PC - Page 6 of 135

Our Verdict

The Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed hits the sweet spot between functionality and size, clearing up desk space while offering a premium design and functionality. But it’s pricey compared to some fantastic 65% keyboards, and its keycaps can get uncomfortable during heated gaming.

For

+ Efficient form factor
+ Dongle, Bluetooth or cable connection
+ Highly customizable

Against

– ABS keycaps can feel clammy
– Larger keys are a little loud
– Expensive

For some, a clear space makes for a clear mind. And if you’re gaming, more space also means extra room for your mouse and focusing solely on the inputs needed to level up. The best wireless keyboards already decrease clutter by cutting the cord, but a wireless gaming keyboard in a smaller form factor can be a true game-changer for players seeking an efficient, yet productive, form factor.

The Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed fits the bill well. It’s Razer’s first 65% keyboard, which is a good sweet spot for those who want a small keyboard but can’t let go of navigation keys. With arrow keys, the BlackWidow V3 Mini is a more likely mate for both productivity and work than 60% keyboards. a more likely match for those who want a keyboard for both gaming and work. And Razer makes connectivity, even across several PCs, simple by offering the option to use a dongle, Bluetooth with up to 3 devices or a USB-C to USB-A cable. A $180 MSRP means you’re paying a Razer tax though, and the keyboard, especially its keycaps, aren’t perfect compared to the best gaming keyboards it’s up against.

Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed Specs

Switches	Razer Yellow (tested) or Razer Green
Lighting	Per-key RGB and logo
Onboard Storage	4 profiles
Media Keys	With Fn
Connectivity	USb Type-A dongle, Bluetooth or USB Type-A cable
Cables	USB-C to USB-A
Additional Ports	None
Keycaps	Doubleshot ABS plastic
Software	Razer Synapse
Dimensions (LxWxH)	12.6 x 5.1 x 1.6 inches
Weight	1.8 pounds

Design of the Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed

Image 1 of 7

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Image 2 of 7

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Image 3 of 7

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Image 4 of 7

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Image 5 of 7

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Image 6 of 7

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Image 7 of 7

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

If you haven’t tried a 65% layout before, it’s worth a shot because you may just find your sweet spot. 65% keyboards chop off a lot of keys but keep the precious arrow keys and even some that typically live above them. Razer told me it wants the BlackWidow V3 Mini to be a “more inclusive option” than the 60% Razer Huntsman Mini, one that saves space but still is efficient in applications like Excel and PowerPoint. No more keyboard switching is the idea, but if you do heavy number input into Excel, you’ll probably still miss the numpad.

The BlackWidow V3 Mini has Delete, Page Up, Page Down and Insert keys, which all also double as macro keys when you’re holding Fn. That’s a little more than some other 65% keyboards, such as the wired Ducky Mecha SF Radiant, which leaves out Insert in favor of a Ducky logo and doesn’t double up those keys as macros. Already we see the more gaming-friendly side of Razer’s 65% option.

However, I rarely use those four keys and would personally prefer a Print Screen option if anything. Of course, I could reprogram this via software and even switch out a keycap if I was that serious. But since I don’t care for that quartet of additional buttons over a 60% keyboard, something like the Cooler Master SK622, which doesn’t have dedicated keys for any of those functions except for Delete, would be even more efficient for me. That keyboard also saves a little bit of space, measuring 11.5 x 4.1 x 1.6 inches, while weighing only 1 pound. The Razer (12.6 x 5.1 x 1.6 inches, 1.8 pounds) is still on par with Ducky’s Mecha SF Radiant (12.8 x 4.1 x 1.6 inches, 1.9 pounds) though.

The V3 Mini doesn’t have a function row but gets a lot done with its Fn key. Just as with the Huntsman Mini, out of the box pressing Fn will disable any lighting you have on and provide white lighting to the keys with a secondary function. In addition to the number row handling F1-F12, there are also side-printed functions for macro recording, adjusting RGB brightness, media controls and the missing navigation keys.

Still, some tasks were more tedious on the 65% board. For example, to take a screenshot of a specific window, instead of pressing Windows + Alt + Print Screen, I had to hit Windows + Alt + Fn + Print Screen, while locating the key that has Print Screen as a secondary function. The side-printing is easy to read from typical seated positions. But unlike the main legends on the keys, these aren’t doubleshot, so could fade with time.

The BlackWidow V3 Mini has flip-out feet for 6 or 9-degree elevation, but I preferred keeping it flat, as my wrists already sloped down, due to the lack of included palm rest. If I were to use this as my forever keyboard, I’d need to find some sort of compact wrist rest, which is a mild annoyance, considering the keyboard’s price.

Besides that, the BlackWidow V3 Mini takes many characteristics from the BlackWidow line, which includes the full-sized BlackWidow V3, wireless BlackWidow V3 Pro and BlackWidow V3 Tenkeyless.That includes a plastic base that’s shiny around the lip, allowing the snake trio that is the Razer logo to peek through with customizable RGB.

The plastic base is subtly textured and surprisingly durable in that it doesn’t seem like it’ll scratch or nick easily. “For Gamers by Gamers” written in a designer bag like pattern on the underside makes you feel special. An aluminum top plate sits atop that for more heft and more fingerprints. But because there’s such little wasted space on the BlackWidow V3 Mini, that issue is mostly limited to the keyboard’s bottom slope.

Razer went with doubleshot ABS plastic keycaps that are a good and cheaper substitute for doubleshot PBT. The ABS plastic here is still visibly textured, especially in bright lighting, is good at fighting smudges and allows RGB to shine through perfectly. Although they’re still slippier than doubleshot PBT, it could fool the less-aware gamer.

The BlackWidow V3 Mini uses the same font as other BlackWidow keyboards with a lower-case font that can feel slightly kiddish, especially if you opt for rainbow RGB, and in the truncated right Shift key. Speaking of, the right Shift’s size will be a problem for some, but I’m a righty and touch typist who never uses the right shift key, so besides it looking a little funky, I’m okay with the sacrifice.

Typing Experience on Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Razer offers the BlackWidow V3 Mini with either clicky Razer Green switches, (which we tested in our BlackWidow V3 Pro review), or linear Razer Yellow switches with added sound dampeners, which we’re testing here. Razer specs its Yellow switches with 3.5mm total travel, actuating at 1.2mm with 45g of force versus Cherry MX Red’s 4mm/2mm/45g.

I don’t have another keyboard with Razer Yellows on hand to directly compare the dampeners’ effectiveness, but compared to the sound displayed in our Razer Yellow hands-on a few years ago, my test keyboard sounded quieter and less high-pitched and annoying. For the most part, I enjoyed the soft clacking of the BlackWidow V3 Mini during testing. Most of the keys’ noises are an inoffensive volume, and even if your mic picks it up, your teammates won’t be nearly as distracted then if you were using a clicky mechanical switch.

But while the spacebar still manages to sound soft despite an extra plastic-y note, the Backspace, Enter and right Shift, which also show some wobble, make too much of a plastic racket that stands out compared to the other keys. I also noticed a small amount of unwanted pinging, but this was only occasional.

I don’t typically like using linear switches for typing, but getting work done on the BlackWidow V3 Mini was easier than expected. I still missed my tactile bumps and clicks, but the keyboard’s layout is logical and the keys properly spaced, so there were no other distractions. The keycaps are also more comfortable than many other ABS ones, and the keys never felt mushy.

