Cooler Master, a leading provider of PC components, gaming peripherals, and tech lifestyle solutions, today announced the launch of their latest update in gaming comfort: the CALIBER X2C and CALIBER R3C chairs, part of the refreshed COOL-IN Series. Designed for gamers who demand style and substance, these chairs promise to keep you cool under pressure while delivering unmatched comfort.

MINISFORUM also listed its new Mini PC - NAB9 on Amazon, featuring an i9-12900HK processor and dual 2.5G Ethernet ports. The 32 GB + 1 TB version is priced at $599, with a first-order coupon of $96, bringing the final price down to $503. MINISFORUM NAB9 utilizes the same mold as the NAB7, but upgrades to the flagship Intel Core i9-12900HK processor, with 14 cores and 20 threads, a 24 MB cache, a base frequency of 3.80 GHz, and a maximum turbo frequency of up to 5.00 GHz. With a TDP of 45 W, it integrates Iris Xe graphics with 96 EUs, significantly enhancing graphic performance.

Furthermore, the NAB9 supports AV1 decoding and video editing acceleration, ensuring users experience faster and smoother operations, whether watching high-definition videos, editing photos, or engaging in design and creative work. With a volume of just 0.9 liters, the NAB9 is 1/40th the size of traditional PCs. Its easy-to-disassemble design allows users to quickly access and replace memory and SSD. The new active SSD cooling design, coupled with side ventilation openings, effectively dissipates heat from the memory and SSD.

The MINISFORUM NAB6 Lite utilizes the same mold as the NAB6, with a CPU that is an Intel Core i5-12500H processor, boasting 12 cores and 16 threads, an 18 MB cache, and a maximum turbo frequency of up to 4.50 GHz. With a TDP of 45 W, it integrates Iris Xe graphics, offering strong graphic performance suitable for everyday office work and multimedia entertainment.

With a volume of only 0.9 liters, the NAB6 Lite is 1/40th the size of a traditional PC. Its body features an easy-to-disassemble design; simply press the cover plate to pop it open, allowing users to conveniently replace memory and SSD. Additionally, it introduces a new active SSD cooling design plus side ventilation openings to address the accumulation of heat in memory and hard drives, enabling more effective cooling for both memory and SSD.

To enhance user experience, Microsoft has rolled out a significant update to the web version of its Microsoft Store, simplifying the process of downloading and installing applications. This move aims to minimize the number of steps required, making it more convenient for users to access their desired apps. Previously, the process of installing apps from the Microsoft Store website involved multiple steps, including navigating through deep-linked dialogues and mini-window popups before the actual download could commence. While this approach was implemented as a security measure to prevent malicious scripts from executing, it was deemed cumbersome by many users. With the introduction of the "undocked version" of the Microsoft Store, the app installation process has been streamlined. Users can now download an app for their Windows system with just two clicks.

The first click initiates the download of the app package, and the second click launches the application itself. Early feedback from testers and developers has been overwhelmingly positive, with reports indicating a 12% increase in app installations and a remarkable 54% surge in the number of applications launched after installation. This update not only improves the user experience but also holds the potential to boost app adoption and engagement on the Microsoft Store platform. While not all apps currently support this new lightweight installation process, with some still directing users to the dedicated Windows app or requiring additional downloads during installation, Microsoft is committed to expanding the availability of this feature across its app catalog. This update underscores Microsoft's ongoing efforts to enhance the efficiency and user-friendliness of its services.

MONTECH, a PC components and peripherals provider, announces an extreme version of the popular SKY TWO with an airflow-focused E-ATX case - the SKY TWO GX. The case supports up to 11 fans (3 pre-installed AX140 PWM ARGB) and the top clearance is increased to accommodate 66 mm radiator thickness and has 25 mm space for cable management. The SKY TWO features a 51% porosity mesh design on its front, top panel, and side of the PSU chamber. Support has been improved for high-end components, making this an extreme performance case starting at only US $89.

MONTECH has refined the GX edition to achieve enhancements based on insights from the original SKY TWO users. The height at the top has been increased by 10 mm, which allows it to accommodate radiators with a thickness of 66 mm. A 5 mm increase on the backside of the case for cable management, expanding the spacing to 25 mm. The glass panel has been improved with a beautifully designed handle and hinge for easy swivel access. The lower-side mesh panel is also available for quick access to the bottom chamber.

