NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20-series production discontinued

NVIDIA is reportedly no longer producing the high-end GeForce RTX 20-series as they get the upcoming Ampere-based GPUs ready for launch. According to the rumor, NVIDIA is suspending production of the GeForce RTX 2070, RTX 2070 SUPER, RTX 2080 SUPER and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.
Once NVIDIA stops production on these cards, it is expected that the prices will increase on these cards naturally due to a lack of supply. Or at least until the next-gen GeForce RTX 30-series or AMD Navi 2X cards arrive. Depending on the pricing of the next-gen GPUs, the current crop of NVIDIA Turing GPUs might still be in high demand, so there’s no guarantee of that either.

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On top of the natural price hike due to supply and demand, NVIDIA has also purportedly recommended partners to jack up prices on the discontinued GeForce RTX 20-series cards due to increased interest in cryptomining. This coupled with the low supply of GPUs can make it quite profitable for NVIDIA and partners, as we have seen in the past.
The report then goes on to predict that NVIDIA will unveil the GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3080 Ti on 17th September, although they do suggest to take the prediction with a pinch of salt. If you are considering an upgrade for your PC right now, I would recommend holding out until the next-gen options arrive, unless you come across some amazing deals.
Source
Pokdepinion: I can’t wait for the GeForce RTX 30-series so I can snag a cheap secondhand RTX 2080!
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HUAWEI December Fiesta brings up to 47% discounts and awesome freebies!

HUAWEI is hosting a three-day party to celebrate the HUAWEI December Fiesta, with amazing deals on their laptops, tablets and wearables. If you are considering the latest HUAWEI products, this is probably your best chance to get them with up to 47% off their usual price, along with some nice freebies to boot.
HUAWEI December Fiesta: three days of sales and freebies!
The HUAWEI December Fiesta will be divided into three days, with 3rd December being the Audio and Wearable Day, 4th December the PC and Tablet Festival, with 5th December giving you promotion on all products. Here are some of the awesome deals to look out for.
HUAWEI December Fiesta Deals

RRP
Promo Price
Free Gifts

HUAWEI MateBook D 14 2021, 10th Gen Intel i3 (8GB+256GB)
RM2699
RM2299 (-RM400)
Backpack worth RM199

HUAWEI MatePad 11
RM1999
RM1999
HUAWEI M-Pencil & Smart Magnetic Keyboard worth RM399

HUAWEI Matepad 10.4 2020 LTE (4GB+64GB)
RM1399
RM1199 (-RM200)

HUAWEI MatePad T 10 (2GB+32GB)
RM799
RM499 (-RM300)

HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 46mm Fluoroelastomer Matte Black
RM799
RM599 (-RM200)

HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 42mm Fluoroelastomer Night Black
RM799
RM459 (-RM340)

HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 46mm Leather
RM899
RM649 (-RM250)

HUAWEI WATCH Fit
RM499
RM299 (-RM200)

HUAWEI WATCH GT 2e 46mm Graphite Black
RM599
RM329 (-RM270)

HUAWEI Band 6
RM219
RM149 (-RM70)

HUAWEI FreeBuds 4i
RM379
RM199 (-RM180)

HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 42mm Black + HUAWEI FreeBuds Lipstick
RM1998
RM1698 (-RM300)

HUAWEI WATCH GT 3 42mm White + HUAWEI FreeBuds Lipstick
RM2098
RM1798 (-RM300)

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You can enjoy these amazing deals from the safety of your home, as all of these deals are available on the HUAWEI Store Online. Don’t miss out if you want to snag some nice deals!
Pokdepinion: The HUAWEI WATCH GT 2’s discounted price does seem pretty enticing…
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Garmin Launches Instinct 2 Series Smartwatches That Can Charge Using Sunlight

Garmin Malaysia has announced the Instinct 2 Series, a new addition to their Instinct line of smartwatches that includes robust lifestyle features, new sizes and colours, and additional health monitoring features.
Introducing Garmin’s new Instinct 2 Series smartwatches

The Instinct 2 Series offers significant battery life improvements, with up to four weeks of continuous use in smartwatch mode. Select Instinct 2 Solar models, which are equipped with advanced solar technology, also provide an unlimited battery life when switched to smartwatch mode. Aside from breaking a new battery record, the Instinct 2 series features a slimmer profile in two sizes – a traditional 45mm bezel and a new Instinct 2S with a smaller 40mm bezel.

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Garmin’s new smartwatches come in a variety of colour schemes, including Deep Orchid, Poppy, and Neo-Tropic, and are available on the Instinct 2 Solar, standard models (non-solar), Surf, Tactical, and Camo editions. This series, which pays homage to the tough Instinct and Instinct Solar Series, is built to military standard 810 for thermal and shock resistance and is water-rated to 100 metres. The Instinct 2 also comes with a new high-resolution, easy-to-read display that is protected by chemically strengthened, scratch-resistant glass.
The Instinct 2 Series comes in three different editions, each edition with unique and dedicated features:

Surf Edition: Watersports activities such as surf, windsurfing, and kiteboarding, as well as a tides widget, keep users informed about ocean conditions. Surfline SessionsTM compatibility allows users to keep track of their activities and review them later. Surf editions, named after famous surf breaks, are available in Instinct 2 and Instinct 2S with or without solar.
Tactical Edition: The Instinct 2 Solar – Tactical Edition, which is popular among military personnel, includes dedicated tactical features such as a Kill Switch, Stealth Mode, Night Vision Goggle Compatibility, Dual Format Position Coordinates, and Jumpmaster Activity mode. Coyote Tan or Black is available.
Camo Edition: Graphite and Mist Camo patterns allow people to blend in or stand out depending on their surroundings, whether they are in the concrete jungle or the actual jungle.

Furthermore, the Garmin Connect IQ (CIQ) store, an all-in-one platform for further personalising the Instinct 2 Series with free downloads of apps, widgets, watch faces, data fields, and more is now compatible with the Instinct 2 Series. Through CIQ, Instinct 2 Series owners can also access health and wellness features such as Hydration Tracking, Connect Leaderboard, and Menstrual Cycle and Pregnancy Tracking.
Price and availability
The Instinct 2 and Instinct 2S are available now on Lazada, Shopee, AECO e-store and all authorised retailers. Below is a full list of all the models available together with their retail prices:
Instinct 2

Graphite (Non Solar) – RM1,630
Graphite Camo/Mavericks (Non Solar) – RM1,860
Graphite/Mist Gray/Tidal Blue (Solar) – RM2,099
Black/Coyote Tan/Bell Beach (Solar) – RM2,330

Instinct 2s

Graphite/Deep Orchid/Poppy (Non Solar) – RM1,630

Mist Camo/Waikiki (Non Solar) – RM1,860.00
Graphite/Mist Gray/Neo Tropic (Solar) – RM2,099

Ericeira (Solar) – RM2,330

For more information on the Instinct 2 Series, click here.
Pokdepinion: I would love to have the Solar edition if it doesn’t mean I have to have the watch hooked up to my charger every once in a while.
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Play Pokemon Go without ever leaving your seat

Pokemon Go is an amazing sensational app, leading all the sedentary youngsters out to play. If for some reason you cannot go out for some medical reason or you are just too damn lazy to get out of your nice DXRacer chair at home, well you can actually play Pokemon Go on your PC.
All you need to do is download Nox App Player onto your PC and get the Pokemon Go APK from APKMirror. After you download these two files, install Nox App Player.

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Now the first thing before you install Pokemon Go is to set your virtual location. You can either click on the icon, or press Ctrl+3 to get the map to come up. I searched for KLCC and set my location there. You will see as you move the red pin around you will get a popup below. Mouse over the popup and click OK to set the virtual location there. Now you are all set.

Next, all you have to do is click the icon (or press Ctrl + +) to add the Pokemon Go APK. Navigate to your download folder, and it will install by itself in the background. When it is done installing, open Pokemon Go!

Now worth noting is that if you suddenly change your location, you will receive a soft ban. If you attempt to use the same account which is logged in on your smartphone, you will also most probably receive a soft ban. If you got yourself a soft ban, you will be unable to get anything from Pokestops, and all the Pokemon you attempt to catch will escape. All you need to do is spin one Pokestop repeatedly to get out of the soft ban. Spin, close the Pokestop, open it and spin again, close again, until you get drops. After you get drops you will notice that you can catch Pokemon like normal. Therefore it is recommended to create a new account or use an alternate Google account to play Pokemon Go on your PC.
We are unsure if Niantic Lab will take any action against players who exploit such a trick, but for now, let us have fun from the comforts of our air-conditioned rooms.
Have fun!
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Lenovo Malaysia To Host Merdeka IdeaPad AMD Promo

In conjunction with Merdeka, the folks at Lenovo Malaysia will be hosting their Lenovo IdeaPad AMD Merdeka Special starting from the 29th of August till the 2nd of September 2020.
Lenovo IdeaPad AMD Merdeka Special

In this period of time, you can enjoy deals such as RM50 upfront rebate for those who purchase Lenovo IdeaPad AMD products on Lenovo’s official website, authorized Lazada Store, as well as their authorized Shopee store.
To enjoy the rebate on your Lenovo IdeaPad AMD laptop, you can use the discount code ‘LENOVO50‘ on Lenovo’s Official Website. For Lazada shoppers, you can claim the voucher code by selecting the “Get Code” link in the T&C and the voucher will automatically be applied to your order. As for Shopee users, you can simply key in the relevant voucher code available in the T&C upon check-out.

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In the promo period, you can use the rebates on their models such as Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3, Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5, as well as the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5.
On top of that, there is a warranty program featured for the IdeaPad laptops under the Lenovo Premium Care. The program is an after-sale service that comes with the standard warranty, where the highlight would be 24 hour access to technical support extended from 9am-9pm on-site services for 365 days.
For more details on the Lenovo IdeaPad AMD deals, you can head to the link right here.
Pokdepinion: It may not seem a lot, but hey, a discount is still a discount. Will you be getting one of their IdeaPads?
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Corsair Carbide Air 740 case — built for builders

The Corsair Carbide Air 740 was just recently unveiled at PAX West 2016, will be available here in Malaysia by early October 2016.

