Real time ray tracing won't be cheap. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 Series graphics cards are quite expensive, but even with that resources the cost to take advantage of this rendering technique will be high. We didn't know for sure what this cost would be, but the developers at Remedy have shown some preliminary results on that front. This company is working on Control, one of the first games with RTX support, and although they have not provided framerate numbers, what we do know is that the activation of ray tracing imposes a clear impact.

It does at least in these preliminary tests with its Northlight Engine. In an experimental scene with a wet marble floor and a lot of detailed furniture they were able to evaluate the cost of enabling RTX. There is a 9.2 ms performance overhead per frame in total: 2.3 ms to compute shadows; 4.4 ms to compute reflexions; and 2.5 ms for the global denoising lighting. These are not good news for those who enjoy games at 1080p60.

The release of Windows 10 October 2018 Update has had the side-effects of new driver releases from a variety of manufacturers. NVIDIA released its GeForce 416.16 WHQL drivers today, and now Intel has also released the first driver update for its graphics chips following the release of this major Windows 10 update. This WDDM 2.5 driver introduces HDR10 on internal displays, support for Wide Color Gamut on capable displays, as well as improvements in EDR Quality.

The driver also introduces performance improvements for Microsoft WinML-based applications on 7th Generation Intel Core processors and higher. Power optimizations are also included even when the display is in standby. This driver also has performance improvements for Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (DirectX 11 version) on 6th Generation Intel Core processors or higher.

In a continued effort to support the PC platform, BANDAI NAMCO previously announced they would be releasing Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown on PC. At the time, there was no mention of what the game's system requirements would be. However, thanks to an NVIDIA blog post, we now know not only the game's system requirements but an estimate on system performance as well- at least with their own graphics solutions.

Overall, the minimum and recommended requirements appear to be quite reasonable. BANDAI NAMCO even went so far as to make note that the recommended requirements are representative of what is needed to run the game at the 1920x1080 resolution with max settings. NVIDIA's own testing backs up those claims with the GeForce GTX 1060 offering a comfortable 100 FPS at 1920x1080, and 60 FPS at 2560x1440 resolutions. Meanwhile, those wanting to push the game at 4K will need a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti or better which should offer a steady 60+ FPS.

The online results database for the Final Fantasy XV Benchmark has been partially updated to include NVIDIA's RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti. Scores for both standard and high quality settings at 2560x1440 and 3840x2160 are available. While the data for 1920x1080 and lite quality tests are not.

Taking a look at the RTX 2080 Ti results, show it beating out the GTX 1080 Ti by 26% and 28% in the standard and high quality tests respectively, at 2560x1440. Increasing the resolution to 3840x2160, again shows the RTX 2080 Ti ahead, this time by 20% and 31% respectively. The RTX 2080 offers a similar performance improvement over the GTX 1080 at 2560x1440, where it delivers a performance improvement of 28% and 33% in the same standard and high quality tests. Once again, increasing the resolution to 3840x2160 results in performance being 33% and 36% better than the GTX 1080. Overall, both graphics cards are shaping up to be around 30% faster than the previous generation without any special features. With Final Fantasy XV getting DLSS support in the near future, it is likely the performance of the RTX series will further improve compared to the previous generation.

New consumer electronics products continue expansion of Silicon Power's diverse line following the success of several key products including memory modules, headphones, and portable SSDs. SP, a leader in memory storage solutions, is introducing four PCIe SSDs to customers to top off an exciting summer for technology and electronic companies.

Superior Storage Performance for Performance Gaming, Modification, and Upgrades
As the company recently expanded and innovated its product line, it returns to its area of expertise by releasing the P34A80/PCle Gen3x4 & NVMe 1.2, the P34M85/PCle Gen3x4 & NVMe 1.2 with an added heat sink, and upgrades to the P32A80/PCle Gen3x2 & NVMe 1.2 and P32M85/PCle Gen3x4 & NVMe 1.2 with added heat sink.

