Andrew Munro 28 mins ago Featured Tech Reviews, Keyboards
2020 has seen a huge amount of keyboards launch, from membrane to mechanical, tenkeyless to full size, and budget options all the way up to some models priced north of £200. Today we’re going to be giving you our top 5 keyboards of 2020, and always, let us know whether you agree – or disagree! – in the comments.
Watch video via Vimeo (below) or over on YouTube at 2160p HERE
#5 Xtrfy K4 TKL RGB
See the Xtrfy K4 TKL RGB review HERE.
#4: Razer Ornata V2
See the Razer Ornata V2 review HERE.
#3: ASUS ROG STRIX Scope TKL Deluxe
See the ASUS ROG STRIX Scope TKL Deluxe review HERE.
#2: Mountain Everest Max
See the Mountain Everest Max review HERE.
#1: Corsair K100 RGB
See the Corsair K100 RGB review HERE.
KitGuru says: Make sure to watch the full video to find out why these keyboards made our Top 5 list. We discuss their price point, key specifications, unique selling points and unique features. Be sure to let us know your thoughts on these choices too!
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ASUS ROG STRIX B550-I Gaming Mini-ITX Motherboard Review
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Science fiction author Cory Doctorow called for stricter antitrust regulations, especially for interoperable online services, at the remote Chaos Communication Congress (rC3) on Sunday in order to maintain competition in the digital age. With the five greats of US surveillance capitalism – Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft (GAFAM) – “the worst nightmares” of the early advocates of civil rights on the Internet have come true. Political and legal countermeasures are therefore overdue.
Potential for a Big Brother dystopia As a “blind spot” in the eye of early “cyber-optimists” like Grateful Dead songwriter and activist John Perry Barlow, who 1990 in In a famous statement that rejected the governability of the Internet by state actors, Doctorow identified the dark potential of new technologies for building a Big Brother dystopia. They did not realize that the use of digital products such as Microsoft Windows and Office as well as social media would be massively increased by network effects and thus tend to monopoly structures.
In fact, the regulatory environment in the 1990 and the Internet looked like an “almost perfect market” after the break-up of AT & T’s monopoly in the telecommunications market and the US government’s antitrust proceedings against Microsoft, admitted the US comrade – Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) civil rights organization. The cyberuphorics had therefore thought that everyone could now reach a global audience with their products and services from their garage via a cheap network. But this was “naive”.
Monopoly position of large corporations has become routine At the same time, the antitrust law had been put into trouble by the influential US lawyer Robert Bork, who had already acted criminally as the chief lawyer of President Richard Nixon, Doctorow explained. This has made the theory acceptable internationally that monopolies are not bad in themselves. It only becomes dangerous if they raise prices and harm consumers. This view prevailed in Europe during the Reagan era.
A real abuse of power can hardly be proven for today’s monopolists like the GAFAM-League despite their “predatory behavior” and is already routine the Canadian complained. They are likely to buy up competitors with impunity and expand their markets horizontally and vertically. Google, for example, has only built one and a half innovative and successful products of its own: the search engine and the Hotmail clone Gmail. Android, technology for online ad networks (AdTech) and YouTube are all just bought in.
“Garage myth” of the digital companies is no longer applicable The state is even cementing the dominant position of digital corporations, Doctorow referred to the excesses of the system for “intellectual property”. Thanks to “author monopolies” such as software patents, copyright, general terms and conditions, potentially new copyright claims on interfaces (APIs) and the legal protection of technology for digital rights control management (DRM), companies could use upload filters, for example, to hinder competition and put their customers in distress bring. Governments help them to enforce their intellectual property rights and, for example, confiscate imitations at the borders.
The “garage myth” is thus finally invalid, said the civil rights activist. Start-up founders would have to fight against monopolies with enormous growth rates today and would no longer be able to easily access venture capital in the area of the “kill zone of the big five”. Meanwhile, employees of tech companies only dreamed of the free massage on Wednesdays or a good pension plan.
Competition further undermined For Doctorow, it is therefore the highest level not only to sharpen competition law again, but also to “rediscover the liberating power of technology”. After an initial test of a nuclear weapon he helped develop as part of the Manhattan Project, Robert Oppenheimer at least tried to “put the spirit back in the bottle” and put down his tools. Today’s technology developers should therefore also abandon building “digital equivalents of the atomic bomb” and rely on interoperable open services.
