AMD's upcoming Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7985WX "Storm Peak" workstation processor surfaced on Puget Systems PugetBench online database. The 7985WX is a 64-core/128-thread processor based on the "Zen 4" microarchitecture, that's configured with an 8-channel DDR5 memory interface (16 sub-channels), and a 128-lane PCI-Express Gen 5 root-complex. The processor was spotted running on an AMD internal development board codenamed "Boulder Gulch" (AMD uses weird internal codenames to back-trace leaks). The machine had a cool 256 GB of 8-channel DDR5-5600 memory, and an NVIDIA RTX A5000 GPU. AMD is planning to release the Ryzen 7000WX workstation processor series some time in October 2023.

RubyRapids and westlake tipped off VideoCardz to the presence of interesting information sitting within the latest AMD Adrenalin update notes—its integrated driver compatibility list has been expanded with the addition of a mobile-oriented iGPU Radeon 700M family (780M, 760M and 740M). It seems that Team Red's Phoenix series will be included in the main branch, and not be limited to OEM distribution for software improvements. A public driver release schedule for the Radeon 700M series will provide gamers with access to official updates through normal channels, with the benefit of—hopefully—no major delays.

VideoCardz reckons that an integration into the main branch means: "that whether the GPU being updated relies on RDNA3 in a discrete GPU or as an integrated solution, it will be fully supported through one package. The latest 23.7.2 driver now supports Radeon 7000 desktop and mobile, AMD Ryzen 7045 Dragon Range, Ryzen 7040U and Ryzen 7040HS series." The ASUS ROG Ally's Ryzen Z1 series seems to be the exception, since AMD has not included these APUs in the latest list of supported devices. Folks who have pored over the document have discovered up to "517 devices listed on the hardware support list, including PCI Device IDs and sub-IDs." Many Phoenix APU models are seemingly destined for fitting in a wide variety of laptops and (very likely handheld) gaming consoles. A mysterious model—Ryzen 7 7840S—was also spotted. This looks to be a Lenovo-specific 8-core Ryzen processor based on Phoenix silicon—ITHome believes that it utilizes a customized FP8 package.

AMD has released the latest Adrenalin 23.7.2 WHQL drivers. The release notes include several fixed issues, including those seen in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II when Radeon Anti-Lag is enabled, as well as issues with higher GPU Memory Utilization when using certain record and stream settings like instant replay, corruption seen with some player models while playing Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+ on certain AMD graphics cards, issue with audio getting out of sync with video when recording from AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition with AVC and HEVC codecs, and display signal issues after switching windows on certain Adaptive-Sync enabled monitors with some AMD graphics cards like the Radeon RX 7900 XTX.

The release notes also include a note that factory reset has been temporarily disabled as a precautionary measure due to isolated installation issues during PC upgrades, and AMD Cleanup Utility can be used as a temporary option. AMD also notes that it is working with game developers of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart to resolve stability issues in the game when ray tracing is enabled, so we expect an update soon.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Software Adrenalin 23.7.2 WHQL

AMD is preparing its Ryzen 5 7500F processor for a global launch according to reports from earlier today—Team Red's German operation has since informed local media outlets about its updated international release strategy for the iGPU-less Zen 4 desktop SKU. Markus Lindner, a regional company spokesman stated: "This processor model will be available starting July 23, 2023 at 9PM ET. It will be available in greater China as a processor-in-box, and in the rest of world as an option for select system builders."

Chinese reviewers have been getting hands-on experience with the Ryzen 5 7500F, with early reports pointing to impressive performance for its price point ($180) when lined up against competing Intel Core i5-13400 and i5-13400F CPUs. International buyers could express concern regarding AMD Germany's mentioning that availability will be somewhat limited to system integrators. Hopefully these "select system builders" will have good distribution links to retail outlets—70% of TPU quick poll participants expressed interest in seeing a western launch (prior to AMD's "global" announcement).

Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson has picked up some interesting insider knowledge about the long rumored PlayStation 5 Pro gaming console—his (side hustle) Key to Gaming article theorizes that a project codenamed "Trinity" has been in-progress since early 2022. Sony is apparently sticking to its tradition of using Matrix themed codenames for internal hardware projects—PlayStation 4 Pro was referred to as "Neo," and PlayStation VR's alias was "Morpheus." His inside sources claim that Sony has been showing off Trinity prototype units to game development studios, with refreshed dev kits lined up for the "majority" of interested parties by November 2023.

Henderson's sources provided scant info about Trinity's specs and performance goals: "Although the Pro's specs were difficult to pin down, (admittedly) due to my lack of technological prowess, sources have stated that Trinity with have 30 WGP and 18000mts memory. As for the consoles performance targets and as to be expected, the PlayStation 5 Pro will be targeting improved and consistent FPS at 4K resolution, a new "performance mode" for 8K resolution, and accelerated ray tracing. Whether or not a PlayStation 5 Pro console is desired enough in the current market remains to be seen, but as of writing, the PlayStation 5 Pro is in development and is targeting a November 2024 release date." The leaked information has been interpreted several ways by different outlets—mostly focusing on the improved AMD RDNA-powered GPU. I have included Zuba_Tech's updated spec sheet (see below), which seems to be a bit on the fanciful side of things (proposing 72 CUs). Others have theorized that the revised GPU could offer twice the performance of the base PS5 model's Oberon RDNA 2-based GPU (36 CUs).

Minisforum Today has just revealed exciting information about their latest ITX Mini PC. This sleek device incorporates a motherboard that was showcased at the COMPUTEX 2023 booth, featuring variants from the Intel Raptor Lake HX55 series and AMD 7045HX series CPU. The all-new Minisforum ITX Mini PC is equipped with a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot and discrete graphics card for seamless desktop connectivity. It also supports SFX power supply for added convenience.

Moreover, Minisforum has meticulously designed an elegant 6L case for this new member, catering to users who desire both aesthetics and functionality. Customers have the flexibility to purchase the motherboard separately or opt for the complete set, which includes both the motherboard and the ITX PC case. While Minisforum has not yet disclosed the price and launch date, this highly anticipated product is sure to make waves in the market.

The China-specific AMD Ryzen 5 7500F desktop processor could see a wider international launch, reports VideoCardz, citing the AMD website, which has marked its regional availability as "global." The processor is priced at USD $180 for the retail PIB package. The 7500F is a 6-core/12-thread processor based on the same "Raphael" Zen 4 MCM as the 7600X, but lacks integrated graphics, has a lower 65 W TDP, and slightly lower clock speeds. The processor saw a China-exclusive release earlier this week. Chinese and regional media with access to samples reviewed the processor, noting that its gaming performance 6% behind that of the Ryzen 5 7600X at 1080p, but more importantly, the Ryzen 5 7500F is 13% faster than the Core i5-13400 in terms of average FPS, and about 8% faster in 1% low FPS.

This makes the Ryzen 5 7500F a faster gaming processor than the $200 Core i5-13400, and the $180 Core i5-13400F, which it was originally designed to square off against. The Ryzen 5 7500F is configured with 6 cores and 12 threads, 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and 32 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor has a base frequency of 3.70 GHz, with a 5.00 GHz boost that's just 100 MHz behind that of the Ryzen 5 7600 (65 W), and 300 MHz behind the 7600X (105 W). The "F" in the brand extension indicates a lack of integrated graphics, which shouldn't be a dealbreaker for the processor's intended audience—PC gamers. AMD is including a Wraith Stealth stock cooler with the retail 7500F, which coupled with A620 chipset motherboards that start at $125, should make for a formidable mainstream gaming PC platform with ample upgrade headroom.

