I am generally pretty lucky in that I get to use all the nicest gaming monitors as soon as they're available. I've used extremely huge ultrawide monitors like the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 , and I've used smaller but extremely fast gaming monitors, too. As a general rule, I tend to gravitate to what makes games look the best rather than play the best because I like shiny things, but the Alienware AW3423DW seems to be able to do both.

Right now, everyone is talking about the Apple Event , and so obviously I should be talking about that, too. After all, Apple did release the M1 Ultra and even claimed that it was faster than the RTX 3090 . That should be sucking up all my interest right now.

But I'll be honest, I really couldn't care less about the Mac Studio right now because this monitor just showed up on my doorstep. And as soon as I set it up I couldn't look away.

This is, at first glance, one of the best-looking ultrawide monitors I've ever used. I'm stunned. I've been playing a lot of Elden Ring on this thing today instead of, you know, doing my job, just because it looks so good . And that's in spite of the fact that Elden Ring, for some bizarre reason, doesn't support the 21:9 aspect ratio.

That means I have to put up with giant black bars on the side. I don't care. They literally disappear from my vision because this panel is so damn good.

Ok calm down there Jackie

Obviously, because I have found myself ranting about technology for a living, I get kind of worked up about new toys that appear on my doorstep for a review. It's very possible that this is a honeymoon period, and I'll find something I hate about this monitor after a week of using it. Whatever, that's what my full review will be for (stay tuned,

Nvidia's anti-cryptomining GPUs have finally been 100% unlocked

It took almost an entire year from their initial release, but the LHR (low hashrate) versions of Nvidia's RTX 30 series graphics cards have finally been completely unlocked by a mining software called Nicehash, restoring each card's respective mining capabilities. Many of the best graphics cards were nearly impossible to find available to buy over the last two years because of the global chip shortage, a broader supply chain crisis at ports around the world and demand for consumer tech putting even more pressure on the availability of semiconductors needed by AMD and Nvidia for their products.

Part of this demand also included cryptominers who were buying up the available stock in bulk of popular GPUs during the height of the recent crypto currency boom. And while there are mixed opinions about how this affected overall availability for gamers and building hobbyists, there was certainly no love lost between the two groups which resulted in Team Green putting measures in place to make its consumer graphics cards less desirable to those hoping to use them to mine currencies such as Ethereum .

Almost the entire RTX 3000-series of cards was re-released with hash rate limiters (not including the GeForce RTX 3090 as it was deemed too expensive to attract the mining market) which limited their ability to mine currencies like ETH, but several of these were quickly defeated , with some software able to unlock cards to 70-80% efficiency in a matter of weeks. As reported by WCCFTech , NiceHash has now announced that it can utilize 100% of available mining speeds using these previously restricted Ampere-series cards, stating on its website that: "We are very excited to tell you that NiceHash QuickMiner (Excavator) is the first mining software to FULLY (100%) UNLOCK LHR cards! Now you can earn more profits than any other mining software on the market if you are using LHR graphics cards with NiceHash QuickMiner". We don't have an LHR model GPU to verify this claim ourselves, so take the statement with a pinch of salt, but its also worth noting that GPU stock levels and pricing is currently sitting at the best numbers we've seen for many months, so it's unlikely you'll be fighting off swarms of competition if cards are viable for mining again.

Analysis: Don't worry about it – no, seriously

This news is unlikely to cause another shortage of graphics cards or even drive up the price of the stock currently available, and that's for a few different reasons. The main piece of good news for gamers is that Ethereum , the world's second most popular cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, started moving to proof-of-stake at the end of 2021. Let me explain. Proof-of-work is a system where computers compete against each other to be the first to solve complex puzzles, which left it open to miners using warehouses full of consumer graphics cards to solve those puzzles, earning some ETH in the process. Proof-of-stake instead uses validators to find a block based on the number of tokens they hold, removing the need for those 'puzzles' to be solved. This switch from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake model has removed a lot of the demand of the graphics cards, so where Ethereum was previously the largest cryptocurrency that is primarily mined using graphics cards (Bitcoin has mostly been mined on ASICs over the last few years), it will soon be inefficient to do so.