“We are at a crucial crossroads,” warned the network activist. Programmers shouldn’t make Orwell look like optimists. With the Internet of Things, not only would electronic eyes be created everywhere, some of which users could research without blinking and report them to the authorities. Every networked device is also shielded with many intellectual property rights, so that it can hardly be used for other purposes. In this way, competition will be further undermined. Monopolies could destroy lives, however, because many people need drugs, vaccines or glasses and fly by airplanes.
There will be no, at least for the current moment, versions of MSI video cards with AMD Big Navi GPU in addition to the proposals of the Gaming range: in fact the chips are missing to be able to build enough cards
by Paolo Corsini published on 28 December 2020 , at 08: 41 in Video Cards channel Ships MSI Radeon AMD RDNA
It has been a few weeks since the official debut of the AMD Radeon RX video cards of the family 6000. We remind you that these are models based on RDNA2 architecture with GPU indicated with the code name of Big Navi .
Radeon RX 6800, Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6900 XT : these are the 3 models of the family currently available on the market, albeit with considerable difficulties. The demand is in fact higher than the supply, on a par with the rest of what happened with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX cards 3000 based on architecture Ampere.
MSI has indirectly provided some information on the availability of the AMD Radeon GPUs of the Big Navi family, indicating as among its series of video cards the Radeon RX proposals 6000 will be offered only in the Gaming range . The information emerged from a live organized in recent days by MSI, focused on its Radeon card 6800 XT Gaming X Trio with the game Cyberpunk 2077 broadcast on its Youtube channel.
In total, at least for the moment, MSI will provide its customers with only 4 different video cards of the Radoen RX range 6800 and Radeon RX 6800 XT . All are based on custom design with triple fan cooling system, with clock frequencies varying from the more contained ones of the Gaming Trio models to the more extreme ones of the Gaming X Trio proposals.
At the base of this choice the reduced availability of AMD Big Navi GPUs, which was already easy to deduce by observing the very small number of cards available on the market. The choice of MSI will presumably also be followed by other manufacturers , thus avoiding developing too many different versions of these cards failing to guarantee an adequate volume of products ready for marketing.
Despite numerous hardware premieres, the end of this year is not the best time to buy new components due to huge problems with availability. Before the release of the Radeons RX 6000, AMD gave hope that we will not necessarily have a “paper” premiere. Unfortunately, after reviewing the offers of both Polish and foreign stores, it turned out that it is even more “paper” than in the case of Nvidia GeForce RTX cards 3000. The situation is not interesting and AMD partners are forced to make decisions they would prefer to avoid in order to be able to offer potential customers a wider choice of their products. One of them is MSI, which revealed in its YouTube program that it intends to focus solely on the Radeons RX 6000 of the Gaming series. We know the reasons.
MSI intends to market the Radeon RX 6000 only in the Gaming version due to insufficient the amount of GPU supplies, abandoning other models entirely. At least until things get better.
AMD Radeon RX graphics card test 6800 XT vs GeForce RTX 3080
MSI has decided – unlike other manufacturers – to focus only on one series of Radeon RX graphics cards 6000. I am talking about Gaming (X) Trio, which was presented in one of the last episodes of MSI Insider on the YouTube channel (RX 6800 XT). Eric Van Beurden, MSI’s director of marketing, revealed at the time that “we intend to focus only on this project. We do not plan other blower or SUPRIM models, because we do not receive the right amount of deliveries. So it’s better to focus on one option and see what the future holds. ” The decision makes sense, especially considering the current problems, so only MSI Radeon RX 6000 in the Gaming Trio and Gaming X Trio versions that differ in only the clock frequency (the latter has factory OC).
Test AMD Radeon RX 6800 vs GeForce RTX 3070
When is improvement expected? MSI does not seem to anticipate an imminent, more significant GPU shipment. AMD revealed at the end of November that in about two months we should see slightly better card availability and prices closer to the suggested ones, but that was a very optimistic assumption. Data from stores such as Proshop show that the Radeons RX 6800 is delivered in almost trace amounts, and the RX 6900 XT better not to mention. In the face of poor availability of proprietary models and high demand for cards, AMD intends to continue producing reference versions, but according to unofficial reports, the situation also results from, among others, GDDR6 memory deficit may improve no earlier than February.
With AMD’s new Zen 3-based Ryzen 5000 processors offering new levels of compute, gaming, and power efficiency performance to mainstream desktop users, it is a great time to be a Mini-ITX fan. In this review, we examine the ASUS ROG STRIX B550-I Gaming Mini-ITX motherboard and see how it handles the AMD Zen 3 flagship CPU.
