PC’s around the word were cowering in fear as the release of PCMark 7 drew near.  Luckily for your feeble gaming machine, doomsday has been postponed… for now.

Futuremark has announced that

Our benchmarks are developed in cooperation with many of the world’s leading hardware and technology manufacturing companies including AMD, Compal, Dell, Hitachi, HP, Intel, NVIDIA, Samsung, Sandisk, Seagate and Western Digital. These companies help us perfect our benchmarks, running each development build through their expert testing facilities to improve the performance, relevance and accuracy of the software. This testing has identified an issue that we would like to fix before release. Fortunately, it looks like a simple matter, but making any changes to the software at this point also necessitates a further round of testing with our industry partners which takes time.

So, we’ll let you know when it’s coming, but your PC can rest easy… for now.

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Futuremark doesn’t make benchmarks to make you happy, in fact they usually make you bloody miserable.

However, they’ll soon be releasing PC Mark 7, so you can get a better idea of just how much your gaming PC sucks compared to everyone else in the world.  :-/

Anyhow, this new software, made for Windows 7 PC’s will let you run all sorts of fun tests.  7 of them in fact.  It also comes in three flavors.  Free, Regular and Holy Shit Expensive Professional Verison:

All three versions will be available on May 3rd.

HELSINKI, FINLAND – APRIL 14, 2011 – Futuremark® today confirmed that PCMark® 7, a new benchmark offering complete PC performance testing for Windows 7, will be released on May 3, 2011. PCMark 7 will be available in 3 editions: the Basic Edition, a free download offering unlimited runs of the main PCMark test, the Advanced Edition which includes all 7 PC tests and the Professional Edition which unlocks all features and is the only edition licensed for commercial use. The Advanced and Professional Editions can be pre-ordered now from http://www.pcmark.com.

PCMark 7 provides a set of 7 PC tests for measuring different aspects of PC performance with a high degree of accuracy. Overall system performance is measured by the PCMark test. The Lightweight test measures the capabilities of entry level systems and mobility platforms unable to run the full PCMark test. Common use performance is measured by the Entertainment, Creativity and Productivity tests. Component performance is measured by the Computation and Storage hardware tests. The Storage test is ideal for testing SSDs and external hard drives in addition to the system drive.

If you’re in the mood for furhter punishement, feel free to go mess around with 3DMark11.  Or don’t, you’ll likely be happier that way…

Learn more about PC Mark 7 and 3DMark 11 HERE.

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It looks like I’ll have to splash out even more cash for my PC as Samsung announced earlier this morning that they’re working on the worlds first DDR4 modules, and they’re slated for global availability in early 2012. DDR4 is set to replace DDR3 and bring with it 40% greater energy efficiency as well as data transfer rates of 2.1Gbps.

Samsung released an official press release with the announcement. Check it out below;

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, announced today that it completed development of the industry’s first DDR4 DRAM module last month, using 30 nanometer (nm) class* process technology. “Samsung has been actively supporting the IT industry with our green memory initiative by coming up with eco-friendly, innovative memory products providing higher performance and power efficiency every year,” said Dong Soo Jun, president, memory division, Samsung Electronics. “The new DDR4 DRAM will build even greater confidence in our cutting-edge green memory, particularly when we introduce four-gigabit (Gb) DDR4-based products using next generation process technology for mainstream application.”

The new DDR4 DRAM module can achieve data transfer rates of 2.133 gigabits per second (Gbps) at 1.2V, compared to 1.35V and 1.5V DDR3 DRAM at an equivalent 30nm-class* process technology, with speeds of up to 1.6Gbps. When applied to a notebook, it reduces power consumption by 40 percent compared to a 1.5V DDR3 module.

The module makes use of Pseudo Open Drain (POD), a new technology that has been adapted to high-performance graphic DRAM to allow DDR4 DRAM to consume just half the electric current of DDR3 when reading and writing data.

I’m looking forward to seeing some actual lab data and physical tests!

Source: [Samsung]

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Capcom have announced today that the PC version of Lost Planet 2 will be coming to North America on October 12, and Europe on October 15. A benchmarking tool has also been released for free, showing off support for DirectX 11.

The game will be playable in DirectX 11, which means that “smoke will have lifelike volume and depth, water surfaces react realistically to player interaction and bullets, and level bosses are rendered with more detail than ever before.” nVidia users will be able to enable 3D on the PC version of Lost Planet 2, as well. Obviously Capcom are hoping that the PC version will trump the console versions for power users. At least it’s not just going to be a straight port- although the actual gameplay remains to be seen.

If you want to see how well your computer will run the game when it is released in October, you can download the benchmarking tool here. It includes two tests- one that reflects general gameplay, and another designed to push it to the limit.

