In a world where most of us work, communicate, play, explore, and make purchases online nearly every day, cybersecurity is more important than ever. Yet it's also a world where it's increasingly hard to know who to trust. Perhaps you've seen recent news reports that call into question the security practices of companies that you might rely on for the network for your home or small business. At ASUS, we're working to show you that not every networking company has the same level of commitment to cybersecurity. Recently, we joined FIRST, a longstanding and renowned organization that brings together a variety of computer security incident response teams from around the world. Our membership in FIRST enables us to take enterprise-level experience, security protocols, and incident response tactics and integrate them into the consumer market.

35 years of coordinating responses against cyberattacks
When you're the victim of a cyberattack, your priority is to re-secure your own hardware, data, and account access. But the incident response teams dedicated to cybersecurity have to take a larger view. What vulnerability made the cyberattack possible? What other systems could be affected? How quickly can a fix be deployed, and how might this fix affect other vital systems and functions? Answering these questions in today's connected world requires not just on-the-ground incident response teams, but international communication and coordination between these groups. Since 1990, this layer of coordination has been provided by FIRST—the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams. Consisting of members from government agencies, educational institutions, military divisions, and the private sector, FIRST works to ensure a safe internet for everyone by creating channels for incident response and security teams across the globe to work together.

Mundfish Studio and Focus Entertainment are excited to celebrate the release of Atomic Heart's third DLC "Enchantment Under the Sea"! Available as part of the Atomic Pass, this DLC gets back to exploring the aftermath of the campaign's main storyline by leaving Limbo behind and taking players back to explore Facility 3826. There, they'll be introduced to a new underwater Neptune Research Center, new weapons and glove abilities as well as new sea-dwelling threats! Atomic Heart is out now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC. Benefit from discounts up to 67% on the Standard and Premium Editions, as well as all the game's DLCs on PlayStation, Xbox and Steam.

Look for answers in the depths of Facility 3826
"Enchantment Under the Sea" goes back to the spectacular combat gameplay that made Atomic Heart one of the highlights of 2023! Meet an eclectic cast of new and returning characters, and dive into the underwater Neptune Research Center with a Twin at your side to regain what was lost and find a way to save Mankind from a dismal future. This new adventure will even take you back to familiar locations that have changed beyond recognition like the flying city of Chelomey, now under the crushing rule of a familiar, formerly-friendly huge Robogirl.

Last week, important figures from the PC hardware community posted photo and video evidence of damaged GPU interfaces—seemingly inflicted by the ASUS PCIe Q-Release Slim system. Reports suggest that scratches and scrapes—on PCIe connectors—are the result of frequent engagement and disengagement. For example, the owner of a ROG Strix B850-A Gaming Wi-Fi S motherboard model performed sixty quick release cycles—eventually chipping away at the physical interface present on their GALAX RTX 4070 Ti HOF OC LAB card. The most vocal of critics believe that ASUS did not fully test its latest quick release mechanism—reserved mainly for inclusion on high-end motherboards. Feedback posted on Bilibili prompted Tony Wu—general manager at the company's China office—to look into the matter. In the meantime, his colleagues in North America have responded to Western news reports.

Approximately eighteen hours ago, the "ASUS_MKTLeeM" account posted a lengthy and highly comprehensive public service announcement (PSA) on NVIDIA's subreddit. The ASUS USA rep stated: "we know that many of you have ASUS products including our GeForce graphics cards and motherboards and likely saw the news recently regarding usage marks on a couple graphics cards that were installed in one of our motherboards featuring the new PCIe Q-Release Slim feature." They noted that they would welcome feedback from users on Reddit—through comments or private messages. The company messenger pointed out that the reported problems stemmed from unique user cases—professional reviewers (of expensive graphics cards) will not enjoy reading this response: "in our internal testing and evaluation of the extremely small number of cases reported, we found no damage to the motherboard or graphics card that would affect functionality and/or performance....However, it is important to emphasize that any type of PCIe add-in card will exhibit signs of usage and wear marking after 60 continuous insertions and removals."

