If you're an EA/Origin Access member on the Xbox One or PC, you can get into the 10-hour trial of Mass Effect: Andromeda - the expansive new RPG from EA and BioWare. We dived in for a few hours, playing around with some of our graphics cards, playing Mass Effect: Andromeda at 4K on Ultra settings on NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 1080 Ti.

As you can see, we're pulling an average of around 60FPS at this resolution on the GTX 1080 Ti - something the developer promised. This is, however, just the trial - and there will be the full game release next week, where we can dive into the performance side in a bigger way.

I used:

We all know just how much CPU and especially RAM that Chrome can eat up, but Google promises that Chrome 57's background tabs will be limited to an average CPU load of just 1%, on a single CPU core.

Google explains the throttling method that they've used on background tabs on their Developers website, with Google pushing every background tab into its own time budget (in seconds), with specific CPU time for the tab to complete its process - and is limited to just 10 seconds, freeing up CPU cycles. The company does note that the regeneration code can be shifted around, as they take in more data about how background tabs are throttled.

If you're like me - right now, you've got a background tab playing music through Google Play Music, so there will be some exceptions to background tab throttling in order to see those tabs not crashing or not functioning properly.

Khronos Group has the technology and gaming worlds excited over its Vulkan API, which is a low-level API that provides more performance from your graphics card in games that utilize the API - like DOOM.

But after their GDC 2017 slides were looked over, native multi-GPU support for NVIDIA GeForce SLI and AMD Radeon CrossFire setups now require WDDM to be set to "linked display adapter mode", something that is exclusive to Windows 10. This means that Vulkan and its multi-GPU goodness is locked to Windows 10, eyeing off Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users with multi-GPUs, with a striking glare.

Game developers have to add multi-GPU, DX12, and/or Vulkan support in manually - so this isn't too much of a surprise, but whatever Khronos, Microsoft, NVIDIA, or AMD can do to make game developers' lives easier for multi-GPU goodness, they should be doing. This kind of feels like a step backwards.

Microsoft had quite the surprise hit on its hands with its beyond impressive Surface Book, with its successor surely in the development stages - and it could arrive quicker than anticipated, with DigiTimes reporting that Microsoft could make a big change in Surface Book 2.

According to the latest reports, Surface Book 2 might drop the 2-in-1 style with a clamshell-style product - this would mean we might not see Microsoft letting you use Surface Book 2 like a tablet. This is a good and bad thing, as people who use Surface Book as a tablet (at least sometimes) won't like the news - but it's a heavy device, and doesn't bode well in tablet use. As a laptop? Rock solid. Tablet mode? Not so much.

Inside, we should see Microsoft beef up the specs of Surface Book 2 with the new Kaby Lake CPU architecture from Intel, with Core i5 and Core i7 offerings - and I'm sure we'll see the use of NVIDIA's awesome GeForce GTX 10 series graphics card, too. The original Surface Book rocked a strange 3000x2000 resolution display, but I'm expecting MS to bump it up to a full 4K display on Surface Book 2.

After reporting from a well placed source that NVIDIA would be supplying a Pascal-based Tegra design for Nintendo Switch (Derek's super detailed, super awesome review on the Nintendo Switch is here), we've been proven wrong - thanks to a new teardown by Tech Insights.

The teardown shows that Nintendo used a stock Tegra X1 processor - not a custom Tegra processor, and a Maxwell-based GM208 GPU. Last October, NVIDIA teased that the Nintendo Switch would be powered "by the performance of the custom Tegra processor". But the teardown shows that it's nothing custom, and a stock Tegra X1 processor instead.

Tech Insights' report states: "After subsequent processing of the GPU from the Nintendo Switch, we have determined that the processor is the NVIDIA Tegra T210. The T210 CPU features 4 Cortex A57 and 4 Cortex A53 processor cores and the GPU is a GM20B Maxell core".

Qualcomm is redefining what the Snapdragon brand is, with an announcement of a "new naming structure" for Snapdragon. The move will see the entire hardware and software platform on a Snapdragon-powered device being referred to as Snapdragon, and not just the processor.

The company explains: "For decades, the semiconductor industry has used the term "processor" to mean the component that powers the most advanced devices. It's a word that Qualcomm Technologies has embraced over the years with our Snapdragon brand, or as we say-our Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. But the word is an inadequate representation of what the technology actually is, and the solutions that tens of thousands of Qualcomm Technologies innovators have worked on".

