Vampire empire survival and crafting RPG V Rising has a proper launch trailer ahead of its 1.0 launch this week on May 8—almost exactly two years from its May 17, 2022 Early Access release.
The trailer goes over the experience of what V Rising is, a crafting and base-building survival RPG about vampires conquering the mortal world and each other, and also goes into some detail about the upcoming 1.0 release patch and what it’ll have in store.
The release patch will include Dracula’s fallen kingdom Mortium, a dynamic zone that has players battle agains the remnants of the self-proclaimed vampire king’s legions. The rest of the game world has also gotten some new love, with reworks and touchups to old zones and additions—like a new light engine—that set the mood.
The update will also have three difficulty levels, a new addition to V Rising, that range from a more-chill Relaxed mode to an extra-hard Brutal setting. There’ll also be new dark sorcery to learn, new weapons like whips and bows to use, new unique weapons to collect, and a spider form. For, you know, turning into a giant evil spider.
Classic vampire stuff.
V Rising was a surprise hit back in 2022 and has sold well over three million copies by now. It’s so successful that it’s getting a crossover with Castlevania where whip-wielding Simon Belmont comes to kill you.
Part of that’s down to the crafting and castle building, but more so it has found fans of its combat style. It’s very timing and skill-based, with players moving and aiming attacks manually in contrast to more click-and-move isometric action RPGs.
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https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1714866624_Heres-the-launch-trailer-for-V-Risings-10-version-releasing.png6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-05-04 21:30:472024-05-04 21:30:47Here’s the launch trailer for V Rising’s 1.0 version, releasing very soon
The answer to today’s Wordle is only an easy click away now you’re here, ready and waiting to go if you need it. And if you don’t, you might still like to spend some time checking out our handy tips section, or mulling over a clue for the May 4 (1050) puzzle instead.
I didn’t take an especially short route to today’s solution, but I did enjoy myself. This was one of those puzzles that always gave me just enough to work with, but never quite enough to immediately give the game away. I did end up having a happy, productive, time working my way down the board to the Wordle answer, though.
Today’s Wordle hint
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)
Wordle today: A hint for Saturday, May 4
This word can refer to an object’s monetary worth or something important, or prized. A quiet evening would be of high _____ to someone after a busy day, for example.
Is there a double letter in Wordle today?
There are no double letters in today’s Wordle.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
If there’s one thing better than playing Wordle, it’s playing Wordle well, which is why I’m going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success:
A good opener contains a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants.
A tactical second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.
The solution may contain repeat letters.
There’s no time pressure beyond making sure it’s done by midnight. So there’s no reason not to treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you’re coming up blank.
Today’s Wordle answer
(Image credit: Future)
What is today’s Wordle answer?
One Saturday save, coming up. The answer to the May 4 (1050) Wordle is VALUE.
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Previous answers
The last 10 Wordle answers
The more past Wordle answers you can cram into your memory banks, the better your chances of guessing today’s Wordle answer without accidentally picking a solution that’s already been used. Past Wordle answers can also give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle solving fresh.
Here are some recent Wordle solutions:
May 3: EBONY
May 2: SLICE
May 1: DIARY
April 30: PROWL
April 29: CRAFT
April 28: PRUNE
April 27: GLEAM
April 26: VAPID
April 25: INTRO
April 24: SWORE
Learn more about Wordle
(Image credit: Nurphoto via Getty)
Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it’s up to you to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them.
You’ll want to start with a strong word like ALERT—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.
You’ll want your second go to compliment the first, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer.
After that it’s just a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there’s an E). Don’t forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
English is a quirky language, but what they’ve done with the title for the new hobbit game can’t be blamed on zany grammar rules. It’s a sin that’s been committed in the name of branding—a terrible sin.
The full title of Wētā Workshop’s upcoming cozy hobbit life sim is: “Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings Game.”
The crime is so heinous that the unconscious mind sometimes edits it out, so here’s that last bit again: “A The Lord of The Rings Game.”
