Gaming

You can shop smarter by knowing where resellers like Walmart are getting their laptops. ODMs often sell the same white label laptop to multiple resellers who will then reskin and rebrand the laptop as their own. By shopping around different resellers, you can often find the exact same laptop under different names but at cheaper prices.

If you have set yourself a limit of around €250 (~US$275) for a new desktop GPU this Christmas, then you will run into the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER sooner or later. The GTX 1660 SUPER improves upon the regular GTX 1660 in several areas, with the KFA2 version going even further than a reference card could.

The European Hardware Association (EHA) has released the results of its latest study into user preferences for chipsets from different manufacturers. It indicates that over 60% of these customers would choose AMD for their next non-mobile PC processor. The preference for this company's graphics is also showing slow but steady growth.

Another image of the PlayStation 5 devkit has been leaked, with two of the devices caught on camera this time around. While this latest picture confirms the design of the next-gen console devkits, there also seems to be a surprise reveal of the DualShock 5 controller. The PS5 is scheduled for release in Holiday 2020 and is expected to cost around US$499.

Lepow has announced a 30% discount on its portable monitor as of tomorrow (November 30, 2019). This product is a 15.6-inch display with a built-in stand-cover and dual speakers. It has USB type C and mini HDMI ports so as to be compatible with mobile devices, PCs and consoles.

Aside from the obvious input latency, Stadia has a long list of other issues ranging from its pay-per-title business model and quality of service. What can Google do to make Stadia a success?

The XMG Neo 15, based on a Tongfang GK5CQ7Z chassis, packs an Intel Core i7-9750H processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q GPU among other components, despite its compact dimensions. There is even a mechanical keyboard onboard too, so gamers should be in for a treat.

The XMG Neo 17 from Schenker Technologies is a 17-inch gaming notebook that can be configured individually and has an enticing mechanical keyboard.

Google will issue refunds to Stadia Pro users who bought Tomb Raider and Farming Simulator 2019. Both games will be free starting December 1st as a part of the Stadia Pro subscription.

Dell.com's Black Friday event has kicked off with about 20% off many XPS and Inspiron models. In terms of less productivity-focused hardware, however, its banner listing may be the Alienware Area-51 desktop with a Threadripper 2950X SoC, which has been discounted by US$1020. There are also other gaming PCs from this OEM on sale.

The wait for the RTX 2080 Ti Super is killing you? If you already have the RTX 2080 Ti and US$2,000 lying around, why not just take matters into your own hands and build the RTX 2080 Ti Super yourself? It's a risky process that requires you to sacrifices two RTX 2080 Super cards and do some reballing and resoldering work, plus you will have to overclock the VRAM to match the 16 Gbps speeds.

Samsung has decided it wants in on the PC game streaming action. The company has just launched its own solution for streaming PC games to its Galaxy smartphones called PlayGalaxy Link that works over both Wi-Fi and Cellular networks.

Earlier this year, One-Netbook teased the prospect of releasing a portable gaming PC. Now, in interviews with ITmedia and PCWatch, the Japanese company has detailed that the device will run on an Intel Tiger Lake-Y processor. It will feature detachable controllers too, among other specifications that One-Netbook also confirmed.

While the main Diablo IV story will be focusing on Lilith, but each expansion pack may come with a different antagonist. Diablo could make an appearance in later expansion packs, and some expansions will feature never-before-seen antagonists. While this should keep progression fresh for an extended time, it is unclear if Blizzard intends to charge players more money by expansion.

LG has unveiled what it calls the "best prices of the year" on its OLED TVs sold through its site and authorized dealers in the US. It includes no less than US$2000 off one 77-inch model, and a 55-inch SKU that now goes for just $1199. These deals take effect today (November 27, 2019) and last until December 2.

Nvidia GPUs already support AMD's FreeSync monitors, but AMD's GPUs are still not compatible with Nvidia's G-Sync screens. However, Nvidia recently unveiled that these issues are to be eliminated, as 2020 G-Sync screens will provide compatibility for all non-Nvidia GPUs. This is especially beneficial for the upcoming AMD-powered PS5 and Xbox Scarlett consoles.

The Samsung SSD Forum that was recently held in Tokyo has possibly revealed a small clue about one of the most important components of the PlayStation 5: The SSD. One of the slides shown during the presentation clearly shows a PlayStation DualShock controller, which has led to this latest round of PS5 speculation. Next-generation consoles will greatly benefit from the faster loading speeds of NVMe SSDs.

Intel has reportedly patented its own game controller. It is liberally provisioned with joysticks, buttons, a D-pad and what could be shoulder triggers. Furthermore, its design also includes a touchpad, which is apparently associated with a patent of its own. This new in-house controller could be related to this company's cloud-gaming partnership with Tencent.

Laptop performance is complicated. Not only do you have to factor in the parts you need on your future laptop, you also need to make sure you're getting the performance you expect. Here's how to make sure you'll be getting anything but buyer's remorse, at least when it comes to your laptop's performance.

NVIDIA has a new driver update for its more recent GPUs. This version (Game Ready Driver 441.20 WHQL) makes 1 more Asus monitor and 2 more Acer displays G-SYNC compatible. It may also improve gameplay in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the VR title Stormland.

Intel has released its latest Next-Unit Computing- (NUC) form-factor PCs. They are powered by 10th-generation Core processors, and have i3, i5 and i7 variants. This applies to the kits and the mini PCs in this series, which also have Thunderbolt 3, Wi-Fi 6 and 4 USB 3.1 ports, 1 of which is type C.

