AMD Radeon RX 9070 graphics card has dipped below its MSRP for the first time since launch, according to a price tracker by ComputerBase. One of Germany's largest online retailers, Alternate, is offering the XFX Radeon RX 9070 Quicksilver OC for €613, undercutting AMD's MSRP target of €629. This marks the first time since launch that consumers can purchase the card at a sub-MSRP rate. When the Radeon RX 9070 and its faster sibling, the RX 9070 XT, debuted in early March, both models briefly sold at their intended MSRPs of €629 and €689, respectively. Soon after, retail prices surged, and the cheapest listings for non-XT SKU remained around €649, €20 above MSRP, for weeks.

The card features a factory OC, boosting the base clock by 8% to 1,440 MHz, the game clock by 7% to 2,210 MHz, and the boost clock by 7% to 2,700 MHz, while the memory clock runs at an effective 20.1 Gbps. A ComputerBase pricing bot dedicated to tracking Radeon RX 9000 series fluctuations finally displayed the offer after an earlier error had prevented listing. Meanwhile, the RX 9070 XT remains priced above €700, with no comparable sub-MSRP listings. Enthusiasts hoping for a similar price drop on the XT variant will need to wait and monitor whether other retailers follow Alternate's example or if further price adjustments occur in the coming weeks. If you see a good deal, it may not be there for long, so act swiftly!

AMD's Radeon RX 9070 16 GB graphics card design launched along with a more capable and popular XT sibling, three months ago. Since then, the first wave of RDNA 4 desktop gaming products have hovered above suggested price baselines—much to the chagrin of brand champions. Yesterday, Germany's ComputerBase highlighted a brief fluctuation in elevated trends. Team Red's general European MSRP—for Radeon RX 9070 cards—is €629, including VAT. A price fluctuation report observed (on June 3): "Alternate.de is currently selling an XFX QuickSilver RX 9070 OC Gaming Edition for the first time at €613 (inc. VAT), thus below the MSRP. The (ComputerBase) editorial team was alerted to this by the community, and the bot for prices and availability for Radeon RX 9000 now also show this offer." Naturally, graphics connoisseur will scoff at this unusually low offer—after all, a mild upcharge grants access to the superior Radeon RX 9070 XT tier (MSRP: €689). The slightly cheaper option does have supporters; mainly due to its more energy efficient operation.

Members of the HotUKDeals community have become obsessed with finding deep graphics card discounts; a lucky few have boasted about acquiring current-gen AMD-based flagships at well below recommended price points. Several discerning customers have taken advantage of anomalous listings, and roundabout utilization of various eBay promotion codes. Pleasingly, a dual-fan Sapphire PULSE RX 9070 16 GB model floated just below British MSRP (£569.99, inc. VAT). Amazon UK's stock—of this barebones option—was quickly depleted, thanks to a tempting £10 reduction. Until the emergence of a current-gen Great Radeon Edition (GRE) design, (generally) AMD's Radeon RX 9070 model was considered an odd duck. A permanent price cut could raise its profile in the future.

At Computex 2025, ASRock deliberated over the problems that have plagued certain AMD 800-series motherboard models. Fatal combinations—usually affecting popular Ryzen 7 9800X3D gaming CPUs—have been highlighted by sections of the PC hardware community, and (subsequently) press outlets. Months ago, the Taiwanese mainboard manufacturer's Japanese branch took a combative stance (in response to widespread criticism). Following continued failures of Team Red "Granite Ridge" desktop processors on "mid-to-high-end" ASRock mainboards—even in non-3D V-Cache guises—company representatives have interacted with key media conduits, including Tech YES City's Bryan Bilowol. Coinciding with the release of fresh BIOS fixes, long-form video coverage of Q&A sessions have turned up on YouTube.

