It feels like Intel went to the same school of pricing as Radeon where they could price their products to be really competitive but instead, outside of one or two products, the rest of the line up looks meh-awful.

If Intel priced the i9 11900k around $450, then the i7 11700k around $350, they really would be the go to CPU for anything below a 5900x which is the biggest CPU market out there. Instead you have an i5 where the pricing is really good, an i7 where the pricing is pretty meh and an i9 where the pricing is terrible. And then you look at their 10th gen street price, it's like. You either go AMD or you 10th gen if you want high end Intel for a good price.

I think Intel are trying sticking to their premium product image. Pay top end and get top end. If Intel lowers it price, it will be seen as the lesser product, especially to the less techy people. Those in the know will buy the i5's for cost/performace or higher end Ryzen for if you need a PC for productivity or better all round performance. However, bad for them since Ryzen is cleaning now up in the DIY space - whats left of it.

But yeah it seems like Rocketlake is a stop-gap for Intel, 10nm didn't work out as planned so they backported to 14nm fabs. They needed to launch RKL and price it accordingly since its R&D cost would be high and ROI (on this architecture) would low for its short lifespan.

@Chazore Cheers dude. Will look at getting ME remaster on Steam and fingers crossed it doesn't require jumping through hoops to play it.

Hopefully that type of mentality doesn't cost Intel in the long run as the casuals that are looking to buy a PC often do ask the most techy people they know for recommendations. While Intel does have a good buffer zone thanks to their reputation and contacts, if Alder Lake doesn't beat Zen 4, I'd say it's time for them to rethink their market position.

Considering Rocket Lake is about 30% larger than Comet Lake despite having 2 less cores, they had to unless they wanted to reduce their margins, which the investors wouldn't have liked at all.

They should have just refreshed Comet Lake... But pushed more core counts to every tier.
I.E:
Core i3 at 6 cores rather than 4.
Core i5 at 8 cores rather than 6.
Core i7 at 10 cores rather than 8.

And then made a 12-core chip for the Core i9.

Increase clocks by 100mhz-200mhz and it would have been far more compelling than what we have today.

I agree. But it's probable Intel hoped thy could get more out of Ice Lake when produced in 14nm and I think here too investors were getting restless, so they had to switch architecture for them.

Guys, remember the PC I was going to build for my father? Well, yesterday I went to talk with him about that and, while checking his current PC, I found out that he only has 4GB of RAM, and it occurred to me that this could be his biggest bottleneck. And he's all for giving it a try and have some time to save money to get a better PC later on with a bigger budget.

Now, the problem is that his PC still uses DDR3 memory so it's a gamble, if it works, then great, but if it doesn't, it would have been wasted money.

So, what do you think? Would you give it a try? And if so, would you go for 8 or jump straight to 16GB?

If it doesn't you can sell the RAM without much loss, can't you?

Or keep it two or three decades and sell it with profit to retro fans

Hey, look. It's the Monday news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

1. OUTRIDERS.
2. It Takes Two.
3. Forza Horizon 4.
4. Sea of Thieves.
5. Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition.
6. Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
7. Valheim.
8. Valve Index VR Kit.
9. Euro Truck Simulator 2 - Iberia.
10. The Binding of Isaac: Repentance.

GOG has a new sale and also a new release:

• The new Weekly Sale features games from publisher Mangagamer with up to 70% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/mangagamer_week
• And the game Broken Reality launches with a 66% discount until April 19: https://www.gog.com/game/broken_reality

Steam has two new daily deals:

• Nebuchadnezzar is 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1157220/Nebuchadnezzar/
• And the VR ONLY title Eleven Table Tennis is 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/488310/Eleven_Table_Tennis/

The Humble Store has three new sales:

• The Build & Destroy Sale features up to 80% discounts during the next 4 days. Almost all the keys are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/build-and-destroy-sale/
• The Detective Hamble Sale comes with up to 90% discounts during the next 4 days. The keys are for Steam and GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/detective-sale/
• And the Walkabout Publisher Sale comes with up to 80% discounts during the next 11 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/walkabout-games-sale/

And Fanatical has two new deals:

• The new Star Deal is part of the ongoing S-E Sale, Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration is 83% off during t he next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-20-year-celebration
• And the new Tower Defense Bundle Reloaded comes with 3 games and 2 DLCs with a 90% discounts during the next 14 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/tower-defense-bundle-reloaded

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This mod brings Resident Evil Village’s Lady Dimitrescu to Fallout 4
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/this-mod-brings-resident-evil-villages-lady-dimitrescu-to-fallout-4/
Lady Dimitrescu has immediately won the Internet and we can expect to see her coming to other games via mods. So, the first mod for this female vampire is for Fallout 4.
Created by modder Vtaw, this mod brings an outfit based on Resident Evil Village’s Lady Dimitrescu. The main file of this mod comes with pre-made meshes that look as close as possible to Lady Dimitrescu.
Furthermore, the dress uses stock Fallout 4 physics, so don’t expect Skyrim like HDT-SMP physics.
>> Available from Nexus Mods.

