EVIL BABY.

One of Windows 10’s most useful tools, the Your Phone app, is getting some big improvements that will make it even better, as it will soon allow you to change the settings of your phone via Windows 10. Microsoft’s Your Phone app is an useful utility that lets you connect your smartphone with your Windows 10 device, and by doing so it saves you from picking up your Android device repeatedly to check messages, alerts or even to make or receive calls. Thanks to constant updates and improvements, Your Phone app has become an extremely useful tool in Windows 10. And, while some important features are limited to flagship Samsung devices, the app will soon let you control the phones’ settings in real-time. According to ALumia, the next release of Your Phone app will bring a new feature called "Indicator management" that Microsoft has been working on and testing for some time. Once the feature is rolled out to everyone, users will see a set of four new buttons that will let users toggle settings like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Audio player and Do Not Disturb via Windows 10.Getting better Until now, Your Phone users were able to see information like cellular connectivity, Wi-Fi connectivity, as well as access your phones images, see and respond to messages and even answer or decline calls. However, you were not able to change your phones settings via Your Phone. That appears to be changing soon.The new update is a part of the v1.21012.195.0+ update and since it's being rolled out in a phased manner, there's a chance that you might not see this on the Your Phone application right away. In a related piece of news, LG had come up with its own version of Your Phone app to connect and control LG phones using Windows 10 devices. Although this app is still in its beta phase, and we couldn’t get it working when we tried it last, it's a rebranded Dell Mobile Connect application. That said, Your Phone application comes natively installed on all Windows 10 devices and is constantly adding new features. It also allows users to launch and use Android applications installed on your phone within Windows 10. However, as mentioned above, this feature is limited to a handful of Samsung devices. The day this feature is available on phones from other companies, Your Phone app stands to become an irreplaceable application.

We recently reported about Expanscape, a startup developing battlestation laptops featuring up to seven displays and offering their prototypes to interested parties at undisclosed prices. Today we can share some more information about pricing, which tops out at an eye-popping $20,692 (after conversion) for the seven-screen model's base configuration. Expanscape's Aurora laptops with five or seven screens are a work in progress, so every unit is unique to a large degree. The manufacturer says that it is getting closer to finalized pricing for its A7 prototype as it had standardized on specific hardware, but until now, the company hasn't announced official prices of its multi-monitor laptops. Expanscape currently has two types of laptop prototypes in three configurations. The 'basic' Aurora A5 notebook comes with five monitors: four 15.6-inch 4K displays and one 7-inch touchscreen integrated into its palm rest. This system packs an eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 4800U processor paired with 64GB of DDR4 memory, a 2TB PCIe/NVMe SSD, and a 2TB SATA SSD. This entry-level machine currently costs approximately £4,500, or $6,286 USD after conversion. The 'full' Aurora A7 laptops are equipped with seven displays and come in two configurations. One model features four 17.3-inch 4K monitors, two 9.7-inch 1536p monitors, and one 7-inch touchscreen. Another does not have the 7-inch touchscreen but comes with a 17.3-inch touch-enabled LCD in its base to replace the keyboard, which now extends from under the chassis. Expanscape's Aurora A7 notebooks with seven screens are naturally more expensive than their smaller A5 brethren. At present, these machines cost £15,000 ($20,952 USD after conversion) for a standard model, but the pricing goes up with all of the customizations required for the professional built-to-order systems. All Aurora A7 machines come equipped with 128GB of DDR4 memory as well as 8TB of PCIe/NVMe and SATA storage. Notably, the current pricing of Expanscape's Aurora machines is somewhat higher than several months ago because of component shortages and new policies at the UK border. it is noteworthy that while Expanscape's Aurora notebooks are still prototypes, they are rather clumsy and heavy. However, according to the manufacturer, demand for these systems is still fairly significant. Customers who bought the systems reportedly said that they needed them 'yesterday.' What remains to be seen is whether high demand for Expanscape's Aurora A5 and Aurora A7 will enable the company to make them look and feel like commercial products and not just prototypes. Evidently, a more solid build will make these systems considerably more po[CENSORED]r among interested customers.

There’s a new browser-based event in Genshin Impact, and Travelers can share the entire prize of one billion primogems. Here’s our mini-guide to help you with the Wish Upon a Lantern web event. Note: For more information about the game, check out our Genshin Impact guides and features hub. You may also head to our Lantern Rite event guide. Genshin Impact‘s Wish Upon a Lantern event The moment you launch Genshin Impact, open the notifications tab to see a message about the Wish Upon a Lantern web event. If you click on the link, the event’s page will automatically open on your browser. Just log in with your email and password, then select your server and character. The first things you’ll notice are the highlights. These are basically collections of your past exploits in Teyvat, from beating Stormterror and Andrius to climbing Dragonspine and helping out Fischl. The characters are drawn, “chibi-style,” making them ridiculously adorable (just look at that mini-Diluc). Anyway, the event itself, as the name implies, is in keeping with the Lantern Rite theme. You’ll simply need to light the five lanterns that appear on your screen. This is done by clicking on the “release lantern” button (which also nets you some ores or gold that you can pick up from your mailbox). However, to actually release a lantern, you need to have available attempts. You should have one attempt by default, and others can be obtained as you complete some daily tasks. Here are some examples for today: Daily login Retweet the event page Check Genshin Impact‘s Twitter account These “quests” refresh every midnight depending on your chosen server/region. For example, those of us who play in the Asia server use GMT+8 as the corresponding timezone. Since I live in the Philippines (also in the GMT+8 timezone), new quests would appear exactly at midnight. I should mention that clicking the “release lantern” button does let you acquire a particular lantern out of the five that need to be lit. Unfortunately, the lantern you acquire seems to be based on RNG. For instance, I released four today, but I could only light up three since I got a duplicate. In any case, you’ll be able to do these mini-quests on your browser from today, February 19, until February 25 at 11:59 p.m. Once the clock strikes midnight on your chosen server, the Lantern Release period ends. Come February 26, the finalization of the event will occur and those who were able to light all five lanterns will receive a random amount of primogems from the prize pool. Since the prize pool is a whopping one billion primogems, pray to the RNG gods that you strike gold.