SPARKLE is announcing SPARKLE Intel Arc A770/A750 ROC Series, comes with the very first white card of SPAKRLE, "Luna Edition", and a standard black card. As the new flagship series of SPARKLE, ROC stands for the enormous legendary bird of prey and represents the power and the precision, which is the brand-new BEST choice of the A770 / A750, provides high performance and myriad of productivity without anything getting in the way.

ROC series equipped dual 100 mm double-ball bearing fan with 2.5-slot heatsink design, reduce the length of card effetely and ready to fit into the compact system. Furthermore, 100 mm DBB fans have brought the higher efficiency of cooling, lead to an ultra-silence experience without compromising performance. A blue breathing light of Intel Arc on the side of the card is bringing classic and style to your gaming setup.

A few batches of GeForce RTX 4070 graphics cards are based on the 5 nm "AD103" silicon, a significantly larger chip than the "AD104" that powers the original RTX 4070. A reader has reached out to us with a curiously named MSI RTX 4070 Ventus 3X E 12 GB OC graphics card, saying that TechPowerUp GPU-Z wasn't able to detect it correctly. When we took a closer look at their GPU-Z submission data, we found that the card was based on the larger "AD103" silicon, looking at its device ID. Interestingly, current NVIDIA drivers, such as the 552.22 WHQL used here, are able to seamlessly present the card to the user as an RTX 4070. We dug through older versions of GeForce drivers, and found that the oldest driver to support this card is 551.86, which NVIDIA released in early-March 2024.

The original GeForce RTX 4070 was created by NVIDIA by enabling 46 out of 60 streaming multiprocessors (SM), or a little over 76% of the available shaders. To create an RTX 4070 out of an "AD103," NVIDIA would have to enable 46 out of 80, or just 57% of the available shaders, and just 36 MB out of the 64 MB available on-die L2 cache. The company would also have to narrow the memory bus down to 192-bit from the available 256-bit, to drive the 12 GB of memory. The PCB footprint, pin-map, and package size of both the "AD103" and "AD104" are similar, so board partners are able to seamlessly integrate the chip with their existing AD104-based RTX 4070 board designs. End-users would probably not even notice the change until they fire up diagnostic utilities and find them surprised.

MSI, a leading brand in gaming, content creation, and business and productivity laptops, is proud to announce that its gaming handheld, Claw, has achieved a significant boost in gaming performance, with an increase of up to 150% through new BIOS and GPU drivers. Moreover, the updated BIOS and GPU drivers enable the Claw to smoothly play the top 100 popular games on the Steam platform, providing an excellent mobile gaming experience.

The new E1T41IMS.106 BIOS (referred to as 106) and 31.0.101.5445 GPU driver (referred to as 5445) for the MSI Claw have significantly enhanced gaming performance according to internal tests. For instance, the performance of the well-known open-world horror game "7 Days to Die" increased by up to 150%. Other popular games such as "Monster Hunter World" and "Cyberpunk 2077" also saw performance improvements of over 50% with the new BIOS and GPU drivers, providing a smoother gaming experience.

A couple of weeks ago, we reported on NVIDIA directing users of Intel's 13th Generation Raptor Lake and 14th Generation Raptor Lake Refresh CPUs to consult Intel for any issues with system stability. Motherboard makers, by default, often run the CPU outside of Intel's recommended specifications, overvolting the CPU through modifying voltage curves, automatic overclocks, and removing power limits.

Today, we learned that Igor's Lab has obtained a statement from Intel that the company prepared for motherboard OEMs regarding the issues multiple users report. Intel CPUs come pre-programmed with a stock voltage curve. When motherboard makers remove power limits and automatically adjust voltage curves and frequency targets, the CPU can be pushed outside its safe operating range, possibly causing system instability. Intel has set up a dedicated website for users to report their issues and offer support. Manufacturers like GIGABYTE have already issued new BIOS updates for users to achieve maximum stability, which incidentally has recent user reports of still being outside Intel spec, setting PL2 to 188 W, loadlines to 1.7/1.7 and current limit to 249 A. While MSI provided a blog post tutorial for stability. ASUS has published updated BIOS for its motherboards to reflect on this Intel baseline spec as well. Surprisingly, not all the revised BIOS values match up with the Intel Baseline Profile spec for these various new BIOS updates from different vendors. You can read the statement from Intel in the quote below.

