AMD will bring 2 different sockets to the market for Epyc, SP5 for high-end servers, and SP6 for low-power servers.

While SP5 can go the full 400W and 96 Genoa/128 Bergamo cores, SP6 will be limited to 225W and 32 Genoa/64 Bergamo cores. It also comes with just 6 memory channels, half of what SP5 will bring.

While this is supposedly for low-power servers, I hope AMD will bring this socket to the desktop too, as it would be a great HEDT platform, a market the Threadripper has now outgrown. Zen 2 Threadripper is EOL right now and these look like a more viable replacement to those chips, as Zen 3 Threadripper has gotten too big and too powerful for most customers, hence why AMD made them pure OEM Workstation chips.

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-sp6-socket-for-next-gen-zen4-epyc-series-has-been-pictured-same-size-as-sp3

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-preps-sp6-socket-for-lower-power-epyc-genoa-cpus

The Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

GOG has a range of new and old sales going on:

• The returning sales are: last week's Weekly Sale (up to 90%), Slitherine (up to 80%), Stellaris (up to 75%) and the Weekend Sale (up to 90%). All of them will end in 7 hours.
• The 505 Games Sale with its up to 90% discounts will also last until the end of tomorrow: https://www.gog.com/partner/505_Games
• The first flash deal is Planetbase, 45% off during 46 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/planetbase
• The second flash deal is The Bard's Tale IV: Director's Cut - Standard Edition, 60% off until Wednesday: https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_bards_tale_iv_directors_cut_standard_edition
• The third and last flash deal is Pine, with an 85% discount until the 18th: https://www.gog.com/en/game/pine
• And the new Weekly Sale brings up to 75% discounts until the end of next Monday: https://www.gog.com/promo/20220516_weekly_sale

Steam has two new deals:

• The new daily deal is Breathedge, 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/738520/Breathedge/
• And Call of Cthulhu will be 60% off until May 22: https://store.steampowered.com/app/399810/Call_of_Cthulhu/

The Humble Store's Spring Sale will last another 8 days. Check out a new Flash Sale in a couple of hours.

And at Fanatical, with the May Madness Sale going on, we have a new Star Deal is CODE VEIN, 79% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/code-vein.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Quixel showcases an impressive Unreal Engine 5 Demo Reel
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/quixel-showcases-an-impressive-unreal-engine-5-demo-reel/
Quixel, the team behind Megascans, has shared a video, showcasing what is possible with Epic’s latest engine, Unreal Engine 5. In just ninety days, Quixel’s artists have created over 40 distinctly stunning environments.
The results are quite stunning and show what artists and developers can easily achieve with Unreal Engine 5. Quixel has also shared some high-quality screenshots that show better these environments. And, as you can see, pretty much all of them look incredible.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

New The Witcher 3 Mod restores cut content/features
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-the-witcher-3-mod-restores-cut-content-features/
Modder ‘Tinnaib’ has released a pretty cool mod for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt that restores some cut content/features. To be more precise, this mod restores a Buffed Monster Tracker (it also restores and adds new monster icons), as well as some Minimap Options.
Going into more details, the Buffed Monster Tracker displays CDPR’s logic, showing on the minimap when and which monster is supposed to be buffed.
This mod also restores an option to turn 24hr clock format, and weather indicators in the minimap. Moreover, it restores icons for Noonwraith, Nightwraith, Wraith, Werewolf, Alghoul, Ice Giant.
As said, the mod also adds some new icons. Thus, you can expect new icons for Drowner, Rotfiend, Grave Hag, Water Hag, Hound of the Wild Hunt and Ice Troll.

Mass Effect 2 Legendary Edition gets a must-have Unofficial Patch
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/mass-effect-2-legendary-edition-gets-a-must-have-unofficial-patch/
Team Pyjak has released a must-have unofficial bugfix patch for Mass Effect 2 Legendary Edition. This unofficial patch fixes numerous bugs and issues, and we highly recommend downloading it.
This mod is fully localized in all officially supported LE languages, both audio and text. Additionally, it restores some cut content from the game.