Manufacturers in Europe must sell substantial numbers of electrified cars to avoid heavy EU fines, but several industry figures have questioned whether emissions regulations should take into account the environmental impact of a vehicle’s entire lifespan. For 2020, car makers had to hit a CO2 emissions fleet average of 95g/km for cars sold, and by 2025 that target is set to come down to around 81g/km. This will be achieved by the increasing use of electrified powertrains, but some in the industry are increasingly resisting the notion that electrified cars are true low-carbon transport. OPEN GALLERY 3 polestar 2 Legislators are being urged to consider the wider impact of EVs 2 lithium mine Extracting lithium for batteries is harmful to the environment 1 carlos tavares Tavares wants more research 3 polestar 2 2 lithium mine 1 carlos tavares NEWS by Hilton Holloway 4 mins read 18 February 2021 Manufacturers in Europe must sell substantial numbers of electrified cars to avoid heavy EU fines, but several industry figures have questioned whether emissions regulations should take into account the environmental impact of a vehicle’s entire lifespan. For 2020, car makers had to hit a CO2 emissions fleet average of 95g/km for cars sold, and by 2025 that target is set to come down to around 81g/km. This will be achieved by the increasing use of electrified powertrains, but some in the industry are increasingly resisting the notion that electrified cars are true low-carbon transport. Last year, Polestar chose to publish a life-cycle analysis of its new 2, revealing that it could take as much as 45,000 miles of driving before the electric hatchback would leave a smaller energy footprint than a petrol-engined Volvo XC40. This elicited an angry reaction from EV advocates and environmentalists, but that hasn’t deterred some in the industry. For instance, on the day the massive merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the PSA Group to form Stellantis (a giant of nine million annual sales) went public, CEO Carlos Tavares used his moment in the global spotlight to argue against “narrow-minded” regulations forcing car makers to produce EVs.Speaking to the Financial Times, Tavares argued that governments were pushing new technologies before fully understanding their overall environmental impact and said the emissions from battery making – including the pollution from extracting lithium – “handicaps” EVs before they even leave the showroom. In truth, Tavares has a huge job on his hands if he is to succeed in moving the EU towards a new way of assessing a vehicle’s lifetime environmental impact. According to one industry insider who spoke to Autocar, car makers and legislators agreeing on a universal methodology for implementing a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) would be problematic. The source said that many of the ‘inputs’ into a standard LCA would be commercially sensitive and makers might be unhappy to release them. “You would also have to assess the mining and refining process [for the materials used in a vehicle] as well as being able to account for your [component] supply chain,” they added. One serious attempt at creating an LCA system has been made by a team from the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Florence in Italy, detailed in a 2018 paper entitled Life Cycle Assessment in the Automotive Sector: a Comparative Study of Internal Combustion Engine and Electric Car. The environmental factors taken into account for this wide-ranging ‘cradle-to-grave’ study included acidification, ecotoxicity of freshwater, eutrophication of freshwater, human toxicity, land use and photochemical ozone formation, to name a few. The study concluded that battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) contributed far more to human toxicity. They were also judged slightly worse for acidification, resource depletion and particulate emissions across their lifespan.And even though 71% of the energy use of an internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) is in fuelling it, the paper calculated that, in terms of CO2 release (based on the EU’s electricity generation mix), the break-even point for the BEV was still about 27,000 miles. The researchers wrote: “BEVs have the potentiality to substantially reduce the impact on climate change in comparison with ICEVs. This is true only if the electricity consumed by the car is produced from non-fossil energy sources. “On the contrary, the use of fossil energy carriers for electricity production can strongly reduce the environmental benefit of BEVs and even lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.” “Where the BEVs had a bigger impact than the ICEV, the main reason for this is the notable environmental burdens of the manufacturing phase, mainly due to toxicological impacts strictly connected with the extraction of precious metals as well as the production of chemicals for battery production.” They summarised: “In the light of previous considerations, it appears clear that the assessment of BEVs can’t be performed using a single indicator but should be rather based on a more complex evaluation system.” This study seems to back up Tavares’s comments, but there’s another LCA-related issue at hand: particulate emissions from tyres. Emissions Analytics boss Nick Molden told Autocar that his company’s tests show that the tyre particulate emissions are many times greater than the particulates from the exhaust of a modern ICEV.the difference can easily be between 75g/km of particulates from tyres and as low as 1g/km from the exhaust. Every extra 500kg adds 20% to the wear rate of a tyre, so weighty electrified vehicles may show even bigger differences,” he explained. Tyre wear emissions aren’t just big chunks of rubber but also microscopic chemicals derived from crude oil. “Ultra-fine particles from tyres hang in the air and then eventually end up running off into the drains along with the bigger particles. Tyre particulates are one of the biggest sources of plastics in fish,” said Molden. Cheap tyres are even worse for shedding particulates, he added, suggesting that tyre labelling should include wear rates so that consumers can factor in the environmental impact of their purchase. If we combine the issues of BEV manufacturing, resource extraction and the local pollution problems of tyre particulates from heavy electrified cars (especially the plug-in hybrids that makers will increasingly rely on), Tavares might well be right that EU policies for low-impact vehicle manufacturing are indeed heading in the wrong direction. Ultimately, the car of the future might actually be lighter, smaller, more easily recycled – and still fossil-fuelled.

A dispute over a planned law that would force tech giants Facebook and Google to pay for news content in Australia is being keenly watched worldwide. The world-first law aims to address the media's loss of advertising revenue to US tech firms. If passed, the law could have global consequences for tech firms and how we access news online. But the tech firms have pushed back, with Facebook restricting news content in Australia.How did we get here? There have long been concerns about the market dominance of tech firms over media organisations. Google is the dominant search engine in Australia and has been described by the government as a near-essential utility, with little market competition. So, in 2018, an Australian government regulator launched an inquiry into the impact of Google and Facebook on competition in media and advertising. Australia plans to make tech giants pay for news The inquiry by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found an imbalance of power between tech firms and the media. Given this, the regulator recommended introducing a code of conduct that it said would level the playing field. In July last year, the Australian government unveiled a draft law to enforce the code, provoking threats from Facebook and Google to withdraw services in the country. What is the draft news code? The draft calls on tech companies to pay for content, though it does not define what it is worth. The law would enable news companies to negotiate as a bloc with tech firms for content which appears in their news feeds and search results. If negotiations fail, the matter could be arbitrated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Penalties could be up to A$10m (£5m; $7m) per breach, or 10% of the company's local turnover. The government says the code will initially focus on Google and Facebook but could be expanded to other tech companies. Why is Australia pushing this law? The government has argued that tech giants should pay newsrooms a "fair" amount for their journalism. In addition, it has argued that the financial support is needed for Australia's embattled news industry because a strong media is vital to democracy. Media companies, including News Corp Australia, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, have lobbied hard for the government to force tech firms to the negotiating table amid a long-term decline in advertising revenue.Meanwhile, Google's revenues have increased markedly in the same period, amounting to more than $160bn (£117bn) globally in 2019. How has Facebook reacted? Facebook has announced that it will block Australian users from sharing or viewing news. The social media giant said the proposed law "fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers". Facebook said the legislation had left it "facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia". "With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter," it said. Facebook imposed the ban with immediate effect, with users reporting that they were unable to see news articles on the platform. How has Google reacted? Google has threatened to remove its search engine from Australia if the proposed law is passed. But Google has now said it has agreed to pay Mr Murdoch's News Corp for content from news sites across its media empire. News Corp said it would be sharing its stories in exchange for "significant payments". Could Google really leave Australia? As part of the three-year agreement, News Corp said it and Google would collaborate on a subscription platform, share advertising revenue and invest in video journalism on YouTube. Google has also announced deals with several other Australian media companies, including a reported A$30m annual payment to Nine Entertainment. It is not clear what action Google intends to take if the proposed law is passed. Could this set a global precedent? Some Australian politicians and media experts think it could. Australian Senator Rex Patrick has told Google: "It's going to go worldwide. Are you going to pull out of every market, are you?" In contrast to Google and Facebook, Microsoft has thrown its support behind the proposed law. "The code reasonably attempts to address the bargaining power imbalance between digital platforms and Australian news businesses," the software firm said in February. There's also a different - but similar - row happening in Europe. A controversial new EU rule on copyright says that search engines and news aggregators should pay news sites for links. In France, publishers recently agreed a deal with Google on how that should work. But only a handful of such deals have been signed with notable French newspapers - making it a very different thing than the wide-ranging, much stricter Australian plans.

