AMD has unveiled its latest processor, the Ryzen 8040H. This new model boasts 8 Zen 4 cores and full RDNA3 graphics with 12 Compute Units. Notably, it lacks the AMD XDNA processor, confirming earlier rumors of a mobile SKU without a Neural Processing Unit (NPU). Contrary to speculation, the 8040H's specifications differ from the Ryzen 8845HS. The new chip has a boost clock of 4.9 GHz, 200 MHz lower than its predecessor. Graphics performance has also been slightly reduced, with the 12 Compute Units clocked at 2.6 GHz, down from 2.7 GHz in the 8845H.

The Lenovo XiaoXin 14 Pro is the first laptop to feature this new APU, priced at 5499 RMB ($768) with 24 GB of memory. For comparison, a similar model with the 8845H and 32 GB of memory is priced at 5599 RMB ($773), suggesting only a marginal price difference between the two configurations.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will now be launching on November 20, 2024, moving from the previously planned date of September 5, 2024.

"We know you might be tired of waiting, and we truly appreciate your patience. These two additional months will give us the chance to fix more "unexpected anomalies" (or simply "bugs", as you call them). We are always grateful for your ongoing support and understanding - it means the world to us. We're just as eager as you are to finally release the game and for you to experience it for yourself." said Yevhen Grygorovych, Game Director at GSC Game World.

Elgato, a brand of CORSAIR, today introduced two new hardware extensions for their Stream Deck + controller. XLR Dock, a mic interface, helps creators manage all their audio needs from a single device. Meanwhile, USB Hub offers additional ports and power delivery to support a growing setup. Both extensions slot directly into the back of Stream Deck +, tucked away to reduce desk clutter. For creators like streamers and podcasters, it's an opportunity to further streamline their workspace, with Stream Deck + at its heart.

Stream Deck + owners can order XLR Dock and USB Hub today on Elgato's webstore, with shipping expected to begin next week. Starting August 25, both products will also be available at authorized retailers in CORSAIR's global network.

It's the summer of Elder Scrolls - whether a seasoned Dragonborn or a new adventurer, dive into the legendary world of Tamriel this GFN Thursday as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition joins the cloud. Epic adventures await, along with nine new games joining the GeForce NOW library this week. Plus make sure to catch the GeForce NOW Summer Sale for 50% off new Ultimate and Priority memberships.

Unleash the Dragonborn
Experience the legendary adventures, breathtaking landscapes and immersive storytelling of the iconic role-playing game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition from Bethesda Game Studios - now accessible on any device from the cloud. Become the Dragonborn and defeat Alduin the World-Eater, a dragon prophesied to destroy the world. Explore a vast landscape, complete quests and improve skills to develop characters in the open world of Skyrim. The Special Edition includes add-ons with all-new features, including remastered art and effects. It also brings the adventure of Bethesda Game Studios creations, including new quests, environments, characters, dialogue, armor and weapons.

SilverStone today introduced the FARA 514X and FARA 314X tower-type cases designed for space and high air-flow. The FARA 314X is a Micro-ATX tower, while the FARA 514X is an ATX mid-tower. Both cases are characterized by their mesh front intakes, and large included 140 mm intake fans, besides an included 120 mm exhaust fan); a tempered glass left side-panel, and room for graphics cards up to 36.5 cm in length, along with CPU coolers up to 17.3 cm in height. Both cases feature a horizontally partitioned layout, with the upper compartment holding the spacious motherboard tray, and the lower one with a PSU with up to 21.7 cm of room for the spaghetti.

The FARA 314X (model: SST-FA312X-BG) measures 220 mm x 410 mm x 412.4 mm (WxHxD), dry-weighing 5.76 kg. It offers 4 expansion slots, and supports Micro-ATX (or smaller) motherboard form-factors. Fan mounts include either three 120 mm or two 140 mm front intakes, which hold onto the two included 140 mm ARGB fans; and two 140/120 mm top exhausts, besides the obligatory 120 mm rear exhaust. Your radiator options include a 280 mm x 140 mm (or smaller) along the front intake, and another 280 mm x 140 mm (or smaller) along the top exhaust. The only drive bay is a 3.5-inch/2.5-inch in the bottom compartment, and there are three aditional 2.5-inch mounts along the motherboard tray. Front-panel connectivity includes two USB 3.x type-A, a 3.5 mm audio jacks.

Alphacool presents the ES 1 1U. This cooler was specially designed for the requirements of server cooling and is based on the proven technology of the Core 1. Alphacool combines the best of two worlds with the ES 1 1U. The innovative 3D jetplate in combination with the proven cross-slot technology ensures that the coolant is distributed evenly across the cooler base. Inside the cooler, an O-ring ensures a precise flow of water and thus guarantees reliable cooling.

The cooler has a particularly compact design. With side connections and a flat profile, the ES 1 1U can be easily installed in small systems with limited space, including 1U server casings. The new mounting system and use of acetal for the housing reduce both assembly effort and costs for large-scale production. The ES 1 1U is now available in the Alphacool online store.

AMD is readying a successor to its Ryzen 7045 series "Dragon Range" mobile processor for gaming notebooks and portable workstations. While we don't know its processor model naming yet, the chip is codenamed "Fire Range." We are learning that it will retain the FL1 package as "Dragon Range," which means it will be pin-compatible. This would significantly reduce development costs for notebook OEMs, as they can simply carry over their mainboard designs from their notebooks based on "Dragon Range."

"Fire Range" is essentially a mobile BGA version of the upcoming Ryzen 9000 "Granite Ridge" desktop processor. The FL1 package measures 40 mm x 40 mm in size, and has substrate for two CCDs and a cIOD, just like the desktop chip. "Fire Range" hence features one or two 4 nm "Zen 5" CCDs, depending on the processor model, and the 6 nm client I/O die. Much like "Dragon Range," the "Fire Range" chip will lack support for LPDDR5, and rely on conventional PC DDR5 memory in the SO-DIMM or CAMM2 form-factors. Besides the CPU core count consisting exclusively of full-sized "Zen 5" cores, the main flex for "Fire Range" over "Strix Point" will be its 28-lane PCIe Gen 5 root-complex, which can wire out the fastest discrete mobile GPUs, as well as drive multiple M.2 NVMe slots with Gen 5 wiring, and other high-bandwidth devices, such as Thunderbolt 4, USB4, or Wi-Fi 7 controllers wired directly to the processor.

Full layout for full freedom—The SKILLER SGK50 S2 combines all the advantages of our hot-swap gaming keyboards with a comprehensive 96 percent layout. The switches and keycaps of the S2 can be hot swapped as and when desired, and the functions of all the keys can be customized thanks to VIA and QMK compatibility. A polycarbonate plate and double-layer silicone damping also ensure that this mechanical keyboard sounds just as good as it looks.

