Mediatonic’sgoofy, colorful hit from last year, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout,is launching for Nintendo Switch this summer. The news was announced today during a special Nintendo Direct.
Fall Guys is a battle royale game in which players compete in massive elimination-style party games. Each match lasts only a matter of minutes, and players can choose to watch matches play out. The developer released season 2 last fall, which added medieval-themed games into the mix.
It was an immediate success following its August release, with more than 7 million downloads on Steam that month. It also became the most downloaded PlayStation Plus title of all time. It failed to become the biggest game on Twitch that month, but it still clocked in as the second most-watched, beating out Animal Crossing.
Fall Guys is currently available on PC and PlayStation 4. The game is also being ported to mobile, but only in China.
PC case and peripheral maker NZXT has recalled its H1 mini-ITX case due to the possibility of a fire hazard under normal use (via Tom’s Hardware). If you used the metal screws included with the $350 case to secure your graphics card or other PCIe device to the riser, there was a chance you’d create sparks, or a fire, if it came into contact with a trace in the printed circuit board.
NZXT seemed to know this in late 2020 when it opted to send out nylon plastic screw kits for H1 owners (upon request) to use in place of the metal ones. But it didn’t issue a full recall at that point, instead opting to resume selling the case. It initially stated that the issue affected “fewer than ten H1 cases,” but more recently YouTube channel Gamers Nexus argued that the nylon screws don’t solve the root problem. If owners ever switched to using a metal screw in the rise, they’d reintroduce the possibility of a fire. It could also spell trouble for people who use metal screws and aren’t aware of the issue.
Gamers Nexus helped to further expose this hazard in a series of videos (here’s parts one, two, and three), showing its work along the way, which essentially proved the design to be flawed — and dangerous. According to its research (and confirmed by NZXT in the FAQ section of this post), the screw’s thread can brush up against the trace in the circuitry as it’s twisted into place. Gamers Nexus worked with NZXT and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a government agency, which issued a Fast Track recall of the PC case on February 12th. CPSC says you should stop using the recalled case, a situation which isn’t convenient ever — especially during a pandemic when it’s tougher to get a different case quickly.
The recall affects 32,000 cases sold in the US, along with about 1,024 sold in Canada. The CPSC notes that the recall involves “cases with model numbers CA-H16WR-W1 (matte white) and CA-H16WR-B1 (matte black) and serial numbers 1200233400001 to 1203962204202, 00648999610844189725 to 00648999610844206361, and 0120AC00100001 to 01211C01900285.” You can find that info on the bottom of the case.
As noted on the CPSC site, if you’re affected, you can call NZXT toll-free at 888-965-5520 from 11AM to 9PM ET (8AM to 6PM PT) Monday through Friday, or contact the company by email at h1support@nzxt.comoronline at https://info.nzxt.com/h1-recall/ or www.nzxt.com and click on “Contact” then “Customer Support” for more information.
The other day, I saw a game named Valheim atop the Steam Early Access sales charts, with overwhelmingly positive reviews. Polygon seemed to like the $20 Viking-themed survival game, and I thought friends might like it, too. I wasn’t ready to commit quite yet — I waffled a while before giving it a go. Know who bought it while I was making up my mind? One million other people.
On February 10th, just eight days after launch, indie developer Iron Gate announced that Valheim had already sold 1 million copies. Five days after that, Valheim reached 2 million sales. Here are a few other facts you might like to know:
It has now been the second-most played game on all of Steam at one point, ahead of every game save Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and it’s comfortably sitting at number three now.
It’s already set a top-ten record for concurrent players on Steam with roughly 392,000 on Monday, knocking Grand Theft Auto V off that top 10 chart.
It topped the Steam Top Sellers list during Valve’s Steam Lunar New Year sale — despite having zero discounts.
Screenshot of SteamCharts, taken February 16th.
Screenshot taken February 15th, the last day of the Steam sale.
As PC Gamer points out, Valheim’s trajectory is unlike anything we’ve seen before.
The closest parallel is perhaps PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds — which similarly came out of Steam Early Access, sold oodles of copies during Steam sales (also without being on sale), set a record for the Steam game with the most simultaneous players (3.2 million) that still stands today, and kicked off the entire battle royale genre that spawned today’s Fortnite, Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone,and more. But even PUBG took months to reach the kind of numbers that Valheim already has now, and that was with a genre-defining, action-packed, nail-biting, streamer-friendly game that makes for a delightfully tense watch.
Valheim, by comparison, is slow and methodical. It’s part of an established genre of survival games where you scavenge and harvest, chop and dig, hunt and skin, then build better tools to do it all more efficiently over and over again. Only here, you’re also a badass Viking who can (eventually) build fortresses and ships, you’re hunting down gods for sport, and you’re exploring a gobsmackingly gigantic map filled with idyllic scenery, charming music, a touch of lived-in mystery, and some enemies that stomp me convincingly enough that I get a slight Dark Souls vibe out of it. Oh, and when you cut down trees, they fall and hit other things (like you) for massive damage! That’s never going to get old.
The game’s graphics may seem dull at first but can be picturesque, particularly with eye candy like depth of field, tessellation, and sun shafts. Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
As Cass Marshall at Polygon points out, it’s also incredibly accessible and easy to learn — I’d convinced myself that I disliked survival games due to their typically rigid mechanics, but in Valheim everything seems to make sense without thinking too hard. I don’t need to spend ages punching trees to build some basic tools, there’s no need to acquire blueprints (recipes unlock as soon as you find new materials), and I don’t have to painstakingly plan how I want my house to look before I start building. You can instantly demolish a portion of a structure and refund your materials if it’s not quite right.
