“This makes the future of SSDs cloudy,” states Laura Grupp, a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego. “While the growing capacity of SSDs and high IOP rates will make them attractive for many applications, the reduction in performance that is necessary to increase capacity while keeping costs in check may make it difficult for SSDs to scale as a viable technology for some applications.”

To prove this theory, Grupp teamed up with Steven Swanson, director of UCSD’s Non-Volatile Systems Laboratory, and John Davis of Microsoft Research. Using PCIe-based flash cards with a channel speed of 400 MBps based on the Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFI) specification and a standard 96 NAND flash dies, they tested 45 different NAND flash chips from six different vendors that ranged in size from 72-nm to 25-nm.

The group discovered that write speed for pages in a flash block suffered “dramatic and predictable variations” in latency. Even more, the tests showed that as the NAND flash wore out, error rates varied widely between devices. Single-level cell NAND produced the best test results whereas multi-level cell and triple-level cell NAND produced less than spectacular results.

With the testing information at hand, the group fast-forwarded to the year 2024 when NAND flash circuitry is expected to be only 6.5-nm in size. They predicted that read/write latency will double in MLC flash and increase more than 2.5 times for TLC flash. Yet SSDs at that time are expected to feature capacities of 4 TB when using MLC flash, and 16 TB when using TLC flash.

“It’s not going to be viable to go past 6.5-nm,” Grupp said. “2024 is the end. [People] are used to working with technology that continues to just get better, but with NAND flash we’re going to be facing trade-offs as it evolves.”

Source

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That leads us to the latest rumor stemming from developers and publishers who have already been informed about the next Sony console. “Top line publishers already know about it,” an unnamed source said. “Developers working with publishers – like Ubisoft, for example – already know what’s going on. They’re already working on it.”

Prior reports stated that many developers received the Orbis SDK starting in January. However the latest news claims that most developers won’t be fully briefed about the console until the end of 2012. Some have even been invited to events in May and June here in the States which will require an NDA (private PS4 showing at E3 2012, anyone?).

“Sony are completely in the belief that they have the jump on Microsoft this time,” another unnamed source said. “You should be watching the timing of next year’s E3 keynotes, and who’s going to go first.”

The design goalposts for Orbis, including the specs, was put in place at least two years ago. Thus Sony is reportedly “confident” that it will have the console at market ahead of the Xbox 720 next Christmas. It will be based on AMD hardware and support DirectX 11 instead of using a new Cell processor and Sony’s proprietary API.

As briefly reported on Monday, Microsoft’s next Xbox console will reportedly contain two GPUs that are the equivalent to AMD’s 7000 series. One source even said “it’s like two PCs taped together,” meaning they won’t run in CrossFire mode. Instead of taking turns to draw lines of the same object, they’ll work independently, drawing separate objects simultaneously.

The upcoming Xbox console will also reportedly feature a CPU with four or six cores, one of which will be reserved for Kinect and another for the operating system. Kinect will be built-in instead of serving as an accessory, and the console itself will require an always-on Internet connection as an anti-piracy method.

Rounding up this latest issue in the Next-Gen Console War battle briefing, there’s a little bashing going on in regards to Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U console. Developers who are currently working with the device claim that it may have HD graphics, but it’s not even on par with the current Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. “The graphics are just not as powerful,” said one unnamed developer.

“Yeah, that’s true. It doesn’t produce graphics as well as the PS3 or the 360,” claims another unnamed developer. “There aren’t as many shaders, it’s not as capable. Sure, some things are better, mostly as a result of it being a more modern design. But overall the Wii U just can’t quite keep up.”

Given that Google and Apple scooped up more than half of the game revenue in 2011, are new consoles even really the answer for the Big Three? Deus Ex and Epic Mickey creator Warren Spector says that a new hardware generation isn’t the way to go.

“I think most of the problems we have to solve are creative ones, not technical ones,” he said in a recent interview. “Obviously we make software, so there’s always a technical element to what we do, but I will make games that do whatever I want them to do at the end of the day, and I will use whatever technology [is] available.”

Source

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Recently, a leak from NordicHardware gave us a glimpse of the potential of the Ivy Bridge i7 3770K when overclocked using liquid nitrogen. The i7 3770K running at 6.961 GHz with memory at DDR3 2652 MHz with 7-11-7-28-1T timings – on liquid nitrogen – completed SuperPi 1M benchmark in 5.187 seconds.

The current record with a Core i7 2600K in SuperPi 1M benchmark is 6.109 seconds at 6.042 GHz, while a Core i7 980X has the world record at 5.781 seconds and 6.930 GHz. These unofficial results would give the i7 3770K a new world record, along with nearly a 1 GHz clock speed improvement over the i7 2600K on liquid nitrogen.

