Call of Duty Modern Warfare is soon to arrive, available from October 25^th. The latest instalment is said to be the game of the year! Battle.net have revealed the PC requirements for the game and it’s one that needs a whole lot of space.

Experience Modern Warfare in several ways; campaign as a single-player in the exhilarating and dramatic story mode. Take part in the epic online multi-player playground, or as a team of four execute multi-phased objectives as part of the special operations - Co-op.

The system requirements to download and install the game include 175GB of hard drive space, demanding but totally worth it!

So, lets take a look at the minimum PC requirements:

• Operating System: Windows® 7 64-bit (SP1) or Windows® 10 64-bit
• Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-4340 or AMD FX-6300
• Video: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670 / NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 or AMD Radeon™ HD 7950 - DirectX 12.0 compatible system
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Storage: 175 GB available hard drive space
• Internet: Broadband Internet connection

The recommended PC requirements:

• Operating System: Windows® 10 64-bit latest update
• Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-2500K or AMD Ryzen™ R5 1600X Processor
• Video: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970 / NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon™ R9 390 / AMD Radeon™ RX 580 - DirectX 12.0 compatible system
• Memory: 12 GB RAM
• Storage: 175 GB available hard drive space
• Internet: Broadband Internet connection

Not only are we excited about the release itself, Modern Warfare is bringing killstreak rewards back and new weapon customisation!  Take a look at the game yourself, (age rating 18):

Want a PC to play Modern Warfare in the recommended requirements? Check out the specs on our HST Eclipse Gaming PC!

Does your PC allow you play the latest games in high definition? View our range of Gaming PC’s with customisable upgrades available: https://hst.co.uk/gaming-pc-s/gaming-pc.html

Help yourself get into the zone by creating the ultimate gaming station. Take a look around does your gaming equipment seem a little outdated? Maybe you’re tired of your CPU performance slowing you down? Really, it’s about time you upgraded your headset. Then why not have a look at some of our choices to improve your gaming experience.

Improve your performance

HST Cylon i7 Quad Core GTX1650 4GB NVIDIA Customisable Gaming PC - £479.00

Our HST Cylon i7 Quad Core Customisable gaming PC allows you to run most games at high settings, with the Intel i7-3770 CPU, 1TB HDD, 8GB RAM and 4GB Nvidia graphics card – get stuck into improving your gaming performance. The RGB lighting on the case is striking with a sleek design and tempered glass side panel showcasing the inside of your rig, take a look at the full specifications below. Also check out the Gaming PC itself for customer reviews.

Specification 

• CPU: Intel i7-3770 Quad Core 3.40GHz
• CPU Cooler: Arctic Apline 12
• PSU: Cronus 550w 80+ Bronze Semi Modular
• HDD: 1TB 3.5" SATA
• RAM: XUM 8GB DDR3 1333MHz
• Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX1650 4GB
• Motherboard: Intel DQ77MK
• Case: Aerocool Cylon RGB
• Operating System: Windows 10 Pro
• Convenient Access to Your Media: Quick and easy access to LED effect controls, 1 x 3.0 USB, 1 x 2.0 USB, power button, HD audio and microphone all from the top panel.
• Easy Maintenance: Removable PSU dust filter and top panel magnetic dust filter for easy cleaning.

Please note that the case, graphics card, power supply and RAM are new in these gaming PC's. The motherboard, processor and HDD are refurbished components. This gaming PC is also built to grow with your needs it has plenty of room for upgrades. All our PC's have windows 10 professional software installed and activated with all drivers updated ready for use straight from the box.

