Samsung Electronics today unveiled its 2025 Smart Monitor, Odyssey Gaming Monitor and ViewFinity Monitor lineups, all of which will be on display at Samsung's First Look at CES on January 5. The 2025 models raise the bar for monitors by bringing AI features, industry-first sizes in the OLED market and new form factors that ignite the passions of users worldwide—whether they're working, gaming or creating.

"With the new monitors in our industry-leading lineups, we're giving people more ways to explore the content and connections that they love in new ways," said Hoon Chung, Executive Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. "Because of our new AI capabilities and size options, 2025 will see users across the world find the right monitor that fits them."

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd, the world's leading brand of performance overclock memory and PC components, is thrilled to release new low CAS latency memory kits featuring AMD EXPO overclock profile for the new AMD Ryzen 9000 series processors and performance X870 chipset motherboards. These new specifications include DDR5-6000 CL26 2x16GB/2x32GB kits and 2x 24 GB/2x 48 GB memory kits under the Trident Z5 Royal Neo, Trident Z5 Neo RGB, and Ripjaws M5 RGB Neo series.

Aiming to provide high-performance overclock DDR5 memory for PC enthusiasts, G.SKILL is releasing a new low CAS Latency memory kit at DDR5-6000 CL26-36-36-96 with kit capacity configuration of 32 GB (2x16GB), as well as the world's first 64 GB (2x32GB) kit capacity for this low latency specification. Featuring the AMD EXPO memory overclocking profile, these new specifications are built for selected X870 series motherboards and AMD Ryzen 9000 series processors. The screenshot below demonstrates DDR5-6000 CL26 2x32GB kit's stability under the Memtest memory stress test on the ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E Hero motherboard and AMD Ryzen 9 9900X desktop processor.

ASUS has published the product page for its upcoming ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM gaming monitor, which will go head to head with the MSI MPG272URX on which will hit retail as the first 27-inch 4K 240 Hz display. The PG27UCDM sports a 26.5-inch panel using what ASUS refers to as 4th gen QD-OLED technology, which the company claims offer longer lifespan compared to previous generations of OLED panels. The panel sports typical OLED features such as a 0.03 ms response time, a peak brightness of 1,000 cd/m², 99 percent DCI-P3 colour space coverage and VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black. The display also supports AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and NVIDIA G-Sync compatible, as well as a host of ASUS specific gaming features such as ELMB, GameFast Input Technology, Shadow Bost and a DisplayWidget.

Inputs consist of a DisplayPort 2.1 port with UHBR20 (80 Gbps) support, a USB Type-C with DP-Alt mode and USB PD up to 90 W and a pair of HDMI 2.1 ports. There's also a three port USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) USB hub with what we presume is a USB Type-B input and a headphone jack. The reason for the presumed USB Type-B input, is that the specs claim KVM support and this would only be possible if there was a USB input of some kind, but this isn't mentioned in the tech specs. The stand is your typical higher-end model with tilt, swivel, pivot and height adjustment, as well as ASUS' Aura Sync lighting and a tripod mount at the top. ASUS claims a power consumption of around 80 Watts, although this doesn't include USB PD. A big plus is that ASUS will bundle a DisplayPort 2.1 DP80 cable in the box, something for example Sony decided not to include with their INZONE M9 II which launched in September last year. There's no word on pricing for the ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM, but expect it to be on the expensive side of US$1,000.

Recent sales data (nicely complied by VideoCardz) from one of the largest German retailers, Mindfactory, has revealed that the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor has achieved higher unit sales than all Ryzen 9000 processors combined. Despite its later market entry, the eight-core 9800X3D CPU has reached 8,650 units sold, surpassing the combined sales of the earlier-released standard Ryzen 9000 processors. For comparison, the entire non-X3D Ryzen 9000 lineup, including the Ryzen 9 9950X, 9900X, Ryzen 7 9700X, and Ryzen 5 9600X, has accumulated fewer total sales through the same retailer. The flagship Ryzen 9 9950X alone accounts for just 780 units, while the Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 5 9600X have moved 810 and 890 units, respectively, while the second-best selling 9000 series SKU was Ryzen 7 9700X with 2,510 units sold. However, the 9800X3D's market performance still falls significantly short of its predecessor. The previous generation Ryzen 7 7800X3D maintains a massive lead with 78,420 units sold through the same retailer.

