Microsoft urges NBN review to reconsider high-speed fibre Microsoft's managing director wants the NBN to be as fast as possible and much prefers the previous Labor government's fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) plan over the Liberal Party's cut-down fibre to the node (FTTN). Pip Marlow, Microsoft's managing director, has told AAP that the Abbott government should rethink its existing plan to cut the FTTP roll-out in favour of a largely FTTN scheme. The recently elected Liberal government's strategic review of the NBN will determine a new scheme to roll the network out more quickly and for a lower cost, likely by transitioning away from the more expensive FTTP.
Previous statements from the current Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull, suggest that a mix of optical fibre, hybrid fibre-coaxial (as used in Telstra and Optus' cable internet networks) and copper will be the likely outcome of the review.
But Microsoft is adding its voice to the groundswell of support for fibre to the premises. Speaking to AAP at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia event on Wednesday, Microsoft's Australian head Pip Marlow said that FTTP was the most appropriate solution: "Ultimately, if you don't get fibre to the home, the biggest impact really is the upload speeds."
"We're encouraging the government to be looking at all the options and really understanding how businesses, how schools, how individuals will be using this technology. We think that needs to be looked at," she said.
The strategic review of the NBN will be completed within a month, slated to be delivered on December 2.
Previous statements from the current Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull, suggest that a mix of optical fibre, hybrid fibre-coaxial (as used in Telstra and Optus' cable internet networks) and copper will be the likely outcome of the review.
But Microsoft is adding its voice to the groundswell of support for fibre to the premises. Speaking to AAP at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia event on Wednesday, Microsoft's Australian head Pip Marlow said that FTTP was the most appropriate solution: "Ultimately, if you don't get fibre to the home, the biggest impact really is the upload speeds."
"We're encouraging the government to be looking at all the options and really understanding how businesses, how schools, how individuals will be using this technology. We think that needs to be looked at," she said.
The strategic review of the NBN will be completed within a month, slated to be delivered on December 2.
Battlefield 4 Open Beta Introduces Obliteration Mode In the final days of its open beta test period, DICE has introduced a new game mode to players checking out Battlefield 4. Obliteration is somewhat of a hybrid mix of capture the flag and bomb demolition/defuse concepts, whereby a single explosive device is spawned in a central location on the map, and each team has to compete for its possession and be the first to use it to destroy three of the other team's command posts.
The Battlefield 4 Open beta is set to continue on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 until October 15 (Central European Time), with the full game due to launch on October 29 2013.
The Battlefield 4 Open beta is set to continue on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 until October 15 (Central European Time), with the full game due to launch on October 29 2013.
Watch Dogs PC Specifications Revealed, Only Supports x64 Bit OS Ubisoft has accidentally revealed the PC specifications for their upcoming open-world title Watch Dogs through the Uplay store, however has now pulled the page but not before NeoGAFwas able to save the details.
According to the page Watch Dogs on PC will only be supporting 64-bit operating systems, a new trend that seems to be gaining pace thanks to other titles like Battlefield 4's open beta. The game also looks to be requiring some newer tech, outlining that the minimum specifications needed to run Watch Dogs are a DirectX 11 GPU with at least 1GB of VRAM, a quad core CPUand at least 4GB of RAM. Example GPUs include a NVidia GTX 460 or AMD Radeon HD 5770and a Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 or AMD Phenom X4 9750.
For those wanting to hit the recommended specifications, you'll be looking at a DirectX 11 card with at least 2GB of VRAM, an eight core CPU and 8GB of RAM. Examples given for GPUs are the NVidia GTX560 ti or AMD Radeon HD 7850 and for CPUs the Intel Core i7-3770 or AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core CPU.
Not to be outdone, those who want to push to "Ultra" specifications will be in need of at least 2GB of VRAM on a DirectX 11 GPU, at the very least eight cores for your CPU and also 8GB or more. An NVidia GTX 670 or AMD Radeon HD 7970 will be handy examples of GPUs hitting that specification, and Intel Core i7-3930k or AMD FX-9370 Eight-Core for CPUs.
Is your computer ready to handle the streets of futuristic Chicago? Or will it burst into flames at the sight of the game?
According to the page Watch Dogs on PC will only be supporting 64-bit operating systems, a new trend that seems to be gaining pace thanks to other titles like Battlefield 4's open beta. The game also looks to be requiring some newer tech, outlining that the minimum specifications needed to run Watch Dogs are a DirectX 11 GPU with at least 1GB of VRAM, a quad core CPUand at least 4GB of RAM. Example GPUs include a NVidia GTX 460 or AMD Radeon HD 5770and a Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 or AMD Phenom X4 9750.