On the 10FastFingers.com typing test, I averaged 122.7 words per minute (wpm) and 95.2% accuracy. That’s faster than my typical 118 average, but my accuracy dropped 2.8 percentage points. The speed may be due to the faster travel and lack of a tactile bump to get through, but I believe that bump would’ve helped my accuracy.

Wireless Experience on Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Razer recommends using the BlackWidow V3 Mini’s 2.4 GHz USB-A dongle for gaming and even remembered to provide a spot for dongle storage on the keyboard’s underside; (although, the plastic covering could be more durable). Even better, I never lost my connection during testing, even when gaming with my best wireless mouse and a pair of Bluetooth headphones. The only time I noticed obvious lag was when the battery was under 2%. At this point, RGB started changing effects unprovoked and the keyboard would occasionally repeat inputs for some reason, so I wouldn’t use it much at that battery level anyway.

If you prefer to save a USB port, you can connect via Bluetooth by sliding the toggle on the front edge over to the “BT” side. The keyboard can connect to up to three devices via Bluetooth and toggle through them by hitting Fn + 1-3.

Gaming Experience on Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

Many prefer the smooth travel of linear switches like Razer Yellows. Packed inside of the BlackWidow V3 Mini, these switches felt fast and responsive, not only keeping up with my inputs but feeling potentially faster than gaming with heavier switches like Razer Greens (4mm total travel, 1.9mm actuation, 50g of force).

Movements felt easy. With just a light touch I could walk my character long distances without growing weary or feeling like the key was too unstable if I didn’t bottom out. I often find keyboards with Cherry MX Reds exhausting in that regard because I can feel like I’m floating when depressing halfway for an extended period. That wasn’t the case with this keyboard, making my adjustment to linear switches over my preferred tactile and clicky switches easier than expected. Well-spaced keys also made strategic inputs easy, so I didn’t end up murked because I was hitting the wrong button.

But after even just 15 minutes of gaming, the keyboard would get noticeably clammy. Now, this was before things even got heated on the battlefield. When I grazed my finger down the W key, for example, while exploring my virtual world, I’d encounter an unpleasant feeling. You may mistake the BlackWidow V3 Mini’s doubleshot ABS keycaps as PBT at quick examination, but once you get gaming, the truth will be apparent. After serious gaming for an hour, the clacker got seriously clammy and, dare I say, sticky-like.

But there are some gaming advantages here. The obvious one is the keyboard’s small form factor, which afforded me more space to not only move my mouse but to get comfortable by positioning my keyboard in different angles.

If you’re concerned about sound, Razer used sound dampeners with this keyboard to make its linear switches even quieter. I don’t have other Razer Yellows on hand, but I do enjoy the sound.

Battery Life of Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

When I used Razer’s keyboard with its dongle connection and rainbow Wave RGB effect at max brightness for about 26 hours and 17 minutes, and Synapse’s battery meter read 3%. This was with the keyboard set to dim lighting after 1 minute of activity and to turn off after 15 minutes of activity (the shortest amount of times available). Once the battery level dropped to about under 2%, the lighting would automatically turn off unless I was actively typing, and would change effects without me asking. There was also input delay and repeated inputs, key bindings stopped working and Synapse wouldn’t recognize the keyboard, so I wouldn’t want to use the keyboard at under 3% battery.

Razer claims the BlackWidow V3 Mini can last for up to 200 hours without any RGB whether using the dongle or Bluetooth connection. With the keyboard’s Spectrum Cycling RGB effect at max brightness, Razer’s battery life estimate drops to 17 hours. If you keep brightness at 30% max, the expectation is 48 hours.

Razer told me the keyboard can charge to 100% after 4 hours and 50% after 30 minutes. However, your experience may vary, as I let my test unit’s battery run out, charged it for 30 minutes with the included cable and a 5V/2A power brick and only had 11% battery after. After 4 hours of charging though, the battery meter on the mouse’s software read 100%.

Features and Software of Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed

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)

Synapse continues to be the tool of choice for Razer’s RGB and feature-clad lineup, offering control over everything from per-key and logo RGB to almost every key’s function. My favorite part, however, is the battery life reading, stated in a clear, specific percentage.

The Customize section lets you set almost every key’s (not Windows or Fn) function, including different keyboard and mouse actions, RGB control and the ability to switch another Razer product’s profile. With Razer’s HyperShift feature, Fn doesn’t only activate certain key’s side-printed secondary functions, it can also activate secondary functions, assigned via Synapse, among most other keys. Indeed, one of Razer’s advantages is the volume of customization options — so long as you don’t mind running Synapse in the background.

If you do, the BlackWidow V3 Mini makes a decent effort of offering some features app-free. For one, you can toggle through some RGB presets by pressing Fn + Ctrl + 1-7. And in addition to being able to store an infinite number of profiles in the software, (thanks to the cloud), there are 4 onboard memory profiles. But how to toggle through those profiles isn’t obvious. In my few weeks with the keyboard, I couldn’t figure it out on my own. I had to ask Razer, which taught me to fold Fn + C. And, indeed, when you hold down Fn, the C key lights up to let you know it has a secondary function. But there’s no side-printing on the C key to remind you that it can perform profile toggling. Additionally, RGB settings don’t carry over. And some advanced functions, like inter-device control and launching apps or websites, still require Synapse to be open.

You can also do macro recording on the fly, but it requires Synapse to be running in the background. But remember, four keys are ready to serve as macro keys alongside Fn, so it’s worth considering. If you plan on using dedicated macros often though, a full-size keyboard may be a better fit, especially something with macro keys like the Corsair K95 RGB Platinum XT.

Synapse’s Lighting section offers access to RGB controls, like brightness from 0-100% and the ability to toggle 11 preset effects, including your typical rainbow wave and Fire, which plays around with the red and orange color scheme flickering across keys. For customized effects, you’ll need the Chroma plug-in, which offers expansive layers of customization options, including over the snake logo.

Power is a simple, but important, menu. There’s a battery meter here, plus the option to make RGB dim automatically or have the keyboard turn off after a certain amount of inactivity (to conserve battery).

Bottom Line

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

The Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed is Razer’s first 65% keyboard, but adopts the brand’s tradition of high-priced, high-functionality peripherals gamers would be proud to carry. This keyboard is an exciting addition, particularly because of its efficient layout. If you don’t need a numpad, this is about as good as it gets without making basic navigation burdensome.

You can go slightly trimmer, though. The Cooler Master SK622 offers an interesting counter offer in what is essentially a 60% keyboard with arrows. Wireless connectivity is Bluetooth only though, and many will prefer the reliability of the BlackWidow V3 Mini’s dongle and the option to toggle through up to 3 more PC connections via Bluetooth.

We rank the 75% Keychron K2 as the best wireless keyboard for productivity, and the 65% version, the Keychron K6, is much cheaper than the BlackWidow V3 Mini at under $105 with RGB or without.

And if you can stomach a cable, the Ducky Mecha SF Radiant offers a striking design, a broad range of Cherry switches and doubleshot PBT keycaps, an upgrade over what the BlackWidow V3 Mini offers, for $159.

But with this level of customization, from key bindings to RGB to multi-PC connectivity, there’s very few if any in the 65% category that can compete with the BlackWidow V3 Mini’s gaming-ready featureset.

AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT LC
(Image credit: Tmall)

User from the Chiphell forums has spotted an interesting Radeon RX 6900 XT over in China. The Big Navi graphics card, forms part of a pre-built gaming PC on Tmall, features an exterior that’s very similar to AMD’s reference design, but with added liquid cooling.

The merchant listed the graphics card as the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT LC, claiming that it’s a special edition SKU. The “LC” likely stands for liquid cooling. Although the seller didn’t mention the manufacturer, he did claim that this variant offers 10% higher performance than your typical Radeon RX 6900 XT. The statement lends credence to the suspicion that this liquid-cooled Radeon RX 6900 XT could be leveraging the Navi 21 XTXH silicon that has been specially binned for high clock rates.

The RDNA 2 graphics card’s shroud exhibits two sleek, aluminium plates on both sides, implying that this is probably a strict liquid-cooled design rather than one of those hybrid setups that AMD’s partners are so fond of. The illuminated Radeon logo still hands on the side, but it’s accompanied by what appears to be a RGB LED bar for added eye candy.

AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT LC (Image credit: Tmall)

The single 120mm AIO radiator certainly raises an eyebrow, though. Graphics card vendors have released the custom Radeon RX 6900 XT models with 240mm and 360mm radiators. Furthermore, the The Radeon RX 6900 XT is a 300W graphics card so we doubt the Radeon-branded 120mm radiator will suffice. The cooling solution will probably have to work hard to keep the graphics card’s temperatures under control and may end up being very noisy.

Whether the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT LC is employing the Navi 21 XTXH or not, the graphics card only commands a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors. A 700W power supply is still the minimum capacity recommended to feed the RDNA 2 graphics card.

The jury is still out on whether we’ll see the Radeon RX 6800 XT LC outside of the Asian market. Nevertheless, the odds are that this SKU could be exclusive to OEMs or system integrators.

When you’re trying to fix a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) or resolve other critical Windows 10 errors, you want to follow a process of elimination. If you don’t know exactly what’s causing the error, one of your first steps should be performing a clean boot, which involves starting up without any applications or non-Microsoft services running.

How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 10

Setting up for a Windows 10 clean boot is easy if you follow these simple steps. Note that you must be using an account that has admin rights to your PC.

1. Launch the System Configuration utility. You can do that by entering msconfig into the search box and clicking the top result or hitting Windows + R and entering msconfig as the command to run.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

2. Select “Selective Startup” and toggle and “Load startup items” to off on the General tab while leaving “Load system services” checked.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

3. Toggle Hide all Microsoft services to on from the Services tab. This will make sure you don’t disable

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

4. Click Disable all. All of the services will be unchecked.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

5. Click Open Task Manager from the Startup tab.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

6. Click to sort by Status so that all the Enabled apps are next to each other.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

7. Highlight and disable all enabled apps. Take note of what they were so you can re-enable them later.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

8. Reboot your PC.

If you see that your problems are solved, you need to figure out which services or apps caused them. The best way to do this is by process of elimination. Turn suspicious services or apps back on, reboot again and see if you get the error or crash again. If you do, you know those services are the cause and that you need to stop using them or get different versions of them.

(Image credit: Intel)

Intel’s Optane SSD P5800X introduction late last year included four models with different capacities. So far, the company has brought the 400GB, 800GB, and 1.6TB SKUs to market, but the flagship 3.2TB model still isn’t available and Intel recently removed the product listing from its website. That is a bit surprising because Intel recently reaffirmed its commitment to the data center lineup after it killed off its entire line of Optane drives for desktop PCs.

There appears to be some confusion among Intel’s own ranks, too, as a report has surfaced that cites the company saying it is unsure if the 3.2TB model will see the light of day. However, after our own inquiries, the company tells us the drive is still on track for release this year.

Intel’s Optane SSD P5800X drives use second-gen 3D XPoint and Intel’s new proprietary SSD controller with a PCIe interface. The drives are aimed at data centers and deliver market-leading performance of up to 7.2 GB/s of sequential throughput, up to 1.5 million 4K random IOPS, and up to 1.8 million IOPS in mixed workloads. That performance comes paired with unbeatable endurance of 100 drive writes per day.

At present, only three of four Optane SSD P5800X models are available for purchase (for $1,224 ~ $3,823). Considering that the supply of second-gen 3D XPoint is uncertain (Micron listed the only fab that produces this kind of memory for sale recently), the fate of the highest-capacity P5800X model was unclear, especially after Intel removed all mentions of the 3.2TB SKU from its website. Furthermore, the company did not provide concrete answers to ComputerBase.de when asked about the 3.2TB Optane SSD P5800X.

(Image credit: Intel)

The good news is that Intel has not abandoned the 3.2 TB version of the Optane SSD P5800X, and it is on track to be available later this year. The price of the drive is unknown, though, but it will certainly not be cheap.

“The Intel Optane SSD DC P5800X series is currently available in 400GB, 800GB, and 1.6TB capacities, and we expect the 3.2TB drive to be available later this year,” said Kristie Mann, Senior Director, Optane DC Persistent Memory Products, Intel.

Since the Optane SSD DC P5800X drives are designed for data centers, they aren’t very interesting to the vast majority of enthusiasts (especially at a price that starts at $1,224). Intel recently canceled its entire lineup of Optane drives for the desktop PC, so we won’t see any future generations of its Optane SSDs in enthusiast rigs.

(Image credit: Future)

Just in time for E3 2021, the next edition of the Future Games Show is set to air. Run by our sister site, GamesRadar+, with sponsor WD_BLACK, the Future Games Show will feature game announcements, trailers and updates from more than 40 new PC and console titles when it airs on June 13th at 7 pm ET.

Airing on GamesRadar+ and social networks Twitch, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, the show will be hosted by Last of Us 2 voice actors Laura Bailey and Troy Baker. Participating game publishers include SEGA, Team17, Private Division and XSEED Games.

“Last year was arguably the most challenging year for games development,” Baker said. “Now we’re starting to see the games that will emerge this year and beyond. I’ve gotten a small peek behind the curtain and I can’t wait to pull that curtain back even further for you on June 13.”

(Image credit: Future)

The three previous Future games shows drew an audience of 45 million viewers combined. An official partner of E3, the show takes place on the same day as the PC Gaming Show, run by our other sister site PC Gamer. Starting at 2 pm ET, the PC Gaming show will feature 39 new game trailers and be hosted by Frankie Ward and Mica Burton.

“GamesRadar is thrilled to bring the Future Games Show to its widest audience yet as an official partner of E3 2021 and The /twitchgaming gathering,” said Daniel Dawkins, Content Director of Games and Film at Future Plc. “Our amazing hosts Troy Baker and Laura Bailey look forward to sharing some of the most exciting, quirky and anticipated games of 2021 and beyond; followed by unrivalled post-show coverage and deep-dives on gamesradar.com.”

Linux gamers using Valve’s Proton compatibility tool to run Windows games will be getting a performance upgrade in the future: Nvidia has announced that it’s working with Valve to bring FPS boosts using its DLSS technology featured on its RTX cards. It’s almost enough to make me want to revisit Linux gaming.

