Pimax Crystal VR Headset Review: High Res, High-End VR In Need Of Polish

On paper, the Pimax Crystal is one of the best VR headsets currently available on the market, boasting rather impressive displays and overall capabilities. However, all of that comes at a cost and performance premium that many people may not quite be able to afford. Despite this, if you are looking for a solid VR headset and can handle not only running the hardware but handling any of the hinkyness that comes with it, you need not look much further than the Pimax Crystal.   Pimax On Paper The Pimax Crystal’s claim to fame is its remarkably high pixel count at an impressive 5760x2880...

Steam Deck Undervolting Tested: Boosting Battery Life And Performance

by Matthew Connatser - Fri, Nov 17, 2023

Valve's Steam Deck is a handheld gaming device that has forever changed PC gaming on-the-go. While it's still a slick, fun device as we approach its second birthday, gamers always want for more performance. The Steam Deck 2 isn't coming any time soon, however, so what are users supposed to do to maximize their current experience? Well, Valve has heard our pleas and updated the Steam Deck with an undervolting feature. Undervolting is the process of lowering the voltage on a processor in order to lower power consumption and thermal output, usually with the goal of keeping clock speeds (and thus...

YouTube Is Testing Generative AI To Answer Questions And Weed Through Comments

by Ryan Whitwam - Wed, Nov 08, 2023

Google is testing a new feature on YouTube and, stop us if you've heard this one before, it's based on generative AI. Advanced machine learning algorithms and large language models are popping up in numerous products from Google, Microsoft, and almost every other tech company under the sun. This time, Google is leveraging a sometimes-accurate bot to glean useful information from the tangled web of comments and summarize elements of the video itself. All you have to do is ask. The comment summary features will be the first element of Google's YouTube AI initiative. Instead of digging through the...

Intel Application Optimizer Tested: Smash CPU Bottlenecks And Boost Framerates

by Matthew Connatser - Wed, Nov 08, 2023

Intel Application Optimizer (APO) - Free Intel APO or Application Optimization technology is a brand-new piece of software that Intel claims will bring a big performance lift for games, and from what we've seen so far, those claims seem to check out. Free frame rate boosts Easy to install Works as advertised  Not supported yet by all Intel 14h Gen CPUs Only 2 games supported (for now) The launch of Intel's 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh was fairly lowkey, since it was just a minor update of an existing CPU architecture. The Core i5-14600K, Core i7-14700K, and Core i9-14900K all came with slightly...

Alan Wake II Performance And Visuals: Bring Your Biggest GPU

by Zak Killian - Fri, Oct 27, 2023

When we saw the system requirements for Remedy's Alan Wake II, we knew this game was going to be a PC system smasher. Of course, we already knew that—the game supports path-tracing, also known as full scene ray-tracing, and we've already tested that feature extensively in Cyberpunk 2077, so we're familiar with how heavy it can be on hardware. The important thing to note, though, is that Alan Wake II is an very different sort of game from Cyberpunk 2077, and it's also running on a completely different game engine. Rather than CD Projekt's REDengine, Alan Wake II naturally makes use of Remedy's...

Play Skyrim Like A Strategy Game With This Age Of Empires 2 Custom Map

by Zak Killian - Wed, Oct 25, 2023

Are you a Skyrim fiend? Do you have thousands of hours in Bethesda's fantasy magnum opus, and long for more to do in the land of the Nords? Well, good news. Now you can conquer Skyrim in Age of Empires 2, thanks to an expansive custom map by creator /u/Grouchy_Bluejay4511. If you're not an AoE2 player, then you might not be aware that the game supports custom maps with extensive gameplay modifications in a similar fashion to later RTS games like Warcraft 3. What /u/Grouchy_Bluejay4511 has created is more than just a simple map layout, though. It's a full custom scenario with what the creator says...

Musk's X Is Testing A $1 'Not A Bot' Fee To Post On The Site Formerly Known As Twitter

by Ryan Whitwam - Wed, Oct 18, 2023

The site formerly known as Twitter is headed for a fee-based future. Weeks after owner Elon Musk suggested that X would move to a paid model, the social network has started testing a $1 yearly fee in select markets. The program is being branded in typical Musk fashion as "Not A Bot," but all it really verifies is that someone is willing to pay $1 for an account, bot or not. If you have an existing account, you are currently safe from the new fee. However, anyone signing up for X from the web in New Zealand and the Philippines will have to pay up front to use Twitter. And it's not just the cash—the...