Watch via our Vimeo channel (below) or over on YouTube at 2160p HERE
Video Timestamps:
00:00 Start
00:15 Introduction / the board
01:53 Rear mounted M.2 connector
03:05 Memory support / CPU socket
03:56 Top edge connectors
05:22 Right side of board / front panel connectors
05:57 PCI expansion slot area / M.2 daughterboard details
07:09 M.2 heatsink / right of M.2 connector
07:45 Front panel audio header / rear Type-C audio header
08:24 Rear I/O panel
09:34 Power delivery
10:57 VRM hardware components
14:17 Fan BIOS control
14:58 Test system / hardware
15:40 Test results
16:58 Thermal performance with M.2 SSDs
17:14 Audio test results
17:22 Manual overclocking and unusual sensor details
20:12 Overclocked results and power consumption
20:54 VRM and CPU temperatures
22:08 Luke’s closing thoughts – Pros and Cons
Coming in at around the £200 mark, this high-end B550 offering features an actively cooled 8+2 power stage design, dual M.2 sockets, plentiful quantities of 10Gbps USB on the rear and internally, and high-speed wired and wireless networking connectivity. ASUS also included a unique feature in its USB Type-C audio connector.
£200 is steep for a B550 motherboard, even in the typically more expensive Mini-ITX form factor. And with tough competition from the similarly priced ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming-ITX/AX motherboard in particular, can ASUS’ ROG STRIX B550-I Gaming prove its worth? Let’s take a look.
Features (information taken from the ASUS webpage):
AMD AM4 socket: Ready for Ryzen™ 5000 Series/ 4000 G-Series/ 3000 Series Desktop Processors
Best gaming connectivity: PCIe® 4.0-ready, dual M.2, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C® plus HDMI™ 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 output
Smooth networking: Onboard WiFi 6 (802.11ax) and Intel® 2.5 Gb Ethernet with ASUS LANGuard
Robust power solution: Teamed power stages with ProCool II power connector, high-quality alloy chokes and durable capacitors
Renowned software: Intuitive dashboards for UEFI BIOS and ASUS AI Networking make it easy to configure gaming builds
DIY-friendly design: Includes Q-connector, BIOS FlashBack™ and FlexKey
Unmatched personalization: ASUS-exclusive Aura Sync RGB lighting, including Aura RGB header and addressable Gen 2 RGB header
Industry-leading Gaming Audio: Audio USB Type-C®, AI Noise Canceling Microphone, SupremeFX S1220A codec, DTS® Sound Unbound™ and Sonic Studio III for immersive audio
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Tweakers uses cookies Tweakers is part of DPG Media. Our sites and apps use cookies, JavaScript and similar technology, among other things, to provide you with an optimal user experience. It also allows us to record and analyze the behavior of visitors and add this information to visitor profiles.
Cookies can be used to display advertisements on Tweakers and to recommend articles that match your interests. Third parties can also track your internet behavior, as is the case with embedded videos from YouTube.
Cookies can also be used to display relevant advertisements on third party sites. More information about this can be found at tweakers.net/cookies.
To view pages on Tweakers, you must accept the cookies by clicking on ‘Yes, I accept cookies’.
The Raspberry Pi retrogaming community has been hard at work over the last few years to master the portable handheld. This awesome SNES controller RetroPie rig, created by Josh from Restore Technique, gets us one step closer to ultimate retro gaming perfection.
For this project, Josh decided to use an actual SNES controller as the housing. Inside is a Raspberry Pi, powering the display and running a special edition of RetroPie.
Above is the first part of the assembly video, you can find part 2 here.
Because the Pi needed to fit inside of a SNES controller, a Raspberry Pi Zero module was used. It’s using a Waveshare GamePi15 HAT which provides a screen and controller button input.
(Image credit: Josh, Restore Techniques)
According to Josh, it’s running a prebuilt image of PinkyPi, based on RetroPie 4.5.1. To emulate SNES ROMs, he decided to use PiSNES as the primary emulator.
If you want to see more, check out Josh’s content at the Restore Technique channel on YouTube. Visit our list of Best Raspberry Pi Projects for more cool creations from the maker community.
The Asus RT-AX82U is a powerful mid-range gaming router, offering a myriad of features at a reasonable $229 price. It also proved stable throughout testing and offers the latest in Wi-Fi 6 technology.
