Me.

You deserve better, though.

Oh, this must be that ray tracing coprocessor Machiavellian was talking about. I don't know how Microsoft it going to be able to put one of these into each Scarlet unit though.

I would love one of these, but I want to wait until 7nm before my next upgrade.

You and CGI are the only ones that I thought could use this, but only because you always go for the extreme

Machiavellian doesn't look like a bad guy, but he doesn't know what he's talking about.

I didn't bother posting in that thread because of how pointless it is. There's no way next gen consoles will use Ray Tracing in anything but some, minor, cosmetic things. The power needed for full Ray Tracing is way out of reach for consoles.

And a 250W TDP CPU won't help either.

By the way, talking about future tech, here are two news articles that can be of interest:

WFFCTech: Samsung Introduces Its 7nm EUV Technology – Up to 30% Higher Transistor Performance & 50% Lower Power
(...) according to ZDNet, it will enable more accurate patterning, which Samsung states that its upcoming 7nm technology features a 27nm fin pitch and a 54nm gate pitch, resulting in the smallest FinFET transistors right now. This is will result in a 40 percent shrink in the manufacturing process when you compare it to the 10nm Snapdragon 845 and Exynos 9810. A smaller shrink in the manufacturing process is not going to be the only benefit as the use of EUV technology will also result in better pattern fidelity and less variability at these dimensions, with Samsung claiming 70 percent better pattern fidelity.
(...)
Unfortunately, the transition from risk production (7nm risk production to start later this year from Samsung) to full volume production can take at least 12 months

Guru3D: Mini LED based Gaming Monitors may reach market at the end of this year
AU Optronics is working hard on a new backlighting system for LCD panels, basically, it is based on many small LEDs hinting towards arrays of backlights, the technology might already become available at the end of this year.
The technology sounds like FALD, Full Array Local Dimming, however, this is the next step - the lighting is based on many small LEDs behind a panel also known as Mini LED (not to confuse with micro-LED). This can run up to hundreds if not thousands of small LEDs behind that LCD panel, lighting up tiny segments of the screen that need to be lit. This method of local dimming would be good for more accurate HDR reproduction and high contrasts. How many LEDs AOC will place behind a panel, is not yet known. AU Optronics is also expected ship its mini LED panels for gaming notebook PC, smartphone and VR headset applications, later on, reports DigiTimes.

Call me when it's actual millions. Fuck that local dimming shit. Apparently micro LEDs are still far off from being made into anything useful at a decent price so they try to butter us up with some inferior transitional mini LED technology.

Meanwhile OLED still does what LED can't do and it's getting better every day, yet no one bothers to use it.

C'mon! We're getting there. Slowly, yes, but we're a lot closer than a couple years ago.

Let's not forget either that even today TVs with local diming have troubles doing it right, with manufacturers having isues with how their actual processors handle that. And those TVs have hundreds of zones, I don't want to think how bad would the problems be with millions of them.

And sure, OLEDs are still better, but they still have burning problems. That's why they only use them on either big TVs or smartphone screens.

Burn in isn't as much of a problem anymore as people like to make it out to be. You'd have to leave your display running for days with static images and even then the effects are reversible. Using OLED for a gaming PC is perfectly fine.

OLED TVs do suffer from burn in problems, but it takes longer to appear. Those who watch a lot of sports on those TVs end suffering from it due to the markers(?) being all time on the same spot.

Thursday news (we're almost there!):

SALES & "SALES"/DEALS

The Itch.io Summer Sale offers some sweet indie deals
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-itchio-summer-sale-offers-some-sweet-indie-deals/
The season of summer sales is upon us: GOG's recently wrapped up, Steam's hasn't quite started yet, and in that narrow space between, indie platform Itch.io has kicked off a seasonal deal-fest of its own.
It's a very different sort of sale than what we get in Steam's achievement-hunting, card-collecting extravaganzas. Six words lead into it: "Itch.io Summer Sale! Get some games." From there, it's straight into the sales. A lot of the games on offer aren't exactly household names, but there are some good deals to be had.

