ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro Review (ZD552KL); One Selfie Camera Is Never Enough

Introduction

The complete review of the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro (ZD552KL). With 2 selfie cameras, is it worthy for even the selfie connoisseurs?
At a grand launch event in Taipei, Taiwan, ASUS launched their new Zenfone 4 lineup. One of those devices is the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro. We at Pokde have gotten our hands on it and have finished reviewing the device. I’m sure many of you are wondering how good it performs and whether it’s worth purchasing. Well, without further ado, let’s take a look at the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro smartphone.

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Unboxing the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro (ZD552KL)

Well, what do you know? This is a first for Pokde.net. Instead of the usual pictures, we have a video instead for the unboxing section.
The box for the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro reminds me of a monochromatic, minimalist art piece. By that, I mean, it’s just black & white (with the exception of the phone’s name) and the illustration of the phone is simplistic in nature. Upon opening the box’s cover, you’ll be greeted with a “We <3 Photo” line inside. I find this a bit odd as I expected something along the lines of “I <3 Selfie/Wefie” but I suppose it works.
Inside that is a SIM ejector pin, a clear protective case, user guide, and warranty information. It’s amazing to think that for that many items, it’s barely taking up space inside the box. Further inside the box, you will find a 2.0A-capable charger, MicroUSB cable, and a handsfree kit.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to actually use the charger. You can use it with any other charger as long as you can put in a MicroUSB cable or if that other charger already has a MicroUSB connector. If it’s charging faster/not charging as fast with your other charger, it’s because of the amp rating.
Appearance

The ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro looks a bit of a mix and match from other phone designs. If you were to view it from the front (screen-side), it looks kind of like the old Samsung Galaxy S3 / S4 mixed with ASUS’s own Zenfone 3 Zoom, an additional front camera, and the LED softlight flash on the top part.

Look at the back however and it suddenly looks like a less-rounded HTC One M8. To be fair, we’ve been used to the Zenfone series having the fingerprint scanner at the back, so shifting that to the front via the home button feels a bit odd at first. However, this is just something to get used to and if ASUS didn’t bother changing, the style of the new Zenfone would seem a bit outdated. The rear camera appears to be pretty big, right next to the real tone LED flash.

Over on the sides, you have the SIM tray on the left side, which can fit 2 nanoSIM cards and a microSD card in place of the 2nd SIM slot. The volume buttons and power button are on the right side, with the volume button being placed above the power button. Coming from the Zenfone 3 Zoom, the positioning of these particular stuff is something I’m already used to, and I believe it shouldn’t be drastically different for most people either.

On the top part of the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro only has a microphone while the bottom part is where the microUSB port, 3.5mm jack, and speaker is located. This is exactly the same as the Zenfone 3 Zoom, with the exception of having a MicroUSB port instead of a USB-C port.

Overall, the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro looks and feels pretty sexy. It definitely looks different compared to the Zenfone 3 series of smartphones, especially with the appearance of the home button and the integration of the fingerprint scanner on said home button being the most obvious difference. The phone itself feels like it’s made of durable material but thanks to its lightweight, it doesn’t ooze durability. Best to use it with a protective case of some kind.
For the full technical specifications of the device, have a look at it just below here.
ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro (ZD552KL) Specifications

CPU:
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 (8 x 2.0 GHz, 64-bit, 14nm),
Adreno 506 GPU

RAM
4GB RAM

Display:
5.5″ FHD (1080p) AMOLED Display with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass

Storage:
64GB Internal (expandable with microSD up to 2TB)

Camera:
Main Selfie Camera (2x Light Sensitivity)
24MP 25mm SuperPixel f/1.8, DuoPixel tech, Sony IMX362 sensor, 1.4μm, 83° field of view, 4K video, Softlight Flash
Secondary Selfie Camera (Super-wide Angle)
5MP, Omnivision 5670, 1.0μm, f/2.2, 12mm focal length, 120° field of view
Rear Camera
16MP, Sony IMX351, 1.0μm, f/2.2, 26mm focal length, 80° field of view

OS:
Android 7.1.1 Nougat

Connectivity:
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4+5 GHz)
Bluetooth 4.2
Up to Cat 7 LTE
MiMO Wi-Fi
MicroUSB 2.0 (with OTG support)
0.3s fingerprint sensor

SIM:
Dual nano SIM with LTE + 2nd SIM combo SD card (up to 2TB)

Battery:
3,000 mAh (non-removable)

Colours:
Rogue Red
Sunlight Gold
Deepsea Black

Performance
As you can see from the specifications, the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is being powered by the 14nm Snapdragon 625. It’s efficient and pretty strong in its own right. Many might be questioning why a newer chipset isn’t being used but to the least, this is a chipset that has been proven to work well with many different smartphones, just like the ASUS Zenfone 3 Zoom and the OPPO R9S we reviewed before.
With that in mind, time to put this new machine through our usual benchmark suite to see how well it fares.

First off with Antutu, you can see that the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro performed pretty well. There’s even a difference of almost 3,000 points when compared to the ASUS Zenfone 3 Zoom, which is also powered by the Snapdragon 625 chipset. Of course, it’s also unfair for any of these device to fight against the Samsung Galaxy S8 but it’s a good way for people to see how much different the phone is compared to a beastly performer. It just so happened that the performance beast we picked was Samsung’s flagship device.Even when going against the likes of the C9 Pro, it’s still putting up a fight in Geekbench. Sure, it lost in terms of single-core performance but it’s slightly better, or realistically-speaking performs at the same level, as the C9 Pro. Once again, the Exynos 8895 in the S8 trumps everyone else but that is to be expected.
On 3DMark, the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro may have scored better than the Zenfone 3 Zoom but in truth, that small difference is negligible. After all, both smartphones are powered by the same chipset so it’s to be expected. It’s noticeably better than the Honor 6X and Vivo V5, that much is sure.

And now we have PCMark’s Work 2.0 Performance benchmark, which measures based on the device’s ability to do work like video editing, photo editing, office work, and so on. I’m a bit speechless here. In what universe would anyone expect it to beat the Galaxy S8 in score? Not to mention the fact that it’s noticeably higher than its S625 brethren, the Zenfone 3 Zoom. I mean seriously, even the Snapdragon 820-powered HTC 10 lost. Good job, Selfie Pro!

Now this particular part of PCMark essentially runs the Work 2.0 benchmark tool until the battery life reaches 20%. It’s to give an idea as to how long a smartphone can last if one were to constantly keep using it for a variety of work-related matters as realistic as possible. As you can see, the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is at the bottom 3. Even when you thought the Galaxy S8 was power hungry, it manages to last noticeably longer than the Selfie Pro.  Of course at this point, it’s gonna be pretty tough to beat the Zenfone 3 Zoom due to its sheer battery capacity and energy-efficient chipset.
As far as my own experience goes with battery life, I can honestly say that I can go through an entire day comfortably. This is assuming I’m just using this for social media, communicating via Whatsapp and Telegram, less than 30 minutes of calls, and very little video and music playback. It was much worse prior to the recent firmware update, as the battery was draining like crazy but afterwards, it lasted accordingly with my expectation.
User Experience

For starters, it’s important to note that the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro does offer dual-SIM functionality. The only downside here is that you’ll be sacrificing the use of a microSD so it’s either dual SIM or expandable storage. It’s a good thing that the internal storage for this thing is pretty big at 64GBs. For me, I can live with this as I neither use a microSD nor a secondary SIM card.
One interesting thing to note is the feel of the phone. I thought the Zenfone 3 Zoom was already light to begin with and the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is even lighter. With the premium metal unibody, it FEELS solid but at the back of my mind, the light weight makes me very cautious of dropping the device. In truth, it shouldn’t cause much damage unless you’re dropping it like from the top of KL tower but it’s just something that makes you feel that way.
And issue I had with the Zenfone 3 Zoom before was the metal back making it easier for the phone to slip off my hands unless I’m using some form of protective case. This one however is noticeably easier to grip since the edges aren’t exactly rounded.

The ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro actually has a home button which doubles as a fingerprint scanner. Because of this, you don’t have the fingerprint scanner at the back anymore. Unlike traditional buttons however, you don’t actually have to press the home button as it’s capacitive.  A simple touch will work, and the fingerprint scanner works pretty fast too.
It took a while for me to get used to having the fingerprint scanner on the front as I always felt having it at the back is more natural (that’s what she said). It took me 2 days to make it feel natural for me to put my finger on the front instead of awkwardly fingering the back ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) and realizing how much of an idiot I was.

Haptic feedback is present on the capacitive soft buttons as well as the Home button. Strangely, the ZenUI keyboard was lacking in haptic feedback but turns out, you have to enable it in the settings. It was strange as all the other smartphones I’ve used since 2016 had it automatically enabled. Something to keep in mind in case any of you are wondering if something feels missing.

The ZenUI 4.0 on the Android Nougat gives it a rather fresh look without straying far from its origins. It’s still simple, straightforward, and customizable to fit your style. It fits a plethora of users in the sense that you can have a simple looking UI if you want to or if you’re into heavy customizations, it allows you to do that too. Just as before, it isn’t bloatware-heavy and if you so wish, you can uninstall any of the ASUS apps if you want to. Just keep in mind that some things may have shifted to a different location so there’s a bit of re-learning to do with the UI, but nothing complicated to worry about.

I expected the 5.5-inch Full HD AMOLED display to be nothing different to previous models but it’s still quite pleasing to the eyes. You can also adjust the display to suit your taste with the following Screen Color mode options; Super Color, Bluelight Filter, Standard, and Customized. If you’re not a fan of saturated colours or some things appear too bright to your liking, this is where you need to go. With a 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass implemented for protection, it’s fine to use without a screen protector…unless you’re really clumsy. In which case, a tempered glass screen protector is your best friend. Otherwise, using it as it is is fine.

