A Lenovo product manager has published the first pictures of its upcoming Radeon RX 6900 XT Legion graphics card. The board looks as monumental as the renders released a few months ago, and the very emergence of the photos may indicate that the product is close to release.
Lenovo’s Radeon RX 6900 XT Legion carries AMD’s flagship Navi 21 GPU in its maximum configuration with 5120 stream processors as well as 16 GB of GDDR6 memory connected to the chip using a 256-bit interface. Just like AMD’s reference cards, it has two eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connectors. That means Lenovo isn’t going after extreme factory overclocking for this board, unlike traditional add-in-board (AIB) makers that install three eight-pin power connectors on their custom Radeon RX 6900 XT products.
(Image credit: WolStame/Weibo)
The AIB presumably uses a proprietary printed circuit board (PCB) and comes equipped with a massive triple-slot cooling system featuring three fans that resemble a cooler used on reference AMD Radeon VII graphics cards several years ago.
Meanwhile, to appeal to modern enthusiasts, Lenovo equipped its cooling system with RGB LEDs that highlight the Radeon RX 6900 XT model on top and the Legion brand on the back. Also, there is a highlighted ‘R’ located on one edge of the card.
(Image credit: WolStame/Weibo)
The graphics card was pictured by WolStame, who happens to be a Lenovo China Gaming Desktop Product Planning Manager (according to VideoCardz), and published on his Weibo page. WolStame said that the AIB is an engineering sample, though it looks rather solid.
(Image credit: WolStame/Weibo)
At this point, it is still unclear whether Lenovo will use its Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards exclusively with its Savior Blade 7000P 2021 gaming PCs or will also sell them separately, just like it does with its Legion-branded monitors and other gear. After all, what’s the point of developing an exclusive graphics card for just one PC?
In a bid to sell more products to their loyal customers, many of hardware makers these days start offering new product categories. Earlier this year at CES, MSI outlined plans to start offering SSDs under its newly introduced Spatinum brand.
At the time the company only announced its flagship module featuring a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface rated for a 7,000 MB/s read speed as well as a 6.900 MB/s write speed, but it turns out MSI has readied a range of drives.
MSI has registered dozens of Spatinum SSD models with the with the Eurasian Economic Commission (ECC) in a bid to supply them to countries that belong to the Eurasian Economic Union, as discovered by PC Gamer. Not all products registered with the EEC actually reach the market, but at least some of them do. If MSI proceeds with what it registered with the ECC, its choice of drives will include three product families that will all include eight subfamilies, reports ComputerBase:
The Spatinum M400: top-of-the-range SSDs with a PCIe 4.0 interface. Expected to include M480, M471, and M470 models for different sub-segments of the market. Capacities set to range from 500GB to 2TB.
The Spatinum M300: mainstream SSDs with a PCIe 3.0 interface and capacity points from 256GB to 2TB. Projected to feature M381, M380, M371, and M370 model ranges.
The Spatinum S200: entry-level drives in a 2.5-inch form-factor with a SATA interface that will start at 240GB and will top at 1TB.
We don’t yet know the specs of MSI’s drives, but typically PC and hardware makers choose to use off-the-shelf designs offered by companies like Phison and Silicon Motion, which reduces risks and allows to quickly roll out a comprehensive product family. MSI has reportedly started to offer its Spatinum M370 drives to its partner CyberPowerPC in the U.S.
Considering that MSI sells not only motherboards, but also desktops, it makes a great sense for the company to also offer a range of SSDs. Meanwhile, it is unlikely that the company will indeed proceed with eight SSD models. When you join the ranks of over 200 SSD suppliers, you’d better keep your product line lean.
New filings show both sides’ legal strategies at work
On May 3rd, Fortnite publisher Epic Games will finally have its day in court, forcing Apple to defend kicking Fortnite off the iOS App Store last year. Epic’s antitrust lawsuit is bigger than a single game; it’s a direct challenge to the App Store model, the most significant legal challenge Apple has faced since the Xerox days.
Last night, both sides filed a document called a “proposed findings of fact,” essentially laying out every factual claim they’ll rely on in their arguments. The documents run more than 650 pages in total, giving a detailed roadmap of how each side sees the case — from the early days of the iPhone to Epic’s specific preparations for picking this fight with Apple. But the filings also bring the case into focus, raising three questions that will be central to the trial over the coming months.
The heart of the case is the so-called App Store tax — a 30 percent surcharge Apple collects on purchases made through the App Store. Fortnite was kicked off the App Store for dodging that tax by installing its own payment system, which is forbidden under App Store rules. Now, Epic is making the case in court that the rules should never have been put in place.
You often hear that this case is about whether the App Store is a monopoly — but Epic’s argument is more subtle than that, drawing on antitrust ideas around legal monopolies and abuses of market power. As Epic sees it, Apple’s monopoly over iOS is legal, but it’s using the market power from that monopoly to dominate the secondary market for app distribution. Epic compares the situation to Microsoft’s antitrust case in the ’90s: a legitimate monopoly over Windows, extended illegally to the secondary market in web browsers.