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• Mafia II Makes Me Proud To Be a PC Gamer

The Mafia II demo was released today, and I’ve finally been able to play it outside the confines of a 2k demo booth.  I had previously played this exact demo at E3 and Comic Con, but now I finally had the chance to load it up on my personal gaming rig.  It was time to see just how much effort 2k had put into making Mafia II, “that much better” for PC gamers.

As I fire up the demo and head immediately into the options menu (as all PC nerdbois surely do) I notice there’s a benchmarking utility!!  “What joy!” I think to myself.  It’s been quite some time since I was able to test my gaming rig against a new title.  I knew Mafia 2 was making great use of Nvidia PhysX, but until now I had only played the game on consoles, and it had clearly not been done justice.

So, after maxing out the settings, saying a short prayer, and hitting the record button, I watched as the early 20th century gangster world of Mafia II came to life like never before on my screen … Enjoy.

As you can see, due to FRAPS, my framerate dropped significantly, but the gameplay was smooth enough to make a point.  You can see just how much PhysX plays a part in the game.  Debris flies everywhere, glass shatters, wood splinters, pillars crumble apart from shotgun blasts, bottles explode, the difference is like night and day.  In fact, if you want to see just what a difference PhysX makes, check out this next video that is far superior to mine.  :-)

Well, I believe that I’ve made my case for PhysX, but what about actual PC gameplay?  How does the game actually look and feel on a high end PC?  Well of course I decided to record that too, and let me just say that playing Mafia II on my own system has given me a whole new perspective on the game as well as on open world games in general.  What you are about to see is the entire gameplay demo (SPOILER ALERT) which I have edited down to roughly nine minutes.  If you notice me shooting at a few extra windows or walls, it is simply me being in awe of the graphical capabilities of the Illusion gaming engine.

Right off the bat you should take notice of the fact that everything going on outside Vito’s house is happening in real time.  If he were to walk outside, nothing would change.  The game world is seamless.  The second thing you will notice (besides how good everything looks) is that this game is a period piece, and as such, everything from the music down to the pictures on the walls, matches the era of the game.  (Gotta love the rotary phone)

The denizens of Empire Bay have the usual comical dialogue as they mill about, but you cannot simply take advantage of them as you would in other games.  If you take out a gun in the street and people see you, the police will come for you.  If you drive too fast, you will get pulled over.  If you get in a street fight, the cops will stop you … and let you off with a warning.  This all adds to the sense of immersion and realism in Mafia II.  However, thanks to the nice little bribery system, all the police hassle is almost a non issue.  At least you won’t find yourself constantly being shot at or thrown in jail by the police like in other games.

You will also notice as much debris flying about during combat (if not more so) than in my benchmarking video, and it never ceases to impress.  The glorious destructability of the environment is something I have never before seen in a game like this.  This is so much more than just a prettier Grand Theft Auto set in the early 20th century. This is not simply a console game ported to PC, this is a PC game worthy of the most hardcore gaming rigs.

Last but not least, there are still a couple of things you didn’t get to see which I quite enjoyed about the demo as well.  First of all, the fist fighting is much better than in any other game like this, and also they’ve included a little feature I’ve always been looking for . . . GAS STATIONS!!  Every grandtheftjustcausesaintsrowtruecrime game lets you drive around endlessly and you never ever have to stop for gas!!  Well in Mafia II, not only are there gas stations, but full service gas stations where an attendant will come out and fill ‘er up for ya!  It’s the little things like this (and getting your shoes shined for $1) that let gamers know 2k spent an inordinate amount of time making Mafia II one hell of a game.

Please enjoy a slew of short videos I made showing off some of the finer things that make Mafia II so much more than your average game.

I used to think that consoles were the best way for anyone to play a game like Grand Theft Auto, Just Cause, Saints Row, True Crime or Mafia.  But now that I see the complete difference that having a truly higher quality gaming experience can bring to the table, I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to playing games like these on a console again.

However, not every developer takes the time to ensure that the PC version of their game will be this superior to it’s console counterparts, so I have to hand it to 2k games once again for making me proud to be a PC gamer.

Beg to differ?  I’m not shy . . . get @DaveOshry on Twitter or Email me at Dave@Ripten.com

Size DOES Matter.

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In an interview with several 1UP editors, producer Yoshinori Ono confirmed that Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li (and her thighs), are all going to be in Street Fighter IV along with a batch of new (mostly female) faces.

Ono also stated that Street Fighter II is the benchmark that will be strived for in the next-generation sequel’s gameplay, balance, speed and characters.

He used the word “preserve” throughout the interview, but we hope that there are plenty of surprises when Street Fighter IV is finally released and not before it’s ready.

[gamevideo http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/16819]

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