Microsoft Studios not raising US game prices for Xbox One

[Administrator]

Games cost a lot of money and somehow that's become OK. And every generation technical capabilities rise and publishers talk about teams getting bigger and needing to make more money so they can pay for it all, hence Online Passes, hence sneaky price rises for Call of Duty, FIFA and Assassin's Creed - those games clearly weren't making enough money anyway.
Fortunately, I suppose, Microsoft Studios - the publisher rather than platform holder - has gone on the record to say it won't raise the price of games for Xbox One.
"I can confirm that Microsoft Studios games on Xbox One will be $59.99 (MSRP)," a Microsoft rep told Polygon. MSRP is manufacturer's suggested retail price.
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[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

GeForce GTX 770 Video Card Roundup

Let the overclocking commence!

The GTX 770 was released last week and along with that announcement came a flurry of new cards from video card vendors such as MSI, Gigabyte, Asus, and EVGA.
MSI
MSI has introduced a pair of overclocked cards rocking its newest aftermarket Twin Frozr IV cooler. The two cards by MSI are the GTX 770 Lighting and the GTX 770 Gaming. Both video cards require two 8-pin connectors unlike the reference design which only requires one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector.

MSI’s Lighting GTX 770 is the only card to boast a core boost clock over 1,200MHz.

MSI’s premium GTX 770 is the Lighting Edition card which sports a base clock of 1,150MHz and a boost clock of 1,202MHz sporting a price tag of $460. Meanwhile, the company’s Gaming Edition GTX 770 features a core clock of 1,098MHz and a boost clock of 1150MHz and has a price of $410.

MSI’s Twin Frozr GTX 770 Gaming Edition video card comes in red and black.

MSI also launched a new overclocking tool called MSI Gaming App as a result of many people not knowing how to overclock their GPUs. The company says the new overclocking software is extremely simple and has three predefined profiles called Gaming, Eco, and Default. The Gaming mode overclocks the card automatically while the Eco mode runs the card in silently by reducing the card's power consumption. The default mode runs the card at its normal clock speeds.

Gigabyte’s GTX 770 sports its intense Windforce cooler that comes with three fans for cooling.

Gigabyte
Gigabyte has released its newest GTX 770 the GV-N770OC-2GD which uses a beefy Windforce aftermarket cooler. According to Gigabyte, the cooler as much as 450 Watts. The card’s core and boost clocks are overclocked to 1,137MHz and 1189MHz, respectively and retails for $410.

Asus has brought its’ Direct CU II cooler to the GTX 770.

Asus
Asus's overclocked GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5 GTX 770 features its DirectCU II cooler along with custom VRM and enhanced power efficiency. According to Asus, the card consumes 30% less power and gennerates less noise compared to the reference design, while also offering 2.5 times the durability. The card is priced at $410 and is clocked at 1,050MHz core and 1,110MHz boost, respectively.
Asus also came out with a new version of GPU Tweak which provides a real-time monitoring of your video card’s temperatures, core clocks, and memory clocks. ASUS’s GTX 770 is now supported by this overclocking tool as well.

EVGA uses a ball bearing design for its ACX cooler which according to EVGA allows the card run quieter and cooler.

EVGA
EVGA dispatched ten GTX 770’s following NVidia’s GTX 770 release. Six of EVGA's 770 feature the company’s new ACX cooler which supposedly runs cooler and quieter than a stock GTX 770 cooler. The ACX uses a ball-bearing design instead of a standard sleeved bearing which EVGA says gives the fans a lifespan of 12 years. The company has a couple cards currently on Newegg for sale which include its new ACX cooler and its reference cooler design. EVGA also has a stock-clocked card with its new ACX cooler which retails for $410. The overclocked version of the company's GTX 770 with the new ACX is $420 and features a core clock speed of 1,111MHZ core and 1,163MHz boost clock. EVGA also has a Superclocked GTX 770 with its stock blower cooler which retails for $420 and sports a core base clock of 1,085MHz and a boost clock of 1,137MHz. For the other EVGA GTX 770 cards you can check out its page here.
EVGA also released a new version of its Precision X Software to support the launch of its new GTX 770s. Precision X offers overclocking tools as well as temperature, memory monitoring, and fan controls.
All of the overclocked GTX 770s should provide decent improvement in performance and cooling over the reference design. Look out for the reviews of these cards in the coming months.
Below are a couple of charts showing the differences and similarities between the new GTX 770 cards.

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