Gaming

Gigabyte has registered new GeForce RTX 3080 Ti SKUs with the EEC, following NVIDIA's GPU and VRAM changes. The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is expected to arrive in May with 12 GB of GDDR6X VRAM, but it seems that Gigabyte has its eyes set on releasing a CMP 30HX crypto mining card, too.

The Sony PlayStation 5 outputs all content in HDR by default, even if games or videos do not support a higher dynamic range. There are some situations where one may want to disable HDR though, but it turns out that Sony's latest console struggles with displaying the correct colours when set to SDR.

A report from a Taiwanese media site has revealed that both Acer and Asus appear to be planning on implementing price hikes on their popular laptop ranges. The continuing high demand for notebooks and mobile workstations has led to a situation where Acer and Asus are likely to increase product prices in the second quarter of 2021.

Xiaomi's bumper launch of today (March 29, 2021) mainly focused on its new Mi 11-series Android phones. However, it also introduced a number of new products that could be used alongside them, one of which is the new Mi AX9000 router. Its new, gamer-geared design gives it 12 antennae in total, and integrates a top-end Qualcomm chipset for tri-band Wi-Fi 6 speeds and specs.

The South Korean hardware manufacturer EmTek has released unusual-looking graphics cards before, but the GeForce RTX 3060 MIRACLE will take some beating. While its dual fan design is regular for a GeForce RTX 3060, its honeycomb and bee-inspired design is more playful than many contemporary graphics cards. It remains to be seen how useful obscuring one intake fan will be, though.

ASUS has unveiled the GeForce RTX 3060 Phoenix, a tiny GA106-based card that has one fan. The RTX 3060 Phoenix is just 177 mm long, but it is a 2.5-slot card being 51 mm wide.

The long-awaited Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.2 is almost here, and CDPR has confirmed that it will feature nearly 300 fixes for its triple-A title. Patch 1.2 will also enable ray tracing for AMD graphics cards, such as the Radeon RX 6700 XT and RX 6800 XT.
Updated: Patch 1.2 is now live on consoles and PC, where it is a 34 GB download.

MSI will be showcasing how its latest Intel Z590 and B560-series motherboards can help push the performance of Intel's 11th gen Rocket Lake processors in productivity, gaming, and content creation via a virtual live event on March 31. Viewers of the livestream will also be able to take part in contests and win exciting prizes.

File transfers are almost an order of magnitude faster on the new GE76 when compared to the older GE75. If you rely on SD cards for your daily workloads, then you may want to skip the GE75 or GE65.

A discovery by a Hardwareluxx forum member seems to indicate that NVIDIA might have scrapped plans for using the GA102-250 in the RTX 3080 TI and, instead, repurpose it as GA102-300 for the RTX 3090. This still leaves the possibility of a GA102-225 with 12 GB GDDR6X VRAM launching as the RTX 3080 Ti some time in May.

The Dell G15 5515 will launch with at least an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, according to a 3DMark listing. The 115 W GPU will be available with 16 GB of RAM and a fast 1TB SSD, too.

Redmi is slated to launch its first dedicated Android gaming phone soon. It is already confirmed to debut with the new MediaTek Dimensity 1200 processor; now, it is also tipped to do so with a high-end flat AMOLED screen. The device may also have fast 65W charging, as well as shoulder buttons like those of the RedMagic or Black Shark lines.

ZA/UM's remarkably political RPG is set to receive a major upgrade on March 30th. The Director's Cut of Disco Elysium will include new narrative content as well as full voice acting, fleshing out hundreds of thousands of lines of in-game text.

Dell is throwing in a year of onsite or in-home repair service at no additional cost. The Alienware m15 R4 is the newest gaming laptop from Dell and not some older configuration on clearance.

Razer has launched a new retractable stainless steel staw, complete with a carrying case and a cleaner. It is packaged as the Razer Reusable Straw and costs US$20 on Razer's official website. The company says that straw is s part of its "go green with Razer" initiative.

The massively-popular PUBG Mobile has finally crossed the magical 1 billion downloads mark on Android and iOS. The game continues to remain relevant despite being banned in one of the most lucrative markets in the world, India. PUBG Mobile has a successor in the works, too, called PUBG: New State.

