AOC CU34G2X MONITOR REVIEW

The AOC CG34G2X seems to offer something incredible: a 21:9 ultrawide monitor with 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time for under $/£500? The age-old phrase states that if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is, but in the case of the AOC CU34G2X and our picks for the best gaming monitors, that might not be the case. AOC has plenty of gaming monitors on the market, ranging from budget 1080p screens to top-of-the-line 4K beasts, but on paper, the CU34G2X may well be the best curved gaming monitor option when it comes to ultrawide gaming, and not just from within AOC's own range. You might expect a monitor with such promising specs to make an aesthetic statement too, but the AOC CU34G2X actually does the opposite. Despite being 34", this screen would fit in at most offices, with the only hint of color being a deep red that accentuates the very bottom of the display, a circle on the base, and some lines on the back. The rest is a matte black with very little else noteworthy, which means you'll need to add the flashing RGB lights later if that's to your tastes. As monitors go, it's a sturdy and well-built beast, though we'd expect nothing less from AOC. Assembling it is as simple as slotting the arm on the back and screwing in the two-pronged base. Inside, it's rocking a 3440x1440 (21:9) resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, all inside a FreeSync VA panel which is impressive in and of itself. Externally, you're looking at four USB 3.0 ports, two DisplayPort 1.4, and two HDMI 2.0. First impressions from the second I plugged the monitor in were that it looked considerably darker than most monitors and despite fiddling with the settings, that issue persists. It certainly doesn't look bad – I'll get onto gaming performance in a moment – but it isn't as vibrant or noteworthy as other displays I've used, which means it isn't a great option for doing color-sensitive work or watching films. Not that you'd want to watch them on a 21:9 screen anyway… In-game, however, it's a different case altogether, which is what matters since this is marketed as a serious gaming monitor. Ultrawide isn't as much of an advantage as it may have led you to believe but it does provide a small boost. While your aim probably isn't good enough to snap onto someone in your peripheral vision on Counter-Strike because of just how wide the screen is, the ability to spot them and call their location out to your teammates is vital. Combine that with the 144Hz 1ms specs and kerblammo, you've got yourself one heck of a gaming monitor. In Valorant however – my PC shooter of choice – ultrawide isn't supported. Shooters aren't the only place you'll see benefits though. Any racing or driving games, whether you're behind the wheel of an F1 car or cruising in a truck simulator, having the FOV set up just right with an ultrawide monitor means you can see at almost a full 180° angle; no more swiping the mouse or pressing a button to look left and right. In games like League of Legends you can see way more of the map, as is the same in any strategy game with an isometric view. Also, a special shoutout has to go to Elite Dangerous – few things compare to having almost your entire cockpit in view as you hurtle at lightspeed through space.

