Make your daily Wordle a silky-smooth breeze with our help. If that looks like a quick trip to today’s answer, then click away and enjoy a record breaking win. If you’re happy to spend some time improving your own puzzle solving, then our tips are ready when you are. And if you just need a gentle push towards the January 4 (1295) winning word, take a look at Saturday’s hint.
I know I’m not winning any awards for speed today, but even so that felt like a smooth and straightforward game. No drama, no fuss, no extra wrinkles as I furrow my brow in frustration (it doesn’t help, but it happens anyway), just a steady stream of fresh clues and good ideas leading to the only word that mattered.
Today’s Wordle hint
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)
Wordle today: A hint for Saturday, January 4
Take your shoes off, lean back, and do today’s answer. Doing this word relieves stress and tension, lets people unwind, and stops people fussing so much over rules.
Is there a double letter in Wordle today?
There are no double letters in today’s Wordle.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
A good starting word can be the difference between victory and defeat with the daily puzzle, but once you’ve got the basics, it’s much easier to nail down those Wordle wins. And as there’s nothing quite like a small victory to set you up for the rest of the day, here are a few tips to help set you on the right path:
A good opening guess should contain a mix of unique consonants and vowels.
Narrow down the pool of letters quickly with a tactical second guess.
Watch out for letters appearing more than once in the answer.
There’s no racing against the clock with Wordle so you don’t need to rush for the answer. Treating the game like a casual newspaper crossword can be a good tactic; that way, you can come back to it later if you’re coming up blank. Stepping away for a while might mean the difference between a win and a line of grey squares.
Today’s Wordle answer
(Image credit: Future)
What is today’s Wordle answer?
Here’s your answer. The answer to the January 4 (1295) Wordle is RELAX.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Previous Wordle answers
The last 10 Wordle answers
Past Wordle answers can give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle-solving fresh. They are also a good way to eliminate guesses for today’s Wordle, as the answer is unlikely to be repeated.
Here are some recent Wordle answers:
January 3: CHEAP
January 2: CHOSE
January 1: NERVE
December 31: LEMUR
December 30: STARE
December 29: MAMBO
December 28: DECRY
December 27: GRAIN
December 26: AFFIX
December 25: SHARE
Learn more about Wordle
(Image credit: Nurphoto via Getty)
Wordle gives you six rows of five boxes each day, and you’ll need to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them to keep up your winning streak.
You should start with a strong word like ARISE, or any other word that contains a good mix of common consonants and multiple vowels. You’ll also want to avoid starting words with repeating letters, as you’re wasting the chance to potentially eliminate or confirm an extra letter. Once you hit Enter, you’ll see which ones you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.
Your second guess should compliment the starting word, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer. With a bit of luck, you should have some coloured squares to work with and set you on the right path.
After that, it’s just a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there’s an E). Don’t forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
We and our council of games industry luminaries ranked Helldivers 2 highly in our 2023 Most Wanted list, which is a small point of pride. The buzz around Arrowhead’s 2024 co-op shooter wasn’t nothing before it came out, but it was getting a whole lot less mainstream attention before it became PlayStation’s fastest-selling game ever than after. Sometimes we can still call ’em.
And sometimes we can’t—I’ll never live down my prediction that Concord would be popular (and hopefully no one remembers how much I liked Brink)—but I think our hit radar is pretty well tuned on a team-wide scale. As we enter 2025, here are six games PC Gamer staff members think you should know about, because they might turn out to be bigger hits than the current hype levels indicate. (Though maybe not Helldivers 2-level hits.)
Solasta 2
Solasta II – Official Announcement Trailer – The Game Awards 2024 – YouTube
We can only replay Baldur’s Gate 3 so many times. (He said, though his Honour Mode run is still in act two.) Solasta: Crown of the Magister provided an alternative way to get your fix of D&D 5E in videogame form, and a sequel that did the same thing with better writing and more of D&D’s character options available at launch—rather than having to wait for DLC to fill in the weird stuff—would be welcome. Don’t underestimate the audience of people who yearn for opportunities to upcast magic missiles. Solasta 2 doesn’t have a release date yet, but an early access release on Steam is expected this year. —Jody Macgregor, Weekend/AU Editor
The developer of the excellent Battle Brothers has a new game on the way that looks to combine that game’s emergent storytelling and brutal scrabbling for survival with an XCOM-style alien invasion. There’s not a ton of turn-based strategy games on the docket for 2025 yet, and I think this could end up being a real high point for the genre this year. I think the one thing that held Battle Brothers back from being a much bigger hit was its quirky and slightly basic visuals—Menace‘s more cinematic looks feel like the final piece of the puzzle dropping into place. –Robin Valentine, Senior Editor
When the developer of Untitled Goose Game announced its “online walker-talker” I thought to myself “oh neat” and then sort of forgot about it. But I think there’s a good chance Big Walk has a viral moment this year equal to the chaos goose antics of 2020.
