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Win a shot at an RTX 3080 Ti in Nvidia's System Latency Challenge
Win a shot at an RTX 3080 Ti in Nvidia's System Latency Challenge
Improving system latency -- the chain of tiny lags across your mouse, keyboard, controller and monitor -- can make anyone's game better. But it's hard to understand the difference between 85ms and 55ms without seeing that difference for yourself. Nvidia's hopes to convince you it's worth paying a premium for partner devices with its Reflex Latency Analyzer tech, which can optimize performance in the 25 games that support it. The strategy: Offer gamers a chance to win a high-demand graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition, an MSI Oculux NXG253R G-Sync display or a Logitech Pro X Superlight mouse by testing their shooting skills.
The Meta's Reflex-supported aim training software, KovaaK's 2.0, includes two Nvidia Experiments modules starting today. The new modules simulate 25ms, 55ms and 85ms of system latency as measured by your aim accuracy when shooting single or multiple targets (flicking and frenzy, respectively) in-game. Access to KovaaK's is free for the week, but you'll need to create an account. To participate, just boot up the software and press the big Nvidia Experiments button, scroll through Nvidia's terms of "consent to participate in research mode" and follow the instructions.
Why only shooting? Nvidia's own research shows latency has a significantly bigger impact on aim accuracy (and therefore in shooters) than on frame rate. Also, it's aim-training software.
The software simulates the effect of latency on your system configuration by measuring game and GPU latency via Reflex, then using its existing data to estimate and calculate the rest of the system equation. It'll then add a lag of the relevant duration (25ms, 55ms or 85ms). You can't play around with your settings to see how they affect the experience, though. Your changes will just be ignored.
As far as marketing and research-data-collection strategies go, it's quite clever. There are caveats, as with any contest, both to compete and to win one of the 27 prizes (there are nine of each). You can try the software with any GPU, but in order to make it onto the leaderboard, and therefore to win, you need to use a Reflex-supporting GPU. In other words, you'll need a GeForce 900 series or newer Nvidia GPU.
The winners are randomly selected from the leaderboard and only a single entry per human, so it doesn't matter how uncoordinated you are. But it also means your chance of winning decreases as more people participate. So shhhh. Don't tell anyone about it.
At the very least, you get to try the most excellent KovaaK's for a week. At best, you can win an RTX 3080 Ti and sell it for holiday gift cash.
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Best Gaming PC Deals: Save $800 on an ABS Desktop With RTX 3080 Ti Graphics
Best Gaming PC Deals: Save $800 on an ABS Desktop With RTX 3080 Ti Graphics
Even if you can find a stand-alone Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series graphics card in stock, you'll likely encounter a price that'll make you gasp. A better route might be a prebuilt PC. You can find some reasonably priced, off-the-shelf gaming desktops right now with Nvidia's latest GPUs. There are even a few discounts to be found -- a rare occurrence for anything related to Nvidia's RTX GPUs.
PC gamers will find the lowest prices at Best Buy and Newegg right now. After taking a look at the gaming desktops on each site, here are the best deals I've found -- from a desktop discounted to $850 with RTX 3050 graphics to a fully loaded beast with an RTX 3090 GPU.
Read more: Best Graphics Card for Gamers and Creatives in 2022
Check back: I'll keep this list updated as I find new deals on RTX 30-series gaming desktops.
Newegg
It's rare to find a gaming desktop with RTX 30-series graphics of any ilk for less than $1,000. This Skytech PC features the entry-level GPU in Nvidia's RTX 30-series lineup, the GeForce RTX 3050, and is only $850. The rest of the specs are fairly midrange, with a 10th-gen Core i5 processor and only 8GB of RAM. With a 600-watt power supply, however, you've got some room to grow with this budget gaming PC.
Newegg
With its current $320 discount, this Skytech system is one of the lowest-cost gaming PCs with a GPU from Nvidia's GeForce RTX 30 series. It supplies the GeForce RTX 3060 GPU next to a 10th-gen Intel Core i5 CPU, along with 16GB of RAM, a 500GB solid-state drive and a 600-watt power supply.