DLSS, or Deep Learning Super Sampling, is a technology that lets gamers get more performance without having to give up too much image quality. It does this by running the game at lower-than-native resolution (say, rendering the game at 1080p when your monitor is 4K), but then upscaling the image to native resolution using some mightily impressive algorithms.

The tech will, of course, be exciting for people with Linux gaming computers, but it’s also interesting considering the rumors of Valve creating a handheld gaming device. We argued that DLSS could make the next-gen Switch hit way above its weight-class, and the same would be true for a handheld PC without a ton of graphics horsepower, which would likely be running Linux.

While Nvidia hasn’t released a list of which Proton-powered games will be getting DLSS, there are actually a surprising number of candidates. Running Nvidia’s list of games that support DLSS through ProtonDB, a site that lets users report how well games work when using Proton, shows that a good portion of DLSS-enabled games are already working on Linux. That’s around 30 games out of a little over 50.

There is, however, an interesting question raised by Nvidia’s DLSS list — a few of the games on it actually have native Linux ports, and it’s unclear if they’ll be getting the upsampling tech, or if it’ll be exclusive to games running through Proton. Gamers potentially get better performance by running the Windows version through an emulation layer, rather than the native version, would be a bit of an odd quirk, but whether that’ll end up being the case remains to be seen. Nvidia didn’t immediately respond to a request for clarification about the issue.

Nvidia also hasn’t mentioned a timeframe for DLSS support coming to Proton (though it did mention that support for Vulkan was coming this month, and that DirectX support would be coming in the fall), but it’s nice to see that it’s still pushing to bring Linux gaming up to par with the Windows experience. As someone who tried to be a Linux gamer in the long long ago, using vanilla Wine and, later, CrossOver, the work Nvidia and Valve are doing with Proton has made me consider setting up a Linux gaming rig again. Now if only I could get a graphics card.

(Image credit: Nvidia)

Nvidia does not have plans to bring its ray tracing-enabled GPU architectures to smartphones or other ultra-mobile devices right now, CEO Jensen Huang told journalists at a Computex meeting this week. The statements come just days after AMD confirmed that upcoming Samsung smartphones using AMD RDNA2 GPU architecture will support ray tracing.

According to Huang, the time for ray tracing in mobile gadgets hasn’t arrived yet.

“Ray tracing games are quite large, to be honest,” Huang said, according to ZDNet. “The data set is quite large, and there will be a time for it. When the time is right we might consider it.”

AMD, meanwhile, has licensed its RDNA2 architecture, which supports ray tracing, to Samsung for use in the upcoming Exynos 2200 SoC expected to power its laptops and other flagship mobile devices. AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su said this week that the SoC will indeed support ray tracing.

“The next place you’ll find RDNA2 will be the high-performance mobile phone market,” Su said, as reported by AnandTech. “AMD has partnered with industry leader Samsung to accelerate graphics innovation in the mobile market, and we’re happy to announce we will bring custom graphics IP to Samsung’s next flagship SoC, with ray tracing and variable rate shading capabilities. We’re really looking forward to Samsung providing more details later this year.”

Currently, Samsung’s Exynos-powered smartphones use Arm Mali-powered graphics; whereas, Qualcomm Snapdragon-based handsets use Adreno GPUs.

Nvidia is in process of taking over Arm, which develops general-purpose Cortex CPU cores as well as Mali graphics processing units for various system-on-chips (SoCs). Nvidia has long tried to license its GeForce technologies to designers of mobile SoCs and devices without any tangible success. If Nvidia’s acquisition of Arm is approved by various regulators, Nvidia will be able to offer its latest GeForce architectures to Arm licensees. Yet, it appears Nvidia has no immediate plans to bring GeForce RTX to smartphones.

Nvidia’s Ampere and Turing architectures seem to be too bulky for smartphone SoCs (and even for entry-level PC graphics) anyway. For now, the company will have to use its GeForce Now game streaming service to address demanding gamers on smartphones and tablets.

“That’s how we would like to reach Android devices, Chrome devices, iOS devices, MacOS devices, Linux devices — all kinds of devices, whether it’s on TV, or mobile device or PC,” said Huang. “I think that for us, right now, that is the best strategy.”

Yet, ray tracing is nothing new on mobiles. Imagination Technologies architectures since the PowerVR GR6500 introduced in 2014 have supported ray tracing, so it’s up to hardware designers to decide on implementing the capability and game designers to leverage it. Imagination’s PowerVR ray tracing implementation is currently supported by Unreal Engine 4 and Unity 5, but it’s unclear whether it’s primarily used for eye candy, performance increase and/or power reduction.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

The new NVM Express 2.0 (NVMe 2.0) Protocol has been released. While the thrust of the protocol focuses on flash storage and networking, the latest additions include full-blown support for hard disk drives (HDDs).

The addition of hard drive support is one of the biggest changes coming to NVMe 2.0 and something most people will be surprised to see, as current 7200-RPM hard drives cannot fully saturate current SATA 3.0 connections. However, like other forms of tech, hard drives are evolving, which might eventually require a bandwidth upgrade beyond SATA 3.0 speeds. For instance, Seagate announced two weeks ago that it’s Mach.2 hard drives can reach up to 524MB/s, a speed previously only capable with SSDs.

Drives like the Mach.2 could become very popular over the next few years, as hard drive capacity escalates beyond 20TB to fulfill the needs of the enterprise and data center world. Drives like these will need significantly higher bandwidth to ensure that accessing more than 20TB of data won’t take long.

However, simplifying the ecosystem down to one storage connection seems to be the main impetus for adding hard drive support, particularly as the NVMe spec continues to evolve its NVMeoF (NVME over Fabrics) functionally that allows the drives to be networked without additional abstraction layers.

NVMe 2.0 hard drive support could also signal the beginning of a decline of the SATA protocol as a whole since the protocol has not been updated in over 12 years. Getting rid of SATA and migrating all hard drives to NVMe could free up some space on motherboards and simplify storage connections (at least in the consumer space) to just NVMe, but don’t expect that change to happen any time soon – the latest word in the storage industry is that it will take a few more years before we see NVMe HDDs ship in high volumes.

Here’s the rest of the NVMe 2.0 feature set. Overall, these features aim to reduce NVMe’s overhead and give your PC more control over your SSD.

Zoned Namespaces (ZNS) is coming to NVMe 2.0 and will allow the SSD and host to collaborate data placement within the drive itself. ZNS will permit data to be aligned to the physical media of the SSD which will improve overall system performance and give your PC more of the SSD’s storage capacity.
NVMe Key-Value Command Set will provide access to data on an NVMe SSD namespace using a key instead of a logical block address. Switching from logical blocks to keys will reduce overhead by not having the SSD maintain a translation table for the logical block address.
Rotational media support is the name for Hard Disk Drive support for NVM Express. This will include new updates to features and enhancements required for HDD support.
NVMe Endurance Group Management will enable media to be configured into Endurance Groups and NVM Sets. This exposes granularity of access to the SSD and improved control.
NVMe 2.0 will be backward compatible with previous NVMe architecture generations. Allowing future NVMe 2.0 SSDs to work with current M.2 capable motherboards and M.2 cards.

