General Gaming Article

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• Everything You Wanted to Know About AMD’s New TrueAudio Technology
• AVG, Avira Among Websites Defaced by Palestinian Hackers
• Smartphone Sales Headed to 1 Billion Units and Beyond in 2013
• Google Unveils HP Chromebook 11 with IPS Display, Exynos Processor for $279
• Gartner Forecasts IT Spending to Reach $3.8 Trillion in 2014
• Grab Futuremark's 3DMark Benchmark for $8.49 During Steam Sale
• Newegg Daily Deals: Toshiba 3TB Hard Drive, Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3-1600, and More!

Everything You Wanted to Know About AMD’s New TrueAudio Technology Posted: 08 Oct 2013 04:43 PM PDT We interview AMD to get the lowdown on the company's new, 3D immersive sound technology Perhaps the biggest surprise—and the best kept secret of AMD's new R7 and R9 graphics chips--was the inclusion of a new advanced audio technology dubbed TrueAudio. That's right, a video card with audio support. With advanced PC audio considered a long forgotten technology, Maximum PC played 23 questions with AMD's Carl Wakeland. Wakeland is a Fellow Design Engineer and considered the "author" of TrueAudio. Maximum PC: In one sentence TrueAudio is: AMD: A programmable audio core built into the GPU, representing our effort to breathe life into game audio environments as the programmable graphics pipeline breathed life into the diversity of PC graphics. MPC: I didn't get to attend the briefing but if I get this; AMD has integrated Tensilica HiFi2 EP DSPs directly into the die or on the package or on the PCB? It says multiple but how many exactly? AMD: The entire AMD TrueAudio hardware block is built directly into the die of the AMD Radeon R9 290X, R9 290 and R7 260X GPUs. While I cannot disclose the quantity, I can say that the game developers we've been speaking to have been overjoyed by the hardware capabilities we're providing. (AMD has since disclosed to us that it has three Tensilica DSPs on the die). MPC: This is in addition to a separate Tensilica Xtensa SP is integrated directly onto the die or package or PCB?  AMD: Inclusive of the Xtensa HiFi EP core and multiple Xtensa HiFi2 EP cores, the AMD TrueAudio block is 100 percent integrated into the die of the graphics chip. MPC: I'm not up to speed with Tensilica hardware but why the need for the Xtensa SP? Isn't it an FPU? I thought the calculations were done in the GPU? AMD: The Tensilica Xtensa HiFi EP provides single and double precision floating point assistance for calculating accurate simulations of the intended audio environment. Compute resources from the GPU or CPU pipelines are not required, and that's the intention of AMD TrueAudio: 100 percent offloading to preserve or even improve system performance, even with superior audio. MPC: How much of the calculations are GPU-based, how much are host-based? AMD: Any calculation AMD TrueAudio is harnessed to perform is done entirely on the AMD TrueAudio silicon. MPC: Could TrueAudio be implemented in an APU-setup? AMD: AMD TrueAudio could be integrated into any Graphics Core Next-based graphics chip, but it's too early to discuss where the audio engine might appear next. MPC: Could TrueAudio be implemented with a discrete card with the right hardware (in other words, without the need for an AMD GPU?) AMD: AMD TrueAudio depends upon the greater GPU. TrueAudio leverages the significant bandwidth and low access latency of a Radeon's memory pools, and that bandwidth and latency is critically important when offloading audio tasks from the CPU to the TrueAudio engine. MPC: I'm guessing Xbox One will not have TrueAudio as Microsoft has its SHAPE audio engine but what about PS4? AMD: Sony and Microsoft would be in a better position to comment on the functionality of their audio hardware. I wouldn't want to answer on their behalf. MPC: Those who have followed PC audio for a long time have long heard that an X-Fi or EAX took so-and-so performance that the CPU can't do or that the reflections in A3D 2.0 are too much for the CPU, with most gamers running quad-core and up today, and most of the graphics calculations offloaded to the GPU today, is there really much work for a 4/6/8-core CPU to do? AMD: Oh gosh, there's plenty for a CPU to do. There's so much to do that today's PC gaming audio engines are capped to 8-10 percent (at best) of the average CPU's performance budget just so the more "important" bits like AI, physics or game simulations are able to function unhindered. More often than not, the CPU is so busy that audio engineers only have access to an uncertain amount of "leftover" CPU resources, rather than a fixed target. That encourages very conservative audio production, of course, which we hope to alleviate with AMD TrueAudio. CPUs are also responsible for feeding the beast—the graphics card—with all the data it requires. More powerful graphics cards require correspondingly more powerful CPUs. MPC: You guys are using GenAudio and McDSP. GenAudio's says AstoundSound modeling is based on how the brain reacts to sound rather than the