I admit that writers are prone to indulging in theatrically strong opinions about language that other people are correct not to give a crap about, and yeah, I have at times taken pleasure in being pointlessly dogmatic about the meaning of the word “comprise.” I considered that reacting to this felony article usage with anything more than a shrug might just be an affectation, but every time I see it again, I become re-convinced that I can’t be the only one repulsed by “A The.”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the rule being broken here spelled out—to state it awkwardly, when an article is followed by a title that starts with an article, omit the article from the title (or perhaps more broadly, omit the title’s article when the title is used as a modifier)—but only because it doesn’t normally need to be. I’ve never met anyone who goes around saying things like “a The Matrix movie” or “the The Godfather DVD.”
I can’t believe anyone would subtitle their game “A The Lord of the Rings game” unless their arm were twisted, so I think it must be the case that someone to do with the Lord of the Rings trademark (or “the The Lord of the Rings trademark,” I should say) insisted that the “the” be retained.
I actually omitted a trademark symbol when I reproduced the title above, so, to be totally accurate, the full title of the game on Steam is: Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings™ Game. What depravity! (The game looks cool though.)
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https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1714830567_Im-so-annoyed-that-theyre-calling-the-new-hobbit-game.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-05-04 01:39:092024-05-04 01:39:09I’m so annoyed that they’re calling the new hobbit game ‘A The Lord of the Rings Game’
One of the most exciting parts of the Cataclysm expansion for World of Warcraft Classic is the re-introduction of the transmogrification system. This allows armor and weapons to be transformed visually into any other armor piece or weapon of the same type that the player has learned.
WoW transmog is nothing less than a revolutionary change for how terrific (or edgy, or silly) your characters can look. It also offers a wonderful solution to the age-old problem of the new expansion fashion faux pas, where you trade in the last expansion’s impressive tier and armor sets for the comically mismatched greens you collect while you level up. If you want to skip this visually awkward stage, here’s what you need to know about transmog in Cataclysm Classic.
How to collect transmog appearances
(Image credit: Blizzard)
Every time you acquire a new piece of uncommon, or better, quality gear and bind it to your character—you can do this by equipping it, which makes it non-tradeable—you “learn” that appearance. That applies to all the equipment that’s hanging around in your bags and your bank, again, assuming it’s bound to you. It also counts the equipment from almost any quest you’ve previously completed. As a bonus, that includes all the options you didn’t pick from those quests, too.
When you see a piece of loot drop, including in loot roll windows, in links from players, or on the auction house, you’ll see text at the bottom of its description “You have not yet learned this appearance” if you don’t already know the transmog. This is handy as you can see at a glance whether you already have that transmog appearance.
If you want to browse through the appearances you’ve collected, hit the Collections button on the minibar (the horse’s head or Shift-P by default) and choose the Appearances tab. You can cycle through the different armor pieces at the top and see the transmog options available for each.
In order to use an appearance, you must be able to equip that armor or weapon type, and if you’re transmogging a weapon, it will need to be the same type too. Daggers can only transmogrify into other daggers, for example, and a mail chest item can only be transmogged into other mail chest-slot appearances.
How to transmog your gear
(Image credit: Blizzard)
To make a piece of your current armor look like one of those other appearances, you visit a Transmogrifier. These helpful ethereal NPCs are located in Stormwind—Thaumaturge Vashreen, along the canal near the Cathedral—and in Orgrimmar, you’ll find Warpweaver Dushar in the Drag. Talk to the Transmogrifier, then click on the armor piece that you want to change and you’ll see the different options. Click the option to see what it looks like on your character, then press Apply to accept the change.
Transmogrification costs gold and the amount will vary, depending on the armor slot.
To remove a transmogged appearance, either overwrite it with another one, or hover over it in the Transmogrifier window and click the little recursive arrow on that piece in the top right corner, then Apply the change. This will make the armor look like it did before you ‘mogged it. Transmogs are permanent until overwritten though if you change your mind, reverting back to the original appearance is generally free.
