Category: News

You might have heard about Google’s announcement last week: Stadia. What it promises is without a doubt impressive. However, there’s a long way to go before we’ll be concerned about gamers turning away from full blown gaming PCs in favour of game streaming. In case you’ve missed it, here’s what it is in a nutshell.

What does Stadia promise?

• Almost any device with an internet connection can game
• While watching game footage, click a button to start playing the game and be gaming in about 5 seconds
• 4K (3840×2160, or 4x as much as 1080p) gaming at 60 frames per second (FPS) + HDR
• “State share” allows viewers of Stadia stream to launch to the same save state as the gamer
• Compatible with USB controllers, but Google will also provide their own controller with lower latency
• Subscription based service
• Potential to eventually support 8K gaming at 120 FPS
• Release in 2019

The above means for some very compelling positive points:

• Game practically anywhere, any time
• Launch a game without any downloads, installs, updates
• No specialised hardware necessary

So wait, why isn’t Evatech worried?

It’s no secret that we have made a business out of providing gaming PCs for gamers Australia wide. Google’s Stadia announcement may well eat into our customer base. But here’s why we’re not bothered…

The biggest reason

Google has only laid out plans for launching this year in the US, Canada, and Europe. Australians will have to wait.

Australian Internet

Remember that in Australia most of us struggle for good internet at home via wired solutions. The days of game streaming at 1080p 60FPS over a home ADSL/cable/NBN or a mobile data connection are far off in the future. More on why later in this post.

Furthermore, lately the trend of gamers going for resolutions greater than 1080p and/or more than 60FPS is skyrocketing. You might be thinking “But I can stream Netflix 1080p/4K no worries!” – firstly you’re in the minority. Secondly, almost all movie/TV footage is about 24 FPS. That’s less than half the amount of 60 FPS. Thirdly, streaming a movie or TV show is known data. By that I mean your device can pre-load the next 30 seconds, or few minutes of the video file so that in case your internet connection is patchy, it has a bit of a “buffer” to work with so that you hopefully experience a perfect stream.

A game on the other hand, cannot be pre-loaded. If you decide to jump, shoot, run, or (sadly) die from one second to the next, there are way too many possibilities for Google to pre-load for you, meaning it’s all live, all the time.

But, games on demand!

The games. Although it would be easier to say “the lack of games”, because all we’ve got confirmed so far is Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Doom Eternal. Interestingly this raises another point. Since Stadia is based on Linux and some specialised hardware. Likening it more to a new breed of console than a regular home PC running Windows 10 and Steam (or whatever other game store). This may offer a new barrier to entry for game developers/publishers, meaning Stadia may not get all the latest and greatest games if there isn’t a large enough player base to warrant the hard work and effort.

What if it has everything I want, and I have great internet?

Input lag & latency

There’s a tiny (mostly negligible) amount of input lag on a gaming PC sat just 30cm away from you as you game. This is the delay between you pressing a button on your keyboard/mouse/controller and the corresponding action appearing on screen. Modern gaming peripherals and hardware do well to almost negate this entirely.

When it comes to pressing a button in your house, the signal going to your PC, your PC sending it to Google via whichever servers it needs to bounce off to reach Google, Stadia’s servers to process your button press and then pass the output (video) back to you again via the same avenues, there’s going to be a noticeable delay. Google says they have worked to minimise it, but those who have tested it are saying it is most certainly there, to the point of it being a deal-breaker. Note that a lot of gamers these days are playing first-person shooters, where reaction timing is everything. More input lag than your competition puts you at an instant up-front disadvantage. Playing games should be fun, not frustrating by design.

People are increasingly becoming wary of large corporations, such as Google & Facebook

There’s been what seems like news story after news story about the world’s largest companies engaging in shady activities. Some result in lawsuits, fines, and some just make people really uncomfortable due to their privacy being exploited. Stadia has raised some valid questions: what about game mods? How long are games available for (if not indefinite)? What if Google decides Stadia isn’t sustainable, and wants to shut down the service as it has with many, many other once-large services?

Internet (again)

It might be hard to think back to a time before the likes of Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime, etc. Do you remember? Internet speeds for the most part slower than what we have right now, granted. But the max theoretical speeds were usually reached on a daily basis. Since the rise of streaming services like Netflix, Australian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have struggled to give everyone their maximum connection speeds (sustained), especially during peak times.

