I miss HEDT... And not because of PCIE Lanes... But having Quad-Channel DDR and 8-Ram slots allows for some extremely Ram rich computing at a good price... 

Costs have increased, but I refuse to increase my hardware budget... A Ryzen 9950X is what I would have paid for a HEDT chip back in the day, so that's my purchasing limit.

Yeah, enabling upscaling model in control panel should be a thing. nVidia control panel does have it, but it doesn't always work - go figure.

You might find XeSS better looking, I generally prefer it much more than FSR, with lot less image breakup, and you can run it at Quality at the same performance as FSR Balance.

FSR4 on RDNA3 (7900XTX), Linux:

https://www.reddit.com/r/radeon/comments/1lbbdaa/fsr4_on_rdna3_7900xtx_tests/

Cyberpunk 2077:

- Native / 4K - 42.34 fps

- FSR 4 / 4K Quality - 56.22 fps

- FSR 3.1/ 4K Quality - 85.36 fps

And that's with Proton as a translation layer slowing all the tests down.

And the good news: Unless AMD asks to remove the code it will be part of future Linux distros starting around August.

It is interesting to see that it works at all on RDNA3, albeit with huge performance hit compared to FSR3.1.

Which is probably the reason why AMD didn't release FSR4 to RDNA3 or even older cards. It's barely better than native, so I can understand that AMD didn't consider it worth the trouble, especially when they have other software parts where they need to catch up to NVidia. 

Steam Deck prototype featuring Ryzen 7 3700U (Zen+ & Vega) has been tested

https://videocardz.com/newz/steam-deck-prototype-featuring-ryzen-7-3700u-zen-vega-has-been-tested

Gigabyte M027Q2A QHD 27″ OLED gaming monitor with ClearMR 15000 Certification is now available

https://videocardz.com/press-release/gigabyte-m027q2a-qhd-27-oled-gaming-monitor-with-clearmr-15000-certification-is-now-available

NVIDIA to launch GeForce RTX 5090DD for Chinese market with GB202-240 GPU and 24GB memory

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-to-launch-geforce-rtx-5090dd-for-chinese-market-with-gb202-240-gpu

Microsoft confirms multi-year strategic partnership with AMD for next-gen Xbox hardware

https://videocardz.com/newz/microsoft-confirms-multi-year-strategic-partnership-with-amd-for-next-gen-xbox-hardware

MSI QD-OLED Monitor Put To Rigorous Burn-In Test For 3800 Hours; Minimal Effects Thanks To OLED Care & Long-Lasting Warranty

https://wccftech.com/msi-qd-oled-monitor-put-to-rigorous-burn-in-test-for-3800-hours/

Intel 18A Process Node Offers 25% Higher Frequency At ISO & 36% Lower Power At Same Frequency Versus Intel 3, Over 30% Density

https://wccftech.com/intel-18a-process-node-25-percent-higher-frequency-36-percent-lower-power-vs-intel-3/

AMD Unveils Ryzen Threadripper 9000 CPU Performance: Over 2x Faster Vs Intel Xeon, 26% Faster Vs Last-Gen, 96 “Zen 5” Cores

https://wccftech.com/amd-ryzen-threadripper-9000-cpu-performance-2x-faster-vs-intel-xeon-26-faster-vs-last-gen/

Here come today’s gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

GOG has done what we all knew was coming:

• The Summer Sale is live with over 8000 titles on sale with up to 95% discounts until the 10th of July: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2025_summer_sale
• And another thing: new games have been added to GOG Preservation Program, including Devil May Cry. Check them out here, some are on sale: https://www.gog.com/en/news/devil_may_cry_titles_join_the_gog_preservation_program

Steam has a few new deals and sales:

• The VR Only Hard Bullet, still in Early Access, will be 30% off until the 24th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1294760/HARD_BULLET/
• DRIFT CE has a 70% discount until the 26th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/520950/DRIFT_CE/
• American Theft 80s is going to be 84% off until the same 26th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1321450/American_Theft_80s/
• The Shadow Warrior Trilogy Bundle, with 4 games, is 75% off. The individual games are also on sale until June 27, and the bundle should be the same: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/24682/Shadow_Warrior_Trilogy/
• Styx: Shards of Darkness gets a 90% discount until the 1st of July: https://store.steampowered.com/app/355790/Styx_Shards_of_Darkness/
• And these are the sales:
  • The Yes, Your Grace franchise (2 games) is on sale, up to 85% off until the 24th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/YesYourGraceFranchiseSale2025
  • Hunt: Showdown 1896 launches its new event, Judgement of the Fool, with a sale,featuring up to 50% discounts until the 26th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33141571/sale/huntshowdownjotf

Fanatical has a new Star Deal and a bundle:

• The new Star Deal is DYNASTY WARRIORS: ORIGINS, 33% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/dynasty-warriors-origins
• The NSPCC Charity Bundle 2025 launches with 13 games to support the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in the UK and Channel Islands. This charity bundle will end in 34 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/nspcc-charity-bundle-2025

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Steam turbo-charges its performance overlay, shows you how many real and framegen frames you're getting and, oh, Proton is enabled on Linux by default now
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/steam-turbo-charges-its-performance-overlay-shows-you-how-many-real-and-framegen-frames-youre-getting-and-oh-proton-is-enabled-on-linux-by-default-now/
You know what gamers love? Information. Not me. Personally, I think whatever goes on in the black confines of my PC tower is none of my business—fans spin up, fans spin down, sometimes something beeps. It's a strange and arcane world I have no truck with, but I'm an outlier. Most folks out there want to know how many frames they're getting, what kind of load their GPU and CPU are under, and just what the hell is eating up all that RAM (it's Chrome).
But the one gaming tool 99% of us have installed—Steam—has been pretty naff at showing us all that stuff up to now: its in-game FPS overlay consisted of a teeny-tiny frame counter in the corner of your screen, often barely visible against the background of whatever you happen to be playing. But as of yesterday's Steam client beta update, that function has now been supercharged. Farewell, In-Game FPS Counter. Hello, In-Game Overlay Performance Monitor.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Nexus Mods' new owners promise they won't monetise the site to death as users panic at the whiff of venture capital: 'The new owners are here… not sitting in a distant tower, remotely directing us all towards some nefarious goals'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/nexus-mods-new-owners-promise-they-wont-monetise-the-site-to-death-as-users-panic-at-the-whiff-of-venture-capital-the-new-owners-are-here-not-sitting-in-a-distant-tower-remotely-directing-us-all-towards-some-nefarious-goals/
After 24 years in the modding biz, the founder of Nexus Mods—easily the biggest mod site on Earth—finally hung up the creation kit yesterday. Robin 'Dark0ne' Scott announced in a news post that he was leaving behind the daily running of the site, telling millions of users that "The strain of being responsible for the behemoth I created has taken its toll."
In Scott's place came new owners, and that's where things immediately got dicey. The people taking up the reins were only referred to in Scott's post by their first name and site username, but after a bit of digging by Nexus users, people quickly put together that the site had come under the umbrella of a company called Chosen, whose homepage declares "We partner. We amplify. We conquer."
Users also found the LinkedIn page of one of Chosen's founders, featuring content like a "Gaming Startup Monetisation Cheat Sheet" featuring entries on Play-to-Earn, Microtransactions, Pay-to-Play, Subscription Models, and (just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water) "Digital Goods and NFTs."
It all had the whiff of venture capital about it, which had a lot of people sucking in air through their teeth. Chosen's clear emphasis on growth and monetisation on its website had folks worried that Nexus Mods was headed for a rapid enshittification. The uproar was such that one of the new owners—Foledinho—has now taken to the site to try to calm everyone down with an announcement that Nexus Mods' "core model" is going to remain unchanged.
>> Time will tell.