Much of the secret sauce that made Intel processors faster than AMD is going sour, as the cybersecurity community is finding gaping security vulnerabilities by exploiting features such as speculative execution. Intel's microcode updates that mitigate these vulnerabilities impact performance. Intel isn't too happy about public performance numbers put out by its customers, which it fears could blunt the competitive edge of its products. The company has hence updated the license terms governing the microcode update distribution to explicitly forbid its users from publishing comparative "before/after" performance numbers of patched processors.

The updated license for the microcode update has this controversial sentence (pay attention to "v"):

"You will not, and will not allow any third party to (i) use, copy, distribute, sell or offer to sell the Software or associated documentation; (ii) modify, adapt, enhance, disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer, change or create derivative works from the Software except and only to the extent as specifically required by mandatory applicable laws or any applicable third party license terms accompanying the Software; (iii) use or make the Software available for the use or benefit of third parties; or (iv) use the Software on Your products other than those that include the Intel hardware product(s), platform(s), or software identified in the Software; or (v) publish or provide any Software benchmark or comparison test results."

MSI, a world leader in high performance computing hardware, today announces its new WS65 mobile workstation. The WS65 shows MSI's continued investment in its workstation lines with a commitment to users searching for sophisticated products that blend performance and portability. Additionally, the PS42 professional laptop and Optix MAG241C and MAG271C gaming monitors are now available. MSI will have the WS65 on display at Siggraph 2018 at the NVIDIA Booth number 801.

MSI's new WS65 mobile workstation features a similar chassis to the GS65 Stealth Thin, with attractive styling and 15.6-inch, ultra-thin bezel display. With up to Intel's 8th Generation Core i9 processor and up to NVIDIA Quadro P4200 graphics, the WS65 is up to 40 percent faster than the previous generation. While it was designed for portability, the WS65 also features an 82Whr battery for up to eight hours of battery life.

Continuing its #SummerOfFlight, Thrustmaster today announced that its new T.Flight U.S. Air Force Edition Gaming Headset will be available for pre-order on August 16th prior to its official release this fall on October 31. A great end to the summer is guaranteed for flight simmers!

Currently on display at the Thrustmaster Gaming Hangar B in booth 2162 at the EAA AirVenture 2018 in Oshkosh WI, the new headset meets the exacting standards needed to carry the official license of the United States Air Force, one of the most respected military air wings in modern aviation history. Including its tremendous design, the headset itself introduces several outstanding features to the high-quality fidelity and components that come from over 25 years of audio experience. These features make the T.Flight U.S. Air Force Edition Gaming Headset an ideal solution for flight sims, aerial combat games, esports and multiplayer games.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, announced today a 256 GB capacity addition to its 'Canvas' React Flash memory microSD card line. With the new capacity consumers will now have a complete range from 32 GB to 256 GB to fit their storage and performance needs.

Kingston's Canvas React line of microSD cards are designed to be the solution shooters need when capturing photos continuously in burst mode or stunning 4K video where the action does not stop. It gives users the flexibility to experience more and worry less about running out of space on their device. The cards are designed to deliver the speed, capacity, and durability needed for life's memories, even in the most extreme conditions. With Class 10 UHS-I U3 speeds up to 100 MB/s read and 80 MB/s write, users have the freedom to capture adventures in full HD or record in 4K on their DSLR, mirrorless camera or premium smartphone.

A performance preview of sorts for Monster Hunter World has surfaced via a post on Resetera, where user FluffyQuack posted his initial performance results with an advance copy of the PC version of the game. Initial impressions don't scale very well; performance isn't monstrous, but it isn't exactly pretty either. The game does look good, granted; however, there are some texture and fur processing quality issues that could be much better implemented.

Performance figures for a system equipped with 16 GB of RAM, an i7-4790k and a GTX 1080 are delivering a minimum of 44 FPS on the highest preset, 60 FPS on High settings, 65 FPS on Medium, and 108 FPS on Low. Of course, a day-one patch could optimize settings further, but there are some visually impressive games that both look and perform better. Still, the game looks good, and should be an interesting experience for the long summer.