Weapon up

SteelSeries Rival 600 eSports PC Gaming Mouse - £69.99

Gaming mouse’s have really kept up with the improved performance of gamers themselves, the Rive 600 is no exception. Rivaling other gaming mouse’s by including two sensors of which one specially monitors lift off for complete vertical control so when lifting your mouse your target holds steady! The weight pods allow for personalised handling and 8 light zones for more style points. Take a look at the full specifications below:

• Dimensions: 62-69 x 27-43 x 131 mm (W x H x D)
• Weight: 96 g (without cable, adjustable to 128 g)
• Material: Fibre-reinforced plastic
• Colour: Black
• Layout: Right-handed use
• Primary Sensor: TrueMove3 (optical)
• Resolution: 100 - 12000 DPI (adjustable)
• IPS: 350+ (on SteelSeries QcK surfaces)
• Acceleration: 50 G
• Secondary Sensor: Linear, optical depth recognition
• Lift-Off Distance: Adjustable 0.5 - 2 mm
• Buttons: 7 (total)
• 2 Primary Buttons, 1 top, 3 left, 1 scroll wheel
• Lighting: 8 independently controllable RGB zones
• Connection: USB

Get in the zone

Razer Nari Essential 7.1 Wireless Headset - £99.99

To successfully immerse yourself into gaming, sound plays a crucial role. The Razer Nari wireless headset removes wired distractions, whilst fully engaging your sense of hearing through providing comfort and THX Spatial Audio including 360° positional sound, giving you greater spatial awareness.

• Frequency response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
• Impedance: 32? at 1 kHz
• Sensitivity (@1 kHz): 107 ± 3 dB
• Input power: 30 mW (Max)
• Drivers: 40 mm, with Neodymium magnets
• Inner ear cup diameter: Width 56mm / Length 67mm
• Cushions: Oval cooling gel ear cushions with memory foam
• Connection type: Wireless USB
• Wireless range: 12 m / 40 ft
• Wireless frequency: 2.4 GHz
• Battery life: 16 hours

Escape into game worlds for hours without strain, the cooling gel-infused cushions reduce heat build-up during intense gaming sessions.

we have a wide range of gaming equipment to help you perfect your gaming station, our staff can also help you decide what may be best for your gaming and PC requirements. If you have any questions or would like any advice from our tech team why not get in touch.

Virtual reality known most commonly as VR provides an immersive experience for gamers. Statista (2019) estimates the VR market to forecast £354.3 million in 2020.

We can already see an increase in VR games available over the past few years, various categories now exist such as; music, casino games, RPG, action and adventure and so much more.

With VR becoming more popular and accessible we have collated a small list of amazing VR games, if you are new to VR or want to game in a totally unique, grab your headset and check out VR gaming.

Robo Recall (oculus rift)
The TAL series 9 will obey any command and lives to serve…until you are required to recall them all. Robo recall is one of the more visually appealing VR games with seamless visual effects, through using a variety of weapons take out robots to defend the city. The game is quite intense but gamers can remain focused on eliminating swarms of mad robots.

Vader Immortal - Oculus Rift
Finally, immerse yourself into the action of Star Wars, as a smuggler explore Mustafar and come face to face with Darth Vadar. Yes, you get a drone companion (ZO-E3) and master skills to use your lightsaber. The visual effects on the game are great quality. However, the game itself is fairly short but at a great price, quality and only episode I, so we hope the next 2 installments are just as good.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes - HTC Vive; Oculus Rift

Basically, test how good you are at taking instruction, or how good you are at giving instruction! This game is a great multiplayer game where one gamer is the bomb defusal ‘expert’ and the other ‘expert’ communicating the correct instructions to do so. This is a fun and different way to play a VR game with a friend or family members.

Fallout 4 VR - HTC Vive
As a sole survivor rebuild and determine your fate. The VR game allows you to do everything and more from the original and provides greater game immersion, there are some features such as swimming you can argue about but considering the game was produced in 2017, you can still really enjoy the VR elements.

We stock a range of VR headsets and VR bundles including the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, why not check out our VR bundles here.

Nvidia’s latest GeForce driver. The first release of the 435 family, the 436.02 driver has caused excitement within the PC gaming community due to the claims on increased performance (up-to 23%) and new features.