Big Walk looks like it could arrive near the peak of one of the current PC gaming trends we’ve been watching: the rise of co-op proximity chat horror games like Lethal Company. This one isn’t horror but it has that goofing about with friends, physics, and puzzles energy that makes me think of my favorite moments in Phasmophobia, Sea of Thieves, and We Were Here all smashed together. The reveal trailer for Big Walk makes it pretty clear that House House is absolutely still in touch with its mastery of physical comedy and comedic timing. I can already hear my Discord group chat having a good cackle while wandering around Big Walk and if it lands in the right month it could be an unexpected multiplayer hit for the year. —Lauren Morton, Associate Editor
Hyper Light Breaker
Hyper Light Breaker | Release Date Trailer – YouTube
Hyper Light Breaker isn’t exactly niche or a complete unknown, but I think it has a good shot of breaking containment and finding a sustained, explosive success like Risk of Rain 2—a game HLB has no shortage of similarities with. And since RoR 2 has had a ton of difficulties since transitioning to Gearbox’s stewardship from creator Hopoo Games (now part of Valve), there could be an underestimated appetite out there for “3D action roguelike sequel to 2010s pixel art indie favorite.”
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Further bolstering my vibes-based prognostication, it’s always seemed to me that Hyper Light Drifter was a game well-loved outside the usual indie game appreciator crowd, and a big portion of its audience may have skipped Heart Machine’s initially Epic-exclusive follow-up, Solar Ash. Breaker’s definitely on the right track releasing in early access (and on Steam) right at the beginning of the year on January 13 though—Elden Ring: Nightreign, which is slated to release later on in 2025, presents some stiff competition in the 3D roguelike action-RPG space. —Ted Litchfield, Associate Editor
Psycho Patrol R
Psycho Patrol R Gameplay Compilation from creators of Cruelty Squad – YouTube
Cruelty Squad should be a true sicko’s game, an action-forward immersive sim whose complex systems, psychedelic art style, and surreal writing all feel actively hostile to the player. So I’ve always been struck at how enduringly popular it is: Nearly 18,000 overwhelmingly positive Steam reviews at the time of writing, with clips from and references to the game surprising me where I least expect them on social media. Its comically nihilistic vision of a financialized, gig economy-ified far future really makes it the perfect game for our moment though—I thank my lucky stars Luigi Mangione never played it and the funny papers had to try and spin up a controversy about him being into Among Us instead.
Consumer Softproducts’ next game, Psycho Patrol R, has a lot of shared elements with Cruelty Squad: That anarchic, pitch black sense of humor, sprawling and intricate immersive sim level design, and an in-game stock market responding to the player’s actions, to name a few. There’s at least one big curve ball though: It’s a mech game where you can freely swap between on-foot and armored exploration, Titanfall-style. Not only did Cruelty Squad inspire tons of imitators and show there’s a clear audience for its type of thing, but I also think the free flow from on-foot shooting to mech piloting and back again is a rarely attempted, difficult to pull off concept that could broaden Psycho Patrol R’s appeal even further. —Ted Litchfield, Associate Editor
Midnight Murder Club
Midnight Murder Club – Crossplay Beta Trailer | PS5 & PC Games – YouTube
Midnight Murder Club looks somewhat similar to Phasmophobia—flashlights, prox chat, spookiness—but it’s PvP and everyone has a revolver. I’m not sure how I feel about the red laser beam tracers following the bullet paths (maybe I’ll get it when I play it myself), but otherwise it looks like a lot of fun. It’s made by Velan Studios, which previously developed Knockout City—that game didn’t have the best longevity as a live service thing, but it was excellent, so there’s a precedent for quality here.
