ASRock, the leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, today launched new Challenger series products based on AMD Radeon RX 6600 GPUs. Built on the 7 nm manufacturing process, the new ASRock graphics cards offer support for the DirectX 12 Ultimate API, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, HDMI 2.1, PCI Express 4.0, and the Microsoft Windows 11 operating system. With a wealth of exclusive features, the new graphics cards are designed to provide visually stunning, high-refresh rate 1080p gaming experiences to the midrange market.

The new graphics cards are built on the breakthrough AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture, designed to deliver the optimal balance of performance and power efficiency. Offering 32 MB of high-performance AMD Infinity Cache, 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, AMD Smart Access Memory and other advanced features, the new graphics cards are designed to bring next-generation desktop gaming experiences to the midrange market. They also support the AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution open-source spatial upscaling solution, which is designed to increase framerates while delivering high-resolution gaming experiences.

Acer launched a lineup of green PCs with its Vero series, including the Acer Aspire Vero laptop for consumers and the Acer TravelMate Vero laptop for commercial use. From PCs to peripherals, Vero devices share certain green guidelines, such as utilizing post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic and shipping in recyclable packaging. As sustainability concerns not only how a product is made but what becomes of it, Acer's Vero devices have also been designed to be easy to disassemble, simplifying the process of repairs or upgrades and ultimately increasing the devices' lifespans.

More than just a stylish computer, the Acer Aspire Vero (AV15-51) is a tangible manifestation of Acer's commitment to more sustainable operations. Its chassis is composed of 30% PCR plastic, cutting CO2 emissions by 21% for the production of that part. The keycaps also contain 50% PCR plastic, and the Aspire Vero's award-winning 100% recyclable packaging can be repurposed as a DIY laptop stand. From there, a thoughtful design helps to eliminate needless waste by making it easy to disassemble, repair, upgrade and recycle the computer or its components. Running the newly-released Windows 11 operating system, it's incredibly easy to use, too.

AMD today launched the AMD Radeon RX 6600 graphics card, designed to provide visually stunning, high-refresh rate 1080p gaming experiences to the midrange market. The AMD Radeon RX 6600 graphics card leverages breakthrough AMD RDNA 2 architecture, the only gaming architecture that spans from desktop PCs, laptops and consoles to mobile devices and automotive infotainment systems. Offering 32 MB of high-performance AMD Infinity Cache, 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, AMD Smart Access Memory technology and support for the Microsoft Windows 11 operating system, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 graphics card is designed to bring next-generation desktop-level experiences to PC gamers. It also supports the AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution open-source spatial upscaling solution, which is designed to increase framerates in select titles while delivering high-resolution gaming experiences.

The AMD Radeon RX 6600 graphics card is designed with the needs of future-ready, high-performance 1080p gamers in mind. Capable of driving 100+ FPS in top AAA titles, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 graphics card also offers up to 1.3X better performance-per-watt than the competition in select titles in 1080p at max settings.

Microsoft on October 12 put out the first Cumulative Updates for the new Windows 11 operating system, since its October 5 release. The company's monthly update packages for Windows are unofficially dubbed "patch Tuesday" updates, as they're scheduled to come out on the second Tuesday of each month. Shortly after Windows 11 launch, AMD and Microsoft jointly discovered that Windows 11 is poorly optimized for AMD Ryzen processors, which see significantly increased L3 cache latency, and the UEFI-CPPC2 (preferred cores mechanism) rendered not working. In our own testing, a Ryzen 7 2700X "Pinnacle Ridge" processor, which typically posts an L3 cache latency of 10 ns, was tested to show a latency of 17 ns. This was made much worse with the October 12 "patch Tuesday" update, driving up the latency to 31.9 ns.

AMD put out a statement on social media, which surfaced on Reddit. The company stated that patches for the two issues have been developed, and specified dates on which they'll be released. The patch for the Preferred Cores (UEFI-CPPC2) bug will be released on October 21. Customers can request the patch even earlier. By "customers," AMD is probably referring to big enterprise customers running mission-critical applications on Threadripper or EPYC-powered workstations. The L3 cache latency bug will be fixed through the Windows Update channel, its release is scheduled for October 19.