For those wanting to hit the recommended specifications, you'll be looking at a DirectX 11 card with at least 2GB of VRAM, an eight core CPU and 8GB of RAM. Examples given for GPUs are the NVidia GTX560 ti or AMD Radeon HD 7850 and for CPUs the Intel Core i7-3770 or AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core CPU.
Not to be outdone, those who want to push to "Ultra" specifications will be in need of at least 2GB of VRAM on a DirectX 11 GPU, at the very least eight cores for your CPU and also 8GB or more. An NVidia GTX 670 or AMD Radeon HD 7970 will be handy examples of GPUs hitting that specification, and Intel Core i7-3930k or AMD FX-9370 Eight-Core for CPUs.
Is your computer ready to handle the streets of futuristic Chicago? Or will it burst into flames at the sight of the game?
AMD R9-290XAt the Hawaii launch event (in Hawaii, of course!) AMD has… not announced GCN 2.0. Instead, it seems that the Hawaii cores are reworks of the Southern Islands (Radeon HD 7000-series) chips, with the Hawaii XT (in the R9-290X) boasting 37.5% more cores than the Tahiti XT (Radeon HD 7970). Except for the mentions of GCN 2.0 below, the rest of the data should be accurate.
Ahead of AMD’s official unveil of the Hawaii line of GPUs, details, photos, and benchmarks of (probably) the Radeon R9-290X have leaked. The photos and benchmarks seem to confirm that the Hawaii XT (GCN 2.0) R9-290X has 2816 stream processors, split among 44 clusters. There’ll probably be 64 ROPs (render output units), and around 176 TMUs (texture mapping units). The GPU should be clocked at around 900MHz, and there’ll be a fat 512-bit memory bus to GDDR5 RAM. The new R9 GPUs are DirectX 11.2 compliant, while the R7 GPUs don’t seem to be. The leaked benchmarks peg the Radeon R9-290X as equal or slightly faster than Nvidia’s GTX Titan, and around 10% faster than the GTX 780 — strong, and if it’s priced right, it could put AMD back in the driving seat.
AMD is expected to reveal its long-awaited Graphics Core Next (GCN) 2.0 architecture later this week, with chips based on GCN 2.0 — Hawaii, Hawaii Pro, and Hawaii XT — following some time in October. We’ll have more discussion of GCN 2.0, and how it helps AMD compete against Nvidia in the gaming and supercomputing scenes, once the official specs and block diagrams have been revealed. For now, we’ll take a quick look at the rumored hardware specs, and some photos and benchmarks from a Korean hardware site (DG’s Nerdy Story) that appears to have got its hands on a Radeon R9-290X graphics card ahead of schedule.
There are 16 memory chips, which would indicate that the R9-290X has a 512-bit memory bus to 4GB of GDDR5 RAM (rather than 384-bit, which is usually associated with 12 chips). The die size of the chip (which is presumed to be the Hawaii XT) is estimated to be around 424 millimeters square — larger than the Radeon 7970′s GPU (Tahiti XT), but smaller than GTX Titan’s GK110. This is quite impressive, given that the R9-290X posts up to 10% better performance than Titan. From previous leaks, we believe that the Hawaii XT has up to 2816 stream processors, split among 44 clusters, with up to 64 ROPs and 176 TMUs. It will almost certainly be built by TSMC on its 28nm process. The chip will be clocked at around 900MHz, but there’s no word no the memory bus speed.
So far, it looks like AMD’s Hawaii GPUs are shaping up nicely. With performance that can only just unseat GTX Titan, though, it will entirely come down to pricing. Industry sources are pointing towards a $600 price point for the R9-290X, which would put it well below the GTX Titan’s $1,000 price tag, and cheaper even than the $650 GTX 780. Nvidia, of course, can (and will) strike back by lowering its own prices — and then, in a few months, it might have its own architectural overhauls in the shape of Kepler’s successor, Maxwell, due in 2014.
Ahead of AMD’s official unveil of the Hawaii line of GPUs, details, photos, and benchmarks of (probably) the Radeon R9-290X have leaked. The photos and benchmarks seem to confirm that the Hawaii XT (GCN 2.0) R9-290X has 2816 stream processors, split among 44 clusters. There’ll probably be 64 ROPs (render output units), and around 176 TMUs (texture mapping units). The GPU should be clocked at around 900MHz, and there’ll be a fat 512-bit memory bus to GDDR5 RAM. The new R9 GPUs are DirectX 11.2 compliant, while the R7 GPUs don’t seem to be. The leaked benchmarks peg the Radeon R9-290X as equal or slightly faster than Nvidia’s GTX Titan, and around 10% faster than the GTX 780 — strong, and if it’s priced right, it could put AMD back in the driving seat.
