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AMD EPYC

Anandtech have some information on the new lineup of AMD CPUs, aimed at the Dual-CPU (i.e. datacentre) market. For recent years, this market has been entirely dominated by Intel. Are things about to change?

On the package are four silicon dies, each one containing the same 8-core silicon we saw in the AMD Ryzen processors. Each silicon die has two core complexes, each of four cores, and supports two memory channels, giving a total maximum of 32 cores and 8 memory channels on an EPYC processor. The dies are connected by AMD’s newest interconnect, the Infinity Fabric, which plays a key role not only in die-to-die communication but also processor-to-processor communication and within AMD’s new Vega graphics. AMD designed the Infinity Fabric to be modular and scalable in order to support large GPUs and CPUs in the roadmap going forward, and states that within a single package the fabric is overprovisioned to minimize any issues with non-NUMA aware software (more on this later).
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Read the rest here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/11551...w-7000-series-cpus-launched-and-epyc-analysis
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by Ian, Jun 21, 2017 at 11:30 AM

MSI VR ONE

[H]ardOCP have a review of the MSI VR One - a VR backpack PC, that allows you to connect a headset for a wireless VR gaming experience.

The gist of this niche product is that instead of hooking your HTC Vive or Oculus Rift VR system into a stationary desktop or laptop computer, you plug your HMD into the MSI VR ONE and then strap the VR ONE onto your back. This forgoes you having any wires tethering you to that stationary computer. This greatly frees up your movement and also leaves you without any wires to step or trip on. For all intents and purposes, the MSI VR ONE is a laptop without a screen or keyboard, but that is oversimplifying it quite a bit.

I refer to this as a "niche product" mainly due to the cost associated with it. There are several different models, ranging from $1700 to $2300 in cost. The barrier to entry on price alone is the reason I refer to this product as serving a niche market. While you could jump through some hoops and use it for things other than VR, it is truly a standalone "wireless" VR device, however it certainly could double as a very portable LAN gaming computer.
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Read the rest here:
https://www.hardocp.com/article/2017/06/15/msi_vr_one_wireless_backpack_review
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by Ian, Jun 19, 2017

Oculus Rift VR - NVIDIA vs AMD

Babel Tech Reviews have an interesting set of benchmarks that compare the VR performance of the Oculus Rift on NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards. It's important to note that even an incredibly expensive GTX 1080 Ti can't run some VR games at the highest presets:

Until NVIDIA released FCAT VR in March, there was no universally acknowledged way to accurately benchmark the Oculus Rift as there are no SDK logging tools available. To compound the difficulties of benchmarking the Rift, there are additional complexities because of the way it uses a type of frame reprojection called asynchronous space warp (ASW) to keep framerates steady at either 90 FPS or at 45 FPS.

Both NVIDIA and AMD agree that Fraps benchmarking only provides a slight correlation between what the user actually experiences and what is displayed by the Windows desktop. Fraps only measures the framerate of the desktop window, not what appears in the HMD so the performance that a user sees in the desktop window is not a valid proxy for the experience in the HMD. OCAT, Performance Mon, Afterburner, and other PC benching software do not accurately report nor measure what the user experiences in the HMD. And it is important to be aware of VR performance since poorly delivered frames will actually make a VR experience quite unpleasant and the user can even become VR sick.
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Read the full article here:
http://www.babeltechreviews.com/oculus-rift-vr-benching-amd-vs-nvidia-part-2/view-all/
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by Ian, Jun 14, 2017

Xbox One X is the final name of Project Scorpio

Microsoft’s Xbox One upgrade will be called the Xbox One X, the company announced during its E3 2017 press briefing today.

The Xbox One X will be released Nov. 7 worldwide, Xbox head Phil Spencer announced. It will cost $499.

Microsoft updated the Xbox One last year with the Xbox One S, a white redesign of the original black console that reduced its size by 40 percent. Unlike the Xbox One S, the Xbox One X will come in black — although it looks very similar to the white console in shape and design, as you can see above.

As previously announced, the Xbox One X will include a 1 TB hard drive. And because it contains the same port array as the Xbox One S, the same power cable works with both systems. The Xbox One X will contain a 4K Blu-ray drive, three USB 3.0 ports — one in the front, two in the back — and an IR blaster.

The Xbox One S is currently available at a $50 discount, which drops the price of the cheapest bundle to just $199.99. Scorpio will be a significantly more powerful console, with a more than fourfold increase over the Xbox One's graphics capability, a 31 percent increase in CPU speed, and a 50 percent increase in onboard RAM. Even so, it is smaller than the Xbox One S, making it Microsoft’s smallest console ever.
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Source: Polygon

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by V_R, Jun 12, 2017

Android O Developer Preview 3

Android 8.0 is edging a little closer to deployment, with Developer Preview 3 released to beta testers. The final version isn't expected until Q3 2017, and perhaps a lot longer until non-Google Android phones rollout the new release.

Here's a preview of what to expect in the Android 8.0 DP3:

If you've got a Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C, Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P phone/tablet, you can join the Android beta program at the following link... but be warned, it may not be stable yet!

https://android.com/beta

Android Authority have a good roundup of some of the new features you can expect to see:

http://www.androidauthority.com/android-8-0-review-758783/
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by Ian, Jun 9, 2017

Over half of young online gamers are bullied

According to a recent study done by an anti-bullying charity, 57 per cent of online gamers aged between 12 and 25 years suffer bullying online, and of those people 22 percent stopped playing a game as a result. BBC News has more:

One 16-year-old gamer, Bailey Mitchell, told the BBC he had experienced bullying while playing online games since the age of 10.

"If you're going to school every day and you're being bullied in school you want to go home to your computer to escape," he said.

"So if you're getting more abuse thrown at you it's going to put you off doing anything social - it has for a lot of people I know, me included.

"It's regular, every other game you're in, there's always someone who has a mic or types in chat. They'll call you some random abusive thing they can think of."
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Read more here.
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by Becky, May 31, 2017

Android creator reveals new Essential Phone

Andy Rubin, the man behind the Android operating system, has set up his own gadget company - Essential. Today, in an exclusive with The Verge, he has revealed details of his new phone handset (called 'Phone') and also a smart speaker home base (called 'Home').

On paper, the phone is a beast, but since we’ve only seen official renderings and company photos—it’s hard to say whether the phone will actually live up to the hype. The specs sound nice, but we’d be remiss to recommend this phone without giving it a proper trial in our everyday lives.

One of the weirder elements of Essential Phone, and one we’re really looking forward to testing, is its unique inclusion of two pins on the back of the device that will make it somewhat modular and capable of hooking up to different accessories. To start, the pins are going to be used with a charging dock and 360-degree camera. In the future, the pins could be used to hook up even more ambitious accessories.
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Read at Gizmodo
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by Becky, May 30, 2017

Far Cry 5 official announcement trailer

Ubisoft have released the official announcement trailer for Far Cry 5, and have confirmed that the games will launch on 27 February 2018 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One , and PC.

Welcome to Hope County, Montana. When your arrival incites the cult to violently seize control of the region, you must rise up and spark the fires of resistance to liberate a besieged community.

Freely explore Hope County’s rivers, lands, and skies with the largest customizable weapon and vehicle roster ever in a Far Cry game. You are the hero of the story in a thrilling world that hits back with every punch, and where the places you discover and the locals you ally with will shape your story in ways you’ll never see coming.
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by Becky, May 26, 2017

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