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28 Dec 2024

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Squid Game reviews: Season two 'sensational' or 'a letdown'?
The returning Netflix show has received mixed reviews from critics

AI upscaling killed native graphics gaming. We’re better off for it
Even for me, someone who’s an avid graphics card hardware enthusiast, it took some time to warm up to the idea of AI rdesolution upscaling. But this newfangled technology has been embraced over the past few years by virtually every major GPU manufacturer, with Nvidia leading the pack with DLSS and others following in its wake, including AMD with FSR, Intel with XeSS, and even Sony with PSSR on the PlayStation 5 Pro. And I’m now ready to say it: real-time AI upscaling tech has made native resolution graphics obsolete in gaming. Keep reading to learn what AI upscaling is, why it’s revolutionary, and what it means for all the new games you’ll be playing in the future. Related: The best graphics cards for every budget What is AI resolution upscaling? AI resolution upscaling (also just called AI upscaling) is when a game renders its frames at a resolution that’s lower than your display’s native resolution, then uses AI image processing techniques to scale that rendered frame back up to native resolution. With modern machine learning, these upscaled images look pretty darn close. Not all AI upscaling features are equal, of course. For example, Nvidia’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) does best with its RTX GPUs while AMD’s FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) and Intel’s XeSS (Xe Super Sampling) prioritize wider compatibility at the cost of performance. In some cases, the differences can be notably enormous. Comparison of Stalker 2 frame rates with and without Nvidia DLSS 3 enabled.Nvidia Nvidia’s DLSS is generally seen as the cream of the crop, especially when paired with its frame generation tech. Running on the tensor cores of an RTX GPU, frame generation analyzes two frames and then uses AI to create another frame in between, resulting in higher frame rates and smoother graphics in CPU-bottlenecked games. Nvidia Reflex then comes into play, helping to minimize input latency that might be otherwise felt when frames are generated from scratch like this. For example, suppose you’re playing Cyberpunk 2077 on Ultra settings at 4K resolution with Path Tracing. Even the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 would struggle to achieve playable frame rates. But with Nvidia DLSS 3.5 and frame generation, performance is greatly improved without much loss in visual fidelity. It’s the best of all worlds. Meanwhile, AMD hasn’t fully infused AI into its FSR 3 technology yet (but plans to do so in the near future) and has its own flavor of frame generation called Fluid Motion Frames. Intel has AI upscaling with XeSS 2, which we recently looked at in our review of the Intel Arc B580. Intel’s tech also packs Xe Low Latency (XeLL), akin to Nvidia Reflex. Why AI upscaling is revolutionary No matter how powerful a GPU might be, it’s eventually going to hit a wall. It can only do so much without blowing up its cost and power draw. That’s why AI upscaling is shaking things up so much. There was a time when Nvidia pushed Scalable Link Interface (SLI) tech, which let you link multiple GPUs together for parallel processing power to generate higher frame rates. This was, of course, expensive and unwieldy and took up tons of space… and that’s why SLI was discontinued. On the flip side, single powerful GPUs like the GeForce RTX 4090 can only do so much on their own. This is where AI upscaling comes in. When implemented well, AI upscaling paves the way for supercharged performance — even for limited hardware. For example, the aforementioned Intel Arc B580 is a budget-tier GPU that can crank out big performance thanks to features like AI upscaling. AI upscaling like Nvidia’s DLSS is useful with ray tracing in games like Hitman 3.Thiago Trevisan / IDG That isn’t necessarily the revolutionary bit, however. Making a weak GPU more capable is great, and making a powerful GPU even stronger is fun, but the real progress comes from manufacturers being able to create low-power devices that can do so much more. Consider a gaming handheld like Valve’s Steam Deck. It’s housed in a gorgeous package, but its small form factor means it can only fit so much hardware — and that means it needs to overcome so many hurdles like thermal issues, engineering, etc. These types of