Qualcomm continues: "In truth, Snapdragon is more than a single component, a piece of silicon, or what many would misinterpret as the CPU; it's an anthology of technology, comprising hardware, software, and services that are not fully captured in a word like "processor." That is why Qualcomm Technologies is refining our terminology by referring to Snapdragon as a "platform" instead of a processor".

AMD hosted its technology summit in Beijing, China covering its new Ryzen 5 processor launch - with AMD CEO Lisa Su taking the stage to unveil the new price/performance champions in the Ryzen family - but there was a very slight, but very exciting tease of Radeon RX Vega.

As you can see from these images, the Radeon RX Vega reference design sports a super-slick white/red/black style that I'm really loving - but the video was shown to select journalists, so we don't know how real it is. This could be an elaborate fake, and if it is - they did a good job, if it's not - AMD has an awesome looking next-gen graphics card on its hands.

AMD's upcoming Radeon RX Vega has a beautiful Vega logo on the back, with a GPU Tach LED load indicator that will be super useful - the usual RADEON branding on top with red LEDs, and a dip-switch to change the color of the LEDs... awesome.

If you're rocking Intel's new Kaby Lake CPU or AMD's super-fast Ryzen processors and running an older operating system like Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, well - you're out of luck. Microsoft no longer supports operating systems older than Windows 10 (because it's been out for so long now).

Microsoft is now gimping Kaby Lake and Ryzen CPUs on Windows 7/8.1, effectively forcing you to upgrade to Windows 10 - as they've thrown a processor check into the latest Windows Update for W7/8.1 - sneaky. This update prevents Kaby Lake and Ryzen CPU owners from downloading updates, with an error message that reads: "Your PC uses a processor that isn't supported on this version of Windows".

The more I see and hear about Arkane's new re-imagining of Prey, the more I want to play it. Now we get a nice personal glimpse at the inky shadow-aliens that will be hunting us like the prey we are.

While Arkane doesn't classify Prey as a horror game, it absolutely has cerebral and psychological elements: the game will get into players' heads (quite literally with neuromods) and has a definite Outer Limits or Twilight Zone vibe to it. This feeling is amplified in no small part by the Typhons, which are the vapor-like shadow aliens, who are almost incorporeal like a smoky fog--in many ways they seem like they might not be there at all, and Morgan Yu, the main character, could simply be going insane.

One of the most interesting cerebral mind-bending aspects of the Typhon is the Cacoplasmus, aka the Mimic. The Typhon come in all shapes and sizes, but none are so insidious as the Mimic: this Typhon can disguise itself as any nearby object like a chair or a box or even a coffee mug and patiently wait for its prey to walk by. Then, of course, it strikes.

Earlier this year, Google confirmed that the Pixel successor will come this year, although considering that the current Pixel was launched in October last year, we won't see its successor anytime soon.

What we know for sure about the upcoming Pixel is that the device will be more or less the same price as the original phone, meaning that we are looking at another premium device.

According to a new report, this year's Pixel might come in not two but three versions. Droid Life reports that Google is developing the devices under codenames "muskie," "walleye," and "taimen."

Samsung will officially launch the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in just two weeks, and we have already seen numerous leaks about the specs and the design of the upcoming flagship.

According to the latest leak, Samsung will stick to the 12MP main camera but shoot up to 1000 fps videos.

The Korean company also reportedly added DRAM to enable the high framerates.

Samsung introduced a 9.7-inch tablet, the Galaxy Tab S3, at this year's MWC in Barcelona.

The tablet, which comes with an S pen, will be available for pre-orders on March 17th with in-store availability starting on March 24th.

The Galaxy Tab S3 will be available at a price of $600 and in two colors - black and silver. You can also buy the keyboard cover separately for $130.

The LG G6 was recently announced in Barcelona during MWC, and the phone is already selling in the company's home country. The device should hit the US market on April 7th, and the Korean company has a special treat for early-adopters.

"For a limited time," if you buy an LG G6, you will also receive a free Google Home. Google Home is a nice cherry on top of the cake since the device itself costs $129.

Both the G6 and Google Home come with the Google Assistant built-in.

GoPro has found itself in a curious position, with the third reduction in its workforce since the beginning of 2016 - with the action camera giant cutting another 270 jobs from its roster, hoping to save $200 million across 2017.

