Gaming

Gamers worldwide spent at least 1.5 billion Euros in the last 6 months on new PC gaming gear. The success of eSports and growing push for mixed reality and VR headsets are expected to generate even higher numbers for the rest of 2017.

EKWB has run a series of tests to find the performance increase from switching from stock air cooling to their custom water blocks. Among these results are some showing the efficiency gains that can be achieved while still maintaining near maximum performance.

SanDisk-branded microSD cards carrying the Nintendo Switch logo will be available staring October in 64 GB and 128 GB varieties. The two memory cards will be identical in function to non–Nintendo-licensed cards.

Gigabyte has managed to shrink the GTX 1080 card to micro ITX standards. The new GTX 1080 Mini ITX 8G card retains the reference card clocks and 8 GB VRAM memory, adding only a dual slot single fan cooling system.

From Pong to Asteroids to Centipede and more, the Atari Retro Handheld features some of Atari's most popular games plus a few lesser-known titles. It goes on sale in November at the low price of US$45.

The new Aero 14 no longer sports a GTX 1060, opting to go for a 1050 Ti instead. A Thunderbolt 3 port, extra SSD slot, and a better display also help differentiate it from its predecessor.

Razer might be better known for its gaming notebooks, but it has been partnering with PC makers for a little while to develop custom desktop gaming rigs. The P400 ATX case is the result of a new partnership between Razer and CyberPower PC.

The new ROG Strix gaming laptops from Asus are aimed at mainstream gamers or those who are looking for an affordable machine. They pack up to a GTX 1060 and a seventh-gen Intel i7 processor, and feature a choice between various storage configurations.

Along with their flagship gaming desktop, Acer announced a 35-inch HDR ultra wide curved gaming monitor using quantum dot technology, a gaming headset with directional sound, and a gaming mouse that features a hardware button to change the firmness of the mouse click.

The leaked results show the i9-7980XE 18-core CPU (overclocked to 4.8 GHz) scoring 37,485 points in the FutureMark FirstStrike benchmark, around 3 times faster than the i9-7900X 10-core CPU.

The 15.6-inch notebook is likely based off of a Clevo barebones and is now shipping for just under 1000 Euros. The notebook will compete against the Gigabyte Sabre 15 and the recently announced Dell Inspiron 7577.

The new Razer Blade Pro features a 1080p screen, GTX 1060, Intel Core i7-7700HQ, and an SSD/HDD combo. At US$2400, it's just over half the price of the 4K Blade Pro, although still expensive.

Acer has announced the Nitro 5 Spin convertible notebook that features the latest 8th generation Intel CPUs and GTX 1050 graphics to target casual gamers and multimedia aficionados.

The new small form-factor GTX/RX models can be customized to include Intel’s 6th or 7th generation CPUs with a maximum TDP of 65 W, Nvidia GPUs up to GeForce GTX 1080, as much as three M.2 NVMe SSDs and up to 32 GB DDR4-2400 RAM.

Acer have announced their new Predator Orion 9000 gaming desktop, with the top end configuration including an Intel Core i9 CPU, two GTX 1080 Ti or four RX Vega, and 128 GB of quad-channel RAM.

Asus claims that its new ROG Chimera gaming notebook is the first in the world to feature a display with a 144Hz refresh rate. Also notable is its in-built support for Microsoft's Xbox One wireless controllers.

Acer has launched what it claims is the first 2-in-1 notebook with dGPU to feature a fanless design. The company utilizes what it is calling Dual LiquidLoop technology to keep its Nvidia MX150 dGPU sufficiently cool.

The mainstream Inspiron 7577 gets a graphics boost in addition to Thunderbolt 3 starting at just under $1000 USD.

Dell announced two Alienware 34-inch gaming monitors today, with one available immediately and one coming later this year. These will be sold alongside the first Alienware monitor, a 25-inch model from a few months ago. Both new monitors are curved ultra-wide panels featuring a 4 ms response time.

The budget friendly Dell Inspiron desktop is getting a make over with a new clear side panel option. It has several Ryzen CPU options, and a choice of Pascal or Polaris graphics cards. Prices start at US$600 for the base configuration.

The PS VR bundle will see a significant price cut beginning September 1 bringing the cost of owning a PS VR bundle and the PS4 to just US$700, making this the cheapest VR implementation one can get.

Dell has decided to get into the VR headset market with its own Visor VR. The new headset has been competitively priced and appears to bring a more refined design than the competition.

GearBest comes with a week-long deal for the MSI GL62M 7RDX 15.6-inch gaming laptop. You can get the Core i5-7300HQ CPU packed with 8 GB DDR4 RAM and the Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti GPU for as low as US$869.99.

