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

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

(Editor's note: Our review can be found here)

EK, the water cooling gear manufacturer based in Slovenia, Europe, is proud to present its newest addition to the Quantum Line of products - the EK-Quantum Magnitude. It's a new, ultimate CPU water block that brings the highest performance to all platforms by using specific flow distribution, cold plate geometry, and mounting pressure tailored to each IHS.

EK-Quantum Magnitude is bearing the prestigious iF Design award for the bold and different approach to the CPU water block mounting mechanism. Differentiated from any mounting structure of a water block that is usually a black and mundane plate, the design accentuates an integrated X- or H-shaped three-dimensional frame with premium finishes that firmly cradles the main body in place, while the screws are morphed into sophisticated design details.

Larian studios yesterday released two brand-new trailers for their upcoming Baldur's Gate 3. The game is being built with Larian Studios' new Divinity 4.0 Engine, so if you liked the base look of Larian's other titles (such as Divinity: original Sin), you'll likely enjoy Baldur's Gate 3 as well. This new game engine is being touted as representing a remarkable evolution for the studio, giving players unprecedented freedom to explore, experiment, and interact with a world that truly reacts to their choices. You can watch these trailers after the break.

It's interesting to note that Baldur's Gate 3 executive producer David Walgrave told Eurogamer that the game is currently only being developed for PC, with no intention of releasing it on current-gen consoles (next-gen ones, however, are a different matter entirely, of course). According to the producer, "I don't think that current-gen consoles would be able to run it. There's a lot of technical upgrades and updates that we did to our engine. I don't know if it would be capable of being able to actually run on those things. Maybe it could run, but then we would have to tone down the textures and this and that and it wouldn't look as cool anymore." Do you think the shown graphics justify that the games aren't being developed for current-gen consoles, or do you think Larian is simply catering to their prime market first?

AMD today released version 20.2.2 of their Radeon Adrenalin Edition driver suite. The new version brings with it support for the launch of Zombie Army 4: Dead War, so users can experience the latest and greatest performance available for AMD graphics cards on the new release.Perhaps more importantly, the new release also features a number of fixes for Black Screen errors in a number of scenarios and games, of which much has already been written over the internet. There are still a number of instances where black screens can occur listed on AMD's "Known Issues" checklist for this driver release, however, so make sure to check the release notes to see if this driver looks to fix your particular scenario. Of course, you're likely always better off updating to this latest driver version.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Adrenalin Edition 20.2.2 Drivers

Samsung today introduced the latest T55 series of monitors designed for an office use case. To kick-off the new lineup, Samsung launched three monitors that have similar specifications, but their respective size is the only differentiator. The new models are C24T55, C27T55, and C32T55 which feature 24-inch, 27-inch, and 32-inch display panels respectively. All of them feature 1000R curvature applied to ease the eye strain, making them a very unique choice for an office monitor.

Besides the different screen sizes, all of the monitors feature similar specifications such as a 1080p VA screen clocked at a 75 Hz refresh rate. Besides having support for AMD's FreeSync technology, these monitors have 4 ms GtG response time, so they are not exactly gaming oriented. The displays cover 1.193 of the sRGB color spectrum and 0.884 of Adobe RGB, so despite being a VA panel, it is not bad. The brightness level is a standard 250 nit specification for an office monitor, and the contrast ration is 3000:1. To feed the monitor with image, you can choose anything from HDMI 1.4, DisplayPort 1.2, or D-Sub connector. While the 24-inch version doesn't include any in-built speaker, the 27-inch and 32-inch versions have a pair of 5 W stereo speakers. There are no VESA mounting points, so to stand the monitor relies on its own stand which can tilt from -3° to 20°.

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Intel updated its Graphics Command Center app to feature game video capture and broadcasting features rivaling AMD ReLive and NVIDIA GeForce Experience Share. The feature lets you record your screen or gameplay and either save the recording to disk or stream to various game streaming sites and social networks. You get control over the resolution, format, bit-rate, etc. The Graphics Command Center is unbundled from Intel's Graphics drivers that have switched to the new DCH driver model. It is currently distributed through Microsoft Store as a beta.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Graphics Command Center (beta)

AORUS, the premium gaming brand of Gigabyte Technology, will showcase a new arsenal of next-gen gaming systems, tactical monitors, new games to test drive, and exclusive merchandise at PAX East 2020. PAX East 2020 welcomes more than 100,000 enthusiasts from all over the world to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center for the annual celebration of games. Since PAX's inception in 2004, millions of attendees have enjoyed the expo floor halls filled with booths from major game publishers and independent developers, panels from video game industry insiders, game culture-inspired concerts, LAN parties, tabletop gaming, competitions and much more.

AORUS products on display at PAX East include a series of tactical gaming monitors that give gaming enthusiasts twice the details and display quality than Full HD, and allows them to enjoy games and movies in their original size. The new AORUS FI27Q-P features a 27" QHD panel (2560x1440 resolution) in a 16:9 aspect ratio with a 165Hz refresh rate. New monitor supports AMD Radeon FreeSync technology which puts an end to choppy gameplay and broken frames to create a fluid and artifact-free performance at any framerate. The AORUS FI27Q-P is one of the most responsive gaming monitors in the market.

SilentiumPC, the European manufacturer of CPU coolers and PC cases, presents the Astrum AT6V series, a new member of its case family aimed at gamers with high ambitions. The Astrum AR6V series stands out thanks to its eye-catching design, but also for its inner strengths. One of the series' particular strengths is the sophisticated Natissis two-chamber internal structure, which offers maximum compatibility and supports an exceptionally wide range of component choices.

The large mesh front combined with the four pre-installed 120 mm fans ensure excellent air circulation inside the case. The series consists of the basic model Astrum AT6V TG and the top-of-the-line model Astrum AT6V TG ARGB. In the latter, the tempered glass side panel comes with the novel edge lit addressable RGB lighting feature, and premium 120 mm fans with built-in ARGB LEDs. Thanks to the cutting-edge features and refinements, Astrum AR6V series is able to meet the high expectations and demands of ambitious gamers.

Logitech G, a brand of Logitech and Herman Miller, today announced an exclusive partnership to research, design, and manufacture the next generation high-performance furniture solutions for gamers. Both companies bring years of design and engineering expertise in their respective fields, and combined will address the needs of esports athletes, gamers, and streamers.

"At Herman Miller, we have a rich history of designing solutions to support people wherever they live and work," said Tim Straker, Herman Miller's Chief Marketing Officer. "We're excited to combine our ergonomic, research-driven approach with Logitech G's excellence in technology and innovation. Together, we'll develop high-quality solutions that provide gamers and esports athletes with the utmost support and comfort."

Jon Peddie Research have released their report on the overall market outlook for GPU shipments for Q4'2019, and the news are great for AMD. Due to the launch of more affordable Navi-based 7 nm graphics cards, the company managed to achieve a growth of 22.6% in shipment volume for the last quarter of 2019, compared to Q3 of the same year. This 22.6% volume increase is pretty significant (and is miles ahead of competitors NVIDIA (whose shipments decreased by -1.9%) and Intel (a 0.2% increase), having increased AMD's overall market share by 3%. This means that AMD now commands 19% of the overall GPU market share, surpassing NVIDIA (which counts with 18%) but both being dwarfed by Intel (with a commanding 63% share). It's important to note here that the numbers include integrated- and discrete-GPUs, and AMD's numbers could be assisted by its mobile processor and APU sales, just as iGPUs make up all of Intel's numbers.

Those numbers are skewed, of course, when we look solely at the discrete GPU market share, with NVIDIA commanding a huge, 73% chunk of the market against AMD's paltry (by comparison) 27%. All in all, Jon Peddie Research reports that the overall PC market increased by 1.99% quarter-to-quarter and increased by 3.54% year-to-year, thus resulting a good performance for these "little" chips.

NVIDIA today released the latest version of their GeForce graphics drivers for your stability and gaming pleasure. The latest 442.50 WHQL version comes Game Ready for a number of updates to popular games, such as Apex Legends: Season 4, The Division 2 - Warlords of New York expansion, and ARK: Genesis Part 1.

Alongside these game-specific improvements, NVIDIA has also built into this new version some updated security features, though NVIDIA's page for their Security Bulletin 4996 returns an error 404, so we are unable to go into specifics at this time. There are added VRSS profiles for VR gaming, and some specific fixes for a number of titles. Also of note is the inclusion of a number of monitors (namely AOC AG271FZ2, AOC AG271F1G2, and ASUS PG43U) to the G-Sync compatible list, so that's three more monitors users can now use with NVIDIA's certification. Follow the link below for both the driver download and full release notes.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce Software v442.50 WHQL | Don't forget to check out TechPowerUp NVCleanstall 1.3.0

Ahead of their rumored April 2020 availability product codes of Intel's upcoming 10th generation Core "Comet Lake-S" desktop processors leaked to the web, courtesy momomo_us. The lineup includes 22 individual SKUs, although it's unknown if all of these will be available in April. There are four 10-core/20-thread SKUs: the i9-10900K, the i9-10900KF, the i9-10900, and the i9-10900F. The "K" extension denotes unlocked multiplier, while the "F" extension indicates lack of integrated graphics. "KF" indicates a SKU that's both unlocked and lacking an iGPU. Similarly, there are four 8-core/16-thread Core i7 SKUs, the i7-10700K, the i7-10700KF, the i7-10700, and the i7-10700F.

The 6-core/12-thread Core i5 family has several SKUs besides the range-topping i5-10600K and its siblings, i5-10600KF and i5-10600. These include the i5-10500, i5-10400, and i5-10400F. The quad-core Core i3 lineup includes the i3-10320, i3-10300, and i3-10100. The former two have 8 MB L3 cache, while the i3-10100 has 6 MB. Among the entry-level Pentium SKUs are the G6600, G6500, G6400, G5920, and G5900.

CORSAIR, a world leader in high-performance gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced the launch of the CORSAIR ONE PRO i200, the latest configuration of its most powerful workstation-class PC. The CORSAIR ONE PRO offers an unparalleled combination of cutting-edge performance and compact size, packing the immense rendering, encoding, and creative power of a full-size workstation-class desktop PC into a gorgeous and quiet small-form-factor that takes up less desk space than a laptop. This is made possible by the latest Intel 10th Gen Core X high-end desktop processor and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics from NVIDIA, in conjunction with a full range of high-quality CORSAIR components, all cooled by a patented convection-assisted liquid cooling system.

The new CORSAIR ONE PRO i200 is powered by a 14-core, 28-thread Intel Core i9-10940X CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics card, enabling incredible rendering, encoding, and visualization speeds. 64 GB of quad-channel CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR4 memory handles even the most demanding multitasking and content creation tasks, while a 2 TB high-speed M.2 NVMe SSD provides high-capacity storage and ultra-fast load times. The CORSAIR ONE PRO's unique convection-assisted liquid cooling system channels hot air upwards and expels it through the roof of the chassis, enabling its powerful components to operate at consistently high performance despite a volume of just 12 liters - less than ¼ that of a typical workstation PC.

TSMC is set to hire about 4000 new staff members to gain a workforce for its development of next-generation semiconductor manufacturing nodes. The goal of the company is to gather talent so it can develop the world's leading semiconductor nodes, like 3 nm and below. With 15 billion USD planned for R&D purposes alone this year, TSMC is investing a big part of its capital back into development on new and improved technology. Markets such as 5G and High-Performance Computing are leading the charge and require smaller, faster, and more efficient semiconductor nodes, which TSMC plans to deliver. To gather talent, TSMC started job listing using recruitment website TaiwanJobs and started campaigns on university campuses to attract grad students.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF ) today announced its embedded magnetoresistive non-volatile memory (eMRAM) on the company's 22 nm FD-SOI (22FDX ) platform has entered production, and GF is working with several clients with multiple production tape-outs scheduled in 2020. Today's announcement represents a significant industry milestone, demonstrating the scalability of eMRAM as a cost-effective option at advanced process nodes for Internet of Things (IoT), general-purpose microcontrollers, automotive, edge-AI (Artificial Intelligence), and other low-power applications.

Designed as a replacement for high-volume embedded NOR flash (eFlash), GF's eMRAM allows designers to extend their existing IoT and microcontroller unit architectures to access the power and density benefits of technology nodes below 28 nm.

BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today introduces the H61MHV2 motherboard that supports Intel's 2nd and 3rd generation Core i7 / i5 / i3 / Pentium / Celeron processors in the 1155 package. BIOSTAR has been a manufacturer of robust and highly reliable motherboards for many years and has a wide range of models on both Intel and AMD platforms to choose from and a plethora of supplementary components catering to many user preferences.

Due to popular demand and the availability of supporting components, BIOSTAR has decided to relaunch Intel's H61 chipset series motherboards with the all-new H61MHV2 motherboard, a reboot of its popular predecessor the IH61MF-Q5. Built in a Micro-ATX form factor, the H61MHV2 motherboard is packed with some of the most requested upgrades build to be compatible with the old architecture and looks to provide a robust, affordable and highly reliable user experience that caters consumers who are looking for a good motherboard to upgrade their existing office workstation without breaking the bank.

At its 2020 IEEE ISSCC keynote, AMD presented two slides that detail the extent of cost savings yielded by its bold decision to embrace the MCM (multi-chip module) approach to not just its enterprise and HEDT processors, but also its mainstream desktop ones. By confining only those components that tangibly benefit from cutting-edge silicon fabrication processes, namely the CPU cores, while letting other components sit on relatively inexpensive 12 nm, AMD is able to maximize its 7 nm foundry allocation, by making it produce small 8-core CCDs (CPU complex dies), which add up to AMD's target core-counts. With this approach, AMD is able to cram up to 16 cores onto its AM4 desktop socket using two chiplets, and up to 64 cores using eight chiplets on its SP3r3 and sTRX4 sockets.

In the slides below, AMD compares the cost of its current 7 nm + 12 nm MCM approach to a hypothetical monolithic die it would have had to build on 7 nm (including the I/O components). The slides suggest that the cost of a single-chiplet "Matisse" MCM (eg: Ryzen 7 3700X) is about 40% less than that of the double-chiplet "Matisse" (eg: Ryzen 9 3950X). Had AMD opted to build a monolithic 7 nm die that had 8 cores and all the I/O components of the I/O die, such a die would cost roughly 50% more than the current 1x CCD + IOD solution. On the other hand, a monolithic 7 nm die with 16 cores and I/O components would cost 125% more. AMD hence enjoys a massive headroom for cost-cutting. Prices of the flagship 3950X can be close to halved (from its current $749 MSRP), and AMD can turn up the heat on Intel's upcoming Core i9-10900K by significantly lowering price of its 12-core 3900X from its current $499 MSRP. The company will also enjoy more price-cutting headroom for its 6-core Ryzen 5 SKUs than it did with previous-generation Ryzen 5 parts based on monolithic dies.

At the Intel Security Day event during RSA Conference 2020, Intel underscored its commitment to security with several announcements, including details on security capabilities coming in future products. At Intel, security is a fundamental and foundational element of all aspects of architecture, design and implementation. Together with customers and partners, Intel is building a more trusted foundation in this data-centric world.

"Hardware is the bedrock of any security solution. Just as a physical structure requires a foundation established on bedrock to withstand the forces of nature, security solutions rooted in hardware will provide the greatest opportunity to provide security assurance against current and future threats," said Tom Garrison, Intel vice president and general manager of Client Security Strategy and Initiatives. "Intel hardware, and the assurance and security technologies it brings, help harden the layers above from attack."

Intel customers build solutions and services that depend on the breadth and depth of technologies in the silicon, vertical integration and substantive reach from edge to cloud. It is Intel's mission to provide common security capabilities across all architectures, to help address the ever-increasing sophistication of user experiences.

According to the DRAMeXchange research division of TrendForce, 4Q19 NAND flash bit shipment increased by nearly 10% QoQ thanks to demand growth from data center clients. On the supply side, contract prices made a successful rebound due to shortages caused by the power outage at Kioxia's Yokkaichi production base in June. In sum, 4Q19 NAND flash revenue reached $12.5 billion, an 8.5% increase QoQ.

The stronger-than-expected 4Q19 performance from the demand side helped improve supplier inventory back to normal levels. In response, NAND suppliers were able to reduce their allocations to the wafer market and instead focus on shipping products with comparatively higher margins.

AMD today announced the expansion of the AMD Ryzen Embedded ecosystem with two new AMD Ryzen Embedded R1000 low-power processors that provide customers with a new TDP range of 6 up to 10 W. AMD also announced new customers offering Mini PCs based on the AMD Ryzen Embedded processors from Sapphire, SECO, Simply NUC and others.

"AMD is ushering in a new age of high-performance computing for the embedded industry," said Rajneesh Gaur, corporate vice president and general manager, Embedded Solutions, AMD. "We are doing this with cutting-edge technology to display immersive graphics in 4K resolution with AMD Ryzen Embedded processors, and we are now offering access to high performance in power-efficient solutions with these new low-power Ryzen Embedded R1000 processors."

If you overlook the fact that it uses a TN-film panel, the new AGON AG273QZ has some otherwise impressive specs relevant to gamers. This 27-inch monitor offers WQHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) resolution, with staggering 0.5 ms response time, 240 Hz refresh-rate, support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, and DispplayHDR 400 certification. The panel is mounted onto a stylish tripod stand, and comes with RGB LED embellishments behind. Other key panel specs include 170°/160° viewing-angles (H/V), 1000:1 static contrast ratio with dynamic mega-contrast, and a WLED backlight that uses a non-PWM method of dimming (flicker-free). Inputs include HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4, from which you need at least DP1.2 HBR2 to support 1440p @ 240 Hz. The company didn't reveal pricing.

VIPER GAMING by PATRIOT has announced that their team will be featured at PAX EAST 2020, which is part of a national series of festivals centered around the gaming culture. The brand-new Patriot PXD m.2 PCIe Type-C External SSD, the next generation of portable storage solutions, will be showcased and tested on the PlayStation 4 with Marvel's Spider-Man video game. This PCIe m.2 based SSD over USB 3.2 Type-C connectivity brings superb speed and stability utilizing the Phison E13 PCIe controller, capacities from 512 GB to 2 TB.

"We can't think of a better way to be immersed with the gaming community than to be a part of PAX EAST, and debuting PXD with its first public showcase is a great way to let gamers know that they have an exciting alternative coming in April 2020," said Roger Shinmoto, Vice President at VIPER GAMING by PATRIOT. At PAX EAST, gamers will be able to experience the PXD m.2 PCIe Type-C External SSD on the PlayStation 4 with Marvel's Spider-Man video game as well as the award-winning V765 gaming keyboard, V570 BLACKOUT RGB gaming mouse, V380 gaming headset and more gaming peripherals at the booth.