So you have a $2,000 Core i7-6950X HEDT processor, which you thought would last forever, but Windows 11 Setup stands in your way with its steep system requirements that include TPM and Secure Boot. What do you do? With Windows 11, Microsoft introduced new requirements for compatible hardware, and these are purely software-only checks—nothing really requires it. Besides the much-talked about TPM 2.0 spec compatible hardware Trusted Platform Module as a system requirement, there's also new requirements for UEFI Boot, and installation on a GPT partitioned drive (no more MBR boot for Windows 11).

While these requirements do make some sense going forward, this walls off a lot of potential users, i.e. everyone without a TPM 2.0 add-on card, or those with processors older than 7th Gen Intel Core "Kaby Lake," or AMD Ryzen 2000 "Pinnacle Ridge" series. We have discovered a quick and easy way to defeat these checks during Windows 11 Setup, including for that nagging TPM 2.0, and Secure Boot. Here's a step by step guide for fresh installations.

Update Oct 7th: At the end of this article, which is focused on "clean installation", we added a method that lets you perform the upgrade of an existing installation to Windows 11, without any TPM. For this same scenario Microsoft offers a method that downgrades the TPM requirement from 2.0 to 1.2, our method works without any TPM and also relaxes other requirements, like memory size, UEFI and MBR.

Update Oct 10th: Improved the steps for the "upgrade" installation, to mention that updates to the updater should be turned off.

Apparently, AMD processors officially compatible with Windows 11, exhibit a three-times increase in L3 cache latency with the new operating system. The new operating system is also found to break the "preferred cores" system on AMD processors (UEFI CPPC2), in which the two "best" CPU cores, which can sustain the highest boost frequencies, are highlighted to the operating system, so most of the light-threaded traffic could be sent to them.

AMD and Microsoft jointly made this discovery, and listed out potential impact on application performance. The increased L3 cache latency affects performance of applications sensitive to memory performance. They also warn of a 10-15% loss in gaming performance. On the other hand, a dysfunctional "preferred cores" system would mean reduced performance in light-threaded tasks as the OS is unaware which are the processor's two best cores. Thankfully, both issues can be fixed via software updates, and AMD is working with Microsoft to push fixes for both issues through Windows Update, in an update rollout scheduled within October 2021.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., together with ecosystem leaders spanning key platforms and OEMs, is set to redefine wireless expectations for latency-sensitive gaming, productivity and learning applications on Window's 11 PCs with Qualcomm FastConnect systems. Wi-Fi Dual Station designed using Qualcomm 4-Stream Dual Band Simultaneous, harnesses multiple Wi-Fi bands and antennas concurrently, to outperform traditional single band connections. By simultaneously utilizing the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz band (or 6 GHz where available), latency issues in one band can be easily resolved at a system-level both quickly and transparently to the end user.

"Microsoft is pleased to bring 'Wi-Fi Dual Station' to the Windows 11 ecosystem, enabling our Windows OEMs and ecosystem leaders to deliver low-latency performance on the latest Wi-Fi hardware. Games and other latency-sensitive applications can now leverage two concurrent Wi-Fi connections providing best-in-class user experiences," said Ian LeGrow, vice president, program management for windows platforms and services, Microsoft.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers (Hong Kong Stock Code: 1337), today announced the launch of new Razer Book and Razer Blade 15 Advanced models, pre-loaded with Windows 11. Additionally, compatibility with Windows 11 will extend across all Razer laptop product lines with free upgrades offered to current Razer laptop owners when available. Rollout of Windows 11 upgrades will begin on October 5th, and will continue throughout 20221.

"Razer laptops like the Razer Book are built to use the highest quality tools available, so that any user can accomplish their tasks efficiently without hardware or software limitations," says Brad Wildes, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Razer's Systems Business Unit. "Windows 11 helps us do exactly that as we quickly adapt to a more powerful operating system for work and gaming."

