NVIDIA 347.52 WHQL: Get Ready to Evolve
As part of their Game Ready optimizations for Evolve, NVIDIA is including an SLI profile for the game, and I’ve confirmed that multi-GPU users (or at least GTX 970 SLI) should have no troubles right from the start – which hasn’t been the case with a few other launches during the past several months (e.g. Far Cry 4, Dying Light, and Assassin’s Creed: Unity to name a few). The release notes also detail performance improvements that have added up since the GeForce GTX 970/980 344.11 launch driver back in September, but while there are some decent increases most of these came earlier, so we don’t expect much of a performance difference from the earlier 347.xx drivers in most cases. On the other hand, GeForce Experience notes show 5-10% improvements over 347.25 in at least ten other titles at specific settings for GTX 970 and 980. SLI profiles have also been added and/or updated for several other titles, though some of these updates came out previously via GeForce Experience.
The game itself is a rather hefty download, tipping the scales at 26.4GB in Steam (note that Steam lists 50GB as a requirement, but that doesn’t seem to be the case). As you’d expect of a CryEngine title, there are plenty of advanced rendering features available, including DX11 tessellation and particle effects. Interestingly, Evolve will apparently also use some additional GameWorks libraries that have not yet been enabled. The system requirements for Evolve in general look pretty steep, with the GeForce GTX 560 and Radeon HD 5770 being the minimum GPU officially supported, and the GTX 670 and R9 280 being recommended. I’ve done limited testing on GTX 970 and GTX 970 SLI, however, and it looks like the game runs reasonably well on even a single GTX 970 – around 50 FPS at 2560x1440 and Very High settings, or with GTX 970 SLI I averaged 48 FPS at 4K Very High settings. Note however that Evolve seems to be quite demanding on the CPU side, as the 4.1GHz i7-4770K I run seems to be the bottleneck at around 90 FPS.
Gameplay is something of a cross between squad-based shooters like Left 4 Dead with a dash of the old Giants: Citizen Kubuto, in that a squad of up to four players is tasked with taking out a single monster that can also be player-controlled. Or if you prefer, this is an “asymmetrical shooter”. It should also be noted that the developers Turtle Rock Studios are the same team that brought us Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, and the core concepts are appear similar in many ways. The game features four game modes: Hunt (kill the monster before it can destroy an objective), Nest (10 minutes to destroy six eggs that may hatch into minions), Rescue (race to save/kill five colonists scattered on the map), and Defend (protect/destroy a ship). There are also Quick Play (a single match) and Evacuation (a five match story mode) options available. While the game is mostly geared towards multi-player gaming, single player offline modes are also available.
Perhaps the biggest issue however isn’t with drivers or performance, but rather it’s DLC. There are quite a few DLC skins as well as additional DLC characters available already, which seems awfully stingy for a game that retails for $60 and apparently only includes twelve maps. Then factor in that even the $25 Evolve Hunter Season Pass only includes the four additional Hunters plus Magma skins for the three core monsters. Or you can get the Evolve PC Monster Race for $100 that adds a fifth playable monster at a later date (while the fourth is coming with a spring 2015 DLC), two more Hunters, and some additional skins – but even this doesn’t seem to include “everything” that exists for the game. Ouch. Good game or not, Evolve is likely to draw a lot of criticism for the overload of day one DLC. Hopefully 2K Games and Turtle Rock Studios follow a similar path to what Valve did with the Left 4 Dead games and provide additional maps/packs as free downloads, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Anyway, 2K’s DLC practices don’t affect the NVIDIA side of the story, which is that they have new drivers that are optimized for the game. If you’ve been looking forward to Evolve and have an NVIDIA GPU, there’s no reason we can see to hold off on updating drivers.
Read More ...
Eurocom Now Selling GPU Upgrades For Existing Laptops With GTX 980M and GTX 970M Options
MXM, or Mobile PCI Express Module, is a standard graphics interface for low power and small form factor systems, and was introduced to make it easier for OEMs to integrate a GPU into a system. They feature up to 16 PCIe Gen 2 lanes, up to a 256 bit memory interface, up to 4 dual mode Display Ports with HDMI support, in a standard package.
Although not inexpensive, it will allow customers to get some extra mileage out of their laptop, especially with the major improvements in performance we have seen with the Maxwell 2 based GTX 980M and GTX 970M. And overall while MXM was designed to allow just this kind of upgradability, it's actually fairly rare that we see upgrade cards released in this fashion, so it's nice to see this upgrade offered.
The kits come with all of the required hardware to make the swap, and each kit is tailored to a specific laptop make and model. Obviously this will only apply to systems that utilize MXM 3.0b card for the GPU.
If you are not afraid to open up your laptop, and you are looking for a graphics boost, you may want to check out the kits which can be found at Eurocom’s site.
Source: Eurocom
Read More ...
ARM A53/A57/T760 investigated - Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Exynos Review
It's been a few months since Josh had the opportunity to review the Note 4. The defining characteristic is that this was the variant with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 805 SoC running as the heart of the device. This version is found in devices shipping in North America, Western Europe, China, and Japan. While these markets have now been served by Qualcomm's silicon offerings, Samsung is now back on track at trying to expand its marketshare of in-house Exynos SoCs. As such, all other markets (with small exceptions) seem to be getting served Exynos variants of the Note 4. To find out how this version performs, read on for the full review.
