Intel Monday revised prices of select 9th generation Core "Coffee Lake Refresh" desktop processor models. These price cuts target the "F" and "KF" brand extensions, which denote a lack of integrated graphics. The price cuts range from 5 percent to 20 percent, and cover key fast-moving SKUs popular with the DIY gaming PC crowd that likes to pair these chips with discrete graphics cards. The entry-level Core i3-9100F gets the biggest cut of the lot. The 4-core/4-thread chip is now selling for USD $97, a 20 percent cut from its $122 MSRP.

Other noteworthy cuts include the popular Core i5-9400F 6-core/6-thread processor, which is now going for $157, compared to its $182 original price. This chip has seen sub-$160 pricing in promotional sales on popular e-tailers such as Newegg. The Core i7-9700F and i7-9700KF are the other popular SKUs among the premium gaming PC build crowd. The two 8-core/8-thread chips are now priced at $298 and $349, respectively. Leading the pack is the Core i9-9900KF, which is going for $463, a small 5% saving over the i9-9900K which you can spend elsewhere, such as slightly faster RAM.

Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Cooling, Gaming Gear, and Enthusiast Memory solutions, is thrilled to announce a new model to the classic Level 20 collection- the Level 20 GT ARGB Black Edition Full Tower Chassis. Like the Level 20 GT ARGB, the chassis comes with two 200 mm preinstalled addressable 5 V ARGB LED fans which can deliver 16.8 million-color RGB illumination.

The new chassis is ready to sync with RGB capable motherboards from ASUS Aura Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync and ASRock Polychrome. The Level 20 GT ARGB Black Edition features a silky matte black finish and four tempered glass panels that serve to elevate the whole look and quality of the chassis. The new Level 20 GT ARGB Black Edition Full Tower Chassis offers users a distinctly modern chassis with a touch of luxury.

The Japanese DIY PC market has developed a strong appetite for AMD Ryzen processors, with PC Watch reporting sales data aggregated by BCN across leading retailers. In the DIY space, AMD processors now hold a monstrous 68.6 percent market share. Data was collected from Amazon Japan, Bic Camera, EDION, etc., and distributors who supply to brick-and-mortar PC hardware stores. AMD's market share started its upward trend from September 2018, when it stood at 20 percent, propelled mainly by shortages of Intel processors in the DIY channel, overpricing of Intel processors, discounts on AMD 2nd generation Ryzen processors; and the recent introduction of 3rd generation Ryzen processors which are both priced reasonably and outperform Intel at every price-point.

AMD's problem area continues to be OEMs and the pre-built PC market, which makes up a bulk of processor sales for Intel. Despite the upperhand with pricing, performance, and efficiency, the company isn't able to match Intel in design-wins. Intel is able to retain its stranglehold over the OEM space with volume pricing and prioritizing the OEM channel over the DIY retail channel. In Japan, pre-built desktops and notebooks with AMD processors make up a paltry 14.7 percent of the market, although that number is still crawling upward. Perhaps AMD needs faster processor models with integrated graphics to appease OEMs?

Colorful Technology Company Limited, professional manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and high-performance storage solutions is thrilled to introduce its latest product to gamers. The new Sigma M500 Desktop computer is COLORFUL's brand new offering for gamers who want plug-and-play solution for their gaming needs. No need to configure or setup anything, the new SIGMA M500 comes ready for battle.

The new SIGMA M500 line of pre-built desktops come in preconfigured specifications and combinations providing great gaming experience as well computing performance. COLORFUL makes this happen with 8th-gen and 9th-gen Intel Core processors. Also, as the pride of COLORFUL's product line, all SIGMA M500 desktops come equipped with COLORFUL GeForce graphics cards. This is complimented by fast DDR4 memory together with SSD storage. The iGame SIGMA M500 line comes in Basic, Advanced, Prime and Ultra configurations with MSRP of $749, $839, $899 and $1145 respectively.

Chinese DIY and AIO liquid cooling components vendor Bykski brought its largest ever collection of new products to Computex, this year. These include nine new CPU water blocks, ten new radiators of various sizes, five new full-coverage VGA water blocks, monoblocks, pumps, reservoirs, pump+reservoir combi-units, and two new AIO CLC CPU coolers. Bykski's collection of CPU water blocks now includes three new models purpose-built for AMD TR4 socket, and six blocks that support LGA2066, LGA1151, and AM4. A few of these, under the CU-RA brand, combine the beauty of RGB LED embellishments, with the brains of an integrated monitoring component. Part of the block's acrylic top, the component features an LCD display and sensors that detect coolant temperature, base temperature, and coolant pressure. Data is put out both as absolute values and as graphical histograms. This sensor unit is also sold as a standalone fitment to one of your coolant lines, to detect coolant temperature and pressure.

Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Cooling, Gaming Gear and Enthusiast Memory solutions, announced the premium water cooling kit - Pacific CL360 Max D5 Hard Tube Water Cooling Kit at COMPUTEX 2019 from May 28th to June 1st. The Pacific CL360 Max D5 Hard Tube Water Cooling Kit features a premium-quality combo kit which is ready to be controlled by the TT RGB PLUS software; it also supports the Razer Chroma and Amazon Alexa Voice Service.

The Pacific CL360 Max D5 Hard Tube Water Cooling Kit includes the Riing Duo 12 RGB Radiator Fans, a Pacific W5 RGB CPU Water Block, Pacific PR22-D5 Plus Pump/Reservoir Combo, Pacific CL360 Plus RGB Radiator, a bottle of T1000 Coolant Pure Clear, eight C-Pro G14 PETG 16mm OD Compressions, eight V-Tubler PETG Tubes and other accessories. Every component in the Pacific CL360 Max D5 Water Cooling Kit is particularly selected by Thermaltake PC DIY experts.

A report from technology market analyst Trendforce places SSD's pricing in sharp decline, with price per GB being projected to hit as low as $0.1 by year's end. Citing oversupply in the NADN flash market and an impending price war to allow manufacturers to sell out accumulating inventory, this is one of those clear cases of a win for consumers - which, after the shenanigans in the DRAM market, is about time. Trendforce further states that the price reductions should render 128 GB SSDs obsolete, as they mostly are by now, with 512 GB capacities becoming the mainstream choice for system integrators and DIY.

Pricing evolution in the market also places premium NVMe solutions at an only 6% premium over SATA offerings, showcasing the increased cost savings that manufacturers have achieved with the reduction in price for NVMe controllers, and the lower amount of physical materials needed to put an NVMe SSD together compared to a SATA-based alternative. Furthermore, Trendforce says that value PCIe-based solutions have a 0% price difference compared to SATA-based ones, so the option for the older form factor should only fall upon how many NVMe/PCIe sockets users' motherboards have available to populate.

EVGA today released its flagship graphics card, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti KINGPIN, designed by the legendary Vince "KINGPIN" Lucido himself. Unlike past generations of KINGPIN-branded flagships by EVGA, this card features an all-in-one closed-loop liquid cooling solution that's factory-fitted. The cold-plate of this CLC cools the GPU and memory, while a dedicated copper heatsink pulls heat from the VRM, and is ventilated by a 100 mm fan. Dissipating heat is a 240 mm x 120 mm radiator with two included high air-flow fans. For DIY liquid-cooling enthusiasts, EVGA is separately selling the Hydro Copper full-coverage water-block for this card. KINGPIN Cooling may offer LN2 evaporators for this card.

The PCB of this card has been designed by legendary volt-modder Illya "TiN" Tsemenko, and is an outstanding 12-layer thick, with high dispersion of electrical and signal traces to minimize interference. A 16+3 phase VRM powers the beast, made up of the most expensive components the industry has to offer. The VRM pulls power from three 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

Alphacool today unveiled the Eisbaer Solo Chrome DIY pump+block, a variant of Eisbaer Solo that features a chrome mirror-finish body along three out of four sides, and the top, with a clear acrylic window covering one of the sides. You plumb your own coolant tubes and radiator to the contraption, which combines the functionality of a CPU water-block, a 70 l/h pump, and reservoir into one. The pump features an ultra low-noise ceramic bearing and operational speed of 2,600 RPM and a maximum head of 0.85 m. The package includes mounting brackets for LGA2066/2011, LGA115x, LGA1366, and AM4 sockets; in addition to some thermal compound. Available now, it is priced at 54.95€ including taxes.

In a sign of just how arid the DIY retail channel has become for Intel, Tom's Hardware reports that the new socket flagship LGA2066 HEDT processor model Intel sneaked into its product-stack, the Core i9-9990XE, is restricted to the OEM/SI (system integrator) channel. Even to OEMs, ordering a tray of i9-9990XE chips isn't as simple as ordering other chips, such as the i9-9900K. Apparently, Intel has been running secret online auctions that are OEM-only, for these chips. OEMs get to bid on the per-chip price in n-unit tray quantities.