This latest driver release will provide new main features such as:

• Ultra-low latency mode
• Up-to a 23% faster performance

The new ultra-low latency feature, which is said to be in response to AMD’s Radegon Anti-Lag feature on its RX 5700 series graphics cards, improvements should be seen especially for high-speed gamers with Nvidia communicating that “the new ultra-low latency mode enables ‘just in time’ frame scheduling, submitting frames to be rendered just before the GPU needs them. This further reduces latency by up to 33%".

The 436.02 also includes the GPU integer scaling, a great feature for any retro, pixel art and emulation fans as this will reduce the blurriness and provide better to pixel and retro games. Achieved by perfectly scaled images will create a sharper finish on the original art.

The Radeon Image Sharpening (RIS) another feature said to rival AMD focuses on sharpening images with the new Freestyle filter, while previously performance decreases with such features Nvidia have said to have reduce the impact on performance by a half.

Nvidia have specifically targeted several big title games which the latest 436.02 driver will improve performance:

• Apex Ledgends
• Battlefield V
• World War Z
• Strange Bridge
• Forza Horizon

Nvidia provide data on improvements for Apex Legends (up to 23% at 1080p), Battlefield V (up to 7% at 1080p), Forza Horizon 4 (up to 17% at 1440p), Strange Brigade (up to 4% at 4K) and World War Z (up to 6% at 4K).

Overall the driver aims to improve the experience for the gamer with faster performance and improved visuals, the 436.02 driver is now available and can be downloaded at Nvidia’s website.

Our Apex Legends customisable Gaming PC Bundle is available at £579 read the full specifications here.

The Summer holidays are drawing to a close which means kids will be going back to school and the usual routine will soon be back in full motion, well it may take a few weeks to adjust. Hopefully you have, and still are spending the Summer enjoying time off. This may also lead to you leaving it last minute to get prepared for the back to school and back to business essentials. In that case, don’t worry we have you covered, in regards your computing needs anyway.

Do you require a new PC for the home or office?

A home PC may be essential for completing homework, updating your appointments, ordering the shopping or just for a general browse. On the other hand, you may need to invest in a new or several PC’s for the office to upgrade your previous desktops or adding new additions to the team.

Our Home and Office PC Bundles offer a quality price and performance, priced between £207 to £519 and cater to several requirements. It’s also good to note our PC’s all come with a 12-month warranty as standard and Windows 10 installed!

We have selected a few of our Home and Office PC Bundles below view the full range here.

Dell Optiplex 790 Intel I5-2500S 2.70GHZ USFF PC Monitor Bundle £207

• Our cheapest PC bundle
• Backed by an Intel Core i5-2500 processor and 8 GB of DDR3 RAM, there's enough power to take on any amount of multi-tasking you can dream up!
• 180GB SSD offers ample storage space for all your vital applications, games, movies, photos, data files and more!
• Access CDs or DVDs to load software, games, applications and more with the DVD-RW drive.

Dell Optiplex 7020 Intel I5-4570 3.20GHZ SFF PC Monitor Bundle £314.99

• Backed by an Intel Core i5-4570 processor and 8GB of DDR3 RAM, there's enough power to take on any amount of multi-tasking you can dream up!
• Dual 19" Monitors
• 1TB hard drive and additional SSD options offers ample storage space for all your vital applications, games, movies, photos, data files and more!
• 9 USB's - Display Port x 2 for HD Streaming (VGA + AUX Port)

HST Stronghold i3 8100 8GB DDR4 240GB SSD Home & Office Customisable PC Bundle £519

• Stylish Stronghold Midi-Tower PC with tempered glass side panel and brushed aluminium-look front.
• Pre-installed dust filters, plenty of space for water cooling and superb cable management
• A hard drive cage with brackets for three 3.5- or 2.5" drives is also included.
• The i3 8100 processor extends all the capabilities that users love from previous generation CPUs with even more advanced innovations.
• The 8100 features all the latest Intel technologies to allow you to have the best computing experience ever.

These Dell PC's have been thoroughly tested and refurbished by our highly trained technicians.

