| You'll Need a Burly PC to Run Watch Dogs at Ultra Settings Posted: 14 Apr 2014 11:35 AM PDT  Watch Dogs creative director confirms specs for running title at Ultra settings
The minimum system requirements to run Watch Dogs on a Windows PC makes the game pretty accessible to anyone with a relatively modern PC (we're talking Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 or AMD Phenom II X4 940 era hardware). However, the recommended system requirements are quite a bit more demanding, and if you want to run Watch Dogs with Ultra settings, you'll need a GeForce GTX 780 graphics card. Watch Dogs creative director Johnathan Morin took to Twitter to announce the beefy hardware you'll need to run the game in all its visual glory. "Ultra specs: Intel Core i7 4770K with a GeForce 780. The PC video was recorded on an Intel Core i7 3930K with a GeForce Titan IIRC," Morin said. As for the minimum requirements listed on Steam, you'll need one of the aforementioned processors or higher, 6GB of RAM, GeForce GTX 460 / AMD Radeon HD 5770 or higher, and 25GB of hard drive space. For the recommended requirements, hardware gets bumped up to an Intel Core i7 3770 / AMD FX-8350 X8 or higher, 8GB of RAM, GeForce GTX 560 Ti / AMD Radeon HD 7850 or higher, and the same amount of hard drive space (25GB). Watch Dogs will be available to play May 27, 2014. You can pre-purchase the game for $60, or snag the Deluxe Edition for $70. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Microsoft's Offers Developers Early Look at Windows Phone 8.1 Update Posted: 14 Apr 2014 11:10 AM PDT  Windows Phone 8.1 Preview is available for developers
Wondering if Microsoft's Cortana virtual assistant software will live up to the hype? You can find out by downloading the Windows Phone 8.1 Preview, which is now available for third-party developers. This isn't intended for the general public, though if you just can't shake that curiosity and want to be one of the first to try out the new software, you can apply the update without writing apps. Here's what you need to know. Before you can download the update, you must be a registered developer or be running a "developer unlocked" phone. To become a registered developer, you need to fork over $19 and publish apps in the Windows Store, or register as a developer with App Studio. If you're going the "developer unlocked" route, you'll need to download the developer tools to register and unlock your handset. Keep in mind that you risk voiding your phone's warranty by fooling around with the preview update. You also need to be aware that the update only includes Microsoft's portion of the software -- mobile operator and OEM driver updates will be available when the official update for your phone is released. Finally, bear in mind that there's no going back. Microsoft says you can't revert or return to a prior OS release after you've updated your phone to a preview update. If none of that scares you away, you can download the preview update here. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| T-Mobile Chief Challenges Wireless Competitors to End Overage Fees Posted: 14 Apr 2014 09:41 AM PDT  Self-proclaimed "Un-carrier" pats self on the back, dares other carriers to stop charging overages
T-Mobile, the fourth largest wireless carrier in the U.S., is hoping that an impassioned blog post by its Chief Executive Officer will convince other wireless carriers to put an end to the tyranny of overage charges. Company CEO John Legere said that any big change that's ever led to lasting good started with a single person standing up to point out a wrong, and that he's more than willing to be that person. "Today, we're capping off several days of major announcements by launching a broad social campaign to abolish domestic overage penalties and begin a national conversation," Legere stated in a blog post. "The Un-carrier is eliminating one of the most widely despised wireless industry practices for all of our T-Mobile customers on consumer plans. And I'm also laying down a challenge to my counterparts at AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, to do the same." T-Mobile's made a series of announcements during the past few days. It started with the announcement of its Simple Starter plan (a value plan for budget shoppers) followed by the launch of its Operation Tablet Freedom, which allows customers to add a tablet to a postpaid voice plan for free. "But today is different. Today, we're taking the change to a whole new level. We're capping off these past few days by ending overages for all customers on T-Mobile consumer plans," Legere added. Rather than charge an overage fee for going over your data allotment, T-Mobile will throttle down data connectivity to 2G speeds. To encourage other wireless carriers to do the same, Legere posted a petition on Change.org. Image Credit: Flickr (JeepersMedia) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Rumor: Microsoft Prepping a Surface Mini Tablet Posted: 14 Apr 2014 08:41 AM PDT  A smaller size Surface device may be in Microsoft's future
The neat thing about Microsoft's non-RT Surface gadget is that it's not solely a tablet, but also a full-fledged notebook PC, provided you connect it to a keyboard. Would the dual-form factor approach work on a smaller size display? Perhaps we'll get an answer to that question, as Microsoft is rumored to be working on a "Surface Mini" to compete against the iPad mini and other 7-inch class tablets. According to Neowin, the shrunken Surface will be a 7-inch or 8-inch class device with "proper" pen support, meaning this should include Wacom digitizer support as well. The ability to take notes will be an important feature that Microsoft intends to tout on the Surface Mini. Microsoft recently upgraded its Surface family with the Surface 2 launch. The Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 both feature an improved kickstand with "dual angle" support, faster hardware, and longer battery life. It's not yet clear if a kickstand is in the cards for a Surface Mini model, or what kind of hardware it will have inside. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| IRS to Spend $30 Million on Upgrades and Post-Retirement XP Patches Posted: 14 Apr 2014 08:13 AM PDT  IRS is paying Microsoft to recieve custom XP patches after failing to upgrade in time
