When it's uncorked, 2011 will be looked back on as a vintage year for gaming. It will have heady aroma of Portal 2, the full body of The Witcher 2, the tang of FIFA 12 and the technicolor of Bastion. The year will be served from a bottle built into Adam Jensen's augmented arm, and will almost certainly be quoffed by one of Skyrim's dragons, while Renegade Ops and Battlefield 3's main players engage in a bar fight in the background.

What I'm trying to say here is that there were many really, really good games released in 2011; so many in fact, that 2012 is looking like a bit of a dud in terms of gaming. But, with each game often taking up more than 40 hours of your precious gaming time, it's hard to know where to begin. In fact, by my estimates, if you played each and every game back to back you'd be aged 70 by the time you finished them. But then, I don't know how old you are. You could be 69 and three-quarters.

It's also all too easy to miss last year's essential releases, games such as Frozen Synapse, LIMBO and The Ball that may have slipped under your radar. So we've made sure even indie games get their own shouts outs. This is on top of all the best games in each genre, from football's most beautiful games to exhilarating racers, and the obvious PC stalwarts of roleplaying games and first person shooters.

It's also a testament to PC gaming, which has gone from strength to strength. Despite infinitely cycling rumors of its death as a platform, it's currently toe-to-toe with current-generation consoles. Need for Speed and FIFA's comfort on the PC prove this, and we're beginning to accept that an Xbox 360 controller is a necessary PC peripheral.

So pull up a comfy chair, light the fire and polish your favorite glass as we give a tasting session of 2011's PC gaming finest.

Batman Arkham City Game of the year

Bats is back! Following 2009's monstrously good Arkham Asylum, Arkham City gives the Dark Knight a whole city to explore via Just Cause 2 style physics.

It's hugely impressive use of the Unreal Engine 3, which to date has only given us tight, if shiny, play areas. Developer Rocksteady has given its Batman a separate identity to his cinematic incarnations, somewhere between the much-loved animated TV show and Frank Miller's reimaginings. We're looking forward to wherever Rocksteady takes Batman next - presumably, it's going to be Arkham World.

Crysis 2 Game of the year

Crytek's original Crysis was the best reason to stick an Nvidia GeForce 8800 in your machine and enjoy the wonderfully rendered topics, and its system-pushing engine made it a constant presence on the test.

The sequel relocates the action from a fictional archipelago to a dystopian vision of New York City, and it's Crytek's first title to be co-developed on the consoles. The result is a game that lacks the original's deft open-world play area and eye-popping vistas, but still offers lots of shooty fun and suit based powers. We're thankful, too, that the game has now been upgraded to DX II.

Deus Ex Human Revolution Game of the year

Deus Ex parts one and two were a media theorist's dream come true, combining intelligent story telling with innovative, RPG-lite gameplay.

Human Revolution foreshadown the original with its tale of Adam Jensen, a security guard who gets hit with the wrong end of a cybernetic stick. While the free-roaming city hubs are amazing to explore, the combat becomes tiresome and the boss fights are the stuff of nightmares. Still, it's nice to know that games can be thoughtful and though-provoking, and we're looking forward to Square Enix's takes on the Tomb Raider and Thief franchises.

Renegade Ops Game of the year

Just Cause 2 developer Avalanche Studios proves that mental chaos 'em-ups work just as well from a top-down viewpoint.

As a downloadable game it's - naturally - fairly slight, and Gordon Freeman's cameo makes about as much sense as him appearing in Masterchef cooking Headcrab soup. But it's also got pleasingly retro tang, like something 1995's teenagers would imagine 2011's games to be like. Avalanche's lush engine is put to good use, rendering the warm tropics and azure skies as well as many, many explodey things. Best of all, it's cheap, and you get a lot for your 10 bucks.

Dead Space 2 Game of the year

An Aliens to Dead Space's terse Alien, the sequel features unluckiest-man-in-the-universe, Isaac Clarke returning to fight those pesky Necromorphs in a spooky abandoned human colony.

As with the first, it's more icky than scary, and the necromorphs 'jump-out-and-say-boo attack patterns soon wear thin. But developer Visceral Games has tightened the experience, resulting in one hell of an intergalactic ghost train ride, complete with breathless excursions into the zero-gravity vacuum of space. Plus, that mini-game involving an eyeball and a hypodermic needle is without a doubt the most stomach-churningly gruesome thing you'll ever experience in any game.

Bulletstorm Game of the year

Every year need a dumb-as-bum action title, and 2011's Bulletstorm proved to be quite the treat. The scene is set when Grayson Hunt drunkenly crashes his spaceship into a tropical planet populated by mutants, plants and mutant plants.

The vaguely Mass Effect setting is more than made up for by seriously potty-mouthed dialogue, mum jokes and a combat system which encourages shooting people in the balls. A lot. Developer People Can Fly (they do, when dead) was previously responsible for the Painkiller series, and its partnership with Epic Games resulted in Bulletstorm's willfully immature spoof of first-person tropes.

Battlefield 3 Game of the year

Battlefield 3's incredible multiplayer put it a gnat's willy above 2011's other blockbuster manshoot, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

As is expected from an combat-oriented FPS, the single player campaign is a tacked-addendum, and best ignored. Those multiplayer maps make the game what it is, complete with 64 players and a host of vehicles and aircraft. It's the best fun we've had online for a long time. The game was buggier than a pushchair showroom at launch, but fortunately developer DICE has got things up to speed. The Back to Karkand DLC is worth picking up, too.

Operation Flashpoint Red River Game of the year

Codemaster's take on Operation Flashpoint lore may have divided audiences, but we got a kick out of its latest title, Red River.

