I want one or two of them if they fix the problems.

If Microsoft can make the Xbox Mini Fridge happen, fan producers should be able to make these huge fans as side panel replacements.

For the longest time I've always wondered why cases didn't just have one massive side panel fan. The flow path wouldn't be great but the fan could run at low rpms and would be next to silent for more casual set up's. For higher end rigs, you'd want a case with a lot of mesh, top to bottom and side to side, for a large single side panel fan to work reasonably well.

In the past, before window kits were so prevalent, the ability to install some side panel fans were pretty common, and often even came pre-installed as they were bigger than what you could find on the market on the time (generally 220mm-320mm). They disappeared as they didn't do much for the cooling, and worse threw off the cooling pathways for the front-, back- and top panel fans. In some extreme cases (ha!), removing or disabling the side panel fan actually resulted in such a better airflow that the temperatures dropped.

The Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has a new sale and one returning from last week:

• The new Weekly Sale is full of "dark and atmospheric games" up to 90% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20211025_weekly_sale
• And the Fallout franchise Sale, with up to 75% discounts, will last another 24 hours: https://www.gog.com/promo/fallout_bombs_drop

Steam has two new daily deals:

• The first one is Stronghold: Warlords, 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/907650/Stronghold_Warlords/
• And the second one is Total Tank Simulator, 60% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/674500/Total_Tank_Simulator/

At Humble we find five new sales:

• At Humble Bundle we find the new Paradox Stratagems Bundle, with up to 11 games to get during the next 11 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/paradox-stratagems-bundle
• And at the Humble Store we get another 4 sales:
  • Publisher tinyBuild puts part of its games on sale, up to 34% off during the next 4 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/tinybuild-sale/
  • There's also a tinyBuild BYOB Sale, with40 titles available to build your up to 5 games bundle. And remember, the bigger the bundle, the higher the discount, up to 60% off. This sale will also last 4 days and there are keys for Steam, GOG and EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/tinybuild-byob/
  • The For Honor franchise is up to 75% off during the next 7 days. Needless to say, the keys are for UPlay: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/for-honor-franchise-sale/
  • And there's a Halloween Sale featuring up to 90% discounts during the next 7 days. There are keys for Steam, GOG, EGS, UPlay and the Rockstar thing: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/halloween-sale/

And Fanatical has three new sales:

• The new Star Deal is Dead Island Definitive Collection, 84% off during the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/dead-island-definitive-collection
• 2K Games puts its catalog up to 86% off during the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/2k-games
• And the new Scream Sale brings up to 96% discounts

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

AI voice-acting tool xVASynth gets even better at recreating videogame voices
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/ai-voice-acting-tool-xvasynth-gets-even-better-at-recreating-videogame-voices/
In January, Nat Clayton highlighted a neat tool for modders that was used to give a fan-made trailer entirely AI-synthesized voice acting. That tool is called xVASynth, and it's the work of software developer Dan Ruta, who just updated it to version 2.0.
The video above demonstrates what's new with the help of some familiar voices, recreated by AI models trained on voice data to recreate a specific character. Not perfectly, of course—they have the clipped, hurried tone that gives away synthesized speech, as well as occasional mispronunciations—but good enough for mods. You'll hear characters like Cave Johnson from Portal 2, Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite, Butch from Fallout 3, Lady Dimitrescu from Resident Evil Village, and Widowmaker from Overwatch all extolling the improvements in xVASynth 2.0.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion gets a 19GB AI-enhanced HD Texture Pack
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion-gets-a-19gb-ai-enhanced-hd-texture-pack/
Earlier this month, modder ‘Kuzja80’ released a brand new version of his AI-enhanced HD Texture Pack for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. This pack uses AI techniques in order to enhance almost all of the textures of this classic TES game.
According to the modder, this latest version brings a new quality level to the game by improving the quality details of textures. It also packs a number of optimization techniques, and removes the pixel grain effect. Additionally, it fixes the left bottom corner pixel buffer, as well as issues with “medium settings normal maps artifacts.”
>> You'll find it at Nexus Mods.

