AMD's latest flagship APU, the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 "Strix Halo," demonstrates some impressive performance advantages over Intel's "Lunar Lake" processors in large language model (LLM) inference workloads, according to recent benchmarks on AMD's blog. Featuring 16 Zen 5 CPU cores, 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units, and over 50 AI TOPS via its XDNA 2 NPU, the processor achieves up to 12.2x faster response times than Intel's Core Ultra 258V in specific LLM scenarios. Notably, Intel's Lunar Lake has four E-cores and four P-cores, which in total is half of the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 CPU core count, but the performance difference is much more pronounced than the 2x core gap. The performance delta becomes even more notable with model complexity, particularly with 14-billion parameter models approaching the limit of what standard 32 GB laptops can handle.

In LM Studio benchmarks using an ASUS ROG Flow Z13 with 64 GB unified memory, the integrated Radeon 8060S GPU delivered 2.2x higher token throughput than Intel's Arc 140V across various model architectures. Time-to-first-token metrics revealed a 4x advantage in smaller models like Llama 3.2 3B Instruct, expanding to 9.1x with 7-8B parameter models such as DeepSeek R1 Distill variants. AMD's architecture particularly excels in multimodal vision tasks, where the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 processed complex visual inputs up to 7x faster in IBM Granite Vision 3.2 3B and 6x faster in Google Gemma 3 12B compared to Intel's offering. The platform's support for AMD Variable Graphics Memory allows allocating up to 96 GB as VRAM from systems equipped with 128 GB unified memory, enabling the deployment of state-of-the-art models like Google Gemma 3 27B Vision. The processor's performance advantages extend to practical AI applications, including medical image analysis and coding assistance via higher-precision 6-bit quantization in the DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B model.

AMD's Radeon GPU lineup has achieved a remarkable 45% market share in Japan, representing the brand's strongest position in the competitive graphics card market, according to AMD Japan executive Sato during a recent industry roundtable. This significant market penetration marks a turning point for Team Red in a region historically dominated by NVIDIA. The announcement came during a multi-vendor panel featuring representatives from ASRock, ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, PowerColor, and Sapphire at an AMD-focused event in Akihabara. While celebrating the milestone, industry partners pushed for more ambitious targets, with ASRock's Haraguchi challenging AMD to aim for a 70% market share. ASUS executive Ichikawa humorously noted the brand's historical underdog status, remarking, "We've never been the ruling party!"

The event also featured insights on AMD's latest hardware from prominent tech influencers. "Sir Gradeon" praised the Radeon RX 9070 series for its overclocking headroom and substantial VRAM capacity, highlighting that the GPUs don't require power supply upgrades. Fellow influencer "Shurarara!!" emphasized the RX 9070 XT's price-to-performance ratio, noting its ability to run demanding titles like Monster Hunter Wilds at 4K resolution with appropriate settings. Supply constraints emerged as a significant concern during the roundtable, with AIB partners expressing frustration over GPU allocation limitations despite strong demand. The candid admission from AMD's representative about the company "not being used to selling graphics cards" at this volume sparked laughter among attendees, showing the unexpected nature of AMD's market surge. The event attracted substantial attention, with long lines forming before doors opened. Attendees participated in the X-Walk Post Campaign across Akihabara's electronics district, with early purchasers of AMD products receiving exclusive promotional items.

Acer today unveiled its latest Predator BiFrost and Acer Nitro graphics cards, powered by the next-generation AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series GPUs. This cutting-edge line-up includes six models designed to elevate gaming and creative experiences with next-level performance and visual fidelity. The models include the Predator BiFrost Radeon RX 9070 XT OC 16GB, Predator BiFrost Radeon RX 9070 OC 16GB, and four Nitro graphics cards: Acer Nitro Radeon RX 9070 XT OC 16GB, Acer Nitro Radeon RX 9070 OC 16GB, and standard versions of the Acer Nitro Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB and Acer Nitro Radeon RX 9070 16GB.

The new GPUs are engineered for ultra-fast gaming and demanding tasks, leveraging AMD RDNA 4 compute units and up to 16 GB of memory to deliver immersive 8K visuals. The advanced cooling technology, featuring three FrostBlade 4.0 fans, and reinforced designs ensures systems can be pushed to their limits while maintaining peak performance. DIY gamers will appreciate new software features such as Acer Intelligence Space, which offers intuitive AI system detection, and Acer Game Assistance's adaptive aim system to give players a competitive edge.

