In a new report, Jon Peddie Research sheds some insight on the impact that cryptocurrency mining has had on AIB (add-in board) sales for the start of this year. Needless to say, AMD, Nvidia and their AIB partners have profited hugely from the high demand on the best graphics cards.
The consulting firm estimated that 25% of the graphics cards shipped in the first quarter of 2021 went into the waiting grubby hands of cryptocurrency miners and speculators. That’s roughly 700,000 high-end and midrange gaming graphics cards. In monetary terms, we’re looking at a hefty sum in the range of $500 million.
Jon Peddie Research, who has tracked AIB shipments since 1985, noticed a substantial drop in the attach rate of AIBs to PCs. The firm observed the attach rate stoop as low as 25% before eventually bouncing back up to 50%. Jon Peddie Research then utilized a simple formula where the mining use of AIBs is equivalent to the difference between the trending normal attach rate and the existing attach rate.
The company used the assumption that serious cryptocurrency miners have their dedicated setups and purchase graphics cards. On the flipside, there are also casual miners who might invest in a complete system just for mining cryptocurrency. The firm admitted that its forecast model isn’t as precise as before due to the shortage of components. We’ve already witnessed scalpers and miners that employ buying bots to purchase graphics cards before flipping them on eBay.
Impact of Crypto Mining on AIB Sales (Image credit: Jon Peddie Research)
Cryptocurrency miners aren’t the only reason for the drastic inflation in graphics card pricing. The pandemic also played a big role in this situation since it forced many factories to temporarily shut down and interrupting supply chains in the process. It’s been known that graphics card components, such as GDDR6 memory chips, voltage regulators, capacitors, and other parts, have also gone up in price since the start of the pandemic. Jon Peddie Research measured an increase of up to 70% early in the year.
AMD and Nvidia are basically untouched in our GPU benchmarks hierarchy, but the two companies are taking different stances toward cryptocurrency mining. For starters, AMD doesn’t have any problems with consumers mining on its RDNA 2 (Big Navi) graphics cards. Nvidia, on the other hand, has launched its Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP) line that’s dedicated to Ethereum and cryptocurrency mining, and at the same time implemented an anti-mining limiter on most of its GeForce RTX 30-series (Ampere) graphics cards. The RTX 3060, RTX 3070 Ti, and RTX 3080 Ti all launched with a hashrate limiter in place, while the RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070, and RTX 3080 are being phased out and replaced by LHR (Lite Hash Rate) variants.
Despite both chipmaker’s efforts — or non-efforts in AMD’s case — graphics cards remain sold out everywhere. The little stock left retails for absurd prices, with Newegg often selling cards via its Shuffle program at 50% or more above the nominal MSRP. The second-hand market is even worse, as Ampere and Big Navi GPUs sell for 2X to 3.5X more than MSRP according to our GPU pricing index. Simply put, it’s a bad time to buy a graphics card (for gaming).
Popular memory maker G.Skill just announced its first PC case ever, the Z5i, a mini-ITX enclosure that features dual tempered glass side panels and a vertical form factor, with enough room to fit a triple slot RTX 3090. So, not-so-mini-ITX I guess.
G.Skill’s first go at building an ITX chassis looks very competitive against other rivals in the market. The layout of the case is both conventional and rather unique. The chassis functions on a dual-chamber design, with one chamber dedicated to the mini-ITX motherboard and SFX PSU, and the other is completely dedicated to a discrete graphics card.
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On both sides of the case, you have angled tempered glass side panels that are 4mm thick. They swing out like doors when opened and can easily be taken off their hinges by pulling them upward. The rest of the case is made out of a single piece of brushed aluminum. The front I/O is made up of dual USB 3.0 ports and a single 3.1 Type-C port.
For cooling, there are two 140mm intake mounts for dual 140mm fans or a single 280mm radiator, depending on your configuration. Again, not so mini-ITX in practice, but it’s a nice option for people that want a powerful PC in the most compact form factor possible. The intake is aluminum but features a lot of triangle-like holes, so airflow shouldn’t be a problem. At the top is a full mesh opening, allowing hot air to escape.
For storage, the Z5i has three 2.5-inch slots for SSDs or smaller HDDs. The first two are located directly behind the intake fans and sit in between the two chambers, the final one is located inside the graphics card chamber.
The case also includes a G.Skill logo with RGB lighting, as well as an RGB light bar that bounces light off your desk. All told, it’s an attractive looking take on a large ITX case.
Pricing and availability are unknown at this time, but we’ll see about reviewing one when they become available.
It appears that PowerColor has joined Sapphire in ‘leaking’ the unannounced RX 6900 XT Liquid Cooled reference card. As tweeted by @momomo_us, PowerColor has officially listed a new reference RX 6900 XT LC card on its site, but with no pictures at this time. (Note: The picture above is the Sapphire version.)
This information comes just 9 days after Sapphire spilled the beans on AMD’s liquid-cooled version of the RX 6900XT. This all-new liquid-cooled reference design for the RX 6900 XT remains very similar to the air-cooled model, but it replaces the triple-fan cooling system with a single 120mm AIO, that presumably cools the entire card, including memory.
Another interesting feature is the addition of 18Gbps memory, a noticeable upgrade over the current 16Gbps ICs used on the air-cooled 6900 XT. This would bump up the card’s memory bandwidth from 512GBps to 576GBps. That would also be the fastest shipping GDDR6 memory we’ve seen, as Nvidia moved to GDDR6X for the 3080 and above. However, that could simply be a typo, so take it with a grain of salt. Still, we’ve successfully overclocked the VRAM on the other RX 6000-series GPUs to 17.2Gbps, so it’s possible the extra cooling allows for even higher stock clocks.
So far, PowerColor and Sapphire are the only AMD AIB (add-in board) partners that have revealed this new version of the RX 6900 XT. Assuming these are actual reference designs that have leaked early, we suspect more partners will join the party once we get the official announcement of the card from AMD. Once that happens, we’ll also get official specs and details on pricing and ‘availability’.
Pine64 today announced that its Quartz64 single-board computer is now available and revealed a system-on-module (SoM) based on that design called the SOQuartz.
The company said in February that the Quartz64 model-A would feature a Rockchip RK3566 SoC, a veritable smorgasbord of ports, and between 2GB and 8GB of LPDDR4 memory in a board measuring 5.2 x 3.1 x 0.7 inches (133 x 80 x 19mm).
