General Gaming Article |
- Newegg Daily Deals: Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow, Crucial BX100 1TB SSD, and More!
- AMD Releases Catalyst 15.10 Beta, Nvidia Doles Out 358.59 HotFix
- Apple Stares at Potential $862 Million Fine After Losing Patent Suit
- Intel Posts $3.1 Billion Profit as PC Sales Slide, Tips Hat to Server Business
- Technolust: All about 4K
| Newegg Daily Deals: Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow, Crucial BX100 1TB SSD, and More! Posted: 14 Oct 2015 12:59 PM PDT Top Deal: Back in the old days, building a PC was a bloody affair. Literally. Those old beige cases had sharp corners that would jump out at you like a cougar high on catnip. These days? Health insurance is no longer required, and long gone are the boring designs of yesteryear replaced by all kinds funktastic options. One of them is today's top deal, a Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition Computer Case for $170 with free shipping (normally $200; additional $30 mail-in-rebate). This white and black case is an eye catcher, but also functional with lots of cooling options, five EasySwap HDD bays, and several other amenities. Other Deals: Samsung 850 Evo 2.5-inch 500GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) for $149 with free shipping (normally $169 - use coupon code: [EMCKAKP23]) Asus 28-inch 5ms HDMI Ultra-Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor for $219 with free shipping (normally $246; additional $30 Mail-in rebate) WD Green 4TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5-inch Internal Hard Drive for $129 with free shipping (normally $134 - use coupon code: [ESCKAKP28]) Crucial BX100 2.5-inch 1TB SATA 6Gbps (SATA III) Micron 16nm MLC NAND Internal Solid State Drive for $320 with free shipping (normally $330 - use coupon code: [EMCKAKP27]) |
| AMD Releases Catalyst 15.10 Beta, Nvidia Doles Out 358.59 HotFix Posted: 14 Oct 2015 11:08 AM PDT Something for everyone AMD on Tuesday made available a new Catalyst driver, 15.10 beta, while Nvidia has a hotfix for GeForce graphics owners who are having trouble with G-Sync. Starting with AMD, the Catalyst 15.10 beta is an incremental update to the previous beta release. On the performance side, the release notes mention DirectX 12 quality and performance optimizations for Ashes of the Singularity. Otherwise, this release is mostly about fixing a handful of issues. They include:
There are still some known issues, such as Ashes of Singularity crashing on some AMD 300 series GPUs and black screens when booting up Windows 10 (affected systems still continue on to the Windows login screen). You can read the full release notes and download the beta release here. As for the Nvidia, the GeForce hotfix driver version 358.59 addresses a performance issue when enabling G-Sync in both Windowed mode and full screen. Otherwise, there's not much to report. You can download the hotfix here. |
| Apple Stares at Potential $862 Million Fine After Losing Patent Suit Posted: 14 Oct 2015 10:29 AM PDT Sour grapes for Apple Apple may have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the University of Wisconsin after a U.S. jury ruled that it used technology belonging to the school's licensing arm, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, without permission. The patent in question was filed way back in 1998 and relates to technologies that improve processor efficiency. A decade later, the University sued Intel claiming infringement and settled out of court for $110 million, paid in a lump sum. Now the University is accusing Apple of infringing on its patent in the company's custom A7, A8, and A8X processors found in several iPad and iPhone devices, including the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Apple argued that the patent was invalid, but the jury disagreed. Citing court documents, Apple is forbidden from referring to the University as a "patent troll," Forbes reports. However, that could be the least of Apple's concerns. According to Reuters, U.S. District Judge William Conley scheduled the trial to proceed in three phases, which include liability, damages, and whether Apple willfully infringed the patent. If it is determined that Apple willfully infringed on the University's patent, it could face harsher penalties. The University also has a second lawsuit pending against Apple, one that claims the company's A9 and A9X processors used in its new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, along with the iPad Pro, infringe on its patent. |