Workstation integrator Puget Systems was able to score itself some i9-9990XE inventory at USD $2,300 per chip. Puget Systems last week received its first batch of chips from Intel, and released performance benchmarks. At this price, the i9-9990XE is being sold at a 21% premium over the retail-channel SEP price of the i9-9980XE, and a whopping 65% premium over the i9-9940X. Intel can't shake off comparisons between the i9-9990XE and the i9-9940X because both chips are 14-core/28-thread with 19.25 MB shared L3 cache, with the i9-9990XE only offering significantly higher clock-speeds, but at an astounding TDP of 255W. The i9-9990XE was shown beating the 18-core i9-9980XE in a variety of HEDT-relevant benchmarks.

Intel today expanded its 9th generation Core "Coffee Lake Refresh" socket LGA1151 desktop processor lineup with six new SKUs. The first of these will begin rolling out in stores toward the end of January 2019. These include the Core i5-9400 6-core/6-thread processor clocked at 2.90 GHz with 4.10 GHz Turbo Boost, and 9 MB of shared L3 cache. The company is yet to list out model names of its other five models, although these are expected to include Core i3-9350KF, Core i5-9600KF, Core i7-9700KF, and Core i9-9900KF, besides a possible Core i3-9300. The "KF" SKUs are targeted at the DIY channel and the gaming pre-built ODM market, and are expected to lack integrated graphics.

Update: Intel also revealed its Core i5-9400F processor, which has the same specifications as the i5-9400, with the exception of no iGPU. Intel's own list price for this chip is USD $182.

PC hardware enthusiasts all over (but particularly in our own forums) have been adamant in how this is one of the worst times to be building a new system. And it's true; the DIY market is a mess right now, as our own btarunr mentioned in his latest editorial; so much so, that in a full reversal of years and years of experience, users might now actually be better served in the $/performance department by buying their systems from boutique retailers, than by acquiring all of the parts separately. It's a mad, mad world out there, for a multitude of reasons; but one such reason is DRAM pricing. And fortunately, it seems that China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is on the verge of signing a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with Samsung that might help the DRAM market as a whole.

It was a month ago that TechPowerUp broke the news about EK Water Blocks parting ways with then CEO, CTO and Head of Marketing, among others. Speculations arose from readers concerning what could have happened behind the scenes to result in such a dramatic change to what was otherwise a successful time period for the company. Since then, EKWB did just what they promised and delivered new products in time including additions to their Fluid Gaming lineup as well as introducing a new modular AIO MLC series. It appears that in the short term at least, they have continued on unaffected.

Today we can let everyone know what happened to those who left the company, and this news has deeper potential implications to the PC DIY market. Both Mark Tanko, ex-CEO, and Niko Tivadar, ex-CTO, confirmed to us that they have officially joined CORSAIR. Mark is now "Vice President & BU General Manager at CORSAIR", whereas Niko is "Director Of Engineering at CORSAIR". We contacted them for a statement, and it can be seen following the break.

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, today launched the XPG STORM heatsink add-on for M.2 2280 drives. STORM features an aluminum heatsink and with a fan. It can be easily affixed to any compatible SSD to provide powerful cooling. Lower SSD temperatures promote more stable storage and system performance, in addition to the XPG-styled STORM heatsink with its colorful RGB lighting contributing to attractive, gaming-themed PC setups.

Lower temperatures complement high speeds
While M.2 2280 PCIe SSDs are currently the fastest on the market, their high data rates also mean considerable heat buildup. Without a heatsink, accumulating heat can compromise performance and accelerate SSD aging. STORM includes an aluminum heatsink that fits on any M.2 SSD without causing overhead issues. Together with the heatsink, STORM uses a fan to circulate cool air and reduces temperature by at least 25% when compared with bare M.2 SSDs.

BIOSTAR is proud to announce its line-up of new motherboards based on the Intel B250 chipset as part of the 2nd-generation RACING series family of products with the announcement of the BIOSTAR RACING B250GT5 and B250GT3. Both motherboards support Intel's 7th-generation Core processors as well as native support for Intel Optane Memory technology for next-generation high-speed storage.

