Gaming

A thread posted by someone purporting to have information on GTA VI from insider sources has gained a lot of attention on Reddit. The post goes into great detail about the locations, development and story arc of the sequel to GTA VI, with the game being set across three cities and decades. Fake? Likely. It makes for great reading though.

There is a short teaser for the new graphics card on the Internet since Computex 2019. However, the video did not reveal any real information, but Nvidia lifts the curtain today and presents the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super, RTX 2070 Super, and RTX 2060 Super.

The GeForce RTX 20 SUPER series are on the horizon, but a set of OpenCL benchmark postings will make for bleak reading for NVIDIA fans. The RTX 2060 SUPER, RTX 2070 SUPER and AMD Radeon RX 5700 have all been tested in the same ASUS ROG RAMPAGE VI APEX motherboard, with the latter coming out on top.

While raw performance is comparable to a Core i5-8300H as designed, the Ryzen 7 3750H offers almost no tangible benefits over the Ryzen 5 3550H. The performance differences are so incredibly minor between the two SKUs that AMD could have just launched with one SKU only to make life simpler.

DevilutionX — an unofficial Diablo version that has been developed using code obtained by reverse-engineering the original game — is now available for Nintendo Switch. However, not all Nintendo Switch units can run it since the consoles need to run homebrew to allow their owners to play this rather special Diablo flavor.

The Android version of the 3DMark benchmarking suite is regarded as one of the best for non-iOS mobile devices. Its latest update has improved its compatibility with the ARM Mali-G72 and Mali-G76 chipsets. Then again, this fix may in fact downsize certain scores achieved with these GPUs.

A benchmark featuring both Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2070 Super and AMD’s Radeon RX 5700 XT has been spotted, and it makes great reading for fans of the green team’s products. The Nvidia Super card is way above the RX 5700 XT in the Final Fantasy XV benchmark; however, it’s believed this particular benchmark is generally weighted in Nvidia’s favor.

The release of the RTX 20 Super series will not coincide with price drops for current RTX 20 Desktop GPUs. Instead, NVIDIA will only keep on the RTX 2060 and RTX 2080 Ti, with the other two SKUs being replaced by their Super successors. RTX 20 Super series cards will start at US$399 and be available from July 9.

We're tired of gaming laptops sounding like hair dryers. While performance has been steadily increasing over the years, fan noise has remained about the same no matter how "sexy" or "exotic" the latest chassis designs may be. It's about time for PC makers to cook up something truly revolutionary in laptop cooling.

The specifications and expected performance targets for the upcoming NVIDIA GeForce RTX Super series has leaked online. The Super GPUs feature upgrades to CUDA cores, memory, and clocks along with improved ray tracing performance. Specifications for the RTX 2080 Super are not yet available.

A game benchmark of the upcoming NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super has leaked online and the card seems to have scored lower about 15% lower than an AMD Radeon 'Navi' RX 5700 XT. The details of the game are not known and this is only one score we have at the moment so we'd advise to take it with a pinch of the proverbial salt.

While the Razer Blade 15 is arguably the better buy over the MSI GS65, the same can't be said for the Razer Blade Pro 17 and the MSI GS75. If you travel and type as much as you game, then the GS75 will cover all your bases a little better.

The two leaked cards are part of EVGA's XC-series that comes with improved cooling systems with dual HDB fans, extra heatsinks, metal backplates and RGB lighting. While the RTX 2070 SUPER model features higher boosts clocks, the RTX 2060 SUPER card gets a clock downgrade due to it having more cores and faster GDDR6 memory than the original version.

AMD looks to have sent the Radeon RX 5700 XT to reviewers, with 3DMark benchmark results popping up online. The upcoming 7 nm GPU scored well in Time Spy but fell short of the RTX 2070, probably giving the RTX 2060 Super an edge over AMD's next flagship card too.

June 27 Update: Added comment in response to Razer's communications with NBC. We recently noted in our 2019 Razer Blade Pro review that its AC adapter hit the hottest temperature we've yet to measure on a gaming notebook, 67C. Based on historical evidence from Razer's 2017-2018 chargers melting or catching fire and the fact that the 2019 Razer Blade Pro's adapter is even hotter, I believe it may be prudent for the Singapore-based company to consider a recall — at least perhaps for adapters from their 2017-2018 Blade and Blade Pro systems.

Starting July 1st, Dell will be rolling out deals for its Inspiron, XPS, Alienware, Vostro, Precision, and G Series of PCs to piggy back on the success of Amazon Prime Day. Many of the price cuts are for older models in order to make room for the new models revealed at Computex 2019.

The Sharkoon Gaming DAC Pro S is a new product to which any headset with a 3.5mm jack can connect. It also has a USB type A interface to link the same to a PC. This may confer an improvement on the audio coming through the DAC.

Famed leakster TUM_APISAK has revealed what could be the first benchmark leak of the PlayStation 5's AMD 'Gonzalo' APU. The scores appear to indicate a 3DMark Fire Strike run and we see that the PS5 scores 4x higher than the PS4 and is in RTX 2070 territory. The exact score value and benchmark details are still not known.

Intel has lifted the lid on its Xe GPUs, revealing what could be one of its consumer desktop cards, along with specifications and proposed release dates. Hardware raytracing on 7 nm chipsets by 2021, anyone?

The latest iteration of the DisplayPort standard will allow for 80 Gbps bandwidths that enable support for 8K, 10K and even compressed 16K resolutions. DisplayPort 2.0 will also introduce new USB-C cables based on the Thunderbolt 3 standard, and is expected to pe integrated in commercial products starting 2H 2020.