Get past the nauseatingly jingoistic intro movie and you'll find a lot to set Red River apart from the current glut of FPS titles. The character development is exceptional, and the outdoors-y world is elastically rendered. There's a fairly steep learning curve - which could explain why some people find it frustrating compared to the likes of Modern Warfare - but once mastered you'll be ordering troops around and, importantly, caring when they get hit by enemy fire.

Saints Row The Third Game of the year

We can't imagine any other games where sending a three-foot purple dildo into the office is considered part of an acceptable PR campaignm but it's indicative of Saints Row: The Third's brash and over-the-top approach to the open-world shooter.

Developer Volition gleefully packs the game with virtual representations of said phalluses, as well as strippers, airstrikers and the ability to play the entire game - including dialogue sequences-as a grunting zombie. It's a big improvement on the previous two Saints Row episodes, and a high-point in lowbrow gaming. Just don't let your mum see you playing it.

Portal 2 Game of the year

Portal was something of an experimental game on publisher and developer Valve's part, and came packaged as an added extra title in 2007's Orange Box.

It's success was enough to justify a whole game unto itself, and Portal 2 features the return of CHell, nemesis (or is she?) Glados and the introduction of West Country bumpkin in-bot Wheatley. The sheer amount, and complexity, of puzzles makes us wonder if Valve has a giant brain in a tank dedicated to designing them. Although the mid-section sags a little, it's worth sticking with it for one of the best game conclusions you'll ever play. Co-op is a hoot, too, and it's nice to play a game that doesn't involve shooting other players' heads off.

FIFA 12 Game of the year

Contrary to just about every game ever, the PC experience of FIFA has always been a crippled rendition of the console version - until now.

Finally, EA has got over its apparent phobia of multicore processors and given us the same package that's appearing on consoles.

And it's belter into the back of the net. The AI and physics both occupy cores, resulting in a game that's surprisingly tough but highly realistic. Add to that the PC's higher resolutions, and it makes you wonder why EA didn't go full-PC before. It's a bit of a shame that it's knocked out beloved Pro Evolution Soccer off the pitch, though.

Football Manager 2012 Game of the year

The annual update to the football management simulation adds proper support for giant widescreen monitors, as well as a much-improved engine for rendering the matches, which adds depth of field and real-time weather.

The result is a game that's even more compelling and realistic than its predecessors, even if at its core it hasn't changed too much since 1992. If in ain't broken, why fix it?

Admittedly, the game itself takes a little getting into, even for fans of the series who may be a little put off by the intricacies of the new user interface. But underneath all that it's still the Football Manager we know and love.

Need For Speed Shift 2 Unleashed Game of the year

The arcadey racing franchise has shifted up a gear into thoroughly sim-based territory, and is all the better for it. Shift 2 packs a plethora of telemetry into the cockpit, such as tyre temperatures, suspension readouts and g-force.

While that'll keep the gearheads happy, the rest of us can enjoy adernaline-pumping rides through the streets of London and Shanghai and courses such as Bathurst and Suzuka. Realistic braking and a first-person camera heighten the feeling of being in a car that's going really fast. Add to this the remarkably pretty engine, and Shift 2 is an essential for drivers - even those who don't have a licence.

DiRT 3 Game of the year

Dirt developer, Codemasters claimed 'rally is back' with the third incarnation of its muddy racer. We found that this wasn't quite true, with the focus on unrelated gymkhana-style events taking pride of place over proper off-roading.

Still, there's a lot to level here, and we were constantly reminded of Codies' mastery of the genre in big 3D letters. A force-feedback steering wheel is a must-have, but a decent graphics card makes everything look gurt lush. Retro rally racers, like Audi Quattros (ask your dad) and Mini Coopers round off what is a solid - if mildly uninspiring - racer.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 Game of the year

Hello party people! The second Test Drive Unlimited moves the action from the lush tropical island of Hawaii to the less tropical but equally lush island of lbiza, improving the graphics and experience along the way.

You're no longer dumped in the middle of paradise with only four wheels for company - now there's a perfunctory story involving your abilities as a driver and some woman. The Al is abysmal, but it doesn't really matter - Test Drive Unlimited 2 is a persistent world, so any only player is only a flash of the headlights away from across-island race.

Total War Shogun 2 Game of the year

Creative Assymbly's uber-RTS franchise leaves medieval and roman europe and travels back to the Land of the Rising Sun where it began.

It's and immaculately polished game, building on CA's microcosmically detailed knowledge of the period, and adding RPG elements, with decent AI always providing a suitable challenge. If that's not enough, there are fully integrated multiplayer co-op campaigns, and friends - or enemies - can drop into your single-player battles to up the ante even more. We described as "the finest Total War even made," and it is.

Anno 2070 Game of the year

While we have to question the logic of a game which encourages heavy industry in a world where the polar icecaps have melted, Anno 2079 provided just enough fresh ideas to keep us interested in its take on resource management.

It's basically a join-the-dots wit buildings, but the option to go to war with neighbouring countries and headhunt your citizens makes things more engaging. Anno 2070 may not live up to all its promises, but sim fans will find a lot to enjoy, including a persistent online world and standalone missions.

Frozen Synapse Game of the year

We've followed the development of Mode 7's Frozen Synapse for a few years, even dropping into the Oxfordshire house where the game was being created by a handful of guys.

The end result is an innovative take on turn-based strategy, combining Tron-style neon visuals with intricate, compulsive top-down strategy. Mode 7 built the game from the ground up to run on a notebook, and its turn-based nature means that turns can be sent via an email-style system-which makes the game truly portable.

Bastion Game of the year

Just when we thought games had run out of new ideas, a game like Bastion comes along and provides a metric shedload of them.

At its core, it's an isometric RPG in the style of 2009's Torchlight, albeit with less emphasis on dungeon crawling. Where it stands apart is in its playful level and character design, in which the world is created before your very eyes, as if being assembled from fragmented memories. Add to this the narrator's gravelly Marlborough Red voice, and you've got a unique and compelling experience. You can even play it in Chrome's App Store.