Colorful Technology Company Limited, professional manufacturer of graphics cards and motherboards, is proud to announce its latest motherboard for enthusiasts and gamers featuring the latest Intel Z270 chipset to support LGA1151 processors including the newly announced 7th generation Core processors from Intel with their new iGame Z270 Gamer. Customization motherboard. This latest products joins the family of iGame enthusiast and performance series of motherboards and graphics cards which focuses on not just the needs of gamers for a faster and robust system but serves as a canvas to promote their creativity and idea with great customization options.

It looks like Aerocool's Project 7 covers a wider range of products than PSUs, extending to even liquid cooling. The company unveiled a mixture of closed-loop coolers and DIY liquid cooling parts under the banner. To begin with, there's the P7-W240C, which is a closed loop cooler with a 240 mm x 120 mm radiator, and a pump-block, with a regulator. It looks all too DIY, but is factory-fitted closed-loop. Next up, is the P7-W240 Pro, which appears to be a set of compatible parts so you can build a simple loop of your own, complete with a CPU block, a 240 mm x 120 mm radiator, and a cylindrical reservoir.

Phanteks made its major foray into DIY liquid cooling, with the launch of two new CPU blocks, a new full-coverage VGA block for the GeForce GTX 1080, and a variety of fittings. To begin with, the company showed off two new untitled CPU water blocks, one features a bulged out frosty acrylic top, and the other a flat top with POM acetal inserts near the fittings area. Speaking of which, the company launched a boat-load of plugs, extenders, and compression fittings to go with these blocks. Lastly, the company launched its first full-coverage VGA block, with one designed for the GTX 1080.

Intel pushed a CPU microcode update to its motherboard partners, which "plugs a loophole," which allowed people to overclock Core "Skylake" processors, other than those with the "K" brand extensions. The PC enthusiast community rejoiced what it felt was a comeback of base-clock overclocking on non-enthusiast Intel chips, with the advent of the company's 6th generation Core "Skylake" architecture. Apparently, Intel sees it as a flawed CPU micro-code which allowed overclocking, and which some motherboard vendors even built marketing campaigns around.

In an interview with PC World, a company spokesperson stated: "Intel regularly issues updates for our processors which our partners voluntarily incorporate into their BIOS," an Intel spokesman said. "The latest update provided to partners includes, among other things, code that aligns with the position that we do not recommend overclocking processors that have not been designed to do so. Additionally, Intel does not warranty the operation of the processor beyond its specifications." So how does this micro-code update work? For starters, it will work only if you want it to. If your motherboard currently supports overclocking, then it will continue to do so, until you update its BIOS. Intel will push the new micro-code to its motherboard partners, who in turn will deploy it on their latest production batches, and to their customers through DIY BIOS updates.

Lian-Li Industrial Co. Ltd announces the CB-01 CPU Water Block. Manufactured by Lian Li in partnership with cooling experts from Overclockers, UK, a world-record overclocking team, this is Lian Li's first water block ever. With their passion for quality materials, the CB-01 is made to the same exacting standards as Lian Li's outstanding cases. The cold plate has a heart of solid copper in a nickel coating and a final layer of tin-cobalt for extra cooling, durability, and corrosion resistance. The top is a translucent acrylic block that visibly guides the cooling waters through the microchannels. The simple yet sturdy mounting fit s virtually all modern and past motherboard sockets securely. For a bit of flare, there are holes pre-drilled for 5mm LED lights.

The CB-01 uses a standard G1/4" thread so most DIY water cooling components will easily fit the inlet and outlet ports. The inlet is deliberately offset against the outlet to allow the coolest water to enter the block in direct contact with the middle of the hottest CPU core. It then flows across the other cores and vents on the opposite side. The microchannels have an area of 32.2mm by 27.3mm but because they are contoured with precision grooves, they provide a greater overall surface area. While not the largest, these dimensions were deliberately chosen to strike a balance between high restriction and high flow for the best cooling for its size. Lian Li used their precision manufacturing to ensure the microchannels are as thin as possible for maximum performance.

Because no two system builds are identical, CableMod, the premier purveyor of premium PC cables, is all about offering our users more options to better suit their individual style. We began by offering a wide range of color options, and then launched a series of DIY extensions where users could customize each and every wire as they saw fit. In that vein, CableMod is happy to announce a brand new cable configuration for users who just want the basics - CableMod Basic Cable Kits.

CableMod Basic Cable Kits come with four cables that cover the most popular cable types, including one 24-pin ATX, one 4+4 pin EPS, and two 6+2 PCI-e cables. These cables are easily the most visible cables in a typical system build, which makes these basic kits ideal for users who don't need or want all of the cables included in our full kits. CableMod Basic Kits are also offered at a lower price point than our full kits, which makes them a fantastic entry point for users who want to spruce up their systems on a budget.