(Image credit: Nvidia)

Sales of discrete GPUs in the first quarter were up both sequentially and year-over-year due to high demand for PCs in general and gaming PCs in particular, according to Mercury Research. Nvidia continued to dominate the market,

AMD has been gaining CPU sales and market share in the recent years particularly in the gaming segment as many of its processors do not have any direct rivals. But at the same time sales of the company’s discrete GPUs have been a roller coaster and its market share has been declining. In the recent months the situation with AMD’s standalone GPU supplies were tougher because of chip shortages and its market share in Q4 2020 declined to a multi-year low, according to Jon Peddie Research.

Shipments of discrete graphics processors in the first quarter reached 22 million units (which includes graphics chips for desktops and notebooks as well as for crypto mining), a 1% increase sequentially, according to data by Mercury Research cited by Capital Markets (which was cited by Barron’s). Typically, shipments of standalone GPUs decrease in Q1 versus Q4, but this was not a usual quarter.

Nvidia commanded 81% of standalone GPU shipments in Q1 2021, which was 5.2% higher than in the same period a year ago, based on data from Mercury Research. AMD commanded 19% of shipments, almost flat with the previous quarter and a decline compared to Q1 2020. Meanwhile, since unit sales increased sequentially and AMD’s share remained flat, it means that the company sold more GPUs in Q1 2021 than it did in Q4 2020.

GPUs used to mine Ethereum contributed to additional GPU sales in the first quarter, said Dean McCarron, the head of Mercury Research. Yet, it is hard to estimate how many of GPUs sold in Q1 are now used to mine cryptocurrency. McCarron estimates that sales of Nvidia’s custom crypto mining processors (CMP) totalled 1 – 2 million in the first quarter, which is well below his expectation of around 4.5 million.

Both AMD and Nvidia said recently that their shipments in Q1 2021 were constrained by shortages of production capacity at foundries as well as tight supply of components. Since AMD has contract obligations to supply its custom SoCs for the latest game consoles from Microsoft and Sony as well as CPUs to PC and server makers, it is not particularly surprising that the company could not increase shipments of its own GPUs significantly in the first quarter. Meanwhile, AMD hopes to boost sales of its graphics processors later this year.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

A California man has filed for a class action lawsuit against PC manufacturer Dell, claiming that the company “intentionally misled and deceived” buyers of its Alienware Area 51-m R1 gaming laptop, which was advertised to be more upgradeable than other gaming notebooks.

The plaintiff, Robert Felter, who is based in San Francisco, alleges that Dell misleads customers to believe that the laptop would be upgradeable, possibly into future generations of components. The case, Felter v. Dell Technologies, Inc. (3:21-cv-04187) has been filed with the United States District Court in the Northern District of California.

The Alienware Area 51-m was announced at CES 2019 and launched soon after. (The complaint claims the announcement was made in the summer of 2019, which is incorrect.). Among the Area 51-m’s biggest touted innovations were a user-replaceable CPU and GPU.

At media briefings, Alienware representatives told the press that the CPU could be upgraded as long as it used Intel’s Z390 chipset. The laptop used Intel’s 9th Gen Core desktop processors, up to the Intel Core i9-9900K. Dell developed separate proprietary Dell Graphics Form Factor (DGFF) modules for the Nvidia graphics.

The lawsuit, however, claims that consumers were told that “core components” (meaning the CPU and GPU) could be replaced beyond the current generation of hardware.

“Dell’s advertisement to the public didn’t place any restrictions on the upgradeability of the laptop,” lawyer David W. Kani said in an email to Tom’s Hardware. “They also never disclosed that those with the highest spec CPU and/or GPU that their device would not be upgradeable.”

Dell did not respond to a request for comment prior to publishing. This article will be updated if and when it does.

The complaint reads that “Dell’s representations of the upgradability of the Area 51M R1 also extended to units that were equipped with the fastest, most advanced Core Components available to the market, thus creating a reasonable expectation with consumers that the upgradability of the Area 51M R1 extended to yet to be released INTEL CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs, and did in fact create such expectations with consumers.” Several times, the complaint refers to Dell’s claims of “unprecedented upgradeability.”

Those words indeed live on Dell’s web page for the Alienware Area-51M R1.

“Gamers have made it clear that they’ve noticed a lack of CPU and GPU upgradability in gaming laptops,” it reads. “The Area-51m was engineered with this in mind, finally allowing gamers to harness power comparable to even the highest-performance desktop… CPU upgrades can be done using standard desktop-class processors, while GPU upgrades can be done with GPU upgrade kits available on Dell.com or with the Alienware Graphics Amplifier.”

(Image credit: Dell)

Upgrade kits for the graphics card finally launched in November of 2019 and included options for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 and Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080. Those were the GPUs in the earliest sold Area-51m units, though later ones launched with the weaker RTX 2060 and GTX 1660 Ti. Those with an RTX 2070, could, in theory, upgrade to an RTX 2080, and those with lesser GPUs could move up the chain.

But in May of 2020, Alienware released the Alienware Area-51m R2, a refresh that added support for 10th Gen Intel Core desktop processors and a wider range of GPUs from the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti up to the newer Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super and an AMD option, the Radeon RX 5700M.

In June, Alienware laid bare the limits of the upgradeability of both machines. Like the earlier laptop that only supported 9th Gen Intel processors, the new one would only support Intel 10th Gen. The top-end RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2070 Super would be the end of the line of GPUs.

It’s the release of the second-generation Area-51m that is the crux of Felter’s argument.

“The Area 51M’s CPU was not upgradeable to the new INTEL 10th generation CPU, nor was its GPU upgradeable to the new NVIDIA RTX SUPER 2000 series,” the complaint states. “In fact, the only way Plaintiff could own a laptop with these newly released upgraded Core Components was to spend several thousand dollars more than what an upgrade would cost to purchase the then-newly released Alienware Area 51M R2 or a similarly equipped laptop from another manufacturer.”

In other words: To further upgrade the laptop, Felter would have to buy a new model.

Additionally, the plaintiff and his attorneys claim that because Dell includes Intel and Nvidia components in its machines and has roadmaps in advance, that the company knew the laptop could not be upgraded.

The case is an interesting one in the enthusiast space. At its essence, this boils down to a motherboard with Intel’s Z390 chipset as well as the proprietary graphics cards. Motherboards are upgraded at a regular cadence to work with the latest processors, though occasionally new processors will work on older boards. This could potentially set a sort of precedent about how far out a motherboard needs to support a CPU. In desktops, GPUs typically work for years, as long as it’s not using an outdated standard. But Dell’s graphics were in a proprietary form factor.

Felter is seeking damages, relief and attorneys fees for himself and those in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state who purchased the laptop on their own since its release in 2019. He is represented by attorneys Brian H. Mahany of Mahany Law and Steven I. Hochfelsen and David W. Kani of Hochfelsen & Kani, LLP. He is asking the court for a jury trial.

After being canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, E3 is back for 2021 in an all-digital format, kicking off on June 12th. And with Microsoft and Nintendo finally having announced the dates and times for their big showcase presentations, the event schedule is starting to fall into place.

If you want to attend the virtual event as a fan, you can now register to attend on E3’s website so that you can get access to the E3 portal and app. But if you want to follow along with the press conferences and announcements, we’ve put together a rough timeline of events with everything that we’re aware of. (Note that the exact times of some presentations haven’t been announced yet.)

When is E3?

E3 technically takes place from Saturday, June 12th, to Tuesday, June 15th, but you can expect some big announcements a couple days before E3 at Summer Game Fest’s Kickoff Live event.

