Overwatch 2 is Blizzard's always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game that's set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl. To unlock the ultimate graphics experience in each battle, upgrade to a GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics card, desktop PC, or laptop for class-leading performance, and unbeatable responsiveness courtesy of NVIDIA Reflex.

The invasion has begun in Overwatch 2's biggest season to date! Fight back in three co-op Player vs. Enemy Story Missions, play PvP as a new Support hero, and tier up the new Invasion Battle Pass to unlock new skins and cosmetics. And you can get the GeForce Overwatch 2 Invasion Ultimate Bundle with the purchase of select GeForce RTX 40 Series products at participating stores, starting today.
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"Downfall" Intel CPU Vulnerability Can Impact Performance By 50%
Intel has recently revealed a security vulnerability named Downfall (CVE-2022-40982) that impacts multiple generations of Intel processors. The vulnerability is linked to Intel's memory optimization feature, exploiting the Gather instruction, a function that accelerates data fetching from scattered memory locations. It inadvertently exposes internal hardware registers, allowing malicious software access to data held by other programs. The flaw affects Intel mainstream and server processors ranging from the Skylake to Rocket Lake microarchitecture. The entire list of affected CPUs is here. Intel has responded by releasing updated software-level microcode to fix the flaw. However, there's concern over the performance impact of the fix, potentially affecting AVX2 and AVX-512 workloads involving the Gather instruction by up to 50%.

Phoronix tested the Downfall mitigations and reported varying performance decreases on different processors. For instance, two Xeon Platinum 8380 processors were around 6% slower in certain tests, while the Core i7-1165G7 faced performance degradation ranging from 11% to 39% in specific benchmarks. While these reductions were less than Intel's forecasted 50% overhead, they remain significant, especially in High-Performance Computing (HPC) workloads. The ramifications of Downfall are not restricted to specialized tasks like AI or HPC but may extend to more common applications such as video encoding. Though the microcode update is not mandatory and Intel provides an opt-out mechanism, users are left with a challenging decision between security and performance. Executing a Downfall attack might seem complex, but the final choice between implementing the mitigation or retaining performance will likely vary depending on individual needs and risk assessments.

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GoDeal24 Unveils MS Office Super Sale, with Discounts Up to 62% Off
GoDeal24 unveils the 2023 Summer MS Office Super Sale. Get the world's most powerful productivity suite, Office 2021 Professional Plus, at just $24.25, with multi-PC packs lowering the price even further—down to as low as $13.05 per PC as part of a 5-PC pack. Supercharge your Summer desktop PC build with genuine software from GoDeal24, with Windows 11 Pro priced at just $10.25. Save even more when you pair your preferred edition of Windows with that of Office.

Buy Office 2021 Professional Plus at $24.25 | Buy Office 2021 Professional Plus 5-PC at $65.25 | Buy Office 2021 Professional Plus 2-PC at $39.25 | Buy Office 2021 Home and Business for Mac at $28.99 | Buy Office 2019 Professional PLus at $22.25 | Buy Office 2019 Home and Business for Mac at $26.69 | Buy Windows 10 Pro at $7.25 | Buy Windows 10 Pro 2-PC at $12.25 | Buy Windows 10 Home at $7.15 | Buy Windows 10 Home 2-PC at $12.01 | Buy Windows 11 Pro at $10.25 | Buy Windows 11 Pro 2-PC at $20.25 | Buy Windows 11 Home at $9.98

Please use the coupon code SGO62 on the following items to avail the prices you see here.
Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2021 Professional Plus at $29.70 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2019 Professional Plus at $25.68 | Buy Windows 11 Pro + Office 2021 Professional Plus at $32.99 | Buy Windows 11 Pro + Office 2019 Professional Plus at $28.69

