By Ian Cutress @ AnandTech

What would you do with more CPU cores? This is a question I see posted from an Intel employee on a yearly basis, and it actually is a difficult question to answer depending on your computing background. A gamer might not need more than four or six, and a number of workstation use cases are now GPU accelerated. Anyone never in a pure compute situation might not need more than four or six cores.

But what about virtual machines, complex encoding, or non-linear functional compute? How many cores are too many? Intel has recently released the Broadwell-EP based Xeon E5-2600 v4 processors, running up to 22 cores, and the smaller silicon die used for the 10-core parts has today filtered down to the prosumer and high-end desktop (HEDT) markets in four different parts, making up the Core i7 6800 and 6900 series. For today’s review we’ll be taking a look at all four.

Read The Review Here

Check out these latest hardware announcements for today from around the web. Also included are some hardware news bits, and on some days, a few rumors tossed in for good measure. Click on the links below to read the official press release, visit the products web page, or to an independent news source.

• Computex 2016: Cooler Master Shows Off New Master Products for 2016
• Computex 2016: Raijintek New Products
• Computex 2016: Ozone Strike Battle Spectra Gaming Keyboard Pictured
• Computex 2016: Colorful’s Unique Air+Liquid Cooling Solution Pictured
• Computex 2016: EVGA Has New GPUS PSUS- Motherboards And Laptops
• Computex 2016: Zotac’s All New Product Lineup for 2016
• AMD Teases Radeon RX 480: Launching June 29th For $199
• Computex 2016: Phanteks Enthoo Elite And Liquid Cooling Hardware On The Way
• Computex 2016: Thermaltake’s 2016 Lineup
• Computex 2016: Noctua Continues To Refine Its Fans And Coolers This Year
• Computex 2016: InWin Shows Off All New Offerings
• Computex 2016: New Fan Controllers Coming From Aerocool
• Computex 2016: What’s New Coming From Zalman
• Computex 2016: Fractal Design Showcase New Products-VIDEO
• Computex 2016: New Products Displayed By Corsair
• Computex 2016: Antec Displays New Cases
• Computex 2016: Deep Cool Shows Off New AIO Coolers And Cases
• Computex 2016: Tesoro Keyboard Lineup For 2016
• Computex 2016: Rosewill Announces Cases, PSUs, Peripherals, PC Cooling
• Computex 2016: Cougar Debuts New Cases, PSUs And Gaming Miscellany

Final Video Developer Diary Puts You In the Big Chair

With Hearts of Iron IV only days away, Paradox Development Studio offers you the levers of power as the world descends into the firestorm of World War II. The latest and final video developer diary before release outlines the types of decisions you will be asked to make as the president, prime minister or dictator of any nation you choose.

The focus here is on the big picture – the long term decisions you make as a national leader to set yourself up for ultimate victory.

On the political side of Hearts of Iron IV, you will responsible for the final shape your nation takes.

• National Focuses: Each major power has a custom tree of decisions where you can set out your immediate and future goals
• Ideological Drift: Appoint cabinet ministers who represent fresher ideologies to bring closer to one side of the ideological struggle.
• Coups and International Support: Commit political power to supporting the rise of a friendly party in a potential rival or sponsor a rebellion against your enemies
• Research and construction: You can’t do everything at once, so organize your government and infrastructure to achieve your long term goals.
• Send “Volunteers” to Help Friends: If a civil war breaks out, it might be helpful to push your side to victory by delegating your own troops to fight at their side.

Hearts of Iron IV will be available on June 6, 2016.

For more information on Hearts of Iron IV, check out the games official website.

Order of Battle fans, we have big news for you. The game previously known as Order of Battle: Pacific is being restructured into Order of Battle: World War II, a bigger project with a wider scope and the goal of featuring multiple fronts of World War II.

Order of Battle: Pacific is going to be split into three different products:

• Order of Battle: World War II, featuring the bootcamp missions and the first mission of each DLC.
• The Order of Battle: U.S. Pacific DLC, featuring the American Pacific campaign.
• The Order of Battle: Rising Sun DLC, featuring the Japanese Pacific campaign.

Now hold on to your seats! Order of Battle WORLD WAR II will be available to everyone for free! It contains the bootcamp scenarios plus the first scenario of every DLC (including future ones), and they are completely free. You will be able to try the game, play several scenarios and decide if you’d like to buy the DLCs.

Important: if you own Order of Battle: Pacific you’ll be given free keys for the two DLCs, Rising Sun and U.S. Pacific, plus any other DLC you already own!

That’s not all: in order to unlock the fully-featured editor and every single faction in multiplayer only a single DLC purchase is needed!

Ok, here is an example of what you can expect from this system.

Below is the campaign screen that you’ll see if you’re a newcomer to the series and you have never purchased the base game. You have immediate access to the bootcamp campaign (at the top) and all of the other campaigns (which are DLCs) are grayed out but you can still click on them!

Click here for new screenshots and more information!

Today it’s the 1st of June, and on this day we remember the first land engagement of the American Civil War.

On this day, 155 years ago, about 210 virginian soldiers were occupying Fairfax Court House, about 14 miles west of Washington D.C.; they were under the command of Lt. Col. Richard S. Ewell.

They were engaged by forces from the 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Charles Henry Tompkins.

No more than a few dozen men on each side took part in this minor skirmish, but it was in fact the first land engagement of the Civil War.

AGEOD is proud of having developed a game like Civil War II, the ultimate grand strategy representation of the conflict, allowing you to relive the entire Civil War and have complete control of the Union and Confederate armies on one of the largest maps ever created for a wargame on the period.

