The Hardware Unboxed Podcast

Episode 106: We chat about Sony ending production of physical games in 2028, and the implications that has for game ownership. Plus we talk about the challenges Nvidia faces with improving GPU performance, and the future of gaming as a result. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:30 - Life Update 02:35 - A chat about recent content 06:00 - Playstation ending disc support 32:06 - Has GPU performance really hi...

Episode 105: We give some additional thoughts on how bad the Steam Machine is, and yes, we think it is very bad. Then we chat briefly about the Ryzen 7 5800X3D being re-released. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:31 - Yeah we haven't changed our mind on the Steam Machine 16:45 - Microsoft increased the price of the XBOX 21:20 - Steam Machine is the new Verge PC 28:28 - Pre Built as a HTPC 34:33 - Playstat...

Episode 104: Upon our return from Computex, we chat about the current graphics card market, including AMD's bizarre release of the Radeon RX 9070 GRE. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Chat About the Radeon RX 9070 GRE 22:42 - The Current State of GPU Sales 50:08 - Updates From Our Boring Lives SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Audio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcast Video: https://www.youtube.com/chann...

Episode 103: Some people got upset that we claimed Nvidia didn't deliver on their promised ray tracing future. So we discuss that, the RTX 20 series, how ray tracing was marketed, and whether we think it's lived up to the original hype CHAPTERS 00:00 - Chat About Ray Tracing 55:12 - Updates From Our Boring Lives SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Audio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcast V...

Episode 102: We chat about the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition situation: the CPU itself and how it performs, AMD's decision not to provide review samples and more. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Chat About 9950X3D2 1:04:20 - Updates From Our Boring Lives SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Audio: https://shows.acast.com/the-hardware-unboxed-podcast Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqT8Vb3jweH6_tj2SarErfw SUPPORT US...

Episode 101: What are our thoughts on Nvidia's DLSS 5 reveal? Time to chat about that, along with Crimson Desert, which we've been benchmarking CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:31 - Our Initial Thoughts on DLSS 5 08:14 - DLSS 5's Artistic Changes 27:36 - Possible Technical Challenges 42:07 - The Reaction to DLSS 5 49:24 - Crimson Desert Impressions 1:08:03 - Final Thoughts SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Audio:...

Episode 100: A brief chat on some news topics again, including Intel's announcement of Arrow Lake Refresh CPUs at attractive price points and FSR Diamond. Then we chat about a customer getting screwed over after his DDR5 memory died CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 01:53 - New Intel Arrow Lake Refresh CPUs 11:34 - AMD Announces FSR Diamond 14:27 - DLSS 4.5 Dynamic Frame Gen Release 15:59 - Umart, Corsair an...

Episode 99: A brief chat on some news topics, like Nvidia's recent driver issues and the rumored RTX 5050 9GB, then into our main chat. Is it really no longer possible to future proof your PC? Or is this one of the better times for PC hardware longevity? CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:37 - The RTX 5050 9GB Rumors 06:49 - New AMD Ryzen APUs for AM5 11:55 - Nvidia Driver Issues 18:52 - Future Proofing Yo...

Episode 98: Two goobers give their thoughts on AI. We've used it, the marketing claims don't match the capabilities at all. We chat about the financial investments so far, how that's likely going to be a big problem, and the overall status of the 'bubble'. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 10:56 - Our Experiences Using AI 29:54 - The Insane Investment into AI 38:33 - Are They Going to Run Out of Money? 52:40...

Episode 97: Simon from TFTCentral joins us after the wave of announcements at CES 2026 to chat about upcoming monitor technology, the current flaws with WOLED and QD-OLED panels, the types of screens we'd love to see, burn in, G-Sync Pulsar and more TFTCENTRAL Check out Simon's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@tftcentral Check out Simon's website: https://tftcentral.co.uk/ CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro...

Episode 96: Some employees have recently left LTT and their stories have been blowing up, so we thought it might be interesting to give our perspective on running a YouTube tech channel, whether Linus was being unfair and whether the ex-LTT guys made the right choice. Also, we chat about 9800X3D failures and Valve delaying the Steam Machine (and its price reveal) CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:42 - Our...

Episode 95: The Ryzen 7 9850X3D has been released and at best all we can say about it is that it's inoffensive. Also, more reports have emerged that signal the end of GPUs at MSRP. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:26 - So The 9850X3D Has Been Released 16:04 - More GPU Supply Information 29:40 - Zotac Might Be In Trouble 43:11 - Intel Launching Big Battlemage for Pros? 49:09 - Updates From Our Boring Live...

Episode 94: We released a report saying the RTX 5070 Ti is effectively being killed off, and that Asus put the product into end of life status. What happened there? We share the full story CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:33 - AMD Officially Launches the 9850X3D 05:53 - The RTX 5070 Ti is Effectively Dead, The Story So Far 25:38 - It Was From Asus PR, Not a Random Rumor 35:08 - Did We Cause Supply Issues...

