How my 1080ti's gonna feel with this game (and only two fans remaining out of 3):

For real though, DL 1 gave my 1080ti a run back when I bought the card in 2017, and that was at 1440p without Nvidia's PCSS shadows on either (everything else on max, slider distance reaching 75%, which was way above average normal distance, since the devs stated later on after an update, so 100% distance is akin to 150%). I imagine this game is going to want me to dial a ton down, but I'll wait for Alex's optimised settings to get an idea of what's worth sacrificing (it's gonna be shadows/Distance/Foliage and AO, just watch). 

Good morning, guys. Here's something for some of you

*** NEW COMPETITION ***

Win a Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 + 2TB SSD bundle
https://www.club386.com/win-a-kingston-fury-32gb-ddr5-2tb-ssd-bundle/

Our goodie bag comprises a 32GB (2x16GB) kit of latest-generation Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-5600 CL40 memory, alongside a 2TB Kingston Fury Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD capable of sequential read and write speeds in excess of 7,000MB/s!

Sadly, this contest is limited to residents of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and United Kingdom.

To those of you that can take part in it, good luck.

Talking about RAM. Just upgraded my PC to have 32GB RAM total. Pretty nerve-wracking experience when it refused to boot and properly load into Windows. It looked like the packaging it had been opened before as the seal was well unsealed, so I was like urrrrrr. But lo' and behold after several refitting, reboots and bios tweaks later, voila! It works.

Don't usually have and an issue of returning stuff normally.. but I've heard sending stuff back to Amazon (EU) is a huge pain in the arse and that can go terribly wrong when you have to return something. It was dirt cheap though (16GB 3600 kit for £48) so the risk paid off.

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

The Epic Store is giving away Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/yooka-laylee-and-the-impossible-lair
And next week, the free game will be Windbound.

The Humble Store has three new sales:

• The Racing Sale features up to 90% discounts during 8 days. There are keys for Steam and EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/racing-sale/
• Publisher Fellow Traveler puts its games up to 90% off during the next 8 days. There are keys for Steam and GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/fellow-traveller-publisher-sale/
• And Wired Production also puts its games up to 90% off during the next 8 days. There are keys for Steam and 1 for GOG: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/wired-productions-publisher-sale/

Fanatical has two new deals:

• The new Star Deal is SUPERHOT VR, 66% off during the next 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/superhot-vr
• And the new Platinum Collection BYOB for February comes with 16 games to build your 3, 5 or 7 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/platinum-collection-build-your-own-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce 511.65 WHQL driver fixes the stuttering issues in Final Fantasy 7 Remake
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/nvidia-geforce-511-65-whql-driver-fixes-the-stuttering-issues-in-final-fantasy-7-remake/
NVIDIA has released a brand new driver for its graphics cards. According to the green team, the NVIDIA GeForce 511.65 WHQL driver fixes the stuttering issues in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. As such, owners of this game should definitely download this driver and give it a go.
Going into more details, this driver addresses the stutters (or light to poor hitching) issues that could occur in multiple applications due to allocation creation. In theory, other PC games should also have fewer stutters now with this driver.
Do note that this driver will not fix the game’s traversal stutters. Instead, it will eliminate (or at least minimize) the stutters that could occur due to allocation creation.
Moreover, this driver provides the best day-0 gaming experience for Dying Light 2 Stay Human. Additionally, it adds support for the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3070 Ti notebooks.
>> Available from here.

Windows 11 update might finally make the new OS worth it for gamers
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/windows-11-update-might-finally-make-the-new-os-worth-it-for-gamers/
It's been a tough post-launch period for Windows 11, with its reception from gamers having been less than great. When an OS tanks your gaming performance, that's to be expected somewhat. With the latest Windows 11 update, however, things may be looking up for us gamers.
The KB5008353 update has recently been made available as an optional download for users who aren't a part of the Windows Insider program. According to Windows Latest, the update addresses some SSD- and HDD-related bugs that have been causing performance issues for the new operating system.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Stardew Valley's biggest mod is complete, but now it's heading for version 2.0
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/stardew-valleys-biggest-mod-is-complete-but-now-its-heading-for-version-20/
Stardew Valley's biggest mod released a new version this week with a trailer that "marks the conclusion of over three years of my life," its creator says. "My initial vision for the mod is complete," FlashShifter says of version 1.14, but he isn't finished. "I will begin working on SVE 2.0 soon, using all of the skills I've learned since starting this project."
I first played Stardew Valley Expanded back in 2020 and it felt like a proper expansion even then. It's grown since, now with another farm map, more characters, and new locations in Pelican Town. One of the things I enjoyed most about Stardew Valley Expanded was how naturally it fit in with the base game–from the map changes to new characters to the new JojaMart storyline. SVE's new 1.14 trailer here shows how true that still is.

GAMING NEWS

Sony calls God of War on PC a success
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/sony-calls-god-of-war-on-pc-a-success/
Last month, we reported on God of War surpassing one million copies on PC. And yesterday, Sony itself called God of War on PC a success.

