Month: May 2017

By Thomas Soderstrom @ Tom’s Hardware

The liquid CPU cooling market has typically been divided into low-cost/closed-loop and high-priced/open-loop configurations, but manufacturers have attempted to bring forward products that were supposed to combine the best of both worlds over the past few years. Buyers of factory-filled open loops have been able get all the convenience of a leak-free factory assembly plus the option to open it later to add components. Yet there was never a best-of-both-worlds compromise on price, because those factory-filled loops deployed premium-priced components.

Fractal Design presents potential solutions in its 2x 120mm Celsius S24 and 3x 120mm Celsius S36 kits. We got our hands on the two-fan version in time for a launch-day review.

Read The Review Here

Source: TechPowerUp!

NVIDIA has released an update to its GeForce Experience application that is sure to be loved by streamers and gamers alike who previously found ShadowPlay support on Vulkan and OpenGL games to be lacking. Version 3.6 of the program adds official support to games that make use of these renderers. Screenshot, video, and broadcast functions that Shadowplay enables are enhanced by the addition of support for these APIs, which means you can now use ShadowPlay with a press of a hotkey to record and stream your Doom and Minecraft gameplay at 4K 60fps.

Other improvements include a unified Broadcast screen and a newly revamped Video and Screenshot upload interface: YouTube and Twitch streamers can now control broadcast options from a unified screen, and log in to all services from there as well. NVIDIA has also worked some improvements to its GeForce Experience Gallery, by adding an upload history screen that displays all prior uploads and locations. You now also have the option of instantly jumping to the file location of a screenshot or video in Windows Explorer through a new button.

You can download the new GeForce Experience Version 3.6 from the official GeForce Experience webpage.

Check out these latest hardware announcements for today from around the web. Also included are some hardware news bits, and on some days, a few rumors tossed in for good measure. Click on the links below to read the official press release, visit the products web page, or to an independent news source.

• Corsair Launches Dominator Platinum Special Edition Torque DDR4 Memory
• Lian Li Announces ROG-Certified PC-O11WGX Now with Accessory Bundle and PCIe Riser
• Fractal Design Announces the Celsius Series AIO Liquid CPU Coolers – VIDEO
• AMD Confirms Press Conference for Computex 2017 – Vega is (Almost) Here
• EVGA Gives Away Unigine Superposition Advanced to ELITE Members
• MSI Teases Upcoming High-End Motherboard – Possibly X299 Chipset Based
• BYKSKI Offers Waterblock for Sapphire RX580 NITRO+
• ASUS Intros the VG275Q 27-inch Gaming Monitor
• Cooler Master Introduces the MasterBox Lite 5 Chassis
• MSI and SteelSeries Present the World’s First Motherboard with PrismSync and GameSense Integration
• Deepcool Launches Captain EX RGB CPU Coolers with LED Lighting
• Gigabyte Teases AORUS M.2 SSD Thermal Guard

The awesome firepower of an AC-47’s miniguns was on full display when an Australian journalist bummed a ride with a “Spooky” crew.

By Steve Birdsall @ Historynet.com

In 1967 a blackened, burned-out wreck lay near the minefield on the perimeter at Bien Hoa Air Base in South Vietnam. It was just one of hundreds of American aircraft lost to enemy action, but there was something special about this one.

The airplane was a “Spooky,” an AC-47 gunship. It couldn’t seem to hold a coat of paint, so they called it The Leper, but it had logged one of the best in-commission records of any aircraft in the U.S. Seventh Air Force. The Leper had started out as a Douglas C-47 transport, serial no. 43-48356, that left the United States for Britain on August 5, 1944, to serve in another air war long ago. Between battles it had racked up time as a VC-47 with Logistics Command and Air Defense Command. In September 1965, Tactical Air Command sent the transport to Eglin Field in Florida to be modified as a side-firing gunship.

