June 5, 2015 - The WAN Show Document

[LinusTech]

 

Soundcloud Link: https://soundcloud.com/thewanshow/the-wan-show-steam-refunds-also-computex-happened-june-5-2015

 

Main News Topics

Computex highlights! Our top 5 videos from Computex

Corsair Bulldog:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1uascUBDM0

MSI Desktop GPUs in AIO & Laptop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slcyOmqdsTE

980 Ti Variants: Gigabyte

https://youtu.be/bgCLmr1wemI

ASUS

https://youtu.be/R03fER5dnNk

IN WIN H-Tower:

https://youtu.be/tes6rsWfHd4

 

And still more to come tonight and tomorrow!

Thanks to MSI & lynda.com for making our Computex coverage possible

 

AnandTech | GTX980 Ti shows a significant pixel fillrate difference vs Titan X

Source 1: linustechtips.com/anandtech-gtx980-ti-shows… OP: zMeul

Source 2: anandtech.com/the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-980…

• synthetic performance tests showed similar scoring results between the two cards

• 980 Ti loses 2 Polymorph Engines in TessMark due to losing 2 SMMs, though that doesn’t really hinder 980 Ti in gaming or this test

• see a greater than expect drop in pixel fill rates in 3DMark Vantage Pixel Fill

• 980 Ti loses some rasterization throughput from the SMM loss, but the 15% drop is larger than can be accounted for by the 2 SMMs (accounts for ~10%)

• last 5% cannot be accounted for at this point in testing

• despite these tests, there are no signs of the 980 Ti struggling at 4K vs the Titan X, so the pixel fillrates are not impacting game performance

ASUS PA329Q New Professional 4K Monitor for Image Enthusiasts & Editors - Display

Source 1: linustechtips.com - asus pa329q new professional 4k monitor OP: The Gaige

Source 2: pcdiy.asus.com - asus pa329q new professional 4k monitor for image e

• 32” 4K monitor with 100% Adobe RGB color gamut

• 3840x2160, 16:9

• IPS display with 178-degree viewing angle, 138 PPI

• 10-bit display color and supports a 16-bit internal lookup table

• 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 1x Mini DisplayPort 1.2, 1x HDMI 2.0, 2x HDMI 1.4, 4x USB 3.0

Nvidia launches Mobile G-Sync - G-Sync improvements and mentions new G-Sync displays (4K IPS).

Source 1: linustechtips.com - nvidia launches mobile g sync g sync im OP: Goodbytes

Source 2: images.anandtech.com/doci/9303/LCDOverdrive2.png

Source 3: anandtech.com/show/9303/nvidia-launches-mobile-gsync

• announced at the same time as GTX 980 Ti

• also announced Windowed G-Sync for laptops and desktops

Mobile G-Sync

• uses eDP (embedded DisplayPort) to control refresh rate

• no power consuming chip needed

• eDP is common on laptops these days due to its low power requirement and ability to support high resolutions

• very similar to how AMD FreeSync functions on desktop monitors, so these two technologies will function quite similarly on mobile

• systems should not cost more when they have mobile G-Sync since, technically, not much is being added, though there are license costs and there will (in all likelihood) be markup from the manufacturer

• “gamer grade” mobile displays at 75Hz native, which is where mobile G-Sync will shine

• no info on whether these displays are TN or IPS, though it is assumed they will be TN

• Nvidia claims that you have less lag than V-Sync, no tearing, and no stuttering with mobile G-Sync

• also has a variable overdrive feature which uses Nvidia’s “best0effort” to predict when the next frame will arrive, adjusting the overdrive values of the panel to correct color accordingly

• to enable mobile G-Sync your laptop must have: GeForce graphics card & work with Nvidia to established parameters for the particular panel used (to optimize the performance and color experience)

• important note: Nvidia Optimus is NOT available with mobile G-Sync, since there is no support from Intel as of yet

• mobile G-Sync available starting in June (check out our coverage of Computex to see some!)

Windowed G-Sync

• monitors what application is focused and enables/disables G-Sync based on that

• even works with SLI graphics

G-Sync Max Refresh Rate Framerate Control (AKA G-Sync V-Sync)

• provides support for controlling the behavior of G-Sync when framerates reach or exceed the refresh rate limit of a monitor

• G-Sync simply turned on V-Sync in the past when this happened

• now you can choose to turn of V-Sync and experience a bit of tearing or leave it on

AMD Fiji Officially Revealed at Computex; First Clear Pictures of GPU Core Emerge and New Teaser for Upcoming GPU

Source 1: linustechtips.com - amd fiji officially revealed at co OP: Dr Deconstruct

