Funny how before the backlash, most AMD sponsored titles didn't launch with DLSS/XeSS. But after the backlash, DLSS/XeSS day 1. This isn't the only title either.

RIP 4k Native

The thing is, tho, that CPU coolers already did go overkill many years ago.

10 years ago, the humble but reliable Hyper 212 was enough to cool any regular (aka, not HEDT) CPUs without problems, yet the market also had behemots like Noctua0s NH-D15 that were completely unnecessary. And yet, people bought them for the extra advantages they had, like lower noise.

And well, the NH-D15 is still capable of cooling regular CPUs "just fine", while the 212 has been relegated to mid-range processors.

GPUs didn't follow the same path because the two biggest reasons to purchase a GPU are brand and price, and an overkill cooling solution is not only expensive, but it also has the disadvantage of boing locked to one GPU, without being able to reuse it like CPU coolers do. So it made sense to go for the most basic solution that worked.

Nowadays, AIBs have to compete not only between them but also with Nvidia (AMD doesn't care that much about it), and that has brought an influx of unnecessarily big coolers. Just look at the (in)famous GTX 480, that had a peak power consumption of 320W and then compare it with the RTX 4080, that uses only slightly less power. The new coolers are twice the size or even bigger, and the difference isn't all that big. But now bigger coolers are a must, not only becaues they're necessary, but to not look bad compared to the rest.

So yeah, excuse me if I'm still a bit surprised to see how fast the situation has changed.

Lol the new southpark ep has a scene where they built a new pc with a 4090

From that pic I'm going to guess it's also the episode were they make a Baldur's Gate 3 joke:

https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-south-park/

(I thought it wasn't worth posting in the news)

Apple cuckery

And at the same time, all I could find in some news outlets were some Apple-provided predictions of a 60% performance uplift...

NVIDIA Next-Gen B100 “Blackwell” AI GPUs Enter Supply Chain Certification Stage With Foxconn & Wistron In Race

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-next-gen-b100-blackwell-ai-gpus-enter-supply-chain-certification-stage-foxconn-wistron-in-race/

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite 12-Core CPU Is Faster Than Intel 12700K & AMD 7845HX 12-Core Chips In Single-Core, Comparable In Multi-Core Tests At Just 28W

https://wccftech.com/qualcomm-snapdragon-x-elite-12-core-cpu-faster-intel-12700k-amd-7845hx-12-core-single-core-comparable-multi-core-at-28w/

NVIDIA updates its free media comparison tool ICAT

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-updates-its-free-media-comparison-tool-icat

Apple introduces M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max 3nm chips for MacBook Pro and iMac

https://videocardz.com/press-release/apple-introduces-m3-m3-pro-and-m3-max-3nm-chips-for-macbook-pro-and-imac

Meh at best. I think I'll keep my M1 Macbook Pro 16 for many more years

The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

(Click here for the top 100)

Steam has several new sales and weeklong deals:

• I wasn't aware of this, but Curve Games has a Spook Fest Sale going on, with up to 90% discounts until the 2nd of November: https://store.steampowered.com/developer/curvedigital/sale/spookfest2023
• Detroit: Become Human, that has a demo, will be 60% off until the 6th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1222140/Detroit_Become_Human/
• Bloons TD 6 gets a 70% discount until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/960090/Bloons_TD_6/
• Psychonauts 2 is going to be 75% off until the same Monday, 6th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/607080/Psychonauts_2/
• Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy also gets a 75% discount until the 6th of November: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1088850/Marvels_Guardians_of_the_Galaxy/
• Marvel's Midnight Suns will be 60% off until the 13th of November: https://store.steampowered.com/app/368260/Marvels_Midnight_Suns/
• Moving Out, that has a demo, will feature a 75% discount until the same November, 13th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/996770/Moving_Out/
• And I'm disappointed to say that, just like last week, Steam doesn't want to be nice. Besides blocking 4095 of the games on sale, leaving me with "only" 598 titles to choose for the picks, I can't search them all because the page won't load more games when scrolling down. So yeah, sorry but not picks this week. Again.

The Humble Store has launched its Halloween BYO Boo (bundle), with games up to 85% discounts. Also, if you buy 3 games, you get an extra 15% discount. This bundle will last 6 days and all the keys are for Steam except one that's a direct downlaod: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/halloween-byoboo/

Fanatical's new Star Deal is Metro Exodus, 81% off during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/metro-exodus.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 546.01
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-546-01

Highlights

This new Game Ready Driver provides the best gaming experience for the latest new games supporting DLSS 3 technology including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Desynced, Jusant, and RoboCop: Rogue City.

