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Nvidia RTX at a glance: Should I upgrade my graphics card?

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Nvidia RTXThe new Nvidia RTX graphics cards mark a quantum leap. We explain what they are capable of and whether you should upgrade your graphics card.

It’s not every day that new graphics cards are announced. The last generation already arrived a good two years ago, which means that video games have never seen technology such as real-time raytracing. These are exciting times for all graphics nerds. That’s why we would like to take a closer look at the Nvidia RTX and find out what the new generation is capable of.

Nvidia RTX

The reflections of the light rays can be seen in a raytracing demo.

What can the new RTX cards do?

To answer this question, we will first look at the pros and cons of the new Nvidia graphics cards. The new technology in the RTX cards is called real-time raytracing. It has never been used in the video gaming field due to the required computing power simply being too high. With the new Nvidia RTX cards, raytracing can now also be used for video games.

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Blue Shadow: how the new cloud gaming service works

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Blue ShadowIs your old PC too weak for the newest games or complex 3D rendering processes? Instead of buying a high-end computer, you can soon rent a virtual one. This is what Blue Shadow is doing, and this is how it works.

Those who are not yet familiar with cloud computing and cloud gaming might be curious about this. Renting a virtual computer and installing demanding software or playing the newest games in maximum detail on it? How does that work? This is what service providers such as Blade are making possible. Its offer, called Shadow, is coming to Germany this week. The idea behind it is that you pay monthly for a fully-equipped PC with Windows 10 and stream all contents directly onto your old computer or even your smartphone.

How cloud computing works with Blade Shadow

In Amsterdam, as well as other places, the French company Blade operates a computer centre, in which there is extremely powerful hardware. If you opt for Shadow, you get the performance of a computer that has an Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce 1080 GTX, 12GB DDR4 RAM and 256GB hard drive. Such a PC would cost around 1000 euros for sure, but with Shadow it only costs about 30 euros a month.

Blue ShadowThe difference is that the computer is not in your home, but you stream the system content from said computer centre to your living room. A 15 Mbps broadband connection is required to use the virtual Windows 10 machine on your old computer (Windows, Mac), smartphone or tablet (Android, soon on Apple also). You use your mouse, keyboard and gamepad – any input is received basically instantly so that there are no unpleasant breaks during gameplay. If the internet connection is problematic, the picture quality will worsen but it will not come to a halt. That’s what they have promised.

Focus: cloud gaming

Blade Shadow is primarily aimed at gamers who cannot afford or do not want a powerful computer. They get a system with can display games in 4K resolution (60Hz) or rather 1080p (144Hz). The pre-installed Windows 10 can be configured individually; you can also, for example, install Steam with your own games library.

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HDR formats: even more confusion in 2018

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Just like with Blu-ray VS HD-DVD, we are currently witnessing a battle between “HDR” image formats, specifically the HDR formats that use dynamic metadata. On the one hand, there is Dolby Vision – a proprietary format; on the other hand, there is the more open HDR10+ format.

If you are familiar with current developments in television technology, you will be aware of the fact that modern TVs have transitioned to 4K and HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology.

We will be focusing on HDR in this article. While 4K technology increases a display’s definition, its effect is not as readily apparent as that produced by HDR – a technology responsible for increasing the contrast of displayed images. The problem is that there are currently several different formats capable of producing this HDR effect.

HDR formatsThe majority of products on the market these days are compatible with the HDR10 format, an imaging technology that produces a dynamic contrast range by combining darker, more intelligible scenes with high-luminosity scenes. However, there are two different offshoots of this image format (HDR10+, an improved version of the HDR10 technology, and Dolby Vision) and it is easy to become confused by the many different announcements being made by this industry’s various stakeholders.

Who does what?

At CES 2018, Panasonic made up its mind regarding which format it will be supporting (or almost did…we will come back to this point later). While Apple, Netflix, LG, Sony, and Oppo all support the Dolby Vision format, Panasonic has decided to take a chance on HDR10+. Its future OLED TVs – the FZ800 and the FZ950 — will be compatible with the open HDR10+ image format developed by Samsung and Fox (in conjunction with Warner Bros) which has also been approved by the BluRay Disc Association.

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Shadow of the Tomb Raider for Xbox One X Review: feels very familiar

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The final chapter of a trilogy that began five years ago, Shadow of the Tomb Raider seems to have fallen back on past success rather than innovating.

For many years, Lara Croft was more than just the heroine of a cult video game, she was also a sex symbol, famous for her mini-shorts, her ample breasts, and her two pistols. However, her latest incarnation no longer fits that description at all. She is no longer the sex symbol created during an era when it was taken for granted that video games were exclusively male-oriented. Ever since Square Enix rebooted her image in 2013 (with its Tomb Raider game), Lara has become a mature young adult – a true explorer.

