While BWIN claims to cool its own fastest SSD under HP license with “graphene foam” and in China the first partner card of the Intel Arc A380 is sold at high prices, snipers in Sniper Elite 5 need a fast graphics card in addition to a steady hand despite the mediocre graphics.
Cooler or just thermal pad
The test for the HP FX900 Pro 2 TB, which, with an Innogrit IG5236 controller in combination with Micron’s 176-layer NAND, took first place in the test reports, conquered the top field previously dominated by SSDs with E18 controllers from Phison.
HP or BWIN with a license from HP advertises the model with a “graphene foam cooler”, which is said to reduce the temperatures by up to 18 °C compared to operation without a cooling system. In the test, the SSD did in fact prove to be extremely fast, but the “cooler” couldn’t even begin to deliver the promised level of performance in practice – a classic aluminum heatspreader was better.
The test therefore failed, nourished by the advice of ComputerBase readers TheGernotthe suspicion arises that BWIN could have simply communicated incorrectly in this case: The “graphene foam” is not a cooler in the strange-looking fabric robe, but a heat-conducting pad consisting of a graphene fabric that is wrapped around a foam profile for flexible use was wound (example). When asked about the subject, BWIN has not yet commented.
The HP FX900 Pro 2 TB has a hard time against the sometimes faster E18 competition due to the high price.
Snipers need a fast graphics card
This week’s benchmark test for Sniper Elite 5 comes in second place. In terms of gameplay, the title offers the familiar fare of the series and remains true to its predecessors. While the game can shine with detailed textures and, above all, perfect frame times, anti-aliasing in particular causes problems. And even if the title isn’t a highlight graphically, it places above-average demands on the graphics card. A high-end accelerator is required in high resolutions for maximum graphics details, otherwise the 60 FPS mark cannot be maintained.
Custom model of Intel Arc A380 launched
With the Gunnir Arc A380 Photon 6G, the first custom design of the Arc A380 graphics card ever appeared in China this week – based on Intel’s Alchemist architecture, which is aimed at gamers. The partner card comes with an official TDP of 92 instead of 75 watts and has an 8-pin PCIe connector for up to 150 watts plus a PCIe slot. According to Intel, the model positioned against the AMD Radeon RX 6400 with RDNA 2, which costs around 170 euros, should cost the equivalent of around 150 euros, but the first partner card far exceeds this. The Gunnir Arc A380 Photon 6G was traded shortly after it went on sale at a price of 3,999 Chinese yuan – the equivalent of 595 US dollars or 567 euros.
In the coming week, not only does Sony want to introduce new hardware, which is potentially monitors and headsets for players for the PlayStation 5, but the Mobile World Congress is also starting in Shanghai.
With this reading material in your luggage, the editors wish you a relaxing Sunday!