Minute of Islands is a beautiful and horrifying narrative-driven puzzle adventure set in a toxic world, once ruled by giants, but now on the brink of collapse.
In Minute of Islands you follow the adventure of Mo, a skilled mechanic who wields a powerful tool called the Omni Switch, which she uses to keep the ancient sub-surface machinery running that makes the outside world inhabitable. … Read More
Lost Words: Beyond the Page is a beautiful, inventive and very touching narrative-driven platforming adventure where your words can have a dramatic effect on the game world.
With a narrative penned by Rhianna Pratchett, Lost Words: Beyond the Page is a puzzle platforming adventure set within the pages of a diary and the imagination of a young girl called Izzy. It tells the story of … Read More
Shady Knight is a very fast paced first person slasher-platformer where you race through levels and chain together stylish kills to earn points.
Previously featured on Alpha Beta Gamer last year, Shady Knight blends first person combat with parkour platforming and a little physics-based carnage as you run and fight your way through enemy-filled levels. Each level can usually be completed in under two … Read More
PS4 and PS5 owners can now sign up to Beta test Guilty Gear: Strive, a visually stunning new installment of the Guilty Gear series that makes 3D visuals look like a hand drawn Anime.
Currently in development by Arc System Works (creators of Guilty Gear, BlazBlue and Dragon Ball FighterZ) is the latest in the long running Guilty Gear series and it looks … Read More
Fate of Kai is a very inventive puzzle game where you manipulate the character's ideas to alter the way a story plays out in a magical comic book.
When you first open up Fate of Kai it seems like a fairly normal digital comic book, with you able to flick through and read at your pleasure. However, the way you interact with the book is … Read More
Viscerafest is an incredibly fast paced and brutal retro run 'n gun FPS where a psychopathic mercenary rip 'n tears her way through an army of aliens to collect enough bounty and marry her boyfriend.
Previously featured on Alpha Beta Gamer back in 2018, Viscerafest is a brutal retro FPS that takes place in the year 3796 and sees you stepping into the blood-drenched … Read More
GRAVEN is a 90's inspired first person action adventure with puzzle elements and brutal combat, set in a dark fantasy world that's plagued with Eldritch abominations.
Currently in development by Slipgate Ironworks (creators of Ghostrunner) and featuring character art from Chuck Jones (who worked on Duke Nukem and Half-Life), GRAVEN puts you in the role of a priest who has been exiled to … Read More
Cats and Other Lives is a cleverly crafted narrative-driven adventure where you view the reunion of a broken family, relive ghosts of memories past and unravel a dark mystery via the eyes of a cat.
In Cats and Other Lives you are a cat – a normal everyday housecat with no ability to talk and no special skills (other than looking cute and causing mischief). … Read More
Hell is Others is a brutal top-down horror action game where you try to get by in a dystopian society that's literally fuelled by blood and the most terrifying enemies can be other players.
Currently in development by Stralka Games (creators of Circle of Sumo) and Yonder (creators of Red Rope: Don't Fall Behind), Hell is Others is a horror survival action game … Read More
Summertime Madness is a beautiful first person puzzle adventure where a painter makes a deal with the devil and becomes trapped in one of his paintings.
In Summertime Madness you take on the role of a painter who has made a deal with the devil to allow him to lose himself in one of his paintings to escape the war torn city of Prague during … Read More
Oddventure is a Mother inspired JRPG adventure that tells the touching tale of a rebellious teenage girl and her troublesome brother, in a land based on the Grimm Bothere's fairy tales.
In Oddventure you follow the story of Charlie, a teenage girl who has some anger issues – mainly stemming from the fact that she lost her mother when her brother was born. She now … Read More
PRIM is a beautifully animated old school point and click adventure about a young girl whose father is Death himself.
Currently in development by Common Colors, PRIM combines the classic point and click adventure gameplay of Monkey Island with a Tim Burton inspired aesthetic and a Terry Pratchett-esque lighthearted fantasy setting. It follows the story of Prim, a young girl whose father just happens to … Read More
In My Shadow is a touching and inventive narrative-driven puzzle platforming adventure where you manipulate 3D objects to cast 2D shadows for your character to use.
In In My Shadow you journey through the childhood memories of a young woman called Bella. These memories explore the changing relationships in her family as she grew up and you unlock them by completing a series of short … Read More
Pathogen X is a fast and fun retro styled survival horror game where you attempt to infiltrate a mutant-filled lab and escape with the vaccine for the virus that's caused the outbreak.
Drawing inspiration from 90's survival horror games like Resident Evil, Dino Crisis and Deep Fear, Pathogen X sees you stepping into the shoes of Agent Hawk – a special agent who … Read More
Lorn's Lure is an atmospheric vertigo-inducing first person platforming adventure where an android free-climbs through a vast mega-structure, following a mysterious glitch in its visual system.
Created by Rubeki (creator of Due and Kill the K.O.T.H.), in Lorn's Lure you take on the role of an android who leaves his colony and follows a mysterious glitch which leads him to a vast gigantic mega-structure … Read More
Kaboom Swing is a fun little fusion of platforming and golfing where the ball is a bomb that explodes, often taking much of the surrounding course with it!
Created for the Gotm.io Jam by Havana24 (creator of Rupert Reset) in Kaboom Swing you play golf with a bomb which can explode and destroy large chunks of the course. You have direct control of the … Read More
Eggineer is a fun physics-based sandbox game where you attempt to construct vehicles that can safely transport a fragile little egg through perilous obstacle courses.
In each level of Eggineer you're tasked with transporting an egg from the start point to the level goal. However, there's often a tricky combination of obstacles, enemies, and explosives in your way so your little egg's not just going … Read More
Pocket Fighter EX is a fan made fighting game that aims to blend the gameplay and characters from a variety of Capcom and SNK fighting games, all wrapped up in a beautifully animated pixel art visual style.
