Lexar Unveils ARES RGB DDR5 Modules, Q2 2023 Launch

Two memory speeds will be offered with both XMP 3.0 and EXPO support.

Lexar has announced its new ARES RGB DDR5 memory modules, with two 2x 16GB (32GB kit) variants. Featuring both DDR5-5600 CL32 and DDR5-6000 CL34, it’s among the more performant modules with fairly tight timings.

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The modules supports both Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD EXPO for overclocked memory profiles (operating at 1.2V for DDR5-5600 and 1.3V for DDR5-6000), on top of it is the aluminum heatsink with RGB lighting that supports “popular motherboard RGB sync technologies”.
The ARES RGB DDR5 comes with limited lifetime warranty – as for the launch, the company says the product will begin shipping to resellers in the APAC (Asia Pacific) regions in Q2 2023. No local pricing has been announced so far, so stay tuned for updates.
Pokdepinion: The timings are quite aggressive already in stock form, should be a pretty solid module.
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This is How the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is Integrating the S Pen

As many of you may know by now, the S Pen feature is expected to be included in more devices outside of the Galaxy Note series. The earliest we’ll get to see will be the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. However, it’s not expected to have a dedicated slot for it. Now, we have a solid idea on how it will be integrated into the upcoming flagship smartphone.
How the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is Integrating the S Pen

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The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra will have S Pen support but rather than have it from the start, it’s more of an add-on for the device. It will not be included inside the box for the retail package, and the smartphone itself will not have a dedicated slot for it.
If you want to get the S Pen for the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, it will be a separate purchase. Furthermore, you can get it bundled with the new S View Flip Cover which includes a slot to house the stylus. As it needs to have space for it, the S View Flip Cover will be slightly wider than before and it will be capable of charging it as well.
This means that the S Pen will not be a passive stylus and retain its remote functions via Bluetooth connectivity. That way, you can use it as a remote shutter and wirelessly navigate through the device using gestures.

What’s interesting here is that this S Pen isn’t the same one as from the Galaxy Note series but instead, be more akin to the one found on the Galaxy Tab S7+. This means it’s noticeably bigger and it should be easier to hold as well. However, it will not have that clicky part on top, which is used to lock it in place in the slot.
For now, we are aware that the S Pen will be priced at €40 but no word on how much it will be when bundled with the case. We can expect to hear more from this in the upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event on 14th January 2021.
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Pokdepinion: I do prefer this S Pen more honestly given how much easier it is to hold and use. Can’t wait to give it a try.
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Latest iPhone 15 Series Leak Reveals Dynamic Island Cutout and Thinner Bezels

With the upcoming launch of the iPhone 15 series, rumors and leaks surrounding the new phones are reaching a fever pitch. The latest addition to the leaks shows the front glass panels for all three upcoming models – the iPhone 15, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max.
What to Expect from the Dynamic Island Cutout on the iPhone 15 Series
Picture credits: GSMArena
One noticeable feature is the Dynamic Island pill-shaped cutout for the selfie cam and FaceID sensors that all three models have in common. However, the Pro models have significantly slimmer bezels compared to the regular iPhone 15, which is speculated to be reusing the panels from the 14 Pro series.
Chinese blogs have been circulating information about the panels for the Pro models, which reportedly have a new 2.5D arc edge processing with an increased curvature. While all four new iPhone models will still have flat screens, the thinner and curved borders are expected to make the screen protector application process slightly more difficult on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max.

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Picture credits: GSMArena
According to speculation, the length and width of the frame borders on the Pro models are reduced by about 0.5mm, contributing to the thinner and sleeker design. This is just one of the many updates and improvements we can expect from the iPhone 15 series, which is set to make waves in the smartphone market.
Apple has yet to officially release any details or confirm any of the rumors and leaks, so it’s important to take these reports with a grain of salt. However, with the expected release date just a few months away, we can anticipate even more exciting news and leaks in the coming weeks. We will report more on this as soon as information becomes available so stay tuned for updates on the latest features and designs for the iPhone 15 series.
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Pokdepinion: Now that the non-Pro versions are getting rid of the notch, the feature will move to the mainstream. About time too since that design for the display is way too outdated at this point. Can’t wait to see what Apple will be bringing to the table this year, apart from the highly anticipated USB-C implementation that everyone is talking about.
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Techland Reveals More About Dying Light 2 Details

Techland’s Dying Light 2 has yet to have a specific release date. If you can’t wait for the game to come out, well the game’s developer has shed some light into what you can expect in the game.
Dying Light 2 Ask Me Anything video

The studio has recently released a new “Ask Me Anything” video where they try to answer questions from fans around the world about the game, which has given several details on the title.
In the video, several developers of the game took part in answering questions from the Dying Light 2 community, where it involves about the game’s world, characters, as well as the story itself.

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Techland has confirmed that the game will take place a couple of years after the events of the original Dying Light title. With that in mind, gamers shouldn’t expect to see characters from the previous title to appear in it.
Players will have to make decisions that will shape up the main character, Aiden. Aside from that, they’ve revealed that there will be three factions in the game; Peacekeepers, Survivors, and Renegades. For the Peacekeepers, they act as the military group that aims to get rid of the zombies. Survivors are… well survivors. As for the Renegades, they are seen as the bad guys and will do anything to get what they want.
Previously it was revealed that the game will be featuring a map that’s four times bigger than the original game. You can read more on that right here.
Despite the fact that Dying Light 2 hasn’t got any official release date, it is expected to release this year in 2021. Once the game comes out, it will be available to play on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One.
For more on the latest tech and gaming news plus reviews, stay tuned to Pokde.net.
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Pokdepinion: Though I can’t wait for the game, I guess it’s better for them to get everything ready and ensure that it’s well polished. Hopefully we’ll be able to enjoy the game without any issues and be as good or even better than the original title.
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Cooler Master Releases The MP750 Soft RGB Mousepad

Cooler Master has today officially release their first soft RGB mousepad, the MP750 which is now available in stores.

The Cooler Master MP750 comes with three different sizes and they also offer water resistance.

Its water repellent coating on the mat and RGB beam prevent splash damage. As you can see, the sides of the mousepad is stitched, so you can be assured of a no fray mousepad.

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There’s a button just on top which allows you to switch color schemes and lighting modes. To further customize, you can also use Cooler Master’s software suite.

Now available, you can get the MP750 M at RM109, MP750 L at RM149, and finally the MP750 XL at RM179.
At the moment we are reviewing the mousepad as we speak. So stay tuned for that.
Pokdepinion: I’m using it currently and if you’re a fan of soft surfaces with the added luxury of RGB, it’s definitely an option :D
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PS Plus Asia July 2020 FREE Games Lineup – Pretty Stellar Lineup

After a relatively disappointing lineup back in May, PlayStation has continued their strong rebound of sorts beginning from last month’s line up with an equally strong official PS Plus Asia July 2020 free games lineup. Check it out below!

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NBA 2K20
NBA 2K has evolved into much more than a basketball simulation. 2K continues to redefine what’s possible in sports gaming with NBA 2K20, featuring best in class graphics & gameplay, ground breaking game modes, and unparalleled player control and customization. Plus, with its immersive open-world Neighborhood, NBA 2K20 is a platform for gamers and ballers to come together and create what’s next in basketball culture.

Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration
Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration includes the critically acclaimed Rise of the Tomb Raider, nominated for over 75 “Best Of” awards, in which Lara Croft becomes more than a survivor as she embarks on her first Tomb Raiding expedition to the most treacherous and remote regions of Siberia.
Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration also includes the new “Blood Ties” single player content, VR support, new Co-op play for Endurance mode, “Ultimate Survivor” difficulty mode for the main campaign, 20 Year Celebration outfit and gun & 5 classic Lara skins. Also includes all previously released Downloadable Content including: Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch, Endurance Mode, Cold Darkness Awakened, 12 outfits, 7 weapons, and 35 expedition cards. With over 50 hours of gameplay, this is the most comprehensive version of the award-winning experience.

Erica
Immerse yourself in an interactive live-action thriller which puts you at the heart of the mystery.
•Delve into Erica’s past as you piece together the shocking truth behind her father’s death.
•Face the consequences of your actions as you influence how the narrative unfolds and arrive at multiple alternative endings.
•Reach into the world by interacting with clues using your DUALSHOCK®4 wireless controller or the Erica app for iOS and Android.

PS Plus Asia July 2020 Availability
The PS Plus Asia July 2020 games lineup will officially be available to download starting from 7 July 2020 to 3 August 2020. If you haven’t gotten around to downloading June’s PS Plus games, then you have about a week to do so.
Pokdepinion: I gotta say that the PS Plus Asia July 2020 lineup of games is a pretty good lineup. I don’t really play NBA games but I know a few people who really do and Rise of the Tomb Raider is a huge thrill ride. Honestly though, the game that has got me most excited about is surprisingly Erica. I’ve never played it but I’ve heard good things about it.
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AMD A9 9820 benchmarks see it outperforming a Core i5-7400

The AMD A9 APUs were probably outshined by their more recent counterparts, but it seems like AMD still has a few up their sleeves. The AMD A9 9820 was spotted in the new Chuwi AeroBox Mini PC as well as an ViewPaker AIO desktop PC. ViewPaker also served up some benchmarks on Weibo, which shows it handily giving the Core i5-7400 a beatdown. Interestingly, the processor is not listed on AMD’s website yet.

When I said it outperformed the Core i5-7400, it wasn’t in the GPU department. That would probably be a no-brainer for any AMD APU at this point. It’s the AMD A9 9820’s multi-core score of 418.9 in CPU-Z’s benchmark, besting the Intel chip’s 394 points. The single-core performance is abysmal though at just 50.8 points, owing to its extremely low 2.35 GHz max clocks. For reference, my Core i7-4770K clocked at 4.2 GHz does in excess of 158 points in the single-threaded test. The AMD A9 9820 does have eight cores though, thus giving it an advantage in the multi-threaded run.

