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Why Modern PC Games Are CPU-Bound Again
AppWizard
December 31, 2025

Why Modern PC Games Are CPU-Bound Again

Modern PC gaming faces a challenge where gamers experience underutilized GPUs at around 60% capacity, leading to faltering frame rates despite investing in high-end graphics cards. This issue arises not from CPU inadequacy but from gaming demands evolving faster than how games utilize CPU power. Players upgrading to more powerful GPUs like the RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XT report minimal frame rate improvements, particularly at 1080p and 1440p resolutions, with CPU cores being pushed to their limits while GPU usage declines. This trend is evident across various game genres, and even DirectX 12, which offers improved multithreading, struggles to scale effectively beyond six to eight cores. Developers recognize these CPU limitations but find it challenging to address them. Modern games simulate numerous elements continuously, rely on real-time asset streaming, and face difficulties in distributing workloads effectively across CPU cores. Additionally, console hardware influences game design, often leading to CPU-bound scenarios on high-end PCs. Performance varies between Intel and AMD CPUs depending on game design, with some games demonstrating effective CPU scaling while others do not. CPU bottlenecks are expected to persist as GPU advancements outpace CPU improvements, emphasizing the need for gamers to consider CPU capabilities alongside GPU upgrades.
How to Properly Benchmark your PC Games Using CapFrameX
AppWizard
December 27, 2025

How to Properly Benchmark your PC Games Using CapFrameX

Average Frames Per Second (FPS) is a common metric in PC gaming performance, but consistency in gameplay experience is equally important, highlighted by metrics such as 1% low and 0.1% low average FPS. CapFrameX is a tool used for capturing and analyzing detailed performance data, including frametimes, which provide a more accurate assessment of gaming performance than basic FPS counters. Key metrics generated by CapFrameX include: - Average FPS: Overall framerate averaged across the capture session. - 1% low average FPS: Average of the worst 1% of framerates, indicating sustained performance. - 0.1% low average FPS: Average of the worst 0.1% of framerates, highlighting rare but significant performance dips. To ensure accurate benchmarking results with CapFrameX, users should update their UEFI BIOS, operating system, and drivers, clear unnecessary applications, configure power settings for maximum performance, monitor temperatures, and conduct multiple benchmark runs under consistent conditions. The setup process for CapFrameX includes downloading the software, configuring capture options, and verifying the setup through test captures. After capturing benchmark runs, users can analyze the data using the Analysis and Comparison tabs in CapFrameX to evaluate performance metrics and identify potential issues. Common pitfalls in benchmarking include inconsistent scenes, overlooking frametime variance, and not preparing the system properly.
Biscuit PostgreSQL Extension Accelerates LIKE Queries with Roaring Bitmaps
Tech Optimizer
December 22, 2025

Biscuit PostgreSQL Extension Accelerates LIKE Queries with Roaring Bitmaps

Biscuit is an open-source project developed by CrystallineCore, available on GitHub, that introduces a specialized index access method for PostgreSQL to enhance query speed for pattern matching in LIKE queries. It addresses limitations of traditional indexing methods like B-tree and GIN indexes, particularly in complex LIKE or ILIKE operations and multi-column searches. Biscuit uses in-memory bitmap structures to reduce query times by precomputing bitmap representations of string patterns, allowing for rapid filtering without scanning entire rows. The project has a vibrant community contributing to its optimization and performance improvements, especially for ARM architectures. Independent tests show that Biscuit can outperform PostgreSQL's pg_trgm by factors of 5-10x on wildcard-heavy workloads. Real-world applications include significant reductions in query latencies for e-commerce and log processing pipelines, with a reported 40% reduction in ETL job times for error pattern detection in server logs. Biscuit faces challenges such as the initial time required to build indexes on large tables and limited compatibility with older PostgreSQL versions, but the maintainers are actively addressing these issues. The design of Biscuit encourages integration with other open-source tools, and community feedback is shaping its future development.
THQ Nordic and Nine Rocks Games announce Next Hunting Adventure for PC
AppWizard
December 17, 2025

THQ Nordic and Nine Rocks Games announce Next Hunting Adventure for PC

Publisher THQ Nordic and developer Nine Rocks Games are releasing an open-world hunting game titled Next Hunting Adventure, set in the wilderness of North America. The game will be available on PC via Steam, but a release date has not been announced. It features realistic wildlife encounters, partnerships with over ten real-world brands for hunting gear, and two environments for players to explore. Key features include a hunting dog that assists in tracking, an enhanced bullet camera for shot analysis, a central hub called the Hunting Lodge for planning and upgrades, and access to advanced equipment for an immersive experience.
Optimize and troubleshoot database performance in Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL by analyzing execution plans using CloudWatch Database Insights
Tech Optimizer
December 12, 2025