Fallout 4 Project Mojave Mod is now available in Early Access
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/fallout-4-project-mojave-mod-is-now-available-in-early-access/
Modders HcG x Grill, TheFriedturkey, C411um13 and MrColonelMustard have released an Early Access version of their passion project for Fallout 4, Project Mojave. Project Mojave is a full remake of the New Vegas strip that includes 3 functional casinos.
According to the team, this mod features a remake of roughly a quarter of the map (around Ivanpah Drylake and the I15). It also comes with 10 custom creatures, of which 3 are brand new ones. Additionally, it has 800+ brand-new remade assets and 3 player homes.
>> Head to Nexus Mods to get it.

Halo 3's been moddable for a week, so here's Dust2
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/halo-3s-been-moddable-for-a-week-so-heres-dust2/
If a game has mapping tools, the wisdom goes, you can be sure someone, somewhere, has remade Counter-Strike's Dust2 using them. That's how, after 14 years as one of the most enduring console shooters ever made, Master Chief can finally hold Bombsite B against Covenant invaders.
Last week, 343 released official modding tools for Halo 2 and 3, letting players completely rework maps, AI, gametypes and more using a suite of development tools. Given their similarity to existing tools for the original Halo, it wasn't long before folks figured out how to import custom map geometry, allowing for entirely new and original takes on Halo 3's arenas.
Or, as Redditor peakforeverthing proved, they could bring one of the most famous PC FPS arenas of all time to the flagship console shooter.

GAMING NEWS

Path of Exile: Scourge Expansion is now available on PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/path-of-exile-scourge-expansion-is-now-available-on-pc/
Grinding Gear Games has released the latest free expansion of Path of Exile, Path of Exile: Scourge. In Scourge, players must fill the Blood Crucible with the blood of your enemies then shift into an alternate Wraeclast where an apocalyptic event rages, in order to slay powerful demons and craft potent items.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider runs noticeably faster without Denuvo
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/shadow-of-the-tomb-raider-runs-noticeably-faster-without-denuvo/
A few days ago, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics removed the Denuvo anti-tamper tech from Shadow of the Tomb Raider. As such, and after some reports, we’ve decided to benchmark the game and see how it performs now that Denuvo is no longer available. And, surprisingly enough, the game now runs noticeably faster.

Dark space-shooter Chorus gets a story trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/dark-space-shooter-chorus-gets-a-story-trailer/
Deep Silver and Fishlabs Games have released the story trailer for their upcoming dark space-shooter game, Chrous. In this game, players will assume the role of ace pilot Nara; a fugitive on a quest to destroy the dark cult that created her, facing her haunted past along the way.

Here are the official PC system requirements for Age of Empires 4
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/here-are-the-official-pc-system-requirements-for-age-of-empires-4/
Microsoft and Relic have released the official PC system requirements for the new Age of Empires game, Age of Empires IV. According to the specs, the game will require 50GB of free hard-disk space, and will be using the DX12 API.
>> My poor CPU can't run it, in theory.

New official Halo Infinite campaign trailer released
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-official-halo-infinite-campaign-trailer-released/
The first campaign gameplay trailer/video for Halo: Infinite disappointed a lot of gamers back in 2020. In fact, that trailer was the reason 343 Industries and Microsoft decided to delay the game for over a year. And, here we are today, a couple of months away from the game’s release, with a brand new gameplay trailer for it.

Monday news, part two:

Valheim teases Mistlands biome and new caverns in the mountains
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/valheim-teases-mistlands-biome-and-new-caverns-in-the-mountains/
With the Hearth and Home update out, Valheim developer Iron Gate Studios is now focusing on another upcoming addition to the co-op Viking survival game. The Mistlands is the next biome that will be added to the world—Valheim currently has five biomes, and this would be the sixth of a planned nine in total—and there's been the slightest of teases today in the form of a single screenshot.

The Flame in the Flood studio joins CD Projekt to work on an 'ambitious' new game
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-flame-in-the-flood-studio-joins-cd-projekt-to-work-on-an-ambitious-new-game/
The Molasses Flood, the US-based studio behind The Flame in the Flood and Drake Hollow, is now a part of the CD Projekt Group. The studio will work "in close cooperation" with developer CD Projekt Red on an "ambitious project" based on one of CDPR's existing properties.

Darkest Dungeon 2's launch trailer is here to get you hyped about dying miserably
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/darkest-dungeon-2s-launch-trailer-is-here-to-get-you-hyped-about-dying-miserably/
Darkest Dungeon 2—one part Oregon Trail, one part Hell simulator—hits Early Access on October 26. We knew Darkest Dungeon 2 was almost ready when Red Hook announced the release date last month, but now we can feel it, thanks to the trailer above. Or feel something, anyway. Is this... dread?