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The AMD A9 9820’s Radeon R7 350 graphics running at up to 985 MHz is also capable of pulling some weight, with it delivering sufficient performance to handle League of Legends at maximum graphics at 1080p at around 55 fps. Overall it does seem like a pretty interesting little APU from AMD.

It probably isn’t based on the AMD Zen CPU architecture, as it still runs on DDR3. That probably makes the performance figures all the more impressive, being based on an older platform and all that. What’s probably less enticing is the TDP. I am not sure if it was a typo on ViewPaker’s end, but the banner they made lists a TDP of 135W, which does seem quite improbable considering the designs that are featuring the AMD A9 9820. I am willing to wager it’s actually 35W… Which once again is very impressive for an 8-core part, albeit one that only runs up to 2.35 GHz.
Pokdepinion: The designs integrating the AMD A9 9820 do seem pretty interesting for someone looking for a compact and low power system… Not sure how much they cost though. If they cost too much then it would just make more sense to get an AMD Ryzen APU and slap it into an ITX build.
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Doogee Y300, premium yet affordable!

Doogee has just introduced their latest mid-range smartphone to the Malaysian market, the Doogee Y300 which costs a mere RM599, but sports a premium look that can trade punches with flagships.

The Doogee Y300 sports two 2.5D Corning Gorilla glass panels on both its front and back, with an aluminium frame. The whole package measures only 6.7mm thin and weighs 145 g.

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A 5″ IPS display pushing a 720p resolution dominates the front. Thanks to the minimal bezels, the Doogee Y300 has a 80% screen-to-body ratio, which is among the highest in its price range.

The Doogee Y300 runs the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow, with a customized UI by Doogee. A 1.3 GHz Mediatek MT6735 which feature four Cortex-A53 cores beats away under the hood, mated to 2GB of RAM. These specifications should be capable of offering sufficient performance for web browsing and some light gaming. For media storage, the Doogee Y300 comes with 32GB of internal memory, which is expandable via microSD.

Speaking about media storage, the 13MP Sony IMX219 rear camera offers sharp and detailed images according to Doogee. Battery life should be rather decent with the non-removable 2200 mAh battery. It offers dual SIM 4G LTE support too, and offers WiFi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity.

Pokdepinion: The Doogee Y300 looks like a decent budget smartphone, especially if you like the design, like I do.
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Edifier P293 in-ear Earphones Review – Pleasuring Both Your Ears and Your Wallet

Earphones are becoming more and more omnipresent in today’s world, almost becoming as important as smartphones themselves. Which is why Apple’s ‘courageous’ decision to remove the earphone jack became such a hot topic last year. Earphones have evolved from simply being listening devices, you can use them to make phone calls, watch movies and it can even become makeshift remotes. Heck, some people use earphones to prevent other people from talking to them. Now that’s some power!
Now here with me is the P293 in-ear earphones from Edifier, a budget pair of earphones that should please the ears as well as your wallet. Is it actually good? Read on to find out folks.
Unboxing

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The Edifier P293 I have here comes in a small, very simple and very green box with graphics striking enough to catch your attention I hate it when some companies overload their boxes with ungodly colours and bizarre graphics that sometimes make you feel like you just came out of a date with Tommy Chong.

The back of the box also showcases the simple design as the front and the Edifier P293’s specifications.

Here’s everything out of the box. I have to say that Edifier is quite generous here as they have provided a very nice carrying pouch, different sized replacement earbuds, a wire clip and a separate 4-pole connector for you audiophiles out there. Oh and a user manual.
Appearance

The angled placement of the ear plug design on the P293 makes for a very comfortable wear without your ears feeling pressured with prolonged use.

The Edifier P293 uses a 1.2m flat noodle-like cord with zip cord type contraption. Useful for those who lead an active lifestyle, less chance for the earphones to pop out while you’re out and about doing stuff.

The Edifier P293 has a built-in mic with a button that you can click to answer calls and control your music.
Specifications

User Experience
As I mentioned before, the Edifier P293 is a very comfortable pair of earphones to use. The angled design makes the earphones easier to stay in your ears without annoyingly popping off when you accidentally turn your head in a different direction. The Edifier P293 is probably the only pair of earphones I’ve used that managed to stay firmly in my ears when I sleep, considering how I regularly toss and turn violently in my sleep as if I’m in a rocking boat. Also, when the ear plugs are placed just right you can pretty much enjoy your music without external sounds bleeding through to ruin your experience.

The sound quality of the Edifier P293 is fantastic. The 10mm ‘MEGABASS’ driver really does it’s job amazingly well considering this thing’s price-point. It’s mind-boggling how Edifier can continue making superior products like these without the need to torture your poor wallet.
The in-built microphone also does its job well. The placement of the mic is just right and voice calls are great and clear. The in-built mic also comes with button underneath which you can use to pause and play your music. You can also skip tracks by double pressing the button.
Conclusion

I don’t really have many bad things to say about the P293. Edifier is clearly a master at making bang-for-your-buck products and this is no exception. The sound is amazing and it’s so comfortable too use. If you’re looking for a good pair of earphones and you’re not willing to spend a lot this is definitely the one for you. With a retail price of RM99 this is well worth the buy.

You can also get the Edifier P293 for a cool 20 bucks cheaper if you check out Harvey Norman’s website. Don’t thank me, readers. I’m always happy to help get you cheaper prices.
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Lenovo Mid-Year Sale Now Available on Lenovo.com

Lenovo is providing fellow customers with a variety of exclusive bundles and deals in its Mid-Year Sale on Lenovo.com, between now and 30 June. The sale will feature incredible offers and big reductions of up to 57% off selected devices.
Customers may expect daily 24-hour flash offers during the sale period to add to the excitement. Products such as the ThinkPad T14 are available at a promotional price of RM5,139 which was originally priced at RM7,379 and the ThinkPad L13 Yoga Gen 2 at RM5,469, previously priced at RM7,859. Every week, shoppers should keep an eye out for alerts on Lenovo’s Facebook page for expensive flash deals and each flash sale is only valid for three units per model.
LenovoPRO customers will receive even more rewards during this sale and top purchasers on the official website throughout the Mid-Year Sale period will be eligible to win their Products and Services worth up to RM18,888. LenovoPRO members can also take advantage of 30-day product guarantees and exclusive financing options such as trade-in, free installments, and Device as a Service (DaaS).

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You may sign up for LenovoPRO for free and receive welcome goodies by visiting their website here.
Lenovo Products on Sales
ThinkPad X1 Fold
The ThinkPad X1 Fold, the winner of 43 CES awards, is the world’s first foldable computer. Users can enjoy a split-screen experience or one large display, augmented with a pen, keyboard, or fingers. The device offers whatever busy day the user goes through, thanks to the Windows 11 Pro and Intel Core processors with Intel Hybrid Technology.
The starting price of the ThinkPad X1 is RM6,379 which was previously RM14,759.00. Buyers can pay an additional RM714.80 for three-year of accidental damage protection.
Yoga Slim 7i

The Yoga Slim 7i laptop was co-engineered with Intel and uses Intel Evo for the ideal combination of performance, responsiveness, battery life, and visuals. It’s designed to help the user make the most of every day by combining totally immersive entertainment and a variety of smart features.
The starting price of the Yoga Slim 7i is RM4,259 which was formerly RM5,109. Customers can add RM597 for a three-year premium warranty.
ThinkPad T14

The ThinkPad T14 Gen 2, 14″ Intel-powered laptop can allow users to work and play as it features 11th Gen Intel Core CPUs and NVIDIA graphics. The Wi-Fi 6E connects you to the internet faster and more reliably than ever before. In addition, time-saving features such as a touch fingerprint reader, Modern Standby, and Wake on Voice make the user’s workflow more convenient and simple.
The daily 24-hour flash sale begins at RM5,139 which was previously RM7,379. Buyers can pay RM179.50 for one year of Premier Onsite Support.
ThinkPad L13 Yoga Gen 2

The 13.3″ ThinkPad L13 Yoga 2-in-1 laptop’s second version features the 11th Gen Intel performance and graphics. This device supports the user’s work style, whether working remotely, on the go, or in an office, thanks to its 360-degree hinge. This device, which includes an optional integrated, rechargeable pen, allows the user to take notes or doodle when they don’t want to type.
The daily 24-hour flash sale starts at RM5,469, formerly RM7,859. Customers can top up RM163.95 for a year of Smart Software as a Service.
If you are interested in the Mid-Year Sale offers and promotions, feel free to visit the company’s exclusive online store by clicking the link here. All offers are only available while stocks last.
Pokdepinion: Quick grab your Lenovo device today! To those who are working remotely or on the go, the products on sale sure do look promising, and with those discounts, I rather not miss them!
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HyperX Cloud III Unveiled at COMPUTEX 2023, And It’s Coming to Malaysia

HyperX has announced the highly anticipated HyperX Cloud III Gaming Headset at COMPUTEX 2023. Designed to provide gamers with ultimate comfort and an immersive in-game audio experience, the Cloud III gaming headset features re-engineered 53mm angled drivers and lifetime activation of DTS Headphone:X1 for precise 3D audio spatialization.
HyperX Cloud III

Building on the success of the Cloud II, HyperX has taken every aspect of the product to the next level, making it the most comfortable and superior sounding gaming headset on the market. It builds upon HyperX’s legacy of comfort and attention to detail. It features re-engineered 53mm angled drivers and DTS Headphone:X1 technology for an immersive and accurate 3D audio experience.

