MMOGaming News

MMOGaming News


The Perfect Ten: Movies for the MMO Fan

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The Perfect Ten: Movies for the MMO Fan


MMOs haven't quite gotten popular enough to spawn their own sub-genre of films, apart from the odd fan project or the long-rumored World of Warcraft flick. That doesn't mean that we're lacking good movie role models for our hobby, however. I think that there are plenty of films that are perfectly suited for the MMO fan, even if they've never been thought of as such.

Joyhubs Announces A New Naval MMORPG: Seven Seas Saga

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Joyhubs Announces A New Naval MMORPG: Seven Seas Saga


JOYHUBs continues its parade of high quality browser games with the open beta release of Seven Seas Saga, an MMORPG that allows players to fight on the bloody seas for pirate treasure, fight pirate ships, do business, and contribute their countries.

New Champion Shazam Introduced for Infinite Crisis

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New Champion Shazam Introduced for Infinite Crisis


Infinite Crisis closed beta is in full swing, a brand new Champion Shazam is introduced with a profile video below.Gifted with the strength of ancient gods, Shazam wields amazing magical power to defend the weak. Shazam wants to be in the middle of the fight, disrupting and damaging the enemy team with his lightning, forcing them to deal with him before his more fragile allies.

ArcheAge - Winning The Best Overseas Game in Russia

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ArcheAge - Winning The Best Overseas Game in Russia


At this year's Russian Game Developers Conference, seventeen game areas have been selected, the highly anticipated Korean MMORPG ArcheAge from XL Games wins the Best Overseas Game award. The result certainly boosts the coming of ArcheAge to Russia.

WildStar To Use Hybrid Payment Model

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WildStar To Use Hybrid Payment Model


During a video interview with Jeremy Gaffney, he reveals that WildStar will use a hybrid payment business model.

Seven Seas Saga OBT Free Item Key Giveaway Event

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Seven Seas Saga OBT Free Item Key Giveaway Event


MMOsite has teamed up with Joyhubs to give away open beta free item key of Seven Seas Saga. Duration: May. 24th ---Jun. 25th

Korean Action MORPG Black Sheep Preview

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Korean Action MORPG Black Sheep Preview


Following the big titile Bless Online on Neowiz's gaming list, a new action MMORPG Black Sheep recently has showed its feature to the Korean gaming market. Black Sheep is pretty much like Kritika Online's action packed combat gameplay meets Vindictus Online's destructible surroundings.

Dragon Nest TW May 21 Update: New Costumes for All Classes

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Dragon Nest TW May 21 Update: New Costumes for All Classes


Dragon Nest TW version has a brand new update on May 21st Update, which brings new costumes for players on TW server. Check them out!

MapleStory Releases Monster Life Mini-Game

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MapleStory Releases Monster Life Mini-Game


Nexon America's MMORPG MapleStory has just added a brand-new mini-game, Monster Life, offering alternate gameplay to players.

Aion 4.0 New Region - South Katalam

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Aion 4.0 New Region - South Katalam


South Katalam has 10 bases to fight, and 2 forts to do siege. Great and fun times are coming soon.

Defiance Free Weekend Is Now Live on Steam

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Defiance Free Weekend Is Now Live on Steam


Here is the chance for those who haven't tried out Trion Worlds' Defiance, this weekend the game is free to download and play via Steam. The free weekend runs from May 23-26 and then follow up on May 27 by watching all six of the TV show's first episodes back to back on Syfy.

Gameloft's Dev Diary for the Making of Dungeon Hunter 4

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Gameloft's Dev Diary for the Making of Dungeon Hunter 4


Although Dungeon Hunter 4 has been available a short while now, Gameloft has decided to release a video. In the video, the devs reveals how Dungeon Hunter 4 went from an idea and a few sketches to a fully realized game.

BioWare Apologizes For Those Accidentally Banned SWTOR Players

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BioWare Apologizes For Those Accidentally Banned SWTOR Players


In the war between MMO developers and shady players looking to exploit the system, the innocent often get caught in the crossfire. Such was the case yesterday, when somewhere under 150 honest, hard-playing Star Wars: The Old Republic players had their accounts banned from play.

