< < Web3 and the Metaverse: Shaping the Future of the InternetThe digital landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and two concepts are at the forefront of this revolution: Web3 and the Metaverse. These buzzwords are not just passing trends; they represent significant shifts in how we interact with technology, data, and even reality itself. Let’s delve into what Web3 and the Metaverse are and how they are shaping the future of the internet.What is Web3?Web3, or Web 3.0, is the next generation of the internet. Unlike Web 2.0, which is dominated by centralized platforms like Google and Facebook, Web3 aims to decentralize the web. Built on blockchain technology, Web3 enables peer-to-peer interactions without the need for intermediaries. This decentralization enhances privacy, security, and user control over data.Key features of Web3 include:Decentralization: No single entity controls the network; power is distributed among users.Smart Contracts: Automated agreements that execute when predefined conditions are met.Cryptocurrencies: Digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum facilitate transactions without traditional financial institutions.What is the Metaverse?The Metaverse is a virtual universe that combines augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and the internet. It’s a shared digital space where users can interact with each other and digital objects in real-time. Think of it as an immersive internet experience, where you can attend meetings, play games, shop, or even build a digital home—all in a virtual environment.Key characteristics of the Metaverse include:Immersive Experiences: Utilizing VR and AR to create lifelike interactions.Interoperability: Seamless movement of assets and identities across different virtual worlds.Persistent and Shared: The Metaverse exists continuously and is accessible to multiple users simultaneously.How Web3 and the Metaverse IntersectWeb3 and the Metaverse are complementary technologies. While the Metaverse provides a virtual space for interaction, Web3 ensures these spaces are decentralized, secure, and user-centric. For example:Digital Ownership: Blockchain enables true ownership of digital assets in the Metaverse, such as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) representing virtual real estate or artwork.Interoperable Economies: Cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi) create a unified economic system across multiple Metaverse platforms.User Governance: Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) allow users to collectively manage virtual communities and platforms.Real-World ApplicationsGaming: Games like Decentraland and Axie Infinity integrate blockchain to offer players real ownership of in-game assets.E-Commerce: Virtual stores in the Metaverse allow customers to browse, try, and purchase items with cryptocurrencies.Education: Virtual classrooms offer interactive learning experiences, accessible from anywhere in the world.Social Interaction: Platforms like Horizon Worlds provide spaces for socializing, collaborating, and hosting events.Challenges and CriticismsDespite their promise, both Web3 and the Metaverse face significant challenges:Scalability: Current blockchain technology struggles with handling massive user bases.Environmental Impact: The energy consumption of blockchain networks raises sustainability concerns.Regulation: Governments are still grappling with how to regulate decentralized systems.Accessibility: High costs of VR equipment and lack of universal internet access can limit participation.ConclusionWeb3 and the Metaverse are reshaping the internet into a more immersive, decentralized, and user-focused ecosystem. While they are still in their early stages, the potential they hold for innovation across industries is undeniable. As these technologies mature, they promise to create a digital world where users have greater control, freedom, and opportunities.The journey to this new era of the internet is just beginning, and it’s an exciting time to explore and participate in this transformation.

<

 

Web3 and the Metaverse: Shaping the Future of the Internet

The digital landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and two concepts are at the forefront of this revolution: Web3 and the Metaverse. These buzzwords are not just passing trends; they represent significant shifts in how we interact with technology, data, and even reality itself. Let’s delve into what Web3 and the Metaverse are and how they are shaping the future of the internet.

What is Web3?

Web3, or Web 3.0, is the next generation of the internet. Unlike Web 2.0, which is dominated by centralized platforms like Google and Facebook, Web3 aims to decentralize the web. Built on blockchain technology, Web3 enables peer-to-peer interactions without the need for intermediaries. This decentralization enhances privacy, security, and user control over data.

Key features of Web3 include:

• Decentralization: No single entity controls the network; power is distributed among users.

• Smart Contracts: Automated agreements that execute when predefined conditions are met.

• Cryptocurrencies: Digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum facilitate transactions without traditional financial institutions.