Read on…

Source: Blue’s News

The Battlefield website has details on a new map called Prise de Tahure coming to Battlefield 1 as part of what they’re calling the “Summer of Battlefield,” a somewhat incongruous twist on the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love. They recap all the new content coming to the game, and offer a bunch of screenshots from the newly announced map. Here is some of what they have to say about it:

We’re glad to announce that a new map called “Prise de Tahure” will be released shortly for testing on the CTE (Community Test Environment). Set in the autumn after the Nivelle Offensive, Prise de Tahure sees French troops desperately holding on to re-captured heights in the Butte-de-Tahure region. The frontline trench networks cut right through several villages facing obliteration from the constant skirmishing between German stormtroopers and French raiders. This is a war of attrition. Adaptability and tactics are the means to wear your adversary down.

Stay tuned for more details and join the CTE to try the content early and give your feedback.

The “Release Candidate” (ie. public beta) phase of the v1.12 update (the companion to the upcoming “Chains Of War” DLC pack) is wrapping up on the MatrixGames forum.

The feedback on the new additions like sonar masking, the new 2x time compression step and much improved 4K/UHD support has been very positive. We have already covered two of the new major features in the DLC, communications disruption and aircraft damage.

Today we are looking at some of the new weapon systems introduced in v1.12.

Chains of War is a new DLC release for Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations, the premier game of air & naval combat and the Pentagon’s hottest new simulation tool.

About Chains of War:

20 minutes into the future, a spark erupts in the Korean peninsula that will lead to a theater wide conflagration embroiling the entire Western Pacific and drag all major powers into it. With nothing less at stake than control over the world’s busiest trade routes and containment of the emergent superpower, the Pacific becomes the world’s stage – and the players are getting down to brass tacks, for this is the game that no side can afford to lose.

The geopolitical nightmares of the new century: The creators of the award-winning “Northern Inferno” shift their gaze from the Atlantic to the Pacific and bring into focus the challenges of the early 21st century: The ever-present tensions between North and South Korea reach a boiling point, while China and the US vie for control of the strategic choke points and bases through which the world’s commerce functions. Will the US maintain its strategic pre-eminence in the most important world theater or will China complete its ascend to superpower status?

The new gears of war: Think the new war in the Pacific will be just like the 1940s but with better bullets? Think again! All-new systems and technologies radically change the face of modern high-level conflict. Network and cyber attacks pull apart carefully constructed communications networks, leaving forces in the field blind and separated from their consorts. Electromagnetic pulses delivered from high-altitude nuclear detonations or tactical EMP weapons fry vulnerable electronics, disarming powerful units in a split-second. Massive anti-ship ballistic missiles threaten to turn aircraft carriers into sinking, burning hulks. Railguns deliver accurate, punishing fire at long ranges, challenging the post-WW2 reign of guided missiles. Anti-satellite weapons disrupt the critical communications & intelligence nodes orbiting high in the stars. High-energy lasers burn their targets with intense beams invisible to the naked eye. Are you ready for the intricacies of 21st century war?

By Cecille De Jesus @ Futurism.com

Retired United States Air Force Colonel Gene Lee recently went up against ALPHA, an artificial intelligence developed by a University of Cincinnati doctoral graduate. The contest? A high-fidelity air combat simulator.

And the Colonel lost.

In fact, all the other AI’s that the Air Force Research Lab had in their possession also lost to ALPHA…and so did all of the other human experts who tried their skills against ALPHA’s superior algorithms.

And did we mention ALPHA achieves superiority while running on a $35 Raspberry Pi?

Read on…

Source: TechPowerUp!

Not to let itself be outshined by arch-rival NVIDIA, AMD has released a new driver suite that introduces support for the impending release of Arkane Studios’ Prey. A totally new IP in an era of sequels and re-releases, which has been paired – even if only so slightly – with AMD’s own Vega teaser campaign, Prey promises to offer a mix of Bioshock and System Shock, with Arkane’s own peculiar blend of game mechanics and art direction. Go on ahead fighting the invasion – I’ll be joining you shortly.

These drivers promise an up to 4.7% performance improvement measured on Radeon RX 580 8GB graphics when compared to Radeon Software Crimson ReLive edition 17.4.4, as well as multi GPU profile support. As always, you can grab these right here on your favorite hardware site on the universe.

