Author: Donster

intel-12th-gen-core-alder-lake-sThe embargo on independent reviews of the Alder Lake-S desktop series has officially lifted.  Now available from retailers, the six unlocked desktop processors are the first based on Intel’s performance hybrid architecture featuring a combination of Performance-cores (P-cores), the highest performing CPU core Intel has built, and Efficient-cores (E-cores), designed for scalable multi-threaded workload performance. We have gathered a number of reviews on the new 12th Gen processors, and they are featured via the links below.

Intel Core i9-12900K and Core i5-12600K

Intel Core i7-12700K

 

Hardware Processors | Donster | |

amd-radeon-software-adrenalin-2020Source: TechPowerUp!

AMD has put out the first Radeon Software release for the month of November 2021, with the Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.11.1 beta. These drivers add optimization for “Call of Duty: Vanguard,” and “Forza Horizon 5.” For the latter, the drivers provide a massive 23% performance gain at 4K with “extreme” settings over the previous driver, as tested on a machine with an RX 6800 XT graphics card. A couple of issues have been fixed. Samsung Odyssey G9 C49G95T monitors were showing up display corruption with their resolution set at 5120 x 1440 @ 240 Hz, which has been fixed. Certain visual artifacts in the menu screen of “Call of Duty: Warzone,” have been fixed.

The Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.11.1 drivers are available online at the AMD driver download page.

Hardware Video Cards | Donster | |
Hardware | Donster | |

call-of-duty-vanguardSource: Blue’s News

Friday is D-Day for Call of Duty: Vanguard, as that’s when the World War II first-person shooter is set to invade PCs and consoles worldwide. The World Premiere Video Link says the video premiere will go live at 9:00 pm EDT on Wednesday. Those who’ve preordered the Windows edition can begin preloading tomorrow at 1:00 pm EDT to be ready to play when the switch gets flipped. Publisher Activision and developer Sledgehammer offer a new trailer showing off PC specific enhancements. There’s also a new article on the Call of Duty Blog on the subject. This includes presumably final PC specs formatted, well, oddly:

Video Card

  • Minimum: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon RX 470
  • Recommended: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580
  • Competitive: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070/RTX 3060 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5700XT
  • Ultra 4K: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

Video Memory

  • Minimum: 2 GB
  • Recommended: 4 GB
  • Competitive: 8 GB
  • Ultra 4K: 10 GB

battlefield-2042Source: Blue’s News

A new trailer from NVIDIA shows off some of the enhancements owners of GeForce RTX video cards will see in Battlefield 2042 when the military shooter is released later this month. The clip shows off support for RTX ray tracing, DLSS, and Reflex. Here’s an explanation:

PC gamers will get a Battlefield 2042 experience like no other, because a PC allows you to enjoy higher detail levels, uncapped frame rates, and gameplay enhanced by variable refresh rate G-SYNC monitors, TVs and displays.

Graphics on a PC are next-level with ray-traced ambient occlusion (available only on PC), and GeForce RTX-based PCs have dedicated RT cores to deliver excellent ray tracing performance. With NVIDIA DLSS, performance is boosted without sacrificing image quality. NVIDIA Reflex optimizes system latency to assure shot accuracy for maximum competitiveness.

Hardware | Donster | |

The first Israeli aircraft and dozens of other vehicles have also been introduced in the ‘Ground Breaking’ major update

Gaijin Entertainment announces the release of the ‘Ground Breaking’ major Content Update for the military online action game War Thunder. Terramorphing technology makes the ground battles even more realistic and offers players more tactical options. Aviation fans get the chance to try the first two aircraft from Israel, the next playable nation to be added to War Thunder. The update also brings dozens of other military vehicles and three new maps.

The terramorphing feature allows players to change the ground’s surface in real time and create cover or obstacles. Ground vehicles with self-entrenching equipment installed (i.e. the Soviet BMP-3 or the British Chieftain with dozer blade) are now capable of quickly building tank scrapes everywhere not surrounded by buildings, rocks, boulders, ice or paved roads. Air bombs weighing approximately 50kg or above, heavy rocket and missile explosions now form a crater of which diameter and depth depends on the power of the blast.

Israel, one of the leading producers and operators of military vehicles, will become the next playable nation in War Thunder. The Closed Beta Test of Israeli Air Force will start in the next major content update, but two packs with premium aircraft are available now for purchase in War Thunder. Their owners will be the first to get access to CBT. One of the packs contains a Spitfire LF Mk IXe in the livery of the personal aircraft of Ezer Weizman, a RAF veteran pilot, who later became the president of Israel! An alternative pack is available with the A-4E Skyhawk, a late Israeli modification of one of the best strike aircrafts in the game.

There are even more new toys to play with, including the light Ystervark, South African mobile anti-air unit, Cold War era destroyer USS ​​Mitscher and three versions of fast and deadly German Wiesel armored vehicles. The Wiesel 1A4 is a basic variant with a 20mm Rheinmetall 202/20 cannon. The Wiesel 1A2 is equipped with a launcher for the TOW-2 ATGM, tandem warhead TOW-2A and TOW-2B, able to hit tanks from above. Finally, Ozelot is a version with Stinger SAM on board.

The Aral Sea map puts ground and air vehicles fighting at the shores of a dried out sea, where a port has been abandoned a long time ago with cargo terminals, fish processing plants, bulk carriers and fishing vessels. Bourbon Island is a location for air battles inspired by Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. A characteristic feature of this large and flat shaped area is the gigantic craters of volcanic origin with a wide flat bottom – calderas. Finally, the Vyborg Bay location for War Thunder coastal vessels has been created using the magnificent northern nature of the Vyborg Bay near Medyanskaya Bay. Players fight inside a dense cluster of rocky islands covered with forest – so called skerries.

The full list of changes in the update is available HERE.

Visit the official War Thunder Website for more game information.

MMORPGs War Thunder | Donster | |

attack-at-dawn-north-africaPanzer Division Games has released a new gameplay video for Attack at Dawn: North Africa. In this video, the designer shows a detailed overview of a game, with a new Advanced AI engine, streamlined User Interface and more.

You can watch the gameplay video HERE.

Map Series
The gameplay video is accompanied by the map series, exploring the battles and operations that took place during the WW2 North African Campaign. The scenario shown in this gameplay video is Operation Brevity, which goal was to recapture the strategically important Halfaya Pass and to clear the frontier area of the German-Italian forces.

For full set of maps and article describing the battle – you can check out the game’s website.

newhardware-iconCheck 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.

Hardware | Donster | |

decisive-campaigns-ardennes-offensiveMatrix Games has announced that Decisive Campaigns: Ardennes Offensive, the fourth wargame in the Decisive Campaigns series, will be released on November 18th.

While we perfect the last details of the game, we want to share with you a couple of technical videos which we hope will help you have the best gaming experience with Decisive Campaigns’ latest DLC.

Decisive Campaigns: Ardennes Offensive is a real, classic hex-and-counter wargame at its core, where the main unit of maneuver is the battalion. The Ardennes setting and the scale both have huge implications when it comes to rules, so make sure to check out this first video to know more about it.