Support For Newly Validated G-SYNC Compatible Displays

Our newest Game Ready Driver also adds support for 6 new G-SYNC Compatible displays that deliver a baseline Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) experience that makes your gaming smoother and more enjoyable.

Fixed Issues

Fixed Gaming Bugs

• [Halo Infinite] Increased loading times after updating to driver 545.84 [4337526]
• [Halo Infinite] Significant performance drop is observed on Maxwell-based GPUs. [4052711]

Fixed General Bugs

• Windows Event Viewer incorrectly logs an error when NVTOPPS stops [4331318]
• LG C3 OLED TV does not show up as a validated G-SYNC Compatible display in the NVIDIA Control Panel [4247350]
• Stable Diffusion significant performance reduction after driver update [4166994] (workaround detailed here)

>> Check the article for the new supported monitors.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Brutal Doom 64 Unofficial Update v2.666 adds new monsters, new weapons and Survival modes
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/brutal-doom-64-unofficial-update-v2-666-adds-new-monsters-new-weapons-and-survival-modes/
Modder ‘swc132994’ has released an unofficial update for Sergeant_Mark_IV’s Brutal Doom 64. Update v2.666 adds new monsters, new weapons and Survival modes to the game. Moreover, it brings a number of performance improvements, as well as the iconic Doom 64 title sequence.
Moreover, this unofficial update packs many sprite and sound improvements to current monsters, weapons and map props. Not only that but enhances normal maps where possible, and it reworks the final map into a tough final battle.
What’s also cool is that there are now new options to toggle the HUD style from classic Doom 64 to a more Classic style. All new monsters are also togglable with options, and there are new options to restore the original Map08 and old BD64 final map.
>> There's a video of this updated mod.

Cyberpunk 2077 gets AI-powered Scarlett Johansson, Harrison Ford and GTA 4’s Niko Bellic Audio Mods
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/cyberpunk-2077-gets-ai-powered-scarlett-johansson-harrison-ford-and-gta-4s-niko-bellic-audio-mods/
Earlier this month, Cyberpunk 2077 got various AI-powered audio mods. As such, I’ve decided to collect the best of them and share them in one big article. So, by using the following mods, you’ll make your character, V, sound like Scarlett Johansson, Blade Runner’s Deckard (in all Harrison Ford’s glory) and Grand Theft Auto 4’s Niko Bellic.
>> Theer are several videos, one for each mod, plus another one with the voice of the newest Deus Ex games, but that mod has been removed.

Resident Evil 5 gets an amazing Ultimate HD Edition Mod
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/resident-evil-5-gets-an-amazing-ultimate-hd-edition-mod/
Modder TEXremaster has just put out a cool new HD Texture Pack for Resident Evil 5. It’s called the Ultimate HD Edition. This mod aims to make all the game’s textures look way better, and the early changes he has made already look awesome.
The latest version of the Ultimate HD Edition improves the quality of all the main characters and enemies. It also overhauls the textures in the first five maps. That’s until the end of Chapter 1-2.
Even though it’s not finished, you can already see and enjoy the detailed new textures in the game. TEXremaster worked on improving almost everything in the early levels, and it looks really good. So, even if it’s not complete, we suggest trying it out.
The bad news is, we’re not sure if or when the modder will finish this project. What’s a bit frustrating is that TEXremaster said he’d keep working on it only if he got some donations. I get that updating all the textures in the game is a lot of work, but it seems like he’s using AI to make them look better, not creating new ones from scratch. Using AI to upgrade the original textures is a bit easier. Plus, we’ve always been against paid mods. And even though this mod isn’t held behind a paywall, its future remains uncertain.
>> There are some screenshots and a video.

This FF14 animation mod turns the ninja into a high-tech John Wick, and it's the coolest thing I can't recommend
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-ff14-animation-mod-turns-the-ninja-into-a-high-tech-john-wick-and-its-the-coolest-thing-i-cant-recommend/
My main job in Final Fantasy 14 is the ninja. It has a satisfying rotation. I like that I can occasionally dip into ranged combat. I like that I'm slightly faster than everyone. I like that I get a little bunny on my head when I mess up. It's good fun.
I will, however, always be sad that the job turns from a swashbuckling rogue to a discount Naruto expy at level 30. What bums me out even more is that modders have been fixing a lot of these problems, but I can't use or recommend them. The latest mod I must observe sadly through the looking glass is Laoqian's "Gunner" animation replacement, which replaces all of Ninja's animations with cyberpunk mayhem.
This mod is absolutely rad. The ninja's daggers are swapped for dual pistols, its regular melee combos cleverly turned into gun kata sequences. It replaces several skills with an arm cannon, the ninja's water shurikens with a killer sniper rifle killshot, and 'Suiton'—a blast of water that makes an enemy vulnerable to a trick attack—into a straight up rocket launcher.
>> There's a video of this mod.

