EK Water Blocks, or simply EK as the company refers to itself now, had a decent showing at the virtual Computex 2021 event including new AIO CPU coolers, additions to its Fluid Gaming and Fluid Works portfolio, and more water blocks based on current designs and supporting newer hardware, including one we reported on just a few hours ago. These all interested me, but then there was a nearly two hour private conversation followed by a live stream that ended minutes ago which shed more light on future updates and products in its mainstream Quantum DIY liquid cooling lineup.There were renders of the upcoming Velocity² CPU blocks shared before, but seeing them actually manufactured is a whole other thing. Velocity² is the update to EK's popular Velocity CPU blocks, with a complete redesign that evokes more comparisons to monoblocks than other CPU blocks. Taking cues from the flagship EK-Quantum Magnitude, you will see different cooling engines to better cool different CPU sockets. There is also a concealed aesthetic theme here, especially for the acetal top version where you can't see any screws in use, thanks to a patent-pending mounting mechanism from the back- again taking cues from monoblocks. EK says the new system uses "pre-tensioned springs concealed in the water block top, so with just a few turns on the thumb-nuts, the installation is finished". We look forward to checking these out in person when they release in the Sept 2021 timeframe. Read past the break for more from EK!

Micron, the US-based manufacturer of various kinds of memory technologies, has today announced some quite interesting products at its Computex 2021 keynote. For starters, the company has announced a new portfolio of products based on 176-layer NAND. There are currently two products listed that use this new technology and those are the Micron 3400 and 2450 M.2 NVMe SSDs. Based on the PCIe 4.0 interface, the 2450 SSD lineup is designed as a value-oriented solution that comes in M.2-2280, M.2-2242, and M.2-2230 sizes. It ranges from 256 GB to 1 TB in capacities, which are supposed to be priced as a value purchase.

In a contrast, the 3400 SSD is M.2-2280 design, meant for only the highest performance. The sequential read speeds go up to 6600 MB/s, while the sequential writes go up to 5000 MB/s (in the case of the 2 TB model). Capacities range from 512 GB to 2 TB and only the 1 TB and 2 TB variants have the 5000 MB/s write speeds, while the 512 GB version is capped at 3600 MB/s speed. Both SSD models are featuring a heat spreader on top of NAND chips and spot an in-house and Micron-developed NVMe 1.4 SSD controller. However, Micron does note that the company is free to use any 3rd party SSD controller as we are deep in component shortages with high demand for SSDs. You can get an in-depth look at the 2450 and 3400 M.2 SSDs from Micron's website.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, speaking at the company's 2021 Computex Opening Keynote address stated that the explosive demand for chips caused by recent inflections of technology, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has resulted in demand outstripping supply by such extent, that it could "still take a couple of years for the ecosystem to address the shortages."

Gelsinger detailed how the world of information technology is at its biggest crossroads ever, with the emergence of Cloud, 5G, AI, and smarter edge computing changing the way people work, learn, and interact. This has caused a huge growth in the demand for semiconductors straining technology supply chains around the world. Gelsinger stated that his company is working with partners across the technology ecosystem to increase output to meet demand. He detailed how Intel has nearly doubled its own chip wafer manufacturing capacity over the past four years. "But while the industry has taken steps to address near-term constraints, it could still take a couple of years for the ecosystem to address chip shortages of foundry capacity, substrate, and components.

AMD is in a constant process of processor development, and there are always new technologies on the horizon. Back in March of 2020, the company has revealed that it is working on new X3D packaging technology, that integrated both 2.5D and 3D approaches to packing semiconductor dies together as tightly as possible. Today, we are finally getting some more information about the X3D technology, as we have the first codename of the processor that is featuring this advanced packaging technology. According to David Schor, we have learned that AMD is working on a CPU that uses X3D tech with stacked dies, and it is called Milan-X.

