The launch of Intel's "Arrow Lake-S" Core Ultra 200S series of desktop processors has been a bit of a disappointment for gamers, given a slight regression in the new generation's gaming performance. While excelling in productivity tasks, these CPUs are not seemingly the top choice for gamers. According to data from Mindfactory, one of Germany's largest retailers, Intel's Arrow Lake CPUs didn't account for even one Intel-powered CPU sale since the October 24 launch. This is a massive contradiction to US-based retailers like Amazon and Newegg, which sold out their Arrow Lake stock swiftly. However, the German retailer paints a different picture.

In terms of units sold, there were 730 AMD CPU units sold, while only 40 Intel. AMD accounted for 94.81% of that week's sales, with an average selling price of 267 Euros and Intel's average selling price of 388 Euros per unit. It is worth pointing out that this information is only based on one week of sales and should not be a general guide for Intel Arrow Lake sales in Germany. We are still left to see how many units will be sold in the coming weeks, especially with the upcoming holiday season. Below is the picture from TechEpiphany on X, showing all the sold units and their quantity.

Today, Fractal Design announced a new retailer partnership with Best Buy, one of the world's largest specialty computer and hardware retailers. Starting today, Best Buy customers will be able to find Fractal's award-winning PC cases online at BestBuy.com. This new retail expansion ensures gamers and enthusiasts have ready access to the Scandinavian design, user-centric innovation, and premium quality that Fractal infuses into each of its products.

"We're excited to expand the retail options available to customers throughout the US by making Fractal gaming products purchasable at BestBuy.com." said Keith Washo, Fractal Design Senior Director of Sales. "We believe that combining our highly acclaimed gaming hardware and equipment with Best Buy's first-rate ecommerce platform will ensure greater access to our best-selling products and a quality shopping experience for Fractal customers and new shoppers alike."

Vastarmor's Radeon RX 7900 XTX Super Alloy custom model was revealed a while back (four months ago according to VideoCardz)—for whatever reason, it has taken a long time for finalized units to reach retail outlets in China. A newly discovered JD.com listing reveals an interesting price point of 6799 RMB (~$940)—given the Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU's age at this point in time, Vastarmor has implemented quite a steep discount over the launch MSRP for Chinese markets (7999 RMB). The premium tier ARGB-appointed "Super Alloy" models sport substantial custom cooling solutions—clearly designed to temper higher boost clocks. VideoCardz has looked at the best Navi 31-based cards on the field: "(Vastarmor's latest) is actually among the fastest models on the market. Currently, the highest boost clock for RX 7900 XTX is 2680 MHz, and it can be found on models like ASRock Taichi, Aqua, PowerColor Liquid Devil, or Sapphire Nitro+."

The RX 7900 XTX Super Alloy is one of the largest high-end gaming graphics cards out there—it is a triple-slot, 330 mm x 134 mm x 69 mm design. Strangely, Vastarmor's reference specced RX 7900 XTX Starry Sky model also sports a similarly-proportioned cooling solution. ZOTAC's Prime Gamer Force (PGF) OC design remains triumphant in terms of stupendous dimensions—check out these digits: 381 mm (L) x 154 mm (W) x 74 mm (D)! ZOTAC PGF cards are Chinese market exclusives—much like Vastarmor's best offerings—only the most hardcore/deep-pocked enthusiasts outside of the PRC will be importing these vast gaming hardware delights.

EK, the renowned premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to unveil its latest accessory that promises to streamline the assembly process for enthusiasts and professionals alike: the EK-Loop Stainless Steel Gauge Card. Crafted from durable stainless steel and designed for simplicity, this handy tool is an essential accessory for anyone involved in water cooling. Its primary function serves to drastically simplify the search for the correct assembly parts, ensuring that users can effortlessly find compatible components. Multifunctional by design yet primarily aimed at enhancing the water cooling experience, the EK-Loop Gauge Card is the accessory you didn't know you needed—until now.

