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Victrix Pro FS review – one of the best fight sticks ever made
4:11 pm | August 31, 2023
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Tags: | Comments: Off

The Victrix Pro FS aims to cater to fighting game enthusiasts with a high-end model that’s made with money as no object. Sporting a stunning aluminum design and leading hardware inside, there are no compromises made with this PS5 and PC fight stick. Without question, it’s one of the best fight sticks around, but you’re paying a premium here overall. 

Unlike some other fight sticks, the Victrix Pro FS is sleeker and lighter than many alternatives you’ll find on the platform. If you’re someone who wants to take the best fighting games seriously then this is the high-end option to consider. However, if you’re more cash-strapped, you may want to look for some other alternatives as this is one of the priciest offerings around. 

Price and availability

The Victrix Pro FS is currently available in the US, the UK, and Australia for $399.99 / £349.99 / AU$799.95 making it one of the most expensive fight sticks on the market to date. You have the choice of two colors, either the brand’s signature purple or a white variant. For context, this is significantly more expensive than the Nacon Daija ($249.99 / £254 / AU$499) and the Hori Fighting Alpha ($199 / £199 / AU$398) which have options for the PS5 console, too. 

Design and features

Side of the Victrix Pro FS showing the lighting

(Image credit: Future)

What immediately separates the Victrix Pro FS from its competition is the physical design of the fight stick itself. Instead of being made up of a mixture of plastic materials, this company opted to forge this model out of a single sheet of aluminum. The manufacturer claims that it’s “aircraft-grade” and while I’m unable to verify this, the chassis itself is seriously premium in both feel and construction to the touch. This also adds to the overall lighter feel than something like the Nacon Daija (10.2 lbs / 4.64kg) with its body weight of 7.6 lbs / 3.4kg when on your lap. A neat touch is the 6.28-inch wrist slope which means you can wrest on the metal when playing without discomfort, something no other current-gen fight stick offers. 

Body aside, the Victrix Pro FS is rocking Sanwa Denshi buttons and a joystick complete with microswitches with the eight-way gate which truly delivers that arcade-quality feel. These components are known for their accuracy, precision, and reliability and are a smart choice for a fight stick that costs this much. However, much like with the Hori Fighting Alpha, you’re able to open the rear of the device up to modify the stick and buttons, and tools are included to easily tune the gear to your liking. This means you can keep the chassis but opt for the likes of Qanba or Seimitsu if so desired.  

One thing that I really appreciate is the carrying handles for Victrix Pro FS which makes transportation easy. If you’re someone who gets shuffled around a lot in tournaments, being able to pick it up with ease is a good inclusion. There’s also a lockout button that disables the control bar (such as the start button and other console-specific commands) so they won’t get in the way during competition. The bar is integrated nicely at the top with the eight buttons below marked with which PlayStation input they correspond with.

Performance

Buttons on the Victrix Pro FS

(Image credit: Future)

As someone who has been playing fighting games for decades and has used many fight sticks, I can say with confidence that the Victrix Pro FS is one of the best on the market. The lightweight feel of the chassis combined with the dedicated wrist space and Sanwa Denshi hardware made for an overall user experience that was seriously hard to beat. Within just a couple of rounds of Mortal Kombat 1 during its open beta, Tekken 7, and Street Fighter 6, I was pulling off commands that I had struggled with, even when utilizing one of the best PS5 controllers.

I am very familiar with Sanwa Denshi parts, having used them in the past with the Hit Box Cross|Up and the Hori Fighting Alpha, but the way the Victrix Pro FS utilizes the stick and buttons is a cut above. The gate on the stick and the feel of the buttons themselves feel that little bit more tuned, owing in part to the metal chassis, meaning I didn’t have to press down as hard or aggressively as I had on the plastic boxes of the past. 

While a fight stick won’t necessarily give you an advantage, I found in my testing that I was gravitating more towards the Victrix Pro FS than my Victrix BFG Pro or the DualSense wireless controller when playing on PS5 and PC for comfort. Instead of clawing my hands around a gamepad, I was able to use both hands more freely to pull off inputs I would have found more difficult on a D-pad. That’s in large part due to the excellent joystick found on this model, with a sharp and deliberate gate which meant each flick of the stick was captured well. 

The arcade layout is also great for bringing a more immersive experience to some of the best arcade games, particularly with beat ‘em ups available on Xbox Game Pass for PC such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, and I also enjoyed more hours than I am willing to admit in both Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 and Magical Drop 6 as well. Ultimately, if you’re looking for the hardware that can give you the fighting game edge and performs well with other genres then the Victrix Pro FS could be what you’ve been waiting for. 