Dungeons and Dragons Online: Shadowfell Conspiracy To Launch August 19

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Dungeons and Dragons Online: Shadowfell Conspiracy To Launch August 19


Warner Bros. and Wizards of the Coast has announced Dungeons & Dragons Online: Shadowfell Conspiracy, the second expansion to the free-to-play MMORPG developed by Turbine, will launch on August 19th, 2013. Shadowfell Conspiracy takes place in the beloved Forgotten Realms setting, features an increased level cap and introduces new Iconic Heroes and much more.

Uncharted Waters Online Offers Limited-Time Discounted Steam Packages

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Uncharted Waters Online Offers Limited-Time Discounted Steam Packages


Black Friday comes early this year for players of Uncharted Waters Online, the strategic massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for PC, as all three item packages on Steam are now on sale at a massive 70 percent discount.

Dragon's Prophet Closed Beta Gameplay Video Review

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Dragon's Prophet Closed Beta Gameplay Video Review


Dragon's Prophet will kick off open beta at the end of the month, for those who haven't tried out the game, the Italian guild has made four CBT phase2 (EU) gameplay videos of Dragon's Prophet, now check out the exciting gameplay!

Order & Chaos Duels Review

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Order & Chaos Duels Review


Order & Chaos Duels is a new iOS and Android game from Gameloft. It's available now as a free download from the App Store and Google Play, and carries additional in-app purchases.

Continue reading Order & Chaos Duels Review.

Forsaken World KR Server Kicks off CBT1

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Forsaken World KR Server Kicks off CBT1


Developed by Perfect World, the fantasy MMORPG Forsaken World has kicked off first closed beta in Korean today, the test ends on May 28. A new CG trailer and some posters are also released, check them out below~

Monster Hunter Online (CN): All We Currently Know

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Monster Hunter Online (CN): All We Currently Know


Since the cooperation of Tencent and Capcom for their highly anticipated 3D MMORPG Monster Hunter Online, the title developed by CryEngine 3 has attracted scores of players' attention.

What Now? If You Reaches 80 in Guild Wars 2

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What Now? If You Reaches 80 in Guild Wars 2


In this installment we talk about the new things coming to Guild Wars 2 May 28th. A lot of good changes this time especially adding pvp ascended gear. I really love that one makes things more interesting.

MMORPG Reviews

MMORPG Reviews


The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot presents Blackeye Bowgart, the Archer

Posted: 23 May 2013 10:24 AM PDT

Ubisoft has released today the first gameplay trailer dedicated to the Archer of the hilarious free-to-play PC title The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot. Developed by Ubisoft Montréal, the game thrusts you in an outrageous medieval fantasy world called Opulencia where players have the mission to build impregnable castles to keep their belongings safe from [...]

The post The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot presents Blackeye Bowgart, the Archer appeared first on MMORPG Reviews.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn is now available for pre-order

Posted: 23 May 2013 10:05 AM PDT

Square Enix Ltd., today announced that FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn and its Collector's Edition are now available for pre-order. The game is scheduled for release on 27th August, 2013, for both the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC systems. PREORDER INCENTIVES As well as the FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn [...]

The post FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn is now available for pre-order appeared first on MMORPG Reviews.

Star Trek Online have released today Legacy of Romulus

Posted: 23 May 2013 09:50 AM PDT

Perfect World Entertainment Inc. y Cryptic Studios have released today Legacy of Romulus the first expansion for the free-to-play MMORPG Star Trek Online. In this expansion for the first time ever, players can play as a Romulan or Reman through new story-driven mission arcs written exclusively from the Romulan Republic's point of view. Along with the [...]

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We are celebrating a phase 2 Closed Beta key giveaway for Eldevin

Posted: 23 May 2013 08:48 AM PDT

Hunted Cow Studios is partnering with FREE MMORPG and MMOReviews to celebrate a phase 2 Closed Beta key giveaway for Eldevin. This new version of the game features a plethora of new features and improvements and as such, Hunted Cow is welcoming thousands of new players to the beta, after an overwhelmingly positive response to [...]

