Gplay.BG's YouTube channel uploaded a fascinating video feature over the past weekend—providing another look at PowerColor's Radeon RX 9070 XT Red Devil special edition retail package. The Bulgarian retailer's CEO—Ivan Hinov (aka DonBrutar)—appeared to have a sealed box in-hand. Gplay's presentation implies that they have joined the ranks of other European shops having RDNA 4-based cards in-stock, although VideoCardz reckons that special/limited edition Red Devil bundles (of recent generations) are normally distributed to media outlets. Hinov repeatedly referred to one of VideoCardz's recent news articles—regarding a speculated AMD Radeon RX 9070 GPU series launch window. Industry insiders reckon that AMD had—initially—formed a release strategy focusing on late January, possibly on the 23rd. The new cards will be launched around March time, according to an official Team Red statement.

Gplay's video provides some extra insight on this topic—Hinov confirms (in a roundabout way) that his company received information about a January release window, prior to Team Red's announcing of a postponement. The VideoCardz insider network discovered possible launch MSRPs of: "around $899 for the RX 9070 XT, and $749 for the non-XT." Interestingly, Gplay's chief commented on these rumors during his comparison segment: "delay of the Radeon RX 9070 (non-XT) and Radeon RX 9070 XT has created uncertainty. These cards were expected to launch at prices significantly higher than the Radeon RX 7800 XT and close to the Radeon RX 7900 XT, which makes little sense. For example, the Radeon RX 9070 XT was rumored to cost 500 BGN (~$269 USD) more than the RX 7900 XT while offering only marginally better performance. This pricing strategy was a clear mistake."

A day after the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 launch, scalpers are already in action to profit from the hype train. Many of these sellers on eBay claim to have "guaranteed" early access through connections with retailers, while others ask for astronomical prices that dwarf the rumored official MSRP. Currently, the graphics card is not widely available, yet eBay and similar sites list it at up to $7,000. Some individuals go so far as to promise customers "guaranteed slots" to secure the product, often with no refund or return policy. These tactics exploit consumer fear of missing out, especially after repeated GPU shortages and scalper-driven price hikes in recent years. NVIDIA has reportedly taken steps to manage supply, planning to "nitpick" distribution and limit bulk business-to-business sales, at least in some regions.

While these efforts may reduce scalping, other jurisdictions lack similar protections. Rumors from German outlets point to NVIDIA aiming to curb large-volume B2B purchases, but no equivalent strategy has been confirmed for markets like the United States or Asia. Interestingly, there are reports from Vietnam of select shops selling RTX 5080 cards before the launch date, heightening fears of a black market for the entire RTX 50 lineup. Additionally, some sellers have disclaimers that shift blame for any potential defects to manufacturers, leaving buyers with minimal recourse. E-commerce platforms typically permit dispute resolutions for damaged goods, rendering these disclaimers largely ineffective. Buying from scalpers encourages price hikes, and there are no guarantees of the product arriving/working, and there is no warranty for after-purchase care.

AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 9070 series graphics cards have hit an unexpected roadblock, according to recent reports from PC Games Hardware. Despite physical units already reaching select retailers, the launch appears to be delayed due to ongoing pricing negotiations. Industry insider and forum moderator "pokerclock," known for accurate predictions about NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 series, reveals that AMD's initial pricing strategy has created tension with retail partners. While boxes bearing the RX 9070 branding have been spotted in retail channels, disagreements over costs have prevented an official release. The core issue stems from AMD's aggressive pricing approach for both the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT models. Retailers have pushed back against what they consider excessive wholesale costs, forcing AMD to reconsider its strategy.

The company now faces the complex task of potentially reducing prices while compensating retailers who have already purchased inventory at higher rates. Sources suggest AMD may offer marketing funds or cashback incentives to bridge the price gap, though negotiations have reportedly stalled. For example, we recently reported on the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT AIB model costing around $549. However, NVIDIA has announced its GeForce RTX 5070 at the same $549 price point, with potentially equal or higher raster, ray tracing, and AI capabilities across the board. For AMD to make the value case, the company would need to undercut NVIDIA's pricing. Until that is resolved, retailers aren't allowed to place RDNA 4 GPUs in general sale yet.