Company reps have alluded to a warranty replacement scheme, but full details were not disclosed during May-time Computex proceedings. Many critics are still waiting for an official company statement; hopefully addressed to a global audience. In the meantime, one regional office has weighed in with some much-needed outreach: "ASRock Korea takes the recent AMD 800 series motherboard issues experienced by some users very seriously and will follow up with you to protect your trust. ASRock is continuously monitoring the performance and stability of the platform and will provide a firmware update as soon as possible if any issues are identified. In addition, if the system you are using is damaged due to this issue, we will take responsible measures for both the CPU and the motherboard distributed through the official domestic importer, and please submit the case through ASRock Korea's official distributor for diagnosis and processing. ASRock Korea will continue to listen to the voices of our customers and do our best to remain a trusted brand." This message was posted on Quasar Zone; a high-traffic PC hardware forum. A good number of manufacturers have responded to cases raised by members of this South Korean community.

At AMD, we're committed to building a high-performance, open AI software ecosystem that empowers developers and drives innovation. Today, we're excited to take another step forward with the acquisition of Brium, a team of world-class compiler and AI software experts with deep expertise in machine learning, AI inference, and performance optimization. Brium brings advanced software capabilities that strengthen our ability to deliver highly optimized AI solutions across the entire stack. Their work in compiler technology, model execution frameworks, and end-to-end AI inference optimization will play a key role in enhancing the efficiency and flexibility of our AI platform.

This acquisition strengthens our foundation for long-term innovation. It reflects our strategic commitment to AI, particularly to the developers who are building the future of intelligent applications. It is also the latest in a series of targeted investments, following the acquisitions of Silo AI, Nod.ai, and Mipsology, that together advance our ability to support the open-source software ecosystem and deliver optimized performance on AMD hardware.

Delivering a good visual experience on mobile devices remains a significant engineering challenge: limited GPU power, stricter memory bandwidth, and tighter thermal constraints all threaten to undermine the game's signature smooth frame rates and high-fidelity visuals. To combat these challenges, Epic Games is partnering with Arm to integrate Arm's Accuracy Super Resolution (ASR) upscaling technology into Fortnite Mobile, also being the first ASR-enhanced title. Rather than overhauling Fortnite's existing rendering pipeline, Epic is embedding ASR through a dedicated Unreal Engine 5 plug-in, which will be compatible with both Android and iOS devices. By leveraging a temporal upscaling approach, which is rooted in AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 framework, ASR analyzes multiple frames to reconstruct a higher-quality image.

Early demonstrations at GDC 2025 showed that devices using Arm's Immortalis-G720 GPU can achieve up to a 53% increase in frame rates while reducing power consumption by approximately 20%. Consequently, gamers can look forward to longer play sessions without worrying about overheating or excessive battery drain. For Fortnite players, ASR's integration translates into noticeably sharper textures in fast-paced encounters, crisper detail when surveying distant environments, and fewer visible artifacts overall. Importantly, these improvements are achieved without sacrificing artistic intent: Epic's artists and engineers retain full control over color accuracy and visual effects, even as the game renders at a lower internal resolution. Tests in collaboration with MediaTek further confirmed similar power savings on Dimensity 9300 chipsets, addressing one of the most pressing mobile concerns: battery life.

Early indications of AMD's next-generation Ryzen processors have surfaced as AIDA64's newest beta release adds initial support for Ryzen 10000 "Zen 6" desktop, server, and mobile chips. The update was noted by X user HXL, suggesting that AMD has quietly shared basic specifications with developers of hardware monitoring software. Looking back, AIDA64 tends to announce chip support almost a year before official launches, so these new processors may not appear until Computex 2026. Leaks from March 2025 suggest that AMD's Zen 6 desktop lineup, currently codenamed Medusa Ridge, will remain compatible with the existing AM5 socket. This news should please PC enthusiasts because it means many users will not have to replace their motherboards when upgrading. Reports indicate that Medusa Ridge CPUs may include 12-core chiplet dies, marking a step forward from previous architectures.