Classic transmog looks to get you started
(Image credit: Blizzard)
Old tier sets (and their lookalike pieces, for other classes on the same armor type) are a terrific source of flashy looks for transmog. Now might be the time to go back in those old soloable classic raids and dungeons to pick up any appearances you’re missing.
Some particularly notable pieces include those with fancy animation effects, which work in transmog too, such as the wings from the warlock Tier 6 helm from the helm token from Archimonde in Hyjal Summit and the shaman tier 10 shoulders from Icecrown Citadel with the spectral shoveltusks.
Transmogrification gives you a new reason to do dungeons, raids and other content you’ve long since outleveled, though unfortunately, you cannot transmog legendary items.
Here are a few other top-shelf transmog ideas to get you rolling in Cataclysm Classic:
If you’re into roleplay or silliness, now is the time to channel your inner lumberjack with a Red Lumberjack Shirt (green-quality shirts can be transmogged, but they’re pretty much a transmog item as it is), paired with a nice axe like the Reaver’s Sickle from lower level Burning Crusade zones. Or how about a farmer with overalls and a shovel? Crafted items also work for transmog, as long as they’re green quality or better and you bind them to your character.
Tons of iconic weapons can now be yours even as you’re questing in greens. Think the Hanzo sword (or other color variations) for the classic Katana sword look for rogues, or the quest reward Argent Avenger as your own personal light saber. You can show off the quest achievements you did in vanilla by transmogging the Benediction (or Anathema!) staff for priests, or the Rhok’delar bow for hunters, or Quel’Serrar for warriors.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1714758367_How-to-transmogrify-your-gear-in-WoW-Cataclysm-Classic.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-05-03 18:02:432024-05-03 18:02:43How to transmogrify your gear in WoW Cataclysm Classic
There’s no need to struggle through your daily Wordle when we’ve got all the help you could ever wish for right here. Click straight through to today’s answer if you like, or use our clue for the May 3 (1049) Wordle to give your own guesses a little push in the right direction.
Only one yellow letter? In two guesses? It’s safe to say that my Friday Wordle didn’t start the way I hoped it would. Thankfully another yellow joined the fray soon after, and that, combined with all the letters I’d eliminated on the way down, led me to today’s Wordle answer. Phew!
Today’s Wordle hint
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)
Wordle today: A hint for Friday, May 3
The answer today is the name of a dark, almost black, decorative hardwood used to make everything from furniture to chess pieces. Only one of today’s winning letters is a vowel.
Is there a double letter in Wordle today?
No, there is no double letter in today’s puzzle.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
A good starting word can be the difference between victory and defeat with the daily puzzle, but once you’ve got the basics, it’s much easier to nail down those Wordle wins. And as there’s nothing quite like a small victory to set you up for the rest of the day, here are a few tips to help set you on the right path:
A good opening guess should contain a mix of unique consonants and vowels.
Narrow down the pool of letters quickly with a tactical second guess.
Watch out for letters appearing more than once in the answer.
There’s no racing against the clock with Wordle so you don’t need to rush for the answer. Treating the game like a casual newspaper crossword can be a good tactic; that way, you can come back to it later if you’re coming up blank. Stepping away for a while might mean the difference between a win and a line of grey squares.
Today’s Wordle answer
(Image credit: Future)
What is today’s Wordle answer?
Enjoy your win. The answer to the May 3 (1049) Wordle is EBONY.
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Previous Wordle answers
The last 10 Wordle answers
Past Wordle answers can give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle-solving fresh. They are also a good way to eliminate guesses for today’s Wordle, as the answer is unlikely to be repeated.
Here are some recent Wordle answers:
May 2: SLICE
May 1: DIARY
April 30: PROWL
April 29: CRAFT
April 28: PRUNE
April 27: GLEAM
April 26: VAPID
April 25: INTRO
April 24: SWORE
April 23: ROVER
Learn more about Wordle
(Image credit: Nurphoto via Getty)
Wordle gives you six rows of five boxes each day, and you’ll need to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them to keep up your winning streak.