Preventing Assembly Errors Before They Happen
With the Gauge Card, measuring and matching bolt and nut sizes becomes effortless. It accurately determines the bolt size and length for any component, including nut size measurements for M2.5, M3, and M4 nuts. This guarantees compatibility and ease of assembly across a wide range of components. The card also allows for the identification of different screw diameters (M4, M3.5, M3, M2.5, M2) and screw dimensions effortlessly, making it more straightforward to select the right parts for your build. Screw length identification up to 30 mm further ensures precise fitting and optimal security of components, while the tool aids in avoiding the insertion of the wrong bolts in the wrong places - thus preventing potential damage to sensitive PCBs. Moreover, the EK-Loop Gauge Card aids in the determination of Allen key sizes (2, 2.5, 6, 8, 9), simplifying the search for the right tool for the job.

A Crucial "CT12G56C46S5" Non-ECC Small Outline Dual In-line Memory Module (SODIMM) is available to pre-order from Amazon UK—the 12 GB capacity product was spotted by everyone's favorite PC hardware sleuth;—momomo_us. March 31 appears to be the official shipping out date—current pricing is £44.99 ($57.50). Additionally, customers have the option to reserve a related 24 GB Kit (2x 12 GB) kit (CT2K12G56C46S5), priced at £87.99 (~$112.36). According to product descriptions, Crucial's upcoming laptop 5600 MHz RAM "can downclock if system specification only supports 5200 MHz or 4800 MHz."

"Non-binary modules" DDR5 modules hit retail last year—we have witnessed a slow trickle out of 24 GB and 48 GB capacity sticks, granting unusual memory configurations on compatible AMD and Intel platforms. The CT12G56C46S5 and CT2K12G56C46S5 are supported by "Core 13th Gen and Ryzen 6000 Series laptop CPUs and above." Crucial's latest DDR5 SODIMM could be the first 12 GB capacity model to reach retail, unless a rival manufacturer sneaks out an equivalent item prior to March 31.

The existence of Intel's upcoming Core i9-14900KS processor has been confirmed by a series of insider leaks and premature retail listings—an "alleged" example was photographed and appeared online right at the start of 2024. French e-tail listings produced evidence of two packages—a traditional retail box version, and a barebones tray option for OEM purposes. Earlier today, the I_Leak_VN social media account uploaded proof of a single "Special Edition" box sitting in an unnamed Vietnamese warehouse—it is not immediately clear whether units have reached retail facilities, or have just arrived on Southeast Asian shores. The embargo-busting post seemingly corroborates global insider information/whispers about distribution networks receiving stock—possibly in preparation for a rumored mid-March launch. VideoCardz believes that Vietnamese customers will be paying roughly $765 a pop—30% pricier than the current cost of 14th Gen Core flagship ownership.

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB reference model has reached UK shores, albeit very briefly and with a very low stock count—e-tailer AWD-IT Gaming PC (ADMI Ltd.) was the first shop in the region to offer XFX's Navi 31 XL partner card. Team Red's formerly Chinese market-exclusive Radeon RDNA 3 GPU has made its way West—as of late last year—but retail presence in Europe is less than inspiring. Circumstances could change—recent rumblings indicate that more custom options are incoming—GIGABYTE is readying a Gaming OC variant, possibly paving the way for a wider release through mainstream channels. PowerColor's Hellhound Radeon RX 7900 GRE OC model has also been spotted on European price comparison engines.

UK buyers were treated to an initial batch of a dozen (or fewer) XFX Radeon RX 7900 GRE Reference graphics card, at £659.99 (~$832) including VAT and free delivery. AWD-IT's listing is inactive at the time of writing, but the SKU remains as a searchable asset on their web store. It appears that curious UK hardware enthusiasts have snapped up the first round of Golden Rabbit Edition (GRE) curiosities, although the price point was nowhere near as attractive when lined up against past offerings within EU mainlands. For example, Italy's PSK Mega Store had reference stock priced at €542.66 (~$585) a piece, with a digital copy of AVATAR: Frontiers of Pandora bundled in. The XFX Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB SPEEDSTER MERC 310 model is currently discounted—£699.99 via Ebuyer UK—representing a very tempting higher-specced custom design prospect (going for only £40 more than the RX 7900 GRE) .