The Corsair Carbide Air 740 builds on the success of its predecessor, the Carbide Air 540, which featured the ground breaking dual-chamber design. The space within the case is fully utilized, with it split into two compartments. The main chamber houses the heat generating components, while a separate rear chamber is where you mount the storage drives and PSU. This unique arrangement allows for better cooling where you need it most.

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The Air 740 takes the original Air 540’s dual-chamber concept even further with the removal of the 5.25in drive bays, allowing for a huge array of extreme system cooling options and up to eight 120mm cooling fans. The Air 740 can simultaneously mount a 240mm/280mm liquid cooling radiator in the roof, a 240mm/280mm radiator in the floor and a 240mm/280mm/360mm radiator in the front. What’s more, the Air 740’s enormous, hinged and fully removable side panel is perfect for showing off those amazing builds and setups, so your system can look as cool as it runs.
The Air 740 will be priced at RM739, inclusive of GST and will be shipping to Major Retail & Online Stores Nationwide in early October 2016.

Pokdepinion: The Corsair Carbide Air 740 may blow me away with the impressive cooling, but I am not really a fan of the design..
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ASUS ROG STRIX B760-A GAMING WIFI D4 Review – Close To The Sun

With Intel just announced its updated mid-range chipsets to replace B660 – the B760 line of motherboards are now releasing soon and one of which has reached our office for us to take a look. The ASUS ROG STRIX B760-A GAMING WIFI D4 is among the last of its breed to support DDR4 as AMD has moved on to DDR5 entirely ever since – let’s see if it’s any good.
Unboxing
Box front
Box rear
With a white motherboard comes a white box – though aside from that it’s pretty much your standard contemporary ASUS motherboard packaging. The model specifically labels ‘D4’ as part of its name to differentiate itself to its DDR5 counterparts.
Box contents (Wi-Fi antenna originally placed in a different compartment of the box).
While you’re not necessarily getting a full suite of stuffs like you do on premium ROG MAXIMUS models – there’s enough parts and spares for you to get going right away. As a good measure, ASUS included cable ties if you’re the kind of people who use these to tidy up the cabling (though my preference is to use those ties like you see on PSU cables and repurpose them, since they’re reversible).

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Appearance
Motherboard front
Motherboard rear
RGB Lighting
This year’s ROG STRIX motherboards follows a common theme, which is retro 8-bit look (whereas the previous model follow the 80s cyberpunk-style design). Just like its AMD B650 counterpart – you get white heatsinks all across the board, with the sole RGB lighting seen on the lower side of the I/O panel. Like the B650 – parts of the I/O panel is plastic so be aware when grabbing it as it’ll torque on the plastic cover.
3 SSD slots under two heatsinks.
Three SSD slots are available on this board – with the top and bottom right supporting standard M.2 2280 form factor, and the left slot being the one supporting up to M.2 22110 form factor. CMOS battery is seen exposed here, however once you install any decent modern GPU it’s effectively inaccessible anyway and will warrant a GPU removal in order to reset BIOS settings in the event of bootloop or POST failure.
I/O ports – layout is mostly the same as the AMD counterpart. (Is that a cat and dog in love down the bottom?)
ROG certainly took a bit more artistic liberty on the I/O shield with more 8-bit graphics plastered around (the B650 counterpart is plain white and a ROG logo up top), but are otherwise the same in terms of the number of ports to the AMD B650 version. That said, Intel’s PCIe lanes seemed to limit the available bandwidth to the I/O as three of the USB ports (the bottom three) are 3.2 Gen 1 instead of 3.2 Gen 2 on the AMD ones.
Another small detail: this motherboard gets an onboard DisplayPort while it’s direct flagship, MAXIMUS Z790 HERO, only comes with a single HDMI port for onboard display outputs. If you own gaming monitors, this should be a convenient quality-of-life feature for GPU troubleshooting since some gaming monitors only provide DisplayPort cables.
Specifications
ASUS ROG STRIX B760-A GAMING WIFI D4

CPU Support
LGA1700 (Intel Core 13th Gen & 12th Gen, Pentium & Celeron w/ compatible socket)

Form Factor
ATX (12 x 9.6 in / 305 x 244mm)

Chipset
Intel B760

Power & VRM
1x EPS 8-pin + 1x EPS 4-pin
12+1 stage (Vcore+SoC), Alpha & Omega AOZ5316NQI (55A per powerstage)
ASUS DIGI+ EPU ASP2210R PWM controller

Memory
4-slot Max. 128GB DDR4-3200 non-ECC unbuffered
DDR4-5333+ overclocking support

PCIe Expansion Slots
1x PCIe 5.0 x16 (CPU)
2x PCIe 3.0 x1
1x PCIe 3.0 x16 (supports x4 mode)
*All PCIe 3.0 slots shares bandwidth – x16 slot fallback to x2 mode if either of x1 slots are active

Storage
4x SATA 6Gb/s
3x M.2 slots (PCIe 4.0 x4)

Networking
Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (CNVio2)
Intel 2.5GbE I226-V LAN

USB
Rear:
1x USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (USB-C)
1x USB 3.2 Gen 2
3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (2x USB-A, 1x USB-C)
4x USB 2.0 (4x USB-A)
Front (headers):
1x USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 header (USB-C)
1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 headers (splitting to 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1)
1x USB 2.0 header + 1x USB 2.0 5-1 pin header (splitting to 3x USB 2.0)

Other I/O
1x HDMI 2.1 (onboard GPU)
1x DisplayPort 1.4 (onboard GPU)
1x Wi-Fi 6E antenna connector module
1x BIOS FlashBack button

Audio
ROG SupremeFX
Realtek ALC4080 codec
Savitech SV3H712 amp
5-channel audio jacks (rear)
1x front panel audio header

Peripheral Headers
Fan and Cooling
1 x 4-pin CPU Fan header
1 x 4-pin CPU OPT Fan header
1 x 4-pin AIO Pump header
4 x 4-pin Chassis Fan headers
Miscellaneous
3 x Addressable Gen 2 headers
1 x AURA RGB header
1 x Clear CMOS header
1 x Front Panel Audio header (AAFP)
1 x S/PDIF Out header
1 x 20-5 pin System Panel header
1 x Thunderbolt 4 header

Accessories
Cables
2 x SATA 6Gb/s cables
Additional Cooling Kit
1 x Thermal pad for M.2
Miscellaneous
1 x ASUS Wi-Fi moving antennas
1 x Cable ties package
1 x M.2 Q-Latch package
1 x ROG key chain
1 x ROG Strix stickers
1 x ROG Strix thank you card
1 x M.2 Rubber Packages
Documentation
1 x User guide

Test System

CPU
Intel Core i9-13900K

Cooler
ASUS ROG Ryujin II 360 AIO
Cooler Master MasterGel Maker

Motherboard
ASUS ROG STRIX B760-A GAMING WIFI D4 (BIOS ver. 0403)

GPU
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition

Memory
KLEVV BOLT XR DDR4-3600 CL18 (2x8GB)

Storage
Samsung SSD 980 PRO 256GB (Boot)
Kingston NV1 1TB

Power Supply
Cooler Master V850 Platinum 850W

Case
VECTOR Bench Case (Open-air chassis)

OS
Windows 11 Pro 22H2

A Closer Look
VRMs

The VRM is handled by 12+1 stage with the 55A Alpha & Omega AOZ5316NQI handling the power – all orchestrated by the in-house DIGI+ EPU ASP2100R PWM controller. On paper, this is slightly less powerful than AMD’s counterpart (runs on 12+2 stage 60A), so it’d be something to look at especially given Intel CPU’s higher power draw. You might not be pairing the Core i9-13900K on this board, but the same TDP target applies to the Core i7-13700K as well…
Audio
Savitech SV3H712 amplifier situated down the lower-left corner of Japanese capacitors.
From what we can tell, this is identical to the B650-A’s layout: from the Savitech SV3H712 amp, Realtek ALC4080 codec (not visible) down to the exact same signal path. So whatever you’re expecting of the audio quality from the AMD motherboard, you can expect the same to apply here as well – which is to say it will handle high-impedance headphones (up to 600Ω) no problem.
Storage & Expansion
PCIe & M.2 slots layout
Three SSD slots – though ASUS went with a different choices of PCIe 5.0 allocation here. All SSD slots are PCIe 4.0 x4, while the GPU slot remains the sole connection wired to PCIe 5.0 standard. Seems like an odd choice, given we’re not close to saturating PCIe 4.0 x16 bandwidth (we only barely just went past PCIe 3.0 x16 about a generation ago, mind you) and it’s probably better off wiring it to PCIe 5.0 SSDs (which they do on STRIX B650-A) which are starting to surface on the market.
As for the PCIe slots, you get either PCIe 5.0 x16 for GPU or PCIe 3.0 (x16 and a pair of x1 slots) for the rest. However there’s a few quirks to point out: the topmost PCIe 3.0 x1 slot will likely get blocked if you have a very thick GPU (say, any air-cooled RTX 40 GPUs right now), and if you do use these x1 slot – shared bandwidth meant the x16 slot will fallback to x2 speeds from its default x4 speeds from the PCH.
I/O