A new vulnerability has been discovered in AMD Zen 2 based CPUs by Tavis Ormandy, a Google Information Security researcher. Ormandy has named the new vulnerability Zenbleed—also known as CVE-2023-20593—and it's said to affect all Zen 2 based AMD processors, which means Ryzen 3000, 4000 and 5000-series CPUs and APUs, as well as EPYC server chips. The reason why Zenbleed is of concern is because it doesn't require a potential attacker to have physical access to the computer or server in question and it's said to be possible to trigger the vulnerability via executing a javascript on a webpage. This means that the attack vector ends up being massive, at least when we're talking about something like a webhosting company.

Zenbleed is said to allow a potential attacker to gain access to things like encryption keys and user logins via triggering something called "the XMM Register Merge Optimization2, followed by a register rename and a mispredicted vzeroupper." Apparently this requires some precision for the vulnerability to work, but due to these registers being used system wide, even a sandboxed attacker can gain access to them. AMD has already issued a patch for its EPYC server CPUs, which obviously are the most vulnerable systems in question and the company is planning to release patches for all of its Zen 2 based CPUs before the end of the year. Hit up the source links for more details about Zenbleed.

It turns out that the upcoming Radeon RX 7900 GRE (Golden Rabbit Edition) is built on the mysterious Navi 31 + Navi 32 hybrid GPU that's been in the news for a few weeks now. AMD has reportedly developed its answer to NVIDIA's AD103 silicon in the form of a new MCM that combines the 5 nm GCD of the "Navi 31," along with the substrate of the "Navi 32," which is physically smaller, and only has four 6 nm MCDs. This hybrid MCM could power AMD's mobile Radeon RX 7900 series. The chip physically only has a 256-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface. AMD felt the need for such a contraption as the "Navi 31" is likely too big for mobile platforms, and because the "Navi 32" GCD with its 60 CU (3,840 stream processors) might prove inadequate against a maxed out AD104 or cut-down AD103.

VideoCardz caught whiff of the new GPU by comparing the back sides of the Sapphire RX 7900 GRE from yesterday's leak, with that of the production Sapphire RX 7900 XT/XTX NITRO+. There are visible differences in the layout of the SMDs, and the reinforcement brace behind the GPU has a square cutout, compared to the rectangular one behind the "Navi 31" powering the RX 7900 XT/XTX NITRO+. On the RX 7900 GRE, the GCD is configured with 84 CU, or the same core-config as the RX 7900 XT, albeit with the narrower 256-bit memory interface, and 64 MB of Infinity Cache memory. It's highly likely that AMD uses this GPU to carve out the Radeon RX 7800 XT (with fewer than 84 but higher than 60 CU); while creating the RX 7800 with a maxed out "Navi 32," and the RX 7700 series with a cut-down "Navi 32" (including by narrowing the memory bus width to 192-bit by disabling one of the four MCDs). AMD is reportedly planning to launch the RX 7900 GRE in China, on July 28, 2023.

Phoronix has recently uncovered an intriguing Linux update, with kernel improvements being prepared to handle greater microcode payloads—they believe that "future AMD CPUs will be getting larger microcode patches." The timing could suggest that upcoming Zen 5 processors will be likely candidates to meet new requirements: "Right now the Linux kernel has a maximum microcode patch size for AMD CPUs that is three times the kernel's page size (typically 4K). But with a patch (published on July 20) that will "increase substantially" to eight times the page size. The increase is intentionally quite a magnitude larger in order to avoid future patches further having to bump the patch size limit in later generations." Earlier this month, some GitHub entries demonstrated that AMD engineers had patched Linux 6.5 with updates for "Family 26" (1Ah) CPU enablement," which Phoronix believes to be for next-gen platforms (Zen 5): "It's also not elaborated on why the CPU microcode size will be increasing. In any event the simple patch to bump the AMD CPU microcode limit is now out for review. It's also marked for back-porting to existing stable kernel versions."

Tipsters have noticed that ASUS is preparing a new high-end laptop with an unannounced AMD processor—the upcoming ROG Strix SCAR 17-inch model (G733PYV-LL046W,) will apparently sport a Ryzen 9 7945HX3D APU (with 128 MB of L3 cache). The inclusion of "X3D" in the processor's name has generated a lot of interest, given that Team Red's 3D V-Cache technology has existed mainly within mainstream desktop-oriented Ryzen 7000 and 5000 processor lineups. This leaked dual-CCD APU is probably being lined up to take on upper-echelon Intel Raptor Lake-HX processors, as well as refreshed variants.