As we reported yesterday, the Radeon RX 9070 XT appears to be all set to disrupt the mid-range gaming GPU segment, offering performance that looks truly enticing, at least if the leaked synthetic benchmarks are anything to go by. The highest-end RDNA 4 GPU is expected to handily outperform the RTX 4080 Super despite costing half as much, with comparison to its primary competitor, the RTX 5070, yet to be made.

Now, a fresh leak has seemingly hinted at how heavy the RDNA 4 GPU is going to be on its buyers' pockets. Also sourced from Chiphell, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is expected to command a price tag between $479 for AMD's reference card and roughly $549 for an AIB unit, varying based on which exact product one opts for. At that price, the Radeon RX 9070 XT easily undercuts the RTX 5070, which will start from $549, while offering 16 GB of VRAM, albeit of the older GDDR6 spec. There is hardly any doubt that the RTX GPU will come out ahead in ray tracing performance, as we already witnessed yesterday, although traditional rasterization performance will be more interesting to compare.

What we've all been waiting for, might just have appeared and what we're talking about is of course the pricing of NVIDIA's upcoming graphics cards. @wxnod has posted a single screenshot on X/Twitter of what could be the MSRP of the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 in China. The MSRP of the RTX 4080 was 9,499 RMB and the RTX 5080 appears to be not that much higher, at 9,999 RMB, but this still equates to about US$1,370, although do note that there's 13 percent sales tax/VAT in China.

Now as for the RTX 5090, things won't be as rosy. The RTX 4090 had an MSRP of 12,999 RMB in China and the RTX 5090 comes in at an insane 18,999 RMB or US$2,600. That's a price hike of a not insignificant 46 percent over the RTX 4090 and this might make it the most expensive consumer graphics card ever released. We'd suggest taking these prices with a helping of NaCl just to be on the safe side. The cards are expected to be available some time in January according to the screenshot.

Update 15:34 UTC: A second picture was posted in the same thread on X/Twitter that shows the expected launch months of the lower-tier RTX 5000-series cards as well and it appears to be taken from a video.

Earlier this week, details of two Intel Arc B580 "Battlemage" graphics cards from ASRock leaked, but there was no indication of any pricing, which lead to some speculations in the comments section. Now, serial leaker @momomo_us on X/Twitter has leaked the pricing for Intel's own card, which will apparently be known as the Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition Graphics card. The leaker suggests a retail price of US$250 for the 12 GB graphics card, which seems like a competitive starting point for what is expected to be a lower mid-tier GPU. However, this will most likely be the cheapest option on the market, since AIB's tend to charge higher pricing due to customised PCB and cooling, plus some extra bling over the Intel cards.

In addition to the pricing leak above, Videocardz did some digging and found an etailer that has listed the Intel Arc B580 card on its site, albeit without any details, for US$259.55, although the site didn't reveal the details of the etailer, beyond the fact that it's a US company. The question is how the B580 will compare in terms of performance against both Intel's own Arc A750 and A770—which comes with either 8 or 16 GB of VRAM—especially as you can pick up an Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 or a couple of different ASRock Challenger Arc A770 cards for as little as US$230.

NVIDIA today announced incoming changes to its GeForce Now game streaming service, some of which are not likely to sit well with gamers. The biggest, and likely most controversial change coming to GeForce Now is the addition of monthly playtime caps for all GeForce Now users, regardless of which plan they're on. According to the blog post announcing the changes, GeForce Now gamers will be limited to 100 hours of gameplay per month in addition to the daily playtime caps. NVIDIA will allow gamers who don't use their whole monthly cap to roll 15 hours of game time into the following month.

It's not all bad news, however, as NVIDIA also announced that it will be increasing the resolution and image quality of the GeForce Now Performance tier—previously Priority—from 1080p to 1440p. The Ultimate and Basic tiers remain unchanged in both name and feature set. NVIDIA says the playtime limit was necessary in order "to continue providing exceptional quality and speed—as well as shorter queue times." Of course players can buy extra playtime at a rate of $2.99 for 15 hours of GeForce Now Performance and $5.99 for 15 hours of GeForce Now Ultimate. The playtime limits will come into effect on January 1, 2025, and anyone that signs up for a paid GeForce Now subscription before then won't be subjected to the new playtime limits until January 2026.

