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Cyberpunk 2077 will soon get an update that will push its ray tracing to the next level with the introduction of a new Ray Tracing: Overdrive setting. This was announced as part of Nvidia's RTX 40-series launch, as Nvidia used the new mode to show off the frame rate capabilities of its new DLSS 3 tech. That's good news for anyone that enjoys rampaging through Night City, although it's potentially bad news for your graphics card if the native frame rates are anything to go by. In a video showing off the improvements that DLSS 3 can make to the performance of the game, the native frame rate can be seen hovering just over 20fps. DLSS 3 does make a massive difference here, boosting this up to 98fps, but that still paints a worrying picture if the mighty RTX 4090 barely gets out of the mid-20s without the magic of AI-powered upscaling. (Image credit: Nvidia) On the graph showing off the performance of the new cards, Nvidia appears to suggest that the RTX 3090 Ti, you know, the current fastest card around, managed a quarter of the frame rate of the RTX 4090. Yup, you're back at that 21–23fps again. And according to the blurb at the bottom of that graph, that's whilst using DLSS. Gulp. So what has Nvidia and CD Projekt Red done to punish our graphics cards in this way? They've turned everything up a notch in the ray tracing rendering pipeline. Specifically, you're looking at: Nvidia RTX Direct Illumination (RTXDI) gives each neon sign, street lamp, car headlight, LED billboard and TV accurate ray-traced lighting and shadows, bathing objects, walls, passing cars and pedestrians in accurate colored lighting.Ray-traced indirect lighting and reflections now bounce multiple times, compared to the previous solution’s single bounce. The result is even more accurate, realistic and immersive global illumination, reflections, and self-reflectionsRay-traced reflections are now rendered at full resolution, further improving their quality Improved, more physically-based lighting removes the need for any other occlusion techniques The full-resolution ray-traced reflections are particularly welcome, as that's something that is obvious and jarring even using the psycho rendering mode in the current game. From the short video at the top of the story, it certainly looks like an impressive update. Hopefully, this will arrive before the Phantom Liberty expansion drops as well, although that isn't due until some time in 2023. We'd imagine the Overdrive patch will launch close to the GeForce RTX 4090 being unleashed on October 12. View the full article

Solium Infernum was a turn-based strategy phenomenon back in the early 2010s. Instead of taking the fight to the usual strategy arenas—historical battlefields, high fantasy landscapes, intergalactic colonies—it had a gaggle of archfiends vying for supremacy in a John Milton/Dante-inspired Hell. It was developed in Adobe Director by Vic Davis, a legend of the tabletop scene whose primary work is with board games, and who has since retired from game development. In an interview with Game Developer in 2010, Davis bravely announced that he wanted to "make games that drive away 90 percent of the player base out there." An extremely noble undertaking, and one that has seen his legend grow among fans of richly complicated political strategy sims. Now, 12 years later, Armello studio League of Geeks has announced a ground-up "re-imagining" of Solium Infernum. In addition to throwing off the shackles of Adobe Director graphical austerity, the League of Geeks project will "take some liberties" while also adding much more modern multiplayer functionality. Here's how it used to look: (Image credit: Cryptic Comet) ...and here's how it looks now: (Image credit: League of Geeks) The original was a play-by-email affair, and while the modern version will also be turn-based, it'll be much easier to dive in for five minutes every day to chip away at campaigns that can famously take up to six hours to complete. These weeks-long, simultaneous-move multiplayer campaigns are still in, but there will also be shorter, more snackable 2-4 hour singleplayer campaigns built around the stories of each archfiend. There are eight playable archfiends, up from the original's five. The most striking thing about LoG's reimagining is surely the graphics, and especially the representations of each archfiend. It bears some of the stylistic quirks of Armello, but with an unapologetically hellish twist. The map itself—which is randomised, and in a diabolical twist loops back onto itself in all directions—inherits the doomed barrenness of the original while adding a sense of real scale and dimension. "It's a natural progression for us because Solium Infernum was a major inspiration for Armello," League of Geeks' co-founder Trent Kusters told me, adding that Davis very enthusiastically embraced the idea of rebooting the game. "We did a bunch of paper prototyping for Armello, and the actual main version of the prototype that turned it into Armello was when we added a few elements from Solium Infernum." (Image credit: League of Geeks) I was shown a gameplay demo of Solium Infernum, starting from around the 10th turn. For newcomers to the game (like myself!) it may be surprising just how foregrounded diplomacy is in Solium Infernum. Yes, it's possible to be a fire-and-brimstone brute, but careful manipulation of your opponents, hard bargaining, and wily deception are more often the order of the day. The original game had a 50-page instruction manual, so rest assured that I'm vastly simplifying things, but there's a reason for Solium Infernum's enduring cult acclaim: there's a lot going on underneath the hood. While the narrative-driven singleplayer campaigns have their obvious appeal, Kusters sees Solium Infernum as more of a tool for destroying friendships. It hasn't shed its complexity, but the asynchronous approach means that that complexity is boiled down into manageable daily turns. "In the time that has passed between 2009 and 2022, as technology has gotten better and the accessibility of getting online and getting pinged for a notification [has improved], there's some real traction there. We can provide a grand political strategy game set in hell, a torturous, friendship destroying strategy, in bitesized form." As fans of the old game will expect, Solium Infernum will be a PC-only affair when it releases in 2023. You can wishlist it on Steam. Check out some more screenshots below. Image 1 of 4 (Image credit: League of Geeks)Image 2 of 4 (Image credit: League of Geeks)Image 3 of 4 (Image credit: League of Geeks)Image 4 of 4 (Image credit: League of Geeks) View the full article

One thing I taught myself at university was how to read tarot cards. I can't say I exactly believe that these pieces of paper can read my future, but it's always a nice party trick when you do a reading for someone and it gives them real insights. Pointing out that they might be working too hard, missing family, or not seeing opportunities right there in front of them may help them understand their current situation a little better. I've always used them as a way to check in on myself or friends—a deck of cards is cheaper than therapy right? They're pretty cool, as long as they're used wisely, and gaming seems to really like tarot cards too. Plenty of games use tarot cards as a theme or mechanic, from Persona 5 to The Quarry. But Bethesda has taken it a step further by creating two tarot card sets of their own, based on Skyrim and Fallout 4. I was sent a copy of both and I was half tempted to ruin the decks by using the cards as commemorative art pieces for the games rather than using them for reading purposes. I'm always looking for ways to hide gaming easter eggs around my own home, and these cards mix style and gaming better than most posters. Both sets of cards come in small cardboard boxes containing the decks and a little instruction booklet. Each set of cards deviates from the traditional four suits and chooses a theme based on the game. For Fallout the suits are Lanterns, Steel, Synths, and Muskets, of course linking up with the game's main factions. The Major Arcana (the big cards like Death, The Tower, The Hermit etc) are the notable NPCs from the world you encounter, as well as series mascot Vault Boy. These bits of artwork are a stylish way to commemorate my favourites like Preston Garvey and Nick Valentine. The art of the cards are cartoonish drawings of the characters with muted shading and some dilapidated flair making the set look like it's just come from the apocalypse. (Image credit: Future) The Skyrim card suits are Spells, Lockpicks, Arms, and Voice, more tenuously linked to the factions and elements of gameplay the Dovahkiin encounters on their travels. But I think this card set, despite the fact I enjoy Skyrim more than Fallout 4, is weaker. Many NPCs in the Major Arcana set aren't instantly recognisable for two reasons: They require a more intimate knowledge of lore as many are deities rather than NPCs you visit regularly as you do in Fallout, even if you're just running past them in Diamond City. And the art is more stylised in a way that it's harder at first glance to know who's who with flatter shading and a more muted palette of colours. Even if they're still very pretty in their dusty pastel greens and blues, the Fallout cards feels more in line with the world they're supposed to have come from. Each tarot book that accompanies the cards will give you context to each character and why they've been picked for the role, as well as each cards' meaning, which is how I deciphered the characters. While these sets could make a nice gift, they're not as great for readings. Sets such as the Wild Unknown are far more emotive and easy to read if you're interested in learning about tarot cards. The Wild Unknown's Ten of Swords shows those swords piercing a beast, with dark shading and its eyes speared by the tenth sword. It's dramatic and scary, which connects to the meaning of the card. It's a card literally about drama and hitting rock bottom. It's about being caught up in petty ruinous things rather than moving past it. Dramatic card, dramatic meaning, you see? Image 1 of 3 All the favourites are here (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 3 lots and lots of horns (Image credit: Future) They're more novelty than magic The main barrier for new tarot enthusiasts with the Bethesda decks would be that the numbered cards, like the Three of Lockpicks or the Five of Steel, are reusing the same assets over and over. Synths, horns, swords, they all just multiply rather than showing you anything new. It would be a nightmare to try and remember which correlated to what emotion and meaning because they all look pretty much the same. Of course, the book is right there for you to research what each card means, but part of the fun of the tarot card process is showing off your visually stimulating, beautiful cards, as a bonus to their meanings. That said, the writer of the explanations of the tarot cards, Tori Schafer, does such a good job at explaining the cards and their meanings in a way that relates to the adventures of the protagonists of the games. There's a world in which I can imagine these explanations just copied and pasted between the two books, but that's not the case here. I'm still tempted to frame my favourite pieces of art from both decks and put them on my wall as little mementos of my adventures rather than using them for readings. But the cards have a luxe feel to them—even if my Skyrim deck was already a little bent for some reason—that I might keep them around to show off to friends. If you've got a friend who's into these franchises, the tarot sets are a solid gift for them to put on their shelves. But for those of more mystic mindsets, they're more novelty than magic. View the full article

Getty Images has banned the upload and sale of any images generated by an AI—a bid to keep itself safe from any legal issues that may arise from what is effectively a Wild West of art generation today. "There are real concerns with respect to the copyright of outputs from these models and unaddressed rights issues with respect to the imagery, the image metadata and those individuals contained within the imagery," Getty Images CEO Craig Peters told The Verge. With the rise of AI art tools such as DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney, among others, there have been a sudden influx of AI-generated images on the web. For the most part, we've seen these images come and go as entertaining gaffs on Twitter and other social media platforms, but as these AI algorithms become more complex and effective at image creation, we'll see these images used for a whole lot more. And that's a business that Getty, one of the leading curated image library providers, wants to stay well clear of. Getty's CEO refused to say if the company had already received legal challenges regarding AI-generated images, though did assert that it had "extremely limited" AI-generated content in its library. All AI image generation algorithms require training, and massive image sets are required to do this effectively. As The Verge reports, Stable Diffusion is trained on images scraped from the web via a dataset from German charity LAION. This data set was created in compliance with German law, the Stable Diffusion website states, though it admits that the exact legality regarding copyright for images created using its tool "will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction." As such, it's likely to become increasingly difficult to tell whether artwork is derived from another copyrighted image. These two images were created in the AI application Stable Diffusion. (Image credit: Stability AI) There are other concerns regarding image datasets and scraping techniques, as a California-based artist discovered private medical record photographs, taken by their doctor, within the LAION-5B image set. The artist, Lapine, discovered their images had been used through the use of a website that is specifically designed to tell artists whether their work has been used in these sorts of sets, called 'Have I Been Trained?' These images have been confirmed by Ars Technica in an interview with Lapine, who has kept their identity confidential for privacy reasons. Though clearly privacy was not afforded to the supposedly confidential medical records held by the artist's doctor following the doctor's death in 2018, and it's quite worrying to think of how these ended up in a very public dataset without permission since. Lapine is not the only person affected either, it seems, as Ars also states that during a search for Lapine's photos they discovered other images that may have been obtained through similar means. My face is in the #LAION dataset. In 2013 a doctor photographed my face as part of clinical documentation. He died in 2018 and somehow that image ended up somewhere online and then ended up in the dataset- the image that I signed a consent form for my doctor- not for a dataset. pic.twitter.com/TrvjdZtyjDSeptember 16, 2022 See more Sitting comfortably? (Image credit: Secretlab)Best chair for gaming: the top gaming chairs around Best gaming desk: the ultimate PC podiums Best PC controller: sit back, relax, and get your game on When asked about the image set the CEO of the company behind Stable Diffusion, Stability AI, said that he couldn't speak for LAION but did state that it might be possible to un-train Stable Diffusion to remove certain images from its algorithm, but that the end result as it stands today is not an exact copy of any information from a given image set. There are burgeoning privacy and legal concerns that will undoubtedly rise to the surface in coming months and years regarding the production and distribution of AI generated images. What is a fun tool, and perhaps even a handy one at times, is very likely to become a sticky topic for lawmakers, rights holders, and private citizens. I don't blame age-old image libraries for taking a step back from the technology in the meantime. View the full article