The leak indicates that this APU will likely sit at the top of the Zen 4-based Dragon Range-H lineup—being a 5.4 GHz max. boost clock, 16-core/32-thread CPU, with a configurable TDP (between 55 W and 75 W) and Radeon 610M iGPU. The host ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 laptop is no slouch thanks to some very generous hardware specifications, including a mobile NVIDIA RTX 4090 GPU, 32 GB of DDR5 memory, 2 TB SSD, and a 17.3" 240 Hz IPS display. Listed at 5599 AUD (~$3800) on Computer Alliance, or £3904.79 (~$5000) chez Lamba-Tek, you would expect the best possible performance for those prices. The two online retailers have not confirmed any concrete release dates for the high-end ASUS laptop.

AMD's recently added Ryzen 5 7500F for the AM5 socket was initially said to only be available in the PRC, but according to AMD, it will apparently be available globally. That said, AMD apparently only seeded review units to select Asian media, among them Quasar Zone in Korea, who put the six core, 12 thread CPU through its paces. Overall performance is very close to the Ryzen 5 7600, which isn't really all that strange, considering the two only differ by 100 MHz in both base and boost clock. In most of the benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 7500F is around two to three percent slower than the Ryzen 5 7600 on average.

When compared to the slightly more pricey Intel Core i5-13400, AMD falls behind multithreaded apps but comes out on top in most of the games tested, with the usual odd exception as would be expected. On average, the Ryzen 5 7500F is some 13 percent faster in the game benchmarks at 1080p, although this is using an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card. It even beats the overall much faster Intel Core i5-13500 in gaming by around nine percent on average. However, the Ryzen 5 7500F system loses out to the two Intel systems when it comes to power efficiency, drawing around 20 Watts more on average when gaming. At US$179.99 it seems like AMD finally has a budget friendly CPU for the AM5 platform, if you're willing to lose the integrated GPU. It's unknown when the CPU will be available outside of Asia at this point in time.

AYANEO, an Asian manufacturer known for its mobile handhelds, has introduced a new device, the AYANEO Kun. The Kun is powered by the latest AMD Ryzen 7 7840U mobile processor from the Ryzen 7040 series. This SoC includes eight Zen 4 cores and an integrated graphics unit based on the RDNA 3 architecture with 12 compute units. The console's dimensions stand at 312 x 133 x 21.9 mm, making it slightly wider but slimmer than ASUS's ROG Ally, with the exact weight yet to be disclosed. Kun's battery capacity is rated for 75Wh, as compared to other handhelds' 40 Wh, potentially indicating a longer battery life.

The AYANEO Kun's other notable features include its 8.4-inch display with an IPS panel and resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 pixels. For controls, the device utilizes a D-Pad and two Hall sensor-equipped joysticks for gaming. The shoulder buttons also employ Hall sensor technology. There are touchpads on either side of the display, along with other function keys and the A/B/X/Y keys. For the first time, AYANEO has integrated buttons at the back of the device, offering customizable functions. The device provides two Type-C (likely USB4), one USB Type-A, and one 3.5 mm jack connection. More comprehensive technical details, model variants, and pricing information are to be released during the official unveiling of the AYANEO Kun scheduled for August.

Here are some of the first pictures of the Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 GRE, a unique China-specific product that isn't just its own Sapphire custom-design, but also a whole different SKU. We first learned about the existence of the RX 7900 GRE earlier this month, and this would be one of its first custom design implementations. The Golden Rabbit Edition (GRE), is a limited edition SKU of the Radeon RX 7900 series. It's neither the RX 7900 XTX nor the RX 7900 XT, but positioned a notch below the latter. Based on the same "Navi 31" silicon as the two, the RX 7900 GRE is equipped with 84 CU (5,376 stream processors), or the same GCD core-configuration as the RX 7900 XT. It however, gets just 16 GB of memory, across a narrower 256-bit wide memory bus.

