Tuesday, June 1, 2021

The Verge - Entertainments

The Verge - Entertainments

Samsung and AMD are working on an Exynos mobile chip with ray tracing

Posted: 01 Jun 2021 03:19 AM PDT

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

AMD is partnering with Samsung to provide RDNA 2 graphics technology for an Exynos mobile system-on-chip, potentially giving a boost to GPU performance in flagship Samsung phones. The announcement was made today at Computex Taipei.

There aren't many details on the chip or which products it'll be used in, but AMD describes the chip as a "next-generation Exynos SoC," and says Samsung will provide further information later in 2021. The GPU will use AMD's RDNA 2 architecture, enabling features like ray tracing and variable rate shading. AMD says it'll make its way to "flagship mobile devices."

"The next place you'll find RDNA 2 will be the high-performance mobile phone market," AMD CEO Lisa Su said on stage. "AMD has partnered with industry leader Samsung for several years to accelerate graphics innovation in the mobile market, and we're happy to announce that we'll bring custom graphics IP to Samsung's next flagship mobile SoC with ray tracing and variable rate shading capabilities. We're really looking forward to Samsung providing more details later this year."

Exynos is the brand name that Samsung uses for its own in-house processors. In the US and certain other markets, Samsung's flagship Galaxy phones ship with Snapdragon SoCs from Qualcomm, while the rest of the world gets Exynos chips. The Exynos models are generally regarded as slightly less performant than their Qualcomm equivalents, but it was seen as a surprise when Samsung decided to switch to the Snapdragon variant of the Galaxy S20 in its home market of South Korea.

Whether AMD's mobile solution will provide tangible benefits over Qualcomm's Adreno GPUs is unknown. But by throwing out buzzwords like ray tracing and lending its latest RDNA 2 architecture, AMD is certainly setting expectations high for future Samsung devices.

The original Dune movie is also getting a 4K release this year

Posted: 01 Jun 2021 02:50 AM PDT

The steelbook edition comes with an extra copy of the film on Blu-ray. | Image: Arrow Films

Dennis Villeneuve's Dune isn't the only film adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel getting a 4K release this year. That's because the original adaptation, made in 1984 by a young David Lynch, is getting a limited edition 4K Blu-ray release on August 30th. The film was both a critical and box office bomb that Lynch later disowned, but it's also a fascinating historical artifact and sci-fi cult-classic.

Arrow Films, the distributor handling the release, says the 4K restoration is sourced from the film's original camera negative, scanned at 4K 2160p and mastered in Dolby Vision HDR. It also includes uncompressed stereo audio and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound mix.

There are two versions of the 4K release available to pre-order: a standard edition containing the film along with a bonus disc of extra content, and a steelbook edition which adds a third non-4K Blu-ray disc containing the HD version of the film. Extra features include brand new audio commentaries (from film historian Paul M. Sammon and podcaster Mike White), a new feature-length documentary, and mix of new and old featurettes. It will be available to buy in the UK, US, and Canada when it releases next month.

It'd probably be an understatement to say the original Dune got a mixed reception upon its release. Critic Robert Ebert called it "an incomprehensible, ugly, unstructured, pointless excursion into the murkier realms of one of the most confusing screenplays of all time." But the story of how it came to be is fascinating, with Ridley Scott being attached to direct at one point before he dropped out and directed Blade Runner instead. Vulture has a good timeline of the struggles various filmmakers have been through over the years trying to adapt the novel.

Meanwhile, the 2021 Dune adaptation is currently due to release on October 1st, when it will be available simultaneously to watch in cinemas as well as HBO Max in 4K HDR.

AMD confirms it’s powering the gaming rig inside Tesla’s Model S and Model X

Posted: 31 May 2021 11:53 PM PDT

Remember when Elon Musk claimed you'd be able to play The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 on a 10 teraflop gaming rig he's stuffing into the new Tesla Model S and X? AMD is officially providing the guts — during its Computex 2021 keynote, the chipmaker just revealed that the new Tesla infotainment system consists of an AMD Ryzen processor paired with an AMD RDNA 2 GPU.

"So we actually have an AMD Ryzen APU powering the infotainment system in both cars as well as a discrete RDNA2-based GPU that kicks in when running AAA games, providing up to 10 teraflops of compute power.... we look forward to giving gamers a great platform for AAA gaming," says AMD CEO Lisa Su.

And if you combine that information with another piece of news AMD revealed today, plus a earlier leak in January, we may now have a passing idea of how powerful that "10 teraflop" infotainment system could theoretically be: likely a little less than Sony's PS5.