Rockstar's online multiplayer mode for GTA 5 may be a festival of looting, shooting chaos, but behind the madness and destructive toys lies cash. The best things in GTA Online don't come cheap, whether it's a high-end apartment, an aircraft hangar, or those fancy flying missile bikes that repeatedly kill you when you're driving around the world. Luckily we can help ease your GTA 5 money woes. Become a Los Santos kingpin with these GTA 5 guides (Image credit: Rockstar North)GTA 5 cheats: Every cheat code and vehicle spawn GTA 5 cars: The fastest in the game GTA 5 mods: The best visual and gameplay tweaks GTA 6: All the rumours in one place The best ways to make money in GTA Online generally require you to invest first. For example, if you want to become a gunrunner, you have to buy a bunker. If you want to become a CEO, you have to purchase offices. Heists are one of the best ways to make money in GTA Online, but even they require an apartment with a heist room, and if you want to try Cayo Perico, a rather expensive nuclear-powered sub. But there are plenty of ways to rack up some cash if you're just starting out, allowing to invest in what you need to access better money-making methods. GTA Online is a little like that one red paperclip story: You trade your way up, buying what you need to optimise your money-making process, and eventually, you'll have more than you know what to do with. I’ll start with a quick beginner’s guide and then go in depth on each of the main money making methods. How to make money in GTA Online With the Criminal Enterprises update in mid-2022 came a whole host of upgrades to pre-existing businesses and other money making methods. For example, races and deathmatches pay out 50% more than what they did previously. The update also made it possible run businesses in solo invite only lobbies which means no griefers to deal with. But there is now a high-demand bonus for most businesses of 1% for every other player in a non-public session (up to 25%), and 2% per player for public sessions (up to 50%). Higher risk, but higher rewards. Despite all these changes the best money making method is still the Cayo Perico heist, so for new players it's all about accumulating the $2.2 million needed to buy the Kosatka submarine that unlocks it. Search the GTA wiki for the names of anything mentioned below to get more info. Quick tips Start by doing the special scavenger hunts that are available in free mode—Bounty Targets for Maude, the revolver Treasure Hunt and Los Santos Slasher—for a total of $250,00 each. In a similar vein, complete the Movie Props and Signal Jammers collectible missions to net $150,000 each.Spin the Casino Lucky Wheel daily for the chance at extra income in the form of cash or chips (which can be converted to cash).Pay attention to double and triple money game modes each week and participate in them, alongside doing missions that are available to you, until you get $2.2 mil. Buy the Kosatka and work your way through the Cayo Perico heist. Things will be slow at first, but once you’ve done your first heist you’ll be able to buy better weapons and vehicles to make things quicker—prioritise the Sparrow helicopter for the Kosatka.From this point on it’s a continuous cycle of doing the Cayo Perico heist quicker and quicker, improving your skills and buying items that will allow you to do it even faster, until you’re making approximately $1.5 mil an hour. Then you can enjoy the rest of the game and supplement your money making methods with the others outlined here. Heists (Image credit: Rockstar ) Cayo Perico Potential profit: $1.5 mil per hourPrerequisites: Kosatka submarine (min cost: $2.2 mil) & organisation member (VIP/CEO) Method: Go to the Music Locker at the casino and meet with Miguel Madrazo. Afterwards you’ll be able to purchase the Kosatka Submarine. Start an organisation as a VIP or CEO from the SecuroServ option in the interaction menu, then go to your Kosatka and start the heist from the planning board. You’ll need to gather intel on the island, complete some prep missions, and finally do the heist itself. From starting the intel to finishing the heist should take around 45 minutes to an hour after a few times trying it—as long as you focus only on what is needed. Given its popularity and profitability, there are numerous written and video guides online that can help. Tip: Unlike other heists, everything can be done solo and in a private lobby. Most of the time it’s also more profitable to do it solo, and the potential profits per hour dwarf every other money making method in the game. Make sure to start your next heist within 48 minutes of ending your last one to have it be set on hard mode and earn a 10% bonus. (Image credit: Rockstar Games) Diamond Casino Potential profit: $500k per hourPrerequisites: Arcade (Min Cost: $1.2 mil), organisation member (VIP/CEO), & 1-3 Friends Method: After buying the Arcade, complete the mandatory setup missions. Then start an organisation as a VIP or CEO from the SecuroServ option in the interaction menu and start the heist from the planning board within your Arcade. You’ll need to scope out the Casino and find out what you’ll be stealing from the vault. You’ll then need to choose your approach out of three options and do the relevant prep missions, before completing the heist itself with between one and three friends. Depending on your approach there are certain prep missions you can skip entirely and some that will be extremely helpful to do, and there are plenty of guides online to help you figure it all out. Tip: Completing the heist with the minimum number of people required to get all the loot is usually the most profitable. For art that’s two people, but the rest are three. Big Con is the easiest approach as you can get in and out without any trouble. Aim to steal a helicopter or go into nearby tunnels to avoid cops more easily and quickly when escaping. Doomsday Potential profit: $500k per hourPrerequisites: Facility (minimum Cost: $1.25 mil) & 1-3 friends Method: Walk to the heist planning room in your facility and select your chosen heist act to start. You will need to pay an upfront cost to start the heist as host. Invite one, two, or three friends and work through the prep missions, setup missions and finale. As with the old heists, round up a group of decent players because communication and skill is needed to reduce the time taken to beat it. Tip: Completing these heists with two players rather than four will naturally mean more money per player, as the overall payout remains the same, but the missions will be slightly more difficult and potentially more time consuming with fewer players. The host of any heist doesn’t make any money during setup missions and has to spend money to start each, so it's a good idea for the host to take 40% for four players, 50% for three players or 60% for two players of the final heist earnings. Other players take an equal share of what remains, so that all players will earn approximately the same overall. Paying to skip prep missions is almost always never worth it from a monetary or time perspective. Original heists Potential profit: $500k per hourPrerequisites: High-end apartment (min cost: $200k) & three friends Method: Walk to the heist planning room in your high-end apartment and select your chosen heist to start. You will need to pay an upfront cost to start the heist as host. Invite your three friends and work through the setup missions and finale. It is recommended to have a good group of four people to do this as communication and skill is required to reduce the time taken, and there are numerous guides online for each mission. Tip: The Pacific Standard Heist on Hard mode is the most profitable of the original heists when done effectively with a competent group of players, however the income from it is now overshadowed by more recent heists. The host of any heist doesn’t make any money during setup missions and has to spend money to kick things off, so it’s a good idea for the host to take 40% of the final heist earnings with other players taking 20% each so that all four players will earn approximately the same overall. Active businesses (Image credit: Rockstar Games) Special Cargo Potential profits: $500k per hourPrerequisites: Office (minimum cost: $1 mil), warehouse (minimum cost: $250k) & organisation member (CEO) Method: Ignore the old method of actually manually sourcing cargo for this. With the Criminal Enterprises update each warehouse now has staff and it is significantly more efficient to get them to source cargo for you. Simply walk up to them inside the warehouse and pay them to source cargo until the warehouse is full. They’ll collect between 1 and 3 crates and you’ll have to wait 48 minutes in real time—although you can turn off your console and the timer will still count down—before you can get them to source more. You can then use the laptop in the warehouse to sell your collected crates via a delivery mission to turn a profit. Tip: The more crates you sell at once the more money you'll make per crate, hence a full large warehouse is the best to build up and sell. However large warehouses cost more to purchase and selling 111 crates at once is a larger risk as you'll either gain $2.2 million or lose everything. In promotional weeks where special cargo is double money, alongside the 50% high-demand bonus for selling in a full public session, the maximum potential income is $6.6 million from one delivery mission. That’s a very high risk scenario though, so be careful. (Image credit: Rockstar) Agency VIP Contract Potential profit: $300k per hourPrerequisites: Agency (Min Cost: $2 mil) & Organisation Member (VIP/CEO) Method: Start an organisation as a VIP or CEO from the SecuroServ option in the interaction menu. Walk to the computer in your agency office and select 'VIP Contract'. This can be done after completing a single 'Security Contract'. Simply play through the story-style missions (three parts lasting approximately an hour each) to net a $1 million reward on completion. Tip: Playing through the missions for the first time also yields bonuses. For example, an extra few hundred thousand dollars for reaching certain points. While the missions may not be worth doing consistently in comparison to heists from a money-making perspective, they're fun enough to recommend. (Image credit: Rockstar) Auto Shop Potential profit: $300k per hour Prerequisites: Auto Shop (min cost: $1.7m) & Organisation Member (VIP/CEO) Method: Go to the LS Car Meet first in order to be able to buy an Auto Shop from the in-game website. Start an organisation as a VIP or CEO from the SecuroServ option in the interaction menu. Walk to the Job Board in order to access Contracts, which are essentially mini-heists. Complete the two relatively short setup missions and then the finale to net the pay-out of approximately 170-180k each time. Tip: Other business aspects of the Auto Shop include modifying and delivering customer cars, and finding exotic cars in free mode random events to export. Neither of these are very profitable considering the time investment involved, so it's not recommended to buy the additional items for the Auto Shop that help with them (Car Lift & Staff Members) as it will take a long time to earn that money back. Vehicle Cargo Potential profit: $300k per hourPrerequisites: Office (minimum cost: $1 mil), vehicle warehouse (minimum cost: $1.5 mil) & organisation member (CEO) Method: Start an organisation as a CEO from the SecuroServ option in the interaction menu. Walk to the computer in your office and select "Vehicle Cargo", then "Source Vehicle". You will need to complete a mission to steal a vehicle and drive it back to your vehicle warehouse. Be careful when driving it back as damage will result in repair costs, impacting on profit. You can then use the laptop in the vehicle warehouse to export the vehicle you sourced via a delivery mission to turn a profit. Tip: Repeat sourcing missions until you fill up your vehicle warehouse with 10 standard range and 10 mid range vehicles with no duplicates. At that point, every source mission will give you a top range vehicle until you get all 12 of those. Only export top range vehicles and sell as many vehicles at once as you can if you have friends to help—this will help maximise profits per hour. Air Freight Cargo Potential profit: $150k per hourPrerequisites: Hangar (minimum cost: $1.2 mil) and organisation member (VIP/CEO) Method: Start an organisation as a VIP or CEO from the SecuroServ option in the interaction menu. Walk to the computer in your hangar and select "Source", then the type of cargo you want to source. You will need to complete a mission to deliver the cargo to your hangar. You can then use the laptop in the hangar to sell your collected cargo via a delivery mission to turn a profit. Tip: Stick to sourcing only one type of cargo, and make it either narcotics, chemicals, or medical supplies. You get a 35% bonus for selling 25 crates of these types, and a 75% bonus for selling all 50 crates. Selling a full hangar will require friends to help you, and in general sourcing cargo with friends is much more time effective. Passive businesses (Image credit: Rockstar) Nightclub: Safe Potential profit: $50k per hour passively (whilst doing other things)Prerequisites: Nightclub (Min Cost: $1.1 mil), Staff Upgrade ($475,000) & 2 DJs Method: This extra income takes advantage of the increased Nightclub popularity earnings and safe capacity of $250,000. All you need to do is keep your nightclub’s popularity meter above 90%, with the best way to do that provided in the tip below. Every 48 minutes (1 in-game day) money will be transferred to your safe and the nightclub’s popularity will drop by 5% if you have the staff upgrade. When the popularity is at 100% or 95%, $50,000 will be added to the safe, with the amount of money added decreasing substantially from this point on as popularity drops. Simply keep your popularity high and empty your safe every four or five in-game days for guaranteed low effort income. Tip: You’ll get $50,000 added to your nightclub’s safe as long as your popularity is at 100% or 95%. This means you only need to worry about increasing your popularity every two in-game days once it has dropped to 90%. Every time you switch DJs from the computer in your nightclub building VIP area you automatically gain 10% popularity, putting you back up to 100%. Since this costs $10,000, you’ll be making $90,000 profit every two in-game days by simply clicking a button on an in-game computer. You can also do the popularity missions, but they’ll take up to 10 minutes in comparison to the seconds required to switch DJs, thereby reducing money making efficiency. Nightclub: Business Potential profit: $40k per hour passively (whilst doing other things)Prerequisites: Nightclub (minimum cost: $1.1 mil) & other businesses (minimum cost: $850k) Method: Walk to the computer in your nightclub building VIP area and select "Warehouse Management", then assign a Warehouse Technician to one of the goods you have available. Those goods will be based on the other businesses you own, such as motorcycle club businesses, a gunrunning bunker, or a cargo warehouse. You can assign up to five technicians, meaning only five of your other businesses will count. Once assigned, your technicians will begin acquiring goods on their own when you're doing most other things in the game. You can then use the computer in your nightclub building VIP area to sell your goods via a delivery mission to turn a profit. Tip: The business aspect of the nightclub may not seem profitable, but in a 24-hour AFK scenario it gives around $900,000 profit every day for a single ten-minute mission (which equates to an income rate of over $5 million per hour of actual work, beating everything else in the game). Since this is completely passive income where you don’t need to keep restocking, and there's no monetary bonus for selling full stock, it's actually more efficient to sell earlier. To reach maximum profitability, ignore Organic Produce & Printing and Copying, and assign technicians to the other five areas. Then sell goods every time Cash Creation, Pharmaceuticals & South American Imports are full (every 20 hours). Gunrunning Potential profit: $45k per hour passively (while doing other things)Prerequisites: Bunker (minimum cost: $1.2 mil) and organisation member (VIP/CEO) Method: Start an organisation as a VIP or CEO from the SecuroServ option in the interaction menu. Walk to the laptop in your bunker and select "Resupply", then "Steal Supplies" or "Buy Supplies". You will need to complete a mission to deliver the supplies to your bunker if you choose that option, or they can be delivered without any effort if you buy them. Once you have supplies your staff will begin manufacturing, turning them into stock when you're doing most other things in the game. You can then use the laptop in the bunker to sell your stock via a delivery mission to turn a profit. Tip: Buying supplies is more time effective, as is setting your staff to only manufacturing and buying the equipment/staff upgrades. This is passive income so you should have this running in the background while you make active income from other methods listed. There is no monetary bonus for selling a full bunker, and doing so will require friends if there are multiple vehicles to be used for the sell mission. Motorcycle Club Potential profit: $40k per hour passively (while doing other things)Prerequisites: Clubhouse (minimum cost: $200k), business (minimum cost: $650k) and Motorcycle Club president Method: Start a Motorcycle Club as president from the corresponding option in the interaction menu. Walk to the laptop in your business building and select "Resupply", then "Steal Supplies" or "Buy Supplies". You will need to complete a mission to deliver the supplies to your business if you choose that option, or they can be delivered without any effort if you buy them. Once you have supplies your staff will begin production, turning them into stock when you're doing most other things in the game. You can then use the laptop in the business building to sell your stock via a delivery mission to turn a profit. Tip: Cocaine production is the most profitable (on par with the gunrunning bunker), with the cheapest cocaine business costing $975k to buy, although sell missions often take longer to complete. Buying supplies is more time effective. This is passive income so you should have this running in the background while you make active income from other methods listed. There is no monetary bonus for selling full stock and doing so will require friends if there are multiple vehicles to be used for the sell mission. (Image credit: Rockstar Games) Agency Security Contracts Potential profit: $25k per hour passively (while doing other things)Prerequisites: Agency (Min Cost: $2 mil) & Organisation Member (VIP/CEO) Method: Start an organisation as a VIP or CEO from the SecuroServ option in the interaction menu. Walk to the computer in your agency office and select 'Security Contract'. Choose one and complete the mission for a small reward. Every five Security Contracts completed increases the amount of money added to the wall safe every in-game day (48 minutes) to the tune of $500, up to a maximum of $20,000 for completing 200 jobs. Simply empty the safe as it nears its maximum ($250,000) and continue completing Security Contracts to permanently increase the rate at which the safe fills up. Tip: The safe will fill up every 12.5 hours after 200 security contracts have been completed. In a 24-hour AFK scenario, 85 security contracts would need to be completed for the wall safe to be full by the same time the next day after being emptied. Other jobs (Image credit: Rockstar Games) Payphone Hits Potential profit: $250k per hourPrerequisites: Agency (Min Cost: $2 mil) three Security Contracts Method: Complete three Security Contracts as detailed in the 'Agency Security Contracts' section above. Franklin then gives you a call, unlocking Payphone Hits. The first will spawn at a random payphone location on the map, and after completing the first job you’ll be able to call Franklin to request them at any time. Successful completion of each mission will yield an $85,000 profit for sometimes one-to-two minutes of effort, though you’ll have to wait 20 minutes before completing another one. Tip: The key to profiting from these missions is the Assassination Bonus. Simply killing the target will only net a $15,000 reward, however a further $70,000 will be added for performing the hit in the required way. Examples include chasing the target in a police car until they die from a crash, or shooting a bulldozer driver so that the vehicle runs over the target. There are eight different targets and two of them are only available to Organisations or Motorcycle Clubs with two or more members. Completing each assassination fully will also reward a statue on the shelves in your Agency office. VIP Work Potential profit: $150k per hourPrerequisites: Organisation member (VIP/CEO) Method: Start an organisation as a VIP or CEO from the SecuroServ option in the interaction menu. Open up the interaction menu and select "VIP Work", then the mission you want to do. You will need to complete a mission in free roam and will be rewarded with money upon successful completion. Tip: These missions are a great way to earn some money while waiting for cooldown timers to expire, such as if you're waiting to source another vehicle for your warehouse, as they are completed fairly quickly and pay relatively well. They aren't a replacement for other money making methods, though, as their payout isn't as high, but they're solid filler jobs. Headhunter, Hostile Takeover and Sightseer are notably decent missions to take on. (Image credit: Rockstar Games) Premium races Potential profit: $80k per racePrerequisites: A fast car/bike, good racing ability Method: Either drive to the location of the premium race, which is a golden stunt wheel on the map, or hover over it and start the job from the map. When the lobby has filled with eight other players, you'll have $20k taken from your bank account. You must finish third or above to make a return on that investment, with the winner of the race receiving $100k, second place taking home $30k, and third place getting their entry fee of $20k back. Tip: Premium races change every week and are a gamble, as it can take time to fill up a lobby and there is no guarantee you'll make money. If you're proficient at racing, however, are familiar with the stunt race on offer that week and have a good car (if you don't already know beforehand which car to use then you're not ready for the premium race), this can be quite lucrative. Time Trials Potential profit: $100k per time trialPrerequisites: A fast car/bike or RC Bandito Method: Drive to the location of the time trial corona, which is a purple stopwatch icon on the map. Start the time trail when you feel ready and attempt to get to the end point quicker than the listed par time. There are no checkpoints in between so you can take whatever route you like, and there are numerous guides online for each trial. You'll be rewarded with around $100k for successful completion. Tip: Time trials change weekly and you can only gain the reward for completing them once per week. You do have an unlimited number of tries to beat the par time and can respawn back at the start, but of course the longer it takes the less money you effectively make per hour from this method. In general, pulling wheelies on a fast bike will get you to your destination in the quickest way possible. There are also time trials for the RC Bandito but they are more annoying to complete and have a higher cost of entry, given the price of the Bandito to start with. (Image credit: Rockstar) HSW Time Trials (PS5/Xbox Series X only) Potential profit: $250k per time trialPrerequisites: A car/bike modified at Hao’s Special Works (only available with the Expanded & Enhanced Edition) Method: Drive to the location of the HSW time trial corona, which is a purple “H” icon on the map. Start the time trail when you feel ready and attempt to get to the end point in a quicker time than the listed par time. There are no checkpoints in between so you can take whatever route you like, although the best routes for each time trial can be seen in this video. You'll be rewarded with around $250k for successful completion. Tip: Time trails change every week and you can only gain the reward for completing them once per week. You do have an unlimited number of tries to beat the par time and can respawn back at the start, but of course the longer it takes the less money you effectively make per hour from this method. In general, pulling wheelies on a fast bike will get you to your destination in the quickest way possible, although most HSW modified cars will be able to complete these time trials. (Image credit: Rockstar) Daily Objectives Potential profit: $1.6 mil per 28 days Prerequisites: Rank 15 Method: Open up the interaction menu and select "Daily Objectives". This will display the three objectives you'll need to complete on that day. Simply complete each task and you'll be rewarded with $25k upon successful completion. Some tasks may be more difficult to complete than others and require the use of friends to complete easily. Tip: This is one of the easiest ways to earn money but only if you keep at it every day, as there are significant bonuses for seven and 28 consecutive days of objectives completed. Completing daily objectives for seven days in a row will earn a bonus of $100k, with 28 days in a row netting an extra $500k. The total amount of money you would make by completing all daily objectives for 28 days in a row would be $1.6 million (28x25k + 4x100k + 500k). Double Money events One final bit of advice is to take advantage of double money events. Almost every week Rockstar will change what you can do to earn double money. Sometimes it will be on races or adversary modes that, even with double money, won't be as efficient as the above methods. However sometimes some of the above methods may have a double money week, such as Gunrunning Bunker or Vehicle Cargo sales. The more options you have open to you, the more you can take advantage of these double money events if they happen to be for something lucrative. And if there's ever double money on Heists (which is very rare) absolutely do some grinding during that week. Other resources GTA Online Reddit Mega Guide A great resource for those who want to make the absolute most out of their moneymaking and time with the game. A lot of extra information can be found in their consistently pinned mega guide . GTA Series Videos Time Trials Guides This shows the way to beat each time trial in GTA Online for easy money each week. Also has guides for premium races. Broughy1322 Car Testing The best vehicles to use for racing to help get those premium race wins. Making $500K per hour solo Add the Gunrunning bunker working in the background to this method for the best way to earn money as a solo player. Solo Cayo Perico Heist Guide An excellent in depth guide that shows you exactly what you need to do to complete the heist from start to finish in the easiest way. View the full article

