Monday, May 13th 2024

Today's Reviews

Cases
CPU Coolers
Headphones
Keyboards
Memory
Monitors
Mouse
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Other
SSD
Homeworld 3 Performance Benchmark Review - 35 GPUs Tested

Homeworld 3 Performance Benchmark Review - 35 GPUs Tested

Homeworld 3 is the latest installment in the epic space RTS series. Thanks to Unreal Engine, you get upgraded visuals and combat in real three-dimensional environments. In our performance review, we're taking a closer look at image quality, VRAM usage, and performance on a wide selection of modern graphics cards.

ChatGPT Comes to Desktop with OpenAI's Latest GPT-4o Model That Talks With Users

At OpenAI's spring update, a lot of eyes were fixed on the company, which spurred the AI boom with the ChatGPT application. Now being almost a must-have app for consumers and prosumers alike, ChatGPT is a de-facto application for the latest AI innovation, backed by researchers and scientists from OpenAI. Today, OpenAI announced a new model called GPT-4o (Omni), which hopes to bring advanced intelligence, improved overall capabilities, and real-time voice interaction with users. Now, the ChatGPT application wants to become like a personal assistant that actively communicates with users and provides much broader capabilities. OpenAI claims that it can respond to audio inputs as quickly as 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds, similar to human response time in conversations.

However, OpenAI states that it wants ChatGPT's latest GPT-4o model to be available to the free, Plus, and Team paid subscribers, where paid subscribers get 5x higher usage and early access to the model. Interestingly, the GPT-4o model is much improved across a variety of standard benchmarks like MMLU, Math, HumanEval, GPQA, and others, where it now surpasses almost all models except Claude 3 Opus in MGSM. It now understands more than 50 languages and can do real time translation. In addition to the new model, OpenAI announced that they are launching a desktop ChatGPT app, which can act as a personal assistant and see what is happening on the screen, but it is only allowed by user command. This is supposed to bring a much more refined user experience and enable users to use AI as a third person to help understand the screen's content. Initially only available on macOS, we are waiting for OpenAI to launch the Windows ChatGPT application so everyone can also experience the new technology.

TOP500: Frontier Keeps Top Spot, Aurora Officially Becomes the Second Exascale Machine

The 63rd edition of the TOP500 reveals that Frontier has once again claimed the top spot, despite no longer being the only exascale machine on the list. Additionally, a new system has found its way into the Top 10.

The Frontier system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, USA remains the most powerful system on the list with an HPL score of 1.206 EFlop/s. The system has a total of 8,699,904 combined CPU and GPU cores, an HPE Cray EX architecture that combines 3rd Gen AMD EPYC CPUs optimized for HPC and AI with AMD Instinct MI250X accelerators, and it relies on Cray's Slingshot 11 network for data transfer. On top of that, this machine has an impressive power efficiency rating of 52.93 GFlops/Watt - putting Frontier at the No. 13 spot on the GREEN500.

NEO Semiconductor Reveals a Performance Boosting Floating Body Cell Mechanism for 3D X-DRAM during IEEE IMW 2024 in Seoul

NEO Semiconductor, a leading developer of innovative technologies for 3D NAND flash and DRAM memory, today announced a performance boosting Floating Body Cell Mechanism for 3D X-DRAM. Andy Hsu, Founder & CEO presented groundbreaking Technology CAD (TCAD) simulation results for NEO's 3D X-DRAM during the 16th IEEE International Memory Workshop (IMW) 2024 in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Neo Semiconductor reveals a unique performance boosting mechanism called Back-gate Channel-depth Modulation (BCM) for Floating Body Cell that can increase data retention by 40,000X and sensing window by 20X.

Kingston Launches New Workflow Bundles to Better Meet Creator Needs

Kingston Digital, Inc., the flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced the reintroduction of the Workflow Dock and its accompanying Readers. The Workflow series now features more hub options separate from the dock, offering even more flexibility. This update caters to the diverse needs of content creators by supporting a broader range of content transfers.

The Workflow series is designed to streamline transferring video, photo, and audio from multiple sources simultaneously. This enables creators to streamline their post production process and establish a file offload system tailored to their requirements with ease. These hubs and card readers facilitate simultaneous file transfers to a Mac or PC at USB 3.2 speeds and can function independently as standalone devices when needed.