Once again, the speakers are located at the bottom of the phone. I’m hoping that one day, ASUS will do dual-front facing speakers but to the least, they’re not putting the speakers at the back, like the old Zenfone 2 series. For now, it does its job well of notifying users. If you want better quality audio, you gotta have external speakers or headphones for sure.
Camera
It’s time for the most anticipated part of the review; the camera. With a dual-front camera setup for selfies, people are wondering what kind of quality they can expect. Even the rear camera appears to be able to perform decently so without further ado, let’s take a look at what this baby is capable of.
Selfie Camera Gallery

From this gallery here, you can see that when the environment is well-lit, the pictures are of acceptable quality. When it’s a bit (or a lot) dark however, the quality starts to suffer. Even when the main selfie camera has 2x light sensitivity, it won’t stop the images from being grainy. In both situations, I had to take at least 3 shots so I can be sure that there’s at least 1 shot that isn’t blurry or out-of-focus. Yes, it’s practically mandatory to do that.
If you’re wondering why there are 2 pictures of the same setting and people, that’s because we were testing out both selfie cameras in the same setting. This will show you the difference in what’s being framed in the shot as well as the quality you’ll be getting. The wide-angle secondary selfie camera shots are the ones that look a bit more zoomed out than the other.
We’ve also included a a couple of pictures where our resident Superdaddy took 2 shots in the dark; one with softlight off and one with the softlight on. It helps a bit with improving the shot but I honestly wouldn’t use it unless I was desperate. It’s best to find a proper light source if you want good selfies / wefies.
What do you think of the pictures produced by the dual-selfie cam of the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro?

Rear Camera Gallery

And now we have the rear camera shots from the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro. As you can see, pictures look excellent when there”s good lighting but the moment you remove that, the quality becomes abysmal. It’s still easier to take a good shot in not-so bright conditions compared to using the secondary selfie camera but even so, it’s not something that will blow you away.
Conclusion

The ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is a decent smartphone, but the camera is a little bit lacking. Even with the 2x light sensitivity, the quality is a bit disappointing. It works well in environments that are well-lit but apart from that, the quality suffers quite a bit of a downgrade, especially for the secondary, wide-angle selfie camera. Either way, you’ll find yourself taking several shots as there’s a high chance the first few that is being captured will be blurry.
Aside from that, it is capable of performing pretty well. It’s buttery-smooth, it looks good, it’s visually pleasing, battery life is decent, and generally doesn’t cause problems… after the recent firmware update that is. It’s a bit tough when the main feature the smartphone is touting is suffering but even on that end, it’s not horrible. It’s important to note that for a new phone, it’s still using MicroUSB instead of USB-C.
The ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro might do much better if it was being sold somewhere between RM1,199 to RM1,499. With that in mind, I award the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro with the Silver Pokdeward!

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AMD Ryzen 5 4650U beats Core i7 10710U by 82% in 3DMark Fire Strike

AMD has a strong lead when it comes to their GPU technology, and the latest 3DMark Fire Strike scores spotted by @_rogame clearly shows that. A 15W AMD Ryzen 5 4650U whooped a 25W Intel Core i7-10710U by a good 82.4% in the graphics benchmark.
The Core i7-10710U reportedly belongs to one of the Intel NUC systems, and thus has the advantage of being able to run at the higher 25W TDP. You can see that the processor runs at a higher 1.6 GHz base clock, but that doesn’t help it one bit as the lower AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650U absolutely handed its behind to it.

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According to the 3DMark Fire Strike scores, the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650U delivered a 80.1% better Graphics Score than the Core i7-10710U, indicating an immense lead when it comes to graphics performance. It does have a worse time in the Physics tests though which tests the CPU department. While AMD threw in their latest Zen 2 architecture in the AMD Ryzen 4000 mobile processors, it still doesn’t make up for the 700 MHz higher boost clocks that the Core i7-10710U offers.
Still, as a whole, a system with the AMD Ryzen 5 4650U should deliver better gaming performance than one powered by the Core i7-10710U, considering all things being equal. Intel will probably have to fight back with more cores and higher-clocked 10nm parts, although whether that’s possible still remains to be seen.
Pokdepinion: We have finally reached the point where we can game on integrated graphics without it being classified as self-harm.
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Razer Mamba Wireless (2018) review — lose nothing but wires!

Introduction

When I reviewed the Razer Lancehead, I was enticed by the promise of a gaming-grade mousing experience without wires. Unfortunately it was marred by its laser sensor which proved quite inadequate for an pinpoint precision. Razer knows that their laser sensor isn’t as good as their optical sensor, which is why the Lancehead Tournament Edition had an optical sensor.
So good, that they actually worked out how to pack that sensor into the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018). The series has always featured laser sensors so switching to the Razer Optical 5G sensor is pretty cool! So how does the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018) fare with this new sensor?
Unboxing

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The packaging of the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018) is typical of Razer. Black and green themes. The label which indicates the newer optical sensor is somewhat small, and you might actually miss it if you weren’t looking for it.

On the back is where you will find more of the feature highlights. Razer keeps it really simple here, unlike certain manufacturers which hit you with a barrage of features.

In the box is a tray where the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018) is enclosed in a injection-molded plastic cover. The packaging is very neat, but with the injection-molded cover, why didn’t Razer just add a flap to allow to get a feel of the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018) before buying it? A good look at the actual product should also be more convincing to most shoppers, rather than just getting to look at the product images on the box.

The Razer Mamba Wireless (2018) comes with a package that reminds us of the Razer Lancehead. A USB dongle adapter, the USB cable, the user manual, a love letter from Min Liang Tan, some stickers and the mouse. The USB dongle is embedded under the mouse, for an easier time moving it around.
Appearance

Design wise, Razer goes rather minimal for the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018). You get the familiar shape of a Razer DeathAdder/Mamba, but now it can be used untethered. They also used a bare black plastic build similar to the Razer Basilisk, instead of using the comfortable to hold rubber coatings which erodes quickly in wet hands.

The side we find two huge thumb buttons and wide ridged rubber grips. These grips have been around for some time. They are actually quite thick, and should hold up to daily use very well. Dust does collect easily between the ridges, and due to the tacky nature of rubber, the dust can get hard to remove.

The other side also features the same design for the rubber grips. There are no buttons here, as this is an ergonomic right-handed mouse, not an ambidextrous design.

Under the mice, Razer goes with huge swathes of PTFE mouse feet. Under the sensor is the door to the USB dongle, as well as a power switch for the mouse. You can set the mouse to power down when not in use, but this switch is meant for those who will be carrying this mouse around.
Specifications

Body material
Rubber side grips, plastic shell

Sensor
Razer 5G optical sensor (Pixart PMW3389)

DPI
Up to 16 000 DPI, in 50 DPI increments

Maximum speed
450 IPS

Maximum acceleration
50G

USB report rate
500/1000 Hz

Switch type
Razer Mechanical Mouse Switches co-designed and produced by Omron, rated for 50 million clicks

Microprocessor
N/A

Cable
2.1m, sleeved, dark nickel plated connector

Weight
106 g excluding cable

Included accessories
User guide, love letter from Min Liang Tan, Razer stickers, USB dongle adapter, USB dongle

User Experience

What the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018) lacks in terms of aesthetics and RGB customization, it makes up for it big time with the wireless connectivity it offers. You can plug it in and use it as a standard wireless mouse. Or use the dongle connected to your PC. You can use the USB dongle adapter to bring the USB dongle closer to your mouse, if you need so. The range is good, so that might not even be necessary.
A thing to note is that the USB cable isn’t interchangeable with the one of the Lancehead, which means the USB dongle adapter isn’t either. Using the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018) wirelessly yielded three working days with RGB lighting turned on. The scroll wheel flashes red when it’s low on battery, so it’s a pretty clear indicator when you need to charge it. 30 minutes of charging via a USB 3.0 port returned 15% battery to the tank.

The Razer Mamba Wireless (2018) is a tad small if I want to palm grip it, but it is just nice for my usual fingertip grip when I game. Smaller hands might find the shape more comfortable for palm grip, but as you can see, most of my palm is off the mouse. The weight is just right at 107 grams, and I really enjoyed using it regardless for gaming or work.
The clickers are nice and tactile, and while Razer opted for the primary clickers to be separate from the rest of the shell on the Razer Basilisk, they have opted for a single piece of plastic for the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018). The separate clickers on the Basilisk should deliver a more precise actuation than the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018)’s, but I had zero issues with it. The side buttons are also pretty good, but could stand to be more tactile. Even the scroll wheel’s notches feel great, so I would say Razer nailed it for me with the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018). Having customizable scroll resistance like the Razer Basilisk would have been nice, but unnecessary with the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018).

Tracking performance is stellar all the way up to 16000 DPI, and this is observed in both wired and wireless modes. This is a massive upgrade over the Razer Lancehead, which exhibited noticeable amounts of acceleration. The Razer 5G Optical is currently one of the most, if not the most, advanced sensor on the market right now, and it delivers.
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Razer Synapse 3 is a lot more seamless to use now. While we had ridiculous bugs back when we reviewed the Razer Lancehead, they are more or less completely ironed out. Everything works as they should now, and I really like the clean interface of Razer Synapse 3, which now features a dark mode too.

