News Archive

Sunday, May 31st 2020

AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 7 3800XT, and Ryzen 5 3600XT Get Early Listing

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btarunr
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French retailer Materiel.net listed the upcoming AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 7 3800XT, and Ryzen 5 3600XT desktop processors. The 3900XT is listed at 499€, the 3800XT at 459€, and the 3600XT at 319€, inclusive of VAT. These prices could be opportunistic, and set entirely by the retailer to win some attention toward pre-orders. A VideoCardz report points to the possibility of the XT series SKUs being nominally pricier than the current prices of the 3900X, 3800X, and 3600X. The 3600XT is reported as being exactly $28 pricier than the 3600X, which would put its price back at $250, given the $220-ish running rate for a 3600X. Unless AMD is beating Intel at gaming performance, the company could price the 3900XT and 3800XT competitively against the i9-10900K and i7-10700K, respectively (and not exactly match them). AMD is expected to announce its 3rd generation Ryzen "Matisse Refresh" Ryzen XT desktop processors in mid-June, with availability expected in early-July, 2020.

Intel Discontinues Dodecahedron Retail Packaging for Core i9-9900K

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btarunr
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Intel is discontinuing the special dodecahedron LDPE retail packaging for its previous-generation flagship desktop processor, the Core i9-9900K. The processor itself is still an active SKU, but its retail packaging will likely now revert to a more conventional-looking paperboard cuboid package, resembling that of the Core i9-9900KF. There is no mention of any change to the "limited edition" Core i9-9900KS. The product change notification (PCN) may have been triggered by the i9-9900K getting succeeded by the 10-core i9-10900K processor that ships in a simpler (though still premium-looking) hard paperboard package with a large front-face window; and the fact that the dodecahedron LDPE package presented logistics problems for distributors, as crates of these processors could pack fewer units than with smaller cuboid boxes, and needed additional styrofoam cushioning to prevent transit damage.

Western Digital Sued Over Undocumented SMR on Certain WD Red HDDs

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btarunr
 Discuss (28 Comments)
Western Digital has been hit by a class-action lawsuit over alleged false advertising over some of its WD Red hard drives featuring undocumented DM-SMR (drive-managed shingled magnetic recording), a physical layer data writing technique that maximizes capacity at heavy costs of random write performance, that effectively render the drives unfit for RAID applications that are common with NAS setups. Trouble brewed for Western Digital in April, as a Blocks & Files report exposed presence of SMR on certain popular WD Red drives as an explanation as to why the drives couldn't be added to RAID volumes.

Western Digital initially tried to defend its position by explaining what DM-SMR is, that the standard WD Red has been tested on most SOHO NAS devices, that they're not meant for serious (> 8-drive) NAS setups; and pointing people to their pricier WD Red Pro, or enterprise-segment Ultrastar HDDs, leading to more community backlash. Days later, Western Digital finally came out with a list of its HDDs that use SMR. Bellevue Washington-based Hattis & Lukacs, class-action specialists, are leading the charge against Western Digital, and are inviting aggrieved U.S. residents to join the class.

Sony to Reveal PlayStation 5 on June 4, Console Won't be Cheaper than Xbox Series X

by
btarunr
 Discuss (17 Comments)
Sony Interactive Entertainment is expected to hold a virtual launch event on June 4, 2020, where it is expected to finally reveal the design, packaging, inclusions, initial exclusive game library, and more importantly price, of the next-generation PlayStation 5 game console. The event is scheduled for 1 PM PDT, and will be live-streamed. In related news, in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, CEO Jim Ryan confirmed that the PlayStation 5 won't be cheap, at least not cheaper than the rumored sub-$500 pricing of the Xbox Series X. "I think the best way that we can address this is by providing the best possible value proposition that we can. I don't necessarily mean lowest price. Value is a combination of many things. In our area it means games, it means number of games, depth of games, breadth of games, quality of games, price of games... all of these things and how they avail themselves of the feature set of the platform," he said.

MSI Announces the Creator 15 High-end Versatile Laptop for Professionals

Press Release by
btarunr
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MSI, following its glorious success of being a pioneer to launch a laptop with Mini LED panel, the Creator 17, now unveils another laptop from the best-in-class series, a refined laptop designed just for professional artists- the Creator 15! The Creator 15 packs with every important feature for experts from animators, filmmakers to the 2D retoucher. It is powered by the latest 10th Gen. Intel Core i7 H series processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX SUPER graphic to load all your imagination, and outfitted with touch screen for more efficiency to catch up with your unlimited creativity.

The Creator 15 is crafted with a solid aluminium chassis and low-profile sandblasted carbon gray finish to create a minimal yet professional design. However, underneath the stunning hood is not simple at all! The powerful core is precision-engineered into an ultra-thin profile laptop for advanced creators. The latest 10th Gen. Intel Core i7-10875H processor, delivering faster performance up to 40% with 8 cores to run your software, while the world's most powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs provide high-end cinematic-quality rendering. The new generation is designed for multitasking and pro-level processing jobs, whether it's graphic design, video editing, or 3D rendering, the Creator 15 can exceed your expectations and bring your imagination into life.
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GIGABYTE Z490 AORUS ULTRA G2 Motherboard Released to Market

Press Release by
btarunr
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GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphic cards, continuing the success co-branding their Z390 product line with G2 Esports, is launching the latest Z490 AORUS ULTRA G2 motherboard. In order to satisfy the high-performance low temperature needs of professional gaming teams, the Z490 AORUS ULTRA G2 uses direct 12 phases digital power design and tantalum capacitor array, providing strong and stable power delivery and minimizing oscillation, bringing you the 10th gen Intel Core i9-10900K excellent high-class processor.