What is the Metaverse?

The Metaverse is a virtual universe that combines augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and the internet. It’s a shared digital space where users can interact with each other and digital objects in real-time. Think of it as an immersive internet experience, where you can attend meetings, play games, shop, or even build a digital home—all in a virtual environment.

Key characteristics of the Metaverse include:

• Immersive Experiences: Utilizing VR and AR to create lifelike interactions.

• Interoperability: Seamless movement of assets and identities across different virtual worlds.

• Persistent and Shared: The Metaverse exists continuously and is accessible to multiple users simultaneously.

How Web3 and the Metaverse Intersect

Web3 and the Metaverse are complementary technologies. While the Metaverse provides a virtual space for interaction, Web3 ensures these spaces are decentralized, secure, and user-centric. For example:

• Digital Ownership: Blockchain enables true ownership of digital assets in the Metaverse, such as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) representing virtual real estate or artwork.

• Interoperable Economies: Cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi) create a unified economic system across multiple Metaverse platforms.

• User Governance: Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) allow users to collectively manage virtual communities and platforms.

Real-World Applications

1. Gaming: Games like Decentraland and Axie Infinity integrate blockchain to offer players real ownership of in-game assets.

2. E-Commerce: Virtual stores in the Metaverse allow customers to browse, try, and purchase items with cryptocurrencies.

3. Education: Virtual classrooms offer interactive learning experiences, accessible from anywhere in the world.

4. Social Interaction: Platforms like Horizon Worlds provide spaces for socializing, collaborating, and hosting events.

Challenges and Criticisms

Despite their promise, both Web3 and the Metaverse face significant challenges:

• Scalability: Current blockchain technology struggles with handling massive user bases.

• Environmental Impact: The energy consumption of blockchain networks raises sustainability concerns.

• Regulation: Governments are still grappling with how to regulate decentralized systems.

• Accessibility: High costs of VR equipment and lack of universal internet access can limit participation.

Conclusion

Web3 and the Metaverse are reshaping the internet into a more immersive, decentralized, and user-focused ecosystem. While they are still in their early stages, the potential they hold for innovation across industries is undeniable. As these technologies mature, they promise to create a digital world where users have greater control, freedom, and opportunities.

The journey to this new era of the internet is just beginning, and it’s an exciting time to explore and participate in this transformation.

< < Biden for PresidentIf you’re running Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and want to make a last-minute push for the youth vote, what do you do? Set up a Fortnite island, apparently. Mashable reports (via Kotaku) that the Biden-Harris campaign has introduced a “Build Back Better with Biden” island map that aims to inform and motivate you through mini games. You add solar panels and efficient air conditioning to an EV factor, install 5G towers to improve broadband, and build a research facility.To no one’s surprise, there are also conspicuous efforts to rally the vote, including a virtual polling station and signs asking you to make a voting plan. You’ll also find nods to the public images of Biden and Harris, such as a “No Malarkey Station” and a quest to collect Harris’ sneakers.You can try the Fortnite map yourself using the code 0215-4511-1823.This isn’t the first game-based campaign effort from Biden and Harris. They already have their own Animal Crossing campaign signs. Other Democrats are using gaming to get out the vote, too — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently used a high-profile Among Us stream to inspire voters.Will this work? It’s hard to say. It’s coming extremely late in an election when many have voted early. And let’s be honest: it’s hard to escape the whiff of a “how do you do, fellow kids?” attempt at relevancy from candidates who’ve likely never touched Fortnite. Still, this shows the extent to which Biden’s crew is trying to court voters during a pandemic when safe in-person rallies are difficult or impossible. Don’t be surprised if candidates try more game-based voter rallies going forward, at least when they think younger voters will be receptive.

<

 

Biden for President

If you’re running Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and want to make a last-minute push for the youth vote, what do you do? Set up a Fortnite island, apparently. Mashable reports (via Kotaku) that the Biden-Harris campaign has introduced a “Build Back Better with Biden” island map that aims to inform and motivate you through mini games. You add solar panels and efficient air conditioning to an EV factor, install 5G towers to improve broadband, and build a research facility.

