The AMD Ryzen 7 6800U has proved its power by bringing 200% average increase in maximum frame rate over previous generation games. (Up to 11% increase in single-core performance and 28% increase in multi-core performance) Now ONEXPLAYER has announced its latest 7-inch mini model to be fueled by AMD Ryzen 7 6800U, along with the Radeon 680M graphics and LPDDR5 memory. ONEXPLAYER Mini Pro will open its global pre-order on Sep 21th (9:00 a.m. PDT) on the official online store.

ONEXPLAYER Mini Pro also enables more flexible customization through embedded software, which were anticipated by lots of gamers. Now people can adjust the TDP, fan speed or GPU frequency depending on their preference when playing different types of games. The new feature of RGB lights also added personalization to top up the entertaining experience. In addition, the ONEXPLAYER Mini Pro reaches unprecedented lightness. In a limited body, all components are arranged efficiently to achieve the best gaming performance, yet only 599 g. Continuing from the previous 7-inch screen, this ONEXPLAYER Mini Pro body can be compatible with ONEXPLAYER's official docking. It also has 1920x1200 HD resolution and a higher pixel density at 323 ppi.

The recent 80 Gbps USB4 Version 2.0 standard looks set to get company from Thunderbolt at 80 Gbps in the not too distant future, as Intel has demoed its next generation Thunderbolt hardware to the media during its Technology Tour 2022 in Israel. It doesn't appear that Intel showed too much of the upcoming technology, but the company did apparently show it running at 80 Gbps, or if you want to be picky, two times 40 Gbps in dual link mode, much in the same way USB4 Version 2.0 will operate.

According to Tom's Hardware, Intel hasn't set the marketing name in stone quite yet, so it's not clear what Intel will be calling its next generation of Thunderbolt. What is clear is that Intel will continue to deliver on its own Thunderbolt products, despite USB4 having almost feature parity with Thunderbolt, apart from some Intel platform specific features. What is also unknown, is a potential availability date for Intel's next generation of Thunderbolt, but an educated guess will be before USB4 Version 2.0 launches.

It was only yesterday that the USB Promoters Group announced the USB4 Version 2.0 spec with support for speeds of up to 80 Gbps, something TechPowerUp mentioned at the end of our USB4 article back in June. Now details of a 120 Gbps asymmetric mode has popped up, courtesy of Angstronomics and we've managed to confirm that it is indeed something that is coming from one of our own sources. We were in fact told back in June that the 80 Gbps mode was meant to be asymmetric, but this was not mentioned in the recent press release.

The 120 Gbps mode will use three of the four data pairs for upstream data and the fourth 40 Gbps data pair will be for downstream data from and to the host controller.Asymmetric data transfers are nothing new over USB Type-C cables, as the DP Alt Mode is already taking advantage of this. This is possible because USB4 Version 2.0 will move to PAM3 (Pulse-Amplitude Modulation) data encoding from today's 64/66- or 128/132-bit encoding. The next generation of Thunderbolt is also expected to use PAM3 encoding to reach the rumoured 80 Gbps speeds that were posted somewhat by mistake by an Intel executive last year.

The USB Promoter Group today announced the pending release of the USB4 Version 2.0 specification, a major update to enable up to 80 Gbps of data performance over the USB Type-C cable and connector. The USB Type-C and USB Power Delivery (USB PD) specifications will also be updated to enable this higher level of data performance. All of these specification updates are expected to be published in advance of this year's series of USB DevDays developer events planned for November.

Protocol updates are also being made to enable higher performance USB 3.2, DisplayPort and PCI Express (PCIe) data tunneling to best use the higher available bandwidth. "Once again following USB tradition, this updated USB4 specification doubles data performance to deliver higher levels of functionality to the USB Type-C ecosystem," said Brad Saunders, USB Promoter Group Chairman. "Solutions seeing the most benefit from this speed enhancement include higher-performance displays, storage, and USB-based hubs and docks."