Verdict

Aerial view of the Victrix Pro FS

(Image credit: Future)

Buy it if… 

You want a high-quality fight stick for PS5 and PC

The Victrix Pro FS is an excellently designed fight stick for Sony consoles and PC made out of a single piece of aluminum and featuring Sanwa Denshi stick and buttons for a premium feel. 

You want to customize your fight stick

Thanks to its open hatch design, you’re able to open up the Victrix Pro FS and use the included tools to swap out the sticks and buttons at your leisure. 

Don’t buy it if… 

You want good value for money 

For as great as the Victrix Pro FS is, you can find the same hardware inside in cheaper fight sticks for the PS5 and PC in the Nacon Daija which offers better value for money overall.

The Victrix Pro FS will pair well with one of the best monitors for PS5 and you can make room for all the fighting games you'll want to play with one of the best SSDs for PS5, too. 

Crucial P5 Plus review – competitively priced but lacking in performance
7:46 pm | August 25, 2023
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Tags: , | Comments: Off

The Crucial P5 Plus is a budget PS5 SSD that looks to rival some of the cheaper options for internal console storage in 2023. However, with sequential performance that falls behind the majority of the competition, this is one drive that can’t quite be considered one of the best SSDs for PS5 despite having a good heatsink. 

At a time when the prices of Gen 4 models are continuing to fall, any major advantage that the Crucial P5 Plus would have is subdued. It isn’t fast enough or packed with leading features to rival the top-end brands, nor cheap enough to be considered in higher capacities than some of the budget picks I’ve had past my desk over the past couple of years.

Price and Availability

You can get your hands on the Crucial P5 Plus in the US and the UK for as low as $44.99 / £44.99 for 500GB, but things get more aggressive at the 1TB and 2TB variants at $55 / £57 and $97 / £98 being one of the cheapest PS5 SSDs available now. It’s not quite the cheapest on the market - that would be the Adata XPG Gammix S70 Blade, which performs a lot better - but for a Gen 4 NVMe in 2TB in the sub-$100 / £100 range, this value proposition cannot be ignored. With the heatsink models specifically, you’re looking at 1TB and 2TB variants for £65 / $62.99 and $199.99 / £104.99 respectively which is still incredibly competitive. 

Design and features

Using a proprietary Crucial NVMe controller with LPDDR4 DRAM cache and Micron 176L TLC flash memory, the Crucial P5 Plus is technically capable of pumping out sequential figures of up to 6,600 MB/s read with 5,000 MB/s write. These are respectable figures, sure, however, they fall far from what the now four-year-old Gen 4 NVMe technology is capable of. Most moderately priced models, such as the once-premium Samsung 980 Pro and WD Black SN850 are capable of producing sequential and random performance pushing 7,300 MB/s read and 7,000 MB/s write respectively. 

The write endurance (TBW) is also pretty average from the Crucial P5 Plus. It’s rated for up to 300TB (500GB), 600TB (1TB), and 1,200TB (2TB) which lags behind the competition as well. Specs aside, this heatsink variant of the Gen 4 drive is rocking one of the nicer heatsinks that I’ve seen in some time. Available for the 1TB and 2TB versions, it’s a thick, rugged aluminium model that’s layered in such a way that lets heat glide off it. It’s a good touch and spares you from having to consider a standalone PS5 SSD heatsink instead. 

Performance

Back of the Crucial P5 Plus

(Image credit: Future)

I won’t mince words here: while technically competent, the Crucial P5 Plus is the slowest PS5 SSD that I have ever tested in the console. It achieved a benchmark score of 5,624 MB/s - a number which led me to re-test the drive several times and even clean the connector before re-inserting to try again. The speeds actually got gradually lower every time by a couple of MB/s, too. The measure of 5,624 MB/s however is just 100 MB/s faster than the absolute minimum recommended spec set by Sony - something usually comfortably surpassed by other PS5 SSDs. After the benchmark was done, there was a message stating to transfer games back onto the internal storage should there be any issues during play, which isn’t the most encouraging first impression. 

While many console-compatible Gen 4 drives are easily able to transfer files at around 1GB/sec, this wasn’t quite the case for Micron’s latest model. This can be evidenced by smaller titles such as Crash Team Rumble and Stray which leaped over from the internal SSD to the Crucial P5 Plus in 8 seconds and 9 seconds respectively. However, with larger file sizes, the gap did increase to almost 1GB/sec when transferring over the likes of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart which was written onto the drive in 31 seconds, and Sonic Frontiers which copied over in 24 seconds. 