AMD is preparing to expand its X3D lineup with several new models. The six-core Ryzen 5 9600X3D is scheduled for release, along with 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X3D variants expected later this month. Based on previous generation sales patterns, where higher-core models saw lower adoption rates, these upcoming high-end processors may face similar market dynamics. Of course, these sales figures are only a part of the story as Mindfactory is only a single retailer across a diverse set of sellers, so the complete market picture is unknown to anyone but AMD. PC upgrade cycles are a common bottleneck in new CPU sales, especially as consumers don't tend to upgrade their PCs every year with new CPUs and platforms. We have to wait and see how the market adapts to new X3D SKUs, and if the Zen 5 X3D CPUs can reach the previous generation fame among consumers.

AMD is expected to have a rather lean lineup of next-generation gaming GPUs powered by the RDNA 4 graphics architecture. The series is expected to debut at AMD's 2025 International CES keynote address, with product launches of the series-leading Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 performance-segment GPUs later this month. The RX 9070 should be available by late-January, although add-in board partners from China expect availability to ramp in February 2025. The series will see expansion with more announcements in March.

The RDNA 4 generation is driven mainly by two chips—the larger "Navi 48," and the smaller "Navi 44." The "Navi 48" will power the RX 9070 series, which are performance-segment and designed to compete with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 series; but cut-down variants of the chip are also expected to power certain upper mid-range SKUs that go up against the RTX 5060 series. The "Navi 44" chip is expected to power certain high performance/price SKUs in the mid-range, which AMD will use to target price-points well under the $300-mark. This segment is expected to heat up as NVIDIA has current-generation RTX 4060 series, Intel just made a stab with the Arc B580, and is expected to launch a faster Arc B700-series SKU based on a maxed-out "BMG-G21" silicon.

Earlier today, ASUS uploaded a first sneak peek of several upcoming AMD AM5 motherboards—which we assume will feature the B850 and B840 chipsets—which according to the post on Facebook, will be launching within a couple of weeks. The boards will most likely be on display at CES, which kicks off on the 7th of January. The picture is obfuscated for obvious reasons, but what is clear is that there will be several different SKUs from all of ASUS' typical sub-brands such as TUF Gaming and ROG.

What we can also make out is that there will be at least one Mini-ITX board and one micro-ATX board, with the latter being the TUF Gaming branded board. We tried to clean up the picture a bit, but ASUS has managed to hide all details of possible models names and most of the text is kind of hard to make out. Nothing really sticks out in terms of features, although it's clear we'll end up seeing some higher-end B850 boards, judging by the fact that there are at least three ROG Strix SKUs coming. The question is if there's a market for these boards, considering the B850 chipset is pretty much the same as the B650E chipset, but with optional PCIe 5.0 support for the M.2 slots and no USB4, unlike its X870 counterpart.

Update Jan 1st: ASUS posted a picture of their upcoming mid-range Intel boards on Facebook as well, but as with the AMD boards, ASUS obfuscated the image, although not quite as badly this time around. For its Intel lineup, there's also a lower-end Prime board included, in addition to the TUF Gaming and ROG Strix boards. ASUS didn't reveal any launch window for the Intel boards.

AMD will continue using traditional PCI Express power connectors for its upcoming Radeon RX 9000 series RDNA 4 graphics cards, according to recent information shared on the Chiphell forum. While there were some expectations that AMD would mimic NVIDIA's approach, which requires the newer 16-pin 12V-2×6 connector for its GeForce RTX 50 series, the latest information suggests a more traditional power approach. While AMD plans to release its next generation of graphics cards in the first quarter, most technical details remain unknown. The company's choice to stick with standard power connectors follows the pattern set by their recent Radeon RX 7900 GRE, which demonstrated that conventional PCI Express connectors can adequately handle power demands up to 375 W. The standard connectors eliminate the need for adapters, a feature AMD could highlight as an advantage. An earlier leak suggested that the Radeon RX 9070 XT can draw up to 330 W of power at peak load.

