Don't stuff around with my Dragon Age. So help me god.

Congrats! May all your games be good ones!

Again, I'm not a fan of any kind of exclusivity but if I have to take a slight inconvenience to fight a monopoly of asshats I'm glad to take it.

Game long and prosper

I know what you mean. I had to replace my old GPU because the fan kept spinning at max speed even when the CP was doing nothing. As you said, it was awful.

So congrats on your new goodies and for a proper working PC. May it give you plenty hours of fun.

Here come the news!

SALES & DEALS

Hitman Absolution and Blood Money have arrived at GOG, and to celebrate it, the Hitman series is 75% off until April 11th: https://www.gog.com/promo/20190404_hitman

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-empty-

MODS/EMULATORS

New Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines Unofficial Patch released, fixes numerous issues
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-unofficial-patch-released-fixes-numerous-issues/
The team behind the “Unofficial Patch” project for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines has released a brand new version of it, fixing a number of issues. In case you weren’t aware of, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines Unofficial Patch is a must-have cumulative patch containing all the previous releases, and works with retail and downloadable versions of any kind as the Troika Games official patch 1.2 is included.
This latest version of the Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines Unofficial Patch fixes LOD effect in Chinatown hub and improved the Giovanni well, improves Sabbat ending and choice dialogues, restores beachhouse PC difficulty and locked Tung’s tank in basic, corrects overlapping music and several portals at the warehouse and more.
>> Get it from Nexus Mods.

GAMING NEWS

Battlefield 5 – Chapter 3: Trial by Fire Update #2 releases today, full patch release notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/battlefield-5-chapter-3-trial-by-fire-update-2-releases-today-full-patch-release-notes/
Electronic Arts and DICE have announced that the second major update for Battlefield 5’s Tides of War Chapter 3: Trial by Fire will be released later today. Furthermore, the teams have revealed its full release notes that you can find below.

Monster Hunter World patch 5.2 available for download, adds 29GB High Resolution Texture Pack
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/monster-hunter-world-patch-5-2-available-for-download-adds-29gb-high-resolution-texture-pack/
As promised, Capcom has released a new update for Monster Hunter World. This patch will update your game’s version to 167353 and adds an official high resolution texture pack that weights around 29.2GB in size.

APEX Legends update 1.1 available for download, full patch release notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/apex-legends-update-1-1-available-for-download-full-patch-release-notes-revealed/
Respawn has released a brand new update for its free to play battle royale game, APEX Legends. According to the release notes, this patch adds the ability to party up with the last squad you played with, as well as a Mute button during the intro and Legend selection.

Remedy was working on Alan Wake 2 years ago but it just “didn’t pan out”
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/remedy-was-working-on-alan-wake-2-years-ago-but-it-just-didnt-pan-out/
In an interview with VG247, Remedy’s Thomas Puha confirmed that the team was working on Alan Wake 2 years ago, however this project simply did not pan out. Puha did not provide any additional details but he re-confirmed that Remedy owns the Alan Wake IP.
>> And that's why I'll never buy another Remedy game unless it has a closed ending or the sequel has been launched. They fooled me with Alan Wake and Quantum Break, but it won't happen not again. By the way, here's the link to the interview.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey update 1.2.0 releases today, full patch release notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/assassins-creed-odyssey-update-1-2-0-releases-today-full-patch-release-notes-revealed/
Ubisoft has announced that update 1.2.0 for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will go live later today. This patch is around 4GB in size and Ubisoft has also revealed its full changelog, detailing all the changes and improvements that are coming with it.

Thursday news, part two:

Dreadlands is a turn-based tactics game that's also an MMO
https://www.pcgamer.com/dreadlands-is-a-turn-based-tactics-game-thats-also-an-mmo/
Dreadlands is a post-apocalyptic tactics game where you command and customise a squad of wasteland warriors and send them out into the world to fight over resources in turn-based brawls. But you won't be alone. You're sharing the world with other players who can join you in PvE co-op or try to murder your squad in PvP battles. Just what I always wanted—a bigger audience for my many tactical mistakes.

Blizzard reveals 52 new Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows cards
https://www.pcgamer.com/watch-the-final-hearthstone-rise-of-shadows-card-reveal-livestream-here/
The first Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows card reveal livestream took place last week, and today it's time for the last. Blizzard will reveal the remaining cards in the expansion in a livestream set to begin at 10 am PT/1 pm ET today, April 3, and you can watch it with us in the player above.
Update: The stream is over, and the new cards—all 52 of them!— can be seen below.

Dwarf Fortress's next big update will let you play its adventure mode with a proper RPG party
https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortresss-next-big-update-will-let-you-play-its-adventure-mode-with-a-proper-rpg-party/
Before Dwarf Fortress's creators start working on its upcoming Steam version with fancy new graphics and an improved interface, they're going to put out a big update to tide players over. After Steam comes the magic system, which could take a couple years to implement. Thankfully, the new villains system, which Tarn Adams tells me he's been working on for more than nine months, is going to have a lot to it. As part of the new release, Dwarf Fortress's Adventure mode is going to get its biggest update in years, allowing you to control not just a single dwarf, but an entire party, RPG-style.