Aside from its thematic similarities to games like Phasmophobia and Lethal Company, I pick up a ‘Hunt: Showdown lite’ vibe from Midnight Murder Club. There was a beta in December, and the response has been good. It’ll be out in February, according to the Steam page, and I think we’ll see it climb pretty high up the Twitch charts. —Tyler Wilde, US Editor-in-Chief
I know what you’re saying: there are six of these games I’ve never even heard of? Weird, but true: GTA (that’s what fans apparently call it) has been around since 1997, developed by studio “Rockstar Games” (OK, calm down, you’re not real rockstars!). Though it’s largely been ignored by the media and gaming community, I think GTA 6 has some potential to be a breakout hit: the trailer looks decent, though a bit heavy on the driving segments. Maybe that’s why it’s called Grand Theft “Auto”? We’ll know for sure later this year.—Christopher Livingston, Senior Editor
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1735955298_6-games-that-could-be-bigger-hits-than-youre-expecting.jpg6781200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2025-01-03 23:50:192025-01-03 23:50:196 games that could be bigger hits than you’re expecting in 2025
We’ve seen plenty of 45-inch ultrawide OLED gaming monitors before. But they’ve all suffered a horribly low 3,440 by 1,440 resolution. Well, not any more. LG has just announced a new 5K2K 45-inch OLED, the LG UltraGear 45GX950A.
A first world problem if ever there was, but 3,440 by 1,440 is pretty modest when stretched across a huge 45-inch monitor as opposed to, say, a 34 incher like the excellent Alienware 34 AW3423DWF. The result is a slightly grim pixel density of just over 80 PPI. A tragedy, indeed.
But 5K2K means 5,120 by 2,160 pixels. The resolution is basically a standard 4K pixel grid taken out from 16:9 aspect to 21:9. In terms of pixel density, it works out to 125 PPI. That’s a little short of the circa 140 PPI of a 32-inch 4K monitor. It’s quite a ways off the 166 PPI of the new 4K 27-inch OLEDs we mentioned earlier today, too, obviously.
But it’s also a fair bit better than the 108 PPI of a regular 27-inch 1440p panel and the usual 34-inch ultrawides, including OLEDs. In truth, we’ll have to see it with our own beady peepers to decide just how much the pixel density improvement over those popular monitor formats translates into more visual clarity, sharpness and detail.
LG hasn’t quoted any specs for the panel beyond listing the same 0.03 ms as other LG OLEDs along with a refresh of 165 Hz. That implies there’s nothing dramatically new about it save for the form factor and resolution, and thus it will likely mirror LG’s existing 3rd gen WOLED gaming monitor panel technology.
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: LG)
(Image credit: LG)
That’s no bad thing. But it probably means we won’t see any advance in terms of full-screen brightness, which is still a limitation on all OLED gaming monitors, and colour brightness, which is a little weaker on LG’s WOLED versus Samsung’s QD-OLED tech.
Along with this LG UltraGear 45GX950A, there’s also an LG UltraGear 45GX990A. It’s essentially the same monitor but in a bendable format. Where the 45GX950A offers a fixed and quite extreme 800R curve, the 45GX990A can go from fully flat through to 900R. Oh, and it achieves that bend via a remote control and motors as opposed to manually.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
For the record, both panels also offer a secondary 2,560 by 1,080 pixel doubled mode offering 330 Hz refresh. It’s a similar dual-mode feature to 4K monitors that can also run at 1080p but at a higher refresh rate.
In truth, these pixel-doubled modes never look quite as crisp as the same resolution in native format on a similarly sized panel. But it’s a nice little extra all the same.
As for the sordid matter of money, the fixed curve 45GX950A has an MSRP of $1,999. The bendable 45GX990A hasn’t been priced up, but what with the fancy motorised panel bending shizzle, we suspect it will be at least $2,500. Ouch.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1735919163_LGs-new-45-inch-5K2K-OLED-could-be-the-pixel-packed-gaming.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2025-01-03 15:03:582025-01-03 15:03:58LG’s new 45-inch 5K2K OLED could be the pixel-packed gaming monitor you’ve been waiting for
Take a look at our Wordle tips if you’d like to learn how to make the best of every letter you come across—green, yellow, and even grey—and feel free to use today’s clue if you’ve got some ideas, but would still like to make sure you’re heading in the right direction. The answer for the January 3 (1294) Wordle’s only a click away if nothing seems to be working this Friday, feel free to use it if you need to.