Trine 2 Game of the year

More of an upgrade to Trine's wonderful menage-a-trois platform mechanic than a sequel, Trine 2 is still the perfect way to experience the game.

Choose the Wizard to conjure boxed and levitate objects, switch to the Thief for the ranged combat and Lara Croft-style leaping, and then jump into the Warrior's shoes for the inevitable brawls. It's perfectly planned, and the addition of accessible multiplayer only adds to the joy. Although the sequel shows a lack of innovation, the original provided enough to power at least three games.

LIMBO Game of the year

LIMBO may rely on age-old platform mechanics, but the harsh, unforgiving nature of its world makes it feel far removed from colorful 16-bit titles.

Rendered in flickering monochrome, it follows a small boys as he makes his way through a disturbing land populated by tricksters, giant spiders and brain-sucking worms. The spectre of death haunts every screen, and the game itself continuous plays with your expectations and actions. But there's a heart-warming tale of survival and redemption behind its spine-chilling aesthetics, and it feels as if it would be as at home in a gallery as it in on our monitors.

The Ball Game of the year

Created as part of the Make Something Unreal contest, The Ball heralded in a new era of indie gaming where graphics needn't look like something a five-year-old had drawn.

Influenced by Half-Life 2's physics jun and Portal's titular device, The Ball gives you a huge sphere and a gun with which to manipulate it. Although it sounds slight, developer Teoti Studios has created a tight experience. You know a game's doing something right when you feel a paternal connection to virtual circular object.

The Witcher 2 Assassins of Kings Game of the year

Following the patchy (and subsequently patched) The Witcher, developer CD Project RED went all out on its sequel, in which the immaturity is toned down and the graphics is firmly turned up.

Combine this with a storyline with more branches than a chain of tree shops, and you've got an astonishingly rendered RPG that completely won us over. Combat has been vastly improved, too, and the difficulty levels make a difference to how you play the game.

Genre stalwarts BioWare and Bethesda certainly have a new challenger to their throne, which is ironic given that CD project started out localising western RPGs to its native Poland.

Two Worlds 2 Game of the year

Like The Witcher 2, Two Worlds 2 is a step in the right direction for a muc-loved, if shabbier, franchise.

The emphasis here though is on good ol' fashioned RPG mechanics like looting and crafting, with upgrades to the combat and graphics engine. While its Teutonic roots mean the numbers game and inventory management can be a little overbearing, there's much to love here, and it proved the perfect tie-over until Skyrim's inevitable thundering release. It's nice to see a well-rendered - if convolutedly full of canyons - world which didn't make our graphics card fall over, too.

RIFT Game of the year

While other-MMOs-that-aren't-WoW(OMTAW) have come and gone, RIFT has all the makings of a keeper. Building on ten years of MMO experience, RIFT packs in everything that makes MMOs compelling, while creating its own distinct universe.

Unpredictability makes that universe all the more compelling: it's a dangerous place that seems crafted towards side-swiping WoW vets with surprise attacks. It's (finally) an MMO that looks rather spiffing, too, with enough scalability to ensure it runs on lower-end systems. Above all, it's got Dexter out of his WoW habit, and that has to be a good thing.

Star Wars The Old Republic Game of the year

While other gushed about Star Wars: The Old Republic, we saw it for what it was: A WoW in Stormtoopers' clothing. Taking the 'if it ain't broke' mantra to the next level.

It doesn't try too hard or do anything particularly new - it's content to regurgitate the old MMO tropes and clinches with the George Lucas-approved universe. Not that this is a bad thing, and the majority of Star Wars and WoW geeks will lap it up. But it would be nice if SW:TOR developer BioWare had given us just a tad of something original.

DC Universe Online Game of the year

A fanboy's wet dream come true. DC Universe frolics through comic book territory without you even realisint you're playing an MMO.

Thanks to a hugely contrived backstory, your average guy or gal is able to get their hands on superpowers and ifght alongside the men Super and Bat, as wll as formidable enemies, such as The Joker and Circle. Its PS3-centric nature (it was developed by Sony, after all) lets it down a tad, the wonky controls don't feel quite right on a mouse and keyboard. We're not sure about the longevity of it, too, but it's certainly fun while it lasts. Like a fanboy's wet dream.

Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Game of the year

We knew The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was going to be good, but we had no idea it would be this good. While predecessor Oblivion was a constent presence on machines, its graphical and technical shortcomings meant that we never quite felt at home in its Cyrodiil setting. Fortunately, developer and publisher Bethesda Softworks has takes something of a leaf out of its parallel Fallout series, and delivered one of the best games we've ever played in any year since history began.

Key to Skyrim's greatness are the dragons. Your character has mystical link with the sky lizards, and their looming presence combined with bass (and bum) quaking sound design makes teh quasi-Nordic setting of Skyrim a beleivably perilous place. Of course, there are other threats, too, like giants, witches and frost trolls, but the stateliness of the dragon's design and power will stay with us until we die.

It would all be for nothing without Bethesda's open-world game design expertise. In the weeks after Skyrim was released, we'd hear many players say exactly the same thing: I've played this for 40 hours, and i feel like I've only just started. 'It's testament to how much Bethesda has packed in, with even the smallest of sub quests packing more content than many standalone games.

It's the best-looking game Bethesda has produced, too, and from the word go it's been hugely tweakable for high-end rigs. It's worlds apart from even Fallout: New Vegas' muddy textures and, er, 'special' character animation and design. Skyrim's real people, and their interactions are a marked improvement over Oblivion's one-of-three-voice-actored peeps.

Given that it's such a huge game world, there are naturally a few bugs, such as non-player characters engaged in conversations with horses, and, er, backwards-flying dragons. But finding them is like looking for peeling paint on the Mona Lisa, with the added advantage that Bethesda has patched out most of them recently.