Why? Most of the population get home from their day of school, university, or work from about 3pm to 7pm. As more and more people get home, they are able to give their attention to a screen of their choice, and the easiest one is a TV connected to the internet to watch some TV series, or perhaps a movie, or maybe even some YouTube. While that’s on, you might also browse through Facebook, news, or Reddit. That’s fine too – your internet can very likely handle this because the video content is being pre-loaded.

Now remember that this is happening at every other house in your street. The streets connecting your street to main roads. Every house in your suburb. Plus a few of your neighbouring suburbs. For some Australians, that’s the amount of houses that rely on just one internet node/exchange. Somewhere along the line, no matter how close to home, or how far from home, there will be a bottleneck. Too much data to go out and come back in to keep up with, so everyone’s speeds often get slowed down so that everyone is able to maintain some type of connection. This is what most ISPs now refer to as “evening speed”.

Why does any of the above matter?

That’s how life is in today’s world of streaming Netflix, YouTube, etc. Now picture that same scenario, only that maybe 1/4 of those people who would usually stream video are now interested in streaming live games that they are playing. So, 1/4 of the population using 2x (or more) the amount of bandwidth. That’s a significant increase in internet traffic and bandwidth utilisation. Something I just cannot fathom Australian internet infrastructure keeping up with. Let’s also remember Australian internet has pretty tight data caps. 1 hour of Netflix HD (1080p @ 25FPS) will use about 6GB of data. Let’s double that to get to 50 FPS (still 10 short of 60), and that’s 12GB of data an hour. 3 hours of gaming a day, 5 times a week, over the course of a month? 720GB in just game streaming.

Great idea, just… not for everyone

While it will allow people to jump right into games at the drop of a hat (ignoring the internet problem for a moment), it’s not the end of gaming PCs. Competitive gaming will still be done on real physical gaming machines. Ones that cater to professional gamers’ requirement for high refresh rate, low latency, “no excuses” hardware to play their games and earn their living. Anyone serious about gaming will likely stick with real hardware, like we have now.

For what it’s worth, American multinational retail company Walmart is also reportedly looking at game streaming. So there may be more options in the future, with all the same pitfalls we imagine.

Also remember. A gaming PC is more than just for playing games. You can do homework, assignments, research, video editing, office work, etc. Gaming PCs are far from being replaced.

Hopefully that explains things as we see it. And again, this is certainly not coming to Australia at least this year. Even when it does, Australian internet just isn’t cut out for it. So expect a very, very bad time.

Until then, game to your heart’s desire on an Evatech customisable Gaming PC!

It’s been a while since we’ve done a dive in to how our Evatech custom gaming PCs stack up against the competition. So we headed on over to Harvey Norman’s website, typed ‘Gaming PC’ in to the search box and clicked the first thing to appear. Then we headed over to our own custom PC builder page on our website and configured a system to match spec-for-spec as closely as possible for comparison. How do we stack up? Well, we think it’s pretty clear…

All the data above is true and accurate as of the 14th of March 2019. Pricing and specifications are subject to change. For the latest pricing and specifications please refer to the website for each retailer compared. ^ Performance metrics averaged based on game benchmark data based on CPU and GPU reviews. Data available online from independent third parties, eg – techspot.com / techpowerup.com / gamersnexus.net

In Summary

Well, if you were to purchase the Harvey Norman HP Omen gaming PC over our custom Valkyrie you would be paying $2,862 more. What do you get for that huge premium? Older, lower performing hardware with worse customer support and no ability to customise or upgrade without immediately voiding your warranty.

How is that even possible!?

Surely there is something that would justify the price difference, or we have to be hiding something right? Well, the Omen comes with a fancy logo printed on the front of it and can be purchased over the counter (if your local store has stock). The sales-person will be thrilled to key in the order for their KPIs (sales targets) and commission. Likely saying whatever they think it will take to get you to pull out your wallet.

On the other hand our systems, due to their customisable nature, are built to order. This means you’ll need to be a little patient and wait a few extra days before picking it up or having it shipped out to you. We don’t know about you, but a $2,862 saving plus a huge performance boost seems like a pretty good trade off for a few extra days right?

The Evidence?

Depending on how far in the future you’re reading this, you may or not may not be able to pull up each PC on the websites. Pricing is of course subject to change over time but we don’t expect it to change significantly. At the time of writing this article we captured screenshots as evidence in case anything does change moving forward. You can find these below, completely unedited, taken at precisely 10:41am 14/03/2019.

The Best Part…

It’s simple. With Evatech, you can choose EXACTLY what you want. No need to limit yourself to a few pre-configured systems. You can get exactly what you want, with none of the crap you don’t need. Do it in your own time without any pushy sales-person who barely know what they are talking about. Tailor a system to any budget and if you need professional assistance you can contact us any time for an obligation free expert one on one assistance. No up-sells, no targets, no KPIs, no sales tricks. Just honest, genuine, & professional advise, guaranteed.

