2020 has been quite the difficult year. But despite that, 2020 has heralded a bunch of awesome tech releases that have kept this year afloat! So, if you’ve somehow been living under a rock all year and missed out, here are my 5 Favourite PC Tech releases of 2020.
Favourite CPU: AMD’s 5000 Series CPUs
AMD have always been my go-to for CPUs due to their strengths with programs such as the Adobe suite, so these new CPUs were super exciting for me. These CPUs were widely praised upon release. Their fast and efficient architecture wowed even loyal Intel fans. The main drawback of these CPU’s were that the higher end ones are pretty expensive, even more so than some Intel chips. However, AMD has stated that the price is justified due to their increased power. That being said there are cheaper options in this series that still pack a mighty punch. For me, the release of these CPUs was a big moment for the tech industry this year and I’m very proud to be a long-time Team Red fan.
Favourite GPU: NVIDIA 30 Series
While I know AMD also released their new GPUs this year, I gotta give it to NVIDIA. The 30 series was the first GPU launch I paid a lot of attention to, and boy did this announcement and subsequent release go OFF! All 3 of the cards on offer give you an amazing boost in performance from their 20 series cards and most for a very reasonable price. These cards perform amazing, look amazing, and completely blew me away when I started seeing reviews. Biggest downside? Availability! Almost instantly these cards were out of stock everywhere you looked. There were many disappointed people on launch day, and even still now with new stock not forecasted until 2021. But it was the release of this card that encouraged me to upgrade to a NVIDIA card myself, so NVIDIA definitely won this year for me.
Favourite Motherboard: ASUS TUF Gaming X570 Plus Wifi
ASUS blew it out of the park with this board! Not only does it look incredibly sleek, but it also performs incredibly well and supports the latest AMD chips. This is a super simple, easy to set up board and great for first timers or well experienced builders alike. It is on the slightly pricier side of motherboards though, so isn’t ideal for a super budget build. That being said, you don’t have to deal with installing a separate I/O shield, which is honestly worth the extra price sometimes. This Motherboard also comes with wifi, so if do find yourself unable to run an Ethernet cable halfway through your house, this board has got you covered.
Favourite Gadget: Oculus Quest 2
I do have had mixed feelings about Oculus, however, I can’t deny how great their VR is. The Oculus Quest 2 is the latest headset from them, and it received incredibly good reviews upon launch. The biggest aspect the Quest 2 has going for it is its lack of cables. Cables can be a real drag when you’re trying to get immersed into the world of VR, so the Quest 2 is great in that respect. The Quest 2 also goes beyond its predecessors. It comes with a better display, more powerful processor and far more accurate motion tracking abilities. On top of it forcing you to have a Facebook account, the second biggest drawback is its battery life. As it is wireless, it does mean you only have about 2 to 3 hours of play time before you will have to recharge.
Favourite Thermaltake Product: The S100
My personal favourite Thermaltake product we released this past year was our S100 Micro-Tower case. At first, I was a little disappointed that this case wasn’t as small as I’d imagined. But I can’t deny what a great case it is! For starters, it has a sleek, minimalist look that I adore in cases. Also, the white version in particular looks amazing with our white Riing Quad fans (which the S100 only just beat out for my favourite product of the year). Both Gillian and Jono are rocking this case now, and if I had a mini-ITX board, I would be too! Overall, it looks great and has quite a lot of options for hardware despite its smaller size. It also provides some decent airflow too on top of it being relatively inexpensive. For more info on this case, check out our webpage or blog post about building with it.
So, there were my top PC Tech releases of 2020!
What were your favourite PC Tech releases of 2020? Comment them down below!