Skyrim sets the high watermark for really, really good triple-A games, and we can't imagine anything coming close to it for very long time. If 2012 is looking like a less exciting year for games than 2011, it's probably because Skyrim is just so bloody amazing and will continue to be with the release the official Creation Kit modding tool and Steam Workshop support.

AMD A8 3870K APU

Not to be outdone by new graphics releases AMD is going back to the APU Processor drawing board with its new AMD A8 3870K.

While its flagship Bulldozer FX processors are failing to shine, AMD has a chip that at the other end of the market really ought be cleaning up. Its LIano Fusion APUs, which combine a multi-core CPU and a Radeon graphics chipset all into one die, are actually rather good low-cost gaming chips.

They may be based on older processor architecture, but quad-core examples such as this AMD A8 3870K hold their own against Intel's similarly priced dual-core Core i3 processors in CPU benchmarks.

When it comes to 3D tasks such as gaming, the on-board AMD Radeon HD 6550D is simply in a different league to Intel's laggardly HD Graphics 3000 cores. The on-board graphics in the AMD offerings are capable of gaming with decent settings at decent resolutions.

Trinity: Dodge this

And if you've ever tried working with Intel's onboard graphics to get any of your contemporary games running adequately, you will know that's not something that you could ever pin on its pixel-pumping silicon. How could they get better? We'd like chunky price drop, but that's not going to happen.

There are plans afoot for the Trinity APUs to hit the shelves sometime in the summer. These will combine the latest Bulldozer FX technology (itself a refresh codenamed Piledriver) as well as Radeon HD 7000 series graphics technology on die.

Not to be outdone by new graphics releases AMD is going back to the APU Processor drawing board with its new AMD A8 3870K.These APUs could potentially sit happily at the  heart of a serious gaming rig, but they are not ready yet and so, what have we got to tide us over?

AMD has refreshed its LIano lineup and introduced 'Black Editions' of the chips, recognizable by their 'K' suffix. Just like Intel chips with a 'K' monitor, they come with an unlcoked multiplier, which makes them more suitable for overclocking enthusiasts.

Now, you might think that anyone who wants to overclock a chip will be looking at something a little more high-end than these very basic processors, but the entire raison d'etre for overclocking is to turn something cheap into an unexpected powerhouse. An unlocked, gaming-capable hybrid chip for just over Euro 100 sounds like the stuff hardware hackers' dreams are made of. But does it deliver on that promise?

OC ready?

A stock AMD A8 3870K APU ships with its CPU set at 3GHz and the graphics core clocked at 800MHz. Attempt to increase these weren't exactly stellar - it ramped straight up to 3.4GHz/800MHz, but any attemps to go further were frustratingly unstable.

Wit more fine-tuning and a really good CPU cooler, have seen reports of much higher clockspeeds, but are not overly convinced that it's ultimately worth it for the performance.

Perky APU

It's shame really considering that we managed to get the original 2.9GHz A8 3850 up to 3.7GHz with mimial fuss. The difference between motherboard technology seems to be vital to getting anywhere near the top speeds from AMD A8 3870K APUs.

Additionally, it's unlikely that motherboard manufacturers are going to get behind this particular platform with any high-end boards that are full of good, stable overclocking features, because potential purchasers just aren't going to spend the extra they will cost to make.

Still, since the AMD A8 3870K APU is already available for less than its non-tweakable predecessor, the A8 3850, the unlocked multiplier is more of a pleasant extra to have. And if you do your research you should be able to find a motherboard, such as the Asus F1A75-V Pro, that will make use of the unlocked multiplier.

But even if our dream of overclocking one of these  APUs to outperform an Intel Core i7 isn't going to happen the AMD A8 3870K APU is still a great little chip.

The CPU part of Liano however, was never in much doubt. Based on the same architecture as Athlon II and Phenom II with a die shrink, it's old but still capable.

Because it has four native cores it outperforms and Intel Core i3 in tasks such as media rendering, although Intel's computational engine is still superior in games - even if its graphics lags far behind.

For a workplace system, then, the AMD A8 3870K APU is an exceptional choice, and it'ss beat a similarly priced Core i3 system at everything. It gets a bit more complicated if you're after a budget system that game at 1080p - to use as a media centre, for example.

Mix 'n' match

Even overclocked, the AMD A8 3870K APU alone isn't an alternative to discrete graphics - although it does come very close if you're willing to sacrifice graphics quality, Battle Field 3, for example, is close to being playable at 1,920 x 1,080 with low image quality settings. Which are still bloody good looking. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim at similar settings runs like dream.

If you're thinking of adding in a mid-range graphics card, such as the Radeon HD 6870 or even something as powerful as Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti, though, Intel just wins though - although it's a draw in games that are CPU limited, such as Total War: Shogun 2 and Skyrim.

AMD's architecture does have the curious disadvantage of performing slower in CPU benchmarks when discrete graphics are attached too.

But that leaves one feature that we haven't discussed yet which brings us down in favor of AMD. That feature is Asymmetrical CrossFire, which is the ability to use both the AMD A8 3870K APU graphics and a low-power GPU, such as an AMD HD 6670, for a gaming experience that's capable of playing most games at 1080p with medium settings. That's a hell of a thing in AMD's favor.

Enough that while it's not going to be our chip of choice for a workstation or enthusiast games rig, if you want a small, low-cost PC which is capable of playing occasional games at console quality, it's a steal.

The potential to overclock is a bonus, but really not enough by itself to make us favor this chip over any other quad core LIano. Where it comes into its own is as either a flexible platform for a quad core office machine or as a capable gamer PC with Asymmetric CrossFire.