So how best to get started?

Well it’s simple. Just visit our store page at www.evatech.com.au

It’s fast, secure, powerful and has built in performance indicators, guides and compatibility checking to make it easy! Get stuck, have a question or need some advice? Just hit the contact button and shoot us a message. We’ll get back to you ASAP (typically within the hour during business hours). Or give us a call on 03 9020 7017. If you’re a local, drop in to the store at 1/382 Huntingdale Road, Oakleigh South 3167.

AMD’s Radeon Vega VII (or Vega 7) was released about a month ago, with unconfirmed benchmarks quick to follow. Though unconfirmed (due to major stock shortages) the benchmarks all conclude the same performance figures. In terms of pricing, the Vega 7 blows punches with Nvidia’s RTX 2080 with FPS in 1440p and 4K gaming. See below.

RTX is either slightly ahead, or quite a bit ahead in most comparisons, with Vega II ahead in only a few. Considering the Vega is the same price as the RTX 2080, we can’t see any good reason to wait for Vega to be readily available. Not to mention Nvidia’s RTX cards offer DLSS and Ray-Tracing.

Our PCs already have the RTX 2080 available, so don’t wait any longer, customise your own PC today!

In 2007 German game developer released a first person shooter released a game that signified a generational leap in visual game engine technology; punishing so called high end gaming hardware on its highest settings. If you bought the game day one, chances are you and nobody you knew had what it took to play on ultra at 1080P. If you were a PC gamer back then, you know exactly what we’re talking about. Crysis.

It took 12 years but finally, a truly ‘next-gen’ visual experience is here and again it’s one developed in Europe, although this time Ukraine. The First Metro game was released 2010, only a few short years after Crysis. Metro Exodus, the third game in the series (if you don’t the re-release ‘Redux’ editions) has been in development since 2014 and was just released on February 15th.

Working closely with Nvidia to be one of the first major game releases to implement DLSS and RTX features from the ground up it’s become a showcase piece to show off just what the tech can do. For fans of the Metro series, the genre, or even just cutting edge PC graphics it surely makes a compelling reason to upgrade an RTX powered rig if you haven’t already.

Aside from the fancy graphics, how is the actual game?

Despite the controversy of it being an Epic Games store exclusive on PC, critics are loving the game with it currently sporting a 84/100 on meta-critic.

Succeeds in its ambitions, making it easy to recommend to both newcomers and series fans alike. 8.75/10

GameInformer

An incredible trip through a stunning post-apocalyptic world

PCGamer 78/100

brings its survival horror to the surface without sacrificing any of the series’ signature tension.

IGN 8.5/10

Taking the series to an open world environment, implementing a day-night system which significantly impacts game-play and going all out with their weapon customisation system, there is a lot to love aside from the fancy graphics. It’s not a run-and-gun twitch shooter by any means, it’s most definitely a survival horror game at its core favouring a more measured and stealthy approach to most sequences. Scrounging for, and conserving precious ammo, crafting new weapons at work benches and unlocking missions through interactions with game characters across a wide open environment it definitely has RPG elements thrown in to the mix.

But what does it actually take to play?

To answer this question, the first thing we need to do is figure out exactly what type of experience you’re looking for. If you just want to play the game and have no interest in gorgeous implementation of real time ray-traced global illumination then a GTX1060 and 6th-gen core i5 will be enough to get you through on medium presets at 1080P. But let’s face it, the most impressive part of this game is the visuals and if you really want to get the full effect you’ll need an Nvidia RTX series graphics card (sorry AMD fanboys).

At the moment there is 4 of these RTX cards to choose from. Pair any of these with a current generation (8th or 9th-gen) i5 CPU or higher, 16GB of DDR4 memory and here is what you can expect.

With the RTX2060

• At 1080P Ultra with RTX set to HIGH you can expect around 40FPS with occasional dips as low as 25FPS.
• At 1440P Ultra with RTX set to HIGH you can expect around 29FPS with occasional dips as low as 20FPS.
• At 4K Ultra with RTX set to HIGH you can expect an unplayable frame-rate in the low teens.

With the RTX2070

• At 1080P Ultra with RTX set to HIGH you can expect around 50FPS with occasional dips as low as 30FPS.
• At 1440P Ultra with RTX set to HIGH you can expect around 36FPS with occasional dips as low as 23FPS.
• At 4KUltra with RTX set to HIGH you can expect around 21FPS with occasional dips as low as 15FPS.

