A post on Chinese forum Bilibili has revealed more exact details with regards to when Intel's Raptor Lake series of processors will launch and if nothing changes between now and then, the K and KF SKU's should be announced as previously thought, at the Intel Innovation '22 event that kicks off on the 27th of September. Retail availability, alongside Z790 motherboards should be about a month later, starting the week of the 17th of October. We've confirmed these dates with our own sources, but as always with early information, these things can change.

The rest of the Raptor Lake family of CPUs, as well as the H770 and B760 chipsets are expected to launch at CES 2023 in January and the poster on Bilibili claims that retail sales should be sometime in the second half of January. We've not been able to confirm the latter information here. As per older rumours, Intel is expected to change the PCIe lane allocation for the Z790 chipset compared to Z690 and based on the information posted, Z790 will have 20 PCIe 4.0 and eight PCIe 3.0 lanes, vs. 12 PCIe 4.0 and 16 PCIe 3.0 for the Z690 chipset. Raptor Lake is also said to get native support for faster DDR5 5600 memory, rather than just 4800 MHz DDR5 for Alder Lake. There are apparently no changes to the CPU PCIe lanes and DDR4 support is still here, but once again, no changes have been made to the DDR4 memory controller.

Intel's upcoming flagship desktop processor, the Core i9-11900K, is expected to feature a fancy retail package, much like the original Core i9-9900K. VideoCardz just tweeted a teaser shot of what looks like an acrylic retail package of the chip, with its prominent i9 branding, in Intel's favorite shade of blue. Unlike the i9-10900K, which has a mostly paperboard box with a large acrylic window, the i9-11900K package appears to be entirely made of hard plastic, and an unknown geometric shape. We'll know a lot more as we creep toward the mid-March launch of these chips.

Update 10:18 UTC: Here it is, the i9-11900K retail package in all its glory. It's mostly a cuboid, but with numerous trapezoid shapes. The i9-11900KF, however, gets a basic paperboard box sans cooler, while the "locked" i9-11900 has a slightly larger paperboard box that has a boxed cooler.

In a move that speaks loads towards the current state of the semiconductor market, NVIDIA has apparently begun reseeding retailers with 5-year-old Pascal-based GTX 1050 Ti graphics cards. In some retailers (namely, Newegg), the card can still be found at $499, a vestige of tight supply since its discontinuation, and a result of the constrained GPU market. However, retailers that have received fresh supply of the 14 nm, 4 GB GDDR5-totting graphics card have it at $179 - still above the 5-year-old asking price at release, which was set at $140. The GTX 1050 Ti features a 192-bit memory bus and a whopping 768 shading units.

Resupplying this card means that customers looking at the lower-end of the spectrum now have a feasible alternative to non-existent solutions on the RTX 3000 series. Equivalent models in the 2000-series are also hard to come by, and marred by much higher pricing. The choice for the GTX 1050 Ti with its 4 GB GDDR5 bus isn't an innocent one; it actually skirts two problems with current-generation hardware. First of all, constraints with GDDR6 memory allocation, which is becoming a bottleneck as well for new graphics card manufacture on account on the increasing amount of chips employed in each individual card, as well as its deployment in latest-gen consoles. And secondly, the 4 GB VRAM is no longer enough for these graphics cards to fit in the current Ethereum mining workload fully into memory, which means they also skirt mining demand. It is, however, a heavy moment for the industry and for any enthusiast who wants to see the progress we have been so readily promised.

Intel has apparently begun discounting its desktop CPUs, perhaps in a bid to try and maintain market share earning momentum the company garnered in the last few months. As AMD struggles to keep up with consumer demand for its latest Ryzen 5000 series, Intel looks to be capitalizing on its vertical integration (as well as the fact that Intel owns its own fabs and fabricates in a more than mature 14 nm process). A interesting move by the blue giant, who has generally opted out of a price reduction strategy - a move that might make Intel look on the back foot, and as an alternative budget brand, to the incommensurately smaller AMD.