With a pixel art visual style that draws inspiration from NeoGeo Pocket Color fighting games, Pocket Fighter EX is a great little fan made Capcom and SNK fighting … Read More
Blocksplode is a wonderfully destructive physics-based puzzler where you are tasked with demolishing block structures using strategically placed explosives.
In each level of Blocksplode you're presented with a block-based structure that's standing in a little pool of water. Your aim is to use dynamite to demolish the structures and get over a certain percentage of the blocks under the water line (and also get all … Read More
Expedition Zero is a frostbitten survival horror adventure where you come face to face with terrifying flesh-eating monsters deep in the heart of rural Siberia.
In Expedition Zero you'll take on the role of an engineer who is the last survivor of a doomed Soviet scientific expedition in the endless Siberian taiga forest. A meteor crash recently forced the government to create an exclusion zone … Read More
Box Knight is a lighthearted roguelike side-scrolling brawler where a mild mannered office worker goes on a rampage in an office that's fallen to darkness.
Billed as a blend of The Office and Lord of the Rings, in Box Knight you'll take control of a brave office worker as he rises up against the darkness that's invaded his once-happy workplace. Laughing and happiness is … Read More
We have 1,000 Steam Beta keys to give away for Mind Scanners, a retro-futuristic psychoanalysis game set in a dystopian cyberpunk city where you diagnose and "normalize" citizens.
Previously featured on Alpha Beta Gamer during the closed Beta sign upMind Scanners is a narrative-driven cyberpunk psychoanalysis game with a touch of Papers, Please. It's set in the same universe as the Outer … Read More
Aquamarine is a hand drawn Sci-Fi roguelite survival adventure where you explore the unknown depths of the ocean on an alien planet, with a hope of finding a way home.
Previously featured on Alpha Beta Gamer last year, Aquamarine blends roguelike, puzzle solving and survival elements as you explore a mysterious ocean after crash landing on an alien planet. From your base area you … Read More
Welcome Home 2 is a surreal 2D psychological horror adventure which follows a young boy who descends into madness as he attempts to escape from the house that his grandmother has locked him up in.
A sequel to the excellent Welcome Home, Welcome Home 2 features an entirely different story and setting from the original and follows a young boy called David as he … Read More
PC, PS4 and Xbox One owners can now sign up to Beta test Roller Champions – Ubisoft's slick new futuristic multiplayer ballsport that plays like a blend of rollerblading and basketball.
Previously featured on Alpha Beta Gamer during the closed Alpha sign up last year, Roller Champions sees teams of rollerbladers racing around brightly colored arenas and attempting to score goals. To score you … Read More
Psilosybil is a very tough Crash Bandicoot inspired 3D platformer that takes you on a psychedelic journey as a mushroom lady battles her way through a land of hogs.
Aiming to recreate the look and feel of early 32-bit games, Psilosybil follows a pulchy mushroom as she attempts to rescue her mushroom friends and defeat the Lord of the Hogs. It plays much like the … Read More
Safe Not Safe is a first person rogue-lite stealth action game where you attempt to outsmart an adaptive AI as you try and sneak your way into heavily guarded facilities.
Previously featured on Alpha Beta Gamer back in 2019, Safe Not Safe is a rogue-lite stealth action game where you take on the role of a safe-cracker who attempts to break into heavily guarded … Read More
Despot's Game is a fast paced roguelike tactics game where you build a team and send them into battles in a post-apocalyptic labyrinth.
In Despot's Game you take control of a group of people who wake up in a mysterious monster-filled labyrinth. They have no memory and no clothes but they do have a selection of weapons – time to slay some monsters and search … Read More
Beacon Pines is a beautiful, touching and surprisingly sinister narrative-driven adventure where words really matter as you use them to alter the story of a cute little deer and his friends as a darkness enters their idyllic storybook world.
Billed as "Winnie the Pooh meets Twin Peaks", Beacon Pines is a narrative-driven adventure that takes place within the pages of a mysterious magical … Read More
Timberborn is a lumberpunk city-building game where you manage a colony of industrious beavers as they build wooden cities and bring life back to the dry wastelands of Earth that mankind left behind.
Previously featured on Alpha Beta Gamer last year during the closed Beta sign upTimberborntakes place in a far flung future where mankind is long gone and beavers have risen up … Read More
Ragnarok M Eternal Love finally releases the event for the month of heart and lunar new year. As celebration it contains 13 different rewards dedicated for the Lunar's new year and as usual contains a lot of rewards that adventurer can participate. Sorry for the previous event, we haven't update some of the daily quest because we got a busy schedule, but we promised this month to make this guide up to date as possible.
Below you can find all of the available guide for this month of February 2021 in the Ragnarok mobile.
Event 1: Lucky's Adventure (Poring Showdown)
Starting February 1 to March 1, 2021, the Poring Showdown event will start. Adventurer can participate on this event by clicking the New Event button at the top corner of the game screen.
There will be 8 randomized rewards where you'll be hitting small poring. When 8 small poring are all hit, a large Poring will appear with additional rewards. There are total of 4 rounds of poring showdown.
Players needs a Small Wooden Hammer to join this event, this can be obtain from different event for this month.
Events reward for each rounds are the following:
Round 1: 30 x Big Cat Voucher 1
Round 2: 1 x Limited Toy Light of Giallar
Round 3: 30 x Big Cat Voucher Feast
Round 4: 1 x Limited Headwear Coronation for the Gallant
Event 2: Lucky's Adventure (Daily Quest)
Starting February 11 to 25, 2021, players can participate in a daily quest event where you'll be helping the little beast Nian. Adventurers needs to go and interact to the Prontera Square Bulletin Board to get a Lucky's Adventure quest series.
