Something to look forward to: One of the most anticipated titles of the year, Gears 5, is nearly upon us. To celebrate the occasion, Microsoft and The Coalition have shared a wealth of new information about the game. Let's dive right in.
The pre-download process for Gears 5 on all platforms is now under way, allowing prospective players to go ahead and download the game now so they'll be ready to play the moment it launches.
Speaking of launch, the Gears 5 early access period has been moved up to September 5 at 9 pm (in your local time zone). For regions with multiple time zones, the earliest time zone will dictate your launch window. For example, in the US, that means the early access period starts at 9 pm Eastern / 8 pm Central / 6 pm Pacific.
Note that you'll need the Ultimate Edition of the game to get early access.
The duo have also published the final minimum, recommended and ideal specifications for playing Gears 5 on the PC. They are as follows:
Multiple publications are also reporting that The Coalition worked closely with AMD to optimize the game for its hardware. According to Mike Rayner, technical director with The Coalition, the two have a strong relationship that dates back to Gears of War 4.
"We have moved nearly all of our post processing shaders to Async Compute in Gears 5, which means improved frame rates from our previous titles, plus more room to pack in even more graphical quality," Rayner said.
Multithreaded Command Buffering, meanwhile, should help to reduce latency by ensuring that instructions from Ryzen processors reach Radeon graphics cards faster. A post-launch update will add support for AMD FidelityFX, a dynamic sharpening filter that boosts detail in low-contrast areas.
"AMD engineers worked with us to optimize everything from the CPU to the GPU and we're really eager to get all of this awesome performance and great visuals into fans' hands," he added.