For
Supports Wi-Fi 6
Programmable LED RGB lighting
Excellent range and throughput
Integrated security
Ease of setup
Granular control of QoS modes
Against
Only four Ethernet ports
Single USB port
No integrated WTFast
Dual-band only
Minimal effect with gaming port
Asus is well established in many aspects of the PC/gaming market, selling a wide range of motherboards, monitors, notebooks, network hardware and more. Today, we turn our attention to the company’s recent mid-range gaming router, the RT-AX82U. It brings Wi-Fi 6, easy setup and solid performance to the table, along with a typical stealthy exterior, complimented by some flashy RGB that both looks good, and is easy enough to turn off.
Design
Image 1 of 3
(Image credit: Asus)
Image 2 of 3
(Image credit: Asus)
Image 3 of 3
(Image credit: Asus)
At times, it can be hard to define precisely what a gaming router is, as opposed to the more mainstream siblings. The Asus RT-AX82U causes no such confusion, however, and ticks off all of the right design boxes. This starts with the four vertical antennas, and then moves on to the matte-black finish, with an angular body that strikes a successful balance between artful and aggressive. The dimensions are 10.8 x 7.3 x 6.5 inches (275.5 x 184.4 x 165 mm) with antenna, and it weighs in at 1.6 pounds (740 grams).
There are four status LEDs that provide connectivity information at a glance. These designate power, a WAN connection, and each of the two Wi-Fi frequencies.
Perhaps the signature feature for a gaming router has become the LED lighting. For those that seek out this feature, and want every accessory to have RGB lighting, the RT-AX82U delivers the goods with a choice of “Lighting vibe.” This includes several multi-color modes that have different lighting effects, which can be matched to different moods or applications.
The flip side of this is that not everyone wants such a colorful router, preferring their networking hardware to be more… unobtrusive. For those in the stealth router camp (for example for a bedroom deployment), one of the modes totally disables the light show.
Specifications
Processor
1.5 GHz tri-core processor
Memory
256 MB Flash, 512 MB RAM
Ports
RJ45 for 10/100/1000 BaseT for WAN x 1, RJ45 for 10/100/1000 BaseT for LAN x 4 USB 3.2 Gen 1 x 1
Encryption
WPA3-Personal, WPA2-Personal, WPA-Personal, WPA-Enterprise , WPA2-Enterprise , WPS support
Wi-Fi Technology
OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access)
Beamforming: standard-based and universal
1024-QAM high data rate, 20/40/80/160 MHz bandwidth
Dimensions
275.5 x 184.4 x 165 mm (WxDxH) with antenna
275.5 x 184.4 x 65 mm (WxDxH) without antenna
Weight
740 g
Price
$229.00
The Asus RT-AX82U sticks to its mid-range aspirations in the specs department. From the hardware perspective, it’s based on a 1.5 GHz tri-core processor, with 512 MB of RAM and 256 MB of flash storage. It runs Asus’ proprietary OS.
As usual, the rear of the router houses the connection ports. This includes a single WAN port and four LAN ports, one of which is designated as a dedicated Gaming Port. Each Ethernet port supports 10/100/1000 transfer rates, though hopefully no one is still using anything less than a gigabit device. The USB port is 3.2 Gen 1×1 (effectively rebranded 3.0), and there is also a power switch that’s useful for router reboots. Happily, we did not have any issues requiring a manual reboot during testing.
Wirelessly, the big news is that this router supports the latest generation of wireless connectivity, Wi-Fi 6, previously designated as 802.11ax, and has 160 Mbps channels. This translates into speeds up to 5400 Mbps, if you combine both the 2.4 GHz frequency that has a max speed of 574 Mbps, and the 5 GHz frequency that tops out at 4804 Mbps (dual-band). Modern wireless standards are supported, including OFDA, MU-MIMO, beamforming, and the latest security standard of WPA3-personal. The router is also fully backward compatible to 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) and 802.11n (Wi-Fi 4) devices.
Setup and Features
(Image credit: Asus)
Going from out of box to up and running (or more specifically, up and routing) took just a few minutes. As seen above, once plugged in, the router automatically goes into a setup process that prompts the user to go through the steps for a basic setup. This includes setting passwords for each of the Wi-Fi networks.
(Image credit: Asus)
As older firmwares often have security holes, we appreciate that Asus included a step in the setup process to upgrade the firmware to the latest version. This ensures that all the latest security updates are applied, along with bug fixes. For our testing, the RT-AX82U was running firmware version 3.0.0.4.384.9948.
