NVIDIA today released the latest update to its GeForce Game Ready software. Version 452.06 WHQL comes with optimization for Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020), Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 (2020 remastered), Troy: A Total War Saga, and World of Warcraft: Shadowlands (beta). The drivers also add G-SYNC compatibility for eight new gaming monitors, spanning Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, and I-O Data brands.

Among the issues fixed are Shadow of the Tomb Raider crashing in DirectX 12 mode with Windows 10 GPU hardware scheduling enabled; a texture corruption issue with Death Stranding affecting GTX 16-series and RTX 20-series graphics cards; black square artifacts noticed in Path of Exile; a stuttering issue with Forza Motorsport 7, and several games randomly freezing during gameplay. Grab the drivers from the link below.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 452.06 WHQL Game Ready

The change-log follows.

Microsoft's future update to Windows 10 will add a GPU-aware selector that allows both the OS and the user to adaptively select the best GPU for each usage scenario. The preview release of Windows 10 build 20190 features this in two ways. First is an OS-level layer that automagically selects the best GPU for the task at hand between installed options (let's assume, an Intel iGPU and your discrete GPU). For web browsing or productivity it's expected the OS will switch to the less power-hungry option, whilst for gaming and its all-cylinders philosophy, it would launch the discrete option.

However, if you're not much into ceding that kind of control to the OS itself, you can override which specific GPU is activated for a specific application. This change is made via the Settings panel with a drop down menu in Graphics Settings. This feature should be a particular boon for laptops that don't feature a power-saving technology that enables this kind of behavior, but there are some other usages for power users that might come in handy with this OS-level integration.

Axiomtek - a world-renowned leader relentlessly devoted in the research, development and manufacture of series of innovative and reliable industrial computer products of high efficiency - is pleased to announce the eBOX626-311-FL, its new slim-type fanless embedded system powered by the Intel Atom processor x5-E3940. The fanless embedded box PC was designed to operate reliably in industrial environments - with an IP40-rated enclosure, extended -40°C to +60°C support, and 3 Grms vibration resistance. To ensure system security, it utilizes the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 function. The embedded box computer eBOX626-311-FL is well-suited for industrial controllers, intelligent robotic control, intelligent gateway systems, smart kiosks, visual inspection and data visualization.

"The eBOX626-311-FL is a highly-integrated platform with high performance, abundant I/O connectivity and high reliability. The fanless embedded box PC has a wide voltage input and supports an 11 ms interruption to prevent an unexpected power outage. The wide temperature settings and 3Grms vibration resistance along with IP40-rated rugged aluminium extrusion and steel case makes it solid and durable in harsh environments," said Annie Fu, product manager of Product PM Division at Axiomtek."

Today, Lenovo, is announcing updates to its portfolio of education solutions to support schools adopting new curriculums and pedagogy as they head back to class in the Fall during the global health crisis. More than 1 billion students, over 90 percent of the world's learners, have been impacted by school closures in 2020i. In response to disrupted school calendars, educators are implementing distancing learning programs and hybrid learning scenarios - a combination of distance and in-classroom learning. Schools and districts require education-ready devices, more secure platforms, as well as compelling and effective digital content to engage students under changing learning conditions. From purpose-built laptops and tablets, software and content for education to immersive learning with virtual reality (VR) solutions, Lenovo is providing teachers and students the tools needed for schools' expanding digital ecosystems.

iBUYPOWER, a leading manufacturer of custom gaming PCs, today announced its all new Slate9050W prebuilt gaming system, available exclusively on Walmart.com and in Walmart stores across the United States. Armed with an Intel Core i5 9400F CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB graphics card the Slate9050W gaming PC will provide users looking for a new gaming rig with the efficiency and frame rates needed to dominate in the latest battle royal games. With a 240 GB SATA solid state drive and a 1 TB hard drive, the Slate9050W provides ample storage space for game files and streaming clips without creating a bottle neck in the system.

Housed in iBUYPOWER's latest Slate 4 case, featuring an RGB lit front panel and a tempered glass side panel, the Walmart exclusive Slate9050W provides gamers with a quintessential option for an affordable and aesthetically pleasing prebuilt gaming PC. To ensure the system runs cool during long hours of gameplay, the Slate9050W comes equipped with a standard Intel CPU air cooler and four 120 mm addressable RGB (ARGB) fans, one at the rear for exhaust and three mounted to the front, side of the system.

