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cnntechzone · 2 months

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ASUS ROG Ally X Review: Pros and Cons of the $800 Gaming Device

The ROG Ally X updates the more affordable ROG Ally. Starting at $499, the original Ally was well-received. However, the Ally X costs $800, which is quite high. Despite this, I found that it offers many design improvements and better performance that justify the price for serious gamers.

Operating System and Game Library

In handheld gaming, the operating system largely determines the games you can play. Windows provides access to a wide library of games from platforms like Epic Games Store, Xbox Game Pass, and Steam. For me, this is a game-changer. It lets me enjoy a vast range of titles, from indie gems to blockbuster hits, all on a portable device.

ROG Ally X: Comparisons with Other Devices

For comparison, the Nintendo Switch plays only Switch games. I’ve enjoyed the Switch for its exclusive titles, but it’s limiting. The Steam Deck mainly supports Steam games but can be modded. I’ve had a great time with my Steam Deck, but it requires some tweaks. The PlayStation Portal connects to PS5 games, which is fantastic if you own a PS5. The Logitech G Cloud focuses on cloud or Android games. However, Windows can be cumbersome on small screens and isn’t well-suited for a console-like experience. I’ve often been frustrated by accidentally navigating away from my game due to confusing controls. Glow-in-the-dark button labels would have helped me avoid these issues.

Keyboard and Input Issues

The compact touch keyboard can block fields like email or password inputs. I connect a keyboard and mouse via Bluetooth, which works but isn’t ideal. I’ve struggled to enter details quickly while gaming on the go. Compared to the MSI Claw, the ROG Ally X feels more streamlined and less cumbersome in everyday use.

Graphics and Performance

These Windows handhelds use processors with integrated graphics, which limits their gaming capabilities. Despite the Ally X's 1080p resolution, older AAA games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider often run below 60fps unless settings are lowered. I’ve experienced this firsthand with several demanding titles. This makes it less suitable for higher-resolution displays. I noticed this when trying to hook it up to my 4K monitor.

Image source: CNET On the other hand, it performs well with lighter games. It resembles a low-power laptop with an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS and integrated graphics. It achieved over 200fps in Hades 2. I was pleasantly surprised by how well it handled this game. AMD’s optimization technologies, like those in the Adrenalin driver or games with FidelityFX support, can boost performance significantly.

Upgrades and Battery Life

The ROG Ally X has faster memory (8GB dedicated to the iGPU), a quicker SSD (63% faster on the 3DMark Storage benchmark), and increased wattage allocations. These upgrades have noticeably improved load times and overall performance. Battery life improves with an 80Wh capacity, double that of the original Ally. It lasts about 4 hours playing games like Hades 2 and around 3.5 hours when nearly depleted. While not exceptional, it’s sufficient for a full gaming session. I found the battery life enough for long trips or extended gaming sessions. The device charges with a 65-watt charger despite having a 100-watt capacity, which is convenient for quick top-ups.

Cooling and Design

Asus upgraded the cooling system, but it’s not as quiet as before. I noticed some heat from the venting area, which made the device uncomfortable during extended play sessions. Regarding design, Asus added texture to the grips. I prefer a rubbery feel. I’ve always liked a grippier texture for comfort during long gaming marathons. The updated controls include an eight-way D-pad and "more tactile" ABXY buttons. They still feel mushy, and the ABXY buttons require a centered press, which took some adjustment for my gaming style. The bumpers are clicky. The device’s size is comfortable for my hands (I wear women’s size 7 gloves). The back paddles are now smaller to reduce accidental presses, which I appreciate. Their size and feel are improved, making them easier to use during intense gameplay.

ROG Ally X Connectivity and Screen

The ROG Ally X replaces the proprietary XG Mobile eGPU/USB-C connector with a USB-C 4.0 port. This supports external GPUs and other USB-C 3.2 devices, adding versatility. The screen remains unchanged, which is disappointing. It’s 1080p and slightly larger but lacks the high-contrast OLED screen found on the Steam Deck. I missed the vibrant colors and deeper blacks of the Steam Deck’s OLED screen. However, the Ally X’s screen has minimal reflectivity, which is a plus when gaming in bright environments.

ROG Ally X Software and Customization

Asus’s Armoury Crate SE software improves on the full Armoury Crate. It’s designed for smaller screens and is more user-friendly. I found it much easier to navigate compared to the original software, which often felt cluttered. It allows control binding, lighting adjustments, fan and power settings, and memory allocation for the iGPU, which helped me customize the device to better fit my preferences. Overall, the Ally X offers a mixed recommendation. Its price and the challenges of adapting Windows for handheld gaming make it a qualified choice. If you’re willing to invest in a high-end device and need the flexibility of Windows, it’s a solid option. The Lenovo Legion Go offers more flexibility for a slightly lower price. The original Ally is cheaper but slower. If you want to play light to mid-weight Windows games and can afford the $800, the Ally X might be your best option. For me, it’s been a worthwhile purchase, offering a good balance of performance and portability. Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions Read the full article

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idealgreys · 2 years

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Hd shadow of the tomb raider wallpapers

#Hd shadow of the tomb raider wallpapers series#

There are all sorts of opportunities for badass wallpapers, so we’ve compiled some of our favorites HD screenshots and key art that we think should totally be your new background. Please contact us if you want to publish a Shadow of the Tomb Raider HD wallpaper on our site. We hope you enjoy our growing collection of HD images to use as a background or home screen for your smartphone or computer. You can also upload and share your favorite Shadow of the Tomb Raider wallpapers. A collection of the top 53 Shadow of the Tomb Raider HD wallpapers and backgrounds available for download for free. Browse for more HD, 4K, 8K, Ultra-HD Resolution. games of the series: HD remasters of Tomb Raider: Legend and Tomb Raider. Tons of awesome Shadow of the Tomb Raider wallpapers to download for free. Latest post is Lara Croft Shadow of the Tomb Raider 4K wallpaper. Good thing, then, that the game’s photo mode is awesome, allow players to manipulate Lara Croft into position for some spectacular, background-worthy screenshots. Sony has released a number of previously released PlayStation video games, remastered in. In fact, thanks to clever lighting effects and some serious attention to detail, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is by far the best-looking game in the series. Clambering around crumbling cliff edges and wading through the thick undergrowth of Jurassic-looking forests is about as exotic as Tomb Raider has ever felt. In our review playthrough, we thoroughly enjoyed our time with the game and were particularly impressed with just how gorgeous the lush outdoor environments were to behold.

#Hd shadow of the tomb raider wallpapers series#

Shadow of the Tomb Raider launched last week and fans of the series will likely be trekking their way through the Peruvian Jungle toward the finale of Lara Croft’s rebooted trilogy story.

#Hd shadow of the tomb raider wallpapers

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academygreys · 2 years

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Shadow of the tomb raider definitive edition xbox series x

#Shadow of the tomb raider definitive edition xbox series x update#

#Shadow of the tomb raider definitive edition xbox series x upgrade#

#Shadow of the tomb raider definitive edition xbox series x series#

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#Shadow of the tomb raider definitive edition xbox series x series#

These FPS Boost-enabled titles lose their Xbox One X enhancements when on Xbox Series X, delivering their high framerates at the settings of standard Xbox One consoles. However, some games cannot provide a smooth 4K 60 FPS via backward compatibility, with Microsoft instead hampering the visual quality to achieve a higher framerate. These games, now seeing FPS Boost improvements, can in many cases deliver 4K resolution with 60 FPS or 120 FPS upgrades.

#Shadow of the tomb raider definitive edition xbox series x upgrade#

The device brought a massive GPU upgrade over the standard Xbox One, and subsequent games leveraged this hardware, essentially using raw power to achieve a higher 4K resolution. The caveat ties back to Xbox One X Enhanced titles, upgraded for Microsoft's first 4K Xbox console released in 2017. This impacts Xbox Series X, although all Xbox Series S games remain unaffected. However, FPS Boost can potentially impact overall visual quality compared to the stock, unmodified game.

#Shadow of the tomb raider definitive edition xbox series x free#

Microsoft debuted FPS Boost as a seamless upgrade on Xbox Series X and Series S, and in most cases, it's a free performance boost with no negative impact on visuals. Proper HDMI 2.1 support for 4K and 120 FPS gaming, Dolby Vision HDR, VRR, and some of the most outstanding picture quality in TVs makes the LG C1 OLED the perfect pair for your Xbox Series X|S. Check the complete list of FPS Boost titles above for a per-game breakdown. Some titles with FPS Boost support may also supply these upgrades only on Xbox Series X systems, leaving their Xbox Series S counterparts upgrade-free.

Check the FPS Boost box to enable FPS Boost.

Move your cursor to an FPS boost-compatible game.

Navigate to My games & apps on your Xbox console.

You can check whether FPS mode is enabled via the following steps. Almost every game with FPS Boost upgrades works with the best Xbox console, Xbox Series X, although just a small minority of titles lack Xbox Series S support. With most FPS Boost games, support automatically kicks in when starting a game on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S devices. Using FPS Boost requires no game updates or additional work from players. It's ready to go as a system-level feature and automatically kicks in when playing many supported titles.

#Shadow of the tomb raider definitive edition xbox series x update#

Source: Microsoft (Image credit: Source: Microsoft)įPS Boost hit Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S with the Xbox March Update in 2021, included with official updates for both consoles. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Editionįuture FPS Boost-enabled titles for Xbox Series X and Series S will be added to this list once announced. Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition The optional support can be manually enabled in system settings, as detailed below.īlack College Football Xperience: Doug Williams Ed Several titles, which may see degraded visuals with FPS Boost enabled, also have the feature disabled by default. The latest addition to the service debuted during the Xbox 20th anniversary show, bringing original Xbox and Xbox 360 games to Xbox FPS Boost for the first time.īelow follows the complete list of Xbox Series X/S FPS Boost titles so far, coupled with their target framerates when the feature is enabled. The largest expansion of the feature brought over 70 new games with FPS Boost support, with Dark Souls III the most recent standalone addition. With little work from game developers, expect more FPS Boost titles to hit Xbox Series X and Series S over the months ahead. The feature has since picked up support from top publishers like Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Bethesda, and Square Enix, enhancing several top experiences from the Xbox One generation. Microsoft launched Xbox FPS Boost in March 2021, starting with a small initial wave of titles, and since expanded with regular new additions. Despite not increasing the number of pixels on the screen, a higher framerate can be more pleasant to look at simply because there's less judder and blur. Higher frames means better performance, smoother gameplay and less input lag. It's even expanding the list of Xbox Series X|S games with 120 FPS support. It makes older titles automatically run smoother on the new systems, delivering a massive upgrade over standard backward compatibility. FPS Boost delivers a fast and easy way to bring higher framerates to existing Xbox One games on next-generation hardware without the additional development resources required for a formal Xbox Series X|S Optimized patch.

#Shadow of the tomb raider definitive edition xbox series x

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tech-battery · 4 years

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ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 Review: Green With Envy

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 is a powerful business prosumer laptop that, for about $2,100, also gives you 4K and the legendary ThinkPad keyboard. But what initially looks like a low markup on this computer starts to become a bit steeper when stacked up against other 10th Gen Intel-based competition, especially the HP Envy 15.

This ThinkPad’s still cheaper than certain other premium contenders like the Surface Book 3, but does it have similarly unique features to justify that price?

Design of the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 maintains the ThinkPad style with an all-business look that nonetheless is thin and sleek enough to be appropriate for the home or on the go. A carbon fiber weave pattern (optional on 4K models) adorns the lid, while one of the corners plays home to an oversized glossy black and red ThinkPad X1 logo. In a nice touch, the red dot on the ThinkPad logo’s “i” also fades in and out when the laptop is in sleep mode.

The inside of the laptop keeps the same general motif, with a ThinkPad logo in the bottom-right corner and an otherwise no-nonsense look. The red TrackPoint that the brand associates itself with is of course at the keyboard’s center, but otherwise the most distinguishing design feature here is the hinge, which can bend far enough so that the screen is parallel to the keyboard.