AOC is bringing a G-Sync monitor and a FreeSync 2 monitor to their Agon 3 series which both feature curved panels, high refresh rate up to 165 Hz, and response times as low as 0.5 ms. These 27-inch 1440p monitors are expected in Q2 2018.

Only five days after Microsoft announced the Xbox One X 'Project Scorpio' limited edition pre-order, they proudly claimed that it represented the fastest selling pre-order event for an Xbox console. Standard edition consoles will become available for pre-order before the November 7 release. The Xbox One X also won the Gamescom 2017 award for best hardware.

The 12 nm process Volta GPU comes with a 32 square-inch die, which is 33% larger compared to the current P100. It integrates 5120 CUDA cores and 16 GB of XBM2 VRAM. Nvidia plans to release professional cards that pack up to eight V100 GPUs, as well as new gaming cards from the GeForce series. The upcoming GTX 2080 is rumored to cost US$699.

The new line of MSI Raider notebooks now has an official list of specs. They are nothing too extravagant: a 4K display, Intel i7-7700HQ, and a GTX 1070 are the high-end for these new laptops.

Nintendo accounts can now be linked to PayPal so their users can easily pay for future purchases using the Nintendo Switch or on the company's website. Sadly, this update is not available for Wii U or Nintendo 3DS.

After months of teasing, HP has now made the 17-inch version of the HP Omen X official. It will release later this year with options including an overclock ready Kaby Lake i7, up to a GTX 1080, and a mechanical keyboard. Buyers can also choose between a 1080p 120 Hz G-Sync or 4K screen.

Linksys announces the new WRT32X which they say is "the first true gaming router" designed in partnership with Killer Networking to incorporate their Killer Networking Prioritization engine. Linksys claims that peak ping can be reduced by up to 77 percent when a laptop with Killer networking connects. The WRT32X contains high-end features and is open source ready (OpenWRT).

The HP Spectre x360 will be one of the first ultrabooks to ship with both an 8th-generation Intel Kaby Lake-R CPU and an Nvidia Pascal-based MX150 GPU. US customers can pre-order the device now for a September 7 shipping date.

MSI's fattest and most powerful 17-inch gaming notebook yet is 58 mm thick and 4.6 kg heavy with up to an unlocked Core i7-7820HK and overclockable GTX 1080 GPU.

Acer has taken the covers off its new Nitro 5 Spin convertible notebook for casual gamers. Judging by its looks and specifications, it is set to go head-to-head with the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 and the Lenovo 720-151KB.

Lenovo has announced the Legion Y520 Tower, Y720 Tower, and Y920 Tower gaming PC's which feature Kaby Lake processors and a choice of Pascal or Polaris graphics cards. The top end Y920 has options for Intel K-Series processors, and some markets will have a water cooled configuration. All systems will feature Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2800 RAM.

And Intel partner briefing held in China has revealed that the performance gains between the 7th gen and 8th gen CPUs are due to the increased number of cores and enlarged L3 memory caches. The i7 CPUs will feature 6 cores and 12 threads with 12 MB L3, the i5 CPUs will come with 6 cores and 6 threads with 9 MB L3, and the entry-level i3 processors will only integrate 4 cores and 4 threads with 6 MB L3.

HTC matches the US$200 price cut Oculus gave its Rift VR headset, slashing the price of its Vive VR headset to US$599.

During the Xbox @ GamesCom Livestream tonight the Xbox team announced the Xbox One X 'Project Scorpio' Limited Edition, and the Xbox One S 'Minecraft' Limited Edition themed consoles. Both are available for pre-order now. Among other topics NotebookCheck readers will likely welcome the news of extended support for Xbox and Windows 10 cross-play for select games.

An adaptation of one of the most successful fighting game franchises is coming to mobile. BANDAI NAMCO recently announced Tekken Mobile, which should be arriving on iOS and Android devices soon.

The 13.3-inch Blade Stealth and 14-inch Blade are shipping with 7th gen CPUs on the eve of Intel's 8th gen reveal for $1400 and $2400 USD, respectively.

While we wait for the release of the SNES Classic Edition, why not take a look at an incredible mod of Nintendo's 3rd generation console? Ben Heck has finished his Nintendo 64 Portable, a modded Nintendo 64 built into a portable case.

Pre-orders have started for the Asus ROG Strix XG27VQ, which combines a curved display, 144 Hz refresh rate, and a blue light filter with a FullHD resolution. The lower resolution means that users with mid-range graphics cards can use this screen without having to deal with blur from running at below native resolution.

Sales statistics for the United States show that the Nintendo Switch outsold all other consoles including the PS4 and Xbox One for July. Nintendo's Splatoon 2 was also the highest-selling physical copy game over that time.