Pre-Installed Gateron Switches—Red, brown, or would you prefer yellow? The SKILLER SGK50 S2 is available in three different versions, providing a choice of pre-installed Gateron switches with either linear or tactile feedback. Or do you prefer the personal touch? With the SKILLER SGK50 S2, that's no problem! Switches of your choice with 3 or 5 pins can be easily installed and used. Of course, the tools required for hot swapping are already included with the keyboard.

Colorful Technology Company Limited, a leading brand in gaming PC components, gaming laptops, and Hi-fi audio products, is proud to announce the CVN Z790D5 ARK FROZEN motherboard for the 14th Gen, 13th Gen, and 12th Gen Intel Core processors. The motherboard supports DDR5 memory and comes with four PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots for high-speed NVMe SSDs.

The design of the CVN Z790D5 ARK FROZEN is inspired by the powerful CVN-class battleships. The motherboard features a titanium gray color from the heat sinks to the PCB finish. The motherboard features a 14+1+1 digital power phase design with 90 A high-spec DrMOS VRMs with tantalum polymer capacitor to support high-end Intel Core i9 processors with ease. The CVN Z790D5 ARK FROZEN motherboard comes with a 2.5 GbE Ethernet port and Wi-Fi 6E with Bluetooth 5.3. The motherboard has single PCIe 5.0 X16 slot that's backward compatible with PCIe 4.0 devices such as the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics cards. There's also a bottom PCIe 4.0x4 slot for add-in devices such as RAID controllers, capture cards, and others.

SK hynix Inc. announced today that it recorded 16.4233 trillion won in revenues, 5.4685 trillion won in operating profit (with an operating margin of 33%), and 4.12 trillion won in net profit (with a net margin of 25%) in the second quarter. Quarter revenues marked all-time high, far exceeding the previous record of 13.811 trillion won in the second quarter of 2022. Operating profit also increased significantly, marking 5 trillion won for the first time in 6 years since the second quarter (5.5739 trillion won) and the third quarter (6.4724 trillion won) of 2018 during the semiconductor super boom.

The company said that continuous rise in overall prices of DRAM and NAND products with strong demand for AI memories including HBM led to 32% increase in revenues compared to the previous quarter. Also, with the sales for premium products on the rise and exchange rate effects adding, the operating profit ratio in the second quarter rose 10 percentage points from the previous quarter to 33%, performing to market expectations.

In a statement published today shortly after the release of a batch of new Zen 5 architecture details, AMD's computing and graphics SVP Jack Huynh released a statement regarding a delay to the release of the Ryzen 9000 processors based on Zen 5. Originally set to launch in just one week on July 31st, the processors have now been pushed back to a staggered release on August 8th and August 15th; one and two weeks after the initial launch window. AMD supposedly found some of the launch inventory processors did not go through proper testing procedures before being shipped out, and AMD is recalling those processors before any potential problems could have a chance to affect the first customers to buy the new chips.

The statement is as follows:

We appreciate the excitement around Ryzen 9000 series processors. During final checks, we found the initial production units that were shipped to our channel partners did not meet our full quality expectations. Out of an abundance of caution and to maintain the highest quality experiences for every Ryzen user, we are working with our channel partners to replace the initial production units with fresh units. As a result, there will be a short delay in retail availability. The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors will now go on sale on August 8th and the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X processors will go on-sale on August 15th. We pride ourselves in providing a high-quality experience for every Ryzen user, and we look forward to our fans having a great experience with the new Ryzen 9000 series.

Even though they have the potential to nearly double your on-the-go productivity, portable monitors can get expensive. Those looking for a budget option might be interested in this 13.3-inch 2K IPS display that's only $152.99 (reg. $169.99). With mini HDMI and two USB-C ports, you can connect desktops, laptops, smartphones, or even gaming consoles at home, when traveling, or anywhere in between. Your purchase includes the power and data cables. For sound, connect headphones to the 3.5 mm AUX port or use the built-in speakers.

Use the gadget in copy, expansion, or second screen modes to mirror or extend your device's display. As for the screen itself, enjoy 2560x1600 resolution, a 60 Hz refresh rate, 8 ms response speed, and a 1000:1 contrast ratio. While these aren't the most impressive monitor specs on the market, they're great for someone who wants an affordable display for working, studying, or gaming.

Double your screen space with this 13.3-inch 2K IPS display that's $152.99 (reg. $169.99) on StackSocial.

Goldtouch launches their new and improved ergonomic Elite Keyboard, adding to their range of adjustable desktop ergonomics. The Elite Keyboard is a fully adjustable split keyboard that supports the hands and wrists as you type, reducing pain and discomfort associated with RSI and promoting overall comfort and well-being.

With an improved handle design and thinner profile, the Elite Keyboard offers a slimline aesthetic that users can adjust to fit their typing preferences for even better comfort and true individualized ergonomics. The handle unlocks the locking ball and joint system to adjust the keyboard angle from 0 to 30 degrees horizontally and 0 to 60 degrees vertically, supporting the natural position of the user's hands, wrists, and forearms.

Govee, a leader in the smart home lighting sector, is partnering with the legendary Japanese anime series Evangelion to release a groundbreaking line of gaming lights. This collaboration, Govee x Evangelion Gaming Lights, combines Evangelion's epic storytelling with Govee's advanced lighting technology to provide new hardware for gamers looking to embrace their own unique interest and connection to their gaming atmosphere.

At the core of this collaboration is a fusion of innovation and self-expression. Embodying the spirit of both brands, the products highlight personalized experiences with gaming and the Evangelion brand. The special edition gaming lights are more than just functional; they are an invitation for gamers to transform their ordinary spaces into vibrant battle stations.

Since its reveal last week, we got a slightly more technical deep-dive from AMD on its two upcoming processors—the "Strix Point" silicon powering its Ryzen AI 300 series mobile processors; and the "Granite Ridge" chiplet MCM powering its Ryzen 9000 desktop processors. We present a closer look into the "Strix Point" SoC in this article. It turns out that "Strix Point" takes a significantly different approach to heterogeneous multicore than "Phoenix 2." AMD gave us a close look at how this works. AMD built the "Strix Point" monolithic silicon on the TSMC N4P foundry node, with a die-area of around 232 mm².

The "Strix Point" silicon sees the company's Infinity Fabric interconnect as its omnipresent ether. This is a point-to-point interconnect, unlike the ringbus on some Intel processors. The main compute machinery on the "Strix Point" SoC are its two CPU compute complexes (CCX), each with a 32b (read)/16b (write) per cycle data-path to the fabric. The concept of CCX makes a comeback with "Strix Point" after nearly two generations of "Zen." The first CCX contains the chip's four full-sized "Zen 5" CPU cores, which share a 16 MB L3 cache among themselves. The second CCX contains the chip's eight "Zen 5c" cores that share a smaller 8 MB L3 cache. Each of the 12 cores has a 1 MB dedicated L2 cache.

