Acer unveiled its largest and most advanced glasses-free stereoscopic 3D display to date, the Acer SpatialLabs View Pro 27. Crafted as a state-of-the-art 3D canvas for creators and developers, the display elevates the way ideas and audiovisual elements take shape without needing specialized glasses or accessories. The device is powered by SpatialLabs's proven stereoscopic 3D solution and is complimented by the new Acer Immerse Audio system, along with a suite of advanced developer tools to bring out creations in their truest 3D forms. Users can also fully maximize its vast 27-inch 4K panel for magnified, lifelike visuals, while its ergonomic design and detachable hood provide comfortable viewing even under extremely low-light conditions.

Expanded Design for Mesmerizing 3D Illustrations
The Acer SpatialLabs View Pro 27 harmoniously combines cutting-edge 3D technology and stereo real-time rendering capabilities in an expanded landscape to support creators in bringing 3D experiences to life. The optimized 3D display uses an eye-tracking module to follow the position and movement of users in real-time even in dim environments. Crystal-clear details and image depth are projected as envisioned thanks to its 27-inch 4K UHD display with 2D and 3D modes, allowing users to switch between 2D and 3D stereoscopic views, along with the panel's 160 Hz refresh rate, 400 nits brightness, Delta E< 2 color accuracy. A detachable hood on the monitor enhances perceived color accuracy and lessens distractions, helping users stay focused and maintain image quality when viewing their designs on screen.

The second company to launch an Intel Arc A380 graphics card is somewhat surprisingly, if already rumoured, ASRock. The card in question goes under the somewhat awkward name of Intel Arc A380 Challenger ITX 6GB OC or A380 CLI 6GO for short. Unlike the Gunnir card, this is a rather compact, Mini-ITX friendly card that measures 190 x 124 x 39 mm and sports a single fan. Despite its diminutive size, it's still a dual slot card and ASRock outfitted it with a single 8-pin PCIe power connector, just as Gunnir did with its card.

The base frequency is somewhat higher at 2250 MHz vs. 2000 MHz for the Gunnir card, although ASRock doesn't mention the boost clock on its website. As the name implies, the card comes with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory with a rated data rate of either 15 or 15.5 Gbps, as both numbers are mentioned by ASRock, still on a 96-bit bus. The card has a single HDMI 2.0b port and three DisplayPort 2.0 ports with DSC. The card obviously has a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface as well. ASRock has implemented a 0dB mode where the fan stops spinning during low loads. According to Videocardz, the ASRock Intel Arc A380 Challenger ITX 6GB OC is already on sale in the PRC for the equivalent of US$192.

AMD is slowly preparing to launch its next-generation of graphics cards based on the RDNA3 architecture, and it could bring some new connectivity options as well. Currently, the graphics cards we are using today use DisplayPort 1.4 connector for their DP output. However, the more advanced DisplayPort 2.0 could land in RDNA3 GPUs, bringing much-needed improvements to the video output system. What DP 2.0 brings to the table is an upgrade to an Ultra High Bit Rate individual lane speed of 20 GB/s, totaling 80 GB/s with four of those. The DP 2.0 capable system would be able to output a 10K uncompressed resolution at 60 Hz, or two 4K 144 Hz monitors at the same time. With compression, that would be extended much further. We have to wait and see what AMD does and if the next-generation RDNA3 brings this new DisplayPort standard to the masses.

DisplayPort 2.0 was supposed to see its implementation beginning by the end of 2020, but that time has come and gone without a single DisplayPort 2.0-touting product on sight. According to VESA, the rollout has been delayed mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented the standards body to perform its PlugTest events, where engineers and hardware developers convene to discuss, tinker, and decide on the standard's implementation. VESA held multiple of these events per year, but none in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic; thus, the delay we are now witnessing surged.

VESA plans to have their first 2021 PlugTest event in Spring of this year, however, and aims to see products on the shelves later, and likely not before 2H 2020. The standards body said that there are, indeed, DisplayPort 2.0 monitors currently in-development, but that these too have been affected by the lack of PlugTests. DisplayPort 2.0 is an update to the current 1.4 implementation, and currently, there are no launched products (monitors, graphics cards, etc) that can make use of the new version. The new standard will technically support up to 80 Gbps max, nearly three times the currently available bandwidth in the DisplayPort 1.4 spec. DisplayPort Alt Mode 2.0 also brings most of these capabilities to USB Type-C connectors via the USB 4.0 revision.