Microsoft put the whole world on notice that it intended to end support for Windows XP, and as the deadline came closer into view, Redmond's attempt to get users to upgrade intensified. Unfortunately for taxpayers, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ignored the warnings and watched the deadline come and go. As a result, the IRS will pay Microsoft hundreds of thousands of dollars to continue receiving out-of-retirement security patches for another year. An agency source told Computerworld that the amount it's paying Microsoft for its Custom Support option is "less than $500,000" and not in the millions of dollars range as originally reported. Computerworld had come up with a much higher estimate based on analysts saying Microsoft typically charges around $200 per PC for the first year of Custom Support. At that rate, the IRS would have been on the hook for $11.6 million for a single year of XP support for its remaining 58,000 XP machines. Apparently the IRS negotiated a much lower rate in the neighborhood of $9 per PC. In addition to post-XP support, the IRS still has the cost of migrating to Windows 7. Between the two, the IRS will spend $30 million. The good news for taxpayers is that none of this will affect tax filings or processing refunds. "None of our filing season systems or other major business operating systems for taxpayers use Windows XP," an IRS spokesperson said Friday. "The IRS emphasizes the situation involving Windows will have no impact on taxpayers, including people filing their tax returns in advance of the April 15 deadline." The migration to Windows 7 is expected to be complete by the end of the year. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Newegg Daily Deals: G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3-2400, WD Black 3TB HDD, and More! Posted: 14 Apr 2014 07:15 AM PDT |
| PAX East 2014: 65 Pictures Posted: 14 Apr 2014 06:13 AM PDT  Over 60 pictures of cosplayers and more!
We had the opportunity to attend PAX East 2014 at Boston this year and the show was huge for PC gaming. As a matter of fact, besides at the Xbox booth, we didn't see a single console in sight. In addition to many upcoming AAA PC titles like Evolve and Wolfenstein: The New Order being showcased, a whole slue of PC vendors like Intel, Nvidia, Corsair, and Cooler Master were there. But of course, PAX East is definitely known for the amount of great cosplayers the show brings out and this year's event was no different. League of Legend cosplayers stole the show but there were a bunch of other awesome costumes from other games as well. Check out the exhaustive gallery below and let us know who had the best costume! |
| PAX East 2014: Gigabyte Shows Off Nvidia GeForce GTX 800M-Powered Notebooks [Video] Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:37 AM PDT Even as rivals opt for higher-res options, Gigabyte sticks to full HD When Nvidia launched its latest GeForce GTX 800M Series GPUs last month, Gigabyte wasted little time in announcing an entire lineup of gaming notebooks built around the new mobile graphics cards. Maximum PC's Jimmy Thang found Gigabyte parading some of the new notebooks at PAX East. Gigabyte P25X v2: Starting at $2,099, the 15.6-inch P25X v2 is a high-end gaming laptop that packs quite a powerful punch with its Intel Core i7-4810MQ CPU and GeForce GTX 880M GDDR5 8GB graphics card. Other specs include full HD IPS matte display, tri-storage slots with RAID 0 support, backlit gaming keyboard, subwoofer, and Blu-ray writer. It is expected to begin shipping later this month. Gigabyte P35W v2: Like the P25X v2, this one also sports a 15.6-inch full HD display. The P35W v2 has enough room in its 20.9mm chassis to accommodate a quad-core Core i7 CPU, GeForce GTX 870M GDDR5 6GB graphics card, two 512GB mSATA SSDs and as many 1.5TB hard drives. It is expected to hit the market later this month starting at $1,599. Gigabyte P34G v2: The smallest of the three notebooks sighted by us, this upcoming thin and light (20.9mm and 3.57 lbs) notebook features a 14-inch full HD TN matte display, Intel Core i7-4700HQ CPU, GeForce GTX 860M GDDR5 4GB GPU, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD and 128GB SSD. The P34G V2 starts at $1,499. Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
| PAX East 2014: HyperX Enthralls Attendees with Extreme RAM Overclocking Demo [Video] Posted: 14 Apr 2014 12:27 AM PDT 
Uses liquid nitrogen (LN2) for cooling HyperX recently launched a new line of memory sticks dubbed Fury for entry-level gamers and enthusiasts. To celebrate the launch of its new memory line, which offers automatic overclocking, HyperX decided to try and furiously overclock some memory at the PAX East conference for the amusement of visitors to its booth. One such witness to HyperX's memory overclocking antics happened to be Maximum PC's very own Jimmy Thang. Apparently, HyperX was targeting a 4000MHz speed as part of its extreme, liquid nitrogen-fueled RAM overclocking demo. Here is the video dispatch Mr. Thang sent us from the company's booth at PAX East: Follow Pulkit on Google+ |
