Slaughtahouse

LG OLEDs support true, cinema 4K (4096 x 2160) and consumer, Ultra HD 4K (3840 x 2160). You're likely noticing two columns that are 128 pixels wide on both sides of the display whilst using Ultra HD 4K (3840 width). 4K resolution - Wikipedia EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Thinking about it a little more, seems like this could be a resolution for just Win 11. If Win 10 was already ~10% faster, seems unlikely, but still possible that Win 10 will see similar performance uplift from a 2H update.

Sitting here with my 5800X3D Thanks all for the replies!

Thanks for sharing. I'll watch later. Q: Does this only benefit Win 11 users (W11 24H2 update) or does it also impact Win10?

Killing Floor 2 1440p, Max Settings Hope you like gibs!

I agree that the potential was lost but I also agree it’s not a bad game. For what it’s worth, jumping in any spending about 30mns running around for the first time in almost a year, there have been a variety of small changes. I’ve noticed way more NPCs in that city, there are way more options in the menu for accessibility and difficulties, and there is also a fully realized 3D surface map. I think later this Fall I’ll continue my space trucker adventures and commit to beating the game. I think for others, this game needs an expansion like Shivering Isles. Hyper focused on a new environment with its own style and plot. Like a 20-30hr / $30 expansion.

OK, onto the buggy... To get the buggy, you just need to go to a space services kiosk (near landing pad in major city) and make a purchase. 25K credits. Not sure if that's high or low. Little did I know, you can drive it in cities. You can also go GTA and just drive over people in the towns. Physics get wonky and people don't seem to die like they should but... makes for a fun time.

Booted it up for the first time in many months and... welp I am seeing this

Thinking about getting back into Starfield...

Killing Floor 2 1440p, Max Settings Various screenshots from the past few months of matches. One of my all time favourite games and fun to jump in between other single player games. If you appreciate the feel of weapons and PvE type games, I highly recommend Killing Floor Usually playing Hell on Earth if with a class at lvl 20 or higher (max is 25). Otherwise I play suicidal. My preferred class is Medic (healer). Grinding others right now, including Gunslinger (dual pistols / revolvers), Firebug (flamethrower), and Support (shotguns, ammo supplier).

Calling all Balatro enthusiasts: There is a physical edition inbound that includes 10, real world Balatro cards. Releases on September 17th. Console only (PS5, Xbox Series X, Switch). Balatro Special Edition Preorders Live At Amazon - Get 10 Physical Cards From The Game As A Bonus - GameSpot WWW.GAMESPOT.COM Balatro's physical edition releases September 17 for Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X.

What are your thoughts on Indiana Jones in the context of this announcement? It doesn't seem like it will be a huge blockbuster but I am hopeful it will be a good (not amazing) game. I'm not sure what signal it sends to say, hey if you wait a few months, it will come to PlayStation. Like... is there really such a large demographic that NEEDS to have Indiana Jones exclusive on Xbox for the winter season? Why not just go multiplatform on launch? Seems like another weird choice. If it was Starfield, or another hugely anticipated game like Perfect Dark or Fable, then I could get it. Just seems... odd.