Further cementing its position as a leading provider of storage for next-gen mobile devices, KIOXIA America, Inc. (formerly Toshiba Memory America, Inc.), the U.S.-based subsidiary of KIOXIA Corporation, today announced that it has started sampling Universal Flash Storage (UFS) Ver. 3.1 embedded flash memory devices. Well suited for mobile applications requiring high-performance with low power consumption, the new lineup utilizes KIOXIA's cutting-edge BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory and is supported in four capacities: 128 gigabytes (GB), 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 terabyte (TB).

The new devices integrate BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory and a controller in a JEDEC-standard 11.5 x 13 mm package. The controller performs error correction, wear leveling, logical-to-physical address translation, and bad-block management for simplified system development. "KIOXIA was the first company to introduce UFS in 2013[4] and the first to offer UFS Ver. 3.0 last year and we continue to be at the forefront of UFS memory with this Ver. 3.1 announcement today," noted Scott Beekman, director of managed flash memory products for KIOXIA America, Inc. "Our newest offerings enable next-gen mobile devices to take full advantage of the connectivity benefits of 5G, leading to faster downloads and reduced lag time - and an improved user experience."

SAPPHIRE Technology builds on the reputation and strength of its embedded systems business division by announcing a new series of embedded motherboards with a compact footprint that deliver improved levels of performance, features and stability to customers. Powered by the latest AMD Ryzen Embedded Processor which feature the AMD Radeon "Vega" graphics combined with the high-performance "Zen" CPU, the BP-FP5 and NP-FP5 embedded platforms provide a stable balance of low power consumption and optimized performance for the embedded markets.

According to Paul Smith, Director of SAPPHIRE's Embedded Business Division, "the versatile and effective design of these boards with low power compute and high-resolution multimedia display capability make them perfect for a wide variety of industry applications in the Embedded space such as industrial PC, interactive digital signage, thin clients and POS terminals".

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is pleased to announce the Lexar Professional SL100 Pro Portable SSD is currently available at major US retailers. There is no doubt that users need larger storage devices for transferring and storing all types of data from audio, photos, and videos to office files and programs. The Lexar SL100 Pro Portable Solid-State Drive (SSD) is crafted for on the go (laptop and tablet) users who need high transfer speed and excellent reliability. The pocket-size drive comes wrapped in a brushed aluminum housing and features a shock and vibration resistant design for ultra protection. The SL100 Pro provides users the blazing-fast data transfer speed of up to 950 MB/s read and 900 MB/s write.

NZXT, a leading developer of software-powered hardware solutions for PC gaming, today announces the NZXT H1, a small form factor Mini-ITX case that includes an SFX-L 650w 80+ Gold PSU, 140 mm AIO, and PCIe riser card pre-installed for a simple building experience. In addition, the NZXT H1 is the focal point for a new high-end pre-build option for NZXT BLD called H1 Mini PC.

"Creating a small form factor case is something we have always wanted to improve upon because they are often challenging to build in and can hinder the performance of high-end hardware." says Johnny Hou, Founder and CEO of NZXT. "That is why we simplified the building process and focused on performance when designing the NZXT H1. We set out to make this one of the easiest builds you can undertake while leaving no compromises when gaming."

GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF ), the world's leading specialty foundry, and GlobalWafers Co., Ltd. (GWC), one of the top three silicon wafer manufacturers in the world, today announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop a long-term supply agreement for 300 mm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers.

GWC is one of the world's leading manufacturers of 200 mm SOI wafers, and has a long and ongoing relationship with GF for supplying 200 mm SOI wafers. GWC also manufactures 300 mm SOI wafers, and under the anticipated supply agreement, GWC and GF will collaborate closely to significantly expand GWC's 300 mm SOI wafer manufacturing capacity.

Apple is currently designing a custom series of CPUs, for its Macbook laptop lineup, based on the Arm Instruction Set Architecture. Having designed some of the most powerful mobile processors that are inside the iPhone series of devices, Apple is preparing to make a jump to an even more powerful device lineup by bringing custom CPUs for MacBook. Tired of the speed by which Intel replaces and upgrades its Core lineup of CPUs, Apple decided to take the matter in its own hands and rumors about the switch to a custom solution have been going on for a while. However, we now have some information about when to expect the first wave of Arm-powered Macs.

According to the analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is a well-known insider in the Apple industry, we can expect the first wave of the Arm-powered Macbook in the next 18 months, precisely in the first half of 2021. Supposedly, the first chips for these new Macs are going to be manufactured on a 5 nm manufacturing process, possibly over at TSMC since Apple had a long-lasting history of manufacturing its chips at TSMC foundries. In the meantime, we can expect to see Apple providing developers with tools to transition their x86-64 software to the new Arm ISA. Without a software ecosystem, the hardware platform is essentially worthless. And Apple knows this. We will see how they plan to play it and will report as soon as there is more information.

CORSAIR, a world leader in high-performance gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today launched new versions of several popular cooling products in a beautiful white finish, perfect for builders looking to create a PC with a head-turning white aesthetic. White CORSAIR iCUE QL RGB Series fans, lit by a stunning 34 RGB LEDs across four distinct light loops, will elevate the look of any build. For custom cooling enthusiasts seeking the lower temperatures and unmatched visuals of the CORSAIR Hydro X Series, the CORSAIR XC7 RGB CPU Water Block and XD5 RGB Pump/Reservoir Combo are now also available in white. Finally, a new small-form-factor Pump/Reservoir Combo, the Hydro X Series XD3 RGB, unlocks a new world of possibilities for installing Hydro X Series custom cooling in smaller, more compact cases.

CORSAIR iCUE QL RGB Series PWM fans launched in 2019 as the definitive RGB cooling fan on the market, with 34 RGB LEDs illuminating each fan. Four light loops - two in front and two in back - put your lighting on display, whether the fan is used for intake or exhaust. Now available in white, QL RGB Series fans can be purchased in single or multi-fan kits of either 120 mm or 140 mm sizes. Multi-fan kits come bundled with a CORSAIR iCUE Lighting Node CORE RGB Lighting Controller to fully customize and synchronize the fans' impressive lighting through iCUE software. With leading RGB lighting, great PWM-controlled airflow, and a new pristine white look, white QL RGB Series fans offer spectacular lighting from any angle.

CORSAIR, a world leader in high-performance gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced that the extensive RGB lighting customization in CORSAIR iCUE software now extends to ASUS Aura Sync compatible motherboards. With both iCUE and the latest version of ASUS' Aura Sync Utility installed, users can now fully control the RGB lighting on their ASUS motherboard through iCUE, as well as synchronize lighting with every iCUE-compatible CORSAIR device throughout their setup, from high-performance DRAM and CPU coolers to keyboards and mice.

CORSAIR iCUE software already offers the most robust system-wide RGB lighting control available, enabling users to customize all their CORSAIR product lighting in just a few clicks, or create complex multi-layer lighting effects and synchronize them across CORSAIR components and peripherals. With the addition of ASUS Aura Sync motherboard compatibility, iCUE can now control the lighting for nearly every component in a PC, all consolidated into a single interface, for incomparable system-wide light shows.

Lenovo announced today the latest additions to the ThinkPad portfolio: the new T series, X series and L series are built leveraging the core tenets of design, innovation and quality. Focused on providing a broad customer choice and a smarter workforce experience, the updated ThinkPad portfolio delivers modern IT solutions with emerging technology features to meet the needs and desires of end users. Innovations across the range include Modern Standby, Wake on Voice, WiFi 6, Dolby Audio Speaker System and Dolby Vision, plus customers can optimize select models with either 10th Gen Intel Core vPro processors or the next generation AMD Ryzen 4000 PRO Mobile processors. Lenovo will be the first PC vendor to offer the AMD Ryzen PRO 4000 Mobile processors.

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ZALMAN today announced market availability of its new CNPS16X tower-type CPU cooler and three new STC-series thermal compounds. The CNPS16X features an aluminium fin-stack tower-type heatsink that's ventilated by a pair of 120 mm fans in push-pull configuration, held together by an ABS shroud. The top-plate of this shroud features an addressable RGB embellishment with the ZALMAN logo at the center. Besides this, both fans feature ARGB diffusers along the bore of their frames. ZALMAN has two color variants of the CNPS16X depending on the color of the shroud - black and white. Splitter cables are included so the ARGB connections of both fans and the shroud are combined to a single 3-pin connection.

The design of the CNPS16X involves a direct-touch heatpipe base, from which four 6 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes pull heat, spreading it through the aluminium fin-stack. This stack features wave-shaped fins that make hexagonal patterns when viewed from the side. This design helps with increasing turbulence and heat-dissipation to the air-flow. Each of the two included 120 mm fans takes in 4-pin PWM, spins up to 1,500 RPM, together pushing around 75-90 m³h of air, with 25-29 dBA of noise output. ZALMAN rates the thermal capacity of this cooler at 150 W. Among the CPU socket types supported are AM4, LGA115x, and LGA2066. The CNPS16X is priced at 59.90€ (including taxes).

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun mass producing the industry's first 16-gigabyte (GB) LPDDR5 mobile DRAM package for next-generation premium smartphones. Following mass production of the industry-first 12 GB LPDDR5 in July, 2019, the new 16 GB advancement will lead the premium mobile memory market with added capacity that enables enhanced 5G and AI features including graphic-rich gaming and smart photography.

"Samsung has been committed to bringing memory technologies to the cutting edge in allowing consumers to enjoy amazing experiences through their mobile devices. We are excited to stay true to that commitment with our new, top-of-the-line mobile solution for global device manufacturers," said Cheol Choi, senior vice president of memory sales & marketing, Samsung Electronics. "With the introduction of a new product lineup based on our next-generation process technology later this year, Samsung will be able to fully address future memory demands from global customers."

The ubiquitous DDoS-mitigation and CDN provider, Cloudflare, announced that its latest Gen X servers implement AMD EPYC processors ditching Intel Xeons with its older Gen 9 servers. Cloudflare uses multi-functional servers (just like Google), in which each server is capable of handling any kind of the company's workloads (DDoS mitigation, content delivery, DNS, web-security, etc.). The company minimizes server hardware configurations so they're easier to maintain and lower TCO. The hardware specs of its servers are periodically updated and classified by "generations."

Cloudflare's Gen X server is configured with a single-socket 2nd gen AMD EPYC 7642 processor (48-core/96-thread, 256 MB L3 cache), and 256 GB of octa-channel DDR4-2933 memory, along with NVMe flash-based primary storage. "We selected the AMD EPYC 7642 processor in a single-socket configuration for Gen X. This CPU has 48-cores (96 threads), a base clock speed of 2.4 GHz, and an L3 cache of 256 MB. While the rated power (225 W) may seem high, it is lower than the combined TDP in our Gen 9 servers and we preferred the performance of this CPU over lower power variants. Despite AMD offering a higher core count option with 64-cores, the performance gains for our software stack and usage weren't compelling enough," Cloudflare writes in its blog post announcing Gen X. The new servers will go online in the coming weeks.Many Thanks to biffzinker for the tip.

SilentiumPC today rolled out the Signum SG1V Evo TG ARGB case. This ATX mid-tower implements the hottest design trend - airy, mesh front panels. The 3-sided front panel features large hexagonal perforations along the sides with fine wire meshes inside; and a central portion with hexagonal outer perforations that combine with a finer inner mesh. Tempered glass makes up the left side panel. Together, these let the case's three included 120 mm front intake fans breathe easy. Other fan mounts include two 120 mm top exhausts, two 120 mm intakes along the horizontal partition, and a 120 mm rear exhaust (fan included).

All four included fans are the company's Stella HP ARGB 120 CF units, which offer addressable-RGB lighting (3-pin ARGB), detachable impellers, hydraulic bearings, 4-pin PWM input for the motors, and a speed range of up to 1,200 RPM, with up to 66.3 CFM of airflow. A 4-channel PWM splitter is included with the case. Storage features of the Signum SG1V Evo include two 3.5-inch trays that can each hold 2.5-inch drives, and two additional 2.5-inch mounts. The upper compartment serves up room for graphics cards up to 32.5 cm in length, and CPU coolers up to 16 cm in height. Front panel connectivity include two USB 3.x type-A ports, and HDA jacks. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Raijintek today unveiled the Antil D5 EVO RBW, a contraption that combines a reservoir with a pump into a single device. It features an aluminium frame, POM acetal ends for the reservoir, and a 6 mm-thick tempered glass cylindrical reservoir. Fittings are mounted along either ends of the reservoir. Addressable RGB LED strips line the inner sides of the aluminium frame. The bottom end houses the pump unit.

The unit measures 305 mm x 95 mm x 80 mm (HxWxD), with brackets included that let you orient it in two ways (standing or sideways). The pump unit features a ceramic bearing motor (50,000-hour MTBF), offers 1,500 l/h discharge rate, and 4 m head, with 50 psi maximum pressure. Although it takes in 4-pin Molex, the pump has five speeds - 1,800 RPM, 2,500 RPM, 3,300 RPM, 4,000 RPM, and 4,800 RPM. The company didn't reveal pricing.

CD Projekt Red has to be the most renowned games developer in the world, due to its consumer-friendly policies and overall posture when it comes to creating and maintaining their game worlds. The company has always given gamers more than the average company, with free DLCs being delivered throughout the first year of support for a given title (looking at you, The Witcher III: Wild Hunt), and added goodies to packages that from most other companies usually only feature the plastic packaging around the game disk. Their GOG games platform is also one of the most well-established out there, and has helped build the company's image due to its DRM-free approach.

All of this, alongside the fact that The Witcher series has seen a resurgence with the release of the Netflix series, and expectations on their upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 title, have led the company towards tremendous growth, with it now ranking as second largest European gaming company, second only to Ubisoft - and the difference is still tremendous. Ubisoft has around 16,000 employees (as of 2019), and is home to some of the world's most historic franchises, while CD Projekt Red counts more than 900 employees (as of 2018), with that number having certainly increasing in size in preparation for, and in continued development, of the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077.

Microsoft has confirmed the official specs for the Xbox Series X games console, due Holiday 2020 (think November). The new specs announcement confirms the powerhouse of a console this will be, with its peak 12 TFLOPs compute being 8 times that of the original Xbox One, and twice that of the Xbox One X, which already quite capable of powering true 4K experiences. This 12 TFLOPs figure is a mighty impressive one - just consider that AMD's current highest-performance graphics card, Radeon VII, features a peak 13.4 TFLOPs of computing power - and that's a graphics card that was launched just a year ago.

The confirmation also mentions support for Hardware-Accelerated raytracing, something that all but confirms the feature being built into AMD's RDNA 2 microarchitecture (of which we are expecting news anytime now). this, alongside Variable Rate Shading (VRS) support, brings AMD to feature parity with NVIDIA's Turing, and should allow developers to optimize their performance and graphical targets without any discernible quality loss.

ASUS, the leading IT Company in server systems, server motherboards, workstations and workstation motherboards today announced exclusive Power Balancer technology to support the new 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processor (extended Cascade Lake-SP refresh SKUs) across all server product lineups, including the RS720/720Q/700 E9, RS520/500 E9 and ESC8000/4000 G4 series server systems and Z11 server motherboards.

In complex applications, such as high-performance computing (HPC), AI or edge computing, balancing performance and power consumption is always a challenge. With Power Balancer technology and the new 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processor, ASUS servers save up to 31 watts power per node on specific workloads and achieve even better efficiency with more servers in large-scale environments, significantly decreasing overall power consumption for a much lower total cost of ownership and optimized operations.

Unlocking the full potential of 5G requires transforming network infrastructure from core to edge. As the world's leading network silicon provider, Intel is at the forefront of driving this transformation. Today, the company made a sweeping set of hardware and software announcements, including the launch of the new Intel Atom P5900, a 10 nm system-on-chip (SoC) for wireless base stations, which is a critical early deployment target for 5G networks.

"As the industry makes the transition to 5G, we continue to see network infrastructure as the most significant opportunity, representing a $25 billion silicon opportunity by 2023," said Navin Shenoy, executive vice president and general manager of the Data Platforms Group at Intel. "By offering customers the fastest and most effective path to design, deliver and deploy 5G solutions across core, edge and access, we are poised to expand our leading silicon position in this growing market."

The PCI-Express gen 6.0 specification reached an important development milestone, with the publication of its version 0.5 first-draft. This provides important pointers to PCI-SIG members on what features and design changes gen 6.0 hopes to bring, and what its all important number is - bandwidth. PCIe gen 6.0 quadruples per-lane bandwidth over gen 4.0 to 64 GT/s (double that of gen 5.0), resulting in bi-directional bandwidth of 256 GB/s in an x16 configuration.

The spec also introduces a new physical layer change, with PAM4 (pulse amplitude modulation) signaling replacing NRZ (non-return to zero), a key ingredient in the generational bandwidth doubling effort. Despite this, PCIe gen 6.0 retains backwards-compatibility with all older generations of PCIe, which could mean the PCIe slot on motherboards may not look any different. PCIe gen 6.0 also introduces FEC (forward error-correction), and has similar per-channel reach as PCIe gen 5.0. Our older article on Intel's proprietary CXL outlines a key feature of PCIe gen 5.0 besides its bandwidth doubling over gen 4.0 - scalability. Although targeting completion in 2021, it could take several more years for the technology to transcend enterprise computing segments and reach the client. PCI-SIG anticipates the need for gen 6.0 kind of bandwidth in the industry by 2025.

With a 2.4-liter volume, a conventional black plastic body, and essential connectivity, the Ruijie RG-CT7800 may come across as a run-of-the-mill mini-PCs for small businesses or those who do precious little offline, except what's under the hood. This humble compact desktop is among the first design wins of China's ambitious effort at having an x86 processor built entirely on Chinese soil, the Zhaoxin KaiXian. This processor is making its way to products, and was recently pictured on an embedded motherboard. The KaiXian, along with the notebooks, motherboards, micro-servers, and mini-PCs that implement it, form the tip of China's 3-5-2 policy, an ambitious plan to rid all state- and state-owned institutions of "foreign hardware."

The numerals in "3-5-2" are supposed to correspond to foreign hardware replacement targets set by the country's Central Government - 30% by the end of 2020, an additional 50% by the end of 2021, and the remaining 20% by the end of 2022. To support this plan, the Chinese electronics industry, flush with state investment, has indigenized several key components of the modern PC, including DRAM, NAND flash, and now CPU. The country already dominates the global electronic components market. The RG-CT7800 implements The KaiXian KX-U6780A SoC that sports eight x64 CPU cores running at 2.70 GHz. Interestingly, the chip is manufactured on TSMC's 16 nm FinFET node (a de facto "foreign" source, but one that's de jure China from Beijing's perspective). Ruijie is equipping the RG-CT7800 with 8 GB of DDR4 memory, and 256 GB of SSD-based storage. One can make out industry-standard USB, Ethernet, 3.5 mm audio jacks, etc., from the pictures. The box will be compatible with UOS and NeoKylin (Linux distros built under scrutiny of the Chinese Government). With state institutions being on the clock to implement their 3-5-2 targets, it's possible that the first volumes of RG-CT7800 will be sold exclusively to state customers.

