May 22, 2015 - The WAN Show Document

[LinusTech]

 

Soundcloud Link: https://soundcloud.com/thewanshow/the-wan-show-video-cards-witcher-3-so-much-drama-may-22-2015
 

LENOVO TWEET (Twitter blitz)

To inspire curiosity about the upcoming Tech World event, we want you to create a video clip covering what you think is next. You will also need to include the following link within your promo post: https://goo.gl/fW0sxa

 

tag it #LenovoTechWorld and #WhatsNext

 

Main News Topics

CD Projekt Red tackles The Witcher 3 downgrade issues head-on

Source 1: linustechtips.com/cd-projekt-red-tackles… OP: ThatGuyWhoTwirlsHisPen

Source 2: eurogamer.net/cd-projekt-red-tackles-the-witcher…

• game was met with critical acclaim, but marred by the graphics downgrade

• patch with updates coming

• includes improvements to graphics and graphical settings

• sent to certification on May 20

• will be clear between May 25 and May 27

• also CD Projekt Red will patch the game to allow .ini files on PC

• allows users to push graphical settings even higher

• can tweak grass and vegetation density, post-processing effects like sharpening, and draw distances

• .ini patch will arrive sooner than the other patch

• also thinking about “some other tricks”

• “for those who are still not 100 per cent decided, I definitely encourage them to wait and see what will be releasing in patches, updates and whatnot.”

AMD says Nvidia’s GameWorks “completely sabotaged” Witcher 3 performance on their GPUs

Source 1: linustechtips.com/amd-says-nvidia's-gameworks… OP: Camaran

Source 2: arstechnica.co.uk/amd-says-nvidias-gameworks…

• Witcher 3 makes use of several GameWorks technologies, most notably HBAO+ and HairWorks

• HairWorks adds tens of thousands of tessellated hair strands to characters and dramatically decreases frame rate performance on AMD cards

• some have noted decreased frame rates by as much as 50 percent

• CD Projekt Red developer: “Many of you have asked us if AMD Radeon GPUs would be able to run NVIDIA’s HairWorks technology—the answer is yes! However, unsatisfactory performance may be experienced, as the code of this feature cannot be optimized for AMD products. Radeon users are encouraged to disable NVIDIA HairWorks if the performance is below expectations.”

• AMD claims the issue with GameWorks is that Nvidia is not willing to share source code for proprietary APIs like HairWorks & HBAO+

• AMD cannot optimize drivers without access to the code

• brings up the question - is it fair to ask Nvidia to share that code when they’ve invested so much in its development?

• important note: AMD current flagship cards (290X & others) will always have an issue with HairWorks because the older GCN 1.1 architecture is not good at tessellation

• Nvidia claims that even the source code would not help AMD hardware perform with HairWorks

• Nvidia rep: “GameWorks improves the visual quality of games running on GeForce for our customers. It does not impair performance on competing hardware... Most of the time we optimize games based on binary builds, not source code... I believe it is a resource issue.”

• “NVIDIA spent a lot of artist and engineering resources to help make Witcher 3 better. I would assume that AMD could have done the same thing because our agreements with developers don’t prevent them from working with other IHVs.”

• latter point is interesting as this is a story seen by many with Project Cars

• AMD initially blamed the developer/Nvidia, later turned out that they had not been working with the developer prior to release, and the game was much more playable when they began working with them

• AMD chief gaming scientist Richard Huddy claims that is not the case

• “That's an unfortunate view, but that doesn't follow from what we're seeing. We've been working with CD Projeckt Red from the beginning. We've been giving them detailed feedback all the way through.”

• “Around two months before release, or thereabouts, the GameWorks code arrived with HairWorks, and it completely sabotaged our performance as far as we're concerned. We were running well before that...it's wrecked our performance, almost as if it was put in to achieve that goal.”