There will be a total of 5 consecutive quest for this event and adventurers can accept this until February 18 only. Each quest will rewards adventurer a 1 x Friendship Proof.
Completing the 5 quest will get an additional limited headwear blueprint called Overnight Millionaire.
Event 3: Ring out the Old and Ring in the New (Chat)
Starting February 12 to 17, 2021, there will a chat event in which players need to enter the word "Happy New Year" at the world chat to get a rewards.
Below are the list of rewards when entered in the following days:
February 12 – 1 x Fantasy Generator I Appreciation
February 12 to 17 – 1 x Big Cat's Red Packet 2021
The Fantasy Generator 1 Appreciation is a coupon in which adventurer can receive a blue-print of headwear gachapon for the month of March. There's also a chance to receive all of the March 2021 headwear gachapon items.
The Big Cat's New Year Red Packet 2021 on the other hand, when opened adventurer can received the following:
30 x Big Cat Voucher I
60 x Big Cat Voucher Feast
Random item like: 10 x Mora Coin, 10 x Oracle Dust, 10 x Oracle Crystal, 5 x Gold Medal, 1 x Mastela Fruit and 5 x Praying Card Pack
Event 4: Lantern Festival Riddle (Question and Answer)
Starting February 18 to 25, 2021, there will be an event in Prontera Square, players need to find the NPC Moon Agents. The NPC will asked you a riddle question where you need to answer it correctly to get 1 x Joy of Snowflake. There will be a new set of question every day.
The Joy of Snowflake contains the following when opened:
30 x New Year Firecrackers
5 x Big Cat Voucher I
4 x Furniture Gift Voucher
8 x Mora Coin
1 x Small Wooden Hammer
Event 5: Payon Phantom Thief (Mini Rift)
Starting February 1 to 8, 2021, every evening from 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM (Manila, Philippine Time), there will be a mini rift event where players can participate. The exact maps is not mentioned as of the moment, but it will be displayed at the quest tab during the event.
Players will get 1 x Hunt Proof when they finish the each quest, a limit of 3 quest per day. It contains the following when opened:
20 x New Year Firecrackers
a chance to get the following:
9 x Mora Coin
1 x Mastela Fruit
6 x Oracle Dust
4 x Oracle Crystal
5 x Hardcover Card album remains
1 x Food Voucher
50% chance to receive Small Wooden Hammer
Event 6: Material Hoarder's Summon (Materials)
Starting February 8 to 15, 2021, there will be a material donation event where players can get a rewards when they exchange an material. Players need to go the Prontera Square and find the NPC Lucky and send the material needed.
During the event, there will be a Lucky's Intimacy server progress where there will be rewards when it reaches 30%, 50% and 100%. When completed, lucky will unlock the Lucky's Private Collection at the Shining Gift Shop.
At the Shining Gift Shop, a Small Wooden Hammer will also be sold for 1 Zeny and has a limit of 2 purchased.
The Lucky's Private Collection contains the following:
60 x New Year Firecracker
10 x Big Cat Voucher Feast
10 x Big Cat Voucher I
10 x Mora Coin
2 x Small Wooden Hammer
1 x Dragon Chest
Event 7: Taste of Love (Marriage)
Starting February 14 to 18, 2021, there will be a theater at the Prontera, players need to enter the theater Taste of Love from the NPC Phil.
In the love theater, player can experience a wedding according to the gender set in their account and get a limited toy reward Cupid's Party. The event will also set a 50% off discount sale of the following:
Wedding Ceremony
Sakura Wedding Dress
Sakura Suit
Wedding Suit
Wedding Dress
Event 8: New Year Countdown
In the midnight of February 12, 2021, there will be a New Year's countdown event starting February 12 at 2:00 AM (Manila Philippine Time), where a 10 seconds countdown will appear on the screen and a "Happy Lunar New Year" will pop up.
So far, the event didn't mentions any rewards. We will also update the exact time for PH.
Event 9: Welcome the God of Wealth in the New Year
In February 16, 2021, there will be a 5 event in that day scheduled in different time, a Big Cat will dispatch God of Wealth at Prontera, Geffen, Morroc and Payon on the said day. A total of 88,888,888 Zeny will be distritbute to all players. By following the path of God of Wealth, players can receive a 2021 Zeny each time until it disappear after 15 minutes.
The following are the schedule (The location are random):
11:00 AM (Manila, Philippine Time)
1:00 PM (Manila, Philippine Time)
8:00 PM (Manila, Philippine Time)
10:00 PM (Manila, Philippine Time)
12:00 NN (Manila, Philippine Time)
Event 10: Lunar New Year Double Reward Celebration
Starting February 8 to 22, 2021, there will a double rewards when participating the Oracle Dungeon and Endless Tower.
Event 11: Divine Blessing of Thanatos
Starting February 4 to 19, 2021, there will be a new set of item sold at the Big Cat Coin Recharge (BCC Shop), limited to 60 purchase, Divine Blessing of Thanatos will be sold for 30 BCC.
The Divine Blessing of Thanatos contains the following:
1 x God's Bliss Chest
1 x Arcane Treasure
1 x Abyss Box
1 x Passing the Cassette Glory
12% chance to get one of the following:
1 x Mini Gryphon Monster Egg
1 x Valkyrie Crown
1 x Valkyrie's Wings
1 x Blazing Rune Shadow
1 x Wisdom Light Key
1 x Broken Sanction
1 x Broken Nightmare
1 x Cursed Scar
1 x Depraved Glow
1 x Abyss Whisper
1 x Rotten Sleep
1 x Moonlight Nightmare
0.1% chance to get one of the following:
1 x Valkyrie Rathgricy Card
1 x Tesseract Card
1 x Mentalist Card
1 x Runemaster Thanatos Card
0.25% chance to receive 1 x Angel Snow Feather
Event 12: Glorious Card Box
Starting February 11 to 18, 2021, a new item called Glorious Card Box will be sold for 30 BCC at the Big Cat Coin Recharge or BCC Shop. Limited for 60 purchase per account.
