As AI technology becomes ubiquitous, the impact of unusual weather also gains more attention. The most impressive case was the sudden weather change in Denver, the US, last September that the temperature dropped from 37°C to minus overnight. Faced with such fluctuation, the devices which maintained the daily life of the city in order, like the facilities for traffic flow analysis, surveillance, and AI visual analytics, could no longer operate normally, or even damaged, due to the lack of endurance to the extreme weathers.

Inspired by the situation, DFI brought an innovative design into the newly-released CS551, the "World's First 3.5" desktop SBC with auto heat-up". This breakthrough gives devices high performance with smaller footprint for image analysis or heavy workloads, no matter at subzero temperatures or under heat waves.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today presented two gaming systems of Intel Z590 platform with AORUS MODEL X and mini system AORUS MODEL S, which adopt the top-notch components and materials for extreme performance. Enhanced by the strict verification and leading technology, GIGABYTE provides the PC system of premium performance with optimized heat dissipation and acoustic control. The system maintains cool and quiet even under the overclocking, which balance the high performance and low temperature to keep the system acoustic under 40dB without throttling. Furthermore, the three-year warranty of full system offers reassuring and comprehensive service for users.

"When tackling the uplift of PC performance, multi-core, high frequency, and copious storage become a standard to the premium PC platform, as well as how to make the best components matrix to provide the optimized performance with reliability turns into more inevitable." indicated by Eddie Lin, Vice President of the GIGABYTE Channel Solutions. "The new AORUS system is well-tempered by multiple verification and tuning of GIGABYTE's R&D team, which provide a perfect match of cool, quiet, and powerful performance with optimized compatibility, Expandability, and three-year warranty of whole system.

MSI, the world's leading gaming motherboard brand, proudly announces the new flagship Intel Z590 MEG Series motherboards - the MEG Z590 ACE GOLD EDITION, MEG Z590 UNIFY, and MEG Z590 UNIFY-X. They're not only tailored for enthusiast gamers but also offered more possibilities to satisfy various desires - the luster of gold against endless darkness.

Gold symbolizes a unique attribute of pride and elites. The pure luster of gold, 24K presents utmost in color and luminosity. With craftsmanship and hours of dedication, the 24K gold and state-of-the-art technology have been harmonized into one. The MEG Z590 ACE GOLD EDITION boasts premium aesthetics with a brand new color scheme - the platinum color finish and genuine 24K-gold foil heatsink perfectly show off the concept of beauty.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices today, announces the latest B560MX-E PRO and B560MH-E PRO motherboards. Designed to support Intel's 10th/11th Generation Intel Core Processors and professional graphics cards, the new B560 series motherboards are highly versatile. Powered by Intel's B560 chipset, these two new motherboards are efficient and robust in any use case.

PCI-e 4.0 and PCIe M.2 4.0 & M.2 Cooling, among other cutting-edge technology, adds up to a great platform, tailor-made for business or even casual use. The two new motherboards support up to 128 GB of DDR4 memory across 4 DIMM with an overclocking capability of up to 4000+(OC)MHz. Backed by BIOSTAR's proprietary Digital PWM technology, the new B560MX-E PRO, and B560MH-E PRO motherboards are safe and long-lasting, capable of supporting the best hardware with ease. Both motherboards pack all the essentials in their rear I/O panel with almost identical layouts on a Micro-ATX form factor.

When governments need a hardware upgrade, they will usually take the route of exploring options with security in mind. However, if you happen to have some engineering talent to employ on a new project, why wouldn't you just build a custom motherboard for your own purposes. Today, GS Group Holding and Philax, have announced that they are starting the manufacturing of Russia's first motherboard based on a B450 chipset from AMD. Looking at the motherboard, which you can see below, you might find it very similar to those of ASRock. And that is because Philax has a licensing agreement with ASRock to use the design of the B450M Pro4 motherboard, with the addition of a TPM module which is often used by government agencies, to produce this board.

