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Fire at TSMC Arizona Plant a Minor Episode, North Taiwan Facility Damaged in Separate Incident

by

T0@st

Apr 30th, 2023 13:58 Discuss (28 Comments)

TSMC has confirmed to Taiwan News this weekend that a fire at its Phoenix-general area, Arizona semiconductor plant was only "limited to an outside trash chute and immediately extinguished" - the chipmaker was responding to an afternoon incident from Friday (April 28). A worker took photos of black smoke rising from a section of the brand new factory, the employee then proceeded to share their snaps online via a discussion board. A local firefighting crew extinguished the blaze soon after evacuating workers from the affected area, a preliminary investigation conducted by the emergency responders found that the fire originated from a waste/refuse chute. A root cause has not yet been identified according to the newspaper's article.

The Arizona plant was not the only TSMC location to play host to an unexpected incident this week - reports from Wednesday (April 26) state that a fire broke out during the (preceding) evening/night at a company facility in North Taiwan. No injuries or casualties were reported following a response by firefighters who had the situation under control soon after 9 pm - TSMC believes that the fire started at around 19:30. The incomplete factory is situated within Taiwan's Hsinchu Science Park, and is set to bolster the company's existing advanced 3D IC package manufacturing efforts. Part of the facility will also be setup as a component testing lab. TSMC has declared that it is conducting an investigation into the incident at its Zhunan, Miaoli County location.

AMD EPYC 8004 Data Center "Siena" CPUs Certified for General SATA and PCI Support

by

T0@st

Apr 30th, 2023 12:47 Discuss (7 Comments)

Keen-eyed hardware tipster momomo_us this week spotted that an upcoming AMD data center "Siena Dense" CPU has received verification, in the general sense, for SATA and PCI support - courtesy of the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO). The information dump was uploaded to SATA-IO's online database on April 6 of this year - under the heading: "AMD EPYC 8004 Series Processors." As covered by TPU mid-way through this month the family of enterprise-grade processors, bearing codename Siena, is expected to be an entry-level alternative to the EPYC Genoa-X range, set for launch later in 2023.

The EPYC Siena series is reported to arrive with a new socket type - SP6 (LGA 4844) - which is said to be similar in size to the older Socket SP3. The upcoming large "Genoa-X" and "Bergamo" processors will sit in the already existing Socket SP5 (LGA 6096) - 2022's EPYC Genoa lineup makes use of it already. AMD has not made its SP6 socket official to the public, but industry figures have been informed that it can run up to 64 "Zen 4" cores. This new standard has been designed with more power efficient tasks in mind - targeting intelligent edge and telecommunication sectors. The smaller SP6 socket will play host to CPUs optimized for as low as 70 W operation, with hungrier variants accommodated up to 225 W. This single platform solution is said to offer 6-channel memory, 96 PCIe Gen 5.0 lanes, 48 lanes for CXL V1.1+, and 8 PCIe Gen 3.0 lanes.

Layers of Fear Gets Another Unreal Engine 5 Showcase

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 30th, 2023 11:12 Discuss (9 Comments)

Experience the visually stunning world of Layers of Fear, one of the first games to utilize the power of Unreal Engine 5 and advanced technological tools. Come with us on an immersive journey as we explore how we incorporated these cutting-edge features to bring you one of the most visually striking horror games out there. With the latest engine, we expedited the development process and introduced a host of technical novelties that make this game a spectacular visual treat. The Lumen, Ray Tracing, and Niagara effects helped us create visuals and effects that are beyond words and feel lifelike.

The canvas awaits its final brushstrokes. The stage calls for its lead actor. The novel needs its final chapter. It's time to face your fears. One. Last. Time. The series, which has left a mark on narrative-driven first-person psychological horror games, returns to tell its final spine-chilling story in Layers of Fear.. The series' crowning work is the definitive way to experience the critically acclaimed franchise as it features Layers of Fear and Layers of Fear 2, as well as all DLCs (including the new 'The Final Note' DLC that will give you a new perspective on the Layers of Fear storyline) and the never-before-told story of The Writer, which will tie everything together. Built on Unreal Engine 5, Layers of Fear supports Ray Tracing, HDR and 4K resolution to make the stunning visuals, and your nightmarish experience, as immersive and realistic as possible.

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Respawn Entertainment CEO Would Like to Revisit Titanfall Series

by

T0@st

Apr 30th, 2023 10:54 Discuss (22 Comments)

Respawn Entertainment boss Vince Zampella has been engaged in press duties for the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor marketing cycle this week, and is likely having to field questions about the sci-fi action adventure's poor technical performance on PC and consoles alike. In an interview conducted by Barron's Magazine a few days ago, Zampella was probably relieved to have the focus shift to a happier topic - the Titanfall franchise. He seemed to be quite open to the prospect of making a third game: "I hate to say yes, then people latch onto that, and then skewer you when it doesn't come. But I would love to see it happen is the real answer." His studio was founded in order to develop the (multiplayer only) first-person shooter Titanfall (2014), a platform exclusive on PC/Origin and Xbox One. Prior to starting Respawn Entertainment in 2010, Zampella and colleague Jason West were lead designers on the mainline Call of Duty series at Infinity Ward/Activision.

A sequel to the original Titanfall arrived in late 2016 to rave reviews from the press and hardcore fans of the series - the inclusion of a single player campaign was considered to be a highlight - this story campaign borrowed gameplay ideas (to the surprise of many) from Valve's Half Life series, and added time traveling elements to an already mind-bending mobility system. In an unfortunate move for Zampella and Respawn, publisher Electronic Arts decided to launch Titanfall 2 during a very busy release window - the main competition at the time being Activision's Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and (EA's own) Battlefield 1. A mainstream crowd proceeded to ignore the Titanfall sequel thanks to poor marketing on EA's part and a crowded games market - sales figures were underwhelming, even with a PS4 version, and the game was heavily discounted within a couple of months of release. Respawn moved on to create a spin-off multiplayer shooter - the smash hit free-to-play battle royale Apex Legends, and the Star Wars Jedi series.

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This Week in Gaming (Week 18)

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 30th, 2023 10:28 Discuss (11 Comments)

As we leave the month of April behind us and move into May, we kick off the new month with a AAA horror first person shooter from Bethesda. The first week of May also brings a AAA 4X title, giant turtles, a Halo like game that adds an RTS element, multiple adventure titles and a game that's all about running away from conscription in the Russian army. Not a bad start to the month of May, if we may say so.

Redfall / This month's AAA title / Tuesday 2 May
The town of Redfall is under siege by a legion of vampires who have cut the island off from the outside world. Trapped with a handful of survivors, slay alone or squad up in open-world FPS action.

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Microsoft to Shrink Surface Accessories Lineup Due to Poor Profits

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 30th, 2023 04:53 Discuss (30 Comments)

According to the Nikkei, Microsoft is cutting production for a wide range of its Surface accessories, i.e. keyboards, mice, docking solutions, headsets etc. This is despite the fact that the company has invested heavily into its Surface brand of computers and accessories over the past decade. This is said to be in response to the poor performance of the business unit in Microsoft's last financial report. The Nikkei mentioned that Microsoft is suspending all standalone keyboards in the Surface series and it seems like Microsoft is also looking at calling it quits when it comes to its own branded accessories, or there won't at least be any new models from the company in the foreseeable future.

Microsoft used to be a significant competitor in the keyboard, mouse and webcam market, but with increasing competition from more brands, it seems like the company has been having a hard time making a niche for itself in what can only be said to be a crowded market. Consumer expectations have also changed and most people don't want membrane keyboards any more and are instead buying more expensive mechanical keyboards. Microsoft has also been late to market with many of its Surface computers and have delivered overpriced and underwhelming products, which in turn has led to fewer sales of both the computers and the matching accessories. We'll have to wait and see if Microsoft makes an official announcement as to what will happen to its Surface brand of products, but right now it doesn't look like there's a very bright future for the Surface line of products as a whole.

Today's Reviews

Other

• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis TechPowerUp

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis Review

Review Game Testing

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is EA's new AAA title from the epic franchise. In our performance review, we're taking a closer look at image quality, VRAM usage, and performance on a selection of modern graphics cards, with ray tracing enabled and disabled.

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Bad Week for MacOS Security: Two New Malware Threats Identified

by

Fouquin

Apr 29th, 2023 16:04 Discuss (18 Comments)

As market share of Apple's ARM based Mac computers has increased, so too have efforts to compromise them by previously uninterested hacker groups. A recent string of malware created specifically for macOS has shown that these groups are turning their gaze toward the generally well protected Mac ecosystem. One of these new malware threats, discovered by Jamf Threat Labs and dubbed 'RustBucket,' acts as a simple third-party PDF viewer. The application itself does nothing malicious until a specific PDF is opened which includes an encoded key that triggers a connection to be made between the attacker's server and the victim's Mac, and a small malicious payload to be downloaded. The initial payload begins running system recon commands to determine the machine information, and then downloads a third stage payload which gives the attackers further access to the underlying operating system. All stages after the user opens the PDF are run silently in the background. The PDF viewer used as the catalyst for this hack does require manually overriding Apple's Gatekeeper as it carries no signature, so the obvious step to mitigate this attack is to not use third-party apps or services aside from those curated on Apple's App Store.

The second macOS malware of the week was discovered by Cyble Research and Intelligence Labs (CRIL) being offered for a paltry $1,000 USD per month on a Telegram channel, with the malware going by the name "Atomic macOS Stealer" or "AMOS." This malware has capabilities to scrape keychain passwords, system information, files from the desktop and documents folders, the macOS user password, browser auto-fills, passwords, cookies, wallets, and stored credit card info. The malware is especially adapted to go after cryptowallets with Cyble citing examples such as Electrum, Binance, Exodus, Atomic, and Coinomi. Cyble notes that they've seen the malware receiving active development to improve its capabilities and the threat actors even offering management software and web panels for keeping track of victimized machines, all with a logging system that dumps to Telegram. The current attack vector is a simple Golang.dmg file which installs the malware, so this does appear to require direct machine access. However once installed, "AMOS" does its handiwork without detection and sends a compressed file off to the attacker's server with all the information it collected.

Obsidian Entertainment's Grounded Gets Super Duper Update, Free Trial on Steam This Weekend

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 29th, 2023 13:26 Discuss (0 Comments)

The Grounded team is excited to bring Update 1.2.0 to the community this week. Rightfully titled The Super Duper update, this massive update brings with it many quality-of-life changes, more than a hundred new items to craft, a brand new Base Coziness feature, and wasps, a new terrifying creature to fight. But first, let's dive into the Super Duper… an item duplication machine!

THE SUPER DUPER UPDATE
Item Duplication - The Super Duper is a new piece of equipment installed in the Oak Lab. Players will find the Super Duper machine the next time they visit BURG.L! This machine will allow players to duplicate specific equipment and items using Raw Science. To use the Super Duper, players must locate Duper Discs throughout the yard. The first disc unlocks operation of the machine, while the other discs grant the player the ability to unlock duping of higher-tier equipment and items. It can even duplicate trinkets, unique items, and upgrade stones. Making this even more helpful for players, any item duplicated will include all of the item's Smithing upgrades, saving a lot of time for when you and your friends need to gear up quickly and get back to adventuring.

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AMD Marketing Highlights Sub-$500 Pricing of 16 GB Radeon GPUs

by

T0@st

Apr 29th, 2023 12:52 Discuss (64 Comments)

AMD's marketing department this week continued its battle to outwit arch rival NVIDIA in GPU VRAM pricing wars - Sasa Marinkovic, a senior director at Team Red's gaming promotion department, tweeted out a simple and concise statement yesterday: "Our @amdradeon 16 GB gaming experience starts at $499." He included a helpful chart that lines up part of the AMD Radeon GPU range against a couple of hand-picked NVIDIA GeForce RTX cards, with emphasis on comparing pricing and respective allotments of VRAM. The infographic indicates AMD's first official declaration of the (last generation "Big Navi" architecture) RX 6800 GPU bottoming out at $499, an all time low, as well as hefty cut affecting the old range topping RX 6950 XT - now available for $649 (an ASRock version is going for $599 at the moment). The RX 6800 XT sits in-between at $579, but it is curious that the RX 6900 XT did not get a slot on the chart.

AMD's latest play against NVIDIA in the video memory size stake is nothing really new - earlier this month it encouraged potential customers to select one of its pricey current generation RX 7900 XT or XTX GPUs. The main reason being that the hefty Radeon cards pack more onboard VRAM than equivalent GeForce RTX models - namely the 4070 Ti and 4080 - therefore future-proofed for increasingly memory hungry games. The latest batch of marketing did not account for board partner variants of the (RDNA3-based) RX 7900 XT GPU selling for as low as $762 this week.

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Grim Fantasy Adventure "Bramble: The Mountain King" Out Now on PC and Consoles

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 29th, 2023 11:13 Discuss (2 Comments)

Bramble The Mountain King is a grim adventure set in a world inspired by dark, Nordic fables. Explore the beautiful yet dangerous and twisted land of Bramble in your endeavor to rescue your sister. Traverse a wondrous landscape and survive deadly encounters with Bramble's many hideous creatures. Not everything in Bramble is exactly how it seems - in this strange land with creatures big and small, you must be careful when to approach and when to hide. Many hungry and spiteful beasts lurk in these forests and caves. Watch your step....

Dimfrost Studio and Merge Games: "Throughout the game, you will meet and defeat monsters in the form of bosses. These scenes will be violent and bloody. Some of the monsters may have human traits, but all are monsters/creatures in Nordic folklore. In addition, you will be able to see dead creatures or animals in magical forests, these create storytelling around the trolls' everyday life. Some fantasy creatures have bodies that resemble the human shape, sometimes they appear semi-nude or wearing revealing clothing."

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AOKZOE Introduces A1 Pro Handheld Gaming Console, Powered by AMD Ryzen 7 7840U APU

by

T0@st

Apr 29th, 2023 10:59 Discuss (7 Comments)

AOKZOE is trying to drum up interest for its latest handheld gaming console - the A1 Pro - with a countdown to a type of early bird sale starting tomorrow. Early adopters will be offered a special starter price of just $799 for the baseline version, and that cost of entry will climb to $999 later on at retail. AOKZOE boasts that the A1 Pro is the first handheld gaming device to pack an AMD 7 7840U APU - a customized version of this SoC (AMD Z1 processor series) is set to debut as part of the ASUS ROG Ally handheld system. The current AOKZOE A1 model is powered by an older AMD Ryzen 7 6800U APU, which sat at the heart of various laptops and mobile gaming devices in 2022. This year's A1 Pro models are powerful enough to take on Valve's Steam Deck (and the previously mentioned ROG Ally) thanks to impressive internal specifications - AOKZOE reckons that the Pro upgrade offer a 20% performance leap over previous gen devices (6800U).

The Zen 4-based Ryzen 7 7840U APU, part of the "Phoenix" range of mobile processors, is available in all configurations of the A1 Pro - the base model gets 32 GB of memory and 512 GB of storage, and the headliner has 64 GB of memory and 2 TB of storage. AOKZOE states that the A1 Pro utilizes the LPDDR5-6400 RAM and PCIe 3.0 x4 standards - their handheld system is also capable of running M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 drives. The A1 Pro features an 8-inch FHD (1920 x 1200) IPS display - its nearest rivals have smaller 7-inch screens. Hardcore game controller enthusiasts will be happy to discover that hall effect sensor technology has been integrated into the new handheld's pair of analog sticks.

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KeysFan Celebrates Labor Day with Special Prices on Genuine Software

Sponsored by

btarunr

Apr 29th, 2023 08:30

KeysFan celebrates Labor Day this May 1, with special discounts on genuine, globally-valid software to power your next-generation desktop PC builds. Your battlestation is the labor of your love, why give it overpriced software, when you can have some of lowest prices on the web? Get Genuine Windows 11 Pro at just $10.25, cheaper when bought in multi-PC packs. Give it the most powerful productivity suite, Office 2021 Professional Plus, at just $25.25. Better yet, bundle the two for just $31.99. Check out great deals on other editions of Windows, Office, and their combos, and save even more when you buy their multi-PC packs.

Buy Office 2021 Professional Plus at $25.25 | Buy Office 2021 Professional Plus 2-PC at $40.25 | Buy Office 2021 Professional Plus 3-PC at $57.25 | Buy Office 2021 Professional Plus 5-PC at $68.25 | Buy Office 2019 Professional Plus at $23.25 | Buy Office 2016 Professional Plus at $19.85 | Buy Office 2021 Home and Business for Mac at $37.99 | Buy Office 2019 Home and Business for Mac at $33.99

Buy Windows 11 Pro at $10.25 | Buy Windows 11 Pro 2-PC at $20.25 | Buy Windows 10 Pro at $7.25 | Buy Windows 10 Pro 2-PC at $12.25 | Buy Windows 11 Home at $9.99 |Buy Windows 11 Home 2-PC at $19.45 | Buy Windows 10 Home at $7.18 | Buy Windows 10 Home 2-PC at $12.21 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2021 Professional at $28.99 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2019 Professional at $26.99 | Buy Windows 11 Pro + Office 2021 Professional at $31.99 | Buy Windows 11 Pro + Office 2019 Professional at $29.99

Please use the coupon code SKF50 on the following items to avail the prices you see here.
Buy Windows 10 Enterprise 2021 LTSC at $12.81 | Buy Windows 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC at $9.14 | Buy Windows Server 2019 Standard at $16.06 | Buy Project Professional 2021 at $33.82 | Buy Visio Professional 2021 at $30.23

Check out deals on system utilities you may want.

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Base Model ASUS ROG Ally Said to Cost US$599.99

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 29th, 2023 04:54 Discuss (13 Comments)

If something seems too good to be true, then it often is and the earlier rumoured price point of the "vanilla" ASUS ROG Ally at US$499.99 was apparently one such instance. Pricing information from serial Twitter leaker SnoopyTech suggests it will instead be priced at US$599.99, which seems a lot more realistic. Aside from using the 6-core CPU with a more limited GPU, the cheaper ROG Ally will also see its internal storage cut in half to 256 GB, compared to 512 GB for the "Extreme" version.

The rest of the specs appear to be identical, with both models sporting 16 GB of LPDDR5 memory, the 7-inch, 120 Hz 1080p display and possibly even the same 40 Whr battery pack. At US$70 more than the equivalent Steam Deck, it might be a tough sell, especially as it's only US$100 to upgrade to the fully featured version, a much smaller cost increase compared to each of the Steam Deck SKUs, where you're looking at spending more to get more. It could simply be that this is a sales tactic by ASUS, to push most of its potential customers to buy the more expensive model.

Today's Reviews

Cases

• Yeyian Hussar PCinq

Cooling

• Iceberg Thermal Icegale ARGB 120mm Fan HardwareInside.de (de)
• be quiet! DC2 TIM Overclocking.com (fr)
• be quiet! DC2 Pro TIM Overclocking.com (fr)

CPU Coolers

• Cooler Master Hyper 212 Halo GinjFo (fr)

Headphones

• HIFIMAN Svanar Flagship In-Ear Monitors TechPowerUp
• Razer BlackShark V2 Pro (2023) Basic Tutorials (de)
• Razer BlackShark V2 Pro (2023) Tom's Hardware

Memory

• G.Skill Ripjaws S5 DDR5-6400 32GB Kit LAN OC
• Netac Z RGB DDR5-6200 CL32 2x 16 GB TechPowerUp

Monitors

• MSI MEG342C QD-OLED Cowcotland (fr)

Mouse

• Genesis Krypton 550 Tech-Legend

PSUs

• Cooler Master V850i Gold Tweaktown

Netac Z RGB DDR5-6200 CL32 2x 16 GB Review

Review Memory

Netac brings its new DDR5 Z RGB flagship memory to market. Equipped with a 6200 MT/s XMP profile, and "bedazzling" look, Netac is starting to shine brighter than ever! In this review, we will compare, overclock, and find out the magic within. Follow along as we test this memory and see how it stacks up to the competition!

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HIFIMAN Svanar Flagship In-Ear Monitors Review

Review Headphones

The $2000 HIFIMAN Svanar is a set of flagship single dynamic driver IEMs which uses the brand's unique topology diaphragm technology to put out a highly engaging sound with tremendous bass response. It's a high-end take on a V-shape tonality complemented by excellent comfort and isolation.

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43rd Symposium on VLSI Technology & Circuits to Focus on Multi-chiplet Devices and Packaging Innovations as Moore's Law Buckles

by

btarunr

Apr 28th, 2023 14:02 Discuss (2 Comments)

The 43rd edition of the Symposium on VLSI Technology & Circuits, held annually in Kyoto Japan, is charting the way forward for the devices of the future. Held between June 11-16, 2023, this year's symposium will see structured presentations, Q&A, and discussions on some of the biggest technological developments in the logic chip world. The lead (plenary) sessions drop a major hint on the way the wind is blowing. Leadning from the front is an address by Suraya Bhattacharya, Director, System-in-Package, A*STAR, IME, on "Multi-Chiplet Heterogeneous Integration Packaging for Semiconductor System Scaling."

Companies such as AMD and Intel read the tea-leaves, that Moore's Law is buckling, and it's no longer economically feasible to build large monolithic processors at the kind of prices they commanded a decade ago. This has caused companies to ration their allocation of the latest foundry node to only the specific components of their chip design that benefit the most from the latest node, and identify components that don't benefit as much, and disintegrate them into separate dies build on older foundry nodes, which are then connected through innovative packaging technologies.

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Kubuntu Focus Announces the Focus Ir14 Laptop

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 28th, 2023 13:16 Discuss (23 Comments)

Today the Kubuntu Focus team announces their latest Linux laptop: The Focus Ir14 developed in partnership with Carbon Systems of Santa Rosa, CA. This laptop is an affordable, enterprise-ready system designed to exude quality everywhere the customer looks and touches. This is the fourth Focus model featuring Kubuntu LTS and the KDE Plasma interface.

This 3-pound laptop has a 14-inch, 450-nit, narrow-bezel 1920×1200 display with 100% sRGB color reproduction. It also features a centered precision touchpad, all-alloy construction, 6 hours of battery life, and can charge from a USB-C display cable. Systems are built to order and can be customized with up to 64 GB of 3200 MHz dual-channel RAM, 4 TB of storage in a dual-disk setup, and optional no-cost full-disk encryption. Prices start at $895.

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Debian Universal OS 12.0 "Bookworm" Set For June Launch

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 28th, 2023 13:10 Discuss (16 Comments)

A press release (dated April 27) states: "We plan to release Debian 12.0 "Bookworm" on June 10. If you want to celebrate it, please consider attending a Debian release party, or hosting your own! See wiki.debian.org/ReleasePartyBookworm for more information. The release process typically takes the whole day and the release isn't done until the early hours of Sunday UTC."

Full Freeze Date
With the release date set, it's time to announce the Full Freeze date: Wednesday May 24. This means that from that moment on, every package requires a manual unblock by the release team if it needs to migrate to bookworm. Please note that, as with all freezes, the newrules apply for all packages that haven't migrated to testing yet (not only for uploads after the freeze). For all uploads, please review the Freeze Policy once again to make sure you know what is appropriate at this phase of the release.

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AMD Ryzen 7000X3D Power Consumption Spiking Beyond 100 W in Idle Mode

by

T0@st

Apr 28th, 2023 12:48 Discuss (58 Comments)

According to investigations undertaken by Igor's Lab and Hardware Busters this week it seems that AMD's problematic lineup of Ryzen 7000 & Ryzen 7000X3D CPUs are consuming unexpected levels of power in short bursts when running in idle mode. In conducting more in-depth tests over the past few days, Igor Wallossek and (outgoing TPU PSU expert) Aristeidis Bitziopoulos have both found that that the aforementioned AMD processors are producing (to the testers' slight concern) power spikes in situations involving minimal computing activity. It is not currently known whether the sharp climbs in power consumption are in any way related to the burnout issues experienced by unlucky overclockers this week.

Aris/crmaris (at Hardware Busters) says that he has tested many of the affected processors in the past, but was not privy to any major problems relating to burnout or power consumption spikes. By running new tests this week, using his own Powenetics v2 board, Aris has found out that: "There are some interesting facts here, which I didn't pay much attention to during the reviews because I only look at the average values and not the peak ones in idle. In the 7950X3D, there is a high spike during idle at 130 W, which is unjustified because the peak CPU load is only 3.53%. Even with the Curve Optimized enabled and a -15 setting, the idle power spike is close to 125 W, so something is happening there. On the 7800X3D, the spike during idle stays low, but this is not the case for the 7900X, which has an idle power spike at 109 W, while the peak CPU load at idle was at 5.12%, so these 109 W are not justified, either."

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Microsoft Ends Feature Support for Windows 10 22H2

by

T0@st

Apr 28th, 2023 11:51 Discuss (46 Comments)

Microsoft has confirmed that the current version of Windows 10 - 22H2 - will be the final one. A company product manager revealed this information yesterday in a Windows IT Pro Blog entry posted alongside a mass of articles on Microsoft's Tech Community site. As covered on TPU almost two years ago, Microsoft had given advance notice that it was terminating support for Windows 10 on October 14th 2025 - for both Home and Pro versions of the operating system. Windows 11 was released later on in 2021, and thus became the priority OS product for the North American tech firm.

Yesterday's blog reiterates key information from the past, and details an interim update cycle (albeit small): "Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025. The current version, 22H2, will be the final version of Windows 10, and all editions will remain in support with monthly security update releases through that date. Existing (enterprise) releases will continue to receive updates beyond that date based on their specific lifecycles." Microsoft has proceeded to update the lifecycle page entry for Windows 10 Home and Pro in line with the latest announcement. The product manager (in his blog) recommends that current Windows 10 users move to 11 as soon as possible, in order to enjoy a continued stream of feature updates.

Stardock Integrates AlienGPT into Galactic Civilizations IV

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 28th, 2023 11:00 Discuss (17 Comments)

Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova is a 4X turn-based strategy game set in the 24th century where you take on the role of leading a spacefaring civilization that has just developed faster-than-light (FTL) travel. You begin the game with only your home planet and must research new technologies, explore the known galaxy, and colonize new worlds while keeping your people at home happy. At the same time, you will engage in trade, diplomacy, intrigue and war with other alien civilizations. Thanks to the invention of hyperdrive, your people are now ready to discover new worlds, encounter alien civilizations, and learn about the dark history that encompasses them all.

Stardock has released the latest sequel of its award-winning space strategy game series today into early access. Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova sees the player as the ruler of a united home world that has just discovered faster-than-light travel. Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova continues a 30-year trend of innovation in the series. This latest sequel introduces AI-generated content OpenAI's ChatGPT technology allowing players to create their own civilizations that uses AI to create the lore, conversation dialogs, quests and more. The game also uses AI, trained on decades of Stardock's alien art to deliver custom graphics for their custom civilization.

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Latest Steam Client Beta Update Adds Many Fun and Flexible New Features

by

T0@st

Apr 28th, 2023 10:45 Discuss (14 Comments)

Steam Client Beta updates do not normally attract much attention - Valve's iterative patch notes for the digital service application read in a mostly mundane way - but this week's trial system upgrade has turned heads. Valve has managed to introduce some interesting new features with this latest update - the in-game overlay system has been overhauled so users are offered the option to pin related windows over/on top of an active game session. Players are granted multiple options in the adjustment of overlay window opacity levels - so web browsers, document apps and image browsers can be customized to best suit the in-game experience. Users will also be happy to discover that they can now watch their favorite movies, TV shows or streaming platform within the same screen space as their chosen game - no need to minimize and arrange multiple app windows or shift everything across multiple monitor setups. The screenshot manager has been enhanced to a greater degree - Valve states that: "it's responsive, you can choose from large or small thumbnails, view recent screenshots rather than by game, and you can manage online screenshots as well as local screenshots".

A new Notes App has been introduced via the latest Steam Client Beta update - users can now jot down their thoughts and observations during game sessions. Valve boasts that the application offers: "rich text formatting, the ability to have multiple notes per game, and can even be used in offline mode." The blog also provides explanations of other handy features and improvements: "The new toolbar gives you access to anything you may need in the middle of a game - friends chat, achievements progress, guides, discussions, a browser, and more. We've picked a couple windows by default, and you can pick and personalize the pieces of content you'd like to see in your overlay - settings are saved between games. This toolbar can be switched between an icon view and a list view in Settings. The Game Overview is your one-stop shop to see what's going on with the game since you last played it. For example, it shows what achievements you have in progress, which friends are playing the same game, top guides, news, and more."

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Dotemu Reveals Remaster of Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, Definitive Edition Coming Soon

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 28th, 2023 09:43 Discuss (6 Comments)

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is a unique mix of puzzle, strategy and RPG: Plan your every move and combine your attacks to defeat your enemies in matching puzzle inspired battle scenarios, upgrade your heroes and creatures to unleash increasingly devastating attacks onto your opponents, and let the strategic thinker in you lead your troops to victory. Originally developed by Capybara Games, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is getting a Definitive Edition including its DLC, refreshed character portraits, many quality-of-life improvements and an expanded, fully reworked and re-balanced online mode!

Greetings Mighty Warriors! We are more than thrilled to announce the return of Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, the legendary puzzle RPG game, in a Definitive Edition. Five mighty heroes, scattered across five different regions of Ashan, battle their way through their respective homelands to unravel a demonic plot and save the world from Chaos. Put your tactical skills to the test, piece together crazy combos to break the enemies' lines, and lead your troops to victory.

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Philips Introduces Ultra Fast Evnia 280 Hz FHD 24.5-inch Gaming Monitor

by

T0@st

Apr 28th, 2023 09:30 Discuss (6 Comments)

Philips has revealed its debut model in the Evnia 5000 range of gaming monitors - 25M2N5200P. The Dutch electronics firm has already released a diverse lineup of premium screens for enthusiast gaming-types, but the relatively young games-oriented Evnia brand is now expanding into more mainstream territory with its 5000 series - the dark slate (gray-colored) chassis distinguishes this lineup from the more sophisticated offerings (usually finished in white). Philips is readying its new 25M2N5200P ultra fast gaming monitor for release in Europe next month, coming in at more budget conscious price of €299. This 24.5-inch sized mid-tier model is fitted with a snappy IPS panel rated for a maximum refresh rate of 280 Hz (in overclock mode).

Speedy gaming enthusiasts will be happy to learn that the FHD (1920 x 1080) Fast IPS-type panel accommodates a 0.5 ms MPRT response time. The 25M2N5200P appears to be quite a unique case when compared to equivalent competitors - AMD FreeSync Premium adaptive synchronization and motion blur reduction (MBR) can be enabled in parallel which provides the end user with a fast and smooth in-game experience, free of major image ghosting issues. Philips will be offering customers who prefer VA panel technologies an alternative model called the 25M2N3200W, set for release in European markets within the next few months.

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Sony Sold 6.3 Million PS5s Last Quarter and 19.1 Million Units During FY22

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 28th, 2023 08:34 Discuss (13 Comments)

Sony has had a very good year when it comes to PlayStation 5 sales, as the company sold no less than 19.1 million units in FY22, which exceeded the forecasted volume of 18 million units by a fair margin. Sony's financial year runs from April to March, so the first three months of 2023 was the last three months of its FY22, during which the company sold no less than 6.1 million consoles. That's up from a mere two million units in the last quarter of FY21, which is no small increase and shows the popularity of the PS5. Sony also mentioned that they've caught up with demand and are able to deliver PS5s to customers without the need to pre-order or having to wait for their orders to arrive, in almost all locations globally. As for FY23, Sony is hoping to sell even more consoles, with a target of 25 million units. To date, Sony has sold around 38.4 million PlayStation 5 consoles.

That said, it's not all good news, as game sales were down from US$70.5 million to US$68 million a year ago quarter to quarter and dropped from 303.2 million to 264.2 million FY21 vs FY22. Sony also lost some four million users of its PlayStation Network service, but the company saw a slight increase in its PS Plus subscription base. Sony saw a boost in revenue in its Gaming and Networking Services business unit from US$4.9 billion in FY21 to US$7.9 billion in FY22. As a whole, Sony had sales of some US$29 billion, or 3.9 trillion Yen if you prefer, despite struggling with a weak Yen vs. the US Dollar.

Supernatural Platform Adventure "The Last Case of Benedict Fox" Out Now

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 28th, 2023 08:22 Discuss (1 Comment)

Detectives, we've arrived! At long last, The Last Case of Benedict Fox is here! Go on, enter the world of limbo, and discover the reason for your father's demise. For your final preparations, watch our launch trailer (see below). Mesmerized? Hold your demon companion close, and run toward the mansion!

Before we leave, we just want to say a huge thank you to our family and friends for their support throughout our game development journey. We feel grateful for their patience and love as it allowed us the opportunity to create a game that we always dreamt of making. And we would love to thank you, our fans, for all your support and encouragement ever since our reveal last year. We had so much fun with this game, and we hope you will too.

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SilverStone Unveils ALTA F2, its 2023 Flagship Full-tower Case

by

btarunr

Apr 28th, 2023 08:15 Discuss (41 Comments)

SilverStone today unveiled the ALTA F2, its flagship gaming PC case. The case features a unique internal layout that maximizes component cooling using stack-effect cooling. The motherboard tray is rotated 90° such that its I/O faces the top of the case, while airflow from three large 180 mm Air Penetrator 184i PRO fans with air-channeling surfaces, direct air drawn from the bottom of the case onto almost all surfaces inside the case. There are three ways to orient your graphics card. The first of course sees it installed directly onto the motherboard, with its I/O facing the top, the next one sees it rotated, with its I/O still facing the top, but its fan vents facing the side-panel. The third and most unique orientation, sees the graphics card installed with its I/O pointing to the rear, but tilted sideways at a 11-degree angle.

The bottom chamber of the case is mostly empty, and serves as an air source for the 180 mm intake fans, but there are four 3.5-inch/2.5-inch mounts, should you want a handful drives located there. Three additional 2.5-inch drives can be mounted along spots on the motherboard tray, while four 3.5-inch drives can be mounted in a cage located in the front side. You get a total of 17 expansion slot possibilities—9 along the motherboard tray, 4 with a portion of it rotated, and 4 toward the rear.

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v-color Introduces Manta XPrism 48GB DDR5-8200 CL38 Kit

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 28th, 2023 07:09 Discuss (1 Comment)

v-color Technology Inc., an industry leader in cutting-edge memory solutions, proudly unveils the game-changing 48 GB (24 GB x2) DDR5-8200 38-52-52-130 Manta XPrism RGB Extreme OC Memory in a range of 7200 to 8200 MHz kits. This state-of-the-art memory module is meticulously designed to cater to the evolving needs of gamers, overclockers, and enthusiasts who demand top-notch performance, reliability, and aesthetics.

The Manta XPrism RGB 48 GB (24 GB x2) DDR5-8200 CL38 Extreme OC Memory is crafted with the latest technological advancements, delivering unbeatable speed and efficiency. Featuring a 48 GB memory capacity and a staggering 8200 MHz frequency, this DDR5 memory module is poised to transform the performance of any high-end gaming or workstation system.

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Matrox Video Announces Intel Arc-based LUMA Graphics Cards

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 28th, 2023 05:49 Discuss (36 Comments)

Video technology innovator Matrox Video today announced the launch of its new Matrox LUMA series of graphics cards with Intel Arc GPUs. The series consists of three single-slot cards: the LUMA A310, a low-profile fanless card; the LUMA A310F, a low-profile fanned card; and the LUMA A380, a full-sized fanned card.

Matrox Video developed the LUMA range to satisfy significant demand in the mainstream graphics market for driving multiple screens, with a balance between size, reliability, and performance for different applications. The new LUMA series is aimed at high-reliability and embedded PC applications in the medical, digital signage, control room, video wall, and industrial markets.

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EK Launches White Editions of EK-QUANTUM VELOCITY² AND VECTOR²

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 28th, 2023 05:41 Discuss (3 Comments)

EK, the leading computer cooling solutions provider, is introducing White Editions of EK-Quantum Velocity² and EK-Quantum Vector² water blocks. These GPU and CPU water blocks feature EK's iconic white acetal standouts, with the Vector² GPU water block also having a white terminal. This AM5 water block is built upon an award-winning, market-recognized Velocity² platform that has so far received an iF Design award, a European Hardware Award, and a CES innovation award.

The Velocity² series water blocks outshined their predecessor and took over the market lead. Embedded in the Velocity² is a socket-specific, high-performance cooling engine with low hydraulic flow restriction. This is achieved through a combination of mounting pressure and cold plate geometry specifically tailored for the IHS and the die layout of the AMD AM5 socket. The asymmetric jet plate cutout also enables the flow to be directed into the areas that need it the most.

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BIOSTAR Launches Storming-V Series DDR4 Memory

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 28th, 2023 04:13 Discuss (4 Comments)

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices today, is proud to announce the release of its latest DDR4 DRAM, the Heatsink Storming-V series. The DDR4 DRAM, Storming-V series, is a highly versatile memory module that caters to a wide range of users, from casual content consumption such as watching TV shows, movies and listening to music, to avid gamers who demand engaging stories, stunning graphics, and solid gameplay. Moreover, pro gamers who prioritize speed and performance will find the Heatsink Storming-V series highly appealing.

With its optimized memory speed, timing, voltage settings, and unique design that offers overclocking capabilities, ultra-fast data access, and optimal cooling, the Heatsink Storming-V series delivers unmatched performance and reliability. Therefore, whether you are a casual user or a pro gamer, the Storming-V series is the perfect memory module that caters to your specific needs.

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Microsoft and Nware Sign 10-Year Cloud Gaming Deal

by

AleksandarK

Apr 28th, 2023 03:25 Discuss (1 Comment)

Following the recent block of the Activision-Blizzard merger with Microsoft by the UK regulatory body, Microsoft is partnering with cloud gaming services to bring extra assurance to regulators that the merger will not harm any segment. Today, Microsoft's Vice Chain and President, Brad Smith, published a Tweet that highlighted the latest deal with Nware, a Spanish company providing cloud PCs to gamers that can stream games from Steam, EGS, and Ubisoft Connect accounts. The Tweet noted that "Microsoft and European cloud gaming platform Nware have signed a 10-year agreement to stream PC games built by Xbox on its platform, as well as Activision Blizzard titles after the acquisition closes. While it's still early for the emerging cloud segment in gaming, this new partnership combined with our other recent commitments will make more popular games available on more cloud game streaming services than they are today."

NVIDIA AD106 Silicon Powering RTX 4060 Series, Smiles for the Camera

by

btarunr

Apr 28th, 2023 03:14 Discuss (17 Comments)

Here is one of the first pictures of the 5 nm "AD106" GPU powering the upcoming GeForce RTX 4060 series graphics cards NVIDIA plans to launch in May 2023. The substrate of the AD106 looks visibly smaller than that of the AD104, thanks to its lower pin-count. It is expected that the AD106 will feature a 128-bit wide GDDR6/X memory interface, and since the TGP of graphics cards based on the chip are expected to be well under the 200 W-mark, it doesn't need as many power delivery pins. The specific ASIC code for the AD106 in this picture, AD106-350-A1, reportedly corresponds to the upcoming desktop GeForce RTX 4060 Ti.

Interestingly, the desktop RTX 4060 Ti doesn't max out the AD106. That distinction goes to the RTX 4070 Mobile, which enables all 36 SM (streaming multiprocessors) present on the silicon, which work out to 4,608 CUDA cores. The desktop RTX 4060 Ti enables 32 out of these 36 SM, and hence lands itself 4,352 CUDA cores, 128 Tensor cores, 32 RT cores, 128 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. 8 GB is the standard memory size for both the RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4060.

Ericsson strikes Cloud RAN agreement with AMD

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 28th, 2023 03:12 Discuss (1 Comment)

Ericsson is boosting its Open RAN and Cloud RAN ecosystem commitment through an agreement with US-based global ICT industry leader AMD. The agreement - intended to strengthen the Open RAN ecosystem and vendor-agnostic Cloud RAN environment - aims to offer communications service providers (CSPs) a combination of high performance and additional flexibility for open architecture offerings.

The Ericsson-AMD collaboration will see additional processing technologies in the Ericsson Cloud RAN offering. The expanded offering aims to enhance the performance of Cloud RAN and secure high-capacity solutions. The collaboration will enable joint exploration of AMD EPYC processors and T2 Telco accelerator for utilization in Cloud RAN solutions, while also investigating future platform generations of these technologies.

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NVIDIA H100 Compared to A100 for Training GPT Large Language Models

by

AleksandarK

Apr 28th, 2023 02:59 Discuss (2 Comments)

NVIDIA's H100 has recently become available to use via Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), and it was only a matter of time before someone decided to benchmark its performance and compare it to the previous generation's A100 GPU. Today, thanks to the benchmarks of MosaicML, a startup company led by the ex-CEO of Nervana and GM of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Intel, Naveen Rao, we have some comparison between these two GPUs with a fascinating insight about the cost factor. Firstly, MosaicML has taken Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) models of various sizes and trained them using bfloat16 and FP8 Floating Point precision formats. All training occurred on CoreWeave cloud GPU instances.

Regarding performance, the NVIDIA H100 GPU achieved anywhere from 2.2x to 3.3x speedup. However, an interesting finding emerges when comparing the cost of running these GPUs in the cloud. CoreWeave prices the H100 SXM GPUs at $4.76/hr/GPU, while the A100 80 GB SXM gets $2.21/hr/GPU pricing. While the H100 is 2.2x more expensive, the performance makes it up, resulting in less time to train a model and a lower price for the training process. This inherently makes H100 more attractive for researchers and companies wanting to train Large Language Models (LLMs) and makes choosing the newer GPU more viable, despite the increased cost. Below, you can see tables of comparison between two GPUs in training time, speedup, and cost of training.

MSI Provides Motherboard UEFI Update for AMD's Ryzen 7000X3D Series CPUs, Adds 192 GB Memory Support

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 28th, 2023 02:52 Discuss (9 Comments)

MSI has been in close contact with the AMD and has referred to their official technical guidance to provide users with a safer and more optimized hardware environment. To achieve this goal, MSI will release a new list of BIOS updates specifically for the AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPU.

According to AMD's design specifications, the Ryzen 7000X3D series CPU does not fully support overclocking or overvoltage adjustments, including CPU ratio and CPU Vcore voltage. However, AMD EXPO technology can be used to optimize memory performance by appropriately increasing the CPU SoC voltage to ensure system stability when operating at higher memory frequencies.

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GIGABYTE Expands Gaming Laptop Lineup With AORUS 16

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 28th, 2023 02:47 Discuss (0 Comments)

After the launch of AORUS 17X / 15X, AORUS 17 / 15, and AERO 16 / 14 OLED in 2023 Q1, in Q2 GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY is releasing the AORUS 16 Gaming Laptop with a 16-inch 240 Hz eye-protection display, presenting gamers with a brand-new option while marking the company's official arrival in the 16-inch gaming laptop market.

Coming with the latest 13th Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Laptop GPU, the laptop has inherited the iconic AORUS slimness. Equipped with a large 16:10 screen certified with TÜV Rheinland low blue light, flicker-free certification, as well as a unique quad-fan Windforce Infinity cooling system exclusively for flagship models, AORUS 16 offers both efficiency and immersive entertainment experiences. Gaming enthusiasts will be amazed by its formidable computing abilities, while gamers who are also creators can enjoy the broad vision for entertainment media and production capability.

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Giga Computing and GRAID Team up to Set New NVMe Standards for Storage

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 28th, 2023 02:45 Discuss (0 Comments)

Giga Computing, a subsidiary of GIGABYTE and an industry leader in high-performance servers, server motherboards, and workstations, today announced continued collaboration with GRAID Technology, and the creation of GIGABYTE R Series servers to overcome NVMe bottlenecks in storage applications. Online shopping, financial trading, editing high-resolution images, and AI-generated content have all become parts of everyday life. Enterprise companies are now developing better server solutions with faster compute speeds, greater energy efficiency, and more secure data protection. Giga Computing focuses on the design of computing hardware for GIGABYTE servers and works with GRAID Technology to develop integration solutions that disrupt the storage market. Together they have created next-generation servers and NVMe controllers that will become the new standards for RAID across NVMe SSDs.

Traditional RAID technologies have become a bottleneck for NVMe SSD performance, so GRAID developed the SupremeRAID high-speed RAID card which Giga Computing used to develop a comprehensive solution. The GIGABYTE R283-S92 server became the first server to support the SupremeRAID SR-1010 RAID card. In addition, all future GIGABYTE R283 and R183 servers will incorporate this optimization and become servers with the highest compatibility for GRAID's next-generation technologies. After installing SupremeRAID SR-1010, the user simply installs the corresponding driver and software on the operating system to activate the virtual controllers on the NVMe SSD, process storage and computing functions, and satisfy the ultra-high-performance requirements for all types of workloads.

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Intel Core "Meteor Lake" Now Ramping for Production, Market Release in 2H-2023

by

btarunr

Apr 28th, 2023 00:47 Discuss (13 Comments)

Intel's next-generation Core "Meteor Lake" processor is now ramping for mass-production, with product launches expected in the second half of 2023, the company announced in its Q1-2023 Financial Results release. "Meteor Lake" will see Intel debut its next-generation foundry node, the Intel 4. The company is expected to use this node for the Compute Tile of the "Meteor Lake" processor, the piece of silicon that has the CPU cores. Intel 4 is said to offer transistor-density and performance/Watt comparable to TSMC's N5-series and N4-series foundry nodes. In the same release, Intel stated that development of its future foundry nodes, Intel 3, Intel 20A, and Intel 18A, are on track. In its top configuration, "Meteor Lake" is expected to feature a CPU core configuration of 6P+16E, and we are hearing that it will see a more limited release in the desktop segment, in that the processor will only come in Core i3 and Core i5 brand extensions, not Core i7 or Core i9 (which would be taken up by "Arrow Lake," with its higher P-core count). "Meteor Lake" will span a variety of mobile segments from 7 W ultraportables, to 45 W mainstream notebooks, and possibly even 55 W gaming notebooks.

ASUS Announces ExpertCenter PN42 Mini PC

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 28th, 2023 00:05 Discuss (2 Comments)

ASUS today announced ExpertCenter PN42, a mini PC powered by an Intel N100 or N200 processor. The fanless design of this mini PC reduces operational noise and prevents dust from building up inside the chassis. Designed for small or medium-sized businesses, it features up to seven USB ports and can be specified with an additional 2.5 Gbps LAN port and a configurable port for DisplayPort 1.4, VGA, COM, HDMI, or USB-C with DisplayPort 1.2. The integrated graphics of ExpertCenter PN42 enables it to support up to three monitors or two 4K displays simultaneously. It embraces sustainable manufacturing, with a chassis made from recycled plastic.

ExpertCenter PN42 has a robust build quality that ensures durability and reliability. Its fanless design enables it to run almost silently and reduces dust accumulation inside the chassis, making it ideal for quiet environments or industrial use. The ribbed chassis design includes slats to enhance cooling performance, while a dedicated heatsink cools the SSD and WiFi module.

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Today's Reviews

Cases

• Thermaltake CTE C750 TG ARGB TechPowerUp

CPU Coolers

• Jonsbo PISA A5 Think Computers

Gaming PC

• Velocity Micro Raptor Z55 (2023) Tweaktown

Graphics Cards

• Sapphire RX 7900 XT Pulse Hardware-Mag (de)

Memory

• Lexar Ares RGB DDR5-6000 32GB Kit NeoSeeker

Mouse

• Logitech G502 X Plus Basic Tutorials (de)

PSUs

• FSP Hydro Ti Pro 1000W Cowcotland (fr)

Speakers

• Tribit Stormbox Blast Basic Tutorials (de)

SSD

• Kioxia Exceria Pro 2TB Madshrimps
• Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus-G 2TB Guru3D

Thermaltake CTE C750 TG ARGB Review

Review Cases

The Thermaltake CTE C750 TG ARGB aims to stick out from the competition with its own spin on a rotated motherboard layout and cooling setup. As a large case, you can expect tons of room for storage, fans or liquid cooling alongside big functional components.

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AMD Software Adrenalin 23.4.3 WHQL Released

by

btarunr

Apr 27th, 2023 20:04 Discuss (7 Comments)

AMD today released the latest version of its Adrenalin drivers. Version 23.4.3 WHQL comes with optimization for "Star Wars: Jedi Survivor." It also comes with fixes for display corruption in "World War Z: Aftermath" when using the Vulkan API; and longer than expected shader compilation times with "The Last of Us: Part 1." AMD has disabled the Factory Reset feature in the installer to fix issues noticed during PC upgrades. In the meantime, AMD recommends using the AMD Cleanup Utility during PC upgrades. Some glaring bugs with "Hogwarts Legacy" with Radeon RX 580 "Polaris" are being addressed with the developer.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Software Adrenalin 23.4.3 WHQL

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CORSAIR Announces Multi-Year Partnership With Top Gaming Streamer NICKMERCS

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 27th, 2023 19:53 Discuss (9 Comments)

CORSAIR, a world leader in high-performance gear for gamers and content creators, today announced a multi-year partnership with world-famous gaming streamer Nick "NICKMERCS" Kolcheff. One of gaming's most recognizable personalities and Twitch's most subscribed gamer playing competitive, modern titles, NICKMERCS and his loyal MFAM community consistently deliver high-energy streams and engaging content for fans around the world.

Extending across all of CORSAIR's sub brands, the partnership will see NICKMERCS play and stream exclusively using performance gaming gear from CORSAIR, elite controllers from SCUF GAMING, streaming hardware from Elgato and gaming PCs from Origin PC. The partnership goes far beyond hardware exclusivity though, with substantial collaboration in new product development, merchandising, and community activations.

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Exascend Launches Industrial-Grade SD and MicroSD Cards

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 27th, 2023 19:49 Discuss (3 Comments)

Exascend, Inc., a leading provider of custom flash storage solutions, announces its latest SD300 series industrial-grade SD and microSD cards, designed to meet the increasing storage demands of the internet of things (IoT) and edge applications. Built with 176-layer 3D TLC NAND technology and ruggedized for harsh environments, the compact and removable storage solutions are ideal for edge IoT applications such as gateways, industrial drones, factory robots, surveillance cameras and infotainment systems.

Exascend's SD300 series features proprietary hardware and firmware designs, allowing it to operate in a wide temperature range of -40°C to 85°C and resist shock, vibration, and humidity. With a mean time to failure of two million hours, the SD300 memory cards are built to handle significant workloads, incorporating advanced technologies such as LDPC ECC, wear leveling, and pseudo SLC (specifically for 8- and 16-GB cards) to deliver sustained performance, low storage latency, and high endurance. Additionally, the SD300 comes equipped with a SMART (self-monitoring, analysis, and reporting technology) tool that helps monitor card health status and ensure reliable operation.

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Intel Reports First-Quarter 2023 Financial Results: Client and Server Businesses Down 38-39% Each

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 27th, 2023 19:39 Discuss (12 Comments)

Intel Corporation today reported first-quarter 2023 financial results. "We delivered solid first-quarter results, representing steady progress with our transformation," said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. "We hit key execution milestones in our data center roadmap and demonstrated the health of the process technology underpinning it. While we remain cautious on the macroeconomic outlook, we are focused on what we can control as we deliver on IDM 2.0: driving consistent execution across process and product roadmaps and advancing our foundry business to best position us to capitalize on the $1 trillion market opportunity ahead."

David Zinsner, Intel CFO, said, "We exceeded our first-quarter expectations on the top and bottom line, and continued to be disciplined on expense management as part of our commitment to drive efficiencies and cost savings. At the same time, we are prioritizing the investments needed to advance our strategy and establish an internal foundry model, one of the most consequential steps we are taking to deliver on IDM 2.0."

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AYANEO 2S Revealed, Packs Ryzen 7 7840U With Improved Cooling

by

Fouquin

Apr 27th, 2023 15:53 Discuss (16 Comments)

AYANEO hosted a product showcase stream on their YouTube channel which went deep into the technical details of their upcoming AYANEO 2S refresh to last year's AYANEO 2. The new handheld console features some major improvements under the hood which include AMD's Ryzen 7 7840U with Radeon 780M graphics, LPDDR5X-7500 and a cooling system redesign. The Ryzen 7 7840U is similar to the recently announced Ryzen Z1 Extreme that the ASUS ROG Ally can be equipped with, both SoCs bringing 8 "Zen 4" cores and a 12CU RDNA3 graphics engine down to a TDP of 15 W. The cooling system for this SoC has been upgraded to a triple heatpipe array soldered to a copper heatspreader which AYANEO is dubbing their "3+1" cooling design. They claim the new design drops SoC load temperatures by as much as 11.6C, and that it has 33% more surface area compared to the previous generation AYANEO 2. AYANEO also claims optimizations to the fit and finish with the body and trigger assemblies being improved to better fit the hand as well as aid in ease of disassembly. Other specifications have remained mostly unchanged such as the 7-inch 1920x1200 IPS display, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB base configuration SSD.

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Bethesda Reveals Redfall's Official PC Hardware Requirements, NVIDIA Releases Exclusive Launch Trailer

by

T0@st

Apr 27th, 2023 14:49 Discuss (17 Comments)

With the launch of Redfall set for early next week, Bethesda has kindly provided some prepwork to consider in advance - a breakdown of the crossover shooter's PC specification requirements (minimum, recommended and ultra) as well as all available accessibility settings and options. They fail to mention any resolution or framerate targets, so it will be up to PC gamers to investigate the nitty-gritty numbers on the day of Redfall's release (May 2). As part of the whole promo campaign NVIDIA has decided to unleash a gameplay trailer (see below) of the game running on a high end PC fitted with a (presumed) high-end GeForce RTX 40-series graphics card.

Redfall's PC audience will get to flex their graphical muscles more so when compared to unfortunate current gen Xbox owners - Bethesda and developer Arkane Studios have recently admitted that their supernatural shooter will be restricted to 30 FPS Quality Mode on Series X and S consoles at launch. A higher framerate performance mode is promised in the future - via a game update - but the Microsoft-owned publisher has not set a more specific release window for the upgrade. The middle and high-tier specifications on PC seem to be quite reasonable, so Redfall is not expected to be a stuttering mess on arrival.

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Intel Announces Deepak Patil as New Leader of GPU Division

by

T0@st

Apr 27th, 2023 14:06 Discuss (18 Comments)

Intel has appointed Deepak Patil as the new corporate vice president and general manager of its Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics (AXG) group. Patil is set to succeed Raja Koduri in this leadership role - company CEO Pat Gelsinger was the first person to announce news (last month) of Koduri's departure from Intel. At the time of his leaving Team Blue, Koduri's official job title was "Executive Vice President and Chief Architect" so the wording of his successor's executive ranking is slightly different. Patil is the current chief technology and strategy officer at the Intel Data Center and AI Group, and was previously senior vice president at Dell APEX USA. He will be taking over directly from interim AXG division leader Jeff McVeigh.

The official Intel statement regarding its new leadership appointment states: "Intel will deliver competitive accelerated computing products and build scalable systems with easy-to-program software on a predictable cadence. Deepak Patil will serve as the CVP and General Manager of the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics (AXG) group. Deepak recently held the position of DCAI Chief Technology and Strategy Officer. Having held senior engineering leadership positions across the high-tech industry, including being a founding member of Microsoft Azure and leading Dell's APEX as-a-service business, he understands the important role that software and open ecosystems play in enabling application developers and service providers to bring innovative solutions to market, at scale."

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Bandai Namco Debuts Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon Gameplay Footage

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 27th, 2023 13:28 Discuss (9 Comments)

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, the latest high-octane action game by FromSoftware, Inc. and Bandai Namco Europe S.A.S. will release globally on August 25. Combining the 25 years of experience developing the ARMORED CORE franchise and action games in the Elden Ring, and Dark Souls franchise, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is full of mech action, including fast-paced battles, in-depth customization, and thrilling boss fights. The game is coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam, and is now available to pre-order at participating retailers and on Bandai Namco Store.

A mysterious new substance called "Coral" was discovered on the remote planet, Rubicon 3. As an energy source, this substance was expected to dramatically advance humanity's technological and communications capabilities. Instead, it caused a catastrophe that engulfed the planet and the surrounding stars in flames and storms, forming a Burning Star System. Almost half a century later, Coral has resurfaced on Rubicon 3, a planet now contaminated and sealed off by the catastrophe. Extra-terrestrial corporations and resistance groups fight over control of the substance. The player infiltrates Rubicon as an independent mercenary and finds themselves in a struggle over the substance with the corporations and other factions.

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AMD Releases Second Official Statement Regarding Ryzen 7000X3D Issues

by

T0@st

Apr 27th, 2023 12:58 Discuss (136 Comments)

AMD has today released another statement to the press, following on from controversy surrounding faulty Ryzen 7000X3D series processors - unlucky users are reporting hardware burnouts resulting from voltage-assisted overclocking. TPU has provided coverage of this matter this week, and made light of AMD's first statement yesterday. AMD ensures customers that it has fully informed ODM partners (motherboard manufacturers) about up-to-date and correct voltages for the Ryzen processor family - yet user feedback (via online hardware discussions) suggests that standard Ryzen 7000 models are also being affected by the burnout issue - this side topic has not been addressed by AMD (at the time of writing). This second statement repeats the previous one's recommendation that affected users should absolutely make contact with AMD Support personnel:

AMD Statement"We have root caused the issue and have already distributed a new AGESA that puts measures in place on certain power rails on AM5 motherboards to prevent the CPU from operating beyond its specification limits, including a cap on SOC voltage at 1.3 V. None of these changes affect the ability of our Ryzen 7000 Series processors to overclock memory using EXPO or XMP kits or boost performance using PBO technology. We expect all of our ODM partners to release new BIOS for their AM5 boards over the next few days. We recommend all users to check their motherboard manufacturers website and update their BIOS to ensure their system has the most up to date software for their processor.

Anyone whose CPU may have been impacted by this issue should contact AMD customer support. Our customer service team is aware of the situation and prioritizing these cases."

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Bosch Plans to Acquire U.S. Chipmaker TSI Semiconductors

Press Release by

AleksandarK

Apr 27th, 2023 12:32 Discuss (1 Comment)

Bosch is expanding its semiconductor business with silicon carbide chips. The technology company plans to acquire assets of the U.S. chipmaker TSI Semiconductors, based in Roseville, California. With a workforce of 250, the company is a foundry for application-specific integrated circuits, or ASICs. Currently, it mainly develops and produces large volumes of chips on 200-millimeter silicon wafers for applications in the mobility, telecommunications, energy, and life sciences industries. Over the next years, Bosch intends to invest more than 1.5 billion USD in the Roseville site and convert the TSI Semiconductors manufacturing facilities to state-of-the-art processes. Starting in 2026, the first chips will be produced on 200-millimeter wafers based on the innovative material silicon carbide (SiC).

In this way, Bosch is systematically reinforcing its semiconductor business, and will have significantly extended its global portfolio of SiC chips by the end of 2030. Above all, the global boom and ramp-up of electromobility are resulting in huge demand for such special semiconductors. The full scope of the planned investment will be heavily dependent on federal funding opportunities available via the CHIPS and Science Act as well as economic development opportunities within the State of California. Bosch and TSI Semiconductors have reached an agreement to not to disclose any financial details of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval.

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Meta AI-Assisted Advertising Sales Prove Profitable

by

T0@st

Apr 27th, 2023 12:22 Discuss (3 Comments)

Facebook's parent company, Meta, has announced that revenues generated by advertisement sales have improved fortunes, following on from three quarters of consistent slumps. It has reported an operating profit of $5.7 billion for the first quarter of 2023, this announcement arrives as a surprise to business analysts - their calculations predicted yet another decline in advertising sales for Q1 '23. Mark Zuckerberg - co-founder, executive chairman and CEO of Meta Platforms - has informed his investors that artificial intelligence-assisted systems have directed more user traffic to its social media platforms. Reels and Instagram have experienced the most user population growth, thanks to Meta's AI-driven recommendation system boosting engagement by 24% for the latter platform. The company's leader stated that AI-related operations are set to expand into generative tasking, visual creation tools (for Instagram) and business chatbots.

Meta is continuing to streamline its operations in 2023 - Zuckerberg has previously outlined plans for a year of "efficiency" with extensive plans already underway to reduce company-wide headcounts. 10,000 positions are set to be cut this year, and press coverage from last week revealed that Meta's gaming divisions being hit hard in terms of layoffs. Reports suggest that a third of the team at Ready at Dawn, an Oculus Rift-oriented development studio, were let go throughout that period. The social media and technology let go of 13,000 employees last year due to reduced profits margins. A return to better fortunes has not resulted in an immediate slowdown of headcount reduction - Meta is expected to carry on implementing its 2023 efficiency initiative.

Razer Announces the 2023 BlackShark V2 Pro Gaming Headset

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 27th, 2023 12:06 Discuss (0 Comments)

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today proudly unveiled the 2023 update to their most popular esports headset, the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro. This ultimate wireless headset is optimized for performance with cutting-edge audio, durable comfort, and ultra-fast connectivity. Boasting a new innovative Razer HyperClear Super Wideband Mic, built-in Pro-Tuned FPS Profiles, 70-hour battery life, Type C charging capabilities, Bluetooth connectivity, and more, the enhanced 2023 BlackShark V2 Pro has been designed in collaboration with some of the world's top esports players, including Hakis (Alliance), Shotzzy (OpTic Gaming), Dexter (MOUZ), Refsgaard (Ninjas in Pyjamas), & Stax (DRX).

"The iconic BlackShark headset is a longtime staple among esports pros and gamers for a reason," said Barrie Ooi, Head of Razer's PC Gaming Division. "And for this new version, we worked closely with pro gamers and embraced our 'For Gamers. By Gamers' philosophy to further refine the fundamentals of an esports class headset while introducing upgrades that we know gamers are looking for."

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Patriot Announces Release of V90 SDXC UHS-II U3 Class 10 SD Card

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 27th, 2023 12:00 Discuss (1 Comment)

PATRIOT, a global leader in performance memory, SSDs, and flash storage solutions, is proud to launch its newest high-performance SD line with the V90 SDXC UHS-II U3 Class 10 SD Card, built for professional photographers and digital filmmakers.

The Patriot V90 features optimized performance to support 4K/8K Ultra-HD shots, high-speed burst mode shots, and best-quality video recording with quick read speeds of up to 300 MB/s and write speeds of up to 260 MB/s. In addition, the Patriot V90 is designed and tested for top-class durability to withstand the toughest conditions, with a waterproof, shockproof, temperature-proof, and dustproof exterior to protect critical visual captures. The Patriot V90 is now available at major retailers worldwide with capacities of 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB.

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Age of Wonders 4 Arriving Next Week, Paradox Interactive Urges Fans to Pre-Order

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 27th, 2023 11:40 Discuss (6 Comments)

A brand new Age of Wonders is almost here! The newest installment in the iconic fantasy strategy game series from Triumph Studios, Age of Wonders 4, will launch on May 2, 2023 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S. Rule a Fantasy Realm of your Own Design! Powerful Wizard Kings have returned to the realms to reign as gods among mortals. Claim and master the Tomes of Magic to evolve your people, and prepare for an epic battle that will determine the ages to come. Explore new magical realms in Age of Wonders' signature blend of 4X strategy and turn-based tactical combat. Control a faction that grows and changes as you expand your empire with each turn. Experience an endlessly replayable experience, where each game adds a new chapter to your ever-growing saga.

Aric Rex Ruler & Athlan Imperial Armour Set
Rulers! We are happy to announce that Age of Wonders 4 is finally available for pre-order on all supported platforms. Don't miss the chance to rule a fantasy realm of your own design! Pre-order today to claim an additional ruler and armor set: Aric Rex, a Tigran High King, and his elegant Lion Plate armor, Imperial Cape and Athlan Crown. The game now is available in two editions: Standard and Premium, which includes an Expansion pass. Regardless of which edition you buy, a special pre-order bonus will be waiting for you in the game after the release.

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Microsoft Boss Continues Tirade Against UK Market Regulator, Following Blocking of Activision Blizzard Takeover

by

T0@st

Apr 27th, 2023 10:51 Discuss (44 Comments)

Brad Smith, vice chair and president at Microsoft has been doing the rounds with the UK press, and the incensed executive continues to express anger about the nation's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) preventing his company's proposed buyout of Activision Blizzard. The UK antitrust watchdog yesterday blocked the deal on the grounds that a merging of (already massive) games publishers could result in a potentially catastrophic skew in Microsoft's favor within the fast growing cloud gaming market sector. The CMA's latest findings suggest that the takeover would "lead to reduced innovation and less choice for UK gamers over the years to come." This verdict comes as a major blow to Microsoft's gaming division following a number of victories - including Japan's competition regulator approving the takeover bid late last month. The company's gaming division (Xbox Game Studios) is awaiting verdicts from the EU commission and US Federal Trade Commission.

In a business-themed podcast interview (conducted by the BBC), Microsoft boss Brad Smith declared that the UK government's blocking of the merger represented a bad move "for Britain" in terms of attracting international business. Microsoft has been operating in country for four decades, and Smith casts doubt on that relationship - in his opinion - the mega corporation has experienced its "darkest day" in the region: "It does more than shake our confidence in the future of the opportunity to grow a technology business in Britain than we've ever confronted before. People are shocked, people are disappointed, and people's confidence in technology in the UK has been severely shaken." Smith insists that fledgling companies should look elsewhere to start a base of operations: "There's a clear message here - the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business than the United Kingdom."

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SK Hynix Believes the Memory Chip Market Has Hit Rock Bottom

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 27th, 2023 10:18 Discuss (20 Comments)

Yesterday SK Hynix reported its Q1 2023 results and to say that they were abysmal is being kind, as the company reported a 3.4 trillion won operating loss, or just over US$2.5 billion. That's no small hit to take for any company, especially when it's only the performance for a single quarter. However, SK Hynix is apparently trying to see its situation from a positive perspective and believes that the memory chip market will rebound in the second half of this year. The positive outlook isn't just based on what SK Hynix believes though, as various analysts and securities companies believe in an upswing in the second half of the year.

That said, Micron, one of SK Hynix main competitors, has a more drab outlook for the remainder of 2023 and is expecting a tough year ahead. SK Hynix is expecting production cuts by itself, Micron and Samsung to start to take effect sometime in the second quarter this year, which should see inventory drop to more normal levels for all three companies. SK Hynix is also expecting to see a higher demand for DDR5 DRAM later this year, especially in the mobile and server market space. Finally, SK Hynix is hoping that its customers will buy higher density memory products this year, replacing older, lower density solutions, be that DRAM or NAND flash related. SK Hynix is expecting to launch its Gen 5 10 nm DRAM and 238-layer NAND sometime next year, which the company is also hoping will bring more income to its coffers, but the company still has to make it through the rest of 2023 first.

ASUS Unveils TUF Gaming A620-PRO WiFi ATX Motherboard

by

btarunr

Apr 27th, 2023 10:04 Discuss (14 Comments)

ASUS today unveiled the TUF Gaming A620-PRO WiFi, a Socket AM5 motherboard based on the entry-level AMD A620 chipset. When ASUS debuted its A620 motherboard lineup, it lacked a product in the ATX form-factor, and its top motherboard model at the time was the Micro-ATX TUF Gaming A620M-Plus WiFi. The new A620-PRO WiFi is feature-packed, and looks like a product from a segment above. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, and 8+4 pin EPS, and although you don't get CPU overclocking support with this chipset, there's plenty of CPU power delivery for even 12-core and 16-core processors. A 13-phase VRM conditions power for the processor.

The Socket AM5 is wired to four DDR5 DIMM slots, a PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slot, and two CPU-attached M.2 NVMe slots, each with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 wiring. A PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot (electrical Gen 3 x2), and two Gen 3 x1 slots wired to the A620 FCH, make for the rest of the expansion feature-set. Besides the CPU-attached M.2 NVMe slots, you get four SATA 6 Gbps ports from the A620 chipset for storage. Display connectivity includes a DisplayPort and HDMI. Networking connectivity consists of a 2.5 GbE wired Ethernet driven by a Realtek 8125 series controller; and 802.11ax (WiFi 6), with Bluetooth 5.3 (possibly an Intel WLAN module). USB ports include two 10 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 type-A, two 5 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 1 type-A and type-C, and four 5 Gbps ports via two internal USB 3.2 headers or internal ports, besides a handful USB 2.0 headers. The onboard audio solution is driven by an entry-level Realtek ALC892 CODEC, with 7.1-channel analog jacks. The motherboard offers USB BIOS Flashback. The company didn't reveal pricing.

GeForce NOW Gets Nine New Games, Including Resident Evil Titles

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 27th, 2023 09:55 Discuss (0 Comments)

Horror descends from the cloud this GFN Thursday with the arrival of publisher Capcom's iconic Resident Evil series. They're part of nine new games expanding the GeForce NOW library of over 1,600 titles.

New RTX 4080 SuperPODs are now live in Miami, Portland, Ore., and Stockholm. Follow along with the server rollout process, and make the Ultimate upgrade for unbeatable cloud gaming performance. The Resident Evil series makes its debut on GeForce NOW with Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil 7 Biohazard.

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Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.4335 Released

by

btarunr

Apr 27th, 2023 09:36 Discuss (3 Comments)

Intel today released the latest version of Arc GPU Graphics Drivers. Version 101.4335 Beta comes with optimization for "Star Wars: Jedi Survivor," "The Swordsmen X: Survival," and "Redfall." There are no new issues fixed with this release of the Arc GPU Graphics Drivers, but the company identified a number of issues spanning its Arc discrete GPUs, Iris Xe MAX discrete GPUs, and the iGPUs powering Intel Core processors (11th Gen onward). Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.4335 beta

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TSMC Certifies Ansys Multiphysics Solutions for TSMC's N2 Silicon Process

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 27th, 2023 09:34 Discuss (0 Comments)

Ansys and TSMC continue their long-standing technology collaboration to announce the certification of Ansys' power integrity software for TSMC's N2 process technology. The TSMC N2 process, which adopts nanosheet transistor structure, represents a major advancement in semiconductor technology with significant speed and power advantages for high performance computing (HPC), mobile chips, and 3D-IC chiplets. Both Ansys RedHawk-SC and Ansys Totem are certified for power integrity signoff on N2, including the effects of self-heat on long-term reliability of wires and transistors. This latest collaboration builds on the recent certification of the Ansys platform for TSMC's N4 and N3E FinFLEX processes.