In fact, building is fast enough that I’m starting to build temporary forward operating bases before I venture into each new area, like the tiny fort below that took all of five minutes and I’ve since expanded twice.
It gets real dark at night. Fire is a must if you’re planning to stay up.Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
There’s no telling how long the magic will last for me or for the game’s 2 million players and counting, of course. It’s been all downhill for Among Us on PC, which currently only attracts one-tenth of its peak player count of 438,000 last September (though it could still be wildly popular on mobile).
But I imagine word-of-mouth may keep Valheim going for a while. I can’t wait to try the game’s two- to ten-player co-op mode with my circle of friends, and that means more copies in the wild.
If Valheim does have staying power, expect to hear this game’s name on a lot of lips in the months to come. If history’s any indication, we’ll soon see a rush of knockoffs, fake-outs, and attempts to make other games play more like it, and there may be a lot of pressure on Iron Gate to port the PC-only game to consoles and phones as well.
The HP Spectre x360 14 is a beautifully constructed 2-in-1 laptop with a vibrant 3:2 OLED touch screen to showcase your work. It has an excellent keyboard and a variety of ports for all of your accessories. Those who prioritize battery life may want to consider a non-OLED configuration, however.
For
Sleek, attractive design
Vivid 3:2 display shows more of your work
Clicky, responsive keyboard
Thunderbolt 4 and USB Type-A ports
Against
OLED model doesn’t last all day
Difficult to upgrade SSD
There’s no need to beat around the bush: the HP Spectre x360 14 ($1,219.99 to start; $1,699.99 as tested) is one of the best ultrabooks we’ve tested in the last several months. It’s exquisitely designed with a 13.5-inch, 3:2 display that showcases more of your work, whether it be words, numbers, or code.
You’ll pay a premium price for it, but it sure feels premium, with a sleek chassis, clicky keyboard and both USB Type-C and Type-A ports, as well as a microSD card reader.
The model we reviewed had an impressive
OLED
screen with a 3,000 x 2,000 resolution. It looks great, but if you want all-day battery life, you may consider alternative configurations.
Design of the HP Spectre x360 14
Image 1 of 4
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Image 2 of 4
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Image 3 of 4
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Image 4 of 4
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
HP makes a handsome laptop. The Spectre x360 doesn’t make a ton of changes to what has largely become a tried and true design. It’s an aluminum notebook with solid construction. Ours came in “nightfall black” with copper accents, which I think is a bit showy for my tastes these days, but you can also get in “Poseidon blue” or my likely choice, “natural silver.”
The back two edges near the 360-degree hinge are chopped off, one of which makes room for a Thunderbolt 4 port. It’s a divisive choice, but it’s grown on me. That placement lets you flip from a laptop into a tablet while it’s charging and barely move the cable at all.
When you unfold the laptop for the first time, you’ll notice the big difference with this Spectre: a 13.5-inch, 3:2 display that feels incredibly luxurious compared to the 16:9 screen on the smaller
Spectre x360 13
that we recently reviewed. There’s minimal bezel around it, putting the focus on your work. It also creates a slightly longer profile for the whole device.
Unlike many 2-in-1s, the power button is on the keyboard, rather than the side of the device. As a person using it primarily as a laptop, I prefer this choice, though tablet-heavy users might be annoyed. There’s also a fingerprint reader next to the arrow keys, this, combined with the IR camera, allows for security options beyond a password whether in tablet or laptop mode, which I appreciate. The speaker grilles above the function keys make for a nice accent.
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Image 2 of 2
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
There aren’t a ton of ports on the Spectre x360 14, but there’s enough for most people’s everyday use. Most of the action is on the right side, where you’ll find two Thunderbolt 4 ports (one on the right corner), a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a microSD card. On the right, there is one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port. The rest of that side of the notebook is magnetized to fit the included HP Tilt Pen.
At 2.95 pounds with an 11.75 x 8.67 x 0.67-inch footprint, the Spectre is fairly compact. The Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 9310 is 2.9 pounds and 11.69 x 8.15 x 0.56 inches — a bit smaller — but also has a 13.4-inch screen in a 16:10 aspect ratio. The MacBook Pro is a 3 pound clamshell and measures 11.95 x 8.36 x 0.61 inches, and the Asus ZenBook Flip S UX371 is 2.7 pounds and 12 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches.
HP Spectre x360 14 Specifications
CPU
Intel Core i7-1165G7
Graphics
Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Memory
16GB LPDDR4-3733
Storage
1TB PCIe NVMe SSD with 32GB Intel Optane
Display
13.5-inch, 3000 x 2000 OLED touchscreen
Networking
Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX 201 (2×2) and Bluetooth 5
Ports
2x Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, Headphone/microphone jack, microSD card reader
Camera
720p IR
Battery
66 WHr
Power Adapter
65 W
Operating System
Windows 10 Home
Other
HP Rechargeable MPP2.0 Tilt Pen
Dimensions(WxDxH)
11.75 x 8.67 x 0.67 inches / 298.45 x 220.22 x 17.02 mm
Weight
2.95 pounds / 1.34 kg
Price (as configured)
$1,699.99
Productivity Performance on the HP Spectre x360 14
Image 1 of 4
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Image 2 of 4
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Image 3 of 4
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Image 4 of 4
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Our HP Spectre x360 14 review unit came with an Intel Core i7-1165G7, 16GB of LPDDR4 RAM and a 1TB PCIe
NVMe SSD
with 32GB of Intel Optane memory. In my use, it could handle plenty of browser tabs and streaming video without an issue.