Fans of Razer Chroma might end up a little disappointed with the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018), as it only comes with two lighting zones: the scroll wheel and the Razer logo. One of them will be covered by your hand almost all the time. I wish it had the fancy light strips on the sides too, but perhaps Razer was going for longer battery life than flashiness with the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018)? The bright, vibrant illumination
Conclusion
I like the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018) very much. It offers everything I need. The only issue I can raise with the mouse is the proprietary connector, which isn’t even interchangeable with other mice in Razer’s lineup. The Razer Mamba Wireless (2018) gives me good tracking, excellent battery life, nice vibrant RGB lighting, a nice shape and also just the right heft. RM429 is the asking price, and I think that is really reasonable for what it offers. It is definitely deserving of a Gold PokdeWard from me!

Our thanks to Razer Malaysia for providing the Razer Mamba Wireless (2018) for review purposes.
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HONOR celebrates 62nd Merdeka Day with awesome prizes and cashback promotions!

In the spirit of Merdeka, HONOR Malaysia is celebrating our 62nd National Day with a campaign that will see RM620 000 worth of gifts given away. From now until 16th September, customers who purchase these selected HONOR smartphones will receive exclusive free gifts at HONOR Experience Stores and partner stores. In addition to that, the HONOR 20 Lite and HONOR 10 Lite are also eligible for cashbacks!

Freebies *while stocks last*

HONOR 20 Pro
Premium luggage, HONOR Mini Bluetooth Speaker, HONOR Tripod Selfie Stick

HONOR 20
Premium luggage

HONOR View20
Premium luggage

HONOR 20 Lite (cashback RM50)
HONOR 10,000 mAh Quick Charge Powerbank, Universal travel adapter

HONOR 10 Lite (cashback RM80)
Waterproof bag, inflatable 3-in-1 travel set

HONOR 8X
HONOR 10,000 mAh Quick Charge Powerbank, Universal travel adapter

HONOR 8C
Waterproof bag, Universal travel adapter

HONOR 7S
Inflatable 3-in-1 travel set

In addition to these freebies which are guaranteed — while stocks last, of course — you are also eligible for a chance to win over 10 000 gifts. HONOR Malaysia is giving you a chance to relive your childhood with “tikam” which will definitely bring back memories of your younger days.

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If you feel like the freebies for the HONOR 20 Pro aren’t attractive enough, the flagship is also offered with a different set of freebies if you purchase it online from HiHONOR or Shopee. You can find out more about the early bird promotion for the HONOR 20 Pro here.
In addition to the Merdeka campaign, the HONOR 20 series are eligible for the 1+1 year extended warranty program, which make them even better buys.
Pokdepinion: Those are quite a bit of freebies there!
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PlayStation Asia Lunar New Year Promo Has Discounts and Red Packets

Limited Edition The Last of Us Part II PS4Pro Bundle

PlayStation Asia is celebrating Lunar New Year with a special Let’s Play promotion, with discounts and red packets up for grabs. Here’s everything that you need to know.
PlayStation Asia “Let’s Play” Lunar New Year Promo

From 1st February to 20th February 2022, PlayStation Asia will be celebrating Lunar New Year with a “Let’s Play” promotion. There will be a grand total of 150 red packets being given away with the top winner walking away with one worth up to RM5,700.

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If you want to participate in the red packet giveaway, all you have to do is:

Register from now until 20th February 2022 using your PSN ID on the official Let’s Play page.
Use any entertainment app or play any game on your PS4 / PS5 console from 1st February to 20th February 2022.
Top 50 winners will be selected for each Play Category (based on tracked play record / usage hours) starting 25th February 2022 onwards via email.
Winners can pick prize category based on player ranking, with prizes including:

Spotify gift cards
Starbucks gift cards
Grabfood delivery voucher
PlayStation Store vouchers
ALL IT eGift cards
End Clothing gift cards
ASOS gift vouchers
Zalora gift vouchers
Mandarin Oriental Hotel gift cards
Traveloka gift cards
Lazada gift cards

For a better breakdown of how each Play Category works, refer to the table right below here:

Play Category
Description & Prizes

Press to Play
Entrants can use any Entertainment Apps (Non-Gaming Apps) of their choosing. Any Non-Gaming Apps used by each entrant will count towards the total usage hours by the entrant. The top 50 entrants per each region who use the longest hours (total usage time) will win prizes.
Top 1 – 10 winners will win MYR 2,000 worth of vouchers.
Top 11 – 20 winners will win MYR 400 worth of vouchers.
Top 21 – 50 winners will win MYR 120 worth of vouchers.

Connect to Play
Playing of any game titles in online multi-player mode on PS4/PS5. This excludes Free-to-Play games.
Entrants can play any game titles in online multi-player mode of their choosing (excluding Free-to-Play games). Any game titles played by each Entrant will only count towards the total playing hour by the Entrant. The top 50 entrants per each region who play the longest hours (total playing time) will win prizes.
Top 1 – 10 winners will win MYR 3,300 worth of vouchers.
Top 11 – 20 winners will win MYR 1,000 worth of vouchers.
Top 21 – 50 winners will win MYR 200 worth of vouchers.

Time to Play
Playing of any game titles in non-online multi-player mode on PS4/PS5 including Free-to-Play titles in online and non-online player modes on PS4/PS5.
Entrants can play any game titles in non-online multi-player mode of their choosing. Any game titles played by each Entrant will only count towards the total playing hours by the Entrant. The top 50 entrants per each region who play the longest hours (total playing time) will win prizes
Top 1 – 10 winners will win MYR 5,700 worth of vouchers.
Top 11 – 20 winners will win MYR 2000 worth of vouchers.
Top 21 – 50 winners will win MYR 300 worth of vouchers.

For everyone
Participation Prize
One exclusive set of avatars made up of all-time favorite game characters will be awarded to all Let’s Play participants at the end of the campaign season.

PlayStation Games and Peripherals Discount

As for the discounts on games and peripherals however, it will be up for grabs from 26th January to 9th February 2022. This includes:

PS VR with PS Camera = RM979
DualShock 4 (Jet Black, Glacier White, Magma Red, and Green Camouflage) = RM179
Demon’s Souls (PS5) = RM169
Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut (PS5) = RM209
Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut (PS4) = RM169
The Last of Us Part II (PS4) = RM79
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time (PS4) = RM79
Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) = RM129

Source
Pokdepinion: It’s a great time to get more PlayStation stuff if you happen to be in the market for some, given all the discounts. While you’re enjoying the games at home, you might win some goodies so might as well register while you’re at it.
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Next Gen Nintendo Switch Development Hinted with New NVIDIA Job Listing

Next Gen Nintendo Switch in Development?

It appears that a new next gen Nintendo Switch is in development according to details found on a new NVIDIA job listing that surfaced recently. The job posting, which can be found on LinkedIn, lists a position with the title of “Game Console Developer Tools Engineer”.
The aforementioned job will require the individual to work closely with “internal and external partners” to develop tools for console game developers. It never does outright mention Nintendo, the Switch, or any specific platforms for that matter. Given the track record, it would more likely point towards a Nintendo Switch successor or mid-lifecycle upgrade. This is especially the case given that the Breath of the Wild sequel’s reveal looking “too smooth” for the system.

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In case you didn’t know, the Nintendo Switch is running on the NVIDIA Tegra X1 chip with Maxwell GPU, putting the performance on par with last generation consoles. The Japanese gaming giant is known to sell a gaming experience as opposed to cutting-edge graphics but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the hardware needing an upgrade soon.
For now, we will report more on this as soon as information becomes available so stay tuned.
Source
Pokdepinion: Honestly, the sweet spot to run games currently is Full HD 60FPS and if the existing hardware can handle it, I don’t see the need for upgrades. If not, a mid-lifecycle upgrade would still do the trick. If a whole new system will be introduced, then I hope you can still play Switch games on it.
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Apple M1-powered Macs can now run Windows software via CrossOver 20

Apple’s transition to Apple Silicon has resulted in it losing support for one of the most popular features on Mac: Boot Camp. But Apple users accustomed to using Windows software in their workflow need not worry, as CrossOver 20 now works on the Apple M1 as well, bringing the Windows environment to Apple M1-powered Macs.
As you might expect, CrossOver 20 will rely on Rosetta 2 to translate the Windows apps’ x86 code to run on the Arm-based Apple M1. Usually this is a rather inefficient process, but it seems that the Apple M1 has enough raw horsepower on top of Rosetta 2’s optimizations to still provide an acceptable user experience with CrossOver 20, even when it comes to gaming.

The gaming experience isn’t perfect, as you can still see some stutters in Team Fortress 2. But considering the amount of emulation that’s going on — emulating Windows in Mac OS while at the same time getting x86 code to run on an Arm processor — I do think that this is really impressive.

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The developers of CrossOver 2 did mention that they do have some work to do, presumably to further optimize the experience. Apparently Witcher 3 works too, but given how even TF2 is not exactly smooth, I am not sure how well does Witcher 3 run on the latest Apple M1-powered Macs.

To run CrossOver 20 on Macs powered by the Apple M1, you will need macOS Big Sur 11.1 beta, which offers some critical fixes to Rosetta 2.
Source
Pokdepinion: Well, this does seem really hopeful for Apple users who need to run Windows apps!
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AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT Review – Keeping Graphics Cards Sensible

Since AMD dethroned NVIDIA 10 years ago with the R9 290X – its Radeon graphics division has been trying to play catch-up, at one point giving up the high-end GPU market entirely as the company faced bankruptcy due to Bulldozer’s catastrophic failure. The RX 6000 series marked the first time AMD is back in the fight, directly challenging the best GPU Team Green had to offer.
With NVIDIA’s RTX 40 Series, they are hyper-focused on one goal: to be the absolute fastest gaming GPU in the world. Though, this comes to many as a compromise in many ways – size, power draw, and the price. RTX 4080 shares the same gargantuan cooler, and despite its relatively lower power draw – the price is, simply put, unwelcomed by everyone. Meanwhile, AMD has since diverged into an area that they have been focusing for Ryzen division for years – efficiency. They may not be going for the absolute fastest, but will they be the best all-rounder on offer?
Unboxing
Box front.
Keeping similar design to its predecessor – the box is only written with the model (RX 7900 XT in this case) and a graphic of the GPU itself. Makes for a very pleasant looking box on display. Expectedly, this box is also a whole lot smaller than most AIB models.