It’s a good theory, but it only works if you see the App Store model as fundamentally separate from iOS. In its statement of facts, Apple describes the exclusive App Store as a fundamental part of the iPhone, part of the broader offering that makes the devices valuable. “Apple wanted to ensure that iOS devices were more protected from those malware and instability issues and quality issues that the PC world was used to,” Apple claims in its filing. App Store exclusivity is part of that, but so are security measures like the code-signing and hardware root-of-trust systems. On the software side, there is a range of private APIs and OS-level entitlements that are only enabled after App Store review, tying the systems that much tighter together.
Of course, it’s inconvenient for this argument that Google is offering a competing mobile operating system with none of these restrictions — to say nothing of Apple’s own macOS, which allows side loading. Clearly, it would be technically possible to allow competing app stores on iOS. The question is whether the court sees that as changing Apple’s business model or changing iOS itself.
One of the biggest challenges for Epic is that the App Store model is fairly widespread. Consoles like Xbox and PlayStation operate on basically the same playbook, delivering games digitally through an open but curated digital store that’s locked to the hardware and controlled by the manufacturer. That alone doesn’t make it legal, but it adds credence to Apple’s claim that the App Store lockdown isn’t trapping consumers. If you don’t want to play Fortnite on an iPhone, you can play it on a console or a PC. Some devices come locked into a specific distribution channel and some don’t, giving users the chance to vote with their feet.
Epic’s counter to this argument, as explained in the filing, is that “video game consoles operate under a radically different business model than smartphones.” Development for console games is slow and expensive work, and consoles are useless without a steady supply of those games, so console manufacturers are under immense pressure to attract developers. That means hardware itself is often sold at cost, leaving App Store commissions as the primary source of profit.
Apple is different, Epic argues, because most of its profits still come from iPhone sales. “Developers do not participate in those profits,” the filing argues, “even though the availability of apps contributes greatly to the sale of devices.”
On some level, this boils down to the argument that console companies are nicer to developers, so their platform power is less of an issue. The constant competition between Xbox and PlayStation gives game developers leverage to extract more favorable terms. But iOS and Android don’t compete for app developers in the same way, and the lower cost of mobile development means the competition happens on vastly different terms. Apple has given people lots of reasons to buy an iPhone, which means there’s less pressure on any given line of business. But that’s well short of the standard for monopoly power, and Apple ultimately comes away from the console comparison looking pretty good.
Underneath everything else, Apple is facing a profound question of how much control it can exert over its own devices. For critics, this is Apple’s original sin, using industrial and graphic design to lure customers into a walled garden, then locking the gate. For fans, it’s Apple’s genius, integrating hardware and software to deliver a more purposeful and powerful user experience. But it all rests on Apple’s ability to maintain a closed stack, using hardware integration to control what happens in software.
This trial won’t undo that stack, but it could limit what Apple can do with it. The Epic Games fight started over payment processing, but the same legal standard could allow for alternative app stores or limit the restrictions Apple can place on rogue apps like Parler. It’s a first step toward setting regulatory limits on how tech companies operate, similar to the regulations on wireless carriers or banks. At its most basic level, Epic is arguing that Apple’s ecosystem has grown too big and too powerful for it to be run entirely out of Cupertino, and it’s time for it to be directly accountable to antitrust law.
Hundreds of pages in Apple’s filing are devoted to the benefits of that system for developers and iPhone owners, much of it undeniably true. There really is less malware on iOS devices because of Apple’s software controls, even if scam apps sometimes slip through. The system really does generate a lot of money for iOS developers, many of whom couldn’t compete outside of Apple’s walled garden. The shift to digital distribution really has saved money for developers who don’t need to distribute their product through brick-and-mortar retail anymore.
But in a sense, all of that is beside the point. Abuses of market power aren’t excused just because they’re sometimes helpful, and classical monopolies like Standard Oil or Bell Telephone had lots of side benefits, too. The bigger question is whether courts are ready to dive into the mobile software stack and start dictating the terms of how tech companies can set up their marketplaces. That’s a hard question, and it won’t be settled by a single ruling or a single case. But one way or another, it’s a question this court will have to take on.
Deathloop has been delayed again, with Arkane’s timed PS5 console exclusive moving from its previous May 21st release date to a fall release on September 14th. The news marks the second big delay for Deathloop, which was originally supposed to be out in the 2020 holiday season alongside the then-newly released PS5.
As with the earlier delay, Arkane’s Lyon studio is once again citing COVID-19-related delays, with an increased difficulty in development as it works to ensure “the health and safety of everyone at Arkane.”
Deathloop is the latest title from Arkane’s Lyon studio, best known for the Dishonored franchise and the rebooted Prey from 2017. Players assume the role of Colt, an assassin stuck in a time loop who must fight his way out by assassinating his eight targets using a variety of weapons and mystical powers — all while being hunted by a rival assassin, Julianna (who can be controlled by other players over the internet).
As a next-gen exclusive title, Deathloop is only set to be released on the PlayStation 5 (for a one-year exclusivity period) and PC — despite the fact that publisher Bethesda is now owned by Microsoft. Xbox studio head Phil Spencer told Bloomberg back in September that it’ll still be holding to that timed exclusivity for both Deathloop and GhostWire: Tokyo. Thatmeans, with the current delay, Xbox owners will be waiting even longer before they’re able to head to Blackreef.
The Corsair K70 RGB TKL is a powerful yet compact gaming keyboard. We didn’t notice an immediate benefit from the 8,000 Hz polling rate, but with a sleek look plyus premium media controls and keycaps, this keyboard’s in a league of its own.
