Yahi Rakh

Displays & Games Editor

Yahi Rakh

Yahi Rakh writes about displays and games for Respawno. On the hardware side that means motion clarity, overdrive and VRR behaviour — the measurable side of why a monitor feels wrong even when its spec sheet reads well. On the games side, release coverage that separates what a publisher has actually confirmed from what has only been rumoured.

Focus areas: Monitor motion clarity, overdrive and overshoot, VRR and OLED behaviour, release-date and platform reporting.

47 articles for Respawno

Articles by Yahi Rakh

Software Blogs

Is Windows 11 Game Mode Worth Enabling?

Yahi Rakh20 Aug, 2026

Leave Windows 11 Game Mode enabled, but do not expect your frame rates to change much. Its real value is preventing Windows Update from installing drivers or throwing restart prompts at you mid-m

Game Reviews

15 Good RPG Games for PS Vita

Yahi Rakh19 Aug, 2026

Persona 4 Golden is the best RPG on the PS Vita, and the strongest reason the handheld is still worth owning. Behind it sits one of the deepest JRPG libraries ever assembled on a portable system,

Hardware Blogs

Is 12GB of VRAM Enough for 1440p in 2026?

Yahi Rakh18 Aug, 2026

Yes, 12GB is still enough for 1440p in 2026 — but it is now a ceiling rather than a comfortable allowance. That distinction matters more than the yes. A 12GB card plays essentially everything at

Software Blogs

LatencyMon Explained: How to Read the Results and Fix DPC Latency

Yahi Rakh18 Aug, 2026

The driver at the top of LatencyMon's list is frequently not the driver causing your problem. ntoskrnl.exe and Wdf01000.sys dominate the results on most systems, and both are frameworks that

Software Blogs

Kernel-Power Event 41 While Gaming: How to Find the Real Cause

Yahi Rakh18 Aug, 2026

Kernel-Power Event 41 does not tell you why your PC died. It only tells you that it died without warning Windows first. Windows writes this entry on the next boot, after the fact, whenever the

Build Guides

Prebuilt vs Building Your Own in 2026: The Answer Flipped

Yahi Rakh13 Aug, 2026

For roughly a decade the answer was simple: building your own was cheaper, and prebuilts charged a convenience tax. In 2026 that has genuinely reversed at the mid-range. The reason is not that pr

Hardware Reviews

144Hz vs 240Hz: The Upgrade Most People Should Not Buy

Yahi Rakh13 Aug, 2026

The jump from 60Hz to 144Hz removes 9.7ms from every frame; the jump from 144Hz to 240Hz removes just 2.77ms. That single comparison explains why the first upgrade feels transformative and the se

Hardware Blogs

Your DDR5-6000 Is Running at 4800 — And That Is Normal

Yahi Rakh13 Aug, 2026

A DDR5-6000 kit reporting 4800 MT/s is not defective or mislabelled — it is doing exactly what the standard requires. It boots at a conservative JEDEC default until you explicitly enable the rate

Hardware Blogs

Low GPU Usage While Gaming Is a Symptom, Not the Problem

Yahi Rakh13 Aug, 2026

**GPU usage sitting at 50% while your frame rate disappoints does not mean your graphics card is broken or throttled. It means something else in the chain is setting the pace, and the card is waiting

Console Fixes

Console Overheating? The Fix Is Usually Where You Put It, Not What's Inside It

Yahi Rakh09 Aug, 2026

Almost every console overheating warning comes down to one of two things: the console cannot get cool air in, or it is breathing its own exhaust back. Both are placement problems, both are free t

Console Fixes

Switch 2 Joy-Con Drift: Why Nintendo Didn't Use Hall Effect Sticks

Yahi Rakh09 Aug, 2026

Nintendo did not fix Joy-Con drift on the Switch 2 by switching to Hall effect sensors, and the reason is the console's headline feature. Teardowns by iFixit and independent repairers found **ALP

Console Fixes

Xbox Series X Won't Turn On? What the Lights and Sounds Tell You

Yahi Rakh09 Aug, 2026

Before you troubleshoot anything, answer one question: does the console make a sound when you press the power button? A beep with no picture and total silence are two completely different faults,

Console Fixes

Console Says No Signal on Your TV? Fix the HDMI Handshake in 10 Minutes

Yahi Rakh09 Aug, 2026

A console that powers on but shows "No Signal" is almost never broken — the two devices simply failed to agree on what to send each other. HDMI negotiates resolution, refresh rate, colour format

Console Fixes

PS5 Controller Not Charging? Work Through These 8 Fixes in Order

Yahi Rakh09 Aug, 2026

A DualSense that will not charge is almost never a dead battery — it is usually the cable, a blocked port, or the console being asleep in the wrong way. Those three account for the overwhelming m

Build Guides

What to Upgrade First in Your Gaming PC (And What to Leave Alone)

Yahi Rakh09 Aug, 2026

The graphics card is the right first upgrade most of the time, and "most of the time" is exactly why you should spend 15 minutes checking before you spend anything. The cases where a GPU is the w

