Intel’s Flagship Skull Canyon NUC Rocks ‘Console-Level’ Iris Pro 580 iGPU and AMD XConnect Technology

Intel recently unveiled its flagship Skull Canyon NUC device and it packs a hell lot of power in an incredibly tiny small form factor design. The SFF Gaming market is a niche but very lucrative market that OEMs are desperately attempting to get a foothold in. With Steam Machines already being sold to this market, Intel’s brand new NUC is the tiniest and also probably one of the most flexible designs in terms of graphical power out there (thanks to AMD’s external GPU or XConnect technology).

Intel perfects the philosophy of a tiny gaming powerhouse with the Skull Canyon ‘NUC6i7KYK’ NUC

Intel’s Next Unit of Compute or NUC for short is, as most enthusiasts know, a very tiny form factor all-in-one PC – usually with a not-so-tiny price tag. The applications of these little powerhouses are diverse and can include anything from being the brain of a robotics project to high performance distributed computing. They can also act as the ultimate small form factor pc that can easily be hidden out of sight. While the compute or CPU portion of things was reasonably powered, the lack of a powerful iGPU posed quite an interesting quandary for more graphically intensive applications. With the inclusion of the Iris Pro 580 graphics in Skull Canyon (NUC6i7KYK) however, things are about to change.

Intel’s latest NUC is designed with high performance SFF gaming in mind

The flagship Skull Canyon NUC is incredibly powerful. Not only is the in-house iGPU itself more than capable of running modern games at moderate settings but if you really want to step it up a notch then the tiny SFF PC fully supports AMD XConnect technology. Meaning you can plug in an R9 Nano if you find the iGPU lacking. The device is the ultimate in tiny SFF gaming (think hidden out of sight). Although the price tag is pretty hefty, it employs a fully tricked out Core i7 6770HQ – a 42W TDP beast that can handle all sorts of intensive modern day loads (and almost certainly high end gaming). Couple that with a dGPU upgrade via the XConnect enclosure and you have got some serious horsepower. The following list of GPUs are supported with the flagship Skull Canyon NUC NUC6i7KYK.

READ  Intel Launching 'Skull Canyon' Platform In Q1 2016 - Flagship SKU Will Be Most Powerful NUC To Date, Features Iris Pro 580 Graphics with 72 EUs and 128 MB eDRAM

Supported Radeon™ GPUs for AMD XConnect™:

• Radeon™ R9 Fury
• Radeon™ R9 Nano
• All Radeon™ R9 300 Series
• Radeon™ R9 290X
• Radeon™ R9 290
• Radeon™ R9 285

The Intel GT4e Iris Pro graphics are a Generation 9 core that ship with select Skylake parts. The ‘e’ at the end refers to eDRAM which the Iris Pro 580 has around 128MB of. The eDRAM acts as a fast L4 cache and facilitates the 72 Execution Units (EUs) present on the die. The core clock of the chip was 1 Ghz according to Intel’s marketing material, but this could change in the closed thermal envelop of the NUC. The chip is rated at a resounding 1152 GFlops of Single Precision or 1.15 TFlops. To put this into perspective, this is slightly above the Maxwell 1.0 debut graphic card: the Geforce GTX 750. This is also approximately equal theoretical horsepower to an Xbox One. While this is nowhere near the amount of horsepower a high end dedicated graphic card can pull, this is roughly double of what AMD’s Godavari chip can output. The performance of the Iris Pro 580 in Skull Canyon however, should be just enough to run modern titles at playable frame rates (medium-high settings, 1080p).

Intel NUC6i7KYK (Skull Canyon) Specifications

	Intel NUC6i7KYK (Skull Canyon) Specifications
Processor	Intel Core i7-6770HQ Skylake, 4C/8T, 2.6 GHz (Turbo to 3.5 GHz), 14nm, 6MB L2, 45W TDP
Memory	2x DDR4 SO-DIMM (2133+ MHz)
Graphics	Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580 (Skylake-H GT4+4e with 128MB eDRAM)
Disk Drive(s)	Dual M.2 (SATA3 / PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe / AHCI SSDs)
Networking	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 (2x2 802.11ac - 867 Mbps + Bluetooth 4.2) Intel I-219V Gigabit Ethernet
Audio	3.5mm Audio Jack (Headphone / Microphone) Capable of 5.1/7.1 digital output with HD audio bitstreaming (HDMI)
Miscellaneous I/O Ports	1x Thunderbolt 3 / USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C 4x USB 3.0 (incl. one charging port) 1x SDXC (UHS-I) 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x mini-DP 1.2 Consumer Infrared Sensor
Operating System	None
Pricing	$650 (Barebones) $999 (Typical build with 16GB DDR4, 256GB SSD and Windows 10)
Fact Sheet	Intel NUC6i7KYK GDC Fact Sheet (PDF)