LG unveils wallpaper OLED display, less than 1mm thick

Source 1: linustechtips.com/lg-unveils-wallpaper-oled-display… OP: Notional

Source 2: english.yonhapnews.co.kr…

• showcased an OLED display that sticks to the wall on May 19

• 55-inch display is only 0.97mm thick, weighs 1.9kg, and can be easily stuck to and removed from a wall with a magnetic mat

• existing flagship 55-inch OLED panel is 4.3mm thick

• also showed off a convex OLED panel, mainly used for digital signage and outdoor advertising

• head of the LG display division vowed to ramp up OLED production beginning in Q3 (mentioned July or August) 2015 to a level that can meet clients’ demand

• declined to comment on what other brands have displayed interest in LG’s OLED panels (aside from LG electronics)

• maintaining sales target for OLED panels of 600,000 units in 2015, 1.5 million in 2016

• it has only taken LG DIsplays 1.5 years to reach this level of yield, LCD panels took 10 years to reach this level

• focusing on large screens as well, with a plan to introduce an OLED panel as big as 99 inches this year (currently only have up to 77 inch)

• LG also plans to continue upgrading plastic OLED technology in small- and mid-sized segments like transparent, rollable, and flexible displays

Toyota Prius batteries being targeted by car thieves

Source 1: linustechtips.com/toyota-prius-batteries-being… OP: werto165

Source 2: arstechnica.co.uk/toyota-prius-batteries-being…

• increasingly becoming targets of “smash-and-grab” thieves

• outside of the warranty period a Prius battery replacement costs around $2,500 in the US

• 2003-2009 Prius’ are now coming up on battery replacement timings, which is fuelling a number of battery thefts in San Francisco

• thieves are smashing the rear windows of the vehicle, cut through connecting wires, and pull the 150-pound battery pack out of the vehicle

• overall process takes about 20 minutes

• on Craigslist these batteries are going for $900-1,000 on average in San Francisco

• thefts seem to be localised to San Francisco at the moment

• battery packs aren’t marked with a serial number or VIN, which makes them difficult to track and easy to sell

• Prius owners are urged to replace the bolts securing the battery with tamper-proof bolts, though that won’t stop thieves from smashing your windows

• this problem is limited to vehicles with small batteries, as full electric vehicles like the Tesla Model S have batteries that weigh about 1,000 pounds, deterring thieves by sheer size (battery location is also more secure)

Intel Pentium D & Xeon D preliminary specs, the D is back ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Source 1: linustechtips.com/intel-pentium-d-xeon-d-preliminary… OP: ahhming

Source 2: cpu-world.com/preliminary_xeon_D_and…

• blah

HTTPS-crippling attack threatens tens of thousands of Web and mail servers

Source 1: linustechtips.com/https-crippling-attack-threatens… OP: ObscureMammal

Source 2: arstechnica.com/https-crippling-attack-threatens…

• new attack lets eavesdroppers read and modify data passing through encrypted connections

• discovered by a team of computer scientists

• affects an estimated 8.4 percent of the top one million websites and a slightly bigger percentage of mail servers populating the IPv4 address space

• threat stems from a flaw in the transport layer security protocol that websites and mail servers use to establish encrypted connections with end users

• new attack has been dubbed “Logjam”

• can be exploited against a subset of servers that support the widly used Diffie-Hellman key exchange, which allows two parties to negotiate a secret key over an unsecured public channel

• results from export restrictions the US government mandated in the ‘90s on US developers who wanted their software to be used abroad

• established by the Clinton administration so the FBI and other agencies could break the encryption used by foreign entities

• attackers that can monitor the connection between an end user and a Diffie-Hellman-enabled server can inject a payload that downgrades encrypted connections to use extremely weak 512-bit key material

• with prepared, precomputed data the attackers can deduce the encryption key

• just another example of why weakening cryptography is a terrible idea, though the FBI and other law enforcement are calling for that

• ironic weakness as Diffie-Hellman is supposed to provide an additional layer of protection (was called the “perfect forward secrecy”)

• reminiscent of the FREAK attack that also allowed attackers to downgrade HTTPS connections to 512-bit cryptography

• apparently only Internet Explorer has been updated to protect against Logjam attacks

• researchers have been working with developers of major browsers - Chrome, Firefox, and Safari are expected to implement a fix that rejects encrypted connections unless the key material contains a minimum of 1024 bits

• in the short term, the researchers recommend all server administrators disable support for the DHE_EXPORT ciphersuites that allow Diffie-Hellman connections to be downgraded

Microsoft reveals upgrade paths to Windows 10

Source 1: linustechtips.com - microsoft reveals upgrade paths to wind OP: Goodbytes

Source 2: winbeta.org/news/microsoft-spells-out-upgrade-paths-windows-10

• Microsoft will offer a free upgrade to Windows 10 for qualified Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices in the first year. After the first year, upgrades will be paid via boxed product and VL Upgrades.