Kevin O'Buckley to Lead Foundry Services at Intel

Intel Corporation today announced the appointment of Kevin O'Buckley as senior vice president and general manager of Foundry Services, the customer service and ecosystem operations division of Intel Foundry. O'Buckley starts today and becomes a member of Intel's executive leadership team reporting to CEO Pat Gelsinger. He succeeds Stuart Pann, who will retire from Intel after 35 years of service at the end of May and remain an adviser to support a seamless transition.

"Kevin brings a unique blend of expertise from across the semiconductor industry, having served as a senior leader and technologist in both foundry and fabless companies," said Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. "As we continue building the world's first systems foundry for the AI era, Kevin will play a critical role in helping customers achieve their goals by leveraging Intel Foundry's unique ability to deliver process and packaging technology through a resilient and sustainable supply chain."

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Intel-powered Aurora Supercomputer Ranks Fastest for AI

At ISC High Performance 2024, Intel announced in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) that the Aurora supercomputer has broken the exascale barrier at 1.012 exaflops and is the fastest AI system in the world dedicated to AI for open science, achieving 10.6 AI exaflops. Intel will also detail the crucial role of open ecosystems in driving AI-accelerated high performancehigh -performance computing (HPC). "The Aurora supercomputer surpassing exascale will allow it to pave the road to tomorrow's discoveries. From understanding climate patterns to unraveling the mysteries of the universe, supercomputers serve as a compass guiding us toward solving truly difficult scientific challenges that may improve humanity," said Ogi Brkic, Intel vice president and general manager of Data Center AI Solutions.

Designed as an AI-centric system from its inception, Aurora will allow researchers to harness generative AI models to accelerate scientific discovery. Significant progress has been made in Argonne's early AI-driven research. Success stories include mapping the human brain's 80 billion neurons, high-energy particle physics enhanced by deep learning, and drug design and discovery accelerated by machine learning, among others. The Aurora supercomputer is an expansive system with 166 racks, 10,624 compute blades, 21,248 Intel Xeon CPU Max Series processors, and 63,744 Intel Data Center GPU Max Series units, making it one of the world's largest GPU clusters.

Cities: Skylines II Patch 1.1.2f1 Adds DLSS Super Resolution, Bug Fixes, and More

Hi everyone. As patch 1.1.2f1 is rolling out on Steam and Microsoft Store, let's have a look at what it includes and what you can expect next. This patch removes the entitlement from all the Beach Properties assets, so they are now a part of the base game and available to everyone. Saves and custom maps using the assets should work without any extra steps, but as always, don't hesitate to make a bug report on the forum if you have any issues. Additionally, we have improvements to performance, support for Nvidia DLSS Super Resolution, and a long list of bug fixes for both the game and the Editor. You can find the full list below.

With this patch in your hands, we've started working towards the next one. It will take about a month as, along with bug fixes and improvements, this patch will include a large re-work of the Economy to address much of the feedback you have shared with us in the past months. We'll share more details on what has changed when the patch is ready. As modding is an important part of any Colossal Order game, one of our top priorities right now is to resolve the remaining issues with the asset import pipeline, so you can start to import and share your custom assets on Paradox Mods. This is proving more difficult than we hoped, so we don't have an exact timeline at this time at this point, but it will likely take several more months. Thank you for all the bug reports, feedback, and support. We really appreciate it as it helps us understand and improve your experience with Cities: Skylines II.

AMD RDNA 5 a "Clean Sheet" Graphics Architecture, RDNA 4 Merely Corrects a Bug Over RDNA 3

AMD's future RDNA 5 graphics architecture will bear a "clean sheet" design, and may probably not even have the RDNA branding, says WJM47196, a source of AMD leaks on ChipHell. Two generations ahead of the current RDNA 3 architecture powering the Radeon RX 7000 series discrete GPUs, RDNA 5 could see AMD reimagine the GPU and its key components, much in the same way RDNA did over the former "Vega" architecture, bringing in a significant performance/watt jump, which AMD could build upon with its successful RDNA 2 powered Radeon RX 6000 series.