The post We are celebrating a phase 2 Closed Beta key giveaway for Eldevin appeared first on MMORPG Reviews.

Exclusive Interview to the Producer and the director of Hunted Cow Studios about Eldevin

Posted: 23 May 2013 04:50 AM PDT

Today we publish an exclusive interview to John Stewart, Producer and Andrew Mulholland Hunted Cow Studios director about its free to play 3D browser-based MMORPG  Eldevin. Below you can see the answers that they gave to us. First of all, thank you for giving us the possibility to interview you about Eldevin. Would you be [...]

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PlaySnail has launched Odin Quest

Posted: 23 May 2013 03:14 AM PDT

PlaySnail has launched today a new browser MMORPG named Odin Quest. The game is a free-to-play MMORPG with beautiful graphics and music, in which you can choose many classes and enter into a fantasy world, full of swords and sorcery, where you can travel with the gods to save the world. Odin Quest is based on [...]

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Dungeons & Dragons Online will release Shadowfell Conspiracy on August 19th

Posted: 23 May 2013 02:35 AM PDT

Wizards of the Coast and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment have revealed today that Shadowfell Conspiracy, the second expansion to the MMORPG Dungeons & Dragons Online, is going to be released on August 19th, 2013. This expansion takes place in the beloved Forgotten Realms setting, features an increased level cap and introduces new Iconic Heroes and [...]

The post Dungeons & Dragons Online will release Shadowfell Conspiracy on August 19th appeared first on MMORPG Reviews.



General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article


Windows 8 Causes Dip in Microsoft Customer Satisfaction Rating

Posted: 23 May 2013 08:06 PM PDT

Windows 8 Logo

Bad, but not quite Vista

Given its subjective nature, satisfaction isn't something that readily lends itself to quantification, but that hasn't stopped the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) from measuring the satisfaction of U.S. customers for more than 19 years now. The latest ACSI update is of particular interest to us because it sheds some light on Windows 8's impact on Microsoft's customer satisfaction rating.

Windows 8 hasn't exactly been able to charm PC users off their feet and Microsoft's latest ACSI rating seems to confirm as much, with the company's customer satisfaction rating falling one point from last year's score of 75 and as many as four points from the company's best of 78, which it achieved in 2011.

Things, however, don't appear to be as bad as they were following the launch of Windows Vista. Back then, Redmond shed three rating points. If we go back another year to 2006, the first time Microsoft appeared on ACSI's radar, it is clear that the company's customers are more satisfied with its products now than they were back then.

"It seems clear that the release of Windows 8 did not give Microsoft a significant bump, as the release of Windows 7 did, nor did it dramatically lower customer satisfaction in a rather short time frame, as the release of Vista did," David VanAmburg, director of ACSI, told Computerworld.com, adding that if Microsoft's rating does take a more serious pounding next year then Windows 8 will surely be the one to blame.

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Windows Button Hitches a Ride on New Mice Models From Microsoft

Posted: 23 May 2013 12:08 PM PDT

Sculpt MiceA pair of mice made for Windows 8.

Windows 8 is a game changer in more ways than one. Along with a new look and feel, Windows 8 has influenced design changes across the board, even when it comes to peripherals. Witness Microsoft explains. "You don't have to worry about a tiny USB transceiver since the Sculpt Comfort Mouse uses Bluetooth to connect to your Windows PC or tablet. It also has a comfortable ergonomic design and our BlueTrack technology to be used on pretty much any surface."

The Sculpt Mobile Mouse is essentially a Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 with a Windows touch tab. It has a compact design, a wireless USB transceiver, and BlueTrack technology.

Microsoft says the Sculpt Comfort Mouse will be available in June for $40 and the Sculpt Mobile Mouse in May for $30.

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Psst Microsoft, Windows 8 Users are Barely Touching Metro Apps

Posted: 23 May 2013 10:48 AM PDT

Samsung Windows 8 TabletStudy reveals surprising stats about Windows 8 app usage.