Well, that was lovely. When my first row revealed nothing but grey letters I assumed I was in for a tough fight today, but it turned out to be just the nudge I needed. With my first guess being so completely wrong the only thing for it was to completely change tack and go off on a new tangent, which quickly led to a rich seam of helpful yellows, and the answer soon after.
Today’s Wordle hint
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)
Wordle today: A hint for Friday, January 3
Something inexpensive, or at a much lower price than similar items or services, could be called this. Can also have negative connotations at times, describing something shoddy or of little value.
Is there a double letter in Wordle today?
No, there is no double letter in today’s puzzle.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
A good starting word can be the difference between victory and defeat with the daily puzzle, but once you’ve got the basics, it’s much easier to nail down those Wordle wins. And as there’s nothing quite like a small victory to set you up for the rest of the day, here are a few tips to help set you on the right path:
A good opening guess should contain a mix of unique consonants and vowels.
Narrow down the pool of letters quickly with a tactical second guess.
Watch out for letters appearing more than once in the answer.
There’s no racing against the clock with Wordle so you don’t need to rush for the answer. Treating the game like a casual newspaper crossword can be a good tactic; that way, you can come back to it later if you’re coming up blank. Stepping away for a while might mean the difference between a win and a line of grey squares.
Today’s Wordle answer
(Image credit: Future)
What is today’s Wordle answer?
No idea? No problem. The answer to the January 3 (1294) Wordle is CHEAP.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Previous Wordle answers
The last 10 Wordle answers
Past Wordle answers can give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle-solving fresh. They are also a good way to eliminate guesses for today’s Wordle, as the answer is unlikely to be repeated.
Here are some recent Wordle answers:
January 2: CHOSE
January 1: NERVE
December 31: LEMUR
December 30: STARE
December 29: MAMBO
December 28: DECRY
December 27: GRAIN
December 26: AFFIX
December 25: SHARE
December 24: EAGLE
Learn more about Wordle
(Image credit: Nurphoto via Getty)
Wordle gives you six rows of five boxes each day, and you’ll need to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them to keep up your winning streak.
You should start with a strong word like ARISE, or any other word that contains a good mix of common consonants and multiple vowels. You’ll also want to avoid starting words with repeating letters, as you’re wasting the chance to potentially eliminate or confirm an extra letter. Once you hit Enter, you’ll see which ones you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.
Your second guess should compliment the starting word, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer. With a bit of luck, you should have some coloured squares to work with and set you on the right path.
After that, it’s just a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there’s an E). Don’t forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
AC Valhalla que jogo gigante, adoro a história nórdica do pouco que sei e o mundo nórdico.
Agradeço a todos os que acompanharam esta saga fantástica de Assassin’s Creed Valhalla 😁
Agora não percam a partir de 14 de Fevereiro Assassin’s Creed Shadows 😁
Se vale apena ? CADA SEGUNDO!
Acompanha os próximos episódios de AC Valhalla AQUI 👉 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDowRCnCZ6UICNtMhndmxwW6Yjy5FjUXj
Espero que gostem, deixem o like, subscrevam, partilhem e ativem as notificações para não perder nenhum episódio!!!
Segue-me nas redes sociais 📲
LINKS TEMPORARIAMENTE APENAS NA PÁGINA PRINCIPAL DO CANAL!
The TESRenewal modding group has been working on Skyblivion, a remastered version of Oblivion playable in Skyrim Special Edition, since 2018 “in earnest” though the project “officially started over 11 years ago,” as the latest progress video explains. Said video also mentions how close to completion Skyblivion is, fast approaching its scheduled 2025 release. “We are nearly ready to release an entirely remastered Elder Scrolls game,” the team says.
More specifically, they say, “We’re finalizing the world map, with only the Nibenay region on Cyrodiil’s eastern border left to complete. Massive swathes of the map are ready for the Hero of Kvatch to explore.”
While 93% of the cells that make up Skyblivion’s landscape are complete, only 44% of them have been navmeshed—a process that tells NPCs which parts of the terrain are traversable. There’s still a ways to go on that front, and that’s why the team is calling for volunteers to help them get Skyblivion over the finishing line. If you’re an experienced modder, head to the volunteers section of their website to sign up.
