NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3060 Mainstream $300-$400 Ampere Gaming Graphics Cards Rumored To Feature GA106 GPUs, GA107 Entry-Level Ampere GPU Taped Out Too. Auto apply salt to wccftech.

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-rtx-3050-ga106-ga107-ampere-gaming-gpu-specs-rumor/



Thunderbolt support will come to ARM Macs says Apple

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Thunderbolt-support-will-come-to-ARM-Macs-says-Apple.480808.0.html

The amusing thing is that once up on a time, the idea was you could buy something that is thin, light and has great battery life for the go like the Apple Macbook but when you came home, you can plug a thunderbolt dock with eGPU and have a pretty good gaming pc. Now since they are dropping support AMD GPUs and since AMD or Nvidia probably won't support ARM drivers on Windows or Mac, the only advantage you now get is being able to plug it into screens and usb hubs. Thank god for windows laptops.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 and a 1080p resolution remains the most popular combination for gamers

https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-1060-and-a-1080p-resolution-remains-the-most-popular-combination-for-gamers.480850.0.html

Not that anyone should upgrade to 2000 series if you own a 1000 series gpu, specially right now as 3000 should be a pretty good jump.

So long as speculation and rumours are true, at least they are not bumping up prices - at least for mid range cards.

Also, memory bandwidth is insane for these cards.

Yea some of the Ampere versions of their datacenter cards have decreased in price compared to their last gen versions while performing significantly faster. DGX-2 which is Volta for example costed $400,000 where as DGX-A100 which is Ampere is costing $200,000. So consumer grade should get either the same or similar price which is the most likely or if the planets align and the waifu gods come down from the heavens and bless us with lower pricing.

DGX-1 in 2017 costed: $129,000 for Pascal and $149,000 for Volta

DGX-2 in 2018 costed: $399,000

DGX-A100 in 2020 is costing: $199,000

While the DGX-A100 is very impressive as you getting more performance for half the price but it the same price per GPU.  DGX-2 has 16 GPUs and DGX-A100 has 8 GPU.  That why it half the price.  It the same price per GPU.

Since we talking about comparing one GPU to another I expect the price to be around the same as last generation in the consumer market.  DGX are not gpus they are AI supercomputer that uses multiple GPUs to do computing.

Correct and I am expecting pretty much the same as well in terms of pricing, just with a good amount of performance boost.

Intel Rocket Lake Desktop CPUs Include Core i9 8 Core/16 Thread, Core i7 8 Core/12 Thread & Core i5 6 Core/12 Thread Models With 125W PL1 TDP. Salt.

https://wccftech.com/intel-rocket-lake-11th-gen-core-i9-i7-i5-desktop-cpus-leak-out/

I doubt they gonna have an i7 with 12 threads but if they do...

If nobody, or very very few bought next gen GPU's, assuming things don't change much in terms of competitiveness, then it will force both to drop pricing. If neither company is selling product, they will find out the problem, price vs performance in this case, and will adjust prices. It's not like consumer GPU's are making razor thin margins as it is. Now if consumers demand too low of a price then the company's won't bother advancing the tech much, but they will lower prices if they aren't selling enough new products, especially early on.

Well it's not exactly charity if you're getting something in return, and what you're getting isn't some small token of appreciation. It's a decent product, just simply not the absolute most advanced. Though I would say after a while of buying into something like this, if that company still hasn't become competitive overall, then leaving them behind wouldn't be out of the question as they were given worthy support and a reasonable opportunity.

No existing system is entirely capitalistic. They all have other forms baked in to some degree. It's not a one or the other scenario as that doesn't work long term.

AMD has the CPU tech advantage overall, but their overall CPU market share and income ain't jack compared to Intel. Without the same level of brand recognition, AMD needs something way beyond Ryzen to even come close to catching Intel. Even if they had that tech, they likely couldn't manufacture enough product since they don't have their own fabs and it's not like TSMC could meet the demand tomorrow, let alone years from now if AMD wanted them to.

I'd guess that if Nvidia ever decides to take a giant step at branching out that it'll be CPU related. With SOC's/APU's supposedly being the future, Nvidia will need a much higher performing CPU to make a competitive SOC at the high end to go along with their GPU's. Otherwise you're probably going to end up with AMD on top, with Intel in second, and Nvidia a distant third.

1. Which is what people have been doing for some time, as made evident by lacking sales/mind-share. People just don't care enough on the high end side, to go for a lesser product. Those that want a cheap, bang for buck GPU will either go with Nvidia or AMD, but the high end for some time has been in Nvidia's court, and it'll remain that way until AMD decides to care to do something about it (let's face it, they hardly do and seem far more comfortable with the low to mid range cards).