Box Limited, a popular PC and electronic retailer in the United Kingdom, has ceased doing business—this follows insider reports of Box Ltd. filing for administration last week. A few days ago, the company's web store was updated with a front page announcement that confirmed a total cessation of operations. The online store is still semi-functional (at the time of writing)—you can add items to your basket, but the checkout process automatically kicks you back to the site's main page. UK publication, eTeknix, had the inside track on Box's troubles—despite a very buoyant 2023: "Box Limited is one of the biggest PC and tech retailers in the UK, or at least… we thought they were. When Tactus bought them out last year for £100 million, it seemed like things were only on the up for Box, but according to our sources, things are looking pretty bleak for the UK retailer."

Last week's article elaborated further on problems behind-the-scenes: "Firstly, Box may be owned by Tactus, but are currently being sued by their new owner for £18 million because they had allegedly over-inflated their value before they were bought out. That's a big no-no in the business world, obviously, and while I cannot confirm if that is true or not, as that's a matter for the courts to decide, it's fairly safe to assume that it has some bearing on their more recent predicament...Sources close to us, whom we cannot disclose, have informed us that Box Limited has submitted an administration application. Further sources have indicated to distributors of various hardware that "box is end of life" and that their insurance companies are recommending they do not send products to Box Limited. No point sending hardware to them if they're going into administration, as you would just be throwing money away… not a good business move." The Tactus Group has a pretty large portfolio of UK retail presences, including: Chillblast, Horizon, Geo, and CCL Computers. The loss of Box.co.uk is certainly going to sting (following last year's £100 million investment) since their acquisition also covered several brick and mortar shops located in the UK Midlands.

A whole bunch of custom GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER and 4070 Ti SUPER graphics card models were available to purchase via online retail outlets last week—several ZOTAC options were available on Amazon USA for a brief period over the weekend. Enthusiastic customers have jumped at the chance to acquire potent Ada Lovelace SUPER cards ahead of NVIDIA's official review embargo and launch dates—TPU's resident GPU Judge has just published his first set of GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER evaluations. An early example was documented on the /NVIDIA community subreddit—user "LightMoisture" provided evidence of his PNY RTX 4070 Ti VERTO Triple Fan purchase arriving two days before the sanctioned release date (January 24).

It is not too surprising to see retailers ship out pre-ordered products a tad prematurely (given delivery lead times), but intriguing posts on social media have been highlighted by VideoCardz. A very fortunate soul has received an ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 4080 SUPER OC graphics card, well in advance of Team Green's preferred January 31 launch day. The plucky owner has asked around for functioning drivers (good luck)—LightMoisture also ran into this issue with his PNY RTX 4070 Ti VERTO. The next public GeForce Driver release (551.15) is due tomorrow, with (presumed) support for GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER GPUs. LightMoisture's evidence included screenshots of the aforementioned PNY card's crendentials being displayed in TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.57.0, and test results generated by Maxon's Cinebench 2024 suite.

Samsung seems to be preparing follow ups to its current selection of Portable T7 SSDs—the series debuted back in early 2020, so a couple of successors are more than due. Last week TechRadar started to pick up on various retail listings popping up in Australia, France and the Netherlands. This information was posted online prematurely and by mistake—the involved organizations have since removed entries from their web stores. Samsung's Dutch division has been slow to respond, and its portal for a "MU-PG2T0B" model is still active (at the time of writing). France's Grosbill and P12.fr had listings for two T9 variants (1 TB and 2 TB configurations) sporting the aforementioned product code. Similar details appeared over in Australia, courtesy of the Microboss site. One of the French e-tailer spec sheets mentioned that Samsung's T9 SSD read and write speeds maxed out at 2 GB/s.

TechRadar believes that Samsung will be blowing out current T7 models during November's Black Friday sales week, in anticipation of clearing the way for all things T9. The publication managed to catch some (likely) placeholder prices from its sources, prior to removal: "There's also every chance it could be cheaper at launch than the T7, with PC12.fr retailing the T9 SSD for €236.52 including VAT (roughly $250) and Gosbill Pro retailing the device for just €199 (roughly $215) - though it's unclear if this is inclusive of taxes." There is also speculation regarding the integration of Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, since the older T7 generation relies on the preceding standard.