The UEFI Forum today announced the release of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) 2.10 specification and Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) 6.5 specification. The new specification versions expand support for new processor types, memory interfaces and platform types, while allowing for crypto agility in post-quantum system security.

"We are excited to share the new Conformance Profiles feature, responsive to community pull for a way to make the UEFI Forum's work useful," said Mark Doran, UEFI Forum President. "The Conformance Profiles feature will expand the platform types UEFI can support to an ever wider range of platform types like IoT, embedded and automotive spaces - beyond general purpose computers."

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced the latest gaming gear at Gamescom 2022, including the AMD X670E series motherboards, AIO coolers, PSU, displays, networking products, and peripherals. Along with these products, ROG released its first music single Reality, with vocals by renowned voice actor and musician Troy Baker, more commonly known for his roles in video games like The Last of Us and Uncharted series. An anime-inspired interactive 360° music video featuring the song is available on YouTube.

ROG Swift OLED PG42UQ / PG48UQ: The 42-inch ROG Swift OLED PG42UQ is designed for immersive desktop gaming and features 4K visuals at an overclocked 138 Hz refresh rate. The OLED panel ensures the deepest hues, as well as vibrant colors thanks to a 98% DCI-P3 color gamut and Delta E < 2 color difference. An ultrafast 0.1 ms (GTG) response time ensures great viewing and gaming experiences. The larger, 48-inch ROG Swift OLED PG48UQ is ideal for those looking to play their games on an even bigger scale. ROG OLED monitors include a custom heatsink that offers more surface area for heat exchange, resulting in up to 8% lower operating temperatures compared to ROG monitors without a heatsink to ensure better OLED performance and longevity.

ASRock today introduced the WRX80 Creator, a Socket WRX8 motherboard for AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5000 series workstation processors. Built in the E-ATX form-factor, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, a 6-pin PCIe, and two 8-pin EPS connectors. The star attraction with this platform is 8-channel DDR4 memory, with all eight memory slots on this board featuring a dedicated memory channel. There are seven PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slots, from which five operate at full x16 bandwidth, and two can subtract 8 lanes each from two of the other x16 slots. So x16/x16/x16/NC/x16/NC/x16, or x16/x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x16.

Storage connectivity on the ASRock WRX80 Creator include two M.2 PCIe Gen 4 slots, and a U.2 port, besides eight SATA 6 Gbps. Networking interfaces include two 10 GbE, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and a 1 GbE used by the IPMI controller. Speaking of which, an ASPEED AST2500 provides basic display and various remote management capabilities. USB connectivity includes two 40 Gbps USB4 ports with mini-DP inputs for DisplayPort passthrough, four 10 Gbps USB 3.2, and a number of 5 Gbps USB 3.2 ports. A premium onboard audio solution featuring a Realtek ALC1220, and TI NE5532 headphones amp, makes for the rest of it. The company didn't reveal pricing.

During AMD's Meet the Experts event, ASUS revealed more details about its ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme, a board the company revealed during Computex, but didn't show the rear I/O of. However, ASUS also unveiled the ROG Crosshair X670E Hero, a board the company hadn't shown off prior to the AMD event. Both boards will feature a pair of USB4 ports, with both ports supporting DisplayPort Alt Mode. Both boards feature a further two USB-C ports, plus seven plus USB-A ports. The Extreme features 10 Gbps and 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, whereas the Hero gets to make do with 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, although it gains an HDMI output. Both boards have a full set of audio jacks and WiFi 6E support, as well as a rear mounted clear CMOS and BIOS FlashBack button.

Taking a closer look at the Hero board, it has two PCIe x16 PCIe slots, plus a single, open-ended PCIe x1 slot. The board supports four M.2 NVMe slots for SSDs and comes with a PCIe 5.0 card for a fifth drive. It also has what appears to be six SATA ports, a front header for a 20 Gbps USB 3.2 2x2 USB-C port that also supports up to 60 W USB PD and Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+. The Hero board will be kitted out with an 18 phase power design, with the Extreme getting a 22 phase design, both with a 110 Ampere power stage. ASUS has moved its audio solution to the ALC4082 USB based audio codec and at least the Extreme will have an ESS ES9218 audio codec. ASUS is also bringing over the Q-Release solution for graphics cards to these boards, as well as the Q-Latch for M.2 SSDs.