WD BLACK SN850 REVIEW

pretty much universal. What’s less well established is just how much difference comparative SSD performance makes for gaming as opposed to other workloads. That’s the context for the shiny new WD Black SN850 SSD. By the numbers, this thing absolutely rips, and is definitely a contender for best SSD for gaming. It’s a PCIe 4.0 drive with some serious performance specs, including 7GB/s peak sequential performance and up to 1 million IOPS. Scary, but in a good way. Of course, performance on the best gaming PC (or best gaming laptops, for that matter) doesn’t necessarily benefit from ever-faster SSDs. It’s actually pretty hard to tell from measures like game loading times whether there’s a plain old SATA SSD or the latest M.2 NVMe beast under the hood, for example. The reasons for all this are pretty technical, but boil down to the fact that storage bottlenecks involving IO requests and CPU load tend to be the limit to performance, not raw bandwidth. The catch is that this is set to change thanks to a new next-gen-games-console derived technology for Windows known as DirectStorage. Due later this year, it might just give the likes of the new WD Black SN850 (or the WD AN1500 to namedrop another belter) real purpose when it comes to PC gaming performance. Design & Features Tested here in 1TB capacity, the WD Black SN850 is also available in 500GB and 2TB variants. All three are M.2 NVMe SSDs with quad-lane PCIe 4.0 interfaces. So, they’re right at the bleeding edge of PC storage technology. Peak sequential performance is quoted at 7,000MB/s read and 5,300MB/s write for this 1TB model. As for random access performance, peak performance is pegged at 1 million read IOPS and 720K write IOPS. Underpinning all that is a WD/Sandisk NVMe G2 controller chipset, SanDisk’s 96L 3D TLC flash memory, and 1GB of DDR4 DRAM. The more detailed configuration includes up to 300GB of the 1TB of flash memory dynamically set aside to operate as a fast SLC cache, a feature known as nCache in WD nomenclature. As for endurance, WD backs the drive for five years and 600TB of writes, which is enough for 100GB of data written daily, wait for it, 16 years. Yeah, that should have you covered. As with most M.2 SSDs, physically the WD Black SN850 is largely unremarkable. Still, it is worth noting the SN850 doesn’t have much by way of cooling as standard, despite the fact heat dissipation can often be an issue for sustained SSD performance. A heat sink is available as a cost option. Performance Speaking of performance, this drive does a pretty decent job of blitzing our benchmarks. It isn’t necessarily the fastest M.2 drive on the market by every measure. The likes of the Samsung 980 Pro and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus have the edge by some metrics. But the SN850 puts in some very nice numbers: 6996 MB/s read and 5205 MB/s write on CrystalDIskMark, to provide some context. Peak performance is in line with the claimed specs, with sequential reads of a whisker under 7GB/s and writes around 5.2GB/s. As nice as those numbers are, it’s actually the 4K performance that most impresses. 4K queue depth one read speed is right up there with the Samsung 980 Pro at 81MB/s, while the 250MB/s write speed for the same test is the fastest we’ve ever seen. As for sustained performance, it drops off right where you’d expect given the SLC cache provision, with sequential write throughput roughly halving after around 300GB of data. That ought to be plenty for most users.

AVERMEDIA PW315 REVIEW

The AverMedia PW315 Professional Connections webcam is representative of the manufacturer steadily muscling in on the premium, best webcam space, and at $120 this new cam is certainly carrying a higher price tag over the usual cheap webcams available. 1080p footage at 60fps will usually carry a heavier price tag, though, and while the PW315 does cut itself out of the budget market, there's plenty on offer here to entice the mid-range streamer or the professional looking to smarten up their conference calls. The AverMedia PW315's lens offers 1080p picture at 60fps. That’s impressive considering other, more major brands, generally tend to limit their $90 - $120 cameras to 720p resolution at this frame rate. While we’re starting to see companies like Logitech dropping the prices on these features, AverMedia is certainly out ahead with this spec sheet. You’ll also find a 95-degree field of view, offering up plenty of space for your streaming backdrop, or for getting more people in front of the camera. The plug and play system works across both Mac and PC, and is picked up quickly across a number of streaming and conferencing apps. Some of the more luxurious features only really come into play once you download the Cam Engine software. This opens you up to AI motion tracking, through which your webcam will ensure you are always in frame and in focus while you move freely, as well as a range of extra settings and picture adjustments that can be carried across a range of streaming and networking programs as well. Design While looking like a mini soundbar isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the dual speakers on either side of this wide-angle lens do add some serious heft to the overall design. That’s not going to be a problem for general mounting, but considering there’s very little tilt functionality between the grip and the camera itself, positioning your frame with this extra weight in mind may prove a little tricky if you’re working with a thinner surface. That said, should your webcam fall we reckon it will almost definitely survive the impact. With that extra weight comes a solid design that feels like it could take some serious knocks before giving out. The clip hinge is well built, with a soft rubber pad for extra grip, and a full 360-degree pan that feels easy to manoeuvre but still solid once in place. Performance In well-lit conditions, the AverMedia PW315 offers excellent clarity with no grain detectable when viewing on a smaller smartphone, tablet, and laptop screens. This does drop a little as the receiving display’s size gets larger, but still offers far better viewing quality than cheaper webcams. Straight out the box we didn’t notice any green or blue tints in this picture and noticed far more attention to warmer colors than we’d previously experienced as well. Just pop it on top of one of the best gaming monitors - or even best gaming laptops - and you're good to go. When those lighting conditions change, a little more grain is introduced, especially once we tested a low light environment. That's a little disappointing considering we're not exactly in the budget price range any more, where this reduction in detailing might be expected. However, at around $120 this doesn't quite hit premium pricing either, so perfect handling of low lighting conditions would be a bit of a stretch. As a result, it may be best to team it with a contender for the best ring light to ensure you're well covered for light. The picture did manage to balance a range of RGB key lights in this environment well. Plus, we noticed a speedy reaction to any sudden changes in lighting conditions and there were very few washed-out white spots when subjected to particularly strong natural light as well. The AI features packed in here are very much still in beta, which means they’re not as slick as the rest of the experience may suggest. In fact, we struggled to run the Cam Engine software at all on a 2016 MacBook Pro that met all the download requirements. Meanwhile, our PC testing was a little more successful, and overall the AI components worked as expected - if a little slower than we would have hoped. It’s also worth noting that you’ll need a Windows PC running Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or one of the best graphic cards going that's above that mark to make the most of these features.