One of Asus' newest flagship laptops is hundreds of dollars off this week to be one of the better gaming deals you can find before Black Friday. The narrow bezels make the 17.3-inch chassis smaller than it really is.

Rockstar Games released Red Dead Redemption 2 a few weeks ago on PC with some hefty recommended system requirements. While you will always need around 150 GB of storage free to install Red Dead Redemption 2, a new video shows the unintended consequences of forcing the game to run at the lowest possible graphics settings. At least you can now run Red Dead Redemption on integrated graphics, though.

PowerColor recently announced its RX 5700 XT Liquid Devil, a 5700 XT with an EK Waterblock straight out of the box. Priced at US$599, this liquid-cooled 5700 XT might just give the RTX 2070 Super a run for its money.

A new leak has verified the existence of the Radeon RX 5700M, a mobile GPU that may put AMD on a more level playing field with NVIDIA. The new information confirms that AMD has greater plans for its Navi architecture than merely the Radeon RX 5300M and RX 5500M, which should be music to the ears of content creators and gamers alike.

Nvidia recently implemented a checkerboard multiGPU rendering option in its graphics drivers. This enables multiGPU scaling in any DX 10+ game, including those without SLI support

AMD’s Radeon RX 5500 desktop graphics card has been put through a few gaming benchmarks to see how it performed. Unsurprisingly, the RX 5500 couldn’t keep up with the chosen competition: Gigabyte’s GeForce GTX 1660 OC and Sapphire’s RX 580 Nitro+. However, the AMD video card proved to be a good Full HD performer that required less power than its competitors.

A Sony patent for a cartridge has been creating considerable speculation recently, with some believing the PlayStation 5 could come with a game cartridge slot while others opined the patent heralded the introduction of external SSDs for the next-gen console. However, it appears the device in the patent drawing is actually destined for use with Sony’s Toio platform.

Nvidia's latest set of Studio Drivers bring RTX support to Chaos Group's V-Ray software and Blender's Cycles rendering engine. Through RTX, both engines should see a significant bump in performance in GPU-based rendering. A slew of other content-creation software will also benefit from new features in the latest Studio Drivers.

How great would it be to be able to trade-in your OG Playstation 4 for an instant $75 off the Playstation 5? A Sony-run trade-up program for existing PS4 owners could make the inevitably high launch price of the PS5 easier to swallow especially since the new console will be backwards compatible anyway.

Does in-game performance matter to you? If so, then the PlayStation 5 may have the edge over the Xbox Project Scarlett. However, do not necessarily expect Sony to be able to maintain this gap, though. The reality will likely be more subtle.

Things are not looking up for Google's Stadia game streaming platform. Users were already disappointed that some features would not be ready by launch, and now hardware issues are popping up, as well. Several Reddit posters are reporting that their Chromecast Ultra devices are overheating and shutting down after only a few hours of playtime.

Are you looking for your next graphics card for your small form factor PC? Well, the PNY GeForce GTX 1660 XLR8 Gaming OC could be the card for you. Setting aside its long-winded name, the XLR8 Gaming OC offers 1080p triple-A gaming at a pinch. It is not all plain sailing though, as we shall discuss in this review snippet.

PUBG 5.2 is now up and running for both PC and console players, and the most important change is the introduction of PUBG Labs, defined as "a new destination for where you can try our latest game modes and help us refine them into greatness." The Public Test Server is free for anyone who already owns a copy of the game.

It was only a couple of days ago that Microsoft’s Phil Spencer said that the company would not “be out of position on power or price” with its next-generation Xbox console. According to a plausible rumor, that could mean a starting price of just US$499 which should really spice up the battle for next-gen supremacy with Sony’s PS5 if accurate.

Rumours about NVIDIA releasing a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti SUPER are doing the rounds again, this time from a reliable leaker of upcoming NVIDIA products. While this contradicts what NVIDIA stated earlier this year, the prospect of AMD being on the cusp of releasing Navi 23 'NVIDIA killer' GPUs may have stirred the green team into action. Will it be another RTX 2070 SUPER style upgrade or something more underwhelming like the RTX 2080 SUPER?

We are still about a year out from the arrival of the PlayStation 5. However, the account behind The Last of Us 2 release date has revealed not only when Sony will first showcase its next console, but also when it will unveil the design and formally release the PlayStation 5. We have rounded-up the rumors published by the account and offered an overview of the key dates to watch for PlayStation 5 updates.

According to multiple outlets, some games on Google's Stadia streaming service are not rendered natively at 4K, like Google advertised them to be. Rather, some titles are rendered at lower resolutions and then upscaled to 4K once the data is sent to a gamer's Chromecast Ultra. This and a myriad of other complaints have left black marks on Stadia's first impression.

Users may not necessarily want to purchase Razer devices on a whim, but walk-in stores in heavy trafficked areas help to gain exposure and to create a sense of community for the brand.

A recent blog post by Diablo IV's lead systems designer, David Kim, confirms that the game will support elective mode-style skill selection and will also feature Keyed Dungeons. Kim also detailed itemization, endgame progression, power sources, and concluded by urging the members of the community to get involved by sharing their ideas.

Settlers of Catan is coming to mobile with an AR adjustment. Dubbed Catan: World Explorers, the new augmented reality game will be built using Niantic's extensive suite of AR tools. The game is still in the early stages of development, but more details should come early next year.

Even though the gaming tablet market is not that big right now, TCL is gearing up to release 10.8-inch 240 Hz tablet displays for 2020. Gamers may find the included punch-hole selfie cam a bit annoying, but tablet OEMs will surely like this feature for slim bezel models. The new displays also come with 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, 2 ms GTG response time and HDR capabilities.