Project management tool Trello has undergone a major redesign in response to recent workplace changes. With COVID-19 leading to substantial shifts in how most people work, the new version of Trello hopes to be better suited to remote working. In addition to aesthetic changes like a new logo and illustrations, Trello will now come with new views to give managers better insights into how projects are progressing. The four new views include Timeline, Table, Dashboard, and Calendar views. The views will enable project leaders to drill down into the progress for day-to-day tasks, as well as gaining enhanced high-level top-down insight. “We are building for an entirely new era of teamwork—where people live in different locations, but work stays connected. This is the beginning of a whole new Trello,” Michael Pryor, head of product at Trello, said. “We’re rolling out new ways to visualize your data on a Trello board: as a dashboard, a timeline, a table, and more. With these new views, you can better visualize the work to be done, who needs to do it, and which tasks are at risk. You’ll gain insight to manage both the project at large and the tasks at hand.” A new view The Timeline view makes it easy for a manager to visualize each team’s pipeline, adjust due dates, and keep track of critical tasks. With Table view, cards from selected boards can be compiled into a single spreadsheet to help larger teams stay abreast of company goals and meeting agendas. With the Dashboard view, key metrics can be easily analyzed to prevent bottlenecks and identify inefficiencies. Calendar view, meanwhile, provides teams with a clear overview of to-dos, checklist items, and due dates. In addition to the new views, the revamped Trello will also come with new card types, including link cards, board cards, and mirror cards, so more data is accessible from Trello and other workplace apps. A new sidebar with better navigation has also just begun its rollout.

