The UK government has outlined a set of plans for new powers and penalties to help it protect UK undersea cables during national security emergencies, the BBC reports. It follows reports that Russia is using commercial fishing trawlers to map undersea cables, with 500 incidents of Russian boats loitering above cables in the last four and a half years.

In a policy paper shared this week, the British government noted that the UK is "highly dependent" on undersea infrastructure owned by private sector companies. While the report notes that connectivity is "resilient," with "faults rarely causing noticeable disruption to data or energy availability," it's still "vulnerable to damage from accidents and potential sabotage."

As a result, the UK is consulting on changes to legislation to try and address these risks, especially as the "threats to the homeland from state actors are increasing" and "critical national infrastructure, including undersea cables and pipelines... continue to be a target."

The changes proposed include new criminal offenses. These include causing a security compromise to critical undersea infrastructure, capturing both physical and non-physical interference, including remote electronic interference, cyber activity and certain preparatory conduct directed at compromising infrastructure. There would also be further offenses linked to obstructing repairs and failing to preserve evidence, when requested.

With these new offenses, the UK government is threatening penalties on a three-tier scale. Up to 14 years' imprisonment is proposed for intentional conduct, 10 years for reckless conduct, and two years for grossly negligent conduct, along with potentially unlimited fines. It's also considering an even higher maximum penalty for more serious cases, and whether it'll apply solely within the UK's national waters or further afield.

The proposals also include new powers for government ministers. In a national emergency, UK ministers would gain powers that would allow them to order telecom companies to remove or disable services. Ministers would also be able to compel telecom companies to grant officials access to sensitive sites, including cable landing stations.

These proposals form a White Paper, the name for an official UK government policy paper for new legislation, with interested parties able to respond by online questionnaire until January 14, 2027.

UK relations with Russia, like much of the western world, have deteriorated since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, although other incidents, such as the Salisbury Novichok poisonings in 2018, have formed the backdrop of steadily worsening relations between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Russia has made several efforts to map and plan attacks against undersea cables in Europe. In September, reports suggested that NATO allies had foiled a Russian training exercise using a "secret weapon" against undersea cables in Norway. Meanwhile, back in January, Royal Navy attack helicopters were deployed to chase off a Russian ship loitering less than a mile from five undersea cables in UK waters, just one of the 500 incidents reported this week that have included Russian ships.

Pre-built gaming PCs continue to provide some of the best value for gamers, especially if they're discounted. With that in mind, you can pick up this ABS Stratos II Ruby gaming PC for $2,549.99 right now at Newegg. You'll be saving $450 on a machine fitted with an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, and 32GB of fast DDR5 RAM.

● Check out this deal at Newegg

ABS builds are all over Newegg, which is no surprise, as the tech retailer owns the brand. As specs go, this is a rig that'll sit pretty near the top as far as performance goes. That's due to the combination of the 9800X3D, still one of the best CPUs available for gaming right now, with the RTX 5070 Ti. That GPU is current-gen and high-end, giving you a machine that'll give you high frame rates in the best games for years to come.

You'll see from our 9800X3D review why this eight-core AMD X3D chip is a formidable option for any gamer. AMD's 3D V-cache sets the scene, as this game-changing tech boosts the available L3 cache capacity to 96MB. Doesn't sound like much, but it means that your CPU doesn't have to fall back to the slower system RAM as often. That reduces latency, giving you better, more stable frame rates while you game.

The 9800X3D isn't at the very top in our CPU benchmarks anymore, but it's damn close, and it's still the top recommendation for most gamers. There isn't an Intel alternative that can truly rival the performance of an X3D chip like the 9800X3D, either. If 4K gaming with high, stable frame rates is your goal, then the 9800X3D will give you that in spades.

Alongside the 9800X3D is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. This Nvidia Blackwell GPU has 8,960 CUDA cores and 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM. This is a GPU that leaves 1080p in the dust, as this mid- to high-tier option is a 1440p and 4K powerhouse. It has the latest Nvidia tech baked in, too, including DLSS with multi-frame generation.

4K with ray tracing, supported by MFG if necessary, means you'll get high frame rates in current-gen games. Expect to use the best graphics presets, but you might need to tweak them for the most demanding games if you're playing at 4K. Luckily, 16GB of VRAM means you've got plenty of breathing room, especially compared to the lower-end RTX 5060 or RTX 5050 with 8GB of VRAM.

There aren't any compromises elsewhere in this build. You've got 32GB of G.Skill Ripjaws M5 Neo RGB DDR5 memory, split across two 16GB modules, with speeds of 6,000 MT/s. There's also a 2TB Team Group NV5000 M.2 SSD included here, offering Gen 4 speeds, with enough space for several big game installations. There's also Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless connectivity, along with Ethernet, and the CPU is liquid cooled with a Bitspower 240mm AIO liquid cooler.

This $2,549.99 ABS Stratos II Ruby gaming PC is a great deal in the current market, especially fitted with the formidable combination of the 9800X3D and RTX 5070 Ti. Buying it now means you're saving $450 on its list price, but it's also the cheapest RTX 5070 Ti gaming PC you're able to buy on Newegg right now. Expect a deal this good to sell out fast.

A rare, prototype copy of Pokémon Red for the Nintendo Game Boy, originally released back in 1998, is on sale at auction, with a single bid of $25,000 currently registered so far. This prototype, spotted by Retro Dodo, is "incredibly rare" and features 32KB of readable data. According to the Goldin auction page, the cartridge has been authenticated by specialists at PSA, who examined the card. According to them, while a "complete data read" wasn't possible, the first 32KB of data was, a "technically unique" result. The PSA notes, however, that the game data is otherwise "completely identical" to the U.S. release version of the game, with PSA "expressing confidence" that the rest of the data, if it were readable, would match.

The PSA report does note two changes to the ROM's header data that don't affect the game data. According to PSA, "the difference is at offset 0x014C, which denotes the Mask ROM version and is incorrectly set to 55 when it should be 00. This has the effect of changing offset 0x014D, which is a calculated header checksum, to CB instead of 20."