Thursday, June 10th

2PM ET: Summer Game Fest’s Kickoff Live event hosted by Geoff Keighley

Saturday, June 12th

11AM ET: Guerrilla Collective (note that this is the second Guerrilla Collective show — the first takes place on June 5th)
1PM ET: E3 broadcast pre-show
3PM ET: Ubisoft Forward
TBA time: Gearbox press conference, Devolver Digital show

Sunday, June 13th

11:45AM ET: E3 broadcast pre-show
1PM ET: Microsoft’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase
3:15PM ET: Square Enix Presents
TBA time: “Special presentations” from the PC Gaming Show and the Future Games Show. E3 parent company ESA also says that Warner Bros. Games & Back4Blood and 24 Entertainment “will be featured” on the E3 broadcast on Sunday.

Monday, June 14th

11AM ET: E3 broadcast pre-show
TBA time: “Press conferences from several indie developers” and “presentations from Take-Two Interactive, Mythical Games, Freedom Games, Razer and Capcom.” Verizon and Intellivision will also be “featured,” the ESA says.

Tuesday, June 15th

11AM ET: E3 broadcast pre-show
12PM ET: Nintendo’s Nintendo Direct, which will have “roughly” 40 minutes of information about upcoming games, followed by a Treehouse Live with about three hours of gameplay demoed.
TBA time: “Focused events” from Bandai Namco, Yooreka Games, and GameSpot
The day will close out with the Official E3 2021 Awards Show

How can I watch E3?

E3 will be airing its broadcast on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. For the presentations hosted by individual companies, you may be able to find official streams on their social platforms.

Update June 3rd, 11:18AM ET: Added Square Enix Presents.

Fortnite is getting a visual boost on PC very soon. As part of the upcoming Chapter 2: Season 7, which will launch on June 8th, the PC version of the game is getting a new “epic” graphical setting.

Epic says it will include “new and enhanced effects plus improved post-processing features and shadow quality.” Among other changes, it sounds like many of the great visual enhancements that came to the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game are coming to PC, including “more advanced explosion effects.” In other words, after you update, try to find a rocket launcher to play with.

As part of the update, the system requirements for Fortnite are now getting a tweak. Basically, there are now three ranges: epic, recommended, and minimum. Here’s what you’ll need:

Epic specs

Nvidia GTX 1080, AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, or equivalent GPU
4GB VRAM or higher
Intel Core i7-8700, AMD Ryzen 7 3700x, or equivalent
16GB RAM or higher
NVMe solid state drive
Windows 10 64-bit

Recommended specs

Nvidia GTX 960, AMD R9 280, or equivalent DX11 GPU
2GB VRAM
Core i5-7300U 3.5GHz
8GB RAM
Windows 10 64-bit

Minimum specs

Intel HD 4000 on PC; Intel Iris Pro 5200
Core i3-3225 3.3GHz
4GB RAM
Windows 7 / 8 / 10 64-bit

Season 7 kicks off on June 8th — and it looks like it’ll add an extraterrestrial element to the game.

Microsoft has been teasing a “next generation” of Windows for months now, but new hints suggest the company isn’t just preparing an update to its existing Windows 10 software, but a new, numbered version of the operating system: Windows 11.

The software giant announced a new Windows event for June 24th yesterday, promising to show “what’s next for Windows.” The event invite included an image of what looks like a new Windows logo, with light shining through the window in only two vertical bars, creating an outline that looks very much like the number 11. Microsoft followed up with an animated version of this image, making it clear the company intentionally ignored the horizontal bars.

Microsoft’s Windows event also starts at 11AM ET, not the usual start time for typical Windows and Surface events. Following the event invite, Microsoft exec Yusuf Mehdi said he hasn’t “been this excited for a new version of Windows since Windows 95!” It’s the first time we’ve heard Microsoft specifically mention a “new version” of Windows is on the way.

The event invite also comes just a week after Nadella teased a “next generation of Windows” announcement. Nadella promised that Microsoft would soon share “one of the most significant updates to Windows of the past decade.” Microsoft’s chief product officer, Panos Panay, also teased a “next generation” of Windows earlier this year.

If Microsoft is truly readying to move beyond Windows 10 and towards Windows 11, we’re expecting to see big visual changes to reflect that. Microsoft has been working on something codenamed Sun Valley, which the company has referred to as a “sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows.”

Big UI changes are coming to Windows.

A lot of these visual changes will come from the work Microsoft completed on Windows 10X, a lightweight version of Windows intended to rival Chrome OS, before it was scrapped. That includes a new Start menu, new system icons, File Explorer improvements, and the end of Windows 95-era icons that drag Windows users back to the past in dialog boxes. Rounded corners and updates to the built-in Windows apps are also planned.

Significant changes are also on the way for Windows beyond the user interface. Microsoft appears to be ready to address a lot of lingering problems, with fixes planned for a rearranging apps issue on multiple monitors, an upcoming Xbox Auto HDR feature, and improvements to Bluetooth audio support.

Perhaps the biggest lingering issue waiting to be fixed is the Windows store. Microsoft has been working on a new app store for Windows in recent months, and rumors suggest it will be a significant departure from what exists today. Nadella has promised to “unlock greater economic opportunity for developers and creators” with Windows, and the Windows store seems like the obvious way to do that.

Microsoft is reportedly overhauling its Windows app store to allow developers to submit any Windows application, including browsers like Chrome or Firefox. This would significantly improve the store alone, but Microsoft might also be considering allowing third-party commerce platforms in apps. That would mean Microsoft wouldn’t take a cut from developers who use their own in-app purchase systems.

Some of the changes Microsoft planned for Windows 10X are now coming to Windows.

So far, Microsoft has only announced a cut to 12 percent commission for PC games in the Windows store, but allowing developers to bypass Microsoft’s cut would be a significant change.

Moving to Windows 11 branding would also back up Microsoft’s reinvestment in Windows. The software maker signaled a renewed interest in Windows last year, during a pandemic that has demonstrated how important the operating system is. Windows usage jumped as workers and students across the world turned to laptops and PCs to work from home. PC shipments have also surged over the past year.

After slicing Windows into two parts back in 2018, Microsoft moved parts of Windows development back under Panos Panay’s control last year. The move was a clear admission that Microsoft’s Windows split didn’t work, after months of messy development experiences for Windows 10, delayed Windows updates, a lack of major new features, and lots of Windows update issues.

Moving to Windows 11 would still be a surprise move for Microsoft, though. The company previously referred to Windows 10 as “the last version of Windows” in its big push to position the OS as a service that’s continually updated. While there are monthly updates to Windows, the more significant changes are typically delivered twice a year.

A new version of Windows always helps boost PC sales.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Microsoft has struggled with naming these updates, though. We’ve seen the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Fall Creators Update, and simple dates like the November 2019 Update. Microsoft has also adopted yet another naming scheme recently, referring to updates as 20H1 or 21H1 to signify both the release year and part of the year the update launched.

A move to Windows 11 wouldn’t necessarily clear up Microsoft’s update naming issues, but if the company also adopted point releases like Windows 11.1, that would certainly help both consumers and IT admins to quickly understand which version is the latest.

