Latest News - Page 2190

Update: I've since confirmed this with AMD and they will be providing me with a response shortly.

AMD launched their next-gen Vega GPU architecture just a few weeks ago and it has been a sea of controversy ever since, but now we're hearing that Radeon Technologies Group boss Raja Koduri is going on a break until the start of 2018, with AMD CEO Lisa Su stepping into Koduri's shoes for the next few months.

Radeon RX Vega launched in two varieties: Radeon RX Vega 56 and Radeon RX Vega 64, offering GeForce GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 levels of performance. Both cards were meant to represent a return to form for Radeon, especially as the GPU division split off into RTG in the end of 2015.

Apple has released the most exciting iPhone in years with the new iPhone X, and while it might not step right up to the top of the smartphone mountain and claim dominance over all of its competitors, the new iPhone X is a compelling enough smartphone for Apple fans to stick with the fruit logo company.

Apple has used its new A11 processor that offers up to 30% more performance over its predecessor, while rocking Face ID technology, VR/AR integration, and a beautiful OLED panel that Apple of course calls "Super Retina Display".

The new A11 chip is a 6-core processor, made up of two big and four LITTLE cores based on the big.LITTLE technology. This allows the new iPhone X to include 30% more performance, while throwing in a huge 50% power efficiency improvement over the previous-gen A10 processor.

The latest update for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is here, at least for those on the PTR servers, that has improved performance for low-end PCs, and a bunch of other stuff going on.

Bluehole has improved foggy weather conditions, better sky visuals in pre-existing weather effects, an improved UI and better shadows, and so much more. The new September update has a lot going on:

Client Optimization

Toshiba have been busy, with recently announcing the release of the X300 HDD range and now releasing the new ultra-compact MQ04 Series 1 TB HDD.

The 2.5" MQ04 HDD is compatible with various systems- notebooks, PCs, game systems, all-in-one slim-line desktop systems, set-top box appliances, and other applications requiring high capacity and durability storage. Featuring 6 Gbit/s SATA interface and 5,400 RPM combined with a large 128MiB buffer, the MQ04 sees an increased performance of 34 percent increase over its predecessor, the 1TB MQ01 series.

"Achieving 1 TB per disk capacity is a big advancement in both value and performance, and without increasing weight in portable PCs," said Scott Wright, Director of HDD Product Marketing at Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. "With a field-proven single disk 7 mm design heritage, the new Toshiba MQ04 1 TB model offers reliable performance and capacity at the leading edge of mobile client HDD technology and value."

Last year when Nintendo released the NES Classic, there was extreme supply issues that caused people to sell their NES Classic's at inflated prices for profit. Move ahead a year and Nintendo are planning to release the SNES Classic Edition and it appears it's a case of déjà vu.

When Nintendo's SNES Classic Edition went on sale last month, it was instantly sold out. Reggie Fils-Aimé, Nintendo of America President, spoke to the Financial Times and said that he "would strongly urge" anyone trying to purchase a SNES Classic to avoid using auction sites and that you realistically shouldn't have to pay more than the $79.99 price. Reggie also stated that Nintendo have "dramatically increased" production for SNES Classic to eliminate supply issues we saw with the original NES Classic.

To shut down rumors that Nintendo purposely held back stock make the NES Classic more sought-after item, Fils-Aime said the company was not holding back stock on purpose and that Nintendo simply didn't produce enough units. He also said that Nintendo anticipated that their retro console wouldn't be very popular due to other companies retro console sales figures.

IoT is the future, not doubt about it. ASRock have taken the initiative and released their new smart home router, the X10. Featuring dual-band Wi-Fi with MU-MIMO and Beamforming support, ASRock have included tech savvy features such as ZigBee and IR blasters. This allows the X10 to control various smart devices to create a central hub for your home network.

ZigBee radio allows for compatible smart home appliances (sensors, lighting, heaters, security systems, etc.) using a 250 Kbit/s channel and enable users to read/control through the ASRock Router app for Apple iOS and Google Android. ASRock Router app is also capable of setting automated scenes, this means your router can have the lights turn off when you go to bed, or turn on your TV when you get up in the morning. This allows for users to have complete control over their smart devices in their home using only their phone or tablet.

The X10's IR blasters allow the router to control devices such as TVs or air conditioners. Unfortunately, the router must be in direct line of the device to allow for the IR signal to not be interrupted for this feature to work. Other features you can expect from your X10 is the ability to operate a private VPN server, parental controls and the impressive geofencing feature. This allows you the ability to have cameras and security systems turn on when you leave your house and turn on your lights when you return.

If you're like me, you spent hundreds of hours playing Super Mario 64 on your Nintendo 64. Well, thanks for a new fan project, you're going add a few more hours to that collection but with a twist. With multiple playable characters, each with their own unique handling and move-set, you can play with up to 24 friends online to create the perfect star-hunting party, or to create havoc for each other.

Modders Kaze Emanuar, Melonspeedruns and Marshivolt have published Super Mario 64 Online, a tool that modifies Super Mario 64 ROM. The project requires some work to enable it, but it's a small price to pay to relive Super Mario 64 with friends. Player save games are separate, but are in the same world and can interact with each other. This means players still must collect their own stars to progress through the story.

