Recent reports suggest that AMD's Zen 5 desktop processors may soon receive a significant power upgrade. The upcoming AGESA 1.2.0.1A Patch A is rumored to increase the default power limits (TDP) from 65 W to 105 W for certain models, specifically the 8-core Ryzen 7 9700X and the 6-core Ryzen 5 9600X. This development comes as a surprise given that the first reviews of the Ryzen 9000 series were published just last week, with lower power consumption praised as a major advantage over previous generations. The potential TDP increase, while not as high as the 120 W initially rumored for the 9700X, still represents a substantial boost in power allocation.

The rationale behind this significant TDP increase appears to be addressing the lower than expected performance of the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X compared to their predecessors. Initial testing showed that both CPUs performed similarly to earlier models, especially in gaming scenarios, with notable improvements only visible when using Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO). Even at 65 W, the Ryzen 7 9700X struggled to outpace the 7800X3D in gaming performance, highlighting the need for improved power delivery.

Expreview, has got hold of information which details NVIDIA's new 9600GT Green Edition GPU. It appears to be nothing more than a BIOS tweak, but as such has resulted in a 37W (39%) drop in power consumption, allowing the card to function without the need of an external power connector. This has resulted in a new board revision number P562. The memory clocks remain the same at 900 MHz, but the core drops to 600 MHz, with 1500 MHz on the shaders. By doing this, NVIDIA have been able to drop the core voltage from 1.1V to 1.0V, most likely providing the biggest saving in power.

NVIDIA Corporation today reported financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 ended October 26, 2008.

For the third quarter of fiscal 2009, revenue was $897.7 million compared to $1.12 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2008, a decrease of 20 percent. For the nine months ended October 26, 2008, revenue increased to $2.94 billion compared to $2.90 billion for the nine months ended October 28, 2007, an increase of 2 percent.

ZOTAC International, a leading manufacturer of NVIDIA-based graphics cards, today is shipping three new NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GSO based graphics cards - the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB, GeForce 9600 GSO 1GB and GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB AMP! Edition. The new ZOTAC GeForce 9600 GSO models usher in a new era of affordable high-performance graphics solutions that are ready to take on the latest Microsoft DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.1 enabled games and NVIDIA CUDA enabled applications. Drawing power from 48 screaming-fast stream processors, the new trio of ZOTAC GeForce 9600 GSO graphics cards will deliver phenomenal visuals and fast frame-rates in the latest 3D games. Powered by NVIDIA's flexible unified architecture, the 48 stream processors are programmable to take on any tasks - whether its gaming or accelerating NVIDIA CUDA-enabled applications.

ZOTAC International, a leading manufacturer of NVIDIA-based graphics cards, today unleashes its new GeForce Synergy Edition graphics card lineup. The new ZOTAC GeForce Synergy Editions deliver the phenomenal gaming experience of NVIDIA's GeForce 9 graphics processors to budget-minded gamers and enthusiasts. Two new GeForce 9-based graphics cards kick off the ZOTAC GeForce Synergy Edition lineup - the GeForce 9800GT Synergy Edition and GeForce 9600GT Synergy Edition - delivering the power of NVIDIA's Unified Architecture, PhysX and PureVideo HD technology to value price points.

Toshiba launched the Qosmio G55-802, the first laptop available with a CELL-design based Co-Processor. The CELL developed jointly by Toshiba, Sony, and IBM comes in a 4-SPE avatar which Toshiba chooses to call Toshiba Quad-Core HD processor. The laptop features a Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P7350 at 2.00 GHz as the primary system processor, certain CPU-intensive tasks such as hardware HD video decode, transcode, etc., are performed by the CELL processor. It also features a NVIDIA GeForce 9600M graphics processor for smooth video playback and exceptional gaming performance. 4 GB of DDR2 800 memory is standard, with the GPU supporting TurboCache for additional video memory. A DVD-SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) with Labelflash (think of it as something similar to LightScribe) drive, 2x 250GB 5400rpm HDDs, and 802.11b/g/n supportive wireless network controller. The chassis features rugged yet stylish matte finish. It tips the scales at 5.4 kg (~ 10.8 lbs), rather heavy. It is priced at US $1549.99. An online brochure can be viewed here. For product details, please visit this page.

AMD is taking the whole concept of a next-generation product flying out of NVIDIA's factory doors with an unnerving level of calm. The main points of a press conference...

• The 9600GT, in benchmarks scores roughly between an HD3850 and an HD3870. The HD3850 can be had for $169USD, and the HD3870 can be had for $189USD. Suggested MSRP for the 9600GT: $169-189USD.
• The current offerings from AMD are more feature rich than the 9600GT. Such features are DirectX 10.1, 55nm manufacturing, and built-in HDCP encoding.
• AMD's offerings currently beat the 9600GT in terms of heat, power consumption and noise.

The validity of the second point can be debated, considering DX10.1 games are still a ways away, and most users are hard-pressed to find the exact difference between DX10.1 and DX10.

According to several graphics manufacturers, the first midrange cards from NVIDIA's GeForce 9 series will start finding themselves on market shelves on February 21st. Please take this with a grain of salt, as the old saying goes, because NVIDIA refused to comment on this, citing that they cannot comment on unreleased products. Keep in mind, also, that only a few makers will be pushing out GeForce 9 cards on the 21st. The early birds will price their cards around US$169-189 MSRP, pushing the cards they are replacing (8600GTS) down to US$139-149 MSRP. For those of you who would like an introduction to the 9600 series...

The 9600 GT adopts a 65nm process and is manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The GPU sees an increase in processing units, 64, and memory bus width, 256-bit, over previous 8600 GTS cards, 32 and 128-bit. The GPU's performance should see an increase of over 40% compared to the 8600 GTS. The new GPU also introduces Dual-Streaming Decode technology which allows two high-definition image decoding processes to be performed at the same time and provides picture in picture (PIP) functionality.