Zelda Ocarina of Time Remake in Unreal Engine 4 now supports co-op mode
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/zelda-ocarina-of-time-remake-in-unreal-engine-4-now-supports-co-op-mode/
Last month, we informed you about a new version of the Zelda Ocarina of Time Fan Remake in Unreal Engine 4. And today, CryZENx shared a new video, showcasing its latest build in co-op mode.
According to CryZENx, players can play co-op from the Kokiri forest until beating Gohma. And, as we can see from this video, it appears that this co-op mode works pretty well.

Go adventuring with your favorite Elden Ring NPCs and Bosses with this mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/go-adventuring-with-your-favorite-elden-ring-npcs-and-bosses-with-this-mod/
A pretty slick mod for Elden Ring turns some of the fan-favorite bosses and NPCs into summonable companions, tweaking the range of areas where you can summon a spirit so that they become Skyrim-style followers rather than occasional allies like the default spirit ashes.
So if you've ever wanted characters like Melina, Sellen, Millicent, Ranni, or Blaidd the Half-Wolf to hang out with you as you tromp about the lands between, well, now's your time. Rebalancing and empowering these characters in unique ways, modder Satoshi98 has given them behaviors and powers more appropriate to the general Elden Ring experience rather than how they appear otherwise, and they don't have the glow of spirit ash summons either.

The D64ifier Mod makes all the classic Doom games look like Doom 64
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/the-d64ifier-mod-makes-all-the-classic-doom-games-look-like-doom-64/
Doom 64 fans, here is something special for you today. Cryonaut has shared a new version of The D64ifier, a mod that attempts to make all the classic Doom games look like Doom 64.
The D64ifier supports Doom, Doom II, Final Doom, No Rest for the Living, and most other vanilla mapsets. As such, you can basically transform these classic shooters, and make them more atmospheric (that is of course if you are fans of Doom 64’s visuals).
Going into more details, Cryonaut released new versions of the Core Module, the Monster Module and a new High-Resolution Texture Pack. The Texture Pack, which is optional, contains every D64ifier texture, upscaled to 400%, along with matching specular maps and normal maps.

GAMING NEWS

Take a look at Radical Entertainment’s canceled Scarface 2 game
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/take-a-look-at-radical-entertainments-canceled-scarface-2-game/
In the mid/late 00s, Radical Entertainment was working on a sequel to Scarface: The World Is Yours, Scarface 2. And while this game was canceled in 2009, we can finally get a look at some early artworks and screenshots from it.

New gameplay trailer released for the Dark Souls-inspired game, Project Relic
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-gameplay-trailer-released-for-the-dark-souls-inspired-game-project-relic/
Last month, Project Cloud Games released a gameplay video for its upcoming Dark Souls-inspired game, Project Relic. Due to some weird camera angles, though, a lot of players criticized it. Surprisingly enough, this forced the developers to take that video down, and release a brand new gameplay trailer.

Monday news, the second part:

Rockstar is remaking Max Payne 3's soundtrack
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/rockstar-is-remaking-max-payne-3s-soundtrack/
I was, and remain, very excited by the news that Remedy is remaking Max Payne 1 and 2. I was also immediately hopeful that the excellent but underappreciated Max Payne 3 would get some love, too—a less likely prospect given that it was developed by Rockstar and remains in its hands, but I am nothing if not an optimist. Today my wish came at least partially true, sort of: To mark the 10th anniversary of Max Payne 3, Rockstar has announced that it is updating and re-releasing the game's soundtrack.

Datamined content suggests Elden Ring almost had Covenants like Dark Souls
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/datamined-content-suggests-elden-ring-almost-had-covenants-like-dark-souls/
Elden Ring dataminer and PvP content creator StrayKurtis recently shared a screenshot of unused messages from Elden Ring which imply the game's various factions may once have had more formal membership and progression.