• If upgraded within the first 12 months following launch, the device will receive ongoing Windows 10 updates for free for the life of that device

From

To

Windows 8.1

Windows 8

Windows 7 Home Basic

Windows 7 Home Premium

Windows 10 Home

Windows 8.1 Pro

Windows 8 Pro

Windows 7 Professional

Windows 7 Ultimate

Windows 10 Pro

 

4GB limit for first HBM graphics card

Source 1: linustechtips.com - amd confirms 4gb limit for first hbm gr OP: Samfisher

Source 2: arstechnica.com - amd confirms 4gb limit for first hbm graphics card

Source 3: arstechnica.co.uk - the tech behind hbm why amds high bandwidth memo

• AMD believes GDDR5 is about to hit the point where it pulls so much power away from the GPU, overall performance drops.

• 1GB of GDDR5 takes up 672mm sq of space versus a 1GB stack of HBM that takes up just 35mm sq. (SFF?)

• AMD also claims overclocking should be much easier than with GDDR5

• AMD's design places four 1GB stacks of memory around the GPU on an interposer, resulting in 4GB of on-package memory.

• AMD's CTO, Joe Macri: “You could build things with more stacks, you could build things with less stacks. Capacity of the frame buffer is just one of our concerns. There are many things you can do to utilise that capacity better.” … “We do not see 4GB as a limitation that would cause performance bottlenecks. We just need to do a better job managing the capacities.”

New AMD GPU Cooler?

Source: https://twitter.com/repi/status/601739457960763392

• Frostbite Engine Dev received the pictured GPU from AMD.

• Confirmed by AMD in replies.

[RUMOR] AMD Fiji aims at $849 retail price

Source 1: linustechtips.com - rumor amd fiji aims at 849 retail price OP: Zappian

Source 2: http://www.fudzilla.com/news/graphics/37790-amd-fiji-aims-at-849-retail-price

• 980 is between $550 and $600

• Titan X is between $999 and $1049

• The Fiji XT 4GB will (rumour!) launch by middle of June, around E3.

Spotify (New York press event)

Source 1: linustechtips.com - spotify-new-york-press-event/ OP: Seventhanomaly

Source 2: theguardian.com

Source 3: live.theverge.com/live-spotify-new-york-media-event/

• Spotify moved to expand its service beyond music.

• Video content deals with Comedy Central, ESPN, Adult Swim, BBC and NBC.

• video content will be short-form and include podcasts.

• Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, said the company also had deals with Odd Future’s Tyler, the Creator, Vice News and Nerdist.

• Spotify’s new version will be “tempo detection”, which will keep pace with a user’s feet when he or she is working out.

OCZ introduces Z-Drive 6000/6300 NVMe SSDs

Source 1: linustechtips.com - ocz-introduces-z-drive-nvme-ssds/ OP: Numlock21

Source 2: ocz.com - next generation z drive 6000 pcie ssd series from ocz stor

Source 3: ocz.com/enterprise/z-drive-6000-pcie-nvme-ssd

Source 4: tomsitpro.com/articles/ocz-z-drive-6000-nvme-ssd,1-2616.html

Source 5: ocz.com/enterprise/download/product-briefs/OCZ_ZDrive_6000_Product_Brief.pdf

n.b.: SPEC TABLE IN SOURCE 4

• From 800GB up through 6.4TB

• Compliant to the NVMe 1.1b standard.

• Top sequential read speed 2,900 MB/s

• Sequential speed tops out at a sustained 1,900 MB/s.

• 4K random read of 700,000 IOPS

• 4K random write of 160,000 IOPS.

• Use Toshiba's A19mm NAND

• 6000 series using MLC

• 6300 using enterprise grade nand eMLC

• The SSDs provide power loss protection via two monolithic supercapacitors

• OCZ is contributing the NVMe driver source code to the open source community

• Dual Port Functionality:

  • Launch with single port function

  • Upgraded to dual port functionality via firmware in Q3.

  • Does this using a newer generation of the 16-channel PMC-Sierra Princeton controller than found on competing models.

  • The advantage of having dual port function, allows two hosts to access the drive both concurrently.

• Q3 Update:

  • Support for up to four namespaces

  • T10 support for end-to-end data protection

  • SED (Self-Encrypting Drive) features along with AES-256 encryption.

YouTube launches 60fps live streaming in quest to take on Twitch

Source 1: linustechtips.com - youtube launches 60fps live streaming in q OP: Tangra

Source 2: theverge.com/2015/5/21/8634039/youtube-60fps-video-game-streaming

• YouTube notes that it will mean "silky smooth playback for gaming and other fast-action videos."

• The feature is available now as an "early preview," and will work in any browser that supports HTML5.