AMD in its architecture deep-dive Q&A session with the press, confirmed that the "Zen 5" and "Zen 5c" cores on the "Strix Point" silicon only feature 256-bit wide FPU data-paths, unlike the "Zen 5" cores in the "Granite Ridge" Ryzen 9000 desktop processors. "The Zen 5c used in Strix has a 256-bit data-path, and so does the Zen 5 used inside of Strix," said Mike Clark, AMD corporate fellow and chief architecture of the "Zen" CPU cores. "So there's no delta as you move back and forth [thread migration between the Zen 5 and Zen 5c complexes] in vector throughput," he added.

It doesn't seem like AMD disabled a physically available feature, but rather, the company developed a variant of both the "Zen 5" and "Zen 5c" cores that physically lack the 512-bit data-paths. "And you get the area advantage to be able to scale out a little bit more," Clark continued. This suggests that the "Zen 5" and "Zen 5c" cores on "Strix Point" are physically smaller than the ones on the 4 nm "Eldora" 8-core CCD that is featured in "Granite Ridge" and some of the key models of the upcoming 5th Gen EPYC "Turin" server processors.

AMD presented a closer look at the Radeon 890M iGPU powering the Ryzen AI 300 series "Strix Point" mobile processor. The iGPU introduces the new RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture, with several architecture-level improvements built around the existing RDNA 3 SIMD, to yield performance/Watt improvements that AMD could trade in to increase the SIMD muscle for its processors, and proportionately increase performance. The iGPU features one Shader Engine with 8 workgroup processors (WGPs), which amount to 16 CU (compute units), for a total of 1,024 stream processors, 32 AI accelerators, and 16 Ray accelerators. The iGPU also has 4 render backends+, for 16 ROPs. It is specced with a maximum engine clock of 2.90 GHz, which yields over 11 TFLOP/s of FP32 throughput, which is around 30% higher than the iGPU of "Phoenix" (12 CU, RDNA 3), at comparable power.

AMD goes into the finer points of how it yielded the performance/Watt gains. The company worked on the texture subsystem to double the texture sampler rate, and introduced point-sampling acceleration. The shader sub-system features interpolation and comparison rate doubling. The raster sub-system introduces sub-batching of batch raster operations, with a programmable bin order, for the hardware to be more efficient. Lastly, AMD worked on the iGPU's memory-management, to be more aware of LPDDR5 (which has a different physical layer or way of writing/fetching than GDDR6). The company worked on improving the memory compression technologies, to improve performance, and reduce the iGPU's memory footprint.

AMD "Granite Ridge" is codename for the four new Ryzen 9000 series desktop processors the company plans to launch on July 31, 2024. The processor is built in the Socket AM5 package, and is meant to be backwards compatible with AMD 600-series chipset motherboards, besides the new 800-series chipset ones that will launch alongside. "Granite Ridge" is a chiplet-based processor, much like the Ryzen 7000 "Raphael," Ryzen 5000 "Vermeer," and Ryzen 3000 "Matisse." AMD is carrying over the 6 nm client I/O die over from "Raphael" in an effort to minimize development costs, much in the same way it carried over the 12 nm cIOD for "Vermeer" from "Matisse."

The SoC I/O features of "Granite Ridge" are contemporary, with its awesome 28-lane PCI-Express Gen 5 root complex that allows a PCI-Express 5.0 x16, two CPU-attached M.2 Gen 5 slots, and a Gen 5 x4 chipset bus. There's also a basic integrated graphics solution based on the older RDNA 2 graphics architecture; which should make these processors fit for all use-cases that don't need discrete graphics. The iGPU even has multimedia accelerators, an audio coprocessor, a display controller, and USB 3.2 interfaces from the processor.

Display specialist AOC proudly presents the U27B3CF, a 27" (68.6 cm) 4K monitor that combines stunning visuals with easy-to-use USB-C connectivity. Designed for home users, flexible professionals and creatives who demand both quality and functionality, this monitor sets a new standard for workplace efficiency.

Unmatched clarity and modern connectivity
Featuring a 27" IPS panel with 4K UHD resolution (3840x2160), the AOC U27B3CF delivers crisp, lifelike images with a 163 PPI density - perfect for professionals who value both screen real estate and image quality. This combination allows users to view multiple documents, spreadsheets or applications side-by-side with crisp text and vivid visuals. For creative professionals, the high pixel density enables precise work in photo editing and graphic design, making the most of every inch of screen space.

LG Electronics (LG) is launching its latest LG MyView Smart Monitor (model 34SR65QC), a 34-inch display with a unique form factor and a range of features for better productivity and entertainment experiences. This marks the company's first smart monitor featuring a curved, 21:9 aspect ratio UltraWide screen, offering an expansive desktop display solution for customers seeking improved workflow, enhanced viewing immersion or both.

The newly-released LG MyView Smart Monitor boasts a 34-inch WQHD (3,440 x 1,440) resolution VA panel, delivering 300 nits of brightness, a wide viewing angle and 99 percent coverage of the sRGB color gamut. These specifications, combined with the screen's 21:9 format, make the LG MyView an excellent 'side-by-side' desktop companion for office workers, developers and other digital professionals.

More than 500 games and applications feature RTX technologies, and each week new games integrating NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex and advanced ray-traced effects are released or announced, delivering the definitive PC experience for GeForce RTX players. Starting today, Marvel Rivals Closed Beta is available with DLSS 3 and Reflex support. Plus, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess recently launched with DLSS 3. FINAL FANTASY XIV Online: Dawntrail, F1 Manager 2024, and Dark and Darker are available now with DLSS 2, Trepang 2 Bladekisser DLC launches July 25 with DLSS 2, and the newly announced open-world RPG Neverness to Everness will launch with DLSS and ray tracing. Learn more about each game below.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess Available Now With DLSS 3, Ray Tracing & Reflex
In Capcom's unique, Japanese-inspired, visually captivating Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, players will play as protagonist Soh, making sharp strategic decisions and use of skillful dancing sword skills, while working with rescued villagers and the Maiden Yoshiro to overcome the challenges ahead. During the day, explore the village and purge demonic defilement by rescuing villagers and wisely assigning them roles and positions to help attack the evil Seethe at night. During the night, the villagers will fight alongside Soh to protect Yoshiro from the swarm of Seethe. In this intense action-strategy game, face the formidable Festering Seethe, purge the village's defilement, and return peace to the mountain.

ADATA Technology Co., Ltd., the world's leading memory brand, launches its latest SC750 external solid-state drive (SSD) which supports the USB 3.2 Gen 2 transmission interface with read/write speeds up to 1,050/1,000 MB/s. Adopting the mainstream Type-C connector, the SC750 requires no data cable and can be directly connected to a mobile phone or tablet for plug-and-play access. It supports the latest iPhone 15 series and Android Type-C smartphones. The SC750 combines performance and portable design to meet the ever-increasing demand for transfer speed and storage produced by today's hectic lifestyles, making it a convenient companion for video creators who often venture outdoors to collect resources. The SC750 cuts down on wait time when transferring large files and improves efficiency when multitasking with several project files simultaneously.