Various retailers have been carrying Intel inventory with much reduced prices over their official MSRP. Amazon, for example, is offering the Intel Core i7-10700K for $344, down from its average pricing of $383. In the same retailer, the iGPU-less i7-10700F processor is down from $315 one month ago to just $229. Odds are that this is an Intel decision because if one considers the amount of demand on PC products and components due to COVID-19, it's very likely that consumers who can't get an AMD 5000-series CPU will still choose to purchase hardware - even if it has to be from Intel. So retailers eschewing part of their profits at a time like this seems slightly off-character.

HKEPC's retail market scouts discovered that some AMD Ryzen 5 3600 desktop processors are shipping in paperboard boxes meant for the company's Ryzen 3000G series "Picasso" desktop APUs. Depending on factors such as iGPU, or the size of the included cooling solution, AMD uses common box sizes among various processor models. The largest cube-shaped boxes hold SKUs with the largest Wraith Prism RGB coolers, a slightly smaller, through still cube-shaped box is meant for SKUs with the Wraith Spire. Smaller cuboid boxes are meant for SKUs that either have the smaller Wraith Stealth coolers, or completely exclude a cooling solution.

Much of the SKU differentiation comes from a prominent brand extension (3/5/7/9) motif on the front-face, besides the top label that lists out the model name, OPN, serial number, and doubles up as a security seal. Boxes for the company's APUs (processors with integrated graphics), however, have a prominent "processor with AMD Radeon graphics" chrome insert on the front- and top faces. The 3600 shipping in such a box could confuse some buyers, particularly those shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, as they'd expect an iGPU where none exists. It's only the SKU sticker on the top-face that has the cautionary note "discrete graphics required." Other retail boxes (meant for non-APU products) have this note prominently printed on the box.

Axiomtek - a world-renowned leader relentlessly devoted in the research, development and manufacture of series of innovative and reliable industrial computer products of high efficiency - is pleased to launch the ITC150WM-300S and ITC150WM-500L, two 15.6-inch modular panel PCs with a swappable signage computer module which is based on the newest Intel Smart Display Module (Intel SDM) architecture. The swappable design makes the system maintenance easier in field replacement and upgrade. The ITC150WM-300S and ITC150WM-500L have a 15.6-inch full HD LCD display with 1920 x 1080 resolution, a 10-point projected capacity touchscreen, 300 nits of high brightness and LED backlights. The thickness of both interactive panel PCs is less than 40 mm, which is suitable for use in a space-constrained environment.

It seems Microsoft has begun the long process of phasing out 32-bit support for Windows 10 beginning with version 2004, all new OEM Windows 10 systems will be required to use 64-bit builds and Microsoft will no longer release 32-bit builds for OEM distribution. This will not affect those of you running 32-bit versions of Windows 10 who will continue to receive updates and Microsoft plans to continue to sell 32-bit versions of Windows 10 through retail channels for the foreseeable future. This is likely just the first step in what will probably be a multi-year project to gradually phase out 32-bit support as more consumers and businesses switch to 64-bit systems.

Listings for Intel's Comet Lake-S desktop processors have been found on DirectDial a Canadian PC retailer. Comet Lake-S is the next generation of chips using Intel's 14 nm process and will feature up to 10 cores and 20 threads. The leaked prices reveals a significant fall in per core pricing from Coffee Lake chips however Ryzen 3000 will continue to dominate in pricing if this leak is correct, especially considering the lack of including cooling with the new Intel chips. Below are the leaked prices with direct conversions to USD.