Major AMD partners like ASUS, ASRock, GIGABYTE, and MSI have unveiled their latest AMD AM5 motherboards featuring the X870E and X870 chipsets. The new motherboards offer broad compatibility, supporting not only the latest AMD Ryzen 9000 series, but also the Ryzen 8000 and 7000 CPUs. These boards are aimed at high-end and enthusiast users, sporting optimized VRM designs and enhanced I/O capabilities, including WiFi 7 and USB 4 support.

The motherboards are all in ATX format; however, mATX/ITX models should follow later this year. They all support DDR5-5600 MT/s memory speeds natively, with some models supporting over 8000 MT/s memory speeds. In terms of chipset, the X870E series uses two Promontory 21 dies with support for USB 4 and Gen 5 GPU/SSD (24x Gen 5 CPU Lanes, 8x Gen 4 + 12x Gen 3 PCH Lanes). The X870 will use just one of the dies, retaining the Gen 5 lanes, however the PCH Lanes will be limited to 4x Gen 4 + 8x Gen 3.

Official Ryzen 9000-series pricing has leaked just ahead of the launch, courtesy of Newegg and BestBuy in the US. Serial leaker @momomo_us over at X/Twitter managed to snap screenshots of the pricing before it was removed by the retailers. This might've been because of a mixup, since the Ryzen 9000-series was supposed to launch today, before being pushed back to the 8th and 14th of August respectively, depending on the SKU. Admittedly the pricing might still change, but it's highly likely that the leaked pricing is AMD's MSRP for the four new CPUs, as both of the retailers have listed identical pricing for the four SKUs.

The good news for prospective buyers of the new CPUs is that AMD has lowered the pricing across the board compared to the launch pricing for the Ryzen 7000-series, especially at the higher-end. The Ryzen 5 9600X should have an MSRP of US$279, followed by US$359 for the Ryzen 7 9700X. That's US$20 and US$40 lower than their Ryzen 7000-series counterparts respectively. The Ryzen 9 9900X should retail for US$449, followed by US$599 for the Ryzen 9 9950, both US$100 less than their Ryzen 7000-series counterparts. This could in part be due to the expected X3D parts coming at a later point in time and AMD now knowing it has to offer the non X3D SKUs for a more competitive price point.

NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang said on June 5th that TSMC's stock price is too low, and he agrees with new TSMC chairman C. C. Wei's idea about TSMC's value. Jensen promised to support TSMC in charging more for their wafers and a type of packaging called CoWoS. An article from TrendForce says that NVIDIA and TSMC will talk about chip prices for next year, which could help TSMC make more money. Jensen also said he's not too worried about problems between countries because Taiwan has a strong supply chain; TSMC is doing more than just making chips, they're handling many supply chain issues too.

Last year, many companies were waiting for TSMC's products, ever-increasing demand and production issues causing delays. Even though things got a bit better this year, there's still not enough supply. TSMC says that even making three times more 3-nanometer chips isn't enough, so they need to make even more. NVIDIA's profits are very high, much higher than other companies like AMD and even TSMC. If TSMC raises prices for these advanced processes, it won't hurt NVIDIA's profits much, but it might lower profits for other companies like Apple, AMD, and Qualcomm. It will also have an impact on end-users.

Vastarmor's Radeon RX 7900 XTX Super Alloy custom model was revealed a while back (four months ago according to VideoCardz)—for whatever reason, it has taken a long time for finalized units to reach retail outlets in China. A newly discovered JD.com listing reveals an interesting price point of 6799 RMB (~$940)—given the Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU's age at this point in time, Vastarmor has implemented quite a steep discount over the launch MSRP for Chinese markets (7999 RMB). The premium tier ARGB-appointed "Super Alloy" models sport substantial custom cooling solutions—clearly designed to temper higher boost clocks. VideoCardz has looked at the best Navi 31-based cards on the field: "(Vastarmor's latest) is actually among the fastest models on the market. Currently, the highest boost clock for RX 7900 XTX is 2680 MHz, and it can be found on models like ASRock Taichi, Aqua, PowerColor Liquid Devil, or Sapphire Nitro+."