I hear you and agree with most of your points. Inflation and other factors surely have and will continue to drive change in the industry. There is no way to avoid it when development time increases on AAA games and cost per dev also goes up to compensate for increased cost of living. I don’t necessarily see PC in the same light because it’s an open market and not an apples to apples comparison to closed, console markets. It doesn’t have a brand associated to it and doesn’t signify quality like a Sony or Nintendo first party would. Steam (Valve) on PC does but again, it’s not 1:1. Though, I do expect that to slowly change. Yes, it’s true that both Sony and Microsoft have expanded to PC and I expect that to continue. There really isn’t an incentive not to, since it’s open and a large market. To iterate on my point (double edged sword), I disagree that Microsoft’s strategy is only better for consumers. Microsoft for the entire 9th (?) current gen, has been pushing in this direction, prioritizing quantity, and it has impacted quality. Example #1: Cross platform requirements for flagship titles. Halo Infinite, a game that comprised on pillars of Halo (single player co-op split screen) to service as many consoles and gamers as possible. That was the bread and butter that got everyone hyped for a Halo launch. Buy the game, blast through it in one night with friends, brag you beat it on legendary, then move to multiplayer. They deprioritized that, focused on multiplayer, and sold the a compromised campaign separately. Example #2: Imposing games must have feature parity between Series S | X. This impacted the launch of Baldur’s Gate III on Series consoles, missing a critical release window. Forcing Microsoft to reverse their own policy. There are surely other titles that also got impacted but only BG3 cones to mind. Knowing how big BG3 was going to be, and the writing was on the wall, with that game in early access for years, it’s just one more mistake that could have been avoided. Edit: Black Myth Wokong is another example. Not on Xbox (yet). Example #3: Hands-off approach. Redfall, Forza. First party games with a reputation of poor quality (performance, features, value). Microsoft is very focused on being an VC, financing, or sponsoring (business) but I think their role as a first party should go beyond that. If Nintendo and Sony can do it, why not Microsoft (Xbox). The brand recognition and respect of the others is leagues ahead of Xbox. Will gamers get access to more games? Yes! Is that benefit? I don’t think it’s a clear win. We have a surplus of games already and I don’t believe Microsoft’s pursuit of more games on more platforms goes without fault. If they can get more high quality games out to more gamers, I am happy and it’s a win-win. Let’s hope they’ve learned from all their missteps but colour me skeptical.

I think it's a double edge sword. There have been a lot of benefits (high quality games) when the big 3 push their key studios to develop flagship titles and software to help build their brand. PlayStation -> God of War, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Infamous etc. Microsoft -> Halo, Gears, Forza, Fable etc. Nintendo -> Mario, Zelda, Smash, Metroid etc. Console sales were never strictly about profit and I suspect they've mostly been subsidized throughout the years. They're just the means to deliver the software. Have a killer app, acquire a customer, get them into your ecosystem (brand) and the profit comes from all the margins of game sales, software distribution / platform fees, online services, and accessories etc. Microsoft has nice plans and I think its great they're putting more games on more systems. I just would hate to see that because of this Wal-mart / Amazon approach (smaller margins, easily accessible, higher # of sales) that we continue to lose the quality. Somehow Nintendo and Sony have still been delivering excellent games but Microsoft... not so much. Sony sales still pacing very well, PS4 or greater console sales and majority user base on multiplatform games like COD, MADDEN, FIFA etc. because the PS has at least some USP in the console market. Sony exclusives. Nintendo dominating in their own market, with over 70 unique games selling at least 1m copies... For a PC software company, I'm still baffled how they lost the PC market to Steam ~20 years ago and aren't trying to make ground their. It's absolutely wild. Even Epic has done a better job and that's saying a lot. If they join the hybrid market (Steam Deck / ROG Ally), they need to still convince people not to use Steam. The hardware won't be profitable and Steam /Steam Deck has the software to make the experience enjoyable (Steam OS / Proton layer). Just my 2 cents.

The game doesn’t speak to me because of the visuals. It looks great but what has me intrigued is the gameplay. It does sound fun and a good spin on the souls formula. Linear and lots of boss fights for shorter bursts of gameplay. I’ve only used the benchmark tool but can attest to Hardware Unboxed performance with a 7900 XTX (~14 fps avg 4K max, RT). All I can say is that RT doesn’t appear to add a whole lot, at least in the bench. It’s not as impactful when compared to games like Control, Alan Wake, CP2077, or Metro Exodus from a quick 3mn preview. RT disabled, frame rates dramatically improve. I didn’t watch the optimized settings video but I suspect Hardware Unboxed will recommend disabling RT and include mix of High / Cinematic settings to squeeze out as much quality, whilst prioritizing performance as much as possible. I don’t recall my results without RT but I believe I averaged 119 FPS (?) at 1440p / Cinematic, but the bench defaults to 75% scaling and frame gen so I can’t concretely say what rendering resolution I was using. Not at least without attempting math and it’s too late in the evening for that XD I’ve shared in my other thread that this game already hit peak ~2.2m concurrent players, so it’s likely going to stand as one of the best selling PC games of the year. And if my non RT results line up on lower end hardware, I suspect most people will be able to leverage UE5 features at good performance. Whether AMD or Nvidia. If I didn’t have a big backlog and had more time, Id consider jumping in sooner. Maybe in a couple years I’ll jump in TBH. I will check out the Digital Foundry deep dive and recommend others to do the same if they’re considering picking it up.