These chips are expected to be manufactured using TSMC's N3P process, which is designed to deliver improved power efficiency and higher frequencies. Additionally, a Zen 6-based X3D series is likely to feature a 3D V-Cache, targeting gamers. A model like the Ryzen 7 10800X3D could follow the success of the 9800X3D by offering strong performance at its price. On the mobile side, "Medusa Point" processors are rumored to incorporate up to 22 hybrid cores that combine performance and efficiency cores under the Zen 6 architecture. However, these mobile chips seem to be further off, with a launch window set for late 2026 or early 2027. Although AIDA64's beta edition now recognizes Ryzen 10000 series chips, AMD's usual schedule suggests we will not see them in shops until mid-2026 at the earliest. Still, compatibility with AM5 and a move to a more advanced process promise meaningful improvements when Zen 6 finally arrives.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first commercially available field-programmable gate array (FPGA), introducing the idea of reprogrammable hardware. By creating "hardware as flexible as software," FPGA reprogrammable logic changed the face of semiconductor design. For the first time, developers could design a chip, and if specs or requirements changed mid-stream, or even after manufacturing, they could redefine its functionality to perform a different task. This flexibility enabled more rapid development of new chip designs, accelerating time to market for new products and providing an alternative to ASICs.

The impact on the market has been phenomenal. FPGAs launched a $10+ billion industry and over the past four decades we have shipped more than 3 billion FPGAs and adaptive SoCs (devices combining FPGA fabric with a system-on-chip and other processing engines) to more than 7,000 customers across diverse market segments. In fact, we've been the programmable logic market share leader for the past 25 consecutive years, and we believe we are well positioned for continued market leadership based on the strength of our product portfolio and roadmap.

Minix is launching new Mini PCs in May, designed to simplify digital life. To show our appreciation for customers' support, Minix offers exclusive discounts on popular products, including Wireless Display Series, GaN PD Charger Series, CarPlay Adapters, Mini PCs, and Portable Monitors. These offers will be available until June 3rd.

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AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 9060 XT has shown up in the news a number of times leading up to the expected retail launch, from AsRock's announcement to a recent Geekbench leak that put the RDNA 4 GPU ahead of the RX 7600 XT by a fair shout. Now, however, we have a gaming benchmark from 3DMark Time Spy showing the RX 9060 XT nearly matching the RX 7700 XT, and those results could still improve as drivers mature and become more stable. The benchmark results are courtesy of u/uesato_hinata, who got their hands on an XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB and posted their results on r/AMD on Reddit.

There are a few caveats to these performance figures, though, since the redditor who shared the results was using beta drivers and a moderate GPU overclock and undervolt—cited as "+200mhz clock offset -40mv undervolt +10% power limit, I can get 3.46Ghz at 199 W". With those performance tweaks, however, the RX 9060 XT puts up a respectable result of 14,210 points in 3DMark Time Spy. For comparison, the average RX 7700 XT scores 15,452 points in the same benchmark. However, it should also be noted that the gaming PC used in the RX 9060 XT benchmark in question was powered by a rather old AMD Ryzen 5 5600 paired with mismatched DDR4-2133 RAM, meaning there is likely at least some performance left on the table, even if GPU utilization seems consistently high in the 3DMark monitoring chart, indicating there was little bottlenecking limiting the performance. The redditor went on to benchmark the GPU in Black Myth: Wukong, where it managed a 64 FPS average at stock clocks at 1080p, with most settings set to high. Applying the overclock boosted average FPS to a mere 65 FPS, but increased the minimum FPS from 17 to 23. These numbers also won't be representative of the performance for all RX 9060 XT GPUs, since we know that AMD is launching both 8 and 16 GB versions of the RX 9060 XT with different GPU clock speeds for the different memory variants

Graphics card vendors are setting up product pages for AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 9060 XT ahead of its June 5th release date. Tom's Hardware reports that well-known leaker @momomo_us discovered early retail listings from Central Computers (US) showing preliminary pricing that begins at $319.99. The California-based retailer has posted three ASRock variants of the RX 9060 XT with the Challenger 8 GB priced at $319.99, the Challenger 16 GB at $369.99, and the Steel Legend 16 GB at $389.99. Both Challenger variants carry a $20 premium over AMD's suggested retail pricing for their respective memory configurations, while the Steel Legend brings a $40 markup above MSRP. These higher prices, compared to AMD's MSRP ($299 for the 8 GB version and $349 for the 16 GB model), likely reflect factory overclocking implementations across all three models. VideoCardz also spotted UK retailer Overclockers UK briefly displaying pricing ranging from £289.99 to £359.99 before masking their listings to conceal actual launch pricing.