The RX 7900 XTX Super Alloy is one of the largest high-end gaming graphics cards out there—it is a triple-slot, 330 mm x 134 mm x 69 mm design. Strangely, Vastarmor's reference specced RX 7900 XTX Starry Sky model also sports a similarly-proportioned cooling solution. ZOTAC's Prime Gamer Force (PGF) OC design remains triumphant in terms of stupendous dimensions—check out these digits: 381 mm (L) x 154 mm (W) x 74 mm (D)! ZOTAC PGF cards are Chinese market exclusives—much like Vastarmor's best offerings—only the most hardcore/deep-pocked enthusiasts outside of the PRC will be importing these vast gaming hardware delights.

George Hotz and his startup operation (Tiny Corporation) appeared ready to completely abandon AMD Radeon GPUs last week, after experiencing a period of firmware-related headaches. The original plan involved the development of a pre-orderable $15,000 TinyBox AI compute cluster that housed six XFX Speedster MERC310 RX 7900 XTX graphics cards, but software/driver issues prompted experimentation via alternative hardware routes. A lot of media coverage has focused on the unusual adoption of consumer-grade GPUs—Tiny Corp.'s struggles with RDNA 3 (rather than CDNA 3) were maneuvered further into public view, after top AMD brass pitched in.

The startup's social media feed is very transparent about showcasing everyday tasks, problem-solving and important decision-making. Several Acer Predator BiFrost Arc A770 OC cards were purchased and promptly integrated into a colorfully-lit TinyBox prototype, but Hotz & Co. swiftly moved onto Team Green pastures. Tiny Corp. has begrudgingly adopted NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs. Earlier today, it was announced that work on the AMD-based system has resumed—although customers were forewarned about anticipated teething problems. The surprising message arrived in the early hours: "a hard to find 'umr' repo has turned around the feasibility of the AMD TinyBox. It will be a journey, but it gives us an ability to debug. We're going to sell both, red for $15,000 and green for $25,000. When you realize your pre-order you'll choose your color. Website has been updated. If you like to tinker and feel pain, buy red. The driver still crashes the GPU and hangs sometimes, but we can work together to improve it."

EK, the renowned premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to unveil its latest accessory that promises to streamline the assembly process for enthusiasts and professionals alike: the EK-Loop Stainless Steel Gauge Card. Crafted from durable stainless steel and designed for simplicity, this handy tool is an essential accessory for anyone involved in water cooling. Its primary function serves to drastically simplify the search for the correct assembly parts, ensuring that users can effortlessly find compatible components. Multifunctional by design yet primarily aimed at enhancing the water cooling experience, the EK-Loop Gauge Card is the accessory you didn't know you needed—until now.

Preventing Assembly Errors Before They Happen
With the Gauge Card, measuring and matching bolt and nut sizes becomes effortless. It accurately determines the bolt size and length for any component, including nut size measurements for M2.5, M3, and M4 nuts. This guarantees compatibility and ease of assembly across a wide range of components. The card also allows for the identification of different screw diameters (M4, M3.5, M3, M2.5, M2) and screw dimensions effortlessly, making it more straightforward to select the right parts for your build. Screw length identification up to 30 mm further ensures precise fitting and optimal security of components, while the tool aids in avoiding the insertion of the wrong bolts in the wrong places - thus preventing potential damage to sensitive PCBs. Moreover, the EK-Loop Gauge Card aids in the determination of Allen key sizes (2, 2.5, 6, 8, 9), simplifying the search for the right tool for the job.

Jensen Huang has been talking to media outlets following the conclusion of his keynote presentation at NVIDIA's GTC 2024 conference—an NBC TV "exclusive" interview with the Team Green boss has caused a stir in tech circles. Jim Cramer's long-running "Squawk on the Street" trade segment hosted Huang for just under five minutes—NBC's presenter labelled the latest edition of GTC the "Woodstock of AI." NVIDIA's leader reckoned that around $1 trillion of industry was in attendance at this year's event—folks turned up to witness the unveiling of "Blackwell" B200 and GB200 AI GPUs. In the interview, Huang estimated that his company had invested around $10 billion into the research and development of its latest architecture: "we had to invent some new technology to make it possible."