The folks over at Computerbase.de have took it into their hands to study exactly how much of an impact >(if any) would activating HDR on a 4K panel affect performance cross different hardware configurations. Supposedly, HDR shouldn't impose any performance penalty on GPUs that were designed to already consider that output on a hardware level; however, as we know, expectations can sometimes be wrong.

Following Microsoft's Earnings report last Thursday, the company enjoyed a smooth uphill with its stock value in after-hours trading. Riding on the strong of greater than expected Microsoft Azure Cloud earnings, Microsoft beat all estimates by a margin: earnings per share were announced at $1.14, versus $1.08 expected (GAAP), and revenue was declared at $30.1 billion, versus $29.2 billion expected. That's an extra billion dollars in revenue for all intents and purposes - and stock pricing increased by more than the additional revenue did, with investors expressing confidence on "strong guidance".

Productivity and Business Processes, with Microsoft Office, was up 13% from the year-ago period, to $9.7 billion. Intelligent Cloud, which encompasses the Microsoft Azure cloud-computing platform and related technologies, was up 23%, to $9.6 billion. And More Personal Computing, which includes Windows, the Xbox, and the Surface hardware business, was up 17%, to $10.8 billion (7% up in the Windows business alone). The Azure folder was the one with the most growth, by far: it saw revenue growth of 89% from the same period in 2017. LinkedIn revenue went up 37% from the same time last year, and gaming revenue saw a 39% increase - a boost not related to hardware, but Xbox software and services, which accounted for 36% of that figure. The Surface business is up 25% from this time last year, something Microsoft credits to both a strong hardware lineup this year and a less than stellar 2017 performance.

Micron Technology, Inc. today announced volume production on its 8 GB GDDR6 memory. Built on experience and execution for several generations of GDDR memory, GDDR6 - Micron's fastest and most powerful graphics memory designed in Micron's Munich Development Center - is optimized for a variety of applications that require high performance memory, including artificial intelligence (AI), networking, automotive and graphics processing units (GPUs). Additionally, Micron has worked with core ecosystem partners to ramp GDDR6 documentation and interoperability, enabling faster time to market for designs.

"Micron is a pioneer in developing advanced high bandwidth memory solutions and continues that leadership with GDDR6. Micron demonstrated this leadership by recently achieving throughput up to 20 GB/s on our GDDR6 solutions," said Andreas Schlapka, director, Compute Networking Business Unit, Micron. "In addition to performance increases, Micron has developed a deep partner ecosystem to enable rapid creation of GDDR6 designs, enabling faster time to market for customers looking to leverage this powerful new memory technology."

In a blog post, Microsoft detailed some new features that have become available for Microsoft's Insider Program Fast Ring users, of which the titular "Ultimate Performance Mode" certainly wrings the most attention. The Ultimate Performance Mode is really a performance plan integrated into Windows, which basically throws all power saving features out the Window to make sure that the underlying hardware is always running at its peak performance. Microsoft says that latencies and microstutters should be reduced as much as possible, thus allowing users to wring "ultimate performance" from their systems.

Microsoft says this is focused on the Workstation market, and should be especially deployed in mission critical scenarios where every second counts (wait, doesn't gaming qualify by this measure?) As a result of this re-balancing on idle and power states, power consumption goes up; the main reason why Microsoft isn't making this feature available for battery-powered devices - at least for now. The consumer side of the equation is being left out in the cold, for now, when it comes to this Ultimate Performance Mode; but users should remain optimistic. There's no reason why Microsoft would leave this option to Workstation environments only, so a consumer-focused release (be it in the Insider Fast Ring or on the regular Windows 10 update cycles) is still out in the open.

Silicon Power (SP), a leader in performance memory solutions, today released the P32A80 and P32A85 PCIe Solid State Drives, a pair of leading high-performance and long-lasting devices in an already robust pool of SSDs.