When Microsoft "re-imagined" its Windows platform with a heavy focus on touch computing, its Metro interface was deemed a critical component to the user experience. Ideally, Windows 8 users would find themselves relying less and less on the traditional desktop and start taking advantage of the tiled UI, downloading apps from the Windows Store in the process. However, a new study by Soluto reveals that Windows 8 users rarely touch apps on their Windows 8-based desktops and tablet PCs.

Soluto analyzed 10,848 Windows 8 machines and examined more than 313,000 Metro app launches across 9,634 unique Metro apps. The result? On average, a Windows 8 user will launch a Metro app 1.52 times per day.

Predictably desktop users are the least active Metro app users with an average of 1.41 launches per day. Just as predictable, tablet users launch the most Metro apps at an average clip of 2.71 per day, besting touch laptop users (2.22 apps) and regular laptop users (1.51 apps).

"To put this number into context, we looked at the percent of people who launch a Metro app less than once a day (i.e. less than 7 Metro app launches per week). We found that among desktop and laptop users, 60 percent of users launch a Metro app less than once a day," Soluto said. "This number significantly improves with tablets, but still 44 percent of Windows 8 tablet users launch a Metro app less than once a day."

Interestingly, the most engaging app appears to be Yahoo Mail, which is loaded an average of 26.91 times per week by those who use it. Below that, several versions of solitaire rank in the top 10, which might be indicative of the Windows Store needing a bigger and better stockpile of apps.

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Nvidia Releases 320.18 WHQL Drivers with Support for GTX 780

Posted: 23 May 2013 08:56 AM PDT

Nvidia GPUThis is the Game Ready driver for Metro: Last Light.

What would a new graphics card launch be without new drivers to help squeeze out the most performance possible? So it goes, Nvidia today not only introduced the world to its GeForce GTX 780 video card -- check out write-up with benchmarks -- the GPU maker also made available new GeForce R320 Series (320.18) drivers that are WHQL certified and primed for Metro: Last Light.

The new drivers promise up to a 10 percent boost in performance in Metro: Last Light, and if you use GeForce Experience, Nvidia will take care of detecting optimal game settings with PhysX effects and DirectX 11 tessellation.

The highlights for the R320 series are the same as they were for the 320.14 beta drivers, which we covered last week. To quickly recap, you can expect up to 20 percent faster performance in several PC games running on your GeForce 400/500/600 Series GPUs, Nvidia says. You'll also find a bunch of new and updated SLI profiles.

Nvidia Driver Downloads

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Newegg Daily Deals: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 Case, Sapphire Radeon HD 6670, and More

Posted: 23 May 2013 08:41 AM PDT

Fractal Design Arc Midi R2Newegg

Top Deal:

You can hand pick all the best components for your next PC build, but if you toss them in a sub-par case, you could end up spending your time troubleshooting errors and heating issues rather than having fun. A case that emphasizes cooling ensures that won't happen. Today's top deal is for a Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 Mid Tower Computer Case for $70 with free shipping (normally $120 - use coupon code: EMCXRVW45). It comes with three Silent Series R2 fans and even sports an integrated fan controller.

Other Deals:

MEElectronics RX12 3.5mm Connector In-Ear Headphone for $7 with free shipping (normally $25).

Logitech K800 Wireless Slim Illuminated Keyboard for $75 with free shipping (normally $100 - use coupon code:[EMCXRVW76]).

Sapphire Ultimate Radeon HD 6670 1GB Video Card for $80 with free shipping  (normally $90; additional $15 mail-in rebate).

Iview USB 3.0/eSATA 4-Bay Storage Box for $51 with free shipping (normally $110 - use coupon code:[EMCXRVW237]).

Samsung Touts Over 10 Million Galaxy S4 Sales in First Month

Posted: 23 May 2013 08:21 AM PDT

Samsung Galaxy S4Fastest selling Galaxy device to date.