Pine64 isn’t offering any Quartz64 models with 2GB of RAM at launch, however, opting instead for a 4GB model that costs $60 and an 8GB model that costs $80. It didn’t say when a base model featuring 2GB of memory is expected to debut, either.
The Quartz64 model-B is supposed to arrive “in the coming months.” Pine64 said the model-B will feature either a “BL-602 RISC-V 802.11n and BLE 5.0 module, currently undergoing open-sourcing, or an AP6256 802.11ac WiFi + Bluetooth 5.0 module.”
Meet the SOQuartz
Quartz64 laid the foundation for a new SoM called the SOQuartz. The new device should look awful familiar to Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 owners.
”On the bottom of the PCB you will find the now industry-standard 100-pin high density connectors,” it said. ”This means that it will be possible to use the SOQuartz as a drop-in replacement for the most popular solution on the market.”
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Put directly: SOQuartz could possibly be a drop-in replacement for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 as the pair appear to be based on the same connector, but hardware and software compatibility is still unknown at this time.
Pine64 said the SOQuartz will feature the RK3566 SoC, the Azurewave AW-CM256SM WiFi 802.11ac Bluetooth and WiFi module with a U.FL antenna connector, and the option of using its eMMC modules or shipping with soldered-on storage.
SOQuartz appears to be in the prototyping stage. Pine64 didn’t offer additional details about the SoM’s specs, expected release date, or price.
We’ve had surround sound, 3D sound via Sony 360 Reality Audio and Dolby Atmos, and now comes multisensory audio. It’s a technology that adds a sense of touch to the mix, supposedly letting the viewer feel what they’re hearing. It might sound crazy, but it has its roots in therapy for autistic children.
Flexound Augmented Audio claims to create a “unique, holistic, immersive listening experience that you can feel as well as hear”. As well as standard audio, you get “gentle physical sound wave vibration” to add the sensation of touch. And it works with all kinds of content, including music, games, television, streaming, movies, and VR.
But perhaps the most obvious application is in cinemas. The Flexound Pulse is a chair with the technology built-in – vibrations radiate through the soft foam padding, which Flexound claims make the viewing and listening experience more immersive. But Flexound believes the tech works equally well as an office chair for video calls, a gaming station, for sound massage, automotive audio, or for home viewing. It also makes content more accessible for the hearing impaired.
It’s also less disruptive to neighbours, co-workers, and anyone else not interested in what you’re watching. Because you can feel frequencies up to 500Hz with your body and up to 1000Hz with your hands and skin, you don’t have to fill the room with sound to get the full audio experience. That means far less sound leakage.
Away from pure entertainment, it also has a therapeutic role to play. The vibro-acoustic technology was developed to provide pain relief and ease anxiety. It has been used by therapists treating children and adults with autism and development disability, people with chronic pain, rehabilitation of memory disorders, neurological and sleeping disorders, depression, and speech therapy.
The technology is ready to be licensed for use in cinemas and by furniture manufacturers, so look out for it at your local multiplex…
MORE:
These are the best surround sound systems
And here are the best AV receivers
Want to improve your TV’s audio? Here are the best soundbars
The Roccat Kone Pro is a very comfortable ergonomic mouse with a unique look and shape that’s more considerate of the ring and pinky fingers than most rivals. Its mundane plastic can easily attract moisture, dust and fingerprints. But once you download the mouse’s software, there’s a lot of programmability.
When it comes to the shape of your best gaming mouse, you may prefer an ambidextrous design that’s symmetrical in shape or opt for an ergonomic mouse, which typically curves in a way that caters to the right-handed gamer’s thumb. The Roccat Kone Pro (and wireless Kone Pro Air) are a more unique approach to ergonomic gaming mice with bolder curves that also provide support to the ring and even pinky finger.
For $80, the Kone Pro can keep up with the competition when it comes to specs, software and functionality. But an unimpressive plastic chassis with some questionable gapping in places like under the primary click buttons stop it from being flawless.
Roccat Kone Pro Specs
Sensor Model
Roccat Owl-Eye
Sensitivity
19,000
Polling Rates
125, 250, 500 or 1,000 Hz
Programmable Buttons
8, (including 3 scroll wheel functions)
LED Zones and Colors
2x RGB
Cable
5.9 foot (1.8m) USB Type-A, braided
Connectivity
USB Type-A
Measurements (LxWxH)
4.94 x 2.83 x 1.57 inches (125.6 x 72 x 40mm)
Weight
2.34 ounces (66g)
Extra
1x extra set PTFE feet
Design and Comfort of Roccat Kone Pro
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The Kone Pro’s best asset is, perhaps, its shape. It caters to parts of the hand that many gaming mice today neglect: the ring and pinky fingers. Ergonomic mice often focus on curving in for a righty’s thumb, and the Kone Pro does too. But it also provides a subtler, longer curve in its right side, where the ring finger can easily rest and the pinky may find respite too. I have longer hands for a woman, and sometimes I noticed my pinky dragging on my mouse pad in my typical claw and palm grips still, but this happened less often than with most gaming mice I’ve tested.
The mouse’s shape makes palm gripping very comfortable. My palm’s outer edge makes comfortable contact with the Kone Pro’s hump, while the deepest part of my palm hovers above. In both palm and claw grips, my ring finger often grazes the gap underneath the right click button. This is a small annoyance but one worth noting for perfectionists. This wouldn’t be an issue if I used a fingertip grip, but I find the mouse a bit bulky for that, and a more symmetrical shape would be helpful too.
Roccat’s Kone Pro measures 4.94 x 2.83 x 1.57 inches and weighs 2.34 ounces. For comparison to other ergonomically shaped wire mice for righties, the Razer DeathAdder V2 is longer, less wide, taller and heavier (5 x 2.43 x 1.68 inches / 2.89 ounces), and the honeycomb-filled Glorious Model D is about the same length and weight but less wide, taller and lighter (5.04 x 2.4 x 1.65 inches / 2.4 ounces). Especially with its lightweight plastic, the Kone Pro does a good job of feeling light for its size, but I wouldn’t call it lightweight, especially with the likes of honeycomb mice like the 2.08-ounce Glorious Model O- around.