AMD's RX 9060 XT 8 GB and 16 GB target the mainstream segment competing directly with NVIDIA's RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti. Both RX 9060 XT models are based on the 4 nm "Navi 44" silicon, with upgrades to the latest RDNA 4 architecture and new features such as FSR 4 and the upcoming FSR "Project Redstone" feature set. The company claims that the RX 9060 XT 16 GB should beat the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB by 6% on average, tested across 40 game titles, at 1440p. The RX 9060 XT debuts with official pricing starting at $299 for the 8 GB version and $349 for the 16 GB model.

Around mid-April, an insider report suggested that AMD's Radeon RX 9060 XT GPU was capable of boosting up to 3.3 GHz. That specification leak has materialized in real life; across a group of board partner examples. Last week, ASRock confirmed that its triple-fan Radeon RX 9060 XT Steel Legend cards can achieve "boost clocks of up to 3320 MHz." Similarly, Sapphire's overengineered Nitro+ flagship option is reportedly just as capable. XFX has joined in on the fun; as demonstrated by a product landing page that covers several factory overclocked Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB and 8 GB custom card designs.

Interestingly, the North American board partner has implemented the same clock speeds across triple and dual-fan Swift OC SKUs. Identikit info—of "game clock up to 2780 MHz" and "boost clock up to 3320 MHz"—is mentioned throughout official listings. XFX's new-gen dual-fan Swift design was low-key unveiled during the early days of RDNA 4. VideoCardz reckons that a lot of Team Red AIBs are not going to stick with a baseline 150 W TDP; instead company engineers are opting for ranges between 170 W and 180 W. AMD's maximum TDP ceiling for the Navi 44 (XT) GPU is 182 W. We hope that a decent number of XFX evaluation samples have been shipped to TechPowerUp HQ for review purposes.

Valve released its latest May 2025 Steam Survey results, and Linux gaming is on the rise. According to Valve, the usage of Linux kernel-based operating systems among Steam users increased by 0.42% to reach 2.69%, marking one of the highest levels the platform has seen. Windows remains the dominant operating system, at 95.45%, with macOS holding 1.85%. However, Linux's growth is significant for open-source enthusiasts. Given the continued expansion of Steam's user base, the absolute number of Linux gamers is likely at an all-time high now, with hopes of continued growth. The infamous year of Linux on the desktop is actually this year's Linux on handheld. In May 2023, Linux accounted for just 1.47 percent of Steam users, rising to 2.32 percent in May 2024 before this latest increase.

This upward trend has been driven in large part by Valve's SteamOS, which is based on Arch Linux and powers the popular Steam Deck handheld console. As more people adopt the Steam Deck and install SteamOS on desktop machines, the Linux gaming community on Steam continues to grow steadily. SteamOS is also expanding to more handheld devices, and more companies are launching and experimenting with handhelds using other Linux distributions. Improvements at the kernel level and enhanced driver support from AMD and Intel have also contributed to this surge. Besides more driver optimization, the Wine-based compatibility layer, Proton, has undergone numerous updates to enhance performance and stability, often achieving comparability with and sometimes outperforming Windows.

PowerColor introduced four custom Radeon RX 9060 XT options during Computex 2025; consisting of standard black mid-range Hellhound and entry-level Reaper models. The dark 16 GB and 8 GB launch lineup will be joined by Spectral White sibling in the near future. The manufacturer's China website was updated with three pale alternatives at some point last week. Currently, only the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB Hellhound Spectral White SKU has made tracks over to the Taiwanese brand's global web presence. The company's Navi 44 XT GPU-based portfolio is not expected to welcome premium-tier Red Devil entries, so the current collection—of seven distinct offerings—will suffice.