It didn't take long for me to realize Terra Invicta was going to be something special. A standalone game from the creators of XCOM and XCOM 2's ambitious Long War mods, Pavonis Interactive has basically taken the strategic layer from XCOM and turned it into a Paradox-style grand strategy game. The scope is just mind-boggling from the get go, and it never really stops feeling that way. Every major nation on Earth in 2022 is simulated alongside the entire solar system—out to asteroids and ice dwarfs beyond the orbit of Pluto. Describing it sounds almost ridiculous until you see it for yourself. And somehow, it also actually works. The start date is right about now, with everything down to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and membership in transnational alliances like the EU and NATO modeled in detail. Countries have all sorts of ratings that affect how they behave, from military technology level to political freedom to wealth inequality, which can each be nudged in either direction if you gain control of their foreign policy. The big difference is that an alien spaceship has crash landed somewhere on Earth, and no one agrees on what to do about it. (Image credit: Hooded Horse) Unlike most grand strategy games, though, you're not playing as a nation in Terra Invicta. Rather, you take control of one of several factions with a specific idea about how to handle the discovery of intelligent, alien life. The Resistance is the default faction, and they're like your typical XCOM or Stargate Command—their main goal is to defend Earth from alien attacks and secure humanity's independence among the stars. The Protectorate, on the other hand, wishes to submit to the aliens as a vassal state, seeing a prolonged war as a doomed affair. Project Exodus figures the neighborhood is getting a bit crowded, and they only care about building a colony ship that will allow us to secure our species' future somewhere very far away. There is a fairly sharp contrast, at least early on, between the absurd depth of the simulation and the relatively simple ways you can interact with it. Yes, it will track atmospheric CO2 on Earth to model global climate change, rising sea levels, and the resulting economic devastation, which hits some regions harder than others. Yes, there are multiple Lagrange points around the moons of Saturn where you could place a space station. But for the first year or so, this is essentially a spy game. Your faction is led by a council of up to eight characters who all have different missions available to them and are good at certain things. A celebrity might excel at swaying public opinion toward your faction, while a spy is good at undermining other factions' agents. Their main job is to convert Earth's nations to your faction's ideology, which is the only way to secure more resources early on and can eventually give you control of their militaries and space programs, if they have either. This is done by targeting Control Points. Larger nations like the US and China have access to far more resources, but they also have more Control Points, all of which are much more difficult to capture. (Image credit: Hooded Horse) Once you secure all of a nation's Control Points, you get to set their economic priorities and foreign policies. You could treat this like a futuristic Hearts of Iron if you wanted, and try to solidify support for your faction by conquering the world with conventional military operations. Just be aware that if you attack a country or alliance that has nukes, you may be making the aliens' job easier for them. That global temperature modeling can go the other direction, too, and a nuclear winter that kills off half the population is another possible way this can all end. Information warfare The other factions will be attempting to dominate the globe, as well, including the ones that are pro-alien. The Servants, who think we should worship the invaders as gods, are a natural rival to the Resistance. Power blocs and even faction priorities will shift as researching alien activity slowly starts to give you a better picture of who these creatures are and what exactly they want. It's a slow burn mystery, and I certainly don't want to spoil any of it here. But I can say I was blindsided by some of the revelations that eventually came my way. With the levers of power firmly in hand, you can shape the nations that have come over to your side in a number of ways. You can thoughtlessly pillage them for resources, try to create a utopian welfare state, or simply divert all funding toward developing a space program. And having a strong presence beyond the atmosphere will eventually be essential to securing victory. (Image credit: Hooded Horse) The second phase of Terra Invicta opens up when you place your first space station. Using a resource called Boost that is generated by launch sites on Earth, you will join the scramble to colonize every planet, moon, and asteroid in sight. See, Earth has all this pesky gravity that makes launching large payloads of armor plating and laser beams prohibitively expensive. So you need to transition into acquiring resources in space and assembling new ships and stations out there. The aliens will have a head start on this, so there's no time to waste. You'll start with fairly simple science stations like the ISS, but technology slowly unlocks options like orbital shipyards and lunar mining colonies. Out here, nation states don't matter as much anymore, and everything will either be owned by the aliens or directly by one of the human factions. Studying the aliens will not only teach you what they're doing here, but also help you catapult Earth's technology forward in an effort to catch up. Research points can be allocated to either increasing the global tech level, which helps everyone, or to your own faction's unique projects, which only benefit you. Most of those projects are unlocked by global techs, though, so you do have to care about both even if you want to keep all the shiny toys for yourself. (Image credit: Hooded Horse) Finally, you're ready to start having space battles with aliens. And the pausable real time combat system takes things like momentum and facing into account, so don't expect Star Wars-style operatic dogfights. If you played Kerbal Space Program, you have some idea of what you're in for, except there are guns now. Mastering orbital transfer windows and balancing Delta-v for long voyages against combat maneuverability are essential. It's a system I've barely scratched the surface of yet. Terra Invicta's breathtaking ambition means it's more than a bit cumbersome, and the barrier to entry is high. But I'm captivated by how it all comes together and delivers on its sky high promises while telling a compelling story with so many twists and turns. Even having played a couple dozen hours so far, I feel like I'm just getting started. I think this one is going to leave a meteoric impact on the kinds of strategy gamers who love spreadsheets, geopolitics, and kicking alien 'donkey' as much as I do. View the full article

As I crept through the basement of the Sawyer family in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, past dangling bones, rotting blood buckets, and rusty meathooks, I experienced something novel for a multiplayer horror game: Fear. My years simmering in the Dead By Daylight meta has severed me from the actual immersion of the setting. Yes, on screen, I'm running away from a psychopath in an abandoned junkyard, but really I'm maximizing my angles, monitoring my health pool, and keeping an eye on my cooldowns. The horror itself becomes ancillary the more you see the bones of the mechanics. But when I was crouched in the darkness, a few feet away from a roiling, pissed-off Leatherface, the existential despair of the situation seeped past the PC screen. I didn't want to die because I was worried it might tank my matchmaking ELO, I just… didn't want to die. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre crunches its pace down into a slow, deliberate, claustrophobic cat-and-mouse game. The end result is an experience considerably more memorable than its contemporaries. "We start by picking apart what makes the film so iconic. Why do people talk about it so highly in both horror circles and film circles? We break those things down and start coming up with features and mechanics that support those things. We're obsessive about the details," says Wes Keltner, studio head at Gun Interactive, the developer behind The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. "We studied that movie frame by frame, we went to the shooting locations… I've played some asymmetrical games where I'm like, 'This is a good asymmetrical game that includes elements of an IP,' but we started off with the mindset that everything here needs to feel like Texas." If you are a veteran of Dead By Daylight, or The Evil Dead, or even Gun's own Friday The 13th, you know the formula here. Four players take control of survivors who, in this case, need to escape the death-trap of the Sawyer estate. Three other players take control of the various cannibalistic fixtures of the greater Texas Chain Saw mythology. The bogeymen are the aggressors; they can chase down the victims in order to murder them in all sorts of unsavory ways. But the protagonists even the playing field with extra mobility options, and the fact that their win condition is to simply leave the arena in one piece. Usually these games take place in the dead of night across a gigantic outdoors map, littered with enough debris to consistently break line of sight. That is't the case in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. You'll begin in a mildewed basement, creep up to the mansion's first and second floor, before pouring out into the radiant, West Texan late-afternoon glow, where you hope to lose our assailants in the corn fields. There simply isn't a lot of real estate to work with, which means you're always one wrong turn from being cornered. That makes Texas Chain Saw a true, dyed-in-the-wool stealth game. Other multiplayer horror prioritizes speed, quickness, and mechanical deftness, while Gun wants to honor the sacred art of simply not being seen. The victims are able to squeeze into corridors and duck into crawl spaces that some of the killers can't follow. The killers, meanwhile, can counter with a variety of abilities designed to dredge up these poor souls into the harsh light of day, so the family may feed. I spent most of my time as the Hitchhiker, a twisted psycho brandishing a switchblade, who's able to lay rope traps around the house. This came in handy when one of the victims made a dash to the backyard power generator—which provides the juice to an electric cattle fence enveloping the perimeter. He took one false step into my snare and was easy pickings. There is no joy quite like squashing one of those elusive teens like a bug. Your cohorts will take control of Leatherface—the heavy with the chain saw who provides the first line of defense in the basement—and the Cook, who as far as I can tell, has something of a sonar ability to compromise the victims laying low in their hidey-holes. If you are on the survivor side, you'll also have a set of unique abilities per character, but you shouldn't expect them to smite the killers where they stand. (For example, the woman I had control of could break the locks on doors. Incredibly useful, but it won't necessarily get the family off your tail.) All of these loadouts can be augmented through a huge, multifaceted talent tree, which will surely neuter cooldowns and extend effects the deeper you delve into the Texas meta. I didn't see any of those nuances in action, but it is both cool, and surreal, to know that a 1974 horror movie will soon have a fussy tier list. (Image credit: Gun Interactive) All that said, the thing that makes me want to come back to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre the most is, in Keltner's words, the white-gloves treatment Gun is giving the source material. All of the period details are lovingly rendered, from the flower-child '70s fashion to the distinct shade of mottled flesh on Leatherface's head. Even the lighting—that ominous, magic-hour veneer that's so crucial to the original film's vibe—is deployed with auteur gusto. Keltner tells me that Gun has had the opportunity to adapt a ton of other horror franchises since the success of Friday The 13th, but the studio has turned them down because, well, the team "wasn't that passionate" about those middleweight options. "Either we couldn't make a good game out of those films, or the films themselves weren't good enough," he says. Texas, meanwhile, is a heavy hitter, and from what I've seen so far, everyone at Gun understands the gravity of consecrating its legacy with a video game—especially considering how disposable and cynical other horror-movie sequels and tributes tend to be. We'll see if the company continues to follow through with their duty, as we draw closer to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre's 2023 due date. View the full article

Just in case there wasn't enough Rockstar in your news diet this week, the popular GTA 4 Definitive Edition modding project has received an anonymous DMCA takedown notice, which the authors assume came from Rockstar or an affiliated company. Bad news guys. Appreciated if u got ppl to raise awareness / spread the word as much as possible.I knew this day was comingHere we are with a DMCA by Rockstar (I assume) on our GTAIV DE patch.Well, I suppose we need to remove all GTAIV related stuff from the website. :/ pic.twitter.com/WUjKRluhXlSeptember 18, 2022 See more The GTA 4 Definitive Edition was essentially a compilation of mods that aimed to enhance and update GTA 4 for modern PCs through graphical updates and fan-patches, and people are already begging for contraband versions of the files in the wake of the takedown notice. It was just one of several projects under the 'Definitive Edition' umbrella, but similar mods detailed on the GTA 4 Definitive Edition's website—for GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas, as well as non-GTA titles like Bully and Manhunt—remain freely available. The DMCA notice doesn't say who issued it, but it was received by the mod's authors on September 18. That's a day before a user named "teapotuberhacker" dumped a load of GTA 6 materials onto the GTAForums in one of the biggest games leaks in history, which explains why this one has slipped under the radar a bit. It wouldn't be remotely surprising if Rockstar or Take-Two were behind the complaint: the companies have always had a hair trigger when it comes to DMCA notices. Earlier this year, a gaggle of mods that sought to port GTA 5 and RDR 2 to VR met a swift end at the hand of Take-Two's lawyers. Not long before Rockstar announced its own ill-fated remasters of the GTA Trilogy, the company went on a spree of issuing DMCAs to various mods that punched up the fidelity and gameplay of the original 3D classics. It's a shame, because Rockstar has historically been a pretty poor steward of its own back-catalogue. Between the disastrous GTA Trilogy remasters, the removal of music from old games, and even putting out patches that take away resolution options, it's hard to have faith that these games are better off in Rockstar's hands than those of the fans. View the full article