You see, leaker Patrick Schur dug up a Tesla block diagram in January that singled out an AMD Navi 23 GPU specifically for Tesla's new vehicles, and today AMD announced the new Radeon 6800M, 6700M and 6600M laptop graphics chips — the weakest of which just so happens to use Navi 23, AnandTech reports.

As we learned today, that Radeon 6600M chip comes with 28CUs and 1792 shader units— compared to the 36CUs and an estimated 2304 shader units worth of RDNA 2 GPU in Sony's PlayStation 5, which also claims to be a 10-teraflop gaming rig. While it's not quite apples-to-apples, it's largely the same technology beneath, and a smaller number of cores on the same GPU architecture suggests we should expect slightly less performance from a Tesla compared to Sony's console. (The higher-end Radeon 6700M / Navi 22 has the same number of CUs as the PS5, for what it's worth.)

Performance depends on the software platform, though, as we've seen with the 10-teraflop PS5 and the 12-teraflop Xbox Series X — and a recent job posting by Tesla suggests game developers may actually be building for Linux if they want to target the new Tesla in-car gaming rigs.

Linux isn't necessarily a benefit when it comes to gaming performance, though. Google's Stadia cloud gaming also boasted 10 teraflops of performance from its AMD GPUs, but ports of games from Bungie and Square Enix didn't look nearly as good as they did on weaker Xbox and PC hardware at the service's launch.

The most important question is probably still the one I asked back in January, though: Who is going to sit in their $80,000 sports car and play a triple-A video game?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that the Model S Plaid, which includes the new AMD system, will start deliveries on June 10th.

AMD’s answer to Nvidia’s DLSS is coming this month

Posted: 31 May 2021 11:33 PM PDT

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

AMD has announced that FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), its super sampling technique that should boost performance and image quality in supported games, will launch on June 22nd. The company gave a presentation at Computex Taipei today with more information on the feature, though it's still not clear just how effective it'll be.

AI-powered super sampling is a major point of differentiation between AMD's GPUs and those from its competitor Nvidia. DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), Nvidia's version of the technique, uses neural networks to reconstruct images at higher quality from lower resolutions in real time, enabling games to run at smoother frame rates without compromising the image quality. Nvidia launched DLSS back in 2018 with the RTX 20- series, and it's has been increasing performance and support ever since. More than 50 games now work with DLSS, and Nvidia itself just announced today that Red Dead Redemption 2 and Rainbow Six Siege are getting the feature.

AMD first said it was working on super sampling last year when it announced the RX 6000-series GPUs. The company isn't providing too many technical details on the feature just yet, but says it will be open source and that more than ten studios and engines will support it this year.

FSR will support four levels of scaling. In AMD's own testing, running Godfall on a Radeon RX 6800 XT with epic graphic settings and ray tracing, the performance mode ran at 150fps — a huge increase over the native rendering result of 49fps. The balanced, quality, and ultra quality modes turned in results of 124fps, 99fps, and 78fps respectively.

Because FSR is open-source, it'll also run on Nvidia GPUs, including 10-series models that don't support DLSS. AMD is claiming a 41-percent performance increase in quality mode for Godfall on a GTX 1060, for example, boosting the frame rate from 27fps to 38fps.

Companies' own benchmarks should never be taken at face value, of course, and the results aren't all that meaningful without being able to see the effects on image quality with our own eyes. AMD has not shown off much evidence of how FSR actually works in practice — but we won't have too much longer to find out, as it'll be available in three weeks.

Nvidia announces new RTX 3080 Ti, priced at $1,199 and launching June 3rd

Posted: 31 May 2021 10:21 PM PDT

Nvidia is unveiling its latest flagship gaming GPU today, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. Based on Nvidia's latest Ampere architecture, the RTX 3080 Ti will succeed the RTX 3080 and promises to deliver 1.5x more performance over the previous generation RTX 2080 Ti. Nvidia is making the RTX 3080 Ti available worldwide on June 3rd, priced from $1,199.

The RTX 3080 Ti looks very much like the RTX 3080, with an identical design and ports. The main difference is a jump in power and VRAM. The RTX 3080 Ti ships with more VRAM than the RTX 3080, with 12GB of GDDR6X in total. This new GPU is essentially as close as you can get to an RTX 3090 on paper, with half the VRAM. The $1,199 price matches the same pricing Nvidia used for the RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition cards, and it's $300 less than the giant RTX 3090.