Repair your escape pod or die trying in this tense space survival sim
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/repair-your-escape-pod-or-die-trying-in-this-tense-space-survival-sim/
In space, no one can hear you flip through a 35-page technical manual looking for an error code before you asphyxiate to death. But that's what you'll have to do to survive Tin Can: It's a first-person survival simulation game where you, a space janitor, have to bail out of an exploding space station in an escape pod, and then somehow keep yourself alive in the extreme hazards of outer space.

Genshin Impact maker reveals its new game, beta signups are now open
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/genshin-impact-maker-reveals-its-new-game-beta-signups-are-now-open/
The new game from the creators of Genshin Impact has been unveiled as Zenless Zone Zero, an action-RPG set in the last outpost of civilization following a world-ending calamity.

Konami just had its best-ever year, thanks to games you've never heard of
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/konami-just-had-its-best-ever-year-thanks-to-games-youve-never-heard-of/
Konami has announced that its last financial year (April 2021—March 2022) was the most profitable in the company's history by a huge distance. The Japanese publisher's operating profit was ¥74.4 billion, which translates to roughly $577 million USD, and its net profit was ¥54.8 billion or about $425 million.
Despite the perception among some that Konami doesn't make games anymore and is basically a pachinko business, the financial results show that the opposite is the case. What is true, however, is that many of Konami's biggest successes either don't come to the West, or largely go under the radar outside of their captive audiences.

Robocop—the original, good one—comes to Fortnite
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/robocopthe-original-good-onecomes-to-fortnite/
Robocop, the horrific cyborg creation of a rapacious mega-corp seeking to impose its will on the sick, crumbling remains of a capitalist empire, is the latest pop culture icon to make its way to Fortnite.

After 40 years, the creator of one of gaming's first female protagonists has been found
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/after-40-years-the-creator-of-one-of-gamings-first-female-protagonists-has-been-found/
Van Mai, creator of one of the first female protagonists in videogame history, has been found and interviewed by gaming historians Kate Willært and Kevin Bunch. Mai had left the games industry shortly after completing her first project, leaving historians and enthusiasts struggling to find her when the importance of her contribution was fully realized years later.
In 1982, Texas-based developer Apollo released a game called Wabbit for the Atari 2600 (also known as the Video Computer System or VCS). Wabbit is a shooter where you take control of a young girl, Billie Sue, as she fends off marauding rabbits from her carrot patch. It was well-received at the time, and had some impressive sprite work for the VCS, but also holds an important place in videogame history: Billie Sue is one of the very first female game protagonists we have on record, and is the first named female protagonist to appear on home consoles.

Leak alleges Arma Reforger will be next game in series and a bridge to Arma 4
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/leak-alleges-arma-reforger-will-be-next-game-in-series-and-a-bridge-to-arma-4/
A leaked marketing guide has alleged that the next game in the Arma series may be Arma Reforger, a game using Bohemia Interactive's new Enfusion engine which is not, notably, Arma 4. Due to the complexity of developing Arma 4, says the guide, Bohemia intends for Arma Reforger to be a bridge between the current Arma community and the new game that will also introduce the franchise to a new audience—console players. Arma Reforger will supposedly launch on both Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

Overwatch creators explain they didn't use King's 'creepy' diversity charts
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/overwatch-creators-explain-they-didnt-use-kings-creepy-diversity-charts/
On May 12, the Activision Blizzard newsroom published a blog post titled https://www.activisionblizzard.com/newsroom/2022/05/king-diversity-space-tool">King's diversity space tool: a leap forward for inclusion in gaming. It explained that King, the Candy Crush developer acquired by Activision Blizzard in 2016, had been working since that year alongside the MIT Game Lab to make software that would "create and monitor guidelines for character conception and creation" to identify how diverse a set of character designs are.

Pippin's actor from Lord of the Rings joins the cast of The Elder Scrolls Online
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/pippins-actor-from-lord-of-the-rings-joins-the-cast-of-the-elder-scrolls-online/
Scottish actor Billy Boyd, most famous for playing Pippin in Peter Jackson's adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, will be part of the cast of the Elder Scrolls Online's upcoming expansion, "High Isle."
Boyd takes the role of Braghas, a charming card sharp who introduces players to TESO's new Gwent-like "Tales of Tribute'' card game.