Flash Galaxy S7 Edge Ported ROM on Samsung Galaxy S6 – How to

If you have been looking forward to enjoying some flavors of Samsung’s latest Galaxy S7 edge, but can’t let your Galaxy S6 go, developers have created a solution just for you. Noble ROM is a Galaxy S7 edge ported custom firmware that brings everything-S7 right on your Samsung Galaxy S6. Several user and developer reports confirm that the Galaxy S7 edge ROM is stable and lag-free and can be used as a daily driver.

Noble ROM – port of official Galaxy S7 firmware

• Based on new official G935FXXU1APB9
• Stock odex framework S7 Edge
• Fast ROM boot
• Tweaks for battery life
• Pre-rooted SuperSU 2.70
• Various Tweak CSC & Build prop
• Floating Message
• Add Advanced Power Menu

Prerequisites to install Galaxy S7 edge ROM on Galaxy S6

• Backup any important data from your Samsung Galaxy S6 as a complete wipe will be required during the flashing process.
• Enable USB debugging option on your device: Settings > Development Options > USB debugging.
• Samsung Galaxy S6 must be rooted, unlocked and installed with a recovery tool like TWRP or CWM.
• Your device must be charged to at least 60% of power.

Note: this tutorial is focused on Samsung Galaxy S6 model SM-G920F; please do not use this firmware file on other Android & Samsung devices. The firmware is also available for G925F which you can download from the XDA thread shared at the end of this post.

How to install Galaxy S7 edge ROM on Galaxy S6

Required files: download the Noble ROM Android 6.0.1 custom firmware for Galaxy S6 and save it on your computer. Do not extract the contents. Also download Google Apps Package.

• Connect your Galaxy S6 to your computer using a USB cable and copy the zip file to your phone’s SD card.
• Disconnect the USB cord and power off your smartphone.
• Boot into recovery mode: switch the phone on while pressing and holding Volume Up + Home + Power buttons simultaneously.
• Perform wipe data tasks: from recovery menu, select wipe data / factory reset and confirm the process.
• From recovery menu, select install zip from sdcard followed by choose zip from sdcard. Locate the Noble custom ROM for Galaxy S6 and confirm the flashing process.
• Return back to main recovery menu and reboot your Galaxy S6 into the new custom ROM.

READ  How to Flash Android 6.0.1 CandySiX Custom ROM on HTC One M9

You can now enjoy the ported Samsung Galaxy S7 edge stock Android firmware on your Galaxy S6. Don’t forget to share your experience with us.

For more details and updates, please visit this XDA thread.

Nvidia Pascal GTX 1080, 1070 & 1060 Benchmarks Leaked – 3DMark 11 Performance Entries Spotted

Multiple potential Nvidia Pascal 3DMark 11 GPU entries have been spotted. The entries are varied and show GPUs with performance figures that range from very high –  GTX 980 Ti territory – to entries that show performance closer to the GTX 970.

Before we get into the performance figures I’d like to give a shout out to videocardz who have spotted two of the four entries we’re sharing with you today. Also as a reminder, please keep your salt shaker handy at all times during this. The entries you’re about to see certainly don’t match any current or previously launched Nvidia graphics cards but there’s no surefire way of confirming that these are indeed Pascal chips.

Multiple Potential Nvidia Pascal 3DMark 11 Entries Spotted

The first entry we have is of an unidentified Nvidia GeForce graphics card with 7,680 MB of graphics memory, 512MB short of 8GB, very likely a test chip.  More interestingly is that this GPU’s VRAM is clocked at 2000Mhz – 8000Mhz effective. It’s a good time to point out that Nvidia has no GPUs on the market configured with 8GB of 8000Mhz GDDR5 memory. And certainly no 8GB GPUs with performance that’s nearly identical to the GTX 980 Ti. The only 8GB 900 series video cards Nvidia currently has in the market are its GM204 based mobility chips, which can come configured with 4GB or 8GB of 7000Mhz GDDR5 memory.