GeForce NOW Prices Are Going Up For Some Gamers, How To Lock Your Current Rate

by Ryan Whitwam - Mon, Oct 16, 2023

Nvidia's GeForce Now cloud gaming service has taken on new importance in the wake of Stadia's untimely demise. Some of those who fled Google's failed streaming platform for Nvidia are in for a rude awakening, though. Nvidia has announced a price hike for select markets, one of which will see the base subscription price jump by 40%. If you're in the US, congratulations, your GeForce Now pricing will remain the same. However, increases are coming for those in Canada, the UK, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Czech Republic, Poland, and any other nation that uses the Euro as its currency. The service offers...

Alienware Aurora R16 Gaming Desktop Review: A Civil Redesign

by Ben Funk - Wed, Oct 04, 2023

Alienware Aurora R16 Gaming Desktop PC (Starts at $1,299, as tested $1,949) Alienware's latest Aurora R16 desktop has a new look, the latest PC gaming technology, and cooling that's both quiet and efficient.  Good performance for the price Very quiet under load Plenty of external connectivity High-performance liquid cooling  Legend 3 design language is more subdued Proprietary motherboard and power supply design Limited configurability for high-end systems  Modest internal expansion Building a desktop PC can be a lot of fun, but for the uninitiated it can also be a headache. There's...

How To Sell Your Ship And Level Up Fast In Starfield

by Tim Sweezy - Sun, Sep 10, 2023

Bethesda officially launched Starfield on September 6 and quickly garnered over 6 million players. The highly anticipated first-person open-world RPG has enamored many with numerous ships to fly as gamers visit new worlds filled with strange alien creatures and minerals to mine. While some may be flourishing in space, other players may be wondering what they can do to enhance their quality of life in the game. Whether it be selling a ship to earn some extra cash, or finding new ways of leveling up faster, here are a few tips to become a more successful Starfield space pioneer. Selling And Procuring...

Baldur's Gate 3 Speedrunner Finishes Game In Under 4 Minutes Using A Morbid Trick

by Ryan Whitwam - Mon, Sep 04, 2023

By some measures, Baldur's Gate 3 is the most highly reviewed PC game of all time, attaining an amazing 96/100 on the Metacritic review aggregator. This game features no in-app purchases or battle passes, with a level of polish and attention to detail that we really don't see enough of these days—and you can skip all of that if you just want to beat the game in less than four minutes. A speedrunner has just set a record by beating Baldur's Gate 3 in three minutes and fifty-seven seconds. If you plow through all the content in Baldur's Gate 3, it could easily take you 100 hours or more. This...

Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon, How To Pilot Your First Mech To Victory

by Zak Killian - Tue, Aug 29, 2023

While it hasn't reached the heights of a mega-hit like FromSoftware's previous title Elden Ring or the kind of numbers that Starfield will surely do on its release next week, the long-awaited return of Armored Core has been a solid success for the developer. It's been ten years since the last game in the series, and the new title, while unmistakably Armored Core, is different enough that even long-time fans could get tripped up. Actually, the game opens with a tutorial mission that does a decent job of explaining the basic controls, but it does very little to explain Armored Core VI's systems and...

Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon G Series Mobile Gaming Platform For Handheld Dominance

by Aaron Leong - Thu, Aug 24, 2023

With the huge growth trajectory mobile gaming is on, Qualcomm is aiming to stake a beachhead in the burgeoning handheld gaming console space, with a new, diverse portfolio of dedicated handheld gaming SoCs and mobile platforms, collectively called the Snapdragon G-series, with support for mixed reality hardware and even ray tracing. Qualcomm Snapdragon G Series Reference Design Line-Up The G-series is comprised of the G1, G2, and G3—each built to cater to the demands of dedicated gaming devices at different performance levels and form factors, focusing on power, efficiency, cooling, and compatibility...

ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D Review: AMD 3D V-Cache Supercharges Laptop Gaming

by Marco Chiappetta - Tue, Aug 22, 2023

ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D: As Configured TBD - Likely $3,599+  The AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D powered ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 X3D gaming laptop, with its GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, is the most powerful mobile PC gaming platform in the world currently. EBeastly Performance Enhanced Efficiency Multi-Threaded Leader Attractive Form Factor Good Keyboard And Trackpad Battery Life Price Premium Fan Pitch Although there has been some speculation that AMD would bring its 3D V-Cache to Ryzen 7000 series mobile processors, it wasn’t until late last month that the company made it official. AMD bolted a chunk...

How Google Chrome Is Beefing Up Protection Against Malware-Infested Extensions

by Ryan Whitwam - Mon, Aug 21, 2023

The internet can be a dangerous place, and that's before you start integrating bits of third-party code into your browser. Some of those extensions end up being shady or even outright malicious, and that can lead to their removal from centralized repositories like the Chrome Web Store. Google doesn't want people wondering why their favorite extensions suddenly vanished, so it's going to thoughtfully start listing the reason with the upcoming release of Chrome 117. Extensions can provide necessary functionality, but they have a great deal of freedom to monitor and alter your web traffic, potentially...