This prototype development cartridge has a sticker reading DMB-MBC-16M-FLASH, with a part number DMG-(F)KGDB-01. DMB likely refers to Dot Matrix Game, the original internal codename for the Game Boy, while MBC likely means Memory Bank Controller, a custom chip that allowed games to use more than the Game Boy's 32KB ROM limit. 16M likely refers to a 16 megabit limit of flash-writable memory. Retro Dodo notes that the cartridge is longer than a standard Game Boy cartridge, too.

The auction notes that this uses a "previously undocumented" development board, although the DMG-(F)KGDB-01 part number has been seen before. The Rare Gaming Dump wiki, for instance, lists the same part number for a development cartridge from 2000. It, too, had a 16 megabit Sharp flash chip, with U1 FLASH MEMORY printed on the board. Close-up views from the Goldin auction page show an almost identical design, although the wiki entry shows a slightly different DMG-MBC3-16M-FLASH cartridge sticker.

Pokémon Red is a gaming classic that helped kickstart the global Pokémon franchise in the 1990s, along with Green and Blue. Combined with Blue, Pokémon Red is reported to have sold more than 31 million copies. There are several days left to go on this auction, so while the single bidder may secure this piece of gaming history for $25,000, it may sell for an even higher price before the auction process ends.

Building a new gaming PC, especially one fit for 4K gameplay, isn't cheap at the moment. PC hardware prices have shot up over the last year, with RAM, SSDs, and new graphics cards all becoming extremely expensive. Still, if you're thinking about building a new rig or upgrading your existing one, you'll want to consider this Newegg combo deal that combines the formidable AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D with 32GB DDR5 and a Gigabyte X870E motherboard for just $1,029.99 right now.

● Check out this deal at Newegg

This kit means you'll save $238.99 by buying these components together compared to picking them up separately. That doesn't include the freebies you get with this deal, either, with a Cooler Master Elite Liquid Cooler 240 CPU AIO included for free, worth $79.99, along with a copy of Onimusha: Way of the Sword, worth $69.99.

This kit gives you the bare bones you'll need for your next 4K gaming PC. The extra savings, whether it's the $238.99 on the three parts here, or the full $388.97 if you include the freebies, will give you spare cash that you can put towards other parts for your build, whether that's a GPU, case, or any peripherals you need.

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the real showstopper in this bundle. This is one of our favorite gaming CPUs, and one of the fastest, as our CPU benchmark data will confirm. You won't find better options for gaming than an X3D chip from AMD; the tech has allowed AMD to dominate the market in recent years, with the extra 3D V-Cache giving the total L3 cache a boost to 96MB. That'll have a noticeable impact on gaming performance, with your PC needing to drop down and rely on the slower system RAM less.

This is a Zen 5 CPU with eight cores, and all eight are able to take full advantage of that increased 96MB L3 cache. It has a standard clock speed of 4.7 GHz, which can boost up to 5.2 GHz. As the benchmarks show, the end result for gamers is higher, more stable frame rates compared to any non-X3D rivals.

The 9800X3D needs an AM5 motherboard to power it, which is what you're getting with the Gigabyte X870E Aorus Elite Wi-Fi 7 Ice. This is a mid-tier offering from Gigabyte, with Ice referring to its fully white colorway, that comes with a range of gaming-friendly features. It has no less than 12 USB ports at the back, including two USB-C ports that are rated for speeds of 40 Gbps.

You also get four M.2 sockets for a whole set of SSDs, with three of them rated for PCIe 5.0 speeds over four lanes with this 9800X3D installed. One further slot is rated for PCIe 4.0 SSDs, too. Fast networking is included here, with 2.5G Ethernet and Wi-Fi 7 support as standard. You also get the ability to install a whopping 256GB of DDR5 RAM over four DIMM slots, with speeds of up to 8,200 MT/s.

While this deal doesn’t quite stretch to 256GB (sky-high RAM prices make that impossible at the moment), you’re still getting a fast set of 32GB memory from G.Skill. This G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5 RAM is white to match the motherboard, with two 16GB modules offering speeds of 6,000 MT/s. It's RGB, too, which you can configure at the top. It has CAS and memory timings of 36-36-36-76.

Newegg combo deals come and go, but the $1,029.99 sale price for this 9800X3D bundle with a Gigabyte motherboard and 32GB of DDR5 RAM makes it one you'll want to pick up while you can. You've got a core set of parts here to start building out a 4K rig, especially with the Cooler Master AIO for free on top, as long as you get a GPU to match. Expect to see a deal like this sell out quickly.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has described several undersea fiber cables that run through the Strait of Hormuz as "legitimate new targets." The area has become a hotbed of conflict since the start of military action by the United States, Israel and others in February. General Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesman for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, referred to the cables in comments at an event this week, The Telegraph reports.

"Seven large cables pass beneath the Strait of Hormuz, and all internet and commercial data pass through them," according to Mohebbi. He went on to describe the cables as "legitimate new targets" for future assaults. Meanwhile, another IRGC General, Yadollah Javani, who serves as the IRGC's political deputy, has since suggested that if Iranian infrastructure is attacked, Iran will respond by attacking the cables, according to comments reported by Iran International.

The conflict between the United States and Iran has cooled, but it isn't quite over yet. Mohebbi suggested that a "third phase" in the war would reveal a "new geography" that would include "new targets and new weapons." One particular cable referenced by the IRGC appears to match the Asia-Africa-Europe-1 cable, a cable stretching 15,050 miles from Asia to Europe, traveling through Oman, the UAE and Qatar. Both the UAE and Qatar share direct maritime borders with Iran.

Experts believe the threat is credible. Professor Alesso Patalano, a war and strategy professor at King's College London, told The Telegraph that "not only is it possible, but it's been a rather clear possibility for a long time," adding that divers could "go down to the seabed... and cut them or destroy them." Such attacks aren't "unheard of," going on to reference the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline attack near Denmark in 2022, supposedly by Ukrainian agents, as an example.