GAMING NEWS

GTA 5 Enhanced Edition Title Update 1.71 Released, Adds Two New Ray Tracing Settings, Full Patch Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/gta-5-enhanced-edition-title-update-1-71-released-adds-two-new-ray-tracing-settings-full-patch-notes/
Rockstar has just released Title Update 1.71 for Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced Edition and shared its full patch notes. This patch adds two new Ray Tracing settings on PC. So, let’s take a closer look at it.

First Patch for Stellar Blade Released & Fully Detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/first-patch-for-stellar-blade-released-fully-detailed/
Shift Up has just released the first update for the PC version of Stellar Blade and shared its full patch notes. This patch is 2.6GB in size. So, let’s take a closer look and see what it brings to the table.

Second Performance Patch Released for MindsEye: Does It Work?
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/second-performance-patch-released-for-mindseye-does-it-work/
Build A Rocket Boy has released the second performance patch for its brand new action game, MindsEye. So, is this the patch that will magically improve the game’s awful performance? Let’s find out.

Elden Ring Nightreign Update 1.01.3 Released, Full Patch Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/elden-ring-nightreign-update-1-01-3-released-full-patch-notes/
FromSoftware has just released Title Update 1.01.3 for Elden Ring Nightreign and shared its full patch notes. So, let’s see what this new update brings to the table.

The second part of the gaming news:

Diablo 4 players are accidentally misclicking their way to being $7.50's worth of platinum poorer, thanks to its reliquary system's crummy UI design
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/diablo-4-players-are-accidentally-misclicking-their-way-to-being-usd7-50s-worth-of-platinum-poorer-thanks-to-its-reliquary-systems-crummy-ui-design/
Ring the bell, it's time for me to take another dive into Blizzard's weird microtransactions again—horses with $65 of mandatory currency slapped on the side of them, FOMO dinosaurs with hefty in-game benefits, and now this: A basic lack of a confirm screen occasionally biting $7.50 out of Diablo 4 players' wallets because, well, who's to say.

Overwatch 2 Season 17 is finally giving power back to the people by introducing map voting for quick play and competitive
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-2-season-17-is-finally-giving-power-back-to-the-people-by-introducing-map-voting-for-quick-play-and-competitive/
The last few seasons of Overwatch 2 have given an increasing amount of power to players. Perks have given us the ability to customise each hero a bit more to our liking, hero bans have let us strike problematic characters from competitive, and now we even have more of a say in what map we'll get.
"Map voting goes live at launch in Quick Play and Competitive, letting you shape the match before it starts and control where the action unfolds," a press release says. "After role queue locks, you'll get three randomised map options to choose from."

John Carmack celebrates Quake's induction in the Videogame Hall of Fame: 'We threw everything we had at it, and it was really a little bit more than we could chew at the time… it was rough'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/john-carmack-celebrates-quakes-induction-in-the-videogame-hall-of-fame-we-threw-everything-we-had-at-it-and-it-was-really-a-little-bit-more-than-we-could-chew-at-the-time-it-was-rough/
Last month saw Quake inducted into the World Videogame Hall of Fame, and it's about time: as PCG's Andy Chalk observed "you've had Halo in there since 2017, and not Quake? What? What are we even doing here?" That's Quake fans for you.
Quake was one of four HoF inductees for 2025, with its new Hall of Fame page saying "Quake has been influential in nearly every category a game can be influential in." Like its predecessor Doom, Quake was almost as much about the tools as the giant technological leap to real-time 3D: extensive mod support, forward-thinking online architecture, and a hard push into dedicated GPUs.
Quake co-creator John Romero said it was a "huge honor" to be inducted, and now John Carmack, the genius behind so much of id's enduring legacy, has posted his own reaction to the news.

Marathon is delayed, new release date will be announced in the fall: 'We need more time to craft Marathon into the game that truly reflects your passion'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/marathon-is-delayed-new-release-date-will-be-announced-in-the-fall-we-need-more-time-to-craft-marathon-into-the-game-that-truly-reflects-your-passion/
Just days after PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst admitted that playtester response to Marathon has been "varied," Bungie has announced a delay, and says a new release date will be shared in the fall.