Performance per Watt is the biggest metric on which a generation of GPUs can be assessed, and analysts believe that RDNA 3 missed the mark with generational gains in performance/watt despite the switch to the advanced 5 nm EUV process from the 7 nm DUV. AMD's decision to disaggregate the GPU, with some of its components being built on the older 6 nm node may have also impacted the performance/watt curve. The leaker also makes a sensational claim that "Navi 31" was originally supposed to feature 192 MB of Infinity Cache, which would have meant 32 MB segments of it per memory cache die (MCD). The company instead went with 16 MB per MCD, or just 96 MB per GPU, which only get reduced as AMD segmented the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 GRE by disabling one or two MCDs.

MSI Highlights Optimized AI Platforms to Accelerate Compute-Intensive Applications at ISC 2024

MSI, a leading global server provider, brings its latest server platforms powered by AMD processors and 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, optimized for HPC and AI markets at ISC 2024, booth #F39 in Hamburg, Germany from May 13-15. "As businesses increasingly adopt AI applications to improve customer experiences, the need for greater computing power and denser deployments has spurred significant shifts in IT infrastructure, driving a widespread adoption of liquid cooling," said Danny Hsu, General Manager of Enterprise Platform Solutions. "MSI's AI server platforms empower businesses to achieve efficiency gains while handling more compute-intensive workloads."

MSI G4201 is a 4U supercomputer designed for exceptional performance in compute-intensive tasks. It features up to eight double-wide PCIe 5.0 x16 slots optimized for high-performance GPU cards, alongside one single-wide PCIe 5.0 x16 expansion slot. Each GPU has a full PCIe 4.0 or 5.0 x16 link directly to the root port complex of a CPU socket without going through a PCIe switch, granting maximum CPU-to-GPU bandwidth. Powered by dual 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors and equipped with 32 DDR5 DIMMs, the G4201 platform delivers outstanding heterogeneous computing capabilities for various GPU-based scientific high-performance computing, Generative AI, and inference applications. Additionally, the system includes twelve 3.5-inch drive bays for enhanced functionality.

NVIDIA Blackwell Platform Pushes the Boundaries of Scientific Computing

Quantum computing. Drug discovery. Fusion energy. Scientific computing and physics-based simulations are poised to make giant steps across domains that benefit humanity as advances in accelerated computing and AI drive the world's next big breakthroughs. NVIDIA unveiled at GTC in March the NVIDIA Blackwell platform, which promises generative AI on trillion-parameter large language models (LLMs) at up to 25x less cost and energy consumption than the NVIDIA Hopper architecture.

Blackwell has powerful implications for AI workloads, and its technology capabilities can also help to deliver discoveries across all types of scientific computing applications, including traditional numerical simulation. By reducing energy costs, accelerated computing and AI drive sustainable computing. Many scientific computing applications already benefit. Weather can be simulated at 200x lower cost and with 300x less energy, while digital twin simulations have 65x lower cost and 58x less energy consumption versus traditional CPU-based systems and others.

QNAP Strengthens Product Security through Collaboration with Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI)

QNAP Systems, Inc. is committed to enhancing the security of its products by engaging in international collaborations. Recently, the company participated in the Pwn2Own Toronto 2023 competition organized by Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), resulting in valuable experiences and achievements. QNAP will continue to deepen its cooperation with international cybersecurity organizations to continuously improve product security, ensuring the best protection for users' data.

Pwn2Own is a global cybersecurity competition organized by ZDI aimed at challenging security vulnerabilities in various software and hardware. Participants utilize various techniques, including exploit and zero-day attacks, to breach target systems. This competition not only provides a platform for security experts to showcase their skills but also enables vendors to understand and address security vulnerabilities in their products, benefiting users worldwide.

NVIDIA Grace Hopper Ignites New Era of AI Supercomputing

Driving a fundamental shift in the high-performance computing industry toward AI-powered systems, NVIDIA today announced nine new supercomputers worldwide are using NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchips to speed scientific research and discovery. Combined, the systems deliver 200 exaflops, or 200 quintillion calculations per second, of energy-efficient AI processing power.