The new cuts include current staff, and open positions - after posting a $373 million loss in 2016, after production delays on the new Hero 5 cameras - as well as the recall of its Karma drone. GoPro stock took a big hit, hitting an all-time low this week, but went up 10% in after hours trading.

Back in January 2016, the company ditched 7% of its global workforce - but the November cuts were worse, with 15% of its staff being thrown out of a job. GoPro also completely closed its entertainment division, and lost ex-Skype boss and GoPro president Tony Bates. GoPro hasn't stated which areas the new cuts will affect, so I'm sure we'll hear all about that in the coming weeks, and whether it'll have lingering - or potentially disastrous repercussions throughout 2017.

AMD Radeon graphics card owners will want to jump onto the new Radeon Software Crimson ReLive 17.3.2 beta drivers, with support for the soon-to-be released Mass Effect: Andromeda.

There's also a 12% performance improvement for Radeon RX 480 graphics card owners compared to previous driver releases. You can grab the new AMD Radeon Software Crimson ReLive 17.3.2 beta drivers right here.

Known Issues

Overwatch is one of the biggest games right now, with a solid foundation on the PC - but with the release of the new Nintendo Switch console, we're now hearing news that Overwatch could end up on Nintendo's new console.

During a recent Reddit AMA, Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan said: "I'm loving the Switch! My second favorite gaming platform of all time is the 3DS. Getting [Overwatch] on the Switch is very challenging for us. But we're always open minded about exploring possible platforms".

Now, "getting Overwatch on the Switch" sounds like Blizzard are working on the FPS for Nintendo's new console - but I wouldn't take this as a confirmation just yet. Also, I don't see how a super-fast paced FPS like Overwatch could work with the triggers and small screen, but in docked mode it could be fun - but without a mouse and keyboard? Pass.

Tesla Motors is looking to raise just over $1 billion, something the electric car maker will do soon as it ramps up towards the launch of its upcoming Model 3 electric vehicle - its new car priced at around $35,000.

The upcoming $1 billion injection will come from $250 million in secondary stock offerings, with another $750 million in convertible senior notes (as The Verge points out, it's "basically a loan"). There'll also be options for the underwriters to secure another 15% for each offering, while Tesla CEO and real life Tony Stark, Elon Musk, will buy $25 million in Tesla common stock as part of the deal.

Tesla will launch its new Model 3 electric car in 2018, starting from $35,000.

OtherSide Entertainment, the studio working on System Shock 3, has announced a new publishing agreement with Starbreeze Studios - the team behind PayDay, with a $12 million investment into the production of System Shock 3 for the PC, and other platforms.

System Shock 3 is in development under the careful guiding eye of legendary game developer Warren Spector, who worked on the original System Shock and System Shock 2 - as well as the original (and the best) Deus Ex and Thief: The Dark Project.

Starbreeze CEO Bo Andersson-Klint explains: "System Shock is one of those iconic franchises in the history of games that still gets my blood going and Mr. Spector is one of the founding fathers of the modern action RPG. We're greatly looking forward to bringing System Shock 3 to players world wide in our collaboration with Otherside Entertainment and Warren Spector's team. I'll be first in line to play".

GPU-Z has teased the upcoming release of the unconfirmed Radeon RX 500 series, with TechPowerUp's new GPU-Z v1.18.0 has support for the Radeon RX 580, RX 570, RX 560, and RX 550.

Most AMD partners are phasing out the older Radeon RX 400 series cards in favor of the upcoming rebranded RX 500 series cards, with a rumored price of $199 on the new Radeon RX 580, and just $149 for the new Radeon RX 570.

As for the GPU-Z 1.18.10 changelog, here it is:

AMD is just weeks away from launching its mid-range Ryzen 5 family of CPUs, with the Ryzen 5 1400, Ryzen 5 1500X, Ryzen 5 1600, and the flagship Ryzen 5 1600X processor.

AMD's new Ryzen 5 family is their mid-range offering to fight off the higher-end Core i3 and mid-range Core i5 processors from Intel, with the new Ryzen 5 1600X being compared against Intel's Core i5-7600K in Cinebench, with AMD's new Ryzen 5 1600X being 69% faster. A huge improvement, thanks to the 6C/12T performance versus 4C/8T on the 7600K chip.

AMD Ryzen 5 CPU - core/threads - clock speeds