You're obviously losing out on an extra 12GB of VRAM if you opt for the RTX 3080 Ti over the 3090, and what will likely be a small improvement in performance for that $300 difference. But the RTX 3090 is giant because it has a far bigger cooler, and the RTX 3080 Ti has the same hardware design as the RTX 3080. That may prompt concerns around how hot the RTX 3080 Ti will run, but we'll have to wait on reviews to find out if it's really an issue.

Nvidia is also including its cryptocurrency nerf on the RTX 3080 Ti, much like new RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 cards. Nvidia offers a separate Cryptocurrency Mining Processor (CMP) for Ethereum miners instead. These cards include the best performance for mining and efficiency, but they're not designed to handle games.

Elsewhere, the RTX 3080 Ti has the same power requirements as the RTX 3090. You'll need a 750-watt power supply, and the card can draw up to 350 watts of power. That's the same as the RTX 3090, but the RTX 3080 draws less at up to 320 watts. Just like the RTX 3080 before it, the 3080 Ti also uses Nvidia's new 12-pin connector. Nvidia will include an adapter that's compatible with eight-pin cables.

Nvidia's RTX 3070 Ti also arrives this month.

Nvidia is also launching a second GPU next week, the RTX 3070 Ti. The $599 RTX 3070 Ti will be available on June 10th, and is designed to offer 1.5x more performance over the previous RTX 2070 Super. It will include 8GB of GDDR6X memory.

Both new RTX cards will support all of Nvidia's ray-tracing, DLSS, and Reflex technologies. More than 50 games now support Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), offering AI-powered performance boosts to games.

While both of Nvidia's new GPUs will be available this month, actual availability and pricing is obviously going to differ. Everyone has had a hard time getting hold of new RTX 30-series GPUs since their launch last year, and a flagship RTX 3080 Ti and more affordable RTX 3070 Ti isn't going to help improve that.

A global chip shortage has pushed GPU prices up, and demand is still incredibly high during ongoing supply constraints. Nvidia has already warned these supply issues will continue throughout 2021, so don't expect to easily be able to get hold of an RTX 3080 Ti or RTX 3070 Ti any time soon.

Alienware’s X15 is its thinnest and coolest gaming laptop yet

Posted: 31 May 2021 10:00 PM PDT

Alienware X15
The X15 comes in lunar light, Alienware's colorway that is white on the outside and black on the inside of the clamshell.

Alienware is keen on giving Razer a run for its money when it comes to making a super-thin gaming laptop. Two of the configurations of Alienware's new X15 flagship model are actually 15.9mm thick, almost the same as Razer's just-refreshed 15.8mm-thick Blade 15 Advanced. That's impressively thin, especially considering that Alienware doesn't usually try to compete in this realm.

What's also noteworthy is that, despite its thin build, the X15 looks like it will be a capable machine. Alienware is also announcing a bigger and thicker 17-inch X17 laptop that's even more powerful. We'll go into detail on both below.

Let's start with the X15, which will cost $1,999 for the base model, available starting today. Packed into that entry model is Intel's 11th Gen Core i7-11800H processor (eight cores and a boost clock speed of up to 4.6GHz), 16GB of RAM clocked at 3,200MHz (but not user-upgradeable due to size constraints), 256GB of fast NVMe storage (which is user-upgradeable, with two slots that support either M.2 2230 or 2280-sized SSDs), and Nvidia's RTX 3060 graphics chip (90W maximum graphics power, and a base clock speed of 1,050MHz and boost clock of 1,402MHz). A 15.6-inch FHD display with a 165Hz refresh rate, 3ms response time, and up to 300 nits of brightness with 100-percent sRGB color gamut support comes standard.

Alienware X15 and X17
The X17 sits to the left of the X15 in this image.

Alienware hasn't shared pricing for spec increases, but you can load the X15 with up to an Intel Core i9-11900H processor, a 2TB NVMe M.2 SSD (with a maximum 4TB of dual storage supported via RAID 0), and 32GB of RAM. To top it off, you can put in an RTX 3080 graphics card (the 8GB version, with 110W maximum graphics power, a base clock speed of 930MHz and a boost clock speed of 1,365MHz). The display can be upgraded to a 400-nit QHD G-Sync panel with a 240Hz refresh rate, 2ms response time, and 99-percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut. The X15 has a 87Wh battery and includes a 240W "small form factor" adapter. At its lowest weight, the X15 comes in at five pounds, but it goes up to 5.2 pounds depending on the specs.