Daisy Chain memory routing and anti-interference design deliver improved memory overclocking and stability. As for Fins-Array II, Direct-Touch Heatpipe II and 7.5 W/mK LAIRD thermal conductivity pad alongside G2 Esports optimizations, we bring you an improved efficacy stabled user experience. In addition to ESSential USB DAC's vocal cohesion and immersive sound, it makes the Z490 AORUS ULTRA G2 Motherboard a must have for every pro player, even more so the best pick for any gamer at home assembling their own gaming PC.
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Friday, May 29th 2020

Today's Reviews

Cases
Gaming PC
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Keyboards
Motherboards
Mouse
Processors
Cooler Master Masterbox MB311L ARGB Review

Cooler Master Masterbox MB311L ARGB Review

Review Cases
The Cooler Master Masterbox MB311L ARGB is a compact mATX chassis for the enthusiast crowd that retains all the compatibility and material features required of modern enclosures. Priced at just $60, the MB311L ARGB jumps right into the fray, and offers good quality.
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PowerColor Radeon RX 5600 XT ITX Review

PowerColor Radeon RX 5600 XT ITX Review

Review Graphics Cards
PowerColor's Radeon RX 5600 XT ITX is the most compact RX 5600 XT on the market, optimized for small-form-factor cases. Despite its small size it runs very quietly, almost inaudibly, during heavy gaming. Temperatures are fine, too, and it has idle-fan-stop.
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TechPowerUp GPU-Z 2.32.0 Releases: Cutting-Edge New Features

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btarunr
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TechPowerUp today released the latest version of GPU-Z, the popular graphics subsystem information, diagnostic, and monitoring utility. Version 2.32.0 introduces a wealth of new cutting edge features. To begin with, we enabled a large selection of new per-rail power sensors for NVIDIA GPUs, including the ability to tell power draw per specific PCIe power connector, power draw at the PCIe slot, power draw from the USB-C port (VirtualLink port), and GPU ASIC-only power draw, among a wealth of other new sensors.

We also introduced the ability to tell the Q0 stepping of Intel "Comet Lake-S" Core desktop processors apart from the G1 stepping. This feature should be particularly useful when re-selling your 10th gen Core processors that have multiple steppings, as you can use the GPU-Z Database validation or screenshot as proof of stepping to a prospective buyer. Among the new GPUs and CPUs supported are Intel 10th gen Core, AMD Radeon Pro W5700X, WX 4170; NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti (mobile), and Tesla V100S-PCIe 32 GB. Support is also added for Windows 10 May 2020 Update. We fixed the WDDM 2.7 hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling readout in the "Advanced" tab for AMD graphics cards. Grab TechPowerUp GPU-Z 2.32.0 from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 2.32.0
The change-log follows.
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The Witcher Franchise Soars Past 50 Million Games Sold

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Raevenlord
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CD Projekt Red announced that the cumulative sale of games in the Witcher franchise has surpassed the 50 million mark. This news comes three years after the developer broke through the 25 million mark on the same franchise, and speaks to the intemporality that can be achieved by games developed during the last gen. While there will always be improvements in graphics technologies (though the diminishing returns equation is already definitely present), it can be said that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt still remains a beautiful game today. This is true even if you don't consider the numerous graphical improvement mods that have been made available since; and that helps games keep their sales momentum for many more years than those developed in previous gens.

Sales of games on The Witcher franchise have obviously increased following Netflix's successful adaptation of the universe for its The Witcher streaming series, with original author of The Witcher, Andrzej Sapkowski, also enjoying increased book sales in the same period. It's a circular system of sorts - and a well deserved one for CD Projekt Red. Here's hoping the developers can achieve the same level of acclaim (and sales) on their Cyberpunk 2077 project - only four months to go now.

TSMC 5 nm+ Node Manufacturing Goes High-Volume in Q4, AMD one of the Major Customers

Updated by
AleksandarK
 Updated: Discuss (40 Comments)
TSMC is working hard to bring the best silicon out there, with the company supplying many of the companies like NVIDIA, AMD, Huawei, and Apple - all customers who demand the latest and greatest when it comes to the silicon technology. According to sources close to DigiTimes, TSMC is expected to kick-off volume production of its next-generation 5 nm+ manufacturing node, which is an enhancement of the 5 nm node, as soon as Q4 of this year hits.

Update May 29th: The DigiTimes report indicates that TSMC is preparing the 5 nm+ node for AMD Ryzen 4000 "Vermeer" series of CPUs. Originally planned for using the 7 nm+ node, the CPUs are supposedly ported to a smaller node, providing better transistor performance and lower power consumption. The Ryzen 4000 series of desktop processors were planned for launching later this year, however, being that the new information provided by DigiTimes suggests 5 nm+ node could be used, we can expect to see Zen 3 based processors sometime in early 2021.

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Samsung Launches the Galaxy Book S, Featuring Intel "Lakefield"

Press Release by
btarunr
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Samsung Electronics today announced the availability of Galaxy Book S with Intel processor, the latest addition to its leading computing device family. To ensure consumers have access to a wide range of computing devices to best fit their lifestyle, Samsung introduces the Galaxy Book S powered by the new dynamic Intel Core processor with Intel Hybrid Technology. Galaxy Book S joins other previously announced premium mobile laptops, designed to offer a seamless and connected experience across devices. Galaxy Book S is built for the next generation of users who are looking for a computing device that provides outstanding productivity, wide-ranging connectivity, enhanced mobility and expansive continuity across devices and operating systems to help them get more done in less time.

"The way we work has shifted and it's important we have computing devices that can adapt to this new working style. Users utilize multiple devices throughout their day to accomplish tasks, and demand that those devices provide them with enough flexibility to remain on the move and available," said Woncheol Chai, SVP and Head of Product Planning Team, Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics. "With our new computing devices like the Galaxy Book S, we are providing users with an exciting opportunity to be productive, efficient and connected."
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Intel "Elkhart Lake" Processor Put Through 3DMark

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btarunr
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One of the first performance benchmarks of Intel's upcoming low-power processor codenamed "Elkhart Lake," surfaced on the Futuremark database, courtesy of TUM_APISAK. The chip scores 571 points, with a graphics score of 590 and physics score of 3801. The graphics score of the Gen11-based iGPU is behind the Intel UHD 630 gen 9.5 iGPU found in heavier desktop processors since "Kaby Lake," but we predict it's being dragged behind by the CPU (3801 points physics vs. roughly 17000 points of a 6-core "Coffee Lake" processor. The chip goes on to score 170 points in Time Spy, with 148 points graphics- and 1131 points physics-scores. Perhaps Cloud Gate would've been a more apt test.

The "Elkhart Lake" silicon is built on Intel's 10 nm silicon fabrication process, and will power the next generation of Pentium Silver and Celeron processors. The chip features up to 4 CPU cores based on the "Tremont" low-power architecture, and an iGPU based on the newer Gen11 architecture. It features a single-channel memory controller that supports DDR4 and LPDDR4/x memory types. The chip in these 3DMark tests is a 4-core variant, likely a Pentium Silver engineering sample, with its CPU clocked at 1.90 GHz, and is paired with LPDDR4x memory. The chip comes in 5 W, 9 W, and 12 W TDP variants.

Borderlands: The Handsome Collection Now Free on Epic Games Store

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Uskompuf
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Borderlands: The Handsome Collection is currently free to keep on the Epic Games Store until June 4th at 4 PM BST. This game is the third major game Epic has given away in the past few weeks after Grand Theft Auto V on May 14th and Sid Meier's Civilization VI on May 21st. The fourth and final rumored major game to be given away on the platform is Ark: Survival Evolved which should be available after June 4th.