Meanwhile, further comments, made to The Telegraph, suggest that Iran had considered cutting the cables several times since the war began. However, up until now, Tehran had avoided doing so, as it would mean "declaring war on the whole world and building new enemies," according to another unnamed Iranian spokesman, although stating that it would continue to be "an option if Trump escalates."

Iran isn't the only country that has taken a special interest in undersea infrastructure. A Russian ship, for instance, was chased from British waters by a Royal Navy attack helicopter earlier this year as it loitered for 14 hours less than a mile from five undersea cables that connect the UK with Spain, Portugal, Canada, and the U.S.

Right now, the best way to pick up a gaming PC is to buy a pre-built, with hardware prices shooting through the roof. Luckily, the big tech retailers continue to throw out deals for gamers to take advantage of. For instance, you can pick up this ABS Cyclone Aqua machine with an RTX 5060 Ti 16GB GPU, giving you 1440-capable performance for $1,499.99.

● Check out this deal at Newegg

If you took these specs and tried to build a matching PC yourself, you'd struggle to beat this price. Front and center here is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti with 16GB of VRAM: a formidable option for a budget-friendly gaming PC. You're also getting a 20-core Intel Core i7-14700F CPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

With the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti at your disposal, you're getting one of Nvidia’s latest-generation mid-tier graphics cards. It has 4,608 CUDA cores and a boost clock speed of 2,527MHz. Unlike the more power-hungry top-end RTX 50-series cards, you only need one eight-pin PCIe connector to deliver power here, so you can banish those worries about burning GPU cables.

Our RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB review makes clear how good the performance is with this Blackwell GPU for gamers, especially at 1080p and 1440p. The charts you'll see below show that, especially with ray tracing in the mix, compared to rival cards at this level. Full DLSS support is included, too, so you can add multi-frame generation as a backstop. That'll give you a nice frame rate boost in the most resource-heavy games if you're pushing up to the highest resolutions.

You can also count on 16GB of GDD7 VRAM with this GPU. That makes it a much more appealing option than 8GB variants you might have to settle for in other rigs at this price point. 16GB gives you more headroom, as far as performance goes, for the most resource-heavy games at 1440p.

For the CPU, you're getting the Intel Core i7-14700F. This continues to be a popular CPU option for gaming, despite being a little older. This Raptor Lake Refresh CPU has 20 cores, with eight performance cores, which are the ones you'll want for gaming, along with 12 efficient cores for multi-threaded work. It also has a maximum turbo clock speed of 5.4 GHz, along with a 65W TDP. At 1080p or 1440p, you won't see much of a bottleneck with the 14700F at your disposal in modern games.

No risk of settling for slower DDR4 RAM here, either. You get fast DDR5 instead, with 16GB of G.Skill Flare X5 DDR5 memory included with speeds of 6,000 MT/s. You aren't getting 32GB, which is a compromise, but you do have room to upgrade later, and DDR5 ensures some extra longevity.

Storage-wise, you're also getting a 1TB Patriot P410 SSD. It has Gen 4 speeds, with that 1TB of storage ensuring you get space for a couple of the big AAA games alongside your Windows installation. This ABS build also comes with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connectivity, along with gigabit Ethernet for a wired connection to your local network.

The $1,499.99 sale price for this ABS Cyclone Aqua gaming PC makes it an affordable option for gamers who want a 1440p-ready rig right now, especially with prices rising elsewhere. The RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is the standout component, but there's no guarantee that this price will last for very long.

Chinese technology giants ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have reportedly spent over $35 billion on orders for more than 3 million Nvidia RTX Pro 5500 workstation GPUs. The huge order for the RTX Pro 5500, fully compliant with U.S. restrictions on exports of AI-capable GPUs to China, is reportedly far beyond Nvidia's planned production for this card. As a result, Nvidia has, according to sources who spoke to Reuters, told its customers that it isn't in a position to fill the orders as it far outstrips its planned production for this GPU.

The RTX Pro 5500 is a workstation GPU with the same number of CUDA cores as its flagship RTX 5090 GPU, but with 84GB of GDDR7 memory attached, making it a good option for AI applications. The RTX Pro 5500 is a popular choice at the moment for Chinese buyers as exporting it isn't currently restricted by the U.S. government. It's less powerful than the H200 and B300, Nvidia's AI-focused GPUs for the enterprise market, but those GPUs remain either banned or heavily restricted. As China competes with the U.S. in the race to produce newer, better AI models, GPUs like the RTX Pro 5500 continue to be indispensable.

The report reveals some interesting data about the Chinese tech firms orders. Two of its sources revealed that the cards are priced at around $11,400 each, reaching a total order value of $35 billion. Meanwhile, another source suggested that Nvidia has informed its partners that it may only be able to deliver enough cards to meet between 5% and 10% of the demand. Meanwhile, Nvidia is reportedly in a position to only produce 3 million RTX Pro 5500 cards globally in 2027.

Neither Nvidia nor the three Chinese companies have confirmed any of this on the record. However, an Nvidia spokesman told Reuters that demand from the Chinese market for these chips has faced "unprecedented growth since 2022" since export restrictions were introduced. "U.S. firms continue to be restricted by a combination of outdated U.S. export controls, which cover gaming products released nearly half a decade ago, and China's own limits on U.S. imports."

While trade hostility between the U.S. and China shows no sign of abating, demand for Nvidia's GPUs hasn't slowed down, despite U.S. attempts to restrict Nvidia's ability to export to China. Meanwhile, export-restricted Nvidia AI chips continue to reach China despite the restrictions, bypassing the Trump administration's efforts in the process.

There's no point upgrading your internet connection if you've got a bad Wi-Fi router slowing you down. If the ISP-provided router isn't up to the task, and you're ready to banish the lag, you'll want to pick up this TP-Link router, on sale for a limited time only. The TP-Link Archer BE9700, also known as the BE600, is down to $189.98 right now, giving you a 24% saving on its list price.