Xbox has recently announced the official launch date for Battletoads to be August 20th. The new Battletoads game was first unveiled back at E3 2018 followed up with a gameplay trailer at E3 2019 and a playable demo at Microsoft's Xbox X019 convention. The release date announcement also came with a new trailer showcasing new gameplay and levels. This release will be the first new entry in the series in over 26 years with the last game Battletoads Arcade releasing in 1994. Battletoads will be available on Xbox, Windows 10, Xbox Game Pass, and Steam.

The Battletoads are back! Join Rash, Zitz and Pimple as they smash, stomp, drill, turbo bike, leap, shoot and generally be toadally awesome in their all-new, action-packed, multi-genre adventure of choreographed chaos!

ZOTAC today introduced the ZBOX C-series Edge C1341 mini PC. The company had exhibited this NUC-sized contraption at its 2020 International CES booth. Measuring just 147.2 mm x 147.2 mm x 32.1 mm (WxDxH), this ZBOX features VESA mounts, and can be tucked away behind a monitor that supports the standard. Under the hood is some pretty basic hardware, with a 4-core/4-thread Intel Celeron N4100 SoC that has UHD Graphics 600, 4 GB of hardwired single-channel DDR4 memory (expandable with an empty DDR4 SO-DIMM slot to dual-channel), and an included 64 GB M.2 SATA SSD.

Display outputs include DP and HDMI. Networking includes two 1 GbE wired and 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.2 WLAN. USB connectivity includes three 5 Gbps USB 3.1 ports, from which one is type-C, and two type-A ports. A microSD card reader and headset jack make for the rest of it. The C-Series Edge C1341 runs completely fanless, with its ridged top panel doubling as a heatsink for the 6-Watt TDP SoC. A 40 W power brick comes included. Windows 10 Pro comes pre-installed. The company didn't reveal pricing.

EVGA Precision for Game Bar is here. This widget for the Xbox Game Bar on Windows 10 devices gives you instant access to monitoring and overclocking, built right into the Game Bar. Want to overclock without even exiting your game? Simply press Windows logo key + G to open Game Bar over your game, application or even desktop. EVGA Precision for Game Bar includes support for GPU Clock Control, Memory Clock Control, Fan Speed Control, GPU Temperature monitoring, Frequency monitoring, and Framerate Monitoring (Coming Soon).

Download EVGA Precision for Game Bar BETA here.

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A performance review of the Intel Core i5-L16G7 "Lakefield" Hybrid processor (powering a Samsung Galaxy S notebook) was recently published by Golem.de, which provides an in-depth look at Intel's ambitious new processor design that sets in motion the two new philosophies Intel will build its future processors on - packaging modularity provided by innovative new chip packaging technologies such as Foveros; and Hybrid processing, where there are two sets of CPU cores with vastly different microarchitectures and significantly different performance/Watt curves that let the processor respond to different kinds of workloads while keeping power-draw low. This concept was commercially proliferated first by Arm, with its big.LITTLE topology that took to the market around 2013. The "Lakefield" i5-L16G7 combines a high-performance "Sunny Cove" CPU core with four smaller "Tremont" cores, and Gen11 iGPU.

The Golem.de report reveals that Windows 10 thread scheduler is aware of the hybrid multi-core topology of "Lakefield," and that it is able to classify workloads at a very advanced level so the right kind of core is in use at any given time. The "Sunny Cove" core is called upon when interactive vast serial processing loads are in demand. This could even be something like launching applications, new tabs in a multi-process web-browser, or less-parallelized media encoding. The four "Tremont" cores keep the machine "cruising," handling much of the operational workload of an application, and is also better tuned to cope with highly parallelized workloads. This is similar to a hybrid automobile, where the combustion engine provides tractive effort from 0 kph, while the electric motor sustains a cruising speed.

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HyperX, the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., today expanded its Alloy keyboard line up with the release of the HyperX Alloy Elite 2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. The new Alloy Elite 2 gaming keyboard is based on the original Alloy Elite design and boasts HyperX red linear mechanical switches built for performance, longevity and an 80 million lifetime click rating per switch. The keyboard includes dedicated media keys with quick access buttons and volume wheel and uses HyperX designed pudding keycaps with translucent dual-layer style and signature HyperX font to enhance LED and RGB light.

The HyperX Alloy Elite 2 features a signature light bar with LED lighting, dynamic RGB lighting effects with per-key lighting and RGB colors. Alloy Elite 2 is built with solid steel frame for durability, offers dedicated media buttons and a large volume wheel along with quick access buttons for brightness, lighting effects, and game mode. Alloy Elite 2 also includes a USB 2.0 pass through, 100 percent anti-ghosting and full N-key rollover functionality.

