Techreport

We all like to salivate over the capabilities of high-end graphics cards. The reality is that most folks—perhaps even most gerbils, these days—are going to end up with something more affordable in their machines. The GeForce GTX 1050 Ti was a killer value when it launched, but it's looking a bit long in the tooth these days, so it's terrifically convenient that Nvidia's got the next model ready, according to VideoCardz. The site claims to have the full specifications for the GeForce GTX 1650.GeForce GTX 1650

The folks over at Wired have been blessed with an exclusive look at the next-generation PlayStation, courtesy of an interview with Mark Cerny, the lead system architect for the system. As befits the mag's audience, Wired's article is a little fluffy, but we can gin the seeds of information and break it down, gerbil-style.Here are the big reveals: the as-yet-officially-untitled fifth PlayStation will once again be based on a semi-custom chip from AMD, just like the PS4. Wired revealed that the new chip will use eight 7 ...Read more...

G'afternoon. Yesterday I scratched a very minor item off my bucket list—I took a short ferry ride from São Jacinto to Gafanha da Nazaré, except I took the car into the water. The trip was quite short but it was loads of fun and a little surreal to just drive a car right onto a boat, no fuss, no muss. The 15-minute journey was uneventful save for a little choppy water that made it more fun. Today, however, there's no time for fun and games—it's all about them hardware deals. Here they are. ...Read more...

No snark today, just pretty flowers.

This afternoon as I try to avoid getting real work done, I'm listening to Digital Eclipse producer Frank Cifaldi's talk from GDC entitled It's Still Emulation: Saving Video Game History Before it's Too Late. This is a sequel to his 2016 talk to game developers about repackaging and re-selling old games. You can watch the older video if you want, but Cifaldi sums up that talk at the start of his March 2019 presentation. Since Cifalid runs the Video Game History Foundation charitable organization, emulation is obviously something near and dear to his heart....Read more...

A fair day, good gerbils. While I'd like to think that I have a decent enough moral compass, I've been considering the infliction of bodily harm these past couple days. You see, my apartment building is glued to the next one over, and someone over there is apparently doing some serious remodeling. Given that I work remotely with a multiple-hour timezone difference, I usually sleep over the morning. The hammers started at 08:00. I'm becoming angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. The only thing that soothes me right now is sweet PC hardware deals. Here's today's catch. ...Read more...

So you're curious about this "RTX" thing but not curious enough to plonk down the money for an RTX-enabled graphics card that may not be a huge upgrade from your existing one. Never fear—Nvidia would like you to know that its latest GeForce driver (version 425.31) adds support for Microsoft DirectX Raytracing (DXR) to ten more graphics cards so you can enjoy the technology without needing an RTX card. You can check out the list of supported cards below. Oh yeah, the new drivers are also "Game Ready" for Anno 1800, in case you're into that.

Oh, jeepers creepers, where'd ya get those peepers?

We missed this one during CES, but back in January, Asus announced the ProArt PA32UCX display. That's a 32" monitor with some seriously high-end specs, which we'll go into in a moment. However, a 32" 16:9 display is a lot of desk space, and some individuals may not desire a display that big. Those folks might prefer the just-announced PA27UCX, which is nearly the same display in a smaller size. Let's check 'em out.

Howdy, folks. Home improvement is a fine endeavor, but it just takes up so much time. Even after you've picked out the stuff that you want installed, there's still bits of logistics to take care of, doors to open, questions to answer, and by the time you're done, some simple cabinets took the better part of an entire day to get right. At least the results are worth it. Among other things, I now have the best-lit pantry in town thanks to 4' LED tubes under each shelf. Next person walking in there saying "oh I can't find it" gets bonked. Anyway, here's today's selection of deals. ...Read more...

I'll try, but I'm anti-litigious by nature. So, sue me.

Last December, Microsoft announced plans to dump Edge's HTML and JavaScript guts in favor of Chromium, shortly after anonymous reports surfaced. At the time, Windows VP Joe Belifore pointed out that the mobile versions of Edge used open-source roots, so it made sense to do the same on the desktop. Now Microsoft is ready to show off the fruits of its labor: Edge Insider builds are ready to download to a Windows 10 PC near you.The Edge team said in its blog entry posted today that the new builds are available in two experimental release channels: Canary and Dev. Neither of those channels is guaranteed to be stable, though—they're not even labeled "beta", and an actual beta ...Read more...

Have you tried a laptop with one of AMD's recent Ryzen Mobile APUs? They're actually pretty great. My buddy picked up a machine with a Ryzen 5 3500U and after putting an SSD in it (because, sigh, it came with only a hard drive), it's super speedy. If you'd like to deploy a whole bunch of similar systems to your corporate workforce, don't worry—AMD's just released "Pro" versions of some models from that series. Check 'em out:Only four of the second-generation Ryzen Mobile chips—just the 15 W models—made it to the Pro lineup, and unsurprisingly, the core configurations, clock rates, and basically everything else remain the same as the non-Pro chips. One of the chips that made the grade is the Athlon 300U, ...Read more...