older model of putting microphones into head dummies to create the algorithms. GenAudio calls it HRBF. How is HRBF an improvement on Head Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs)? AMD: A key point I want to make here is that we are working to integrate AMD TrueAudio technology into game audio libraries. The very libraries that game developers would license to incorporate an audio engine in their game—that's where AudioKinetic's Wwise and Firelight Technologies' FMOD come into the equation. GenAudio and McDSP are an even earlier stage in that process, creating plugins that interface with Wwise or FMOD to provide diverse audio effects that are compatible with the AMD TrueAudio chip. Now, the library guys themselves could adopt these plugins, or the game developers could go get the GenAudio (or McDSP) plugin and snap it into the library they have. The latter approach is what Xaviant Games has done. Their game, Lichdom, runs on the Wwise audio engine, which they've augmented by utilizing the Wwise-compatible GenAudio AstoundSound plugin. To answer the second part of your question, GenAudio's BRTF is based on the way the brain actually interprets audio, as analyzed through EEG-fMRI and MEG data. Traditional HRTFs assume, as you implied, that your head is the same size and shape as the dummy head used to create the psychoacoustic model. But the critical failing of an HRTF is that nobody's head is the same size or shape as the binaural dummy head, so you have to go deeper. Right into the brain. Learn how the brain itself receives and processes a 3D soundfield, and then you work back from there to create the algorithms that work on that level. The GenAudio team has done that, and I've not met one person who hasn't been blown away by the quality of their methods as demonstrated in Lichdom. Jerry and his team at GenAudio are a team of mad audio geniuses, and I'm sure they would love the opportunity to give you the full breakdown of how they are different. MPC: Even in the 1990s HRTF's were pretty impressive for headphone users, but the results were often mixed depending on a person's lumpy potato head. HRTF'ed audio always seemed particular week at placing audio behind you with headphones, will TrueAudio offer an improved performance? AMD: Remember that AMD TrueAudio technology is ultimately a programmable DSP core, so the quality of the simulation will depend on the game developer and their chosen combination of libraries and plugins. I'm 100% confident, however, that AMD TrueAudio already provides a significantly better behind-the-head spatialization than any two-channel positional audio solution I've previously encountered (primarily EAX and A3D, as with most gamers). MPC: AstoundSound offers enhanced positional such as Distance and elevation/azimuth? Does it offer occlusion and reflections or wave tracing capability that Aureal 2.0 offered?  AMD: Distance and elevation are certainly within AstoundSound's purview. For the other effects, you would have to reach out to them for clarification.   MPC: Is there room to add other advanced audio techniques or is there just too much licensing involved to get it? AMD: That's the beauty of having a programmable DSP core: we can accommodate plugins and libraries that utilize whatever IP the industry has on tap. We're unveiling a blank canvas and inviting the audio artists to come play, but it's up to them to bring the right palette. We see this as the same opportunity presented to graphics artists at the advent of the programmable graphics pipeline. MPC: I understand you guys are also working with McDSP too? Most of their IP seems centered around professional plugins. Where do they fit into the TrueAudio picture? AMD: As an audio plugin provider, they're one of many solutions a library vendor or game developer can call on to achieve AMD TrueAudio-accelerated environmental effects. Their "mastering limiter" plugin is especially well-suited for gaming audio as it allows for a greater number of sounds to be dynamically mixed at high volume without "clipping" artifacts in the audio stream. This is a great example of a pro audio plugin finding a relevant niche within the realm of gaming audio. MPC: Didn't Microsoft pretty much put a stake through the heart of advanced audio with Microsoft Vista when DirectSound was demoted and games could no longer directly access the hardware audio layer? How does TrueAudio get around this limitation? AMD: Ah, this is some of the real magic behind AMD TrueAudio. By operating through the graphics driver, we aren't held accountable to the limitations imposed on the hardware audio layer. We do not touch the Windows audio stack at all. TrueAudio offloads directly from the game via Wwise or FMOD, right at the point of conception, before the audio is sent through the rest of the audio pipeline to the user's endpoint device (e.g. headsets).  