NVIDIA is currently working on the GeForce RTX 3050, a new mid-range dedicated GPU that should provide thin and light laptops with more graphics performance than an AMD or Intel iGPU could. NVIDIA is yet to announce the GeForce RTX 3050, but a new leak has provided more details about it.

The idea of Discord being bought out by Microsoft in a billion-dollar deal has mostly been dismissed as clickbait fuel - until now. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Redmond giant and chat-service stalwart are indeed in "advanced" talks concerning a potential acquisition. Therefore, the latter may not be merely trying to ramp up for a potential IPO after all.

The RTX 2060 dGPU is still a good mid-range mobile dGPU, especially now that Gateway and Walmart are offering laptops that integrate it for only US$799. This deal also includes a 15.6-inch FHD IPS display with 120 Hz refresh rate, an Intel Core i5-10300H CPU, plus 8 GB DDR4-3200 and 256 GB SSD storage that can be easily upgradable.

According to a new rumour, NVIDIA plans to release two GeForce RTX 3070 Ti cards in May, both with GDDR6X VRAM. Apparently, NVIDIA has developed 8 GB and 16 GB SKUs that can reach 21 Gbps. The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is expected to launch in May with NVIDIA's GA104-400 GPU.

ViewSonic has introduced five VX18 series gaming monitors with 165 Hz refresh rates and 1 ms response times. The series ranges from the 24-inch and 1080p VX2418-P-MHD to the 32-inch and curved VX3218-PC-MHD. All five gaming monitors rely on ViewSonic's SuperClear VA panels that provide high contrast ratios and wide colour space coverages.

The PlayStation 4 could inevitably become unusable in a few years, unless you fancy cracking it open and tinkering with it. Apparently, the console requires a working CMOS battery to play games, regardless of whether you purchased them physically or digitally. Replacing the battery is only possible for as long as the PlayStation Network supports the PS4, too.

Panasonic announces three OLED TV models that come with the 48-inch size option. These keep the HCX Pro AI Processor and custom color profiles from the flagship JZ2000 screens, but also come with Game Mode Extreme that lowers input lag down to 2.5 ms for 60 Hz signals.

One-Netbook has another handheld games console in the works, following the launch of the OneGX1 Pro last year. One-Netbook has called its latest device the One XPlayer, which it has equipped with an 8.4-inch display that has a 16:10 aspect ratio and a 1,200p resolution, along with a choice of Intel Tiger Lake processors with powerful Iris Xe iGPUs.

MSI has confirmed that it plans to increase the price of its graphics cards at a recent investor meeting. The company hasn't specified which GPUs will be subject to the price hike, but we can reasonably assume that the entirety of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3000 and AMD Radeon RX 6000 series will be affected.

A new leak from Twitter suggests that Razer is working on a laptop powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060. It is touted to ship with a 14-inch screen, too. Unfortunately, there is no information about its remaining specifications and release date at this moment.

Psyonix has just announced that it plans to bring Rocket League to mobile. Rocket League Sideswipe will feature quick two-minute 1v1 or 2v2 games, a competitive mode, and more. The game is likely to be launched later in 2021.

A new leak suggests that the upcoming Nintendo Switch Pro could be powered by a GPU based on Nvidia's newest Lovelace architecture. The SoC could be a heavily watered-down version of the Nvidia Orin automotive chipset launched in 2019.

A new report says that Nvidia has delayed the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti launch date to mid-May. No reason has been cited, but it is safe to assume that it has something to do with the global semiconductor shortage. This will inadvertently affect the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti's release, too.

Lenovo has confirmed that it will be launching another gaming smartphone, following the launch of the ASUS ROG Phone 5 earlier this month. The Legion 2 Pro will arrive on April 8 and will feature some exciting hardware, including dual fans.

Modder nicobellic300901 released "Grainy SSR Begone" for Cyberpunk 2077. The mode leverages the Reshade platform to intelligently denoise low-resolution SSR reflections in the game for enhanced visuals, without the performance hit of "Psycho" quality RTX effects.

The MSI GE76 is your best bet thus far if you want one of the fastest GeForce RTX 30 laptops in the market. Its 155 W TGP GPU allows the laptop to pull ahead in almost all cases when compared to other models with the same RTX 3080 GPU.

A new report tells us that Qualcomm is working on a Nintendo Switch-like gaming console. It will be powered by the company's in-house Snapdragon SoC and run Android 12 out of the box. The console could cost around US$300 and will be announced sometime in Q1, 2022.