You should start with a strong word like ARISE, or any other word that contains a good mix of common consonants and multiple vowels. You’ll also want to avoid starting words with repeating letters, as you’re wasting the chance to potentially eliminate or confirm an extra letter. Once you hit Enter, you’ll see which ones you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.
Your second guess should compliment the starting word, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer. With a bit of luck, you should have some coloured squares to work with and set you on the right path.
After that, it’s just a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there’s an E). Don’t forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
In addition to changing almost everything about Diablo 4’s loot, Blizzard also snuck some excellent quality of life changes into this month’s gargantuan update.
On May 14, Diablo 4 season 4 will drop with the biggest list of changes the game has had since its release. The rework to its loot is fundamental and will shape how you play the game going forward, but there are a few extra surprises that Blizzard didn’t mention until today’s stream.
Most of the update focuses on boosting the power of Diablo 4’s Legendary items, giving them fewer and stronger stats, and letting you add bonus stats onto them through crafting. But with player power skyrocketing, Blizzard wants to avoid making people juggle stats just to survive in the game’s hardest dungeons.
Enter one previously undocumented change that I’m excited for: Armor from your gear will now have a hard limit for how much it’ll protect you from physical damage, which simplifies one of Diablo 4’s most unintuitive systems and prevents surprise deaths. Before, you had to guess or find someone’s Excel sheet to figure out how much armor would keep you alive against monsters above your level. Now, you’ll just need a few extra armor stats—via crafting or Legendary powers—on your gear to hit the cap and then you can never think about it again. Blizzard says the tooltip will even tell you the exact number you need in a patch soon after the launch of season 4.
Murmuring Obols, a currency for gambling items that was effectively useless before, will now be one of the easiest ways to gear your character up. Obol vendors are guaranteed to give you Legendary items at the maximum item power once you’re level 100. Tons of dungeons and events reward you with these already (you can now carry 2,500), so now you can take them and hope you get something perfect for your build.
Blizzard noted a few other quality of life changes coming in season 4, including:
Jewelry items, like rings, will have more elemental resistances on them by default
Completing Season Journey tiers will reward you with gear made for a specific build
Legendary items will always break down into the same amount of Veiled Crystals as Rare items
Helltide events will reward more Abberant Cinders for opening loot chests
The new Helltide boss will drop ladder boss materials for farming Uber Uniques
You can change your character’s hairstyle in the wardrobe now
If there’s a theme to most of these changes, it’s that Blizzard wants you to spend time making your gear stronger and not fussing with arbitrary requirements like the armor and resistance caps. The goal is to become a god in your own way, especially in the absence of a unique seasonal power.
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The full patch notes, including class changes, are now available on Blizzard’s post. Compared to the season 4 public test realm last month, little has changed outside of what I’ve highlighted here. Barbarians won’t fill the screen with tornadoes, for example, but the reduction is mostly visual: they’ll still hit almost as hard. And necromancer minions will remain just as good as they were before—with a few extra buffs on top.
Diablo 4 season 4, which will largely include permanent changes to the game, launches on May 14.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Blizzard-snuck-in-surprise-quality-of-life-changes-into-Diablo.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-05-02 22:39:352024-05-02 22:39:35Blizzard snuck in surprise quality of life changes into Diablo 4’s massive list of season 4 patch notes
A recent Windows security update is causing some VPN connections to fail, Microsoft has said. The company is working on a resolution.
The KB5036893 update, known as the April security update, was first released on April 9, 2024. Since then, and after rolling out across heaps of PCs, Microsoft has noticed the inadvertent effect the update is having on virtual private networks. It’s causing some of them to fail to connect entirely, thus potentially leaving users without a way to hide their IP address or change their location on the web.
We don’t have much more information about the fault beyond what Microsoft is reporting on its Windows 11 issues page:
“Windows devices might face VPN connection failures after installing the April 2024 security update (KB5036893) or the April 2024 non-security preview update,” Microsoft says.
“Next steps: We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.”