If you're looking for the best gaming CPU or the best CPU for workstations, there are only two choices to pick from – AMD and Intel. That fact has spawned an almost religious following for both camps, and the resulting flamewars, that make it tricky to get unbiased advice about the best choice for your next processor. But in many cases, the answer is actually very clear. In fact, for most users, it's a blowout win in AMD's favor, as you can see in our CPU Benchmarks Hierarchy. That's an amazing reversal of fortunes for the chipmaker after it teetered on the edge of bankruptcy a mere four years ago, making its turnaround all the more impressive as it continues to upset the entrenched Intel after it enjoyed a decade of dominance. This article covers the never-ending argument of AMD vs Intel desktop CPUs (we're not covering laptop or server chips) based on what you plan to do with your PC, pricing, performance, driver support, power consumption, and security, giving us a clear view of the state of the competition. We'll also discuss the lithographies and architectures that influence the moving goalposts. Overall, there's a clear winner, but which CPU brand you should buy depends mostly on what kind of features, price, and performance are important to you. You can see how all of these processors stack up in our CPU Benchmarks Hierarchy, but the landscape has certainly changed in the wake of AMD's Ryzen 5000 launch. AMD's newest processors, the Ryzen 9 5950X and Ryzen 9 5900X, not to mention the Ryzen 5 5600X, have upset the entire mainstream desktop lineup. We've added in the new models and some commentary based on what we know about Zen 3 so far, but you can head to our expansive in-depth coverage of the Ryzen 5000 series, including pricing, benchmarks, and availability, for more info. Suffice it to say, the Ryzen 5000 series are the highest-performing chips on the market and beat Intel in every metric that matters, including gaming, application performance, power consumption, and thermals. That could change soon, though. Intel revealed its Rocket Lake processors at CES 2021, claiming they retake the gaming performance crown and will come to market this quarter. Intel touts Rocket Lake's 19% IPC improvement and high clock speeds that stretch up to 5.3 GHz. Intel also has its Alder Lake chips coming to market later this year, which will completely redefine x86 desktop PC chips with a new hybrid architecture. We'll be sure to update once the chips hit our labs. Unfortunately, sweeping shortages have kept the Ryzen 5000 chips out of the hands of enthusiasts, but the supply situation does appear to be slowly improving. Of course, you could get lucky and score a Ryzen 5000 chip during the rare moments of availability, but if you must purchase a chip today, many of the other chips outlined in the article below will likely be your only option until AMD can begin to satisfy the demand for its chips. AMD vs Intel CPU Pricing and Value Pricing is the most important consideration for almost everyone, and AMD is generally hard to beat in the value department, though we certainly can't say that for its XT series processors. The company's Ryzen 5000 series processors mark an across-the-board $50 price hike, but the faster chips earn their higher price tags. The company offers a plethora of advantages, like full overclockability on most models, not to mention complimentary software that includes the innovative Precision Boost Overdrive auto-overclocking feature. You also benefit from the broad compatibility of motherboards with the AM4 CPU socket that supports both forward and backward compatibility, ensuring that not only do you get the most bang for your processor buck, but also your motherboard investment (there are caveats with the 5000 series). AMD also allows overclocking on all but its A-Series motherboards (see our article on how to overclock AMD Ryzen), which is another boon for users. And, in this battle of AMD vs Intel CPUs, we haven't even discussed the actual silicon yet. AMD's modern processors tend to offer either more cores or threads and faster PCIe 4.0 connectivity at every single price point, which we'll cover below. The arrival of Intel's Comet Lake-S models has found the company adding more cores, threads, and features to its mainstream lineup, but without increased gen-on-gen pricing. That equates to a substantial reduction in price-per-core and price-per-thread metrics, but AMD has reduced pricing in response to keep Intel on its toes. As such, AMD still holds the price-per-thread advantage in many price ranges, and generally offers more performance in several types of workloads (which we'll cover below). Intel includes bundled coolers with its non-overclocking SKUs (you have to pay more to overclock), but they are flimsy and 'good enough,' at best. We've even seen cases where Intel's stock coolers don't provide full performance at stock settings. Intel also doesn't throw in a cooler at all for its pricey overclockable K-series SKUs (see our article on how to overclock an Intel CPU). Be sure to budget in a cooler (and a beefy one at that) if you plan on overclocking an Intel processor. Meanwhile, most of AMD's bundled coolers are suitable for at least moderate overclocking. Still, those only came as a standard add-in with the previous-gen Ryzen 3000 series, most of which haven't been supplanted with new Ryzen 5000 equivalents yet. Only one of the first four AMD Ryzen 5000 processors, the Ryzen 5 5600X, comes with a bundled cooler. Intel did bulk up its bundled coolers for several Comet Lake-S models, but the aesthetic and slight thermal improvements aren't enough to match AMD's competent coolers that come with its Ryzen 3000 series, and they aren't available on all models. Intel not only charges a premium for its overclockable K-Series chips, but you'll also need to shell out for a pricey Z-Series motherboard for the privilege of overclocking your processor—Intel doesn't allow overclocking on B- or H-series motherboards. Intel also has a long history of rapid socket transitions, meaning the odds of dropping a new chip into your existing motherboard, or taking the older processor over to a newer board, aren't as high. Plan for limited forward and backward compatibility on the Intel side. You'll also miss out on PCIe 4.0 connectivity—Intel remains mired on the PCIe 3.0 bus that offers half the transfer speed of AMD's PCIe 4.0 connection. Advertisement While AMD offers the most bang for your hard-earned dollar, as with any product, you can expect to pay a premium for the utmost performance, particularly the Ryzen 9 5950X. AMD's Ryzen 5000 series is also the end of the line for the tried-and-true AM4 socket, so you shouldn't expect those chips to work in future AMD platforms. AMD's new Ryzen 5000 processors also come without bundled coolers for the Ryzen 9 and 7 families, but AMD says the increased performance offsets the lack of coolers and higher pricing. Our reviews back up that assertion - the Ryzen 5000 chips still offer a compelling blend of pricing and performance, provided you can find them at retail near their recommended pricing. Win: AMD. When you're comparing Intel vs AMD CPUs, Team Red has a compelling value story across the full breadth of its product stack, especially when we take performance-per-dollar into account. However, if you're looking for integrated graphics paired with a processor with more than four cores, Intel is currently your only choice for chips at retail, though AMD does have its eight-core Renoir chips now shipping to OEMs and SIs for pre-built systems. Not that we'd recommend integrated graphics for most users, particularly if you're interested in gaming—check out our recent comparison of integrated graphics on AMD and Intel processors for more detail. AMD vs Intel CPU Gaming Performance In the AMD vs Intel CPU battle, AMD holds the lead in the critical price bands, particularly right in the middle and high-end of its stack, but our benchmarks show the Intel's gaming performance is no slouch, either. Below we have a wide selection of collective gaming performance measurements for the existing chips in the different price bands. Our first two slides encapsulate performance with the new Comet Lake-S and Ryzen 5000 processors included, while the remainder of the test results gives historical context to other previous-gen processors. As you can see, AMD has completely redefined the gaming landscape with its Zen 3-powered Ryzen 5000 processors, which now hold the advantage in both 1080p and 1440p gaming. The Ryzen 9 5900X slots in as the fastest gaming chip on the market, price be damned, but the Ryzen 5 5600X offers nearly the same level of performance but at a more amenable $300 price point, making it our uncontested top pick for gaming. Intel used to hold the ultimate in gaming performance with its most expensive desktop processor, the Core i9-10900K, and the Core i5-10600K wasn't far behind. Naturally, the Core i7-10700K slots in right between the two, and offers the lion's share of the 10900K's performance, but at a much lower price point and power consumption. You can see how these chips stack up in our CPU Benchmark Hierarchy, but be aware that these chips still fall behind AMD's potent Ryzen 5000 chips. Advertisement However, the performance delta between Intel and AMD's comparably-priced chips often isn't worth the premium, at least for the vast majority of enthusiasts. You'd be hard-pressed to notice the small differences in gaming performance at the top of the AMD vs Intel stack, but things are more complicated in the mid-range. Referring back to our previous category, pricing is the ultimate measuring stick, and AMD pulls off key wins in the mid-range where most of us shop, but Intel's Core i5-10600K serves up a compelling lead in its price bracket, making it an attractive gaming chip for around $260. If you step up to the $300 range, the Ryzen 5 5600X is now the uncontested mainstream gaming champion. You'll need a fire-breathing high-end GPU and one of the best gaming monitors with a high refresh rate to get the most out of AMD's performance advantage, and you'll need to game at the mundane 1080p resolution, too. Kicking your resolution up to 1440p and beyond typically pushes the bottleneck back to the GPU, so you won't gain as much from your CPU's gaming prowess. However, a bit of extra CPU gaming performance could pay off if you plan on updating your graphics card with a newer generation while keeping the rest of your system intact. We expect most builds in the mid-range to come with lesser GPUs, which generally serve as an equalizer in terms of CPU performance. It's also noteworthy that AMD often provides more cores and threads at any given price point, so there's less of a chance of erratic performance if you're running chat clients, web browsers, and other tasks in the background while gaming. If you're into game streaming, AMD is almost always the best choice due to its healthy ratio of cores and threads. In terms of integrated graphics performance, there's no beating AMD. The company's current-gen Picasso APUs offer the best performance available from integrated graphics, and the Renoir series builds on that advantage. However, the Renoir chips are only available in pre-built systems from OEMs and SIs for now. That didn't stop us from getting our hands on a chip, and you can see the impressive performance in our Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G review. Intel has its Rocket Lake chips with the powerful new Xe graphics engine coming in early 2021, which might help level the integrated GPU playing field. Winner: AMD wins this round of the Intel vs AMD CPU showdown, but only because we measure strictly by the absolute top performance possible. If you're a gaming fanatic that prizes every single last frame you can squeeze out, particularly if you're into overclocking, AMD is your answer on the high-end. That leading-edge performance will also pay off if you plan to upgrade your GPU soon. Just plan to pay for the privilege. Advertisement You'll find that AMD is also often the best option in the mid-range. Unless you're running a tricked-out rig with the fastest GPUs paired with low-resolution high-refresh monitors, you won't miss the slim gaming performance deltas to be had with AMD CPUs, though. At that point, either an AMD or Intel chip will provide a more than acceptable level of gaming performance. However, it's always good to have a little extra gas in the tank for future GPU upgrades, and AMD's Zen 3 chips hold the lead there, at least for now. AMD vs Intel Productivity and Content Creation Performance In the non-gaming performance battle of AMD vs Intel CPUs, the picture is a lot clearer. AMD's chips take the outright win in terms of the ultimate performance in threaded productivity and content creation applications, and the Ryzen 5000 processors have expanded that lead. AMD's copious slathering of cores, threads, and cache on its processors also equates to a big win in the performance-per-dollar category. Intel's trouble moving forward to denser process nodes has left it behind in the core count race, and now AMD has offerings on both the HEDT and mainstream desktop that Intel simply can't match. Consider this: AMD has a 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X for the mainstream desktop that offers far more cores and threads than Intel's most powerful Core i9-10900K. Meanwhile, AMD's Ryzen Threadripper 3990X comes with an insane 64 cores and 128 threads for HEDT. That's a 3.5X advantage in core counts over Intel's halo HEDT models. AMD's chips offer far more performance on both the mainstream desktop and HEDT platforms, so they are also more expensive than Intel's respective flagships. You don't need to drop major dollars to see the advantages of AMD's chips, though. The Ryzen 5000 series processors have also taken the uncontested lead in single-threaded performance across the full spate of our benchmarks. That's incredibly impressive and equates to faster performance in all manner of workloads, particularly day-to-day applications that rely on snappy responsiveness from the processor. Advertisement Winner: AMD. For professionals on the hunt for performance in content creation and productivity applications, the winner of AMD vs Intel CPUs is a pretty one-sided affair. AMD's lack of integrated graphics on its 8-core and above CPUs (for now) means you'll have to stick with Intel if you want to build a rig without dedicated graphics. Still, most professionals will want a dedicated graphics card regardless. AMD vs Intel Processor Specifications and Features AMD has its Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7, Ryzen 9, and Threadripper lines, while Intel breaks its offerings up into the Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, Core i9, and Cascade Lake-X families. To compare Intel vs AMD CPUs based on specs and features, we could chart the entire product stacks, but we'll focus on the top chips in the respective families for the sake of brevity. Be aware that both companies have value options within each tier, but we can get a general sense of the current competitive landscape with these (relatively) shortlists. We're using both vendors recommended pricing and street pricing to give you a sense of the current state of the market. The high end desktop (HEDT) is the land of creative prosumers with fire-breathing multi-core monsters for just about every need. Intel has long enjoyed the uncontested lead in this segment, but while AMD's first-gen Threadripper lineup disrupted the status quo, the Threadripper 3000 lineup destroyed it.

