ASRock has quietly updated its CPU Support List with entries for the upcoming AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D desktop processors—starting off with motherboard BIOS versions 3.15 and 3.16. The Taiwanese manufacturer seems to be the very first company to add these "Zen 5" models to public-facing motherboard compatibility databases—according to yesterday evening's VideoCardz report, the likes of MSI, GIGABYTE, and ASUS have not yet followed suit (at the time of writing). The appearance of Team Red's "Granite Ridge" 16-core and 12-core 3D V-Cache-equipped processors on ASRock's website has set off chatter across PC hardware discussion communities.

AMD has not officially revealed a specific launch date (or pricing details) for its Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D CPUs—instead, a loose March window has been marked down on this year's calendar. Industry watchdogs believe that ASRock's freshly updated database is proof of an imminent launch—a couple of insiders predicted a January rollout, but this seems unlikely to occur by the end of this working week. Given the reported scarcity of Team Red's already released and highly-praised Ryzen 7 9800X3D gaming processor, many folks will welcome the addition of two alternative options. Team Red has already set expectations for the (presumably) more expensive models—recently, a product manager disclosed that their "new chips will provide similar overall gaming performance" to the current champion.

AMD Radeon engineers are spending newly allocated extra time on optimizing their upcoming FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4) technology—industry watchdogs believe that a finalized version will launch alongside the initial lineup of RDNA 4 graphics card, now scheduled for release in March. Recently, David McAfee—Vice President and General Manager of Ryzen and Radeon products—revealed that his colleagues were working hard on maximizing performance and enabling "more FSR 4 titles." Insiders have started theorizing about how the current landscape of FSR 3.1-compatible games will translate with next-gen "AI-driven" upscaling techniques—several outlets believe that a freshly patched PC version of The Last of Us Part I is paving the way for eventual "easy" updates.

Kepler_L2—an almost endless fountain of Team Red-related insider knowledge—picked up on a past weekend VideoCardz report, and proceeded to add some extra tidbits via social media interaction. They started off by claiming that Team Red's: "RDNA 4 driver replaces FSR 3.1 DLL with FSR 4." When queried about the implication of said development, Kepler believes that all FSR 3.1 game titles will become ready to support FSR 4 on day one. The upgrade process—possibly achieved through a driver-level DLL swap—is reportedly quite easy to implement. According to the insider: "yeah, it should just work."

The Xbox Insider program has outlined a major upcoming feature upgrade for their home console lineup—Tuesday's Alpha Skip-Ahead Ring (2502.250120-2200) release notes reveal newly implemented support for larger capacity external hard drives. Naturally, inside program members get to play around with this early build—we presume that support will eventually trickle down to public level in the near future. The major announcement stated: "we are enabling support for external USB drives larger than 16 TB, so you can be sure your favorite games are always ready to play! Newly formatted drives that are larger than 16 TB will be formatted with multiple partitions to utilize all available space for games and apps. These will appear as multiple devices in the storage devices list."

Xbox-licensed external storage devices are only available with a maximum capacity of 12 TB—Western Digital's WD_BLACK D10 model wears the crown here. Console gaming enthusiasts—with a penchant for storing a huge library of titles on hard disk drives (HDD)—are best served by not selecting official Xbox-branded storage devices. Manufacturers do offer products with 18 TB to 28 TB capacities, but potential buyers will be greeted by hefty asking prices. There are a couple of caveats—for owners of 16+ TB drives—as noted in the Alpha Skip-Ahead Ring notes: "drives greater than 16 TB that have already been formatted will be unaffected by this change and would need to be reformatted to take advantage of the updated support for larger drives. Please be aware that we have identified an issue with formatting drives larger than 16 TB, and we're working on a fix." Interestingly, the notes do not disclose information regarding a new upper limit for compatible storage devices.

Team Green's CUDA 12.8 release notes have revealed upcoming changes for three older GPU architectures—the document's "Deprecated and Dropped Features" section outlines forthcoming changes. A brief sentence outlines a less active future for affected families: "architecture support for Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta is considered feature-complete and will be frozen in an upcoming release." Further down, NVIDIA states that a small selection of operating systems have been dropped from support lists, including Microsoft Windows 10 21H2 and Debian 11.