And so it begins. The next-gen graphics fest we've all been waiting for is here. And yet I'm already massively disappointed. Nvidia has pulled the wraps off its new RTX 40-series graphics, otherwise known as Ada Lovelace, and the numbers don't add up. The top-end RTX 4090 board and the AD102 GPU it contains look great from a technical perspective. But what Nvidia is doing with the two RTX 4080 boards is deeply, deeply disappointing, perhaps even cynical. Let's demonstrate that with numbers. Lots of numbers. When Nvidia launched the existing Ampere generation and the RTX 30-series roughly two years ago, the RTX 3080 series board was a slightly cut-down version of the RTX 3090 using the same GA102 chip and with around 80% of the functional units of its bigger sibling. In turn, the RTX 3070 used the next-tier GA104 GPU and delivered in the region of 55% of the hardware of the RTX 3090. Now compare that with the new Ada Lovelace series. The RTX 4080 12GB uses the AD104 chip and offers just 45% of the functional units of the RTX 4090. To give one obvious example, it packs well under half the shaders of the RTX 4090—7,680 compared with 16,384. For the RTX 3080 versus the RTX 3090, it was 8,704 shaders compared with 10,496. That's 80% of the shader count. In terms of its relationship with the RTX 4090, the new RTX 4080 12GB is more akin to the RTX 3060 Ti with its 4,864 shaders. Except the RTX 3060 Ti at least had a 256-bit memory bus. The RTX 4080 12GB only has a 192-bit bus. Oh, and the RTX 4080 is $900. Seriously? A $900 card with a 192-bit bus? The RTX 4080 16GB admittedly is a bit better, what with its 256-bit bus and based on the AD103 chip rather than AD104. But it's still miles off what the RTX 3080 was to the RTX 3090. Nvidia RTX 40-series specs RTX 4080 (12GB)RTX 4080 (16GB)RTX 4090GPUAD104-400AD103-300AD102-300CUDA Cores7,6809,72816,385Base Clock2,310MHz2,210MHz2,230MHzBoost Clock2,610MHz2,510MHz2,520MHzMemory Bus192-bit256-bit384-bitMemory Type12GB GDDR6X16GB GDDR6X24GB GDDR6XMemory Speed21Gbps23Gbps21GbpsGraphics Card Power (W)285W320W450WRequired System power (W)700W750W850WLaunch Price$899$1,199$1,599 Since when did a top-tier GPU beat a lower-tier model for pure bang for buck? Since never. At first glance, it's tricky to go back one more generation to the RTX 20-series and Turing given there was no RTX 2090. But that's really just branding—the RTX 2080 Ti was equivalent to the later xx90 series boards. In that case, the gaps between the Turing tiers were bigger than those of Ampere, but still nothing like the massive drop-off with Lovelace. The RTX 2070, for instance, was well over half an RTX 2080 Ti by pretty much every measure. But perhaps the most damning indictment of what Nvidia is doing comes in the shape of value for money. At $1,600, the new RTX 4090 looks expensive enough to be irrelevant to the vast majority of gamers. But the fact that it looks like good value compared to the RTX 4080 12GB is completely crazy. Put it this way, the cost in dollars per shader, per GB of VRAM, and almost certainly per ROP, per texture unit, and per everything once the full specs are released, is lower for the RTX 4090 than the RTX 4080. Since when did a top-tier GPU beat a lower-tier model for pure bang for buck? Since never. (Image credit: Nvidia) Okay, you could argue that one way to fix all this would be to simply tweak the branding. The RTX 4080 12GB is misbranded and should be, at most, an RTX 4070 or even an RTX 4060. Let's be generous and call it an RTX 4060 Ti. But that doesn't solve the value problem. You still have a RTX 4070 or RTX 4060 that's worse value than an RTX 4090, one that gives you less hardware, not just overall but actually per dollar, too. And no, before you suggest it, the higher clocks of Ada Lovelace over Ampere don't make up for this. They would if the RTX 4080 clocked something like 50% higher than the RTX 4090. But, instead, we're expecting the gap to be a few percentage points. All of which means the RTX 4080 series looks like it will very probably suck for regular rasterized games rather than those that use lots of fancy ray-tracing effects. In other words, the vast majority of games. Hard to believe, but the RTX 4080 12GB has fewer shaders than the RTX 3080 and a much narrower memory bus. According to the best information we have, it will probably have fewer ROPs and fewer texture units, too. Yes, it has a much higher clock and Ada Lovelace's shader cores aren't directly comparable. But here's the rub. If you think the RTX 4080 12GB is going to be a big leap over the RTX 3080 in most games, just as the RTX 3080 was over the RTX 2080, you're in for a big old letdown. (Image credit: Nvidia) It had the option of a much faster RTX 4080 but chose a massively hobbled GPU at megabucks pricing. Looking forward, this is all very disappointing and worrying. If this is what the RTX 4080 looks like, what about the RTX 4070? Or the RTX 4060, how pathetic is that going to be? It's also worrying regarding what AMD has coming. At this point, Nvidia will know exactly what AMD's upcoming RDNA 3 graphics chips look like. OK, the SKUs and pricing may not be fully finalised. But Nvidia will know all the specs of the actual GPU dies themselves. And in that knowledge, Nvidia thinks the RTX 4080 is good enough. Let's be clear, the AD102 GPU in the 4090 is one heck of a chip. If the RTX 4080 was based on that chip, just as the RTX 3080 was based on the big Ampere GPU, then this would all be very different. So, it's not that Nvidia has been caught off guard or failed in technological terms. It had the option of a much faster RTX 4080, but it chose a massively hobbled GPU at megabucks pricing. Speaking of pricing, how can that be squared with what are frankly awful market conditions? After all, the world is heading into recession, ethereum mining has imploded, a glut of used GPUs is sitting in the market, all the while a mountain of current-gen GPUs is lying unsold. (Image credit: Nvidia) Expect Nvidia to keep production numbers low for this generation. It knows the whole Ada Lovelace series is onto a loser in terms of market conditions. That can't be helped. It's going to be tough for the next 18 months to two years, at least, whatever Nvidia does. So, it will likely keep volumes uncharacteristically low and try to maintain higher margins courtesy of short supply, the idea being to keep very high prices for the longer term and for future generations when the market has picked up again, even if sales of Ada Lovelace suffer. That makes sense given Ada Lovelace has the potential to struggle, whatever, thanks to all those external factors. AMD may still come to the rescue with RDNA 3 and the Radeon RX 7000 series, of course. But if this disappointing Ada Lovelace launch is what Nvidia thinks is good enough compared with what AMD is planning, that can't be counted on. We'll know soon enough, RDNA 3 is set to be announced on November 3. But this is a thoroughly inauspicious start to the 2022 graphics party, that's for sure. View the full article

After 11 years of making YouTube videos, Dunkey (aka videogamedunkey) is breaking into the indie publishing world, setting up BigMode with his wife Leah. He announced his new label in the five-minute video "My Indie Game Publishing Company," in which he claims he's "sick of waiting on the sidelines waiting for great games to appear," instead wanting to get involved in making them happen. "I've been on YouTube for 11 years now, and one of the core themes of my channel has always been to slam dunk soulless cash grabs into the garbage can and lift up and praise the truly inspired works of art in this medium," he said. "For years and years and years I have always sought out the very best indie games out there, and have tried to do them justice, putting millions of eyes on the games that actually deserve attention." Dunkey called the label "a harmonious continuation" of his channel, adding that his "number one priority is to publish some of the very best games out there." He continued: "I want BigMode to act as my seal of approval, which is something that I do not apply lightly. I am not looking for creative control over your games, but I do want to be involved." If Dunkey's indie label results in as little as a single indie game getting out the door that otherwise wouldn't have then it's a success. I support any content creator who wants to use their resources and reach to help grow the indie scene, so I say good luck and godspeeed.September 22, 2022 See more The video mostly emphasises the fact that Dunkey's played a lot of games, which apparently makes him qualified to publish them. He also says that the developers are at the forefront of BigMode, saying the label "will be all about building up the games and the developers," and that BigMode has "put a lot of effort into making the most developer-friendly contracts possible." He doesn't give any explanation on how the contracts are developer-friendly, just going on to say "the bottom line is help good games succeed and help them continue to succeed into the future." Despite it only being a short video, it talks an awful big game. That game hasn't exactly left everyone convinced, with a handful of industry figures and fans expressing their concern for Dunkey's credentials, along with the fact that he seems to have made no effort to scout partnerships for his label launch, instead encouraging developers to approach him. Developer Rami Ismail praised the intentions behind BigMode, but added "if you're going to take a deal from someone whose publishing qualifications are 'I played a lot of games' make sue your upfront is 130%+ of a well-paid, comfortable budget." Raw Fury's Johan Toresson tweeted that "more fund for more devs is always good," adding that he hoped "the announcement was just a bit tone deaf … and that it goes well for the folks that sign." Despite some uncertainties—and a lot of mocking around Dunkey claiming to have elevated some of the most popular indies of the past decade—there's been a lot of positive reception, too. Celeste programmer and artist Noel Berry pointed out that Dunkey was one of the first people to notice the indie platformer. "I can't speak for the other games he mentions in his video, but he also found celeste way before it came out, followed it for a year after, and made a day one video on it because he liked our demo," Berry tweeted. It's nice to see Dunkey's desire to uplift passionate developers and bring some bangin' indies into the limelight, but I share the sentiment among others that the style of the announcement video was somewhat tone-deaf. It'll be interesting to see what happens when BigMode starts swinging into action, putting its money where its mouth is and investing in "the most passionate and most creative people out there." But for now, BigMode is seemingly waiting on the diamonds to polish themselves before plucking them out. View the full article

2022 has so far been something of an annus mirabilis for the crypto sector, which in the macro picture has been struggling with the fallout of the gigantic collapse of the Terra ecosystem, while on the micro scale crypto companies of all stripes have suffered hack after hack. The latest is Wintermute, which is a crypto market maker. The exact way these things operate is complicated, but boils down to their providing liquidity for certain defined cryptocurrencies by both buying and selling them on crypto exchanges: market makers exist in plenty of other industries outside of crypto, and turn a profit by collecting what's called the bid-ask spread over multiple bets. All that really matters for our purposes is this: Wintermute holds a lot of crypto, and now it's been hacked and holds much less (thanks, the Register). "We’ve been hacked for about $160M in our defi [decentralised finance] operations," Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy writes. "Cefi [centralised finance] and OTC [over-the-counter] operations are not affected." Gaevoy is surprisingly blase about the whole thing, which is typical of this sector: crypto CEOs tend to remain bullish until the whole thing explodes. Indeed, Gaevoy says there's nothing to worry about. He goes on to say that customer funds are safe, that Wintermute remains financially solvent and retains a large amount of equity, and that it's in a position to repay lenders who are worried. That remains to be seen. Crypto-watchers are curious about exactly how much debt Wintermute is carrying, and whether it's as robust as it claims. Gaevoy went on to detail that 90 different types of digital asset were stolen in the hack, totalling $160 million. If you have a MM agreement with Wintermute, your funds are safe. There will be a disruption in our services today and potentially for next few days and will get back to normal afterSeptember 20, 2022 See more Amazingly enough, Wintermute has also asked the hacker to pretty please return the crypto, with the offer of a 10% 'bounty'. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest they're not dealing with a white hat hack. To the hacker, we offer a 10% bounty on funds taken. To make it easy, we propose for you to transfer all of the funds taken through the exploit, save for $16M USDC, to:0x4f3a120E72C76c22ae802D129F599BFDbc31cb81September 20, 2022 See more Wintermute joins the growing list of crypto firms that have lost eye-watering amounts as a result of security lapses or malfeasance. The latter is important because the crypto sector's image is now so interwoven with various schemes that are being treated by authorities as criminal in nature. Turkey recently managed to arrest the main actor behind a $2.5 billion rug-pull, and is apparently seeking to jail him for over 40,000 years. US Regulators looking into the collapse of Celsius describe it as a ponzi scheme. Meanwhile Do Kwon, the man behind the Terra ecosystem, fled to Singapore before South Korea issued a warrant for his arrest. This is not small beer: one of the reasons the FBI's now so interested is state actors like North Korea instigating crypto hacks. The amounts lost are in most cases obscenely large, though of course with the necessary caveat this is crypto value and not actual dollars. That doesn't mean it's all funny money though: entities like the Canadian pension fund have lost huge amounts through crypto investments. Regardless of individual hacks, the larger problem is that all the crypto claims of security, however expressed and whatever technology is involved, look evermore like bunk. View the full article

Need to knowWhat is it? You got your Soundfall in my Dusk! Expect to pay: £25/$30 Release date: Out now Developer: The Outsiders Publisher: Funcom Reviewed on: AMD Aerith 0405 2.8 GHz, AMD Van Gogh 0405 GPU, 16GB RAM (Steam Deck 256GB) Multiplayer? No, but there is a global leaderboard Link: Official site The first time I ever listened to Swedish hardcore band Refused’s seminal 1998 album, The Shape of Punk To Come, my brain leaked out of my ears. It is a major reason why extreme music sounded like it did in the 2000s, the connective tissue between generations of hardcore and metal. In a similar vein, The Outsiders’ Metal: Hellsinger tries to connect high-octane first-person shooting and rhythm gameplay with metal. Rhythm FPSes are a relatively new phenomenon that might best be described as an unholy union between Doom and Crypt of the NecroDancer. Only a handful of games even currently exist in this nascent genre, and it’s not hard to see some striking similarities between them. What makes Metal: Hellsinger stand apart is the quality of its soundtrack and its slower, more deliberate gameplay. (Image credit: Funcom) Every song is written and performed by Two Feathers, an accomplished musician duo and game music production house whose previous work features in Battlefield 4 and Warhammer: Vermintide 2. The tunes are rock-solid and easily identifiable as metal, so if you were worried that the game might not be brütal enough, put your fears to bed. The pièce de résistance here, however, is the guest vocals. Each track, which represents a different circle of Hell and its associated Torments, features a different acclaimed metal vocalist. So, for example, you might be traveling through the snowy mountain wasteland of Voke and hear the growls and snarls of Dark Tranquility’s Mikael Stanne; another level, Acheron, is overwhelmed by the voice of Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe. Other guests include Refused’s Dennis Lyxzén, Tatiana Shmayluk from Jinjer, Matt Heafy from Trivium, and the lead vocalist of System of a Down, Serj Tankian. The diverse spectrum of metal screamers on this soundtrack leads to the whole affair taking on a kind of chameleonesque aspect. The album does mostly manage to maintain its own identity, however, even when it's taking on the shape of the music its guest vocalists are known for. It’s an interesting sampler, and by far the most unique video game soundtrack out this year. But how does the music mesh with the gameplay? (Image credit: Funcom) Players will detect the Doom's DNA in Metal: Hellsinger almost immediately: paths that lead to big arenas where you have to kill everything in order to move on; elite enemies that require more than just shooting to take down; waves of cannon fodder that provide health and a boost to your ever-present Fury meter. Beat 'em up The rhythm gameplay becomes a factor here as well, as you have to shoot to the beat in order to maintain your combos and keep your Fury up as high as possible. Trying to go too fast will leave you stumbling, while going too slow will result in you getting murdered by some random enemy. Instead, the game focuses on deliberateness, taking the 'rip and tear' mindset from Doom seriously, and brutally dominating any lesser demon who gets in your way. After each battle through another circle of Hell, players will get a chance to test their skills and earn new power-granting sigils in Torments, single boss rush arenas where you fight waves of enemies according to specific conditions, like you can’t heal but as you get hurt you get stronger. These Torments are not only fun, but useful, and completing all of them will make you extremely OP in the endgame. (Image credit: Funcom) If only the story was as laser-sharp. You play an aggrieved lost soul—the Unknown—on a warpath of vengeance through the nine circles of Hell armed with a sword, a talking skull, and an infernal arsenal of demonic weaponry and powerful ultimate moves. Throughout your crusade, you'll face aspects of the Red Judge, the Devil herself, as she tries to stop you from tearing apart Hell. In theory, this works great as the narrative backdrop between murder-fests. In practice, the story quickly gets bogged down in its own mythology. It’s also trying very hard not to simply rehash Christian eschatology—for example, God is called 'the All' here, the Red Judge has a working agreement with Heaven, and the whole game revolves around a prophecy where a being called 'the Hellsinger' will destroy both Heaven and Hell, throwing the rest of the universe into chaos. It’s a promising setup but told in a very unnecessarily convoluted fashion. It's abundantly clear, for instance, that you're the Hellsinger, but the game seems to go out of its way to pretend otherwise until the very last second. (Image credit: Funcom) There are two voiced roles in Metal: Hellsinger: Paz the Skull (Troy Baker), and the Red Judge (Jennifer Hale); the Unknown/Hellsinger ironically doesn’t get a voice in this game, letting her guns—and Paz—do all the talking. And boy howdy does Paz do a lot of talking. He narrates the whole game as though he was telling it to you over cheap whiskeys at a dingy metal bar on the bad side of town, but mostly he ends up sounding like he should be narrating a 2007 Built Ford Tough commercial. Meanwhile, Jennifer Hale puts in a great performance as the Red Judge, but a lot of her lines’ campy dramatics get masked by the vocal effects they put on her. It's a sour note in an otherwise perfectly brutal melody. Is Metal: Hellsinger the shape of rhythm FPSes to come? Well… no. It’s a perfectly fine game with lots of replay value, some neat ideas, a good soundtrack and a goofy story. The game aspires to greatness, and even if it doesn’t get there, I’d play its sequel if The Outsiders ever made one. View the full article

Player Unknown's Battlegrounds is at the moment enjoying a second wind. Following a nonsensical name change last year (to PUBG: Battlegrounds) it followed-up by going free-to-play in January, a belated recognition that the genre it popularised risked leaving the game behind. It worked too, with the game picking up more than 80,000 users per day since the switch, and owner Krafton reporting a 20% bump in revenue. There's still a lot of money in PUBG, in other words, and so it's a target for all kinds of fraud attacks. It seems that one has met with temporary success before being noticed, and Krafton's now stamped down on it. "As we've recently noticed a sharp increase in the number of potential Chargeback cases regarding certain PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS items (G-Coin)," reads a Steam post, "we went through a thorough investigation with Steam and have discovered these in-game transactions were confirmed to be chargeback frauds." Chargeback fraud is when users buy an item and then, rather than contacting the seller for a refund, dispute the transaction with their bank. When it works the fraudster receives the goods and is refunded their money directly by the bank through the chargeback process. So a group of users worked out they could get a whole bunch of G-Coin this way. Well, hope they had fun because Krafton's now "placed permanent bans on the accounts pertaining to these fraudulent transactions." It re-emphasises that the game's TOS and Rules of Conduct prohibit such behaviour, and reminds players to "understand and comply" which all sounds a bit Robocop. The PUBG team didn't provide details on the scale of the hack nor the number of accounts banned, though the fact it's even posting about an exploit suggests a significant amount of such transactions went through. PUBG continues to receive substantial updates, with its most recent map addition letting players slingshot across it. Elsewhere in the world, the Taliban's finally got around to banning PUBG in Afghanistan because it's too violent and "misleading youth". Yup. View the full article