Like the AMD counterpart – no native Thunderbolt/USB4 port on the rear but you do have the option to connect a Thunderbolt port through front panel header. The downstream data is managed by Intel’s B760 chipset through DMI 4.0 x4 (effectively PCIe 4.0 x4) link with individual I/O controllers courtesy of ASMedia chips. As with other current-gen Intel motherboards, the 2.5GbE LAN now uses the more power-efficient I226-V controller but are otherwise the same in specifications. Wi-Fi 6E module is likewise an Intel-exclusive AX211 with proprietary CNVio2 form factor.
Thermals
First run: TDP locked at 181W simulating mid-range Intel CPUs. (‘Temp2’ is what ROG Armoury Crate refer as VRM thermistor temperature.)
Given this is a midrange motherboard mainly designed for midrange CPUs, we simulated a maximum 181-watt load (MTP value of Core i5-13600K) and did a 10-minute Cinebench R23 run to see how would VRM temperatures fare. (No active cooling was present for the duration of this test.) The temperate clocked in at 72°C – not very hot all things considered, but given Intel’s rather big appetite for power, let’s see how will a full-blown 253-watt CPU go against it…
Second run: letting the Core i9-13900K running full-blast – in this case exceeding 250W on average.
Mmm… toasty. While technically it didn’t thermal throttle on the 10-minute run, given how the temperature climbs over time shown on the graph I’d say another 5 minutes and it’ll probably overheat and cause problems to the CPU’s performance. Having a fan to cool the VRM heatsink certainly helps – as we’re testing the worst-case scenario here. While it’s technically not as realistic to put a Core i9 on a motherboard like this, just be aware if you decide to put even a Core i7-13700K (which is also a 253W MTP chip), it’ll give the VRMs some serious work to do.
Other Features
PCIe Q-Release (exposed from the chipset heatsink).
Status LEDs.
The STRIX B760-A also gets a PCIe Q-Latch release level for easy GPU removal, which is among the features trickled down from the flagship lineups and also a new feature from its preceding B660-A model. For the status light you’re still settling with the traditional Q-LED layout and turning on the system outside the case will require shorting the front panel pins.
Starting Up
ROG Armoury Crate
Software is courtesy of ASUS’s staple – ROG Armoury Crate. As with ROG models you get a suite of software ranging from benchmark tools to stress test software, which are all optional. As for the software itself, you get all the controls needed to manage RGB, fan control and even AI-based fan-acoustic tuning so you can save time from constantly adjusting the curves for hours.
Conclusion
The price you’re looking at is RM 1,339 – which is slightly cheaper than the AMD counterpart but not that much cheaper given the small compromise in I/O options. We can’t say how the price would stack up against other brands, but by far MSI and GIGABYTE doesn’t seem to offer any boards close to the price ROG is asking for (some of them even comes with DDR5 support). Still, for this price you get some handy feature including Q-Release latch which isn’t common on this segment.

The PCIe configuration isn’t really the most ideal layout, since SSDs are catching up on PCIe 5.0 faster than GPU does so the choice of giving the PCIe 5.0 signals to the GPU does sound a bit intriguing at least. And that leaves the rest of the slots running on a measly PCIe 3.0 x4 at best – not ideal if you’re running on any kind of high-bandwidth expansion cards. Perhaps leaving the GPU on PCIe 4.0 x16 could free up a lot more bandwidth for I/O and SSDs to use instead. On that note, you don’t get USB-PD on the front-panel USB-C ports, so just bring your own charger for that.
And the temperatures – it’s something worth looking out for if you do plan on running unlocked CPUs on this motherboard. Given proper cooling it’s not as likely you’ll be seeing VRM throttling, but Intel’s huge power requirements meant you have to be aware of how much you are willing to push the VRMs to feed the CPU to its maximum potential. DDR4 support meant you save on memory costs, best-case you’re carrying your existing RAM sticks forward; and worst case you can buy DDR4 modules for pretty cheap prices these days.

Special thanks to ASUS Malaysia for sending us the ROG STRIX B760-A GAMING WIFI for the purpose of this review.
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Netflix Releases New Trailer For The Witcher Nightmare Of The Wolf

Can’t wait for The Witcher Nightmare of the Wolf to come out? Well Netflix has released a special new trailer for fans across Asia.
The Witcher Nightmare of the Wolf trailer

The new trailer for the anime prequel to The Witcher series also features a Japanese track by Japanese rock band ROTTENGRAFFTY.
If you’ve missed out on our previous article, the world of The Witcher expands in this anime origin story: Before Geralt, there was his mentor Vesemir, a swashbuckling young witcher who escaped a life of poverty to slay monsters for coin. But when a strange new monster begins terrorizing a politically-fraught kingdom, Vesemir finds himself on a frightening adventure that forces him to confront the demons of his past.

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The show premieres worldwide this 23rd of August 2021,, which isn’t far away from now on Netflix. For more on the latest tech and gaming news plus reviews, stay tuned to Pokde.net.
Pokdepinion: While I’ll definitely watch the show, I only have one issue. Do I watch it with English or Japanese dub? Watching an anime in English feels weird for me but then again I played the franchise’s game in English.. Quite the dilemma.
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PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Hit 10 Million Milestone; That’s 10 Million Units Sold!

The ever-popular PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds have officially hit the 10-Million milestone. Now do you believe there’s a lot of players in the game?

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Hit 10 Million Milestone

10 MILLION SOLD! Never did I think we would reach such a number! Thank you all for your continuing support of the @PUBATTLEGROUNDS team <3
— PLAYERUNKNOWN (@PLAYERUNKNOWN) September 5, 2017

Since its launch back in March through Steam’s Early Access program, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has become a global phenomenon that’s shown little signs of stopping since its debut, with the game having crossed a brand new threshold in sales.

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PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has now surpassed 10 million units sold, as announced in a press release from the development team, as the title is showing little signs of slowing down with sales having ramped up each month since its debut.

In addition to the new sales milestone, several of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds other achievements since release have been highlighted, including the recent PUBG Invitational that was held at this year’s Gamescom 2017 in Cologne, Germany.
Specifically, the event brought together 92 players from 19 countries around the world, with the competition taking place across four of the game’s modes. Overall, the event’s peak online viewership on Twitch topped at 566,000 viewers on the first day, while on PandaTV the event reached as high as 5.6 million viewers on the first day, as well.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is available right now on PC via Steam Early Access. The full release for the game is currently targeting a 2018 release window. An Xbox One version of the title is also currently in development and expected to release sometime later this year.

Pokdepinion: PlayerUnknown’s Battleground has seen the biggest popularity spike in videogames since Overwatch, possibly bigger even. Some questioned that the claims there being many players in the game being false but now, I’m sure the developers’ recent milestone will be enough to convince you.
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Phidisk WrathKeeper 960GB SATA SSD review — 3D TLC NAND for everyone!

Introduction

We have already checked out the Phidisk PhantomKnight. So I guess it is only natural to check out the highest-end 2.5″ SATA drive in Phidisk’s lineup for consumers, the Phidisk WrathKeeper. On paper, the Phidisk WrathKeeper is much faster thanks to its 3D TLC NAND while featuring the same Phison controller under the hood. So let’s give the Phidisk WrathKeeper 960GB a whirl.
Unboxing

The packaging of the Phidisk WrathKeeper is just as distinctive as the Phidisk PhantomKnight we previously reviewed. It’s bright, it’s colorful and once again, reminds us of the graphics cards of olden days with its vibrant graphics.

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Phidisk printed some basic specifications here on the back.

Truth be told this is probably the most exclusive packaging I have ever seen for an SSD. When you open up the box, the tray holding the Phidisk WrathKeeper raises up, somewhat akin to the ROG Zephyrus’ packaging. While the packaging is cool and all, Phidisk does not bundle anything unnecessary with the Phidisk WrathKeeper, so you only get the SSD in the box.
Appearance

The Phidisk WrathKeeper features even more elaborate graphics than the PhantomKnight, with it covering a large portion of the body. Unfortunately, body here is still plastic despite this being supposedly more premium than the Phidisk WrathKeeper. Not like it will affect anything, but I do love my metal SSDs, regardless of how thin they are.

The back is once again where you will find a really basic sticker listing out some basic specifications and the drive’s serial number.
Specifications
Phidisk WrathKeeper 960GB SATA3 SSD

Capacity
960GB (894GB usable)

Interface
SATA 3

NAND Type
3D TLC NAND

DRAM Cache
32MB SRAM (on controller)

Controller
Phison S11

Rated speed
Sequential:
Read: Up to 570 MB/s Write: Up to 540 MB/s

Endurance
N/A

Dimensions
100 mm X 69.85 mm X 6.8 mm

Weight
43 gram

Included accessories
None

Warranty
5 years

The Phidisk WrathKeeper is somewhat of an upgrade to the Phidisk Phantomknight, with a longer warranty enabled by the more durable 3D TLC NAND. It is also rated for higher performance figures, so let’s check that out in the benchmarks.
Pokde Benchrig

CPU
Intel Core i7-5820K @ 4.125 GHz

Motherboard
ASUS X99-Deluxe

GPU
ASUS ROG Strix RX 480 8GB

Memory
4 x 4GB Kingston HyperX Predator 3000 MHz CL15

Storage
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB

Power Supply
Cooler Master V850

Performance
Synthetic

Surprisingly, the Phidisk WrathKeeper 960GB doesn’t deliver up to the rated performance. In fact it is quite a bit slower than what it is rated for. However we do see some massive improvements in 4K performance over the PhantomKnight, so it should contribute to a snappier user experience if used as a system drive.

Here the Phidisk WrathKeeper performs really well in the 4K-64Thrd benchmark, but sequential performance is surprisingly low for some reason.

The trend continues with poor sequential performance in Anvil, but 4K performance figures are looking pretty good.
Real world performance

In our real world transfer test of 16GB files, we see that the Phidisk WrathKeeper manages to uphold its ~500MB/s write speeds for quite a bit before tapering off gradually to around 180MB/s. The above figures were recorded when the drive is no longer enjoying the boosted speeds.

Game loading times are good but we actually see games load a fraction of a second slower. It’s not going to be noticeable in real world use, but it is indeed quite surprising to see considering that this is supposed to be a faster drive.

With greater performance comes a higher cost, and the Phidisk WrathKeeper is about RM0.10 more expensive per GB than its more affordable brethren, the Phidisk PhantomKnight.
Conclusion
The Phidisk WrathKeeper maintains its impressive write speeds for much longer than the Phidisk PhantomKnight we tested earlier, but has some pretty curiously poor sequential read speeds. We can see that the upgrade to 3D TLC NAND gave us a nice boost in 4K speeds though, which should translate to a snappier system.

Would we recommend the Phidisk WrathKeeper over the Phidisk PhantomKnight? Well to be honest, with the Phidisk WrathKeeper 960GB priced at RM699.90, it is quite a no-brainer considering the improvements in random read/write performance. If you are able to foot out the difference, why not? Also there is a longer warranty backing the Phidisk WrathKeeper, so you will have more peace of mind.

Our thanks to Phidisk Malaysia for providing us with the Phidisk WrathKeeper 960GB used in this review.
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vivo x Shopee Consumer Day Is Happening This 15th March With Discounts Of Up To RM400

On March 15, 2022, vivo Malaysia offers an RM400 discount, an additional RM100 voucher, and exclusive gifts in conjunction with Shopee Consumer Day.
vivo x Shopee Consumer Day happening soon

The vivo Y20 device is available for purchase at a discounted price of RM539 exclusively at the vivo official store on Shopee, while the vivo Y20s and V21 smartphones are available for purchase at RM799 and RM1,199, respectively. Shoppers who complete their orders between 12AM and 2AM and 8PM and 11:59PM are eligible for the limited vouchers and product vouchers listed below.

