-download. Screenshots, configs, mods and recordings do not. What is actually worth backing up on a gaming PC, and the cheapest way to do it.
Power & Protection3 min read
Guide
Charging a Handheld Gaming PC Properly
A handheld under load can draw more than it charges, so the wrong charger means the battery falls while plugged in. What the wattage actually needs to be.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Guide
Cleaning a Gaming PC Without Damaging It
Dust is the most common cause of a PC getting slower and louder. The cleaning method matters, because three of the obvious approaches cause real damage.
Build & Maintenance3 min read
Guide
Cleaning a Mechanical Keyboard Without Damage
Keycaps come off, switches mostly should not. A wire puller and a photograph are the two things that make this safe to do on a Sunday.
Build & Maintenance3 min read
Guide
Do Clip-On Handheld Coolers Actually Work?
A fan strapped to the back of a handheld cools the shell, and the shell is not what throttles. Where the idea works and where it just adds noise.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Guide
Do Controller Thumb Grips Improve Aim?
Taller grips lengthen the lever your thumb moves, which is a real mechanical change. Whether it helps depends on the sensitivity you already play at.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Guide
Does a Gaming PC Need a UPS?
The answer depends on the wall socket, not the machine. How to tell whether your supply is the kind that causes unclean shutdowns, before spending anything.
Power & Protection3 min read
Guide
Does an NVMe SSD Actually Need a Heatsink?
NVMe drives throttle by design, and most people never reach the workload that triggers it. When a heatsink earns its place, and when the board already has one.
Cooling & Airflow4 min read
Guide
Dust Filters and the Airflow They Cost You
A filter is a deliberate trade: less dust reaching the heatsinks, less air reaching them too. Where that trade pays, and where covers do nothing at all.
Cooling & Airflow4 min read
Guide
Finding the Bad Ethernet Cable Before Blaming Wi-Fi
A wired link that drops to 100 Mbps, or drops entirely, is usually one cable or one termination. How to find it without replacing a router first.
Network & Connectivity3 min read
Guide
Fixing Bad Gaming Wi-Fi Without Guessing
Lag spikes and slow downloads are different faults with different fixes. Which measurement tells them apart, and why a faster adapter often changes nothing.
Network & Connectivity3 min read
Guide
Fixing Handheld Stick Drift Instead of Replacing It
Drift is a worn potentiometer, and it is repairable. Hall-effect replacements remove the wear mechanism entirely — at the cost of a genuinely awkward job.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Guide
Making Handheld Desktop Mode Actually Usable
Desktop mode on a handheld is a real operating system driven by touchscreen and trackpads. The smallest input that fixes it, without carrying a laptop bag.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Guide
Handheld Storage: microSD Cards and What to Buy
The card rating that matters for a handheld is random access, not the big sequential number on the front. Which spec to read, and how to stop mixing cards up.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Guide
Hard Drive Rattle: The Cheap Rubber Fix
A mechanical drive screwed hard into a steel cage turns the whole case into a speaker. Rubber grommets cost almost nothing and stop it at the source.
Noise & Vibration3 min read
Guide
How Many Peripherals Can One USB Hub Handle?
Devices dropping out under load is a power problem, not a port-count problem. Why a powered hub fixes what an unpowered one causes.
Network & Connectivity4 min read
Guide
How Much Power Does a Gaming PC Actually Use?
PSU wattage is a ceiling, not a consumption figure. Measuring at the wall is cheap, and it changes what you buy when sizing a battery backup.
Power & Protection3 min read
Guide
Is a USB-C Cable Tester Worth It?
Every USB-C cable looks identical and they are not. What a tester tells you, what a power meter tells you instead, and when neither is worth buying.
Network & Connectivity3 min read
Guide
Is Your Gaming Room Too Hot for Your PC?
Every cooler works from ambient upward, so a warm room raises every temperature in the case. How to find out cheaply, and what actually helps once you know.
Cooling & Airflow3 min read
Guide
Keeping Game Controllers Charged Without Loose Cables
Charging docks look tidy and add a contact point that corrodes. Battery packs cost less and need handling. What each arrangement is actually worth.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Guide
Moving a Desktop PC Without Breaking It
The graphics card is the thing that gets damaged in transit, and it happens to a machine lying flat in a car boot. What to remove and what to pad.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Guide
One Desk for Work and Gaming, Done Properly
Two machines sharing one screen, one keyboard and one set of ports. The order to solve it in, and the piece most people buy first and need least.