To no one’s surprise, there are also conspicuous efforts to rally the vote, including a virtual polling station and signs asking you to make a voting plan. You’ll also find nods to the public images of Biden and Harris, such as a “No Malarkey Station” and a quest to collect Harris’ sneakers.

You can try the Fortnite map yourself using the code 0215-4511-1823.

This isn’t the first game-based campaign effort from Biden and Harris. They already have their own Animal Crossing campaign signs. Other Democrats are using gaming to get out the vote, too — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently used a high-profile Among Us stream to inspire voters.

Will this work? It’s hard to say. It’s coming extremely late in an election when many have voted early. And let’s be honest: it’s hard to escape the whiff of a “how do you do, fellow kids?” attempt at relevancy from candidates who’ve likely never touched Fortnite. Still, this shows the extent to which Biden’s crew is trying to court voters during a pandemic when safe in-person rallies are difficult or impossible. Don’t be surprised if candidates try more game-based voter rallies going forward, at least when they think younger voters will be receptive.

< <PlatestationLike the proverbial Model T, the PlayStation 5 will launch in any color you like, as long as it’s white. If that doesn’t match your decor or taste, a company called PlateStation has unveiled a series of third-party colored plates to make your console look a little different.You can tint your PS5 in chromatic silver, cherry red, black, blue or jungle camo. To install them, you presumably pop off the PS5’s existing white plates, as shown in this PS5 teardown video — much as you’d do to upgrade storage — and pop on the replacement plates. Note that the product is not associated in any way with the Sony or PlayStation brands.These appear to be some of the first of what will no doubt be many customization options for the PS5. That’s especially likely given the general criticism and memes of its large and asymmetrical design and the fact that many folks would prefer a color other than white. You can see all of PlateStation’s covers here — they’re now up for pre-order at $40 with a 10-day return policy.

<

Platestation

Like the proverbial Model T, the PlayStation 5 will launch in any color you like, as long as it’s white. If that doesn’t match your decor or taste, a company called PlateStation has unveiled a series of third-party colored plates to make your console look a little different.

You can tint your PS5 in chromatic silver, cherry red, black, blue or jungle camo. To install them, you presumably pop off the PS5’s existing white plates, as shown in this PS5 teardown video — much as you’d do to upgrade storage — and pop on the replacement plates. Note that the product is not associated in any way with the Sony or PlayStation brands.

These appear to be some of the first of what will no doubt be many customization options for the PS5. That’s especially likely given the general criticism and memes of its large and asymmetrical design and the fact that many folks would prefer a color other than white. You can see all of PlateStation’s covers here — they’re now up for pre-order at $40 with a 10-day return policy.

< < Devindra Hardawar/EngadgetOculus’ move to require Facebook accounts is creating serious problems for some of its biggest fans. Windows Central reports that Facebook is banning Oculus users who simultaneously use more than one VR headset linked to the same social network account. This violates Facebook’s terms of service, support representatives claim. In other words, you’re risking a ban if you buy a couple of Oculus Quest 2s for the family and don’t want to set up different accounts to let people play at the same time.The company is planning on support for multiple Facebook accounts on one headset, but that doesn’t address problems for people who can’t or don’t want to create accounts, such as kids under 13. The current situation could force people to either create placeholder accounts or use only one headset at a time, potentially hurting some of Oculus’ most loyal users.We’ve asked Facebook for comment.The tech giant has claimed that the account requirement will help people find friends for social experiences like games, cut back on trolls, and allow integration features like the Horizon VR space. However, critics have argued that this ties users to the Facebook ecosystem and makes it easier for the firm to track users’ habits. These new reports won’t help Facebook’s case — it’s now harder to use Oculus headsets in a way that suits your household.Update 10/25 6:15PM ET: Oculus has responded to the customer complaint in a series of tweets that using the same Facebook account on two headsets will not get the user banned. It also added that it plans to “introduce the ability for multiple users to log into the same device using their own Facebook account.”Update 10/26 2:53 AM ET: The headline originally stated that Facebook would ban users with multiple Oculus devices, but Oculus stated that information is not correct. The headline has been updated with the correct information.

