HyperX is rolling out its first wireless gaming headset to have a price tag that dips below the $100 mark. More precisely, the new Cloud Stinger Wireless retails for $89.99 (£79.99).
We have not spent any hands-on (ears-on?) time with this model, though HyperX’s even more affordable Cloud Alpha is one of the best gaming headsets for the money (it streets for $81.99 right now).
Like that headset, the Cloud Stinger Wireless pumps audio through 50mm neodymium magnet drivers. The rated frequency response is not quite as robust, though; HyperX lists it as 20H-20,000Hz, versus 13Hz-27,000Hz on the Cloud Alpha.
That’s also a lower range compared to the wired version of the Cloud Stinger, which is rated at 18Hz-23,000Hz. How that translates to real-world usage remains to be seen (heard).
It’s a slightly lighter headset than either the wired version or Cloud Alpha, checking in at 270g (half a pound). The lightweight design is bolstered by memory foam padding. And as for battery life, HyperX claims up to 17 hours per charge.
Over the past year, memory pricing finally settled down to where it wouldn’t cost a kidney for a kit of RAM. For the most part, anyway. You can still go wild, if you want, and Corsair will happily oblige with its new 32GB Vengeance LPX memory modules, culminating in a capacious 256GB DDR4-2400 kit that will set you back $1,200 (rounded up a penny).
That’s more than what some entire PCs cost, though if you’re sticking a $1,200 kit of RAM in a $500 setup, you’re doing it wrong.
"Vengeance LPX has long been a premiere choice for custom PC builders looking for high frequencies and ambitious overclocks, and that tradition continues with the launch of 32GB modules—the first time that such a capacity of premium DRAM has been made widely available to consumers in a standard size DDR4 module," Corsair says.
Crazy-high capacity kits are not new, though they’ve mostly been aimed at servers and workstations. These new 32GB Vengeance models are consumer kits, and Corsair says they’ve been "thoroughly tested for wide compatibility with most current DDR4 motherboards." Keep the receipt though, just in case.
Corsair’s new 256GB kit consists of eight 32GB modules, but smaller capacity (and less expensive) kits are available. On the flip side, an even pricier kit will eventually be offered—the product page is offline at the moment, but Corsair references a faster version of its 256GB kit at 2,666MHz.
Frequencies are somewhat low across the board. That may change in time, but for now, it seems that high capacity modules just aren’t as flexible as lower capacity modules.
There are exceptions. G.Skill, for example, recently launched its Trident Z RGB DC (double capacity) series, consisting of three 64GB (2x32GB) kits, two of which are DDR4-3200 kits and the other a DDR4-3000 kit. However, they’re only compatible on three Asus Z390 motherboards.
Corsair’s 32GB modules are a more standard solution. Most of them are available now.
Still, partnering up with Asus seems to be the in-thing. In addition to the new 32GB kits, Corsair also announced a line of TUF Gaming Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 memory kits. They’re styled after Asus’s TUF Gaming products, with RGB lighting that is compatible with its Aura Sync software.
There are two 16GB (2x8GB) kits, one at 3000MHz and the other at 3,200MHz. Pricing and availability has not yet been announced.
If it’s time to pick up a new PC but you’re not looking to cobble one together on your own, perhaps going prebuilt is the best option for you. If so, you’ll definitely want to have a look at this Alienware desktop PC by way of Dell’s latest set of sales.
This Alienware Aurora desktop PC is just $1,400 right now, which is $530 off its usual price of $1,929. That’s an especially great price if you’ve had your eye on this bad boy for some time.
While purchasing a prebuilt computer can almost always lead to pricing issues where you’re paying for more than you need to for convenience, this particular Alienware configuration is well worth putting down the cash for, especially at this price.
This gaming powerhouse packs an RTX 2070 under its hood for the kind of performance that can handle both DLSS and ray-tracing, all tied together with a powerful 9th gen Intel processor in the form of an overclocked Core i7-9700K.
Previously, we reviewed the Aurora desktop and appreciated it for being "highly upgradeable and powerfully specced for respectable performance at 4K Ultra." It’s more than capable of running just about anything you can throw at it, and worth a shot if you want to go the prebuilt route.
Alienware Aurora Gaming Desktop | $1400 (save $530) This prebuilt wonder is packed to the brim with high-end performance parts and features a gorgeous proprietary case. While it isn’t quite worth its normal pricetag, this deal makes it an affordable curiosity.