Intel announced its first 6th generation Core processors, codenamed "Skylake." Built on Intel's swanky new 14 nanometer silicon fab process, and in the new LGA1151 package, these processors bring DDR4 memory to the mainstream, and offer IPC improvements over the previous-generation Core "Haswell" and "Broadwell" processors. Making its debut at Gamescom, Intel is starting its lineup off with two chips that are predominantly targeted at the DIY gaming PC crowd, the Core i7-6700K and the Core i5-6600K quad-core processors. More models in the series will be launched towards the end of this month. The company also announced the Z170 Express chipset.

The Core i7-6700K features a nominal clock speed of 4.00 GHz, with a Turbo Boost frequency of 4.20 GHz. It features 8 MB of L3 cache, and HyperThreading. Its integrated Intel HD 530 graphics ticks at 350 MHz, with 1200 MHz Boost. The Core i5-6600K, on the other hand, features clock speeds of 3.50 GHz, with 3.90 GHz Turbo Boost. It features 6 MB of L3 cache, and lacks HyperThreading. It features the same integrated graphics solution as its bigger sibling. The TDP of both chips are rated at 91W. Both chips feature integrated memory controllers with support for DDR3L-1600 and DDR4-2133. The Core i7-6700K is priced around $350, and the i5-6600K around $243, in 1000-unit tray quantities. The retail packages of both chips will lack a stock cooling solution. The LGA1151 cooler mount will be identical to that of the outgoing LGA1150, so you shouldn't have any problems using your older cooler.

In addition to the MasterCase, Cooler Master unveiled its flagship CPU coolers, the MasterAir and the MasterLiquid, which as their names suggest, and air- and liquid-coolers, respectively. The MasterAir is styled a lot like the old V8 GTS, but is a single fin-stack, tower-type cooler, with two pre-installed 140 mm fans in push-pull configuration. The cooler integrates what CM calls a "3D vapor-chamber," which combines the benefits of a horizontal (plate making direct contact with CPU) and vertical (that which conducts heat through the fin-stack) vapor chambers. In addition, there are eight conventional copper heat pipes. The 140 mm fans glow with red or white LEDs. The MasterLiquid, on the other hand, is a DIY liquid cooling solution, with CPU blocks, reservoirs, tubing, coolants, fittings, and 2x 140 mm radiators branded by Cooler Master. The company showed off one such solution installed in a MasterCase exhibit.

EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana based premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is excited to introduce the new updated (R2.0) line of EK-KIT L series value orientated, yet powerful liquid cooling kits.

These new and improved kits are direct successors of world renown EK-KIT L series kits. In new revision EK Water Blocks has again prepared three differently sized models: EK-KIT L120 R2.0, L240 R2.0 and L360 2.0, the only difference between them being the size of the radiator and the number of accompanied fans. The EK-KIT L series Revision 2.0 liquid cooling kits are designed for all users who seek simple, yet quality and efficient all-in-one solution, assembled from selected market proven components.

AMD is planning to play a neat branding game with Intel. Branding of the company's 2016 lineup of CPUs and APUs will emphasize on "generation," much in the same way Intel does with its Core processor family. AMD will mention in its PIB product packaging, OEM specs sheets, and even its product logo (down to the case-badge), that its 2016 products (FX-series CPUs and A-series APUs) are the company's "6th generation." 2016 marks prevalence of Intel's Core "Skylake" processor family, which is its 6th generation Core family (succeeding Nehalem/Westmere, Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, Haswell, and Broadwell). AMD is arriving at its "6th generation" moniker counting "Stars," "Bulldozer," "Piledriver," "Steamroller," and "Excavator," driving its past 5 generations of APUs, and the occasional FX CPU.

It turns out that the emphasis on "generation" is big with DIY and SI retail channels. Retailers we spoke with, say that they find it easier to break through Intel's often-confusing CPU socket change cycle, which ticks roughly every 18-24 months. Customers, they say, find it easier to simply mention the "generation" of Core processor they want, to get all relevant components to go with them (such as motherboard and memory bundles). While AMD's FX brand clearly didn't see generations beyond "Piledriver," the company's decision to unify the socket for its FX and A-Series product lines next year, with AM4, makes "6th generation FX processor" valid.