<

 

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Oculus’ move to require Facebook accounts is creating serious problems for some of its biggest fans. Windows Central reports that Facebook is banning Oculus users who simultaneously use more than one VR headset linked to the same social network account. This violates Facebook’s terms of service, support representatives claim. In other words, you’re risking a ban if you buy a couple of Oculus Quest 2s for the family and don’t want to set up different accounts to let people play at the same time.

The company is planning on support for multiple Facebook accounts on one headset, but that doesn’t address problems for people who can’t or don’t want to create accounts, such as kids under 13. The current situation could force people to either create placeholder accounts or use only one headset at a time, potentially hurting some of Oculus’ most loyal users.

We’ve asked Facebook for comment.

The tech giant has claimed that the account requirement will help people find friends for social experiences like games, cut back on trolls, and allow integration features like the Horizon VR space. However, critics have argued that this ties users to the Facebook ecosystem and makes it easier for the firm to track users’ habits. These new reports won’t help Facebook’s case — it’s now harder to use Oculus headsets in a way that suits your household.

Update 10/25 6:15PM ET: Oculus has responded to the customer complaint in a series of tweets that using the same Facebook account on two headsets will not get the user banned. It also added that it plans to “introduce the ability for multiple users to log into the same device using their own Facebook account.”

Update 10/26 2:53 AM ET: The headline originally stated that Facebook would ban users with multiple Oculus devices, but Oculus stated that information is not correct. The headline has been updated with the correct information.

 

< < MicrosoftIn case you haven’t heard, Microsoft has two new Xbox consoles being released in just a few weeks, the Series X and Series S. We’ve already taken a close look at the more powerful Xbox Series X, but if you want to see a video of the new console in action, including the redesigned UI and a number of other new features, Microsoft has you covered. The company has just shared an extensive walk-through of what it’s like starting up the Xbox Series S or Series X for the first time, highlighting how fast the two consoles are.Unsurprisingly, the focus here is all about speed — how fast things load, how fast you can switch between games, how fast you can add new titles to your library, and so on. After a quick overview of the home screen, which looks like an easy way to get at games you’ve been playing as well as new options to spend your money on, hosts Malik Prince and Harrison Hoffman jump into Gears 5 for the Xbox One. They call out the graphical improvements for older titles, though that’s something that’s rather tough to convey in a YouTube video.From there, Harrison shows off one of the most impressive features in the Xbox Series X UI: the ability to “quick resume” a number of games. This means you can just jump in and out of multiple games without needing to reload any of them. I know that i usually am in the middle of three or four games at a time, so being able to just automatically resume them where I left off would be a pretty great time-saver.You can do this on the home screen, but there’s also a new guide that you can call up at any time in the middle of a game, It shows what you’ve played most recently as well as your notifications, messages, friends list, achievements and other features you might want to access quickly while playing a game.The video also shows the new sharing system, which has been nicely streamlined — pressing the new “share” button automatically takes a screenshot, while holding it saves a video clip. This content is automatically uploaded to your Xbox account, where it can be shared to social media directly from the Xbox smartphone app.In fact, that smartphone app is going to be key to setting up the new Xbox consoles for the first time — that’s where you’ll sign in, get the console set up to WiFi and otherwise tweak things while the inevitable day one patch downloads and installs. And as we’ve heard, the Xbox app will let you remotely play any game on your Xbox console after you pair a controller with your phone.Finally, the video shows off Seagate’s Xbox expansion card, a $220 accessory that adds 1TB of extremely fast storage space to your console. In the demo, it only took about two seconds before all the games stored on that expansion card just showed up in the library, ready to play. It’s not cheap, but it’s an impressive bit of technology for sure. There are a few other nice details in this video, though basically everything we’ve heard about already — if you need something to tide you over until November 10th, give this video a quick look.