Also, NordicHardware talked about a new record in SuperPi 32M. The i7 3770K clocked at 6.650 GHz completed SuperPi 32M in 5 minutes and 2.843 seconds, which is faster than the current record of 5 minutes and 13.719 seconds. With the i7 3770K clocked at 6.805 GHz, it performed the PiFast test in just 10.56 seconds, which can be compared to the current record at 12.01 seconds.

These unofficial results give overclockers and enthusiasts alike something to look forward to down the road

Source

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Intel Atom “ValleyView” (VLV) processor will have two current-generation Atom cores, will have integrated memory controller “Pondicherry” memory arbiter as well as Intel generation 7 graphics core (Ivy Bridge) found inside Core i-series “Ivy Bridge” chip, according to findings made by Phoronix web-site. The chip will support output to two DisplayPort monitors as well as to one HDMI panel in addition to other outputs.

The chip will be made using 32nm fabrication process, which may mean that it will be releases in 2012 and as it is essentially an upgraded CedarView processor with improved memory sub-system, much more powerful graphics core with DirectX 11 and OpenCL support and other improvements. Some sources isniste that the chip is to be made at 22nm node and will be available in 2013. The new Atom SoC is projected to be paired with code-named Balboa Park chipset, which suggests that the VLV is the heart of Intel’s future-generation low-power/low-cost platform. Intel has confirmed existence of Valleyview chip in plans.

“ValleyView is a CedarView-like chip but with an Ivy Bridge graphics core,” Jesse Barnes of Intel’s open-source technology center is reported to have said.

Intel has already started adding support for next-generation microprocessors, including Valleyview and Haswell into its drivers for Linux operating system. Adding support to drivers does not reflect availability of hardware shortly, but rather represents major features of future products

Source

The post Intel Develops Atom System-on-Chip with “Ivy Bridge” Graphics Core. appeared first on OCFreaks!.

AMD has released the latest version of its Catalyst graphics driver package for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Vista, and 7. This version of the drivers introduces support for the Radeon HD 7800 series under Windows Vista and 7 – the 7700 and 7900 series cards were added in the last release, meaning that the Catalyst drivers now support the complete lineup of 7000-series cards. Windows XP support for these cards is slated to be introduced next month in Catalyst 12.4.

The new drivers also fix issues in a number of games, including a texture corruption bug in Skyrim that some of you mentioned was a problem with the 12.2 drivers. Other resolved issues include bugfixes in games like HAWX, Quake 4, XPlane, Alan Wake, and Far Cry 2, a crashing bug in the Furmark benchmark, and startup issues with the Catalyst Control Center.

The drivers support all Radeon HD 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000, and 7000 series graphics cards, IGPs, and APUs except where otherwise noted in the release notes, which are linked below. Support for the mobile versions of these cards is provided only to Windows Vista and 7 users.

Source

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Sony’s never-ending battle to control the content that runs on its hardware has moved to a new front on the Vita, with the company taking down downloadable versions of two PSP titles in response to reports that they include programming holes that allow the Vita to run unsigned, homebrew code. On March 1, the hackers at Wololo.net first publicly announced that their homebrew Vita Half Byte Loader (VHBL) worked by exploiting a vulnerability in a downloadable copy of the PSP title Motorstorm: Arctic Edge, releasing a video of Doom being loaded onto the system by way of proof. Sony responded quickly, removing Motorstorm from the PlayStation Store just before VHBL was officially released the next day. Users that had previously downloaded Motorstorm could still use the exploit, though, and the hackers claim they went to great pains to ensure that a few thousand people in and around the hacking community were able to download the game before the details of the hack were made public. Previous purchasers are no longer able to redownload the game from the PlayStation Store, however, potentially leaving some innocent bystanders without access to legally purchased titles if they delete their existing copy (Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter). Fast forward to Sunday, when the Wololo hackers teased that they had found another exploit in Japanese and European PlayStation Store download Everybody’s Tennis that could, in the hackers’ tongue-in- cheek words, be “extremely dangerous for [Sony’s] business,” by letting people play titles “such as 20 year-old 8-bit games and 154 different versions of Pong.”

Following form, Sony once again removed the game from the PSN store just before the hackers publicly released the new exploit yesterday. Wololo claims its VHBL hack is usefulonly for running homebrew softwareand not for playing pirated PSP orVita games. Still, Sony has taken zero-tolerance approach to players running unauthorized code on its systems in the past, usually responding to breaches by releasing re-secured firmware updates, whichhackers subsequently re-hacked. Now, Sony instead seems to be using its control of PSP game downloads on the Vita to try to cut off the supply of exploitable games as quickly as possible, opening up a new front in the war for control of the Vita hardware. They might have an uphill battle on their hands, though, as Wololo’s hackers claimed to “collectively have access to about 5 to 10 user mode game exploits in psp games” earlier this month, and have created a so-called “exploit factory” to easily port VHBL as new exploits are found. We could be entering a new era in the Sony hacking wars, where exploits are first released quietly before being publicly deployed as tactical weapons that whittle down the number of downloadable PSP titles available from the PlayStation Store.
Source- http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2012/03/sony-tries-cutting-off-homebrew-exploits-takes-down-vita-game-downloads.ars

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In the mainstream, AMD will be adding the FX-6130 to complement its the 6-core FX-6100 and FX-6200 with a 3.9 GHz/ 3.6 GHz version. In the entry level area, AMD is now listing the quad-core FX-4130 with 3.9 GHz/3.8 GHz. Both processors are 125 watt parts.