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Limited Vouchers

Minimum spend RM1,200 and receive RM100 Voucher
Minimum spend RM300 and receive RM20 OFF Voucher
Minimum spend RM20 and receive 50% OFF Voucher

Specific Product Voucher

Minimum spend RM459 and receive RM25 OFF Voucher
Minimum spend RM599 and receive RM35 OFF Voucher
Minimum spend RM899 and receive RM45 OFF Voucher
Minimum spend RM1,599 and receive RM60 OFF Voucher
Minimum spend RM2,299 and receive RM90 OFF Voucher

In addition, in honour of Shopee Consumer Day, customers can purchase the vivo V23e for RM1,199, which includes Protection Plus and a V23e Giftbox. The vivo V23e series, the latest addition to the V series, boasts a high-resolution 44MP Natural Portrait and an industry-leading Eye Autofocus feature to ensure a hyper-clarity and authentic selfie. There is also a selection of smartphone models available at a reduced price, subject to terms and conditions.

That’s not all as there are also benefits for those who become Members and Followers of the vivo official store on Shopee. Sign up as a Member here and get 50 points as well as a voucher of up to RM100 OFF. Members can also earn 1.5X Points when they purchase a vivo smartphone between 10 to 15 March. Members can also redeem a Wireless Sport Earphone worth up to RM299 with member points.
Furthermore, vivo X Shopee Consumer Day also has a Follow and Win contest where Followers can win exclusive vivo prizes. All users have to do is follow the official vivo store on Shopee and win different vivo prizes depending on the number of followers. The prizes based on the follower count is as below:

Hit 390K followers: vivo Wireless Earphone x5
Hit 400K followers: vivo TWS 2e x1
Hit 420K followers: vivo TWS 2 ANC x2

Pokdepinion: That’s quite a lot of deals happening during vivo X Shopee Consumer Day. Definitely the best time to get yourself a vivo device!
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HUAWEI pledges to offer Performance Mode to users — responds positively to being delisted from 3DMark’s ranking chart

HUAWEI and honor have artificially boosted their benchmark scores by detecting when benchmarking apps are run and enabling some sort of hidden Performance Mode. But soon that hidden mode may be hidden no more.

As a result of being caught cheating with the hidden performance profile in benchmarks, HUAWEI P20, P20 Pro, Nova 3 and honor Play were delisted from 3DMark’s rankings due to the unscrupulous methods to get higher scores. The devices actually posted up to 47% higher benchmark scores when the hidden Performance Mode was enabled.

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When approached by UL Benchmarks, HUAWEI has pledged the following:
“Huawei is planning to provide users with access to “Performance Mode” so they can use the maximum power of their device when they need to.”
3DMark’s beef with HUAWEI is only because the Performance Mode is not available for users to use. They allow for higher performance modes, as long as users can choose to enable or disable it, and the modes are disabled by default. Detecting the benchmark and enabling a higher performance mode is a big no-no for the benchmark.
Soon users will be able to enjoy up to 47% better gaming performance on their devices with the new mode. So I guess this is a win-win situation for everyone? 3DMark’s integrity is proven, HUAWEI has shown that they do take the issue seriously, and users get to enjoy higher performance. Sounds like a good time for everyone to me.
Pokdepinion: Now what I would like to test is how much hotter the devices will get when using the Performance Mode for gaming.
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Razer Unleash Core X – Upgrade Your Laptop Into A Beast With An External GPU!

Razer has announced of their brand new Razer Core X, a Thunderbolt 3 external graphics enclosure for gaming-grade performance. With Thunderbolt 3, Razer Core X is compatible with Mac laptops as well.
Razer Core X

With the new Core X, it transforms integrated graphics laptops into desktop-gaming machines by adding an external graphics card. With this, gamers can boost performance beyond their current limits.

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Designed with Thunderbolt 3, Core X is versatile and compatible not only to Razer Blade laptops but also systems that runs on Windows and macOS, specifically those with Windows 10 Redstone or later and macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 or later with compatible AMD Radeon cards.
If you are wondering which Razer laptops that are compatible, the list includes the Razer Blade Stealth, Razer Blade, and Razer Blade Pro (GTX 1060 version). For laptops running on Windows 10, they’d need a Thunderbolt 3 port with external graphics (eGFX) support.
With the usage of Thunderbolt 3, it throws away the need of long reboots every time the external graphics enclosure is plugged in. It also gives fast speeds at up to 40Gbps.
The Core X houses a big 650W ATX power supply, providing enough power for the latest and upcoming graphics cards in the market.
For the installation, it takes seconds with the Core X. It features an aluminum housing slides that opens with little or less effort and the graphics card is placed with a thumb screw for a tool less setup. It is easy if you wanted to swap between graphics card as you please.
As for the availability of the Razer Core X, it is priced at $299 USD (Roughly RM1,190). News is that Razer will be shipping out to Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and also Singapore.
Pokdepinion: It’s awesome to think that now you can plug in an external graphics card without even owning a PC. That said, I don’t think you would bring a laptop as well as a box to play games outside of your home. What do you think of the Razer Core X? Let us know in the comments.
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Play As Will Smith in Fortnite? Yes, It Might Just Happen

We’ve seen some interesting collaborations with regards to the battle royale game, Fortnite, from Thanos all the way to John Wick. Recently, leakers discovered something new and we might be able to play as Will Smith in the future.
Will Smith Skin Found in Fortnite

Will Smith’s skin is gonna be called “Mike Lowrey”, which is based on the Bad Boys franchise.
— HYPEX (@HYPEX) August 18, 2021

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Recently, infamous leakers HYPEX and NotOfficer discovered some interesting data within the game files of Fortnite, particularly on skins that aren’t available in the game yet. It includes a new Morty skin, a Ninja Wolf skin, and Will Smith as Mike Lowrey from the movie Bad Boys.
There is a chance when the skin is officially launched in the game, there will be variants of the Will Smith look, especially something as iconic as his role in Men in Black as Agent J. With that being said however, there is a chance that it might in the game just to troll gamers as previously, the supposed Peter Griffin skin that made the rounds online is a fake made by Epic Games.
It is still unknown at this point in time if and when Will Smith will be arriving in Fortnite. Given that it was included in the game’s v17.40, there is a likely chance it will pop up sooner rather than later. After all, skins that have been datamined typically arrive within a matter of weeks. For now, we will report more on this as soon as information becomes available so stay tuned.
Fortnite is currently available for free on the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows PC.
Source
Pokdepinion: The crossovers in Fortnite is getting a little bit ridiculous for my liking but I suppose if gamers enjoy these kind of things, then there’s no harm in putting them in.
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BitFenix introduces the Spectre Xtreme & Spectre Xtreme LED

BitFenix continues to pioneer its fan technologies with the introduction of the new Spectre Xtreme & Spectre Xtreme LED fans. BitFenix redefining the standards of cooling fans which promised the best performance and aesthetics using the latest cooling fan technology and innovative designs.

For liquid cooling systems isn’t necessary to have high airflow but it need to be optimized for static pressure. The BitFenix Spectre Xtreme is designed to improve the airflow up to 66CFM while maintaining optimum static pressure.

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BitFenix Spectre XtremeBitFenix Spectre XtremeBitFenix Spectre Xtreme

It using of high quality Fluid Dynamic Bearings to reduce the noise levels while improve efficiency. By looking at the design itself the BitFenix Spectre Xtreme provide a noise dampening that on the construction frame thus allowing the fan to spinning up to 2000RPM.

The Spectre Xtreme LED comes in wide variety of colours and option meanwhile the Spectre Xtreme comes without any LEDs lighting. Good news for NVIDIA users as BitFenix has carefully tuned to match the Green LED with the light emitted from NVIDIA GeForce GTX stock coolers. Adding to the customizability of the Spectre Xtreme, the illuminations can be toggled with the jumper cable.
Product page:
https://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/accessories/spectre-xtreme/
https://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/accessories/spectre-xtreme-led/
Pokdepinion: Judging from the photos these fans is absolutely very light in weight. My personal preference is non-LED version because it usually comes with cheaper price.
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MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi Review — Alder Lake and DDR5 without breaking the bank

MSI’s MAG series of motherboards are pretty great options for anyone looking to set up a gaming build. Featuring some pretty decent specifications that should satisfy just about everyone, it’s probably the best balance of cost to features for gamers. What happens when we take the value-oriented Intel B660 chipset and have MSI give it the MSI MAG treatment? Well, we get the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi. Let’s see what it has to offer.
Unboxing

On the front of the box, you can see that the military-inspired motif, if the name “MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi” wasn’t enough to cue you in. You can also see that MSI highlighted the TPM 2.0 support and Windows 11 compatibility, just in case you are worried about that.

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Over on the back we have about all the highlighted features. It packs quite a few nice features, including WiFi 6E, 2.5GbE LAN and USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, which are definitely great features to have in any motherboard.

The contents of the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi’s box is pretty similar to the MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WiFi we checked out recently. There’s a nice assortment of documentation that includes some brochures listing MSI’s other products as well. Aside from that, you also get two EZ M.2 Clips, although I somewhat doubt you will need to use them with the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi, and there’s a screwdriver set as well so you don’t have to hope your Swiss Army knife has one. The overall kit is pretty nice, but I do wish MSI gave us a USB drive instead of a driver DVD…
Appearance

Fans of white builds will probably find the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi to be a pretty good compromise. While it isn’t actually white per se definitely contrasts very well against the black PCB. You can see the same outlines marked onto the heatsinks, which are there to help you add some camo to your board to help it stand out more. Yes, that’s not the use of camo, but that’s how it is.

You can see that while this is a more value-oriented motherboard, MSI went with the same chunky VRM heatsinks that they used for the MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WiFi. The top one is a little small, but the one that’s to the left of the socket doubles as an I/O shroud, making for plenty of surface area.

Both M.2 heatsinks on the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi are also covered by heatspreaders, or what MSI calls the M.2 Shield Frozr thermal solution. Quite a good touch, considering that both are PCIe 4.0 capable, and those drives can get quite toasty if left unchecked. The PCIe 4.0 x16 slot is reinforced here as well, ready to accommodate chonky graphics cards and live to tell the tale.