On the Geekbench 5 overall performance benchmark, the Spectre earned a single-core score of 1,462 and a multi-core score of 4,904. The ZenBook Flip S was in a similar range. The Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 had a higher score in multi-core performance (5,639). The MacBook Pro, too, had a higher multi-core score when emulated through Rosetta 2 to run the same version of the test (5,925).
The Spectre transferred 25GB of files at a rate of 533.61 MBps, faster than the XPS 13 2-in-1, but slower than the ZenBook Flip S (979.37 MBps).
In our Handbrake test, which transcodes a 4K video to 1080p, the Spectre x360 14 finished the task in 18 minutes and 5 seconds. While this was four minutes faster than the ZenBook, the XPS 13 2-in-1 was speedier and the MacBook Pro led the whole pack, even while emulating x86 instructions.
To stress the Spectre, we ran it through 20 runs of Cinebench R23. It was fairly consistent in the low 4,000’s, though there were some peaks up to around 4,300. The CPU ran at an average of 2.61 GHz and an average temperature of 74.07 degrees Celsius (165.33 degrees Fahrenheit).
Display on the HP Spectre x360 14
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The 13.5-inch touchscreen on the Spectre x360 has a 3:2 aspect ratio, making it taller than it is wide. It’s an opulent amount of space, especially for doing work. You’ll see more text, code, spreadsheet cells or whatever else you’re working on because the screen is taller. It’s a big improvement over 16:9 displays, and makes for a more natural shape as a tablet, as it’s similar in shape to a piece of paper.
Our main review configuration was an OLED model with a 3,000 x 2,000 resolution. It looked incredible, with deep blacks and vibrant colors, as has been the case on most OLED monitors we’ve seen to date. Of course, most videos are still 16:9, so when I watched the trailer for Godzilla vs. Kong, it was letterboxed on the top and bottom. The beginning of the trailer features the titular ape on a barge during a sunset, and its blue and orange hues were beautiful as jets flew overhead.
The OLED screen covers 139.7% of the DCI-P3 color gamut (the non-OLED, 1920 x 1280 screen covered 74.6%). The next best was the ZenBook Flip S, also with an OLED display, at 113.1%. The MacBook Pro measured 78.3% and the XPS 13 2-in-1 covered 70%.
The Spectre’s display measured an average of 339 nits on our light meter. This never seemed like an issue in regular use, though the ZenBook, XPS 13 2-in-1 and MacBook Pro all got far brighter.
Keyboard, Touchpad and Stylus on the HP Spectre x360 14
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The keyboard on the Spectre takes up as much room as possible, moving from edge to edge of the
chassis
. This gave HP room to include a full keyboard, including an extra column for home, page up, page down and end keys. The tilde key is a little squeezed, but not enough for me to be inconvenienced.
The keys are clicky (they even have a bit of a clicky sound!), and I really enjoyed typing on them. On the 10fastfingers typing test, I reached 105 words per minute with my usual 2% error rate.
There’s a fingerprint reader built into the keyboard on the right side, next to the arrow keys. On the function row, there’s a key to kill the camera. The F1 key is sort of wasted, though, in that it is programmed exclusively to open the browser and search for “how to get help in
Windows 10
.”
HP has equipped the Spectre x360 with a 4.5 x 2.8-inch touchpad. It’s slightly smaller than the MacBook Pro (5.1 x 32 inches), but is still plenty spacious. With Windows 10 precision drivers, it responded immediately to every gesture.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
A rechargeable stylus is included with the laptop, the “HP Rechargeable MPP2.0 Tilt Pen.” (MPP is short for Microsoft Pen Protocol.) It’s round with one flat edge that connects to the left side of the laptop with magnets. That flat side also has two customizable buttons
The Spectre’s palm rejection worked pretty well, and the stylus worked well with both tilting and shading in supported applications. In Paint 3D, using the crayon tool required extra pressure for a deep hue, just like the real thing. I do wish, like some of Microsoft’s styluses, that HP would add an eraser to the end.
HP claims it lasts 30 hours on a charge. When you slide up the top of the stylus, a USB-C port is revealed, which is a neat addition. A ring light on the very top tells you its charging status.
Audio on the HP Spectre x360 14
HP’s collaboration with Bang & Olufsen has produced winning laptop audio for a while now, and the Spectre x360 14 is no exception.
These things get loud — too loud, even. As I listened to Spotify, I turned the volume down as Fall Out Boy’s “Bob Dylan” stormed through my apartment. The drums, vocals and guitars were clear. Bass was a bit quiet. I tried changing that manually in the Bang & Olufsen control center, but to a little effect. There are presets in that app, but I found most of them to be overkill.
Upgrading the HP Spectre x360 14
Unfortunately, HP has made upgrades and repairs to the Spectre x360 14 more difficult for the average person than they need to be.
There are two visible Torx screws on the underside of the laptop, but underneath the rear rubber foot, there are four more Phillips head screws. The feet are applied with adhesive and could rip when you remove them. HP makes extras available to authorized repair shops.
If you did get into the laptop, per
the maintenance manual
, you would find that while the RAM is soldered down, the SSD, WI-Fi module and battery are user replaceable.
Battery Life on the HP Spectre x360 14
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Like most laptops with OLED screens, the Spectre x360 14’s battery life isn’t exceptional. It will last you most of the day, but you’ll want to bring the braided USB Type-C charger with you.
On our test, which continuously has laptops browse the web, run OpenGL tests and stream video over Wi-Fi at 150 nits, the Spectre ran for 7 hours and 14 minutes. A non-OLED version with a 1920 x 1280 screen ran for 12:11, should you value battery life over image quality.
The Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 lasted 10:52, while the ZenBook Flip S (also with OLED) ran for 8:11. The MacBook Pro with Apple’s M1 processor lasted the longest at a whopping 16:32.
Heat on the HP Spectre x360 14
We took skin temperature measurements on the 14-inch Spectre x360 while running our Cinebench R23 stress test.
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Image 2 of 2
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The center of the keyboard measured 34.8 degrees Celsius (94.64 degrees Fahrenheit), while the touchpad was a cooler 29.4 degrees Celsius (84.92 degrees Fahrenheit).
The hottest point on the bottom was 47.1 degrees Celsius (116.78 degrees Fahrenheit).
Webcam on the HP Spectre x360 14
It’s a shame this beautiful, high-resolution screen wasn’t paired with a beautiful, high-resolution
webcam
. Like most laptop cameras, the Spectre x360’s is still stuck at
720p
.
An image I took at my well-lit desk was color accurate, catching my navy shirt, blue eyes and the mixed shades of brown in my hair and blue. But overall, the picture was grainy, and light coming in from some nearby windows was blown out.
On the bright side, it works with Windows Hello for facial login. While there’s also a fingerprint reader on the keyboard, this is better for logging in when it’s a tablet.
Software and Warranty on the HP Spectre x360 14
While the Spectre x360 is undoubtedly a premium device, it has the kind of bloat you would expect from some budget machines.
HP has a lot of its own software. I wish it would combine more of these disparate programs into the main app, HP Command Center, which lets you make performance adjustments based on temperature and sound and also lets you decide which software gets network priority.
There are separate pieces of software for choosing among different display modes, switching between headphone and speakers, changing HP telemetry settings and adjusting the buttons on the stylus. There’s also HP Quick Drop to move files between your phone and the laptop.
On top of all that, there is MyHP, which gives you your serial number and is otherwise filled in with some fairly vapid tips for using your PC. HP has also added LastPass, ExpressVPN, Netflix, trials of Adobe software and a promotion with Dropbox for new users to get 25GB of free space. There’s also a suite of McAfee software, including McAfee LiveSafe, Personal Security and File Lock.
Amazon Alexa is also preinstalled, which may be divisive. It sure is more useful than Cortana. Either way, it’s not actively listening. Instead, you have to sign in to your Amazon account.
Of course, there’s also some bloatware that’s included in most Windows 10 installs, like Hulu, Roblox and Hidden City: Hidden Object Adventure.
HP sells the Spectre x360 14 with a 1-year warranty.
HP Spectre x360 14 Configurations
We tested the Spectre x360 14 with an Intel Core i7-1165G7, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD with 32GB of Intel Optane memory, a 3000 x 2000 OLED display. It comes in black and costs $1,699.99 at Best Buy as of this writing.
HP sells other configurations on its own website, starting at $1,219.99 with an Intel Core i5-1135G7, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD with16GB of Intel Optane memory and a 1920 x 1280 touchscreen. Changing to black or blue adds $10 to the price, and for more money, you can go up to 2TB of storage (up to an extra $320).
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The HP Spectre x360 14 is the best 2-in-1 laptop you can get right now. The 3:2 display highlights your work in laptop mode and is more natural than 16:9 or 16:10 screens in tablet mode. It offers solid performance, has a variety of ports, includes a stylus and has an excellent keyboard.
If battery life is your priority, the OLED screen won’t do you any favors, but the 1920 x 1280 model might be more your speed. The
MacBook Pro with M1
, a clamshell alternative, is top of the class in endurance. If you prefer a smaller footprint, the
Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 9310
is still very good, though it has fewer ports and a 16:10 screen rather than 3:2.
But the Spectre x360 14 largely has it all, making this one easy to recommend if you’re willing to pay a premium price.
The Nvidia RTX 3080 is a beast of a graphics card, able to pump out frames like no tomorrow. But, it’s also a power-hungry card, obviously begging the question: how feasible is it to passively cool? Okay, so that’s definitely not an obvious question to ask, but there have been cases that have made claims of cooling up to an RTX 3080 before — just look into the failed kickstarter of the NSG S0 or the Monsterlabo ‘the Beast.’ Meanwhile, Mical Wong, the founder of Turemetal, had a go at cooling an RTX 3080 fanlessly in his company’s passive cooling case, the Turemetal UP10, as spotted by FanlessTech.
(Image credit: Turemetal, Mical Wong)
Now, it’s important to mention a few things: this isn’t a cheap endeavor. The RTX 3080 will set you back a solid two grand with today’s prices, and the Turemetal UP10 has a sticker price of almost $800 — there’s a steep price you pay for silence.
Silence Costs More Than Just Money
In setting up the system, Wong dropped the Asus TUF RTX 3080 into a computer that’s also running an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X — a solid CPU choice that runs relatively efficiently without too many cores blasting out heat.
After setting the lot up, Wong ran Furmark to give the GPU some grief and posted the following result
(Image credit: Turemetal, Mical Wong)
As you can see, the starting temperature of the GPU was just 18 degrees Celsius, and it topped out at about 87 degrees Celsius before Wong ended the test — but the temperature hadn’t levelled out yet. That’s probably a wise call, as the GPU temperature reported is not identical to the peak temperature on the GPU die, but it does show the system’s limitations.
The CPU wasn’t under any significant load during this test, and we must also note that Wong was doing the test in a very chilly room: 13.6 degrees Celsius with about 64% humidity. These are excellent conditions for a passively cooled PC, but less so much for humans especially when gaming.
