Latest News - Page 910

With the launch of the GeForce RTX 4070 this week (check out our reviews for multiple models here), we've got a clearer picture of the performance and efficiency gains with NVIDIA's new Ada Lovelace architecture.

Built on a custom TSMC 4N process, it presents a significant leap forward over the GeForce RTX 30 Series Ampere generation and its use of Samsung 8N regarding overall efficiency. Of course, there are advances in the underlying hardware, with next-generation RT Cores and SER (Shader Execution Reordering) and new AI hardware developed for the new DLSS 3 Frame Generation technology.

Back to the efficiency of Ada, the focus of this article - even though the GeForce RTX 4090 is a 450W-rated GPU, it rarely hits this height and scales remarkably well when it comes to gaming at lower resolutions. Based on averages across 15 Games (for a detailed breakdown of the games tested and settings, check out our review of the GeForce RTX 4070 Founders Edition), the GeForce RTX 4090 not only delivers a 70.7% uplift in performance over the 350W-rated GeForce RTX 3090, but it manages that by only using 5.9% more power.

ASUS has announced the full specs and details for its new ROG Phone 7 Series, built for high-end mobile gaming, photography, media consumption, and audio. With the addition of the AeroActive Cooler 7 that adds more cooling to the new CPU, you've also got mobile 2.1 audio that even features a dedicated subwoofer. Although it's probably the most miniature sub you'll likely find, with dimensions of 13 x 38 mm.

Hardware-wise, you've got some impressive specs with the 3.2 GHz Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform, up to 16 GB LPDDR5X RAM, 512 GB storage (UFS 4.0), and a 165 Hz Samsung AMOLED display. ASUS notes that the new Snapdragon hardware is 15% faster and 15% more power efficient than the previous generation.

Apparently, the ROG Phone 7 supports real-time hardware accelerated ray-tracing, which is impressive for a... smartphone.

Valve's Steam Deck doesn't ship with Windows 11 and runs on the Linux-based SteamOS. One of the issues people have found when running Windows 11 natively on the Stema Deck or devices like the AYANEO Air or ONEXPLAYER Mini is that the OS might support tablet-like devices with touch controls; it's not all that intuitive when using the sticks and buttons.

In a new video recorded during a Microsoft Hackathon in September 2022, where Microsoft engineers can showcase their ideas for Windows, we get an early look at what a potential Windows 11 handheld mode could look like.

This isn't confirmation that Microsoft will add handheld support to an upcoming Windows 11 release, but proof that it's aware and looking into it. With the sheer number of PC gaming handhelds hitting the market, you hope that Microsoft is seriously considering making this a reality. The recently announced ASUS ROG Ally, which runs Windows 11, will be positioned as a Steam Deck alternative - so there's more than enough reason to do so.

NVIDIA RTX Remix is a toolset that allows modders to add path tracing and use AI to enhance older PC games. It gives them a visual makeover firmly in the "remaster" category. So far, we've seen NVIDIA's own results with the impressive Portal with RTX.

Considering that it runs on Valve's Source engine, the same tech that powers the all-time classic Half-Life 2, you can be sure that there are modders out there working on bringing path tracing to one of the best single-player first-person shooters of all time.

And that's exactly what modder Igor Zdrowowicz has been doing after going hands-on with RTX Remix, sharing some truly stunning screenshots (thanks to DSOG) showcasing Half-Life 2 Path Tracing in action.

After leaking the other day, today comes the official word from AMD, unveiling its most powerful AMD Radeon PRO Graphics Cards for workstations and professionals built on the new RDNA 3 architecture.

The AMD Radeon PRO W7000 Series, covering the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 and AMD Radeon PRO W7800 graphics cards, are the first professional GPUs built using AMD's new chiplet design. And like the flagship consumer-focused AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, they also support the latest DisplayPort 2.1 standard - which has yet to be adopted by NVIDIA.

AMD promises significantly higher performance as the new workstation Radeon PRO graphics cards than the previous generation. On that front, the flagship AMD Radeon PRO W7900 features 96 Compute Units with 61 TFLOPS (FP32) performance that can deliver a 1.5X higher geoman performance on the SPECviewperf 2020 benchmark. It also sports 48GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit interface with up to 864 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

The Apex Storage X21 is a single-card storage solution that can store up to 21x M.2 NVMe Gen 4 SSDs, delivering 168 TB of storage when paired with 8TB M.2 SSDs. And that's exactly what Sabrent has done with what it calls Sabrent Apex X21 Destroyer, an impressive creation that pairs the Apex Storage X21 with 21 of its Rocket 4 Plus 8TB SSDs.

The Sabrent Apex X21 Destroyer uses a single PCIe x16 slot and requires 2 x 6-pin power connectors. Naturally, this card is designed primarily for servers and high-end workstations though the X21 is not equipped with a RAID controller chip. There's also no active cooling on the card, so additional fans would probably be needed depending on the environment.