The best cheap gaming keyboard doesn't mean sacrificing the pleasurable clickity clacks high-end model. You might find some features diminished, but you'll get to avoid the financial assault often associated with buying a keyboard. PC peripherals are getting pricey, and keyboards are no exception. With the best models hitting well over $200, we thought it best to weed out those trying to charge that just for the basics. With plenty of affordable gaming keyboards to choose from, I went through and tested them out so you can spend your cash on something worthwhile, because "cheap" doesn't have to mean bad. There's a lot of false economy crap on the market, but this list showcases the best budget keyboards I spotted for under $100, even less than $30 in some cases. What the best gaming keyboards are likely to have more of over those listed here, are extra features. The cheaper keyboards might omit media controls, LED displays, or mechanical switches to keep costs down, and it's sometimes hard to tell what's worth the sacrifice. So I got a tonne of cheap keyboards to test and picked out the ones that are worth it even with those features left out. Those that didn't crumple under the weight of Alan's heavy-'donkey' typing were then selected for the list. We've even included some keyboards that come bundled with other accessories to try and save you even more money. And if you're gagging for features, it might be best to head over to the best mechanical keyboards—we'll always recommend these first. Image 1 of 2 (Image credit: G.Skill)Image 2 of 2 (Image credit: G.Skill) 1. G.Skill KM360 Genuine Cherry MX switches at a great price Switch: Cherry MX Red | Size: Tenkeyless | Backlights: White | Passthroughs: None | Media Controls: Integrated | Wristrest: None AffordableReliable Cherry MX switches Bright white LED No numpad limits its potential for work There is a trend towards $200+ gaming keyboards in the market at the moment, but that doesn't mean there aren't quality mechanical switch boards available at a more reasonable price. Often you'll find these more budget-oriented options offering cheap switches from other manufacturers, but the G.Skill KM360 comes featuring the classic Cherry MX Red linear switch out of the gate. The KM360 is a simple slab of keys. Though this works to its advantage. The fact it offers so little extra beyond the basics is how it's able to deliver genuine Cherry mechanical key switches at an affordable price. That means a precise, reliable, and impressively smooth actuation for gaming and typing. This TKL board is basic, but what it does, it does very well If you can't cope with your gaming board not lit up like a rainbow then you may be disappointed with the single-color option, but damn, the white LEDs on this G.Skill board are the brightest I've ever seen. Normally I like to keep at max brightness all day long, but the KM360 would burn out my retina if I did. This TKL board is basic, but what it does, it does very well. It's solid, well-built, reliable, and looks pretty decent too. There's no wrist rest, no passthrough, or media controls, but I'll happily give it a pass in favor of affordable functionality. Best gaming keyboard | Best graphics cards| Best gaming chair Best VR headset | Best wireless gaming mouse | Best wireless gaming keyboard (Image credit: E-Element) 2. E-Element Z-88 Mechanical Keyboard Best cheap keyboard with a variety of switch types and colors Switch: Outemu Blue, Brown, Red | Size: 81-Key | Backlights: Preset RGB | Passthroughs: No | Media controls: Function Key | Wrist rest: No Variety of Outemu switchesAluminum backplateAvailable in black or whiteNo wrist restOn the expensive side The Z-88 from E-Element is available in either black or white and offers a variety of Outemu switches, meaning it's great for the cheap connoisseur who likes to pick and choose everything about their setup. Those Outemu switches don't feel as high-grade as the Cherry ones listed above, but they are genuinely mechanical. That means you don't have to worry about the spongey feeling of a membrane no more. The keycaps do look and feel a bit cheaper than you might expect of a well-known brand, but they are easy to read on the E-Element. They're made of ABS plastic, which is the least resistant to wear of the two commonly found keycap materials, but ABS plastic is often found on more expensive keyboards, too. Just don't slam the keys too hard in anger and you'll be okay for a good while. It's a cheaper board but you're grabbing mechanical for under $50 here. Plus it's often discounted for even less. We saw it go for $30 earlier this year, so keep an eye out for those sales. While you will notice the difference in quality between this and a pricier gaming keyboard, at least you aren't settling for anything less than mechanical. (Image credit: Havit) 3. Havit Mechanical Keyboard and Mouse Combo Best cheap keyboard and mouse combo Switch: Proprietary Blue | Size: Full Size | Backlights: Preset RGB | Passthroughs: No | Media Controls: Function key | Wrist rest: Yes Sleek industrial lookIncluded mouseSide backlightingDetachable wrist restNo softwareNo dedicated media keys While only available with clicky proprietary blue switches, this model does come packaged with a wired, optical gaming mouse. That's the big benefit of this two-in-one Havit package: you don't need to throw even more money at a gaming mouse. You're essentially ready to game with this one, surprisingly affordable package. The exposed hardware and aluminum backplate give this version of the Havit mechanical keyboard a sturdy, industrial look. And it must be said that it is a fairly sturdy, if a little plasticky feeling, keyboard. The keycaps and fairly easy to navigate, as well, and there's even a wrist rest included. What I will say about that wrist rest is that it doesn't offer a tremendous amount of support, as it's so low to the ground and doesn't have any padding. Best not buy it just for that one feature, then. Besides the lack of exclusive customization software or dedicated media controls, this package of Havit peripherals leaves little to be desired. I mean you're getting two for the price of one here, and that's great if you need a keyboard and mouse in a pinch and for less. Image 1 of 6 (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 6 (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 6 (Image credit: Future)Image 4 of 6 (Image credit: Future)Image 5 of 6 (Image credit: Future)Image 6 of 6 (Image credit: Future) 4. Keychron K2 (Version 2) The most affordable wireless keyboard Switch: Gateron | Size: 84-key | Backlight: White LED | Passthrough: None | Media Controls: Function shortcuts | Wristrest: None | Keycaps: ABS Well-pricedGreat overall build qualitySeamless connectivitySomewhat scratchy switches This is exceptionally cheap for a wireless keyboard. Even more so for its high quality. It starts out at just $69, and for that, you get a decent-sized gaming keyboard with great wireless functionality and genuinely mechanical Gateron switches. Its design is nicely simple with grey ABS keycaps and a slightly more compact 84-key layout that only skimps out on the numpad and offers a slightly squashed nav cluster. Whilst I’ve previously argued that 60% compact keyboards may be the way to go if you’re a spacesavin’ gamer, the Keychron K2’s 75% offering may just make me rethink that decision. For more of an affordable board, the build quality is nicely sturdy with no deck flex and a decent bit of heft. It’s no Model M of course, but for the price, I don’t have any complaints. The triple device connectivity definitely makes short work of switching devices. As switches go, my review sample is kitted out with some Cherry MX Brown clones courtesy of Gateron. As much as Gateron say there’s a 55g weight to them, I can’t help but think they feel an awful lot lighter than that, and in comparison to the real things, also feel a tad hollow. To make matters worse, underneath the Backspace and Enter key, it’s possible to hear the sound of the metal stabilizer making the switches pretty pingy, which brings the feeling of the Keychron K2 being a more affordable board too close to home. The triple device connectivity definitely makes short work of switching devices or locations throughout the working day. I checked it out on my PC and MacBook Pro and on the K2’s left-hand side there's a little switch next to the Bluetooth/Wi-Fi switch that lets you choose whether to use it in Windows or Mac mode. All the changes are practically instantaneous, and as for the pairing process via Bluetooth, it couldn’t have been simpler. Battery life is also something to write home about with a 4000mAh capacity ensuring the K2 can go the distance, with or without backlighting. You’ll find a total of 68 hours with full lighting and 240 hours with it off. All in all, if you’re looking for an entry-level mechanical keyboard, this is a good choice, especially if you’re working from home and using multiple devices. That's not even considering its wireless capability, which really feels like the icing on the cake of the already impressive Keychron K2. And if the Gaterons aren't to your taste, the K2 is also available in a hot-swappable form. Read our full Keychron K2 review. (Image credit: HyperX) 5. HyperX Alloy Core RGB A trusted brand made affordable Switch: Membrane | Size: Full Size | Backlights: 16.8 Million Color RGB | Passthroughs: No | Media controls: Dedicated | Wrist rest: No Dedicated media keysDedicated softwareTrusted brandSpill-resistantPlastic bodyMembrane switches HyperX is a trusted name among peripheral manufacturers. While it typically caters to a more premium brand, the Alloy Core RGB brings extensive features and reliable performance at an affordable price. The price does skirt the definition of a "budget" keyboard, but the dedicated media controls and customization software help justify the MSRP. HyperX has had to incorporate membrane switches for this particular model, but that has the added effect of making the Alloy Core spill-resistant. We'd prefer mechanical keys, but a quality membrane is still much better than some old office board. With the Alloy Core, it's a decision of what you're after in a gaming keyboard. If you're after a full-size keyboard with some extra features and solid RGB lighting effects, something like the Alloy Core or the Roccat Magma are more your speed. You're not going to find many mechanical keyboards going for very cheap with a full-size layout, as every switch is an added cost. Though if you don't necessarily want a full-size board, we still recommend a mechanical keyboard first and foremost, like those above. A really rubbish mechanical board can feel worse under finger than a much better made membrane one, so we wanted to throw in a couple of alternatives for the mechanical switches if, for whatever reason, those weren't your thing. (Image credit: Roccat) 6. Roccat Magma membrane keyboard A membrane board with style Switch: Membrane, Rubber dome | Size: Full Size | Backlights: 5 zone RGB | Passthroughs: No | Media controls: Function keys | Wrist rest: Yes Nicely tactile for a membrane boardUnique RGB top plate designAnti-ghosting and 26-key rolloverSilent keypressesRGB cycle isn't very smoothNot the sturdiest boardWrist rest not cushioned Perfect peripherals (Image credit: Colorwave)Best gaming mouse: the top rodents for gaming Best gaming keyboard: your PC's best friend... Best gaming headset: don't ignore in-game audio I've been thoroughly impressed by the tactility of the Roccat Magma membrane keyboard's rubber dome switches, and the unique RGB top plate design really is a sight. Though it may not be as sturdy as some boards, nor as full of fancy greebles, it's a (literal) beacon of excellence among membrane gaming keyboards. Sadly, there's no per-key lighting here, but Roccat has opted for 5 separately configurable lighting zones behind the keycaps. The zoned RGB design does still offer some nice gradients and effects, but the cycle isn't as smooth as it could be, and the colors aren't super accurate. It looks a little dim in places, and there are a few blemishes under the top plate that detract from the design, though some might like the Cyberpunky 'naked look' Roccat was going for here. Swarm software has some funny gimmicky features, like the ability to add sounds to your key presses, such as a typewriter, or some laser beam pew-pews. The most practical feature comes in the form of Roccat's Easy Shift key assignment. Not all the keys are assignable, but there's a huge list of potential actions for each one that is. It delivers without breaking the bank. The Magma's non-mechanical nature means that—although the keycaps do come off for easy cleaning—you won't be able to jam fancy new keycaps onto it like you would a mechanical counterpart. But actually, and I hate to admit this, I really like the rubber dome membrane construction Roccat has used here. It's oddly tactile, with great feedback and actuation, as well as being soft and silent for keeping on your teammates' good side. The Magma isn't the sturdiest board ever. Compare it to some of the solid, milled metal boards around and there's some minor concern that when you press down on the spacebar with force—the board bows a little. As long as you don't intend to smash the keyboard with your fist, you should be ok. But something to keep in mind: if you're an exceptionally heavy typist, a metal keyboard is a better option. Otherwise, it's a spectacular-looking board. The deeply rounded corners and thick black frame really set it off, and the lettering isn't some overkill, sci-fi typeface. There may not be dedicated media controls, but it's a nifty full-size keyboard with function keys and 26-key rollover, as well as anti-ghosting, so it's everything you need for competitive gaming. That's what Roccat was aiming for, and it delivers without breaking the bank. You even get a wrist rest with it, and although it's not spongy, it's a nice bit of support. The Roccat Magma is a keyboard for gamers who prefer a soft and silent, yet tactile feel from a membrane board, and are happy to have their whole board lit up like a quest item. With its outlandish lighting design choice, it's a board for flashy, '80s retro aesthetic enthusiasts who're looking to do some competitive gaming for cheap. And despite some minor annoyances, such as the RGB color inaccuracies and a hard wrist rest, it's nothing that can't be overlooked for the $60 (£50) price tag. Read our full Roccat Magma review. Best cheap gaming keyboards FAQ Where are all the cheap keyboards with fancy key switches? Cheaper keyboards used to always come with membrane switches. And that's still somewhat the case, depending where you look and which brands. However, there are a ton of cheaper mechanical switch brands out there nowadays, offering something akin to a Cherry switch. So don't fret if you want to ditch membrane and go mechanical: it's definitely possible. Cheaper keyboards will have an overall different feel than your standard Razer and SteelSeries keyboards. But don't worry, these great-value gaming keyboards will still feel good under your fingertips, and your wallet will thank you for it. If you want to know more about switches, you can read our detailed explanation of mechanical key switches. Jargon buster - keyboard terminology Actuation Point The height to which a key needs to be pressed before it actuates and sends an input signal to a device. Clicky A switch that delivers an audible click every time it's pressed, generally right around the point of actuation. Debounce A technique to ensure that only one input registers every time a key is pressed. Housing The shell that surrounds the internal components of a switch. Hysteresis The result of the actuation point and reset point in a switch being misaligned. This generally means a key needs to be lifted off of further than normal before it can be actuated again. Linear A switch that moves directly up and down, generally delivering smooth keystrokes without noise or tactile feedback. Mechanical Keyboard A keyboard built around individual switches for each key rather than a membrane sheath mounted on a PCB. Membrane Keyboard A keyboard on which all the keycaps are mounted on a membrane sheath; when a key is pressed, a rubber dome depresses and pushes against the sheath and PCB beneath, actuating the key. Stem The component of a switch on which the keycaps are mounted on a mechanical keyboard. Switch The physical component of a mechanical keyboard beneath the keycaps on a mechanical keyboard. The switch determines how a key is actuated, whether or not it provides audible or tactile feedback with each press, and more. Tactile A switch that provides a 'bump' of feedback every time it's pushed. Tenkeyless A keyboard that lacks the right-hand number pad. View the full article

Overwatch 2 will run at up to 600fps and you can thank Nvidia for that. Working with Blizzard for Nvidia Reflex support in Overwatch 2, Nvidia says the game developer increased the max fps supported in the game after it gave Nvidia's next-gen RTX 40-series graphics cards a go. Nvidia's next-generation RTX 40-series will launch with the flagship RTX 4090 on October 12, and Overwatch 2 is set to release just ahead of that on October 4. They should play quite nicely together on the day. Nvidia has confirmed that frame rates of over 360fps will be achievable on an RTX 4090, which should suffice for all but the most extreme gaming monitors available today. It also confirmed that latency-busting technology, Nvidia Reflex, is coming to the popular hero shooter. Nvidia Reflex is a technology to help reduce system latency through a number of GPU and game optimisations in supported games. Overwatch was one of the first to support the technology when it first launched in 2020, so it makes sense that we'll see it make its way onto the imminent sequel. But reportedly in the lead up to the release of Overwatch 2, Nvidia has been sharing its RTX 40-series secrets with Blizzard to ensure top performance, and the game developer increased the max fps possible in the game as a result to a whopping 600fps. "Turns out, the 40-series GPUs are so fast that the team over at Blizzard have increased the Overwatch 2 frame cap to 600 frames per second," Justin Walker, senior director of product management at Nvidia, told us today. Peak Storage (Image credit: Future)Best SSD for gaming: the best solid state drives around Best PCIe 4.0 SSD for gaming: the next gen has landed The best NVMe SSD: this slivers of SSD goodness Best external hard drives: expand your horizons Best external SSDs: plug in upgrades for gaming laptops and consoles Though Walker never said what the frame cap was prior, let's assume it wasn't 599fps. Nvidia showed off a demo with the game running at around 460fps and 6ms latency at 1440p with an RTX 4090 installed. You'll be a bit more CPU limited as you head to 1080p, so your choice of chip may well play a major role in whether you can really crank that fps any higher than that or potentially max out that 600 fps limit. From the beta experience, it looks as though Overwatch 2 will have a bunch of graphics settings to tweak, including AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution. Perhaps that'll also come in handy in getting somewhere close to that 600fps frame limit, but I don't suspect it to be an awfully taxing game on its lowest settings, either. View the full article