Newegg
A popular pairing for gamers right now is an AMD Ryzen 7 CPU and GeForce RTX 30-series graphics. This HP Omen system features the octa-core Ryzen 7 5800X CPU and RTX 3070 graphics and has capacity for future upgrades with an 800-watt PSU.
Newegg
This ABS model pairs an 11th-gen, octa-core Core i9 CPU with GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics. You also get 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 850-watt power supply. Those components usually would cost upwards of $4,000, but you can get them in this ABS package for the more reasonable sum of $3,400. That price reflects a massive $800 discount.
HP
Ready to blow it out? When you consider that many gaming PCs with Nvidia's latest GPUs cost $5,000 and up, this HP Omen looks reasonable for $4,000. It features the GeForce RTX 3090, the top GPU in Nvidia's lineup. It also boasts an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, plus a 2TB hard drive. It also offers an 800-watt power supply and a liquid-cooling system.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 gaming graphics card is a speedy compromise for $499
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 gaming graphics card is a speedy compromise for $499
Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3070 may end up suffering from middle-child syndrome, squeezed between the two ends of Nvidia's GPU spectrum: basic 1440p for a little less or basic 4K/high-frame rate 1440p for a little more. The GeForce RTX 3070 Founders Edition of the $499 (£469, AU$809) graphics card I tested is geared toward high-frame rate/quality 1440p gaming, and delivers similar performance to the RTX 2080 Ti for most uses (but not all), which debuted at $999. The boost over its predecessor, the more expensive RTX 2070 Super, depends upon what you need it to do.
The release of the 3070 follows the bumpy launch of the $699 RTX 3080 and its $1,500 sibling, the RTX 3090, both experiencing price gouging due to shortages. But rumors have also surfaced about a slightly cheaper RTX 3060 Ti coming soon as well as a new card slotted between the 3070 and 3080. Plus, it's likely we'll get an entry-level 30 series card early next year to feed the mid-$300 buyers. And that doesn't take into account AMD's launch of its ambitious Radeon RX 6000-series "Big Navi" gaming cards that use the same architecture as the upcoming Xbox Series X and S and PS5consoles.
Like the RTX 3080-based graphics cards, the Ampere-generation of the company's GPU architecture achieves playable frame rates in games that use RTX-specific features like ray-tracing and global illumination. Its AI-based upscaling feature, DLSS, lets you finally game at better-than-bare-minimum frame rates without visible degradation in quality. The GPU also lifts performance over predecessors in games that don't take advantage of the whizzy features by about 10% to 20% on average, which is really most games.
Unlike its higher-end siblings, the 3070 uses older GDDR6 memory and has the same memory bandwidth as the 2070 Super. It still gets some performance boosts thanks to the second-gen ray tracing and third-gen Tensor cores, such as new algorithms and instruction sets that make them a lot more efficient and a switch to an 8nm process size from 12nm. And as is typical, it has increased core counts -- it has a lower ray-tracing core count but the Ampere RT cores are doubled-up over the Turing cores, so technically the 3070 has more. But you won't see the same uplift that the 3080 and 3090 received over earlier models.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Founders Edition specs
GeForce RTX 3070
Memory
8GB GDDR6
Memory bandwidth
448GB/sec
Memory clock (GHz)
1.75
GPU clock (GHz, base/boost)
1.5/1.73
Memory data rate/Interface
14Gbps/256 bit
Texture fill rate (gigatexels per second)
317.4
RT cores
46
CUDA Cores
5,888
Texture mapping units
184
Streaming multiprocessors
68
Tensor Cores
184
Process
8nm
TGP/min PSU
220w/550w
Max thermal (degrees C)
199F/93C
GPU name
GA104
Bus
PCIe 4.0 x 16
Size
2 slots; 9.5 x 4.4 in (242 x 112 mm)
Price
Around $499
It's also significantly less power-hungry than the higher-end cards, roughly the same as before, plus it's the same size as the 2080 Ti. While the 3070 has a similar 12-pin power connector design to the 3080 -- including an adapter in the box -- it still only connects to a single 8-pin block from the power supply. All of that means it's a much simpler upgrade, especially in tight systems. The Founders Edition, at least, ran cool and quiet during my testing, in a system where I swapped it for the 2070 Super.
