Blizzard Entertainment is set to bring a significant upgrade to World of Warcraft's graphics just in time for the next expansion. A new Ray Traced Shadow option was discovered by Jaydaa over at the Wowhead forums on the Shadowlands Alpha, the ray tracing settings can be viewed on the alpha but can't be enabled yet. When Blizzard enables Ray Tracing support, players with NVIDIA RTX graphics cards will be able to take advantage of more realistic shadows and lighting within the game. The screenshots show the option for three levels of ray tracing fidelity from fair to good and up to high which will each offer higher resolution and more detailed lighting.

Schenker today announced the release of their XMG Ultra laptops, which have been purpose/built as desktop alternatives. This means there are no limitations on hardware, and that portability or battery life aren't crucial factors - power is. To that effect, the XMG Ultra launches with a Z490/based motherboard and support for up to a ten-core Intel Core i9-10900K (the Core i7-10700K, with 8 cores, and the Core i7-10600K, with six cores, are also available). You can pair these CPUs with NVIDIA's RTX 2060 SUPER, 2070 SUPER, or 2080 SUPER for close to ultimate performance when it comes to available hardware. You can configure your XMG Ultra with up to 128 GB of system RAM.

Monitor options include a 17,3" 1080p 240 Hz, G-Sync panel, or an Ultra HD G-Sync panel with the same diagonal. The XMG Ultra's call to fame is that it is the first announced laptop with a 10-core Intel solution. And, since you'd be hard pressed to find an AMD offering that packs a comparable CPU with these very same graphics solutions (since OEMs, for some reason, have maxed out AMD CPU + NVIDIA GPU combos with up an RTX 2070 non-SUPER graphics card), this may be your best bet at getting a decent CPU paired with maximum mobile GPU power. Bear in mind that a pretty standard configuration will, however, set you back some €2,799.

A refresh of HP's OMEN 15 seems to be about to hit the market, as HP UK has already put up a page for the revised laptop. The most appealing changes are, as usual, under the hood: the updated model now features AMD's Ryzen 7 4800H CPU, an 8-core, 16-thread solution that features a 45 W TDP and basically beats anything Intel has on the market against it. However, it seems that the scarcity of high-end mobile GPUs for any AMD-based platform continues, as the most powerful graphics solution available for this particular version of the OMEN is an NVIDIA RTX 2060 graphics card. Perhaps OEMs don't want to spoil us with both the best CPU and GPU solutions available on the mobile market? Go figure.

The OMEN 15 has seen a redesign from its previous version, now featuring thinner bezels, a different hinge system, no number pad, and the panel supports Adaptive Sync, though the refresh rate hasn't been detailed. It also features a Bang & Olufsen sound system, as well as RGB-backlit keys. The product page for the product has since been taken down and can now only be accessed via a cached version, so there's that. But the laptop was priced at 1,199 GBP (1,370 EUR).

Late last week, we brought you the story of NVIDIA RTX Voice, a free app by NVIDIA that leverages AI processing capabilities of GeForce RTX 20-series GPUs to offer computational active noise cancellation, helping people collaborating from home to cut out background noise. Since its release, some of our readers pointed out that they had trouble getting RTX Voice to work with their compatible meetings client (i.e. Cisco Webex, Zoom, Skype, Twitch, XSplit, OBS, Discord, and Slack). It turns out, that activating it isn't as simple are clicking two checkboxes on the app's main UI. A tiny bit of configuration on your meetings client's end is also needed.

For it to work, NVIDIA RTX Voice needs to sit between your audio pipeline. It should receive audio input from your physical microphone, and provide noise-cancelled output to your client as a virtual microphone device. Likewise, it should receive input from your client's audio output so it could filter out background noise, and pass it on to your physical audio output (speakers or headphones). This is a lot easier than we make it sound, so spend a few minutes on NVIDIA's RTX Voice setup guide where instructions specific to your meetings client are spelled out.

Visit NVIDIA RTX Voice Setup Guide

Perhaps the biggest gripe about attending office calls and meetings from home these days is the background noise - everyone's home. NVIDIA developed an interesting new piece of free software that can help those on desktops cut out background noise in the audio, called RTX Voice, released to web as a beta. The app uses AI to filter out background audio noise not just at your end, but also from the audio of others in your meeting as you receive it (they don't need the app running on their end). The app leverages tensor cores, and requires an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20-series GPU, Windows 10, and GeForce drivers R410 or later. RTX Voice runs in conjunction with your meetings software. Among the supported ones are Cisco Webex, Zoom, Skype, Twitch, XSplit, OBS, Discord, and Slack. For more information and FAQs, visit the download link.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA RTX Voice beta

EK Water Blocks, the premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is introducing a new variant of the extended compatibility high-performance water block specially designed for reference design based NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards. The EK-Quantum Vector Direct RTX RE Ti D-RGB.