How To Play Baldur's Gate 3 And Diablo IV Now On Mac With Crossover 23

by Ben Funk - Fri, Aug 18, 2023

Codeweavers Crossover 23 Baldur's Gate 3 is out for PC already, but the Mac version is late to the party. Fortunately, Codeweavers Crossover 23 is here to save the day. Play games on Mac that you couldn't otherwise Doesn't require a Windows license New DirectX 12 support Performance isn't always smooth Compatibility is hit-and-miss Baldur's Gate 3 is breaking records on Steam, and it's a tremendous hit on the PC platform as a whole. Larian Studios' RPG hit is coming to other platforms, including PlayStation 5 and the Mac, but it won't be arriving for a bit. The PS5 release is expected in early...

Razer Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed Review: Sleek ANC Gaming Earbuds

by Paul Lilly - Tue, Aug 08, 2023

Razer Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed: $199 Razer's Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed earbuds not only look fantastic, they sound great, offer strong ANC performance, and come with a 2.4GHz dongle for low latency gaming on PC and console. Premium Sound Customizable EQ Remappable Touch Controls Adjustable ANC Works Well Comfortable Fit (Includes 3 Sets Of Ear Tips) Low Latency Multi-Platform Gaming Via 2.4GHz Dongle Gaming Mode To Mute Notifications Stylish Glossy Design With RGB Middling Battery Life With RGB And ANC Enabled Finicky Touch Controls No Xbox Series X|S Support Wireless earbuds with active noise...

Baldur's Gate 3 Launch: Cross-Saves, DLSS, Steam Deck Support And All You Need To Know

by Zak Killian - Wed, Aug 02, 2023

If you read that headline and thought, "didn't Baldur's Gate 3 come out like three years ago?", you're thinking of the Early Access version of the title. Like most games in Early Access, Baldur's Gate 3 was extremely incomplete on its original launch into EA in 2020. Tomorrow marks the actual release date for the final, complete version game—or at least, the "1.0" version, anyway, before any DLC or further updates. For folks unfamiliar with the name "Baldur's Gate", it was primarily a duology of classic computer role-playing games based on the Dungeons & Dragons license and set in the...

FCC Proposes A Massive Fourfold Increase To Fixed Broadband Speeds

by Ryan Whitwam - Thu, Jul 27, 2023

For the last eight years, internet service providers (ISPs) in the US have enjoyed a very liberal definition of "broadband." The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is poised to rain on their parade. The commission may update the definition of what constitutes broadband, raising the minimum speed requirement by a factor of four. It might not mean faster speeds are coming right away, but it could push ISPs in the right direction. The last time the FCC updated the broadband definition was in 2015, when it decreed that broadband should support at least 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up. Networks that...

Say Goodbye To Twitter And Its Iconic Bird Logo, And Hello To X Powered By AI

by Tim Sweezy - Mon, Jul 24, 2023

Elon Musk has shown off the new branding logo for the upcoming move from Twitter to Musk's self-proclaimed "everything app," X. While Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino praised employees and said the company was "moving at the speed of light" in an internal memo, some security experts worry that the rapid change could also pose security risks to users. Musk sent Twitter abuzz yesterday after announcing that X.com now redirects users to twitter.com and that the interim X logo would go live later in the day. Yaccarino gave a little more insight through a tweet into what the "everything app" would consist...

NVIDIA's Load-Time Busting RTX IO Tested In Portal: Prelude RTX With DLSS 3

by Zak Killian - Fri, Jul 21, 2023

As a gamer, you sort-of get inured to loading time. It's largely unavoidable that games will, at some point, have periods where they have to say "please wait" and you can do little but twiddle your thumbs or maybe read some interesting load screen text while you wait for the engine to prepare the play environment. It doesn't have to be that way anymore, though. Software stacks are finally catching up to hardware advancements, and disk accesses are being arranged in a way that suits solid-state storage instead of spinning rust hard drives. We've already seen some of the fruits of Microsoft's DirectStorage...

Game Over? FTC Files Appeal In Last Ditch Effort To Block Microsoft's Activision Deal

by Ryan Whitwam - Thu, Jul 13, 2023

Microsoft has been trying to close its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard for more than a year, and a recent court victory has moved the Xbox maker to within a hair's breadth of the goal line. The Federal Trade Commission failed to convince a court to block the deal, but the FTC has appealed the ruling. Even if it can get a quick hearing, Microsoft may be able to sneak this one over the line before the courts can do anything. Just a few weeks ago, it looked like the walls were closing in on Microsoft. The FTC has a hearing set for August, during which an administrative law judge could...