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However as mentioned earlier, neither does the GTX 980M, or GTX 980 notebook match the performance figures you see above. Which are inline with the GTX 980 Ti. So we might very well be looking at the GTX 1070 ,GTX 1080 or the mobility version of either. Also worthy of note is the 545mhz clock speed recorded above. After we’ve done a bit of digging around we found that in most cases when 3DMark does not fully identify the graphics card in question it will report a ~540mhz clock speed, despite whatever the actual clock speed of the card is.

READ  NVIDIA Pascal GPU Analysis - An In-Depth Look at NVIDIA's Next-Gen Graphics Cards Powering GeForce, Tesla and Quadro

So in this case and indeed in all the following entries you will see 540mhz erroneously reported as the GPU frequency because 3DMark failed to read the actual clock speed of the card, possibly as the result of a BIOS misread. This can be confirmed by looking at some other misidentified GTX 970 and GTX 980 entries with a recorded clock speed of 540mhz. Which also happen to show performance figures that are on par with what’s normally expected of these cards at their boost frequencies. Really no where near what they would score at ~540mhz.

Now let’s move on the next two entries. Again we have two cards with 8GB of 8000Mhz GDDR5 memory, showing performance that’s very similar this time around to factory overclocked GTX 970 graphics cards. So we could potentially be looking at early mobile variants of Pascal.

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The last interesting entry is of an unidentified Nvidia 3GB 2500mhz – 10,000Mhz effective, graphics card. So we could potentially be looking at the very first GDDR5X pascal graphics card here. 3DMark will on occasion also report erroneous memory frequency figures doubling the actual speed. However there are no 3GB 1250Mhz Nvidia graphics cards. The GTX 780 features 1500Mhz – 6000Mhz effective – GDDR5 memory and the GTX 780 Ti features 7000Mhz effective GDDR5 memory.

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Interestingly this card is also showing performance very similar to factory overclocked GTX 970 graphics cards. Keeping in mind that GDDR5X memory modules come in 512MB, 768MB, 1GB, 1.5GB and 2GB configurations this card could plausibly have a 128bit or 192bit bus for a total of 160GB/s or 240GB/s of bandwidth. So we might be looking at a ~ GTX 1060 class graphics card here. The fact that GDDR5X memory chips come in a variety of capacities also means that Nvidia could conceivably launch 4GB or even 6GB versions of this card.

READ  JEDEC Publishes HBM2 Specifications - Will Scale Up To 32GB, 8-Hi Stacks, with 1 TB/s Bandwidth

Yesterday we discussed the rumored GTX 1080, GTX 1080 Ti and nextgen Titan specs that have made the rounds on the web. Today we got to look at potential performance figures more for Nvidia’s mid-range offerings.

Nvidia’s GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 graphics cards are set to launch this summer and we can’t wait to see them in action.

Sony Reportedly Making A 4K Gaming Capable Playstation 4 – PS4.5 Brings Upgraded Graphics & CPU Horsepower

If Sony is working on a new Playstation 4 console that can actually support to play games at 4K, then the Japanese tech giant will be another step closer to taking the lead against Microsoft’s Xbox One. Not long ago, it was reported that the company’s gaming console beat its closest rival by being the bestselling hardware platform during the month of February in the United States.

Rumored Sony Gaming Console To Feature Sufficient Graphics Horsepower For 4K Gaming – Dubbed An Odd Model Name Though

The latest info from unnamed ‘developer sources’ state that Sony has started working on an upgraded version of its PlayStation 4 gaming console. The upcoming model is not expected to be the successor, which has been named PlayStation 5, but according to the source, the upcoming product is going to possess a rather unusual name; PS4.5.

It is expected that the upcoming model is going to be able to support games on the granddaddy of all resolutions, suggesting that it will possess more graphical horsepower compared to the regular version of the console. However, the sources were extremely cutthroat because they did not care to mention any sort of hardware present inside the product that would be able to render frames at such a high resolution. Looking at current generation gaming titles, we would conclude that you do need a desktop class GPU to render a decent amount of frames on 4K, which brings us to the conclusion, will PS4.5 have a desktop GPU die incorporated inside?