Producing around 40,000 pieces, these motherboards are expected to handle anything from 4000 series to 5000 series of AMD processors. As far as the specifications go, the board is coming in a standard Micro-ATX form factor. It is equipped with four DDR4 memory slots that can take a memory with up to 3200 MHz speed. There are two PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and one PCIe 2.0 x1 slot, which are of course limited by CPU choice. The motherboard enables four SATA III and two M.2 ports for storage expansion. When it comes to I/O, the board features HDMI, D-Sub, DVI-D, four USB 3.1 Gen1, two USB 2.0, one USB Type-C, and one USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A port. GS Group Holding and Philax also have a partnership that goes beyond just motherboards. They also plan to produce about 50,000 custom monitors for government purposes as well.

MSI, the world leading gaming motherboard brand, will release optimized BIOS updates for AMD 500-Series and 400-Series motherboards. From now on, the BIOS based on AM4 Combo PI V2 1.2.0.2 for all MSI 500 and 400 series motherboards will be available for download until the end of April. Please refer to the following.

• Optimized compatibility for AMD 500-Series and 400-Series motherboards
• Improved USB device compatibility

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices today, announces the latest B550MX/E PRO and B550MH/E PRO motherboards. Built on AMD's B550 single chip architecture, the latest B550 series motherboards are designed to support AMD Ryzen 3rd Gen (Matisse/Renoir) and 4th Gen (Vermeer) processors. Ideal for business and casual use, the new B550 series motherboards from BIOSTAR are packed with all the latest essentials for a long-lasting user experience.

Both new motherboards come with the capability to support up to 128 GB of DDR4 fast-paced memory with an overclocking capability of 4933+ OC. PCIe 4.0 and PCIe M.2 4.0 provide excellent connectivity for graphics and storage expansion for all occasions with BIOSTAR's proprietary Digital PWM technology providing safe stable power management across all components.

CPU-Z, the CPU monitoring tool used to gather information about the processor your system is running on, has been updated with version 1.96. This new update doesn't change the software much but rather brings support for new hardware. Starting from this revision, Intel's upcoming Alder Lake CPUs have received preliminary support in the tool. To go along with CPUs, the software is now also enabled to recognize Intel's Z6xx motherboards that pair with Alder Lake processors. Alongside that, the software now also brings support for next-generation DDR5 memory, which is supposed to feature speeds anywhere from 4800 to 8400 MT/s. When it comes to AMD, the tool received an update that enables it to read information about AMD's Ryzen 5700G, 5600G, and 5300G APUs, and Radeon RX 6900 XT, 6800 (& XT), 6700 XT GPUs.Download CPU-Z Version 1.96 Here.

At a media event in China, MSI unveiled a handful new products it hasn't yet launched globally. These include the ATX MEG Z590 Unify series, and the new Spatium line of high-end M.2 NVMe SSDs. The company already launched the MEG Z590I Unify Mini-ITX motherboard, which will soon be joined by the larger MEG Z590 Unify and the MEG Z590 Unify-X, in the standard ATX form-factor. Both these Unify motherboards are targeted at professional overclockers, and are armed with powerful 16+2 phase CPU VRM solutions that use 90 A DrMOS, 8-layer PCBs, a trio of PCIe Gen 4 M.2 slots (possibly using PCIe segmentation of the x16 PEG slot); and the company's latest Audio Boost 5 onboard audio solution.

What sets the MEG Z590 Unify apart from the Unify-X is that the latter features just two DDR4 DIMM slots, or one DIMM per memory channel. This is the most desirable topology for memory overclocking (and a reason why memory OC records are usually set on Mini-ITX motherboards). Next up, the company unveiled the Spatium series of high-end M.2 NVMe SSDs. Available with a number of heatsink (options?), these drives take advantage of PCI-Express 4.0 x4 host interface, and come in capacities of up to 4 TB. They use 3D TLC NAND flash, and offer sequential transfer rates of up to 7000 MB/s reads, with up to 6900 MB/s writes.