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Box contents… except it’s just the GPU, not much else.
You don’t get anything else other than the GPU itself once you lift open the box. Like the 6900XT box, on top you get the same “Welcome To The Red Team” message. The whole box is entirely smoked black, apart from that “RED” text and a small red-colored accent lines, which aligned to that of the GPU’s heatsink fins itself.
Appearance
Front view.
The card itself has gotten some pretty big visual overhaul – gone is the two-tone shroud with a big chunk of silver color going across the fans and a big “R” letter on it; now it’s entirely smoked black color on every corner of the card. Yes, even heatsinks are blacked out. I’m sure some modders out there might even fancy painting the PCIe bracket black – imagine how that’d look in an all-blacked-out PC build…
Dimensions wise, this is slightly taller and longer than the outgoing 6900XT, but virtually identical to the NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti – just a tad bit shorter in length. It weighs heavier than the Team Green card though – 1.52kg to 1.36kg. You’d imagine that extra chunk in weight definitely goes to the metal used for cooling.
Top view.
Top side is extremely clean looking – which certainly helps with aesthetics since this is where most people would look at 99% of the time. The 2x PCIe 8-pin connector stays and on the same exact position just like on the RX 6000 series. The RADEON logo sits below – though this is not illuminated. As always, AMD wants to remind you this is a Team Red card by giving it red accents in the heatsink array.
Bottom view.
Even the bottom side looks significantly cleaner compared to most AIB cards. While you won’t necessarily be able to look at this side in a PC case anyway, they’ve gone the extra mile to paint everything black, even the fan cables. Speaking of which, the heatsink is slightly recessed in the right corner as a result.
Rear view.
With most GPUs going for flow-through cooling, and if not so, the capacitors are usually exposed. However, AMD has pretty much retained the same cooling solution as the predecessor – and that allows them to completely close off the backplate and paint in all the way black, with the exception of a few red-colored “holes”. The design language is still similar to 6900XT with that future sci-fi architecture look. Oh, and another reminder that this is a RADEON card with big letters slapped on it.
PCIe bracket & I/O.
I/O wise, you get two DisplayPort 2.1 – first in the world, HDMI 2.1 and a single USB-C port for those who play on VR devices or have a USB-C monitor. While there’s no DisplayPort 2.1 certified displays out just yet, you should see them starting next year with high-refresh 4K monitors. It might take a few years for displays to catch up to the ridiculously fast 4K480 or 8K165 resolutions – but this card will be ready when that happens. Also, AMD has put all the regulatory labels on the PCIe bracket just to make the card itself looking squeaky-clean.

No RGB presence here – only the XTX model has some form of lighting. That said, this card is quite tiny considering recent GPUs are all triple if not quad-slot monstrosities… and also, our good old PCIe 8-pin connectors – you won’t be needing 12VHPWR anyway given this is still a relatively sensible 315W card.
Specifications
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT

GPU Core & VRAM:

GPU Core Variant
Navi 31 XT

Microarchitecture
RDNA 3

Process Node
TSMC N5 (GCD)
TSMC N6 (MCD)

Transistors
58.0 billion

Die size
306mm² (GCD)
5x 37.5mm² (MCD)

Compute Units
84

Stream Processors
5376

Ray Accelerators
84

Cache
80MB L3 (5x 16MB Infinity Cache)

VRAM Configuration
20GB GDDR6 320-bit

Memory Bandwidth
20Gbps, 800GB/s peak

Add-in board:

Game/Boost Clock
2000 / 2400 MHz

TDP (TBP)
315W

Recommended PSU
750W

Dual BIOS Mode
No

Display Outputs
2x DisplayPort 2.1
1x USB-C (DisplayPort 2.1 Alt Mode)
1x HDMI 2.1
*Max output resolution: 7680×4320 (8K) @165Hz, 12-bit HDR

Power Connector
2x 8-pin PCIe connector

Bus Interface
PCIe 4.0 x16

Dimensions
2.5-slot, 276 x 113 x 51mm

What’s New?

The headlining feature of RDNA 3 is the introduction of multi-chip GPU – first introduced in AMD’s datacenter Instinct MI250 series GPGPUs. Unlike the datacenter part though, this silicon still uses one single die for GPU compute itself (Graphics Chiplet Die, GCD), then offloads the Infinity Cache to the outward dies (Memory Chiplet Die, MCD). AMD cited cost savings and manufacturing yields with this decision – much like Ryzen – due to the scaling issues introduced in I/O and memory logics.
Hence, AMD has opted for TSMC’s 5nm process for the GCD itself, which scales better; while the auxiliary cache is given the TSMC 6nm process to save cost and increase potential yields. Connecting these two dies are the new fan-out interconnect which peaks at a ridiculously fast 5.3TB/s bandwidth; and to account for increased latency across the dies, the engineers has increased the core clocks to compensate for latency penalties. Also worth noting is up to +54% performance-per-watt – in line with AMD’s generational targets.
Image Credit: Anandtech, AMD
Aside from the GPU itself, AMD has given its surrounding features a major overhaul – including a new Radiance Display Engine, and updated Dual Media Engine for video encode/decode. AMD’s new Radiance Display Engine is capable of outputting 8K 165Hz 12-bit, with Rec.2020 gamut coverage (with DSC enabled). This color space is considered as the “gold standard” but so far very few displays are capable of nearing that coverage. For comparison – NVIDIA’s current GPUs – maxed out at HDMI 2.1 will only provide 4K144 natively, or 8K60 with DSC enabled.

Another highlight is the new Dual Media Engine, now powered with AI – which should solve the longtime issue of AMD’s VCE having generally worse encoding quality over NVIDIA’s NVENC – which has been the primary choice for streamers without going for CPU-based encoding. AMD also noted that these GPUs can be paired with Ryzen 7000 CPUs to combine both encoding ASICs (Radeon iGPU + RX 7900) to boost 4K encoding performance by up to 30%.
Test System

CPU
Intel Core i9-13900K

Cooler
ASUS ROG Ryujin II 360 AIO
Cooler Master MasterGel Maker

Motherboard
ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 HERO

GPU
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT

Memory
Kingston FURY RENEGADE RGB DDR5-6400 CL32 (2x16GB)

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 21H2

Performance
All benchmarks are done in out-of-the-box settings, unless otherwise specified. Games are tested under these settings (upscaling features such as AMD FSR or RSR are turned off):

Forza Horizon 5 (RT ON)
Maximum settings (all settings maxed out to EXTREME preset when available, Ray Tracing set to EXTREME).
Forza Horizon 5 (RT OFF)
Ultra High preset – Ray Tracing turned off.
Red Dead Redemption 2
All settings set to ULTRA – slightly higher quality over ‘Favor Quality’ from the in-game settings slider.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (RT ON)
HIGHEST preset. RT Shadows set to ULTRA (which overrides default Shadow settings).
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (RT OFF)
Same as the previous run – with the exception of RT Shadows turned OFF, with Shadow settings set to ULTRA instead.
F1 2022 (RT ON)
ULTRA HIGH preset. Ray Tracing is set to HIGH under this preset. (RT is always ON in all quality levels.)