Curiously, the two Reaper models seem to differ in terms of clock speeds. As noted by VideoCardz, this specification disparity reflects a recently reported difference between Yeston's Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB and 8 GB GAEA SKUs. Almost akin to patterns exhibited by the Chinese AIB's baseline MSRP conformant products, the PowerColor Reaper 16 GB card seems to boast greater game and boost clock digits when compared to its 8 GB sibling: +90 MHz and 100 MHz (respectively). At first, Yeston's GAEA spec charts were believed to contain placeholder info or anomalous data. The appearances of comparable PowerColor examples indicate an advantageous position for certain 16 GB GDDR6 VRAM-equipped models.

ASRock, the leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, today launched the new Steel Legend and Challenger series graphics cards based on the latest AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT GPU. As the latest member of the AMD Radeon RX 9000 series GPUs, AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT also uses the AMD RDNA 4 architecture, which is equipped with the 3rd Gen ray tracing and 2nd Gen AI accelerators, provides up to 32 AMD RDNA 4 compute units, and supports AMD HYPR-RX, AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4 and advanced Frame Generation..., and other AMD's latest exclusive technologies, plus the latest specifications such as DisplayPort 2.1a, PCI Express 5.0, and also a large-capacity up to 16 GB GDDR6 memory. These rich features and specifications provide end users with an excellent AAA gaming experience.

Otherwise, ASRock AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT Series graphics cards also support various ASRock exclusive features, including the Striped Ring/Axial Fan, Air Deflecting Fin, Ultra-fit Heatpipe, Metal Backplate, and Polychrome SYNC technology to provide great cooling efficiency, solid construction and fancy ARGB lighting effects. With these exclusive features, ASRock AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT Series graphics cards are premium choices for gamers and system integrators.

ASUS today announced TUF Gaming Series Five monitors. This latest gaming monitor range offers over 20 models to choose from and features varied specifications to meet different user needs. The competitively-priced Series Five monitors deliver five-star gaming experiences by offering upgrades in five key aspects: Speed boost enables up to 300 Hz refresh rates and 0.3 ms response; ultrasmooth gameplay is enabled via Adaptive Sync technology; vivid colors are delivered with up to 95% DCI-P3 gamut; Gaming AI features offer a competitive edge; and easier control is offered thanks to DisplayWidget Center software.

The flagship TUF Series Five VG27AQML5A boasts a 300 Hz refresh rate and 0.3 ms response time, making it ideal for the most competitive gamers; alternately, VG34WQML5A offers a 250 Hz refresh rate (OC) and 0.5 ms response for ultra-immersive gaming experiences.

Microsoft has quietly rolled out two updates to its DirectX Agility SDK, and developers are already finding reasons to celebrate. The 1.717-preview release brings Shader Execution Reordering (SER) and Cooperative Vectors to the table, while the 1.616-retail update introduces Opacity Micromaps (OMM) and D3D12 Tiled Resource Tier 4 support. Together, they promise smoother and more efficient ray tracing, as well as improved resource handling. In 1.717-preview, the arrival of Cooperative Vectors means that vector and matrix operations, essential for AI-driven effects, now enjoy dedicated hardware acceleration. Instead of performing complex calculations on the CPU, developers can offload these tasks to the GPU, potentially unlocking richer neural rendering techniques in real time. Additionally, SER provides ray tracing pipelines with a helpful feature: it reorganizes the order in which shader threads execute, reducing wasted cycles caused by thread divergence.

Early internal tests show up to a 2× performance boost in path-traced scenes when SER is enabled. The preview also updates Direct3D's video encoder with a HEVC Reference List extension for longer-term reference frames, a two-pass low-resolution first encode, and built-in PSNR metrics so creators can see exactly how crisp their output really is. The 1.616-retail SDK centers on Opacity Micromaps, a feature designed to handle alpha-tested geometry, such as foliage or chain-link fences, without firing off expensive AnyHit shader calls. With OMM, supported GPUs intelligently skip unnecessary work, and Microsoft's numbers suggest a speedup of as much as 2.3x in path-traced scenes. For example, one NVIDIA demo increased from approximately 55 FPS to around 90 FPS simply by enabling OMM. Today, only NVIDIA's RTX cards have driver-level support for these micromaps, but AMD and Intel are preparing their own updates for the coming months. That same 1.616-retail release also unlocks D3D12 Tiled Resource Tier 4, finally lifting the restriction on packed mipmaps in texture arrays. This means finer-grained texture streaming, less wasted memory, and more creative freedom in writing shader code. NVIDIA has confirmed its support for this tier, Intel's drivers are already shipping, and AMD is aiming to release compatible drivers by early June 2025.

