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September 2020 |
Tuesday Night Reviews
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Tuesday, 29-September-2020 23:55:22 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Memory:
HP V8 DDR4-3600 MHz CL18 1x8 GB on TechPowerUp.
Patriot Viper 4 Blackout Series DDR4 16GB (2 x 8GB) 4133MHz on FunkyKit.
Networking:
EnGenius ECS1008P Cloud Enabled 8-Port Gigabit PoE L2 Managed Switch on NikKTech.
devolo Magic 2 WiFi next Powerline on OCInside.
Power Supply:
Corsair CX750F RGB (750W PSU) on Guru3D.
Silicon Power QI220 Qi Wireless Charging Pad Presentation on MadShrimps.
be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1500W Titanium ATX on Tweaktown.
Thermaltake Smart RGB 500 W (230V) on TechPowerUp.
Cases:
SilverStone Lucid LD03-AF mITX on APHNetworks.
Cooler Master NR200 Mini-ITX on Modders-Inc.
Silverstone FARA B1 Mid-Tower on ThinkComputers.
Input Etc:
Mountain Makalu 67 Gaming Mouse on MadShrimps.
HyperX Alloy Elite 2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on Tweaktown.
Saturday Afternoon Reviews
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Saturday, 26-September-2020 17:19:48 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Audio Visual:
Thermaltake Isurus Pro V2 headset on TechPowerUp.
Blue Yeti X microphone on LanOC.
1MORE ColorBuds True Wireless Bluetooth Earphones on APHNetworks.
Portable & Prebuilt:
EK Fluid Gaming 270 Conquest prebuilt gaming PC on HotHardware.
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i (Intel i7-10700 + RTX 2070 Super) on TechPowerUp.
Moto One 5G Review: Killer Battery Life, Lackluster Cameras on HotHardware.
Video Cards:
PCIe 4.0 vs. PCIe 3.0 GPU Benchmark, Feat. GeForce RTX 3080 FE on TechSpot.
AMD vs. Intel GeForce RTX 3080 Benchmark on TechSpot.
ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity on Tweaktown.
Storage:
TerraMaster F2-422 10GbE Cloud Storage NAS Server on NikKTech.
Crucial X6 2TB and X8 2TB on LanOC.
Icy Dock MB521SP-B FlexiDock on OCInside.
Samsung 980 Pro 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD on Tweaktown.
Samsung SSD 980 Pro Review: Blazing Fast PCIe 4.0 Storage on HotHardware.
Samsung 980 Pro 1TB NVMe SSD on Guru3D.
Samsung 980 Pro 250GB M.2 NVMe SSD on Tweaktown.
Cooling:
Thermalright TA140 CPU Cooler on Tweaktown.
be quiet! Pure Rock 2 CPU Cooler on Tweaktown.
Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler on ThinkComputers.
Thermaltake Toughfan 12 High Static Pressure Radiator Fan on FunkyKit.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Reviews
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Saturday, 26-September-2020 16:58:26 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Following up on the 3080 FE and AIB reviews, we now have the high-end (and eye-wateringly priced) 3090 unveiled. Here's some reviews:
GeForce RTX 3090 (FE) Founder edition on Guru3D.
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Gaming X TRIO on Guru3D.
Palit GeForce RTX 3090 GamingPRO OC on Guru3D.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Performance In Blender, Octane, V-Ray, & More on TechGage.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Review: BFGPU Benchmarks Unleashed on HotHardware.
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 GAMING X TRIO on Tweaktown.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 on TechSpot.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition on Tweaktown.
RTX 3090 Founders Edition - 35+ Games, SPEC & Workstation & GPGPU on BabelTechReviews.
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3090 Eagle OC on TechPowerUp.
ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3090 Trinity on TechPowerUp.
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Gaming X Trio on TechPowerUp.
ASUS GeForce RTX 3090 STRIX OC on TechPowerUp.
ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3090 Trinity on ThinkComputers.
There's been reports of stability issues, with this site suggesting a possible cause. Not only the editors and testers were surprised by sudden instabilities of the new GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090, but also the first customers who were able to get board partner cards from the first wave. An interesting pattern of behavior emerged that did not affect all cards or manufacturers and the problems only occurred at certain boost clock rates above or just around 2 GHz. EVGA have offered some info here.
Discussion continues in this thread.
Friday again!
     