The Milan-X CPU is AMD's upcoming product designed for data center usage. The rumors suggest that the CPU is designed for heavy bandwidth and presumably a lot of computing power. According to ExecutableFix, the CPU uses a Genesis-IO die to power the connectivity, which is an IO die from EPYC Zen 3 processors. While this solution is in the works, we don't know the exact launch date of the processor. However, we could hear more about it in AMD's virtual keynote at Computex 2021. For now, take this rumor with a grain of salt.

Join Intel Executive Vice President Michelle Johnston Holthaus for Intel's first virtual COMPUTEX keynote and a firsthand look at how the strategies of new CEO Pat Gelsinger, along with the forces of a rapidly accelerating digital transformation, are unleashing a new era of innovation at Intel — right when the world needs it most.

Johnston Holthaus will welcome Intel's Steve Long, corporate vice president of Client Computing Group Sales, and Lisa Spelman, corporate vice president and general manager of the Xeon and Memory Group, to outline how Intel innovations help expand human potential by expanding technology's potential. This includes collaborating with partners to drive innovation across the technology ecosystem — from the data center and cloud to connectivity, artificial intelligence, and the intelligent edge.

As one of the most important tech summits globally, COMPUTEX Forum and its discussion topics have always garnered great attention. To facilitate the discussion on future technology trends, the COMPUTEX Forum on June 2 and 3 will evolve around the theme of "The New Era of Intelligence." TAITRA announced the lineup of speakers to discuss key applications of 5G, AI, IoT, and electric vehicles, deep diving into business strategies in the post-pandemic era.

In the morning of Wednesday, June 2, COMPUTEX Forum will address the topic of "AIoT Evolution." Leading semiconductor giants such as Intel, Micron, NVIDIA and Supermicro, will explore how they accelerate business opportunities in the 5G era. In the afternoon, NXP Semiconductors will kick off the "AI Empowerment" session by sharing its vision and lead the Secure Edge and AI Empowerment discussions in fields. As AI rises in various applications, Arm, Delta Electronics, Micron and Check Point Software will elaborate their latest solution in different scopes.

TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade and Development Council) announced today that Dr. Lisa Su, President and CEO of AMD, is invited back to deliver a keynote address at COMPUTEX 2021. This digital keynote will be on Tuesday, June 1, at 10:00 AM Taipei time, with the keynote theme "AMD Accelerating - The High-Performance Computing Ecosystem." COMPUTEX displays will be digital this year, with keynotes and forums running on hybrid. "It has been a year unlike others. Technology has gotten us through some of the most challenging times," said James Huang, TAITRA Chairman. "We will continue to transform our exhibition models and practices to meet the evolving needs of our exhibitors, visitors, and media, without losing the most essential element of a trade show - connection."

Dr. Lisa Su is proud to join COMPUTEX once again in 2021. "The past year has shown us the important role high-performance computing plays in our daily lives - from the way we work to the way we learn and play. At this year's COMPUTEX, AMD will share how we accelerate innovation with our ecosystem partners to deliver a leadership product portfolio," said Dr. Lisa Su. At the COMPUTEX | AMD CEO Keynote, Dr. Lisa Su will share the AMD vision for the future of computing, including details of the growing adoption of the AMD high-performance computing and graphics solutions, built for PC enthusiasts and gamers.

TAITRA, the COMPUTEX organizer, has announced that the physical COMPUTEX event has been cancelled (surprising maybe some three or four people in the world). The organizer cites ongoing COVID-19 concerns (including the world's current state of vaccination levels) that would put the safety of attendees on the line, and has thus elected to forego the physical event and focus only on an online capacity.

However, even as the physical event has been cancelled, TAITRA doubled down on the virtual COMPUTEX event. Marketed #COMPUTEXVirtual, the event is scheduled to run for a full month, from May 31st to June 30th, in what marks COMPUTEX's first attempt at doing a large-scale virtual event. TAITRA had this to say on their decision: "With another wave of coronavirus pandemic across the world, it doesn't look like we are close to the end. The majority of the show's stakeholders, including international exhibitors, visitors, and media, cannot join the show due to border control. Therefore, the organizers of COMPUTEX have decided to cancel the onsite exhibition this year."