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The headset has been custom-tuned by HyperX’s acoustic engineering team to deliver optimal sound and precision. With plush memory foam ear cushions and extra padding in the headband, the HyperX Cloud III is designed for extended gaming sessions. It includes an ultra-clear 10mm microphone with noise-cancellation and an internal metal mesh pop filter to minimize disruptive noise.

The headset also offers simple onboard audio and mic controls and is compatible with PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices. It features 3.5mm, USB-C, and USB-A connectors and comes with a slim US adapter that provides both USB-C and USB-A connectivity.

In addition to the HyperX Cloud III Gaming Headset, they also introduced the HyperX Cirro Buds Pro True Wireless earbuds, designed to deliver an enhanced listening experience with utmost comfort. It provides precision noise canceling with hybrid active noise cancellation technology, ensuring clear sound quality. These earbuds also offer an ambient sound mode, allowing users to stay connected to their surroundings, as well as low-latency audio connectivity for mobile gaming.
With Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, they provide wireless freedom and come with an IPX4 water-resistant rating3 for durability. The protective charging case can fully charge the earbuds in just 40 minutes. The Cirro Buds Pro come with three sets of ear tips for a personalized and secure fit and offer up to 35 hours of battery life. They are available in black, blue, and tan color options.

The HyperX Cloud III Gaming Headset will be available on June 6th with a retail price of RM399. No word yet on whether the Cirro Buds Pro will be making its way to Malaysia but we will be reporting on it as soon as information becomes available so stay tuned.
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Pokdepinion: The new iteration of the headset brings a host of improvements in comfort and durability, but it’s hard to say much about the audio quality based on the limited time I had with it. If we get one for review, you can be sure that we will go more in-depth about it so stay tuned.
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Redmi K30 5G Racing Edition with Snapdragon 768G available for pre-order at ~RM1223 in China

The Redmi K30 5G Racing Edition has just been launched in China. In case you missed our earlier coverage, the Redmi K30 5G Racing Edition (which was previously directly translated as the Redmi K30 5G Speed Edition) is a beefed up variant of the Redmi K30 5G, packing a faster Snapdragon 768G chipset that’s essentially an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 765G in the Redmi K30 5G.

Qualcomm’s latest mid-range chipset now has the main CPU core running at up to 2.8 GHz, up from 2.4 GHz in the Snapdragon 765G. The Adreno 620 GPU also runs at a higher 750 MHz frequency now. Qualcomm claims that the Snapdragon 768G delivers up to 15% better graphics performance than the Snapdragon 765G. The bumped up GPU performance may be to deliver a better user experience with the 120 Hz display in the Redmi K30 5G Racing Edition.

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There are essentially no other differences aside from the chipset, and the Redmi K30 5G Racing Edition is actually offered at the same price of 1999 CNY (~RM1223) as the Redmi K30 5G. Quite surprising considering the faster chipset at play here. It will only be available in one configuration though, with the Redmi K30 5G Racing Edition sporting 6GB RAM and 128GB storage.
Redmi K30 5G Racing Edition Specs

Snapdragon 768G, octa-core up to 2.8 GHz, 7nm
6GB LPDDR4x RAM
128GB UFS 2.1 storage
6.67″ 120 Hz LCD display
64MP f/1.89 + 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide + 5MP f/2.4 macro + 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor
20MP f/2.2 + 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor
4500 mAh battery, 30W fast charging
1999 CNY (~RM1223)

The Redmi K30 5G Racing Edition is currently up for pre-orders on JD.com until 14th May. Global availability is still unknown.
Pokdepinion: Come on Xiaomi, make at least one of the Redmi K30 5G variants available globally…
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NVIDIA RTX LHR BIOS v2 Unlocker reportedly enables full mining performance, but with a huge catch

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series delivered so good mining performance, that NVIDIA has to release the LHR to try and deter miners from them. After the GeForce RTX 3060’s hashrate limiter was quickly bypassed, NVIDIA released a new version… Which is apparently bested by this new NVIDIA RTX LHR BIOS v2 Unlocker.
NVIDIA RTX LHR BIOS v2 Unlocker removes LHR mining performance limiter

According to MyDrivers, the NVIDIA RTX LHR BIOS v2 Unlocker is able to achieve the full mining performance of the graphics cards. It does entail a BIOS flash and also a custom driver, that essentially means you won’t be able to use it for anything other than mining. This is definitely not meant for the gamers who want more mining performance out of their cards.

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But that’s not the only catch of the NVIDIA RTX LHR BIOS v2 Unlocker. It contains malware and can probably steal data or your processing power for malicious purposes. So do not do this, even if you are very interested to get maximum performance out of your graphics card.
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Pokdepinion: Come on guys, get the CMP cards. Stop buying up cards intended for gamers and using them for mining.
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NVIDIA Volta architecture coming in 2017?

Volta was planned for 2018, but it seems like the green camp may be pulling the rabbit out of the bag sooner than previously planned. With what should be Pascal’s architecture trump card, the new Titan X, out with no HBM2, NVIDIA will most probably release a new GPU based on the new Volta architecture, with HBM2 memory on board for 2017.

The new architecture is set to be unveiled sometime in May next year, at NVIDIA’s own GPU Technology Convention (GTC), according to Fudzilla. If this rumor is true, then Volta will be based on the TSMC 16nm FinFET process node that the current Pascal GPUs are on. Volta was previously planned to use the 10nm process in 2018, but if the launch is brought forward to 2017, TSMC will most probably be unable to deliver 10nm chips yet in the numbers NVIDIA will need to ensure a smooth supply to its fans. But there is the chance of 10nm Volta chips in 2017, as TSMC has claimed that it will be able to mass produce 10nm chips in 2016.

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There is also the possibility that the new chips that will be paired with HBM2 will be based on a second generation of the Pascal architecture, similar to what NVIDIA has done with the Fermi and Maxwell architectures – release an improved version of the architecture in the following year.

Pokdepinion: Switching to a smaller node allowed both NVIDIA and AMD to release cards with massive leaps in terms of performance-per-watt. I wonder if NVIDIA can repeat it if Volta is based on 16nm?
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Intel Core i9 9900K pricing spotted online — about RM410 more for an additional 2C/4T

The pricing for the two highest end 9th Generation Intel Core processors has just been leaked out on Silicon Lottery’s website. Well, at least the Intel Core i9 9900K and i7 9700K won’t be nearly as pricey as previously leaked. Don’t get me wrong, I still can’t afford it, but at least it is less expensive than what we expected.

The Intel Core i9 9900K was posted on Silicon Lottery’s sales page priced at $479.99 (~RM1987), while the Intel Core i7 9700K is priced at $369.99 (~RM1532). The i7 9700K’s pricing comes pretty close to the Intel Core i7 8700K’s launch pricing, making it interesting to compare between the two, as the former drops HyperThreading in exchange for two more physical cores.

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The pricier Intel Core i9 9900K’s less palatable price tag may be due to the fact that it features the same number of cores as the highest end Ryzen 7 processor available now, but clocks them much higher. That gives Intel a solid win over AMD’s latest chips, at least in terms of performance.
What do you think? Would you be getting one later?
Source: TechPowerUp
Pokdepinion: The i9 9900K seems like an interesting processor, except for the price.
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ROG Phone 2 update brings support for Kunai 3 and 90FPS in PUBG Mobile

While ASUS is relatively slow when it comes to updates, it seems that most of their updates are quality ones. The latest update for the ROG Phone 2 will add support for the newer Kunai 3 Gamepad that was launched along with the ROG Phone 3 earlier this year.
On top of supporting the newer, sleeker controller, the ROG Phone II_ZS660KL_WW_17.0240.2012.65 update will also add support for 90FPS gameplay in PUBG Mobile. As the ROG Phone II sports a 120Hz OLED display, you aren’t exactly taking full advantage of the hardware available here, but I guess 90FPS is still better than the 60FPS cap that gamers had to contend with in PUBG Mobile on the ROG Phone II.

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ASUS also added the “auto activation of lock touch function” to Game Genie where the screen will prevent accidental touches after a few minutes of inactivity. Aside from the gaming-oriented updates, the ASUS ROG Phone 2 now gets support for VOLTE on more carriers, as well as bug fixes for WhatsApp and Teams. The update also brings the latest 2020-12 Android security patch.
You can download the patch manually via this link if you want, or just wait for it to be delivered OTA. As usual, software updates are rolled out in stages, so you might get yours later than expected.
ROG Phone 2 Specs

ROG Phone II Ultimate/Elite Edition
ROG Phone II Strix Edition

CPU:
Snapdragon 855+, octa-core up to 2.96 GHz, 7nm FinFET
Snapdragon 855+, octa-core up to 2.96 GHz, 7nm FinFET

RAM:
12GB LPDDR4x
8GB LPDDR4x

Display:
6.59″ FHD+ AMOLED display, 120 Hz refresh rate 1ms response time, 10-bit HDR
6.59″ FHD+ AMOLED display, 120 Hz refresh rate 1ms response time, 10-bit HDR

Storage:
Ultimate Edition: 1TB UFS 3.0
Elite Edition: 512GB UFS 3.0
128GB UFS 3.0

Camera:
Main Camera(s)
48MP f/1.79 Sony IMX 586 + 13MP ultra-wide camera
Selfie camera
24MP f/2.0 selfie camera
Main Camera(s)
48MP f/1.79 Sony IMX 586 + 13MP ultra-wide camera
Selfie camera
24MP f/2.0 selfie camera

OS:
ROG UI (based on Android 9 Pie)
ROG UI (based on Android 9 Pie)

Connectivity:
LTE Band 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/26/28/29/32/ 34/38/39/40/41/46 /66
CA carrier aggregation LTE Cat 18 (DL up to 1.2 Gbps), 4×4 MIMO
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ad (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 60 GHz)
Dual-band GPS
Bluetooth 5.0
LTE Band 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/28/34/39/39/40/41
CA carrier aggregation LTE Cat 16 (DL up to 1.0 Gbps), 2×2 MIMO
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz)
Dual-band GPS
Bluetooth 5.0

SIM:
Dual SIM
Dual SIM

Battery:
Li-Po 6000 mAh (non-removable)
30W USB-C charging
Li-Po 6000 mAh (non-removable)
30W USB-C charging

Dimensions:
170.99 x 77.60 x 9.78 mm
170.99 x 77.60 x 9.78 mm

Weight:
240g
240g

Pokdepinion: I wonder if anyone actually purchased the Kunai 3 Gamepad to use with their ROG Phone II?
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PS Plus October 2017 Free Games for US & EU; MGS V: Phantom Pain Headlines It

The official PS Plus October 2017 free games lineup is here, and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is headlining October’s lineup. Surprising, isn’t it?
PS Plus October 2017 Free Games Lineup for US & EU

First up, we have the blockbuster hit Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain. The epic Metal Gear series picks up 9 years after the events of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and the fall of Mother Base. A surprisingly attractive headliner for the PS Plus Free Games October 2017 lineup.