The cold, hard truth for companies like Nokia and HTC is that one of their biggest competitors, Samsung, is red hot right now. Apple faces the same concern, though the Cupertino company isn't fighting for scraps like the other guys, it's leaving them behind alongside Samsung, the latter of which just announced it has surpassed 10 million Galaxy S4 sales in less than a month after its commercial debut.

If it took you 10 seconds to get to this point in the article, Samsung just sold another 40 Galaxy S4 devices, as the South Korean handset maker claims it's selling four S4 devices every second. It's a new record for Samsung, which is seeing quicker sales with its Galaxy S4 than any of its predecessors.

"On behalf of Samsung, I would like to thank the millions of customers around the world who have chosen the Samsung Galaxy S4. At Samsung we'll continue to pursue innovation inspired by and for people," said JK Shin, CEO and President of the IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics.

There's no single reason for Samsung's success, but several. Android at this point is a mature operating system that's really come into its own with the launch of Jelly Bean; the Galaxy S4 device itself is well equipped with a large screen, fast processor, and several features; and finally, Samsung has done a great job marketing the S4's features in a series of TV ad spots, especially when it comes to showing off the built-in camera and the device's editing tricks.

It also helps that Samsung has made the device available in many corners of the world. The Galaxy S4 is currently being sold in more than 110 countries and will gradually be rolled out to 155 territories via 327 partners.

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EVGA Launches New Double Ball Bearing Cooling Solution Dubbed ACX

Posted: 23 May 2013 08:12 AM PDT

EVGA ACX CoolerHow EVGA's high-end GPU keeps its cool.

Nvidia and its hardware partners are all about the GeForce GTX 780 launch, but that's not the only thing on tap from EVGA. The GPU maker is introducing a totally new ACX Cooler with a double ball bearing design that's more efficient at dissipating heat than the company's previous coolers. A large part of the increased cooling performance is due to the 40 percent increase in heatsink volume, allowing for a 15 percent reduction in GPU temperatures.

EVGA didn't just pay attention to cooling the GPU, but also the surrounding components that make up the card. The ACX Cooler features a reinforcement baseplate that helps maintain a straight PCB (printed circuit board), which helps lower mosfet temperatures by 7 percent and memory temperatures by 15 percent.

EVGA ACX Cooler Explode View

Perhaps the most impressive upgrade is that EVGA is using high quality fan blades that are 700 percent stronger and weigh 25 percent less when compared to competitors' dual fan designs, the company claims. By EVGA's math, that makes them 20 percent more efficient by requiring lower power levels. And that dual ball bearing design we touched on earlier? EVGA says they have a 12-year lifespan.

Here's a look at the cooler on EVGA's upcoming GeForce GTX 780 graphics card:

EVGA GeForce GTX 780

Stay tuned to this space as we currently have the card in our lab for testing and will release benchmarks soon!

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GeForce GTX 780 Benchmarks

Posted: 23 May 2013 06:01 AM PDT

GTX 780Team Green captures the single-GPU crown, again

Today Nvidia pulls the wraps off its $650 GK110-based 700 series flagship card, the GeForce GTX 780. This board slides directly into the yawning chasm that exists between the $500 GK104-based GTX 680 and the $1,000 GK110-based GTX Titan, though despite its price it's actually much closer in specs and performance to the Titan than it is to the GTX 680.

Specifications

Like the Titan, the GTX 780 is a GK110 board, so it has all 7.1 billion transistors, a 384-bit memory bus care of six 64-bit memory controllers and two less SMX clusters with 12 for a total of 2,304 CUDA cores. Its 3GB of memory runs at the usual 6GHz clock speed, and its 863MHz core clock speed is just a smidge higher than the Titan's 836MHz clock. Its 900MHz boost clock is also a bit faster than the Titan's 876MHz. Overall, it would be fair to refer to the GTX 780 as the so-called Titan LE that has been rumored for a while now, as it's a basically a slightly neutered version of the Titan, at least as far as gamers are concerned. Performance in games is extremely competitive with the Titan, more so than we thought it would be given its price. When it comes to compute performance, however, the GTX 780 is heavily neutered compared to the Titan, and for good reason. The 1.5 Teraflops of double precision performance that was so welcome in the Titan is nowhere to be seen in the GTX 780, as Nvidia is reserving that feature for the pricier Titan, and is also billing the GTX 780 as strictly a gaming card. The GTX 780 still offers respectable single precision performance though, clocking in at 4 Teraflops compared to the Titan's 4.5 Teraflops. For comparison, the GK104-based GTX 680 can only push 1 Teraflop of single precision, and its double precision performance is just 1/24th of that by Nvidia's design. It wants these "cheap" cards to be used for gaming, period, and its expensive Tesla cards to be used for Compute. This is why the Titan costs $1,000 and the GTX 780 costs $650.

