Latest News - Page 1482

AMD is not very far away from revealing its mid-range Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card, with the event taking place on March 3 -- but now we have some early pricing rumors that the RX 6700 XT start at $479-$499.

Tom from Moore's Law is Dead is behind the news, where he says that AMD will price the new Radeon RX 6700 XT from $479-$499 on their website. AMD is using its new Navi 22 GPU for the Radeon RX 6700 XT, with previous rumors of two different versions of the Radeon RX 6700 XT reportedly true according to Tom.

The first SKU of the new Radeon RX 6700 XT will be the reference model that AMD will sell on its website for $479-$499, while the higher-binned GPUs will go to AIB partners for custom Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics cards. The reference Radeon RX 6700 XT should compete and beat NVIDIA's mid-range GeForce RTX 3060 Ti while the overclocked AIB partner models and their custom Radeon RX 6700 XT cards getting closer to the higher-end GeForce RTX 3070 Founders Edition.

It looks like Lenovo is preparing a new set of graphics cards, with a custom Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6900 XT revealed inside of the 2021 7000P LEGION pre-built gaming PC.

Lenovo shared a video teasing the new LEGION design on Chinese social media site Weibo, with the clip above being of the Lenovo Radeon RX 6800 XT LEGION graphics card. The design itself is pretty much a tweaked version of AMD's own reference Radeon VII graphics card -- the previous-gen Vega 20-based GPU with 16GB of high-speed HBM2 memory.

AMD's own reference Radeon VII graphics card had a slick triple-fan cooler and backplate design that Lenovo liked so much that it seems to have dipped its Radeon RX 6800 XT LEGION and Radeon RX 6900 XT LEGION graphics cards in Radeon VII design and it looks kinda cool -- very chunky, but I'm sure it will also run cool, too.

AMD will make its new member of the RDNA 2 family of graphics cards official on March 3, with the Radeon RX 6700 XT right around the corner. An early look at a custom RX 6700 XT is in the upcoming ASUS TUF Gaming and DUAL variants.

Starting with the ASUS Radeon RX 6700 XT TUF Gaming OC graphics card, with a bulky (I don't know why, and I don't like it for a mid-range card) near triple-slot design. We have a higher GPU clock on this card, higher TGP, and requires 8+6-pin PCIe power connectors.

Both of the custom ASUS Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics cards feature 12GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit memory bus with 384GB/sec of memory bandwidth.

AMD is really aiming for the stars with its upcoming Zen 4 architecture, with the latest rumor on the next-gen EPYC Genoa CPU family is that it will feature up to an insane 96 cores and 192 threads.

The 96-core, 192-threads of CPU power are done through 12 chiplets and on the SP5 (LGA 6096 socket), with 12-channel DDR5 memory support and PCIe 5.0 support. The new rumors are coming from ExecutableFix, which tweeted out that the new Zen 4 architecture would pack some serious horsepower.

The new Zen 4 EPYC family of processors would pack 12 chiplets each with 8 compute cores, with a separate I/O chipset. Instead of increasing the core count per chiplet, AMD is increasing the number of chiplets in the packaging -- with Zen 4 EPYC packing 12 chiplets that usher in up to 96 cores and 192 threads of CPU domination.

My PC gaming days started in the early 90s but they were super-amplified in the mid-to-late 90s with nostalgic releases from 3dfx in the form of the Voodoo family of graphics cards -- which ushered in the multi-GPU tech as we know it now: SLI. But the last card 3dfx never got the chance to release before it went bankrupt and sold its assets to NVIDIA, was the quad-chip Voodoo 5 6000 video card.

3dfx debuted the Voodoo 1 with 4MB of RAM at the time, and as the releases got crazier -- the competition caught up. 3dfx was in the process of making the insane Voodoo 5 5000, Voodoo 5 5500, and Voodoo 5 6000 video cards before the company went out of business. NVIDIA eventually acquired 3dfx and most of its assets in late 2000.

But now an enthusiast with the best name in the world -- that would be Anthony of course, which I also find a coincidence considering I'm Anthony as well and I'm a huge 3dfx fan and I'm now writing this story -- anyway, Anthony has built himself his own Voodoo 5 6000 with VSA-100 graphics processors he acquired.

I wrote a story in November 2020 about a family photo of 3dfx Voodoo graphics cards, totally nerding out at the time at Al Valentyn and his 3dfx Voodoo collection of video cards.

We began talking over DM and he asked for my address, I agreed and he said he'd send me a prototype box he was working on. The box that Al was working on was a prototype box for the mother of all 3dfx graphics cards: the 3dfx Voodoo 5 6000 quad-chip SLI monster.

Al sent the package over to me in Australia and I received it a few days ago, opening it up and being more excited than opening up the box after box of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series and AMD Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards. Totally nerding out at what was inside, as it wasn't just the prototype 3dfx Voodoo 5 6000 box that was sent.

Halo Infinite is shaping up to be the ultimate, never-ending Halo, complete with tons of adventures, exploration, and discoveries. 343i gives more clues on what lays in wait for gamers in 2021.