Dynics, Inc., a U.S.-based manufacturer of industrial-grade computer hardware, visualization software, network security, network monitoring and software-defined networking solutions, today announced the XiT4 Inference Server, which helps industrial manufacturing companies increase their yield and provide more consistent manufacturing quality.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being integrated into modern manufacturing to improve and automate processes, including 3D vision applications. The XiT4 Inference Server, powered by the NVIDIA T4 Tensor Core GPUs, is a fan-less hardware platform for AI, machine learning and 3D vision applications. AI technology is allowing manufacturers to increase efficiency and throughput of their production, while also providing more consistent quality due to higher accuracy and repeatability. Additional benefits are fewer false negatives (test escapes) and fewer false positives, which reduce downstream re-inspection needs, all leading to lower costs of manufacturing.

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Microsoft is giving the Windows 10 OS some finishing touches still, as a lot of UI is slowly changing over time. For example, just a few months back we have received a new icon pack that brought the material design to Windows 10 icons. However, now Microsoft is going even further in its mission to blend UI elements and give users the best possible viewing pleasure. This time, Microsoft is giving the start menu an overhaul. "We are freshening up the Start menu with a more streamlined design that removes the solid color backplates behind the logos in the apps list and applies a uniform, partially transparent background to the tiles. This design creates a beautiful stage for your apps, especially the Fluent Design icons for Office and Microsoft Edge, as well as the redesigned icons for built-in apps like Calculator, Mail, and Calendar that we started rolling out earlier this year."

It is available in Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20161 and should come to mainstream later on. If you want to splash a bit of color (see images below) you can apply that theme by going to Settings > Personalization > Color, then toggle the "Show accent color on the following surfaces" for "Start, taskbar, and action center". Below, you can check before and after comparison between old and new designs, along with the new color theme.

IBASE Technology Inc., a world leader in the manufacture of a wide range of digital solutions, has rolled out the SI-642-N 4K digital signage player that leverages the 8th Gen Intel Core U-series processors. The platform can be used in commercial establishments to increase brand awareness and customer engagement or deployed in transportation networks to provide real-time information and advertising relevant to the traveler.

The fanless SI-642-N offers high performance and high reliability for 24/7 operation in an industrial grade design. It is integrated with the IBASE iSMART and Observer technologies for remote monitoring, power on/off scheduling, power recovery and low temperature boot functions. With the Intel HD Graphics 620, the system can simultaneously support two independent displays (1x HDMI 2.0 & 1x Active DisplayPort 1.2) with 4K (4096 x 2160) @60Hz resolution as well as two independent audio outputs.

Microsoft seems to be on the verge of introducing a new file recovery tool in a future Windows 10 update. The news, courtesy of The verge, paints a MS-DOS-based tool that would allow users to recover most of the "basic" files they'd be looking for after accidental deletion: MP3 files, MP4 videos, PDFs, JPEG images, and Office, Word as well as PowerPoint documents. The File Recovery Tool is already available as a download from Microsoft's app store (and requires Windows 10 version 19041.0 or higher).

The lack of a GUI could be a put-off for some users; but again, this is a free tool from the company. As a refresher, a file isn't fully deleted if you only use Windows' "delete" function - even if you delete it from the Recycle Bin afterwards. All that does is tell the OS that that those particular storage addresses are available for being written to again - the bits that the file is made of are still there. This is the reason why successful file recovery depends mostly on whether or not new information has been written to those particular cells again. If it has, chances to recover your data are slim.

AMD today released its first public beta driver that enables graphics hardware scheduling feature support with Windows 10 May 2020 Update (version 2004). This oddball release has the same version number as the previous-release, version 20.5.1 Beta, but with graphics hardware scheduling retrofitted. The driver hence ships with the version name "Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.5.1 Beta with Graphics Hardware Scheduling." This Microsoft-supplied feature allows GPU hardware to better manage its resources, and potentially improve performance in certain applications. Currently, only AMD's RDNA-based Radeon RX 5600-series and RX 5700-series GPUs support graphics hardware scheduling - not even the RX 5500-series gets it; older generation AMD GPUs, such as the RX Vega series lack it, too.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.5.1 with Graphics Hardware Scheduling beta

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Lenovo is building on the reliability and performance of its mobile workstations, launching the next generation of the ThinkPad P Series: the ThinkPad P15, ThinkPad P17, ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 and the all new ThinkPad P15v. In addition, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 will also make its debut, as the most powerful X Series commercial laptop. All equipped with high-performance 10th Gen Intel H series mobile processors and wrapped in an enhanced design, these new ThinkPads are available in versatile configurations, giving users more autonomy over their experience.