GTX 780 Specs

Spec Comparison

Otherwise the card looks, feels, and runs almost exactly like a Titan. It has the same 10.5-inch length, the same six-pin and eight-pin PCIe connectors, and the same HDMI, DisplayPort , and DVI connectors. It supports up to three-way SLI. The minimum power supply required is 600w, and the card's TDP is 250w, just like the Titan.

New Technology

Nvidia is releasing the GTX 780 with a fair bit of cool new technology that helps round out the package a bit, so let's look at each of them one by one.

Adaptive Fan Control

Adaptive Fan Control

Nvidia's all-new Adaptive Fan Control smooths out the speed at which the fans spin up and down, resulting in less noticeable noise during operation.

Even though the GTX Titan was and is a "quiet" GPU by our standards, Nvidia tells us that it's not necessarily fan noise that people notice as much as changes in fan speed, and we have to say there's some truth to that. Once a fan is spinning at a certain RPM we tend to not notice it, especially as the Titan and the GTX 780's fans never really spin very fast. It is certainly noticeable though when the fans spin up or down suddenly; we all hear that. So on the GTX 780 Nvidia has smoothed out the speed at which the fans spin up and down so you don't hear the change in fan speed.

ShadowPlay

ShadowPlay

ShadowPlay is designed to improve the in-game video recording experience over FRAPS by consuming less system resources and compressing the videos. It will work with any Kepler GPU and will be released this summer.

Now this is a cool feature, albeit one we have not tested as it was not available just yet. This is software that only works with Kepler GPUs to record your gaming sessions by using the GPU's built-in H.264 video encoder. The software will just record everything you do and keep only the portion that you just played, hence it's name, as it records everything that you just did, like a shadow. You can tell the software to just keep the last five minutes, 10 minutes, or 20 minutes, and it'll intelligently delete what is not needed, helping keep file sizes down by both deleting unneeded video and also through video compression. Nvidia also claims the peformance hit from turning on Shadowplay is less than five percent, so it's main advantages over FRAPS are that it only records what just happened instead of everything, and it requires less system resources to do so. This software will be rolling out this summer and will be available via Nvidia's GeForce Experience software, and will be supported on any Kepler GPU. It should be noted that beginning with this launch driver, the GeForce Experience software will replace the Nvidia Update software in the driver package, and though users can opt out of installing it, by default it will be installed with all Nvidia drivers going forward.

Head on over to page 2 to read about the rest of the new features, see the benchmarks, and our final thoughts.


 

GPU Boost 2.0

GPU Boost 2.0

The GTX 780 features GPU Boost 2.0 temperature target settings as well as the ability to overvolt the board.

This feature first appeared on the GTX Titan and it works beautifully. Its main goal is to prevent the GPU from throttling itself due to excessive heat, which results in reduced performance. To prevent this from happening, users can now set the peak temperature for a card, which by default is set to 81C but it can be pushed up to 95C if you like (the card can handle it). Nvidia tells us these cards can go all the way up to 105C before the hardware is damaged, but you'd be lucky to push either a Titan or a GTX 780 past 80C typically since their coolers are so effective. However, the GPU will overclock as high as it can until it reaches that pre-determined temperature, so you can nudge the temperature GPU Boost 2.0 also allows for overvolting a card, so you can overclock it as high as you can get away with by pushing the core clock power target, temperature target, memory, and voltage. Only the Titan and the GTX 780 offers these features at this time. If you try to use them on a GTX 680, for example, they are simply greyed out.