In the course of our Core i5-11400F "Rocket Lake" processor review, we discovered that the Gear 2 memory mode has the potential to offer higher performance than Gear 1. The Gear 1 mode runs the memory frequency and memory controller frequency in 1:1 sync, while the Gear 2 mode runs them at 1:2, meaning that the memory controllers run at half the memory frequency, allowing you additional memory overclocking headroom. At lower, more stable, memory frequencies, it should be logical to use Gear 1. Our testing springs some surprising results.

Overall, a stock Core i5-11400F paired with DDR4-3733 MHz memory, was found to be 1.5% faster with Gear 2, when averaged across all our CPU tests, compared to Gear 1 at the same 3733 MHz frequency. Gear 2 was 3.42% faster in Cinebench R23 multi-threaded, and a staggering 6% in MySQL. Across rendering and media workloads that scale across all cores, we find Gear 2 faster by 1-3%. It's only with less parallelized workloads such as gaming, where we see Gear 2 lag behind Gear 1, though not by much. In our i5-11400F review, we show that by running your processor in Gear 2, you're making your memory controllers pull less power, freeing up power budget for the CPU cores, translating into the nT performance gains we see here. We discovered that the uncore can pull anywhere between 5 to 10 W more power in Gear 1 mode. This is valuable power eating into the already constrained power-budget of this 65 W TDP chip.

Read the Intel Core i5-11400F TechPowerUp Review

The leading global motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, proudly announces the return of its OC Formula motherboard lineup with the overclocker-designed Z590 OC Formula built for Intel's 11th-generation desktop processors. For years, ASRock has set the standard for overclocking with its previous OC Formula motherboards and its engineers have learnt from world-renowned overclocker Nick Shih, diligently studying what they need to break world records and perform their best. "As Intel launches its Z590 chipset to power the 11th Gen Intel Core processors, ASRock once again is your partner in conquering the overclocking world with the Z590 OC Formula," said Chris Lee, general manager of ASRock motherboard business unit.

Back by popular demand from overclockers, the ASRock Z590 OC Formula is filled with overclocking-friendly specs such as SMD Type DIMM Slots, a 12-layer server-grade low loss PCB, and 16 power phase 90 A smart power stage technology. ASRock's SMD DIMM Slots help reduce signal loss, as well as improve RAM stability under high frequency so you can maximize your memory overclocking potential. The 12-layer server-grade PCB prevents PCB bending and improves signal integrity, giving higher performance as well as system stability. Smart power stage technologies are optimized for monitoring the current and temperature of each power phase which means the CPU gets a smooth supply of power resulting in enhanced overclocking performance and capability.

Colorful Technology Company Limited, a professional manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards, all-in-one gaming and multimedia solutions, and high-performance storage, presents the CVN Z590M GAMING PRO micro-ATX motherboard for the 11th generation Intel Core processors. The CVN Z590M GAMING PRO features larger heatsinks and M.2 heatsink armor for improved heat dissipation. The motherboard supports PCIe 4.0 technology, enabling the motherboard to support the latest PCIe Gen4 solid-state drives.

The CVN Z590M GAMING PRO also features Resizable BAR technology that allows the processor to access graphics card memory to boost overall performance. The motherboard is equipped with a 10+2 hybrid digital power phase design, capable of delivering stable overclocks for up to an Intel Core i9 processor. It also comes equipped with metal-reinforced PCIe slots to support heavy high-performance graphics cards. The rear I/O includes a high-speed USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C port. The motherboard also has an integrated rear I/O shield.

All of the MSI Z490 motherboards will be supporting PCIe 4.0 with the coming Intel 11th Gen Intel Processors. Through an update to the latest BIOS, MSI Z490 motherboards offer great bandwidth and performance for PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs and graphics cards.

To be PCIe 4.0 compatible, several components on the motherboards are necessary, including PCIe 4.0 ready clock generator, lane switch, redriver, PCIe slots, and M.2 connectors. Thanks to the complete PCIe 4.0 solutions, MSI Z490 motherboards provide the most stable design for PCIe 4.0 and unlock the full performance of PCIe 4.0 devices.

