Piltch Point (Video)

It's no secret that we are becoming a society of content creators. From services like Twitch and Facebook Gaming to YouTube and Facebook, there are a ton of ways that people can create content that others can enjoy. And, in the last few years, live video has become the creation method of choice. But, when doing live video, there are a lot of challenges that can occur. Add to that our current environment of constant video meetings, you've got a lot of people looking for some help, and NVIDIA has it with NVIDIA Broadcast.

We've all seen videos of people walking in on meetings or heard children shouting in the background. But there's also the smaller things, like the sound of water running in a turtle tank or simply the sound of someone typing on a loud keyboard while they should be muted. These are exactly the problems that the NVIDIA Broadcast software is designed to tackle.

With this software on a computer equipped with an RTX video card, users can fix issues with their own audio to prevent the outside world from having to deal with their scenarios. But, even better, these same users can filter audio coming in, so when that person is eating soup on a video call, with no care in the world, you aren't forced to endure the slurping sound on your end. You may not be able to fix it for everyone, but at least you're protected.

The real magic, however, is in the video capabilities. NVIDIA Broadcast is able to take your video feed, make adjustments, and then feed it back as a new video source on your computer. So, in the case of a meeting, it shows up as another webcam after you blur your background, replace it with an image, or mute it out entirely. This is also useful for Twitch streamers, as you can import this removed background feed into Livestream Studio, Tricaster, OBS, and more, and overlay your camera feed over gameplay.

NVIDIA Broadcast is available now for free to RTX owners.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

One of the side effects of the pandemic and more than one shutdown in China has been an increase in prices for PC components. Some have gone through the roof (like power supplies), while others are nearly impossible to acquire (such as webcams). But, pricing and availability issues do not make it so that people don't need to upgrade an existing PC or build a new one. Because of that, Avram built the best $800 PC for Tom's Hardware.

This PC has some surprising power, with a 6 core, 12 thread processor in the AMD Ryzen 5 3600, which cost $185 at the time of build. It has a Gigabyte GTX 1660 Super Gaming OC, which ran $239 at the time. And, it has 16GB of Patriot Viper Steel DDR4 3200, coming in at $58. These components are what made it possible for games to run at a decent framerate (averaging 56 FPS) and even allowed for Twitch streaming from the PC of a game on the PC, with only about a 10% reduction in framerate.

However, some corners were required to be cut in order to make this happen. For example, the Thermaltake TR2 600 is not the best power supply on the market, but it is reliable with a low cost at $54. Also, the Antec Dapper Dark Phantom DP310 is not a terribly exciting case, though it does come equipped with a small amount of RGB LED capability across the top, and only runs $59. The build also does not include a Windows license, as most builders will reuse the license from the PC they are replacing.

The price of components is always changing, especially right now. However, using a service like PC Part Picker will help to ensure you get the best available price on the components in your list in the moment - hopefully keeping it to the same $794 range.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

If you spend any time on streaming sites like Twitch or YouTube, or on game chats on PlayStation or Xbox Live, you know that the communities can be incredibly toxic. Between children screaming racial slurs and adults making sexist remarks, it can be dangerous to the mental health of content creators and gamers. This week, in an op-ed written by Natasha "Zombaekillz" Zinda, she discussed the problems that she faces as a black woman in the gaming community.

Even if everything were happy and cheery, being a streamer is a taxing experience. Not only do you have to be in show mode for the camera, working hard to make the stream entertaining for your viewers, but you also have to play a game. For most streamers, being at least decent at playing the game is a must for the success of the channel. Combining that with the entertainment aspect of the stream makes it a challenge. Then, most great streamers interact directly with their audience, adding another layer of complexity.

But, for many streamers, there is an added and highly unwanted aspect: abuse. This can come in many forms, but the most common are negative comments about race and gender. For Zombaekillz, she can come under fire from both. And the stress of dealing with that can be too much.

The problem is that the streaming services and gaming platforms continue to promise to clean up the problem. Yet, there appears to be little to no action to do so. While Microsoft and Sony have done some work in responding to the issue, going so far as to permanently ban gaming hardware, Twitch and YouTube have a different experience. Twitch promises to protect its content creators, yet complaints to the service have yielded no results for most streamers. But, together, there are ways we can fight this issue.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

It's long been accepted that Intel integrated graphics were the worst possible situation when buying a laptop. In some cases, it seemed like it could barely keep up with the tasks of Windows, let alone any programs on top of it. For sure, no one has ever associated Intel graphics with gaming, but that might be changing with Intel's new family of video cards called Intel Xe.

The family has a number of models, but when it comes to consumers there are two you will likely encounter. The first is the replacement for the older integrated graphics, which is dubbed Intel Xe LP. This low-powered graphics system will be part of the Gen12 architecture, also known as Tiger Lake. The new system will have up to twice the performance of the previous hardware, meaning that it might actually be able to keep up with higher demand.