EK-Quantum Vector Direct RTX RE Ti D-RGB
EK-Quantum Vector Direct RTX RE Ti D-RGB water block is the version of EK-Quantum Vector water block from which the terminal is removed for added compatibility with space-constrained cases. Instead, the fittings are screwed directly into the top, allowing for a narrower enclosure. This water block uses the signature EK single-slot slim look and covers the entire PCB length. This sophisticated cooling solution will transform your powerful NVIDIA graphics card into a minimalistic, elegant piece of hardware with addressable D-RGB LED lighting.

In case you missed the giant banners on the website, EVGA shared news with us that they are bundling in a free game with their GeForce RTX 20 series graphics cards, and this includes the EVGA GeForce RTX ️ 2080 Ti, 2080/2070/2060 SUPER, and 2080/2070/2060. The promotion is not from NVIDIA, and this is not the first time EVGA have gone the extra step to sweeten the deal towards consumers buying their cards as opposed to other add-in card partner solutions. Deliver Us The Moon is a weird little sci-fi thriller game with puzzle mechanics and rudimentary flight systems that yours truly found interesting for the few hours played thus far, and is well worth checking into- especially as a freebie on top of your GPU purchase. There is also NVIDIA RTX support to use with your new graphics card, and the ambient lighting in the game does benefit from it, especially when flying in space. For more information on this promo, click here.

ASUS today announced the new ProArt StudioBook Pro X (W730), which provides a wide range of features designed for professional creators. It's the first Quadro laptop that is powered by 9th Gen Intel Xeon processor with NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 graphics. This combination of cutting edge graphics and portability makes it perfect for creative professionals to achieve their goals on-the-go or in office.

ProArt StudioBook Pro X delivers the needed performance to create, edit, and render multilayered files using the latest NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 graphics. These NVIDIA RTX Studio laptops utilize NVIDIA Turing architecture, allowing creative and technical professionals to take advantage of the power of hardware-accelerated ray tracing, deep learning, and advanced shading techniques when creating amazing content. Intel Xeon processors are designed to handle complex, multithreaded applications, and takes mobile computing to another level by making it incredibly smooth and responsive.

NVIDIA today reported revenue for the third quarter ended Oct. 27, 2019, of $3.01 billion compared with $3.18 billion a year earlier and $2.58 billion in the previous quarter. GAAP earnings per diluted share for the quarter were $1.45, compared with $1.97 a year ago and $0.90 in the previous quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1.78, compared with $1.84 a year earlier and $1.24 in the previous quarter.

"Our gaming business and demand from hyperscale customers powered Q3's results," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "The realism of computer graphics is taking a giant leap forward with NVIDIA RTX. "This quarter, we have laid the foundation for where AI will ultimately make the greatest impact. We extended our reach beyond the cloud, to the edge, where GPU-accelerated 5G, AI and IoT will revolutionize the world's largest industries. We see strong data center growth ahead, driven by the rise of conversational AI and inference."

EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia-based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer, today announces the product launch of EK-Quantum Vector RTX RE D-RGB water blocks, EK-Quantum Vector Upgrade Kits, and EK-D-RGB 6-Way Splitter Cable.

The RE water blocks use the signature EK single slot slim look and cover the entire PCB length. The block also features a unique aesthetic cover over the block Terminal which is designed to showcase the graphics card model via LEDs, visible from the side. The water block comes in 2 different models tailor-made for either reference NVIDIA RTX 2080 or NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti. The water blocks are equipped with 5V D-RGB (addressable) LEDs which are compatible with the motherboard 3-pin 5V D-RGB (addressable) LED header.

The official system requirements for the Call of Duty: modern Warfare Beta have been outed, and these should remain pretty close to the final release version requirements. If you want to enjoy the game's implemented NVIDIA RTX features, you know you'll have to have an NVIDIA RTX graphics card - that part is pretty straightforward.