Are you looking for a new home or office PC?  If you require a PC for serious multitasking, web browsing and office applications, we have you covered! We supply a range of desktop PC’s from leading brands such as Dell Optiplex, AMD, ProDesk, Jet Stream, Black Steel, Stronghold and EliteDesk. From stylish designs to ample storage space, our range of refurbished desktop PC’s come with a 1-year warranty.

Purchasing refurbished does not mean lower quality, all our PC’s have been thoroughly tested and refurbished by our highly trained technicians along with being installed with Windows 10 professional software activated and all drivers ready for use straight out of the box, meaning you can get to work straight away!

We also offer home and office PC bundles, making your life much easier, containing the whole package. You can also customise your bundle by upgrading the HDD, SDD, dual monitor option along with extended warranty.

The Dell Optiplex 990 Intel I7-2600 3.4GHZ PC Monitor Bundle priced at £242.10

This bundle has enough power to take on any amount of multi-tasking with the Intel Core i7-2600 processor and 8 GB of DDR3 RAM. The 1TB hard drive offers ample storage space for all your vital applications, games, movies, photos, data files and more! Connect to local networks and the Internet at fast speeds with the integrated Gigabit Ethernet LAN. This versatile OptiPlex 990 comes bundled with a keyboard and mouse, and with Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit pre-installed, you can be set-up and ready in no time!

Specifications:

Manufacturer warranty: 1 year
Processor Type: Intel i7-2600 2nd Gen
Processor Speed: 3.40GHz Quad Core
Graphics Processing Type: Onboard HD 2000
Memory: 8GB DDR3
Hard Drive Capacity: 1TB 3.5"
Windows 10 Pro installed
WiFi, Keyboard and Mouse
Dual 19" Monitors
DVD Optical Drive
8 USB's
Display Port for HD Streaming
VGA
AUX Port

We also offer workstations, designed to meet your professional business demands and deliver the ultimate performance. Our workstations have been built to provide high quality responsiveness, reliability, performance and power. A higher end of PC’s enabling you to create and complete demanding business projects super efficiently.

HST NZXT H700i Ryzen Threadripper 1900x RTX2080Ti 11GB Customisable Gaming PC priced at £2,240.00

All of our systems are built with attention to detail with incredibly neat cable management. All components have been picked to ensure the best quality and maximum compatibility. The PC goes through stress tests and also installed with Windows 10 Professional software with all the latest drivers.

Specifications

CPU : AMD Ryzen TR4 Threadripper 1900x 3.8Ghz
Cooler: be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro4 TR4
PSU : Riotoro 850w Enigma, Fully Modular 80+ Gold
PSU Connectors : 1 x ATX 24-pin, 2 x CPU (EPS ATX12V) 8-pin (4+4), 6 x PCI-E (6+2 pin), 10 x SATA, 5 x Peripheral (4-pin)
RAM : Corsair 16GB DDR4 3000Mhz
Motherboard : Asrock X399 Phantom Gaming 6
M.2 SSD: XPG 256GB SX6000 Pro M.2 NVMe
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm
Graphics: Zotac RTX2080ti 11GB GDDR6
Graphic Outputs: 3 x DisplayPort,1 x HDMI, 1 x USB Type-C (Virtual Link)

View our full range of desktop PC’s https://hst.co.uk/desktop-pc-s.html and customise your PC to suit your home or office requirements.

According to PC Mag (2018) The DJI Mavic 2 Pro is “the best small drone on the market” due to its superior video and image quality, battery life and obstacle avoidance.

So, maybe you’re thinking of capturing amazing images for personal or professional reasons and one thought crossing your mind is, should I invest into a camera or a drone?

As an enthusiastic business professional, using a drone can help you stand out from competition by using stunning aerial footage and imagery to truly capture and engage your audience. If you are thinking about using video content for promotional or advertising purposes, the use of a drone can not only provide professional content but also a modern and creative way of generating ideas for you and your staff. This could be from capturing the latest exercise class demonstration for members to flying around a newly listed home to show potential buyers a true birds eye view.