Ray Tracing support coming to Chernobylite on April 21st
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/ray-tracing-support-coming-to-chernobylite-on-april-21st/
The Farm 51 has announced that it will be adding Ray Tracing effects to the PC version of Chernobylite on April 21st. These RT effects will part of the Enhanced Edition which will be available to all PC owners of the base game.

Here are 9 minutes of gameplay footage from WWE 2K22
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-9-minutes-of-gameplay-footage-from-wwe-2k22/
2K Games has released a Gameplay Deep Dive video, in which it showcases 9 minutes of gameplay footage from WWE 2K22. And, surprisingly enough, this gameplay footage looks miles better than the game’s first in-game trailers.

Thursday news, part two:

Battlefield 2042 'did not meet expectations,' EA boss says
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/battlefield-2042-did-not-meet-expectations-ea-boss-says/
Things have not gone well for Battlefield 2042, the latest entry in EA's long-running military shooter series. (...)
Unsurprisingly, that unhappiness translated into relatively poor sales. In a quarterly investors call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said that "the launch of Battlefield 2042 did not meet expectations." He also acknowledged that while some of its problems arose from the difficulties of working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic, fans just didn't care for some of the changes that developers made to the formula.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League reportedly delayed until 2023
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/suicide-squad-kill-the-justice-league-reportedly-delayed-until-2023/
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a game in which the Suicide Squad attempts to kill the Justice League, may not make it out this year as it was expected to. According to a Bloomberg report, "people familiar with its development" have said that the game has been delayed and won't be released until sometime in 2023.
>> Ryuu96 made a thread about this rumor/leak yesterday.

Puzzle Quest 3 arrives next month to steal all your free time
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/puzzle-quest-3-arrives-next-month/
Puzzle Quest 3 was announced last year, and now developer Infinity Plus Two has announced that it will launch on Steam Early Access on March 1st 2022—the fifteenth anniversary of the original game's release. "We'll be working with the community to get the balance and feel of PQ3 just right on PC," writes Steve Fawkner, CEO and creative lead, "while also experimenting with new features based on your feedback, including controller support!"

Dying Light 2's day one patch has more than 1,000 fixes
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/dying-light-2s-day-one-patch-has-more-than-1000-fixes/
Techland's Dying Light 2 releases tomorrow, though some early copies have already found their way into the wild, and something of a theme among those with early access (including reviewers) is that this is a buggy game. When the game snuck out, developer Techland asked players not to judge the game until it had received a day one patch.
(...)
Techland has now expanded somewhat on the contents of this patch, which adds "over a thousand fixes and improvements on all the platforms [...] and of course, we are continuing our efforts to improve the PC version in real-time."

Bruno Mars joins Fortnite, because why not?
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/fortnite-bruno-mars-anderson-paak/
Musical artists Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak are officially joining Fortnite as the latest additions to the Icon Series, Epic announced Thursday. Both artists will get their own skins in the game, plus a variety of cosmetic items based on their musical group Silk Sonic.

Why not April 26th as anniversary?

.

.

.

Too soon?

PCIe Gen5 power connector is compatible with GeForce RTX 30 Founders Edition

https://videocardz.com/newz/pcie-gen5-power-connector-is-compatible-with-geforce-rtx-30-founders-edition

"PCIe Gen5 connector fits Molex MicroFit 3.0 used by NVIDIA RTX 30 Founders Edition"



As usual, Nvidia leads the industry with forward thinking GPUs. But I do hope no flagship will require 1275 Watts of power.


AMD Reaffirms Radeon RX 7000 ‘RDNA 3’ GPUs & Ryzen 7000 ‘Zen 4’ CPU Launch In 2022, Spending Big Money To Secure Increased Capacity

https://wccftech.com/amd-reaffirms-radeon-rx-7000-rdna-3-gpu-ryzen-7000-zen-4-cpu-launch-in-2022-spending-big-money-to-secure-increased-capacity/

Hopefully AMD will consider the budget buyers more appropriately while adding in competitive Ray Tracing and ML next gen.


Phison’s Next-Gen PS5020-E20 Gen 4 NVMe SSD Controller Spotted, Aimed at High-End Data Center Solutions

https://wccftech.com/phisons-next-gen-ps5020-e20-gen-4-nvme-ssd-controller-spotted-aimed-at-high-end-data-center-solutions/

I feel as though we reached a point where speeds need to start mattering less and SSD manufacturers should start focusing on capacity. Like sure you can have 14GB/s SSD speeds which 99% of the people won't use or if we can have double the capacity at 7GB/s, I'd rather take that instead.

[VGC] 343 Industries has delayed providing an update on its Halo Infinite seasonal, co-op and Forge plans, saying it needs more time

Imagine a Studio being this incompetent

It's been 35 years. Half the people on this site are probably younger than that. I really doubt you can say it's too soon.