DIY

CheckMag Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices will give you remote access to all your files from any device both at home and away. Just add your drives and off you go, but they aren’t cheap. However there are some compelling software solutions that can turn any old PC and a few drives into a potent NAS which can compete with even the most expensive off the shelf solutions.

There are a good number of GPU options that feature passive cooling. But for most systems, the passively cooled graphics card units available for purchase don’t offer the required performance. That’s likely what made a Redditor named Everynametaken9 take on a brave project of silently cooling an Nvidia RTX 3080 with a thick copper bar and heat sinks.

One of the main upgrades of the Raspberry Pi 5 over its predecessor is the powerful Broadcom BCM2712 four-core SoC. While its factory clock speed is at 2.4 GHz, it can be pushed to 3.0 GHz for better performance. But this overclocking can lead to thermal throttling, which is why Seeed Studio and 52Pi brought a water cooling kit for the SBC.

Steam Deck owners can now upgrade their screen to a 1200p IPS panel. It has a peak brightness of 400 nits and is more colour-accurate than the original. You

The ReBoi DIY kit on Kickstarter promises to turn a Raspberry Pi Zero into a retro console in the shape of a GameBoy Color. The kit is designed to be assembled without soldering.

Flying in the face of Sony's lacklustre PlayStation Portal remote play experience, DIY Perks takes advantage of the redesigned PS5 internals to create a stunning, and thick, premium portable PlayStation experience.

CheckMag The Raspberry Pi 5 is a single board computer that has seen a significant boost to performance this generation. With support for PCIE devices, massive overclocking headroom, a physical on / off switch and an active cooling option, here are 4 projects to get you started with your new Raspberry Pi.

AOHi has announced that crowdfunding for a new generation of its innovative modular (or "splicable") cable has begun. Like its Future Creative predecessor, the Racing Cable can be put together to be longer or even to be type-A at one end via its custom extensions. It augments specs such as 8K video and super-fast charging with the USB4 standard in this iteration.

Many users of RTX 40 series GPUs, especially the RTX 4090, are still reporting the power cables burning and melting problem. This issue can be avoided with a secure connection, which requires a minimum space of 35 mm between the connector and the first bend. To make it easier to ensure this, Seasonic has recommended using a hair dryer to pre-bend the cables before installing the card.

With the Sermoon D3 Pro, Creality is now offering a powerful 3D printer with two hotends. For the second hotend, the offset is automatically taken into account. It is advertised with high accuracy and a flexible printing plate.

The ET from Lotmaxx is a 3D printer that can also engrave and cut wood using a laser. Makers can thus save a lot of space, at least in certain cases.

A few days ago, the KDE Linux desktop team made the first public beta version of KDE Plasma 6 available for download. Among other things, the popular cube effect in the desktop overview is celebrating its comeback with Plasma 6.

The S1 from Flsun is a new 3D printer that is advertised as being particularly fast. It has an unusual shape and, thanks to its closed design, is intended to be less harmful to the user's health, even when set up in a room not specifically designed for this purpose.

The ChromaKit is a retrofit solution for 3D printers, enabling them to handle multi-color printing. This kit saves on a new purchase and is marketed as a complete solution.

The NucDeck DIY gaming handheld has made great progress throughout the past six months. At this point, the project is close to being completed, with Daniel McKenzie, the person behind the project, sharing the full list of design files, parts, and assembly guidelines

YEELIGHT has announced its Black Friday deals on a selection of its smart RGB accessories. They include the Smart Cube Lamp, which can be built and extended in nearly all directions for a more custom desk lighting solution. The brand's light bars, smart buibs and LED strips can also be picked up for less than normal during this sale.

Released in 2015, the Apple Magic Mouse 2nd Gen has had a surprisingly enduring life. It is still in circulation, with Apple bundling it with the latest M3 iMac. But its design makes it barely usable in some instances, and a design hacker has just fixed the mouse's biggest weakness.

Thermaltake has announced its "early Black Friday and Cyber Monday extravaganza" with discounts of up to 40% off some of its pre-built Liquid Cooling Gaming System (LCGS) PCs, even one with the latest Intel 14th-gen platforms. The brand has also put a selection of its cases, cooling solutions and PSUs up for sale.

Corsair has launched its latest Gen 5 SSD, the Corsair MP700 PRO. Aside from bringing super-fast read and write speeds, the M.2 SSD offers a versatile cooling option. And it integrates seamlessly in systems with or without custom loops.

CheckMag If you've upgraded to the new M3 MacBook Pro or a Lenovo X1 Carbon, take a look at some of the options for repurposing your old hardware instead of selling, recycling or sending to landfill. Repurposing old hardware can be a rewarding adventure that forms a core part of your home network.

The Starfield 3D is a new 3D printer with solid features. The model is intended to print high-quality, detailed models and immediately post-process 3D print jobs. The Starfield 3D is also designed to take occupational safety into account.

IoT and edge computing are two sectors that have seen rapid growth in the past few years, and Raspberry Pi is an important player, especially on the commercial side. Arm needs to consolidate its position and is now cementing its 15-year collaboration with Raspberry Pi.

Phanteks, a well-known name in the realm of PC cooling solutions, has expanded its Glacier One D30 AIO lineup with a 420 mm model. Otherwise known as the Phanteks Glacier One 420D30 AIO, the new cooler aims to deliver exceptional cooling performance with a visually stunning design.