(Image credit: Asus)
Once the initial setup is complete, we can get into optimizing the router for gaming. The router’s features are easily navigated via the left-hand panel. Under the setting “Adaptive QoS” we have a choice to enable QoS, which stands for Quality of Service. We went with the “Adaptive QoS,” which then allows us to choose a mode.
This allows the router to then analyze traffic as it passes through it, and categorize it. For example, if Games is selected, the router will then give gaming traffic priority, sending it ahead of other types of traffic. This traffic shaping allows users to make the most of their bandwidth, facilitating a good gaming experience while also simultaneously streaming video or audio content.
(Image credit: Asus)
There’s also a games section of the setup. This includes a Gear Accelerator that can prioritize gaming devices “For the best gaming experience.” A “Mobile Game Mode” is also available, but this requires downloading the Asus Router App to the mobile device. Finally, port forwarding is supported.
One minor downside is the lack of WTFast (a gaming private network service) integration, which some higher-end Asus routers have featured.
Security
The Asus RT-AX82U includes a number of security features. Network Protection with Trend Micro can provide antivirus on a network level, for no additional charge. Also, malicious sites are blocked at the router to keep the entire network secure.
Performance
When it comes to bandwidth, the Asus RT-AX82U performed quite well. We test routers both in a “near” location, at 8 feet away, and also at a “far” location, 36 feet away, on a higher floor, with ductwork in the way. The bandwidth test uses NetPerf software, with a Wi-Fi 6 client. For the latter, we have a laptop with an Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHz wireless adapter, set to use the widest 160 MHz channel width on the 5 GHz frequency. (Note that Gamefirst VI software was disabled throughout testing, which can provide further client-side traffic shaping.)
2.4 GHz near
2.4 GHz far
5 GHz near
5 GHz far
Bandwidth (Mbps)
227.99
122.03
884.13
745.69
The Asus RT-AX82U delivers very solid speeds, particularly on the 5 GHz frequencies. Also impressive was the minimal dropoff in speeds on the far 5 GHz test. If you have devices that aren’t in close proximity to the router, like a TV or console, this looks like a good option.
Next, we looked at gaming performance. For this, we used an Asus ROG G512 Strix i7 RTX 2070 16GB/512GB gaming laptop. For internal control, we ran the same tests on both wired and wireless connections.
For the wired tests, the laptop was connected to the router via a CAT 5e cable. We ran tests both with the connection to an Ethernet port on the router and then also while connected to the dedicated Gaming Port.
(Image credit: Asus)
Wireless tests were done on the 5 GHz frequency (with a single 2.4 GHz test just out of curiosity to confirm our suspicions). We played the game Overwatch and measured the frames per second (fps) with the software FRAPS. While normally fps in a multiplayer game like Overwatch can vary quite a bit depending on where you are in a level and what’s happening with other players. To minimize this variance, we ran our tests in the training level, where we’re technically connected to the servers but there aren’t a bunch of other players running around, shooting at us.
What’s interesting about Overwatch and some other multiplayer games is that, contrary to what you might expect, frame rates actually are impacted by network latency and throughput. Basically, if your connection isn’t consistent, your system has to do additional work to interpolate position and resend packets. This shows up both as spikes in ping time as well as reduced fps, particularly minimum fps.
In order to simulate gaming on a congested network, such as your roommates watching Netflix while you try to game, we stream ten 8K videos simultaneously from YouTube. (In case you are wondering, an 8k video needs about 50 Mbps of bandwidth, and we have a 300 Mbps cable connection, so it effectively saturates the connection, and then some). We measure the congestion using PingPlotter and count the spikes, which indicate when the network is over-congested. Finally, the Stats for Nerds tool in YouTube gives us an indicator of the dropped frames — which translates to stuttering and hanging video streams.
QoS
Avg. FPS
Min. FPS
Avg. Latency
8K Dropped Frames
Pingplotter Spikes
Notes
Ethernet
No
109.3
97
64
n/a
0
Ethernet + 10 8k videos
No
112.2
85
262
16.80%
3
videos barely played
Ethernet + 10 8k videos
adaptive, game priority
120.0
400
252
34.00%
6
Ethernet, gaming port
No
111.6
96
63
n/a
0
Ethernet, gaming port, 10 8k videos
No
109.9
94
255
32.40%
3
Ethernet, gaming port, 10 8k videos
adaptive, game priority
115.0
98
250
5.00%
2
5 GHz
No
116.3
97
234
n/a
0
5 GHz + 10 8k videos
No
93.8
76
261
13.30%
3
5 GHz + 10 8k videos
adaptive, game priority
111.0
95
255
32.20%
3
2.4 GHz + 10 8k videos
adaptive, game priority
110.7
99
259
48.60%
7
For our baseline, with QoS disabled and no videos streaming, the fps in Overwatch is 109 on Ethernet, and 111 on the Gaming Port — a minimal difference between the two that translated through on the rest of the tests. Somewhat surprising is that fps improves slighting when we’re connected wirelessly on 5 GHz, checking in at 116 fps.