LIAN LI Industrial Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of aluminium chassis and PC accessories, hosts its second online event with the LIAN LI 2021 DIGITAL EXPO, which premiers February 18th, 9 am EST on YouTube (here). The 2021 DIGITAL EXPO unveils soon to be launched products, with new editions of the O11D MINI and UNI FANS, as well as exclusive looks at four prototypes. Each prototype will receive an in-depth look from case reviewers.

Q58: The Q58, a 14.3L SFF case, is equipped with split hinged panels made of tempered glass and aluminium mesh, and a dual-tone front solid aluminium panel. With support for MINI-ITX, 320 mm long GPUs, and up to 280 mm radiators, the Q58 is capable of supporting a variety of configurations with SFX PSUs or ATX PSUs due to an adjustable motherboard tray that can be moved for more clearance.

In a controversial move that baffles our technical understanding of how processor+chipset (platforms) work, Intel has decided to restrict the mid-tier B460 and entry-level H410 desktop motherboard chipsets from supporting 11th Gen Core "Rocket Lake-S" processors. A BIOS Updates Support page for Intel 400-series chipsets on the company website mentions "Motherboards based on Intel B460 or H410 chipsets are not compatible with upcoming 11th Gen Intel Core processors."

The company states that only the top Intel Z490 and next-best H470 chipsets support "Rocket Lake-S" from the 400-series, and such motherboards require a BIOS update from the motherboard manufacturer or pre-built OEM. We're having a hard time figuring out why the B460 or H410 have been excluded. With the H410, an argument can be made on insufficient CPU VRM capabilities of most motherboards; but the same can't be made for the B460, with several motherboard manufacturers having developed premium DIY motherboards with capable VRM solutions (eg: the ROG B460-F Gaming, or B460 AORUS Elite). Those looking to save some dough on mid-tier motherboards to use with "Rocket Lake" should now wait for Intel to launch the B560 chipset.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices today, announces the launch of their new H510 series motherboards designed to run the latest Intel 11th gen Rocket Lake-S processors. Introduced to the market in two Micro-ATX models, the H510MH/E 2.0 and the H510MX/E 2.0 motherboards are designed to be the best choice for business and casual use. Based on Intel's H510 single chip architecture, these motherboards are ready to unleash the true potential of the latest Intel 11th gen processors.

Equipped with all the essential features, the new H510 series comes from an immensely popular lineage of motherboards from BIOSTAR used all over the world in many offices that combine cutting edge technology with proven durability for smart business solutions. Designed to optimize any professional workflow, the H510 series motherboards bring the latest technology for users like PCIe 4.0 and WiFi 6 optimized to perfection with the protection and stability of BIOSTAR's proprietary Super Hyper PWM technology. Both motherboards support dual-channel DDR4 memory, optimized to run up to 64 GB and a maximum clock speed 2933 MHz.

Here's the first picture of the MSI MPG Z590 Gaming Force, an interesting new product from MSI slotted in its upper-mid tier MPG line of motherboards. This Socket LGA1200 motherboard based on the Intel Z590 chipset is characterized by a Hip Hop design language that's a break away from the company's other MPG Z590 motherboards, with a dash of neon-noir colors. A pair solid ridged heatsinks cool the board's 16-phase CPU VRM. Another set of three heatsinks cover its three M.2 NVMe slots, one of which is PCIe Gen 4 and wired to the LGA1200 socket, and the other two to the Z590 PCH.

Expansion slots on the MPG Z590 Gaming Force include two PCI-Express 4.0 x16 (x8/x8 with both populated), an x16 (electrical PCI-Express 3.0 x4) slot that's wired to the PCH, and a pair of x1 slots. The rest of the board's feature set appears to roughly match the MPG Z590 Gaming Carbon, including a 6-pin PCIe power input to supplement the two 8-pin EPS and 24-pin ATX power inputs, POST debug readout, a fairly premium onboard audio solution, and other connectivity that possibly includes 2.5 GbE.