Curiously, as some of the best PS5 games I used got larger in size, the transfer speeds increased. This is also what occurred with the Nextorage NEM-PA, too, but it is good to see rates becoming consistent under heavy loads, likely due to the 176-layer memory and DRAM cache on the chip. Death Stranding: Director’s Cut and Demon’s Souls transferred in just 56 seconds and 45 seconds respectively which deserves commending. While the rates are far from special, the consistency should be praised, as the Crucial P5 Plus ticks the necessary boxes - albeit unexceptionally. 

The message of instability from the benchmark didn’t seem to matter in game. When I was playing through some of the aforementioned titles (as well as Mortal Kombat 11) while installed on the drive, everything ran as expected with no technical hiccups to speak of.

While the Crucial P5 Plus does a good job in the PS5 console under some circumstances, it lags behind the vast majority of the similarly priced competition in almost every aspect. The bottom line is that it isn’t cheap enough to beat out a budget competitor, nor fast enough to compete with the dozens of PS5 SSDs offering higher sequential performance out of the gate. 

Crucial P5 Plus heatsink

(Image credit: Future)

Buy it if…  

You want a budget PS5 SSD

For the right price, the Crucial P5 Plus could be worth it for you as it performs well enough inside the PS5 for loading games and transferring data. 

You want a PS5 SSD with a specialized heatsink 

The Crucial P5 Plus features one of the nicest and sturdiest heatsinks I’ve seen on a PS5 SSD to date.

Don't buy it if...

You can find other, better PS5 SSDs for the same price

With the rates on once top-end flagships from Samsung, WD Black, Corsair, PNY, and Seagate continuing to get cheaper every day, there’s little incentive to throw money at Crucial P5 Plus over them. 

You want a 4TB PS5 SSD

If you’re after a high-capacity PS5 SSD then you’re out of luck as the Crucial P5 Plus only goes up to 2TB. Viable alternatives include the Nextorage NEM-PA 4TB and the Seagate FireCuda 530 which are available at this size with a heatsink. 

We're also rounding up the best PS5 external hard drives and the best monitors for PS5 as well so you can fill out your PlayStation 5 setup.

Logitech G Cloud review – No one’s handheld
6:14 pm | May 16, 2023
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets | Tags: , | Comments: Off

The Logitech G Cloud is the line of handheld games consoles following in the success of the Nintendo Switch and Valve's Steam Deck. Unlike those devices, though, this one's focus isn't to run games natively, but to stream them from the cloud as its name would imply. Armed with respectable hardware for this purpose and an ergonomic form factor, there's a lot going for it on paper. 

The reality of the matter is much different though, as its limited usability (thanks in part to a complete lack of 4G/5G support) and high price tag means it cannot be considered one of the best handheld games consoles when compared to the competition. It's built for a very particular niche that I don't think exists; an audience that wants less functionality than what the best tablets can offer to stream content from the best games consoles on the market. 

Price and Availability

The Logitech G Cloud initially launched in the US in October 2022 and is now available in the UK and Europe for $349.99 / £329.99. Australian pricing and availability have not been confirmed. However, it should be launching in the next few weeks, given the further availability of the handheld as of May 2023. It’s a steep rate wherever you’re based on the globe, costing the same amount (if not more) than the Nintendo Switch OLED and is comparable to the base 64GB Steam Deck model, which retails at $399.99 / £349.99. 

Design and Features

A side view of the Logitech G Cloud showing the form factor

(Image credit: Future)

The Logitech G Cloud utilizes a 1080p 7-inch IPS 60 Hz multi-touch screen as its panel of touch and is bolstered by console quality controls and an ergonomic grip on either side. The stick and face button layout should be familiar to those who use the best Xbox controllers with its XYAB format and asymmetrical placement. The D-pad here is solid but isn’t quite as good as what you’ll find on the Xbox Wireless Controller; it’s satisfying enough but doesn’t have the same tactile click with its quiet feedback. As well as the more standard approach, there are buttons acting as start and options, as well as dedicated home and hub ones.  

The most striking thing about the Logitech G Cloud is how thin and light it is, even compared to other gaming handhelds from Valve, Nintendo, and AyaNeo. Weighing in at just 463g and measuring at just 1.3 inches in thickness, it’s a slight machine, to say the least. Unfortunately, the main reason Logitech’s latest device comes in lighter and slimmer than its rivals is due to the guts inside. That’s because the Logitech G Cloud is essentially an Android tablet running the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G octa-core processor instead of something more hardware intensive, such as the Nvidia Tegra X1 or an AMD Ryzen APU. 

The hardware manufacturer claims you can expect around 12 hours of playback from the Logitech G Cloud’s 6000 mAh battery. From my testing, I can confirm that that’s about right when used purely for cloud streaming through in-built applications like Nvidia GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Steam Link. However, your mileage may seriously vary when gaming natively on Android in titles that will flex the hardware a little further. If you’re looking at having this as a machine to do both, then you’re looking at a more inconsistent 8-10 hours when all is said and done, but that’s still reasonably good for a handheld, all told. 