Just days prior to Nvidia's RTX 40-series graphics card broadcast, one of the company's largest and most prolific AIB partners, EVGA, announced it would no longer manufacture its graphics cards. The news came as quite a shock to PC builders, to say the least, as EVGA had made quite a name for itself in the GPU market. In a recent Q&A with Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang, shortly after the company's GTC live stream, I asked the CEO what were his thoughts on EVGA's departure from that side of the business. "Andrew [Han] wanted to wind down the business. And he's wanted to do that for a couple of years. Andrew and EVGA are great partners, and were great partners, and I'm sad to see them leave the market. But, you know, he's got other plans and he's been thinking about it for several years. "The market has a lot of great players. And it'll be served well after EVGA. But we'll always miss them. I'll always miss them. And they were an important part of our history, and Andrew is a great friend. And, you know, I think that it was just time for him to go do something else." EVGA's business is, to a large extent, driven by graphics card sales—reportedly around 80% of its business to date is graphics cards alone. Reportedly it has no plans to roll out layoffs as a part of its change in direction, however, which is surprising, to say the least. Hopefully, it can and will stick to that. According to initial reports on EVGA's decision, from Gamers Nexus and Jon Peddie, EVGA cited thin margins for GPUs and unfair treatment as reasons why it will no longer create new graphics cards. According to both, Nvidia's decision to undercut EVGA with its own Founders Edition cards left the company frustrated and feeling like its relationship had soured. Nvidia released a statement immediately following the event that is similar in tone to Huang's later comments. Your next upgrade (Image credit: Future)Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD Best gaming motherboard: The right boards Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest "We've had a great partnership with EVGA over the years and will continue to support them on our current generation of products," said an Nvidia representative. "We wish Andrew and our friends at EVGA all the best." We can assume that any allocation of RTX 40-series GPUs intended for EVGA, such as those for the RTX 4090 launching soon, will instead be divided among Nvidia's remaining AIBs, including Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, Zotac, and others. Though it may well be that EVGA never had any allocated to begin with, as this decision may have been a long time in the making. I doubt we'll feel any lull as a result of EVGA's departure. However, we will be at a loss for EVGA's designs, many of which were impressive. Not the least bit its Kingpin designs. Overclocker Vince "Kingpin" Lucido, who has long worked with EVGA on extreme graphics cards, put out a statement thanking fans for the years working with EVGA, and noted that this isn't necessarily the end for Kingpin designs, though didn't specify any further information. Perhaps that's more of an open offer to any interested parties rather than confirmation of an agreement already in place so soon after EVGA has left the party. I'll also miss EVGA's queue system, which was one of the better ways to politely queue up for an in-demand graphics card these past few years. Though hopefully, we won't be in such dire need for this sort of system with the next-gen now that ethereum mining has gone away. View the full article

The best VPN for gaming will keep a stable connection and protect your privacy, whatever you get up to on the web. It should be simple to use and reliable enough that it doesn't interrupt your gaming sessions. There are tons of VPNs out there, but only a few of them actually provide PC gamers with the level of security and speed we crave. The VPNs below will keep everything you do online private and they won't get in the way of your gaming. Throughout the year I check out and test tons of different VPN services. From general use to online gaming, there are tonnes of types to pick from. I make sure to look for VPNs that provide the best overall PC gaming experience that won't strain your bank account, or your CPU. I factor in cost, performance, and features to determine the best VPNs out there, complete with rigorous testing and research, so you don't have to gamble with your privacy. To get the best VPN experience, it'll cost you. Thankfully, the VPNs on this list with monthly or yearly subscriptions come at reasonable prices. Just be wary of free VPNs—you can almost be sure that some of your data will be tracked and sold to third parties, which sort of defeats the purpose of a VPN. So be sure always to read the fine print. 1. Surfshark - the best VPN for gaming Surfshark is our number one pick as best VPN for its performance, ease of use, affordability, and versatility. After all, it's one of the only VPNs I've tested to allow unlimited devices attached to a single account.View Deal 2. NordVPN - the best VPN for consistent upload speeds As a very close second, NordVPN is worth your time and money if upload speed is the most important thing to you while being connected up to a VPN connection. It offers close to un-VPN'd download speeds, and the highest upload speeds I've tested.View Deal 3. IPVanish - the best value VPN for gaming If value for money is the most important things when you're shopping for a VPN, then IPVanish is a great shout. It isn't as fully featured as some of the more expensive options, but you get free encrypted storage baked into the package, too.View Deal 4. ExpressVPN - the best VPN for the global community It may be coming in at number four, but ExpressVPN is still a great service. It may not have offered the most competitive download and upload performance when I last tested it, but it's one of the most wide-reaching with servers in 94 countries worldwide,View Deal I would say just to be wary of free VPNs unless you're absolutely sure how your data is being processed and where its going to end up. They can be a handy alternative for just getting a quick look at how something looks from a different region but will generally also have the biggest impact on just how fast your connection is. (Image credit: Surfshark) 1. SurfsharkThe best VPN for gaming Servers: 1,700+ | Countries: 63 | Max devices: Unlimited Unlimited devicesImpressive speedTop ping performanceSlower upload than NordVPN Surfshark is my boy. For me, it's the best VPN for gaming that we've tested, offering a great combination of lower ping than my non-VPN'd connection and a relatively minor hit when it comes to overall download speeds. It's ever so slightly more taxing on the uploads than NordVPN, which comes out top on that score, but not by enough to put me off. For streamers, you'll probably want to prioritize that upload speed, making NordVPN the go-to option. But then, as a streamer, you'd probably rather have the full bandwidth available to you at all times… The app is straightforward. There are even neat features such as an optional kill switch (disabling your internet connection if the VPN drops for any reason) and a whitelist to allow banking apps and such through the VPN block. The company offers a strict no-logs policy and seems to be reliable on that front. Surfshark is also the only service tested that offers access to unlimited devices from a single account. That's pretty impressive considering the relatively low cost compared to some of its peers. The only issue I've encountered is that it doesn't seem like a happy fit for torrenting. I struggled to get anything to function, so if that's a deal-breaker for you, then you'll probably want to look at Nord instead. (Image credit: NordVPN) 2. NordVPNThe best VPN for consistent upload speeds Servers: 5,700+ | Countries: 59 | Max devices: 6 Top download and upload speedsDecent ping performanceNetflix accessApp requires lots of updating It's close between Surfshark and NordVPN, but the toothy one just about wins out thanks to its unlimited devices, lower price, and lower ping. NordVPN, however, is the high-performance option if download and upload speeds are the be-all and end-all for your PC experience. It delivers one of the highest relative download speeds in my testing compared to an untouched connection and the absolute highest upload speed. That seems to be where many VPN services fall, in just how much they tank your upload connection. My upload speed is already 10x slower than my downloads, so I can ill afford to lose any more. But NordVPN still delivers around 85% of that connection, while Private Internet Access actually dropped down to 35%. It's also your best option if you find torrenting your go-to method of accessing content online. Surfshark seems to block everything in my experience, making Nord the next best thing. The service also delivers an impressive ping performance, too, getting close to my unfettered ping score and consistently beating my game ping scores too. NordVPN is using the latest WireGuard VPN protocol, which it's calling NordLynx. It's reportedly the fastest around and does seem to help it run consistently well. (Image credit: IPVanish) 3. IPVanishThe best-value VPN for gaming Servers: 1,400+ | Countries: 51 | Max devices: 10 Good valueDecent performanceNot as fully-featured as others IPVanish is one of the most affordable VPN services we've tested, but that doesn't mean you're missing out. It might not have the full feature set of Surfshark or NordVPN, but you do get 250GB of SugarSync encrypted storage and backup for free with a new subscription, which could give you a little extra peace of mind over your more sensitive documents. It performs well too. The impact on my upload and download speed is impressively minimal, and it also manages, for the most part, to drop down the in-game ping when gaming online. There was a little spike in CS: GO, but nothing worrying, and still with fewer packet drops than with my standard connection. If you're after a quality VPN service to run on your gaming machine, and potentially on nine other devices simultaneously, but don't want to spend big, then IPVanish is a great alternative to the top two on our list. (Image credit: ExpressVPN) 4. ExpressVPNThe best VPN for the global community Servers: 3,000+ | Countries: 94 | Max devices: 5 Servers available across the globeGreat Chrome pluginSlower upload speeds The second most expensive service on our list is also the broadest reach across the globe. With servers in a staggering 94 countries, if you're looking to play with friends abroad, or find yourself traveling a lot, then ExpressVPN could be your best bet for a solid, secure, and relatively speedy connection. ExpressVPN isn't bad in my testing for in-game ping performance, regularly giving me a lower millisecond count than my standard connection in Battlefield 5. Still, it sometimes struggled in CS: GO. However, it was the weakest when it came to downloading speeds—not that 94% of my regular connection is bad—but the upload hit was second only to the dreadful performance of Private Internet Access. Of the top four, it also has the fewest number of simultaneous devices allowed, though, at five devices, you can still share the load across PC, laptop, phone, and significant other. But ExpressVPN is still a quality, reliable service that may not have the top-level performance I've measured from some others but is still a decent option for PC gamers. Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 3 (Image credit: Future) Other VPNs tested VyprVPN Private Internet Access CyberGhost The best VPN FAQ Is a VPN good for gaming?The historical consensus has been that you shouldn't use a VPN while gaming online because it might impact your connection and slow you down. Yes, you might be able to bypass the bane of geo-blocking, but many people complain about horrifying lag and subsequent in-game failures. That is still the case if you're using a bandwidth-limited free service, such as Hola or the basic TunnelBear package, but if you pick wisely, you could find the best VPN for gaming in some cases can improve your online performance. It may sound like we're pulling your chain. But it's true, a good VPN service can not only keep you safe and secure behind the scenes, but it can actually improve your ping results in-game. Now, it's not a case of some fancy wizardry that will suddenly turn a slow internet connection into a lightning-quick one. But the best VPNs for gaming will often boast superior routing compared to your current internet service provider (ISP). That means you could find you get less packet loss via a VPN, and you might even see a lower ping, making your connection more responsive in-game. I run a generally reliable, 100Mbit+ fiber connection at home, yet I still experience some packet loss when I've got boots on the ground in Battlefield 5. My ping isn't bad, but hey, it could always be better, right? Running a VPN does, however, take a bit of a chunk out of your overall download and upload speeds, but maybe not as much as you might think. Picking the best VPN for gaming will minimize that impact. Why should I bother with a VPN?There are other reasons you might want to run a VPN on your PC, the number one draw being online security. If you don't want a network tracking your every move, using a virtual private network is the best way to avoid that. The best VPNs run a 'no log' policy, which means they'll store no data about you or your activity, helping you stay secure in the face of any data breach. Again, it will also help you get around geo-blocking. Say you want to unlock a new game early or want to subscribe to service only available in another country, no problem. How are VPNs tested?Testing VPNs is a fun game and doesn't always end up with you bricking your internet connection each time you uninstall one to install another. Honestly. Not every time, anyway… We've sourced accounts for each of the services and tested them all on the same 100Mbit connection at the same time of day to ensure a fair reflection as to the performance of each of them. There are free VPNs and some VPN services with free tiers, but you won't find them suitable for connecting while gaming online. They almost always introduce latency to your experience and severely hamper the overall performance of your network connection. We haven't included any of the free options, such as Hola or TunnelBear, in this list. They're also not necessarily an effective choice if you're trying to get around geo-blocked services such as video streaming, as you may still find them restricted. As for testing, first, I took a Speedtest.net measurement of my standard, unfettered internet connection, using that as a baseline against which to test each of the different services. Then I installed each VPN and tested it before uninstalling it to add a new VPN fresh. View the full article

Almost exactly two years after it first released, Spelunky 2 has been updated with crossplay between players on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch, so you can now die ingloriously in front of your console-bound friends in the game's Arena and Adventure modes. Spelunky creator Derek Yu says the update, which comes as part of the game's 1.26 patch, represents the completion of all of the game's "major goals for online multiplayer". With the "basic features" of Spelunky's multiplayer now in place, says Yu, future updates will mostly focus on making tweaks and improvements to Spelunky 2's online features based on player feedback. That doesn't mean the singleplayer experience will be neglected. The team will still put out updates to fix bugs and "game-breaking problems" in Spelunky's solo modes, but Yu says his personal preference is to try to "preserve the singleplayer experience as much as possible after release". In other words: significant singleplayer updates like the one that made Spelunky 2's first area a bit easier are a thing of the past. Yu goes into some detail as to why it's taken so long for Spelunky 2 to get crossplay. "Spelunky 2 is pretty complex for online multiplayer, despite 'just' being a 2d platformer," he writes, pointing out that "there are four players running around a double-layered level with destructible terrain, liquid simulation, and high interactivity, where nothing in the level can be disabled temporarily". It sounds like a technical nightmare, and that's on top of the struggles of coordinating with platform-holders spread across countries, languages, and timezones. We were pretty keen on Spelunky 2, giving it 87% and praising its "fathomless secrets, magical gif moments and killable sleeping cavemen". I'd love to tell you what I think of it, but I've definitely never played it. I've super definitely not poured 80 hours of my life into it and not even gotten past the Tide Pool yet. That would just be ridiculous. View the full article