The port selection here is also generous, keeping in line with the laptop’s utility-forward aesthetic. The left side is where you’ll find the charging port, as well as two Thunderbolt 3 ports, an HDMI 2.0 connection and a 3.5 mm combination headphone/microphone jack. The right side is where you’ll want to put your older accessories since it has the laptop’s 2 USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 connections. It also has a full-size SD card reader and a Kensington lock slot.

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 is able to accommodate so many ports, partially because of its size. At 14.3 x 9.6 x 0.7 inches, it’s wider than most similarly sized laptops and not exactly thin. It does keep pace with other business prosumer laptops like the HP Envy 15, which is 14.1 x 9.3 x 0.7 inches large, but still finds itself beat by entries like the 13.6 x 9.1 x 0.7 inch Dell XPS 15 9500. Still, there are thicker laptops that have hit this category recently, like the 13.5 x 9.9 x 0.9 inch Microsoft Surface Book 3, though that does detach into a separate tablet.

Where this iteration of the ThinkPad X1 does excel is weight. At 4 pounds, it’s easily lighter than the 4.2-pound Surface Book 3, the 4.5-pound XPS 15 and the 4.7-pound Envy 15.

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 has a Core i7-10850H Comet Lake processor as opposed to a more recent (and mobile-focused) Tiger Lake CPU. That’s understandable, since Tiger Lake doesn’t have an H series processor yet. But Comet Lake has been out long enough that competitors have had plenty of time to put out similarly powerful machines, so this ThinkPad is entering into a busy space.

Take the XPS 15 9500, which had an Intel Core i7-10750H when we reviewed it and options up to an i7-10875H. This laptop came out back in May, but is still plenty relevant. That’s also the case for the Microsoft Surface Book 3, which has plenty of convertibility options and uses an Intel Core i7-1065G7. The HP Envy 15, meanwhile, came out in August and has an Intel Core i7-10750H, but is much less expensive than the ThinkPad.

So how does the ThinkPad fit into the already well-developed 10th gen space? In our Geekbench benchmark, which tests general laptop performance, it scored 6,116 points, which is much higher than the Surface Book 3’s 3,831 points and just below the XPS 15 9500’s 6,174 points. It’s also still within spitting distance of the winner for this test; the Envy 15 scored 6,421 points.

The ThinkPad’s true performance starts to shine when you look at its file transfer and video editing speeds. The ThinkPad transferred 4.97 GB of files at a rate 1,615.7 MBps during our testing, which was almost double the speed of its nearest competitor. The closest is the Surface Book 3, which hit transfer speeds of 848.2 MBps, while the XPS 15 was stuck with a rate of 727 MBps and the Envy 15 with a rate of 650.6 MBps.

In video transcoding, the ThinkPad was also the fastest. It took 9:19 to transcode a 4K video to FHD using Handbrake, while the XPS 15 took 10:06 and the Envy 15 took 13:35. The Surface Book 3 lagged well behind, with a speed of 21:31.

We also put the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 through our typical Cinebench R20 stress test, which involves running the program on a loop 20 times. Here, the testing started out promising with an initial score of 1,630.5 before falling into more reasonable scores that were around the low 1,500s for the rest of the runs. This isn’t unusual, and the testing ended with an average score of 1,521.8. During these tests, the average CPU clock speed was 2.2 Ghz and the average CPU temperature was 62.3 degrees Celsius (144.1 degrees Fahrenheit).

Graphics Performance on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 also packs an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q, which is enough power to let it moonlight in gaming if not dedicate itself to play. It’s also about on par with what we see from most of its competitors, with the XPS 15 sharing its GPU and the Surface Book 3 making a slight upgrade to a 1660 Ti Max-Q. The Envy 15’s RTX 2060 Max-Q does give it a slight edge, however.

At 1920 x 1080 on high settings, the ThinkPad outperformed all competitors in the Civilization VI benchmark with a score of 82 fps. The closest rival was the Envy 15 with 70 fps, followed by the Surface Book 3 with 63 fps and the XPS 15 with 48 fps. This might be due to the ThinkPad’s slightly more powerful CPU compared to its competitors.

The more graphically intensive Shadow of the Tomb Raider showed closer results in its benchmark at 1920 x 1080 and high settings, with the Envy 15 and Surface Book 3 still taking top scores but with a narrower margin. These laptops hit 49 fps and 42 fps respectively, while the ThinkPad came behind with 32 fps and the XPS 15 was once again arguably unplayable thanks to its 29 fps score.

I also personally played Overwatch on the ThinkPad for about a half-hour. Even on 4K and with the game’s highest “Epic” settings, my framerate maintained a solid 75 - 80 fps. The keyboard did become warm about halfway into the session, but not uncomfortably so.

Display on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 has a 15.6 inch 4K multi-touch IPS display that’s plenty colorful but can run dimmer than competitors and can also suffer from poor viewing angles due to how glossy it is.

I tested the screen by watching the open source 4K film Tears of Steel on it, where I found that the image tended to become hard to follow at viewing angles beyond about 75 degrees. This was less because of the screen washing out and more due to the display’s reflective surface distracting me from the action. When viewing the picture straight-on, colors were vivid but blacks lacked depth, maybe because the screen didn’t become bright enough to help make the picture pop.

Our testing showed that the ThinkPad does indeed have a slightly darker screen than competitors, coming in with an average brightness of 338 nits. That’s plenty bright for most users, but falls short compared to other 4K prosumer laptops like the XPS 15 9500 (434 nits) and the Surface Book 3 (402 nits). Instead, it’s closer to the HP Envy 15 (329 nits).

As for color testing, the ThinkPad was in the middle of the pack, covering 96.1% of the DCI-P3 spectrum. That puts it about on par with the XPS (93.7%) and above the Surface Book 3 (71.2%), but below the Envy 15 (142%), which we tested with an OLED screen.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3

Keyboards tend to be a big draw for the ThinkPad brand, thanks to what usually feels like plenty of travel distance and comfortable concave keycaps that make typing easy on the fingers, and the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 is no exception here. On the 10fastfingers.com typing test, I tended to fall between 76 - 81 words per minute, which is on par with what I tend to earn on mechanical keyboards, and I barely made any typos as well. Keypresses felt distinct yet cushiony during my tests, and touch typing was easy as the distinct shape of the keycaps helped me keep track of my hand placement without having to look at the keyboard.

The precision trackpad had a little too much friction for my personal taste, but this tended to affect my comfort more than my input. Multi-touch gestures registered well, as did precise cursor movement. Friction became more of an issue with the touchscreen, where my fingers tended to stick to the surface rather than glide across it. Still, multi-touch worked without problems here as well.

As is standard for ThinkPads, the X1 Extreme Gen 3 also has the typical TrackPoint nub in the center of the keyboard. I tend to avoid this feature, as I didn’t grow up with the input method, but it responds to pressure well and can be used to make both precise mouse adjustments and sweeping mouse movements without needing to take your fingers off the keyboard.

Audio on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 has bottom-firing speakers on either side that, in my testing, seemed to prioritize volume and treble over bass quality. I used the speakers to listen to Blackpink’s Lovesick Girls, which easily filled my whole 2-bedroom apartment when I put the speakers to max and even when I closed doors. Even at this high volume, the vocals never became tinny, nor did the song’s high notes.

That said, the song usually has a prevalent bass track that’s meant to mimic a heartbeat that was almost completely omitted by the ThinkPad’s speakers. It also has a few small drum sections that do sound tinny over the ThinkPad’s speakers, showing that the laptop’s ability with high notes doesn’t necessarily carry over to lower frequencies.

Upgradeability on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 is about as friendly as a laptop can get when it comes to upgradeability. Simply loosen the 7 Phillips head screws on the bottom and then pry open the case with a tool like a spudger. Once inside, you’ll have access to the SSD and, since the RAM isn’t soldered in, you’ll also be able to access that. Plus, there’s a second SSD slot if you want to add in additional storage.

Battery Life on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3

The ThinkPad x1 Extreme Gen 3’s battery is poor even for a system with discrete graphics and a 4K display, so you’ll probably want to leave it plugged in when you’re doing anything that isn’t moving it from place to place. In our battery benchmark, which consistently browses the web, streams video and runs OpenGL tests at 150 nits of brightness, the ThinkPad only ran for 2 hours and 19 minutes.

That’s well below the 5:30 battery life for the Envy 15, which is another computer we said “you’ll want to keep near a charger.” Meanwhile, the 8:01 battery life of the XPS 15 9500 and the 11:10 battery life of the Microsoft Surface Book 3 make the ThinkPad’s numbers look pretty sad.

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 isn’t an ice-cold machine, but its temperature under strain is within expectations. We measured heat for the ThinkPad after 15 minutes of streaming video on YouTube, and found that its coolest point was the touchpad, with a more than comfortable 81.5 degrees Fahrenheit (27.5 degrees Celsius). The keyboard was much toastier at 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36.1 degrees Celsius), while most of the underside not far behind at 96.5 degrees (35.8 degrees Celsius).

The hottest point on the laptop was 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius) and was located on the underside, just above the laptop’s vents.

Webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3

ThinkPads are business notebooks, so you need a decent camera for the many video calls we're making these days. While the webcam is 720p, its color accuracy is true-to-life and there’s very little grain. The camera performs well in both normal and low light conditions. It’s not going to outpace your iPhone, but you won’t have to worry about looking washed out when video chatting with your coworkers.

It includes a physical webcam cover for those who are privacy-conscious. The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 webcam also comes equipped with an IR sensor for use with Windows Hello.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3

One of the key strengths to Lenovo’s computers is that they tend not to pack bloat, and while they do come with utility programs, most of them end up consolidated into one app. That’s the case with the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3, which doesn’t feature any marketing material or niche pack-ins aside from Windows' usual offenders. It does, however, have a small but not overwhelming number of genuinely helpful programs.

You can find most of the ThinkPad’s utilities in the Lenovo Vantage program, which has features for running diagnostics, checking Wi-Fi network security, disabling the microphone and webcam, identifying serial numbers and more. Lenovo Pen Settings is where you’ll end up configuring any Lenovo pens you might buy - the laptop doesn’t come with one - while Lenovo Display Optimizer lets you change between picture modes optimized for movies, photos and mitigating blue light to help you sleep. The most egregious program here is probably “Glance by MiraMetrix,” which uses eye tracking to move the mouse cursor and even windows progRAMS.

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 also has a one-year limited warranty.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 Configurations

Our ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 review unit came with an Intel Core i7-10850H processor, a GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q, 32GB of DDR4 memory and a 1TB SSD all for $2,129.

If you want to add on just a touch more performance, you can also swap to an i9-10885H processor for what is currently $303 more after applying a sales discount. Other options include the ability to upgrade to 64GB of RAM for a post-discount price of $262, as well as add a second SSD or swap the display to OLED. The former will currently cost you up to $680 while the latter will currently add $107 to your price tag.

Alternately, if you want to save money, you can also swap the screen for an FHD display, lower your included RAM down to 8GB, drop your storage down to 256GB, and swap out the i7 CPU for an i5-10400H vPro processor. Making all these sacrifices will bring your costs down to $1,498.75 after the current sale discount, though at that point, you might as well go for Lenovo’s almost identical uncustomizable model that costs $1,405 and has an i7-10750H processor.

Bottom Line on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 performs well when compared to its competition, but falls prey to a premium markup when you look at its features. It keeps up with computers like the XPS 15 and the Envy 15 on Geekbench, exceeds them on file transfer speeds and video editing and, depending on the program, can even beat the Envy 15 in some graphical performance tests despite having a weaker card. But the audio is OK at best, and the display isn't as impressive as the competition, which leaves using it feeling like a standard experience that you end up paying more for.