If you’re not particularly chuffed about this particular model, be sure to check out our picks for the best gaming PC to see if you can find something that strikes your fancy.
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Fallout 76’s patch 11 went live yesterday and things aren’t going well. Despite the long list of fixes, tweaks, and improvements in Bethesda’s patch notes, players are finding their own lists of new bugs introduced to the very things that were supposed to be improved. Some are suggesting it’s time for Bethesda to protect its players from problematic updates with a test server.
Two of the biggest highlights of yesterday’s patch: improvements to the new player experience at low levels, and fixes to a collection of power armor bugs, are the source of a number of new player complaints.
An entire section of the patch notes is dedicated to power armor. Bethesda reportedly fixed bugs that would result in a player becoming stuck in their power armor, players accidentally using (and wasting) a stimpack while already having full health while wearing power armor, an option to opt out of the power armor HUD and use the standard game HUD while wearing a suit, and more.
As part of this huge overhaul of power armor, Bethesda writes that players may find power armor pieces and extra power armor frames moved from their stash to their inventory, or vice-versa, on login. So players won’t get stuck in the wilderness as a result of suddenly being over-encumbered, they may also find they’ve been relocated to a train station to be close to a stash box and vendor.
Instead, players are reporting that many of them are missing suits of power armor. The confusion may be in part that players’ equipped power armor has been moved to their stash, which they may not immediately check for missing items. Some players are reporting that their rare power armor pieces are in fact missing, even after double checking their inventory and stash.
(Image credit: Bethesda)
Bethesda also made a number of changes to systems that disadvantaged low level players, like the price hike for moving your camp too many times in quick succession (a fee I have been victim of myself due to indecisiveness). They also reduced the cost of fast travel for players under level 25 and changed the level of enemies likely to spawn near where new players are first exploring.
Along with that, they’ve also replaced the rewards for many early game challenges so that new players often receive useful items like stimpacks (which are tough to come by early on) instead of the game’s premium currency Atoms. That sounds great, but some players feel they’re being manipulated into spending money to buy Atoms instead of earning them by playing.
Most contentious of all are bugs related to legendary items failing to drop from legendary enemies. As you might imagine, players are livid. As with many online games meant to be played long-term, veteran players spend a good chunk of time killing high-level enemies over and over again looking for rare weapons. Naturally, patch 11 was meant to fix issues with legendary items spawning, according to the notes: "Legendary items dropped as loot by a legendary enemy will now appear much quicker on that enemy’s corpse."
Players note that updates which break Fallout 76 in more ways than it fixes them have become frustratingly expected. Even on Bethesda’s own forum, where attitudes towards the company tend to be more forgiving, players are asking for Bethesda to introduce a test server for vetting updates before they get pushed to all servers. Public test servers are common with other online games to prevent (or at least mitigate) exactly the fury that Bethesda is facing today.
Fortunately, community managers are keeping up with players on Reddit and helping point them towards creating support tickets. Bethesda has also announced a planned hotfix coming later today to address issues caused by patch 11.
We are looking into issues being reported after patch 11 yesterday and plan on releasing a hotfix later today. We are canceling today’s livestream and will speak with you in the forums, on Reddit, and social.July 17, 2019
Despite the issue-ridden Patch 11, we are still anticipating the Fallout 76 Wastelanders update. Here’s hoping it rolls out more smoothly.
It’s all too easy too unload several thousand dollars on a gaming laptop. But why bother when you can grab this stellar ASUS ROG Strix G 15.6 incher for just $1,498 on Amazon Prime day? RTX 2060? Intel Core i7-9750H? 16GB RAM? 512GB NVMe SSD? Oh yes. This rig totally rocks.
Yet another fabulous looking Asus lappy, this time with RTX 2060 graphics, a 120Hz display, six-core Intel CPU, a huge SSD and a sleek slim-bezel design. What a machine for the money.View Deal
This laptop ticks an awful lot of boxes and packs the very latest tech. Along with the bleeding-edge Nvidia RTX 2060 graphics with ray-tracing support, there’s a six-core Intel CPU from its very latest 9th Gen family.
The screen is a sweet IPS panel with 120Hz refresh and Full HD res, while the SSD is the real NVMe deal packing 512GB. There’s even 16GB of system memory. In short, there’s pretty much nothing you’d want for in a gaming rig, as opposed to something design for productivity. And all for under $1,500. Remarkable.
Don’t forget to swing by our hub of Amazon Prime Day deals, and check out the rest of the best when it comes to laptop deals and everything else PC and gaming related.