Microsoft formally released the new Windows 11 operating system. If you meet its rather steep system requirements, you can just wait for it to appear as an option in Windows Update, as Windows 10 users are eligible for a free upgrade. But if you're like us, and impatient to try new things out (when stable), then there are a couple of ways you can get Windows 11 right now. The first (and safest) way to upgrade is to use the Windows 11 Installation Assistant. This app runs from within your Windows 10 environment, downloads the operating system, tailors it to your machine for the upgrade (with essential device drivers already in place for things like network interfaces and graphics); and upgrades Windows 10 for you.

The next option is the Windows 11 Media Creation Tool. You're probably familiar with this one. It's a Windows application that lets you download Windows 11 to create a bootable USB flash drive installation media, or even put out an ISO file that you can burn DVDs or other removable media with. The third option is the bare Windows 11 RTM (release to market) ISO file. The latter two options are recommended if you want to do a clean-slate installation for your machine. Creating ISO files would be particularly applicable to those installing Windows 11 on virtual machines, where the VM software can use the ISO file to emulate an installation media.

DOWNLOAD: Windows 11 Installation Assistant | Windows 11 Media Creation Tool | Windows 11 ISO Files

Today marks an exciting milestone in the history of Windows. As the day becomes October 5 in each time zone around the world, availability of Windows 11 begins through a free upgrade on eligible Windows 10 PCs and on new PCs pre-installed with Windows 11 that can be purchased beginning today. Windows is a driving force for innovation. It's an enduring platform for each one of us to create. And its home for over a billion people to do their jobs, live their dreams and connect with the people they love.

We're pumped to be launching Windows 11; the entire user experience brings you closer to what you love, empowers you to produce and inspires you to create. Windows 11 provides a sense of calm and openness. It gives you a place that feels like home. It's secure and everything is designed to be centered around you. To fully understand the magic of Windows 11 you must get it in your hands. The gorgeous graphics, sounds and animations of Windows 11 along with the innovative and beautiful hardware from our partners and Surface provides an experience like none other.

Today, Acer America announced the Aspire Vero notebook, its first sustainability-focused product, is available tomorrow in North America and is one of Acer's first products powered by Windows 11. Made from recycled materials, the Aspire Vero delivers on Acer's Earthion mission to offer products that support a sustainable future. The new notebook pairs perfectly with Windows 11, which is designed to bring people closer to what they love by empowering their productivity and inspiring their creativity.

Designed to align with the core values of eco-minded consumers and EPEAT Silver-certified, the Aspire Vero meets a significant list of environmental and socially responsible criteria, including substance management, materials selection, product longevity, energy consumption, packaging, carbon footprint and corporate environmental performance and social responsibility. It's made from 30 percent PCR plastic in the chassis, which saves approximately 21 percent in C02 emissions and 50 percent PCR on the keyboard caps to reduce pollution from the production of virgin plastic and landfill trash. In addition, no paint is used on the surface of the chassis. Acer's new VeroSense software gives users the option of selecting a usage mode that has been optimized for energy efficiency and battery life.

Recently, Microsoft released the all-new Windows 11, which is available for Windows 10 users to upgrade. One of the biggest improvements of Windows 11 in gaming is the Auto HDR feature. The Auto HDR feature can intelligently take SDR-only games to HDR level for better color/brightness range. MSI announce all HDR supported monitor list and release a how to guide of What is Auto HDR and how to enable on Windows 11?

Windows 11 Auto HDR can automatically calculate the SDR content and tune it to near HDR content quality. However, there are few things you should know. Microsoft's new feature brings big benefits to gamers. It allows gamers to play games that didn't support HDR to be played at HDR quality. Before we start gaming with Auto HDR, there are few things we should beware of.

AMD on Monday released the latest version of the Radeon Software Adrenalin drivers. Version 20.10.1 beta comes with optimization for the Windows 11 operating system. Game-specific optimizations include "Far Cry 6," where it posts 10% performance gains over the previous driver; "Battlefield 2042 Open Beta," "Naraka: Bladepoint," and a 12% performance uplift for "Player Unknown's Battlegrounds" with DirectX 12 at 4K with Ultra settings.