As previously mentioned, Skyblivion won’t include material from Oblivion’s expansions at launch. “We are currently focused on the main game experience to ensure it is released on time,” the team says. “Once the main game of Skyblivion is released we will look into how we can tackle DLCs and we will be sure to share more information on our next steps closer to the time. We’re less than a year away from our target release of Skyblivion.”
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1735788536_Skyblivion-only-has-one-region-of-the-map-left-to.jpg6781200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2025-01-02 03:05:512025-01-02 03:05:51Skyblivion only has one region of the map left to finish: ‘We are nearly ready to release an entirely remastered Elder Scrolls game’
I’m not usually one for all this New Year malarkey—time ticks over at the same rate as it ever did, and I’m no big believer in astrology, so what does the calendar date matter? (And bah, humbug!) But even I can’t help getting a little excited at what 2025 might offer us PC gamers.
The big ones to look out for will obviously be new graphics cards from both Nvidia and AMD and handheld gaming PCs featuring the latest AMD and Intel mobile processors. We’re hoping to see many of these things at CES in January, and on that front, I’d recommend checking out our Andy’s run through everything we expect to see at the show.
But I’m looking beyond all that, across the distant horizon, into the land of what the more sceptical might call pure fantasy. But actually, I think many of the things on this hardware wishlist are reasonable expectations for 2025, and some of them downright likely. So, here’s what I’m looking out for in 2025:
They might not be the most glamorous piece of kit, but SSDs keep the data flowin’. And over the course of 2024 we already saw massive improvements in SSDs, to the extent that fast 2 TB drives are now a pretty standard affair, even if some system builders still need to be given that particular memo. These improvements, however, were primarily of the PCIe 4.0 variety.
We’re still recommending Gen4 drives as the best SSDs for gaming, and that’s primarily because Gen5 drives are too hot and expensive. The controllers they use get so toasty they usually require gigantic coolers on top just to run, and they often cost an inordinate amount more than the now-reasonably priced Gen 4 drives.
So I’m really hoping 2025 is the year cheap and cool PCIe 5.0 SSDs hit the mainstream market. There’s reason to believe this could happen because we now have CPU generations and motherboards that can really make use of them thanks to more PCIe 5.0 lanes and slots, and there will surely be more such motherboards to come.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
2. AI-accelerated rendering
(Image credit: Future)
It’s no secret that Nvidia’s in the business of AI, and it’s no surprise that this business has—for good or for ill—infected the PC gaming market. AI-accelerated DLSS upscaling and frame generation has become something of a soft requirement for playing many modern titles at anything like a reasonable frame rate.
But where can we go next? Well, obviously we’re all hoping that DLSS 4 (and possibly FSR 4) will give us frame generation and upscaling improvements, but it’ll be cool if it gives us something new, too.
It turns out we already have intimations of just such a thing in the form of “neural rendering“, which an AIB manufacturer recently mentioned in seeming relation to next-gen Nvidia GPUs. If AI can do for rendering what it’s done for upscaling and frame gen, we might be in for a treat.
And listen, I’m pretty split over AI-accelerated anything. I like to own the frame rate-producing power that I pay for when I buy a graphics card, not (essentially) rent it out from Nvidia’s neural network. But hey, frames are frames, and if such tech gives a significant enough improvement, maybe I shouldn’t complain.
3. An all-Nvidia laptop
(Image credit: NurPhoto | Getty Images)
It used to be that Nvidia sat comfortably in GPU-land, Intel sat in CPU-land, and AMD straddled the boundary of both. But we’ve already seen Intel slide into the GPU market with its Arc graphics cards and Xe architecture, and we’ve also heard rumour of Nvidia joining the CPU scene for about a year decade now.
This would be an ARM chip, not an x86 one. The word on the street is that there are tons of improvements to Windows on ARM in the works—we’ve already seen that an Insider build now supports AVX and AVX2 instructions, which should help get more games up and running—so there’s reason to believe that’s true.
Not to mention the sheer existence of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips, which shows, to a limited extent, what Windows on Arm might be capable of. Now, in 2025, we just need to see what the green team (hopefully) has to offer on this front.
4. A powerful AMD Strix Halo laptop processor
(Image credit: Future)
I never thought I’d see the day when I was actually more excited for new integrated graphics than discrete graphics, but with just how good APUs are these days—I mean, just look at handhelds—I think I’m over that threshold now. And topping that integrated graphics list is a possible AMD Strix Halo chip.