● Check out this TP-Link router deal on Amazon

With the BE9700, you're getting a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router with six external antennas, enough to give you coverage for up to 2,600 sq. ft. with up to 120 different devices connecting to it. TP-Link reckons you can expect to see speeds of up to 5,765 Mbps on the fastest 6 GHz band, with 2,882 Mbps at 5 GHz, and 1,032 Mbps at 2.4 GHz. MLO, or Multi-Link Operation, support means you're able to connect using these different bands at the same time, giving you even faster speeds and better protection against congestion.

Our TP-Link BE9700 review shows this is a serious option for your network. This is a good value router with solid Wi-Fi 7 support, with speeds that make it a competitive option, especially at this price point. Our review shows that it comes with class-leading 6 GHz performance, with decent enough speeds at 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz. It's the top choice in our best Wi-Fi router shortlist, too.

While Wi-Fi 7 support is the big deal here, the wired connections aren't bad, either. You get a 10Gb WAN port to hook this router up to your super-fast modem, giving you max speeds. You also get four 2.5Gb Ethernet ports for your home devices, including your PC, laptop, NAS drives, game consoles, and more.

Aside from the speeds, you get a USB 3.0 port on the side, which you could use to hook up a printer or external hard drive as a basic NAS. EasyMesh support, meanwhile, means you can use this as a wireless node in a mesh network. It also has Quality of Service controls to help you prioritize traffic for your core devices, such as your gaming PC, so you don't lose out when you're gaming.

The $189.98 sale price for this TP-Link Archer BE9700 router is a good one, even if it has yo-yo'd in price over recent months. That said, this is a solid discount off the $249.99 list price that it was at a few weeks ago, and one that'll give you an ultra-fast upgrade to your local network.

A Norwegian company building fiber networks and data centers across Europe is looking for a majority partner to help fund and build a transatlantic undersea cable that would connect Canada with Europe directly, bypassing the United States. The project follows worsening relations between Washington and Ottawa, with the Canadian government looking to reduce direct reliance on its immediate neighbor, Bloomberg reports.

Project Leif Erikson, if it goes ahead, would stretch more than 2,800 miles, starting at the southern tip of Norway and ending up at Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Canada's eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador. From there, it would continue underground over Canadian territory, passing through Quebec before reaching Montreal.

According to Bulk's co-founder, Peder Nærbø, the link would be part of a "sovereign cable system" for Canada. The project was touted to investors at a global investors summit, arranged by the Canadian government, in September, where the project claimed to provide "direct, secure, high-capacity data transmission for AI, telecom and hyperscale markets."

Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joy, meanwhile, met with Nærbø earlier this year, and although the department declined to comment on Leif Erikson itself, it told Bloomberg that security and resilience for Canada's infrastructure are "key priorities" for PM Mark Carney's government. Only a few undersea cables currently connect Canada without passing through the United States first, and none by a company owned by Canada. The biggest, called Topez, is owned by Google owner Alphabet and connects Canada with Japan.

As for Bulk, it has, up until now, laid more than 6,200 miles of cabling locally and at sea. Bulk's goal is to "unlock the Nordics' potential for... renewable energy to be utilized for digital infrastructure." Nærbø believes that "Canada lacks resilience" but "the game-changer was when the current situation with the U.S. escalated."

Leif Erikson has backers, according to the report, but the EU and Canada still need to plan and sign off on the project and its route. Additional financing will be needed to get started, too, with it expected to cost more than $620 million to build. Bulk itself has significant Canadian investment, with 65% of the company owned by a real estate subsidiary of Canada's Sun Life Financial Inc., with several Canadian pension funds also invested.

Leif Erikson is a project that Nærbø has sought to kickstart for the last five years without success. With geopolitical pressures and old alliances fraying, however, new opportunities for its development have given it steam. To that end, Canada and Europe intend to endorse a statement in Montreal on October 29 that the two will look for "the best way to enhance digital links between Europe, Canada and Asia through new subsea cable infrastructure."

It won't be without challenges, however, including a 1,180-mile underground route through Canada that'll require the backing of Indigenous communities. Meanwhile, other European efforts include an undersea cable project at the North Pole to link Europe with Asia to bypass Russia and the Middle East.

At the moment, the best value for money when you're thinking about a new gaming PC is to pick a pre-built, especially a discounted one. With that in mind, Newegg has slashed the price of this ABS Flux II Aqua gaming PC with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 by $500, bringing it down to just $1,799.99.

● Check out this deal at Newegg

The core components in this build include the Intel Core I7-14700F, still a popular choice in pre-builts, along with that powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070. The RTX 5070 is a solid, mid- to high-tier option for gaming that'll ensure you'll be able to hit high frame rates at 1440p, with the potential for 4K, too. You're also getting 32GB of DDR5 RAM here, along with a 1TB SSD for storage.

Our RTX 5070 review makes clear what a good performer this mid-tier GPU is for gamers in this current generation. It's on our best GPU list as the best all-rounder option for gamers right now, too. This is a solid 1440p card, but with Nvidia DLSS features at your disposal, including multi-frame generation to boost your frame rates, you'll be helped to push it even further.

With the RTX 5070, you're getting 6,144 CUDA cores and 12GB of GDDR6 VRAM, operating on a 192-bit memory bus. Performance-wise, you can expect the highest frame rates at 1080p, along with 1440p, even at Ultra. 4K will push it harder, and you might need to drop down a preset or two for stability, or make use of multi-frame gen to cover the gaps.

Coupled with the RTX 5070 is the Intel Core i7-14700F. This Raptor Lake Refresh CPU is getting older, but it's still popular and powerful, too. It has 20 cores, 12 of which are efficient cores for multi-threaded work, with the final eight performance cores giving you the power you'll need for gaming. With the RTX 5070 alongside it, there isn't much of a bottleneck here for gaming with the 14700F, and it'll handle 1440p with little trouble.

Elsewhere, you're getting 32GB of G.Skill Flare X5 RAM, split dual-channel across two 16GB modules, with speeds of 6,000 MT/s, leaving slower DDR4 memory far behind. You're also getting a 1TB Kingston SNV3S SSD here, offering Gen 4 speeds, with enough space for a couple of big AAA games alongside Windows.