"TSMC works closely with our Open Innovation Platform (OIP) ecosystem partners to help our mutual customers achieve the best design results with the full stack of design solutions on TSMC's most advanced N2 process," said Dan Kochpatcharin, head of the Design Infrastructure Management Division at TSMC. "Our latest collaboration with Ansys RedHawk-SC and Totem analysis tools allows our customers to benefit from the significant power and performance improvements of our N2 technology while ensuring predictively accurate power and thermal signoff for the long-term reliability of their designs."

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Gunnir Releases White Edition Arc A770 Photon OC Graphics Card

by

T0@st

Apr 27th, 2023 09:19 Discuss (7 Comments)

Gunnir unveiled its top-end Intel Alchemist card closer to the start of this year - and this week the Chinese company has started selling a white edition of the Arc A770 Photon 16G OC graphics card. It has been reported that this is a world first - no other Alchemist card on the market features a custom cooler finished in white. Gunnir's standard Photon OC model - fitted with a dark gray-ish triple-fan design - has been available for a few months, and a snazzy blue Flux OC model also exists but is restricted to 8 GB VRAM.

Regardless of color choices, Gunnir's range topping Photon OC cards feature the best mainstream graphics hardware that Team Blue has to offer - namely an Alchemist SKU as seen in the (reference design) Arc A770 Limited Edition 16 GB model. Intel's board partners are having a tough time shifting their Arc lineup of graphics cards - discerning customers are wary of relatively immature architectures - and Gunnir has chosen to introduce a seasonal price cut across the Alchemist range. The promotion offers Chinese customers (via Gunnir's JD.com store) discounts on A380 (max. 33%), and A770 (max. 13%) GPUs.

ASRock Releases New BIOS for AM5 Motherboards System Stability

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 27th, 2023 09:12 Discuss (0 Comments)

The recent escalating AMD Ryzen 7000X3D Series CPU issue has come to our attention, ASRock treats this type of incident seriously and would like to offer the most updated BIOS across our entire range of AM5 motherboards. ASRock has released new BIOS as well as A-Tuning utility for following AM5 chipset motherboards which limit CPU voltage on certain power rails. We encourage users to update to the new BIOS with the appropriate voltage settings urgently to ensure system stability and durability.

Apart from bringing rock-solid hardware products to PC users, ASRock is also keen on working with AMD and integrating the most up to date technologies into its products. If you're unsure about the risk of using old BIOS version, please seek professional support from ASRock customer service.

Cooler Master Launches Oracle Air Aluminium M.2 Storage Enclosure

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 27th, 2023 06:39 Discuss (10 Comments)

Cooler Master introduces Oracle Air, the inaugural product of its innovative storage enclosure line, designed to complement the modern digital experience. Leveraging state-of-the-art NVMe M.2 technology, this elegant aluminium SSD enclosure, delivers blazing-fast, effortlessly scalable, and portable storage solutions tailored for gaming enthusiasts and digital nomads alike. When one's daily routine entails traversing various locations while igniting innovative concepts and crafting artistic creations on the fly, reliable data storage becomes essential for safeguarding those invaluable moments.

Offering sturdy protection for creative assets during transit, Oracle Air also ensures swift data transmission to make the most of every moment in a busy lifestyle. Designed for effortless integration, users can easily switch between multiple SSDs or expand storage capacity without dealing with screws or tools. With built-in MOLLE compatibility, Oracle Air can be smoothly attached to backpacks and other carrying options, ensuring one's progress stays close at hand while exploring the world.

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ASUS ROG Ally Powered by AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Priced at $700

by

btarunr

Apr 27th, 2023 05:20 Discuss (98 Comments)

ASUS's sensational handheld game console, the ROG Ally, will be priced at $699.99 for the model powered by the top AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, according to a leak by SnoopyTech. This top model will feature a 7-inch Full HD screen with 120 Hz refresh-rate, and Dolby Atmos-capable audio. Under the hood, the Ryzen Z1 is based on the 4 nm "Phoenix" silicon, featuring an 8-core/16-thread "Zen 4" CPU, and its full Navi3 iGPU based on the RDNA3 graphics architecture, with 12 CU (768 stream processors). This chip is wired to 16 GB of LPDDR5 memory, and a 512 GB NVMe SSD.

ASUS has a cheaper model of the ROG Ally designed for cloud gaming and casual gaming, powered by the Ryzen Z1 (non-Extreme). The non-Extreme Z1 rocks a 6-core/12-thread "Zen 4" CPU, but a heavily cut down iGPU with just 4 CU (256 stream processors), which are plenty for the intended use-cases. ASUS could price this much lower than the top model, with speculations pointing to $499.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has Major CPU and GPU issues

by

GFreeman

Apr 27th, 2023 05:09 Discuss (33 Comments)

It appears that Electronic Arts' Star Wars Jedi: Survivor game will be yet another title that will need multiple patches to make it playable on the PC, as the game appears to have major CPU and GPU optimization issues. The situation is not better on either the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X consoles. As EA has lifted the review embargo, first details have started to show up online, including rather troubling information that the game can utilize up to 18 GB of VRAM at 1440p resolution.

Gamestar was running the game on AMD Ryzen 9 5900X with 32 GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, and it was not able to maintain 50 FPS at 1440p, let alone 4K/UHD resolution. What makes it strange is that the graphics card utilization was around 35 to 60 percent, which means the game has major CPU bottleneck issues. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is officially launching tomorrow, April 28th, so hopefully, we won't have to wait long for EA to release a patch or two.

ASUS ROG Announces Ryujin III All-in-One CPU Coolers with Simplified Fan Connection and Advanced Pump

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 27th, 2023 03:35 Discuss (3 Comments)

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced the new ROG Ryujin III series of all-in-one CPU coolers, with six different models to choose from. Armed with the latest 8th gen Asetek pump, a larger embedded pump fan, and a beefy 240 mm or 360 mm radiator, these units stand ready to tame CPU heat without breaking a sweat. Three style options cater to any aesthetic, and the customizable 3.5-inch LCD display helps users personalize their PC like never before.

To ensure there is an ROG Ryujin III AIO cooler in the perfect style for any build, ROG is launching several new variants. For builders who love the pristine surfaces of an all-white build—and the way that this finish uniquely reflects RGB LED lighting—ROG offers the Ryujin III 240 ARGB White Edition and the Ryujin III 360 ARGB White Edition. For those who prefer classic black, the ROG Ryujin III 240 ARGB and Ryujin III 360 ARGB beckon.

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Post-apocalyptic Strategy Revival: Recolonization's Release Date Trailer Revealed

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 27th, 2023 02:45 Discuss (6 Comments)

Revival: Recolonization is a 4x strategy game set on a post-apocalyptic version of Earth, where the terrain and rules of engagement can change during key moments. Players will lead a fledgling band of people as they rise up, improve their technologies - using all manner of weapons, from ballista to war elephants - and lead Humanity to re-take the Earth from an insane AI.

Revival: Recoloniation is the first entry in the Revival franchise to appear on PC. The first two entries debuted on feature phones. Revival: Recolonization, will enter Early Access on June 28, 2023, on Steam.

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Icy Dock Launches Dual NVMe SSD Dock PCIe Card

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 27th, 2023 02:17 Discuss (13 Comments)

Although not a new concept as such, especially as the company has already launched a a similar product for a single NVMe SSD, Icy Dock's new ToughArmor MB842MP-B dual NVMe SSD dock, could be handy for those that need to move large amounts of data on fast storage units. Another alternative would be for video professionals that want easy access to multiple projects, without having to access the projects over a network. The NVMe drive docks are tool-less to make it as easy as possible to add the NVMe drives and drives in the 2230 to the 22110 M.2 form factor are supported.

The dock itself features a PCIe x8 interface and tops out at PCIe 4.0 speed. However, there's no bridge controller on the card, so a system that supports PCIe bifurcation is required, or only one drive slot will be accessible. Each of the docking units feature an activity light and it's even possible to connect the PCIe card to the hard drive activity LED on a regular PC case. The ToughArmor MB842MP-B retails for US$249.99, with additional drive trays costing US$34.99.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4060 Come with 8GB : Leaked MSI Prebuilt Listing

by

btarunr

Apr 27th, 2023 02:07 Discuss (36 Comments)

NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4060, expected to make for a twin-launch in May 2023, will come with 8 GB as the standard memory size. This was confirmed in screenshots of a leaked listing of an MSI pre-built gaming desktop. The upcoming MSI MAG Infinite S3 comes with GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4060 GPU options, both of which have been mentioned in the listing as featuring 8 GB of graphics memory. The CPU options span between the Intel Core i5-13400F and the i7-13700F. 16 GB (2x 8 GB) main memory, and 1 TB SSD are the other standard equipment.

An 8 GB memory size confirms the 128-bit memory interface of the "AD106" silicon the RTX 4060 series is expected to be based on. 8 GB would actually be a downgrade compared to the current RTX 3060, which offers 12 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 192-bit memory bus. To be fair, the RTX 3060 Ti gives you just 8 GB of memory (albeit over a 256-bit wide memory bus). With the "Ada" graphics architecture powering the RTX 40-series, NVIDIA has significantly redesigned the memory sub-system of the GPU, with greater design emphasis on large on-die caches, so the GPU relies less on discrete memory bandwidth.

Samsung Electronics Announces First Quarter 2023 Results, Profits Lowest in 14 Years

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 27th, 2023 00:31 Discuss (0 Comments)

Samsung Electronics today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. The Company posted KRW 63.75 trillion in consolidated revenue, a 10% decline from the previous quarter, as overall consumer spending slowed amid the uncertain global macroeconomic environment. Operating profit was KRW 0.64 trillion as the DS (Device Solutions) Division faced decreased demand, while profit in the DX (Device eXperience) Division increased.

The DS Division's profit declined from the previous quarter due to weak demand in the Memory Business, a decline in utilization rates in the Foundry Business and continued weak demand and inventory adjustments from customers. Samsung Display Corporation (SDC) saw earnings in the mobile panel business decline quarter-on-quarter amid a market contraction, while the large panel business slightly narrowed its losses. The DX Division's results improved on the back of strong sales of the premium Galaxy S23 series as well as an enhanced sales mix focusing on premium TVs.

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Today's Reviews

CPU Coolers

• Corsair iCUE H170i Elite LCD XT Hardware Busters

Desktop PC

• Beelink SER5 Pro 5800H Basic Tutorials (de)

Headphones

• Quick Look: Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite In-Ear Monitors TechPowerUp

Memory

• Lexar Ares RGB DDR5-6000 Kit Think Computers

Monitors

• AGON by AOC AG325QZN Cowcotland (fr)

Mouse

• Cooler Master MM712 Wireless HardwareInside.de (de)

Networking

• EnGenius Fit EWS377-FIT LAN OC

Notebooks

• HP Omen 17 (2023) Basic Tutorials (de)

PSUs

• MSI MPG A1000G NikkTech

SSD

• Corsair MP600 Core XT 2TB ComputerBase (de)
• Corsair MP600 Core XT 2 TB TechPowerUp
• Corsair MP600 Core XT 2TB Tom's Hardware
• Corsair MP600 Core XT 2TB Tweaktown
• KLEVV CRAS C930 1TB Funkykit

Corsair MP600 Core XT 2 TB Review

Review SSD

The Corsair MP600 Core XT is a competitively priced entry-level M.2 NVMe solid-state-drive with support for PCI-Express 4.0. Under the hood it uses a Phison E21 controller, paired with 176-layer 3D QLC NAND flash from Micron.

Read Review

Quick Look: Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite In-Ear Monitors

Article Headphones

Kiwi Ears joins the TechPowerUp review database with its new Orchestra Lite set of in-ear monitors. Coming in two stunning color options, with a great cable, these in-ears punch well above its price class. Internally eight drivers are used to try and put forth a balanced sound with impactful bass, clean mids, and a smooth treble.

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AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT Launches on May 25

by

btarunr

Apr 26th, 2023 22:42 Discuss (59 Comments)

AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT reportedly launches on May 25, 2023. Moore's Law is Dead scored the key dates associated with the launch. The upcoming performance-segment graphics card is rumored to be based on the 5 nm "Navi 33" silicon and RDNA3 graphics architecture. Apparently, the tech press should have its samples to test by May 15, and AMD is taking a similar approach to NVIDIA's recent GeForce RTX 4070 launch, where cards priced at MSRP will be eligible to a review embargo that's a day sooner than that of non-MSRP cards. Reviews of MSRP cards go live on May 24, with those of non-MSRP cards following the next day on May 25, along with market availability. It's no wonder that we heard reports of RX 7600 series cards being shown off at Computex, all those cards will be available to purchase by then.

TSMC Showcases New Technology Developments at 2023 Technology Symposium

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 26th, 2023 22:26 Discuss (3 Comments)

TSMC today showcased its latest technology developments at its 2023 North America Technology Symposium, including progress in 2 nm technology and new members of its industry-leading 3 nm technology family, offering a range of processes tuned to meet diverse customer demands. These include N3P, an enhanced 3 nm process for better power, performance and density, N3X, a process tailored for high performance computing (HPC) applications, and N3AE, enabling early start of automotive applications on the most advanced silicon technology.

With more than 1,600 customers and partners registered to attend, the North America Technology Symposium in Santa Clara, California is the first of the TSMC's Technology Symposiums around the world in the coming months. The North America symposium also features an Innovation Zone spotlighting the exciting technologies of 18 emerging start-up customers.

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The Last of Us Part 1 Gets Big Title Update v1.0.4.0

by

GFreeman

Apr 26th, 2023 18:08 Discuss (12 Comments)

Naughty Dog and Iron Galaxy have released the new and big Title Update 1.0.4.0 for the PC version of The Last of Us Part 1, bringing CPU and GPU optimizations for the game, as well as fixing some previous bugs and crashes.

According to the release notes, the latest update optimizes CPU and GPU use throughout the game, as well as improves both texture and graphical fidelity and resolution on Low and Medium settings. There are several big fixes, including crashes that may occur when quitting to the main menu or during shader building, as well as the crash that may occur on AMD CPUs with affinity limited to X3D cores. There is also a fix for an issue where textures are rendered on AMD GPUs.

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V Rising: Secrets of Gloomrot Expansion Out Next Month

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 26th, 2023 16:16 Discuss (0 Comments)

Secrets of Gloomrot is a free V Rising expansion coming May 17th. Enter a massive new zone with two unique areas twisted in the pursuit of cruel science and raise your multi-level castle. Navigate polluted valleys and lightning-scorched highlands to face the mutated experiments and mechanical wonders spawned from the twisted imaginations of the Trancendum. Travel to the heights of Gloomrot and face their greatest creation - the ultimate weapon of war.

Delve Into the Realm of the Brilliantly Insane
A little taste of what is to come this May 17th, when V Rising will be updating with its first major content patch. Leap into battle upon your vampiric steed to cut down your foes. Travel new lands harrowed by experiments and pollution. Face new foes with new tools at your disposal. Seize the power of lightning, and meet science with Vampire sword and sorcery when you tangle with the master of Gloomrot, Doctor Henry Blackbrew.

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Xbox Design Lab Introduces Redfall Limited Edition Controllers

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 26th, 2023 14:36 Discuss (5 Comments)

Bite Back! Introducing Redfall Limited Edition Controllers with Xbox Design Lab: "If I have to be stuck on an island full of vampires, I'm glad it's with y'all." As you explore the thrilling world of Redfall, we are excited to bring you the newest additions to Xbox Design Lab with Redfall Limited Edition Designs inspired by the game's characters. Choose from one of five inspired designs, each with its own curated color scheme to match. Take your pick from the four playable heroes, Layla Ellison - The Telekinetic Threat; Remi De La Rosa - The Ingenious Ingeniera; Devinder Crousley - The Verified Cryptid Hunter; or Jacob Boyer - The Deadeye with an Undead Eye. And for those who prefer to embrace the darkness, the fifth design, Bite Back, offers a vampire-inspired look complete with red fangs and side caps highlighting the town of Redfall before and after the vampire invasion.

Each design highlights key aspects of each character and the game. Devinder's top case mimics rust and steel from his many adventures hunting cryptids, while Jacob's silver case is detailed with his hex pattern blue cloak and sniper scope markings. Layla's bombastic two-tone black and purple top case is accented with white accents bursting with personality, and Remi's top case shows off her robotics background with the same orange color as her drone, Bribón. You can also choose from one of four unique Redfall battery door engravings, offering a nod to different aspects of the game.

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Star Trek: Resurgence Launch Date Confirmed, Developer Dramatic Labs Apologizes for Delays

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 26th, 2023 14:20 Discuss (21 Comments)

Dramatic Labs answers your questions: "Where have we been? We know we've been quiet at times since we announced Star Trek: Resurgence at The Game Awards in December… 2021. You can rest assured we never stopped working on the game, but obviously we all expected it to be released by now. So why the delays? The short answer is because we are a relatively small development team, making a pretty big game, and that has been keeping us very busy! As you might know, we had initially hoped to have the game out in "Spring 2022," but it is now "Spring 2023."

What happened? Honestly, our initial target was just too aggressive. We were very excited to get Star Trek: Resurgence to everyone as fast as we could, but this is our first game as Dramatic Labs, and our first game built with the Unreal Engine. And along the way it became clear the game wouldn't be what we wanted if we kept that release window. We considered trying to hit the holiday season for 2022, but we decided that, if we were going to change the date, we should do it to make the best game we could. Not to meet some arbitrary marketing timeline. That's why we reset for a Spring 2023 release and now we're excited to finally announce a date: May 23, 2023!

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Warframe|The Duviri Paradox Roguelike Elements Explained in Gameplay Trailer

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 26th, 2023 13:57 Discuss (1 Comment)

Experience an all-new beginning for all players, whether it's your first step into Warframe or have been a 10 year veteran! The Duviri Paradox is a departure from the Warframe gameplay you've come to expect, figuratively and literally. A mind-bending unreality unlike anything you've ever seen awaits in Duviri - no matter where you are in your Warframe journey. Available to all players regardless of experience, Tenno can choose to begin at the ending and play The Duviri Paradox immediately upon launch. Experience it for yourself on all platforms and play through a brand new Cinematic Quest, a divergent and ever-changing open world, as well as a unique Endless game mode in The Circuit.

Take control of The Drifter and step into an endless cycle of life, death and rebirth as you battle to restore an astonishing new landscape from the oppressive clutches of the Child King, Dominus Thrax. Each Spiral in Duviri features its own story, unique new threats, and a constantly-shifting environment that will test your mettle. Discover familiar warriors within The Undercroft, customize each playthrough with the Decree system, and upgrade your Drifter with a new suite of Intrinsics. Duviri's frenetic, melee-focused combat rewards both skill and patience, as do new activities including Maw Fishing, Komi and more. Climb aboard your new Kaithe mount and experience The Duviri Paradox for yourself!

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Boox Introduces the Tab Ultra C 10.3" ePaper Tablet PC, More Colorful Than Rival E Ink Devices

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 26th, 2023 13:44 Discuss (3 Comments)

Boox is happy to introduce the Tab Ultra C: a 10.3" ePaper Tablet PC endowed with pastel colors. We are excited to announce the launch of Tab Ultra C, our latest color E Ink device in 2023, following the successful release of our iF Design Award winning Tab Ultra last year. In this article, you will discover the unique features that make Tab Ultra C a standout device for work and productivity.

State-of-the-art Color E Ink Screen
Tab Ultra C represents a significant milestone as our first device with the cutting-edge Kaleido 3 color E Ink screen technology, delivering a high resolution of 300 PPI for black and white, and 150 PPI for displaying an extensive palette of 4,096 colors. The screen also features the innovative E Ink ComfortGaze front light technology, designed to optimize viewing comfort during both daytime and nighttime use.

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Sony Patent Suggests External Optical Disc Drive Prepped for Modular PS5 Refresh

by

T0@st

Apr 26th, 2023 13:21 Discuss (16 Comments)

Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed a patent that is now viewable to the public - as spotted by SegmentNext today - and the newly registered device could be designed to function as part of an updated variant of the PlayStation 5 home video game console. The 2020-era patent document showcases a type of detachable optical disc drive, and industry experts reckon that this mountable media reading device is destined, following past rumors, to feature in an upcoming PlayStation 5 hardware revision.

No reference is made to Sony's popular gaming console within the patent filing, but it is highly likely that the new optical drive will factor into the refreshed console's modular makeup - its overall shape shares design aesthetics with the PS5. Sony currently offers customers two variants of the PlayStation 5 - the more advanced model is fitted with an internal 4K Blu-Ray compatible disc drive, while the other one functions as a purely digital download device. The modular revamp is expected to arrive later this year, in a more compact form factor that industry insiders have called "D chassis" - it is not known whether this variant will outright replace the older models. A more powerful PlayStation 5 "Pro" model is expected to arrive after the modular redesign, with tipsters pointing to a launch window in mid-to-late 2024.

Street Fighter 6 Demo Available Now on PC and Consoles

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 26th, 2023 12:42 Discuss (4 Comments)

Here comes Capcom's newest challenger! Street Fighter 6 launches worldwide on June 2nd, 2023 and represents the next evolution of the series. Powered by Capcom's proprietary RE ENGINE, the Street Fighter 6 experience spans across three distinct game modes featuring World Tour, Fighting Ground and Battle Hub. Street Fighter 6 has a diverse roster of 18 fighters - play legendary masters and new fan favorites like Ryu, Chun-Li, Luke, Jamie, Kimberly and more in this latest edition with each character featuring striking new redesigns and exhilarating cinematic specials.

Your Moment. Your Demo
The free demo for Street Fighter 6 is available now! Learn basic battle mechanics from the Tutorial, practice Luke and Ryu's moves in the Character Guide, and dip a toe into the first few moments of World Tour where you can create your customized avatar. The demo will give a small peek at the gargantuan experience that is the full game, but your custom avatar appearance can be transferred to the full game of the same platform once it releases.

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Steam Deck Adapted Into Automated Gun Turret System

by

T0@st

Apr 26th, 2023 12:27 Discuss (37 Comments)

The Steam Deck is a hit with enthusiasts who require a gaming fix on the move, and Valve has observed its handheld getting revamped heavily by the modification community - but a new adaptation takes the pint-sized PC onto the real battlefield. The GamingOnLinux site yesterday picked up on emerging details from the Ukraine frontline - TDF Media group has shared photos and videos of an automated gun turret system dubbed "Saber" that can be operated remotely. The Steam Deck has somehow become the preferred control method - its on-screen UI, trackpads, analog sticks and button layout factor into the gun turret's operation. A reader has informed me that Valve's hardware is not officially available for sale in the region, so the military must be sourcing units from a grey/dark market source.

Sergey Mohov, lead gameplay designer at Remedy Entertainment, reposted some of TDF Media's photos on his Twitter account earlier this week, and added that "this automatic turret is the best use of Steam Deck I've seen so far." The Territorial Defense Force organization has described the turret (translated) thusly: "Saber is a Ukrainian automated remote-controlled gun turret designed for stationary installation on static objects or moving vehicles. The Saber system's co-ordination is done via a remote control, camera and monitor - which allows combat from up to 500 m from the rig, while preserving the operator's life. This combat platform can be installed in a stationary (capacity) at checkpoints, border and other zones - it is even able to defeat low-flying enemy drones. The platform is flexible enough to accommodate any light anti-infantry or anti-tank weapon weapon - a good example being a Kalashnikov machine gun."

LG Announces its Slimmest Gram Laptop to Date

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 26th, 2023 11:40 Discuss (17 Comments)

LG Electronics USA launched the latest addition to its new 2023 LG gram laptop lineup - the LG gram SuperSlim. Designed with ultra-portability in mind, LG's gram SuperSlim laptops measure at just .43-inches thick, making it the thinnest LG gram ever. Exclusively available now at LG.com, customers who purchase an LG gram SuperSlim laptop through May 14 will receive a free LG gram +view portable monitor ($349.99 ARV). The LG gram SuperSlim will also be available at LG-authorized retailers by mid-May.

The LG gram SuperSlim is equipped with Intel's Evo 13th Gen Processor and Intel Iris Xe graphics as well as a brilliant 15.6-inch anti-glare OLED display with a 100 percent DCI-P33 color gamut and VESA DisplayHDR True Black, delivering exceptional image resolution with true-to-life detail and stunning, deep black levels.

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Apple Scrubs Bitcoin Manifesto Doc From Latest macOS Beta

by

T0@st

Apr 26th, 2023 11:36 Discuss (4 Comments)

Earlier on in April keen-eyed users of macOS uncovered the presence of a strange document hidden deep within Apple's operating system directories. It turns out that this Easter egg was a digital copy of the original Bitcoin whitepaper, it is speculated that Apple engineers have been running a long term prank by stashing the manifesto inside of every released version of macOS since 2018 - which indicates that Mojave was the starting point. According to yesterday's 9to5Mac-published article the cryptocurrency whitepaper (said to be authored by mysterious figure Satoshi Nakamoto) has been removed from the latest macOS Ventura build - 13.4 beta 3 (made available to developers).

The initial discovery of the manifesto received significant press coverage, and it seems that Apple has chosen to send in the cleanup crew at some point in the weeks since then. The file was sat alongside miscellaneous assets in a folder relating to an Image Capture application. The internal tool "VirtualScanner.app" has also been removed from the latest macOS beta build. The 9to5Mac piece posits that Apple's engineers never intended to include the prototype image and document scanner app in any finalized operating system releases - hence the burying of the program's assets deep inside system files.

Supernatural Farming Adventure Homestead Arcana Out Now on PC and Xbox

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 26th, 2023 10:44 Discuss (4 Comments)

Become a farming Witch and pioneer the range that has been mysteriously corrupted with Miasma. Discover the secret behind its appearance, grow plants to power up your spells, and use nature's magic to heal the land. Homestead Arcana is available now on Xbox and PC! Welcome to the magical frontier!

You're here! We're so glad you finally made it, we have a lot of work to do, here on the range. Now that Homestead Arcana is finally out, you can finally start your great adventure! With all this Miasma covering the land, you will have to establish your own homestead and power up your magic with nature before venturing out. Saving the world is no easy task, you know, but as a trained witch you surely are up to it! After you set up your first outpost, and plant first seedlings into the ground, head on to our Steam forum to share your adventures in the world of Homestead Arcana!

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Cigent Protects SSD Data from Ransomware Attacks Using AI Technology

by

AleksandarK

Apr 26th, 2023 10:44 Discuss (0 Comments)

Cigent Technology, a company specializing in data security, has unveiled its unique Cigent Secure SSD+ drives. In contrast to the earlier Secure SSD series, the SSD+ incorporates a cutting-edge AI microprocessor that leverages machine learning (ML) to combat ransomware attacks and protect drive data. The Cigent Secure SSD+ emphasizes a proactive approach, integrating attack prevention within the storage. Its AI microprocessor applies ML algorithms to monitor SSD activity, mitigating ransomware threats. Users can customize detection sensitivity to reduce false positives. Working with Cigent Data Defense software, the Secure SSD+ provides several protective layers upon detecting potential attacks. It can initiate a "Shields Up" mode, demanding multi-factor authentication (MFA) for accessing secure files. The software can also auto-secure drive data or set read-only mode, preventing unauthorized access or modifications.

When an attack is detected, the software notifies security personnel to activate "Shields Up" on other Cigent-protected network systems. The Cigent Secure SSD+ logs data access, allowing a review of all activity performed on the drive. The company has also introduced safeguards to deter bad actors from disabling security features. However, the Cigent Secure SSD+ has limitations. To perform as intended, future users of these drives need to install them as their primary storage, and for now, only Windows OS is supported. We expect to see expansion to Linux as well, as software enablement for Linux happens. Also, the ML algorithms used are unknown, leaving everyone wondering about their effectiveness. As far as exact specifications, pricing, and availability, we have yet to have data for now but don't expect it to come cheap. The regular Secure SSD can cost over 1,000 USD for a 1 TB option. Additionally, Cigent has confirmed that these SSDs come in a standard M.2 2280 drive form factor, with mentions that it is a double-sided design, so some ultra-thin laptops could not support it. On the company website, Cignet offers a pre-order option, where you need to fill out a form.

EK-Quantum Surface Radiator Family Expanded With Black Editions

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 26th, 2023 10:25 Discuss (4 Comments)

EK, the premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is expanding the EK-Quantum Surface radiator portfolio. This radiator series has already garnered high praise, won multiple awards at reputable review-based websites, and is now being expanded with Black Editions. The EK-Quantum Surface radiators are built upon years of development and market research to provide the best possible product with mechanically rigid and top-performing finishes. These radiators are EK-Matrix7 compatible, as EK focuses on bringing the Matrix7 standard into all aspects of water cooling and beyond, enabling users to create stunning and professional-looking builds in a much more user-friendly way.

EK-Quantum Surface Radiators Black Edition
The new Black Edition EK-Quantum Surface P radiators come in two sizes - 240 mm and 360 mm. With a thickness of 44 mm, the EK-Quantum P Series Surface radiators are the absolute all-rounders for low noise and high performance across the entire fan operational range.

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Lexar Announces ARES RGB DDR5-6000 32GB (2x 16GB) Memory Kit with EXPO and XMP

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 26th, 2023 10:03 Discuss (0 Comments)

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is excited to announce Lexar ARES RGB DDR5 Desktop Memory. Specifically designed for gaming, this next-gen DDR5 memory delivers superior performance with speeds starting at 5600 MHz and up to 6000 MHz, and with quick CL32-36-36-68 / CL34-38-38-76 timings (XMP 3.0 & EXPO). A premium aluminium heatspreader keeps the gaming system cool for ultra-fast performance.

Lexar ARES RGB DDR5 Desktop Memory features on-board Power Management IC (PMIC) to provide better power control and power delivery and it also includes Lexar RGB Sync which lets gamers customize the RGB LED to their own style. "Lexar ARES RGB DDR5 Desktop Memory provides the performance that gamers need to master the latest games—and the upcoming titles that will require the speed and capacity of DDR5," said Joey Lopez, Director Brand Marketing. "And in addition to the performance, this memory also features Lexar RGB Sync so gamers can play in style."

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Maingear Ships Gaming Desktops Powered by Intel Arc A750 Graphics

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 26th, 2023 09:55 Discuss (1 Comment)

Today, award-winning systems integrator MAINGEAR introduced a new line of PC gaming desktops equipped with Intel Arc A750 Limited Edition GPUs, opening up advanced high-performance gaming experiences at an affordable price point. With AI-enhanced Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) upscaling, and the latest breakthroughs in graphics technologies, MAINGEAR PCs with Intel Arc A750 Limited Edition GPUs offer the perfect entry point for those looking to take their game to the next level. Experience high-refresh gaming from the latest AAA games, high-octane esports titles, and then some. Pre-configured options, including the flagship MG-1, can be purchased through MAINGEAR starting at $999 USD.

"Intel is on a mission to bring balance back to the market by offering great performance per dollar with GPUs featuring modern technologies such as XeSS AI-based upscaling, powerful ray tracing hardware, and AV1 encoding," said Qi Lin, Intel Sr. Director Client Graphics Group. "MAINGEAR has a reputation of using the best quality parts and including the Intel Arc A750 Limited Edition GPUs in the MG-1 and VYBE systems validates the tremendous progress we've made with consistent driver updates to increase performance and support new games on day of release. We look forward to more gamers enjoying what Arc graphics has to offer."

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Sparkle Re-Enters GPU Market with Intel Arc Alchemist Graphics Cards

by

AleksandarK

Apr 26th, 2023 09:47 Discuss (9 Comments)

Sparkle, a Taiwanese computer electronics maker, is again entering the GPU market after almost ten years of inactivity in the space. A while back, Sparkle was one of NVIDIA's original Add-In Board (AIB) partners and helped them launch the GeForce 7900 PCI GPU. The company continued to make NVIDIA-based GPUs until GTX 700 series in 2013. After a decade, Sparkle is back again with ambitions to be Intel's AIB partner and announced not one but three graphics cards to start. Called A750 Titan, A750 Orc, and A380 Elf, these cards feature triple-fan, dual-fan, and single-fan coolers, respectively.

The first in line is the Sparkle A750 Titan, a triple-fan, 2.5-slot design based on Intel Arc A750 GPU. Featuring 8 GB of GDDR6 VRAM, this top-end A750 SKU is clocked at 2300 MHz, up from the factory's 2050 MHz frequency. Titan's smaller brother is Sparkle A750 Orc, a dual-fan, "2.2"-slot (we assume smaller than two and a half and bigger than two slots) GPU with the same A750 GPU; however, it clocked slightly lower at 2200 MHz. Both models feature single HDMI 2.0 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0 output ports and require two 8-pin PCI power connectors. Lastly, we have the Sparkle A380 Elf, a half-length, ITX-sized GPU that fits in two slots and has a single-fan cooler. It is based on Intel Arc A380 and has identical specifications without factory overclocks applied. Pricing and availability are currently unknown.

Microsoft Activision Blizzard Merger Blocked by UK Market Regulator Citing "Cloud Gaming Concerns"

by

btarunr

Apr 26th, 2023 09:22 Discuss (20 Comments)

The United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority (UK-CMA) on Wednesday blocked the proposed $68.7 billion merger of Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard. In its press-releasing announcing its final decision into an investigation on the question of how the merger will affect consumer-choice and innovation in the market, the CMA says that the merger would alter the future of cloud gaming, and lead to "reduced innovation and less choice for United Kingdom gamers over the years to come." Cloud gaming in this context would be games rendered on the cloud, and consumed on the edge by gamers. NVIDIA's GeForce NOW is one such service.

Microsoft Azure is one of the big-three cloud computing providers (besides AWS and Google Cloud), and the CMA fears that Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard IP (besides its control over the Xbox and Windows PC ecosystems), would "strengthen that advantage giving it the ability to undermine new and innovative competitors." The CMA report continues: "Cloud gaming needs a free, competitive market to drive innovation and choice. That is best achieved by allowing the current competitive dynamics in cloud gaming to continue to do their job." Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard are unsurprisingly unhappy with the verdict.

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NVIDIA Forces MSI to Unlaunch and Recall GeForce RTX 3060 Ti SUPER 3X Graphics Card Over Confusing Naming

by

btarunr

Apr 26th, 2023 08:28 Discuss (31 Comments)

NVIDIA has reportedly forced MSI to cancel the launch of its GeForce RTX 3060 Ti SUPER 3X graphics card that the company debuted earlier this month. MSI has also instituted a recall of the card from the retail channel. This is over its confusing name that makes it sound like NVIDIA released a "GeForce RTX 3060 Ti SUPER" SKU, potentially affecting the sales of RTX 3060 Ti graphics cards by other board partners.

"SUPER 3X" is an MSI brand extension given to a custom-design RTX 3060 Ti G6X graphics card that has an identical board design to that of the MSI RTX 3070 Ti SUPRIM, which the company probably had a hard time selling, and later reconfigured as RTX 3060 Ti by fusing the shaders. Probably not wanting to bring its coveted SUPRIM brand extension to the performance segment, MSI decided to give it a new brand-extension. This co-branding job was so sloppy, that you can see remnants of the old SUPRIM brand still printed the card's backplate.

AMD Releases First Statement on Ryzen 7000X3D Series Burn-out Issues

by

btarunr

Apr 26th, 2023 07:41 Discuss (52 Comments)

AMD late Tuesday released its first media statement on the controversy surrounding Ryzen 7000X3D series processors burning-out as a result of voltage-assisted overclocking. We've covered this in detail, in our older article. The AMD statement reads that the company is aware of the issue, is investigating it, and in the meantime, is getting motherboard- and ODM vendors to ensure that their device firmware/BIOS operate Ryzen 7000X3D processors within the correct voltage tolerances. The statement also called for affected users to reach out to AMD Support.

AMD Statement"We are aware of a limited number of reports online claiming that excess voltage while overclocking may have damaged the motherboard socket and pin pads. We are actively investigating the situation and are working with our ODM partners to ensure voltages applied to Ryzen 7000X3D CPUs via motherboard BIOS settings are within product specifications. Anyone whose CPU may have been impacted by this issue should contact AMD customer support."

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Jacob Freeman of EVGA Joins NVIDIA as GeForce Evangelist

by

btarunr

Apr 26th, 2023 05:34 Discuss (65 Comments)

Jacob Freeman is a name synonymous with "EVGA GeForce" for as long as we've known the brand. We are excited to report that he is now employed directly by NVIDIA as GeForce Evangelist, a position that has roles from both the technical marketing and product marketing departments, for NVIDIA's all-important gaming graphics product division.

Jacob writes in a Twitter post announcing his big life update: "This passion for gaming and hardware eventually turned into a career spanning 20+ years, and today I am happy to announce that I have joined NVIDIA as a GeForce Evangelist. In this role I will continue to work with the PC gaming community, press and influencers on new programs and features in the GeForce ecosystem. Given my history and passion for PC gaming and hardware, I cannot think of a better role for myself and I am very excited to be a part of the NVIDIA GeForce team!"

EVGA was one of the most respected NVIDIA add-in card (AIC) partners, commanding the highest market share in the North American market. The company's sudden and unexpected decision to withdraw from the graphics card business in late-2022, and just ahead of the GeForce 40-series "Ada" launch left DIY PC industry poorer, since we lost a brand that set product design and quality standards, in which we're sure Jacob played a major role. As GeForce Evangelist, Jacob Freeman will be instrumental in communicating the latest in the world of GeForce not just with gamers, but also content creators, and industry partners. We at TechPowerUp wish Jacob all the very best in his new role, and we can't wait to work with him.

GIGABYTE Releases Updated Motherboard BIOS Preventing Ryzen 7000X3D CPU Issues

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 26th, 2023 05:24 Discuss (4 Comments)

Since the highly-expected AMD Ryzen 7000X3D-series CPUs launched by AMD, GIGABYTE has provided the best quality AM5 motherboards to unleash the performance of these best gaming processors. GIGABYTE always work closely with AMD to ensure our motherboard design within AMD's guidelines and provide supreme performance with reliability from all aspect. To consistently deliver the most remarkable and solid platform, GIGABYTE release the new beta BIOS regarding to the recent concerns of potential motherboard damaged issues with Ryzen 7000X3D-series CPUs.

The latest beta BIOS provides a more secure range of SOC voltage settings to reduce the risk of CPU damage due to over-voltage settings. Meanwhile, through the GIGABYTE exclusive Performance Bung in the BIOS option, users can easily optimize the tuning process of CPU voltage setting, while obtain the optimal CPU voltage by AMD PBO2 option, which both help to unleash the foremost performance of Ryzen 7000 X3D CPUs.

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Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.4314 WHQL Released

by

btarunr

Apr 26th, 2023 05:19 Discuss (2 Comments)

Intel Graphics today released the latest version of the Arc GPU Graphics Drivers. Version 101.4314 WHQL doesn't add optimization for any new games, but there are some feature additions. The drivers add Vulcan Video Extensions support for hardware-accelerated H.265/HEVC decode. The extensions provide means for applications to use video acceleration features of GPUs without involving DirectX. Besides this, the new drivers fix an issue where some USB audio devices exhibit intermittent audio stuttering (caused by haphazard OS tick-rate with these GPUs present).

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.4314 WHQL

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ADATA Announces the XPG XENIA 15G Gaming Laptop

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 26th, 2023 05:09 Discuss (6 Comments)

XPG, a fast-growing provider of systems, components, and peripherals for Gamers, Esports Pros, and Tech Enthusiasts, today announced its most powerful laptop to date, the XENIA 15G Gaming Laptop. This impressive laptop was designed for gamers and tech enthusiasts seeking the perfect balance between performance and value. XPG XENIA 15G comes with a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700H processor, up to a GeForce RTX 4070 laptop GPU, coupled with a combination of hand-picked ADATA DDR5 memory and a PCIe Gen 4 LEGEND SSD, to deliver extreme gaming experiences.

XENIA 15G takes advantage of the latest generation improvements in components on the market. At its foundation, it features a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700H processor with 14 cores (6 performance cores boosting up to 5 GHz, and 8 efficient cores for power saving). On the Graphics front, XENIA 15G sports an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40-series laptop GPU based on NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture, a leap in computing performance with AI-powered DLSS 3, so you can enjoy higher framerates even in lifelike virtual worlds with demanding real-time ray tracing requirements.

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Team Group Announces the MP44, MP44S, and MP34S M.2 SSDs in Various Sizes

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 26th, 2023 04:41 Discuss (1 Comment)

Global memory brand, Team Group, is committed to providing the best solutions in the storage market. Today, it's launching three M.2 SSDs to meet various needs in size and performance. Equipped with a special breakthrough of cooling technology, they are the MP44 M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD, the MP44S M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD, and the Gen 3-supported MP34S M.2 PCIe SSD. They offer expanded capacity and reliable stability with compatibility across different generations, making them the perfect choices for your next storage upgrade.

The MP44 M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD features read and write speeds of up to 7,400 MB/s and 7,000 MB/s, respectively, and has a massive storage capacity of up to 8 TB. Not only does it satisfy your large capacity needs, but it also provides silky-smooth performance. It features the industry's first patented and exclusive ultra-thin graphene cooling label with a thermally conductive material of less than 1 mm thick and closely attached to the M.2 SSD. MP44 measures 22 mm wide and 80 mm long, allowing for quick and easy installation and pairing with a motherboard's original M.2 slot heat sink to greatly enhance thermal performance of the SSD.

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Rapidus to Start Production of 2 nm Fab in Chitose, Gets Cash Injection from Japanese Government

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 26th, 2023 04:13 Discuss (3 Comments)

Future Japanese chipmaker Rapidus has announced that their first fab will be located in Chitose, Hokkaido, located in northern Japan. The planned 2 nm fab will be one of the most advanced fabs in the world once it's ready and construction is said to be starting in September, thanks to approval by the related Japanese government agencies. So far, the Japanese government has approved 330 billion yen for Rapidus, with the most recent investment being 260 billion yen or the equivalent of US$1.94 billion.

However, the total investment into the 2 nm fab is expected to end up somewhere around 5 trillion yen (~US$37.5 billion) in total investments before the fab is ready for mass production. Rapidus is collaborating with IBM and has already sent a group of researchers to its Albany Nanotech facility in upstate New York, which is one of the world's most advanced semiconductor research facilities. At the same time, Japan is working on building a local talent pool of researchers and semiconductor plant workers, by spearheading specialised training for select university students from Japan's top universities. Time will tell if this gamble pays off for Japan, as it's going to be a huge investment before the new fab stands ready in early 2025.

Microsoft FY23 Q3 Earnings Report Shows Losses for OEM Business and Hardware

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 26th, 2023 02:28 Discuss (2 Comments)

Microsoft Corp. today announced the following results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year:

• Revenue was $52.9 billion and increased 7% (up 10% in constant currency)
• Operating income was $22.4 billion and increased 10% (up 15% in constant currency)
• Net income was $18.3 billion and increased 9% (up 14% in constant currency)
• Diluted earnings per share was $2.45 and increased 10% (up 14% in constant currency)

"The world's most advanced AI models are coming together with the world's most universal user interface - natural language - to create a new era of computing," said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft. "Across the Microsoft Cloud, we are the platform of choice to help customers get the most value out of their digital spend and innovate for this next generation of AI."

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US Government Announces the National Semiconductor Technology Center

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 26th, 2023 01:23 Discuss (16 Comments)

As a part of the CHIPS act, the US government has announced that it will set up a network for advanced chip design that goes under the name of the National Semiconductor Technology Center or NSTC. The NSTC is intended to help the US pull ahead of other nations when it comes to advanced chip design, but it's also meant to help reduce the time and maybe more importantly the cost of going from a design concept to a final commercial product. A big part of this is said to be about helping startups and entrepreneurs make prototypes and pilot runs, to enable them to bring proof of concepts to the market, so they can raise funds for a full production run.

However, it doesn't stop there, as the US government also wants the NSTC to help build and sustain a suitable workforce for the semiconductor industry, suggesting that the NSTC will be involved in academia as well as the industry itself. The NSTC is backed by the Commerce Department and it's expected to involve multiple locations nationwide, although at this point in time, it's not clear if this involves new locations outside of areas where the US based semiconductor industry is located today. Even the NSTC headquarter location has as yet to be decided, but its location alongside other sites are said to be worked out over the next few months. Time will tell if the NSTC will help bring change to the US semiconductor industry, but it seems like a step in the right direction.

AMD Radeon RX 7600 Early Sample Offers RX 6750 XT Performance at 175W: Rumor

by

btarunr

Apr 26th, 2023 00:57 Discuss (91 Comments)

AMD is expected to debut its performance-segment Radeon RX 7600 RDNA3 graphics card in May-June 2023, with board partners expected to show off their custom-design cards in the 2023 Computex (June). Moore's Law is Dead reports that they've spoken to a source with access to an early graphics card sample running the 5 nm "Navi 33" silicon that powers the RX 7600. This card, with development drivers (which are sure to be riddled with performance limiters); offers a 11% performance uplift over the Radeon RX 6650 XT, and a gaming power draw of 175 W (the RX 6650 XT pulls around 185-190 W).

This is still an early sample running development drivers, but a 11% performance boost puts it in the league of the Radeon RX 6700 XT. Should a production RX 7600 with launch-day drivers put on another 5-7% performance over this, the RX 7600 could end up with performance roughly matching the RX 6750 XT (a slim performance lead over the RTX 3070 in 1080p gaming). Should its power draw also hold, one can expect custom-design graphics cards to ship with single 8-pin PCIe power connectors. A couple of nifty specs of the RX 7600 also leaked out in the MLID report: Firstly, that 8 GB will remain the standard memory size for the RX 7600, as it is for the current RX 6650 XT. Secondly, the RX 7600 engine clock is reported to boost "above" 2.60 GHz.

LattePanda Launches the Sigma SBC Server

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 26th, 2023 00:49 Discuss (8 Comments)

LattePanda launched the powerful and hackable single board server, the LattePanda Sigma. With its super computing power, this device opens up endless possibilities for tech enthusiasts, developers, small businesses & enterprises. With its innovative design and unique features, the LattePanda Sigma is poised to redefine the world of single board servers and drive innovation to new heights.

The LattePanda Sigma is powered by the 13th-generation Intel Core i5-1340P Rapter Lake (12-Core, 16-Thread) processor and features Intel Iris Xe Graphics, providing optimal graphics performance. Its optimized power consumption minimizes power usage by almost 50%, making it an eco-friendly choice. With 16 GB of high-speed Dual-Channel LPDDR5-6400 MHz RAM, the LattePanda Sigma can handle even the most demanding tasks with ease, making it perfect for graphic design, gaming, and video editing.

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BIOSTAR Releases a New BIOS Update to Limit Ryzen 7000X3D Voltages

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 26th, 2023 00:42 Discuss (2 Comments)

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, has released a new BIOS update for its X670E VALKYRIE, RACING B650EGTQ, and B650M-SILVER motherboards. This update aims to limit the voltages of AMD Ryzen 7000X3D processors, ensuring improved CPU safety. Recent reports suggest that AMD Ryzen 7000X3D processors are prone to physical damage when overclocked with voltage assistance. This has prompted motherboard vendors to rush BIOS updates with voltage limiters, and BIOSTAR is no exception.

The new BIOS update from BIOSTAR restricts direct voltage to CPU Vcore Voltage, CPU SOC Voltage, and CPU MISC Voltage, preventing over-voltage and reducing the risk of damage to the 7000X3D series CPUs. Additionally, BIOSTAR also has PBO (Precision Boot Overdrive, Default: Auto) function to provide the best performance for 7000X3D series CPUs even under Voltage restrictions.

DOWNLOAD: the latest motherboard BIOS updates for BIOSTAR X670E Valkyrie | BIOSTAR Racing B650E GTQ | BIOSTAR B650M Silver

QNAP Partners with Hailo to Bring Cutting-edge AI-powered Surveillance Solutions

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 26th, 2023 00:15 Discuss (0 Comments)

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, announced a partnership with Hailo, the pioneering chipmaker of edge artificial intelligence (AI) processors. This partnership brings cutting-edge AI-powered facial recognition and people counting solutions to surveillance systems with boosted performance using the Hailo-8 M.2 AI acceleration module.

The partnership sees Hailo's advanced AI acceleration technology integrated with QNAP's QVR Face, a smart facial recognition solution, and QVR Human people counting solution. The combined solution boosts video recognition performance and capabilities, making it the ideal choice for an economical centralized security and AI surveillance solution in large-scale deployment.

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Today's Reviews

Accessories

• Razer Stream Controller Hardware Journal (de)

Keyboards

• ASUS ROG Azoth Tweaktown

Memory

• Lexar Ares RGB DDR5-6000 32GB Kit APH Networks
• Lexar Ares RGB DDR5-6000 32GB Kit Funkykit

Mouse

• Razer Basilisk V3 Pro Tom's Hardware

Notebooks

• ASUS ROG Scar 18 Cowcotland (fr)

Other

• Dead Island 2: FSR 2.2 TechPowerUp

PSUs

• Seasonic Vertex GX 1000W Guru3D

SSD

• Acer Predator GM7 1 TB TechPowerUp

Acer Predator GM7 1 TB Review - Impressive Performance

Review SSD

The Acer Predator GM7 uses Maxio's new MAP1602A controller paired with YMTC 128-Layer TLC at an aggressive price point of only $66 for the tested 1 TB version. Our review confirms, this new drive is able to match the performance of famous drives like Samsung 980 Pro and WD Black SN850.

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Dead Island 2: FSR 2.2 Review

Review Game Testing

Dead Island 2 is out now, with support for AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.2 (FSR 2.2). In this mini-review we take a look, comparing the image quality and performance gains offered by FSR 2.2.

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AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT Price Cuts Continue, Now as Low as $762

by

btarunr

Apr 25th, 2023 23:14 Discuss (13 Comments)

Prices of the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT RDNA3 graphics card continue on a downward trend, with the cheapest street price now touching $762. This is $137 below the AMD MSRP for the RX 7900 XT of $899, or a 15.23% reduction. At this price, the RX 7900 XT is priced already below several custom-design GeForce RTX 4070 Ti models. At stock frequency, the RX 7900 XT beats the RTX 4070 Ti by around 6% in conventional raster 3D graphics that makes up the majority of the gaming graphics workload, while its ray tracing performance is closer to that of the previous-generation RTX 3080 Ti or RTX 3090. The specific model in question is the XFX Speedster MERC 310 Radeon RX 7900 XT, with the $762 price surfacing on Amazon for $771.09 with a $10 checkbox coupon that's visible to buyers in the U.S.

KLEVV Introduces the Lates CRAS V RGB and BOLT V DDR5 Gaming Memory

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 25th, 2023 22:05 Discuss (5 Comments)

KLEVV, an emerging memory brand introduced by Essencore, is excited to unveil two new high performance DDR5 overclocking memory, the CRAS V RGB and the BOLT V. Designed to cater to a wide range of users, the CRAS V RGB and BOLT V DDR5 memory empower all aspects of computational requirements. They deliver outstanding performance on the latest AMD and Intel platforms, from gaming to content creation, with Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD EXPO overclocking features. Furthermore, the CRAS V RGB and BOLT V DDR5 memory are fully battle-hardened, passing the QVL tests required by major motherboard manufacturers. With strictly selected memory chips and meticulous manufacturing processes, they ensure the highest level of reliability, tailored to perform multitasking operation effortlessly.

Released under KLEVV's flagship memory range, the CRAS V RGB memory features modern design refined with exquisite attention to detail. Precision crafted aluminium heatsink highlighted by signature RGB lights visible on both top and fine gaps on the sides make for a sight to behold. The RGB lights are fully customizable and controllable with third-party software provided by world-renown motherboard manufacturers like ASUS, ASROCK, Gigabyte, and MSI with corresponding hardware, serving as the centerpiece of any build. The 32 GB (16 GB x2) 288 Pin DDR5 unbuffered DIMM kits are available in four base clock options starting at 6000MT/s, 6400MT/s, 7200MT/s, 7600MT/s, and extending up to blazing-fast 8000 MT/s.

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SK hynix Reports First Quarter 2023 Financial Results

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 25th, 2023 20:40 Discuss (0 Comments)

SK hynix Inc. (or "the company", www.skhynix.com) today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. The company recorded revenues of 5.088 trillion won, operating loss of 3.402 trillion won (with operating margin of negative 67%), and net loss of 2.586 trillion won (with net profit margin of negative 51%) in the first quarter of 2023.

"As the memory chip downturn continued through the first quarter, the company posted a sequential drop in revenues and widened operating loss on sluggish demand and falling products prices," SK hynix said. "But we expect revenues to rebound in the second quarter after bottoming out in the first, driven by a gradual increase in sales volume."

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Microsoft Flight Simulator World Update Adds Regions of Oceania & Antarctica

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 25th, 2023 16:11 Discuss (8 Comments)

Experience the vast regions of Oceania and the magnificence of Antarctica in Microsoft Flight Simulator's latest World update. Explore some of the most exotic regions on Earth in World Update XIII. Microsoft Flight Simulator is thrilled to add to the beauty of the simulator with fascinating new landscapes. Known as both a continent and a geographic region, and straddling the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Hemispheres, Oceania is comprised of remote coral islands, long stretches of white sand beaches, towering volcanoes, vast interior sweeps of uninhabited rainforest, and populated cities boasting modern architectural wonders. Antarctica is a dream destination for aviators with adventure, intrigue, and boundless vistas of pristine coastal and inland glaciated terrain.

Microsoft Flight Simulator's World Update XIII includes Polynesia (Hawaii and Easter Island), Melanesia (Fiji, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Indonesia's West Papua, and the Solomon Islands), the Galapagos Islands and key regions of Antarctica, notably the Antarctic Peninsula. The update provides a total of 13 countries and 28 non-sovereign territories, many with improved resolution that will allow pilots to experience stunning new vistas throughout these regions. The release is based on the latest aerial photographs, satellite imagery, and digital elevation modelling data. There is an updated height field for Hawaii and features the city of Honolulu with dozens of handmade buildings.

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Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome Ready to Pre-Order

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 25th, 2023 15:48 Discuss (8 Comments)

Where were you in 1998? Perhaps listening to Cher's Believe, watching Titanic, playing with your Tamagotchi and relaxing on your inflatable couch? Or were you playing the Age of Empires DLC The Rise of Rome? This beloved evolution of the first Age of Empires game has taken on a new form and joined the Definitive Edition era in the Return of Rome DLC for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.

Yes, you read that correctly, Age of Empires content available in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. Bringing the civilizations and action of ancient worlds to AoE II: DE. Purchasers will be able to switch to Return of Rome in the game's main screen and take on fresh challenges.

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Nier: Automata Sold 7.5 Million Copies, Creator Evasive Over Possible Sequel

by

T0@st

Apr 25th, 2023 15:20 Discuss (11 Comments)

The official NieR Series Twitter account declared a sales milestone this week, and showed a great appreciation for its fanbase: "You'll be delighted to hear more than 7.5 million copies of NieR: Automata have been sold or shipped to date. Thank you for your love and support!" PlatinumGames' action role-playing game has accumulated very decent numbers over a six year period - NieR: Automata first arrived on PlayStation 4 and PC back in March of 2017. Thanks to highly favorable reviews from the computer game press, and word of mouth spread throughout the gaming community, the unlikely spin-off (from the Drakengard series) has become an enduring classic. It also helps that NieR: Automata broke free from being a PS4 and PC timed exclusive, and later on found its way onto the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

It is probably safe to assume that NieR: Automata has made a return on its production budget, so talk naturally turns to the prospects of a hypothetical third entry in the series. PlatinumGames and the game's creator, Yoko Taro, have remained very tight-lipped about a possible continuation. The normally eccentric video game director took a more straightforward approach when sharing good news about his game's healthy sales figures: "It seems that 7.5 million copies have been sold. It's so awesome that it makes me dizzy. I can't exceed this number for the rest of my life…I can only thank everyone who supported me!" Taro has taken a more evasive stance when dealing with questions regarding a third Nier title.

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Intel Meteor Lake Desktop CPUs Spotted in Presentation, Leak Indicates Core i3 and i5 Only

by

T0@st

Apr 25th, 2023 13:56 Discuss (27 Comments)

Following on from yesterday's news of Meteor Lake's "Adamantine" L4 cache another leaky bit of information has popped up. A tipster on Twitter, Bionic_squash, has uploaded a slide from a supposedly official Intel presentation document, and it shows a small selection of Meteor Lake-S and Arrow Lake-S desktop CPUs, as well as the refreshed Raptor Lake-S series. The majority of recent leaks have pointed to laptop variants of Intel's fourteenth generation Core lineup, and not much has emerged about a desktop-dedicated range in a while - prompting further murmurs about Team Blue canning that side of things. The Meteor Lake-S family is still in the works according to the leaked chart and industry experts reckon that a product launch is due later in the year.

By looking closely at the chart, it shows that the Meteor Lake-S desktop processors are limited to 35 and 65 W TDPs, meaning that Core i3 and i5 lines are the only offerings within the 14th generation desktop lineup. Performance enthusiasts will need to look at the 15th gen Arrow Lake-S lineup - where the big i7 and i9 CPUs (up to 125 W) sit, or the refreshed Raptor Lake lineup which also offers a wide range of options - from i3 up to i9. Industry experts are a bit puzzled about Meteor Lake's prospects in the desktop processor sector - when considering a (speculated) skew to more entry-level and mid-range minded customers. Will Intel lose out by not offering more powerful variants, or are they working on a refreshed 14th generation product lineup for 2025?

NetEase Not Taking Blizzard to Court, One Man Seeking $43.5 Million Settlement

Updated by

T0@st

Apr 24th, 2023 09:29 Updated: Apr 25th, 2023 12:50 Discuss (21 Comments)

According to a recent news article released by Chinese news group Sina Technology, NetEase has filed a lawsuit against its former publishing partner Blizzard Entertainment, to the tune of (around) $43.5 Million. The Chinese Internet technology company is seeking compensation, in the form of a very large refund, following Blizzard's total exit from the nation's online gaming sector - its server infrastructure in China was shut down in January of this year. The closing of Blizzard-related services represented a very abrupt end to a 14-year long relationship between the two online gaming specialists - press coverage at the time presented a tense situation involving many major disagreements - the partnership was broken because of unfavorable terms on Blizzard's part.

NetEase posits that it had to compensate its customer base through refunds from its own reserves, after the sudden shutdown of Blizzard's hugely popular MMO - World of Warcraft, and other online multiplayer game series including Overwatch, Hearthstone, Diablo and Starcraft. A significant chunk of the $43.5 million settlement is said to cover the company's cost in refunding part of its customer base - somewhere in the range of 1.12 million players - for discontinued games and services. NetEase is also reported to be seeking damages for broken license agreements, unsold merchandise inventory and the loss of access to future Blizzard intellectual properties.

Update Apr 25th: According to an article from PC Gamer, published today, NetEase is not taking Blizzard to court. It turns out that a serial litigator, Yang Jun, has included NetEase as an appellant in his filed legal documents - under another company name, The9, an apparently defunct former licensing partner. PC Gamer has been informed that Yang Jun has sued NetEase in the past, and that his latest batch of legal documents have been amended to reflect that he is the lone party in demanding a financial settlement from Blizzard.

Razer Announces Collaboration With Roblox, Themed Hardware Collection Launching April 28

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 25th, 2023 12:32 Discuss (4 Comments)

Welcome to an immersive experience that is ever-changing—and yours for the making. Explore infinite worlds, connect with friends, and discover new things with an exclusive line of Razer | Roblox gear as you take the plunge into a new horizon of endless possibilities. Launching on 28 April, 4PM BST.

ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES. LIMITLESS PERFORMANCE
Welcome to an immersive experience that is ever-changing—and yours for the making. Explore infinite worlds, connect with friends, and discover new things with an exclusive line of Razer | Roblox gear as you take the plunge into a new horizon of endless possibilities.

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Returnal and The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Get NVIDIA DLSS 3 Support

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 25th, 2023 12:11 Discuss (9 Comments)

Each week we're bringing you the latest news on games launching with NVIDIA DLSS and advanced ray tracing. Last week, the list of supported DLSS games and apps surpassed 290, and this week we're adding even more games! Today, Returnal upgrades its DLSS integration to DLSS 3, giving GeForce RTX 40 Series players even higher frame rates in the fast-paced shooter, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum shows off its DLSS and ray tracing tech in a new trailer, and another 3 games add support for DLSS 2. Read on to learn more.

The Returnal: DLSS 3 upgrade launches today. Returnal, Sony and Housemarque's critically acclaimed third-person roguelike shooter, launched on PC in February, featuring out of the box support for DLSS 2 and ray tracing. After crash-landing on a shape-shifting world, players must guide astronaut Selene through the barren landscape of an ancient civilization for her escape. Isolated and alone, she finds herself fighting tooth and nail for survival. Again and again, she's defeated - forced to restart her journey every time she dies.

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ASUS ROG Announces the ROG Ally, Its First Windows 11 Gaming Handheld

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 25th, 2023 12:08 Discuss (24 Comments)

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) is proud to announce the ROG Ally, an incredibly powerful new Windows 11 gaming handheld. Powered by a cutting-edge AMD Ryzen Z1 series processor, the Ally can breeze through AAA games and indie titles with ease. A bright and high-refresh-rate touchscreen ensures that gamers see their content clearly even when gaming outdoors. The Ally is easy to carry and handle all day, thanks to its lightweight 608 g design and ergonomic handholds.

Featuring an all-new purpose-built APU - an AMD Ryzen Z1 series processor with RDNA 3 graphics - the ROG Ally is primed to deliver never-before-seen levels of handheld gaming performance. Gamers who enjoy lighter indie titles, or more graphically intensive AAA games, can do it all with the Ally. Making all this possible is also ROG's Zero Gravity thermal system, which uses a dual-fan system with ultrathin heatsink fins and high-friction heat pipes to ensure the Ally stays cool in any orientation.

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A Plague Tale: Requiem Verified on Steam Deck

by

T0@st

Apr 25th, 2023 11:40 Discuss (3 Comments)

Asobo Studio and Focus Entertainment have announced via Twitter that their smash hit survival adventure game - A Plague Tale: Requiem - is now officially verified on Steam Deck. Valve has bestowed a verified badge upon the critically acclaimed sequel to A Plague Tale: Innocence (2019), and the official Twitter for the series posted about that confirmation yesterday, along with a witty tagline: "They say "keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer", so make sure to bring the rats with you wherever you go!"

A Plague Tale: Requiem has been granted "Great on Deck" status, but early user feedback indicates that the survival horror game is still not fully optimized for Steam Deck's hardware - stuttering in-game performance and crashes are being reported by early adopters. Asobo's flagship title has been quite demanding on home console systems and PCs alike - so it is not surprising that Valve's handheld is struggling through the technical showcase. Many hope that the development team will get onto optimization work, pronto.

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Intel Sapphire Rapids Sales Forecasted to Slow Down, Microsoft Cuts Orders

by

AleksandarK

Apr 25th, 2023 11:38 Discuss (4 Comments)

According to Ming-Chi Kuo, an industry analyst known for making accurate predictions about Apple, we have some new information regarding Intel's Sapphire Rapids Xeon processors. As Kuo notes, Intel's major Cloud Service Provider (CSP) client, Microsoft, has notified the supply chain that the company is cutting orders of Sapphire Rapids Xeons by 50-70% in the second half of 2023. Interestingly, Intel's supply chain has notified the company to cut chip orders by around 50% amidst weak server demand. This comes straight after Intel's plans to start shipping Sapphire Rapids processors in the second quarter of 2023 and deliver the highly anticipated lineup to customers.

Additionally, Kuo has stated that Intel isn't only competing for clients with AMD but also with Arm-based CPUs. Microsoft also plans to start buying Arm-based server processors made by Ampere Computing in the first half of 2024. This will reduce Microsoft's dependence on x86 architecture and induce higher competition in the market, especially if other CSPs follow.

ASUS ROG Ally Powered by AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Clocks 71 FPS in DOOM Eternal

by

btarunr

Apr 25th, 2023 11:25 Discuss (7 Comments)

ASUS ROG Ally, the company's handheld game console that started out as an April Fool's joke before being announced as a serious product development and ASUS's answer to the Steam Deck, is a lean-mean gaming machine powered by the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor. Announced earlier today, the Z1 Extreme is a highly power-optimized version of the 4 nm "Phoenix" silicon that packs an 8-core/16-thread CPU based on the "Zen 4" microarchitecture, along with its full-config iGPU based on the latest RDNA3 graphics architecture, with 12 CU (768 stream processors), and an LPDDR5 memory interface.

On the ROG Ally, the Z1 Extreme is configured with a 1.70 GHz CPU clock-speed, along with a 2.10 GHz iGPU engine clock. Multiplayer Italy went hands-on with the ROG Ally, and showed off a gameplay of "DOOM Eternal," where the ROG Ally pumps out 71 FPS, with an SoC power-draw of 25.7 W, and an SoC temperature of just 56°C. ASUS and AMD are expected to give the ROG Ally the full spectrum of software-level optimizations suitable for the device, such as dynamic resolution (Radeon Boost), which should hold frame-rates above 60 FPS at all times.

Cadence and TSMC Collaborate on N16 79 GHz mmWave Design Reference Flow to Accelerate Radar, 5G and Wireless Innovation

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 25th, 2023 11:12 Discuss (0 Comments)

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. today announced that it has collaborated with TSMC to optimize the Cadence Virtuoso platform for the 79 GHz mmWave design reference flow on TSMC's N16 process. With this latest development in Cadence and TSMC's long history of collaboration, joint customers now have access to a complete 79 GHz mmWave design reference flow on the N16 process for developing optimized, highly reliable, next-generation RFIC designs for use in radar, 5G and other wireless applications for the mobile, automotive, healthcare and aerospace markets. Customers have already started using the corresponding TSMC PDKs for RFIC design work.

The Cadence RFIC solution that supports TSMC's N16 process technology features automation capabilities to help customers spend less time integrating critical RF functionality into their designs. The solution supports all aspects of RF design, including passive device modeling, assisted layout automation, block-level optimization and EM signoff simulations.

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MSI Releases UEFI Update for its X670 and B650 Motherboards That Cuts Boot Times in Half

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 25th, 2023 11:06 Discuss (18 Comments)

It seems like the long boot times that have plagued MSI's X670 and B650 motherboards might soon be nothing but a bad memory, as the company has issued UEFI updates for its motherboards that are said to cut the boot times in half. The company has added what it calls "Memory Context Restore" in the new UEFI releases, which speeds up the boot times significantly. MSI didn't provide any details as to what the feature does, but according to a post on MSI's forum, it is meant to avoid retraining of the RAM and is a feature that MSI had offered on past AMD platforms.

The chart below shows the boot times using two 16 GB DDR5-6000 modules from Kingston with EXPO and with Memory Context Restore enabled, the boot time goes from 43 to 22 seconds. The specific test system was using MSI's own MAG X670E Tomahawk WiFi motherboard, paired with an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU.If you have an MSI X670 or B650 motherboard and want to take advantage of the new improved boot times, head over to MSI's website and downloaded the latest UEFI version for your motherboard.

AOC Q24G2A QHD 24-Inch Gaming Monitor Coming to European Markets

by

T0@st

Apr 25th, 2023 10:58 Discuss (3 Comments)

The Q24G2A/BK is an apparent best selling model in the Chinese gaming monitor market, and AOC has decided to make its popular 23.8-inch 1440p gaming-focused screen available to European customers. It is slightly unusual for a small monitor to feature such a high pixel density (123 pixels per inch), thanks to the 2560×1440 QHD specification - but buoyant sales figures in China indicate that the region's gamers favor higher resolutions within a compact frame. AOC is now motivated enough to bring the IPS-based Q24G2A to a western audience - where tastes could be different - although there is no word about any upcoming availability in North American territories.

The western equivalent of China's popular Q24G2 model (launched in that region last year) has been updated and fitted with a pair of internal stereo speakers (rated at 2 W each), and the overall aesthetic is quite familiar - the Q24G2A/BK looks to share the same chassis (plus stand) with the cheaper/lower spec 24G2U/BK model. AOC is touting an MSRP of €249 for its European customers, and that pricing is a bit eyebrow raising - larger 27-inch IPS QHD gaming monitors sit comfortably in this price bracket. Pixel density enthusiasts could favor the smaller AOC since it beats out the twenty-seven inchers in terms of sharpness (123 vs 108 PPI). It is speculated that AOC has sourced the Q24G2A/BK's IPS-ADS panel from BOE Technology.

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NVIDIA Wants to Set Guardrails for Large Language Models Such as ChatGPT

by

AleksandarK

Apr 25th, 2023 10:55 Discuss (25 Comments)

ChatGPT has surged in popularity over a few months, and usage of this software has been regarded as one of the fastest-growing apps ever. Based on a Large Language Model (LLM) called GPT-3.5/4, ChatGPT uses user input to form answers based on its extensive database used in the training process. Having billions of parameters, the GPT models used for GPT can give precise answers; however, sometimes, these models hallucinate. Given a question about a non-existing topic/subject, ChatGPT can induce hallucination and make up the information. To prevent these hallucinations, NVIDIA, the maker of GPUs used for training and inferencing LLMs, has released a software library to put AI in place, called NeMo Guardrails.

As the NVIDIA repository states: "NeMo Guardrails is an open-source toolkit for easily adding programmable guardrails to LLM-based conversational systems. Guardrails (or "rails" for short) are specific ways of controlling the output of a large language model, such as not talking about politics, responding in a particular way to specific user requests, following a predefined dialog path, using a particular language style, extracting structured data, and more." These guardrails are easily programmable and can stop LLMs from outputting unwanted content. For a company that invests heavily in the hardware and software landscape, this launch is a logical decision to keep the lead in setting the infrastructure for future LLM-based applications.

Trust Gaming Launches Forta Officially-licensed Headsets for PlayStation 5

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 25th, 2023 09:45 Discuss (0 Comments)

Following the release of the company's first headset officially licensed by PlayStation, the GXT 488 Forze for PS4, in 2020; Leading digital lifestyle accessories brand, Trust Electronics Ltd, today announces the brand new GXT 498 Forta Gaming Headset for PS5 consoles. Officially licensed for PS5 consoles, the Forta is well and truly a new generation headset for this top-of-the-range console. The Trust Forta Wired is available in Black and White from Smyths Toys and Very for £39.99.