In an FAQ on its website, Gigabyte has confirmed that the company will use liquid metal thermal interface materials on some of its RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 cards. The cards in question are its Aorus Xtreme Waterforce cards, all of which will be using a liquid gallium based TIM that the company claims will offer up to 10 times heat transfer coefficent compared to what the company refers to as traditional thermal grease. However, it's unclear if the traditional thermal grease is simple silicone based TIM or something more modern. The cards in question are the GV-N5090AORUSX W-32GD, GV-N5080AORUSX W-16GD and GV-N509DAORUSX W-32GD.

In addition to those three cards, the company has a further seven Aorus Master cards that will use what Gigabyte refers to as a "composite metal grease that includes metal particles, to deliver enhanced thermal conductivity performance", which simply sounds like a modern, higher-end TIM. However, the FAQ specifically states that both materials are "fluid-like" in room temperature and above, it seems like Gigabyte is using something a bit different here, rather than your run-of-the-mill thermal paste, since only a few TIM's are runny in room temperature. The company further points out that both TIM's are electrically conductive, so for those planning on swapping out the cooler on their cards, this is something to pay attention to. Gigabyte also points out that it's using a "quadruple protection system to prevent possible short-circuiting of important components" and goes on to point out that if the cooler is removed, at least a couple of these protections will be damaged and will no longer hold the TIM in place. The Aorus Master models are the GV-N5090AORUS M-32GD, GV-N5090AORUS M-32GD, GV-N5090AORUSM ICE-32GD, GV-N509DAORUS M-32GD, GV-N509DAORUSM ICE-32GD, GV-N5080AORUS M-16GD and GV-N5080AORUSM ICE-16GD.

HXL/9550pro and HardwareLuxx's Andreas Schilling shared evidence of the ASUS PCIe Q-Release Slim—the manufacturer's latest ejection mechanism—causing damage to graphics card PCIe connectors. Recent feedback suggests that repeated usage can scrape or grind off material present on a card's interface. HXL gathered critiques from multiple sources (owners of Intel 800 and AMD 800 series boards), and linked a relevant Bilibili video. The footage presents a damaged GALAX RTX 4070 Ti HOF OC LAB model, following sixty quick release cycles—paired with a ROG Strix B850-A Gaming Wi-Fi S motherboard. Tony Wu, ASUS China's general manager, eventually weighed in on community discussions—stating that he will investigate this matter and report back with his findings.

Schilling expressed similar frustrations—his chosen platform is producing unwanted results: "I'm not happy with the solution either. We use the Strix X870E-E Gaming for testing the graphics cards. So I have had to remove graphics cards from the slot a few dozen times. This didn't always go smoothly and very often the (GeForce RTX 5090) card got stuck in the slot. First damage visible." Press outlets have picked up on the recent surge in Q-Release Slim user feedback—several publications have gathered additional examples of the new mechanism inflicting damage on a variety of graphics card models.

Earlier this week, Taiwan experienced a magnitude 6.4 earthquake—this seismic event interrupted manufacturing activities at several TSMC chip-making facilities. As a precaution, foundry employees in both Central and Southern Taiwan were evacuated. Production resumed fairly quickly following inspections of crucial infrastructure—no major damage to facilities or equipment was noted. The latest reports suggest that a relatively minor number of TSMC wafers have been affected by the recent quake, while some recalibration of instrumentation is required to get things back on track.

Inside sources reckon that up to 20,000 wafers (possibly 10,000 at a minimum) could be scrapped—assessments are reportedly still underway, but a small proportion of client shipments could be disrupted. News articles point to this total being spread across three affected locations. Fab 18 is a key 3 nm production hub—situated in Taiwan's Southern Science Park, Tainan's Fab 14 specializes in 4 nm and 5 nm processes, and Fab 8 (Hsinchu) takes care of 200 nm. Industry experts believe that TSMC will bounce back quickly, and that the damaged wafer count represents a minor dent in the proverbial armor—on a good day, manufacturing output can reach up to 37,000 units.