Intel has had its own way in the high-end desktop CPU market for a couple of years but, since the six-core i7-980X and i7-990X, it hasn't released any Extreme Edition chips to tempt tweakers. That's all changed with the arrival of the second generation Core i7 chips, it X79 chipset and LGA201 socket.

The three-chip range, also known as Sandy Bridge E, is topped of by the Core i7 3960X - a 3.3GHz monster that delivers six cores (servicing twelve threads) of processing grunt. One step down is the i7-3930K, which has six cores running 100MHz slower, and those on tighter budgets will have to settle for the i7-3820, which is slated for release in Autumn. It will be cheaper still and, despite a higher stock speed of 3.6GHz, it will "only" have four cores.

So, what makes Intel's new chips worthy of the Second Generation name? There's nothing revolutionary here - the underlying 32nm architecture is unchanged over the previous generation - but a range of improvements to key features promises to boost performance in a variety of ways.

Turbo Boost 2 has been, well, boosted. Whereas the last generation of Sandy Bridge chips saw the high-end Core i7-2600K gaining up to 400MHz across a single active core, the new Core i7 3960X can add 600MHz. If all six cores are active, you'll get an extra 300MHz of juice per core - an improvement over the additional 100MHz the i7-2600K provided.

There's more L3 cache on offer, too: the older Sandy Bridge chips have a maximum of 8MB, but that's almost doubled to 15MB on the top-end i7-3960X, with 12MB and 10MB available on the two lesser processors.

Intel Sandy Bridge E Chipset Changes

The new processors are also around twice the size of older Sandy Bridge chips, and Intel has developed a new socket - dubbed LGA 2011 - to house them. The new motherboards built around this socket have a new high-end chipset, too: x79.

One of the big changes introduced with the X79 chipset can be found either side of the socket: two banks of four DIMMs. They're indicative that the X79 chipset can handle a massive 64GB of quad-channel RAM - so that's more gigabytes and more bandwidth than we've ever seen on a consumer systems, with Intel's own calculations claiming a maximum bandwidth of 51.2GH/sec.

A couple of other chipset features are designed to entice enthusiasts. PCI Express 3 support is unofficially included, even if graphics card haven't yet arrived that will take advantage of the increased bandwidth on offer (Intel informed than PCI-E 3 isn't validated because of the lack of expansion cards to test with). There are 40 PCI Express lanes, so you can run two high-end graphics cards at full x16 speed - a boon, as older chipsets restricted two PCI Express x16 slots to half their normal speed, bottlenecking the most expensive GPUs.

It's worth bearing in mind that other areas haven't been improved with such gusto, although with support for only two SATA 6Gbps sockets included. Motherboard manufacturer's, it seems, will still have to rely on proprietary controllers if more are required. There is also still no USB 3 support, so third party controllers continue to be important for connectivity as well.

Intel Sandy Bridge E Performance

That's the theory, then, and we can confirm the i7 3960X - in test rig consisting of 8GB of quad-channel G.Skill Ripjaws-Z RAM, an AMD Radeon HD 5550, and a Samsung Spinpoint F3 hard disk - is very swift indeed. Its score of 1.12 in application benchmarks is an improvement on the 1 scored by the i7 2600K and, when the six cores flex their muscles, it's faster still, with the i7 3960X delivering a superb result of 1.23. For power, test rig idled at a reasonable 97W. Running the Prime 95 stress test on the chip saw a peak power consumption rise to 234W.

Sandy Bridge E Core i7 3960x Pricing

So how much is all of this raw horsepower going to cost? The answer is: a lot. You'll have to hand over $1,250 for the Core i7 3960Xon its own, with between $260 and $540 set aside for an LGA 2011 motherboard. That's an incredibly expensive upgrade. The i7-3930K is a marginally more tempting buy at $659, but even then you'll still need to fork out for a new motherboard.

Given how fast the original K-edition i7 CPUs are, can't see anyone but the most enthusiastic of tweakers and high end workstation builders stumping up the cash, at least while prices remain this high. But there's no denying the world-beating power on offer, and that Intel has extended its lead at the top of the heap yet again AMD must be sweating.

	Core i7 3960X	Core i7-3930K	Core i7-3820
Frequency	3.3	3.2	3.6
Cores	6	5	4
Threads	12	12	8
Smart Cache	15MB	12MB	10MB
Memory Frequency	1.600MHz	1,600MHz	1,600MHz
Turbo Mode	2.0	2.0	2.0
Unlocked?	Yes	Yes	Yes
Socket	LGA 2011	LGA 2011	LGA 2011

In the arms race that is smartphone manufacture, HTC has unveiled the equivalent of the BFG from Doom: a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, running at 1.5GHz per core; a 720p hi-def screen; Beats-bolstered audio; an 8MP camera with an aperture of f2.0 for noise-free images and an impressive bag of tricks, including HDR stills and 1080p video. As with all Tegra 3 devices, this NFC-toting, Ice Cream Sandwich-flavored Android boasts a Battery Saver Core that portions out power depending on the apps and components that need it, which is just as well; you're going to be spending a lot of milliwatts showing it off.

Screening calls

The One X's 720p screen is a bright, 4.7in 'Super LCD2', fronted by Gorilla Glass, naturally. Perched just above it you'll find a 1.3MP camera for video calls.

Double team

The One X's 8MP camera is a true multi-tasker. While shooting a move, you can also capture a still; or take a full-res screengrab while watching the video back.

Skinny love

At half a whisker over 9mm thick, the One X just gets into the Skinny Club; not bad for a phone with as much processing power as an Eee Pad Transformer Prime.

 Over capacity

The HTC has a one-size capacity of 32GB. Prety generous, but if you're after more it also comes with 25GB free cloud-based storage courtesy of Dropbox.

Stop making Sense?

This is the first HTC we've seen with Android 4.0 from the get-go; given the great job HTC's Sense interface has done skinning previous Androids, we have high hopes for it.