Intel reportedly cited similar reasons for using standard power connectors in their Arc "Battlemage" graphics cards, suggesting broader industry support for maintaining existing connection standards. NVIDIA's different approach reportedly requires all board partners to use the 12V-2×6 connector for the RTX 50 series, removing the option for traditional PCI Express power connectors. In contrast, AMD's decision gives its manufacturing partners more flexibility in their design choices, and MBA (Made by AMD) reference cards don't enforce the new 12V-2×6 power connector standard. Beyond the power connector details and general release timeframe pointing to CES, AMD has revealed little about the RDNA 4 architecture's capabilities. Only the reference card's physical appearance and naming scheme appear to be finalized, leaving questions about performance specifications unanswered, as early underwhelming performance leaks are somewhat unreliable until final drivers and final optimizations land.

The "Navi 48" silicon powering AMD's next-generation Radeon RX 9070 series could feature AV1 hardware-accelerated encoding with support for AV1 B-Frames. In video compression, a B-frame is an intermediate frame that lacks image information, but has motion-vector and other data from the previous and next image frames (or I-frames), which helps the decoder reconstruct the image component of the frame based on temporal frame data. This is compute-intensive, but greatly reduces file-size or bitrate of the stream, as almost every other frame lacks image information. Support for AV1 B-Frame hardware-accelerated encode was sniffed out by HXL in a recent commit to one of the SDKs AMD maintains in a public repository through its GPUOpen initiative.

AMD's Radeon RX 9000 series generation powered by the RDNA 4 graphics architecture will be based almost entirely on two chips, the "Navi 48" and "Navi 44," with the latter powering mainstream and mid-range SKUs; while the former powers performance-segment ones. There is no enthusiast-segment chip this time around. The "Navi 48" is expected to feature a more advanced video encode/decode hardware than the one RDNA 3.5 comes with; and AV1 is likely to get the bulk of development as the royalty-free codec gains popularity with online video streaming services. It remains to be seen if next-generation architectures like RDNA 4 or NVIDIA's "Blackwell" support acceleration for VVC.

LG Electronics (LG) is reinforcing its leadership in premium OLED gaming monitors with the LG UltraGear GX9 series, set to be unveiled at CES 2025 this January. The new lineup includes the 45GX990A - winner of three CES 2025 Innovation Awards, including the prestigious 'Best of Innovation' - and an all-in-one smart gaming monitor powered by LG webOS. These accolades underscore LG's commitment to delivering advanced, high-quality gaming solutions. With the GX9 series, LG continues to demonstrate its leadership in cutting-edge technology and gaming monitor innovation.

To ensure maximum gaming immersion, all UltraGear GX9 series models feature curved display panels employing LG's advanced WOLED technology. These screens offer high brightness, true blacks, stunning colors and optimized curvature; a combination that brings games to life and draws users deeper into the exhilarating action of their favorite titles. Certified for low blue light emissions, the GX9 series provides a more comfortable experience, reducing eye strain during extended gaming sessions. In addition, LG's Anti-Glare & Low Reflection (AGLR) coating minimizes screen reflections and glare, making it easier for gamers to see everything that's happening on screen, even in brighter rooms.

In the first week of the 2025 International CES, Intel and AMD are expected to expand their desktop processor product stacks, with the introduction of 65 W models; and with them, more affordable motherboard chipset models. AMD is expected to launch the AMD B850 and AMD B840; while Intel debuts the Intel B860 and H810. Board Channels, a site that tracks hardware launches at the retail channel level, says that AMD is expected to set January 15 as the market availability date for motherboards based on the AMD B850 and B840. The chipset will be announced at AMD's January 7th event.