Intel announced their 11th Generation Tiger Lake-H processors for high-end gaming laptops at CES 2021. The three models announced are now shipping in slim gaming machines and target the AMD Ryzen 5000H series processors. The Intel models compete favorably in single-core performance but only feature four cores and eight threads while the Ryzen 5000H series processors include up to 8 cores and 16 threads giving them the clear advantage in multi-core performance.

Intel is planning to close this performance gap with the launch of three new 45 W 8 core 11th Generation H-series processors in Q2 2021 with a possible announcement at Computex. The three models include the unlocked Core i9-11980HK, Core i9-11900H, and the Core i7-11800H along with the Core i5-11400H with six cores. These new processors will compete directly with the Ryzen 9 5980HX, Ryzen 9 5900H, and Ryzen 7 5800H with the Core i9-11980HK likely to feature a boost clock of 5 GHz on multiple cores.

COMPUTEX 2021 International Online Press Conference kicks off today, revealing the leading ICT tradeshow to return as a physical exhibition from June 1 to 4, 2021 (InnoVEX from June 2 to 4). More importantly, COMPUTEX 2021 will utilize artificial intelligence (AI) for the first time to create a smart Online-Merge-Offline (OMO) exhibition platform, connecting the tech community through an innovative model that breaks barriers and limitations.

COMPUTEX 2021 will be held from June 1 to 4 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 1 & 2 (TaiNEX 1 & 2) and at Taipei International Convention Center (TICC). InnoVEX will also be exhibited from June 2 to 4 on the 4th floor of the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 2 (TaiNEX 2). More exhibition information will be announced on the official websites of COMPUTEX and InnoVEX.

According to the report from DigiTimes, which cites industry sources, the global supply chain of Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA has been rather confused recently by their launch dates and launch procedures. Due to worldwide pandemic, there are no electronics shows like Computex that are designed for companies to showcase their products there, and thus, there is no unified launch window where you can expect a product to be launched. What's even worse is the fact that the companies have now started to keep their launch dates as a secret in the latest edition of playing with the competition. Launch dates have started to change and now the launch is uncertain even if the launch day is provided.

This has a massive effect on the industry supply chain. By not giving concrete dates to them, companies have left them to wonder when the product will launch. This is hurting their ability to prepare themselves for an upcoming product and possibly cause some delays later on. If not given enough time, the supply chain could not adapt fast enough and the product could come later in the hands of consumers.

TAITRA, organizers of Computex, the year's biggest PC industry-related tech expo that highlights Taiwan's vibrant computer hardware and consumer electronics industries, announced that they have formally cancelled the 2020 edition of Computex. Originally slated for June as almost every edition prior, Computex 2020 was hit hard by the COVID-19 global pandemic that caused exhibitors to pull out. TAITRA scrambled to postpone the 2020 edition to September, a move that apparently didn't do enough to bring back exhibitors. With the COVID-19 crisis showing no signs of waning by September, TAITRA did the only thing it could: can the 2020 edition. The company did put up a brave face and hoped that the 2021 edition will go ahead as planned, scheduled for June 1-5, 2021. One of our industry partners shared with us a copy of the email TAITRA sent to its exhibitors.The TAITRA press-release follows.

EK Waterblocks has unveiled a new air cooler design at their Computex 2020 replacement, EK Cooling Expo. The company released one image of a prototype cooler which appears to include 4 heat pipes and an EK branded fan. EK representatives confirmed to Overclock 3D that the EK heatsink has not been finalized and is still undergoing product design. EK didn't say if they are planning other models or announce pricing/availability of the heatsink. Will EK become a serious competitor in the air cooling market against established players such as Noctua?

Update 09:34 UTC: EK has confirmed that they will be introducing both single and dual-tower models in the EK-AIR series of products, which will feature modern D-RGB lighting, premium build quality, modern aesthetics, and great cooling.

