Real hardware guides from someone who actually uses this stuff.
No sponsored picks. No affiliate-first recommendations. 13 years of building PCs and running servers — just what I use and why.
How We Test
From 2024 through early 2026 I ran a home test bench in St. Louis County, MO — measuring idle power draw at the wall, logging thermals under sustained load, and benchmarking on hardware I bought with my own money. Most of that gear has since been sold or retired (see About and Colophon for the full timeline). Today the site combines my hands-on history with a synthesis of cited third-party benchmarks — ServeTheHome, Phoronix, Tom’s Hardware, TechPowerUp — plus original first-party runs on the rigs I still own (most recently the ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC dataset). No vendor samples, no sponsored content, no affiliate-first picks.
New to the site? These three guides cover the essentials.
ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Review: First-Party 4K Benchmarks, DLSS 4 MFG, and the Honest OC Story (2026)
Full ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC review with TechFuelHQ first-party benchmarks. 3DMark Time Spy through Steel Nomad, Cyberpunk 2077 4K path tracing with DLSS 4 Multi-Frame Gen, power and thermals under three tune profiles — stock, factory OC, and hand-tuned.
Build GuideAORUS FO48U Review (2026): 48-inch 4K OLED Gaming Monitor with DP 1.4 + KVM
Gigabyte AORUS FO48U review 2026: 48-inch 4K 120Hz OLED, DisplayPort 1.4, four HDMI 2.1, built-in KVM. $700-$1,199 street price, manufacturer specs cited, honest pros and cons.
Self-Hosted12 Best Self-Hosted Apps 2026 to Replace SaaS: Immich, Nextcloud, Vaultwarden + 9 More
The 12 best self-hosted apps to actually replace your SaaS subscriptions in 2026: Immich (Google Photos), Nextcloud AIO (Dropbox), Vaultwarden (1Password), Paperless-ngx, Jellyfin, plus 7 more. Docker compose files and hardware requirements included.
ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC — First-Party Bench Dataset (2026-06-09)
First-party 3DMark Time Spy, clocks, thermals, board power, DLSS 4 MFG, and 4K native gaming results from the ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC, measured by TechFuelHQ. Proprietary first-party data, all rights reserved.
ToolPC Builder — Pick parts, check compatibility, get an honest total
Interactive PC build picker with real 2026 pricing, socket and chipset compatibility checks, PSU wattage validation, and case clearance. CC BY 4.0 parts dataset.
GuidePSU Wattage Calculator
Find the right power supply for your build. Select your CPU, GPU, storage, and other components to see peak system draw, recommended PSU wattage, and headroom at each efficiency tier.
ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Review: First-Party 4K Benchmarks, DLSS 4 MFG, and the Honest OC Story (2026)
Full ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC review with TechFuelHQ first-party benchmarks. 3DMark Time Spy through Steel Nomad, Cyberpunk 2077 4K path tracing with DLSS 4 Multi-Frame Gen, power and thermals under three tune profiles — stock, factory OC, and hand-tuned.
ReviewRyzen 7 7800X3D Review (2026): Still the Gaming CPU Standard
Ryzen 7 7800X3D review from long-term daily use. 3D V-Cache gaming advantage, AM5 platform reality, thermals with a 360mm AIO, power draw in real games, and the honest case for and against buying one in 2026 vs the Ryzen 9000X3D lineup.
ReviewNZXT Kraken 360 Review: Long-Term on a Ryzen 7 7800X3D (2026)
Long-term NZXT Kraken 360 review from a Ryzen 7 7800X3D build. Installation on AM5, NZXT CAM software, thermals on a 3D V-Cache chip, pump noise, and whether the LCD display is worth the price premium over the base Kraken.
ReviewROG STRIX B650-A Gaming WiFi Review: AM5 ATX Done Right for the Homelab Builder
ROG STRIX B650-A Gaming WiFi review from a Ryzen 7 7800X3D build perspective. DDR5 tuning, power delivery for X3D chips, WiFi 6E, PCIe slot layout for multi-GPU-or-NIC builds, and what ASUS got wrong.
ReviewEVGA SuperNOVA 1000 GT Review: A Gold-Rated PSU from a Dead Brand
EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 GT long-term review. 80 Plus Gold efficiency, fully modular, solid Seasonic platform — and a brand that stopped making PSUs in 2022. What it means for buyers finding units new-in-box or used in 2026.
ReviewSamsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB Review (2026): A PCIe 3.0 Drive Worth Keeping
Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB NVMe review from daily use in a Ryzen 7 7800X3D build. Sequential speed, real-world game load times, heat under sustained write, and the honest answer on whether to replace it with a Gen4 drive in 2026.
Proxmox vs TrueNAS vs Unraid Storage Backends 2026: ZFS, btrfs, and the IOPS That Matter
ZFS vs btrfs vs ZFS-on-Unraid in 2026: RAIDZ vs mirrors, NVMe SLOG when it actually helps, ARC and L2ARC tuning, special vdev tradeoffs, and real homelab IOPS.
HomelabBest Mini PC for a Homelab 2026: MS-01, NUC, SFF
The best mini PC for a homelab in 2026 by budget: MS-01 for 10GbE, ASUS NUC 14 for low idle, used OptiPlex under $200. Specs, idle watts, and picks.
