ZOTAC started teasing a refresh of its Apocalypse product line earlier in the year. Two months later, fairly concrete details of the (still) upcoming GeForce RTX 5080 16 GB variant emerged via the NVIDIA board partner's Weibo blog. Unfortunately, ZOTAC's ultra premium 3.5-slot thick/ARGB-lit behemoth design is expected to remain exclusive to the Chinese PC hardware market. Western hardcore gaming enthusiasts are best served by the manufacturer's alternative flagship triple-slotter: GeForce RTX 5080 AMP Extreme INFINITY ULTRA. ZOTAC's mainland China and Hong Kong offices have declared the arrival of brand-new Apocalypse SKUs at retail; utilizing NVIDIA's "Blackwell" GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti GPUs.

Yesterday's Weibo bulletin commenced with: "when mecha aesthetics collide with technology, and gaming passion merges with extreme performance, the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 50 Apocalypse series graphics cards are born! After (our) continuous R&D, improvement, testing and adjustment—today, newly upgraded flagship graphics cards are officially launched!" The brand has advertised the return of an apparently much-missed product line mascot: "Apocalypse Princess is back with a new look, starting a game/AI exploration journey with you." Promotional imagery and box art feature a prominent illustration of ZOTAC's flagship series heroine—this "mecha artwork" demonstrates a serious sci-fi aesthetic, albeit with a cute female protagonist leading the way. A rival AIB specializes in this type of "marketing"—Yeston's similar-ish presentation language concentrates on enchanting fantasy characters.

Cooler Master (CM) showcased custom GeForce RTX 50-series graphics card designs at CES 2025, but advertised these compelling parts as included in high-end pre-built gaming rigs. Months later, finalized CM GeForce RTX 5080 stock has just rolled out in China—as demonstrated by 51972's blog post on Bilibili. A generous selection of uploaded photos were accompanied by the content creator's observations when tinkering with his sample unit's modular air cooling solution: "someone commented on the post this morning and suggested replacing it with a MasterFan or Mobius. I tried it too. I thought it could only support 12025 (slim) fans. When I disassembled it, I found that Cooler Master's designers/engineers had reserved screw limit holes at different heights."

Their description continued as follows: "I tried it and found that the (Phanteks) T30 could really be installed, but the thickness of the whole card reached a terrifying 9 cm. Outrageous." Cooler Master's innovative enclosure—when configured with the thickest third-party options—manages to "outgrow" nearby competition. 51972 compared CM's plucky new entrant to an ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 card; a very familiar premium-tier quad-slotter—albeit with a relatively "svelte" 7.6 cm profile. MSI's upper crust GeForce RTX 5080 SUPRIM cards arrived earlier this year, sporting the same shroud height dimension as equivalent Astral SKUs.

ASUS has released version one of a BIOS update tool for its ultra-premium air-cooled ROG Astral graphics cards, OC and standard flavors. Yesterday's update advertises an improved "Quiet Mode," that implements a "more silent fan curve." TechPowerUp reviewed the quad-fan configured ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 OC Edition cards late last month. Resident GPU evaluator, W1zzard, awarded the astronomically-priced flagship model with an "Editor's Choice" badge, but simultaneously pinned on a "But Expensive" honor. The lesser (GB203-based) Astral did not receive any accolades. Both models have courted criticism for louder than expected operation; W1zzard did not enjoy listening to the Astral GeForce RTX 5090 OC Edition's collective fan concerto. "Out of the box" settings were not great, and the quiet BIOS mode did not "help much" in reducing the highest-end Astral's cacophony.