Noctua is reportedly working on a high-performance fanless CPU cooler building on a 2019 prototype that was exhibited at last year's Computex. The final product should launch within 2020, according to an Overclock3D report. As of now there's no word on whether the said cooler will look identical to last year's prototype, but it provides a long list of capabilities that Noctua could build on. For starters, last year's prototype was capable of handling 120 W TDP in PC cases with good natural ventilation, and up to 180 W in cases with quiet fans. The company used a Core i9-9900K in a variety of workloads as a proof of the heatsink's capabilities. The prototype heatsink was also shown offering decent amount of clearance with the motherboard's memory- and VRM areas. Its only downside was the 1.5 kg weight.

Woes for Computex 2020 refuse to end, as its biggest lure for PC enthusiasts - motherboard and graphics card vendors - are reportedly planning to withdraw from this year's edition. Organizers of the popular PC ecosystem trade-show had announced a postponement of the show to late-September from its early-June original scheduled, in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Among the big companies confirmed by DigiTimes to have withdrawn from Computex 2020 are Gigabyte, MSI, TUL (parent of PowerColor), Chaintech (major OEM of several DIY brands); and ECS. ASUS said it's still following existing plans for the event. Some brands are planning online events around the same time as Computex, in which they will announce new products.

Computex is always one of the many highlights of our tech/gaming event lineup, however due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the health of our employees and tech community is our primary concern. With the evolving health concerns surrounding COVID-19, Patriot and Viper Gaming by Patriot will not be attending Computex this year. In the meantime we'll be working cautiously and are advising all employees to refrain from traveling during this time of stay-in-place solidarity.

We'd like to thank Computex, for all they've done the past successful years in hosting a great show to help build the tech industry, and appreciate all their efforts in sharing safety guidelines and additional health measures as the event draws closer. With great optimism, we will definitely be returning to Computex next year once the pandemic is confirmed to be cleared and safe to return to normal activities.

AMD's 4th generation Ryzen desktop processors are expected to launch around September 2020, sources in the motherboard industry tell DigiTimes. Codenamed "Vermeer," successor to "Matisse," these processors will be socket AM4 multi-chip modules of up to two CPU complex dies based on the "Zen 3" microarchitecture, combined with an I/O controller die. The "Zen 3" chiplets are expected to be fabricated on a newer 7 nm-class process by TSMC, either N7P or N7+. The biggest design change with "Zen 3" is the doing away of CCX arrangement of CPU cores, with each chiplet holding a common block of cores sharing a last-level cache. This, along with clock speed headroom gains from the new node are expected to yield generational price-performance increases.

The "Zen 2" based 8-core "Renoir" die is also expected to make its socket AM4 debut within 2020, succeeding the "Picasso" based quad-core Ryzen 3000-series APUs. This is a particularly important product for AMD, as it is expected to compete with Intel's 10th generation Core i5 6-core/12-thread processors in terms of pricing, while offering more cores (8-core/16-thread) and a faster iGPU. The 4th gen Ryzen socket AM4 processor lineup will launch alongside AMD's 600-series motherboard chipset, with forwards- and backwards-compatibility (i.e., "Vermeer" and "Renoir" working with older chipsets, and older AM4 processors working on 600-series chipset motherboards). AMD was originally expected to unveil these processors at the 2020 Computex trade-show in June, but Computex itself is rescheduled to late-September.

For the second time in history, Computex, one of the flagship electronics shows in the industry, and our favorite event, has been postponed. Many years ago, it was delayed in 2003 due to the SARS outbreak, however, it happened again today. Following the outbreak of COVID-19. Instead of cancelling, the Computex organizer TAITRA has decided to postpone their 2020 event. Originally scheduled for June, Computex has been moved to September 28th, when the event will officially start. It will last only three days instead of the usual five, ending on the 30th.