If you haven’t tried it yet then this is your chance. We are giving five free keys for Civil War II on Steam. All you have to do is go to this thread on the AGEOD forum and answer a very easy question. The first five users who answer correctly will receive a free copy of Civil War II on Steam!

Get more information about the game from its official product page.

Scourge of War fans and players, we have a treat for you.

We are releasing a few screenshots of the upcoming expansion to the critically acclaimed real time wargame Scourge of War: Waterloo, Quatre Bras.

This expansion covers the battle of Quatre Bras, the hard-fought prelude to Waterloo, and features five new scenarios, a beautifully recreated map of the battlefield of Quatre Bras and an extremely accurate order of battle.

Get more information about Scourge of War: Quatre Bras from its official product page!

Sim155 Ltd. has announced that Combat Air Patrol 2 (CAP2) will launch into Steam Early Access on 6th June 2016 (6pm GMT). Price will be confirmed in the coming days.

Combat Air Patrol 2 (CAP2) is a flight and naval combat simulator game for PC (Steam/Windows) where you pilot the AV8B Harrier II. After initial flight and tactical training you will be pitched into an immersive scenario against aggressive ground, sea and air based enemies. Use your skill as a pilot and your tactical awareness to engage in dogfights, carry out ground attacks and command your fleet to ultimately ensure the safety of your comrades and the final capitulation of the enemy. Strategic decisions such as commanding your fleet on the tactical map and your performance in the air will affect the final outcome: Go ‘gung ho’ with a full out assault and the outcome will be in the balance or plan ahead and the end result will be your ultimate victory.

You can follow the development of Combat Air Patrol 2 on Facebook. Find out more about Combat Air Patrol 2 at the games official website.

INCLUDES 2 PILOTABLE MECHS, NEW MISSIONS, CHALLENGES & MORE

Just Cause 3: Mech Land Assault, the second content pack from the Air, Land and Sea Expansion Pass will be on sale June 3 for Expansion Pass Holders, with a wider release to follow on June 10.

Mech Land Assault takes Rico Rodriguez to the new island of Lacrima, home to an abandoned eDen research base and a prison camp run by the mysterious Black Hand. Defended by huge powerful Mechs, Rico will need the new Bavarium Power Core rifle to disable their shields and hijack them. Once inside, Rico can use their powerful cannons and the GRIP Gravity Guns to hurl and smash the enemy into pieces.

Features:

• Pilot two types of powerful Mech and drive them anywhere in Medici.
• Unleash the Mech’s Gravitational Remote Influence Projector or “GRIP” to attract and hurl objects at your enemies.
• Jump and smash helicopters from the sky or ground pound tanks with the GRIPS’s “Force Pulse” attack.
• Prove your skills and earn upgrades in Mech arena challenges.
• Call in a Rebel Mech buddy for extra firepower when the going gets tough.
• Includes a powerful new energy weapon, the Bavarium Power Core rifle.

“The Bavarium Wingsuit from the Sky Fortress DLC fundamentally changed how Rico could traverse Medici. This time, we wanted to shake up how Rico interacts with his environment in a similar way,” explained Tobias Andersson, Senior Producer at Avalanche Studios. “The new Mechs allow Rico to throw enemies, vehicles and chaos objects around like tennis balls – increasing the scope for physics-based fun. Whether you’re juggling a small car or punching helicopters out of the sky, the Mechs give you the opportunity to mess with your surroundings in creative, explosive ways.”

The Mech Land Assault  pack is priced at $11.99/€11.99/£9.49 whilst the AIR, LAND & SEA Expansion Pass is available for $24.99/€24.99/£19.99. The final content pack – BAVARIUM SEA HEIST – will be released by the end of summer 2016, released one week early to Expansion Pass holders.

More game information available at the official Just Cause 3 website.

Don’t look back, someone might be gaining on you! Today’s Steam update adds improved dogfight AI and two new fighters, the Allied P-43A-1 “Lancer” (with Chinese ROCAF and USAAF skins) and, perhaps unexpectedly, a Japanese Messerschmitt! (Germany supplied Japan with a number of evaluation Bf 109Es for comparison trials by the Japanese Army Air Force – the Allies, expecting to encounter those Bf 109Es in combat, assigned code name “Mike” to the Messerschmitts).

Update rundown:

• Increased cool-down duration of arcade maneuvers to make them less spammy [in multiplayer and elsewhere].
• Improved dogfight AI; AVENGING ACE and SURVIVAL modes now more challenging (not necessarily more difficult).
• Better display support, the game now runs on three monitors with HUD elements in the center screen.
• Began implementing skillshot/reward badge effects in dogfight modes, coming to multiplayer soon (in development, apologies for the rough polish).
• Added a setting to toggle the hold (auto-camera) of OBSERVE TARGET function (that’s the F key on default setting M+K or K).
• Invert X-Axis for the panoramic camera view now possible.
• Fixed numerous crashes in the “EAST OF MARTABAN” campaign mission.
• P-43A-1 “Lancer” and Bf 109 “Mike” fighters with multiple skins implemented.
• Lots of [minor] GUI enhancements.

About Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China:

Currently in Steam Early Access, Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China is an air-combat action game based on the historical events of America’s secret volunteer squadrons that flew against Japan in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre of World War 2. Secretly recruited under President Roosevelt’s authority in 1941, the Flying Tigers were officially known as the “American Volunteer Group”.

Get more information about the game at the official Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China website.

Reviews of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition have hit the web. The GTX 1070 is NVIDIA’s second video card in the Pascal lineup based on the new Pascal architecture. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition has not been released to the retail market yet, its launch coming on June 10th, but a number of websites have received copies of the new card for reviews and we have provided links to those sites below.

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