• Core i9-10900 (10 cores / 20 threads, 2.8 GHz to 5.2 GHz): $679 CAD = $486 USD
• Core i7-10700K (8 cores / 16 threads, 3.8 GHz to 5.1 GHz): $585 CAD = $419 USD
• Core i7-10700 (8 cores / 16 threads, 2.9 GHz to 4.8 GHz): $506 CAD = $362 USD

Intel has reportedly split the launch of its upcoming 10th generation Core "Comet Lake-S" processor into two unusually distant dates, April 30 and May 27, 2020. It was earlier believed that the processors would be announced on April 30, with availability "shortly after," (read: within 10-14 days of launch). According to a WCCFTech report, the launch is planned such that April 30 will only see product announcements - the processors themselves, motherboards based on Intel 400-series chipset, and OEM desktops based on the platform. Later on May 29, the processors, desktops based on them, and DIY motherboards, are expected to be available in the retail channel. May 27 will also be the date when reviews of the processors and motherboards go live.

Signify, a Philips partner, launches the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box. With this product, you can synchronize all your Philips Hue lamps with your television. The sync box is placed between an HDMI device and your TV.

For this purpose, the box receives the signal from up to four HDMI devices, analyzes the image content and then forwards the signal to the TV set. While the image signal is passed unchanged, the sync box passes the color values to the Philips Hue bulbs. Similar to Philips TV sets with "Ambilight", the TV picture is then synced to the smart Philips Hue lights. The lighting effects can be reproduced on up to 10 lamps/lights in an entertainment area. The more lights are involved, the more impressive the effect will be. The Sync Box supports satellite receivers and Blu-ray players as well as game consoles, notebooks or streaming devices.

or maybe that headline should read "Digital Present", because in many ways, it certainly seems we are already living in a heavily digital present. GameStop, one of the leading physical retailers for both new and used games, that usually has trade-in programs for games consoles as well, has reported a staggering $673 million loss in its 2018 performance.

All facets of GameStops' business have worsened: new hardware sales, new software sales, and pre-owned (which declined some 13.2% YoY) all lost money for the company, with no bright spot to be seen anywhere in the previously bright sheen of this particular part of the retail games and entertainment market. GameStop spoke of a "new cost savings and profit improvement initiative in place, we will focus our efforts on driving profitability", which justifies the company's positive outlook for 2019. How GameStop is optimistic about its future with these losses and a projected 5-10% lowered sales for the games market throughout 2019 is somewhat of a strange marriage of concepts, but if it works for the company, it works. Especially with the increased effort from a number of companies in bringing cloud gaming to fruition, with Google's Stadia and Microsoft's own expected push, it seems that a hugely important part of the market for the likes of GameStop (and let's mention other, digital storefronts as well) is going to be left dry without any sort of cut in game sales.

[Editor's Note: Our own review of the Wooting One keyboard can be found here for those interested.]

Sea Sonic, a world leader in PC and industrial power supply design and manufacturing, announces exclusive sales and distribution cooperation with Wooting, the company behind the world's first and most advanced analogue mechanical keyboard for the PC gaming market.

Sea Sonic's global presence and strength in the American and European retail channels provide a strong platform to give consumers better access to Wooting products. Calder Limmen, Co-founder and CEO explains in great detail what the collaboration means for Wooting in his latest blog post article.

The partnership between Wooting and Sea Sonic is a perfect fit. Both companies are the front-runners in their respective domains where their collaboration is strengthened by their core beliefs: innovation, performance and quality.

An AMD "Concept Store" opened in the Philippines. The store retails AMD processors, graphics cards based on AMD GPUs, and pre-builts such as notebooks and desktops, which feature either or both. It wouldn't surprise us if they took the concept a step ahead with processor + motherboard + memory + graphics card combos. There could even be fully functional gaming desktops so customers could experience gaming in-store. The store has just the AMD logo in its masthead, and no other retailer branding, leading us to believe this could be an experiment by AMD's local office for the country to dabble with direct retail in an emerging market with relatively low awareness of alternatives to larger competitors such as Intel and NVIDIA.