Industry watchdogs have seized on a major revelation—as disclosed during the televised NBC report—Huang revealed that his next-gen AI GPUs "will cost between $30,000 and $40,000 per unit." NVIDIA (and its rivals) are not known to publicly announce price ranges for AI and HPC chips—leaks from hardware partners and individuals within industry supply chains are the "usual" sources. An investment banking company has already delved into alleged Blackwell production costs—as shared by Tae Kim/firstadopter: "Raymond James estimates it will cost NVIDIA more than $6000 to make a B200 and they will price the GPU at a 50-60% premium to H100...(the bank) estimates it costs NVIDIA $3320 to make the H100, which is then sold to customers for $25,000 to $30,000." Huang's disclosure should be treated as an approximation, since his company (normally) deals with the supply of basic building blocks.

As of two days ago, the NVX System Integrators store (via Carousell Singapore) has allowed customers to pre-order the oft-leaked Intel Core i9-14900KS CPU—a S$1059 (~$794 USD) spend secures a "BX8071514900KS" Special Edition retail package for in-store pick only. Another pre-release discovery arrives courtesy of the ever vigilant tech watcher; momomo_us—SE Computer, a store located in the bustling streets of Kowloon, Hong Kong, has listed the incoming flagship Raptor Lake Refresh part with a price of HK$5500 (~$709.70 USD). An accompanying image appears to be a placeholder, since warehouse leaks have displayed "Special Edition" text on Intel's signature blue retail boxes.

Privileged members of the overclocking community are already playing around with Intel's selectively-binned 14th Gen Core processor—but mere mortals will have to wait patiently for an official retail rollout. VideoCardz has spent part of their weekend doing detective work—several early store listings point to a possible March 14 commencement. The graphics card news specialist has scoured online entities across Asia, France and Canada for price comparison purposes: "it appears that the KS 'Special Edition' variant is set to cost 19 to 30% more than the K variant. Pricing varies depending on the size of the retailer, where the offer was placed, and the region it is being sold." They thoroughly recommend that potential customers avoid pre-ordering the Intel Core i9-14900KS—asking prices could stabilize post-launch, and e-tailers rarely sell through the first batch of niche "KS" CPUs.

LG Electronics USA (LG) today announced pricing and availability of its 2024 premium lineup of laptops - the LG gram Pro and LG gram Pro 2-in-1. The 16- and 17-inch LG gram Pro models retail for $2399 (16Z90SP-A.ADB9U1) and $2499 (17Z90SP-E.ADB9U1) respectively while the CES 2024 Innovation Award-winning 16-inch gram Pro 2-in-1 (16T90SP-K.ADB9U1) retails for $2099. For a limited time, customers shopping on LG.com can pre-order the 16- and 17-inch LG gram Pro and 16-inch LG gram Pro 2-in-1.

Throughout the duration of the pre-order period from February 21, 2024, to March 10, 2024, customers will be able to purchase the 32 GB-RAM/2 TB-SSD LG gram Pro laptop for the price of a 16 GB-RAM/1 TB-SSD model of the same screen size. They'll also receive an LG gram +view IPS portable monitor (16MR70.ASDU) and expedited shipping at no additional cost. All standard terms of purchase apply.

Sennheiser is today officially launching the ACCENTUM Plus headphones, bringing premium fan-favourite features to the line-up. "ACCENTUM Plus expands the reach of MOMENTUM 4's most coveted conveniences, while upholding the spirit of the ACCENTUM family's incredible value," says Christian Ern, Sennheiser Principal Product Manager, "The Plus sits right in the sweet spot of blissful sound and convenient technology."

Immersive, around-the-clock listening
In a world with endless content consumption options, ACCENTUM Plus has the stamina and controls for you to enjoy all of it. Featuring Sennheiser's expansive acoustic expertise, touch-gesture controls, Hybrid Adaptive Noise Cancellation and a luxurious build, they prioritise a better headphone listening experience for less. With a class-leading 50 hours of listening between charges and sound that rivals that of a stable, cabled connection, it's easy to forget that ACCENTUM Plus is even wireless. The Bluetooth 5.2 headphones emphasise outstanding sound quality and versatile connectivity, supporting all popular codecs including aptX Adaptive for optimum sound, no matter where you decide to take them.