Wong’s system was drawing about 410 W under this Furmark load.
A Little Tuning Could Help, No?
(Image credit: Turemetal, Mical Wong)
From what we can see, Wong is attempting to run the RTX 3080 at full blast. Ambitious, perhaps a bit too ambitious.
Much like people optimize GPUs for efficiency when mining to maximize profits, we believe the same concept could be helpful here to find a thermal equilibrium. Dropping the clock rate in Afterburner, dropping the power limit, and perhaps even undervolting the GPU through BIOS modding, as scary as that might be on a GPU, could help further.
We dropped our RTX 3080’s power limit to 70% when optimizing our GPU for Ethereum mining, which should shave about 100 watts off its power consumption. Of course, you’ll sacrifice some performance like this, but if it helps passively cool an RTX 3080 successfully, it’s a price you’ll have to pay to achieve the goal.
Microsoft is expanding its accessibility efforts with a new program for evaluating Xbox and PC games. Today, its gaming accessibility team announced that developers can send their games to be evaluated for accessibility and tested by players with disabilities. The program was announced alongside updates to the Xbox Accessibility Guidelines that were released in early 2020.
“Developers now have the option to send Microsoft their Xbox or PC title and have it analyzed and validated against the recommendations provided in the XAGs,” says an Xbox blog post published today. The Xbox Accessibility Guidelines include thorough explanations of inclusive design considerations for developers, and they are now updated to include clearer language, additional context, and implementation examples.
Game test reports will include feedback from players with disabilities, as well as links to information on inclusive design, relevant nonprofits, and accessibility experts. Any issues found during testing will be “noted with reproduction steps, screenshots, and other information to help the developer understand what aspect of a given experience may be challenging for certain gamers with disabilities,” says the post.
More companies have been focusing on game accessibility in recent years — including Microsoft with the Xbox Adaptive Controller — but there are still few high-profile examples besides The Last of Us Part II. A program like this could potentially lead to more games with a similarly wide variety of accessibility options. It’s also significant for players with disabilities to be able to provide insight, rather than being left unconsidered or designed for without their input.
Nvidia’s RTX 3070 is a great GPU, but the RTX 3060 Ti edges so close to it in performance that it has become the more popular card. But between the MSRP’s of the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080, which are supposed to retail at $499 and $699, respectively, there is a big enough gap to squeeze in another card: The alleged RTX 3070 Ti. We’ve heard of it before, and now it’s popping up again.
German retailer Alternate briefly published a product page listing a Lenovo gaming PC containing this graphics card, as spotted by GameStar. Of course, the product page is now down, and Alternate told GameStar that the information was just a bug. A bug, huh? Sure. Pull the other one.
(Image credit: GameStar, Alternate)
In earlier rumors, the RTX 3070 Ti was said to feature 16 GB of memory, and this new listing shows the same — there’s no GDDR6X here, just GDDR6. In fact, we’ve seen this exact PC before.
This large a frame buffer would make the GPU more interesting to stand the test of time, as there are multiple games where lack of VRAM on 8GB cards has been shown to limit performance (if you run at 4K and don’t turn certain settings down).
Limited Information on RTX 3070 Ti Specs
So far, we don’t have a lot of information on the specifications for the RTX 3070 Ti, nor has there been any official word from Nvidia on its existence. We know from multiple leaks now that there’s a good chance that it will feature 16GB of GDDR6 memory, but we don’t know anything about its CUDA core count, clock speeds, memory bus sizes, or the lot.
We also don’t know when the card will come out. Alternate listed delivery for the Legion T7 34IMZ5 PC as ‘Within 2021,’ but that leaves quite a big window. We can also reasonably guess that a 3070 Ti will have at least as many GPU cores as the 3070, but fewer cores than the 3080. Anything more is just speculation.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is getting a big update today focused on the UK and Ireland. The World Update III, as Microsoft puts it, includes high-resolution 3G imagery for cities like London, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, and Oxford. More than 70 custom landmarks and points of interest have been improved, including famous bridges, palaces, cathedrals, and famous Premier League football (soccer!) stadiums.
If you’ve tried to visit some Premier League clubs in Flight Simulator already, you’ve probably noticed they’re usually just a giant generic-looking apartment block. This update aims to improve that experience with detailed views of exactly where the Premier League is played week in week out. Likewise, Buckingham Palace, the Queen’s London residence, now looks greatly improved compared to before.
Liverpool Football Club in Microsoft Flight Simulator.Image: Microsoft
Chelsea Football Club in Microsoft Flight Simulator.Image: Microsoft
Microsoft is also adding in hand-crafted airports for Barra, Liverpool, Land’s End, Manchester-Barton, and Out Skerries. Another particular part of this update is detailed architectural elements for British manors and Victorian homes. Even countryside stone structures like castles and churches will look a lot better. Some of the views across Scotland look particularly stunning now.
Alongside all the imagery improvements, Microsoft is adding in three new activities for those exploring the UK and Ireland. There’s a new flight in the Northern Isles and two landing challenges: one in the Shetlands and another in the Southeast of England.
This new UK and Ireland update is available free for all owners of Microsoft Flight Simulator today. It’s a big download, though, weighing in at 48GB on PC.
Today, gaming peripheral brand Corsair is announcing that it has purchased streaming visuals company Visuals by Impulse (VBI), which it’s organizing under its other streaming brand, Elgato. If reading that makes your eyes cross, don’t worry — all it means is that some of the biggest names in streaming technology have come together under Corsair’s roof. Think of the consolidation like a one-stop shop.