Following in the footsteps of the Forze headset, which was the #1 best sold gaming headset along with receiving an average of 4.4 star reviews by end consumers†; the Forta marks an exciting new addition to Trust Gaming's portfolio. Specifically designed to work with PS5 consoles, the headset not only matches gamer's favourite consoles in style, but has unique features which provide them with their best gaming experience yet.

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AMD Introduces Ryzen Z1 Series Processors, Expanding the "Zen 4" Lineup into Handheld Game Consoles

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 25th, 2023 09:43 Discuss (24 Comments)

Today, AMD introduced the new Ryzen Z1 Series processors, the ultimate high-performance processor for handheld PC gaming consoles. The Ryzen Z1 Series features two high performance processors, the Ryzen Z1 and Ryzen Z1 Extreme, both offering industry-leading gaming experiences, uncompromising battery life, and featuring AMD RDNA 3 architecture-based graphics. AMD is partnering with Asus to launch the first Ryzen Z1 Series device with the Asus ROG Ally, a premium handheld PC console, featuring up to a Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor.

"At AMD, we're continually advancing the next generation of gaming experiences, from consoles to desktops to on-the-go handheld devices," said Jason Banta, corporate vice president and general manager, Client OEM at AMD. "Ryzen Z1 processors deliver gamers an elite gaming experience and extreme portability in exciting gaming form factors."

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CORSAIR Launches MP600 Mini and MP600 Core XT M.2 NVMe SSDs

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 25th, 2023 09:36 Discuss (4 Comments)

CORSAIR, a world leader in enthusiast components for gamers, creators, and PC builders, today announced the launch of two new PCIe Gen 4 M.2 Solid State Drives—the MP600 MINI and the MP600 CORE XT. These drives extend the CORSAIR SSD range to an ultra-compact M.2 2230 form factor, and a new highly competitive combination of price and performance, allowing a new wave of device upgrades.

The MP600 MINI brings CORSAIR M.2 SSD performance to its smallest ever size, with the M.2 2230 form factor measuring just 22 mm x 30 mm. The MP600 MINI is compatible with popular handheld gaming systems, such as the Valve Steam Deck, as well as thin and light machines where space is at a premium, such as the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 and 9. With an impressive 1 TB of capacity and PCIe Gen 4 performance of up to 4,800 MB/sec read and 4,800 MB/sec write, the MP600 MINI is an ideal performance and storage upgrade for data hungry small-form-factor devices, whether it's to store a growing game collection, or essential files.

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Samsung and Microsoft Open Free-to-Play Gaming Zones in New York, London

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 25th, 2023 08:14 Discuss (6 Comments)

Samsung Electronics introduced a new free-to-play "Gaming Zone" with Samsung screens in collaboration with Xbox at Microsoft Experience Centers (MEC) in London and New York. In June of 2022, Microsoft's Xbox joined Samsung Gaming Hub, the world's first smart TV platform to include the Xbox App on Smart TVs. With this partnership, Samsung Gaming Hub users are now able to stream over 100 high-quality games through the Xbox App by subscribing to "Xbox Game Pass."

To bring the experience to more gamers, Samsung Electronics has teamed up with Microsoft to introduce a dedicated space where gamers can play their favorite Xbox games on the Samsung Gaming Hub. Multiple Samsung Smart TVs and gaming monitors have been installed in the MEC to provide an exciting and unique gaming experience. The Gaming Zone in both London and New York City across the Microsoft Experience Centers on Regent Street and Fifth Avenue, now have three dedicated gaming areas incorporating a wide range of Samsung gaming screens for everyone to enjoy - either as a seasoned gamer or those new to cloud gaming.

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Revenue Decline of Global Top 10 IC Design Houses Expanded to Nearly 10% in 4Q22

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 25th, 2023 07:27 Discuss (6 Comments)

The global economy has faced increased inflation risks and downstream inventory corrections in 2H22, which have affected IC design houses faster than wafer foundries, as they are far more sensitive and responsive to market reversals. TrendForce reports that adverse factors such as weak overall consumption, restrictions from China, and the slowdown of corporate IT spending and CSP demand have impacted the revenue performance of the world's top 10 IC design houses in 4Q22, leading to a QoQ decline of 9.2%, or approximately US$33.96 billion.

TrendForce predicts that the revenue of these top 10 companies keep declining—though with a slight convergence—into 1Q23, owing to ongoing inventory corrections across the entire supply chain as well as Q1 being the traditional off-season for consumer demand. Demand will continue to be weak despite new product launches and inventory replenishment in the supply chain.

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Opera Unveils Opera One, an Entirely Redesigned Browser

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 25th, 2023 07:18 Discuss (15 Comments)

Opera is unveiling Opera One today. Opera One is the early access version of a completely redesigned browser that is planned to replace the flagship Opera browser for Windows, MacOS, and Linux later this year. Based on Modular Design, Opera One transforms the way you interact with your browser, delivering a liquid navigation experience which is more intuitive to the user. With today's release, Opera One also becomes the first major Chromium-based browser with a multithreaded compositor that brings the UI to life like never before. Opera One also introduces Tab Islands, a new, more intuitive way of interacting with and managing multiple tabs. This news from the company comes just weeks after announcing its first generative AI features, including AI Prompts, as well as access to ChatGPT and ChatSonic in the sidebar.

Introducing the first implementation of Modular Design
Opera has a history of reinventing itself to address the changing needs of its users as well as the evolving nature of the web. With Opera One, the browser has been redesigned according to Modular Design. The new design philosophy, which is being presented today for the first time, will allow Opera to over time build a more powerful and feature-rich browser that is ready for a generative AI-based future. The Opera browser is thus beginning its metamorphosis into a browser that will dynamically adapt to the user's needs by bringing only the key features to the foreground: the relevant modules within Opera One will adjust automatically based on context, providing the user with a more liquid and effortless browsing experience.

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NETGEAR Boosts PC Performance with Industry's First WiFi 6E USB 3.0 Adapter

Press Release by

VSG

Apr 25th, 2023 06:16 Discuss (6 Comments)

NETGEAR, Inc., the leading provider of award-winning connected products designed to simplify and improve people's lives, today launched the Nighthawk AXE3000 WiFi 6E USB 3.0 Adapter (A8000) to upgrade notebook and desktop PCs to the fastest WiFi available. The new adapter is the first WiFi 6E USB 3.0 adapter to enable users to simply plug in and enjoy WiFi 6E speed, power and performance.

For PC users who want to take advantage of the new 6GHz band, an express lane for WiFi 6E-enabled devices, the NETGEAR Nighthawk A8000 is an easy and relatively inexpensive way to boost speeds and upgrade to the latest WiFi specifications without upgrading their PC. For gamers and non-gamers alike, this first-of-its-kind adapter from NETGEAR provides a faster, more reliable connection to their home WiFi network directly through the USB port. Part of NETGEAR's leading performance portfolio, A8000 delivers maximum WiFi speed to customers who use it with the company's premium WiFi 6E routers and mesh systems, including Orbi 960 Series, Nighthawk RAXE300 and RAXE500.

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Blizzard Releases Final PC System Requirements for Diablo 4

by

GFreeman

Apr 25th, 2023 05:19 Discuss (37 Comments)

Blizzard has released a new post outlining some of the key elements of the Diablo 4 game, an all new game developer video, as well as the final and launch system requirements for the game. The latest post talks about the character build like skill tree nodes and passives, cosmetics and character creation like transmogs and mounts, and gear.

There is also a whole new game developer video, which is a part of the Inside the Game video series, talking about choices that come with character creation, character builds, gear. Hosted by Rod Fergusson, general manager, Adam Jackson, lead class designer, Melissa Corning, lead game producer, and Joe Shely, game director, this latest developer video gives a bit more insight about the gameplay experience.

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Seagate Returns 1 Million HDDs Back into Service to Reduce Carbon Footprint

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 25th, 2023 04:40 Discuss (8 Comments)

Seagate Technology Holdings plc, a world leader in mass-data storage infrastructure solutions, today announced that it is over 50 percent towards its 2030 moonshot goal of powering 100% of its global footprint with renewable energy and that it has extended the life of over one million hard disk drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SSD) through its refurbishment program in fiscal year 2022 (July 2021 - June 2022).

The achievements were announced in conjunction with the publication of Seagate's Sustainable Datasphere: FY2022 ESG Performance Report (formerly entitled "Global Citizenship Annual Report"). The 17th annual report is a comprehensive look at Seagate's environmental, social, and governance (ESG) progress. The report describes Seagate's yearly progress towards meeting the company's goals to power its global footprint with 100% renewable energy by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. These goals were pledged last year in support of its commitment to a sustainable, inclusive, and ethical datasphere.

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ASUS Releases Official Statement Regarding Ryzen 7000 Issues

by

GFreeman

Apr 25th, 2023 04:19 Discuss (37 Comments)

ASUS has released an official statement regarding the recently discovered issues with AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, especially the Ryzen 7000X3D series. ASUS has also released EFI updates on Friday, that include thermal monitoring mechanism to protect motherboards and CPUs and is working on new updates that should be available soon and define new rules for AMD Expo and SoC voltage, which appear to be the main issue related to the CPU VDDIO/MC voltages.

We have already covered the first reports of damaged Ryzen 7000X3D series CPUs that suffered physical damage, and some motherboard manufacturers have already released new BIOS updates, including MSI. In the meantime, Roman "Der8auer" Hartung has also discovered that the issue might not be just limited to the Ryzen 7000X3D series, but could also impact the Ryzen 7000 X-series CPUs. Although there were no earlier reports on such issues, AMD Expo appears to be the main source of the problem and users can either disable it or manually set the SoC voltage, at least until motherboard makers come up with new BIOS updates or we hear an official statement from AMD.

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Micron to Set up a Chip Packaging and Assembly Plant in India

by

btarunr

Apr 25th, 2023 02:57 Discuss (3 Comments)

Micron Technology is setting up a manufacturing facility in India at an investment of $1 billion, with the Indian Government set to clear certain approvals that incentivize its operations in the country. The plant will deal with chip packaging—the process of encasing bumped silicon chips into fiberglass or ceramic substrates, and wiring them out into pins or balls that get soldered onto PCBs. Besides packaging, the facility will be involved in testing, binning, marking, and logistical packaging of finished chips (into reels or trays). The plant could deal with the spectrum of Micron products spanning NAND flash, and various generation DRAM. The new Indian facility will join 11 manufacturing sites Micron has either operational or under-development, in countries such as Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, and China, besides the company's main home turf of the U.S.

PMIC Issue with Server DDR5 RDIMMs Reported, Convergence of DDR5 Server DRAM Price Decline

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 25th, 2023 00:18 Discuss (0 Comments)

TrendForce reports that mass production of new server platforms—such as Intel Sapphire Rapids and AMD Genoa—is imminent. However, recent market reports have indicated a PMIC compatibility issue for server DDR5 RDIMMs; DRAM suppliers and PMIC vendors are working to address the problem. TrendForce believes this will have two effects: First, DRAM suppliers will temporarily procure more PMICs from Monolithic Power Systems (MPS), which supplies PMICs without any issues. Second, supply will inevitably be affected in the short term as current DDR5 server DRAM production still uses older processes, which will lead to a convergence in the price decline of DDR5 server DRAM in 2Q23—from the previously estimated 15~20% to 13~18%.

As previously mentioned, PMIC issues and the production process relying on older processes are all having a short-term impact on the supply of DDR5 server DRAM. SK hynix has gradually ramped up production and sales of 1α-nm, which, unlike 1y-nm, has yet to be fully verified by consumers. Current production processes are still being dominated by Samsung and SK hynix's 1y-nm and Micron's 1z-nm; 1α and 1β-nm production is projected to increase in 2H23.

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Today's Reviews

Cases

• Lian Li Lancool 216 HardwareInside.de (de)

Cooling

• Arctic P12 Max Fan HardwareInside.de (de)
• Thermaltake SWAFAN EX12 RGB Basic Tutorials (de)

Graphics Cards

• KFA2 RTX 4070 EX Gamer Hardware Busters
• MSI RTX 4070 Ventus 3X ThePCEnthusiast

Keyboards

• Cooler Master CK720 HardwareInside.de (de)

Memory

• Kingston FURY Renegade RGB 32GB DDR5-6400 NikkTech

Monitors

• ASUS ROG Swift PG27AQDM Tom's Hardware
• Philips Evnia 27M2C5500 Cowcotland (fr)

Motherboards

• ASRock Z790 PG-ITX TB4 OverClocked Inside (de)

Mouse

• XPG Alpha Wireless TechPowerUp

Notebooks

• ASUS TUF Gaming A16 (FA617) ComputerBase (de)

Processors

• AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX Guru3D
• AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D HardwareCooking (fr)

PSUs

• Seasonic Prime TX-1600 ATX v3.0 Hardware Busters

SSD

• ADATA Legend 960 MAX 2TB Tom's Hardware

XPG Alpha Wireless Review

Review Mice

Much like its wired sibling, the XPG Alpha Wireless comes with PixArt's PAW3335 sensor, Omron main button switches rated for 60 million clicks, and full RGB lighting. On top of wired, the Alpha Wireless also allows for 2.4 GHz wireless and Bluetooth 5.1, with up to 60 hours of battery life.

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Modded NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 With 16 GB of VRAM Shows Impressive Performance Uplift

by

GFreeman

Apr 24th, 2023 16:11 Discuss (80 Comments)

A memory mod for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 that doubles the amount of VRAM showed some impressive performance gains, especially in the most recent games. While the mod was more complicated than earlier ones, since it required some additional PCB soldering, the one tested game shows incredible performance boost, especially in the 1%, 0.1% lows, and the average frame rate.

Modding the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 to 16 GB VRAM is not a bad idea, since NVIDIA already planned a similar card (RTX 3070 Ti 16 GB), but eventually cancelled it. With today games using more than 8 GB of VRAM, it means that some RTX 30 series graphics card can struggle with pushing playable FPS. The modder benchmarked the new Resident Evil 4 at very high settings, showing that those additional 8 GB of VRAM is the difference between stuttering and smooth gameplay.

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Cult of the Lamb: Relics of the Old Faith Available Today

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 24th, 2023 16:02 Discuss (2 Comments)

Cult of the Lamb's first major content update is OUT NOW! The Lamb must keep their Cult flourishing, their Followers faithful, and their power unchallenged as they crusade in this free content expansion, Relics of the Old Faith. It adds brand new ways to spread the gospel of the Cult of the Lamb with powerful new abilities, exciting new characters, and thrilling new challenges.

Relics of the Old Faith adds huge new content, replayability and many features. Relics of the Old Faith is an ENORMOUS free update to Cult of the Lamb. We've listened to many of your requests and have been working since launch to add everything we possibly could. There's so much that it can't fit into one News post, but we're going to try…

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Dead Island 2 Global Sales Surpass One Million

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 24th, 2023 15:37 Discuss (13 Comments)

Following the global launch of Dead Island 2 on Friday 21st April, Deep Silver and Dambuster Studios have announced it has sold over 1 million copies after just three days on sale.

Dead Island 2 has won fans from around the world with countless players snapping up a copy of the drop dead gore-geous game in the first 72 hours.

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Thermaltake Releases CTE C750 Full Tower Chassis Series

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 24th, 2023 15:22 Discuss (8 Comments)

Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Case, Power, Cooling, Gaming peripherals, and enthusiast Memory solutions, is glad to unveil the launch of the CTE C750 Full Tower Chassis Series in black and snow versions. The CTE C750 series is an E-ATX full tower chassis that comes with Thermaltake's innovative CTE Form Factor design, which stands for Centralized Thermal Efficiency, and is focused on providing high-level thermal performance to critical components. The chassis is pre-installed with three of the latest CT140 cooling fans and can support up to 420 mm AIO radiators. Equipped with a pre-installed pump and reservoir bracket on the bottom, the CTE C750 also is a superlative showcase for custom liquid cooling builds.

To deliver more efficient airflow pathways for advanced hardware, the CTE Form Factor Series utilizes a 90-degree rotation of the motherboard, allowing CPU and graphic cards, the critical heat sources, to have independent airflow paths by being moved much closer toward cool air generated from the front panel and the rear panel respectively. The CTE C750 series can house up to fourteen 120 mm/140 mm fans and 420 mm AIO radiators on the front, rear, and the motherboard side, enabling cold air draw from three directions to optimize heat convection. The CTE C750 series includes two selections. The CTE C750 TG ARGB Full Tower Chassis comes with a tempered glass front panel and pre-installed CT140 ARGB cooling fans; the CTE C750 Air Full Tower Chassis has a perforated metal front panel and pre-installed CT140 PC cooling fans, is a more ventilated case.

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Samsung Exynos 2400 SoC Performance Figures Leaked, Prototype Betters Next Gen Snapdragon GPU

by

T0@st

Apr 24th, 2023 15:20 Discuss (2 Comments)

Samsung's unannounced Exynos 2400 mobile chipset has been linked to the upcoming Galaxy S24 smartphone family, but internet tipsters have speculated that the in-house SoC will be reserved for the baseline model only. The more expensive Plus and Ultra variants could be the main targets for flagship smartphone fetishists - it is possible that Qualcomm's upper echelon Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset is set to feature within these premium devices. Samsung's Exynos processors are not considered to be fan favorites, but industry insiders reckon that the latest performance figures indicate that Samsung's up-and-comer has the potential to turn some heads. Exact specifications for the Exynos 2400 are not public knowledge - one of the tipsters suggests that a 10-core layout has been settled on by Samsung, as well as a recent bump up in GPU core count - from 6 to 12. The company's own 4 nm SF4P process is the apparent choice set for production line.

A leaker has posted benchmark scores generated by an unknown device that was running an Exynos 2400 SoC - the Geekbench 5 results indicate an average single-core score of 1530 with a peak of 1711. The multi-core average score is shown to be 6210, and the highest number achieved is 6967. Therefore the Exynos 2400 is 31% percent faster (in multi-core performance) than the refreshed Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 variant currently found in Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphones, but the divide between the two in terms of single-core performance is not so great. The 2400 manages to outpace (by 30%) Apple's present generation Bionic A16's average multi-core score, although the latter beats the presumed engineering sample's single-core result by 20%. The Exynos 2400 will face a new lineup of rival mobile processors in 2024 - namely Apple's next generation Bionic A17 and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, so it is difficult to extrapolate today's leaked figures into a future scenario.

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Blizzard Explains Diablo IV Personalization System, Play it Your Way in Sanctuary

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 24th, 2023 13:28 Discuss (7 Comments)

Customization is a cornerstone of Diablo IV. From how your character looks, to the Skills they wield, to the appearance of their Gear and Mount, Diablo IV empowers players with a level of agency never previously offered in a Diablo game. The decision of what type of wanderer you want to play in the world of Sanctuary begins at the Class selection screen and follows you into the Endgame. It's up to YOU to decide how your character will grow and evolve as they pursue Lilith.

Watch the latest Inside the Game developer video on player choice and continue reading for more insight into the customization available to players. Plus, learn how you can play Diablo IV from May 12-14 during Server Slam. Over the course of our Inside the Game video series, we'll sit down with our resident Diablo IV experts -members of the development team - to walk you through elements of the game.

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Horizon Forbidden West Sequel Confirmed by Leadership at Guerrilla Games Studio

by

T0@st

Apr 24th, 2023 12:54 Discuss (13 Comments)

A very plain reading statement was released by the management team at Guerrilla Games Studio this morning, and within the weeds of pivotal reorganization talk an intriguing tidbit has been found. This information points to the Amsterdam powerhouse video game developer working on a new entry in its Horizon series: "We have full confidence in our new leadership as they steer Guerrilla towards a bright future, expanding the world of Horizon with Aloy's next adventure and our exciting online project. Michiel van der Leeuw (Technical Director) will be focusing on the future technology and strategy for the Decima engine." It is presently unclear whether there is any crossover between the next Horizon game and hinted interweb-based multiplayer project.

This is not a major surprise given that the Dutch studio has done well for itself with previous Horizon games - both in terms of financial success and critical perception, although older PlayStation fans have been clamoring for a new entry in the Killzone series. The Burning Shores expansion campaign for Horizon Forbidden West was released last week, and the development is seemingly set for something new (beyond converting the title to a PC platform). The Sony-owned development studio is undergoing a change in management, and today's company statement details a shift around at the executive level.

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NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation Workstation GPU Mentioned in Official Driver Documents

by

T0@st

Apr 24th, 2023 12:17 Discuss (2 Comments)

NVIDIA's rumored RTX 5000 Ada Generation GPU has been outed once again, according to VideoCardz - the cited source being a keen-eyed member posting information dumps on a laptop discussion forum. Team Green has released new driver documentation that makes mention of hardware ID "26B2" under an entry for a now supported device: "NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation." Forum admin StefanG3D posted the small discovery on their favored forum in the small hours of Sunday morning (April 23).

As reported last month, the NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada is destined to sit between existing sibling workstation GPUs - the AD102-based RTX 6000 and AD104-based RTX 4000 SFF. Hardware tipster kopite7kimi has learned enough to theorize that the NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation workstation graphics card will feature 15,360 CUDA cores and 32 GB of GDDR6 memory. The AD102 GPU is expected to sit at the heart of this unannounced card.

Ubisoft Bringing Far Cry 6 to Steam Next Month, Breaks Timed Exclusive Status for More Games

by

T0@st

Apr 24th, 2023 11:40 Discuss (23 Comments)

Ubisoft is slowly migrating availability of its flagship games over to the Steam store, and gaming fans will be happy to find out about this move. A lot of the French video game publisher's popular titles (on PC) have been locked to their own Connect service and the Epic Games Store. Far Cry-series fans on the PC platform having been shouting and complaining about one particular entry being tied to the pair of e-shops since launching back in October 2021. That timed deal between Ubisoft and Epic Games is soon to expire, and Far Cry 6 will become available via Steam on May 11.

Ubisoft implemented a reversal of releasing games on Steam back in 2019, a decision that attracted almost instant negative feedback from PC Gamers. The Division 2 was announced as being the 2019 headliner for release on Ubisoft Connect and Epic Games Store, and (at the time) other upcoming titles would follow the same path. Murmurs of a possible return to Steam emerged in late 2022, and shortly thereafter Ubisoft proceeded to rollout big franchise titles on that platform, including Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Immortals Fenyx Rising. The latest batch to get the Steam store release day treatment are (the aforementioned) Far Cry 6 on May 11th, Riders Republic on June 8th, Rainbow Six Extraction on June 15th, and finally Monopoly Madness on June 22nd.

AMD Ryzen 7000X3D Processors Prone to Physical Damage with Voltage-assisted Overclocking, Motherboard Vendors Rush BIOS Updates with Voltage Limiters

by

btarunr

Apr 24th, 2023 10:45 Discuss (258 Comments)

AMD Ryzen 7000X3D processors are prone to irreversible physical damage if CPU overclocking is attempted at some of the higher VDDCR voltages (the main power domain for the CPU cores). A Redditor who goes by Speedrookie, attempted to overclock their Ryzen 7 7800X3D, leading to an irreversible failure. The motherboard socket and the processor's land-grid contacts, show signs of overheating damage caused by the contacts melting from too much current draw.

A Ryzen 7000X3D processor features a special CPU complex die (CCD) with stacked 3D Vertical Cache memory. This cache die is located in the central region over the CCD where its 32 MB on-die L3 cache is located, while the difference in Z-height of the stacked die is filled up by structural silicon, which sit over the regions of the CCD with the 8 "Zen 4" CPU cores. It stands to reason that besides having an inferior thermal transfer setup to conventional "Zen 4" CCDs (without the 3DV cache), the CCD itself has a higher power-draw at any given clock-speed than a conventional CCD (since it's also powering the L3D). This is the main reason why overclocking capabilities on the 7000X3D processors are almost non-existent, and the processor's power limits are generally lower than their regular Ryzen 7000X counterparts. Attempting to dial up voltage kicks up the perfect storm for these processors.

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U.S Consumer Watchdog Not a Fan of Google Chromebook Durability

by

T0@st

Apr 24th, 2023 10:45 Discuss (28 Comments)

Last week the US Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG) Education Fund issued a report titled "Chromebook Churn", and the technology press was quick in its reading and analysis of this PDF document - filled with unfavorable findings. The main focus of the consumer watchdog's investigation was on a great uptake of Chromebooks in the education sector - schools in the United States of America have been providing a high percentage of their students with the relatively cheap ChromeOS-based laptop computers - especially during the pandemic period. The PIRG's Churn report cites numerous sources regarding disappointing Chromebook lifespans - schools are experiencing a high rate of hardware failure and technical issues relating to software updates - and as a result of these problems, irreparable devices are piling up as e-waste.

PIRG has called on Google and its manufacturing partners to effectively "double the life of these widely used laptops, saving schools money and helping the environment." Chromebooks are considered to be a cost effective entry into computing, but the watchdog reckons that a nice starter price tag does not reflect well when stacked up against the product's long term prospects. Schools are experiencing a high rate of Chromebook failures, especially once devices hit a three year long usage mark, and the required repair process is said to be problematic. PIRG states that warranty terms are unfavorable beyond the manufacturer set lifespan, and schools are having to pay for third party renovations and sourcing of spare parts (which is a complicated process in itself). The watchdog posits that schools in the USA could save a total of $1.8 billion (for taxpayers) - if Google doubles the lifespan of Chromebook, not accounting for extra maintenance costs.

Turtle Beach Launches the Stealth Pro Wireless Headset Globally

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 24th, 2023 09:09 Discuss (0 Comments)

Leading gaming accessory maker Turtle Beach Corporation (Nasdaq: HEAR) today announced its new flagship wireless multiplatform gaming headset - the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro - is now available globally. The coronation of the new king of gaming headsets has begun, with critical acclaim already mounting for the Stealth Pro's top-rated audio quality, best-in-class active noise-cancellation, and wealth of ultra-premium features for gaming on Xbox, PlayStation, Windows PCs, Mac, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices.

GamesRadar gave the Stealth Pro a 5/5 review score and Editor's Choice Award, calling it, "A masterpiece of an all-in-one, multi-purpose gaming headset," while IGN scored it 9/10 and said Stealth Pro, "is one of the best gaming headsets you can buy," and that it produced, "Some of the best sonics Turtle Beach has ever delivered." Additionally, Windows Central scored Stealth Pro a 5/5 plus the publication's The Best Award and said, "Simply put, Turtle Beach has confidently usurped the best Xbox headset crown with the Stealth Pro. Bravo," and Ga meTryant gave it a full 10/10 score, saying, "This headset truly lives up to the title of King."

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Synopsys, TSMC and Ansys Strengthen Ecosystem Collaboration to Advance Multi-Die Systems

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 24th, 2023 08:11 Discuss (0 Comments)

Accelerating the integration of heterogeneous dies to enable the next level of system scalability and functionality, Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) has strengthened its collaboration with TSMC and Ansys for multi-die system design and manufacturing. Synopsys provides the industry's most comprehensive EDA and IP solutions for multi-die systems on TSMC's advanced 7 nm, 5 nm and 3 nm process technologies with support for TSMC 3DFabric technologies and 3Dblox standard. The integration of Synopsys implementation and signoff solutions and Ansys multi-physics analysis technology on TSMC processes allows designers to tackle the biggest challenges of multi-die systems, from early exploration to architecture design with signoff power, signal and thermal integrity analysis.

"Multi-die systems provide a way forward to achieve reduced power and area and higher performance, opening the door to a new era of innovation at the system-level," said Dan Kochpatcharin, head of Design Infrastructure Management Division at TSMC. "Our long-standing collaboration with Open Innovation Platform (OIP) ecosystem partners like Synopsys and Ansys gives mutual customers a faster path to multi-die system success through a full spectrum of best-in-class EDA and IP solutions optimized for our most advanced technologies."

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AAEON Unveils UP Squared Pro 7000 Edge, World's First Fanless Mini PC with Intel Core i3 Processor N-series

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 24th, 2023 06:38 Discuss (0 Comments)

Converting the ingenuity of the UP Squared Pro 7000 board to its edge system range, AAEON's UP Squared Pro 7000 Edge is the first mini PC to harness the power of Intel Core i3 Processor N-series, Atom Processor X Series, and Intel Processor N-series processors in a fanless chassis.

The first fanless mini PC to utilize the processor platforms, the UP Squared Pro 7000 Edge provides developers with the same performance boost as its board counterpart, but with a more convenient route to market. The device's heatsink offers effective heat dissipation without the obvious drawbacks of a fan-based cooling system, opening the door to deployment in more settings, such as smart manufacturing and healthcare.

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Genesis Unveils Oxal 120 Case Fan

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 24th, 2023 06:36 Discuss (4 Comments)

This is the Genesis Oxal 120, a brand new fan which is a part of our most efficient PC case, the Genesis Irid 505F. This case is in the absolute top of the best ventilated PC cases, per professional reviews and tests. The Genesis Oxal 120 fan has been designed for cases with standard, and also thick, filters, whose main aim is to limit the amount of dust that gets inside. This is why it should provide much better efficiency when compared to standard solutions. This is thanks not only to its maximum speed of 1300 RPM or a high durability bearing (up to 50,000 h), but also its high static pressure which provides sufficient air flow even in the most restrictive conditions.

What's more, the Genesis Oxal 120 is a low revolution fan. It reaches the efficiency of a standard fan, attainable at 1400 RPM, while running at a much lower speed. Achieving balance between efficiency and silence should be quite easy - all you need to do is set the maximum speed of the Oxal 120 at 80% of its maximum velocity. Maximum RPM (100%) are great for challenging conditions with the best components at its maximum work.

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AMD to Skip a Radeon RX 7700 Series Launch For Now, Prioritize RX 7600 Series, Computex Unveiling Expected

by

btarunr

Apr 24th, 2023 04:32 Discuss (111 Comments)

AMD is likely to skip the launch of a Radeon RX 7700 series for now, and prioritize the RX 7600 series. Sources tell Igor's Lab that AMD's dedicated AIB partners (such as ASRock, Sapphire, PowerColor, and XFX), are expected to have custom-design boards based on Radeon RX 7600 series ready to show by Computex 2023 (June), although multi-brand board partners, such as MSI, ASUS, and GIGABYTE, are expected to take a wait-and-watch approach toward the series. AMD is likely yet to figure out the economics of an RX 7700 series product that could compete with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4070 series, offering competitive performance and energy-efficiency, but the introduction of the RTX 4060 series could see NVIDIA reap the sub-$500 market, where AMD possibly has a competitive silicon.

GEEKOM and ASUS Announces the AS6 Mini PC

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 24th, 2023 04:19 Discuss (1 Comment)

GEEKOM is thrilled to announce the release of the GEEKOM AS 6, an AMD-powered mini PC. This powerful, feature-packed PC is the result of an exclusive collaboration between GEEKOM and ASUS, with these two industry-leading companies teaming up to co-develop a Mini PC with better overall performance than the Intel NUC 13 Pro Arena Canyon, making it the best choice for the gaming and office of the future!

GEEKOM and ASUS always strive to bring users the most optimal mini PC experience, and the AS 6 is proof of that commitment. The AS 6, powered by the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX processor, delivers unprecedented levels of performance to effortlessly handle any task-from playing the latest games to intensive office work. It is truly eye-opening to discover that the AMD Radeon Graphics 680M in the AS 6 boasts a staggering performance improvement of nearly 90% compared to Intel Iris Xe Graphics in the NUC 13 Pro. And the new Radeon graphics technology combined with ultrafast DDR5 memory offers up to 2x faster game performance than the last gen.

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ASUSTOR Announces Flashstor 6 and Flashstor 12 Pro SSD NAS

Press Release by

AleksandarK

Apr 24th, 2023 03:42 Discuss (12 Comments)

ASUSTOR Inc. today launched two of its fastest NAS devices ever, the all-NVMe Flashstor 6 and Flashstor 12 Pro. The biggest feature of the Flashstor series NAS is that this is ASUSTOR's first dedicated PCIe 3.0 M.2 NVMe SSD NAS, which brings unmatched performance in a NAS device. The Flashstor 6 has six M.2 slots for NVMe SSDs and dual 2.5GbE for amazing performance while the Flashstor 12 Pro comes with twelve M.2 slots for NVMe SSDs combined with 10GbE for unmatched speed. Both Flashstor models are equipped with Intel's newest generation of 10 nm Quad-Core Intel Celeron N5105 that boosts up to 2.9 GHz. With 4 GB of energy-efficient DDR4 -2933 RAM that provides 40% more efficiency and dual USB 3.2 Gen 2x1, the Flashstor ensures that bottlenecks are a thing of the past.

The advantages of the Flashstor include, but are not limited to, are its low weight to be used as portable storage while efficiently cooled and quiet. The Flashstor series is specifically designed M.2 SSDs and the chassis makes it easy to add or remove SSDs by removing the chassis screws. The design of the Flashstor not only makes it look great in any environment, but also contains efficient hardware that ensures it can chew through virtually any storage or editing workload thrown at it while keeping hardware and SSDs cool. For extra cooling, the Flashstor comes with heatsinks to help more powerful SSDs to receive the cooling they need for optimal performance while remaining quiet at as low as 18.7 decibels. This ensures that content creation and consumption is enjoyed without interference.

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Team Group T-CREATE EXPERT DDR5 wins Red Dot Design Award 2023

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 24th, 2023 02:52 Discuss (1 Comment)

Global memory leader Team Group announced today that its desktop memory T-CREATE EXPERT DDR5 won the Red Dot Design Award 2023. T-CREATE is an exceptional product line elaborately crafted for creators, providing powerful performances with strong reliability and stability. T-CREATE EXPERT DDR5 memory stood out from 7900 global entries and won unanimous recognition among professional jurors. The latest award received reaffirms Team Group's presence in the international design competitions by showcasing the company's strength and creativity in product development.

The Red Dot Design Award is a German prize among the four primary world design awards. Founded by the reputed design institution, Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen, it is highly influential in the industry and serves as a key indicator for designers worldwide. Starting from 1955, its international jury comprising experts judges on entries' creativity, solutions, design and concepts. Over 7900 entries from 60 countries competed in the award this year, and T-CREATE EXPERT DDR5 desktop memory prevailed with its sophisticated and high-quality design.

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YMTC Using Locally Sourced Equipment for Advanced 3D NAND Manufacturing

by

AleksandarK

Apr 24th, 2023 02:49 Discuss (3 Comments)

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) sources, Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC) has been plotting to manufacture its advanced 3D NAND flash using locally sourced equipment. As the source notes, YMTC has placed big orders from local equipment makers in a secret project codenamed Wudangshan, named after the Taoist mountain in the company's home province of Hubei. Last year, YTMC announced significant progress towards creating 200+ layer 3D NAND flash before other 3D NAND makers like Micron and SK Hynix. Called X3-9070, the chip is a 232-layer 3D NAND based on the company's advanced Xtacking 3.0 architecture.

As the SCMP finds, YTMC has placed big orders at Beijing-based Naura Technology Group, maker of etching tools and competitor to Lam Research, to manufacture its advanced flash memory. Additionally, YTMC has reportedly asked all its tool suppliers to remove all logos and other marks from equipment to avoid additional US sanctions holding the development back. This significant order block comes after the state invested 7 billion US Dollars into YTMC to boost its production capacity, and we see the company utilizing those resources right away. However, few industry analysts have identified a few "choke points" in YTMC's path to independent manufacturing, as there are still no viable domestic alternatives to US-based tool makers in areas such as metrology tools, where KLA is the dominant player, and lithography tools, where ASML, Nikon, and Canon, are noteworthy. The Wuhan-based Wudangshan project remains secret about dealing with those choke points in the future.

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X Passively Cooled with Copper Blocks

by

AleksandarK

Apr 24th, 2023 02:07 Discuss (17 Comments)

A Reddit user has shared their experience of passively cooling an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, with some modifications to the setup. Using the Streacom DB4 passively cooled case, the user u/AromaticImpress7778 pulled off cooling a processor with 16 cores and 32 threads with a TDP of 170 Watts. Interestingly, the Streacom DB4 case rates CPU support for only 65 Watts, meaning some modifications were in place. To support the high-TDP CPU, the user used two of the one-kilogram copper bars and attached them to the case. Heat is transferred to the two one-kilogram blocks using the case's default plate and an additional 233-gram copper plate for the CPU and motherboard. These big copper blocks are not soldered to the case, but instead, the user puts Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal between copper parts and Arctic MX-6 between the case and copper.

To cool the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and MSI B650I board, accompanied by HDPlex GaN 250 W and 64 GB of memory, the system did well enough for a passive build. After running the system at full load, the CPU reached 95 degrees Celsius for CCD1 and 95 degrees Celsius for CCD2. The external panels of the Streacom DB4 case were getting 50C to 60C of heat. Additionally, the user noted that the usage of this system will be more relaxed, as it will not run under full load for a prolonged period. Regarding the system's total weight, the entire build weighs around 13 KG, with 4.4 KG of that being only copper. The case weighs 7.5 KG, and the other parts weigh about one kilogram.

Higround Announces Street Fighter Collaboration

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 24th, 2023 01:19 Discuss (4 Comments)

Higround, a peripheral brand dedicated to graphic gaming keyboards, and Street Fighter, the fighting game franchise that defined the genre, are announcing a collaboration in celebration of the dedication and longevity of the communities surrounding fighting games. This collection will be available for pre-order on Higround's website on April 19 at 12 PM PT.

This collection is Higround's first internationally available drop, with products available in Europe and Japan alongside the U.S. A red edition of the Akuma Summit 65 will be released exclusively in Japan.

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AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT Now as Low as $600, Poses a Juicy Alternative to RTX 4070

by

btarunr

Apr 23rd, 2023 23:02 Discuss (46 Comments)

In the height of the crypto-mining GPU shortage of 2021-22, the Radeon RX 6900 XT and its refresh the RX 6950 XT, were scalped and resold for upward of $2,000. You can get one for as low as $600 on Newegg. The ASRock Radeon RX 6950 XT Phantom Gaming OC is now listed on U.S. retailer Newegg.com at $630, with a coupon code that shaves $30 off, bringing the effective price down to $600, which is the MSRP of the recently announced NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 "Ada."

Our testing shows that the RTX 4070 offers performance on-par with previous-generation RTX 3080 and the Radeon RX 6800 XT. The RX 6900 XT is about 6% faster than the RTX 4070 at 1440p (averaged over our test suite), and the RX 6950 XT from our older reviews is about 6-7% faster than the RX 6900 XT at 1440p. This is, however, performance with raster 3D graphics (which makes up the majority of gaming graphics), the ray tracing performance of the RX 6950 XT is closer to that of the RTX 3070 Ti, or about 23% slower than the RTX 4070. The RTX 4070 is a more efficient GPU, and also offers next-gen features such as DLSS 3 Frame Generation.

Seagate Technology Reports Fiscal Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 23rd, 2023 22:16 Discuss (0 Comments)

Seagate Technology Holdings plc on April 20 reported financial results for its fiscal third quarter ended March 31, 2023. "We are seeing a more elongated customer inventory correction that led to weaker than expected nearline demand among a few large customers late in the quarter. Consequently, our March quarter revenue came in at the low-end of our guidance range, which along with underutilization charges and other factors had a severe impact on our reported margins and profitability," said Dave Mosley, Seagate's chief executive officer.

"Looking ahead, we now expect demand recovery to begin towards the end of the calendar year. In response to this dynamic environment, we are taking aggressive actions to lower our cost structure while still positioning Seagate to thrive over the long-term and sustain our technology leadership. To that end, we continue to execute on our product roadmap, including our strategically vital HAMR platform that we launched in April, as anticipated."

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U.S. Asks Samsung and SK Hynix Not to Support China's Ban on Micron Technology by Filling Shortfalls

by

btarunr

Apr 23rd, 2023 21:27 Discuss (15 Comments)

Earlier this month, it was reported that the Chinese Government could retaliate to the U.S. ban on YMTC by banning Idaho-based Micron Technology from selling memory products to Chinese firms—something that can severely hit Micron's bottom-line if you consider the various smartphone brands and PC OEMs based out of China, not to mention foreign companies that manufacture the entire spectrum of consumer electronics in China.

While Beijing is still making up its mind on whether go ahead with this ban, Washington threw a wrench in the works, by "urging" South Korean memory giants Samsung and SK Hynix not to fill the shortfall in supply left by a ban on Micron. It stands to reason that a similar request has been made with Kioxia, which is majority-owned by Bain Capital. Therefore, if China were to ban Micron, it would have to do so only after scaling up production at YMTC to make up for the supply, or end up with a chip shortage that can hurt Chinese ICT and PC firms in the immediate aftermath of the ban.

"Adamantine" L4 Cache Confirmed on Intel "Meteor Lake," Acts as a Passive Interposer

by

btarunr

Apr 23rd, 2023 19:44 Discuss (19 Comments)

We've known from a recent report that "Meteor Lake" introduces an L4 cache, and now we are learning that it is codenamed "Adamantine," and serves functions resembling that of a passive interposer. Intel's upcoming "Meteor Lake" microarchitecture will power the company's first disaggregated processor for the client segment.

A disaggregated processor is different from an MCM (such as "Clarkdale"), since finer components that make up the processor that otherwise can't exist on their own packages without extreme latency, are made to share a single package via a high-speed interconnect. This disaggregation is purely for economic reasons, so the company needn't use the latest (and most expensive) foundry node for the entire processor, but ration it to the specific components that benefit the most from it. Unlike AMD client processors that disaggregate the CPU cores and the remaining processor I/O into two kinds of chiplets, Intel "Meteor Lake" will see the breaking up of not just CPU cores (compute tile), but also the iGPU on its own tile, besides the platform I/O on separate tiles still.

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Warframe|The Duviri Paradox Showcased by Digital Extremes

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 23rd, 2023 13:19 Discuss (11 Comments)

The PARADOX UNFOLDS BEFORE YOU. A Mad King, a mysterious Drifter, and a color-shifting unreality as sublime as it is deadly combine in the latest addition to Warframe's ever-expanding universe, The Duviri Paradox! A landscape out of time and space - whether you are just starting with Warframe or have been playing for years, The Duviri Paradox will be available to all players. From the very beginning of your journey, all Tenno can choose to begin at the ending and play The Duviri Paradox. Experience it for yourself this April on all platforms and play through a brand new Cinematic Quest, a whole new space in the Origin System and Endless Mission varieties, as well as loads of new Customizations to personalize your Operator, Drifter and Warframes!

Depending on the mood of its ruler, Dominus Thrax, the color-shifting world of Duviri will appear differently - painting the swirling skies a poisonous green shade for Envy, or unleashing a wrathful red firestorm in Anger. As The Drifter, you are suspended in a never-ending cycle of life, death and rebirth for Thrax's entertainment. Each Spiral will present you with its own set of unique challenges, and lead you across some of the most varied and beautiful landscapes ever seen in Warframe.

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Samsung Hit With $303 Million Fine, Sued Over Alleged Memory Patent Infringements

by

T0@st

Apr 23rd, 2023 12:51 Discuss (11 Comments)

Netlist Inc. an enterprise solid state storage drive specialist has been awarded over $303 million in damages by a federal jury in Texas on April 21, over apparent patent infringement on Samsung's part. Netlist has alleged that the South Korean multinational electronics corporation had knowingly infringed on five patents, all relating to improvements in data processing within the design makeup of memory modules intended for high performance computing (HPC) purposes. The Irvine, CA-based computer-memory specialist has sued Samsung in the past - with a legal suit filed at the Federal District Court for the Central District of California.

Netlist was seemingly pleased by the verdict reached at the time (2021) when the court: "granted summary judgements in favor of Netlist and against Samsung for material breach of various obligations under the Joint Development and License Agreement (JDLA), which the parties executed in November 2015. A summary judgment is a final determination rendered by the judge and has the same force and effect as a final ruling after a jury trial in litigation."

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Square Enix Unearths Old Crime Puzzler - The Portopia Serial Murder Case, Remaster Features AI Interaction

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 23rd, 2023 11:06 Discuss (6 Comments)

At the turn of the 1980s, most PC adventure games were played using only the keyboard. In those days, adventure games didn't use action menus like more modern games, but simply presented the player with a command line where they could freely input text to decide the actions that characters would take and proceed through the story. Free text input systems like these allowed players to feel a great deal of freedom. However, they did come with one common source of frustration: players knowing what action they wanted to perform but being unable to do so because they could not find the right wording. This problem was caused by the limitations of PC performance and NLP technology of the time.

40 years have passed since then, and PC performance has drastically improved, as have the capabilities of NLP technology. Using "The Portopia Serial Murder Case" as a test case, we'd like to show you the capabilities of modern NLP and the impact it can have on adventure games, as well as deepen your understanding of NLP technologies.

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FT Claims Arm Engineers Working on Proprietary Chip

by

T0@st

Apr 23rd, 2023 10:32 Discuss (8 Comments)

The Financial Times this weekend has published details about an interesting development project that is currently in-the-works at British semiconductor specialist firm Arm Ltd. The article states that several executives in the industry have divulged (anonymously) that Arm's engineering team is designing a proprietary chip - these insider sources opine that this new creation could be one of the company's most advanced undertakings. The SoftBank-owned chipmaker is having a bumper year in terms of financial success and has invested in its future - it is speculated that their own semiconductor design will be showcased as a prototype product to potential new clients - with the main goal being to drum up more business and growth. Parent group SoftBank is likely pushing for maximum profit margins as it prepares Arm for an initial public offering (IPO) this year.

Arm's modus operandi involves partnering up with other chip manufacturers in order to license out its semiconductor intellectual properties. In turn these partners are expected to deal with the overall design and manufacturing processes of chips (plus sales of). Arm has teamed up with foundries TSMC and Samsung in the past to create prototypes for software testing purposes, but not much has been heard about those proofing projects in the following years. In an unusual turn (from certain industry perspectives) from its traditional working methodologies, it seems that Arm is embracing a different approach by producing its own compelling designs, with the hope of demonstrating greater potential to customers. FT's sources have provided evidence that Arm has expanded its operations and that a newly formed "solutions engineering" team is focused on prototyping new silicon for usage in mobile hardware and related devices.

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This Week in Gaming (Week 17)

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 23rd, 2023 06:07 Discuss (7 Comments)

As we're heading into the last week of April, we have a much anticipated AAA title launching, which involves light sabres and thus shouldn't be too hard to guess. Other games this week include forest rangers, lights and shadows, dead things that are evil and much more. Something for almost everyone in other words, we hope.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor / This week's AAA title / Friday 28 April
The story of Cal Kestis continues in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, a third person galaxy-spanning action-adventure game from Respawn Entertainment, developed in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. This narratively-driven, single player title picks up five years after the events of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and follows Cal's increasingly desperate fight as the galaxy descends further into darkness.

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Paradox Interactive Presents Victoria 3 - Voice of the People Expansion, Out May 22 on PC & Mac

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 22nd, 2023 11:37 Discuss (9 Comments)

Voice of the People adds more Radicals, Reactionaries, and Reformers. In a century of dramatic political upheaval, many world leaders had to deal with influential and charismatic figures - dynamic political personalities who forcefully advocated for social and economic progress or tried to resist the tides of history in favor of tradition. Voice of the People, a new Immersion Pack for Victoria 3, challenges you to handle some of history's greatest political agitators, coming May 22.

In Voice of the People, the new Agitator system is highlighted with the addition of dozens of historical figures who break convention and build political power behind the force of their personality. Meet intellectuals like Mikhail Bakunin, conservative militarists like Georges Boulanger, and voices for freedom like Frederick Douglas in this addition to Paradox Interactive's critically acclaimed historical society simulation.

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Seagate Starts Shipment of Extra High Capacity HAMR HDDs to Data Center Client

by

T0@st

Apr 22nd, 2023 11:03 Discuss (24 Comments)

Seagate is celebrating the debut shipment of very sophisticated storage solutions to a preferred client (dealing in the cloud data center sector). These 30+ terabyte hard drives are based on heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology - the American data storage company is setting up its next generation Corvault range with the thermal magnetic recording methodology. The first shipment of HAMR-based drives is reported to consist of final qualification samples, but Seagate is anticipating that fully verified equipment - after trial customers give this new product lineup a thumbs-up - will be generating revenue in the coming weeks.

According to a transcript of a recent Seagate financial meeting conference call, CEO Dave Mosley mentioned a dip in business as well as a costly legal settlement, but expects company fortunes to rise due to client uptake of breakthrough storage technologies: "Beyond this cycle, we remain excited about the long-term opportunities presented by the secular growth of data and the relevance of mass capacity storage as new data-centric applications emerge and more workloads migrate to the cloud. We continue to make strong progress on our industry-leading technology road map, including launching HAMR-based products this quarter, which we believe put us in outstanding longer-term position."

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Atari Adding More Classics to its Retro Games Library

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 22nd, 2023 10:08 Discuss (12 Comments)

Atari - one of the world's most iconic consumer brands and interactive entertainment producers - announced, on April 19, the acquisition of more than 100 PC and console titles from the 1980s and 1990s. The collection includes notable games from the Bubsy, Hardball, Demolition Racer series, as well as the 1942: Pacific Air War, F-117A, and F-14 air combat series. Atari will seek to expand digital and physical distribution of the classic titles, create new games based on the IP, and explore brand and merchandising collaborations.

"This is a deep catalog that includes groundbreaking and award-winning titles from Accolade, Infogrames and Microprose," said Atari CEO Wade Rosen. "Many of these titles are a part of Atari history, and fans can look forward to seeing many of these games re-released in physical and digital formats, and in some cases, even ported to modern consoles." Atari also acquired the trademark to the Accolade and GTI brands. Accolade was a well-respected US-based video game developer and publisher from 1984 until 2000.

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Japanese Retailer Runs Fascinating Promo, Free Intel A750 GPU With Purchase of GeForce RTX 4090

by

T0@st

Apr 22nd, 2023 09:52 Discuss (25 Comments)

NTT-X, a retailer in Japan is advertising a strange promotion to its moneyed customers - a free Intel Arc A750 Limited Edition GPU with every purchase of an ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB OC Edition graphics card. You would normally expect a couple of extra digital download codes for video games as some sort of bonus incentive, but NTT-X has chosen a non-traditional approach to getting fancy silicon into clients' hands. The shop is selling the high-end ASUS card for just over $2300 (converted from the value in Japanese Yen), and mid-range Intel board will set you back roughly $350 (when sold separately). It seems that PC hardware prices in Japan tend to be higher when compared to USA market trends.

It is not really clear if this particular hardware outlet is experiencing slow sales for top-end RTX GeForce 40 series cards simply because of high asking prices, or it is having difficulty in shifting the Alchemist card due to wavering hardware buyer perception. Super enthusiasts with plenty of cash to spare on cutting edge tech will tend to purchase the best stuff available - perhaps NTT-X are offering their target audience a chance to construct a secondary or tertiary computer. These additional PCs could host the promotional Intel Arc A750 graphics card, with the retailer gaining further sales via customers buying more components for another build, be it for a compact computer or home theater/media center PC.

Today's Reviews

Audio

• Quick Look: FiiO KA5 Portable DAC/Amplifier TechPowerUp

Cases

• Cooler Master Hyper 212 Halo White APH Networks

Desktop PC

• Intel NUC 13 Pro NUC13ANBi7 Tweaktown

Graphics Cards

• PowerColor RX 7900 XTX Hellhound Spectral White Guru3D
• Inno3D RTX 4070 Twin X2 Hardware-Mag (de)

Headphones

• Turtle Beach Stealth Pro APH Networks
• Turtle Beach Stealth Pro Tom's Hardware

Memory

• Crucial DDR5-5600 and DDR5-5200 32GB Kits LAN OC
• G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 CL34 HardwareCooking (fr)

Motherboards

• ASRock Phantom Gaming Z790 PG-ITX TB4 Funkykit

Notebooks

• Lenovo Slim Pro 7 Tom's Hardware
• LG gram 17Z90R (G.AA79G) Hardware Journal (de)

Processors

• Intel Core i9-13900KS TechPowerUp

SSD

• Gigabyte AORUS Gen5 10000 2TB GinjFo (fr)
• Solidigm P44 Pro 2TB NikkTech

Intel Core i9-13900KS Review - The Empire Strikes Back

Review Processors

The Intel Core i9-13900KS is the fastest CPU that Intel is offering this generation. Our review confirms that its clock speeds reach 6.0 GHz, but power consumption also sets a new record. How's gaming performance vs 7800X3D and 7950X3D? Our review has the answers.

Read Review

Quick Look: FiiO KA5 Portable DAC/Amplifier

Article Audio

FiiO adds to its portable DAC/amplifier line with the new KA5 which uses two Cirrus Logic CS43198 DACs, dedicated op-amps, and a capable USB audio bridge to allow plenty of power and good sound off its two headphone outputs. It also has an OLED screen with an onboard OS for added customization to sweeten the deal.

Read Article

TechPowerUp is Hiring a Power Supply (PSU) Reviewer

by

btarunr

Apr 21st, 2023 17:10 Discuss (65 Comments)

TechPowerUp is looking for a talented and motivated individual to work for us, as our reviewer of PC power supplies (PSUs). Our outgoing PSU reviewer, Aris Mpitziopoulos (crmaris) is among the world's very best in this trade, and is the brains behind the Cybenetics PSU Certification Program. We have grown together over our decade-long association. Aris has decided to focus on his full-time job with Cybenetics, and we wish him only the best. The PSU is a vital component in a desktop PC, as it provides power and electrical protection for everything else. It's essential to invest in a good PSU that can deliver clean power for years. Thanks to Aris, TechPowerUp established itself as a definitive source of highly technical PSU reviews, and we would like for a new reviewer to take over the reins. The new reviewer will need a solid command on the subject. This includes understanding and identifying the various under-the-hood components, switching topologies, electrical domains, and controllers.

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Meta Layoff Phase Hits VR Studio Ready at Dawn, One Third of Staff Reportedly Released From Duty

by

T0@st

Apr 21st, 2023 14:14 Discuss (27 Comments)

Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly known as Facebook) has begun implementing widespread staff layoffs across multiple company departments. The cutback operation was announced last month, with the social media giant targeting 10,000 positions (throughout 2023) in an effort to become more efficient. 13,000 staffers were released from their jobs last year, representing 13% of the workforce at the time - advertising revenues had declined in 2022 and Meta said that the change was required in order to navigate economic downturns. A repeat of that sentiment has been issued this year and two internal games development studios have been affected quite heavily by the latest layoff initiative, reports suggest. Ready at Dawn and Downpour Interactive are getting a lot of press coverage - due to former staffers divulging details of Meta's cutbacks via social media.

Thomas Griebel, a (now former) Senior engine programmer at Ready at Dawn, took to Twitter two days ago and made claim that: "One third of the studio was laid off today, including the studio head." He also observes that the studio has been shrinking over time: "Also lost some really great people just due to attrition. Think we're down almost (down to a) half since when I started in August (2022)." Former Ready at Dawn technical designer Colin McInerney has also released a string of information about co-workers being let go. Michael Tsarouhas (senior designer) and Daan van Zelst (level designer) have confirmed that they were released from their roles at Downpour Interactive.

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Google Bard AI Chatbot Smart Enough to Assist in Software Coding

by

T0@st

Apr 21st, 2023 13:12 Discuss (6 Comments)

Alphabet Incorporated's Google AI division has today revealed a planned update for its Bard conversational artificial intelligence chatbot. The experimental generative artificial intelligence software application will become capable of assisting people in the writing of computer code - the American multinational technology company hopes that Bard will be of great to help in the area of software development. Paige Bailey, a group product manager at Google Research has introduced the upcoming changes: "Since we launched Bard, our experiment that lets you collaborate with generative AI, coding has been one of the top requests we've received from our users. As a product lead in Google Research - and a passionate engineer who still programs every day - I'm excited that today we're updating Bard to include that capability."

The Bard chatbot was made available, on a trial basis, to users in the USA and UK last month. Google's AI team is reported to be under great pressure to advance the Bard chatbot into a suitably powerful state in order to compete with its closest rival - Microsoft Corporation. The Seattle-based giant has invested heavily into Open AI's industry leading ChatGPT application. Google's latest volley against its rivals shows that Bard's has become very sophisticated - so much so that the app is able to chew through a variety of programming languages. Bailey outlines these features in the company's latest blog: "Starting now, Bard can help with programming and software development tasks, including code generation, debugging and code explanation. We're launching these capabilities in more than 20 programming languages including C++, Go, Java, Javascript, Python and Typescript. And you can easily export Python code to Google Colab - no copy and paste required." Critics of AI-driven large language models have posited that the technology could potentially eliminate humans from the job market - it will be interesting to observe the coder community's reaction to Google marketing of Bard as a helpful tool in software development.

Microsoft Xbox Marketing Exec Responds to Accusations of Unsatisfactory Hi-Fi Rush Sales

by

T0@st

Apr 21st, 2023 12:24 Discuss (17 Comments)

Video game industry expert Jeff Grubb made some interesting remarks during a live recording of his Game Mess Decides podcast - yesterday's episode included plenty of talk about the Xbox and PC platform exclusive Hi-Fi Rush, a rhythm-based action game. The Tango Gameworks developed title was first announced on January 25 of this year, and in an unusual move for Xbox (plus Bethesda Softworks) the colorfully cel-shaded action adventure experience was released worldwide that same day. According to Grubb this obtuse bit of marketing strategy has not paid off well, in pure unit sales figures, from the parent company's perspective: "(Hi-Fi Rush) didn't make the money it needed to make." Bethesda has stated that the game had achieved a maximum player base number in the 2 million range (by March 1) - this likely includes a significant chunk of customers accessing Hi-Fi Rush through the Game Pass subscription service. Exact sales figures for Japanese studio-developed title in terms of digital sales have not been divulged.

Grubb continued his stream of inside knowledge: "Based on what I've heard, it just straight up didn't make the money it needed to make. It got good reviews, and the buzz was good, so where do you put the blame for something like that?" Several online publications and games industry tipsters on social media have since pounced to spread Grubb's words - so much so that it was enough to grab the attention of one Aaron Greenberg, vice president of Xbox Games marketing. In a response to criticisms aimed at the gaming divisions poor marketing effort he stated: "Hi-Fi Rush was a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations. We couldn't be happier with what the team at Tango Gameworks delivered with this surprise release." Greenberg was thanked for providing a response, yet hindsight is 20/20 - could a traditional physical release of the game have helped boost paying customer uptake? The sensitive matter of a wider console release is another interesting topic of conversation - Tango Gameworks has multi-platform development experience and Hi-Fi Rush would appear to be a very suitable game for a PlayStation-oriented audience. Microsoft has received criticism for making (over time) its Bethesda game lineup exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem (Game Pass and Windows included).

Diablo IV Final Beta Test Announced, Server Slam Event Starting May 12

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 21st, 2023 11:26 Discuss (18 Comments)

HELP US GEAR UP FOR LAUNCH DURING THE DIABLO IV SERVER SLAM - Calling all wanderers! In preparation for the launch of Diablo IV on June 6, we must enlist your demon-cleansing services for one final task: Server Slam. From May 12, 12 p.m.-May 14, 12 p.m. PDT, everyone can come to Sanctuary's defense on Windows PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4—along with couch co-op for consoles and cross-play and cross-progression for all platforms—against the armies of the Burning Hells to help us test the durability of our servers.

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING SERVER SLAM
Server Slam will give players one final weekend in Hell to experience a fraction of what Diablo IV has to offer, while simultaneously testing the capabilities of our servers prior to launch. The Prologue and entirety of Act I will be your canvas to paint with the remains of slain demons. Fractured Peaks, the first Zone, is yours to navigate as you please. Traverse its rugged landscape as Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Rogue, or Sorcerer, unleashing devastating power upon foes, and honing your unique skillset in the process.

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Linux Foundation Launches New TLA+ Organization

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 21st, 2023 11:11 Discuss (3 Comments)

SAN FRANCISCO, April 21, 2023 -- The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today announced the launch of the TLA+ Foundation to promote the adoption and development of the TLA+ programming language and its community of TLA+ practitioners. Inaugural members include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle and Microsoft. TLA+ is a high-level language for modeling programs and systems, especially concurrent and distributed ones. TLA+ has been successfully used by companies to verify complex software systems, reducing errors and improving reliability. The language helps detect design flaws early in the development process, saving time and resources.

TLA+ and its tools are useful for eliminating fundamental design errors, which are hard to find and expensive to correct in code. The language is based on the idea that the best way to describe things precisely is with simple mathematics. The language was invented decades ago by the pioneering computer scientist Leslie Lamport, now a distinguished scientist with Microsoft Research. After years of Lamport's stewardship and Microsoft's support, TLA+ has found a new home at the Linux Foundation.

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Report Suggests Microsoft to Demo Xbox Products at UK Government Endorsed Event, Coincides with Competition Watchdog Verdict

by

T0@st

Apr 21st, 2023 10:43 Discuss (3 Comments)

The Sky UK news network has gathered intel from industry and government sources about an industry event that is due to take place next week at a very famous location - 10 Downing Street - the residence of the UK's Prime Minister. Sky News has been informed that Microsoft has been invited to attend the showcase by the UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) industry organization - best described as the main trade body for the nation's games and interactive entertainment sector. The American technology behemoth is expected to display and demonstrate their Xbox gaming product range in front of top politicians and key entertainment industry figures. There is no mention of representatives from Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) being invited to attend in a similar capacity. The timing of this UKIE organized event (to take place on April 26) is highly controversial as it will coincide with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority's statutory deadline to deliver a Phase-2 verdict on Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regulatory body has already delivered a provisional approval of the aforementioned deal, but stated that it required more time to investigate the potential for irregularities in competition within the cloud gaming sector. The Phase-2 verdict, due to be delivered next week, is anticipated to include the antitrust watchdog's finalized judgement on cloud gaming market affairs. Sky's insider sources in the city of London have speculated that Microsoft could face a humiliating situation at the 10 Downing-hosted party, if by coincidence the CMA changes its opinion on the Activision Blizzard takeover bid. If the competition regulator stays consistent with its (earlier) provisional decision, Microsoft could be criticized for its extensive courting of government organizations - not only in the UK, but around the world.

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ASUS ROG Ally Will Have Two Versions, Non-Extreme APU Version Spotted

by

GFreeman

Apr 21st, 2023 09:54 Discuss (23 Comments)

The latest entry from Geekbench database pretty much confirmed that the ASUS ROG Ally will have two different versions, featuring two different Ryzen Z1 custom APUs. While both are AMD's Phoenix APUs with Zen 4 CPU and RDNA 3 GPU architectures, they will have different specifications, with the Ryzen Z1 Extreme featuring an 8-core/16-thread configuration with 12 Compute Units (CUs) GPU, the Ryzen Z1 non-Extreme will end up with a 6-core/12-thread CPU configuration and 4 RDNA 3 CUs.

The Ryzen Z1 Extreme SKU was detailed yesterday, and this newest leak also confirms two different versions of the ASUS ROG Ally handheld console, as previously leaked. The entry in Geekbench database also shows a small difference in clock speeds between those two Ryzen Z1 SKUs, with the base frequency of 3.2 GHz and Boost of 4.9 GHz (4,939 MHz) for the non-Extreme. The Ryzen Z1 Extreme has a base frequency of 3.3 GHz and Boost up to almost 5.1 GHz (5,062 MHz).

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Valve's DOTA 2 Becomes Jumbo-Sized with New Frontiers Update

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 21st, 2023 09:03 Discuss (6 Comments)

Sometimes Dota gameplay patches are small. Sometimes they can get pretty big. This one... is huge. It's got all the things you were probably expecting - balance changes, new items, hero reworks, UI improvements. But we also included a few changes you probably weren't expecting, like a new hero attribute type and - brace yourself - the map is now 40% bigger.

But all these new gameplay features won't matter if the match you get into isn't a good one. So we're also shipping some much-needed matchmaking improvements. Excited? Confused? Head on over to the New Frontiers update page for all the details. But don't head over just yet, read this sentence first: The Berlin major is on April 26th, and Fantasy/Player Cards are now available. Okay, now go. Here's the link again.

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Unrecord Police Bodycam Tactical FPS Revealed, Dev Team Claim Preview Gameplay Footage is Authentic

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 21st, 2023 08:34 Discuss (13 Comments)

Unrecord is a single-player FPS that tells the story of a tactical police officer from the perspective of his body camera. As you work to solve a complex case, you'll need to use your tactical and detective skills to succeed. Unrecord is a tactical shooter where players can expect an immersive and narrative experience. Unrecord features complex dialogues, innovative gameplay mechanics, tough moral dilemmas, and a unique shooting system. The storyline in Unrecord can be compared to a detective novel or a thriller. The player will have to investigate several criminal cases and confront a diverse cast of characters. The game's plot and presentation will be central to the gameplay experience, and players can anticipate a range of gameplay sequences as well as numerous plot twists. Wishlist Unrecord now to stay up to date on the latest news and updates! Read on for a post-reveal and response to questions and concerns from players. Yes, it's a game.

1. Scam or Real Gameplay Footage?
There have been many doubts raised about the authenticity of the gameplay. The game is developed on Unreal Engine 5, and the game footage is captured from an executable and played using a keyboard and mouse. It is not a VR game. In reality, it seems rather flattering to compare the graphics of Unrecord to reality, but fortunately, we know that a game first focuses on gameplay and universe on which we primarily concentrate. Considering the high production costs of a video game and our global reputation at stake, if Unrecord were a scam, it would be a blockbuster scam. Therefore, it is logically not one. We do not use any real videos or external rendering to Unreal Engine for the creation of Unrecord. Unrecord is (un)real.

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GoDeal24 Software Flash Sale: Prices of Genuine Software You Need at Prices You Want

Sponsored by

btarunr

Apr 21st, 2023 07:44

GoDeal24 introduces the Summer Software Flash Sale: Get sizzling discounts on genuine, globally-valid software you need, at some of the lowest prices on the web. Get Genuine Windows 11 Pro at just $10.25, or as low as $10.12 in multi-key packs. Pair it with the powerful Office 2021 Professional Plus productivity software which is $24.25 on its own, as low as $13.05 in multi-PC packs, or $29.99 in combination with Windows 11 Pro. Check out other great deals on the various editions of Windows and Office.

Buy Office 2021 Professional Plus at $24.25 | Buy Office 2021 Professional Plus 2-PC at $39.25 | Buy Office 2021 Professional Plus 3-PC at $56.25 | Buy Office 2021 Professional Plus 5-PC at $66.25 | Buy Office 2019 Professional Plus at $22.25 | Buy Office 2016 Professional Plus at $19.25 | Buy Office 2021 Home and Business for Mac at $37.99 | Buy Office 2019 Home and Business for Mac at $33.99 | Buy Windows 11 Pro at $7.25 | Buy Windows 10 Pro 2-PC at $12.25 | Buy Windows 11 Pro at $10.25 | Buy Windows 11 Pro 2-PC at $20.25 |Buy Windows 10 Home at $7.15 |Buy Windows 10 Home 2-PC at $12.01 | Buy Windows 11 Home at $9.98 | Buy Windows 11 Home 2-PC at $19.25 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2021 Professional Plus at $27.69 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2019 Professional Plus at $25.69 | Buy Windows 11 Pro + Office 2019 Professional Plus at $29.99 | Buy Windows 11 Pro + Office 2019 Professional Plus at $28.99

Please use the coupon code SGO50 on the following items to avail the prices you see here.
Buy Windows 10 Enterprise 2021 LTSC at $12.81 |Buy Windows 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC at $9.14 | Buy Windows Server 2019 Standard at $16.06 | Buy Visio Professional 2021 at $30.23 |Buy Project Professional 2021 at $33.82

Check out great deals on system software you may want.

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MINISFORUM Introduces Uranus B550 PRO Mini PC

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 21st, 2023 06:12 Discuss (9 Comments)

MINISFORUM is proud to announce the release of its latest device, the B550 PRO, an upgraded version of the B550 model. This Mini PC can be transformed into a full-sized gaming desktop when connected to an SFX power supply and discrete graphics card, offering users a versatile and powerful computing experience. Powered by the AMD B550 chipset and supporting Ryzen 5000 series CPU and APU (Up to 5800X processor), the B550 PRO is capable of handling daily office tasks and large-scale gaming.

This device's standout feature is its versatility, with a PCIe 3.0 x16 slot allowing direct connection of desktop discrete graphics cards through the PCIe 3.0 x16 interface on the chassis and the PCIe 3.0 x16 slot on the included expansion dock. The device also includes a PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, which is added into the docking station, enabling the addition of an SSD or network card expansion card, and enhancing the device's overall versatility.

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DUNU Releases New SA6 MK2 IEM Earphones

by

VSG

Apr 21st, 2023 06:03 Discuss (1 Comment)

Taiwan-based IEM brand DUNU has consistently impressed with its offerings and one of its more popular products is the SA6—a member of the brand's Studio line of IEMs that uses six balanced armature drivers. The original SA6 released a few years ago still holds a place as a reference item in the $500-600 price range today and this success was followed up by a limited edition SA6 Ultra which only had audiophiles wanting more. Today DUNU and HiFiGo released the new SA6 MK2 which aims to build upon the SA6 and improve it further. Updates include a new ergonomic shell design paired with wooden face plates, a new Hulk Pro Mini copper cable with 3.5/4.4 mm modular connectors, a new storage case and ear tip collection, and a different tuning signature that can be described as neutral with a bass boost. There is a tuning switch onboard to further up the bass for those who want it and TechPowerUp will have a review soon to test all these claims. In the meantime, knowing how popular the SA6 was and no doubt how this will too, the hand-made nature of the SA6 MK2 means those interested might want to order sooner than later if you don't want to wait for new batches to be made. The DUNU SA6 MK2 uses six balanced armature drivers from Sonion and Knowles and costs $579 from HiFiGo.

Sony Interactive Entertainment to Acquire Firewalk Studios from ProbablyMonsters Inc.