AMD unveiled its Golden Rabbit Edition (GRE) Radeon RX 7900 GPU last summer—this Navi 31 XL-based card was first launched in China, with only a handful of customized options and a reference model (produced by XFX) available at the starting line. It later emerged that Team Red's special SKU (celebrating the Year of the Rabbit) would be heading West; by Autumn-time, system integrators in Europe started to sell full PC systems outfitted with Radeon RX 7900 GRE graphics cards. By late 2023, a small smattering of board partner versions hit the European market in proper retail form—you no longer had to shell out €1500+ for a pre-built system in order to gain access to an exclusive model. Team Red's almost parallel launch of its Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU has overshadowed the slightly more powerful RDNA 3 model's limited release.

VideoCardz has received tips about price cuts affecting certain Radeon RX 7900 GRE models, and a new retail entry for an ASRock custom design. AMD has started to adjust its pricing at the higher mid-tier and flagship GPU level, in reaction to NVIDIA rolling out GeForce RTX 40 SUPER cards this month. This initiative has affected the Radeon RX 7900 GRE as well, despite its very restricted availability in Western markets. The article points to an example of the reference design with its price falling by ~€60 (over a two month period)—Italy's PSK Mega Store's offer currently sits at €542.66. The lowest price in Spanish and German markets appears to be €579—CoolMod Espagna has Sapphire's Pulse Radeon RX 7900 GRE Gaming OC 16 GB card listed at €579.95; it also qualifies for the AVATAR: Frontiers of Pandora promotion. Mindfactory DE lists a mysterious ASRock Radeon RX 7900 GRE Challenger 16 GB OC Edition model (SKU 90-GA52ZZ-00UANF), ready to purchase and ship out immediately at €579. Photos of this twin-fan custom model can be viewed at Skinflint UK.

A couple of custom design prices emerged over the past weekend—courtesy of VideoCardz's determined approach to unearth GeForce RTX 40 SUPER-related information prior to a staggered lifting of NVIDIA review embargoes. Their most recent investigation has pulled details from the Overclockers UK retail site, as well as Jimm's PC-Store in Finland. The article first focuses on the British e-tailer's tendency to tack on an extra couple of Pounds (£/GBP) when charging for top-flight GPU options—a prime example being their £1350 asking price for a very-tricked out ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 4080 SUPER OC card. NVIDIA's basic guide MSRP for the UK is £959, so we are looking at a steep £391 premium/upcharge for the high-end ASUS model. Overclockers has removed this particular listing and other SUPER-related pages from their site. ZOTAC Gaming's GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Trinity Black Edition card was spotted sitting at £959 on OC UK, which is line with the company's promise to keep non-overclocked models locked in at NVIDIA MSRP.

Jimm's PC Store in Finland has not removed listings for various customized Ada Lovelace SUPER options (at the time of writing). VideoCardz noted that Finnish customers pay a natural premium for PC hardware, due to greater VAT demands in the region (when compared to other European countries)—RTX 4080 SUPER MSRP here is reportedly €1149 instead of €1109. GIGABYTE's GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER AORUS MASTER graphics card is the true headliner here, in terms of Euros. At a smidge below €1360, this represents a hefty premium of €211 over the Finnish MSRP. The next most expensive option is a stealthy looking MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER SUPRIM X card, coming in at €1299.90. Four RTX 4080 SUPER models sit at the Finnish MSRP of €1149—two GIGABYTE WINDFORCEs, an MSI VENTUS 3X OC, and an ASUS TUF Gaming card. VideoCardz took a peek further down in the hierarchy, please check out the entire article for (less controversial) leaked pricing regarding GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER and RTX 4070 Ti SUPER options.

EK, the leading provider of premium liquid cooling solutions, is excited to announce the expanded compatibility of its esteemed EK-Quantum Magnitude sTRX4 water blocks. These flagship cooling solutions, known for their high performance and quality, are now fully compatible with the latest AMD sTR5 and AMD SP6 CPU sockets. This advancement ensures that users of the new sTR5 and SP6 platforms can experience the same superior cooling and craftsmanship that EK-Quantum Magnitude sTRX4 users have long come to trust.

