Articles by Paul Alcorn, Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech

As a teenager, Paul scraped up enough money to buy a 486-powered PC with a turbo button (yes, a turbo button). Back when floppies were still popular he was already chasing after the fastest spinners for his personal computer, which led him down the long and winding storage road, covering enterprise storage. His current focus is on consumer processors, though he still keeps a close eye on the latest storage news. In his spare time, you’ll find Paul hanging out with his kids or indulging his love of the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals.

Articles by: Paul Alcorn

Intel's Arrow Lake fix doesn't 'fix' overall gaming performance or match the company's bad marketing claims - Core Ultra 200S still trails AMD and previous-gen chips

By Paul Alcorn published 18 January 25

We tested Intel's fix for its lackluster 'Arrow Lake' Core Ultra 200S and found it doesn't have any meaningful impact.

CPU Benchmarks and Hierarchy 2025: CPU Rankings

By Paul Alcorn last updated 13 January 25

All of today's desktop CPU benchmarks compared, including Intel's 13th-Gen Core series and AMD's Ryzen Zen 4 and Threadripper.

AMD says Intel's 'horrible product' is causing Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortages

By Paul Alcorn published 9 January 25

Team Blue in the rearview.

AMD's first RDNA 4 GPU die pictured: Navi 48 around 390 mm2, targeting mainstream gamers

By Anton Shilov published 8 January 25

AMD's higher-end Navi 48 is smaller than both Navi 21 and Navi 31.

Nvidia's powerful RTX 5090 PCB is amazingly small yet pumps 575W of power

By Anton Shilov published 7 January 25

Nvidia completely redesigns PCB of GeForce RTX 5090 Foundry Edition graphics card as its power consumption nears 600W.

Here's all the silicon AMD launched at CES 2025 - family die photos of Strix Halo, Krackan Point, Ryzen 9000X3D, Fire Range, and Hawk Point Refresh

By Hassam Nasir published 7 January 25

AMD has shared a few snippets of all processors that it launched at CES.

Six screens displaying Panther Lake ODM systems; three unique laptops and two mini dev systems.

Intel shows off working Panther Lake systems at CES — Xe3 GPU cores power Intel sneak peek

By Dallin Grimm published 7 January 25

Intel's press demos at CES 2025 include three ODM laptops and two mini dev kits for Panther Lake, powered by Xe3 Celestial GPU architecture.

AMD explains the missing RDNA 4 GPUs in its CES 2025 livestream

By Paul Alcorn published 7 January 25

We met with AMD executives David McAfee and Frank Azor to discover why the company's hotly-anticipated RDNA 4 GPUs were missing from its CES 2025 livestream.

AMD Launches ‘Fire Range’ HX3D mobile processor with game-boosting 3D V-Cache, other HX Series SKUs built on Zen 5 desktop CPU silicon

By Paul Alcorn published 6 January 25

AMD announced its Ryzen 9000HX series of laptop chips here at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, including its flagship model that it bills as the world’s best mobile processor for gaming and content creation.

AMD launches Ryzen AI 300 and 200 series chips for laptops

By Hassam Nasir published 6 January 25

Ryzen AI spreads its wings.

AMD launches Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D, claims 20% faster gaming performance than Intel’s flagship Arrow Lake processors

By Paul Alcorn published 6 January 25

AMD lands another blow on Intel’s troubled Arrow Lake.

AMD’s beastly ‘Strix Halo’ Ryzen AI Max+ debuts with radical new memory tech to feed RDNA 3.5 graphics and Zen 5 CPU cores

By Paul Alcorn published 6 January 25

Disruption is a daily thing.

Qualcomm teases mini desktop PC, announces 8-core Snapdragon X chip to bring Arm-powered Windows CoPilot+ laptops down to ~$600

By Paul Alcorn published 6 January 25

Broader product range foments broader adoption.

Intel launches Arrow Lake mobile family with Core Ultra 200HX and 200H processors for gaming laptops

By Paul Alcorn published 6 January 25

Shooting Arrows into the mobile market.

Best Thermal Paste for CPUs 2025: Over 50 Compounds Tested and Ranked

By Paul Alcorn last updated 2 January 25

We tested over 50 different thermal compounds to help you find the best one to help cool your CPU.

The Best CPU for Gaming in 2025

By Paul Alcorn last updated 2 January 25

Here is the best CPU for gaming for the money, based on our benchmarks. These processors offer the best performance in their price ranges and most are suitable for overclocking.

Best Budget CPUs of 2025, Benchmarked and Ranked

By Paul Alcorn last updated 2 January 25

You can get a surprisingly powerful processor on the cheap. We've tested several cheap budget CPUs to help you find the right one for your needs and budget.

Best SSDs 2025: From Budget SATA to Blazing-Fast NVMe

By Paul Alcorn last updated 1 January 25

We recommend the best SSDs for every need and budget based on our extensive lab tests.

Best Hard Drives 2025: Our top HDD picks for desktop PCs, NAS, and more

By Paul Alcorn last updated 1 January 25

We recommend the best hard drives for every need and budget based on our extensive lab tests.

The Best PS5 SSDs in 2025: Speedy NVMe storage for your console

By Paul Alcorn, Jarred Walton last updated 1 January 25

Our tests show the best PS5 SSDs to buy.

Intel terminates x86S initiative — unilateral quest to de-bloat x86 instruction set comes to an end

By Paul Alcorn published 19 December 24

Intel has confirmed to Tom's Hardware that it is no longer working on the x86S specification.

Intel announces Arrow Lake performance fix is now available — another update coming next month

By Paul Alcorn published 18 December 24

Intel says it has root-caused the problems plaguing its Arrow Lake processors and that performance-boosting updates are now available.

Intel looks beyond silicon, outlines breakthroughs in atomically-thin 2D transistors, chip packaging, and interconnects at IEDM 2024

By Paul Alcorn published 7 December 24

Smaller, faster, better.

Western Digital Red Pro 20TB hard drive is an all-time low $319 for Cyber Monday — a mere $16 per TB

By Paul Alcorn last updated 2 December 24

You can score a 20TB WD Red Pro NAS hard drive for only $319, an all-time low for this drive.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger retires, effective immediately — two co-CEOs step in

By Paul Alcorn published 2 December 24

Intel announced that CEO Pat Gelsinger will retire and has stepped down from the board of directors, effective immediately.

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