TPU's GPU guru elaborated further: "the second BIOS runs a more relaxed fan curve, but it's not much quieter and achieves 36.5 dBA with 70°C. Sure, good temperature, but isn't the point of a 'quiet' BIOS that isn't quiet, even if temperatures are higher? MSI's Suprim lineup does much better noise-wise, with temperatures that aren't that much higher." The ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 OC Edition seems to be a less noisy prospect, given that its cooling solution is not dealing with the largest "Blackwell" GPU die. Its sound signature was less offensive, but W1zzard reckoned that there was room for improvement. On this subject he stated: "with the default (performance) BIOS, temperatures are extremely low, but noise levels are a little bit on the high side with 36 dBA. I would have preferred a more balanced setting. Good thing that ASUS includes a secondary quiet BIOS with their card. Now the card runs whisper quiet, emitting only 26 dBA, which is highly impressive for a card in this performance segment. It is not the quietest card though, the MSI Suprim SOC is a tiny bit quieter, and it is so out of the box, without requiring a manual BIOS switch change." ASUS has seemingly absorbed initial feedback from review outlets (plus early adopters)—yesterday's update arrived just under two weeks from launch time. Watch out for possible upcoming reassessments.

The new ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 designs have attracted a lot of attention, due to an unusual cooling configuration that includes a backplate-mounted fourth fan. At CES 2025, MSI teased onlookers with a placard adorned with a GeForce RTX 32G "Lightning" Special Edition model—featuring a "FiveFrozr" cooling solution. A traditional triple-fan setup is placed in the expected shroud location, but two additional units are integrated into the card's backplate. According to recent reports and early reviews, GIGABYTE has deployed a somewhat related system, albeit entirely optional (depending on user discretion). The Taiwanese manufacturer sent its AORUS RTX 5090 and 5080 MASTER models to market last week. These premium card designs feature the company's new "Screen Cooling Plus" system. CES press material claims that the "extra air-boosting fan" grants more airflow.

GIGABYTE's fourth fan has flown under the radar, but major hardware news outlets have just picked up on initial impressions. Singapore's HardwareZone appreciated the inclusion of an optional extra—with their AORUS RTX 5080 MASTER sample—but criticized GIGABYTE's slightly undercooked implementation. Their reviewer did not evaluate whether the modular part made any difference in terms of reducing temperatures—instead, they opined: "to further improve cooling, the card also comes bundled with a separate 120 mm RGB fan that you can place on the back of the card to pull air out—a design reminiscent of the ROG Astral RTX 5080's built-in cooling solution. It's a practical touch but not an elegant one, as it means having to deal with additional cables to tidy up since—oddly enough—the card itself does not come with a power connector for the extra fan." GLITCHED.online, a South African tech site, took GIGABYTE's AORUS RTX 5080 MASTER ICE card for a test drive—they found that the extra bit of cooling potential made a difference, but it was "almost unnoticeable." We hope that GIGABYTE will send review samples to TPU's W1zzard in the near future. Will the fourth fan make any difference on the AORUS RTX 5090 MASTER model?

The P series from ARCTIC is known for its high performance. The new P9 models add four 92 mm versions to the range. Optimized for static pressure and focused airflow, the fans offer efficient cooling even with increased air resistance and are ideal for use on heat sinks, radiators and in narrow cases. Powerful, quiet and durable - the P9 series is an excellent choice for powerful and reliable cooling in a wide range of applications.

P9 Max: High-Speed PWM Fan
Very wide control range, maximum static pressure and airflow

• Airflow: 58.25 CFM | 98.97 m³/h
• Static pressure: 6.17 mmH₂O

Inno3D, a devoted NVIDIA partner showcased at CES 2025 its own implementations of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs powered by NVIDIA Blackwell architecture. Inno3D custom cooling solutions include the impressive iChill Frostbite liquid cooling and the huge iChill air cooling alternative complemented by the X3 and Twin X2 solutions. Before moving on we like to mention that all the graphics cards, even the RTX 5090 are powered by a single 12-pin connector.

Immediately our eyes observed the iChill Frostbite GeForce RTX 5090 dual-slot graphic cards with an impressive liquid cooling system, something enthusiasts looking for a compact yet high-performance system will surely desire. Next to it, even a blind man could not miss the huge iChill X3 RTX 5080, a 3.5-slot monster. The gargantuan proportions are due to the oversized cooling solution that relies on a combination of three fans (with the outer fans rotating in an anticlockwise direction to reduce turbulence and improve airflow), a huge vapor chamber complemented by a heatsink and a custom backplate that aid hot air extraction to protect the PCB from overheating.