Get the game: here

Qualcomm FastConnect 6900/6700 Bring 6 GHz Wi-Fi 6E & Bluetooth 5.2 To New Mobile Devices

Press Release by
Uskompuf
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Qualcomm Technologies Inc, launches a flagship portfolio of mobile connectivity systems that represent the most advanced Wi-Fi 6E offerings of their kind. Building upon our leading Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth audio technology features, the Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 and Qualcomm FastConnect 6700 mobile connectivity systems feature the fastest available Wi-Fi speeds in the industry (up to 3.6 Gbps) on a mobile Wi-Fi offering, VR-class low latency and Bluetooth advancements delivering immersive audio experiences for classic and emerging LE Audio use cases.

"With the introduction of the FastConnect 6900 and 6700 solutions, Qualcomm Technologies is redefining the mobile experience by extending the power of Wi-Fi 6 into the 6 GHz band and advancing wireless audio with cutting-edge integrated Bluetooth 5.2 features," said Dino Bekis, vice president and general manager, mobile and compute connectivity, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "These innovations enable us to further break away from the pack and deliver a connectivity portfolio optimized to accelerate global adoption across multiple smartphone tiers."
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CDKeySales Helps You Spend More on Hardware by Saving Big on Genuine Software

by
btarunr
CDKeySales is an international merchant of genuine, globally-valid software, games, in-game content, and more. With new hardware on the horizon, CDKeySales lets you allocate more of your PC building budget toward the hardware, by offering genuine Windows 10 and Office 2019 at heavily discounted prices. Grab Windows 10 Pro, popular among PC enthusiasts and power-users for just $14 with a TechPowerUp-exclusive coupon code. A twin-pack is priced at $22. Also grab Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC for your small/medium business for $13.9. Home desktops are incomplete without Office, and CDKeySales has attractive offers on this powerful productivity suite. Get Office 2019 Professional Plus for just 32. Combine it with Windows 10 Pro for just $40. Find other attractive deals below. CDKeySales uses PayPal, so your payment instruments and purchase are secure.

Use the coupon code TECHP at check-out to avail the prices you see here.

Buy Windows 10 Pro from CDKeySales for $14 | Buy Windows 10 Home for $16.7 | Buy Windows 10 Pro 2-PC for $22 | Buy Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC for $13.9 | Buy Office 2019 Home and Student for $32 | Buy Office 2016 Professional Plus for $45 | Buy Office 2019 Professional Plus for $32 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2016 Professional for $47 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2019 Professional for $40
Thursday, May 28th 2020

Today's Reviews

Cases
Cooling
Headphones
Motherboards
Mouse
NAS
Networking
Notebooks
Processors
SSD
SPC Gear LIX Plus Review

SPC Gear LIX Plus Review

Review Mice
I'm impressed! The ambidextrous LIX Plus is SPC Gear's first foray into the world of gaming mice. A weight of just 59 g, PixArt's PMW3360, Omron switches for the main buttons, and a paracord-like cable surely are a great way to start things off.
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Intel Core i5-10400F Review - Six Cores with HT for Under $200

Intel Core i5-10400F Review - Six Cores with HT for Under $200

Review Processors
Intel's new Core i5-10400F offers a large performance jump over the previous generation Core i5-9400F because of its six-core/twelve-thread design. In this Core i5-10400F review we also test the feasibility of overclocking through BCLK, or by relaxing the PL1 and PL2 Turbo Limits.
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Intel Scores Another AMD Graphics Higher-up: Ali Ibrahim

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btarunr
 Discuss (12 Comments)
To support its efforts to build a competitive consumer GPU lineup under the Xe brand, which Intel likes to call its "Odyssey," the company scored another higher-up from AMD, this time Ali Ibrahim. He joined Intel this month as a vice-president within the Architecture, Graphics and Software group, although the company didn't specify his responsibilities. "We are thrilled that Ali has joined Intel as Vice President, Platform Architecture and Engineering - dGPUs to be part of the exciting Intel Xe graphics journey," said an Intel spokesperson in a comment to CRN.

During his 13-year tenure at AMD, Ali Ibrahim was the chief-architect of the company's cloud gaming and console SoC businesses, which provides valuable insight into Intel's breakneck efforts to build high-end discrete GPUs (something it lacked for the past two decades). Intel is the only other company that is capable of building semi-custom chips for someone like Microsoft or Sony as the inventor of x86, provided it has a GPU that can match AMD's in the console space. Likewise, with gaming taking baby steps to the cloud as big players such as Google betting on it, Intel sees an opportunity for cloud gaming GPUs that aren't too different from its "Ponte Vecchio" scalar processors. The transfer of talent isn't one-way, as AMD recently bagged Intel's server processor lead Dan McNamara to head the EPYC brand.

Cooler Master Intros MasterFan ARGB + PWM Hub: Control Both Speed and Lighting

Updated by
btarunr
 Updated: Discuss (19 Comments)
Cooler Master earlier this week rolled out the MasterFan ARGB + PWM Hub (model: MFX-ZHHN-1NNN6-R1), a handy accessory to simplify both fan speed and lighting management. The device, which is slim enough to be tucked away in the crawlspace behind the motherboard tray, puts out six each of 4-pin PWM and 3-pin addressable-RGB connections. It draws power from a SATA power connector, and takes input from one each of 4-pin PWM and 3-pin ARGB connections from your motherboard. Among the six downstream PWM headers is a high-powered header marked in red, meant for multi-fan units. The hub comes in a metal body with a transparent plastic top, it measures 103 mm x 65 mm x 16 mm (WxDxH). The company didn't reveal pricing.

Update May 29th: Cooler Master informed us that this product is only officially available in the Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and China regions, although you may find it from 3rd party sellers in other areas of the world.

AMD 5th Gen Ryzen Desktop Possibly Codenamed "Warhol"

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btarunr
 Discuss (18 Comments)
Earlier this week, we brought you a report about codenames of AMD processors that won't launch before 2022. It referenced "Raphael" being distant 5 nm "Zen 4" based successor to today's "Matisse." At the time, the codename for the 2021 release of AMD's mainstream desktop processor wasn't known. We're now getting a pointer as to what it is - "Warhol."

Named after American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol, this processor combines CPU chiplets based on the "Zen 3" with a cIOD that retains PCI-Express gen 4.0, just like "Vermeer," but still qualifies as a new generation (and not a refresh). What's more, "Warhol" apparently sticks to a 7 nm-class silicon fabrication process. This means that "Warhol" could see AMD innovate on other fronts, such as leveraging an even more advanced version of TSMC's 7 nm node (such as N7+), to increase core counts over the chiplet that makes it to "Vermeer, "Genesis Peak," and "Milan."