Roccat Kone Pro and wireless Roccat Kone Pro Air (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Available in black or white (the above picture shows both color schemes available for the wired and wireless versions of the mouse, and the white version is wireless), the Kone Pro’s plastic shell is nothing remarkable. It’s carved with a gathering of parallel lines on the sides where it curves in, and it’s easy for fingerprints together there and elsewhere, making the mouse look extra unremarkable, especially with the black unit we’re reviewing. The chassis lacks gripping and is a little slick without being gross or too slippery, but some more grip would be appreciated.
A Roccat Kone logo stamped on the plastic chassis is inoffensive, yet snooze-worthy. The chunky, plastic side buttons don’t look the most premium to me; although I like the contrast they create on the white version of the mouse. Of greater concern is the amount of spacing under the primary click buttons, between them and throughout the scroll wheel, where dust accumulated during my weeks of testing. The gaps under the primary click buttons allow RGB to shine through in a unique, appealing way. But if you look through the spacing at the right angle, you’ll be alarmed to see some of the mouse’s internal components. (Note that the mouse has a 2-year warranty.)
Although the scroll wheel can get dusty and some might think it looks flimsy, it adds a special touch to the Kone Pro. Instead of opting for some pattern-textured rubber, the Kone Pro’s scroll wheel is a thin, but hard, piece of aluminum. It makes for a cool side profile, as I can see through the wheel into some RGB lighting. Tactile scrolls are subtly reassuring, and it’s a little heavier to press in than other wheels. It’s also not as grippy as some rubber wheels, but slippage shouldn’t be a problem unless you’re literally sweating. And if you are (no judgement here), this wheel may be a bother.
Gaming Experience on Roccat Kone Pro
The Kone Pro starts off with the right tech to compete with other gaming mice in its price range. Its Roccat Owl-Eye sensor is based off PixArt’s PAW3370 and can reach 50g max acceleration and a sensitivity of up to 19,000 CPI. But while many mice offer a way to change CPI settings without ever opening an app, the only way to change the Kone Pro’s CPI out of the box is by downloading software. There’s even a profile switch button on the mouse’s underside, but this doesn’t change CPI by default. Even worse, CPI was set uncomfortably low. Swarm eventually confirmed it was set to 800 CPI, when I’d prefer around 2,500-3,000.
I used the Kone Pro across CPI settings, from a comfortable 2,500, to the lowest (50) and highest (19,000). Regardless, tracking seemed as smooth and accurate as expected of a premium gaming mouse. I had no trouble with large sweeping swipes or careful, small movements, meaning the mouse was part of the action rather than a hindrance.
The primary click buttons use what Roccat calls Titan Switch Optical mechanical switches. If you haven’t heard the hype around optical mechanical switches, (which are finding homes in some of the best gaming keyboards too), yet, basically they actuate when their stem goes through a light beam, rather than via metallic contact. This should prevent them from suffering from accidental double-clicking, which has been reported among some premium gaming mice after a years of extended use. Roccat claims these Titan switches are particularly “great for FPS and action games.”
I tried the Kone Pro across some shooters and found it easy to press the primarily click buttons with my fingers at various positions. It didn’t take much force or effort to press those buttons or the cheaper feeling plastic side buttons.
Compared to left-click, right-click felt clunkier though. In a side-by-side comparison with mice using standard mechanical switches I had on hand, including the Logitech G203 Lightsync, Cooler Master MM711 and Razer Orochi V2, the Kone Pro’s clicks sounded noticeably softer and seemed easier and lighter to actuate, but the other mice’s clicks felt sharper.
In the Human Benchmark reaction time test, where you must click when the screen turns from red to green, I averaged 178.6ms with a low of 168ms with the Kone Pro, compared to 205ms and 163ms, respectively, with the Orochi V2.
Meanwhile, the side buttons are large and high enough to be easily accessible without repositioning. Both myself and a man with larger hands had no issue accessing both buttons that way with palm and claw grips and without accidentally pressing another button on the mouse.
The Kone Pro keeps up with the design trends of other gaming mice in its price range, with its 5.9-feet-long braided cable and “heat-treated pure PTFE glides.” The PTFE feet are spread across the top of the mouse’s underside, plus around the sensor and on the bottom. Roccat also includes an extra set of feet in the box. The mouse moves slightly easier and more lightly than I expected from looking at the chunkier rat, but it’s not as slippery a glide as I’ve experienced on other mice, such as the small Razer DeathAdder V2 Mini.
Roccat’s Kone Pro proved comfortable enough for hours of gaming but after a few minutes of heavy gaming it felt a little clammy and moist. There’s not much in the way of grip here either. There are slimier mice out there, but after a bit you may want to take a moisture break from the Kone Pro.
Features and Software of Roccat Kone Pro
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The Kone Pro uses Roccat’s Swarm software, which is a required download if you want to change the mouse’s default CPI setting. There’s no button that’ll change CPI out of the box unless you program it to in Swarm. Swarm’s UI is pretty extensive but harmless to use; however, every saved change in Swarm results in a 1-2 second delay, making detailed changes to the mouse a little tedious.
The Settings page has tweaks that many gaming peripheral makers don’t include in their software, including vertical scroll speed and double-click speed. Here’s also where you can change the DPI settings from 50-19,000 in 100-unit increments. There’s a CPI calibration tool too, but I’ve found it ineffective here and with other Roccat mice because it always suggests I go just a little higher or lower than what I’ve already set it to.
Swarm’s Button Assignment section lets you assign functions for the programmable buttons: left and right click, scroll up, down or in, the two side buttons and the profile cycle button on the underside. Swarm even includes 3 extra presets to give you some ideas for using all that functionality. Additionally, if you program one button as the Easy-Shift[+] button, all aforementioned inputs can have a secondary function when pressing the Easy-Shift[+] simultaneously. The mouse’s RGB will automatically switch to blue to inform you that Easy-Shift[+] has been activated.
That ultimately means you can program 16 different inputs with the Kone Pro, from launching programs, to keyboard functions and macros and opening a new browser window. A macro manager also lets you set up macros that’ll automatically launch with games and other apps.
Illumination controls the Kone Pro’s 2 RGB zones, including a brightness slider. You get 5 RGB presets, (plus off), with most offering a slider for speed too. You can pick a solid color for each individual zone if you want via a color selector or by entering red, green and blue values.