Read More ...
Sony Announces the Xperia E4
| Sony Xperia E4 | ||||||
| SoC | MediaTek MT6582 1.3GHz 4 x Cortex-A7 + Mali-400MP2 | |||||
| Memory and Storage | 8GB NAND + MicroSDXC, 1GB RAM | |||||
| Display | 5" qHD (960x540) IPS LCD | |||||
| Cellular Connectivity | 2G / 3G (21.1Mbps HSPA+) | |||||
| Dimensions | 137 x 74.6 x 10.5 mm, 144g | |||||
| Camera | 5 MP Rear Facing, 2MP Front Facing | |||||
| Battery | 2300 mAh | |||||
| Other Connectivity | 802.11 b/g/n + BT 4.1, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS | |||||
| SIM Size | MicroSIM (Dual SIM SKU available) | |||||
| Operating System | Android 4.4.4 KitKat | |||||
As you can see, the specifications of the Xperia E4 are strictly in the lower end of the mid-range. Unlike the Xperia E3 where Sony opted to use a Snapdragon 400 SoC in their mid-range phone, Sony has used MediaTek's MT6582 in the Xperia E4. MT6582 is a quad core Cortex-A7 part with a peak frequency of 1.3GHz paired with ARM's Mali-400MP2 GPU. Looking beyond the SoC, the other internal specifications of the Xperia E4 include 1GB of RAM, 8GB of NAND with MicroSD support, and a 2300mAh battery. Some of these specifications may be outclassed by other smartphones at the higher end of the mid-range segment, and so pricing will definitely be a key factor in making the Xperia E4 appealing to potential buyers.
On the back of the device we have a 5MP camera, and on the front we have a 2MP camera. The front is also home to a 5" 960x540 IPS display. Sony's effort to put in an IPS panel is definitely appreciated, but in 2015 a display with a pixel density of 220pi may be a hard sell when there's competition from devices like the Motorola Moto G with smaller display sizes and higher resolution. However, this again comes down to pricing. If Sony prices the Xperia E4 accordingly, then they should have no trouble making sales in their target market.
On the connectivity side, there's no LTE support to be seen. Network speeds max out at 21.1Mbps downstream and 5.76Mbps upstream on HSPA. There is support for Bluetooth 4.1, but WiFi connectivity is limited to 2.4GHz 802.11n. Like many mid-range devices, the Xperia E4 will come in a dual-SIM variant in certain markets where that feature is desired.
The Xperia E4 will be launching later this month in certain markets. There's currently no word on pricing or availability in North America.
Read More ...
OCZ Releases Important Firmware Updates for ARC 100 & Radeon R7 SSDs
The first and only observed issue is related to DRAM corruption. In the old firmware a DRAM refresh could happen during a what is called the training period, which is the duration of DRAM timing calibration during the controller power on. That lead to potential DRAM corruption that could jeopardize the drive's reliability, so the new firmware simply moves the DRAM refresh outside of the training period. This is a rather corner case issue and only applied to the 480GB ARC 100 and Radeon R7, but it's an important fix nevertheless.
The second fix in the new firmware is improved robustness of uncorrectable error handling. This is a fruit of OCZ's robustness testing and improves the firmware recovery in worst case scenarios.
The third and final fix improves read-retry on bad block list, which enhances the security of the bad block list. As the list is stored in NAND like any other data, it's susceptible to the standard NAND failures, so the update puts improvements in place in case the NAND blocks storing the bad block list went bad and required read-retry routines. This is more of a theoretical "what if" scenario, but as always any and all reliability improvements are welcome.
Basically, the error handling and bad block list enhancements were engineered for the upcoming Vector 180 and are now making their way into the existing Barefoot 3 based SSDs. Neither of them are related to any known issues, but are simply a part of OCZ's continuous firmware development and support. The Vertex 460A will also be getting the update with more robust error handling in the near future.
The update carries a version number 1.01 and is available on OCZ's website.
Read More ...
Life in These Batteries? What RadioShack's History Tells us About Its Survival Bid
Under bankruptcy plan roughly half of RadioShack will survive, under new ownership -- the deal also brings Sprint to the table
Read More ...
New Crowdfunded Circuit Printer Can Print Bilayer Boards, Solder on ICs
Swappable heads allow you to print insulating layers between overlapping connects for rapid prototyping of complex designs
Read More ...
Intergalactic Smiley Face is Enclosed in an "Einstein Ring"
Cool feature was spotted by an amateur volunteer
Read More ...
Windows 365 Could Allow Your Old Android to Destroy the iPhone in Gaming
OS would power Windows phones but also likely be cross-platform, offering DX gaming, Office, IT desk help on super-thin clients
Read More ...
Available Tags:NVIDIA , GPU , GTX , GTX , Samsung , Galaxy , Sony , OCZ , Radeon , Windows , Android , iPhone , Gaming ,
No comments:
Post a Comment