Latest News - Page 1743

ASRock let slip that AMD is about to launch its new Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics card, with a product listing on ASRock's own website that had the full specs for their upcoming Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB Challenger graphics card.

The full specs on AMD's new Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics card is now here, so we know that it will use a decent Navi GPU with 36 compute units and 2304 stream processors -- the same core count as the higher-end Radeon RX 5700. Where the new RX 5600 XT is different, is in its GDDR6 configuration.

AMD will be offering its new Radeon RX 5600 XT with 6GB of GDDR6 at 12Gbps on a 192-bit memory bus which will result in 288GB/sec of memory bandwidth. This is a big difference to the 14Gbps modules used on the higher-end Radeon RX 5700/XT (as well as more of it with 8GB versus 6GB) which results in 448GB/sec of memory bandwidth.

ADATA is about to step into a few different markets in the PC business at CES 2020, with a new 15.6-inch gaming laptop, full gaming PCs, and a new 27-inch gaming monitor.

The new ADATA XPG Photon gaming monitor uses a 27-inch IPS panel with Vivid Color Eye-Safe Display technology from PixelDisplay Inc -- the first-ever in a gaming monitor. ADATA says that this new technology will reduce eye strain for those late-night gaming sessions.

This technology eliminates blue light but does so without washing out all of the colors, using film, or using blue-blocking glasses. ADATA will provide the ability for XPG Photon gaming monitor owns to switch between the wide-color gamut during the day, and then switch over during the night.

MSI has just announced its new Optix MA272QR gaming monitor, a new 27-inch gaming display with a native 2560 x 1440 resolution and super-fast 165Hz refresh rate for a damn good price of just $350.

You can buy MSI's new monitor on Amazon and Newegg right now, and considering its price... I'm quick off the mark on recommending it if you're in the market for a new gaming display. MSI is selling its new Optix MAG272QR monitor for $350 in a world when 1440p 144/165Hz gaming monitors are over $400 -- and sometimes, even up to $600 or more.

MSI is using an 8-bit+FRC VA panel which is just better than a normal TN panel, so we have a nice blend of image quality and price here with the MAG272QR. MSI includes a slew of connectivity in the form of DisplayPort, HDMI 2.0b, USB 2.0 Type-A ports, USB 2.0 Type-B ports, and USB-C connectors as well as the yay-it's-still-included 3.5mm audio jack.

Sony's new DualShock 5 controller may come standard with two extra trigger-buttons on the back of the controller.

We know Sony is sprucing up the PS5's next-gen controller with nifty additions like USB-C, a built-in mic, and the removal of top energy-draining lightbar. But a brand new patent suggests the DualShock 5 could come stock with two extra buttons on the back, similar to the premium Xbox Elite controller.

The patent mostly discusses the orientation of the buttons to the controller itself, including their angle and how the sensors are placed within the housing. The description is on the layout rather than the actual functionality of the back paddles themselves. There's no talk of the buttons being customizable or programmable, but expect this to be the case.

Lexar is planning for a massive year in 2020 with rumors pegging the company to launch a new PCIe 4.0-based NVMe SSD which is capable of 7GB/sec reads... exceeding the 5GB/sec we're seeing on the market now.

Lexar has been teasing a new prototype SSD t hat pushes 7GB/sec in IOMeter, and pushes 6442MB/sec in sequential reads in CrystalDiskMark, while pushing 4246MB/sec in sequential writes. Lexar itself has said the final retail version of this SSD will have close to the same speeds as it does in its current prototype form.

Right now, the fastest SSD in Lexar's product stack is the Lexar NM610 -- which comes in 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB capacities. Lexar's current flagship NM610 SSD reaches just 2.1GB/sec reads and 1.6GB/sec writes, so this new SSD is over 3x faster in reads alone which is a gigantic upgrade. 7GB/sec is no joke.

Apple is reporting working on a new "gaming-focused" Mac that it would introduce in 2020, with new reports suggesting that Apple's new gaming Mac would compete against high-end pre-built gaming PCs.

A new report by Patently Apple suggests that Apple's new gaming Mac could cost up to $5000, which is no surprise given Apple is not afraid of charging ridiculous prices for its products. Hell, we have a new Mac Pro that costs over $50,000 -- with its Pro Display XDR costing $5000 and requiring Apple's specific-made cloth to clean, and it can even be configured with wheels that cost $400.

Apple's new gaming-focused Mac would cost up to $5000 and be aimed at the esports market, which would be an interesting flex for Apple which has -- at least right now -- zero interest in the esports market. The new Apple gaming PC could be an all-in-one desktop gaming PC or a new gaming-ready MacBook Pro (or a new moniker).

It looks like we just learned another fact about the human race -- where we took our first footsteps, with new research suggesting humanity's earliest footsteps took place in a pre-historic wetland called Makgadikgadi-Okavango, south of the Great Zambezi River.