Synthetic Benchmarks
Synthetic benchmarks.
Now, this is an AMD card, which means different architectures, and different synthetic performance entirely. Still, this should give you a basic idea on how this card performs on certain conditions. The general theme of RX 7900 XT is pretty much to slot in between RTX 4080 and the “hypothetical” RTX 4070 Ti (which is the unlaunched RTX 4080 12GB redux). It maintained some gap to the previous generation RTX 3080 Ti – with the exception of Ray Tracing where it barely held its lead.
AMD historically been lagging one generation behind when it comes to raytracing – so it’s no surprise here. I’d like to see them focusing on this area in the next-gen though, given the increased prevalence of this graphical feature in many games released this year. Time Spy has traditionally been in favor of AMD’s RDNA-based architecture, so that gives it a pretty commanding lead against the old Green card. Can these translate well into the games? Read on.
Gaming – 4K (3840×2160)
4K gaming benchmarks.
…and the answer is not quite. Now, to be clear – AMD has said the 7900 XT will sit on the lower end of the 4080 while the XTX covers the upper end of that card as far as performance is concerned. Still, this is slightly lower than what I’d expect, maybe 3-5% lower than my expectations. But expectation is one thing, and numbers are… numbers. Let’s dissect them.
First up is Forza Horzion 5, with RT pushed to Extreme: while AMD remained behind the contemporary NVIDIA card, it at least managed to stay ahead of the outgoing 3080 Ti by a 11% margin. Turn RT off and the gap is slightly increased to 13%. In both cases, the Radeon is roughly 20% behind the 4080 – 21.5% and 18.7% respectively, to be exact. Similar trend continues in RDR2. Here it’s 11% in favor of the Red card, however this time it’s got a smaller deficit to 4080, at 15%.
SOTTR’s raytracing feature has not been kind to the Radeon 7900 XT – the card only managed a single frame more than the old 3080 Ti, while the gap to 4080 is measured at a sizeable 28%. That gap narrowed somewhat when RT is turned off, with 7900 XT getting 11 more frames, or 12%. Deficit to 4080 is now at 19%. Finally, F1 2022 is a total loss for AMD – with the lowest performance of all three cards. It also measures the biggest gap to 4080, at 30%.
Gaming – 1440P (2560×1440)
1440p gaming benchmarks.
Into 2K resolution, where this is likely most gamers with this card will land on. To summarize – resolution doesn’t seem to affect the relative performance of these cards as the percentage largely stayed within 5% compared to 4K results.
Forza Horizon 5 has tell us two things: one, the gap to 4080 largely is the same, at -24% and -18%; and two, the lead to RTX 3080 Ti has measurably shrunk to just 8% on both occasions. This seem to indicate Radeon suffers from slightly worse performance scaling as the resolutions go down. That being said, RDR2 has given 7900 XT a bigger lead over 3080 Ti at 16%, but also a bigger gap to 4080 as well – also 16%.
SOTTR with raytracing has widened the gap between 7900 XT and 3080 Ti – though it’s still a very tiny 4% gap. Deficit to 4080 remained at -28%, same as 4K. Turn off raytracing and the Radeon card gets a more convincing 18% lead, while the deficit to 4080 is now shrunk to 14%. F1 2022 once again is a total loss to 7900 XT, with virtually the same percentage of losses to both cards in 4K (-5% and -31%).
Gaming – 1080P (1920×1080)
1080p gaming benchmarks.
While the previous-generation RX 6900 XT had the edge on 1080p resolutions compared to contemporary NVIDIA GPUs – this might not be the case with 7900 XT. Again, the gaps stayed the same for the most part, with a few exceptions.
Forza Horizon 5’s raytracing runs is pretty much in line with the other two resolutions – albeit the lead to 3080 Ti has further narrowed to 7%. The run with RT off is an odd one – which sees both 3080 Ti and 4080 having identical performance at 188 FPS. The AMD card meanwhile, is left behind at just 162 FPS – 14% short of both cards. RDR2 produced mostly identical gaps between three cards as 1440p results – 16% ahead of 3080 Ti and 18% behind 4080.
The Radeon still maintains its miniscule lead over 3080 Ti with RT turned on, this time at 2% – while coming at a 18% deficit to 4080. On pure rasterization runs, the 7900 XT gained 9% lead to the old Green card while the gap to 4080 has massively shrunk to 3% – however, that’s more down to the CPU bottleneck being hit as the 4090 also produces the same 245 FPS result. Finally, the 7900 XT trails behind both cards in F1 2022, measuring 7% to 3080 Ti and 31% to 4080.
Thermals
Thermals (Furmark) – Sensor data provided by HWiNFO64.
Fan speed (Furmark) – Sensor data provided by HWiNFO64.
First is Furmark 10-minute stress test. With the GPU pinned at ~310W, the temperature more or less equalized at 79°C after 10th minute. AMD noted that the new thermal sensor inside the silicon will measure equivalent ambient temperature and work out the thermal headroom from there. (I’d assume this is somewhat similar to AMD STAPM feature on laptops.) They also mentioned the hot spot temperature are designed to handle up to 110°C – which means your GPU will not actively throttle clocks or power before that. As seen here, the hotspot is averaging 89°C (readings are based on GPU core + all MCDs).
Fan speeds wise, the fan curve is rather rough looking, though it still follows a general curve which most GPUs employs. Based on our usage we never really see the GPU enters zero-RPM mode (it’s idling at ~400RPM or so), but the option is available in AMD Software, which also enables full fan control – you can adjust the threshold depending on your preferences.
Thermals (3DMark Time Spy Extreme stress test) – Sensor data provided by HWiNFO64.
Fan speeds (3DMark Time Spy Extreme stress test) – Sensor data provided by HWiNFO64.
In both stress tests we get… a rather toasty VRAM. At the end of the run it reached 96°C, while the GPU core itself only peaked at 76°C. You will certainly see better results on AIB boards with much larger and beefier cooling solutions, but for what it’s worth, it’s passable given its size. The fan curve is identical to the Furmark run, both finishing at around 1,400RPM. However, AMD allows the GPU fan speed to be overrode up to a staggering 3,600RPM – I wouldn’t want to try that myself…
Conclusion

The AMD Radeon 7900 XT represents a completely different philosophy in GPU design – while NVIDIA says “Moore’s Law Is Dead” – AMD says it’s still very much alive. Similarly, while NVIDIA says the price will never go down to what it used to be – AMD has proved that otherwise too. Again, when NVIDIA throws all constraints out of the window and makes the RTX 4080 incredibly huge – AMD has chosen to keep the dimensions very much in place, giving users a much more straightforward upgrade without worrying about new connectors, bigger PSUs, bigger cases, and pricier cards.
Performance is for the most part ahead of 3080 Ti (with 50W less power draw), but raytracing-enabled games will bring that to either slightly ahead or virtually equal. In some cases that may turn to deficit – it all depends on case-by-case basis as some games optimize towards different GPU architectures given different game engines. Luckily enough for AMD, this card is currently still at well over $1,100 in US – so it’s not on the same price bracket that AMD is placing itself on.
Thermals is a bit on the hot side for VRAM – though this is pretty much the tradeoff as the card is very tiny by modern GPU standards these days. I would expect the VRAM temps to stay very close to thermal limits when placed inside a case, however the core temperature itself is still very manageable so that’s unlikely to be a concern. You can always crank the fans up if you feel the temps fly a bit too close to the sun, since AMD has given you full control on the fan curve right in the AMD Software (previously called Radeon Software) application.

We don’t have any local pricing yet so far – but we do have official SEP from AMD, which is $899. This pricing, while not the most expensive – is also not the very best. To me it’s not really the best decision to increase market share given NVIDIA has the option to price the 4070 Ti (previously 4080 12GB) at a much lower spot should they wish. That was priced at $900 as well, remember. I think this card’s performance has left it sitting at a rather tough spot because there’s 7800 to be placed below.
All being said, this generation is still a very solid one for AMD. While they might not be necessarily gunning for the top spot, the features, efficiency and user-friendly design of this generation will benefit them in two ways – down the mid-range, and in the long run – especially in the wake of financial recession that many countries are currently experiencing right now. Will AMD’s sensible approach win them more market share next year? We shall see.

Special thanks to AMD Malaysia for providing Radeon RX 7900 XT for this review.
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Transcend Reveals DrivePro Body 30 – Capture Events Before It Even Happens!

Security is essential nowadays, with incidents bound to happen whether you like it or not. Transcend Information has just the thing for you. The storage and multimedia product manufacturer has announce the DrivePro Body 30. It is designed specifically for public safety professionals.
DrivePro Body 30 Body Camera
The camera features a 12-hour long battery life. It has been tested to U.S. military grade shock tests and is both dust and water resistant. User can use the Transcend DrivePro Body app which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Playstore to control settings and images from the mobile phones. Users can also livestream the feed from there as well via Wi-Fi.
It also has an all-glass lens with large aperture and wide field of view. The camera’s six axis MEMS sensor provides electronic image stabilization to reduce the effects of camera movement while maintaining the quality of video capturing. It is also equipped with infrared LEDs that automatically switch on in the circumstance of low lighting environment.

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Here’s where the camera’s feature comes in handy. The DrivePro Body 30 has a pre-event buffering mode, which allows users to capture up to two minutes before an event occurs It also has a quick snapshot button installed for capturing images while recording a video.
The DrivePro Body 30 comes with Transcend’s two year warranty and includes a 360-degree rotatable clip and a Velcro holder. Price wise, it is yet to be confirmed here in Malaysia.
Pokdepinion: Security measures are a must nowadays with what’s been going on around us.
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Sony Looking To Shift PS4 Players To PS5 As Soon As Possible

We’ve previously reported on how well the PlayStation 4 has performed in the market, with it being the 2nd best selling console of all time, coming in only behind to the Playstation 2. With the Playstation 5 to come, Sony is looking to shift their PS4 players to the next-gen console quickly.
Taking into account of how the PS4 is a success, Sony Playstation’s CEO and president, Jim Ryan has revealed that they are aiming to bring gamers to the upcoming console as fast as possible.
These are gamers who are networked and sticky and engaged and passionate about Playstation to an extent that we’ve not seen in previous generations. As we move towards the next-generation in 2020, one of our tasks – probably our main task – is to take that community and transition it from Playstation 4 to Playstation 5, and at a scale and pace that we’ve never delivered on before.Jim Ryan, CEO and president of Playstation
Despite the vision, it’s not known yet on how exactly they’ll do it. As for the Playstation 5, it will be a beast of a gaming machine. To learn more on it, do read on our previous coverage on the Playstation 5 here.

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Pokdepinion: I’m actually contemplating on whether I should get the PS5 as soon as it comes out… I have done it for the previous Playstations… Hmm.
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MasterKeys Lite L Combo by Cooler Master review

Keyboards and mice are the essentials of peripherals. They basically define the user experience of any PC, and a good set can definitely improve the comfort when using your PC. That’s when talking about the standard ones. When we talk about gaming peripherals, they actually might improve your gaming performance, if you are any good in the first place. Sure, we consider mechanical keyboards to be the gold standard, but they can be out of range of some gamers. The MasterKeys Lite L combo by Cooler Master comes with a mem-chanical keyboard and an optical mouse, which should more than suffice as a “starter pack” for gamers. Oh and both feature RGB illumination too! Let’s take a look.
Unboxing

The package is really wide, which is understandable considering that there is a full-length keyboard and mouse in it. On the front, the product image takes center stage. Cooler Master is quick to highlight the RGB capability that the MasterKeys Lite L combo features, not only in the product image but also in a little emblem on the lower edge. The exclusive mem-chanical switches also gets a mention here, as well as the fact that they are compatible with Cherry keycaps.