This is especially relevant given that the event now shares the same three days with Innovex, the partnering startup-focused show that happens on the last 2-3 days of Computex each year, so the two shows have to share the spotlight on the same time. Making things tighter is confirmation from TAITRA that Computex, and Innovex, will both be sharing Hall 2 of the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, as opposed to having both Hall 1 and 2 available for Computex. This shortened timeframe and smaller booth space is a heavy indication that the agency expects a smaller turnaround at this time, and indeed several companies are already expressing concerns about whether Computex 2020 should have just been cancelled altogether. Some companies have told us they still plan to have an online event in June given they have planned product lifecycles around it already, and the new event in September is just a hiccup they are not confident about handling. We hope to bring you the latest Computex news live from the trade show, once it happens, so stay tuned.

The Taiwan (ROC) Government announced a ban on the entry of all foreign visitors into the country until further notice. The ban takes effect from Thursday, March 19, in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic that has claimed thousands of lives worldwide. All foreign arrivals already on their way will be placed in a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Exceptions to the ban include ARC (alien resident certificate) holders, diplomatic passport holders, and businesspersons with special entry permits issued by the government (these are not the same as business visas), although even these persons must subject themselves to the quarantine. The ban is expected to force most commercial airlines to reduce or suspend their services to the country. The travel ban to Taiwan puts Computex 2020 in jeopardy. Although held in June, preparations for the show typically begin as early as April, with foreign exhibitors preparing to import their exhibits, organizing their booths, arranging logistics, etc.

Game Developers Conference is perhaps one of the biggest organizations in the gaming industry, covering everything from gaming hardware to games themselves. This year's GDC event was planned to happen on March 16th, however, due to the Coronavirus COVID-19 concerns, the GDC organization has decided to postpone the event. This doesn't mean that the conference will not happen at all. Instead, the GDC organizers plan to host the event sometime "later in the summer", when hopefully the COVID-19 concerns will settle. To add, Facebook also canceled its F8 Developer Conference, along with Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit which also got canceled due to virus outbreak fears.

Being that Computex is happening within three months, there are growing concerns that the event may not happen at all, however, we can hope that the situation will be resolved soon and that we can bring you live coverage of the event.

The 2020 Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the video game and interactive art industry, is on schedule for its mid-March unveiling despite concerns over the COVID-19 global epidemic (aka novel-Coronavirus outbreak). The epidemic is believed to be largely responsible for the cancellation of the 2020 edition of MWC (Mobile World Conference) held in Barcelona, Spain. GDC 2020 will hit the road on March 16th, with its seat at Moscone Center in San Francisco, USA. Unlike MWC, which is fueled primarily by large mobile firms based out of Asia, GDC is a bit more democratized, and largely attended by independent (indie) game developers. Indie delegates use GDC mainly as a networking platform.

In related news, the 2020 Computex expo, the largest annual gathering of the PC and allied electronics industries, is on schedule for its June 2nd unveiling. This is particularly important as Computex is held in Taipei, situated in proximity to South- and Central Mainland China, which have the biggest clusters of COVID-19 cases, with its epicenter in Wuhan, Hubei province. The last major epidemic to ravage this part of the world, the 2003 SARS outbreak, had forced a postponement of the year's Computex to late-September. Organizers TAITRA will institute special measures for the show in compliance with local regulations, which include a mandatory requirement for on-site workers to wear face masks capable of filtering out NoCV, a "no handshake" policy, easy access to hand-sanitizers, possible medical outposts and additional presence of emergency personnel.

AMD updated its technology roadmaps to reflect a 2020 launch window for its upcoming CPU and graphics architectures, "Zen 3" and RDNA2. The two will be based on 7 nm+ , which is AMD-speak for the 7 nanometer EUV silicon fabrication process at TSMC, that promises a significant 20 percent increase in transistor-densities, giving AMD high transistor budgets and more clock-speed headroom. The roadmap slides however hint that unlike the "Zen 2" and RDNA simultaneous launch on 7th July 2019, the next-generation launches may not be simultaneous.