“Strix Point” is the codename for AMD’s latest AI 300-series processors, which we’re expecting to see in some handhelds and laptops come 2025 (and indeed, we already see Strix Point in the OneXPlayer OneXFly F1 Pro). Strix Halo refers to an as-yet unannounced top-of-the-line “halo” product using this architecture.
The latest rumours have us anticipating up to 16 Zen 5 cores and 40 RDNA 3.5 CUs in Strix Halo. For reference, the AMD Radeon 880M—the mobile GPU found in the AI 9 HX 370—has 12 CUs, so you can see why we’re hopeful for some Strix Halo Products.
Strix Halo probably won’t hold a candle to the kind of high-end discrete graphics available in some of the best gaming laptops, but it should offer performance that far surpasses current handhelds, all for far less power consumption than laptops with discrete GPUs. Which might mean gaming laptops that can play today’s games relatively well without draining the battery in under 2 hours (as seems to be the prerogative of gaming laptops today).
5. More AMD X3D chips
(Image credit: Future)
The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which launched a couple of months ago, is far and away the best CPU for gaming. X3D chips are great for gaming because they vertically stack tons of cache, and games are quite hungry for this. The 9000-series X3D design improved on the 7000-series one by putting this cache underneath the chip rather than on top, which allows for better cooling and therefore better performance.
There have been rumours circulating for a while that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D will be followed up in early 2025 by a more powerful Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 9950X3D. If these do launch, they’ll probably be for those who want stellar 3D-stacked gaming performance but better productivity performance than the 9800X3D.
The previous-gen Ryzen 9 7950X3D and 7900X3D stacked the same 64 MB of extra L3 cache on a chiplet, but there were more cores in the processors (half of which didn’t use that stacked cache) for better multi-core performance.
In the case of the 7900X3D, a 12-core chip, this actually meant that only six cores (one chiplet’s worth) rather than the 7800X3D’s full eight cores, could use the stacked cache, which meant it was actually a little worse for gaming than the Ryzen 7 chip.
If we get a 9900X3D, it’ll be interesting to see whether the same design choice is made or whether both chiplets will get access to the stacked cache. If both chiplets did get access to the stacked cache, then we could expect that same top-tier gaming performance without any software required behind the scenes to continually place workloads on the best cores.
6. Steam Machines
(Image credit: Future)
Remember Steam Machines? Me neither—they were somewhat DOA after the circa 2015 launch. But if they’d worked out, what a thing they would have been: Steam-based devices like a Steam Deck, but desktopified.
A Valve branding document (PDF) stated: “The Powered by SteamOS logo indicates that a hardware device will run the SteamOS and boot into SteamOS upon powering on the device. Partners / manufacturers will ship hardware with a Steam image in the form provided by and / or developed in close collaboration with Valve.”
We’re currently expecting this to signal the existence of non-Valve-made but nevertheless SteamOS-powered handhelds, and a recently announced January Lenovo event featuring Valve as a special guest suggests as much, albeit far from definitively.
In addition to handhelds, though, it’s hard to imagine “Powered by SteamOS” being something limited to just handhelds, especially given that Valve’s long been working towards a general SteamOS release. And if there is such a release, well, that’ll open the doors to all kinds of third-party or DIY Steam Machines running Valve’s OS. Maybe even an all Nvidia/ARM laptop. And heck, maybe even an official Valve one.
And this last option might not seem so crazy when you consider my next 2025 wishlist item.
7. A Steam Controller 2
(Image credit: Valve)
Yes, here’s another throwback to circa 2015, and again to another product that never really caught on—although it did have a substantial following of ardent defenders. It featured back-paddles, gyro movement, and two trackpads in lieu of twin thumbsticks. The idea was that, by using proper custom configs, these strange controls could allow you to easily play games that lack great traditional controller support and give you some approximation of the accuracy of keyboard and mouse control in a pad.
Now, there’s rumour that the Steam Controller 2 (codenamed “Ibex”) is already Sin mass production. That there will be a Steam Controller 2 isn’t so much of a surprise given that Steam Deck designer Lawrence Yang said in 2022, “yeah, we want to make it happen. It’s just a question of how and when.” What’s surprising is that, if the mass production rumour is true, this “when” could be very soon.