HP Announces the Reverb G2 VR Headset Co-designed by Valve and Microsoft

Press Release by
btarunr
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Today, HP Inc. unveiled its latest virtual reality (VR) headset, the HP Reverb G2, in collaboration with industry leaders Valve and Microsoft. The HP Reverb G2 is the world's highest resolution VR headset among major vendorsi, delivering cutting-edge optics, inside-out tracking, spatial 3D audio, natural gestures, long-wearing comfort, and plug and play support for Windows Mixed Reality and SteamVR.

"The power of collaboration is on full display with the HP Reverb G2, and alongside Valve and Microsoft, we engineered a no-compromises VR headset that's immersive, comfortable, and compatible across Windows Mixed Reality and SteamVR," said Spike Huang, vice president and global lead of VR, HP Inc. "The time is now for VR and the HP Reverb G2 brings high-quality VR to the masses with more immersion for gamers, interactive experiences for creators, increased engagement for collaboration, and higher retention rates for education and training."
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Razer Introduces Blade 15 Studio Edition for Creators

Press Release by
btarunr
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Razer today announced the all-new Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition laptop, a mobile-workstation tailored to meet the needs of every type of creator from audio engineer to VFX artist. The new mobile studio is equipped with the latest 8-Core 10th Gen Intel processor and an NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 GPU accented with supportive features such as a custom calibrated 4K OLED touch display, a UHS-III SD card reader and USB-C charging. The new Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition is the perfect combination of performance and functionality wrapped in a svelte mercury white package.

Inside the Blade 15 Studio Edition is the new 8-Core 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10875H processor capable of up to 5.1 GHz clock speeds when utilizing Intel Thermal Velocity Boost technology. The eight cores paired with the improved boost clock speeds, results in significant performance gains in CPU intensive applications. For creators and technical professionals working with dense 3D models or complex VFX designs, the Blade 15 Studio is equipped with the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 GPU. The Quadro RTX 5000 boasts 16 GB of GDDR6 memory for multi-app creative workflows and 48 RT Cores for improved real-time ray tracing performance, allowing creators to interact with their work in new and unique ways.
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Benchmarks Surface for AMD Ryzen 4700G, 4400G and 4200G Renoir APUs

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Raevenlord
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Renowned leaker APISAK has digged up benchmarks for AMD's upcoming Ryzen 4700G, 4400G and 4200G Renoir APUs in 3D Mark. These are actually for the PRO versions of the APUs, but these tend to be directly comparable with AMD's non-PRO offerings, so we can look at them to get an idea of where AMD's 4000G series' performance lies. AMD's 4000G will be increasing core-counts almost across the board - the midrange 4400G now sports 6 cores and 12 threads, which is more than the previous generation Ryzen 5 3400G offered (4 cores / 8 threads), while the top-of-the-line 4700G doubles the 3400G's core-cpount to 8 physical and 16 logical threads.

This increase in CPU cores, of course, has implied a reduction in the area of the chip that's dedicated to the integrated Vega graphics GPU - compute units have been reduced from the 3400G's 11 down to 8 compute units on the Ryzen 7 4700G and 7 compute units on the 4400G - while the 4200G now makes do with just 6 Vega compute units. Clocks have been severely increased across the board to compensate the CU reduction, though - the aim is to achieve similar GPU performance using a smaller amount of semiconductor real-estate.
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Nightdive Studios Releases New System Shock Remake Demo

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Raevenlord
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While expectations for the System Shock franchise may have cooled a little following last week's report that the much-awaited System Shock 3 had been dropped by its development team and rights sold to Chinese giant Tencent, all is not terrible in the land of Shodan. Nightdive Studios, the actual holders of the franchise development rights, have just dropped a demo for the game on both Steam and GOG - a show of faith on the developers' part regarding their work of love in rebuilding the original game from the ground up.

Alongside the demo (which weighs in at a mere 2.3 GB on GOG), Nightdive Studios has also released a 40 minute video showcasing gameplay on the rebooted game, including developer commentary. The developers also coordinated with Shacknews in order to release an in-depth interview regarding the development of the game and its original reception.
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Xbox Series X to Support "Thousands of Games at Launch" Thanks to Backwards Compatibility

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btarunr
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Microsoft today announced that when it launches sometime in Holiday 2020, the Xbox Series X next-generation entertainment system will support "thousands of games" at launch. This is thanks to the console retaining compatibility with all older Xbox generation, not just the Xbox One, but also the Xbox 360 and the very fist Xbox. This is thanks to translation layers that let you play the older games on the latest hardware. In some cases, the Xbox Series X can add HDR, and turn up frame-rates to 120 FPS on some of the older games. The Xbox Series X will have several Microsoft Studios exclusives at launch, with the company reporting that all its 15 studios are busy developing exclusives. Several games launched in the past few years for the Xbox One X could receive content upgrades to the Xbox Series X to leverage its hardware.

Quantum Shenanigan: BioShield Distribution Offers $347 5GBioShield USB Key to Protect From "Harmful 5G Emissions"

by
Raevenlord
 Discuss (55 Comments)
On today's episode of "this is just so wrong", the 5GBioShield USB Key: "guaranteed" by its BioShield Distribution manufacturers to protect you from a plethora of harmful frequencies "through a process of quantum oscillation". This USB key has some extra calls to fame, though: not only does it seemingly create a protecting field around you or your "family home", as the company puts it, but it also emits "a large number of life force frequencies favoring a general revitalization of the body." Oh my, the miracles of quantum physics.

BioShield Distribution claims that the 5GBioShield Key "provides protection for your home and family, thanks to the wearable holographic nano-layer catalyser, which can be worn or placed near to a smartphone or any other electrical, radiation or EMF [electromagnetic field] emitting device", whereby "through a process of quantum oscillation, the 5GBioShield USB key balances and re-harmonises the disturbing frequencies arising from the electric fog induced by devices, such as laptops, cordless pho4nes, wi-fi, tablets, et cetera." And get this: these quantum-oscillating-holographic-nano-layer-catalyser-life-force-emitting USB keys are available in a bargain basement-deal of $973 for a pack of three. Oh the temptation!
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Logitech G and McLaren Announces Logitech McLaren G Challenge 2020

Press Release by
btarunr
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Building on the success of previous Logitech G Challenge eRacing competitions, Logitech G, a brand of Logitech, and leading innovator of gaming technologies and gear, alongside McLaren, the racing and technology brand and creator of luxury, high performance sports cars and supercars, today announced the 3rd Annual Logitech McLaren G Challenge 2020.