Intel 14th Gen Core CPU series leaks continue to emerge this week—MSI let slip an NDA slide during a livestream a few days ago, and now a retail outlet in the Ukraine has listed six Raptor Lake-S Refresh SKUs on its online store, as spotted by the ever watchful momomo_us. The placeholder product pages that have popped up on Telemart seemingly provide us with yet another look at SKU names, basic specifications, cache sizes, as well as maximum clock speeds. These appear to reaffirm information gleaned from previous leaks regarding 14th generation K and KF models.

Intel's Innovation 2023 event is set to take place on September 19 to 20—where Team Blue is expected to make a big presentation on Raptor Lake Refresh processor ranges (as well as Meteor Lake), so it is somewhat surprising to see retail listings appear well in advance of next month's official announcements, and the anticipated 14th Gen Core K-series product launch in October.

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 8 GB GPU debuted in late May, with an official MSRP of $269 for North America, and €299 for European territories. The lower than expected entry price point for US customers came as a surprise to some media outlets—launch MSRP was expected to be closer to $299, but Team Red allegedly made some last minute adjustments. Board partners often charge more for their custom designs—with beefier heatsinks, extra cooling fans and RGB lighting zones adding to costs. Acer seems to be taking quite a bold approach with their Southern European pricing strategy for two new Radeon RX 7600 Predator BiFrost models.

Potential customers in the States seem to be getting a slightly better deal—the Predator BiFrost Radeon RX 7600 8 GB card is reported to retail for roughly $274 while its overclocked sibling could cost around $290. Acer Spain has stated in official press material that their Radeon RX 7600 Predator BiFrost series will start at €399 (~$448), and confirmed to local tech site El Chapuzas Informatico that this higher than expected figure was not a typo. Retailers in the region have had a difficult time shifting units, and implemented price cuts shortly post launch time—the current cheapest custom RX 7600 card on the market is going for €259. It will be interesting to see whether the rest of Europe will be treated to the €399 starter prices for Acer's debut foray into Radeon graphics technology.

NVIDIA is reported to be taking a hands off approach prior to the launch of its GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB GPU next week—rumored to take place on July 18. Murmurs from last week posited that add-in card (AIC) partners were not all that confident in the variant's prospects, with very little promotional activity lined up. NVIDIA itself is not releasing a Founders Edition GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB model, so it will be relying on board partners to get custom design units sent out to press outlets/reviewers. According to Hardware Unboxed, as posted on Twitter earlier today, no hardware will be distributed to the media: "Now there's no official review program for this model, there will be no FE version and it seems that NVIDIA and their partners really don't want to know about it. Every NVIDIA partner I've spoken to so far has said they won't be providing review samples, and they're not even sure when their model will be available."

Their announcement continued: "So I don't know when you'll be able to view our review, but I will be buying one as soon as I can. I expect coverage will be pretty thin and that's probably the plan, the release strategy here is similar to that of the RTX 3080 12 GB." TPU can confirm that test samples have not been sent out by NVIDIA's board partners, so a retail unit will be purchased (out of pocket) for reviewing purposes. Previous reports have theorized that not many custom models will be available at launch, with the series MSRP of $499 not doing it many favors in terms of buyer interest. MSI has prepared a new white GAMING X design for the 16 GB variant, so it is good to see at least one example of an AIB putting the effort in...but it would be nice to get a press sample.

EK, the renowned premium liquid cooling solutions manufacturer, introduces a brand-new high-performance CPU water block explicitly made for Intel LGA 1700 socket-based CPUs. This CPU block features a high-flow cooling engine and a dense microfin design that allows ample cooling even for the overclocked Intel Core i9-13900K processor.

EK-Pro CPU WB 1700 - Nickel + Inox
This is a dedicated enterprise-grade water block developed for Intel Core consumer processors based on the LGA 1700 socket. It features two standard G1/4" threaded ports on the top and is built with performance, reliability, serviceability, and no compromises in mind. This liquid cooling solution is intended for desktop PCs, workstations, and taller server racks. The water block's top is CNC-machined from durable black POM Acetal, while the hold-down bracket is made of laser-cut stainless steel.