<

Microsoft

In case you haven’t heard, Microsoft has two new Xbox consoles being released in just a few weeks, the Series X and Series S. We’ve already taken a close look at the more powerful Xbox Series X, but if you want to see a video of the new console in action, including the redesigned UI and a number of other new features, Microsoft has you covered. The company has just shared an extensive walk-through of what it’s like starting up the Xbox Series S or Series X for the first time, highlighting how fast the two consoles are.

Unsurprisingly, the focus here is all about speed — how fast things load, how fast you can switch between games, how fast you can add new titles to your library, and so on. After a quick overview of the home screen, which looks like an easy way to get at games you’ve been playing as well as new options to spend your money on, hosts Malik Prince and Harrison Hoffman jump into Gears 5 for the Xbox One. They call out the graphical improvements for older titles, though that’s something that’s rather tough to convey in a YouTube video.

From there, Harrison shows off one of the most impressive features in the Xbox Series X UI: the ability to “quick resume” a number of games. This means you can just jump in and out of multiple games without needing to reload any of them. I know that i usually am in the middle of three or four games at a time, so being able to just automatically resume them where I left off would be a pretty great time-saver.

You can do this on the home screen, but there’s also a new guide that you can call up at any time in the middle of a game, It shows what you’ve played most recently as well as your notifications, messages, friends list, achievements and other features you might want to access quickly while playing a game.

The video also shows the new sharing system, which has been nicely streamlined — pressing the new “share” button automatically takes a screenshot, while holding it saves a video clip. This content is automatically uploaded to your Xbox account, where it can be shared to social media directly from the Xbox smartphone app.

In fact, that smartphone app is going to be key to setting up the new Xbox consoles for the first time — that’s where you’ll sign in, get the console set up to WiFi and otherwise tweak things while the inevitable day one patch downloads and installs. And as we’ve heard, the Xbox app will let you remotely play any game on your Xbox console after you pair a controller with your phone.

Finally, the video shows off Seagate’s Xbox expansion card, a $220 accessory that adds 1TB of extremely fast storage space to your console. In the demo, it only took about two seconds before all the games stored on that expansion card just showed up in the library, ready to play. It’s not cheap, but it’s an impressive bit of technology for sure. There are a few other nice details in this video, though basically everything we’ve heard about already — if you need something to tide you over until November 10th, give this video a quick look.

 

< < Driving the Polestar 2, the first electric car with a brain by GoogleAndrew J. Hawkins, The VergeThe Verge offers some first impressions of the first EV that runs Android Automotive: Google’s tech that controls things like air conditioning, navigation, the radio and more. Fancy smarts aside, it turns out the Polestar 2 offers a great driving experience as well.The secret Avengers video game the world never got to playMark Serrels, CNETThis is the incredible story of a game from THQ Studio Australia that was set to release around the time of the first Avengers film from Marvel and Disney. A multitude of factors colliding at the same time would ultimately lead to the project being permanently shelved and the studio being shut down. CNET’s reporting includes previously unseen game footage as well, so this one is certainly worth your time.Hard to pardon: Why Tenet's muffled dialogue is a very modern problemRalph Jones, The GuardianChristopher Nolan may believe that nearly inaudible dialogue makes his films more immersive, but it can be frustrating for viewers. The Guardian discusses how this isn’t just a problem with one director, it’s an issue with a lot of modern films.

<

 

Driving the Polestar 2, the first electric car with a brain by Google

Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge

The Verge offers some first impressions of the first EV that runs Android Automotive: Google’s tech that controls things like air conditioning, navigation, the radio and more. Fancy smarts aside, it turns out the Polestar 2 offers a great driving experience as well.

The secret Avengers video game the world never got to play

Mark Serrels, CNET

This is the incredible story of a game from THQ Studio Australia that was set to release around the time of the first Avengers film from Marvel and Disney. A multitude of factors colliding at the same time would ultimately lead to the project being permanently shelved and the studio being shut down. CNET’s reporting includes previously unseen game footage as well, so this one is certainly worth your time.