When we ramp up the network congestion and stream videos, the fps remains pretty consistent on Ethernet. It does take a modest hit to performance when connected via 5 GHz, dropping down to a still very playable 93.75 fps. Obviously, the game of choice and your specific hardware will impact performance as well.
With the addition of the QoS, set to gaming priority, in each case the fps increased compared to our baseline results. On the gaming port, we measured a 4.7% increase, while the regular Ethernet port showed a 9.7% improvement. Compared to the congested testing, the 5 GHz Wi-Fi also showed an 18.7% increase in fps, though performance was 4.6% slower than the uncongested network performance. Regardless, the results demonstrate the value of the QoS feature.
While gaming can be done on the 2.4 GHz frequency, take note that with this older technology, the 48.6% dropped frames result was the highest of any of the tests. In addition, we had the highest number of Pingplotter spikes on this frequency. Friends don’t let friends game on 2.4 GHz.
What’s interesting is that, even though ping latency is much higher, that doesn’t really correspond to the in-game latency. (Tracking actual game network latency is far more complex than what we’re doing with PingPlotter.) You can see that with QoS enabled, the average ping times drop slightly in the overloaded configuration. More importantly, actual gaming network traffic gets prioritized above the video streams, which means latency and performance are mostly back to where we started.
Pricing and Bottom Line
The Asus RT-AX82U sells for $229. This puts it solidly into the upper mid-range segment of gaming-focused routers, and it offers considerable value at this price point. We were impressed by the high fps scores, the option for gaming centric QoS settings, and the integrated security. Areas for improvement include the single USB port, the limited Ethernet ports, the minimal effect of the Gaming port, and the lack of WTFast on a gaming router.
Overall the Asus RT-AX82U offers a good combination of throughput and gaming performance, all in an attractive, reasonably compact package. We have several other gaming routers (and even non-gaming routers) that we’ll be testing, but we started with Asus as its routers have a good reputation. This is currently the one to beat, and we’re looking forward to seeing how the other routers stack up.
Cyberpunk 2077, which has proven to cripple the fastest graphics cards and even punish the fastest CPUs on the market, can give low-end gaming systems a tough time. For exactly this reason, programmer CodeZ1LLa, via his Youtube channel, has released EZ Optimizer for Cyberpunk 2077 that the coder claims can help boost your gaming performance by up to 30 fps.
The tool reportedly tweaks hidden developer settings that aren’t available to the end user. According to the author, EZ Optimizer for Cyberpunk 2077 provides a superior result than just cranking down the image fidelity, but we’ll have to wait until we see a broader selection of test results from the community before we’re ready to call it a home run. It will also take quite a bit of experimentation to suss out whether or not the gains are more significant than what you’d receive from manual tuning, but the author does claim impressive performance gains from the software.
The procedure to use the software is extremely easy and involves moving the executable to the root folder of your Cyberpunk 2077 installation. For users concerned with security, the creator has provided the VirusTotal report where the tool passed with flying colors. He further explained that EZ Optimizer for Cyberpunk 2077 does seem to trigger certain anti-cheat systems in VirusTotal because the tool edits game files. However, the major antivirus engines, such as Avast, Kaspersky, and DrWeb, gave the software a pass.
Cyberpunk 2077 (Image credit: CodeZ1LLa/Twitter)
EZ Optimizer for Cyberpunk 2077 is a simple program that only provides four possible options to choose from:
Max Boost: Provides the best possible image fidelity and substantial boost in performance. This option is highly recommended for the GeForce GTX 1060 and below.
Balanced: Provides a sensiblebalance between image quality and performance. Owners of the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti up to the GeForce RTX 20-series (Turing) should use this option before trying the Max Boost preset.
Default: Resets the settings back to the game’s default configuration.
Disable Async Compute: This option helps boost performance for GeForce GTX SKUs and not recommended for Nvidia’s newer RTX models.