It's real-time, it's an earnest revival of advanced gaming audio, and it sounds bloody wonderful. MPC: One of the problems with gaming today is a lot of gamers run USB headsets. The DSP's are external to the PC – but with TrueAudio, you're saying you're getting to the audio before it even gets pushed out to the audio devices? How does this work if you have an existing sound card already such as an X-Fi, Xonar or advanced onboard audio already? AMD: AMD TrueAudio comes into the audio chain at the application level, long before sound ever reaches the user's audio chip or audio endpoint. Whether you have integrated audio on the motherboard, a discrete sound card, or a standalone USB headset, AMD TrueAudio is already part and parcel of the audio stream that's being fed to these devices by the game's audio engine. That's the beauty of operating at the level of the audio library: it's the first stop in the audio process! And because it's the first stop, only AMD TrueAudio is fully aware of the game's positional and environmental data. We are alone in our ability to provide audio data that fully reflects the game's goings on. MPC: So a person could keep their existing discrete X-Fi/Xonar/Recon for the superior DACs/ADC, and switch off their effects to use TrueAudio but then switch them back for games that use OpenAL or don't support TrueAudio? AMD: That's 100 percent correct. We designed AMD TrueAudio in the manner that we did precisely because we know users have great audio hardware with high-quality OPAMPS that they don't want or need to forfeit. Whatever audio device(s) a user has right now, that hardware is ready to go with AMD TrueAudio. MPC: For TrueAudio to work, developers must use and support TrueAudio's API correct? AMD: The game developers themselves don't necessarily have to use or support the TrueAudio API. Because we're working with library and plugin developers directly, game developers only have to choose between a software-accelerated plugin or the TrueAudio-enabled plugin when they're working with their library of choice. Devs are making plugin/SFX choices for their games anyhow, so TrueAudio just becomes another choice on the menu, meaning it's very simple and unchallenging to implement. MPC: Isn't that the classic uphill battle that Aureal and Creative Labs faced time and time again? Or in a less polite way, isn't this just in ability to get anyone to actually adopt Advanced EAX and A3D 2.0 all over again? AMD: I would start by saying that AMD TrueAudio is genuinely different from the audio algorithms that have come before. For starters, we're totally programmable. You're not getting an audio environment the way AMD thinks you should get an audio environment; you're getting an audio environment designed by a professional sound engineer, specifically tasked with breathing life into the soundscape of a game. For the first time, his or her game can sound exactly like they dreamed of, which was not the case with the canned audio algorithms of previous generations.  This way was paved by the growth of middleware audio libraries like AudioKinetic and FMOD, which abstract audio APIs like TrueAudio. Game developers no longer have to work directly at the API layer, and can instead get on with picking or programming the right effects from the menu provided by the audio library. MPC: Why do you guys think developers will really adopt the TrueAudio API in any meaningful number beyond a handful of showcase titles? AMD: Based on the initial reactions of the developers we've communicated the technology to, we're very optimistic. MPC: Getting back to the USB headset thing, since many USB headsets feature faux 3D that often can't be turned off, will there be a problem with audio that is has already been processed to have the effect ruined by being processed again? AMD: I've not yet seen a USB headset whose inline DSP can't be disabled. It doesn't mean they don't exist, and the plural of anecdote is not data, but I'd say they're probably the exception rather than the rule. That said, AMD TrueAudio does have the basic expectation that another DSP-driven audio effect isn't being inserted into the audio pipe. MPC: So the cards that will get TrueAudio are: R9 290X, R9 280X and R9 270X and R7 260X? Why not implement TrueAudio across the lineup and why only on the R7 260X? AMD: The AMD Radeon R9 290 Series and the R7 260X are the flagship models of the R9 and R7 Series, respectively. We wanted to enable the very best features on our very best products. MPC: TrueAudio is fully implemented and ready to go in games already so people can expect to be playing TrueAudio-enabled games by this Christmas?  AMD: Lichdom and Thief are 2014 games, whereas Murdered: Soul Suspect doesn't yet have a release date. Further out, Chris Roberts of Cloud Imperium announced that Star Citizen would eventually support AMD TrueAudio as well. While none of these games are imminent in 2013, there is a clear cadence of supporting titles, with even more in the wings that we can't yet announce. MPC: Can we possibly build a PC that support's Intel's QuickSync, Nvidia Physx and AMD TrueAudio? AMD: Not until it's possible to simultaneously run multiple brands of GPUs in one system without your operating system of choice having a meltdown.