The XPS 15 9500, by comparison, is now selling for $2,508 if you choose similar specs to the ThinkPad configuration we reviewed. That’s a touch more expensive, but it will also upgrade you to the slightly more powerful i7-10875H processor. The Microsoft Surface Book 3, meanwhile, is $2,999 when decked out with similar specs to the ThinkPad config we reviewed. Both of these are more expensive than the ThinkPad, especially the Surface Book, but also have their own unique benefits. In the former’s case, we get a slightly more powerful CPU, while the latter comes with multiple levels of convertibility.

Which brings us to the HP Envy 15. The XPS and Surface Book aren’t clear winners over the ThinkPad, but the Envy 15 has an almost identical and sometimes stronger average use case experience for much less. This i7-10750H and RTX 2060 Max-Q equipped laptop does have 16GB less RAM and 512GB less storage than the ThinkPad, but it slightly beat the ThinkPad in all of our performance tests except file transfer speed, video transcoding and the FHD Civilization VI benchmark. Its AMOLED screen is also about as bright as the ThinkPad’s while being more colorful, and at just $1,499, it’s got a pretty hefty discount over the ThinkPad despite offering a similar and sometimes better experience.

This leaves the ThinkPad in a bizarre space where it at once feels premium but sometimes loses to supposedly lesser machines. And that's completely ignoring the ThinkPad's downright poor battery life. At first, laptops like the XPS 15 and Surface Book 3 leave it seeming like a good deal, but then contenders like the HP Envy 15 show that you can get a similar experience for much less.

And while the Surface Book 3 and arguably the XPS have unique factors justifying their premium price tags, the ThinkPad’s user experience is far more basic. It’s a good choice if you’re a ThinkPad fan, but if you’re OK trading in some memory and storage space for a better GPU and a far lower price, the HP Envy 15 is a more appealing buy.

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taimoorzaheer · 3 years

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Shadow Of The Tomb Raider Gets A Next-Gen Upgrade And It’s Gorgeous

Shadow of the Tomb Raider has received a surprise next-gen upgrade supporting 4K resolution and 60 frames-per-second. Rejoice! Reddit user thiccadam shared an image of Shadow of the Tomb Raider via the Microsoft Store that showed the new upgrade. The screenshot includes the label “Optimised for Xbox Series X|S”. This is not to be confused with Shadow of The Tomb Raider receiving the FPS Boost a…

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danaisvanessa · 4 years

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Best GPU For Ryzen 7 2700 X

Although introduced back in 2018, it is still capable of enjoying 1440p games in ease.Yes, AMD has introduced its own successor in the kind of Ryzen 7 3700X, you will find plenty of people around who still favor the older 2700X because of the cheap price today.In reality, there are lots of folks seeking to sell their own 2700X chip to generate budget for 3700X. Therefore, if the fortune is on your side and you happen across this type on sites such as Ebay, you can get a secondhand 2700X (in good condition clearly ) in only $150-$175 price range.Coming back to the subject, the reason we're writing this subject is straightforward: Ryzen 2700X, such as many other Ryzen CPUs, does not include an integrated graphics unit.This means you've got to set it with a compatible graphics card to perform with those AAA names in high-res.To be frank, most of the latest graphics cards which have over 4 GB VRAM will operate with 2700X.

The most important problem you will face in this respect is your CPU bottlenecking -- should you use a graphics card also strong for 2700X.Fortunately, all of the graphics card we've included in this listing are acceptable for 2700X, and provide little-to-no bottleneck.Depending on the first RX 5600 XT, it delivers a couple of modifications in the kind of triple-slot layout, dual-BIOS, dual-fan coolingsystem, and higher clock rates . These modifications, however, result from the additional 30 dollars you've got pay to get this version. On the top-right corner, you will discover a dual-BIOS switch. This graphics card includes 2 BIOS: OC and quiet, and you'll be able to switch between them based on your taste.

That having been said, we afterwards discovered that there is no noticeable gap between the quiet and the OC manner. The matches on that we analyzed this card comprise Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, Far Cry 5, and also the Battlefield V.With highest quality style in Shadow of this Tomb Raider, also with TAA and HBAO+ turned , I obtained 96 FPS on typical @1080p resolution. When resolution was put to 1440p, the frame rate dropped but still spanned the 60 FPS markers. There are a few games such as Metro: exodus and Borderlands 3, but at which this GPU will limit you @1080p.It provides 5 percent greater performance compared to normal RX 5600 XT together with the cost difference of only $30.All this makes Red Dragon RX 5600 XT a fairly attractive alternative as you are just getting 10% less functionality than the RTX 2060 Super cards while still saving you over 100 bucks.

The temperature levels are somewhat higher than we would have liked, but it is most probably because of slow fan speeds and it really assists in bringing the sound level down. Like most other graphics cards nowadays, there is a 0db attribute though which fans do not spin unless the images center get warmer than 60 Celsius.Second, whilst 6GB VRAM is excellent for nearly all of the games on the market, 8 GB would have been better -- particularly in the event that you take into account the money you are spending with this card. Last, we could not find any large performance gap between its regular and OC style.We have the RTX 2060 Super Gaming X MSI -- among the beefier versions of this conventional rtx 2060 super card.Like other MSI RTX Super versions, you get a black/dark gray scheme on the other hand , along with gunmetal black onto the metal plate in the back.

This backplate includes five cutouts at unique places and attributes MSI dragon emblem on its side.This dragon emblem includes RGB that adds taste to general design of the card.On the ideal corner of this card, there is a normal 8-pin power connectors while the back includes 3 DisplayPorts 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0 port.There are just two MSI custom lovers used to actively chilled the card. And the very best thing about these fans is they feature 2 distinct kinds of blades so as to give better venting .If we discuss internals, there is a nickel-plated aluminum heatsink base plate which features four nickel-plated copper heatpipes.

So as to have additional surface area for heat dissipation, these heatpipes make contact with the picture core and extend to various aluminum fins.Another fantastic thing that I found here is that the heatsink is connected to the PCB with only four screws, making it rather simple to wash out the graphics card later on.We enjoying GTA V, I flipped the TXAA off, place the images level to High, and obtained 157 FPS on 1080p resolution. We I attempted to play with 4K resolution, it dropped below the 60 fps mark, and may just make it into 47.Same occurred in Shadow of this Tomb Raider, in which I obtained 109 FPS and 74 FPS on 1080p and 1440p resolutions (Maximum Preset) but obtained just 38 FPS at 4K.Concerning electricity consumption, Gaming X gpu performs nearly like the RTX 2060 Super Founders Edition since the two of them have exactly the exact same 175 W power limitation.

In gaming, however, it absorbs almost 200 Watts on average.In general, Gaming X RTX 2060 superb is fairly strong midrange graphics card that delivers a fantastic improvement over the normal RTX 2060 card, and lets you play with 1440p games in ease.Its 8 GB VRAM is much more than sufficient for many games on the market, it includes a fantastic design headroom, and the Twin Frozr 7 thermal design gives a wonderful balance between the aesthetics and also the functionality.These fans do not twist till the GPU reach the 60 Celsius mark, and do not enable the temperatures with move north of 80 Celsius in almost any instance.In addition you get RGB here also it is not over-the-top by almost any way.In a nutshell, if you would like to remain with Team Nvidia and are not contemplating 4K gaming, there is no reason why you need ton't give it a go.

To know more in details please click here.

#gpu #computers #games

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supercoolgamesstuff-blog · 5 years

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Google Stadia Reviewed – Against The Stream

New Post has been published on https://www.coolgamingzone.com/google-stadia-reviewed-against-the-stream/

Google Stadia Reviewed – Against The Stream

Introduction

By the mid-2000s, Blu-ray felt like the future of media. Blu-ray video looked incredible and offered cleaner picture and sound quality than previous media formats. “Surely,” we thought, “the technology that comes after Blu-ray will look even more impressive!” But then something strange happened; as streaming services like Netflix took off, more and more of us ditched physical media in favor of the cloud. Streaming didn’t offer the same level of fidelity as Blu-ray – or sometimes even DVD – but it was good enough. More importantly, it was convenient. The desire to watch anything anywhere outpaced our desire for image quality.

Now it’s 2019, streaming services have come a long way, and tech goliath Google thinks it has figured out how to Netflix the gaming industry. The tech is surprisingly functional, but its ability to upturn the industry will depend largely on its ability to implement its grand blueprint. Sadly, Stadia’s current design is missing several important pillars.

Gaming on Stadia

Stadia’s concept still sounds a bit like science fiction: Earlier this year, Google sold a vision of players using wi-fi-enable controllers to communicate with a hive of supercomputers in the cloud, which would allow users to stream the most advanced gaming software to decade-old laptops and mobile phones. Google’s system worked well at trade shows, but those were highly controlled environments. How does the service work now that we’ve been able to test it in the wild? Surprisingly well … if you have a stable internet connection.

On the whole, Stadia performs better than I expected. The high-speed internet at the Game Informer offices regularly gets download/upload speeds of 280 Mbps, so I rarely noticed even a hiccup while playing games at work. Mortal Kombat 11 on a stable Stadia connection booted up in seconds and feels about as responsive as its console counterparts. I had no problem dialing in combos and Fatalities even though my inputs had to travel through miles of infrastructure to bounce off Google servers.

Unfortunately, the experience quickly degrades as your internet speeds dial down. At a nearby coffee shop, where I recorded download speeds of 38 Mbps, I noticed a few frame skips every couple minutes. At home, where my speeds regularly drop to 20 Mbps, I experienced some visual artifacting and a regular picture stutter. With these slower internet speeds, I didn’t feel competitive in Destiny 2’s PvP modes, but I was able to complete a strike without a problem. Everyone’s tolerance for this kind of experience will vary, but my frustration over the occasional hiccup was mitigated by the revelation that I could play Destiny 2 in public on my phone (see the controller sidebar for more).

Stadia’s service only dropped out completely on me once due to a poor signal, but an instance of my game was saved and I had five minutes to hop back online and pick up where I’d left off. I wish Google would extend that grace period and allow users to create their own save states (a feature called State Share, which is still in the works), but I never lost any progress in a game, and my experience was stable enough across the board that I didn’t live in fear of being unable to access my games.

Google’s service isn’t a one-size-fits-all streaming solution, and you should carefully measure your internet speeds before committing to the platform. Many will find Stadia’s occasional stutters unbearable, while others will feel that it’s good enough. Personally, I can’t imagine trading any of my game consoles for a Stadia stream anytime soon.

What about that controller?

An online-only streaming service seems like a bold new direction for the gaming industry, but Google isn’t interested in reinventing the controller. The Stadia controller smartly hews close to modern controller design. The pad itself has a nice weight and feels a lot like the PS4 controller thanks to its ergonomic shell and symmetrical analog sticks. The buttons produce a satisfying click and feel sturdy, and I got about seven hours of use from a single charge. Of course, Google has its equivalent of the start, options, and home buttons. However, Google added a screen capture and virtual assistant button to the mix, and this creates a jumble of buttons near the center of the controller. I constantly hit the screen-capture button when I meant to pause a game, which was frustrating.

At launch, the controller also doesn’t work wirelessly with any device other than the Chromecast. This means that in order to play on a laptop or phone you have to connect your device to a controller using a USB C cord, which I found cumbersome. In fact, I was actually a little embarrassed to pull out my tangle of gadgets to play games at Starbucks.

I also wasn’t able to connect the Stadia controller to wi-fi that featured a web browser login, meaning you probably won’t be able to use Google’s controllers wirelessly in locations like hotels that -require a secondary login screen. The Stadia controller might be a nice piece of physical hardware, but these tech issues need to get ironed out as soon as possible.

Under Construction

Google’s streaming tech might be ready for prime time, but its service certainly isn’t. Many of the more exciting features either aren’t available for launch or won’t roll out until 2020. For starters, Google’s Pixel smartphones are the only phones that Stadia users will be able to use for streaming at launch. Achievements also won’t be viewable at this time, but Google says that Stadia is recording your progress, so once the feature is enabled, users will receive credit for everything they’ve done since then.