OEMs would also be happy to see a Windows 11 release. A new version of Windows always drives new hardware sales and renewed interest in the operating system. If Microsoft backs that up with a new UI and a fresh look and feel for Windows, it will be the typical playbook we’ve seen for Windows for decades.

It’s not long until we find out whether Microsoft is ready to dial the version number of Windows up to 11. The Windows elevent (as I’m now calling it) will start at 11AM ET on June 24th, and The Verge will be covering all the news live as it happens.

Nvidia goes back to 4K for more than $1K

Last year’s Nvidia RTX 3080 was the first GPU to make 4K gaming finally feasible. It was a card that delivered impressive performance at 4K, especially for its retail price of $699 — far less than the 2080 Ti cost a generation earlier. That was before the reality of a global chip shortage drove the prices of modern GPUs well above $1,000. Now that the street prices of RTX 3080s have stayed above $2,000 for months, Nvidia is launching its RTX 3080 Ti flagship priced at $1,199.

It’s a card that aims to deliver near identical levels of performance to the $1,499 RTX 3090, but in a smaller package and with just 12GB of VRAM — half what’s found on the RTX 3090. Nvidia is effectively competing with itself here, and now offering three cards at the top end. That’s if you can even manage to buy any of them in the first place.

I’ve spent the past week testing the RTX 3080 Ti at both 4K and 1440p resolutions. 4K gaming might have arrived originally with the RTX 2080 Ti, but the RTX 3080 Ti refines it and offers more headroom in the latest games. Unfortunately, it does so with a $1,199 price tag that I think will be beyond most people’s budgets even before you factor in the inevitable street price markup it will see during the current GPU shortage.

Hardware

If you put the RTX 3080 Ti and the RTX 3080 side by side, it would be difficult to tell the difference between them. They look identical, with the same ports and fan setup. I’m actually surprised this card isn’t a three-slot like the RTX 3090, or just bigger generally. The RTX 3080 Ti has one fan on either side of the card, with a push-pull system in place. The bottom fan pulls cool air into the card, which then exhausts on the opposite side that’s closest to your CPU cooler and rear case fan. A traditional blower cooler also exhausts the hot air out of the PCIe slot at the back.

This helped create a quieter card on the original RTX 3080, and I’m happy to report it’s the same with the RTX 3080 Ti. The RTX 3080 Ti runs at or close to its max fan RPM under heavy loads, but the hum of the fans isn’t too distracting. I personally own an RTX 3090, and while the fans rarely kick in at full speed, they’re certainly a lot more noticeable than the RTX 3080 Ti’s.

Nvidia has used the same RTX 3080 design for the 3080 Ti Model.

That quiet performance might have a downside, though. During my week of testing with the RTX 3080 Ti, I noticed that the card seems to run rather hot. I recorded temperatures regularly around 80 degrees Celsius, compared to the 70 degrees Celsius temperatures on the larger RTX 3090. The fans also maxed out a lot during demanding 4K games on the RTX 3080 Ti in order to keep the card cool. I don’t have the necessary equipment to fully measure the heat output here, but when I went to swap the RTX 3080 Ti for another card after hours of testing, it was too hot to touch, and stayed hotter for longer than I’d noticed with either the RTX 3080 or RTX 3090. I’m not sure if this will result in problems in the long term, as we saw with the initial batch of 2080 Ti units having memory overheating issues, but most people will put this in a case and never touch it again. Still, I’m surprised at how long it stayed hot enough for me to not want to touch it.

As this is a Founders Edition card, Nvidia is using its latest 12-pin single power connector. There’s an ugly and awkward adapter in the box that lets you connect two eight-pin PCIe power connectors to it, but I’d highly recommend getting a single new cable from your PSU supplier to connect directly to this card. It’s less cabling, and a more elegant solution if you have a case window or you’re addicted to tidy cable management (hello, that’s me).

The RTX 3080 Ti inside my case.

I love the look of the RTX 3080 Ti and the pennant-shaped board that Nvidia uses here. Just like the RTX 3080, there are no visible screws, and the regulatory notices are all on the output part of the card so there are no ugly stickers or FCC logos. It’s a really clean card, and I’m sorry to bring this up, but Nvidia has even fixed the way the number 8 is displayed. It was a minor mistake on the RTX 3080, but I’m glad the 8 has the correct proportions on the RTX 3080 Ti.

At the back of the card there’s a single HDMI 2.1 port and three DisplayPort 1.4a ports. Just like the RTX 3080, there are also LEDs that glow around the top part of the fan, and the GeForce RTX branding lights up, too. You can even customize the colors of the glowing part around the fan if you’re really into RGB lighting.

Just like the RTX 3080, this new RTX 3080 Ti needs a 750W power supply. The RTX 3080 Ti even draws more power, too, at up to 350 watts under load compared to 320 watts on the RTX 3080. That’s the same amount of power draw as the larger RTX 3090, which is understandable given the performance improvements, but it’s worth being aware of how this might impact your energy bills (and the cost of your PC build to run it).

1440p testing

I’ve been testing the RTX 3080 Ti with Intel’s latest Core i9 processor. For 1440p tests, I’ve also paired the GPU with a 32-inch Samsung Odyssey G7 monitor. This monitor supports refresh rates up to 240Hz, as well as Nvidia’s G-Sync technology.

I compared the RTX 3080 Ti against both the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 to really understand where it fits into Nvidia’s new lineup. I tested a variety of AAA titles, including Fortnite, Control, Death Stranding, Metro Exodus, Call of Duty: Warzone, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and many more. You can also find the same games tested at 4K resolution below.

All games were tested at max or ultra settings on the RTX 3080 Ti, and most exceeded an average of 100fps at 1440p. On paper, the RTX 3080 Ti is very close to an RTX 3090, and my testing showed that plays out in most games at 1440p. Games like Microsoft Flight Simulator, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, and Watch Dogs: Legion all have near-identical performance across the RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090 at 1440p.

Even Call of Duty: Warzone is the same without Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology enabled, and it’s only really games like Control and Death Stranding where there’s a noteworthy, but small, gap in performance.

However, the jump in performance from the RTX 3080 to the RTX 3080 Ti is noticeable across nearly every game, with the exception of Death Stranding and Fortnite, which both perform really well on the base RTX 3080.

RTX 3080 Ti (1440p)

Benchmark	RTX 3080 Founders Edition	RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition	RTX 3090 Founders Edition
Benchmark	RTX 3080 Founders Edition	RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition	RTX 3090 Founders Edition
Microsoft Flight Simulator	46fps	45fps	45fps
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	147fps	156fps	160fps
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DLSS)	154fps	162fps	167fps
CoD: Warzone	124fps	140fps	140fps
CoD: Warzone (DLSS+RT)	133fps	144fps	155fps
Fortnite	160fps	167fps	188fps
Fortnite (DLSS)	181fps	173fps	205fps
Gears 5	87fps	98fps	103fps
Death Stranding	163fps	164fps	172fps
Death Stranding (DLSS quality)	197fps	165fps	179fps
Control	124fps	134fps	142fps
Control (DLSS quality + RT)	126fps	134fps	144fps
Metro Exodus	56fps	64fps	65fps
Metro Exodus (DLSS+RT)	67fps	75fps	77fps
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla	73fps	84fps	85fps
Watch Dogs: Legion	79fps	86fps	89fps
Watch Dogs: Legion (DLSS+RT)	67fps	72fps	74fps
Watch Dogs: Legion (RT)	49fps	55fps	56fps

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla performs 15 percent better on the RTX 3080 Ti over the regular RTX 3080, and Metro Exodus also shows a 14 percent improvement. The range of performance increases ranges from around 4 percent all the way up to 15 percent, so the performance gap is very game dependent.

