Intel had planned to move to 10nm in 2016 but a series of setbacks prevented that from happening, forcing the company to blow up its usual “tick tock” release schedule and stick with 14nm for the past four chip generations. But as 2017 draws to a close, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich says the company is “on track to ship our first low-volume 10-nanometer part by the end of the year.”



Speaking during the company’s most recent earnings call, Krzanich said Intel plans to ramp up production in the first half of 2018, with “high volume and system availability in the second half of 2018.” In other words, the first 10nm chips from Intel are coming this year. But the processors, which are code-named “Cannon Lake,” will only be available in limited quantities and you may have to wait until mid-2018 at the soonest to walk into a store and buy a PC powered by one of the new processors.

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – Intel’s First 10nm Chips Coming in 2017

Net Neutrality activists have warned that a non-neutral internet will be an invitation for ISPs to create “plans” where you have to choose what services you can access, and we can look to Portugal for an immediate sampling of what will happen if the FCC gets its way: Portuguese ISP MEO is offering a series of plans for its mobile data service where you pay 5 euro ($5.80) to access a handful of messaging services, 5 euro more to use social media, and 5 euro more for video-streaming services.



Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – Portuguese ISP Shows Us What the Net Looks like without Net Neutrality

While four cores are usually sufficient for most games, Assassin’s Creed: Origins scales even on six cores. Tests performed by ComputerBase.de show that Intel’s 6-core, 12-thread Core i7-8700K, paired with an Asus GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Strix OC, delivers the best performance in the game.



CPUs with less than eight threads will struggle in the latest Assassin’s Creed game. The Core i5-7600K for instance, which still has four cores as the i7-7700K but doesn’t support hyper-threading, is a whopping 27% slower than its elder sibling. The chip just runs out of breadth when it comes to frametimes with 38% slower results.

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – Assassin’s Creed: Origins Requires 8-Thread CPU for Full Performance

At this year’s annual Star Citizen convention, Citizen Con, Chris Roberts unveiled a planet that was entirely covered in cities, an early implementation of alien fauna, and other features. The full playthrough of the live demo can be seen here, with gameplay beginning at the 11:35 mark. The first planet seen in the demo is ArcCorp, a world where every inch of the surface has been built upon, and as Roberts himself states, features quite Blade Runner-esque visuals.



This was probably one of the more expansive Star Citizen demos that CIG has held, showcasing once more how seamless the travel is from a planet surface to orbit, and then to an entirely different planet. The presentation was mostly hiccup-free as well; the gameplay was smooth, the visuals were impressive, and there were no crashes to speak of. Note that these features will not be included in the upcoming Star Citizen 3.0 Alpha release, with the demo serving as an early look at what systems Cloud Imperium Games is working on for the future.

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – Star Citizen’s New Planet-Sized Cities Unveiled at Citizen Con

Mazda rotary sports car fans will have to keep waiting for a belated successor for the legendary RX-7 and RX-8: senior managing executive officer and R&D chief Kiyoshi Fujiwara ruled out the release of a production version of the striking 2015 RX-VISION concept in 2020 – Mazda’s centenary year — as expected. “We cannot provide the RX-VISION to the market by 2020, because we do not have enough money to invest, to commercialize it,” Fujiwara said.



Fujiwara-san confirmed that, given more time and resources, Mazda would release a new rotary sports car post-2020 and that it will be powered by an electrified rotary powertrain — at least in some markets. He said the delay was due to Mazda’s development focus on its next-generation chassis and SKYACTIV-X engines and will necessitate the fitment of at least mild-hybrid and autonomous technologies to remain competitive and, indeed, applicable to some countries and cities that have proposed bans on non-electrified vehicles.

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – Mazda’s Rotary Sports Car Delayed until after 2020

Sony has blogged that its briefing tomorrow at Paris Games Week on Monday, October 30, will include “seven all-new game announcements.” This covers both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR games. These announcements will start coming in during Sony’s pre-show event, kicking off at 8 AM PT on October 30.



We’ll begin with an introductory livestream featuring 21 game updates, including seven all-new game announcements for PS4 and PS VR. You won’t want to miss it. Then at 9:00am, our Media Showcase will give you an exclusive new look at the next wave of huge PlayStation titles. After the Showcase, stick around — we’ll dive deeper into the biggest announcements coming out of Paris Games Week. We’ll be streaming live on live.playstation.com, Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook.

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – Sony Is Announcing Seven New Games at Paris Games Week