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 21st, 2023 05:41 Discuss (2 Comments)

Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC ("SIE") announced today it has entered into an agreement with ProbablyMonsters Inc. to acquire Firewalk Studios, a studio of industry-leading creatives developing an original AAA multiplayer game for PlayStation 5 (PS5) and PC. Firewalk will collaborate alongside world-class development teams, including Bungie and Haven Interactive Studios, to define a new generation of live service experiences for PlayStation gamers.

Based in Bellevue, WA, Firewalk was formed in 2018 as part of ProbablyMonsters, an independent AAA game company founded by CEO Harold Ryan (former CEO, President and Chairman at Bungie) that builds sustainable game teams focusing on original AAA games. Firewalk's team of best-in-class developers, led by industry veterans Tony Hsu (Studio Head, previously GM and SVP of Destiny at Activision) and Ryan Ellis (Game Director, previously Creative Director at Bungie), have years of collective expertise on some of gaming's most successful and impactful multiplayer titles. ProbablyMonsters and Firewalk announced an exclusive publishing partnership with SIE in April 2021 and now Firewalk will be the 20th studio to join PlayStation Studios.

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Cooler Master's Hyper 622 Halo Provides Double the Cooling

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 21st, 2023 05:33 Discuss (8 Comments)

Cooler Master, a global frontrunner in cutting-edge cooling technologies, today announced the Hyper 622 Halo, a new entry in the longstanding Hyper Series that propels Cooler Master's innovative and high-performance technology to new heights.

"I am thrilled to introduce the Hyper 622 Halo, a true testament to Cooler Master's commitment to innovation and uncompromising quality," said Jimmy Sha, CEO of Cooler Master. "This groundbreaking dual tower design not only doubles the cooling power, but also exemplifies our mission to empower enthusiasts and gamers with the ultimate performance and customization options."

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Immortals of Aveum Gets Gameplay Trailer, System Requirements Detailed

by

GFreeman

Apr 21st, 2023 04:25 Discuss (20 Comments)

Immortals of Aveum just got a nice gameplay "first look" trailer, showing some impressive graphics and gameplay for this fantasy first-person magic shooter from Electronic Arts and Ascendant Studios. EA has also published a new blog post detailing the technology used in the game, as well as revealing first PC system requirements.

Immortals of Aveum will be one of the first AAA games developed on Unreal Engine 5.1, featuring some impressive lighting, video, and physics effects. It uses Nanite and Lumen features of the UE 5.1, new micropolygon geometry and global illumination and reflections systems. It also makes use of World Partition, UE 5's method of loading segments of the environment, which will allow for larger play areas.

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Intel XeSS Provides 71% FPS Uplift in Cyberpunk 2077

by

AleksandarK

Apr 21st, 2023 04:18 Discuss (16 Comments)

CD Projekt RED, the developer of Cyberpunk 2077, has advertised including various super sampling technologies like NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR, and now Intel XeSS supersampling. With the inclusion of XeSS version 1.1, Intel's Arc Alchemist graphics cards can record a significant performance uplift. Thanks to the Intel game blog, we compare XeSS enabled versus XeSS disabled, measuring the ability to play Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p Ultra settings with medium ray tracing enabled. The FPS comparison was conducted with Intel Arc A750 Limited Edition GPU, which was paired with Intel Core i9-13900K and 32 GB of RAM.

With XeSS off, the A750 GPU struggled and only reached 39 FPS. However, with XeSS set to performance, the number jumped to 67 FPS, making for a smooth user experience and gameplay. This is a 71% performance uplift, enabled by a new update in the game. Interestingly, Intel XeSS is computed on Arc's XMX Units, while NVIDIA and AMD compute their super sampling on shader units.

Acer to bring Redfall to Predator Gaming PCs Through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on May 2

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 21st, 2023 03:57 Discuss (0 Comments)

Acer today announced it has worked with Bethesda Softworks and Microsoft to bring the much-anticipated action title Redfall to all new Acer Predator Windows 11 gaming laptop and desktop owners via a free, one-month offer of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Redfall is an open-world, single player and co-op FPS from Arkane Austin, the award-winning team behind Prey and Dishonored, that brings the studio's signature gameplay to this story-driven, action shooter and will be available on Predator gaming PCs beginning May 2, 2023, through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

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Acer Adds Aspire Vero Laptop and Vero Projector to the Vero Line

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 21st, 2023 03:55 Discuss (0 Comments)

Acer today announced the latest offerings in its eco-friendly Vero range of products, including the Acer Aspire Vero 15 (AV15-53P) laptop and the Acer Vero PL3510ATV laser projector, both of which are designed to equip businesses and consumers with high-performing, power-saving technology while providing more options to reduce their carbon footprint.

The Aspire Vero 15 laptop is powered by 13th Gen Intel Core processors with Intel Iris Xe graphics, engineered to let the Intel Evo laptop do even more at once. The multi-awarded Aspire Vero line reduces CO2 emissions through the use of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics in its chassis without sacrificing durability. It also features a 15-inch FHD IPS display, Acer VeroSense for battery management, and a 1440p QHD webcam that comes with Acer PurifiedView and Acer PurifiedVoice collaboration technology. Acer also launched the Acer Vero PL3510ATV projector, built with a Full HD resolution, 4,800 ANSI lumens diode, and a 30,000-hour lamp life for long-lasting brightness. The laser projector's power-saving design also saves up to 48% more energy compared with lamp-based projectors, ultimately reducing its total cost of ownership and carbon footprint through an extended product lifespan. In line with Acer's Earthion platform, the latest Vero products integrate PCR plastic on their chassis and utilize recyclable packaging.

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Google Merges its AI Subsidiaries into Google DeepMind

by

AleksandarK

Apr 21st, 2023 02:30 Discuss (0 Comments)

Google has announced that the company is officially merging its subsidiaries focused on artificial intelligence to form a single group. More specifically, Google Brain and DeepMind companies are now joining forces to become a single unit called Google DeepMind. As Google CEO Sundar Pichai notes: "This group, called Google DeepMind, will bring together two leading research groups in the AI field: the Brain team from Google Research, and DeepMind. Their collective accomplishments in AI over the last decade span AlphaGo, Transformers, word2vec, WaveNet, AlphaFold, sequence to sequence models, distillation, deep reinforcement learning, and distributed systems and software frameworks like TensorFlow and JAX for expressing, training and deploying large scale ML models."

As a CEO of this group, Demis Hassabis, a previous CEO of DeepMind, will work together with Jeff Dean, now promoted to Google's Chief Scientist, where he will report to the Sundar. In the spirit of a new role, Jeff Dean will work as a Chief Scientist at Google Research and Google DeepMind, where he will set the goal for AI research at both units. This corporate restructuring will help the two previously separate teams work together on a single plan and help advance AI capabilities faster. We are eager to see the upcoming developments these teams accomplish.

AMD Software Adrenalin 23.4.2 WHQL Released

by

btarunr

Apr 21st, 2023 01:58 Discuss (10 Comments)

AMD today released the latest version of its Adrenalin drivers. Version 23.4.2 WHQL adds optimization for "Dead Island 2" and "Boundary." With "Dead Island 2," one can expect up to 14 percent improved performance at when measured with RX 7900 series GPUs; and up to 15% increase in performance at 4K when measured with RX 6000 series GPUs. Among the handful issues fixed with this release include blocky water corruption with "Red Dead Redemption 2" when using the Vulkan API, missing text in Google Earth VR, intermittent application crashes after enabling render previews in Unreal Engine 5, and an installer bug that caused a black screen to appear on some display configurations after a driver update.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Software Adrenalin 23.4.2 WHQL

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ASUS Announces 2023 Zenbook 15 OLED (UM3504) Powered by AMD

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 21st, 2023 00:28 Discuss (8 Comments)

ASUS today announced the all-new Zenbook 15 OLED (UM3504), a premium thin and light 15.6-inch laptop powered by up to the latest AMD Ryzen 7 7735U processor. This powerful and compact laptop is designed for on-the-go productivity and creativity, featuring a durable all-metal chassis with a 14.9 mm-thin profile and a weight of just 1.4 kg. The 15.6-inch 16:9 120 Hz 2.8K ASUS Lumina OLED NanoEdge display is Pantone Validated for accurate color rendering and VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certified for the deepest blacks. It's also SGS and TÜV Rheinland certified for eye care.

To complement its Ryzen processor and AMD Radeon graphics, Zenbook 15 OLED has up to 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. Fast reliable connectivity is provided by WiFi 6E (802.11ax) enhanced with ASUS WiFi Master Premium. The premium design of Zenbook 15 OLED includes a choice of two finishes: a high-tech eco-friendly Basalt Gray plasma ceramic aluminium, or anodized Ponder Blue. To keep the laptop hygienic it's protected with ASUS Antimicrobial Guard plus, which reduces growth of viruses and bacteria by up to 99%. Conferencing is made easier with the FHD IR webcam and ASUS 3D Noise Reduction (3DNR) technology, along with the Harman Kardon-certified Dolby Atmos speaker system.

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ASUS Announces Zenbook S 13 OLED, the World's Slimmest 13.3-inch OLED Laptop

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 21st, 2023 00:23 Discuss (8 Comments)

ASUS today announced the exciting new Zenbook S 13 OLED (UX5304), the world's slimmest 13.3-inch OLED laptop. It's also the most eco-friendly Zenbook ever, and takes the brand's signature qualities of ultraportable design, sustainability and on-the-go performance to a new level, proving conclusively that less can be more.

With a world-beating super-slim 1 cm profile and a super-light 1 kg chassis, the sophisticated Zenbook S 13 OLED delivers no-compromise performance, connectivity and battery life, making it the epitome of ultraportable design, and finished in brand-new Basalt Gray or classic Ponder Blue. It's also designed with the environment and carbon neutrality firmly in mind, using recycled metals and plastics in its construction, FSC Mix-certified packaging, an elegant new eco-friendly plasma ceramic aluminium for the Basalt Gray model, and halogen-free electronics, to make this the most eco-friendly Zenbook model we've ever produced.

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ASUS Thincredible Launch Event: Zenbook S 13 OLED, the World's Slimmest OLED Ultraportable Laptop, and Vivobook x BAPE Collaboration Unveiled

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 21st, 2023 00:12 Discuss (0 Comments)

ASUS today introduced its newest laptops, with the latest Zenbook and Vivobook lineups during the Thincredible product launch event. Zenbook S 13 OLED (UX5304) debuted as the world's slimmest OLED ultraportable laptop—redefining what an ultraportable laptop can be. Equipped with the stunning new ASUS Lumina OLED displays, ASUS IceCool technology, and extremely durable and unique designs, the latest Zenbook and Vivobook lineups empower users with their outstanding sustainable performance and purposeful innovations.

Zenbook S 13 OLED is only 1 cm thin and weighs just 1 kg[iii]. This Intel Evo -certified laptop provides exceptional performance, battery life, and sustainability combined with an ASUS Lumina OLED display in an ultracompact chassis. Offering an all-day 63 Wh battery and full I/O ports, it's the perfect companion for those who need maximum portability to match their lifestyle. The Zenbook lineup also includes Zenbook 14X OLED (UX3404), a compact and high-performance portable laptop, and Zenbook 14 Flip OLED (UP3404), a convertible ultraportable laptop with immense versatility.

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Today's Reviews

Cases

• ASUS Prime AP201 Basic Tutorials (de)

Cooling

• Noctua NF-P redux 120 and 140 Basic Tutorials (de)

CPU Coolers

• NZXT Kraken 280 RGB Basic Tutorials (de)
• NZXT Kraken Elite 360 Overclocking.com (fr)

Headphones

• Audeze Maxwell Tom's Hardware
• Westone Audio MACH Series In-Ear Monitors Overview TechPowerUp

Memory

• Crucial DDR5-5200 32GB Guru3D

Motherboards

• Gigabyte B760 AORUS Elite AX Tweaktown

Mouse

• Endgame Gear XM2WE Cowcotland (fr)

PSUs

• Cougar GEX X2 1000W Funkykit
• Thermaltake ToughPower GF3 ARGB 850W Hardware Busters

SSD

• Crucial T700 on Ryzen 7000 (preview) ComputerBase (de)

Westone Audio MACH Series In-Ear Monitors Overview

Article Headphones

Westone Audio introduces a brand new line of in-ear monitors targeting music professionals and end users alike. Today we examine the entire MACH Series starting from the $300 1-BA driver MACH 10 all the way up to the reference class $1600 MACH 80 8-BA flagship to see how they differ from each other and what they can offer to you.

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Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Brings Out Jet Set Radio Retro Vibes, Set to Launch August 18

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 20th, 2023 15:41 Discuss (7 Comments)

Team Reptile brings you Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, a future world from the mind of Dion Koster where self-styled graffiti crews equipped with personal boostpacks are battling each other for control of the streets. Start your own cypher and dance, paint graffiti, collect beats, combo your tricks and face off with the cops to stake your claim to the sprawling metropolis of New Amsterdam.

Red is a graffiti writer who lost his head and instead has an AI robohead. In search of his roots he joins the Bomb Rush Crew, Tryce and Bel, who are aiming to go All City. Together they slowly discover who it was that cut off his head and how deep Red's human side is linked to the graffiti world. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is 1 second per second of advanced funkstyle. Battle rival crews and dispatch military police to conquer the five boroughs of New Amsterdam. Become All City.

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Tom Clancy's: The Division 2 Gets New Content in Year 5, Ubisoft Presents Spin-Off Heartland Survival Shooter

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 20th, 2023 15:08 Discuss (8 Comments)

Today, Ubisoft hosted Division Day, a special event where the creative team behind The Division franchise gave a sneak peek at everything that's coming soon. The Division 2 team revealed their Year 5 roadmap and Season One: Broken Wings; The Division Heartland made its cinematic debut; The Division Resurgence announced a new testing phase; and several other projects including an upcoming Webtoon and first look at unique action figures were revealed. Here's a roundup of everything covered during Ubisoft's Division Day showcase:

The Division Heartland, the upcoming free-to-play PvEvP, survival-action shooter, made its cinematic debut during the Division Day showcase, showing off the town of Silver Creek, teasing the enemy factions and mysterious virus players will face. The Division Heartland will go into Closed Beta later this year; if you want to be part of it, head over to thedivisionheartland.com to register for a chance to participate, as well as receive five friend invites.

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NVIDIA Could be Reducing RTX 4070 GPU Production, Palit Card Price Cut Reported in UK

by

T0@st

Apr 20th, 2023 14:39 Discuss (53 Comments)

NVIDIA's fresh faced GeForce RTX 4070 graphic card range has not been flying off shelves around the world, and Team Green could be pivoting their approach somewhat after receiving lower than expected sales figures via company reports. Their component suppliers have already mentioned that the entire GeForce RTX 40 family is on a comfortably steady production schedule - with no instructions received from HQ to up the ante. In the latest development this week, individuals with insider knowledge of factory schedules in China have claimed that NVIDIA has informed board partners (AICs) that output for the GeForce RTX 4070 line is getting paused for a month. The temporary cutoff in factory output will allow, they hope, for the currently sitting stock to get cleared out. A substantial surplus of GeForce RTX 4070 cards could disrupt distribution networks and overstock warehouses.

Industry watchdogs have theorized that NVIDIA's board partners are having a difficult time offloading their premium tier RTX 4070 custom cards onto paying customers. The Founders Edition and closer-to-reference models have sold quite respectable numbers according to early analyses, but more expensive options are considered to be too expensive by the customer base. There is apparent crossover in pricing with the fancier GeForce RTX 4070 Ti range, and a savvy buyer will tend toward superior silicon rather than a shiny cooling solution combined with a factory-issued overclock. A computer hardware retailer in the UK, Novatech, has chosen to cut the price of a Palit RTX 4070 Dual model by £40/$50, as reported yesterday. The asking price has since returned closer to RRP - at the time of writing it stands at £579.98.

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Teslagrad 2 & Teslagrad Remastered Get Dual Launch at Indie World Event, Both Out Now on PC and Consoles

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 20th, 2023 13:18 Discuss (0 Comments)

Greetings brave Teslamancers. After years of work, sweat, caffeine and plenty of fond memories, we're finally able to say that Teslagrad 2 is available for play! Come, discover Wyrmheim. Uncover its secrets, meet the locals and embark on your brand-new adventure! Challenges and secrets abound, but we're sure you'll face them with the boldness and gusto of a true Teslamancer! Now, there are so many we would like to give thanks to. Family and friends that have kept us safe and sane through the bad times, as well as the good. And, of course, a HUGE thank you to YOU. The Fans.

For your patience, passion and support. Your continued excitement has kept us going and striving towards ever-great heights. Looking back at what we've been able to build, we're thrilled to finally have you experience it as well, and join us at the top of the Tower! We've kept you for long enough. Strap on your boots, and face the world of Teslagrad once again. Let us know what you discover. Regards, Your Rain Games and Modus Games teams.

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Thermalright HR-10 PRO Heatsink Prepared for Gen5 SSDs

by

T0@st

Apr 20th, 2023 12:52 Discuss (31 Comments)

Thermalright has quietly updated its product page this week, and has rolled out another SSD cooler that looks quite familiar. The HR-10 2280 PRO M.2 SSD heatsink is now featured on their website, where it sits close to a similar looking model - the now standard HR-10 2280. This non-PRO version was revealed late last month as a step up from the older HR-09 SSD heatsink. The brand new HR-10 2280 PRO sports a key upgrade over its passively cooled older siblings - a 30 mm 12 V cooling PWM fan has been integrated into the middle of the fin stack's body. Thermalright's latest M.2 heatsink also fully prepared for and compatible with the next generation of SSDs - its revised design will accommodate Gen 5 solid-state drive standards.

The HR-10 Pro is consists of four 5 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heatpipes that make contact with a user appointed M.2-2280 SSD, over a mirror-finish nickel-plated copper base-plate. The heatpipes loop through a dense aluminium fin-stack with slats designed to maximize surface area for highly effective heat dissipation. A die-cast metal top-plate with company branding completes the package. The HR-10 PRO weighs in at 95 g (so 10 g more than the standard HR-10). The heatsink measures 23.7 mm x 90.3 mm x 43.8 mm (WxDxH). Thermalright has not revealed any pricing or stock availability at the time of writing.

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NVIDIA's Tiny RTX 4000 Ada Lovelace Graphics Cards is now Available

by

AleksandarK

Apr 20th, 2023 12:43 Discuss (23 Comments)

NVIDIA has begun selling its compact RTX 4000 Ada Lovelace graphics card, offering GeForce RTX 3070-like performance at a mere 70 W power consumption, allowing it to fit in almost all desktop PCs. The low-profile, dual-slot board is priced higher than the RTX 4080 as it targets professional users, but it can still be used in a regular gaming computer. PNY's RTX 4000 Ada generation graphics card is the first to reach consumer shelves, currently available for $1,444 at ShopBLT, a retailer known for obtaining hardware before its competitors. The card comes with four Mini-DisplayPort connectors, so an additional mDP-DP or mDP-HDMI adapter must be factored into the cost.

The NVIDIA RTX 4000 SFF Ada generation board features an AD104 GPU with 6,144 CUDA cores, 20 GB of GDDR6 ECC memory, and a 160-bit interface. With a fixed boost frequency floating around 1560 MHz to reduce overall board power consumption, the GPU is rated for just 70 Watts of power. To emphasize the efficiency, this card requires no external PCIe power connector, as all the juice is fed through the PCIe slot. The GA104 graphics processor in this configuration delivers a peak FP32 performance of 19.2 TFLOPS, comparable to the GeForce RTX 3070. The 20 GB of memory makes the card more valuable for professionals and AI researchers needing compact solutions. Although the card's performance is overshadowed by the recently launched GeForce RTX 4070, the RTX 4000 SFF Ada's professional drivers, support for professional software ISVs, and additional features make it a strong contender in the semi-professional market. Availability and pricing are expected to improve in the coming weeks as the card becomes more widely accessible.

More images, along with specification table, follow.

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MPEG Licensing Authority Settles HEVC Patent-enforcement Dispute with Samsung Electronics

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 20th, 2023 11:58 Discuss (3 Comments)

MPEG LA, LLC today announced that the HEVC enforcement actions brought in Landgericht Düsseldorf, Germany against Samsung Electronics GmbH ("Samsung") announced on 28 March 2022, have been settled with the taking of licenses. As a result, all legal disputes related to those patent enforcement actions have been resolved. Details of the actions by MPEG LA against Samsung can be accessed in the release dated March 28, 2022, here.

Seagate Handed $300 Million US Government Fine, Accused of Breaking Rules With HDD Exports to Huawei

by

T0@st

Apr 20th, 2023 11:33 Discuss (14 Comments)

US authorities have imposed a $300 million penalty on Seagate Technology Holdings plc, a market leader in data storage solutions, for an alleged violation of export controls. The US Commerce Department has investigated the California-based company's business dealings with Chinese hardware firm Huawei Technologies Co. Limited, specifically for the sale of hard disk drives to operations within mainland China. It has found that Seagate has broken the "foreign direct product (FDP) rule" that was established by the US Government back in 2020. Seagate is said to have sold approximately 7.4 million hard drive units to Huawei after the period in which the new rulings took effect - the total value of these shipments was estimated in the region of $1.1 billion.

The US government's serving of a civil penalty to Seagate appears to be part of a larger drive to prevent North American tech companies from selling advanced computer equipment to Chinese firms. Two other suppliers (not named) of storage solutions had agreed to the government imposed terms and ceased trade with Huawei in 2020. In contrast, Seagate has seemingly become a record breaking heretic according to a statement released yesterday by the Bureau of Industry (BIS) and Security: "This historic foreign direct product enforcement case and settlement represents the largest standalone administrative penalty in BIS history. Today's resolution also includes a multi-year audit requirement and a five-year suspended Denial Order. In August 2020, the Bureau of Industry and Security imposed controls over certain foreign-produced items related to Huawei. Despite this, in September 2020, Seagate announced it would continue to do business with Huawei. Seagate did so despite the fact that its only two competitors had stopped selling HDDs to Huawei, resulting in Seagate becoming Huawei's sole source provider of HDDs."

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Razer Achieves 8000Hz True Polling Rate for Wireless Gaming Mice with Viper Mini Signature Edition via a Firmware Update

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 20th, 2023 11:06 Discuss (8 Comments)

Razer today unveiled an update for its Razer Viper Mini Signature Edition, once again setting a new industry benchmark for gaming performance by introducing true 8000 Hz wireless polling rates, at 0.125 ms polling intervals. This game-changing update establishes Razer as the world's first brand to achieve this unparalleled level of wireless technology, further solidifying its industry-leading position and commitment to delivering the ultimate gaming experience.

Throughout the past year, Razer has persistently introduced industry-leading innovations that have solidified its role as the leading gaming brand worldwide. Introducing features such as the Focus Pro 30K Optical Sensor, boasting 99.8% resolution accuracy—the most accurate sensor to date—and pushing the limits to 90 million clicks with Optical Mouse Switches Gen-3. Combining these state-of-the-art technologies, the Viper Mini Signature Edition remains the premier top-tier mouse in the market.

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TSMC Beats Q1 Market Expectatons, Profits Up by Two Percent Year-on-Year

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 20th, 2023 10:48 Discuss (2 Comments)

TSMC today announced consolidated revenue of NT$508.63 billion, net income of NT$206.99 billion, and diluted earnings per share of NT$7.98 (US$1.31 per ADR unit) for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. Year-over-year, first quarter revenue increased 3.6% while net income and diluted EPS both increased 2.1%. Compared to fourth quarter 2022, first quarter results represented an 18.7% decrease in revenue and a 30.0% decrease in net income. All figures were prepared in accordance with TIFRS on a consolidated basis.

In US dollars, first quarter revenue was $16.72 billion, which decreased 4.8% year-over-year and decreased 16.1% from the previous quarter. Gross margin for the quarter was 56.3%, operating margin was 45.5%, and net profit margin was 40.7%. In the first quarter, shipments of 5-nanometer accounted for 31% of total wafer revenue; 7-nanometer accounted for 20%. Advanced technologies, defined as 7-nanometer and more advanced technologies, accounted for 51% of total wafer revenue.

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Acer Announces New Chromebook Spin 714 And Chromebook Enterprise Spin 714

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 20th, 2023 10:38 Discuss (0 Comments)

Acer today launched its latest performance-minded, premium convertible Chromebooks, the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 and Acer Chromebook Enterprise Spin 714. Supporting the needs of consumers, families and businesses, the new Chromebook line is powered by new 13th Gen Intel Core processors, 10-hour battery life with fast-charging, and new features, delivered in eco-friendly packaging which is made from fully-recyclable materials. The 16:10, 14-inch Chromebook also provides vivid displays and high-quality video conferencing with its WUXGA display, 100% sRGB coverage, a built-in QHD 2K webcam, and DTS Audio. Hybrid workers and students can fully maximize the 2-in-1 Chromebook for daily use with its flexible 360-degree convertible mode, quick-charging USI stylus, and compliance to military-grade durability standards.

"The new Acer Chromebook Spin 714 and Acer Chromebook Enterprise Spin 714 have the performance and productivity-boosting features that make them ideal for executives and mobile professionals, as well as consumers and students taking on more advanced apps such as coding and video editing," said James Lin, General Manager, Notebooks, IT Products Business, Acer Inc. "The Chromebooks' QHD 2K webcam ensures high-quality conferencing, while eco-minded features support Acer's commitment to create a positive impact on the environment."

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Acer Launches New TravelMate Line of Business Laptops for Hybrid Workforces

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 20th, 2023 10:34 Discuss (1 Comment)

Acer today announced new TravelMate business laptops, all powered by 13th Gen Intel Core vPro processors, and feature 16:10 premium OLED displays, 65 Wh fast charging long battery life, and secured log-in with fingerprint reader or IR camera, coming together to achieve the performance and mobility requirements of today's hybrid workforce.

Acer TravelMate P6 14
The latest TravelMate P6 14 is the ultimate premium business laptop for mobile professionals and executives. Professionals can experience elevated viewing experiences on a large screen surface with a 2.8K OLED (2880x1800) display panel, a 16:10 aspect ratio, and support for 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. Powered by Intel vPro, and an Intel Evo design, the high-end business laptop is packed with power as it comes with 13th Gen Intel Core i7 processors, 32 GB LPDDR5 memory and a 65 Wh[1] fast-charging battery. Online business meetings and video calls are further enhanced with the laptop's FHD IR webcam, AI-powered noise-reduction technology through Acer PurifiedVoice, and upward-facing speakers with DTS Audio. A PrivacyPanel feature helps obscure viewing angles beyond 90° to defend against prying eyes. The TravelMate P6 14 laptop also features 2x2 Wi-Fi 6E and 5G connectivity for faster and stronger wireless internet connection needed by mobile professionals.

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Acer Unleashes the Predator Orion X Desktop and Curved Monitors for Gaming Enthusiasts

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 20th, 2023 10:32 Discuss (2 Comments)

Acer today announced the latest addition to its lineup of powerful gaming desktops, the Predator Orion X. The compact gaming PC packs a massive punch as it combines up to the special edition 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900KS processor and up to a liquid-cooled NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, custom-engineered to fit all this power in a small, portable chassis. The space capsule-inspired design was crafted with multiple "zones" to house the CPU, GPU and liquid cooling system, an impressive feat for a desktop of this size. The upgradeable gaming PC also comes with a removable magnetic front cover and metal side panels to protect the vital internals and a mechanical arm-like headset cradle at the top.

Acer also announced new additions to its range of curved screens with the Nitro XZ452CU V and Predator X34 V gaming monitors. With nearly 45 inches of viewing space, the Nitro X2452CU V's AMD FreeSync Premium Pro-supported DQHD monitor and rapid 165 Hz refresh rate allow for seamless viewing experience when playing games or multitasking. The Predator X34 V's OLED UWQHD panel, DCI-P3 99% color gamut and VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 let players experience brilliant visuals and play games in their full glory.

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Acer Introduces New Predator Triton 17 X and Predator Helios Neo 16 Gaming Laptops

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 20th, 2023 10:19 Discuss (1 Comment)

Acer today announced major updates to its gaming laptop line-up, with new designs and support for industry-leading technology: 13th Gen Intel Core processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs. The new Predator Triton 17 X and Predator Helios Neo 16 are made for gamers and creators alike, due to their powerful components and premium display options. The thin and powerful Predator Triton 14 is designed for work or play, while its sleek, understated design makes it ideal for any environment. Lastly, the Predator Helios 3D 15 SpatialLabs Edition brings glasses-free, stereoscopic 3D to the world of gaming, infusing new life into more than 70 modern and classic titles, with more being continually added.

Acer also announced new Predator Triton 14 and Predator Helios 3D 15 SpatialLabs Edition laptops with 13th Gen Intel Core processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs.

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ASUS ROG Ally's Ryzen Z1 Extreme Custom APU Verified by Benchmark Info

by

T0@st

Apr 20th, 2023 10:12 Discuss (7 Comments)

An intriguing entry has appeared on the Geekbench Browser site, the information was uploaded with a timestamp from this morning (11:07 am on April 20 to be specific) pointing to a mobile ASUS device that was tested in GeekBench 5. The archived info dump reveals that the subject matter of the benchmark was the ASUS ROG Ally handheld gaming console, which has received a lot of attention in recent weeks - with it being touted as a very serious alternative to Valve's Steam Deck, a handheld gaming PC that is quite popular with enthusiasts. The ROG Ally will need to offer a potent hardware package if it stands to compete directly with the Steam Deck, and the latest information confirms that this new contender is very promising in that department. Geekbench 5 awarded an impressive OpenCL score of 35498 to the RC71L variant of the ROG Ally, an RC71X-assigned model is known to exist but details of its exact nature have not been revealed. This particular ROG Alloy unit was running Windows 11 Home (64-bit) under the operating system's performance power plan.

The new entry on Geekbench Browser shows that the Ally is packing an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU, which appears to be a customized version of the Ryzen 7 7840U APU mobile platform chipset - previous rumors have indicated that the latter would be in the driving seat. Both Phoenix range SoCs share the basic 8 cores and 16 thread makeup, but the Z1 Extreme is capable of boosting up to 5.062 GHz from a base frequency of 3.30 GHz. AMD's Radeon 780M iGPU (RDNA 3) is expected to deal with the Ally's graphical aspect, but the benchmark info dump only provides scant details about the GPU (codenamed "gfx1103") - most notably the presence of six computer units, an 800 MHz max frequency, and access to 8.20 GB of video memory. Number crunching boffins have calculated that the Ally could field 768 FP32 cores, courtesy of the dual issue SIMD design inherent to RDNA 3.

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Acer Launches New Swift X 16 Laptop with AMD Ryzen 7040 Series and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 20th, 2023 10:06 Discuss (4 Comments)

Acer today announced the new Acer Swift X 16 (SFX16-61G), designed to bring out one's creativity through a suite of performance-packed features for graphic designing, 3D rendering and video editing. The creator laptop brings captivating color and clarity with an option for a 16:10 OLED display supporting 100% DCI-P3 and 500 nits peak brightness.

Combining an attractive design and powerful performance, the Swift X 16 comes in a refined 17.9 mm thin design with up to the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPUs with NVIDIA Studio Drivers to help take creative projects to the next level. It also comes packed with a TwinAir cooling system, a larger battery, and all the vital connection ports for enhanced productivity. Video calls and streaming have never been better as the RTX laptop utilizes a 1080p FHD camera that uses Acer's Temporal Noise Reduction (TNR) and its suite of AI technologies for clear and crisp videos.

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Death Stranding Director's Cut Update Brings Intel XeSS 1.1 And DualSense Edge Support

by

GFreeman

Apr 20th, 2023 09:52 Discuss (0 Comments)

The latest update for Kojima Productions Death Stranding Director's Cut is bringing support for the latest version of Intel XeSS, DualSense Edge support, and additional minor fixes.

Released over at Steam, the 5 GB update is not a major update and adds support for Intel XeSS 1.1, which brings new advanced XeSS upscaling model improving temporal stability, bringing faster DP4a kernels, and faster XMX kernels. The Intel XeSS 1.1 also adds optional auto-exposure. The new update adds DualSense Edge support as well, with a note that players will need to disable Steam Input and connect their controller with a USB C cable in order to use the full functionality of the DualSense Edge. The update also reduce ghosting, moire, and flickering in the game.

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NVIDIA Announces GeForce NOW Six-Month Priority Memberships Sale, Seven New Games

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 20th, 2023 09:38 Discuss (1 Comment)

GFN Thursday rolls up this week with a hot new deal for a GeForce NOW six-month Priority membership. Enjoy the cloud gaming service with seven new games to stream this week, including more favorites from Bandai Namco Europe and F1 2021 from Electronic Arts.

Starting today, GeForce NOW is offering a limited-time discount sure to spark up gamers looking to skip the wait and jump right into their games. Through Sunday, May 21, get 40% off a six-month Priority membership for $29.99, normally $49.99. It's perfect for those looking to try out GeForce NOW or lock in a lower price for another half-year with one of GeForce NOW's premium membership tiers. Priority members get higher access to GeForce gaming servers, meaning less wait times than free members, as well as gaming sessions extended up to six hours. Priority members can also stream across multiple devices with beautifully ray-traced graphics with RTX ON for supported games.

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AMD Announces New Ryzen Embedded 5000 Series Processors for Networking Solutions

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 20th, 2023 09:26 Discuss (11 Comments)

AMD today announced the availability of its high-performance AMD Ryzen Embedded 5000 Series, a new solution for customers requiring power-efficient processors optimized for "always on" networking firewalls, network-attached storage systems and other security applications. The Ryzen Embedded 5000 Series rounds out the "Zen 3"-based AMD embedded processor portfolio which also includes the Ryzen Embedded V3000 and EPYC Embedded 7000 series families.

Built on 7 nm technology with planned five-year manufacturing availability, and equipped with 6, 8, 12 or 16 cores and 24 lanes of PCIe Gen 4 connectivity, Ryzen Embedded 5000 Series processors are designed for enterprise reliability to support the consistent uptime requirements needed by security and networking customers. Ryzen Embedded 5000 Series processors include robust reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features, including an ECC-supported memory subsystem. With a thermal design power (TDP) profile ranging from 65 W to 105 W, Ryzen Embedded 5000 processors enable the reduction of overall system cooling footprint for space-constrained and cost-sensitive applications.

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InnoLux Brings Back the Dual Display Laptop with a Twist

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 20th, 2023 09:18 Discuss (0 Comments)

Over the years, we've seen multiple attempts at launching notebooks with dual displays, i.e. one on the outside and one on the inside of the lid. None have been particularly successful and there has never been a followup model from the manufacturers that have launched said products. At Touch Taiwan, InnoLux had a demo of a new take on the dual display laptop, where the company had managed to make both display panels a mere 4.5 mm thick. On top of the relative thinness of the two panels, both panels also featured touch and stylus support, although it might have been enough if the outer display had this, so a potential notebook could be used in tablet mode this way and like a regular notebook when flipped open.

InnoLux didn't specify the display pane size, but both panels have a 3:2 aspect ratio and a rather odd 1526 x 1024 resolution, with a contrast ratio of 1200:1. It appears that the displays are intended for the educational market for the time being, most likely for some overpriced Chromebooks that are being pitched to schools. That said, this is the best concept of a dual display laptop screen we've seen, as the thickness equals that of most regular laptop displays, so there's no extra bulk for additional display.

InnoLux Micro LED Display Measures 9.6-inches, Delivers 1080p Resolution

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 20th, 2023 09:07 Discuss (1 Comment)

Unlike AUO, it appears that InnoLux has managed to create a Micro LED display with usable resolution, as the 9.6-inch display that the company was demoing at Touch Taiwan delivers 1920 x 1080 pixels, or 229 pixels per inch. The display also looked really good, although it was hard to judge if it had any pixel defects like the AUO 17-3-inch display, as it was continuously running various animations on a dark background, which prevented a good look at the panel.

InnoLux built this display on its LTPS technology and each LED measures a mere 40 micron across. The panel offers a 300 cd/m² brightness and supports 115 percent of the NTSC colour gamut. Although the display looked really good, we're not quite sure where the market is for this display, although it might find its way into some kind of tablets, assuming the price is right. However, it looks like InnoLux is ahead of AUO when it comes to working out how to manufacture Micro LED displays, but unlike its competitor, it seems like InnoLux hasn't figured out how to make them in a more useful size.

InnoLux Also Shows Off a Pair of High-end Gaming Notebook Panels

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 20th, 2023 08:57 Discuss (0 Comments)

It wasn't just AUO that had high-end gaming notebook panels on display at Touch Taiwan, as InnoLux also had a pair of interesting models that the company was showing off. The smaller model of the two was a 14-inch LTPS (Low-Temperature PolySilicon) panel with 2560 x 1600 resolution with a brightness of 500 cd/m². It features a VRR range of 30 to 120 Hz, which seems ideally suited for a gaming notebook, since they tend to have weaker GPUs that are likely to drop below the typical 48 Hz VRR threshold. It also supports 100 percent of the sRGB colour gamut.

The second display is a 16-inch model, but with a lower 1920 x 1200 resolution. The lower resolution is because this panel comes with a 540 Hz refresh rate, as high as AUO's E-TN gaming monitor panel. However, we should note that Chinese BOE announced a 600 Hz gaming notebook display last year, so this is far from the fastest gaming notebook display out there. It's also not the brightest display out there at 300 cd/m², but it supports 100 percent of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, most likely thanks to being an LTPS based panel rather than TN or similar.

InnoLux Hopes 38-inches is the New 32-inches for 4K Gaming Monitors

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 20th, 2023 08:41 Discuss (15 Comments)

There's no shortage of ultra wide 38-inch panels in the market, but InnoLux is hoping that there's a market for a 38-inch 4K panel in the more traditional 16:9 aspect ratio. The panel is based on InnoLux Azimuthal Anchoring Switch technology, also known as AAS, which is an IPS like panel type. The panel supports up to 144 Hz refresh rate, as well as a 5 ms grey to grey response time, in other words, very similar to smaller 4K IPS based displays.

Other features include support for HDR 600—which seems to be slowly replacing HDR 400 as the standard in the mid-range gaming monitor space—and support for 98 percent of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. For those wanting some more tangible measurements, the active area of the panel measures 841 x 473 mm (rounded to nearest full digit), suggesting it's a full 20 centimeters wider and roughly 15 centimeters taller than your average 27-inch 4K display panel.

InnoLux Goes Fast and Large with 4K 240 Hz 50-inch Gaming Monitor Panel

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 20th, 2023 08:28 Discuss (5 Comments)

There's no shortage of large gaming monitors on the market, but to date, almost all of them have been stuck at the same 120 Hz refresh rate as you'd see on higher-end TVs. InnoLux had a new 50-inch panel on display at Touch Taiwan that's capable of 240 Hz refresh rate, something that is still quite rare in this segment, especially as it's a 4K display panel. In all fairness, it's a TV by all intents, just without a tuner and it might appeal to console gamers, but it's not all good news.

InnoLux went with a-si NPVA technology for the panel, in other words, this is a modern VA panel, with the potential ghosting issues that VA panels suffer from. On the other hand, InnoLux claims support for FreeSync Premium Pro support with a VRR range from 48 to 240 Hz. The panel also has a contrast ratio of 7000:1, but no brightness details were given. That said, FreeSync Premium Pro requires HDR support, although it doesn't specify what kind of HDR, but it means the panel will at least support 400 cd/m² in HDR mode. It's also said to support 96 percent of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, suggesting good colour reproduction and it's said to have a 2 ms grey to grey response time.

Netflix Sets July Launch for Oxenfree II: Lost Signals

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 20th, 2023 08:18 Discuss (0 Comments)

It's time to tune into the next chapter. OXENFREE II: Lost Signals will launch July 12, 2023! Make sure it's on your wishlist so you can be among the first to play. This game has been a labor of love and we've been fueled by the passion of our community. We're counting down the days until you have the game in your hands. We cannot wait for you to finally meet Riley and make life altering choices while overcoming supernatural challenges that threaten to destroy her future.

Five years after the events of OXENFREE, Riley returns to her hometown of Camena to investigate mysterious radio signals. What she finds is more than she bargained for. In the small coastal town, unnaturally occurring electromagnetic waves are suddenly causing interference with electrical and radio equipment. Reluctantly, Riley Poverly, an environmental researcher, returns to her hometown to investigate the mystery. As you go on this journey with Riley, you'll shape every step of the story through your choices. How you choose to deal with the supernatural events at hand will forever alter the future.

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IBASE Unveils MI933 AMD Ryzen Embedded R2000 Powered Mini-ITX Motherboard

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 20th, 2023 05:34 Discuss (1 Comment)

IBASE Technology Inc, a world leader in the manufacture of embedded boards and solutions, rolls out the 5G-enabled MI993 Mini-ITX motherboard based on the powerful AMD Ryzen Embedded R2000 series processor that is capable of delivering 8 cores and 16 threads, allowing users to experience faster rendering times and overall system performance. With a host of robust features including independent display with two HDMI ports and two DisplayPort, it is an ideal choice for digital signage, interactive kiosks, and other applications that require multiple displays.

The MI993 boasts two DDR4 sockets with a capacity of 32 GB of memory, ensuring smooth multitasking without slowdowns. It is equipped with dual Intel 2.5G LAN for high-speed and reliable connectivity, five USB 3.1 and two USB 2.0 ports to connect to a wide range of peripherals, as well as interface options with four serial ports, one SATA port and three M.2 sockets to support legacy devices and add expansion options as needed.

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Microsoft Releases DirectStorage 1.2 with HDD Speedups

by

btarunr

Apr 20th, 2023 04:07 Discuss (21 Comments)

Microsoft released a major update to DirectStorage, the API that promises to reduce game loading times. The new DirectStorage 1.2 adds the ability to speed up game loading for mechanical hard drives, a feature game developers requested from Microsoft. DirectStorage brings much of the storage sub-system secret sauce of consoles over to PC, and consoles have held on to mechanical HDDs as game storage devices longer than mainstream gaming PCs.

HDDs require buffered reads to compensate for the longer seek times, whereas DirectStorage traditionally accesses files in unbuffered mode, which disqualified HDDs for DirectStorage. With this update, HDDs can take advantage of DirectStorage, wherein game data stored on them is directly accessed by GPUs, and compressed game assets are decompressed on the fly through the compute-shader acceleration capabilities of modern GPUs.

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GlobalFoundries Files Lawsuit Against IBM to Protect its Intellectual Property and Trade Secrets

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 20th, 2023 02:29 Discuss (14 Comments)

GlobalFoundries (GF) today sued IBM for trade secret misappropriation. The complaint asserts the former semiconductor manufacturing company has unlawfully disclosed GF's confidential IP and trade secrets, after IBM sold its microelectronics business to GF in 2015. The technology at issue was collaboratively developed, over decades, by the companies in Albany, New York and the sole and exclusive right to license and disclose that technology was transferred to GF upon the sale.

In the legal action filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, GF asserts that IBM unlawfully disclosed GF IP and trade secrets to IBM partners including Intel and Japan's Rapidus, a newly formed advanced logic foundry, and by doing so, IBM is unjustly receiving potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in licensing income and other benefits.

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EdgeCortix Expands Delivery of its Industry Leading SAKURA-I AI Co-processor Devices

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 20th, 2023 02:19 Discuss (6 Comments)

EdgeCortix Inc., the innovative Edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) Platform company, focused on delivering class-leading compute efficiency and ultra-low latency for AI inference; announced, it is shipping its industry leading, energy-efficient, turn-key, AI co-processor, branded as the EdgeCortix SAKURA-I, to its global Early Access Program members.

"We are very pleased to be announcing the fulfillment of our first-generation semiconductor solution, the EdgeCortix SAKURA-I AI co-processor. Designed and engineered in Japan, SAKURA-I features up to 40 trillion operations per second (TOPs) of dedicated AI performance at sub-10 watts of power consumption.", said Sakyasingha Dasgupta, CEO and Founder of EdgeCortix, "We are delivering a complete Edge AI platform to our Early Access Program members, comprising both software and hardware solutions, which includes our recently updated MERA software suite. Program members include numerous global industry leading enterprise customers across both the commercial and defense sectors. We developed the EdgeCortix Early Access Program (EAP) with a focus on offering customers the opportunity to assess EdgeCortix's products and services at scale, by deploying them within their own complex, heterogeneous environments. The goal of the EAP offering is three-fold: showcasing the ease of integration into customer's existing heterogeneous systems, enabling customers to prove-out the effectiveness and efficiency of EdgeCortix solutions versus competing products and facilitating a direct dialog with EdgeCortix product management, enabling tailor-made fit in certain cases."

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ZOTAC GAMING Announces Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Licensed Bundles

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 20th, 2023 01:20 Discuss (6 Comments)

ZOTAC GAMING has teamed up with Sony Pictures to launch the "Power the Hero in You" campaign with limited edition themed products, in celebration of the upcoming release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse film. The highly anticipated sequel to the Oscar-winning animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie will release exclusively in theatres on June 2, 2023. From limited-edition graphics card bundles and gaming systems to themed merchandise and social media sweepstakes, the campaign encourages gamers to embrace their hero potential as they play and explore in the PC gaming universes.

The "Power the Hero in You" ZOTAC GAMING campaign kicks off April 20 2023 and it aims to inspire gamers to power up and become heroes in their own right in all the games that they play. As kids, there's nothing more exciting than imagining having superpowers- from flying, super-human strength, mind control, and overall just saving someone from having a very bad day. But reality kicks in and imaginations are just that and nothing more.

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SK hynix Develops Industry's First 12-Layer HBM3, Provides Samples To Customers

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 20th, 2023 00:36 Discuss (7 Comments)

SK hynix announced today it has become the industry's first to develop 12-layer HBM3 product with a 24 gigabyte (GB) memory capacity, currently the largest in the industry, and said customers' performance evaluation of samples is underway. HBM (High Bandwidth Memory): A high-value, high-performance memory that vertically interconnects multiple DRAM chips and dramatically increases data processing speed in comparison to traditional DRAM products. HBM3 is the 4th generation product, succeeding the previous generations HBM, HBM2 and HBM2E

"The company succeeded in developing the 24 GB package product that increased the memory capacity by 50% from the previous product, following the mass production of the world's first HBM3 in June last year," SK hynix said. "We will be able to supply the new products to the market from the second half of the year, in line with growing demand for premium memory products driven by the AI-powered chatbot industry." SK hynix engineers improved process efficiency and performance stability by applying Advanced Mass Reflow Molded Underfill (MR-MUF)# technology to the latest product, while Through Silicon Via (TSV)## technology reduced the thickness of a single DRAM chip by 40%, achieving the same stack height level as the 16 GB product.

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Today's Reviews

Desktop PC

• ECS LIVA One H610 HardwareInside.de (de)
• ECS LIVA Q3H Overclocking.com (fr)

Gaming PC

• MSI MEG Trident X2 Think Computers

Graphics Cards

• Galax RTX 4070 EX Guru3D

Keyboards

• Varmilo VBS108V2 Crane of Lure Wireless Mechanical Keyboard TechPowerUp

Memory

• Crucial DDR5-5600 32GB Kit Madshrimps
• G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 Tom's Hardware
• Patriot Viper Venom DDR5-7200 CL34 2x 16 GB TechPowerUp

Motherboards

• MSI Pro B660M-A DDR4 Hardware Journal (de)

Notebooks

• Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 10 Tweaktown

PSUs

• ASUS TUF Gaming 850W Gold Cowcotland (fr)

Storage

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Patriot Viper Venom DDR5-7200 CL34 2x 16 GB Review

Review Memory

Patriot pushes the DDR5 Viper Venom series to new heights with the newest memory kit binned to 7200 MT/s. Targeting pro-level gamers and PC enthusiasts, follow along as we benchmark, compare and overclock to find out how Patriot stacks up to the competition!

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Varmilo VBS108V2 Crane of Lure Wireless Mechanical Keyboard Review

Review Keyboards

Varmilo goes back to its cultural roots with an eye-catching Crane of Lure theme on its new VBS108V2 keyboard. It offers hybrid wireless connectivity powered by external, easily replaceable batteries on top of several switch options to make for a high quality typing experience too.

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Rambus Accelerates AI Performance with Industry-Leading 24 Gb/s GDDR6 PHY

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 19th, 2023 22:44 Discuss (0 Comments)

Rambus Inc., a premier chip and silicon IP provider making data faster and safer, today announced a new product milestone for GDDR6 memory interface performance. The Rambus GDDR6 PHY delivers a market-leading data rate of up to 24 Gigabits per second (Gb/s), providing 96 Gigabytes per second (GB/s) of bandwidth per GDDR6 memory device. As part of a system-level solution, the Rambus GDDR6 offering enables cost-efficient, high-bandwidth memory performance for AI/ML, graphics and networking applications.

"With the new level of performance achieved by our GDDR6 PHY, designers can deliver the bandwidth needed by the most demanding workloads," said Sean Fan, chief operating officer at Rambus. "As with our industry-leading HBM3 memory interface, this latest achievement demonstrates our continued commitment to advancing state-of-the-art memory performance to meet the needs of advanced computing applications such as generative AI."

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Thermaltake Intros ToughRAM D5 RGB DDR5-5600 in Multiple Color Options and with AMD EXPO Support

by

btarunr

Apr 19th, 2023 22:41 Discuss (1 Comment)

Thermaltake today introduced its ToughRAM D5 RGB series DDR5 memory in multiple color options that it had shown off in its 2023 CES booth. Today's release sees the memory modules in six color variants—Turquoise, Racing Green, Metallic Gold, Racing Red, White, and Black. These come with the distinctive Thermaltake "TT" design, and are capped with silicone diffusers for the 8 RGB LEDs that you can control using the TT RGB Plus 2.0 app.

Thermaltake sells these only in 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) kits, rated for DDR5-5600, 36-36-36-76 timings, and 1.1 V to 1.25 V DRAM voltage. These are based on SK Hynix M-die DRAM chips in single-rank 8x 16 Gbit configuration. What's interesting is that even to achieve its rather modest DDR5-5600 speed, Thermaltake included both Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD EXPO profiles. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Cougar Unveils MX330-G PRO Mid-tower Case with Provision for 5.25-inch Drive Bays

by

btarunr

Apr 19th, 2023 22:29 Discuss (13 Comments)

Cougar today unveiled the MX330-G PRO, an ATX mid-tower case with provision for up to two 5.25-inch drives, and an airy mesh front panel. The 5.25-inch bays are designed to offer minimal intrusion into the case, with just a stub for the front screws of 5.25-inch drives on their left side, and with the right side integrated with the motherboard tray for the entire row of screws. This metal stub can be removed to enable installation of large 360 mm radiators along the front panel, where the 5.25-inch bay covers retain the mesh surface of the rest of the front panel.

The MX330-G PRO features a conventional horizontally-partitioned layout, with the motherboard tray serving up room for graphics cards up to 38.5 cm in length, and CPU coolers up to 16 cm in height. Fan mounts include three 140/120 mm front intakes, either three 120 mm or two 140 mm top exhausts, and a 120 mm rear exhaust. Radiator mounting options include up to 360 mm along the front, up to 360 mm along the top, and a 120 mm along the rear panel. Besides the two 5.25-inch drive bays, you get two 3.5-inch trays, and up to three 2.5-inch drive mounts. Front panel connectivity includes a USB 3.2 type-C with 20 Gbps capability (20-pin key-A header), two USB 3.1 type-A, one USB 2.0 type-A, and a 4-pole headset jack. The case measures 209 mm x 495 mm x 475 mm (WxHxD). The company didn't reveal pricing.

Blasphemous 2 Revealed During Indie World Showcase, Souls-Like 2D Platformer Arrives on PC and Consoles This Summer

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 19th, 2023 17:33 Discuss (4 Comments)

The Penitent One awakens as Blasphemous 2 joins him once again in an endless struggle against The Miracle. Dive into a perilous new world filled with mysteries and secrets to discover, and tear your way through monstrous foes that stand between you and your quest to end the cycle one and for all. The second scripture in the Blasphemous series portends the return of The Penitent One, with a story that continues from the free Wounds of Eventide DLC for the original game, where The Heart in the sky heralded the return of The Miracle and foretold the birth of a new miracle child.

Awakened in a strange new land, and displaced from his final resting place, The Penitent One is thrust back into the endless cycle of life, death, and resurrection, with no other option than to explore this perilous new world and uncover its long-forgotten secrets. Hordes of grotesque enemies stand in your way, awaiting final judgement by the brutal hand of the Penitent One, with titanic twisted bosses also lurking in the darkness, waiting for their chance to return you to the grave from whence you came. Taking them down won't be easy, but with Blasphemous 2 offering more chances to customize and improve your skill set, along with several new unique weapons to wield with righteous zeal and unending fury, victory might just be within grasp. Ultimately, only one thing is certain… Penance Never Ends

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AMD Radeon 780M RDNA 3 iGPU Gets Benchmarked

by

GFreeman

Apr 19th, 2023 16:13 Discuss (23 Comments)

A tech reviewer, ETA PRIME, managed to get its hands on the ASUS TUF A15 laptop, based on the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS APU, and run some benchmarks on the integrated Radeon 780M RDNA 3 iGPU, showing that it is capable of delivering playable framerates in some popular games at 1080p resolution. The Ryzen 9 7940HS is an 8-core/16-thread Zen 4 APU with a base clock of 4.0 GHz and a maximum boost clock of 5.2 GHz. It features the Radeon 780M RDNA 3 iGPU with 12 CUs (768 stream processors) working at 2800 MHz. The APU in the ASUS TUF A15 laptop was paired up with 32 GB of DDR5-5600 memory. The system comes with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, but the review was focused on the AMD Radeon 780M.

In 3DMark Fire Strike and Time Spy benchmark, the Radeon 780M GPU was 12 and 15 percent faster than the Radeon 680M, despite the other system being equipped with faster LPDDR5 memory. ETA PRIME was also keen to note that the early driver was obviously not ready, and it did crash in some games, so the performance could be even higher when the official driver is released. ETA PRIME benchmarked a couple of popular games with the CPU limited to 80 W, resulting in playable framerates in most of the games at 1080p and medium to high graphics settings. Bear in mind that the system was tested in Performance Mode set via ASUS Armory Crate software. According to ETA PRIME, the integrated GPU was easily overclocked up to 3 GHz, and it would crash at 3.25 GHz, which shows great promise and might be more stable with the final launch driver.

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Gigabyte Extends Its Leading GPU Portfolio of Servers

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 19th, 2023 14:36 Discuss (1 Comment)

Giga Computing, a subsidiary of GIGABYTE and an industry leader in high-performance servers, server motherboards, and workstations, today announced a lineup of powerful GPU-centric servers with the latest AMD and Intel CPUs, including NVIDIA HGX H100 servers with both 4-GPU and 8-GPU modules. With growing interest in HPC and AI applications, specifically generative AI (GAI), this breed of server relies heavily on GPU resources to tackle compute-heavy workloads that handle large amounts of data. With the advent of OpenAI's ChatGPT and other AI chatbots, large GPU clusters are being deployed with system-level optimization to train large language models (LLMs). These LLMs can be processed by GIGABYTE's new design-optimized systems that offer a high level of customization based on users' workloads and requirements.

The GIGABYTE G-series servers are built first and foremost to support dense GPU compute and the latest PCIe technology. Starting with the 2U servers, the new G293 servers can support up to 8 dual-slot GPUs or 16 single-slot GPUs, depending on the server model. For the ultimate in CPU and GPU performance, the 4U G493 servers offer plenty of networking options and storage configurations to go alongside support for eight (Gen 5 x16) GPUs. And for the highest level of GPU compute for HPC and AI, the G393 & G593 series support NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs. All these new two CPU socket servers are designed for either 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors or 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors.

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Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed Arriving Next Week, Fanbase Shocked by Expansion's Early Release

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 19th, 2023 14:05 Discuss (5 Comments)

The final DLC in the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass launches for the Nintendo Switch system on April 25. The trailer gives viewers a glimpse into the scenario of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass Vol. 4 - Future Redeemed. Set before the events of the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 game, players join a cast of new and familiar characters in an original story scenario that connects all three installments in the Xenoblade Chronicles series. Future Redeemed also features new battle mechanics, such as Unity Combo, where two characters can attack in unison.

In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Aionios is the backdrop to an endless conflict between two opposing nations: Keves and Agnus. Through a chance encounter, a group of six soldiers hailing from both rival nations resolve to put aside their differences and work together to expose a new threat - far greater than that of their ceaseless battle. Players can join Noah, Mio and their friends as they traverse epic landscapes, battle ferocious creatures and fight to break the never-ending cycle of violence that binds their homelands.

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Reports Suggest MacBook Air Models Rocking M3 Chipset Incoming, But Delayed Beyond WWDC 2023

by

T0@st

Apr 19th, 2023 13:29 Discuss (3 Comments)

Conflicting reports are flying around about Apple's next generation MacBook Air lineup, mostly surrounding suggestions of a firm release date or debut reveal at WWDC 2023. 9to5Mac claims that its insider sources have pointed to a new range of M3 chipset powered MacBook Air extra thin laptops offered up in two different screen sizes: 13-inch and 15-inch. An insider claimed last month that Apple's upcoming laptop lineup was in an advanced stage of production, and was far along enough to warrant an "imminent" launch window. A Taiwanese publication has presented new evidence this week, and it posits that Apple could drop M3 chipset-based laptops from announcement presentations organized for this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, which is set to take place from June 5 to 9.

According to the financial section of Taiwan's UDN news site, Apple's key decision makers could be in favor of fielding laptops based on its current generation M2 SoC, instead of an entry-level M3-based range, due to delays and changes in priority for the N3B node at TSMC foundries. This is seen as an odd move given reports from earlier this month of Apple requesting a reduction in factory output for its M2 chips, following a slump in demand. Apple could be changing its strategy with regards to the alleged surplus of M2 silicon - the article theorizes that the company will spend more time fitting the older generation chipsets into a new range of laptops and desktop computers. An M3-based product line could be delayed into late 2023, and it is alleged that TSMC has been instructed to concentrate mostly on manufacturing Apple's Bionix A17 mobile chipset via the cutting edge 3 nm FinFet technology process (N3B) - earmarked to debut on the iPhone 15 Pro in autumn 2023.

EK Water Blocks EK-Pro Line Gets New Barb Fittings

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 19th, 2023 13:23 Discuss (3 Comments)

EK, the premium water-cooling gear manufacturer, is continuing the path of expanding the EK-Pro Line of products aimed at workstations and servers. The EK-Pro Barb fittings allow users to quickly and easily interconnect their water-cooling products in their work computers. These fittings come in G1/4 and G1/8 thread sizes and are compatible with 6 and 10-mm inner diameter soft tubes. EK-Pro Barb G1/4 fittings are soft-tube fittings designed for use with soft tubings like EPDM, PVC, Norprene, or silicon. They are available in two dimensions, one compatible with 6-mm and the other with 10-mm inner diameter soft tubing. They feature G1/4 threads that are typically used in PC and workstation water-cooling. These fittings are made of nickel-plated CNC-machined brass with quality O-rings. They can be tightened down by hand or using a spanner/wrench.

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Firmament Gets May Launch Date, New Puzzle-Adventure From the Makers of Myst and Riven

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 19th, 2023 12:23 Discuss (6 Comments)

New store page, new trailer... new EVERYTHING for our upcoming puzzle-adventure game Firmament...Firmament will release on May 18th! Firmament is a new puzzle-adventure game by the legendary game studio behind the best-selling games Myst and Riven. Featuring deep storytelling and world-building, discover the story of this seemingly abandoned world as you explore and unlock the mysteries of 3 unique Realms… and beyond!

EXPLORE THE WORLD
Featuring a unique steampunk aesthetic, Firmament invites you to explore the legendary deep world-building Cyan Worlds is known for. Firmament is a fantastic visual feast, with thrilling new sights to see around every corner. At the same time, the world of Firmament feels completely plausible; as though it were constructed with a bigger purpose in mind… A purpose you will be compelled to discover as you play.

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NVIDIA Stock Value Climbs Due To Rising Interest in AI Hardware

by

T0@st

Apr 19th, 2023 12:05 Discuss (16 Comments)

Financial analysts at HSBC, the largest bank in Europe, have become very excited this week about NVIDIA's stock prospects. They have established that the American multinational technology company is set to grow due to an increased demand globally for hardware relating to artificial intelligence (AI) processing. HSBC's team of analysts have raised the recommendation on Nvidia stock (NASDAQ:NVDA) to "Buy" from "Reduce" - the reason being that AI business segments are on the rise and NVIDIA is well positioned to meet demand which: "more than offsets our previous concerns over a datacenter slowdown and rising inventory levels."

HSBC's price target on NVIDIA stock has more than doubled to $355 per share (from the previous $175), and the analysts claim that their past estimates were wrong and undervalued because of wider market trends in the server business: "We were too focused on the slowdown in datacenters, but what really surprised us was its pricing power on AI chips." Hence the analysts' call to double the NVIDIA stock target, in anticipation of excellent fiscal performance going into 2024. News reports point out an immediate 4.1% jump in stock following HSBC's recommendations. The chipmaker's shares have surged up to 140%, its highest position in a year, from a low period in October 2022.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Differing Core Clusters Revealed in Leak, NUVIA Phoenix-Based Gen 4 Hinted

by

T0@st

Apr 19th, 2023 11:22 Discuss (5 Comments)

A technology tipster has been dropping multiple tidbits this week about Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile chipset - this follows a leak (from a different source, going back to mid-April) about the next generation Adreno 750 GPU getting tuned up for a battle against Apple's Bionic A17 in terms of graphics benchmarks. The latest leak points to the GPU being clocked at 900 MHz, rather than the rumored higher figure of 1.0 GHz speed (garnered from tests at Qualcomm's labs). The focus has now turned to the next generation flagship Snapdragon's CPU aspect, with information emerging about core clock speeds and multiple cluster configurations.

Revegnus suggests that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (SD8G3) chipset will be packing a large primary core in the shape of Arm's Cortex-X4 CPU with a reported maximum clock speed of 3.40 GHz. Leaks from the past have posited that the SD8G3 would feature a fairly standard 1x Large + 5x Big + 2x Small CPU core layout (with clocks predicted to be: large Cortex X4 at 3.2 GHz, big Cortex-A720 at 3.0 GHz, and small Cortex-A520 at 2.0 GHz). An insider source has provided Revegnus with additional information about two different CPU core configurations - 1+5+2 and 2+4+2 - it is theorized that smartphone manufacturers will be offered the latter layout as an exclusive option for special edition flagship phones. The more powerful 2+4+2 variant is said to sacrifice a big core (A720) in favor of a dual Cortex X4 headliner, although the resultant thermal output of twin large cores could prove to be problematic.

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Intel Dives into the Future of Cooling

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 19th, 2023 11:20 Discuss (12 Comments)

Extending Moore's Law means putting more transistors on an integrated circuit and, increasingly, adding more cores. Doing so improves performance but requires more energy. Over the past decade, Intel estimates it has saved 1,000 terawatt hours of electricity through the improvements its engineers have made to processors. These advances are complemented by cooling technologies - fans, in-door coolers, direct-to-chip cooling - that further manage heat, conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions.

These cooling features require up to 40% of a data center's energy consumption. As Intel looks to increase performance in the future, improvements need to be accomplished in an energy-efficient way, and air cooling may not be the solution. Fortunately, Intel is working with the liquid cooling industry - from tank vendors to fluid providers to its own labs - to create innovative solutions where computing components are in direct contact with a heat-conducting fluid. Some of the solutions seem squarely in the realm of science fiction, like 3D vapor chambers embedded in coral-shaped heat sinks. Or tiny jets, adjusted by artificial intelligence, that shoot cool water over hot spots in the chip to remove heat. All are being explored in thermal labs at Intel.

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NZXT Announces New-Generation Kraken and Kraken Elite Coolers and RGB H Series Cases

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 19th, 2023 11:18 Discuss (5 Comments)

NZXT, a leader in PC gaming hardware and services, today announces the release of the Kraken and Kraken Elite. This new generation of popular coolers offers NZXT's coveted design and high-quality cooling while displaying essential data via NZXT CAM, a free software allowing users to monitor, control, and customize their NZXT products.

These new products are the latest versions of their award-winning all-in-one liquid CPU coolers series, the Kraken X-3 and Kraken Z-3 series. The Kraken Elite offers a 2.36" LCD screen with higher resolution and frame rate, better viewing angle, and higher color accuracy. This screen can display data from NZXT CAM and static or animated images with more clarity. The Kraken features a 1.54" LCD screen that can display system temperatures and static images from NZXT CAM.

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ASML Announces 2023 First Quarter Financial Results

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 19th, 2023 10:23 Discuss (1 Comment)

Today, ASML Holding NV (ASML) has published its 2023 first quarter results.

The company reported Q1 net sales of €6.7 billion, with gross margin of 50.6%, and net income of €2.0 billion. Quarterly net bookings in Q1 2023 were at €3.8 billion of which €1.6 billion is EUV. ASML expects Q2 2023 net sales between €6.5 billion and €7.0 billion and a gross margin between 50% and 51%. ASML expects 2023 net sales to grow over 25% compared to 2022.

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AMD Joins AWS ISV Accelerate Program

Press Release by

AleksandarK

Apr 19th, 2023 10:08 Discuss (0 Comments)

AMD announced it has joined the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Accelerate Program, a co-sell program for AWS Partners - like AMD - who provide integrated solutions on AWS. The program helps AWS Partners drive new business by directly connecting participating ISVs with the AWS Sales organization.

Through the AWS ISV Accelerate Program, AMD will receive focused co-selling support from AWS, including, access to further sales enablement resources, reduced AWS Marketplace listing fees, and incentives for AWS Sales teams. The program will also allow participating ISVs access to millions of active AWS customers globally.

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Origin PC Unveils Bespoke Workstations and GPU Servers Powered by Intel Xeon W-3400 Series

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 19th, 2023 09:40 Discuss (1 Comment)

ORIGIN PC, a leader in custom high-performance systems, announced today the availability of new Intel Xeon W-3400 processors for their L-Class and R-Class systems. Improve your productivity and workflows with top of the line workstations crafted with the latest premier hardware. Whether it's for anything from content creation to artificial intelligence work, bring in the versatile power of Intel's advanced computing speed and efficiency. Access clock speeds up to 4.8 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost Max, up to 56 cores in a single socket, 105 MB of L3 cache, support for up to 4 TB of memory capacity, and up to 112 CPU PCIe Gen 5.0 lanes.

Get up to 28% single thread or 120% multi thread increased performance, when compared to the previous generation of Xeon processors, and deliver the best results for your business or profession. The Intel Xeon W-3400 processors push forward with various new technologies, DDR5 memory support, and security features. Stay up to date and stay prepared - customize your ORIGIN PC so that it's ready for any future needs within your industry or increases in workload demand.

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EU Locks in $47 Billion Investment Plan for European Chips Act

by

T0@st

Apr 19th, 2023 09:30 Discuss (17 Comments)

The European Union yesterday (April 18) has announced a substantial investment of $47 billion (€43 billion) as part of its already established plan to support native semiconductor industries. The European Parliament and EU member states have agreed upon new measures to boost the supply of semiconductors in Europe, as the bloc navigates a solution to reduce its dependency on manufacturers located in Asian territories. Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market of the European Union, released his own statement about the agreement: "We have a deal on EU Chips Act! In a geopolitical context of de-risking, Europe is taking its destiny into its own hands. By mastering the most advanced semiconductors, EU will become an industrial powerhouse in markets of the future."

China and Taiwan are currently the dominant nations in the field of manufacture and export of semiconductor products. The European Union is also playing catch-up with North America, where the United States Chips and Science Act has been effect since last summer - around $280 billion in new funding will be meted out over time to boost domestic research and development, as well as manufacturing of semiconductors in the USA. Governing bodies around the world are shoring up domestic silicon-based manufacturing efforts in order to reduce reliance on products sourced from Asia - where supply chain issues and manufacturing delays have caused global shortages of essential electronic goods.

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InnoLux Goes IGZO for its Upcoming Gaming Display Panels

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 19th, 2023 09:25 Discuss (7 Comments)

IGZO or Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide is a type of semiconducting material that has been used in displays by Sharp since 2012, although mainly for mobile devices courtesy of being more power efficient compared to standard IPS panels. There doesn't seem to have been much interest by other players in the display industry to use the material, although there have been other IGZO based display panels in the past. However, at Touch Taiwan, InnoLux showed off no less than two new display panels relying on IGZO, both targeting gamers. Both panels measure 27-inches and support HDR 600. The 2560 x 1440 model is capable of a massive 480 Hz, a refresh rate that was only possible using TN panels to date.

The second display panel offers 3840 x 2160 resolution at 240 Hz, which isn't unique on the market, but as these IGZO panels are based around IPS rather than VA technology, they shouldn't suffer from the dreaded ghosting that many VA panels suffer from. InnoLux was very sparse on other technology details, but both panels have a 98 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage and the QHD display has a grey to grey response time of 3 ms, whereas the 4K variant is a bit higher at 5 ms. Both panels looked stunning and this might be what many gamers have been waiting for, at least as a stop gap before OLED displays become more affordable.

MSI Releases GeForce RTX 3060 Ti SUPER 3X with SUPRIM Cooler

by

btarunr

Apr 19th, 2023 09:17 Discuss (7 Comments)

MSI released the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti SUPER 3X graphics card. This is basically the company using up left over inventory of its TriFrozr SUPRIM cooling solutions with an SKU that's likely to sell in higher volumes. Underneath the cooler is a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti "Ampere" GPU with GDDR6X memory type, instead of the GDDR6 that's standard to the RTX 3060 Ti. The board design of the SUPER 3X is identical to that of the MSI RTX 3070 SUPRIM, which means the company is reusing both the cooler and PCB to create this product. The backplate of the card even features leftover SUPRIM branding.

The MSI RTX 3060 Ti SUPER 3X offers identical clock speeds to the company's RTX 3060 Ti G6X Gaming X Trio graphics card, with 1845 MHz boost frequencies, compared to 1665 MHz reference. The GDDR6X memory ticks at 19 Gbps, which over the 256-bit memory interface yields an impressive 608 GB/s memory bandwidth that's on par with the RTX 3070 Ti. From the looks of it, the MSI RTX 3060 Ti SUPER 3X is a China-exclusive product.