ASUS today announced the refreshed 13-inch ExpertBook B5, an ultralight, kilogram-class laptop series available in both traditional clamshell and 360° convertible forms for the ultimate in portability and flexibility, plus the added versatility enabled by stylus support in B5 Flip. The new ExpertBook B5 laptops are built for business success in style, with a precision-crafted and minimalist chassis that pushes the limits of lightness. They're also set for stress-free travel with an amazing 11-hour battery life, and are engineered with many cutting-edge technologies to improve on-the-go work efficiency. These include a 12th Gen Intel Core processor with vPro support, AI noise cancelation, dual-SSD RAID support, ASUS NumberPad 2.0 and ASUS ExpertWidget.

The all-new ExpertBook B5 models are also packed with features to protect personal privacy and business data, including a built-in fingerprint sensor and TPM 2.0 chip. ASUS ExpertBook B5 laptops are sleek, stylish and crafted for the ultimate mobility. Both the top and bottom cover are cut from pure aluminium, while the area around the keyboard area is formed using magnesium-aluminium alloy. These premium materials and careful construction keep the weight down to as little as a feather-light 1.1 kg, while also ensuring that the machines are ready for the rigors of everyday use in the office or on the go. ExpertBook B5 laptops are also remarkably thin, with a profile that measures just 16.9 mm, so they're easy to slip into a bag or briefcase, ready to travel anywhere. B5 Flip also offers stylus support.

Apple has removed the final remaining Intel components from its latest M2 MacBooks with the Intel JHL8040R USB4 timer chips being replaced with a pair of custom U09PY3 chips. This change was discovered by iFixIt during a recent teardown and documented by Twitter user SkyJuice with the exact reason for the change unknown. This move towards alternative USB4 chips is also present with AMD's latest Rembrandt laptops switching to retimers such as the KB8001 'Matterhorn' from Swiss startup Kandou who claim to supply five of the six largest PC OEMs with such chips.

ORICO - Shenzhen-based innovative enterprise focusing on high-performance solutions for USB data transmission and charging - is proud to unveil the ORICO USB4 High Speed Portable SSD Montage 40 Gbps series, with a striking and durable design inspired Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. The bold and bright aesthetic draws from Mondrian's famous work Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow, incorporating the thick black lines and blocks of color that immediately distinguish the device from the monochrome alternatives on the market. Loud, but not lurid, the design is applied with the durable in-mold labeling technique also found in automobile manufacturing for its resistance to corrosion.

However, the product engineers at ORICO do not pursue form over function and have invested in the right technology to make the Montage 40 Gbps series one of the best-performing SSDs available. During performance testing, the drive achieved 3,126 MB/s reading speed, a 2,832 MB/s writing speed, and transferred 3 GB files in just one second, matching, and even surpassing, many leading products currently on the market. Accompanied by a versatile 2-in-1 data cable for USB type A and type C connections, the drive is widely compatible and able to be used with Mac OS, Windows, Android, and Linux operating systems without requiring a driver. Depending on user requirements, the Montage series offers capacity options ranging from 512 GB to 2 TB. "We are so excited to launch the eye-catching Montage series, serving superior performance and carrying a timeless aesthetic that really transcends style trends," commented Xu Yeyou, CEO of ORICO. "We had in mind on-the-go creatives, such as photographers and video editors, when designing the product."

It would appear that we're slowly getting closer to the launch of AMD's AM5 platform, as ASRock just put up its first X670E motherboard on its website. The page still has very limited information and there's only a single picture of the motherboard, which is the same one that the company shared at Computex. However, we now get a few more details with regards to what to expect in terms of additional features. For starters, ASRock has gone for a 26-phase SPS Dr.MOS power design, which should be plenty even for the most avid overclocker. The board has a pair of PCIe 5.0 x16 slots that operate in dual x8 mode when both slots are used. In addition to this there are four M.2 slots, where ASRock has decided to call the CPU connected slot for Blazing, as it's PCIe 5.0, whereas the three PCIe 4.0 slots are using the Hyper name the company has used so far.