Software Blogs

Game Running on Integrated Graphics Instead of Your GPU? Here's the Fix

Yahi Rakh09 Aug, 2026

If a game runs at 20 FPS on hardware that should manage 100, the most common cause is that Windows never handed it to your real graphics card. Your system has two GPUs — the integrated one inside

Hardware Blogs

Does Frame Generation Add Input Lag? What the Numbers Actually Show

Yahi Rakh09 Aug, 2026

Frame generation adds input lag, and the amount is smaller and stranger than the argument around it suggests. With NVIDIA Reflex active, published measurements put the cost at roughly **8 to 12 m

Upcoming Nintendo Games

Elden Ring Tarnished Edition on Switch 2: Release Date, Price and the 15 FPS Comeback

Yahi Rakh09 Aug, 2026

Elden Ring Tarnished Edition arrives on Nintendo Switch 2 on 28 August 2026 at $79.99, and its story is a recovery. The version FromSoftware demoed at Gamescom 2025 ran at roughly **15 frames per

Game Reviews

Halo: Campaign Evolved Review — The First Halo on PlayStation

Yahi Rakh09 Aug, 2026

Halo: Campaign Evolved is a beautiful remake of a 25-year-old game, and both halves of that sentence matter. Halo Studios rebuilt the entire 2001 campaign in Unreal Engine 5, added three new preq

Hardware Blogs

Does PCIe 5.0 Matter for Gaming? The x8 Problem Nobody Warns You About

Yahi Rakh04 Aug, 2026

For a high-end graphics card, moving from PCIe 4.0 to PCIe 5.0 is worth low single-digit percentages at most. It is one of the least important specifications on a modern motherboard, and paying e

Hardware Reviews

How to Tell If Your HDMI 2.1 Cable Is Fake

Yahi Rakh02 Aug, 2026

There is no such thing as an "HDMI 2.1 cable," and any listing that uses the phrase is already telling you something. The only category that carries 48Gbps is the Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable,

Software Blogs

Steam Input Deadzone and Response Curves: The Settings That Actually Matter

Yahi Rakh02 Aug, 2026

Steam Input's deadzone does not replace the game's deadzone — it stacks on top of it. Set 10% in Steam over a game that already applies 15% internally and your stick is dead through roughly the f

Hardware Reviews

DisplayPort 2.1 vs HDMI 2.1: Which Port Actually Carries More?

Yahi Rakh01 Aug, 2026

DisplayPort 2.1 at its top speed carries 77.4Gbps of usable data against HDMI 2.1's 42.6Gbps — nearly double. That is the headline, and it is real. The catch is that "DisplayPort 2.1" is not one

Software Blogs

Your Game Crashes After 20 Minutes But Stress Tests Pass — Here's Why

Yahi Rakh30 Jul, 2026

A crash that arrives reliably after fifteen to thirty minutes of gameplay, on a system that passes every stress test you throw at it, is almost never a "weak hardware" problem. It is a problem th

Hardware Blogs

Monitor Overdrive Settings: Why 'Extreme' Makes Ghosting Worse

Yahi Rakh29 Jul, 2026

Overdrive pushes your monitor's pixels harder so they change colour faster, and the highest setting almost always pushes them too hard. The result is bright trails behind moving objects that look

Software Blogs

Should You Clear Your Shader Cache? When It Helps and When It Hurts

Yahi Rakh28 Jul, 2026

Clearing your shader cache makes stuttering worse before it makes it better, every single time. The cache exists so your GPU does not have to recompile shaders it has already compiled. Delete it

Hardware Blogs

VRR Flicker on OLED Monitors: Why It Happens and How to Stop It

Yahi Rakh28 Jul, 2026

VRR flicker is a brightness wobble that appears on OLED monitors when your frame rate swings, and it is a gamma problem rather than a fault. OLED panels have their gamma response calibrated at a

Game Reviews

007 First Light Review: IO Interactive's Best-Reviewed Game

Yahi Rakh27 Jul, 2026

007 First Light released on May 27, 2026 and became IO Interactive's best-reviewed game, holding an 88 Metacritic on Xbox Series X, 87 on PS5 and 84 on PC, with a **97% recommendation rat

Build Guides

How Long Does a Gaming PC Last? A Realistic Timeline

Yahi Rakh27 Jul, 2026

A well-maintained gaming PC lasts 7 to 10 years before components genuinely fail, but it stays competitive for about 5 before new releases start forcing compromises. Those are two different n

Hardware Reviews

Is 32GB of RAM Overkill for Gaming in 2026?