The Glorious Card Box contains the following:
1 x Gorgeous Card Album
40 to 60 x Nolan Card
One of the following:
75% 1 x Poker Album
20% 1 x Tarot Card
5% Ancient Magic Card Album
5% chance to get random Oracle Card
Event 13: Glorious Antique Box
Starting February 27 to March 6, 2021, an item called Glorious Antique Box will be sold for 10BCC at the Big Cat Coin Recharge or BCC Shop and has a limit of 100 purchase per account.
The Glorious Antique Box contains the following:
1 x v2.0 Boss Material (1 mini or MVP Material)
100,000 Zeny
Event 14: Commemorative Gift Box
Starting February 4 to 19, 2021, the Commemorative Gift Box will be sold for 30 BCC at the Big Cat Coin Recharge or BCC Shop with unlimited purchase.
The Commemorative Gift Box contains one of the following items:
Probably one of the first handheld PC gaming device that uses 7nm of AMD Ryzen 5 4500 U, AYA Neo is so powerful that it can run any PC games at 30+ FPS. Recent games like Cyberpunk 2077 at 30 to 35fps and Death Stranding at 30 to 45fps.
This device was first launched on China and next month the Founder edition will be available globally at $699 via a crowdfunding campaign at Indiegogo. However, the price is only exclusive for Super Early Bird backers and other backers may get this at $799 or higher. The specs includes Radeon RX Vega 6 GPU (6 compute unites and up to 1.1 TFLOPs), 7-inch display (1,280 x 800), 16GB of LPDDR4x-4266 RAM, 512GB NVMe SSD and a 47 WH battery.
Here is an example gameplay from a YouTuber (Taki Udon):
Though those specs are not that powerful compare to a laptop and still using the previous generation of AMD, considering it is a handled device, it is actually not bad. The technology they put all together in this small device are just pretty interesting. Here are the complete specs of AYA NEO Founder:
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 4500 U (AMD Zen 2) 6 cores/6 threads @ 4.0 GHz
GPU: AMD Radeon Vega 6 @ 1.5 GHz
RAM Memory: 16GB DDR4 LPDDR4X-4266
Storage: 512GB /1 TB NVMe SSD
Display: 7 inch, 1280 x 800 IPS
Connectivity: Wifi 6, Bluetooth 5.0
Battery: 47 Whr
Weight: 650 g
Dimensions: 25.5 x 10.6 x 2.0 cm
USB Connection: 3 x USB-C, 3.5mm
Other Features: Gyro, Touchscreen, Rumble
OS: Windows 10
Here are the frame rates of tested PC games:
Assassin's Creed Hall of Valor – 25 to 40 fps
Watchdogs – 25 to 40 fps
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – 40 to 50 fps.
Devil May Cry 5 – 60 to 70 fps
World of Warcraft Retro & Official – 35 to 50 fps
Death Stranding – 30 to 45 fps
What do you think of this new handled PC gaming device? Is it worth it? or you'll wait until they can run PC games at full 60fps? Let us know in the comment section.
If you're planning to have a future-proof PC Build for gaming, Western Digital releases their high-performance SSD with PCIe® Gen 4 Technology in the market, this is the WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD. The new flagship comes with two variants with a heatsink and a non-heatsink, it also comes in three capacities 500GB, 1TB and 2TB. The pricing for the Philippine retail store starts at PHP 7,900. However, the heatsink variant will be available in the 1st quarter of this year, 2021.
We are so honored to receive a copy of WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD non-heatsink (500GB) from Western Digital for us to review their mighty SSD.
WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD takes advantage of the PCIe® Gen 4 technology, where it provides much greater bandwidth speed in terms of storage performance. This is compatible with all models with PCIe® Gen4 support. With PCIe Gen 4 going full steam ahead this year that can be found on the next-gen console and PC gaming, the new technology is a preparation for the next-gen AAA titles.
Though regular SSD have no problem running current games today in PC, we have seen this leap in gaming way back in May 2019, where Sony held a demo for their exclusive game title Spiderman and tested out the performance of PS5 SSD (PCIe® Gen 4) against the PS4 Pro. The result shows significant improvements, less loading times and an instantaneous data streaming even moving around in an open-world rich environment, which means a true real-time loading of in-game assets. In the demo, it shows the building and texture assets loads in real-time with no noticeable loading delay while Spidey swing and move across the vast streets of New York. You can also watch the demo here of Epic Games showing their next-gen game engine which takes advantage of the leap performance of storage for gaming.
So, let's jump into the review. As advertised, the WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD has a sequential read speed of up to 7,000 MB/s and sequential write speed of up to 4,100 MB/s for 500GB, 5,300 MB/s for 1TB and 5,100 MB/s for 2TB. The form factor is M.2 2280 and the dimensions are 2.38mm X 22.15 X 80.15 (HxWxL) for non-heatsink variant.
Packaging
Who doesn't want to see or even preserve the packaging of the product they bought (except for Matteo Guidicelli)? Since we think this is an important little detail for some of our readers, as usual we will showcase how they packed their SSD in a small snackbox-like package. Covered with black-themed and dotted pattern at the front, WD wanted to show the speed advantage of WD Black SN850, its sequential read speed of SSD 7,000 MB/s and some important details are highlighted as well like the recommended interface for the device.
At the back where the sealed stickers are located, it shows more specification and specs of the SSD along with it is the IOPS (Input/Output operations per seconds) of up to 1 million. There is also a small rectangular hole at the back where the SSD is visible. In case you are planning to use it on a NAS or a server, it states at the back that it is not intended for that use.