You can build your own Starfield space stations thanks to this modder who found the code 'already in the game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/you-can-build-your-own-starfield-space-stations-thanks-to-this-modder-who-found-the-code-already-in-the-game/
If you're anything like me, you were a little underwhelmed by Starfield's outpost systems. We're eight years out from Fallout 4, but the process of plonking down habitats and mining rigs on the games' fifty bajillion planets didn't feel much different to building tin sheds for the Wasteland's countless hapless farmers back in 2015. If only we could build our own space stations. My own orbital prison hulk would really hit the spot.
Reader, some dreams do come true. Thanks to the efforts of a modder named Vex, the Spacestations for Outposts mod (spotted by GamesRadar) will let you build "fully working star stations" in the dead void of space. What's more, they assembled it from code that was "already in the game" but that was a little broken, and doesn't that just set your mind to wondering about what Bethesda's plans are for the game's DLC?
Once you've got the mod installed, you can start assembling your space base by creating a "spacestation control pad" at one of your terrestrial outposts. You can then use that—via an admittedly slightly janky process—to build a space station using the same basic system you would use to create a ship. Once you've modified it to your liking, all you have to do is jet off into space and dock with the thing. Or try to, anyway. Docking is a little dodgy at the minute.
>> There are no screenshots nor videos.

Morrowind's most impossibly ambitious mod just added a whole new region for its 7th expansion in 22 years
https://www.pcgamer.com/morrowinds-most-impossibly-ambitious-mod-just-added-a-whole-new-region-for-its-7th-expansion-in-22-years/
One of the most ambitious mods in history got even bigger today with the release of Tamriel Rebuilt's Andaram expansion, the seventh major add-on for the 22-year-old Morrowind mod project that is, somehow, older than Morrowind itself.
Tamriel Rebuilt's aim is to construct the entire mainland of Morrowind, the dark elf province of Tamriel on which The Elder Scrolls 3 takes place. Although Skyrim contains all of Skyrim and Oblivion contains all of Cyrodiil, Morrowind restricted players to the isle of Vvardenfell for its duration, leaving a big blank space for Tamriel Rebuilt's modders to fill. Andaram is the latest chunk, focusing on "the middle Thirr River, and the dark secrets which lie under its waters."
(...)
Like the project's other releases, Andaram goes out of its way to incorporate the strange and alien lore of original Morrowind in the new areas it covers. The city of Hlan Oek at the centre of the newly released region is under the de facto control of the Camonna Tong, Morrowind's native Dunmer organised crime group, while its Hlaalu governor "has his mind on other matters." The new release also revises the city of Almas Thirr and includes mention of "the Dreugh Queen Paruddma," who "broods in her Citadel deep beneath Lake Andaram’s placid waters," which is probably fine.
>> The article has a video of it.

GAMING NEWS

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 gets final PC requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-gets-final-pc-requirements/
Activision has revealed the official PC system requirements for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. In addition, the publisher has shared a new PC trailer for it that you can find after the jump.
According to the publisher, PC gamers will at least need an Intel Core i5-6600 or AMD Ryzen 5 1400 with 8GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 / GTX 1650 or AMD Radeon RX 470. Activision also recommends using an SSD, and the game will require 149GB of free disk space.
>> There are supposed to be over 500 settings to play with, but be warned, the new launcher is a nightmare.

Don’t Scream is a new Unreal Engine 5-powered horror game with an interesting concept
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/dont-scream-is-a-new-unreal-engine-5-powered-horror-game-with-an-interesting-concept/
Joure and Joe, two indie developers have released in Early Access Don’t Scream. Don’t Scream is a new horror game using Unreal Engine 5, featuring a cool and interesting concept.

Tuesday news, part two:

The Finals uses AI text-to-speech because it can produce lines 'in just a matter of hours rather than months', baffles actual voice actors
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-finals-uses-ai-text-to-speech-because-it-can-produce-lines-in-just-a-matter-of-hours-rather-than-months-baffles-actual-voice-actors/
A podcast by Embark Studios—creators of the upcoming FPS The Finals—has hinted that the game will be using AI voice lines for the foreseeable future. The explanation, however, has left some voice actors feeling confused, at best.