Nintendo's first attempt at virtual reality back in 1995, the Virtual Boy, was not very well received. The House of Mario is trying to turn that around through its Labo line of DIY cardboard project kits. Nintendo will combine its upcoming Toy-Con VR Goggles with new VR modes for its hottest selling properties: Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.Experience 2 beloved games in new ways with the Toy-Con VR Goggles from the ...Read more...

Greetings, folks. My latest tussles with my spine over its inability to stay straight has led me to a hunt down the chair aisle. I'm taking Jeff's long-ago-given advice to acquire something from Steelcase or Herman Miller, and I've been looking for appropriate butt buckets. The problem is, the quality ones are, my lawd, so expensive. The things we do for vertebrae. In the meantime, here's today's deal collection. ...Read more...

I prefer Purritos.

Amid all the excitement about upcoming products, it's easy to forget that the day-to-day business of supporting all that hardware must continue. On that note, AMD just released Radeon Software version 19.4.1. This is—as the version number indicates—the first Radeon driver release in April, and while there aren't any big-ticket items like game-specific support, there are still a few fixes to appreciate.

In case you haven't heard, Intel hosted an event for the press today that it called "Data-Centric Innovation Day." The primary purpose of the event was to promote a bunch of new products: the Agilex FPGAs, new SSDs, new Ethernet adapters, and most critically, the Cascade Lake family of Xeon CPUs. We weren't privy to any press materials before the presentation, so this is just a quick overview of all the new hardware on display today. ...Read more...

Can you believe we're already three months into 2019? Somebody pull the brakes on this train. Of course, that's impossible, so we're left barreling at full speed toward Computex at the end of May. You can put your money down that all sorts of products will be previewed or even will premiere at the show in Taiwan, and we wager that few are more anticipated than those coming from AMD. We all have our own educated guesses at AMD's near-future plans, but the Taiwan External Trade and Development Council (TAITRA) may have tipped the company's hand a bit.

G'afternoon, folks. it's a quiet day around here, but things are bound to heat up soon enough. Intel has a datacenter event going, and there are more than good chances that the company will announce sweet, juicy, high-powered hardware. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, take a gander at our selection of hot deals of the day. ...Read more...

Except for their smell and high-pressure bowels, ferrets are amazing pets. I'll never own one again.

Back when Valve announced SteamVR four years ago, instead of making its own headset, the company gave its blessing to HTC's Vive. Now, it seems Valve is ready to get into the head-mounted display business itself. The former game studio teased something called the Index on Steam this weekend with the tag line "Upgrade your experience." ...Read more...

Hello, folks. This is where I'd dispense pleasantries and some daily life story... if I had one right now. It's been one of those days that doesn't seem to want to end, so I'm sticking to let loose the deal cannon and letting the figures speak for themselves. Today's a good one for discounts, boys and girls. ...Read more...

You know, Eurocom sells a whole bunch of laptops. The company doesn't exclusively offer brick-like melee weapons made from gloriously overpowered desktop hardware. That's all we seem to talk about from Eurocom, though, possibly because hilariously-powerful laptops are fun and sort of interesting. It's been a while since we checked in with Eurocom, and so it goes that today we're talking about the Sky X4C Mobile Supercomputer. ...Read more...

That reminds me, TR BBQ XVI is just 135 days away. Culinarily speaking, bones in ribs count as sticks, right?

Patriot may be best known for its RAM products, but its M.2 SSDs have been a hit around the TR labs for quite a while, too. The component maker has expanded its SSD family by four with the announcement of the Viper VPN100 series of gumsticks with big, meaty heatsinks. ...Read more...

I hereby inaugurate "Sometimes a Thing Gets Broke, Can't Be Fixed Day"

Good afternoon, gerbils. My flu appears to have finally broken, but I still feel like I need about three days' worth of extra sleep to make up for it. Nevertheless, I'm going to try and hit the gym later today and run some to see if my body starts waking up again. Being sick mostly doesn't stop me from hunting down sweet PC hardware deals, though. Here are today's top picks. ...Read more...

Play over a hundred ad-free games downloaded and installed directly to your device in exchange for a monthly fee. Is it Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass? Well, yes, but actually no. This time around, we're talking about Apple Arcade, a service the iDevice maker announced as part of its "Show Time" event yesterday. ...Read more...

Back in 2014, we reviewed Asus' then-new ROG Swift PG278Q monitor. That was a 27" display that supported a 144-Hz refresh rate and Nvidia's recently-released G-Sync technology. We found it to be absolutely fantastic aside from the eye-watering price, and to this day many enthusiasts consider it to be among the best gaming displays. It's getting hard to find now though, and its supposed replacement the PG278QR had some serious image quality issues. So, Asus seems to be bringing back the PG278Q with a new release known as the ROG Swift PG278QE. ...Read more...

Ugh, man, this sucks. It's March, Spring has already started, and I've got a clogged nose, aching eyes, muscle pain, and generally feel like I was hit by a truck. Yep, it's the flu. That thrice-darned virus is always waiting to see if you catch a little too much cold, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. Right now my diet is paracetamol and vitamin C. Nevertheless, you loving gerbils have an expectation that there will be hot hardware deals post, and here they are. Get buyin'! ...Read more...