For
+ Space-saving, durable build
+ Premium keycaps
+ Media keys
+ Some software-free RGB control
Against
– Close keys can require getting used to
– Expensive
Let’s be real: Mechanical keyboards can get expensive. While the best budget mechanical keyboards can give you the switches you need, the best gaming keyboards often come with extra bells and whistles that up the price. At $140, the Corsair K70 RGB TKL is one example, but you get a lot for that price.
Corsair’s been dubbing keyboards “K70” for a while. Just look at our Corsair K70 RGB Red review from 2016 or the most recent iteration, the low-profile Corsair K70 RGB MK.2. Our review focus brings the tenkeyless (TKL) form factor to the lineup.
The K70 RGB TKL is a competitive board that earns its price with extra features, like programmable keys, per-key RGB via manageable software. And as someone who games full-time, the quality of the keyboard’s build seems like a great investment. This is a sturdy keyboard that should hold up over extended use. And since this is a TKL keyboard, you’ll have all the space you need on your desk for your mouse, to let you focus exclusively on playing.
On top of that, Corsair is continuing its trend of upping the polling rate of its gaming keyboards, with the K70 RGB TKL offering an 8,000 Hz polling rate — 8 times the 1,000 Hz you usually see. The usefulness of that high spec, however, is debatable.
Corsair K70 RGB TKL Specs
Switches
Cherry MX Red (tested), Cherry MX Silent Red or Cherry MX Speed Silver
Lighting
Per-key RGB
Onboard Storage
8MB
Media Keys
Yes
Interface
USB Type-A
Cable
6 feet (1.8m) USB-C to USB-A , braided, detachable
Additional Ports
None
Keycaps
Doubleshot PBT plastic
Software
Corsair iCue
Dimensions (LxWxH)
14.2 x 6.5 x 1.9 inches
Weight
2.1 pounds
Extra
1x ABS plastic A, S, D, Q, E and R keycaps, 2x ABS plastic W and D keycaps, 1x keycap puller
Design
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series is a tournament-ready keyboard with a colorful and durable design in a small form factor. As a TKL keyboard, it forgoes the numpad in favor of more desk space, which makes it great for people who don’t have a lot of room on their desk or travel a lot. At 14.2 x 6.5 x 1.9 inches, the K70 RGB TKL is similar but slightly taller than other TKL keyboards, such as the Razer BlackWidow V3 Tenkeyless (14.3 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches) and more petite Roccat Vulcan TKL Pro (14.2 x 5.3 x 1.3 inches). Another downside for travel is the K70 RGB TKL’s weight. It’s 2.1 pounds compared to 1.9 pounds for the Razer and 1.5 pounds for the Roccat.
But part of that slightly larger design comes thanks to the K70 RGB TKL’s inclusion of luxurious media keys. There are five dedicated hotkeys, plus an aluminum, textured volume roller, which are all a decent accomplishment to include on a TKL.
All those keys felt pretty solid, especially compared to the cheap plastic alternatives available on lower-priced keyboards.
This brings us to the overall durability of the keyboard. The K70 RGB TKL feels more rigid and sturdy than the ~$250 Logitech G915 Lightspeed full-sized wireless gaming keyboard I often use, (which has an identical design to its TKL counterpart, the Logitech G915 TKL). The Logitech is conveniently lightweight (2.3 pounds) and thin (0.9 inches) but feels like it might break if dropped. Suddenly, the K70 RGB TKL’s $140 price tag starts to make more sense. The K70 RGB TKL lives in a plastic chassis with a black matte finish and aluminum frame.
With its media key layout and brushed aluminum finish the K70 RGB TKL looks more interesting than a lot of other TKLs (looking at you, Razer BlackWidow V3 Tenkeyless). And it’s mature and subdued enough to go well with any setup. But I’m not wowed by its overall look; it’s not earning any style points from me at first. Out of the box, this appears to be a tool for competitive gamers, not a showy looker. You can add a little more flair, however, if you use the included silver W, A, S, D, Q, E, R, D or F keycaps. These keycaps are a cheaper ABS plastic than the doubleshot PBT that the keys come with by default, but do add more color to the design and a slight texturing that I like a lot.
For even more customization, you’ll have to rely on the K70 RGB TKL’s per-key RGB effects. You’ll need the software to create and play with different RGB effects. But you can also toggle through 10 different presets and control speed and direction using FN shortcuts. You can also create profiles in the iCue software with different RGB effects and store them in your onboard memory. When you toggle through profiles with the dedicated profile switch button, the RGB will change accordingly. As somebody who loves the variety of RGB settings on my keyboard, it is wonderful to be able to control these settings regardless of whether iCUE is running or not.
Next to the profile switch button are an RGB brightness key and Windows lock key as well. These and the media keys are also reprogrammable via iCue for ultimate customization.
Corsair didn’t skimp when it came to the keycaps. The use of doubleshot PBT plastic delivers a more premium feel than standard ABS plastic. And doubleshot means the legends will never fade. The keycaps feel strong at 1.5mm thick and have a matte coating that easily fought off grease and fingerprints during my testing. With many still working from home, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who isn’t eating near their keyboard, so this feature is highly appealing.