The Google Assistant is another exciting feature that is being kicked down the road. During the Stadia reveal event, Google said that with the tap of a button users could speak into their Stadia controller and pull up YouTube walkthroughs or other helpful advice for any game they played. This feature is absent at launch. Google says that the Google Assistant will be available soon, but even then, the Assistant will only be available from the Stadia home screen and only allow users to launch games or turn on their TV.

Stadia’s incomplete feature list is so long it’s a little embarrassing. What about Stream Connect, which is Google’s way of supporting multiplayer by allowing Stadia users to create local couch co-op experiences via split-screen? Coming later this year. What about Family Sharing, which lets you share games with other users in your family? Sometime soon. What about Crowd Play, which lets streamers play games with their viewers? Hopefully, sometime next year. What about streaming over cellular networks? I’ll let you take a guess. If Stadia had all these features, it might feel like the next big leap in gaming, but as it is, the platform is just a basic streaming platform that offers less than a home console.

In the end, Stadia’s biggest problem is likely its lack of software. Stadia doesn’t have many dedicated experiences that will drive longtime gamers to the platform. The system’s launch lineup features some great games, such as Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Red Dead Redemption 2, but those are all more than a year old and there isn’t a single triple-A exclusive on the horizon. This is a big problem for Google. If the company hopes to attract more people to the service, it needs to provide a reason to be on Stadia. In other words: It needs more games.

A look at Google’s data center that allows Stadia to run

Launch Lineup

Google Stadia Launch Lineup:

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Attack on Titan: Final Battle 2

Destiny 2: The Collection (available in Stadia Pro)

Farming Simulator 2019

Final Fantasy XV

Football Manager 2020

Grid 2019

Gylt

Just Dance 2020

Kine

Metro Exodus

Mortal Kombat 11

NBA 2K20

Rage 2

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Red Dead Redemption 2

Samurai Shodown (available in Stadia Pro)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Thumper

Tomb Raider 2013

Trials Rising

Wolfenstein: Youngblood

Reportedly Releasing Before The End Of 2019:

Borderlands 3

Darksiders Genesis

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint

The Bottom Line

The Bottom Line: 6 out of 10

Stadia seems tailored for a different crowd – the kind of game-curious individual who only pays attention to the occasional blockbuster release and isn’t willing to throw down a few hundred dollars on a dedicated piece of gaming hardware. Next year, when Google launches the free version of the Stadia service, the platform might find that audience. On the other hand, Stadia’s service isn’t currently valuable enough to justify the $129.99 early adopters price tag. Anyone devoted enough to follow industry trends probably cares enough about this hobby to spend the extra money on a console that provides a lag-free experience.

Still, I want something like Stadia to succeed. Purchasing a game and immediately booting it up without concern for downloads or updates is liberating, and when you have a stable internet connection, streaming games off the cloud feels like magic. Oddly enough, Stadia filled me with excitement for a game-streaming future, but it left me with less confidence that Stadia would be the platform to usher us forward.

Editorial Note: This review was conducted in a pre-release environment. We may revisit this review as we play more games after launch and as Google releases console updates.

Understanding Pricing

On day one, consumers can purchase the Stadia Premiere Edition for $129, which includes three free months of Stadia Pro, a Google Chromecast Ultra, and a Stadia Controller. Stadia Pro is Google’s subscription service, which costs $9.99 a month and gives players access to the highest quality streams (4K/60 fps/HDR/5.1 sound) as well as exclusive discounts on game purchases (TBA). Early next year, everyone will be able to stream games through Stadia at no cost, however, the streaming quality will be throttled to 1080p/60fps with stereo sound. No matter how you approach the service, games still need to be purchased à la carte.

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#Features

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david3wilson · 5 years

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Google Stadia

Hello! Guys today we will discuss about Google Stadia. Please check other blogs you can read it at https://david3wilson.tumblr.com/.

Google Stadia is a brand new cloud gaming service which will is capable of streaming games in 4k resolution at 60 fps. Thanks to Google stadia, now gamers don’t need powerful PC to play game which a low-end pc can’t run. It will be accessible through Google Chrome, smartphone or chrome cast. Google stadia is coming to Android TV in 2020.

You just need a good Internet speed for 4k gaming you will need at least 35 mbps, for 1080p gaming you will need at least 25 mbps and for 720p 10 mbps.

Google Stadia will be available for free, albeit with only some of its features. The company will offer Google Stadia Base, a 1080p 60FPS service tier with stereo sound. Stadia Base players won’t have access to Stadia’s free game releases.

Stadia Pro which comes with 4k HDR image quality, 5.1 surrounds sound and will have access to Stadia’s free game library. Stadia Pro is currently 10$ per month. The Google Stadia Founder’s Edition is available for pre-order for 130$ and It comes with a Chrome cast Ultra, a Stadia controller, three months of Stadia Pro, a three-month buddy pass for one friend to try Stadia free, and Destiny 2: The Collection.

You’ll have to buy most games to play on Stadia, just like steam. Games will be available at the same price as game sold on console. Most of the new games will be available at 60$ which is same as pc and console.

Stadia base will be releasing in 2020, Stadia Founder’s Edition will be ship this November. The service will be available in 14 countries, including the US, UK and France. Google Stadia is expected to arrive in India in 2021. Google said more countries will be added in 2020. Sadly India is not in the first wave of countries where Google Stadia will be made available.

The list of game you can play on Stadia.

· Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2

· Doom Eternal

· Doom

· Rage 2

· The Elder Scrolls Online

· Wolfenstein: Youngblood

· Destiny 2

· Cyberpunk 2077

· KINE

· Get Packed

· GRID

· Windjammers 2

· Metro Exodus

· Thumper

· Farming Simulator 19

· Baldur’s Gate 3

· Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid

· Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle

· Destroy All Humans!

· Orcs Must Die 3*

· Football Manager

· Samurai Shodown

· Final Fantasy XV

· Tomb Raider Definitive Edition

· Rise of the Tomb Raider

· Shadow of the Tomb Raider

· Marvel’s Avengers

· Superhot

· NBA 2K

· Borderlands 3

· Gylt

· Mortal Kombat 11

· Darksiders Genesis

· Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

· Just Dance

· Ghost Recon Breakpoint

· The Division 2

· Trials Rising

· The Crew 2

· Watch Dogs Legion

#gaming #google stadia #own content #eduvogue #gamers

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wallpaperdunia · 5 years

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this is the best place for downloading games wallpaper in 8K 4K, UHD , HD like shadow of the tomb raider wallpaper. So, just download these images

#video game phone wallpaper

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moddersinc · 6 years

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Zotac RTX 2060 AMP

It had been well over 2 years since the launch of Pascal when Nvidia finally dropped its successor to their very popular 10 series. Rumors lingered for months about the potential launch of Volta. We all got our hopes up when Nvidia announced the Titan V. However, it turned out to be a $3000 GPU designed for professional use and deep learning. Needless to say, this upset several people in the enthusiast community as we waited impatiently for the next generation of GTX cards. Then, after over two years of waiting, Nvidia finally announced the RTX 2080, 2070 and 2080 TI with the 2080 ti said to be the fastest GPU Nvidia had ever produced. However, people were less than thrilled about the $1200 price tag on the 2080 TI Founder’s Edition. But the real-time ray tracing looked amazing. So, the average gamer was still forced to play the waiting game, but not anymore. At CES 2019, Nvidia unveiled their RTX 2060. With 1920 Cuda cores, 240 tensor cores, 30 RT cores and 6 GB of GDDR6, Nvidia claims the RTX 2060 will out perform the GTX 1070 TI. When compared to its previous generation counterpart, the 1060, they claim the 2060 is on average. 60% faster. It even launched at around $100 USD cheaper than the 1070 ti at $349.99 for the Founder’s Edition. Now, reference cards are great and all. But as gamers and enthusiasts, we always strive for the best money can buy, or the best we can afford. Needless to say, most people who do buy a 2060, are going to go for the partner card with custom PCBs. When it comes to custom cards, Zotac makes some of the best cards on the market, especially their AMP cards. Featuring their Icestorm 2.0 cooler with three, 6mm copper heat pipes, the 2060 AMP from Zotac has the potential to be one of, if not the best 2060 on the market. Specifications GPU GeForce RTX 2060 CUDA cores 1920 Video Memory 6GB GDDR6 Memory Bus 192-bit Engine Clock Boost: 1800 MHz Memory Clock 14.0 Gbps PCI Express 3.0 Display Outputs 3 x DisplayPort 1.4 (4096x2160@60Hz) HDMI 2.0 (3840x2160@60Hz) HDCP Support Yes Multi-Display Capability Quad Display Recommended Power Supply 500W Power Consumption 170W Power Input 8-pin DirectX 12 API feature level 12_1 OpenGL 4.5 Cooling Dual fan Slot Size Dual Slot SLI No Supported OS Windows 10 / 7 x64 Card Length 209.6mm x 119.3mm x 41mm (8.3in x 4.7in x 1.61in) Accessories User Manual Packaging

The front of the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP box has the Zotac Gaming logo on the top left-hand corner, and the AMP branding to the right. To the bottom left, there are several of the features of the Zotac AMP 2060. Some of these features are the 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, the Zotac Icestorm 2.0 cooler, DirectX 12, Ansel and Ray-Tracing. To the right along the bottom are the GeForce RTX and Nvidia logos, as well as the 2060 branding.

On the rear of the box, there is the GeForce RTX and Nvidia logos and the 2060 branding across the top left, and the Zotac Gaming logo to the right. Below that there is an image of the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP and a brief description of the card. Along the bottom, they list the key features of the 2060 AMP, as well as a few features of the GeForce Experience. They also have the minimum system requirements for the card, as well as the card specifications. The inner box has the Zotac logo in the center. Inside, the Zotac 2060 AMP is wrapped in an anti-static bag and packed in a cardboard try. Personally, I prefer cards to be packed in soft foam. However, I do feel that a cardboard tray is better than hard Styrofoam. A Closer Look at the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP

The Zotac RTX 2060 AMP is based on the Turing TU106 GPU from Nvidia. The RTX 2060 AMP has 1920 Cuda cores,240 tensor cores, 30 RT. The reference RTX 2060 has a base clock speed of 1365 MHz and a boost clock speed of 1680 MHz. However, the Zotac 2060 AMP has a nice factory overclock, boosting to 1800 MHz out of the box. The Zotac 2060 AMP had 6 GB of GDDR6 running at 14 Gbps on a 192-bit bus and a 336 GB/s memory bandwidth. The Zotac RTX 2060 AMP is a dual 90 mm fan featuring the Icestorm 2.0 cooler from Zotac. The Zotac RTX 2060 AMP is a dual slot card and measures only 209.6mm x 119.3mm x 41mm, 8.3in x 4.7in x 1.61in. This is slightly smaller than the 9 inches of the reference 2060.This makes the Zotac 2060 AMP a great size for an HTPC that is also capable for serious gaming beyond just CSGO or Minecraft. In fact, Zotac says the RTX 2060 AMP will fit in 99% of systems. It’s also rather light weighing only 0.74Kg or 1.63lbs. So, unlike its bigger brother, the 2080 ti AMP Extreme, you won’t run into any sagging issues. The Zotac 2060 AMP has a simpler design than most cards you see these days. But I don’t mean this is a negative way. The shroud and back-plate are designed with black, gray and silver. The use of neutral colors will allow the 2060 AMP to fit well in just about any color scheme. The back plate cutout is opposite the GPU die on the other side of the PCB. To one side of this cut out, near the IO, the words Live to Game are displayed prominently. Near the back of the card and taking up about a third of the backplate is a big Zotac Gaming logo.The Zotac Gaming logo is illuminated by a white LED and not RGB lighting. The back plate is one of the more unique I’ve seen to date with a wraparound design. This gives the back of the card a grill like design to it. This not only looks good but helps to protect the fins on the cooler that would usually be exposed. It also gives the card a more enclosed look and feel to it. Almost like the shroud and back-plate are one piece. As for connections on the Zotac 2060 AMP, its powered by a single 8-pin connector which is rated to draw up to 225 watts of power. However, the Zotac 2060 AMP only consumes about 170 watts out of the box. Zotac recommends a minimum of a 500 watt power supply for the 2060 AMP. The Zotac The display connections consist of a single HDMI 2.0 with a maximum output of 3840 x 2160 at 60 Hz. In addition, there are three DisplayPort 1.4 with a maximum output of 4096 x 2160 at 60 Hz. Overall, the Zotac 2060 AMP can output a total of 7680 x 4320, or 8k at 60 Hz. Unlike the reference 2060, the Zotac 2060 AMP does not have the USB Type-C connector. There are no SLI fingers on the Zotac 2060 AMP since Nvidia did away with SLI on on cards below the xx80 series. With graphics card reviews, we always do a teardown of the card. This allows us, and our readers, to see how the PCB and cooler are laid out. This also allows us to get a closer look at the components that make up the card such as the capacitors, MOSFETs, and chokes. First, you start by removing the four screws on the back of the PCB around where the actual GPU is placed. When putting the card back together, it's important to reassemble in a criss-cross pattern as to not put too much pressure on one side of the GPU. The Zotac RTX 2060 AMP has thermal pads that connect the heatsink to the memory and MOSFETs directly. This is one of the many factors that help to keep the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP so cool, even under a heavy load. The memory is GDDR6 made by Samsung. Specifically its Samsung's K4Z80325BC-HC14 GDDR6 memory with a speed of 14 Gbps. For full specifications on the memory, click here: https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/dram/gddr6/K4Z80325BC-HC14/ The Zotac 2060 AMP uses their Icestorm 2.0 cooler. The Icestrom 2.0 cooler is made up of three 6mm heat pipes and a wide array aluminum heat sink. A massive copper plate completely covers the GPU. The memory and VRMs are covered by thermal pads to help facilitate heat transfer. Along with the wide fin array, the Icestorm 2.0 cooler has two, 90mm fans that help to dissipate heat. Each of the two static pressure optimized fans has 9 fan blades to move more air and circulate the air longer.

Test System and Testing Procedures

Test System Intel Core I7 8700k @ stock settings (3.7 GHz Base) Z390 Aorus Pro Zotac RTX 2060 AMP 32 GB of G. Skill Trident Z DDR4 3200 Cas 14 (XMP Profile #1) Intel 512 GB SSD 6 NVMe M.2 SSD (OS) 1 TB Crucial P1 NVMe M.2 SSD (Games and Utilities) Swiftech H320 X2 Prestige 360 mm AIO Cooler 1600 Watt EVGA Super Nova P2 80+ Platinum Power Supply Primochill Praxis Wet Bench Games Battlefield V Deus Ex: Mankind Divided FarCry 5 Final Fantasy XV Ghost Recon: Wildlands Shadow of The Tomb Raider Shadow of War Witcher 3 Synthetic Benchmarks 3DMARK Firestrike Ultra 3DMARK Time Spy Extreme Unigine Superposition VRMark - Orange Room VRMark - Cyan Room VRMark - Blue Room Utilities GPUZ Hardware Monitor Zotac Firestorm FurMark All testing was done with both the CPU (8700k) and GPU at their stock settings. For the I7 8700k, it was left at its stock speed of 3.7 GHz. However, this particular chip usually boosts between 4.4 and 4.5 GHz. The one exception was when we tested the overclocking capabilities of the Zotac 2060 AMP. Although ambient temperature does vary. We do our best to keep the ambient temperature around 20°c or 70°f. Each game we tested was run three time each, and the three results were averaged out. Each benchmark was run for 120 seconds, or 2 minutes. For synthetic benchmarks, each was run three time as well. However, instead of averaging out these results, we picked the best overall result. The charts in the gaming section show a comparison between the GTX 1070 TI FTW 2 at its ultra-preset and the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP at the games ultra-preset. The one exception was Battlefield V was tested on the games High Preset on the Zotac 2060 Amp. This was due to the game running below 30 FPS on one of the test runs. For all testing, I use the highest preset that allows the game to give a result over 30 FPS or what we would consider playable. Synthetic Benchmarks 3DMARK 3DMARK is the go-to benchmark for all enthusiasts. It covers tests for everything from tablets and notebooks to gaming laptops and the most powerful gaming machines. For this review, we tested the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP on both the DX11 4k benchmark, Firestrike Ultra and the DX12 4k benchmark, Time Spy Extreme. For both tests, the CPU and GPU at their stock settings. On 3DMARK Firestrike Ultra, the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP achieved an overall score 4316 and a graphics score of 4124. This was slightly lower than the overall score of 4929 and graphics score of 4865 of the 1070 TI FTW2. However, in Time Spy Extreme, the DX12 benchmark, it was a different story. The 2060 AMP achieved an overall score of 3522 and a graphics score of 3511. This beat out the overall score of 3229 and graphics score of 2171 that the 1070 TI FTW2 scored. VR MARK VR Mark consists of three separate tests, each more intensive on your system than the last. These tests are The Orange Room, the Cyan Room and the Blue Room. The Orange Room test is the least intense and is meant to test a system that meets the minimum hardware requirements for VR Gaming. The Cyan Room shows the user how the use of an API with less overhead can provide the user with an great VR experience, even on less than amazing hardware. The Blue Room test is designed for the latest and greatest hardware. The Blue Room renders at a whopping 5k resolution and is designed to really push your system to the limits for an amazing VR experience. In all three tests, the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP easily out the GTX 1070 TI FTW2. In the Orange Room benchmark, the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP achieved a score of 10876. This was over 1200 points higher than the score of 9583 achieved by the GTX 1070 TI FTW2. The Cyan Room test was closer, but the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP still beat out the 1070 TI FTW2. The 1070 TI FTW2 scored 6023 compared to the 6593 of the 2060 AMP. The Blue Room was more of the same. The Zotac RTX 2060 AMP achieved a score of 2464 and the 1070 TI FTW2 scored 2098 on the Blue Room Test. Superposition Superposition is another GPU intensive benchmark put out by Unigine, the makers of both the very popular Valley and Heaven benchmarks. Superposition is an extreme performance and stability test for graphics cards, power supplies and cooling systems. Superposition was the only synthetic benchmark where the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP fell behind the GTX 1070 TI FTW2. Although there are several different tests in Superposition, we ran the 4k optimized and the 8k optimized tests for this review. In the 4k optimized test the Zotac 2060 AMP achieved a score of 6152, just behind the 6240 of the 1070 TI FTW2. In the 8k optimized test, it was similar. The Zotac RTX 2060 AMP scored 2571 in the 8k optimized test in Superposition. This fell short of the 2723 of the 1070 TI FTW2. Gaming Benchmarks Battlefield V Battlefield V is a first-person shooter EA DICE and published by Electronic Arts. Battlefield V is the latest games in the Battlefield series. Battlefield V takes place during World War 2. It has both a single player and an online portion. For this review, we tested part of Battlefield V single player, War Stories. The section that was tested was the second act of the Nordlys War Story. You play a young woman who is part of the Norwegian resistance whose mission it is to save her mother and help destroy a key component the Germans need to complete their atomic bomb. Battle Fiend 5 was one of the first games to support the new Ray Tracing feature from Nvidia. This game was tested with both DXR on and DXR off. The charts show a comparison between the GTX 1070 TI FTW 2 at its ultra-preset and the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP at the games high preset. The charts show a comparison between the GTX 1070 TI FTW 2 at its ultra-preset and the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP at the games high preset. Battlefield V was the one game that the testing wasn't apples to apples. The Zotac RTX 2060 AMP was tested on the games high preset where the 1070 TI FTW2 was tested on the games ultra preset. This was mainly due to the game being unplayable in 4k on the ultra preset with DXR and I try to benchmark each game at its highest possible setting to be playable in all resolutions we test. Also, I no longer had access to the 1070 TI. All testing for Battlefield V was done in DX12 mode. So, as you can see from the charts, the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP did very well in all resolutions on the games high preset. In 1080p, the game averaged 118 FPS and 85 FPS in 1440p. In 4k, the game averaged 46 FPS. This is under the magic number of 60, but still very playable. With DXR turned on, it was a different story. We tested Battlefield V on the games high preset in 1080p with DXR on. We tested all four DXR presets as well. The DXR settings are low, medium, high and ultra. As you can see from the chart, DXR really puts a strain on your system. The average FPS dropped to only 56 with DXR on low. With DXR on ultra, in 1080p, the the average was only 30 FPS. So, DXR does make the game look amazing, put it really puts a strain on your system. As for DLSS, the results were all over the place, so these results weren't included. The only reason I could come up with is the fact DLSS is done by AI which learns over time. This is the only reason I could come up with as to why the several runs I did with DLSS enabled were so far from each other. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an action role-playing game with first-person shooter and stealth mechanics that released in 2016. Set two years after Human Revolution in 2029, the world is divided between normal humans and those with advanced, controversial artificial organs called augmentations. You take up the role as Adam Jensen, a double agent for the hacker group Juggernaut Collective, who is equipped with the latest and most advanced augmentation technology. This game is beautiful and still very demanding on your system. The section benchmarked was near the beginning of the game, after the tutorial. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a beautiful game that is very demanding on your system. Like Battlefield V, this game was also benchmarked in DX12 mode. However, this game was benchmarked on the games highest preset. In 1080p, the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP averaged 92 FPS and on 1440p, it averaged 74 FPS. Both, well above 60 FPS. However, when we switched to 4k, the average dropped to just 37 FPS. This didn't seem right, so I tested Deus Ex in 4k resolution 5 times. All were close to the same. As the charts show, the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP easily beat out the 1070 TI FTW2 in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided which averaged 70 FPS in 1080p, 48 FPS in 1440p and only 26 FPS in 4k. Far Cry 5 Far Cry 5 is the latest is the far cry series. It takes place in the fictional Hope County Montana. You play the role of the un-names deputy who’s sent to arrest Joseph Seed, the leader of the dangerous Edens Gate Cult. However, thing do not go as planned and you spend the game trapped in Hope County attempting to take out Joseph and the rest of his family as they attempt to take over the entire county. Far Cry 5 was released in 2018. Ubisoft has developed a beautiful open world with amazing visuals. However, the game is very demanding on even the most powerful systems. This game was tested with the in-game benchmark, as well as near the beginning of the game, when you first leave the bunker owned by Dutch as you attempt to clear his island of cult members. I was very impressed with the performance of Far Cry 5 on the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP. All resolutions were tested on the games ultra preset with HD textures enabled. The 2060 AMP and the 1070TI FTW2 were very close in performance with the 2060 AMP just barely beating out the 1070 ti in this game, They were so close, the results were in the margin of error. In 1080p, the 2060 AMP averaged 108 FPS. This was only 3 FPS above the 105 FPS average of the 1070 TI FTW2. In 1440p, the two cards were even closer with the 2060 AMP averaging 77 FPS and the 1070 TI averaging 75 FPS. In 4k, both cards averaged 40 FPS. Final Fantasy XV Fans of the Final Fantasy series waited well over a decade for this game to release. Final Fantasy XV is an open-world action role-playing game. You play as the main protagonist Noctis Lucis Caelum during his journey across the world of Eos. Final Fantasy XV was developed and published by Square Enix as part of the long-running Final Fantasy series that first started on the original NES back in the late 1980s. The section that was benchmarked was the first section near the start of the game, where there was actual combat. Final Fantasy XV was one of the few games or benchmarks tested where the 1070 ti beat out the 2060 AMP. Both were tested on the games ultra preset. But again, the two cards were very close. In 1080p, the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP averaged 85 FPS. In 1440p, the 2060 AMP averaged 66 FPS and in 4k, the game averaged only 37 FPS. The only resolution that you can turn RTX on for Final Fantasy XV is in 4k. With RTX on, the game wasn't playable. However, with DLSS, it was. However, there was a noticeable downgrade in quality with DLSS enabled. So, the increase to an average of 44 FPS, to me, wasn't worth it. I'd rather just play in 4k without RTX and DLSS. Gaming Benchmarks Continued Ghost Recon: Wildlands Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands is a third-person tactical shooter game. You play as a member of the Delta Company, First Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, also known as Ghosts, a fictional elite special operations unit of the United States Army under the Joint Special Operations Command. This game takes place in a modern-day setting and is the first in the Ghost Recon series to feature an open world with 9 different types of terrain. The benchmark was run at the beginning of the first mission in the game. In Ghost Recon Wildlands, the Zotac 2060 AMP was the clear winner over the 1070 ti. In 1080p, the Zotac 2060 AMP averaged 89 FPS, a full 30 FPS over the average of 59 put out by the 1070 TI. In 1440p, the 2060 AMP averaged 69 fps to the 46 fps average of the 1070 TI. In 4k, the 2060 AMP averaged only 40 FPS. However, it was still playable. Especially when compared to the 27 FPS average of the 1070 TI. Shadow of the Tomb Raider Shadow of the Tomb Raider is set to be the third and final game of the rebooted trilogy developed by Eidos Montréal in conjunction with Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, you continue your journey as Lara Croft as she attempts to finish the life work of her father. Her in a journey that takes her from Central America to the hidden city of Paititi as she attempts to stop Trinity in their attempt to gain power. The section benchmarked was near the beginning of the first section that takes place in the hidden city. This was compared to the in-game benchmark which seems to be an accurate representation of the game play. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is another great game to benchmark, like the two Tomb Raider games that came before it. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was tested on the games ultra preset. The Zotac RTX 2060 AMP did a great job in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. In 1080p, the 2060 AMP averaged 95 FPS, 10 FPS above the 85 that the 1070 ti averaged. In 1440p, the Zotac 2060 AMP averaged 62 FPS to the 56 FPS average of the 1070 TI. Even in 4k, the Zotac 2060 AMP kept Shadow of the Tomb Raider playable with an average of 32 FPS. This was just above the 29 FPS that the 1070 TI averaged. Shadow of War Shadow of War is an action role-playing video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is the sequel to the very successful Shadow of Mordor that released in 2014 and is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. The games are set between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in Tolkien's fictional Middle Earth. You play again as Talion, a Ranger of Gondor that was brought back to life with unique abilities after being killed with his entire family as the start of the last game. Monolith Studios has created a beautiful open world with amazing game play and visuals. Shadow of War is the sequel to the very successful Shadow of Mordor. Like the original, Shadow of War experiences very high spikes in FPS and very low dips. However, they aren't that often and the game does run very smooth. The Zotac RTX 2060 AMP averaged 98 FPS in 1080p, 60 FPS in 1440- and only 40 in 4k. It was still enough to beat out the 1070 ti in every resolution though. The Witcher 3 The Witcher 3 is an action role-playing game developed and published by CD Projekt. Based on The Witcher series of fantasy novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. This is the third game in the Witcher Series to date and the best so far. You play as Geralt of Rivia on his quest to save his adopted daughter from the Wild Hunt. At its release in 2015, The Witcher 3 has some of the most beautiful graphics ever seen in a game, as well as some of the most demanding. Even today, almost 4 years later, the Witcher 3 still holds up very well and brings even the most powerful systems to their knees. The game was benchmarked during the hunt for and battle with the Griffin near the start of the main story. Since its launch in 2015, the Witcher 3 has been a great benchmark, as well as an amazing game in general. We tested the Witcher 3 on the games ultra preset. The results were close for the two cards. But the Zotac 2060 AMP still came out ahead. In 1080p, the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP was able to average 85 FPS. In 1440p, the 2060 AMP stayed above the magic number and averaged 63 FPS. Even in 4k, the RTX 2060 AMP was able to keep the Witcher 3 playable at an average of 39 FPS. If I remember correctly, the 980 TI FTW I had only averaged about 30-35 FPS on the Witcher 3 at its release. When the game released, a 980 ti had trouble doing that. That just shows you how far GPU technology has come in four short years. Overclocking, Noise, and Temperatures