It’s a smart move on Corsair’s part, too. The company scooped up Elgato — the biggest name in streaming tech — in 2018, and then a year later, it picked up Origin PC, which makes custom prebuilt PCs, and SCUF Gaming, which makes custom professional-grade controllers.
This month’s acquisition of VBI means Corsair now has a complete set of products related to streaming: you can get everything from a streaming PC to a suite of custom visuals under one larger roof.
“With the addition of Visuals by Impulse to the Elgato family, we’re excited to extend our core mission of empowering content creators. Design is a crucial element shaping a creator’s identity, and VBI has been at the forefront of making beautiful and interactive design accessible to anyone,” wrote Julian Fest, SVP and general manager at Elgato, in a press release. “Together with the talented team at VBI, we plan to push the boundaries of what design can mean for creators.”
If nothing else, Corsair’s consolidation is convenient. It’ll be interesting to see what the company buys next.
(Pocket-lint) – When the original Evil Genius was released for PC, it brought a breath of fresh air to the real-time strategy/base building genre. Putting you in the shoes of a Bond-style villain was, well, genius.
There are few things better than planning and building your own evil lair, and we’ve often returned to the sim ever since.
Now, more than 16 years later, Rebellion has followed it up with a sequel that retains everything that was great and good about the first outing, but brings it kicking and screaming into the 20s.
We’ve had a chance to play through the tutorial that starts Evil Genius 2: World Domination to give you our initial thoughts.
Taking over
Like the original, Evil Genius 2 puts you in the shoes of a megalomaniac with a penchant for world domination and his own evil lair. This time though, the base is on a tropical island and hidden behind a casino, at least in the tutorial campaign we’ve played so far.
There are four evil geniuses in the game in total, each with their own full campaign and story – Max, Ivan, Emma and Zalika. There are also three islands to play on and a host of different types of henchmen and minions to help you in your quest.
Rebellion
Each villain also gets his or her own unique doomsday device to develop throughout the story, and super agents that will visit to halt your evil plans.
We played as Max in the tutorial and opening of the campaign, who is perhaps the most known of the geniuses being as he was also on the cover of the first game. However, the main star we’ve encountered so far is the lair itself.
Building blocks
Like all great base builders, the most important thing to get right initially is constructing your lair. It’s incredibly simple to get to grips with in Evil Genius 2 and feels familiar, even if you haven’t played the original.
You draw a grid on an available zone, make sure you include a door frame and your minions will do the rest. Depending on the room, you will be offered different furniture or gadgets to install.
Rebellion
You also have to take into account where spies might enter, as they will attempt to undo all your good work, but we didn’t get that far in our relatively brief play – we’ll have to update you more when we get to review the game in full closer to its end of March release date.
Some of the more specialist rooms enable you to create more specialist minions, while others help you take on the numerous important objectives and side missions you’ll encounter in the campaign.
One hugely impressive aspect this time around is that your lair can be massive and complex, not only stretching over a large area but also multiple levels. Even after the first half-an-hour or so, you’ll have numerous rooms built and the plan will start to look busy and intricate. It also looks great both close-up and from a distance/above, not least thanks to sticking to the 1960’s graphical style of Evil Genius 1.
Best PS5 games 2021: Amazing PlayStation 5 titles to pick up
By Max Freeman-Mills
·
Smooth operators
We have to admit, we need a lot more play time with EG2 to get more of a feel for global operations (objectives outside of your base) and the nuances of different henchmen, but we can safely say that Rebellion has got it spot on when it comes to the aesthetics.
Rebellion
Evil Genius 2 is stunning looking. We played the preview build on an Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX531, running an Nvidia RTX 2080 and it ran like butter – as smooth and silky as you like. Of course, this genre of game isn’t known to be graphically demanding, but the animation of each individual minion, when you zoom in close, is great. Plus, when you have plenty of rooms built and hundreds of employees whizzing around, you will be pleased at the level of detail on offer.
The game has a keen sense of character, with great comedy elements and subtle moments. Certainly, we spent a large amount of time just observing what was going on in the background and look forward to doing so more when the final release version is available.
First Impressions
To be honest, we’ve spent too fleeting a time with the game so far, but can already see it’s shaping up nicely. It’s exhibiting signs that it will be a more than worthy successor to one of our favourite sims of yesteryear.
It looks right, beautifully styled and seemingly will have enough extra depth to provide a decent challenge, no matter your skill level.
Add to that the announcement that, for the first time, it will include a free sandbox mode where you can build a base without the constraints of a story, and it could be everything a fan of the original could have hoped for.
We can’t wait to get the full game in for testing, that’s for sure.
Evil Genius 2: World Domination will be available for PC from 30 March 2021. It’ll be available exclusively on Steam and those who pre-purchase it will get 10 per cent off. That rises to 15 per cent if you own the original Evil Genius.
(Image credit: LẮP ĐẶT PHÒNG NET – Tin Học Ngôi Sao Facebook)
So we’re in a cryptocurrency boom again, and it’s total chaos on the GPU market. At this point, we’ve seen everything, from small-scale at-home miners to massive mining farms, even using laptops in desperate attempts to get hands on hardware to get in on the crypto boom. Meanwhile, a new story via @I_Leak_VN is surfacing about an internet cafe switching to cryptocurrency mining.
(Image credit: LẮP ĐẶT PHÒNG NET – Tin Học Ngôi Sao Facebook)
In a Facebook Post, Internet Cafe Computer Star revealed that it is switching business model to cryptocurrency mining, stating that profits are higher than the internet cafe business model — and this isn’t a crazy thought when you consider that they also sell PC components and so have ready access to RTX 3080s for mining.