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Flipping the packaging, we get some of the highlight features of the MasterKeys Lite L combo set printed in really tiny font in 8 different languages, no less. An exploded view of the keyboard sits over on the right, with more features being highlighted.

Opening up the packaging, the keyboard and mouse are wrapped in soft clear plastic and are plain to the sight.

And here is everything you get in the box with the MasterKeys Lite L. Aside from the mouse and keyboard, you also get a user manual. This user manual, you must read, and not lose.

Appearance

The MasterKeys Lite L keyboard actually shares a pretty similar look with its brethren, the MasterKeys Pro L, which feature real Cherry MX RGB switches. In other words, it looks just like any other mechanical keyboard out there. The sharp-eyed among you might notice that the legends here look darker than on the MasterKeys Pro L. That’s because the legends are actually clear, unlike most mechanical keyboards which feature translucent legends.

The underside of the MasterKeys Lite L keyboard is pretty plain, with the Cooler Master logo right in the center, and rubber feet along the four edges. The MasterKeys Lite L keyboard does not feature cable routing channels, which is quite a downer for me. Desktop users may not be affected but laptop users will definitely prefer their cables routed to the sides. The two rubber feet at the top also flip out for tilt, which is quite a nifty design, actually. In fact, this is the first time I have seen a keyboard that has the flippy feet serve a function when closed too.

The MasterKeys Lite L keyboard is just as thick as regular mechanical keyboards. Well, it does actually offer a similar amount of travel and also has a nice solid metal plate embedded in the chassis, so the thickness isn’t just for show. While thick, it does look pretty good from the side with the lower edge tapered off.

Moving on to the mouse, the MasterKeys Lite L mouse looks pretty simple. No fancy rubber coatings that wear off and leave a sticky mess here, which is great. The entire shell is made of smooth matte black plastic that doesn’t collect fingerprints. Size wise, it is a little on the small side. Along with the standard trio of left, right clickers and the scroll wheel, you get a DPI button on the top.

The sides are furnished with two buttons. While the mouse features an ambidextrous look, it is designed for right-handers only. Unless you are a leftie with extraordinary control over your pinky, you will not be able to use the side buttons.

Under the mouse, you get three rather generously sized Teflon feet and the sensor in the middle. Pretty standard stuff.

Specifications
Keyboard

Body material
Plastic, with embedded metal plate

Keycap
Laser engraved ABS keycaps with UV coating

USB report rate
125 Hz

Switch type
Cooler Master Mem-chanical RGB

Microprocessor
N/A

Cable
1.8m, non-detachable, rubber coated

Weight
967 g

Included accessories
Quick start guide

Mouse

Body material
Matte hard plastic shell

Sensor
Avago 3050 optical sensor

DPI
500/1000/2000/3500

USB report rate
1000 Hz

Switch type
Omron switches, rated for 10 million clicks

Microprocessor
N/A

Cable
1.8 m, rubber coated

Weight
91 g

Included accessories
Quick start guide

User Experience
Both the keyboard and mouse in the MasterKeys Lite L combo does not come with any driver software, so it is entirely plug and play. Remember why I mentioned you do not want to lose the manual? Well that’s because it is necessary to read it to configure the peripherals to your liking. More on that later.
Keyboard

Let’s start from the flippy feet. As I have mentioned in the Appearance section, the flippy feet are quite interesting. They offer grip both when closed and opened. You only get a choice of tilt or no tilt, but I find that it is comfortable enough.

There are no dedicated media keys, but they are available on the cluster of keys above the arrow keys. But you do need to press the Fn key together with the key you want to use them, which can be quite troublesome. It is also positioned on the far right, which means that you will most probably remove your hands from your mouse to use the media keys, which is quite counter-intuitive for a gamer.

Customizing the RGB illumination is a matter of pressing hotkeys, which are already labelled clearly on the keycaps. You can select from the various different modes, customize the colors, adjust the speed and even pick the direction of the effects.
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You get 8 modes of illumination, not including off. The RGB lighting is one of the highlights of the MasterKeys Lite L keyboard, and it does look great. The backplate is translucent, which spreads the light really well. However the same can’t be said for the legends, which are not that well illuminated despite the design of the mem-chanical switches which are built to channel the light to the keycaps. The main difference here when compared to RGB mechanical keyboards is that instead of LEDs in the switches on mechanical keyboards, the LEDs here are actually under the backplate. The video was taken almost perpendicular to the keyboard, but when you are using it, you will be at an angle,where the keycap backlighting will be less visible.

Lifting off the UV coated keycaps, we see a clear plunger, with a Cherry MX stab for compatibility with third-party keycaps. The white housing around the plunger ensures that the keycaps and plunger are steady. The clear plungers help channel the light to the keycaps, you still get less light at the legends compared to true mechanical keyboards which usually have the LEDs directly under the legends.
Let me make a confession here. I did not expect the MasterKeys Lite L keyboard to feel as good as it does. “Mem-chanical switches” are still membrane keyboards with a fancy plunger, right? For starters, I was surprised they do feel a lot better than your standard membrane gaming keyboards. Sure, you still get all the resistance right at the top of the travel, and the actuation point all the way at the bottom, but they are easier to press and also the tactility is a lot better with these mem-chanical switches by Cooler Master. One really differentiating factor is the noise. While mechanical keyboards often have noise either when you bottom out, these keys are quieter to bottom out. But on the other hand, when the keys bounce back up, they produce a pretty plasticky noise. And oh, these keys are rated for 12 million presses, which is double that of standard membrane keyboards. And as I personally have not worn out a standard membrane keyboard before, I think you will have a long way to go before needing to replace the MasterKeys Lite L keyboard. With the embedded metal plate in the chassis, the keyboard feels very solid, unlike the Logitech G310 Atlas Dawn which was so plasticky.

The MasterKeys Lite L keyboard offers 26-key anti-ghosting, which is more than the number of fingers I have. Gaming wise, I have not come upon a combination where it failed to register my keypresses properly. Knowing how membrane keyboards work, it is impossible to have NKRO, which means that Cooler Master did a good job here optimizing for important gaming clusters to not ghost.

Mouse
A major downer with the MasterKeys Lite L mouse is you have no way of reassigning the buttons. Configuring the RGB setting is quite simple on the MasterKeys Lite L mouse. The DPI button plays an important role here, as you can see in the following guide. The included manual actually features a tiny mistake, as it mentions pressing the DPI + Forward button to change effect speed (in color cycle mode) or change color (in static mode). Still, as the online product page features the correct method which is by pressing the DPI + Back button, I was able to configure it easily.

The RGB illumination will come from the scroll wheel and along the rear end of of the mouse. This is a good call by Cooler Master for illuminating these specific areas instead of illuminating the logo — which is printed in black on the black shell here — and having it shine in all its RGB glory into your palm which has no way of perceiving light. Color selection is not as fine-tuned as on the keyboard, as you only get to pick from a list of preset colors. Illuminating the surface it is on, the rear lighting is really eye-catching, especially if you aren’t holding the mouse. Too eye-catching, actually. I find the RGB lighting a little too bright to use when I have the lights off. There are no settings for brightness, so you can only turn if off if you find it too glaring.
There are no macro programming to speak off, and you get 4 DPI levels to pick from. Ranging from 500 to 3500, most gamers should be well served. The mouse will flash in different colors to indicate the DPI level. Red for 500, blue for 1000, purple for 2000 and white for 3500.

Testing the DPI settings of the mouse, I found that at 3500 DPI jitter is quite noticeable. Considering that the sensor is the same Avago 3050 optical sensor found in the ARMAGGEDDON SRO-5 HAVOC III Ver2.0, this result is pretty much expected.

The MasterKeys Lite L mouse has a pretty nice size. It still allows me to use a palm grip or a fingertip grip comfortably. Both sides are curved inwards to give your thumb and pinky a resting place. The lack of rubber coating should ensure that this mouse lasts a long time, while the smooth sandblasted finishing feels great to hold. A matte finishing also gives it the added advantage of not collecting fingerprints, which can be a pain to wipe off after gaming sessions. Right and left clickers have Omron switches, which offer great tactile feedback. Coupled with the 10 million clicks rating, they should last for some time. The side buttons have a little too much travel to them, and I wish they were a tad bigger. Especially the back button, which is a bit too far behind to reach comfortably with my thumb. Tracking performance is great, and the wide Teflon feet allow the MasterKeys Lite L mouse to glide over my Razer Goliathus mousepad effortlessly.

Conclusion
The MasterKeys Lite L combo is pretty great. If you want a full set of RGB peripherals, this is a great way to start. You will be hard-pressed to get a decent RGB keyboard and a nice RGB mouse for the RM299 Cooler Master is asking for. While there are shortcomings of this combo, like the lack of a intuitive driver software for full customization, it does make up for them with unique features like compatibility with Cherry MX keycaps to #MakeItYours. Overall, it is a decent RGB keyboard and mouse combo, feels better than standard membrane gaming keyboards, while going for even less money than most standalone RGB keyboards. It deserves our Bronze Pokdeward for its combination of form and function at a reasonable pricing.