It looks as though AMD might be planning to finally commercialize the more affordable version of its Ryzen AI Max APUs that have proven to be capable of powering impressively high-end gaming experiences. The first set of benchmarks of the new Strix Halo APU, dubbed the AMD Ryzen AI Max 385, have appeared on Geekbench, and the new APU is putting up some impressive numbers. AMD originally said that the Strix Halo line-up would be available between Q1 and Q2 2025, so the timing makes sense.

One major difference between the Ryzen AI Max 395 and the 385 is the iGPU, which is downgraded from the Radeon 8060S to the 8050S. When AMD launched the Strix Halo line-up, it revealed that AI Max Pro 385 would have an eight-core CPU paired with 32 graphics cores, instead of the 16-core CPU and 40-core iGPU setup. While we don't yet have GPU benchmark results for the 8050S, the CPU results put up by the APU are impressive on their own, with 2,489 points in the single-core benchmark and 14,136 points in the multicore benchmark. The laptop the new Ryzen silicon was tested in was an HP ZBook Ultra G1a with 32 GB of RAM. The results put the 385 only slightly behind the AI Max+ 395 in certain configurations, but in a similar HP ZBook Ultra G1a laptop, the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 comes out ahead of the 385 by as much as 45%. It's unclear just how much laptops with this new Ryzen AI Max Pro 385 APU will cost, but they will almost certainly be cheaper than the current crop of Ryzen AI Max+ laptops, which generally run well north of $2,000.

Last week, AMD introduced its Radeon AI PRO R9700 32 GB professional graphics card—representing the RDNA 4 generation's first foray into non-gaming territories. The TechPowerUp team encountered board partner variants on the showroom floor, with GIGABYTE and ASRock exhibiting samples with blower-style cooling solutions. At the time, Team Red's reference design was only visible in promotional/artistic renders. According to the company's official product page, this particular model is "not available for purchase." AMD made similar claims during the early days of—related Navi 48 GPU-based—Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 cards. Months later, Chinese hardware enthusiasts picked up physical "Made-By-AMD" (MBA) examples via murky second hand market channels.

At some point this week, PowerColor's web presences were updated with a semi-familiar sight: an almost direct interpretation of the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 reference card. The Taiwanese AIB has removed "AI" and "PRO R9700" text from their variant's shroud design, and applied a customary "PowerColor" logo and symbol sticker onto the lone blower fan's face. VideoCardz believes that pre-announcement renders and specification leaks had caused confusion across insider networks—hence the emergence of "Radeon RX 9070 XT(X) 32 GB" rumors, within the first quarter of 2025. PowerColor did not showcase its pro-grade at the recently concluded Computex trade event—instead, company representatives were tasked with hyping up incoming custom Radeon RX 9060 XT gaming cards, and a mysterious "REVA" prototype. At the time of writing, PowerColor has not issued any Radeon AI PRO R9700-related press material. AMD and manufacturing partners are expected to launch finalized products in July.

According to the latest rumor mill, AMD is preparing Radeon AI PRO R9700, a new GPU designed specifically for the Chinese market. The new Radeon AI PRO R9700 GPU will feature deliberately handicapped performance parameters that comply with the most recent US export regulations while still supporting the local industry's needs for tasks such as on-device inference and model fine-tuning. To adhere to Washington's restrictions, AMD has reduced the chip's compute throughput to remain below the critical threshold for controlled exports, yet it retains 32 GB of high-bandwidth frame buffer memory and full PCIe Gen 5 connectivity. These specifications are intended to ensure efficient data transfer, and when multiple R9700 cards are deployed together, they can deliver substantial processing capability despite the lower power per card.