Refocusing on matters of hardware—Michael Larabel, Phoronix's editor-in-chief, has kindly provided a bit of history and context. "Four years ago with the NVIDIA 470 series was the legacy branch for GeForce GTX 600 and 700 Kepler series and now as we embark on the NVIDIA 570 driver series, it looks like it could end up being the legacy branch for Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta generations of GPUs." Larabel and other industry watchdogs reckon that the incoming "Blackwell" generation is taking priority, with Team Green likely freeing up resources and concentrating less on taking care of decade+ old hardware. VideoCardz believes that gaming GPU support will continue—at least for Maxwell (e.g. GeForce GTX 900) and Pascal (GeForce GTX 10 series)—based on a playtesting of the toolkit's latest set of integrated drivers (version 571.96).

GeForce NOW is expanding mod support for hit game Baldur's Gate 3 in collaboration with Larian Studios and mod.io for Ultimate and Performance members. This expanded mod support arrives alongside seven new games joining the cloud this week.

Level Up Gaming
Time to roll for initiative—adventurers in the Forgotten Realms can now enjoy a range of curated mods uploaded to mod.io for Baldur's Gate 3. Ultimate and Performance members can enhance their Baldur's Gate 3 journeys across realms and devices with a wide array of customization options. Stay tuned to GFN Thursday for more information on expanding mod support for more of the game's PC mods at a later time.

Exciting things are happening in the world of memory right now. Many of the headlines are being claimed by a new variety of DIMM, called Clock Unbuffered DIMM (CUDIMM). Featuring an integrated clock driver on the memory stick itself for improved reliability and stability, CUDIMM kits are already shattering speed records. But perhaps you're more concerned with memory capacity than with raw speed. We have some good news for you. The trusted memory professionals at Kingston have cooked up a 64 GB memory module that you'll be able to purchase soon: the Kingston Value RAM DDR5 6400 MT/s 64 GB CUDIMM.

64 GB of DDR5 RAM on a single stick opens intriguing new possibilities. A 128 GB one-DIMM-per-channel (1DPC) configuration is rather tempting. We suspect that many enthusiasts will be tempted by the prospect of installing four of these modules, a move that puts a stunningly large 256 GB (4 x 64 GB) pool of memory at their disposal—without having to venture into quad-channel workstation hardware.

DEAR VR WASHERS. I am so sorry to let you know that we won't be continuing support of PowerWash Simulator VR. We absolutely love and believe in VR, so this doesn't mean that we won't support it in the future—but we aren't able to continue with support right now.

We have been faced with a cross roads situation: we have a truly excellent and kind VR team who were working on a platform which costs us more than it makes, while also having a list of job openings that we are looking to be filled on other projects. FuturLab took the decision to redeploy our VR team into those other projects/roles. Whilst I would love to live in a world where we could support PowerWash Simulator on every platform going, I will always choose job security for my team. Every time.

The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today announced the launch of Supporters of Chromium-Based Bowsers. This initiative aims to fund open development and enhance projects within the Chromium ecosystem, ensuring broad support and sustainability for open source contributions that will drive technological advancement.

"With the launch of the Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers, we are taking another step forward in empowering the open source community," said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. "This project will provide much-needed funding and development support for open development of projects within the Chromium ecosystem."

HWiNFO has been updated to version v8.16, which brings several new improvements and fixes, as well as adds enhanced support for next-generation AMD CPUs and APUs, as well as next-generation Intel GPUs. While it does not specify any models, it is clear that it gets support for AMD's upcoming Kraken Point and Strix Halo APUs, as well as Intel's upcoming Battlemage GPUs.

In addition, the new HWiNFO v8.16 also improves support for Intel Lunar Lake, adds reporting of number of NPU tiles, adds support for Cybenetics Powenetics PMD (Power Measurements Device), enhances sensor monitoring on MSI's Z890, B860, and H810 series motherboards, enhances reporting of CUDIMM CKD parameters, NGU clock, and drive letter, and improves reporting of V/F curve settings, among other things. You can check out the full release notes below.

Thanks to its extensive adjustment options for ergonomic seating, the OfficePal C40 is the ultimate executive chair for the office or working from home. Whether it's the chair height, the seat depth or the height of the backrest, a full range of adjustments are available for the right sitting position. The combination of a mesh backrest and an upholstered seat base ensures comfort even after long periods of use.

Work Comfortably for Hours
With the combination of a sturdy mesh backrest and a padded seat base, the OfficePal C40 will allow you to work comfortably and relaxed for hours at a time.