Among the issues fixed include rare driver timeouts noticed on "Horizon Zero Dawn" and "The Medium" on RX 6000 series graphics cards such as the RX 6700 XT, and when gaming+streaming on RX 500 series cards. An issue with high idle memory clocks on multi-monitor setups has been fixed. Incorrect power reporting by Radeon Software at full load, has been fixed. Foliage artifacting in "Arma 3" and "Wreckfest" have been fixed.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.10.1 beta

Although Microsoft announced Office 2021 last month, the pricing was only announced today. As expected, Microsoft has several different versions of Office 2021 on offer and Microsoft 365 will also be updated to Office 2021 for subscribers to the service. Office 2021 will be available on the 5th of October, alongside Windows 11.

If you're looking to upgrade to Office 11, the bad news is that no upgrade pricing was announced and it's not clear if there even will be an upgrade offer. Office Home and Student, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Microsoft Teams, will set you back US$149.99, whereas Office Home and Business adds Outlook and "the right" to use the various Office packages for commercial usage, for US$249.99. Microsoft 365 remains at the same price levels. If you're planning to upgrade to Windows 11 and are using office 2013, do note that Microsoft is pulling the plug and you'll have to upgrade to a more recent version of Office.

Microsoft has recently announced that as part of the Windows Store redesign launching with Windows 11 on October 5th they will be updating their policy to allow third-party storefronts. The Windows Store will now accepts listings of third-party storefront apps with Epic Games and Amazon set to bring their respective storefronts to the Store in the coming months. This latest news is the latest addition to Microsoft's attempts to broaden the appeal of the Windows Store by allowing Win32 apps to be listed including Discord, Zoom, and VLC. Microsoft is also allowing alternate browsers to be listed on the store with the first two being Opera and Yandex.

MicrosoftIn that spirit, today we're announcing another significant update to our Microsoft Store on Windows policies, which will allow third-party storefront apps to be discoverable in the Microsoft Store on Windows. Just like any other app, third-party storefront apps will have a product detail page that can be found via search or by browsing - so that users can easily find and install it with the same confidence as any other app in the Microsoft Store on Windows. Today, we are sharing that Amazon and Epic Games will bring their storefront apps to the Microsoft Store over the next few months, and we look forward to welcoming other stores as well in the future.

As growing vaccination rates worldwide starting in July lead to a gradual easing of lockdowns, the overall demand for notebook computers has also experienced a corresponding slowdown, with Chromebook demand dropping by as much as 50%, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. However, factors such as a wave of replacement demand for commercial notebooks in Europe and North America due to the return to physical workplaces, as well as brands' aggressive efforts to rush out their 4Q21 shipments ahead of time due to global port congestions, became the primary drivers of notebook demand in 3Q21. Hence, annual notebook shipment for 2021 will likely reach 240 million units, a 16.4% YoY increase.

TrendForce further indicates that 4Q21 will welcome both the gradual release of new models equipped with Intel's next-gen CPUs and a wave of replacement demand for notebooks featuring Windows 11. Even so, overall notebook shipment in 4Q21 will depend on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic and the demand for commercial notebooks. As vaccinations become even more widespread in 2022, pandemic-related spending is expected to decline as a result. TrendForce therefore expects global notebook shipment to decline by 7-8% YoY next year and reach approximately 220 million units, although this still represents a growth of 60 million units over the shipment volume for 2019, prior to the emergence of the pandemic.

AMD today released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin. Version 21.9.1 is feature-packed with stuff enthusiasts are bound to love. To begin with, it introduces Smart Access Memory (PCI Resizable BAR) support for AMD Radeon RX 5000 series (RDNA) graphics processors, when used with a compatible platform. Next up, it adds optimization for "Call of Duty Vanguard Open Beta," and "Deathloop." The drivers also add a handful Vulkan API extensions, including VK_KHR_zero_initialize_workgroup_memory, VK_KHR_shader_integer_dot_product, VK_EXT_shader_atomic_float2, and VK_EXT_load_store_op_none. Perhaps the biggest new feature addition is AMD Auto Overclock.