For the New Creators Starting Out
The highly functional P32A80 and P32A85 are the ideal SSD solutions for high-end systems that are ready for a new level of performance and responsiveness. SP launches its first ever PCIe SSD, with designers in mind looking for large image rendering and intensive graphic editing capabilities, enterprises demanding high speed file transfer, fast boot-ups, and launches, and also musicians needing high volume recording and music library loading performance.

Remember all that talk and noise regarding Microsoft's "automagical" telemetry data collection, and how that spurred the company to create a "telemetry-less" version of its Windows 10 operating system for the Chinese market? It seems Microsoft is keen to keep giving users more information on exactly what information is gathered and when - slowly but assuredly striving for greater transparency, and looking to garner increased trust from consumers and enterprises alike.

The much awaited capability is being baked in to the next major Windows 10 release, and Microsoft is giving Windows Insiders an early preview of the Windows Diagnostic Data Viewer utility. Adding to this new utility are some changes to the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard that will enable users to see and manage more data associated with their Microsoft accounts. Available to everyone in the Microsoft Store, the Diagnostic Data Viewer is separate from the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard, and "allows you to see, search, and take action with your diagnostic data." It's not clear yet what sort of telemetry features users will be able to stop Microsoft from collecting, if any. However, at least now you'll be able to look at exactly which processes and services are collecting data form your system. The diagnostic data that will be viewable in the new utility follows.

X2 is proud to introduce new gaming chairs as part of our products line up. The X2 gaming chairs are all about luxury and comfort. Built with the highest quality materials and care for detail. The gaming chairs are available in 6 different models and color schemes, all built to the highest standard and only with quality materials. The upholstery shaped with cold foam finished with PU leather and/or fabric with detailed accents. The back rest lumbar and seat supports are shaped with diamond pattern vesture (Lux Pro), which is sturdy and just looks awesome. The backrest is extra-long which offers for more pine support.

Uphold through the steel frame with butterfly mechanism allowing you to not only tilt the back but also synchronous tilt of seat and back. Including two 3D adjustable armrests which offer more ergonomic support for correct posture behind the desk. Height adjustment is simple and safe by the class 4 gas lift that can hold up to 200 Kgs. The 360-degree swivel chair sits on a matte-black nylon base fitted with 5 casters coated in polyurethane allowing them to roll effortless on hard and soft surfaces.

EDGE Memory, a leading U.S.-based supplier of memory and storage upgrades, is announcing the NextGen M.2 PCIe 2280 SSD, adding a powerful PCIe NVMe based solid state drive solution to its product portfolio.

With transfers speeds up to 3.2GB/s and an IOPS rating of up to 370,000, the NextGen SSD is set to be one of the fastest drives available on the market. Powered by a Silicon Motion based SM2262 controller and a PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe 1.3 interface, this drive delivers incredible performance. NextGen M.2 SSDs provide the advanced features and speeds to satisfy the needs of enthusiasts and power users everywhere.

NVIDIA pulled a rabbit out of its proverbial hat late last week, with the surprise announcement of the gaming-worthy Volta-based Titan V graphics card. The Titan V is another one in a flurry of Titan cards from NVIDIA as of late, and while the healthiness of NVIDIA's nomenclature scheme can be put to the sword, the Titan V's performance really can't.

In the Unigine Superposition benchmark, the $3000 Titan V managed to deliver 5,222 points in the 8K Optimized preset, and 9,431 points on the 1080p Extreme preset. Compare that to an extremely overclocked GTX 1080 Ti running at 2,581 MHz under liquid nitrogen, which hit 8,642 points in the 1080p Extreme preset, and the raw power of NVIDIA's Volta hardware is easily identified. An average 126 FPS is also delivered by the Titan V in the Unigine Heaven benchmark, at 1440p as well. Under gaming workloads, the Titan V is reported to achieve from between 26% and 87% improvements in raw performance, which isn't too shabby, now is it?

Every year, AMD regales its users with a new major version of their driver suite, with added features and, usually, increased performance. In 2015, AMD introduced the Radeon Crimson driver release, which included a hefty performance package for some major titles, the new Radeon Settings design interface, and increased stability over the previous mega-release, Catalyst Omega. Last year, we were treated to the introduction of the ReLive, LiquidVR, and Radeon Chill features. AMD is keeping up with its annual overhauls, even after former RTG head, Raja Koduri, left the company for bluer pastures.

