The AMD 890GX chipset will be tested with the GPU at its default clock frequency of 700MHz as will the 790GX. The 785G operates at 500MHz and this is the frequency that we will be testing it at. Then the Intel GMA HD will be tested at both the standard 733MHz clock speed as well as the 900MHz frequency of the Core i5 661 processor. Company of Heroes was tested with the lowest possible quality settings enabled....

The Pad 7 is loaded with Android 4.4.2 out of the box, complete with a new custom Asus skin that’s used across their range of products. While every standard application has been skinned, such as the Contacts, Calendar and Gallery apps, Asus hasn’t significantly expanded on the feature sets. The general style used across the operating system looks good, although I have to wonder why they didn’t save some money on development and just stick with stock Android....

The Asus ROG Strix GL502VS sits towards the top end of the performance and price scale. It doesn’t have any ludicrous dual-GPU setups inside, but its GeForce GTX 1070 discrete graphics chip offers better performance than your typical gaming laptop or even desktop. It packs a 15.6-inch 1080p G-Sync display and a range of other solid hardware in a form factor that still makes it somewhat portable, unlike a few other laptops I’ve reviewed with similar hardware....

The XG35VQ’s build quality is great. The design is a little too gamer for my taste, but I do appreciate features like slim bezels and an easy-to-navigate OSD with a directional toggle. There’s plenty of connectivity and a flexible stand, along with an RGB ring on the back that doesn’t make a lot sense. Color performance is solid, with acceptable out-of-the-box colors and plenty of room for elite calibration. The display is bright, the VA panel technology allows for a high LCD contrast ratio, there’s little (if any backlight bleed), and viewing angles are very good....

The heatsink and fan cooling setup used on our review sample was on the cheap side, even for a budget graphics card, so we hope that AMD partners can come up with far more impressive solutions. Despite the low power consumption levels of the Radeon HD 5450, our board still ran rather hot, almost reaching 60 degrees under load. This made the Radeon HD 5450 hotter than the Radeon HD 4650 and GeForce GT 240 graphics cards, both of which carried upgraded coolers....

On the horizon from AMD is a dual-GPU version codenamed “Hemlock XT,” which is essentially a pair of Radeon HD 5870 GPUs on a single PCB. Looking at our benchmark results today this is an almost frightening prospect, yet one we really want to see! The Hemlock XT is due out next month, along with the Juniper XT and Juniper LE, which will be known as the Radeon HD 5770 and Radeon HD 5750 respectively....

The latest official drivers were used for all graphics cards, which saw both Crossfire and SLI working. However Crossfire was full of graphical glitches and although we did not experience any crashing, there were a number of rendering issues that still need to be solved. For measuring frame rates we relied on Fraps, where we recorded a minute of gameplay from the second level. The Intel Core i7 920 processor was overclocked to 3....

For testing we installed our typical test hardware for mid-ATX cases: an OCZ ZX 1000w PSU, an Asrock Fatal1ty 990FX Professional motherboard, 8GB (2x4GB) of Kingston RAM, an AMD Phenom II X6 1100T CPU with the Prolimatech Megahalems and an Inno3D GeForce GTX 580 OC GPU. We also crammed in half a dozen Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB HDDs and a Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 1TB drive. For the photos, we used more modern hardware: the Asrock Z97 Extreme9 mobo, the Be Quiet!...

A new powerful UEFI rootkit is reportedly up for sale on underground forums, offering advanced attack features that were previously available only to intelligence agencies and state-backed threat groups. BlackLotus, as the unknown seller has named the malware, is a firmware rootkit that can bypass Windows protections to run malicious code at the lowest level of the x86 architecture protection rings. According to security researchers that spotted the BlackLotus ads on crimeware forums, a single rootkit user license costs up to $5,000, while a subsequent code rebuild is “just” $200....

When left to idle, the C2750’s eight cores seem to consume a lot of power, though it could also be other components on the Asrock C2750D4I motherboard that aren’t fuel efficient at idle. The C2750 isn’t too bad under load, consuming roughly the same amount of power as the AMD A4-4000 or Intel Core i3-4130.