I still remember pumping hundreds of hours into Battlefield 1942 when it came out, after a heavy multi-year addiction to Quake and Unreal, and even Unreal Tournament (oh and let's not forget Half-Life and a million other great first-person shooters from the 90s).

Fast forward 15 years and we're now looking at an attempt to bring Battlefield 1942 into the new world ruled by high-res gaming monitors, right up to 4K and beyond. 'ScureHD' on moddb.com and YouTube has posted has put some good work into the Battlefield 1942 Remaster Project, with a damn good paint job on the old DICE technology that powered by Refractor Engine 2, the engine that powered Codename Eagle (internet points for those who remember CE).

Before the days of Frostbite, which looks freaking incredible these days, were the days of BF1942 in its usual 1024x768 resolution or so when it debuted. Now we have 4K and beyond displays with the new work from ReShade looking great - at least for a game of its age, with new particle effects (dust, smoke, explosions and more), new water effects, higher resolution reflections, higher quality level of detail, and more.

Intel will be launching its new Coffee Lake CPU architecture led by the flagship Core i7-8700K processor on October 5, but between now and then we have some leaked details and benchmarks to share with you.

This was all kicked off with Canadian tech journalist Karl Morin finding himself with HP's new Omen desktop PC which rocks an unreleased Core i7-8700K processor, so he used a monitor quickly and benchmarked it. As VideoCardz points out, it's actually funny that Karl did this as there was a HP representative standing right next to him.

There are some Cinebench results to share, with some CPU-Z benchmarks in both single- and multi-threaded modes.

Philips have unveiled their new 49-inch curved UltraWide display, with the new Philips 492P8 (best name ever!) that will cost just over $1000 and provide a mammoth 49-inch panel with a native resolution of 3840x1080.

The new Philips 492P8 monitor joins the company's P-line of displays, aimed at professionals. There's not much known about the monitor right now, apart from its huge 49-inch panel with an awesome 32:9 aspect ratio and 3840x1080 native resolution, 5000:1 contrast ratio, LED backlighting, and 1800R curve.

We can also expect 1 x DP, 2 x HDMI, and 1 x D-Sub connector, 3.5mm input and output, 2 x USB 3.0 Type-A ports, and 1 x GbE connector.

Qualcomm has come out trolling Apple the day before the new iPhone is announced, and so did Samsung with the announcement of their new 11nm and 7nm nodes coming in 2018. Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi has joined in on the iTrolling, with the announcement of their new Mi Notebook Pro.

Xiaomi's new Mi Notebook Pro rocks a 15.6-inch 1080p display with Corning's Gorilla Glass tech, with configurations available with up to the Intel Core i7-8550U processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 256GB PCIe-based SSD. Inside, we can expect NVIDIA's GeForce MX 150 graphics as standard, 2 x USB Type-C ports, 2 x USB 3.0 ports, a full-sized HDMI port, 3-in-1 SD card reader, and the courageous 3.5mm headphone jack.

Xiaomi also includes a large glass touchpad with a built-in fingerprint sensor, dual Harmon Infinity speakers, a full-size backlit keyboard with 1.5mm key travel, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 tech. Battery wise we have a 60kW battery that should be good for up to 9 hours of local video playback, but Xiaomi is providing quick charge technology that will provide 50% charge in just 35 minutes.

This is why I love Qualcomm: they've come out trolling Apple on the eve of their new iPhone announcement by releasing a list of "Android Firsts", which is a freaking long list of technologies that have all been done first on Android. Here's the list:

The list includes some of the technologies that we've all come to love, including fast-charging and Quick Charge technology, dual cameras, iris authentication, fingerprint under the display, 4K display, gigabit LTE, Bluetooth 5, and so much more. It really rubs the lemon right into Apple's eye, and rightfully so.

Apple markets itself and their new products like they created creation itself, but they didn't. Qualcomm, Samsung, HTC, LG, Xiaomi, Motorola, and many other companies are leaders in the technology world... not Apple.

Toshiba has just launched its new X300 line up of mechanical HDDs, with 4TB/5TB/6TB/8TB options that range between $119 and $259, while providing good speeds for those who want big storage.

Toshiba's new X300 family of HDDs have a 7200RPM spindle speed, with 128MB of cache, with the 8TB model set to provide around 240MB/sec of read speeds. We don't know the actual speeds yet, but I'm sure Toshiba will be providing those soon enough.

The flagship 8TB model has a self-contained cache algorithm that features on-board buffer management, something that is said to improve the cache allocation of read/write operations that provides increased performance. Toshiba might tease that, but we have no official performance numbers to go by... so, that's kind of redundant IMO.

On the eve of Apple's new iPhone announcement, Samsung has come out swinging by announcing their new 11nm LPP process will be ready for mass production in the first half of 2018. Beyond that, Samsung is also confident with its 7nm EUV upgrade for the second half of 2018.

