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One does not simply walk into Mordor; instead, one might opt to climb up a wall of vines or jump from platform to platform. That’s the crux of what The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is all about. Contents An evolution of Lord of the Rings games What is it, my precious? Getting Gollum’s perspective The game positions the player as the classic Lord of the Rings villain, shining light on his previously unexplored backstory, which includes his capture and subsequent escape from the clutches of evil. It’s a novel concept that I wasn’t exactly sure would work before trying it out for myself. Given all that, I knew I needed to play The Lord of the Rings: Gollum at PAX East, and after going hands-on with it, I came away with mixed thoughts that lean positive, with more than a few caveats. Related Videos An evolution of Lord of the Rings games I grew up playing games like The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II , Middle-earth: Shadow of … [Read more...] about The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is unintentionally delightful | Digital Trends

MSI’s gaming monitor lineup is growing by one today, thanks to the addition of the G253PF. MSI aims the G253PF squarely at the eSports crowd, fitting it with a 24.5-inch in-plane switching (IPS) panel with a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. However, the standout feature here is the monitor’s 380Hz refresh rate . 380Hz might not seem all that impressive next to the 500Hz Alienware AW2524H we recently reviewed, but we’re confident that the G253PF won’t be priced anywhere near $829. We should note that you’re limited to 240Hz at Full HD resolution when connecting via HDMI. The 380Hz refresh rate is only unlocked using the DisplayPort interface, with overclocking enabled. Given the IPS technology lurking underneath, you’ll find a typical contrast ratio of just 1,000:1, compared to the around 3,000:1 you’d find on competing VA panels. MSI also quotes a grey-to-grey response time of 1ms and support for Nvidia G-Sync . Typical brightness is spaced for 320 nits, while peak HDR … [Read more...] about MSI’s 24.5-Inch G253PF Gaming Monitor Can Hit 380Hz

Having assembled a team of some of the finest AI and CPU engineers in the industry (LINK), start-up Tenstorrent, helmed by industry icon Jim Keller, has huge plans that involve both general-purpose processors and artificial intelligence accelerators. Why RISC-V? We recently spoke with Wei-Han Lien, the chief CPU architect at Tenstorrent, about the company's vision and roadmap. Lien has an impressive background, with stints at NexGen, AMD, PA-Semi, Apple, and is perhaps best known for for his work on Apple's A6, A7 (world's first 64-bit Arm SoC), and M1 CPU microarchitectures and implementation. With many world-class engineers with vast experience in x86 and Arm designs, one may ask why Tenstorrent decided to develop RISC-V CPUs considering that the data center software stack for this instruction set architecture (ISA) is not as comprehensive as that for x86 and Arm. The answer Tenstorrent gave us is simple: x86 is controlled by AMD and Intel, and Arm is governed by Arm Holding, … [Read more...] about Tenstorrent Shares Roadmap of Ultra-High-Performance RISC-V CPUs and AI Accelerators

Nvidia’s highly anticipated GeForce RTX 4070 desktop graphics card will launch at $599, according to VideoCardz . It asserts that three separate sources have confirmed this price, which was apparently revealed during a briefing. Nevertheless, we are warned that pricing could be subject to changes right up to the last minute. Let us try and put this price into perspective, assuming it is correct. In October 2020, Nvidia launched the GeForce RTX 3070 at $499, so the Lovelace-based card is 'just' $100 more, which isn’t so bad given current inflationary pressures. If you must have a direct $599 comparison, the RTX 3070 Ti became available around this price range in late 2022, and the 4070 should deliver a big boost in performance over similarly priced last-gen options. Perhaps the most pertinent GeForce RTX 4070 comparison is against its Ti suffixed stable mate. There is going to be a considerable $200 gap between the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Ti (which launched at $799). Anyone … [Read more...] about Nvidia’s RTX 4070 to Launch at $599: Report

Igor's Lab has discovered a major glitch in the MSI Center Windows app that allows AMD's best CPU for gaming , the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, to be overvolted and overclocked beyond its limits. At first glance, this looks like a win for enthusiasts and overclockers. However, the application bypasses all artificial voltage and clock speed limitations altogether, turning this into a real danger for imprudent 5800X3D owners. To make matters worse, this issue was also discovered in Asus, Gigabyte, and ASRock software, marking this as a platform-wide issue. For the uninitiated, AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X3D is the first CPU to feature AMD's game-boosting 3D-VCache technology. The tech adds a 64MB slab of L3 cache right on top of the Zen 3 die, boosting the chip's L3 capacity to 96MB. However, this additional L3 cache severely affects the CPU's heat dissipation, forcing the chip to operate at lower frequencies. The problem is significant enough that AMD previously blocked overclocking of the chip … [Read more...] about Software Bug Lets You Overclock AMD’s 5800X3D to Death In Seconds