New Grace Hopper-based supercomputers coming online include EXA1-HE, in France, from CEA and Eviden; Helios at Academic Computer Centre Cyfronet, in Poland, from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE); Alps at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre, from HPE; JUPITER at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, in Germany; DeltaAI at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; and Miyabi at Japan's Joint Center for Advanced High Performance Computing - established between the Center for Computational Sciences at the University of Tsukuba and the Information Technology Center at the University of Tokyo.

NVIDIA Accelerates Quantum Computing Centers Worldwide With CUDA-Q Platform

NVIDIA today announced that it will accelerate quantum computing efforts at national supercomputing centers around the world with the open-source NVIDIA CUDA-Q platform. Supercomputing sites in Germany, Japan and Poland will use the platform to power the quantum processing units (QPUs) inside their NVIDIA-accelerated high-performance computing systems.

QPUs are the brains of quantum computers that use the behavior of particles like electrons or photons to calculate differently than traditional processors, with the potential to make certain types of calculations faster. Germany's Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) at Forschungszentrum Jülich is installing a QPU built by IQM Quantum Computers as a complement to its JUPITER supercomputer, supercharged by the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip. The ABCI-Q supercomputer, located at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan, is designed to advance the nation's quantum computing initiative. Powered by the NVIDIA Hopper architecture, the system will add a QPU from QuEra. Poland's Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC) has recently installed two photonic QPUs, built by ORCA Computing, connected to a new supercomputer partition accelerated by NVIDIA Hopper.

Apple Inches Closer to a Deal with OpenAI to Bring ChatGPT Technology to iPhone

To bring cutting-edge artificial intelligence capabilities to its flagship product, Apple is said to be finalizing a deal with OpenAI to integrate the ChatGPT technology into the upcoming iOS 18 for iPhones. According to Bloomberg, multiple sources report that after months of negotiations, the two tech giants are putting the finishing touches on a partnership that would be an important moment for consumer AI. However, OpenAI may not be Apple's only AI ally. The company has also reportedly been in talks with Google over licensing the Gemini chatbot, though no known agreement has been reached yet. The rare team-up between the fiercely competitive firms underscores the intense focus on AI integration across the industry.

Apple's strategic moves are a clear indication of its recognition of the transformative potential of advanced AI capabilities for the iPhone experience. The integration of OpenAI's language model could empower Siri to understand and respond to complex voice queries with deep contextual awareness. This could revolutionize the way Apple's customers interact with devices, offering hope for a more intuitive and advanced iPhone experience. Potential Gemini integration opens up another realm of possibilities around Google's image and multimodal AI capabilities. Future iPhones may be able to analyze and describe visual scenes, annotate images, generate custom imagery from natural language prompts, and even synthesize audio using AI vocals - all within a conversational interface. As the AI arms race intensifies, Apple wants to position itself at the forefront through these partnerships.
Apple and OpenAI
Sunday, May 12th 2024

This Week in Gaming (Week 20)

Welcome to the 20th week of 2024 and this week kicks off with a huge AAA space saga that some of you have been eagerly waiting for. However, we have a second AAA title this week, which is a few years old Playstation game that, despite the title, doesn't have anything to do with ghosts. The rest of this week's releases involve aliens, rhythms, world wars and pirates.

Homeworld 3 / This week's first AAA title / Monday 13 May
Tactical, beautiful, and wholly unique, the GOTY-winning sci-fi RTS returns with Homeworld 3. Assume control and battle through fleet combat in dazzling, fully 3D space while the award-winning story unfolds on a galactic scale. Strategic freedom is yours. Hulking space derelicts called megaliths bring 3D terrain into the classic Homeworld battlespace. Use the crumbling remains of an ancient civilization to funnel foes into a brilliant ambush or hide your fleet from powerful enemies. Fortresses teem with menacing turrets and invite your strike craft into dangerous trench runs deep behind enemy lines. But not everything is in your control. Dangerous space phenomena like particle storms and asteroid fields will test even senior commanders. Steam Link
Friday, May 10th 2024

Today's Reviews

Cases
Desktop PC
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Keyboards
Memory
Notebooks
Processors
PSUs
SSD
ZMF Caldera Closed Planar Magnetic Headphones Review

ZMF Caldera Closed Planar Magnetic Headphones Review

The ZMF Caldera Closed closed-back planar magnetic headphones manages to combine the bass impact and timbre of dynamic driver headphones with the tactility and low distortion of planar magnetic drivers. It goes for a cleverly implemented, colored tonality featuring multiple patented technologies, and uses ZMF's handcrafted wooden ear cups to make for a compelling flagship product.