AUO's 17.3-inch Micro LED Display is Not Consumer Ready

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 19th, 2023 09:05 Discuss (4 Comments)

Micro LED displays are being touted as something akin to the holy grail of display technology, but it seems like we still have some way to go before the first consumer devices are ready to launch, at least based on what we saw today at Touch Taiwan. AUO actually had multiple Micro LED displays on display at the trade show, but it appears as if there are still some technical hurdles to overcome before we'll see these products in retail. AUO was demoing a laptop prototype with a 17.3-inch Micro LED display, although the display lacked a back cover and depending on the mode used, the entire display ended up being semi transparent. This somewhat depended on the angle you looked at the display, but the idea here was to use for some kind of AR applications, or to take advantage of bright lights behind the display, courtesy of its high transmittance of up to 50 percent.

The fly in the ointment here is that the display, as well as a smaller 14.6-inch sibling—that's foldable—only supports 1280 x 720 resolution. It doesn't matter how good the technology is, if we're going to be limited to a display resolution from the early 2000's, as it simply won't sell in a modern device today. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the only issue with AUO's Micro LED displays, as the display on the demo laptop also had a lot of dead pixels. We're not talking five or six here, but more like 50 or 60 and due to the low resolution of the display, they were very easy to see, as they showed up as dark dots when certain graphics were displayed. It's not all that noticeable in the pictures below, but it was very obvious when looking at the display. We were told that this is something AUO is working on solving, alongside bringing higher resolution displays to market. As such, it seems like we might still be a few years away from getting Micro LED displays in any real products. That said, the company had smaller Micro LED displays for wearables, that seemed to be much closer to hitting the production line.

AUO Shows Pair of AmLED Gaming Notebook Displays at Touch Taiwan

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 19th, 2023 08:49 Discuss (0 Comments)

It wasn't just desktop displays that AUO was having on display at Touch Taiwan, as the company was also showing off a pair of brand new AmLED gaming notebook displays at the show. AmLED is AUO's version of mini LED and the first of the two displays is a 16-inch unit with 2560 x 1600 resolution, a 240 Hz refresh rate and a brightness of up to 1000 cd/m². Unfortunately it was impossible to get a good photo of it, as no matter what we tried, we ended up getting flicker on the final photos.

The second AmLED gaming display on show, was a larger 18-inch model, with the same 2560 x 1600 resolution, but an unspecified refresh rate, albeit with the same 1000 cd/m² brightness. Here AUO also claims a million to one contrast ratio and a 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, the latter something the 16-inch model also sports. As per the pictures below, the 18-inch model was only running at 60 FPS at the show, but it's unclear if this is the maximum refresh rate of this panel or not.

The Callisto Protocol Gets Extremely Gory Dismemberment Mode, Update Also Adds Cutscene Skipping Function

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 19th, 2023 08:47 Discuss (3 Comments)

Striking Distance Studios introduces the latest content update for The Callisto Protocol: "We're thankful for all of the feedback our community has shared with us! Starting today, with Update 5.01, you can skip cutscenes, improving replayability and making speed-runs even faster. We're also introducing Dismemberment Mode with Update 5.01! Introducing the new Dismemberment Mode! Get ready to tear your enemies apart limb by limb and feel the excitement of seeing instant dismemberment as you fight your way through Black Iron Prison."

The Callisto Protocol, a new sci-fi survival horror game from the creator of Dead Space, is available now on PC and Consoles. Built by a team of industry veterans led by iconic game director Glen Schofield, The Callisto Protocol is a next-generation take on survival horror that fuses brutal combat with a deeply human story in a terrifying sci-fi world. Set on Jupiter's dead moon Callisto in the year 2320, The Callisto Protocol challenges players to escape the maximum security Black Iron Prison and uncover the terrifying secrets of the United Jupiter Company. Players will need to search their surroundings and adapt their tactics, using a unique blend of shooting and close-quarters combat to survive a mysterious outbreak that has thrown Callisto into chaos.

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AUO's 540 Hz Display Panel is Based on E-TN Technology

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 19th, 2023 08:34 Discuss (14 Comments)

As expected, based on yesterday's press release from AUO, its new 540 Hz gaming panel is based on E-TN technology. The E simply stands for Esports and AUO has never really mentioned what the difference is between its E-TN and its regular TN panels. In this case, we already know who AUO is working with, as the monitor on display at Touch Taiwan was the ASUS ROG Swift Pro PG248QP, which was announced at CES earlier this year.

As ASUS has as yet to release the ROG Swift Pro PG248QP, we do at least have some very minor, additional specs of the display panel now. As expected, this is a 1080p panel and AUO claims a sub 1 ms response time, which is hardly unexpected considering the refresh rate. It also has a brightness of 400 cd/m², which is about 50-100 cd/m² better than the best TN panels on the market and it's said to deliver up to 99 percent of the sRGB colour gamut. No other details were provided, so we're just going to have to wait for ASUS to launch the PG248QP before we get the full specs.

AUO Has 8K Gaming TV Panel with 120 Hz Refresh Rate and 4608 Zone FALD

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 19th, 2023 08:20 Discuss (15 Comments)

TPU doesn't normally cover TVs, but at Touch Taiwan had a new gaming focused TV panel that might very well end up in some very high-end gaming "monitors" as well. The panel is a 65-inch model that supports 7680 x 4320 resolution at up to 120 Hz. However, the high-end specs don't stop there, as the panel has a 4,608 zone full array local dimming backlight, which gives it a typical brightness of 400 cd/m², but it can go up to 1,800 cd/m² at 10 percent areas in HDR mode.

As with the 4K display panel we wrote about earlier, this TB panel also features AUO's A.R.T. "reflectionless" feature, which should prevent it from being overly reflective in brightly lit areas. The demo panel was powered by MediaTek's Pentonic 2000 SoC, which is currently one of the highest-end 8K TV processors and potentially the only one with support for H.266 video decoding. Sadly we don't have any indication on which TV manufacturers will use the new display, but regardless of the brand, we expect the retail products to be very expensive.

MSI Afterburner Finally Gets a Big Update

Updated by

GFreeman

Apr 19th, 2023 07:06 Discuss (31 Comments)

MSI Afterburner has been finally updated to a new version, the v4.6.5, bringing support for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series and AMD Radeon RX 7900 series graphics cards. MSI Afterburner has been one of the most popular overclocking and monitoring tools for graphics cards, especially since the EVGA Precision X has been discontinued, but it has hit a snag back in 2022 when the developer was not paid by MSI.

The latest update is a big milestone for Afterburner, as the new version 4.6.5 is a stable release and comes after the Afterburner was not updated in a while due to the fact that the developer Alexey Nicolaychuk, who goes by the name Unwinder over at Guru3D, was not paid by MSI. While there were BETA updates in the meantime, there has not been a stable release since 2019. The new version adds support for both NVIDIA RTX 40 series and AMD Radeon RX 7900 series graphics cards, adds experimental support for Intel's 13th Gen Core CPUs and AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, as well as brings plenty of other fixes.

Update: Unwinder notified us that the previous stable Afterburner 4.6.4 release was published in the end of 2021 (03.12.2021).

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AUO Shows Off 4K 240 Hz A.R.T Gaming Monitor Display Panel

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 19th, 2023 04:58 Discuss (11 Comments)

AUO has been busy developing what the company calls Advanced Reflectionless Technology or A.R.T. which the company was showing off at the Touch Taiwan trade show. The panel in question was a 32-inch, 4K AHVA panel, which is AUO's own variant of IPS. Although the panel was set up so there were fewer reflections in the area where it was being displayed, the panel did seem to be less reflective compared to other displays sitting next to it. However, it's always hard to judge these things on a show floor, so we'll have to wait for some reviews before passing final judgement on A.R.T. but it looks like a promising technology when it comes to reducing unwanted reflections.

The panel is also one of the first 4K panels capable of delivering a 240 Hz refresh rate, although it's going to be hard finding a graphics card capable of driving all games at that kind of refresh rate at 4K resolution. Sadly the brightness is only 400 cd/m², although AUO claims 1 ms grey to grey response time with overdrive enabled and a 95 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, which is better than most 4K gaming panels on the market today. Sadly, AHVA panels suffer from IPS glow, just as normal IPS panels, which can clearly be seen in the second image below.

AUO's 49-inch 5K Panel Only Brings Higher Refresh Rate

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 19th, 2023 04:40 Discuss (5 Comments)

It's no wonder AUO didn't reveal the actual resolution of its new 49-inch 5K panel in its press release yesterday, as this is a typical 5120 x 1440 panel when it comes to the resolution. Yes, it's capable of 360 Hz, which is higher than the competition which is currently at 240 Hz. AUO has also managed to crank up the backlight to 600 nits in HDR mode, although this is still a typical backlight and not some kind of FALD implementation.

The panel itself is based on AUO's PSA, which is a VA type of panel. It has a contrast ratio of 5000:1 and covers 95 percent of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. AUO claims that the panel has a 1 ms grey to grey response time with overdrive enabled. As per yesterday's press release, the panel has a 1000R curvature, which means it's very curved, as you can see in the pictures below. We don't know who AUO's customers for the panel are, but we'll hopefully see some indications at Computex next month.

Genesis Announces Carbon 500 Maxi Flash G2 and Lava G2 Gaming Mousepads

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 19th, 2023 04:27 Discuss (1 Comment)

Genesis has just presented new, refreshed versions of their Carbon 500 Maxi series gaming mouse pads. The new models, Flash G2 and Lava G2, stand out thanks to their large size and interesting design. The Genesis Carbon 500 Maxi Flash G2 and Lava G2 stand out thanks to their giant size of 900 x 450 mm. Thanks to this they will cover not only the space under the mouse but also under the keyboard. According to the manufacturer, the upper side of the units is made from a splash resistant material, which also provides high tracking precision and friction reduction for the mouse. The models are designed to work with both laser and optic devices. Their low profile translates into ease and comfort of use.

The Genesis Carbon 500 Maxi Flash G2 and Lava G2 pads have threaded edges, which protect them from tearing. The bottom surface of the pads are covered in anti-slip material, so that users won't have to deal with uncontrolled movements of the unit. Both the Flash G2 and the Lava G2 stand out thanks to their intriguing design. The models will be a great addition to any gaming station.

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MSI Wins 10 Red Dot Awards for Its Outstanding Laptops in 2023

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 19th, 2023 03:35 Discuss (6 Comments)

MSI, a leading brand in gaming laptops and creator laptops, is proud to announce that it has won 10 Red Dot Awards for its outstanding laptops in 2023. This achievement reflects MSI's commitment to delivering luxury, innovative, high-performance products that meet the needs of consumers. The Red Dot Award is one of the most prestigious design awards in the world, recognizing excellence in product design, communication design, and design concepts. The award ceremony will take place on July 1, 2023, at the Aalto Theatre in Essen, Germany.

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ASUS Wins Big at the 2023 iF Design Award, Cements Position in Top 10 Companies in Asia

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 19th, 2023 03:32 Discuss (1 Comment)

ASUS today announced that it has been recognized for its design excellence, winning 26 iF Design Awards for 2023. These awards span multiple categories including Product, Packaging, Communication, Professional Concept, User Interface, User Experience and Telecommunication, showing the ASUS commitment to make every part of the process an experience. These awards span a large part of the company's portfolio including, gaming, consumer, commercial, healthcare, mobile phone and networking solutions. This achievement showcases ASUS's design spirit and innovation, as well as its commitment to creating incredible experiences for its customers.

"We are thrilled to be recognized again by the iF Design Awards for our design excellence," said ASUS Chief Design Officer, Mitch Yang. "This achievement highlights the incredible teamwork of our cross functional teams and their unwavering commitment to design spirit and innovation. Winning in so many categories is a remarkable achievement, and we are proud to continue leading the way in design and innovation."

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Today's Files

• Quake II for NVIDIA RTX 1.7.0

Today's Reviews

Cases

• Antec P20C APH Networks
• Streacom DA6 TechPowerUp

CPU Coolers

• NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB HardwareInside.de (de)

Motherboards

• EVGA Z790 Classified Tweaktown
• ASUS ROG X670E Crosshair Hero HardwareCooking (fr)

Mouse

• Glorious Model O2 Basic Tutorials (de)
• XPG Alpha TechPowerUp

Processors

• Intel Core i5-13400F Cowcotland (fr)

SSD

• Crucial T700 2TB (preview) Tweaktown

Streacom DA6 Review

Review Cases

The Streacom DA6 is a unique open air chassis that allows for flexible placement of all the major components thanks to a one-of-a-kind mounting bracket system. With tons of flexibility and none of the usual size restrictions of a classic ITX SFF case, the DA6 could be perfect for those who don't mind open air but want big cooling components for their build.

Read Review

XPG Alpha Review

Review Mice

With the Alpha Mouse, XPG has something in store for budget-minded gamers. The right-handed ergonomic Alpha comes with PixArt's PAW3335 sensor, Omron main button switches rated for 60 million clicks, and full RGB lighting, for no more than $39.99.

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BLUETTI To Roll Out New Expandable Mobile Power AC60 and B80 For Your Outdoor Adventures

Sponsored by

btarunr

Apr 18th, 2023 23:05

BLUETTI, the leader in the clean energy storage industry, will launch its new AC60 & B80, the smallest solar generator with expandability, in the middle of May, 2023. The latest innovation comes as BLUETTI noticed a gap in its market: Though there are many power stations, small ones comes with less capacity while high capacity comes in big and heavy structure. What about a power station that combines flexibility and extensible capacity to meet different needs in different scenarios? Enter the BLUETTI AC60 and B80!

The BLUETTI AC60 is a solar generator with a 600 W inverter and a 403 Wh LFP battery that can add B80 for capacity boosting. With a compact size (11.4 x 8.1 x 9.2 inches) and lightweight (18.9 lbs), it is portable enough to carry outdoors. Equipped with 7 different outlets including two AC outputs, one USB-C port with Power Delivery with up to 100 W, one cigarette lighter port, two USB-A ports and a wireless charging pad, the AC60 can charge various devices. While it features a 600 W pure sine wave inverter, it is able to carry a device of 1200 W for a short period in its Power Lifting Mode.

Unleash Outdoor Possibilities with the BLUETTI AC60 Solar Power Generator

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Cross-straits Conflict May Have Spooked Warren Buffett to Liquidate His $4 Billion Stake in TSMC: Report

by

btarunr

Apr 18th, 2023 21:16 Discuss (38 Comments)

Ace investor Warren Buffett held a US $4 billion stake in TSMC as of January, and has reportedly sold all of it over a period between February to April, 2023. The sale has triggered alarm bells in some circles over the possible reasons someone like Buffett—who wrote the book on long-term strategic investments—would liquidate their holdings. The ongoing slump in the semiconductor industry, and economic recession in the West, seem to cut it as valid reasons. Fortune Magazine has a more grim theory.

Fortune writes that the possibility of a cross-straits conflict between Taiwan and China is at an all-time high, and this could have been a consideration for Buffett to sell his TSMC stake. It is assessed that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan now—with global chip supply chains not yet having attained "resilience"—would minimize economic reprisals on China from the West. The other side of the story could be that the economic slump, in combination with semiconductor manufacturing facing its biggest technological challenges as it approaches the 20-angstrom realm, may have soured TSMC's long-term prospects for Buffett.

Intel Discontinues Blockscale Crypto Mining ASICs

by

Fouquin

Apr 18th, 2023 20:31 Discuss (7 Comments)

Today Intel announced that they would be discontinuing production of their Blockscale 1000 series of ASICs built for cryptocurrency mining. Blockscale was designed by the Custom Compute Group within what was Intel's AXG graphics division at the time, and launched to market back in April 2022 when the value of Bitcoin was still above $40K USD. Blockscale initially succeeded with efficiency and supply advantages over competing ASICs as Intel leveraged their manufacturing capacity to produce the chips, however the valuation of the crypto currency market experienced a major slump over the second half of 2022. Intel's AXG has also recently seen a major restructuring, though there have been no mentions of what the operable status is of the Custom Compute Group. Support for existing Blockscale customers is set to continue for some time. Intel has not announced any possible follow-up crypto ASIC generation, only saying, "We continue to monitor market opportunities."

Intel's Blockscale was rather late to the market as far as crypto mining ASICs go. Early mining ASICs began hitting the scene in mid-2012 as FPGAs started to reach their limits in efficiency, and investment funds began to funnel into crypto startups. Intel's interest in cryptocurrency hardware lagged behind even their contemporaries at NVIDIA and AMD, both of which had crypto-focused variants of consumer GPUs on the market as early as 2017 during the first major mining-induced hardware shortages. Intel hasn't mentioned whether the timing of Blockscale contributed to its short shelf life, but Bitcoin is on its way back up after the recent slump, shooting up to around $30K USD just prior to Intel's announcement.

Valve's Proton 8.0 Update Brings More Games to Linux

by

GFreeman

Apr 18th, 2023 17:53 Discuss (26 Comments)

Valve's Proton, which allows Windows games to run on Linux, has been now updated to version 8.0, bringing even more games to Linux OS and Valve's Steam Deck. The latest update is probably one of the biggest yet and much awaited re-base, bringing an extensive list of fixes, as well as a list of new games that are now playable.

Valve's own Pierre-Loup Griffais confirmed on Twitter that this is their biggest re-base to date, and that the experimental-8.0 will follow sometime this week. He also notes that the newest re-base requires a GPU with Vulkan 1.3 support. The list on new AAA games that are now playable includes some big titles like Dead Space (2023), Forspoken, Nioh 2 - The Complete Edition, Disney Dreamlight Valley, and others. It also updates Wine to 8.0, fixes issues with the 2K launcher, rendering issues in multiple games, fixes multi-touch support, adds NVIDIA NVAPI support to multiple games, and plenty of other fixes.

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Quake II RTX Gets Updated to Version 1.7.0

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 18th, 2023 17:18 Discuss (24 Comments)

NVIDIA has released a new update for Quake II RTX, version 1.7.0. The newest update adds a couple of improvements and fixes several issues. Quake II RTX has been NVIDIA's popular tech-demo playground to show off RTX capabilities, and while the latest update is not a major one, it does include some important fixes.

According to the short highlights, the newest update adds a player flashlight, fixes multiple compatibility and stability issues, fixes some texturing issue, reduces visual noise and flicker in some conditions, as well as tunes some visual effects like full-screen blend and particles.

DOWNLOAD: Quake II RTX v1.7.0

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Alleged ASUS ROG Ally Slide Shows More Details

by

GFreeman

Apr 18th, 2023 17:02 Discuss (13 Comments)

There has been a lot of info about the upcoming ASUS ROG Ally handheld console, and now, an alleged slide has leaked online, confirming some of the previous specifications and revealing that custom AMD Phoenix APU, called the Ryzen Z1. The ASUS ROG Ally has been spotted on the FCC website, featuring the Ryzen 7 7840U APU, which could suggest that the Ryzen Z1 is a custom version of that same APU. The slide in question was leaked and then removed from the original source, but HXL caught it on Twitter before it was removed.

It confirms the 1920x1080 resolution screen with 500 nits of brightness, 120 Hz refresh rate, and 7 ms response time. The Ryzen Z1 series APU will be paired up with 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM in dual-channel mode, and have 512 GB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage in M.2 2230 slot. It is also possible that ASUS will have several versions with different storage and/or RAM configuration. It will run Windows 11, making it compatible with all popular game platforms Steam, EA App, Epic Games, and Xbox Game Pass. Furthermore, it will support Dolby Atmos and have a microSD card slot for storage expansion. Another leaked slide showed the ROG Ally Travel Case, and there will be plenty of other ROG Ally accessories. ASUS has already announced that the ROG Ally will be available worldwide and could launch sooner than expected, so all we need now is that official launch and the price.

New Xbox Game Pass Titles Detailed

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 18th, 2023 16:10 Discuss (0 Comments)

We have a fresh batch of games, including many coming your way on day one with Game Pass! Sharpen your stakes, get your coffee, and prep your favorite lo-fi beats while you pre-install your next favorite game.

Available Today
Minecraft Legends (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Available on day one with Game Pass: The piglins are threatening to consume the Overworld. Are you the hero this gentle land needs? Explore lush biomes to make alliances with new friends and familiar mobs, then face the piglins in epic battles. But be warned - they always fight back.

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Remnant 2 Handler Class With Canine Friend Gets More Airtime in Latest Trailer

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 18th, 2023 14:35 Discuss (0 Comments)

In Remnant 2, the Handler and their loyal companion work together to take down the toughest enemies. Venturing into the apocalypse alone can be daunting, so bringing a friend is always a good idea. Introducing: The Handler Archetype. Venturing into the apocalypse alone can be daunting, so bringing a friend is always a good idea.

Unimaginable Worlds. Unrelenting Odds. Remnant 2 is the sequel to the best-selling game Remnant: From the Ashes that pits survivors of humanity against new deadly creatures and god-like bosses across terrifying worlds. Play solo or co-op with two other friends to explore the depths of the unknown to stop an evil from destroying reality itself. To succeed, players will need to rely on their own skills and those of their team to overcome the toughest challenges and to stave off humanity's extinction.

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NVIDIA DLSS Now Available in 290 Games and Apps

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 18th, 2023 14:17 Discuss (10 Comments)

Each week we're bringing you the latest news on games launching with NVIDIA DLSS and advanced ray tracing. Last week, the much-anticipated technology preview of Cyberpunk 2077's Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode, powered by DLSS 3, launched to critical acclaim. And DLSS 2 was added to High On Life and Like a Dragon: Ishin!. This week, DLSS is now available in 290 released games and apps, including Bleak Faith: Forsaken, Romancelvania, and Sherlock Holmes The Awakened.

NVIDIA DLSS 2 is available in a vast array of games, from the biggest blockbusters to titles made by just one person. In recent weeks, a varied selection of new DLSS 2-enhanced games have hit Steam, taking us a total of 290 DLSS-accelerated games and apps. In case you missed the most recent releases, here's a quick roundup.

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University of Chicago Molecular Engineering Team Experimenting With Stretchable OLED Display

by

T0@st

Apr 18th, 2023 14:02 Discuss (0 Comments)

A researcher team operating out of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at the University of Chicago are developing a special type of material that is simultaneously capable of emitting fluorescent pattern and undergoing deformation via forced stretches or bends. This thin piece of experimental elastic can function as a digital display, even under conditions of great force - its creators claim that their screen technology material can be stretched to twice the original length without any deterioration or failures.

Sihong Wang (assistant professor of molecular engineering) has lead this research project, with Juan de Pablo (Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering) providing senior supervision. The team predicts that the polymer-based display will offer a wide range of applications including usage foldable computer screens, UI-driven wearables and health monitoring equipment. Solid OLED displays are featured in many modern devices that we use on a daily basis, but the traditional nature of that technology is not suitable for material flexibility due to inherent properties of "tight chemical bonds and stiff structures". Wang hopes to address these problems with his new polymer-type: "The materials currently used in these state-of-the-art OLED displays are very brittle; they don't have any stretchability. Our goal was to create something that maintained the electroluminescence of OLED but with stretchable polymers."

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Blizzard Declares That Diablo IV Has Gone Gold, Releases Gameplay Guide Video Series

by

T0@st

Apr 18th, 2023 13:10 Discuss (25 Comments)

Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed that Diablo IV is feature complete and has reached a development milestone of being software version 1.0. The official Diablo Twitter account posted a not so cryptic tweet boasting the news: "Diablo IV has gone gold. Can you feel her presence now? See you in Sanctuary. 6.6.23 🔥." The general gaming public will gain access to the fully finished game on June 6, but a select lucky few have been toying with early preview builds over the past months. The last Diablo IV closed beta program attracted plenty of gaming news attention for a technical snafu, wherein owners of a particular NVIDIA GPU model found out the hard way, during D4 playtest sessions, about underlying faults in their chosen silicon - Blizzard is leading an investigation into the matter, with assistance from Team Green.

It is hoped that Blizzard's Diablo team will have all of these hardware melting issues resolved in time for Diablo IV's finalized launch date. In the meantime hardcore fans of the series are encouraged to absorb plenty of preview/marketing material, and go about swatting up on trainer material. Blizzard has uploaded several gameplay guide videos to the official Diablo YouTube channel - the company has enlisted the helpful services of Wudijo, a veteran Diablo streamer, to chaperone viewers through the game's systems.

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Horizon Forbidden West PS5-Exclusive Patch 1.21 Adds Accessibility Features and Preps Burning Shore DLC

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 18th, 2023 12:29 Discuss (10 Comments)

Hi everyone! We're very happy to announce that our team is releasing Patch 1.21 for Horizon Forbidden West today. Patch 1.21 sets up the game for the release of Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores. It also brings additional Accessibility Features. Patch 1.21 is exclusive to PlayStation 5 users. Do note that Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores content will be playable from April 19th onwards.

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores launches April 19 on PS5! This expansion sees Aloy pursue a sinister threat in the untamed wilds of Los Angeles, now a treacherous volcanic archipelago. Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores takes Aloy to the ruins of Los Angeles. The past millennia has seen the metropolis wracked by tectonic and volcanic activity. The result: a dangerous archipelago populated by deadly machines. Among these islands, a large settlement of Quen fight to survive.

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Razer Introduces the Ornata V3 Tenkeyless Hybrid Switch Gaming Keyboard

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 18th, 2023 12:13 Discuss (6 Comments)

Go ultra slim with the new Razer Ornata V3 TKL—a low-profile tenkeyless gaming keyboard with Razer Chroma RGB. Armed with Razer Mecha-Membrane Switches for clicky, cushioned keystrokes, enjoy an ergonomic typing experience that elevates your work and play. SLIM. CLICKY. ERGONOMIC. Master both worlds with the Razer Ornata V3 TKL—a low-profile tenkeyless ergonomic gaming keyboard powered by Razer Chroma RGB. Armed with an ultra-slim form factor and unique Razer Mecha-Membrane Switches, dominate your work and play with a compact hybrid keyboard that punches above its weight.

LOW-PROFILE KEYS - with slimmer keycaps and shorter switches, enjoy natural hand positioning with a low-profile ergonomic gaming keyboard that allows for long hours of use with little strain. Its UV coated keycaps are more durable than regular keycaps, ensuring greater protection against wear and tear from frequent use.

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Angelbird Announces AV PRO CFexpress Type-A 1TB Memory Card

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 18th, 2023 12:04 Discuss (2 Comments)

Angelbird Technologies GmbH enters the CFexpress Type A market with a single 1 TB card and matching accessories. Angelbird introduces a single 1 TB sized CFexpress Type A card engineered for use with Sony Alpha and FX camera lines. The AV PRO CFexpress Type A | 1 TB is the highest available capacity CFexpress Type A media on the market. With Sustained Write performance of 650 MB/s, the card provides critical speed and performance necessary for lengthy, high-data rate video recording, stills and burst photography in up to 4K+ RAW.

To achieve the maximum potential from the CFexpress Type A card format, Angelbird engineers leaned into their extensive experience innovating custom camera-specific media solutions for industry-leading camera manufacturers. That experience laid the foundation to begin the engineering process with expertise and laser focus on the Sony Alpha and FX lines of CFexpress Type A cameras. For this endeavor, Angelbird designed a custom-built SiP (System in Package) circuit configuration, which, combined with other factors, paved the way for the highest capacity CFexpress Type A card to date- a card to support the extensive cinematic work being captured by Sony shooters.

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MediaTek's Dimensity 9300 SoC Predicted to Have Fighting Chance Against Snapdragon 8 Gen 3

by

T0@st

Apr 18th, 2023 11:44 Discuss (3 Comments)

Early details of MediaTek's next generation mobile chipset have emerged this week, courtesy of renowned leaker Digital Chat Station via their blog on Weibo. The successor to MediaTek's current flagship Dimensity 9200 mobile chipset will likely be called "Dimensity 9300" - a very imaginative bump up in numbering - with smartphone brand Vivo involved as a collaborator. The tipster thinks that the fabless semiconductor company has contracted with TSMC for fabrication of the Dimensity 9300 chipset - and the foundry's N4P process has been selected by MediaTek, which could provide a bump in generational performance when compared to the older 4 nm and 5 nm standards used for past Dimensity SoC ranges. It should be noted that the current generation Dimensity 9200 chipset is presently manufactured via TSMC's N4P process.

MediaTek is seeking to turnaround its fortunes in the area of flagship mobile chipsets - industry watchdogs have cited a limited uptake of the Taiwanese company's Dimensity 9200 SoC as a motivating factor in the creation of a very powerful successor. Digital Chat Station suggests that the upcoming 9300 model will pack enough of a hardware punch to rival Qualcomm's forthcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC - both chipsets are touted to release within the same time period of late 2023. According to previous speculation, Qualcomm has also contracted with TSMC's factory to pump out the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 via the N4P (4 nm) process.

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Microsoft Working on Custom AI Processor Codenamed Project Athena

by

AleksandarK

Apr 18th, 2023 11:22 Discuss (11 Comments)

According to The Information, Microsoft has been working on creating custom processors for processing AI with a project codenamed Athena. Based on TSMC's 5 nm process, these chips are designed to accelerate AI workloads and scale to hundreds or even thousands of chips. With the boom of Large Language Models (LLMs) that require billions of parameters, training them requires a rapid increase of computational power to a point where companies purchase hundreds of thousands of GPUs from the likes of NVIDIA. However, creating custom processors is a familiar feat for a company like Microsoft. Hyperscalers like AWS, Google, and Meta are already invested in the creation of processors for AI training, and Microsoft is just joining as well.

While we don't have much information about these processors, we know that Microsoft started the project in 2019, and today these processors are in the hands of select employees of Microsoft and OpenAI that work with AI projects and need computational horsepower. Interestingly, some projections assume that if Microsoft could match NVIDIA's GPU performance, the cost would only be a third of NVIDIA's offerings. However, it is challenging to predict that until more information is provided. Microsoft plans to make these chips more widely available as early as next year; however, there is no specific information on when and how, but Azure cloud customers would be the most logical place to start.

Unreleased GeForce RTX 3060 "Super" that Maxes Out GA106 Silicon Surfaced

by

btarunr

Apr 18th, 2023 11:17 Discuss (5 Comments)

An unreleased GeForce RTX 3060 "Super" graphics card surfaced on the web. The original and popular RTX 3060 falls short of maxing out the 8 nm "GA106" siicon it is based on, with 28 out of 30 streaming multiprocessors being enabled (that's 3,584 out of 3,840 CUDA cores). This odd-ball graphics card maxes the silicon out, enabling all 30 SM and 3,840 CUDA cores, 120 Tensor cores, 30 RT cores, 120 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. This card reportedly has the ASIC code "GA106-400-A1" and device ID of 10DE-2501. The memory interface is still 192-bit wide, as is the memory speed of 15 Gbps (GDDR6-effective), and it has the same 12 GB of memory. Besides more shaders, the card has been given higher clock speeds than a production RTX 3060, with up to 1875 MHz boost, compared to 1777 MHz. Alas, this is one of many unofficial rare graphics cards that never went into production, and which NVIDIA doesn't officially support with driver updates.

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready Drivers 531.68 WHQL Released, Optimizes Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Dead Island 2

by

T0@st

Apr 18th, 2023 10:17 Discuss (18 Comments)

NVIDIA has released the latest iteration of its GeForce Game Ready drivers - Version 531.68 WHQL. This latest update provides optimizations for the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - an action adventure title, and Dead Island 2 (out this Friday) - a gory first person action RPG zombie shooter - ensuring the best possible in-game performance. Version 531.68 WHQL also implements a fix for Immortals Fenyx Rising, where crashes to desktop were reported following a previous driver update (531.41). A conflict between ShadowPlay and the EA Play application has been resolved, and another fix addresses a performance issue linked to the enabling of Reflex within Counter-Strike 2 Limited Test's graphics settings.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 531.68 WHQL

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Phanteks Introduces Glacier Series G4080 ASUS GPU Block For ASUS STRIX/TUF RTX 4080

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 18th, 2023 10:00 Discuss (2 Comments)

Phanteks announces the release of the new Glacier G4080 ASUS GPU block, designed specifically for the ASUS STRIX/TUF RTX 4080 Series cards. The Glacier G4080 ASUS GPU Block brings the ultimate cooling performance with unique water block features to build stunning water-cooled systems.

Phanteks' Glacier G4080 ASUS GPU Block provides a high-performance water-cooling solution custom-designed for the latest ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 series cards. A transparent acrylic jet plate is positioned directly over the GPU die to ensure optimal heat transfer. The backplate is included with all models to provide a smooth integrated look while providing additional cooling to the back of the PCB. In addition, the full-cover copper cold plate directly cools all memory and power delivery components on the PCB with high-quality thermal pads.

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TerraMaster New 4bay Short Depth Rackmount NAS U4-423

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 18th, 2023 09:57 Discuss (0 Comments)

TerraMaster, a professional brand that focuses on providing innovative storage products for homes and businesses, has a new model of 4-bay U4-423 short depth rackmount NAS with dual 2.5GbE interfaces which provides a network bandwidth up to 5 Gb via link aggregation and up to 88 TB storage space. TerraMaster U4-423 adopts 1U rackmount case with a depth of only 360 mm (14.17 inches) weighs merely 3.2kgs, which is applicable to most 2-column cabinets and wall-mounted small cabinets with simple installation.

Space-saving: TerraMaster U4-423 has a shorter chassis depth and takes up less rack space than traditional NAS, which is very useful for environments with limited space, such as home basements, small offices, computer rooms, etc.

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Samsung Could Replace Google Search on its Mobile Devices

by

AleksandarK

Apr 18th, 2023 09:55 Discuss (16 Comments)

Google's business of providing the world's largest search engine is reportedly in jeopardy, as the latest reports indicate that Samsung could replace Google Search with another search engine as a default solution on its mobile devices. Samsung, which sells millions of devices per year, is looking to replace the current search engine, Google Search, in favor of more modern AI-powered models. Currently, Google and Samsung have a contract where Google pays the South Korean giant a sum of three billion US dollars per year to keep its search engine as a default option on Samsung's devices. However, this decision is flexible, as the contract is up for renewal and new terms are being negotiated.

With the release of the ChatGPT and AI-powered search that Microsoft Bing enables, Google is reportedly working hard to keep up and integrate Large Language Models (LLMs) into Search. Google's answer to Microsoft Bing is codenamed Project Magi, an initiative to bring AI-powered search supposedly next month. To emphasize the importance of getting this to production, Google was ready to give up three billion US Dollars of revenue to Samsung for keeping Google Search as a default search engine for 12 years without a doubt. However, with the emergence of better solutions like Microsoft Bing, Samsung is considering replacing it with something else. The deal is still open, terms are still negotiated, and for now there are no official mentions of Bing. As a reminder, Google has a similar agreement with Apple, worth 20 billion US Dollars, and Google Search was valued at 162 billion US Dollars last year.

Ryzen 7000X3D Series: A Brief Technical Chat with AMD

Exclusive by

btarunr

Apr 18th, 2023 09:53 Discuss (29 Comments)

Earlier this month, AMD wrapped up the launch of its incredible Ryzen 7000X3D processor series, which storms the company's gaming performance competitiveness against Intel back to the top, setting it up for the crucial Spring-Summer season, when PC gamers tend to upgrade and play the latest games. The 3D Vertical Cache memory deployed on the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 7900X3D, and Ryzen 7 7800X3D, supercharges the gaming performance of these processors, and our testing has shown that the 7800X3D is all that an elite gaming PC build needs if all you're doing is playing games with some domestic productivity on the side; whereas the 7950X3D is for those into heavy content creation and application workloads besides gaming, which means AMD levels up to Intel on both fronts.

We have extensively covered the technical aspects of what 3D Vertical Cache is, and how it works, in our reviews of the 7950X3D and 7800X3D. It is a fast 64 MB slice of SRAM cache stacked on top of the 32 MB on-die L3 cache of "Zen 4" chiplets, which extends the L3 cache size to 96 MB. This has a profound impact on gaming workloads, as the CPU cores have more amount of game data at much lower latency than DRAM. As part of our coverage of the Ryzen 7000X3D processor series, we had the opportunity to interview AMD on some of the technical aspects of Ryzen 7000X3D processor series. We also took the opportunity to ask a few general questions about the Ryzen 7000 desktop processor series itself. You can also catch our interview with Robert Hallock, the former technical marketing head, for some additional questions that you may find relevant.

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EMEET Launches the StreamCam One Using Sony 1/2.8" Sensor

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 18th, 2023 09:41 Discuss (0 Comments)

At the start of 2023, EMEET previewed its first-ever self-created streaming camera, the EMEET StreamCam One, at CES 2023 in Las Vegas. Now EMEET, as a global leader in professional audio and video conferencing solutions, is proud to announce the launch of EMEET StreamCam One. This self-created streaming camera has been designed for both personal and enterprise users. This product offers high-quality video and audio, multiple features, and easy-to-use operation.

The StreamCam One is the latest wireless network camera they have launched, which represents an innovation in the field. With this product, users can take advantage of its multi-camera support, high-quality audio, support for multiple platforms, user-friendly operation, and quality assurance.

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The Division 2 Update 17.2 Improves DirectX 12 Performance and Stability

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 18th, 2023 09:12 Discuss (3 Comments)

Ubisoft has released its latest Title Update 17.2 which brings a lot of gameplay fixes, but also improves DirectX 12 performance and stability.

There are plenty of fixes, including some serious gameplay bugs with NPCs, weapons, and more, that have been spotted in the game.

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Dead Island 2 Co-Op Mode Explained, Cross-Gen Only and No Hosting on PS4 & Xbox One

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 18th, 2023 08:45 Discuss (4 Comments)

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CO-OP - Dead Island 2 is a great single-player experience, but it's fun to play with friends too as playing together has always been essential for our community. Co-op supports up to three players. You and your potential other two teammates have six characters to choose from, and your fellow co-op Slayers won't... well, shouldn't hurt you. So, let's dive into everything you need to know about co-op in Dead Island 2!

When does co-op unlock? You unlock the co-op feature once you reach Emma's mansion. That will happen during the "Call the Cavalry" mission, around 20 to 30 minutes into the game (depending on your playstyle).

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AUO to Unveil 49-inch Ultrawide Curved 5K 360 Hz Gaming Display Panel at Touch Taiwan

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 18th, 2023 07:47 Discuss (12 Comments)

Tomorrow, the Touch Taiwan trade show kicks off in Taipei and AUO will be showing off a range of new products at the show, which TPU will be attending, so we'll have some hands/eyes on coverage this week. As far as gaming monitors are concerned, the big announcement from AUO is a 49-inch ultrawide, curved 5K display panel that supports refresh rates of up to 360 Hz. The company didn't reveal the actual resolution in its press release, but we'll find out at the trade show what 5K resolution means in this case, as it's most likely 5120 x 1440, since this is what most 32:9 5K displays offer today.

AUO will also be showing off a 24-inch, 540 Hz, 1080p display panel that the company claims will "eliminate screen tearing, stuttering, and ghosting issues. There's no mention of the display panel used, but it's most likely a TN panel. Somewhat less gaming related, AUO will also have a 17.3-inch, transparent Micro LED notebook panel on display, which the company says will enhance the display quality under glare, something they'll hopefully be demoing at the trade show.

HBM Supply Leader SK Hynix's Market Share to Exceed 50% in 2023 Due to Demand for AI Servers

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 18th, 2023 07:25 Discuss (10 Comments)

A strong growth in AI server shipments has driven demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM). TrendForce reports that the top three HBM suppliers in 2022 were SK hynix, Samsung, and Micron, with 50%, 40%, and 10% market share, respectively. Furthermore, the specifications of high-end AI GPUs designed for deep learning have led to HBM product iteration. To prepare for the launch of NVIDIA H100 and AMD MI300 in 2H23, all three major suppliers are planning for the mass production of HBM3 products. At present, SK hynix is the only supplier that mass produces HBM3 products, and as a result, is projected to increase its market share to 53% as more customers adopt HBM3. Samsung and Micron are expected to start mass production sometime towards the end of this year or early 2024, with HBM market shares of 38% and 9%, respectively.

AI server shipment volume expected to increase by 15.4% in 2023
NVIDIA's DM/ML AI servers are equipped with an average of four or eight high-end graphics cards and two mainstream x86 server CPUs. These servers are primarily used by top US cloud services providers such as Google, AWS, Meta, and Microsoft. TrendForce analysis indicates that the shipment volume of servers with high-end GPGPUs is expected to increase by around 9% in 2022, with approximately 80% of these shipments concentrated in eight major cloud service providers in China and the US. Looking ahead to 2023, Microsoft, Meta, Baidu, and ByteDance will launch generative AI products and services, further boosting AI server shipments. It is estimated that the shipment volume of AI servers will increase by 15.4% this year, and a 12.2% CAGR for AI server shipments is projected from 2023 to 2027.

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MSI Modern MD271UL Monitor Wins Red Dot Award 2023 for Outstanding Design and Innovation

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 18th, 2023 07:17 Discuss (12 Comments)

MSI, a world leader in high-performance and innovative computing solutions, proudly announces that the Modern MD271UL monitor has won the prestigious Red Dot Award 2023 for outstanding design and innovation. The Modern MD271UL is a 27-inch 4K monitor that offers an immersive visual experience with its wide color gamut and advanced EyesErgo eye-care technology. In addition, it is tailored for efficiency and productivity with a touch of personal style.

Elegantly Crafted with Vibrancy
Modern MD271UL monitors are inspired by Mid-century Modern Style, which has clean, low-key, and breathtaking functionality. With a sleek & minimalist design, it meshes well with stylish home or office furniture. Unlike the typical monitor, it is an elegant decor in any living room. The frameless and minimalist designs let you express your aesthetic and define your environment. The Modern MD271UL is designed not only for working but also for personal lifestyle.

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ASUS ROG Ally Could End Up With AMD Ryzen 7840U APU

by

GFreeman

Apr 18th, 2023 05:55 Discuss (26 Comments)

Since the ASUS ROG Ally has already shown up on certification sites, it is not surprising that the first specifications have been leaked, including the information that it could come with AMD's Ryzen 7840U Phoenix APU. When the product number has leaked online, it is easy to find traces of it moving between ASUS headquarters. So far, the ASUS ROG Ally has been spotted at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) site with two product codes, the RC71L and the RC71X, which could easily be different memory and storage configurations or even a different color.

While these pre-productions samples shipped around clearly show that the ASUS ROG Ally is powered by AMD's Ryzen 7 7840U APU, the company did mention a "custom" APU, which means that the final product might end up with something different, maybe even just a higher clock. In case you missed earlier leaks, as the AMD Ryzen 7040 U-series is yet to be officially announced, the Ryzen 7 7840U fits into AMD's thin and light segment with TDP ranging from 15 W to 28 W. It is rumored to be an 8-core/16-thread Zen 4 CPU with a 3.3 GHz base clock and features AMD Radeon 780M RDNA 3 architecture GPU with 12 Compute Units (CU), or a total of 768 stream processors. Of course, ASUS might have a different deal with AMD and could use a completely different APU for the final product, but so far, pre-production samples show the Ryzen 7 7840U. ASUS has previously announced that the ROG Ally will be available worldwide and could launch sooner than expected.

Gamdias Launches Boreas P1-720 Dual Fin-Stack CPU Cooler

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 18th, 2023 03:53 Discuss (6 Comments)

GAMDIAS, a leading gaming peripherals manufacturer, has announced the launch of the BOREAS P1-720 dual tower CPU air cooler. Engineered to provide exceptional cooling power, this cooler features a dual asymmetrical heat sink, 7 copper heat pipes, and 2 high-performance PWM fans that work together to maintain low temperatures even during heavy gaming sessions or overclocking.

The BOREAS P1-720 boasts an impressive TDP rating of 270 W, and the dual tower configuration includes two dense aluminium fins that provide a large heat dissipation surface area. The cooler also features an optimized convex copper base design that provides seamless contact with the CPU surface, improving heat transfer capabilities and further increasing the efficiency of thermal conductivity. In addition to its outstanding cooling performance, the BOREAS P1-720 also features a premium all-black design that will complement any system setup. The cooler is fully coated with an all-black finish and has a brushed aluminium finish that gives it a sleek and stylish look.

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Crucial T700 Clocks 12.4 GB/s Sequential Reads in Previews

by

btarunr

Apr 18th, 2023 00:53 Discuss (12 Comments)

Crucial T700 marks the brand's return to the high-end SSD segment after years of catering to the mainstream segment with well-priced drives that the company can move in high volumes. The company had retired its Ballistix brand to mark its withdrawal from the high-end. The drive combines Micron's 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash with a Phison E26-series controller and LPDDR4-based DRAM cache, and takes advantage of the PCI-Express 5.0 x4 host interface, with NVMe. A small section of the tech press was sampled with these drives and permitted to do performance previews.

Every SSD manufacturer's favorite benchmark, CrystalDiskMark (CDM), shows the drive clock 12.4 GB/s sequential reads (1 MB, QD8), along with 9.22 GB/s (1 MB QD1). Sequential writes are as high as 11.87 GB/s (1 MB QD8), and 9.66 GB/s (1 MB QD1). IOMeter testing revealed that the sustained write speeds are rather low, with the T700 holding onto top speeds only up to 25 GB, beyond which write performance falls off a cliff to 3.8 GB/s. Find more such interesting results in the source link below.

Today's Reviews

Cooling

• be quiet! Light Wings White 120 and 140 Fans Hardware Journal (de)

Desktop PC

• ASRock 4X4 BOX-7735U/D5 Barebones Mini-PC TechPowerUp
• ECS LIVA Q3D Mini-PC Madshrimps

Graphics Cards

• NVIDIA RTX 4070 Founders Edition Clubic (fr)
• NVIDIA RTX 4070 Founders Edition HardwareCooking (fr)

Headphones

• MOONDROP Blessing 3 In-Ear Monitors TechPowerUp
• Steelseries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless HardwareCooking (fr)

Memory

• Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5-6000 HardwareCooking (fr)
• Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-7000 Tom's Hardware

Motherboards

• Colorful CVN Z790D5 Gaming Frozen Tweaktown

Notebooks

• ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 16 Cowcotland (fr)

Processors

• AMD Ryzen 7 7700X OverClocked Inside (de)
• Intel Core i9-13900K and i5-13600K Hardware-Mag (de)

PSUs

• be quiet! Dark Power 13 850W APH Networks
• Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 ARGB 750W Hardware Busters

ASRock 4X4 BOX-7735U/D5 Barebones Mini-PC Review

Review Other

Don't be deceived by its small form factor; the 4X4 BOX-7735U/D5 is one of the most potent Mini-PCs on the market. Its Ryzen 7 processor and Radeon 680M integrated graphics deliver an insane level of performance that leaves most competitors in a cloud of dust.

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MOONDROP Blessing 3 In-Ear Monitors Review

Review Headphones

MOONDROP's long awaited Blessing 3 IEMs are finally here! The new set uses a 2 DD/4 BA hybrid driver configuration, including a rarely seen dual dynamic driver setup in a horizontally-opposed configuration, inside shells boasting improved ergonomics and aesthetics to try to once again define the $300 market.

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NVIDIA to Target $450 Price-point with GeForce RTX 4060 Ti

by

btarunr

Apr 17th, 2023 23:15 Discuss (237 Comments)

NVIDIA is preparing its fifth GeForce RTX 40-series "Ada" graphics card launch in May 2023, with the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti. Red Gaming Tech reports that the company could target the USD $450 price-point with this SKU, putting it $150 below the recently launched RTX 4070, and $350 below the RTX 4070 Ti. The RTX 4060 Ti is expect to nearly max-out the 5 nm "AD106" silicon, the same one that powers the RTX 4070 Laptop GPU. While the notebook chip maxes it out, featuring all 4,608 CUDA cores physically present across its 36 SM, the desktop RTX 4060 Ti will be slightly cut down, featuring 34 SM, which work out to 4,352 CUDA cores. The "AD106" silicon features a 128-bit wide memory interface, and NVIDIA is expected to use conventional 18 Gbps-rated GDDR6 memory chips. The design goal behind the RTX 4060 Ti could be to beat the previous-generation RTX 3070, and to sneak up on the RTX 3070 Ti, while offering greater energy efficiency, and new features such as DLSS 3.

MINISFORUM Unveils the New Venus Series Mini PC UM560XT with Ryzen 5 5600H

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 17th, 2023 14:25 Discuss (4 Comments)

MINISFORUM, a leading provider of compact computing solutions, is proud to announce the launch of the Venus series UM560XT Mini PC, powered by the AMD Ryzen 5 5600H mobile processor. With its small form factor of only 128 x 126.6 x 46.5 mm, the UM560XT is a truly compact Mini PC that is perfect for various usage scenarios.

Featuring built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities, the UM560XT allows users to connect wirelessly, providing convenient connectivity options. The device is equipped with two HDMI (4K@60hz) ports and a USB Type-C (4K@60hz) port, enabling high-definition video output for an immersive visual experience. Moreover, the UM560XT comes pre-installed with Windows 11 Professional, allowing users to quickly get started with their computing tasks. The UM560XT supports dual-channel DDR4 memory and three-screen display, providing users with a seamless and efficient computing experience. Its small size combined with powerful performance makes it an ideal choice for various scenarios such as home office, entertainment, and gaming.

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Capcom Details Full Content for Exoprimal Ahead of July Launch

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 17th, 2023 14:25 Discuss (2 Comments)

Exoprimal is an online, team-based action game that pits humanity's cutting-edge exosuit technology against history's most ferocious beasts - dinosaurs. Exosuits are grouped into different roles, and players will pilot these exosuits to hold firm against overwhelming dinosaur swarms in online-only, team-based action game modes. The year is 2040...Sudden dinosaur outbreaks have engulfed the globe in a crisis that threatens humanity's very existence. Dino Survival, the main game mode, sees two teams of five players competein a variety of PvE and PvP missions. Players will be transported to the scene of the latest dinosaur outbreak and follow the new generation AI known as Leviathan's guidance to complete objectives. The team that completes the mission first will emerge victorious.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Exoprimal open beta test. Our team gained a great deal of data from exofighter survey responses and social media. We'll put this feedback to good use and make Exoprimal the best game it can be! While the open beta allowed players to experience some of the missions available in the Dino Survival mode, Exoprimal's full release will feature the following content for players to enjoy.

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ZOTAC Debuts ZBOX Edge MI351, First Slimline Mini PC to Pack N100/Alder Lake-N Chipset

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 17th, 2023 13:28 Discuss (4 Comments)

Introducing the ZBOX Edge MI351, a compact low-profile mini PC that delivers the essential performance for everyday computing at home, office, or business. With its included VESA mounting bracket, the MI351 provides the flexibility needed to mount the system nearly anywhere. Powerful at its thinnest - At only 28 mm (1.12 inches) thin, the ZBOX Edge MI351 provides the performance while leaving a lot desk space left to use. Despite its compact size, the ZBOX Edge MI351 comes equipped with a versatile array of ports to take on a wide range of connectivity and add-ons.

PERFORMANCE OVER THE EDGE
Featuring an Intel N-Series (formerly Alder Lake-N) Processor and fast DDR5 memory support, the ZBOX Edge MI351 is responsive to everyday tasks, and its low power draw makes it a perfect gateway to power anything from IoT-enabled applications and POS systems to home theaters.

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Windows 11 File Explorer Gets Extra Photo Gallery Layer

by

T0@st

Apr 17th, 2023 12:51 Discuss (16 Comments)

Microsoft has introduced a handy new feature within the Windows 11 File Explorer application - an update was released last week (Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23434), and it adds a Photo Gallery feature layer. It does not look too far removed from the operating system's standard photo/picture viewer, as well as the discontinued (as of 2012) Windows Photo Gallery app - although the latter offered a wide range of image organization, photo editing and photo sharing functionalities.

Microsoft's Amanda Langowski (Head of Insider Program) and Brandon LeBlanc (Senior Program Manager) go into further detail about the latest addition in an official Windows blog: "We are introducing Gallery, a new feature in File Explorer designed to make it easy to access your photo collection. The set of content shown in Gallery is the same as what you'll see in the All Photos view in the Photos app."

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TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.53.0 Released

by

btarunr

Apr 17th, 2023 12:15 Discuss (4 Comments)

Today, we are releasing the latest version of TechPowerUp GPU-Z, the popular graphics sub-system information and diagnostic utility. Version 2.53.0 adds support for a large number of new and rare GPUs. Among the NVIDIA GPUs support is added for include the GeForce RTX 4070, RTX 4090, RTX 4080, RTX 4060, and RTX 4050; pro-vis RTX 6000 Ada, RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (based on GA104), RTX 3050 Laptop GPU 6 GB, RTX 2050; and compute accelerators Hopper H100 PCIe AIC, and a rare engineering sample of the RTX 2080 Ti. From the AMD camp, support is added for Radeon RX 7600S, Radeon Pro W6900X, Pro V620, and the iGPU of Ryzen "Mendocino" laptop processors. From the Intel side, we've added support for Intel "Raptor Lake-HX," "Alder Lake-N," "Alder Lake-U," and the UHD P750 iGPU found with certain "Rocket Lake" processors.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.53.0

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Dead Island 2 Launch Trailer Arrives Alongside 30 Minutes of Leaked Footage

by

T0@st

Apr 17th, 2023 12:11 Discuss (8 Comments)

Deep Silver's intended hype train, has been derailed slightly today, for its forthcoming zombie splattering blockbuster ARPG shooter Dead Island 2. A launch trailer was uploaded to the game's official YouTube channel this afternoon, in hope of generating more pre-release internet interest. The uptick in marketing efforts has gained some gaming community attention, but leaked gameplay footage was uploaded to YouTube only hours before the debuting of the official launch video. A streamer identifying as Lucas Cosmico is reported to have played a pre-release version of Dead Island 2 last night, and proceeded to stream the opening moments of the single player campaign - 30 minutes of gameplay footage is still accessible on their YouTube channel at the time of writing, but potential legal action is likely to result in a takedown order.

The Dead Island 2 development cycle has not been a pleasant experience for those involved, according to multiple news pieces reported across the project's lifespan of more than a decade. Several studios have worked on the game, but publisher Deep Silver sought to remove the involvement of Yager and Sumo Digital at different stages of development. Dambuster Studios was declared, by THQ Nordic back in 2019, as the final resting place for Dead Island 2's production push. The Nottingham, UK-based studio happens to be a subsidiary of Deep Silver - the studio was offloaded to D.S. by Crytek in 2014, following substantial financial difficulties.

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Report Suggests Samsung and LG Pushing Wider Adoption of LED Wall Displays at Cinemas

by

T0@st

Apr 17th, 2023 11:29 Discuss (16 Comments)

Samsung and LG are among an number of tech companies reportedly pushing for radical changes in the cinema viewing experience. In a piece published by the Hollywood Reporter last week, new behind-the-scenes information has come to light about an effort to replace the (some will say tried and true) traditional cinema theater projection system with LED walls. The vast majority of international theater chains rely on a front projection method (via a back of the booth), and very few locations have a more state-of-the-art LED display-based system in place. The Culver Theater (naturally located in Culver City, CA) is one of a hundred cinemas worldwide to possess a Samsung Onyx LED display - although the tech on show is said to be of an older standard. Industry insiders have been invited to attend demonstrations of a newer generation LED wall technology destined for cinemas in the future, and early impressions are purported to be mixed.

A cinema-based LED wall display functions in a similar way to how a modern LED-based flat screen TV works - although on a much greater massive scale - with particular benefits of the technology resulting in fantastic performance in terms of high dynamic range and peak brightness. The main downside of having a tightly packed array of large LED panels is the resultant heat output - critics of the technology state that it will be difficult to implement an adequate cooling system (through air conditioning) to tame the wall's temperature increasing properties. The power required to operate the LED panel array (plus required cooling solution) is said to be much higher than that of an old-fashioned projector's relatively modest draw from the electricity supply. An LED wall will also completely negate the traditional placement of loudspeakers behind a cinema's front-placed screen - and sound engineers will need to explore a different method of front audio channel output within the context of a next generation LED theater room.

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GameSir Launches New T4 Kaleid Transparent Wired RGB Gaming Controller

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 17th, 2023 10:59 Discuss (9 Comments)

GameSir, a leading provider of innovative, high quality gaming peripherals today announces the launch of its new T4 Kaleid RGB gaming controller. Equipped with special motion aim/steer technology, users can enjoy their favourite games with motion control, or through regular analogue stick gameplay. The GameSir T4 Kaleid is available on the GameSir website now at a discounted rate of $41.99/£41.99 (RRP £41.99) and AliExpress for £37/$43. It will also be available on Amazon.com and Amazon UK at the end of April for $41.99/£41.99/€57.99.

Boasting Hall-Effect magnetic sensing joysticks providing anti-drift technology, the T4 Kaleid is a durable controller that retains its precision over the course of its use. Joy-con drift can greatly impact gaming, so users of the T4k can rest assured that their controller will not be affected by the wear down caused by continued heavy usage.

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Sega Purchases Angry Birds Game Developer for $776 Million

by

T0@st

Apr 17th, 2023 10:10 Discuss (12 Comments)

Today Japan's Sega Sammy Holdings Incorporated declared its intention to fully acquire Finnish development studio Rovio Entertainment Oyj in a buyout valued at a cool $776 million. The Helsinki-based developer, responsible for creating the Angry Birds video game franchise, has agreed to Sega Sammy's terms - and Rovio share values have climbed as a result of this announcement. The deal is expected to be finalized in the late summer or early autumn of this year, and signals an ambition on Sega's part to gain prominence in the mobile gaming world. Rovio had previously turned down a proposed takeover by Playtika - an Israeli company specializing in digital entertainment - for $735 million, late last month.

Angry Birds was the first mobile game to be downloaded one billion times, according to figures released by Rovio, so Sega has acquired a solid intellectual property that has also expanded into the movie world (two animated features) and endless merchandising avenues (toys, clothing and other accessories). Commenting on the buyout, Haruki Satomi, President and Group CEO, Representative Director of Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. said: "Among the rapidly growing global gaming market, the mobile gaming market has especially high potential, and it has been Sega's long-term goal to accelerate its expansion in this field."

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Kingston Technology Ships 100 Million Overclockable Memory Modules

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 17th, 2023 09:30 Discuss (5 Comments)

Kingston FURY, the high-performance division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced it has shipped more than 100 million overclockable modules. In 2002, Kingston entered the enthusiast market with a line of high-performance memory modules under the Kingston HyperX name. Over the next 19 years Kingston grew the HyperX name within the enthusiast and gaming space until its sale of the peripheral line to HP in 2021. Continuing the incredible success of the HyperX memory products, Kingston rebranded its high-performance component lines into Kingston FURY, investing resources and knowledge from its core business to create the next generation of enthusiast products. Today, the engineering expertise behind the numerous overclocking records and awards continues into a new era of leading-edge, high-performance, enthusiast and gaming solutions.

Since its inception, Kingston has taken pride in its testing innovations and industry-leading product reliability. Back in 2005, Kingston was granted a U.S patent on a proprietary, first of its kind, dynamic burn-in tester. This ensured the utmost reliability in server memory modules used in the world's largest data centres. Earlier this year, Kingston broadened its portfolio by adding the Kingston FURY Renegade Pro DDR5 RDIMM which provides overclockable server-class DDR5 memory for creators, engineers, and data science professionals to meet the requirements of the latest applications. Its award-winning line of Kingston FURY Beast DDR5 and Renegade DDR5 memory modules also received a makeover with the introduction of white heat spreaders to empower users to choose the colour that best fits their individual style.

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SimplyNUC Unveils Everglades 2 Rugged NUC Starting at $299

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 17th, 2023 09:23 Discuss (1 Comment)

Introducing Everglades 2, the latest rugged NUC from Simply NUC. Loaded with Intel's N5105 Celeron Processor, support for up to 32 GB of DDR4 memory, and up to 16 TB of storage, Everglades 2 is here to raise the bar in cost-effective performance, delivering feature-rich technology, where you need it, when you need it.

The Everglades 2 NUC from Simply NUC comes equipped with an Intel Jasper Lake Celeron N5105 processor, providing reliable, cost-effective performance in a lightweight, space-saving form factor, making it perfect for many usages. Despite its small size, Everglades 2 is loaded with I/O. From its two HDMI ports and single DisplayPort to its six Type-A and single Type-C USB ports, Everglades 2 supports all the peripherals you need to get the job done.

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Open World RPG Wartales Exits Early Access, Version 1.0 Out Now

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 17th, 2023 09:21 Discuss (2 Comments)

Wartales 1.0 is out now! Wartales launches out of Early Access with a new region, new content, community requests and more! Attention mercenaries! The 1.0 Release update has finally arrived, but before we get into the fun stuff we just wanted to take a moment to thank you, our wonderful community, for your support throughout the Early Access period.

From our AMAs to Q&As together, hearing your thoughts and feedback, as well as seeing our vision and plans for the game evolve thanks to your involvement, we've thoroughly enjoyed our journey with you and are incredibly proud to be able to share this moment with you all. We really can't thank you enough! Now let's jump into what's new…

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Anker Emergency Power Supplies and Solar Power Generators: Why You Need Them, and Why They're Better than Engine-Gensets

Sponsored by

btarunr

Apr 17th, 2023 09:20

An unexpected power outage can be your worst experience as it disrupts your daily routine. We live in an era where we cannot imagine life without electricity. However, power blackouts can be commonplace during natural disasters or other scenarios. Such a situation leaves you to be without power for long periods. The best defense in such a situation is to have your own power backup solution. So, in this article, we would like to teach you about what is emergency power supply and why you may need it during a power cut.

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AMD 96-Core EPYC 9684X Zen 4 Genoa-X CPU Shows Up for Sale in China

by

GFreeman

Apr 17th, 2023 08:49 Discuss (5 Comments)

The second-hand market in China is always full of gems, but we never expected to see an unreleased 5 nm 96-core EPYC 9684X Genoa-X CPU with 1152 MB of L3 cache. According to the seller, the CPU is "almost new" and in working condition.

In case you missed it earlier, AMD is working on 5 nm Genoa-X EPYC CPUs which will feature up to 96 Zen 4 cores in 5 nm with over 1 GB of L3 cache per socket. These are scheduled to release this year, optimized for technical computing and databases. AMD is also working on Siena CPUs, which should also come this year, featuring up to 64 Zen 4 cores with optimized performance-per-watt, meant for intelligent edge and telco markets.

AMD Phoenix APU Laptops Launching in Late April/Early May

by

GFreeman

Apr 17th, 2023 08:32 Discuss (18 Comments)

According to the latest information, it appears that first laptops with AMD Ryzen 7040 series APUs, code name Phoenix, will launch in late April, with U-series coming in May. AMD has previously delayed the Phoenix APUs in order to "align with platform readiness and ensure the best possible user experience," the first notebooks powered by Ryzen 7040HS series processors are expected in April.

According to Golden Pig Upgrade from Bilibili, at least the Ryzen 7840HS will launch on April 30th, and the 7840U SKU is probably expected on May 1st. As noted, AMD has announced the 7040 HS- and H-series SKUs, and has previously briefly mentioned the 15 W U-series SKUs, but has not officially unveiled any specifications. So far, three 7040 U-series SKUs have leaked online. Hopefully, AMD will share a bit more details by the end of this month.

HyperX Announces New Chargeplay Charging Station for Switch Joy-Con Controllers

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 17th, 2023 07:48 Discuss (3 Comments)

HyperX, the gaming peripherals team at HP Inc. and brand leader in gaming and esports, today announced the new ChargePlay Quad 2 Charging Station for Nintendo Switch. Designed specifically for the Nintendo Switch, the ChargePlay Quad 2 Joy-Con Charging Station offers improved charging time, making it an ideal choice for charging Joy-Cons.

"HyperX continues to enhance its range of console accessories to provide better gaming experiences for players across different platforms," said Aurelius Martinez, global category manager - cloud and console gaming, HyperX. "The new HyperX ChargePlay Quad 2 ensures players' equipment is fully charged and ready for lengthy gaming sessions."

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Sharkoon Launches 20-Year Anniversary Limited Edition Mouse Mat

Press Release by

AleksandarK

Apr 17th, 2023 04:13 Discuss (4 Comments)

In 2023, the PC-gaming manufacturer Sharkoon celebrates its 20-year anniversary. Since the founding of Sharkoon on 17 April 2003, the fast-paced PC and gaming industry has seen constant change, with countless trends that have come and gone. It was this flow of trends that inspired Sharkoon to always respond flexibly, with a constantly fresh range of products, in order to meet the prevailing needs for the growing scene of gaming and case modding. Thanks to this flair for innovation and its continual responsiveness to its customers, the manufacturer from the German region of Hesse is now present across the whole world. The 20-year success story began with a small glow in the PC cases of enthusiastic modding pioneers: an illuminated PC case cable that was soon to become the first commercial Sharkoon product known as the "Luminous IDE Round Cable".

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Cooler Master Hyper 212 Halo Edition CPU Cooler and MasterFan MF120 Halo² Fan Now Available

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 17th, 2023 03:48 Discuss (6 Comments)

Over the years, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 series has established itself as a leading choice for aftermarket CPU cooling, earning a reputation as one of the most popular custom CPU coolers available. The company has continuously modernized the series by integrating advanced heatsink and fan technologies. With the introduction of the Hyper 212 Halo, Cooler Master has implemented a significant design and technology overhaul, taking the series to new heights.

The Hyper 212 Halo Series boasts the innovative Halo² fan, a refined version of its predecessor. The hardware is adorned with color accents, available in black or white options. The 4 heat pipe tower now sports a matching color treatment and a coordinating top cover showcasing the signature logo, creating a cohesive and stylish design.

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Seagate Announces Strategic Collaboration with QNAP

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 16th, 2023 21:57 Discuss (4 Comments)

At the NAB 2023 conference, Seagate Technology, a world leader in data storage infrastructure solutions, and QNAP Systems Inc., a leading network attached storage (NAS) vendor, announced their integrated portfolio of edge to cloud enterprise storage solutions. Developed to help small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) and content creators manage data from edge to cloud, the portfolio delivers a range of innovative enterprise-scale solutions that include Seagate's IronWolf Pro Hard Drives (HDD), QNAP's high-capacity NAS solutions with Exos E series JBOD systems and Seagate Lyve Cloud.

"Businesses that use data at the edge often rely on NAS devices to store their data. As that data capacity increases and requires optimal protection, businesses are faced with the challenge of backing up data off site," said BS Teh, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Seagate. "Seagate and QNAP have come together to address this challenge with an entire portfolio of secure mass capacity data solutions to help SMBs address pain points and address the rising costs of data storage and management."

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Blackmagic Design Announces New DeckLink IP HD Capture Card

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 16th, 2023 19:53 Discuss (5 Comments)

Blackmagic Design today announced DeckLink IP, a new family of PCIe cards that capture and playback 10-bit uncompressed, broadcast quality video directly into 2110 IP based broadcast systems. DeckLink IP cards support multiple video channels plus each channel can capture and play back at the same time. DeckLink IP provides total IP network security as all video is captured and played back using the DeckLink IP's frame buffers, which act like a video based firewall isolating the ethernet port from anything other than video and audio. DeckLink IP will be available in June from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide from US $345.

DeckLink IP cards are the easiest way to capture and play back video directly into 2110 IP based broadcast systems. They have the same DeckLink features so all customers existing software will just work. This means customers can build racks of servers generating broadcast graphics, virtual sets, or GPU based AI image processing, all directly integrated into 2110 IP broadcast infrastructure. Customers can even use DaVinci Resolve for 2110 IP based broadcast editing workstations! DeckLink IP features a high speed PCIe connection so it works on the latest Mac Pro, Windows and Linux computers.

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Northgard Devs Outline 2023 Plans for Long Running Viking Age RTS

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 16th, 2023 11:39 Discuss (3 Comments)

What's next for Northgard? A sneak peek into what the future holds for our favorite vikings...Ohoi! We're working hard on Northgard and you can expect a ton of new changes this year. Keep in mind this roadmap is mostly tentative, hence why no dates will be revealed as of today. But enough talk, here is what you came for...

The near future
Our next update is the annual major balancing patch. It is coming in the next month or so but it is not exclusively balancing that it will be bringing to the game. Before expanding the game further, it was important for us to focus on some of the more pressing matters that have been brought to our attention over the last few months.

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The Last of Us PC Mod Introduces First Person Perspective Mode

by

T0@st

Apr 16th, 2023 10:47 Discuss (5 Comments)

The PC port of The Last of Us Part I has gained a lot of attention for its shoddy technical performance at launch, with a flurry of patches issued by developer Naughty Dog to calm down matters following barbed community feedback. An unofficial modification project has been ticking along behind the scenes, with team members and contributors content to tinker with the game, rather than engage in arguments about poor optimization and crashes to desktop. The Voyagers Revenge project has this week revealed footage of a first person perspective mode implemented into the Windows version of The Last of Us Part I.

The mod is still a work in progress, so demonstrations have been captured in the form of gameplay footage and uploaded to YouTube - actual playable code is not available to the public. The modders have implemented a feature that Naughty Dog had previously abandoned, with vice president Neil Druckmann confirming that the development team had experimented with a first person perspective mode in the early days of production, but they ultimately decided to drop it in favor of sticking to an over-the-shoulder viewpoint.

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Colorful Custom RTX 4060 Ti GPU Clocks Outed, 8 GB VRAM Confirmed

by

T0@st

Apr 16th, 2023 09:52 Discuss (44 Comments)

Resident TechPowerUp hardware database overseer T4C Fantasy has divulged some early information about a custom version of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GPU card - Colorful's catchily named iGame RTX 4060 Ti Ultra White OC model has been added to the TPU GPU database, and T4C Fantasy has revealed a couple of tidbits on Twitter. The GPU has been tuned to have a maximum boost clock of 2580 MHz, jumping from a base clock of 2310 MHz. According to past leaks the reference version of the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti has a default boost clock of 2535 MHz, so Colorful's engineers have managed to add another 45 MHz on top of that with their custom iteration - so roughly 2% more than the reference default.