The Radeon RX 7900 GRE is carved out of the "Navi 31" by disabling two of the six MCDs, which reduces the Infinity Cache size to 64 MB, and the GDDR6 memory bus width to 256-bit. The 5 nm GCD is carried over from the RX 7900 XT—you get 5,376 stream processors, 168 AI accelerators, 84 Ray accelerators, 336 TMUs, and 192 ROPs. It is possible that the Sapphire RX 7900 GRE uses a variation of the company's NITRO+ cooling solution that's similar to the NITRO+ Lite SKUs available in markets outside China. The key difference here is that the cooler lacks a vapor-chamber plate, and instead uses a solid copper base-plate to pull heat from the GPU and memory. AMD needs to fill the vast gap in its product stack between the $250 RX 7600 and the $700+ RX 7900 XT, and SKUs such as the RX 7900 GRE could help it compete better against the likes of the RTX 4070 Ti in competitive markets such as China.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, proudly unveils the A620MT motherboard, designed to run the latest AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors. Perfectly balanced to meet the needs of various users, from office applications and system integration businesses to home entertainment systems, the A620MT motherboard offers an impressive array of advanced features and top-tier performance, setting the standard for modern-day computing.

Utilizing the AMD Socket AM5 based A620 single-chip architecture, the A620MT motherboard supports AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors, including the brand new AMD Ryzen 5 7500F processor. The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F processor features six cores and twelve threads, operating with a 65 W TDP. While the Ryzen 5 7500F processor does not feature integrated graphics capability, BIOSTAR's Radeon RX 7600 graphics card is a great partner to it, and the combined trio of A620MT motherboard, Ryzen 5 7500F processor and BIOSTAR's RX 7600 graphics card is a recipe for success. With excellent synergy between all devices that ensures an unparalleled computing experience with higher performance, superior data integrity, and lower power consumption.

Cerebras Systems, the pioneer in accelerating generative AI, and G42, the UAE-based technology holding group, today announced Condor Galaxy, a network of nine interconnected supercomputers, offering a new approach to AI compute that promises to significantly reduce AI model training time. The first AI supercomputer on this network, Condor Galaxy 1 (CG-1), has 4 exaFLOPs and 54 million cores. Cerebras and G42 are planning to deploy two more such supercomputers, CG-2 and CG-3, in the U.S. in early 2024. With a planned capacity of 36 exaFLOPs in total, this unprecedented supercomputing network will revolutionize the advancement of AI globally.

"Collaborating with Cerebras to rapidly deliver the world's fastest AI training supercomputer and laying the foundation for interconnecting a constellation of these supercomputers across the world has been enormously exciting. This partnership brings together Cerebras' extraordinary compute capabilities, together with G42's multi-industry AI expertise. G42 and Cerebras' shared vision is that Condor Galaxy will be used to address society's most pressing challenges across healthcare, energy, climate action and more," said Talal Alkaissi, CEO of G42 Cloud, a subsidiary of G42.

It looks like the monolithic silicon that succeeds "Phoenix," codenamed "Strix Point," will finally introduce an increase in CPU core counts for the thin-and-light and ultraportable mobile platforms. "Strix Point" is codename for the next-generation APU die being developed at AMD, which, according to a leaked MilkyWay@Home benchmark result, comes with a 12-core/24-thread CPU.

The silicon is identified by MilkyWay@Home with the OPN "AMD Eng Sample: 100-000000994-03_N," and CPU identification string "AuthenticAMD Family 26 Model 32 Stepping 0 -> B20F00." The "Strix Point" CPU could be the second time AMD has increased CPU core-counts per CCX. From "Zen 3" onward, the company increased the cores per CCX from 4 to 8, allowing a single "Zen 3" CCX on the "Cezanne" monolithic silicon to come with 8 cores. It's highly likely that with "Zen 5," the company is increasing the cores/CCX to 12, and that "Strix Point" has one of these CCXs.