Galaxus, a German e-commerce store had a custom NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card available for purchase yesterday—VideoCardz picked up on this embargo busting listing yesterday evening, but the product page has been removed overnight. Fortunately a screenshot of the Palit Dual's premature retail appearance was kept for preservation purposes. The official launch of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 (non-Ti) GPUs is scheduled for June 29, and European MSRP is set at €329 ($359). Galaxus had the custom Palit card priced at €339, so a €10 upcharge could be warranted if the included cooling solution is more robust than NVIDIA's reference design, or the extra expense covers the cost of more RGB lighting zones.

Palit revealed its RTX 4060 Dual and StormX series last month, with both variants being factory overclocked (OC). The (now redacted) Galaxus product page seemed to show a not yet announced Dual (non-OC) model, and a product code "NE64060019P1-1070D." Palit's press release from late May mentions that users can customize the Dual's cooler to some degree: "In light of the positive feedback from GamingPro Maker project, now the support is also enabled on the Palit GeForce RTX 40 Dual Series. Users can download the 3D files of the Dual cover and backplate from Palit website to paint or create add-on elements on it, and simply attach the 3D-printed cover to the shroud." It that unique selling point interesting enough to get prospective budget graphics card buyers to consider Palit's latest offering?

Intel has informed customers that it is adjusting the retail packaging for two 13th Generation Raptor Lake processors—the Core i9-13900K and Core i9-13900KS are popular choices for extreme gamers who demand the best from their CPUs, but did the presence of a premium protective shell also attract certain buyers who enjoy displaying silicon-related mantelpieces? Team Blue will be introducing a more sober looking boxed solution for the aforementioned SKUs - effective in universal and Chinese markets. Intel reasons that it wants to save on the volumetric storage of processors during the shipment process—the smaller box designs will result in a unit increase per pallet. By their estimation this redesign could quadruple the number of boxes in each shipping package - from the previous 324 to a new goal of around 1620.

The Core i9-13900K and Core i9-13900KS were shipped (until recently) in "Tier 4" boxes, but Intel's new cost and space saving drive has the two processors destined to sit in their "Tier 2" retail package which appears to be a standard folding paperboard carton (as seen containing Core i7 and lower end SKUs). The announcement included a set of preview renders, but actual boxed dimensions were not shared in the Product Change Notification (PCN) document. The new packaging regime looks smaller when compared to the older combination of a "premium silver tinted plastic wafer package" plus box sleeve. Team Blue will ultimately shave off a few bucks for themselves in the process, but there is no indication that these savings will be passed onto the end user. Tom's Hardware reckons that a late adjustment to retail packaging could foreshadow the arrival of a successor CPU range—Raptor Lake Refresh is speculated to form the next desktop lineup, since the future of Meteor Lake-S is alleged to be in a precarious state.

AMD's cheapest Zen 4 X3D processor is shaping up to be its most popular. Sales numbers from Germany's Mindfactory posted by TechEpiphany seemingly shows the recently launched Ryzen 7 7800X3D outselling last year's Ryzen 7 5800X3D nearly 2:1, with 4,720 7800X3Ds selling to the 5800X3D's 2,510 over a few week period. While these figures show sales for only a single region, evidence for this momentum is reflected in other regional retailers as well as some global outlets. On Amazon, for example, the 7800X3D has made a frequent appearance on the top 10 best selling CPUs list, with the rest of the Zen 4 lineup trailing well behind. Newegg reports the 7800X3D to be among the top 5 best selling CPUs on the site at time of writing. Microcenter also shows the 7800X3D and 5800X3D side-by-side in seventh and eighth places respectively for popularity.

Despite recent troubles with the AM5 platform and Zen 4 X3D processors, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is proving to be quite a success for AMD. The 7800X3D in our review was shown to be one of the most efficient processors we've ever tested, and offered gaming performance at or near the top of the charts across the gauntlet of games and resolutions thrown at it. The staggered release of the 7000X3D lineup, with the 7950X3D and 7900X3D launching first and the 7800X3D launching later, gave early signals that AMD knew what they had and wanted to push as many early adopters away from the better value chip as they could. Pricing for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D has been steady since it released, however we've already seen retailers offering discounts on the Ryzen 9 7950X3D and Ryzen 9 7900X3D, as they presumably struggle to sell as well as the more aggressively positioned 7800X3D.

