Core i9-7980XE used to break 4 world records in 3DMark
Intel pulled the NDA up on their new Core i9-7980XE processor, with our review on it right here, but now EVGA along with their resident OC champion K|NGP|N have broken 4 world records in 3DMark.
K|NGP|N used the new Core i9-7980XE and put it under LN2 cooling to reach 5.7GHz, using 4 x EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N graphics cards @ 2.3GHz GPU clocks each, blowing the doors off of previous 3DMark world records.
K|NGP|N said: "Using the new Intel Core i9 7980XE CPU at over 5.7GHz on an EVGA X299 Dark and 4x EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N's at over 2.3GHz, allowed me to annihilate the existing 3DMark Time Spy World Record at 37,596 points! The new Intel Core i9 7980XE CPU, EVGA X299 Dark and EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N are incredible!".
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Showtime busted mining Monero on visitors' CPUs
It was only last week that we reported that The Pirate Bay was caught mining Monero coins on visitors' CPUs, but now two of Showtime's websites have been using visitors' CPUs to mine Monero.
Showtime has been busted with a script running in the background that hijacks users' CPUs to mine Monero, thanks to the Coinhive miner. Coinhive isn't all bad, as they are trying to push into a market that simply doesn't exist right now: providing a way for websites to run, without using ads.
Coinhive takes 30% of whatever Monero is mined on users' CPUs, while the website keeps the rest.
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AMD's next-gen Vega 20 uses PCIe 4.0, arrives in Q3 2018
Now that the release of the Radeon RX Vega is over, the next part of the journey for AMD is to unleash custom RX Vega graphics cards with AIB partners. This is meant to be happening in late-October, and should lead through the holidays and into 2018. But what about Vega 20?
Vega 20 will be a refresh of Vega 10, which we should see AMD use the 12nm LP node, but what about performance? We don't know anything performance-wise just yet, but according to leaked slides from Informatica Cero, Vega 20 is coming in Q3 2018, and on the next-gen PCIe 4.0 standard.
PCIe 4.0 has a huge 16GT/s of bandwidth, up from the 8GT/s available on the current-gen PCIe 3.0 standard - something that was released in 2010.
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Core i5-8600K has performance similar to Core i7-7700K
Intel is pulling out all of the stops for its Coffee Lake-S architecture, with the flagship Core i7-8700K to be the new gaming champion with its 6C/12T of CPU performance hitting 4.8GHz on air cooling when overclocked. It also beats the 7700K by around 10% in games, and more in multi-threaded applications.
But it'll be the mid-range Core i5-8600K that will have gamers pulling the trigger finger on their orders, with Chinese site PCOnline posting benchmarks of the 8600K early. They've compared it against the Core i7-8700K, Core i7-7700K, Core i5-7500, and AMD's Ryzen 7 1800X and Ryzen 5 1600X processors in a bunch of different games.
Rise of the Tomb Raider scales beautifully between the processors, with the Core i5-8600K sliding right next to both of the Core i7 processors with 70FPS average.
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8700K benchmarks: 10% faster than 7700K at stock clocks
Intel is so close to launching their new Core i7-8700K that we can almost smell the silicon, but now some leaked benchmarks of the flagship Coffee Lake-S processor are here.
The new Core i7-8700K is a changed beast, with 6C/12T of CPU performance compared to the Core i7-7700K and its 4C/8T of brute gaming performance. EXPreview has some preliminary benchmarks on the new Core i7-8700K processor, with it coming in at around 8% faster than the 7700K in office tasks.
But what about gaming? EXPreview ran The Witcher 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider, The Division, and Hitman. The new 8700K is 18% faster than the 7700K in The Witcher 3 on the Ultra preset, while it's 10% faster in Hitman. In both ROTTR and The Division, the difference is negligible... just a few FPS difference.
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COLORFUL's new iGame SSDs: up to 3GB/sec read with RGB
COLORFUL is known for their crazy awesome GeForce GTX series graphics cards, but the company is pushing into PCIe-based SSDs with SMI controllers, with their new CN600 DRAM-less Series of SSDs.
The new COLORFUL CN600 and CP600 iGame SSDs will be available in 240GB right through to 2TB, with the CN600 DRAM-less rocking the SMI 2263XT controller. The CN600 is a M.2 2280 standard that provides up to 2GB/sec read speeds and 1.6GB/sec writes. We have the PCIe 3.0 x4 interface for those wicked-fast speeds, which will be available in 240GB up to 1TB.
COLORFUL's other CN600 DRAM Edition rocks the SMI2263 controller and DRAM that bumps the read/write speeds to 2.4GB/sec and 1.7GB/sec, respectively. The COLORFUL CN600 DRAM Edition has a unique cooling solution that keeps the drive as cool as possible, with capacities of 240GB up to 1TB.
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What if Certain Affinity is making a free-to-play Halo?