You can download the Radeon Software Crimson ReLive 17.5.1 Beta drivers here.

Developer Cats Who Play has announced that it is working on the first big expansion to “Syrian Warfare“, titled “Syrian Warfare: Return to Palmyra“.

A new single-player campaign, as you might infer from the title, will be focused on the dramatic events between December 2016 and March 2017, when the ancient city was once again captured by the terrorists, and an imminent threat loomed – the enemy could now quickly advance into territories controlled by the government, with access to large cities. However, thanks to the tenacity of the Syrian army and its allies, including the Russian air forces, the opponent’s advance was halted and then turned back.

The plot will focus around a detachment of the elite Syrian unit Tiger Forces. Despite being caught flat-footed by Daesh’s sudden assault, they defended their positions on Palmyra’s outskirts to the end, got surrounded and fought their way to the T4 air base, where they had a big role in the defense of the air base and the following retaking of Palmyra.

The player will have control over new squad types (including, as mentioned, Tiger Forces squads); Lebanese volunteers; and the forces of the 5th Legion, freshly formed with the help of Russia. The game’s arsenal will be expanded with new weapons: mounted grenade launchers, recoilless guns (both infantry variants and mounted on technicals), high-caliber heavy machineguns. The game’s tank park will have new modifications of the T-55 and T-62 tanks in store. The air forces will see the additions of the Russian Ka-52 “Alligator” helicopter, Syrian “Gazelle” light attack/scouting helicopter and remote-controlled drones. The terrorists will also have weapons previously unseen in the game: American Humvees captured from the Iraqi military, anti-tank TOW missiles, heavily-armored VBIEDs, quadcopters.

The game’s mechanics will also be refined, including the dissatisfactory pathfinding algorithm.

The “Syrian Warfare: Return to Palmyra” expansion’s release is planned for the end of summer 2017. It will require the base game “Syrian Warfare” to run.

Find out more on the official Syrian Warfare webpage.

Kalypso Media is excited to reveal that the launch date for Sudden Strike 4 has been set as Friday 11th August 2017 for a worldwide Steam release, as well as retail and the PlayStation® Store in UK and European export territories, and then in North America on Tuesday 15th August for retail and the PlayStation® Store. The release of Sudden Strike 4 sees the legendary RTS series return on Windows PC, Mac, Linux and – for the first time in the series’ history – on console with the launch of the PlayStation®4 version.

To accompany the announcement, Kalypso Media is also proud to share a selection of new screenshots, which perfectly illustrate the detailed, dynamic environments and incredible attention to detail that has been lavished upon the units and gameplay mechanics. For an even more detailed look at the game from a developer’s point of view, Kalypso has also recently released three videos in a new ‘General’s Handbook’ video series on YouTube, in which Sudden Strike 4 Producer Christian Schlütter runs through the basic gameplay principles of the game and discusses how the title has evolved and changed throughout the development process.

Pre-purchase is available now on Steam, which includes a 15% discount, plus a digital soundtrack, digital artbook and the ‘Battle of Kursk’ DLC. Steam customers can download the free Sudden Strike Quiz app on iOS and Android devices in order to unlock further stackable discounts for a total of up to 25% off the pre-purchase of the game.

Watch Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of the ‘General’s Handbook’ video series.

Watch the latest gameplay trailer here.

About Sudden Strike 4
Developed as a fully-fledged series entry and not a remake or reboot, Sudden Strike 4 sends you off on three extensive campaigns set amongst the battlefields of World War II. Commanding the British and American, German or Soviet troops, you will lead over 100 different units into battle, including the German bomber Heinkel He111, the Russian T-34 tank, the British Hawker Typhoon fighter plane and the notorious German Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger. In a first for the Sudden Strike series, you can now choose from one of nine individual commanders, such as George Patton or Bernard Montgomery, who will each allow for different approaches to combat and boast unique abilities.

Prove your tactical expertise in over 20 demanding single player scenarios, the challenge-focused skirmish mode, and the competitive multiplayer mode. A new reward system rewards clever and tactical play, awarding the player with skill points and bonus content, such as historical film footage of the era.