Rich Edmonds
126 articles published since January 14, 2021
About Rich Edmonds
Richard is a Senior Commerce Writer at Valnet and has been covering the technology industry for more than a decade. He's been building PCs and managing network infrastructure for just as long. When he's not creating content for Valnet, you can often find him inside a chassis somewhere.
Build the PC of your dreams with up to $120 off Lian Li cases
Some of our favorite Lian Li PC cases are on sale!
When it comes to picking a PC case to build a system inside, Lian Li is a name that pops up when shopping around and that's for good reason. The company is responsible for creating some of the best-looking cases out there. Whether you're after a Mini-ITX case or one that can hold just about anything, there's a Lian Li case for just about everyone.
Best Prime Day docking station deals: Our favorite ways to expand your ports
Dock your laptop and expand your horizons with these top Prime Day deals.
It's time for Amazon Prime Day, which means there are a number of discounts live across the board. Whether you're into tech or something beyond, there's literally something for everyone. When Prime Day (and other promotions) come around, we're always on the lookout for savings on not only new laptop PCs and mobile devices but also accessories to better our experiences with these electronics. Docking stations are excellent additions to a laptop if you want to unlock new ports that may not be located on the unit itself.
Best Prime Day SSD deals: Our 11 favorite discounts from the sales event
Save big on the fastest SSDs with speeds of more than 7,000MB/s!
The best way to improve the performance of an older PC or to expand the capacity of a newer one is a solid-state drive (SSD). SSDs are considerably faster than mechanical hard disk drives (HDD) and, as such, were traditionally more expensive. Prices have dropped over recent years, and now it's possible to buy 2.5-inch SATA and M.2 NVMe SSDs for less. During promotions such as Amazon Prime Day, which takes place July 11-12, some of the best SSDs on the market will be discounted, allowing you to buy more capacity at reasonable prices.
Acer's impressively fast 4TB PCIe 4.0 SSD is discounted to just 5 cents per GB
This Acer SSD has no business being this cheap.
Flash storage doesn't cost anywhere near to what it used to but it's still relatively more expensive than mechanical hard drives. Still, it's possible to spot the odd deal here and there, including this Acer Predator GM7000 for Prime Day. One could usually expect to pay around $300 at the very least for a 4TB drive with decent speeds and reliability, but Acer has flipped that by offering this 4TB SSD for just $200. Having such a massive amount of free space allows for just about anything to be stored on the drive, be it an operating system, games, apps, and/or media.
Best Prime Day CPU and GPU deals: Our 18 favorite discounts from Amazon's sales event
These are the only deals on CPUs and GPUs you should consider this Prime Day.
The price of PC components has inflated over recent years, but it's still possible to find a good deal on the best graphics cards and processors through promotions such as Amazon Prime Day. It's easy to spend up to $1,000 on a new CPU and considerably more on the top GPU from Nvidia. Prime Day can prove invaluable to those who may be holding out to spot some discounts on hardware they're planning to install inside their PC.
Build a powerful gaming PC for less than $900 with these 8 Prime Day deals
Enjoy 1440p gaming with this Prime Day discounted PC build.
Building a PC is typically an expensive endeavor but some of this cost can be mitigated with some Prime Day deals. We've put together a powerful gaming PC build that is more than capable of handling 1080p and 1440p resolutions with excellent results. This is largely thanks to the Intel Core i5-12600K and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, providing ample performance. The best part about this build? It costs less than $900, excluding the price of a Windows license, of course.
Be your own cloud storage service with this amazing $208 NAS Prime Day deal
Cut the cord with Netflix and Spotify by building your own media server!
Streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify are excellent for accessing almost limitless amounts of media and they've completely changed the way we consume music, shows, and movies. The drawback to these streaming services is precisely that, there are loads of them! Want to enjoy Game of Thrones? HBO. Anything remotely to do with Star Wars? Disney+. Love Island? Netflix. Before you know it, you have multiple subscriptions that can easily cost $30 a month, if not more. The worse part is you're beholden to these services. If you cancel at any time, you lose access to your favorite media.
Lexar's speedy Professional 2TB NM800 Pro NVMe SSD is on sale for just $0.05 per GB
With the included heatsink, this SSD can run incredibly fast and cool.
When it comes to solid-state drives (SSDs) and picking one for your PC or laptop, it's important to consider speeds, PCI generation, form factor, and price. The M.2 2280 form factor is largely supported by laptop and desktop PCs as well as specific game consoles and Lexar's Professional NM800 Pro is one such drive and it's on sale for Prime Day. With the Amazon Prime SSD discount applied, it brings the cost of storage with the Lexar SSD to just $0.05 per GB, which is low for flash storage and a metric we always bear in mind when recommending drives to purchase.
Best Prime Day PC gaming deals: Our favorite 52 discounts on RAM, storage, headsets, and more
Prime day is the time to save on hardware for your gaming PC.
It's time for Amazon Prime Day, allowing you to enjoy two full days worth of discounts. Deals have landed on not only tech products but tons of other categories. I'm always on the lookout for killer discounts on PC hardware, everything from graphics cards to processors. We've seen notable deals on an array of PC components and accessories in the past, and 2023 shouldn't be a different affair.
Create your own custom mechanical keyboard for less with Drop's Prime Day sale
Now's the perfect time to get into custom mechanical keyboards.
