Yeah, performance gains over native are quite modest compared to FSR3, though those 33% are nothing to scoff at, given that FSR4 looks really good. So at least, for this particular niche, high end RDNA3 owners on Linux, there is viable, though costly, alternative to FSR3/XeSS.

I might try XeSS at some point, but for now I'm going back to play the game I was playing before the Steam Next Fest came, or else I'll forget where I was and what I was supposed to do.

Anyway, Asus owners that like torture and use Armory Crate, this is for you:

It's time to update Asus Armoury Crate, folks—the latest vulnerability could allow hackers to compromise your Windows OS
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/its-time-to-update-asus-armoury-crate-folks-the-latest-vulnerability-could-allow-hackers-to-compromise-your-os/
"System security is not a matter to be taken lightly," I tell myself as I put off updating my BIOS for another month. Even though I tend to keep physical media backups and I'm not in the habit of clicking dodgy links, that doesn't mean my machine is locked down by any means. System vulnerabilities can sneak in among the very updater utilities folks rely on—and Asus has been having especially poor luck with these as of late.

A fresh vulnerability has been uncovered in Asus Armoury Crate, the all-in-one software hub that often comes preinstalled on laptops, like the Asus ROG Flow Z13, and handhelds such as the Asus ROG Ally X, or used to control various peripherals and components.

Catalogued in NIST's National Vulnerability Database as CVE-2025-3464, the vulnerability in question can be exploited to grant hackers low-level privileges on Windows systems which could then be leveraged into compromising your OS. The prevalence of the Armoury Crate utility combined with this potential, snowballing impact has earned the vulnerability a severity rating of 8.4. That's out of 10, so it's pretty severe.

The vulnerability was first found in Armoury Crate version 5.9.13.0 by Cisco Talos' researcher Marcin "Icewall" Noga, but Asus itself has since issued a product security advisory clarifying that versions between V5.9.9.0 and V6.1.18.0 are also affected.

If you've got an Asus device, you should check which version of Armoury Crate you're running. If you're unsure, you can update to the utility's latest version by navigating to 'settings,' then 'update center,' then 'check for updates,' and finally clicking 'update.'

The rest of the article explain what this vulnerability does, in case you're interested to learn more.

From my understanding, the Linux driver for AMD has an FP16 to FP8 translation layer that is not in the Windows drivers. So technically FSR4 is using two translation layers on Linux for RDNA3. The FP16 To FP8 translation layer and the Proton translation layer. 

We can't forget that, for some reason, Linux+Proton performs better than Windows in some gaming benchmarks, so things aren't that simple.

Of course, the reason Linux+Proton can perform better is because Windows is so bloated that it hurts its gaming performance, that's why MSoft has done a special Windows build for the ROG Xbox handhelds.

Your understanding is correct. They are just translating FP8 to FP16... And this is only possible because RDNA3 supports Wave Matrix Multiply Accumulate on the FP16 data path.

Keep in mind that the Radeon 7900XTX has 61 Teraflops of FP16 available, which is why it can brute force this... 
I would imagine a lower-end GPU with far less FP16 capacity would see a reduced return on investment.

Yeah, that's brute force approach, though nice to see that it works. That said, I think it most probably disperses any idea of PSSR being backported to base PS5.

AMD’s next-gen Radeon GPUs to support HDMI 2.2 with up to 80Gbit/s bandwidth

https://videocardz.com/newz/amds-next-gen-radeon-gpus-to-support-hdmi-2-2-with-up-to-80gbit-s-bandwidth

ASRock RX 9060 XT 16GB listed cheaper than 8GB version in Poland

https://videocardz.com/newz/asrock-rx-9060-xt-16gb-listed-cheaper-than-8gb-version-in-poland

Sycom RTX 5070 (Ti) & 5060 Ti Silent Master GPUs released: dual Noctua fans, up to 3.8-slot

https://videocardz.com/newz/sycom-rtx-5070-ti-5060-ti-silent-master-gpus-released-dual-noctua-fans-up-to-3-8-slot-and-max-22-6db-noise

Valve upgrades Steam FPS overlay with frame generation detection

https://videocardz.com/newz/valve-upgrades-steam-fps-overlay-with-frame-generation-detection

VRAM-friendly neural texture compression inches closer to reality — enthusiast shows massive compression benefits with Nvidia and Intel demos

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/vram-friendly-neural-texture-compression-inches-closer-to-reality-enthusiast-shows-massive-compression-benefits-with-nvidia-and-intel-demos

These are the Thursday gaming news, all in one post:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

This week, the Epic Store gives away The Operator: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/the-operator-b835e9
Next week, the free game will be Sable.