T4C Fantasy also confirmed that the Colorful iGame RTX 4060 Ti Ultra W OC will be appointed with 8 GB of VRAM, which also matches the reference model's rumored memory spec. T4C Fantasy points out that brands have the option to produce RTX 4060 Ti cards with a larger pool of attached video memory, but launch models will likely stick with the standard allotment of 8 GB of VRAM. The RTX 4060 Ti is listed as being based on the Ada Lovelace GPU architecture (GPU variant AD106-350-A1), and T4C Fantasy expects that Team Green will stick with a 5 nm process size - contrary to reports of a transition to manufacturing on 4 nm (chez TSMC foundries).

This Week in Gaming (Week 16)

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 16th, 2023 06:44 Discuss (9 Comments)

As we're about to enter the second half of April, we have a pretty busy week of new game releases to look forward to, many of which are family friendly. This week's AAA title is all about Zombies, but we also have two AA titles, one that's related to Minecraft and the other with Disney. The rest of this coming week's releases are a mixed bag that includes pets, fountains and tin hearts of all things.

Dead Island 2 / This week's AAA title / Friday 21 April
This thrilling First-Person, Action RPG takes players across a brand-new playground - a hellish vision of LA (or HELL-A, as we like to call it). Dead Island 2 is stylish, vibrant and flooded with zombie infection. Explore iconic, gore-drenched Los Angeles. Meet larger-than-life characters. Slay countless foes in exquisitely bloody detail. And evolve to become the ultimate Zombie Slayer! Epic Games Store exclusive, not available on Steam.

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Sabrent Shows Off Apex X21 Destroyer Card, a Behemoth Multi-SSD Array Offering 168 TB Storage

by

T0@st

Apr 15th, 2023 15:13 Discuss (38 Comments)

Sabrent USA was in a boastful mood yesterday, and proceeded to gloat on Twitter about an upcoming gargantuan storage solution: "At Sabrent, we run on the cutting edge of technology. Working with Apex, we received one of these new cards and currently running it through tests. We call this the Sabrent Apex X21 Destroyer. 21X 8 TB SSDs for 168 TB of storage on single card!" The company has revealed that it is collaborating with Apex Solutions on the single PCIe card offering, but the smattering of text and two photos uploaded to Twitter are just teaser material for the moment. There have been no reports of preview units getting sent to potential testers or hardware influencers. Sabrent and Apex will continue to tweak and evaluate.

The Destroyer is formed of already existing parts, namely Apex Solution's own x21 NVMe mounting platform card, and twenty-one of Sabrent's Rocket 4 Plus SSD 8 TB NVMe 4.0 Gen 4 PCIe M.2 Internal SSD model (SB-RKT4P-8TB). A single Apex x21 card will set you back $2800, and the 8 TB Rocket 4 Plus SSD is currently discounted to $1099 (from $1499). That grand total comes to a whopping $25,879, and extra expenses are expected in the form of adequate cooling solutions and a hardware controller capable of managing that unruly gang of SSDs. Sabrent is expected to post updates about finalized fittings, features and exact pricing in the near future.

Elon Musk AI-Powered Empire Expands Again, X.AI Startup Incorporated in Nevada

by

T0@st

Apr 15th, 2023 14:20 Discuss (79 Comments)

Elon Musk has formed a new AI-focused company, as reported by the Wall Street Journal yesterday. The entity registered under the name X.AI was incorporated via a filing in Nevada last month, and Musk appears to be listed as the company's only director with Jared Birchall joining him under the role of secretary. Birchall heads the Musk family office, Excession LLC, and he serves as CEO of Neuralink - a neurotechnology company that was co-founded by Musk back in 2016. It is widely speculated that Birchall serves as a type of fixer - go watch the TV series "Ray Donovan" if you would like to observe a crude (and obviously fictional) example - in corporate affairs.

Reports emerged earlier this week, with Musk being at the forefront of a massive purchase of GPUs destined to arrive shortly at his data centers - this impressive chunk of hardware is speculated to power AI-related number crunching at Twitter in the near future. The founding of X.AI could provide another home for a portion of the 10,000 GPU order, but industry insiders firmly believe that Twitter will need to tool up quickly for its new AI-driven endeavor - the GPUs will likely be set to work on a ChatBot system to underpin the social media platform. Musk has already recruited researchers from DeepMind and setup a lab for them at one of his operations. It remains to be seen how the X.AI startup will run alongside efforts at other Musk-owned companies - it is theorized that he wants to beat OpenAI at their own game, and compete with similar undertakings at Google, Microsoft and Amazon.

Activision, Bungie and Ubisoft Cracking Down on Input Device Hardware Modifications

by

T0@st

Apr 15th, 2023 13:02 Discuss (31 Comments)

The Call of Duty RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team announced earlier this month that their newly updated system was capable of detecting "third-party hardware devices that alter the Call of Duty gameplay experience" - this makes reference to a plethora of gaming input modification devices including the Cronus Zen/Max, XIM Apex and FPS Boost Strike Pack. All readily available from direct stores, Amazon and various e-tailers. These hardware modules are hooked up to a gamepad or mouse plus keyboard combination, and allow the user to bypass the legitimate control input detection on the host hardware, be it a games console or PC. Stock scripts and macros can be utilized - for example - to boost in-game aim assist to unprecedented levels, mitigate weapon recoil, and add support for mouse and keyboard in otherwise non-compatible games. Anti-cheat software suites have been unable to detect the extra layer of code, since it runs on an external device - until now.

CoD's security team elaborates on their cheat spotter: "Since our previous progress report, TeamRICOCHET has developed and tested a detection for third-party hardware devices that alter the Call of Duty gameplay experience. These devices act as a passthrough for controllers on PC and console and, when used improperly or maliciously, can provide a player with the ability to gain an unfair gameplay advantage, such as reducing or eliminating recoil. Testing is complete: This detection is deployed globally on all platforms. Users across PC or console who are detected to be using third-party hardware devices to impact the Modern Warfare II or Warzone 2.0 gameplay experience will first see a warning about the improper use of these devices..."

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Intel Compares Arc A750 with RTX 3060 With Latest Driver Update

by

GFreeman

Apr 15th, 2023 12:40 Discuss (67 Comments)

Intel has released a couple of new performance slides for the Arc A750, claiming better performance per dollar than RTX 3060 with the latest driver update. Intel has been pushing hard to improve its Arc GPU drivers, both fixing issues, bringing Game On support, and performance improvements. The latest Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.4311 beta update brought several Game On optimizations as well as some performance uplifts, mostly focused on the Arc A750 and DirectX 12, ranging from 4 percent up to 63 percent, depending on the game and the resolution.

Although the Arc A750 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory has less memory than the RTX 3060 which comes with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory, bear in mind that the Arc A750 has a 256-bit memory interface compared to a 192-bit one on the RTX 3060 12 GB graphics card, leaving it with a higher 512 GB/s maximum memory bandwidth. The Intel Arc A750 is also less expensive, retailing at $249, compared to RTX 3060 12 GB, which sells at around $350.

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The Last of Us Part 1 Gets New v1.0.3.0 Patch

by

GFreeman

Apr 15th, 2023 11:23 Discuss (24 Comments)

Naughty Dog has released the newest patch for the PC version of The Last of Us Part 1, v1.0.3.0, mostly focused on audio, UI, and visual fixes. It adds new Audio Compatibility options, with audio output mode and latency setting, and fixes quite a few issues that were noticed in the game.

Surprisingly it fixes some issues on Steam Deck, and also issues seen with AMD FSR 2 and NVIDIA DLSS. There is an extensive list of fixes for various issues. Naughty Dog was keen to note that they are still watching reports for future improvements and patches and actively optimizing, working on game stability, and implementing additional fixes.

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Today's Reviews

Cooling

• Cooler Master Mobius 120 OC Fan Hardware Busters

Graphics Cards

• Inno3D RTX 4070 Twin X2 OC Cowcotland (fr)
• Zotac RTX 4070 Amp Extreme AIRO Cowcotland (fr)
• ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4070 OC Cowcotland (fr)
• Gigabyte RTX 4070 Gaming OC Cowcotland (fr)
• Gainward RTX 4070 Panther Guru3D
• MSI RTX 4070 Gaming X Trio Guru3D
• Colorful RTX 4070 Vulcan OC-V Guru3D
• ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 4070 OC Guru3D
• Zotac RTX 4070 Amp AIRO LAN OC
• ASUS RTX 4070 TUF TechPowerUp
• MSI RTX 4070 Gaming X Trio TechPowerUp
• PNY RTX 4070 XLR8 TechPowerUp
• Palit RTX 4070 JetStream TechPowerUp
• Inno3D RTX 4070 iChill X3 Tweaktown
• MSI RTX 4070 Gaming X Trio Tweaktown
• Inno3D RTX 4090 iChill Black Hardware-Mag (de)

Headphones

• Creative Sensemore Air itndaily (ru)
• SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless TechPowerUp

Motherboards

• ASRock B650E PG ITX WiFi Funkykit
• Gigabyte B650E AORUS Tachyon NikkTech

PSUs

• Corsair RM1000e Modding.fr (fr)

SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless Review - The Wireless Headset To Get

Review Headphones

The SteelSeries Arctis 7 Wireless is an excellent wireless gaming headset, offering good sound and microphone performance, excellent wearing comfort, as well as superb versatility thanks to its simultaneous wireless and Bluetooth connectivity.

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ASUS ROG Ally Could Launch Sooner Than Expected

by

GFreeman

Apr 14th, 2023 17:41 Discuss (43 Comments)

ASUS is keeping the hype up for its upcoming ROG Ally handheld console, and now it has confirmed the worldwide release and teased that it could come sooner than anyone expected, which is pretty impressive. Announced on April 1st, the ASUS ROG Ally has impressive specifications, running on yet to be detailed AMD 4 nm custom APU based on Zen 4 CPU and RDNA 3 GPU architecture.

The ASUS ROG Ally measures at 280 x 133 x 39 mm and weighs 608 grams, making it shorter, narrower, thinner, and lighter than its competitor, Valve's Steam Deck. It has a 7-inch display with 1920x1080 resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate, 5 ms response time, and 500 nits of brightness. According to earlier hands-on previews of the prototype from Dave2D and LinusTechTips, ASUS did a great job with the dual-fan cooling solution, making it very quite. It will also have a dedicated PCIE Gen 3 x8 XG connector, which allows it to connect to the recently launched XG Mobile GPU, an external RTX 4090 GPU which retails at $1999.99 in the US. Linus also noted that the ROG Ally will offer 50 percent higher performance at 15 W and twice the performance at 35 W, compared to the Steam Deck. As noted, ASUS has now confirmed that the ROG Ally will launch worldwide, and that it might be sooner that we expect, linking to Best Buy for those that live in North America.

Noctua Cools Down 700 W 56-core Intel Xeon W9-3495X on Air

by

GFreeman

Apr 14th, 2023 17:28 Discuss (28 Comments)

Noctua has showcased its NH-U14S DX-4677 air cooler in action, cooling down Intel's 56-core Xeon W9-3495X at full load and drawing 700 W of power. While all-in-one (AiO) liquid coolers are popular these days, Noctua aim to show that air coolers are more than capable on handling even the most high-end CPUs, even at continuous load and without throttling.

While the video does not show the full details of the CPU settings, it is still an impressive feat, especially considering the high power draw, which suggest that the CPU was pushed way beyond its default settings for demonstration. The setup includes the aforementioned Intel's 56-core Xeon W9-3495X CPU, running on ASUS Pro WS W790E-SAGE SE motherboard with SK Hynix DDR5 EC8 RDIMM, and powered by Seasonic's PX-1600 PSU.

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The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Official PC System Requirements Revealed

by

GFreeman

Apr 14th, 2023 17:08 Discuss (20 Comments)

Daedalic Entertainment has published the official PC system requirements for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, and these are quite high, especially considering that the game has been delayed several times and that it will be available for Nintendo Switch. Even though game has opened up pre-orders on Steam earlier today, many users are wary that the game might be another unoptimized PC port, specifically due to its high RAM and graphics card requirements.

Developed by Daedalic Entertainment and co-published by Daedalic Entertainment and NACON, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will be available on May 25, 2023 on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and at a later date on Nintendo Switch. As far as PC system requirements are concerned, you'll need at least an Intel Core i7-4770 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and either an GTX 1080 or RTX 2060 graphics card, and this will get you 1080p resolution at medium preset and no ray tracing. For recommended requirements that will run the game at 1440p with ray tracing and DLSS Quality, you'll need an Intel Core i3-6100 or AMD Ryzen 2600 CPU, a hefty 32 GB of RAM, and an RTX 3080 graphics card. The game will have both DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 support, and need 45 GB of storage space.

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KeysOff Big Software Sale Rolls On, Some of the Lowest Prices on the Web for Genuine Software

Sponsored by

btarunr

Apr 14th, 2023 16:38

KeysOff Big Software Sale rolls on into the Spring. Refresh your home or small-office IT setup with some of the lowest prices on the web for genuine software. Get Genuine Windows 11 Pro at just $10.45, or as low as $10.32 a pop in multi-key packs. Pair it with the most powerful productivity suite, Genuine Office 2021 Professional Plus, at just $26.25 on its own, or as low as $13.85 in 5-PC multi-key pack. Check great deals on other editions of Windows and Office to save even more!

Buy Office 2021 Professional at $26.25 | Buy Office 2021 Professional 2-PC at $41.25 | Buy Office 2021 Professional 3-PC at $58.25 | Buy Office 2021 Professional 5-PC at $69.25 | Buy Office 2019 Professional Plus at $24.25 | Buy Office 2016 Professional Plus at $20.25 | Buy Office 2021 Home and Business for Mac at $37.99 | Buy Office 2019 Home and Business for Mac at $33.99 | Buy Windows 10 Pro at $7.35 | Buy Windows 10 Pro 2-PC at $12.45 | Buy Windows 11 Pro at $10.45 | Buy Windows 11 Pro 2-PC at $20.65 | Buy Windows 10 Home at $7.25 | Buy Windows 10 Home 2-PC at $12.41 | Buy Windows 11 Home at $10.25 | Buy Windows 11 Home 2-PC at $20.48

Please use the coupon code SKK62 on the following items to avail the prices you see here.
Buy Windows 11 Pro + Office 2021 Professional Plus at $34.99 | Buy Windows 11 Pro + Office 2019 Professional Plus at $31.99 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2021 Professional Plus at $31.76 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2019 Professional Plus at $28.69 | Buy Visio Professional 2021 at $22.97 | Buy Project Professional 2021 at $25.70

Please use the coupon code SKK50 on the following items.
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Check out great deals on system software you may want.

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Square Enix Exhibits 25 Minutes of Final Fantasy XVI Gameplay Footage

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 14th, 2023 14:52 Discuss (19 Comments)

In just over two months, players will finally get their hands on Final Fantasy XVI, the next mainline installment of the Final Fantasy series. The game follows Clive Rosfield as he harnesses powerful Eikons to overcome his tragic destiny. Today's State of Play not only explores intricate details of the story and world lore, but also gives a first glimpse into the game's party combat and colossal battles with new Eikons.

We hope today's broadcast was exciting for everyone, both for fans keeping up with Final Fantasy XVI updates, and those who are hearing about the game for the first time. Get a deeper look at combat, stunning Eikon battles, and the world of Valisthea before FFXVI arrives on PS5 June 22.

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NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Confirmed as Headline Speaker at Computex 2023

by

T0@st

Apr 14th, 2023 14:29 Discuss (19 Comments)

Taiwan's External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) has announced the keynote speaker for Computex 2023 - NVIDIA co-founder and current CEO Jensen Huang is confirmed as the main host of the opening ceremony event. The forthcoming computer trade show will have a general opening on May 30, with a keynote address delivered by Huang scheduled for the day before. Computex 2023 is set to be hosted at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center (Hall 1 & Hall 2) until June. Co-organizer TAITRA boasts that 1000 exhibitors (from 17 nations) will participate in show floor activities. 3000 individual booths will be setup for exploration by prospective attendees.

Huang is one of several key electronics company CEOs announced as participants in conference events. He joins key representatives from firms such as Qualcomm, Acer, NXP Semiconductors and Supermicro. NVIDIA's leader was named in Time's 100 List of Most Influential People for the year 2021, and is a winner of numerous other awards, so it is no wonder that he gets top billing at Computex 2023. Attendees have a lot to look forward to, not limited to a (potentially) dynamic keynote speech delivered by Huang, since this year's show will be an open door affair. A return to proceedings last experienced in 2019, prior to global shutdowns.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Open for Pre-Orders, Premium Precious Edition Revealed

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 14th, 2023 13:42 Discuss (9 Comments)

Hello everyone, today we are thrilled to announce that Steam pre-orders have started! We are also happy to share more about The Lord of the Rings: Gollum : Precious Edition, which includes some premium perks for fans of Tolkien's Middle-earth. You can join Gollum's unshakeable quest for the One Ring on May 25th, 2023.

The Precious Edition was put together with Tolkien fans in mind. Daedalic Entertainment and NACON have gone above and beyond to curate a captivating package that includes over 100 stunning art pieces, a lore compendium to deepen your Middle-earth knowledge, additional Sindarin lines for the game's Elves, which will make you feel like you are properly east of the Misty Mountains, and more! With a focus on immersing players in the world of Middle-earth, this edition is sure to delight fans and gamers alike.

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Component Suppliers Suggest That NVIDIA is Taking a Relaxed Approach with RTX 40-Series Production

by

T0@st

Apr 14th, 2023 13:16 Discuss (33 Comments)

Two of NVIDIA's providers of Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) services are of the opinion that Team Green is happy to stay the course with its Ada Lovelace GPU production schedule. The backend providers Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) and King Yuan Electronics (KYEC) have not been given any new instructions with regard to shifts (up or down) in component assembly output. It is theorized that NVIDIA is aiming to clear any stock backlogs of graphics card models featuring previous generation architecture - namely the second gen GeForce RTX 30-series, built on Ampere.

The retail demand for the newly released GeForce RTX 4070 cards has been mild, to say the least - with plenty of inventory remaining on the shelves in the States. Critical reception of the midweight GeForce RTX GPU has also been middling - many have advised that budget conscience buyers should potentially look elsewhere. The market for discrete graphics card is in a fairly healthy state at the moment, with major production issues and fractured supply chains becoming lesser concerns for electronics manufacturers. NVIDIA has the advantage of being a market leader, and seems to be quite content with proceedings - but their analysts are very likely keeping an eye on the RTX 4070 sales figures. Its products are out and readily available - no need to change direction too sharply.

Warframe|The Duviri Paradox Arrives April 26 on All Platforms

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 14th, 2023 12:26 Discuss (0 Comments)

The Duviri Paradox is an entirely new way to play Warframe - no matter where you are in your journey. Whether you're a seasoned Tenno or entering the Origin System for the very first time, an astonishing new experience awaits you April 26 on all platforms. The most astonishing chapter in Warframe's sprawling cinematic narrative now has an official release date. Open to all players - regardless of where they're at in their journey - The Duviri Paradox is more than just an open world, it's a brand new way to experience Warframe

Assume the role of The Drifter and explore the vast, color-shifting Planes of Duviri through a gritty new Cinematic Quest. But be careful, Tenno. Your attempts to wrest control of this new open world will not go unnoticed by the despotic Dominus Thrax, whose emotions transform the fabric of Duviri itself. Fly high atop your loyal Kaithe solo, or Squad up with fellow Tenno to take on spectacular new threats like the fearsome Orowyrm. Will you restore Duviri before the next Spiral?

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Western Digital My Cloud Service Hacked, Customer Data Under Ransom

by

T0@st

Apr 14th, 2023 12:00 Discuss (41 Comments)

Western Digital has declared that its My Cloud online service has been compromised by a group of hackers late last month: "On March 26, 2023, Western Digital identified a network security incident involving Western Digital's systems. In connection with the ongoing incident, an unauthorized third party gained access to a number of the Company's systems. Upon discovery of the incident, the Company implemented incident response efforts and initiated an investigation with the assistance of leading outside security and forensic experts. This investigation is in its early stages and Western Digital is coordinating with law enforcement authorities."

The statement, issued on April 4, continues: "The Company is implementing proactive measures to secure its business operations including taking systems and services offline and will continue taking additional steps as appropriate. As part of its remediation efforts, Western Digital is actively working to restore impacted infrastructure and services. Based on the investigation to date, the Company believes the unauthorized party obtained certain data from its systems and is working to understand the nature and scope of that data. While Western Digital is focused on remediating this security incident, it has caused and may continue to cause disruption to parts of the Company's business operations."

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ASUS Announces ProArt GeForce RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Ti Graphics Cards

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 14th, 2023 11:27 Discuss (29 Comments)

Graphics cards are most famously used for gaming, but gamers are far from the only folks who eagerly anticipate each new generation of GPUs. The highly specialized hardware in graphics cards offers potent parallel processing power, and professionals put it to work in fields like artificial intelligence, finance, game development, manufacturing, and robotics. While creators in these fields often use the same hardware as gamers, the needs of these two groups of users aren't identical.

To give these professionals options better suited for their lines of work, we're excited to announce the very first ProArt graphics cards: the ProArt GeForce RTX 4080 and ProArt GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. Tuned for quiet operation, styled for professional contexts, and slimmed down for wide chassis compatibility, these graphics cards are built from the ground up to serve the needs of creators.

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ASUS Shows New ProArt Products at 2023 NAB Show Centennial

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 14th, 2023 11:16 Discuss (3 Comments)

ASUS today announced the ASUS ProArt Power Up Next-Gen Production exhibition at the 2023 NAB Show Centennial in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Nevada from April 16-19. ASUS ProArt will be announcing several new products at the show, including the ProArt Cinema PQ07 and ProArt Display PA24US professional monitors, as well as the first ASUS ProArt graphics cards.

There will also be product demos of cutting-edge ProArt on-set, VFX, post-production, and video editing solutions at the booth. Attendees at the 2023 NAB Show Centennial will also be able to attend ProArt Masters' Talks featuring industry experts from Portrait Displays, Glassbox Technology, and Puget Systems. The sessions will cover a wide range of topics, including color management, virtual production workflows, and computing power behind next-generation productions.

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Half Life 2 Path Tracing Mod Highly Praised for Adding Extra Visual Flair

by

T0@st

Apr 14th, 2023 11:08 Discuss (7 Comments)

A Half Life 2 modder, Igor Zdrowowicz, has managed to integrate path tracing into the game - with striking results, even at an early stage in development. His project - codenamed "HL2RTX" - has been in-progress for a handful of months, and the modder has managed to integrate a ray tracing system into Valve's classic shooter (sort of) via NVIDIA's RTX Remix SDK. That package has become open source only very recently, so Zdrowowicz stated that a Portal RTX-derived binary was the tool of choice.

NVIDIA's Lightspeed Studios has already created an impressive RTX conversion of Valve's fan favorite puzzle-platform game Portal (2007), and modders have been poring over the underlying technology and update technique processes. A number of old favorites, running on past iterations of the Source Engine (DirectX 8 and 9), are getting the amateur mod community sprucing up treatment. It is posited that Zdrowowicz will have an easier time with his current conversion project, thanks to an official release of NVIDIA's RTX Remix toolkit (albeit in early access).

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Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores Arriving April 19 on PS5

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 14th, 2023 09:53 Discuss (17 Comments)

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores launches April 19 on PS5! This expansion sees Aloy pursue a sinister threat in the untamed wilds of Los Angeles, now a treacherous volcanic archipelago. Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores takes Aloy to the ruins of Los Angeles. The past millennia has seen the metropolis wracked by tectonic and volcanic activity. The result: a dangerous archipelago populated by deadly machines. Among these islands, a large settlement of Quen fight to survive.

Aloy's journey continues in Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores - an expansion which sees the fierce Nora hunter pursue a sinister threat in the untamed wilds of a far-future, volcanic Los Angeles which has been wracked by violent tectonic activity. Pre-orders for Burning Shores, which launches on the PlayStation 5 console on April 19, 2023, are available as of today.

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EK Announces All-White Version of the EK-Nucleus AiO Lux D-RGB

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 14th, 2023 08:55 Discuss (3 Comments)

EK, the leading computer cooling solutions provider, is expanding its AIO portfolio with a white version of the award-winning EK-Nucleus AIO Lux D-RGB all-in-one CPU cooler. The white EK-Nucleus AIO is available in two versions - 240 mm and 360 mm. It delivers high levels of configurability, performance, and attention to detail to a closed-loop AIO while achieving wide compatibility for both legacy and upcoming sockets. Several unique approaches allowed EK to refine the AIO's aesthetics and the simplicity of installation.

After the EK-Nucleus AIO Lux as the core of the lineup, EK launched the Dark version aimed at those looking for a more optimized price-to-performance ratio. But, with EK constantly pushing the boundaries, they also built a white version of the Nucleus AIO Lux, as white is the second most popular color in PC building. The Nucleus Series AIO products are ready for the next-gen Intel socket and offer an abundance of new features, including a rotatable pump top and improved fitting positioning.

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Strict Restrictions Imposed by US CHIPS Act Will Lower Willingness of Multinational Suppliers to Invest

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 14th, 2023 08:29 Discuss (10 Comments)

TrendForce reports that the US Department of Commerce recently released details regarding its CHIPS and Science Act, which stipulates that beneficiaries of the act will be restricted in their investment activities—for more advanced and mature processes—in China, North Korea, Iran, and Russia for the next ten years. The scope of restrictions in this updated legislation will be far more extensive than the previous export ban, further reducing the willingness of multinational semiconductor companies to invest in China for the next decade.

CHIPS Act will mainly impact TSMC; and as the decoupling of the supply chain continues, VIS and PSMC capture orders rerouted from Chinese foundries
In recent years, the US has banned semiconductor exports and passed the CHIPS Act, all to ensure supply chains decoupling from China. Initially, bans on exports were primarily focused on non-planar transistor architecture (16/14 nm and more advanced processes). However, Japan and the Netherlands have also announced that they intend to join the sanctions, which means key DUV immersion systems, used for producing both sub-16 nm and 40/28 nm mature processes, are likely to be included within the scope of the ban as well. These developments, in conjunction with the CHIPS Act, mean that the expansion of both Chinese foundries and multinational foundries in China will be suppressed to varying degrees—regardless of whether they are advanced or mature processes.

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QNAP Introduces New NVR Network Surveillance Servers- QVP-85B and QVP-63B with 12th Gen Intel Core Processors for SMBs and SOHOs

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 14th, 2023 08:23 Discuss (0 Comments)

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking, and storage solution innovator, today launched new NVR Network Surveillance Servers - the QVP-85B with eight 3.5-inch SATA drive bays and Intel Core i5 6-core processor, and the QVP-63B with six 3.5-inch SATA drive bays and Intel Core i3 quad-core processor. The QVP-85B and QVP-63B run QVR Pro surveillance software supporting eight free IP camera channels. Offering an economic and high-performance software and hardware integrated video surveillance solution, the QVP-85B and QVP-63B fulfill requirements for secure, reliable and centrally-managed video surveillance storage for small businesses and offices.

"The QVP-85B and QVP-63B provide an easy-to-use UI for convenient surveillance management and is widely compatible with up to 95% of IP cameras on the market," said Andy Chuang, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "users can also take advantage of flexible licensing plans for expanding video channels and QVR Center for large-scale deployments based on needs."

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Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.4311 Released

by

btarunr

Apr 14th, 2023 07:04 Discuss (5 Comments)

Intel Graphics today released the latest version of the Arc GPU Graphics drivers. Version 101.4311 beta comes with GameOn optimization for "Dead Island 2," "Total War: Warhammer III - Mirror of Madness," "Minecraft Legends," and "Boundary." It also introduces major post-optimizations for "Dead Space" (Remake), with up to 55% performance uplifts seen at 1080p, and up to 63% seen at 1440p, when tested with the Arc A750. F1 22 sees 6-7% uplifts at 1440p, and 17% at 1080p. "Dying Light 2: Stay Human" sees 6-7% uplifts between 1080p and 1440p; "DiRT 5" gets 8% at 1080p and 4% at 1440p. "Deathloop" gets 4% at 1080p, and 6% at 1440p.

Among the issues fixed with this release include an application crash with Microsoft Flight Simulator (DirectX 11 mode); color corruption on the water edges seen in "Sea of Thieves," lower than expected performance with Bright Memory Infinite Ray Tracing Benchmark, and color corruption with Optical Flow seen in Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.4311 beta

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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Delayed To February 2024

by

GFreeman

Apr 14th, 2023 04:28 Discuss (7 Comments)

Warner Bros has announced that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has been delayed once again, with the new release date now set for February 2nd, 2024. Apparently, the developer needs more time to "work on getting the game to be the best quality experience for players." Originally, the game was scheduled to launch in 2022, but has been delayed to May 2023.

Earlier Bloomberg report hinted that Warner Bros will one again push the release to 2024, mostly due to negative responses at a PlayStation live stream, which were mostly focused on the requirement to play online for both single-player and co-op and battle pass. Now, Warner Bros has officially confirmed the delay over on Twitter, confirming the new February 2nd, 2024 launch date. Unfortunately, this is not a minor delay, so hopefully, Rocksteady Studios will be able to get it right this time and there won't be further delays. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will come to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S.

AMD Brings ROCm to Consumer GPUs on Windows OS

by

AleksandarK

Apr 14th, 2023 03:48 Discuss (21 Comments)

AMD has published an exciting development for its Radeon Open Compute Ecosystem (ROCm) users today. Now, ROCm is coming to the Windows operating system, and the company has extended ROCm support for consumer graphics cards instead of only supporting professional-grade GPUs. This development milestone is essential for making AMD's GPU family more competent with NVIDIA and its CUDA-accelerated GPUs. For those unaware, AMD ROCm is a software stack designed for GPU programming. Similarly to NVIDIA's CUDA, ROCm is designed for AMD GPUs and was historically limited to Linux-based OSes and GFX9, CDNA, and professional-grade RDNA GPUs.

However, according to documents obtained by Tom's Hardware (which are behind a login wall), AMD has brought support for ROCm to Radeon RX 6900 XT, Radeon RX 6600, and R9 Fury GPU. What is interesting is not the inclusion of RX 6900 XT and RX 6600 but the support for R9 Fury, an eight-year-old graphics card. Also, what is interesting is that out of these three GPUs, only R9 Fury has full ROCm support, the RX 6900 XT has HIP SDK support, and RX 6600 has only HIP runtime support. And to make matters even more complicated, the consumer-grade R9 Fury GPU has full ROCm support only on Linux and not Windows. The reason for this strange selection of support has yet to be discovered. However, it is a step in the right direction, as AMD has yet to enable more functionality on Windows and more consumer GPUs to compete with NVIDIA.

Team Group Diversifies with Encryption Product Series

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 14th, 2023 02:15 Discuss (0 Comments)

As the development of global technology continues to accelerate, the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI applications have become closely linked at the consumer and enterprise application levels, creating a new highly-efficient information age. As the evolution brings greater information security risks, Team Group has integrated hardware-based encryption technology and security key applications, launching its highly customized data protection product series "Security Solutions" Geared toward keeping user information safe, the first products to be released under this series are the MicroSD Hidden Memory Card, the MicroSD Security Memory Card, and the FIDO USB.

Team Group MicroSD Hidden Memory Card's special design allows it to hide sensitive data stored in the cards. With its increased information security, it's suitable for industries like industrial automation, IoT, and smart manufacturing. The MicroSD Security Memory Card features strong encryption technology to protect sensitive data in memory cards, making it perfect for industries that require a high level of security, such as the finance, medical, and defense industries.

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BIOSTAR Unveils the B650MP-E Pro Micro-ATX Motherboard

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 14th, 2023 02:03 Discuss (6 Comments)

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today announces the launch of the brand new B650MP-E PRO motherboard, designed to cater to the needs of home, office, and business users. The B650MP-E PRO motherboard supports the latest AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors with the AMD B650 single-chip architecture, making it an excellent choice for users who demand high performance and stability. It supports 4-DIMM DDR5 memory up to 128 GB, PCIe 4.0, and PCIe M.2 4.0 (64 Gb/s) for lightning-fast DATA transfer speeds.

Offering flag-ship tier features and exceptional computing performance, the B650MP-E PRO motherboard incorporates advanced technology, such as the A.I FAN, CPU OPT Header, 55 A Dr. MOS, Debug LED, Digital PWM, LED ROCK ZONE, VIVID LED DJ with RGB Sync, and 2.5Guard. These features ensure superior efficiency and performance, allowing users to optimize their computing needs to the next level. Moreover, the SMART BIOS UPDATE button and USB port ensure hassle-free BIOS updates, ensuring a reliable and error-free operation.

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YEYIAN Gaming Launches RTX 4070 GPU Gaming Desktop PCs for Superb Gaming Performance and Satisfaction

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 14th, 2023 01:45 Discuss (2 Comments)

YEYIAN Gaming, a leading global designer and manufacturer of innovative pre-built gaming PCs, peripherals, and computer components, has announced the launch of eight new gaming desktop PC models. These models are all powered by NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics cards and provide diverse options from the flagship series, ODACHI, mid-range series, YARI II, to the entry-level series, SHOGE.

These new gaming desktops are built to deliver unparalleled gaming performance and satisfaction for desktop gamers. With support for the latest INTEL Core i7 and i5, as well as the AMD Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 platforms, the NVIDIA RTX 4070 GPU gaming desktops provide users with the power and flexibility they need to take their gaming experience to the next level.

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Today's Reviews

Cases

• Fractal Design North OverClocked Inside (de)

Graphics Cards

• NVIDIA RTX 4070 Founders Edition ComputerBase (de)
• NVIDIA RTX 4070 Founders Edition Cowcotland (fr)
• Gainward RTX 4070 Ghost GinjFo (fr)
• ASUS RTX 4070 DUAL Guru3D
• Palit RTX 4070 Dual Guru3D
• MSI RTX 4070 Ventus 3X Guru3D
• NVIDIA RTX 4070 Founders Edition Guru3D
• NVIDIA RTX 4070 Founders Edition HotHardware
• MSI RTX 4070 Ventus 3X LAN OC
• NVIDIA RTX 4070 Founders Edition LAN OC
• NVIDIA RTX 4070 Founders Edition Overclocking.com (fr)
• Galax RTX 4070 EX Gamer White TechPowerUp
• NVIDIA RTX 4070 Founders Edition TechPowerUp
• MSI RTX 4070 Ventus 3X TechPowerUp
• PNY RTX 4070 TechPowerUp
• Gainward RTX 4070 Ghost TechPowerUp
• ASUS RTX 4070 Dual TechPowerUp
• Zotac RTX 4070 Trinity Think Computers
• MSI RTX 4070 Ventus 3X Think Computers
• NVIDIA RTX 4070 Founders Edition Tom's Hardware
• NVIDIA RTX 4070 Founders Edition Tweaktown
• MSI RTX 4070 Ventus 3X Tweaktown

Headphones

• Valco VMK25 Basic Tutorials (de)

ASUS GeForce RTX 4070 TUF Review

Review Graphics Cards

The ASUS GeForce RTX 4070 TUF is a factory-overclocked premium custom-design variant, which features an all-metal cooler shroud. Noise levels are the lowest we've measured in all our RTX 4070 reviews, and the dual BIOS feature lets you enable a second BIOS that achieves lower temperature.

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MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Gaming X Trio Review

Review Graphics Cards

The MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Gaming X Trio is the company's factory-overclocked custom design variant. Out of the box it is the fastest RTX 4070 that we've tested, thanks to a large power limit increase paired with the factory OC. Noise levels and temperatures are outstanding, too.

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Palit GeForce RTX 4070 JetStream Review

Review Graphics Cards

With the JetStream, Palit has released a custom GeForce RTX 4070 that comes with a powerful triple-slot, triple-fan cooler that achieves the lowest temperatures we've measured in all our RTX 4070 reviews. Noise levels are impressive, too, making the card a great choice for low-noise enthusiasts.

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Galax GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer White Review

Review Graphics Cards

With the GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer White, Galax has released an eye-catching graphics card that will look great in any case. While the card is priced at NVIDIA MSRP of $600, you still get a factory overclock and higher power limits, as well as a powerful triple-slot, triple-fan cooling solution.

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PNY GeForce RTX 4070 XLR8 Review

Review Graphics Cards

The PNY GeForce RTX 4070 XLR8 comes with adjustable RGB lighting and a stronger VRM, but ticks at reference clock speeds. Noise levels are fantastic, whisper quiet, which makes the card one of the quietest RTX 4070 cards available on the market.

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AMD Radeon RX 6800 Discounted to $469.99 as RTX 4070 Hits the Market

by

GFreeman

Apr 13th, 2023 18:04 Discuss (72 Comments)

AMD is not only doing marketing slides and pulling the VRAM card against NVIDIA ahead of the GeForce RTX 4070 launch, but it is also apparently doing some discounts on its Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards, with the Radeon RX 6800 now selling for as low $469.99. As spotted by Tom's Hardware, both the Radeon RX 6800 XT and the Radeon RX 6800 has seen some discounts from various AIB partners earlier, ranging from $30 to $50, and are now selling at $110 below MSRP, making them a decent buy at $539 and $469. To make things even more interesting, these are pretty good custom versions, including the ASRock Radeon RX 6800 XT Phantom Gaming and the Gigabyte Radeon RX 6800 Gaming OC WindForce 3X graphics cards.

Yesterday, the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT, which was the RDNA 2 flagship, was spotted discounted down to $609.99 by Kyle Bennet, and it was the Phantom Gaming Radeon RX 6950XT from ASRock. The deal is still available over at Newegg.com, and it is the lowest price for the Radeon RX 6950 XT, which is still a great card. The newly launched NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is still widely available and there are plenty of SKUs to choose from at the MSRP of $599.99.

Nintendo of Russia Staffer Continues Sale of Products Via Unaffiliated Operation

Updated by

T0@st

Apr 13th, 2023 15:26 Discuss (17 Comments)

Nintendo ceased selling products and wound down its operations in Russia last March, soon after the invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces. Other notable games software and hardware companies also announced their withdrawal at a similar time. Microsoft/Xbox, Sony/PlayStation, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, CD Projekt, Sega, Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive are among a group that discontinued the sale and distribution of games products in Russian territory markets. Lawmakers within Russia have taken a fairly lax stance on the import of consumer and industrial goods - it is legal to do so, even minus a rightsholder's approval. It seems that a couple of Nintendo of Russia employees have taken advantage of loose import regulations in the past few months.

According to a news piece published online by Kommersant (a Russian politics and business newspaper) a relatively new operation registered under the company name "Achivka LLC" is involved in the sale and distribution of Nintendo games in Russian territories. Nintendo Russia CEO Yasha Haddaji is reported to be the leader and majority owner of Achivka LLC, and former corporate events manager Ksenia Kachalova is listed as being a minority stakeholder in the company. The operation's premises appear to match the exact address for Nintendo of Russia. The firm is involved in the importing (from an unknown source) and selling of Nintendo games - the Kommersant article includes photographic evidence - a physical copy of Metroid Prime Remastered is demonstrated as bearing an Achivka stick-on label. The English translation of the company name is Achievement, which is an appropriate word association in the world of high score driven computer games.

Update Apr 18th: Nintendo has confirmed that Yasha Haddazhi, CEO of the Russian Office, remains as a current employee of the international company - but only on a temporary basis. Nintendo continues to distance itself from Achivka LLC and the selling of rebadged products in Russian territories. See below for more details.

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Seagate Introduces IronWolf Pro 22 TB HDD Offering Class-Leading Dependability and Performance

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 13th, 2023 13:40 Discuss (11 Comments)

Today, at the NAB 2023 conference, Seagate Technology Holdings plc, a world leader in data storage infrastructure solutions, introduced the new Seagate IronWolf Pro 22 TB conventional magnetic recording (CMR)-based hard disk drive (HDD). The company's highest capacity CMR HDD, the new drives deliver market-leading capacity, dependability, and powerful performance for multi-user workloads and enterprise RAID solutions

Optimised with Seagate's AgileArray technology, the new Seagate IronWolf Pro 22 TB HDD provides exceptional network-attached-storage (NAS), direct-attached-storage (DAS) performance and RAID reliability in multi-bay and multi-user environments. With user workload rates of 550 TB/year, the IronWolf Pro 22 TB HDD enables commercial and enterprise NAS users to seamlessly store, share, and collaborate on large amounts of data over a network. It also offers an SDR of up to 285 MB/s so users can seamlessly share files, back up, and tackle heavy workloads in multi-user NAS environments. With built-in rotational vibration (RV) sensors to provide RV mitigation, the HDD consistently delivers high performance and reliability in multi-bay systems.

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Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 GPU Could be 50% More Powerful Than Current Gen Adreno 740

by

T0@st

Apr 13th, 2023 13:25 Discuss (8 Comments)

An online tipster, posting on the Chinese blog site Weibo, has let slip that Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile chipset is touted to pack some hefty graphical capabilities. The suggested Adreno "750" smartphone and tablet GPU is touted to offer a 50% increase over the present generation Adreno 740 - as featured on the recently released and cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. The current generation top-of-the-range Snapdragon is no slouch when it comes to graphics benchmarks, where it outperforms Apple's prime contender - the Bionic A16 SoC.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC is expected to launch in the last quarter of 2023, but details of the flagship devices that it will power are non-existent at the time of writing. The tipster suggests that Qualcomm has decided to remain on TSMC's 4 nm process for its next generation mobile chipset - perhaps an all too safe decision when you consider that Apple has upped the stakes with the approach of its Bionic A17 SoC. It has been reported that the Cupertino, California-based company has chosen to fabricate via TSMC's 3 nm process, although the Taiwanese foundry is said to be struggling with its N3 production line. The engineers at Qualcomm's San Diego headquarters are alleged to be experimenting with increased clock speeds running on the next gen Adreno GPU - as high as 1.0 GHz - in order to eke out as much performance as possible, in anticipation of besting the Bionic A17 in graphics benchmarks. The tipster theorizes that Qualcomm will still have a hard time matching Apple in terms of pure CPU throughput, so the consolation prize will lie with a superior GPU getting rigged onto the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

EA Originals Lets Loose Gameplay Footage in Immortals of Aveum Reveal Trailer

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 13th, 2023 12:26 Discuss (8 Comments)

Summon your power, stop the Everwar, save the realms. Immortals of Aveum is a groundbreaking new single-player, first-person magic shooter, created by Ascendant Studios and released by EA Originals. Experience the story of Jak as he joins an elite order of battlemages to save a world on the edge of abyss. Made by the creators of Call of Duty and Dead Space, Immortals of Aveum is set in an original fantasy universe engulfed in magic, rife with conflict, and on the verge of oblivion. Ascendant Studios is an independent team of veteran developers with BAFTA and Game of the Year award-winning experience, and EA Originals will release the studio's debut title.

Immortals of Aveum is a new single-player shooter with magic-based combat, set in a world ravaged by war. Rich lore meets intense combat in this narrative-driven FPS game, crafted for players who wish to immerse themselves in a daring adventure. Players will take control of the protagonist, Jak (played by Darren Barnett), who unexpectedly manifests magical abilities and is reluctantly thrust into mankind's endless war for the control of magic. Under the tutelage of Grand Magnus Kirkan (Gina Torres), Jak joins the elite battlemages of the Order of the Immortals, and fights to end the Everwar—a world-spanning conflict between the nations of Lucium and Rasharn, each seeking to control access to the magic flowing across the land.

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Sega's Tower Defense Shooter Endless Dungeon Suffers Delay, Launch Date Pushed Into Autumn

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 13th, 2023 12:06 Discuss (2 Comments)

Hello everyone, Antoine here, those who recognize me know that I used to work on Humankind during the last few years. I'm now working as a Producer on Endless Dungeon, which means I'm helping to coordinate the Endless Dungeon team to make sure we can deliver a high-quality experience for you. We have some news to share regarding the release date of ENDLESS Dungeon.

We have decided to delay the release of the game to the 19th of October of this year, this includes all the versions: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, and Xbox X/S. The Nintendo Switch version will have a release date announced later. After all the feedback we've received we believe that it's important to spend extra time working on the game. We hope that you understand that decisions like this are never easy to make.

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No Shortage of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Cards at MSRP in the USA

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 13th, 2023 12:05 Discuss (72 Comments)

It appears as if there has been no rush when it comes to people buying NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4070 cards, at least not directly from NVIDIA's website, as the company lists no less than 19 different models in stock. It should be noted that NVIDIA links to third party websites, but most of the cards are available through at least one of the third parties. Out of those 19 cards, nine are sold at the MSRP of US$599.99, but the remaining 10 cards are sold above the MSRP, by varying amounts. What seems odd is that some companies have both dual and triple fan cards retailing for the MSRP, but with some dual fan OC cards going for more than MSRP from the same company.

The cards priced higher than the MSRP range from US$609.99 to US$699.99, making the more pricey cards seemingly bad value for money, as the highest clock speed listed is only a mere 115 MHz higher than NVIDIA's own RTX 4070 FE card. As seen in TPU's testing, none of the cards seem to have much of an overclocking headroom anyhow, so spending a $100 extra here doesn't seem to be worth it for the small gains in performance and could be easily gained by manually overclocking a cheaper card.

GeForce NOW Brings Titles From Bandai Namco Europe to the Cloud

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 13th, 2023 12:00 Discuss (1 Comment)

A new adventure with publisher Bandai Namco Europe kicks off this GFN Thursday. Some of its popular titles lead seven new games joining the cloud this week. Plus, gamers can play them on more devices than ever, with native 4K streaming for GeForce NOW available on select LG Smart TVs.

Bandai Namco is no stranger to delivering hit games. And GeForce NOW delivers high-performance cloud game streaming, making it the ultimate way to play the publisher's high-quality titles. "Our collaboration with NVIDIA will allow more players to enjoy Bandai Namco titles like "Little Nightmares" across their devices, thanks to the power of the GeForce NOW cloud," said Anthony Macare, senior director of digital business and customer experience at Bandai Namco Europe.

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Alphacool Expands Enterprise Solutions with Water Blocks for A100 80 GB PCIe, RTX A4000, and RTX 6000 Ada 48 GB SKUs

Press Release by

AleksandarK

Apr 13th, 2023 11:45 Discuss (2 Comments)

Alphacool expands the portfolio of the Enterprise Solutions series for GPU water coolers and presents the new ES NV A100 80 GB PCIe, ES RTX A4000 with backplate and ES RTX 6000 Ada 48 GB.

To best dissipate the enormous waste heat of this GPU generation, the cooler is positioned close to the components to be cooled in an exemplary manner. The fin structure has been adapted and allows a very good water flow while increasing the cooling surface. The modified jetplate with improved inflow engine ensures optimal distribution of water on the cooling fins. The fully chromed copper base is resistant to acids, scratches and damages. The matte carbon finish gives the cooler a noble appearance. At the same time, this makes it interesting for private users who want to do without aRGB lighting.

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Ultimea Launches the Apollo P40 Projector

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 13th, 2023 11:43 Discuss (0 Comments)

Ultimea, a leading brand in the audio-visual industry, is proud to introduce its latest innovation, the Apollo P40 1080p Native Projector. The main value proposition of this projector is to bring the cinema experience to home. With its outstanding features, this projector promises to provide an unparalleled viewing experience for both home entertainment and professional presentations.

Bring the Cinema Home with Stunning Brightness Uniformity: 80% higher brightness uniformity brings more details on four edges even in the ambient light. Native 1920x1080 pixels, 4K support and hdr delivers clear and sharp pictures without serration. High transflective mirror, premium LCD panel, with fully sealed optics and 6-layer lens improve the brightness to 700 ANSI lumens. Enjoy the home cinema without the hassle of going to the theater.

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Razer Stream Controller X is Now Available

Press Release by

AleksandarK

Apr 13th, 2023 11:36 Discuss (1 Comment)

The Razer Stream Controller X is Razer's newest addition to their streaming ecosystem of products, designed to captivate audiences during gameplay or casual socializing. With 15 programmable LCD buttons in a compact form factor, streamers can effortlessly flash stream lights, blast customized sounds, or switch between applications with a simple click, elevating their streams to the next level.

The Stream Controller X is powered by Loupedeck Software, ensuring play-and-play compatibility across all major streaming platforms such as OBS Studio, Twitch, Streamlabs, Adobe Premier Pro, and more. With access to Loupedeck's UI, streamers can effortlessly install popular applications, plugins, and even emotes to further enhance their streaming experience. Streamers can also easily drag and drop preferred applications via the Loupedeck Marketplace, for endless customizability. Popular plugins include Spotify, Phillips Hue, Adobe Photoshop, and even Voicemod which can help streamline creative processes. Additionally, Loupedeck's full suite software also provides users with access to native profiles that are preset for convenience and inspiration. Each comprehensive set of profiles contains premade macros and functions that can be easily interchanged to suit the user's needs, further enhancing the Stream Controller X's customizability.

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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Gets Final Pre-Launch Trailer

by

T0@st

Apr 13th, 2023 11:00 Discuss (6 Comments)

Nintendo fans have been counting down to today's third trailer for the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom open world adventure blockbuster. The fan base tuned in this afternoon, with great anticipation and excitement, to the final pre-launch video preview. The game's producer - Eiji Aonuma - hinted that more was to come after last month's extensive gameplay demonstration, and Nintendo's marketing push has seemingly delivered on that promise.

The older trailers and press material have, some may say deliberately, kept major details to a minimum - Nintendo has become quite adept at controlling product hype levels in the Switch console's lifetime. Today's reveal smashed the doors wide open with major story beats, key allies plus foes, airborne shenanigans, a variety of combat scenarios, new environments and locations, as well as sharing a surprising dose of dialogue and interactions from Zelda herself. Team N has perhaps justified the increased asking price for Tears of the Kingdom - coming in at $10 more when compared to its predecessor - Breath of the Wild.

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Arcade1Up Launches the Infinity Game Board

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 13th, 2023 10:21 Discuss (1 Comment)

Arcade1Up has once again leveled up game night with the release of the Infinity Game Board. Building off the success of the Infinity Game Table, an innovative digital table that connects family and friends through a vast library of popular games, Arcade1Up has gone one step further with the Infinity Game Board, creating a portable and easily accessible board game experience that everyone in the family can enjoy. The Infinity Game Board is available beginning today for $499.99 at Best Buy retail stores and BestBuy.com.

"The IGT was a breakaway product for us in that we saw the opportunity to simplify and reimagine the traditional game night into a more accessible format and experience," said Davin Sufer, CTO of Arcade1Up. "We are excited to launch the next generation in this innovative line, and the portable format will bring the real-world board game experience to even more fans."

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AMD Makes Radeon Pro W7900 & W7800 Workstation GPUs Official

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 13th, 2023 10:20 Discuss (18 Comments)

AMD unveils the most powerful AMD Radeon Pro graphics cards, Offering unique features and leadership performance to tackle heavy to Extreme Professional Workloads - AMD today announced the AMD Radeon PRO W7000 Series graphics, its most-powerful workstation graphics cards to date. The AMD Radeon PRO W7900 and AMD Radeon PRO W7800 graphics cards are built on groundbreaking AMD RDNA 3 architecture, delivering significantly higher performance than the previous generation and exceptional performance-per-dollar compared to the competitive offering. The new graphics cards are designed for professionals to create and work with high-polygon count models seamlessly, deliver incredible image fidelity and color accuracy, and run graphics and compute-based applications concurrently without disruption to workflows.

AMD Radeon PRO W7000 Series graphics cards feature the world's first workstation GPU architecture based on AMD's advanced chiplet design, providing real-world multi-tasking performance and incredible power efficiency. The new graphics cards are also the first professional workstation GPUs to offer the new AMD Radiance Display Engine featuring DisplayPort 2.1 that delivers a superior visual experience, higher resolutions and more available colors than ever before.

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ASUS Republic of Gamers Reveals ROG Phone 7 Series

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 13th, 2023 10:09 Discuss (12 Comments)

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced the all-new ROG Phone 7 series of gaming smartphones at its For Those Who Dare virtual launch event. The ROG Phone 7 series includes the ROG Phone 7 and ROG Phone 7 Ultimate models and is the latest step in the high-performance evolution of the world's greatest gaming phone. This futuristically-styled phone—which sports a new two-tone design—combines the game-winning power of the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform with the advanced GameCool 7 thermal system and special ROG tuning to deliver a truly breathtaking mobile gaming experience—and impressively low power consumption. The key to this power efficiency is the revolutionary new rapid-cycle vapor chamber design, which increases heat dissipation efficiency by up to 168%, allowing the ROG Phone 7 series to run games at full speed while maintaining low temperatures.

To make ROG Phone 7 a powerful and portable theater, we've increased the effective volume of the ROG Phone 7 series' speakers by 50% and tuned the system in cooperation with audio specialists Dirac. ROG Phone 7 series now delivers amazing 2.1-channel sound when the new AeroActive Cooler 7 accessory—which houses a powerful subwoofer—is attached.

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Microsoft Fixes Windows Defender Bug After Five Years of Firefox Slowdowns

by

T0@st

Apr 13th, 2023 09:48 Discuss (25 Comments)

Microsoft's Window Defender engineering team has finally found the time to address a long term bug within its anti-malware software - relating to performance issues with Mozilla's Firefox web browser. User feedback stretching back to five years ago indicates extremely sluggish web surfing experiences, caused by a Windows "Anti-malware Service Executable" occupying significant chunks of CPU utilization (more than 30%). The combination of Firefox and Windows Defender running in parallel would guarantee a butting of (software) heads - up until last week's bug fix. A Microsoft issued update has reduced the "MsMpEng.exe" Defender component's CPU usage by a maximum of 75%.

Microsoft and Mozilla developers have collaborated on addressing the disharmonious relationship between Defender and Firefox. A plucky member of the latter's softwareengineering team has been very transparent about the sluggish browser experience. Yannis Juglaret has provided a string of project updates via Mozilla's Bugzilla tracking system - one of his latest entries provide details about the fix: "You may read online that Defender was making too many calls to VirtualProtect, and that global CPU usage will now go down by 75% when browsing with Firefox. This is absolutely wrong! The impact of this fix is that on all computers that rely on Microsoft Defender's Real-time Protection feature (which is enabled by default in Windows), MsMpEng.exe will consume much less CPU than before when monitoring the dynamic behavior of any program through Event Tracing for Windows (ETW). Nothing less, nothing more."

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NVIDIA GeForce 531.61 WHQL Drivers Released, Support the New RTX 4070

by

btarunr

Apr 13th, 2023 09:08 Discuss (5 Comments)

NVIDIA today released the latest version of its GeForce Game Ready drivers. Version 531.61 WHQL comes with support for the new GeForce RTX 4070 "Ada" graphics card that goes on sale from today. The drivers also introduce official support for RTX Video Super Resolution, the new CUDA 12.1 compute API. The drivers also increases the number of concurrent NVENC sessions from 3 to 5 on RTX 40-series GPUs. Among the issues fixed with this release are game stability issues with "Assassin's Creed Origins when using the older 531.18 drivers; random game crashes noticed on RTX 30-series GPUs in "The Last of Us: Part 1," and black screen/hang noticed in the shader compile screen of "Hogwarts Legacy."

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 531.61 WHQL

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Konami Opens Pre-Orders for Super Bomberman R 2, Launching September 12

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 13th, 2023 08:41 Discuss (6 Comments)

SUPER BOMBERMAN R 2 release date confirmed! SBR2 physical launch on SEPT. 12, digital launch on SEPT. 13, 2023! SBR2 is the perfect way to mark the Bomberman series' 40th anniversary this year. Pre-orders are open NOW! The latest title of the party battle games series SUPER BOMBERMAN R! With new adventures and game modes, it has the largest content volume in the series' history! The game features not only offline battles that can be played with family and friends, but also online battles that connect players from all over the world, as well as a single player mode.

In addition to the well-known "Standard", "Grand Prix" and "Battle 64" a new battle mode called "Castle" in which players are divided into Attack side and Castle side to battle for the treasure! A "Stage Editor" function has also been added, allowing players to create their own stages for "Castle" and share them online with players around the globe.

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Intel Exits Server Building Business Market Selling it to MiTAC

by

GFreeman

Apr 13th, 2023 07:25 Discuss (5 Comments)

Intel has been pulling the plug on most of its non-core businesses, including Intel Optane, Intel network switches, and most lately, Intel 5G modems, now it is time to say goodbye to Intel's server building business, selling it to MiTAC, a parent company to Tyan.

While Intel was never a big player in the complete server system hardware market, it has, or rather had, a decent product lineup. Nevertheless, the company is following its IDM 2.0 strategy laid down by Pat Gelsinger, who took the reins as the CEO back in 2021 and made the decision to sell off its Data Center Solutions Group (DSG).

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NVIDIA Reveals Some RT and DLSS Statistics

by

GFreeman

Apr 13th, 2023 07:03 Discuss (28 Comments)

Following the launch of the new GeForce RTX 40 series graphics card, the GeForce RTX 4070, NVIDIA has revealed some numbers regarding the usage of ray tracing (RT) and Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). Bear in mind that these numbers only come from those users that are willing to share their data with GeForce Experience, so they do not show the complete picture, but, on the other hand, they show a rise in adoption rate. Of course, the number of games supporting RT and DLSS has risen over the last few years.

According to NVIDIA, 83 percent of users running on RTX 40 series graphics cards enabled RT, and 79 percent enabled DLSS. On the RTX 30 series, 56 percent of users enable ray tracing and 71 percent enabled DLSS. According to NVIDIA, the numbers were much lower for users running on RTX 20 series back in 2018, where 37 percent users enable RT and 26 percent of them enable DLSS.

Global Semiconductor Equipment Billings Reach Industry Record $107.6 Billion in 2022

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 13th, 2023 04:29 Discuss (2 Comments)

Worldwide sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment increased 5% from $102.6 billion in 2021 to an all-time record of $107.6 billion last year, SEMI, the industry association representing the global electronics design and manufacturing supply chain, reported today. The data is now available in the Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS) Report.

For the third consecutive year, China remained the largest semiconductor equipment market in 2022 despite a 5% slowdown in the pace of investments in the region year over year, accounting for $28.3 billion in billings. Taiwan, the second-largest destination for equipment spending, recorded an increase of 8% to $26.8 billion, marking the fourth straight year of growth for the region. Equipment sales to Korea contracted 14% to $21.5 billion. Annual semiconductor equipment investments in Europe surged 93%, while North America logged a 38% increase. Sales to the Rest of World and Japan increased 34% and 7% year over year, respectively.

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MSI Releases Gaming PCs with RTX 4070 & 13th Gen Intel Raptor Lake

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 13th, 2023 01:58 Discuss (2 Comments)

MSI is set to introduce refreshed gaming desktops for mainstream users. These gaming desktops are equipped with 13th Gen Intel Core processors and up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU. Building on hybrid architecture, the 13th generation Intel Core processor deliver balanced single-thread and multi-threaded real-world performance. Intel's 13th-gen processors are refined with more cores compared to its predecessors to push gameplay beyond performance and enhance multitasking capabilities.

The GeForce RTX 4070 GPU includes all the advancements of the NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture, including the new standards in gaming such as DLSS 3 neural rendering and real-time ray tracing technologies. Starting at $599, the GeForce RTX 4070 runs most modern games at over 100 frames per second at 1440p resolution.

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FSP Celebrates 30th Anniversary with Show Your FSP Giveaway!

Sponsored by

btarunr

Apr 13th, 2023 01:01

2023 marks the 30th anniversary of FSP Group, a renowned manufacturer of high-performance OEM and ODM power supplies worldwide. We extend our heartfelt appreciation to all our supportive players. To commemorate this milestone, we invite you to share your love for FSP products, and stand a chance to win exciting prizes, including motherboards, graphics cards, memory, and other FSP products!

For Giveaway terms, and to Participate, Visit This Page

• Winners will be drawn every quarter, so stay tuned to FSP's official website.
• Special thanks to ASRock, Palit, and Team Group.

Today's Reviews

Cases

• Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh V2 Modding.fr (fr)

Cooling

• be quiet! Light Wings White 120 Fan Cowcotland (fr)
• be quiet! Light Wings White 140 Fan GinjFo (fr)
• be quiet! Light Wings White 120 Fan Modding.fr (fr)
• Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Fan Basic Tutorials (de)

Desktop PC

• ASRock 4x4 BOX-7735U D5 Tweaktown

Graphics Cards

• PowerColor RX 7900 XTX Hellhound Spectral White Basic Tutorials (de)

Headphones

• Maono PD400X Microphone and BA90 Boom Arm Stand NeoSeeker

Mouse

• Alienware 620M Tom's Hardware

Notebooks

• Alienware m18 Tom's Hardware

PSUs

• ASUS ROG Loki SFX-L 850W Hardware Busters

SSD

• Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith DDR5-5600 32GB Guru3D

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Founders Edition Review

Review Graphics Cards

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4070 launches today. In this review we're taking a look at the Founders Edition, which sells at the baseline MSRP of $600. NVIDIA's new FE is a beauty, and its dual-slot design is compact enough to fit into all cases. In terms of performance, the card can match RTX 3080, with much better energy efficiency.

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ASUS GeForce RTX 4070 Dual Review

Review Graphics Cards

The ASUS RTX 4070 Dual comes at NVIDIA's MSRP of $600, yet offers an improved cooler over the Founders Edition. ASUS even managed to include a dual BIOS feature on their card. With the "quiet" BIOS active, the card is whisper quiet, quieter than any other RTX 4070 tested today.

Read Review

MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X Review

Review Graphics Cards

The MSI RTX 4070 Ventus 3X comes with a triple-fan, dual-slot design. Our review confirms that this is the most powerful cooler tested today, and the card runs extremely quiet, less than 30 dBA at full load. MSI is pricing their card at an MSRP of $600, which makes it an attractive choice for many gamers.

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PNY GeForce RTX 4070 Review

Review Graphics Cards

The PNY GeForce RTX 4070 is a compact dual-slot, dual-fan custom design that still achieves good cooling performance, similar to the NVIDIA Founders Edition. The card retails at the $600 baseline MSRP that NVIDIA has set for the RTX 4070, with performance matching RTX 3080 and RX 6800 XT.

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Gainward GeForce RTX 4070 Ghost Review

Review Graphics Cards

The Gainward GeForce RTX 4070 Ghost is a cost-optimized custom-design selling at NVIDIA MSRP of $600. NVIDIA's newest card achieves performance similar to RTX 3080 and RX 6800 XT, with support for the DLSS 3 Frame Generation Technology.

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Getac Announces Rugged UX10 Tablet and V110 Laptop

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 23:58 Discuss (0 Comments)

Getac has today announced the launch of its next generation UX10 tablet and V110 laptop - two powerful, yet portable, fully rugged devices designed to thrive in challenging work environments, like those found in the utilities, public safety and defence sectors. Both the UX10 and V110 boast 12th Generation Intel Core Processors, expanded memory and increased storage options, as well as extensive I/O and connectivity options (including 5G), making them two of the most advanced rugged devices Getac has ever produced.

The next generation UX10 and V110 are both part of Getac's new G-RuggedPro series. Every device in the G-RuggedPro series is designed and manufactured to Getac's exacting standards, so customers know they are receiving an exceptional product every time.

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AMD Zen 5 "Nirvana" and Zen 6 "Morpheus" Core Codenames Leaked, Confirm Foundry Nodes

by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 22:55 Discuss (19 Comments)

An AMD engineer inadvertently leaked the core codenames of the company's upcoming "Zen 5" and "Zen 6" microarchitectures. It's important to understand here what has been leaked. "Zen 5" and "Zen 6" are microarchitecture names, just like the current "Zen 4" and past "Zen 3" or older. AMD uses codenames for the CCD (CPU complex dies) based on these microarchitectures, which it shares between Ryzen client and EPYC enterprise processors. For example, the CCD codename for "Zen 3" is "Brekenridge," and for "Zen 4" it is "Durango." AMD also uses codenames for the CPU cores themselves. "Zen 3" CPU cores are codenamed "Cerebrus," and "Zen 4" CPU cores "Persphone." And now, the leak:

The CCD based on the upcoming "Zen 5" microarchitecture is codenamed "Eldora," and the "Zen 5" CPU core itself is codenamed "Nirvana." There's no codename for the CCD based on "Zen 6," but its CPU cores are codenamed "Morpheus." The "Zen 5" microarchitecture will be based on the 3 nm EUV foundry node; while "Zen 6" will be 2 nm EUV. The engineer in the screenshot is contributing to the power-management technology behind "Zen 5" and "Zen 6," and states that their work on "Zen 5" spanned January-December of 2022, which means the development phase of the next "Zen" architecture is probably complete, and the architecture is undergoing testing and refinement. It's also claimed that work on at least the power-management aspect of "Zen 6" has started from January 2023.

ASUS Announces its GeForce RTX 4070 Series: ROG Strix, TUF Gaming, and DUAL

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 22:29 Discuss (1 Comment)

ASUS today announced four new NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards: the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070, TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070, ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 4070 and Dual White GeForce RTX 4070.

The GeForce RTX 4070 GPU includes all the advancements of the NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture, including the new standards in gaming such as DLSS 3 neural rendering and real-time ray tracing technologies. Starting at $599, the GeForce RTX 4070 runs most modern games at over 100 frames per second at 1440p resolution.

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GELID Announces Liquid 360 Ultimate AIO CPU Cooler

by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 21:48 Discuss (0 Comments)

GELID today announced the largest variant of its Liquid Ultimate line of all-in-one liquid CPU coolers. The series that had debuted in February 2023 with 120 mm and 240 mm radiator size variants, is now being joined with one that uses a 360 mm radiator, hence the name Liquid 360 Ultimate. Its pump-block is characterized by an infinity-mirror ornament that's framed by addressable-RGB, and which features a tiny 2-digit seven-segment display that shows you coolant temperature in real-time.

Each of the three included Smart ARGB PWM 120 mm fans features an infinity-mirror on the impeller hub, which also puts out ARGB LED illumination that's diffused by the frosty-white impeller. Each fan provides an airflow of up to 61.9 CFM, with a speed range between 750 to 1,800 RPM; up to 1.67 mm H₂O static pressure, and 29.6 dBA maximum noise. The fans feature hydro-dynamic bearings that are rated for 50,000 hours. The GELID Liquid 360 Ultimate offers cooling capacity of over 300 W. Among the CPU socket types supported are LGA1700, LGA1200, LGA115x, AM5, and AM4. The company didn't reveal pricing.

PowerWash Simulator Free Update Arriving Next Week, FuturLab Outlines 2023 Content Roadmap

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 12th, 2023 15:05 Discuss (4 Comments)

Free Update coming April 18th + 2023 Roadmap and Physical Release for PowerWash Simulator - The first few months of this year have been crazy. You've cleaned Croft Manor and de-mucked Midgar… wherever next?! Well, we'll take a look at what else is coming this year in a minute, but not before we've said a huge and heartfelt THANK YOU to you all for the community support so far this year. It has been incredible seeing your reaction to the new content on socials and our Discord.

What's coming this year? 2023 Roadmap - Hop in the van, we're going on a road trip! Throughout 2023, we'll be taking you to places near and far in a range of Special Packs and updates that traverse Muckingham and beyond. Behold, our 2023 roadmap! With each free expansion, we'll be revealing more of Muckingham and its stories, whereas the paid Special Packs will transport you outside of the Muckingham universe to all sorts of new and exciting places.

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PC Game Pass is Now Available in 40 New Countries

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 12th, 2023 14:57 Discuss (11 Comments)

In February, we brought a preview of PC Game Pass to 40 new countries for the first time ever. The response was incredible. Thank you to all the players who jumped in to test the experience and help us shape the preview. New members looking to join PC Game Pass can head to PC Game Pass website to learn more about local pricing as well as how to sign up.

To celebrate the launch, new members will receive a special welcome offer for their first three months for a limited time. Those who were a part of our Insider Program will receive two free months of PC Game Pass membership, with no further action needed, as a thank you for helping us shape the experience and being one of the first PC Game Pass members in your country. This will be available directly in member's accounts in the coming days.

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Ghostwire: Tokyo The Spider's Thread Out Now, Free Update for PC and Modern Console Versions

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 12th, 2023 14:45 Discuss (2 Comments)

Explore a city turned supernatural in this free update including a new rogue-lite "The Spider's Thread" game mode, more side missions, new enemies, new skills, Photo Mode enhancements and more. Plus, Ghostwire: Tokyo is available now on Xbox Series X|S and Microsoft PC Store. Paranormal forces have taken over Tokyo, with nearly all the human populace vanishing in an instant.

The city's denizens have been replaced by beings from another world - yōkai, evil spirits, myths and urban legends brought to life. But now isn't the time to fear the unknown…face it in Ghostwire: Tokyo, now featuring the all-new Spider's Thread update! The Spider's Thread update, available now for all Ghostwire: Tokyo players, adds a new rogue-lite mode to the game on top of other additions to the base campaign, including new enemies, new skills, new areas to explore, new side missions, extended story cinematics, Photo Mode enhancements and more!

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Fantech Aria XD7 Gaming Mouse Receives Two New Colorways, Ready to Order Now

by

T0@st

Apr 12th, 2023 14:22 Discuss (3 Comments)

Fantech has uploaded an unboxing video featuring the two new color variations of its Aria XD7 wireless gaming mouse - Sakura Pink and Retro Beige. These new colorways join the original lineup - consisting of standard black and white editions. The pink and beige models were first revealed late last year, and an expected/estimated release date was teased for Q1 2023. Alas, it seems that the fresh product lineup has undergone delays - until now - the Sakura and Retro Beige Aria XD7 models are available to order directly from Fantech's online store or regional retailers.

The Fantech Aria XD7 wireless gaming mouse was first released during last year's Spring season, and the compact powerhouse was immediately hailed as a very decent alternative to its closest rivals - in the shape of Logitech's G305 and Razer's Orochi V2 - the Aria also offered very up-to-date interior components and a low weight - coming in at 59 grams. The flagship Pixart PAW3395 optical sensor (max. 26,000 DPI) provided a significant technical upgrade over similarly egg-shaped mice on the market, and Fantech chose to sell the Aria XD7 at a very reasonable price (MSRP $70). Other notable features include a pair of Kailh GM 8.0 primary switches, a TTC Gold scroll wheel encoder, pure PTFE skates and the inclusion of a generous accessories package.