The K70 RGB TKL uses a detachable USB-C to USB-A cable that’s high-quality braided. Some keyboard’s USB cables can feel thin or cheap, but this one should survive a good amount of bending and wear. Our review focus’ cable is 6-feet-long, which is standard among gaming keyboards but can still feel a little long in actual use, which is why I prefer one of the best wireless keyboards when possible.
Typing Experience on Corsair K70 RGB TKL
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Corsair K70 RGB TKL comes with either Cherry MX Speed Silver, Cherry MX Silent Red or Cherry MX Red switches. All three options actuate with 45g of force and are linear, a mechanical switch style that tends to be a favorite among gamers for its interruption-free travel. Our review unit came with Red switches, which are specced for 2.0mm pretravel and 4.0mm total travel. Those who want less travel, (perhaps, potentially, for more speed, may prefer the Speed Silver switches (1.9mm / 3.7mm) or even the quieter Silent Reds (1.2mm / 3.4mm).
Pressing keys on the K70 RGB TKL felt lovely and easy because it felt like the keys registered quickly. But there’s very little space between the keys which, in addition to the lighter actuation force of Cherry MX Reds, made typos more common. As such, the K70 RGB TKL may require a slight adjustment period in order to use it smoothly, but this wasn’t a huge concern, as I was eventually able to adapt.
The doubleshot PBT keycaps were also a boon, both for typing and gaming. The quality plastic was more comfortable than the keyboards on most other keyboards I’ve tried. My typing accuracy increased slightly but like I stated I used less pressure to type, which I believe made typing easier.
8,000 Hz Polling Rate
(Image credit: Corsair)
Initially kicked off with the 4,000 Hz Corsair K100 RGB last year, Corsair is continuing its polling rate race with the 8,000 Hz K70 RGB TKL. It’s launching alongside the Corsair Sabre RGB Pro gaming mouse, which also has an 8,000 Hz polling rate, showing a newfound dedication to Hz from the gaming brand.
Your keyboard (or other peripheral) polling rate tells you how many times per second the device sends data to your PC. Instead of doing so 1,000 times a second, like the vast majority of gaming keyboards, the K70 RGB TKL can do it 8,000 times per second. It achieves this through what Corsair calls Axon, “an embedded onboard system with Corsair’s purpose-engineered, real-time operating system” running on a system-on-chip (SoC) with multi-threading in order to “process multiple complex instructions in parallel.” Corsair claims Axon uses an advanced scheduling algorithm. There are some caveats though.
First, there are some requirements. You’ll need a USB 3.0 port and to download iCue software and change the polling rate (from 1,000 Hz) in order to use the 8,000 Hz polling rate. Corsair also noted in its reviewer’s guide that the keyboard “transits keystrokes to the PC up to 8x faster than standard” but can only “detect keypresses up to 4x faster than conventional gaming keyboards.” The vendor doesn’t get too specific in terms of system requirements for 8,000 Hz. A rep told us, “Keyboards send a lot less data, so 8,000 Hz has only a small added CPU usage impact” but added, “the more up-to-date the system is – the smoother the experience.”
But similarly to when we used the 4,000 Hz polling rate on the K100 RGB, I didn’t notice a difference when moving from 1,000 Hz on the K70 RGB TKL to 8,000 Hz, despite using a system running an AMD Ryzen 5950X CPU. There’s a bit of future-proofing here, and it wouldn’t hurt for a very competitive pro player to have this feature handy. But as a low-level competitive player, I didn’t notice my speed or accuracy increase in Fortnite or Destiny.
Gaming Experience on Corsair K70 RGB TKL
This is still a powerful gaming weapon though, as it feels incredibly responsive and fast on the battlefield (whether gaming at 1,000 Hz or 8,000 Hz). I used the K70 RGB TKL during intense Fortnite matches, as well as crucible matches in Destiny, and it didn’t disappoint. The quick and easy actuation of the go-to Cherry MX Red switches honestly made me feel like I was able to better focus on gameplay without looking at my keyboard as often as I normally do.
The best part was how lightly I had to touch the keys for them to register. This really cut down on hand fatigue. When I play, I usually overpress buttons and can even be guilty of mashing (gasp!). On Corsair’s TKL, I quickly realized I didn’t need to press the keys nearly as hard. That really reduced hand pain, which I sometimes experience after several hours of gaming.
And while the tight spacing of the keys was a bit of a hindrance for general typing, this became helpful when gaming, as it meant my fingers had less distance to travel to input my next move. Meanwhile, the TKL form factor gave me a little more room to breathe with my mouse, and I found it easier to focus on the game than when using a full-sized keyboard. I have always been a fan of a larger build but now I am thinking compact is the way moving forward.
Those doubleshot PBT keycaps also came in handy in action. The premium plastic doesn’t get slick, including from sweaty hands. These keys managed to stay dry during high-pressure gaming.
Features and Software on Corsair K70 RGB TKL
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Image 2 of 2
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
To create new RGB effects or make onboard or software-based profiles, you’ll need iCue, which I found user-friendly. The Corsair K70 RGB TKL features 8MB of onboard storage allowing you to customize to your heart’s content. You can store up to 50 onboard profiles, depending on the configuration, that allow you to customize your RGB settings with up to 20 lighting layers, as well as custom macros.