Next, we have Amnesia: Collection, which contains both The Dark Descent and A Machine for Pigs. Start this one up at night with the lights off, if you’re feeling brave.

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As a reminder from what we reported earlier, That’s You! is leaving PlayStation Plus on October 24th. This crowd-pleaser PlayLink game is guaranteed to liven up any party. It could end up being the game that saves or becomes the life of the party.
Also, Sony Interactive Entertainment is celebrating PlayStation VR’s 1 year anniversary in October. To commemorate, the PlayStation Store is offering a ton of games at great discounts. Don’t forget that RIGS Mechanized Combat League is free for all PS Plus members until November 7th 2017, so download it now if you haven’t done so already.
PS Plus October 2017 Free Games:

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4)
The Amnesia: Collection (PS4)
Monster Jam Battlegrounds, PS3
Hustle Kings, PS3
Hue, PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4)
Sky Force Anniversary, PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4 & PS3)

If you want to try the new turn-based-strategy collectible card game from the makers of SMITE and Paladins, we have some good news. As a PlayStation Plus member, you’ll get access to the Hand of the Gods Closed Beta, starting October 17th 2017. Moreover, you’ll get the Hand of the Gods Plus Pack, containing a Galactic Invader Leader Skin for Ah Puch, a card back and player icon, and 5 Core Packs to get your divine deck started. This is available to all members until November 14th.
Lastly, we have two great PS Plus specials you can buy right now. Get 30% off for both Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age & Titanfall 2: Ultimate Edition, now through October 3rd 2017.
Source: PS Blog US / PS Blog EU

Pokdepinion: It’s surprising to see Metal Gear Solid V as the headlining act for the PS Plus October 2017 free games lineup. Well, that’s good news for US and EU PS Plus members. Now to wait for the Asia region lineup.
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The Wolf Among Us Season 2 Delayed – Here’s When We Can Expect It

Season 2 of Telltale Games’ popular series thus far, The Wolf Among Us, has officially been delayed. It will no longer meet the original release window that was scheduled but here is when we can expect the game to come out.
The Wolf Among Us Season 2 Delayed

As the long-awaited follow-up to one of their most acclaimed series, Telltale Games’s upcoming season season of The Wolf Among Us is one that many fans are surely looking forward to, though unfortunately the wait will be just a little longer for the premiere.

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Developer Telltale Games has announced that The Wolf Among Us: Season 2 will now be expected to debut in 2019, after previously announcing that the series’ second season would debut at some point later this year.
The studio explained that the delay “comes as the result of a few fundamental changes here at Telltale since we first announced the game last summer,” which could be referring to the studio’s recent restructuring that occurred late last year.
Telltale also added that the studio is also committing to “exploring new ways to tell our stories,” and explained that “taking this extra time will allow us not only to focus on quality but also to experiment and iterate in order to craft something truly special.”
While the delay is sure to disappoint plenty of fans who have been anticipating Season 2 of the series for quite some time, the developers explained that “these extra months will give us the time we need to do our best work,” and added that the team is “extremely enthusiastic about how the game is progressing so far.” More news on the game can be expected “later this year,” according to Telltale.
The Wolf Among Us: Season 2 is currently in development and expected to debut sometime in 2019. As for the platforms, it has not been mentioned yet.
Source: Telltale Games Official Blog Post
Pokdepinion: The Wolf Among Us is my top 3 favourite Telltale Games, alongside Tales from the Borderlands and The Walking Dead. I have no problems with the delay, but I’m hoping the story will not be disappointing like Season 3 of Telltale’s The Walking Dead.
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Chuwi Releases CoreBook Pro; New 2K Resolution High Productivity Laptop

Chuwi has just released a brand new laptop called the Chuwi CoreBook Pro. The CoreBook Pro is designed to be high productivity laptop with emphasis on its screen and comprehensive hardware. It is a great companion for the office, learning in school or at home.

The CoreBook Pro features a 13-inch 2K resolution IPS panel and a full-screen nearly bezel-less design with a 3:2 aspect ratio. The given aspect ratio is more suitable for productivity and can display more content than an average 16:9 screen found on other laptops. This eliminates the need to frequently turn pages and slide the scroll wheel, therefore you will be able to work and study more efficiently.

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Furthermore, the Chuwi CoreBook Pro features an Intel Core i3 processor, Intel Iris 550 graphics, 8GB DDR4 RAM, and 256GB high-speed SSD storage. Chuwi says that multi-task switching on the CoreBook Pro is smooth without waiting, which greatly improves use efficiency. You can check out a more comprehensive specifications list down below.
Chuwi CoreBook Pro Specifications

CPU
Intel Core i3-6157U, 2C4T

RAM
8GB DDR4 2133MHZ

GPU
Intel Iris Graphics 550, up to 1GHz

Storage
256GB SATA-based SSD (M.2 2280)

Software
Windows 10 Home 1909

Connectivity
2.4GHz\5GHz, 802.11a/ac/b/g/n Wi-Fi Networking
Bluetooth 4.2
Full-featured USB-C
USB3.0
3.5mm Audio Jack
Micro SD Card Reader

Display
13”IPS, 2160*1440 (3:2), 2K HD, IPS Display

Power
20V2A DC

Dimensions
289 x 219 x 17.75(H) mm

Weight
1340g

The Chuwi CoreBook Pro is available now at a special launch price of $499 until 28 July on their official website. In addition to that , Chuwi is giving away a $100 coupon to use upon purchase when  you subscribe with your email address. You can also get a high-quality computer bag if you purchase the CoreBook Pro during the promo period. Moreover, Chuwi says that consignment (DHL) will begin on July 28 when the promo ends. The product will be sent out to you as soon as possible. In case you’re wondering, shipping is FREE!

Pokdepinion: Hmm this looks to be an interesting laptop. Great for students or for those who want a laptop for work without breaking the bank.
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Red iPhone 7 and 7 Plus now available, contribute towards the fight against AIDS

If you were always hoping Apple released a crimson version of their iPhone, they have finally introduced the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition. What’s even better than the bright red finishing is that with every purchase, you will be contributing to the Global Fund, bringing the world a step closer to the eradication of AIDS.

The red iPhones will feature white bezels to complement the vibrant red anodized aluminium finish on its back. The smartphones join the existing (PRODUCT)RED lineup from Apple, including red Beats audio equipment, red iPods and also red cases for their smart devices.

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The iPhone (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition smartphones commemorates more than 10 years of partnership between Apple and (RED), during which Apple and their customers have aided in the fight against AIDS. Apple has donated more than $130 million, being the largest corporate donor to the Global Fund.

The (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition iPhones will be available in 128GB and 256GB capacities only. The iPhone 7 in red will go for RM3699 and RM4199 for the 128GB and 256GB variants respectively, while the larger iPhone 7 Plus (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition will cost RM4299 for the 128GB variant, with the 256GB version priced at RM4799. The device will be available for purchase on 24th March, but will ship at a later date.
Pokdepinion: I can’t see a better reason to get a red smartphone. I already like the color red, and the fact that I am contributing to a good cause makes me feel fuzzy inside. Apple is also not charging extra for these special edition iPhones, which is nice to see.
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ROG Crosshair VIII Impact breaks DDR4 world record at 6024 MHz with Ballistix RAM

The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact motherboard has scored yet another overclocking victory, breaking the world record in DDR4 overclocking. While AMD Ryzen processors started off on the wrong foot with RAM compatibility issues and generally limited RAM overclocking potential, the 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen processors are definitely here to change that.
The RAM overclocking record was broken with a Ryzen 5 3600X installed on the ROG Crosshair VIII Impact. The RAM used for this impressive overclocking endeavor was a single stick of Ballistix Elite 8GB DDR4-4000 memory. All the hardware were put under LN2.
Elsa was here.
It isn’t all that surprising that the ROG Crosshair VIII Impact would be the board of choice for this sort of challenge, considering that it sports a 1 DIMM per channel layout which is generally considered preferable when it comes to RAM overclocking.

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This isn’t Ballistix’s first rodeo either, with two prior records for 5758.8 MHz and 5726 MHz. Those two blazingly fast run were also done on ASUS ROG boards, namely the ROG Maximus XI Apex, featuring the Intel i7 8086K and Ballistix Elite DDR4-3600.
Pokdepinion: I need me some new RAMs.
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Hideo Kojima Potentially Teasing Major Announcement

Image source: The New Yorker

There has been quite a bit of discussion happening on Reddit and Twitter as Hideo Kojima appears to be teasing a major announcement. What exactly is going? Let’s dive into it.
Hideo Kojima Teasing Announcement?