TrendForce reveals that the combined revenue of the world's top 10 IC design houses reached approximately US$249.8 billion in 2024, marking a 49% YoY increase. The booming AI industry has fueled growth across the semiconductor sector, with NVIDIA leading the charge, posting an astonishing 125% revenue growth, widening its lead over competitors, and solidifying its dominance in the IC industry.

Looking ahead to 2025, advancements in semiconductor manufacturing will further enhance AI computing power, with LLMs continuing to emerge. Open-source models like DeepSeek could lower AI adoption costs, accelerating AI penetration from servers to personal devices. This shift positions edge AI devices as the next major growth driver for the semiconductor industry.

Giga Computing, a subsidiary of GIGABYTE, a global leader in IT technology solutions, is thrilled to announce its participation at CloudFest 2025, the world's premier cloud, hosting, and internet infrastructure event. As a key exhibitor, Giga Computing will highlight its latest innovations in AI, cloud computing, and edge solutions at the GIGABYTE booth. In line with its commitment to shaping the future of AI development and deployment, the GIGABYTE booth will showcase its industry-leading hardware and platforms optimized for AI workloads, cloud applications, and edge computing. As cloud adoption continues to accelerate, Giga Computing solutions are designed to empower businesses with unparalleled performance, scalability, and efficiency.

At CloudFest 2025, Giga Computing invites attendees to visit booth #E03 to experience firsthand its cutting-edge cloud computing solutions. From state-of-the-art hardware to innovative total solutions, a comprehensive suite of products and services designed to meet the evolving needs of the cloud industry are being showcased.

NVIDIA has published a research paper on DLSS version 4, its AI rendering technology for real-time graphics performance. The system integrates advancements in frame generation, ray reconstruction, and latency reduction. The flagship Multi-Frame Generation feature generates three additional frames for every native frame. The DLSS 4 later on brings the best looking frames to the user quickly to make is seem like a real rendering. At the core of DLSS 4 is a shift from convolutional neural networks to transformer models. These new AI architectures excel at capturing spatial-temporal dependencies, improving ray-traced affect quality by 30-50% according to NVIDIA's benchmarks. The technology processes each AI-generated frame in just 1 ms on RTX 5090 GPUs—significantly faster than the 3.25 ms required by DLSS 3. For competitive gaming, the new Reflex Frame Warp feature reduces input latency by up to 75%, achieving 14 ms in THE FINALS and under 3 ms in VALORANT, according to NVIDIA's own benchmarks.

DLSS 4's implementation leverages Blackwell-specific architecture capabilities, including FP8 tensor cores and fused CUDA kernels. The optimized pipeline incorporates vertical layer fusion and memory optimizations that keep computational overhead manageable despite using transformer models, which are twice as large as previous CNN implementations. This efficiency enables real-time performance even with the substantially more complex AI processing. The unified AI pipeline reduces manual tuning requirements for ray-traced effects, allowing studios to implement advanced path tracing across diverse hardware configurations. The design also addresses gaming challenges like interpolating fast-moving UI elements and particle effects and reducing artifacts in high-motion scenes. NVIDIA's hardware flip metering and Blackwell-induced display engine integration ensure precise frame pacing of newly generated frames for smooth, high-refresh-rate gaming, with accurate imagery.

MSI has officially confirmed that it will not manufacture graphics cards based on AMD's latest RDNA 4 architecture, effectively bypassing the entire Radeon RX 9000 series lineup. In a statement to Tom's Hardware, an MSI representative briefly noted the company "is not manufacturing AMD GPUs this generation," pausing its AMD partnership while leaving the door open for future collaborations. Data compiled by Tom's Hardware shows MSI produced 45 distinct models during the RDNA 2 generation (RX 6000-series), but dramatically scaled back to just four custom designs for RDNA 3 (RX 7000-series)—representing a 91% reduction in AMD SKU diversity. Those limited RDNA 3 offerings, including the flagship RX 7900 XTX, notably reused cooling solutions from previous-generation AMD cards, indicating reduced R&D allocation compared to the company's NVIDIA lineup.

