benchmark Archives

AppWizard

April 13, 2025

‘A Minecraft Movie’ still striking gold at the box office

“A Minecraft Movie” has secured the top position at the box office for the second consecutive Friday, earning .5 million and projected to exceed million by the weekend. It is the highest-grossing film of the year domestically and has set a record for video game adaptations with the highest-grossing opening weekend, surpassing “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” “The King of Kings” is in second place with just over million in sales and is the first theatrically released biblical animated feature since 1998’s “The Prince of Egypt.” It is adapted from Charles Dickens’ “The Life of Our Lord.” In third place, “The Amateur” earned million, starring Rami Malek as a CIA decoder. The action film “Warfare” is in fourth place with just over .5 million, and the thriller “Drop” rounds out the top five with slightly more than .3 million.

AppWizard

April 9, 2025

Why ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Is What The Box Office Needs This Year

Jack Black and Jason Momoa's A Minecraft Movie has achieved significant box office success, grossing 3 million domestically and 0.7 million internationally for a worldwide total of 3.7 million within its opening weekend. The film surpassed initial projections and set a new record for video game adaptations, exceeding the previous record held by The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which opened to 6.3 million. The production budget for A Minecraft Movie was million. In contrast, Captain America: Brave New World earned million domestically and had a total gross of 2 million, while Disney's Snow White opened to .2 million against a 0 million budget. The film's success has generated optimism for future releases in April 2025.

Tech Optimizer

April 8, 2025

Pools across the sea: how Hyperdrive speeds up access to databases and why we’re making it free

Cloudflare has made Hyperdrive available on the free plan of Cloudflare Workers, allowing developers to create high-performance global applications that connect to SQL databases. Hyperdrive simplifies database connectivity by using existing drivers and connection strings, reducing the need for extensive refactoring. It has been adopted by Cloudflare's engineering teams for various functions, demonstrating its effectiveness in addressing common challenges in application development. Hyperdrive significantly improves performance, with a benchmark showing latency reduction from 1200 ms to 500 ms when using Hyperdrive instead of a direct connection, and further to 320 ms with caching enabled. It employs transaction-mode connection pooling to efficiently manage database connections, minimizing overhead and ensuring optimal performance for serverless applications. Hyperdrive's architecture includes a split connection approach that reduces latency by conducting necessary round trips over shorter distances. It also features a regional pool strategy for selecting data centers based on the inferred location of the Worker, optimizing connection latency. The system includes a dual-layer caching strategy to enhance query performance and reduce load on the origin database. Developers can easily start using Hyperdrive by executing a simple command or using a dashboard to set up a sample Worker application with their existing Postgres database.

AppWizard

April 7, 2025

‘A Minecraft Movie’ exceeds box-office expectations, breaks records

Warner Bros.' "A Minecraft Movie," featuring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, earned million in the U.S. and Canada during its opening weekend, nearly doubling initial projections. The film is expected to add another million from international markets. It has set a new record for video game adaptations, surpassing "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," which earned million earlier this year. Directed by Jared Hess, the film has a 47% positive rating from critics on RottenTomatoes.com and an 86% audience score. The story follows four heroes who are transported into the Minecraft world and must navigate challenges to return home.

AppWizard

April 6, 2025

The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered PC Performance Analysis

Sony has released The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered for PC, utilizing Naughty Dog’s proprietary engine. Performance analysis was conducted using an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processor, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and various graphics cards including AMD Radeon RX 6900XT, RX 7900XTX, RX 9070XT, and NVIDIA RTX 2080Ti, RTX 3080, RTX 4090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5090 on a Windows 10 64-bit system. The game features customizable graphics settings and supports technologies like Intel XeSS, NVIDIA DLSS 3, and AMD FSR 3.1. Benchmark tests showed all GPUs maintained frame rates above 60FPS at 1080p and 1440p resolutions with Max Settings, with the NVIDIA RTX 2080Ti achieving 60FPS. The AMD Radeon RX 9070XT outperformed the RX 7900XTX, while the RX 6900XT lagged behind the NVIDIA RTX 3080. For 4K gaming at Max Settings, the AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX and NVIDIA RTX 4090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5090 were necessary for 60FPS. The game requires a minimum of six CPU cores/threads for optimal performance, with dual-core and quad-core systems experiencing severe stuttering. An eight-core processor improved frame rates above 70FPS. The game features impressive pre-baked lighting but has some traversal stutters and asynchronous shader compilation that may affect performance on CPUs with fewer cores. Keyboard and mouse controls function well from the start.