On the desktop side of things is the Intel Xe HPG, a graphics card designed for all users - even gamers. Though it might take some work to convince gamers to give Intel a try, the company is confident in its abilities to break into this lucrative and growing market. Gamers will have to wait until 2021 to get their hands on these new products, however.

Not to be outdone, however, details about Nvidia's next generation of hardware leaked this week. Care of Micron, which makes some of the memory for the company, posted about its work on the upcoming RTX 3090. The memory that was leaked to be included could offer up to 21 Gbps, which is incredible speed. With the other improvements to the architecture, we could see a card up to twice the speed of the current RTX 2080ti. This would be a massive card, but could run as high as $2000. That would be quite an investment.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

Ever since the beginning of the international lockdown, several products have become difficult or impossible to find. One of the most high-profile products that are in short supply is webcams. The most sought after webcams are the Logitech c920 and the Razer Kiyo. Because they are the top-rated webcams, they were the first to disappear. Other manufacturers have made webcams in the past, but a whole new crop of companies have entered the fray in this hour of need.

Some of the companies make a high-quality product. Among these rising-star manufacturers is Ausdom. Better known for low-cost headphones, the company's webcams are quickly making their way onto best webcam lists. The top model is the Ausdom AF640, with the Ausdom AW615 right behind. But Ausdom is not the only company to creep onto the list, there is also the strangely named Papalook. While the Papalook PA452 may look sci-fi, it still does a great job for streams and conference calls.

Papalook is far from the strangest named webcam available, however. Amazon is filled with small brands with some bizarre names, and that tradition has carried over to the webcam industry. Sometimes the letters themselves look funny, while others are pronounced oddly. For example, Aoozi sounds more like a weapon than a webcam. However, its price could make it attractive at only $40, plus a 5% coupon. User reviews also look good on the platform, but we have no official knowledge. There's also DEPSTECH, which seems to have been created with a random letter generator. With a sale price of $30 and great user reviews, it might also be an option.

Your best bets will always be the top-rated products if you can get them, but at least we have a wide array of options in the current webcam drought.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

Right now, a lot of tech-based industries are seeing massive shake-ups, but none are quite as prominent as what is happening within the processor and circuitry industry. The most visible has been the rise of AMD. While some of this market share increase has been because of quality design from AMD itself, another cause has been the slip of Intel in its competition. The two companies have spent decades on par with one another, but lately, Intel has been falling behind.

Last week, the company announced major delays to its 7nm chip timeline. As a result, they will continue to fall behind AMD, which is working on its timeline to swap to 5nm from the current 7nm architecture, which is already aging. In response, Intel saw a leadership change, likely in an attempt to gain back some traction on Wall Street, which is no longer looking at Intel favorably.

On the other hand, is Nvidia - a company known for its videocards, but has been branching out in recent years. As video processors tend to be excellent for AI processing, Nvidia has gone heavy into AI-based hardware. In May, Avram showed off the Jetson Xavier NX hardware, which provides a lot of interesting possibilities. Now, Nvidia is looking at another market: system processors. While they have long made the Tegra processors, based on ARM, now they are looking to be in charge.

This will come care of a purchase of the ARM-managing corporation. This would be a big shift for the industry, as everyone from Qualcomm to Apple would be licensing the ARM processor design from Nvidia. This purchase, which is likely the only way forward for ARM, is going to face fierce opposition by regulators, especially in the EU. The deal wouldn't be as far along as it is without having considered this, but it could still be a problem in the process.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

The world may have some new rules this year, but it doesn't change the fact that school is going to be starting soon. This might involve being in person or, more likely, distance learning, especially in the first few weeks or months. That means that your needs may be different for the 2020 school year from years past. So, what are the best options to improve learning in 2020?

As always, anything that improves the speed of your computer is going to be a benefit. Taking the opportunity to add extra RAM to your system will allow for better group videos (like Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom). You'll likely see fewer freezes and hiccups, though it won't eliminate network issues. Also, adding an SSD as your system drive will make starting up your computer and launching applications quicker.

Another way to enhance your experience is through peripherals. The most direct upgrade is with your monitor. An extra screen will allow you to do more. With a single screen, you're limited to the group chat or your productivity software. With two screens, you can have your teacher on one and Word or PowerPoint on another. It also makes displaying your screen during a presentation easier, as you're not switching between apps while sharing your screen.

Enhancing the group chat experience can also be accomplished through peripherals. An upgraded webcam will make you look more together. The webcam built into most laptops is poor, and an external webcam is easy to add. While many webcams are unavailable, Tom's Hardware currently recommends the AUSDOM AF640, which can be found for around $90. Another great place to upgrade is your headset - something that will make your experience and your class's experience better.