We don’t know exactly what a Steam Controller 2 will bring, either, which is exciting. It could bring the same design as the first version, but Valve has also learnt a lot since then. The Steam Deck, for instance, has both trackpads and thumbsticks, so a Steam Controller 2 could opt for a similar design to this. We’ll have to wait and see, hopefully sometime in the coming year.
8. A Valve Deckard VR headset
(Image credit: Future)
We’ve heard whispers and intimations of an upcoming Valve “Deckard” VR headset for years. For those unaware, this is a rumoured Valve Index successor that might be completely standalone, meaning it’s able to be powered by its own internal hardware rather than by your PC. So no cables. Or your PC for more power.
This isn’t all whispers, either. Valve even released a patent including plans for a new VR headset back in 2021, and although submitting a patent doesn’t commit you to producing the product, this was on top of tons of other reasonable rumours surrounding the headset.
Part of the reason this is exciting is because the Valve Index was seriously stunning when it came out, offering a truly top-tier VR experience. But tech has moved on since then, and now the Index seems a little dated. In other words, Valve’s due a high-end VR refresh, in my eyes. And with all the company’s learnt about hardware production over the past few years, I’m hopeful.
9. More hidden connector motherboards
(Image credit: Future)
It might not be as exciting as new VR headsets and handhelds, but one trend that tickled my fancy in 2024 was the introduction of Back Connect / Back-to-the-Future/Back-to-Front (BTF) hidden motherboard connector designs.
People first seemed to take note of such designs with MSI’s Project Zero in 2024, but we’d already seen Gigabyte do it in 2022. The idea is pretty simple: take all those motherboard connectors (especially the bigboi 24-pin power connector) and shimmy them around to the back for better airflow (ehh, whatever) and a cleaner look (now that’s more like it). It can even mean building the GPU power slot into the motherboard itself to eliminate those garish 8-pins, as per Asus‘ ecosystem
Of course, you need room around the back for all those connections and cables, and cut-outs for them, too. That means custom design cases are required, which is one thing that has prevented these motherboards from becoming mainstream too soon. Well, that and the fact that there’s only a small handful of them out there.
But I’m keeping my fingers crossed that 2025 has these motherboards at least dipping their toes outside of the “niche” market segment. They just look so clean.
10. Cheaper CUDIMM memory
(Image credit: Future)
It seems like every couple of weeks there’s a new “world record” CUDIMM memory overclock. At the time of writing, the record stands at an eerie 12,666 MT/s, and such speeds can’t help but whet my appetite for the memory standard.
CUDIMM RAM is memory that uses “clocked, unbuffered” DIMMs, meaning it has a clock driver that regenerates the clock signal for better signal integrity, allowing for higher frequencies and more transfers per second. This allows it to run so fast that it than makes up for slower timings and ends up being well worth it. Only problem is, it’s expensive.
It would be nice if 2025 could give us more CUDIMM memory kits that can offer such speeds for a reasonable price. Then we’d see significant memory improvements without even moving up a DDR generation.
11. More CAMM2 memory
(Image credit: Future)
Okay, now this one’s more of a “hopeful” than a “likely” development, but it’d be nice if CAMM2 memory started its path towards wider adoption in desktop gaming builds.
CAMM2 memory is a memory form factor that lies flat against the motherboard, and we got a first glimpse of it in a desktop at Computex early in 2024. We’re expecting more laptop manufacturers to opt for the flush form factor to save space and allow for easier cooling, but there’s less incentive to slap them inside desktops.
But less incentive isn’t no incentive. Having memory lying flat could allow for SSD-style top-mounted cooling, which would allow clocks to be pushed further. More importantly, though, in my opinion—and perhaps most naively—it looks rather nice, and would certainly match a hidden connector motherboard. It might be a fool’s hope, but it’s a hope I’m clinging to for 2025.
I was a little late to the game but I eventually fixed my goggles on an OLED panel in the Omen Transcend 14 laptop, and I struggle to describe just how wonderful these screens look. OLED panels are genuinely gorgeous.
But my God are they expensive. We’re talking prices that could bag you an entirely new gaming PC, and not a bad one at that.
I’m hoping that 2025 is the year when OLED monitor prices drop, even if just a little. Perhaps this would mean the introduction of new Samsung or LG 1440p OLED panels with a moderate refresh rate, rather than 32-inch 4K ones.