Even when using games with ray tracing, the RTX 3080 Ti still managed high frame rates when paired with DLSS. DLSS uses neural networks and AI supercomputers to analyze games and sharpen or clean up images at lower resolutions. In simple terms, it allows a game to render at a lower resolution and use Nvidia’s image reconstruction technique to upscale the image and make it look as good as native 4K.

Whenever I see the DLSS option in games, I immediately turn it on now to get as much performance as possible. It’s still very much required for ray tracing games, particularly as titles like Watch Dogs: Legion only manage to hit 55fps with ultra ray tracing enabled. If you enable DLSS, this jumps to 72fps and it’s difficult to notice a hit in image quality.

The RTX 3080 Ti stays quiet during heavy loads.

4K testing

For my 4K testing, I paired the RTX 3080 Ti with Acer’s 27-inch Nitro XV273K, a 4K monitor that offers up to 144Hz refresh rates and supports G-Sync. I wasn’t able to get any of the games I tested on both the RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090 to hit the frame rates necessary to really take advantage of this 144Hz panel, but some came close thanks to DLSS.

Metro Exodus manages a 14 percent improvement over the RTX 3080, and Microsoft Flight Simulator also sees a 13 percent jump. Elsewhere, other games see between a 4 and 9 percent improvement. These are solid gains for the RTX 3080 Ti, providing more headroom for 4K gaming over the original RTX 3080.

The RTX 3080 Ti comes close to matching the RTX 3090 performance at 4K in games like Watch Dogs: Legion, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Gears 5, and Death Stranding. Neither the RTX 3080 Ti nor RTX 3090 is strong enough to handle Watch Dogs: Legion with ray tracing, though. Both cards manage around 30fps on average, and even DLSS only bumps this up to below 50fps averages.

RTX 3080 Ti (4K)

Benchmark	RTX 3080 Founders Edition	RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition	RTX 3090 Founders Edition
Benchmark	RTX 3080 Founders Edition	RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition	RTX 3090 Founders Edition
Microsoft Flight Simulator	30fps	34fps	37fps
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	84fps	88fps	92fps
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DLSS)	102fps	107fps	111fps
CoD: Warzone	89fps	95fps	102fps
CoD: Warzone (DLSS+RT)	119fps	119fps	129fps
Fortnite	84fps	92fps	94fps
Fortnite (DLSS)	124fps	134fps	141fps
Gears 5	64fps	72fps	73fps
Death Stranding	98fps	106fps	109fps
Death Stranding (DLSS quality)	131fps	132fps	138fps
Control	65fps	70fps	72fps
Control (DLSS quality + RT)	72fps	78fps	80fps
Metro Exodus	34fps	39fps	39fps
Metro Exodus (DLSS+RT)	50fps	53fps	55fps
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla	64fps	70fps	70fps
Watch Dogs: Legion	52fps	55fps	57fps
Watch Dogs: Legion (DLSS+RT)	40fps	47fps	49fps
Watch Dogs: Legion (RT)	21fps	29fps	32fps

Most games manage to comfortably rise above 60fps in 4K at ultra settings, with Microsoft Flight Simulator and Metro Exodus as the only exceptions. Not even the RTX 3090 could reliably push beyond 144fps at 4K without assistance from DLSS or a drop in visual settings. I think we’re going to be waiting on whatever Nvidia does next to really push 4K at these types of frame rates.

When you start to add ray tracing and ultra 4K settings, it’s clear that both the RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090 need to have DLSS enabled to play at reasonable frame rates across the most demanding ray-traced titles. Without DLSS, Watch Dogs: Legion manages an average of 29fps (at max settings), with dips below that making the game unplayable.

DLSS really is the key here across both 1440p and 4K. It was merely a promise when the 2080 Ti debuted nearly three years ago, but Nvidia has now managed to get DLSS into more than 50 popular games. Red Dead Redemption 2 and Rainbow Six Siege are getting DLSS support soon, too.

DLSS also sets Nvidia apart from AMD’s cards. While AMD’s RX 6800 XT is fairly competitive at basic rasterization at 1440p, it falls behind the RTX 3080 in the most demanding games at 4K — particularly when ray tracing is enabled. Even the $1,000 Radeon RX 6900 XT doesn’t fare much better at 4K. AMD’s answer to DLSS is coming later this month, but until it arrives we still don’t know exactly how it will compensate for ray tracing performance on AMD’s GPUs. AMD has also struggled to supply retailers with stock of its cards.

That’s left Nvidia in a position to launch the RTX 3080 Ti at a price point that really means it’s competing with itself, positioned between the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090. If the RTX 3090 wasn’t a thing, the RTX 3080 Ti would make a lot more sense.

The RTX 3080 Ti comes close to RTX 3090 performance.

Nvidia is also competing with the reality of the market right now, as demand has been outpacing supply for more than six months. Nvidia has introduced a hash rate limiter for Ethereum cryptocurrency mining on new versions of the RTX 3080, RTX 3070, and now this RTX 3080 Ti. It could help deter some scalpers, but we’ll need months of data on street prices to really understand if it’s driven pricing down to normal levels.

Demand for 30-series cards has skyrocketed as many rush to replace their aging GTX 1080 and GTX 1080 Ti cards. Coupled with Nvidia’s NVENC and professional tooling support, it’s also made the RTX 30-series a great option for creators looking to stream games, edit videos, or build games.

In a normal market, I would only recommend the RTX 3080 Ti if you’re really willing to spend an extra $500 to get some extra gains in 1440p and 4K performance. But it’s a big price premium when the RTX 3090 exists at this niche end of the market and offers more performance and double the VRAM if you’re really willing to pay this much for a graphics card.

At $999 or even $1,099, the RTX 3080 Ti would tempt me a lot more, but $1,199 feels a little too pricey. For most people, an RTX 3080 makes a lot more sense if it were actually available at its standard retail price. Nvidia also has a $599 RTX 3070 Ti on the way next week, which could offer some performance gains to rival the RTX 3080.

Either way, the best GPU is the one you can buy right now, and let’s hope that Nvidia and AMD manage to make that a reality soon.

Photography by Tom Warren / The Verge

No Man’s Sky is getting yet another big update, this time focused on the way the sci-fi adventure looks. The update is called “Prisms,” and developer Hello Games describes it as “a visual overhaul” of the game. It’s available starting today.

The changes include new weather effects, volumetric lighting, furry aliens, skies full of stars, and more. The studio also says that PC and next-gen versions of the game will get “detailed reflections, improved lighting quality, more detailed biomes, and more.” You can get a good rundown in the trailer above. As part of the update, No Man’s Sky is also getting a very cool new feature: flying pets that you can ride. These include giant beetles, flying worms, and huge butterflies.

As always, the update is available for free. Thanks to a steady stream of expansions, No Man’s Sky is a vastly different game today compared to when it launched in 2016. This year alone has seen added features like alien pets, a new quest structure, and even the Normandy starship from Mass Effect.