All of the X15's ports, aside from a headphone jack and power input, are located on its back. There's a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port, one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, one Thunderbolt 4 port, a microSD card slot, and an HDMI 2.1 port that will allow the X15 to output a 4K signal at up to 120Hz.

If you're all about getting a 17.3-inch screen, the X17 starts at $2,099 and has similar starting specs. It has a thicker chassis than the X15 at 20.9mm, and it's heavier, starting at 6.65 pounds. But that extra heft apparently allows for more graphical and processing power, if you're willing to pay for it. For example, its RTX 3060 card has a higher maximum graphics power of 130W. This pattern is seen for more pricey GPU upgrades, too, especially the RTX 3080 (16GB) that can sail with 165W of max graphics power at a boost clock speed of 1,710MHz. In the processor department, you can go up to an Intel Core i9-11900HK. Additionally, you can spec this one with up to 64GB of XMP RAM clocked at 3,466MHz.

As for the screen, there's an upgrade option to get a 300-nit FHD G-Sync panel with a 360Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time, but you can go all the way up to a 500-nit 4K display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 4ms response time. Like the X15, the X17 has an 87Wh battery, but whether you get a 240W or 330W power supply will depend on the configuration that you buy.

The X17 has all of the same ports as the X15, along with one extra USB-A port, a Mini DisplayPort jack, and a 2.5G ethernet port (the X15 includes a USB-C to ethernet adapter).

Alienware X15 and X17
The X15 on top is almost as thin as Razer's new Blade 15 Advanced. The X17 beneath it is considerably thicker and heavier.

Generally speaking, thinner laptops struggle with heat management. But Alienware's Quad Fan claims to move a lot of air, and in X15 and X17 models that have the RTX 3070 or 3080 chips, it touts a new "Element 31 thermal interface material" that apparently provides a boost in the thermal resistance of its internals compared to previous Alienware laptops. We'll have to see how this fares when we try out a review unit. I'm curious how loud they might get in order to stay cool.

If you're an Alienware enthusiast, be aware that the company's mainstay graphics amplifier port is missing. We asked Alienware about this, and it provided this statement to The Verge:

Today's latest flagship desktop graphics cards achieve graphical power beyond what the Alienware Graphics Amplifiers (as well as other external graphics amplifiers) can successfully port back through PCI (and Thunderbolt) connections. For Alienware customers who are already purchasing high-end graphics configurations, the performance improvements from our Alienware Graphics Amplifier would be limited. While improvements would be noticeable, in many cases it wouldn't be enough to justify purchasing an external amplifier and flagship graphics card. So instead, we are using that additional space to offer extra ports and thermal headroom which provides a better experience for all gamers purchasing this product.

Alienware X15
This is what the rear of the X15 looks like. The X17 has one extra USB-A port, a Mini DisplayPort, and an ethernet jack.

Wrapping up this boatload of specs, the X15 and X17 each have a 720p Windows Hello webcam, and configurations with the RTX 3080 have an illuminated trackpad that can be customized within Alienware's pre-installed software. These laptops come standard with Alienware's X-Series keyboard that has per-key lighting, n-key rollover, anti-ghosting, and 1.5mm of key travel. In the X17, you have the option to upgrade to Alienware's Cherry MX ultra low-profile mechanical switches, which have a longer 1.8mm key travel.

Lastly, both laptops are available in the "Lunar Light" colorway, which is white on the outside shell and black on the inside.

AMD announces the Radeon RX 6000M series with RDNA 2 architecture

Posted: 31 May 2021 08:00 PM PDT

The new Radeon RX 6800M. | Image: AMD

AMD has announced its long-awaited Radeon RX 6000M series of mobile GPUs, featuring its RDNA 2 architecture.

Today's release consists of three chips: the RX 6800M (configurable at 145W and above), the RX 6700M (up to 135W), and the RX 6600M (up to 100W). AMD says the flagship 6800M delivers the fastest AMD graphics for laptops yet; it claims the 6800M will run modern AAA games at frame rates that are comparable to or better than those of Nvidia's mobile RTX 3080. It's also purported to outperform Nvidia's chip while gaming on battery.

AMD says the RX 6700M will deliver up to 100fps "in popular games" at 1440p resolution. The 6600M is better for "epic 1080p gaming." Keep an eye out for independent reviews of these chips in the coming weeks for better idea of the performance you can expect from each one.

The 6000M series will be available starting on June 1st.