I know such manufacturing changes can’t be embarked upon on a whim, but I reckon there’d be enough demand there for them for it to be worthwhile. And given 2024 saw a decided push into the standalone OLED monitor market (as opposed to the OLED laptop market), 2025 might be the time for this to occur. I sure hope so.
13. ARM desktop chips
(Image credit: Photo by Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The main ARM-based chips already out in the wild are Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X processors, which run Windows on ARM surprisingly well and offer stellar battery life. These are all laptop chips, for now, though—unfortunately, the desktop dev kit we liked the look of was cancelled.
Given the seeming upward trajectory of Windows on ARM, the prospect of ARM-based desktop chips is quite exciting. And it’s not a pipe dream, either, given Qualcomm has already teased such CPUs and said that we “should expect to see Qualcomm in every PC form factor”.
It’s not as simple as just porting things straight over to desktop, though. For one, ARM chips don’t currently have PCIe lane capabilities, which is a big requirement for, you know, connecting all your PC’s bits and bobs together. And to pair an ARM chip with discrete graphics would require driver support, too, which currently doesn’t exist.
But these problems aren’t insurmountable, thus Qualcomm’s seeming confidence that desktop chips will arrive. And if Qualcomm’s correct in its assessment, Arm itself might be considering making its own chips. Heck, as discussed above, even Nvidia’s said to be building off of an ARM architecture for its rumoured in-house CPUs.
It’s not a given, but 2025 could be the year when all these things come into fruition and we start to see the stirrings of ARM-based desktop processor competition. With ARM’s potential for great power efficiency and battery life, such processors could certainly make for some interesting gaming PCs.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1735752518_2025-PC-hardware-preview-This-is-the-tech-we-want.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2025-01-01 15:31:292025-01-01 15:31:292025 PC hardware preview: This is the tech we want in our gaming rigs from the coming year
Happy New Year everyone! Whether you’re adding to your ongoing Wordle win streak today or just starting out, you’ll find everything you need to succeed right here. We’ve got general tips to help get you in a guessing mindset, a clue for the January 1 (1292) puzzle, and today’s answer ready if you need to turn a tough game around, or just want to make sure you get the year started on the right foot.
If today’s Wordle was any indication of how the rest of my puzzle-solving year is going to go… hmm. I had a solid core to work with from my second go, the only problem was working out what the heck was supposed to fit around the edges of it. I did get there in the end though—mostly out of stubbornness. It still counts, though.
Today’s Wordle hint
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)
Wordle today: A hint for Wednesday, January 1
These thin fibres carry information, instructions, and sensations from the body to the brain. If somebody metaphorically got yours, they’d be irritating you.
Is there a double letter in Wordle today?
Yes, there is a double letter in today’s puzzle.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
Playing Wordle well is like achieving a small victory every day—who doesn’t like a well-earned winning streak in a game you enjoy? If you’re new to the daily word game, or just want a refresher, I’m going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success:
You want a balanced mix of unique consonants and vowels in your opening word.
A solid second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.
The answer could contain letters more than once.
There’s no time pressure beyond making sure it’s done by the end of the day. If you’re struggling to find the answer or a tactical word for your next guess, there’s no harm in coming back to it later on.
Today’s Wordle answer
(Image credit: Future)
What is today’s Wordle answer?
Happy New Year! The answer to the January 1 (1292) Wordle is NERVE.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Previous Wordle answers
The last 10 Wordle answers
Knowing previous Wordle solutions can be helpful in eliminating current possibilities. It’s unlikely a word will be repeated and you can find inspiration for guesses or starting words that may be eluding you.
Here are some recent Wordle answers:
December 31: LEMUR
December 30: STARE
December 29: MAMBO
December 28: DECRY
December 27: GRAIN
December 26: AFFIX
December 25: SHARE
December 24: EAGLE
December 23: SAUNA
December 22: BRAWN
Learn more about Wordle
(Image credit: Nurphoto via Getty)
Wordle gives you six rows of five boxes each day, and it’s your job to work out which five-letter word is hiding by eliminating or confirming the letters it contains.
Starting with a strong word like LEASH—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters—is a good place to start. Once you hit Enter, the boxes will show you which letters you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.
Your second go should compliment the starting word, using another “good” guess to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer. After that, it’s just a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there’s an E). Don’t forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used, you can scroll to the relevant section above.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
Essential Website Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
Google Analytics Cookies
These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.
If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:
Other external services
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
Other cookies
The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:
Privacy Policy
You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.