AVG, Avira Among Websites Defaced by Palestinian Hackers Posted: 08 Oct 2013 04:10 PM PDT Why are hackers hating on free AVG? If you're in the business of offering free antivirus protection, beware of hackers mucking up your website. The Palestinian hacker group known as KDSM Team recently targeted several well known companies, including AVG and Avira, makers of popular free (and paid) security solutions, and defaced their homepages (sort of). Whatsapp, a cross-platform messaging app for mobile devices, was also tagged. Avira provided a statement to SoftPedia confirming that the several of its websites as well as other companies have been compromised by the hacking group, but said it occurred at the DNS level. "The websites of Avira have not been hacked, the attack happened at our Internet Service Provider 'Network Solutions'," Avira Security Expert and Product Manager Sorin Mustaca told SoftPedia. The group changed DNS records of the affected websites so that they would point to arbitrary domains. Network Solutions is aware of the screwup and is in the process of sorting things out. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Smartphone Sales Headed to 1 Billion Units and Beyond in 2013 Posted: 08 Oct 2013 08:30 AM PDT Smartphone shipments zoom past feature phones Smartphones are prevalent no matter where you go, and the reason for that is because there are so many of them in the wild. According to CCS Insight, global smartphone sales will surpass 1 billion units by the end of the year even though overall growth in the mobile phone sector has been slowing down as of late. By the end of 2013, smartphones will account for 55 percent of total mobile phone shipments, leaving plenty of room for growth as feature phone holdouts upgrade their handsets. By 2017, CCS Insight believes smartphones will account for more than three-fourths -- 78 percent -- of a total of 2.19 billion mobile phones sold around the globe. "The insatiable demand for smartphones keeps growing, with over one billion smartphones expected to be sold in 2013. This explosive growth is occurring despite the overall market for mobile phones slowing down, as the mix of new sales is firmly shifting to more-capable smart devices," said Marina Koytcheva (PDF), CCS Insight's Director of Forecasting. Another reason why feature-phone shipments are yielding to smartphones is because profit margins are being squeezed hard, CCS Insight says. It's now led by just three companies, including Nokia, Samsung, and TCL Alcatel OneTouch. CCS Insight says it's a cutthroat business, adding a bit of intrigue as to whether Microsoft will opt to compete following its acquisition of Nokia. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Google Unveils HP Chromebook 11 with IPS Display, Exynos Processor for $279 Posted: 08 Oct 2013 07:18 AM PDT Are Chromebooks more than a fad? It may have taken some time for consumers to warm up to the idea of Chromebooks, basic laptops that serve as physical gateways to the cloud, but now that they have, demand doesn't appear to be waning. To wit, the best selling laptop on Amazon is still a Samsung Chromebook with a 4/5 star rating from 3,259 user reviews. In addition, new models keep coming out, such as the one announced today. The newest model is the HP Chromebook 11 for $279. Google's pitching this thing as a "Chromebook for everyone," part of which entails allowing the customer to choose between several color accents. There's an all-black version, otherwise the Chromebook 11 is white with choice between blue, green, yellow, or red accents. As for the specs, the Chromebook 11 boasts an 11.6-inch IPS display with a 1366x768 resolution, Exynos 5250 processor, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, 16GB solid state drive, VGA webcam, two USB 2.0 ports, microSIM slot, micro USB for 15.75W charging and SlimPort video outupt, dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and various other tidbits. Google's bundling in 100GB of Google Drive storage free for two years, a 60-day trial of Google Play Music All Access ($9.99 pricing thereafter), and 12 free sessions of GoGo Inflight Internet. The real highlight, however, might be the display. It uses a high-quality IPS panel (like the Chromebook Pixel, but with a lower resolution) with 60 percent color gamut, 300 nit brightness, and a wide viewing angle (176 degrees). It also shares the Pixel's light bar on the lid. The HP Chromebook 11 is available now. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Gartner Forecasts IT Spending to Reach $3.8 Trillion in 2014 Posted: 08 Oct 2013 06:30 AM PDT "The beginning of a new era," Gartner says Market research firm Gartner forecasts that worldwide IT spending will climb to $3.8 trillion in 2014, a 3.6 percent increase from 2013, though it's not just the numbers that have IT leaders excited, it's also the "opportunities of a digital world." Gartner's calling it a new era, one that it's dubbed the "Digital Industrial Economy" to reflect the growing number of connected devices, and on a broader scale, the people and businesses using them. "The Digital Industrial Economy will be built on the foundations of the Nexus of Forces (which includes a confluence and integration of cloud, social collaboration, mobile and information) and the Internet of Everything by combining the physical world and the virtual," said Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of Research. "Digitalization exposes every part of your business and its operations to these forces. It is how you reach customers and constituents; how you run your physical plant; and how you generate revenue or deliver services. Enterprises doing this today are setting themselves apart and will collectively lead the new Digital Industrial Economy," Sondergaard added. One could argue that this new era has already begun, though things are going to kick up several notches within the next several years. For example, there were 2.5 billion connected devices with unique IP addresses to the Internet in 2009, most of which were cell phones and PCs. In 2020, Gartner believes that number will balloon to 30 billion devices, most of which will be products. All these new devices are what make up the new economy, and with it, billions of dollars for the taking in products and services. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Grab Futuremark's 3DMark Benchmark for $8.49 During Steam Sale Posted: 08 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT Save 66 percent off this popular benchmark Valve is serving up something a little different via Steam, its digital distribution platform for games. The "Daily Deal" on Steam is for the latest version of Futuremark's 3DMark benchmark, which you can snag for $8.49. That's a 66 percent discount over its normal selling price of $24.95. The cool thing about the latest 3DMark release is that it's a cross-platform benchmark for Windows, Android, iOS, and Windows RT (coming soon), allowing you to compare scores from two totally different devices. It includes three tests for DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and DirectX 11 hardware from different categories. The three benchmark tests include Fire Strike (intended for high performance gaming PCs), Cloud Gate (for notebooks and home PCs), and Ice Storm (for tablets and entry-level PCs). By purchasing 3DMark Advanced Edition, you can run each test individually, unlock the Fire Strike Extreme preset for ultra high-end setups, play around with custom settings, use benchmark looping for stability testing, and get in-depth insights with interactive performance graphs. If you're interested, just head over to Steam before time expires on the Daily Deal. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: Toshiba 3TB Hard Drive, Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3-1600, and More! Posted: 08 Oct 2013 05:30 AM PDT Top Deal: The death of the mechanical hard drive has been greatly exaggerated. Don't get us wrong, we're big fans of solid state drives just like every other power user, but for the price, HDDs still offer the best bang for your buck when mass storage is the name of the game. Underscoring that point is today's top deal for a Toshiba 3TB Internal Hard Drive for $110 with free shipping (normally $120 - use coupon code AFNJ2657). This isn't a slow spinning drive, either. It features a 7200 RPM spindle speed, 64MB of cache, and a SATA 6Gbps interface. Other Deals: Hanns-G HE245DPB Black 23.6" 5ms LCD Monitor w/ Speakers for $130 with free shipping (normally $150 - use coupon code: [WRTHDMNY07]) Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory for $145 with free shipping (normally $155) Seagate 2TB 3.5" USB 3.0 Desktop Drive Backup Plus for Mac & PC for $85 with free shipping (normally $100 - use coupon code [AFNJ2648]) SteelSeries Flux 3.5mm Connector Supra-aural Gaming Headset for $46 with free shipping (normally $100 - use coupon code [AFNJ2639])

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