I am not denying that a CPU with more threads will age better than a CPU with less threads. I have said that a few times already in other posts. The question is whether or not it's actually worth it for budget minded people and to me, I still don't see it as both the i5 and i7 are sub 60fps in Shadow of Tomb Raider but granted the i7 is closer to 60. It's basically a scenario where both aren't ideal for gaming, just the i5 is less ideal than the i7.

The i5 2500k still plays games much better than PS4/X1 despite having half the cores which was the point of my reply to Conina so that hasn't changed as PS4/X1 doesn't play Shadow of Tomb Raider and other games using the same settings as PC ultra.

I think people pay too much attention to CPU's (for gaming) nowadays when most should just focus of the GPU. Most modern entry level desktop CPU's are fast enough for gaming without holding GPU's back. As in, if you look at benchmarks (at non silly low resolutions) the majority of titles are GPU limited; especially when you factor in RT and other expensive compute being implemented in more and more in engines. Like even with the 3090Ti there's little difference in gaming performance between the 'low' mid tier of lets say 5600/12400 highest end SKU's.

Of course a 8 core is going to last longer than a 6, but it won't be a factor in this generation or the next of CPU and GPUs. And instead we should be looking at the next generation of consoles, and realistically.. even then we're looking at another 5+ years until a PS6 and Xbox (?), at which our Zen 3/ADL CPU's would have ages a bit and which time a considerable amount of PC gamers/enthusiasts would probably would looking for an upgrade by then.

Btw if we're looking at CPU performance for consoles, the closest CPU's on desktop is probably the 2700X (in single core and multi) and that's been long superseded by modern 6 core CPU's. At least in single core performance.. which is bigger factor for 3D rendering. Looking at aggregate data from reviewers we can see how SC scales with 3D performance throughout the generations; down to the latest architectures like Alderlake, not to mention things like cache sizes etc.

Since the CPUs are Zen 2, I would more closely compare them to an undervolted, underclocked 3700X, which is essentially what it is in the end. Even with their lowered speed, a 2700X simply wouldn't cut it as comparison, the jump from Zen+ to Zen 2 was too big for that.

And yes, a 5600 trumps a 2700X in pretty much every single metric, but for longevity, I would still prefer having those 2 extra cores from the 5700X if I were to build a PC now. As games have started to become better at core utilization, I don't think it would be a waste a couple years down the line.

Is 5700x the apu in Series X/Pes5?

@Bofferbrauer2 Idk the PS5 and XSX APU's only has 8MB L3 cache (4MB per CCX) which will limit performance somewhat compared to Zen 2 on desktop. Take Zen+ 2600X though to 2700X have 16MB L3 (8MB per CCX). Zen 2 3600X-3800X have 32MB L3 with 16MB per CCX. Its probably somewhere in between for 3D gaming performance when factoring in architectural improvements and IPC. We have synthetics as well to by from consoles defunct chips, with the 4700S.

But even so I can't see 6 core being a limitation in any time soon. Saying that, idd.. buying new a octocore CPU is probably a good bet if you plan to keep your system for longer. I just don't think its necessary for gamers unless you're shooting for ultra high fps in modern games and playing competitively in esports titles. And/or doing some streaming.

Nah it has a 4700S which is the literal CPU taken out of a PS5.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-4700s-desktop-kit-review-ps5-cpu/6

Don't pay much attention to the gaming benchmarks though, it's heavily limited by it's pci-e gen 2 interface.

NVIDIA Allegedly Begins Testing Its Fastest Next-Gen GPU, The AD102, For GeForce RTX 4090 Graphics Card, Features 24 Gbps GDDR6X Memory

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4090-ad102-gpu-graphics-card-testing-begins-24-gbps-gddr6x-rumor/

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti memory pushed over 24 Gbps, 1.1 TB/s bandwidth

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3090-ti-memory-pushed-over-24-gbps-1-1-tb-s-bandwidth

The new mining king...

AYANEO to launch world’s thinnest Windows OLED handheld gaming console

https://videocardz.com/newz/ayaneo-to-launch-worlds-thinnest-windows-oled-handheld-gaming-console

It's about time these things start coming with RDNA 2

[Rumour] AMD Radeon RX 6950XT/6750XT/6650XT graphics cards are expected to replace existing models

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-6950xt-6750xt-6650xt-graphics-cards-are-expected-to-replace-existing-models

Assuming they stick to the same price as original MSRP, having a higher memory bandwidth and clocks would be a nice improvement

Arctic confirms its CPU coolers are compatible with AMD “Ryzen 7000” series for AM5 socket

https://videocardz.com/press-release/arctic-confirms-its-cpu-coolers-are-compatible-with-amd-ryzen-7000-series-for-am5-socket

Laptop IGP Gaming Battle: Ryzen 6000's RDNA 2 vs 12th-Gen's Iris Xe In 15 Games

Iris gets killed

The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam has several new deals, including the weeklong deals:

• The first daily deal is Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition, 70% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1042550/Digimon_Story_Cyber_Sleuth_Complete_Edition/
• The second daily deal is RUNNING WITH RIFLES, that has a demo, with an 80% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/270150/RUNNING_WITH_RIFLES/
• The first Midweek Madness deal is the Introversion Complete Bundle, featuring 5 games with a 90% discount until Thursday: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/1905/Introversion_Complete_Bundle/
• Aliens: Fireteam Elite will be 50% off until Friday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1549970/Aliens_Fireteam_Elite/
• The Little Nightmares franchise features between 50 and 75% discounts until the 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/LittleNightmaresFranchiseSale
• Publisher Gamera Games celebrates its 4th anniversary with up to 80% discounts until April 25: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/gameragame4th
• Holdfast: Nations At War will be 65% off until May the 2nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/589290/Holdfast_Nations_At_War/
• And here are some of the weeklong deals:
  • The first one is INDUSTRIA, 25% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1172650/INDUSTRIA/
  • Dungeons of Dreadrock will be 40% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1896880/Dungeons_of_Dreadrock/
  • Annalynn gets a 50% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1508460/Annalynn/
  • Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition is 70% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/321800/Icewind_Dale_Enhanced_Edition/
  • And the last one is Emily is Away Too, with an 80% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/523780/Emily_is_Away_Too/

The Humble Store has three new sales:

• The first one is a Funcom Publisher Sale, featuring up to 60% discounts during 6 days. All the keys are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/funcom-publisher-sale/
• The Kalypso Publisher Week brings up to 80% discounts for 6 days. The keys are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/kalypso-publisher-week/
• And the Racing Sale comes with up to 90% discounts during 6 days. There are keys for Steam, GOG, EGS and UPlay: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/racing-sale/

Fanatical has two new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Mortal Shell, 52% off during the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/mortal-shell
• And the new Guardian Bundle 7 features 8 games with a 95% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/guardian-bundle-7

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Nothing-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Fallout 4 mod replaces Pip-Boy with itty bitty diary
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/fallout-4-mod-replaces-pip-boy-with-itty-bitty-diary/
It's easy to spot a Vault Dweller in the wasteland—just look for the big, clunky computer strapped to their forearm. But if you've played through Fallout 4 a few times and want to look at something different when you check the map or organize your inventory, or if you want to roleplay a character who never lived in a Vault, here's a fun new option.
Rather than clamping a Pip-Boy to your arm, the Dear Pip-Boy mod replaces the familiar personal computer with a small hand-held diary. Instead of poking buttons to visit different sections of the menu, the itty bitty diary has pages you can flip through. The little hand-written tabs for stats, inventory, data, and map add to the feel that it's a small paper journal instead of a computer, something you might keep stuffed in your back pocket when you're not holding it. Naturally, the paper diary still functions just like your Pip-Boy, and there are animations when it comes to Vault Boy and other elements of the menu.

You can make 'Let Me Solo Her' your spirit sidekick with this mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/you-can-make-let-me-solo-her-your-spirit-sidekick-with-this-mod/
"Let Me Solo Her," Elden Ring's legendary player of the moment, is just a person. He can't spread himself across everyone's own Elden Ring session to defeat Malenia, Blade of Miquella all at once. He needs a break sometimes, a minute to lift that pot off his head and rest before the next naked battle against one of the hardest bosses in the game. Thanks to modder Garden of Eyes, you can summon a Spirit Ash clone of 'Let Me Solo Her' to help you with any boss at any time, no additional humans required.
Garden of Eyes' mod requires you to enter their $5 Patreon tier for at least one month to download it. If you do, it replaces the Lone Wolf Ashes that you receive from Renna in the Church of Elleh or the Twin Maiden Husks in Roundtable Hold. In their place is the custom Spirit Ash summon item for the man that's been carrying Elden Ring players for the last week—and he won't peace out like imposter players that carry the same name do. It works just like Spirit Ash summons do. You can summon him whenever the little grave icon appears on your screen.

GAMING NEWS

Elden Ring Update 1.04 released, adds option to disable camera auto rotate, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/elden-ring-update-1-04-released-adds-option-to-disable-camera-auto-rotate-full-patch-notes/
One of our biggest gripes with Elden Ring was the automatic re-centering of the camera. Thankfully for PC gamers, a mod came out last month that disabled it. As with most mods, though, it was only for Offline gameplay. And today, we are happy to report that FromSoftware has released a new patch that addresses this annoying issue.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Title Update 1.5.1 is 12GB on PC, Full Release Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/assassins-creed-valhalla-title-update-1-5-1-is-12gb-on-pc-full-release-notes/
Ubisoft will release today Title Update 1.5.1 for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. This patch is 12GB on PC, will go live at 12PM UTC/GMT, and you can find below its complete changelog.
>> Why are the updates of Ubisoft games so damn big?

Dark Souls-inspired indie game, Project Relic, gets new gameplay video
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/dark-souls-inspired-indie-game-project-relic-gets-new-gameplay-video/
Project Cloud Games has released a new gameplay video from its upcoming Dark Souls-inspired game, Project Relic. Project Relic is a third-person action RPG that currently targets a 2023 release date.