The best office chair is designed to handle a full working day. I should be comfortable, supportive, and solid. For eight hours a day, and for a cheeky late-night gaming session. These thrones combine the ergonomics of a great gaming chair, with the style of a corpo professional. If the best office chairs are good enough for hedge fund managers, you can bet they'll deliver for the average gamer who spends hours designing their perfect apartment in The Sims. Sometimes, a gamer chair covered in demonic runes isn't appropriate for work. If you want to match the ergonomics of a gaming chair without giving off a super edgy flair, the office chairs below provide comfort and have a style that's more in line with the straight-edge of a workplace. A good office chair for gaming could cost you hundreds of dollars with one or two exceptions. Simply put, good furniture is expensive; leather upholstery and lumbar support are going to cost you. These chairs are all sturdy, well-built products that should last you years. So, think about what's most important to you and set a budget. You deserve more than that chair you stole from the family room twenty years ago. Your body will thank you. One other thing: it's always good to think about desk-based ergonomics and how to best support your spine and the rest of your body. You may want to invest in a standing desk to get off your butt and stretch your legs every couple of hours, or just get up and take a break more often. A quality chair is important, but it isn't the be-all and end-all to a healthy office life. Best office chairs for gaming Image 1 of 4 (Image credit: Secretlab)Image 2 of 4 (Image credit: Secretlab)NeueChair Image 3 of 4 (Image credit: Secretlab)Image 4 of 4 (Image credit: Secretlab)NeueChair 1. NeueChair Simply the best office chair Seat type: Task chair | Recline: 85–130 degrees | Weight capacity: 240lbs | Weight: 64lbs | Available colors: Silver, Obsidian Ridiculously sturdy and well madeComfortable and supportiveHighly adjustableLimited armrest adjustmentMesh can be tricky to clean If you're the sort of person to prioritize functionality over flash, the NeueChair is an excellent option. This isn't to say it's not stylish—quite the opposite; the NeueChair comes in a sleek, muted obsidian or flashy chrome/silver, both with bold, sweet curved supports on the back and an attractive black mesh. More importantly, the NeueChair is built to last, with a heavy, sturdy industrial construction. Even the chair's weight in the packaging indicates a solid piece of carefully constructed industrial art: severe and substantial. Assembling it is a breeze, as it comes in two discrete pieces and is simply a matter of inserting the casters and pushing them together. Almost every aspect of the seat is adjustable, from the armrests to the lumbar support system that lets you change the height depth of the backrest. It's one of the best office chairs I've ever had the pleasure to sit in, and if you can afford the admittedly steep price tag, one that's well worth the investment. Best gaming keyboard | Best VR headset | Best mechanical keyboard| Best wireless gaming mouse | Best wireless gaming keyboard Image 1 of 4 (Image credit: Steelcase)Image 2 of 4 (Image credit: Steelcase)Steelcase Gesture Image 3 of 4 (Image credit: Steelcase)Steelcase Gesture Image 4 of 4 (Image credit: Steelcase) 2. Steelcase Gesture The best office chair for ultimate comfort Seat type: Task chair | Material: Breathable fabric | Recline: 116 degrees | Seat height: 16–21 inch | Weight capacity: 400lbs | Weight: 78lbs Most comfortable chairStylish color options No lumbar adjustmentTakes some getting used to The Steelcase Leap is one of the most iconic modern chairs, with a price to match its performance, but we prefer the newer Steelcase Gesture for several reasons. Foremost of which is, holy smokes, it feels good to sit in. If your eyes are still watering at the cost, know this: much as we enjoyed the other chairs singled out here, none of them came close to the pure comfort of the Gesture. Imagine your butt and back being perfectly cupped by the giant ever-loving hand of the deity of your choice. That's what the Gesture is like. Or, as it became known amongst us testing it: 'the dream chair.' Anyone that spends a significant amount of time in a chair should seriously consider splurging on this one. The steep price buys you a lifetime warranty and your butt the most comfortable embrace it'll ever experience. Image 1 of 4 (Image credit: Office Star)Image 2 of 4 (Image credit: Office Star)Office Star ProGrid Image 3 of 4 (Image credit: Office Star)Office Star ProGrid Image 4 of 4 (Image credit: Office Star)Office Star ProGrid 3. Office Star ProGrid The best affordable office chair Seat type: Task chair | Material: Mesh back, fabric seat | Seat height: 17–20.5 inch | Weight capacity: 250lbs | Weight: 41lbs | Available colors: Black Lots of adjustmentsVery comfortable Takes a while to setup perfectlyVery basic design Office Star's line of chairs doesn't look noteworthy initially, but the customer reviews are consistently good. We like the ProGrid Back Managers Chair a lot because it offers the kind of tweakability usually only found on much more expensive models. Using its daunting array of levers, you can adjust the chair's height and tilt, plus slide the seat pan forwards or backward. The backrest can also be shifted up or down, and the armrests raised or lowered and slid back and forth until you find the perfect position. It may take a while, but once you tune it to your liking, the chair becomes incredibly comfortable. With so much customization, the ProGrid is a strong choice and very hard to beat at this price. Image 1 of 4 (Image credit: Office Master)Image 2 of 4 (Image credit: Office Master)Office Master OM5 Image 3 of 4 (Image credit: Office Master)Office Master OM5 Image 4 of 4 (Image credit: Office Master)Office Master OM5 4. Office Master OM5 The best office chair with a self-adjusting mechanism Seat type: Task chair | Material: Polyflex back, fabric seat | Seat height: 14.7–25 inch | Weight capacity: 300lbs | Weight: 64lbs Automatic adjustmentsHighly customizable colorsTakes a little getting used toLimited armrest adjustability On the face of it, the Office Master OM5 sounds like the snake oil of seating. The marketing materials describe it as "a self-weighing chair that intuitively responds to a wide range of body weights and sizes without the need for manual tension." Essentially: don't worry about all those levers and knobs on the other chairs; this one will magically work out what your butt and back need, no problem. Our skepticism didn't last long, though, because sitting is believing when it comes to the OM5. There are plenty of manual adjustments possible, but all of the magic happens around your back and hip. As you lean back and apply pressure, the seat pan shifts forwards while the backrest reclines in response, articulating smoothly thanks to wheels on runners that function much like the ones in desk draw sliders. It takes a little getting used to but transitioning from upright work mode to relaxing while playing or watching swiftly becomes a cinch. If you want comfort and can't be bothered with levers and adjustments, the OM5 is one of our favorites. It gives you high-end quality and comfort at a mid-range price. Image 1 of 4 (Image credit: Herman Miller)Image 2 of 4 (Image credit: Herman Miller)Image 3 of 4 (Image credit: Future)Image 4 of 4 (Image credit: Future) 5. Logitech G x Herman Miller Embody The best work and game hybrid chair Seat type: Task chair | Material: Multi-layer fabric | Seat height: 17–22 inch | Weight capacity: 300 lbs | Weight: 51 lbs Stimulates blood and oxygen flowUnrivaled back support12-year/24hr use warrantyLimited armrest movementSeriously pricey versus traditional gaming chairs Perhaps you've heard of the Herman Miller Embody. It has been a stalwart of best office chair lists for years. Now it occupies a place in the hearts of both gamers and office workers because the famed chair manufacturer has partnered up with Logitech to create something tailor-made to our gaming rumps. Sitting comfortably? (Image credit: Secretlab)Best chair for gaming: the top gaming chairs around Best gaming desk: the ultimate PC podiums Best PC controller: sit back, relax, and get your game on It's not so much the changes that make the Embody stand out as one of the best gaming chairs going. It's what's been kept the same. The tried and tested Embody design is simply one of the best chairs for office work or gaming. It's incredibly comfortable over prolonged use, supports an active and healthy posture, and easily fits your frame. The warranty is also a standout feature. At 12 years, including labor, and rated to 24-hour use over that time, it's a chair that is guaranteed to last you over a decade, if not longer. So while the initial price tag may seem steep, and that it is, the reality is you're sure to get your money's worth in the long run. And your back will be thankful for it, too. Read our full Logitech G x Herman Miller Embody gaming chair review. The best office chairs FAQ How do we test chairs?Between articles about the effects of sitting down on your body and our experimentation with standing desks, you might think PC Gamer has fallen out of love with the humble chair. Dear reader, that could not be further from the truth. As gamers and office workers, we spend a significant chunk of each day sitting on our money makers in front of screens. Given that most of us don't plan to change that anytime soon, it only makes sense to do so in a great chair. So that's what I set out to find. We wanted to find chairs that maximized comfort, support, and value. We spoke with Melissa Afterman, MS CPE, a Senior Principal Ergonomist with VSI Risk Management & Ergonomics, Inc., specializing in workstation setups. "Chairs are still okay," she told me. "Yes, we know that sitting too long is bad for you. The reality is that standing too long is just as bad for you, so the answer is movement. Taking breaks, getting up at least every hour and moving, or changing your position from standing to sitting every hour so that you're not standing too long either." "If you're typing and working at the computer, you want more upright support so that you can maintain neutral spine posture and let the chair hold you up," she said. "But when you switch to a gaming mode, you may want to recline a little bit to relax your lower back while still having good support in that position. So a locking backrest and/or some tension control is important." Another feature to look for, though it tends to be found on more expensive models, is a seat pan slider. This enables you to slide the positioning of your butt forwards or backward relative to the backrest. How much should I spend on an office chair?The answer can really depend on a few key factors, namely your budget, but generally we're in the camp of spending bigger on a better chair that'll more than likely end up keeping you comfortable for much, much longer than a cheap one. Cheap chairs really feel cheap, and they're very rarely as well considered in their ergonomics or design as those more expensive models. That said, there's no reason why you can't find a good mid-range chair that doesn't break the bank. It's a reason why you won't find any super cheap chairs on this list, however. We're yet to find any that we feel suitable for long-term or regular use. Can a good chair help with posture?The best office chairs look out for you and your back. When it comes to chair design, lumbar support is vital. The first thing you should look for in a new gaming chair is whether it has any built-in support to help your body maintain an ideal posture. Some even come with lumbar support pillows that work just as well. Multi-adjustable arm-rests, upholstery, and general style are also important; note these features aren't cheap. Does every chair fit every body type?Different chair models accommodate different heights and weights, so make sure to check your fit before adding to cart. Look at the width and depth of the seat, too. Some chairs claim that you should sit cross-legged, but that depends on your size and your legs' length. View the full article

RTX 4080 release date: November 2022Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 (16GB) price: $1,199Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 (12GB) price: $899Built on Nvidia's Ada Lovelace architecture and using TSMC's N4 processNo Founders Edition of the GeForce RTX 4080 (12GB) Now that the dust is starting to settle after Nvidia's GTC 2022 keynote, it's time to take a look at what Nvidia has got lined up for its slightly more affordable Ada Lovelace GPUs. Here I'm talking about the rather confusingly branded pair of GeForce RTX 4080 models that are going to be vying for your wallet. We have the release dates, pricing, a hint at the performance, and the specifications for the pair of RTX 4080 GPUs. Like the GeForce RTX 4090, these are built on Nvidia's latest Ada Lovelace architecture. Thanks to the use of TSMC's N4 production process—the same one that powers the GPUs in HPC data centers—these cards are looking at a superb boost to efficiency and performance over the previous generation of cards. Despite these cards sharing the RTX 4080 name, they are very different when it comes to their internals, and not just down to the amount of GDDR6X VRAM they sport. The GeForce RTX 4090 will be the first out of the door on October 12, but this will be followed up by the pair of GeForce RTX 4080s in November. You'll find the full specs and details of all these GPUs below. Release Date The GeForce RTX 4080 (16GB) and GeForce RTX 4080 (12GB) cards are "Coming November," with no exact date shown as yet. Once the RTX 4090 hits the shelves on October 12, we expect a firmer date for the two RTX 4080s. You can sign up to be notified when the cards are available over on Nvidia's site. Resellers are expected to offer a similar service—not quite pre-orders, allowing buyers to sign up for notifications as to when the cards arrive. Given the lack of a hard release date, this does make sense here. There's nothing official from Nvidia on when the review embargo lifts for these cards, which isn't too surprising given the lack of a release date. Price (Image credit: Nvidia) When it comes to the thorny subject of price, the two RTX 4080s make for difficult reading. While the top-end, the GeForce RTX 4090, can naturally enjoy an elevated price point due to its flagship positioning, that's not usually true when it comes to the 80-level cards. The GeForce RTX 4080 (16GB) has a starting price of $1,199. For comparison, the GeForce RTX 3080 (10GB) launched at $699, making this $500 more expensive offering. Like the RTX 4090, this will be available as a Founders Edition card. The GeForce RTX 4080 (12GB) has a starting price of $899. There's no Founders Edition version of this card though, so it'll be down to the graphics card manufacturers to try and hit that price point. With elaborate cooling options and no doubt improved overclocking chops, we'd expect plenty of cards to cost more than this. Performance (Image credit: Nvidia) Nvidia has released some internal RTX 4080 benchmark figures to show off its latest architecture, and it certainly makes for some interesting reading. While all of the new Ada Lovelace GPUs enjoy significant increases in what Nvidia calls "Next Generation" games, things aren't looking so rosy when it comes to today's games. The likes of Resident Evil Village, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and The Division 2 all appear to show performance drops for the RTX 4080 (12GB) edition and only small increases for the RTX 4080 (16GB) compared to the RTX 3090 Ti. This isn't the absolute home run you might expect for the money, though things are a bit healthier when it comes to Microsoft Flight Simulator and Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, which enjoy an almost doubling of the frame rate. It's going to be interesting to see how these cards perform in a range of titles when we do get them on the test benches—because while the RTX 4090 clearly has some serious performance chops, it isn't as clear cut lower down the stack. Specs The two RTX 4080s use Nvidia's Ada Lovelace architecture, boast support for the new 3rd generation Ray tracing cores, 4th generation Tensor cores, and DLSS 3. Nvidia has stuck with the PCIe 4.0 interface for this generation and the cards support Resizable BAR, Microsoft DirectX 12 Ultimate, and Vulkan RT API. Nvidia will be producing Founder Editions of the GeForce RTX 4080 (16GB) cards, but not of the GeForce RTX 4080 (12GB), which means the specs for the $899 cards will be entirely down to the manufacturers when it comes to fan configurations and the overall size of the cards. As I said at the beginning, there are a lot of differences between the RTX 4080 (12GB) and the RTX 4080 (16GB), far more than just the amount of memory available. The most obvious of these is the number of CUDA Cores—9,728 vs. 7,680 is not a small difference. This is a very different situation from the previous generation's RTX 3080 (10GB) model and the RTX 3080 (12GB) GPU that was released at the start of the year, which had 8,704 cores and 8,960 respectively. You could absolutely make the case that the GeForce RTX 4080 (12GB) should have been called the RTX 4070. Nvidia RTX 40-series specs RTX 3080 (10GB)RTX 3080 (12GB)RTX 4080 (12GB)RTX 4080 (16GB)GPUGA102-200-KD-A1GA102-220-A1AD104-400AD103-300CUDA Cores8,7048,9607,6809,728Base Clock1,440MHz1,260MHz2,310MHz2,210MHzBoost Clock1,710MHz1,710MHz2,610MHz2,510MHzMemory Bus320-bit384-bit192-bit256-bitMemory Type10GB GDDR6X12GB GDDR6X12GB GDDR6X16GB GDDR6XMemory Speed19Gbps19Gbps21Gbps23GbpsGraphics Card Power (W)320W350W285W320WRequired System power (W)750W750W700W750WLaunch Price$699$799$899$1,199 View the full article

Despite almost a decade of development with no full release, Star Citizen continues to rake in money from people putting faith in the controversial space sim. As of September 20, the game has managed to accrue over half a billion dollars in crowdfunding, solidifying itself as the most expensive game to date. It's gained an additional $100 million in funding across one million brand-new backers since November 2021, putting the grand total at $500,121,052 across 4,096,818 backers as of writing. It's surprising to see so much support for a game that's still somehow in alpha, despite its first kickstarter launching back in October 2012. It managed to raise $2 million back then, and though it's received small packets of private funding has continued to largely source its development costs through crowdfunding. It begs the question of whether a game with so much money behind it ever actually intends on coming out. Back in 2020, Cloud Imperium Games founder Chris Roberts said that Star Citizen's gameplay "is not a pipe dream, nor will it take 10 to 20 years to deliver." It's easy for it to feel exactly like a pipe dream though, especially when fans are waiting for a full release while resources are being put into researching and developing "bedsheet deformation." Apparently, it's vital for both Star Citizen and its single-player spinoff Squadron 42, which is also currently tucked away in a development hidey-hole. Regardless, the development of Star Citizen chugs along, albeit with a little less communication with the community. Earlier this year saw CIG rework how it presented roadmaps, ripping tentative dates away in order to reduce "distractions" caused by players who were expecting the features to arrive on said dates. It would be nice to see the game at least come out of alpha in the next few years, especially if it manages to bank another $100 million in the next year. View the full article

