You may salivate at the prospect of gaming on a PC at 4K resolution, but unless you have some serious bucks to burn, getting your hands on such powerful PC gaming gear is probably out of the realm of possibility. Origin PC is trying to make this kind of horsepower a bit more obtainable by introducing a trio of Battlebox-branded systems that all start at under $4,000. All of them are stuffed with Nvidia’s super-powerful GeForce GTX Titan Z dual-GPU graphics card.
Related: AMD Radeon R9 295X2 reviewed, benchmarked
Origin PC’s three new systems are called the Chronos Z Battlebox, Millenium Z Battlebox, and the Genesis Z Battlebox. Here’s a breakdown of each system.
The Chronos Z Battlebox starts at $3,114, and is powered by an Intel Core i5-4460 quad-core processor running at 3.2GHz, an Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan Z, 8GB of RAM, and a 500GB mechanical hard drive. Storing all this gear is a Silverstone RVZ01 Mini-ITX case, though you can opt for larger boxes, including the Silverstone FT03. Of course, adding any other bells and whistles to the system will push its price tag further north.
Related: Why Nvidia’s $3,000 Titan Z is and isn’t crazy
Though it’s the cheapest of Origin’s new systems, the Chronos Z still offers some future-proofing properties. The Asus H97I-Plus motherboard that it ships with by default will support Intel’s upcoming Broadwell CPUs, which are due out later this year. It also supports M.2 drives.
Liquid cooling comes standard with the Origin PC Chronos Z, along with a 450-watt power supply, and Windows 7 as well.
One of the main differences between the Chronos Z and the Millenium Z lies in the size of each system. While the former packs its guts into a tiny box, the latter features a case that can fit multiple graphics cards inside. However, you pay quite a bit for the larger cage, considering that almost all of the core specs that the Battlebox Z Millenium ships with by default are the same ones that are in the Battlebox Z Chronos, save for the motherboard and the power supply.
Related: What kind of hardware do you need to play PC games at 4K resolution?
You get the same Intel Core i5-4460 CPU, 8GB of RAM, 500GB mechanical hard drive, and, of course, a Titan Z. You still get liquid cooling and Windows 7, but the PSU gets upgraded to a 650-watt unit. This configuration is priced at $3,673, which is $550 higher than the very similarly configured Chronos.
The Battlebox Z Genesis stays under the $4,000 mark, but just barely. Priced at $3,955 by default, unlike the Millenium, the Genesis Z’s default component loadout at least comes with a substantial upgrade on the CPU front.
Instead of the Core i5-4460 found in the default configs for both the Chronos Z and the Millenium Z, the Genesis Z comes with an Intel Core i7-4820 CPU clocked at 3.7GHz. However, almost everything else is the same. You still get 8GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, a 650-watt power supply, liquid cooling, and Windows 7.
Is it impressive that these systems all include the Titan Z, which is a $3,000 graphics card, in rigs that all cost under $4,000? Yes, that’s without a doubt.
Is this the best way for you to go if you want a 4K-capable PC gaming rig while trying to keep costs down? Considering that the AMD Radeon R9 295X2 costs half the price ($1,500) and performs either as well as, or even better than the Titan Z, the answer is no. Only hardcore Nvidia devotees should get on in these new rigs from Origin.
You can learn more about Origin PC’s new Battlebox Z systems here.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Google DeepMind's AI world model Genie 4 can now build interactive worlds that you can explore and reshape as they run. It also generates ambient sounds, music, and dialogue that respond to your actions.
The new world model builds on Genie 3 with improved realism, more natural human movement, and better simulations of real-world physics. It could eventually help with everything from game development to training robots.
Apple has an incredible talent for making me admire its products while simultaneously questioning what on earth it's thinking with the pricing. This isn't even something as bizarre as a monitor stand, but the audacity for starting a new laptop lineup from $2,000 doesn't surprise me.
The newly announced 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 is just the latest to showcase this. The funny thing is, I already know that it's going to be a reliable workstation. You get a powerful new 2nm M6 processor, a gorgeous Liquid Retina XDR display, and up to 24 hours of battery life. We were impressed by the M5 MacBook Air, so the high-end M6 powered MacBook Pro definitely won't let us down.