General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

The 22 Best Co-op PC Games

Posted: 13 Feb 2015 11:51 AM PST

EvolveThe couple that slays together, stays together

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, we thought we would look at some of the best PC co-op games out there. And hey, if you're single, there's no better way to stem the fear of dying alone then by playing games with some friends!

The list is in alphabetical order but we decided not to include games from genres such as MMOs and MOBAs. We wanted to focus on IPs that can be played not only with a small amount of friends, but with your significant other without causing too much frustration. To that end, we chose a selection of games with a broad range regarding difficulty and genres.

So light the candles, open up a bottle of Bond Estates Melbury Red wine from Napa (so long as you are 21 years and older), heat up some hot pockets, and treat your significant other to a fun evening. Or just order a six pack and pizza while playing with friends.

What? We heard that red wine pairs perfectly with hot pockets.

So what are some of your favorite co-op games? Tell us in the comment section below!

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Newegg Daily Deals: Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2015 3 PCs, Trendnet TEW-751DR N600 Router, and More!

Posted: 13 Feb 2015 09:52 AM PST

Kaskperskynewegg logo

Top Deal:

The phone rings and the caller ID shows it's Uncle Lou. Oh great. This can mean only one thing -- his computer is infected with malware. Again. You just fixed the flipping thing two weeks ago, but like clockwork, there's that bi-montly phone call pleading for help. Ugh. This time, bring him a gift in the form of today's top deal -- Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2015 - 3 PCs for $35 with free shipping (normally $50 - use coupon code: [EMCANKN67]; additional $35 mail-in-rebate). This is one of the better ones. We know, you hate paying for AV, but if you're willing to play the mail-in-rebate game, it ends up being free anyway, and that's to protect 3 PCs!

Other Deals:

LG 24MP55HQ-P Black 23.8-inch 5ms LCD Monitor for $140 with $1 shipping (normally $160 - use coupon code: [EMCANKN27])

Trendnet TEW-751DR N600 Dual Band Wireless Router IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, IEEE 802.3/3u for $18 with free shipping (normally $40 - use coupon code: [EMCANKN68])

WD Blue WD7500BPVX 750GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5-inch Internal Notebook Hard Drive Bare Drive for $45 with free shipping (normally $50 - use coupon code: [ESCANKN43])

Refurbished Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5-inch Internal Hard Drive for $40 with free shipping (normally $70)

Nvidia Driver Purposely Disables Overclocking GTX 900M Series GPUs

Posted: 13 Feb 2015 09:33 AM PST

Nvidia GeForce GTX 980MNvidia confirms it doesn't want you overclocking its GTX 900M GPUs

To overclock or not to overclock -- it's a question every enthusiast wonders at some point or another. The primary advantage to overclocking is a free performance boost, provided you don't fry anything in the process. And of course the downsides are the various risks, from instability to cooking your components. It's those downsides that prompted Nvidia to take away the ability to overclock (or underclock) GeForce GTX 900M Series GPUs through a recent driver update.

The revelation came when users discovered they could no longer overclock their GTX 900M GPUs after installing Nvidia's GeForce R347.29 driver release. Miffed and perplexed, they sought an explanation on Nvidia's forums, only to have their worst fears confirmed.

A few pages in, a customer care agent for Nvidia had this to say:

"Unfortunately GeForce notebooks were not designed to support overclocking. Overclocking is by no means a trivial feature, and depends on thoughtful design of thermal, electrical, and other considerations," Nvidia said. "By overclocking a notebook, a user risks serious damage to the system that could result in non-functional systems, reduced notebook life, or many other effects.

There was a bug introduced into our drivers which enabled some systems to overclock. This was fixed in a recent update. Our intent was not to remove features from GeForce notebooks, but rather to safeguard systems from operating outside design limits."

This is actually a restriction that's been present in the last three driver updates, though this is the first time that Nvidia confirmed it's an intentional restriction.

It will be interesting to see if Nvidia holds firm on this stance. On one hand, the company is right, there are risks to overclocking, and it's especially tricky in laptops with limited cooling potential. But on the other hand, Nvidia is treating its performance oriented customers as being reckless and not particularly savvy. And maybe some are, but the consensus among those who've replied to Nvidia's post is that they should be allowed to weigh the risks and choose for themselves whether or not to overclock.

"This is just outrageous behavior. Not even a word that this was 'by design' following months of complaints. I have just ordered an Sli 980m enthusiast machine. Now I find you blocked overclocking deliberately. I am so mad I cannot even comment any more without resorting to bad language," a user responded.

Another person chimed in that they own a notebook with a desktop processor and when overclocking, the system scores 9,503 in Fire Strike. At stock, it scores 8,470.

"That's a pretty decent difference. My GPU temps don't go past 80C and my processor doesn't go past 60C. There should at least be an exception to hybrids like mine. Otherwise, I guess this is the last driver I'm going to be updating to. I didn't pay all that money just to be restricted. Ya'll wanna gimp, then how about lowering that price," the user added.

You can check out the thread for more angry responses, and then let us know what you think about all this in the comments section below.

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Micron and Seagate Just Became Best Friends in the SSD Space

Posted: 13 Feb 2015 08:21 AM PST

SeagateStrength in numbers

Memory and storage heavyweights Micron and Seagate have signed a multi-year agreement in which the two will form a "framework for combining the innovation and expertise of both companies." Or in plain English, they're going to help each other in the storage space with an initial focus on SAS solid state drives and NAND supply, and then later in the enterprise SSD space.

This really boils down to the supply of NAND flash memory. It's a volatile market, and it's one of the reasons why OCZ Technology ended up being acquired by Toshiba. The fluctuating prices and unpredictability of NAND flash memory supply made it difficult for OCZ to run a business that had become primarily focused on SSDs. Selling to Toshiba made sense in that regard.

Storage companies see the writing on the wall, which is that SSDs are the storage format of the immediate future. To ensure they remain competitive, they've been investing in flash memory companies -- Seagate acquired LSI's flash memory controller business and Western Digital acquired flash memory maker Virident and later Skyera, a maker of enterprise SSD systems.

There's no acquisition taking place between Micron and Seagate, but the strategic partnership should ensure that both remain competitive -- it's a 'scratch my back and I'll scratch your back' type of deal. In theory, Seagate shouldn't have to worry about NAND flash memory chips and wild fluctuations, and Micron lines itself up a major buyer.

"The collaboration will assure both Seagate and Micron target the growing enterprise flash market with industry-leading offerings across both of our product portfolios," said Darren Thomas (PDF), Vice President of Storage, Micron. "The relationship provides Micron access to enterprise drive technology and platforms, expanding our portfolio and accelerating our push into the enterprise market segment."

There's no mention of this partnership extending beyond the enterprise space, though depending on what develops, this could be something that trickles into the enthusiast market too, especially as PCIe SSDs become more common.

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Posted by Shri Krishna

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