Fortnite players should be well acquainted with the way Epic Games does updates by now. Around 4 AM ET, the servers go offline for the necessary changes. Things typically go as planned, and the game is back up in a matter of hours. Players can then spend the rest of the day doing the one thing that matters: getting those Victory Royales. There’s a little humor in that. This time is all the same, and you can now jump into the v15.40 update of Fortnite, which brings the latest wave of changes to the game. There are a few headlining changes that the Fortnite Status Twitter account mentioned. Fans should be generally receptive to what’s new, or rather, what’s back. Remember the Flint-Knock Pistol from Chapter 1 Season 6? It’s back, and it will offer some potentially interesting options during gameplay. The Flint-Knock Pistol is not only a powerful weapon to knock enemies around with; you too can send yourself flying with it. Jumping into the air and firing it will send you soaring from the kickback. Expect a little less explosive power than an Impulse Grenade, though. It will certainly be handy for evacuating bad situations, going for trick shots, gaining height in build battles, and escaping the Storm. You’ll need heavy ammo to use this literal hand cannon. Now, go get creative with it. Other ways to fly and get high You can also get excited about the return of the Air Royale and Floor is Lava LTMs. These are always good fun for people that get sick of the turbo build battles at the end of normal matches. Air Royale lets you fight it out in planes along with teammates. The Floor is Lava will require you to find some high ground or create your own to escape the rising magma around the map.Aside from those returning LTMs, there will be more exotic weapon options around the map in the normal battle royale modes. Epic didn’t specifically say if new exotics are coming, but you will be able to acquire them from more characters now. Exotic weapons are expensive, however. If you need to learn how to earn more gold bars, just hit up our guide on the topic. Fortnite update v15.40 also brings an adjustment to the level of detail in PC Performance Mode. This is sure to be geared towards higher frames on lower-end systems. Just keep in mind this mode is still in alpha testing, so there are more changes still coming. These are just a few of the exotic weapons you can find around the island. Expect more chances to acquire them now. The Fortnite Status account also mentions that unreleased content will be removed from Creative islands in a future update. This has fans pretty upset, naturally. The more they have to work with only fuels more creativity, so they were likely hoping for the opposite. Fans had to glitch in some of the content to implement it, and those maps will suffer from the inevitable update. Epic didn’t explain its reasoning for this decision.

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Leasing can be an affordable, practical route into having your own private car, but it's not always easy to tell the good deals from the duds. The experts at our sister magazine What Car? work hard to find you the best pay-monthly schemes, taking into account mileage allowance, montly outlay, contract length and initial deposit. We'll be bringing you the best deals they find from a different segment each week.Looking to buy, not lease your next car? Autocar's new used car deals section can help you find a great price on a nearly-new model This week, affordable 'true mpg' heroes - cars that regularly match or even overachieve their efficiency claims under real-world driving conditions: 1. Toyota Yaris 1.5 Hybrid Icon CVT £2987 deposit, £189 per month, 42 months, 8000 miles per year Unlike the previous Yaris, you can actually throw this one at a series of bends and be entertained by its respectable levels of grip and responsive handling. Sure, a Fiesta is still more fun, but then it can’t achieve the 59.9Ωmpg the Yaris manages. 2. Suzuki Ignis 1.2 Dualjet Hybrid SZ-T £2400 deposit, £155 per month, 48 months, 8000 miles per year Just pipped to the economy honours is the Ignis. Its lightweight construction helps in the economy stakes because while it may be badged as a hybrid, it can’t run on electric power alone like the Toyota. Still, 59.9mpg is a mighty feat. 3. Volkswagen Up 1.0 Beats £2063 deposit, £207 per month, 36 months, 10,000 miles per year This is the last of the Up/Citigo/Mii trio to be available with an internal combustion engine because the rest have either gone the way of the dodo or switched to electric. While the 1.0-litre triple is fairly pedestrian, you should expect a thrifty 55.9mpg from it.