The slide for CPU microarchitecture states that the design phase of "Zen 3" is complete, and that the microarchitecture team has already moved on to develop "Zen 4." This means AMD is now developing products that implement "Zen 3." On the other hand, RDNA2 is still in design phase. The crude x-axis on both slides that denotes year of expected shipping, too appears to suggest that "Zen 3" based products will precede RDNA2 based ones. "Zen 3" will be AMD's first response to Intel's "Comet Lake-S" or even "Ice Lake-S," if the latter comes to fruition before Computex 2020. In the run up to RDNA2, AMD will scale up RDNA a notch larger with the "Navi 12" silicon to compete with graphics cards based on NVIDIA's "TU104" silicon. "Zen 2" will receive product stack additions in the form of a new 16-core Ryzen 9-series chip later this month, and the 3rd generation Ryzen Threadripper family.

ASRock is ready with its flagship Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics card, which is among its first fully in-house graphics card designs. The Radeon RX 5700 XT Taichi features a board design that was teased at the 2019 Computex show as a high-end graphics card cooling solution concept. It's since been mated with a custom-design RX 5700 XT PCB. The card features a triple-slot cooling solution with an aluminium fin-stack heatsink, and a cooler shroud that holds three fans. The smaller central fan features an RGB LED embellishment. A tiny LED segment display along the top of the cooler appears to display real-time monitoring. ASRock's signature Taichi gearwheel aesthetic carries over not just to the cooler, but also its backplate.

The PCB is noticeably taller than the AMD reference PCB, pulls power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors, offers dual-BIOS with a toggle between an "OC BIOS" and a "Silent BIOS," an LED lighting master control switch, and possibly a strong VRM solution to keep the juices flowing to "Navi." The clock-speeds of the card are still under the wraps, but it's likely that only the OC BIOS features factory-overclocked speeds, while the Silent BIOS ticks at reference clock speeds to favor an aggressive fan-control. Both BIOSes could offer idle fan-stop. The display connectivity is particularly interesting - four DisplayPorts, and two HDMI connectors, all along the rear I/O. There's no word on the availability, but at least the box-art proves this card isn't a tradeshow unicorn.

There have been spectacular rumors flying around on Reddit that PC cooling components major Cryorig has shut down, with telltale signs being their telephone-support number going dead, their Newegg store being out-of-stock for months, and their Twitter account falling silent. We've reviewed close to a dozen Cryorig products, and our last review was dated October 2018. We reached out to Cryorig and one of their representatives was kind enough to respond to us with an update on what has happened at the company. Cryorig is impacted by the U.S.-China trade-war, as the high import tariffs affected the viability of its products. The company would earlier directly access the U.S. market through exclusive stores on Amazon and Newegg.

The company continues to have active market-presence elsewhere, including Asia and Europe. Cryorig clarified in unequivocal terms that it has not, and will not, exit the U.S. market. The company stated that it is merely waiting for respite from the crippling import tariff. In the meantime, it has sought out a new U.S.-based distributor who will import Cryorig products, and resell them. This distributor will also take over other aspects of the U.S. business, including aftersales support, RMA, etc.

Kailh introduced their newest lineup of mechanical keyboard switches at Computex 2018 in the form of the Sun switch. The aim of this lineup was to retain the Cherry MX keycap compatibility with the same stem design, but allow for centralized lighting akin to what Omron did with their light pillars in the Logitech Romer-G and Creative PRES switches. This meant designing new molds for the various switch parts, and also finding a wider spring that together all still work into providing a tactile and clicky switch with a 1.8 mm actuation depth, total travel distance of 3.5 mm, an actuation force of 50 gf and tactile force of 60 gf.

It found little interest, however, with only Hexgears choosing to adopt it to date in their GK760 keyboard. In a move to drum up more business, Kailh have already updated the Sun switch to allow for a clear stem with walls surrounding the stem to help add some dust and spill resistance, with the clear housing now allowing more light to pass through. The rest of the switch is identical, as seen below in samples we received recently (old switch at the left/top of the new switch), although now there is little scope left for a more diffused backlighting experience. Time will tell how the changes work out, and yours truly would have rather seen the older design in use.More pictures follow.