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We were intrigued last week when the official Borderlands 3 Twitter account posted an invitation to a "Celebration of Togetherness" scheduled for today. There was even a card, formally listing the date and time as "Tuesday, July the Sixteenth, seven o’clock in the morning Pacific Time." Fans speculated it might be an announcement of cross-play, which Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford quickly clarified it was not.
What it was, rather, was simply the debut of a new Borderlands 3 trailer, this one hyping the joy of playing the game in co-op. The trailer is set to a cover of the Turtles’ Happy Together, and shows the new Borderlands crew dancing (and randomly discharging firearms) through roses in a trippy kaleidoscope vision of the Borderlands 3 world. It’s a series of images not unlike the musical dream sequence from The Big Lebowski.
Here’s it is:
So, if you missed out, don’t worry—it wasn’t really a huge event, at least in terms of big announcements about the game, just a weirdly adorable Borderlands-themed music video. Borderlands 3 comes out September 16.
Keyboard hunters: welcome to another Amazon Prime Day deal, but this time from another retailer. Huzzah for the competition! Right now, Walmart is offering a mighty $64 discount off the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate keyboard – now only $46 (that’s half price). That is less than half price on a serious bit of kit.
The BlackWidow Ultimate offers some serious features in the form of 80-million key stroke lifespans to its buttons, blisteringly fast response times, and the fact that it’s built with toughness and robustness in mind. This plank—as well as being a solid performer for games—is both dust and waterproof. So one accident doesn’t mean the end of the line. And you can customise it to hell and back with Razer’s robust synapse software, allowing remapping of commands, rebinding of buttons, and the ability to assign macro keys too.
While the big online retailers hogs the limelight right now, there many others like Walmart trying to muscle in to the game In fact we’ve got a whole hub designated to presenting you with the best PC gaming deals at other stores on Amazon Prime Day—check it out as there are some tasty deals in there. And for fans of the maker, here are all the best Razer Prime Day deals.
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Disco Elysium’s Steam store page still lists its release date as "to be announced" but developer ZA/UM just reposted an article that cites the more optimistic time frame "the end of the year."
The feature was originally published on May 1st in French on Canard PC. Today, ZA/UM posted an English translation to their Steam news feed. Although the majority of the article cites details about the grim detective RPG that we already know (amusing dialogue and skills that manifest as voices in your characters head), there is a very quick mention of Disco Elysium’s release.
As one commenter aptly quips with a "tl,dr," this best bit of information is buried in the last lines: "if Disco Elysium does well after its release at the end of the year…"
(Image credit: Studio ZA/UM)
Although one comment in one interview is not much to go on, and indie games often launch later than their initially announced release dates, the fact that ZA/UM chose to post the translated article without any caveat or correction suggests that the end of 2019 is a likely release window. This is definitely a clue that we were meant to find. Or else I’m just as bad a detective as Disco Elysium’s hungover and washed up protagonist.
This AMD Ryzen 5 2600 6-Core 3.4 GHz processor deal at $120 might be one of the best you’ll find during Newegg’s FantasTech deals on Prime Day. The Ryzen 5 2600 is already a good value for its affordable price, but $120 is the lowest we’ve ever seen it.
This Newegg deal expires at midnight, so move fast on this one if you’re looking for a cheap upgrade to a legitimately great budget processor. I’ve been using a 2600 for a few months now and I have yet to play a game it can’t keep up with. I’m definitely not the most power-hungry gamer, but I can easily climb up to 120-144 FPS (paired with my GTX 2060) in my favorite shooters.
As a bonus, Newegg is adding on a free three month voucher for Xbox Game Pass. Not every game on the service is PC-compatible, but there are some great Microsoft games on there to that can flex the new 2600.
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Monitors with IPS panels are generally the best ones to get, especially when they are paired with a high refresh rate. Right now you can get one of LG’s IPS 144Hz monitors for just $249.00 on Amazon, a $101 reduction from the usual price.
The LG 27GL650F-B (great name, I know) is a 27-inch 1080p monitor, with FreeSync support up to 144Hz. The display isn’t on Nvidia’s list of officially-supported G-Sync compatible monitors, and I wasn’t able to find any reports of people manually enabling G-Sync mode, so you should only buy this if you have an AMD graphics card.
You can grab the monitor from the link below. The sale ends at midnight tomorrow (July 16th), and it’s exclusive to Prime members.