The SC750 external SSD inherits the exterior design of the popular SE880, which sports a greatly reduced form factor and eliminates the need for an additional data cable. Users no longer need to worry about finding a matching data cable when busy working on a project. About the size of a flash drive, the SC750 is easy to carry, lightweight, and does not take up much space. It is perfect for work or travel. Slide out its Type-C connector to get started transferring large files instantly or edit and access these files directly on the SC750 to greatly improve work efficiency.

FinalWire Ltd. today announced the immediate availability of AIDA64 Extreme 7.35 software, a streamlined diagnostic and benchmarking tool for home users; the immediate availability of AIDA64 Engineer 7.35 software, a professional diagnostic and benchmarking solution for corporate IT technicians and engineers; the immediate availability of AIDA64 Business 7.35 software, an essential network management solution for small and medium scale enterprises; and the immediate availability of AIDA64 Network Audit 7.35 software, a dedicated network audit toolset to collect and manage corporate network inventories. The new AIDA64 update introduces a new 64-bit CheckMate benchmark, AVX-512 accelerated benchmarks for AMD Ryzen AI APU, and supports the latest graphics and GPGPU computing technologies by AMD, Intel and NVIDIA.

DOWNLOAD: FinalWire AIDA64 v7.35 Extreme

A CPU-Z screenshot of an alleged Intel Core Ultra 9 285K "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processor engineering sample is doing rounds on social media, thanks to wxnod. CPU-Z identifies the chip with an Intel Core Ultra case badge with the deep shade of blue associated with the Core Ultra 9 brand extension, which hints at this being the top Core Ultra 9 285K processor model, we know it's the "K" or "KF" SKU looking at its processor base power reading of 125 W. The chip is built in the upcoming Intel Socket LGA1851. CPU-Z displays the process node as 7 nm, which corresponds with the Intel 4 foundry node.

Intel is using the same Intel 4 foundry node for "Arrow Lake-S" as the compute tile of its "Meteor Lake" processor. Intel 4 offers power efficiency and performance comparable to 4 nm nodes from TSMC, although it is physically a 7 nm node. Likewise, the Intel 3 node is physically 5 nm. If you recall, the main logic tile of "Lunar Lake" is being built on the TSMC N3P (3 nm) node. This means that Intel is really gunning for performance/Watt with "Lunar Lake," to get as close to the Apple M3 Pro as possible.

Seagate Technology Holdings plc, a leading innovator of mass-capacity data storage, today reported financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year ended June 28, 2024.

"Seagate delivered robust financial performance for the June quarter amid an improving cloud demand environment, capping off a fiscal year of strong execution against our financial goals. Q4 revenue grew 18% year-over-year, non-GAAP gross margin expanded to nearly 31%, and non-GAAP EPS exceeded the high end of our guidance range," said Dave Mosley, Seagate's chief executive officer. "In fiscal 2025, we are remaining focused on driving profitability and maintaining supply discipline while continuing to execute our mass capacity product roadmap, anchored by our HAMR technology. Our data storage solutions offer our cloud and enterprise customers with cost, power and space advantages that support their investments in critical AI and other data-driven initiatives," Mosley concluded.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced availability of the Micron 9550 NVMe SSD - the world's fastest data center SSD and industry leader in AI workload performance and power efficiency. The Micron 9550 SSD showcases Micron's deep expertise and innovation by integrating its own controller, NAND, DRAM and firmware into one world-class product. This integrated solution enables class-leading performance, power efficiency and security features for data center operators.

The Micron 9550 SSD delivers best-in-class performance with 14.0 GB/s sequential reads and 10.0 GB/s sequential writes to provide up to 67% better performance over similar competitive SSDs and enables industry-leading performance for demanding workloads such as AI. In addition, its random reads of 3,300 KIOPS are up to 35% better and random writes of 400 KIOPS are up to 33% better than competitive offerings.

With the OfficePal Combo Adapter, connecting different devices is quick and easy. The ultra-slim adapter has a scratch-resistant aluminum casing and can be connected to an end device via USB-C. The adapter then provides additional USB-C or USB-A ports as well as HDMI and RJ45 network connections.

Simple Connection
Via the integrated USB-C cable, the OfficePal Combo Adapter can be easily connected to a PC, laptop or notebook and expands the connection options without the need for a driver.

Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA), today announced the launch of its new Sharp M Series projectors - the XP-M421W-W and XP-M401H-W. The new M Series projectors are the second Sharp branded projectors developed since the company's joint venture with NEC. The Sharp M Series projectors provide customers with an easy-to-use, lamp-free compact laser projector requiring minimal maintenance. The essential features of the M Series projectors offer a budget-conscious projector replacement for classrooms, meeting spaces and more.

Maintenance Free
Sharp's all new M Series projectors offer an entry solution designed to provide reliable long-term operation at a low total cost of ownership. The projectors are equipped with a reliable laser light source, eliminating the need for recurring lamp replacements, as well as Texas Instruments DLP technology that is designed to be filter free. With no lamp and no filter, the M Series projectors provide users with years of worry-free operation.

Furthering the integration of solid-state micro speakers in over-the-ear headphones, AMPACS, a global leader in electroacoustic product design, today announced a turnkey 2-way headphone solution designed in collaboration with MEMS audio and semiconductor pioneer xMEMS Labs. Pre-production prototypes are ready now, and the production-ready solution will be available in September.

The design leverages xMEMS' Cowell, the world's smallest solid-state micro speaker, for precisely rendered highs and mids, and AMPACS' dynamic driver providing deep, satisfying bass. The result is a ready-made, modular solution that headphone manufacturers can plug into virtually any headphone design, including open-back, closed-back, wired, and wireless, for next-level gaming and music listening experiences.

Award-winning designer of personal audio technology JLab, today announces the UK availability of its JBuds Lux ANC Wireless Headphones. The new over ear headphones are JLab's first foray into the higher end headphone market, delivering a suite of advanced features like Immersive Lab quality sound, smart active noise-cancelling, spatial audio support, and Bluetooth. These features, paired with impressive 40 mm drivers for expansive sound and up to 70 hours of playback, make the £79.99 JBuds Lux ANC headphones a no-brainer for anyone looking for a premium listening experience at a great value. The new headphones are available from the JLAB UK website, Argos, Very, JD Williams and John Lewis and Amazon in three different colorways, cloud white, graphite, sage and mauve.

"Everyone deserves to experience the magic of exceptional audio quality. However, not all music lovers have $300 to spend on great headphones. We took that as a challenge," says JLab CEO Win Cramer. "The JBuds Lux ANC wireless headphones redefine the category, demonstrating how much is possible at a relatively low entry point. We integrated the best Bluetooth technologies, exceptional noise-canceling capabilities, an incredibly comfortable platform, and all the bells and whistles to produce exceptional sound. Lux offers an unparalleled listening experience for sub-£100 headphones, and we can't wait for you to try them on for size."