RAZER OROCHI V2 REVIEW

The Razer Orochi V2 is dreaming of better days ahead. To be precise, this wireless, petite mouse has its sights set on those of us that game on the go. With things gradually returning to normal, it's ready for quick matches during your commute or portable control if you happen to cart the best gaming laptops around. How does it stack up against the best wireless gaming mouse, though? We put the Razer Orochi V2 through its paces like the cruel taskmasters we are to find out. Let's talk numbers, shall we? The new Orochi runs on a single AA or AAA battery (you can use whichever one you have to hand) and supposedly features up to 950 hours of battery life as a result. That's not bad going at all; it's a far higher number than most other wireless mice, and not by a small amount. Its wireless functionality doesn't let the side down either. Besides Bluetooth, the Orochi V2 features Hyperspeed tech. According to Razer, this provides a performance that is "at least 25% faster than any other gaming mouse." Considering how quick some entries on our best gaming mouse guide are, it's a claim worth taking notice of. This Orochi is feather-light, too. Coming in at just 2.11oz / 60g without batteries, you won't be weighed down by it at all. It's also small enough to slot into a pocket or bag with ease (in terms of size, it gives the Razer DeathAdder V2 Mini and the Razer Viper Mini a run for their money). That doesn't mean it skips extra buttons, though - two can be found on the left-hand side, and a DPI button sits below the scroll wheel. Plus, what lies underneath defies expectations you might have of such a dinky mouse; it packs in 2nd-gen mechanical switches and a 5G optical sensor that can hit 18,000 DPI. This doesn't match the likes of the Razer Naga Pro, and that's a shame, but it's still above and beyond what most of us need. Design Thanks to a symmetrical design, the Razer Orochi V2 is one handsome son of a gun. More precisely, it's elegant - there aren't any aggressive edges, grills, or ostentatious RGB lights to be found here. Instead, it occupies itself with a matte plastic shell that isn't segmented into pieces or perforated with holes. It's remarkably modest because of that and opts for a more streamlined design that's reminiscent of the Corsair Sabre RGB Pro. Perfect for the office or at home, in other words. Just be aware that this isn't an ambidextrous device (while it doesn't claim to be, it has the look of one). Because the extra buttons are only found on the mouse's left side, it's not going to suit anyone that isn't right-handed. Sadly, this isn't an addition to our best left-handed gaming mouse guide. Performance You might think that the Razer Orochi V2 would be somehow 'less' than a standard gaming mouse thanks to its petite nature, but that simply isn't the case. It performs beautifully in work tasks, and the scroll wheel has a pleasingly tactile action. Meanwhile, the mechanical switches offer a sharp, satisfying click. Sure, it won't go down as well with those who prefer chunkier mice such as the Corsair Ironclaw RGB. Nevertheless, it does serve all grip types well enough. Particularly if you add on Razer's new, sold-separately grip tape. In addition, the reduced footprint will be welcomed by anyone with smaller hands. It's much easier to throw around your mouse mat than competitors, and its 100% PTFE feet contribute to a smooth glide that requires minimal wrist movements. This allowed me to quickly adjust formation to meet new attacks on the battlefield of A Total War Saga: Troy, not to mention get foes in my sights during Apex Legends. Throw in its absurdly long battery life and there's a lot to love about this little rodent. Unfortunately, the Orochi V2 isn't perfect. It was a little too dainty for me during first-person shooters unless I was using a palm grip, mainly because I found the side buttons tricky to hit otherwise. Similarly, the scroll wheel was a little awkward when it came to clicks - I struggled to hit it without scrolling instead, and had to be quite careful when attempting to mark enemies in Apex. These aren't dealbreakers, though, and a lot of those complaints can be resolved after getting used to the Orochi's size.