| Intel Posts $3.1 Billion Profit as PC Sales Slide, Tips Hat to Server Business Posted: 14 Oct 2015 09:13 AM PDT Money making machine The remarkable thing about Intel is that it continues to rake in billions of dollars every quarter no matter what the market conditions are. Case in point, Intel beat out Wall Street estimates by recording $14.5 billion in revenue during the third quarter. That's down just a tick from $14.6 billion the chip maker reported in the same quarter a year ago, which is nothing to be ashamed about in the current landscape of sagging PC sales -- IDC recently estimated an 8.7 percent decline in all of 2015. Intel's profit slipped 6 percent, though it still came out ahead by several billion dollars, or $3.1 billion to be exact. "We executed well in the third quarter and delivered solid results in a challenging economic environment," said Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO. "The quarter demonstrates Intel innovation in action. Customers are excited about our new 6th Gen Intel Core processor, and we introduced our breakthrough 3D XPoint technology, the industry's first new memory category in more than two decades." Indeed, Intel has its Skylake architecture and the buzz surrounding Windows 10 to help boost semiconductor sales in the fourth quarter and beyond. In the meantime, its Data Center Group is picking up the slack -- it accounted for $4.1 billion in revenue during the third quarter, up 8 percent sequentially and 12 percent year-over-year. Intel's Internet of Things (IoT) business also saw growth, increasing 4 percent sequentially and 10 percent year-over-year to $581 million. Despite the challenging landscape, Intel's Client Computing Group, which includes desktop processor sales, hit $8.5 billion during the most recent quarter. That's a 13 percent bump compared to the previous quarter, though a 7 percent decline from last year. Looking ahead, Intel expects revenue in the fourth quarter to reach $14.8 billion, plus or minus $500 million. |
| Posted: 14 Oct 2015 12:00 AM PDT Go big or go homeI've got access to a lot of computer hardware—more than any sane man really needs, frankly—but when it comes to my home entertainment I have a problem… well, several in fact. First, I don't have a good space set up as a home theater, and second, I can't really afford all of the things I'd really like to have in a home theater. Take, for example, the display: ideally, I would want the best projector money could buy, and I'd want a dark room, comfortable seating, and someone bringing me food, drinks, etc., while I watch movies, play games, or cheer for my favorite sports team (go Broncos!). But sanity will always play a role for me, so the $50K projection systems are out of the question. Enter the Sony VPLVW350ES 4K projector. There's none of that 1080p business here; if I'm going to spend as much as I would for a decent used car, I want something that will handle the next generation of content. Capable of throwing up to a 10-foot 4K (4096x2160) image from 12 feet, the Sony will more than satisfy my needs for 4K content. Sure, there are better projectors (e.g., the Sony VPL-VW600ES, or if you're really well-funded, the VPL-VW1100ES), but they can cost over twice as much. They may deliver an improved image and have some additional features, but the VW350ES should still look great and I can put the money saved toward better seating (or my kids' college education fund). Besides, this is all hypothetical. My last HDTV gave up the ghost a few years back, and since then I cut the cable and went with streaming video from Netflix, Hulu, etc., to my desktop. We're using a 34-inch ultrawide screen right now, which is problematic as many streaming video sources don't even know how to handle a 21:9 aspect ratio. But I can dream, and when I do, I can't help but imagine my brother-in-law's awesome home theater room in his basement, only with a few upgrades like 4K to sweeten the deal. What does the Sony projector get me that I'm missing now?Lots of things. Size, for example. There's no competing with size; at least when it comes to home theaters, bigger IS better! Somehow it seems my little ultrawide 34-incher just doesn't quite suffice—heck, I can't even read subtitles half the time from my couch, curse my old man eyes. A projector would also magically create a space for the projector, or so I imagine, which would be really great because I could totally use an extra room in the house, especially one dedicated to movies and such. 4K for the DesktopIn a similar vein, I also want a great 4K display for my desktop… but let me qualify that "great" part. I already have an Acer XB280HK, which is an UltraHD G-SYNC display. It looks pretty good, but it has a few limitations. First, it only accepts a single DisplayPort input; second, it's a TN panel with the usual caveats that entails; and third, it's just way too small for me to comfortably use the native resolution with 100 percent scaling—and yes, that's still a problem for applications and games on occasion. The solution is simple, really: I need a bigger 4K (UltraHD) display, and for my purposes, I'm thinking 40–42 inches would be just about perfect. A bit of background information might be beneficial here. I was an early adopter of 30-inch displays, and I still have an HP LP3065 and a Dell 3007WFP kicking around (though the latter is definitely wearing out after nearly 10 years). Even with a 30-inch display, I sometimes found 2560x1600 content a bit difficult on my aging eyes, but I could manage. Needless to say, dropping down to a slightly smaller display with the XB280HK and then doubling the resolution certainly makes things look sharp… and tiny. [Cue old man talking about walking uphill in the snow both ways….] I've mostly adjusted to using higher DPI displays, but it would be great to really see all that content, and since I can fit a couple of 30-inch