Luckily, the system requirements for non-RTX gameplay aren't too steep; this is a Call of Duty game we're talking about, after all. Even though these games usually offer more than adequate graphics, this is a twitch shooter; the better frame rates players can have, the better and more fluid the action is; and hence, an optimized game engine is key. For the minimum system requirements, a Core i5 2500K "or AMD equivalent" is required, paired with an NVIDIA GeForce 670 2 GB (jeez, they really went into their dust bin for this one) or, puzzlingly, a GTX 1650 4 GB; for the AMD camp, a Radeon HD 7950 is all that's necessary. The recommended specs call for an Intel Core i7 4770K "or AMD equivalent" paired with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4 GB / GTX 1660 6 GB or an AMD Radeon R9 390 / RX 580. The games' beta will be available for all players tomorrow, September 21st.

MAINGEAR — an award-winning PC system integrator of custom gaming desktops, notebooks, and workstations — today launched the MAINGEAR ELEMENT, their new ultimate gaming notebook designed in collaboration with Intel. Custom engineered from the ground up, the ELEMENT features best-in-class hardware housed in a sleek machined magnesium alloy body, making it MAINGEAR's most professional notebook ever released.

The all-new ELEMENT fuses MAINGEAR's passion for design and performance into a truly modern gaming notebook with a thin, minimalist profile that doesn't compromise on raw power. The ELEMENT is optimized for the most demanding gamers and content creators, pairing a 9th Gen Intel i7-9750H processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 with Max-Q design GPU to hit peak performance in today's latest games. An ultra-smooth 144hz 15.6" IPS display with a narrow bezel delivers an incredibly immersive gaming experience. An RGB keyboard with individually-lit silent mechanical switches and a glass touchpad ensure users have precise control of the on-screen action. 32 GB of DDR4 memory and 2 TB of blazing-fast NVMe storage top off the ELEMENT's high-end specs.

Top-of-the-line gaming brand AORUS, reveals itself at the 2019 GAMESCOM trade show in Germany Cologne, in which the spotlight shines at the all-new 17 inch flagship gaming laptop, the AORUS 17. AORUS takes the lead yet again through the co-op with world renowned switch manufacture OMRON to innovate and develop a set of unique mechanical switches that is tailored for the AORUS 17, not only does the keys offer exceptional durability, it also offers one of the best feeling keys that gamers can find on a laptop. The AORUS greatness continues through the combination of the brand new Intel 8-core CPU, NVIDIA RTX graphics chip with Ray Tracing technology and an exclusive WINDFORCE INFINITY cooling system, the AORUS 17 steadily sits on the high-end gaming thrown with these specs.

AORUS leads the industry again by working with world renowned mechanical switch manufacture, OMRON in order to create a unique set of mechanical keys for the AORUS laptop, with gamer oriented design details, including an optimal 2.5 mm key travel and an actuation point of 1.6 mm, giving gamers both the sensational touch and sound of a crisp blue switch, which gamers can now enjoy the qualities of a full mechanical keyboard right on their AORUS laptop. AORUS pursues further by redesigning the key caps to produce stunning backlit keys with unique "concentric" keycaps, letting the LED underneath the keycap shine though evenly, increasing the overall lighting intensity by 27%, in addition to the AORUS exclusive FUSION 2.0 keyboard customization software, gamers can truly create a unique personal style.

Minecraft is the perfect gaming paradox. It's a stupidly-popular title, but with simple graphics that can run on practically any Windows machine, but supports the latest 3D graphics APIs such as DirectX 12. The title now adds another feather to its technical feature-set cap, with support for NVIDIA RTX real-time raytracing. RTX will now be used to render realistic light shafts using path-tracing, global illumination, shadows, ambient occlusion, and simple reflections. "Ray tracing sits at the center of what we think is next for Minecraft," said Saxs Persson, Franchise Creative Director of Minecraft at Microsoft. "RTX gives the Minecraft world a brand-new feel to it. In normal Minecraft, a block of gold just appears yellow, but with ray tracing turned on, you really get to see the specular highlight, you get to see the reflection, you can even see a mob reflected in it."

NVIDIA and Microsoft are yet to put out a release date on this feature update. It remains to be seen how hardcore crafters take this feature. Looking at images 1 and 2 (below), we can see that the added global illumination / bloom blurs out objects in the distance. This gives crafters the impression that the draw-distance is somehow affected. Crafters demand the highest possible draw-distance, with nothing blurring their view. We can't wait to try this out ourselves to see how RTX affects very-large crafting.A video presentation by NVIDIA follows.