Over on the back we can see the contrasting “Avoid Collision” warnings around all the screw points. The memory slots are also SMT-mounted, which improves signal integrity. The PCIe slot isn’t, however, as it only supports PCIe 4.0 and not PCIe 5.0. Not really a major issue though since PCIe 5.0 devices aren’t available in the market yet anyway.

And here we have the I/O. Overall, I really quite like what I am seeing here. Three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C port, and four USB 2.0 port is decent enough, but I wish we had USB 3.0 ports instead of the USB 2.0 ones. For display outputs, you have both HDMI and DisplayPort, making the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi a pretty good fit in case you want to take advantage of Intel’s QuickSync, or just to troubleshoot your system with your processor’s integrated graphics.
MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi Specifications

CPU support
Intel LGA1700
12th Gen Intel Core, Pentium Gold, Celeron Processors

Power
1 x 24-pin ATX
2 x 8-pin EATX 12V
RAA229132 PWM controller + MP2940A
12 x ISL99360 (60A) powerstage for VCore
1 x ISL99390 (60A) powerstage for VGT
1 x MPS MP87992 (70A) powerstage for AUX

Chipset
Intel B660

Memory
4 x DDR5 DIMM, max. 128GB un-buffered memory
Up to DDR5-6200+

Multi-GPU Support
2-way AMD CrossFire

Expansion slots
PCIe 4.0 x16 (x16 electrically – from CPU)
PCIe 3.0 x1 – from chipset
PCIe 3.0 x16 (x4 electrically – from chipset)

Storage
6 x SATA 6 Gb/s, supports RAID 0,1,5,10
1 x M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 – from CPU
1 x M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 – from chipset

Network
Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (802.11ax) + Bluetooth 5.2
Realtek RTL8125BG 2.5GbE LAN controller

USB
Rear I/O:
1 x USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C (20Gbps)
3 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (10 Gbps)
4 x USB 2.0
On-board headers:
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (10 Gbps)
1 x USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) (2 ports each)
2 x USB 2.0 (2 ports each)

Audio
Realtek ALC1200 CODEC
5 x audio jacks (rear)
1 x Optical S/PDIF out
1 x front panel audio connector

Display output
1 x HDMI 2.1 (4K60)
1 x DisplayPort 1.4 (4K60)

Other onboard connectors
1 x CPU fan header
1 x Pump fan header
2 x Chassis fan headers
1 x RGB headers
2 x ARGB headers
1 x TPM module connector
1 x Thunderbolt connector
1 x chassis intrusion connector

Overclocking features
EZ Debug LED
BIOS reset jumper
Tuning Controller connector

Included accessories
User’s manual
Quick installation guide
Driver DVD
WiFi Antenna
2 x SATA 6Gb/s cable
2 x EZ M.2 Clip
Case badge
MAG Stickers
Product registration card
Reward Program / Shout Out Flyer
Screwdriver set

Form factor
mATX (24.4 x 24.4 cm)

Test System

CPU
Intel Core i5-12400

Cooler
MSI MPG CoreLiquid K360

Motherboard
MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi (BIOS ver. A06)

GPU
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition

Memory
2 x 16GB Kingston FURY Beast DDR5-5200 CL40

Storage
2TB Kingston FURY Renegade SSD

Power Supply
MSI MPG A650GF

Case
Cooler Master MF700

OS
Windows 11 Pro

Before we get further into the review, I would just like to give MSI, Intel and Kingston a shoutout for sending us the MAG premium kit. The kit came with not just the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi, but also the Intel Core i5-12400 and also the Kingston FURY Beast DDR5-5200 RAM that we are using for this review. They also sent along the MSI MPG A650GF power supply to help us complete the test system we are using.

And here’s a look at our test system, comprising of the Intel Core i5-12400, MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi, Kingston FURY Beast DDR5-5200 and the MSI MAG A650GF.

A Closer Look

With the motherboard stripped naked, we can see that there’s quite optimal use of space within the confines of the mATX form factor.
VRMs

It seems that MSI decided to go slightly overkill with the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi, as it is equipped to handle more than what you would expect most people to use an Intel B660 motherboard with. The MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi gets two 8-pin EPS power connectors, ready to feed even the Intel Core i9-12900K without breaking a sweat. You can also see the thick fins of the VRM heatsinks from this angle, which are perfect for dissipating heat with just incidental airflow.

Under them lie the ISL99360, each rated for 60A. The MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi uses a Duet Rail Power System, which means that you have six phases for Vcore, but each phase is handled by two of these power stages to enable higher power handling capability. With the VRM here rated for 720A, you have plenty of headroom to handle even the flagship Intel Core i9-12900K. Obviously, I don’t think you will use an Intel Core i9-12900K with an Intel B660 board, but the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi is ready for it, if you want to. The iGPU gets a single phase, while the aux rail gets an MP87992 which is rated for 70A, and is handled by a separate PWM controller, the MP2940A.
Audio

For audio, you have the Realtek ALC1200 that a pretty common sight in the mid-range board segment. With 7.1-channel audio support, there really isn’t much more that you can ask for from the onboard audio of a motherboard of this caliber. The audio circuitry is separated from the rest of the motherboard as well, to avoid any interference from the rest of the circuitry. Pretty standard stuff here.
Storage

Speaking of standard, the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi supports just two M.2 PCIe SSDs, which is par for the course. That is until you realize that they both support PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSDs, and that this is a mATX motherboard. One slot is controlled by the CPU, and the other is by the Intel B660 chipset. A pretty good use of the PCIe 4.0 lanes available from the chipset. You can use a SATA SSD with the second M.2 slot, but that will disable one of the SATA ports.
Now, remember when I mentioned that the EZ M.2 Clip isn’t going to be that useful here? That’s because the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi only has room for M.2 2280 SSDs, and most consumer SSDs in the market will be held down by the mounting posts for the M.2 heatsinks. The only times they will come in handy is if you use a M.2 SSD that has a built-in heatsink, or you want to use less common M.2 2260 or 2242 SSDs with the dugi. Kudos to MSI though for thinking of all the possibilities and still including them with the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi.

Moving on, there are a total of six SATA ports, four of which are from the Intel B660 chipset, and two from an ASMedia ASM1061 controller. Six SATA ports should be plenty for most people unless you are a really serious storage hoarder.
Connectivity

For wireless connectivity, you have the Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 adapter here, for some sweet 6GHz WiFi action. Now, at the time of writing, I am not exactly sure how many Intel B660 motherboards will offer support for WiFi 6E, but this is a pretty premium feature that I definitely didn’t expect to see here on the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi. The only difference with the more ubiquitous Wi-Fi 6E AX210 is that this is a CNVio2 solution, so if you extricate the WiFi adapter out of the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi and plug it into a system without CNVio2 support, it won’t work. Since the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi does support CNVio2, this will work exactly as you would expect it to.

If for some reason WiFi is not your cup of tea, even though it is capable of 2.4Gbps, well you have 2.5GbE LAN as well. This is powered by the proven Realtek RTL8125BG NIC. While I personally don’t use LAN, this is a pretty nice touch, if you want a fast, stable LAN connection.
Performance
For a relatively affordable motherboard, the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi’s VRMs thermals are extremely low, being measured at just 43ºC at all times. Notably, we are running an Intel Core i5-12400 here, which doesn’t even begin to stress the VRMs when you consider that it only has a 65W TDP and even with maxed out PL1 and PL2 limits via the motherboard settings, it still runs below 70W even under a heavy workload like Realbench. MSI could probably have gone with smaller, cheaper heatsinks for the VRMs, but I am glad they didn’t.

On the other hand, the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi’s cooling for the Intel B660 chipset is a bit on the weaker side. It’s not to say that it is overheating, but it does reach close to 60ºC even when doing nothing. There’s probably nothing to worry about though as I have seen boards with their PCH hitting in excess of 80ºC running happily all the time.
          CrystalDiskMark            Cinebench R20            3DMark Time Spy              3DMark CPU Profile            PCMark
Aside from the board’s thermals, I also did some quick benchmarking to see if the board was delivering the required performance in the other metrics as well. Well, with Cinebench R20, 3DMark, PCMark and CrystalDiskMark, it appears that the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi is fully capable of bringing you a great gaming experience, in combination with the other parts in our test system.
User Experience

The overall experience of building a system with this board is very straightforward. One thing that MSI has improved with the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi as compared to some of the previous boards we have looked at is the single clip for the DIMM slots. It seems that MSI only reserves this for their mATX and mITX offerings, so I am quite glad to see it here. Troubleshooting any issues with the build is also simplified with these EZ Debug LEDs here.
While you can technically overclock your memory with the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi, the fact that you don’t have a POST code readout can make it a slight hassle to really identify what’s wrong with your memory overclock, but that’s really not a big issue as there aren’t any boards in the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi’s price range that offer a POST code readout anyway.
BIOS

You get the full set of BIOS features with the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi, with the MSI Click BIOS 5 serving them up in a rather familiar tabbed GUI. There are plenty of options and settings to take advantage of everything that the platform has to offer. And most importantly, the memory overclocking settings are complete. While the Intel B660 chipset does not support CPU overclocking, you can overclock the memory, or just enjoy the XMP presets, like what we are doing with the Kingston FURY Beast DDR5-5200 we have here.
Software

MSI consolidated all the features that you will need into the MSI Center suite. The MSI Center allows for basic system monitoring, some performance controls, and if you use something like the MPG Coreliquid K360 which is a part of the MSI ecosystem, you can control it from here as well. There’s also a very interesting little Smart Image Finder tool that can search for similar images and whatnot. I am not sure how many people will use it, but hey, it’s an interesting feature.
Conclusion

Priced at RM900, the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi is a great option for gamers who just want to get the improved performance of the 12th Gen Intel Core processors and DDR5. Fleshing out the rest of the next-gen capabilities are the built-in WiFi 6E adapter, 2.5GbE LAN and the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port. The mATX form factor is also very appealing, as there are plenty of affordable and good mATX cases out there which can lower down the total cost of the system. All in all, if you aren’t planning to overclock your CPU, the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi is going to meet pretty much all your needs.