AMD's CEO Lisa Su is reported to be visiting a number of companies in Taiwan this week—one of her objectives seems to be getting next generation AM5 desktop platforms prepped with USB4 support. Hardware news site MyDrivers believes that Asmedia played host to Team Red's leader at some point—this is a significant development given that this Taiwanese company specializes in making motherboard chipsets and USB controllers, although Su has allegedly met with other competing firms. Asmedia is reported to be a market leader in terms of implementing the latest USB4 tech, with certification awarded by the USB-IF Association.

Prior leaks have implied that the two companies are already involved with each other on a separate project—their collective goal being Thunderbolt 4 support on next-gen AMD platforms. The timing of this trip to Taiwan suggests that forthcoming AM5 motherboards offering USB4 support could be lined up for launch next year, alongside the "Zen 5" Ryzen 8000 CPU series. Boards based on current gen A620, B650 and X670 chipsets could be refreshed with the latest USB connectivity standard.

As we get closer to a possible late summer/early autumn release window for mid-range AMD Radeon RX 7000-series gaming graphics cards, more leaks have emerged from sources in Asia. Benchlife believes that "in addition to Radeon RX 7900 GRE, AMD and its AIB partners are also preparing two Navi 32 chip graphics cards such as Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7700 XT, which are expected to be available in early September." Previous leaks have indicated that a September launch is planned, albeit with the RX 7800 XT SKU being based on a heavily modified Navi 31 GPU.

Two non-XT units have recently emerged via leaked benchmark results, so there could be a good number of options lined up for a third quarter 2023 launch. Jon Peddle Research (JPR) has added their two cents, by reconfirming that Team Red could be showcasing mid-range models at a late summer trade fair: "AMD is rumored to announce two new 7000-series AIBs at Gamescom in late August. The leaks suggest that AMD is behind NVIDIA in terms of AIBs and has open slots in its SKU lineup. The leaked benchmark data (see below) indicates that the RX 7800 and RX 7700 may compete with the RTX 4070 and RTX 4060 Ti, respectively." JPR proposes that AMD is preparing at least two mid-range models for launch, although this could increase to five. If a mysterious fifth candidate does exist outside of the oft mentioned RX 7700, RX 7700 XT, RX 7800 and RX 7800 XT SKUs, where would it be placed in the hierarchy? We can exclude the RX 7900 16 GB GRE GPU since it seems to be a Chinese market exclusive, with performance estimated to be just below RX 7900 XT standards.

Announced today, Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC) is bringing together leading companies for industry-wide cooperation to build a complete Ethernet-based communication stack architecture for high-performance networking. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and High-Performance Computing (HPC) workloads are rapidly evolving and require best-in-class functionality, performance, interoperability and total cost of ownership, without sacrificing developer and end-user friendliness. The Ultra Ethernet solution stack will capitalize on Ethernet's ubiquity and flexibility for handling a wide variety of workloads while being scalable and cost-effective.

Ultra Ethernet Consortium is founded by companies with long-standing history and experience in high-performance solutions. Each member is contributing significantly to the broader ecosystem of high-performance in an egalitarian manner. The founding members include AMD, Arista, Broadcom, Cisco, Eviden (an Atos Business), HPE, Intel, Meta and Microsoft, who collectively have decades of networking, AI, cloud and high-performance computing-at-scale deployments.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, proudly announced the ultimate memory performance of DDR5 XMP 8000 is achieved with the X670E AORUS MASTER motherboard based on the latest AMD AGESA BIOS code at a SOC voltage of 1.3 V.

GIGABYTE always works closely with AMD to ensure our motherboard designs provide supreme performance and reliability, particularly on the optimum memory performance by exclusively advanced memory layout design. Meanwhile, GIGABYTE is releasing a new beta BIOS for the X670 and B650 AORUS/AERO series motherboards for the most remarkable memory performance on the AM5 platform. The new BIOS will be available at the end of July in succession. Please pay close attention to the GIGABYTE website to download the update for optimal performance.