MSI's withdrawal from offering AMD-based solutions is due to several factors. NVIDIA's dominance in market share (83%, according to Steam hardware surveys) provides partners with stronger return-on-investment potential, while EVGA's 2022 exit from the GPU market created an opportunity for MSI to strengthen its position as a premier NVIDIA partner. There were reportedly delays in finalizing the MSRP for the RX 9000 series, which complicated manufacturers' calculations, production planning, and shipments. The vacuum left by MSI creates potential opportunities for other emerging players like Acer, which has been slowly expanding its AMD graphics card presence. However, MSI's decision—likely finalized during earlier strategic planning cycles—could potentially push away AMD enthusiasts despite strong projected demand for the Radeon RX 9070 series. Whether this represents a permanent strategic realignment or a temporary market response, we are yet to find out. AMD plans to return to the high-end GPU segment with its UDNA generation, so we have to wait and see if MSI makes a comeback here. For AIBs, partnerships with GPU makers are essential to get R&D resources behind a new product. Once partnerships pause, it is hard to get that wheel going again.

ASUS has discreetly modified its controversial Q-Release Slim mechanism in the newly launched ROG Crosshair X870E Apex motherboard, removing a metal bracket linked to GPU PCIe connector scratches. The unannounced revision, spotted by Uniko's Hardware, follows months of backlash from enthusiasts who reported cosmetic damage to high-end GPUs after repeated use of the quick-release feature. While ASUS has not formally addressed the redesign, it acknowledges the issue—a stark contrast to its earlier dismissal of concerns as "typical wear-and-tear" after 60+ removal cycles. The controversy, first spotted in January 2025, escalated when users shared evidence of scratched PCIe pins on platforms like Reddit and Bilibili.

ASUS's global responses varied sharply: its US division downplayed functional risks, while ASUS China rolled out compensation, including motherboard replacements and store credits, and confirmed a redesign was underway. This regional split shows differing consumer protection norms, with China's aggressive compensation contrasting Western markets' reliance on warranty assurances. Competitors seized the moment. GIGABYTE's AORUS Japan publicly mocked ASUS with a 100-cycle stress test of its EZ Latch Plus, showcasing zero GPU damage—a direct jab at Q-Release Slim's durability. The campaign, echoed by GIGABYTE's Western accounts, emphasized rivalries in the premium motherboard segment. ASUS's quiet hardware fix avoids a formal recall, likely due to the niche impact—frequent GPU swaps are rare among mainstream users.

NVIDIA ACE is a suite of RTX-accelerated digital human technologies that bring game characters to life with generative AI. Earlier this year, we unveiled AI-powered NVIDIA ACE Autonomous Game Characters, adding autonomous teammates, NPCs, and enemies to games, unlocking a whole new set of gameplay possibilities. These ACE autonomous game characters make their debut later this month in two titles. In the life simulator inZOI, players can customize "Smart Zoi" NPCs with life goals that in turn use AI to guide behavior and interactions with other NPCs.

In NARAKA: BLADEPOINT MOBILE PC VERSION, NVIDIA ACE-powered teammates help players battle enemies, hunt for loot, and fight for victory. Additionally, NVIDIA ACE technologies continue to advance, incorporating new vision and audio language models, enhancing facial animation with new model architectures, and accelerating game development with updated ACE plugins for Maya and Unreal Engine for offline authoring.

NVIDIA today announced ahead of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) groundbreaking enhancements to NVIDIA RTX neural rendering technologies. NVIDIA has partnered with Microsoft to bring neural shading support to the Microsoft DirectX preview in April, giving developers access to AI Tensor Cores in NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs to accelerate neural networks from within a game's graphics pipeline. Neural shading represents a revolution in graphics programming, combining AI with traditional rendering to dramatically boost frame rates, enhance image quality and reduce system resource usage.

"Microsoft is adding cooperative vector support to DirectX and HLSL, starting with a preview this April," said Shawn Hargreaves, Direct3D development manager at Microsoft. "This will advance the future of graphics programming by enabling neural rendering across the gaming industry. Unlocking Tensor Cores on NVIDIA RTX will allow developers to fully leverage RTX Neural Shaders for richer, more immersive experiences on Windows."

Cooler Master, a leading provider of PC components, gaming peripherals, and tech lifestyle solutions, today announced the HAF 5 Pro, a fully built gaming system designed to deliver robust performance and seamless gameplay. Powered by an Intel Core i7-12700F processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, the HAF 5 Pro leverages Cooler Master's expertise in high airflow cases, efficient cooling, and premium power delivery—paired with the enhanced gaming features of Windows 11.