HardwareHow to Set Up Proxmox on a Mini PC — Box to First VM in Under an Hour
Step-by-step Proxmox VE setup on a mini PC. From USB boot to your first VM and LXC container in under an hour. Real hardware, real power draw, no enterprise bloat.
HomelabTurn an Old Gaming PC Into a Proxmox Server in 2026: Step-by-Step
Step-by-step: turn a 2018-era gaming PC into a Proxmox VE 8 homelab server. BIOS settings, install, GPU passthrough, idle wattage.
ComparisonProxmox vs ESXi in 2026: Free ESXi Is Back, But Does It Matter?
Free ESXi 8.0 returned with limits. Proxmox VE is open source with no VM caps. Real benchmarks, feature comparison, and an honest verdict on which hypervisor wins for homelabs in 2026.
ComparisonBest Budget NAS Build 2026: 4-Bay Home NAS Under $400 (AOOSTAR + TrueNAS / Unraid)
Build a 4-bay home NAS in 2026 for under $400 barebone. AOOSTAR WTR Pro N100 vs 5825U, used HP EliteDesk + DAS, and the DIY 4U rack path. TrueNAS CE 25.10, Unraid 7, OpenMediaVault 7 compared with cited prices.
The $1,500 RTX 5060 Ti Mid-Range 1440p Build for 2026
A real $1,500 build I'd put my own money in: RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, Ryzen 7 7700, 32GB DDR5-6000, 2TB Gen4. May 2026 prices, parts list, and 1440p benchmarks.
Build GuideDDR5 RAM Buying Guide for 2026: Stop Overpaying for Speed You Can't Feel
DDR5-6000 to 6400 is the smart money in 2026. DDR4 vs DDR5, why DDR5 prices keep climbing, real benchmark scores, and specific 32GB/64GB/96GB kit picks for Ryzen and Intel.
Build GuideAORUS FO48U Review (2026): 48-inch 4K OLED Gaming Monitor with DP 1.4 + KVM
Gigabyte AORUS FO48U review 2026: 48-inch 4K 120Hz OLED, DisplayPort 1.4, four HDMI 2.1, built-in KVM. $700-$1,199 street price, manufacturer specs cited, honest pros and cons.
RTX 5070 Ti vs RX 9070 XT: Which GPU Wins at $600–750?
RTX 5070 Ti vs RX 9070 XT comparison for 1440p and 4K gaming. Architecture, VRAM, rasterization vs ray tracing, DLSS 4 vs FSR 4, power consumption, and which to buy based on your actual workload.
GPUBest GPU for 4K Gaming 2026: Which Tier Makes Sense
4K gaming GPU recommendations for 2026. RTX 5080, 5070 Ti, 5070, RX 9070 XT — where each fits, what 4K actually requires in VRAM and raw performance, and how DLSS 4 MFG changes the math at each tier.
GPU ReviewsRTX 5060 Ti vs RX 9060 XT: The Honest 1440p Showdown for 2026
16GB vs 16GB. DLSS 4 vs FSR 4. RT vs raster. Real 2026 prices, 1440p FPS in eight games, and a verdict by use case.
10GbE Homelab Networking on a Budget: A 2026 Guide
Build a 10GbE homelab link for $50 with used Mellanox ConnectX-3 cards and DACs. Three full-stack tiers ($300/$600/$1000), four switches compared, plus a verdict on when 2.5GbE is enough.
networkingThe 2026 Homelab Firewall & Router Stack: pfSense vs OPNsense vs MikroTik vs UniFi — Honest Trade-offs
pfSense Plus, OPNsense 25.10, MikroTik RouterOS 7, and UniFi 4.1 compared on a real homelab bench: throughput, IDS, multi-WAN, and where each one falls down.
NetworkingBest Homelab Networking Gear Under $200 (2026): Routers, Switches, Wi-Fi 7 APs
The 2026 budget homelab networking picks: MikroTik CRS305 + RB5009UG, Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway Ultra, TP-Link EAP783 Wi-Fi 7 AP, all under $200. Cited prices, manufacturer specs, honest tradeoffs.
12 Best Self-Hosted Apps 2026 to Replace SaaS: Immich, Nextcloud, Vaultwarden + 9 More
The 12 best self-hosted apps to actually replace your SaaS subscriptions in 2026: Immich (Google Photos), Nextcloud AIO (Dropbox), Vaultwarden (1Password), Paperless-ngx, Jellyfin, plus 7 more. Docker compose files and hardware requirements included.
ArticleJellyfin vs Plex (2026): The Honest Comparison
Jellyfin is free and open source. Plex is polished with a paywall. Neither is universally better — the right answer depends on what you're actually trying to do. Full feature breakdown, hardware transcoding, mobile apps, remote access, and a verdict by use case.
TutorialProxmox Cluster Setup: 2-Node and 3-Node HA (2026)
Build a Proxmox cluster from scratch. 2-node vs 3-node architecture, corosync quorum, shared storage with NFS or Ceph, live migration, HA groups, and fencing — the complete guide with working config.
TutorialSelf-Hosting Essentials: What to Self-Host First and Why
Six self-hosted services in the right order, with real hardware requirements for each. Pi-hole, Uptime Kuma, Jellyfin, Nextcloud, Immich, and Home Assistant — what you actually need to run them.