AMD's shiny new Bolldozer FX processors have been released into the wild for some time now, so you might be wondering what this crusty old Phenom II processor is doing sullying this showcase of white-hot, high performance computing platforms.

Well, it all depends on pricing and product availability. We're not sure if AMD is still cranking out the Thuban processor dies that form the basis of the Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition, though we believe that to be the case, if only or manufacturing server processors.

The Anti-Doze

Although it will take a while for the 1090T to be completely flushed from all those retail channels, supply is now somewhat sporadic. There's still a decent choice of retailers, but prices vary wildly. The best price we could find was around $176, while others are charging over $319.

At the lower price point, the 1090T looks very attractive. On a per-core basis, it easily has the measure of the new AMD FX chips. It's not even that far behind the top FX 8150 eight-core model in several of multi-threaded tests, like the Cinebench professional rendering benchmark. It would have been faster than the FX in nearly scenario.

Intriguingly, however, database query benchmark does demonstrate that the theoretical benefits of AMD's exotic new Bulldozer architecture can sometimes translate into real-world gains. The 1090T gets left trailing-and horribly.

This IPS screen from ViewSonic shows what's possible when a technology is pushed hard enough. With a 24-inch screen diagonal and 1,920 x 1,080p box as cheap TN panels, but look closer and you'll spot the differences.

The viewing angles are quoted at 178 degrees for both horizontal and vertical. That may not sound like a dramatic increase over the 170 and 160 degrees typically claimed for TN screens, but it makes a huge difference. The 1,000:1 static contrast ratio also hints at a quality panel.

Slightly less impressive is the 6ms claimed for grey-to-grey pixel response. It's the one metric by which IPS panels can't compete with TN technology. The VP2365-LED's 250c/m2 brightness isn't exactly stellar either, especially considering that it packs an LED backlight rather than old school CCFL tech.

The screen's stand and chassis are bland to the point of anonymity, but it's sturdy and stable. They also offer full adjustability, including rotate, swivel, tilt and VESA wall-mount compatibility.

No frills

What you don't get is much peripheral technology. Unlike many cheaper screens, teh ViewSonic VP2365-LED's on-screen menu isn't stuffed with fancy image-processing options, but offers full color, gamma and temperature configurability. There's a dynamic contrast function too, but switchable pixel response modes and fancy adaptive color processing are absent.

Frankly, that's no great loss. Nor is the superficially limited connectivity (DVI and VGA is your lot) much of a downside. Instead, ViewSonic has cooked up a no-nonsense package that majors on the things that matter - panel, backlight and chassis quality. If ViewSonic can excel there, it will have a winner on its hands.

The VP2365-LED puts in a strong showing in the lagom suite of test images. Both black and white scales offer oodles of detail. The color scales aren't shabby either, and the viewing angles do the usual IPS thing, which means the're wide enough to be a non-issue. That often annoying effect of IPS screens, IPS glow, isn't evident either.

It's not entirely flawless though - the 250cd/m2 backlight rating translates into less than retica searing brightness. This isn't an issue for a slightly less flexible monitor.

The only other hitches involve the pixel response and refresh rate. Both, frankly, are relative. In absolute terms, the VP2365-LED is more than quick enough for games, movies, you name it. But it's not as lightning quick as an overdriven TN panel.

Overall, this is an incredibly impressive panel. It's not quite the holy grail of PC paneldom - a screen that marries the best attributes off all available monitors, ditches the bad bits and does it all at price you can afford. That the ViewSonic VP2365-LED doesn't quite pull that off is no surprise. But it comes awfully, awfully close - much closer than any other screen that's in the same price bracket.

Sony made its replacement to the PlayStation Portable worth the long wait. The PlayStation Vita takes the PSP's signature design and adds more processing power, optional 3G, dual analog sticks, and an amazingly bright, colorful OLED screen. The result: a handheld gaming device that eclipses the PlayStation 2 in power, and comes very close to the capabilities of the PlayStation 3. Sony made some strange decisions with the Vita's media playback abilities and Web browser, but for gaming it's incredible, making it Choice for handheld game systems, and a significant step ahead of the Nintendo 3DS ($169.99)

Design

Out of the box, the PC Vita looks like the PlayStation Portable at first glance, but the overall build quality of the PS Vita is much better, right down to the small details. Without a pop-out door for UMDs or a sliding design, the PS Vita feels much more solid than the PSP, and despite their small size the analog sticks have just enough give for responsive control without feeling loose. Besides the proprietary USB port and headphone jack on the bottom, every port and slot on the PS Vita is covered by a door. The top edge holds the game-card slot and an accessory port, the bottom edge holds the memory-card slot, and the left edge holds the SIM card slot. The handheld weight a solid 9.8 ounces, and at 3.3 by 7.2 by 0.7 inches (HWD) it's almost the same as the PSP in shape.

The layout is pure PlayStation, with a direction pad, four face buttons, Start and Select buttons, a PlayStation button, two shoulder buttons, and two analog sticks.

Hardware

The 5-inch OLED touch screen is gorgeous. It's bright, colorful, and extremely sharp. Its 960-by-544-pixel resolution makes it almost exactly equivalent to many current-generation large-screen Android phones, and not quite as high-resolution as the iPhone 4S or several 720p Android phones on the market. But at five inches, the PS Vita's display is more than sharp enough to lend a satisfying impression of high-definition video to a move or game. The screen is also multitouch, so you can pinch to zoom in the Web browser, the map software, and in games.

The front and back-facing cameras seem identical, and are only slightly sharper than the cameras on the 3DS. As a nice touch, the PS Vita supports Bluetooth devices just like the PS3, including stereo headsets.