The ThinkPad P Series and the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 will feature the new Ultra Performance Mode, exclusive to these systems, allowing users to take full control of their performance settings. Understanding the need to complete a render as fast as possible or demo high-fidelity VR content while maintaining a stable framerate, users can now dial up the system, ensuring peak performance.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the release of the Razer THX Spatial Audio App for Windows 10. Featuring advanced 7.1 surround sound with adjustable virtual speakers for superior positional accuracy, the Razer THX Spatial Audio App enhances gameplay and is available for use with all headphones and earbuds. Now, every gamer can upgrade to the very best spatial audio experience, using their existing 3.5mm, Bluetooth or USB headphones.

"Together with THX, we have developed an immersive audio solution that addresses the core gamers' needs - dynamic and accurate positional audio," said Alvin Cheung, senior vice president of Razer's peripherals business unit. "We've achieved this by drawing on THX's cinematic audio expertise, then adding a wide range of customization tools, to fine tune and personalize the listener's soundscape."

Microsoft has released its Chromium-based Edge browser some time ago and it is already capturing the market. Just in April of this year, it became the world's second most popular web-browser, just behind Google Chrome. Surpassing even Mozilla's Firefox web-browser, the new Edge is rising in popularity very quickly. So far, Microsoft gave an option for Windows 10 users to just download the new browser if they want to, or the only Edge browser you had would be the old version based on the EdgeHTML engine. Even though Microsoft has recently decided to start rolling out the new Chromium-based browser via OS updates, the old version could still find its way in the OS and there wouldn't be a new one present. Starting with update 20H2, Microsoft is bundling the new browser with OS update, making it a default option in the OS.

While the new browser is going to replace old Edge for default opening of links or some files like PDF, the old Edge will still be present. A lot of legacy applications are relying on opening some of their stuff in the old browser, and there sure would be problems if it would be gone. Additionally, gone are the year plus month names for Windows 10 updates, like 1803, 1903, and 1909. Now you get a year plus the first or second half of the year. For example, the next update is 20H2 (second half of 2020), and the one after it is 21H1 (first half of 2021). This is done to avoid confusion and with this Microsoft announced that updates will be faster in general.

Lenovo is blazing a path for mass adoption of ultra-fast, low-latency laptop connectivity through a series of mobile network operator partnerships committed to making 5G computing a reality for consumers around the world. On the heels of the earlier unveiling of the Lenovo Yoga 5G (known as Lenovo Flex 5G in the US)—the world's first 5G PC in market—Lenovo has formed strategic partnerships with leading 5G service providers around the world: Verizon, EE, Sunrise and CMCC. Powered by the Qualcomm ️ Snapdragon 8cx 5G compute platform, the Yoga 5G laptop delivers high-speed 5G network connectivity (through a 5G service provider) that's up to 10 times faster than 4G.

"Lenovo introduced the world's first 5G laptop in market to equip the mobile generation with smarter technology for always-on connectivity and computing. The hardware is just the first step," says Johnson Jia, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Consumer Business Segment in Lenovo's Intelligent Devices Group. "With our strategic partnerships with global 5G network carriers, consumers will now be able to access easier, faster and more secure connectivity seamlessly from virtually anywhere. As 5G computing holds the power to transform user experiences, we believe it can ultimately disrupt the PC industry for the better."

We are transitioning and converting our current ring model, based on the frequency of builds, to a new channel model that pivots on the quality of builds and better supports parallel coding efforts. In addition to this change, Insiders will also find similar offering names and expectations across Windows and Office programs and soon Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Teams. Our goal is to not only make it clearer for existing Insiders to choose the experience that's right for them, but also for new Insiders to pick the right channel as they join. The Insider community is very important to us all and we're working to align how all our Insider programs work better together across Microsoft.

The security of our customers' data is a top priority at Intel. As part of Intel's Security First Pledge, our engineers continue to deliver advancements to help safeguard our technology from evolving cyber-threats. It begins with designing and engineering security features into our products and continues in our work with the industry to move security innovation forward.

Today, we are announcing a new security capability. Intel Control-Flow Enforcement Technology (Intel CET) will be first available on Intel's upcoming mobile processor code-named "Tiger Lake." Intel CET delivers CPU-level security capabilities to help protect against common malware attack methods that have been a challenge to mitigate with software alone.