Listings for two custom AMD Radeon RX 7600 GPUs have appeared on PC Canada's webstore, according to VideoCardz - who were notified by keen-eyed locals from the Great White North. The online electronics seller has likely created these page entries by mistake - the information on hand is not exactly refined, indicating that the temporary text has come straight from hardware distributors - Althon Micro is Sapphire's chosen distribution and support partner for North American territories.

The prematurely published pages show that the Sapphire Pulse and MSI Mech 2X Classic models are both overclocked and specced with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. The custom graphics cards are not ready to purchase, as expected, with an indication of zero units being in-stock. At the time of writing, PC Canada has the Sapphire RX 7600 PULSE OC listed at $335.80 (451.99 CAD), and the MSI Mech 2X RX 7600 at $329.85 (443.99 CAD). These prices are subject to change, given that the information presented seems to have originated from placeholder sources.

US retailer Best Buy inadvertently revealed NVIDIA's next big GeForce game bundle. Team Green is planning to give away the hotly anticipated action RPG "Diablo IV." The "Rise Against Evil" bundle will see select models of NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards include coupons to the game. At this point we don't know which specific graphics card models are eligible for the $70 game, but that it will be limited to participating retailers, and in select regions.

More leaks are emerging from Russia regarding NVIDIA's not-yet-officially-confirmed RTX 4060 Ti GPU family - two days ago Marvel Distribution (RU) released details of four upcoming Palit custom design cards, again confirming the standard RTX 4060 Ti GPU configuration of 8 GB VRAM (plus 128-bit memory bus). Earlier today hardware tipster momomo_us managed to track down some more pre-launch time info (rumors point to late May), courtesy of another Russian e-retailer (extremecomp.ru). The four Palit Dual and StormX custom cards from the previous leak are spotted again, but this new listing provides a few extra details.

Palit's four card offerings share the same basic specification of 18 GB/s GDDR6 memory, pointing to a maximum theoretical bandwidth of up to 288 GB/s - derived from the GPU's confirmed 8 GB 128-bit memory interface. The standard Dual variant appears to have a stock clock speed of 2310 MHz, the StormX and StormX OC models are faster at 2535 MHz and 2670 MHz (respectively), and the Dual OC is the group leader with 2685 MHz. The TPU database's (speculative) entry for the reference NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GPU has the base clock listed as 2310 MHz, and the boost clock at 2535 MHz - so the former aligns with the Palit Dual model's normal mode of operation (its boost clock number is unknown), and the latter lines up with the standard StormX variant's (presumed) boost mode. Therefore the leaked information likely shows only the boosted clock speeds for Palit's StormX, StormX OC and Dual OC cards.

Two years and a half into its storied career, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU has finally dropped below MSRP in one European territory. German customers will be stoked to jump on e-tailer CaseKing's new offer - ZOTAC's Gaming GeForce RTX 3070 Twin Edge LHR graphics card is currently available for 449 EUR (not counting additional fees), so a saving of 50 Euros from the recommended retail price (499 EUR/$499). 3DCenter seems to be the first hardware news outlet to report on an RTX 3070 GPU dropping under RRP. The RTX 3070 and 3060 Ti models have been best sellers for NVIDIA (and board partners) since late 2020, yet buyers have long complained about unreasonable asking prices, and semi-generous discounts have been very late in arriving - just in time for the succeeding model.

3DCenter has created an overview of the graphics card market in Germany and Austria, and its findings for May 2023 indicate a trend where: "GPU prices in Euros have consistently dropped by ~10% since the end of January, in single cases up to 20%." The overview places the RTX 3070 8 GB in a price bracket position between AMD's Radeon RX 6750XT 12 GB and RX 6800 16 GB (non-XT) SKUs, which brings recent marketing strategies to mind - Team Red thinks that their cards offer the buyer more VRAM for their money when cross examined with the competition.

NTT-X, a retailer in Japan is advertising a strange promotion to its moneyed customers - a free Intel Arc A750 Limited Edition GPU with every purchase of an ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB OC Edition graphics card. You would normally expect a couple of extra digital download codes for video games as some sort of bonus incentive, but NTT-X has chosen a non-traditional approach to getting fancy silicon into clients' hands. The shop is selling the high-end ASUS card for just over $2300 (converted from the value in Japanese Yen), and mid-range Intel board will set you back roughly $350 (when sold separately). It seems that PC hardware prices in Japan tend to be higher when compared to USA market trends.