With a GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, the author recorded framerates that spanned from 42 FPS to 51 fps with the game’s default settings. Under the Balanced mode, the framerates improved greatly and ranged between 54 and 71 fps. Lastly, the Max Boost mode considerably upped the framerates to around 51 to 80 fps. In the daytime scenes, framerates hit as high as 88 fps.
Of course, your mileage will ultimately vary, depending on your system’s specifications and the resolution that you play Cyberpunk 2077. The best solution to improve your gaming performance is to upgrade your graphics card and jump up to a faster CPU. However, if your budget simply doesn’t allow an upgrade right now, the EZ Optimizer for Cyberpunk 2077 seems like a godsend gift to low-end gaming systems, provided it works as claimed.
Unlike many of its peers, MSI didn’t give an early glimpse of its custom-designed AMD Radeon RX 6800/6900-series graphics cards well ahead of release, instead only showcasing its reference boards. That doesn’t mean the company had no plans to release appropriate products, though. In fact, MSI is prepping a range of its Gaming series Big Navi-powered solutions with quite an impressive design. There’s a catch, though: due to the short supply of AMD’s Navi 21 GPUs, MSI will only offer custom Gaming series cards for now.
Hours before Christmas eve, MSI finally showcased its custom Radeon RX 6800 and 6800 XT Gaming X Trio graphics cards on its YouTube channel (via VideoCardz). The company didn’t demonstrate its top-of-the-range AMD offering, the MSI Radeon RX 6900 XT Gaming X Trio, but implied the card is still in the works. That’s not particularly surprising because all Navi 21-based graphics cards can use very similar printed circuit board (PCB) designs, making it easy to develop a product family.
(Image credit: MSI)
MSI’s Radeon RX 6800-series Gaming X Trio graphics cards use an extremely oversized PCB design featuring a 16-phase VRM and two eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connectors. Given the 16-phase VRM, MSI’s Radeon RX 6800/6800 XT graphics boards are long and tall, which is why they will require a spacious chassis.
(Image credit: MSI)
MSI’s representative said the company hadn’t finalized the PCB design for the Radeon RX 6900 XT Gaming X Trio. Still, considering that it is showcasing an image of a Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming X Trio board with three power connectors on its website, we can make some assumptions about where MSI is going with its AMD-based flagship.
In a bid to maximize the performance of its custom Big Navi graphics cards, MSI naturally equipped them with rather massive 2.7-wide cooling systems. The coolers comprise several aluminum heatsinks ‘interconnected’ using six copper heat pipes that directly contact the GPU. Traditionally for Big Navi-based products, MSI’s Radeon RX 6800/6800 XT Gaming X Trio graphics cards feature three fans, some of which will stop under light loads. Obviously, there is a backplate and a special holder that prevents the card from bending.
(Image credit: MSI)
As far as display outputs are concerned, MSI equipped the boards with three DisplayPort 1.4 connectors and one HDMI 2.1 port.
Like other CPU makers these days, MSI didn’t announce MSRPs for its products, as actual pricing will depend on supply and demand. There’s another thing to point out, too: If MSI does not begin volume production of its Gaming X Trio-series Radeon RX 6000-series products in January for whatever reason (e.g., not enough GPUs or other components), it will not begin until after the Chinese New Year, which is on February 12. As a result, the new boards might not arrive until March, over two months from now.
Introducing Asus’ new GeForce RTX 30 graphics cards Cyberpunk 2077
Commercial cooperation with Asus
The long-awaited Cyberpunk 2077 game was released a couple of weeks ago. The game is based on an open world, the streets are full of light, people, vehicles and the cherry on the cake is supported by ray tracing.
The video tests which image quality settings one of the new GeForce RTX 30 graphics cards can run over
FPS screen refresh rate
Verkkokauppa.com, Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 OC product page
Verkkokauppa.com, Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 OC product page
Verkkokauppa.com, Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3070 OC product page
Verkkokauppa.com, Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 Ti OC product page
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In the final instalment of the Seasonic Aura custom build project, we take a look at how to make custom power cables, mod the Fractal Define 7 XL front panel cables and put the finishing touches on the system by installing all the wiring. We also build the custom loop and add a few final modifications with more LED lighting and improved laser cut panels.
Watch via our Vimeo channel (below) or over on YouTube at 2160p HERE
Timestamps:
00:00 Video start
00:05 Update!