(Image credit: LẮP ĐẶT PHÒNG NET – Tin Học Ngôi Sao Facebook)
A single RTX 3080 GPU can generate quite significant daily profits after some tuning (and even without where power is cheap), which with the electricity prices in Vietnam (where Star internet cafe is located), can generate a pretty good income — especially if you already have the space, computers, and electric infrastructure for it. Whereas a single PC would normally bring in a small income per day in use by a customer, a series of GPUs connected to that PC can easily exceed that income, at least with the current profitability levels on Ethereum Mining.
Metro Exodus developer 4A Games has revealed the free upgrades that are coming to its 2019 shooter on PC and next-gen consoles this year. The new version-specific features vary by platform, but include overhauled ray tracing support and support for Nvidia’s DLSS 2.0 technology on PC. Also revealed are improvements coming to the next-gen console version, first announced last year.
On PC, the update will be released as Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition, and it’ll be free regardless of whether you own the game on Steam, the Epic Games Store, or GoG. Although the game supported ray tracing at launch, the new version significantly upgrades it with support for new features like advanced ray traced reflections. Other upgrades coming to the new PC version include DLSS 2.0 support, which can offer significant boosts to performance when using Nvidia hardware.
A full list of the features coming to each platform.Image: 4A Games
Meanwhile, the developer has also detailed the improvements coming with the PS5 and Xbox Series X / S versions of the game, which will be available free to existing owners. On PS5 and Series X the game will run at 4K/60fps with ray tracing. Series S will target a lower 1080p resolution, but it’ll still run at 60fps and feature ray tracing. The next-gen console versions should also feature reduced loading times, and other platform-specific features like support for the PS5’s Dual Sense controller.
4A Games says the PC Enhanced Edition is releasing later this spring, while the next-gen console upgrades are coming “later this year.” The developer also reiterated its plans to release the game on Mac and Linux. The Mac version is releasing next month, and the game is coming to Linux “a little later in the year.”
A Chinese overclocker has received what is believed to be the Ryzen 5750G Pro (due to TSME encryption) and revealed its impressive overclocking capabilities.
Specs-wise, this chip appears to be a Zen 3 APU with 8 cores and 16 threads, with presumably a Vega integrated graphics chip with equal performance to that of AMD’s Zen 3 mobile APUs. So expect this chip to perform similar to a Ryzen 7 5800X with integrated graphics.
(Image credit: Tieba.Baidu)
But the best part about the chip is its crazy overclocking potential. The overclocker managed to crank the APU all the way to 4.8 GHz on all cores and hit a memory clock of 4133 MHz, which we’ve never seen before (even on AMD’s flagship Ryzen 9 5950X) in 1:1 mode.
However, he used very high voltages, with 1.47v for the CPU core voltage and an SoC voltage of 1.2v. The core voltage, in particular, could be dangerously high for multi-threaded workloads, or at least high enough that we wouldn’t recommend running it for a daily driver.
(Image credit: Tieba.Baidu)
He also ran the CPU-Z benchmark on the Ryzen 7 5750G and compared it to Intel’s Core i9-9900KF. The AMD APU scored 660.8 points in the single-threaded test, and 6897.8 points in the multi-threaded portion. Compared to the 9900KF, the 5750G is 27% faster in multi-threaded performance and 21% faster in single-threaded performance. That isn’t too surprising given the 9900KF’s age.
The 2069 MHz FCLK frequency is exciting; the best Zen 3 parts already struggle to hit (but it’s doable) 2000 MHz, so seeing an APU break that barrier is quite impressive.
Unfortunately, we still don’t know if AMD will release another eight-core APU into the wild that won’t be exclusive to OEM builders. We’ve heard reports that a 5700G might be on its way at some point, but nothing is certain, especially during this major PC part shortage where AMD can’t even keep its current 5000-series chips in stock.
While Deep Silver’s and 4A Games Metro Exodus has been available for several years, that hasn’t stopped the developer from improving upon it. Today, it was announced that the game would see a new edition called Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition, which will bring DLSS 2.0 to the game and more ray tracing features than you can shake a stick at, but only if you have the latest graphics cards.
This upgraded version will take advantage of 4A’s new fully Ray Tracing Lighting Pipeline and adds support for Nvidia and AMD hardware. Those who picked up AMD’s latest graphics cards will have another game that will provide ray tracing support. Nvidia cards will benefit from DLSS 2.0, while there’s no word on if support for AMD’s DLSS competitor, DirectML Super Resolution, will be added.
“We have built an all-new Fully Ray Traced Lighting Pipeline that brings a number of optimizations, upgrades, and new features to the Ray Traced Global Illumination and Emissive Lighting that we pioneered with the original release of Metro Exodus, as well as an upgraded implementation of our powerful Temporal Reconstruction technology to further boost resolution, visual detail, and performance.” — Deep Silver / 4A Games Press Release
This upgraded version will take advantage of 4A’s new Fully Ray Tracing Lighting Pipeline and adds support for Nvidia and AMD hardware. Those who picked up AMD’s latest graphics cards will have another game that will provide ray tracing support. Nvidia cards will benefit from DLSS 2.0, while there’s no word on if AMD’s DLSS competitor, DirectML Super Resolution, will be added.
However, this is more than just a mere upgrade. As there are many added features under the hood, this wouldn’t be released as a patch. Instead, it will be released as a separate version of the game that will be free for all existing Metro Exodus owners on the Epic Games Store Steam and GOG. The Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition will be available in Spring 2021.
