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C U S TO M P C / ISSUE 207

08 Arm and a leg Nvidia’s purchase of Arm is the biggest semi-conductor takeover in history. Richard Swinburne ponders whether it’s a positive one.

10 Culture clash Tracy King explores how different countries’ cultures have influenced each other in gaming, and looks to India for the next influence.

16 GeForce RTX 3080 review Nvidia’s new graphics powerhouse is put through its paces in our comprehensive review.

27 Compact cooling

Alphacool’s new all-in-one cooler sports a 92mm radiator and fan, bringing liquid-cooling performance to compact cases.

40 Heatrippers Threadripper CPUs need a powerful cooler. Antony Leather puts eight of the latest models to the test.

50 Flight sticks tested Make the most of the new Microsoft Flight Simulator with a proper flight stick. Edward Chester takes six options for a spin.

Highlights

Contents

92 Hobby tech Gareth Halfacree investigates the hidden costs of 3D printing, explores what RISC OS has to offer and thumbs through Computing Across America.

98 Cooling compatibility Finding a waterblock for your CPU or graphics card can be trickier than you think, as Antony Leather found out.

114 404 error – GPU not found The RTX 3080 has proved massively popular, selling out worldwide within hours on launch day. James Gorbold provides insight into just why.

66 A golden age of PC gaming Far from PC gaming dying out, Rick Lane thinks we’ve never had it better.

68 Flying high Microsoft has finally released a new version of its flight simulator, but has it been worth the wait?

74 Nvidia Ampere deep dive A new architecture sits at the heart of Nvidia’s new RTX 3000 GPUs. Mark Simpson explains what makes these monsters tick.

82 Quick refresh How fast is fast enough? Edward Chester explores the benefits of ever higher refresh rates and other factors that affect gaming monitors.

88 Extreme customisation The space probe Sputnik inspired this compact, custom-built and laser-cut PC.

Welcome to Issue 207

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QUICK REFRESH! DO YOU NEED A FAST GAMING MONITOR?

THE BEST-SELLING MAG FOR PC HARDWARE, OVERCLOCKING, GAMING & MODDING / ISSUE 207

FULL REVIEW OF THE GEFORCE RTX 3080

NVIDIANAILS IT

4K GAMING AT OVER 200fps1RAY TRACING COMES OF AGE2LEAVES RTX 2080 Ti IN THE DUST3DEEP DIVE HOW NVIDIA’S NEW GPU ARCHITECTURE WORKS

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TAMING THREADRIPPER 8 TRX4 LIQUID COOLERS REVIEWED

MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATORTHE GAME AND 6 FLIGHT STICKS REVIEWED

DECEMBER 2020 DECEMBER 2020 // £5.99 £5.99

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Cover guide

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Reviewed this monthReviewsGRAPHICS CARDS 16 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition

CASES24 Corsair 4000D Airflow

GAMING HEADSETS26 Epos | Sennheiser GSP 601

CPU COOLERS27 Alphacool Eisbaer LT92

PERIPHERALS28 Mad Catz R.A.T. Pro X3 Supreme Edition

LAPTOPS30 Dell G5 15

PC SYSTEMS32 Fierce PC Lumina Lava Ultimate

34 Scan 3XS Vengeance XTi iCUE

Custom kit38 Razer Acari

38 Pick-Me Mobile Phone Cooler

38 EasySMX Game Pad

39 Funtime Mini Arcade Machine

39 Godlikemate Sound Board

CPU Cooler Labs41 Alphacool Eisbaer Extreme

42 Antec Neptune 240

43 Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML360 RGB TR4

44 Corsair H100i

45 Corsair H115i RGB Pro XT 46 Fractal Design Celsius+ S28

47 NZXT Kraken X63

48 NZXT Kraken X73

Flight Stick Labs51 CH Products Flightstick Pro

52 Logitech Extreme 3D Pro

53 Logitech X56 HOTAS

54 Speedlink Phantom Hawk

55 Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog

56 Thrustmaster T.1600M FCS HOTAS

Games67 A Total War Saga: Troy

68 Microsoft Flight Simulator

70 Factorio

71 Iron Harvest

Hobby tech96 Computing Across America

32 PRODUCTS REVIEWED

5

Regulars

3 From the editor

8 Richard Swinburne

10 Tracy King

12 Incoming

14 Letters

38 Custom kit

58 How we test

60 Elite products

66 Inverse look

72 Reality check

92 Hobby tech

98 Customised PC

100 How to guides

105 Folding@home

110 Readers’ drives

114 James Gorbold

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