Square Enix decided to capitalize on the new direction in which it had taken the game franchise by creating a trilogy. After Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider has now been released. This last chapter is meant to conclude Lara’s epic saga by allowing her to fully assimilate her legacy, her status, and her destiny.

Technological maturity

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is able to take full advantage of the power of modern gaming consoles – allowing Lara to look her absolute best. The technological maturity of the PS4 and the Xbox One has allowed Eidos Montreal, the studio that has taken over for Crystal Dynamics, to develop a highly-detailed and visually stunning game. This high level of detail made it possible, for example, to realistically recreate a Mexican village celebrating the Day of the Dead, the rich scenery of Peru as well as dark and dense forests – not to mention the stunning realism of the game’s underwater environments.

Amazingly detailed graphics

This rich detail can, in large part, be credited to a technology that we never get tired of highlighting: HDR. Eidos Montreal’s exploitation of HRD’s full potential allows Shadow of the Tomb Raider to excel. Far from being just another asset that can be mentioned on the game’s packaging, HDR accentuates the contrast between the game’s decidedly dark overtones and the luxuriance of its landscapes, the brilliance of its in-game treasures/reflections, and its amazing lighting effects. The Xbox One X, because of its increased resolution, provides wonderful detail (it is also possible to select a 60 fps mode geared towards more fluid gameplay).

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Philips Momentum 436M6VBPAB Review: a real gaming monitor – but not just for gamers

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Philips Momentum 436M6VBPABWhat do you look for in a gaming monitor? It is quite possible that the new Philips Momentum does exactly what you imagine. 4K, HDR and Ambiglow are just three of its many exciting features.

The brand-new Philips Momentum 436M6VBPAB seeks to combine everything on a 42.51-inch (108cm diagonal) monitor, in line with the current trend in the monitor industry. With a 4K UHD resolution of 3840×2160 pixels and high dynamic range (HDR), it should be a superb match for the current consoles Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro. To simply speak of one monitor would sound like an understatement. Therefore, the manufacturer has also spoken of a “Momentum monitor” and Philips has a number of special features ready.

Philips Momentum glows with Ambiglow

Behind the name UltraClear 4K UHD, the Philips Momentum hides an LCD display (MVA) with WLED backlighting, 720cd/m² and a contrast of 50,000,000:1. Thanks to a BT.-709 coverage of 100 percent and a DCI-P3 coverage of 97.6 percent, the 16:9 screen is perfect for professional applications such as CAD, 3D or spreadsheets. Its strengths should be particularly prominent in video games, though.

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Best Laptops for College Students under 500 Dollars 2018

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The most underestimated use-case of laptops these days is education. People think that just about anything would serve this purpose. Nothing can be further from truth. As any college student will tell you with gritted teeth; poorly designed laptops can ruin your entire semester.

As a college/school student you would want a reliable storage solution to keep your lengthy essays and notes safe and secure. You will want an insane amount of battery, if you are taking too many classes and need to spend at least 8 to 9 hours without the hassle of charging your laptop.

Also an important factor will be the weight you have to carry all day long, and the build quality. Carrying a laptop in your backpack can put both you and your device under a lot of strain. Next thing to consider would be the use case. Do you want just browsing and word processing out of it? Are you a Computer science student and maybe want something more bleeding edge? What are the budget constraints?

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Best Antivirus for Windows 10

Regarding antiviruses, there are a plethora of logical options. We all use the internet differently and inn order to help you choose, we’ll determine which security suite suits which user profile.

After closely analyzing most of 2017’s suites, one thing is for certain: these solutions have a rather limited impact on performances, and their efficiency is superior to the basic defense tools built into Windows 10.

[toc]We have noticed a trend: suites include more features, including PC optimization, and take into account the diversity of devices in the household. But, besides BitDefender, all the publishers must do better integrating their mobile solutions and offering the possibility of controlling everything from a single interface.

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Buying a Ryzen motherboard: Which Chipset, Manufacturer and RAM is right for you?

X370, B350 or A320: The AMD Ryzen is becoming ever more attractive to PC hobbyists for its significantly cheaper price than at release. We reveal which motherboard chipset you should get.

Ryzen motherboard

The Ryzen 1800X is the flagship of the new AMD processors. It will not be fun for users to use without a motherboard, though.