devices can’t just shove in a more powerful GPU, so they need help from elsewhere. (With the Steam Deck, Valve relies on AMD’s FSR to upscale games.) Thiago Trevisan / IDG We can extrapolate that to any similar device, including gaming consoles. Consoles are often built to certain specifications to keep costs, thermals, and size under control. That’s why the PlayStation 5 Pro now has PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution), its own machine learning-based upscaling solution that lets it punch well above its weight. With PSSR, it has the ability to learn and adapt over time — that itself is pretty darn revolutionary. Not only does this mean the device can perform well, it can improve over time. And if Sony works with AMD to develop future solutions around AI upscaling to further improve console performance, the future of gaming could be very interesting indeed. Why native graphics are almost obsolete If there’s a downside to AI upscaling, it’s that some developers have started using it as a crutch for poor optimization. And as AI upscaling becomes more widely available and as more developers become familiar with adding it to their games, we’re likely to see games perform worse without those features propping them up. Furthermore, hardware companies like Nvidia and AMD will continue to level up their AI upscaling tech because they want their own solutions to be favored by developers. And given all the gains that come from AI upscaling, native resolution gamers are hitting a two-fold wall: not only do they suffer worse performance, that performance gap will continue to widen. Some might say this is just the cycle of GPU life. Thiago Trevisan / IDG Yet despite how good Nvidia’s solutions are, AMD remains a significant player for one key reason: its discrete desktop GPUs may have a lower market share than Nvidia’s GPUs, but AMD still excels in consoles. AMD is still the heart that powers the PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam Deck, and AMD’s success with AI upscaling will only further propel these devices to leave behind native graphics gaming. Of course, AI upscaling isn’t perfect. There are still artifacts and weird performance issues that can crop up, and AI upscaling performance does vary from developer to developer. But as adoption grows and more users rely on it, native graphics will go the way of the dodo. How to start using AI upscaling right now As of this writing, the best way to experience AI upscaling is with a high-end GPU, such as one in Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 40 Series. If your budget is tight, you can also start benefiting from AI upscaling without breaking the bank with Intel’s newly released Arc B580 GPU. There are already many games that support AI upscaling, which you’ll see as Nvidia DLSS, AMD FSR, or Intel XeSS in the display/graphics settings of said games. You’ll be able to choose the quality level you’re comfortable with, which will dictate performance. Brad Chacos / IDG For the most part, AI upscaling will allow you to run a game at a higher frame rate than your hardware GPU would typically allow at native resolution. For example, Microsoft Flight Simulator at 4K puts out around 65 FPS natively but 122 FPS with DLSS 3 and frame generation — a significant boost with minor drawbacks you may not even notice. With next-generation GPUs, AI upscaling is going to be even better. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs are rumored to have more advanced AI features, including a more advanced version of DLSS. AMD’s FSR isn’t as polished as Nvidia’s DLSS, but a future update may bring it closer in line.AMD Ray tracing and path tracing have burst onto the gaming scene over the last several years, with titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake 2 famously spotlight these features. They look impressive and beautiful, but they bring even the best GPUs to their knees without AI upscaling. Even so, Nvidia is likely to keep pushing the boundaries of ray tracing in the next generation, with improved RT cores in its GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs. This will make AI upscaling ever more appealing to developers and gamers alike, with graphics that just aren’t possible yet. For all of the above reasons, I expect the next generation of GPUs from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel will signal the full-breadth adoption of AI upscaling and the sunsetting of native-only graphics for good. Further reading: Don’t pay extra for factory-overclocked GPUs!