Meet holo-ghouls, galactic Yeti, and a psychic octopus in surreal adventure Growbot
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/meet-holo-ghouls-galactic-yeti-and-a-psychic-octopus-in-surreal-adventure-growbot/
There's a fine line between adorable and creepy, as anyone who's played an adventure game by Amanita Design such as Machinarium or Samorost can attest. Channeling that same surreal and beautiful vibe is Growbot, a new point-and-click puzzle adventure from developer Wabisabi Play and Application Systems Heidelberg.

Activision Blizzard employees skeptical that executive who denied sexism problems can solve them
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/activision-blizzard-employees-respond-townsend/
Back in July, Activision Blizzard executive Fran Townsend told employees that California's sexism and harassment lawsuit presented a "distorted and untrue" picture of the company, a denial that didn't go over well: Her comments were part of the reason for an organized employee walkout on July 28. This week, Townsend took a more conciliatory approach in an email that one Activision Blizzard employee described to PC Gamer as "the first email from her that hasn't been overtly offensive."

Payday 3 goes to New York and the plots are going digital
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/payday-3-goes-to-new-york-and-the-plots-are-going-digital/
On a 10th anniversary stream, Payday 3 developers Overkill have given the latest look at Payday 3. The brief overview shows off some concept art and talks about the inspiration and frame for the upcoming co-op heist shooter.

Resident Evil's Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine join Fortnite in latest crossover
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/chris-redfield-jill-valentine-fortnite-resident-evil/
Much like the zombie horde in Resident Evil, Fortnite continues to swallow up characters across different franchises. The Boulder-punching Chris Redfield and Nemesis-squashing Jill Valentine, both stars of the original Resident Evil and several sequels, are officially joining the Fortnite battle royale universe alongside new cosmetic items ripped right from the survival horror series.

PSA: You can grab a free Overwatch battletag change until November 5th
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/psa-you-can-grab-a-free-overwatch-battletag-change-until-november-5th/
Through November 5, 2021 players on Battlenet can change the battletag associated with their Overwatch account for free. It's only available for the limited time through the 5th of November, and you can only grab it if you don't already have a free name change on your account.

Call of Duty marketing finds a new level of tastelessness
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/call-of-duty-marketing-finds-a-new-level-of-tastelessness/
The latest marketing push for Call of Duty: Vanguard wants you to believe its graphics are so realistic that conflict photographers can't tell the difference between the videogame and reality. "Call of Duty: Vanguard captures the epic intimacy of World War II in an incredibly immersive manner," said chief marketing officer Fernando Machado, presumably keeping a straight face.

Caves of Qud update has relaxed story mode and a coral-encrusted arcology
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/caves-of-qud-update-has-relaxed-story-mode-and-a-coral-encrusted-arcology/
Impressively large and strange roguelike Caves of Qud has a new update out on October 25, a big one adding two new regions, a new village, and a bunch of improvements for those looking to get into what can be an intimidating genre.

Indie dev finds that Linux users generate more, better bug reports
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/indie-dev-finds-that-linux-users-generate-more-better-bug-reports/
An indie developer has found an interesting observation: Though only 5.8% of his game's buyers were playing on Linux, they generated over 38% of the bug reports. Not because the Linux platform was buggier, either. Only 3 of the roughly 400 bug reports submitted by Linux users were platform specific, that is, would only happen on Linux.

One early idea for Mass Effect 3's ending involved a reaper god instead of the Star Child
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/one-early-idea-for-mass-effect-3s-ending-involved-a-reaper-god-instead-of-the-star-child/
YouTube's People Make Games asked several ex-BioWare developers who worked on Mass Effect 3 how they felt about the endings, and in particular about putting together the Extended Cut—an update that expanded on the endings and addressed some of the many complaints players had. It's a great video and worth a watch, especially for the section where it highlights the additional crunch developers had to go through to pull the Extended Cut together, after already crunching to complete Mass Effect 3.

Jagex to publish Runescape-inspired idle game Melvor Idle
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/jagex-to-publish-runescape-inspired-idle-game-melvor-idle/
Runescape developer Jagex's publishing wing has picked up a promising indie release for its Jagex Partners label, making Melvor Idle an indie no longer. The idler game, similar to games like Clicker Heroes or Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms, released on Steam last year and wears its influences from Jagex's flagship Runescape very proudly.