On machines with AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors and Radeon RX 6000 series graphics, the Auto-Overclock feature detects CPU load, and automatically overclocks it in increments of 50 MHz, beyond the processor's rated maximum boost frequency. Just like manual overclocking, this comes with sizable costs to power consumption and cooling. The feature also automatically overclocks your RX 6000 series GPU. Using the feature is as easy as pulling up the Tuning tab in Radeon Software, and clicking on "Auto Overclock" in the Tuning Control tab. Lastly, Adrenalin 21.9.1 adds support for the upcoming Windows 11 operating system. The software is released alongside AMD's latest 3.09.01.140 Chipset Software, which also add Windows 11 support. A handful bugs have also been fixed, as described below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.9.1 | AMD Chipset Software 3.09.01.140

Microsoft announced that as part of Windows 11 Android applications would be natively supported as if they were desktop apps. The Windows Subsystem for Android will enable this support through emulation and is derived from the Windows Subsystem for Linux added in Windows 10. Microsoft has been working with Intel and Amazon to integrate their Bridge Technology and Appstore to improve the performance and experience of using Android apps. We have recently seen a slew of Geekbench results from devices running the Windows Subsystem for Android which reveals what we can expect in terms of performance.

The listings show Geekbench 5 single-core scores ranging from 107 - 828 and multi-core scores between 439 - 4908 which indicates that performance could far exceed that of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 on the high-end. We cannot determine the specific desktop processor used in each benchmark so these results can only be interpreted as a potential range. Microsoft has announced that Android support won't be available in Windows 11 at launch and will instead come as a future update.

Microsoft released a fairly detailed run-down of the under-the-hood changes it made to Windows 11 over its predecessor. The operating system is optimized for a zero-trust work environment. This explains making a hardware TPM 2.0 device a minimum system requirement. The company may even penalize PCs running unsupported hardware with no access to security updates. The company also described fine-grained application performance prioritization, which automatically prevents "trivial" apps from taking up too many system resources.

Apps running in the foreground also automatically get a higher app priority. This is particularly useful when your CPU is bogged down with a heavy workload, and you're trying to open a new app. The OS automatically rations resources to ensure the app you just launched is prioritized, making the experience snappy. This technology carries forward even to the Edge web-browser, where the tab that's active has more priority, and tabs that haven't been accessed in a while are put to "sleep" (i.e. their memory is completely paged, and they're given least system resources). Microsoft calls this "Sleeping Tabs." Microsoft claims that the feature can reduce memory savings by around 30%, which could be handy for your foreground tasks. With the feature enabled, the OS (or Edge) handle prioritization automatically.

The top Intel 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-S" 8+8 (P+E) cores processor will cost 741€ including taxes, according to a leaked document revealing retail channel prices of various upcoming 12th Gen Core desktop processors. It also speaks of the i9-12900KF, the "almost-flagship" part that comes with a disabled iGPU, going for up to 708€ (incl taxes).

The Core i7-12700K, the 8+4 (P+E) cores part that lacks Thermal Velocity Boost, will go for up to 524€ (incl taxes). Its "KF" twin will be about 20€ cheaper. The mid-tier Core i5-12600K processor (6 P-cores and 4 E-cores), is going for up to 365€. Not long ago, this was the roughly the price of Intel's top mainstream-desktop processors (such as the i7-7700K). The iGPU-devoid i5-12600KF will go for 333€. Intel is expected to debut its 12th Gen Core desktop processors and compatible Socket LGA1700 motherboards in Q4-2021, along the sidelines of the Windows 11 launch. The first wave of processors are expected to only be unlocked K or KF parts, with locked ones only arriving in early Q1-2022.

Lenovo today announced the forthcoming availability of our current ThinkBook business laptop portfolio preloaded with Windows 11 when available. Revealed on June 24, Windows 11 is designed to bring people closer to what they love and make creativity and productivity easier as the world shifts to hybrid working, learning, connecting and playing. Our stylish and refined ThinkBook products running Windows 11 will offer enhanced work and entertainment experiences. A new simplified user interface, easy connection to people with Microsoft Teams and smarter features work better together with ThinkBook's innovations. Enhanced security and manageability will help boost business continuity, and end users will be more productive with improved multitasking features in Windows 11 such as Snap layouts and Desktops and enjoy better video conferencing with AI-based noise cancellation on select ThinkBook models.