"Over the last few months, we've seen an explosion in eRacing," said Jim Hoey, Head of G Challenge at Logitech G. "It's clear that the line between virtual and real racing has been blurred, and now more than ever people everywhere have access to an incredible racing experience. With the Logitech McLaren G Challenge 2020, we've upped the ante. The season has been extended to include even more adrenaline-fueled racing, and the drivers will be battling for bigger prizes. We can't wait to get started."
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HyperX and Panda Global Release First Gaming Eyewear with Design Collaboration by Esports Team

Press Release by
btarunr
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HyperX, the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., today announced a collaboration with competitive esports team Panda Global on a new custom colorway of HyperX Gaming Eyewear. The exclusive Panda Global design features the team's signature logo and black/white panda styling, offering an attractive and functional colorway with superior blue light protection for those who spend hours in front of a screen while gaming or working from home.

The HyperX Gaming Eyewear Panda Global edition glasses are made with premium nylon lenses designed to reduce eye strain. The Gaming Eyewear utilizes blue light filtering technology integrated into the lenses to minimize exposure to artificial blue light while offering minimal color distortion and eliminating reflections on both the front and back of the lenses.
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GIGABYTE AMD B550 Motherboard Pricing Revealed

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btarunr
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A GIGABYTE Community Manager on Reddit updated the "cheat sheet" of the company's AMD B550 motherboard lineup with MSRP Pricing. While prices of these boards start at USD $99, they go all the way up to $279. The top model, the B550 AORUS Master, leads the pack with a USD $279 price that puts it firmly in the premium segment where it matches features with boards based on the X570 and Intel's Z490 chipset. The B550 AORUS Pro AC is the next best model in the lineup, priced at $189. Its sans-WLAN twin, the B550 AORUS Pro, goes for $10 less at $179. The B550 AORUS Elite is priced at $159. The B550 Gaming X is part of the company's mainline brand, and goes for $139. The micro-ATX B550M AORUS Pro goes for $129, and the B550M AORUS Elite goes for $109. There's a token "sub $100" product, the B550M Gaming, at $99.

These prices indicate that B550 motherboards are on average 20% higher than B450 motherboards. For example, a reasonably well-endowed board like the B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC could be had for $150, as could the ASUS ROG Strix B450-E, and a decent board like the ROG Strix B450-F Gaming could be had at $130 even before "Zen 2" hit the market. Plenty of B450 boards could be had under the $100-mark. It looks like $99 will be a token value at best, with board vendors releasing only their most stripped down products at that that price. Find the GIGABYTE B550 motherboard cheat sheet in the source link below.

noblechairs Fallout Vault-Tec Edition Now Available to Purchase

Press Release by
btarunr
 Discuss (4 Comments)
The Fallout Vault-Tec Edition gaming chair by noblechairs is now available to purchase! Last month, noblechairs announced their partnership with the games development studio, Bethesda Softworks, and an official Fallout Edition gaming chair was teased. Today, noblechairs are excited to launch the official noblechairs HERO Gaming Chair - Fallout Vault-Tec Edition to market. It will be available to purchase across many retailers worldwide.

The Vault-Tec Edition by noblechairs takes inspiration from the Fallout series and features Vault Boy and the Vault-Tec Corporation logos on the front and the rear of the chair, along with the famous blue and yellow colour scheme. It also includes "Prepare for the Future'' - a staple phrase within the Fallout franchise.
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Raspberry Pi 4 Gets Upgraded to 8 GB, Priced at $75

Press Release by
AleksandarK
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Raspberry Pi 4 is almost a year old, and it's been a busy year. We've sold nearly 3 million units, shipped a couple of minor board revisions, and reduced the price of the 2 GB variant from $45 to $35. On the software side, we've done enormous amounts of work to reduce the idle and loaded power consumption of the device, passed OpenGL ES 3.1 conformance, started work on a Vulkan driver, and shipped PXE network boot mode and a prototype of USB mass storage boot mode - all this alongside the usual round of bug fixes, feature additions, and kernel version bumps.

While we launched with 1 GB, 2 GB and 4 GB variants, even at that point we had our eye on the possibility of an 8 GB Raspberry Pi 4. We were so enthusiastic about the idea that the non-existent product made its way into both the Beginner's Guide and the compliance leaflet. The BCM2711 chip that we use on Raspberry Pi 4 can address up to 16 GB of LPDDR4 SDRAM, so the real barrier to our offering a larger-memory variant was the lack of an 8 GB LPDDR4 package. These didn't exist (at least in a form that we could address) in 2019, but happily our partners at Micron stepped up earlier this year with a suitable part. And so, today, we're delighted to announce the immediate availability of the 8 GB Raspberry Pi 4, priced at just $75.
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BIOSTAR Introduces the Latest H410 Series Motherboards

Press Release by
btarunr
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BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today introduces the new 400 series H410MHG and H410MH motherboards designed to run the latest 10th Gen Intel Processors. Aimed at business, and casual usage, the H410 series motherboards are built to last with high-grade material and jaw-dropping functionality suitable for many use cases.

Built with practicality and reliability in mind, the H410MHG and H410MH motherboards introduced by BIOSTAR are engineered with superior functionality that rivals any motherboard of their class in the market. Designed in the sleek Micro ATX form factor that takes minimal real estate inside a PC case, the BIOSTAR H410 series motherboards come with highly desired features like USB 3.2 Gen1 that delivers compelling performance boosts and can be used to connect multiple devices without worrying about compatibility. It is capable of data transfer speeds up to 5 Gbps and backward compatible with all existing USB products.
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NVIDIA GeForce NOW Switches to Developer Opt-In System

Press Release by
Uskompuf
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GeForce NOW has already been enjoyed by millions of gamers. As we approach the end of our trial period, we're working to build a robust catalog of PC games with full support from the development community. This includes a new opt-in process for developers and publishers to offer their games on GeForce NOW. Response has been strong with over 200 publishers committing to streaming on the service.

GeForce NOW is an extension of the PC ecosystem. There is no cost for developers — games just run without difficult porting requirements — helping them reach millions of players who don't have game-ready PCs. Going forward, only the games that are opted in will be available on the service, providing confidence in the GeForce NOW game library. Yet some publishers are still figuring out their cloud strategies. Those that haven't opted in as of May 31 will be removed.
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JONSBO Rolls Out the CR-1100 Tower-type CPU Cooler in Bubblegum Pink

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btarunr
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JONSBO rolled out a new bubblegum pink trim of its CR-1100 tower-type air CPU Cooler. The design sees pink making up the fan frames, and the heatsink shroud, with contrasting white bands making up portions of the heatsink shroud. Both the push- and pull fans feature frosty translucent impellers with ARGB LED embellishments. Underneath all that plastic is a tower-type heatsink that uses six 6 mm-thick copper heat pipes making direct contact with the CPU at the base. Each of the included fans feature fluid-dynamic bearings rated for 100,000 hours, 600 to 1,500 RPM fan-speeds, 23.0-57.59 CFM of air-flow, and 18.0-31.0 dBA noise output. The cooler is designed for thermal loads of around 200 W, and measures 141 mm x 112 mm x 165 mm (LxWxH), weighing 1 kg. It is priced at USD $55.