If so, it is also possible that Sony increases the overall size and bulk of the chassis, since a lot of heat is going to be generated from inside the machine, requiring adequate airflow and space to properly dissipate it. The improved GPU in the new console will also help it enhance the games supported by the PlayStation VR headset which is expected to launch this fall. This move will obviously enable Sony to get better traction with products like the more expensive Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets. Both of these require PCs sporting impressive hardware to give out a respectable number of frames.

READ  Until Dawn Direct Feed Screenshots Showcase the Impressive Visuals of the Surprisingly Competent PS4 Exclusive Interactive Horror

Right now, Sony’s PS4 can output 4K resolution for videos and photos, but maxes out at 1080p in terms of resolutions supported for actual gameplay. In addition to supporting a huge bump in resolution, the rumored PS4.5 will also allow developers to make use of the better performing GPU to produce richer textures and what not.

Keep in mind that while this is just a rumor, we have to wonder that with the timing of Sony’s VR products, it does seem like a possibility, but what is going to be the price tag of the console, if such a product does become possible? You can bet it will not cost the same retail price of $399.99 like the original PS4 was stamped with, but we want to know your thoughts on the matter, so let us know as soon as possible.

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Xbox One Price Cut Brings the Price Down to $299 Only For “a Limited Time” – Spring Sale Discounts on PC and Console Games Detailed

Microsoft has been putting a lot of effort in making its Xbox One console stand out on store shelves, and if you are currently finding it hard to decide which eighth generation home console you should spend your hard-earned money on, Microsoft has taken a step to make it a little easy for your to differentiate between the two consoles by knocking off $50 and bringing the Xbox One’s retail price down to $299.99 – for a “limited time”. Yes, this is the cheapest that Microsoft has ever officially sold the console since its launch.

Xbox One Receives a Temporary $50 Price Cut on All Console Bundles – Significant Discounts on PC and Console Games

Microsoft is cutting the price of its latest Xbox One console as part of the Xbox Spring Sale. Starting March 20, gamers will be able to pick up brand new Xbox One consoles at a special price of $299, according to the official announcement made on the Major Nelson blog. This $50 special discount will remain in effect for only a limited period of time, and will include all Xbox One console bundles at participating retailers in the US. There is no word on whether or not the retail cost of the console will return to its usual $350 price point, so those who are interested in picking up a bundle should best buy one as soon as the price drop is implemented.

As part of Xbox Spring Sale promotional event, the American platform holder will also offer significant discounts on a range of digital PC, Xbox One, and Xbox 360 backward compatible video game titles. Starting March 22, two days after the Xbox One price cut, players will be able to pick up games of their choice and “save up to 40 to 60 percent off, with some at more than 60 percent off.” There will be over 150 discounted items available in the Xbox Store for Xbox Live silver users and Gold Subscribers, and while Microsoft hasn’t revealed a complete list yet, it has pointed out that some of 2015’s biggest releases, like Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Halo 5, Far Cry Primal and Fallout 4 will be available on discounted rates.

READ  Get a PS4 + Xbox One + Wii U "Next-Gen Hardware Bundle" for $570 Only With GameStop Pre-Owned Offer

In addition to all these discounts on digital video game titles, Microsoft’s spring sale event will also see considerable discounts on the prices of movies and TV content purchased from Microsoft Store. If you are not an Xbox live Gold subscriber already, you will be able to claim an additional discount of up to 10 percent on games by joining the Gold club. The sale on video game and TV content will run for one week. The most-demanded Xbox One console bundles will also be available with a $50 off the usual retail price. Here is what that means:

• The Name Your Game Xbox One console bundle will cost you just $299 instead of $349. The bundle includes a 500GB hard drive and a code for a downloadable copy of one game that you will choose between Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Rare Reply, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Forza Motorsport 6.
• The Xbox One Tom Clancy’s The Division bundle will cost you just $349 instead or $399. It comes with a 1TB hard drive and a downloadable copy of the new post-apocalyptic shooter.
• The upcoming Special Edition Xbox One Quantum Break bundle will also cost you just $299 when you pre-order it. It includes a special cirrus white console with 500GB hard drive, a copy of backward compatible Alan Wake and of course, a downloadable copy of the action-adventure third-person shooter title releasing on April 5.

The $299 price point is expected to attract more gamers towards purchasing Xbox One console, which of course would give Microsoft an edge over Sony’s PlayStation 4 console in coming weeks. Software sales on the console are also expected to grow. Microsoft has been putting all its efforts into dwindling the gap between the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on sales charts, but it seems like Sony’s game is growing even stronger. The PlayStation 4 beat the Xbox One to become the best-selling console in the US throughout the month of February.