The Z590 motherboard lineups for both MSI and ASUS have just released and... They are interesting, to say the least. MSI will have as many as 12 different motherboard solutions, with the top one, the über-high-end MEG Z590 GODLIKE, retailing for as much as €999 ($1019). The MEG GODLIKE has faced a deep redesign compared to its predecessor, and there are two new MEG products directly under it - the MEG Z590 ACE and MEG Z590 UNIFY which are priced in a slightly less outrageous way (€479 for the MEG ACE, €379 for the MEG UNIFY). The cheapest MSI option stands as the Z590-A PRO, as €189.

As for ASUS, well... Things are looking pricey as well throughout its 13 models. The company's flagship model Z590 ROG MAXIMUS XIII EXTREME GLACIAL will go for a cool, not-at-all-collected €1516 (but that pricing does include a custom liquid-cooling monoblock designed in collaboration with EK). Descend a couple of steps down the ASUS product line ladder and you'll find the ROG MAXIMUS XIII EXTREME (€960) and the ROG MAXIMUS XIII HERO/APEX motherboards for €505. The cheapest ASUS motherboard mimics MSI's pricing at €189; for those euros, you'll snag yourself a PRIME Z590M-PLUS motherboard (check ASUS' entire lineup after the break). Is it just me, or it's getting pricier to keep DIY desktop construction as a hobby?

In a move that's possibly triggered by the MSI MEG B550 Unify X, GIGABYTE unveiled a limited edition variant of its X570 AORUS Master motherboard targeting overclockers—the X570 AORUS Master OC. This board does away with much of its aesthetic cladding, sheds the rear I/O shroud, and exposes its bare PCB for the most part. A much simpler fan-heatsink cools the X570 chipset. The CPU VRM area is cooled by a pair of aluminium fin-stack heatsinks that are joined by what looks like a flattened heat-pipe.

Perhaps the biggest design change with the GIGABYTE X570 AORUS Master OC has to be its memory set-up. The board has just two DDR4 DIMM slots, or one DIMM per memory channel. From a memory overclocking standpoint, this is the most optimal memory topology, and the reason why memory overclocking records are usually set on Mini-ITX motherboards (that have 1DPC memory configuration). Elsewhere we see a pair of PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slots wired to the CPU (x8/x8 with both populated), a third PCI-Express 4.0 x16 (electrical Gen 4 x4, wired to the X570 chipset), and three M.2 NVMe slots, each with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 wiring.

Yesterday, we have reported that ASUS is officially increasing the prices of their graphics cards and motherboards, due to increased component and logistics costs. What the company meant by that was not exactly clear to everyone, as it looked like the company has adjusted to the current market prices exceeding the MSRP of components like graphics cards. The GPUs are today selling at much higher prices compared to the original MSRP and it is representing a real problem for consumers. Today, we get to see what is the underlying problem behind the announcement we saw yesterday and if we are going to see more of that in the close future.

According to the New York Times, the Chinese import tariff exemptions have expired with the arrival of a new year (2021) and we can expect the tariffs to start from 7.5%-25%, which will massively increase component costs. A Reddit user has noted that MSRP will increase about $80 for every major GPU manufacturer like ASUS, GIGABYTE, PNY, Zotac, etc. so we are expecting MSRP adjustment from other companies to follow just like ASUS did. The import tariff exemptions are also supposed to increase MSRPs of other PC components like motherboards, SSDs, PSUs, cases... everything without exemption. As a product of a trade war between China and the Trump administration, it remains a question will these tariffs get easier shortly, so consumers can afford their desired components.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today announced that all Z490 motherboards featuring PCIe 4.0 hardware design can support the 11th Gen. Intel Core processors perfectly by update to the latest F20 BIOS, and provide the extreme bandwidth and performance for PCIe 4.0 graphics cards and SSDs. With a snap update of the latest BIOS from GIGBAYTE's official site, users can enjoy the full pack of advantages and unlock the Resizable BAR function on GIGABYTE Z490 and H470 motherboards.