The $1,799.99 sale price for this ABS Flux II Aqua gaming PC is a good one in the current market. ABS is Newegg's own brand, and the specs you're getting here are formidable for the price, especially for under $1,800.

While Amazon's big sale has finished, Walmart and Best Buy are delivering the goods with huge deals on two different gaming PCs. Right now, you can pick up the ABS Cyclone M Aqua with an RTX 5060 for $999 at Walmart, or go for a CyberPowerPC rig with an RX 9060 for $999.99 at Best Buy instead.

● Grab the ABS machine at Walmart here

● Grab the CyberPowerPC machine at Best Buy here

These are budget-focused machines, and while some compromises do have to be made, the specs are pretty formidable for their price point. The ABS machine is fitted with an Intel Core i5-14400F, still a popular choice in lower-end machines like this one, along with 16GB of DDR4-3200 memory, a 1TB SSD, and most importantly, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 8GB.

The RTX 5060 means you're getting high frame rates at 1080p, even with the highest graphics presets. DLSS support, meanwhile, gives you full access to Nvidia's bag of tricks, including multi-frame generation, which'll prove useful if you decide to go for 1440p or need an AI-generated push.

You also get an additional 2TB SSD with this deal, a Verbatim 2TB Vi7000 offering Gen 4 speeds. It's unclear whether or not this comes pre-installed, but installing an M.2 drive is an easy process, even for a beginner.

On the flip side, you could go for the CyberPowerPC machine at Best Buy instead. It'll cost you 99c more, but instead you get a rig that includes the AMD Ryzen 7 8700F. This is an AM5 CPU, so you are better future-proofed here than the LGA 1700 socket used for the 14400F should you decide to upgrade the CPU later. It's also a newer, faster CPU, running with a 4.1 GHz base clock speed, boosting up to 5 GHz.

You also get the AMD Radeon RX 9060 here, also with 8GB VRAM. The RTX 5060 is faster, but this GPU isn't far off it in terms of raw power, and it'll still work well at the 1080p range you'll be focusing on with these specs. You're also getting faster DDR5 RAM here, also 16GB, with a 1TB SSD for Windows and any games.

These are both good machines for 1080p gaming, with a price that puts them below $1,000. Given the current market, finding any rig priced this low with modern components is a struggle. The ABS Cyclone M Aqua for $999 is a good option with the RTX 5060, with DLSS support giving you an additional edge in-game, along with that extra 2TB SSD.

That said, the CyberPowerPC rig for $999.99 is a solid alternative, with newer components and better options for upgrades into the future. Either one will suit you fine for modern gaming, but these prices aren't likely to stick around for very long.

Wi-Fi is great until you hit lag, network congestion, or interference. If you need to expand your network, you'll want a network switch with gigabit speeds. Luckily, Amazon's big sale means you can pick up this TP-Link Lightwave 5-port unmanaged Ethernet switch for just $7.99 right now, bringing it back down to its lowest-ever price.

● Check out this deal on Amazon

With the LS1005G, you're getting five extra Ethernet ports for your network, although you'll need to use one to connect it to your existing router. There isn't a better option than an Ethernet cable for maxing out the bandwidth on your internet connection, especially if you prefer to stream or play games online.

Gigabit speeds shouldn't seem that exciting these days, but plenty of people are rocking old network hardware that isn't this fast. You don't need to worry about Wi-Fi lag or interference here, as you'll get a solid, dedicated wired connection instead. There's no need to think about a setup process either, as the LS1005G is completely unmanaged. You just need to plug it in, hooking your router up to the switch's WAN port. The other four ports will then work straight away.

As it's unmanaged, you do lose some of the customization features that you'd gain with a more expensive managed switch. That isn't really a downside here. This switch is less than $8. For that price, you're still getting a network upgrade that'll let you connect almost any Ethernet-capable device. Gaming PCs, laptops, printers, NAS drives, consoles, TVs, and even another router or Wi-Fi extender will work with this switch. It's just going to work. It doesn't deliver power, though, so you can't use it to deliver power to PoE devices like cameras.

This TP-Link switch isn't big, so it won't take up much space. It's just 2.8 x 3.5 x 0.9 inches, so it'll fit near your existing router or around your home or office, as long as the cabling is long enough. No fans are required to keep it cool, either. That means it'll run silently without disrupting you.

I'd almost say it's impossible to beat the $7.99 sale price for this TP-Link Litewave LS1005G 5-port switch, but believe it or not, Ugreen has matched it. Both deals are running for a limited time only, but if the TP-Link runs out, you can pick up this Ugreen 5-port switch for the same $7.99 sale price. You'll get the same level of functionality, although TP-Link's brand is generally better known. Either way, for less than $8, this Ugreen model will be a good alternative if the TP-Link switch sells out.

There really isn't a better way to expand your wired network than with a network switch like this. For $7.99, both the TP-Link LS1005G and the Ugreen 35492US models will serve you well, delivering gigabit speeds across your LAN without worrying about Wi-Fi lag. It's a good, affordable option but, with Amazon's deal set to end tonight, you've got to be quick if you want to grab one (or two, or three) of these brilliantly-priced switches.

If you're a hobbyist who needs to start soldering, you'll want a beginner-friendly soldering iron to get yourself started. Luckily, the Fanttik T1 Max soldering iron kit is down to $52.99 right now. That's a new record-low price for this model, and other than some solder and something to solder, it'll give you everything else you need to get started.

In our Fanttik T1 Max review, this model gained plenty of praise for its simplicity and ease for beginners. It's a wireless iron, so no need to worry about wires getting in your way. Charging is handled by a USB-C cable, with a built-in 2600mAh battery to keep things powered at 12W. You can use it wired if you prefer, though, where it'll hit up to 16W.

Using it is as simple as possible: you just need to add your preferred soldering tip, set the temperature using the dial, and press the button to begin. Our testing found that this model is able to hit 350°C or 662°F in just 12.14 seconds, so you don't have to wait long, either, although it can reach as high as 450°C or 842°F if you need it to.

The dial makes setting the temperature easy, even if there isn't a display. You just rotate it to pick between six different temperature levels, keeping it very simple. The handle, as our review explains, is pretty large, though, so smaller hands might prefer a different model.