Build broken combos to gun down cosmic horrors in 20 Minutes Till Dawn
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/build-broken-combos-to-gun-down-cosmic-horrors-in-20-minutes-till-dawn/
We all like roguelite action games right now, no? Here's a cool one: 20 Minutes Till Dawn, a shoot-em-up that lets you choose a character, a weapon, and go hog wild with twisty upgrades to mow down monstrous baddies to survive that titular 20 minutes. You might be a fire wizard with a shotgun, for example, or an agile ninja with a crossbow and a ghost helper.

Strategy JRPG Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia is now on PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/strategy-jrpg-brigandine-the-legend-of-runersia-is-now-on-pc/
If you want the definition of a cult classic, look no further than 1998 strategy JRPG Brigandine: The Legend of Forsena. All these years later, Brigandine got a sequel, and now that sequel has come to PC.

Rumor: Gears of War series to get remasters in the vein of the Master Chief Collection
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/rumor-gears-of-war-series-to-get-remasters-in-the-vein-of-the-master-chief-collection/
On the latest episode of the XboxEra Podcast, co-host Nick Baker said, "Remember there was a rumor mill a while back where I said that there is another Microsoft franchise that's getting the Master Chief Collection-type treatment? I am of the belief that that is coming this year." Though Baker was coy about which series he was discussing, he namechecked Gears later and the YouTube timestamp for that section is even labeled, "Oh, Gears Collection?"

Please pet Call of Duty: Vanguard's very polite gun dogs
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/please-pet-call-of-duty-vanguards-very-polite-gun-dogs/
Call of Duty: Vanguard is a game set during World War 2. I'm no veteran, but I'm pretty sure the army wasn't decked out with Cerberus-adorned weaponry. However, historical accuracy hasn't been at the forefront of a Call of Duty game for a hot sec. So screw it, dog gun. Dog gun you can pet.

Square Enix made $394 million profit last year, and continues to bang on about the blockchain
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/square-enix-made-dollar394-million-profit-last-year-and-continues-to-bang-on-about-the-blockchain/
Square Enix has announced its results for the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2022, and the take-home message is that it made a lot of money, and a lot of that money is going into the blockchain. The results document shows that the company had sales of ¥365.2 billion (about $2.82 billion) and made a profit of ¥51 billion ($394 million). That profit is just under double what Square Enix managed in the last financial years but even so, interestingly enough, Konami is still more profitable than it.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Graphics Card Rumored Specs: 16128 Cores, 24 GB GDDR6X Memory at 21 Gbps, 450W TDP, Twice As Fast As RTX 3090

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4090-specs-rumor-16128-cores24-gb-memory-450w-twice-as-fast-as-rtx-3090/

I think I'll be cancelling my Macbook Pro pre-order just to be safe as I'd rather get a 4080/4090 instead. Now afaik, Kopite doesn't do AMD leaks so I think his "disappointments" from RDNA 3 might stem from how Nvidia is positioning their own GPUs. Unlike Ampere vs RDNA 2, Nvidia's game plan looks to be using AD103 against 7800XT and they will leave room for AMD to come out with 7900XT that will beat the 4080 in Raster so they can upsell you to their 4090 if you want the absolute best while leaving room for the 4090 Ti the following year.

On one hand, that might sound kind of shitty from Nvidia but on the other, least the 4080 won't cost $1500+. I think ~$700 for 10752 cuda core 4080 and ~$500 for 7680 cuda core 4070 is very reasonable. If the world was normal, I would say wait for the 4080 Ti but I fear that you will get screwed if you do.

But as with every rumour, take it with a grain of salt. AMD has gotten better with dealing with leaks.