This upgraded version is strictly for ray traced enabled hardware, as the bare minimum for even playing the game will require either Nvidia’s or AMD’s capable hardware. If you try to run the game and don’t have a GPU that can provide ray tracing, the game won’t run. This also means you probably don’t want to try running Nvidia’s software-enabled ray tracing on the GTX series cards.
(Image credit: 4A)
In addition to The Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition version, 4A games have also announced that Metro Exodus is also making its way to both Mac and Linux. These versions were promised some time ago and are still in the works. The Mac version will be available in March 2021, while the Linux version looking like a much later 2021 release.
Ray tracing support is also heading to the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S consoles. The beefer consoles, PS5 and Xbox Series X, will run at 4K / 60FPS with full ray traced lighting. The Xbox Series S will also see upgraded ray tracing features, but not 4K as the console wasn’t designed around 4K gaming. The PS5 version will benefit from added haptic feedback for the DualSense controller. While the Xbox Series X|S will see spatial audio and controller latency improvements.
Metro Exodus is the conclusion to the Metro gaming series, which has spanned three games and is currently available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, while being backward compatible for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
(Pocket-lint) – Thunderbolt is a super-speed technology first invented by Intel. While it initially used Mini DisplayPort connectors, it now uses USB-C and is, essentially, a super-speed version of it.
Thunderbolt 3 is part of the upcoming USB 4 standard, but many of us don’t have the new USB-4 ports on the recent MacBooks. What many of us have – whether a recent Mac or a high-end notebook Windows PC – is a Thunderbolt 3 port that works on top of the USB-C standard. If you don’t have Thunderbolt on your computer but you do have USB-C, why not check out our guide to the best USB-C docks?
Thunderbolt’s benefit is the amount of data it can throughput – up to 40Gbps with the right cables. So it’s the best technology if you’re often transferring large files onto a compatible Thunderbolt drive. The docks here are fully Thunderbolt 3 compatible but they also have the key benefit of USB-C – you can connect up display, power and data to your laptop via a single cable.
All of these docks are designed for on-desk use. Again, if you need a portable hub, check our our guide to USB-C hubs.
Coincidentally, Intel has now announced Thunderbolt 4, coming to future Intel machines.
Our guide to the best Thunderbolt docks
Anker
Anker PowerExpand Elite
squirrel_widget_4157342
This 13-in-1 Thunderbolt 3 dock is a beast. Not only does it boast 85W charging for your laptop, but it’ll give you 18W charging for your phone via USB-C.
There are also dual Thunderbolt 3 ports, two USB-C ports, four USB-A ports, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, SD/microSD card slots, and a 3.5 mm headphone or auxillary port. Plus there’s Gigabit Ethernet, too. There’s pretty much no compromise here.
The Thunderbolt 3 port supports 5K at 60Hz while the HDMI port supports a resolution of 4K at 60Hz. You’re able to connect displays to both simultaneously for maximum performance.
Basically, it’ll connect to pretty much anything remotely modern. An 80cm/2.3ft Thunderbolt 3 cable is included.
Corsair
Corsair TBT100 Thunderbolt 3 dock
squirrel_widget_3717047
Corsair’s TBT100 Thunderbolt 3 dock has a definite advantage over rivals in that it’s nicely sleek and can sit neatly under a display without drawing attention to itself.
It also offers plenty of connectivity options on its svelte frame with two USB-C ports, two USB-A, two HDMI and a 3.5mm combo headphone jack. There’s also an SD card reader, too, in addition to a Gigabit Ethernet port.
Indeed, the only disadvantage of the TBT100 is that there’s no USB-A on the front for connecting a USB stick or similar quickly and easily.
Belkin
Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro
squirrel_widget_4157343
The Belkin dock is the best if you have stacks of legacy USB-A gear that you need to connect into your Thunderbolt Mac or PC.
That’s because this fairly compact dock not only has four USB-A ports on the rear but also one on the front in addition to an SD card slot and headphone jack. It also supports 85W upstream charging.
However, there’s no HDMI on the rear of this unit – it’s designed for DisplayPort monitors and you can connect up dual 4K 60hz displays.
An 80cm/2.3ft Thunderbolt 3 cable is included.
CalDigit
CalDigit Thunderbolt 3 Mini Dock
squirrel_widget_4165171
This simple Thunderbolt 3 dock is a good solution if you want to connect displays via DisplayPort – there are dual DisplayPort 1.2 connectors that support 4K at 60fps.
There’s also a USB-A 3.0 port for flexibility plus Gigabit Ethernet for connections to wired networks. An alternative version of this dock features dual HDMI instead of dual DisplayPort.
Elgato
Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Pro
squirrel_widget_4165219
This dock – from Corsair brand Elgato – is great if you have several devices that use the USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 connector – there are 2 x standard USB-C ports on the rear as well as dual Thunderbolt 3 ones, meaning there are plenty of options for newer devices.
Dual USB-A pon the front joins SD/micro SD card, Gigabit Ethernet and DisplayPort connectivity, too.
Plugable
Plugable Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Dock
squirrel_widget_4165243
With a whole host of connectivity, this Plugable device is great value for money – it has a stack oof ports including dual USB-C on the back (data only) and three USB-A ports – two on the rear and one on the front.
You can drive dual 4K displays at 60hz over Thunderbolt 3 using the dual DisplayPort connectors.
There’s also Gigabit Ethernet for good measure plus an 80cm/2.3ft Thunderbolt 3 cable is included.
Writing by Dan Grabham.
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.