As we go from April to May, we have something of a void of new game releases, with the biggest release being a game that puts you in charge of a factory. As for the rest of this coming week's releases, you can look forward to doing some farming, working as a detective, cosplaying as an alien, working in a lab and finishing the week in office with a party royale.

Foundry / This week's major release / Thursday 2 May / Early Access
Foundry is a first-person (first-robot?) factory builder with complete creative freedom set in a procedurally generated and infinite voxel world. Land on an unexplored planet and design a giant automated robot production facility under the watchful direction of your AI friend, Carl. Steam Link

According to The Information, in a strategic maneuver to circumvent the constraints imposed by US sanctions, Huawei is accelerating efforts to establish domestic production capabilities for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) within China. This move addresses the limitations that have hampered the company's advancements in AI and high-performance computing (HPC) sectors. HBM technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing the performance of AI and HPC processors by mitigating memory bandwidth bottlenecks. Recognizing its significance, Huawei has assembled a consortium comprising memory manufacturers backed by the Chinese government and prominent semiconductor companies like Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit. This consortium is focused on advancing HBM2 memory technology, which is crucial for Huawei's Ascend-series processors for AI applications.

Huawei's initiative comes at a time when the company faces challenges in accessing HBM from external sources, impacting the availability of its AI processors in the market. Despite facing obstacles such as international regulations restricting the sale of advanced chipmaking equipment to China, Huawei's efforts underscore China's broader push for self-sufficiency in critical technologies essential for AI and supercomputing. By investing in domestic HBM production, Huawei aims to secure a stable supply chain for these vital components, reducing reliance on external suppliers. This strategic shift not only demonstrates Huawei's resilience in navigating geopolitical challenges but also highlights China's determination to strengthen its technological independence in the face of external pressures. As the global tech landscape continues to evolve, Huawei's move to develop homegrown HBM memory could have far-reaching implications for China's AI and HPC capabilities, positioning the country as a significant player in the memory field.

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Premiered during a showcase on Bilibili streaming platform, this clip contains both cutscenes and location overview, giving a glimpse of in-game story and atmosphere. It's also the first time you can have a taste of the Ukrainian voiceover - the one to be available alongside the English one for everyone to enjoy. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl releases on PC and Xbox Series X/S on September 5, 2024. The game will be available on Game Pass day one, and pre-orders are opened on our website, as well as on Steam and GOG.

"Behold Her! The Zone blossoms, in her own resplendent yet enigmatic and twisted way: luring, gifting, and taking away. Speaking in many voices, both familiar and new. How far to the edge will you go in pursuit of what you seek?"

Hooded Horse and Slavic Magic are delighted to announce that historical city-building and strategy game Manor Lords is available in early access via digital platforms across the world!

With over 3 million wishlists on Steam alone, this highly anticipated game presents players with a vibrant and detailed world inspired by 14th-century medieval life. Featuring a high degree of historical authenticity and a rags-to-riches setting, players will be tasked with growing a humble village into a powerful feudal city. Manor Lords mixes organic city-building systems with intricate production chains that feed into a real-time tactical combat layer where the workers are also the warriors.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, released the latest beta BIOS with Intel Baseline feature on Z790, B760 series motherboards for enhanced stability, regarding the feedback from Intel that high power consumption settings may cause system instability with 13/14th generation CPUs.⁠

GIGABYTE always prioritizes user experience, focusing on both performance and stability. Additionally, as a close ally of Intel, we promptly introduced the Intel Baseline feature with the latest beta BIOS. When using 13th and 14th generation K-SKU CPUs, the Intel Baseline setting will appear in the "Turbo Power Limits" option under "Advanced CPU Settings". After enabling Intel Baseline, the performance will be expected to be limited due to the power setting adjustments.

Western Digital Corp. today reported fiscal third quarter 2024 financial results.