Intel's mainstream-desktop flagship Core i7-8700K processor is now retailing north of USD $400, a departure from its launch price of $359, which erodes its competitiveness to the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, which can be had for as low as $319. Prices of 8th generation Core processors remain on the boil across the board as reports emerge of the industry facing supply shortages from Intel. In its defense, Intel claims that the shortage is triggered by a spike in demand, and not a drop in supply.

The company raised its capex by $1 billion YoY to increase its manufacturing output, and has even outsourced manufacturing of non-processor components such as chipsets, to other semiconductor foundries such as TSMC. Prices of other popular SKUs are also on the rise. The Core i5-8400, which launched at $184, is now hovering $225, which is supposed to be the launch price of the i5-8600 (non-K). The i5-8600K is fast approaching the $300-mark. Prices of AMD Ryzen processors remain not just stable, but also a touch lower than their launch prices.

AMD today announced a reimagined family of AMD Athlon desktop processors with Radeon Vega graphics that have been optimized for everyday PC users: the AMD Athlon 200GE, Athlon 220GE, and Athlon 240GE processor. Combining the high-performance x86 "Zen" core and "Vega] graphics architectures in a versatile System-on-Chip (SOC) design, the Athlon desktop processors offer responsive and reliable computing for a wide range of experiences, from day-to-day needs like web browsing and video streaming through more advanced workloads like high-definition PC gaming. Complementing this news, AMD announced the availability of the commercial-grade Athlon PRO 200GE desktop processor, along with three 2nd Gen Ryzen PRO desktop processor models for the commercial, enterprise, and the public sector: the Ryzen 7 PRO 2700X, Ryzen 7 PRO 2700, and Ryzen 5 PRO 2600 processors. With these new introductions, AMD now offers a top-to-bottom line-up of professional-grade computing solutions for experiences that range from premium content creation to advanced multitasking and office productivity.

"We are proud to expand our successful "Zen" core-based consumer and commercial product portfolios today with the addition of AMD Athlon, AMD Athlon PRO, and 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen PRO desktop processors. The new Athlon desktop processors, now incorporating the advanced "Zen" core and "Vega"3 graphics architectures, energize a legendary processor brand in AMD Athlon - a brand that consumers and PC enthusiasts alike trusted throughout nearly two decades of innovation," said Saeid Moshkelani, senior vice president and general manager, Client Compute, AMD. "Additionally, we are continuing to offer business PC users more processing power than we ever have before with the launch of 2nd Gen Ryzen PRO desktop processors into the commercial market."

Tom Petersen, NVIDIA's director of technical marketing, in a webcast with HotHardware, expressed confidence in the value of its RTX 20-series graphics cards - but threw a wrench on consumers' pricing expectations, set by NVIDIA's own MSRP. That NVIDIA's pricing for their Founder's Edition graphics cards would give partners leeway to increase their margins was a given - why exactly would they sell at lower prices than NVIDIA, when they have increased logistical (and other) costs to support? And this move by NVIDIA might even serve as a small hand-holding for partners - remember that every NVIDIA-manufactured graphics cad sold is one that doesn't go to its AIB's bottom-lines, so there's effectively another AIB contending for their profits. This way, NVIDIA gives them an opportunity to make some of those profits back (at least concerning official MSRP).

AMD is known for some of the most quirky retail packaging. It sold its first FX-series processor in tin boxes, and its first Ryzen Threadripper HEDT processors came in an unusually shaped box that made unpacking the processor an experience unto itself. With its second generation, AMD is poised to introduce new 24-core and 32-core SKUs, presenting the company with an opportunity to make its retail boxes even more grandiose on store shelves.

The new box features a rounded-rectangular front and rear side. A large acrylic window dominates the front, with polygonal bellows leading up to an inner case that shows off the processor as if its a piece of jewelry. This window opens up like an airtight Tupperware box, with a lock on the top, and a hinge at the bottom. Inside, there's a small orange LED lightshow powered by a couple of 2032 button cells. The reverse side also has an acrylic window looking up to the translucent orange back of the inner case, showing you the LGA of the chip. The product logo is unchanged, but a catchphrase has been added - Unlocked, Unrestrained, Uncompromising.

