Graphics, graphics, graphics! If it wasn't for the humble graphics card and the pursuit of improved gaming visuals, we probably would be playing board games. Instead, since the concept and initial applications of a graphical interface and "moving pictures" in electronic games began, the consumers demanded more, and in general the engineers in the respective hardware and software companies have tried to deliver. Fast forward to 2019 and finally in consumer game titles and graphics hardware, here is a mainstream attempt at Ray Tracing, a long standing visual effects promise that's just about to come true.
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Tag: FPS
25 Posts
It's the end of an era..... or is it? Well, yes it is, the dawn of the new Nvidia RTX GPU bringing ray tracing to the masses, it has to be seen as a milestone in the computing and GPU world. Just like the features we take for granted, such as transform and light technology, the RTX technology signifies the start of a new generation of features and we should be excited.
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Intel's Coffee Lake was released not even a year ago and it already feels like the standard enthusiasts Intel motherboard, unless you stuck to your Z270 you only just bought! With no backwards compatibility with Skylake or Kaby Lake CPUs, Intel forced you to upgrade to the Z370 if you wanted a piece of the new 8700K for example. You can count on PC enthusiasts to flame about this, and also find a way to actually make the new CPU's work on Z270 motherboards, it's all been a bit cynical.
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The ASRock Z270 Pro4 motherboard is a familiar site. ASRock is a familiar brand and since the birth of the ASRock company, it has secured a healthy and immediately identifiable place in the component market. With the recent launch of mainstream graphics cards, it's also clear that ASRock is looking for more. The Intel Z270 is getting on a bit now, and though it wasn't apparent at the time of launch, it has become a small part of Intel's chipset masterplan, with the release of the 3xx and other chipset models.
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Our last Ballistix memory review was the Ballistix Sport LT 16GB Red DDR4 2666Mhz Memory Kit, which was good and represents the entry speeds for performance or enthusiast level DDR4. If you want a little more speed and capability, you can have a look at some Ballistix memory at the other end of the performance spectrum, the Ballistix Elite 3466MHz DDR4 Memory Kit. 3466 MHz memory speed is amazing, but it’s becoming common amongst high end memory. 3466Mhz is a full third faster than the Ballistix Sport LT 16GB Red DDR4 2666Mhz, which is enough to get anyone’s attention.
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We’ve posted some video of the new Battlefield 1 Night Map Prise De Tahure in 1080p using the trusty Nvidia GTX970. FPS is in the top right corner and the game settings are “Ultra”. This is using Nvidia Driver Version 384.76, with...
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We have had a lot of Ballistix’s DDR4 memory in the Hardwareslave offices to review over the years, and we get good performance, speeds, and compatibility. These memory modules have been black, grey or silver, but now we have some nice shiny red DIMMs to test. Fair enough, a red memory heatsink will not make the memory any faster, but with one of the most common system colours available from Ballistix, you know they should have colour to match most systems.
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HyperX the enthusiast/gaming branch of Kingston have released the HyperX Alloy FPS Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. This is a full-sized keyboard designed for portability and game play. The HyperX Alloy FPS uses Cherry MX Blue keys and has 100-percent Anti-Ghosting and...
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We wrote some time ago when we first started to test DDR4 memory that it wouldn’t be long before DDR4 memory speeds would have a 1:1 speed ratio with the CPU. Well, it didn’t take long at all and we have seen these speeds for the last 12 months at least. It may be a throwback to the days of the FSB, but it was always a goal to have 1:1 CPU/memory speeds, however unachievable.
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Today we review the Avexir Raiden Series Green Tesla 2666MHz DDR4 Memory 16GB Kit. There are a lot of DDR4 kits on the market and they vary greatly in speeds, capacity, and design. If you want something a little visually different, Avexir have their Raiden Series using world exclusive patented technology of plasma tubes to mimic lightening effect. Our samples for review today are two Green Tesla 2666MHz 8Gb modules, totalling 16Gb in Dual Channel configuration. They’re not just nice to look at, Avexir state their high-quality memory modules pass 16 handpicked AIST (Avexir Ic Sorting Technology) processes by using 10 layers performance optimized design printed circuit board and industrial grade resistors and capacitors.
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The Alloy FPS Mechanical Gaming Keyboard by HyperX uses the tactile (and clicky) Cherry MX Blue switches which require 50g actuation force, have a durability of up to 50 million keystrokes and feature “self-cleaning” golden contacts. For good or bad...
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We have a nice kit of DDR4 memory for review today, and it’s a 32Gb kit to boot, but first, the introduction! When Hardwareslave design and build systems there’s only one mantra, bandwidth. There is literally no point in having an Intel i3 CPU, an old HDD and an SLi set up, it’ll only bottleneck and cause frustration. Likewise, there’s no point in an Intel i7 CPU if you only give it 8Gb of DDR3 for example. These are all extremes, but the point is basically there, you need to provide each component the means to support the IO traffic throughout the entire system. That includes cooling, airflow, IRQ’s, Power Supply Units and even your monitor. It needs to be a balance and have an equal or greater amount of bandwidth than required.
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Cast your mind back to the last couple of major AMD GPU releases, the Fiji range, and branded as the Fury range. Other than the interesting cooling setups and the fantastic glimpse into the future with HBM memory, the range had a couple of downfalls. For us, the lack of HDMI 2.0 forcing non DisplayPort users to 30Hz at UHD resolutions was a big issue. Also, other launch issues such as the failing cooler pump on the Fury X, which affected us as well, and a lock down on the reference boards with AMD basically manufacturing all the boards for the brand partners, at least for the Nano and Fury X. All of these just seemed to take the edge off the Fiji range.
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With all the fanfare around the AMD Radeon RX 480 release and the driver and power issues, we have put our review on the back burner in anticipation of the new drivers which resolve these issues. They have arrived so we’ll get that posted as soon as possible, but in the meantime we have something a little different, the Sapphire ITX Compact Radeon R9 380 graphics card.
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We have had DDR4 in the office for well over 12 months, but the first set we ever got our hands on was the Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2666Mhz 16Gb kit, and we have been bashing it into a lot of test systems ever since, so let’s see how Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 memory performs with this quick review.
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