Source 2: videocardz.com/56050/amd-fiji-officially-shown-at-computex-2015

Source 3: linustechtips.com - index.php?app=core&module=attach&section

Source 4: videocardz.com/55561/editorial-how-big-is-fiji

Source 5: twitter.com/statuses/605938931448737792

• pic shows Fiji GPU core with HBM onboard

• confirmed that Fiji has 4 stacks of HBM (points towards 4GB configuration)

• CTO of AMD claims the current 4GB “limit” will not be an issue for gamers

• Radeon R9 Fury will arrive on June 16

Microsoft explains what you’ll lose by upgrading to Windows 10

Source 1: linustechtips.com - microsoft explains what you%E2%80% OP: Fuzzy Crumpkin

Source 2: theverge.com/2015/6/1/8696949/windows-10-feature-loss

• Windows 10 is coming July 29

• all Windows 7 and 8.1 users are encouraged to reserve their free upgrade through taskbar notification

• losing Windows Media Center, the card game Hearts, and Windows 7’s desktop gadgets

• new drivers will be required for floppy disks on Windows

• watching DVDs will also require “separate playback software”

• Cortana will only be available in US, UK, China, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain at launch

• Windows Hello (biometric passwords) will need an infrared camera for facial recognition or a supported fingerprint reader

• Xbox Music & Xbox Video streaming apps will be constrained by region-based licenses

• Pro and Enterprise editions will be able to defer updates, Windows Home will not have that option - updates will be downloaded and installed automatically as soon as they’re available

Sandisk 2TB Portable SSD for $999.99

Source 1: linustechtips.com/main/topic/378383-sandisk-2tb-ssd-for-99999/ OP: Echondo

Source 2: sandisk.com - sandisk expands into the external storage market with

Source 3: sandisk.com/products/ssd/sata/extreme-900-portable-ssd

Source 4: sandisk.com/products/ssd/sata/extreme-500-portable-ssd

Source 5: betanews.com - sandisk announces 2tb ssd in its new extreme 900 line

• Extreme 900 Portable SSD

• 1.92TB formatted size

• also has a 480GB and 960GB version

• maximum performance rating of 850 MBps (doesn’t specify read or write)

• equipped with USB 3.1 interface, both Type A and Type C capabilities

• providing a 3-year warranty on these new drives

• also offering an Extreme 500 Portable SSD lineup with 120GB ($99.99), 240GB ($149.99), and 480GB ($239.99) capacities

• maximum performance of 415 MBps (again, doesn’t specify read or write) over USB 3.0

• come with Sandisk SecureAccess software which provides 180-bit AES encryption

USB Drive with Type A & C

Source 1: linustechtips.com/main/topic/379562-usb-drive-with-type-a-c/ OP: Jos

Source 2: theverge.com - sandisk usb c dual flash drive computex 2015

Source 3: amazon.co.uk - SanDisk SDDDC 032G G46 Ultra Flash Connector

• one side USB 3.0 Type A, other side Type C

• aiming to bridge the gap between Type A and Type C as the industry transitions

• SanDisk “doesn’t believe the time is yet right to build and sell accessories with only a USB-C connector on them”

• we already have similar dual-connector USB drives with Type-A and Micro USB

• 32GB dual USB flash drive was announced at MWC in February, is currently on sale on Amazon for $39.99 US

Can Intel's Iris PRO inside Broadwell be a low-end discrete video card killer?

Source 1: linustechtips.com - can intels iris pro inside broadwell be a l OP: Zmeul

Source 2: tomshardware.com - intel core i7 5775c i5 5675c broadwell,4169 4

Source 3: anandtech.com/show/9320/intel-broadwell-review-i7-5775c-i5-5765c

• about half of the silicon is dedicated to processor graphics

• outperforms AMD APUs by an average of 20%

• Tom’s says the Iris Pro 6200 is still significantly faster than any integrated graphics solution they’ve ever tested

• even outperforms Radeon R7 250, HD 6670, and GeForce GTS 250

• never once fell behind the AMD APUs

• with that said, they’re about 2x the cost of AMD’s top APU

Disney has terminated your job - oh, but train your replacement on the way out

Source 1: linustechtips.com - disney has terminated your job oh but train OP: Exyia

Source 2: msn.com - last task after layoff at disney train foreign replacement

• data systems employees

• monitored computers in industrial buildings nearby, making sure millions of ticket sales, store purchases, and hotel reservations went through without a hitch

• some thought meetings with their manager had been called since they were receiving a bonus for their stellar work

• in actuality, about 250 employees were called in and told they would be laid off

• jobs transferred to immigrants on temporary visas for highly skilled technical work, brought in by an outsourcing firm in India