'I can't even hit anything': Path of Exile player watches helplessly as his mercenary wipes out screens of enemies before he can even reach them
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/i-cant-even-hit-anything-path-of-exile-player-watches-helplessly-as-his-mercenary-wipes-out-screens-of-enemies-before-he-can-even-reach-them/
Path of Exile's new mercenaries are very strong. Unlike Diablo 4's mercs, PoE's are essentially NPC allies using all the same gear and items a player could. At high enough levels, they're arguably better than we could ever be—tireless soldiers on the frontlines of the war for loot.
PoE streamer Pohx Kappa discovered this firsthand soon after the new league (read: season) started. Despite running an AOE-based build made for running through enemies and leaving their smoldering corpses behind, his merc simply deleted every monster in sight before he could even touch them.

Dark and Darker will be purged from Epic Games Store libraries later this year, but it's still available on Steam for now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dark-and-darker-will-be-purged-from-epic-games-store-libraries-later-this-year-but-its-still-available-on-steam-for-now/
Three months after removing Dark and Darker from sale, Epic Games is going a step further to erase any trace of its existence on the Epic Games Store: An email being sent to owners says Epic will remove the PvPvE dungeon crawler Dark and Darker from their libraries on November 1. Refunds will be issued to anyone who purchased the "Legendary Status" upgrade, but refunds for the Redstone Shards premium currency will not be offered.

Hades 2 adds nastier bosses and new weapon variants in its last major update before it leaves early access behind
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/hades-2-adds-nastier-bosses-and-new-weapon-variants-in-its-last-major-update-before-it-leaves-early-access-behind/
Every time I check back in with Hades 2 I look at the amount of stuff that's been added and wonder if Supergiant is about to change the name to Hades 3. Every one of its major early access updates has been brimming with things most games call DLC and charge for. The new Unseen Update, which dropped today, is no different.

Just 1 year after raising $340,000 on Kickstarter to make a 'vibrant' new JPRG, Studio Camelia abruptly closes
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/just-1-year-after-raising-usd340-000-on-kickstarter-to-make-a-vibrant-new-jprg-studio-camelia-abruptly-closes/
After raising nearly $340,000 on Kickstarter in a crowdfunding campaign that ended in June 2024, Studio Camelia, the developer of "a vibrant tribute to the golden age of JPRGs" called Alzara Radiant Echoes, has announced that it's shutting down.
In a Kickstarter update (via Game Developer), Studio Camelia said that despite the success of the crowdfunding campaign, it's been unable to secure further financing and thus cannot continue development.

Ubisoft slows free currency gain in Rainbow Six Siege X to a pathetic crawl, then immediately drops its most expensive skin in 10 years
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/ubisoft-slows-free-currency-gain-in-rainbow-six-siege-x-to-a-pathetic-crawl-then-immediately-drops-its-most-expensive-skin-in-10-years/
As the honeymoon fades on Rainbow Six Siege's big "Siege X" update that dropped a payload of welcome quality-of-life improvements on the aging FPS last week, players have identified new ways Ubisoft is stinking up the joint.

Ball hogs and 'wannabe Messis' are already the heels of the Rematch community: 'Coach should run out onto the field and beat them with a stick'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/ball-hogs-and-wannabe-messis-are-already-the-heels-of-the-rematch-community-coach-should-run-out-onto-the-field-and-beat-them-with-a-stick/
Rematch just isn't a game where you can 1v5. Goalkeepers are blessed with unlimited stamina, ball hogs are easily stolen from, and it's pretty easy to react to a lone player's desperate shot at the goal. That hasn't stopped some players from instantly dropping ten smackers on the Ronaldinho skin and treating the ball like the One Ring.

Oh! You thought there wouldn’t be a third part of the gaming news? Well, you’re wrong!