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

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

NVIDIA's GeForce NOW game-streaming service had been hit or miss lately depending on how you look at its current situation, given the fact that Activision-Blizzard removed its game catalog from the GeForce NOW service and the fact that CD Projekt RED announced that Cyberpunk 2077 will be present on the platform. Some moves like the one coming from Activision-Blizzard are taking a tole on the new game streaming platform, while others like the addition of Cyberpunk 2077 are giving the platform users hope to see it become a viable option.

To add to the pain, Bethesda Softworks, a maker of many popular titles such as the DOOM, Fallout, Wolfenstein, and The Elder Scrolls series, has decided to pull a big part of its game library from the NVIDIA GeForce NOW game streaming service. In another surprising turn of events, a part of NVIDIA staff announced that Bethesda Softworks will pull most of its games form the GeForce NOW platform, excluding Wolfenstein Youngblood, which will remain playable to give users a chance to experience it with "RTX on". We do not know why big publishers are pulling their game libraries form this platform, so we have to wait for more information in the future.

With its new Western Digital iNAND MC EU521, an embedded Universal Flash Storage (UFS) device, Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) equips mobile developers to enhance the 5G smartphone user experience. An early supporter of JEDEC's implementation of WriteBooster under the UFS 3.1 standard, Western Digital is among the first in the industry to deliver commercial storage solutions optimized for UFS 3.1 5G applications and capabilities.

The Western Digital iNAND MC EU521 embedded flash device allows mobile developers to take full advantage of UFS 3.1 high-interface bandwidth (Gear 4 / 2 Lanes) as well as SLC (single-level cell) NAND caching. It also offers turbo sequential write speeds up to 800 MB/s to better enable enhanced user experiences for applications such as downloading 4K and 8K media, large file transfers from the cloud, and gaming. The iNAND EU521 will be available in March in 128 GB and 256 GB capacities.

TechPowerUp and Montech bring you a chance to refresh your battlestation this Spring with our latest Giveaway. Open to our readers in the Continental United States (excluding Alaska), eighteen lucky winners stand to win from a motherlode of Montech hardware that includes cases, case-fans, and mouse-mats. The first three lucky winners each get a set that includes a Montech Air 900 Mesh Black case, a Montech Z3 ARGB fan, and an ML900 gaming mousepad. The next five lucky winners get a Montech Fighter 400 case, each. The following ten lucky winners get an ML900 mousepad, each! To participate, simply fill up a short form that helps us get back to you if you've won. Good Luck!

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Following up on our coverage of CES goodies that are more than just swag, we continue exploring the wacky world of true wireless (TWS) earphones. The first set in this quick look series examined the Altec Lansing Nano Pods that clocked in at just $30, and today we up the ante into the oh-so-barely-under-$100 with the Creative Outlier Gold at $99.99. The company has impressed yours truly for three CES showings in a row with their Super X-Fi headphone holography tech, which we examined in the first retail iteration via their SXFI amp. This technology aims to replicate a surround speaker speaker audio experience into earphones/headphones, and requires their SXFI DSP to make the most of it. So when Creative said they have TWS earphones with SXFI, I was intrigued and simply had to test them for myself.

As it turns out, the Outlier Gold does support SXFI, but only with a software experience from their mobile app. This makes sense considering these are meant to be quite small and, well, wireless, and yet Creative claim a whopping 14 hours of battery life per charge. In addition, this set is an upgrade to their previous Outlier Air TWS earphones, which were quite popular for offering good value for money, and we see signs of it already with the packaging going with a two-piece unboxing experience with renders, marketing features, and product specs all over the box. Read past the break for more on these, especially if you are looking for a good balance of audio performance, battery life, and price point.

With the launch of 4 TB M.2 NVMe SSDs now being available in all Eurocom models, Eurocom has once again altered the laptop storage landscape. Eurocom uses blazing-fast Sabrent Rocket 4 TB M.2 NVMe SSDs (sized 22 mm x 80 mm), that are small enough to fully meet the size and heat requirements of today's thin-and-light laptops. While the majority of laptop manufacturers today offer a maximum SSD storage capacity of only 8 TB in their laptops, such as the non-NVMe SSD storage in Apple's 16" Macbook Pro, Eurocom offers double the total capacity along with six times faster read and write speeds in its laptops.

It is important to note that Eurocom uses Sabrent Rocket 4 TB M.2 NVMe SSDs, where NVMe SSD read and write speeds are over 30 times faster than the more commonly-used and lower cost 2.5" SATA3 SSDs. In general, 2.5" SATA3 SSDs have a read and write speed of about 500 MB/s while NVMe SSDs read and write speeds are about 3000 MB/s, or 6 times faster than 2.5" SATA3 SSDs, such as the storage drives used in the 16" Macbook Pro. This large difference in read and write speeds between NVMe and non-NVMe SSDs is shown in the chart below.

Another week, another interesting free game being driven upon us by the EPIC Games Store. This time, it's Ubisoft's 345th entry in the Assassin's Creed series: Assassin's Creed Syndicate. Set in 1868 London, smack in the middle of the Industrial Revolution, this is considered to be the title that straightened out the franchise after the ill-received Assassin's Creed Unity, with an overall 76 score in Metacritic.

Also available for free is Faeria, a collectible-card game from developers Abrakam, which has a very respectable 81 score in Metacritic and an average 7.6 user score, putting it ahead of Syndicate in both metrics. Gameplay is often compared to a mix of Catan (with its hex-based, living board) and Heartstone (due to the collectible 300+ cards the game has to offer). It has single-player and PVP modes to scratch your particular craving at the moment, so it might be an interesting (and free) addition to your library.

Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system has been a mix of old and new designs since its launch, however, Microsoft decided to modernize its UI look by providing a fresh set of icons. If you are a user of Microsoft Office suite, then you already know how the new icons look for Office applications like Excel and Word. The material design present on those apps is now transferring to the rest of Windows 10 stock applications like Calendar and Calculator. In the effort to modernize the look of Windows 10 and end the Windows 7 inspired UI, Microsoft will be pushing the updated icon set over few following months. The updates icons are already available for Windows 10 Insiders, and specifically for Preview Build 19569. Regular users can expect to get the update in the coming months.

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Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced that its new cutting-edge semiconductor fabrication line in Hwaseong, Korea, has begun mass production.

The facility, V1, is Samsung's first semiconductor production line dedicated to the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology and produces chips using process node of 7 nanometer (nm) and below. The V1 line broke ground in February 2018, and began test wafer production in the second half of 2019. Its first products will be delivered to customers in the first quarter.

TEAMGROUP releases two storage products, the T193 Stationery Flash Drive and the PD1000 Portable Solid State Drive. The T193 Stationery Flash Drive combines multifunctional stationery design and applications. Functions such as a 180-degree protractor, magnifying glass and magnet are all on this flash drive and offering 128 GB of large capacity available to choose from. PD1000 Portable Solid State Drive uses USB 3.2 Gen2 ultra high-speed interface. The read/write speed is up to 1000/900 MB/s. It complies with the IP68 certification, which is dustproof, waterproof and 1600 kg pressure proof. These two unique and creative devices will change the data storage industry of 2020.

After the T183 Tool Flash Drive was highly praised by major design awards and global consumers, TEAMGROUP has once again released the all new multifunctional T193 Stationery Flash Drive. T193 is the first flash drive that combines stationery and complete protection design. It has functions like a 180-degree protractor, magnifying glass and magnet. In addition, it is made with top aluminium alloy material and it has dust-proof, waterproof and shockproof protection. T193 uses USB 3.2 Gen1 interface and offers large storage capacity from 32 GB to 128 GB. Its multiple functions and special look make it different than other ordinary USB flash drives.

The PCI Express 4.0 specification was designed to double the performance of server and storage systems, pushing speeds up to 16.0 gigatransfers per second (GT/s) or 2 gigabits per second (Gb/s) throughput per lane, and driving new performance levels for cloud and enterprise applications. Today, KIOXIA America, Inc. (formerly Toshiba Memory America, Inc.) announced that its lineup of CM6 and CD6 Series PCIe 4.0 NVM Express (NVMe ) enterprise and data center solid state drives (SSDs) are now shipping to customers.

An established leader in developing PCIe and NVMe SSDs, KIOXIA delivers never-before-seen performance. KIOXIA was the first company to publicly demonstrate PCIe 4.0 SSDs and is now the first to ship these next-generation drives. The CM6 and CD6 Series SSDs are compliant to the latest NVMe specification, and include key features such as in-band NVMe-MI, persistent event log, namespace granularity, and shared stream writes. Additionally, both drives are SFF-TA-1001 conformant (also known as U.3), which allows them to be used in tri-mode enabled backplanes, which can accept SAS, SATA or NVMe SSDs.

AOC launches the 35" (88.98 cm) AGON AG353UCG with 200 Hz refresh rate, 2 ms GtG response time, 3440 x 1440 UWQHD (21:9) resolution, VESA DisplayHDR 1000 and Nvidia G-Sync Ultimate.

Its native 3440 x 1440 UWQHD (21:9) resolution combined with the 1800R curvature creates the next level of immersion. The AG353UCG's visuals pop thanks to Quantum Dot technology, 1000 nits peak brightness with VESA DisplayHDR 1000, 2500:1 contrast and 90% DCI-P3 coverage. Finally, the monitor supports Nvidia G-Sync Ultimate, offering HDR with 1000 nits brightness, at the same time eliminating stutter, tearing and reducing latency.

Featuring the most comprehensive refinement of design elements yet, the Define 7 brings a new body to the long established Define series while staying true to its heritage as a solid platform for the silent PC.

Always pushing boundaries, Fractal product developers added loads of new features to ensure that the 7 series is the most capable and cohesive Define range ever released. Thanks to an adaptable dual-layout interior, the Define 7 can easily accommodate motherboards all the way up to 285 mm E-ATX, extensive storage arrays with up to 14 HDDs, 4 SSDs and an ODD bay, and robust cooling with a 420 mm radiator and up to nine fans. Versatile new multi-brackets allow you to convert any unused fan position to an HDD, SSD or pump mount.

EK, the leading premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to introduce the EK-Loop Connect, a straightforward information and control hub for all the relevant parameters of your liquid cooled PC.

EK-Loop Connect
A Fan, Pump, and an Addressable D-RGB controller unit that is designed from the standpoint of an enthusiast. With this control hub you can easily set your desired RGB lighting effects with just a few clicks, as well as optimize your cooling performance, and noise levels through a simple PWM chart or pre-defined profiles. That's not all though, as you'll have the option of using external temperature sensors, flow meters, and coolant level probes.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, is pleased to announce the launch of its new 2.5-inch SATA III ISSS333 PLP 3D TLC solid state drives (SSD) featuring Power Loss Protection (PLP). The industrial-grade SSDs are purpose made for applications that require durability, reliability, and high capacities, including industrial computing, embedded applications, surveillance systems, medical equipment, gaming machines, defense applications, and general automation. ISSS333 PLP SSDs implement 3D NAND Flash and the SATA III 6 Gb/s interface for superb transfer rates of up to 560/520 MB per second. For cost savings, these SSDs sport lower power consumption of 2.3 watts.

Equipped with Power Loss Protection, ISSS333 3D TLC PLP SSDs guard against data loss when a sudden power failure occurs. This capabilities comes in handy for applications that are more prone to power outages, namely those operating in outdoor environments, such as base stations, surveillance systems, and transportation facilities to name a few. What's more, ISSS333 3D TLC PLP SSDs also feature wide-temperature resistance (-40°C to 85°C) to ensure optimal operation even in the harshest environments and polymer capacitors with short circuit protection. ISSS333 3D TLC PLP SSDs also support LDPC (Low-Density Parity-Check) error correcting code technology to detect and fix a wider range of data errors for more accurate data transfers and a longer SSD lifespan.

NVIDIA's GeForce NOW game streaming service has recently suffered a big blow coming from Activision Blizzard, as the company has pulled its entire game library from the GeForce NOW platform. However, there is some good news for GeForce NOW coming. In its announcement blog, NVIDIA shared that upcoming game that is perhaps the most anticipated release of 2020, Cyberpunk 2077, will be available on its game streaming service. One of the NVIDIA staff shared that "GeForce NOW members will be able to grab their copy on Steam and play the game the moment it's available. GeForce NOW Founders members can explore the streets of Night City with RTX ON, fully optimized and instantly available, even on your Mac laptop."

With its 9th generation Core processor series, Intel adapted an interesting strategy to maximize its yields and increase competitiveness of its desktop processors. The "F" model number extension would go on to denote a lack of integrated graphics. It could be used in conjunction with other extensions such as "K" (unlocked base-clock multiplier). Completely disabling integrated graphics would allow Intel to salvage dies on which the iGPU component, which takes up a large chunk of the die area, doesn't clear validation. Intel refers to this as "GT0" (graphics tier zero), to fit into its iGPU tier differentiation scheme. The company also tends to price its "F" SKUs slightly lower, letting it compete with AMD Ryzen chips better. A case in point is the Core i5-9400F, often found under $160, and proving a strong alternative to the Ryzen 5 series for gaming PCs. With the 10th generation "Comet Lake-S" family, the company is planning several new "F" and "KF" SKUs.

According to a company slide leaked to the web by InformaticaCero, there are at least three each of "F" and "KF" SKUs in the works. The lineup includes the 10-core/20-thread i9-10900KF and i9-10900F; the 8-core/16-thread i7-10700KF and i7-10700F; and the 6-core/12-thread i5-10600KF and i5-10600F. Clock speeds and cache sizes of these chips are identical to their corresponding non-F SKUs (eg: i7-10700KF clock-speeds being identical to those of the i7-10700K). Provided they're sold at slightly lower prices, the lack of an iGPU doesn't affect target buyers of these chips - PC gamers or creative professionals who use graphics cards and don't need an iGPU. Competing Ryzen processors lack iGPUs by design. Intel is expected to debut its 10th generation Core "Comet Lake-S" processors in April.

GIGABYTE has updated its Brix lineup of Mini-PCs with Intel's latest and greatest 10th generation Comet Lake mobile CPUs. Measuring 46.8 x 119.5 x 119.5 mm, the Brix mini PC is a small form factor machine with its 0,6-liter size. If anyone thinks that power is proportional to the size of a PC, the GIGABYTE Brix is here to prove them wrong. Available in four variants that differ only in CPU that is soldered inside, you can get anything from a dual-core Intel Core i3-10110U, all the way up to six-core Core i7-10710U CPU powerhouse. These CPUs are 15 W TDP models, so even though the Brix is small, its cooling solution should be able to handle the heat.

The Brix Mini-PC comes with a mounting bracket for 75 x 75 mm and 100 x 100 mm VESA mounts, meaning that you can place it behind a monitor. Storage options are limited to one 2.5-inch drive that can be up to 9.5 mm thick. For RAM, the Brix is using two SO-DIMM slots that can support up to 64 GB of DDR4 2666 MHz RAM. When it comes to connectivity options, GIGABYTE has equipped the Brix with Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 wireless adapter providing Bluetooth 4.2 and WiFi 802.11ac connectivity. The IO options are somewhat decent as Brix has three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports at the front, along with a USB Gen 2 Type-C connector and 3.5 mm headphone jack. On the back, there are two HDMI 2.0a ports for video output, two additional USC 3.2 Gen 2 ports, power input, and of course an RJ45 Ethernet connector.

BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today announces windows 7 x64 SP1 support for Intel B365 series motherboards. BIOSTAR's Windows 7 x64 SP1 support will be further extended to the RACING B365GTA and the B365MHC motherboards as Windows 7 x64 SP1 still remains the second most-used Windows operating system worldwide, used in many homes, offices, schools and government organizations, all BIOSTAR consumers who have the need to use Windows 7 x64 SP1 will have an extended lifetime for their Windows 7 x64 SP1 experience.

The RACING B365GTA and the B365MHC, are ATX and Micro-ATX motherboards equipped with Intel's B365 Chipset supporting the 9th and 8th generation Intel processors. The two motherboards are packed with the latest features and functionality that is versatile for any use case. With the latest support patch for Windows 7 x64 SP1, BIOSTAR consumers who are looking for Windows 7 x64 SP1 supporting products will be related to have the latest high-end hardware supporting their favorite operating system further.

DeepCool today rolled out the MATREXX 30 SI, a sober-looking minimalist Micro-ATX case for those who don't like to stare at the innards of a computer. Its design is characterized with opaque black steel side panels, an all-black interior, and a ridged front design that has slits between the ridges that serve as the front intake. The front-panel I/O is located at the top of this panel.

Inside, you get room for a Micro-ATX or Mini-ITX motherboard, a conventional ATX power supply, and plenty of storage options - two 5.25-inch bays, from which one is external; three 3.5-inch bays, and two additional 2.5-inch mounts. Behind the motherboard tray is 1.5 cm of crawlspace to route cables through. The main chamber offers clearance for graphics cards up to 25 cm in length, and CPU coolers up to 15.1 cm in height. Cooling options include one 120 mm front intake, and a 120 mm rear exhaust, from which the exhaust fan comes pre-installed. Front-panel connectivity includes a pair of USB ports and HDA jacks. We expect this case to be priced around $30.

The Korean RRA has listed AMD graphics cards for certification this month which may well point towards an actual announcement coming from AMD during the next month. The company has already confirmed they will be discussing RDNA2 graphics cards come their next Financial Analyst Day, set for March 5th. The new entries, D32310 and D30201, have been listed on February 03 and February 19, respectively. This is relevant for a March announcement - even if just a paper one - of the new RDNA2 GPUs because historically, it seems that AMD has registered impending releases with the Korean RRA roughly one month prior to actual product releases.

As you can see in the listing, AMD registered two graphics cards in June 2019 (D16302 and D18206 - and one month later, in July, the company released Navi-based RX 5700 XT and RX 5700. AMD also registered the RX 5600 XT model number, D32501, on December 3, 2019 with a release one month later on January 21, 2020. AMD similarly registered model number D18902 on November 27, 2019 - and AMD released the 5500 XT on December 12, less than a month later. There seems to be a pattern here. if you're wondering why the model number for these new February registrations is lower than that of the RX 5600 XT (D32501 against the newer, yet lower D32310 and D30201), it could have something to do with the fact that AMD decided to carve out the RX 5600 XT SKU later than they knew they'd be releasing Big Navi - as an attempt to curtail NVIDIA in the GTX 1660 Ti and GTX 1660 Super battlefield.