The ancestors of Homo sapiens started over 200,000 years ago according to the researchers, where Botswana, and even parts of Namibia and Zimbabwe are just south of the where modern day humanity's first footsteps took place. Climate change is being blamed as to why the ancestors of modern day humans moved some 70,000 years ago -- forcing them to migrate out of Africa and then spread throughout the planet.

Previous fossil evidence led researchers to believe that modern humans started out in eastern Africa, but new DNA evidence is showing that the Botswana/Africa region is where it all started. Vanessa Hayes, lead study author at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the University of Sydney explains: "It has been clear for some time that anatomically modern humans appeared in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago. What has been long debated is the exact location of this emergence and subsequent dispersal of our earliest ancestors. We've been able to pinpoint what we believe is our human homeland".

It looks like AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards could get a little more expensive in 2020, with a new report from DigiTimes suggesting graphics card prices will rise because of the current DRAM shortages.

DigiTimes reports that GDDR memory is expected to rise in price sometime during Q1 2020, somewhere over 5% according to DigiTimes' source in DRAMeXchange. DRAMeXchange explains: "Graphics DRAM is more sensitive to demand change than other types of memory products, so its price fluctuations can be dramatic as well. With OEM clients raising their stock-up demand, Graphics DRAM contract prices are projected to increase by over 5% QoQ, the highest among all memory products".

The move by both NVIDIA first with its new Turing-based GeForce RTX graphics cards, and then continued with the Navi-based Radeon RX 5700 series prompted this as both GPU makers moved on to GDDR6 memory. The upgrade from GDDR5 memory to GDDR6 is causing supply issues as less and less GDDR5 is ordered, while GDDR6 memory is in huge demand.

Sony is making it tremendously easy for developers to harness the raw 8K might of Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 console.

In a recent interview with Dengeki Online, Sony exec Shuhei Yoshida confirms developers are smoothly transitioning their games onto the new high-end PlayStation 5. This strongly indicates the system shares the PS4's architecture and games-making tools, even if the PS5 uses AMD's new RDNA 2-powered Navi and Zen 2 CPU SoC.

Sony has gone through great lengths to ensure a kind of software and OS synergy between the two systems.

Bethesda Game Studios' main Maryland branch is hiring for a video editor, hinting that new footage for its big new space epic Starfield might be on the way.

Zenimax just put out a new job listing for a video editor at BGS' central Maryland studio--the same studio who spearheads development of core RPG franchises like Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and new IPs. Right now BGS Maryland is working on two big projects: Starfield, a brand new singleplayer space IP with RPG elements, and The Elder Scrolls VI, which is only coming after Starfield.

Based on the current slate, it stands to reason that any new hires for Bethesda Games Studios might be working on Starfield. It's likely the video editor is spinning up trailers and gameplay footage for Starfield's possible E3 2020 debut. Bethesda previously announced Starfield at E3 2018, but no real footage of the game has been released just yet.

Spotify, the largest music streaming platform in the world, has said that it will stop running political ads in 2020.

Spotify spoke to Ad Age about its new approach to political ads on its platform, and the company said that for the time being, they would be putting a "pause" on political advertising. This "pause" will affect the free ad-supported version of Spotify and any original podcasts it makes.

This change will also only apply for the US as this is the only country that is currently running political ads. Third-party users will still be able to implement political ads into their content, just as long as they fall into line with Spotify's content policy.

We are about to head into the new year, and gamers around the globe are probably sitting there wondering what games they should sink their teeth into as a video game resolution in 2020. Don't worry. I've got your back.

2020 will no doubt be a big year for games, just as 2019 has. But what games haven't you played that are in the previous years? This list will give you ten great titles that will definitely be worth your while picking up and giving a shot if you haven't already.

Keep in mind, this list is my personal opinion. I cannot speak for every gamer out there, so there's no guarantee that you are going to absolutely love them. All I can do is recommend some great titles that I believe are must-plays and hope you have a good time trying them out.

Lenovo is rumored to be throwing its hat into the gaming smartphone ring, joining the likes of ASUS and Razer with their feature-packed and super-powered gaming smartphones.

The rumor is coming from a post on Chinese social networking site Weibo, which teases that Lenovo is working on a high-end gaming smartphone that would be launched under its gaming brand Legion. The post itself is from a new Weibo account under the Legion brand, with the account verified and owned by Lenovo Mobile Communications Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

This could all be rumors and hearsay, but if we trust the verified account and that it's owned by Lenovo -- it looks like it could be the real deal. We also know, according to previous rumors, that Lenovo was working on a new high-end smartphone powered by the then-flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ chip... but now Qualcomm has its new Snapdragon 865 launching in 2020. We should expect Lenovo to pack the new Snapdragon 865 into its new Legion gaming phone.

Intel is preparing its new range of 10th Gen CPUs for 2020, with VideoCardz tweeting out some juicy information on the upcoming Intel Core i9-10900K processor and its clock speeds.

According to this tweet from VideoCardz the Intel Core i9-10900K will have a base CPU clock of 3.7GHz, single turbo of 5.1GHz, max turbo boost of 5.2GHz and a mysterious new 'velocity boost' of 5.3GHz. The new velocity boost is something that isn't quite that new -- but it will be for most people.