Long-term reliability issues continue to plague Intel's 13th Gen and 14th Gen Core desktop processors based on the "Raptor Lake" microarchitecture, with users complaining that their processors have become unstable with heavy processing workloads, such as games. This includes the chips that have minor levels of performance tuning or overclocking. Intel had earlier isolated many of these stability issues to faulty CPU core frequency boosting algorithms, which it addressed through updates to the processor microcode that it got motherboard- and prebuilt manufacturers to distribute as UEFI firmware updates. The company has now come out with new findings of what could be causing these issues.

In a statement Intel posted on its website on Monday (22/07), the company said that it has been investigating the processors returned to it by users under warranty claims (which it has been replacing under the terms of its warranty). It has found that faulty processor microcode has been causing the processors to operate under excessive core voltages, leading to their structural degradation over time. "We have determined that elevated operating voltage is causing instability issues in some 13th/14th Gen desktop processors. Our analysis of returned processors confirms that the elevated operating voltage is stemming from a microcode algorithm resulting in incorrect voltage requests to the processor."

INNOCN unveils its latest triumph in the realm of gaming monitors with the INNOCN 34" Curved Ultrawide Gaming Monitor-34G1R, designed to redefine gaming experience with unparalleled immersion and cutting-edge technology. Boasting a stunning 34-inch curved ultrawide display with a resolution of 3440 x 1440p and an impressive 165 Hz refresh rate, the 34G1R sets a new standard in visual fluidity and clarity.

The INNOCN 34G1R is designed to excite both tech enthusiasts and serious gamers by fusing powerful performance with elegant design. Equipped with HDMI and DP ports as well as USB Type C Power Delivery, it guarantees smooth device compatibility. Bright colors and fine details are delivered with every frame by the 34G1R, whether fighting a way through the newest AAA game or losing in a cinematic adventure.

D-Link Corporation, a global leader in networking solutions, proudly announces the launch of its cutting-edge G530 5G NR AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 router. This advanced router empowers users to harness the full potential of 5G technology by using a mobile carrier's SIM card to deliver high-speed 5G connectivity through a robust Wi-Fi 6 network. Engineered with the renowned MIT (Made in Taiwan) quality assurance, the G530 provides a fast, reliable, and flexible networking solution ideal for homes, offices, remote sites, and temporary setups where traditional wired connections are limited or unavailable.

Ultra-Fast Speed
The G530 unlocks the next generation of connectivity, offering 5G speeds of up to 3.4 Gbps and Wi-Fi 6 capabilities reaching AX3000. Leveraging Wi-Fi 6 technology, the G530 expands Wi-Fi bandwidth to 160 MHz and incorporates bi-directional MU-MIMO and OFDMA technologies, enhancing data rates and reducing latency for multiple users and devices. Whether users are gaming online, streaming 4K/8K content, participating in conference calls, or downloading large files, the G530 ensures a seamless, high-speed connection without lag.

ADATA today launched the Legend 970 PRO line of enthusiast-segment M.2 NVMe Gen 5 SSDs. The drive was showcased at the 2024 Computex, and succeeds the Legend 970 series that the company launched in July 2023. The new Legend 970 PRO retains the product design of the Legend 970, including its active fan-heatsink, but sees updates to both its controller and NAND flash type. The Legend 970 PRO comes in capacities of up to 4 TB, and offers sequential transfer rates of up to 14,000 MB/s reads, with up to 11,000 MB/s writes. In comparison, the original Legend 970 offers up to 10,000 MB/s reads/writes. The 4K random access performance has also gone up, with the Legend 970 PRO offering up to 1.8 million IOPS 4K random reads, and up to 1.3 million IOPS 4K random writes, compared to the 1.4 million IOPS reads/writes of the Legend 970. The company didn't reveal pricing. The drives are backed by 5-year warranties.

Logitech International today announced financial results for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2025.

• Sales were $1.1 billion, up 12 percent in US dollars and 13 percent in constant currency, compared to Q1 of the prior year.
• GAAP operating income was $153 million, up 96 percent, compared to Q1 of the prior year. Non-GAAP operating income was $182 million, up 67 percent, compared to Q1 of the prior year.
• GAAP earnings per share (EPS) was $0.92, up 136 percent compared to Q1 of the prior year. Non-GAAP EPS was $1.13, up 74 percent compared to Q1 of the prior year.
• Cash flow from operations was $176 million, down 27 percent compared to Q1 of the prior year.

"We started the new fiscal year strong, with high-quality, broad-based growth across all regions and key categories," said Hanneke Faber, Logitech chief executive officer. "Our team continued disciplined execution, as evidenced by excellent gross and operating margin growth. I am pleased to increase our FY25 outlook for both net sales and non-GAAP operating income."

ASUS today announced an all-new range of servers, workstations and motherboards driven by the power of AMD EPYC 4004 CPUs - heralding next-level performance and density. The new offerings include: ASUS Pro ER100A B6, a compact, 1U rack server. ASUS ExpertCenter Pro ET500A B6, a power-efficient Zen 4 workstation, ASUS Pro WS 665-ACE, a resilient ATX workstation motherboard; and ASUS Pro WS 600M-CL, a compact, chipset-less mATX motherboard for workstation applications.

Engineered specifically for the dynamic needs of small businesses and hosted IT service providers, these business-grade platforms empower high-performance computing in diverse forms, from ready-to-roll workstations to powerful motherboards. Ideal for a variety of applications, from cloud services to dedicated hosting or content delivery, ASUS equipment with AMD EPYC 4004-series processors ensure that that evolving business operations are powered by the performance the modern world demands - and backed by the ASUS expertise enterprise expects.

Intel on Monday rolled out the first public release of AI Playground, an AI productivity suite the company showcased in its 2024 Computex booth. AI Playground is a well-packaged suite of generative AI applications and a chatbot, which are designed to leverage Intel Arc discrete GPUs with at least 8 GB of video memory. All utilities in the suite are designed under the OpenVINO framework, and take advantage of the XMX cores of Arc A-series discrete GPUs. Currently, only three GPU models from the lineup come with 8 GB or higher amounts of video memory, the A770, A750, and A580; and their mobile variants. The company is working on a variant of the suite that can work on Intel Core Ultra-H series processors, where it uses a combination of the NPU and the iGPU for acceleration. AI Playground is open source. Intel put in effort to make the suite as client-friendly as possible, by giving it a packaged installer that looks after installation of all software dependencies.

Intel AI Playground tools include an image generative AI that can turn prompts into standard or HD images, which is based on Stable Diffusion backed by DreamShaper 8 and Juggernaut XL models. It also supports Phi3, LCM LoRA, and LCM LoRA SDXL. All of these have been optimized for acceleration on Arc "Alchemist" GPUs. The utility also includes an AI image enhancement utility that can be used for upscaling along with detail reconstruction, styling, inpainting and outpainting, and certain kinds of image manipulation. The third most important tool is the text AI chatbot with all popular LLMs.