displays on my desk, a single 40-inch panel shouldn't be a problem. Westinghouse's 40-inch 4K UHD display is admittedly something of a budget offering, but on the surface it appears to offer everything I'd need. And at $760, it's something I might actually consider buying rather than just fantasizing about it. It checks all the right boxes, with a USB 3.0 hub, wide viewing angles, and HDMI 2.0 plus DP 1.2 inputs. The styling is pretty subdued, but I'm good with that. The lack of height adjustment and other features shouldn't be too bad either, since I find I rarely need to move my displays once they're in place. What does the Westinghouse give me that I'm not getting now?See above: size matters. Except in this case, it's not just about the size of the display; it's about being able to make good use of that size. More importantly, it should also give me better colors, better viewing angles, and less eyestrain. But not all is sunshine and roses in 4K display-land. My biggest gripe with UltraHD computer monitors is that the display I want doesn't actually exist right now—and in fact, it can't really exist without some additional improvements in technology. I've tested G-SYNC and FreeSync displays, and higher refresh rates are definitely the future… but I also want a higher-resolution display. That old "can't have your cake and eat it too" problem is rearing its ugly head for me. Give me a 4K (or 5K) display that's large enough that I can read text at 100 percent scaling, and then get me 120Hz refresh rates with FreeSync/G-SYNC, and make sure the panel is IPS or VA or some other high-quality solution. Then I'd be a happy camper. In the meantime, I'm stuck with a selection of compromises, and for getting work done I'd take a larger 4K IPS display over my current 4K TN G-SYNC panel given a choice. Power up the pixel generatorsWith two 4K/UltraHD displays for viewing content, the only thing left on my list is something to push pixels to the displays. This one is a lot easier, and as the resident GPU guru at Maximum PC, I already have access to plenty of high-end GPUs. Having tested the latest and greatest from both AMD and Nvidia, the decision on which GPU to use is really pretty easy: Nvidia's GeForce GTX 980 Ti wins, hands down. Nearly all of the 980 Ti cards I've tested so far perform exceptionally well, and they overclock 20–25 percent above stock (more in some cases), so there's no real need to buy the most expensive 980 Ti. Instead, I'd grab two of Zotac's GTX 980 Ti Amp! cards, which are currently at $640, $20 less than MSRP. I'd run them in SLI, and then I'd overclock them for good measure! There are several reasons to go with Nvidia over AMD right now, not the least of which is the better performance and power characteristics. For 4K gaming at stock, the R9 Fury X is basically equal to the 980 Ti, provided you don't run any games at settings that need more than 4GB VRAM. That's a little worrying, but the fact that I can get 20 percent more performance (versus eight percent on the Fury X) via overclocking seals the deal. What's more, AMD's GPUs don't have HDMI 2.0 support, so powering my hypothetical 4K projector would be a problem. Of course, my office and my home theater would be in different rooms, so I might need a second PC for the HTPC. Depending on how much gaming is actually being done (as opposed to watching videos), I might stick with something a little less crazy, like a GTX 960 4GB—still fast enough for 1080p gaming, and it includes HDMI 2.0 along with Nvidia's latest PureVideo engine that should be better at handling 4K H.265 (HEVC) content. So, what does GTX 980 TI SLI do for me?In a word, frame rates. It would also let me max out the visuals in pretty much any current game. Sure, G-SYNC/FreeSync allow you to fall below 60fps without feeling the stutter as much, but even a single high-end GPU running UltraHD will often struggle. Put a couple together and let their wonder twin power activate, and suddenly, you're rocking 50+ fps and life is grand. It might not make me a better gamer, but my foes will be green with envy as they pop my ripe melon from across the map yet again. Wrap upSo there you have it: Jarred loves 4K and he wants to embrace it in all forms. There's an elephant sitting in the corner that we at least need to look at briefly, however. While running games at 4K/UltraHD isn't much of a problem, getting 4K content for TV/movies is another matter. Netflix, YouTube, and other streaming services now support 4K content, but many videos are only available in 1080p; broadcast TV and Blu-ray, on the other hand, are basically stuck at 1080p. UltraHD Blu-ray addresses this limitation for those who still use physical media, but given the bandwidth requirements of 4K we're not likely to see much from broadcasters—who already frequently over-compress 1080p content so they can deliver more channels. It's all fun and games for me, and I really do enjoy using and viewing higher-resolution content, but while I may lust after it, my wallet, for the time being, is staying closed. Don't even get me started on 8K.... What items are on your technolust list? Let us know in the comments! |
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