Epic will continue to sign exclusives, even for games already on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-will-continue-to-sign-exclusives-even-for-games-already-on-steam/
"We don't want to do that ever again," Epic Games Store boss Steve Allison said in March, in the wake of the uproar over Metro Exodus making a last-minute move from Steam to Epic. Then it did something very similar anyway with Anno 1800, although that game will remain available for pre-purchase on Steam until it launches—a fair compromise, I think, but a distinction that didn't make much of a difference in the eyes of unhappy gamers.
Earlier this week on Twitter, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney clarified the company's position, saying that after some post-GDC discussion, it was decided that the final call is ultimately up to individual developers and publishers.

Unpacking is a zen puzzle game about neatly filling your home
https://www.pcgamer.com/unpacking-is-a-zen-puzzle-game-about-neatly-filling-your-home/
The only good bit of the nightmarish process of moving house is unpacking everything once you get to your new home. It's just bricks and mortar when you arrive, but then you get to fill it with all your stuff, from mundane pots and pans to treasured trinkets. Unpacking is attempting to capture that oddly satisfying experience, wrapping it up in a zen puzzle game with an endearing aesthetic.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey shows off its player-driven exploration
https://www.pcgamer.com/ancestors-the-humankind-odyssey-shows-off-its-player-driven-exploration/
There are no maps or things pushing you to complete missions or objectives in Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, according to creative director Patrice Désilets. In a new video, he breaks down what our hirsute ancestors need to do to survive as they start their long march through evolution.

We Happy Few has been invaded by robots in the new DLC
https://www.pcgamer.com/we-happy-few-has-been-invaded-by-robots-in-the-new-dlc/
We Happy Few's first DLC misadventure is out today, and it's quite the departure from the drugged-up dystopia you might be familiar with. Psychedelic fascism is out, vintage alien robots are in. There's a lot of gloom mixed in with the whimsy in Wellington Wells, but in the underground robot-infested lab, things look a bit more lighthearted.

Mine was an HD 5850 and let me tell you, having a fan spinning at 100% almost next to you can be really annoying.

Thankfully I was already saving for an upgrade as the card didn't met the min. requirements for the new games, but it wasn't nice being forced to make the upgrade.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to start saving for a CPU, and everything that it involves, upgrade for me either. I'll probably wait until we get the PS5/Xwhatever specs to see what kind of CPU I should get (a 6 or 8 core will be enough? Maybe more?).

Will the next generation really make a difference regarding CPU requirements, though?

I've seen this idea vented out a lot. I decided to check if something like this happened in the 6th to 7th generation jump. The CPU jump was even larger than the one we'll get next year with the new consoles. So I looked at the minimum and recommended CPUs for games released between 2004 and 2010.

The result was... surprisingly linear? Most games ran just fine in one or two threads all the way to 2009 or 2010 (and won't even run in more than two threads really). That's between 3 to 5 years after the release of the PS3/X360. It was only the beginning of this decade that quad cores started to appear as the recommended spec. The gap is large enough to sever any causal link between the 7th generation consoles and CPU specs.

In fact, it seems RAM requirements grew the fastest on PC during the PS3/X360 era, exactly where the two consoles were somewhat poor.

87'C is typically not a dangerous temperature for a GPU.

Fans have come a long way... Especially on mid-range hardware... That used to be the first cut-back manufacturers would make to save a buck, it's likely driven by mid-range GPU's having higher TDP's these days too.

Can't recommend Corsair Power Supplies highly enough, especially the HX range... I have a Corsair HX 620 in another rig... It's 12 years old at this point (7 year warranty) and still solid as a rock. It's paid for itself.

What CPU and Memory configuration do you have?

I am expecting a sizable jump in CPU requirements for next gen.

The reason why CPU has essentially stagnated for the last decade or so is fairly simple... The PC got more efficient with the push towards Vulkan and Direct X 12... Which has meant that my 12 year old spare C2Q rig can still play many of the latest games.

The jump in RAM might be smaller next gen though.

That Radeon 5850 had a long ass life though to be fair. Even today it could probably still run games at low settings.

Core counts... I wouldn't settle for anything less than 8-cores going forwards, especially if you want longevity... You don't upgrade the CPU/Motherboard as often as the GPU, so you might as well settle for a good one, those who bought up Nahelem or Sandy Bridge 6-core CPU's definitely had a rig with a long shelf life that are still capable even today.

I would wait for Intel 10nm or AMD's 7nm chips to enter the market before making a move, at the very least it will drop the price of current hardware.

I do think that CPUs req. will increase. The jump from last to this one didn't made it clear as the Jaguar cores of the consoles aren't really powerful, but I believe next gen consoles will go with Zen cores, and they'll probably go with 8 cores as well (tho not all of them may end being used for games).

Also, there have been a lot of games this gen that have begun to take advantage of more cores, sometimes even needing more than a quad core to run stable and without hitting 100% load.

Because of that, I think that we may find that, two or three years after the launch of the new consoles, we'll need at least a 6-core/12-thread or even higher CPU.