KitGuru is now celebrating its 15th year as one of the largest technology news and reviews publications in the world – and it's all thanks to you, our readers. In that time we have published almost 50,000 articles and reviews – as well as more than 2200 videos that have attracted more than 235,000 subscribers to our video channel. That expert-created content has attracted a monthly audience of close to 3 million readers and we thank each and every one of you for supporting us! Now it's that time of year again, when we ask you – our valued readers – to let us know which brands you believe make the best products in each category.

Your answers will help determine the KitGuru Reader Awards. We want to know which brands made you smile the most over the past 12 months. It takes less than 5 minutes to enter and one lucky reader will receive a multi-award winning MSI MPG 321URX QD OLED Monitor – worth £1400! This screen has sat on top of our BEST MONITOR chart for several months and it also picked up the EHA Award for Best Gaming Monitor in 2024.

So, how can you win this amazing prize?

In each of KitGuru's categories, just imagine you were asked for a recommendation – which brand would you suggest?

Click HERE (or on the pic) and let us know which brands you think represent the Best of the Best!

The prize is available worldwide, so no matter where you live you have a chance of winning. We always respect your privacy, so your email won’t be sold and all email addresses will be deleted once the winner has been contacted. Your answers will be fed into the EHA Reader Awards. Entries must be received by 12pm BST on 16th July. The winner will be announced shortly after and then contacted to arrange delivery. KitGuru standard competition formal rules apply. The Editor's decision is final.

We really appreciate you taking the time to let us know what you think.

You can vote in the survey HERE or by clicking the image above.

KitGuru says: Thanks for taking part – every answer is appreciated!

You will likely have seen the news that DeepCool was recently placed on the US sanctions list, preventing the company from operating in the USA, as a result of alleged sales to Russian businesses. We reached out to DeepCool to clarify the situation, and they sent us a response via a PDF document. While we initially published the contents of this document verbatim, it was made clear shortly afterwards by DeepCool that this had not passed through the legal channels. We did get authority that we could take sections of the document and interpret what they were saying in our own words. 

The document we were sent is broken down into five sections, where DeepCool breaks down and clarifies the situation from its perspective.

In the first part, the company states that they were placed on the ‘Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List,' or ‘SDN list' for short, due to sales worth over $1 million to two Russian companies who were placed on sanctions list in September last year – Aktsionernoe Obshchestvo Taskom and OOO Novi AI Ti Proekt. DeepCool later clarified that they only used Aktsionernoe Obshchestvo Taskom for logistics, and OOO Novyi Ai Ti Proekt is a memory/computer manufacturer that they were directly dealing with.

DeepCool states that it sold various cases, coolers and PSUs to OOO Novyi Ai Ti Proekt, up until 14th September 2023, at which point the Russian company was placed on the SDN blacklist by the US and DeepCool ceased trading with them. DeepCool adds that there were no rules preventing sales of its components to OOO Novyi Ai Ti Proekt until that point, and PSUs were only added to the Common High Priority List (CHPL) of banned items on February 23 2024. DeepCool also maintains that any sales were strictly intended for civilian use only, and nothing was intended for military use.

DeepCool then outlined how the sanctions meant they essentially had to stop trading as a US entity. However, the company says it immediately hired lawyers to develop a rectification plan, and re-iterated that the Russian companies it dealt with were not sanctioned while DeepCool sold its components to them.

DeepCool ends the statement by reaffirming its commitment to the laws and regulations of the countries it operates in, and vows to resolve its sanctions in compliance with said laws and regulations.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: We wanted to share the crux of the statement we received from DeepCool so you can hear their side of the story. We will on hand to post any more coverage as the story develops.

Ultrawide gaming monitors continue to increase in popularity, and thankfully they are also getting more and more affordable. The iiyama GB3480WQSU offers a standard 3440×1440 VA panel with 1500R curvature, up to 180Hz refresh rate via overclocking, alongside adaptive sync and a claimed 4000:1 contrast ratio… all for £340. We put it through our full suite of tests to find out if it is worth buying.

It's been a while since I last looked at an iiyama monitor, especially an ultrawide – we'd have to go back to the GB3466WQSU which was a fantastic value option a few years ago. The GCB3480WQSU certainly looks like an upgrade on paper, promising higher contrast and – crucially for gamers – increased refresh rate and faster response times. We know cheaper VA panels can sometimes struggle with dark-level smearing, so let's see what this screen can do.

Specification:

• Diagonal: 34″, 86.4cm
• Panel: VA LED, matte finish
• Curved: 1500R
• Native resolution: 3440 x 1440 @180Hz (4.9 megapixel UWQHD, DisplayPort)
• Aspect ratio: 21:9
• Panel brightness: 420 cd/m²
• Static contrast: 4000:1
• Response time (MPRT): 0.4ms
• Viewing zone: horizontal/vertical: 178°/178°, right/left: 89°/89°, up/down: 89°/89°
• Horizontal Sync:48 – 180kHz
• Viewable area W x H: 797.2 x 333.7mm, 31.4 x 13.1″
• Pixel pitch: 0.232mm
• Colour: matte, black
• Signal input: HDMI x2 (max. 3440 x 1440 @100Hz)
• DisplayPort: x2 (max. 3440 x 1440 @180Hz)
• USB HUB: x2 (v.3.2 (Gen 1, 5Gbit; DC5V, 900mA))
• HDCP: yes
• Headphone connector: yes
• Blue light reducer: yes
• Flicker free: yes
• Adaptive Sync support; FreeSync Premium Pro – HDMI: 3440 x 1440 @48-100Hz, DP: 3440 x 1440 @48-180Hz
• HDR: HDR400
• Display position adjustments: height, tilt
• Height adjustment: 110mm
• Tilt angle: 20° up; 5° down
• VESA mounting: 100 x 100mm
  The post iiyama GCB3480WQSU Review (180Hz Ultrawide) first appeared on KitGuru.