AMD Hits Highest-Ever x86 CPU Market Share in Q1 2024 Across Desktop and Server

AMD has reached a significant milestone, capturing a record-high share of the X86 CPU market in the first quarter of 2024, according to the latest report from Mercury Research. This achievement marks a significant step forward for the chipmaker in its long battle against rival Intel's dominance in the crucial computer processor space. The surge was fueled by strong demand for AMD's Ryzen and EPYC processors across consumer and enterprise markets. The Ryzen lineup's compelling price-to-performance ratio has struck a chord with gamers, content creators, and businesses seeking cost-effective computing power without sacrificing capabilities. It secured AMD's 23.9% share, an increase from the previous Q4 of 2023, which has seen a 19.8% market share.

The company has also made major inroads on the data center front with its EPYC server CPUs. AMD's ability to supply capable yet affordable processors has enabled cloud providers and enterprises to scale operations on AMD's platform. Several leading tech giants have embraced EPYC, contributing to AMD's surging server market footprint. Now, it is at 23.6%, a significant increase over the past few years, whereas AMD was just above 10% four years ago in 2020. AMD lost some share to Intel on the mobile PC front due to the Meteor Lake ramp, but it managed to gain a small percentage of the market share of client PCs. As AMD rides the momentum into the second half of 2024, all eyes will be on whether the chipmaker can sustain this trajectory and potentially claim an even larger slice of the x86 CPU pie from Intel in the coming quarters.
Below, you can see additional graphs of mobile PC and client PC market share.

Creative Announces Super X-Fi Gen 4 Audio Profile

Building on the foundation of its award-winning Super X-Fi Headphone Holography, Creative Technology will be unveiling the all-new Super X-Fi Gen 4 audio profile. This latest release boasts significant enhancements in dynamic range, clarity, and spatial awareness. The Super X-Fi Gen 4 isn't just raising the bar; it's redefining the standard for immersive audio experiences. With this latest update, users can enjoy an expanded dynamic range, delivering richer, more detailed audio reproduction. Coupled with improved clarity, users can indulge in crystal-clear sound that captures every subtle nuance, while the refined sense of space offers a more expansive and lifelike soundstage.

Super X-Fi technology elevates the audio experience for users by recreating the immersive soundstage of high-end surround speaker systems within headphones, further personalized by the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for a remarkably natural listening experience. Since its debut at CES 2019, users and critics have been impressed by the realism of personalized audio, which is tailored according to their anthropometric profiles. From immersing in the heart-pounding action of a blockbuster movie to feeling the raw energy of a live concert or delving into the captivating world of gaming, Super X-Fi can bring it all to life with breath-taking detail and precision.

Thermaltake Debuts the GR500 Racing Simulator Cockpit and the Triple Racing Monitor Stand

Thermaltake, a leading PC DIY brand for premium hardware solutions, is proud to announce that the GR500 Racing Simulator Cockpit and the Triple Racing Monitor Stand are now ready for purchase. Moving beyond the conventional PC gaming setup, racing simulators redefine the gaming environment allowing you to feel like you are driving a racing car on a real racetrack in an indoor entertainment space easily. Create your simulators with the Thermaltake racing ecosystem, or take it one step further and match them with a VR headset like the Meta Quest 3, fully immersing the thrill of fast and furious racing!

GR500 Racing Simulator Cockpit
Thermaltake GR500 Racing Simulator Cockpit is designed for racing enthusiasts to experience authentic feel of racing. It comes with a racing-like bucket design and is made with a fiberglass seat, ensuring a premium seating experience. The adjustable seat allows you to glide forward & back, and recline, providing an ideal driving position for long gaming hours. The GR500 is crafted with a sturdy aluminium profile, steel structure, and anti-tip bracket, guaranteeing stability and safety. To make your racing simulator sleek, the base of the GR500 features RGB Lighting Strips including 20 lighting effects. If you switch to Rhythm Pickup mode, the lighting can even dynamically change with music. Additionally, Thermaltake GR500 has universal hardware compatibility that supports mainstream wheels, gear shifters, and pedals from Logitech, Fanatec, Thrustmaster, and more, allowing you to build an ideal racing simulator with high customization.