UPDATE 1, 1PM UTC: The first cards have started trickling in, with Vega 56 being available on Overclockers UK for £379 ($490), and MindFactory.de for €409 (~$490, max. 2 units limit per customer on MindFactory). Note the £379 on Overclockers UK is being listed as a "Launch Only" price, so I think we can all agree on where this is headed.

UPDATE 2, 1:11 PM UTC: Stock on MindFactory.de is gone. Last information on "More than 5" sold. 4 in stock at Overclockers UK at 13:15 PM UTC. 1 in stock at 13:16 PM UTC. If you want one of these, pull the trigger; pricing will be £470 ($608) for one of these with two "free games". All gone from Overclockers UK at £379, 13:25 PM.

UPDATE 3, 1:28 PM UTC: Well, if stock existed, it was gone so fast I couldn't even press F5 in time. Stock on Newegg at $399 is gone.

August 28th marks the date when AMD's RX Vega 56 graphics card will enter retail sales (1 PM UTC). Whether or not that will happen at AMD's MSRP of $399 remains to be seen, but we are cautiously pessimistic on that front, considering what has been happening with its big brother, RX Vega 64, since its introduction to the market. Industry sources point towards a continued limited supply of Vega 64 graphics cards at least until October; and since the Vega 56 graphics card makes use of the same GPU, HBM2 memory stacks, and packaging process for its interposer, chances are it will see the same problems as its more expensive brethren.

Expect this space to be updated as soon as these cards hit retail, with the current pricing and stock availability (or unavailability, if that ends up being the case). Considering all of the above and the fact that Vega 56 is the most interesting model in the Vega family, if you want one of these at the retail $399, and paraphrasing an esteemed gaming character, you "gotta go fast".

Overclockers UK staff member Gibbo, who posted the renowned British company's Vega stocks and deals for the red team's graphics cards, has just come out with something that might put our inner buyers to attention. Apparently, AMD has allowed launch prices to be as they currently are ($499 for the Vega 64 and $399 for the Vega 56 in the Americas; £549 for the Vega 64 in the UK) through rebates and other offers to retailers, who, according to Gibbo, couldn't keep those prices at all if that was not the case. According to the Overclockers UK staffer, " (...) the good news is AMD are rebating early launch sales to allow us to hit £449.99 on the stand alone black card which has no games. This is a launch only price which AMD at present are saying will be withdrawn in the near future, when if it happens is unknown, but remember do not be shocked if the price jumps nearly £100 in a few days. This time around there is no early adopter tax, quite the opposite on the stand alone black card, so do be quick."

Nordic Hardware is running a piece where they affirm their sources in the Swedish market have confirmed some retailers have already received first pricing information for AMD's upcoming RX Vega graphics cards. This preliminary pricing information places the Radeon RX Vega's price-tag at around 7,000 SEK (~$850) excluding VAT. Things take a turn towards the ugly when we take into account that this isn't even final retail price for consumers: add in VAT and the retailer's own margins, and prospective pricing is expected at about 9,000 SEK (~$1093). Pricing isn't fixed, however, as it varies between manufacturers and models (which we all know too well), and current pricing is solely a reference ballpark.

There is a possibility that the final retail prices will be different from these quoted ones, and if latest performance benchmarks are vindicated, they really should be. However, Nordic Hardware quotes their sources as saying these prices are setting a boundary for "real and final", and that the sentiment among Swedish retailers is that the pricing "Feels wrong". For reference, NVIDIA's GTX 1080 Ti is currently retailing at around 8,000 SEK (~971) including VAT, while the GTX 1080, which RX Vega has commonly been trading blows with, retails for around 5600 SEK (~$680) at the minimum. This should go without saying, but repare your body for the injection of a NaCl solution.