I used the Kone Pro as my primary mouse for about a month on and off using its Aimo reactive RGB setting. According to Roccat, Aimo RGB is meant for “adapting to your play the more you use them, and becoming more dynamic and nuanced as AIMO products combine.” Swarm adds that “Roccat is continually developing exciting new features and effects for Aimo, which will see your level increase.” But I’ve never been able to get my AIMO level past 15% when reviewing Roccat’s Kone Pro, Burst Pro or Kain 200 Aimo; however, I haven’t combined Aimo peripherals. I did hit 35% with the Vulcan 122 Aimo keyboard but didn’t feel like RGB was reacting to what I was doing on the PC. The case was the same with the Kone Pro.
In Swarm’s Advanced Settings tab you can choose among a 125, 250, 500 or 1,000 Hz polling rate (sorry, extremists, no 8,000 Hz here yet). There are also tools for playing with things like distance control and angle snapping.
Swarm lets you program a generous 5 onboard memory profiles. If you have Swarm open, you can also have the profiles launch automatically with specific programs.
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Roccat Kone Pro is a solid gaming mouse, especially where ergonomic shapes are concerned. A well-endowed hump, accessible buttons and space for the ring and smaller pinky fingers make it a win for palm and claw grips especially. And while it’s not the most exciting look in all black (the white version does pop more), an aluminum scroll wheel and RGB-lit left and right-click buttons help differentiate the mouse.
The Kone Pro’s plastic shell is not a standout though. There’s nothing to help boost your grip, and it easily starts feeling moist when gaming. Plus, there are gaps throughout the design where dust easily builds up. For a better grip in an ergonomic design, consider the Razer DeathAdder V2 Pro, which is going for $30 less ($50) than the Kone Pro as of writing. And if you hate cables, note that there’s a wireless version of the Kone Pro.
But if your fingers have earned some extra attention, the Kone Pro knows what to do.
Analysts are predicting widespread DDR5 adoption will occur in 2022, starting with the server markets and enterprise world, according to a report by Micronews. Then in 2023, we will finally see widespread DDR5 adoption in the mainstream market, with phones, laptops, and PCs fully utilizing the technology.
More specifically, estimates have it that we will see a 25% increase in DDR5 adoption in 2022 (thanks to the server market), then an even bigger jump in 2023 to over 50% of market share. Finally, through 2024-2026 we expect the rest of the market to follow suit with DDR5 adoption, leaving DDR4 at barely 5% of market adoption.
This move to DDR5 is also being helped by large amounts of demand, which has comeback significantly (despite the oversupply issues in 2019) which is predicting a record-high value of $120B for the DRAM market and $68B for the NAND markets. This trend should continue well into 2026 where the memory market should reach over $200 billion in value.
DDR5 is a significant upgrade from the current DDR4 memory architecture. DDR5 will have double the amount of bandwidth of DDR4, as well as quadrupled die densities, allowing for significantly higher capacity DIMMS, all while running at a lower operating voltage, and having built-in ECC support for better system stability.
The latest unconfirmed rumor coming out of China is that Nvidia has reportedly adjusted its production strategy to inject more GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards into to the market. It comes from Board Channels, a forum meant for employees at board partners and distributors in China. If accurate, the news will come as music to consumers’ ears as Ampere-based cards are among the best graphics cards on the market, but have been absent from store shelves for a long time now. (Note: Nvidia said it wouldn’t comment on rumors or speculation.)
At the peak of the great graphics card shortage, Nvidia decided to bring back fan favorites, such as the GeForce RTX 2060 and GTX 1050 Ti, in an attempt to satisfy the demand for graphics cards. The current rumor is that Nvidia has notified its partners that it will slice the supply of GeForce RTX 2060 (Turing) GPUs in half for this month. The objective behind the decrease is to shift the freed production capacity over to Ampere.
At first glance, limiting Turing supply might not appear to impact Ampere’s availability. Turing and Ampere are on completely different nodes from different foundries, after all. Turing is based on TSMC’s 12nm manufacturing process, while Ampere leverages Samsung’s 8nm process node. However, our theory is that Nvidia is probably freeing up substrate, memory chips, and OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) capacity.
The members of Board Channels only spoke of Ampere in general and didn’t specify if Nvidia was prioritizing a certain SKU over others. With the recent addition of the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, Nvidia expanded its Ampere offerings up to seven models. In any event, we will hopefully be seeing better Ampere availability in the upcoming months and hopefully, prices will start stabilizing.
Twitter user Kepler has discovered a new AMD patent that details moving tasks (threads) between different types of cores in a heterogeneous processor. In other words, the patent lays the groundwork for a microarchitecture that resembles Arm’s big.LITTLE design that uses clusters of ‘big’ high-performance cores paired with ‘little’ efficiency cores.
AMD files over a plethora of patents every year, so there’s no guarantee that all of them will manifest as real products. That said, there are plenty of reasons to think that we could see a hybrid AMD design come to market. Intel has already embraced a hybrid design on its desktop parts with the upcoming 12th-Gen Alder Lake family. It’s reasonable to assume that AMD will eventually hop on the hybrid bandwagon at some point in time.
Although the Method of Task Transition Between Heterogeneous Processors patent was just published a couple of days ago, AMD filed it back in 2019. This patent may be an extension of a similar patent that AMD also filed in the same year about implementing instruction set architecture (ISA) in a heterogeneous processor.
There’s an ongoing rumor that AMD’s Ryzen 8000 (reportedly codename Strix Point) APUs could arrive with a hybrid setup. The chips allegedly feature high-performance Zen 5 cores and low-powered Zen ‘4D’ cores. Unless AMD has been diligently working behind the scenes, it’s unlikely that Strix Point will make it to the market in time to compete with Intel’s Alder Lake chips that may launch in late 2021 or early 2022. However, the APUs will probably go head-to-head with Raptor Lake, the alleged successor to Alder Lake.
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Method Of Task Transition Between Heterogenous Processors (Image credit: FreePatentsOnline)
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Method Of Task Transition Between Heterogenous Processors (Image credit: FreePatentsOnline)
The patent explains that the process to relocate a task or task from the first processor to the second processor will be based around performance metrics based on certain thresholds or some other trigger. AMD didn’t specify which cores are which, but for the sake of conversation, we can assume that the first processor refers to the big cores and the second processor refers to the power-efficient cores.
Obviously, the whole point behind a hybrid configuration is to optimize performance-per-watt while also improving performance. To achieve this goal, tasks must be moved quickly and efficiently between the big and small cores. AMD’s method consists of comparing one or multiple metrics to a threshold on a checklist to determine whether or not to pass the task from one processor to another. Once the assessment is complete, the first processor essentially pauses operations while the information is transferred over to the second processor.