Optimize and troubleshoot database performance in Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL by analyzing execution plans using CloudWatch Database Insights

Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched CloudWatch Database Insights in December 2024, a monitoring solution for Aurora (PostgreSQL and MySQL) and Amazon RDS engines, aimed at identifying and resolving database performance issues. The tool includes an Advanced mode for SQL execution plan analysis, which helps users troubleshoot query performance within Aurora PostgreSQL clusters. The PostgreSQL query optimizer generates execution plans to determine the most efficient way to execute SQL queries, which can be analyzed using the EXPLAIN command. Users can compare execution plans to identify performance degradation, such as changes in execution behavior due to dropped indexes or inefficient join strategies. For example, a comparison of execution plans for a SQL statement retrieving order details showed significant differences: one plan used an efficient index scan while another resorted to sequential scans due to missing indexes, leading to increased query costs and execution times. Additionally, analysis of execution plans can reveal performance bottlenecks, such as insufficient memory allocation for sorting operations. Adjusting the work_mem parameter allowed for in-memory sorting, improving performance significantly. CloudWatch Database Insights facilitates the identification of these issues, enabling users to optimize query performance effectively.
Risks of Manual PostgreSQL Starts in Patroni Clusters: Downtime Warnings
Tech Optimizer
December 1, 2025

Risks of Manual PostgreSQL Starts in Patroni Clusters: Downtime Warnings

Patroni is an open-source tool for managing PostgreSQL clusters, automating failover and replication. Manual starting of PostgreSQL services within an active Patroni cluster can lead to severe disruptions, including data integrity issues and availability risks. Patroni uses a distributed consensus system, often with etcd or Consul, to manage cluster state and leader elections. Manual interventions can confuse this process, resulting in multiple nodes believing they are the primary, which can cause conflicting writes and potential data loss. Real-world incidents have documented outages due to manual starts, such as promoting a replica node to leader status inadvertently. This disrupts Write-Ahead Logging (WAL) synchronization, leading to divergent transaction logs. Database administrators are advised to use Patroni's built-in commands for service management and implement role-based access controls to prevent unauthorized manual actions. Monitoring solutions are crucial for early detection of anomalies. Simulating failure scenarios in staging environments can help prepare teams for real incidents. Ongoing advancements aim to enhance Patroni's safeguards against manual overrides, with future iterations potentially incorporating AI-driven anomaly detection.
New ClickFix Attack Targeting Windows and macOS Users to Deploy Infostealer Malware
Tech Optimizer
November 13, 2025

New ClickFix Attack Targeting Windows and macOS Users to Deploy Infostealer Malware

Security researchers have identified a malware campaign using the ClickFix social engineering technique to spread information-stealing malware on Windows and macOS. The campaign targets users searching for cracked software, leading them to malicious Google-hosted landing pages. Victims encounter fake security warnings that prompt them to execute a malicious command, resulting in the installation of infostealer malware. Windows users receive the ACR stealer, while macOS users get the Odyssey stealer, both delivered in password-protected ZIP files. ACR also loads additional malware like SharkClipper, which hijacks cryptocurrency clipboard data. The campaign has seen a 700% increase in ACR logs in May 2025, with ClickFix becoming the most common initial access method, accounting for 47% of all initial access schemes. The malware collects various user data, including passwords and cryptocurrency wallets, and operates in a fileless manner to evade detection. Security experts advise against executing unverified commands and recommend enhancing endpoint detection capabilities to combat these threats.
Russian APT abuses Windows Hyper-V for persistence and malware execution
Winsage
November 5, 2025

Russian APT abuses Windows Hyper-V for persistence and malware execution

Cyber attackers used the Import-VM and Start-VM PowerShell cmdlets to introduce a virtual machine named WSL into Hyper-V. This virtual machine hosts a compact Alpine Linux environment with two implants, CurlyShell and CurlCat, identified by Bitdefender. CurlyShell uses libcurl to connect to a command-and-control server, creating a reverse shell to execute commands and return outputs. CurlCat functions as a proxy, tunneling SSH traffic through HTTP requests to evade detection by network monitoring tools.
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