I like to write articles on No Man's Sky because barely have I ever seen a game this well supported. In fact, I'd even risk saying this game sees better support - and more support - than many other games that even have the "games as a service" philosophy. The only other game I can think of that has had comparable improvements and overhauls throughout its lifecycle is Warframe, but that's a completely different beast. In No Man's Sky, I think we can see exactly how studios that make games as a work of love go on about supporting them.

While the games' release may have been a flop compared to the expectations set upon it (in no small part because of their own creators), I think it really is commendable that hello games didn't just pocket the immense profits they made with the games' release and are, instead, still working it up to its entire potential. It just really goes to show how good tool planning and the adequate mindset can bring about improvements over time.

MetallicGear, powered by Phanteks, today announced the new addition to the NEO series, the NEO Qube. The NEO Qube sports dual tempered glass panels with integrated smooth Digital-RGB lighting making this the perfect showcase to display your system from every angle.

The NEO Qube features a spacious dual-chamber interior that brings a smooth building experience, heat separation for better cooling and supports powerful hardware. Combined with the Phanteks Revolt X power supply, the NEO Qube can even support 2 motherboard installations (E-ATX + ITX), which brings more possibilities for streamers, professionals, and multi-users looking for dual system support.

The Core i7-10700F is an upcoming 8-core/16-thread processor that's expected to be significantly affordable compared to the i7-10700K. Unlike the i7-10700K targeted at overclockers, the i7-10700F is multiplier locked, has lower nominal clock speeds of 2.90 GHz, and lacks integrated graphics (hence the "F" extension). PC enthusiasts on Korean tech community QuasarZone posted a screenshot of an alleged i7-10700F test run on Cinebench R20. The chip is shown scoring 4781 points in the multi-threaded test, and 492 points single-threaded. These scores roughly compare with AMD's Ryzen 7 3700X processor. No other details such as motherboard or memory configuration were put out.

ASUS today rolled out the TUF Gaming GT301 case for gaming PC builds meant for the road (i.e. BYO LANs). It's design is characterized by a mostly ABS front panel that has a honeycomb outer grille with a metal inner mesh, and inserts through which a nylon strap zig-zags through. The top panel features another mesh surface, while the left side panel is tempered glass. The rest of the case, including its inner chassis and right side panel, are made of SECC steel. Adding to the aesthetic are three included ARGB fans along the front intake. A fourth dark 120 mm fan vents exhaust. Two additional 120 mm spinners can be mounted along the top exhaust. A headphones hanger can be mounted on either side of the case.

Inside, the ASUS TUF Gaming GT301 features a conventional horizontally-partitioned layout, with the top compartment serving up room for graphics cards up to 32 cm in length, and CPU coolers up to 16 cm in height. Storage options include four 2.5-inch drive mounts along the motherboard tray, and two 3.5-inch drive bays in the bottom compartment. Front panel connectivity includes two USB 3.2 type-A ports, and HDA audio jacks. Measuring 426 mm x 214 mm x 482 mm (LxWxH), the case weighs around 7.2 kg. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced the Snapdragon X60 5G Modem-RF System, its third-generation 5G modem-to-antenna solution (the Snapdragon X60). Snapdragon X60 features the world's first 5-nanometer 5G baseband and is the world's first 5G Modem-RF System to support spectrum aggregation across all key 5G bands and combinations, including mmWave and sub-6 using frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD), providing ultimate operator flexibility to uplift 5G performance utilizing fragmented spectrum assets. This 5G modem-to-antenna solution is designed to enhance the performance and capacity for operators worldwide while increasing average 5G speeds in mobile devices. Snapdragon X60 is engineered to accelerate network transition to 5G standalone mode through support for any key spectrum band, mode or combination, along with 5G Voice-over-NR (VoNR) capabilities.

Intel Labs, in collaboration with QuTech ‑ a partnership between TU Delft and TNO (Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research) ‑ outlines key technical features of its new cryogenic quantum control chip "Horse Ridge" in a research paper released at the 2020 International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco. The paper unveils key technical capabilities of Horse Ridge that address fundamental challenges in building a quantum system powerful enough to demonstrate quantum practicality: scalability, flexibility and fidelity.

"Today, quantum researchers work with just a small number of qubits, using smaller, custom-designed systems surrounded by complex control and interconnect mechanisms. Intel's Horse Ridge greatly minimizes this complexity. By systematically working to scale to thousands of qubits required for quantum practicality, we're continuing to make steady progress toward making commercially viable quantum computing a reality in our future," said Jim Clarke, director of quantum hardware, Intel Labs.

I don't know about you, but I've found the Dishonored universe to be one of the most interesting ones to be explored in gaming in recent years. Now, publisher Bethesda has made the dishonored franchise available via CD Projekt Red's GOG digital storefront, which means DRM-free versions of games you get to keep forever, as well as digital goodies. The original Dishonored and DLC, alongside Dishonored 2 and its expansion Death of the Outsider (too late for a spoiler alert, uh?) are now available with discounts up to 75% off.

Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood are also available through GOG as of now, so if you have a Nazi-killing craving lurking somewhere in your conscious or subconscious mind, GOG has that itch covered for you with hefty discounts as well (and these are extensive to the entirety of Bethesda's published catalogue on GOG, including those more retro pieces of gaming such as Quake and Doom). Go now, and be happy.

AMD has scored yet another design win for usage of its high-performance EPYC processors in the Cray Shasta supercomputer. The Cray Shasta will be deployed in the US Navy's Department of Defense Supercomputing Resource Center (DSRC) as part of the High Performance Computing Modernization Program. The peak theoretical computing capability of 12.8 PetaFLOPS, or 12.8 quadrillion floating point operations per second supercomputer will be built with 290,304 AMD EPYC (Rome) processor cores and 112 NVIDIA Volta V100 General-Purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPGPUs). The system will also feature 590 total terabytes (TB) of memory and 14 petabytes (PB) of usable storage, including 1 PB of NVMe-based solid state storage. Cray's Slingshot network will make sure all those components talk to each other at a rate of 200 Gigabits per second.

Navy DSRC supercomputers support climate, weather, and ocean modeling by NMOC, which assists U.S. Navy meteorologists and oceanographers in predicting environmental conditions that may affect the Navy fleet. Among other scientific endeavors, the new supercomputer will be used to enhance weather forecasting models; ultimately, this improves the accuracy of hurricane intensity and track forecasts. The system is expected to be online by early fiscal year 2021.

Cooler Master, a global leader in designing and manufacturing innovative gaming peripherals and PC components, has unveiled its latest lineup of headsets for gamers of all types: the MH600 Series.

The MH600 Series emphasizes high performance and premium sound quality with a core suite of features standard in every model:

• Swiveling ear cups and fabric mesh cushioning for superior, long-lasting comfort
• Hassle-free portability with detachable cords and foldable frames
• Adjustable omnidirectional boom mic for superior voice quality and minimal background noise
• Premium sound quality with 50 mm neodymium audio drivers

Kingston Digital Europe Co LLP, the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, announced its IronKey D300 Encrypted USB Flash Drive series has achieved NATO Restricted Level Certification. This indicates that, after a detailed validation process, the Kingston IronKey D300, IronKey D300S and IronKey D300SM have been listed in the NATO Information Assurance Product Catalogue (NIAPC) for security products that meet NATO's nations, civil and military bodies' operational requirements.

The NIAPC is established under an INFOSEC Directive and ensures only cryptographic products which are developed in a NATO member nation are evaluated and approved to use in accordance with NATO Security Policies. The IronKey D300 series is now included on this list, which means it is qualified as an encrypted Flash drive that meets the data protection levels established by NATO to protect information against loss or cyber-attacks. Sensitive data-in-transit needs to be protected as any loss or breach can result in harm to NATO's forces, its members or its mission.

ARCTIC's long-running CPU cooler gets a worthy successor. It feels like the end of an era: the Freezer 7 Pro has long been one of our most loyal companions, and even though it wasn't a high-performance beast, it was known and loved by countless customers around the world. But after more than 10 years together, it's time to say farewell.

Out with the old, in with the new. With the new Freezer 7 X, we're able to present a successor that not only builds upon the success of its renowned predecessor - it outshines it. The Freezer 7 X reaps the benefits of an improved heatsink design along with a reworked heat pipe layout. In conjunction with the fan, which is optimized for high static pressure, the ARCTIC Freezer 7 X sets new standards in cooling. Compared to its predecessor, a performance increase of almost 10 % could be tested — and at a price that has been driven down by optimized and more efficient manufacturing processes.

US Government, precisely the Trump administration, is considering placing a ban on chip export from TSMC to Huawei. With Huawei being in the middle between the US and China fight for global technology dominance, the Trump administration is seeking to limit the progress of foreign forces trying to match or beat US technology. There were previous efforts by the US government to influence Huawei's fate, with them claiming that Huawei 5G equipment is capable of supplying China with intelligence, meaning that China tries to spy on US citizens. While those claims were later disregarded by Huawei, the Trump administration managed to do some damage to the face of the company.

The TSMC representative who spoke to Reuters about the potential ban said that the company (TSMC) does not answer hypothetical questions and that they don't talk about their customers. To achieve more control over the China semiconductor manufacturing, the US government plans to place a licensing model on all of their US-made semiconductor equipment, meaning that all the production lines are possibly in danger if the US doesn't approve shipments of their machines to other countries.

be quiet!, the market leader in PC power supplies in Germany since 2007, announces Shadow Rock 3. This addition to the mid-range CPU cooler lineup of be quiet! features a redesigned heat sink and heat pipe layout and a Shadow Rock 2 fan to increase the rated cooling capacity to 190 W TDP while its asymmetrical design improves compatibility with tall RAM modules.

Compared to its predecessor, Shadow Rock 3 has undergone a substantial redesign. The previous model relied on four 8 mm heat pipes to cool the CPU, while Shadow Rock 3 now implements five 6 mm heat pipes with heat pipe direct touch (HDT) technology. The heat pipes are in direct contact with the processor surface, which results in fast heat transfer from the CPU to the heat sink. The fan has been upgraded to a Shadow Wings 2 120 mm PWM high-speed, which is decoupled from the heatsink and offers a silent operation at no higher than 24.4 dB(A), even at maximum speed. Users who are looking for even higher cooling performance have the option to attach a second fan to the heatsink.

VIA's CenTaur division sprung an unexpected surprise in the CPU industry with its new CHA x86-64 microarchitecture and an on-die NCORE AI co-processor. This would be the first globally-targeted x86 processor launch by a company other than Intel and AMD in close to 7 years, and VIA's first socketed processor in over 15 years. SemiAccurate scored a look at mock-up of the CenTaur CHA NCORE 8-core processor and it turns out that the chip is indeed socketed.

Pictured below, the processor is a flip-chip LGA. We deduce it is socketed looking at its alignment notches and traces for ancillaries on the reverse-side (something BGAs tend to lack). On the other hand, the "contact points" of the package appear to cast shadows, and resemble balls on a BGA package. Topside, we see an integrated heatspreader (IHS), and underneath is a single square die. CenTaur built the CHA NCORE on TSMC's 16 nm FinFET process. The package appears to have quite a high pin-count for a die this size, but that's probably because of its HEDT-rivaling I/O, which includes a quad-channel DDR4 memory interface and 44 PCI-Express gen 3.0 lanes.

The UK government has set aside a budget of 1.2 billion GBP, which is roughly around 1.56 billion US Dollars. With this budget, the UK government plans to install the world's most powerful supercomputer used for weather forecasting in the year 2022. Previously, the UK government used three Cray XC40 supercomputers that are capable of achieving a maximum of 14 PetaFLOPs at its peak performance. The future system plans to take that number and make it look tiny. With plans to make it 20 times more powerful than the current machine, we can estimate that the future supercomputer will have above 200 PetaFLOPs of computing performance.

The supercomputer deployment will follow a series of cycles, where one is happening in 2022 and that supercomputer will be six times more powerful than the current solution. To get to that 20 times improvement, the supercomputer will get an upgrade over the next five years' time. While we do not know what will power the new machine, it will almost definitely be a CPU plus multi-GPU node configuration, as GPUs have gained a lot of traction in weather prediction models lately.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, and mobile accessories today announces the launch of the ADATA SE760 external solid state drive (SSD). The SSD features a stylish and compact form factor for easy portability and implements the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface for excellent read and write performance.

The ADATA SE760 sports a compact, streamlined design that's great for on the go. Its sleek metal exterior with a textured hairline-brushed surface looks and feels great. The SSD implements the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface, allowing it to reach read/write speeds of up to 1,000 MB/s, which is over 12 times faster than an external hard drive. This blazing-fast performance will allow users to transfer a 10 GB 4K movie in approximately twenty seconds.

ASUS unveiled the GeForce RTX 2060 DUAL Mini series, a new pair of RTX 2060 graphics cards purpose-built to compete with AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, and possibly priced to match the EVGA RTX 2060 KO. The series consists of two otherwise identical looking cards differentiated with clock speeds - the reference speed "DUAL-RTX2060-6G-MINI," and the slightly overclocked "DUAL-RTX2060-O6G-MINI." The DUAL Mini common board design measures 19.7 cm in length, 12.1 cm height, and is strictly 2-slot thick. Under the hood is PCB that's built to cost, and probably repurposing the company's GTX 1660 Ti series PCBs, since the TU116 and TU106 are pin-compatible.

The cooling solution of the ASUS RTX 2060 DUAL Mini features an aluminium fin-stack heatsink that makes direct contact with the GPU at the base; ventilated by a pair of 90 mm Axial-Tech fans that are designed to guide all their airflow axially. The impellers of these fans feature IP5X dust-resistance coating. The card also offers idle fan-stop feature. As mentioned earlier, the base RTX 2060 DUAL Mini ticks at NVIDIA reference clock speeds, while the DUAL Mini O6G offers overclocked speeds of 1365 MHz base and 1725 MHz GPU Boost (vs. reference speeds of 1365/1680 MHz). The memory clock is untouched on both cards, at 14 Gbps (GDDR6 effective). The card draws power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. Display outputs include one each of dual-link DVI-D, HDMI 2.0b, and DisplayPort 1.4 connectors. The cards don't appear to feature a back-plate. We expect the DUAL Mini to be priced at USD $299, and the DUAL Mini O6G at a $20-30 premium.

XIGMATEK today rolled out the ZEUS Arctic, a new color variant of the ZEUS Spectrum Edition case the company debuted back in October 2019. Most PC hardware companies use the extension "Arctic" to denote a metallic-white or silvery color scheme, and the same is true for the ZEUS Arctic. Most of the sheet metal of the case is matte-white, with contrasting black thumb-screws and standoffs that hold together the dark tinted tempered glass panels on both sides. No fans come included with the case, although XIGMATEK suggests using RGB fans with white frames. The case's polygonal profile allows you to mount up to two 360 mm x 120 mm radiators (along the front and top panels); and two 120 mm rear exhausts. It measures 755 mm x 220 mm x 595 mm (LxWxH). The company didn't reveal pricing.

Continuing our quick look series, this time we cover a product that came to us after our article on portable encrypted storage was published. That very article came about from two companies asking us if we would be interested in checking out their products, and when a startup company formed by Russians who specialize in data protection and embedded security asks you the same, you answer yes! Hawk Security was set up in 2018, and is actually based out of Hong Kong now, and offers data encryption solutions with military-grade encryption standards. They sent out their S-Drive, a portable solution with a 3D NAND-based memory and certification galore, with performance and privacy as the selling point.

The Hawk Security S-Drive ships in a thick cardboard box with a two-piece packaging, with aptly named security seals on the sides. The inner box slides out to reveal a premium unboxing experience with thick foam cut to shape, which in turn houses the user manual, the drive, and the connecting cable itself. The manual is handy for not only knowing the locking and unlocking procedures for this encrypted drive, but also the default password for using it the first time. The cable terminates in a standard USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type A connector on one end, but a 10-pin USB 3.1 Gen 1 Micro Type B super-speed connector on the other to help make the most of connection speeds. This means backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 ports is restricted to USB ports/hubs that provide enough power only, so keep that in mind. Read past the break for more on the drive.

NVIDIA today announced the end-result of their teaser form earlier: the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti "Cyberpunk 2077 Edition", a limited, 200-unit edition of their highest-performing RTX 2080 Ti graphics card designed in collaboration with CD Projekt Red. The 200-unit edition will have 77 of its number being offered in sweepstakes by NVIDIA, with some of the remaining 133 units being available for good, old money, set at a pricing of $1,100.

The card features a gaudy yellow styling that is much in line with the color palette CD Projekt has been putting out for the game. The shroud is made of AL5052 aluminium (an alloy enriched with chromium and magnesium). The sweepstakes will be running from today, February 17th, through to February 28th. I don't know about you, but I think that's a beautiful-looking card. Watch a teaser video after the break, as well as NVIDIA's details regarding the sweepstakes.

The 2020 DICE (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Awards offered their Game of the Year title to "Untitled Goose Game", developed by Indie Studio House House. That game also took home the "Outstanding Achievement for an independent Game" award, as well as Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design.

The awards were also good for Control, the paranormal-esque game developed by renowned Remedy Entertainment. The game was victor in four different categories: Action Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, and Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition. Disco Elysium, the quasi-combatless story-based RPG from ZA/UM Studios that was 2019's biggest achievement (for this writer at least) won the Outstanding Achievement in Story award. Look after the break for the full list of categories, nominees, and winners.

The following analysis shows TrendForce's investigations of key component and other downstream technology industries, under the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, with the latest data as of February 14, 2020.

Semiconductors
Compared to the OSAT industry, the foundry industry has a much higher degree of fab automation and thus is less impacted by the outbreak. But because most workers at semiconductor manufacturing sites in China come from out of town, labor shortages and traffic restrictions will lower work resumption rates at foundries more than expected. In the short term, fab utilization rates may not make a full recovery. As a result, given that the outbreak has not yet been effectively contained, TrendForce is projecting a possible decline in shipment for the Chinese foundry industry in 1Q20, in turn affecting downstream Chinese OSAT companies. The industry's overall performance recovery remains to be seen.

AMD has just recently launched its 3rd generation of Ryzen ThreadRipper CPUs, and it is already achieving some impressive stuff. In the world of PC gaming, there used to be a question whenever a new GPU arrives - "But can it run Crysis?". This question became meme over the years as GPU outgrew requirements for the Crysis game, and any GPU nowadays is capable of running the game. However, have you ever wondered if your CPU can run Crysis, alone without a GPU? Me neither, but Linus from LinusTechTips taught of that.