NVIDIA GeForce NOW Gets Honkai: Star Rail and Four New Titles This Week

Gear up, Trailblazers - Honkai: Star Rail lands on GeForce NOW this week, along with an in-game reward for members to celebrate the title's launch in the cloud. Stream it today, along with five new games joining the GeForce NOW library of more than 1,900 titles this week.

Five Stars
Take a galactic journey in the cloud with Honkai: Star Rail, a new Cosmic Adventure Strategy role-playing game from HoYoverse, the company behind Genshin Impact. The title seamlessly blends intricate storytelling with immersive gameplay mechanics for an epic journey through the cosmos. Meet a cast of unique characters and explore diverse planets, each with its own mysteries to uncover. Assemble formidable teams, strategically deploying skills and resources to overcome mighty adversaries and unravel the mysteries of the Honkai phenomenon. Encounter new civilizations and face off against threats that endanger the Astral Express, overcome the struggles caused by Stellaron together, powerful artifacts that hold the keys to the universe's fate. Begin the trailblazing journey without needing to wait for downloads or game updates with GeForce NOW. Members who've opted into GeForce NOW's Rewards program will receive an email with a code for a Honkai: Star Rail starter kit, containing 30,000 credits, three Refined Aethers and three Traveler's Guides. All aboard the Astral Express for adventures and thrills!

ASRock Announces Intel Arc GPU Version AI QuickSet Software Tool With OpenVINO Support

Leading global motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, has successively released its AI QuickSet software tool based on Microsoft Windows 10/11 and Canonical Ubuntu Linux platforms since the end of last year, which can help users quickly download, install and set up many artificial intelligence (AI) applications. It can also be accelerated by ASRock's custom AMD graphics cards, and has received widespread response from the market. Today ASRock continues its efforts and launch the AI QuickSet software tool that supports ASRock's custom Intel Arc A-Series graphics cards, including Intel Arc A770, A750, A580, A380, and A310 models, allowing users to enjoy the fun brought by generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications at their fingertips!

ASRock AI QuickSet software tool v1.0.3i supports Microsoft Windows 10/11 64-bit operating system, allowing users to easily install Stable Diffusion web UI OpenVINO without delving into complex configuration settings. This Stable Diffusion Web UI artificial intelligence (AI) image generation tool optimized through the Intel OpenVINO tool suite can be used with ASRock's own Intel Arc A series graphics cards (including Intel Arc A770, A750, A580, A380, A310 model)'s powerful computing capabilities provide excellent operational performance. This once again demonstrates ASRock's strong software and hardware R&D capabilities and its spirit of considering users. It also makes ASRock's AI QuickSet software tool once again a premium choice for consumers to quickly experience the fun of generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications!

Sabrent Intros Rocket 2242 Gen 4 NVMe SSD

Sabrent introduced the Rocket 2242 M.2 Gen 4 NVMe SSD. The drive is built in the M.2-2242 form-factor (42 mm long), which should make it suitable for certain kinds of handheld game consoles, such as the Legion Go. The Rocket 2242 comes in just one capacity for now, 1 TB. The drive combines a Phison E27T series DRAMless controller with Kioxia 162-layer 3D TLC NAND flash, and takes advantage of the PCI-Express 4.0 x4 host interface to offer sequential transfer speeds of up to 5000 MB/s. The company put out no other performance or endurance related specs. Sabrent is pricing the Rocket 2242 1 TB at USD $99.99, it is available now, and backed by a 5-year warranty.

Team Group Launches the Model T USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive

Team Group Inc., the global leader in premium storage solutions, continues its commitment to providing consumers with cutting-edge storage solutions that meet today's technological trends. To support the growing demand for electric vehicles as an eco-friendly option, Team Group is proud to announce the launch of the Model T USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive. Specifically designed to support USB dashcams in electric vehicles, this compact USB drive exemplifies the company's innovative approach to addressing emerging lifestyle trends. The Model T USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive provides users with innovative functionality for a stress-free driving experience.