Network & Connectivity3 min read
Guide
PC Temperature Displays Worth the Desk Space
A sensor panel shows numbers that software already shows for free. The narrow case where a physical readout earns its place, and where it is decoration.
Cooling & Airflow3 min read
Guide
PC Upgrade Tools That Prevent Expensive Mistakes
Most damage during a PC upgrade comes from a slipping screwdriver, a lost standoff or a screw in the wrong hole. The small tools that stop each one.
Build & Maintenance4 min read
Guide
Is a Portable Monitor Worth It for Handheld Gaming?
A second screen makes a handheld more useful and makes it work harder. The specification that matters is how it takes power, not its refresh rate.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Guide
Protecting a Handheld Gaming PC That Travels
Sticks and screens are what actually break on a handheld, and they break in a bag rather than in a drop. What each kind of case is really protecting.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Guide
Testing a PSU Before You Replace Anything Else
A dead machine sends most people shopping for a motherboard. A power supply tester answers the cheaper question first, and it has real limits worth knowing.
Build & Maintenance3 min read
Guide
Running Ethernet Around a Room Neatly
A cable run does not have to look like an installation. Flat cable, clips and a small switch turn a wireless problem into a solved one for very little.
Network & Connectivity3 min read
Guide
Should a Gaming PC Sit on the Floor?
Carpet is the worst place a tower can stand, and the reason is not dust alone. What raising it actually changes, and when the floor is genuinely fine.
Cooling & Airflow4 min read
Guide
Sound-Dampening a PC Case Without Cooking It
Dampening mats work on resonance and do nothing for fan noise. Where they belong inside a case, and the thermal cost of putting them everywhere.
Noise & Vibration4 min read
Guide
Turning an Old Drive Into Portable Storage
Every upgrade leaves a working drive in a drawer. An enclosure or a dock turns it into storage you already own, for the price of a cable.
Build & Maintenance3 min read
Guide
When to Replace a UPS Battery, Not the Whole Unit
A backup unit that beeps and cuts out after seconds is usually a dead battery in working electronics. Replacing the cell costs a fraction of the unit.
Power & Protection3 min read
Guide
When Should You Replace Thermal Paste?
Paste degrades over years, not months, so a machine that got hot in one summer has a different problem. The symptoms that actually indicate a repaste.
Build & Maintenance3 min read
Guide
Why a Gaming PC Gets Loud, and What Fixes It
Fan whine and case rattle sound similar and have nothing in common. Telling them apart first is why some people fix the noise and others buy fans twice.
Noise & Vibration4 min read
Guide
Why Heavy Graphics Cards Sag, and What Holds Them
A modern graphics card is a heavy object cantilevered off a slot never specified for it. What sag risks, and the difference between supporting and levering.
Cooling & Airflow4 min read
Guide
Why Your USB Devices Charge So Slowly
A charger, a cable and a device negotiate what they can deliver, and the slowest link decides. A USB meter shows which one is capping it.
Power & Protection3 min read
Comparisons
All comparisonsTwo or more options, and who each one actually suits.
Comparison
Handheld vs Laptop for Travel Gaming
One of these plays anywhere and the other plays properly. The criteria that decide it are the seat, the bag and the socket — not the frame rate.
Handheld & Travel5 min read
Comparison
A Second NIC vs a USB Ethernet Adapter
Both add a wired port and the chipset decides how well. One shares the USB bus and travels; the other needs a slot and behaves better under load.
Network & Connectivity4 min read
Comparison
Cloud vs Local Backup for a Gaming PC
Local restores fast and burns in the same house fire. Cloud survives the room and restores slowly. The honest answer is which one you do first, not which one wins.
Power & Protection4 min read
Comparison
Repasting vs Replacing a Noisy Cooler
Noise and heat are different symptoms with different causes. One of these fixes a cooler working too hard; the other fixes a cooler that has worn out.