(Image credit: Corsair)
A unique feature, the keyboard also includes a Tournament Switch on the top edge. This could help you focus on your game more by swapping the keyboard to static backlighting to reduce distractions and disabling programmed actions / macros. As someone who’s been known to press incorrect buttons or clumsily drop things in the heat of battle, I found this to be a great addition.
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
If you want a powerhouse of a keyboard made for competitive gameplay, the Corsair K70 RGB TKL is an immediate must-have. This keyboard isn’t just pleasant to look at, it is an efficient tool that will take your gameplay to the next level, thanks to responsive keys, high-end PBT keycaps and a lot of customization options both with or without software.
At $140, this is an expensive wired gaming keyboard though. For comparison, the HyperX Alloy Origins Core, one of the best budget mechanical keyboards, is about half the price, and the Razer BlackWidow V3 Tenkeyless is currently $100. But the K70 RGB Pro gives you a lot for the price. Not only is there a robust featureset, including media keys, this is a tough keyboard. I will definitely be utilizing it more for my tournament gaming needs. And there are pricier TKLs than the K70 RGB TKL, such as the $160 Roccat Vulcan TKL Pro with its optical-mechanical switches or the wireless Logitech G915 TKL, which starts at about $200 and is excellent but not for everyone, since it’s low-profile.
Ultimately, the K70 RGB TKL can be an efficient weapon in your gaming toolkit, granting you the look and functionality you need for your most competitive setup.
In recent years a number of PC makers have introduced small form-factor (SFF) and ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) computers based on AMD’s latest accelerated processing units (APUs), but none of those systems are as tiny as Intel’s NUCs. Asus is one of a few manufacturers to actually offer its Mini PC PN-series AMD-powered UCFF machines that are just as compact as NUCs and they have just updated them to feature AMD Ryzen 5000 series APUs.
Asus freshly introduced Mini PC PN51 packs AMD’s Ryzen 5000U-series mobile processors with up to eight Zen 3 cores as well as up to Radeon Vega 7 graphics. The APU can be paired with a maximum of 32 GB of DDR4-3200 memory. Storage is via an M.2-2280 SSD with up to 1TB capacity, and a 2.5-inch 1 TB 7200-RPM hard drive. Meanwhile, the system still measures 115×115×49 mm has a 0.62-liter volume.
(Image credit: Asus)
The diminutive size of the Asus Mini PC PN51 does not impact the choice of ports on offer. The desktop computer is equipped with an Intel Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.0 module (or a Wi-Fi 5 + BT 4.2), a 2.5 GbE or a GbE connector, three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C receptacles (supporting DisplayPort mode), an HDMI output with CEC support, a 3-in-1 card reader, a configurable port (which can be used for Ethernet, DisplayPort, D-Sub or COM ports), and a combo audio jack.
(Image credit: Asus)
Asus seems to position the Mini PC PN51 as a universal PC suitable for both home and office. The configurable I/O port that can add an Ethernet connector or a COM header is obviously aimed at corporate and business users. In addition, the PC has a TPM module on board. Meanwhile, the system also has an IR receiver (something that many modern UCFF and SFF PCs lost following Apple’s Mac Mini) and a Microsoft Cortana-compatible microphone array that will be particularly beneficial for home users that will use the PN51 as an HTPC.
(Image credit: Asus)
As far as power consumption and noise levels are concerned, the PN51 consumes as little as 9W at idle, produces 21.9 dBA of noise at idle, and 34.7 dBA at full load.
(Image credit: Asus)
The Asus Mini PC PN51 will be available shortly. Pricing will depend on configuration as Asus plans to offer numerous models based on the AMD Ryzen 3 5300U, AMD Ryzen 5 5500U, and AMD Ryzen 7 5700U processors with various memory and storage configurations.
Today, you can fire up an Xbox game console and play Halo with a mouse and keyboard. It’s hard to believe I’m writing those words.
Five years ago, I asked a small room of first-party Xbox devs how they felt about supporting mouse and keyboard (now that their boss Phil Spencer had confirmed they were on the way), but they were seriously skeptical. It took two more years for the Xbox One to get even a handful of keyboard and mouse titles in a November 2018 update. Even though games like COD: Warzoneand Fortnite have paved the way for controller parity, the industry is still understandably wary about mixing console and keyboard players.
But now, keyboard and mouse is a native part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection (including Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach, and Halo 4) as of a new April 2021 patch, and it’s not alone: every Xbox that can play the game will let you adjust your field of view, crosshairs, and bind controls across multiple inputs, like any good competitive PC-grade shooter should.
Not only does that mean parity with PC, but it might actually make the Xbox version of Halo: MCC preferable for some. As my colleague Tom Warren points out, it’s easier to avoid cheaters in console games:
seeing mouse and keyboard support in Halo on Xbox makes me wish Destiny 2 had this. I’d switch immediately from PC, which is full of hackers, aimbots, and other exploits that ruin the PvP experience
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) April 7, 2021
The full patch notes also mention new accessibility options, a new “Escalation Slayer” game variant, a new map for Halo 3, and you can easily set your in-game chat and audio devices separately now on PC. And of course, there’s a new season of content dubbed “Raven.” More info on that here.
Me, I’ve played Halo with a mouse and keyboard almost since the beginning. The first copy I owned was the Gearbox port for PC. It’s been a longtime favorite at LAN parties. Ah, do I miss LAN parties.