AMD also announced AMD Advantage, a new "design framework initiative" meant to encourage OEMs to include certain features on their AMD-powered systems, and to indicate to consumers which Ryzen- and Radeon-powered laptops AMD thinks are the best. It appears to be a similar idea to Intel's Evo program, but it's just for gaming laptops, and the standards look much more stringent. It AMD Advantage laptops are expected to include the following:

  • AMD Ryzen 5000 mobile processors, Radeon 6000 graphics and Radeon software
  • Support for AMD's Smart Acess Memory and Smart Shift technology
  • A display that reaches at least 300 nits of brightness, covers either 100 percent of the sRGB gamut or 72 percent of the NTSC gamut, has at least a 144Hz refresh rate and low latency, and supports AMD Freesync
  • At least one NVME PCIE Express Gen 3 SSD
  • The ability to maintain a surface temperature under 40 degrees Celsius on the WASD keys
  • Over 10 hours of video playback on battery

It's unclear how many laptops will actually meet all of these standards. Forty degrees Celsius is close to as hot as keyboards commonly get in the center. But there aren't too many gaming rigs that reliably break 10 hours of video playback on battery, and plenty of the best gaming laptops out there max out below 300 nits of brightness. That said, all kinds of Intel Evo-certified laptops also don't meet all the Evo requirements in my testing — units and methodologies can vary.

The first AMD Advantage laptop to be announced is Asus' new ROG Strix G15. This can be configured with up to a Ryzen 9 5900Hx, a Radeon RX 6800M, and a 15-inch WQHD 165Hz display with 3ms response time. The G15 will be available at Best Buy in June.

Fall Guys beans are the perfect height to pat Among Us beans on the head

Posted: 31 May 2021 03:15 PM PDT

It's a perfect match. | Image: Among Us on Twitter

Turns out that the bean-like Fall Guys characters would be the perfect height to pat the bean-like Among Us crewmates on the head, should they ever exist in the same universe. The Among Us and Fall Guys Twitter accounts made the discovery on Monday. How?

Well, it all started with this question from Chris on Twitter:

It's a good question. I can't believe I've never asked it myself before.

The Among Us Twitter account then revealed that the crewmates in the game are three feet, six inches tall. Seems about right, though I honestly thought they were a little shorter.

The Fall Guys Twitter account quickly followed up with what people believe to be the canonical size of a Fall Guy: six feet, which is how tall one of the Fall Guys bean creatures is in the game development software Unity. The Fall Guys account also helpfully put a Fall Guy onto a chart next to a human.

The Fall Guys account then said the obvious next thing:

And the Among Us account delivered, to hilarious results.

The chart shows that a Fall Guys bean is exactly the right height to be able to pat an Among Us crewmate on the head! Aww, they can be friends. (Though if I were a Fall Guys bean, I'd be cautious about standing too close to an Among Us crewmate.)

That's not all, though. While I have you, I'd like to present my theory that Fall Guys beans are a many-years evolved version of the Among Us crewmates. Go with me here.

Let's start with the height differences that we've learned about today. They could indicate that the Among Us bean species grows to become as tall as the Fall Guys bean species.

I understand if that might not be enough evidence for you, so let's compare the anatomy of the two bean-like species. The skeletal system of an Among Us crewmate consists of a single bone, apparently:

A Fall Guys bean, on the other hand, has a significantly more complex (and horrifying) anatomical structure.

The different heights and anatomical complexities between the two types of very similar-looking bean-creatures lead me to one conclusion: the Among Us beans evolve into the Fall Guys beans.

Will someone give me a pat on the head for this bulletproof scientific theory?

EA’s new multiplayer dodgeball game is now free to play until you reach level 25

Posted: 31 May 2021 12:00 PM PDT

A screenshot from Knockout City. | Image: EA

EA just released its chaotic and fun new multiplayer dodgeball game, Knockout City, on May 21st, and for the launch, had put together a special promotion: the full game would be free to play until May 30th, after which you could pay $19.99 on the platform of your choice if you wanted to keep playing. (It's also included with an EA Play or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.)

But on Sunday, EA and developer Velan Studios announced that even if you missed that window to try Knockout City without paying for it, you can still check it out without dropping a dime: the game is now free to try up until you level up your "Street Rank" (Knockout City's take on a Fortnite-like battle pass) to 25.

That level cap should give you few hours of playtime to try Knockout City for yourself and decide if you want to pay full price for it. And I recommend you give the game a whirl — I was impressed with just how well it captures the feeling of actually playing dodgeball.

Knockout City is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, and Nintendo Switch, and it offers crossplay multiplayer, meaning you can play with your friends no matter what platform they're on.

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