Halo Infinite is basically an RPG that's more similar to Ubisoft games than linear campaigns. It has an online live campaign with co-op and a strong emphasis on replayability, complete with enemy skirmishes, missions, and tons of stuff to explore and unlock. Halo has always had little discoveries and secrets peppered throughout the campaigns, but Infinite will take things to a new level.

In a recent Halo Waypoint update, 343i teases Infinite's new playground and promises unique opportunities for discovery. Not everything will be on the ground; some things you'll have to fly to using vehicles like the Banshee.

Amazon reveals its Twitch Prime freebies for March 2021, and the offering includes one of the most visceral indie games ever made.

Prepare yourself for penitence! Blasphemous, the brutal platformer from The Game Kitchen, will be available free for all Amazon Prime subscribers on March 1. Just link your account to Twitch Prime to unlock this stylish, blood-soaked indie.

While you're at it, be sure to grab the huge SNK game pack while it's still free. The collection includes a ton of classic games from franchises like Metal Slug, Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, and Samurai Shodown. The SNK pack will be available free until March 31.

Sony plans to unlock the PlayStation 5's expandable SSD storage slot this summer, sources tell Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki.

The PlayStation 5's limited storage is a pain point that's caused headaches since the system launched. The PS5 console ships with a 825GB PCIe 4.0 SSD, but only 667GB of it is usable. That's not much considering games like Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War and Cyberpunk 2077 take up over 100GB a piece.

Luckily, the console has an expansion slot that supports high-end PC-grade NVMe PC SSDs, but the M.2 port is currently inactive because only specialized premium drives will work with the console. The PS5 requires expansion SSDs that match or exceed the base 5.5GB/sec I/O speeds, which are made possible by the console's custom 10-channel memory controller. Sony cautions gamers not to buy NVMe SSDs for PS5 expansion until they formally announce compatibility lists.

Destiny 2 will get cross-play this fall, allowing Xbox, PlayStation, and PC gamers to play together in PVE and Crucible.

Bungie just outlined a bunch of content and changes coming to Destiny 2 in Season 14 and Season 15. The major changes for Season 14, which kicks off in May, includes tweaks across subclasses, the return of the classic Vault of Glass raid, and a new lowered power cap raise by 10.

Season 15 is where things really start to heat up. Cross-play is finally coming to Destiny 2 to complement cross-saves, and this feature will usher in a new level of consistent engagement across the live game. Bungie didn't give an exact date when cross-play will be implemented, but Season 15 should start sometime around mid-August of this year.

A new report from Bloomberg outlines what exactly went wrong with Stadia, painting a grim picture of overreaching, overspending, and mismanagement.

Just a year after release, Google has pulled the plug on Stadia and closed all first-party studios. The service is now a storefront platform rather than the innovative new ecosystem that Google promised would go up against PlayStation, Xbox, and the Nintendo Switch. That plan failed for many reasons.

Sources tell Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that Stadia was rife with mismanagement. Google shelled out millions acquiring studios and setting up first-party games (which were later cancelled, with the studios defunded and closed) in a whirlwind of spending. Rather than starting small, Google rushed the market with a pocket full of cash, overpromises, content, and innovative features.

Eager to break farther into mobile gaming, Square Enix is making a Final Fantasy 7 battle royale game for iOS and Android. Yes, really.

With Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier, Square Enix hopes to tap the billion-dollar market that PUBG Mobile (and soon, Apex Legends) has been enjoying. The game is a mix of first-person and third-person shooter, complete with action-based combat straight out of games like Final Fantasy XV and FF7 Remake.

Classic magical spells like firaga, thundaga, blizzaga, and barrier also show in combat, offering a unique mix of unorthodox gunplay and wizadry. There looks to be both PVP chaos and PVE boss battles lifted straight out of the most recent Final Fantasy releases.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is coming to the PlayStation 5 as a next-gen re-release, but it won't be cheap.

Square Enix is bringing Final Fantasy 7 Remake over to the PS5 with high-end features like a 4K graphics mode, a 60FPS mode, overhauled texture, lighting, and weather effects, and ultra-fast loading via the system's 5.5GB/sec PCIe 4.0 SSD. Sadly, the publisher is also embracing the new $69.99 standard for next-gen games.

The company's storefront confirms the new $69.99 price tag, and we should expect new mainline Square Enix titles to adopt this pricing on next-gen hardware (although Outriders, the new game from People Can Fly, is $59.99 on PS5).

March 2021's free PlayStation Plus lineup was just revealed, and it's one of the best in the service's history with Square Enix's blockbuster Final Fantasy 7 Remake headlining the collection. There's just one small catch.

Starting Tuesday, March 2, PlayStation Plus owners can grab the massively popular Final Fantasy 7 Remake for free. This is the PS4 version, though, and won't include any upgrades. In fact, the free PS Plus version isn't eligible for FF7 Remake's free PS5 upgrade when it releases on June 10, 2021.

If you download FF7R on PS Plus, the only way you can play it on PS5 is if you re-buy the new next-gen Final Fantasy 7 Integrade re-release. It's a bit of a bummer but the upside is your PS4 saves can cross over to the PS5 version.