Hard to pardon: Why Tenet's muffled dialogue is a very modern problem

Ralph Jones, The Guardian

Christopher Nolan may believe that nearly inaudible dialogue makes his films more immersive, but it can be frustrating for viewers. The Guardian discusses how this isn’t just a problem with one director, it’s an issue with a lot of modern films.

<'Subnautica' arrives on Nintendo Switch in early 2021/h3> < < Unknown Worlds EntertainmentIt took quite some time before alien undersea survival game Subnautica made its way from PC and Xbox One to PlayStation 4. A bit more than two years after that port, Nintendo Switch owners will be able to check it out too. As announced during the Indie World Showcase, it’ll hit that console sometime early next year.In Subnautica, you’re tasked with scouring the depths for resources, building your base and other structures and learning what happened in the oceans of an alien planet called 4546B. All the while, you’ll need to survive the threat of various creatures. They’ll be even more deadly if you opt for the permadeath mode.But that’s not all, as you’ll be able to play the sequel on the move too. Subnautica: Below Zero will also arrive on Switch in early 2021. As well as other threats, you’ll need to endure the frigid waters of the colder areas of 4546B. Developer Unknown Worlds says it’s working with Shiny Shoe and Unity Professional Services to bring both games to Nintendo’s console.

<

 

Unknown Worlds Entertainment

It took quite some time before alien undersea survival game Subnautica made its way from PC and Xbox One to PlayStation 4. A bit more than two years after that port, Nintendo Switch owners will be able to check it out too. As announced during the Indie World Showcase, it’ll hit that console sometime early next year.

In Subnautica, you’re tasked with scouring the depths for resources, building your base and other structures and learning what happened in the oceans of an alien planet called 4546B. All the while, you’ll need to survive the threat of various creatures. They’ll be even more deadly if you opt for the permadeath mode.

But that’s not all, as you’ll be able to play the sequel on the move too. Subnautica: Below Zero will also arrive on Switch in early 2021. As well as other threats, you’ll need to endure the frigid waters of the colder areas of 4546B. Developer Unknown Worlds says it’s working with Shiny Shoe and Unity Professional Services to bring both games to Nintendo’s console.

<

 Teraflops have been a popular way to measure "graphical power" for years. The term refers to the number of calculations a GPU can perform, but while it’s been on spec sheets forever, more recently the teraflop has gone mainstream, appearing in marketing messages found in the launch of consoles like the Xbox Series X. With GPU core counts reaching five figures, it’s nice to have a simple point of comparison. Unfortunately, teraflops have never been less useful.

The term teraflop comes from FLOPs, or "floating-point operations per second," which simply means “calculations that involve decimal points per seconds.” Tera means trillion, so put together teraflops means “trillion floating-point operations per second.”

The most popular GPU among Steam users today, NVIDIA's venerable GTX 1060, is capable of performing 4.4 teraflops, the soon-to-be-usurped 2080 Ti can handle around 13.5 and the upcoming Xbox Series X can manage 12. These numbers are calculated by taking the number of shader cores in a chip, multiplying that by the peak clock speed of the card and then multiplying that by the number of instructions per clock. In contrast to many figures we see in the PC space, it's a fair and transparent calculation, but that doesn’t make it a good measure of gaming performance.

Almost every GPU family arrives with these generational gains

AMD’s RX 580, a 6.17-teraflop GPU from 2017, for example, performs similarly to the RX 5500, a budget 5.2-teraflop card the company launched last year. This sort of "hidden" improvement can be attributed to many factors, from architectural changes to game developers making use of new features, but almost every GPU family arrives with these generational gains. That's why the Xbox Series X, for example, is expected to outperform the Xbox One X by more than the “12 versus 6 teraflop” figures suggest. (Ditto for the PS5 and the PS4 Pro.)

The point is that, even within the same GPU company, with each year, changes in the ways chips and games are designed make it harder to discern what exactly "a teraflop" means to gaming performance. Take an AMD card and an NVIDIA card of any generation and the comparison has even less value.