Meanwhile, Intel is expected to announce its mid-range Intel B860 and entry-level Intel H810 on its own event slated for January 7, but with product availability on January 13. The AMD B850 is essentially a rebadged B650, but motherboard vendors can optionally enable Gen 5 PEG instead of Gen 4, at which point the platform would essentially be an AMD X870, but without the mandatory discrete USB4 host controller. The AMD B850 supports CPU overclocking. The AMD B840 lacks this, and is functionally similar to the AMD B550 chipset from the Socket AM4 platform, except that it lacks CPU overclocking support. Meanwhile, the Intel B860 is expected to feature a similar I/O as the Intel B760 from the Socket LGA1700 platform. The H810 is expected to be a lean entry-level option. Both the Intel B860 and H810 are expected to lack CPU overclocking support, but the B860 probably retains memory overclocking capability.

NVIDIA and AMD have launched an acceleration of their next-generation GPU production and shipping schedules, racing to beat impending Trump administration tariffs that could inflate prices by up to 60%. The companies are prioritizing delivery to US warehouses before January 20, when the new trade measures are supposed to take effect. This aggressive timeline represents a significant departure from traditional GPU rollout strategies, which typically maintain controlled production rates during initial manufacturing phases. The urgent push aims to protect both consumer prices and profit margins, with manufacturers breaking from their usual conservative supply approach to ensure maximum inventory reaches American shores before the tariff deadline. NVIDIA is boosting shipments of its next-gen GeForce RTX 50 series, while AMD is busy with Radeon RX 9000 series.

The impact of these tariffs could reshape the GPU market prices, with flagship products like NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 potentially seeing price increases from the rumored $1,799 to approximately $2,500. Following similar moves by Microsoft, Dell, and HP, this strategic rush to beat tariff implementation shows the technology sector's response to evolving trade policies. These price hikes could trigger a surge in the secondary GPU market as consumers seek more affordable options. While manufacturers work to shield customers from immediate price impacts through pre-tariff stockpiling, the long-term outlook for GPU pricing and availability remains uncertain as the industry adapts to these new trade dynamics. Increasing the prices dramatically will result in a rapid fall in demand, so the supply chain is working overtime to assess and address the potential tariff issue.

Recent engineering samples of AMD's upcoming Ryzen 9 9950X3D reveal what appear to be the finalized specifications of the top-tier AM5 chip. The 16-core, 32-thread processor builds upon the gaming success of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D while addressing its core count limitations. The flagship processor features AMD's refined cache design, combining 96 MB of 3D V-Cache with 32 MB of standard L3 cache. Unlike its predecessor, the 7950X3D, the new Zen 5 architecture incorporates a redesigned CCD stacking method. The CCD now sits above the cache, directly interfacing with the STIM and IHS, eliminating thermal constraints that previously required frequency limitations. The processor features asymmetric cache distribution across its dual CCDs—one die combines 32 MB of base L3 cache with a 64 MB stacked V-Cache layer, while its companion die utilizes a standard 32 MB L3 cache configuration. In total, there is a 128 MB of L3 cache, with 16 MB of L2.

This architectural advancement enables the 9950X3D to achieve a 5.65 GHz boost clock across both CCDs, matching non-X3D variants. The processor maintains a 170 W TDP, suggesting improved thermal efficiency despite the additional cache. AMD's software-based OS scheduler will continue to optimize gaming workloads by directing them to the CCD with 3D V-Cache. Early leaks indicate the 9950X3D matches the base 9950X in Cinebench R23 scores, both in single and multi-threaded tests—a significant improvement over the 7950X3D, which lagged behind its non-X3D counterpart due to frequency limitations. AMD plans to expand the Zen 5 X3D lineup in Q1-2025 with both the 9950X3D and 9900X3D models. Full performance benchmarks and pricing details are expected at CES 2025, where AMD will officially unveil these processors alongside their RDNA 4 GPUs.

AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card can boost its engine clock up to 3.10 GHz, a new leak that surfaced on ChipHell says. Depending on the board design, its total board power can reach up to 330 W, the leak adds. The GPU should come with a very high base frequency for the engine clock, with the leaker claiming a 2.80 GHz base frequency (can be interpreted as Game clocks), with the GPU boosting itself up to 3.10 GHz when the power and thermals permit. The RX 9070 XT will be the fastest graphics card from AMD to be based on its next-generation RDNA 4 graphics architecture. The company isn't targeting the enthusiast segment with this card, but rather the performance segment, where it is expected to go up against NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5070 series.