For overclocking, we used the Firestorm utility by Zotac. Firestorm is like other overclocking utilities. However, it has a feature that other don't. Firestorm has an OC Scanner feature that will overclock your graphics card at the touch of a button. Your card has to support this feature and the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP does. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to test this feature. Every time I tried, it just sat at the same screen for as long as I left it. I'm not sure if it was I didn't give it long enough, if it were something I did wrong or a bug in the program. However, when the OC scanner works properly, its a great feature for those who want to overclock their card, but are a bit nervous about doing so. Overclocking is a long and tedious process that some may not like and the OC Scanner is a great idea to save some time and get the most out of your Zotac graphics card.

The Zotac RTX 2060 AMP is already a factory overclocked card. The 2060 AMP has a boost clock of 1800 MHz, 120 MHz over the 1680 MHz of the reference RTX 2060. That being said, we were able to get an additional +120 on the core and +800 on the memory. After using the Zotac Firestorm utility to overclock, the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP was able to boost to 2145 MHz. To validate the overclock, we used FurMark GPU Stress Test. We ran the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP through FurMark for about 10 minutes. We did this at stock, as we all overclocked as far as we could push the card. The Zotac 2060 AMP, at its stock settings, idled at about 40°c and hit a max temp of 67°c. While overclocked, the Zotac 2060 AMP idles at about 42°c and maxed out at only 69°c after 10 minutes of FurMark. This seemed low to me, so I let FurMark run about another 5 to 6 minutes with the card overclocked. Still, the card never went above 70°c.

For noise testing, I used the Sound Meter Android app by ABC Apps found in the Google Play app store. So, it the noise testing wasn't done with an actual decibel meter. However, I've found this app to give pretty accurate. At its stock settings, the fans ran at 40% and averaged about 28 decibels which is about as loud as a mosquito. At 75% fan speed, the Zotac 2060 AMP ran at about 32-34 decibels, about as loud as a whisper. Even at 100% fan speed, the Zotac 2060 AMP never went above 50 decibels or as about as loud as casual conversation. Final Thoughts and Conclusion

There are many things I can say about the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP, none of which are negative. Starting first with the aesthetics. The Zotac RTX 2060 AMP is a compact card for sure. Its size makes the Zotac 2060 AMP the ideal card for small form factor builds. Zotac advertises that the 2060 AMP will fit into 99% of cases, and I fully believe it. With its neutral colors of black, gray and silver, the 2060 AMP can easily fit into any build that has a specific color scheme in mind. The back plate looks great and I love that it wraps around the rear of the card This gives the PCB and the heat sink 360° of protection. It also adds to the already great look of the card. Although RGB lighting has started to grow on me, I still prefer non-RGB lighting. So, the fact the Zotac 2060 AMP has only a white LED may be a negative for some, its a huge plus for me. Again, this goes well with the neutral color scheme of the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP. The performance of the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP was great and far exceeded my personal expectations. Where its considered a budget or mid-ranged card, I had expected it to perform as a solid card for 1080p gaming, on high to very high settings. With the exception of Battlefield V, I tested all games on their highest presets. The Zotac 2060 AMP destroyed all games at 1080p and turned out to be a solid card for 1440p gaming, even with games at their highest presets. If you're ok with gaming at 30 frames per second, the 2060 AMP could even handle light 4k gaming. However, if you're anything like me, you'd prefer higher frame rates at lower resolutions. Overall, I was very impressed with the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP. I love the size of the card, especially with the performance the card put out. The combination of form factor and performance makes the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP the perfect card for a home theater PC that doubles as a very capable gaming PC. As the VR Mark results show, the 2060 AMP is also a very capable card for VR gaming. I've heard several people say that the 2060 is a pointless card because you can get a 1070 TI cheaper. However, our results show the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP steadily beat out the 1070 TI FTW2 which launched at a higher price than the 2060 in general. Even at the time of this review, the average 1070 ti is selling for about $350 USD, used on eBay. This is only about $20 cheaper than the $369.99 USD the Zotac RTX 2060 AMP is selling for on Amazon when this review was written. Top that off with the fact you get ray-tracing features and the newer GDDR6 memory with the RTX 2060 AMP, and its a not really a hard decision. The Zotac RTX 2060 AMP is an amazing card and how Turing should have originally launched. Read the full article

#GraphicsCardsReviews #modders-inc #NvidiaRayTracing #rtx #RTX2060 #Zotac #ZotacAmp

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tech-battery · 4 years

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Dell's XPS 17 Proves Big-Screen Laptops Are Back, and They're Awesome

A few years back, a lot of major laptop makers began quietly paring down the number of 17-inch laptops they made (aside from monstrously large gaming rigs), with Apple and Dell dropping the 17-inch MacBook Pro and XPS 17 respectively. However, thanks to improvements like smaller bezels and improved energy efficiency, thin and light laptops with plus-sized screens and big performance are making a comeback.

After Apple re-envisioned its big-format laptop as the 16-inch MacBook Pro in 2019, Dell made a similar move by bringing back the XPS 17 this year. While the circumstances are different this time around (especially considering 2020 is a tire fire of a year), the revival of Dell’s flagship 17-inch laptop couldn’t have come at a better time. Big-screen laptops are back, baby, and they’re even better than before.

For the big reintroduction of the XPS 17, Dell didn’t deviate too much from the classic XPS design. The XPS 17 has a tapered wedge-shaped body with a silver aluminum lid, a big carbon fiber deck in the middle, and another aluminum tub on bottom. Despite its overall size (14.74 x 9.76 x 0.77 inches) and weight (5.53 pounds), the XPS 17 still manages to feel quite sleek and surprisingly portable—until you stack an XPS 15 on top and see how big the difference really is. In some ways, the size and design of the XPS 17 feels like a mirage, because when you open it up, you can’t help but appreciate how much display you get from a system that seems smaller than it is, especially when you consider the last time we saw the XPS 17 was back in 2012, when it weighed more than eight pounds instead of five.

Along its sides, the XPS 17 comes with an ample assortment of ports, including four USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3 (all support charging, too), a headphone jack, and a full-size SD card reader. The only ports you might be missing are HDMI and USB-A, though Dell has that covered too with an included dongle.

Inside, Dell maximizes the XPS 17's display (which comes in a multitude of options, from a 1900 x 1200 non-touch panel to a 4K UHD+ screen), with razor-thin bezels. Dell’s super tiny webcam and IR camera module, which sits above the screen, are exactly where you want them. The built-in IR camera offers support for Windows Hello face login, while the 720p HD webcam is meant to handle all your video-calling needs, though I must say that the XPS 17's webcam image quality and resolution aren’t quite as high as I’d like.

Below on its deck, Dell flanks the keyboard with large stereo speakers that feature a 2.5-watt woofer and 1.5-watt tweeter on each side capable of delivering rich, room-filling sound. And as for the keyboard itself, Dell wisely hasn’t messed with the feel of the XPS 17's keys, which are crisp and bouncy. I’m not gonna call them perfect, but the XPS 17's keyboard is pretty much my platonic ideal of how keys on a laptop should feel. And finally, there’s that huge 6 x 3.5-inch matte touchpad, which leaves just enough room for your wrists on either side while providing accurate gesture recognition and more mousing room than most people probably need.

The one potential oddity about the XPS 17's deck is Dell’s decision not to include a dedicated numpad like you sometimes see on 17-inch gaming systems. Some might bemoan that call, but on a well-rounded system like this, I think sacrificing the numpad for bigger speakers and an overall cleaner design was ultimately the right choice.