If portable audio has been shaped by anything other than advancing headphones technology in recent years, it’s the arrival of portable DACs – pocketable ‘middleman’ devices that connect between a phone or laptop and a pair of headphones to improve sound quality. We’ve had laptop-friendly AudioQuest DragonFlys and the more versatile Audiolab M-DAC nano, for example, and now THX (yes, that same firm famously behind cinema audio standards) is entering the consumer electronics market with a similar device.
The all-new THX Onyx ($200, €210) is a dongle designed to enhance the performance between your USB source and your headphones or desktop speakers. You can plug it into any PC, Mac or Android device toting a USB or USB-C port, with iOS devices requiring the slim Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter to be compatible. At the other end, the Onyx has been designed to drive all manner of headphones – those with impedances from 22ohms to 600 – via its 3.5mm jack, through which desktop speakers can also be connected.
It’s the first DAC of its kind to utilise THX’s AAA-78 amplifier technology, which is the highest-powered configuration within the company’s Achromatic Audio Amplifier design and promises the same power output as a desktop THX AAA DAC amp – just in a much smaller package. THX says this technology can “reduce harmonic, intermodulation, and crossover distortion by up to 40dB”, promising a performance with “infinitesimally low levels” of noise and distortion. It also claims this makes the Onyx up to five times more powerful than other similar USB DACs.
Our pick of the best DACs 2021: USB, portable and desktop DACs
(Image credit: THX)
That AAA technology is bolstered by an ESS ES9281PRO DAC chip, as well as a Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) renderer for playing back MQA hard files and (MQA-encoded) Tidal Masters in their native quality.
The Onyx has an all-metal body, with LED lights to signify the quality of file being played through it – blue denotes 44.1kHz or 48kHz PCM files, yellow signifies sample rates above that, while red and pink display DSD and MQA signals respectively. THX has incorporated cable management into the design so that wires from connected headphones are kept neat and tidy, too.
THX Onyx is now available in the United States and Europe for $200 and €210. Needless to say we look forward to taking it for a spin very soon.
MORE:
See all our DAC reviews
Astell & Kern AK USB-C Dual DAC cable promises to boost your portable listening
Dell has announced four gaming monitors, three of which are curved, that are releasing in the US between late May and late June. It unfortunately isn’t sharing prices for them yet, but the company says that all of them support AMD FreeSync Premium or Premium Pro, as well as variable refresh rate (VRR). VRR should make them as good of a fit for consoles like the Xbox Series X and PS5 (though the latter console hasn’t actually received its promised VRR update yet). This feature limits screen tearing as the frame rate adjusts due to hits or gains to performance.
Starting off big, the company has a new 34-inch ultrawide, curved gaming monitor (pictured above, model S3422DWG) that has a 1800R curve, which won’t envelop your peripheral vision as much as Samsung’s extra-curvy 1000R Odyssey G9 monitor. This model will release first in China on May 7th, then North America on May 27th, and finally on June 22nd in Asia-Pacific regions. It has a WQHD (3440 x 1440) resolution, VA display with a 144Hz refresh rate. Dell touts that it has DisplayHDR 400, though that’s not the spec you should be looking for to provide a bright, vibrant HDR image. This one supports 90 percent of the DCI-P3 color range.
Here’s the 32-inch curved screen Dell will release on June 22nd.
Dell’s also making a 32-inch curved QHD gaming monitor (model S3222DGM) that has a VA panel with a 165Hz refresh rate and a 2ms response time. It’s making a 27-inch version (model S2722DGM) that has the same specs, except it’s actually slightly more curved at 1500R than the 1800R 32-inch model. These will both release in China on May 7th, and availability will open up globally on June 22nd.
Dell’s 24.5-inch monitor seems like an awesome choice, but we don’t know the price.
It might look similar to the last image above, but the fourth monitor being announced today might especially appeal to people who have an Nvidia graphics card. It’s a non-curved 24.5-inch FHD gaming monitor (model S2522HG) with an IPS panel with G-Sync compatibility in addition to FreeSync Premium. It has a 240Hz refresh rate and a 1ms response time. This one will release in China on May 7th, and it’ll be available in other regions on May 27th.
As usual, each of Dell’s new monitors have have stands that offer a full range of motion, including height, pivot, swivel, and tilt adjustments.
Nvidia is launching its latency-reducing tech, Reflex, for anyone who has a Nvidia graphics card and plays the PC version of Overwatch. The company tested the feature in Overwatch’s PTR servers in March, but now Reflex is live and theoretically available for competitive play. Nvidia claims Reflex reduces the time between pulling the trigger in Overwatch and the game rendering the shot on screen by as much as 50 percent, and now you can easily test that.
Latency can be caused by a variety of things (internet speed can be a big factor in competitive play) but Reflex is focused on reducing latency caused by computer hardware. The longer the delay between a click and the game reacting, the better chance whatever the player was responding to is already out of frame. In this case, Nvidia’s tech isn’t new, and Overwatch is just the latest esports title to be fully added to the small collection of 15 games that support Reflex so far.
I can’t say how well the feature might actually work without trying it, but if Nvidia’s video demonstration is to be believed, it might only be noticeable to a professional player who can feel the microsecond difference in latency. Nvidia does suggest that in some cases, that small difference could drastically change the result. According to Nvidia’s demo, enabling Reflex could be the difference between a critical hit and missing entirely.