01:22 Subtle changes
01:55 Making custom PSU cables – pin outs
10:10 Tools needed for custom cables
11:37 Parts needs for the cables
14:19 The first step of making cables
17:03 23 pieces of 16 gauge wire for 24 pin cable – terminal pins
17:33 Details on ‘double cable’ – soldering
20:45 Crimping the terminals
24:43 Applying sleeving to the cables
26:50 Using heatshrink
29:26 More cable sleeving timelapse
31:40 Sleeving double wire cables
35:32 Putting it all together now
39:37 The next technical step – using the digital multimeter
42:50 Cables all made up – emergency change guide
47:05 Installing the cables in the system!
49:39 Front panel cable sleeving
57:01 Routing
1:00:31 Build discussion
1:01:08 Building the custom loop
1:07:00 The finished build!
1:08:08 Closing Thoughts
At the beginning of this video, I show off a couple of improved laser cut panels. We swapped out the custom laser-etched aluminium GPU backplate with an improved design removing screw holes, plus a new and improved aluminium panel at the side of the motherboard tray that now has a Seasonic Aura logo laser cut instead of etched, which I think looks much better as the new logo is more pronounced compared with our original custom etched panel.
The final episode of the Seasonic Aura custom build project focuses on building new power supply cables, the cables are made using 16 AWG wire for the main power connections (24-pin, EPS and PCIe) and 18 AWG wire for the SATA power cables. All the new cables are measured to a specific length for improved routing around the system and sleeved with blue/black PET sleeving.
As well as building custom power cables, I modded the front panel cables of the Fractal Define 7 XL case. Most of the stock front panel cables are standard black PVC sleeved multi-core cables, the USB 3.0 and Type-C header cables are difficult to modify with their moulded connector plugs on either end, so I concentrate on sleeving the USB 2.0 and HD audio headers with black PET to match the stock sleeved front panel header cable.
All the custom cables are managed behind the right-hand case side panel, the Define 7 XL is an excellent case for cable management with plenty of cable push through cut-outs and eyelets for strapping cables down. The case also has a large plastic panel that covers cables entering the power supply shroud, so the final cable management in the right-hand side of the system looks great.
To top it all off, the system is fitted with a complex custom cooling system provided by Alphacool, with brass/chrome tubing and two 360mm long 45mm thick radiators. The CPU block is also an Alphacool unit however, the GPU water block is the stock solution that comes pre-installed to the Gigabyte RTX 2080 Super Gaming OC Waterforce WB 8G with its subtle black shroud and blue lighting perfectly complementing the system.
1st Storage device: Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2 NVME SSD
2nd Storage device: 1TB Western Digital Blue SATA SSD
3rd Storage device: 1TB Western Digital Blue SATA SSD
Case: Fractal Define 7 XL Light TG
Cooling: Alphacool Full custom loop w/chrome/brass tubing
System Fans: 7 x NZXT AER P 120
Power Supply: Seasonic Prime TX-1000
System Mods:
Custom PSU shroud with “Powered by Seasonic” laser cut logo in the shroud and a transparent blue acrylic bonded with blue LED illumination.
Two Aluminium Laser etched SSD covers Featuring the Seasonic PRIME logo design, SSDs placed on top of the power supply shroud for maximum visibility.
The right-hand steel case side panel has a large Seasonic logo laser cut into the panel and backed with blue transparent acrylic.
Custom laser cut Seasonic Aura aluminium panel at the right-hand side of the motherboard tray.
Custom Aluminium GPU backplate with Seasonic logo and “The Heart of Your System” laser etched on the panel.
Custom length, Black/Blue sleeved power supply cables made to exact length for the system and neatly managed behind the right-hand side panel.
Blue Led lighting on the base of the case to provide a subtle “underglow” effect.
Heatsinks of the Corsair memory modules modified with a brush aluminium effect.
Fractal Design Define 7 XL front panel cables sleeved with black PET sleeving.
As a whole, the system turned out to be a great success; the finished article looks exactly as I imagined it would when we started this project, and it was well worth all the hard work, blood sweat and tears (almost) that went into it. That’s it for now with Seasonic Aura, this project has come to an end, but we are beavering away thinking of ideas for a new custom build project to get our teeth into during the new year.
KitGuru Says: We are extremely happy with how Seasonic Aura turned out in the end, let us know what you guys think of the finished system, is there anything you would change or add to the system if it was your build?
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Cookies can be used to display advertisements on Tweakers and to recommend articles that match your interests. Third parties can also track your internet behavior, as is the case with embedded videos from YouTube.
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