AMD has announced the desktop line-up of its 2nd generation Ryzen processors. Today, the company released details for four chips, ranging from the high-end 2700X (specs for which were leaked earlier this week), to the more budget-friendly 2600.

If the last week has led you to be wary of having an Intel CPU powering your PC then you might want to get excited, because it seems like AMD might have started actually making CPUs you'd want instead of having Intel inside.

Spectre and Meltdown continue to be a major issue for Intel as it also scrambles to deal with a vulnerability in the Intel Management Engine BIOS Extension. But Google says its fix for CVE 2017-5715 (commonly called Variant 2 of Spectre) can fix the problem with negligible impact on system performance, contrary to Intel's fix.

You're running Windows 7 on your AMD machine, heard about Meltdown/Spectre and did the right thing by updating your OS. And then your PC starts BSODing or worse, fails to boot at all. Fortunately, you don't have to reformat if you can access the recovery console or have your system rescue disc handy.

There are a pair of security flaws present in nearly every device you've got that could allow hackers to steal information like passwords and other personal information. The exploits, Spectre and Meltdown, take advantage of actual flaws in the design of your device's microprocessor.

When I first started using PCs regularly, back in the early 1990s, systems using Intel processors were priced at a premium. So that meant my first couple of Windows PCs (we had a Commodore 128 at home before that) ran a Cyrix processor - a 486DLC if memory serves. But through most of the 1990s Intel ruled the roost. Their "Intel Inside" campaign was one of the most successful marketing campaigns of all time. But the world has moved on and we are on the cusp of a new processor era.

It's been a whirlwind year in the PC market, in no small part thanks to the return of AMD. But things just got a whole lot more insane of late, with AMD and Intel - of all companies - announcing a partnership.

Microsoft has gone ahead with its plan to disable updates on pre-Windows 10 operating systems running on newer AMD and Intel processors. While your machine won't suddenly stop working, it does mean your Windows 7 or 8.1 install won't benefit from the latest updates. Fortunately, a simple workaround is now available.

If you have a Ryzen CPU or Intel Kaby Lake and haven't wanted to upgrade to Windows 10, there's a chance you might be locked out of future Windows updates and need a creative workaround. Luckily one exists, and all the digging around the dll files has already been done for you.

PCs come in all shapes and sizes: there's the bog standard beige tower, a unit that fits inside the palm of your hand, a rig that looks just like a console, and then mecha-inspired creations like the one above.

Building a PC doesn't have to be daunting, though. And while there are tons of reasons to build a PC, ranging from better graphics to cheaper games to greater versatility, there's also some things you should know before you start.

Sometimes it feels like computers have reached peak speed. Often times, when trolling YouTube or playing a quick round of Overwatch the limitations on performance seem tied to something else. Your internet is too slow, or you need a new graphics card. Computer processors have gotten faster - every year Intel unveils a microarchitecture with breathless claims of mighty performance improvements, but CPUs haven't had a real leap forward in a while. AMD's new Ryzen processors comes perilously close to changing the game.

Capsaicin & Cream is an AMD media event held at the Game Developer Conference (GDC). This year, the company will finally lift the lid on its hotly anticipated Vega GPU range. You can watch a live stream of the event right here.

Looking to upgrade your computer with a graphics card that can handle VR, or you're looking to build a PC on the cheap for gaming at 1080p with a bit of dabbling at 1440p resolutions? That's the crowd AMD is trying to hit with their new Radeon RX 480, and it manages to do so admirably.

But just like games, you'll want to make sure you get the best possible deal. So to help you out, here's a list of some of the cheapest RX 480s in the country.

It's been a long time since we've had to worry about CPU / OS incompatibilities. In fact, the last time it was an issue was the shift from x86 to x64, but that was largely transparent to consumers thanks to AMD and its x86-64 specification, which was later adopted by Intel. Now, with Windows 7 having just entered its extended support phase, Microsoft has taken the opportunity to drop the news that only Windows 10 will be supported on upcoming CPUs.

The hardest part of building a PC is picking the parts, especially when everyone around you seems to have an opinion. And no flame war is more prevalent than the NVIDIA snobs vs the AMD fanboys. What's really going on with these two companies, and which card should you get?

Now here's a good question. Ever since the demise of the gigahertz race, chip designs began to focus on working harder, rather than faster, so the answer isn't immediately obvious. Toss number of cores and technologies such as Hyper-threading into the mix and we have to turn to benchmarks to get a resolution.

Getting the best performance for your GPU dollar can be a tricky proposition. From high end to more affordable models, we have put together a list of the best upgrades.