Your mileage may vary, but if you have a Nvidia graphics card — Reflex works on cards as old as the GTX 900-series — and a G-Sync monitor, you should be able to give the low latency feature a try. Enabling Reflex requires the newest version of Nvidia’s drivers and an updated copy of whatever game you want to use it in. In Overwatch’s case, if you have an updated game, a supported graphics card, and the new driver, you can enable Reflex in Video Settings. The company has also partnered to create specific monitors that include a Reflex Latency Analyzer feature.
Lenovo’s next gaming phone has leaked, with a design that looks like a Michael Bay Transformer and a gaming PC merged together. It’s unlike anything I have ever seen on a phone before. I’m not sure if I like it.
Pictures of what appears to be the phone were shown on the social media service Weibo recently, and I am speechless. Specifically, the dual-camera setup is located at the dead center of the phone, and there’s a built-in active cooling fan. It reminds me a lot of a Transformer, as you can see from the photo below.
Image: Weibo
Image: Weibo
Now, Lenovo is not the first company to stick a cooling fan in a gaming smartphone. In 2019, Nubia’s Red Magic 3 had a cooling fan placed inside of the device. The Black Shark FunCooler Pro is an external cooling fan designed for people who game on their phones. Not to mention Asus’ AeroActive Cooler 5, an external fan designed to cool down its ROG Phone 5 Ultimate gaming phone.
But the biggest concern I have for the recent images of the rumored Lenovo phone (which is rumored to be called the Legion Phone 2 Pro) is that gaming phones may continue to include more ridiculous designs. Lenovo’s first gaming phone, which launched last year, already had an absurd design by placing a pop-up camera on the side of the phone. But new model looks to escalate things even further.
According to the leaks, Lenovo’s Legion Phone 2 Pro is rumored to launch on April 8th in China first, but it’s unclear if the phone will release anywhere else.
Threes designer Asher Vollmer is launching a new studio, Vodeo Games, and announced the company’s first game, a turn-based adventure called Beast Breaker.
Beast Breaker stars Skipper, a tiny mouse warrior fighting mosaic monsters. The game relies on tactical choices via pinball-like mechanics; players can also craft equipment to assist them on their journey. It’s heading to Nintendo Switch and PC this summer. Vodeo released a brief trailer alongside the news today that shows off the game’s quick gameplay and colorful art style.
On its website, Vodeo says it plans to release small, intimate games “full of complex, interlocking systems that can take years to fully master,” once every year. The studio is already teasing a second one as part of its plan to work on multiple projects.
Since releasing Threes, Vollmer has continued to work on other experimental projects, including low-fi peasant-simulator Royals and Apple Arcade fantasy title Guildlings.
Facebook says Oculus Rift S headsets “generally” won’t be replenished as they disappear from store shelves, marking the end of the virtual reality system’s life span. As UploadVR reported yesterday, Facebook has confirmed that “generally speaking, as channels sell out of stock, they won’t be replenished moving forward.” The PC-tethered headset is unavailable through Oculus’ store, and it’s out of stock on retail platforms like Amazon and Walmart in the US, except from third-party sellers.
Facebook announced last year that it would discontinue the Oculus Rift S in 2021. While the headset was a successor to the landmark Oculus Rift, it compromised on features like screen resolution and refresh rate, particularly compared to high-end PC-based competitors like the Valve Index. Meanwhile, Facebook shifted its focus to the self-contained Oculus Quest, a mobile headset that can also be plugged into a desktop PC — making it functionally a replacement for the Rift S.
According to some reports, that strategy was a marked departure from Oculus’ earlier plans. Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe left the company in 2018, reportedly after Facebook canceled a higher-end “Rift 2” headset. Also-departed Oculus founder Palmer Luckey alluded to that rumor on Twitter today, saying he was “imagining a world where Rift 2 was not cancelled shortly before going into production and then cancelled again in favor of a much lower spec Lenovo rebadge.” (The Oculus Rift S was produced in partnership with Lenovo.)
Moving to standalone designs, though, has apparently worked well for Facebook so far. Facebook says last year’s Oculus Quest 2 has outsold all previous Oculus headsets combined. The device has established Facebook as the dominant VR headset company at the price of ceding high-end PC-based VR to competitors including Valve, HTC, and HP. And Facebook has indicated that it’s continuing the Quest line for the near future — with CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying he’s already imagining “Quest 3 and 4” headsets.
If you’re finding that background noise is disrupting voice or video calls made from your computer, then a new piece of software from Nvidia might help (provided you have the necessary hardware to run it). Released in April 2020, RTX Voice uses the hardware found in Nvidia’s RTX (and more recently, GTX) GPUs to process your incoming and outgoing audio and eliminate almost all background noise.
Below, you’ll find a quick demonstration I recorded to show how it works. This was recorded from a Blue Snowball microphone using the built-in call recording functionality in Zoom. When I don’t have the software enabled, you can hear the loud clacking of my mechanical keyboard in the background of the call. But when I turn on RTX Voice, the sound completely disappears.
As well as processing your microphone’s input so that the people you’re speaking to can’t hear any background noise around you, you can also set the software to eliminate background noise coming in from other people. So you can save yourself from your colleagues’ loud keyboard as well as protecting them from your own. It’s a win-win.