Former President Donald Trump has launched a scathing personal attack on fellow Republican Mitch McConnell. "Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack," said Mr Trump, "and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again." Mr McConnell, who led the Senate for years, voted to acquit Mr Trump in his impeachment trial last week. But he then attacked him as "morally responsible" for the US Capitol riot because of his election fraud "lies". In a speech on the Senate floor, he implied Mr Trump should face criminal and civil litigation, because he was "still liable for everything he did while in office".Mr Trump responded Tuesday with a lengthy press release targeted at the senator. "The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political 'leaders' like Senator Mitch McConnell at its helm," it reads.He said Mr McConnell's "lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality" had cost the Republicans the Senate. He said the Republican leader "begged" for his endorsement in his own Senate race, without which Mr Trump claimed he would have lost.Donald Trump's Twitter ban may mean that he has lost his favourite way of lobbing attacks at his opponents, but his latest press release about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell shows he hasn't lost his bite. There's a lot of invective in the eight-paragraph diatribe from the former president, but the line that will give the Republicans the most heartburn is toward the end, when he says he will back primary challenges against members of his own party "where necessary and appropriate". It's telling that as Mr Trump prepares re-entering the fray after his impeachment trial, he does so with an attack on his own party, not the Democrats. Trump may eventually take aim at Joe Biden and the left, but the political warfare Trump appears most interested in at the moment is of the internecine variety. 2px presentational grey line Mr Trump took aim at Mr McConnell's stated intentions to stand in the way of future Trump-backed candidates. The former president said he will back Republican primary challengers who "espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First." Mr McConnell "will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country," said Mr Trump. "We know our America First agenda is a winner, not McConnell's Beltway First agenda or Biden's America Last."

Microsoft Office is now available as a single unified app for iPad users. The release means that users of the Apple tablet will now be able to access Word, Excel, and PowerPoint combined in one app. “Office is now available on iPad: We're combining the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps you know into a single, iPadOS-optimized app,” Sameer Gupta, program manager on Microsoft’s Office team, explained. “Plus, you’ll see additional tools to keep you more productive than ever. For example, you’ll be able to quickly create and sign PDFs, and transform pictures into documents.” Previously, iPad users that wanted access to a unified Office app had to make do with the iPhone app launched in February last year, which opened in a separate window. Although the iPhone Office app reportedly worked well for iPad users, it did come with a sizeable warning that it was “optimized for iPhone.”New features Listing some of the key features to try, Microsoft boasted that the new iPad Office app would allow users to easily get started on important documents using a number of helpful templates, and provide cloud storage for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.Document creation also promises to be more straightforward with the iPad app. Users can now take a picture of a document and turn it into an editable Word file with just one button, with similar functionality also available for Excel and PowerPoint. PDFs can also be instantly created from images and documents, while e-signing options are available using either your finger or Apple Pencil. One notable drawback is that an Office 365 subscription will be required to edit and create documents on iPadOS. If that’s not too much of a downside, however, the new app is available now for all tablets running iPadOS 13 or later.

Major American tech companies are joining in on calls for antitrust enforcement against Nvidia’s forthcoming acquisition of ARM, according to Bloomberg. This follows news from earlier this January that UK authorities would be performing their own investigation into the merger, as ARM is a UK-based licenser. According to Bloomberg’s sources, the group of companies calling for these extra checks includes Google, Microsoft and Qualcomm, with at least one of the three wanting “the deal killed.” Google’s involvement here is especially notable, as the company is currently facing its own antitrust investigations from both the US DOJ and all 50 state AGs. The drama stems from concerns that Nvidia would end ARM’s history of open licensing for its chips. Nvidia’s promised before to maintain the company’s neutrality, with Bloomberg saying that Nvidia has used the deal’s up to $40 billion price tag as evidence that it’s unlikely to change how ARM does business. However, given that Arm lost $400 million in the fiscal year of 2020, it’s possible that Nvidia might have to make some kind of changes at ARM to justify such a large investment.currently under investigation by the FTC, the EU and China, due to the global nature of the company’s reach. As such, it’s unclear what specifically Google and other Nvidia competitors are calling for, aside from an opportunity to express their general disapproval. Bloomberg’s sources did not provide specifics, and the FTC declined to comment when the publication reached out. However, Bloomberg does note that changing leadership at the FTC could seriously hamper the merger. While the commission is currently split evenly between both parties, newly elected Democratic President Joe Biden is expected to pick two new candidates to fill both an open chair and a vacancy that will presumably be left by Democratic commissioner Rohit Chopra after the Senate approves his nomination to take over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This would give Democrats a majority in the commission, and likely usher in greater scrutiny over vertical mergers like Nvidia and Arm. While vertical mergers, which is when a company acquires another company that is not a direct competitor, have been given a degree of leniency in the past, both Chopra and current FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter wrote in December that “Moving forward, we need to aggressively enforce against the harms of vertical mergers.”Specifically, the duo promised that they “look forward to turning the page on the era of lax oversight and to beginning to investigate, analyze, and enforce the antitrust laws against vertical mergers with vigor.” Throw in support from Nvidia rivals and ARM customers like Google and Microsoft, and Nvidia’s purchase could at least likely be significantly delayed, if not canceled. And given that ARM has previously said that the deal won’t be completed until 2022, even a delay presents a problem. As for the impetus behind the outcry, it likely comes from battles over data center control. While consumer tech enthusiasts might not immediately consider companies like Nvidia and Microsoft to be rivals, data centers were key to Nvidia’s growth last year. And given that many companies, like Microsoft, are either already using or are currently moving to ARM-based chips for their data centers, Nvidia’s ARM purchase could spell bad news for them if the merger goes through.