Unboxing the WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD shows the SSD in its clear plastic casing which we think is a shock proof in case you drop the unopened package accidentally. The manual was also placed at the back.
Since this is an M.2 SSD and has a form factor of 2280, it is very small, smaller than a one-peso coin. The WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD we got is the non-heatsink variant, instead of the military looking heatsink, the front is covered with a sticker.
At the back, there are no any components or any thermal sticker. It is covered with black paint and has a pattern appearance of the circuit board tracing.
WD Black Dashboard
To get more juice out of your WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD, you need to get its management software WD_BLACK Dashboard (Windows® only) where you'll be able to keep the firmware up to date and to enable game mode where it overrides the default power saving mode of the SSD. However, even not turning on the game modes we still manage to get the peak speed, but we see improvements on average usage while using the WD Black Dashboard.
What's more is WD_BLACK Dashboard allows you to customize and control your gaming experience even further!
Testing Methodology
So, let's check if we can achieve those peak speeds in our benchmark. For the OS, we are using a fresh copy of Windows 10 with the latest graphics driver, OS updates and firmware installed. The power option was also set to High Performance to get its peak performance.
For the hardware system, we are using the following:
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
64GB of DDR4 2,400 MHz RAM
GTX 1080 Ti
TUF Gaming B550M-PLUS Wifi.
For benchmark software, we are using the following:
CrystalMark v 7.0.0 and 8.0.0
AS SSD 2.0
Anvil's Storage Utilities 1.1.0
PCMark 10 Storage Benchmark 1.0
Cyberpunk 2077
Windows 10 OS Build 19042.685
Crystal Disk Mark Benchmark
For our first benchmark, we are using Crystal Disk Mark 7.0.0 (CDM) Benchmark in which the advertised speed was performed. Let's see if we can get the same result on our system.
We managed to get a peak read sequential speed of 7,000.15 Mb/s and write sequential speed of 4,079.43 MB/s on Crystal Disk Mark Benchmark. However, we only get these results when the temperature of our SSD is below 65 degrees. To get the peak speed all of the time, we have to make sure our system has good airflow. Lesser temperature to the SSD means more consistent peak speed.
If your system is not well ventilated, the sequential read speed drops to 6,500 MB/s while the write speed remains the same at 4,077 MB/s(This happen when we didn't attached the glass side cover of our CPU). We are curious if the other variant with a heatsink that cooldowns the temperature will have the consistent sequential read speed.
AS SSD 2.0 Benchmark
On the second benchmark, we are using the AS SSD 2.0, a popular benchmarking tool dedicated for SSD storage devices. However, we are expecting a lower result on this benchmark because AS SSD uses a different algorithm compared to the Crystal Disk Mark.
The result of AS SSD Benchmark shows the WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD 500GB ssd obtained sequential read speed of 5,736 MB/s and sequential write speed of 3,815 MB/s with an overall total score of 7,255.
Anvil's Storage Utilities Benchmark
On the third storage benchmark we are using is the Anvil's Storage Utilities, a tool that is currently in beta. Though it is more flexible because you can customize your test according to your preferences.
As expected, WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD 500GB SSD scored at 20,203 in the standard test, breaking the 20k score mark. Read speed is at 4,853.08 MB/s and Write speed is at 3,849.62 MB/s.
PCMark 10 Storage Benchmark
For the last storage benchmark, we are using the PCMark 10 Storage Benchmark (https://benchmarks.ul.com/). It will test our SSD into relevant real-world operations from different type of applications and common tasks used repeatedly performed to get the benchmark score.
For the Full System Drive Benchmark, where WD_BLACK SN850 will be tested to wide-range sets of applications such as Adobe's software, Microsoft office, Call of Duty Black Ops 4, Battlefield V, and other operations.
We obtained a score of 3,033. Overall bandwidth of 482.62 MB/s and Overall access time of 55 µs (microseconds).
For the Quick System Drive Benchmark, where it will be tested in a shorter test with lighter workloads like using Microsoft Excel, Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator and some operations.
We got a score of 3,743, the overall bandwidth at 454.32 MB/s and Overall access time of 34 µs.
For the Data Drive Benchmark, where it will be tested for storing files rather than applications, mostly operations like copying 339 JPEG files (2.37 GB) and other read/write test.
We obtained a score of 5,210, Overall band with of 776.70 MB/s and overall access time of 30 µs.
Installing Windows 10 Benchmark
We are also doing a reformat benchmark where we install Windows 10 from scratch to the WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD. Let's see how many minutes it should take to complete the installation.
In the first test, this part is where the installation files of Windows were copied from the bootable USB then installed into the main drive (WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD).
The result is quite fast, it only takes 70 seconds to complete the first phase of Windows 10 installation.
The next test is the "This might take several minutes" test where the final installation setup is made. Prior to this, it takes us approximately 1-minute to complete the manual Basic, Network, Account and Services setup.
In the last test, it takes about 72 seconds to complete the final phase of Windows 10 installation. In total we have completed Windows 10 reformat in just 4 minutes and 36 seconds including reboot time.
Cyberpunk 2077 Loading Benchmark
For this benchmark, we can only do loading times for PC games as this game basically works fine on any type of SSD storage. What we can do is to measure the difference between the loading times. For this test, we use the Load Game function and load the portion where V can roam around the city right after he arrived in the apartment.
From the main menu to the game, it takes about 9.5 seconds for you to play the game immediately. While on a regular SATA SSD it takes about 14.8 seconds and on other M.2 NVMe SSD it takes 10.8 seconds.
The speed difference between SATA SSD and WD_BLACK SN850 is noticeable, but for other M.2 – the difference is almost the same.