Our thanks to Cooler Master Malaysia for the MasterKeys Lite L combo we tested in this review. Get yours now at Store Uni!
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Mediatonic Forced Cheating Fall Guys Players To A “Cheater Island”

Fall Guys has been a major hit since its launch but as is the case with most online games, there’s cheaters to deal with. Well it seems that the game’s developer, Mediatonic had previously sent gamers who cheated to a “Cheater Island”.
Fall Guys Cheater Island

Somebody actually uploaded this video to Reddit with the title:"Ever played a round of Fall Mountain where all the players are cheating?"The problem is… this LOOKS like Cheater Island but we can't be 100% sure pic.twitter.com/byJi6r0Ykc— Fall Guys 4041 🤖 SOON (@FallGuysGame) September 14, 2020

As you can see from the clip on Twitter above, cheaters were gathered together where everyone instantly ended up in the finish line upon start.
At their official Fall Guys Twitter account, they have said “At launch, we had some of our own cheat detection built into the game. We weren’t banning anyone at this point, just gathering data carefully. We wanted to be 100% sure that our cheat detection would only catch people who were legitimately cheating. After we confirmed that it was working, we secretly launched Fall Guys Cheater Island”.

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The company has said that it will soon add the same anti-cheat tools as found on Fortnite into Fall Guys. They claim that their own cheat system was ‘good’ but didn’t expect the amount of players and the lengths of they’d go to (cheating).
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Pokdepinion: Well I’ve definitely encountered a number of cheaters in the game. Let’s just hope that they’ll manage to get those cheaters out for good.
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AMD AM5 CPUs To Have 170W TDP and 230W Package Power Tracking

AMD AM5 CPUs: 170W TDP and 230W PPT

Previously when the AMD Ryzen 7000 Series CPU was revealed, there was a mistake regarding the Socket AM5 and its Package Power Tracking (PPT) limit. Now, the company has rectified their mistakes by listing the correct details. As it turns out, it will have a 170W TDP and 230W PPT, instead of the previously mentioned 170W PPT limit.
AMD would like to issue a correction to the socket power and TDP limits of the upcoming AMD Socket AM5. AMD Socket AM5 supports up to a 170W TDP with a PPT up to 230W. TDP*1.35 is the standard calculation for TDP v. PPT for AMD sockets in the “Zen” era, and the new 170W TDP group is no exception (170*1.35=229.5).
AMD

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While the Ryzen 7000 Series CPU was never mentioned outright, it’s pretty easy to understand which AMD AM5 CPU they were referring to. Just as it was known before, the top-tier SKUs running on the new Zen4-based will be running at 170W.
At this level, you could expect some high powered CPUs with 12 to 16 cores, as the current Zen3-based CPUs with 12 to 16 cores only have a 105W TDP. With a 65W TDP difference, you can expect higher frequencies and potentially much better performance.
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Pokdepinion: Been thinking about getting a new PC but now, I will play my card and wait for a little bit. If I’m gonna build a new one, I would like it to last as long as I can, and this might be the one to look out for.
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Horizon Zero Dawn PC Release Date Confirmed and It’s Coming Soon

We knew for a while that a number of major console exclusives are coming to PC, but we didn’t know when exactly. Now, the Horizon Zero Dawn PC release date has been officially unveiled, and it’s coming surprisingly soon.
Horizon Zero Dawn PC Release Date

Announced via a new trailer on the Guerilla Games YouTube channel, the Horizon Zero Dawn PC release date is set for 7th August 2020. It will be coming to Steam as the Complete Edition, which will have the base game as well as The Frozen Wilds DLC. Apart from that, it will also come with a digital art book, cosmetics, and packs.

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As the game is running on PC, it has received quite a number of notable upgrades. This includes better graphics, variable frame rate, ultra-wide support, improved reflections, and graphics customization options. The game already looked to great to begin with, especially on the PS4 Pro, but it looks much better on PC.
In case you’re wondering, the game’s sequel, Horizon: Forbidden West, will still be a PS5-exclusive when it comes out sometime in 2021. There is a chance it will be released on PC, but you definitely have to wait some years before that happens, just like this one.
Once again, the Horizon Zero Dawn PC release date is set for 7th August 2020. You can pre-purchase the game from today onwards at the price of USD $49.99 / RM80. To head straight to the official Steam page for the game, click right here.
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Pokdepinion: I might just play it again when it’s out on PC, but not necessarily so soon. It will serve as a good refresher before the sequel is out.
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(UPDATE) Disney+ Hotstar Looks To Have An Annual Plan That Is Cheaper Than The Current Plan

The highly anticipated streaming service Disney+ Hotstar was officially launched yesterday. Interestingly, the service features just a single subscription plan that costs RM54.90 for 3 months. However, it was recently discovered that through an app listing on the Apple App Store that the streaming service actually has not one, but two more subscription plans.
We have updated this article to include an explanation from Disney+ Hotstar themselves regarding this topic. You can read the statement after the original story below.
Disney+ Hotstar has more subscription plans?

DISNEY+ HOTSTAR MALAYSIA SCAM PENGGUNA?!
Kenapa tak diberikan pilihan ni masa mula daftar sedangkan pricing ni ada dalam Apps Store? 🤬 Ada orang nak subscribe n test sebulan dahulu, ada orang mcm aku nak berjimat subscribe setahun terus, kenapa launch day bagi satu option shj? pic.twitter.com/ehqdOCkXAL
— #zhafvlog (@zhafvlog) June 1, 2021

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Discovered by #zhaflog on Twitter, there are a total of three different subscription plans listed in the ‘In-App Purchases’ section of the Disney+ Hotstar app. These subscription plans include:

Disney+ Hotstar Quarterly – RM54.90
Disney+ Hotstar Monthly – RM11.90
Disney+ Hotstar Annual – RM62.90

This brings about several questions; firstly, whether the listed prices are indeed real and if it is why weren’t these plans offered to the public in the first place? This could also mean that the other two plans will be revealed at a later date.
Image credit: @zhafvlog
Furthermore, as you can see from the screenshot in the tweet above, the RM11.90 monthly fee is well below the original subscriptions plan which, if you break it down per month would be RM18.30. The annual subscription plan is even cheaper, the RM62.90 fee would essentially see users pay just RM5.24 per month. While the current plan is still cheaper than what you’d have to pay for alternatives like Netflix, it still sucks that customers weren’t given much of a choice in terms of subscription plans.
Here’s hoping that Disney+ Hotstar would clear the air soon regarding this issue as it really is not something you’d want to happen especially when you’re this early in the game. Be sure to tune in to us at Pokde.net if they do touch on this subject.

UPDATE: DIsney+ Hotstar recently provided us with an official statement regarding the two other subscription plans. Here’s what they had to say.
At present, there is only one plan for consumers in Malaysia who are subscribing directly from Disney+ Hotstar, which is RM54.90 for three months. The monthly and annual pricing reflected in the app is the pricing for Indonesia.
So there you have it, the other plans are actually Indonesian subscription plans. Why they’re listed in ringgit is rather strange but at least we have some form of an explanation as to why they are there.
Disney+ Hotstar is available now for all Malaysians. As for those who subscribe to Astro, you can get the streaming service for just RM5. For more information on that, do head over here.
Pokdepinion: Woah those plans are cheap! To be honest, I’m kinda miffed that this wasn’t offered in the first place. I would’ve gladly paid slightly more and gone for the annual plan instead of the 3-month plan.
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Razer Confirms Mobile Device Release – Set To Come Out This Year

It’s been rumored by many that Razer would be developing a smartphone since they bought smartphone maker, Nextbit. That rumor has been building up for quite some time now and finally it’s been confirmed. Razer are going to produce a mobile device, according to Razer CEO Min Liang Tan’s interview with CNBC.
Razer Mobile Device?
The company has confirmed that the device will be focusing on gaming and entertainment.
One of the most hotly rumored things about Razer is that we’re coming up with a mobile device and I can say that we are coming up with a mobile device specifically geared toward gamers and entertainment. We’re hoping to have it come by the end of the year, so that’s something we’re working on Min Liang Tan, Co-founder and CEO of Razer
It is not surprising to see Razer make such of a move, seeing that mobile gaming has been on the rise for quite some time. Thus, the mobile market looks set to be the company’s key focus.

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Best known for their gaming peripherals and laptops, it was revealed by the CEO that Razer is planning on going public. He said that with a bigger funding, it allows them to invest further in R&D and would allow them to produce more products in the market.
It was made public in July that the company was seeking a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) by year end.
Pokdepinion: Not 100% sure of what he meant by ‘mobile device’. Is it a Razer smartphone? Will it be a Razer tablet? Something else entirely? Guess we will have to play the waiting game to find out even more info about it.
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ASUS Republic of Gamers Announces Maximus VII Impact, Priced at RM 999

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced the immediate availability of Maximus VII Impact here in Malaysia. The Z97 chipset-based mini-ITX gaming motherboard ready for the latest 4th-, new 4th- and 5th-generation Intel® Core™ processors — codenamed ‘Haswell’, ‘Haswell Refresh’, ‘Haswell Refresh K-Series’ (‘Devil’s Canyon’) and ‘Broadwell’ — and engineered with new and exclusive ROG game-boosting features to provide ATX-level power and performance.
Maximus VII Impact’s exclusive innovations includes the Impact Power II full-scale voltage-regulator module (VRM) for ultra-smooth, ultra-reliable power, SupremeFX Impact II dedicated sound card for flawless audio, Intel Gigabit Ethernet and GameFirst III for no-lag networking with a winning advantage and the fastest connectivity from the pre-installed mPCIe Combo IV module — dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and PCI Express 3.0 M.2 x4.
The combination of these premium technologies enables Maximus VII Impact to deliver the best gaming power, gaming audio, gaming networking and gaming boosts in a mini-ITX motherboard.