• over the next three months (November 2014-January 2015) some employees were required to train their replacements to do the job they lost

• “made the difficult decision to eliminate certain positions, including yours” as a result of “the transition of your work to a managed service provider”

• offered a “stay bonus” of 10% of severance pay if they remained for 90 days

• bonus was contingent on “the continued satisfactory performance of your job duties,” which included training a replacement

• first 30 days were capturing what they did, next the new employee worked side by side with them, and the last 30 days the new employee took over completely and they simply oversaw the work

• one employee had his annual review in November (which he provided to the NY Times) - apparently his supervisor was not aware he was scheduled for a layoff

• his review stated that “because of his superior skills and ‘outstanding’ work, he had saved the company thousands of dollars.”

• “The supervisor added that he was looking forward to another highly productive year of having the employee on the team”

• the employee got a raise, 2 months before he was schedule to be laid off

• this particular employee’s résumé lists a top-level skill certification and command of seven operating systems, 15 program languages and more than two dozen other applications and media

• Amendment rights and undermines [America]’s founding principles.”

Asus starts industry's first fully-automated graphics card production

Source 1: linustechtips.com - asus starts industrys first fully automate OP: Bouzoo

Source 2: tomshardware.com - asus auto extreme graphics card production,29252

Source 3: 2015tech.com - asus starts industrys very first fully automated grap

• New production method called auto extreme.

• According to Asus it’s the industry’s first fully automated production process.

• Avoids human error.

• Leads to smoother PCBs and neater component layouts.

• Can be accomplished without oxidation and in environments with less dust.

• Allows for tighter tolerances.

• Reduces productions costs due to lower failure rate during QC.

• Will likely lead to longer warranties.

• First card produced using auto extreme was the 20th anniversary edition card.

Multi-GPU Resource Pooling - DX12 Demo

Source 1: linustechtips.com - multi gpu resource pooling dx12 demo OP: Mec 777

Source 2: youtube.com/watch?v=9cvmDjVYSNk

(Note: Very Good Thread)

• Currently, the way multi-GPUs are combined is that each GPU (in a dual-card config) takes turn rendering each frame.

• Both GPUs have to be nearly identical, run at the same clock speeds and both have to hold the same data in the Vram of each card resulting in redundancies and limitations on which cards can be used/combined

• Now each gpu can render only a specific part of a frame.

• VRAM can now be stacked as each card is working on a separate aspect.

• Up to the developer to implement this properly.

• Video shows an example of the performance improvements when using a iGPU in conjunction with a dGPU.

NVIDIA Could Capitalize on AMD GCN Not Supporting Direct3D 12_1

Source 1: linustechtips.com - nvidia could capitalize on amd gcn no OP: Big Stroonz

Source 2: techpowerup.com - nvidia could capitalize on amd graphics corenext n

• AMD GCN does not support DirectX 12.1 only DirectX 12.0

• This could explain why NVIDIA dedicated three-fourths of its GeForce GTX 980 Ti press-deck to talking about the features of D3D 12_1 at length and probably wants to make a few new effects that rely on D3D 12_1 part of GameWorks.

• DirectX 12.1 adds: Volume-Tiled Resources, Conservative Rasterization and Rasterizer Ordered Views.

• Volume Tiled-resources:

  • An evolution of tiled-resources, in which the GPU seeks and loads only those portions of a large texture that are relevant to the scene it's rendering, rather than loading the entire texture to the memory not only along X and Y axes, but adds third dimension.

• Conservative Rasterization

  • A means of drawing polygons with additional pixels that make it easier for two polygons to interact with each other in dynamic objects.

• Raster Ordered Views

  • A means to optimize raster loads in the order in which they appear in an object. Practical applications include improved shadows.

 

Rapid Fire News Topics

[Joke] Intel's new 65-Core Smartphone

Source 1: linustechtips.com

Source 2: theinquirer.net

• A mock ZenFone with an Xeon chip stuck on the back and calling it "the world's first 65-core smartphone".

• Intel principal engineer François Piednoel made the remarks during an Intel benchmarking session at Computex on Thursday. "This is the world's first 65-core smartphone," he said. "More than a server!"

• Referring to Mediatek's recent 'deca-core' phone chip announcement, Piednoel said that there's no sense having an abundance of cores on a device when half of them are redundant during use, but are all then switched on for benchmark tests to give unrealistic results.