Lori Grunin/CNET
I have no complaints about the RTX 3070's performance, and it's definitely worth its $499 price tag. But it may not be your best choice for the money. The Ti models generally have more memory and slightly wider data paths than the non-Ti models, which is why you'll find the 11GB 2080 Ti occasionally outperforming the 8GB 3070. It makes sense to wait and see if an RTX 3060 Ti or intermediate option between the 3070 and 3080 become reality and what AMD rolls out later this week.
Geekbench 5 (Vulkan)
Origin PC Big O (PS4 Edition)
MSI Aegis RS (MS-7C75)
Corsair One Pro i200
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Geekbench 5 (CUDA)
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Shadow of the Tomb Raider gaming test (1080p, highest quality)
Origin PC Big O (PS4 Edition)
MSI Aegis RS (MS-7C75)
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)
Shadow of the Tomb Raider gaming test (4K, highest quality)
MSI Aegis RS (MS-7C75) with DLSS
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)
3DMark Port Royal (RTX)
Origin PC Big O (PS4 Edition)
MSI Aegis RS (MS-7C75)
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Configurations
Corsair One Pro
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (1909); 3.3GHz Intel Core i9-10940X; 64GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,667MHz; 11GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti; 2TB SSD
Maingear Turbo
Microsoft Windows 10 Home (2004); 3.8GHz Ryzen 9 3900XT; 32GB DDR4 SDRAM 3,600; 11GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti; 1TB SSD + 4TB HDD
MSI Aegis RS
Microsoft Windows 10 Home (1909); 3.8GHz Intel Core i7-10700K; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 3,000; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Founders Edition; 1TB SSD
MSI Trident X
Microsoft Windows 10 Home (1909); (oc) 3.8GHz Intel Core i7-10700K; 32GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,932; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super; 1TB SSD
Origin PC Big O (PS4 Edition)
Microsoft Windows 10 Home (1909); 3.8GHz AMD Ryzen 9 3900X; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super; 1.5TB SSD (2TB SSD for console)
Origin PC Chronos
Microsoft Windows 10 Home (2004); Intel Core i9-10900K; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 3,200; 10GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 (EVGA); 1TB SSD + 500GB SSD
MSI Raider GE76 gaming laptop has the fastest of everything. It shows
MSI Raider GE76 gaming laptop has the fastest of everything. It shows
MSI's top-end 17-inch Raider GE76 gaming laptop comes with state-of-the-art components that let it fly. It's stacked with an Intel Core i9-12900HK CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU. That processor is the newest Intel mobile Alder Lake architecture, which splits the cores into performance-optimized and efficiency-optimized (like Apple's M1 chips). And while the RTX 3080 Ti is just a new iteration of Nvidia's top mobile GPU, the MSI shows how well it performs when you push it -- and not even to the max -- in a system that allows it to draw full power.
In other words, the components are performing better than they would on a laptop with a pretty thin-and-light design; those have to compromise on power for the sake of cooling, battery size and AC adapter size. The downside is that the Raider is a lot more traditional. It also lacks Nvidia's Advanced Optimus, which is better at juggling the internal and discrete GPUs than the older version of Optimus used in the Raider GE76.
The Raider GE76 comes in about seven different configurations that range in price from $1,599 (with an i7-12700H, RTX 3060 and 1080p 360Hz display) to $4,199 (i9-12900HK, RTX 3080 Ti and 4K 120Hz display). Our test system configuration isn't available here, but the closest option, with an i9-12900HK, RTX 3080 Ti and 1440p 240Hz display for $3,999 is actually better; 4K can be overkill for 17 inches and 1080p is OK, but QHD is just right. (Since exchange-rate conversions bear no relation to the regional pricing, I haven't included them.)
It's pretty pricey overall, and currently still in preorder, since it's not shipping until around late March. It's definitely worth waiting to see what's out there around the same time.