Our thanks to MSI Malaysia, Kingston and Intel for sending us the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi, Kingston FURY Beast DDR5-5200 and Intel Core i5-12400 used in this review.

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[E3 2019] Gods & Monsters Unveiled at Ubisoft Press Conference

At the Ubisoft E3 2019 press conference, the team showed off a brand new “storybook adventure” game called Gods & Monsters. While not much is known about the game, it does seem to be inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild but with its own amazing artwork as seen in the trailer at the top of this post.
Now what is Gods & Monsters? That much is still very much unclear, but it is being crafted by the talented people behind Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Taking place on the Isle of the Blessed, you will take on the leader and a ton of monsters in a world with puzzles dungeons and more.
According to Ubisoft Quebec’s Senior Producer Marc-Alexis Côté:

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Over the last 10 years, I have had the chance to be part of an incredible team that has pushed the limits of Assassin’s Creed to explore historical periods from a unique angle. But our imagination has always been bound to the reality of the history books. Through our work on Assassin’s Creed Odyssey these past four years, our minds have lingered on another aspect of our history – mythology. Today, with Gods & Monsters, the tales we all love and know so well become a reality to be explored like never before.
Gods & Monsters will be coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Google Stadia on 25th February 2020. It will also be available as part of Uplay+ on its release day.
Pokdepinion: Check out the trailer and tell me it doesn’t remind you of Breath of the Wild. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, of course. I’m still curious to know more about the game myself.
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Apple unveiled new MacBook Pro — TouchBar, Intel Skylake, AMD Polaris & four Thunderbolt 3

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After more than 4 years since the last update of MacBook Pro, today Apple has announced the new thinnest and lightest MacBook Pro. The new MacBook Pro will be available in 13-inch and 15-inch with new features and hardware specifications.

Unlike the previous MacBook Pro that has thickness at 18mm, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro model is only at 14.9mm thick and weighs at 3 lbs. Meanwhile the 15-inch model is 15.5mm thick and weight at 4 lbs, a full half pound lighter.

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Both MacBook Pro features a brand-new trackpad which is x2 larger and a new keyboard using the second generation of butterfly key mechanism. The new MacBook Pro has no physical “esc” key as in integrated in a OLED touchscreen strip which is also replace the traditional functions keys.

It also features the second generation of TouchID fingerprint sensor paired with an Apple T1 chip to unlock you MacBook Pro and supports Apple Pay for online transaction. A dedicated key for Siri is also available.

Both new MacBook Pro display are 67% brighter, 67% higher contrast and 25% more colors then the previous MacBook Pro. In term of specification it features 6th generation, dual-core Intel Core i5 on the 13-inch and with Intel Iris 540 GPUs. A quad-core Intel Core i7 processor on the 15-inch model with up to 16GB RAM at 2133MHz. For graphics processor unit, it comes with AMD Radeon PRO GPU based on AMD Polaris 14nm FinFet GPU. Storage wise it will be using faster SSD up to 2TB in capacity. The new MacBook Pro features total of four Thunderbolt 3 ports, two ports on each side with USB Type C supported.

Running on the latest macOS Sierra, Apple claims that both new MacBook Pro has a battery life up to 10 hours of usage. The 13-inch model will cost you USD 1499 for standard function keys and USD 1799 with the TouchBar and TouchID. For the 15-model the price start at USD 2399. The new MacBook Pro line-up will be shipping in the next few weeks, probably the next holiday seasons.
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Product official sites: Apple
Pokdepinion: The rumors that Apple will be using AMD Polaris for the GPUs is true but the downside it isn’t using the latest 7th generation of Intel Core series processor.
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Edifier MP260 Review — a shockingly great sounding alarm clock

When I saw the Edifier MP260, I was quite intrigued. I have always wanted a louder alarm than what my phone could do, and the Edifier MP260 seems like just the thing to achieve that. And it looks absolutely awesome, which made me all the more interested in it. When Edifier sent us the Edifier MP260, needless to say I immediately picked it and said “this is mine.” Does it live up to what I hope it could do? Well, let’s see.
Unboxing

As usual for Edifier, the packaging very clearly lets you know what you are getting in the box. The front labeling lists the Edifier MP260 as a Portable Bluetooth Speaker, which is actually something that’s quite odd about the Edifier MP260. It is designed as a portable Bluetooth speaker with a clock function literally slapped on top.

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Over on the back we see some of the other key features of the Edifier MP260. This is available in a total of seven languages, and it lists stuff like the triple-driver design, battery capacity and the fact that it is a Bluetooth Alarm clock with an odd dual-battery design in it.

Edifier put in their usual documentation in the box, as well as sufficiently long microUSB and 3.5mm cables. Yes, the Edifier MP260 still charges/connects to your PC via microUSB, which is a slight bummer. But it isn’t the only unfortunate design decision to befall the Edifier MP260, which we will get into in a bit.
Appearance

The front of the Edifier MP260 is dominated by the large speaker grille that has a unique diamond pattern to the holes. Behind the grille lies three drivers, which is more than what you would usually see in portable Bluetooth speakers. You might also notice that it is quite bulky, but given that it is an alarm clock-style design, it should be fine. I sure hope nobody plans on using the Edifier MP260 as an actual portable Bluetooth speaker, as it doesn’t make much sense when used like that.

The slab of plastic on top of the speaker grille appears to be where Edifier has crammed most of the circuitry powering the Edifier MP260. The soft silicone buttons for controls are here, and the icons are very easily understandable. The black also meshes with the wood finish quite nicely, and absolutely see this being right at home on any bedside table. It is securely attached to the rest of the body, as I have carried the Edifier MP260 around by holding on to this slab, with no apparent ill effect.

On the right of the Edifier MP260, we find a bass port. It is simply due to its relatively large dimensions that Edifier can fit something like this in the Edifier MP260. This should really improve the bass response of the Edifier MP260 as compared to other more portable portable speakers that would not be able to accommodate such a design. As you can see, the wooden laminate here is done to perfection as well, with a seamless wrap around the edges.

Here we see a flat slab of wood and the input ports of the Edifier MP260. The Edifier MP260 supports reading off USB thumb drives, microSD cards and can also work as a regular 3.5mm speaker. On top of that, you can also connect it to your PC and have the Edifier MP260 work as a speaker, with a built-in DAC. It’s really quite feature-packed, and all I wanted was to use it as an alarm clock.
Edifier MP260 Specifications

Drivers:
2.1 system
L/R: 4W + 4W
Subwoofer: 12W

Frequency Response:
53Hz ~ 18kHz

Sensitivity:
AUX input – L/R:450±50mV | SW: 350±30mV
Bluetooth – L/R:450±50mFFS | SW: 350±30mFFS
USB – L/R:450±50mFFS | SW: 350±30mFFS

Impedance:
N/A

Connection:
Bluetooth 5.0
AUX (3.5mm)
microUSB (charging, USB audio)

Wireless Range:
Up to 30m

Battery:
5200mAh dual-battery (up to 7 hours)

Dimensions:
192.5 x 113 x 115 mm

Weight:
1280 gram

Colour:
Wood, Black

User Experience
Needs a bit more thought in its design

The first thing that you might notice when you wire up the Edifier MP260 is the odd position of the ports. While you can indeed use the Edifier MP260 as your PC’s speaker, I am not exactly sure how you will hide any of the cables running at the odd angle to the top of the Edifier MP260. I think Edifier could have added a daughter board with all the ports at the bottom of the speaker enclosure to make cable management an easier task, but sadly that was not done.
It is worth mentioning that this doesn’t exactly affect usability, and it is more of me being nitpicky. But since it weighs nearly 1.3kg and is too large for you to carry it around, you will most probably be using it wired up permanently anyway, which makes cable management a concern. Speaking of which, it does raise the question on how long the batteries can survive being charged constantly. You can’t remove them from the body of the Edifier MP260 which is quite an unfortunate design decision by Edifier.

Right out of the box, a full charge can last around seven to eight hours with the Edifier MP260 running in Bluetooth mode. Using the 3.5mm input should potentially result in better battery life, but I am not exactly interested in testing a Bluetooth speaker’s battery life in 3.5mm input mode. Besides, you will most probably not connect your phone to the Edifier MP260 with a 3.5mm cable even if it was on your bedside table. The only advantage that I can think of having a battery in the Edifier MP260 as a bedside clock is in the event of a blackout, you would still have your alarm working.
An awesome bedside clock
While the above might sound like the Edifier MP260 is poorly designed — which it is, if you want to use it as a portable Bluetooth speaker — it isn’t half bad if you consider it a clock for your beside table, with added Bluetooth speaker functionality. For one, Edifier even thought about how annoying bright displays can be in a dark room at night, so they put an ambient light sensor to dim the display in darker environments.

It works remarkably well, and I never faced the issue of having a too bright or too dim clock display be it when I wake up at midday, or when I go to sleep in the morning. Pretty nifty stuff. There’s a slight delay to the dimming and brightening as well, which prevents the clock display from being too dim immediately after you turn off your lights.
Now, onto the alarm feature. The Edifier MP260 unfortunately does not allow you to switch the default alarm tone, which is apparently composed by Li Shangyu. Googling the name doesn’t lead to a lot of answers, but it does sound good enough, so kudos to him. I wished Edifier had added a ramp up to the volume, as it is quite blaringly loud and I do not really appreciate being woken up like that. It sounds like the kind of music you will find as a part of a motivational video or something. I will give you guys a sample of the sound here, recorded with my POCO F2 Pro. And yes, it does end abruptly, which is quite annoying if you are just trying to enjoy the sound of your alarm tone.

Powerful sound
The Edifier MP260’s triple drivers do a great job. A startlingly amazing job, in fact, if you consider just how compact it is. The Edifier MP260 is capable of delivering an excellent listening experience when dealing with Ed Sheeran’s light guitar strums and smooth vocals in Photograph, but the subwoofer can be slightly overwhelming once the drums kick in. The 12W subwoofer seems to be just a bit overpowered versus the two smaller drivers.