Noise & Vibration4 min read
Comparison
2.4 vs 5 vs 6 GHz for Gaming
Higher bands carry more and travel less, so the right one depends on the wall between you and the router. What each band is actually for.
Network & Connectivity4 min read
Comparison
Wired vs Wireless Peripherals, on Latency
The latency argument was settled years ago and people still fight it. What actually differs now, and the one wireless technology genuinely unsuited to input.
Network & Connectivity4 min read
Comparison
Air Cooler vs AIO, Judged on Noise
An AIO moves heat somewhere easier to exhaust and adds a pump that never stops. Which is quieter depends on the noise you are actually trying to remove.
Noise & Vibration4 min read
Comparison
Electric Air Duster vs Canned Air
One is a brick with a motor, the other is a consumable that gets cold. Which actually cleans better, which costs less over time, and where each one fails.
Build & Maintenance4 min read
Comparison
External SSD vs Drive Dock for Game Storage
One is a sealed drive you carry. The other reads any drive you own and stays on the desk. Which suits depends on whether the storage travels.
Build & Maintenance2 min read
Comparison
Fan Hub vs Splitter vs Manual Controller
Three ways to run more case fans than the motherboard has headers. One is safe by design, one has a current limit people ignore, one gives up automation.
Noise & Vibration3 min read
Comparison
Handheld Dock vs USB-C Travel Adapter
A dock is a desk fixture with power passthrough. An adapter fits in a pocket and makes you choose between charging and everything else.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Comparison
Hard Case vs Sling Bag for a Handheld
One protects the device and carries nothing else. The other carries the charger, the dock and the power bank, and protects slightly less doing it.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Comparison
Laptop Cooling Pad vs Laptop Stand
One adds fans, the other adds clearance. Which actually lowers temperatures on a gaming laptop depends entirely on where the machine takes its air in.
Cooling & Airflow3 min read
Comparison
Powerline vs Mesh vs Ethernet for Gaming
Three ways to reach a room the router cannot serve. One is predictable, one depends on your wiring, and one depends on where you can put a box.
Network & Connectivity3 min read
Comparison
Thermal Paste vs Thermal Pads: Which Goes Where
Paste fills microscopic gaps between surfaces that touch. Pads bridge real physical distance. Substituting one for the other makes temperatures worse.
Build & Maintenance3 min read
Comparison
UPS vs Surge Protector: What Each One Protects
One stores energy for when the supply fails, the other clamps spikes when there is too much. They are sold together and solve opposite problems.
Power & Protection3 min read
Comparison
USB Switch vs KVM Switch: Which Do You Need?
One moves the keyboard and mouse between two machines. The other moves the screen too, and that is where the cost and the compatibility problems live.
Network & Connectivity3 min read
Comparison
USB Wi-Fi Adapter vs PCIe Card for Gaming
The card has better antennas in a worse position. The adapter has worse antennas you can put anywhere. Position usually wins.
Network & Connectivity3 min read
Collections
All collectionsThemed sets. Every item has to earn its place, so these are short.
Collection
The PC Is in the Wrong Room for the Router
The machine is upstairs and the router is by the front door. Five things that fix that specific problem, in the order worth trying them.
Network & Connectivity5 min read
Collection
Where the PC Sits Decides How Much Dust It Eats
A machine on carpet next to a shedding dog breathes a different room to one on a desk. Five things that fix intake, in the order that matters.
Cooling & Airflow5 min read
Collection
Cheap PC Fixes That Punch Above Their Price
Six small things that change more than the components people buy instead. All inexpensive, all unglamorous, all solving a problem you can name.
Build & Maintenance3 min read
Collection
Handheld Kit That Earns Its Bag Space
The accessory market for handheld PCs is enormous and most of it is bulk. Five things worth carrying, judged on what they prevent rather than what they add.
Handheld & Travel3 min read
Collection
PC Diagnostic Tools That Stop the Guesswork
Five cheap instruments that answer a question before a component gets replaced. Each one turns an expensive guess into a measurement.
Power & Protection3 min read
Collection
Ugly Things That Make a PC Quieter
Rubber washers, bitumen sheets and a plastic box cable-tied behind the motherboard tray. None of them photograph well and all of them work.
Noise & Vibration3 min read