There's an aluminum stand that you can use between sessions, and the iron will shut down automatically if it's left for a few minutes, just to protect the tip and the battery.

You'll need to use C210 soldering tips with the Fanttik T1 Max, and several tips are included in the base of the stand for precision and larger soldering jobs. You also get a spot for a damp sponge in the stand to help you clean leftover solder from the iron's tip.

If you're learning to solder, or you're only soldering smaller projects, then the Fanttik T1 Max would be a good option. Because it's wireless and has few controls, it's safer to use, and the lack of a trailing wire (unless you want to use it plugged in) means you don't have to worry about accidentally damaging it.

The $52.99 sale price on this Fanttik T1 Max soldering iron means you're saving 34% compared to its usual cost. With the Prime deals ending soon, however, it's set to go up in price pretty quickly. If you're a hobbyist looking for a bargain, pick up this deal while you can.

Amazon has gone absolutely rogue by slashing prices on the Samsung 9100 Pro again before its Big Deals sales event is over. We're in the last stretch, but the 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB models of this top-spec SSD are now cheaper than they were yesterday. The 4TB 9100 Pro has seen a huge cut, from $1,119.99 yesterday to $734.99 today, a price we've not seen in months. Elsewhere, the 1TB drive has dropped below $200, while the 2TB drive is now below $335, and the 8TB is staying steady at $2299.99.

This really is the best time to pick up one of these Samsung SSDs, especially if you want to upgrade your storage at a price that beats the current market. There's no guarantee that the stock will last, but we do know that these deal prices are set to go in less than 24 hours. These Gen 5 drives are still, somehow, beating the Gen 4 Samsung 990 Pro on pricing, making this one of the deals of the whole event.

• Check out the Samsung 9100 Pro 1TB deal on Amazon
• Check out the Samsung 9100 Pro 2TB deal on Amazon
• Check out the Samsung 9100 Pro 4TB deal on Amazon
• Check out the Samsung 9100 Pro 8TB deal on Amazon

This is a brilliant SSD, no doubt about it, and easily one of the best SSDs you can buy. As our Samsung 9100 Pro review explains, this drive ships with Samsung's own Presto controller and 236-layer V8 NAND. You're getting max sequential reads and writes of 14,800 MB/s and 13,400 MB/s apiece, although speeds do vary slightly, depending on capacity.

At those speeds, however, you're not really hitting too many bottlenecks. This is a drive that can take the lot, from basic tasks to intensive AI workloads without much issue. That said, a high-performance drive in the current market isn't really the point. Price is the factor that you'll need to consider most, and so is the warranty, to ensure that you're protected if the drive fails.

This PCIe 5.0 SSD comes with a five-year limited warranty as standard, but it also has pretty good endurance specs, so it should last pretty well under tough conditions. The 2TB model, for example, is rated for 1,200 TBW. You'd need to be writing to more than a third of the drive every single day for five years to beat the warranty's coverage.

As specs go, the Samsung 9100 Pro is pretty much one of the best-performing drives on the market. You'll really notice the difference if you're upgrading from an older PCIe 4.0 drive. For instance, the Samsung 990 Pro, one of the best Gen 4 SSDs you can buy and this drive's predecessor, can 'only' hit read and write speeds of 7,940 and 6,900 MB/s, compared to the 14,800 MB/s and 13,400 MB/s here. You'll see even slower speeds at Gen 4, and below 600 MB/s with an older SATA SSD.

This isn't the fastest Gen 5 SSD, but that's hardly the point. The 9100 Pro is still a high-performance drive and, given these prices, almost impossible to beat on a cost-to-performance basis.

Compared to the prices we saw yesterday, the 2TB model is even better value at just $0.167 per GB. The 1TB model isn't bad, though, as it drops below $200 for the first time in a while, and you're getting $0.196 per GB there. The 4TB model, meanwhile, sits in the middle, at $0.183, but that huge $385 discount on yesterday's pricing is difficult to ignore.

You can't go wrong with any of these high-performance Samsung 9100 Pro SSDs, though. You just can't wait long to buy one. These prices are set to expire by the end of the Amazon Prime sales event later today, but these SSDs could sell out before then. Grab one while you can, as time is running out fast.

Hoto isn't a big household name, but it's a brand that Tom's Hardware staffers appreciate, as a good chunk of us have bought a Hoto tool or two for our toolkits. I personally own and use Hoto's electric screwdriver, and it's become indispensable as I'm renovating my home.

You don't need a fortune to pick up a set of Hoto tools, but Amazon's Big Deal Days discount event means you can pick them up at even lower prices. These popular and powerful, not to mention well-built tools have been slashed back to record-low prices and, in some cases, new lows entirely.

● Check out these Hoto deals at Amazon

These Prime Day deals aren't going to be around for long, with the Big Deal Days event ending tomorrow night. If you want to pick up one of these Hoto tools, now is a brilliant time to do it, as you'll be paying less than you will by the end of the week. Check out our recommendations below for some of the best deals to choose from Hoto's line-up.

Deals on Hoto Tools

Hoto is launching new tools all the time, from vacuum cleaners to wine bottle openers. The tools we've listed below are the ones that techies, PC builders, hobbyists, and DIYers are going to need in their toolbox, though.

There are electric drivers, vacuum and air blowers, flashlights, rotary tools, precision driver kits, and more to choose from.

More Prime Day Tech Deals

Best Tech and PC deals | Best gaming PC deals | Best RAM combo deals | Best 3D printer deals | Best RAM deals | Best gaming laptop deals | Best monitor deals | Best Wi-Fi Router deals | Best GPU deals | Best SSD deals | Best hard drive HDD deals | Best CPU deals | Best gaming chair deals | Best PC building tool deals | Best PC peripherals deals | Best filament and resin deals | Best motherboard deals | Best CPU cooler deals | Best PC case deals | Best Dell and Alienware deals | Best USB charger deals | Best gaming and productivity laptop deals under $1,000 | Best laptop PC deals

With Amazon Prime Big Deal Days officially live, you've got the opportunity to splash a little cash on some of those really cool gadgets and tools that you won't immediately think of day-to-day, but when you see them, you'll know you've got to have them. That's exactly what you'll think when you see this SinLoon external power button, down to just $11.19 right now.