• 30fps will still be available.

• YouTube is also rolling out HTML5 playback, so that you'll be able to jump back in the middle of a live event in case you missed something. You can then speed up the stream to catch up.

• According to reports, YouTube will unveil its own in-house game streaming service at E3 in June, with a big focus on esports.

 

 

 

Rapid Fire News Topics

Ducky Mouse - SECRET

Source 1: linustechtips.com/ ducky-teasing-their-first-mouse/ OP: Damikiller37

Source 2: facebook.com/pages/Ducky-Keyboard/117547488320354

Image 1: http://i.imgur.com/VFSEKDa.png

• Images can be found in LTT Thread

EA teases Need for Speed Underground 3

Source 1: linustechtips.com - ea teases need for speed underground 3 OP: Syntaxvgm

Source 2: twitter.com/statuses/601024605327876096

• No notes

Logitech G29 Leak

Source 1: linustechtips.com - logitech g29 racing wheel leaked sim OP: Xtankslayerx

Source 2: maxconsole.com - EXCLUSIVE Logitech G29 Driving Force Racing Wheel

• Photos are being removed from articles, by request of Logitech.

• Aiming for PS4 gamers, based off the buttons in the pictures

Razer's Firefly - Chroma Mouse Mat

Source 1: linustechtips.com - razers brings chroma to the mouse mat why OP: Ahhming

Source 2: tomshardware.com/news/razer-firefly-chroma-mouse-mat,29150.html#xtor=RSS-181

• The left, right and bottom borders of the mat have RGB lighting

• Features wave, spectrum and reactive lighting patterns.

• Sync the Firefly with other Chroma products using Razer Synapse.

• Powered by a seven-foot USB cable, and it offers 13.98 x 10.04 inches

• $59.99

• Comes out in June.

Nintendo new VP of sales: Bowser (really)

Source 1: linustechtips.com/mini-new-nintendo-new-vp… OP: GoodBytes

Source 2: polygon.com/nintendo-makes-the-perfect…

• name is Doug Bowser

• did not change his name - it’s actually Bowser

• worked for EA for 7 years before joining Nintendo

• “Bowser is an outstanding addition to our Nintendo team, as he brings a deep blend of both consumer package goods and video game sales experience.”

Wounded turtle can return to the ocean thanks to a 3D-printed beak

Source 1: linustechtips.com - wounded turtle can return to the OP: Twisteddictator

Source 2: engadget.com/2015/05/17/3d-printed-sea-turtle-beak/

• Turkish animal rescuers found it almost lifeless at sea, after a boat propeller shaved off a huge part of its snout

• the organization contacted 3D printing service provider BTech Innovation, which took the turtle's CT scans to create a beak that would fit it perfectly.

• printed out the resulting design using medical-grade titanium

[MegaDave91]

Cosmic Sans, Linus? The most redundant font known to man.   

[Tedster]

Thanks Linus!

[The Gaige]

I'm here to say HI!

[blackadder]

Hahah grass makes everything better. I would agree though a few grass mods really helped skyrim.

[TechShroom]

Darn you guys. I bought a "Resolution is just a number" shirt a month ago and I would've wanted to buy a plain shirt. Looks like I need another shirt...

[NoGoodTryhard]

I am so buying a shirt

[Larunda]

I got a shoutout. Yay!

Although, I did not expect that thread to turn into what it did

[Solkia]

I'm impressed, you guys didn't blur out my twitter name

[tkell]

I'm now waiting for the Turnip Ti

[The Knome]

Quote of the Week from Linus:
Grass makes everything better.

:blink:

[syko21]

I bought Vista Ultimate

[R0ADK1LL]

A super thin flexible TV doesn't interest me much much but imagine a scroll. Imagine something the size of a pen that rolls out to become a touchscreen phone. OK batteries aren't there yet but I'm pretty sure that's the future.

[Weak1ings]

Here is your build Luke: 

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: *AMD A4-6300 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($34.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: *ECS A58F2P-M4(1.0) Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($36.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *Crucial Ballistix Sport 1GB (1 x 1GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($14.45 @ Amazon)
Storage: *Samsung Spinpoint F1 DT 80GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($13.56 @ Amazon)
Case: Xion XON-310_BK MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($22.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Logisys 550W ATX Power Supply  ($20.99 @ Directron)
Other: 390X ($850.00)
Total: $993.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-24 00:54 EDT-0400

 

$993.95.  Absolute garbage.

1GB of RAM FTW!