Not only can drones be utilised for business purposes, drones are also a whole lot of fun! Mastering the skill to glide your drone around the air not only allows you to capture superior imagery but also feel a sense of superiority and talent whilst doing so. T3 (2019) also highlights the 10 sensors on the DJI Mavic 2 Pro which face every direction making it almost impossible to crash. You don’t have to be travelling or on holiday to take your drone for a spin and get lost in viewing the world from a different point of view. You can enjoy using your drone, inspiring your creativity even whilst hanging out with friends, filming those cinematic memories whilst on your latest adventure.

Drones provide you the opportunity to create unique photographic perspectives and a stand out quality, the quality of the content captures by the DJI Mavic 2 Pro is also smooth and stunning with up to 4K video resolution and a 20MP camera. Like we said previously, drones are a whole lot of fun and can also be a great way to socialise with others and get out of the house to capture amazing images. No matter how you intend to use it, purchasing a drone will provide you with a unique edge.

To ensure that you are following regulations when operating a drone you can view the drone code: https://dronesafe.uk/drone-code/ or take a look and remember Curry’s guide to drone safety below.

Don’t fly near airports or airfields
Remember to stay below 400ft (120m)
Observe your drone at all times – stay 150ft (50m) away from people and property
Never fly near aircraft
Enjoy responsibly

Take a look at the full specs for the DJI Mavic 2 Pro click the image below:

Being a PC gamer is a skill in itself. However, we can also communicate the life skills PC gaming actually improves the next time someone tells us it’s just a game. Last year Dell produced the State of Gaming survey, data was collected from 5,763 PC gamers located across various countries.

So, what we can tell others with raised eyebrows is that PC gaming actually contributes towards improving:

• Technical knowledge (42%)
• Strategic thinking (39%)
• Hand-eye coordination (37%)
• Reaction time (36%)
• Teamwork skills (27%)
• Leadership skills: (18%)

Professional, casual and even noobs partially agreed PC gaming improved skill development and strategic thinking. Like anything, moderation is key. PC gaming is linked to sharpening the brain but after an intense gaming marathon your reaction time may not be as sharp as when you started. Pay attention to your body signals, the more you ignore them, the more agitated your body gets and lowers your performance.

Depending on your preferred gaming genre, you can really improve certain skills. For example, strategy or puzzle games may also be linked to forward thinking and strategic planning. A valuable skill to be able to think a few steps ahead! Similarly, brain training games improve your brain functionality through exercising memory, matching and making you think outside of the box. Gaming copious amounts on the PC can also help with your average word per minute, bear in mind you may be able to type fast but correct spelling is important in the ‘real life’ game.

Gaming can help equip you with a variety of life skills you will eventually lean on, another reason to get back to it. Likewise, another reason so start if you are thinking about investing into PC gaming.

Make sure your gaming PC meets your skills and minimum requirements, our systems are stress tested and installed with Windows 10.

According to Limelight the average UK gamer spends 7.15 hours a week gaming. Like ours, yours is probably higher. Thus, our gaming set up needs to be comfortable and allow for little to no distractions, other than the occasional rustling into a bag of crisps.

We have selected a few of our computing accessories to help enhance your gaming experience.

Comfort is high on our priorities here and the Razer Ornata Chroma gaming keyboard ticks that box, even with intense gaming marathons. So that you don’t fall asleep getting to comfortable, the high quality RGB lighting will help keep you focused. The Mecha-membrane also combines the best of both worlds with soft touch and a crisp tactile click.

Razer Ornata Chroma Gaming Keyboard - £99.99

Our next pick focuses on accuracy and responsiveness, just don’t throw it when lag sneaks in. The Razer Deathadder Elite gaming mouse is highly impressive. Its incredible mouse sensor exceeds competition with a Resolution Accuracy of 99.4%, meaning you can boss your gameplay competition. Not only is the performance top class, the feel of the mouse is great and the rubber grips allow for complete control.