Meanwhile Intel Arc:

New ASUS ROG Strix Scar gaming laptops to feature Intel Alder Lake-HX processors overclocked up to 5.2 GHz

https://videocardz.com/newz/new-asus-rog-strix-scar-gaming-laptops-to-feature-intel-alder-lake-hx-processors-overclocked-up-to-5-2-ghz

Ah yes, the "don't actually put on your lap" laptops

A not outrageous wattage that can use an 8+8 connector would make me happy. I may have just enough PSU for it in that case. That said I'm not holding my breath. I'm still between a 4080 and 90 myself, largely coming down to price and value. A 90 would be nice, but if it pushes $2,000+...

Yea pretty much. I am mainly interested in Ray Tracing performance as that is the hardest visual affect to run. If a 4080 can run Cyberpunk with Max Ray Tracing at 60+ fps while 4090 can run it at 90sh fps but costs twice as much as a 4080. I might just go with the 4080. But we will see. I can spend the big bucks if I need to but that will also mean my room will get very hot.

Yeah I'm guessing AMD is going to price these RX 7000 cards out of wack.

If July is the actually release date might try for a 4080. Failing that.. a 4070. Hope my 750W G2 PSU can hold up.

That's quite a leak from kopite, if it proves to be true. The July launch, tho, is harder to believe, but maybe that's when the cards will be announced, and not the actual launch. After all, Nvidia needs to give their AIB partners and store time to clear as much of their RTX 3000 series stocks as possible.

But hey, maybe that's the actual launch and we'll see massive discounts on Ampere to get rid of them (not gonna happen, I know).

And I do hope his disappointment with AMD is for the price of their cards as you said and not because of their performance, for our own good.

By the way, talking about AMD and RDNA3, it looks like there was a new rumor late last week (the PCGamer article about it is from Friday) that, in my opinion, doesn't hold much ground:

AMD's top next-gen GPU may not be a multi-chiplet compute monster but that's better for everyone
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/amds-top-next-gen-gpu-may-not-be-a-multi-chiplet-compute-monster-but-thats-better-for-everyone/
AMD's top RDNA 3 GPU is no longer thought to be a multi-chip GPU, at least not from a graphics compute perspective. The expectation had been that AMD's top GPU of the next generation, its Navi 31 silicon, would be the first to bring the chiplet design of its latest Ryzen CPUs to its graphics cards. 

The new rumour that it's not is, honestly, a bit of a relief.

(...)

The latest video from Red Gaming Tech, seemingly corroborated across the Twitter leakers, is suggesting that the entire 12,288 shader count is going to be housed on a single 5nm GCD, with a total of six 6nm multi-cache dies (MCDs) arrayed around it, or possible on top of it.

My reason to doubt it is the chart included with the new specs:

I'd be very, very surprised if AMD went with only 192MB of Infinity Cache when RDNA2 came with 128MB. It's a very small increase. And the 384-bit memory bus is an odd choice for AMD. It wouldn't be the first time they've used it, but it would be the first time since Tahiti.

Yea it will be very interesting how it all turns out. We do know based on AMD's own slides that you hit diminishing returns in terms of gains once you go above a certain cache size. And cache is very expensive so going with 192MB of cache + 384 bit bus would be a good combo. If it's true, then we will have:

Navi 31: 192MB of L3 + 384 Bit Bus
AD102: 96MB of L2 + 384 Bit Bus

It will be interesting but I am also curious as to when they will release it. If Nvidia is going to release it in July which feels too early, then AMD will need to announce theirs soon or Nvidia will be dominating for a while.

Chiplets make sense for scalability which is important for GPU's. You could simply build a Radeon RX 6700XT class chip and just add more equivalent chips as the need arises.

It was ironically the approach AMD was taking with VLIW5/Terascale based GPU's... Small, efficient GPU's, but pair them up on a single board.. Hence why we got the Radeon 3850 X2, 3870 X2, 4850 X2, 4870 X2 and 5970.

The chips did get bigger over time though, which made it less economical as they kept trying to push the performance envelope, but it was great for the consumer if you could ignore the multi-gpu nuances that came with the territory.