The best CPU air cooler will let you push your processor to the max without opting for a pricey, awkward liquid cooling system. There's a lot to be said about the efficiency, affordability, and minimum fuss of a great CPU air cooler, so we've put together a list of the best air coolers to help keep your processor running smoothly. In a world where CPU and graphics thermals are inextricably linked to their performance, insufficient cooling can not only tank performance but also affect the stability of your entire gaming rig. The most common and simplest solution is air cooling, but if you want to be fancy an all-in-one liquid cooler might be a good option, and will deliver super low temps at lower decibels. There's plenty to consider when looking for the best CPU air cooler. Generally, the 'bigger is better' rule flies here, but double check it'll actually fit inside your PC case before you make a purchase. As an overclocker rigs with some flashy RGB. There is also a case to be made for using an air cooler in compact builds. Not only will it potentially save some space, but it could create more airflow over surrounding components on the motherboard, as well as providing cooling to the processor itself. Below I have picked out six of the best CPU air coolers from the dozens I tested for the past year or so. I made sure to pick coolers for almost every budget that will fit different cases. This way, you're not from choosing a very expensive option to only a slightly less expensive option. Best CPU air cooler (Image credit: DEEPCOOL) 1. Deepcool AS500 Plus A fantastic all round cooler that won't empty your wallet Socket support: Intel 1200, 1150, 1151, 1155, 2011, 2066, AMD AM4, AM3, AM2, FM2 & FM1 compatible | Fans: 2x 140mm PWM | Fan speeds: 500-1200RPM | Dimensions (L x W x H): 140 x 102 x 164mm | Noise level: Max 31.5dB(A) Great valueLow noise levelsEfficient coolingBuild QualityNot built for high-end overclocked CPUs The Deepcool AS500 received worthy attention when it was released, but the AS500 Plus with its additional fan elevates it to the point where it can compete with any single tower cooler on the market. At the same time, it undercuts competitors in price. There aren't many dual-fan ARGB supporting coolers at this price. Even if you spent double the money on a premium single tower cooler, your cooling performance won't be a lot better. Its cooling ability belies its compact dimensions. Only more expensive dual-tower coolers beat it, and even then, not by a whole lot. Its dual-fan design no doubt helps. It’s also surprisingly quiet. Even when pushed hard the cooler doesn’t get excessively loud. It even comes with its own ARGB controller. Cooling and low noise levels are welcome, then add to that great build quality and subtle ARGB good looks and there’s nothing to complain about. It even comes with its own ARGB controller, and there’s a white version too if you like. The Deepcool AS500 Plus punches above its weight and price. It cools very well, stays quiet, offers great build quality, and has a subtle ARGB splash with its own controller. Finally, it offers great value for money relative to many dual-fan single tower coolers. Short of stressing it with a heavily overclocked high-end processor, the AS500 Plus ticks all the boxes and comes highly recommended. (Image credit: DEEPCOOL) 2. Be Quiet! Pure Rock 2 An affordable and effective cooler that really can be quiet Socket support: Intel LGA 1150, 1151, 1155, 1200, 2011, 2011-3, 2066, AMD AM3 & AM4 compatible | Fans: 1x Pure Wings 2 120mm | Fan speeds: Up to 1500RPM | Dimensions (L x W x H): 87 x 121 x 155mm | Noise level: Max 26.8dB(A) Very quiet operationGreat priceGood build qualitySuper basic looks150W TDP is a touch optimistic If the brand name didn’t already give it away, the Be Quiet Pure Rock 2 really is quiet. It’s a single tower cooler equipped with the company's highly regarded Pure Wings 2 PWM fan which carries a low 26.8 dB(A) noise rating. That means it's very quiet indeed. It feels really solid too—an indicator of good build quality—and it comes in at a low price. We wouldn’t describe the Pure Rock 2 as the most beautiful cooler on the market. But if you do have a windowed case, you could consider the black version which is certainly more attractive than the plain aluminum finish of the base version. The Pure Rock 2 is primarily designed to cool; unseen and unheard. It's rated to cool CPUs with a 150W TDP, though perhaps this is a touch optimistic, but that’s down to the CPU manufacturers and their 'real' TDPs. An Intel Core i5 12600K or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X shouldn't present a problem for the Pure Rock 2. For anything other than high-end CPUs, the Pure Rock 2 will keep your chip cool and quiet. If you're not interested in bling and want something that's a step up from bundled coolers, the Pure Rock 2 is a fantastic choice. It will cool out of sight, mind, and earshot. (Image credit: Noctua) 3. Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Black You'll be hard pressed to find a better performing air cooler than the Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Black Socket support: Intel LGA 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156, 1200, 2011, 2011-3, 2066, AMD AM4, AM3, AM2, FM2 & FM1 compatible | Fans: 2x NF-A15 HS-PWM | Fan speeds: 300-1500RPM | Dimensions (L x W x H): 161 x 150 x 165mm | Noise level: Max 24.6dB(A) Awesome cooling performanceQuiet under typical loadsSolid build qualityAll black good looksIt's really quite largeLouder than you might expect under load The Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Black is considered by many to be the best air cooler on the market. We love it too, and it's an easy inclusion on our list of recommended coolers. It performs brilliantly and has excellent fans that are a welcome black color instead of that rather unsightly beige and brown (sorry, Jacob). Its build quality is fantastic and Noctua's packaging, accessories, and documentation are second to none. Really, only 360mm AIO coolers outperform it. If you want an air cooler that can handle any consumer CPU on the market, you might find one to match the Noctua flagship, but you won’t find anything that truly beats it. Noctua has a long tradition of adding support for new sockets. Under normal operation, the NH-D15 can be considered truly silent. When pushed hard it becomes louder than you might expect, such as you might get when hammering out an AVX load, but we don’t mind having some optional cooling headroom when you need it. Even a 5GHz+ Core i9 11900K will result in quiet running while gaming. So why isn't it number one on our list? Its expense, and the perhaps sheer size, are the only things that count against it. Notably, Noctua has a long tradition of adding support for new sockets. An investment in an NH-D15 Chromax Black means you'll have a top-shelf cooler that will last you for many years. (Image credit: Cryorig) 4. Cryorig C7 A great choice for a truly tiny system, just don't ask too much of it Socket support: Intel 1200, 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156, AMD AM4, AM3, AM2, FM2 & FM1 compatible | Fans: 1x 92mm Quad Air Inlet | Fan speeds: 600–2500RPM | Dimensions (L x W x H): 97 x 97 x 47mm | Noise level: Max 30dB(A) Truly tiny sizeCools better than you'd expect for its sizeQuiet low load operationNot one for overclocked, high core-count CPUs The Cryorig C7 has been on the market for some time, but it's still been updated to handle newer sockets. It’s perfect for a truly compact small form factor system thanks to its 47mm height and adherence to 'keep-out' zones, where it will not interfere in any way with other system components. Because sometimes you want to make a tiny PC, and not every system needs to have a monstrous GPU attached to it. And when that's the (mini-ITX) case you either have the option to stick with a low-end stock cooler, or a quality third party version, such as the Cryorig. The C7 destroys the stock Intel cooler. And the C7 destroys the stock Intel cooler. It's rated for up to 100W, but to be fair is better suited to 65W class CPUs up to about six or eight cores. This leaves it a bit of headroom for turbo bursts and means you won't see your chip throttling under sustained loads, either. If you're overclocking, or using a high core-count processor, you can give it a pass, but that's to be expected. With the right CPU it will stay surprisingly quiet for its compact size. Its top flow design will help to cool the VRM and M.2 SSD, too, something that can be neglected in compact systems. The Cryorig C7 is a niche cooler, no doubt about it, but for the tiniest builds, the cute little C7 does an admirable job. If you want a little bit of extra TDP headroom, there are copper and graphene-coated versions that feature TDP ratings of up to 125W, though they're more expensive. The C7 is a great choice for the smallest form factor systems. (Image credit: Noctua) 5. Noctua NH-P1 Quiet computing enthusiasts, look here Socket support: Intel LGA 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156, 1200, 2011, 2011-3, 2066, AMD AM4, AM3, AM2, FM2 & FM1 compatible | Fans: N/A | Fan speeds: N/A | Dimensions (L x W x H): 152 x 154 x 158mm | Noise level: 0dB(A) Silent!Every aspect of it is premiumYou can add fans if you really want toNeeds good case coolingPricier than your regular air cooler Noctua’s NH-P1 passive cooler is very much a niche product and one that fans of quiet computing have been looking forward to for some time. It's expensive, bulky, and generally limited to CPUs in the 65W range. Sounds like a dud? Hell no. its appeal may be limited, but if you're a user who values silence above anything else, then the NH-P1 will be exactly what you're looking for. The NH-P1 is capable of cooling even high-end CPUs using only natural convection. That's sort of what makes it a big deal in the cooling world. It does this through a vastly disparate design from your usual chip chiller. The NH-P1 also features a grid of cut-outs horizontally through the cooler design, which helps air flow naturally across the cooler and, importantly, sap away the heat transferred into the fins from the heat pipes. The heat pipes are actually the longest along their horizontal axis. The heat pipes are undoubtedly of major importance here. Sit the NH-P1 side-by-side with the NH-D15, and you'll notice they're oriented differently. The heat pipes are actually the longest along their horizontal axis, which impacts heat dispersion due to the reliance on gravity for a heat pipe to function. The NH-P1 is a great match for something like an AMD 5700G. That way, you could omit a discrete GPU and play e-sport titles in silence. The NH-P1 will keep this class of CPU boosting to its max, but only if you have at least some airflow. The chances are you have a rear case fan that's just a few cm away from it anyway. You can still opt to attach a fan if you want. True passive cooling, without any system fans, would require dropping to 35W class CPUs. The NH-P1 is built for a specific purpose. Fans of quiet computing will love it. If you sleep near your PC or run a lounge room media center, the NH-P1 will ensure that your PC is truly silent. Clearly, it's not meant for everyone, though. Read our full Noctua NH-P1 review. (Image credit: Be Quiet) 6. Be Quiet! Dark Rock TF 2 Cooling for your whole system Socket support: Intel LGA 1150, 1151, 1155, 1200, 2011, 2011-3, 2066, AMD AM3 & AM4 compatible | Fans: 1x Silent Wings 3 135mm, 1x Silent Wings 135mm | Fan speeds: Up to 1400RPM | Dimensions (L x W x H): 163 x 140 x 134mm | Noise level: Max 27.1 dB(A) Downward blowing for additional system coolingQuiet operationGood build qualityHeavy overclocking is beyond it Keeping your CPU cool is vital, but so is overall system cooling. A cooler like the Be Quiet Dark Rock TF 2 blows air downwards, which helps to keep toasty M.2 drives and your vital motherboard VRMs running cool. This is something that can often be overlooked in AIO-cooled systems that lack good airflow over the motherboard, particularly if you have a GPU heating up your speedy NVMe drives, too. The Dark Rock TF2 performs much like other single tower air coolers and, although it is on the pricey side, it's not unreasonably so given the inclusion of two high-quality fans. Its ability to mount a fan above or below the heatsink (or both) adds a lot of installation flexibility. You can use it in all kinds of systems from powerful gaming PCs through to compact SFF systems. In the Be Quiet tradition, the Dark Rock TF 2 is very quiet, particularly under low loads, and with a rating of up to 230W, it can handle all modern CPUs, though heavy overclocking will really be beyond it. Downward blowing coolers have fallen out of favor compared to tower coolers, but with one or more hot PCIe 4.0 SSDs to cool, a motherboard needs decent airflow too. The Dark Rock TF 2 can be thought of as a system cooler, and not just a CPU cooler. CPU air cooler FAQ Which is better, AIO or air cooler?Anyone looking at picking a cooler for their rig asks this question: Air or water cooling? Water cooling tends to be viewed as the premium solution, but air cooling remains perfectly viable unless you’re into heavy overclocking with higher core count CPUs. Air coolers are generally cheaper, more reliable and simpler. Yes, they can be bulky relative to an AIO but radiators are also bulky and require large cases too. With air coolers you don’t have to worry about the (admittedly very small) possibility of leaks or pump failure. Noise levels are highly dependent on the fans used but if you choose wisely, there’s no reason an air cooler won’t be as quiet or even quieter than an AIO due to the lack of pump whir. Are CPU air coolers effective?A high TDP processor or CPU overclocking will require something big to absorb and dissipate all that heat. But a dual tower or dual fan model will be just as capable of cooling as an all-in-one liquid cooler. If you want something quiet, a big cooler with a high cooling capacity will also suit, but pay attention to the noise levels and RPM rating of its fans. Then you get into things like your case size. You’ll need to go with a more compact cooler if you're running a mini system, so look at the dimensions. There's also an argument to be made for downward blowers. The components around your CPU, such as the power circuitry and NVMe SSDs, can get hot and throttle if they're not properly cooled. And with a liquid cooler they get no help, but a good downward blowing CPU air cooler will not just chill your processor, but other parts on the motherboard too. How do I pick a CPU air cooler?There’s so much to consider. It would be easy to simply go for the biggest one you can get, but that ignores case constraints, the TDP of your processor, your budget, and aesthetics. At least you can rest assured that our picks will serve you well with the appropriate accompanying hardware. The best cooler is one that you can install in your particular rig, give it a stress test under a high heat load, tune the fan curves if necessary and then forget about it. RGB models excepted, a good quality air cooler is unseen and never draws attention. You know you’ve made a good choice when you’ve gone months happily gaming away or doing whatever it is you do on your system with barely a thought about your cooling. What CPU sockets do air coolers work with?Not all coolers support all CPU sockets. Cooling for AMD Threadripper CPUs can be tricky for example. Also, Intel 12th Gen LGA1700 compatibility is more and more important these days. So, if you’re planning on building an Alder Lake system, pay close attention to the list of supported sockets. Stock from earlier in 2021 will definitely lack support. You can expect manufacturers to offer compatible mounting kits and updated SKU’s but if you’re planning on upgrading to 12th Gen, make sure you check with the retailer or manufacturer to ensure your choice of cooler includes LGA 1700 support now, or if it will in the future. Stay Cool Gamers! View the full article

You'll find the answer to today's Wordle on this very page alongside a selection of freshly written hints, general tips, and even links to further guides, all designed to make the September 22 (460) go as smoothly as you want it to. I had all the clues and no idea what to do with them today. The sole green anchor I stumbled upon didn't really narrow anything down, and all of the yellow consonants I found afterwards could've easily fit in any of the free slots left. I don't like losing, but some days the clues just don't line up in time. Wordle hint Today's Wordle: A hint for Thursday, September 22 Today's answer is a word used to describe particularly virtuous and devout people—often after they've died—but more widely this term can describe any person of any faith or none who displays extraordinary kindness or patience, even if only during one short instance. There are two vowels in today's Wordle. Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day If there's one thing better than playing Wordle, it's playing Wordle well, which is why I'm going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success: A good opener contains a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants. A tactical second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.The solution may contain repeat letters. There's no time pressure beyond making sure it's done by midnight. So there's no reason to not treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you're coming up blank. Wordle answer (Image credit: Josh Wardle) What is the Wordle 460 answer? Let me help you win. The answer to the September 22 (460) Wordle is SAINT. Previous answers Wordle archive: Which words have been used The more past Wordle answers you can cram into your memory banks, the better your chances of guessing today's Wordle answer without accidentally picking a solution that's already been used. Past Wordle answers can also give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle solving fresh. Here are some recent Wordle solutions: September 21: RECAPSeptember 20: ALIKESeptember 19: TRICESeptember 18: STICKSeptember 17: CHUTESeptember 16: PARERSeptember 15: DOUBTSeptember 14: THYMESeptember 13: ALPHASeptember 12: BOOZE Learn more about Wordle Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it's up to you to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them. You'll want to start with a strong word like ALERT—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you've got right or wrong. If a box turns ️, it means that letter isn't in the secret word at all. means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. means you've got the right letter in the right spot. You'll want your second go to compliment the first, using another "good" word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn't present in today's answer. After that it's just a case of using what you've learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there's an E). Don't forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS). If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you'd like to find out which words have already been used you'll find those below. Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn't long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it's only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes. View the full article

Hello supehfly, Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. supehfly joined on the 09/21/2022. View Member

Remember the crappy little starting town in Diablo 2? It's an encampment, technically: A few tents and wagons with a wall to keep out skeletons. Now imagine that instead of a hero passing through on their way to fight the devil, you're the mayor of that awful place. That's the scenario in Gord, more or less. Managing a Slavic folklore-inspired dark fantasy town doesn't look simple or easy, mind you. From the look of the new Gord gameplay video embedded above, it's as thankless a job as running an ice age city in Frostpunk, and there's a lot to it: resource gathering, urban design, citizen management, and some RPG adventuring and combat. We mostly see adventuring in the new 16-minute gameplay video, in which Stan Just, a former Witcher 3 producer who's now CEO of Gord developer Covenant, walks us through a basic quest. His town's subjects are mad about poisoned eggs in the swamp, which prompts him to take a party into the muck to kill "foulspawn." The generic-feeling quest is a bit of a letdown, but perhaps the interesting part of Gord is not the monsters but the people. Your subjects have strengths ("fighting flair," "furiosity") and weaknesses ("exploring incapability," "boiling blood"), as well as varying experience in tasks such as mining, fighting, and food preparation. They can be gathered into parties, arranged in tactical formation, and clicked out into the wilds beyond the town to find treasure and fight monsters. Aside from bodily damage and death, your subjects can experience psychological damage as a result of all the dark fantasy violence they deal with, especially when someone they're related to is involved in whatever gooey beast encounter caused the trauma. Keeping your townsfolk both alive and at least somewhat rational could be tricky. The pausable realtime combat, on the other hand, is "very straightforward," as Just puts it. Characters attack automatically, and always use the best of their two attacks for the situation. Your main job, it looks like, is to determine the best way to position your subjects, although you do have direct control over spellcasting. There are 18 spells in Gord, and they come in utility, support, and offensive flavors. Support spells include "Focus," "Haste," "Rejuvenate," while Offensive spells include "Sap," "Entangle," "Infest," and other insect and disease-themed incantations—it's familiar-looking fantasy RPG stuff. Gord will include a campaign with "hand-crafted" maps that tell a story, as well as a custom scenario mode, where the world's size and resource richness are customizable. The new video doesn't spend much time on the town building aspect of Gord, and I'm somewhat more interested in that than the adventuring—maybe it'll be the subject of the next commentary video. Covenant plans to release Gord next year. Back when Gord was announced, the studio also said that it has another project in the works, but we haven't heard more about it. (It's called "Project Perun," according to the studio's website.) View the full article