The CPU, of course, can not run any game, as it lacks the hardware for graphics output, but being that AMD's ThreadRipper 3990X, a 64 core/128 thread monster has raw compute power capable of running Crysis, it can process the game. Running in software mode, Linus got the CPU to process the game and run it without any help from a GPU. This alone is a massive achievement for AMD ThreadRipper, as it shows that CPUs reached a point where their raw computing power is on pair with some older GPU and that we can achieve a lot of interesting things. You can watch the video down below.

The European manufacturer of CPU coolers and PC cases, SilentiumPC, presents the successor of its popular Armis AR5 case series. The new Armis AR6 lineup is aimed at gamers looking for a PC case with maximum versatility and stylish design combined with outstanding value for money. SilentiumPC has developed three different versions of the case for this purpose, which are identical in terms of their internal construction, but differ in their exterior and (A)RGB lighting. All models are designed for excellent internal ventilation and implement the new Natissis internal structure with dual-chamber layout. The Armis AR6X TG RGB and Armis AR6X EVO TG ARGB are supplied directly with total of five 120 mm fans, the Armis AR6Q EVO TG ARGB with two 120 mm fans.

The Natissis internal structure, recently introduced in the Regnum RG6V case series, has been incorporated in the new Armis AR6 series. It utilizes the dual-chamber design which has been perfected by SilentiumPC, providing outstanding flexibility when it comes to the choice of components for high performance systems and offering outstanding cable management.

CD Projekt Red, a game developer behind an upcoming game called Cyberpunk 2077, decided to question, on Twitter, whatever NVIDIA will make any special-edition GeForce RTX graphics card for the Cyberpunk 2077 game launch. The official NVIDIA GeForce replied to it with a hint of a doubt, however, what followed was an official teaser of the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 themed GeForce RTX graphics card.

While the image below is a bit blurry, it was done on purpose of teasing just enough, but not everything. Classical marketing is in play here, however, we can extract some details. The card in question is a GeForce RTX GPU with a reference type cooler that is colored with yellow accenting around the GPU shroud. Since Cyberpunk 2077 launches in September, NVIDIA should launch its special edition graphics card around that timeframe. We have no information on what the GPU in question is and what is inside the teased card, but we can hope to find out soon.

Update: Turns out this is just a RTX 2080 Ti with a Cyberpunk color theme, for $1,100.

The leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, ASRock, is proud to announce that by using ASRock TRX40 Taichi motherboard, the global famous overclocker, Splave breaks a total of five world records on AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X. Also, Splave has overclocked the highest CPU frequency for AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X with 5748.66 MHz.

For those looking for a motherboard that dedicates to overclocking and achieving remarkable performance, the TRX40 Taichi is a must-have. It delivers the 16 Digi Power Phase & 90 A Dr. MOS technology not only to ensure all components are sturdy, but to offer a completely smooth power delivery to the CPU. Dr. MOS monitors current and temperature of each phase, and boost power and performance to the CPU. Therefore, Dr. MOS technology prevents latency or slow power surges, and gives a super stable system and tons of overclocking potential. So of course TRX40 Taichi seizes the five World Records and one Hardware First Place on HWBOT.org today.

ModMyMods rose out of the proverbial ashes from the meltdown of FrozenCPU, a PC hardware boutique in upstate New York that catered primarily to custom watercooling. While FrozenCPU is back up and running in some form today, people in the northern states and along the east coast of the US have become accustomed to having a local resource for PC modding and cooling supplies with the Rochester-based ModMyMods. We met representatives from the company at CES this year where they showed off their upcoming line of coolants for DIY custom loops, aptly named ModWater. They anticipated a launch in March at the time, but have managed to churn out enough in the month since to release these for sale as of the time of this news post.

The company tells us that ModWater is the result of over an year of work that began with the making of ultra-pure water from an in-house designed purification system with a series of processing to bring down the final TDS (total dissolved solids) value to <0.05 ppm. They are separately selling this water in 5 US gallon tanks for system integrators, but the retail customer will not doubt be interested in the coolants themselves that come in Pure-Clear, and several UV-Reactive colors including: Red-UV, Green-UV, Blue-UV, and Clear-UV (Blue base UV). The coolants ship in 1 liter containers for $9 each in bottles that are shaped similar to motor oil bottles, with a spout design to help pour the coolant out. The coolants, as expected these days, has additives for anti-corrosion properties with biocide and fungicide activity as well. If you are interested, here's the collective link for the product pages.

Intel's desktop Comet Lake-S lineup is close to being released and we are getting more leaks about the CPU models contained inside it. Perhaps one of the most interesting points for Comet Lake-S series is that it brings a boost in frequency and boost in core count, with the highest-end Core i9 processors going up to 10 cores. Thanks to Xfastest, a Hong Kong-based media outlet, we have first pictures of what appears to be an engineering sample of the upcoming Core i9-10900 processor.

Being a non-K version, this CPU is not capable of overclocking and has a fixed TDP rating of 65 Watts. Compared to 125 W of the K models like the upcoming Core i9-10900K, this CPU will output almost half the heat, thus requiring a less capable cooling solution. The CPU is installed in LGA1200 socket, which is a new home for Comet Lake-S CPUs and provides backward compatibility for coolers supporting LGA1151. In the sample processor pictured below, we can see a marking on the CPU that implies 2.5 GHz base clock. Previously rumors were suggesting that this CPU version has 2.8 GHz base clock, however, it can be an early engineering sample given that no official imprints are found on the CPU heat spreader.

Bitspower, one of the world's leading suppliers of water-cooling equipment for performance computers, has launched its "Bitspower Premium Summit M" CPU block series — the first in a new range of products with premium metal finishes. The new blocks include brackets and accessories making it compatible with both Intel and AMD platforms, and feature a copper top, as well as built-in RGB lighting, combining the best of both hard-wearing construction and beautiful aesthetics. The RGB components have been incorporated into the block's metallic design in such a way that offers a more subtle lighting effect, allowing discerning modders to create a unique and vibrant look without outshining other components of their rig.

In order to make the block's heat exchange as efficient as possible, the copper base plate features a layer of 0.3 mm fins to increase the surface area of the cooling contact point, which helps to maximize heat dissipation. Bitspower's specialised water injection design ensures a high flow of coolant directly on top of these fins to further strengthen the cooling effect.

ASUS launched its ROG Huracan G21 mini gaming PC a long time ago intending to provide a small form factor gaming machine. Today, ASUS decided to update the Huracan with the latest hardware available. Inside a 17.7 liter chassis measuring 129.9×372.4×366.1 mm, ASUS managed to pack some powerful hardware. Starting with CPU, the ROG Huracan G21 is a house to Intel's Core i9-9900K 8 core, 16 thread CPU. There are also configurations available with Intel Core i7-9700K and Core i5-9400 CPUs. The CPU is installed on Mini-ITX Z390 motherboards made by ASUS, so it is technically possible to overclock it, however with an inadequate cooling solution for that it is not recommended.

To make a gaming PC, you need to have a good GPU to push all the framerates, and ASUS opted to equip the G21 with up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 graphics card with a blower-type cooler. Other options include GeForce RTX 2070 and RTX 2060 GPUs as well. For storage, there are quite a few options. There is one M.2 SATA SSD which can range from 128 GB to 512 GB in capacity. In addition to a 3.5-inch HDD that is available in 1 TB and 2 TB capacity, there is a hot-swap bay for a 2.5-inch drive. As far as the main memory goes, there is room for up to 32 GB of DDR4 2666 MHz memory. For IO, two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A and one USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C port is available on the front of the chassis. In the back, there are two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports, along with four USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports. Video outputs are dependant on which graphics card is equipped in a given configuration. Additionally, to power this PC, ROG Huracan G21 relies on external power adapters that come in 180, 230, or 280 Watt options that again depend on the configuration of the machine. It is also worth pointing out that for audio, the G21 uses Realtek ALC1150 with ESS DAC and amplifier. Support for RGB is not lacking and of course, and it is compatible with ASUS Aura Sync software.

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SMART Modular Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of SMART Global Holdings, Inc., and a leader in specialty memory, storage and hybrid solutions including memory modules, Flash memory cards and other solid state storage products,today announced its lineup of DDR4-3200 32 GB Low Profile industrial Mini-DIMMs. SMART has several new 32 GB Mini-DIMMs which include ULP (Ultra Low Profile) and VLP (Very Low Profile) with registered and unbuffered ECC options to meet a wide range of use cases. SMART has been providing Mini-DIMM support for many years, offering customers long-term support as well as a solid roadmap of new higher-density, higher-speed options.

SMART's DDR4-3200 32 GB industrial Mini-DIMMs undergo stringent in-house environmental temperature screening to operate between -40 °C to +85 °C which makes SMART's DDR4 Mini-DIMMs an ideal solution for telecom and networking equipment being deployed under harsh operating conditions. Customized ruggedizing features can be added, such as conformal coating and anti-sulfur resistors to protect against toxic operating conditions or underfill for excessive vibration, all to allow reliable, long-term system operation.

EK Water Blocks, the premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer is releasing a new version of its renowned 120 mm EK-Vardar fan. The EK-Vardar X3M 120ER comes with removable rubber dampers on the corners, making sure vibration is not transferred from the fan to the rest of the PC. Aside from that, the rotor has received airflow optimizations, and on the RGB versions, the lighting solution is upgraded to addressable D-RGB LEDs.

The EK-Vardar X3M 120ER is a high-static pressure computer cooling fan built for the highest-performance computer systems. It features removable rubber dampers on corners of the fan to reduce vibration and thus noise. These rubber dampers come pre-installed for use in push orientation but can be removed and mounted the other way for a pull orientation.

NVIDIA today reported revenue for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 26, 2020, of $3.11 billion, up 41 percent from $2.21 billion a year earlier, and up 3 percent from $3.01 billion in the previous quarter. GAAP earnings per diluted share for the quarter were $1.53, up 66 percent from $0.92 a year ago, and up 6 percent from $1.45 in the previous quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1.89, up 136 percent from $0.80 a year earlier, and up 6 percent from $1.78 in the previous quarter.

For fiscal 2020, revenue was $10.92 billion, down 7 percent from $11.72 billion a year earlier. GAAP earnings per diluted share were $4.52, down 32 percent from $6.63 a year earlier. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $5.79, down 13 percent from $6.64 a year earlier. "Adoption of NVIDIA accelerated computing drove excellent results, with record data center revenue," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "Our initiatives are achieving great success.

Here are some of the first close-ups of the ASRock B550AM Gaming motherboard, which made its first appearance back in October 2019. The B550A is a rebadged B450 low-power "Promontory" chipset. Boards based on the chipset are guaranteed to support all 3rd generation Ryzen desktop processors out of the box. The B550AM Gaming draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, conditioning it for the AM4 SoC with an 8+2 phase VRM.

The AM4 socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR4 memory; the board's sole PCI-Express 4.0 x16, and an M.2-22110 slot that has PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps wiring. The only other expansion slot is a PCI-Express x4 wired to the B550A chipset, which is likely gen 2.0. Other storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gbps ports. USB connectivity includes two USB 3.2 gen 2 ports (from which one is type-C), and six USB 3.2 gen 1 ports (from which two are by headers). Network connectivity includes WLAN (likely 802.11ac), and a 1 GbE wired interface. The 6-channel HD audio appears to be driven by a premium Realtek ALC1220-class CODEC. There are two 4-pin RGB and one 3-pin ARGB headers. The company didn't reveal pricing, or whether this board is even available in the retail channel, given that back in October we heard that the B550A was an OEM exclusive.

VR has been hailed as the next coming of truly ingenious, engrossing, enveloping experiences, and to some extent, it already does offer those. There are still limitations to the technology and the level of realism it can impart (there is a whole slew of senses we need to trigger for truly enveloping experiences, of course), but I feel we sometimes get somewhat limited in the way we look at VR. Of course, we can all imagine video games built in VR - and when we do, we likely imagine them as they were presented to us in Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One.

Then there are other use-cases, such as real-estate experiences that place you right inside your future home and allow you to see the changes you'd make. Architecture design, engineering, game world design, even strolls through museums, your mind a subatomic particle able to instantly travel to foreign countries and explore their marvels. All for this, mind you, without ever leaving the comfort of our home, without the required expenses and no wasted time with travelling or passport checks - all, however, simulated. But what if VR could go even further? What if VR could be used as a coping mechanism? What if you could meet your dead parents, siblings... Or children? This is the story I bring to you today: of how VR was used to reunite a mother with her deceased seven-year-old girl. This is the story of Ji-sung and her daughter Nayeon.

The EPIC Games Store has been a great source of free weekly games, with such offerings such as Observer, The Witness, and Surviving Mars all seeing their way into players' libraries without spending a penny. Now, a juggernaut of last year's releases comes our way as well in the form of Kingdom come: Deliverance, the immersive open-world sim from Warhorse Studios. If you'll remember, our own W1zzard has taken a look at this game, and even in its release state, found it to be hugely engrossing. Now, with months of active bug fixing behind it, it should be an even better, more polished experience.

The other title on offer, Aztez, is described as a hybrid beat-them-up and turn-based strategy game, with striking black, white and red visuals (and developed by Team Colorblind, so that might have something to do with the aesthetic choice). The game actually looks like a lot of fun, and the visuals are what they are already, so why not get yourself another game for your already endless waiting list?

PATRIOT, a global leader in performance memory, SSDs, gaming peripherals, and flash storage solutions, is pleased to announce the official launch of P300 Gen3 x4 NVMe m.2 SSD with capacities available from 256 GB up to 1 TB. The P300 is designed to deliver the most significant all-around performance for desktop and laptop users. Built with next-generation PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe controller and best-in-class components, the P300 is posed to bring out rapid data transfer speeds and best in class reliability for the user. P300 represents a milestone for the next generation of PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe SSD, which can offer 25% higher transfer speeds better IOPs over standard PCIe 3 x2 solutions and attribute to its low power consumption is the best solution for laptop battery endurance.

CORSAIR, a world leader in high-performance gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced the SCIMITAR RGB ELITE, the latest upgrade to the award-winning range of SCIMITAR RGB gaming mice, providing MOBA and MMO players with 17 fully programmable buttons and the patented Key Slider control system for convenient access to a multitude of shortcuts and macros, alongside a leading 18,000 DPI optical sensor. The SCIMITAR RGB ELITE will be right at home on the new CORSAIR MM500 Extended 3XL Premium Anti-Fray Cloth Gaming Mouse Pad. With dimensions of 1220 mm x 610 mm (48" x 24"), the MM500 is the biggest mouse pad that CORSAIR has ever produced, with room for everything on a player's desktop.

For MOBA and MMO players who need quick access to a host of shortcuts, commands, and complex macros, the CORSAIR SCIMITAR RGB ELITE combines a total of 17 programmable buttons with an upgraded 18,000 DPI optical sensor. The SCIMITAR RGB ELITE's patented Key Slider control system allows users to reposition the side button cluster 8 mm forward or backward to find the most comfortable position for a grid of 12 fully programmable side buttons. 50 million click-rated Omron switches and durable construction give the SCIMITAR RGB ELITE the longevity to last through years of late-night raiding.

According to VideoCardz, who found the latest EEC listing, MSI has prepared a new variant of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card. In the listing, there are a total of eight new GeForce GTX 1650 graphics cards. Unlike the regular GTX 1650 GPU, these are a bit different. They feature improved GDDR6 memory and make up for the confusing stacking of these products.

The GTX 1650 SUPER model features GDDR6 memory, while the regular GTX 1650 had GDDR5 memory until now. With such a product that is between regular GTX 1650 and the SUPER model, MSI is creating a hybrid card. Having the same specifications as the GTX 1650, the only differentiator will be the memory and memory speed, where GDDR6 equipped card will be faster.

NVIDIA's GeForce MX-series mobile GPU line exists so notebook manufacturers can put the NVIDIA logo on their products and boast of gaming capabilities. The company is giving finishing touches to its new GeForce MX330 and MX350 chips, based on the "Pascal" architecture. The MX330 is the company's second rebrand of the MX150 that's based on the 14 nm "GP108" silicon. It's equipped with 384 CUDA cores, and up to 2 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 64-bit wide memory interface. NVIDIA increased the clock speeds to 1531 MHz base, and 1594 MHz GPU Boost (compared to 1227/1468 MHz of the MX150), while remaining in the 25 W TDP envelope.

The MX350, on the other hand, is based on the 14 nm "GP107" silicon, is equipped with 640 CUDA cores, and 2 GB of GDDR5 memory across the same 64-bit bus width as the MX330; but has aggressive power-management that lends it a TDP of just 20 W, despite 66% more CUDA cores than the MX330. Both chips are easily capable of handling non-gaming tasks on typical 1080p / 1440p notebooks; but can game only at 720p thru 1080p, with low-to-mid settings.

TSMC is working hard to ensure its number one spot in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, and it has the funds to back it up. Yesterday TSMC's Board of Directors approved the company budget for another semiconductor fab expansion. With a budget totaling 6.74 billion US dollars allocated, TSMC has "Approved capital appropriations of approximately US$6,742.1 million (approximately NT$200.9 billion) for purposes including: 1) Fab construction, and installation of fab facility systems; 2) Installation and upgrade of advanced technology capacity; 3) Installation of specialty technology capacity; 4) Installation of advanced packaging capacity; 5) Second quarter 2020 R&D capital investments and sustaining capital expenditures."

EK, the leader in custom loop liquid cooling products is proud to announce the official launch of a product line that is meant for professional use. Characteristic properties of these products are robust, industrial material choices and no RGB whatsoever. The EK Professional Line of products is all about the use of high-quality materials, longevity and enhancing the power of your PC or computing unit. These new products are also suited for the most demanding customers, like servers, data centers, deep learning workstations, etc.

A Report via the New York Times paints an increasingly challenging picture for security specialists, technology users and businesses. Security firm Emsisoft reported a 41% increase in ransomware attacks in 2019 (in the US) compared to the previous year (up to 205,280 distinct attacks). The advent of cryptocurrencies with built-in anonimity, such as Monero, have become the favored extortion method employed by wrongdoers, shielding them from the usual checks and balances of the banking system. And with increasingly complex tools in the hands of hackers, plus the advantage of first strike new attacks enjoy, ransomware is becoming harder and harder to battle. According to the New York Times, citing security firm Coveware, the average payment for file decryption in 2019 rose to $84,116 in the Q4 2019, double what it was just in Q3. And in the last month of the year, the average decryption payment jumped more than twofold to $190,946.

Wacom is a brand graphics artists swear by, thanks to its near monopoly over the pen-digitizer tablet market. These are essentially input devices in which convert pen-like input on a surface to 2D graphics on the screen, which high precision. Software engineer Robert Heaton discovered that the driver of Wacom tablets leak information on every application you open, to an entity that's using Google Analytics to collect the data.