Good morning pic.twitter.com/ndFvHKnVco
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) August 10, 2021

Recently, users on Reddit have started discussing about Hideo Kojima and his good morning recent tweets. It appears to be pointing towards a potential major announcement happening on 19th August 2021, based on the different time displayed in the tweet.

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It appears that with every tweet, the time displayed seems to be getting earlier by an hour. He did skip seemingly skip out on tweeting the same thing on 11th August but when it resumed on 12th, the hour skipped accordingly, which definitely indicated a countdown pattern.
It’s worth noting the more recent good morning tweets include songs by Mone Kamishiraishi, a singer and actress who voiced Mitsuha Miyamizu from Your Name, the popular anime movie directed by Makoto Shinkai.
The reason why it’s worth pointing that out is because Kojima Productions does have at least a few projects in the pipeline, and they’re not all game-related. For the game-related ones, the Silent Hill franchise appears to be a popular rumor, especially with many fans theorizing that the “54” in the good morning tweets could stand for “sh”, the initials for the popular series.
For now, there’s nothing solid to go on this. We know that Hideo Kojima still has interest in producing horror games but he has since denied having the rights to developing a new Silent Hill game. We will just have to wait until 19th August 2021 to find out if there’s anything noteworthy from him or not.
Source
Pokdepinion: I honestly have zero clue what type of announcement this could be. I hope it’s a brand new project of some kind, even if it’s not game-related.
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Splitgate: Arena Warfare Review

Splitgate: Arena Warfare Review
What is Splitgate: Arena Warfare About?

Splitgate: Arena Warfare is a fast-paced multiplayer online first-person shooter developed by 1047 Games studio. What makes the game unique is its concept of integrating portals, similar to Valve’s Portal series, into a futuristic multiplayer shooter. How it works is that gamers can generate two portals to instantly leap between two areas instantaneously.
For example, if a player sets the first portal at the basement area of a map and then places a second portal on the highest point of the map, he can then move between those two places using the portals while it is active. This, together with its futuristic warfare theme, is the reason why the developers describe the game as a mixture between Microsoft’s Halo and Valve’s Portal.

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While the game does have a levelling system, it only rewards players with cosmetics and doesn’t affect the primary gameplay experience. Every gamer will start out with the same equipment and the same amount of health points every round. There can be up to 10 players in a single round which can be played either with two teams going against each other or in a free-for-all style mode.
Relive the Glory Shooters of Yesteryear

If you have seen or even experienced a bit of the game yourself, then chances are that you’ve probably thought of a number of games similar to Splitgate. The most obvious one aside from Halo and Portal would be Unreal Tournament as the game modes and styles are very similar, especially for inter-team combat modes.
There are a number of games modes for you to enjoy and it’s mostly the type that you’ve seen in other multiplayer shooters. You have Free-for-All, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Domination, King of the Hill, and SWAT (headshots only). But of course, you also have game modes that are quite unique to the game itself.

Oddball mode will have two teams going against each other to pick up a disco ball. The player who picks up the disco ball will earn points for their team over time at the expense of being defenceless. Teabag Confirmed will see two teams going against each other to collect emblems which will appear upon subduing an enemy player. To collect them, you have to crouch on them in a “teabag” motion.
All of this sounds very simply but it does give the game a good amount of variety to enjoy instantly. Most other online multiplayer shooters will be so limited in variety that the game gets stale way too fast. The downside here is that competitive play is limited to only Free-for-All, Team Deathmatch, and Domination. Moreover, you don’t get to choose which mode to play as you’ll have to let the game decide it for you automatically.

One big limitation on the game’s entertainment factor is the player limit for each game. Generally, you’ll only see about 8 players per game. Having a lot more players in each game, perhaps 20 to 40 people even, would make the game extra chaotic and a lot more entertaining. Having so few gamers in each round can make the game feel rather stunted after a while.
Everyone Starts Off the Same

In every single game regardless of the map and mode, everyone will start off with an Assault Rifle as a primary weapon, a Pistol as a secondary weapon, and the same set number of health points. It’s a decent weapon but definitely far from being the most effective tool. You can find a variety of weapons in specific locations of the map which will spawn over time. If you don’t find it, someone has most likely taken it recently.
You can then either hunt the specific player down, assuming its an enemy, and gun him down to take his weapon or wait for a new one to spawn after a period of time. The weapons you can find are SMG, Shotgun, Rocket Launcher, Sniper Rifle, Battle Rifle, Rail Gun, and Plasma Rifle. The more powerful weapons usually have very limited ammo, so it’s best to not just fire around without care.

I personally like the weapon variety here as it can easily fit a variety of playstyles commonly found in shooters. Given the fast-paced nature of the game, there isn’t much time to be stealthy or strategic either. Arguably the best weapon in the game is the shotgun. While the range is limited and ammo is scarce, you can easily subdue enemies in one shot without the need to be too close to enemies.
As for playable maps, there are only eight of them which vary in size. The maps aren’t vastly different from one another and it may seem too little to enjoy. However, given the game’s emphasis on portals, map knowledge is very critical to success, and having too many maps at first would overwhelm gamers. What I do hope is that there will be a decent amount of map additions coming within a month or two.
Splitgate: Arena Warfare Verdict

Splitgate: Arena Warfare is quite a fun game to play with friends. It’s most likely not something you’d enjoy if you were to play with random gamers online. The portal concept can feel a bit disorienting at first, and you may even not use it as often, but when you’ve gotten a better grasp on its application in combat, you’ll find yourself enjoying the game a lot more than before.
The game has a decent amount of variety but it definitely needs more, particularly content that is unique to the game itself, if they want to maintain relevance in the industry. Despite that, it’s quite hard to complain much since the game is surprisingly light on computing resources and the fact that the game is completely free on Steam for PC gamers. With that, I award Splitgate: Arena Warfare with our Silver Pokdeward.

Click right here to head to the game page.
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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti rumored for mid-April launch at $999

A beefier version of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 has been rumored for quite some time already. In fact, just after the initial launch of the GeForce RTX 3080, there has been rumors of the GeForce RTX 3080 20GB floating around. However the latest rumors have been more consistently pointing towards a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti with 12GB VRAM instead.
The rumors are pointing towards a mid-April launch, which is about a month’s time from now. The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is slated to be offered at $999 (~RM4112), which will put it in direct competition against AMD’s flagship Radeon RX 6900 XT.
Aside from offering more memory than the GeForce RTX 3080, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is reportedly going to arrive with an 80 SM GPU with 10240 CUDA Cores, which is 12 SMs more than the GeForce RTX 3080. It is also a mere 2 SMs less than the NVIDIA BFGPU, the GeForce RTX 3090.

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The memory bus width of the RTX 3080 Ti will be the same as the GeForce RTX 3090, at 384-bit, a step up from the 320-bit memory bus that the GeForce RTX 3080 touts. This makes the GeForce RTX 3090 seem like an even worse deal at $1499 (~RM6171) than it was previously, except to the people who need the huge 24GB frame buffer.

It does remain to be seen how much better the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will perform versus the more affordable GeForce RTX 3080 though. Even though the gap between the GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090 is rather wide with a 1792 CUDA cores gap, the performance delta is only around 15% on average.
Slashing down the memory to 12GB should allow NVIDIA to make more of them than if they decided to go with 20GB VRAM. GDDR6X memory production is reportedly one of the bottlenecks that limited the availability of the GeForce RTX 3080 cards.

While adding another SKU will probably not make the GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 easier to get, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti might be less enticing to miners as NVIDIA is reportedly going to add a hashrate limiter to their upcoming card. With a launch set for April, I do hope that NVIDIA is able to churn out enough cards to satisfy gamers’ demand for an upgrade.
Source
Pokdepinion: I think that this might cause some GeForce RTX 3090 users to have buyer’s remorse…
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Going Back For Christmas? Here’s How To Make Your Drive More Festive With Waze

Tis the season to be jolly with Waze

The holidays are here again which means that the Christmas fever is in full swing for most people which of course includes me. I’ve always loved festive seasons, be it the Hari Raya season, Chinese New Year or Christmas seasons. For me the season I enjoy the most (next to the Hari raya season) is definitely the Christmas season as I had grown up listening to many Christmas songs from legendary singers like Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra as well Mariah Carey. Of course the Home Alone movies starring the always recognisable Macaulay Caulkin.

However with every festive season there will always be some headaches along the way especially when it comes to traffic. One can only hope for a legit Christmas miracle to expect the traffic to go all smooth and hunky-dory. To help avoid the expected murderous traffic or at least something to help ease the pain of staring at countless tail lights for hours, here are a few tips for all you Malaysian drivers out there.

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Tip No.1: Choose non-peak hours to travel
According to Waze, they predict that the traffic will start to get worse this coming Friday (22nd December 2017) between 1PM to 3PM. Their prediction is based on their travel statistics from 2016. Here’s a little table of the worst times to drive nationally during this festive season:

DAY & DATE
TIME

Fri Dec-22 (The Worst Day to Travel)
1PM – 3PM

Sat Dec-23
5PM – 7PM

Sun Dec-24
12PM – 2PM

Mon Dec-25
12PM – 2PM

Tue Dec-26
2PM – 4PM

Wed Dec-27
1PM – 3PM

Thu Dec-28
1PM – 3PM

Fri Dec-29
12PM – 2PM

Sat Dec-30
3PM – 5PM

Sun Dec-31
12PM – 2PM

Mon Jan-1
12PM – 2PM

Tue Jan-2
2PM – 4PM

Or you could also use Waze’s Planned Drive function to schedule your trips and avoid peak traffic. It’s quite simple to set up really, just follow these steps below:

Open your Waze app on your device.
Tap the Menu on your Waze app.
Tap on the Planned tab.
Tap the plan icon to add a drive.
Search for your destination in the Search bar.
Choose the time and date at which you’d like to arrive to your destination and then tap Save.
Once you’ve set a future drive, you’ll see it appear in the Menu panel under Planned. You can also choose a more convenient route and avoid high traffic areas.