Interface

Sony moved away from the XrossMediaBar (XMB) menu design of the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and Bravia HDTVs and Blu-ray players and gave the PS Vita a complete touch-screen interface overhaul. The new system looks less like a gaming device's menu and more like smartphone's menu system, with everything controlled through the touch screen.

The Gameplay

With dual analog sticks and two touch areas, the PS Vita offers some of the best-feeling portable gaming seen yet. While the analog sticks and face buttons are roughly half the size of the controls found on a PlayStation 3 gamepad. The analog sticks have just enough range and tension to feel comfortable for shooters like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and the face buttons sick out far enough to be easily accessible for combos in games like Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3.

Thanks to the quad-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU, tha PS Vita's processing power is roughly comparable to the PlayStaion 3, but scaled to handheld size. Lighting effects, crisp rendering, and smooth animation are all impressive to see on a 5-inch OLED screen you hold in your hand.

Media Playback

As great as the Vita is as a video game system, it's horribly clunky as a media player. The Vita includes music and video players, and the OLED screen is fantastic for watching movies, but Sony cracked down so hard on managing media that the features might as well not be there. To get media on your Vita, you can't drag and drop files from your computer to the device, or to the memory card. Not only is the memory card proprietary, but the USB connection requires loading Sony's Content Manager Assistant on your computer before you can only choose which folders o make visible to the Vita. From there, you need to use the Vita to transfer files, using the touch screen.

Network

The 3G/Wi-Fi Vita can use AT&T's data network or local Wi-Fi networks to connect to the Internet. AT&T's data plans for the Vita are $15 for 250MB of data monthly or $30 for 3GB of data monthly. Either way, if you plan on downloading games on your Vita, make sure it's connected to a Wi-Fi network. Less bandwidth intensive activities like Web browsing and multiplayer gaming make the 3G a useful feature. Network speeds were solid in PC Labs.

As a handheld-gaming device (emphasis on the word "gaming"), the Sony PlayStation Vita excels. It's powerful, has a beautiful screen, and offers two analog sticks so you can actually play shooters on the go without compromising. The relatively short battery life is the only thing that holds it back as a gaming system, but several irritating things crop up when using the Vita for other tasks. Its Web browser doesn't support Flash yet, its memory card is proprietary, and its content manager is a clunky joke.

The worst moments of our computing lives are all based around the same situation: you've turned your system on, and Windows, for whatever reason, won't start.

Has your computer turned into so much useless metal? Have you lost everything? It's horrible feeling.

Fortunately, there's a simple solution: with a Windows 7 installation DVD, a Repair function could get your PC booting again in next to no time. But if you don't have an installation DVD - and many of us don't these days - or if it's lost or scratched, you'll be in trouble. That's why you need to prepare for disaster before it happens.

Follow our simple guide and you'll have a Windows 7 system repair disc, which you can use to start an unbootable PC - and usually get it working again - in about 10 minutes.

While you're pulling out that spindle of recordable DVDs, we'd also like to suggest another option for disaster recovery: ghosting your drive. Making a bit-for-bit copy of your hard disk might seem a bit extreme, but it's worth doing on a new-ish PC, just so you can always restore it to its default state. Grab a copy of Macrium Reflect Free from www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx and use its clone facility - you'll need a stack of discs, but you won't regret it.

Creating a repair disc in 10 minutes

Ensure you're always fully protected against a PC that won't boot

1. Explore Control Panel

Click 'Start', then select the 'Control Panel' option. If the 'View by' option is currently listed as 'Category', click on the arrow to its right and select 'Large icons' so you can see all the available Control Panel applets on one screen. Find the Backup and Restore applet and double-click to launch it. This is where the magic happens.

2. Launch the disc creator

Click 'Create a system repair disc' on the left to run the tool that you need. If you don't see this option, you can also launch the repair disc tool as a separate entity. Simply click 'Start' again, type recdisc into the Search box, and then click on the recdisc link or hit [Return] to fire up the program you need.

3. Find a disc

Locate a blank disc - it can be either a CD or DVD, it doesn't really matter, although we'd recommend a DVD in case the process decides it would like more space. Place the disc into one of your optical drives. Then click the arrow to the right of the currently selected drive, in the 'Create a system repair disc' program, and choose the drive that contains your disc.

4. Click and burn

Click the 'Create disc' button and the program will burn the system recovery files to your CD or DVD. This shouldn't take long - on my computer, with a DVD drive which goes like the blazes, the whole thing is over in around a minute. Then, as the program suggests, I like to label my disc 'Repair disc Windows 7' so it'll be easy to identify in an emergency. You should too.

5. Test carefully

Test your disc in immediately to make sure it works - it only takes a moment. Leave the disc in the drive, close any open applications, and reboot your PC. If Windows loads as normal, you need to change your BIOS setup program to boot from your optical drives first. Check your PC's manual for more advice; there's a specific key you'll need to hold while booting.

6. Boot the disc

When your computer is booting from your repair disc correctly, you may see a message on screen prompting you to 'Press any key to boot from CD or DVD'. If you do, just tap [Space] (or, as you may have guessed, any key of your choice) and repair disc will continue to load. Then you need to choose the option 'Windows Setup [EMS Enabled]' from the menu.

7. System Recovery options

Select your keyboard and click 'Next'. Select your Windows installation, then 'Next' again, and you'll see the recovery options. If you ever find that Windows 7 won't start, boot from this disc, click 'Startup Repair', and Windows should get your computer working again, automatically.

8. Read for (almost) anything

You now know all about the Windows 7 Recovery Disc creation tool. If you've completed these steps, well done - you're protected. Even if Windows 7 won't start, you can always launch the Recovery Disc, then use System Restore, a backup or Startup Repair to fix the problem and get everything back to normal.

Say hello to the real Sandy Bridge E, for it is this Xeon processor that truly reveals what Intel's ultimate 32nm technology is capable of. Up to a point, anyway.