At AAEON Technology, we recognize growing demand for secure and reliable industrial systems. In collaboration with Canonical, AAEON Technology validates Ubuntu Pro across our Intel-based industrial systems. Each unit comes with a preinstalled Ubuntu image, an Ubuntu Pro license sticker, and 10 years of Canonical-backed updates for ongoing security and maintenance. "This collaboration means our customers benefit from cutting-edge hardware paired with the secure, long-term support offered with Ubuntu Pro enabled. With ongoing updates, they're always protected, allowing them to focus on their core goals," said Victor Lai, Managing Director at AAEON.

Ubuntu Pro provides enterprise-level security, compliance, and long-term stability for industrial and edge applications. It meets strict regulatory standards while delivering high performance in demanding environments.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today reaffirmed its commitment to product reliability and customer satisfaction by announcing long-term support (LTS) for its QTS 5.2 and QuTS hero h5.2 operating systems. This initiative is part of QNAP's rigorous software product version lifecycle management policy, which is designed to help users effectively manage their IT infrastructure with predictability and ease.

"As technology evolves, so does the need for a stable and reliable IT environment," said Tim Lin, Product Manager of QNAP. "By providing long-term support for QNAP NAS operating systems, we ensure that our users can continue to depend on QNAP products for their critical data storage needs without concern for frequent major upgrades or compatibility issues."

The latest update to CPU-Z, the popular system information and diagnostic tool, has rolled out comprehensive support for upcoming processor architectures from both AMD and Intel, along with new memory standards. Among the notable additions is support for AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which builds upon AMD's successful 3D V-Cache technology and is scheduled to launch tomorrow. The update also covers Intel's "Arrow Lake" processors, including both HX and H series variants. The Arrow Lake lineup integration spans multiple performance tiers, from the flagship Core Ultra 9 285HX down to the mainstream Core Ultra 5 series. The H-series mobile processors, including the Core Ultra 9 285H and various Ultra 7 and Ultra 5 models, are also fully supported.

Additionally, CPU-Z now recognizes Intel's complete Raptor Lake refresh, covering an extensive range of processors across different power segments. This includes the Core 7 series (160HL through 150U), Core 5 series (130HL through 120U), and Core 3 series (100HL through 100U), catering to various computing needs from high-performance to energy-efficient applications. The update extends beyond processors to support CUDIMM ((Clocked Unbuffered DIMM) DDR5 memory. CUDIMMs represent a modified DDR5 memory featuring an integrated Client Clock Driver (CKD) that generates its clock signal to minimize noise and jitter at speeds of 6400 MT/s and above, ensuring better stability and data integrity than traditional DDR5 modules.

DOWNLOAD CPU-Z 2.12 here.

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in standards development for the microelectronics industry, today announced the publication of PS-007A LPDDR5 CAMM2 Connector Performance Standard. The connector, referred to as "LP5CAMM2," is designed to offer a standardized modular LPDDR5 solution with ecosystem support, unlike the traditional LPDDR5 memory-down approach. Developed by JEDEC's JC-11 Committee for Mechanical Standardization, PS-007A is available for free download from the JEDEC website.

As compared to a DDR5 SODIMM connector, benefits of the LP5CAMM2 connector include:

• Better signal integrity (SI) and improved radio frequency interference (RFI)
• To enable a module solution with lower power consumption and increased battery life
• 50% form factor reduction with the similar Z height

The NVIDIA app is the essential companion for gamers and creators with NVIDIA GPUs in their PCs and laptops. Our initial beta release in February was the first step in our journey to modernize and unify the NVIDIA Control Panel, GeForce Experience and RTX Experience. A new update, available now in-app and from our website, further enhances the NVIDIA app beta, adding G-SYNC controls, RTX HDR multi-monitor support, driver rollback, and more.

Whether you're a gaming enthusiast or a content creator, the NVIDIA app simplifies the process of keeping your PC updated with the latest GeForce Game Ready and NVIDIA Studio drivers, enables quick discovery and installation of NVIDIA applications like GeForce NOW and NVIDIA Broadcast, allows you to adjust GPU options, record gameplay, monitor real-time statistics via an on-screen display, enhance games with HDR and filters, and so much more.

At Razer, innovation is in our DNA. We consistently push boundaries to create features that not only enhance the gaming experience but also often set new industry standards. Today, I'm excited to share an update on one of our latest innovations—Razer Snap Tap—initially introduced on the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro line, is now extending across more devices, including the now-available Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75%.