The Black Shark 4 and Black shark 4 Pro gaming smartphones have been launched with interesting specifications. Key specs include a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of 144Hz, a 4,500mAh battery that supports 120W fast charging, pop-up mechanical triggers and more. Black Shark says that the phones will be launched globally soon.

The graphics card shortage has led to another curious product launch. Now, Palit has unveiled a new version of the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, which it first released in 2016. Worse still, the Pascal-based card is no cheaper than it was when Palit released it four years ago.

Retailers look to be clearing stock on the older GE75 to make room for the newer redesigned GE76. Now may be the time to jump in as the GeForce RTX 2070 Super is still very powerful even when compared to the newer mobile RTX 30 offerings.

Game Director Hugo Martin and Executive Producer Marty Stratton have confirmed that DOOM Eternal will continue to receive updates throughout the year. They could include the addition of raytracing, new Master Levels, next-generation console improvements, and Invasion Mode.

With the same looks, the Thor 380, 400, and 401 RGB mechanical keyboards by Genesis are set apart by the switches inside. The first one uses Otemu Blue, the second employs Kailh RED, and the Genesis 401 RGB sports Kailh Brown switches. The prices are 59,80 EUR (~US$71) for the 380 and 69,80 EUR (~US$83) for the 400 and 401.

According to new information from board partners, NVIDIA plans to release two new powerful Ampere-based GPUs within the next two months. The cards in question are the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, which should both offer better performance than the current RTX 3070 and RTX 3080.

The upcoming Black Shark 4 Pro has been crowned the new smartphone audio champion in DXOMARK’s rankings, pushing the Xiaomi Mi 10S into second place. The Black Shark 4 Pro impressed with its clear playback and excellent trio of microphones. The gaming smartphone with Snapdragon 888 and 144 Hz AMOLED will be launched on March 23.

Asus' new mobile-gaming flagship device, the ROG Phone 5, recently earned a shelving of shame following a catastrophic end to its round of JerryRigEverything's popular durability tests. This failure was thought to be due to a weak point caused by a secondary USB type C port found on one side; however, the ROG Phone 3 also had one, and proved much more robust. A teardown may reveal what else is going on with this new phone.

Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.2 is slated to correct some of the often-overlooked, but annoying aspects of the game such as the police appearing out of thin air and vehicular controls. It will also let you remap the dash ability on your keyboard. The patch is expected to arrive sometime at the end of March.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild remains one of the most beautiful games even four years after its release. However, the Nintendo Switch's limited power holds the game back, from its resolution to its often low framerates. However, a new video now shows how the triple-A title could look if it had been paired with more powerful hardware, or hardware that is capable of playing it in 8K with ray tracing enabled.

Intel’s long-awaited Xe HPG (DG2) graphics cards for serious gamers appear to be close to launching. The company has teased a scavenger hunt for March 26 based on hidden code found in a recent teaser video pointing to a launch as soon as the end of the month.

NVIDIA's game-streaming service GeForce NOW has announced the end of one membership type and the beginning of another. At US$9.99, the new Priority subscription costs more, but is also slated to add more benefits such as RTX ON and DLSS support in compatible titles. However, those with the original Founder's membership have their pricing locked in.

LG has added a feature called Fine Tune Dark Areas to over 70 TVs as it aims to reduce raised black levels, especially on OLED panels. LG intends people to use the feature when using VRR on an enabled PC or games console.

LG added a few new sliders that are meant to fix the near-black gamma problems reported on last year's models. Thus, we have the Black Stabiliser and Fine Tune Dark Areas sliders that can deal with the elevated black, but we also see features like White Stabiliser for bright highlight details in HDR and a Prevent Input Delay toggle that helps reduce input lag with 60 Hz signals.

Another paper launch this soon after the RX 6700 XT release? MSRP is expected around $350, but we are not sure if actual retail prices could be close to those figures. Navi 23 will supposedly launch under the RX 6500 moniker and should also come along with mobile versions.

Sony is giving away 11 games as part of its latest Play at Home campaign. The highlights include Horizon Zero Dawn and Ratchet & Clank, along with the likes of Astro Bot. These titles could be downloaded for free by all PlayStation users, including those who do not have a PlayStation Plus subscription.