DOWNLOAD: Intel AI Playground

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, storage devices, and IPC products, is excited to introduce the best setup recommendation for home-based Edge AI PC solutions. BIOSTAR's B760M-SILVER motherboard and ARC A750 OC GPU combo serve as the best platform for modern-day content creators who are efficient at supercharging their workload with AI.

The B760M-SILVER motherboard carries BIOSTAR's renowned product quality and efficiency in a sleek Micro ATX form. Packed with all the essentials for modern-day computing, it brings the latest DDR5 technology and supports a 12/13/14 Generation Intel Core processor on Intel B760 single-chip architecture. Furthermore, supplementary features such as PCIe 5.0, PCIe 4.0 M.2 (64 Gb/s), and WiFi 6 & 6E modules support, as well as 2.5 GbE LAN port, provide an excellent basis for users to install the best hardware in the market and utilize the maximum performance efficiency out of their system.

AMD today announced that AMD President Victor Peng is retiring effective August 30, 2024. He will continue to serve on the AMD executive team in an advisory role and support the transition until his retirement date. "Victor re-joined AMD in 2022 following the acquisition of Xilinx and played an important role successfully integrating and scaling our embedded business and leading our cross-company AI strategy," said AMD Chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su. "Under his leadership, AMD became the industry's #1 provider of FPGA and adaptive computing solutions. On behalf of the AMD Board, executive leadership team and the thousands of employees who have worked with him, I want to thank Victor for his outstanding leadership and wish him the best in his retirement."

Peng retires with over 40 years of experience defining and delivering leadership technologies across FPGAs, SoCs, GPUs and high-performance CPUs. He has served as president at AMD since February 2022 when he rejoined the company after the acquisition of Xilinx, where he spent 14 years, most recently serving as president, CEO and member of the board of directors.

Pwnage, a leader in premium gaming peripherals, is proud to announce the launch of the ZenBlade 65, a cutting-edge mechanical gaming keyboard fully CNC machined from aerospace-grade aluminum featuring the latest Hall Effect magnetic switches.

Introducing the ZenBlade 65
The ZenBlade 65 represents the ultimate in gaming performance and design. Engineered for serious gamers and enthusiasts, this premium keyboard is precision crafted by fully CNC machining down two solid blocks of aerospace-grade aluminum - providing exceptional durability, acoustics and an aesthetic finish that feels luxurious, sleek, and modern.

Get the benefits of cutting-edge Thunderbolt 4 technology in a universal docking station that conveniently mounts to your desk, enhanced with a gas-lift arm for one or two (with SB-DSAM) monitors. The Sabrent Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station with Monitor Desk Mount (DS-T4WA) docking station connects through Thunderbolt 4 (TB4) to deliver a TB4 downstream port as well as four USB ports - two 10 Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 2x1) USB-C ports, one 10 Gbps USB-A port, and one 5 Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 1x1) USB-A port - to host a wide range of devices. Also built-in is a UHS-II (312MBps) microSD/SD card reader, a 3.5" audio in/out port, and Gigabit Ethernet (1GbE) for fast and reliable wired network connectivity. Dock and expand with ease.

Quickly and conveniently configure your displays to match your work environment. Combine the station with one to three monitors (see note) with output up to 8K@30 Hz (DP/HDMI) or 8K@60 Hz/4K@144 Hz (TB4) singly and 4K@60 Hz (DSC) simultaneously in extended or mirrored display modes. The desired displays may be connected via the HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, and TB4 ports. The single arm on this mount, or dual arms with our Upgrade Kit (SB-DSAM), support the standard VESA 75/100 mounting patterns for monitors and displays up to 32" in size and 10 kg/22lbs in weight. The gas-lift controls vertical positioning from 0-650 mm and the arm plate is capable of 360-degree swivel, 90- to -45-degree tilt, and +/- 90-degree rotation for ultimate flexibility.

AMD today released the first public version of FLM, or Frame Latency Meter, a utility that lets you measure the response time of games with mouse movements. The tool targets advanced gamers, power users, and game developers wanting to optimize whole-system latency or reducing input latency. It measures the time it takes for a mouse movement to translate into a new frame on the screen. Options are included to use frame capture codecs such as AMF (optimized for AMD GPUs) or DXGI (any brand of GPUs). The tool generates detailed latency and effective-framerate statistics that can be exported to CSVs for data analysis. A key difference between FLM and NVIDIA LDAT is that it doesn't rely on "muzzle flashes" on the screens to measure latency, which means your measurement data can span any amount of time without worrying about running out of ammo during your test session.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Frame Latency Meter (FLM) v1.0

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (SEMCO) today announced a collaboration with AMD to supply high-performance substrates for hyperscale data center compute applications. These substrates are made in SEMCO's key the technology hub in Busan and the newly built state of the art factory in Vietnam. Market research firm Prismark predicts that the semiconductor substrate market will grow at an average annual rate of about 7%, increasing from 15.2 trillion KRW in 2024 to 20 trillion KRW in 2028. SEMCO's substantial investment of 1.9 trillion KRW in the FCBGA factory underscores its commitment to advancing substrate technology and manufacturing capabilities to meet the highest industry standards and the future technology needs.

SEMCO's collaboration with AMD focuses on meeting the unique challenges of integrating multiple semiconductor chips (Chiplets) on a single large substrate. These high-performance substrates, essential for CPU/GPU applications, offer significantly larger surface areas and higher layer counts, providing the dense interconnections required for today's advanced data centers. Compared to standard computer substrates, data center substrates are ten times larger and feature three times more layers, ensuring efficient power delivery and lossless signal integrity between chips. Addressing these challenges, SEMCO's innovative manufacturing processes mitigate issues like warpage to ensure high yields during chip mounting.

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry, proudly announces upcoming standards for advanced memory modules designed to power the next generation of high-performance computing and AI applications. JEDEC today revealed key details about its upcoming standards for DDR5 Multiplexed Rank Dual Inline Memory Modules (MRDIMM) and a next-generation Compression-Attached Memory Module (CAMM) for LPDDR6. The new MRDIMM and CAMM for LPDDR6 are set to revolutionize the industry with unparalleled bandwidth and memory capacity.

The JEDEC MRDIMM standard is set to deliver up to twice the peak bandwidth of native DRAM, enabling applications to surpass current data rates and achieve new levels of performance. It maintains the same capacity, reliability, availability, serviceability (RAS) features as JEDEC RDIMM. The committee aims to double the bandwidth to 12.8 Gbps and increase the pin speed. MRDIMM is envisioned to support more than two ranks and is being designed to utilize standard DDR5 DIMM components ensuring compatibility with conventional RDIMM systems.

Technology manufacturer JSAUX announces that, following the success of their FlipGo Pro, winner of the 2024 iF Design Award and Red Dot Design Award, the company has launched a new version, the JSAUX FlipGo Portable Monitor Lite 15.6". This first product in the FlipGo Lite Series sports a market standard size of 15.6" (as compared to the FlipGo Pro models of 13.5 and 16" sizes). The FlipGo Lite will be available on JSAUX's website on early July for $299.

