Electrical engineering

What is SATA? In short, it’s how almost everything storage-related connects to your motherboard. If you’ve owned a desktop PC or laptop in the past decade and a half, you can be confident it was a Serial ATA (SATA) compatible piece of hardware. Whether it was a hard drive (HDD), a solid-state drive (SSD), or an optical drive, almost all of them used SATA until recently. That’s not always the case, as there are some newer standards available for high-speed drives. But alongside PCIe and NVMe, SATA is still a…

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends The two major innovations in gaming displays over the past few years have been OLED and mini-LED. These two types of displays have transformed the rather dire state of HDR for PC gamers, and now, you can find OLED and mini-LED options across gaming monitors, laptops, and TVs. From my perspective, though, there’s really only one choice for the best gaming experience. Although both mini-LED and OLED improve the gaming experience with excellent HDR, OLED still holds a massive advantage over…

An XLR cable is an essential addition when dealing with professional audio, video, or stage lighting equipment. It’s also pretty important even when using one of the best microphones for streaming such as if you’ve recently become a pro streamer or video editor. Maybe not the most exciting of tools to buy, you really need them in your life if you regularly record your voice. Able to provide analog balanced audio, it’s important to buy the best XLR cables for your needs. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have…

Scientists have advanced compressed sensing recovery with a fast, efficient analog hardware solution, promising significant improvements in fields like medical imaging and communication technology (Artist’s concept). Credit: SciTechDaily.comA team of researchers headed by Professor Sun Zhong at Peking University recently unveiled an analog hardware approach for real-time compressed sensing recovery. Their findings have been documented in a paper recently published in Science Advances.In this work, a design based on a…

Pushing your hardware to its full potential — such as by enabling XMP — ensures that you get the best performance which is crucial for all sorts of heavy tasks including gaming. Memory is one of the key components that can bring a noticeable improvement in performance. Surprisingly, in most cases, your RAM isn’t running at its claimed clock speeds, and that is where you need to implement XMP or Extreme Memory Profiles. Before you enable XMP though, it is best to check the existing clock speed of your memory.…

Perovskite solar cells like this one, made by Xiwen Gong’s group, could make solar energy cheaper and more environmentally friendly—but they degrade faster than silicon. In a study published in the journal Matter, the team discovered how to make the black perovskite film last longer. Credit: Zhengtao Hu, Gong Lab, University of Michigan.The findings may enable engineers to systematically identify the most effective molecules for extending the lifespan of perovskite solar cells, moving away from a reliance on…

If you’re building a PC from scratch, one of the most important things to consider is how your case is going to impact how hot your hardware gets. With how powerful most modern hardware is, the internals of a PC can get very hot, and one of the only ways you can deal with that heat is to pump as much air through your case. Even CPU and GPU radiators work on a similar principle, relying on good airflow over the cooling fins to keep temperatures down as the hardware does its best to turn your PC parts into molten…

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends I’m not much for PC hardware ecosystems. You usually have to make too many hardware compromises, robbing you of the choice that’s inherent in building your own PCs. Hyte, the brand best known for cases like the Y40 and Y60, has a compelling option it has cooked up for CES 2024, though. It’s called Nexus Link, named after the Nexus software used for cases like the Hyte Y70. The idea is simple — take all of the cables you’d use for power, lighting, sensors, and cooling and run it through…

Researchers at POSTECH have developed a xanthan gum-based protective film for battery electrodes, enhancing the durability and efficiency of zinc-ion batteries. This innovation marks a significant step towards sustainable green energy solutions and addresses key challenges in energy storage technology.Xanthan gum, a substance originally obtained from plants such as cabbage and recognized for its carbohydrate composition, is commonly used in cosmetics as a natural barrier to maintain their skin benefits. In an innovative…

The case you put your PC parts in is just as important as the parts themselves. The best PC cases allow plenty of air through, keeping your components cool, while keeping things as quiet as possible. RGB illumination, tempered glass, and crazy designs? Just the cherry on top. We picked six cases that excel in terms of design and performance, ensuring your rig stays cool and quiet while looking the best that it can. Although we didn't set any strict limits, we have options at various prices, so you should be able to…