Eurocom has launched a highly customizable and user-upgradeable laptop, the Eurocom Nightsky RX415. It can be configured with an Intel Core i9-13900HX and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070. The base model, on the other hand, offers an Intel Core i9-13900HK and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060. Its starting price is US$1999.

AnkerMake has just added two online tools to its ‘Make It Real’ 3D model repository website. 3D Paint converts a 2D image into a 3D printable model by rendering different colours in relief against the background. CityPrint allows users to select a portion from one of 7 city maps and print it as a 3D model.

PC gaming has come a long way, but the retro look and nostalgia factor are picking up steam. As such, here are some excellent, affordable retro gaming accessories such as the Retroid Pocket Flip and 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard that will help you enjoy the look of the past with a blast.

Creality has launched the CR-10 SE, its new FDM 3D printer targeted at advanced users. The new printer addresses the issue of getting the ideal first layer by auto-leveling using multiple sensors upon startup. It also features a model cooling fan to prevent distorted overhangs and can print at up to 600 mm/s.

Anycubic has just launched its new Kobra 2 series of FDM 3D printers, boasting speeds up to 500 mm/s, acceleration up to 20,000 mm/s2 and build volume up to 88 L. The series follows the previously launched Kobra 2 with four new model variants offering different speeds and build volume specs. All models are available for pre-order starting September 1.

Is it a multi-mode mobile device charging station?...is it a DIY desk toy?...is it a potential gift for a techy loved one? According to AOHi, it is all of those things. The brand's "Future Eternal City" accessory is intended to look like a space-themed display, yet is in fact a wired/wireless charger bundle, with a power bank to boot. It is also on sale with a coupon code for a limited time.

The system on display at Computex '23 is drawing 660 W of power including the storage components. Streacom makes use of a new approach to cooling that combines traditional heat pipes with AIO closed loops, but does not require an active pump.

CheckUp To all those stuck with a poor display panel - there is a solution to your woes that does not involve buying a brand-new laptop. Replacing the screen will save you quite a bit of cash while giving your current system another lease of life and reducing the amount of e-waste. This guide offers some vital tips for when it comes to replacing a laptop screen.

Framework, the company known for making highly modular laptops, has announced that the company’s Laptop 13 can now be equipped with the Ryzen 7040U APUs. The APUs feature a Zen 4 CPU and an RDNA 3 Radeon 760M/780M iGPU with 8/12 CUs.

An interesting Nintendo Switch 2 dev kit substitute has been put together by the popular YouTuber Austin Evans to see what kind of performance a next-gen Switch console could potentially offer. Evans used an Nvidia Jetson Orin NX 16 GB kit for benchmarking and then built a “Switch 2” PC to replicate the performance in gaming tests.

AOHi's latest crowdfunding campaign combines wireless charging and a power bank into one product - however, it also purports to be much more than that. The OEM asserts that it makes for the ultimate grown-up toy, as the user gets to put it together themselves. This new method of "assembling your way to faster charging" is taking off on Kickstarter with nearly US$10,000 worth of backing already.

Framework, the company behind the modular Framework Laptop 13, announced a new model today. The Framework Laptop 16 is a 16-inch laptop built around Framework's ethos of repairability and upgradeability. The Framework Laptop 16 includes a swappable keyboard and an expansion bay that can be used to upgrade the machine's graphics card.

Documents leaked from Gigabyte reveal that AMD's AM5 platform supports Rembrandt and Phoenix processors in addition to the Raphael Ryzen 7000X released last year. This suggests that Team Red is preparing to update the Ryzen G-series with 6000G and 7000G models featuring the more powerful RDNA 2 and RDNA 3 iGPUs.

With the trio that consists of the S70 RGB, S80 RGB, and S90 RGB, Sharkoon takes the brand's first step into the AIO CPU water-cooling solutions market. All three feature addressable RGB PWM fans and a copper plate for heat dissipation. The prices range between 79.90 and 129.90 Euros (US$84.5 to US$137.3).

This wacky DIY project uses a 43-inch TV as its screen, and the computing power is provided via an Intel NUC 11 with i7-1165G7 processor and RTX 2060 dGPU that is hidden under the keyboard together with three high capacity batteries, which can sustain 260 W in full load.

Apart from featuring a lower TDP, the Ryzen 9 7900 also features 4 less cores, yet the performance is fairly close to the last gen top-of-the-line 105 W Ryzen 9 5950X. The 65 W power envelope on the Ryzen 9 7900 even allows it to be cooled with a passive solution, making it an excellent choice for the silent PC fans.

It is not too often we get to see Intel's desktop-grade T-series on sale at retailers. Despite being underclocked versions of the unlocked K-series, the Raptor Lake-T models appear to be overpriced, at least in Germany.

A new GPU AIB maker backed by Acer's expertise could prove beneficial for the market as a whole. However, rumor has it that the Predator cards will not feature any Nvidia GPUs any time soon, focusing only on intel and AMD models at first.

The well-known 3D printer brand Creality has pursued a direct sales model, or one of selling through its own web-store, for about half a year now. Now, it has announced it has raked in over US$12 million since going live in 2022. The company credits the move with a vast growth in success and recognition in the consumer (or prosumer) home extruding market.

An enthusiast over at the ComputerBase forums has demonstrated that common household items like ketchup, cheese, potato, toothpaste, skin cream, and copper tape among others can substitute for thermal paste in case of an urgent need. The comparison showed the Arctic MX-4 to be the most effective in preventing thermal throttling of a 30 W AMD Radeon R7 240 GPU, but ketchup and toothpaste come across as decent substitutes as well.