AMD mentions numerous examples of the type of metrics that the chipmaker could leverage for the task relocation process. The chipmaker mentions task execution time, core utilization, memory usage, idle state of a single core, or duration of a single-core execution – just to mention a few scenarios.
In one example, AMD measures the period of time that the small cores are running at the maximal clock speed and compares it to a threshold. If the duration is greater than the established time threshold, the task shifts over to the bigger cores. In another example, AMD takes into account an external factor: memory. If the memory utilization is less than the threshold established on the small cores, the task will remain on said cores.
Hybrid processors won’t succeed unless there is proper software support. Recent rumors point to a new, more efficient scheduler in Windows 11 that’s optimized for hybrid setups. That new update is rumored to land later this year at the same time as Alder Lake, which should pave the way for better support for hybrid processors.
The next Final Fantasy spinoff is heavy on the action, and certainly doesn’t skimp when it comes to giant swords. At its E3 2021 keynote, Square Enix revealed Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin — yes, that’s the actual full title — which is billed as a collaboration between Final Fantasy veterans Tetsuya Nomura and Kazushige Nojima, and renowned action game studio Team Ninja. You can get a sense of the action in the trailer above.
It’s not clear how, exactly, the game ties back to the rest of the franchise, but the description certainly sounds very Final Fantasy:
With the memory of their struggle buried deep in their hearts… Jack and his allies, Ash and Jed, burn with resolve to defeat Chaos as they throw open the gates to the Chaos Shrine. Yet doubts remain — are they truly the Warriors of Light the prophecy foretold? Step into a world of dark fantasy and revel in the exhilarating, action-packed battles.
In a statement, Nomura said that “While it is Final Fantasy, it feels different — but there’s no doubt that the blood of Final Fantasy runs through its veins. We’ve undertaken the challenge of finding this difficult middle ground for this mature and stylish title. We need a little time until we’re able to complete it, and while the battle system is a bloody one, it does link to the story, so I hope you’ll use this opportunity to give it a try.”
The game is slated to launch in 2022 for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, though a PS5 demo will be available on June 24th.
(Pocket-lint) – Audeze is a big name in high-end audio – it specialises in planar magnetic headphones that get up to eye-watering prices. However, it’s also recently been making strides in gaming, with more and more headsets coming to its line-up.
Best PS5 and PS4 headset: Superb Playstation gaming headphones
The company’s first wireless console headset comes in the form of the Penrose, available in two versions for PlayStation or Xbox users, and we’ve been using it day in, day out for a number of weeks to see if it lives up to Audeze’s lofty reputation.
Design
Removable microphone
Memory foam pads
320g weight
The Penrose might come from a premium heritage, but it’s actually fairly unremarkable to look at – calling it generic would be far too harsh, but there’s not much here to catch your eye. That could also be spun as subtlety, of course.
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We’ve been using the PlayStation version, which features blue accents around each earcup – the the only splash of colour on an otherwise grey and black design. If you pick the Xbox model then these are bright green instead. It’s all very on brand.
Still, there’s nothing wrong with a headset that doesn’t look over-the-top. The Penrose also has plenty of neat touches up its sleeve. For one, the all-important microphone can be removed when you’re not using it. That’s not quite as helpful as a retractable or stowable microphone that you can’t therefore lose, but it’s still appreciated.
Best Xbox headsets: Superb headphones for Xbox Series X, Series S and Xbox One
There’s also a manual mute switch on one earcup, positioned just above the main power button, in case you want to remove your voice from a chat that way. Holding this button turns the Penrose on, and it’ll quickly connect to the included dongle if its plugged into your console or PC. This connection is solid and reliable even if you wander off to grab a drink in a next-door room – although its range isn’t endless.
One the same earcup you also find two dials: one for the master volume; another to adjust your microphone’s pickup – which is a good pairing for on-the-fly adjustments if you’re in party chat while you game. It’s a little hard to be sure which one you’re touching at first, but you’ll get used to it.
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A huge part of any headset’s success is in the wearing, though, and here the Penrose doesn’t quite excel. It’s not the lightest headset we’ve used, and has a noticeably tight fit that can feel a little clamp-like on your head. After a few dozen hours of wearing it, though, this has abated somewhat, and we’re now finding it comfortable to wear for hours at a time. That’s most likely helped by the memory foam in its cushioning.
While it might not look particularly astonishing, then, the Penrose is obviously built to a high standard, and feels really sturdy, too. Fragile headsets are a menace on your wallet, so it’s good to know that you’re paying for quality. We just wish it was a little more comfortable from the off.
Sound quality
100mm planar magnetic drivers
Dual 2.4GHz and Bluetooth connectivity
Wired connection also available
If its design is straightforward, Audeze is extremely proud of its headset’s raw sound quality. It’s here the Penrose does a solid job of matching the hype once you drop into a game.
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The drivers Audeze use are planar magnetic ones – which makes for lightning-fast reponse times and little to no distortion. That means whether you’re caught in a huge bassy explosion or if a soundtrack is full of intricate high-end notes you’ll find it easy to pick it all out accurately.
In more mundane terms, it means that the Penrose is in the top grade of headsets we’ve tried when it comes to competitive environments – for example, being able to pick out the famously inconsistent footstep sounds in Call of Duty: Warzone. Its sound is clear and doesn’t rely on too much bass, making for a really enjoyable experience.
When you use it in a native PS5 game, this is all the more impressive. Resident Evil Village, for example, was frankly a bit too terrifying, with the Penrose reproducing the game’s 3D audio absolutely brilliantly.
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Another key facet in this performance is the closed-back design, which is one of the most isolating we’ve tried on a gaming headset – even with no sound playing, you’re kind-of ‘closed in’ nicely. There’s no active noise cancellation (ANC) to be found, but we nonetheless felt entirely immersed.
You have the option to connect via Bluetooth to other devices, too, if you prefer, and there’s also a 3.5mm jack in case you run out of battery and need to go old-school, which is again a useful fall-back.
Battery life is stated at 15 hours, but we found that we struggled to make it that far before running into the need to charge via USB-C. That’s not a terrible standard, but it’s equally outclassed by plenty of more affordable options.
Finally, we turn to the microphone – a key feature for anyone looking to play online with friends. The good news is that it’s an impressive one, with clear and accurate pickup.