The issue affects Windows 11 (versions 23H2, 22H2, and 21H2) and Windows 10 (versions 22H2 and 21H2).
Looking to the Windows 11 subreddit, which usually is quick to pick up common faults in the OS, I don’t see many reports of the issue. Then again, it’s one of those issues that you might not attribute to Windows unless you know Microsoft has admitted blame. If you’re struggling to get connected, anyways, it sounds like you need to try to remove this package. Microsoft offers the following advice on how to do that:
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“To remove the LCU after installing the combined SSU and LCU package, use the DISM/Remove-Package command line option with the LCU package name as the argument. You can find the package name by using this command: DISM /online /get-packages.
“Running Windows Update Standalone Installer (wusa.exe) with the /uninstall switch on the combined package will not work because the combined package contains the SSU. You cannot remove the SSU from the system after installation.”
Another alternative is to find out if your router and VPN provider support running a VPN directly through the hub, meaning you don’t need Windows to be aware of the connection at all. That’s a slightly extreme measure for some, but if needs must.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1714650149_Trouble-connecting-to-your-VPN-Microsoft-admits-that-a-recent.jpg382680Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-05-02 12:14:592024-05-02 12:14:59Trouble connecting to your VPN? Microsoft admits that a recent Windows security update is preventing virtual connections
May’s a pretty stacked month for PC gaming: We just ended April with some exciting new early access games in Rotwood, Manor Lords, and Gray Zone Warfare, and the trend continues this month with games like Abiotic Factor, The Rogue Prince of Persia, and Hades 2. (The latter doesn’t have a confirmed release date yet, but it’s supposed to be soon.)
Later in the month there are some big releases like space RTS Homeworld 3, and sprinkled throughout May you’ll find cool-looking stuff like PS1-style horror game Crow Country and trippy metroidvania Animal Well. More on all those below.
For a more zoomed-out view of what’s coming out on PC this year, see our big list of 2024’s upcoming PC games. There’s some interesting stuff coming in June, including the early access release of Sims competitor Life by You, and it’s also Videogame Announcement Month (formerly known as E3), which means we’ll be back with another PC Gaming Show—the 10th one, even!
May’s big PC release dates
May events and happenings
More games releasing in May
May 2 — Foundry – Automation game like Satisfactory (Steam)
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1714614084_The-PC-game-releases-were-most-excited-about-in-May.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-05-01 23:01:182024-05-01 23:01:18The PC game releases we’re most excited about in May
I was beyond excited when I chatted to developer Ironclad about the imminent arrival of Sins of a Solar Empire 2 back in 2022. With its simulated celestial mechanics and modular ship design, it sounded like a significant step up from its brilliant predecessor. But like so many in-development games that launch exclusively on the Epic Games Store, it soon left my brain. Even with all its discoverability issues, Steam simply makes it easier to keep track of games. So it’s good news, then, that Sins of a Solar Empire 2’s exclusivity is coming to an end, heralding its arrival on Steam this summer.
Worth emphasising is the fact that Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is effectively in early access. This isn’t remotely clear from the Epic page, nor its Steam page, where you could be forgiven for assuming the game is complete. That said, the Steam launch will come with a bunch of new features.
The Advent Unity faction, including two sub-factions: the Advent Reformation faction and the Advent Reckoning faction.
Updated VO and dynamic music that’s specific to factions.
The official release of modding tools.
A visual UI refresh that lets you select custom UI themes tailored to each major faction.
Enhanced AI, taking advantage of more advanced strategies, scheming against you and making diplomatic offers.
A damage FX system that makes combat damage visible on large units and structures.
More environments, planets and maps.
That’s what’s new for the Steam release, but more broadly Sins of a Solar Empire 2 introduces a whole heap of new things that make it quite a bit different from the original game.
The aforementioned celestial mechanics simulation is the one that made me most excited. Planets don’t have a fixed position, you see, instead orbiting their stars at different speeds, altering the map continually. Depending on a planet’s position, then, it might be easier or more challenging to conquer, forcing you to tweak your plans on the fly.