The EK-Quantum Magnitude sTRX4 series, including the Full Nickel, Nickel Acetal, and Nickel Plexi models, maintains its renowned design and efficiency while embracing the evolving landscape of CPU technology. Customers can continue to rely on these solutions for their cooling needs without any changes in product naming or design. Refer to the EK Compatibility Configurator and EK Custom Loop Configurator database for a detailed compatibility list.

EK, the leading liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is announcing the availability of two high-performance liquid cooling solutions for the Intel "Sierra Forest" processor family. EK-Pro CPU WB 7529 and 7529 Rack water blocks are specially designed to cool the Sierra Forest CPUs, a codename for Intel's first-generation E-core Xeon server processors based on the LGA 7529 socket. These CPUs are expected to launch in the first half of 2024 and feature up to 288 cores per socket for 576 cores per server. Naturally, with such a high core count, liquid cooling presents a sensible solution to heat management.

The Sierra Forest architecture design aims to achieve ultra-high core counts for greater compute density that would benefit cloud and HPC server applications. However, with greater compute density comes greater requirements for cooling. Even with the E-cores that use less power per core, their staggering density in the CPU will indeed present unique challenges for traditional air cooling.

If you've been putting off purchasing that shiny new SSD, you might want to consider doing it before the end of the year, especially if you've been eyeing a model from Samsung, as the company will reportedly be increasing the pricing of its NAND flash starting now. NAND flash might have hit rock bottom, with all major manufacturers except possibly YMTC having cut production to try to push up pricing, but so far, nothing appears to have worked. Despite this, reports coming out of Taiwan's UDN News via TrendForce are suggesting that Samsung is getting ready to hike the price of its NAND flash products by 20 percent per quarter until the middle of 2024.

Admittedly this only gives Samsung about two and a half quarters to increase the pricing, but that's potentially three increases of 20 percent per increase. Samsung has reportedly already increased its NAND wafer prices by 10 to 20 percent this quarter, which according to TrendForce has had a knock on effect on enterprise SSD pricing, which has increased by five to 10 percent already. TrendForce is forecasting a consumer SSD price increase of eight to 13 percent before the end of the year, which might not seem like much, but if the pricing increases for another couple of quarters, we could be looking at 30 to 40 percent more expensive SSDs in the not too distant future. As such, it's going to be worth keeping an eye on SSD pricing, as it's likely that Samsung's competitors will follow suit and increase their NAND pricing as well, which will affect the broader market.

PC-Canada's online store has been updated with several pages of Intel 14th Gen Core/Raptor Lake Refresh processors—this is yet another example of an embargo busting mistake. Telemart Ukraine revealed a small total of six SKUs around late August, but pricing was not included on their placeholder product pages back then. Our friends in Canada have removed all relevant retail information from public view, but momomo_us and a handful of hardware news sites have preserved these details. We get another look at previously leaked model names in K and KF guises, with some "initial" pricing—subject to change by Team Blue decree—starting at $415.99 CAD for the Core i5-14600KF, and topping out with the Core i9-14900K at $833.99 CAD.

Analysis of these "early" prices reveals a slightly smaller than expected hike over charges for the previous generation. VideoCardz has eyeballed the numbers: "A quick comparison with the current pricing of the 13th Gen Core series reveals that these initial prices are surprisingly not as high as one might have anticipated, with an average increase of only 4% or a range of 2% to 7%." Check out their diagram below. The Raptor Lake Refresh K and KF-series desktop lineup is expected to launch on October 17 (according to previous leaks)—Intel's upcoming Innovation Event kicks off next week, where an official unveiling is set to take place.

Intel Arc A750 graphics card has been regularly shown by its designers to be comparable to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 in terms of performance, making it a formidable DirectX 12 Ultimate-capable 1080p-class gaming graphics card, with each of its new driver release ironing out game-specific performance issues. An ASRock A750 custom-design graphics card is now listed on Newegg for $199, with a coupon shaving off a further $20. At $179, the A750 is hard to pass, considering that other cards from its class are a bit pricier. The cheapest Radeon RX 6650 XT is currently going for $240, and the cheapest RTX 3060 (12 GB original spec) for $280.

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.