So AMD DOES have Ray Tracing... (sort of)
TechLinked
·TechLinked
·2019-05-06
·
1,233 words · ~6 min read
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Oh my goodness. My first time hosting with a Techlink shirt. Nick, can people
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buy these or what? Yeah, they can. And if you're in Europe, we have cheaper
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shipping now. Cheaper shipping for Europeans. Oh, we love those guys. Get
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one. NVIDIA has stubbornly refused to
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change the name of their GTX 16 series and instead went and released another
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card in the lineup. Disgusting. But it
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turns out the GTX 1660 isn't disgusting. It's actually a pretty decent mid-range
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card for 220 bucks. NVIDIA isn't releasing a reference version of the
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card, but there are a broad range of models from EVGA, MSI, you know, the
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usual suspects. Most of the reviews seem to be saying it's a decent successor to
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the 6 gig version of the GTX 1060. In fact, almost everyone is saying it's got
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optimal performance and power efficiency for its price range. And that to me is
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disgusting. We need to hold NVIDIA accountable for this travesty.
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I'm almost getting used to it and I don't want to be used to the 16 series.
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Valve Steam Link game streaming service has been around for a few years and it's
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amassed enough experience points to evolve to Steam Link anywhere. It's
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higher form. You guys get this is a Pokemon. Steam Link Anywhere will let
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you stream Steam games or as I call it
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stream because if you put Steam together and Steam and Stream together it's
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stream. So, you can stream from a PC to almost any device that has an internet
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connection except iOS devices because Apple doesn't like you. Previously, you
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were only able to stream from device to device on the same network. Now, you can
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play games on a computer at someone else's house or on your work PC. Just
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make sure your cubicle walls are high. And you can stream to Android using the
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Steam Link app on Wi-Fi or data. So, just make sure you got an unlimited data
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plan and a good signal or you're going to have a a bad time. The news comes
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just as the Epic Game Store was accused of pilfering its users Steam profile
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information. So, it's a plus one for Valve in the Battle of the Game Stores.
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You going to stream games on the bus, Nick? I mean, if they had good games
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like Apex Legends and Fortnite, I might. I don't think that's going to work.
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You're going to play a competitive FPS on a streaming connection? Yeah. Come
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on, Nick. Good gravy. Where's James? And
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yesterday, Elon Musk took the wraps off Tesla's fourth mass-produced vehicle,
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the Model Y, at a short event in Hawthorne, California. It's actually
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just a prototype for now, but the idea is that it's sort of like a SUV version
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of the Model 3, and we're not going to
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pre-order it, right? I already did. You're the worst. A 300-mi long range
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version will start production in fall 2020 and retail for
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$47,000, while the 230 mi Model Y will
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cost 37,000 and come out in spring 2021.
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It's got a panoramic glass roof like the company's other SUV, the Model X. But
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Elon Musk remarked during the event that he'll be able to basically do anything
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by the end of this year, just with software upgrades. So, who knows? Maybe
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the roof will turn into a convertible or something. We'll have to see. Haha. The
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reveal of the Model Y completes Elon Musk's middle schooler ambition of
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having the names of his cars spell out sexy with a three. We all share in your
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pride, Elon. Very cool. Good job. Nice
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one. Now, if only he wouldn't tank the stock every time he tried to smoke
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marijuana. Yeah. No, that doesn't help. Stop with the tweets. Now, it's time for
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Quick Bits brought to you by Apple has had a rough time recently with Qualcomm,
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who got some models of iPhones banned from sale in Germany and China. Well, a
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US federal judge just ruled that Qualcomm owes Apple nearly 1 billion in
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patent royalty rebates. So, that's got to be nice for them to hear until they
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hear that Spotify is filing an antirust complaint against them in the EU and
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that they actually have to pay Qualcomm 31 million for violating their
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patents. Apple and Qualcomm, the couple that love to hate each other. Why do you
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guys just make out and get it over with? Huh? Microsoft continues its streak of
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big moves with the announcement of Xbox Live on iOS and Android. The service
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will actually be part of a family of tools and services called Microsoft
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Games Stack, which includes Xbox Live, DirectX, Azure Cloud Servers, and more.
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The company will talk more about their multiplatform plans at GDC next week,
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where we'll probably also hear more about Project XCloud streaming, and
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maybe Xbox Game Pass on multiple devices. Dang, Microsoft. I hope you're
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not just building our hopes up for nothing. I hope you wouldn't do us like
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that. Oh, you think ray tracing only works on NVIDIA RTX graphics cards?
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Wrong. Let me show you something. Krytek published a video of their new real-time
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graphics demo featuring ray trace reflections and it's running on an AMD
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RX Vega 56. It's probably not an
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indication that we'll see games with ray tracing running on the average person's
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GPU anytime soon, but it's cool. Google has released the developer beta for the
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next version of Android codeen named Q. It brings with it greater privacy
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options and support for foldable devices, but also has a desktop mode,
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sort of like Samsung's Dex feature. If you've got a Pixel device, you can
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download it, although I wouldn't recommend doing that on your main phone.
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It's a beta. And also, we don't know what Q stands for yet. And passengers
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parked their cars in the long-term lot at France's Leon Exuper airport this
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week. That's probably not how you say it, are in for a futuristic treat. Robot
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valet that will take your car to a long-term lot during your trip and
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retrieve it for you when you return. The robots are made by Stanley Robotics and
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will also be tested at London's Gatwick Airport later this year. Normally, I'd
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feel weird about a robot taking my car, but these guys have little faces on the
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front, which makes me feel like a character from Thomas the Train Engine
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is taking my car away, and that doesn't make me feel weird at all. The only
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thing I'd feel weird about is continuing this episode any further. So, I'm going
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to end it right now. Thanks for watching, guys. Subscribe to TechLink if
5:56
you like or want tech news. And if you don't, I've said this before, how did
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you get to this point? Are you just trying to waste You're just trying to
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waste time in your day? It doesn't make any
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sense. Wow. Unexpected.