Performance

When we first heard of this card we figured it would land squarely in between the $500 GTX 680 and the $1,000 GTX Titan, both in performance and price. Then Nvidia informed us the card was priced at $650, and we looked at the benchmark charts and thought this was either a very competitively priced product, or the Titan is really overpriced, at least for gamers. Looking at the benchmark chart (below) you can see the GTX 780 is within five to 15 percent of the Titan in all benchmarks, which is seriously impressive given it costs $350 less. In general we run all games at 2560x1600 with 4XAA enabled, which is extremely taxing on even the most hardcore systems, and yet the GTX 780 was just on the cusp of playing all games extremely smoothly, with the exception of Metro: Last Light, which will remain a ball buster for the forseeable future it seems. Even though we'd prefer to have at least 40-50fps, that is just not possible with a single GPU at the resolution we run, and only the Titan can get close to achieving it. That said, the GTX 780 is damn close, and easily puts some distance on both the GTX 680 and the Radeon HD 7970, making it the fastest sub-$1,000 GPU available at this time. It should also be noted that the card ran cool and quiet throughout testing, and we were able to run it at 1,084MHz with no problems at all.

GTX 780 Benchmarks

GTX 780 Benchmarks

Final thoughts

This is one wicked fast GPU, and if it was $750 or so like we thought it would be you would see us waffling a bit between this card and the Titan. However, at $650 it is very competitive, though we've yet to compare it to dual GTX 660 Ti cards or GTX 670 cards in SLI, but then you have to deal with dual GPUs. Also, add-in board partners will be releasing their own versions of the GTX 780 with custom cooling solutions, but we do not know at this time whether the boards will be overclocked or offer larger frame buffers.

In our opinion, the best news about the GTX 780 is at the resolution we use for testing there was no such thing as an affordable GPU that could handle it. The GTX 680 and the HD 7970 were all stuck around 20fps or so for newer games, though the Titan could handle them much better. With the GTX 780 we have a truly semi-affordable card that can run newer games at these resolutions and AA settings just fine. Nvidia says the GTX 780 is 34 percent faster than a GTX 680 and that seems about right to us, and 70 percent faster than a GTX 580, so people with older cards will see quite a jump in performance by upgrading. There also might be other 700-series cards in the pipeline, so anyone looking to upgrade might want to wait just a bit before pulling the trigger on a new card.

As far as how AMD will respond, that remains to be seen. The company reminded us that the HD 7970 GHz edition is still the fastest card at its price point of roughly $420, and that is certainly true. Whether or not it will respond with a GCN 2.0 board dubbed Radeon 8790 or similar is anyone's guess, but given the ferocity of the GPU wars as of late we'd be shocked if AMD sat on the sidelines for very long.

PS: Here is a promotional video Nvidia sent us that walks you through the GTX 780's hardware and software.

OCZ's Vertex 450 Solid State Drive Family Runs Barefoot

Posted: 23 May 2013 06:00 AM PDT

OCZ Vertex 450New SSD line gets its kicks from the Indilinx Barefoot 3 Series controller.

One thing OCZ had yet to do up to this point was deploy in-house ASIC technology on its Vertex family of solid state drives. That changes with the introduction of the Vertex 450 Series, which OCZ is marketing as a mid-range performer that sits between its value offerings and flagship Vector line. The Vertex 450 Series uses OCZ's Indilinx Barefoot 3 M10 controller, essentially a newer iteration of the Barefoot controller found in the Vertex 4.

In comparing the two, the Barefoot 3 M10 has a lower clockspeed and supports 20nm NAND flash memory. It also boasts AES-256 encryption, sustained performance across all file types, and a power-optimized clock generator that helps improve yield and drives down cost, the combination of which translates into better overall availability and value for consumers, OCZ says.