     
     
     
Thursday Morning
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Thursday, 24-September-2020 00:51:30 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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The big Australian tech news of the moment would have to be the Government's announcement that the NBN will be upgraded to Fibre-to-the-Home for millions of residences. The upgrade, which NBN Co will finance through borrowing from private debt markets, will give a further six million homes, or 75 per cent of premises along the fixed-line network, access to broadband speeds of up to one gigabit per second by 2023. I mean, it sounds awesome. But it sounded awesome back in 2009 when we were meant to get that in the first place, too. Discussion towards the end of this giant thread.
On a related note, Netflix and YouTube were going to lift their bitrate restrictions right about now - did they? I ask because with my woeful NBN connection I have no way to tell, of course. This came in response to concerns by industry that bandwidth-hungry high definition streaming services could saturate under-pressure residential broadband connections. Days later, the government was able to get agreement from the streaming operators to temporarily drop their bitrates.
Also from down under, this amusing blog about hacking Tony Abbott's boarding pass, thanks BWMerlin. So you know when you’re flopping about at home, minding your own business, drinking from your water bottle in a way that does not possess any intent to subvert the Commonwealth of Australia?
FunkyKit have a guide to overclocking the Core i9 10900K to 5.4GHz on all 10 cores. In this article, we’ll show you how to overclock the Intel Core i9-10900K (Comet Lake) from the default speed of 3.7GHz to a whopping 5.4GHz on all 10 cores, by simply changing a few BIOS settings on the ASRock Z490 Steel Legend motherboard. And what’s even better … this was all done using just a standard AIO CPU cooler (no LN2 or dry-ice).
Meanwhile here's NVIDIA's official response to the 3080 launch shenanigans. We expected the best ever demand for the RTX 30-series, but the enthusiasm was overwhelming. We were not prepared for this level, nor were our partners. We apologize for this.
Finally, it appears that Longcat has died. Or perhaps I should say, Longcat is no longer. While Longcat's real name is Shiroi (which means white), Japanese fans gave the cat the initial nickname of Nobiiru or Nobiko, which means "stretch." It wasn't long before the usually stretchy cat was Photoshopped into business charts, historical scenes, outer space and other unlikely places.
3080 AIBs and Retail Launch
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Monday, 21-September-2020 12:33:39 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Last week we saw the GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition reviews, which are essentially a reference design from NVIDIA. The following day we also saw the AIB or "Add-In Board" designs released from various manufacturers - here's some reviews:
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 GAMING X TRIO on Tweaktown.
GALAX GeForce RTX 3080 SG on Guru3D.
ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming on Guru3D.
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 GAMING X TRIO on Guru3D.
Palit GeForce RTX 3080 GamingPro on Guru3D.
Zotac GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity on TechPowerUp.
Palit GeForce RTX 3080 GamingPro OC Review: Big, Custom Ampere on HotHardware.
Palit GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming Pro OC on TechPowerUp.
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio 10G on NeoSeeker.
MSI RTX 3080 Gaming X TRIO on OCClub.
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio on TechPowerUp.
MSI GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio on ThinkComputers.
ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC on TechPowerUp.
Techgage have an article on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Gaming At 4K, Ultrawide & With RTX On. Since the RTX 3080 is pretty well-known about now, we’ll expedite this intro a bit, and get right into testing. If you want to learn more first about GeForce Ampere, you can check out our announcement article. Otherwise, you can look through our testing methodology preamble, and then jump right into the results.
However the actual retail launch provoked a lot of online angst, with people saying retail sites instantly sold out (more here) and it seems that bots and scalpers may be at least partly to blame. There are also outlandish bids on auction listings, some topping $3000 or $4000 dollars—even on some of the "paper edition" cards. Sorting auctions by highest bid, the current most expensive RTX 3080 is going for $80,000. Something tells me that payment's never coming through.
NVIDIA have officially responded to the shortage. NVIDIA has promised that they along with their partners will be shipping more GeForce RTX 3080 series graphics cards to retailers every day so that those who were planning to purchase a card but couldn't do so due to the half-baked launch day don't miss out the action. NVIDIA also claims that over 50 major global retailers did have inventory at 6 a.m. Pacific Time but they don't say just how big of a quantity there was, to begin with.
Discussion continues in this thread.
Sunday Evening Reviews
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Sunday, 20-September-2020 20:50:07 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Cooling:
Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 chromax.black CPU Cooler on APHNetworks.
Noctua NH-L9i chromax.black CPU Cooler on APHNetworks.
Motherboard & CPU:
ASRock Z490 AQUA on TechPowerUp.
ASRock Z490 Steel Legend Motherboard on FunkyKit.
Storage:
Silicon Power US70 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD on NikKTech.
Icy Dock MB741SP-B ExpressCage on OCInside.
SilverStone CP14-E, ECM21-E, ECU02-E Adapters on APHNetworks.
Input Etc:
Dream Machines DM6 Holey S Gaming Mouse on MadShrimps.
Endgame Gear XM1 RGB mouse on TechPowerUp.
Durgod Taurus K310 Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks.
Gigabyte AORUS K1 Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks.
Power Supply:
FSP Hydro G Pro 750W Power Supply on APHNetworks.
NZXT C650 650W Power Supply on APHNetworks.
Memory:
Patriot Signature Line 64GB DDR4-3200 SODIMM on FunkyKit.
Patriot Viper RGB DDR4-3600 2x16GB DDR4 RAM on APHNetworks.
Misc:
1MORE True Wireless ANC In-Ear Headphones on NikKTech.
Corsair 4000D Airflow case on TechPowerUp.
MeshForce M3 Whole Home WiFi System on MadShrimps.
Thanks to Axe, Simon and Josh this week!
     