Backward Compatibility
The WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD is also backward compatible with the following PCIe interface: (Not in the list are not compatible like the PCIe Gen3 x4)
PCIe Gen3 x2
PCIe Gen3 x1
PCIe Gen2 x4
PCIe Gen2 x2
PCIe Gen2 x1
Having a backward compatible for several PCIe Gen3 and Gen 2 interfaces is an advantage for SN850. But keep in mind that when you connect these SSD into a PCIe 3.0 or 2.0, the speed will be a bottleneck, theoretically at 3,500 MB/s for sequential read speed depending on your system.
Warranty
The WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD has a rated endurance of 300 TBW (TeraBytes Written) for every 500GB of capacity, which means 300TBW for 500GB, 600TBW for 1TB and 1,200TBW for 2TB. It also comes with a 5-year limited warranty.
Conclusion
If you're into building a future proof PC Build for gaming, getting the WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD is one of the components that you should consider. With a peak sequential read speed of 7,000MB/s, this SSD is just fast enough that exceeds the maximum speed of the next-gen console that is currently running at 5,500MB/s. Making this SSD a future proof for PC gaming for the next 5 to 6 years.
Considering its price point, this SSD is worth a purchase if you're planning to have a new setup for a long run.
WD Black SN850 Specification
Here are the full specifications with the WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD without heatsink 500GB:
RetroArch emulator has a new design, but these new design consist of big notification and sometimes its blocking the game screen when you're doing quick save and load. However, removing this notification is quite not an easy task, turning off the notifications are lucrative to find and sometimes you ended up turning off the wrong settings.
Some users also prefers not to totally turn off the notification, because they still want to see notification for saving and loading. But in this case, they want it to be smaller and didn't distract the game screen. While for users who wants to totally turn off the notifications, it is easy peasy.
Adjust Notification Settings
Those fancy and decorated notifications you find in RetroArch seems to very big and excessive when playing your favorite games (especially the splash screen). Adjusting this notification to disable it without totally turning off the whole notification will make your gameplay clean from distraction.
First we need to go to Settings > On-Screen Display > On-Screen Notifications.
From here, Make sure that On-Screen Notifications stays turn on. Then find the Graphics Widgets then turn it OFF. (This will disable the decorated animations, notifications, indicators and controls)
Then adjust the font family and sizes. Lastly, then the horizontal and vertical positions. You can also set the RGB color of the notification, by default it is set to color yellow.
Here is our preferred settings:
Font: Default
Size: 9
Position (Horizontal): 0.010
Position (Vertical): 0.010
Lastly, to make your changes takes effect, you have to restart the RetroArch. Once you've open a game, the splash screen will never appear as well as the warning notifications.
Totally turn off Notification
To totally turn off the notifications, you just need to turn of the On-Screen Notifications.
You can do this by going to Settings > On-Screen Display > On-Screen Notifications, then turn off the On-Screen Notifications.
Then don't forget to restart your RetroArch after changing those settings.
If you've been using RetroArch to emulate some of your retro games for your PC for quite some time now and didn't encounter any problem. But, suddenly one day, sounds on every game you've played becomes muted. Well, in our case it takes scratching our head to get a solution to fix the issue. The problem mainly, Windows 10 are having hard time recognizing the driver of your RetroArch program if its recently updated, moved or opened into a new formatted OS.
When you recently do those changes on your computer, most likely you'll get a mute sound problem on RetroArch.
To fix this issue, there are several ways to troubleshoot this problem. Below are some of it.
First of all, you might unknowingly muted the RetroArch while pressing random keys on your computer. You need to check your RetroArch program if its muted or the volume was set to 0.
To check if RetroArch is muted, go to Settings > Audio. Then make sure the Mute is turned OFF.
In game, for toggling mute, press F9. Then for increasing the volume up, press +. (If you change this key configuration, you can check the key binding by going to Settings > Inputs > Hotkeys).
If this doesn't solve your sound problem, you can move on the next solution.
Sound Audio driver was not properly set
The next troubleshoot solution might be your Drivers was not set properly. The default audio driver and settings for RetroArch was Wasapi.
To set it back to its default sound driver, go to Settings > Audio > Output.
For Audio driver, you need to use Wasapi.
Then turn off the following:
WASAPI Exclusive Mode
WASAPI Float Format
Make sure to restart after you change these settings, then run RetroArch again and play some games to try out.
RetroArch is muted on Volume mixer of Windows 10
If the configuration of your RetroArch has no problem, the volume might be turned off on Window's volume mixer. In Windows 10, users are allowed to manually set the volume of each programs in Windows 10 by adjusting it on the volume mixer.
To check if volume mixer is the culprit, right click the volume icon on the bottom right corner of your Windows 10 taskbar. Then click Open volume mixer.
From here, all programs that uses sounds will be listed. Check if RetroArch was set to low volume or it was muted.
If RetroArch is not listed on Volume Mixer, there might be an issue where Windows 10 cannot recognized any of the sound driver in the program. You need to do the next step to fix this.
New copy of RetroArch and place in a new directory
If RetroArch is not listed on the volume mixer, you need to grab a new copy of RetroArch from their website. You just need the zipped package, the installer is optional.
You can get the zipped package on their download page website. Scroll down for Windows 10 / 8 / 7, then you'll find Download (64bit) or Download (32bit). Just pick what OS system you have.
After downloading the zipped file, extract it into a new directory. For example, at C:/your_directory/retroarch_x.
Open up RetroArch then try checking game if there are sounds, it should also appear on the volume mixer after doing this.
To load your old configurations, you just need to copy the retroarch.cfg from your old directory to your new one.
That's it! If you still encounter the problem after doing all of the troubleshoot above or if you have a better solution. Please leave a comment down below so we can look into it.