RDNA 4 is expected to introduce massive generational gains in ray tracing performance, as AMD is rumored to have significantly developed its ray tracing hardware, to reduce the performance cost of ray tracing. However, as it stands, the "Navi 48" silicon that the RX 9070 XT is based on, is still a performance-segment chip, which succeeds the "Navi 32" and "Navi 22," with a rumored compute unit count of 64, or 4,096 stream processors. Performance-related rumors swing wildly. One set of rumors say that the card's raster graphics performance is in league of the RX 7900 GRE but with ray tracing performance exceeding that of the RX 7900 XTX; while another set of rumors say it beats the RX 7900 XT in raster performance, and sneaks up on the RTX 4080. We'll know for sure in about a month's time.

Here are some of the first pictures of ASRock's upcoming Live Mixer series motherboards based on mid-range chipsets from AMD and Intel. The Live Mixer brand of motherboards has a similar positioning in ASRock's product stack as Steel Legend, but with a variation in product design, and a mid-range onboard audio solution that uses audio codecs such as the ALC1200 or ALC4080. There's nothing that particularly stands out in this audio solution (no fancy amp circuits or exotic I/O). The B850 Live Mixer Wi-Fi is an ATX board based on the AMD B850 chipset. This is essentially a re-brand of the popular B650, but with out-of-the-box support for the latest Ryzen 9000 series processors, including the 9000X3D series. The board offers three M.2 NVMe slots, one of which is Gen 5, and the others Gen 4. The WLAN solution is very likely Wi-Fi 6E.

Next up, is the ASRock B860 Live Mixer Wi-Fi. This Socket LGA1851 motherboard is based on Intel's mid-range chipset for its "Arrow Lake" processors, the Intel B860. Much like the previous generation B760, it is expected to lack CPU overclocking support. This board visually looks a lot similar to its AMD B850-based sibling, you could almost confuse the two if you're not looking at the CPU socket. You get three M.2 NVMe slots here, too; one of which is Gen 5, and doesn't eat into the x16 PEG slot. We expect this board to offer Wi-Fi 6E, just like the B850 Live Mixer Wi-Fi. Lastly, there's the B860M Live Mixer Wi-Fi, a Micro-ATX variant of this board, with mostly the same feature-set, it's just that the third M.2 slot is without a heatsink; and the second PCIe slot is physically x8 instead of x16, which shouldn't matter since the slot is likely electrical x4 on both motherboard models. Intel and AMD are expected to debut the B850 and B860 in January.

Recent benchmark leaks have revealed that AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics card may not deliver the groundbreaking performance initially hoped for by enthusiasts. According to leaked 3DMark Time Spy results shared by hardware leaker @All_The_Watts, the RDNA 4-based GPU achieved a graphics score of 22,894 points. The benchmark results indicate that the RX 9070 XT performs only marginally better than AMD's current RX 7900 GRE, showing a mere 2% improvement. It falls significantly behind the RX 7900 XT, which maintains almost a 17% performance advantage over the new card. These findings contradict earlier speculation that suggested the RX 9070 XT would compete directly with NVIDIA's RTX 4080.

However, synthetic benchmarks tell only part of the story. The GPU's real-world gaming performance remains to be seen, and rumors indicate that the RX 9070 XT may offer significantly improved ray tracing capabilities compared to its RX 7000 series predecessors. This could be crucial for market competitiveness, particularly given the strong ray tracing performance of NVIDIA's RTX 40 and the upcoming RTX 50 series cards. The success of the RX 9070 XT depends on how well it can differentiate itself through features like ray tracing while maintaining an attractive price-to-performance ratio in an increasingly competitive GPU market. We expect these scores not to be the final tale in the AMD RDNA 4 story, as we must wait and see what AMD delivers during CES. Third-party reviews and benchmarks will give the final verdict in the RDNA 4 market launch.