AppWizard

April 6, 2025

‘A Minecraft Movie’ is on-track for a $135M opening weekend

The big screen adaptation of Minecraft has made a significant debut, earning millions on its opening Friday and is projected to reach 5 million by the end of the weekend, potentially setting a new benchmark for 2023. If these projections hold, it would surpass “Captain America: Brave New World,” which earned .8 million in February, and provide a boost to the domestic box office, which is down 7% year-over-year. The film, directed by Jared Hess and featuring stars like Jason Momoa and Jack Black, creatively introduces human characters into the Minecraft world, despite the game's lack of a defined storyline. The film's performance mirrors that of “The Super Mario Brothers Movie,” which also faced mixed reviews but achieved box office success. This opening weekend is encouraging for Warner Bros., which has faced recent setbacks, and a sequel seems likely.

Winsage

April 4, 2025

Microsoft unveils AI assistant with ‘memory’

Microsoft launched an enhanced version of its AI assistant, "Copilot," which can remember user preferences and perform tasks autonomously, during its 50th anniversary event. The assistant can independently book tickets, make reservations, and shop online. This update is part of a strategic overhaul to improve Microsoft's consumer image and reduce reliance on OpenAI. The event featured former CEO Steve Ballmer and co-founder Bill Gates, highlighting past challenges in the consumer market. Current CEO Satya Nadella has shifted focus to cloud services, resulting in a significant increase in share price. Copilot will include a podcast-generating feature and a "Vision" feature for processing information from a user's phone camera. Microsoft aims to enhance its Bing search engine to compete with Google, which dominates the search market. The company hired Mustafa Suleyman and invested in his start-up Inflection AI to advance its AI capabilities. Microsoft maintains a profit-sharing agreement with OpenAI and access to its models until at least 2030.

Winsage

April 3, 2025

Is Windows 11 Finally Better Than Windows 10 For Gaming?

Windows 11 has introduced several gaming-focused enhancements that are not present in Windows 10, including: - DirectStorage: Optimized for Windows 11, this technology allows games to load data directly from an NVMe SSD to the GPU, reducing load times. - Auto HDR: Enhances older games by automatically applying high dynamic range lighting effects for users with HDR-capable monitors. - Improved Scheduling for Hybrid CPUs: Offers better task scheduling for Intel's 12th or 13th generation CPUs, resulting in smoother frame rates during CPU-intensive gaming sessions. Benchmark tests show minimal performance differences between Windows 10 and Windows 11, with slight FPS improvements in some titles on Windows 11, especially when using advanced hardware and DirectStorage. As of March 2025, over 55% of Windows users on Steam have transitioned to Windows 11, indicating growing confidence in the operating system among gamers. Windows 11 has addressed many early bugs and driver issues, providing robust stability on compatible systems. Windows 11 has stricter hardware requirements than Windows 10, including the need for TPM 2.0 and UEFI secure boot. Windows 10 remains supported until October 2025, making it a viable option for users with older hardware. Windows 11 features a redesigned interface with a centered Start Menu and Taskbar, rounded corners, and expanded personalization options. It also simplifies the update process with annual feature updates and smaller, faster security updates. Windows 11 enhances integration with Microsoft services, supports Android apps through the Amazon Appstore, and introduces productivity tools like Snap Layouts and improved Task View. Security improvements include mandatory TPM 2.0, enhanced Windows Defender, and a redesigned privacy dashboard for better user control over app permissions. Despite its advancements, Windows 11 has limitations such as ongoing stability issues, driver compatibility concerns, and a simplified taskbar that lacks certain functionalities from Windows 10. Windows 11 is available as a free upgrade for eligible Windows 10 devices through Windows Update.

Winsage

March 31, 2025

CrystalMark Retro 2.0.0 brings retro benchmarking to systems from Windows 95 to Windows 11

Crystal Dew World has released version 2.0.0 of its benchmarking tool, CrystalMark Retro, which now supports Windows 95, 98, and Me systems, in addition to Windows XP and later versions. The update was developed in response to user feedback and includes a new benchmark score comparison site, crystalmarkdb.com/retro. Users can benchmark a variety of systems, from vintage Windows versions to modern ones, including Windows 11 and various server editions. Windows NT 3.51 and its successors are also supported with a necessary patch.

AppWizard

March 23, 2025

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is hands-down one of the most beautiful PC ports I’ve ever seen

Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Shadows is noted for its stunning visuals, comparable to Cyberpunk 2077 post-launch. It is one of the best-looking games on PC, though it has performance challenges, particularly with Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 struggling to maintain over 60fps at 4K max settings. The game's enforced Ray Traced Global Illumination (RTGI) in the 'Hideout' area contributes to its demanding hardware requirements. The reviewer experienced smooth gameplay at an average of 74fps using an Asus TUF Nvidia RTX 4080 Super OC Edition and an Alienware AW3423DWF QD-OLED ultrawide monitor, with zero stutters. Recent Nvidia drivers have caused some performance issues, leading the reviewer to use version 572.47 for stability. DLSS Frame Generation is effective in optimizing performance, despite some ghosting. The game's visuals are highlighted as a key feature that justifies its performance demands, and Ubisoft's choice to skip last-gen consoles is seen as prudent due to the game's requirements.