Please use the coupon code SGO50 on the following items to avail the prices you see here.
Buy Visio Professional 2021 at $30.23 | Buy Project Professional 2021 at $33.82 | Buy Windows Server 2022 Standard at $26.13 | Buy Windows Server 2019 Standard at $16.06 | Buy Windows Server 2022 Datacenter at $30.75 | Buy Windows 10 Enterprise 2021 LTSC at $12.81
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(PR) TerraMaster Launches F2-212 F4-212 and U4-212 Private Cloud NAS
TerraMaster, a professional brand that focuses on providing innovative storage products for homes and businesses, recently released new design NAS series F2-212, F4-212 and U4-212, support TRAID, BTRFS file system, Snapshot and TFSS providing stronger data backup and better home multimedia experience, which perfectly meet the requirement of personal and home users. Among the 3 models, the sample of F2-212 for review will be firstly available soon in August.

More Modern Exterior Design
The 212 NAS series adopts brand-new design elements and color matching, and has a more fashionable and modern appearance design, better heat dissipation, lower noise, and more convenient installation and use.
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NVIDIA 537.09 Hotfix Addresses Ratchet & Clank DirectStorage Performance Fluctuations
NVIDIA today released the GeForce 537.09 Hotfix driver to address an urgent issue with "Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart." This is the first AAA PC title to introduce DirectStorage acceleration, and apparently there are some performance fluctuations seen due to the way enabling DirectStorage and certain other in-game settings interact with each other. This driver release fixes them. As a Hotfix driver, no other issues or optimizations are added with this release, and unless you play "Ratchet & Clank," you'd rather stay on the latest GeForce Software 536.99 WHQL drivers. If however you do play the game, grab the Hotfix driver from the link below to smoothen out issues with DirectStorage.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 537.09 Hotfix

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(PR) Westone Audio Launch AM PRO X Series of In-Ear Monitors
The AM PRO X series of universal in-ear monitors have been designed for stage artists to get the very most from their performance. Available in three driver configurations, Westone Audio use advanced balanced-armature technology designed in-house, along with their StageSense filter system to provide artists with a carefully balanced mix of audio and feedback from the audience and fellow performers on stage. For close to four decades, Westone Audio has been at the forefront of in-ear audio innovation. Having developed balanced-armature drivers for their custom earpieces, Westone created the first custom stage monitors which were used in collaboration with some of the biggest artists at the time such as Rush and Def Leppard.

The entire range will be available to buy on 15th August 2023 from WestoneAudio.com (US), and WestoneAudio.eu (EU) as well as selected retailers worldwide including hifiheadphones.co.uk, gear4music.co.uk with the following pricing:
  • AM PRO X 10 - $249.99 / £249.99 / €279.99
  • AM PRO X 20 - $399.99 / £379.99 / €429.99
  • AM PRO X 30 - $479.99 / £449.99 / €514.99


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(PR) Overwatch 2: Invasion is Here With New Adventures, and More
Overwatch 2: Invasion is here, and packed with a new hero, a new seasonal Battle Pass, and a new core PvP game mode. We're also bringing new Invasion Story Missions, a limited-time Co-op Event, and new ways to practice and celebrate your achievements with your favorite heroes. Let's check out everything that you can expect in the new update!

Illari is the newest Support Hero to join the ranks in Overwatch 2. What sets Illari apart from other Support heroes is that she has a very damage-focused kit, so that you can heal your team while dominating the opposition. Her Solar Rifle fires a beam of sunlight that can do powerful burst damage at long-range, or use it to heal allies around you. She also can support her team with a deployable Healing Pylon granting bursts of health to allies around it. Her Outburst ability will knock enemies back and propel herself out of danger. When you need to turn up the heat, use Captive Sun and fire a massive ball of solar energy. Opponents hit by this ultimate ability will be Sun Struck, making them vulnerable to lethal explosions if they take too much damage. Unlock Illari immediately when you get the Premium Battle Pass, or wait to unlock her on tier 45 for free. You can also unlock Illari—and all the heroes in Overwatch—with the new Overwatch 2 Complete Hero Collection, now available in the In-Game Shop.
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