Steam has one deal and two sales/events:

• The deal is Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars: Reforged, 40% off until the 25th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2544110/Broken_Sword__Shadow_of_the_Templars_Reforged/
• The first sale comes from Aspyr with its Pre-Summer Sale. The page says that it will run between July 19th and the 23rd, which doesn’t make sense. The deals will actually run until June 24: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/31936442/sale/presummerflashsale
• The Canadian Game Sale also has a time problem, because it says that it will run from July 1st to July 18th. In any case, there are lots of upcoming games and, the few games that are on sale, have up to 73% discounts and will last between 24 hours until the 26th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45548675/sale/CanadiansGamesSale

There are two new deals at Humble:

• Humble Bundle has the June Tunes Bundle, featuring up to 9 games to get during 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/june-tunes
• Humble Store has the new Focus Summer Sale, with up to 90% discounts during 11 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/focus-summer-sale/

Fanatical has no new deals, which means that the whole May Madness Sale in June I said the other day isn’t happening. Thankfully.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Intel has joined Nvidia with its own neural texture compression tech but it probably won't rescue your VRAM-starved 8 GB GPU any time soon
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/graphics-cards/intel-has-joined-nvidia-with-its-own-neural-texture-compression-tech-but-it-probably-wont-rescue-your-vram-starved-8-gb-gpu-any-time-soon/
We can surely all agree it's a great pity that some otherwise decent modern GPUs are hobbled by a shortage of VRAM. I'm looking at you, Nvidia RTX 5060. So, what if there was a way to squeeze games into a much smaller memory footprint, without impacting image quality?
Actually, there is, at least in part, and it's called neural texture compression (NTC). Indeed, the basic idea is nothing new, as we've been posting about NTC since the dark days of 2023.
Not to overly flex, but our own Nick also got there ages ago with the Nvidia demo, which he experimented with back in February. However, as ever with a novel 3D rendering technology, the caveat was a certain green-tinged proprietary aspect. Nvidia's take on NTC is known as RTXNTC, and while it doesn't require an Nvidia GPU, it really only runs well on RTX 40 and 50 series GPUs.
However, more recently, Intel has gotten in on the game with a more GPU-agnostic approach targeted at low-power GPUs that could open the technology out to a broader range of graphics cards. Now, both technologies have been combined in a video demo by Compusemble that shows off the benefits of each. And it's pretty impressive stuff.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Enhanced Splinter Cell is the best way to play this classic in 2025
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/enhanced-splinter-cell-is-the-best-way-to-play-this-classic-in-2025/
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell is a third-person stealth game that came out in 2002. This is a classic TPS that a lot of PC gamers love. And, although we don’t have any news for its official remake, there is a new way to re-experience the first game on PC.
Enhanced Splinter Cell is an unofficial patch/mod that brings a lot of QoL improvements. This mod restores content that was cut from the game. It also brings numerous gameplay tweaks and changes. Plus, it improves the game’s lighting so that it can be similar to the one for Xbox.
In case you didn’t know, the PC version of Splinter Cell had weaker lighting than the Xbox version. Luckily, this mod fixes that. It brings back the Xbox lighting and textures, so the game looks much better. It also brings back the flashing light effect from the Xbox version when alarms go off. On top of that, there’s a new option to change Sam’s outfit for all levels.
Not only that, but Enhanced Splinter Cell includes dgVoodoo2 to restore Shadow Buffer rendering and set a 60 FPS cap. It also includes the ThirteenAG Widescreen Fix for widescreen support. This means that you can run the game on modern PC systems and monitors. This alone is a must for everyone who wants to replay the first Splinter Cell.
As said, Enhanced Splinter Cell also comes with a bunch of new gameplay improvements. Now, you can tap a key to open the inventory instead of holding it down—just like in Pandora Tomorrow. You can also set a key to turn the HUD on or off. There’s a new option to choose how fast your character moves when the game starts. And just like in later Splinter Cell games, you can now use the crouch key to drop down from ledges.
What’s also cool is that the patch adds two missions that were cut from the game. These missions are the Nuclear Power Plant and Severonickel. Do note that these are still a WIP. As such, they are not as polished as the official missions. Still, these are two cool missions that die-hard fans may find cool. The patch also includes updated cutscene that improve the storytelling for Kalinatek, along with two new cutscenes for Nuclear Power Plant and Severonickel.
>> The article has an almost 20 minutes video.