Tip No.2: Avoid areas with high traffic
This should come as a given. I mean who would run straight into a storm when you can escape it? According to Waze, there are 5 states that are known to have the largest increase in traffic during the holidays with Malacca having the largest increase, 1.3 times to be exact.
Here are the top states with largest traffic increase according to Waze:

State
Increase in Traffic

Malacca
1.3 times

Perak
1.2 times

Kuala Terengganu
1.2 times

Sarawak
1.2 times

Sabah
1.1 times

Tip No.3: Music. Music. Music.
What’s a road trip without a merry soundtrack to go along with it? Especially during this festive season, your drive would be a much better one if you were to inject some jolly Christmas spirit into it. Did you know that you can link your Spotify account (if you have one) to your Waze app. When you link your Spotify account to you Waze app you can auto-play your tunes with just a click of a button within the app itself.
From there you can check out the most globally trending Christmas songs on Spotify such as:

All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas by Michael Bublé
Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – 2010 Digital Remaster by John Lennon
Last Christmas – Remastered by Wham!

Hope you all have a safe and jolly drive back home this festive season. With these tips, we hope you guys have a less stressful drive back too. Merry Christmas everyone!
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New TM CEO Plans to Expand Connectivity and Address Streamyx Issue
Datuk Noor Kamarul Anuar Nuruddin, new CEO and Managing Director of Telekom Malaysia (TM).

Recently, Telekom Malaysia (TM) has appointed Datuk Noor Kamarul Anuar Nuruddin as their CEO and Managing Director. For those of you who aren’t aware, he’s the former CTO of Celcom. Many people are wondering what plans he has for the company moving forward.
It’s been said that he plans on exploring all mediums to build connectivity. This will include both wireless (5G, 4G LTE) and wired connectivity (fibre, copper) that will be able to provide sufficient bandwidth depending on cost and the density of the area it’s being implemented in.
The reason for this is because he feels that TM is far behind their competitors. The company previously limited their options when building connectivity and they’ve focused on one medium to roll out coverage. This made it hard to make returns on investments made due to costs being higher than the revenue. As an example, Celcom has 10,000 sites for coverage while TM only has a mere 4,000. Aside from that, TM has reported a net profit of RM308.3 million in Q1 2019. The result was mostly due to cost-cutting measures, which isn’t a sustainable option in the long run.

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The newly appointed TM CEO also added that they will address the Streamyx issue as well as their mobile business, which is said to not be making money. Yesterday, we reported that as of 30th April 2019, 266,000 Streamyx users within Unifi areas have been upgraded to Unifi while another 226,000 users who are not within the area also receiving an upgrade by two-fold. Even existing Unifi users are starting to see speed upgrades up to tenfold.
However, there’s still a good portion of users in Malaysia who have yet to receive an upgrade. In fact, some even don’t have upgrade options due to lack of infrastructure for it. There are alternative solutions being worked on, such as the TDD-LTE Massive MIMO that rolled out in Puchong. For RM79 per month, users can enjoy 60GB LTE data with speeds of up to 30Mbps.
As of right now, TM CEO Datuk Noor Kamarul Anuar Nuruddin said that they will focus on three key strategies; providing quality products, competitive prices, and good customer service. For this new direction to succeed, the company will have to change their mindset from the old days.
Source: NST
Pokdepinion: I’m pretty sure everyone in Malaysia just wants to see action being taken swiftly to improve their internet access situations. Hopefully, the upgrades and fixes will come sooner rather than later.
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Apple And Google Face Lawsuit From Ubisoft Over Rainbow Six Siege Clone

We all know how big Rainbow Six Siege is in the gaming community. While it’s understandable that some may tempt to recreate a game of their own by using R6S’ formula, it seems that Ubisoft has filed a lawsuit to both Google and Apple for distributing a game that they claim is ‘a direct ripoff’.
Rainbow Six Siege clone
Area F2 operators
The game involved? Well it is called Area F2 which is published by Alibaba and Ejoy. According to Ubisoft, the game copies R6S’ UI found in certain parts of their game such as the final score screen as well as during operator selection.
You might be wondering on why exactly Google and Apple are targeted instead of the mobile game’s creators. To answer that, well it seems that Ubisoft had told both companies to take down Area F2 from their stores (due to the copyright infringement) but nothing was done.

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At the time of writing, Area F2 is still on the Google Play Store. It will be interesting to see what actions will be taken, both on Google and Apple’s side.
Rainbow Six Siege’s limited time event, The Grand Larceny is still up and running. Read more on that right here.
Source
Pokdepinion: I had a look at the game and I can’t lie, it totally looks like a rip off of R6S..
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The Elder Scrolls: Blades Closed Beta and Early Access Confirmed

At E3 2018 last year, Bethesda Announced The Elder Scrolls: Blades, the first game from the iconic series to release specifically for mobile platforms. Even though the game has been shown off a couple of times, not much else is known about the game. Now we finally have an indication as to when we can play the game, at least for some of us.
Bethesda has stated over on the game’s website that The Elder Scrolls: Blades will feature both a Closed Beta and Early Access, in which both will include the entire game. The Closed Beta did not have an official timeframe, however, early access will be targeted for Spring and Bethesda will keep everyone updated on the timing when we get a little closer.

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The beta will be under a non-disclosure agreement and will only be available on iOS. However, when Early Access comes along, it will not be under the non-disclosure agreement and will be available for both iOS and Android. On top of that, all progress and purchases during that period will carry over to the final game when it launches for both the aforementioned platforms.
If you would like to sign up for Early Access, you can do so through this link.

Source: Bethesda
Pokdepinion: Everyone is going to the mobile game route, and I can’t blame them. It does seem like a rather ambitious project but I really hope this will be a good one.

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Get the HONOR 20 for just RM999 today

If you are considering a mid-range smartphone now, why not just get a flagship for the same price? As part of the Lazada Electronics Madness Flash Sale, the HONOR 20 can be gotten for just RM999 today, bringing you the flagship Kirin 980 chipset along with HONOR’s exemplary camera processing.

The HONOR 20 may be a last-gen flagship, but it is still way ahead of any mid-range device today, even HONOR’s very own HONOR 9X Pro. In addition to the powerful chipset, it also comes with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage. All of that is packed into a relatively compact device with a 6.26″ display and a 3750 mAh battery. There’s also 22.5W SuperCharge to quickly juice up the battery.

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The main camera on the back is a 48MP f/1.8 Sony IMX586 one, mated to a 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle camera and a pair of 2MP cameras. Here’s are the full specifications of the HONOR 20:
HONOR 20 Specs

Kirin 980, octa-core up to 2.6 GHz, 7nm FinFET
6GB LPDDR4x
128GB UFS 2.1
6.26″ FHD+ IPS LCD, HONOR AllView
48MP f/1.8 Sony IMX586 + 16MP f/2.2 super-wide angle + 2MP f/2.4 macro lens + 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor
32MP f/2.0 selfie camera
3750 mAh battery, 22.5W SuperCharge
RM999 (SRP: RM1199)

You also don’t have to worry about not having Google Mobile Services as the HONOR 20 is still Google Play-certified. If you want one, act quick, as there are limited units and the offer ends by today!

Pokdepinion: To be entirely honest, the RM1199 SRP now is also a great deal for the HONOR 20. I didn’t like it when it was RM1699, but now it is pretty great.
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The Samsung Galaxy Note10 is Samsung’s leap of faith in more ways than one

Samsung has always thrown everything and the kitchen sink into the Galaxy Note series. It was one of the reasons why most of my friends would skip the Galaxy S series to wait for Samsung’s bigger and badder flagship. But the Galaxy Note10 series is Samsung’s attempt at courage, and it is not a beautiful sight.
No headphone jack
Samsung did great by proving you can retain all the features in the world, including a headphone jack, while maintaining water resistance. And they weren’t shy for ridiculing their competitors for dropping it. But since they released the Galaxy Buds, I guess it was time to drum up sales for their true wireless earphones with the Galaxy Note10?

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At the very least, certain brands retain the headphone jack on the lower-end variant, while dropping it from the higher end “Pro” version.
Smaller battery? Oh why?
While you would imagine that losing the headphone jack would mean a bigger battery, the Samsung Galaxy Note10 actually has a much smaller battery at 3500 mAh. Meanwhile the Galaxy Note10+ upgrades the battery to an industry-leading 4300 mAh battery. There are larger batteries in the likes of the ASUS ZenFone 6 and ROG Phone II, although those are far and few in between.
Samsung finally overcoming their fear of fast charging is worthy of praise though. The Galaxy Note10 is the second flagship since the ill-fated Galaxy Note7 to use the 25W Super Fast Charge technology, while the Galaxy Note10+ gets an even more impressive 45W fast charging rate. The 45W charger is sold separately though, which reeks of Apple’s schemes.
Display regression
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 was the last Galaxy Note device to feature a FHD screen. While resolution is a poor marker of display quality, it does seem like Samsung intentionally nerfed the Galaxy Note10 to make the Galaxy Note10+ a more interesting proposition. First a smaller battery, and then this too, I think it’s pretty clear, no?