Assetto Corsa Competizione, the big AAA race simulator slated for a September release, will lack support for NVIDIA RTX real-time raytracing technology, not just at launch, but even the foreseeable future. The Italian game studio Kunos Simulazioni in response to a specific question on the Steam Community forums confirmed that the game will not receive NVIDIA RTX support.

"Our priority is to improve, optimize, and evolve all aspects of ACC. If after our long list of priorities the level of optimization of the title, and the maturity of the technology, permits a full blown implementation of RTX, we will gladly explore the possibility, but as of now there is no reason to steal development resources and time for a very low frame rate implementation," said the developer, in response to a question about NVIDIA RTX support at launch. This is significant, as Assetto Corsa Competizione was one of the posterboys of RTX, and featured in the very first list by NVIDIA, of RTX-ready games under development.

NVIDIA today reported revenue for the second quarter ended July 28, 2019, of $2.58 billion compared with $3.12 billion a year earlier and $2.22 billion in the previous quarter. GAAP earnings per diluted share for the quarter were $0.90, compared with $1.76 a year ago and $0.64 in the previous quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1.24 compared with $1.94 a year earlier and $0.88 in the previous quarter.

"We achieved sequential growth across our platforms," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "Real-time ray tracing is the most important graphics innovation in a decade. Adoption has reached a tipping point, with NVIDIA RTX leading the way. "NVIDIA accelerated computing momentum continues to build as the industry races to enable the next frontier in artificial intelligence, conversational AI, as well as autonomous systems like self-driving vehicles and delivery robots," he said.

While working on GPU-Z support for NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX Super cards, I noticed something curious. Each of the RTX 2060 Super and RTX 2070 Super is listed with three independent device IDs in the driver: 1F06, 1F42, 1F47 for the former and 1E84, 1EC2, 1EC7 for the latter. GeForce RTX 2080 Super on the other hand, like nearly every other NVIDIA SKU, uses only a single device ID (1E81). The PCI device ID uniquely identifies every GPU model, so the OS and driver can figure out what kind of device it is, what driver to use, and how to talk to it. I reached out to NVIDIA, for clarification, and never heard back from them besides an "interesting, I'll check internally" comment.

With no official word, I took a closer look at the actual values and remembered our NVIDIA segregates Turing GPUs article, that was part of the launch coverage for the initial GeForce RTX unveil. In that article, we revealed that NVIDIA is creating two models for each GPU, that are identical in every regard, except for name and price. If board partners want to build a factory-overclocked card, they have to buy the -A variant of the GPU, because only that is allowed to be used with an out of the box overclock. Manual overclocking by the users works exactly the same on both units.

Results of NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 2080 Super graphics cards have been revealed in Final Fantasy XV benchmark database, where the card is compared against other offerings at 2560 x 1440 resolution using high quality settings. The card scored 8736 points, while its predecessor, RTX 2080, scored 8071 points at same resolution and settings. This shows around 8 % improvement in favor of newer model, which is to be expected given the increase in memory speed going from 14 Gbps to 15.5 Gbps and CUDA core count which increased from 2944 cores to 3072. With this improvement, RTX 2080 Super is now only 105 points (about one percent) behind TITAN V graphics card in FFXV benchmark. If you wish to compare results for yourself, you can do so here.

NVIDIA has officially confirmed pricing and SKU availability for its refreshed Turing lineup featuring the SUPER graphics cards we've been talking about for ages now. Primed as a way to steal AMD's Navi release thunder, the new SUPER lineup means previously-released NVIDIA gppahics cards have now hit an EOL-status as soon as their souped-up, SUPER versions are available, come July 2nd.

The RTX 2060 and RTX 2080 Ti will live on, for now, as the cheapest and most powerful entries unto the world of hardware-based raytracing acceleration, respectively. The RTX 2070 and RTX 2080, however, will be superseded by the corresponding 2070 SUPER and 2080 SUPER offerings, with an additional RTX 2060 SUPER being offered so as to compete with AMD's RX 5700 ($399 for NVIDIA's new RTX 2060 SUPER vs $379 for the AMD RX 5700, which is sandwiched in the low-end by the RTX 2060 at $349).

VideoCardz have managed to snag a photo of the upcoming NVIDIA RTX 2070 SUPER. Set in a new, Turing refresh series of graphics cards that will basically increase execution units and RT capabilities across the RTX 2000 series lineup, the RTX 2070 SUPER is based on the TU104 silicon, which powers the current RTX 2080 graphics card (revision TU104-410-A1). With 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs and 64 ROPs, 320 Tensor cores and 40 RT cores across 40 SMs, this card is meant to bring the battle to AMD's upcoming Navi graphics cards, keeping NVIDIA's momentum in the consumer market.