"We've taken our hallmark high-airflow concept and built a system that's both powerful and visually striking," said Jimmy Sha, CEO of Cooler Master. "Our customers know and trust the HAF lineup for cooling prowess, so outfitting it with top-tier components, a dedicated VGA fan, and Windows 11's advanced gaming capabilities was a natural progression to offer an all-in-one experience."

AMD is not releasing any "Made by AMD" (MBA) reference designs of its latest Radeon RX 9070 XT GPUs based on the RDNA 4 IP. However, leakers in China managed to get ahold of what appears to be an MBA Radeon RX 9070 XT design, assumingly being used as a prototype. While there are custom designs by AMD's AIB partners, AMD itself hasn't released the reference design to the public. The latest leak from Chinese forums confirms that this GPU actually exists beyond the standard press renders/mockups, meaning that someone can get their hands on it. The seller is offering a brand-new reference edition of the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT with a warranty for one year, with the second year requiring self-paid repairs. They specify no disassembly and no damage to the unit.

The standard price is set at 5000 RMB, with a preference for local pickup. For buyers outside the city, shipping via SF Express is available with insurance, requiring a payment of at least 5800 RMB. The physical card matches the previously leaked render with its three-fan design, though with a notable color difference. Instead of the expected gray finish, the actual unit features a complete black design. Currently sealed in an antistatic bag, the card appears unused. The asking price of approximately $800 initially seems high but aligns with current market rates for custom versions. The listing has already disappeared, suggesting someone has already snagged this rare prototype. With serial codes visible, AMD can potentially trace the person who put it up for sales, so its not a good outlook for anyone that wanted to sell it.

As we have witnessed in the past few weeks, leaked retailer listings are undoubtedly an interesting way to gain more information regarding upcoming hardware. A set of recent listings by the retailer PC21, as well as Acer Hong Kong, have revealed some details regarding the upcoming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Laptop and RTX 5050 Laptop GPUs. First of all, it appears that we now have concrete information regarding the launch date for the RTX 5060 laptop GPU. According to Acer, the RTX 5060 Laptop-equipped producs will start shipping sometime in May. Moreover, as the leaked listing has revealed, RTX 5060 and RTX 5050 Laptop GPUs will arrive with 8 GB of VRAM, both based on the new GDDR7 spec.

This is quite an interesting development, considering that the RTX 5050 Desktop GPU is expected to ship with GDDR6 memory, so it does appear that the Laptop variant will have superior memory speeds. Considering that the RTX 5070 laptop GPU will also boast 8 GB of GDDR7 memory, it is clear that the primary differences between the RTX 5050, RTX 5060, and RTX 5070 Laptop variants will be limited to core counts. Those who demand more than just 8 GB of VRAM will have to shell out extra for the RTX 5070 Ti Laptop, which is expected to ship with 12 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192 bit bus. As for pricing, the leaked MSI VenturePro 16 with a Core 7 240H CPU, 16 GB DDR5 memory, 512 GB SSD and an RTX 5050 Laptop GPU is seemingly priced at €1580, or roughly $1720. Clearly, even the lowest-end of Blackwell GPUs are all set to boast price tags lofty enough to make even those with deep pockets weep.

A week ago, MSI introduced its lineup of custom GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card models—headlined by their premium VANGUARD option, with a product stack going down to a budget friendly INSPIRE 3X offering. Since then, the Taiwanese manufacturer has added another entry to its NVIDIA "Blackwell" GB205 GPU-based family. As observed by VideoCardz, MSI is overpopulating its GeForce RTX 5070 stack with two more models. The SHADOW 2X OC and SHADOW 2X (non-OC) have—very recently—popped up on the company's website, with absolutely zero PR fanfare. The triple-fan SHADOW 3X designs received a similar treatment last month—brand-new stealth-black GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti custom designs seemingly appeared overnight.

As befits the nomenclature, MSI's SHADOW 2X design sports a TORX 5.0 dual-fan cooling solution. As covered by TechPowerUp's news section in the past, the SHADOW series shares similarities with VENTUS—both families serve as "baseline MSRP" conformant products, due to a minimalistic aesthetic and barebones feature set (i.e. focused on the essentials). MSI marketing blurb describes SHADOW as: "a performance-focused design that delivers the gaming experience players want, making it the ideal choice when upgrading or building a gaming rig." The company has courted controversy in recent times; VideoCardz and other media outlets have leveled plenty of criticism throughout February and March—the lack of "MSRP" models and reported price hiking at launch became major sticking points. Industry watchdogs believe that the freshly unveiled SHADOW 2X models will be in short supply for the foreseeable future.