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Redfall Graphics Performance Restricted to 30 FPS Quality Mode on Xbox Series X|S at Launch

by

T0@st

Apr 12th, 2023 13:18 Discuss (4 Comments)

Bethesda tweeted out an information update directed at Xbox Series console owners - and it has caused a stir within the fanbase - Redfall will be locked to "Quality Mode" upon launch in early May. PC gaming enthusiasts will have plenty to laugh about with these newly announced graphical performance restrictions, set for the green team's pair of current generation consoles. The frame rate will be capped at a maximum of 30 frames per second on both Xbox Series X and S, under the "Quality" performance mode. The version tuned for Series X will be able to output at the 4K UHD resolution standard (3840 x 2160), and the pixel count will be reduced for Microsoft's weaker console offering, at 1440p QHD (2560 x 1440).

Bethesda states that a 60 frames per second "Performance Mode" for Xbox Series X|S will be added at a later (unspecified) date, presumably via an online patch issued through Xbox Live. No further details were provided regarding the decision to cap frame rates, all the more strange given that Redfall is due to launch very soon. Arkane Studios (the Austin, TX branch) declared last month that it was also working on a removal of the always online requirement for the game's single player element - again, no time period for release has been established for this reversal. Redfall has attracted mounds of controversy over the past two months - including Sony's attention through litigation.

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Bulk Order of GPUs Points to Twitter Tapping Big Time into AI Potential

by

T0@st

Apr 12th, 2023 11:52 Discuss (16 Comments)

According to Business Insider, Twitter has made a substantial investment into hardware upgrades at its North American datacenter operation. The company has purchased somewhere in the region of 10,000 GPUs - destined for the social media giant's two remaining datacenter locations. Insider sources claim that Elon Musk has committed to a large language model (LLM) project, in an effort to rival OpenAI's ChatGPT system. The GPUs will not provide much computational value in the current/normal day-to-day tasks at Twitter - the source reckons that the extra processing power will be utilized for deep learning purposes.

Twitter has not revealed any concrete plans for its relatively new in-house artificial intelligence project but something was afoot when, earlier this year, Musk recruited several research personnel from Alphabet's DeepMind division. It was theorized that he was incubating a resident AI research lab at the time, following personal criticisms levelled at his former colleagues at OpenAI, ergo their very popular and much adopted chatbot.

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Gainward Launches GeForce RTX 4070 Phoenix, Panther, Ghost Series

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 11:37 Discuss (1 Comment)

As the leading brand in enthusiastic graphics market, Gainward proudly presents the brand-new GeForce RTX 4070 Phoenix, Panther and Ghost Series video cards, powered by NVIDIA's next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU architecture. The GeForce RTX 4070 GPU includes all the advancements of the NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture, including the new standards in gaming such as DLSS 3 neural rendering and real-time ray tracing technologies. Starting at $599, the GeForce RTX 4070 runs most modern games at over 100 frames per second at 1440p resolution.

The GeForce RTX 4070 Phoenix performs a modern look and the capability to achieve demanding gaming and creator tasks. The shroud with geometry patterns and stylish metallic strips offers a dynamic accent that embodies the lively spirit of Phoenix. The large ARGB lighting capacity suits users who prefer energetic style over the pure, black-themed PC setup. Thanks to the Auto Sync technology, the Phoenix shines in unity with other ARGB signal sources in great compatibility. Just plug in a single cable, the lighting can be synchronized at once without software control.

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Lexar Announces Relaunch for Lexar Professional CFexpress Type B Card GOLD Series

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 11:29 Discuss (4 Comments)

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is proud to announce massive new capacities up to 2 TB for the new Lexar Professional CFexpress Type B Card GOLD Series as well as a performance enhancement for the 128-512 GB cards. Designed for professional videographers looking to capture cinema-quality video, the CFexpress Type B Card GOLD Series boasts blazing-fast performance with speeds up to 1900 MB/s read and up to 1500 MB/s write. With minimum sustained write speeds of 1300 MB/s, the Lexar Professional CFexpress Type B Card GOLD Series enables seamless recording from start to finish without dropping a frame, allowing professionals to get the most out of their cameras. It also features rugged durability for added protection against the elements, including extreme temperatures, shock, and vibration.

Lexar Professional CFexpress Type B Card GOLD Series also offers capacities of 1 TB and 2 TB, so professional videographers can handle demanding workloads without having to constantly change cards. In addition, the 1 TB-2 TB cards are RED Approved.

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Audeze Releases New MM-100 Professional Studio Headphones with Manny Marroquin

Press Release by

VSG

Apr 12th, 2023 11:00 Discuss (9 Comments)

Audeze, the leading audio technology brand and premium headphone manufacturer, today announces their newest headphone made in collaboration with 17-time Grammy-winning engineer/producer Manny Marroquin. The MM-100 features Audeze's latest planar magnetic driver design, and a new lightweight chassis to bring unprecedented levels of quality and reliability to a wide range of audio professionals and enthusiasts. Audeze's MM-100 is assembled in the U.S.A. and will retail for $399, with first shipments expected in May.

The MM-100 is based on the highly successful MM-500, which has earned praise from acclaimed recording professionals since its debut at NAMM 2022. The MM-100 carries forward the highly regarded tuning from Audeze's 90 mm planar magnetic drivers. These efficient, low-impedance drivers make the MM-100 easy to drive from any console, interface, or laptop. The newly-designed chassis features premium materials ensuring comfort over long sessions.

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Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun Trailer Sets a Late May Launch Date

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 12th, 2023 10:58 Discuss (7 Comments)

The 40th anniversary of Warhammer has been filling us with nostalgia, and the new trailer for Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is only making things better. This is a gloriously retro pulse-pounding first-person shooter, where you play a Space Marine one-man army gunning through pixelated heretic hordes. This awesome game lets you experience the ultimate homage to retro shooters, blending 80s-style visuals with fluid, modern FPS gameplay. And you won't have to wait long to play it - it's out on May 23rd!

Load up your Boltgun and plunge into battle headfirst! Experience a perfect blend of Warhammer 40,000, classic, frenetic FPS gameplay and the stylish visuals of your favourite 90's retro shooters. Play a battle-hardened Space Marine on a perilous mission across the galaxy, as they battle against the Chaos Space Marines and daemons of Chaos. In glorious boomer shooter style, unleash your devastating Space Marine arsenal as you blast through an explosion of sprites, pixels and blood. Run, jump and charge across huge levels to shoot, shred and slice the worst heretics across the galaxy!

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GELID Solutions IceROCK DDR Cooling Kit Available Now

by

T0@st

Apr 12th, 2023 10:31 Discuss (4 Comments)

GELID Solutions has introduced its brand new IceROCK DDR Cooling Kit to the world. This aftermarket heatsink radiator is constructed from high-grade aluminium and available to order in two finishes - black or silver. These kits offers primary support for DDR5 memory modules, but Gelid has made sure to provide full compatibility for older DDR3 and DDR4 RAM sticks. The optimized heatsink is light in weight and easy to install, and offers professional level cooling - ideal for overclocking and boosting enthusiasts.

The minimalist and sleek design only weighs in at 60 g, and the pure and high-grade aluminium heatsink guarantees excellent heat conductivity. The kit can be installed onto a wide variety of memory module shapes - be it low or high profile, plus single or double sided RAM arrangements.

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Intel Foundry and Arm Announce Multigeneration Collaboration on Leading-Edge SoC Design

Press Release by

AleksandarK

Apr 12th, 2023 10:23 Discuss (4 Comments)

Intel Foundry Services (IFS) and Arm today announced a multigeneration agreement to enable chip designers to build low-power compute system-on-chips (SoCs) on the Intel 18A process. The collaboration will focus on mobile SoC designs first, but allow for potential design expansion into automotive, Internet of Things (IoT), data center, aerospace and government applications. Arm customers designing their next-generation mobile SoCs will benefit from leading-edge Intel 18A process technology, which delivers new breakthrough transistor technologies for improved power and performance, and from IFS's robust manufacturing footprint that includes U.S.- and EU-based capacity.

"There is growing demand for computing power driven by the digitization of everything, but until now fabless customers have had limited options for designing around the most advanced mobile technology," said Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel Corporation. "Intel's collaboration with Arm will expand the market opportunity for IFS and open up new options and approaches for any fabless company that wants to access best-in-class CPU IP and the power of an open system foundry with leading-edge process technology."

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EK Launches Reinforced EPDM Tubing for the EK Pro Line

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 12th, 2023 10:11 Discuss (12 Comments)

EK, the leading computer cooling solutions provider, is expanding its soft tubing portfolio by releasing a new tubing option from the EK Pro line. The new EK-Pro Tubing Reinforced EPDM, as the product name suggests, are soft water-cooling tubes made from reinforced EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber).

This durable matte black tubing is designed to withstand harsh conditions for very long periods of time. It offers a truly exceptional lifespan as it can resist UV, ozone, and heat exposure for many years, while its thick rubber walls prevent the coolant from evaporating.

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NVIDIA Shows Reflex Latency Improvements in Counter-Strike 2 and Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 12th, 2023 10:01 Discuss (1 Comment)

March was an exciting month for GeForce gamers with the announcement of Reflex, DLSS and more for Diablo IV and other hotly anticipated titles, and the launch of the world's first 500 Hz competitive gaming monitor. Let's dive in for a quick look at this month's NVIDIA Reflex news.

Counter-Strike 2 Features NVIDIA Reflex
Valve has announced Counter-Strike 2, a graphical and technological update that upgrades Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to the Source 2 engine. The latest edition leverages newer graphics APIs for improved fidelity and responsiveness. NVIDIA is collaborating with Valve to ensure latency is at an absolute minimum with the addition of NVIDIA Reflex.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure Available Now With NVIDIA DLSS 3 & NVIDIA Reflex
When Sackboy: A Big Adventure launched last October, it included support for DLSS 2, and featured ray-traced reflections, ray-traced shadows and ray-traced ambient occlusion effects. This adventure is a true test of mettle for any system when enjoyed in 4K with all options maxed out.

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NVIDIA RTX Remix Runtime Open Source Available Now

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 12th, 2023 09:53 Discuss (13 Comments)

RTX Remix is a revolutionary modding platform to remaster classic DirectX 8 and 9 games with path tracing, NVIDIA DLSS, AI-enhanced textures, and user-created assets. RTX Remix, part of the NVIDIA Studio suite of apps, is composed of two core components that work together to enable modders to remaster classic PC games: the RTX Remix creator toolkit, and a custom RTX Remix runtime.

The RTX Remix creator toolkit, built on NVIDIA Omniverse and used to develop Portal with RTX, allows modders to assign new assets and lights within their remastered scene, and use AI tools to rebuild the look of any asset. The RTX Remix creator toolkit Early Access is coming soon. The RTX Remix runtime captures a game scene, and replaces assets at playback while injecting RTX technology, such as path tracing, DLSS 3 and Reflex into the game. Already, mod developers have been using the RTX Remix runtime from Portal With RTX to create experimental ray traced scenes in numerous classic games. To further empower the mod development community to extend Remix's game compatibility and feature set, NVIDIA is releasing the RTX Remix runtime as open source on GitHub today.

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Tachyum Unveils 20 Exa-FLOP and 10 AI Zetta-FLOP Supercomputer Design

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 09:52 Discuss (2 Comments)

Tachyum today published a new white paper presenting HPC and AI supercomputer data center designs using the Prodigy Universal Processor Family, Prodigy and Prodigy 2. Tachyum Prodigy 2 was selected by Important Project of Common European Interests (IPCEI) program for Slovakia to deliver exa-scale HPC and zetta-scale AI for Europe. European Commission has accepted the funding gap of 26.4 million EUR for Tachyum, which is currently in the notification process.

Developed by Tachyum's systems, solutions, and software engineering teams, these reference designs transform data centers into universal computing centers in which HPC and AI workloads can run on the same architecture. Tachyum has developed thorough data center designs incorporating state-of-the-art solutions for computing, networking, storage, software, and cooling to address the next generation of HPC/AI applications.

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VLC Media Player Gets NVIDIA RTX Video Super Resolution Support

by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 09:49 Discuss (15 Comments)

VLC Media Player, or VideoLAN Client, the popular open-source video/audio playback and streaming application, is receiving support for NVIDIA RTX Video Super Resolution, the company announced today. This would allow VLC to take advantage of the feature to vastly improve upscaled video quality. Many of the same techniques used in DLSS, are used for video upscaling, and attempted-reconstruction of detail. Some of these techniques have been around in the MadVR community as AI DNN-accelerated upscaler algorithms. The new feature should come as a boon for those with vast locally stored libraries of 1080p videos and a larger 4K Ultra HD display to view them on. VideoLAN is expected to release an update to VLC later today (April 12) with RTX Video Super Resolution support.

THQ Nordic and Frozenbyte Present Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy, Launching This Summer

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 12th, 2023 09:47 Discuss (2 Comments)

What do a Wizard, a Thief, and a Knight have in Common? Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy will take Amadeus the Wizard, Zoya the Thief, and Pontius the Knight on their most action-packed journey in their fifth outing - and is set to to become the best Trine game of the series! Puzzles will change difficulty according to the number of players, the game also offers a skill quest system, and new tactical multi-phase boss fights!

This 2.5D puzzle-platforming game full of adventures is set in a fantastical fairytale world, offering players twenty beautifully designed levels to explore, from glistening gemstone caverns to perilous underwater passageways. But beware, the three Heroes are pitted against dastardly and duplicitous villains, who will stop at nothing to seize control of the kingdom!

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NVIDIA Announces that AV1 Format Livestreaming is Coming Soon to YouTube

by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 09:43 Discuss (7 Comments)

NVIDIA today announced that it is enabling live-streaming of gameplay through NVIDIA Broadcast in the new AV1 video format. This takes advantage of the AV1 format hardware encode acceleration in the latest GeForce GPUs, and lets streamers vastly improve the quality of their video streams at comparable bandwidths to the legacy H.264 format. AV1 is taking over much of the streaming video landscape by storm, thanks to its royalty free nature, and quality that's comparable or superior to H.265 HEVC, making it a favorite for giant video streaming services such as YouTube, Twitch, and Netflix.

PNY Introduces the GeForce RTX 4070 12GB VERTO Graphics Card Family

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 12th, 2023 09:38 Discuss (0 Comments)

PNY announced today the expansion of its revolutionary NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series PNY and XLR8 Gaming family of GPUs with the addition of the new GeForce RTX 4070 12 GB VERTO graphics cards. The GeForce RTX 4070 GPU includes all the advancements of the NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture, including the new standards in gaming such as DLSS 3 neural rendering and real-time ray tracing technologies. Starting at $599, the GeForce RTX 4070 runs most modern games at over 100 frames per second at 1440p resolution.

PNY GeForce RTX 4070
PNY GeForce RTX 4070 is the 4th addition to PNY's 40 Series GPUs and will be available in three different configurations: XLR8 Gaming EPIC-X RGB Overclocked Triple Fan, XLR8 Gaming EPIC-X RGB Triple Fan and PNY VERTO Dual Fan edition. PNY RTX 4070 GPUs feature 12 GB of super-fast GDDR6X on-board memory powered by the ultra-efficient NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture and the 3rd generation of RTX, delivering the speed needed to rip through the most demanding games and effortlessly create content.

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Zotac Announces GeForce RTX 4070 Series Graphics Cards

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 12th, 2023 09:38 Discuss (0 Comments)

ZOTAC Technology Limited, a leading global manufacturer of innovation, announces the latest addition to its next-generation graphics card line-up, built on the powerful NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture. The GeForce RTX 4070 GPU includes all the advancements of the NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture, including the new standards in gaming such as DLSS 3 neural rendering and real-time ray tracing technologies. Starting at $599 USD, the GeForce RTX 4070 runs most modern games at over 100 frames per second at 1440p resolution.

The 4070 series carries over the aerodynamic-inspired design and many key innovations introduced in previous 40-series cards, which improves gaming performance, airflow, cooling performance, noise mitigation and durability. The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4070 features 12 GB GDDR6X ultra-fast memory and will come in 3 models: AMP AIRO, Trinity, and Twin Edge OC.

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NVIDIA Bundles Overwatch 2 Ultimate Battle Pass with GeForce RTX 40-series Graphics Cards

by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 09:35 Discuss (3 Comments)

NVIDIA today announced the "Unleash Your Ultimate" game bundle. The company is bundling "Overwatch 2" Ultimate Battle Pass with new purchases of GeForce RTX 40-series graphics cards, namely the RTX 4090, RTX 4080, RTX 4070 Ti, and the newly launched RTX 4070. The bundle covers eligible graphics cards purchased between April 13 2023 and May 8 2023; with the key redemption period ending on June 8 2023. The offer is only available in select regions, and through participating retailers.

INNO3D Launches its GeForce RTX 4070 Series

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 09:29 Discuss (0 Comments)

INNO3D is proud to present the GeForce RTX 4070, the latest NVIDIA GPU with its ground-breaking Ada architecture. This super high-performance GPU is equipped with the award-winning iCHILL X3 cooler, providing a great balance of both performance and cooling. For those with smaller form factor builds, the INNO3D X3 OC and TWIN X2/OC dual slot, now with White Edition design are the perfect solutions. Not only does this next-generation graphics card deliver superior performance, but it's also aesthetically pleasing with its modern design. Experience lag-free gaming and smooth visuals with the INNO3D GeForce RTX 4070.

The GeForce RTX 4070 GPU includes all the advancements of the NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture, including the new standards in gaming such as DLSS 3 neural rendering and real-time ray tracing technologies. Starting at $599, the GeForce RTX 4070 runs most modern games at over 100 frames per second at 1440p resolution.

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COLORFUL Introduces GeForce RTX 4070 Series Graphics Card Lineup

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 09:25 Discuss (0 Comments)

Colorful Technology Company Limited, a professional manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards, all-in-one gaming and multimedia solutions, and high-performance storage, introduces its lineup NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics cards. Available in a Vulcan, Neptune, Advanced, Ultra White, and Battle-Ax models, the COLORFUL GeForce RTX 4070 Series delivers next-generation performance powered by the Ada Lovelace architecture.

The GeForce RTX 4070 GPU includes all the advancements of the NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture, including the new standards in gaming such as DLSS 3 neural rendering and real-time ray tracing technologies. Starting at $599, the GeForce RTX 4070 runs most modern games at over 100 frames per second at 1440p resolution.

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Palit Announces GeForce RTX 4070 GamingPro, JetStream, and Dual Series

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 09:15 Discuss (0 Comments)

As the leading graphics card manufacturer, Palit Microsystems Ltd. is proud to announce the GeForce RTX 4070 Series. The GeForce RTX 4070 GPU includes all the advancements of the NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture, including the new standards in gaming such as DLSS 3 neural rendering and real-time ray tracing technologies. Starting at $599, the GeForce RTX 4070 runs most modern games at over 100 frames per second at 1440p resolution.

From the triple-fan GamingPro in industrial design with ARGB, the performance-focused JetStream in black finish, to the classic Dual-fan model, Palit offers diverse lineups to meet the need of different consumers.

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GIGABYTE Launches the GeForce RTX 4070 Series Graphics Cards

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 09:12 Discuss (1 Comment)

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of premium gaming hardware, today launched the GeForce RTX 4070 series graphics cards powered by NVIDIA ADA Lovelace architecture. With GIGABYTE WINDFORCE thermal solutions, GIGABYTE provides five models of graphics card for GeForce RTX 4070 to meet the different needs of various gamers - AORUS GeForce RTX 4070 MASTER 12G, GeForce RTX 4070 AERO OC 12G, GeForce RTX 4070 GAMING OC 12G, GeForce RTX 4070 EAGLE OC 12G and GeForce RTX 4070 WINDFORCE OC 12G graphics cards. Each model of graphic cards is perfectly tuned with powerful performance and excellent heat dissipation, all to provide gamers with more diverse choices for their usage requirement and scenarios.

The GeForce RTX 4070 GPU includes all the advancements of the NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture, including the new standards in gaming such as DLSS 3 neural rendering and real-time ray tracing technologies. Starting at $599, the GeForce RTX 4070 runs most modern games at over 100 frames per second at 1440p resolution.

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Sherlock Holmes The Awakened Remake Out Now

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 12th, 2023 09:10 Discuss (0 Comments)

Detectives, we have arrived! After much anticipation, Sherlock Holmes The Awakened has been released! Enjoy the Lovecraftian madness. We made this game during one heck of a time. We made it while our country is at war. We faced challenges such as constant power outages, irregular work schedules, air raids, evacuations, losing our homes, saying goodbyes to our loved ones (through immigration, or worse), and losing team members so that they could defend our country.

We worked from our homes, our office, and from underground bunkers or train stations. It was an enduring and unending nightmare. But with all this chaos around, working on The Awakened helped us maintain a little sense of normalcy. We truly gave it all - sweat, emotions, and spirit to the development of this game.

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MSI Announces its GeForce RTX 4070 Series

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 09:09 Discuss (0 Comments)

As a leading brand in True Gaming hardware, MSI is proud to announce the new line of graphics cards powered by the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics processor. A line of iconic GAMING TRIO and VENTUS series keep with the latest in graphics technology, advanced circuit board, and cutting-edge cooling design. These cards are crafted to deliver optimal performance and better efficiency while keeping low temperatures and staying virtually silent.

The GeForce RTX 4070 GPU includes all the advancements of the NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture, including the new standards in gaming such as DLSS 3 neural rendering and real-time ray tracing technologies. Starting at $599, the GeForce RTX 4070 runs most modern games at over 100 frames per second at 1440p resolution.

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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Launched Bringing Ada to the $600 Price-point

by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 09:00 Discuss (0 Comments)

NVIDIA today announced the GeForce RTX 4070 "Ada" graphics card, with a starting price of USD $600, with availability slated for tomorrow, April 13. The GeForce RTX 4070 is a performance-segment graphics card based on the same "AD104" silicon as the RTX 4070 Ti, but heavily cut down—it features 5,888 CUDA cores, 46 RT cores, 184 Tensor cores, 64 ROPs, and 184 TMUs. The memory subsystem is unchanged from the RTX 4070 Ti, with 12 GB of 21 Gbps GDDR6X memory across a 192-bit memory interface.

The GeForce RTX 4070 targets maxed-out AAA gaming at 1440p, and high refresh-rate e-sports gaming. You get all of the features introduced with "Ada," including dual video encoding hardware accelerators, Optical Flow Accelerator, and DLSS 3 Frame Generation. The card has a typical board power of 200 W, and the company allowed board partners to use 8-pin PCIe power connectors instead of 16-pin 12VHPWR.

Our launch day review coverage of the RTX 4070 (as on April 12) includes: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Founders Edition | PNY GeForce RTX 4070 | MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 3X | ASUS GeForce RTX 4070 DUAL | Gainward GeForce RTX 4070 Ghost

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The Last of Us Part 1 Patch v1.0.2.1 Gets Released

by

GFreeman

Apr 12th, 2023 08:40 Discuss (3 Comments)

Naughty Dog has released yet another patch for the PC version of The Last of Us Part 1, fixing the so-called mouse camera stuttering. Unfortunately, it does not fix anything else as just four days ago, Naughty Dog released a big patch fixing over 40 bugs.

Naughty Dog is still looking into some other issues like shader loading, various performance and stability issues, potential memory leak issues, and issues with corrupted textures, so this will not be the last patch for the game.

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Samsung Announces Improved Speeds for PRO Plus Memory Card Line-Up

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 12th, 2023 08:39 Discuss (2 Comments)

Samsung Electronics America, the leader in advanced memory technology, today unveiled upgrades to its PRO Plus memory cards, designed for professional and enthusiast photographers, videographers, and content creators. The Samsung PRO Plus microSD and full-size SD cards boast increased read and write speeds of up to 180 MB/s and 130 MB/s, a 12 percent and 8 percent increase, respectively, over their predecessors.

Optimized for professional use, the new PRO Plus microSD and SD cards allow users to seamlessly capture 4K ultra-high definition (UHD) and Full HD (FHD) videos and photos. The cards also support a video speed class rating of V30, enabling professionals to quickly move large video files while editing. Available in capacities up to 512 GB, Samsung memory cards provide ample storage for up to 207,159 4K UHD photos or 30 hours of 4K UHD video.[1] Professionals need memory cards that make it easy to save and retrieve data, while also safeguarding their valuable images and video files. With the additional Samsung Card Reader supporting USB 3.0 and providing backward compatibility with USB 2.0, consumers can use Samsung memory cards on any device with a USB port.

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QuakeCon To Make On Location Comeback in 2023

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 12th, 2023 08:30 Discuss (1 Comment)

QuakeCon 2023 Returns to its Roots, Reuniting Fans with a Modern Upgrade to the Classic BYOC - It's official! After three years of digital-only events, QuakeCon 2023 will mark the return of the beloved BYOC, in-person at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas from Thursday, August 10 through Sunday, August 13.

"QuakeCon is our favorite event of the year, and we can't wait to finally see our incredible QuakeCon community in-person again, celebrate games, and frag all weekend with thousands of friends." said Marty Stratton, Studio Head, id Software. "For our first year back, QuakeCon 2023 is focusing on the fan favorite BYOC and the players that made QuakeCon the best gaming gathering for more than 25 years."

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Intel Meteor Lake Could Bring Back L4 Caches

by

AleksandarK

Apr 12th, 2023 07:54 Discuss (9 Comments)

In the latest Linux Kernel patches, Intel engineers are submitting initial support for Meteor Lake processor generation, with some interesting potential features. In a patch submitted yesterday, the Intel engineer noted, "On MTL, GT can no longer allocate on LLC - only the CPU can. This, along with the addition of support for ADM/L4 cache, calls a MOCS/PAT table update." What this translates to is that starting from Meteor Lake, the integrated graphics can no longer allocate on the last-level cache (LLC), the highest numbered cache accessed by the cores before fetching from memory. Instead, only the CPU cores can allocate to it. Even more interesting is the mention of the Meteor Lake platform's level 4 (L4) cache. For the first time since Haswell and Broadwell, Intel may be planning to bring back the L4 cache and integrate it into the CPU.

Usually, modern processors use L1, L2, and L3 caches where the L1 version is the fastest and smallest, while the others are larger but slower. The inclusion of L4 caches often is unnecessary, as this type of cache can consume a big area on the processor die while bringing little benefit, translating to the cost of manufacturing drastically soaring. However, with Meteor Lake and its multi-die tile design, we wonder where the L4 cache will end up. We could see integration into the base tile, which holds the compute cores and essential compute elements. This makes the most sense since the logic needs access to fast memory, and L4 could improve the performance in specific applications.

MINISFORUM Unveils the NPB7 Mini PC Powered by 13th Gen Core and Enhanced Connectivity

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 12th, 2023 05:47 Discuss (1 Comment)

MINISFORUM has unveiled its latest addition to the Venus series - the NPB7. Boasting a sleek design reminiscent of the NAB6, the NPB7 sets itself apart with upgraded processors and enhanced peripheral interfaces. Powered by an Intel Core i7-13700H processor with 14 cores, 20 threads, 24M Cache, and a Max. Boost Clock of up to 5.00 GHz, the NPB7 is equipped for demanding professional tasks such as video editing and graphic design. The i7-13700H processor intelligently distributes multi-threaded tasks across multiple cores to ensure stable performance.

Unlike previous models with DDR5-4800 frequency, the new NPB7 supports up to DDR5-5200 frequency with maximum support of up to 64 GB. The NPB7 has maintained one M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 SSD and one 2.5-inch SATA HDD slot to meet users' basic storage needs. In addition, the NPB7 comes with two Gigabit Ethernet ports that can achieve network aggregation to boost network performance. For wireless connectivity, it supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, which are now standard features for newly released models.

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Dead Island 2 Gets Official PC System Requirements

by

GFreeman

Apr 12th, 2023 05:16 Discuss (11 Comments)

Deep Silver has revealed the official PC system requirements for the upcoming Dead Island 2 game. The technical FAQs posted over at the official page also reveal a bit more technical details details. As expected, Dead Island 2 will only support DirectX 12 and, surprisingly, it will only have support for AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR 2) as well as AMD FidelityFX Contrast Adaptive Sharpening (CAS), but there is no DLSS support, at least not at launch. The game will not support cross-play, but will have a co-op story mode for up to 3 players. It is also cross-gen, and more details will be available soon.

When it comes to PC system requirements, Dead Island 2 revealed minimum, recommended, high, and ultra system requirements. The minimum includes AMD FX-9590, or Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, 10 GB of RAM, and either an AMD Radeon RX 480 or an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060. In order to run everything at ultra settings with 4K/UHD resolution at 60 FPS, you'll need an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X or an Intel Core i7-13700K CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and last-gen high-end graphics cards, the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090. You'll also need 70 GB of storage space to install the game. Dead Island 2 is coming to Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and the PC on April 21st.

AMD Plays the VRAM Card Against NVIDIA

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 12th, 2023 04:58 Discuss (218 Comments)

In a blog post, AMD has pulled the VRAM card against NVIDIA, telling potential graphics card buyers that they should consider AMD over NVIDIA, because current and future games will require more VRAM, especially at higher resolution. There's no secret that there has been something of a consensus from at least some of the PC gaming crowd that NVIDIA is being too stingy when it comes to VRAM on its graphics cards and AMD is clearly trying to cash in on that sentiment with its latest blog post. AMD is showing the VRAM usage in games such as Resident Evil 4—with and without ray tracing at that—The Last of US Part I and Hogwarts Legacy, all games that use over 11 GB of VRAM or more.

AMD does have a point here, but as the company has as yet to launch anything below the Radeon RX 7900 XT in the 7000-series, AMD is mostly comparing its 6000-series of cards with NVIDIA's 3000-series of cards, most of which are getting hard to purchase and potentially less interesting for those looking to upgrade their system. That said, AMD also compares its two 7000-series cards to the NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti and the RTX 4080, claiming up to a 27 percent lead over NVIDIA in performance. Based on TPU's own tests of some of these games, albeit most likely using different test scenarios, the figures provided by AMD don't seem to reflect real world performance. It's also surprising to see AMD claims its RX 7900 XTX beats NVIDIA's RTX 4080 in ray tracing performance in Resident Evil 4 by 23 percent, where our own tests shows NVIDIA in front by a small margin. Make what you want of this, but one thing is fairly certain and that is that future games will require more VRAM, but most likely the need for a powerful GPU isn't going to go away.

Raspberry Pi Receives Strategic Investment from Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 12th, 2023 04:10 Discuss (6 Comments)

Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation ("SSS") and Raspberry Pi Ltd. ("RPL") today announced the agreement by SSS to make a strategic investment in RPL. The minority investment cements the relationship between the two companies, to provide a development platform for SSS's edge AI devices to the worldwide community of Raspberry Pi users.

"Our goal is to provide new value to a variety of industries and support them in solving issues using our innovative edge AI sensing technology built around image sensors," said Terushi Shimizu, President and CEO of Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation. "We are very pleased to be partnering with Raspberry Pi Ltd. to bring our AITRIOS platform -- which supports the development of unique and diverse solutions utilizing our edge AI devices -- to the Raspberry Pi user and developer community, and provide a unique development experience."

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Microsoft Windows 11 Print Screen Key Will Redirect to Snapping Tool

by

AleksandarK

Apr 12th, 2023 01:27 Discuss (41 Comments)

In the Windows operating system, the Print Screen keyboard command has been resulting in taking a screenshot for more than two decades. However, Microsoft will change the interaction by creating a screenshot in Windows 11 OS. Currently, when you press the Print Screen key, the entire window is captured, and your image gets saved, pasted to the clipboard and, if you have it enabled, the OneDrive folder too. In the latest Windows Insiders Beta Channel, the Windows 11 KB5025310 version is rolling out and changing the screenshot game. Instead of regular shots, pressing the Print Screen key now toggles the Snapping Tool, previously only used when Windows Key, Shift Key, and S key were pressed.

Microsoft is making it seem that the Snapping Tool now becomes the default screenshot tool, which is much more feature-rich compared to the traditional way of taking a screenshot. Of course, making a quick screenshot will still be favored by many. So, Microsoft has left an option to revert the future default setting by going into Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard, where you toggle off the button that says: "Use the Print Screen key to open Snipping Tool."

Today's Reviews

Cooling

• Gamdias Aeolus M3-1204R Fans APH Networks

Desktop PC

• ECS LIVA One H610 Barebones Mini-PC (Core i3-12100) TechPowerUp

Graphics Cards

• KFA2 RTX 4070 Ti SG HardwareInside.de (de)

Monitors

• Acer Predator X32 Tom's Hardware

Motherboards

• ASRock B650E PG Riptide WiFi PCinq

Mouse

• Endgame Gear XM2we TechPowerUp

Notebooks

• Razer Blade 16 Tom's Hardware

PSUs

• FSP Hydro Ti 1000W Hardware Busters

SSD

• Lexar Professional NM800 2TB Tom's Hardware

ECS LIVA One H610 Barebones Mini-PC (Core i3-12100) Review

Review Other

The ECS LIVA One H610 is a barebones Mini-PC that takes performance seriously by squeezing an LGA1700 desktop processor into its tiny frame. Thanks to a large copper heatsink along with support for 35-watt and 65-watt Intel 12th and 13th gen processors it's possible for the LIVA One H610 to punch far above its weight class.

Read Review

Endgame Gear XM2we Review

Review Mice

With the XM2we, Endgame Gear finally enables wireless on their ambidextrous XM1r. Equipped with PixArt's PAW3370 sensor, Kailh GO optical main button switches, and pure PTFE feet, the XM2we weighs no more than 61 g, and is said to have a battery life of around 70 hours.

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NVIDIA Shares Cyberpunk 2077 RT: Overdrive Mode Performance Numbers

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 11th, 2023 17:45 Discuss (42 Comments)

CD PROJEKT RED's Cyberpunk 2077 is already one of the most technologically advanced games available, using several ray tracing techniques to render its neon-illuminated environments and vast Night City visuals at incredible levels of detail. Now, a new Cyberpunk 2077 update has hit the streets, featuring the technology preview of the Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode, which enhances the game's already-amazing visuals with full ray tracing, otherwise known as path tracing.

Full ray tracing accurately simulates light throughout an entire scene. It is used by visual effects artists to create film and TV graphics that are indistinguishable from reality, but until the arrival of GeForce RTX GPUs with RT Cores, and the AI-powered acceleration of NVIDIA DLSS, real-time video game full ray tracing was impossible because it's extremely GPU intensive. Previous techniques separately addressed ray-traced shadows, reflections and global illumination for a small number of light sources. Full ray tracing models the properties of light from a virtually unlimited number of emissive sources, delivering physically correct shadows, reflections and global illumination on all objects. The technology preview for Cyberpunk 2077's Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode is a sneak peek into the future of full ray tracing, and we are working with CD PROJEKT RED on further full ray tracing enhancements, bug fixes, and performance optimizations.

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More Games Get NVIDIA DLSS Support This Week

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 11th, 2023 17:31 Discuss (11 Comments)

Each week we're bringing you the latest news on games launching with NVIDIA DLSS and advanced ray tracing. Last week, Sackboy: A Big Adventure multiplied performance with DLSS 3; this week we're celebrating the launch of the technology preview of Cyberpunk 2077's Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode. Additionally, High On Life and Like a Dragon: Ishin! have recently added DLSS 2 support, and there are even more games on the horizon with support for RTX technologies, so keep reading for all the details.

In 2018, we began a gaming revolution with the launch of 1st generation GeForce RTX graphics cards. Since the release of the very first games decades ago, lighting had been faked, and various hacks employed to approximate shadows, reflections, and other real-world properties. GeForce RTX made real-time ray tracing a reality, enabling developers to realistically render reflections and lighting, making their games more immersive and enjoyable. And with DLSS 1.0, we invented a game-changing way for players to accelerate frame rates. Back in 2018 there were 4 RTX games, 37% of GeForce RTX gamers enabled ray tracing, and 26% activated DLSS 1.0.

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Sabrent Introduces the USB Type-C CFast 2.0 Card Reader

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 11th, 2023 14:59 Discuss (6 Comments)

Sabrent expands its card reader range to include the new USB Type C CFast 2.0 Card Reader (CR-CF20). The Sabrent USB Type-C CFast 2.0 Card Reader (CR-CF20) makes transferring data from your CFast 2.0 memory cards quick and simple. It's now easier than ever to capture, edit, and back up your HD photos and videos. Transfer your content over a 5 Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 1) connection via USB-C at up to 460MBps. BOT and UASP modes are supported for compatibility and performance, so you can plug into various devices without worry. It works with memory cards that are compatible with a series of cameras, including the Canon EOS C500, C300 Mark II, EOS C700, the still Canon EOS 1-D X Mark II and Hasselblad H6D-100C, and more.

The integrated 15 cm (6") USB Type-C (USB-C) cable makes it easy to connect to Windows, macOS, and other devices. The card reader is plug-and-play, bus-powered, and USB backward compatible, keeping things convenient and simple. An LED indicator illuminates when you're ready to go. This device is portable but rugged, constructed with high-quality aluminium, with a professional-looking finish. This material also helps remove heat from your memory cards so they stay fast and cool. Get maximum performance and protection with quality Sabrent hardware.

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Arm-based PCs to Nearly Double Market Share by 2027, Says Report

Press Release by

AleksandarK

Apr 11th, 2023 14:42 Discuss (12 Comments)

Personal computers (PCs) based on Arm architecture will grow in popularity and their market share will almost double from 14% now to 25% by 2027, according to Counterpoint Research's latest projections. The ability of Arm-based hardware to run Mac OS has allowed Apple to capture 90% of the Arm-based notebook computer market. However, the full support of Windows and Office365 and the speed of native Arm-based app adoption are also critical factors in determining the Arm SoC penetration rate in PCs. Once these factors are addressed, Arm-based PCs will become a viable option for both daily users and businesses.

As more existing PC OEMs/ODMs and smartphone manufacturers enter the market, they will bring their expertise in Arm-based hardware and software, which will further boost the popularity of Arm-based PCs. The availability of more native Arm-based apps will also increase user comfort and familiarity with the platform. Overall, the trend towards Arm-based PCs is expected to continue and their market share will likely increase significantly in the coming years.

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Xbox Design Lab Expands Elite Series 2 Controller Color Options

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 11th, 2023 14:25 Discuss (4 Comments)

Who doesn't love more? Introducing the newest expansion to Xbox Elite Series 2 with Xbox Design Lab! There is an innate joy that comes with making something truly yours. Since fulfilling the top fan request last October by adding Xbox Elite Series 2 to Xbox Design Lab, we've been working hard to take things up a notch. We're thrilled to announce that a new range of colors are now available, giving you even more ways to make Xbox Elite Series 2 controllers your own.

You will now have the choice of 16 main colors for your top and back case, 12 colors for the ABXY buttons, 17 different accent colors for the paddles and D-pad, and 25 accent colors for the rest of the controller. With vibrant hues like Garnet Red, Glacier Blue, and Deep Pink, to a stealthier option like the new black-out ABXY buttons, there are literally billions of possibilities for personalizing our most advanced controller. Xbox Elite Series 2 with Xbox Design Lab includes customization options that are unique to the controller; options like adjusting the color of the thumbstick rings and base for a subtle pop of color, or metallic triggers and D-Pads that give the controller a premium feel.

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Alibaba Developing an Equivalent to ChatGPT

by

T0@st

Apr 11th, 2023 14:01 Discuss (8 Comments)

Last Tuesday, Alibaba announced its intentions to put out its own artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot product called Tongyi Qianwen - another rival to take on OpenAI's pioneering ChatGPT natural language processing tool. The Chinese technology giant is hoping to retrofit the new chatbot system into several arms of its business operations. Alibaba had revealed initial plans for chatbot integration earlier this year, and mentioned that it was providing an alternative to the already well established ChatGPT tool. Alibaba's workplace messaging application - DingTalk - is slated to receive the first AI-powered update in the near future, although the company did not provide a firm timeline for Tongyi Qianwen's release window.

The product name "Tongyi Qianwen" loosely translates to "seeking an answer by asking a thousand questions" - Alibaba did not provide an official English language translation at last week's press conference. Their chatbot is reported to function in both Mandarin and English language modes. Advanced AI voice recognition is set for usage in the Tmall Genie range of smart speakers (similar in function to the Amazon Echo). Alibaba expects to expand Tongyi Qianwen's reach into applications relating to e-commerce and mapping services.

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Half-Life: Alyx Mod Enables Full Campaign Experience Sans VR

by

T0@st

Apr 11th, 2023 13:02 Discuss (32 Comments)

Gaming communities have been engaged in discussions about Half-Life: Alyx being partly playable without a VR headset for the past month or two. The team behind the NoVR modification project has, as of late week, announced that the game's story experience - from start to finish - is totally VR free. This news should satisfy many excited fans who have been anticipating Half-Life: Alyx's campaign being displayed on the small/medium screen. Previous entries in the long running Half Life series have always been two-dimensional traditional monitor affairs.

The GB_2 Development Team cheerfully introduces its latest iteration of NoVR: "This is our biggest update yet and we have no plans on slowing down! With thousands playing Half-Life: Alyx NoVR we are happy to announce our largest update yet! As the titles state the entire game can now be played from start to finish, with the Gravity Gloves fully implemented along with combine fabricators providing weapon upgrades. Also since we are now updating the final parts of the game there may be spoilers! We will do our best to not spoil anything while ensuring we communicate these late game areas have been updated along with their gameplay mechanics."

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Intel Discontinues Brand New Max 1350 Data Center GPU, Successor Targets Alternative Markets

by

T0@st

Apr 11th, 2023 12:08 Discuss (9 Comments)

Intel has decided to re-organize its Max series of Data Center GPUs (codenamed Ponte Vecchio), as revealed to Tom's Hardware this week, with a particular model - the Data Center Max GPU 1350 set for removal from the lineup. Industry experts are puzzled by this decision, given that the 1350 has been officially "available" on the market since January 2023, following soon after the announcement of the entire Max range in November 2022. Intel has removed listings and entries for the Data Center GPU Max 1350 from its various web presences.

A (sort of) successor is in the works, Intel has lined up the Data Center Max GPU 1450 for release later in the year. This model will have a trimmed I/O bandwidth - this modification is likely targeting companies in China, where performance standards are capped at a certain level (via U.S. sanctions on GPU exports). An Intel spokesperson provided further details and reasons for rearranging the Max product range: "We launched the Intel Data Center Max GPU 1550 (600 W), which was initially targeted for liquid-cooled solutions only. We have since expanded our support by offering Intel Data Center Max GPU 1550 (600 W) to include air-cooled solutions."

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Syntech Launches 6-in-1 USB-C Docking Station for Steam Deck with 4K@60Hz Output

Press Release by

AleksandarK

Apr 11th, 2023 11:43 Discuss (2 Comments)

Syntech, an innovative manufacturer of quality and affordable electronic accessories and consumer technology products, has today announced the launch of its new 6-in-1 USB-C Docking Station for Steam Deck. Providing users with 6 different ports to meet most needs, and the ability to output to a 4K monitor or TV at 60Hz, it is a handy and ergonomically designed gadget to complement a Steam Deck gaming setup. The Syntech 6-in-1 Docking Station for Steam Deck is available for £39.99/$39.99 on Amazon UK and Amazon US.

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Razer Basilisk V3 X HyperSpeed Gaming Mouse Available Now

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 11th, 2023 10:46 Discuss (16 Comments)

Armed with 9 programmable controls, dual-mode wireless connectivity, and customizable Razer Chroma RGB. Featuring numerous easy-access buttons and an added multi-function trigger, enjoy an endless combination of commands and macros right at your fingertips. Enjoy reliable responsiveness with an advanced 18K optical sensor and gold-plated contact points for a longer lifespan. Experience the new Basilisk V3 X HyperSpeed that has an iconic ergonomic form, suitable for multiple grip types and built with 9 programmable buttons. Enhance your gaming world with customizable RGB lighting and dual-mode connectivity.

ADVANCED CUSTOMIZABILITY. UNLEASHED - with the Razer Basilisk V3 X HyperSpeed, there are no limits on how you choose to play. Armed with 9 programmable controls, dual-mode wireless connectivity, and customizable Razer Chroma RGB, it is made to answer to only one master-you.

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Nitro Concepts Rolls Out its Debut Special Edition Gaming Chair, Transformers Themed X1000

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 11th, 2023 10:12 Discuss (5 Comments)

Nitro Concepts' first-ever line of Special Edition gaming chairs is here and they're more than meets the eye! Inspired by the heroic Autobots, villainous Decepticons, and the legendary Optimus Prime himself, these gaming chairs really have got the touch. Innovative Design with Intense Colors! The Nitro Concepts X1000 sets itself apart from its competitors through its vibrant colors and ergonomic design.

Featuring high quality PU leather ensures that whether the X1000 is used for work or play, the user will remain comfortable over hours of use. To make the X1000 even more comfortable, there are many options to adjust it to your preference. While the cold foam upholstery ensures the X1000 is comfortable even on hot summer days, the design features a fresh and angular shape, combining for a chair fit for any situation.

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Cougar Releases the Cratus High-End Case in the North American Market

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 11th, 2023 09:17 Discuss (17 Comments)

COUGAR introduces the Cratus—a stunning, iconic mid-tower PC chassis where epic moments begin and legends are built. The Cratus's precision-tooled steel tube frame provides incredible strength and stability, challenging perceptions of a minimal bezel and exoskeleton. And with its four tempered glass panels (contoured for both aesthetic presentation and structural integrity), rig enthusiasts can turn the ample space within into a dioramic exhibit for their modding skills and creativity, or simply show off their build.

In an industry-first revolutionary innovation, COUGAR has applied the principles of heat convection to engineer optimal thermal performance: an angled interior layout directs a cyclical current of hot air rising and cool air falling to deliver maximum airflow. Plus, extensive support for a myriad of cooling solutions ensures that high-performance components are always protected from overheating.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Patch v1.62 With RT: Overdrive is Now Live

by

GFreeman

Apr 11th, 2023 08:28 Discuss (25 Comments)

CD Projekt Red has now officially released the long-awaited patch for Cyberpunk 2077, bringing RT: Overdrive mode with Path Tracing technology preview, and other improvements. The new patch adds a Ray Tracing Overdrive and Path Tracing presets, which have to be manually enabled. Of course, the Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode is only supported on the NVIDIA RTX 40 series graphics cards, and it will work on the RTX 3090 graphics card, although it is only limited to 1080p resolution.

The new patch also adds an option to enable Path Tracing for Photo Mode, and adds support for NVIDIA DLAA, which is NVIDIA's AI-based anti-aliasing mode meant to improve image quality. To not make it all about NVIDIA, CD Projekt Red also added support for Intel XeSS 1.1, and some minor benchmark improvements. Unfortunately, and surprisingly, the new patch does not bring any expected gameplay improvements, which will probably come at a later date in a separate patch.

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ViewSonic Introduces OMNI VX28 Series Monitors for the Casual Gamer

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 11th, 2023 08:10 Discuss (3 Comments)

ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solutions, introduces the ViewSonic OMNI VX28 series of monitors, designed to deliver deluxe features and functionality for the casual gamer. Packed with features for general gaming enthusiasts, the OMNI VX28 series of monitors are very budget friendly. Available in 24- and 27-inch sizes, the ViewSonic VX2428, VX2728J, and VX2728J-2K monitors offer great performance, from response time to refresh rates, for gaming fans.

The ViewSonic OMNI VX2428, VX2728J, and VX2728J-2K monitors feature an ultra-fast 0.5 ms response time (MPRT) for super smooth images that minimize motion blur and ghosting. A 165 Hz refresh rate ensures great visual fluidity while AMD FreeSync Premium provides a smooth experience and improved input. All three monitors come with flexible connectivity options including HDMI, DisplayPort 1.4, and audio-out.

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AMD Radeon Pro W7900 Workstation Graphics Card Spotted

by

GFreeman

Apr 11th, 2023 08:07 Discuss (29 Comments)

According to the latest leak, it appears that AMD will soon launch its Navi 31-based Pro W7900 workstation graphics card. Currently, AMD's workstation graphics card lineup is limited to RDNA 2-based Radeon Pro W6000 series, with Radeon Pro W6800 as the flagship. AMD also has the Radeon Pro W6900X, but this was limited to Apple's systems. Now, it appears that AMD is preparing to launch RDNA 3-based Radeon Pro W7000 series, as the Radeon Pro W7900 was spotted in PugetBench database.

The Radeon Pro W7900 managed to score 135.3 in GPU score, putting it in line with the Radeon Pro W6900X in the same benchmark, which scored around 138. Of course, bear in mind that one was running on Mac Pro, while other was running on Windows 11 OS, so we'll wait to see the official specifications and reviews to get some better idea regarding the actual performance.

PowerColor Announces Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 XTX Spectral White

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 11th, 2023 05:05 Discuss (7 Comments)

TUL Corporation, an innovative manufacturer of AMD graphics cards since 1997, has released the latest addition to its HELLHOUND series - the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX SPECTRAL WHITE graphics card. Designed with a stunning all-white color scheme, the HELLHOUND SPECTRAL WHITE is perfect for gamers looking to build an all-white themed PC.it's now also available in a beautiful all white color, perfect for users looking to build a truly all-white themed PC.

Built for battles in the snow, the HELLHOUND SPECTRAL WHITE boasts a white PCB, white backplate with Ice Blue and Glacier White LED color, white I/O plate, illuminated fans, and a stunning white shroud. Despite the new design, it retains the same DNA and performance as the original HELLHOUND series, ensuring no compromises on gaming experience.

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Endorfy Announces NAVIS F240 ARGB and NAVIS F360 ARGB AIO Liquid CPU Coolers

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 11th, 2023 05:04 Discuss (0 Comments)

ENDORFY, the European manufacturer of CPU coolers, power supplies, PC cases and lifestyle products, has announced the release of its latest addition to the liquid cooling system line-up - the Navis F240 ARGB and NAVIS F360 ARGB. The new models combine features like the ultra-silent PWM-controlled ceramic-bearing block-pump and a high-quality radiator with new ARGB-illumination. The ARGB-backlight is embedded in the cooler-block and goes exceptionally well with the pre-installed and very silent Fluctus 120 PWM ARGB fans.

Designed to cater to the needs of the most demanding users, the NAVIS F240 ARGB and NAVIS F360 ARGB series offer exceptional cooling efficiency and an improved acoustic experience. ENDOFY achieves this by utilizing the the award-winning Fluctus 120 PWM fans, which are now equipped with impressive ARGB illumination and can be controlled using PWM-signal in the extended range of 250 to 1.800 RPM.

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MOONDROP Releases Blessing 3 IEMs and LittleWhite Bluetooth DSP Neckband

by

VSG

Apr 11th, 2023 02:32 Discuss (8 Comments)

MOONDROP's Blessing2 (and Blessing2:Dusk) IEMs get credited for being a benchmark in the world of in-ear monitors at the $300 price point, having re-defined expectations and besting far more expensive products when it comes to technical and tuning performances. A successor has been hotly anticipated thus and now we have the all-new Blessing 3 coming in at the same $320 price point. It uses a 2 DD/4 BA hybrid driver configuration paired with a see-through resin shell that has greatly improved comfort owing to a smaller shell and nozzle—thus addressing the biggest issue with the Blessing2—and a polished stainless steel nozzle on top. The Blessing 3 uses MOONDROP's VDSF tuning to put forth a neutral/bright tuning that we'll examine in more detail in an upcoming review, but those who can't wait can purchase the product from retailers such as HiFiGo right now.

Releasing alongside is a Bluetooth neckband accessory called LittleWhite. It uses a Cirrus Logic CS4131 DAC and has digital signal processing support integrated with a first-party app to allow for specific MOONDROP wired IEMs to have EQ profiles generated so they all get tuned similarly to hit the desired target easier. This can help significantly as seen in our recent coverage of the MOONDROP Quarks DSP, and MOONDROP promises high quality Bluetooth audio with a long battery life (~12 hours). The LittleWhite supports Bluetooth 5.2 with codecs including aptX and LHDC courtesy the Qualcomm QCC5144 SoC, has integrated microphones for calls, and the app provides parametric EQ support for other IEMs you wish to use wirelessly too. It sells for $89.99 from retailers including HiFiGo for those interested.

Intel "Raptor Lake Refresh" to Retain 13th Gen Core Branding

by

btarunr

Apr 11th, 2023 00:57 Discuss (31 Comments)

Intel is planning to update its desktop processor product-stack in the second half of 2023 with the Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" series. A VideoCardz report suggests that these chips could remain a part of the 13th Gen Core series, and Intel will not carve the 14th Gen Core out of them. This would be similar to how Intel dealt with delays in the commissioning of its 14 nm node by releasing the "Haswell Refresh" and "Devil's Canyon" processors within the 4th Gen Core family. Intel tried something different with "Coffee Lake Refresh," by branding it inside the 9th Gen Core series, instead of keeping it within the 8th Gen Core. This was done because Intel updated the CPU core-counts of its Core i7 SKUs, and introduced the new Core i9 brand extension for the mainstream-desktop segment.

If 4th Gen Core "Haswell Refresh" is anything to go by, Intel could use updated xx50 processor model numbers for "Raptor Lake Refresh" processors. An example of such a naming scheme would be the Core i9-13950K, which succeeds the i9-13900K (the i9-13900KS is a limited edition / limited-release SKU). At this point we don't know what exactly constitutes this Refresh, other than the high likelihood of clock-speed increases across the board. It's possible that Intel may innovate in the areas of die-thinning, die-binning, and process-level power improvements that open up room for these higher clock-speeds (which is what Intel did with 10th Gen "Comet Lake"). These processors could be built in the existing Socket LGA1700 package, and be compatible with existing Intel 600-series and 700-series chipset motherboards, requiring a UEFI firmware update.

ASRock Radeon RX 7900 XTX Phantom Gaming Drops to $960, First for a Custom Design

by

btarunr

Apr 11th, 2023 00:18 Discuss (10 Comments)

In what could be a sign of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX dropping to sub-$1,000 price points ahead of the crucial Spring-Summer PC gaming season, the ASRock RX 7900 XTX Phantom Gaming became the first custom-design card based on the top AMD RDNA3 GPU to drop to a three-figure price of $960, which is well below the $999 baseline price AMD set for this SKU. Board partner co-branded AMD reference-design RX 7900 XTX cards in the market are currently selling below the MSRP, and the ASRock Phantom Gaming joins them as the first custom-design card around the $950-mark, with a $959 listing on American PC hardware retailer Newegg. The RX 7900 XTX is AMD's flagship graphics card, and performs competitively with the GeForce RTX 4080 in the majority of gaming graphics workloads made up of raster 3D, but falls behind on real-time ray tracing, where it performs closer to the previous-generation RTX 3090 Ti.

Today's Reviews

Accessories

• Lian Li Striper Plus V2 Extension Cable for 12VHPWR LAN OC

Cases

• Abee SMART EM30 NikkTech

Cooling

• Lian Li Uni Fan AL120 V2 LAN OC

CPU Coolers

• Endorfy Navis F360 Guru3D

Harddisks

• Silicon Power Armor A85B 2TB Portable Madshrimps

Headphones

• Creative Chat USB itndaily (ru)
• FiiO FT3 Open-Back Dynamic Driver Headphones TechPowerUp

Memory

• Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-7000 CL34 2x 16 GB TechPowerUp
• Crucial DDR5-5600 32GB Kit Tweaktown

Processors

• AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D i2Hard (ru)

Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-7000 CL34 2x 16 GB Review

Review Memory

Corsair is back again with even faster memory! Designed to fit right into the Corsair ecosystem, this Vengeance RGB kit is equipped with a 7000 MT/s XMP profile and is ready to take full advantage of the new Intel Z790 motherboards.

Read Review

FiiO FT3 Open-Back Dynamic Driver Headphones Review

Review Headphones

FiiO enters the open-back, over-ear headphones market with the FT3. It uses novel 60 mm dynamic drivers with a Be-plated surround and a DLC diaphragm in a unique, all-aluminium chassis and is paired with a high-quality cable and two sets of ear pads for a refreshingly different warm-neutral sound without breaking the bank.

Read Review

FrozenCPU To Close Once Again

by

Fouquin

Apr 10th, 2023 23:37 Discuss (25 Comments)

FrozenCPU has announced that they will be closing their doors to shift focus to their ModRight brand. FrozenCPU was best known for their expansive selection of enthusiast water cooling gear, accessories, mod gear, and excellent customer service in the mid to late 2000s. They were an early example of a premium online storefront in North America that has had a lasting legacy on a niche market. On the announcement page for the closure they state that orders will be taken through April 30th, 2023 and that all in-stock items will be 50% off with the code "SAVENOW" to clear out their entire remaining inventory.

This is not the first time FrozenCPU has shuttered. Back in 2015 they closed with little warning after a dramatic series of events led to warehouse damages and all personnel being fired. Accounts went uncredited, vendors went unpaid, and shipments never left. The company returned after a few months with an entirely new team of staff and leadership, looking to clean the slate and pave a new road forward. Vendors were appeased, previous orders fulfilled, and for the last five years they've remained fairly untroubled.

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Solid State Drive (SSD) Market Size to Grow by CAGR 23.87% from 2022 to 2027: Technavio

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 10th, 2023 23:28 Discuss (2 Comments)

Technavio has been monitoring the solid-state drive (SSD) market, and it is expected to grow by USD 74,553.83 million from 2022 to 2027. The market will progress at a CAGR of 23.87% during the forecast period. This report aids business leaders with an up-to-date analysis that includes the study of the current market scenario, the latest trends and drivers that are likely to influence the market growth, and the overall market environment. The increasing emergence of 3D NAND is an emerging trend in the SSD market. The architecture of NAND flash devices is one-dimensional. Increasing the density allows more data to be stored, thus expanding the capacity of SSD.

Moreover, 3D NAND drives are gaining significant traction in IoT devices and autonomous vehicles. Hence, the development of storage devices has increased significantly. For instance, in July 2018, Toshiba Memory developed a prototype sample of the 96-layer BiCS FLASH, its proprietary 3D flash memory. Additionally, due to the high growth potential of the 3D NAND market, leading vendors are increasingly investing in the development of 3D NAND fab facilities. Download the Latest Sample Report here.

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MediaWorkstation Packs 192 Cores and 3TB DDR5 Into Their Updated a-X2P Luggable

by

Fouquin

Apr 10th, 2023 22:52 Discuss (11 Comments)

MediaWorkstation first announced the a-X2P mobile workstation back in 2020, turning heads with its impressive dual AMD EPYC "Rome" processors that packed in 128 "Zen 2" cores into a transportable package nearly small enough to take as carry-on luggage on a flight. The a-X2P chassis hosts an "EATX" server motherboard, seven full height expansion slots, five 5.25-inch bays, and a slot load optical drive within a 24-inch chassis that features an integrated LCD display and fold out mechanical keyboard. The a-X2P also supports connecting up to six total 24-inch displays, all mounted to the chassis and up to 4K resolution each, for a configuration which the company says is, "ideal for production, live broadcast, and monitoring." This incredible amount of expansion brings the weight of the a-X2P up to 55 lbs (~25 kg).

This most recent update to the a-X2P changes nothing about the exterior feature set, but instead brings the internals to the modern computing age with AMD's EPYC 9004 "Genoa" processors, with support for up to 3 TB of DDR5-4800 in a 12-channel configuration. MediaWorkstation does not specify which SKUs of EPYC they're employing, but the highest configuration of 192 total cores leaves little guesswork as AMD really only has the EPYC 9654(P) at the top of their lineup providing 96 cores at a whopping $11,805 each. An interesting note on the EPYC 9654 variants is that they officially support a cTDP down to 320 W, a bit off the advertised maximum allowed cTDP of 300 W in the a-X2P. MediaWorkstation also does not specify what kind of power supply they've sourced for this behemoth, but it's a safe bet that it'll be over 1.5 kW. Don't expect to power this monster with batteries for any usable amount of time.

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Gunfight Mode Makes an Explosive Return in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Season 03

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 10th, 2023 16:44 Discuss (7 Comments)

Grab a friend and prepare to battle against another Duo when Gunfight returns in Season 03 of Call of Duty : Modern Warfare II, launching on April 12. In this round-based match, players must use randomly assigned Loadouts to overcome the opposition and secure the round win. And with just one life per round, every move counts. Whether you need to brush up on the returning mode or this is your first 2v2 duel, read on for the rules of engagement and tips for achieving victory. The world of Call of Duty : Modern Warfare II is in chaos with a global power struggle playing out in plain sight.

Gunfight 101
In Gunfight, two teams of two compete in a round-based match. There are no respawns and no health regeneration, and all players are assigned the same randomized Loadout at the start of each round. The assigned Loadout changes every two rounds, and you never know what you're going to get; you may be trading shots from afar with Sniper Rifles one round, then rushing in with Shotguns the next. Each Loadout includes a lethal and tactical equipment.

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Intel 14th Gen Core Lineup Confirmed to be Meteor Lake CPU Range

by

T0@st

Apr 10th, 2023 12:24 Discuss (35 Comments)

The Meteor Lake codename has been linked to the fourteenth generation of Intel's Core lineup for a while, following several significant leaks in 2022 and 2023. According to newly unearthed internal documentation and benchmark data, Intel has confirmed that the Meteor Lake family of CPUs will form its upcoming 14th Gen Core lineup - with laptop variations expected to arrive mid-2023 and heavily speculated desktop units in the fourth quarter, although a middle of the year refresh of Raptor Lake could push the entire Meteor Lake range's release window into 2024.

Meteor Lake is anticipated to be Intel's debuting of a "disaggregated" design - the most advanced laptop CPU variant features a top-of-the-line 6P+8E core configuration. Intel is solely responsible for fabrication of an IOE (I/O) tile (the company's own term for a chiplet) with PCIe 5.0 plus Thunderbolt 4, as well as an SoC tile. The GPU part of the design is rumored to be based on their own Arc Alchemist architecture, and TSMC has been contracted to manufacture this graphics tile - not a big surprise since Intel has also placed substantial manufacturing orders for discrete Arc cards with the Taiwanese foundry.

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Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Hellhound White Edition GPU Incoming

by

T0@st

Apr 10th, 2023 11:14 Discuss (5 Comments)

Powercolor has teased an upcoming reveal, set to happen on April 11, for a White Hellhound Edition of what appears to be (hash-tagged) an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics card. A single image of the soon to be revealed model was uploaded to various Powercolor social media sites today. The Specral White colorway is likely applied to the PCB, backplate, fans, bracket and shroud. Powercolor has a consistent history of releasing all-white Hellhound edition cards - quite the rare aesthetic in this market segment.

The current black version of the Hellhound AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX was released last December. The upcoming Specral White iteration seems to share the same LED switching system and twin 8-pin PCIe power inputs - as seen in the teaser image. By and large the specification and feature sets are anticipated to be identical between each model.

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Chinese Loongson 3D5000 Features 32 Cores and is 4x Faster Than the Average Arm Chip

by

AleksandarK

Apr 10th, 2023 10:19 Discuss (18 Comments)

Amid the push for technology independence, Chinese companies are pushing out more products to satisfy the need for the rapidly soaring demand for domestic data processing silicon. Today, we have information that Chinese Loongson has launched a 3D5000 CPU with as many as 32 cores. Utilizing chiplet technology, the 3D5000 represents a combination of two 16-core 3C5000 processors based on LA464 cores, based on LoongArch ISA that follows the combination of RISC and MIPS ISA design principles. The new chip features 64 MB of L3 cache, supports eight-channel DDR4-3200 ECC memory achieving 50 GB/s, and has five HyperTransport (HT) 3.0 interfaces. The TDP configuration of the chip is officially 300 Watts; however, normal operation is usually at around 150 Watts, with LA464 cores running at 2 GHz.

Scaling of the new chip goes beyond the chiplet, and pours over into system, as 3D5000 supports 2P and 4P configurations, where a single motherboard can become a system of up to 128 cores. To connect them, Loongson uses a 7A2000 bridge chip that is reportedly 400% faster than the previous solution, although we have no information about the last chip bridge. Based on the LGA-4129 package, the chip size is 75.4x58.5×6.5 mm. Regarding performance, Loongson compares it to the average Arm chip that goes into smartphones and claims that its designs are up to four times faster. In SPEC2006, performance reaches 425 points, while maintaining a single TeraFLOP at dual-precision 64-bit format. On the other hand, the processor was built for security, as the chip has a custom hardware-baked security to prevent Spectre and Meltdown, has an on-package Trusted Platform Module (TPM), and has a secret China-made security algorithm with an embedded custom security module that does encryption and decryption at 5 Gbps.

EA Rejects Alice in Wonderland Threequel, Development on Asylum Ceases

by

T0@st

Apr 10th, 2023 10:18 Discuss (35 Comments)

American McGee has been busy (since 2017) with the pre-production phase of his proposed follow up to 2011's Alice: Madness Returns. The third game in the series was going to be called Alice: Asylum, but after recent interactions with Electronic Arts McGee has admitted that: "Alice had a good run but the dream is over." McGee and a team of collaborators (artists, writers, designers, modelers and producers) have contributed to a massive Alice: Asylum Design Bible, and it was hoped that after many years of negotiations with EA, that the large chunk of presentation material would provide enough motivation for the publisher to sign up for a push into full development. The Alice: Asylum Design Bible was financed via fan contributions, through the Patreon crowd funding platform.

The publisher has decided to not finance the Asylum project, and will pursue other routes with the Alice intellectual property. McGee provided an update on the game's Patreon page: "After several weeks of review, EA has come back with a response regarding funding and/or licensing for Alice: Asylum. On the question of funding, they have ultimately decided to pass on the project based on an internal analysis of the IP, market conditions, and details of the production proposal. On the question of licensing, they replied that "Alice" is an important part of EA's overall game catalog, and selling or licensing it isn't something they're prepared to do right now."

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Shipments of Gaming Monitors Fell to 19.8 Million Units in 2022, Expected to Recover in 2023

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 10th, 2023 08:27 Discuss (18 Comments)

TrendForce's latest research revealed that shipments of gaming monitors have seen their first decline since 2016 due to high inflation, resulting in only 19.8 million units being shipped in 2022 for a 13% YoY decline. TrendForce predicts that demand should recover in 2023 however, jumping back up to 20.8 million units—an increase of 5% YoY. This recovery will mostly be driven by three factors: First, a number of brands are replacing their 75 Hz models with 100 Hz models. Second, the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games is scheduled to take place in the third quarter, where Esports is set to be one of the competing categories. This will help drive up demand for gaming products. Lastly, China has finally begun lifting COVID restrictions, which means demand for Internet cafes should gradually recover.

TrendForce reveals that vertical alignment (VA) LCD monitors took the lion's share of the market in 2022 at 51%. This was followed by in-plane switching (IPS) LCD monitors at 43.4%, and finally twisted nematic (TN) LCD monitors accounted for 5%. However, it's worth noting that OLED gaming monitors have grown in popularity, taking 0.6% of the market share in 2022. Thanks to the diversification of OLED products, that market share is expected to grow to 1.6% in 2023. Furthermore, TrendForce predicts that IPS monitors may begin competing with VA monitors given that not only are IPS products increasing their market share but many IPS gaming monitors are seeing a continuous price reduction.

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Official NVIDIA RTX 4070 Performance Claims Leak Online

by

GFreeman

Apr 10th, 2023 08:25 Discuss (113 Comments)

Just a few days before the official launch scheduled for April 13th, the first official performance figures for the RTX 4070 have found their way online. As expected, NVIDIA is showing the performance with DLSS 3 and Frame Generation, comparing it to three graphics cards in the RTX 30 series, the RTX 3080, the RTX 3070 Ti, and the RTX 3070.

According to NVIDIA, the GeForce RTX 4070 is targeting 1440p performance at above 100 FPS, with ray tracing and DLSS 3 enabled, of course. NVIDIA officially did not reveal any performance numbers without DLSS 3, but earlier rumors puts the RTX 4070 at around the same performance as the RTX 3080. With DLSS 3 and according to NVIDIA, the RTX 4070 is 1.4x, 1.7x, and 1.8x times faster, compared to the aforementioned RTX 30 series graphics cards.

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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Will Have a Founders Edition

by

GFreeman

Apr 10th, 2023 04:55 Discuss (30 Comments)

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Founders Edition has been pictured, showing a standard Founders Edition design but which is smaller than the RTX 4080 FE. While the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti did not get a Founders Edition, relying on its add-in-card (AIC) partners to push their own custom designs, the RTX 4070 is a whole different story. This will also put a lot of pressure on NVIDIA AIC partners, as the RTX 4070 FE will be sold at $599.99.

The RTX 4070 will be the third Founders Edition graphics card in the RTX 40 series lineup, and it looks pretty much as it did in earlier leaks. It is a dual-slot, dual-fan graphics card with a V-shaped PCB, and it is smaller than the RTX 4080 FE, making it similar to the RTX 3070 FE. NVIDIA is equipping it with a single, center-placed, 16-pin PCIe 12VHPWR connector, although custom versions will be coming with both standard 8-pin or 16-pin power connectors. It has one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4 display outputs. Original renders came from Videocardz, after which David Giannis shared a bit more pictures, showing the front and the power connector. As rumored earlier, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is still scheduled to launch on April 13th, priced at $599.99.

EA's Immortals of Aveum Could Launch on July 20

Updated by

GFreeman

Apr 10th, 2023 04:25 Discuss (10 Comments)

Although we have not heard about its since The Game Awards in December, EA's first-person magic shooter, Immortals of Aveum, could launch on July 20th. Developed by Ascendant Studios, and to be published under EA Originals, Immortals of Aveum is built with Unreal Engine 5, and will b e coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and the PC.

The earlier trailer showcased a rather interesting single-player, first-person magic shooter experience in "an original fantasy universe engulfed in magic, rife with conflict, and on the verge of oblivion." The Ascendant is a new independent studio founded by Bret Robbins, who was behind Visceral Games' Dead Space and Sledgehammer's Call of Duty, including Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare and World War 2. The studio managed to pick up some rather talented people that worked on some big AAA games.

Update: Ascendant Studios also added a countdown to the reveal trailer that will launch in two days, on April 13th.