The 1440p (QHD) standard has been applied on all Samsung Galaxy Note devices since the Galaxy Note4, so why go back now? On the plus side, the Samsung Galaxy Note10 duo tout the same Dynamic AMOLED display technology as the Galaxy S10 devices, so you will be in for a visual treat with either of the devices. Just a less sharp one if you opt for the Galaxy Note10. Both feature the selfie camera cutout in the center of the display, or what Samsung dubs the Cinematic Infinity Display.
Improved productivity
One area which Samsung has not taken a step backwards is the productivity capabilities they packed into the Galaxy Note10 devices. The new S Pen now supports Air Actions which allows you to control your Galaxy Note10 with your S Pen gestures without touching the screen. Apparently Samsung will also be opening up the Air Actions SDK, allowing developers to give you customized controls with the S Pen in third-party applications too, something which I would love to see.

The Samsung DeX feature has also been built upon with a new feature. While the previous iteration would require a separate display, the new one allows you to connect the Galaxy Note10 to a PC and use the display, keyboard and mouse attached to your PC. Really nifty stuff.
Upgraded camera chops
Samsung has yet to use their higher resolution 48MP or 64MP sensors in their flagships ,but the Galaxy Note10 series has their best camera yet. And I am not comparing it against last year’s Galaxy Note9, but the Galaxy S10 series. The dual-aperture 12MP F/1.5~F/2.4 main camera is still here, but they upgraded the 12MP telephoto camera with a wider f/2.1 aperture. The wide-angle 16MP f/2.2 camera is retained, and I am fine with that as it was a good one.

The Galaxy Note10’s camera hardware ends at that, while the Galaxy Note10+ gets an additional 3D ToF camera which Samsung calls their DepthVision camera. It is capable of doing 3D scans of inanimate objects, turning it into a movable 3D object.

If you are interested in the Galaxy Note10 series, Samsung Malaysia is also running a pre-order starting today until 18th August with some nice deals on both the Galaxy Note10 and Galaxy Note10+.
Samsung Galaxy Note10 Specs

Exynos 9825, octa-core, 7nm EUV
Mali-G76 MP12
8GB RAM
256GB storage
6.3″ FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED display, punch hole selfie camera
12MP F1.5/F2.4 + 12MP f/2.1 telephoto + 16MP f/2.2 ultra wide)
10MP selfie camera
3500 mAh battery, 25W Super Fast Charge
RM3699

Samsung Galaxy Note10+ Specs

Exynos 9825, octa-core, 7nm EUV
Mali-G76 MP12
12GB RAM
Up to 512GB storage
6.8″ WQHD+ Dynamic AMOLED display, punch hole selfie camera
12MP F1.5/F2.4 + 12MP f/2.1 telephoto + 16MP f/2.2 ultra wide + 3D ToF Samsung DepthVision camera
10MP selfie camera
4300 mAh battery, 45W Super Fast Charge
12GB + 256GB: RM4199
12GB + 512GB: RM4799

Now that we have told you our opinion of the new flagships from Samsung, what do you think of the Samsung Galaxy Note10 series?
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KL Major Day One — Graced By YB Syed Saddiq

Today marks the start of the three-day event, the Kuala Lumpur Major, where it sees some of the biggest teams in Dota 2 vying for the total prize pool of US$1million.
KL Major Day One

The event even saw the Minister of Sports, YB Syed Saddiq present to give a little insight on his thoughts of eSports in the country.

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He even took the time to test out Acer Predator’s Thronos, which we managed to get a hands-on experience yesterday as well.
At the event, gamers and fans had many activities in-store for them, and that includes a chance to meet and greet with their favorite international professional eSports teams and talents.
As for the teams that are participating in the tournament, the champion of the Kuala Lumpur Major stands to win US$350,000 as well as 4,950 Dota Pro Circuit points, which will bring them close to qualifying for The International 2019.
Today saw PSG.LGD fight against Team Secret, where the former had a straightforward game in winning 2-0 (best of 3) to win the upper bracket R2. The result will see Team Secret fight against Virtus.Pro tomorrow in the Upper Bracket Finals. As for PSG.LGD, they will be pitted against Evil Geniuses in the 2nd day of the Major competing in the lower bracket R4.
Ninja In Pyjamas lost their upper bracket R2 match against Virtus.Pro, who then continued their fine form in beating TNC Predator.
Despite losing, Ninjas In Pyjamas still has a chance to go through the next round if they beat their opponents, which is still to be determined.
If you’re planning to catch Kuala Lumpur Major live for yourself, you can purchase tickets at Axiata Arena or MyTicket Asia.
Pokdepinion: There’s plenty of activities that’s available in the Kuala Lumpur Major. If you’re coming, be sure to check out the booths where they are selling exclusive Dota 2 merchandises.
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[Computex 2019] ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo (UX581) Unveiled – Groundbreaking Productivity with ScreenPad Plus

ASUS has announced the ZenBook Pro Duo (UX581) that brings the last year’s ScreenPad to a whole new level, so interesting that we have a dedicated article just to talk about it. In a nutshell, the ScreenPad Plus provides another functional display to the laptop, bringing unrivaled productivity in this segment.

The ZenBook Pro Duo is powered by 9th Generation Intel Core processors, coupled with 32GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 and up to 1TB PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe SSD.

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In the display department, the primary display is a beautiful 15.6” OLED 4K (3840 x 2160) 16:9 aspect ratio touchscreen with a four-sided frameless design featuring a 89% screen-to-body ratio. To make it even more interesting, the ZenBook Pro Duo supports 100% DCI-P3 color gamut together with HDR to deliver vivid and realistic colors with deep blacks.
Right underneath it is the secondary display, the ScreenPad Plus that is a 14” 4K- (3840 x 1100) 32:9 aspect ratio LCD IPS which placed above the keyboard, bringing innovative multi display to portable laptops.

Right next to the keyboard, to the right is ASUS’ latest version of the NumberPad, an LED-illuminated numeric keypad integrated into the touchpad – which is no longer a new sight among ASUS’ high-end laptops. To make things more interesting, there is also integrated Amazon Alexa voice support, with a dedicated light bar at the front of the laptop that illuminates when its in listening mode.

In the powerhouse department, the top of the line ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo is powered by 9th Generation Intel Core i9 8-cores processor with up to 5GHz Turbo Boost frequency and 32GB DDR4 RAM. The Turing based Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 provides gaming performance with ray-tracing for ultimate visual realism.

There are also some latest cutting-edge technologies embedded underneath including full set of I/O ports that includes a Thunderbolt 3 enabled Type-C USB port. The wireless network has been bumped to Wi-Fi 6 using Intel Gig+ 802.11ax for super smooth connections.

Ensuring the wild beast is tame all the time, there is a Turbo Fan button that enables boost cooling on demand, while ASUS’ signature ErgoLift hinge improves airflow under the laptop for improved performance.

If you want to have this ScreenPad Plus based laptop but not willing to break the bank, there is a 14-inch ZenBook Duo (UX481) for your consideration which will be available much later this year. It supports the same great ScreenPad Plus features as its larger sibling, but in a lighter and smaller chassis. Powered by up to an Intel Core i7 processor and GeForce MX250 graphics, it has an FHD NanoEdge display and an FHD ScreenPad Plus.
Specifications

ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo (UX581)
ASUS ZenBook Duo (UX481)

Processor
Intel® Core™ i9-9980HK
Intel® Core™ i7-9750H
Latest Intel® Core™ i7

Display
Main Display: 15.6” OLED 4K (3840 x 2160) 16:9 touchscreen
ScreenPad Plus: 14” 4K UHD touchscreen
Main Display: 14” FHD (1920x 1080) 16:9 screen
ScreenPad Plus: 12.6” FHD touchscreen

Operating System
Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro

Graphics
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2060 – 6GB GDDR6 VRAM
NVIDIA® GeForce® MX250 – 2GB GDDR5 VRAM

Memory
DDR4 2666MHz, up to 32GB
LPDDR3 2133MHz, up to 16GB

Storage
1TB PCIe® x4 SSD
512GB / 256GB PCIe® x2 SSD
1TB PCIe® x4 SSD
512GB / 256GB PCIe® x2 SSD

Connectivity
Intel® Wi-Fi 6 with Gig+ (802.11ax)
Bluetooth® 5.0
Up to Intel® Wi-Fi 6 with Gig+ (802.11ax)
Bluetooth® 5.0

Cameras
IR webcam with Windows Hello support
IR webcam with Windows Hello support

Interfaces
1 x Thunderbolt™ 3 USB-C™
2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A
1 x Standard HDMI
1 x Audio combo jack
1 x DC-in
1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C™
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A
1 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A
1 x Standard HDMI
1 x Audio combo jack
1 x MicroSD card slot
1 x DC-in

Audio
Array microphone with Cortana and Alexa voice-recognition support
Harman Kardon-certified audio system
Array microphone with Cortana and Alexa voice-recognition support
Harman Kardon-certified audio system

Battery
71Wh 4-cell lithium-polymer battery
70Wh 4-cell lithium-polymer battery

AC Adapter
Output: 19.5V, 230W   Input: 100V-240V AC, 50Hz/60Hz
Output: 19V, 90W   Input: 100V-240V AC, 50Hz/60Hz

Dimensions
359 x 246 x 24 mm
323 x 223 x 19 mm

Weight
2.5kg
1.8kg

Gallery

Pokdepinion: Basically, it’s a Zephyrus on steroids, using the empty space with an added display. Genius, ASUS! Didn’t expect this in my wildest dreams!
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ROG Throne Gaming Headset with Qi-Charging Review

As underrated as they may seem, headset stands actually make a very important hardware in PC setups. Headsets are the hardest to manage since they usually have long wires and sometimes controllers that can be messy to have around. For years, I have been on the lookout for a headset stand that completes my gaming setup. We even reviewed a simple one a couple of years ago if all you need is just to have a basic stand. However, today, what we have here is a lot more than just a headset stand. It’s the ROG Throne Qi Gaming Headset Stand and what you are about to see, might just blow your minds. ASUS has two of these variants, one with Qi charging and the other one without it. This one is the higher spec model with Qi-charging built in.
Unboxing the ROG Throne Qi Gaming Headset

The box is pretty beautifully crafted, typical of ROG branding. It’s tall and you wouldn’t miss it on shelves but that’s because it has to fit the whole ROG Throne in it. The unit is fully assembled and there are no parts that are separated for any assembly which keeps the build robust.