AMD's client computing division is expected to have an action-packed 2025 International CES. On the CPU front, the company is expected to expand its Ryzen 9000X3D family with high-core count models, such as the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D. It is also expected to introduce certain power-efficient 65 W models of its non-X3D Ryzen 9000 series "Zen 5" chips, which serve as value options within this processor generation, to try and lure buyers off the 65 W Intel Core Ultra "Arrow Lake-S" models. On the gaming graphics side, the company is expected to debut its Radeon RX 9000 series, led by the RX 9070 XT and RX 9070, both of which are based on the "Navi 48" silicon, and powered by the RDNA 4 graphics architecture.

That's not all, AMD is also expected to announce the new FSR 4 technology for gamers. Leaks describe FSR 4 as being a performance enhancement that's a generation ahead of FSR 3.x. While FSR 3.x combines super-resolution based performance enhancement, and algorithmic frame-generation that nearly doubles framerates; FSR 4 is expected to be AMD's first performance enhancement to incorporate AI to not just enhance the visual detail in super-resolution, but also to improve accuracy of frame-generation. At this point, it is not known if FSR 4 will be available as a feature at launch of the Radeon RX 9070 series. VideoCardz reports that the early-January announcements could be followed by late-January availability of the hardware.

The battle of AI acceleration in the data center is, as most readers are aware, insanely competitive, with NVIDIA offering a top-tier software stack. However, AMD has tried in recent years to capture a part of the revenue that hyperscalers and OEMs are willing to spend with its Instinct MI300X accelerator lineup for AI and HPC. Despite having decent hardware, the company is not close to bridging the gap software-wise with its competitor, NVIDIA. According to the latest report from SemiAnalysis, a research and consultancy firm, they have run a five-month experiment using Instinct MI300X for training and benchmark runs. And the findings were surprising: even with better hardware, AMD's software stack, including ROCm, has massively degraded AMD's performance.

"When comparing NVIDIA's GPUs to AMD's MI300X, we found that the potential on paper advantage of the MI300X was not realized due to a lack within AMD public release software stack and the lack of testing from AMD," noted SemiAnalysis, breaking down arguments in the report further, adding that "AMD's software experience is riddled with bugs rendering out of the box training with AMD is impossible. We were hopeful that AMD could emerge as a strong competitor to NVIDIA in training workloads, but, as of today, this is unfortunately not the case. The CUDA moat has yet to be crossed by AMD due to AMD's weaker-than-expected software Quality Assurance (QA) culture and its challenging out-of-the-box experience."

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D launched this November remains the fastest processor for PC gaming, but with just an 8-core/16-thread configuration, its performance in multithreaded productivity pales in comparison to the alternatives, including from AMD's own camp, such as the Ryzen 9 7950X3D. The company is planning to expand the Zen 5 X3D line of desktop processors in Q1-2025, with the introduction of its high core-count Ryzen 9 series SKUs, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, and the Ryzen 9 9900X3D. HXL, a reliable source with hardware leaks, says that the Ryzen 9 X3D SKUs will lack the kind of "frequency debuff" we've seen with the older generation Ryzen 9 X3D chips such as the 7950X3D and 7900X3D.

On the 7950X3D, only one of the two 8-core CCDs comes with 3D V-Cache, the other is a regular CCD with 32 MB on-die L3 cache. The CCD with the 3D V-Cache has its frequency "debuffed" compared to the other CCD, mainly to deal with the thermal limitations of the way the 3D V-Cache is stacked on top of the CCD. With the Ryzen 9000 X3D generation, AMD has redesigned this CCD + L3D stacking such that the CCD is now above, directly interfacing with the STIM and IHS; with no conductive structural silicon along the way. This means that the CCD now thermally behaves like a regular Zen 5 CCD; and for this reason, not only will the CCD with 3D V-Cache on the 9950X3D/9900X3D have the same clock speeds and boosting behavior as the one without 3D V-Cache; but also the 9950X3D and 9900X3D are expected to ship with similar, if not identical clock speeds to the 9950X and 9900X.

AMD's interim RDNA 3.5 architecture will power the Radeon RX 8000 series integrated graphics in "Strix Halo" mobile processors, while the more advanced RDNA 4 architecture is reserved for the higher-tier Radeon RX 9000 series of discrete graphics, according to @9550pro on X. We previously believed that AMD's Ryzen AI MAX 300 Strix Halo processors would carry an iGPU with Radeon 8000S branding. However, at the same time, we expected the Radeon RX 8000 series of desktop GPUs to have a similar branding while being powered by RDNA 4. The new Radeon naming scheme is now transparent, thanks to the latest leaks of the naming schemes and early glimpses of reference design.

