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Tuesday, March 8th, 2016

    Time Event
    1:35a
    NVIDIA Releases 364.47 WHQL Game Ready Driver

    Not even a week has passed and we have another driver update from NVIDIA. Despite the quick turnaround this is not a rushed released. Indeed, we have some heavy hitters found in a good number of fixes, a relatively large number of game ready updates, and even official Vulkan support.

    This driver update introduces the 364 driver branch and NVIDIA has issued several bug fixes this time around. Among them including a crash in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate when ShadowPlay is enabled, a system hang during installation, crashing in Adobe Illustrator CC 2015, and a problem with the Twitch broadcast game title not matching Twitch’s game library. With all these fixes though, it is important to note that some users are reporting this driver update crashing their systems. Due to this issue a clean install is recommended even more so than it usually is.

    Meanwhile for game-specific updates, this driver brings performance and compatibility updates to Tom Clancy’s The Division, Hitman, Need for Speed, Ashes of the Singularity, and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Alongside the list game ready updates NVIDIA has provided SLI profiles for Hitman, The Technomancer, and Zui Shong Bing Qi (Ultimate Weapon).

    Lastly, but possibly the biggest news of this update is that with the switch to a new driver branch, Vulkan support has moved out of beta and is now in NVIDIA's mainstream drivers. We looked at Vulkan just last month as implemented in The Talos Principle, and though it's merely proof of concept at this point, it represents significant progress in Vulkan development. However while we're talking about API support, this latest driver branch still doesn't have DirectX 12 support for NVIDIA's Fermi architectre, though as we've seen it working in developer drivers it should still be on its way.

    Anyone interested can download the updated drivers through GeForce Experience or on the NVIDIA driver download page.

    8:00a
    AMD To Showcase Latest Innovations at “Capsaicin” Press Event & Webcast

    Capsaicin, whether you call it the essence of flavor or the distillation of pain (ed: it's the latter), at its core capsaicin is what drives everything we call spicy. Using this as their inspiration AMD's Radeon Technologies Group will be holding a press event for GDC, and they are naming said event after this terrifically terrifying substance.

    The press event, which we will be present for, will also be getting a live webcast that will be available on AMD’s investor relations page next week on Monday March 14th, at 4:00 PM PT. After concluding the event a replay will be available to watch a few hours later, along with YouTube access as well.

    At the event RTG plans on showcasing their own hardware, software, and gaming partners. As Capsaicin is the reason for that fire that inspires dishes worldwide, RTG will explore what they call the “inner essence” of the GPU and how it powers innovations that we will see in gaming and VR. Along these lines RTG plans to show the latest advancements drive both the enthusiast and developer communities as we approach a growing virtual reality market.

    Meanwhile, that AMD is broadcasting a webcast should be considered significant. Due to Security and Exchange Commission rules, AMD is required to reveal certain types of information to investors at the same time as the press. In previous instances where AMD has announced a webcast via their investor relations site, there have been new product announcements. So it is reasonable to expect the same here.

    For more information, please see the Capsaicin webcast announcement page

    9:00a
    The Samsung Galaxy S7 & S7 Edge Review, Part 1

    For some time now, Samsung has been the dominant player in the Android space, especially at the high end of the market. From the Galaxy S2 onwards, Samsung has been able to ride the wave of the smartphone industry’s growth without much disruption. Samsung has also shown a pretty impressive ability to adapt to changes in the market as seen by their dramatic departure in materials from the Galaxy S5 generation to the Galaxy S6 generation. While the Galaxy S6 was ultimately one of the best phones you could get that year, at least a few design decisions like the loss of removable battery and microSD slot were generally considered to be a step back relative to previous devices.

    Throughout their reign of dominance Samsung has always been able to stay on top, however their competition is never too far behind. To that end, it’s probably obvious now that the Galaxy S7 family represents an attempt to improve on the Galaxy S6’s perceived faults, while building upon its perceived strengths.

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