CES 2025 marked the worldwide debut of XYZ brand, a company that is not really a newcomer to the field. Actually, it was founded in 2007 by engineers and hardware experts, and in 2021 they conceived the XYZ brand with a focus on "enhancing the PC user experience to exceptional levels." The TechPowerUp team made their way towards XYZ's booth at CES where a plethora of products were on display. From PC chassis series like Atom, Quantum, Tesseract, Airwave, Trifecta, Aurorax, Airone, and Qubex, to the Thermax air coolers family, AIOs like Aquapulse, Hydrotemp and Hydraview, Vortex and Pulsar fans, to power supply units like the Phantom and Hypervolt series.

We will go over each of them in a few moments (words), but what we would like to mention straightforward is that XYZ brand arrived with a very distinct and clear lineup of products, featuring a minimalist approach that relies on white and black tones with some dashes of color from RGB lighting, doubled by straight lines and sharp edges and corners. XYZ's lineup looks unified, which makes us believe that the company has a clear vision about how they want to present themselves.

European tech brand ENDORFY is making its first official appearance at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. Running through January 9, the company will showcase its latest PC components and peripherals to a global audience at the world's most influential tech event.

ENDORFY is expanding to the US market with a portfolio of high-quality PC components and accessories. This expansion supports the company's goal of reaching all modern technology enthusiasts with a range of products praised for combining advanced technology with reliability, efficiency, and great value for gamers, content creators, and tech enthusiasts.

Polartherm, the latest name in Thermal Interface Materials, has launched to deliver high performance Thermal Pastes at an accessible price point. Formulated for DIY Builders, PC Gamers and everyday users to achieve efficient heat transfer between critical components.

With today's processors and graphics cards requiring more power and operating much closer to their thermal limits every degree counts. Polartherm has entered the market to enable everyone to get the most from their cooling solutions, by offering products that provide high quality, straightforward application and durability at competitive prices.

Supermicro, Inc., a Total IT Solution Provider for Cloud, AI/ML, Storage, and 5G/Edge, is announcing a complete liquid cooling solution that includes powerful Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs), cold plates, Coolant Distribution Manifolds (CDMs), cooling towers and end to end management software. This complete solution reduces ongoing power costs and Day 0 hardware acquisition and data center cooling infrastructure costs. The entire end-to-end data center scale liquid cooling solution is available directly from Supermicro.

"Supermicro continues to innovate, delivering full data center plug-and-play rack scale liquid cooling solutions," said Charles Liang, CEO and president of Supermicro. "Our complete liquid cooling solutions, including SuperCloud Composer for the entire life-cycle management of all components, are now cooling massive, state-of-the-art AI factories, reducing costs and improving performance. The combination of Supermicro deployment experience and delivering innovative technology is resulting in data center operators coming to Supermicro to meet their technical and financial goals for both the construction of greenfield sites and the modernization of existing data centers. Since Supermicro supplies all the components, the time to deployment and online are measured in weeks, not months."

MSI, a leading global server provider, today introduced its latest server platforms, powered by Intel Xeon 6 processor with Performance Cores (P-cores). These new products deliver unprecedented performance for compute-intensive tasks, tailored to meet the diverse demands of data center workloads.

"The demand for data center performance has never been greater, driven by compute-intensive AI, HPC applications, and mission-critical database and analytics workloads," said Danny Hsu, General Manager of Enterprise Platform Solutions. "To meet these demands, IT teams need reliable performance across an increasingly diverse array of workloads." MSI's new server platforms, powered by Intel Xeon 6 processors, deliver high performance across a broad range of tasks, meeting diverse requirements for both performance and efficiency.