The dual-stacked portable monitor raised more than $1,000,000 in a Kickstarter campaign last February. The FlipGo is a portable monitor for a brave new world, where productivity and efficiency are paramount for digital nomads and remote workers. The new entry in the category, the FlipGo Lite, measures 15.6" and it's especially suitable for Windows computers. Thanks to its UltraView mode, which allows the dual-screen to function as a single monitor, users can grab their hands on a portable monitor that equals a 21" screen.

Chinese memory manufacturer YMTC has filed a lawsuit against U.S.-based Micron in California, alleging infringement of 11 patents related to 3D NAND Flash and DRAM products. YMTC seeks to halt Micron's sales of the allegedly infringing products in the U.S. and demands royalty payments. Founded in Wuhan, China, in 2016, YMTC is a key player in China's efforts to develop a domestic chip industry. However, in October 2022, the U.S. government placed YMTC on its Entity List, restricting its access to advanced U.S. manufacturing equipment for 3D NAND chips with 128 layers or more.

Before these restrictions, YMTC had obtained certification from Apple for its 128-layer 3D NAND chips, with the US tech giant considering using YMTC chips to reduce costs and diversify its supply chain beyond Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron. The lawsuit specifically targets Micron's 3D NAND Flash products with 96, 128, 176, and 232 layers, as well as certain DDR5 SDRAM products. This legal action follows a similar suit filed by YMTC against Micron in November, alleging infringement of eight U.S. patents related to 3D NAND Flash. With government backing, Chinese firms are increasingly engaging in patent litigation both domestically and internationally. Last year alone, Chinese courts handled over 5,000 technical intellectual property and monopoly cases.

TrendForce's latest report on the memory industry reveals that DRAM and NAND Flash revenues are expected to see significant increases of 75% and 77%, respectively, in 2024, driven by increased bit demand, an improved supply-demand structure, and the rise of high-value products like HBM.

Furthermore, industry revenues are projected to continue growing in 2025, with DRAM expected to increase by 51% and NAND Flash by 29%, reaching record highs. This growth is anticipated to revive capital expenditures and boost demand for upstream raw materials, although it will also increase cost pressure for memory buyers.

Avnet ASIC, a division of Avnet Silica, an Avnet company, today announced that it has launched its new ultra-low-power design services for TSMC's cutting-edge 4 nm and below process technologies. These services are designed to enable customers to achieve exceptional power efficiency and performance in their high-performance applications, such as blockchain and AI edge computing. TSMC is the world's leading silicon foundry and Avnet ASIC division is a leading provider of ASIC and SoC full turnkey solutions.

The new design services leverage a comprehensive approach to address the challenges of operating at extreme low-voltage conditions in the 4 nm and below nodes. This includes recharacterizing standard cells for lower voltages, performing early RTL exploration to optimize power, performance, and area (PPA) tradeoffs, implementing an optimized clock tree, and utilizing transistor-level simulations to enhance the power optimization process.

It appears like 2024 will go down as the second consecutive year without any new GPU generation launch from either NVIDIA or AMD. Kopite7kimi, a reliable source with NVIDIA leaks, says that the GeForce RTX 50-series "Blackwell" generation won't see a debut before the 2025 International CES (January 2025). It was earlier expected that the company would launch at least its top two SKUs—the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080—toward the end of 2024, and ramp the series up from 2025. There is no explanation behind this "delay." Like everyone else, NVIDIA could be rationing its foundry allocation of the 3 nm wafers from TSMC for its high-margin "Blackwell" AI GPUs. The company now makes over five times the revenue from selling AI GPUs than it does from gaming GPUs, so this development should come as little surprise.

Things aren't any different with NVIDIA's rivals in this space, AMD and Intel. AMD's RDNA 4 graphics architecture and the Radeon RX series GPUs based on it, aren't expected to arrive before 2025. AMD is making several architectural upgrades with RDNA 4, particularly to its ray tracing hardware; and the company is expected to build these GPUs on a new foundry node. Meanwhile, Intel's Arc B-series gaming GPUs based on the Xe2 "Battlemage" graphics architecture are expected to arrive in 2025, too, although these chips are rumored to be based on a more mature 4 nm-class foundry node.

A picture of a bare PCB of an upcoming GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS Pro Ice motherboard confirms that Intel will use the Core Ultra branding for its next-generation desktop processors based on the "Arrow Lake-S" microarchitecture. The picture reveals the CPU socket area, where the Socket LGA1851 will be installed, besides the CPU VRM component, the BIOS ROM, and the DDR5 DIMM slots, among other minor components. Although incompatible with LGA1700, the new LGA1851 socket has an identical cooler mount layout to it, and retains cooler compatibility, much like LGA1200 did with LGA1151. The AORUS Pro Ice comes with four DDR5 DIMM slots, as that's the only memory standard supported by "Arrow Lake" (no DDR4 support); and the CPU VRM solution uses DrMOS.

Our older article details the I/O aspects of "Arrow Lake-S." It is almost identical to the LGA1700, except it has four additional PCIe Gen 5 lanes from the CPU, for a total of 20 Gen 5 lanes, and 12 Gen 4 lanes. All Z890 motherboards will come with an M.2 Gen 5 NVMe slot that doesn't eat into the PCI-Express 5.0 x16 PEG slot's bandwidth; and an additional Gen 4 x4 that can either be wired out as an M.2 slot, or be used to drive bandwidth-hungry onboard devices, such as discrete Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 controllers. The chipset bus continues to be DMI 4.0 x8, or 128 Gbps per direction.

AMD's upcoming "Strix Halo" mobile processor that features up to 16 "Zen 5" CPU cores and a powerful iGPU with 40 compute units, is beginning to surface in online benchmark databases. We've gone into the juicy technical bits about the processor in our older articles, but put simply, it is a powerful mobile processor meant to square off against the likes of the Apple M3 Pro and M3 Max. A chiplet-based processor, much like the upcoming "Granite Ridge" desktop processor and "Fire Range" mobile processor, "Strix Halo" features up to 16 full-sized "Zen 5" cores, as it uses up to two of the same "Eldora" CCDs as them; but wired to a large I/O die that contains the oversized iGPU, and an NPU, besides the memory controllers. The iGPU has 40 compute units (2,560 stream processors), and is based on the RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture, while the NPU is the same 50 TOPS-class unit carried over from "Strix Point."

A prototype HP laptop powered by a "Strix Halo" processor that uses a single 8-core "Zen 5" CCD, was spied on the web. This chip has eight full-sized "Zen 5" cores that share a 32 MB L3 cache. The iGPU on the I/O die has its own 32 MB Infinity Cache memory that cushions memory transfers. In our older reports, we speculated as to what the memory interface of "Strix Halo" would be. It turns out that the chip exclusively features a 256-bit wide LPDDR5X memory interface, which is double the bus width of "Strix Point." This is essentially what a "quad-channel DDR5" memory interface would be, and AMD is using a memory speed standard of at least LPDDR5X-8000. From the machine's point of view, this would be just a couple of hardwired LPDDR5X chips, or a pair of LPCAMM 2 modules. Back to the benchmarks, and we are shown a single-thread CPU score of 2099 to 2177 points, and a multithreaded score ranging between 5477 points to 13993 points. The laptop was tested with an unknown version and distribution of Linux. The CPU cores are shown boosting up to 5.35 GHz.