The Winter sale just launched in the Humble Store and the sale will be live starting today until January 28, 2021. Together with that, they will also be giving away Bomber Crew for FREE for limited time only, 48 hours to be exact.
Bomber Crew is a strategic simulation game where you can form your own crew to take to an aerial adventure, you'll be dropping bombs to different mission and you should protect your crews and your arsenal in good shapes to complete your mission.
If you haven't yet tried the game before, this is your chance to play this unique experience game.
Battle Royale Games like Apex Legends, Call of Duty Warzone and PUBG requires enormous amount of specs to win and to run smoothly on your computer. If your computer is a stove (low specs), you will probably not get good fps on gaming. The modern games will be tested on an AMD Radeon R7 Graphics, with a Vram of 512 mb.
Here are the 5 modern games tested on a 512 mb vram graphics card.
5. Gta V
Grand Theft Auto 5 is a really good game, the game was released back 2013, but it has received many updates making it one of the demanding games today. It has titles that until today is appreciated. Grand Theft Auto V is more like a graphics kind of game, it focuses on the graphics and the realism the game can get, but in doing missions or online your gonna need a lot of fps to be able to complete and compete. Some Influencers even made videos about it online, giving gamers the thought of GTA V being better than the Cyberpunk 2077.
The video card requirements of the game is a NVIDIA 9800 GT 1GB/ AMD HD 4870 1 GB, we should be able to run the game without burning the pc, but we need to make some adjustments.
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If you badly want play GTA V on a low end pc, your gonna need to make some configuration to the game files or using some graphics mods.
While running the game at the lowest graphics possible (without configuring the settings), we did not get fps drop but we got textures loading for 3 minutes. When driving faster, it gets worst until the game freezes, but it gets back after few seconds.
4. Minecraft (Resource Packs and Shaders)
The never aging game; Minecraft, Minecraft is one of the few popular games today that is playable on a low end pc. The game is developed by Mojang, a game where there are no limits to your imagination, the game doesn't have specific goals to make, except for the survival mode where you have to beat the ender dragon and continue Free Roam. Minecraft is still very popular to Influencers as well, Youtubers like MrBeast Gaming, Dream, Pewdiepie, Technoblade and more are still streaming the game.
Minecraft can look way cooler when shaders are applied, shaders are the one that brings realism to the game that makes your pc into a stove. A youtuber named Austin Evans cooked an egg using his gaming pc, this became one of the unheard trends online. Shaders can cause your pc to be 4x slower when running at a 512 mb VRAM. You might even be able to cook an egg at your pc.
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After few minutes, I decided to remove the shaders since it costed a lot of fps, the minimum fps was 2. I used the Shaders SEUS Lite.
3. Call of Duty: Mobile (Gameloop)
Call of Duty: Mobile is one of the best android game with good graphics, the game is also very addictive because of the ranks and the season events. Call of Duty has finally reached to mobile and we will be running it at a low end pc, so expect some of FPS drops.
Thanks to Gameloop, we can run Call of Duty: Mobile, without enabling VT or Virtualization on our PC, You can also play CODM on other emulator like Nox and LD Player.
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On the lobby the FPS is still good, but when reaching the start of the battle royale the game starts to drop at medium graphics. The game runs smoothly on low graphics, so if you are looking for a call of duty warzone on your 512 mb VRAM, this is it.
Today, GIGABYTE launches their newest motherboard lineup dedicated for content creators, the Z590 Vision. Powering the 11th Gen Intel Core processor, the exclusive design of VisionLink and VisionLink TB enables the simple connection to pen displays with only one USB Type-C cable, releasing creators from the mess of transmission cables and switches for their neat setup.
The VisionLink technology allows data and video transmission based on the USB Type-C Interface and provides power delivery of up to 60W. Not only solving the cable clutter, but also benefit of data, video, and power charging at the same time. With one USB Type-C cable connected, it will turn the workspace into neat and tidy. While the advanced version VisionLink TB is based on Thunderbolt 4 that delivers 40GB/s high-bandwidth speeds, data transferring, video signal and up to 60W power charging, and daisy chain function to support up to 10 devices connection.
The Z590 VISION series motherboards keep the VISION white styling with exclusive hardware design to provide creators with an improved working efficiency. The Z590 VISION series motherboards inherit GIGABYTE's leadership in motherboard power design and VRM thermal design, using up to 12-phase direct power design paired with highly durable DrMOS to provide the best power delivery. Solid power pin connectors on the Z590 VISION series motherboards ensure that the power delivery is stable while reducing excess heat during high workload to prevent throttling, and make the processor more stable to avoid downtime due to an unstable power supply. With the new design of the fins-array, direct-touch heat-pipe, large heat sinks and Smart Fan 6, it not only strengthens the thermal effect, but also takes into account the appearance design, allowing the GIGABYTE Z590 VISION motherboards to be both stylish and thermally efficient.
The memory circuits of GIGABYTE Z590 VISION motherboards are embedded within the PCB ground layers while the metal outer layer of the PCB reduces electromagnetic interference so those using dual channel configuration can enjoy high-speed, stable overclocked RAM performance boost above XMP 4800MHz. GIGABYTE Z590 VISION motherboards use PCIe 4.0 grade of PCBs, PCIe slots, M.2 slots, and controllers for the highest bandwidth quality. The select Z590 VISION motherboards equip with three PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots which the trace layout comes directly from CPU for the NVMe M.2 SSD, and offers and extreme sequential read speed of more than 20000 MB/s in Windows RAID 0 mode.