This China-specific strategy follows a challenging period for AMD in that region, including an $800 million charge related to its MI308 accelerator after it was blocked under earlier rules. NVIDIA has also suffered, losing an estimated $5.5 billion in revenue when its H20 series was barred, and seeing its Chinese market share drop from roughly 90 percent in 2021 to about 50 percent today. These developments have created an opening for AMD to compete on both price and supply reliability. AMD's approach mirrors NVIDIA's release of a restricted-performance version of its Blackwell-architecture B20 GPU for China. Priced more competitively than previous China-compliant offerings, the Radeon AI PRO R9700 will arrive in the third quarter of 2025 alongside NVIDIA's B20. AMD intends to present its full AI silicon roadmap at the Advancing AI Summit on June 12, positioning the R9700 as a targeted solution for enterprises and research institutions rather than for hyperscale cloud environments.

It seems as though an official international launch for the elusive AMD Ryzen 9000G APUs might still be on the cards for later this year, after all. While an announcement was expected at Computex 2025, along with a full-scale retail launch later this year, AMD was suspiciously quiet about its CPUs at the electronics trade show. Now, it looks as though Gigabyte has seemingly started preparing its B650 motherboard line-up for the arrival of AMD's Ryzen 9000G APUs.

On Gigabyte's B650 Gaming motherboard memory compatibility page, the hardware maker seems to have replaced any mention of Ryzen 9000 series CPUs with "Ryzen 9000 G-series CPUs," altogether. It's unclear whether this change means the same memory compatibility table will apply for both AMD Ryzen 9000 and 9000G CPUs, but that seems to be the case. At any rate, this leak suggests that previous rumors claiming a Q4 launch may have been correct. Those same leaks suggested that the Ryzen 9000G APUs would feature AMD Zen 5 CPU cores paired with AMD RDNA 3.5 iGPUs, with the top-spec iGPU likely being capable of running at least some lighter-weight games and e-sports titles. As it stands, the iGPUs found in recent AMD Ryzen CPUs are merely there for basic video output and diagnostic purposes, while the G-series APUs are generally intended for use without a dedicated GPU. It seems reasonable to expect AMD to launch at least one variant in the AMD Ryzen 9000G APU series equipped with the Radeon 890M, which also powers some of the most popular Windows gaming handhelds on the market.

ASRock has finally acknowledged that the mysterious AMD Ryzen "processor deaths" plaguing its mid- and high-end motherboards weren't caused by defective AMD chips or stray debris but rather overly aggressive Precision Boost Overdrive settings in its BIOS. After more than 100 reports of Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Ryzen 9 9950X CPUs going dark on boards like the X670E Taichi and B650E Steel Legend, the company rolled out BIOS version 3.25 to dial back the Thermal Design Current and Electrical Design Current limits and apologized for initially blaming memory quirks and socket contaminants. ASRock will repair or replace affected motherboards free of charge (including shipping), though users whose CPUs have already failed must seek warranties through their retailer or AMD.

"No, we're not saying it's an AMD issue. We found that it should be related to our BIOS setting — that's the PBO settings, Precision Boost Overdrive. More technically, we adjusted two main settings in PBO. One is TDC (Thermal Design Current) and the other is EDC (Electrical Design Current). We found that our original values for these two settings might have been too high. So now, with BIOS version 3.25, we lowered the PBO values. We believe this can solve the problem."—Chris Lee, ASRock VP of Motherboard Business

Just over a week ago, the Radeon RX 9060 XT graphics card became official; introduced as the fastest gaming GPU option for "under $350." It represents the second wave of AMD's RDNA 4 GPU generation, but definitive verdicts are not expected until a lifting of review embargoes—likely happening the day before retail release: June 4. Evaluation samples are very likely in the possession of media outlets and influencers; as evidenced by pre-launch benchmark results appearing within the Geekbench Browser database. A nondescript Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB model was put through OpenCL and Vulkan wringers, via "Geekbench 6.2.2 for Windows AVX2." Overall tallies are 109315 and 124251, respectively. The test rig consisted of Team Red's Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU, a Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER motherboard, and 32 GB of DDR5-8000 RAM.