Pico Interactive Launches Standalone Neo 2 and Neo 2 Eye Virtual Reality Headsets

Press Release by
Uskompuf
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Pico Interactive, a global tech company that develops innovative virtual reality (VR) and enterprise solutions, today announces the availability of its highly anticipated headsets from the Pico Neo line - the Neo 2 and Neo 2 Eye, both of which deliver key VR solutions to the enterprise.

Both models were built with business in mind, featuring best-in-class 4K resolution, enterprise functionality, six degrees of freedom (6DoF) and spatial stereo speakers. The headsets feature the comfort and hygienic design of an all-PU facial interface, unique counterbalanced design for easy and extended wear, and have plenty of room for prescription glasses. Using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform with Boundless XR, the Neo 2 allows content streaming from a VR Ready PC and select existing PC VR platforms.
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Google Stadia Adds Support for 1440p Streaming In Chrome

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Uskompuf
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This week Google Stadia added the option to stream games on chrome at 2560x1440 resolution so that users with QHD monitors can now stream games at their monitors' native resolution compared to just 1080p or 4k previously. To play in QHD resolution users will need an active Stadia Pro subscription, a network speed of 35 Mbps or greater, and a Windows computer or Chromebook with VP9 hardware decoding and a QHD monitor.

In other news, this week the Stadia Store gained two new games those being Jotun: Valhalla Edition, and Sundered: Eldritch Edition. Stadia Pro subscribers are also set to receive The Elder Scrolls Online for Free on June 16 along with the Morrowind Chapter as free content. Stadia players can enjoy crossplay support with PC, which means you'll be able to play with friends across Stadia and PC.

Antec Announces Intel LGA1200 Compatibility

Press Release by
Uskompuf
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Antec Inc., the leading provider of high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade, and Do-It-Yourself market, is happy to announce that all current 115x compatible CPU water blocks and air coolers are also compatible with the new Intel LGA 1200 socket, utilized on motherboards supporting the 10th generation of Intel Core processors. The new socket was very recently launched along with the Z490 motherboards that support the latest Comet Lake-S Intel processors.

LGA 1200 was designed as a replacement for the LGA 1151. The LGA 1200 has 1200 protruding pins to make contact with the pads on the processor. It uses a modified design of LGA 1151 with 49 extra pins on it, improving power delivery and enabling support for future incremental I/O features. Pin 1 position remains the same as it was in previous generation processors.

Razer Releases Updated Gigantus V2 Mouse Pad

by
Uskompuf
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Razer has launched it's new Gigantus V2 Mouse Pad, succeeding the first generation with some new gaming-oriented features. The soft gaming mouse pad features a textured micro-weave cloth surface and an anti-slip base. The mouse pad can be customized with custom printings featuring your gamer tag and favorite game art.

The Razer Gigantus V2 mouse pad is available in four sizes: M (360 x 275 x 3 mm): 9.99 USD / 11.99 EUR, L (450 x 400 x 3 mm): 14.99 USD / 19.99 EUR, XXL (940 x 410 x 4 mm): 29.99 USD / 39.99 EUR, and 3XL (1200 x 550 x 4 mm): 49.99 USD / 59.99 EUR.

ASUS Announces E210, E410 and E510 Laptops

Press Release by
btarunr
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ASUS today announced E210, E410 and E510, three value-packed 11.6-inch, 14-inch and 15.6-inch laptops. Designed to exceed the expectations of busy, budget-conscious students, E210, E410 and E510 deliver amazing value for everyday computing tasks. They have a youthful vibe and compact, lightweight frames with fresh, contemporary styling - featuring a unique deconstructed ASUS lid motif - and striking new colors that fit right in with today's dynamic lifestyles. E210, E410 and E510 are built to help users get more done, with productivity-enhancing features such as the innovative ASUS NumberPad for easy data entry and a 180° lay-flat hinge that makes it easy to collaborate or share content with friends or colleagues.

The ASUS E210, E410 and E510 have a youthful vibe that sets them apart. Their eye-catching lids are detailed with a pattern of modern slashes that form a unique motif made from a deconstructed ASUS badge. The bold look continues inside, where a bright yellow color-blocking Enter key takes center stage. The fresh design is complemented with three new contemporary colors. Peacock Blue and Dreamy White are striking iridescent shades that change hue as the viewing angle changes, and Rose Gold is available for those preferring a more subtle finish.
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Wednesday, May 27th 2020

Today's Reviews

Cases
Cooling
Headphones
Motherboards
Mouse
Notebooks
Processors
SSD
MSI MEG Z490 Godlike Review

MSI MEG Z490 Godlike Review

Review Motherboards
The Godlike from MSI is back, and for Z490 it is more feature packed than ever. With top of the line VRM, cooling, and storage, along a host of extras, the MSI MEG Z490 Godlike promises to do it all. Just how far can you get with a US$750 motherboard?
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MSI Announces Optix MAG274R Gaming Monitor for E-Sports

Press Release by
btarunr
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MSI, the world's leading manufacturer for true gaming hardware, is proudly expanding the hardware possibilities for all gamers. This time, we are honored to introduce our latest IPS eSports Gaming Monitor: Optix MAG274R. Equipped with an IPS panel, a high refresh rate of 144Hz and a fast response time of 1 ms, Optix MAG274R will let you enjoy the best viewing experience and the smoothest gaming experience at the same time.

Why IPS? Compared to a traditional TN panel, IPS panels provide a wider viewing angle with minimum color shifts and an astonishing viewing experience. However, most gaming monitors are not equipped with IPS panels due to response time. For a fast response time equal to or less than 1 ms, you had to turn to TN or VA panel gaming monitors in the past. With the ever-changing nature of technology, fast response time and high-quality viewing experience are no longer mutually exclusive. Always improving, MSI will keep on challenging itself in the design of gaming monitors, and ensure that you are always ahead of your opponents.
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Creative Intros Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus Pure Edition Sound Card

by
btarunr
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Creative today introduced a limited-edition variant of its Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus discrete internal sound card, the Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus Pure Edition (model: SBX-AE5P-WH). This is essentially a white color trim of the AE-5 Plus sound card which debuted in mid-April 2020, which sees silvery matte white make up the main shroud over the card, and much of the backside of the PCB being painted white. There are still some contrasting piano black bits, such as the ARGB insert.