The Edifier MP260 leans towards a marginally boomy sound, that can actually be taken advantage of in more bass-centric tracks like Welcome to the Party by Diplo or even acoustic tracks like Shallow by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. And if I really wanted to, a slight tweak of the equalizer is all it takes to adjust the sound to my liking. It’s better to have a design that can deliver the bass when you want it and dial it down via an equalizer, rather than them being inherently incapable of pumping out sufficient bass.
Soundstaging isn’t really a thing with the two drivers positioned so close to each other. The speakers go very loud, and they are definitely unsafe to listen to at maximum volume if you have them by your bedside. You can easily use it to fill a medium-sized room with good sound at about 70% volume. The Edifier MP260 does sound somewhat honky at 100% volume, so I can’t recommend using it at maximum volume anyway.
Edifier built the Edifier MP260 with a Bluetooth chip that’s only capable of SBC, but that’s entirely fine as it sounds good enough as it is. One thing that I would like to see improved is the latency, as the Edifier MP260 exhibits a noticeable delay when you start a new video. This is annoying when scrolling through videos on Facebook or Insta stories, but once the audio starts, the latency isn’t that noticeable.
Conclusion
I think the Edifier MP260 is a case of Edifier trying to cram the Edifier MP260 with everything they can, without thinking if they should. For RM249, I would say that it is a good bedside clock slapped onto an awesome speaker. However it also packs relatively unnecessary features like USB audio and batteries, all of which aren’t going to see much action in a Bluetooth speaker that will most probably never leave the bedroom.

Some features that I wish were included are FM radio and maybe the ability to load a different alarm tone. Perhaps we will get that kind of thing in the successor to the Edifier MP260. But as it stands, it serves as a pretty overpowered Bluetooth speakers that you can use in your bedroom without it looking out of place. On that note, Edifier should probably call it a Bedroom Bluetooth Speaker instead of a Portable Bluetooth Speaker, because nobody is carrying this thing around.

Our thanks to Edifier Malaysia for sending us the Edifier MP260 for review. You can check out the Edifier MP260 on Shopee via this affiliate link to support what we do here at Pokde.net.
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ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 Review: The Game-Changer for Gaming Laptops

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 is a powerful gaming laptop that’s superbly thin and easy to carry around thanks to NVIDIA’s Max-Q design. But how good is it?
We’ve had all sorts of gaming machines to toy around with in the past, but none of them has been anything quite like this particular gaming laptop that we have here. It’s a powerful machine, it is superbly thin, and it’s easy to carry around. Question is, how good is the machine and is it worth shelling out your hard-earned cash for? Well, here’s our review of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 gaming laptop with NVIDIA’s Max-Q design. Let’s find out, shall we?
Unboxing the ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501

In case you missed it, we posted our official unboxing of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 gaming laptop. I’ve included the unboxing video just above here but if you need more details on the unboxing, you can find it by clicking here.

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Appearance

This gaming laptop is clad in metallic black with bronze accents here and there. You can see the ROG logo at the back here and it’s looking right at home on the laptop. Just by looking at this, it scream premium and elite, giving it a feel that if you actually own it, you are one of the special ones around. It’s a fingerprint magnet though, best to have a micro fibre cloth around.

On  the left side, you have the power socket to plug in the adapter, a HDMI port, a couple of USB 3.0 ports, and a headphone/microphone combo jack. On the right side, there’s the remaining 2 USB 3.0 ports, a Type C USB 3.1 Thunderbolt port, and the Kensington Lock. If you need a LAN port, the box comes with a USB Type C to RJ45 adapter. Surprisingly absent is a card reader.

Underneath the ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 gaming laptop, the design vaguely resembled a cooling pad for some strange reason. Not sure if there’s any scientific reasoning for it but that’s what I see at least. You can also find the labels, serial number, and a big Republic of Gamers logo here.

When you open up the laptop, you will notice something a little odd. For starters, the keyboard is placed differently compared to others, which is right on the bottom edge and closer to where you are situated as opposed to being closer to the monitor. This is because the graphics card is located right up where the keyboard is.

And beside the keyboard is the trackpad, which also doubles as a numpad. You just need to press the button next to the ROG button to toggle between numpad and trackpad. The chiclet keyboard has lights, and you can customize the pattern and colour with ROG Aura Core software.
Overall, the laptop itself looks pretty good with some elite and premium vibes all around. It also feels solid enough but on the inside of it (the keyboard area) it could use some improvements to make it feel more durable. It was probably made that way to shave off some weight from the laptop but it shouldn’t cause problems down the road.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 Specs

CPU
Intel Core i7-7700HQ @ 2.80GHz (6MB cache, TurboBoost up to 3.8GHz)

RAM
24GB DDR4 2400MHz

GPU
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5 with Max-Q Design

Storage
1TB PCIE Gen3 X4 SSD

Display
15.6″ LED backlit FHD (1920×1080) 120Hz Anti-Glare Panel with 72% NTSC with G-Sync

Connectivity
Integrated 802.11 AC (2×2)
Bluetooth v4.1
1 x Type C USB 3.1 (GEN2) Thunderbolt
4 x USB 3.0 port(s) Type A
1 x HDMI, Support HDMI 2.0

Audio
Built-in Stereo 2W Speakers & Array Microphone
1 x Microphone-in/Headphone-out jack
ASUS Sonic Studio

Power
4 Cells 50 Whrs Polymer Battery, 230W Adapter

Dimensions
37.9 x 26.2 x 1.69 ~1.79 cm (WxDxH)

Weight
2.25kg

Performance
Now for the juiciest part of the review, the performance section. So how well did the laptop fare? Let’s find out.

Okay, let’s be honest here. We have a 1 TB SSD on board this thing so you can’t expect it to run super slow. But holy hell, that’s one hell of a speed we got there from CrystalDiskMark. This is possible thanks to the PCI Gen3 X4 (NVMe) SSD, which made the speed possible. I mean, let’s be real here, for the amount you’re spending, you’d expect it to be at least this capable, and having 1 terabyte of it is absolutely wonderful.
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 gaming laptop is thin and definitely packs a punch here. With an Intel Core i7-7700HQ, it scores pretty well at 737 cb, and with others claiming that the CPU performance will be affected due to its slim form factor, that’s clearly not the case as you can see it in this laptop which also uses the same CPU. It also performs excellently in the OpenGL test at 89.77 FPS. Keep in mind, this is the GTX 1080 with Max-Q design we’re talking about.

Following our standard practice of setting Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0 on Direct3D11, 1600 x 900 resolution with 8x Anti-aliasing, and ultra settings with no tesselation, it truly showed how beastly the ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 truly is. Seriously, a max FPS close to 240 FPS at this setting? You’re gonna be gaming mostly on Ultra settings with this baby.
To give you a clearer idea as to how it actually performs, this is the results that we got when we are gaming with it on DotA 2, FIFA 18, Overwatch, and Middle-earth: Shadow of War:

All of the games are set at the highest settings possible with either no frame limit or set at a frame limit of 300 FPS. It’s frightening how it managed to play Shadow of War smoothly at such settings and most importantly above all the numbers you see here is the consistency as to how smooth the games play. It’s worth noting that the fan can get a bit noisy when playing these games but it’s not awful to the point where it gets distracting.
To summarize this section, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 packs more than enough firepower to run practically anything at its highest setting and still provide excellent results. Coupled with the fact that it’s a superbly thin laptop, it practically encourages you to bring it here, there, and everywhere.
User Experience

At only 2.25 kg, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 is surprisingly light for a powerful gaming laptop. You’d expect laptops with this kind of specs to be at least double this weight. Given its superbly thin form factor, it’s convenient to just chuck it in your bag and just bring it around. Even the very idea of having so much computing power wherever you go is attractive and eases the mind. But then comes one major problem.

The battery life on this thing is disappointing. I mean, it’s understandable given the amount of power it’s packing but having about 3 hours or less of battery life, and it’s especially lesser if you’re doing anything resource-intensive such as playing games on it, makes this more of a mobile desktop instead of a laptop. Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing but if you’re the kind of person who’s always on-the-go and may not be able to use the charger often, this isn’t the laptop for you.

Then comes the chiclet keyboard which is awkwardly positioned. On its own, it will take some time to get used to and even then, it’s a bit uncomfortable to type on as you don’t a place to rest your wrist. This is why the wrist rest that comes with it is practically mandatory to bring around. They keyboard itself feels a little cramped and I wished it was a little wider to make typing a much more comfortable experience. It’s not horrible, but it would’ve been as good as it looks.
The trackpad itself is okay, and I actually like how it’s positioned. Doubling it as a numpad to save space also jives well for me since most users don’t use numpads often anyway. If you’re a data entry kind of person, best not to use that numpad.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 utilizes an IPS LED panel, which leads to having great viewing angles, great colour reproduction, and relatively low response times. This just makes it a great viewing experience especially when you’re gaming on it. Especially with G-Sync on, you will definitely not be disappointed as far as the display is concerned.

The built-in 2W speaker is pretty decent. You can clearly make out some depth in the playback with a bit of bass but aside from that, there’s nothing much to rave about. If you want a better audio experience, best to user headphones or external speakers. Just keep in mind that it’s using the headphone/microphone combo jack which can affect your gaming setup. For instance, if your microphone and headphone uses 2 separate jacks respectively, you’re only going to be able to use one of them here. That is unless you have an external sound card or like a 2 Female to 1 Male audio adapter.

Some of you may think that the 1TB SSD may be overkill but here’s some food for thought. It only has 1 M.2 slot for storage and that’s all you’re getting. Meaning here, you’re definitely going to need the biggest possible capacity that you can afford. I’d say a minimum of 512GB for SSD is needed to use this machine comfortably.
The lack of a card reader somehow bothers me. I do take a lot of photos with my DSLR, and I usually transfer it using a card reader rather than a USB cable (because mini-USB is horrible) so this kind of grinds my gears.
Generally speaking, using this machine has been nothing but joy for me. It’s superbly fast and it runs pretty cool. You’ll only start to hear noise when it’s running games, which is from the fans inside the laptop. For most parts, there were never any issues in using the machine at all…assuming you’re running it on plug-in power of course.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 Verdict

From a performance standpoint, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 gaming laptop is an excellent machine. It has plenty of firepower inside and it’s more than enough to do and play virtually anything you want. However, its abysmal battery life makes this rather pointless to be used without a charger unless you’re absolutely sure you’re not going to be doing much while its running on battery.
This is why I classify it more of a mobile desktop rather than a laptop; it’s really easy to bring around, but you definitely need to stick to a wall socket somewhere or have some high-capacity powerbank that’s capable of powering laptops aiding you. The lack of a card reader also irks me somewhat but that’s not too bad. Not to mention that it only has 1 M.2 slot for storage.
Other than that, it’s generally a problem-free laptop that can do what it needs to do, which is being a powerful machine that’s more than capable of running games at the highest of settings in today’s gaming world. It may have fallen short of being a must-have gaming laptop, but this is definitely a game-changer with its coupling of super thin form factor and powerful performance as it will redefine how most people perceive gaming laptops, especially the gaming laptop of every gamers’ dream.
With that in mind, I award the ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501 with our Silver Pokdeward!