With the growing demand for high-speed computing, more effective cooling solutions for AI servers are gaining significant attention. TrendForce's latest report on AI servers reveals that NVIDIA is set to launch its next-generation Blackwell platform by the end of 2024. Major CSPs are expected to start building AI server data centers based on this new platform, potentially driving the penetration rate of liquid cooling solutions to 10%.

Air and liquid cooling systems to meet higher cooling demands
TrendForce reports that the NVIDIA Blackwell platform will officially launch in 2025, replacing the current Hopper platform and becoming the dominant solution for NVIDIA's high-end GPUs, accounting for nearly 83% of all high-end products. High-performance AI server models like the B200 and GB200 are designed for maximum efficiency, with individual GPUs consuming over 1,000 W. HGX models will house 8 GPUs each, while NVL models will support 36 or 72 GPUs per rack, significantly boosting the growth of the liquid cooling supply chain for AI servers.

Noctua, known for air cooling solutions, revealed a prototype for a "liquid" cooling product at Computex. However, this "liquid" cooler has no pump, Noctua's design aims to provide effective cooling without it. We got the chance to see it during our visit to the Noctua Computex booth, and we can say that even in its early prototype stage, it looks good.

Instead of a traditional pump, Noctua's design uses a two-phase thermosiphon. This technology works by heating a fluid, causing it to evaporate and circulate through density differences. The evaporated fluid moves through a vapor tube to a condenser, where it cools down and returns to liquid form. The liquid then flows back to the evaporator, and the cycle repeats.

It's official: NVIDIA delivered the world's fastest platform in industry-standard tests for inference on generative AI. In the latest MLPerf benchmarks, NVIDIA TensorRT-LLM—software that speeds and simplifies the complex job of inference on large language models—boosted the performance of NVIDIA Hopper architecture GPUs on the GPT-J LLM nearly 3x over their results just six months ago. The dramatic speedup demonstrates the power of NVIDIA's full-stack platform of chips, systems and software to handle the demanding requirements of running generative AI. Leading companies are using TensorRT-LLM to optimize their models. And NVIDIA NIM—a set of inference microservices that includes inferencing engines like TensorRT-LLM—makes it easier than ever for businesses to deploy NVIDIA's inference platform.

Raising the Bar in Generative AI
TensorRT-LLM running on NVIDIA H200 Tensor Core GPUs—the latest, memory-enhanced Hopper GPUs—delivered the fastest performance running inference in MLPerf's biggest test of generative AI to date. The new benchmark uses the largest version of Llama 2, a state-of-the-art large language model packing 70 billion parameters. The model is more than 10x larger than the GPT-J LLM first used in the September benchmarks. The memory-enhanced H200 GPUs, in their MLPerf debut, used TensorRT-LLM to produce up to 31,000 tokens/second, a record on MLPerf's Llama 2 benchmark. The H200 GPU results include up to 14% gains from a custom thermal solution. It's one example of innovations beyond standard air cooling that systems builders are applying to their NVIDIA MGX designs to take the performance of Hopper GPUs to new heights.

After the announcement of the new water cooler series, ARCTIC is now announcing the next product highlights - this time in the area of air cooling. For its 23rd anniversary, the manufacturer is still in a celebratory mood and is also bringing the Freezer 36 onto the market at special prices. With significantly increased performance and simplified assembly, the Freezer 36 not only outperforms its predecessor models but also holds its own against the competition.

Even more efficient ventilation is achieved thanks to the optimized heat sink with side-flow design. Two of ARCTIC's proven P-fans, known for their performance, are used in push-pull-configuration. The innovative click-fastening system enables quick and easy installation and fan replacement. For the upcoming LGA1851 and LGA1700 installation, the Freezer 36 uses a special contact frame that distributes the contact pressure evenly. This minimizes the mechanical stress on the CPU and motherboard and increases cooling performance.