Destiny 2: Season of the Chosen’s secret mission, The Presage, leads you to a fight against the Scorn and a boss called the Locus of Communion. In the end, you’ll obtain the Dead Man’s Tale exotic scout rifle. So, what exactly can you expect? Well, here’s our mini-guide to help you out. Note: For more information, check out our Destiny 2: Season of the Chosen guides and features hub. Likewise, please be reminded that this guide contains spoilers. Destiny 2: Season of the Chosen — Dead Man’s Tale exotic scout rifle The steps to obtain Dead Man’s Tale exotic have already been discussed in a couple of our guides for Destiny 2: Season of the Chosen: First, you’ll be exploring the Glykon, a derelict Cabal ship, as part of The Presage quest. Towards the end, you’ll battle the Locus of Communion. The boss can also be cheesed. After beating the boss, you’ll simply need to go through a couple of rooms. Eventually, you’ll come across a strange chamber filled with alien plants. At the central dais, you’ll notice a dead Guardian. Interact with the corpse to “steal” the weapon. Don’t leave yet because it can take a while to get the next part of the quest. Anyway, once it pops up, you should be good to go. Travel to the Tower and talk to Zavala to obtain the Dead Man’s Tale exotic scout rifle. The weapon I got has the following perks: Fluted Barrel, Accurized Rounds, Hand-Laid Stock Cranial Spike – Chaining precision hits grants bonus damage and increases reload speed. Transformative – Future drops of this weapon will have random rolls. I’ve tried the Dead Man’s Tale in PvE and I’m really enjoying it. Think of it as something akin to Hawkmoon: a weapon that requires you to land multiple precision hits to make the most out of its perks. With five stacks of Cranial Spike, your damage becomes deadlier, and you can keep blasting foes in their weak spots with it. I’ve yet to test it in a raid, though, but I’m hoping that it’s good for boss DPS. Likewise, the Transformative perk means you’ll get a different roll in the future in case you try to grab the weapon again. Anyway, if you want to see how it works in the Crucible, you can check out the video below from YouTuber True Vanguard:

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Mercedes-Benz has been forced to recall more than one million cars in the US after it discovered a fault with the eCall system that automatically alerts emergency services in the event of a collision. The problem could result in the wrong location being sent by affected cars, potentially leading to longer ambulance response times.The issue also affects models outside of the US, although Mercedes is refusing to provide “any further details at this time” regarding specific models or the numbers affected. It said that an over-the-air software update would be rolled out in due course and that it would stay “in close contact with the local authorities” in the meantime. “Product quality and safety are a top priority for Mercedes-Benz and for this reason we continuously monitor service operations worldwide,” the company said in a statement. “During this product monitoring, Mercedes-Benz has found that in certain vehicles of various model series, the communication module Hermes for the emergency call system (eCall) does not comply with the specifications. “In rare cases, this could mean that in the event of an accident-related temporary drop in a vehicle’s voltage, the communication module might not communicate the correct current position when an emergency call is made/triggered. All other functions of the automatic and manual emergency call function remain fully operational.” eCall has been a mandatory feature in all new cars in Europe since March 2018. The European Parliament estimated that it could reduce road deaths by as much as 10% per year by making the technology standard on all vehicles.

Access to the internet appears to have been blocked for a second night running by Myanmar's new military rulers. UK-based monitor NetBlocks reported a "near-total internet shutdown" from 01:00 local time (18:30 GMT) on Tuesday. It is the fourth shutdown since the 1 February coup as the junta tries to stifle dissent, much of it online. Earlier, the military authorities announced stiff penalties for those opposing the coup leaders. Signs that another outage was imminent came after an internet service provider told BBC Burmese that online access was being blocked. The latest shutdown follows a pattern aimed at disrupting continuing opposition to the coup, which overthrew elected leaders including longtime democracy campaigner, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is still in custody. Access to Facebook, a rallying point for a campaign of civil disobedience, was restricted soon after the coup. Use of Twitter and Instagram was also disrupted. Major telecoms provider Telenor has said it will no longer be updating a list on its website of internet disruption. It told AFP news agency that the situation was "confused and unclear" and said that employee safety was a "top priority".What is happening on the streets? The military's presence is growing. At many strategic locations, soldiers have replaced the police. In the main city, Yangon, eight-wheeled armoured vehicles have been seen trying to navigate the rush-hour traffic, sometimes surrounded by cars honking in opposition to the coup. Protests focused on the central bank building, the US and Chinese embassies, and the city headquarters of Ms Su Kyi's National League for Democracy. As demonstrators gathered in the central city of Mandalay again on Monday, there were reports of security forces firing rubber bullets to disperse crowds. In footage posted on social media, the sound of what appears to be gunshots can be heard as crowds flee, with several people later appearing to display injuries. A leading student activist who has gone into hiding, Myo Ko Ko, told the BBC why he and others were willing to risk their lives. "We strongly believe in democracy and human rights. We know that it's risky," he said. "I have to move to another place day by day because of being searched (for) by police. We hope the international community will help us." Students also protested in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw. Dozens were arrested and later released. Residents in several cities are reported to have formed night-watch groups to deter mobs rumoured to have been dispatched by the military to cause unrest. Thousands of prisoners have been been given amnesty. Though this is normal to deal with prison overcrowding, there are fears that the military will use some of those released to exert pressure on anyone opposing the regime. What are the new punishments protesters face? The demonstrators are demanding the release from detention of their elected leaders, including Ms Suu Kyi, and the restoration of democracy in Myanmar, also known as Burma. But the ruling junta has threatened long prison sentences and fines for anyone found to incite hatred towards the military, "by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation". In a statement posted on a military website on Monday, it said that people preventing the security forces from carrying out their duties could face 20 years in prison, while those found to stir up fear or unrest in public could be imprisoned for terms of three to seven years. The military government on Saturday gave itself the power to make arrests, carry out searches and hold people for more than 24 hours without a court ruling. It has also told journalists not to describe the military's takeover as a coup. What is happening with Aung San Suu Kyi's trial? On Monday, Ms Suu Kyi's lawyer said she would be detained for a further two days. She will then be tried via video link at a court in the capital on Wednesday, Khin Maung Zaw added. Ms Suu Kyi was rounded up with other members of the government on 1 February, but her detention was due to end on 15 February. The charges against her include possession of unlawful communication devices - walkie-talkies used by her security staff. Her party was elected in a resounding victory last November, but the military has alleged voter fraud without providing proof. 2px presentational grey line Myanmar - the basics Myanmar, also known as Burma, was long considered a pariah state while under the rule of an oppressive military junta from 1962 to 2011 A gradual liberalisation began in 2010, leading to free elections in 2015 and the installation of a government led by veteran opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi the following year In 2017, a deadly crackdown by Myanmar's army on Rohingya Muslims sent more than half a million fleeing across the border into Bangladesh, in what the UN later called a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" Aung San Suu Kyi and her government were overthrown in an army coup on 1 February following a landslide NLD win in November's elections