AMD Ryzen CPUs are a good choice for gamers, as the CPUs performed very well in tests. The performance is great, and the price is also appealing. For PC hobbyists, it is important to find useful combinations of board and motherboard, as well as RAM and graphics cards. AMD have three chipsets, on which basis users can choose matching motherboards. That would be the models X370, B350 or A320. This excludes boards for SFF systems (Small Form Factor) with an A300 chipset (X300 and A300). It is a less popular format, which is often found in office computers or mini PCs. The latter also applies for the A320. Although, through the focus on classical desktop systems, the chipset is, in our opinion, not left out.

The order of the chipsets corresponds to the descending request profiles of different users. The X370 is therefore tailored towards enthusiasts and the A320 to the simple average user. All motherboards for AMD Ryzen processors rely on an AM4 socket, just as with the previous generation of AMD processors and APUs (Advanced Processing Unit; Processors with integrated graphics). The X370 chipset does not support processors with integrated graphics, only the B350 and A320 can do this. It will be interesting when AMD releases processors from the Raven Ridge series in the beginning of 2018, which require video output on the board for each integrated graphics unit.

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Geforce RTX 2080 Ti, 2080 & 2070: Prices, Release, Raytracing Games and more

Nvidia has introduced the gaming graphics cards Geforce RTX 2080 Ti, 2080 and 2070. They offer real-time raytracing from 639 euros. Nvidia provide a list of all raytracing games.

geforce-rtx-2080-ti

The Geforce RTX series offers a new cooler in the Founders Edition with the RTX instead of GTX lettering. Pictured: Geforce RTX 2080 Ti.

We summarise the most important information about the release and prices of the new Nvidia graphics cards Geforce GTX 2080 Ti, 2080 and 2070. The co-founder of Nvidia, Jen-Hsun Huang, introduced the GPUs of the Turing generation on Monday evening in Cologne, Germany, just one day before Gamescom 2018. The gaming graphics cards are coming on 20th September 2018 and have been available for pre-order since the unveiling of the cards.

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Best Drones 2018: How to Choose Best Drones for Beginners and Pros?

From 20 to 1700 dollars: all about leisure drones

Leisure drones have made their way out of ultra-specialized boutiques and have found a place on the shelves of big box stores. This type of drone has become extremely affordable, sometimes retailing for as little as 20 to 25 dollars. Of course, the more experience you become flying a drone, the more you will want to fly even faster and more powerful models. The price of these more powerful drones can be surprisingly high and the introduction of the Mi Drone by Xiaomi – which promises to offer rock-bottom prices – has done nothing to change the status quo in the mid to high range segment of the market.

Drones, what are they good for anyhow? These devices, which are the heirs to an older generation of remote-controlled models are, simply put, really about taking joy in flying them. However, sports cameras such as the Geopro have opened up an entirely new universe to these devices which are now capable of aerial photography. Imagine taking photos of your holiday as seen from the air. Or how about a “dronie”- a selfie of yourself taken from a drone!?

Our favorites

Before going all out and buying yourself a large drone in order to take superb aerial photographs, you would be better off honing your piloting skills by practicing with a more reasonably-sized drone. We have elected to speak about a few drones which are small and easy to learn how to fly and good for filming video – good for taking on vacation or for filming nice landscapes… The manufacturer DJI has a virtual monopoly on the flying camera market, with a more than 70% market share! It must be said that this manufacturer has quite a few years of experience in manufacturing drones geared towards both professionals and the general public. It is also the manufacturer which offers the most highly developed and effective innovations. All in all, it is hard to compete with DJI and the French Parrot company, as well as the American manufacturer 3DR, have fallen behind. Furthermore, in terms of the smallest drones, there is a fierce battle raging between less well-known manufacturers.

What size should you choose?

The smallest drones measure 5 cm across and only weigh a few dozen grams. Oftentimes their remote control is bigger than they are! They closely resemble children’s toys, but don’t be fooled, these are veritable flying machines which behave just like bigger models. They are even harder to fly than larger models since their built-in electronics are less sophisticated. They are conceived to be inexpensive – mainly in terms of reducing weight (these mini-drones rely on small “brushed” motors, which are lightweight, but which have a short life-span of around 200 flights) as well as on low-capacity batteries. All of the internal electronics of these drones fit onto a single circuit board. These circuits are comprised of sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope) as well as chips to control features such as stabilization and the processing of flight commands…

drone It is possible to fit a camera of a few grams on board a drone that it only ten centimeters across. The video quality will be mediocre, but it will allow you to gain access to a different perspective and to keep a memory of all of your flights!

Drones of 25 cm and upwards are usually equipped with more powerful “brushless” motors which make it possible to carry a heavier load such as a more powerful battery, a GoPro type camera or even a combination camera + transmitter for immersion flights. These motors need to be controlled by electronic circuits called ESCs (Electronic Speed Control).

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