Ship combat has a more sim-like element, too, where ships have turrets that acquire targets, move and fire in real-time, and they act independently rather than all of them having the same firing solutions. Missiles are also physically simulated, and you can use tougher ships to move in front of weaker ones to body block the projectiles, as well as using their point defence turrets, which spin around and try to track and destroy any threats.
You’ll be able to check all of this out on Steam this summer, though we’re still waiting for a specific date.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1714578063_4X-RTS-Sins-of-a-Solar-Empire-2-is-finally.png6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-05-01 16:12:012024-05-01 16:12:014X RTS Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is finally coming to Steam this summer with a new faction and modding tools
In my humble opinion, the ATX standard is broken. The PCs we know and love have evolved so much over the last 30 years. Small revisions and additions to the standard aren’t meeting the needs and requirements of a 2024 era PC, to say nothing of the demands of a PC as we move towards—and into the 2030’s.
ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) is a motherboard and power supply configuration specification introduced by Intel in 1995. Its purpose is to define the basic fundamentals of our PCs. If you look at the internals of a PC from the mid 90’s and compare it to one today, the layout is easily recognizable.
At its most basic, ATX exists to ensure compatibility across the PC ecosystem. In theory, any ATX motherboard can be installed into any ATX case with any ATX power supply. The dimensions, mounting points, the shape and location of the I/O panel and the positioning of the expansion slots are key to this.
Over the years the ATX standard has undergone many revisions and expansions. The most well known of these are the addition of the microATX and Mini-ITX standards, though there are others more relevant to workstation and enterprise motherboards. Extended ATX is one we often see in high-end consumer motherboards.
PC power supplies are also required to meet certain specifications. That includes the physical connectors and the requirement to supply various voltages within tolerances. These include the 12V, 5V and 3.3V rails, so that it ensures compatibility with—hopefully—all motherboards.
The most recent major ATX power supply revision is ATX 3.0, which was released in February of 2022. ATX 3.1 is coming this year. It introduces the 12V-2×6 16-pin connector which can supply 600W of power to the thirstiest graphics cards. It replaces the issue prone 12VHPWR connector, which has not exactly gone well.
There are a multitude of reasons why I believe there’s a need for an ATX replacement. These include the rise of M.2, the physical size and demands of modern graphics cards, cooling requirements, power efficiency, cable management, and the need to prepare for future technologies.
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But there are some parts of the standard that are perfectly fine. The positioning of the rear I/O panel and the motherboard mounting points are two features that have stood the test of time.
M.2 wasn’t even a twinkle in daddy Intel’s eye 30 years ago
NVMe SSD cooling is getting out of hand (Image credit: Sabrent)
I’ll begin with M.2. I’ve previously outlined the reasons why I think M.2 is a poor solution. It’s got nothing to do with the performance of a speedy NVMe M.2 drive, it’s all to do with the physical, electrical, and cooling demands it places on a modern system. These days, motherboard designs are pretty much dominated by M.2 slots, and there was nothing like them when ATX was introduced in 1995.
Ditching M.2 in favor of an alternative form factor would remove the necessity for expansive motherboard mounted heatsinks, it would free up motherboard PCB space for other components (or make them cheaper), and they require inefficient 3.3V power.
For some reason, competing cabled standards including U.2 and U.3 connections have never taken off in the consumer space. U.3 includes support for 12V power. Removing 3.3V support would fix one of the inefficiencies of modern ATX power supplies. But, I’ll get to that shortly.
NVMe the way it should be (Image credit: Intel)
A U.3 drive could incorporate cooling into a 2.5-inch SSD chassis. Such a drive would require the *shock* routing of a cable. But, that could be easily solved by putting the connectors on the rear of the motherboard, which brings me to my next point.
Make backside cable connectors mandatory
Cables? What cables? (Image credit: Future)
Mounting all of the motherboard connectors and headers on the rear of the motherboard would be one of the easier changes to mandate. Motherboard manufacturers are already experimenting in this regard, with MSI’s Project Zero and Asus’ BTF concepts being prominent examples.