4 x USB-A, 1 x USB-C/Thunderbolt, 1 combo audio, 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x Mini DisplayPort 1.4
Networking
Killer Wi-Fi 6E AX1675, 2.5Gb Killer E3100
Operating system
Microsoft Windows 11 Pro (21H2)
Weight
6.4 pounds (2.9 kilograms)
The laptop's screen isn't on the GPU bus, so the battery life is highly dependent on whether you remember to switch into hybrid mode. (In hybrid mode, the rendering and acceleration are performed by the Nvidia GPU and passed over the system bus to the CPU to render to the screen, which might make it a bit slower.) That means you have to manually force it to use the discrete graphics -- it can't toggle back and forth intelligently and automatically, and you have to reboot to switch. MSI does have a utility that automatically switches in and out of "extreme" mode as you launch games.
My performance test results place it as best in class -- or close -- across the board, and by a significant margin in some cases. Single-core speed, traditionally Intel's strong point, is also impressive. When you combine all the advances in GPU and CPU in the system, it becomes a powerhouse for video editing (though if you really want to you probably want a better screen than the run-of-the-mill model I tested, which is optimized for refresh rate).
You can overclock the GPU and VRAM up to 200MHz each via MSI's utility. Simply bumping the GPU up by 100MHz lifted performance on Rift Breaker's GPU test and FireStrike Ultra by about 6%, and Port Royal (which measures Nvidia's RTX ray-tracing performance) by about 7%. That's quite good and means there's room for more uplift, as long as you're willing to put up with the fan noise.
The touchpad feels a little small relative to the size of the laptop.
Lori Grunin/CNET
This isn't really a "laptop" laptop. It's a desktop replacement, so I'm not sure how important a little extra battery life is. Still, when you let the system use its intelligent power handling (without forcing it into save-battery-at-all-costs mode) it lasted about 5 to 6 hours streaming video continuously over Wi-Fi, which is unusually long for a traditional 17-inch gaming system. It's big and relatively heavy, with one of those mondo power bricks that add another two pounds to the carry weight. It can also get pretty loud, even in hybrid mode, though it doesn't seem to run particularly hot.
While it performs exceptionally well on all counts, that's due to all the new components in it, and this is the first time we've tested them. I do expect to see a lot of systems that perform comparably as 2022 wears on.
Among the laptop's performance-related perks is support for DirectStorage, Microsoft's programming interface for high-bandwidth SSD file operations in Windows (and the Xbox Series X/S), that, combined with its Samsung SSD and PCIe 4 bus, delivers quite a nice score of 2,802 on 3DMark's SSD performance test (we're still building our database of comparison numbers).
A lot of swings, some misses
MSI's also one of the first companies to partner with BlueStacks for its mobile-gaming-on-laptop technology. Incorporated into its MSI App Player, it theoretically lets you play Android games on the laptop as if they were written for a PC -- a bigger screen, high-power processing, full controller support and more.
Lori Grunin/CNET
But it's really hit and miss, at least on the MSI. For instance, Dead Cells, which is listed on BlueStacks' site as a compatible game, wouldn't run. Little Adventures did, but when I rotated it to landscape to take advantage of the bigger screen, it literally just rotated the game, leaving it lying on its side. The App Player is simply emulating a phone -- if the game doesn't support landscape or a controller, it won't. And it doesn't tell you that; you just have to discover by trial and error. The Home screen for the player shows BlueStacks-optimized games, but at least a casual look-through didn't turn up a single A-lister.
Given the size of the laptop, the touchpad is too small, and I'm finding it intermittently nonresponsive. Plus, the SteelSeries keyboard feels mushy; quiet, but more like gel than membrane. I do like the laptop's lighting design, but I'm a sucker for a lightbar (as well as underglow).
And MSI touts the full HD (1080p) webcam, but there's a lot more to a good webcam than resolution. Most of the best have a lot of supporting intelligence to deliver decent autoexposure and white balance at the very least, but this one's pretty meh, even in controlled lighting. It should be fine for basic videoconferencing, but you may want to buy a better external one if you care about image and especially if you plan to stream.
If you're in the market for a speedy upgrade over whatever you're gaming on now, the MSI Raider GE76 definitely delivers -- as long as you're willing to plonk down a lot of money before seeing what the rest of the competition does with similar components, or what arrives a little later this year in a thinner-and-lighter package (between March and June) than the Raider line.