With 21 x Rocket 4 Plus 8TB SSDs, the Sabrent Apex X21 Destroyer pushes the card to the limit delivering an eye-opening 168TB of high-speed Gen4 storage on a single card. Regarding speed, the X21 can deliver sequential read speeds of 30.5 GBps and write speeds of 28.5GBps. The random performance consists of 7.5 million and 6.2 million IOPS for reads and writes.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has been delayed into early 2024, developer Rocksteady today announced.

Rocksteady's new ambitious co-op looter shooter has been pushed back again and is now expected to release on February 2, 2024 on all platforms.

Sources have told Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier that the main scope of the delay is to polish and not to change core gameplay mechanics, so things like inventory management and arcade-style beat-em-up combat are here to stay. Some gamers have criticized Suicide Squad's gameplay, presentation, and overall content loop, comparing it to the failed Avengers live service game.

Microsoft's new prototype Xbox micro-console is still on Phil Spencer's shelf...could a reveal happen soon?

Every time Phil Spencer goes on camera there's an opportunity to learn about Xbox's future plans (this is true in more ways than one). Not only does Spencer talk about Xbox when he's onscreen, but It's a tradition that Spencer offers some clues with the items on his famous shelf. Scanning the shelf is a fun little scavenger hunt that leads to lots of engagement and discussion in the Xbox community. Sometimes the innocuous items are just that--small collectibles, knick-knacks, etc. But sometimes we get a glimpse of something very interesting...like unreleased Xbox hardware prototypes.

In a short clip about Xbox Game Pass PC expanding to more regions, a strange-looking mini Xbox can be seen on Spencer's shelf. This tiny Xbox is called Keystone, and it actually evolved from 2016's experimental Project Hobart.

Hefty graphics cards can start to perish under their own weight, with board sag breaking components, a new report underlines.

The sag - where the card is pulled down at the back with gravity, perhaps with quite some force when it comes to larger triple-slot boards equipped with giant coolers - can actually affect the VRAM modules, according to YouTuber KrisFix (who runs a German hardware repair shop).

As you can see in the above video, the repair expert shows a damaged NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti where the memory modules, which are very close to the PCIe slot, suffer from the slight bending of the board.

We've had an initial sighting of AMD's Zen 6 processors, although this is a leak we should be very careful around, as you'll see.

The spillage comes from a purported AMD engineer's LinkedIn profile, as flagged up by Wccftech, but we should note that the details were swiftly removed from the site (which isn't particularly surprising).

Furthermore, a tweet from Maraux David, pointing out the profile, has also since been deleted (although another source Wccftech followed to find this info, Kepler_L2, has not removed their tweet).

A Microsoft engineer has just highlighted a really neat tip for the Edge browser - and Chrome, too - that's worth knowing about and sharing.

We must admit, we weren't familiar with this mouse-based shortcut, and we're betting you won't be too. (Although there's bound to be the odd exception and smarty-pants out there, no doubt, who has already discovered this - and we take our hats off to you, in fairness).

This comes from Jen Gentleman, a software engineer and senior program manager at Microsoft (heavily involved with Windows testing). She tweeted about the functionality that comes in handy when you browse to another web page, and then wished you had opened that link in a new tab (to keep the previous page up).

A new multigeneration deal between Intel and Arm will enable third-party chip designers and manufacturers to build mobile SoCs on the 18A process node. Using Intel's manufacturing to create Arm-based SoCs is a pretty big deal in that it will lead to Arm chip designs using Intel's 18A node and third parties hiring Intel to make their chips.

The 18A process technology has been designed for improved power and performance, and this deal is the latest step in Intel expanding its manufacturing capacity in the U.S. and EU. And positions Intel to compete directly with TSMC and offer more cutting-edge manufacturing globally.

"This collaboration will enable a more balanced global supply chain for foundry customers working in mobile SoC design on Arm-based CPU cores," writes Intel. "By unlocking Arm's leading-edge compute portfolio and world-class IP on Intel process technology, Arm partners will be able to take full advantage of Intel's open system foundry model, which goes beyond traditional wafer fabrication to include packaging, software, and chiplets."

RTX Remix is a groundbreaking modding tool developed by NVIDIA that allows budding developers and modders to remaster DirectX 8 and 9 games with path tracing, DLSS, new assets, and even the ability to use AI to enhance existing textures.

The technology was used to develop the incredible Portal with RTX that brought path tracing and new visuals to Valve's classic game. Today NVIDIA is releasing the RTX Remix runtime as open source on GitHub, with an RTX Remix creator toolkit expected to hit Early Access soon.