Fake Minecraft mods that steal all your personal data including crypto wallets are being distributed via GitHub accounts
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/security/fake-minecraft-mods-that-steal-all-your-personal-data-including-crypto-wallets-are-being-distributed-via-github-accounts/
Word to the Minecraft massif. Be very careful about the mods and tools (definitely no cheats...) you choose to install. They may come with an unwanted payload of malware that will steal your Minecraft login, all your browser credentials, and even your Steam profile and cryptocurrency wallets. Yikes.
As reported by Bleeping Computer, security outfit Check Point Research has uncovered a large-scale malware campaign by the Stargazers Ghost Network that uses the Minecraft massive modding system to conduct so-called distribution-as-a-service (DaaS) attacks.
The tools and mods are reportedly distributed via legitimate-looking GitHub accounts. "Since March 2025, Check Point Research has been tracking malicious GitHub repositories targeting Minecraft users with an undetected Java downloader. Those repositories supposedly provided mods for Minecraft and appeared legitimate as multiple accounts starred those repositories," the CPR report says.
Apparently, the GitHub repositories contain malicious Java downloaders with file names that impersonate familiar Minecraft cheat and automation tools.
"This Java downloader is undetected by all antivirus engines across VirusTotal as it is highly targeted for Minecraft users, and the sandbox engines do not contain the required dependencies, which will let the malware run," CPR says.
So, what's the dreaded payload if the downloader is able to run? "After deobfuscation we can observe that it steals various credentials from browsers (Chromium, Edge, Firefox), files (Desktop, Documents, %USERPROFILE%/Source), cryptocurrency wallets (Armory, AtomicWallet, BitcoinCore, Bytecoin, DashCore, Electrum, Ethereum, LitecoinCore, Monero, Exodus, Zcash, Jaxx), VPNs (ProtonVPN, OpenVPN, NordVPN), Steam, Discord, FileZilla, Telegram, as well as collects information about the infected machine, such as running processes, external IP, content of clipboard, and takes a screenshot," CPR has found. Horrors above.

GAMING NEWS

Dune: Awakening patch fixes the ornithopter 'goomba stomp' problem in PvP, just not in the way I expected
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/dune-awakening-patch-fixes-the-ornithopter-goomba-stomp-problem-in-pvp-just-not-in-the-way-i-expected/
Dune: Awakening's 1.1.0.15 patch makes a couple of notable changes to PvP, including a fix for the notorious goomba stomp meta where players were squishing each other with ornithopters.

Warner Bros Games restructures, all the better to drown us in Batman and Harry Potter games
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/warner-bros-games-restructures-all-the-better-to-drown-us-in-batman-and-harry-potter-games/
Warner Bros Games has announced a new restructuring, six months after the departure of its president David Hadded, as it continues to re-orient itself around four franchises. The new structure will see WB Games split into three divisions based on what the company considers its four most important gaming properties: Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat and DC (but mainly Batman).

After 4 years of silence, one of the most disappointing games of 2020 gets a surprise expansion
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/after-4-years-of-silence-one-of-the-most-disappointing-games-of-2020-gets-a-surprise-expansion/
Five years after a fizzled release that earned it a place on our list of the worst game launches of 2020—and, more notably, four years after its last update—the mob management sim Empire of Sin has received a surprise new expansion featuring a new boss, gangster class, racket, guns, and 14 all-new missions.

Hunt: Showdown 1896 goes offline for a day after its latest update caused so many problems Crytek had to remove it completely
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/hunt-showdown-1896-goes-offline-for-a-day-after-its-latest-update-caused-so-many-problems-crytek-had-to-remove-it-completely/
It's been a rough day for Crytek, which after struggling for a day to get the new Hunt: Showdown 1896 2.4 update working properly has given up, rolled the whole thing back, and says it will try again later.

World of Warcraft players are convinced Blizzard is dropping hints about a major update to a 9-year-old class
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/world-of-warcraft-players-are-convinced-blizzard-is-dropping-hints-about-a-major-update-to-a-9-year-old-class/
With how much has foundationally changed in World of Warcraft recently, it feels like just about anything could happen. Warbands have revolutionized account-wide progression, player housing is on its way, and you can drift in a racecar now. Blizzard could tell me it's adding a battle royale to Azeroth and I'd believe it—oh wait, that already happened.
So when I heard the recent reveal video for the upcoming patch 11.2 Ghosts of K'aresh has what looks like a tease for a new kind of demon hunter—a class that's been around for nine years—it only took me a few seconds to be convinced it's probably real. Demon hunters are the only class left with only two specializations to choose from while everyone else gets to juggle three (or four in the druid's case). And it wasn't that long ago that Blizzard surprised everyone with a third spec for evokers.

Elden Ring Nightreign's first enhanced boss just dropped out of nowhere, and there's an extremely useful new NPC too
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/elden-ring-nightreigns-first-enhanced-boss-just-dropped-out-of-nowhere-and-theres-an-extremely-useful-new-npc-too/
Well, that was unexpected: Elden Ring Nightreign players just discovered the first of the new "enhanced bosses" FromSoftware said were coming this month. Defeating it rewards you with a new currency you can spend on a bunch of extremely useful stuff at a new NPC.
Update: FromSoftware has finally put out a proper announcement of the new Everdark Sovereign bosses. A new enhanced boss will rotate in every week, which means Gaping Jaw won't be available forever.
And the post clarifies that you must defeat the normal version of the boss to unlock the Everdark Sovereign version.
>> On another note, if you have troubles with Libra, this might help.

Not to be political but... 

Elon Musk's latest gaming take is ruthlessly mocked by Bioshock fans: 'Probably thinks Andrew Ryan was the hero'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/elon-musks-latest-gaming-take-is-ruthlessly-mocked-by-bioshock-fans-probably-thinks-andrew-ryan-was-the-hero/

I'll leave it like that for those that want to aboid it, but man, for someone that thinks he's a genius, he completely missed the point of the game (assuming he played it, of course).