NVIDIA is set to unveil its RTX 5060 series graphics cards tomorrow, according to VideoCardz information, which claims NVIDIA shared launch info with some media outlets today. The announcement will include two desktop models: the RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti, confirming leaks from industry sources last week. The upcoming lineup will feature three variants: RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB, RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB, and RTX 5060. All three cards will utilize identical board designs and the same GPU, allowing manufacturers to produce visually similar Ti and non-Ti models. Power requirements are expected to range from 150-180 W. NVIDIA's RTX 5060 Ti will ship with 4608 CUDA cores, representing a modest 6% increase over the previous generation RTX 4060 Ti. The most significant improvement comes from the implementation of GDDR7 memory technology, which could deliver over 50% higher bandwidth than its predecessor if NVIDIA maintains the expected 28 Gbps memory speed across all variants.

The standard RTX 5060 will feature 3840 CUDA cores paired with 8 GB of GDDR7 memory. This configuration delivers 25% more GPU cores than its predecessor and marks an upgrade in GPU tier from AD107 (XX7) to GB206 (XX6). The smaller GB207 GPU is reportedly reserved for the upcoming RTX 5050. VideoCardz's sources indicate the RTX 5060 series will hit the market in April. Tomorrow's announcement is strategically timed as an update for the Game Developers Conference (GDC), which begins next week. All models in the series will maintain the 128-bit memory bus of their predecessors while delivering significantly improved memory bandwidth—448 GB/s compared to the previous generation's 288 GB/s for the Ti model and 272 GB/s for the standard variant. The improved bandwidth stems from the introduction of GDDR7 memory.

A curiously-specced Acer Nitro N50 (N50-656) pre-built gaming PC system was spotted and then reported online, courtesy of momomo_us's diligent eye—trained on all manner of international retail and e-tail webstores. EvoPC—a small indie outfit, located in Nancy, France—has inadvertently hinted about a potential upcoming launch of NVIDIA's unannounced GeForce RTX 5060 model. VideoCardz believes that Team Green will be unveiling the lower end of its gaming-oriented "Blackwell" GPU product stack.

An imminent announcement—reportedly marked down for this week—could include another GB203-based variant; the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti—in addition, they reckon that NVIDIA will reveal a next-gen "entry-mainstream" offering; in the shape of GeForce RTX 5050. Comprehensive details leaked onto the internet over the past weekend. EvoPC's webshop advertises the "currently unavailable" Acer Nitro N50-656 system with a steep €1589 (~$1735 USD) price tag (subject to change). Their basic rundown of internal parts lists: an Intel Core i7-14700F processor, 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5 RAM, and NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060 GPU with 8 GB of GDDR7 SDRAM.

This month, we at AMD celebrate two significant milestones in the Radeon story. First, the 25th anniversary of Radeon, a journey that began in 2000 with the ATI Radeon DDR card. Back then, 32 MB of VRAM, a 143 MHz clocks, and 30M transistors were cutting-edge tools that sparked your early adventures. Today, those specs are a nostalgic memory, dwarfed by the leaps we've made together culminating in the 24 GB of memory, multi-GHz clocks, and nearly 60B transistors of RDNA 3 cards driving the immersive worlds you now explore. But we're not stopping there. We're proud to continue that innovation journey with the RDNA 4-based Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070, available starting today. This is more than a new chapter for us, it's a promise to you, the gamers who fuel our passion. We know what matters when you choose your next GPU: raw performance to conquer your favorite titles, tech that's ready for tomorrow's blockbusters, and value that respects your investment. That's precisely what RDNA 4 delivers.

Our goal with RDNA 4 wasn't to chase an elite crown few can reach. Instead, we focused on you, the heart of gaming, crafting cards that bring exceptional power to the setups most of you run. Compared to our last gen, RDNA 4 boosts raster performance for crisper, smoother visuals. Ray tracing throughput doubles, letting you soak in lifelike lighting and reflections without compromise. And with an 8x uplift in machine learning performance, we're unlocking new possibilities - like FSR 4, our latest leap in ML-based upscaling.