The board also has eight SATA ports, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, which apparently are USB4 certified as well and a header for a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) case mounted port. Furthermore the board has five rear USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) USB-A ports around the back, plus three USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports and a further four via headers, as well as a single HDMI port of unknown version. ASRock has gone for an Intel Killer E3100G 2.5 Gbps Ethernet controller and an Intel Killer AX1675X WiFi 6E and Bluetooth card, with the combo having Killer DoubleShot Pro support. Finally audio is via a Realtek ALC4082 USB connected audio codec and an ESS Sabre 9218 DAC. Overall this looks like a pretty kitted out board without too much excessive bling and will hopefully be priced accordingly.

j5create, a world leader in high tech computer accessories, and Intel, the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductor chips, are working together to develop one of the world's first USB4 multi-port adapters. USB4 is the latest USB specification offering several improvements over legacy USB-C adapters including higher transfer speeds, more efficient bandwidth allocation between data and display protocols, as well as backward compatibility with older USB and Thunderbolt specifications.

"We're thrilled to work with Intel to bring the latest USB peripherals to market." said Steven Lyu, Chief Operating Officer at j5create. "We are always innovating to deliver high-performance solutions users have been anticipating through a variety of products, technologies, and design collaborations."

There has been a fair bit of confusion about AMD's upcoming AM5 platform when it comes to connectivity and we're going to break things down and explain what the difference is between the B650 and X670 boards. We're also going to cover the processor connectivity, since that's an integral part of any motherboard these days. All the information in this article is based on what we've been told by various sources during Computex.

Although there was a leak with a partial picture of the ASRock X670E Taichi board just days before Computex 2022 kicked off, it was hard to draw any real conclusions from it. The company has revealed more details about it, alongside the X670E Taichi Carrara, X670E Steel Legend and the X670E Pro RS. Let's start with the plain X670E Taichi, since this was the board that leaked. As is obvious now, the board doesn't feature a fan on the chipset heatsink, but rather a set of cogs, something we've seen before from ASRock. The board has very limited expansion options when it comes to PCIe slots, with a pair of x16 slots, which are sharing the 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes from the CPU and that's it. ASRock has gone for four M.2 slots, of which one is PCIe 5.0, most likely the one next to the memory slots. Interestingly, ASRock has kitted out the X670E Taichi with Thunderbolt 4, which means we're looking at an Intel chip here and there should also be support for USB4 and the two ports are located around the back of the board.

Although AMD didn't provide too many details during its Computex 2022 keynote speech about the upcoming AM5 platform, the company did announce that there will be at least three chipsets for the platform and showed pictures of some upcoming motherboards. ASUS has kindly filled in some more details about its upcoming ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme, which will be one of its higher-end models. Sadly the pictures posted are kind of tiny and the company didn't provide a shot of the rear I/O. That said, ASUS did point out some of its new features that we can expect to find on the ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme.

For starters, the board will have a pair of PCIe 5.0 x16 slots, although each slot is likely to only have eight lanes each, when both slots are in use, but ASUS doesn't mention any details here. The board has support for up to five M.2 NVMe SSDs, four of which support PCIe 5.0. Only two are onboard, with the other three being via ASUS' proprietary ROG PCIe 5.0 M.2 card and ROG GEN-Z.2 card. ASUS also promises USB4 support, as well as a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 header with Quick Charge 4+ as well as up to 60 W charging support, for cases with a front USB-C port. On top of the rear I/O is an AniMe Matrix LED display that can be user customised.