Rear mounted motherboard connectors improve aesthetics and case airflow. It would also make the system easier to access. M.2 drives are a pain to install, whereas a SATA (or U.3) SSD could be simply and easily mounted and attached with none of the fiddliness of M.2 drives.
Another example many builders have probably come across is the difficulty of accessing the EPS power connectors if you have top mounted fans or an AIO cooler installed. Rear mounted connectors completely remove this issue, and others like it, such as cables that attach to headers along the bottom of the motherboard. They can be difficult to access if you have a PSU shroud immediately below them, or have expansion cards installed.
So, backside motherboard connectors make your system look better, improve case airflow, are relatively easy for motherboard manufacturers to implement, and make system modifications easier. It’s a no brainer.
Graphics cards have become physically dominant
We’re sure to see more four and five slot graphics cards (Image credit: Asus)
Changing the discrete graphics card form factor is much easier said than done. It’s almost laughable how physically large a modern high-performance graphics card is. Compare them to the heatsink-less single slot designs from the 1990’s! Interestingly, though, a quad slot RTX 4090 can theoretically be installed into an ATX case from 30 years ago when single slot, half length passive cards were common.
No fans? No heatsink! (Image credit: Fritzchens Fritz)
A modern graphics card still needs to be installed into a slot that physically differs little from the AGP slots of the 1990’s. The same can be said of a case’s expansion slots. Anti-sag brackets address the weight aspect, but the reason they exist at all is proof that modern graphics cards are nothing like their 1990’s ancestors. Their dimensions and weight, along with runaway power and cooling demands have come too far to be sustainable. What’s next? 600W five-slot cards? That’s ridiculous.
This brings me to the difficult part. I’d like to see a new graphics card form factor. A large graphics card already protrudes above the top of the I/O bracket. Why not take that a step further? Instead of a card that’s 140mm tall, why not make it 180mm? Makers could install higher CFM, lower RPM fans that are quieter, while allowing the cards themselves to be thinner or shorter. You could mount them vertically, away from the motherboard, not unlike you can do with riser cables now. That way we wouldn’t have to resort to cases that are more like cubes than the rectangular towers they are now.
the PCIe graphics card form factor we know and love is trending in an unsustainable direction.
Another option would be to go in the opposite direction, so, let’s say a card takes up five or six slots. In theory, a GPU cooler could incorporate a single 120mm or 140mm fan to direct cool air from the front of the case over a huge heatsink surface area and straight out the rear of the case. That idea could be a bit silly, though.
That’s just a spitballing of ideas, but with graphics cards trending upwards in power consumption, which means ever steeper cooling requirements, the PCIe graphics card form factor we know and love is trending in an unsustainable direction.
The case for ATX12VO
Firstly, the 20-pin and now standard 24-pin power connectors are relics. It wouldn’t be hard to make them physically smaller, along with the 8-pin EPS connectors. But, there’s an existing standard that addresses that, among other things. It’s called ATX12VO, developed by Intel in 2019. Its main claim to fame is that it supplies 12V DC power only.
(Image credit: Anandtech)
The problem with ATX (and SFX) power supplies is that they carry the legacies of prior decades. These days, PCs rely far more heavily on the 12V rail of the power supply. System components that require 3.3V (such as M.2 drives) or 5V (USB) could use motherboard mounted step-down circuitry to supply the power those devices require. The motherboard is already required to route these voltages anyway.
The upside is that ATX12VO power supplies would be much simpler in design with better efficiency. That means a combination of less waste heat and lower power consumption, a longer lifespan and cheaper purchase price.
One of the potential stumbling blocks I see is the rise of USB Power Delivery. ATX12VO PCs with several USB-PD supporting ports would be challenging for motherboard makers to implement.