Besides taking the lead to implement Thunderbolt 4 onboard, GIGABYTE Z590 VISION motherboards also adopt robust expansion for content creators , which includes SuperSpeed USB3.2 Gen2x2, Intel® 2.5G Ethernet, and High Fidelity audio output expansion interface. The Intel® 2.5Gbps Ethernet controller brings ultra-fast connectivity that is 2.5X faster than Gigabit Ethernet. Also, the lineup implements an Intel® WiFi 6 802.11ax network adapter to provide Gigabit level wireless network, and paired with high-gain Wi-Fi smart antenna to deliver up to 2.4Gbps transmission speed which offers smoother streaming videos, fewer dropped connections, and more stability. To feature with dual Ethernet LAN and WiFi for creators to have a flexible configuration with high bandwidth and low latency access connectivity. The newest GIGABYTE VISION DRIVE perfectly matches the 20 Gbps high speed transfer of USB 3.2 Gen2x2 to meet the needs of ultra-fast storage from creators.
GIGABYTE Z590 VISION series motherboards are equipped with the high SNR audio engine ALC4080 and the WIMA FKP2 studio-grade audio capacitors to deliver studio-grade audio. GIGABYTE's exclusive design with DTS：X® Ultra technology delivers high fidelity audio for the most immersive sound experience whether it's for work or entertainment. From video editing to listening to music, the audio quality is indispensable.
Z590 VISION G features three PCIe x16 slots with one Gen4 x16 and two Gen3 x4 supported. There are four M.2 slots with PCIe 4.0/3.0 interface, and six SATA 6Gb/s ports. With the VisionLINK for connection of pen displays and the DP_In interface, the 3D performance of VGA cards can be shared to pen displays, which is suitable for enabling 2D design and entry-level 3D modeling.
Z590 VISION D holds two PCIe 4.0 slots of x16 and x8 interface, two PCIe 3.0 expansion slots of x4 and x1, three M.2 slots with PCIe 4.0/3.0 interface, and six SATA 6Gb/s ports. With the VisionLINK TB for connection of pen display and the DP_In interface, the performance of VGA cards can be shared to pen displays, which is more suitable for VFX, 3D compilation, 3D CAD, AI development, and edge deployment.
Z590I VISION D is the first ITX size motherboard of VISION series which is the top choice for mini PC to handle 2D and light-duty 3D computer-aided workloads in fields such as architecture and engineering. In addition to one PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, two PCIe 4.0/3.0 M.2 slots, and four SATA 6Gb/s ports onboard, Z590I VISION D also equips two Thunderbolt 4 ports which can deliver 40Gb/s high-bandwidth speeds, data transferring, video signal, 60W power charging, USB4 specification compliance, and daisy chain function to support up to 10 devices connection. Heat dissipation is very critical to the mini PC. Z590I VIOSION D thermal's solution provides a perfect balance between style and performance.
Z590 VISION series also implement the highly recognized durability and stability of GIGABYTE motherboards. The exclusive Q-Flash Plus feature allows users to flash a BIOS file without installing a CPU, RAM, GPU, and other peripherals. Creators now can concentrate on their creation under a stable system.
Good news! For those who are seeking a dream hero for your knightley journey "Guardian Tales" a mobile adventure RPG game, welcome the new year with a special event that allows players to summon heroes or equipments for free! You didn't read it wrong! Yes! It's free with so many content to explore!
Guardian Tales celebrate New Year 2021 with Free summon event up to 50 times, whether it's heroes or equipments. The event allows players to summon 10 times per day in 5 days straight and only today until 25 of Jan! Besides that, Guardian Tales also has updated with new various features and events! Such as, the New Year Road Map event and the Guardian Pass, which players can collect points and exchange for more exclusive rewards. So that, make sure to download, login, and summon! Who knows what treasure you'll get! So don't miss this out!
Game developer team has continuously developed and updated the game content, which has a unique adventurous storyline up to world 10! There are also the Training room and the Guardian base camp that helps strengthen your favorite heroes and so on!
Please be sure entering these exclusive events and do not miss any other special update or news in Guardian Tales. Keep your eyes on their official Facebook page, meet others guardians, and share your experiences with them in their official Discord and official Facebook Group.
Today, GIGABYTE announced their newest motherboard lineup to support the upcoming 11th Gen Intel Processors. The new motherboards features up to 20-phase digital power Voltage Regulator Module (VRM) and an improved Fin-Array II heatsink design. It is geared with best power design and thermal management for overclocking on the upcoming Intel Processor (It also uses Daisy Chain memory routing with an anti-interference design for improve memory overclocking).
With the newest support of Intel's PCIe 4.0, the GIGABYTE Z590 AORUS motherboard uses PCIe 4.0 grade PCBs, PCIEe slots, M.2 slots and a controller for the highest bandwidth possible, which can provides up to 7,000 MB/s. The motherboard can support up to three PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots with direct connection to the CPU. RAID configuration are also possible and can provide access rate of more than 20,000 MB/s. For SSD thermal, they have built-in Thermal Guard II which is a double sided heat dissipation solution that provides optimal cooling for PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD to avoid thermal throttling.
For power, the motherboard can deliver up to 2,100 Amps and provide the best power balance, with up to 20+1 phases which each of them can hold up to 100 amps with its DrMOS power stages design. It also uses a Tantalum Polymer capacitors which improves the transient response of the VRM between high and low loads, increases durability of the processor.
Each single slot DDR4 memory in GIGABYTE Z590 AORUS can support up to 32GB, that's 128GB memory for 4 DIMM slots.
For other peripheral connections, it uses USB4, 3.2 Gen 2×2, 3.2 Gen 2 slots, 2.5G and 10G Ethernet, audio jack, Intel WiFi 6E 802.11ax network adapter (6GHz) and a Thunderbolt 4 expansion interface (for selected motherboard).
GIGABYTE Z590 AORUS motherboard also support previous technology like the LED lighting, Q-Flash Plus. Plus a new revamped BIOS with new graphical interface.
SN850 NVMe