Drop is a popular brand within the custom keyboard scene, particularly for those who are just getting started with their first keyboard. The Drop CTRL and ALT are two excellent offerings that are available in a variety of configurations, everything from barebones to fully assembled. Drop has reduced the price of both keyboards for Prime Day, allowing just about everyone to save big on a custom mechanical keyboard.
Should you buy a prebuilt gaming PC on Prime Day?
Everything you should know before buying a gaming PC on Prime Day.
Amazon announced the dates for this year's Prime Day, and we can expect to see tons of discounts on a variety of products between July 11–12. Many of these discounts will cover technology, including prebuilt gaming desktop systems. We're here to answer a vital question you may have: Should you buy a prebuilt gaming PC on Prime Day?
Upgrade your PC for less with these enticing SK hynix SSD deals
Prime Day is the perfect opportunity to save on upgrading your PC storage.
SK hynix makes some of the fastest SSDs on the market and we're seeing a few drives from the brand discounted on Amazon for Prime Day. Upgrading the performance of your desktop and/or laptop PC can be as simple as swapping out the slower storage drive for an M.2 NVMe SSD with read and write speeds of up to 7,000MB/s, so long as the motherboard supports them. These drives have traditionally been more expensive than 2.5-inch SATA SSDs that are limited to around 560MB/s but now is the best time to save big on the larger capacity NVMe SSDs and right now there's up to $48 discounted on SK hynix drives.
13 best deals from Best Buy's competing Prime Day sale
Best Buy is crashing Amazon's big week of sales with its own event!
Amazon Prime Day is typically for Prime members to enjoy discounts across multiple product categories and has turned into quite the annual event. Best Buy and other retail competitors aren't planning to sit around and miss out on all the fun. In fact, Best Buy has just launched its own early Black Friday event. That's right, we're now experiencing Black Friday in July, but on the plus side, this does mean there are even more ways to save money.
Best NZXT PC cases in 2023
NZXT has a lot of PC cases in its portfolio, but not all of them are worth buying. Here's our collection of the best NZXT cases that are worth considering.
NZXT makes some of the best components in the PC hardware space including CPU liquid coolers, power supply units, motherboards, and more. It's also tough to turn a blind eye to NZXT while discussing PC cases as it makes some of the best PC cases on the market. NZXT cases are known for excellent build quality and beautiful designs with clever cable management solutions. If you looking to buy an NZXT chassis, here's my recommendations.
Best motherboards in 2023
Motherboards are the central component of building a new PC, so here are the best options you can find for your rig.
When building your own PC, one of the most important components is the motherboard. Sure, you're going to need a powerful CPU and the fastest graphics card but it's the motherboard that brings everything together. The choice of motherboard will determine what other components can be used inside your PC, including processor, storage, and even the chassis form factor. We've rounded up the best motherboards right here for Intel and AMD systems to help you make the right decision.
Best GPUs in 2023: Our top graphics card picks
Picking the right graphics card can be difficult given the sheer number of options on the market. Here are the best graphics cards to consider.
The graphics card is responsible for handling all the rendering tasks that are too intense for the CPU alone — think rendering video or playing games. The best graphics card depends on what you need. Should you have a Full HD monitor and only play some lighter games occasionally, you could get away with buying a cheaper GPU. If you're going all-out with 4K gaming and want the very best, a flagship GPU will likely be a better choice. We've tested a whole host of graphics cards to see which is the best GPU for gaming.
NZXT Relay review: A spectacular all-in-one audio system
NZXT has just cemented itself in the audio game.
Are you tired of using audio equipment from brands other than the companies you already rely on for peripherals, PC cases, and other components? So is NZXT, which is why the company is launching (or re-launching, if you've been following its audio developments) the Relay hardware ecosystem. It consists of a 2.0 speaker system, subwoofer, headset, and mixer with headset stand that you can use to use them all together. Each of these can be purchased individually to create a truly custom audio experience that caters to your specific requirements.
Asus ROG Strix Scar G733P review: Showcasing the power of AMD Ryzen 9 and Nvidia's RTX 4090
Configure the latest Asus Scar 17 with an AMD Ryzen 9 and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 for an unmatched gaming experience.
The best gaming laptops available today have the very latest and greatest AMD and Intel processors, as well as capable graphics processing from Nvidia. We're adding the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 (G733P) to this list after in-depth testing to see just how powerful this combination of internal components truly is. Inside this sleek gaming machine is an AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX processor with a whopping 16 physical cores and 32 threads, capable of boosting all the way up to 5.4 GHz, at least on paper.
G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 review: Superfast RAM for Intel CPUs
Just when you thought G.Skill's Trident Z5 DDR5 RAM couldn't get any faster for a while.
In order to get the most out of the latest AMD and Intel processors, it's important to give careful consideration to system memory. The best DDR5 RAM is recommended for Intel chips and is a requirement for AMD ones. G.Skill makes kits for both platforms, supporting Intel XMP and AMD Expo. These are essentially manufacturer-configured overclock profiles to boost the speeds of the memory modules and improve overall system performance.
Best PC cases for airflow in 2023
Buying a PC case with airflow is crucial to the overall performance of the rig. Here are the best PC case for airflow you can buy in 2023.
Picking the best PC case for your build largely depends on the type of hardware you're going to be using, as well as styling since that's entirely subjective. Airflow is one of the most important considerations for any chassis since it's what will allow (or inhibit) the fans to draw in cool air and exhaust heat. This is where our collection of the best PC cases for airflow comes into play with a focus on thermal performance.