ATX12VO is probably the change I’d award the lowest priority to. I’d love to see better efficiency and millions of ATX12VO power supplies combining to lower global energy consumption, but the ongoing development of ATX power supplies, with ATX 3.0 and 3.1 being the latest examples, means ATX12VO has a steep—but not insurmountable climb ahead of it, if it’s to ever see widespread adoption.
As we move towards the 2030’s there will be new considerations
It’s a little hard to peer into the crystal ball and predict some of the changes to come. One example that comes to mind is if or when optical interconnects become viable. System power consumption continues to rise, and there’s a need for better efficiency that’s faster, with lower latency. Optical interconnects are something we’ll surely hear more about in the years ahead. What if you could get by without the need for PCIe slots?
Since the mid 1990’s PCs have required SDRAM, DDR1, DDR2 and so on. Their physical dimensions remain essentially the same, even if they are not compatible. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a story after spotting an Asus ROG motherboard with SO-DIMM slots, and it got me thinking about how desktop PC memory could do with a physical change, if only to create a little bit of extra PCB space for an extra M.2 slot.
Could CAMM memory, or something like it, replace DIMM slots? (Image credit: PC World)
Might we see something similar to CAMM memory in the years ahead? How about optical RAM? It’s nice to think about, but honestly, we’re far more likely to have the same RGB equipped DDR7 in 10 years from now. Whatever the case, a smaller RAM footprint would not go astray, if the industry could get on board with it.
Finally, just how high will CPU TDP’s go? Long gone are the days of flagship 65W CPUs that could get by with a simple air cooler. The ATX standard doesn’t specifically address the subject of cooling, but if CPU TDPs start reaching ludicrous 500W levels, it is something that needs to be considered. The area required for monstrous VRM solutions and heatsinks to tame them need to be factored into a future standard.
Remember BTX?
Ahh, do you remember BTX? That was Intel’s attempt to replace the ATX motherboard form factor in the mid-2000’s with something more relevant in the 21st century. Apart from a few concepts and OEM systems, BTX came and went with a whimper.
One of very few BTX motherboards (Image credit: Anandtech)
It did have some interesting properties, one of which was swapping the positioning of the I/O panel and expansion slots. It also gave the CPU ‘first dibs’ on incoming case airflow. Some systems had the ability to vertically mount the graphics card, or even have it positioned opposite the motherboard, allowing airflow to move more freely though the case.
It was developed to address the severe heat issues affecting Intel’s Pentium 4 era CPUs. History is repeating…
BTX was a novel idea, and one which had some real advantages. It was developed to address the severe heat issues affecting Intel’s Pentium 4 era CPUs. History is repeating…
The problem was its lack of industry support. Motherboard vendors did show off products around 2004, but BTX quickly fell by the wayside. And therein lies the problem with any effort to replace the ATX standard.
Some closing thoughts
Any replacement of the ATX standard would require near universal industry support. Intel can’t come over the top and say: ‘Let’s do it this way’ as it could in years past. Something like an IEEE group or some other industry body made up of all the key players is the only realistic way forward.
Such changes affect every area of not just the PC, but everything else to some extent. From a simple motherboard to laptops to data centers covering football fields: all would be affected in at least some way.
Sadly, if I had to put a bet on it, I’d say the chances of major form factor changes are pretty much zero in the short term
I say let the enterprise folks do their thing. Those folks can chuck a billion dollars at a problem and solve it. But the humble PC needs a redesign that introduces better power efficiency, improved cooling, and improved cable management. Add a dash of simplicity and more attractive aesthetics, and we’ve got a bunch of things all gamers would benefit from.
Sadly, if I had to put a bet on it, I’d say the chances of major form factor changes are pretty much zero in the short term. The industry is just too big these days, there’s too much money and time invested in the existing ecosystem. A change of momentum of this scale when so many companies have their fingers in the ATX pie makes imminent change unlikely.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1714542049_Freakishly-large-graphics-cards-and-super-hot-SSDs-mean-the-fundamentals.png6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-05-01 04:33:102024-05-01 04:33:10Freakishly large graphics cards and super-hot SSDs mean the fundamentals of PC design needs a big change
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