DayZ Update 1.17 released, adds new control settings, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/dayz-update-1-17-released-adds-new-control-settings-full-patch-notes/
Bohemia Interactive has released a brand new update for DayZ. According to the devs, Update 1.17 focuses primarily on accessibility and crafting. However, it also offers an expanded selection of civilian firearms and a handful of tweaks to certain features.

Tuesday news, part two:

Blizzard president Mike Ybarra says it is not making an NFT game
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/blizzard-president-says-its-not-making-an-nft-game/
Following a weekend report of a survey indicating that Activision Blizzard is looking into developing NFT-based games, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra took to Twitter to say, unequivocally, that it's not happening.

This week's Battlefield 2042 update adds voice chat, hundreds of fixes and tweaks
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/battlefield-2042-voice-chat-update/
Battlefield 2042 is finally getting voice chat this week, as well as somewhere around 400 tweaks, bug fixes, and balance changes. The VOIP update will be downloadable at 8 am UTC on Tuesday, which is 1 am Pacific, 4 am Eastern, and 9 am in the UK. There is no server downtime planned.

Elden Ring PSA: If someone drops panties in your game, don't pick them up
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/elden-ring-psa-if-someone-drops-panties-in-your-game-dont-pick-them-up/
Quick heads-up: If someone pops into your Elden Ring game, drops a pair of skimpy skivvies on the ground, and then dips, do not—repeat, do not—pick them up. Multiple people are reporting in the Elden Ring subreddit that they have been banned from regular online play after claiming the discarded tighty-whities as their own.
>> In short: don't be a perv and you'll be fine.

Halo Infinite players figure out how to see personal MMR
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/halo-infinite-players-figure-out-how-to-see-personal-mmr/
MMR—matchmaking rating—is essentially a measure of skill used to ensure fair matchups in multiplayer games: Putting together players with similar MMR helps avoid the vicious beatdowns that can occur as a result of randomized matchups through server browsers. It's not something that games typically display to players—actual MMR ratings are often invisible data points that exist behind the scenes—but a group of Halo fans recently figured out how to track individual player MMR in Halo Infinite, and discovered how playing the game in casual modes can actually wreak havoc on your ranked experience.

Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio to return in 'big-budget' reboots, report says
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/crazy-taxi-and-jet-set-radio-to-return-in-big-budget-reboots-report-says/
Garish colours, The Offspring, kerrr-razehhh voices, and the vibrant final years of coin-op arcades before they went Supernova and made way for the inky emo blackness of the early 2000s. Sega's cool and comicky driving and rollerblading games Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio were symbols of this innocent time, and now it looks like they're circling back round for new outings.
According to a report by Bloomberg, new entries in the Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio series will mark the start of Sega's 'Super Game' project, which will eventually entail around four games, one of which we know will be a first-person shooter. The Crazy Taxi game is already in development, and expected to come out in the next two to three years.
>> Ryuu96 (who else could it be?), has made a thread about this rumor.

Roblox game claiming to have Kim Kardashian's sex tape was discovered by her son
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/roblox-game-claiming-to-have-kim-kardashians-sex-tape-was-discovered-by-her-son/
Roblox has banned a developer following an episode of The Kardashians which showed Kim Kardashian's son discovering a game that claimed to contain a new sex tape featuring the reality star.

Spellcraft is a new 'hero collecting' strategy game from Blizzard and ArenaNet veterans
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/spellcraft-is-a-new-hero-collecting-strategy-game-from-blizzard-and-arenanet-veterans/
If you're going to pitch me a multiverse game in 2022, where heroes from different worlds are thrown together into some kind of battleground, one of those heroes better be a sentient car. This is my new line in the sand: I've had enough of wizards and commandos. Give me Benny the foul-mouthed cab from Roger Rabbit if you want me to pay attention.
This new philosophy worked for me with Spellcraft, a new strategy game from a small studio founded by longtime Blizzard programmer (and ArenaNet co-founder) Patrick Wyatt: 30 seconds into the teaser trailer I saw a car with giant wrenches for hands and immediately wanted to know more.

A bit of an interesting video that popped up in my recommendations list

They test out a few old cards to see how they stack up when trying to run modern games. Most of those GPUs shat the bed but then they got to the AMD 380X and found some interesting results. See AMD stopped releasing official driver updates for the RX 380X despite having a modern GPU feature set and plenty of Vram. So when they tried running a bunch of games, most of them worked pretty well but there were a few games that they couldn't get to run properly... However... They got community made open-source drivers and gave it a go and boom, the games that were unplayable, they were able to play.

But the funny thing is, you look at the Nvidia camp... They released the 900 series around the same time and guess what. Those GPUs are still being supported officially by Nvidia. So if you bought AMD GPUs back then cause of their future promises of more Vram being better and such, the irony is that Nvidia continues to deliver official drivers while if you bought an AMD GPU back then, you will be stuck with a GPU that struggles to play more and more games. And your only hope is to rely on the open source community to do AMD's job for them which could also have security holes or exploits.