This Skyrim mod adds new quest & lets you explore the entire Valenwood
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/this-skyrim-mod-adds-new-quest-lets-you-explore-the-entire-valenwood/
Modder ‘theblackfist’ released a pretty cool mod for Skyrim Special Edition. Assault on Valenwood is 2.6GB in size, adds a new quest, and lets you explore the entire province of Valenwood.
In this mod, players will team up with the Imperial assault forces as they and their allies travel within Valenwood, taking the province back city by city. The native Bosmer and Khajiit populations will also join your cause.
Do note that this mod requires Skyrim SE version 1.5.73 and up, and all of its DLCs.
>> You can get it from Nexus Mods.

Typing of the Dead mod immortalizes 'how girl get pregant' and other classic Yahoo! Answers
https://www.pcgamer.com/typing-of-the-dead-mod-immortalizes-how-girl-get-pregant-and-other-classic-yahoo-answers/
When Yahoo! shuts down Yahoo! Answers on May 4th, a truly irreplaceable collection of human knowledge—and comedy—will be lost forever. Yahoo! Answers gave us deep reflections of the human experience by providing the platform for questions like "How is babby formed?" and "I saw a man so beautiful I started crying?" and "does spider have pusspuss?"
Thousands of messages as confusing and brilliant and hilarious as these will disappear next month, but at least 500 of them will be enshrined somewhere they will last forever: in a mod for 2013's The Typing of the Dead: Overkill.
Typing of the Dead is a spin-off of Sega's 1996 light gun shooter The House of the Dead. Instead of pointing a gun at an arcade screen, you type in words and phrases like "Unicorns" and "To thine own self" to blast the undead running at your screen. It's maybe the best idea anyone has ever had for a videogame. For years, Twitter account YahooAnswers.txt has been tweeting random quotes from the bowels of Yahoo! Answers, and now they've assembled the best of the best as a new dictionary for The Typing of the Dead on Steam. Using the RIP Yahoo Answers mod is as simple as clicking the Subscribe button.

This Witcher 3 quest mod ties up one of its loose ends
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-witcher-3-quest-mod-ties-up-one-of-its-loose-ends/
The Blood and Wine expansion finishes off The Witcher 3 in a satisfying way, leaving Geralt to enjoy his semi-retirement in a Toussaint winery. But there are always loose ends, and a quest mod called A Night to Remember aims to tie up one of them.
Remember Orianna? Spoilers for the events of Blood and Wine, which you'll need to have finished if you want to play A Night to Remember: she's the vampire Geralt uncovers and then spares, vowing that if he ever sees her again he'll finish what he started. That's the story this quest mod tells, complete with "new writing, cutscenes, voice acting, assets, a special reward, and some difficult decisions" according to its description.

Kingdom Hearts 3 gets a Thomas the Tank Engine mod, of course
https://www.pcgamer.com/kingdom-hearts-3-gets-a-thomas-the-tank-engine-mod-of-course/
Thomas the Tank Engine must have a mighty long CV these days. From being Monster Hunter's newest Elder Dragon to transforming into a giant train snake, plonking old Tommy into videogames is just a rite of passage at this point. With Kingdom Hearts 3 mods starting to trickle in over the last week, it's only natural that the train has now ventured into the Disney/Final Fantasy mashup.
Modder calebsmores has replaced the tram that circles around Twilight Town with a slightly terrifying rendition of the Tank Engine—his glowing eyes have stared straight into my soul, letting me know he's most definitely flattened a Disney princess or two in his lifetime. It's just a model and texture replacement, so don't expect the theme tune or any ear-splitting whistles.
>> If you're interested, you'll find it at Nexus Mods.

GAMING NEWS

The Day Before gets an official gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/the-day-before-gets-an-official-gameplay-trailer/
Fntastic and Mytona have released the first official gameplay trailer for The Day Before. The Day Before is set in a deadly, post-pandemic America overrun by flesh-hungry infected and survivors killing each other for food, weapons, and cars.
>> The video is almost 14 minutes long.

Outriders April 9th Update released, restores cross-play, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/outriders-april-9th-update-released-restores-cross-play-full-patch-notes/
People Can Fly has released a new update for Outriders that restores cross-play across PS4, PS5 and PC. As such, PC gamers can now play alongside their Playstation friends. People Can Fly is working with Microsoft for the Xbox patch, which will restore cross-play with its platforms once it goes live.

Here is how you can play TimeSplitters 2 HD on PC via Homefront: The Revolution
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/here-is-how-you-can-play-timesplitters-2-hd-on-pc-via-homefront-the-revolution/
Now here is one of the best easter eggs we’ve ever seen in a game. In case you didn’t know, Dambuster Studios added an HD remaster of TimeSplitters 2 in Homefront: The Revolution. And below you can find a guide via which you can play all of its levels on PC.

2K Games announces WWE 2K22, releases first in-engine teaser trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/2k-games-announces-wwe-2k22-releases-first-in-engine-teaser-trailer/
2K Games has just announced the next part in its WWE 2K series, WWE 2K22. Although there isn’t any release date (or platforms for which it will come out), the publisher released its first in-engine teaser trailer.

New Battlefield 6 leak; reveal trailer info, 128-player map & more
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/new-battlefield-6-leak-reveal-trailer-info-128-player-map-more/
Tom Henderson, a well-known Battlefield and Call of Duty leaker, has shared some new details about Battlefield 6. According to the leaker, the Battlefield 2021 (which we’ll be calling BF6) reveal trailer will show off a desert island map.