A set of intriguing 3DMark Time Spy benchmark results have been released by hardware leaker All_The_Watts!!—these are alleged to have been produced by prototype Radeon RX 7700 and Radeon RX 7800 graphics cards (rumored to be based on variants of the Navi 32 GPU). The current RDNA 3 lineup of mainstream GPUs is severely lacking in middle ground representation, but Team Red is reported to be working on a number of models to fill in the gap. We expect a number of leaks to emerge as we get closer to a rumored product reveal scheduled for late August (to coincide with Gamescon).

The recently released 3DMark Time Spy scores reveal that the alleged Radeon RX 7700 candidate scored 15,465 points, while the RX 7800 achieved 18,197 points—both running on an unspecified test system. The results (refer to the Tom's Hardware-produced chart placed below) are not going to generate a lot of excitement at this stage when compared to predecessors and some of the competition—evaluation samples are not really expected to be optimized to a great degree. We hope to see finalized products with decent drivers putting in a good appearance and performing better later on this year.

EK, the leading manufacturer of premium liquid cooling equipment, is introducing the all-new EK-Quantum Power² Kits. These kits come equipped with full D-RGB support, feature an extensive range of award-winning Quantum Line products that share the same design language, and pack various supplementary accessories. The new Kits are aimed at enthusiasts who have powerful PC hardware and seek high-end cooling solutions without having to pick custom loop parts themselves.

With the inclusion of extra accessories, these Quantum Power² kits simplify the loop-building process, making it a hassle-free experience. Some added benefits include D-RGB lighting for customizable RGB effects, a dye pack to create a unique coolant color, two 90-degree rotary fittings, reservoir tube clamps for alternative mounting options, and much more.

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 8 GB GPU debuted in late May, with an official MSRP of $269 for North America, and €299 for European territories. The lower than expected entry price point for US customers came as a surprise to some media outlets—launch MSRP was expected to be closer to $299, but Team Red allegedly made some last minute adjustments. Board partners often charge more for their custom designs—with beefier heatsinks, extra cooling fans and RGB lighting zones adding to costs. Acer seems to be taking quite a bold approach with their Southern European pricing strategy for two new Radeon RX 7600 Predator BiFrost models.

Potential customers in the States seem to be getting a slightly better deal—the Predator BiFrost Radeon RX 7600 8 GB card is reported to retail for roughly $274 while its overclocked sibling could cost around $290. Acer Spain has stated in official press material that their Radeon RX 7600 Predator BiFrost series will start at €399 (~$448), and confirmed to local tech site El Chapuzas Informatico that this higher than expected figure was not a typo. Retailers in the region have had a difficult time shifting units, and implemented price cuts shortly post launch time—the current cheapest custom RX 7600 card on the market is going for €259. It will be interesting to see whether the rest of Europe will be treated to the €399 starter prices for Acer's debut foray into Radeon graphics technology.

Today, Lenovo unveiled the newest additions to its ThinkPad mobile workstation portfolio. Powered by the latest AMD Ryzen PRO 7040 Series Mobile processors with optional NVIDIA RTX professional graphics, the new ThinkPad P16v, P16s Gen 2 and P14s Gen 4 complement the models announced in May 2023, offering customers a broad choice in mobile workstation PC solutions. ThinkPad P Series devices deliver breakthrough performance, premium design, and durability for demanding workflows across a variety of price points and include support for Windows 11 and several flavors of Linux. Bringing advanced and power-efficient processors with AMD PRO technologies and Ryzen AI on select models opens up an enhanced world of AI-driven features for advanced collaboration on ThinkPad mobile workstations.

"Our latest workstations are designed to help our customers make a difference and drive a positive long-lasting impact in their fields, whether it's research and design, engineering and finance, media and entertainment, healthcare and education, or anything else. We are committed to delivering human-centric innovations that empower our customers to unleash their potential with ThinkPad mobile workstations," said Rob Herman, VP and GM, Worldwide Workstation and Client AI Business at Lenovo.