Gaming
Boutique, custom-built Gaming PCs from some of the more prominent brands are almost always a cut above mainstream pre-built computers from larger OEMs. However, even among premium boutique brands, build quality, design aesthetics and cost can vary greatly. Maingear has delivered its share of ultra-high end killer gaming rigs to us for evaluation over the years, but perhaps nothing so custom and so premium in design as the machine we're about to dig deep on today. We got a look at Maingear's highly custom F131 back at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, and though we came away impressed at the time, it...
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There are a litany of reasons why you might consider buying a gaming PC rather than rolling your own rig, including cost. Yes, many graphics cards have recently settled down closer to MSRP, but who knows if they will go back up again? On top of that, system memory is still trending on the high side (compared to a year or two ago). For the most part, pre-built systems have been somewhat sheltered from these volatile markets relative to the channel. That means the opportunity still exists to get into PC gaming at a reasonable price with a pre-built PC; Dell's Inspiron Gaming Desktop (5680) is...
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Whether it's in the form of a crazy kill-streak, a last-second multiplayer victory, a hard-earned achievement, a comical death, or a whole slew of others, NVIDIA Highlights can make sure all your most incredible in-game feats are never lost. And since NVIDIA Highlights does all the work behind the scenes, you won’t need to take time away from the action to manually setup the recordings. Just focus on the game, and let the technology do the heavy lifting for you. With supported games, NVIDIA Highlights automatically captures and saves all the most critical moments through videos,...
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EVGA is best known for its graphics cards, and for good reason. EVGA is the number one NVIDIA authorized board partner in the U.S. and they have been for a long time. Like many brands in the PC enthusiast space, however, EVGA has started to branch out beyond just graphics cards and today they have a wide range of items in their product stack, ranging from motherboards and notebooks to peripherals and power supplies. Despite being in the peripherals game for a relatively short while, however, EVGA already has five gaming mice in the market, and it just introduced its first mechanical keyboard, the...
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Gone are the days when laptops needed to make sacrifices in visual quality to run the best, most graphics-intensive games. With a laptop powered by a GeForce GTX 10 series graphics engine, in conjunction with other quality components, you can enjoy just about any title out there while on the road. Plus, with the latest technologies from NVIDIA GeForce, you’ll have added benefits, such as Max-Q design for superior portability and maximum efficiency, the NVIDIA Pascal architecture for top-notch GPU speed and power, NVIDIA VR Works technologies for all your virtual reality needs, NVIDIA...
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The mega-popular PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, aka PUBG, is finally here in full release form. With its time in the Steam Early Access easy-bake oven complete, the inspiring battle royal FPS game is now ready for mass retail consumption with an impressive new map, new weapons, vehicles and lots more. Back in September we had a blast running, gunning and dying quite a bit, to show you how the game had integrated NVIDIA’s Shadowplay Highlight’s custom replay features. Now we're giving this masterpiece of mayhem the formal treatment with its own gameplay and performance review. ...
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Tech loving Star Wars fans have something new to lust after this holiday season courtesy of Lenovo and Disney, the unique Star Wars: Jedi Challenges. This is an augmented reality gaming system featuring the Lenovo Mirage AR headset (which works with a number of smartphones), a fancy "collector quality" Lightsaber, and a lighted, spherical beacon that looks somewhat like Epcot Center. Oh, Lord Vader... That Lightsaber The Lightsaber included in the kit looks fantastic and really is collector quality. It looks and feels like something you might pay big bucks for at a convention...
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As we inch closer to the release of the retro-tastic Ataribox, more details regarding the console are being revealed. At this point, we know the device will be powered by a custom AMD-built SoC, it runs on Linux, we’ve seen its wood-clad aesthetic, and know that a plethora of Atari classics will be available on the console. Today, we can also give you a glimpse of the Ataribox’s controllers, or at least, one type of Ataribox controller (we think). The Ataribox harkens back to the original Atari 2600, which helped pioneer in-home, living room gaming. For those of you that may not have...
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NVIDIA caused a great disturbance in the Force recently, as if millions of gamers suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. We fear something terrible has happened, and they might not be able to get their hands on the glorious Star Wars TITAN Xp Collector’s Edition cards that were announced a few days ago, but arrive today, alongside EA’s Star Wars Battlefront II.Fear not young Padawan. If you can’t gaze upon a Star Wars TITAN Xp Collector’s Edition with your own eyes, we will do our best to convey what it’s like to game on one of these limited edition beasts and witness its customized,...
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StarCraft fans now have a free to play version of the popular Blizzard game StarCraft II. Blizzard announced that StarCraft II would go free-to-play back during BlizzCon and as of yesterday that game has debuted at no cost. If you want to get in on the free gaming action, this is how you do it. You need a compatible computer running either Windows or Mac OS. You will need a Battle.net account. If you have one you are golden, otherwise you need to create one here. You can sign up using your Facebook account. Hit up the Battle.net Shop and look for the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty landing page....
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Destiny 2 recently arrived on the PC, following its successful console launch on September 6 of this year. The original installment in the franchise was a console-exclusive title, despite petitions and pleading from PC gamers to port the title over to Windows. That makes Destiny 2 the first time PC gamers get to use their inner-Guardian to shoot, Sparrow-ride, and loot their way through Bungie’s open-word, action-RPG franchise. In Destiny 2, you are a “Guardian”, a mortal being who has been granted incredible abilities after receiving the Traveler’s Light. Choosing from three distinct class...
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The war resumes in Middle-Earth Shadow of War and we’re on the front-lines reporting in with a fresh review and performance analysis. This month Warner Bros. Interactive released their action-RPG sequel to 2014’s Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is here placing players in the familiar shoes of Talion, a highly-capable human Ranger with special powers. Together with the dead Elf King Celebrimbor, whom shares his body, they must use their combined skills to traverse the various lands of Middle-Earth, dispatching or "Dominating" the many Orc hordes in hopes of amassing an...
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Anyone who is into street racing knows never to assume what the other driver is rocking underneath the hood. Sure, that family sedan may look like it would get throttled by a Mustang or Camaro, but if it's sporting a souped up engine inside and maybe even a shot of NOS, it will burn rubber with the best of them. Likewise, Dell's updated XPS Tower Special Edition desktop system rolls to the line with a subdued style that seemingly belies what lays inside its compact chassis. Make no mistake, the XPS Tower SE is not a run-of-the-mill OEM system. It has some unique features that we will get to shortly,...
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Last year we offered a detailed exploration of NVIDIA’s GeForce Experience tool set for capturing screenshots and videos. Since then, a few bells and whistles have been tacked on to further enhance the experience. The most recent of these is ShadowPlay Highlights, a slick feature that intelligently identifies your finest moments (or epic failures) in games and records them for your viewing and social sharing pleasure. The Highlights feature requires developer support for implementation and therefore is currently only working in select titles. The latest, great addition to the supported titles list...
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