Taiwanese ASMedia appears to become the first peripheral chipset company to launch a USB4 host-controller chipset, based on reports from an event the company held this week. ASMedia is at least the first company to get certified by the USB-IF, as its ASM4242 host-controller is the first of its kind to get certified. The ASM4242 was certified alongside the ASM2464PD device controller, although it's unclear exactly what type of device controller this is, but the PD in the model name indicates that it has native support for USB PD power delivery, without the need of any additional chips. This should allow for simpler implementation, as well as it would be saving some PCB space that the extra components no longer take up.

The ASM4242 is said to have a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface and does as such support up to 64 Gbps of bandwidth. As this is a two port controller, it's still not quite enough to enable both ports to operate at the full 40 Gbps that USB4 Gen 3x2 supports, but it should be enough for most consumer implementations. ASMedia has also added support for DP Alt Mode and USB4 is of course also backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 3. ASMedia is already sampling its partners. We should hopefully get a better look at what ASMedia is working on next week, but DigiTimes mentions that ASMedia has also developed PCIe 5.0 controllers of some kind and have finished the tape-out of said products.

Club 3D is proud to present to you the next important step in USB-C technology. Less than a year after the official launch of the new USB Type-C Cable and Connector Specification Revision 2.1 and USB Power Delivery Specification 3.1, we can introduce the first 3 cables following the new standards.

The above just means: With our new cables it is possible to charge with up to 240 W, made possible by the Extended Power Range (EPR), which offers now up to 48 V voltage supply at a remaining 5 A. This is a huge step forward and will help f.e. to charge power hungry gaming notebooks and other devices who were suffering from the limitation of 100 W on previous standard.

ADATA Technology (Taiwan Stock Exchange: 3260.TWO), a manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, mobile accessories, gaming products, electric power trains, and industrial solutions today announces that it has been awarded six 2022 Red Dot Design Awards for product design excellence. The award winners include the XPG CASTER and SLAYER DDR5 DRAM, XPG ALPHA and PRIMER mice, and ADATA ELITE SE920 and SE880 external solid state drives (SSD).

"From three Red Dot winners last year to six winners this year, ADATA has shown its unwavering emphasis on product design as a key aspect of the user experience," said Ibsen Chen, Senior Product Marketing Director at ADATA. "Whether they be DRAM, gaming mice, or external SSDs, we not only offer users the performance and functionality they require but also a fitting industrial design that appeals to them on an emotional level." The Red Dot Design Award is a globally recognized award that honors innovative companies, praises design excellence, and ultimately recognizes those responsible for tomorrow's trends. An international jury of design experts with a variety of backgrounds assesses each submission on its merits.

Although not yet available directly from AMD, its latest chipset drivers, version 4.03.03.624, have been released by Gigabyte and possibly other motherboard partners and it contains a couple of interesting additions. The first one is support for USB4, albeit only for 64-bit versions of Windows 10 at this point in time. This part really only applies to the Zen 3+ "Rembrandt" mobile Ryzen 6000-series CPUs so far, as they're the only products from AMD that supports USB4 at this point in time.

The other interesting part is that AMD has included a 3D V-Cache Performance Optimizer Driver for both the 64-bit version of Windows 10 and Windows 11. As to what this driver does, is anyone's guess at this point in time, but it's likely to be some kind of cache scheduler, or possibly a means for AMD to allocate software that can't take advantage of the 3D V-Cache to the CPU native cache. We should be finding out in a couple of weeks time, as the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is scheduled for retail availability on the 20th of April.

GIGABYTE Technology, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today announced the all-new 2022 BRIX Extreme mini-PC series, which adopts the latest 12th Gen Intel Core Mobile Processors with Intel's most scalable client architecture that delivers superior computing performance. Benefiting from a new Intel Core design for leadership performance, these processors boost the performance significantly in the all-new performance hybrid design for superior single-threaded & multi-threaded performance. Enhanced by GIGABYTE's exclusive design, the new 2022 BRIX Extreme design integrates four display outputs, including HDMI 2.1, USB4, 2.5G Ethernet, plus the latest WiFi 6E configuration, creating the most powerful multitasking mini-PC with astounding performance and responsiveness for either gaming or content creation.