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The included wind-muffler is an extra that helps with ensuring your breathing isn’t picked up, but even without it you should be fine. That said, you might find that you hear your own breath, even if the headset isn’t transmitting that through to your chat, which can occasionally be distracting – but is also fixable by tweaking your pickup level manually.
Verdict
If your core concern is sound quality, at the expense of anything else, the Audeze Penrose is mightily persuasive and will make a great investment.
However, on factors like comfort and battery life it’s outclassed by a lot of other headsets that we’ve tried, including many that are around half of its price – and these options don’t exactly sound terrible either.
So while the Penrose has offered some of the best sound we’ve experience from a console – especially over a wireless connection and with 3D audio truly immersing us – that makes it one to think hard about before you take the pluge.
Also consider
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Steelseries Arctis 7P
If you want a PlayStation headset that’s extremely comfortable to wear and still sounds extremely solid (though it can’t compete with the Penrose), this option from Steelseries is a winner. It’s nearly half the price of Audeze’s effort, but we prefer its design and it’s like a cloud to wear over multiple hours.
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Pocket-lint
EPOS GSP 370
Alternatively, if you want to bring the budget down even further but your main concern is having enormous battery life, this option from EPOS is almost baffling on the battery front. It offers a mind-boggling 80 hours between charges, which is perfect for forgetful types who don’t want to charge after every session.
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Writing by Max Freeman-Mills. Editing by Mike Lowe.
Both Intel and Toshiba have become increasingly confident in their projections for the debut of PLC flash, which packs in five bits per cell to reduce SSD pricing, but Western Digitial recently downplayed the feasibility of PLC SSDs before 2025.
WD says this type of memory will only become viable sometime in the second half of this decade when SSD controllers become more advanced. The claim contradicts other 3D NAND suppliers that believe 3D PLC SSDs could rival hard drives in the next few years.
Each new type of flash brings reduced SSD pricing, but as we’ve seen with QLC NAND, that can lead to big reductions in endurance and performance. That takes some of the shine off of a future transition to PLC (Penta Level Cell) flash that packs in five bits per cell to reduce pricing but results in even lower endurance and performance.
“I expect that transition [from QLC to PLC] will be slower,” said Siva Sivaram, Western Digital’s technology and strategy chief, at Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2021 Global Technology Conference (via SeekingAlpha). “So maybe in the second half of this decade we are going to see some segments starting to get 5 bits per cell.”
TLC flash is the most widely used variant today, and while there are 3D QLC NAND chips available, they aren’t as widely used. Western Digital expects this to change only with its BiCS6 NAND memory and new controllers/firmware.
“We think that QLC across the broad segment will happen in the next [BiCS 6 generation, when] the majority of bits will switch over to QLC in the marketplace,” said Sivaram. “[…]In the next two years plus we are going to see the rapid acceleration of QLC adoption.”
Modern SSD controllers powered by Arm’s Cortex-R8 cores can handle advanced error correction (4KB LDPC) algorithms while ensuring decent performance, but 3D PLC flash will require even more complex error correction, and hence more compute horsepower from the controller. The controller will also have to support more redundant capacity and robust wear-leveling.
“The incremental gain is not quite as much when we are going from 4 to 5 bits on the same cell, so you are getting [25%],” said Sivaram. “To get that gain you are sacrificing a lot, you need additional redundancy, additional ECC, so the net gain supposed to the performance loss may not be quite as desirable.”
Arm introduced its 64-bit Cortex-R82 core for next-generation SSD controllers in September 2020. Arm says the design is 1.74x ~ 2.25x faster than the Cortex-R8 in real-world applications and 21% and 23% faster than the Cortex-A55 in SPECint2006 and SPECfp2006, respectively. The Cortex-R82 is designed to run in clusters with up to eight cores, so controller makers could build rather formidable processors based on the new core, which will be quite handy for PLC SSDs.
There is a catch, though. The first controllers with the Cortex-R82 (probably due sometime in 2023 or 2024) will likely be aimed primarily at high-end drives with in-storage compute capabilities, and not on high-density SSDs featuring cheap 3D PLC flash. As a result, 3D PLC flash is unlikely to become mainstream any time soon.
There are certainly plenty of challenges involved with moving to PLC flash. For example, 3D PLC NAND can store five bits per cell (5 bpc), a 25% increase over quad-level cell (QLC) flash, and a 66% increase over the triple-level cell (TLC) flash memory used today.
To do so, NAND cells have to store 32 distinct voltage levels, and SSD controllers have to read them properly and record them fast. In contrast, TLC uses eight voltage levels, and QLC uses 16 voltage levels. In addition to the complexity of PLC 3D NAND cells, challenges like cell-to-cell interference and temperatures make it harder to read data.
To offer decent performance and endurance characteristics, 3D TLC-based SSDs use 120 bit/1KB or even 340 bit/2KB LDPC ECC algorithms that are already quite complex. In addition, manufacturers also implement static and dynamic wear-leveling, RAID ECC, and overprovisioning to further maximize endurance.
With 3D QLC-powered SSDs, we’ll need support for 2KB and 4KB LDPC codewords, more complex wear-leveling, and more overprovisioned capacities. Furthermore, memory makers also have to change the design of their cells (e.g., use slightly different materials, etc.) to reliably store 16 voltage levels.
All of this means that we’ll see PLC SSDs later rather than sooner, largely due to needed advances that aren’t directly associated with manufacturing the flash itself.
Intel has begun enabling Linux support for on-package HBM2E memory for its CPUs, marking a shift to infusing processors with fast memory onboard. This new development comes on the heels of previous Linux patch submissions to enable support for HBM with its upcoming fourth-gen Xeon Scalable ‘Sapphire Rapids’ processors, meaning that some of the company’s new CPUs will look almost like today’s high-end GPUs with beefy slabs of fast memory onboard. The new patches also confirm that Intel’s HBM2E controller has the same architecture as its DDR5 memory controller.
“A future Xeon processor will include in-package HBM (high bandwidth memory),” a description of one of the patches reads. “The in-package HBM memory controller shares the same architecture with the regular DDR memory controller. Add the HBM memory controller devices for EDAC support.”
Intel has an i20nm EDAC Linux driver that’s used for error detection and correction reporting. As of June 11, this driver now supports Intel’s Xeon Scalable processors with on-package HBM2E memory, reports Phoronix. This enables Linux systems with the latest patches installed to properly use Intel’s Sapphire Rapids processors with HBM2E (which is important for those who have samples now).