AIB partner for NVIDIA KFA2 is renowned for the design (often polarizing) of its graphics cards, and the company seems to carry white quite close to its heart (something I don't have a problem with, actually.) Now, the company has seemingly confirmed incoming retail availability of NVIDIA's leaked GT 1030 graphics cards, with an EXOC edition of the card in question.

The EXOC white edition by KFA2 is factory overclocked out of the box, and the packaging confirms its a 2GB GDDR5 model with 64-bit memory bus. According to the source, El Chapuzas Informatico, this card is equipped with a 16nm GP108 GPU with 384 CUDA cores (not the 512 we previously reported.) This makes sense, however, as this means NVIDIA can easily carve a GT 1040 SKU from the supposed 512 CUDA-cores base design of the GP108 chip. The base clock for the KFA2 GT 1030 EXOC is 1252 MHz, with a 1506 MHz boost clock. This card is expected to go on sale for around 80€ ($87 direct conversion, but more likely a $69 price-tag.)

This piece is intended to present a short thought-experiment in regards to the ever-increasing prevalence of ads in our lives. With their ubiquitous presence and the development of ever more complex ways of ad targeting and display technologies, ads have become a part of our lives. From million dollar spots in the Super Bowl towards content-locks happening unless we allow ads to be forced upon us, ads will eventually become more of an issue than they already are.

This issue in itself isn't much attractive at the outset - ads are naturally (and correctly) viewed as intrusions in our choice of content. I know how much I loathe using any ad-imbibed products. But the key point here isn't the fact that ads exist - they will always do so. It's the way they are delivered.
There are some situations where ads make sense, and are even a vital component of a product's marketing and monetization. Free-to play smartphone games and services such as Spotify or YouTube have to find ways of delivering content free of charge while achieving business sustainability. That "there are no free meals" is true for almost every aspect of our lives; but such a mantra is the lifeblood of companies. However, in some cases, ads are jarring, obtrusive, and can ruin an experience. Enter ads in computer games.

AMD's Ryzen launch may have been marred only by some unrealistic expectations on what is really an excellent all-around chip, which apparently prompted some knee-jerk pre-order cancelations and a stock tumble for AMD. However, it would seem AMD built-up enough momentum with its Ryzen launch so as to provoke some shortages in major retailers, despite the company announcing a million-strong launch stock for Ryzen.

All in all, Amazon and Fry's have no more stock of any Ryzen 7 processor and Newegg, which was supposed to carry boxed versions of the processor, is only selling it as part of a number of pre-built rigs. Demand has been higher than supply when it comes to Ryzen ever since AMD opened pre-orders for its prodigal child. Let's hope these are sorted out, and that AMD can feed the consumers' hunger for a long-time coming viable (as in, mesmerizingly great) alternative to Intel.

AMD did it again: building-up such a tremendous speed on its new products' hype train that the Ryzen 7 1700X, Ryzen 7 1800X, and Ryzen 7 1700 managed to jump straight to first, second, and fourth spots of Amazon's list of best-selling CPUs, respectively, dethroning even Intel's mighty i7 7700K. Granted, it isn't hard for the processors from one or the other manufacturer to quickly jump and wrangle about the spots on retailer's best seller lists - there Are only two manufacturers of consumer-grade, high-performance x86 CPUs. But keep in mind: this is a pre-order we're talking about, with nothing but leaks and marketing maneuvering for consumers to base their purchase on.

The leaks and details regarding AMD's Ryzen processors just don't seem to - and really won't - stop these days. Now, it's the enclosing piece of cardboard in which these processors will ship that's made the rounds, and AMD seems to have continued with an understated look to its overall box design.

The box art was posted through a listing of AMD's upcoming Ryzen processors on a Thailand-based retail outlet, alongside pre-order pricing (which seems to carry a slight premium (for example: a Ryzen 7 1800X is listed at 18,790 Baht, which would roughly amount to $537, a little higher than the reported $499). But a picture is worth a thousand words, and as such, I'll just leave you with those.