It is not really clear if this particular hardware outlet is experiencing slow sales for top-end RTX GeForce 40 series cards simply because of high asking prices, or it is having difficulty in shifting the Alchemist card due to wavering hardware buyer perception. Super enthusiasts with plenty of cash to spare on cutting edge tech will tend to purchase the best stuff available - perhaps NTT-X are offering their target audience a chance to construct a secondary or tertiary computer. These additional PCs could host the promotional Intel Arc A750 graphics card, with the retailer gaining further sales via customers buying more components for another build, be it for a compact computer or home theater/media center PC.

With everyone busy enjoying the announcements of new shiny toys at CES, Intel has taken the opportunity to jack up the prices on its older 12th Gen Core processors by around 10 percent. This wasn't entirely unexpected though, as Intel announced back in June of last year that it was going to increase the MSRP of its 12th Gen Core processors. The price increase affects different SKUs wildly differently, as the Core i9-12900K for example, is seeing a US$59 price increase and its new MSRP is now US$648, which is more than the Core i9-13900K which has an MSRP of US$589. On the other hand, the Core i3-12100 only gets a $12 price increase, which puts its new MSRP at US$134, which places it in the same price bracket as the Core i3-13100.

This is a very unusual move by Intel and it affects all of its 12th Gen Core desktop processors and possibly some other SKUs as well. Considering the 13th Gen Core parts are either priced cheaper or fall in the same price bracket, it's hard to see how Intel is going to see any sales of its older 12th Gen Core processors, especially as the two share the same socket. It's highly unlikely that this move will affect its shareholders in a positive way either, as Intel is likely to see lower sales with this price increase of its previous generation of processors, which in turn will result in even lower revenue. That said, it's unclear if this will affect retail pricing or not, as it's possible that many stores won't replenish their stock of 12th Gen Core CPUs once their current stock sells out.

The flagship Core i9-13900K/KF "Raptor Lake" processor could come with a maximum boost frequency as high as 5.80 GHz, according to early store listings by a Canadian retailer that mentions the processor's retail SKU. This would be the highest possible clock speed sustained by the "Raptor Cove" P-cores of the processor, with its best available boosting algorithm (Intel processors tend to have many). The listing also reveals the maximum boost frequency of the Core i7-13700K/KF to be 5.40 GHz. Intel typically gives its unlocked Core i7 SKUs one less boosting algorithm than the Core i9, besides lower frequencies. The fastest mid-range part from the series, the Core i5-13600K, ticks at speeds of up to 5.10 GHz.

The listings see the Core i9-13900K go for CAD $941 (USD $727), the i9-13900KF at CAD $901 (USD $696), the Core i7-13700K at CAD $663 (USD $512), the i7-13700KF at CAD $626 (USD $484); the mid-range Core i5-13600K at CAD $461 ($356), and the i5-13600KF at CAD $424 (USD $327). These prices may seem high as they're pre-launch listings, and hardware in Canada tends to be slightly pricier than in the States. Going by launch prices of the 12th Gen Alder Lake, Intel seems to be raising the launch prices of "Raptor Lake" by a single-digit percentage.

PC Canada has drawn first blood in registering pricing for AMD's upcoming Ryzen 7000 series, the successor to the successful 5000 series. As spotted by renowned leaker momomo_us and shared on Twitter, the specialist retailer based in Canada listed pricing for the Ryzen 7 7600X, 7700X, 7900X and 7950X CPUs. The pricing, if representative, shows an average increase that averages to 10%-12% across SKUs when compared to the previous generation Ryzen. The prices could be placeholders based on the retailers' own expectations, so this information should be taken with a grain of salt (or two).

After conversion from CAD to US dollars, pricing settles at $340 for the Ryzen 7 7600X ($299 for the 5600X at launch, for a 13% premium); $494 for the Ryzen 7 7700X (against the later-released, $299 Ryzen 7 5700X for a 65% premium); $625 for the Ryzen 9 7900X ($549 for the launch Ryzen 9 5900X, for a 13% increase) and finally, the Ryzen 9 7950X for $906 (against the Ryzen 9 5950X's $799 asking price, for another 13% premium).