And then there’s that screen. Our review unit features the upgraded 4K 3840 x 2400 touchscreen, and I just can’t get enough. It puts out over 450 nits of brightness and has some of the richest and most vivid colors you can get from a laptop LCD panel today. If you’re intending to buy an XPS 17 to edit photos or videos, I would highly recommend upgrading to the 4K screen instead of the base FHD+ panel. Furthermore, with its 16:10 aspect ratio, the XPS 17 also provides a bit more vertical screen real estate, which is exactly what you want from a big all-purpose laptop.

The XPS 17 ain’t no slouch when it comes to performance, either. The base config comes with a 10th-gen Intel Core i5-10300H CPU, but our more expensive review unit came upgraded with a Core i7-10875H CPU, and it absolutely flies. In our CPU rendering test in Blender, the XPS 17 took almost four minutes less to render the same image (4:40) as MSI’s Creator 15 (8:33), despite the smaller Creator 15 having the same CPU.

And when it comes to graphics performance, it’s a similar story, with the XPS 17 (6:26) beating the MSI Creator 15 (8:36) by more than two minutes in our Blender GPU rendering test, once again with both systems featuring an RTX 2060 GPU. This kind of performance makes the XPS 17 a great choice for content creators, and while it’s not intended to be a competitive gaming machine, the XPS 17 is able to pump out more than 80 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p with all the graphics bells and whistles turned on, so it’s not a bad fragging machine either. Thermal headroom also seems quite respectable, because while the XPS 17 will throttle itself a bit when maxed out, I didn’t notice any major lag or dips in performance during more normal loads.

Even the XPS 17's battery life is pretty solid for a system this big, with it lasting just shy of 9 hours (8:58) on our video rundown test, nearly two hours longer than the MSI Creator 15 and an hour longer than HP’s ZBook Create G7.

After using the XPS 17 for several weeks, I only really have one complaint: its price. Because even though it starts at just $1,350 for a 17-inch FHD+ screen, Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, and integrated graphics, when you start upgrading components, the cost balloons quite quickly. So in comparison, our review unit, which features a 4K touchscreen, Core i7 10875H CPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and RTX 2060 GPU, costs more than double the price at around $2,750. And annoyingly, if you want to cut back on a few components like RAM or storage to save money, currently the cheapest model with an RTX 2060 card starts at $2,450. Thankfully, if you’re less concerned with graphics, you can split the difference for a system with a GTX 1650 Ti GPU, which starts at around $1,800, and if you’re looking for the best balance between price and performance, that’s where I’d start.

But for me the biggest takeaway about the XPS 17 is the way it fits into 2020. While a lot of people wait for the world to get back to normal, I feel like it’s also important to think about what normal even means. Right now there are millions of people who have to work or learn from home, and even when things start opening up again, a lot of people won’t be returning to the same buildings or positions they were in before. This makes it even more important to consider what you need from a personal computer.

For years, 15-inch systems have been the most popular laptop size, as they generally offered the best balance between price, power, and portability. However, if you’re the kind of person who is only going to travel with their laptop a handful of times every year (or less considering the ongoing pandemic), a bigger system like the XPS 17 suddenly becomes a very intriguing option. Not only does its bigger screen translate into more productivity (or better movie-watching) when you’re stuck at home, you also get more ports and a wider range of upgradable components.

Meanwhile, the XPS 17 doesn’t suffer from being tied to a desk or table like a normal desktop or all-in-one. And all of this comes in a package that’s not that much larger (or much more expensive) than an XPS 15. (Though you will want to make sure you have something to carry it in, because the XPS 17 definitely doesn’t fit in my normal messenger bag.) So in a strange way, 2020 was sort of the perfect time for Dell to bring back the XPS 17. You get a bigger, more powerful system from one of the best laptop lines on the market, but in a body that’s way less of a burden than its predecessors from the not-too-distant past. So even if a 17-inch laptop might not be in your immediate future, the XPS 17 has demonstrated why they’re making a comeback, and it’s done so with power and style.

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spicynbachili1 · 6 years

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Asus ROG Strix GL12CX review: The Core i9, RTX 2080 monster PC

It’s not usually I’ve significantly robust emotions about PC circumstances, however man alive there’s quite a bit occurring with Asus’ new ROG Strix GL12CX desktop. You’ve received your swishes, your slashes, your grilles and your grates, matt versus gloss versus RGB lighting, and even a full-blown chasm because of its hot-swap SSD bay. It’s quite a bit to absorb, however supplied you may get over its many-textured exterior, there’s a ship load of energy to be present in its water-cooled innards, together with an Intel Core i9-9900Okay processor, 32GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 graphics card.

In fact, with a spec like that, the GL12CX is of course a tad costly. £3000, to be exact, when it launches late this November, though there can be an ever-so-slightly cheaper configuration with a Core i7-9700Okay and 16GB of RAM out there for £2500 as nicely (which can be the mannequin you’ll discover within the US for a princely $3300). “Three grand!?” I hear you exclaim. “A PC can’t presumably be price that a lot!” Effectively, that’s what we’re about to search out out. Let’s have a look.

The very first thing I’ll let you know is that this factor is goddamn loud. Regardless of its Core i9 CPU being hooked as much as a water cooler tucked away within the prime of the PC, I believed I’d all of a sudden been transported to an airport hangar the primary time I turned this on, so loud and deafening have been its numerous followers and whizz pop machines.

Its efficiency profile was, admittedly, set to ‘Turbo’ in Asus’ onboard ROG Armoury Crate software program, however even choosing one of many GL12CX’s quieter profiles (and making a barely bigger air hole down the facet by swapping out its black facet panel for the bundled tempered glass one) was nonetheless louder than I’d like. That is most likely all the way down to the truth that it not solely has a fairly titchy rear exhaust in comparison with your typical desktop setup, however its RTX 2080 GPU additionally falls into the marginally much less environment friendly ‘blower’ class, too, giving it only one fairly tiny fan to play with fairly than two or three jumbo ones that take up your complete width of the cardboard.

Nonetheless, whereas the GL12CX doesn’t paint a very promising image for these in search of a little bit of peace and quiet, the upside of all this additional wind energy is that it does allow you to run its ninth Gen Intel Espresso Lake CPU at its full 5.0GHz Turbo Enhance pace, if not slightly greater should you fancy overclocking it. This would possibly sound slightly counterintuitive at first – in spite of everything, we’d usually count on issues to run at their anticipated speeds once you’re spending this a lot cash on them – however as we noticed in my Intel Core i9-9900Okay overview, this can be a chip that requires some substantial cooling to get essentially the most out of it.

Certainly, I used to be capable of comfortably overclock the GL12CX to run at a most pace of 5.1GHz earlier than it conked out on me, which is much more spectacular than the highest pace of simply four.7GHz I managed with the processor after I solely had a daily tower fan caught on it. Overclocking didn’t really make an enormous quantity of distinction to my benchmark scores, all advised (its Cinebench R15 single core rating elevated from 212 to 216, whereas its multicore rating went from 2080 to 2109), however should you’re shopping for a 3 grand system with a £600 / $580 CPU inside it, I’d argue you’d wish to make rattling certain it runs as quick as Intel supposed.

The one downside is that I’m simply not satisfied anybody actually wants a Core i9 of their gaming PC proper now. Certain, it would make your video games run quicker at 1920×1080 and 2560×1440, however once you’ve received an RTX 2080 within the trunk, I reckon you’re more likely going to be utilizing this as a 4K gaming system the place the distinction between a Core i9 and its considerably cheaper Core i7-8700Okay / Ryzen 7 2700X rivals is virtually naff all.

I can’t communicate but to how Intel’s new Core i7-9700Okay performs by means of comparability, however except you’re going to be utilizing the GL12CX for some severe ‘artistic’ purposes like video modifying, animation rendering or skilled photograph work, then I feel you’ll be a lot better off going for the GL12CX’s cheaper specification fairly than this one.

On the again of the GL12CX, you get two USB2 ports, two USB three.1 Gen 2 ports, 4 USB three.1 Gen 1 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, an optical S/PDIF and 5 audio jacks.

In spite of everything, you’re nonetheless getting an RTX 2080 with the Core i7 system, which, as we’ve additionally found in my Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 overview, is about as quick as one in all as we speak’s GTX 1080Ti playing cards – that’s, no less than in relation to uncooked efficiency, as a result of there’s nonetheless no manner of testing any of its Turing GPU’s finest options but, comparable to its AI-powered and performance-enhancing DLSS magic or its fancy mild reflection ray-tracing tech.

This could hopefully change quickly, though given the delay on Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Remaining Fantasy XV’s respective RTX updates (which have been meant to reach in October), it might nonetheless be a number of extra months earlier than the RTX 2080 begins to really feel like good worth for cash. As a substitute, proper now, it falls into just about the identical class as its Core i9 CPU for me, in that it’s one other extravagant luxurious merchandise fairly than a superb use of your cash.

Nonetheless, there’s no denying this can be a highly effective piece of , and also you’re just about a system that may comfortably deal with video games at 60fps or above on max settings at 1080p and 1440p, in addition to a gentle 60fps on medium to excessive settings at 4K.

As an illustration, I not solely noticed a median body fee of 73fps in Hitman on Extremely settings at 4K, however I additionally noticed a median of 74fps in Forza Horizon four‘s 4K Extremely settings as nicely, the latter reaching as excessive at 84fps every now and then. Equally, the GL12CX’s RTX 2080 blitzed by means of Doom at a fee of as much as 110fps at 4K Extremely settings, with the body fee by no means dipping under 87fps.

On the entrance panel, you’ll discover two USB three.1 Gen 1 and two USB2 ports, plus an SD card reader, a mixed headphone and microphone jack and *shockhorror* a 9mm optical disk drive for DVDs.

Elsewhere, I needed to make a few tweaks to get a gentle 60fps, nevertheless it didn’t take a lot compromise to get the remainder of my benchmarking suite working good and easily. In Murderer’s Creed Odyssey, for instance, it managed a gentle 54fps common on Excessive at 4K, however you’ll nonetheless get a wonderfully playable common of 41fps should you go for its prime Extremely Excessive setting at this decision. Equally, follow Shadow of the Tomb Raider‘s SMAA anti-aliasing setting, and also you’ll see round 40-50fps on Highest, or nearer to 50-60fps on Excessive.

I additionally noticed between 50-60fps in The Witcher three on Excessive at 4K, nevertheless it was clearly extra comfy on Medium, with digicam pans turning into a heck of quite a bit smoother as soon as the body fee reached 60-72fps. The identical factor occurred in Whole Battle: Warhammer II as nicely. Whereas Excessive nonetheless produced a really playable common of 51fps in its battle benchmark, it was solely as soon as I switched to Medium that it jumped as much as that excellent 60fps.

Remaining Fantasy XV was additionally a little bit of robust buyer for the RTX 2080 at 4K, particularly if you wish to use all of Nvidia’s fancy hair, turf and lighting results. Certainly, I needed to flip all these off and accept its Common high quality setting to get wherever close to 60fps at this decision (with Excessive coming in round 40-44fps when rambling throughout the hills of Duscae), so should you’re after the quadruple whammy of HairWorks, TurfEffects, Shadowlibs and VXAO lighting, you’ll must play at 2560×1440.

Not that there’s something mistaken with utilizing an RTX 2080 for taking part in at 1440p, in fact, particularly when it does such a rattling good job of it, too. Certainly, throughout the board I used to be capable of get 60fps or extra on max settings with each recreation in my benchmarking suite at this decision, making it a sensible choice for these with excessive refresh fee displays in addition to these aiming for 4K.

The new-swap 2.5in SSD bay (which Asus reckons makes the GL12CX ‘esports-ready’) may be lined up with a snap-on little bit of plastic should you favor.

By way of storage, you’re well-served in total capability, however the pace of the GL12CX’s main drive leaves one thing to be desired. With the Core i9 spec, as an example, you get a 512GB Samsung branded NVMe SSD and a 2TB HDD, whereas the Core i7 spec nets you a 256GB NVMe SSD and a 1TB HDD.