2. Of course their market cap isn't as high as Intel's, but the mind-share is what helps to build that, just like it has done for Sony, Nintendo, Intel and Nvidia over the years. Mind-share in this modern age is a very powerful tool to have at your disposal, provided you manage to capture the people's interest. When you look at the next gen that's looming over the horizon, you have to ask yourself who will fare better in terms of sales and popularity. I can tell you with certanty that it will not be MS that fares better, as they are pulling a PS3 late into this gen, with an uphill battle next gen, only this time Sony won't be pulling an MS current gen move and completely tripping up, spending most of the gen to undo the fall MS took.

Sony has such insane mind-share, that it's not even funny. They are popular in the Cinema, TV, and console spaces, to which they all have their loyal customers in the millions. MS has their own, but when you look back on recent history, they've had a failure here, a failure there, Nokia screwing up, Zune, Windows 10 having back and forth issues, DX 12 not really blowing the lid off like DX 11 did etc, the list can go on. Sony's had their own missteps, but MS, jesus, they've been riddled with them for decades now and as large and as insanely rich as they are, they cannot seem to stay zoned in on delivering a completely polished section of their market to consumers as a whole.

In regards to AMD, they are simply playing the longest game, as they have done for years now. Intel being caught in this hilarious manner just shows that Intel was far, far too comfortable being at the top, and how hissy they got with their marketing and rushing to toss out whatever they could against AMD, and Intel still hasn't done away with their security vulnerabilities, which will also serve to eat away at their mind-share, the longer they prolong fixing that mistake. 

Nvidia has already been making investments into the car market, in terms of AI chips, which I'm not entirely sure if AMD has done so, but it's a market Nvidia wants to venture into. AMD will need to tap into other markets as well, if their high end GPU side doesn't hold up for another decade or two. 

I don't think Nvidia will even bother with the CPU side, as that would be a rather large undertaking for them, and likely not worth a huge investment of R&D/manufacturing.  

Only the mid-low end of the market, the 3060 and 6600(?) might see a drop in price, because it's the on ewith more sales and AMD and Nvidia will fight each other. Other than that, the prices for the rest of the card will be comparable to what we have nowadays or even a bit higher.

As for Intel's 8-core/12-thread processot, it's certainly odd. But we have to keep in mind that it's a vPRO product, so it could be something special like sacrificing threads to have higher clocks for those that use software that doesn't scale well beyond 8 or 10 cores.

We've made it until Friday, and these are the last news of the week:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Killing Floor 2, Lifeless Planet & The Escapists 2 are free to own on Epic Games Store this week
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/killing-floor-2-lifeless-planet-the-escapists-2-free-epic-games-store/
Epic Games has announced that Killing Floor 2, The Escapists 2 and Lifeless Planet are free to own on Epic Games Store this week. From today and until July 16th, PC gamers can visit their EGS pages and acquire their free copies.
>> Next week the free game will be Torchlight II.

The Humble Store has three new sales:

• The Fallout Weekend Sale brings up to 50% discounts for the next 3 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/fallout-franchise-weekend/
• Square Enix has put its games up to 50% of during the next 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/square-enix-week/
• And there's also an Horror Sale with up to 85% discounts for the next 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/humble-horror-sale/

It turns out that Fanatical didn't update its flash deals because it was the end of the Red Hot sale. Now that things go back to normal, they have 4 new sales:

• The new Star Deal is Garfield Kart - Furious Racing, 66% off during the next 48 https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/garfield-kart-furious-racing"> https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/garfield-kart-furious-racing
• Destiny 2 is up to 40% off during the next 3 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/franchises/destiny-2
• Paradox Interactive has its games up to 81% off during the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/paradox-interactive
• And Raw Fury has its games up to 90% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/raw-fury

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce 451.67 WHQL driver released, optimized for Death Stranding & Horizon Zero Dawn
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/nvidia-geforce-451-67-whql-driver-optimized-death-stranding-horizon-zero-dawn/
NVIDIA has just released a brand new driver for its graphics cards. According to the release notes, the NVIDIA GeForce 451.67 WHQL driver is optimized for Death Stranding, F1 2020 and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Going into more details, the NVIDIA GeForce 451.67 WHQL driver provides the latest performance optimizations, profiles, and bug fixes for Death Stranding. Death Stranding will support DLSS 2.0 from the get-go, and NVIDIA recommends using this driver.
Moreover, this driver fixes the refresh rate of 144Hz-capable HDMI displays that could not be set above 120Hz. It also resolves some random crashes in Detroit: Become Human. Additionally, it fixes some noise issues that would appear in Adobe Premiere when users made adjustments in Lumetri color panel.
>> Available from here.