Samsung's new 11nm LPP process is a scale down of their 14nm LPP process that is found in mid-range processors, while the new 11nm LPP process will power next-gen Exynos SoC products from Samsung. The smaller 11nm LPP tech has 15% additional performance and a 10% area shrink, all with the same power consumption of 14nm LPP.

VP and Head of Foundry Marketing for Samsung Electronics, Ryan Lee, said: "Samsung has added the 11nm process to our roadmap to offer advanced options for various applications. Through this, Samsung has completed a comprehensive process roadmap spanning from 14nm to 11nm, 10nm, 8nm, and 7nm in the next three years".

Apple will be announcing its new iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X smartphones in the next 24 hours, so it comes as no surprise that more details are leaking on the flagship iPhone X handset.

According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will reportedly have a massive shortage of iPhone X handsets, which will be in very limited supplies for a few weeks. Why? Production issues, new technologies being used, and "specific problems" with the gold version of the iPhone X which leads to constrained supplies.

Apple's main competitor is supplying the OLED displays, so it'll be interesting to see how Samsung plays this out in the coming months with OLED display constraints. It seems they have no problems making OLED panels for their Galaxy S8 and new Note 8 smartphones, while Apple's new iPhone X will suffer.

It was only a matter of time until PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds hit the 1 million concurrent users, September 9 saw a record high of 1,028,275 players online at once. Knocking off the previous king of Steam, Valve's Dota 2 for the day. Today has seen PUBG fall short of only 183,959 concurrent users on Dota 2's record of 1,295,114 users online at once. Let's face it, it's a question of when, not if, PUBG will break Dota 2's record.

Remember that PUBG is still in Early Access and will continue to grow with their new desert map on the horizon and backed with constant content updates. The question is how big will PUBG become? A challenger for League of Legends? You bet.

I don't think there's a person on this planet that isn't aware of the current hurricanes swirling around in the Atlantic Ocean, but Tesla has stepped up for people escaping Florida in their electric cars by unlocking battery capacity.

Tesla has been unlocking the full battery pack of their current Model S and Model X vehicles, in both 60 and 60D vairants, from their stock 60 kWh to the larger 75 kWh. Tesla has software locked their batteries to 60 kWh, but unlocked the Model S/X 60/60D vehicles to their full 75 kWh capacity for those stuck in Florida.

This provides Tesla owners with an extra 30-40 miles of range for free, so they can drive out of Hurricane Irma. Tesla will continue keeping the full 75 kWh battery unlock through to September 16.

It's only a few weeks until the beta of Star Wars Battlefront II kicks off, with EA DICE preparing the beta for PC, Xbox One, and PS4 games between October 6 and 9. But between now and then, we have some leaked details on what the Battlefront II beta should include.

Reddit user 'Some_Info' has leaked out some details on the upcoming beta of Battlefront II, which should include three maps. These three maps should be Galactic Assault (40 players) on Theed, Starfighter Assault on Fondor (24 players) and then Strike which is set on t he planet Takodana. We should expect an offline Skirmish mode, which should feature solo, split-screen and co-op gaming for up to two gamers.

Star Wars Battlefront II's upcoming beta will drop on the PC, Xbox One and PS4 on October 6, running for three days, through to October 9. The beta should weigh in at something like 14-16GB, with the full game coming out on November 17.

AMD might have tripped over releasing Radeon RX Vega in its current form, but the upcoming Vega 20 chip should be a monster. According to Digitimes, orders have already been placed for Vega 11 (the cut down version of the current flock of Vega cards), while Vega 20 is right around the corner.

Digitimes reports: "Packaging specialist SPIL, which has already obtained orders for AMD's Vega 10-series chips, will continue to hold the majority of backend orders for the Vega 11 series, the sources noted". Globalfoundries will make AMD's new Vega 11 chips on the 14nm LPP process, while SPIL will take care of the packaging and integration of the GPU and HBM2 dies.

But we're not here for Vega 11 news now, are we? Vega 20 is AMD's next-gen high-end GPU that will be built to handle all tasks between 4K and beyond gaming, AI and supercomputing. The big news here is that AMD will reportedly be tapping TSMC for their new Vega 20 creation, as it will be baked onto TSMC's surely impressive 7nm process.

The leading bid for Toshiba Memory Corp are now up to $22 billion, sources have told Reuters.

A consortium of buyers made up of chip-maker SK Hynix, investment firm Bain Capital, and numerous Japanese investors have raised their bid on Toshiba's storage chip business to 2.4 trillion yen, or $22.3 billion, sources familiar with the matter tell Reuters. Toshiba seeks to sell its storage business in an attempt to plug a massive earnings hole left by its failed Westinghouse nuclear business, which caused the company to lose $8.7 billion in its 2016 fiscal year.

U.S.-based Western Digital, who led a major bid for Toshiba's chip unit, has reportedly dropped out of the runnings. Sources say Toshiba is reviewing three consortium offers for the storage business, which included bids from a group led by Foxconn. Interestingly enough, tech giant Apple has backed all offers for Toshiba Memory Corp in an attempt to become closer to the source of storage memory to power its slate of iPhone devices.