Of course, a full system might also be an important upgrade. There are a lot of factors to consider when purchasing a new system, including what you'll use it for outside of class. Check out Tom's Hardware's recommendations depending on your needs.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

For years, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon has been one of the best-rated laptops by Tom's Hardware and Laptop Magazine. This is because of the first-class keyboard, high-quality screen, and a price that makes it all worth considering. The newest version of the laptop, the 8th Generation, is out and it maintains the best parts of its predecessors.

While this is the 8th generation of the laptop, it doesn't use an 8th generation processor. Instead, it uses an Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake processor. The laptop has also upgraded its Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi 6, allowing for super-fast wireless connectivity when paired with a Wi-Fi 6 router or access point. The keyboard has also added a pair of VoIP function keys. Otherwise, the laptop is essentially identical to the previous 7th Generation model.

While the changes are small in quantity, they are large in importance, especially for a productivity laptop in our work at home environment. Faster connectivity and VoIP keys make our nearly daily Microsoft Teams calls clearer and easier to manage, while a newer and faster processor means that multitasking (likely on multiple screens) won't bog down the system. Plus, the newer processor makes for better battery life, which will be important once we're allowed to leave the house again.

The most exciting part of the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon is its build quality. During his demonstration, Avram comfortably held the laptop by the corner and spun it around without any fear for the computer. That's an important aspect of a laptop, as many of us hold them by the corner without realizing it, and it can cause damage to the computer. But, this one doesn't make any noises or creaks and doesn't feel like it is going to bend.

Tom's Hardware was impressed enough with the laptop that they gave it an Editor's Choice award. Check out the full review at Tom's Hardware.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

One of the most interesting new technologies we experienced at CES this year was in the form of GaN chargers. That is because, not only is the technology fascinating, it makes for some incredibly practical products. Using this technology, for example, manufacturers can produce laptop chargers that are less than a quarter of the size of a traditional power brick. The new chargers are so small, in fact, that we can't even call them a brick anymore. Some of them are as small as a 2-outlet phone charger. For those who travel a lot, or really for anyone who brings a laptop with them, these chargers will make the experience better.

However, it is not just portable chargers where the technology could shine in the future. We've all seen power products, whether it be wall outlets, surge protectors, or even power towers, that include USB charging ports. These are only powerful enough to be able to charge small devices like phones and tablets if you're lucky. They simply cannot produce enough power to charge something bigger, like a laptop. However, with this now miniaturized charging technology, we could potentially see the chargers built into these types of power products. Imagine checking into a hotel room and, on the desk, there is a USB-C outlet ready to power your laptop. Beautiful.

As these new chargers are released, Avram has been putting them to the test with his handy new load tester, Using this device, he can see exactly how much power the chargers are able to produce. If the company says it's a 65-watt charger, are you actually getting that amount of power, or does it fall short? Or, more interestingly, does it over-deliver? It's always exciting to get more than you thought you were paying for. The round-up for GaN chargers will be available soon on Tom's Hardware.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.

It has been a year since the Raspberry Pi foundation released the Raspberry Pi 4. In that time, the upgraded hardware configurations have allowed the platform to expand into even more project and computing environments. But, with increased ideas comes increased resource demand. To respond to that new demand, a new configuration was released that has 8GB of RAM. Previously, the largest configuration available was 4GB of RAM.

This new hardware will give makers and engineers more memory capabilities, allowing for larger implementations. However, it is important to note just how difficult it is to fill 4GB on a Raspberry Pi 4. Running the official operating system, Avram opened dozens of browser tabs, some of which were playing 4K videos. He also had the photo editor Gimp open. With all of that happening, he was only able to fill 4.6GB of RAM, and that is unusual usage.

There will be uses where the increased RAM will be a big benefit. If you wanted to use the device for a large amount of on-device AI processing, especially of image and video content, you would need the addition RAM to keep the streamed image and video data available. You could also use the device as a media server, and if any encoding is needed, the added resources will help.

With the increase of RAM comes another substantial change: the operating system. For years, the official Raspberry Pi operating system has been Raspbian. However, that OS is developed and maintained by an outside organization and only supports 32-bit processing. To fully take advantage of more than 4GB of RAM, you need to be running a 64-bit OS. As such, Raspbian cannot be the answer for the new device. A 64-bit OS has been developed and released, but it means that it is not a Raspbian build. To respect the intellectual property and naming rights of the other organization, the official builds offered by the Raspberry Pi Foundation will officially be called Raspberry Pi OS going forward. This will be the case for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Avram's been in love with PCs since he played original Castle Wolfenstein on an Apple II+. Before joining Tom's Hardware, for 10 years, he served as Online Editorial Director for sister sites Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag, where he programmed the CMS and many of the benchmarks. When he's not editing, writing or stumbling around trade show halls, you'll find him building Arduino robots with his son and watching every single superhero show on the CW.