The Logitech G Cloud features two modes in the software for handheld and tablet use; the former is a streamlined approach with a console-style menu similar to Steam’s Big Picture, and the latter is a basic vanilla Android experience. For the bulk of my testing, I kept the machine in its Logitech G Hub menu just to make navigation straightforward, as it was the fastest way to jump between the various game streaming applications, the Google Play store, and the mobile titles I had installed and ready to go.  

Performance

Snake.io running on the Logitech G Cloud

(Image credit: Future)

The performance of the Logitech G Cloud is wildly inconsistent depending on the streaming service you choose to run for it. Many of my hours were spent with the Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, provided by the PR for review purposes. While I can respect the convenience of being able to boot up any number of titles available to Xbox Series X users on the platform and play some of the best Xbox Series X games without the need for the system itself, the experience is incredibly mixed. 

There’s close to what feels like a half-second of delay, regardless of which game I was playing through the Xbox Cloud Gaming’s servers. To make matters worse, the video quality itself was lackluster. It was frequently fuzzy in motion, making faster-paced titles, such as Forza Horizon 5 and Doom Eternal, close to unplayable as the roads merged together and the demons were a blur. Less intense games such as Powerwash Simulator and Skate 3 didn’t have this problem, but I found text hard to read, and the slight lag between pressing buttons and things reacting was frustrating more often than not. Yes, the service is in Beta (and also available for Android and iOS outside of the Logitech G Cloud), but seeing as this handheld pushes Xbox so heavily, it’s far from ideal that the performance is this lacking. 

For the record, I have a decent wireless internet connection. Through an internet speed test conducted from the Logitech G Cloud, I got 495.4 MB/s download and 35.7 MB/s upload which greatly exceeds the minimum recommend rates cited by Microsoft itself. It wasn’t the best first impression of the handheld, but things quickly improved when switching over to Nvidia GeForce Now’s Ultimate package. Similar to the ill-fated Google Stadia, this service utilizes high-end gaming PCs to stream gameplay on far weaker devices. My subscription granted me access to rigs running the Nvidia RTX 4080, which meant I was getting far better-looking games overall. 

The streaming quality of Nvidia GeForce Now is genuinely excellent. There are only around nine frames of input delay, which is similar to what you’ll find when playing low ping multiplayer titles (near seamless), and the image quality was considerably sharper than through Xbox Game Pass. The trade-off is that you don’t have a vast game library to choose from. Instead, you can boot and stream games you already own through Steam, GOG, Epic, and Ubisoft Connect as licenses. It’s a cool idea for sure, and it made playing through Cyberpunk 2077 and Rayman Legends a breeze as if they were running on native hardware. It’s not all good news, though. That’s because this service tier will run you $19.99 / £14.99 a month to play games you already own, requiring you to have an extensive PC gaming library to make the most of this. 

WWE 2K19 streaming to the Logitech G Cloud

(Image credit: Future)

Lastly, I tried out Steam Link, which works similarly to Nvidia GeForce Now but uses local hardware. Streaming from my gaming PC to the Logitech G Cloud was the best of the three services I tried and wouldn’t cost me anything. Playing through the likes of WWE 2K23, Hotline Miami, and Mortal Kombat 11 was nice, as I could kick back on the sofa or lounge on the bed and have the same overall experience. The fact that this works so well as it is free to any Steam users further made the idea of paying an additional fee through Nvidia’s offerings even more baffling.

Comparing the Logitech G Cloud to some of the best Android tablets is where the cracks really begin to show. While the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G isn’t the weakest mobile processor on the market, it’s far from a flagship, as running games from the Google Play store didn’t exactly paint this handheld in the best light. I was stunned to see occasional stuttering in the likes of Snake.io and even Subway Surfers, but things were shakier when playing through PUBG Mobile, Genshin Impact, and Call of Duty Mobile with the settings scaled down. To make matters worse, there was little I could do to make the latter two games recognize the built-in controller, meaning I was stuck awkwardly using the touchscreen, which was far from ideal.

The reliance on an internet connection to play games instead of being able to natively render them as the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch can for a similar price makes this handheld nearly impossible to recommend. It’s not a great Android tablet on its own, and the streaming services available feature too many caveats to consider prioritizing when Steam Link does it better. There’s also the fact that all these apps are available on Android phones and iOS, with the price of something like the BackBone One ($99.99 / £99.99 / AU$179.99) or Razer Kishi ($79.99 / £79.99 / AU$115) giving you the same fundamental experience with a device you already own.

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