War MMO players battle against impossible odds for 48 real hours, build a religion around a corpse pile, then crash the server
https://www.pcgamer.com/war-mmo-players-battle-against-impossible-odds-for-48-real-hours-build-a-religion-around-a-corpse-pile-then-crash-the-server/
Foxhole is a sandbox-style war MMO and, while it officially released last year, it's been available in early access since 2017. Its schtick is one persistent and gigantic war game where thousands of players simultaneously battle for one of two factions, both seeking domination over a gigantic map, but with the twist that, as in a real conflict, the logistics, resource and supply side of the armies is just as important, if not more so, than the soldiers firing guns and piloting vehicles.
PCG's own Morgan Park will tell you that Foxhole is an RPG "in the literal roleplaying sense, not in the stat grinding sense" and that "like the best social games, great stories happen as a matter of course." This past weekend saw one such story: a 48-hour long battle between an isolated island called Silver, cut-off from all logistics support and supplies, facing down an overwhelming and endless invasion force.
What happened next was so extreme and remarkable, even by MMO standards, it has instantly birthed two new rallying cries for players of the game: "praise the pile", referring to a mass of corpses that both became essential and revered, and the more self-explanatory "Silver stands!"

Dead Space 3 producer says he'd 'throw away and rewrite' the entire main story if he could
https://www.pcgamer.com/dead-space-3-producer-says-hed-throw-away-and-rewrite-the-entire-main-story-if-he-could/
We said in our long-ago review of Dead Space 3 that it suffered from an "identity crisis." Series star Isaac Clarke very suddenly went from being an engineer in a tight spot (and with a precarious grip on reality) in the first two games to a full-blown action hero in the third: "Isaac fights wave after wave of monsters while saying things like, 'I turned my back on the world because I couldn't face what had to be done'—and he's not talking about an oil change or repairing a carburetor."
We still liked it quite a bit despite that shift from survival horror to horror-shooter, but in an interview with CaptainBribo (via PCGamesN) producer Chuck Beaver said that if he could do it all over again, he'd take a very different approach.
>> He would still have been under the pressure of EA so no, I don't think he would have been able to change anything.

Bungie lays off employees as Destiny 2: The Final Shape is reportedly delayed to June
https://www.pcgamer.com/bungie-lays-off-employees-as-destiny-2-the-final-shape-is-reportedly-delayed-to-june/
Destiny studio Bungie has reportedly laid off an unknown number of staff today, according to a Bloomberg report, which also says that The Final Shape expansion for Destiny 2 has been delayed.

'This is only the beginning': Metal Gear Solid fans lose their minds as David Hayter returns to voice Solid Snake in a new teaser
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-is-only-the-beginning-metal-gear-solid-fans-lose-their-minds-as-david-hayter-returns-to-voice-solid-snake-in-a-new-teaser/
Even among Hideo Kojima's most diehard fans (not to be confused with Die-Hardman), I think it's a damn near universal opinion that Kojima made the wrong call when he replaced longtime voice actor David Hayter with Kiefer Sutherland in Metal Gear Solid 5. It didn't help that compared to Hayter's gravelly-but-slightly-goofy performance, Sutherland seemed a bit subdued—or phoned in, depending on who you ask.
Other than little cameos here and there, Hayter hasn't officially played Snake in more than a decade. But a new teaser trailer on Konami's YouTube channel has fans freaking out, because it stars Hayter and teases more to come.

Deltarune Chapter 3 is 'pretty much content complete' and will be releasing alongside Chapter 4, says creator Toby Fox
https://www.pcgamer.com/deltarune-chapter-3-is-pretty-much-content-complete-and-will-be-releasing-alongside-chapter-4-says-creator-toby-fox/
Deltarune, the sorta-sequel to the absurdly popular indie game Undertale, has nearly finished development on its third chapter, according to a new Halloween blog on the game's official newsletter. It's full of cute touches, like a visitation from a certain white fluffy dog. The bigger news, however, is that Chapter 3 is "pretty much content complete". The creator of both games, Toby Fox, goes on to write: "Hooray!"

M2 Pro: 40B transistors, M3 Pro: 37B transistors.

And you folks were complaining of the 3060 Ti > 4060 Ti gap, tsk-tsk.