Rumored Smash-style crossover game to star WB characters like Shaggy, Batman, and Gandalf
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/rumored-smash-style-crossover-game-to-star-wb-characters-like-shaggy-batman-and-gandalf/
On the one hand, I'll believe it when I see it. On the other hand, something as cynical as a "Smash Warner Bros." game inspired by the Powerful Shaggy meme is exactly what I'd expect from the company responsible for Space Jam 2.

Konami delays eFootball patch to 'ensure the experience is improved' for everyone
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/konami-delays-efootball-patch-to-ensure-the-experience-is-improved-for-everyone/
Konami has delayed its upcoming patch for eFootball to "ensure the experience is improved for all of our users."
Patch 0.9.1 was originally due to arrive on October 28, following a disastrous Steam launch which led to it being the worst-reviewed game of all time on the platform. It's currently sitting at an 11% positive rating from 22,000 reviews, faring slightly better than its initial 9% positive rating in the first 24 hours.

They usually helped with GPU temps, tho. But yeah, they did little for CPU or overall case temps.

By the way, if there's someone with the cash and the intention to get one:

Save nearly $300 on this Radeon RX 6900 XT that will most definitely sell out by the end of the day
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/asrock-amd-rx-6900-xt-graphics-card-deal/
Newegg has a got a sale (and stock) on an ASRock OC Formula Radeon RX 6900 XT for $1630. This one-day sale is slashing $200 off its list of $1900 then shaving off another $70 thanks to promo code GW42AAZA9283 you can apply at checkout. 

I think what's more important is that Newegg actually has stock on these cards. Enough so that they are limited to 10 per customer, which seems a bit much. But hey, if you're looking to score a GPU for yourself and your entire household, now might be the time. If you don't believe me at how sought-after these cards are just look at the screenshot below. 

The article was published 33 minutes ago, so they're probably sold out. But it's worth to check it, just in case.

Apple's M1 Pro, M1 Max SoCs Investigated: New Performance and Efficiency Heights

https://www.anandtech.com/show/17024/apple-m1-max-performance-review

So CPU wise, it's insane! A laptop CPU is able to keep up with a Desktop 5950x in synthetics. But GPU wise, while in certain synthetic benchmarks, it's able to keep up with a 3080 mobile, in real world gaming, it's slower than a 3060 laptop GPU. Technically it's not running Native as Rosetta 2 is being used but I wouldn't expect Native to be too much different in terms of gaming performance. So as I predicted, due to all the media accelerators built into M1, for productivity, it's inane. But for gaming, skip but Apple isn't targeting gamers with this to begin with.

Older CPU Coolers Might Have Mounting & Pressure Distribution Issues With Intel’s Alder Lake Desktop CPUs

https://wccftech.com/older-cpu-coolers-might-have-mounting-pressure-distribution-issues-with-intels-alder-lake-desktop-cpus/

AMD Zen 3 3D-Vache Ryzen CPUs Enter Mass Production Next Month & Zen 3 B2 Stepping Available End of December, Alleges Rumor

https://wccftech.com/amd-zen-3-3d-vache-ryzen-cpus-enter-mass-production-next-month-zen-3-b2-stepping-available-end-of-december-alleges-rumor/

The main thing to understand about Apple's M1 is that it's a very specialist SoC. While in the CPU benchmarks, you look at it and it's able to keep up with a desktop 5950x, in the gaming tests, here's this note in the review:

"Digging deeper, there are a couple of factors in play here. First and foremost, the M1 Max in particular is CPU limited at 1080p; the x86-to-Arm translation via Rosetta is not free, and even though Apple’s CPU cores are quite powerful, they’re hitting CPU limitations here."

So on one hand, it's about to keep up with a 5950x yet on the other hand, it's hitting CPU limitations so quickly under gaming? Again technically under Rosetta 2 which is their translation layer but one would think with desktop levels of CPU performance, it would be able to brute force through it as many other productivity applications that are CPU intensive, it's able to keep up with x86 even when going through Rosetta.

I think that overall, this is a case where in certain situations, M1 is indeed able to keep up with a 5950x because of all of it's special additions to it's SoC such as media accelerators from Apple. But when it comes to more generalized computing such as with gaming, x86 CPUs starts showing their advantages. Still it's hard to deny it's efficiency.

Age of Empires IV Reviews are out

https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/age-of-empires-iv

So far 83