NVIDIA has finally responded to widespread stability problems affecting its RTX 50 series "Blackwell" GPU lineup with the release of GeForce Hotfix Display Driver 572.75. The emergency update specifically targets two critical issues: black screen crashes plaguing the entire RTX 50 series and performance degradation after system reboots when overclocking RTX 5080/5090 models. This hotfix arrives after weeks of user complaints about system instability, particularly when utilizing DLSS 4 frame generation and other advanced features. The release comes directly through NVIDIA's Customer Care support site rather than standard distribution channels, packed in the hotfix release.

According to NVIDIA's release notes, the driver underwent an "abbreviated QA process" to spread its availability to affected users. While the company acknowledges the complexity of its driver software and has "an army of software engineers" addressing bugs, many early Blackwell buyers have expressed frustration over paying premium prices for hardware hindered by fundamental stability issues. NVIDIA has indicated that these fixes and additional improvements will be incorporated into the next official WHQL-certified driver release, though no specific timeline has been provided. At TechPowerUp, we don't host hotfix drivers, only WHQL versions, so you must go to NVIDIA's website here to download the latest driver.

Just recently, Apple somewhat stunned the industry with the introduction of its refreshed Mac Studio with the M4 Max and M3 Ultra SoCs. For whatever reason, the Cupertino giant decided to spec its most expensive Mac desktop with an Ultra SoC that is based on an older generation, M3, instead of the newer M4 family. However, the M3 Max, which the M3 Ultra is based on, was no slouch, indicating that the M3 Ultra will likely boast impressive performance. However, if a collection of recent benchmark runs are anything to go by, it appears that the M3 Ultra is a tad too closely matched with the M4 Max in CPU performance, which makes the $2000 premium between the two SoCs rather difficult to digest. Needless to say, a single benchmark is hardly representative of real-world performance, so accept this information with a grain of salt.

According to the recently spotted Geekbench result, the M3 Ultra managed a single-core score of 3,221, which is roughly 18% slower than the M4 Max. In multicore performance, one might expect the 32-core M3 Ultra to sweep the floor with the 16-core M4 Max, but that is not quite the case. With a score of 27,749, the M3 Ultra leads the M4 Max by an abysmal 8%. Of course, these are early runs, which may suggest that future scores will likely be higher. However, it is clear as day that the M3 Ultra and the M4 Max, at least in terms of CPU performance, will be close together in multithreaded performance, with the M4 Max continuing to be substantially faster than the far more expensive M3 Ultra variant in single-threaded performance. It does appear that the primary selling point for the M3 Ultra-equipped Mac Studio will be the massive 80-core GPU and up to 512 GB of unified memory shared by the CPU and the GPU, which should come in handy for running massive LLMs locally and other niche workloads.

After just a few weeks from our initial report of missing ROPs on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 series "Blackwell" for desktop, it appears that the laptop versions of these GPUs could also be prone to the same issue: missing ROP (Raster Operations Pipeline) units, which degrades performance by up to 14%. According to the German publication Heise Online, NVIDIA is working with laptop manufacturers to inspect any case of missing ROPs on its GeForce RTX 50 series cards, which the company claims affect only 0.5% of the entire supply. To avoid giving consumers GPUs with missing ROPs, NVIDIA is working overtime with OEMs to ensure that the GPUs are correctly operating and offering the hardware true to the specification sheet.

With NVIDIA Blackwell laptop SKUs announced at CES and pre-orders in February, NVIDIA expected to hand these GPUs through its partner laptop manufacturers to consumers in March, but it's currently scheduled for April, which is a whole month later. Here is what Heise Online said:

As we have learned from several notebook manufacturers, they are currently working overtime in the Far East to prevent the drama from escalating into the next act: NVIDIA has instructed manufacturers to inspect already-produced notebooks with the new mobile GeForce RTX 5000 graphics chips. The focus is on GPUs where fewer ROPs are active than specified in the datasheet. This can lead to potentially significant losses in 3D performance.

Bolt Graphics announces Zeus, a completely new GPU design for high performance workloads including rendering, HPC, and gaming. Zeus addresses performance, efficiency, and functionality limitations with legacy GPUs.