Official Valve Steam Machine preorders to reach some customers October 16

Source 1: linustechtips.com/official-valve-steam-machine… OP: GoodBytes

Source 2: polygon.com/steam-machine-launch-date

• available for pre-order starting June 4

• first pre-order customers will receive their units October 16

• in stores November 10

• Steam Controller (promo video out now

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fs2Yh1PFwM&feature=share)

• and Steam Link (the game streaming device) will also hit stores November 10

Google advertises Nexus 6 running Windows Phone, Microsoft advertises Lumia 535 running Android

Source 1: linustechtips.com/google-advertises-nexus-6… OP: RH00D

Source 2: neowin.net/oops-google-promotes-smart…

• Google was advertising their Smart Lock feature, but the app on the Nexus 6 shown is the Windows Phone version

• Microsoft marketing image on the Lumia 535 page showed the Android version of the Vine app running, as well as displaying the Android operating system running on the 535

Sex Maschine - wearable for sexual performance tracking

Source 1: linustechtips.com/sex-maschine-wearables… OP: jos

Source 2: phonearena.com/sex-maschine-wearable…

• wraps around your.... and communicates with your smartphone

[Totallycasual]

Heya boss

[CameronDSetty]

My favorite post of the week.

[Sharif]

Couldn't watch it,too busy with exams =/

[Uwillparish]

I wait for the day i'm featured in the wan show, and linus pronounces my name wrong

[0ld_Chicken]

first time watching the WAN show.  Thanks for existing! 

[The Gaige]

My thread is on the WAN show, Awesome just awesome!

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/378164-asus-pa329q-new-professional-4k-monitor-for-image-enthusiasts-editors/

[Brett Taggart]

Oh did Linus say that his sex life wasnt going well?

[nerdyrcdriver]

Windows update mandatory? I would say no because not all software will be compatible with windows 10. At my work we use E2 for our inventory management and for our time clock. If that stopped working because of an update to windows 10 we would be in trouble. 

[TheWildOnesEU]

http://prntscr.com/7duyde- I hope it wont screw me over...

[TimHolmes]

I think Nick did a great job filling for Luke on the WAN show. I would like to see him again

[NumLock21]

Windows update mandatory? I would say no because not all software will be compatible with windows 10. At my work we use E2 for our inventory management and for our time clock. If that stopped working because of an update to windows 10 we would be in trouble. 

This mandatory windows update has nothing to do with your software being compatible or now with windows 10. If your software is not compatible with Windows 10, then don't even bother upgrading to Windows 10. The mandatory update is for those critical updates you get from Windows Update, because many users don't install them, then it's probably one of the reason why they get infected with something malicious. So MS has decided to force the user to install them, no matter if they don't want to. IMO about that it's good and bad. Good as the security holes are patched. Bad because sometimes updates will crash a system, but if a faulty update can be hidden or not installed, then mandatory update is okay. The best option imo would be to download upates first and then let users install it. That way the updates are being installed when your using the computer, instead of during shutting down as sometimes updates might take a long time, making users think it froze so they force shutdown their computer. Once they boot it back up, the OS stops working.

[Arkaney]

Tour of acer's automatic gpu factory please!

[DJSchmitty]

I preordered the Steam Link, and I'm excited for October!

[Trik'Stari]

My reaction to Linus's rant on the ThermalTake debacle:

 

This is just another case of "rectangle with rounded edges". you can't patent a shape or a vague layout.

[Takata]

About intel making a "gaming" CPU by removing onboard graphics entirely:

While Iris Pro takes up about half the die area, the same is probably not true for the Intel HD Graphics on, say, an i5 4690K. I question what there is to be gained from producing something like a 4690K without Intel HD Graphics.

[nerdyrcdriver]

This mandatory windows update has nothing to do with your software being compatible or now with windows 10. If your software is not compatible with Windows 10, then don't even bother upgrading to Windows 10. The mandatory update is for those critical updates you get from Windows Update, because many users don't install them, then it's probably one of the reason why they get infected with something malicious. So MS has decided to force the user to install them, no matter if they don't want to. IMO about that it's good and bad. Good as the security holes are patched. Bad because sometimes updates will crash a system, but if a faulty update can be hidden or not installed, then mandatory update is okay. The best option imo would be to download upates first and then let users install it. That way the updates are being installed when your using the computer, instead of during shutting down as sometimes updates might take a long time, making users think it froze so they force shutdown their computer. Once they boot it back up, the OS stops working.

 

Oh, okay. I must have walked away and come back to that conversation assuming it was about windows 10.

[A Bear in Asia]

Hey Linus,

 

The whole automation thing, I actually look forward to. If there's any lessons we had from industrialization, we should theoretically...

• get cheaper products without the sacrifice of quality
• alleviate safety issues for lower wage factory workers
• rather than seeking low wage work, more population would have more time/incentive to seek more education, better yet, they may discover something more efficient than automation

... but again, this is optimism at its best.