The RDNA 4-based RX 9000 series will be powered by the Radeon RX 9070 XT, built on the Navi 48 silicon. This GPU represents AMD's new focus on the high-volume midrange performance segment rather than competing in the ultra-enthusiast high-end space. The architecture promises enhanced SIMD IPC performance and a specialized ray tracing solution that significantly reduces performance overhead compared to current offerings. According to All The Watts, the RX 9000 lineup is expected to include various SKUs across different performance tiers, including the RX 9060, 9050, and 9040 series. Meanwhile, the RDNA 3.5-powered RX 8000 series will serve as a refined iteration of the current RDNA 3 generation. Still, they will be exclusive to AMD's mobile segment in the form of iGPU, integrated inside Strix Halo APU. Both RDNA 4 GPUs and RDNA 3.5-based APUs are scheduled for the CES 2025 event unveiling in January.

It turns out that the Radeon RX 8800 XT, the top SKU in AMD's next generation gaming GPU series, is actually named the Radeon RX 9070 XT. European computer hardware retailer may have leaked the name, along with that of the Radeon RX 9070 (non-XT), ahead of its January 2025 reveal. The two cards appeared in the store's search filters, where it was screengrabbed by enthusiasts. The RX 9070 XT is what was supposed to be the RX 8800 XT; while the RX 9070 is the RX 8800. Extrapolating this, the series could include the RX 9060 series, the RX 9050 series, and the RX 9040 series, says All The Watts.

What prompted this change in nomenclature probably has to do with the company's decision to withdraw from the enthusiast segment of gaming GPUs. While the RX 9070 XT technically succeeds the RX 7800 XT, a performance-segment, 1440p-class SKU, the company wouldn't want its product stack to have a "void" left by the lack of an "RX 8900 series." The company also took the opportunity to skip the RX 8000 series altogether, which probably give it room to rebadge some SKUs from the RX 7000 series over to the RX 8000 series. The RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 are based on the "Navi 48" silicon, and implement the RDNA 4 graphics architecture.

These are possibly the first pictures of the reference-design AMD Radeon RX 8800 XT graphics card. The pics surfaced on Reddit by a user who claimed to have access to an investor presentation that features images of the card placed next to an AMD Ryzen 9 PIB retail box. The card's design looks quite similar to MSI's Ventus 3X—a silver baseplate frames inlets to a triple fan setup, which cools a heatsink underneath. This is a fairly large card, roughly the size of a reference RX 7900 XT. The dark background accent which the silver plate contrasts, features a front-facing illuminated Radeon logo. This card is designed to look better when installed in a vertical slot, than it is with a standard installation.

The Radeon RX 8800 XT is expected to be the fastest SKU available from the generation, as AMD has ceded the enthusiast segment to focus on high-volume performance and mainstream market segments. The RX 8800 XT is based on the "Navi 48" silicon, and is powered by the RDNA 4 graphics architecture. Besides incorporating many of the graphics stack enhancements RDNA 3.5 introduced over RDNA 3, RDNA 4 is expected to improve the SIMD IPC, and come with a highly specialized ray tracing hardware solution that reduces the performance cost of ray tracing. It is also expected to implement a newer foundry node.

Update 15:43 UTC: It's likely that this card is called "Radeon RX 9070 XT," read our newer report for more.

Last week, we reported on a massive leak that gave us a glimpse at a surfeit of upcoming ROG gaming laptops from ASUS boasting Arrow Lake-HX and Strix Halo processors, along with RTX 50-series Laptop GPUs. The company has now gone ahead and officially teased its ROG Flow Z13 laptop and the ROG Strix 18 laptop, the videos for which were obtained by VideoCardz. Considering that these were just teasers, the details shared were sparse, but undoubtedly intriguing regardless.