The Model T USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive is designed for storing driving footage in electric vehicles and is specifically compatible with the Tesla Model 3/Y/S/X. Featuring a USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface, it boasts up to 512 GB of storage capacity. Engineered for Sentry Mode and dashcam footage storage, ensuring a stable performance that allows continuous recording even post-formatting. With ample storage, users can confidently activate Sentry Mode. Coupled with dashcam footage, the Model T USB 3.2 Gen 1 provides peace of mind by capturing and storing critical moments for up to 10 minutes. The Model T USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive features a sleek nickel-black finish, compact size, and ergonomic design that optimizes aesthetics and space utilization. With its Type-A connector, recording footage and storing multimedia files has never been easier. The stylish design of the zinc alloy body blends seamlessly with the sleek interior of electric vehicles, providing a durable and advanced storage solution.

ASRock Intros W790 WS R2.0 Motherboard

ASRock today introduced the W790 WS R2.0 motherboard for workstations powered by 4th Gen Intel Xeon W-3400 and W-2400 series processors in the Socket LGA4677 package. Although its model name suggests that it is a revision of the W790 WS, the new W790 WS R2.0 appears to be a lite version of the original, which removes several I/O features. To begin with, the fancy I/O shroud makes way for bare connectors, where you can see several of the connectors stripped away. While the CPU VRM appears unchanged, the VRM heatsinks used on the R2.0 are of a simpler design. The design effort behind both these changes appears to be to make the board friendly to certain kinds of rackmount chassis.

Besides the design changes, the ASRock W790 WS R2.0 loses out on Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6E, and only has a single 10 GbE interface instead of dual-10 GbE on the original W790 WS. These aside, the W790 WS R2.0 is still a very capable workstation motherboard for the platform it's based on. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, two 8-pin EPS, and a 6-pin PCIe power; and uses a 22-phase CPU VRM. The board features four PCI-Express 5.0 x16 slots (x16/NC/x16/NC or x16/NC/x8/x8 or x8/x8/x8/x8), and one PCI-Express 4.0 x16 (electrical x4). The CPU socket is wired to eight memory slots, supporting quad-channel DDR5 memory, with support for DDR5 RDIMM-3DS, a total memory capacity of 2 TB, and a maximum overclocked memory speed of DDR5-6800.
Thursday, May 9th 2024
ThundeRobot ML903 NearLink Review

ThundeRobot ML903 NearLink Review

The ambidextrous ML903 is among the first mice debuting Huawei's NearLink technology. In addition, it comes with wired 8000 Hz and wireless 4000 Hz polling, PixArt's PAW3395 sensor, Kailh main button switches, and a 600 mAh battery, all wrapped into a 68 g package.
Corsair MP700 Pro SE 4 TB Review

Corsair MP700 Pro SE 4 TB Review

The Corsair MP700 Pro SE solid-state-drive boasts impressive speeds of up to 14 GB/s, thanks to the lightning-fast PCI-Express 5.0 interface. In our review we're testing the 4 TB version, which offers tons of space and incredible performance that's the best of all the drives we tested so far.

ASUS Readies ROG Ally X with Larger Storage and Battery, Fixed microSD Slot

Earlier this week, we got news of ASUS working on a design revision for its ROG Ally handheld game console to fix the positioning of its microSD card slot that was causing card and card-reader failures due to its location close to a thermal vent. It turns out that this revision is a whole different product, and ASUS is naming it the ROG Ally X. There's more to this console than simply a relocated microSD slot that won't fry your memory cards.

Apparently, ASUS has used the opportunity to give it a larger battery, and a larger M.2-2280 SSD bay, compared to the M.2-2242 slot on the original ROG Ally. This would open up end-users to the widest possible array of SSD choices. As a final bit of product differentiation, the ROG Ally X comes with a new black chassis trim. The larger battery makes the ROG Ally X heavier than the original. Besides these three hardware changes, the new ROG Ally X features the same kit as the original, and is hence expected to offer the same performance, albeit with improved battery life. ASUS is expected to formally launch the ROG Ally X on June 2, 2024.
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May 13th, 2024 20:23 EDT change timezone

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