Dark Souls 3 PC Graphics Options Revealed, Key Binding Options Detailed

Up until a few hours ago, From Software and Bandai Namco have shown very little of the PC version of Dark Souls 3, the new entry of the series launching next month in the West. A few hours ago, however, more details on this version of the game have emerged online thanks to a livestream.

In a livestream by IGN from a few hours back, the Dark Souls 3 PC graphics options have been revealed in full. During the livestream, the game was running on high settings, and it definitely looked great.

The livestream has also shown the key binding options, which you can check out right below.

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Unfortunately, playing Dark Souls 3 on high settings may come with some performance hiccups. IGN was running the game on a GTX980, and the game suffered from some frame rate drops.

Earlier this week, Bandai Namco has finally confirmed that the PC version of Dark Souls 3 is not locked at 30 FPS, as it was being rumored. Players with powerful enough machines will be able to run the game at 60 FPS without any sort of limitation.

Yesterday, new Dark Souls 3 gameplay footage has surfaced online from SXSW Gaming 2016. The new footage, which is commented by a Bandai Namco rep, revealed some new details on luck scaling weapons and spells, lore, and other gameplay mechanics.

Two days ago, even more Dark Souls 3 gameplay footage has emerged online. The footage features the beginning area, the Cemetery of Ash, so no new locations have been shown, but it still featured something new, as it also features Elite Knight equipment.

READ  Dark Souls 3 Release Date & Special Editions Detailed By Retailer

Dark Souls 3 launches next week, March 24th, in Japan on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game finally launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on April 12th.

The 9.7 iPad Pro Listed On App Store China; Device To Cost $599 As Launch Imminent(?)

With only two days left until Apple’s ‘Let Us Loop You In’ event this month, a couple of things are expected to be one the agenda. This year, we’re expecting to see a couple of new products from the company in Spring, something which should prove to be a breath of fresh air in the much predictable annual flagship upgrade cycle. As the smartphone industry evolves, periodic upgrades of design and specifications have become the only method manufacturers are able to compete every year; given that users expect things to upgrade at a quick pace.

Moving back towards Apple, the Cupertino manufacturer is expected to change things quite a bit in its gadget lineup this year. Last September saw both the iPad Pro and the iPhone 6s/6s Plus being launched; each with the respective focus on select user categories. With this in mind, general sentiment around expects a four inch iPhone and a smaller iPad Pro to be launched the day after; with the rumor mill also providing critical information.

Apple’s App Store In China Lists ‘Spring iPad’ Further Pointing Towards Flagship Tablet Launch

As far as the iPad goes, we’ve seen a significant shift of things on the tablet lineup, with Apple’s new strategy being extensive focus on isolated devices, in terms of user categorization and functionality. We saw the iPad Air 2 come with the A8X on board, marking a significant boost in processing power and a slim design factor that enabled the tablet to strike the right balance between performance, aesthetics and portability.

That beings said, things are now expected to head towards a smaller iPad Pro, most likely with the A9X on board, expected to come with a 9.7 inch screen on board. What other features, if any, will Apple introduce on the device, aside from the usual ones for the 12.9 inch slate aren’t known right now. This begs the question that will the device be a replacement for the iPad Air lineup; or will Apple release another tablet later this year?

READ  iPad Pro vs Surface Pro 3 - Comparison and a Quick Look at the Specs

Looks like Apple’s content to experiment with screen sizes as of now, with the iPhone SE, also expected to be launched alongside the iPad Pro to come with a 4 inch screen. A smaller screened iPhone has been the talk of town for quite a while after all, and we’re expecting Apple to equip the device with the latest internals, in the form of the A9, a 12MP rear camera, NFC and more. Design wise, it’ll follow the iPhone 5s in overall language, with no significant upgrades to be expected.

As far as pricing and other details for the iPad Pro go, folks over at 9to5Mac have managed to gather some information courtesy of their well known sources with Apple. The device will carry a price tag of $599, higher than the iPad Air 2; Apple’s current tablet offering in the medium screen size bracket. It’ll also start with base storage of 32GB, which should be a good incentive for several users to make a purchase.

With that in mind, lets see what Apple’s got in store for us this March. We’ll be right here for all the updates. Stay tuned and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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