Razer Deathadder Elite Gaming Mouse Black £69.99

Finally, no distractions! No more noise or interference from the cable with this wireless headset, the SteelSeries Arctis 7 wireless gaming headset can be adjusted to fit your head perfectly. The ear cushions create a tight seal but feels lightweight, letting you game comfortably for hours. The Artics sound quality is engineered to produce ultra-low distortion audio, meaning you hear every detail. The DTS surround sound also creates an immersive sound experience, making it easy to lose yourself in the game.

SteelSeries Arctis 7 PC/Console Wireless Gaming Headset 2019 Edition - £135.29

There you have it, just a few of our picks to improve your gaming experience. We all know fewer annoyances the higher gaming intensity. Click through to the products to see the full specifications and further information.

Enter our latest social media competition to WIN an Office PC Bundle! Simply, Like our Facebook page HighSpec Tech, Share the competition post and Tag 3 friends in the comments. Or, Follow our Twitter Page @HighSpecTechUK, Retweet the competition post and Tag 3 friends in the comments.

Competition ends midnight on the 30th June 2019.

About The Office PC Bundle

The competition bundle includes a Dell Optiplex 7020 PC, AOC 21.5" Full HD LED Monitor, Logitech Z130 Multimedia Speakers and Logitech Wireless Keyboard & Mouse.

Dell Optiplex 7020 Intel I5-4570 3.20GHZ SFF PC

Work or play, this Dell OptiPlex 7020 Small Form Factor has you covered! Backed by an Intel Core i5-4570 processor and 8GB of DDR3 RAM, there's enough power to take on any amount of multi-tasking you can dream up! This Dell PC has been thoroughly tested and refurbished by our highly trained technicians.

Specification:

• Processor Type: Intel i5-4570 4th Gen
• Processor Speed: 3.20GHz Quad Core
• Max Turbo Frequency: 3.60GHz
• Graphics Processing Type: Onboard HD 4600
• Memory: 8GB DDR3
• HDD Capacity: 1TB 3.5"
• Windows 10 Pro installed
• DVD Optical Drive
• 9 USB's
• Display Port x 2 for HD Streaming
• VGA
• AUX Port

AOC 21.5" E2270SWHN Full HD LED Monitor with DVI/VGA

This LED-backlit monitor delivers a solid performance for standard office and home applications. Coming in a classy black texturised finish, the tiltable widescreen model is equipped with an HDMI port and a fast-reacting TN panel, boasting a 5 ms pixel response time for crisp, blur-free images.

Specification:

• Manufacturer warranty: 1 year
• Processor Type: Intel i5-4570 4th Gen
• Processor Speed: 3.20GHz Quad Core
• Max Turbo Frequency: 3.60GHz
• Graphics Processing Type: Onboard HD 4600
• Memory: 8GB DDR3
• HDD Capacity: 1TB 3.5"

Logitech Z 130 Multimedia 2.0 Speakers - 5W RMS

Logitech Speakers Z130 make it easy to enjoy listening to your music, movies and games. With five watts of total power, you get stereo sound that's clear and strong. Just connect the speakers to your laptop with a standard 3.5 mm plug and you're ready to go. Volume and power controls are easy to find and simple to use.

Specification:

• Speaker Set-Up: 2
• Wattage: 5W
• Power Supply: Mains
• Weight: 0.59 kg
• Colour: Black

Logitech Combo MK270 Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Set

The Logitech MK270 wireless keyboard and mouse combo for Windows delivers a quick, reliable connection to a computer up to 10 m away. Logitech has designed this wireless mouse and keyboard combo for longevity, durability and convenience with features that are easy to access and equipment ideally sized for travel, at home or office use.

Specification:

• Colour: Black
• Connection: Wireless
• Multimedia: Yes
• Mouse Sensor Type: Optical
• Weight: 0.85 kg
• USB 2.0 ports: 1