Recent content by Entropy

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    Apple is an existential threat to the PC

    Fer Crissakes, this confusion is totally redundant. Watch their developer video for easy to follow details. (In fact it’s the clearest video I’ve seen on the subject detailing not only how stuff works, but best practices for jitter, mip bias settings, and render pipeline optimization.)
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    AMD: Zen 3 Announced [2020-10-08]

    Which of course suggests that the bandwidth wasn’t excessive after all. Bandwidth is underappreciated in benchmark(et)ing in general. The mere fact that in order to get consistent results, you need to run in a clean software environment where you don’t have a number of threads evicting the...
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    AMD: RDNA 3 Speculation, Rumours and Discussion

    Uhm, why refer to the Nvidia GTX1650 when we are comparing Navi 21 with (rumored) Navi 33? Here are two links to annotated die shots of Navi 21 (reddit, TechPowerUp) and as you see, for these products, those fixed blocks are a very minor part of the die. So yes in general, but in this case - no...
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    AMD: RDNA 3 Speculation, Rumours and Discussion

    I’m no trinibwoy, but in comparison to Navi21 on 7nm, the number of CUs has shrunk by 20%, the memory I/O is halved, and the cache may or may not be halved too (I hope to God not given the memory interface). Since TSMC additionally claims that the 6nm tweak offer 18% higher logic density, the...
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    Apple M1 SoC

    Yes, this was one of my main concerns when Apple started recruiting with the expressed purpose of creating "their own world class graphics IP", and then followed up by not only not buying ImgTech, but saying they wouldn’t license their IP. Just how many hoops would Apple have to jump through to...
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    Apple M1 SoC

    Base TBDR patents are expired by now. As you say it’s really difficult to say from the API and testing just how the silicon is organized and whether it would infringe on any current patents. It’s a bit of a moot point given that Apple does have a patent licensing agreement with ImgTech. It may...
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    Starfield [XBSX|S, PC, XGP]

    Morrowind. It has the freedom, no level scaling of enemies, a reasonably small world that is handcrafted (as opposed to the tons of procedurally generated content + bugs of daggerfall), still looks kinda good despite its age. The best RPG of the bunch IMO. And I will fight on the barricades...
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    Apple is an existential threat to the PC

    Subtract the display. The people I know who buy the Studio (not a statistically significant sample size :-D) are all passing on that lemon. The only thing it has going for it is the resolution.
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    Lost Ark

    Well, I have to admit that I’ve played it a fair bit by now, so yes - I’ve enjoyed it. However, even after having sunk enough time into it to have reached the point where it branches into a myriad ways to keep you busy and it tries to own your life, I still don’t understand its mechanics. I have...
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    Interesting bit about how Apple helped TSMC to become better

    It’s actually not only the money, it’s that they finance the development of the cutting edge of process technology. TSMC fabs at a number of nodes and a large part of their revenue is from older nodes such as 28nm, (and these days you’d count 16nmFF as an old node as well). Everyone benefits...
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    Lost Ark

    The asians seem to have a liking for mowing down hordes of really stupid enemies while wielding comically large weapons and having the screen filled with bursts of visual effects that hide what the hell is going on. I don’t get it either. They seem capable of making sense of it though, and are...
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    The next Nintendo hardware? [2021-09]

    The thing is that there are a number of variables, as usual it is a complex question that tends to get simplified (to something like "best possible image quality when upscaled a factor of two"). Does it require extra hardware? How much? Does the method put extra pressure on other parts of the...
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    The next Nintendo hardware? [2021-09]

    Other than cost and power. I think Steam Deck is the better example, a much closer related device, and at a reasonably close price point. So yes, it's possible. Whether it's likely is another question. Much as I like the Steam Deck for what it is, I don't think either Nintendo or its customers...
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    The next Nintendo hardware? [2021-09]

    Actually no. The M1 uses LPDDR4x. Only the M1Pro and Max uses LPDDR5.
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    The next Nintendo hardware? [2021-09]

    Indeed. And it's not that a 128-bit interface to LPDDR5 is totally impossible, as demonstrated by the Steam Deck. But it represents a large step in all aspects - it increases power draw, increases die area directly to drive, but even more so since you would tend to scale at least the GPU...
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