Innovation at the Core of Razer
Razer has always been at the forefront of gaming technology, introducing features ahead of their time. These innovations typically stir robust debates but ultimately pave the way for new standards within the gaming industry. Razer Snap Tap is no exception. Following its successful introduction, we've observed others in the industry follow and implement similar technology, validating our leadership in gaming innovation, and cementing the Razer Advantage.

Gaming giant Valve appears to be venturing into uncharted territory. Recent findings on SteamDB have revealed that the company may be working on integrating ARM architecture and Android app support into its ecosystem. A mysterious application, codenamed "ValveTestApp3043620," has been spotted with an update that includes interesting changes. The update features new tags for several popular games, including Left 4 Dead 2, Garry's Mod, and Kerbal Space Program. These tags, such as "proton-arm64" and "proton-arm64e," indicate that Valve is testing a version of Proton specifically designed for ARM64-based systems. Proton, Valve's brainchild developed in partnership with CodeWeavers, is the magic behind running Windows games on Linux systems. By extending this technology to ARM64, Valve could be paving the way for PC gaming on portable Arm-based devices, potentially signaling a new hardware strategy.

The plot thickens with mentions of "proton_experimental" and "proton-arm64ec-vanguard" in the changelog, hinting at ongoing tests and experimental builds. Additionally, references to Waydroid, a tool enabling Android apps on Linux, suggest that Valve's ambitions may extend beyond gaming, possibly aiming to broaden software accessibility of its platform. This development has sparked speculation about the possibility of Steam games running on Android smartphones and tablets or even a possible Arm-powered version of the Steam Deck. However, a more likely scenario could be testing for Windows support on Arm-based chips. The timing of these experiments aligns with recent announcements of laptops featuring Qualcomm's ARM64-based Snapdragon X CPUs. These devices can run Windows-based games through Microsoft and Qualcomm's emulation layer, Prism. If Valve's Proton can provide superior performance or more stable emulation for Windows-based games on Arm devices, it could position itself as a strong competitor to Prism.

Intel has officially started shipping the "0x129" microcode update for its 13th and 14th generation "Raptor Lake" and "Raptor Lake Refresh" processors. This critical update is currently being pushed to all OEM/ODM partners to address the stability issues that Intel's processors have been facing. According to Intel, this microcode update fixes "incorrect voltage requests to the processor that are causing elevated operating voltage." Intel's analysis shows that the root cause of stability problems is caused by too high voltage during operation of the processor. These increases to voltage cause degradation that increases the minimum voltage required for stable operation. Intel calls this "Vmin"—it's a theoretical construct, not an actual voltage, think "speed for an airplane required to fly". The latest 0x129 microcode patch will limit the processor's voltage to no higher than 1.55 V, which should avoid further degradation. Overclocking is still supported, enthusiasts will have to disable the eTVB setting in their BIOS to push the processor beyond the 1.55 V threshold. The company's internal testing shows that the new default settings with limited voltages with standard run-to-run variations show minimal performance impact, with only a single game (Hitman 3: Dartmoor) showing degradation. For a full statement from Intel, see the quote below.

RPCS3, the popular PlayStation 3 emulator, has been updated to improve compatibility with upcoming AMD Zen 5 CPUs. The update addresses low performance and crash issues when running on Zen 5 CPUs by treating those processors as Zen 4. While this doesn't boost performance, it significantly improves stability. Users are encouraged to download the latest version (RPCS3 v0.0.32-16742 or newer) to benefit from this fix. Since 2023, RPCS3 has shown notable FPS improvements across various CPU types, including lower-end models.

If you're not familiar with RPCS3, it was founded by programmers DH and Hykem in May 2011. The emulator was publicly released in June 2012, quickly gaining attention from the open-source community and PlayStation enthusiasts. Today, RPCS3 is co-developed by new lead developers EladAsh and kd-11, along with many GitHub contributors.

In a statement for Tom's Hardware, Intel has announced a two-year warranty extension for its 13th and 14th Generation Core processors. This decision comes in response to widespread reports of crashes and instability affecting a broad range of models, from high-end flagship chips to mid-range offerings. The extension effectively increases the standard warranty period from three to five years for most boxed processors, with even the limited-edition models seeing an increase from one to three years. This move aims to reassure customers and mitigate concerns about potential long-term damage to affected chips. Intel has identified excessive voltage as the root cause of the problem, which has led to unexpected system crashes and blue screens of death (BSODs), particularly during gaming and other demanding tasks.