Because we have tested with the GeForce GTX 580, which essentially eliminates any GPU bottleneck, this means slower graphics cards are unlikely to run into issues even when paired with slower processors (within reason).

We used Fraps to measure frame rates during a minute of gameplay from Bulletstorm’s first single-player level: On the road to hell. The test begins on the third checkpoint where the player engages a number of hostiles on a cliff face. The scene has heaps going on and should help to provide an excellent representation of the performance gamers can expect to see from Bulletstorm. The Intel Core i7 920 processor was overclocked to 3....

It’s unmistakably a CoD trailer when the first few seconds involve dangling upside down from a helicopter into oncoming traffic and then shooting an ablaze truck to get out of a sticky situation. Modern Warfare II will likely feature plenty of such instances in the single-player story alongside other more realistic and immersive experiences that build on MW19’s gripping campaign. Besides calling it the most ambitious entry, Infinity Ward says this year’s shooter will have a revamped Gunsmith system, improved weapon handling, advanced AI and new gameplay mechanics and elements....

With our thinking beanies firmly in place, we’ve gone through our reviews and online stores to see just if it can be done. Can you really build a PC for gaming for the same price as a new PlayStation or Xbox? Pre-builds – just no Let’s start by removing one option entirely: pre-builds. These are computers that are already put together, sold en masse by companies such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo, as well as smaller independent firms (e....

Silicon shortage has forced Canon to make chip-less toner cartridges for some of its business printers and multifunction devices (MFDs). In an official announcement for customers in Australia, New Zealand and Germany, Canon shared the affected models comprising several imageRunner printers, and assured users that the new chip-less cartridges won’t have a negative impact on printing quality. The company is also reportedly informing customers via email. The absence of a DRM chip in Canon’s toner cartridges means that even a genuine replacement would fail to be recognized as such by the printer....

The $52.7 billion haul represented a modest two percent gain compared to the same period a year earlier. Net income, however, slid 12 percent year over year to $17.37 billion and diluted earnings per share checked in at $2.32 (down 11 percent compared to Q4 2021). Microsoft’s productivity and business processes division (Office, LinkedIn, Dynamics) generated $17 billion in revenue, up seven percent YoY, while its intelligent cloud division soared 18 percent to $21....

Coinbase CEO and co-founder Brian Armstrong has just announced that the company is laying off 18 percent of its staff, equating to about 1,100 employees. This news comes just two weeks after the company extended its hiring freeze and rescinded job offers for an unknown number of new hires. Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States by trading volume. Armstrong suggests that we might be entering a recession, potentially leading to another crypto winter that could last for an extended period....

Company of Heroes was a game for true armchair generals. There was no resource collecting, no tank rushes, none of the hallmarks of other games that look like they’re about a clash of armies but are really little but mouse-driven sprint races. Built around the concepts of cover and directional fire, suppression and morale, you had to use actual battlefield strategies if you wanted to succeed, and seven years on (the game was released in 2006), the formula is so perfect that it remains unchallenged, even by developer Relic’s semi-related Dawn of War series....

Market research group NPD’s report on US consumer spending on video game content reveals that sales for hardware and accessories fell to $12.35 billion in the second quarter, a 13 percent decline year-over-year. The reasons behind this decline reportedly include continued console supply constraints (mainly the PlayStation 5), a reduced number of new game releases, rising living costs, and the return of experiential spending (travel, attending live events, etc.). However, NPD notes that consumer spending is still above pre-pandemic levels....

Later upgraded with RGB lighting, the K95 currently sells for $170 with either Brown or Red Cherry MX switches. Unconvinced that the K95 RGB was the best keyboard it could produce, Corsair has upgraded its flagship again with a ‘Platinum’ version that purportedly takes performance to another level. In the company’s own words: “It’s a premium, best-in-class mechanical gaming keyboard for the hardcore gamer who doesn’t settle for anything less than the best of the best in gaming peripherals, demands premium material finishes, the highest durability, functionality and unreal performance....