The ROG Strix 18, will likely boast the Core Ultra 9 285HX and Core Ultra 9 275HX CPUs along with NVIDIA "Blackwell" Laptop GPUs, with up to an 175-watt RTX 5090 Laptop with 16 GB of GDDR7 VRAM. Multiple other GPU options will also be available, with the RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU being the entry-point as per the leaked listings. Clearly, the Strix 18 is poised to be a powerful and power-hungry desktop replacement-class laptop, along with a massive 18-inch mini LED screen with a speedy 240 Hz refresh rate. Needless to say, the G18 has no intention of being affordable.

Intel has announced it will not proceed with X86S, an experimental instruction set architecture that aims to simplify its processor design by removing legacy support for older 32-bit and 16-bit operating modes. The decision comes after gathering feedback from the technology ecosystem on a draft specification that was released for evaluation. The x86, and its 64-bit x86-64 we use today, is a giant cluster of specifications that contains so many instructions rarely anyone can say with precision how many are there. All of this stems from the era of original 8086 processor, which has its own 16-bit instructions. Later on we transitioned to 32, then 64-bit systems with all have brought their own specific instructions. Adding support for processing of vector, matrix, and other data types has increased the ISA specification so much that no one outside a few select engineers at Intel (and AMD) understands in full. From that x86S idea was born to solve the issue of supporting legacy systems and legacy code, and moving on to the x86S ISA, where "S" stands for simplified.

The X86S proposal included several notable modifications, such as eliminating support for rings 1 and 2 in the processor's protection model, removing 16-bit addressing capabilities, and discontinuing legacy interrupt controller support. These changes would have potentially reduced hardware complexity and modernized the platform's architecture. A key feature of the proposed design was a simplified boot process that would have allowed processors to start directly in 64-bit mode, eliminating the current requirement for systems to boot through various legacy modes before reaching 64-bit operation. The architecture also promised improvements in handling modern features like 5-level paging. "Intel will continue to maintain its longstanding commitment to software compatibility," the company stated in the official document on its website, acknowledging that the x86S dream is over.

OneXPlayer has pulled back the veil on its G1 gaming notebook, and the product sure does look intriguing. Calling it a notebook might not even be fair, considering that its 8.8-inch display barely exceeds tablet territory. However, for lovers of compact gaming systems and handhelds, the G1 looks like it ticks many boxes, and its detachable keyboard is undoubtedly a welcome addition.

The system is powered by AMD's 12-core Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix Point" APU with 4 Zen 5 and 8 Zen 5c cores, along with a powerful Radeon 890M iGPU with 16 CUs based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture. The aforementioned 8.8-inch display is quite the looker as well, featuring a 2.5K resolution with a speedy 144 Hz refresh rate. At least on paper, it appears that the OneXPlayer G1 leaves very little room for complaint.

AMD's upcoming Ryzen AI Kraken Point APUs appear to be affordable APUs for next-generation thin-and-light laptops and potentially even some gaming handhelds. Murmurings of these new APUs have been going around for quite some time, but a PassMark benchmark was just posted, giving us a pretty comprehensive look at the hardware configuration for the upcoming Ryzen AI 7 350. While the CPU configuration in the PassMark result confirms the 4+4 configuration we reported on previously, it seems as though the iGPU portion of the new Ryzen AI 7 is getting something of a downgrade compared to previous generations.

While all previous mobile Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 APUs have featured the Radeon -80M or -90M series iGPUs, the Ryzen AI 7 350 steps down to the AMD Radeon 860M. Although not much is known about the new iGPU, it uses the same nomenclature as the Radeon iGPUs found in previous Ryzen 5 APUs, suggesting it is the less performant of the new 800 series iGPUs. This would be the first time, at least since the introduction of the Ryzen branding, that a Ryzen 7 CPU will use a cut-down iGPU. This, along with the 4+4 (Zen 5 and Zen 5c) heterogenous architecture, suggests that this Ryzen 7 APU will prioritize battery life and thermal performance, likely in response to Qualcomm's recent offerings. Comparing the 760M to the single 860M benchmark on PassMark reveals similar performance, with the 860M actually falling behind the average 760M by an average of 9.1%. Take this with a grain of salt, though, since there is only one benchmark result on PassMark for the 860M.