Intel enabled support for memory error codes for on-package HBM2E memory late last year. The recent inclusion of full HBM2E support may indicate that Intel is sending samples of such CPUs to various third parties.
Intel’s Sapphire Rapids processors will feature eight DDR5 memory channels. Based on unofficial information, the new Xeon Scalable CPUs will support DDR5-4800 memory and one module per channel (thus offering 307.2 GB/s of bandwidth per socket). Using Samsung’s recently introduced 512GB RDIMM modules, Sapphire Rapids’ eight channels will support 4TB of memory. Unfortunately, details about HBM2E capacity are currently unclear.
Thermaltake’s Argent H5 Stereo boasts solid build quality, clear sound and a no-nonsense approach that will either meet your needs or leave you wanting more.
For
+ Very comfortable, snug fit
+ Affordable
+ Excellent sound out of the box
+ Attractive, minimalist design
Against
– 3.5mm only
– Mic doesn’t filter out background noise well
– No way to adjust mic volume levels on the fly
– Hi-res performance could be better
The Thermaltake Argent H5 Stereo is a no-frills headset aimed squarely at gamers on a budget who want to just plug in and play instead of spending time tweaking settings. It looks to compete with the best gaming headsets with a detachable 3.5mm cabling and a detachable mic for easy portability. With an MSRP of $65, the Argent H5 is also an affordable way to experience hi-res audio with great speakers and an impressively wide frequency response.
The Argent H5 Stereo’s sleek, minimalist, stealthy aesthetic does a great job of communicating a commitment to simplicity, and these cans are also very comfortable for long gaming sessions. The question, then, is whether or not this alone is enough to satisfy your needs.
Thermaltake Argent H5 Stereo Specs
Driver Type
50mm neodymium
Impedance
32 Ohms
Frequency Response
Speakers: 20 Hz – 40 KHz
Mic: 100 Hz – 10 KHz
Microphone Type
Bidirectional, detachable
Connectivity Options
3.5mm (single TRRS and split TRS)
Cables
6 feet (2m) 3.5mm cable
Weight (with mic)
0.8 pounds (370g)
Lighting
None
Software
none
Design and Comfort
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Thermaltake Argent H5 Stereo is fairly large in size and decked out in sleek, matte black. It’s a stealthy pair of cans, save for the Thermaltake logo in white on the outside of each earcup. The metal frame is stained a matching black, and the leatherette headband shows off the stitching, where it meets the memory foam padding underneath. The detachable mic matches the stark black finish of the rest of the unit, completing a minimalist overall look that will be at home in a wide variety of gaming setups and won’t look out of place in a professional setting.
The cabling is, likewise, very simple. A single cable that houses the headset controls and ends in a single 3.5mm TRRS plug attaches to the headset via a mini USB connector. Thermaltake also includes an adapter that splits into two 3.5mm TRS connectors for devices that don’t support audio input and output through a single TRRS jack. The controls consist of a single volume wheel and a switch that turns the microphone on and off.
Despite its imposing appearance, the Argent H5 may weigh less than you think at just 0.8 pound. There are lighter wired cans in this price range, and I have a couple of them on hand. The HyperX Cloud Core + 7.1 is 0.7 pound, and SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless is 0.6 pound, but the Argent H5’s weight still allows it to be comfortable to wear for long periods of time. The earcups swivel, letting you rest the headset on your neck when not actively in use. Adjustments to the headband are easy to make too, as the Argent H5 employs the industry standard push/pull mechanism.
The headband and the earcups both feature soft memory foam padding, with the latter offering just the right amount of depth to ensure that your ears are cradled but not crushed against the drivers. Ultimately, the Argent H5 has a tight, comfortable fit. It took minimal adjustment to get it to sit just right on my head, and its grip is firm but not suffocating. The Argent H5’s mic also features a flexible boom arm that’s easy to bend into the optimal position.
I came away from my time with the Argent H5 impressed by how comfortable it was for long gaming sessions. Simplicity seems to be the word used most often during the Argent H5’s design process, and this yielded good results from a comfort and useability standpoint.
It’s unfortunate, however, that Thermaltake opted for 3.5mm connectivity alone. While this does cut down on the amount of cables and adapters that have to be used with the headset, it also limits the overall utility of the device. It would be nice to also have USB connectivity, considering most phones have dropped the 3.5mm headphone jack entirely and gamers with a full sound system hooked up to their PCs will need to unplug some cables to be able to use the headset with the mic if their PC doesn’t support audio input and output via a single 3.5mm cable.
Audio Performance
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Argent H5 boasts oversized 50mm drivers that support hi-res audio with an impressively wide frequency response of 20 – 40,000 Hz. For comparison, HyperX’s Cloud Core is specced for 15 – 25,000 Hz, and SteelSeries’ Arctis 1 Wireless for 20 – 20,000 Hz.
For testing purposes, I loaded up 24bit .WAV (I also tested with some of my own mixdowns that were exported as 32bit .WAV files at 96K) and .FLAC files with sample rates of 96K and 192K and listened side by side using both the Argent H5 Stereo and the Steelseries Arctis 1 Wireless, which doesn’t support hi-res audio. I also did side-by-side comparisons with in-game audio and movies. I immediately noticed a much clearer, brighter frequency response. The Argent H5 definitely makes the jump to hi-res audio noticeable, especially if you’ve never experienced that type of audio before.
But when it came to other, pricier hi-res headsets, the Argent H5 Stereo couldn’t quite compete. Hi-res performance wasn’t in the same league as the HyperX Cloud Mix ($197 as of writing) or Asus ROG Theta 7.1 ($290 as of writing) in terms of richness and fullness of tone. And it can’t compete with the Asus ROG Delta S, our favorite hi-res gaming headset, which is more beefed out with a Quad DAC and MQA renderer. That said, the Argent H5 Stereo still sounds markedly cleaner than many headsets in its price range.
Compared to many gaming headsets, the Argent H5’s audio is very well-balanced, lacking the overwhelming bass that is de rigueur in the field. There’s a tightness to the bass response that enhances clarity, alongside a well-defined midrange and clean treble frequencies. The overall frequency response is natural and flat, with good separation between lows, mids and highs that allows audio mixes to sound as they were intended. The drivers do a great job of retaining clarity when they are pushed. Maxing out the volume didn’t produce any notable distortion, and these cans get quite loud.