Performance snapshot
Geekbench 5 (multicore)
Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile
Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 (G533QS)
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Cinebench R23 CPU (single core)
Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile
Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition (G513QY)
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Far Cry 5 (1080p)
Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition (G513QY)
Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)
Shadow of the Tomb Raider gaming test (1080p)
Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition (G513QY)
Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)
3DMark Time Spy
Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition (G513QY)
Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile
Note:
NOTE: Longer bars indicate better performance
3DMark Fire Strike Ultra
Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile
Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition (G513QY)
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
3DMark Port Royal
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Procyon Video (Premiere Pro)
Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition (G513QY)
Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile
Note:
Higher scores indicate better performance
SpecViewPerf 2020 SolidWorks (1080p)
Asus ROG Flow X13 w/ XG Mobile
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance (FPS)
Configurations
Alienware m17 r4
Microsoft Windows 10 Home (20H2); 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-10980HK; 32GB DDR4 SDRAM 2,933MHz; 16GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 512GB SSD + 953GB RAID 0
Asus ROG Flow X13 with XG Mobile
Microsoft Windows 10 Home (2004); 3.3GHz AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS; 6GB DDR4 SDRAM 4,266MHz; 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 (16GB GeForce RTX 3080 mobile in XG Mobile)
Asus ROG Strix G15 AMD Advantage Edition
Microsoft Windows 10 Home (21H1); 3.3GHz AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX; 16GB DDR4 SDRAM 3,200MHz; 12GB AMD Radeon RX 6800M; 512TB SSD
MSI Raider GE76
Microsoft Windows 11 Pro (21H2); 2.9GHz Intel Core i9-12900HK; 32GB DDR5 SDRAM 4,800MHz; 16GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti; 2 x 1TB NVMe SSD
AMD RX 6600 XT GPU tested: Fast performer for 1080p gaming
AMD RX 6600 XT GPU tested: Fast performer for 1080p gaming
The latest step in the graphics card pas de deux between AMD and Nvidia is the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT GPU. It's also the current entry-level model in AMD's line of graphics processors for gamers specifically looking for speed or higher quality in 1080p resolution. The RX 6600 XT's nominal $379 price and performance slots seamlessly between Nvidia's $329 GeForce RTX 3060 and $399 3060 Ti -- all in the seemingly choreographed fashion we're used to from the two manufacturers.
Both AMD and Nvidia are desperately attempting to get gamers to upgrade from the four-year-old GeForce GTX 1060, which still has the biggest installed base. But this is the absolute worst time to buy a graphics card... and has been for a while. Yes, the cryptocurrency mining crackdown in China and regulatory smackdown in Europe may lessen the demand for GPUs, but we're still in the middle of a silicon supply crunch that affects many components of graphics cards and that's expected to last at least until the end of the year. So it's bound to keep availability low, shopbots busy and prices high. And if you're looking at these low-ish end cards, you're probably really price-sensitive to begin with, making it a doubly bad time -- unless you're de sperate.
The ROG Strix RX 6600 XT OC is a dual-fan card; there will also be triple fan cards from add-in board manufacturers.
Lori Grunin/CNET
Like Nvidia's 3060 models, there's no official AMD-branded version of a card using the RX 6600 XT GPU, so we tested the Asus ROG Strix RX 6600 XT OC, a $550 dual-fan overclockable model that acquits itself well for what it is. (There's also a smaller, lower-key version of the card in the Asus Dual product line line for $500.) But in our testing, the 6600 XT at best matched or marginally outpaced the RTX 3060, even conservatively overclocked, which at least partly stems from the AMD GPU's 8-lane PCIe connection rather than NVIDIA's 16-lane connection. However, without knowing what the actual-real-true prices are as opposed to the what-planet-do-you-live-on prices, it's difficult to make a call about which GPU to recommend you make a fruitless attempt to buy.
The lesser slot requirement may make it a little more flexible for fitting into older systems, but it really cuts potential performance; if it took advantage of the higher-bandwidth slot it might give the 3060 Ti some competition.
AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT
Memory
8GB DDR6
Memory bandwidth (GBps)
256
GPU clock (GHz, base/boost)
2.3/2.6
Memory data rate/Interface
16 Gbps/128 bit
Texture fill rate (gigatexels per second)
342.3
Compute Units and Ray Accelerators (each)
32
Stream cores
2,048
Texture mapping units
128
TGP/min PSU (watts)
160/500
Bus
PCIe 4.0 x 8
Size
2.6 slots; 9.6 x 5.3 x 2.0 in/243 x 134 x 52 mm
Connections
1 x HDMI 2.1, 3 x DisplayPort 1.4
Manufacturer price
$550
Ship date
August 11
Asus has done a fine job eking out what it can from the GPU and it certainly delivers on the 1080p high-frame-rate promise. Physically, the card's a bit chunky for what it delivers at 2.6 slots wide, but the space allocated to the passive cooling (four heatpipes forcing the heat toward a large heat spreader and heatsink) allows it to reduce reliance on the fans at high speeds. This makes it pretty quiet and I kept having to check the monitoring utility to convince myself the fans were even spinning.
In addition to monitoring, the GPU Tweak 2 utility Asus provides lets you choose from a silent mode (with a 0dB fan toggle), gaming mode (which weights performance, cooling and noise equally) and an OC mode to maximize performance via an overclock preset or manual controls over the GPU and memory clocks, voltage, fan speed and a power target. Like the other cards in the line, there's also a toggle switch to jump between two BIOSes, one optimized for performance and the other for noise.
You can use the company's Armoury Crate software to control the logo lighting scheme, but I'm not a big fan of the software; it's just too cumbersome for my taste.
The GPU has passive cooling in addition to the fans, with four heat pipes and a backplate heat spreader across most of the card and a vent on the inside end. A physical BIOS switch lets you change between two modes (performance vs. quiet) if you don't want to use Asus' Tweak UI utility.
Lori Grunin/CNET
The card supports all the latest AMD features. They include Radeon Boost (which selectively renders scene elements at a lower resolution, based on visibility, for higher frame rates), Radeon Anti-Lag (reduces latency by lightening the load on the CPU), FidelityFX Super Resolution (upscaling from lower-resolution textures to achieve faster frame rates, a la Nvidia DLSS) and Smart Access Memory (AMD's Resizable BAR implementation, in which the CPU can store game-related data in GPU RAM rather than system RAM so the GPU doesn't have to traverse the system bus to retrieve it).
AMD is less reliant on developer support than Nvidia for much of its acceleration, but it's not entirely driver-based. Smart Access Memory only works on systems equipped with a modern AMD Ryzen CPU, for example.
Unless you're looking for the cheapest RX 6000-series AMD options, I don't think the RX 6600 XT is the best choice for its price class; the RTX 3060 Ti seems like it delivers far better performance for (theoretically) not much more. And I wouldn't rule out an even lower-end model appearing later this year to satisfy your budget-constrained 1080p play -- there was an RX 5500, so it's always possible we'll see even lower end RX 6500 or RX 6500 XT models at some point for basic 1080p gaming.
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Best gadgets of IFA 2020
Best gadgets of IFA 2020
The coronavirus pandemic might mean that the IFA 2020 tech show, usually held in Berlin every year, is mostly being held as a series of online events, but that doesn't mean there aren't as many neat new gadgets being launched. I've swapped a German beer for a strong coffee and a creaky press conference bench for my lumbar-supporting office chair to bring you the hottest products of the show.
I'll be updating this article throughout the week, swapping in any new launch that deserves recognition for being particularly cool. Make sure to bookmark this page and come back to see what's new.
First shown off a couple of weeks ago, and demonstrated more fully at Samsung's online event this week, the Z Fold 2 is the second generation of the company's flagship folding smartphone. With a bigger exterior display and a less intrusive notch for the interior camera, this model addresses various issues we had with the first-gen Fold.
It doesn't come cheap, with a $2,000 price tag, but it's packed with top-end tech, including 5G connectivity and multiple cameras.