The latest 11th Gen. Intel Core processors will be launched on March 2021. The new processors keep the same architecture as the previous generation but they enable the PCIe 4.0 support, which meet a range of needs for users who expect broad bandwidth and super high transfer speed of PCIe 4.0 on the Intel platform. For those who own one of the current generation motherboards, it would be a great deal to enjoy the performance uplift on Z490 motherboards with PCIe 4.0 function and 11th Gen. Intel Core processors support.

MSI in a customer service response that's been machine translated and tweeted by harukaze5719, revealed that Intel's 11th Gen Core "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processors arrive "by the end of March." This is the first confirmation from someone in the know that "Rocket Lake-S" won't arrive before the very end of Q1-2021, and that one should realistically expect availability only from Q2.

The same CS response also confirms backwards compatibility of the processors with existing Socket LGA1200 motherboards based on the Intel 400-series chipset. It mentions that MSI will release UEFI firmware updates that enable "Rocket Lake-S" compatibility starting with boards based on the top Intel Z490 chipset, followed by other 400-series models. Intel is expected to unveil its 11th Gen Core "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processor and compatible 500-series chipset platform in mid-January, as part of a virtual event on the sidelines of the 2021 International CES (a virtual show).

Intel needs a platform refresh to battle the competition, mainly speaking to battle AMD and its Ryzen 5000 series processors. That is why the company is developing 500 series of chipsets covering the low-end (H510), mid-range (B560), and high-end markets (Z590) that pair with the upcoming Rocket Lake-S processor generation. Dubbed 11th generation of Core processors, the 11th generation of Intel Core CPUs are going to be built on Intel's refined 14 nm process. The CPUs are supposed to feature a Cypress Cove core, which is a backport of Golden Cove found in Ice Lake. The 500 series motherboards are the last in the DDR4 generation, launching in the timeframe when DDR5 is supposed to take over in the coming years.

Today, thanks to Weixin, a Chinese media outlet that posted a short story on the WeChat platform, we have information about the launch date of these new chipsets. According to the source, we are allegedly going to see these new chipsets on January 11th, the day that Intel CES 2021 event is supposed to happen. The platform will include a range of motherboards from Intel's partners and is supposed to bring support for the much-needed PCIe 4.0 protocol. The launch date should be taken with a grain of salt, of course, before taking it as a fact.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today announces the latest BIOS update on AMD X570、B550 and A520 motherboards for the features of AMD Smart Access Memory and Rage mode. These innovative features enabling a bandwidth boost when the CPU accesses the GPU memory on graphics cards, which enhances and unleashes the ultimate system performance. Now, users with an "AMD Yes" platform on GIGABYTE AMD 500 series motherboards with AMD Ryzen 5000 processors and Radeon RX 6000 series VGA cards, will be able to experience an extra gaming and performance boost.

Through the AMD Smart Access Memory and Rage mode, the CPU has access to the GPU memory. This access unlocks the limited bandwidth to full bandwidth when running 4K gaming. By accessing the GDDR6 GPU memory more rapidly on AMD 500 series motherboards paired with Ryzen 5000 series processors and Radeon RX 6000 series VGA cards, CPU's operating performance and gaming performance are both improved. Based on results of gaming tests with Smart Access Memory and Rage Mode enabled, the 1080P gaming improved by 17%, and a performance increase of 10% was unlocked on 2K and 4K resolutions.

ASRock announced a new partnership with Razer to develop the ASRock Taichi Razer Edition line of motherboards, the world's first motherboard that is natively integrated with Razer Chroma RGB lighting. Razer Chroma RGB is the world's largest lighting ecosystem for gaming devices which supports over 500 devices, 150 natively integrated games and over 15 million users worldwide. The integration with ASRock enables universal compatibility with thousands of addressable RGB (ARGB) components directly into the ecosystem.

"We've been so excited to make the ASRock Taichi Razer Edition debut. The sense of Razer sublimates it into a part of gamers' religion," said Chris Lee, general manager of ASRock motherboard business unit. "Razer knows well about elements gamers looking for and makes everything fall into place!"