When released, AMD will be offering a total of eight 32 nm, Zambezi-based FX processors – three quad-core CPUs, three hexacore processors and two eight-core versions – spanning a packed price range from $115 to $245. We would expect AMD to adjust its processor pricing closer to the Ivy Bridge launch as well. The new 4130 model could turn out to be a new budget model as it will only include half of the 8 MB L3 cache of all other FX CPUs.

Source : http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-fx-4130-6130-cpu,15094.html

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Introduction

So, what exactly is the story of the game?

The game is set in “post-apocalyptic” Earth after the so called Ultimate weapon has been used. The weapon looked more like a Nuclear explosion to me.

Earth as the old guy talking to us puts it, is no longer same. There has been massive loss of lives and as the commander puts it “So much has been lost in vain, so much OIL”

The story is very fast in narration. and directly puts us in the shoes of a protagonist called Kevin. He has just come from academy and he asks the old commander for the control of a fleet and guarantees that he wont disappoint.

In most campaign maps, the objective for us is to capture more and more platforms to get more and more Oil. The capturing part is of various difficulties as we advance in the game. All platforms have various levels of defence. Merely sending out all fleet members wont help. Gathering various fleet members and sending a huge army at once might be required.

Gameplay

After a quick tutorial on what various buttons do and how to use the camera we had to attack the first fleet. The thing is from a original rig, we have to go to the nearest enemy rig to attack. What we have to do is , first select our rig (with left click) then send our fleet to attack the other rigs.

After the attack is complete on a platform, a Verticle bar fills telling us the progress of capture

What the game also allows us to do is send our fleet % wise to territories so that we can explore and find what enemy is present. Except Oil storage, each platform support 5 different types of turrets to be built around it. Building them is quite easy. All you need to do is double click the platform and voila! you are greeted with a host of options to build it.

Defensive Turrets:

A turrent trying desperately to fight off the enemy:

One thing has to be said, it would have been great if we were given more control of our fleets. That would have expanded the kind of strategy we used and how we wanted our own platforms. In this system, they either circle around our platform or on the way to attack another platform. Its not possible to redirect dynamically our fleet to any of our platform that come under attack. Fleet will have to return and then only we can go to defend our platform. There is also a radar feature which, well lets us discover things in the map. I had a bit of a hard time understanding how to use it but gradually got the hold of it.

Radar in action:

What I had to do is, I had to very regularly keep an eye on the Mini map. There were attacks all the time. The action is very fast paced. I had almost no previous experience in this Genre, but this game got me acquainted with the controls very fast and was actually kind of enjoying it.

GAMEPLAY Score – 4/5

Graphics

The graphics of the game is very very good indeed. But this is really what you would expect from a game powered by Unigine Engine. I was kind of taken aback at first by the realism of the water. Very well done indeed. Here are a few very amazing shots from their website.

The problem was my PC doesnt support DX 11. So used their screenshots here. More screenies here- Oil Rush: naval strategy game for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and PlayStation 3 We can separately choose which Direct X version to run the game (Dx 10, Dx 11, Dx 9) and even Open GL. The game gave a constant 30-33 FPS on our test setup as mentioned on botttom of review. Ran it at Medium graphics and Medium texture. Sometimes the frames dropped to 20 FPS when there was fire while attacking or defending. But the performance was constant. It was ran without V-Sync.

GRAPHICS Score – 4.5/5

Conclusion

Oil Rush is a overall good strategy game. It is quite easy to learn and designed quite simple which made even made Strategy newbies like me to play this game with lots of interest. As we play on we will master various aspects in the game like timing an attack(which is very crucial as you cant reroute when fleet is going to some target). The fast paced action makes sure you aren’t bored and the Unigine Engine is sure to throw you into awe from time to time with amazing graphics. The multiplayer is something that will definitely become a hit once the masses start playing the game. The multiplayer is copy-paste-join type. No one I knew had this game at the time of writing so could not test it out. A lobby based navigation for multiplayer would have been lot lot better. At $17.99(10% discount over original price till Feb 1) I would say the Value for money factor is there. If you are a Strategy game fan, this would certainly be your cup of Tea. Would have given the game a bit more marks if the multiplayer system would have been lobby based. But once you have friends playing this, it wont be much of a problem.

Overall – 8.5/10 | OCFreaks Advice : Must Try game!

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