Twitter user Blaze #BlazeK_AMDRT shared some screenshots over Twitter which show that the new driver release will, among other things, include an OSD for performance metrics - not unlike what NVIDIA is offering with its GeForce Experience suite. However, AMD will likely keep ringing the "no registration necessary" bell to increase attractiveness of its software suite over NVIDIA's. From the screenshots, however, it seems that AMD's suite will offer more registers than NVIDIA, to polls like VRAM, CPU usage, among others. AMD's track record with software and drivers has been much improved since Raja Koduri took the helms of RTG, with a much steadier driver release schedule, and pre-emptive releases introducing support for the latest and greatest games. It's at least comforting to see that there's no sign of that reverting after he left the company.

Microsoft made considerable noise on their vaulted Game Mode, a Windows feature which made its appearance in their latest Creators Update version of Windows 10. Game Mode was one of the foremost features in the latest Windows update, which was supposed to deliver improved performance in gaming or other full-screen 3D applications, by enabling more of the available CPU and GPU resources to be tapped into by specific applications. Specific CPU (through winding down of non-crucial processes) and GPU (through prioritization of game-related graphics memory allocation) improvements were baked into this latest version; supposedly, only performance improvements should result from this effort on Microsoft's part.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is excited to announce a new extreme speed DDR4 memory kits at DDR4-4600MHz CL19! Built with hand-selected, high-quality Samsung B-die IC components, this new addition to the flagship Trident Z series will be available in two color variations: silver aluminum body with white accent bar and black aluminum body with black accent bar.

We've brought to your attention how AMD's Ryzen architecture was encountering a bug that prevented it from successfully performing certain tasks under Linux. The issue, to which Phoronix was the first website to call attention to, was later confirmed by AMD, with a further remark from the chip designer that EPYC and ThreadRipper weren't affected by it.

AMD has now solved the Ryzen issue at a silicon level, and new revisions of the CPUs should be clear of the problems. Phoronix's Michael Larabel has confirmed that the new processor passes the previous insurmountable, crash-prone workloads with flying colors, so all in all, AMD delivered a swift response to the issue. The company is also doing good for itself in that it is open to replacing previous-batch CPUs that are affected by the issue, through a contact to its Customer Care department.

It seems that AMD's RX Vega lineup won't be too far away from the norm, it seems. Street knowledge almost always says that it's the runner-up to the highest performing graphics card that is the more interesting in a price-performance ratio, and it seems that AMD knows this as well. Steve Burke from Gamer's Nexus has reported on AMD's NDA dates and the company's indications to reviewers on changing up the game leading up to reviews: they're asking that publications focus on the Vega 56 ahead of the halo Vega 64.

This might be somewhat bad news for those who wanted to see the Vega 64 compete in favorable terms with the GTX 1080; this decision by AMD is obviously geared towards making the best impact on the company's product line and image. The fact that AMD can offer a more compelling argument over the Vega 64 means that Vega 56 will probably have an easier battle in the $400 camp (if you can find it at those prices on launch, that is.)

Corsair has announced that they'll be having a Summer Sale as well, not being content to let Steam have all the headlines on that matter. The sale will be open until August 12th, and you can bet that you'll be able to find some pretty reasonable discounts to some of that Corsair hardware you've been oggling up to now.

Some of the standout deals are Corsair's H100i Extreme Performance CPU Liquid Cooling AIO, going for $99 (down from $129), the GPU version of the same AIO (down to the same $99 from $129), and Corsair's Lapdog control center (down to $69 from $119) for your couch-related gaming needs. There's also a selection of gaming mice, rodent pads, mechanical keyboards, and even a special edition, liquid-cooled GTX 1080 Ti graphics card. Hit the source link for some Corsair goodness (though remember, if you're not USA/CA based, you apparently have to tough it up sans discounts...)