AMD is expected to reveal its long-awaited Graphics Core Next (GCN) 2.0 architecture later this week, with chips based on GCN 2.0 — Hawaii, Hawaii Pro, and Hawaii XT — following some time in October. We’ll have more discussion of GCN 2.0, and how it helps AMD compete against Nvidia in the gaming and supercomputing scenes, once the official specs and block diagrams have been revealed. For now, we’ll take a quick look at the rumored hardware specs, and some photos and benchmarks from a Korean hardware site (DG’s Nerdy Story) that appears to have got its hands on a Radeon R9-290X graphics card ahead of schedule.
There are 16 memory chips, which would indicate that the R9-290X has a 512-bit memory bus to 4GB of GDDR5 RAM (rather than 384-bit, which is usually associated with 12 chips). The die size of the chip (which is presumed to be the Hawaii XT) is estimated to be around 424 millimeters square — larger than the Radeon 7970′s GPU (Tahiti XT), but smaller than GTX Titan’s GK110. This is quite impressive, given that the R9-290X posts up to 10% better performance than Titan. From previous leaks, we believe that the Hawaii XT has up to 2816 stream processors, split among 44 clusters, with up to 64 ROPs and 176 TMUs. It will almost certainly be built by TSMC on its 28nm process. The chip will be clocked at around 900MHz, but there’s no word no the memory bus speed.
So far, it looks like AMD’s Hawaii GPUs are shaping up nicely. With performance that can only just unseat GTX Titan, though, it will entirely come down to pricing. Industry sources are pointing towards a $600 price point for the R9-290X, which would put it well below the GTX Titan’s $1,000 price tag, and cheaper even than the $650 GTX 780. Nvidia, of course, can (and will) strike back by lowering its own prices — and then, in a few months, it might have its own architectural overhauls in the shape of Kepler’s successor, Maxwell, due in 2014.
BATTLEFIELD 4 BETA
The Battlefield 4 beta is just around the corner, giving fans roughly one month to check out the latest entry in the Battlefield 4 franchise before the game's debut on Oct. 29, and the Battlefield Blog is marking the occasion by releasing information and player counts for all seven multiplayer game types included inBattlefield 4 at launch.
Surprisingly, most of the multiplayer game types included in Battlefield 4 were only designed to be played by two dozen (or fewer) people, regardless of which platform you're playing the game on. While Obliteration and Rush will allow next-gen and PC players to wage war in 32-player contests - with Conquest providing the lone environment for 64-player battles - current-gen console owners will be limited to 24 players or fewer players in all of Battlefield 4's multiplayer games.
Unfortunately, only two of the seven multiplayer game types will be available in the Battlefield 4 beta, a fact likely to disappoint anyone who was hoping to see more than Conquest and Domination modes during the month-long preview ofBattlefield 4. With two brand new game types on the way, thousands of Battlefield fans were undoubtedly hoping to get a look at either the Defuse or Obliteration modes prior to the Battlefield 4 release date.
We've included partial descriptions of each multiplayer game type slated for inclusion in Battlefield 4 when the game debuts late next month, and those interested in additional information on each new Battlefield 4 multiplayer game type can head over to the Battlefield Blog.
Conquest - The goal is simple; capture flags, eliminate enemy soldiers, and bring the enemy's ticket count down to zero. The best way to do that is to make sure you own a majority of the available flags on the map...The more flags your team controls the faster your enemies' respawn tickets will reduce...first team to bleed their opponent's respawn tickets to zero are the victors.
Defuse - Defuse is a highly competitive and lethal. Each player is given a single life per round, every shot fired having the potential to drastically change the outcome. Teams can win by eliminating the enemy squad, or arming and detonating a military objective that they own (similar to the M-COM stations in Rush mode.)
Domination - Domination is an intense, infantry only game mode that made its debut in Battlefield 3: Close Quarters. While sharing many of the elements of Conquest (capturing flags, bleeding your enemies' tickets to zero), Domination is tighter and more focused..
Obliteration - In Obliteration, a bomb spawns at a random location on the map. Both teams must fight to pick up the bomb, drop it off at one of their opponent's three objectives, arm it, and destroy the objective. Once a bomb has detonated, the next one randomly spawns in a new location and the chaos starts all over. The game lasts until one team has detonated the other team's three objectives.
Rush - Another signature Battlefield multiplayer mode, Rush is an asymmetrical struggle between Attackers and Defenders. The goal is for the attacking team to arm and destroy two MCOM stations in each zone of the map. The defending team must stop this from happening before they run out of respawns.
Squad Deathmatch - In Squad Deathmatch, four squads face off in a battle to the top of the leaderboard. The first squad to reach the preset number of kills in each round is declared the winner. Squad Death Match is a mode that takes the immediate action from Team Deathmatch and doubles the number of participating teams to deliver an intense battle to see who will emerge victorious.