Sure, there are other currencies available that still use a Proof-of-work system, but these don't have the same grasp on the market that ETH did last year, so unless another crypto starts to rocket upwards in value, it'll take some time to see a similar situation unfold. In reality, this shouldn't impact consumers who are trying to buy a new graphics card in any way, though it does mean that LHR versions of GPUs no longer serve the same purpose. With any luck, Nvidia continues to develop its hashrate limiting technology just in case we see a similar scenario unfold when it releases its Lovelace series of graphics cards to act as a deterrent.

Looking for an RTX 3080? NVIDIA GeForce NOW gives you access for just $20

Just because you’re gaming on your phone, a dated computer, or a tablet doesn’t mean you’ve got to limit yourself to simple mobile games with lower-quality graphics. NVIDIA GeForce NOW can give you all the power you need to play modern titles at high quality on just about any device you want to game on.

With GeForce NOW, you get the power of a gaming computer running in the cloud streamed straight to the device you have to hand, and you can even get NVIDIA’s flagship graphics processor to deliver superb graphics and speeds with the GeForce NOW RTX 3080 Membership.

For the first time ever, NVIDIA is allowing subscribers to join the RTX 3080 Membership on a monthly basis, where previously, you’d need to sign up for a six-month membership. But, with this new monthly plan, you can pay just $19.99 and get a gaming experience on your phone, computer, tablet, or TV that normally you’d need to spend well over $1,000 to get from a dedicated gaming PC.

With the RTX 3080 Membership, you’ll be able to experience games how they’re meant to be played. All that power in the cloud lets you dial up settings, switching on the transformative RTX real-time ray tracing and the speed-boosting DLSS in the many supported games on the platform. On PC and Mac, you can bump up your games’ resolution to 1440p and even see frame rates hit up to 120fps. If you like maxed out visuals, the NVIDIA SHIELD TV enables 4K HDR gameplay that’s well suited for the latest and greatest 4K TVs.

Your hardware doesn’t need to be all that powerful to enjoy all the benefits of GeForce NOW, either. You know that five-year old laptop you’ve got floating around that can barely run indie games on its integrated graphics? Set it up with GeForce NOW RTX 3080 and a solid internet connection of just 35Mbps, and it could be a game-ready, 1440p/120fps beast. Even your smartphone can run GeForce NOW for gaming on the go with the many 120Hz displays on Android phones providing a means of seeing 120fps gameplay through the service.

GeForce NOW won’t leave you lacking for games to play, either. The service supports over 1,000 games, and you can access titles you already own from online game stores like Steam, Epic Games Store, and Origin. Nearly 100 popular free-to-play titles like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Destiny 2 are also available on the service. And with the RTX 3080 Membership, you’ll be able to get stunning visuals and fast gameplay out of the latest and greatest games, like Far Cry 6, Rainbow Six Extraction, and Dying Light 2.

Since NVIDIA’s cloud hardware does the heavy lifting for you, your device just has to handle inputs—which you can do with keyboard and mouse or your favorite controller—and the internet connection, so no more checking to see if your PC meets the minimum specs for each game.

Plus you don’t even have to worry about having enough storage for your game library, as NVIDIA keeps all the games available immediately in the cloud with the latest updates and patches all ready to go without taking up any extra storage or requiring lengthy downloads on your devices. Now that’s no-compromise gaming.

You can sign up for GeForce NOW here and upgrade to the RTX 3080 Membership for just $19.99/month or $99.99 for a six-month plan and unlock 1440p/120fps gameplay on Mac and PC or 4K HDR visuals on NVIDIA SHIELD TV. To stay up to date on the latest news for the service, check out the GFN Thursdays blog and follow GeForce NOW on Twitter or Facebook .