Gaming audio gets high marks. The flat default EQ curve of the Argent H5 Stereo made sure that details weren’t lost in frantic firefights in FPS titles, like Doom Eternal and CS:GO, while more claustrophobic aural experiences, like Outlast, dripped with menacing atmosphere. True to its namesake, this headset does not offer virtual surround sound natively.
If you insist on surround sound, you’d have to enable Windows Sonic or some other third-party software. While the Argent H5 Stereo does play nice with Windows Sonic, thanks to it being outfitted with speakers that are up to the task, gamers who focus on competitive play may balk at not having native positional audio out of the box.
Music, meanwhile, pops through these speakers with excellent clarity, even at high volumes. The Argent H5 stereo rendered dense material, like Opeth’s Blackwater Park album, and more sparse, punchy mixes, like Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle, equally well . At no point during my testing did low end overwhelm the mix, which can be a problem with gaming-grade headphones.
Movies likewise played well over the Argent H5 Stereo. The Battle of Helm’s Deep in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Helm’s sounded thunderous without sacrificing clarity, and the sparse, subtle and eerie mix of The Witch shined.
The overall audio performance of the Argent H5 Stereo is impressive and with no way to tweak it natively, that’s a good thing. Gamers who like to adjust audio settings, however, may be turned off by the lack of options.
Microphone
The Argent H5 Stereo’s bi-directional mic is serviceable but not great. The frequency response is a respectable 100 – 10,000 Hz, cutting out boomy lows and shrill highs. But the mic doesn’t do a very good job of filtering out ambient noise. During gameplay and test recordings using OBS, the sound of my air conditioner was clearly audible, despite it being on the far opposite side of my room. Keyboard chatter was much louder than it should be too.
Additionally, the mic level by default is on the quiet side — about 3-5dB short of where I want it to be, based on my measurements of other headset mics I have on-hand in OBS software. Because of this, my teammates in competitive titles had trouble hearing me. Unfortunately, there’s no way to adjust the mic level on the headset itself. The inline controls only function as a means to adjust the headphone volume and turn the mic on and off. Adjusting the mic volume would require you to play with settings in Windows or the audio software supplied by your laptop or motherboard vendor.
Features and Software
Unlike many gaming headsets today, there’s no software for the Argent H5 Stereo. This is great for gamers who just want to plug in a headset without installing software to adjust settings. Most importantly, by default, the headset’s audio is mostly good enough to not require any further tweaking. This does cut both ways, however.
The mic volume is not adjustable via the inline controls and will require third-party software to manipulate. The mic itself is also unremarkable – clear enough to prevent complaints but not good at filtering out room noise.
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Thermaltake)
Thermaltake’s Argent H5 Stereo is a solidly built, attractive and great sounding headset that hits the mark when it comes to simplicity and ease of use. It also scores highly when it comes to comfort. These cans provide ample padding and have a snug fit that is free of wobble without feeling constrictive. The Argent H5 Stereo retails for only $65, so it’s also a great value.
Unfortunately, the minimalist approach the Argent H5 Stereo exemplifies also means sacrifices. Connectivity is limited to either a single 3.5mm TRRS or dual, split 3.5mm TRS plugs. Of course, many smartphones have ditched 3.5mm, and it’ll be an annoyance if your system’s 3.5mm jacks are already taken by your 5.1 setup. Without an adapter, you’d have to unplug your external audio system to use the headset.
And tweakers will want to look elsewhere, as there’s no native software for the headset. If you want more control over EQ and mic levels in the same price range, consider the SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless or the HyperX Cloud Core instead, which also offer more connectivity options. But you’ll have to forego hi-res audio.
The Argent H5 Stereo’s hi-res abilities make it a nice introduction for those new to the format, but for those serious about hi-res, it’s worth investing in something like the Asus ROG Delta S or the more affordable HyperX Cloud Mix.
But if you’re looking for a gaming headset that looks and sounds great out of the box for a very fair price, the Argent H5 Stereo is easy to recommend.
It may look like the unlikely outcome of teleportation experiment involving a Sega Bass Fishing controller and a Game Boy Micro, but Playdate is a tiny, handheld games console with a novel form of input.
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(Image credit: Panic)
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(Image credit: Panic)
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(Image credit: Panic)
In case this is your first contact with the boxy yellow machine, it’s an extremely low-powered attempt to bring bite-sized games to a dedicated system instead of a cellphone. The crank on the side is a gameplay tool, and doesn’t charge the system or act as a Van de Graff generator. The only hair-raising will, hopefully, come from the games.
The specs are lower than a Raspberry Pi Zero W, but much more than a Raspberry Pi Pico. Playdate is powered by an Arm Cortex M7 CPU running at just 180MHz, 16MB of RAM, 4GB of flash (up from an initial 2GB), and a 2.7-inch, 400 × 240 1-bit Sharp Memory LCD that creates images in pure black and white, no shades of gray which means dithering is required to add texture and tone to a game. The screen lacks a backlight, relying on the reflective nature of the screen to illuminate your games. Anyone who had a Game Boy will be familiar with these principles, as the reflective screen and dithered graphics were part of Nintendo’s classic handheld. There’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on board, along with a headphone jack and a USB-C port for charging.
US software publisher Panic Inc. (that recently moved into games with titles like Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game) and Swedish industrial designer Teenage Engineering are the brains behind this quirky and interesting device.
Games, which are being made by the likes of Bennett Foddy, Zach Gage and Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi, will arrive as a ‘season’, with 24 (recently doubled from 12) of them delivered wirelessly to the handheld, two a week, for no extra charge. The platform is open source and will allow games that aren’t part of an official ‘season’ to be side-loaded. An SDK will be available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS, which will include a simulator and debugger, and will be compatible with the C and Lua programming languages.
In an in-depth interview with Edge magazine, reproduced by Gamesradar+, Panic Inc. co-founder Cabel Sasser describes the device’s inception: “The first question from the CEO was, ‘Do you really think anyone’s going to buy this?’ I was like, ‘I’m not sure. But it’s something we really want to do, if you can help?’ And then the consultants were like, ‘It’s going to cost you, bare minimum, a couple million bucks to even remotely get this thing off the ground.’”
The pre-order price has recently been raised (hence the increase in specs and number of games) and currently sits at $179. Pre-orders begin in July from play.date.
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