Heaton used Wireshark to first detect that his Wacom's driver is sending data packets to Google Analytics by monitoring its DNS lookups. The payload of data sent to the analytics website was encrypted by TLS. He then set up an internal proxy using Burp Suite that convinced the Wacom driver that it is sending data over a secure connection, and intercepted its payload. It was then discovered that Wacom driver tracks every application its users open (and not just applications of interest to the company). The company's EULA don't seek even implicit consent to collect this data, and it presents a big privacy challenge. Heaton argues that what if this could be used by Wacom employees to, say, discover that Valve software is working on "Half Life 3," by querying its data heap for executables that sound like "Half Life 3"? Find a fascinating technical run down of Heaton's discovery on his blog.

Intel's 10th generation Core "Comet Lake-S" desktop processor series inches chose to its probable April 2020 launch. Along the way we get this fascinating leak of the company's Core i7-10700K desktop processor, which could become a go-to chip for gamers if its specifications and pricing hold up. Thai PC enthusiast TUM_APISAK revealed what could be a Futuremark SystemInfo screenshot of the i7-10700K which confirms its clock speeds - 3.80 GHz nominal, with an impressive 5.30 GHz Turbo Boost. Intel is probably tapping into the series' increased maximum TDP of 125 W to clock these chips high across the board.

The Core i7-10700K features 8 cores, and HyperThreading enables 16 threads. It also features 16 MB of shared L3 cache. In essence, this chip has the same muscle as the company's current mainstream desktop flagship, the i9-9900K, but demoted to the Core i7 brand extension. This could give it a sub-$400 price, letting it compete with the likes of AMD's Ryzen 7 3800X and possibly even triggering a price-cut on the 3900X. The i7-10700K in APISAK's screenshot is shown running on an ECS Z490H6-A2 motherboard, marking the company's return to premium Intel chipsets. ECS lacks Z390 or Z370 based motherboards in its lineup, and caps out at B360.

NVIDIA recently launched its GeForce Now game streaming service, where you could stream any game from your digital library on some capable hardware. However, it seems that the service is not receiving good acceptance from some game makers, specifically Activision Blizzard. In a surprising turn of events, Activision Blizzard has pulled out its entire game library from the GeForce Now game streaming service. Being a provider of many popular titles like Call of Duty series, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, etc. this makes a big blow to the GeForce Now service.

Underlying reasons for this move are unknown. Activision Blizzard has been a part of the GeForce Now Beta program, with its games being readily available. What made them pull out now, when the streaming service began operating just a few days ago, is the possibility that Activision Blizzard seeks more profits. Some speculations indicate that they are switching the streaming platforms or making their own. The sheer size of players utilizing Activision Blizzard games is astonishing, and if they decide to make their service, it could turn out to be very profitable.

Xperi Corporation today announced that it entered into a new patent and technology license agreement with SK hynix, one of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers. The agreement includes access to Xperi's broad portfolio of semiconductor intellectual property (IP) and a technology transfer of Invensas DBI Ultra 3D interconnect technology focused on next-generation memory.

"We are delighted to announce the extension of our long-standing relationship with SK hynix, a world-renowned technology leader and manufacturer of memory solutions," said Craig Mitchell, President of Invensas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Xperi Corporation. "As the industry increasingly looks beyond conventional node scaling and turns toward hybrid bonding, Invensas stands as a pioneering leader that continues to deliver improved performance, power, and functionality, while also reducing the cost of semiconductors. We are proud to partner with SK hynix to further develop and commercialize our DBI Ultra technology and look forward to a wide range of memory solutions that leverage the benefits of this revolutionary technology platform."

The fingernail-size Intel chip with Foveros technology is a first-of-its kind. With Foveros, processors are built in a totally new way: not with the various IPs spread out flat in two dimensions, but with them stacked in three dimensions. Think of a chip designed as a layer cake (a 1-millimeter-thick layer cake) versus a chip with a more-traditional pancake-like design. Intel's Foveros advanced packaging technology allows Intel to "mix and match" technology IP blocks with various memory and I/O elements - all in a small physical package for significantly reduced board size. The first product designed this way is "Lakefield," the Intel Core processor with Intel hybrid technology.

Industry analyst firm The Linley Group recently named Intel's Foveros 3D-stacking technology as "Best Technology" in its 2019 Analysts' Choice Awards. "Our awards program not only recognizes excellence in chip design and innovation, but also acknowledges the products that our analysts believe will have an impact on future designs," said Linley Gwennap, of The Linley Group.

What do you do when you come back from CES with swag galore? More often than not, you leave it in your hotel room for the hotel staff to enjoy, because there is only so much you can fit in your luggage. But this year, it seemed to be the year of audio, and the year of True Wireless buds to be more specific. Perhaps it was again Apple that started the trend, with their Airpods and the removal of the previously-ubiquitous 3.5 mm audio jack on phone creating another venue of cash income for audio companies, and also phone makers. We've seen quite a few companies jump aboard this train to various degrees of success, and we will cover some of them in our Quick Look format that we debuted with the HyperX replacement keycaps. What better way to begin than via a $29.99 set of true wireless earpods from Altec Lansing?

Yeah, you read that right. We received two sets of these, in different colors, for visiting the company at CES. They had a plethora of gaming products to show off as part of a new business unit launching this year, and these Nano Pods are part of their TWS (true wireless) earphone lineup. There were three other entries debuting at the trade show, all of which were more expensive too, but no doubt these colorful, inexpensive earphones were what I wanted to start this series with. Read past the break for our quick thoughts and comments on the Altec Lansing Nano Pods!

People Can Fly and Square Enix today released a gameplay trailer for their upcoming, next-gen game Outriders. The game, which will be available in current-gen systems as well as Xbox Series X, PS5 and PC, is a 1-3 player, drop-in drop-out co-op RPG shooter which promises to be set in a futuristic, dark sci-fi universe. The premise is as such: humanity as we know it abandoned Earth in search of a new home, which they thought they had found in the form of Enoch. A worldwide, storm-like event dubbed The Anomaly (which may have been produced by more than weather phenomena, I wager) forced humanity back into cryo-suspension whilst they waited for the proverbial storm to pass. The eventually reawakened ones find burning powers within themselves that will force them to confront their humanity, evolve - and eventually, to become something different.

People Can Fly describe the game as "Players will create their own Outrider and embark on a journey across a hostile planet. With rich storytelling spanning a diverse world, they will leave behind the slums and shanty towns of the First City and traverse forests, mountains and deserts in pursuit of a mysterious signal." You can expect an arsenal of weapons and supernatural powers, though the exact nature of the game's world and systems (open-world, quasi-open world, or some such) still haven't been clarified. Expect the game to drop come holiday 2020, right alongside the next-generation console launch. A reveal stream will be available via Twitch in about two days - there's a countdown timer in the official Outriders page.

Cooler Master today announces two mATX ARGB Towers: the MasterBox MB311L ARGB (Mesh Front Panel) and MasterBox MB320L ARGB (Acrylic Front Panel). Following in the principles of the award-winning MB Series, versatility is paired with presentation to ensure that any gaming system built inside the MB300 series looks as good as it performs.

MasterBox MB3LL ARGB: Mesh Front Panel
The MasterBox MB311L ARGB is a Micro-ATX airflow PC case pre-installed with two ARGB fans and made to be built with the latest gaming hardware. The front panel's façade is made entirely of Fine Mesh, placed between two honeycomb vents on either side to maximize airflow.

MasterBox MB320L ARGB: DarkMirror Acrylic Front Panel
The MasterBox MB320L ARGB is a Micro-ATX PC case with two pre-installed ARGB fans and honeycomb mesh ventilation on either side of the DarkMirror front panel. The DarkMirror acrylic front panel is smoked a shade darker to sharpen the contrast of the ARGB fans pre-installed behind it, highlighting its best features.

Samsung Electronics is pushing the industry another step forward with an expansion of QLED 8K SMART displays, new applications of The Wall and showcasing the new-and-improved Samsung Flip 2 digital flipchart.

"Samsung is making tomorrow's technology a reality with complete display solutions that are more immersive, collaborative and interactive than ever before. ISE is one of the best opportunities for Samsung to showcase advanced commercial applications of our industry-leading displays," said Hyesung Ha, Senior Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. "We're excited to unveil new features and expanded lineups of our digital signage with next-generation technology such as 8K, the new model of The Wall, collaborative displays and more that will provide businesses with opportunities they've never had before."

BioWare, big game development studio which announced last year a highly anticipated game Anthem, is now officially confirming that Anthem is getting a reboot. With many problems hunting the game from day one, BioWare fans were a bit disappointed to see a game with such potential wasted. For example, current weak points were overall game progression and the lack of any meaningful activities in the game. To improve the game, BioWare posted an announcement in their blog where BioWare General Manager Casey Hudson explained what they plan to do in the future.

"We have also heard your feedback that Anthem needs a more satisfying loot experience, better long-term progression, and a more fulfilling end game. So we recognize that there's still more fundamental work to be done to bring out the full potential of the experience, and it will require a more substantial reinvention than an update or expansion", said Casey Hudson in the blog. This confirms BioWare's intention to improve the game and that there is no simple update that could address current issues, so we are inbound for a refresh.

Last week, Intel's memory and storage group produced Intel QLC 3D NAND solid-state drive (SSD) number 10 million based upon the QLC NAND die built in Dalian, China. Production began in late 2018, and this milestone establishes QLC (quadruple-level cell memory) as a mainstream technology for high-capacity drives.

"Many have talked about QLC technology, but Intel has shipped it, and at scale," said Dave Lundell, director of Client SSD Strategic Planning and Product Marketing at Intel. "We have seen strong demand for the cost-effective capacity of our standalone QLC SSD (Intel SSD 660p) and the performance of our Intel Optane Technology + QLC solution (Intel Optane Memory H10)."

A reportedly leaked Intel slide via DigitalTrends has given us a load of information on Intel's upcoming take on the high performance graphics accelerators market - whether in its server or consumer iterations. Intel's Xe has already been cause for much discussion in a market that has only really seen two real competitors for ages now - the coming of a third player with muscles and brawl such as Intel against the already-established players NVIDIA and AMD would surely spark competition in the segment - and competition is the lifeblood of advancement, as we've recently seen with AMD's Ryzen CPU line.

The leaked slide reveals that Intel will be looking to employ a Multi-Chip-Module (MCM) approach to its high performance "Arctic Sound" graphics architecture. The GPUs will be available in up to 4-tile configuration (the name Intel is giving each module), which will then be joined via Foveros 3D stacking (first employed in Intel Lakefield. This leaked slide shows Intel's approach starting with a 1-tile GPU (with only 96 of its 128 total EUs active) for the entry level market (at 75 W TDP) a-la DG1 SDV (Software Development Vehicle).

Introducing the ToughArmor MB720M2K-B, the world's first quad drive ruggedized M.2 NVMe SSD removable enclosure. M.2 NVMe SSDs no longer requires to be installed on to a motherboard or a riser card with a tiny screw and can now be installed and accessed from the front of your computer without any tools. The ToughArmor MB720M2K-B comes with patent-pending tool-less M.2 drive installation design which will alleviate the pain that many user experiences when installing M.2 drives and offer easy drive maintenance and system upgrading.

Today, Arm announced significant additions to its artificial intelligence (AI) platform, including new machine learning (ML) IP, the Arm Cortex -M55 processor and Arm Ethos -U55 NPU, the industry's first microNPU (Neural Processing Unit) for Cortex-M, designed to deliver a combined 480x leap in ML performance to microcontrollers. The new IP and supporting unified toolchain enable AI hardware and software developers with more ways to innovate as a result of unprecedented levels of on-device ML processing for billions of small, power-constrained IoT and embedded devices.

AMD today announced the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 workstation graphics card, delivering the performance and advanced features demanded by today's Design & Manufacturing and Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) professionals. AMD also announced the AMD Radeon Pro W5500M GPU, designed and optimized to power next-generation, high-performance professional mobile workstations. Today's design and engineering workforce pushes the boundaries of professional design applications. These increasingly mobile professionals often use multiple graphics-intensive applications simultaneously and require no-compromise performance to visualize, review and interact with their designs in real time.

AMD Radeon Pro W5500 graphics harness the high-performance, power-efficient AMD RDNA architecture, 7 nm process technology, high-speed GDDR6 memory, high-bandwidth PCI Express 4.0 support and advanced software features. Expanding the AMD family of high-performance professional graphics products, they offer outstanding performance in real-world applications, rock-solid stability and superb energy efficiency. In addition, the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 graphics card delivers incredible multitasking performance even in demanding situations, such as allowing professionals to continue developing their designs while rendering a visualization in the background.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is thrilled to announce an all-new high capacity, low-latency memory kit, Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600 CL16-20-20 256 GB (32GBx8) 1.35 V, for the latest AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X processor. Built with the latest high-density 16Gb components, this new DDR4 memory specification offers a perfect choice for those pursuing ultimate memory performance or attempting to build a powerful workstation for heavy content creation workloads.

With the ultra-high kit capacity of 256 GB, G.SKILL is now pushing the performance boundary of 32 GB modules to a high level of DDR4-3600 on the high core-count AMD Threadripper platform. Optimized to unlock the full potential of the newest AMD 64-core processor, the Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600 CL16 256 GB (32 GB x8) has been validated with the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X processor and the ASUS ROG ZENITH II EXTREME ALPHA motherboard, as shown in the screenshot below.

AMD's upcoming large post-Navi graphics chip, codenamed "Arcturus," will debut as "Radeon Instinct MI100", which is an AI-ML accelerator under the Radeon Instinct brand, which AMD calls "Server Accelerators." TechPowerUp accessed its BIOS, which is now up on our VGA BIOS database. The card goes with the device ID "0x1002 0x738C," which confirms "AMD" and "Arcturus,". The BIOS also confirms that memory size is at a massive 32 GB HBM2, clocked at 1000 MHz real (possibly 1 TB/s bandwidth, if memory bus width is 4096-bit).

Both Samsung (KHA884901X) and Hynix memory (H5VR64ESA8H) is supported, which is an important capability for AMD's supply chain. From the ID string "MI100 D34303 A1 XL 200W 32GB 1000m" we can derive that the TDP limit is set to a surprisingly low 200 W, especially considering this is a 128 CU / 8,192 shader count design. Vega 64 and Radeon Instinct MI60 for comparison have around 300 W power budget with 4,096 shaders, 5700 XT has 225 W with 2560 shaders, so either AMD achieved some monumental efficiency improvements with Arcturus or the whole design is intentionally running constrained, so that AMD doesn't reveal their hand to these partners, doing early testing of the card.

XIGMATEK over the weekend rolled out the WindpowerPRO CPU cooler. This tower-type air cooler is characterized by its top plate that has RGB LED embellishments, and a pair of included 120 mm fans meant for push-pull airflow through the heatsink. The business end of this cooler consists of a tower-type aluminium fin-stack heatsink with anodized black fins to which heat is conveyed by six 6 mm-thick copper heat pipes that make direct contact with the CPU at the base.

A single 3-pin addressable-RGB connection handles lighting for all three elements (the two fans and the heatsink's top-plate). The company also includes a 4-pin PWM fan header splitter, in case your motherboard lacks two 4-pin fan headers near its CPU socket. The two included XIGMATEK Galaxy II Pro ARGB fans each spin between 800 to 1,800 RPM, pushing up to 58.5 CFM of air, with a noise output of up to 25.3 dBA. The fans feature 50,000-hour rated hydro dynamic bearings. With its top-plate and fans in place, the XIGMATEK WindpowerPRO measures 110 mm x 125 mm x 157 mm (LxWxH). The company rates its thermal capacity at 200 W. Among the CPU socket types supported are AM4, LGA115x, and LGA2066. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Ubisoft has some of the most lucrative gaming franchises in the world right now, and the company is apparently planning to cache out on most of the through the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021. According to Twitter user Shinobi602, Ubisoft will be launching three AAA games - Watch Dogs Legion, Gods and Monsters and Rainbow Six Quarantine - between October and December 2020. Kotaku's own Jason Schreier then pilled on, adding that the two remaining games for the beginning of 2021 would be an Assassin's Creed and a new Far Cry game.

This means that Ubisoft's other franchises, such as Splinter Cell and the much-awaited-yet-somehow-forgotten Beyond Good & Evil 2, will not be releasing any time soon - at least not before March 2021. It remains to be seen, but it's likely all of these three games will see multi-generational releases between current and next-gen consoles.

A video posted by Notebook Italia may have spilled the beans on a whole new tier for AMD's mobile APUs. The video, which has since been taken down, showed Lenovo's upcoming Yoga Slim 14, which was listed in its specs list with an AMD Ryzen 9 4900U. Of course, the need for such an SKU is debatable: it's relatively unlikely AMD would bring more than 8 cores and 16 logical threads to the mobile landscape and its higher concern with autonomy rather than pure performance. Especially when one considers the particular Lenovo model involved: the Yoga lineup isn't so much associated with ultimate performance. However, there are desktop-replacement scenarios where users might definitely want to see a more than 8-core CPU powering their machine.

That said, this could simply be a higher clocked 8-core (the Ryzen 7 4800U does feature a base 1.8 GHz/up to 4.2 GHz boost clocks, so there's room for improvement). The Yoga Slim 14 where the Ryzen 9 4900U was listed does only weigh 1.1 Kg and has a quoted 11 hour battery life on the 4K screen option (versus 14 hours on the FHD version). We'll just have to wait and see, with our thinking hats on. A typo is possible, but hard to make in both the physical specs list on the pictures, and on the official Lenovo website. The fact that the original video has since been edited with the specs list obscured definitely means something's afoot. This could also be another AMD bullet for the mobile market, where it has achieved its biggest share growth in recent times.

MSI got bored of old dark/gray/white laptop designs and decided to spice things up a bit. Say goodbye to the old boring laptops and enter the MSI Prestige 14 Limited Edition Rose Pink laptop. Designed as a premium-looking machine, it has decent specifications to back up the good looks. Equipped with a 14-inch IPS display comes in two variants, a 1080p version, and 4K edition, and it has 100% coverage of the AdobeRGB spectrum. With such specifications, we know that it is targeting the professional content creators.

Under the hood, there is Intel's 10th generation Core i7-10710U "Comet Lake" processor paired with 16 GB of LPDDR3 2133 MHz RAM running in single-channel mode. For graphics, NVIDIA's GTX 1650 Max-Q GPU is on board with 4 GB of GDDR6 memory. Storage is limited to 512 gigabytes of PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD space, as there is no room for expansion. Connectivity options include Bluetooth 5 and Wi-Fi 6 powered by Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 wireless adapter. When it comes to the IO, the Prestige 14 laptop is rocking two USB 2.0 adapter along with two Thunderbolt 3 ports, one 3.5 mm headphone jack, and one Micro-SD card reader. There is also a 3-cell 50 Whr battery powering the system. Price-wise, this laptop is retailing for around $1399 on stores like Amazon and Newegg.

