Take this as a rumor!

ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 Ti ROG STRIX leaked?

https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-geforce-rtx-3080-ti-rog-strix-leaked

Is this the upcoming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti from ASUS? We are not sure. The picture (which originally was much lower resolution) shows a new model featuring ROG STRIX branding and a 3080 Ti label. The title of the slide says “next-generation ROG STRIX”.

We believe the picture is from ASUS’s internal meeting discussing new designs for the upcoming Ampere-based graphics cards from NVIDIA. The card would feature a triple-fan design. The card looks a lot different from the current-gen RTX 2080 Ti mode. ASUS allegedly decided to combine black and silver design.

The ROG Strix is at the top of the card, while the 3080Ti is at the left bottom, over the head of the guy.

And, just for scale, they've included a pic of the 2080Ti Strix

Although it's hard to judge without the PCIE connector, it looks bigger, doesn't it?

What do they mean "hard to judge without the pcie"? They even have a picture with a human for scale. So yes, it's a bit bigger than before.

The news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Dead Cells sales have surpassed 3 million, and its 19th update is out now
https://www.pcgamer.com/dead-cells-sales-have-surpassed-3-million-and-its-19th-update-is-out-now/
Dead Cells is pretty good, we reckon. We called it the best roguelike of 2018, and returning to it this year for the Bad Seed DLC, Tom found it to be even more novel and surprising. And it looks like that's reflected in how many of you picked it up, as it's surpassed three million sales.
The milestone is accompanied by a chunky update, which was originally just meant to be a balance patch. Now it's grown into the Update of Plenty, with Motion Twin fiddling around with everything from the economy to the difficulty curve.

GOG has a new bundle sale because featuring Slitherine celebrates its 20th birthday by putting its games on sale and, if you buy 3 or more, the discount gets higher. The sale will last until the 6th of July: https://www.gog.com/promo/20200702_slitherine_bundle_sale

Fanatical has three new deals:

• The new Flash deal is Borderlands 3 - Super Deluxe Edition for both Steam and the Epic Store, 55% off during the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/borderlands-3-super-deluxe-edition
• The Slitherine 20th Anniversary Bundle features 19 games and 1 DLC with a 95% discount for the next 3 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/slitherine-20-th-anniversary-bundle
• And there's a new JRPG Pick & Mix Build Your Own Bundle, with 12 games to pick your 1, 2 or 3 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/jrpg-pick-and-mix-build-your-own-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Browser game portal Kongregate is no longer accepting new games
https://www.pcgamer.com/browser-game-portal-kongregate-is-no-longer-accepting-new-games/
Kongregate has long been a godsend for bored students and workers stuck in dreary office jobs. Launched in 2006, the browser-based game portal has amassed over 128,000 games, but that number won't be growing: the site has announced it will no longer be accepting new games as of today, nor will new badges (the site's equivalent of achievements) be added.
The news comes via an official announcement in the Kongregate forums. It notes the imminent death of Flash on December 31, as well as the company's increased focus on developing its own (mostly mobile) titles.
>> . I've wasted many hours there.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

The Dark Mod V2.08 released, now fully supports OpenGL 3.3 & GLSL, improves CPU multi-core support
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-dark-mod-v2-08-released-now-fully-supports-opengl-3-3-glsl-improves-cpu-multi-core-support/
Back in 2018, we informed you about the release of The Dark Mod V2.06. And today, we are happy to report that its development team has launched a brand new version that brings numerous enhancements and improvements.
According to the team, The Dark Mod V2.08 now fully supports OpenGL 3.3 and GLSL.
>> In case you're not aware, The Dark Mod started as a Thief mod for Doom 3 before becoming its own thing, and this latest version is available to download from its website.

GAMING NEWS

Cyberpunk 2077 will be DX12-only, will only work on Windows 7 and Windows 10
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/cyberpunk-2077-will-be-dx12-only-will-only-work-on-windows-7-and-windows-10/
In an interview with PCGamesHardware, Marcin Gollent, Lead Graphics Programmer at CD Projekt RED, revealed some new interesting tech details about Cyberpunk 2077. According to the developer, Cyberpunk 2077 will only support the DirectX 12 API. Moreover, it will only work on Windows 7 and Windows 10.
>> The interview is also available in English, if you want to read it by yourselves.

New Death Stranding screenshots showcase how beautiful the PC version looks in 4K/Max Settings
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/new-death-stranding-screenshots-showcase-how-beautiful-the-pc-version-looks-in-4k-max-settings/
505 Games and Kojima Productions have shared a new set of screenshots for the PC version of Death Stranding. These screenshots were in 4K Ultra-wide resolution on Max settings, and showcase how beautiful the PC version actually is.