If you’re looking for a more affordable gaming laptop or ROG laptop even for that matter, check out our review of the ASUS ROG GL553 gaming laptop by clicking here. It is retailing for RM4,999, it’s light, and it’s pretty strong too ;)
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AMD readies 10-core CPU Ryzen 7 2800X to deal with Intel’s 8-core ones

Have you been wondering about why the 2nd Generation AMD Ryzen processors didn’t have a Ryzen 7 2800X while the previous generation had a Ryzen 7 1800X? Well it’s because AMD is holding on to their trump card until Intel releases the upcoming 8-core Intel Core i9 9900K and i7 9700K.

The AMD Ryzen 7 2800X has been spotted by the very same Spanish site that published the Core i7 9700K review before it’s even officially announced, so do take this with a liberal dose of sodium chloride. The image of Cinebench’s score sees the AMD Ryzen 7 2800X score more than 2100 points in Cinebench. To put that into perspective, the Ryzen 7 2700X scores around 1800 points.

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Now a 10-core CPU from a company that pushes out 32-core CPUs may seem pretty straightforward, but the reality might be more complicated. Each Zen die houses 8 cores, and the Ryzen 7 uses full dies. Unless AMD is making new 10-core dies, they would have to use two dies for one Ryzen 7 2800X.
It isn’t too far-fetched, as the AM4 socket should have the space to accommodate two Ryzen dies. Pricing might be a little trickier though.
Pokdepinion: I can’t wait to see 10-core CPUs in the mainstream desktop processor space! Not like I can utilize them fully anyway, but yay more cores!
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Samsung Galaxy A31 With 48MP Quad Camera Launched At RM1,099

The folks at Samsung Malaysia has recently launched their new Samsung Galaxy A31 smartphone, which comes with a 48MP quad camera setup at the back.
Samsung Galaxy A31 launched in Malaysia

The Samsung Galaxy A31 features a 6.4-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED Infinity-U display, where it comes with a 20:9 aspect ratio. There’s 6GB RAM that’s paired with 128GB of internal storage.
For cameras, it sports a 48MP main camera, 8MP ultra-wide lens, 5MP depth sensor, and a 5MP macro camera that completes it quad camera setup at the back. As for selfies, there’s the 20MP front camera for you to utilize.

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Under the hood is a 5000mAh battery which you can charge with its 15W charger. The price? Well you can get it in Prism Crush Black, Prism Crush White, and Prism Crush Blue for the retail price of RM1,099.
Should you purchase the device from now till the 30th of June 2020, you will also be receiving a complimentary Protection Plus worth RM119 (redeemable through Samsung Redemption Portal) as well as RM50 OFF recommended retail price at selected participating outlets. For more details on that, you can head to the link right here.
Pokdepinion: Seems like decent enough features… though I would’ve liked it if the price was a little lower than that..
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POCO F2 Pro will be a rebranded Redmi K30 Pro

Many of us expected the Redmi K30 Pro to hit Indian shores as the POCO F2, but C. Manmohan, the General Manager of POCO has revealed otherwise: the POCO F2 will not be a rebranded Redmi K30 Pro. Well, he didn’t lie, as the Redmi K30 Pro will apparently be marketed as the POCO F2 Pro, as revealed by Google’s list of Play-certified devices.

Both the Redmi K30 Pro and POCO F2 Pro will share the same codename “Imi”. The Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition Zoom Edition might also make its way to India as the Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition, which bears the codename “Imiinpro”. Here’s a more in-depth comparison between the Redmi K30 Pro and the Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition.

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XDA-Developers believes that the Redmi K30 Pro will be marketed in India not as the POCO F2 Pro, with the POCO F2 Pro hitting global markets instead. This is because the POCO F2 Pro was not listed with the codename “Imiin”, the “in” suffix indicating an Indian model. Which leaves the POCO F2 name open. What will be the POCO F2?

Considering Xiaomi’s lack of coherence when it comes to naming, especially in the Indian market, as they launched the Redmi Note 9 Pro alongside the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, with no base variant of the Redmi Note 9 available, before the Redmi Note 9S made it to our shores, I might think that the POCO F2 might end up being a myth, to never be released to the market.
The POCO F1 will never have a successor, and will live on as a legend, unsullied by the idea of a newer and better model replacing it in the hearts of its many fans, or the affectionately nicknamed POCOfans. It would probably have shoes much too big to fill anyway, with the fanfare around the flagship killer that took the smartphone market by storm.
POCO F2 Pro (Redmi K30 Pro) Specs

Snapdragon 865, octa-core up to 2.84 GHz, 7nm
Up to 8GB LPDDR5 RAM
Up to 256GB UFS 3.1 storage
6.67″ FHD+ AMOLED display, HDR10+, 1200-nits peak brightness
64MP Sony IMX 686 + 13MP ultra-wide + 5MP telephoto macro + 2MP depth sensor
20MP selfie camera
4700 mAh battery, 33W Fast Charging
6GB+128GB: 2999 CNY (~RM1878)
8GB+128GB: 3399 CNY (~RM2129)
8GB + 256GB: 3699 CNY (~RM2316)

Oh well. The launch of the POCO F2 Pro may be delayed too with most of the world currently observing a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so we will have to wait and see.
Pokdepinion: I wouldn’t mind carrying around a POCO F2 Pro. The name does roll off the tongue a lot easier than Redmi K30 Pro does…
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Concrete Genie Review – Unleashing Your Artistic Potential

Concrete Genie Review
What is Concrete Genie About?

Developed by Pixelopus, the game takes place in a small town named Denska, a once thriving fishing community that was abandoned after a massive oil spill poisoned the town’s waters and covered it with darkness. Gamers take on the role of Ash, a young boy with an incredible imagination and an equally impressive artistic skill.
One day, Ash was confronted by a group of bullies who proceed to steal and destroy his art book. All of his drawings were then scattered throughout the city and he was forcefully pushed into a cable car which leads to a mysterious lighthouse. Realizing that one of his many drawings were there, he chased after it but it seemingly got further and further away as he approaches it.

Ash then discovers a magical paintbrush imbued with “Living
Paint” which is capable of bringing his drawings to life. With the help of his
creations, he learns that he has the power of purifying the darkness and saving
his hometown of Denska. Doing so will not be easy however as the group of
bullies will continue to stand in his way.

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An Unusual but Satisfying Way to Play

Concrete Genie is one of the rare gems on the PlayStation 4
as it utilizes both standard control and motion sensors in order to play. While
you’re out and about, you’re going to be controlling Ash like you would any
character in an action-adventure game like Uncharted for example. When it comes
to the painting aspect however, this is where the motion sensor comes into
play.
When you are given the opportunity to paint a canvas, which are mostly walls in explorable areas, you will be doing so by moving your controller. That may sound difficult in theory but for the most part, the game does most of the painting automatically. You simply use the motion sensor on the DualShock 4 to guide the direction of the painting.

You will simply need to select a design from your
sketchbook, then drag your controller in the direction of your choosing.
Initially, it may seem rather awkward to do but once you get the hang of it,
you’ll find yourself doing some breathtaking artwork that blooms in the dark
town of Denska. While you can opt to use the analog stick to paint, the
experience is nowhere near as satisfying.
It can feel surprisingly gratifying to paint the town as
with each successful stroke, you trigger a sound or a music which feels like an
instant reward on its own. In each area, there will be multiple zones that you
need to liberate with your painting. Upon completion, you will be treated with
an overview of your masterpiece, allowing you to appreciate the work of art
that you’ve produced.
Harnessing the Power of Genies

Aside from painting, you’ll have the chance to draw and
animate genies, which are colourful creatures that aid you in your quest. These
genies work differently from your regular artwork as they have special
abilities that are necessary to overcome obstacles. For example, the Fire Genie
can burn down doors or wooden obstacles that are blocking the path.
In a number of cases, you will have to paint something that will appeal to the genies in order for them to assist you. While it can be endearing to see how these genies interact with you, it can be slightly annoying at times. They may be responsive to your requests they appear to take their own sweet time on it, making you wait unnecessarily long at times to progress.

As you progress through the game, you will eventually come
to blows with a form of evil known simply as dark genies. With that comes a new
combat mechanics that’s quite different from what you’ve done in the game thus
far. It’s a good change of pace and the battles feel similar to the likes of
Jak and Daxter.
My only issue with the dark genies is that they appear way too late into the game. By the time you face these creatures, you have essentially completed 75% of the game’s main story. Jumping from a more creative and somewhat stealthy style of gameplay to full-blown action can feel rather jarring. It is still entertaining nonetheless.

Concrete Genie is a rather short game as you can easily
complete it within six hours. As much as painting is an integral part of the
game, the story is what drives the game’s appeal. As you start learning the
truth behind the oil spill incident and why the bullies behave in a juvenile
manner, the tone of the game shifts greatly.
While the story is still rather cliché, you can tell that
the narrative is crafted with care with a clear message in mind. It wants to
teach people to overcome the detrimental cycle of bullying with empathy and
understanding. If you find yourself playing this for more than an hour, then
you’re most likely going to be emotionally-invested in the game and it’s worth
it in the end.
Concrete Genie Verdict

Concrete Genie is a rather unique game offering gamers a creative outlet to enjoy even for those who lack artistic skills. The story will easily captivate almost any gamer out there and it’s hard to not enjoy. Sure, the game is rather short and it has some quirks but it’s easily worth buying especially since it’s more affordable than your standard PlayStation 4 game.
Even after you’re done with the storyline, you can always go back to the town of Denska and spend the time painting or repainting as you please. It’s a game that is not only suitable for all ages, but is also one that I’m sure will appeal to both adults and children alike. With that, I award Concrete Genie with our coveted Gold Pokdeward.

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