Read more: Galaxy Z Fold 2 ongoing review: 5 of the foldable phone's best new features so far
Samsung
Now that movie theaters are a masks-on affair, those of you looking to bring the cinema experience to your living room will want to pay attention to this. Samsung's new projector, called The Premiere, is the first HDR10 Plus-certified projector, which the company says means it's extremely bright and vivid. Together with its 4K resolution and up to 130-inch size, it should be able to provide an extremely immersive experience for your movies. It's a short-throw projector too, meaning it can sit right up against the wall it's projecting onto, rather than having to put it on a stand on the other side of the room.
Read more: Samsung's The Premiere 4K ultra-short-throw laser projector goes up to 130 inches
Neato
The D10 sits at the top of Neato's new lineup of robot vacuum cleaners, featuring laser-guided navigation to avoid obstacles in its path, as well as a high-efficiency particulate air filter. Why? Because a HEPA filter can kill, Neato says, up to 99.97% of allergens, making it great for people with sensitivities to dust or other airborne particles.
Read more: Neato's latest and greatest robot vacuum cleans up with a HEPA filter
Acer's new Spin 7 notebook, which converts to tablet, uses Qualcomm's second-generation 8cx chip for PCs.
Acer
Acer Spin 7 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2
Acer's two-in-one laptop is the first device running the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 platform. Unveiled during Qualcomm's virtual launch, the platform promises multiday battery life as well as 5G connectivity -- both of which will be useful for working on a laptop on the move.
The Spin 7 itself has a 14-inch display which can swivel all the way around to function as a tablet and comes with a Wacom stylus for drawing or note taking. There's no pricing or availability yet, but we expect to hear more in the coming weeks.
Read more: Acer Spin 7 is the world's first Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 laptop
Asus
It's not just Qualcomm with new silicon to show off. Intel unveiled its latest Tiger Lake processors too, and Asus was quick off the mark to shove them inside its new Zenbook Flip S. Intel boasts huge boosts in speeds for word processing, video editing and online game streaming over its previous generation, while also supporting the latest Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6. All of this will be welcome in the new Flip S, which -- much like the Spin 7 mentioned above -- can fold around on itself to be both a laptop and tablet.
Read more: Asus ZenBooks and Vivobooks go 11th gen all the way
JBL
JBL's previous waterproof Clip speakers are friends to anyone who loves to sing along to their favorite tunes in the shower. The new model has an updated design and a battery life of up to 10 hours. There's still a built-in carabiner clip, which makes it super easy to hang from your soap dish while you're belting out the chorus to Taylor Swift's Shake It Off.
Read more: JBL's new headphones and Bluetooth speakers add battery life and wireless charging
Nvidia's latest graphics card series promises increased performance for 8K, 60 frames-per-second gaming, as well as improved ray tracing capabilities for realistic lighting and shadows. Fortnite has already shown off a demo that takes advantage of the new tech, as has upcoming RPG Cyberpunk. Plus the $499 RTX 3070 sounds like a real steal.
Read more: Nvidia launches GeForce RTX 3090, 3080 and 3070 with Ampere
Lenovo
This two-in-one, laptop-tablet hybrid sits at the top of Lenovo's Yoga range, sporting a soft-touch leather-clad lid, updated keyboard and a massive touchpad that's seamlessly embedded into the glass palm rest. Other upgrades over previous versions include the latest Intel chips, improved audio from the soundbar in the hinge and improvements to its included stylus.
It'll be available in 14- and 15.6-inch varieties, the latter of which can be specced up with up to a 10th-gen Intel Core i9 HK-series processor and discrete Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q, plus up to 16GB of memory and 2TB SSD storage.
Read more: Lenovo Yoga 9i gets rid of traditional touchpad, slaps leather on its lid
Want to see just how browned those cookies are getting? With LG's new oven, you simply knock on the glass door to see inside. The gas or electric range ovens also have air fry modes to crisp up your chicken real nice.
Read more: Just knock to see your food inside LG's air-fry-equipped range
Blink has two new home security cameras.
Amazon
Setting up home security cameras can be a real chore when it comes to trailing power cables everywhere. Not so with the new Blink cameras by Amazon, which have optional battery packs that claim up to four years of battery life. The cameras are available in indoor and weatherproof outdoor versions, and have a $3-a-month subscription for cloud storage of your recorded footage.
Read more: Amazon's new battery-powered Blink security cameras promise to last 4 years