Team17 announces and details Worms Rumble, coming to PC in late 2020
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/team17-announces-and-details-worms-rumble-coming-to-pc-in-late-2020/
Team17 has revealed the first details of Worms Rumble, the brand-new instalment in the iconic and multi-award-winning Worms franchise. Worms Rumble will be the first game in the series to feature real-time combat and multi-platform cross-play. Up to 32 players will able to take part in matches in a range of arena maps, including a multi-levelled shopping mall – complete with its own ballistic missile silo.

Sci-fi Dark Souls-inspired action RPG, Hellpoint, releases on July 30th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/sci-fi-dark-souls-inspired-action-rpg-hellpoint-releases-on-july-30th/
Cradle Games and publisher tinyBuild have announced that Hellpoint will release on July 30th. Hellpoint is a sci-fi Dark Souls-inspired action RPG, set in the aftermath of a massive quantum cataclysm called the Merge.

NBA 2K21 PC will be based on the current-gen and not the next-gen version
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/nba-2k21-pc-will-be-based-on-the-current-gen-and-not-the-next-gen-version/
Similarly to FIFA 21, the PC version of NBA 2K21 will be based on the current-gen and not the next-gen version. 2K Games has officially revealed this via a new promotional image, so this is now official; PC gamers will not enjoy the benefits of next-gen NBA 2K21.

The news, the sequel:

The start to Fallout 76's first season hasn't been so legendary
https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-76-legendary-run-ammo-converter/
Fallout 76 season one, The Legendary Run, kicked off yesterday, and it's not started so well. As players are collectively taking on the role of heroic Captain Cosmos against Evil Dr. Zorbo through the medium of boardgame-style season pass progression, many will have encountered one particular 'Legendary Reward' that's turning out to be anything but.

Ooblets early access is coming on July 15
https://www.pcgamer.com/ooblets-early-access-is-coming-on-july-15/
We've been following cute life sim Ooblets for a few years now, and come July 15 we'll finally be able to go wild collecting little creatures and nurturing farms—that's when you can grab the early access version on the Epic Games Store.

Make adorable, instant towns in Townscaper, out now in Steam Early Access
https://www.pcgamer.com/make-adorable-instant-towns-in-townscaper-out-now-in-early-access/
Serene town builder Townscaper has launched in Early Access over on Steam. Created by Bad North artist Oskar Stålberg, the landscape builder lets you plop down coloured blocks that are transformed into different houses, apartments, terraces, and towers. You can place blocks vertically and horizontally, creating your very own quaint seaside town.

Valorant will now tell you if someone you reported got banned
https://www.pcgamer.com/valorant-will-now-tell-you-if-someone-you-reported-got-banned/
As noticed by Ninja, Valorant will now send you a message when a player you reported has been banned. According to Valorant anti-cheat lead Paul Chamberlain, the feature is still experimental. For now, you'll only get the message if you're in the client when the reported user eats dirt.

Devolver Direct will 'raise the bar for overrated marketing videos' on July 11
https://www.pcgamer.com/devolver-direct-will-raise-the-bar-for-overrated-marketing-videos-this-saturday/
The long-teased 2020 Devolver Direct finally has a date: it'll stream on Twitch and Steam on Saturday, July 11. Devolver promises to "raise the bar for overrated marketing videos" with new game announcements and trailers, as well as release dates for previously confirmed titles.

Kerbal Space Program's European Space Agency collaboration is live
https://www.pcgamer.com/kerbal-space-programs-european-space-agency-collaboration-is-live/
A pair of new missions have appeared in Kerbal Space Program today. The Shared Horizons update has been put together in collaboration with the European Space Agency and includes new parts and cosmetics to go along with cosmic trips, both of them based on real ESA missions.

Kerbal Space Program 2 will have a built-in trip planner, thank Jeb
https://www.pcgamer.com/kerbal-space-program-2-will-have-a-built-in-trip-planner-thank-jeb/
When Wes chatted with the developers of Kerbal Space Program 2 for a recent PC Gamer cover story, they talked about a detail about the game that will be an earth-shattering change for the Kerbal community: Kerbal Space Program 2's assembly building will have a built-in trip planner. Those who have spent more than a few hours with the first Kerbal will be familiar with the community "Delta-V Maps," which indicate how much thrust a spaceship needs to get where it's going. (My favorite is here.) Along with learning how basic orbital mechanics work, figuring out thrust is one of the biggest roadblocks to enjoying KSP.