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Palit has today released the latest addition to its KalmX passive series of graphics cards - the GTX 1650 KalmX. This graphics card is an ITX-sized, 178 mm long GPU that is designed for zero noise, passively cooled builds, where noise is the primary factor. With a heatsink consisting out of two heat-pipes and many fins, the cooling solution should be capable of cooling the 75 W TDP of the GTX 1650 GPU. The cold plate of the heatsink covers the GPU and VRMs to provide safe GPU operation. Being based on the reference design, this card features default speeds of 1485 MHz base, and 1665 MHz boost clocks. For IO, Palit opted to include three ports, where one is HDMI 2.0b and the other two are DisplayPort 1.4a. All the power needed is provided by the PCIe slot, so there are no external power connectors.

Since its switch to the x86 machine architecture from PowerPC in the mid-2000s, Apple has been consistent with Intel as its sole supplier of CPUs for its Macbooks, iMac desktops, and Mac Pro workstations. The company's relationship with rival AMD has been limited to sourcing discrete GPUs. If pieces of code from a MacOS beta is anything to go buy, Apple could bite the AMD bullet very soon. References to several AMD processors were found in MacOS 10.15.4 Beta 1. These include the company's "Picasso," "Renoir," and "Van Gogh" APUs.

It's very likely that with increasing CPU IPC and energy-efficiency, Apple is finally seeing the value in single-chip solutions from AMD that have a good enough combination of CPU and iGPUs. The 7 nm "Renoir" silicon in particular could change the mobile and desktop computing segments, thanks to its 8-core "Zen 2" CPU, and a "Vega" based iGPU that's highly capable in non-gaming and light-gaming tasks. AMD's proprietary SmartShift feature could also be leveraged, which dynamically switches between the iGPU and an AMD discrete GPU.

Microsoft is determined in its goal to move away from x86-64 dominance it had in the personal computer space for many decades. In the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19559, Microsoft has enabled Hyper-V support for ARM64 devices, such as Surface Pro X. Hyper-V is a Windows native hypervisor and it is Microsoft's virtualization technology that allows running other OSes on top of Windows. Being a low-overhead solution, it is more efficient than a virtual machine and allows for better performance of OS that is running on top of Windows.

With the Insider Preview Build 19559, Microsoft is enabling this feature on a Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise customers. It is important to note that by adding more features like this, Microsoft is expanding the software ecosystem of ARM64 devices, which should result in wider adoption of PCs like the Surface Pro X.

The leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, ASRock, announces X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 receives the Thunderbolt Host certification from Intel. It is the first Thunderbolt Certified AMD motherboard.

X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 is the high-end Mini-ITX model in the ASRock X570 series motherboard which supports AMD Ryzen 2000 and 3000 series processors with AM4 socket. It is equipped with 10 power phase design (Dr.MOS) which provides completely smooth power delivery to the CPU to offer unmatched overclocking capabilities, and enhanced performance with the lowest temperature for advanced gamers. The key feature of this motherboard, Thunderbolt 3 technology, enables lightning-fast data bandwidth up to 40 Gbps, and can also provide both data and video transmission. Meanwhile, X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 can connect up to six Thunderbolt 3 devices such as graphics card, hard disk or monitor simultaneously by means of Daisy Chain technology.

Raijintek today rolled out the SAMOS AD5700 RBW, a full-coverage water-block compatible with AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT and RX 5700 reference-design PCBs. The block uses a nickel-plated copper as its primary material, and combines it with a clear acrylic top that has some metal embellishments. The top is studded with addressable-RGB LED lighting that plugs into standardized 5 V 3-pin ARGB headers. A 0.5 mm micro-fin lattice dissipates heat from the "Navi 10" GPU. The block uses standardized G 1/4" threads. Included is a full-coverage aluminium back-plate. Measuring 256.6 mm x 124.5 mm x 25.3 mm (LxHxW), the block weighs 910 g. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Golden Emperor International Ltd. - one of the world's leading PC components and peripheral manufacturers, is pleased to announce the EVO SPEAR Phantom Gaming Edition DDR4 Memory, GeIL and ASRock's co-branded DRAM, is now available at Newegg.com and select retailers in the Americas.

GeIL memory has joined forces with leading motherboard brand, ASRock, and its top-of-the-line Phantom Gaming Alliance. Through this partnership, GeIL and ASRock dedicated to building a strong foundation for compatibility and reliability between DRAM and motherboard. The EVO SPEAR Phantom Gaming Edition Memory is tested under the strict criteria and validation of the ASRock Phantom Gaming series motherboards. As an excellent result of the cooperation, exceptional stability has benefited. It's available in frequencies from 2400 MHz to 3200 MHz, capacity for 4 GB to 32 GB kit, and runs as low as 1.2 V and at max 1.35 V.

San Diego, CA - February 6, 2020 - Leading gaming audio and accessory brand Turtle Beach today announced three new colourways for the Company's best-sellin Recon 70 gaming headset. The all-new Recon 70 Silver is now exclusively available in the UK at Argos and will retail in other participating territories as of March 13, 2020. Additionally, two new Recon 70 Camo versions - Green Camo and Blue Camo - are available now for pre-orders from Turtle Beach in the UK and additional international territories, and will launch worldwide on March 13, 2020. The new Silver and Camo colours make nine total Recon 70 options for gamers to choose from, each one delivering the immersive sound and lightweight comfort gamers expect from the headset giant. Powerful 40 mm over-ear speakers, crystal-clear mic performance, leatherette-wrapped cushions, and multiplatform functionality with Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC and mobile devices, plus a MSRP of £29.99 make the Recon 70 an easy choice for gamers looking for a new, affordable headset.

"Our Recon 70 series gaming headsets have been doing great since they launched last April, becoming the Company's best-selling* headsets on multiple platforms, so we're excited to give fans even more colour choices as they gear-up for another great year of gaming," said Juergen Stark, Chairman and CEO, Turtle Beach. "With new consoles on the horizon, the Recon 70 Silver and Camo options are great choices for gamers looking to get a new high-quality gaming headset for less than £30."

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced it has shipped the world's first low-power DDR5 DRAM in mass production to be used in the soon-to-be-released Xiaomi Mi 10 smartphone. As Xiaomi's memory technology partner, Micron provides LPDDR5 DRAM with superior power efficiency and faster data access speeds to meet growing consumer demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G functionality in smartphones.

"Micron's leadership in delivering the industry's first low-power DDR5 DRAM for use in a smartphone will accelerate enablement of 5G and AI applications," said Dr. Raj Talluri, senior vice president and general manager of the Mobile Business Unit at Micron. "Our customers and partners require next-generation memory solutions, based on the latest process technology, that drive unmatched power and performance to support 5G and AI systems. Micron's LPDDR5 DRAM addresses those requirements with a 50% increase in data access speeds and more than 20% power efficiency compared to previous generations."

"We value Micron's long-standing leadership and innovation in memory," said Chang Cheng, vice president at Xiaomi Group. "Micron's LPDDR5 DRAM market-leading features ensure our Xiaomi Mi 10 smartphone will remain power-efficient while still offering incredible performance and greater stability. We believe LPDDR5 will be the standard configuration for all flagship devices in 2020."

Market intelligence firm Mercury Research published its findings on the x86 processor market towards the end of 2019, in which AMD has posted growth in all segments (not counting IoT or semi-custom). AMD held 18.3 percent of the desktop x86 processor market, according to the report. a 5-year high. The company's EPYC line of server processors face a more uphill battle against enterprises' entrenched brand loyalties to Intel. The company holds 4.5 percent of the server processor market, but growing 0.2 percent points versus the previous quarter, and 1.4 percentage points vs. the previous year. The last time AMD held such a market share in the server x86 processor market was in Q3-2013.

AMD's mobile processor market share may come as a surprise to some. According to Mercury Research, the company holds 16.2 percent of the mobile x86 processor market, which is almost as much as its desktop market. This is probably propelled by the popularity of AMD APUs and low-power CPUs in the cost-effective notebook market segments. AMD is now eyeing higher market segments with its Ryzen 4000 "Renoir" processors that make landfall this year. AMD is growing faster in the mobile space than desktop, with 1.5 percentage points growth in just Q4, and 4 percentage points year-over-year. AMD's mobile market share was this high back in Q2-2013. Mercury Research pins AMD's overall hold over the x86 market at 15.5%, averaged on all segments, minus semi-custom and IoT.

A tiny 21-megabyte patch of "Devil May Cry 5," pushed through Steam, allegedly removed the game's Denuvo DRM component. There's no record of the patch in the list of updates for the game, although some Redditors comment that removal of the DRM has improved their game load times. Denuvo is a sophisticated DRM solution that can be implemented in a number of ways by game developers. A best-case implementation has negligible performance impact, but if done poorly, Denuvo could have a noticeable performance impact. Our comprehensive article on Denuvo dives deeper into the tech. Game publishers prefer implementing a DRM solution to not, despite the fact that pirates are able to crack it weeks or months following the release. They are content with making most of their revenues through pre-orders or purchases made while the game isn't cracked. Game publishers eventually voluntarily remove DRM solutions to improve game performance. DMC5's DRM removal comes about 11 months into its release.

Today MSI announced the latest addition to its monitor lineup - the MSI Optix MAGG332CR gaming monitor. With its 180 Hz refresh rate, this monitor is targeting gamers who focus on first-person shooter games primarily. When it comes to the panel characteristics, this monitor is rocking a 31.5-inch anti-glare 1080p display with a 1500R curvature applied to it. The panel type in question is an 8-bit VA panel with Frame Rate Control (FRC) that enables the monitor to achieve a wider color spectrum withing the 8-bit range.

The monitor offers 1 ms Moving Picture Response Time (MPRT) performance, along with the brightness of 300 nits, and a contrast ratio of 3000:1. When it comes to the refresh rate syncing technology, there is VESA's Adaptive-Sync present with AMD FreeSync certification. Marked as "HDR Ready", it is not exactly meeting any requirements due to its 300 nits brightness, however, there is at least a possibility to view HDR content. The display covers 96% of DCI-P3 and 125% of sRGB color gamut. Additionally, for input, there are quite a few options. There is one DisplayPort 1.2a, two HDMI 2.0b connectors, and one USB-C port that supports DisplayPort alternate mode allowing for video input over USB. There is also a USB hub present with two USB 2.0 ports and for audio, there is one 3.5 mm headphone output port. Besides, support for MSI Mystic Light RGB setup is also present.

SilverStone today updated its Argon line of CPU coolers with the AR12 RGB. This tower-type cooler made its debut way back in the 2019 CES. It is essentially an AR12 heatsink that's designed for thermal loads of up to 125 W, mated to an RGB LED-illuminated split-blade fan. The 154 mm-tall aluminium fin-stack heatsink features narrower fins close to the base to offer better clearance around the CPU socket area.

Four 6 mm-thick copper heat-pipes make direct contact with the CPU at the base, and convey heat through the fin-stack. It is ventilated by a 120 mm spinner that turns at 700 to 2,200 RPM, pushing up to 68.9 CFM of air, with noise output ranging between 9 to 29 dBA. Among the CPU socket types supported are AM4, LGA115x, and LGA2066. Measuring 128 mm x 154 mm x 75 mm (WxHxD), it weighs 632 g. The fan takes in 4-pin PWM input for its primary function, and a classic 4-pin RGB connection for the lighting (not 3-pin 5 V ARGB).

The Designare brand of motherboards by GIGABYTE target content creators, and the company is extending the brand to memory, with the new Designare Memory series. It debuts with a high-capacity 64 GB dual-channel memory kit using two 32 GB modules. The rationale behind these densities is that creators may need them to deal with large data-sets. These are not off-spec "double height" modules, but are common dual-rank modules that stick to JEDEC compatibility spec, and pack XMP profiles that can run them at DDR4-3200 with 16-18-18-38 timings at 1.35 V.

GIGABYTE has tested these modules to work on all of its AMD X570, AMD B450, AMD TRX40, Intel X299, and Intel Z390 motherboards. For X570 and B450, however, the company states that only 3rd generation "Matisse" processors can handle this memory density. In its compatibility testing, GIGABYTE used 18-19-19-39 timings. Physically, the Designare modules have regular 32 mm height, a black PCB, and aluminium heatspreaders. GIGABYTE is backing the modules with lifetime warranty. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Display specialist AOC announces three new monitors from their entry-level monitor line-up, the B2 series. Ranging from 21.5" (54.7 cm) to 23.8" (60.4 cm) to 27" (68.6 cm) display sizes, all three models feature beautiful 3-side borderless frames and Full HD resolution (1080p), an ultra slim profile and a clean rear with VESA mount support. The monitors offer wide viewing angles (178°), which guarantees an unaltered colour experience from every viewpoint. The 21.5" model 22B2H employs a VA panel with deep blacks and popping colours, while the 23.8" 24B2XH and the 27" 27B2H are equipped with IPS panels reproducing true-to-life colours. VGA and HDMI 1.4 inputs enable various devices to be easily connected. All three models are suitable for the desk of any user who seeks a basic and cost-efficient screen.

AOC's B2 series monitors provide a solid set of features: the crisp Full HD resolution (1920x1080) and true colours of the IPS panel (24B2XH and 27B2H) or the impressive contrast the VA panel delivers (22B2H) suit everything from work or study to watching movies or occasional gaming. All panels support a 75 Hz refresh rate, displaying 25% more frames each second than a regular 60 Hz monitor in order to achieve smoother cursor movements and videos.

Silicon Power's newest 3.5" external hard drive, the Stream S07, blends design with function. Intended to be reminiscent of a stone and coming in capacities up to 8 TB, the Stream S07 will truly become your cornerstone for storage.

The Stream S07 was carefully designed after a stone, a symbol of durability and longevity. And just like a stone that's been tested through time, it has a crack. But this crack is intentional - it has a dual purpose. First, it serves as a ventilation source to keep the drive running cool. Second, with built-in neon blue LED lights, it serves as a transfer status indicator that runs through the crack, illuminating it while processing data.

Acer has launched the latest addition to its portable monitor lineup -the PM1 portable monitor. The PM1 features a 15.6-inch IPS panel with 1920x1080 resolution, 15 ms GtG response time, a maximum brightness of 250 nits, and 800:1 contrast ratio. It boasts a 60 Hz refresh rate and wide viewing angles, along with anti-glare coating to prevent any unwanted light reflection. Being an IPS type panel, it has 178 degrees viewing angle so you can easily view content from all sides.

The display itself is a 6-bit panel, so it offers somewhat less color accuracy as it is limited to 262,000 colors. It is powered by a single USB type C cable which provides both the power and video input. When powered by a smartphone, which can not provide enough power, there is a secondary micro-USB port to supply additional power. There is also a hinge at the back of the monitor body to support it when it stands. Pricing starts at $179.99 if you are purchasing from Acer directly or $129.99 from Micro Center.

AMD is giving final touches to the Radeon Pro W5500, a mid-range professional graphics card, which surfaced on an early listing by workstation builder SabrePC. Going by AMD's new nomenclature for its Radeon Pro W-series graphics cards, the W5500 could possibly be a professional variant of the RX 5500 XT, based on the 7 nm "Navi 14" silicon. It remains to be seen however, if AMD enables all 1,536 stream processors on the silicon, or if it's strictly aligned with the core-configuration of the RX 5500 XT (1,408 stream processors). Currently the only AMD product to max out this silicon is the Radeon Pro 5500M found exclusively in the new 16-inch Apple MacBook Pro.

AMD's Radeon Pro W5500 includes 8 GB of GDDR6 memory across the chip's 128-bit wide memory interface. According to the now-redacted SabrePC listing reported by Tom's Hardware, the W5500 apparently features four DisplayPorts, one short of the W5700, and there's no mention of the card supporting USB-C. The listing also mentions a price of USD $391.57, which, although a placeholder, closely aligns with the card's competitor, the NVIDIA Quadro P2200, which retails around the $400-mark.

XIGMATEK today announced the Overtake, a massive full-tower case that has tempered glass on four sides, and a steel inner-chassis that can hold a large number of fans, supporting multiple independent liquid cooling loops. The star attraction with this case is its ventilation chops, which include four 120 mm (or three 140 mm, or two 200 mm) front intakes, three 120 mm or two 140 mm bottom intakes, two 140/120 mm top exhausts located along the case's vertical partition, and two 140/120 mm rear exhausts. This gives you the ability to mount four large radiators, a 280 mm x 140 mm along the rear panel, a massive 420 mm x 140 mm or 480 mm x 120 mm along the front panel, and a 280 mm x 140 mm along the partition, and a 360 mm x 120 mm or 280 mm x 140 mm radiator along the bottom.

The main compartment of the XIGMATEK Overtake has room for an E-ATX motherboard with 9 expansion slots besides 2 vertical slots that internally have room for triple-slot graphics cards. The main compartment offers room for graphics cards up to 38 cm in length, and CPU coolers up to 18 cm in height. Storage options include four drive bays behind the motherboard tray, all four support 2.5-inch drives, while two of these also support 3.5-inch ones. The right compartment also features the PSU bay, with room for PSUs up to 22 cm in length. Front panel connectivity includes two each of USB 3.x type-A, USB 2.0/1.1, and HDA jacks. The case measures 485 mm x 247 mm x 566 mm (LxWxH). The company didn't reveal pricing.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team is delighted to announce today a multi-year partnership with high-performance computing leader AMD, a technology supplier of supercomputing, simulation, PC and data center technologies. The new partnership combines the two companies' passion for extreme performance and will see the AMD logo on both sides of the cockpit of the team's 2020 car, on the drivers' race suits and team clothing and on the engineering station.

The new partnership will also see the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team pilot the use of AMD commercial solutions, including AMD EPYC server processors and AMD Ryzen PRO laptop processors, to optimize the team's various workstreams. "At AMD, we are at our best when we create disruptive technologies that push the envelope of what is possible in high-performance computing," said John Taylor, chief marketing officer at AMD. "We are thrilled to join forces with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, a team operating at the cutting edge of technology and with whom we are a shared spirit in delivering incredible innovation and performance from the factory to the racetrack."

VMWare, one of the most popular virtualization solutions commercially available for businesses and the industry in general, has announced changes to its licensing model. From now on, licensees will have to acquire a license per 32 CPU cores, instead of the former "per socket" model. This effectively means that users who had made a migration to AMD's 64-core EPYC CPUs, for instance, and who saved on both price-per core and VMWare licensing fees compared to Intel customers (who would need two sockets to achieve the same core-count, and thus, two licenses) are now being charged for two licenses for a 64-core, AMD-populated socket. This was a selling point for AMD - the company stated that their high-end EPYC processors could act as a dual-socket setup with a single processor, thanks to EPYC's I/O capabilities and core counts. VMWare claims this change is in line with industry standard pricing models.