The card is basically an NVIDIA reference RTX 2070 with a green SUPER logo, with the additional differentiation of the black part of the cooler shroud now being silver-colored. According to leaked information, it's expected that NDAs will be lifted come the series launch on July 2nd.

Bitspower at COMPUTEX 2019 showcased new products and conceptual, advanced looks at products that are still being developed. The company showcased GPU waterblocks for both the NVIDIA RTX 20-series of graphics cards, as well as AMD's current top of the line Radeon VII. On the GPU waterblock side of things, they also showcased an in-development block with a rugged texture and design that carries Bitspower's logo, which would certainly look great on a vertically-mounted GPU.

Ian "8Pack" Parry is proud to announce his latest extreme machine, the Supernova XL. Built inside the CaseLabs STH10, the Supernova XL not only draws its inspiration from the very first 8Pack machine, but also gives one final moment in the sun to add to the already accomplished CaseLabs legacy. Standing at just under a metre the Supernova XL is a colossal machine, consisting of five custom acrylic pass through plates complete with mirrored internals. It's a showpiece to behold. The interior is also fitted with a light box, bathing the water-cooled components in a customisable light display.

Powering the Supernova XL you'll find one Intel's most exclusive processors, the i9-9990XE. Available in extremely limited quantities, through closed auction, this elusive processor is so exclusive it isn't even listed on the official Intel Ark database. The i9-9990XE is a 14 core processor, with a 4.0 GHz base clock pulling 255W TDP, it's capable of hitting a 5.0 GHz boost clock across all cores - straight out of the box. Cooled by a custom water-loop, with two dedicated radiators, the i9-9990XE is overclocked by 8Pack himself for a system that gives only world-class leading performance.

NVIDIA Studio Drivers provide artists, creators and developers the best performance and reliability when working with creative applications. To achieve the highest level of reliability, Studio Drivers undergo extensive testing against multi-app creator workflows and multiple revisions of the top creative applications from Adobe to Autodesk and beyond. Available today, the newest NVIDIA Studio Driver provides optimal support for the latest releases of top creative apps, including Autodesk Maya 2019, 3ds Max 2020, Arnold 5.3.1.0, Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve 16, and Daz 3D Daz Studio.

Public perception on NVIDIA's new RTX series of graphics cards was sometimes marred by an impression of wrong resource allocation from NVIDIA. The argument went that NVIDIA had greatly increased chip area by adding RTX functionality (in both its Tensor ad RT cores) that could have been better used for increased performance gains in shader-based, non-raytracing workloads. While the merits of ray tracing oas it stands (in terms of uptake from developers) are certainly worthy of discussion, it seems that NVIDIA didn't dedicate that much more die area to their RTX functionality - at least not to the tone of public perception.

After analyzing full, high-res images of NVIDIA's TU106 and TU116 chips, reddit user @Qesa did some analysis on the TPC structure of NVIDIA's Turing chips, and arrived at the conclusion that the difference between NVIDIA's RTX-capable TU106 compared to their RTX-stripped TU116 amounts to a mere 1.95 mm² of additional logic per TPC - a 22% area increase. Of these, 1.25 mm² are reserved for the Tensor logic (which accelerates both DLSS and de-noising on ray-traced workloads), while only 0.7 mm² are being used for the RT cores.

EK Water Blocks, the market leader in PC custom liquid cooling, is announcing the expansion of their Fluid Gaming aluminum based custom loop liquid cooling line. With price and performance in mind, EK Fluid Gaming is an inexpensive ticket to the custom liquid cooling world. Following the release of copper blocks for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 and 2080Ti cards, EK is now launching one aluminum water block that is cross-compatible with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 and 2080Ti cards which use the reference PCB and layout.

The EK-AC GeForce RTX is a full-cover water block designed and developed in cooperation with NVIDIA and it fits several high-end NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards. This water block directly cools the GPU, RAM as well as VRM (voltage regulation module) as water flows directly over these critical areas, thus allowing the graphics card to reach higher boost frequencies. The loud stock fan gets to be replaced by a slim-line minimalistic water block that will not only make your PC look better, but also make the graphics card perform better. Finally, you will be able to enjoy your favorite games in silence. This water block also comes with a sleek matte black backplate.