The popular Virtual Desktop app just got a surprise update today. After more than a year of refusing to allow wireless streaming of PC VR games on the Oculus Quest through Virtual Desktop, Facebook has approved the feature and enabled it on the official Oculus store.

Guy Godin's Virtual Desktop is one of the most popular VR applications. The software has been around since the earliest days of consumer VR and its had many iterations over the years. Virtual Desktop enables you to access your Windows desktop and all its features and applications in a virtual window within a virtual environment, including PC games and other applications.

When Oculus launched the Quest back in May 2019, Virtual Desktop launched on the standalone VR platform, and with it came a unique feature that Facebook was not fond of. The Quest version of Virtual Desktop would enable you to access SteamVR content and stream it wirelessly to your Quest headset, giving you a full untethered PC VR experience. Facebook allowed Virtual Desktop to remain on the Oculus Store, but it forced the developer to remove the streaming feature.+

Valve released a significant update to the SteamVR platform on Wednesday. Steam VR version 1.16.8 now supports the OpenXR 1.0 API, giving developers an easy path for cross-platform game releases.

Khronos Group revealed the OpenXR 1.0 specifications more than a year and a half ago. It has taken a while, but VR companies are finally getting around to embracing Khronos Group's plans. The idea behind OpenXR is to remove barriers that prevent developers from supporting all VR platforms. With OpenXR, theoretically, you can build a game once and play it with any hardware through any platform.

OpenXR is an application interface layer that interprets instructions from any game engine or XR platforms, such as Unity or WebXR. The OpenXR layer translates the instructions to work with any hardware, including Oculus Quest, HTC Vive, Magic Leap, or HoloLens 2.

Lenovo has just unveiled its new ThinkVision P40w monitor, which is the world's first Thunderbolt 4 professional display that supports Intel Active Management Technology for Intel vPro clients, too.

The new Lenovo ThinkVision P40w monitor has a large 39.7-inch panel with a 21:9 UltraWide aspect ratio, native 5120 x 2160 (5K UltraWide) resolution and smoother 75Hz refresh rate. Sitting in front of a monitor all day is a little better with the ThinkVision P40w as it has Natural Low Blue Light technology with TÖV Rheinland Eyesafe® Display Certification to reduce eye fatigue caused by high-energy blue rays, while maintaining color accuracy and performance.

We also have next-gen Thunderbolt 4 technology of which there are 2 x Thunderbolt 4 ports on the Lenovo ThinkVision P40w monitor, 1 x DisplayPort 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2.0, 3.5mm audio out, GbE, 4 x USB 3.2 Type-A ports, 1 x USB 3.2 Type-B port, and 1 x USB 3.2 Type-C port.

PUBG is still one of the most-played games in the world, with KRAFTON, Inc. announcing the "next evolution of Battle Royale on mobile" with the introduction of PUBG: NEW STATE. Check out the pre-order trailer:

PUBG: NEW STATE wipes the slate clean with some of the mechanics and feels stronger after a nice hot chicken for dinner and a Red Bull to perk you up, with new "dynamic gunplay that is easy to learn, but hard to master". The developer teases that there are new features that "evolve the battle royale experience like never before".

We can expect "ultra-realistic graphics that push the limits of mobile gaming", making more sense of the continued push into gaming smartphones from the likes of ASUS and Razer. PUBG: NEW STATE has been completely built and optimized for mobile play, which is unfortunate because a large portion of PUBG players are on PC.

NVIDIA announced its surprise new crypto mining processors last week, with the new CMP models using unknown GPUs at the time -- but now we have the bigger picture.

Inside of the new GeForce 461.72 drivers it has been confirmed that NVIDIA is re-using the Turing GPU architecture for the two lower-end CMP designs, with the CMP 30HX and CMP 40HX Crypto Mining Processors both using a Turing GPU. NVIDIA's new CMP 30HX is reportedly using the Turing TU116 GPU while the CMP 40HX is using a custom TU106 chip.

The higher-end NVIDIA CMP 50HX and CMP 90HX both have 10GB of VRAM, so it's presumed these will use Ampere GPUs and most likely the GA102 GPU. We should hopefully have the bigger picture once these new Crypto Mining Processors start floating out and into the wild.

If you were hoping that the GPU shortage situation would improve this year, I've got some bad news for you -- it's probably not going to happen. You're probably going to be waiting until 2022 to get your hands-on a new graphics card.

Between a lack of GPUs, supply chain issues caused by COVID, scalpers, new consoles, crypto miners and the entire semiconductor industry buckling under the pressure... graphics cards are nigh impossible to find. According to JP Morgan analyst Harlan Sur, the demand for GPUs is 10-30% greater than the output -- as in, how many cards are being made.

It's going to take foundries like TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) to make millions more GPUs so that millions of graphics cards can be sold. It would take 3-6 months to fill distribution channels according to Sur, getting chips into the hands of AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA -- so that gamers, months after, can buy them -- finally.