ASRock, the global leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, mini PCs, and gaming monitors, today launched the second wave of its 180 Hz gaming monitor series, signaling that 180 Hz refresh rate is just the beginning, not the end. The new models, PG27FFT1A and PG27FFT1B, feature 27-inch screens with FHD resolution, combining the power of 180 Hz high refresh rate with Fast IPS panel technology to create an unparalleled visual feast of extreme smoothness and vibrant colors.

Setting the Pace: Phantom Gaming's 180 Hz Refresh Rate Revolution
Phantom Gaming, ASRock's gaming brand, continues its pursuit of excellence, setting a new speed benchmark with the 180 Hz gaming monitor series. Compared to typical 144 Hz gaming monitors, models PG27FFT1A and PG27FFT1B are 25% faster, and their speed is 1.5 times that of entry-level 120 Hz gaming monitors, allowing Phantom gamers to fully indulge in a clear and smooth visual experience!

MSI is excited to introduce the MS-C907, a robust and versatile embedded Box IPC designed to meet the demanding requirements of various industries. Beyond its suitability for the chemical industry, the MS-C907 is ideal for applications in factory automation, transportation, digital signage and retail.

Meeting the Needs of Multiple Industries
The MS-C907 offers robust performance, extensive connectivity, and durable design, making it an ideal solution for a wide range of industrial applications. Whether it's automating factory processes, powering digital signage, or managing smart building systems, the MS-C907 provides the reliability and efficiency needed for continuous operation.

GIGAIPC, an embedded solution-focused subsidiary of GIGABYTE, is excited to announce the launch of its new series of all-in-one industrial panel PCs, specifically designed to meet the unique needs of the retail industry. These cutting-edge PCs are available in three sizes—21.5", 15.6", and 11.6"—making them perfect for kiosks, POS systems, and a variety of other retail applications.

The models, named TA-215AN97A-A1, TA-156AN97A-A1, and TA-116AN97A-A1, are powered by high-performance Intel Alder Lake N97 processors. These processors provide significant improvements in speed and efficiency, allowing for seamless multitasking and enhanced processing power, which is essential for demanding retail applications. This ensures that businesses can operate smoothly, even during peak hours.

MINISFORUM is proud to announce the MS-A1, the world's smallest and most expandable AM5 platform Mini PC. Equipped with the latest AMD AM5 platform, the MS-A1 offers a replaceable CPU, ensuring a longer motherboard lifecycle and sustainable upgrades for future generations of CPUs. Integrated with the AMD Radeon 780M graphics card, the MS-A1 includes 12 GPU cores and a GPU frequency of up to 2900 MHz, effortlessly handling both graphical and gaming demands. Additionally, it incorporates a dedicated NPU unit with up to 16 TOPS of processing power, making it the first desktop processor to include a specialized AI neural processing unit (NPU).

At its highest configuration, the MS-A1 features the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G desktop processor, built on the Zen 4 architecture. This powerhouse boasts 8 cores and 16 threads, a maximum boost clock of 5.10 GHz, and a 65 W TDP, delivering unparalleled performance. The MS-A1 supports dual-channel DDR5 5200 MHz high-speed memory, with a capacity of up to 96 GB, enabling users to achieve fast and efficient multitasking. It also features four M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD slots, offering transfer speeds of up to 7000 MB/s. These extensive expansion slots allow for a maximum system capacity of up to 27 TB, catering to the vast storage needs of creative and multimedia professionals.

We've known since May that AMD is giving its next generation RDNA 4 graphics architecture a significant upgrade with ray tracing performance, and had some clue since then, that the company is working on putting more of the ray tracing workflow through dedicated, fixed function hardware, unburdening the shader engine further. Kepler_L2, a reliable source with GPU leaks sheds light on some of the many new hardware features AMD is introducing with RDNA 4 to better accelerate ray tracing, which should give its GPUs a reduced performance cost of having ray tracing enabled. Kepler_L2 believes that these hardware features should also make it to the GPU of the upcoming Sony PlayStation 5 Pro.

To begin with, the RDNA 4 ray accelerator introduces the new Double Ray Tracing Intersect Engine, which should at least mean a 100% ray intersection performance increase over RDNA 3, which in turn offered a 50% increase over that of RDNA 2. The new RT instance node transform instruction should improve the way the ray accelerators handle geometry. Some of the other features we have trouble describing include a 64-byte RT node, ray tracing tri-pair optimization, Change flags encoded in barycentrics to simplify detection of procedural nodes; improved BVH footprint (possibly memory footprint): and RT support for oriented bounding box and instance node intersection. AMD is expected to debut Radeon RX series gaming GPUs based on RDNA 4 in early 2025.

As we enter the last full week of July, we return to our regular summer scheduling with yet another week without any big releases. This week's major release involves building a fortress to protect your people from endless horrors. This is followed by some crime investigation, managing race cars, climbing mountains, defending the earth and finally hoarding some masks. It's by no means a terrible week of new games, just nothing that's likely to blow your mind.

Cataclismo / This week's major release / Monday 22 July / Early Access
Lead the last survivors in the aftermath of the Cataclismo as a corrupted world seeks to destroy all that remains of humanity. Build fortresses brick by brick, designing intricate, towering structures of wood and stone to fend off waves of Horrors as they attempt to overwhelm your band of survivors. Command powerful units in their stalwart defense, coordinating their varied capabilities as you race from breach to breach. Steam link

Intel introduced a line of 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" Socket LGA1700 processors for the embedded systems market. A highlight of these chips is that they come with their "Gracemont" E-core clusters disabled, and are pure P-core chips. It's interesting that Intel targets these chips for the embedded systems segment, but isn't building these in the non-socketed BGA packages carried over from its mobile platforms. Intel is addressing nearly all performance market-segments with these chips, including the very top. The Core i9-14901KE processor leading the pack is an 8-core/16-thread chip with eight "Raptor Cove" cores sharing the full 36 MB L3 cache available on the "Raptor Lake-S" die, a maximum boost frequency of 5.80 GHz, base frequency of 3.80 GHz, and processor base power of 125 W. The chip features an iGPU. The "K" in KE denotes that the chip supports overclocking.

Next up, is the Core i9-14901E, the 65 W sibling of this chip, which lacks an unlocked multiplier, and boosts up to 5.60 GHz, with a 2.80 GHz base frequency. Things get interesting with the Core i7-14701E, because the differentiator between the Core i9 and Core i7 SKUs is E-core count, and here we see the i7-14701 retaining the same 8-core/16-thread pure P-core configuration as the Core i9 chips, but with a touch lower frequencies of 5.40 GHz maximum boost, and 2.60 GHz base.