Sadly, regardless of the Samsung DNA, the GL12CX’s NVMe drive isn’t wherever close to as quick as Samsung’s 970 Evo. Within the AS SSD benchmark, for instance, the GL12CX’s drive got here in with a random 4K learn pace of 32MB/s and a random 4K write pace of 107MB/s. That’s 42% slower on studying, and 28% slower on writing. It’s nonetheless pretty respectable as these items go, however contemplating the remainder of the PC’s high-end spec I hoped for one thing slightly quicker. The HDD, in the meantime, is as sluggish as you’d count on, so I’d use that for sticking your photographs, music and lesser-used video games on should you can presumably assist it.

Total, then, the Asus ROG Strix GL12CX feels extra like a PC for bragging rights sake for the time being fairly than one which’s good worth for cash. Certain, it’s a one-stop store for lots of the very best parts round as we speak – which for some folks can be nearly as good a purpose as any to exit and get it – however the advantages you’ll acquire over cheaper Core i7/GTX 1080Ti programs on the market (which may be had for nearer to 2 grand judging from a fast customisation spec I made up over at Scan) are arguably fairly minimal.

I’m undoubtedly not satisfied concerning the want for a Core i9 proper now, and whereas the RTX 2080 might nicely begin to present its true worth over the GTX 1080Ti as soon as builders begin getting their numerous RTX updates on the market (see right here for a full checklist of all of the confirmed RTX video games to date ), it’s nonetheless too early to say whether or not the potential efficiency acquire is absolutely going to be price all that additional money. There are nonetheless a few weeks earlier than the GL12CX goes on sale, in fact, however for now I’d advise to carry off a short time longer to see if Nvidia’s proposed RTX updates can shift the goalposts in Asus’ favour.

from SpicyNBAChili.com http://spicymoviechili.spicynbachili.com/asus-rog-strix-gl12cx-review-the-core-i9-rtx-2080-monster-pc/

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Nvidia Turing release date, news and features The wait for Nvidia’s next-generation Turing graphics cards was excruciating but, finally, the latest and greatest GPU architecture is here. It was a long wait, but the sheer power of Nvidia Turing was definitely worth it. Now that we finally have Turing-powered Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080, RTX 2070 and RTX 2060 cards in our hands, we know they’re the best graphics cards for the games we’ll be playing for the next few years. Nvidia Turing will be behind some creative work too, thanks to the recently introduced Nvidia Titan RTX. Real time ray tracing is the game changing technology this time around, bringing this long-awaited graphics technology to the mainstream with Nvidia Turing. This could bring about a graphical revolution in the way the best PC games are rendered. And, judging by recent games like Metro Exodus, that revolution has arrived – especially considering you can enable ray tracing on non-RTX cards (to the tune of a major performance hit). Of course, if you don’t want to invest in the unique RTX tech, Nvidia has launched the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, GeForce GTX 1660 and GeForce GTX 1650. They’re not quite as powerful as their ray tracing cousins, but they’re significantly more affordable. Plus, Nvidia has officially announced its GeForce GTX 16-series laptop graphics, along with a bevy of laptops equipped with them. Cut to the chase What is it? Nvidia’s latest graphics card architecture When is it out? September 20 What will it cost? $599 (£569, AU$899) - $10,000 (£7,830, AU$13,751) Image Credit: Nvidia Nvidia Turing release date All of the currently-announced Nvidia Turing GPUs are now out in the wild – the RTX 2080 Ti, 2080, 2070, 2060, GTX 1660 Ti and GTX 1660. Thankfully, the RTX-series cards are readily available now after some initial limited availability, and you’ll likely find more than a few models on sale everyday. And, at CES 2019, we didn’t just finally get an RTX 2060 announcement, but also over 40 gaming laptops sporting the mobile version of Nvidia RTX graphics. The best gaming laptops of CES 2019, like the Alienware Area 51m, were all packing the latest Nvidia Turing graphics, and they’ve started hitting the market almost immediately in early- to mid-January 2019. And, if you were looking for a graphics card that you won’t have to take out a personal loan to afford, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti arrived on February 22nd. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 quickly followed with its own March 14th release date, then, finally, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 arrived alongside Turing GTX graphics for laptops in April 2019. Image Credit: TechRadar Nvidia Turing price Although the Nvidia Turing series started with the Quadro RTX GPUs, we're far more interested in the graphics cards available for consumers. If you wanted to check out these enterprise-leaning parts head on here, otherwise read on for the prices of the announced consumer cards below: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti: $1,199 (£1,099, AU$1,899) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080: $799 (£749, AU$1,199) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070: $599 (£569, AU$899) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060: $349 (£329, AU$599) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti: $279 (£259, AU$469) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660: $219 (£219, AU$389) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650: $149 (about £115, AU$210) Overall, the prices for Nvidia's newest graphics cards seem to have risen with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti taking the place of Nvidia’s past Titan cards. This shift up can sadly be seen across the entire lineup. Not to mention that the prices on the store for the RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2080 were a bit higher than what Nvidia CEO and founder Jensen Huang revealed at the Nvidia Geforce Celebration at Gamescom 2018 – at the time of writing. For instance, the 2080 Ti was initially revealed at $999, but that price is rarely reflected outside of some occasional discounts. Then there’s the GTX Turing cards. Right now, these are led by the $279 (£259, AU$469) GTX 1660 Ti, and provide phenomenal value at the low end. The most recent of these cards, the GTX 1650 is priced at $149 (about £115, AU$210), and is positioned to compete with the AMD Radeon RX 570. Image Credit: TechRadar Nvidia Turing specs The headline feature of Nvidia Turing is the inclusion of ray-tracing tech that can render more realistic visuals and lighting in real time without having to fall back on programming tricks. These specialized RTX cores essentially calculate how light and sound travel in a 3D environment at a rate of up to 10 GigaRays on the RTX 2080 Ti. These specialized cores will also supposedly allow Nvidia Turing-based graphics cards to process ray tracing up to 25 times faster than Pascal. When these RTX Cores aren’t in use for processing ray tracing, they’ll essentially switch off, ceasing to draw any power. In addition to these RTX cores, the Turing Architecture will also feature Tensor Cores, like the ones found in Volta. These specialized cores enable artificial intelligence and neural networking so that Turing cards get better at rendering over time – something previously exclusive to supercomputers. With the ability to deliver 500 trillion Tensor operations a second, this technology accelerates deep learning training and inferencing. This will allow Nvidia to offer Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), which could be a version of super sampling that won’t bring your computer to its knees. Even for games that don’t support this new DLSS tech, these AI-fueled cores should deliver traditional anti-aliasing much more efficiently – up to eight times. As with Volta, Nvidia Turing is adopting GDDR6 memory – up to 11GB in the RTX 2080 Ti, which can clock in at up to 14Gbps, quite the leap over the Pascal-powered Nvidia Titan Xp that clocked in at 11.4Gbps. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is an absolute behemoth of a GPU. With 4,352 CUDA cores, 11GB of GDDR6 VRAM with a 352-bit memory bus and 18 billion transistors, it’ll be capable of 4K Ultra gaming at high refresh rates for years to come. It’s no wonder it comes with such a high price tag. The more mainstream RTX 2080 and RTX 2070 are both also quite impressive and absolutely destroy the previous generation of GPUs. The former will feature 2,944 CUDA cores, 8GB of GDDR6 memory and clocks in at a 1.5GHz base frequency. The 2070, though is be a bit weaker, coming with 2,304 CUDA cores 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM and clocked at a 1,410Mhz base frequency. And, while the RTX 2060 is basically just a cut-down RTX 2070, with the same TU106 GPU, but with 1,920 CUDA cores, 6GB of GDDR6 VRAM and a boost clock of 1,680 MHz, it’s still a formidable graphics card. There are rumors of an RTX 2070 Ti, through some leaked benchmarks. The details are a bit hard to believe, as it’s listed with 7.5GB of VRAM at 3,150MHz, when the 2070 has 8GB at 3,500MHz. Given the fact that Ti-branded graphics cards are usually more powerful than their non-Ti companions, we’d take this with a grain of salt. Nvidia has also launched some non-RTX cards, starting with the GTX 1660 Ti. This entry-level card features 1,536 CUDA cores, 6GB of GDDR6 VRAM at 12Gbps, and a base clock of 1,500 MHz. It’s slower than the RTX 2060, but it’s a substantial upgrade over the GTX 1060 it replaces. Team Green’s second non-RTX GPU, the GTX 1660 features 1,480 CUDA cores, 6GB of GDDR5 video memory and a reference boost clock of 1,785MHz. It might not sound mighty on paper, but between its low price and fantastic 1080p gaming performance, it’s currently the absolutely best entry-level graphics card you can buy. A third non-RTX GPU has been released, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650. This low-end GPU features the TU117 GPU, clocked at 1,485GHz with a boost of 1,665GHz. This budget card features 4GB of GDDR5 VRAM with 128GB/s of memory bandwidth on a 128-bit bus. Nvidia Turing Performance And, as long as you have the high-end specs to back them up, the new Turing RTX cards are able to perform much faster than their Pascal equivalents, and will be able to push it even further once DLSS or deep learning super sampling is more widespread. And, thanks to the AA improvements in the Tensor cores, we’re seeing about a 20-40% increase in games that don't support DLSS. In our benchmarks, the GeForce RTX 2080 outperforms the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti by about 11% and the Nvidia GTX 1080 by a more impressive 32% in Middle Earth: Shadow of War in 4K. This performance difference is even more massive when you look at the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti which not only is 20% faster than the RTX 2080 in the same title, but beats out the last-generation 1080 Ti by a massive 30%, destroying the GTX 1080 with a 45% performance delta. Unfortunately, the Nvidia RTX 2070 is less impressive. While it does absolutely wipe the floor with the GTX 1070, it is essentially neck in neck with the GTX 1080 – barely hitting a 10% performance increase at 4K in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. At its price point we were hoping for more, especially after seeing the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti’s impressive performances. The RTX 2060 is obviously the weakest of the bunch, but you shouldn’t dismiss it outright. The mid-range Nvidia Turing card far outclasses the GTX 1060, but what’s more surprising is that it surpasses the GTX 1070 Ti – for a lower asking price. We were able to get 90 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p, whereas the 1070 Ti lagged behind at 86 fps. That’s not a huge difference, but the 2060 is $100 cheaper at launch. In traditional games, there’s no question that Nvidia Turing marks a total upgrade from Pascal. And, over time as drivers mature and users get ready to start overclocking their Turing cards, the difference is only going to grow. That’s not to mention the inclusion of incoming DLSS and ray tracing in games, which should only increase the Nvidia Turing performance gap. When it comes to ray tracing, there’s only one title that supports it right now: Battlefield V. And, in that title, the Nvidia Turing cards use a hybrid rendering technique – combining both traditional rasterization and ray tracing in order to produce playable frame rates. Nvidia utilizes “Bounding Volume Hierarchy,” or BVH to track large portions of the scene being rendered for whether or not a ray is being bounced. The RTX cores will then dig deeper into these large rendering zones until it finds the polygon that’s getting hit by the light ray. This method impacts performance far less than tracking each ray live, but it’s still very demanding. In our own testing, you’ll be stuck at 1080p if you’re looking for smooth gameplay with ray tracing turned on. However, with Nvidia’s latest RTX drivers, it’s claiming to increase performance by up to 50% for ray tracing. We’ll be sure to test this and report back, but we have to wait for the new Battlefield V patch to do it. As for the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, you can expect much better performance than the GTX 1060 for less money – up to 56% faster in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p in our testing. That makes the 1660 Ti a beast when it comes to value. Meanwhile, this the latest in AMD Vega #Newsytechno.com #Latest_Technology_Trends #Cool_Gadgets

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