Steam Summer Sale 2018 is set to start tomorrow
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-summer-sale-2018-is-set-to-start-tomorrow/
The word on the street, courtesy of the Steam Database Twitter account, is that the legendary Steam Summer Sale will start—gasp!—tomorrow.
"Mysterious" Steam cards appeared on the site last week, bolstering the likelihood that the leaked date is accurate, but of course it is: Steam sale date leaks are as regular and predictable as the sales themselves, and I can't remember the last time a leaked date was wrong. Precedent also backs it up. Last year's Summer Sale started on June 22, and in 2016 it was June 23. You might see a pattern emerging there.

>>That "tomorrow" is, of course, today. But if you can't wait, the game Swords and Soldiers HD is free! https://store.steampowered.com/app/63500/Swords_and_Soldiers_HD/

GOG's daily deal is Unforeseen Incidents, 15% off: https://www.gog.com/game/unforeseen_incidents

SOFTWARE

-empty-

MODS/EMULATORS

New Another Metroid 2 Remake update adds new difficulty level & new enemies, fixes glitches and more
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-another-metroid-2-remake-update-adds-new-difficulty-level-new-enemies-fixes-glitches-and-more/
Reddit’s gatordile2 has released a new update for the fan remake of Metroid 2, Another Metroid 2 Remake (also known as AM2R). This new patch adds a new difficulty level and some new enemies, fixes various glitches, adds/updates the 8-bit filters and improves some reported lag problems.
Moreover, this latest update for AM2R fixes manual randomizer seed, increases the number of larva Metroids in the lab depending on game difficulty, adds sound for Samus’ ship landing and taking off, adds Menu Options for some settings previously in modifiers.ini file, and fixes some grammar error in the logs.
Those interested can download this latest patch for AM2R from here.

GAMING NEWS

Resident Evil 2 Remake – Official E3 2018 gameplay video in glorious 4K
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/resident-evil-2-remake-official-e3-2018-gameplay-video-in-glorious-4k/
Capcom has released an official video for Resident Evil 2 Remake, showing 5 minutes of gameplay footage from its E3 2018 build in glorious 4K. As Capcom has already stated, Resident Evil 2 Remake has been completely re-built from the ground up for a deeper narrative experience.

Unity’s amazing Book of the Dead photogrammetry tech demo is now available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/unitys-amazing-book-of-the-dead-photogrammetry-tech-demo-is-now-available-for-download/
Back in January we informed you about Book of the Dead; a first-person interactive story showing the graphical capabilities of the Unity Engine. And we are happy to report that Unity Engine has released the entire project, meaning that you can compile and run it on your PC.
Since Unity Engine released this tech demo, we don’t know whether the game/project – that was based in this tech demo – has been cancelled or not.
Still, those interested can download the Book of the Dead tech demo from here.

Gears 5 is built from the ground up for the PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/gears-5-is-built-from-the-ground-up-for-the-pc/
In an interview with Wired, Rod Fergusson, studio head at The Coalition, confirmed that Gears 5 (Gears of War 5) is built from the ground up for the PC. As such, Fergusson claims that PC gamers will be able to take advantage of all the types of different PC optimisation options they can have.

>>I'll believe it when I see it.

Netherlands Loot Box Ban Affects CS:GO and DOTA 2 Players
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/netherlands-loot-box-ban-affects-csgo-and-dota-2-players/
I think many might have seen this one coming. On the 19th of June, Valve issued a statement to all Counter Strike: Global Offensive and DOTA 2 players in the Netherlands that they will no longer be able to purchase online loot boxes since it is now officially against a ruling issued by the Dutch Kansspelautoriteit (translates as Gaming Authority).

New F1 2018 trailer showcases the return of the French Grand Prix
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-f1-2018-trailer-showcases-the-return-of-the-french-grand-prix/
Codemasters has today released a new trailer for F1 2018, the official videogame of the 2018 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, that showcases the return of the French Grand Prix to the calendar by talking to the local F1 drivers about the recreation of their home circuit in the new game. French nationals, Romain Grosjean, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, as well as Renault Sport Formula One Team’s Carlos Sainz, talked to Codemasters about the new Circuit Paul Ricard and their experience with the game.

New major Conan Exiles beta patch adds threat animations, improves server performance and more
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-major-conan-exiles-beta-patch-adds-threat-animations-improves-server-performance-and-more/
Funcom has released a brand new patch for Conan Exiles. This patch is available on the test server and adds threat animations for several animals to improve immersion, packs a number of server performance improvements, redesigns the Clan Menu and optimizes spawn code to be more performant.