intel

Intel Gives The World Two Far Cry Missions

5:20AM Stuart Houghton | Intel have sponsored two bonus missions for Far Cry 2 on the PC as part of it’s Game On promotion. More »

Intel Sees Raytraced Games In The Near Future

6:00AM Mike Fahey | Raytracing is a method of generating a computer image by tracing a ray of light through an image plane. The whole process is similar to how light bounces off objects in nature, determining the colour, sheen, luminosity, etc. Whereas other methods of creating graphics have to generate special effects, shadows, bloom, and other popular lighting techniques are all occur as a natural product of raytracing. The problem is that raytracing is very resource intensive, making it great for pre-rendered applications, not-so-great for on-the-fly applications like games. According to Intel’s Michael Vollmer, that’s a fact that could change sooner than we think. More »

Intel Drops Prices, CPUs Cheap As Chips

5:55PM Logan Booker | If your games are calling out for a dual-core or quad-core processor (a high-pitched whine, if you’re not familiar with the sound), the next few weeks will prove to be a great time to go shopping. Intel’s just dropped the prices for the E8400 and Q6600, which you’ll remember came highly recommended by me. Intel Cuts Quad-, Dual-Core CPU Prices [TrustedReviews] More »

Top Upgrades For The Cash-Strapped PC Gamer

1:30PM Logan Booker | We’re a great deal savvier than we used to be about PC hardware. No longer are the insides of a computer scary – merely dark and, depending on how neat you are, dusty. Sure, you might scratch yourself on a sharp piece of metal, or procure a burn from a toasty heatsink, but any gamer who’s owned a system longer than five years has earned his licence to fly solo in the bowels of his silicon beast. Titles such as Crysis have raised awareness of Direct3D 10, while Supreme Commander proved that dual and quad core processors have a place in the motherboard of the average gamer. It’s a shame then that it’s become progressively harder to identify which graphics cards or processors are better, thanks to the irrelevancy of megahertz and esoteric product names packed with hyperbole. Is an Intel E6600 better than a Q6600, because E comes first in the alphabet? Shouldn’t a GeForce 9600GT be faster than an 8800GT by the difference of 800 “whatevers” in its name? The answer would be “no” in both cases. I recently made a few purchases for my brother, whose AMD-based system finally decided that being a working PC wasn’t hip any more. As part of the process, I had to put together a few parts that would serve him for the next few years, but wouldn’t leave him scrounging his pocket lint for food money. Anyway, hit the jump for my recommendations. More »