The Vertex 450 Series pipes data through a SATA 6Gbps interface at various rates, depending on the capacity. Here's a breakdown of each one's performance:

  • 128GB: 525MB/s read, 290MB/s write, 75,000 4KB random read IOPS, 70,000 4KB random write IOPS
  • 256GB: 540MB/s read, 525MB/s write, 85,000 4KB random read IOPS, 90,000 4KB random write IOPS
  • 512GB: 540MB/s read, 530MB/s write, 85,000 4KB random read IOPS, 90,000 4KB random write IOPS

All three drives come with a 3-year warranty, Acronis cloning software, and a 3.5-inch adapter. MSRPs have been set to $130 (128GB), $235 (256GB), and $500 (512GB).

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AMD Details Multifaceted Mobile APU Strategy

Posted: 22 May 2013 09:12 PM PDT

AMD A6 APUAMD attempts to change with the market.

The rapid shift to mobile seems to have caught x86 chip makers off guard, but on the bright side for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), this tectonic shift in technology represents a new opportunity to perhaps do things differently than before. Maybe the outcome will be different, maybe not, but either way, we have an early look at AMD's agenda for the changing market place, and it starts with "Temash."

Temash

Temash is AMD's solution for touch tablets, notebooks, and hybrids less than 13 inches in size. According to AMD, it's Temash-based APUs (Accelerated Processing Units) offer the best graphics of any SoC (System-on-Chip) on the planet and is part of its "Elite Mobility" platform.

"The performance of Elite Mobility APUs will reset user expectations for what they can do in tablets and hybrids," AMD explains.

Compared to its 2012 platform, AMD's Elite Mobility APUs for 2013 offer up to 212 percent more performance with less than half the power consumption. And compared to Intel's CloverTrail parts, AMD says Temash has several advantages, including application acceleration through GPU compute, DirectX 11 support, high-speed SATA support, support for up to two USB 3.0 ports, 8GB system memory support, and more.

AMD announced three Temash APUs, including the A6-1450 (four cores clocked at 1GHz base/1.4GHz max, 2MB L2 cache, DDR3L-1066 support, 8W TDP) with Radeon HD 8250 graphics (128 Radeon cores, 300MHz base/400MHz max clockspeed); A4-1250 (two cores clocked at 1GHz, 1MB L2 cache, DDR3L-1333 support, 8W TDP) with Radeon HD 8210 graphics (128 Radeon cores, 300MHz); and A4-1200 (two cores clocked at 1GHz, 1MB L2 cache, DDR3L-1066 support, 3.9W TDP) with Radeon HD 8180 graphics (128 Radeon cores, 225MHz).

Kabini

AMD Kabini

Moving up to AMD's Mainstream APU platform, we have Kabini. AMD is pitching Kabini as the first x86 quad-core SoC for entry-level and mainstream systems with best-in class graphics on the level of consoles. These consist of two A-Series APUs, including the A6-5200 (four cores, 2GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 25W TPD) with Radeon HD 8400 graphics (600MHz) and A4-5000 (four cores, 1.5GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 15W TDP) with Radeon HD 8330 graphics (600MHz), and three E-Series APUs, including the E2-3000 (two cores, 1.65GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 15W TDP) with Radeon HD 8280 graphics (450MHz), E1-2500 (two cores, 1.4GHz, 1MB L2, 15W TDP) with Radeon HD 8240 graphics (400MHz), and E1-2100 (two cores, 1GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 9W TDP) with Radeon HD 8210 graphics (300MHz).

Richland

AMD's "Elite Performance" tier is where its Richland APUs take residence. These parts purportedly offer up to 71 percent better graphics performance than Intel's Core i5 line while still being able to run up to 10+ hours while resting and 7.5+ hours surfing the web, AMD claims. These chips are destined for elite ultrathins.

Here's a look at the Richland parts and their respective specs:

AMD Richland Chart

Between Temash, Kabini, and Richland, AMD seems to have all of its mobile bases covered, now it's just a matter of whether or not it can bring them home to consumers.

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The post CEO of HP Thinks of Android for thier Tablets appeared first on GAMEFORUMER.COM | MMORPG | Technology | Video Gaming.

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