     
     
     
     
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition Reviews
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Wednesday, 16-September-2020 23:30:36 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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My maths was correct, and indeed the GeForce RTX 3080 NDA lifted at 11pm. So here's a pile of reviews from the news box:
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition on TechPowerUp.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 with AMD Ryzen 3900XT vs Intel Core i9-10900K on TechPowerUp.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 PCI-Express Scaling on TechPowerUp.
Nvidia RTX 3080 Founders Edition on LanOC.
NVIDIA RTX 3080 Founder's Edition on NeoSeeker.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Performance In Blender, Octane, V-Ray, & More on TechGage.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 FE on OCClub.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 on TechGage.
RTX 3080 Founders Edition - 35+ Games & GPGPU Benchmarked on BabelTechReviews.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 on HotHardware.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition on Hexus.
GeForce RTX 3080 Founder on Guru3D.
Nvidia RTX 3080 Founders Edition on OC3D.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition on TomsHardware.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition on PCWorld.
If you prefer your reviews in video form, try these:
GamersNexus
JayzTwoCents
Linus Tech Tips
Discussion in this thread!
Retro Racing September 2000: Rollcage
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Wednesday, 16-September-2020 20:44:08 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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September's Retro Racing game is Rollcage, from 1999. In Rollcage, on the other hand, you can not only bounce and flip and always land wheel-side down, but you also can drive along walls and even on tunnel ceilings. You might wonder just why you'd bother doing that, but sometimes it's the best way to pass an opponent, as well as the only way to grab certain power-ups. Then there's the whole notion of collisions. Sure, they slow you down, but hit the right object - a column supporting a building, for instance - and you'll be long gone as your opponent either gets buried in debris or runs smack-dab into a smoking heap of rubble.
Click for the thread!
Wednesday Morning
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Wednesday, 16-September-2020 00:57:28 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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NVIDIA have acquired ARM for $40B USD, in the largest semiconductor deal ever. The combination brings together NVIDIA’s leading AI computing platform with Arm’s vast ecosystem to create the premier computing company for the age of artificial intelligence, accelerating innovation while expanding into large, high-growth markets. SoftBank will remain committed to Arm’s long-term success through its ownership stake in NVIDIA, expected to be under 10 percent. Somehow I preferred a world where ARM was independent, but anyway, more info here, discussion here.
Meanwhile there's much anticipation about their RTX 30 series video cards, with reviews expected 11pm tonight AEST if I've done my maths correctly. Until then you can enjoy some unboxing on TechPowerup and NeoSeeker. In this article, we unbox the GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition graphics card and bring you detailed pictures of the card exterior. As of today, NVIDIA only allows "photography of the card, no disassembly, no plugging in, no installing, no powering on, no performance results or hints of any kind."
Fans of our Retro & Arcade Forum will probably enjoy this roundup of the best 8-bit and 16-bit video game music on TechSpot. Game systems from the 8-bit and 16-bit era weren't graphical powerhouses, but there were other aspects that factored into creating a well-rounded game. Quality games almost unanimously had great sound and music as this list shows.
Also from the past, Windows 95 recently turned 25, as you might have expected. Away from all the fanfare around the launch, PC geeks were choosing between Pentium or 486 processors, IDE or SCSI hard drives, double-speed CD-ROMs, and Sound Blaster audio cards to experience the best of Windows 95. Microsoft added a lot of features to Windows 95, but the biggest was a new Start button, menu, and task bar that made it a lot easier to discover applications and navigate the operating system.
Microsoft experimented with an undersea datacentre. Among the components crated up and sent to Redmond are a handful of failed servers and related cables. The researchers think this hardware will help them understand why the servers in the underwater datacenter are eight times more reliable than those on land. “We are like, ‘Hey this looks really good,’” Fowers said. “We have to figure out what exactly gives us this benefit.” The team hypothesizes that the atmosphere of nitrogen, which is less corrosive than oxygen, and the absence of people to bump and jostle components, are the primary reasons for the difference. If the analysis proves this correct, the team may be able to translate the findings to land datacenters. “Our failure rate in the water is one-eighth of what we see on land,” Cutler said.
I enjoyed this article about cracking password protection on a 45-year old Xerox Alto. We've been archiving a bunch of old Xerox Alto disk packs from the 1970s. A few of them turned out to be password-protected, so I needed to figure out how to get around the password protection. I've developed a way to disable password protection, as well as a program to find the password instantly. (This attack is called XeroDay, based on a suggestion by msla.)
Wednesday Morning Reviews
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Wednesday, 16-September-2020 00:06:57 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Motherboard & CPU:
Gigabyte B550 Vision D on Guru3D.
ASRock B550 Taichi on ThinkComputers.
Audio Visual:
Viotek GNV29CB Ultrawide Curved Gaming Monitor on NikKTech.
Asus ROG Swift PG259QN Review: Hitting 360Hz on TechSpot.
Cooler Master GS750 Headset Stand on OCInside.
Gigabyte G27F Gaming Monitor on FunkyKit.
Philips Fidelio X3 headset on LanOC.
TONOR Q9 USB Microphone Kit on HotHardware.
Cases:
Corsair 4000D on Vortez.
Corsair iCUE 4000X RGB on NeoSeeker.
Thermaltake S300 TG on TechPowerUp.
Input Etc:
i-Rocks K71M RGB Mechanical KB on BabelTechReviews.
Redragon K530 Draconic Keyboard on TechPowerUp.
ASUS TUF M3 mouse on TechPowerUp.
CHERRY MX 10.0 Mechanical Keyboard on MadShrimps.
Storage:
T-Force Spark 128 GB RGB USB Flash Drive on ThinkComputers.
ADATA Falcon 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD on NikKTech.
HP EX900 PRO 1TB NVMe SSD on Guru3D.
Kingston Canvas Select, Go! & React Plus 128GB SDXC Memory Cards on NikKTech.
Crucial P5 1TB PCIe M.2 2280 SSD on MadShrimps.
Misc:
HP Omen 30L Gaming Desktop on TechSpot.
Corsair H150i Elite Capellix AIO CPU cooler on TechPowerUp.
Gigabyte P750GM Power Supply on FunkyKit.
Thanks to Andrew and Simon this week!
     