"Our main goal is to expand game compatibility and extend the features of Remix in collaboration with the community," writes NVIDIA. "In keeping with that aim, NVIDIA will accept pull requests on Github for code submissions from the community, provide feedback, and help advance code until it is mature enough to be merged into the official RTX Remix runtime."

The Print Screen key or 'Prt Sc' has been on keyboards since the dawn of desktop computing, where back in the 1980s, it would send stuff on your screen over to a physical printer to print it out while making a loud dot matrix noise.

With the arrival of Windows 95, though, the functionality changed, and it became a screenshot tool to capture a snapshot of your entire screen to Clipboard that you could then paste into an app to edit or save. Fast forward to 2023, the age of Windows 10 and 11, and the functionality remains the same. Unchanged for decades until now.

As spotted by Windows Latest, referencing Windows 11 version KB5025310 available in the Beta channel, Microsoft is changing the default behavior of the Print Screen key to integrate it with the Windows Snipping Tool.

VLC Media Player is one of the most popular standalone apps for playing video files on PC, and today comes word that it's adding support for NVIDIA's RTX Video Super Resolution.

Those that have been using a PC for years, you're undoubtedly familiar with VLC and have probably used it for decades and have a bunch of old videos ready for some AI magic.

NVIDIA's RTX Video Super Resolution is an AI-enhanced tool to improve the visual quality of lower-resolution video when played back at a higher resolution. Until now has been limited to browser-based video streams. On that front, the technology works best when the source material is of decent quality - as it can only do so much with low-quality stuff.

After months of rumors and waiting, Warner Bros. Discovery has finally announced what it intends to do with HBO Max, the streaming service that was home to a huge pile of top content. Turns out, it's killing HBO Max off.

Except, it's basically just renaming it. And it's keeping the same name, for the most part. Confused? You will be, especially if you try and figure out why anyone came to this decision.

Introducing Max, the streaming service formerly known as HBO Max. It would appear that someone deep inside Warner Bros. Discovery thought that HBO wasn't a strong brand name what with its stable of huge TV shows including Succession, Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, Westworld, and others. Really, why would you want to have anything to do with those duds?

If gaming from within Facebook Messenger is something that you've always wished you could do, today is going to be a very good day for you indeed.

But if gaming inside Messenger hasn't been at the top of your feature wishlist then you're probably going to be left wondering, like the rest of us, why this is something that has happened. But that hasn't stopped Meta and Facebook Gaming from being rather excited about the prospect of people playing while on a video call.

That's the idea here, of course. Facebook Gaming's announcement says that it's all about a shared experience that makes it easier for people to play games with their friends and family even if they aren't there in the room with them. It'll deepen connections, we're told. That's a laudable goal and we're absolutely here for it. We're just not sure that we want to deepen connections in Messenger.

If you're thinking of picking up a new iPhone later this year you should probably think again if rumors of a new, higher price are to be believed. Especially if you had your eye on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Historically the most expensive iPhone of all, the Pro Max is reportedly going to break new ground and become the most expensive iPhone ever when the iPhone 15 series is announced this September. That's according to a new report by China's United Daily News.

According to that report the iPhone 15 Pro Max will cost as much as RMB 20,000 which works out to be around $2,900 at the current exchange rate. To put that into perspective the iPhone 14 Pro Max currently sells for $1,099 in its 128GB configuration. Even the range-topping 1TB model sells for just $1,599. The prospect of Apple increasing the price so much is, frankly, insane. But that's what the report is claiming.

Nintendo has asked the District of Northern California courts to issue a subpoena to Discord in an attempt to catch the recent Zelda leaker.

Back in February, an unknown user leaked a copy of the unreleased Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom artbook that is included with the special edition of the game. Lots of information about the new Zelda game flooded backchannels of the internet, propagated through file sharing services and openly spread on the official Tears of the Kingdom Discord channel.

It's no surprise then that Nintendo, one of the most litigious companies on the planet, is now hunting down the identity of the leaker. A new case docket reveals that Nintendo legal counsel has requested that California courts issue a subpoena to compel Discord to hand over the personal identifiable details of certain users that are suspected to have leaked the materials.

Some of the world's largest billion-dollar video game publishers are using AI to save money and accelerate game releases, but gamers see past the computer-generated tricks.

The advent of AI promises to permanently change the world and usher in a new unknown era to the tech sector. Companies are using AI in a myriad of ways; Microsoft, for instance, invested $10 billion into ChatGPT to help propel its own Bing chat model and also plans to utilize AI in its games in some fashion, however Western adoption of AI to help make games has been muted.

This isn't the case in China. Reports from publication Rest of World indicate that some of the most powerful Chinese video games publishers are all using artificial intelligence tools to help speed along production of video game assets to release content more regularly. Tencent, the largest video games company on the planet, is embracing AI to help make promotional materials--Tencent was criticized for using AI generated images in promos for Tourdog's mobile game Alchemy Stars.