Zeus is orders of magnitude faster than any other GPU in key workloads. Users can gain 10x in rendering performance, 6x in FP64 HPC workload performance, and 300x in electromagnetic wave simulations. Users running these types of demanding workloads need access to large amounts of memory. Bolt brings expandable memory to GPUs, for the first time, which allows users to increase their memory up to 384 GB in a PCIe card, and up to 2.25 TB per Zeus in a 2U server. A rack of Zeus 2U servers can be configured with up to 180 TB of memory, 8x larger than legacy GPUs.

Alphacool International GmbH from Braunschweig is a pioneer in PC water cooling technology. With one of the most extensive product portfolios in the industry and over 20 years of experience, Alphacool is now expanding its range with the new Core GPU water coolers for the ASRock AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi 16 GB OC.

The GPU water cooler has been completely redesigned from a technical standpoint. Through precise adjustments to the PCB clearance, optimized water flow simulations, and extensive practical testing, the cooler base and jetplate have been refined to ensure maximum cooling performance for the latest AMD Radeon RX generation. The cooler features a precisely milled copper block, which, thanks to high-quality chrome plating, offers exceptional durability and an ultra-smooth surface. The design is complemented by robust brass fittings with a nylon cover, ensuring maximum safety and reliability.

MSI is excited to introduce its latest lineup of graphics cards powered by the newly launched NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, featuring the VANGUARD, GAMING TRIO, INSPIRE, and VENTUS series. Engineered with cutting-edge graphics technology and refined thermal solutions, these cards are designed to meet the demands of high-performance gaming, AI applications, and content creation. With a focus on efficiency, they deliver outstanding power while maintaining low temperatures and quiet operation, ensuring an excellent user experience.

Powered by NVIDIA Blackwell, GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs revolutionize gaming and creativity with unprecedented AI horsepower. Unlock next-level performance and graphics fidelity with NVIDIA DLSS 4, generate images at record-breaking speeds, and unleash creative potential with NVIDIA Studio.

We have just published our in-depth review of NVIDIA's latest GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition (FE) GPU, coming in at $550 MSRP. The first cohort of GeForce RTX 5070 GPUs is expected tomorrow with AIB partner designs, and NVIDIA confirmed that its special FE card will arrive a little later, in late March. While AIB designs are hitting shelves on March 5, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5070 FE GPU is going on shelves a few weeks later. NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5070 arrives with a $550 MSRP--$50 cheaper than the RTX 4070's launch price—positioning it as a compelling value for its ray tracing, DLSS 4, and efficiency gains.

The 5070 comes with 6,144 cores enabled, vs 8,960 on its bigger brother, the RTX 5070 Ti. Other unit counts have been scaled accordingly, and you get 80 ROPs. Yes, we checked. Also included are 192 TMUs and 48 RT cores. The memory subsystem uses GDDR7, too, like the other RTX 50 cards, but you only get 12 GB VRAM, and it uses a 192-bit wide memory bus, clocked at 28 Gbps. While the MSRP of the FE card is known, AIB partners will price their customized designs at a 20-40% premium. We are yet to see the supply of these cards at NVIDIA's partner retail stores and the supply that NVIDIA dedicated to its AIB partners, but scalpers could drive pricing even higher if the initial supply is tight. A Swedish retailer, Inet AB, forewarned customers about the lack of stock, but this is yet to be confirmed by other stores.

Apple today introduced the faster, more powerful iPad Air with the M3 chip and built for Apple Intelligence. iPad Air with M3 brings Apple's advanced graphics architecture to iPad Air for the first time—taking its incredible combination of power-efficient performance and portability to a new level. iPad Air with M3 is nearly 2x faster compared to iPad Air with M1, and up to 3.5x faster than iPad Air with A14 Bionic. Users will feel the speed of M3 in everything they do, from creating engaging content faster than ever to playing demanding, graphics-intensive games. Available in two sizes and four gorgeous finishes that users love, the 11-inch iPad Air is super portable while on the go, and the 13-inch model provides an even larger display for more room to be creative and productive. Designed for iPad Air, the new Magic Keyboard enhances its versatility and delivers more capabilities at a lower price. With iPadOS 18, support for Apple Intelligence, advanced cameras, fast wireless 5G connectivity, and compatibility with Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C), the new iPad Air offers an unrivaled experience.

With the same starting price of just $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch model, the new iPad Air is a fantastic value. And for education, the 11-inch iPad Air starts at just $549, and the 13-inch model starts at just $749. Customers can pre-order the new iPad Air with M3 and Magic Keyboard for iPad Air starting today, with availability beginning Wednesday, March 12.