     
     
     
Wednesday Night Reviews
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Wednesday, 9-September-2020 22:54:08 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Motherboard & CPU:
ASRock B550 PG Velocita on Vortez.
AMD Ryzen 7 4800U Review: Mind-Boggling Performance at 15W on TechSpot.
Gigabyte Z490 VISION G on TechPowerUp.
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Carbon WIFI Motherboard on Modders-Inc.
ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ax on Guru3D.
ASRock Z490 Steel Legend Motherboard on OCInside.
Audio Visual:
HiFiMAN ANANDA headphones on TechPowerUp.
CAMECT Private Camera Hub video review by OCClub.
ASUS ProArt PA278QV Monitor on Guru3D.
LG UltraGear 34GL750-B Curved G-SYNC Gaming Monitor on NikKTech.
Zissu’s 15.6? Portable Monitor on ThinkComputers.
Tronsmart Apollo Bold TrueWireless ANC Earbuds on FunkyKit.
MSI Immerse GH50 on TechPowerUp.
EPOS Sennheiser GSP 670 Wireless Gaming Headset on NikKTech.
Creative Sound Blaster K3+ on ThinkComputers.
Portable & Prebuilt:
HP Omen 15 Laptop on OCInside.
Samsung Galaxy Book S Shoot-Out: Intel Lakefield Vs. Snapdragon 8cx on HotHardware.
Storage:
Crucial P5 500GB M.2 NVMe SSD on FunkyKit.
Netac Z7S 960GB USB 3.2 Gen 2 Portable SSD on NikKTech.
Synology DS920+ 4-bay NAS Review - Good but Pricey on TechPowerUp.
Crucial P2 500GB M.2 NVMe SSD on FunkyKit.
Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q Thunderbolt 3 2TB on LanOC.
Synology DiskStation DS1520+ on Vortez.
Memory:
Crucial Ballistix MAX RGB DDR4 32GB 4000MHZ CL18 Quad-Channel Kit on NikKTech.
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 2x32GB 3600MHz BL2K32G36C16U4B on LanOC.
Patriot Viper 4 Blackout DDR4-3600 64GB Memory Kit on ThinkComputers.
Cases:
be quiet! Pure Base 500 Window Black on Modders-Inc.
Fractal Design Era ITX on ThinkComputers.
Antec DF600 Flux on TechPowerUp.
darkFlash V22 White Mid Tower ATX on Modders-Inc.
Misc:
Proscenic T21 Smart Air Fryer on NikKTech.
Ary and the Secret of Seasons game on OCClub.
Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 - 1500 Watt PSU on Guru3D.
Redragon M808 Storm mouse on TechPowerUp.
Fractal Design Celsius+ S36 Prisma Pre-Filled CPU Water Cooling System on NikKTech.
I was talking with someone about oldschool LAN parties and remembered how I used to get my main PC, complete with tower and CRT, around on my bike back in the day. It's been over a decade since I mentioned these on the news page, so here they are again:
   