"As evidenced by our excellent third quarter results, Western Digital continues improving through-cycle profitability and dampening business cycles by leveraging our strategy of developing a diversified portfolio of industry-leading products across a broad range of end markets," said David Goeckeler, Western Digital CEO. "We are in the early innings of unlocking the full potential of this company, and as industry supply and demand dynamics continue to improve, we will remain disciplined around our capital spending and focused on driving innovation and efficiency across our businesses. We are confident in our strategy and the actions we have taken to-date, which successfully position us to capitalize on the promising growth prospects that lie ahead."

Fulqrum Publishing and Ukrainian studio Best Way are excited to announce that their highly anticipated RTS title Men of War II releases on May 15, 2024 on PC. A date long-term fans may appreciate, as this marks the 10th anniversary since the full release of Men of War: Assault Squad 2. Following a number of public playtests last year, the team at Best Way opted to spend extra development time to incorporate feedback from the community. The fans will be able to enjoy the fruits of this extra labor at launch, as the game has received numerous technical improvements and bug fixes, as well as balancing and various upgrades to audio-visual quality since the last Open Beta.

Men of War II will launch with three playable nations - the Soviets, Americans and the Third Reich - each with their own narrative campaign, as well as two further Historical campaigns, a dynamic Conquest campaign and a skirmish-like Raid mode. All of the single-player content can also be played in co-op with up to five players, and the game offers extensive PvP and PvE multiplayer options, including ranked match-making for all three battle setups (Battalions, Combined Arms and Classic Mode).

As promised earlier, Capcom has released a new Dragon's Dogma 2 patch for PC and consoles, and while it does not bring any performance improvements to the game, which still lacks NVIDIA DLSS 3 support, it brings some much-needed gameplay tweaks and fixes.

The April 25th Update, as it is called, mostly improves the game's Pawns, allowing users to zoom in on the faces of the Arisen and Pawns, as well as their general behavior and dialogue. The update also adds several fixes, including fixes for issues in escort quests and fighting monsters in town which results in jail time. Capcom did say it also fixed some crashes and freezes in specific circumstances, as well as other miscellaneous bugs, but no further details were given.

Team Group Inc. has been committed to developing a wide range of memory products for years and has received international recognition for long-term efforts. Today, Team Group proudly announces that the gaming label and creator label, T-FORCE and T-CREATE, have taken home four awards from the Red Dot Design Award 2024 for the T-FORCE DARK AirFlow I SSD Cooler, T-FORCE SIREN GD120S AIO SSD Cooler, T-FORCE XTREEM DDR5 Desktop Memory, and T-CREATE CinemaPr P31 External SSD. The success is a testimony to Team Group's outstanding R&D capability and incredibly innovative designs, which have once again propelled new heights on the stage of a world-class design award.

One of the four most prestigious design awards in the world, the Red Dot Design Award of Germany is an important indicator of industrial design and development trends around the world. The Red Dot received thousands of submissions from over 60 countries in 2024, all vying for the highly influential award. Submissions are judged by a panel of experts, hailing from all over the world, on their innovation, solution, product, design, and concept. Team Group sub-labels, T-FORCE and T-CREAT, stood out with stellar R&D and quality designs, adding to Team Group's illustrious history.

Intel Corporation today reported first-quarter 2024 financial results. "We are making steady progress against our priorities and delivered a solid quarter," said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. "Strong innovation across our client, edge and data center portfolios drove double-digit revenue growth in Intel Products. With Intel 3 in high-volume production, leading-edge semiconductors are being manufactured in the U.S. for the first time in almost a decade and we are on track to regain process leadership next year as we grow Intel Foundry. We are confident in our plans to drive sequential growth throughout the year as we accelerate our AI solutions and maintain our relentless focus on execution, operational discipline and shareholder value creation in a dynamic market."

"Q1 revenue was in line with our expectations, and we delivered non-GAAP EPS above our guidance, driven by better-than-expected gross margins and strong expense discipline," said David Zinsner, Intel CFO. "Our new foundry operating model, which provides greater transparency and accountability, is already driving better decision-making across the business. Looking ahead, we expect to deliver year-over-year revenue and non-GAAP EPS growth in fiscal year 2024, including roughly 200 basis points of full-year gross margin improvement." In the first quarter, the company used $1.2 billion in cash from operations and paid dividends of $0.5 billion.