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Best mini-ITX gaming power
Maximus VII Impact’s Impact Power II card is vertically-mounted, enabling ROG engineers to create a full-scale VRM that would otherwise be impossible on a mini-ITX board.
The completely-digital power-control architecture is engineered with premium components, including Japanese-made 10K black metallic capacitors for 20%-greater extreme-temperature endurance and a lifespan that’s up to five times (5X) longer than other capacitors. Impact Power II additionally benefits from 60A BlackWing chokes, whose wing-like fin design generates temperatures that are up to 5°C lower than other designs. A highly-conductive, gold-treated coating also increases conductivity for minimal-loss power delivery, while the NexFET™ MOSFET is just half the size of previous designs while delivering the same power for efficiencies of over 90% — and that means great energy savings and added stability for all operations.

Best mini-ITX audio
SupremeFX Impact II is Maximus VII Impact’s dedicated audio card, a blade of sound that brings to life soundtracks and every in-game effect.
Building on the original SupremeFX Impact card, which was acclaimed both by the media and by ROG customers, SupremeFX Impact II employs cutting-edge isolation technologies to minimize electromagnetic interference (EMI) and has exceptionally-premium components to deliver best-in-class audio.
SupremeFX Impact II is supported by Sonic Studio, a brand-new audio-tuning suite that provides an aural treat. Just one click enables 7.1-channel virtual surround sound through a stereo (2.0-channel) headset, providing immersive gaming experiences for all. Sonic Studio’s superb audio controls include Reverb, Bass Boost, Equalizer, Voice Clarity and Smart EQ.
Maximus VII Impact’s audio armory also includes Sonic Radar II. Designed for first-person shooter (FPS) games, Sonic Radar II displays a stealthy overlay that shows what opponents and teammates are up to. Players see the precise direction and origin of in-game sounds such as gunshots, footsteps and call-outs, so they’re able to practice enemy-pinpointing skills, and exclusive audio enhancement further enhances in-game sound for superb hearing awareness. This all-new version of Sonic Radar II includes a redesigned control panel with customizable game list, so settings are easily tailored to a personal games library.

Best mini-ITX networking
Maximus VII Impact is equipped with state-of-the-art Intel Gigabit Ethernet that delivers better throughput with lower processing power for superior speed and increased efficiency. By communicating directly with Intel processors, this technology offers exceptionally-high Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) throughput, lowering overall processing demands and improving efficiency — releasing more power for games and gameplay. Using independent network-assessment tools, ROG engineers calculated that Intel Gigabit Ethernet deals with the UDP data packets that are vital for responsive gaming up to two times (2X) faster than competing gaming-LAN technologies.
Maximus VII Impact gamers also enjoy ROG-exclusive GameFirst III technology for no-delay gameplay. This advanced network-optimization software assigns top priority to game-data packets, allocating them more bandwidth to ensure the best online-gaming experience and clear, stutter-free online team-chat — all controlled with ROG’s usual intuitive flair.
The new motherboard includes ROG’s reinvented RJ45 socket — LANGuard. Advanced signal-coupling technology and premium surface-mounted capacitors improve throughput, while surge-protected and electrostatically-guarded components (ESD Guards) protect against lightning strikes and static-electricity discharges.

Best gaming boosts
Maximus VII Impact is packed with innovations that give gamers vital boosts. These include the upgraded mPCIe Combo IV + 802.11ac / Bluetooth 4.0 module for the latest high-speed connectivity, with mini PCI Express (mPCIe) on one side and a PCI Express 3.0 x4 M.2 socket on the other for direct-from-processor transfer speeds of up to 32Gbit/s — that’s over six times (6X) faster than traditional M.2 solutions.
KeyBot provides games with another brilliant boost, offering a free upgrade for any keyboard. Plugging an existing keyboard into the dedicated USB socket activates Maximus VII Impact’s exclusive KeyBot microprocessor, allowing gamers to record 15-keystroke sequences as macros that can be assigned instantly to any key — a great way to automate almost any laborious task or speed up in-game actions.
Maximus VII Impact also boosts protection for gamers, with Gamer’s Guardian. This collection of high-quality, highly-durable components provides exceptional real-world protection, from onboard resettable fuses that protect the connection ports and DRAM against overcurrent and short-circuit damage to ESD Guards on the USB ports and audio connectors and LANGuard port to protect Maximus VII Impact from sudden electrostatic discharge (ESD).
The black nickel-coated Q-Shield protects hands from nicks and cuts, Q-DIMM makes fitting and removing memory modules easier and safer, and the corrosion-resistant, stainless-steel back input/output (I/O) panel lasts up to three times (3X) longer than traditional panels.
Availability and Pricing
The release of Maximus VII Impact will commence immediately, priced at RM 999.
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Patch Notes for Next Week’s Destiny 2 Update; Something to Take Note Of

It would seem that we have the early patch notes for next week’s Destiny 2 update. If you frequent the game, this is something you should take note of.

Patch Notes for Next Week’s Destiny 2 Update

Recently, the director behind Destiny 2, Christopher Barrett, listed off some improvements the team is looking to add to the endgame content in a blog post on Bungie’s official website. Some new details about next week’s update 1.0.6. were also included.
The update will focus on fixing an emote issue, as well as making sure there are more Guardians available to help you out in public spaces. Also, there will be several changes coming to the Crucible PVP mode that’ll mostly affect spawning and scoring. It’s important to note that not all of the upcoming changes to the game were listed, but they will be once the update goes live.
You can read all of the available patch notes below:

General

Fixed an issue with collision detection on the Bureaucratic Walk emote
Fixed an issue causing players to encounter empty public spaces too often in free roam

Crucible

Updated Mercy Rule settings to allow Mercy to activate slightly later in the match, allowing a wider range of scores to trigger it.

Clash

Reduced score limit to 50 (was 75)

Control

Reduced score limit to 90 (was 100)
Reduced influence that enemy-controlled zones exert over the spawning system

Survival

Reduced round time limit to 2 minutes (down from 3)
Reduced life count to 6 (down from 8)

Supremacy

Increased score-to-win to 70 (up from 50)
We now grant one point for defeating an enemy Guardian
Adjusted the influence that enemy crests have on the spawning system

Something interesting to note, the game reportedly became the best-selling console game of 2017, according to DualShockers. It managed to beat a slew of great titles that have released this year. It’ll be interesting to see if Activision’s other flagship shooter Call of Duty: World War II will be able to compete in sales.
Destiny 2 is currently available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Source: Bungie

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Pokdepinion: Well, if you’re wondering what kind of changes will be coming to the game since the PC version recently became available, well, here you go.
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AMD Ryzen 7000 Series is Geting 3D V-Cache But There’s a Catch

AMD Ryzen 7000 Series is Geting 3D V-Cache

It has been confirmed that the upcoming AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs, along with future CPUs based on the Zen 5 architecture, will be getting 3D V-Cache. However, there is a catch to this and consumers will have to be extra careful if they want this as it will not be as widely available as you might think.
At the moment, the use of 3D V-Cache has been exclusive to the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, based on the Zen 3 architecture. Together with its 96MB of L3 cache, it quickly rose to become one of the best CPUs for gaming as it didn’t cost a bomb to purchase. For those looking to buy the newer CPU instead, it won’t be available on every processor within the series.

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AMD is looking to target specific processors with a much larger cache and it will be released separately from the rest of the Zen 4 / Zen 5 CPUs. As for how many exactly will be getting them, it’s unknown at this point in time, but there is a likely chance it might just be a single processor yet again.
For now, the AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPUs will be launching sometime later in 2022, and it comes with a new socket so users will have to buy a new motherboard to go along with it. It might be wiser to wait for the new CPU with 3D V-Cache instead unless you’re in dire need of an upgrade.
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Pokdepinion: I think I might be playing a little too much games because the first thing that came to mind when I saw that was Fortnite V-Bucks. Then again, I might just have a microtransaction addiction problem, we’ll see.
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As you may know by now, Microsoft has acquire Bethesda for a large sum of money in an effort to bolster their 1st party games offering. Given the situation, many gamers expect Sony Interactive Entertainment to fire back with something major. Could Konami be that ace in the hole to fortify their PS5 games offering? Let’s find out.
Could Sony Be Looking to Acquire Konami to Bolster PS5 Offerings?

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With the news of Bethesda’s acquisition sending shockwaves throughout the games industry, many PlayStation fans are calling Sony Interactive Entertainment out to do something just as big, if not bigger. One of the top suggestions by fans that trended worldwide on Twitter is the potential acquisition of Japanese game publisher Konami.
This may seem unlikely and more of a fan’s dream than anything else, but we have come close it before. Previously rumours have surfaced from an alleged Konami employee on 4chan, who divulged that Sony Interactive Entertainment is interested in purchasing a number of the publisher’s IPs. This includes Metal Gear, Castlevania, and Silent Hill. Even if it doesn’t actually happen, it doesn’t mean that Sony can’t propose an exclusivity deal with the publisher.
One of the more recent, yet persistent, rumours that have been circulating is an alleged deal to develop a Silent Hill game exclusively for the PS5. It is said to be in development over at Sony’s Japan Studio and will be announced later this year. Unfortunately, there is no concrete evidence just yet so it might not necessarily be true. With that being said however, there’s no harm in waiting, and it could develop into something bigger between the two companies.
We know that Sony Interactive Entertainment still has plans to acquire more gaming companies, but it’s uncertain whether it will be on a similar scale as Microsoft’s move to acquire Bethesda. If there are already a solid amount of games coming to the PS5, they don’t really need a major acquisition. For now, the momentum appears to be on the Xbox Series X, at least seemingly.
We will be reporting more on this as soon as information becomes available so stay tuned.
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Pokdepinion: If the acquisition happens, it’s gonna be pretty huge. I just hope whatever company they plan to buy over, it will be just as big.
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