How to use RTX Voice to reduce background noise
RTX Voice is pretty simple to use, but the big caveat is that you need the right hardware. In order to run it, you’ll need an Nvidia GeForce or Quadro RTX or GTX graphics card since the software uses this hardware to process your audio. That means you’re out of luck if you’ve got a Mac, or a Windows machine without a dedicated GPU.
As well as hardware requirements, the other thing to note about RTX Voice is that since the processing is being done by your graphics card, it might take system resources away from any games or other graphically intensive applications you’re running. I ran some quick and dirty benchmarks to try to gauge the performance impact and found that running RTX Voice on my Discord microphone input reduced UniEngine’s Heaven Benchmark by just over 3fps or around 6 percent, rising to over 8fps or 14 percent if I used the software to process incoming audio as well. That more or less tracks with YouTuber EposVox’s report of a 4 to 10 percent reduction when using it on his microphone, rising to 20 percent with both mic and speakers.
I think that makes RTX Voice a much better option for calls where you’re unlikely to be running something graphically intensive at the same time, like a work conference call, rather than while you’re running a game simultaneously. If you’re looking for something more gaming-specific, Discord recently launched its own noise suppression feature, which might be a better alternative.
RTX Voice can be set it up in just a couple of minutes.
First, update the driver software of your graphics card if it’s not already running on version 410.18 or above
Download RTX Voice from Nvidia’s website and install it
Once the software is installed, you can configure it to improve your incoming audio, outgoing audio, or both. Nvidia recommends only turning it on for your input device (read: microphone) to minimize the impact the audio processing will have on the performance of your system. You can also select how much noise suppression you want. I left it at 100 percent, but you might want to play around to find what works best for you.
You can set RTX Voice to work on your microphone input and / or your speaker’s output.Screenshot by Jon Porter / The Verge
Once installed, “Nvidia RTX Voice” will appear as an audio input and / or output device for your PC. That means you can go into your voice chat app of choice and select it as though you’d plugged an extra microphone or set of speakers into your PC. Check out Nvidia’s site for specific instructions on how to configure the software for individual applications; here’s what the setting looks like in Zoom.
Once enabled, most chat apps will let you manually select RTX Voice as though it’s an input or output device.Screenshot by Jon Porter / The Verge
Nvidia’s software isn’t unique. In addition to Discord’s feature, Microsoft also plans to add a similar piece of functionality to Teams later this year. The advantage of RTX Voice, however, is that it works across a much broader range of apps. Nvidia’s site lists 12 apps that it’s validated. However, I tested out audio recording app Audacity, which Nvidia doesn’t list as being supported, and found that RTX Voice worked just fine, so there are likely to be other unlisted apps that also work.
Not everyone will have the hardware to take advantage of this latest feature, and for others, the performance hit won’t be worth it. However if, like me, your gaming PC is mainly being used as a work computer these days, then using RTX Voice is a no-brainer.
Correction: This article originally stated that RTX Voice won’t work on a Windows machine with a dedicated GPU when it should have read that it won’t work on a Windows machine without a dedicated GPU. We regret the error.
Update 10:31AM, April 6th: Nvidia has extended RTX Voice support for earlier GTX, Quadro, and Titan-branded graphics card, so we’ve updated this post with relevant info.
Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.
Bloomberg today reported that a shortage of inexpensive display driver chips has delayed production of the LCD panels used in, well, pretty much every product category you can think of. Displays are ubiquitous, and many devices can’t function without them. But for the displays to work, they require a display driver — no, not Nvidia or AMD display drivers, those are software. We’re talking about a tiny chip that sends instructions and signals to the display.
That’s a fairly simple function, at least compared to those performed by the vastly more powerful components inside the device proper, which is why many display drivers cost $1. But a component’s price doesn’t always reflect its importance, as anyone who’s built a high-end PC, bought one of the best gaming monitors, and then realized they forgot to get a compatible cable can attest. That missing link is both cheap and vital.
All of which means that a display driver shortage can cause delays for smartphones, laptops, and game consoles; automobiles, airplanes, and navigation systems; and various appliances, smart home devices, and other newly be-screened products.
“I have never seen anything like this in the past 20 years since our company’s founding,” Himax CEO Jordan Wu told Bloomberg. He should know — Himax claims to be the “worldwide market leader in display driver ICs” for many product categories.
Himax’s share price has risen alongside demand for display drivers. Yahoo Finance data puts its opening share price for May 1, 2020 at $3.53; it opened at $14.06 on Monday. The market, at least, is acutely aware of display drivers’ importance.
Unfortunately there isn’t much Himax can do to improve the availability of display drivers, Wu told Bloomberg, because it’s a fabless company that relies on TSMC for production. TSMC simply can’t keep up with all the demand it’s experiencing.
Companies will have to sit on otherwise-ready displays (assuming panel production improves) until that changes. This probably seems familiar to manufacturers waiting for SSD controller supply to rebound after the February disruption of a Samsung fab.
That’s only part of the problem, of course, as the global chip shortage affects practically every aspect of the electronics industry. It’s a matter of improving the availability of CPUs, GPUs, mobile processors, chipsets, display panels, single board computers, and who-knows-how-many other components. No biggie.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