Of course this decision from VMWare hits AMD the hardest, and it comes at a time where there are already 48 and 64 core CPUs available in the market. Should this licensing change be done, perhaps it should be in line with the current state of the industry, and not following in a quasi-random core-count (it definitely isn't random, though, and I'll leave it at that). From VMware's perspective, AMD's humongous CPU core counts does affect their bottom line. The official release claiming customers license software based on CPU counts may be valid, and they do allow for free licenses for servers past 32 cores until April 30, 2020. Of course, VMWare is also preparing itself for future industry changes - Intel will obviously increase its core counts in response to AMD's EPYC attack on the expected core counts of professional applications.

NVIDIA today has finally launched its GeForce Now streaming gaming service, and users can enjoy partial amounts of free gaming under the business model. There are two tiers of users on offer: Free, and Founders. The free tier, which you may give a go to check the streaming infrastructure and if it's something you would enjoy paying for, is limited to 60-minute play sessions. This means that after the clock has stopped ticking (with potentially intrusive pop-up notifications reminding you of how much time you have left every 10 minutes), you'll be forced to quit the game, and submit yourself to a playing queue until your next 60-minute window is up. RTX isn't available in this tier, though - so if you also wanted to see for yourself what the raytracing talk is all about, you'll have to pay $5 (monthly subscription) to cross that particular river.

Founder-tier members, however, will be able to enjoy the latest RTX-enabled games. The only ones listed on the service, for now, are Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Call of Duty: modern Warfare, Metro Exodus, and Deliver Us the Moon, which NVIDIA has recently started bundling with select RTX graphics cards). There is still a catch though: play sessions will be limited to 6 hours, after which time you'll be brought back to a gaming queue (though you'll have precedence over Free tier accounts, should there be many Founders-tier players in the queue, you might have to wait a while). There's a limited-time 90-day introductory period of which you can take advantage while subscribing for the Founders tier right now, which means you will only be billed after that 90-day grace period is over. Remember - you have to own a digital copy of the game you want to play in any of the more popular storefronts, such as EPIC and Steam, before you can game - but it's still a nice way to experience RTX should you currently own a non-RTX-enabled graphics card.

Microsoft today has released several microcode updates for Intel CPUs. The updates are meant to be applied in a case-by-case basis under their Windows 10 operating system, and these updates target several releases of that OS (ranging from version 1507 through version 1903/1909). These address several vulnerability exploits related to side-channel and speculative execution attacks on Intel CPUs.

The updates need to be installed specifically for the Windows OS version you're rocking, and on systems with CPUs affected by the vulnerabilities and covered by this microcode update release. These include Intel's Denverton (Atom C3000 series); Sandy Bridge, Sandy Bridge E and EP (2000 and 3000 series), Valleyview (Atom Z3000 series) and Whiskey Lake U CPUs (8000U series, 5000U series, and 4200U series). These updates must be installed manually by users.

The European manufacturer of CPU coolers and PC cases, SilentiumPC, expands its Regnum case series with two magnificently equipped and airflow-oriented midi towers. The Regnum RG6V TG offers many sophisticated features and makes the most of every centimeter of space. Thanks to the four pre-assembled Sigma HP 120 mm fans, in combination with the large mesh front, an exceptionally good air flow is guaranteed right out of the box. The Regnum RG6V EVO TG ARGB on the other hand, comes with four Stella HP ARGB CF 120 mm case fans, offering "state of the art" ARGB lighting.

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Thanks to the findings of VideoCardz, we have information that GIGABYTE has listed its upcoming motherboards for AMD and Intel platforms. Starting with AMD's upcoming mid-range chipset, the B550 model is supposed to bring PCIe 4.0 connectivity options to lower-priced motherboard variants. So far, only high-end chipset versions like X570 had PCIe 4.0 support, while the mid-range option was lacking. GIGABYTE has prepared a total of six B550 AORUS models, along with a GAMING series which is supposed to be a tier below AORUS models. The B550 chipset will span all motherboard sizes, including ATX, Micro-ATX, and Mini-ITX.

In the EEC listing, GIGABYTE also submitted Intel's upcoming Z490 motherboards for Comet Lake-S CPUs. In the listing, we see a total of 15 motherboards listed with an unusable entry. Again the W480 chipset appears, which is meant to power workstation motherboards. This chipset will go inside a new motherboard lineup called the "VISION" series. While we don't know what this new series brings, we know that both the workstation enabled W480 chipset and regular Z490 chipset will be a part of it.

TechPowerUp today released the latest version of NVCleanstall, our handy utility that lets you have far greater control over your NVIDIA GeForce software installation. Today's release of version 1.4.0 is hot on the heels of Monday's 1.3.0 release, because we discovered a handful additional things that needed fixing or polish. To begin with, we improved the MSI (enable message signaled interrupts) toggle to work correctly in all cases. We also fixed a bug that caused the "New Version" popup to always show v1.1.0 as the latest available. We also polished the advanced tweaks panel, removing empty spaces when a non-DCH driver is used. Grab NVCleanstall 1.4.0 from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp NVCleanstall 1.4.0The change-log follows.

Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced the market launch of 'Flashbolt', its third-generation High Bandwidth Memory 2E (HBM2E). The new 16-gigabyte (GB) HBM2E is uniquely suited to maximize high performance computing (HPC) systems and help system manufacturers to advance their supercomputers, AI-driven data analytics and state-of-the-art graphics systems in a timely manner.

"With the introduction of the highest performing DRAM available today, we are taking a critical step to enhance our role as the leading innovator in the fast-growing premium memory market," said Cheol Choi, executive vice president of Memory Sales & Marketing at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung will continue to deliver on its commitment to bring truly differentiated solutions as we reinforce our edge in the global memory marketplace."

AMD today released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition. Version 20.2.1 beta adds optimization for "Zombie Army 4: Dead War." A handful issues have also been fixed. To begin with, unusually high memory usage with ReLive has been fixed. HDR content becoming excessively dark or bright with DirectX 12 games on RX 5000-series graphics cards, has been fixed. Camera element experiencing stutter with ReLive has been fixed. A missing scroll bar in the "compatibility" tab of Radeon Software application has been fixed. Also addressed is Radeon Software failing to detect VR games when SteamVR is running. Radeon Anti-Lag toggle audible alerts falsely sounding has been fixed. Grab the software from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.2.1 beta

EK, the leader in custom loop liquid cooling is proud to announce the launch of a limited edition product which is a result of a successful collaboration between EK and In Win, the renowned case manufacturer. It started as the "best build of CES" and now it is sold in a limited edition under the name EK-Quantum In Win 909EK - Silver Limited Edition.

The EK-Quantum In Win 909EK case is a unique and heavily modified version of the very popular high-end In Win 909 case. The case itself is wider than a regular In Win 909 case in order to be able to fit two thick 480 mm XE radiators with their fans. It features an integrated distribution plate which acts also as a motherboard tray, and it can support a dual D5 pump setup. This makes it really special as there is no similar case on the market. The EK-Quantum In Win 909EK is a limited edition case and it is limited to only 200 pieces.

AORUS, the premium gaming brand of Gigabyte Technology, debuted a tactical monitor that gives gaming enthusiasts twice the details and display quality than Full HD, and allows them to enjoy games and movies in their original size. The AORUS F127Q features a 27" QHD panel (2560x1440 resolution) in a 16:9 aspect ratio with a 165 Hz refresh rate. New monitor supports AMD Radeon FreeSync technology which puts an end to choppy gameplay and broken frames to create a fluid and artifact-free performance at any framerate.

The AORUS F127Q is one of the most responsive gaming monitors in the market. By accelerating the twisting speed of the liquid crystals, the response time can be reduced to 1 ms, and let you enjoy a fluent gaming experience without any ghosting effects. This feature is particularly useful with high tempo games! The AORUS F127Q uses an advanced 10 bits (8 bits+FRC) Color IPS display technology which gives you extra wide viewing angles with 178/178 degrees. While in fierce competition, the F127Q's smooth rendering ability eliminates any chance of ghosting effects.

Fractal Design partnered with Greg Salazar to bring you a chance to win a pre-built gaming PC inspired by the Lamborghini Aventador. Other prizes include 24-hour exotic car rentals so you can turn heads wherever you go. The star attraction is the Aventador-inspired gaming PC, powered by Fractal Design hardware. Nestled in a custom Fractal Design Meshify C chassis, and powered by a Fractal Design Ion+ 860 W Platinum power-supply, this beast has some serious chops: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X processor, MSI MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard, MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Super Gaming X graphics card, 16 GB G.Skill RipJaws V memory, and Samsung 860 EVO 500 GB storage. The main giveaway hosted on Gleam lets you win the Aventador-inspired gaming PC, while a bonus giveaway form lets you take a crack at the exotic car rentals. Gleam lets you increase your chances of winning by up to 24 times. Open from now, February 4, 01:00 UTC, until February 18, 05:59 UTC, the main giveaway is open worldwide. Good Luck!

For more information, and to participate, visit this page.

In case you missed the giant banners on the website, EVGA shared news with us that they are bundling in a free game with their GeForce RTX 20 series graphics cards, and this includes the EVGA GeForce RTX ️ 2080 Ti, 2080/2070/2060 SUPER, and 2080/2070/2060. The promotion is not from NVIDIA, and this is not the first time EVGA have gone the extra step to sweeten the deal towards consumers buying their cards as opposed to other add-in card partner solutions. Deliver Us The Moon is a weird little sci-fi thriller game with puzzle mechanics and rudimentary flight systems that yours truly found interesting for the few hours played thus far, and is well worth checking into- especially as a freebie on top of your GPU purchase. There is also NVIDIA RTX support to use with your new graphics card, and the ambient lighting in the game does benefit from it, especially when flying in space. For more information on this promo, click here.

NVIDIA today posted, the latest version of GeForce software. Version 442.19 WHQL comes game-ready for "Zombie Army: Dead War 4," "Apex Legends Season 4," and "Metro Exodus: Sam's Story." With these drivers, NVIDIA improved the maximum frame-rate setting with limits between 20 and 1,000 FPS. Find this setting in "NVIDIA Control Panel>3D Settings>Maximum Frame Rate control." NVIDIA also introduced VRSS (VR super-sampling), an image quality enhancement that super sampling selectively on the central region of a frame.

Among the bug fixes are a game crash during a cutscene in "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine," SETI@Home experiencing driver crash (TDR) on "Maxwell" GPUs, random stoppage of OBS streaming with "Call of Duty Modern Warfare," Battleye with NVIDIA low-latency mode causing a DWM crash and recovery; certain SLI+G-Sync stutter issues being fixed; a "Doom" (2016) game crash with "Kepler" GPUs, and an NVENC memory leak. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce Software v442.19 | Don't forget to check out TechPowerUp NVCleanstall 1.3.0

TechPowerUp today released the latest update to NVCleanstall, our lightweight utility that lets you heavily customize your NVIDIA GeForce software installation, letting you choose not to install a lot more components than what NVIDIA's installer allows. You can disable installation of components you probably don't need, such as telemetry. Version 1.3.0 introduces the ability to install the NVIDIA Control Panel app from Microsoft Store without needing to log-in with a Microsoft account, for the DCH version of GeForce Software. This is particularly useful for those using the DCH version of GeForce software without wanting to log into Microsoft Store.

TechPowerUp NVCleanstall Version 1.3.0 also introduces a tweak that makes the driver use message-signaled interrupts (MSI). We have reorganized the user interface to move a large selection of advanced tweaks to their own page. As part of the driver customization process, you can make advanced tweaks in this page, or move on to building your custom driver package. We've also added the ability for you to drag-and-drop downloaded driver files onto NVCleanstall for them to be used as installer source. Lastly, we fixed background driver update check not getting disabled when its checkbox is unchecked. Grab NVCleanstall from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp NVCleanstall 1.3.0The change-log follows.

Mushkin has announced availability of their updated PILOT-E NVMe M.2 SSDs, which build upon their previously released PILOT family of SSDs. The PILOT-E are offered in the M.2 2280 form-factor, and make use of the PCIe 3.0 x4 interface to achieve speeds of up to 3,500 MB/s sequential reads and 3,100 MB/s sequential writes. The PILOT-E SSDs make use of Silicon Motion's SM2262EN" controller, which supports up to 8 NAND channels for increased throughput which connects to the PILOT-E's 3D TLC NAND.

The PILOT-E family of NVMe SSDs will be available in capacities ranging from 500 GB up to 2 TB, which seems about right for current market trends. The 500 GB model will feature the lowest performance figures at 3,500 MB/s sequential reads,2,300 MB/s sequential writes, random reads at 344,400 IOPS, random writes at 343,000 IOPS, and a write endurance rated at 350 TBW. The PILOT-e counts with SLC cache for improved performance, as well as LDPC ECC, end-to-end protection, global wear leveling, static data refresh, HMB, and AES 256-bit encryption. MTBF is set at 1.5 million hours, and typical warranty is set at three years. I'm seeing pricing starting at $74,99 for the 500 GB version and $249.99 for the 2 TB one.

Blizzard Entertainment recently released Warcraft III: Reforged, their remastered version of the original Warcraft III. The new game saw the inclusion of the original Reign of Chaos campaign and its expansion, the Frozen Throne. This delivered a game with some 60 campaign missions, all with reworked graphics, four hours of updated in-game cutscenes and re-recorded voice-overs, alongside rebalanced online play and the addition of social and matchmaking capabilities. But paint the feature list as one can, the game's Metacritic score definitely isn't what Blizzard drawed it up to be.

The game sits with an aggregate review score of 63/100, which is already on the... very low side for such a game, I'd say. However, that score pales in comparison with the aggregate user review score, which places the game in an almost unfathomable 0.5/10... With close to 22,000 users reviewing the game already. Now, we all know that people are most critical of the things they love the most (and thus expect the most of). Bugs and a feeling of betrayal regarding the games' graphical and cutscene presentation seem to be high on the list of qualms users have with the remastered version, but I think a 0.5 score really is undeserved... I'd say most games with user scores lesser than 8/10 are actually worse experiences than this game, but who am I to judge. There's a comparison video after the break for you to check with critical eyes.

In the year of their 33rd anniversary, Antec Inc., a leading provider of high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself market, presents the latest mid tower of their Antec Performance Series: the Antec P82 Flow. The case is now commercially available from 69,99€ (suggested retail price including VAT).

The Antec Performance P82 Flow Mid-Tower computer case is the evolution of P8, keeping clean lines and the interior around performance. With the new appearance in minimalism, the P82 Flow is embellished with a white LED power-on light and stripe design of rich ventilation on the front panel, including three 140 mm white-blade fans in the front and a 140 mm white-blade fan in the rear, creating a more powerful, efficient, easy to build and cool system.

ASRock, a Taiwanese manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, had an amazing 2019 when it comes to the revenue. Surging around 31% on a Year-over-Year (YoY) basis and delivering revenue of 443.16 million US Dollars, ASRock is expecting to deliver even better results in 2020. When it comes to the underlying reasons for this notable increase, ASRock attributes it to the recent success of AMD's Ryzen family of processors and strong demand for the platform surrounding it. Adopting the AMD Ryzen processors in Mini-PCs, motherboards and server boards, ASRocks see strong demand for these products that should carry over in 2020.

Another reason for strong profits and even better chapters ahead is the developments in the US and European markets. Having previously been focused on the Asian market and marketing its products to that part, ASRock changed the strategy and started advertising its brand more to other regions like the US and Europe. This new strategy is progressing well and is expected to continue in the coming years. Additionally, it is worth noting that ASRock's graphics card sales started to turn profitable in 2019, and now that part of ASRock is attributing to profits as well.

NVIDIA will soon launch its next-generation lineup of graphics cards based on a new and improved "Ampere" architecture. With the first Tesla server cards that are a part of the Ampere lineup going inside Indiana University Big Red 200 supercomputer, we now have some potential specifications and information about its compute performance. Thanks to the Twitter user dylan552p(@dylan522p), who did some math about the potential compute performance of the Ampere GPUs based on NextPlatform's report, we discovered that Ampere is potentially going to feature up to 18 TeraFLOPs of FP64 compute performance.

With Big Red 200 supercomputer being based on Cray's Shasta supercomputer building block, it is being deployed in two phases. The first phase is the deployment of 672 dual-socket nodes powered by AMD's EPYC 7742 "Rome" processors. These CPUs provide 3.15 PetaFLOPs of combined FP64 performance. With a total of 8 PetaFLOPs planned to be achieved by the Big Red 200, that leaves just a bit under 5 PetaFLOPs to be had using GPU+CPU enabled system. Considering the configuration of a node that contains one next-generation AMD "Milan" 64 core CPU, and four of NVIDIA's "Ampere" GPUs alongside it. If we take for a fact that Milan boosts FP64 performance by 25% compared to Rome, then the math shows that the 256 GPUs that will be delivered in the second phase of Big Red 200 deployment will feature up to 18 TeraFLOPs of FP64 compute performance. Even if "Milan" doubles the FP64 compute power of "Rome", there will be around 17.6 TeraFLOPs of FP64 performance for the GPU.

Bitspower, one of the world's leading suppliers of water-cooling equipment for performance computers, has launched its new Advanced Multi-Link series of fittings, featuring a new locking mechanism which makes for a highly secure fit, while also allowing for simpler assembly with hard tubes. The new fittings are made from high quality brass and come in a range of finishes including Shining Silver, Deluxe White, Black Matte, and Black Sparkle, and come in sizes suitable for 12 mm, 14 mm, and 16 mm hard tubing.

The newly designed three-part locking mechanism on the fittings makes them easier to use with hard tubing. Where typically fittings require some level of force to maneuver them over hard tubing, the new design on the Advanced Multi-Link range is slightly looser when not assembled, allowing the three components of the fitting to slide over the tubing with ease. However, once assembled and tightened, the mechanism locks into place tightly around the tubing, ensuring your loop is ultra-secure.

Back in November 2019, ASUS released a special "White Edition" variant of its ROG Strix RTX 2080 Ti graphics card. The company is now extending the whitewash to the RTX 2080 SUPER. The new ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER White Edition retains the PCB design of the original black ROG Strix card, but extends matte white finish to its cooler shroud, the three Axial-Tech fans, the cooler's base-plate, and the back-plate. The company hasn't finalized clock-speeds, but if the RTX 2080 Ti White Edition is anything to go by, the new card could be clocked silghtly higher than the original ROG Strix RTX 2080 SUPER O8G, which ticks at 1650 MHz base and 1860 MHz GPU Boost, with 15.5 Gbps (GDDR6-effective) memory. Based on the "TU104" silicon, the RTX 2080 SUPER offers 3,072 CUDA cores, 384 tensor cores, 48 RT cores, 192 TMUs, and 64 ROPs.