Yahi Rakh27 Jul, 2026

32GB is not overkill for a new gaming PC in 2026, but the reason has almost nothing to do with average frame rates. In Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Zombies, 16GB averaged 149 FPS against 32GB's

Build Guides

4K Gaming PC Build 2026: Parts List, Prices and Honest Trade-Offs

Yahi Rakh27 Jul, 2026

A 4K gaming PC build in 2026 lands at roughly $2,800, and the graphics card alone accounts for close to half of it. The RTX 5080 carries a $999 MSRP but trades at **$1,249 across Walmart, Amazon

Software Blogs

How to Fix Controller Stick Drift on PS5 and Xbox

Yahi Rakh27 Jul, 2026

Controller stick drift is caused by physical wear inside the stick module, not software. A metal wiper drags across a carbon resistive track every time you move the stick, and after roughly **300

Build Guides

Budget Gaming PC Build Under $1000 in 2026 (The Honest Math)

Yahi Rakh27 Jul, 2026

A budget gaming PC build under $1000 is still possible in 2026, but only if you accept 16GB of memory and an 8GB graphics card. **The cheapest 32GB DDR5 kit in the US now sells for $359, and none can

Software Blogs

HDR Looks Washed Out on Windows 11: How to Fix It

Yahi Rakh27 Jul, 2026

If HDR on Windows 11 makes everything look grey, flat and desaturated, the cause is usually one of three things: SDR content being stretched across an HDR container, your GPU outputting **Limited

Hardware Blogs

What Are 1% Lows in Gaming? Why Average FPS Lies

Yahi Rakh27 Jul, 2026

1% lows are the average frame rate of the slowest 1% of frames in a benchmark run — effectively your worst-case performance during normal play. If your average is 100 FPS but your 1% low is 45 FP

Hardware Blogs

Why Does My PC Shut Down While Gaming? 7 Real Causes

Yahi Rakh27 Jul, 2026

If your PC shuts off only while gaming and works fine otherwise, the cause is almost always power delivery or heat — the two things gaming load spikes and desktop use does not. A failing or u

Software Blogs

How to Fix Stuttering in PC Games (2026 Guide)

Yahi Rakh26 Jul, 2026

Most PC game stuttering is shader compilation stutter — brief freezes of 50 to 500 milliseconds the first time your GPU encounters a new visual effect, and it is worst in DirectX 12 and Vulka

Build Guides

1440p Gaming PC Build Guide for 2026 (RAM Crisis Edition)

Yahi Rakh26 Jul, 2026

Building a 1440p gaming PC in 2026 costs meaningfully more than it did in 2025, and the reason is not the GPU. The cheapest 32GB DDR5 kit now starts at $375, up from $80-120 a year earlier ([Tom'

Hardware Blogs

How Much VRAM Do You Need for Gaming in 2026?

Yahi Rakh26 Jul, 2026

For gaming in 2026, 8GB of VRAM is the floor, 12GB is the practical minimum for 1440p, and 16GB is the safe choice for anyone keeping a card three years or more. At 1080p medium settings an 8GB c

Hardware Reviews

Best Budget GPU in 2026: RX 9060 XT vs RTX 5060 Ti

Yahi Rakh26 Jul, 2026

The best budget GPU in 2026 is the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB, which lands within about 5% of the RTX 5060 Ti's frame rate while carrying the same 16GB of VRAM for meaningfully less money ([Tom's

Hardware Blogs

Is Wired Ethernet Necessary for Mini PCs?

Yahi Rakh16 May, 2025

No, you do not need wired Ethernet for mini PCs, but it can significantly improve performance in certain situations. If you are using a mini PC for tasks that require a fast, stable, and low latency

Hardware Reviews

How Can a Ryzen 5 Be Faster Than a Ryzen 7?

Yahi Rakh13 May, 2025

Believe it or not, a Ryzen 5 can indeed outperform a Ryzen 7 in specific scenarios, thanks to differences in architecture, clock speeds, and how many cores an application actually uses. In tasks that

Hardware Blogs

Mechanical vs Optical Keyboard

Yahi Rakh11 May, 2025

The clear difference between mechanical and optical keyboards lies in how they register keypresses: mechanical keyboards use physical switches, while **optical keyboards use light-based actuation

Software Blogs

How to Disable Gaming Mode on Your Keyboard

Yahi Rakh11 May, 2025

Enabling Gaming Mode can enhance your gameplay experience. However, outside of gaming, it can interfere with your computer activities and cause unwanted issues. To avoid disruptions and ensure smooth

Hardware Reviews

Most Quiet Keyboard Switches in 2026

Yahi Rakh08 May, 2025

The most quiet keyboard switches in 2026 are the Cherry MX Silent Red and Gateron Silent Black Ink V2, closely followed by ZealPC Zilent V2, Durock Silent Linears, and **Kailh Silent

Hardware Blogs

Magnetic Keyboard Switches vs Mechanical Switches

Yahi Rakh19 Jan, 2025

Magnetic keyboard switches are known for being strong and smooth to use. They work differently from mechanical switches because they use magnets instead of physical parts to register key presses. Thi

Game Reviews

20 Best Games Similar to Gears of War

Yahi Rakh01 Dec, 2024

If you're a fan of Gears of War, you know the thrill of diving into intense combat, rich storytelling, and tactical gameplay. But what happens when you’ve exhausted every last bit of its content and