Geekbench results are not the best indicators of gaming performance on modern PC platforms, but semi-useful data can be compared to figures generated by predecessors and current-gen siblings. Quick analysis points to the benchmarked Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB sample pulling ahead of its RDNA 3-based elder—the Radeon RX 7600 XT—by 25 to 31%. Stepping up against the Radeon RX 7700 XT 12 GB model, the plucky new candidate trails by 14% in OpenCL stakes and 12% in Vulkan. Naturally, a performance gulf exists between the Radeon RX 9070 16 GB (non-XT) card and its forthcoming smaller sibling—almost a +23% difference in OpenCL, and roughly +32% in Vulkan. Crucially, other Geekbench Browser entries suggest that NVIDIA's competing GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16/8 GB and RTX 5060 8 GB designs hold slight advantages in terms of OpenCL numbers. AMD's Navi 44 XT GPU-powered card nudges just beyond the RTX 5060's overall Vulkan result. A clearer picture of Radeon RX 9060 XT's standing will be painted next week; stay tuned for TechPowerUp's inevitable in-depth analyses of board partner specimens.

TechPowerUp today released the latest version of TechPowerUp GPU-Z, the popular graphics sub-system information, monitoring, and diagnostic utility. Version 2.66.0 introduces support for a number of new GPUs. On the NVIDIA front, we've added support for GeForce RTX 5060, RTX 5070 Ti Mobile, RTX 5070 Mobile, RTX 5060 Mobile, RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell, and Quadro RTX 5000 (TU104-B). Over on the AMD side, we've added support for the upcoming Radeon RX 9060 XT, and Radeon Pro W7900 Dual Slot. Grab the latest version from TechPowerUp GPU-Z from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.66.0

Yesterday, members of the Bobantang discussion board disclosed intriguing insider knowledge. According to recent industry murmurs, AMD has informed motherboard manufacturing partners about the discontinuation of B650 chipset production. Chinese media outlets have jumped on this alleged revelation, with Western counterparts quickly joining in on the fun (hours later). ITHome and Unika's Hardware were the first channels to parse info from the Bobantang forum. Since a 2022 launch, Team Red's mid-range B650 board design has remained a firm favorite for many budget-conscious owners of Ryzen 7000 (plus 8000G and 9000) series desktop processors. A "direct" successor—B850—reached retail at the start of this year, but higher price points combined with relatively minor feature set advantages have discouraged a lot of buyers. The likes of ASUS, ASRock, Colorful and Sapphire have released (or previewed) new B650 chipset-based mainboard products in 2025—mostly in microATX form factors.

A Bobantang member has prophesized two major trends—the first being: "after AMD's B650 chip production line is shut down, its inventory is expected to be large. According to Team Red, the B650M series inventory sales plan will probably end in the third quarter (of 2025)." A second claim was outlined: "it is expected that the digestion time of the tail end stock of AMD's B650 series motherboard will be longer, at least there will be inventory to sell in the second quarter (of this year), but the inventory of B650M chips will become more and more scarce as time goes by." PC hardware watchdogs propose a fall in B850 pricing; likely expertly timed to occur shortly after the complete depletion of predecessor stock—by the fourth quarter of this year.

Last week, welcomed the Enosemi team to AMD, marking the next key step in our rapidly evolving AI strategy. Enosemi has collaborated with us as an external development partner on photonics, and this acquisition extends that successful relationship. Now as part of AMD, the team will help us immediately scale our ability to support and develop a variety of photonics and co-packaged optics solutions across next-gen AI systems.

The elite team of experts and PhD-level talent at Enosemi, based in Silicon Valley, has a proven track record of building and shipping photonic integrated circuits in volume, a unique feat that few select teams have accomplished. Their depth of experience, technical rigor, and track record of execution make them an ideal fit for AMD as we push deeper into high-performance interconnect innovation.