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Intel Formally Retires the Gen 9 Graphics Architecture Powering "Skylake" iGPU

by

btarunr

Apr 10th, 2023 04:12 Discuss (7 Comments)

Intel Graphics formally retired the Gen 9 graphics architecture that powered iGPUs found in the company's 6th Gen Core processors. The company continues support for the Gen 9.5 architecture that powers 7th thru 10th Gen processors. With up to 24 EU (execution units), the iGPU provided basic display that met Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10 WHQL logo requirements, and supported Direct3D DDI up to API level 11_0. This "retirement" means that Intel Graphics will no longer provide regular driver updates, but relegate support for a much lower update cadence that only ticks when there are critical security or stability issues to fix. The last regular driver for these iGPUs is version 31.0.101.2115.

ATP Electronics Introduces PCIe 4.0 x2 CFexpess Type B Cards

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 10th, 2023 04:03 Discuss (1 Comment)

ATP Electronics, the global leader in specialized storage and memory solutions, introduces the N600Si/Sc Series CFexpress cards Type B, the latest NAND-flash based high-speed memory cards to adopt the NVMe protocol over PCIe interface. Using the PCIe 4.0 x2 interface, they deliver superior, high-speed performance compared with other cards using the PCIe 3.0 x2 interface.

N600Si/Sc Series CFexpress cards offer convenient portability with enhanced sequential read/write performance of up to 3,500/3,200 MB/s. These removable storage devices are backward-compatible with XQD. The N600Si/Sc Series CFexpress cards sport the Gen. 4 x2 interface and are also backward compatible with CFexpress Gen. 3 x2. They are suitable for convenient movement among different devices and provide dependable access in environments with little or no network availability.

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FSP Launches the HYDRO Ti Pro Series 80 Plus Titanium ATX 3.0 Power Supplies

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 10th, 2023 02:09 Discuss (36 Comments)

FSP Group, one of the world's leading high-performance OEM and ODM power supply manufacturers today, is excited to unveil the brand new HYDRO Ti PRO series power supplies designed with high power density, efficient power delivery, and low noise for high-performance PC builds. The all-new HYDRO Ti PRO series offers two fully modular power supply units rated at 850 W and 1000 W, featuring the highly desired 12VHPWR connector, which complies with ATX 3.0 and support for PCIe 5.0, allows top-tier graphics cards to perform at the highest level.

The HYDRO Ti PRO series's sleek and refined industrial design can make any PC build stand out. Engineered with a fully modular layout for easy installation and significantly reduces cable clutter in the case, resulting in a cleaner and more organized build. In addition, they feature a quiet and durable cooling system, thanks to the FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) fan with low noise and a long-lasting life span. This fan ensures the power supply runs quietly and effectively while providing optimal cooling for its components.

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PC Pain Persists in Q1 2023 Due to Excess Inventory and Poor Demand, According to IDC Tracker

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 9th, 2023 23:20 Discuss (47 Comments)

Weak demand, excess inventory, and a worsening macroeconomic climate were all contributing factors for the precipitous drop in shipments of traditional PCs during the first quarter of 2023 (1Q23). Global shipments numbered 56.9 million, marking a contraction of 29.0% compared to the same quarter in 2022, according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.

The preliminary results also represented a coda to the era of COVID-driven demand and at least a temporary return to pre-COVID patterns. Shipment volume in 1Q23 was noticeably lower than the 59.2 million units shipped in 1Q19 and 60.6 million in 1Q18. "Though channel inventory has depleted in the last few months, it's still well above the healthy four to six week range," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "Even with heavy discounting, channels and PC makers can expect elevated inventory to persist into the middle of the year and potentially into the third quarter."

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Transcend Intros 4TB Variant of MTE250 Series M.2 Gen 4 SSD

by

btarunr

Apr 9th, 2023 23:17 Discuss (0 Comments)

Transcend Memory introduced a high-capacity 4 TB variant of its MTE250H (with heatsink) and MTE250S (without heatsink) M.2 NVMe Gen 4 SSD that the company debuted in October 2022. The former comes with an extruded-aluminium heatsink, while the latter has a graphene-coated film on top of the hot components. The drive offers an NVMe 1.4-compliant 8-channel controller that uses a DRAM cache; paired with 3D TLC NAND flash memory. The drives take advantage of PCI-Express 4.0 x4 host interface. The 4 TB variant offers sequential transfer rates of up to 7.5 GB/s reads, with up to 6.7 GB/s writes; up to 540k IOPS random reads, and up to 440k IOPS random writes; along with a rated endurance of 3,120 TBW. Transcend is backing these drives with 5-year warranties.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Rome Expansion Arriving May 16

by

T0@st

Apr 9th, 2023 13:49 Discuss (10 Comments)

The Return of Rome campaign is set for a May 16 2023 release date according to a tweet posted by the official Age of Empires account. The latest campaign expansion for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition follows several (almost) yearly DLC drops since the re-mastered strategy game's debut in late 2019 - Lords of the West (January 2021), Dawn of the Dukes (August 2021) and Dynasties of India (April 2022). Last year's India campaign added a significant amount of content, in the form of three new civilizations: the Bengalis, Dravidians, and Gurjaras. Three new campaigns were added to the base game and introduced a trio of new empires: Babur, Rajendra, and Devapala. The entire Indian civilization within the game was renamed to the Hindustanis.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome was first announced, albeit briefly, during a livestream on 25 October 2022, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of the real time strategy game series. Details are scarce about the actual content on offer, but the upcoming campaign is expected to feature all 16 of the original civilizations from the first entry in the franchise (AoE) according to an internal Xbox Games Studios memo.

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Money Message Ransomware Group Apparently Behind MSI Breach

by

GFreeman

Apr 9th, 2023 10:35 Discuss (20 Comments)

It appears that MSI's data breach is more significant than originally thought and according to recent information, a new ransomware group known as "Money Message" was behind the attack, stealing databases and source code from MSI's network.

According to a report over from the BleepingComputer, Money Message claims to have stolen 1.5 TB of data from MSI's systems, including CTMS and ERP databases, software source code, private keys, and BIOS firmware. Money Message is threatening to publish these allegedly stolen documents and asking a ransom payment of $4 million. MSI has already warned its customers about the cyberattack, has started the "relevant defense mechanisms," and has been gradually restoring its systems back to normal operations.

This Week in Gaming (Week 15)

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 9th, 2023 10:22 Discuss (7 Comments)

As we're moving into full on spring, we have a rather mixed week of releases in front of us. This week's biggest release is based on a Disney movie, but we also have a famous detective and a selection of other potentially interesting games for you, so click on past the break to find out what else is being released.

Tron: Identity / This week's AA title / Tuesday 11 April
Something has been taken. Enter a new Grid and forge alliances via visual novel gameplay, uncovering truths through Identity Disc puzzles. Make critical decisions and plot your own course in a world without a creator.

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Gets Final Gameplay Trailer Ahead of Launch

by

GFreeman

Apr 9th, 2023 09:42 Discuss (10 Comments)

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor got its final gameplay trailer ahead of its launch, scheduled for April 28th. The latest shows a bit more details about the story as well as some of the rides in the game. The game was originally scheduled to launch in March, but was delayed back to the end of April.

The game is developed by Respawn Entertainment, and in case you missed it earlier, it is a a third-person, action-adventure game, set five years after the events of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. It again puts the player in the role of Cal Kestis, who has now grown into a powerful Jedi Knight. EA has promised the same cinematic combat system from Jedi Fallen Order, with additional Force abilities and new lightsaber fighting styles. It will also include new planets as well as familiar frontiers with unique biomes, challenges, and enemies.

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PC Gaming Show 2023 Still Scheduled Despite E3 Cancellation

by

GFreeman

Apr 9th, 2023 09:19 Discuss (5 Comments)

The PC Gaming Show 2023 will return on June 11th, despite the fact that E3 2023 show has been cancelled. The show will broadcast on Twitch, Youtube, and other platforms and follow the Xbox Games Showcase, as announced by PC Gamer. PC Gamer has also confirmed that Sean "Day[9]" Plott will be returning as the host of the show.

The PC Gaming Show was started back in 2015 as a response to how the platform was underrepresented at the E3 show, showing reveals, announcements, trailers, and more for the PC platform. The precise broadcast time for the PC Gaming Show will be shared at a later date.

Retro Shooter Supplice Available Now Via Early Access, For Fans of Doom and Marathon

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 9th, 2023 05:02 Discuss (22 Comments)

Supplice has just been released in Early Access - today you get a chance to get your hands on the game, which has evolved tremendously over the years. Supplice is the best example of what an engaged and hard-working community can do. As you probably know, this project started as a Total Conversion mod for DOOM and evolved into one of the most anticipated RetroFPS stand-alone games. We want to thank everyone who shared their feedback with us on our social media channels, but most importantly, we would like to give a massive shout-out to the Doomworld.com and Zdoom.org communities! You guys rock!

As you know, Supplice has started as an ambitious Doom megawad and evolved into the idea of a stand-alone game that would not only be a total conversion mod, but would firmly stand on its own feet. At its core, Supplice is the fruit of the passionate Doom modding community, and as such it has community-driven development written in its DNA. The initial vision and formula have been re-imagined and revisited as the concept, its aesthetics, and the GZDoom tech itself evolved over the years.

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The Last of Us Part 1 Gets Promised Big Patch v1.0.2.0

by

GFreeman

Apr 8th, 2023 14:45 Discuss (21 Comments)

As promised earlier, Naughty Dog has released its big patch for the PC version of The Last of Us Part 1 yesterday, fixing over 40 bugs, and even taking some time to fix some issues for the game running on the Steam Deck. According to Naughty Dog, this update addresses fixes for performance, user experience, visuals, and more. It also includes platform and hardware-specific fixes.

Most important update is the reduced overall CPU usage, with updated texture streaming, which should significantly improve the game performance. The game will still use the massive amount of VRAM, but it will at least accurately display that same VRAM usage on the user interface. It also includes a fix for the "random crash" which has been quite annoying. Unfortunately, and as expected, this update does not include a fix for camera jitters related to mouse controls, which has caused unexpected issues and had to be pushed for a later patch.

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Ducky Announces New One 3 Aura Edition Keyboard

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 8th, 2023 14:24 Discuss (0 Comments)

DuckyChannel International Co., Ltd., a leading manufacturer dedicated to delivering professional mechanical keyboards, is launching new Aura editions of our acclaimed One 3 mechanical series to celebrate its 1 year anniversary. Featuring exciting new switch variations and stunning aesthetic changes to marvelously illuminate a set-up.

Ducky's tried and true "Quack Mechanics" design is still featured in these new stunning versions of the One 3 series. Enjoy the splendid vibe of the Aurora at home through the rich color spectrum from our 16.7 million RGB LEDs!

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Sony Seizes Upon Redfall PlayStation 5 Removal Controversy in Battle With Microsoft

by

T0@st

Apr 8th, 2023 12:26 Discuss (37 Comments)

Sony is not happy about the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recent provisional approval of Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and has highlighted the apparent removal of a Microsoft-owned game from being developed on the PlayStation 5. According to legal documents submitted to the UK government, Sony has taken issue with the watchdog's sudden change in opinion - the CMA's position was highly critical at the start of the year - and suspects that Microsoft's expensive PR campaign and submitting of "new evidence" to international competition regulators have influenced a change in direction of rulings. Sony's statement bears down on the unfair nature of the bid's approval: "The CMA's reversal of its position on its consoles theory of harm is surprising, unprecedented, and irrational."

Japan's Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) was the latest anti-trust governing body to give the takeover a thumbs-up, almost two weeks ago - a dramatic turn of events given that it happened on Sony's home turf. The embattled electronics corporation has taken notice of fresh developments in the press, and proceeded to mention controversy surrounding the Redfall platform war. Harvey Smith, the game's creative director, let slip too many details during a promotion tour and seemingly admitted that the higher-ups at Microsoft's Xbox division had decided to can the PlayStation 5 version of Redfall in favor of keeping it exclusive to Xbox, Game Pass and PC. Arkane Studios, as part of the ZeniMax Media Group, was acquired by Microsoft in 2021 - and certain games, already in development, were later released on the PlayStation 5 as timed exclusives, Deathloop being a prime example of this.

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Today's Reviews

Cases

• Fractal Design Pop XL Air NikkTech

Cooling

• Cooler Master Mobius 120 OC Fan APH Networks
• MSI Silent Gale P12 Fan Basic Tutorials (de)

CPU Coolers

• Thermalright SIlver Soul 135 Cowcotland (fr)

Desktop PC

• ASRock Industrial 4X4 BOX-7735U AnandTech

Gaming PC

• Acer Nitro N50-640 Cowcotland (fr)
• Cyberpower PC Hyper Liquid X139 Vortez

Keyboards

• Mountain Everest Max Hardware Journal (de)

Memory

• Patriot Viper Venom DDR5-5600 16GB Tweaktown

Other

• Resident Evil 4 Remake: DLSS and XeSS Community Patch TechPowerUp

Processors

• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Vortez

SSD

• Addlink S90 Lite 2TB Tom's Hardware

Resident Evil 4 Remake: DLSS and XeSS Community Patch Review

Review Game Testing

Resident Evil 4 Remake recently got support for NVIDIA's Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing (DLAA), NVIDIA's DLSS Super Resolution (DLSS 3.1) and Intel's Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) through a community mod, and results are excellent. In this mini-review we take a look, comparing the image quality and performance gains offered by these technologies.

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In Win Launches Innovative and Foldable POC Mini-ITX Tower Chassis

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 7th, 2023 16:31 Discuss (21 Comments)

In Win launches its Foldable POC Mini-ITX Tower - the latest iBuildiShare series case you can shape yourself! In Win Development Inc. (In Win), a leading innovator in PC enthusiast gaming hardware, has introduced its POC Mini-ITX tower PC chassis. POC is the latest addition to In Win's iBuildiShare series. Encouraging the development of dexterity skills both inside and out of a PC.

DIY PC builders of all ages can assemble a Mini-ITX enclosure from this vibrant modular kit by actually bending and shaping each panel. Similar to the art of origami, but using 0.8 mm foldable SECC steel panels instead of paper. This durable, lightweight material can withstand multiple bends. Delivered flat-packed, POC minimizes packaging materials and weight, reducing environmental impact.

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor PC Install Size is Daunting at 155 GB

by

T0@st

Apr 7th, 2023 14:34 Discuss (70 Comments)

Electronic Arts has updated the listings for PC system requirements for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and the gaming community has reacted to the refresh of the game's minimum installation storage requisite. It calls for a whopping 155 GB of disk space, for the base game alone, not including the expected routine of patches and extra story content (via DLC). The publisher suggests that an SSD is best used for an optimal in-game experience. The slightly older PC requirements specified a minimum of 150 GB for HDDs, and 130 GB for SSDs.

As it stands, the Respawn Entertainment developed action adventure game has one of the larger minimum storage requirements among modern titles - all the more surprising given that it will offer a relatively short and linear single player experience. Current installations of the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2 will occupy 150 GB of disk space. Jedi: Fallen Order (2019), Survivor's preceding title in the series, demands a comparatively modest install base of 55 GB. It will be interesting to observe whether Jedi: Survivor will drive sales of larger storage solutions - in the recent past, gamers have scrambled to acquire higher capacity SSDs and HDDs in order to accommodate the ever-growing installations and content drops required to play the Call of Duty/Modern Warfare series.

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Rumored New PlayStation Handheld in Development, Remote Play via PS5 Only

by

T0@st

Apr 7th, 2023 13:25 Discuss (16 Comments)

Rumors have circulated about a secret development at Sony's PlayStation division - a handheld games console is apparently in the works, but it was previously thought to be a cloud gaming device (similar in function to the Logitech G Cloud). This week, Insider Gaming has published an article that outlines insider information about a Sony project that is identified by the codename "Q Lite". Insider Gaming understands that this handheld will only offer Remote Play, and it will be entirely dependent on the PlayStation 5 games console as a host system. Sony has been touting this remote play feature via plenty of advertising in recent times - it is encouraging its PS4 and PS5 userbase to utilize the PS Remote Play app on compatible platforms including PC, Mac, Android and iOS devices.

The Q Lite is speculated to offer an adaptive streaming system with resolutions going up to 1080p and a maximum of 60 frames per second. This new gaming handheld requires an uninterrupted connection to the internet in order to function via remote play with the PlayStation 5. The inside source claims that the Q Lite prototype unit shares aesthetic elements with the official PlayStation 5 controller, although it will be larger in size - in order to accommodate a generous 8-inch touchscreen LCD system, placed in a central position. The insider mentioned that adaptive triggers and internal haptic feedback motors are notable features, as well as traditional fitting being multiple loudspeakers, volume controls and an audio input jack.

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EA Sports FC Declares New Branding, Teases Summer Reveal for Series Minus FIFA

by

T0@st

Apr 7th, 2023 11:45 Discuss (10 Comments)

Last May, Electronic Arts confirmed that its licensing deal with FIFA would be coming to an end by the summer of 2023. This week it has revealed the new branding for the EA Sport FC franchise, which is set to succeed the soon-to-be discontinued EA + FIFA series. Last year EA announced that it would be bringing its 30-year partnership with FIFA to a close. The computer game publishing giant could not agree on a new licensing deal with the association football/soccer governing body. EA Sports has unveiled the new logo and visual language that will feature atop their new flagship football game. It is widely rumored that FIFA are in the process of creating a new and distinct football games franchise with a yet to be revealed development partner.

The sports division has provided a breakdown of the design process: "The new brand takes its design inspiration from triangles, an ever-present shape in the sport and football culture that represents the game in multiple dimensions. From passing techniques to set-plays to formation design, triangles are a constant in the beautiful game. The shape is also woven into the DNA of EA Sports football experiences - from the isometric viewing angles of EA Sports' first football games and triangular polygons that make up every frame, to the chemistry triangles that exist in Ultimate Team or the iconic player indicator symbol that appears above athletes in every match."

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Samsung Profits Down 96%, Cutting Back on Memory Chip Production

by

T0@st

Apr 7th, 2023 10:49 Discuss (16 Comments)

Samsung Electronics will be cutting back on memory chip production, following a worrying drop in its operational profits. Estimates for the first quarter point to a 96% year-on-year decline - the silicon mega-corporation's lowest profit result in 14 years (since the first quarter of 2009). Samsung's operating profits fell to 600 billion won ($456 million) in January to March 2023, from 14 trillion won the previous year. The company has confirmed that a slump in sales is the main cause behind the smaller margins - with a slow global economy and a drop in demand after the chip shortages of 2020 - 2022. Manufacturers of computer and server equipment have reduced expenditure on procurements of RAM and storage solutions.

In a statement released last week, the company confirmed that it was adjusting its manufacturing output in reaction to the drop in demand: "We are lowering the production of memory chips by a meaningful level, especially that of products with supply secured." Industry analysts in South Korean are foreseeing that Samsung's chip business will post heavy losses (into the billions of dollars) during the first three months of 2023. Samsung is expected to publish detailed financial results later this month. The analysts have spotted similar patterns at other South Korea-based memory chip markers - SK Hynix and Micron have recorded heavy financial losses across recent quarters.

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Report: Worldwide IT Spending in 2023 Continues to Slowly Trend Downward

Press Release by

AleksandarK

Apr 7th, 2023 09:46 Discuss (2 Comments)

or the fifth consecutive month, International Data Corporation (IDC) has lowered its 2023 forecast for worldwide IT spending as technology investments continue to show the impact of a weakening economy. In its new monthly forecast for worldwide IT spending growth, IDC projects overall growth this year in constant currency of 4.4% to $3.25 trillion. This is slightly down from 4.5% in the previous month's forecast and represents a swing from a 6.0% growth forecast in October 2022.

"Since the fourth quarter of last year, we have seen clear and measurable signs of a moderate pullback in some areas of IT spending," said Stephen Minton, vice president in IDC's Data & Analytics research group. "Tech spending remains resilient compared to historical economic downturns and other types of business spending, but rising interest rates are now impacting capital spending."

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Most Popular Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, Steam Hardware Survey

by

GFreeman

Apr 7th, 2023 09:13 Discuss (94 Comments)

Steam's latest March survey has put NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3060 at the top, reaching over 10 percent and surpassing both the GTX 1060 and the RTX 2060. NVIDIA has been holding the crown with over 80 percent of users running on their GPUs, while AMD held just over 10 percent. This means that the NVIDIA RTX 3060 almost has more users on Steam than all AMD Radeon graphics cards combined. Intel holds just over 6 percent. Bear in mind that Intel and AMD numbers also include integrated GPUs.

When it comes to CPUs, there are 74.46 percent running on Intel CPUs and 25.54 percent on AMD. Most users use a 6-core CPU, 45.76, with 8-core CPUs taking 18.45 percent. The memory amount has obviously risen, as 56.92 percent run on 16 GB, and 22.41 percent have 32 GB systems. When it comes to OS, most users are running on Windows 10, 73.95 percent, while Windows 11 OS takes 22.41 percent. While some might argue that the Steam Survey is not exactly precise as it is apparently based on a random survey, it does give a general idea and shows the big picture.

Thrustmaster Unveils Ultra-Premium Ferrari SF1000 Direct Drive Wheel Bundle, Launching This Summer

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 7th, 2023 09:02 Discuss (6 Comments)

Thrustmaster is thrilled to unveil a brand-new bundle, featuring a racing wheel base and wheel rim proudly sporting the Scuderia Ferrari colors: T818 Ferrari SF1000 Simulator. Ferrari took the opportunity to announce the new flagship product in Thrustmaster's racing lineup at the launch of the Ferrari Esports Series 2023 season. Composed of the very latest direct-drive racing wheel base - T818 - alongside the iconic Formula Wheel Add-On Ferrari SF1000 Edition wheel rim and a versatile mounting system for desks, tables or cockpits, this dream-team bundle delivers breathtaking esports-caliber performance.

T818, with its new Rosso Corsa metal plates and elegant Scuderia Ferrari logo, provides 10 N⋅m of constant torque for smooth, powerful and turbocharged Force Feedback thanks to direct-drive technology. The extensive configuration options let the most experienced drivers race with truly unfiltered power - allowing them to feel all effects being transmitted by the game as they were meant to be experienced, for absolute control of their vehicle.

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Trepang2 Set for June 21 Launch, Hailed as Spiritual Successor to F.E.A.R.

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 7th, 2023 08:39 Discuss (15 Comments)

Subject 106 breaks free from his chains to unleash mayhem - June 21st on Steam! It's time to break the cycle. Trepang2 features high-octane, first-person gun-fu gunplay and puts players in the shoes of a newly enhanced super soldier on a mission of death, destruction, and revenge.

Broken out from a government black site by unknown allies and removed of their memories, they'll be hunted by their captives and an even more otherworldly foe, and will have to arm themselves with an arsenal of devastating weapons and learn how to handle their newfound superhuman abilities to survive the onslaught, all the while unravelling a deadly conspiracy.

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MSI RTX 4070 Gaming X Trio and Ventus 3X Series Leak Ahead of Launch

by

GFreeman

Apr 7th, 2023 08:15 Discuss (19 Comments)

MSI has been rumored to have at least eight different models of the upcoming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, and two of them, the RTX 4070 Gaming X Trio and RTX 4070 Ventus 3X, have now leaked online, ahead of the launch scheduled for next week. What makes it interesting is that this will be the first RTX 40 series graphics card that will be able to come without the 16-pin 12VHPWR connector.

MSI's Gaming X Trio, as the more premium edition, will be a 2.5-slot design with triple-fan cooler, have more RGB effects, and will feature the 16-pin 12VHPWR connector. The MSI RTX 4070 Ventus 3X as a more budget-oriented SKU, will have a triple-fan cooling system but only takes two slots, and it needs a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. While both are factory-overclocked models, it is obvious that the MSI RTX 4070 Gaming X Trio will have a higher overclocking potential.

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Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin Out Now on Steam, Square Enix Cuts Price at Launch

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 7th, 2023 08:11 Discuss (3 Comments)

Jack is back… and he's punching his way onto Steam! The action RPG is now available on the platform: here's everything you need to know about it. Many of you will be familiar with STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN's Jack Garland: expert swordsman, skilled white mage, destructive black mage, deadly dragoon, powerful pugilist… and that's not even half of it. We can now add one more achievement to his impressive resume: available on Steam! Yes, get ready for some chaotic FINAL FANTASY carnage! Read on and we'll tell you everything you need to know about the game and its Steam release.

What is STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN?
Some of you unfamiliar with the game may be wondering what this game is all about. Long story short, it's about action - brilliantly brutal, fast-paced action that tests your reactions and battle strategy in equal measure. Developed by KOEI TECMO GAMES (Nioh series), STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN is a dark and visceral action RPG that presents a bold take on the FINAL FANTASY series, while celebrating its amazing 35 year legacy! You play as Jack Garland, who along with his allies Ash, Jed, Neon and Sophia, sets off from the Kingdom of Cornelia to defeat Chaos. If you're a fan of the original FINAL FANTASY game, some of those names may be ringing a bell, but we'll let you discover what it all means.

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GoDeal24 Unveils the Easter Sale: Surprising Discounts on Genuine Software

Sponsored by

btarunr

Apr 7th, 2023 07:26

Celebrate the surprise and awe this Easter with GoDeal24! Get Genuine Windows and Office software at some of the lowest prices on the web. With nearly all next-generation hardware launched, you can now firm up your new gaming PC build for the Summer. Let GoDeal24 maximize your hardware budget by letting you save big on the software you most need—Windows 11 Pro starting at $10.25, and Office 2021 Professional Plus at $24.25. Pair the two at just $29.99. Check out other great deals on your preferred editions of Windows and Office to save even more.

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Please use the coupon code SGO50 on the following items to avail the prices you see here.
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Check out great deals on system software you may want.

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Team Group Launches Overclocking DDR5 Memory in 24GB and 48GB DIMM Densities

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 7th, 2023 06:23 Discuss (0 Comments)

Leading memory brand Team Group has announced its gaming brand T-FORCE and creator brand T-CREATE will launch non-binary DDR5 overclocking memory modules in capacities of 24 GB and 48 GB. The company has worked closely with major motherboard makers to complete compatibility testing with Intel 700 and 600 series motherboards of the modules' frequency and capability advancements. The modules will not only support XMP 3.0 but also come in various frequencies of 6,000 MHz and up, making them the fastest non-binary DDR5 high-capacity memory modules available. With excellent compatibility, capacity, and speed, they are the perfect RAM upgrades for gamers and creators.

T-FORCE LAB is committed to providing gamers with both great-performing and highly-compatible products, with T-FORCE DELTA RGB DDR5 taking the lead, launching 48 GB (2x 24 GB) dual-channel kits in 6,000 MHz, 6,400 MHz, 6,800 MHz, 7,200 MHz, 7,600 MHz and 8,000 MHz variants. It allows even motherboards with only two memory slots to harness the power of massive capacities and provide a next-level gaming experience. T-FORCE's latest 2x24GB dual-channel kit supports Intel XMP 3.0, allowing gamers to enjoy the smooth experience that high-capacity memory brings to system performance by simply enabling XMP 3.0 overclocking in BIOS.

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ASUS Announces All-New Vivobook 15X/16X OLED and Vivobook 17X Powered by AMD Ryzen 7000-Series Processors

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 7th, 2023 05:32 Discuss (9 Comments)

ASUS today announced Vivobook 15X OLED (M3504), Vivobook 16X OLED (M3604), and Vivobook 17X (M3704), a trio of stylish everyday laptops smoothly powered by AMD Ryzen 7000-Series Processors. Featuring up to a power-efficient eight-core 4.5 GHz AMD Ryzen 7 7730U processor that's capable of handling all everyday tasks, 16 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB PCIe SSD, these laptops also have high-capacity up to 63 Wh batteries that offer outstanding battery life for daily productivity on the go.

Equipped with brilliant world-leading up to 4KOLED HDR Pantone Validated displays on the OLED models (M3504, M3604), or a crisp and clear FHD IPS display (M3704 only), the laptops also include a powerful DTS-tuned ASUS SonicMaster audio system for rich, immersive entertainment. Home users and remote workers will both appreciate the crystal-clear video and noise-free audio during video or audio conference calls, enabled by the FHD webcam with ASUS 3DNR technology and AI noise-canceling audio.

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MSI Warns Customers After Cyberattack on its Systems

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 7th, 2023 05:17 Discuss (7 Comments)

MSI has issued a warning to its customers after the company detected it has suffered from a cyberattack on its "information systems". Although it's not clear exactly what was attacked, the company has detected what it calls anomalies on its network and has since kicked in "relevant defense mechanisms" which among other things included reporting the incident to local law enforcement agencies and cybersecurity units.

MSI states that the company has been gradually restoring its systems back to normal operations and that the attack has had negligible impact on its business. However, MSI is warning its customers not to download MSI BIOS/UEFI/firmware updates or drivers from any other source than MSI's official website, or any of its software. Although MSI doesn't state if whoever performed the attack might have gotten hold of any of its software, this seems to suggest such things and it's clear that MSI is worried that there might be software appearing in the near future that will be compromised in one way or another.

ASUS Announces 2023 Vivobook Classic Series With 13th Gen Intel Processors

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 7th, 2023 04:21 Discuss (1 Comment)

ASUS today announced five new models in the 2023 Vivobook Classic series of laptops, headed up by the flagship 14-inch Vivobook 14X OLED (K3405) and 16-inch Vivobook 16X OLED (K3605) models. In keeping with their role as flagships of the series, these powerful laptops feature up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, accompanied by up to 13th Gen Intel Core H-series processors and up to 32 GB of RAM. The feature-packed K3405 and K3605 really do deliver maximum performance at the best price.

Vivobook 14X OLED and 16X OLED (K3605) feature up to world-leading 3.2K 120 Hz OLED HDR Pantone Validated displays. A powerful Dirac-tuned audio system and an HD webcam with ASUS 3D Noise Reduction (3DNR) ensure immersive entertainment and crystal-clear video conferencing. High-performance WiFi 6E (802.11ax) and a long-lasting battery with fast-charge capabilities free users to take full advantage of their mobile lifestyle. On-the-go connectivity is easy with a set of I/O ports including up to Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C and/or Type-A and HDMI 2.1, plus a standard SD card reader.

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EVGA Announces New GE Series PSUs

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 7th, 2023 03:41 Discuss (15 Comments)

The EVGA GE Series brings EVGA ECO Mode to hard-line power supplies for the first time. In addition to 80 PLUS Gold efficiency, GE power supplies have low ripple and noise, low power consumption, and tight voltage regulation for unwavering stability. The EVGA GE series allows you to enjoy your PC in peace and quiet.

The GE Series is EVGA's first non-modular unit with EVGA ECO mode to ensure the power supply stays completely silent during low to medium loads. The 120 mm fan does not spin until necessary, allowing for completely silent operation. Among EVGA non-modular power supplies, the GE Series is the most efficient power supply under load, has the least amount of ripple and noise, and better load regulation than its predecessors.

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Tenstorrent Tech Talk Reveals Hints of AMD's "Zen 5" Performance

by

Fouquin

Apr 7th, 2023 03:29 Discuss (11 Comments)

Tenstorrent hosted their "Nerds Talking to Nerds About RISC-V" event this week in India where a dozen high profile industry experts hosted technical talks and panels about every facet of the RISC-V landscape and future. Among these are some familiar names to anyone who's been keeping up on the CPU industry; Raja Koduri of his own AI Generative Gaming startup company, Lars Bergstrom of Google, Naveed Sherwani of Rapid Silicon, and of course Jim Keller the CEO of Tenstorrent itself. On the first day of the event a mere 42 minutes into the YouTube live stream during his keynote talk, Jim Keller is providing an overview of Tenstorrent's latest silicon design goals. He presents a slide showing a wide comparison of various competitor's integer performance in SPEC CPU 2017 INT wherein a raw performance value for AMD's yet released "Zen 5" is listed, as well as the operating frequency and TDP of the supposed sample.

The slide shows all of AMD's recent architectures starting with the original "Zen" (Naples) and the improvements each successive generation has made. Also shown is one of Intel's latest "Sapphire Rapids" Xeons, a projected performance point of NVIDIA's in-house CPU architecture "Grace", Amazon's "Graviton" series with a projected result for "Graviton 3," and Tenstorrent's own 8-wide RISC-V architecture as it currently performs in their labs. While all of these are fascinating results in their own right, we're going to narrow in on the "Zen 4" (Genoa) and "Zen 5" results. We can see from the Frequency and TDP charts that "Zen 4" is clocked at 3.8 GHz as it's equal to the Xeon Platinum 8480+ (which itself boosts to 3.8 GHz in light threaded workloads such as this) so is therefore likely a variant of EPYC 9354 or 9454 with its TDP configured at the minimum 240 W. The unnamed "Zen 5" CPU is shown to be running at around 4.0 GHz with the same 240 W TDP, a tiny 5% bump in core clock, while delivering a substantial 30% jump in performance. The most interesting detail here is that nowhere is it listed—as with "Grace" and "Graviton 3"—that this is a projected result.

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QNAP Releases Short-depth Rackmount TS-855eU NAS Series

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 7th, 2023 01:29 Discuss (1 Comment)

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, today unveiled the 2U short-depth TS-855eU NAS Series, including the TS-855eU with single PSU and the TS-855eU-RP with redundant power supplies. The short-depth rackmount TS-855eU NAS series is exceptionally suitable for IT deployment in small cabinet, spacious business workplaces, or production lines. Powered by an Intel Atom C5125 8-core 2.8 GHz processor with Intel QuickAssist Technology and supporting up to 64 GB memory (ECC memory supported), the sturdy and feature-rich TS-855eU series provides eight SATA drive bays, dual-port 2.5GbE. With these features and more, the TS-855eU series fulfills the performance and capacity requirements of business file servers, virtual machines, SaaS backups, and virtualization applications.

"With a 38% reduction in size, the 2U rackmount TS-855eU NAS series is only 11.7 inches (297.4 mm) deep, making it suitable for installation in small cabinets and IT rooms with strict cabling and ventilation requirements," said Andy Chuang, Product Manager of QNAP. "It fits in constrained environments while supporting reliable daily operations with its excellent performance and well-rounded business-ready features."

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Today's Reviews

Cooling

• Noctua NF-A20 PWM chromax.black.swap Fan Tech-Legend
• Seasonic MagFlow 1225 PWM Fan Basic Tutorials (de)

Keyboards

• Epomaker RT100 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard TechPowerUp

Memory

• Crucial DDR5-5600 2x16GB Kit OverClocked Inside (de)

Notebooks

• MSI Raider GE78 HX Tom's Hardware

Processors

• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D AnandTech
• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Clubic (fr)
• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D ComputerBase (de)
• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Cowcotland (fr)
• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D GinjFo (fr)
• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Guru3D
• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Hardware Busters
• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D HotHardware
• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D LAN OC
• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D TechGage
• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D TechPowerUp
• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Tom's Hardware
• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Tweaktown

PSUs

• ADATA XPG Fusion Titanium 1600W AnandTech

Epomaker RT100 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard Review - Tiny TV Time!

Review Keyboards

Epomaker goes retro with the new RT100 wireless mechanical keyboard which uses a novel design language as a unique "TV screen" add-on display to make for a feature-rich keyboard that is among the most customizable units ever tested.

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Everspace 2 Version 1.0 Out Now on PC, Rockfish Games Releases Launch Trailer

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 6th, 2023 17:13 Discuss (12 Comments)

EVERSPACE 2 1.0 Launches Today! - Pilots, brace for impact! Launch day is here! After more than five years of development, with over two years in Early Access, v1.0 is finally ready to download on Steam, GOG, and the Microsoft Windows Store! What a ride it's been… and we're not done yet! More on that below! We've put together an absolutely amazing EVERSPACE 2 PC Launch Trailer. Longtime EVERSPACE 2 players may spot new scenes in already-seen areas. Let's see if you catch them all.

With 1.0, we're adding the final chapter of the campaign, which lets you explore the new star system Khione, unlock tier 4 ships, find the best trading deals for commodities, and face new bosses, plus a whole host of other neat additions. But before you start a new game (strongly recommended) and delve in, let's stop for a moment and take a look back at the very beginning to appreciate just what an insane journey we've been together on. You can read the history behind the game here.

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Microsoft Windows 365 Frontline Comes to Cloud PCs

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 6th, 2023 16:53 Discuss (5 Comments)

Today, I'm excited to share how we are expanding Windows 365—your Windows in the cloud—with Windows 365 Frontline. Now in public preview, Windows 365 Frontline helps organizations meet the needs of their entire workforce. We are also delivering Cloud PCs to more devices than ever, with new LG and Motorola integrations.

"Gartner estimates that there are 2.7 billion frontline workers—more than twice the number of desk-based workers." Organizations face unique challenges to meet their IT and workplace experience needs. Companies must scale technology faster and to a much larger population. Equipping all frontline employees with their own devices is not economically feasible for many organizations, particularly when many only require access while on the job. Frontline workers often share physical PCs or kiosks, which some CIOs have told us pose real security and identity challenges. This can inhibit productivity and put critical information like intellectual property or customer data at risk.

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Gamescom Opening Night Live Returning in August With Geoff Keighley

by

GFreeman

Apr 6th, 2023 16:19 Discuss (2 Comments)

The host and producer, Geoff Keighley, has confirmed that Opening Night Live will be returning this August. Opening Night Live is the pre-show presentation or an opening show for Gamescom, held in Cologne, Germany.

The announcement comes as a welcomed news after E3 2023 cancellation and it appears that Gamescom 2023 will carry on the torch, as the last year show was the first in-person event since 2019. Opening Night Live last year was a big event, going for over two hours and featured more than 35 games. Geoff Keighley briefly tweeted that the show returns live on Tuesday, August 22nd and that he is "excited to be back in Cologne with the fans and industry, streaming video game news directly to you".

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Overwatch 2 Season 4 Previewed in Trailer, Blizzard Publishes Official S4 Roadmap

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 6th, 2023 13:55 Discuss (7 Comments)

Overwatch 2 Season 4 launches April 11! Blossom onto the battlefield with our newest Support Hero Lifeweaver, progress through the Battle Pass to earn rewards including Mythic Galactic Emperor Sigma, and fight for your faction when The Watchers and The Infinite Empire clash in the Starwatch event! Explore Talantis, the first-ever map made in collaboration with the community. Enjoy major quality-of-life updates with a revamped Competitive experience.

Watch the trailer to see what to expect with this upcoming season, which brings the new Support Hero Lifeweaver, a new Battle Pass, the community-made map called Talantis, and more. Progress through the Battle Pass to earn rewards including Mythic Galactic Emperor Sigma, and fight for your faction when The Watchers and The Infinite Empire clash in the Starwatch event.

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Cisco Wiped Out $23.5 Million of Unsold Gear During Exit From Russia

by

T0@st

Apr 6th, 2023 13:35 Discuss (20 Comments)

According to news agencies residing within Russian territories, it has been widely reported that Cisco has destroyed an inventory of unsold equipment with a total worth of $23.5 million. TASS, a Kremlin-controlled news organization, has made reference to account statements provided by Cisco Systems (the remaining legal entity of the Cisco Group based within the Federation) - it reports that the equipment was "physically destroyed" in January 2023, post a termination of sales in Russia and Belarus. The financial statements outline the liquidation of "primarily spare parts," but the agency claims that Cisco engaged in the destruction of network hardware, demo units and office furniture.

Cisco was one of the first tech companies to withdraw from Russian territories, following the full-scale invasion of the Ukraine. Soon after the beginning of the conflict, Cisco Systems announced the cessation of its business dealings, starting with a stoppage of sales in March 2022. A June deadline was specified for a complete shutdown of operations. The company made a decision by August 2022 to dispose of unsold inventories located within affected territories - the necessary permits for re-export of goods had not been obtained. It is not clear whether U.S. sanctions (against Russia) played a part in influencing the North American tech company's decision to engage in a scorched earth policy and obliterate the physical remnants of stock plus premises in Russia and Belarus.

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NVIDIA H100 AI Performance Receives up to 54% Uplift with Optimizations

by

AleksandarK

Apr 6th, 2023 12:41 Discuss (7 Comments)

On Wednesday, the MLCommons team released the MLPerf 3.0 Inference numbers, and there was an exciting submission from NVIDIA. Reportedly, NVIDIA has used software optimization to improve the already staggering performance of its latest H100 GPU by up to 54%. For reference, NVIDIA's H100 GPU first appeared on MLPerf 2.1 back in September of 2022. In just six months, NVIDIA engineers worked on AI optimizations for the MLPerf 3.0 release to find that basic software optimization can catalyze performance increases anywhere from 7-54%. The workloads for measuring the inferencing speed suite included RNN-T speech recognition, 3D U-Net medical imaging, RetinaNet object detection, ResNet-50 object classification, DLRM recommendation, and BERT 99/99.9% natural language processing.

What is interesting is that NVIDIA's submission is a bit modified. There are open and closed categories that vendors have to compete in, where closed is the mathematical equivalent of a neural network. In contrast, the open category is flexible and allows vendors to submit results based on optimizations for their hardware. The closed submission aims to provide an "apples-to-apples" hardware comparison. Given that NVIDIA opted to use the closed category, performance optimization of other vendors such as Intel and Qualcomm are not accounted for here. Still, it is interesting that optimization can lead to a performance increase of up to 54% in NVIDIA's case with its H100 GPU. Another interesting takeaway is that some comparable hardware, like Qualcomm Cloud AI 100, Intel Xeon Platinum 8480+, and NeuChips's ReccAccel N3000, failed to finish all the workloads. This is shown as "X" on the slides made by NVIDIA, stressing the need for proper ML system software support, which is NVIDIA's strength and an extensive marketing claim.

Valve Announces Steam Support Ending for MacOS 10.11 and 10.12 in Early September 2023

by

T0@st

Apr 6th, 2023 12:19 Discuss (9 Comments)

Valve has posted advance notice that Steam will not officially support macOS versions 10.11 ("El Capitan") and 10.12 ("Sierra") from September 1 2023. After this date "the Steam Client will no longer run on those versions of macOS." Valve recommends that users should upgrade to a newer version of macOS, if they intend to continue running Steam and related games and products. The cited reason for ending support is: "core features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer functions on older versions of macOS. In addition, future versions of Steam will require macOS feature and security updates only present in macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) and above."

Last week, Valve announced that support for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems would cease at the very beginning of 2024. It has been a while since older versions of macOS have been declared as unsupported by the Steam Client - Valve announced, way back in late 2018, that it would stop supporting macOS versions 10.7 ("Lion"), 10.8 ("Mountain Lion"), 10.9 ("Mavericks") and 10.10 ("Yosemite") by January 1 2019. Again, an embedding of an iteration of Google Chrome was given as the main reason behind this discontinuation.

Ex-Stadia Boss Phil Harrison Quietly Exits Google

by

T0@st

Apr 6th, 2023 11:45 Discuss (16 Comments)

It was widely reported yesterday that Phil Harrison has left Google, where he served a stint as Vice President and General Manager of the now shuttered Stadia cloud-based game streaming service. An official statement has not been released by Google or Harrison regarding a change in leadership - according to an article published by Business Insider, the latter's LinkedIn profile indicates an end date in April 2023. Harrison's departure from Google coincides roughly with the final shutdown of Stadia services back in January of this year.

Phil Harrison was announced as a new vice president and general manager at Google in early 2018, but the company had not revealed any plans to enter into the games console market at that point in time. The hiring of Harrison was viewed as an early preview of things to come, given his past experience of leadership roles at both Sony and Microsoft video games division. He spent 16 years of his career at Sony Corporation, ultimately becoming president of the company's Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS) until departing in 2008. He joined Microsoft in 2012, following short spells at Infogrames, Atari and Gaikai. At Xbox he was the executive leader of the European Interactive Entertainment team until 2015. Google debuted its Stadia gaming platform in 2019, and to no surprise, Harrison was announced as the product manager for this new endeavor.

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Thermaltake Launches Two Latest Pre-built White LCGS at Best Buy

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 6th, 2023 10:48 Discuss (7 Comments)

Thermaltake, the premium brand for PC case, cooling, power, and memory solutions, announced today the addition of two new pre-built high-performance gaming PCs to the LCGS (Liquid Cooling Gaming System) product line, the Avalanche i477T, and Quartz 360T. These two models come in sleek white PC cases and offer gamers the latest liquid cooling technology and best-in-class components, ensuring a high-performance gaming experience. The Avalanche i477T is powered by the Intel 13th Generation Core i7-13700KF and features an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti graphics card, while the Quartz 360T is powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X and features an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti graphics card. Both models are now available at BEST BUY.

Thermaltake LCGS (Liquid Cooling Gaming System) is crafted for PC gamers to obtain their ideal high-performance pre-built gaming PCs with optimized liquid cooling options, from AIO coolers to tailor-made hard tube configurations. All Thermaltake LCGS are assembled in Southern California, USA, and are committed to providing the best DIY gaming PCs without hassles. All LCGS are backed by strictly monitored testing procedures for excellent compatibility and reliability.

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Gigabyte Will Have at Least Four GeForce RTX 4070 SKUs

Updated by

TheLostSwede

Apr 6th, 2023 10:13 Updated: Apr 6th, 2023 10:38 Discuss (9 Comments)

Based on a leak courtesy of @momomo_us on Twitter, we now know that Gigabyte will be launching at least four different NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 based SKUs next week. Although the leaker only posted a single image of all four cards seen from the edge, it still gives us an idea of what to expect. The leaker also confirmed a rumour, that there will be two different types of GeForce RTX 4070 cards, namely those with a single 8-pin power connector and those with the 16-pin 12VHPWR PCIe 5.0 connector.

Gigabyte's four SKUs start with the Eagle and Windforce as the more budget friendly options, with the Eagle being the one we'd expect that will sell for the rumoured US$599.99 MSRP. Both of these cards obviously have the 8-pin power connector and seemingly a more basic heatsink compared to the other two cards. The higher-end models include the Gaming and Aero cards, both with 16-pin power connectors and a beefier heatsink with more heatpipes. It's unclear if we'll see a higher-end Aorus branded SKU or not at this point in time, but Gigabyte might forgo it to try to avoid making an overly expensive card that won't sell, considering that the 4070 is still largely an upper mid-range card.

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NVIDIA Reflex Coming to Counter Strike 2

by

GFreeman

Apr 6th, 2023 10:07 Discuss (12 Comments)

What appears to be an official NVIDIA slide showing off NVIDIA Reflex in Counter Strike 2, has actually officially confirmed the GeForce RTX 4070 by accident. While we are still a week away from the rumored official launch, set for April 13th, the new RTX 4070 graphics card is used for testing NVIDIA Reflex in Counter Strike 2.

Spotted by The Verge, the NVIDIA official slide shows the benefits of NVIDIA Reflex in Counter Strike 2, with an improved latency on RTX 4070, RTX 3060, and the GTX 1060. It reduces latency down from 10 ms to 8 ms on the GeForce RTX 4070. As noted by The Verge, this means that 9 out of the top 10 most popular competitive shooters will have Nvidia Reflex support, including Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, Destiny 2, Escape from Tarkov, Fortnite, Overwatch 2, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, Valorant, and Counter Strike 2. Previous rumors for the GeForce RTX 4070 confirmed the AD104 GPU with 5888 CUDA cores, 12 GB of GDDR6X memory, 200 W TDP, and a $599 price tag.

SSD Market Predicted to Reach $67 Billion by 2028, Short Term Numbers Less Encouraging

by

T0@st

Apr 6th, 2023 10:02 Discuss (8 Comments)

Analyst firm Yole Group has predicted that SSD sales revenues will grow to $67 billion in the year 2028, generated by 472 million unit sales - indicating a very healthy outlook in the long term. However, their predictions for market performance in 2023 appear to be less cheerful for manufacturers of NAND flash memory. The SSD market dynamic was positive in 2021 and the starting months of 2022, but demand has dropped sharply since then due to a number of factors including global inflation, geopolitical tensions, and inventory digestion at electronics manufacturers. Sales revenues in 2022 totaled $29 billion (352 million units), down from $34 billion (400 million units) in 2021 - demonstrating a 14% year-to-year decline.

The continued weakening of global demand in 2023 will have an effect on SSD sales revenues, and the Yole Group has foreseen troublesome outcomes for manufacturers. The average selling price of NAND memory and solid-state drive units has been on the decline in the recent quarters, caused by sluggish demand and a surplus of stock. Despite the grim outlook in the short term, the research body is predicting a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 15% between 2022 and 2028 for the overall size of the SSD market.

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Seagate Introduces Star Wars-Inspired Lightsaber Collection Special Edition SSDs

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 6th, 2023 09:28 Discuss (17 Comments)

Today, Star Wars fans can choose to represent their side of the Force with the new collectible Seagate Solid State Drives (SSD) inspired by iconic characters of the Star Wars galaxy. Featuring interchangeable faceplate designs honouring Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, and Luke Skywalker, the latest additions to the company's line of licensed special edition storage devices bring PCIe Gen 4 speeds, peak performance, and customisation to the battle stations of Star Wars collectors and tech enthusiasts.

Officially licensed by Lucasfilm, the special edition FireCuda NVMe SSD represents the famed characters with three iconic Lightsaber designs built on swappable heatsink faceplates so gamers can choose a design inspired by the Jedi or Sith that fits their collection at any moment. The drive includes customisable RGB LED lighting that shines through the faceplate to bring a galaxy of atmosphere to battle stations. The unique loading mechanism that attaches the interchangeable faceplates to the SSD and the heatsink were engineered and developed by EKWB. The integrated passive heatsink minimises thermal throttling and maintains peak performance for longer periods of time.

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AMD Introduces Alveo MA35D Media Accelerator

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 6th, 2023 09:21 Discuss (13 Comments)

AMD today announced the AMD Alveo MA35D media accelerator featuring two 5 nm, ASIC-based video processing units (VPUs) supporting the AV1 compression standard and purpose-built to power a new era of live interactive streaming services at scale. With over 70% of the global video market being dominated by live content, a new class of low-latency, high-volume interactive streaming applications are emerging such as watch parties, live shopping, online auctions, and social streaming.

The Alveo MA35D media accelerator delivers the high channel density, with up to 32x 1080p60 streams per card, power efficiency and ultra-low-latency performance critical to reducing the skyrocketing infrastructure costs now required for scaling such compute intensive content delivery. Compared to the previous generation Alveo U30 media accelerator, the Alveo MA35D delivers up to 4x higher channel density, 4x max lower latency in 4K and 1.8x greater compression efficiency to achieve the same VMAF score—a common video quality metric.

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Lian Li Launches UNI FAN AL V2 and STRIMER PLUS V2 12VHPWR

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 6th, 2023 09:08 Discuss (5 Comments)

LIAN LI Industrial Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of chassis and PC accessories, raises the bar for high-performance RGB products with the UNI FAN AL V2 and STRIMER PLUS V2 12VHPWR. The AL120 V2 is 28 mm in thickness, and now offers a 20% increase in airflow performance compared to the V1. The V2 includes a single power module cable that sits flush within the frame, a new extension cable to link up to 6 UNI FANs to a single controller port, and removable interlocking keys for improved compatibility with radiator fittings. New ARGB lighting strips have been implemented on each corner at the front and rear of the fan. The UNI FAN AL V2 is available in 120 mm and 140 mm, and in black or white.

The STRIMER PLUS V2 12VHPWR includes a custom design 12VHPWR male connector to strengthen the connection with GPU. It is available in 12+4 pin to 12+4 pin (12 light guides), 12+4 pin to 12+4 pin (8 light guides), and 12+4 pin to 3x8pin (8 light guides), and is compatible with the STRIMER L-Connect 3 controller (included with the 24-pin STRIMER PLUS V2).

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Bizarre Open World FPS The Explorator Showcased in ID@Xbox Trailer

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 6th, 2023 08:32 Discuss (7 Comments)

Explore the world of Ospolis and discover fabulous treasures in this comic book style FPS. The Explorator is a game inspired by oldschool FPS with a cell shading visual style, as an explorer you take your courage in both hands to set foot on the most dangerous island of the known world, Ospolis.

Legends say that the legendary city of Atlantis lies beneath this island, which has been suddenly overrun by goblins and monsters that have emerged from the bowels of the underground tunnels drilled by unwary explorers confident of finding this famous city. Explore mysterious counter-zones and brave dangers to discover priceless treasures buried beneath the ruins of Atlantis.

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Intel Arc Pro A60 Spotted in CompuBench Database

by

GFreeman

Apr 6th, 2023 08:09 Discuss (4 Comments)

Intel's newest Arc Pro A60/A60M professional graphics card has been spotted in CompuBench database, revealing what appears to be the highest performing graphics card in Intel's Arc Pro lineup. Unlike the already available Arc Pro A50, A40, A40M, and the A30, which are all based on the ACM-G11 GPU with up to 8 Xe-cores, the upcoming A60/A60M could end up with a cut-down version of the ACM-G10 or the rumored ACM-G12, considering it packs 16 Xe-cores or 256 Xe Engines/Execution Units.

Unfortunately, Intel's Arc Pro graphics cards are pretty rare and so far, these were only available through the OEM channel. According to the CompuBench database, the Arc Pro A60 has a maximum clock frequency of 2450 and 256 maximum compute units. Unfortunately, CompuBench entry does not confirm the actual memory amount or the memory interface, but it could possibly end up with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit memory interface.

ASRock Launches Radeon RX 7900 XTX Taichi White 24GB OC

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 6th, 2023 07:38 Discuss (9 Comments)

ASRock, the leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, today announced its first white graphics card, the ASRock Radeon RX 7900 XTX Taichi White 24 GB OC. This graphics card is powered by the high-end AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU and features 24 GB GDDR6 memory, as well as ASRock's latest technologies. With outstanding performance and an exquisite white aesthetic, this graphics card is perfect for hardcore gamers and professional creators looking to build a high-performance, white-themed PC.

The new graphics card is built on the groundbreaking AMD RDNA 3 architecture with chiplet technology. AMD RDNA 3 architecture delivers up to 54% more performance-per-watt than AMD RDNA 2, features the world's fastest interconnect linking the graphics and memory system chiplets at up to 5.3 TB/s, and offers up to 96 new unified compute units and second-generation AMD Infinity Cache technology. It also delivers increased AI performance and architected compute units with second-generation ray tracing technology that provides higher ray tracing architectural performance in select titles versus a prior generation AMD graphics card with AMD RDNA 2 architecture.

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Alphacool Unveils Eisblock Full-coverage Blocks for Various RTX 4070 Ti and RX 7900 XTX

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 6th, 2023 06:21 Discuss (0 Comments)

More performance for RTX 4070Ti and RX 7900XTX GPUs! Alphacool expands its range of active water cooling solutions for NVIDIA RTX 4070Ti and AMD RX 7900XTX graphics cards with the new and innovative Eisblock Aurora cooler.

Thanks to the particularly filigree fin structure, the cooling surface has been enlarged and a very good water flow is made possible. The nozzle plate with revised inflow also distributes the water perfectly onto the cooling fins. This effectively dissipates the enormous heat generated by the new graphics card generation with the cooler. The full-surface chrome plating of the copper base not only provides lasting protection against acids, scratches, and damage, but also achieves a beautiful homogeneity and a special shine.

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Global Demand for Notebooks Projected to Grow 11% QoQ in 2Q23

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 6th, 2023 04:28 Discuss (3 Comments)

TrendForce research reveals that global notebook shipments reached 33.9 million units in 1Q23—a 13% QoQ and 39% YoY decline. This drop is primarily attributed to the continued impact of economic headwinds on consumer market confidence, which has hindered notebook channels as they destock. As a result, notebook brands have reduced ODM orders in an attempt to regulate inventory pressure, with this pressure on notebooks and their components expecting to be eased in 2Q23 as channels increase demand MoM. TrendForce predicts this will drive 2Q23 notebook shipments to 37.63 million units, an 11% QoQ increase but a 17.7% YoY decline.

Business markets face pressure, demand for niche products gradually growing
The U.S. Federal Reserve raised the benchmark interest rate a quarter of a percentage point, from 4.75% to 5%—the highest it's been since the eve of the 2007 financial crisis—in response to weak market demand and a continuous decline in corporate revenue. In the face of high financing and borrowing costs, businesses are strictly controlling financial expenditures, delaying procurement plans, and reducing manpower, all of which, impact the shipment volume of commercial models.

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Cervoz Announces High Performance, Industrial-Grade NVMe PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSDs

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 6th, 2023 04:22 Discuss (3 Comments)

Cervoz Technology, a leading supplier of industrial-grade storage and memory solutions, is excited to announce the new NVMe PCIe Gen 4x4 SSDs, the T441. Purposefully designed to cater to the growing automaticity trend of the industry, the T441 is the ideal choice for companies seeking cutting-edge technology in high-performance storage solutions.

Blazing Speeds with High Capacity
The Cervoz T441 SSDs leverage the power of 112-layer 3D TLC NAND flash technology, offering storage capacities of up to 3840 GB in a compact and energy-efficient design. In addition, the high-speed PCIe Gen 4x4 interface enables faster and more efficient data access, with Read/Write speeds of up to 7,100/6,190 MB/s and 4K random IOPS of up to 1,000K. This exceptional performance makes the T441 an ideal solution for applications requiring real-time processing of vast data, such as surveillance, machine vision, and edge AI, as well as those handling massive data sets like CAD, biomedical engineering, and atmospheric sciences.

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Today's Reviews

Cases

• Antec Performance 1 Cowcotland (fr)
• Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh V2 OverClocked Inside (de)

Cooling

• Cooler Master MasterFan MF120 HALO² White Edition Funkykit

Headphones

• NZXT Capsule Mini and the Boom Arm Mini Basic Tutorials (de)

Memory

• Crucial DDR5-5200 32GB Tweaktown
• Team T-Force Vulcan DDR5-6000 EXPO Guru3D

Motherboards

• ASRock Z790 Livemixer Cowcotland (fr)

Storage

• Anker 568 USB4 Type-C Dock Basic Tutorials (de)

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Review - The Best Gaming CPU

Review Processors

AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D is everything that gamers want: eight fast cores, in a single CCD, with 3D VCache stacked on top at a price point of $450. In our review we can confirm that 7800X3D is indeed the fastest gaming CPU available, beating Intel's 13900K and even the 7950X3D.

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Samsung Partners with AMD to Bring Radeon Graphics to their Mobile SoCs

Press Release by

btarunr

Apr 5th, 2023 19:22 Discuss (10 Comments)

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, and AMD today announced they have signed a multi-year agreement extension to bring multiple generations of high-performance, ultra-low-power AMD Radeon graphics solutions to an expanded portfolio of Samsung Exynos SoCs. Through the licensing extension, Samsung will bring console-level graphics quality and optimized power consumption to more mobile devices, offering an incredibly immersive and long-lasting gaming experience.

"Together with AMD, Samsung has been revolutionizing mobile graphics, including our recent collaboration that brought ray tracing capability to mobile processors for the first time in the industry," said Seogjun Lee, executive vice president of Application Processor (AP) Development at Samsung Electronics. "Drawing on our technological know-how in designing ultra-low-power solutions, we will continue to drive ongoing innovation in the mobile graphics space."

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MSI Claims 10% FPS Increase With Ryzen 7 7800X3D and MSI Exclusive Enhanced Mode Boost

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 5th, 2023 14:33 Discuss (21 Comments)

AMD announced today the third processor, Ryzen 7 7800X3D, to the lineup of AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors with AMD 3D V-Cache Technology that will be compatible with all MSI's X670, B650 and A620 motherboards. The new Ryzen 7 7800X3D features 8 cores and 16 threads, 96 MB L3 cache and 120 W TDP as well which is definitely the best value choice for gamers.

At the same time, MSI is pleased to present the extraordinary performance of Ryzen 7 7800X3D, powered by MSI's exclusive BIOS features - Enhanced Mode Boost, High-Efficiency Mode and Memory Context Restore. All MSI 600 series motherboards support these functions with AGESA COMBO PI 1.0.0.6.

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Activision Blizzard Developers Go In-Depth With the Diablo IV Endgame

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 5th, 2023 13:28 Discuss (13 Comments)

Diablo IV Inside the Game: Into the Endgame. Join members of the Diablo IV development team as they pull back the curtain on the experiences waiting for you in the endgame. Welcome, wanderer! Over the course of our new Inside the Game video series, we'll sit down with our resident Diablo IV experts—members of the development team—to walk you through elements of the game.

Our second video in this series, Into the Endgame, is an exploration of the many endgame systems players can continue to grow their character's legend through once the Main Quest has been completed. The endless battle between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells rages on as hatred threatens to consume Sanctuary. With ceaseless demons to slaughter, countless abilities to master, nightmarish Dungeons and Legendary loot, this vast world brings the promise of adventure and devastation.

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Global Law Enforcement Operation Shutters Genesis Market, a Leading Online Market Dealing in Criminality

by

T0@st

Apr 5th, 2023 12:10 Discuss (5 Comments)

Genesis Market, an online-fraud-facilitation website and marketplace, has today been closed by an international joint effort coordinated by various police forces. Law enforcement agencies around the world took part in synchronized raids, including at locations in the UK and USA. 208 searches have been carried out, beginning at dawn on Tuesday 4 April, and a total of 119 suspected individuals have been arrested. This operation was spearheaded by the FBI in the US and the Dutch National Police. Consequently, users of the genesis.market website have been greeted with a boastful message and infographic on the home and login pages: "Operation Cookie Monster. This website has been seized."

Sophos, a leading software and hardware security vendor, has previously identified genesis.market as: "an invitation-only marketplace" from which buyers can acquire stolen credentials, cookies, and digital fingerprints that are gathered from compromised systems." According to the company's research, the illegal marketplace was also identified as an Initial Access Broker (IAB) - a business that compromises systems and services, steals data, and sells it. Genesis Market has special engagement capabilities in the field of illegally acquiring "credentials, cookies, and digital fingerprints". This stolen data was often sold on under individual lots, but the site also offered a longer term supply of data packages via a subscription service. This would offer the customer an up-to-date information trail, be it the tracking of an individual person or a collective.

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No Man's Sky Interceptor Explored in New Trailer, Update Available Today on All Platforms

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 5th, 2023 10:56 Discuss (7 Comments)

INTERCEPTOR: INTRODUCING UPDATE 4.2 - Venture to forsaken Sentinel worlds in update 4.2, INTERCEPTOR! Explore corrupted planets, fight a legion of challenging new robotic guardians, hijack their technology, steal their ships, harvest their resources, destroy their freighters, and much, much more! It's been lovely to watch our players enjoying what Fractal (our first No Man's Sky update of 2023) had to offer and it's been thrilling to watch you all cruising around in your shiny new Utopia Speeders and filling up your Wonders Catalogues with your latest discoveries.

Barely six weeks later and we are delighted to launch another major update for No Man's Sky, and it's one of our largest in recent memory. We're calling Interceptor, with a brand new class of incredibly varied Starship, a bunch of new gameplay features, new world variants and a ton of new content! The ever-present tyrants of universe enforcement, the Sentinels, have become prey to a corruption that is spreading through their factions. Only the bravest Travellers will dare venture to forsaken Sentinel worlds to investigate. Those that do, however, will find abandoned encampments to explore, intriguing crystals to harvest and, for the most persistent, the blueprints for a hitherto undiscovered Sentinel Interceptor starship which come in a huge variety of models.

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Chinese GPU Maker Biren Technology Loses its Co-Founder, Only Months After Revealing New GPUs

by

T0@st

Apr 5th, 2023 10:27 Discuss (4 Comments)

Golf Jiao, a co-founder and general manager of Biren Technology, has left the company late last month according to insider sources in China. No official statement has been issued by the executive team at Biren Tech, and Jiao has not provided any details regarding his departure from the fabless semiconductor design company. The Shanghai-based firm is a relatively new startup - it was founded in 2019 by several former NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Alibaba veterans. Biren Tech received $726.6 million in funding for its debut range of general-purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs), also defined as high-performance computing graphics processing units (HPC GPUs).

The company revealed its ambitions to take on NVIDIA's Ampere A100 and Hopper H100 compute platforms, and last August announced two HPC GPUs in the form of the BR100 and BR104. The specifications and performance charts demonstrated impressive figures, but Biren Tech had to roll back its numbers when it was hit by U.S Government enforced sanctions in October 2022. The fabless company had contracted with TSMC to produce its Biren range, and the new set of rules resulted in shipments from the Taiwanese foundry being halted. Biren Tech cut its work force by a third soon after losing its supply chain with TSMC, and the engineering team had to reassess how the BR100 and BR104 would perform on a process node larger than the original 7 nm design. It was decided that a downgrade in transfer rates would appease the legal teams, and get newly redesigned Biren silicon back onto the assembly line.

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IBM z16 and LinuxONE 4 Get Single Frame and Rack Mount Options

Press Release by

AleksandarK

Apr 5th, 2023 09:56 Discuss (2 Comments)

IBM today unveiled new single frame and rack mount configurations of IBM z16 and IBM LinuxONE 4, expanding their capabilities to a broader range of data center environments. Based on IBM's Telum processor, the new options are designed with sustainability in mind for highly efficient data centers, helping clients adapt to a digitized economy and ongoing global uncertainty.

Introduced in April 2022, the IBM z16 multi frame has helped transform industries with real-time AI inferencing at scale and quantum-safe cryptography. IBM LinuxONE Emperor 4, launched in September 2022, features capabilities that can reduce both energy consumption and data center floor space while delivering the scale, performance and security that clients need. The new single frame and rack mount configurations expand client infrastructure choices and help bring these benefits to data center environments where space, sustainability and standardization are paramount.

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Crusader Kings III: Tours & Tournaments Expansion Arriving in May, Pre-Orders Available Now

Press Release by

T0@st

Apr 5th, 2023 08:38 Discuss (1 Comment)

Life is a journey of chivalric adventure, so why don't you embrace yours, ruler? Create your very own epic story with the major expansion, Crusader Kings III: Tours & Tournaments. Be awed by the sights and events that await you, from bold, mock combat in the jousting area to adventuring perilous wilds with your royal entourage. Don't get too comfortable at court, because some of the greatest stories are out there in the world. Travel your realm, plan great hunts and take part in grand demonstrations of arms in Crusader Kings III: Tours and Tournaments, coming 11 May 2023. Tours and Tournaments is available for pre-order now, and is also part of the Chapter II Crusader Kings pack, with three other upcoming add-ons.

Let wanderlust overtake your ruler's desires during a monumental Tour, and seek out your subjects in a realm that can be both dangerous and richly entertaining. Prove yourself in one of the many forms of gallant Tournaments, either abroad or at home, or use the festivities to murder a quarrelsome rival. Be the host of new Grand Activities, be it grand weddings or stirring falconry hunts. But beware! Many celebrations are the perfect cover for the dastardly scheme against foes… or family.

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Remnant 2 Gets New Trailer Showing Off The World of Yaesha

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 5th, 2023 07:47 Discuss (2 Comments)

Gunfire Games and Gearbox Publishing have released a new trailer for Remnant 2 game, a sequel to Remnant: From the Ashes. The new trailer shows the world of Yaesha, remains in the overgrown ruins of a once-great Pan civilization, fighting back against the forces of the Root.

Remnant 2 is the sequel to the best-selling game Remnant: From the Ashes that pits survivors of humanity against new deadly creatures and god-like bosses across terrifying worlds. Play solo or co-op with two other friends to explore the depths of the unknown to stop an evil from destroying reality itself. To succeed, players will need to rely on their own skills and those of their team to overcome the toughest challenges and to stave off humanity's extinction.

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Magewell Adds Wireless Screen Sharing Inputs to USB Fusion Video Capture and Mixing Device

Press Release by

TheLostSwede

Apr 5th, 2023 07:16 Discuss (0 Comments)

Magewell has dramatically expanded the input source possibilities of its exceptionally flexible USB Fusion video capture and mixing hardware with new support for popular wireless content sharing technologies. The award-winning hardware and accompanying app let users easily combine cameras, wired or wireless screenshares, and media file sources into visually compelling live presentations for streaming, live event production, online lectures, webinars, video conferencing and other applications.

USB Fusion enables producers and presenters to switch between multiple live and file-based sources, or to combine inputs in picture-in-picture or side-by-side layouts. The results can be captured into popular Windows, Mac or Linux software via the hardware's USB 3.0 interface or output over HDMI to a projector, display or downstream production equipment. On-device buttons and a browser-based web interface provide easy operation and configuration, while the free USB Fusion companion app for iOS and Android tablets offers expanded layout controls and advanced presentation tools ranging from playlists and recording to annotations and telestration.

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Intel Issues Discontinuation Notice for Many 11th Gen Core Processors

by

TheLostSwede

Apr 5th, 2023 07:11 Discuss (11 Comments)

Not entirely unexpected, Intel has started to discontinue its 11th Gen Core processors, also known as Tiger Lake. In a product change notification (PCN) the company has listed no less than five mobile and four desktop parts that the company will stop letting its customers order from the end of June this year, with the last shipment taking place at the end of January 2024.

The discontinued range covers everything from Core i3 to Core i9 models and the full range of discontinued models can be found in the screenshot below. It should be noted that the desktop parts are the B SKU parts that were for example found in Intel's NUC 11 Extreme and are 65 W TDP parts. Most of the mobile parts are still available in products being sold, albeit, most of those products being older SKUs that have been replaced by 12th and 13th Gen Core processors by now. None of the products in the PCN were available directly to end consumers to purchase as far as TPU is aware.

Microsoft Officially Announces Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock

Press Release by

GFreeman

Apr 5th, 2023 06:51 Discuss (10 Comments)

Surface products are always designed for versatility - from a laptop with the flexibility of a tablet in the Surface Pro to the Surface Laptop Studio that instantly transitions from powerful laptop to creative canvas, Surface devices let you work the way that best suits your needs. A key part of this versatility is the ability to instantly connect to a desktop setup at home or in the office for expansive work. A single, fast connection that provides access to external monitors and the accessories that customize your office or home workspace helps you to get more done. We are excited to announce the newest Surface Dock, Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock, which extends the support of Thunderbolt 4 connectivity in Surface Pro 9, Surface Laptop 5 and Surface Laptop Studio. The new dock is available for purchase today at Microsoft.com.

Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock is a USB4/Thunderbolt 4 dock that helps maximize workspace, delivers ultra-high speed data transfer and the versatility to connect and charge your most important peripherals. This new accessory also carries forward our continuous commitment to security, sustainability and accessibility.

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