   
 
Are LAN parties still a thing? My kids and their friends get together occasionally for minecraft days.. or did, before COVID. :/
Thanks to mpot and Axe this week!
     
     
     
     
Wednesday Morning
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Wednesday, 2-September-2020 00:24:50 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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NVIDIA have a special GeForce event at about 2am AEST. It's no great secret that this will be the launch of their next family of video cards, the 3xxx series based on the new Ampere architecture. Keep on top of things in our Video Cards & Monitors forum, particularly this thread.
Meanwhile it's 2020 and where the hell is my flying car.. tired spotted that it's in Japan, or at least will be, in 3 years. Or could be. Maybe. The Japanese Government has committed to a roadmap for an 'air mobility revolution', setting up a council to bring government agencies, researchers and companies together in the effort to build a flying car. Making sure all of the technologies used by the cars can communicate through sophisticated sensors and a common language will be mandatory if the pilotless future is to be realised. "I think flying cars will become normal in the near future," Mr Fukuzawa said.
Netflix have a free section now, where you can watch content like Stranger Things without needing an account. Obviously it's a marketing thing but hey, free content.
Speaking of free, Super Tux Kart is an Open Source Mario Kart alternative. For a free game available on multiple platforms (Windows, MacOS, Linux, mobile OS), this update list is impressive. On top of it being free, the game is also open source. This way, anyone can hop in and make their own changes or fixes and submit them to the team.
Samsung have a new flagship 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 SSD which claims some insane transfer speeds. Samsung gave us an exciting glimpse of the 980 Pro SSD at CES 2020, briefly revealing the drive's underlying technology, read/write speeds and storage capacities. While rumors of a late summer launch have now proved correct, Samsung, in the meantime, managed to find another 500 MB/s increase in the drive's read speeds, pushing it to an impressive 7,000 MB/s at launch.
That much bandwidth might be useful if you're trying for 1000 fps in Doom Eternal, thanks metamorphosis. Earlier this year id's lead engine programmer said that id Tech 7 powering Doom Eternal could run at 1,000 fps. Which is kind of a funny theoretical laugh because nobody has a computer that can do that, at least I thought so, but apparently there are overclockers out there who can in fact do that. Bethesda recruited Polish hardware retailer x-kom to figure out how to run Doom Eternal at 1,000 frames per second. Then they did it.
Not content with taking us to Mars, Elon Musk now wants to make us cyborgs as well. But Musk's vision is far more radical, including ideas like "conceptual telepathy," where two people can communicate electronically by thinking at each other instead of writing or speaking. The long-term goal is to head off a future where artificial intelligence vastly smarter than humans exterminates us.
Finally here's a very useful Windows 10 Simplifier Script from metamorphosis. This is a set of settings changes and tweaks I regularly apply on new Windows 10 machines, primarily to reduce the amount of 'noise' the user has to deal with. Many of my clients are elderly, and small things irk them. With this in mind, there are a number of annoying Windows 10 features disabled, some silly default settings corrected, and visual effects are turned off (only those which slow the responsiveness of windows, and are unnecessary). Other than that, some useful scripts and programs external to this script will be run automatically if they're placed in the same folder.
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