We don't have to mention a long list of specs with this item. It's an external power button for your PC. You get a two-meter header cable to hook into your PC's front panel, with a splitter that helps it work with your PC case's existing cables, as well as a pair of mechanical keyboard keys that act as the power-down or restart buttons.

● Check out this deal at Amazon

Look, it might seem gimmicky, but this is cool, and it's under $12. I've spent far more on far less useful items, and if your PC is stuck under the desk, it'll make switching it on or off much, much easier.

Don't think that the price means that there isn't a lot of detail here. The two mechanical keyboard keys look like they're from a top-spec gaming keyboard, featuring RGB lighting, giving you the full show-stopper for your desk. SinLoon reckons that these keys will last for 5 million keystrokes. That's far more than you'll ever need to switch your PC on or off in your lifetime, let alone your PC's.

It's a pretty easy process to get this kit set up, as long as you can access your PC's front panel headers easily. This'll make sense if you've built a PC before, as you'll have done this when you've hooked up your motherboard so that the power button works. It's a similar process here, and along with the cables for shutting it down or restarting it, you've got extra connectors for the power and disk access LEDs, too.

The keys sit in a smooth, black plastic case. The writing is black too, surrounded by glossy plastic, which extends from the back. The wire eventually splits into multiple colored cables, labeled so that you can figure out which port to plug them into.

A 1-into-2 splitter makes using this easy. The splitter lets you hook these cables, along with your PC's power and reset buttons, together. You aren't losing any functionality on your case. The adapter is physical, so even if you don't see the same pinout as you might expect, you can move the headers around to match until it fits. You can totally bypass your PC's power button, though, by just connecting these cables up to your motherboard instead.

This is the ultimate impulse buy. Most of you probably won't have thought about a desktop power button before. Why would you? But it looks cool. That's the point. It's not pointless; it has actual use, and it will turn your PC on or off. It's going to be exceptionally useful if you've got your PC in a difficult place and can't easily reach the power buttons each time.

A maker or builder is going to love it, too. If you're regularly testing components, like we do at Tom's Hardware, then there's a real benefit to a tool like this if you just have the motherboard with components built to it, with no case or power button. This SinLoon power button makes the whole process easier.

As things go, the $11.19 sale price for this SinLoon external power button is great. You don't need it, and it won't change your life, but it could make it just that bit easier to switch your PC on or off. It's cool to look at, with RGB lighting for a bit of personality. As a gift, or just for yourself, this cool desk feature is worth buying before it sells out or the price goes back up again.

Why suffer lag or buffering on your home network when there's a budget-friendly TP-Link router on sale at a record-low price? Ahead of the official Big Deal Days launch, Amazon has slashed this TP-Link Archer BE3600 wireless router to $79.98. That's a 33% discount on its list price and the lowest it's ever been seen on Amazon to date.

• Check out this deal on Amazon

You won't be surprised to find that this is one of the best Wi-Fi routers you can pick up on a budget, but that's before this discount. You'll see in our TP-Link Archer BE3600 review why this is such a good deal, as this router adds Wi-Fi 7 support to your network cheaply and easily, albeit with a few caveats. Those aside, you're still getting strong performance for 2.4 and 5 GHz with this router.

All in all, this is a no-nonsense router with a pretty basic design. You're getting a flat, rectangular box with four antennas for good wireless coverage. There's one 2.5 Gbps WAN port for your internet connection, another 2.5 Gbps for your LAN, and another three ports rated at 1 Gbps. There's also a single USB 3.0 port, which'll be useful if you want to hook up a printer or USB external hard drive to your network as a basic NAS drive. You'll find TP-Link's initial setup and configuration easy, too, using the router's web portal.

There's one trade-off you'll need to consider. This router doesn't support the full Wi-Fi 7 specification as it doesn't include the 6 GHz band. That's a shame, but you'll find that performance at 2.4 GHz, still the dominant Wi-Fi band and one you'll need for all your legacy devices, is still excellent with this BE3600 router at close range. You'd easily pay more for a router that had these specs elsewhere.

It's the price that sells this router, and why you'll want to consider it for your network. This would make for a brilliant upgrade over an ISP-issued router, or to use as a secondary repeater around your home. The $79.98 sale price for this TP-Link Archer BE3600 (also known as the BE230) is the best it's ever been, so if you want to grab it, now's your chance, as we'd expect prices to go back up once Amazon's sale event ends later this week.

Bambu Lab's brilliant 3D printers are on sale right now for Halloween. If you're in the mood for something spooky and you're looking to print some awesomely scary models, then a new 3D printer from Bambu Lab is the answer.

Bambu Lab's Halloween sale coincides with Amazon's Big Deal Days sales event between October 6 and October 7. Bambu Lab's sale is running even longer, with deals on sale until October 16. That means you'll see some discounts on Amazon, along with Bambu Lab's own website, for both printers and filament.

● Check out Bambu Lab deals at Amazon

● See all Bambu Lab Halloween sale deals

It also means you can pick up savings of up to 30% directly from Bambu Lab. One of the biggest printers on sale is this $250 discount on the Bambu Lab H2D with AMS combo, down to $1,749. You can also pick up some of the other favorites, like the Bambu Lab P1S for $399, as well as the A1 for $299. These represent big price drops compared to their original pricing earlier in the year, with the P1S originally priced at $699, and the A1 $399.

However, it's the consumables that are seeing the biggest discounts right now. Bambu Lab is running a 30% discount on filament when you buy it in bulk. If you pick up two items, you'll get 5% off, with the full 30% off given for 10 items or more.

You can find the best Bambu Lab deals that are currently running listed below. We've included links to Bambu Lab printers that we've previously reviewed, too, which you can check before you buy to see a full run-through of each printer's performance to help you make your decision.