The latest 12th Gen Intel Core Mobile Processors highlight 10 nm technology, and when compared to the previous generation, these new processors feature a 10% increase in GPU performance, 24% increase in multi-threaded performance, and do so with higher clock frequencies up to 4.70 GHz. The powerful performance in these new processors sets a milestone for the mobile platform. When it comes to benchmark testing, it is inspiring to see that SYSMark 25 Performance scores improve by 14% compared to 11th Gen processors and by 28% on CrossMark too. No more needing to compromise between productivity, performance, and gaming/video performance.

Belkin, a consumer electronics leader, today announces its latest lineup of connectivity solutions built with Intel's Thunderbolt 4 controller. The CONNECT Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock and Thunderbolt 4 cable leverage Thunderbolt 4 benefits to offer dual display support for video resolutions up to 4K at 60 Hz, total bandwidth of 40 Gbps, Power Delivery for fast charging, and so much more.

Thunderbolt 4, the latest Thunderbolt technology from Intel, offers a host of features to improve current workstation or gaming setups, provides high bandwidth for connecting high-performance devices, helps ensure quality connection between devices and accessories, and makes it easy to charge, transfer data, and transfer video signals through a single port. Thunderbolt 4 offers flexibility, high bandwidth and versatile connectivity to make connecting devices easier without all the extra cables.

Teledyne LeCroy, the worldwide leader in USB protocol test solutions has announced availability of their USB4 compliance test option for the Voyager M4x analyzer and exerciser system. This software option can be used in conjunction with the USB Implementers Forum's (USB-IF's) USB4 Command Verifier (USB4-CV) software to generate traffic conditions and verify responses for the official USB4 logical, protocol, and tunneling layer compliance test specifications.

USB4 combines the simplicity of the USB Type-C connector with scalable performance capable of delivering data, video, and power across a range of platforms. Design and test engineers that embed this technology into their products need robust compliance test tools to help ensure interoperability and reduce time to market. Introduced in 2019, the Voyager M4x test platform has filled a critical role for early developers performing testing, debug, and analysis of USB4 protocol layer behaviors, and the built-in USB4 exerciser option can emulate custom traffic conditions to ensure devices offer robust operation. Now, the USB4 compliance option enables the Voyager M4x exerciser to support the USB-IF's USB4-CV software for executing approved compliance tests while determining pass/fail results from traces captured by the analyzer.

ORICO unveiled the first USB type-C cable that meets USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 standards. The cable utilizes an Intel IC to offer 40 Gbps transfer speeds, DisplayPort 1.4 passthrough with support for display resolutions of up to 8K @ 60 Hz, and bi-directional 100 W USB PD (power delivery). The cable features a solid alloy casing at the connectors, Nylon braiding throughout, and a reinforced bender that can take up to 10,000 bends. Available in cable lengths of 30 cm, 80 cm, and 2 m, the cable comes in two variants based on connector orientation, with the TBZ cable being standard, and TBW angled 90°. The 30 cm variant is priced at $20, the 80 cm variant at $27, and the 2 m variant at $57. Find them on Amazon here.

j5create, a world leader in high tech computer accessories, and Intel, the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductor chips, are working together to develop one of the worlds' first USB4 multi-port adapters. USB4 is the latest USB specification offering several improvements over legacy USB-C adapters including higher transfer speeds, more efficient bandwidth allocation between data and display protocols, as well as backward compatibility with older USB and Thunderbolt specifications.

"We're thrilled to work with Intel to bring the latest USB peripherals to market." said Steven Lyu, Chief Operating Officer at j5create. "We are always innovating to deliver high-performance solutions users have been anticipating through a variety of products, technologies, and design collaborations." The USB4 multi-port adapters will be one of the first to incorporate the latest Intel USB4 controller, offering Thunderbolt compatibility and USB legacy support. Set to release in Q1 2022, these USB4 multi-port adapters provide efficient and dynamic bandwidth allocation up to 20 Gbps and dual 4K video support in addition to high-speed peripheral ports.