Previously thought to be delayed to 2022, the free upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10 will now begin from October 5, 2021. Microsoft announced that from this day, Windows 10 PCs should receive the free upgrade to Windows 11. Desktops and notebooks with pre-installed Windows 11 will also be available from this day. Microsoft however put out this disclaimer: "The Windows 11 upgrade will start to be delivered to qualifying devices beginning on October 5, 2021 into 2022. Timing varies by device." Windows 11 introduces an overhaul to the user interface, with more of Modern UI replacing Win32. To gamers and PC enthusiasts, Windows 11 offers DirectX 12 Ultimate, DirectStorage, and Audio HDR, as well as optimization for the next breed of hybrid-core processors, such as the 12th Gen Intel "Alder Lake."

NVIDIA today released the latest GeForce Game Ready drivers. Version 471.96 WHQL doesn't come with any new game optimizations tied to a game launch, but adds support for 6 new G-SYNC compatible displays, and adds 24 new titles to the GeForce Experience "Optimal" settings. The drivers also update scaling resolution in NVIDIA Image Sharpening feature. A handful bugs were also fixed. DPC latency being higher on 8 bpc color than 10 bpc color has been fixed. A problem detecting supported resolutions on Samsung Odyssey G9 has been fixed. A BSOD noticed when two of these displays are connected at 240 Hz, has also been fixed. NVDisplay.Container.exe constantly writing data to a ProgramData location has been fixed. Discrete NVIDIA GPUs frequently waiting up on notebooks with Windows 11, has been fixed. Topaz Denoise stability issues on "Turing" and "Volta" GPUs has been fixed. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 471.96 WHQL

With pre-release builds of Microsoft's upcoming operating system, Windows 11, doing rounds, the PC enthusiast community has developed various workarounds to the system requirement of a hardware trusted-platform module 2.0 (TPM 2.0) for the operating system. Microsoft itself also suggested that those on older machines (without TPMs), who cannot upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11, have the option of performing a clean-installation of the new operating system using its ISO installer disk image.

These machines, however, will be treated as "unsupported," will not have access to Windows Update, and may potentially be barred from receiving important security updates. Microsoft recommends, however, that those who don't meet the system requirements of Windows 11 remain on Windows 10. The company plans to maintain support for Windows 10 up to October 14, 2025, which means four more years of security updates for the older operating system. The choice, hence, would be between upgrading hardware to meet Windows 11 requirements, or to remain on Windows 10 until Q4-2025.

ASUS has begun rolling out BIOS updates that add motherboard support for Windows 11 even for processor families that Microsoft said would be left out of their latest Windows OS. Ever since the introduction of Windows 11, the message around specific hardware requirements has been difficult to pinpoint, as the company struggles to send a clear message on exactly which users should be looking to update their hardware - and which should not. ASUS' new BIOS updates will certainly add to the stirring pot, as they are being touted to enable Windows 11 support for Intel CPU families that Microsoft doesn't officially (yet) support for the OS release: Skylake (6th Gen) and Kaby Lake (7th Gen). According to Microsoft, only 8th Gen (Coffee Lake) and later Intel CPUs are supported by Windows 11.

The new BIOS updates typically activate TPM on the users' machine, should it be off at the BIOS level. ASUS has already released beta BIOS versions that introduce support for Windows 11 on Z270, H270 and B250 motherboards, and launched a hub page with compatibility status for a number of its motherboard releases. According to the company in the respective motherboard support pages, "The following motherboards are compatible with Windows 11 under current testing. The upgrability [sic] is subject to the support from operation system or 3rd party drivers availability." Which of course means that even if ASUS has gotten preview versions of Windows 11 to run on systems with this hardware, there's no way to know if the final, retail Windows 11 version will actually offer support for these CPUs. Of course, driver compatibility is also in question, since nothing guarantees Windows 11 to competently manage your hardware on the basis of Windows 10-bound driver packages.