Black Myth: Wukong (BMW) has now taken the #1 spot on Steam with highest peak concurrent player count for a single player game. ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ Blows Past Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077 Steam Records WWW.FORBES.COM At the time of this writing, Black Myth: Wukong has already become the fourth most concurrently played game in Steam history.

Quick Update: Final Fantasy XVI PC release date confirmed! September 17th. Coming to Steam and Epic. $50 USD; $70 USD for complete edition (all DLC). Pre-purchase FINAL FANTASY XVI on Steam STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM An epic dark fantasy where fates are decided by mighty Eikons and the Dominants who wield them. This is the tale of Clive Rosfield, a tragic warrior who swears revenge on the Dark Eikon Ifrit, a mysterious...

2024-08-18 - Pre-Fall Update Hello! I've gone through the sheet and updated all titles since my last post (June 26). See below extract. A few titles also got pushed out / delayed. Notable delays include: Frostpunk 2 -> September 20th (originally July 25th) Stalker 2 -> November 20th (originally Sept 5th)

Pretty much good to go! Just finished cloning some drives (HDDs to NVME). Thanks all for the help Edit: Welp, 5mns later, I discover the PSU has a decent level of coil whine. When GPU draw is 150w or less, its tolerable or nearly unnoticeable. Putting it through a benchmark... yeesh. Not screeching but definitely annoying. Hope the RMA goes smooth...

Thanks for sharing the review link. I forgot today was the day; I haven't watched it yet. RE: Image shared above, does that data somehow factor out the platform upgrade? AM5, and Zen 4, also brought DDR5. I still agree with the overall sentiment of Zen 5. Performance uplift / efficiency gains don't align with a generation change, let alone a gen change AND a node change. Maybe my mind is still stuck in Tick / Tock but I expected 15% across the board. GN released a video recently, deep diving into the efficiency, or lack thereof, of Zen 5. Their results reinforced their recommendation to avoid Zen 5, even if you're coming up from a few gens back. Zen 4 is much better value and just as efficient / performant at stock power levels. Edit: Link added

Black Myth: Wukong Benchmark Tool on Steam STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM The "Black Myth: Wukong Benchmark Tool" is a PC benchmark application specifically developed for "Black Myth: Wukong". It evaluates your hardware performance and system compatibility... https://videocardz.com/newz/black-myth-wukong-benchmark-tool-is-now-available-for-free-supports-dlss-fsr-and-xess

Another small update: Old Xigmatek definitely won’t fit with its included mount, too short to modify. It’s AM2 / AM3 style. I ordered this Thermalright low profile cooler and I’ll slap one of my Noctua NF-A12x25 fans on it. https://www.amazon.ca/Thermalright-AXP120-X67-Profile-Cooler-TL-C12015B-S/dp/B0BQ6M7R6W

I started to test fit the components. GPU is too heavy to have the bench stand up vertically without toppling forward. See how it goes with an air cooler but likely won’t stand up. I mounted the TechN block just to temporarily cover the CPUz

Intel details fixes for crashing 13th- and 14th-gen CPUs as BIOS updates roll out ARSTECHNICA.COM This microcode fix can't be rolled out in a regular software update.

Will do! It's definitely easy to haul this bench around with the cable management / handle at the top. My only concern will be the GPU placement but considering I have a reference 7900 XTX (2 slot), it shouldn't be an issue.