Choosing the right antivirus for your needs and budget takes time, as many of the biggest players in the market offer multiple versions of their software at different price points. Bitdefender is no different, splitting its antivirus tools into multiple plans with different features. In this article, we look closely at Bitdefender Total Security, the company’s top-of-the-range offering, to help you decide if it’s the right antivirus solution for you. Today's best price for Bitdefender Total SecurityWhat is Bitdefender Total Security? Total Security is the most expensive and fully featured antivirus plan from Romania-based Bitdefender. The biggest addition that Total Security brings to the table over the firm's other plans is support for mobile devices and macOS, but it also includes a OneClick Optimizer for your PC and an anti-theft tool that you can use to access your PC remotely if it is stolen.What devices can I use Bitdefender Total Security on? On top of the excellent Windows 10 antivirus tools that you get with lower tiers of the Bitdefender antivirus product, Bitdefender Total Security has apps for iOS and Android and supports macOS. It is also available for Windows 7 or later, macOS X Yosemite (10.10) or later, iOS 11.2 or later, and Android 5 or later. However, Bitdefender Total Security is only available with a license for five or 10 devices. A 10-device license costs about 10% more than a five-device license. Bitdefender Total Security: what features does it have? Bitdefender Total Security comes with the standard features of its entry-level packages, as well as quite a few extras:Real-time antivirus protection The meat of Bitdefender Total Security is its antivirus protection that recognizes malware, viruses, ransomware, and other undesirable software as soon as it appears on your computer. Bitdefender maintains a threat defense database that’s constantly updated, so your devices are protected from the latest attacks. If your computer does become infected, Bitdefender Total Security has a Rescue Environment that you can use to remove the unwanted software and restore your computer to its previous status. Web attack prevention As an additional level of defense, Bitdefender Total Security monitors your internet activities and warns you about potential threats. It actively blocks malicious websites that attempt to run unwanted code or pretend to be other websites to try to steal your data. VPN Want to crank up the online privacy even further? Splash out on Total Security and Bitdefender will throw in a VPN or Virtual Private Network. By allowing you to change the IP address of your computer or phone, It's a handy extra tool for making sure that no prying eye can keep a track of your online activities. Just be warned, if you've heard that a VPN is a handy tool for streaming sports or foreign Netflix catalogs, the 200MB daily limit here means that it can't really do that kind of job for you. macOS, iOS, and Android protection As discussed, Bitdefender Total Security can protect PCs, Macs, and mobile devices. The macOS app prevents unauthorized changes to your most important files and protects you from ransomware with a Time Machine feature that lets you roll back the files on your Mac to a previous version. Advertisement The Android antivirus app can scan all installed apps for potential problems, locate a stolen device, and protect you from webpages that contain malware or fraudulent content. The iOS app is more basic but can block dangerous web pages and notify you if any of your online accounts or sensitive data have been put at risk. How good is Bitdefender? We rated Bitdefender highly in our testing. It recognized and intercepted a great variety of malware, viruses, and unwanted programs as we downloaded them. Bitdefender also doesn’t put much stress on your computer. In our testing, we only saw an increase in CPU usage of around 1%, which you’d never notice in daily use. Bitdefender Total Security in particular is a good buy if you want to protect more than just your PC - indeed, it comes top of the pops in our internet security suite round-up. The apps for iOS and Android work well, and it also includes anti-theft tools and a OneClick Optimizer for speeding up your devices. As Bitdefender Total Security is only marginally more expensive than Bitdefender’s mid-range Internet Security product, you may find upgrading to be good value for the money.

Things are about to get better for gamers thanks to the swift standardization of the PCIe Resizable BAR feature. AMD led the charge last year with its “Smart Access Memory,” which required both a Ryzen 5000 CPU and RX 6000 GPU in order to make the feature work. Intel and Nvidia were not pleased to learn about the competitive edge, however. Both companies quickly promised to deliver versions of the feature, which they referred to as Resizable BAR. Intel is now ready to deliver on that promise, and officially announced Resizable BAR support for its 11th gen CPUs. Intel GM Fredrik Hamberger announced the feature in a recent discussion with Tom’s Hardware. Hamberger discussed the process of working with both Nvidia and AMD to develop Resizable BAR support, and referred to it as more of a standardization rather than a premium Intel feature. The suggestion is accurate too, because Resizable BAR has apparently been around since PCIe 3.0, but went unutilized until recently. Dialing it up to the next level The standardization of Resizable BAR means that gamers will be able to achieve 5-10% better performance in games simply by using the feature. According to Nvidia, the feature allows the CPU to “efficiently access the entire frame buffer,” while moving through levels and open-world environments. It’s an exciting “extra” to go along with the improved architectures and manufacturing processes that allow for better gaming experiences. Tack on things like Nvidia’s DLSS software, and cutting-edge hardware sure does sound attractive. Intel suggested that some 10th gen products are technically able to leverage Resizable BAR, though exact details on what to expect have not been released. Whatever the case, Intel expects OEMs to finish updating custom drivers for 11th gen CPUs to include support for Resizable BAR in the near future. Gamers can look forward to support on both desktops and laptops. Once Resizable BAR becomes widely available, it should be possible to mix and match between AMD, Intel, and Nvidia hardware configurations that support it.

Nvidia and Epic Games just brought the DLSS 2.0 plugin to the Unreal Engine Marketplace, which marks another big step towards widespread support for the new technology. This means developers will now have a much easier time with integrating DLSS into games as opposed to before. This also means a future with better graphics and higher framerates for all. DLSS is an advanced super sampling tool that uses a deep learning AI neural network to provide improved performance in games. To break that down a little more into understandable terms, it basically renders games at lower resolutions to make things easier on system hardware, but then upscales the image for improved fidelity. The result is a far more efficient final image on your screen that allows your hardware to deliver higher framerates without sacrificing quality. That is goal at any rate. DLSS is currently in its second iteration (DLSS 2.0 according to Nvidia) and offers more than 100% fps performance improvements for some supported games. It requires the built in Tensor cores in the RTX 20 and 30 Series GPUs to work, but the results can be impressive. As more gamers invest in newer graphics cards that support this feature, it will continue to become more attractive to developers that want to advertise smooth framerates for the games they make.Control is arguably the best implementation of DLSS to date. Even in “Quality Mode,” it offers huge improvements (Credit: Nvidia). This makes the addition of the Nvidia DLSS plugin to the Unreal Engine Marketplace a big deal, because it marks a milestone in making DLSS far more accessible to more developers. The technology previously required close coordination with Nvidia, and didn’t seem to always offer the hoped for results. As with all new technologies though, it has improved with time. Moving graphics forward Seeing how there are currently just 35 games that support DLSS, that number should grow a lot over the next couple of years. Meanwhile, AMD has its own answer to DLSS in the works. Team Red calls it Super Resolution, which will arrive alongside a suite of other new technologies in AMD’s FidelityFX. Whether gamers are looking to turn ray tracing on or just experience framerates in the hundreds, DLSS is sure to grow in po[CENSORED]rity as it continues to mature.

re-opinion #Contra for the user warnings!

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