Episode 93: A rumor and news episode to round out 2025. We chat a bit more about 9850X3D expectations, the current and future state of Intel CPUs following some 225F testing, Nvidia cutting GPU supply, potential new GPUs and Steve kills some hardware. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 02:33 - More Thoughts on the 9850X3D 06:13 - Where is Intel at With Their CPUs? 24:42 - Nvidia Cutting GPU Supply? 37:38 - AM...

Episode 92: Edward Crisler from Radeon-exclusive AIB Sapphire joins the podcast to chat about the current GPU market. How will rising DRAM prices affect gaming GPUs? Can the GPU makers and AIBs absorb some of the increased cost? Also we talk about RDNA 4 and how successful it's been compared to previous generations, AMD's true market share, and of course, the Sapphire Puke box art CHAPTERS 00:00 -...

Episode 91: Troubling signs in the PC gaming space with DRAM prices continuing to skyrocket and the surprising death of Micron's Crucial brand. Also we chat about the Ryzen 7 9850X3D and Nvidia ending driver support for Pascal. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:31 - DRAM Demand for AI Kills Micron's Crucial Brand 29:39 - AMD Confirms Ryzen 7 9850X3D 41:08 - Nvidia Ends Pascal and Maxwell Driver Support 45...

Episode 90: Some of you were upset we said the Steam Machine could be dead on arrival, so did we get it wrong? Steve also discusses recent RAM testing, and we look at gaming revenue for both Nvidia and AMD. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:28 - More thoughts on the Steam Machine? 22:27 - People didn't understand some RAM testing 40:50 - AMD vs Nvidia gaming revenue and sales share 54:04 - Updates from ou...

Episode 89: Valve has announced a new Steam Machine, which includes entry-level PC gaming hardware at an unknown price. We give our thoughts on whether this sounds any good and what prices would make sense. Steve also shares a motherboard story. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:40 - Initial Thoughts on Steam Machine 14:42 - No Upgrade Path 20:29 - Game Compatibility and Value 35:35 - AMD Roadmaps 39:43 -...

Episode 88: AMD does AMD things. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:22 - Microsoft Improves a Few Things 04:15 - AMD's Disastrous Driver Fumble 23:31 - What About Feature Support? 46:03 - Reputational Damage vs Nvidia Drivers 1:01:39 - How Big of a Mistake? Who to Blame? 01:19:52 - Impact on Review Recommendations 01:52:59 - Quick Boring Life Stuff SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST Audio: https://shows.acast.com/th...

Episode 87: We revisit some discussion from last week as we've found more dodgy stuff Microsoft has done, before chatting about the current situation Intel is in with CPUs. They aren't anywhere near as competitive up against AMD now, as AMD were with Ryzen when Intel was dominant. (Note: This podcast was recorded before the recent AMD RDNA 2 driver decision, we'll discuss that in the future) CHAPT...

Episode 86: You all told us what you hated about Windows 11, and we fully agreed. So in this episode we go through all our grievances with the current state of Windows. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 06:21 - Unnecessary Microsoft accounts 10:39 - Search is broken 15:49 - Splash screens and ads 20:52 - The right click context menu 26:53 - Pre-installed bloatware 33:21 - Windows updates hurting performance...

Episode 85: We chat about Battlefield 6 testing and explore the difficulties with testing one-click overclocking features in benchmarks, such as PBO and 200S Boost. We also discuss the latest Intel graphics announcements including Xe3 and XeSS 3, as well as motherboard vendors beginning to say Zen 6 will be supported on AM5 SOURCES https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/intels-xe3-graphic...

Episode 84: Tim and Steve respond to their internet crimes of using DLSS while testing and saying APUs suck. Then we chat more about Intel fixing B580 CPU overhead in some games, AMD's FSR 4 INT8 version and Microsoft destroying the value of Game Pass. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:27 - Why we tested Borderlands 4 with DLSS enabled 08:58 - APUs are not a good option for desktop gaming today 29:26 - In...

Episode 83: Intel and Nvidia have formed a partnership, but because APUs are not that relevant to desktop PC gamers, we discuss whether this deal will actually impact gaming significantly. Also, we put Intel's Arc GPUs into our GPU rankings, and chat about some news CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 00:33 - Intel and Nvidia APU team up, but gamers don't use APUs 37:00 - We add Intel Arc GPUs to the rankings...

Episode 82: A quick update on the YouTube views situation, then into a Borderlands 4 discussion. What is the state of the game currently? What do we make of Randy Pitchford's comments? Is DLSS being used as a crutch instead of proper optimization? Can it be fixed? CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro 01:05 - Update on the YouTube views situation 17:17 - Initial thoughts on Borderlands 4 28:27 - The crutch of DL...