Team Deathmatch - Few game modes are as instantly recognizable as Team Deathmatch. The setup is deliciously simple: two teams face off in combat, with the first team to reach a preset number of kills emerging victorious. There's nothing more to it - it's the perfect game mode for when you're short on time and crave instant action.
The Battlefield 4 dev team didn't stop there though. In addition to revealing loads of new information about the multiplayer game types being included in Battlefield 4, DICE also used the Battlefield Blog to release the entire list of multiplayer maps coming to the game at launch. We've included the full list below, though you'll once again have to hit the Battlefield Blog for all of the new Battlefield 4 multiplayer information.
- Siege of Shanghai
- Paracel Storm
- Zavod 311
- Lancang Dam
- Flood Zone
- Rogue Transmission
- Hainan Resort
- Dawnbreaker
- Operation Locker
- Golmud Railway
The Battlefield 4 beta is just around the corner, giving fans roughly one month to check out the latest entry in the Battlefield 4 franchise before the game's debut on Oct. 29, and the Battlefield Blog is marking the occasion by releasing information and player counts for all seven multiplayer game types included inBattlefield 4 at launch.
Surprisingly, most of the multiplayer game types included in Battlefield 4 were only designed to be played by two dozen (or fewer) people, regardless of which platform you're playing the game on. While Obliteration and Rush will allow next-gen and PC players to wage war in 32-player contests - with Conquest providing the lone environment for 64-player battles - current-gen console owners will be limited to 24 players or fewer players in all of Battlefield 4's multiplayer games.
Unfortunately, only two of the seven multiplayer game types will be available in the Battlefield 4 beta, a fact likely to disappoint anyone who was hoping to see more than Conquest and Domination modes during the month-long preview ofBattlefield 4. With two brand new game types on the way, thousands of Battlefield fans were undoubtedly hoping to get a look at either the Defuse or Obliteration modes prior to the Battlefield 4 release date.
We've included partial descriptions of each multiplayer game type slated for inclusion in Battlefield 4 when the game debuts late next month, and those interested in additional information on each new Battlefield 4 multiplayer game type can head over to the Battlefield Blog.
Conquest - The goal is simple; capture flags, eliminate enemy soldiers, and bring the enemy's ticket count down to zero. The best way to do that is to make sure you own a majority of the available flags on the map...The more flags your team controls the faster your enemies' respawn tickets will reduce...first team to bleed their opponent's respawn tickets to zero are the victors.
Defuse - Defuse is a highly competitive and lethal. Each player is given a single life per round, every shot fired having the potential to drastically change the outcome. Teams can win by eliminating the enemy squad, or arming and detonating a military objective that they own (similar to the M-COM stations in Rush mode.)
Domination - Domination is an intense, infantry only game mode that made its debut in Battlefield 3: Close Quarters. While sharing many of the elements of Conquest (capturing flags, bleeding your enemies' tickets to zero), Domination is tighter and more focused..
Obliteration - In Obliteration, a bomb spawns at a random location on the map. Both teams must fight to pick up the bomb, drop it off at one of their opponent's three objectives, arm it, and destroy the objective. Once a bomb has detonated, the next one randomly spawns in a new location and the chaos starts all over. The game lasts until one team has detonated the other team's three objectives.
Rush - Another signature Battlefield multiplayer mode, Rush is an asymmetrical struggle between Attackers and Defenders. The goal is for the attacking team to arm and destroy two MCOM stations in each zone of the map. The defending team must stop this from happening before they run out of respawns.
Squad Deathmatch - In Squad Deathmatch, four squads face off in a battle to the top of the leaderboard. The first squad to reach the preset number of kills in each round is declared the winner. Squad Death Match is a mode that takes the immediate action from Team Deathmatch and doubles the number of participating teams to deliver an intense battle to see who will emerge victorious.
Team Deathmatch - Few game modes are as instantly recognizable as Team Deathmatch. The setup is deliciously simple: two teams face off in combat, with the first team to reach a preset number of kills emerging victorious. There's nothing more to it - it's the perfect game mode for when you're short on time and crave instant action.
The Battlefield 4 dev team didn't stop there though. In addition to revealing loads of new information about the multiplayer game types being included in Battlefield 4, DICE also used the Battlefield Blog to release the entire list of multiplayer maps coming to the game at launch. We've included the full list below, though you'll once again have to hit the Battlefield Blog for all of the new Battlefield 4 multiplayer information.
- Siege of Shanghai
- Paracel Storm
- Zavod 311
- Lancang Dam
- Flood Zone
- Rogue Transmission
- Hainan Resort
- Dawnbreaker
- Operation Locker
- Golmud Railway