Industry veteran Rich Vogel has had a hand in some of the most influential games-as-a-service (GaaS) games in the industry, including Ultima Online, Meridian 59, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Now Mr. Vogel has joined Certain Affinity as Vice President of Technology and Services to lend his expertise on two new service-based games: a new IP and an original game. What if the latter was a cross-platform free-to-play Halo game with microtransactions?
Yes, this is me thinking out loud, and no, I don't have concrete evidence to back this theory up other than my personal analysis of the games industry and a few bits of perspective that may lend some credence to the theory. When I say a "free to play Halo game," I mean on PC and consoles with microtransactions/lootboxes, a plug for streaming, and a set up for eSports action. There's a few reasons why I think this could happen. For starters, Certain Affinity has worked on six Halo projects, three of which were major roles: they co-developed Halo 4 and Halo 5 with 343 Industries, and made Halo: The Master Chief Collection's multiplayer--so it's fair to say they're well-versed in the Halo world. Secondly, Mr. Vogel is keen on aligning Certain Affinity to the billion-dollar market of GaaS, and instantly recognizable properties like Halo would ensure a playerbase. Thirdly, Microsoft is shifting towards a cross-unification platform by making Xbox a service rather than a console; this service bridges Windows 10 PCs and Xbox One consoles, and the company has focused intensively and the popular games-as-a-service format, which has found its way into nearly every major first-party game to date, from Halo 5: Guardians to Gears of War 4 and the most recent Forza 7.
This wouldn't be the first time (nor the last) Microsoft has tried something like this. Remember Halo Online?
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Square Enix commits to games as a service business model
Square Enix says it will create more service-based games, hinting mainline Final Fantasy games will no longer be one-off singleplayer experiences, but sprawling, ever-changing and updated games like Final Fantasy XV.
Not long ago I said that Final Fantasy XV was the new Skyrim. My point was that Final Fantasy XV, like Skyrim, was being ported on every available platform via re-releases. And like Skyrim (thanks to mods), Final Fantasy XV has become a live game of sorts that's continually changing over time with content updates and expansions. The real difference is that its Square Enix, not modders, who are pushing out FFXV's content. In fact, Final Fantasy XV is now an IP within an IP; the publisher has made the Final Fantasy XV Universe, which includes a galaxy of mobile games, the PS4 and Xbox One versions, season pass DLC, a stream of updates, a Switch and PC port, and a number of transmedia releases like an anime and a CGI film.
All of this (and more) is evidence that Square Enix isn't only betting big on games-as-a-service, but it's fully embracing it. This focus goes past the normal service games like Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest MMOs--it's bleeding into once-singleplayer games. Even Final Fantasy XV is getting a built-in MMO-like online multiplayer component. And the publisher is only just getting started.
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SAG-AFTRA video game voice actor strike ends
Voice actors agree to end the nearly year-long strike against key video games companies.
In October of 2016, a number of high profile talent that brings video games to audial life went on strike to protest conditions set forth by 11 big industry publishers like EA, Activision, Insomniac Games, WB Games, and Take-Two Interactive. Today, almost a year later, the strike has ended and a number of demands have been met. While not all voice actor's demands were met, SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris called the agreement an "important advance" in the industry.
"This is an important advance in this critical industry space. We secured a number of gains including for the first time, a secondary payment structure which was one of the members' key concerns," Mrs. Carteris said. "The courage of our members and their fortitude these many months has been admirable and I salute them. We are always stronger together."
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Shadow of War balanced to be played without lootboxes
To say Shadow of War's lootboxes are a contentious point is a huge understatement. Gamers everywhere are up in arms in protest of WB Games' decision to put paid loot box microtransactions into Middle-earth: Shadow of War, but developer Monolith says the game is fully balanced so that gamers won't have to spend an extra dime. You can either spend time or money to progress in the game.
The landscape of video games has changed. Long are the days when a $59.99 game is shipped 100% complete; now games are inundated with season passes, microtransactions, DLC, and other content that makes the industry billions of dollars. Depending on who you ask, these trends are hurting and helping the industry: games now have much more content than before, and devs are armed with a huge pool of resources and funding to ensure their creations get continually updated to preserve quality and add new things to do. But some games use psychological trickery to marry engagement, MAUs, and other strategies together to push gamers towards buying loot boxes or in-game currency, setting off a Pandora's Box moment that typically ensures these first-time buyers become regular spenders that spin the billion-dollar flywheel.
But Middle-earth: Shadow of War doesn't fall into the latter category, at least according to design director Bob Roberts. In an interview with Eurogamer Mr. Roberts affirms that Shadow of War is being finely tuned and balanced so that gamers aren't directed towards the game's loot boxes, and that only those who have really made up their mind to purchase the time-saving boxes will do so. In other words, gamers won't be tempted to buy loot boxes because the game will continually give you enough resources to fuel your experience, but only as long as you play of course (this is also known as "the grind").
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