Yes, the Core i7 3960X is an impostor - a cut-down shyster of a chip. Back when Intel launched the six-core 3960X, the decision to switch off two cores in the shiny new eight-core Sandy Bridge E die was all part of a balancing act. Intel had weighed up the conflict between clockspeed and cores, and decided that the best overall compromise was six cores at 3.3GHz with a little Turbo action on top.

Running eight cores would have meant a significant drop in clock speed and therefore compromising per-core performance. Even if opening out all eight cores would mean a big drop in the clocks with all cores heavily loaded, surely the whole point of Intel's Turbo technology is that the chip could still clock up when only a handful of cores were doing the heavy lifting?

Well, now the fastest eight-core Xeon iteration of precisely the same Sandy Bridge E processor die has arrived and the truth is out. The Xeon 2687W is rated at 3.1GHz, just 200MHz slower than the six-core Core i7 3960X. Thus, the 3960X runs just six percent faster while the Xeon 2687W has 33 percent more cores.

Core, Blimey

In fact, testing suggests the 2687W will run at 3.4GHz in pretty much any scenario save idling. At standard clockspeeds, it absolutely tears the 3960X a new one and fully delivers on the promise of an eight-core Sandy Bridge-based processor.

For the record, the 2687W doesn't just bring those extra cores to the table, it also ups the cache memory ante to fully 20MB. We can just about remember when 20MB was a healthy amount for system memory, much less on-chip CPU cache memory. Oh, and if you were wondering, the 2687W dropped straight into X79 test motherboard, in this case the Gigabyte X79-UD3, without so much as a BIOS update. Nice.

That's the good news, but the bad news comes in three flavors. First, the 2687W proves what we already suspected: Intel is sandbagging with Sandy Bridge E in Core i7 trim. The only reason there isn't an eight-core version is because Intel isn't under any pressure from AMD to deliver one.

Second, there's the minor matter of price. If you thought the 3960X was bad at around $1,270, it's hard to argue that the 2687W offers value at roughly double the price. Finally, there's the question of overclocking potential. Put simply, the 2687W doesn't overclock. The multipliers are locked and it falls over if you mess around with the base clock.

That's a problem, because the 3960X running at 4.5GHz matches the 2687W's performance in most (but not all) of the benchmarks. Of course, oveclocking isn't for everyone, but if it happens to be your bag, it turns out there's little point in paying more for those extras cores.

There's really very little point spending $2,382 for the 2687W's extra cores.

In your search for hardware, start with the CPU. It can influence many other choices you make, such as finding a compatible motherboard, CPU cooler, or power supply.

Intel Core I5-2500K

($295)
Though the 3.3GHz Core i5-2500K is a quad-core processor, it lacks Intel's hyperthreading technology, so you won't see the eight virtual cores that you can otherwise expect from Intel's quad-core wares. It does offer Intel's Turbo Boost, which automatically overclocks the processor to 3.7GHz when applications demand it, provided that the CPU hasn't hit its maximum heat and power threasholds. You'll also get Intel's integrated graphics, which have greatly improved in the Sandy Bridge era.

You could spend less on another Intel CPU, such as the $164 3.1GHz Intel Core i3-2100. But ultimately the Core i5-2500K will net you superior performance and improve the longevity of your PC. The K on the model numbers means it's unlocked and ready to be overclocked, if you're feeling adventurous. (You want to build a PC that will last a long time, and overclocking is a nice way to eke out a bit more power a few years from now, if you're careful). The 2500K costs just $15 more than the standard locked CPU, however; if you have no intention of ever dabbling with your processor's frequencies, that's money you can save.

AMD FX-4100

($171)
To save cash, you could choose the new 3.6GHz FX-4100. This quad-core CPU sits at the bottom of AMD's recently launched Bulldozer line. It offer AMD's Turbo Core technology, which follows the same principles as Intel's Turbo Boost; When your CPU has a bit of thermal headroom, it will automatically overclock up to 3.8GHz, to give applications a bit more oomph.

The FX-4100 is unlocked. The Bulldozer line is generous with overclocking too; you can expect substantial CPU frequency gains with minimal effort. In real-world usage, this CPU isn't nearly as fast as Intel's Core i5-2500K, but given that it's half the price, you probably expected that.

Intel Core I7-2600K

($436)
If you're building a PC for gaming, video editing, or other CPU-intensive tasks, it is recommended going with the highest (reasonable) entry in Intel's Sandy Bridge line, the 3.4GHz Core i7-2600K. This quad-core processor is equipped with Intel's hyperthreading technology, which provides eight virtual threads for your applications to play with. The CPU includes Intel's Turbo Boost and integrated graphics technologies, as well. If your work (or play) is graphically intensive, however, it remains in your best interest to buy and install a proper discrete graphics card, even with a CPU this formidable.

However plenty of room in your performance-PC budget? Take a look at the Core i7-3930K, Intel's new Sandy Bridge Extreme Edition six-core processor. With hyperthreading, this CPU offer 12 virtual cores, and it delivers incomparable levels of performance. Note, though, that it's priced at $900 - which puts it out of the reach of most mortals - and that it requires a motherboard supporting the X79 chipset.

AMD FX-8150

($350)
If you prefer to stay on AMD's side, check out the FX-8150. Altough this processor currently resides at the top of the company's much anticipated Bulldozer line, in most situations it barely outperforms the Intel Core i5-2500K. It's very friendly to overclockers, however, allowing you to make substantial CPU frequency gains without stressing your machine's CPU cooler extensively.

Why choose an AMD processor if you're not planning to overclock? The FX-8150's price has fallen considerably since it launched, so buying this CPU would leave you with extra funds to save, or to splurge on pricier components elsewhere. And if you shop judiciously, AMD-ready motherboards tend to be a bit less expensive than their Intel counterparts.