How to build your own router and firewall with Opnsense
Do you like fiddling with computers and fancy the idea of taking on a more advanced project? Then I have a suggestion: Build your own router/firewall. With a router running a more advanced operating system on more powerful hardware than standard consumer routers, a whole world of new possibilities opens up. Although there is a learning curve and can feel complicated at first, it actually becomes easier to do things that might be possible with a router from, for example, Asus, but are really complicated. There are a number of operating systems to choose from, from Openwrt, which can also be installed on consumer routers, to various Linux-based systems such as Clear OS and IP Fire, to Unix systems such as PF Sense and Opnsense. Yours truly’s little rat’s nest home lab. To the left, an Intel NUC that runs an Opnsense router, among other things. To the right a switch from Unifi.Anders Lundberg The latter two seem to be the most popular, and I myself have had a router with Opnsense for a couple of years so for this guide I have chosen that system. Other articles in this series: How to choose a new router and get started with important settings Solve your Wi-Fi problems with these smart router settings Protect your home network with these essential router tweaks More than Internet: 9 tips to maximize your home network Get more from your home network: 5 advanced tips for the hardcore Why build it yourself? For many, it’s enough to answer: Because it’s possible and because it’s interesting and instructive. But you don’t have to be motivated by curiosity alone. There are several practical and technical advantages too. Once you get started and learn the basics, it immediately becomes much easier to do things like set up multiple VLAN with different firewall rules (to prevent smart home gadgets from accessing the internet, for example), use dynamic DNS, run your own recursive DNS server, display a welcome message when guests connect to the wireless network, and much more. Perhaps the biggest benefit, however, is security. Instead of relying on the manufacturer to release updates and keep the router secure, you get new updates almost weekly so that all parts of the system have the very latest security fixes. There are also add-ons that give the network more advanced protection than is normal in consumer products. Hunsn Choose the right hardware You can reuse an old computer for Opnsense, in which case one or two network cards are all you normally need to buy. But such a computer is usually unnecessarily power hungry and a large piece of equipment that can be difficult to place in the home. Opnsense is based on the Unix system Freebsd. This means that it is a little more fussy with the hardware compared to Linux. Above all, it is network cards that can be a problem. The system prefers and works best with Intel-based cards, so if you’re buying new, it might be worth checking that the computer you choose has Intel networking chips. A mini PC with two Ethernet connectors may be a better choice, and in fact there are computers on sale designed specifically for use with Opnsense or PF Sense. For example, Amazon sells this model from Hunsn that costs just over $200 and has Intel networking chips. Since memory is cheap, I recommend 16 gigabytes from the start and at least 128 gigabytes of SSD. In addition to the router computer, I strongly recommend a managed switch to connect, for example, your old router that you can set to work as an access point instead of a router, only for Wi-Fi. It is also needed if you want to start using virtual networks (VLAN). Installing Opnsense Start by downloading the latest version of Opnsense (click directly on the Download button with the preselected options). Also download and install Balena Etcher, a simple program for writing .iso and .img files to USB sticks. Foundry Unzip the downloaded .bz2 file so that you get an .img file. Plug in a USB stick, start Etcher, click on Flash from file and select that file. Select your USB stick as target and then click on Flash. Once that’s done, you can eject the flash drive and connect it to the router computer, to which you’ll need to have a monitor and keyboard connected to begin with. Boot the computer from the USB stick via the boot menu or BIOS. Foundry The system starts with text only, which will scroll past for a while. When it is finished, you will be taken to a login prompt. Enter username installer and password opnsense. The installation program will now start. Foundry Select the language on the keyboard and move on. Select Install (ZFS) which is now the normal recommended method. Select Stripe and then use the space bar to select the target SSD. Go ahead and accept and it will format the disk and copy all the files. Once it’s done, you can select Complete Install (you can change root password easier in the next step). Basic settings When the router computer reboots, you can take out the USB stick and let it boot from the SSD. As before, a bunch of text will scroll by during boot, until you reach the login prompt. I recommend that you start by changing the address of the LAN interface, so that Opnsense doesn’t mess with your old router if you want to be connected to both at the same time before you are ready to move the internet connection over to Opnsense. Foundry Log in with the username root and the password opnsense. Press 2 to change the IP address. Press the correct number for LAN (normally 1). Press return to choose not to use DHCP. Enter an appropriate address, for example 10.1.1.1, and then 24 to stick to addresses in the format 10.1.1.x. On the rest of the questions you can press return to accept the preselected option. Before you can do anything else, you need to connect the Opnsense machine and your regular computer with a network cable, either directly or via a switch. Open Settings on your regular computer and go to Network and Internet > Ethernet. You should have an address in the same format as Opnsense (for example 10.1.1.2), with the address you just chose as gateway and mask 255.255.255.0. If it has not appeared by