AMD Radeon Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.7.1 Driver fixes numerous bugs, optimized for Disintegration
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/amd-radeon-adrenalin-2020-edition-20-7-1-driver-fixes-numerous-bugs-optimized-for-disintegration/
AMD has released a brand new driver for its graphics cards. According to the release notes, the AMD Radeon Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.7.1 driver is optimized for Disintegration. Moreover, this driver packs numerous bug fixes for various games.
Going into more details, the AMD Radeon Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.7.1 driver fixes hitching or stutter in some games when Instant Replay is enabled on Radeon RX 5000 series system configurations. Additionally, it resolves intermittent corruption and crashes in Doom Eternal. It also addresses some crashes in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
Custom tuning profiles now load or apply correctly after some system boot. Also, fan speed does no longer report as zero when GPU-Z is running alongside a 3D application. Not only that, but custom fan and clock tuning no longer reset to default values.
>> Available from here.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Q3A-Reloaded, graphics overhaul mod for Quake 3, released, has been in development for 10 years
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/q3a-reloaded-graphics-overhaul-mod-for-quake-3-released-has-been-in-development-for-10-years/
Modder ‘I-Iemn’ has been working on a HD graphics overhaul for the past ten years. And today, we are happy to report that this mod is available for download.
Going into more details, Q3A-Reloaded features high resolution textures, high resolution HUD and high resolution weapon skins. It also has customized shader effects, and re-designs the console/Main Menu. Additionally, it improves weapon and item sounds, and packs some modified feedback sounds.
According to the modder, this mod works with versions 1.11-1.16n of Quake 3 Arena. The modder claims that some people were able to run this mod with 1.32, though he does not know the exact method via which you can accomplish it.
>> You can get it from ModDB.

Here are some new screenshots from the STALKER Remake in Unreal Engine 4
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/here-are-some-new-screenshots-from-the-stalker-remake-in-unreal-engine-4/
Modder ‘Ivan_Sorce’ has shared some new screenshots from his upcoming remake of the first STALKER game in Unreal Engine 4. These screenshots showcase the Rookie Village that Ivan Sorce is currently implementing in his fan remake.

GAMING NEWS

Here are all of Valve’s cancelled games, including Half-Life 3 & Left 4 Dead 3
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/here-are-all-of-valve-cancelled-games-here-are-all-of-valves-cancelled-games-including-half-life-3-left-4-dead-3/
Geoff Keighley has released Half-Life: Alyx – Final Hours on Steam. Half-Life: Alyx – Final Hours is an interactive storybook, in which Keighley has detailed all the cancelled games from Valve. These cancelled games include Half-Life 3, as well as an open-world Left 4 Dead 3 game.
>> Here's the link, if you're interested in buying it.

Microsoft Flight Simulator Closed Beta begins on July 30th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/microsoft-flight-simulator-closed-beta-begins-on-july-30th/
Microsoft has announced that the closed beta phase for Microsoft Flight Simulator will begin on July 30th. According to the team, all Alpha testers will be automatically granted access to the Closed Beta.

New developer diary for Humankind focuses on its sound design
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-developer-diary-for-humankind-focuses-on-its-sound-design/
SEGA and Amplitude Studios have released a new video in which they explore the process that has gone into creating the sound design of our upcoming historical strategy game Humankind.

Playstation Store leaks first details and release date for Far Cry 6
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/playstation-store-leaks-first-details-and-release-date-for-far-cry-6/
It appears that Playstation Store has just leaked the next part in the Far Cry series, Far Cry 6. As we’ve already reported, Far Cry 6 will feature Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito. And, according to the store, the game will come out on February 18th, 2021.

Deathground is a new multiplayer dinosaur survival horror game, heavily inspired by Alien Isolation
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/deathground-is-a-new-multiplayer-dinosaur-survival-horror-game-heavily-inspired-by-alien-isolation/
For years gamers have been asking for a Jurassic Park survival horror game. And while Universal Pictures has not announced any plans for such a game, we’ll be soon getting a game that can come as close to this as possible. Jaw Drop Games has just announced a new dinosaur survival horror game, Deathground, and below you can find its first screenshots and details.