The company plans to release a microcode update by mid-August to prevent further degradation in unaffected processors. However, this update will not resolve issues in chips that have already experienced problems, and users with malfunctioning processors will need to seek replacements. The tech giant has faced criticism for its delayed response to the issue, which has plagued users for months. In its statement, Intel also addressed concerns about Via Oxidation, clarifying that while this separate issue was discovered in 2022, it is not the cause of the current instability problems. The company claims to have implemented fixes and enhanced screening procedures for Via Oxidation by early 2023, with affected chips reportedly removed from the supply chain by early 2024.

ASUS has had issues with customer support, as reported following last month's investigation by Gamers Nexus. However, they are now promising several fixes. If you've been wrongly denied a warranty repair or charged for unnecessary service, ASUS wants you to email them at "executivecare@asus.com" using a predefined template (see below). It also promises to respond within a week and apologizes for past negative experiences, citing customer feedback as an opportunity for improvement. These cases will be handled directly by ASUS staff.

Getting into a bit more details, after criticism, ASUS executives met with Gamers Nexus staff face to face and agreed to a list of promises.

Corsair today announced a new iCUE partnership with GIGABYTE, making it the latest motherboard manufacturer to support Corsair iCUE lighting control software. This collaboration enables compatible Corsair products to seamlessly support native lighting synchronization within GIGABYTE Control Center (GCC) and iCUE.

Corsair iCUE software, which allows users to monitor and customize performance and coordinate lighting effects across their setup, will support lighting customization on compatible GIGABYTE motherboards (support for GIGABYTE hardware comes via an SDK implementation and requires GCC to be installed). This will help create a more immersive and flexible lighting experience than was previously possible, empowering users to unlock new possibilities for how their systems look.

The AlmaLinux OS Foundation, the nonprofit that stewards the community-owned and governed open-source CentOS alternative AlmaLinux, today announced the general availability of AlmaLinux 8.10. This latest release brings updates to security and data protection, and improvements in web-console and system roles to automate operations and ensure consistency in intricate IT settings.

The release continues to enhance system availability, reliability, and recovery processes, alongside improving virtual machine snapshot functions in hybrid cloud scenarios. New system roles have been introduced to streamline the creation and administration of logical volume manager (LVM) snapshots for better data backup and recovery processes. Performance, scalability, and reliability continue to be the focus of updates in the 8.10 version to aid developers in application development and management.

The ROCCAT brand is officially reaching the end of its life today, as Turtle Beach has confirmed that ROCCAT will not be a separate brand anymore but rather integrated under the covers of Turtle Beach. Turtle Beach has noted: "We want to bring a greater level of integration to our family of products across console, PC and simulation. We felt that time and resources would be best spent focusing under a single brand and creating a range of products that matter most to gamers." ROCCAT was acquired by Turtle Beach in 2019 for $14.8 million to strengthen the company's positioning in the PC accessories market. At the time, ROCCAT's lineup of gaming keyboards, mice, headsets, and other peripherals complemented Turtle Beach's console-oriented product mix.

In a FAQ posted on its website, Turtle Beach also added: "While we'll be retiring the ROCCAT brand, many of its iconic product lines like the Vulcan, Kone, Burst and Sense will transition under the Turtle Beach brand. Our commitment to PC products remains as strong as ever and we have several ground-breaking new products to introduce as well as Turtle Beach-branded versions of popular existing ROCCAT products sticking around." For product support, the same teams are handling any customer support, and the company has merged them into a single new website, which handles tech and customer questions at support.turtlebeach.com. For returns, the company also takes care of ROCCAT products. The ROCCAT Swarm software will continue to work, even with Swarm II scheduled for a debut this year in Spring. From now on, all products will be under a single brand but will target the same audience. Turtle Beach will also rebrand the social media channels from ROCCAT to Turtle Beach PC. Refer to the FAQ posted on the official company website for more inquiries.

ASUS today announced BIOS updates enabling support for next-gen AMD Ryzen processors on ASUS AM5 X670, B650 and A620 motherboards, as well as support for existing Ryzen 7000 and 8000 series processors. These updates are necessary to enable compatibility with these processors. BIOS updates for ASUS AM5 motherboards also add support for existing Ryzen 7000 and 8000 series processor.

The updates can be accessed on the ASUS BIOS update page for the models listed below.