CORSAIR at the 2024 International CES unveiled three new air cooling products; the A115 air CPU cooler, the AF120 MAX fans, and the RX Series Fans. We begin our tour with the AF120 MAX. These 120 mm fans come with a thickness of 30 mm, above the 25 mm industry standard. This 5 mm increase allows for a significantly bigger impeller, which results in a static pressure of 4.14 mm H₂O at its top speed of 2,000 RPM. The company hasn't disclosed its airflow and noise numbers, yet. It is also planning such thick fans in the 140 mm size. The fan is recommended for applications such as liquid cooling radiators, where the high static pressure comes handy. Next up, is the RX Series, a set of mid-range fans that come in RGB and non-RGB variants, and in sizes of 120 mm and 140 mm. The RGB ones support iCUE Link.

The star attraction is the new A115 air CPU cooler. This is a high-end D-type (dual fin-stack) CPU cooler, which uses six 6 mm-thick copper heatpipes that make indirect contact with the CPU through a copper base; 90 nickel-plated fins, a pair of included AF140 Elite PWM 140 mm fans; and an innovative new fan-installation mechanism that puts the two fans on rails, and has them slide into place from the top, with the heatsink installed, so you don't wrestle with clips and get cut. This sliding mechanism also ensures clearance for memory near the first "push" fan. The company's "Hold Fast" retention module is designed for easy installation of the heatsink; among the CPU socket types supported are LGA1700 (and by extension the upcoming LGA1851), AM5, and AM4.

Ever since the creation of A64FX for the Fugaku supercomputer, Fujitsu has been plotting the development of next-generation CPU design for accelerating AI and general-purpose HPC workloads in the data center. Codenamed Monaka, the CPU is the latest creation for TSMC's 2 nm semiconductor manufacturing node. Based on Armv9-A ISA, the CPU will feature up to 150 cores with Scalable Vector Extensions 2 (SVE2), so it can process a wide variety of vector data sets in parallel. Using a 3D chiplet design, the 150 cores will be split into different dies and placed alongside SRAM and I/O controller. The current width of the SVE2 implementation is unknown.

The CPU is designed to support DDR5 memory and PCIe 6.0 connection for attaching storage and other accelerators. To bring cache coherency among application-specific accelerators, CXL 3.0 is present as well. Interestingly, Monaka is planned to arrive in FY2027, which starts in 2026 on January 1st. The CPU will supposedly use air cooling, meaning the design aims for power efficiency. Additionally, it is essential to note that Monaka is not a processor that will power the post-Fugaku supercomputer. The post-Fugaku supercomputer will use post-Monaka design, likely iterating on the design principles that Monaka uses and refining them for the launch of the post-Fugaku supercomputer scheduled for 2030. Below are the slides from Fujitsu's presentation, in Japenese, which highlight the design goals of the CPU.

Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Case, Power, Cooling, Gaming peripherals, and enthusiast Memory solutions, is delighted to release the TOUGHAIR 710 Black CPU Cooler, a CPU air cooler designed for the toned-down black aesthetics. The TOUGHAIR 710 Black is a new edition to the TOUGHAIR series and features a Dual-Tower Dual Fan Design, providing superior cooling performance for the latest Intel and AMD CPUs. Now this new-colored TOUGHAIR 710 Black is worldwide available for purchase!

If you are a non-RGB lover and want to build a low-profile but eye-catching PC, look closer to the TOUGHAIR 710 Black. The TOUGHAIR 710 Black is inspired by the shadows and is composed entirely of black components, increasing a sense of mystery and nobleness. Designed for high-performance CPUs, the TOUGHAIR 710 Black comes with the Dual-Tower Dual Fan Design, doubling everything to achieve exceptional cooling performance. To fit all main-stream CPUs, the TOUGHAIR 710 Black is compatible with various Intel and AMD sockets, including the latest Intel 1700 and AM5.

be quiet!, the German manufacturer for premium PC components, is unveiling two brand-new high-end air coolers at the gamescom expo in Cologne, Germany, from August 23rd to 27th. Dark Rock Pro 5 follows in the footsteps of the extremely successful and award-winning Dark Rock Pro 4, offering immense cooling performance at low noise levels on all popular consumer platforms, while Dark Rock Elite is aimed at users that require the highest performance and airflow, integrating ARGB lighting and a unique front fan rail system for an elite experience.