Intel's been blowing the whistle on the Graphics Hype Train quite a bit lately. The company teased its coming-in-2020 discrete graphics a while back, and more recently it's invited enthusiasts to go on an Odyssey. During GDC 2019, the world's biggest chip manufacturer took to its the Intel Graphics Twitter feed and announced an early-access program for its revamped Graphics Command Center—a replacement for its aging IGP control panel. Check out the over-the-top announcement video asking Intel GPU owners to "guide the future of graphics for a billion people."...Read more...

Dat crust.

Across internet forums like our own, you'll hear folks saying that Nvidia is moving away from the low-margin gaming market toward the professional and HPC market at full steam. It's hard to tell if that's happening, but the company's latest GTC keynote was over two and a half hours of discussion with barely a mention of gaming—despite CEO Jensen Huang stating that "without Quake, Nvidia wouldn't exist." Nvidia's latest driver release adds fuel to that argument, as driver version 419.67 is the first "Creator Ready" release.

When people talk about Noctua coolers, which one comes to mind? You probably think about the little L9, the huge C14, or even the mighty D15. Noctua's original CPU cooler was the U12, though. It was one of the first 120-mm tower coolers in general, and it set the stage for what would become the all-but-standard form factor for enthusiast CPU air coolers with its high performance and low noise. Now that the company has its new A12 fans out of their five-year development period, it's time to update the U12, and thus we now have the NH-U12A. ...Read more...

Greetings folks! I have to rush the pleasantries today. It's been a bad day full of bureaucracy, and although it's past 7 pm around here, I feel like I haven't really done anything yet besides running around like a headless chicken. I did take the time to collect and filter the finest PC hardware deals for your perusal. There's a ton of great picks today, let's get going. ...Read more...

One of my longest lasting scars came courtesy of an overly protective guineafowl parent.

As I noted yesterday, the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco just kicked off. However, yesterday was also the first day of Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference just down the road in San Jose. Green GPU giant CEO Jensen Huang opened the show with a nearly three-hour keynote during which not much came to light regarding new hardware. There was one pretty interesting tidbit, though: Jetson Nano, a $99 single-board computer sporting a CUDA-capable Tegra SoC. ...Read more...

Nvidia's Turing graphics cards came along with quite a few new technologies. The big one of course is their RTX real-time ray-tracing feature, but Deep-Learning Super-Sampling (DLSS) has gotten its share of time in the spotlight as well. However, perhaps the most interesting technology to toddle along with Nvidia's Turing architecture is the one that's been mostly overlooked: variable-rate shading (VRS). ...Read more...

Greetings, folks! There isn't much time for pleasantries today, as I need to head out for a weekend trip to Lisbon. I'll be sure to enjoy the sun and eat some tasty Pasteis de Belém while I'm there. Mmmm, I can taste the eggs and sugar already. That's going to damage my diet a little, but... the things we do for food. Anyhow, here's today's selection of PC deals. It's a particularly good crop, methinks. ...Read more...

PC hardware and computing

Microsoft, what are you even doing? Two interesting-but-probably-unrelated bits of PC gaming news came out of the Redmond complex early this week. The most exciting part is that Halo: The Master Chief Collection is not only coming to the Windows Store, but in fact it's also hitting Steam. Most folks anticipated that when Halo finally did make the jump, it would be a Windows Store exclusive, so seeing it show up on most PC gamers' selected storefront is a treat to say the least. ...Read more...

Hey, remember way back in March of last year when we told you about Toshiba's then-upcoming datacenter SSD offerings? The last of those, the 2.5" XD5, is finally making its way to market. These drives use the same 64-layer BiCS TLC flash as the company's fancier CD5 and CM5 series, as well as the already released XD5 M.2 drives. ...Read more...

Greetings, my good gerbils. My quest for weight loss has been going well—184 lbs and dropping (at 5' 11" with wide shoulders). I've never been really fat, but over time I built up a little belly and love handles that are quite unpleasant. Although I've been hitting the gym mostly for maintenance for a while, I decided to kick things up a notch and step up my running game and improve my diet. A lot of people will tell you that the battle for weight loss and/or body-building is won in the kitchen, and unfortunately they're absolutely correct. Now take a look at the PC hardware deals we collected for you while I go munch on some chicken. ...Read more...

If you're of the mind that 13.3" is too tiny and 15.6" is a bit bulky, then perhaps you'll take a liking to the just-right size of Asus' latest ZenBooks. The ZenBook 14 UX431 series are slim ultrabooks that Asus says strike a balance between "fast" and "flashy" without burning up your pocketbook. ...Read more...

My wife adores Garden Paws in large part because of the excellent screenshot tool.

Okay, gerbils. I promise, this is the last time I'll gush about Devil May Cry 5. It unlocked last night at 11:00pm CST, and having already pre-loaded it on Steam, I promptly ... spent all night and morning playing Warframe's new Buried Debt event. However, I intend to dive full-force into Capcom's new game today and spend most of the weekend on it. If you're bored at work and aching to get home and dive in, hold your horses, devil hunters: First, go grab the latest video drivers. We already talked about Nvidia's driver, but AMD has one ready for the game too with the Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.3.1.