All of which brings us to the RTX 3000 series. These arrived with some truly shocking specs. The RTX 3070, a $500 card, is listed as having 5,888 cuda (NVIDIA’s name for shader) cores capable of 20 teraflops. And the new $1,500 flagship card, the RTX 3090? 10,496 cores, for 36 teraflops. For context, the RTX 2080 Ti, as of right now the best "consumer" graphics card available, has 4,352 "cuda cores.” NVIDIA, then, has increased the number of cores in its flagship by over 140 percent, and its teraflops capability by over 160 percent.

Well, it has, and it hasn’t.

NVIDIA cards are made up of many "streaming multiprocessors," or SMs. Each of the 2080 Ti's 68 "Turing" SMs contain, among many other things, 64 "FP32" cuda cores dedicated to floating-point math and 64 "INT32" cores dedicated to integer math (calculations with whole numbers). 

The big innovation in the Turing SM, aside from the AI and ray-tracing acceleration, was the ability to execute integer and floating-point math simultaneously. This was a significant change from the prior generation, Pascal, where banks of cores would flip between integer and floating-point on an either-or basis.

NVIDIA

The RTX 3000 cards are built on an architecture NVIDIA calls "Ampere," and its SM, in some ways, takes both the Pascal and the Turing approach. Ampere keeps the 64 FP32 cores as before, but the 64 other cores are now designated as "FP32 and INT32.” So, half the Ampere cores are dedicated to floating-point, but the other half can perform either floating-point or integer math, just like in Pascal.

With this switch, NVIDIA is now counting each SM as containing 128 FP32 cores, rather than the 64 that Turing had. The 3070's "5,888 cuda cores" are perhaps better described as "2,944 cuda cores, and 2,944 cores that can be cuda."

As games have become more complex, developers have begun to lean more heavily on integers. An NVIDIA slide from the original 2018 RTX launch suggested that integer math, on average, made up about a quarter of in-game GPU operations.

The downside of the Turing SM is the potential for under-utilization. If, for example, a workload is 25-percent integer math, around a quarter of the GPU’s cores could be sitting around with nothing to do. That’s the thinking behind this new semi-unified core structure, and, on paper, it makes a lot of sense: You can still run integer and floating-point operations simultaneously, but when those integer cores are dormant, they can run floating-point instead.

[This episode of Upscaled was produced before NVIDIA explained the SM changes.]

At NVIDIA's RTX 3000 launch, CEO Jensen Huang said the RTX 3070 was "more powerful than the RTX 2080 Ti." Using what we now know about Ampere's design, integer, floating-point, clock speeds and teraflops, we can see how things might pan out. In that “25-percent integer” workload, 4,416 of those cores could be running FP32 math, with 1,472 handling the necessary INT32. 

Coupled with all the other changes Ampere brings, the 3070 could outperform the 2080 Ti by perhaps 10 percent, assuming the game doesn't mind having 8GB instead of 11GB memory to work with. In the absolute (and highly unlikely) worst-case scenario, where a workload is extremely integer-dependent, it could behave more like the 2080. On the other hand, if a game requires very little integer math, the boost over the 2080 Ti could be enormous.

Guesswork aside, we do have one point of comparison so far: a Digital Foundry video comparing the RTX 3080 to the RTX 2080. DF saw a 70 to 90 percent lift across generations in several games that NVIDIA presented for testing, with the performance gap higher in titles that utilize RTX features like ray tracing. That range gives a glimpse of the sort of variable performance gain we’d expect given the new shared cores. It’ll be interesting to see how a larger suite of games behaves, as NVIDIA is likely to have put its best foot forward with the sanctioned game selection. What you won’t see is the nearly-3x improvement that the jump from the 2080’s teraflop figure to the 3080’s teraflop figure would imply.

With the first RTX 3000 cards arriving in weeks, you can expect reviews to give you a firm idea of Ampere performance soon. Though even now it feels safe to say that Ampere represents a monumental leap forward for PC gaming. The $499 3070 is likely to be trading blows with the current flagship, and the $699 3080 should offer more-than enough performance for those who might previously have opted for the “Ti.” However these cards line up, though, it’s clear that their worth can no longer be represented by a singular figure like teraflops.