The AE-5 Plus slots between the AE-5 and AE-7, while being almost identical to the former. It's only feature-additions over the AE-5 are Dolby Digital Live and DTS encoding support, which the AE-5 lacks. The hardware of the AE-5 Plus is identical to the AE-5, with 122 dB SNR, 32-bit 384 kHz audio format support, and 0.00032% total harmonic distortion. Available in limited quantities, the Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus Pure Edition is priced around USD $170.

GELID Unveils the Lumen RAM Heatsinks with RGB Lighting

Press Release by
btarunr
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GELID Lumen offers an easy way of adding RGB into your PC. It features the double-side vest heatsink to enhance DRAM cooling and the RGB module with a standard 3-Pin Fan connector that can be attached to any motherboard. The RGB functions are fully automatic and don't require external hardware or software to set lighting modes.

Made of high-grade components, Lumen supports all types and form-factors of DDR2/DDR3/DDR4 RAM modules designed for desktops. It ensures fast installation and perfectly fits high-performance DRAM to boost overclocking capabilities and energize your gaming rig with spectacular RGB lighting.
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AMD Releases Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.5.1 Drivers

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btarunr
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AMD today released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition. Version 20.5.1 beta is released exclusively for Windows 10, and comes with two new feature additions and several fixes. To begin with, version 20.5.1 introduces support for Windows 10 May 2020 Update (2004), including its new WDDM. An update to AMD Link sees a new Xinput emulation driver to improve compatibility with current- and future games. Several issues were fixed, beginning with a crash or hang on hybrid graphics system configurations, especially during a driver installation; a black screen issue on a limited number displays, requiring a reboot to resolve; a "Destiny 2" crash/hang when task-switching; an "Overwatrch" crash or black screen when joining a match; and incorrect clocks reported on performance metrics overlay for RX 5700 series graphics cards.

Also fixed were high memory usage on Instant Replay or Desktop Recording on a machine that's entered sleep; a black screen with the Vulkan test on GeekBench 5; glitching observed in "League of Legends" after a task-switch, Radeon Overlay unintentionally minimizing "Sniper Elite 4" when invoked; lighting corruption in GTA V with Radeon Boost enabled; a texture corruption issue with "Shadow of the Tomb Raider," RDR2 failing to launch in certain hybrid graphics systems; memory OC failing to apply on Radeon VII, and "Star Wars Jedi: The Fallen Order" and "Control" experiencing hangs with Radeon Anti-Lag enabled. Grab the driver from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.5.1 beta
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MSI Confirms "Zen 3" Support on its AMD 400-series Chipset Motherboards with 16MB ROMs

by
btarunr
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MSI confirmed that AMD's "Zen 3" processor support will be added to the company's AMD 400-series chipset motherboards, including the non-MAX SKUs that only have 16 MB EEPROM chips. Marketing Director Eric van Beurden in an MSI Insider video presentation confirmed that with the non-MAX motherboards, "Zen 3" support will be added as AMD planned to go about doing so (i.e. add "Zen 3" support by cutting out support for older processors and slimming down the UEFI setup program down to the GSE Click BIOS program, which may not correspond with your motherboard's original feature-set). On the other hand, the MAX SKUs, with their 32 MB EEPROMs will receive "Zen 3" support painlessly, meaning that the board may retain support for some, if not all, older processor generations, and retain their original feature-rich UEFI setup programs.

Intel Slightly Upgrades Stock Coolers for Some of its Higher 10th Gen Core and Xeon-W

by
btarunr
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Intel is packing a slightly improved stock heatsink-fan (HSF) cooling solution with some of its higher-end 10th generation Core desktop and select Xeon-W processors. The cooler, while nowhere close in size or weight to the TS15A, features a slightly thicker heatsink with a copper core, compared to the one included with lower-end parts such as the i5-10400. This heatsink's primary material is black anodized aluminium, with a copper core. The fan's cable is now black sleeved, instead of being a loose bunch of four ketchup-and-mustard wires. The hub of the fan, which usually had a white or blue label with ugly regulatory markings, now has a solid grey sticker with just the Intel logo.

There are no performance numbers, but the cooler looks physically similar to the copper core coolers Intel used to include with some of its oldest LGA115x processors, such as "Lynnfield" and " Sandy Bridge," capable of handling 95 W TDP. Intel is including the cooler with the Core i9-10900, the i9-10900F, i7-10700F, i7-10700; and Xeon W-1290, W-1270, and W-1250 boxed processors in the DIY retail channel.

Windows 10 May 2020 Update Starts Rolling Out to the Public

by
btarunr
 Discuss (22 Comments)
Microsoft began rolling out the Windows 10 May 2020 Update (version 2004) to the public. You can have Windows Update check for updates, and offer to upgrade Windows whenever it's available; or head over to the Microsoft website in the link below, and get the Windows Update Assistant and upgrade now. Windows 10 May 2020 Update introduces improved Network Connections, particularly with Bluetooth; the new DirectX 12 Ultimate API that enables richer gaming experiences, the Windows Hello. Hitting the Windows key + . (period key) invokes the new emoji menu that includes Kaomojis. Improvements have also been made to Edge, Cortana, and Windows Accessibility.
DOWNLOAD: Windows 10 May 2020 Update (Update Assistant)

NVIDIA Announces Quadro Experience

Press Release by
AleksandarK
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Experience matters. And with NVIDIA Quadro Experience—a new application for Quadro GPUs—professionals across industries can boost their creativity and increase their productivity like never before.

Quadro Experience, available now, helps professionals simplify time-consuming tasks, streamline workflows and ensure your favorite applications always have the latest updates. NVIDIA Quadro Experience makes sharing content easier by providing screen capture and desktop recording in 4K, so teams can easily upload content and even broadcast their work directly from their desktop or laptop.
NVIDIA Quadro Experience NVIDIA Quadro Experience NVIDIA Quadro Experience
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Acer Announces New XV272XU Monitor: 27" 1440p AHVA, 165 Hz, 1 ms, Vesa HDR400, VRR Support

by
Raevenlord
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Acer today introduced their new XV272XU monitor. A wildly popular, sweet-spot-like 27" 1440p panel is used with what Acer says is an "IPS-like" panel from AUO Optronics' of the AHVA type. The 165 Hz refresh rate and 1 ms (GtG) response time alongside VRR support from both AMD (FreeSync) and NVIDIA (G-Sync) up the ante in terms of gaming fluency. The 178º/178º viewing angles and 8-bit panel ensure proper accuracy for its 99% coverage of the Adobe RGB color gamut, while the 1000:1 contrast ratio and VESA HDR400 certification round out the specifications.

