Industry
AMD Falls 26% in Quarterly GPU Sales, nVidia Declines 16%, Intel 7.4%
By Steve Burke
Despite an ongoing period of general growth for the tech sector and desktop computing space, Jon Peddie Research today released a report indicating an 11% decline last quarter's GPU shipments.
The report indicates that embedded GPUs and IGPs are eroding dGPU sales. Year-to-year total GPU shipments fell 18.8%, combining the 21.7% desktop graphics decline with a 16.9% notebook dGPU decline. Note that this report represents the entire dedicated graphics industry and is not a linear representation of the gaming-only market, to which this website caters more directly.
PC Gaming Projected to Surge to $76B Annually, Growth of 8.8%
By Michael Kerns
Despite overall weak PC sales in recent years, Jon Peddie Research has projected that the computer graphics industry will exceed $235 billion by 2018, with a growth of 6.3% per year. This is due partly to the fact that the computer graphics industry is rooted in cross-platform sectors such as mobile, consoles, PC gaming, software, and workstations. For reference, the 2014 computer graphics industry was ~$184 billion (total of applications and hardware). Jon Peddie research attributes this to the move to 4K and a big boost from mobile, along with emerging technologies like 3D scanning/printing, augmented reality, and VR.
ESL Announces First 24/7 Counter-Strike eSports Channel, Mirrors TV Scheduling
By Keegan Gallick
The Electronic Sports League -- more commonly, “ESL” -- just announced the launch of the first 24/7 Counter-Strike eSports channel. This development is made possible by a “cloud-based content management system” developed specifically for this endeavor.
The Slimy Underside of the Hardware Industry and Our Assurance to Readers
By Steve Burke
We've gone through a series of concerning conversations over the past six months. The website has grown. GamersNexus now draws nearing one million pageviews per month through the website alone; YouTube traffic has tripled in a little over a year. This growth is something I firmly attribute to our dedication toward neutral, methodical analysis of software and hardware. Our readers have strongly voiced support of our methods and primary objective to deliver fair content to the industry.
The site has gone from a position of almost no power to one of small, but measurable negotiation positioning. We've got two rooms full of components that are tested on a daily basis, and that's because we've proven we're capable of delivering quality analysis.
Windows 10 New Technical Preview 10162 Out
By Steve Burke
Users on the cutting edge of Microsoft's new Windows 10 builds should likely already have build 10162, which launched on July 2. The build was Microsoft's third Windows 10 build in a single week, reinforcing the company's commitment to a nearing launch date. The OS is slated for a July 29 release.
Malwarebytes Grants Pirates Free One-Year License
By Keegan Gallick“Amnesty” and “anti-malware” are not two words generally paired together, but the popular program Malwarebytes recently changed that. In response to the rising number of pirated copies and sales of counterfeit copies of their program, the company rolled-out its amnesty program.
Valve Hardware Sold-Out: Controllers and Steam Machines Limited by Supply
By Keegan GallickExcitement continues to build over Valve’s long-awaited Steam Machines -- PCs that will come preloaded with the SteamOS. Many fans, though, will have to wait a little longer for their own machines as the first line of pre-orders for Steam Controllers and Steam Links have already sold out. October 16 is the expected shipping date for Steam’s first public venture into hardware.
Cooler Master Confirmed to Provide Fury X Liquid Cooling Solution
By Steve BurkeListed on AMD's official R9 Fury X documentation is the liquid cooling solution. The PDF indicates that Cooler Master is slated to provide AMD's Fury X CLC, marked by part number “DCV-01647-A1-HF” in the document.
Cooler Master recently lost a lawsuit with CLC supplier Asetek, where a jury ruled that Cooler Master would owe Asetek a 14.5% royalty on all Seidon AIO coolers sold. We are yet unsure if the Fury X stock CLC will be subject to the same legal agreements as the Seidon AIO units.
Futuremark Introduces 'VRMark,' Virtual Reality Performance Benchmarking
By Steve BurkeBenchmark software leader Futuremark today announced its plans for the development of a new software suite, the company said in a statement to the press. Futuremark is perhaps best-known to our readers for its development of 3DMark and subsequent Firestrike benchmarking utilities, software that resembles extreme game graphics scenarios for GPU testing. We've also covered the company for its API Overhead Benchmark, utilized in testing DirectX 11, 12, and Mantle API load on the CPU.
Steam Will Now Refund Purchases within Two Weeks Without Penalty
By Steve BurkeIn a major overhaul to Valve's digital distribution platform, Steam will now offer refunds under more open conditions, the company reported today. Previously, Steam's refund policies have been “once per account” and “we'll take a look,” but the Valve-owned platform now promises refunds for products under these conditions:
- Simply didn't work.
- Minimum hardware requirements not met.
- Game played for fewer than two hours and disliked.
- Game purchased within two weeks and one of the above conditions is met.
Note that Valve has offered to “take a look” if none of these conditions are met. An example of this, for instance, would be if a patch broke a game that you've invested minimally into.
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