itself, you can click on Edit to the right of IP assignment and fill in yourself. Then open a browser and type in 10.1.1.1 and you should hopefully get a security warning about invalid certificate, which you have to click past to get to the Opnsense web interface. The username is root and the default password is opnsense. Foundry You will now be taken to the Opnsense guided basic settings. The first thing to do is DNS settings. Here I recommend leaving the dns servers fields blank, untick Override DNS and tick the three boxes under Unbound DNS. The remaining steps you can click past until you get to a question about changing the password for the root account. Choose a new secure password and write it down. Get on the internet In order for Opnsense to access the internet and act as a router/firewall, you need to connect an Ethernet cable to it. You can either take the cable from the broadband socket of your old router and connect it to Opnsense instead. Alternatively, you can connect to a socket in the old router or a switch if you have one, but this will be a bit more complicated. If you have regular broadband via fiber that connects with DHCP, Opnsense should automatically connect and get an external IP. You can check this by selecting Interfaces > Overview in the web interface. Foundry If the WAN has been given an address, you can test that everything works by checking for updates. Select System > Firmware > Status and click Check for updates. If it works, this is a good time to install the first of many upcoming updates. Then try going to any website in your regular computer. If that works too, you have a working Opnsense router. Other settings in the system can be left as they are for now — the system has no unsafe default options. Foundry Learn the interface and understand the firewall The Opnsense web interface is structured a little differently than most routers. On the left, there’s a hierarchical menu where you’ll find all the settings, divided into different categories. At the top right, there is also a search bar that works really well to find settings far down in the hierarchies. The System menu mainly has settings for Opnsense itself, but also updates and installation of plugins — an important feature when you want to start building out the router with smart features. Interfaces is about the different network interfaces, normally LAN and WAN but here you will also find VLAN, PPPoE if the internet operator requires login and interfaces for a VPN server. Firewall is, of course, about rules for blocking and allowing traffic, but also about port forwarding. Under Aliases, you can create aliases for individual devices, for example, to make them easier to use in firewall rules. The VPN menu is for both VPN servers for connecting from outside to your local network and for connecting the entire network to an external VPN service. Services is a collection menu for other built-in functions such as DHCP and DNS (Unbound) and also functions from installed plugins. VLAN without internet for the smart home A common use case for a more advanced router like Opnsense is to place some connected devices on a separate network with different firewall rules. For example, a network for smart home gadgets that have no access to the internet and limited access to the rest of the network. Foundry To do so, start by opening Interfaces > Other Types > VLAN. Click on the plus button to create a new VLAN. Give it a short name, for example SMART and fill in a number for the VLAN tag between 1 and 4,094, I usually choose a ten, for example 10. Save. Flundry Now go to Interfaces > Assignments and fill in the same name under Description for the new interface. Click Add. Foundry Now click Interfaces > [SMART] and tick Enable Interface and Prevent interface removal. Select Static IPv4 under IPv4 Configuration Type. Scroll down to the bottom and fill in a suitable IP address and select 24 instead of 32 to the right of the address. If you have chosen to give the regular network the address 10.1.1.1, you can choose 10.1.10.1 for the VLAN network (I usually use the same number in the third group as the VLAN tag, so a guest network with the tag 20 gets the address 10.1.20.1 and so on). Save and apply the changes. Foundry Go to Services > ISC DHCPv4 > [SMART]. Tick Enable DHCP server… and fill in an address range, for example 10.1.10.100-10.1.10.254 (I usually leave addresses below 100 for devices that should have a fixed IP address). Save and apply the changes. If you look in Firewall > Rules > SMART you will see that there are no rules, which means that all traffic is stopped. If you look at the rules for the LAN, you will see that Opnsense has automatically added rules to let through all traffic originating on that network. So if you want to allow internet for smart home gadgets, you need to create a rule for that. Foundry To actually use and connect gadgets to the VLAN network, you need a managed switch. In its settings, you can enable VLAN tagging for one or more ethernet connectors, and gadgets you connect to these connectors will then only “see” the VLAN network. In the adjacent image, you can see what it looks like with a switch from Unifi — other manufacturers such as D-Link and TP-Link have similar settings. If your Opnsense machine has more network connectors, you can “tag” these and use them instead. Do you need help? If you get stuck somewhere, there are many resources to help. The Home Network Guy blog has several guides on Opnsense, from installation to more advanced topics like VLAN. It also has a very good YouTube channel that I highly recommend. On Reddit, help is available in several groups, such as r/opnsense and r/homelab. Foundry Tip: Virtual router If you want to try Opnsense and see how the interface feels, you can do it in a virtual machine instead of on a physical computer. You can do this with, for example, Virtualbox directly in Windows, just to familiarize yourself with the interface and how to set things up. You can also run the system more permanently on a server computer running Linux, usually the Proxmox variant. Home Network Guy has a good guide to that.