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Unpacking it unveils the ROG Throne itself, a USB Type-B to Type-A cable which is pretty rare cable in 2019, a Quick Start Guide, a 33W adapter with 19V 1.75A rating, and a two-pins to UK three-pins converter. These are all the accessories that you would need to get started with.
Appearance
The whole unit is mainly made of toughened plastic materials that ensures it is capable of holding even the heaviest headsets. Sitting at 190mm from the ground, I believe pretty much any gaming headsets will sit perfectly on the Throne without any parts of the headset touching the base.

Speaking of the base, the silhouetted ROG logo graces the base with two tones grading giving it a very exquisite look. Underneath this, lies the Wireless Qi-charging capabilities, together with an ESS 9118 DAC and amplifier to boost your audio experience. Interesting!

On the front side of the base, there is an LED indicator for charging statuses and right across on the other side is a 3.5mm jack where you can plug in your headset directly instead of routing it to the back of your gaming PC.

On the left side, you will be presented with two USB 3.1 Type-A ports so you can plug in your other peripherals directly to it for even better cable management. Yep, it supports storage devices too so feel free to plug your pendrive or external hard drive if you must and you can access the storage on your PC for convenient file transfers.

At the back of the base, you would find the power socket where you would plug the adapter and to the right is the Type-B USB connector that would connect to your PC. More on these later.

Around the base, at the bottom, you would see a transparent strip. This is where the RGB effects will be shown.

The neck of the headset stand is definitely one to fall for. It spots a transparent plastic with a diagonal cut at the top. The ROG emblem is etched towards the top of this transparent plastic. RGB lighting runs from the base into this transparent plastic, giving a very beautiful silhouette of RGB lighting around it and to the ROG emblem. I have to admit, the ROG Throne is simply beautiful!

The top of the throne is a V-shaped optimized arc design. The design ensures it fits any neckband size and ASUS has incorporated an anti-slip rubber that dons the Republic of Gamers emblem so your headset sits in place perfectly.
Specifications

Connector
USB

Supported Platforms
PC & MAC

Cable Length
2m

Dimensions
138 x 120 x 190 mm (WxDxH)

Weight
380g

Power Adapter
100-240V, 19V 1.75A (33W)

Connectivity
2 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A
1 x 3.5mm audio combo jack
1 x Micro-B connector
Qi-wireless charging

User Experience

I couldn’t stress more, the ROG Throne is really a beautiful piece of accessory that definitely completes your gaming PC setup. The stand itself is functional and perfect for every gaming headset size that you could toss at it. If you refer to above image, I have put the GALAX Xanova Juturna-U gaming headset for reference. There is still about 8cm clearance at the bottom that gives way to put your Qi-wireless charging peripheral or smartphone.

Speaking of the Qi-wireless charging, it delivers slightly over if not around 1A which is normal wireless charging speeds. It would have been awesome to have fast wireless charging, but I’m guessing the heat build-up would affect the PCB inside, especially since it has a built-in DAC inside. I managed to get about 1.3A max charging with an average of about 850mA which is not bad really.

Weirdly enough, Samsung Note 10 Plus detects this as Wireless Fast Charging, but I trust metrics instead.

So, about the adapter and USB cable. Basically, the USB cable routes the RGB controls to the headset, while also powering the ESS DAC audio amplifier. You could use these without having to plug in the power adapter. The power adapter delivers power for the Qi-charging mainly so if you do not have it plugged in, the Qi-charging will not work. The LED indicator in front has four identifications:

Steady Red – The Qi-charging is on standby
Blinking Red – The Qi-charging has error (requires you to remove and place the device again)
Blinking Blue – The device is charging
Steady Blue – The device is fully charged

The only problem I have with the Qi-wireless charging feature is that the base of the Throne is a bit too small. I have to place my Samsung Note 10 Plus in a horizontal position to get it charging as the Qi-charging module would not come into contact if I put it vertically. Even charging a wireless mouse requires it to be placed horizontally, which to me, is rather not natural position. It’s not really a deal breaker, but I’d appreciate a larger base if Qi-charging is present.

Another bummer that the Throne has is that it doesn’t have USB Type-C port considering ROG’s latest headsets are slowly moving towards Type-C connectors. Sure, you could use Type-A to Type-C connector, but look, it’s 2019 now and it’s about time Type-C starts becoming a standard USB port. Again, not a deal breaker for me and leaves room for improvement for their next product iteration. But hey, the audio department is not bad at all. The Throne comes iwth a built-in ESS 9118 DAC chip that really elevates your audio experience. ASUS also claims that it has Hyper Grounding and audio signal diversion technology that unlocks the full potential of the ESS DAC by processing audio and lighting signals individually, so you can enjoy detailed, dynamic and immersive audio with the media that you’re playing.

To me? I’m glad it has support for the ROG Armoury. You can tweak the settings to get the best balance of audio that you desire.
Now let’s talk about the RGB. Which is probably the best feature of the ROG Throne. It supports Aura Sync so you can actually sync your ROG Throne’s lighting with the rest of your gaming setup. Just plug in the ROG Throne and it will appear in Aura Sync right away.

But of course, you can see that I have isolated my headset from the rest of my RGB hardware, for one reason. I just love the rainbow effect on the ROG Throne and the rest of my PC uses red lighting scheme. Just look at this beauty!

Now, one thing that I would like to bring forward to your attention is this. If you are using the ROG Throne, it’s possible that sometimes after Windows Updates, your PC might not boot up. Also happens randomly when there is a chipset driver update. If this happens to you, just unplug the USB from your PC and then try rebooting. This is not an ROG Throne exclusive problem though, as we had these encounter with other RGB headset stands too.
Conclusion
The ROG Throne is definitely one awesome piece of headset that you can get for your gaming PC Setup. It’s light, it’s functional, it’s beautiful. The RGB is definitely one reason on its own to get this. The DAC elevates your audio experience. The build is solid. If you ask me, the price is actually spot on too for RM499 (with Qi-charging) and RM369 (without Qi-charging) What more could you really ask for? This one is definitely worth a Gold Pokdeward, hands down.

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Pre-order the exclusive MSI GE76 Raider Dragon Edition Tiamat from RM11499!

MSI announced the mind-blowingly ornate MSI GE76 Raider Dragon Edition Tiamat during CES 2021. While MSI has had quite a few amazing machines throughout the years, this is probably the most intricately embellished one of them all. And now you can pre-order it in Malaysia on Shopee and Lazada!

As MSI’s latest masterpiece, the MSI GE76 Raider Dragon Edition Tiamat features an exclusive engraving on the lid of the laptop as well as the palm rest area. It definitely boasts of a really unique aesthetic. And as if MSI thinks that the intricate patterns aren’t sufficient to stand out, the MSI GE76 Raider Dragon Edition Tiamat also comes with the Aurora Light bar that glows in glorious RGB.

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It isn’t all show and no go though. The MSI GE76 Raider Dragon Edition Tiamat packs the 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10870H CPU and GeForce RTX 3070 graphics, cooled by MSI’s beefiest Cooler Boost 5 technology. There’s also 32GB of DDR4-3200MHz RAM and a whopping 2TB of PCIe NVMe storage for all your multitasking needs.
To allow you to bring it out with you and flex the stunning design to your mates, the MSI GE76 Raider Dragon Edition Tiamat comes with a huge 99.9WHr battery, which is the largest battery that you can fit into a laptop before airlines start giving you headaches.
MSI GE76 Raider Dragon Edition Tiamat Specs

CPU
Intel Core i7-10870H, 8C/16T @ up to 5.0GHz, 45W TDP, 14nm

RAM
32GB DDR4-3200 (2 x 16GB)

Graphics
Intel UHD Graphics 630
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB GDDR6, 140W Max. TGP

Storage
2TB M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD

Connectivity
802.11ax, WiFi 6E (6GHz)
Bluetooth 5.2
Killer GbE LAN
1 x Type-C (USB3.2 Gen2 / DP)
2 x Type-A USB3.0
1 x Type-A USB3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps)
1 x Type-C USB3.2 Gen2x2 (20Gbps)
1 x SD card reader

Display
17.3″ FHD 300Hz IPS-level LCD, close to 100% sRGB
1 x HDMI 2.0 (4K60)
1 x miniDP
1 x USB-C (DisplayPort Alt Mode)

Audio
Dynaudio sound system
3.5mm combo jack

Power
99.9WHr battery
280W power adapter

Dimensions
397 x 284 x 25.9 mm

Weight
2.9kg

Price
RM11 499

As this is a limited edition offering, there’s a good chance it will be sold out really quickly. Pre-order the MSI GE76 Raider Dragon Edition Tiamat from Shopee via this link now!
Pokdepinion: If I ever get to own the MSI GE76 Raider Dragon Edition Tiamat, I will just use it as my desktop PC… It is too precious to risk damaging it when carrying it around…
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