Intel has used Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) previously in notebook CPU designs, but it seems it could be skipping the silicon pond into the desktop CPU realm with its new Core i9-10900K (and I'm sure, other 10th Gen CPU designs). If the tweet from VideoCardz is correct, the Thermal Velocity Boost on the Core i9-10900K will be 5.3GHz.

If you want the most insane VR setup imaginable, it would have to be a full-body VR suit and VR gloves -- thankfully, Teslasuit has your back, and well, every other part of your body.

Teslasuit has just announced its new Teslasuit Glove, a new physical pair of gloves that you wear that detect the movement of its user (or in this case, wearer) and provide them with tactile feedback. You can use the glove on its own or with the full VR suit, if you want the full experience.

Teslasuit explains that with its new Glove, wearers can even feel virtual textures thanks to its packed-in "haptics, motion capture, biometry and force feedback". Teslasuit can see its future full-body VR suit and gloves used in tele-control systems or for medical rehabilitation, which the company adds it can even monitor wearers' stress levels and heart rate in real-time, too. I can see these being used for next-gen paintball matches, without the physical pain (or at least much less) of paintball exploding on your body.

While most of Messengers users have Facebook accounts, there is still a portion of people who don't want to have a Facebook account, but still want to use the messaging service.

Times are now changing, and those portion of people will now be required to sign up to Facebook to access Messenger. According to the website's Help Center, "you'll need to create a Facebook account to use Messenger." Originally, users could sign up to Messenger by just entering their phone number and not having to worry about having a Facebook account. That option has now been revoked.

VentureBeat has also got the news confirmed to them via Facebook, here's what they said "If you're new to Messenger, you'll notice that you need a Facebook account to chat with friends and close connections. We found that the vast majority of people who use Messenger already log in through Facebook and we want to simplify the process."

With the planet becoming more and more demanding on energy, physicists already began exploring ways of creating unlimited energy. Now, we could be on the brink of unlocking it.

The Sun, our main source of energy in the solar system, generates its energy by nuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium. At the Sun's core, 500 million metric tons of hydrogen are fused each second, emitting massive amounts of energy. Physicists for some time have been trying to attempt to replicate this same principle of nuclear fusion on Earth, and if that is achieved, we can expect an unlimited supply of electricity.

According to scientists from the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), boron powder has been injected into the plasma allowing for more control of the experiment, a lowering in greenhouse gas emissions, and removal of long-term radioactive waste. Adding boron powder to the mix of plasma prevents the tungsten in tokamak (fusion facilities) walls from interacting with the plasma.

Have you ever wondered what Earth would look like hundreds of millions of years from now? Scientists wondered the same thing and decided to great a great animated video of what our blue planet would appear to look like.

General science dictates that the entire Earth is divided into several tectonic plates that are floating on top molten rock. When these tectonic plates bump, we experience large scale earthquakes, sometimes resulting in tsunamis, depending on how big the 'bump' is.

Chris Scotese, a professor with Northwestern University's Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences studies the planets plate tectonics and how Earth's appearance will change in the future. On his YouTube channel, he has created an animated video showcasing how Earth will change in the millions of years to come, all the way up to 250 million years plus.

If you have been out of the Tesla news loop, then you should know that the company recently revealed its new Cybertruck.

Tesla is selling their electric Cybertruck for $39,990 and $76,900, but if that sounds too expensive for you, then you could always pick-up these Russian YouTuber's knock-off version. Russian YouTube channel "Pushka Garazh" or "Gun Garage" in English created a replica of the Cybertruck but with some considerable;e differences that make up for the price difference.

The Russians took an old Russian car owned by one of the fellow YouTubers and spent about $1,300 on doing up the exterior to look very, very similar to the Cybertruck. What isn't the same as the Cybertruck is that the Russian version is not electric, and it doesn't have any doors. The only way to get into the replica is via a single large hatch in the rear of the car. The YouTubers have reportedly put the Cybertruck recreation up for sale for $10,700, or 666,666 rubles.

Just as we are about to close out the decade, we have been blessed by the annual solar eclipse. This year the Moon passed in front of the Sun to create a "Ring of Fire" effect.

People in the Eastern Hemisphere would have been star-struck as the Moon passed in front of the Sun, covering the face of the star. Due to the Moon being much smaller than the Sun and the position of Earth at the time, the leftover light emitting from Sun bled around the sides of the Moon, creating that gorgeous "Ring of Fire" effect.

According to Alexander Krivenyshev, the man who took the above image, "It was an amazing experience. This morning's annular eclipse was during sunrise, with some sand dust by the horizon. [A] beautiful, really beautiful, classic 'Ring of Fire' above Saudi Arabia." Not only did people on the ground enjoy the light display, but so did the astronauts in the International Space Station. Astronaut Jessica Meir posted several images of the show the Moon was casting on Earth on her Twitter account, check out those images in the entirety of this article.