With the RTX2080

• At 1080P Ultra with RTX set to HIGH you can expect around 60FPS with occasional dips as low as 38FPS.
• At 1440P Ultra with RTX set to HIGH you can expect around 36FPS with occasional dips as low as 23FPS.
• At 4KUltra with RTX set to HIGH you can expect around 25FPS with occasional dips as low as 17FPS.

With the RTX2080 TI

• At 1080P Ultra with RTX set to HIGH you can expect around 78FPS with occasional dips as low as 46FPS.
• At 1440P Ultra with RTX set to HIGH you can expect around 58FPS with occasional dips as low as 37FPS.
• At 4K Ultra with RTX set to HIGH you can expect around 35FPS with occasional dips as low as 24FPS.

Yep, you read that right. A $2,000 top of the line RTX 2080 TI GPU will be virtually unplayable at 4K on ULTRA presets. But don’t worry, the game will still look awesome on a 4K monitor with DLSS at 1440P or if you go in tweak some of those ‘ULTRA’ preset graphics options down a bit to get your desired frame rates.

So where do I get my hands on a brand new RTX ready gaming PC?

It’s easy. We build them to order right here in Australia and deliver to your door nation wide. With built in compatibility checking and performance indicators you can use our online custom PC builder for unrivalled customisability options an instant quote with just a few clicks. A few more clicks and you can order online and have the system on its way to your door anywhere in Australia.

Check it out by clicking here to get started.

In a surprise announcement yesterday, Respawn Entertainment both announced and launched Apex Legends. A free to play battle-royal shooter set in the Titan Fall universe and running in the same engine. Taking on the likes of PUBG and Fortnite, the battle-royal shooter genre is fast becoming a crowded space but in just 13 hours Respawn recorded an active player count of over 1,000,000!

Is it any good & what does it take to play it?

Online reviews are very positive with quotes like ‘Better than Fornite in every way’ and ‘Feels a lot like Call of Duty Blackout, just more fun’, it’s pretty clear to see why it’s getting so much traction so fast. The developers have also promised long term support and updates with new content patched in periodically to keep it new and interesting to long term players.

The game is currently only Available on EA Origin’s marketplace but is completely free and is set to stay that way. The developers have promised that all paid content will be cosmetic only and won’t give any players any advantages in-game.

As with most free to play games, the hardware requirements to get it running are pretty minimal. A modern i3 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a GTX1050 will get a pretty enjoyable experience at 1080P with some of the in-game settings scaled down. That being said, crank all the settings up to max and this game really can look quiet good. To do so at 1080P, we would recommend a GTX1060 6G and i5 CPU combination with 8 to 16GB of RAM. You can scale up the graphics card to a RTX2060 and RTX2070 respectively for 1440P and 4K resolutions.

Thinking of getting a new gaming rig? It’s a great time! Head on over to our store page here and start customizing your next dream gaming PC today.

Most of you will know about the big online game stores, Steam, Origin, Uplay. Perhaps if you’re into Fortnite, you’ll know of Epic Games.

Even if you don’t care for Fortnite, there are a collection of other great games available on the Epic Games store. Right now, for example, “The Jackbox Party Pack” is free (until Feb 7th). Highly anticipated titles “Metro Exodus” and “The Division 2” which launch this month and next month respectively. As Epic tries to secure their position as one of the top stores, make sure you check with them as they could have exclusive titles, or better pricing than other stores!

Discord (previously well regarded for being the best platform for free voice and text chats between gamers worldwide) also has a respectable offering of games. Be sure to check with them, too, as pricing differs between all stores.

Battle.net is one of the oldest still going. Giving us the Warcraft series, Starcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Destiny 2, and Call of Duty. Not much of a range, to be sure, but an undeniable collection of highly regarded games.

As annoying as it may be to have different stores to buy different games from, and at different prices, it creates competition, which should help keep the prices nice and affordable for us gamers, rather than one place having a monopoly and charging whatever they want.

On the other hand, if you want to know what games you can expect to play with your next or current Evatech gaming PC… look no further than our games database which is deeply embedded into our PC builder. If you have already bought one of our PCs, simply re-enter the PC ID into our website to pull up your unique PC page (eg). Then scroll down to the games portion of the page, and you’ll see what games and what settings you can achieve.

Let us know if we are missing any titles you want to see in our game database.

Now that you know what you need to play the most anticipated games of Q1, head on over to our PC builder!