Payday 2's 'Breakfast in Tijuana' DLC is out today
https://www.pcgamer.com/payday-2s-breakfast-in-tijuana-dlc-is-out-today/
Payday 2's ongoing Silk Road campaign just got a new heist. Titled 'Breakfast in Tijuana', it's all about breaking a comrade out of a "highly secure police station in Tijuana." It can be played stealthily or guns blazing, and has "a variety of preplanning option."

Minecraft Dungeons' Jungle Awakens DLC is out now
https://www.pcgamer.com/minecraft-dungeons-jungle-awakens-dlc-is-out-now/
The first DLC pack for Minecraft Dungeons has just dropped, and as the name Jungle Awakens implies, it's a lush green adventure set in a jungle. As you'd expect there are baddies in the jungle, and you will need to click on slay the baddies in order to complete various tasks and obtain loot. It's centred around the Orb of Dominance, which was destroyed in the vanilla game, but still holds some power over the jungle for some reason.

The House of Lords wants loot boxes to be classified as gambling
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-house-of-lords-wants-loot-boxes-to-be-classified-as-gambling/
The UK House of Lords, specifically its Select Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of the Gambling Industry, has called for loot boxes to be classified as gambling and regulated as such.

Microsoft is renewing the Fable trademark with 'intent to use'
https://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-is-renewing-the-fable-trademark-with-intent-to-use/
Aside from a short-lived card game, Fable has been asleep for years, but a trademark renewal suggests Microsoft could have plans for it in the not-too-distant future. Don't get your hopes up too much, though.

Show me a case to put this in .

God I just want that press conference already. Come on Nvidia! Give us something please!

Anandtech did a deep dive on Intel's new Lakefield CPU with 1 big core (Sunny Cove) and 4 small cores (Tremont) design. It's interesting as the big.Little design is what intel could be using going forward to combat AMD according to rumours.

For now though, there are quite a few issues but still a good read.

"Our recommendation, for anyone wanting to test the performance of that single Sunny Cove core, is to implement an affinity mask on the software being used. If the software only knows that one core exists, then it can only run on that core. This is how we suspect that Intel achieved the single core performance gains in benchmarks like SPEC2006. However Intel has more tools at its disposal – there’s a chance that the scheduler for these systems might ignore affinity masks in order to maintain a thermal balance in the design. We must wait until we get a sample in for ourselves.

To a certain extent we see this in the Cinebench R15 multi-threaded test. With a standard 5 thread processor, if you run a standard nT test, we expect it to fill all the cores to give the best performance. In Notebookcheck’s article, we can see that the scheduler has evicted the workload from the big core. This is likely due to power/thermal hotspot reasons.

In the task manager on the right, we see the first four Atom cores running at 100% while in the multi-threaded test, while the large Sunny Cove core is relatively idle. Note that the CPU is running at 1.9 GHz, and not the 2.8 GHz that Intel has promoted is the all-core turbo for this product.

But the bottom line is that in most cases, expect Lakefield to perform similar to four Atom cores, just above Goldmont Plus, and not like any of the Skylake/Ice Lake Core products and its derivatives."

https://www.anandtech.com/show/15877/intel-hybrid-cpu-lakefield-all-you-need-to-know/9

U.S. Forces Intel to Pause Shipments to Leading Server Maker

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-pause-shipments-leading-server-maker-inspur-us-trade-war

Intel Comet Lake-S Core i9-10900K & Core i7-10700K CPUs Land on Silicon Lottery, Pre-Binned 10 Core With 5.1 GHz All-Core OC For $949 US, 8 Core For $559 US

https://wccftech.com/intel-core-i9-10900k-core-i7-10700k-pre-binned-cpus-silicon-lottery-5-ghz-950-us/

Lakefield may be wort for very low power laptops, but I don't really see them having future outside of that.

How likely is it that next year intel is gone from being cutting edge and just the fans of stability will purchase their products?

It all depends on how Zen 3 performs. Intel is still king of gaming and most laptops are still using Intel cpus. The tide of laptops will change next year as Ryzen mobile has been a crazy success. Most likely Zen 3 will catch up to Intel in gaming and Intel will answer with their 10nm++ on desktop vs TSMC's 5nm that AMD will be using in 2022. The problem with Intel is their current architecture isn't as scalable as Zen is without having to increase costs hence why they are trying something like Lakefield. I think 2022 is gonna be a key year where we get to see what Intel's plans for the future will be.