Steam Machine sizzles
The 2014 ASUS & NVIDIA Gamers’ Gathering (ANGG) held on 16 March 2014 saw 45 pre-selected PC gamers and avid tech enthusiasts attending the closed-door event at Orange Esports Stadium, Setapak. The exclusive gathering was graced by Hugo Hsu, Head of NVIDIA Desktop GPU Segment Sales and Lim Wei Lun, Product Director of IAHGames.
The main focus of the gathering is to introduce new technology and innovations to gamers and tech enthusiasts, as well as offer sneak peeks at upcoming yet-to-be-released products.
NVIDIA G-SYNC Technology awes attendees
A live demonstration of NVIDIA G-SYNC Technology by Hugo Hsu left jaws agape. The demo involved two units of ASUS’s VG248QE gaming monitors. To show the clear advantage of G-SYNC, only one of the monitors was equipped with a G-SYNC kit. Hsu explained during the demo that when V-SYNC is activated, long latency and stutter would happen. On the other hand, when V-SYNC is switched off, it would cause ‘tearing.’ To overcome these issues, G-SYNC Technology continually synchronises display refresh rates with the GPU.
G-SYNC has been announced a while ago, however a live demo is the best way to show the advantages of the technology, not adequately captured through pictures and videos.
For serious gaming: ROG Matrix GTX 780 Ti Platinum GPU
The ROG Matrix GTX 780 Ti Platinum graphics card was launched worldwide on 19 March 2014 – a card designed for the serious gamers, reputed to be the coolest, quietest and smoothest GPU available in the market today. ANGG attendees had a chance to touch and feel the new card.
The new card sports a new DirectCU II outlook with an all-black heatsink design. Additionally, it also feasters the new Memory Defroster technology.
As a demo, the ROG Matrix GTX 780 Ti Platinum was assembled alongside the ROG Rampage IV Black Edition motherboard. Selected games were installed, namely: Battlefield 4, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Batman: Arkham Origins.
Juan Chong, the Technical PR, ASUS Malaysia said, “Having tested numerous graphics cards, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti is certainly the fastest graphics card in terms of gaming performance.”
NVIDIA Maxwell GPUs 135% faster, 2x lower power consumption
In another showdown, the new ASUS GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC GPU based on NVIDIA Maxwell architecture was pitted against the older Fermi-based ASUS GeForce GTX 550 Ti DirectCU TOP GPU. Four years after the ASUS GeForce GTX 550 Ti was introduced, NVIDIA has managed to improve its mid-range lineup by 4X better power efficiency and 2X better performance. In a FurMark Stress Test, the newer GTX 750Ti OC clocked 155W power usage as compared to 254W on the older GTX 550 Ti DirectCU TOP.
Valve’s Steam Machine project has made quite a dent in the gaming universe, exciting gamers and tech enthusiasts the world over. The free Linux-based SteamOS with its near negligible hardware limitations has made it especially attractive. Over 300 high-range Steam Machines equipped with NVIDIA GeForce GTC 780 GPU have been rolled out to beta-testers.
At ANGG, Hugo Hsu presented his own DIY Steam Machine powered by NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti, specially flown in from Taiwan.
In a demo, Hsu showed the difference between SteamOS and Steam on PC through the game Metro: Last Light.
Meanwhile, ASUS Malaysia in collaboration with local dealer C-Zone Sdn Bhd (I buy my kit from there too!), showcased a ROG Steam Machine powered by ROG MARS 760 Dual GPU graphics card and a MAXIMUS VI Impact motherboard.
Blacklight Retribution premier test-play
Blacklight Retribution, developed by Zombie Inc is a free-to-play sci-fi first person shooter (FPS) game base on an apocalypse war zone scenario. Games publisher IAHGames gave attendees the opportunity to play first hand the much-awaited game, which is scheduled to hit Malaysian shores sometime April 2014. The game was also used to test GeForce ShadowPlay technology, a gaming recording tool.