No wonder it took so long to rerelease Final Fantasy Tactics—the source code was lost: 'Keeping that kind of data wasn't a normal thing to do at the time'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/no-wonder-it-took-so-long-to-rerelease-final-fantasy-tactics-the-source-code-was-lost-keeping-that-kind-of-data-wasnt-a-normal-thing-to-do-at-the-time/
I played Final Fantasy Tactics in an emulator on my phone. It was not ideal. (Perfect for Advance Wars, though.) Later this year, me and you and everyone else will be able to play it in a proper remastered version when Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles comes out on PC and consoles. But it wasn't as easy as pressing the big red button that says "smooth graphics filter".
As director Kazutoyo Maehiro told Square Enix in a recent interview, "There were a number of major challenges, but all of them stemmed from the fact that the master data and source code from the original game no longer existed. This isn't to say that they were mishandled or poorly managed or anything like that—keeping that kind of data wasn't a normal thing to do at the time."

You aren't just imagining things: Elden Ring Nightreign player confirms it's 6x harder to revive someone at 3 bars when compared to 1, because FromSoftware's UI is basically lying to you
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/you-arent-just-imagining-things-elden-ring-nightreign-player-confirms-its-6x-harder-to-revive-someone-at-3-bars-when-compared-to-1-because-fromsoftwares-ui-is-basically-lying-to-you/
If you've played Elden Ring Nightreign, you've likely had this experience. Your friends are both down and at three bars. It's to the wire. A Nightlord is bearing down upon you. You rush to bring them back up, start to swing, and mutter to yourself: "Why is this so hard?" then you're flattened into paste because you had the camera pointing the wrong way.
This has happened to me so often that I no longer bother trying. I'm more likely to clutch a run playing defensively and saving my ult to revive my teammates—which, in fairness, feels like the intended design. But why, you might ask, does it take so long? Turns out, FromSoftware's UI is basically lying to you.

Dark day for humanity as Gex Trilogy achieves 'huge success,' patches in its cursed EU voices from Red Dwarf's Cat and the 'Ding dong' guy
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/dark-day-for-humanity-as-gex-trilogy-achieves-huge-success-patches-in-its-cursed-eu-voices-from-red-dwarfs-cat-and-the-ding-dong-guy/
Reader, I hoped I'd never have to write these words. I hoped you'd never have to read them. But it falls to me to report that, in a clear violation of mankind's covenant with god, Limited Run Games' remastered Gex Trilogy has apparently attained "huge success."
(...)
In US versions of the original three games (and in all versions of the Limited Run remasters) those quips were voiced by none other than Dana Gould. But if, like me, you remember playing Gex 2 and 3 around a friend's house on a rainy day in the UK (or elsewhere in Europe), then you probably remember different actors. You remember Leslie Philips (the ding dong guy) in Gex 2 and Danny John-Jules (Cat from Red Dwarf) in 3, with Gould taking the main role in the first game in all territories.
To celebrate the unthinkable success of the Gex re-do, Limited Run has brought those voices back. As of Monday, Gex players can enjoy the vocal stylings of Philips and John-Jules simply by changing the game's regional flag to their preferred territory before starting the game. Saves aren't compatible between different regional versions, as if the voices of Leslie Philips and Dana Gould were to ever combine, the world would end screaming in agony.
>> I must admit I have fond memories of Danny John-Jules from Red Dwarf, but I also like his role as Dwayne Myers in Death in Paradise.

'The winds of change are blowing': After 159 days Marvel Rivals has finally nerfed Storm, albeit not by much
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/the-winds-of-change-are-blowing-after-159-days-marvel-rivals-has-finally-nerfed-storm-albeit-not-by-much/
It's been about half a year since NetEase gave Storm a massive touch-up in Marvel Rivals. A somewhat temporary fix to players not touching the X-Men hero in Season 0, when Season 1 came around the devs simply made her too strong to resist.
(...)
As part of Marvel Rivals' 2025 06/19 balance patch, Storm has been weakened, very slightly. "The winds of change are blowing," the balance patch says. "We're slightly reducing the frequency of her Ultimate Ability." Now her energy cost for Omega Hurricane will be 3,400 instead of 3,100.