The NVIDIA RTX Super GPUs will officially launch on July 2. While the review embargo for the RTX 2080 Super will be only lifted at a 'later date', we can expect to see reviews of the RTX 2060 Super and RTX 2070 Super on launch day itself. Also, notwithstanding the short notice period to partners, the review embargoes for AIB cards has been postponed to July 9.

Despite Intel giving PCIe 4.0 the cold shoulder, UL Benchmarks has gone ahead with the launch of its PCIe bandwidth benchmark. The minute-long test is a synthetic scenario and even the creators of the test recognize that modern PC games are unlikely to be limited by the PCIe bandwidth.

The Red Magic 3 is a 2019 gaming phone with a 90Hz refresh rate. Its maker Nubia has just released the Pro Handle, a joystick attachment, as well as a Magic Adapter, especially for this device. These new accessories add off-screen controls and a 3.5mm jack respectively.

Qualcomm has partnered with ZTE at MWC Shanghai to expound on 5G and what it means for the future of mobile gaming. To that end, it has demonstrated cloud gaming - which is powered by Tencent Instant Play in China - on phones with Snapdragon X50 modems. They are sold by ZTE itself, OnePlus, Vivo and Xiaomi.

Don't count your chickens yet, AMD fans. Frank Azor, the outgoing VP and General Manager of Alienware and XPS at Dell, has cast doubts on his seemingly impending move to AMD. He appears to have made a subtle dig at the company too.

An early review of the much talked about AMD Ryzen 5 3600 more or less confirms all the leaks we've been seeing about this CPU so far. While we do see higher latency, the Ryzen 5 3600 is shown to have posted excellent single-core scores and very good gaming performance surpassing the Ryzen 7 2700X and almost on par with the Intel Core i9-9900K.

A message posted on the Twitter account for PlayStation Latest has made quite a confident claim in regard to the performance power of the PlayStation 5. According to the post, the next-gen console from Sony will outrun its future Xbox rival by 10 to 15%. Unsurprisingly, this kind of comparison has been questioned by genuine industry insiders.

With the recent restructuring changes occurring at Blizzard, a possible 2020 launch for Diablo 4 might signal some negative aspects. While Blizzard has already assured its fans that it will focus more on its franchises, the company could give in to the bad practices that somehow became standard for many rushed launches from the past few years.

Announced in early November 2017 and released as a Beta back in April/May (New Zealand/Australia), Harry Potter: Wizards Unite finally became available for the general public — on both Android and iOS — on June 21. However, this mobile location-based augmented reality title is still reaching new markets as we speak.

In a surprising revelation posted on both his Twitter account and the Alienware Arena website, Dell executive Frank Azor has announced that he will be leaving the company he has been associated with for over two decades. Although the soon-to-be former XPS and Alienware chief has not stated exactly what his next challenge will be, it seems he will be focusing on the gaming industry.

The GPU and VRAM alone eat up six heat pipes whereas many competing 17.3-inch gaming laptops may have just three or four heat pipes total shared between the CPU and GPU. If you're looking for a laptop with actual overclocking abilities, then the GT76 will be the one to beat.

Canonical has seemingly crippled Ubuntu 19.10 for gamers, having removed all 32-bit support from the upcoming OS. Anything requiring 32-bit libraries or packages will not install, causing Valve to abandon Steam support for all Ubuntu releases going forwards.

Noctua makes some well-known CPU coolers and fans. It has also recently released its new series of inserts and alternate parts, which can change a PC's look without needing to resort to RGB. They include the new NA-HC5 chromax cooler covers and NA-SAVP1 chromax grey anti-vibration pads for fans.

A new rumour about the launch titles for the PlayStation 5 has been circulating online. The list looks similar to one posted on Pastebin a few months ago but with one triple-A addition and one notable absentee. Still, Gran Turismo 7 in 8K would be epic, right?

Trump initially postponed the second wave of tariffs in hopes for an eventual agreement with the Chinese government, then snapped back with 15% increased tariffs and the Huawei ban shortly after, yet China does not seem to be moved. The increased tariffs are now estimated to impact U.S. laptop and tablet sales with 19% raised prices.

References to Navi 10, 12, 14, and 21 have appeared in lines of Linux driver code. AMD has already revealed the Navi 10-based RX 5700 XT and RX 5700, and it seems that there will be quite a few more GPUs to be released down the road. The same code also makes mention of “Lite” variants of the graphics processing units.

Lenovo's PSREF page shows a new Legion Y545 model that is listed as being available in the Western Europe and Russia regions. The Legion Y545 is very much identical to the recently launched Y540 apart from sporting an aluminum construction, button-less trackpad, and RAM options up to 32 GB.

Strangely enough, the Razer Blade Pro 17 is set to Balanced mode by default instead of High Performance. The problem is that High Performance mode offers significantly faster CPU clock rates than Balanced mode and it's not entirely self-explanatory on how to set the system to High Performance mode. Users must rely on the Razer Synapse software and not the Windows Power Options menu that we're all already familiar with.

The NVIDIA SHIELD TV box may be among the best-known of all Android TV boxes. Now, there is evidence that it is finally seeing a refresh. However, it seems that the only difference between it and the existing model is a slightly updated SoC and the ability to run Android 9.0 out of the box.

The escalating trade war between China and the United States has claimed a further victim as Nintendo allegedly begins production of new products in Southeast Asia. The Trump administration has hinted at extending new tariffs to Chinese-made smartphones, consoles and computers. However, this hasn't stopped Nintendo ensuring that two new models are ready for launch.

The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Project Scarlett seem destined to be fierce competitors by the end of next year, and it appears to be rather tricky to divine which next-generation console is most likely to have the edge. We have compiled a comparison table populated by confirmed and rumored details about each console, just in time to report about new speculated launch prices that will make gamers giddy if they come true.