I built the weirdest possible NAS from hardware I already owned, and it works surprisingly well
Ayush Pande May 10, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT Ayush Pande is a PC hardware and gaming writer. When he's not working on a new article, you can find him with…
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I'd do these 5 things differently if I were setting up my home network from scratch
…Switch to a custom DNS (finally) It's something most people never think of A custom DNS isn't as advanced as a self-hosted DNS server , but it still improves connection…
DeskScapes 2026 lets you generate and edit wallpapers entirely offline, no AI subscriptions needed
…Level up your Windows customization DeskScapes is far from the only option for customizing your Windows wallpaper, and it's not the cheapest, either. But it does have some interesting features, and…
Alienware's Area-51 becomes the first pre-built PC with AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D2
…Sign in to your XDA account Summary Alienware adds the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 to Area-51 customization. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 is a 16-core Zen 5 with 192MB L3 cache…
I changed two settings in my photo editor and my exports don't have hidden surprises anymore
…No matter the type of photography you're doing, the hardware you're using, and the editing tools you prefer, this disappointment is entirely avoidable by changing just two settings before you…
I tried multiple self-hosted dashboards but keep coming back to Glance
…So, you get the weather, RSS feed, markets, hardware usage, and many such elements that aren't there in Heimdall. Homarr supports GUI customization and has element variety like Glance, but they…
By the time the Steam Machine ships, it will have already lost the market it was supposed to own
…News of new hardware from Steam was always going to get people talking, and Valve got all the publicity it hoped for. However, the Steam Machine's hardware specs became a huge…
I switched from EmuDeck to RetroDeck for retro gaming, and the setup alone convinced me to stay
…A lot of older games can now be played perfectly fine on low-power hardware with next to no downsides compared to the original experience, and having integrated controllers makes the experience…
Your old phone is still better than half the smart displays people keep buying
Jasmine Mannan Apr 22, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT Jasmine is Software and PC Hardware Author at XDA with years of tech reporting experience ranging from AI chatbots right down to gaming…
I replaced my smart home hub with a $120 mini PC, and my smart home finally feels responsive
…The commercial ones are impressive with custom PCBs and compact builds. However, I became interested in the DIY route to build custom sensors : a door sensor with a magnetic reed switch, a…