Raising the bar for air cooling even further
Improving upon the high performance benchmark set by Dark Rock Pro 4 was not easy, but be quiet! managed to raise the bar even further with Dark Rock Pro 5. By leveraging the performance of Silent Wings and adding an integrated speed switch to prioritize cooling or silence have resulted in an air cooler that loves multithreaded tasks, whether it's high-end gaming or a workstation setup. Still want more? With its unprecedented cooling abilities, Dark Rock Elite is the perfect fit for gaming enthusiasts who want to achieve the best possible CPU performance and airflow, while not missing out on great ARGB lighting. Not only does the Elite offer Silent Wings fans and an integrated speed switch, it also uses an innovative rail system for the front fan to guarantee compatibility with most memory modules and motherboards. Dark Rock Pro 5 and Dark Rock Elite will be officially launched late October.

Jonsbo, a Chinese case manufacturer known for unique case designs, has introduced the new Jonsbo C6 and N2 cases to its offerings. The C6 is a compact and versatile Micro-ATX case designed to appeal to many users, including gamers. It offers ample space for up to three 120 mm fans, ensuring efficient air cooling within the case. The front of the C6 can accommodate two 140 mm fans, further enhancing airflow. To promote optimal ventilation, the front, side panels, and lid of the C6 are made of air-permeable mesh. Regarding hardware compatibility, the C6 can house graphics cards with a maximum length of 255 mm and CPU coolers with a height of up to 75 mm. Additionally, it provides the flexibility to install an HDD or two SSDs in the front without a 120 mm fan. The Jonsbo C6 is available in black and white color options, catering to different aesthetic preferences.

Cooler Master, renowned for its industry-leading PC components, today announced the MA824 Stealth, a cutting-edge air cooler designed to keep your machine cool during the most intense applications. The MA824 Stealth is a testament to our innovative approach to design, boasting a suite of advanced specifications encased in a modern, sleek exterior.

"This high-performance air cooler, featuring our groundbreaking Superconductive Composite Heat Pipe technology, raises the bar in both performance and design," Said Jimmy Sha, CEO Cooler Master." Sleek, efficient, and robust, the Stealth is a statement piece for any setup. We continue to push boundaries for PC enthusiasts, power users, and custom builders worldwide. Welcome to the next level of air cooling with Cooler Master."

Gamdias introduced its first ever AIO CPU cooler at this year's Computex along with a surprising range of air coolers and interesting case fans. The CHIONE P3 LCD Liquid Cooler series is available in 360 mm and 240 mm radiator sizes, with its center piece being a customizable IPS LCD display sitting atop the high-performance (S-tier) motor pump. Enthusiasts can monitor system performance statistics and personalize the screen with any image or animated GIF of their choosing. The CHIONE P3's radiator features fine-tuned AEOLUS M3 ARGB PWM fans for unparalleled airflow. The pump head also houses a stunning ARGB lighting ring that runs a pre-selected set of lighting modes. The CHIONE P3 sports an upgraded mounting kit for easy installation on modern AMD (AM5 & TR4) and Intel (LGA 1700) CPU platforms alike.

The CHIONE M4 LCD Liquid Cooler series is available in 420 mm, 360 mm and 240 mm radiator sizes - providing CPU cooling solutions for a wide range of enclosure sizes. The centre-piece integrated display provides real-time monitoring of your CPU temperature, fan RPM, and pump RPM. The CHIONE M4 is fitted with an exclusive in-line PWM pump and patented cooling system - this provides powerful yet silent operation and high-performance compact cooling. Gamdias advertises states that this "next-generation radiator delivers optimal performance that provides the same performance as a 38 mm thickness radiator with its 32 mm design. The CHIONE M4 is also compatible with the latest LGA 1700 and AM5 sockets, thanks to its upgraded mounting kit, making installation a breeze."