Bambu Lab Deals on 3D Printers

Bambu Lab Filament Deals

You'll need filament with your 3D printer, unless it's a resin printer, as it's the material you'll need to start printing with. You can pick these up from third-party manufacturers, but right now, Bambu Lab is running a 30% off discount when you buy them in bulk.

These discounts mean you can score between 5% with two items, up to the full 30% off with 10. Check out the deals you can find below, with more colors available at Bambu Lab's website. There are also some awesome Halloween-themed bundles that you can pick up on sale, too.

Bambu Lab Automatic Material Systems Attachment Deals

AMS addons (Automatic Material Systems) for Bambu Lab printers will allow you to print with multiple different colors at the same time, while also helping to keep your filament dry and secure. Depending on the 3D printer combination and compatibility, you can link multiple units together, too.

These don't appear to be on sale at the moment, but if you're upgrading your existing kit, you might want to pick one up anyway.

More Tech Deals

Best Tech and PC deals | Best gaming PC deals | Best RAM combo deals | Best 3D printer deals | Best RAM deals | Best gaming laptop deals | Best monitor deals | Best Wi-Fi Router deals | Best GPU deals | Best SSD deals | Best hard drive HDD deals | Best CPU deals | Best gaming chair deals | Best PC building tool deals | Best PC peripherals deals | Best filament and resin deals | Best motherboard deals | Best CPU cooler deals | Best PC case deals | Best Dell and Alienware deals | Best USB charger deals | Best gaming and productivity laptop deals under $1,000 | Best laptop PC deals

Good Wi-Fi is essential around the home, but there's no guarantee that your ISP-provided router is getting its signal where you need it to go. If you're sick of lag, Wi-Fi dropping out, and slow speeds, you'll want to consider this limited-time deal on a TP-Link router. You can pick up the TP-Link Archer BE550 for $169.99 right now, saving you 32% off its list price.

● Check out this TP-Link router deal on Amazon

This is a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router with no less than six antennas to deliver maximum coverage across a typical household in the U.S. This gives you a combined maximum theoretical speed of 9.3 Gbps, split across the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi 7, along with 5 and 2.4 GHz. If you're using a recent-enough device, Multi-Link Operation (or MLO) means you're able to use different bands, like 5 GHz and 6 GHz, simultaneously for faster speeds and greater reliability.

While a lot of modern routers skimp out on high-speed Ethernet ports, you're getting a full set of 2.5 Gb Ethernet connectors here with the BE550, which is also known as the BE9300. One is for WAN, so your internet connection, along with four for other local devices you'll want to hook up, like your gaming PC. Even if your PC is a little older and doesn't feature a 2.5 Gb Ethernet port, it'll be able to hit the maximum speeds for that port with these connections.

You've got everything else you'd expect from a modern Wi-Fi 7 router here, too. It has a USB port for sharing an external hard drive on your local network, for instance. It also includes support for a mesh-style network, along with per-device Quality of Service controls, meaning you can set up priority for traffic on certain devices on a congested network. For instance, if you've got one PC downloading while you're trying to play games, you can prioritize one over the other with QoS. It also supports tagged VLANs, meaning you can configure your network with separated virtual networks for different devices to keep them isolated.

The $169.99 sale price for this TP-Link Archer BE550 is a good one for a router that can add Wi-Fi 7 support, along with a whole host of other features, to your local network. If you're struggling to get a signal and want an upgrade, this router is a good option, but with this limited-time deal set to run out in only a few hours, you don't have long to grab it at this price.

There's a huge deal on an MSI gaming laptop right now with a set of top specs, including the best laptop GPU out there, the RTX 5090. This MSI Stealth A18 AI+ laptop is $3,779, with 64GB of DDR5, 2TB SSD and a 12-core AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU, saving you $520 in total.

● Check out this MSI gaming laptop deal

While the mobile version of the RTX 5090 isn't the same as its desktop counterpart, you won't find a better GPU in a laptop that you can buy. It comes with 10,496 CUDA cores, along with 24GB of GDDR7 VRAM, which operates on a 256-bit memory bus. A peak 175W TDP is much less than the desktop's 575W power rating, but laptops are designed to be portable, so power is restricted.

It's interesting to look at how the pricing stacks up in the current market. This laptop will set you back $3,779 right now for an entire working system. The desktop version of the RTX 5090, right now, will set you back over $7,000 at the moment, at least for models in stock. These are two different beasts, sure, but PC gaming is getting to be very expensive, almost prohibitively so. A desktop PC with similar specs might set you back almost double the price you're paying for this laptop. It's clearly the better value option from a financial point of view, especially as it'll handle modern games at the best settings for several years.

The RTX 5090 is the real centerpiece of this laptop, but you're getting a stacked set of specs elsewhere. For the CPU, you're getting the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. This Strix Point processor has 12 cores, 24 threads, and a boost clock speed of 5.1 GHz. This is a Zen 5 CPU, with a power-efficient NPU for AI tasks.

No compromises elsewhere, either. You get a full set of 64GB of DDR5 RAM with this laptop, with speeds of 5,600 MT/s. That's a little slower, but capacity-wise, you're beating the RAMpocalypse with a whole heap of memory. Likewise, the 2TB SSD means you've got plenty of space for Windows alongside a lot of big game installations.

This is a big-screened laptop for gaming, and you're getting an 18-inch panel with a resolution of 3,840 x 2,400. That means you can game at 4K, with a 120Hz refresh rate to match the in-game frame rates without X. The mini LED panel supports HDR 1000, with 1000 nits of brightness, covering 100% of the DCI-P3 color space.

Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, along with 2.5Gb Ethernet, means you can max out any connection for lag-free gaming. These impressive specs are wrapped in a magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis in a midnight black colorway, with vapor chamber cooling under the hood with two fans and four exhausts.

The $3,779 sale price for this MSI Stealth A18 AI+ gaming laptop is a brilliant one in the current market. Rather than spending $7,000+ for the desktop GPU alone, this full-spec'd laptop with a 4K-adjacent display will give you everything you need to play at high frame rates at the highest resolutions for years to come.