AeroCool is presenting their newly introduced Performance Nexus (APNX) products at this year's Computex - including a case, power supply, CPU air cooler and case fans. They have decided to offer this hardware lineup in a wide variety of colors - let us start with the APNX-C1 ATX tower case which can be customized further with all sorts of alternative tone top plates. There are standard black and white options for traditionalists, as well as more adventurous variants in the form of green, pink and red color schemes. The internal layout can accommodate a maximum of 10 case fans - three APNX 120 mm units are pre-installed at the front. AeroCool indicates that the APNX-C1 case will be coming out later this year with an MSRP of $149/€139.

The APNX F1 are F2 are PWM case fans with ARGB lighting systems, offered up in two sizes: 120 mm and 140 mm. AeroCool has increased fan thickness to 30 mm on these Performance Nexus units, which they reckon contributes to greater cooling efficiency (by 50%) over standard 25 mm examples. The chunky casing features sizable anti-vibration rubber pads that ensure that the APNX F1 and F2 operate at super quiet levels. There were many color options on display at the company's booth - so system builders will be have plenty of tonal customizations to experiment with. The F1 has a bi-chromatic plastic design, while the F2 has a textured metal frame - the latter will be supplied with a swappable reverse air flow fan blade. AeroCool is still in the process of finalizing these F-models, so availability and pricing will be announced at a later time.

Noctua has, as of this month, refreshed its product roadmap for the rest of 2023, and even provides a couple of scant details about far-off hardware scheduled for launch in early 2024 and beyond. The Austrian computer cooling hardware specialist is probably updating their release forecast in preparation for Computex 2023 - set to start at the end of the month - where brand new goodies could be debuted to industry-types and public attendees.

Noctua's 8-way fan hub seems to be delayed - the previous version of the roadmap had it down for a Q1 2023 launch, but the update now indicates a second quarter window. A bunch of next-gen AMD Threadripper coolers are marked down for an estimated third-quarter release, and Noctua has a slim 60 mm fan
as well as a 24 V 40 mm fan lined up for the final quarter. All-black versions of existing NH-D12L, NH-D9L and NH-L9x65 CPU coolers are due by the end of this year - a number of coolers are already available in the company's "chromax.black" finish - for those who do not enjoy the signature beige and brown aesthetic. A single next-generation 140 mm fan is teased for a Q1 2024 launch, with a chromax.black version coming later in the year. Finally, a re-designed NH-D15 CPU cooler gets a loose 2024 window.

During the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 2022, Intel gave us a more significant look at its upcoming Ponte Vecchio HPC accelerator and how it operates. So far, Intel convinced us that the company created Ponte Vecchio out of 47 tiles glued together in one package. However, the ISSCC presentation shows that the accelerator is structured rather interestingly. There are 63 tiles in total, where 16 are reserved for compute, eight are used for RAMBO cache, two are Foveros base tiles, two represent Xe-Link tiles, eight are HBM2E tiles, and EMIB connection takes up 11 tiles. This totals for about 47 tiles. However, an additional 16 thermal tiles used in Ponte Vecchio regulate the massive TDP output of this accelerator.

What is interesting is that Intel gave away details of the RAMBO cache. This novel SRAM technology uses four banks of 3.75 MB groups total of 15 MB per tile. They are connected to the fabric at 1.3 TB/s connection per chip. In contrast, compute tiles are connected at 2.6 TB/s speeds to the chip fabric. With eight RAMBO cache tiles, we get an additional 120 MB SRAM present. The base tile is a 646 mm² die manufactured in Intel 7 semiconductor process and contains 17 layers. It includes a memory controller, the Fully Integrated Voltage Regulators (FIVR), power management, 16-lane PCIe 5.0 connection, and CXL interface. The entire area of Ponte Vecchio is rather impressive, as 47 active tiles take up 2,330 mm², whereas when we include thermal dies, the total area jumps to 3,100 mm². And, of course, the entire package is much larger at 4,844 mm², connected to the system with 4,468 pins.