There are swivel (+- 20º), pivot (+- 90º) and tilt (-5º to 25º) functions to increase adaptability to any workplace scenario, alongside height adjustment (in a 120 mm range). A VESA 100 x 100 mm mount is present, as are 2x 2 W speakers. I/= is taken care of by 4x USB 3.0 Type A, 1x USB Type-C, 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.2, and 1x 3.5 mm audio jack. The Acer XV272XU is expected to be released between Q3-Q4 2020 for a price of 5,499 CNY ($770 / €707 / £632).

id Software Clarifies Denuvo Technology Wasn't Responsible For Doom Eternal Issues Following Update 1

by
Raevenlord
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id Software's Marty Stratton clarified the issues introduced in Doom Eternal following its Update 1. Via a Reddit post, the developer informed its audience that Denuvo's introduction into the game with Update 1 (a move that sparked a review-bomb on Steam and a quick backpedaling from the company regarding its inclusion) said that the anti-cheat software actually wasn't responsible for the reported issues.

The developer said that the actual performance issues introduced with Update 1 lie in changes in the graphics memory handling code, as well as some bugs introduced alongside customizable skins. The developer also went on to say that the decision to include Denuvo post-release wasn't one forced by publisher Bethesda, but an entirely in-house one, and that the subsequent decision to remove the protection has nothing to do with Denuvo's software quality. Of course, the addition of an always-on DRM solution to Doom Eternal as a post-release patch still stands, as users that previously acquired the game did so without knowledge of its eventual addition. Look after the break for a complete transcript on the comment.
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PSA: There are Two Steppings of Non-K 10th Gen Core i5 in Circulation, Only One Comes with STIM

by
btarunr
 Discuss (20 Comments)
There are apparently two steppings of the 10th generation Intel Core i5 desktop processor in circulation, and the two have major physical differences, even if their specifications are identical per SKU. These are Q0 and G1. The Q0 stepping of the 10th gen Core i5 is based on the 10-core variant of "Comet Lake-S" silicon, the 200-odd mm² die, which comes with Intel's die-thinning innovation, and more importantly, soldered thermal interface material (STIM). For these chips, four cores on the 10-core die are disabled by Intel to carve out the 6-core/12-thread Core i5 SKU. The G1 stepping, on the other hand, is based on the 6-core variant of "Comet Lake-S," which is similar in design to the 6-core "Coffee Lake" die. The G1-stepping chips lack STIM, and use a thermal paste.

What's more, Q0 and G1 steppings have different SPEC codes. For the Core i5-10400F, the Q0 stepping variant's SPEC code is "SRH79" and the G1 stepping variant's code is "SRH3D." The underside of the processor's package looks different between the two steppings (pictured below). You won't be able to tell the underside of the package through the little window in your processor's retail package, but the SPEC code is printed on the IHS. There's no geographic marker as to which stepping is found in what particular market. Both steppings appear to be distributed uniformly, wherever available. Since Intel is using this stepping-level differentiation only among non-K SKUs, we don't expect the two to have any different performance, but possibly different thermals.

ASUS APEs ASRock with a BFB-like Tech for non-K Intel Processors

by
btarunr
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ASUS with its Intel 400-series chipset motherboards is introducing APE, or ASUS Performance Enhancement, a feature rivaling ASRock Base Frequency Boost (BFB). What it essentially does is override PL1 (power level 1) for 65 W-rated on non-K Core processors, allowing the processor to sustain higher clock speeds after the Turbo Boost algorithm has exhausted Tau (a timing variable that allows the processor to stay within elevated boost states, before having to fall back to base frequency). Several of ASUS's Intel B460 chipset motherboards feature APE with maximum PL1 override values set at 125 W for most of the motherboard models listed in the slide below, except for the top ROG Strix B460-F Gaming, which allows you to dial the value all the way up to 210 W.

ASUS is introducing this feature through BIOS updates for boards that don't have it. The slide details the minimum BIOS version for each of the board that debuts APE. ASRock, on the other hand, introduced BFB for not just its entire Intel 400-series motherboard lineup, but also most of its Z390 and B365 lineups. To be fair to ASUS, this feature is more relevant to chipsets such as the B460, H470, and B365, since Z490 already features options that let you play with power limits. Intel gives motherboard vendors the freedom to set power limits and Tau value, but non-K processors would still be limited by their nameplate base- and boost frequencies, so raising PL1 beyond a point has no impact.

GIGABYTE Announces the AORUS 5 vB and 7 vB Gaming Notebooks with WindForce Cooling

Press Release by
btarunr
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Hailing from the world leading PC brand- GIGABYTE Technologies, the top-tier gaming brand AORUS, continues to attract gaming fans around the world. Raising the bar and breaking through performance barriers, AORUS is the leader in the gaming industry. Insisting on craftsmanship paired with unleashing raw power, AORUS offers a new standard of "on the go performance for pros" with durable light weight, easy to carry laptops. Creating premium and distinctive chassis and unparalleled performance features as its core, the AORUS brand dominates the gaming industry again this year (2020) with the introduction of the all-new 10th generation Intel Core i7 processor and the all-new mid-range AORUS 5 vB and AORUS 7 vB bringing high-performance to the masses.

Both new members of the AORUS family remain very portable, with an improved thermal cooling system, 144Hz high-speed refresh and wide gamut display that impressively sweeps competitors off the stage. "We focus on producing exceptional visual experiences, at the same time, providing performance- seeking gamers, visceral feel, visually immersive and highly responsive gaming experience. Not to mention the value and affordability that these flagship laptops offer for users who use their laptops throughout the work day and game at night.", says Steven Chen, Gigabyte Mobility Business Center Vice President.
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NVIDIA Launches GeForce Game Ready 446.14 WHQL Driver

by
AleksandarK
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NVIDIA has today launched the latest version of its "Game Ready" graphics driver lineup with the 446.14 WHQL drivers. This release brings mostly performance optimizations and bug fixes for the video game Valorant. In addition to these performance optimizations and fixes, optimal support for Minecraft Dungeons, Disintegration, and Crucible is included. An important new feature update is the inclusion of Variable Rate Supersampling (VRSS) support for Onward. NVIDIA has also fixed driver installation issues on Colorful GeForce GTX 1650 that may have bugged some users of the cards. For the full list of fixes please check out the list below.
Valorant
DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 446.14 WHQL
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Aqua Computer Announces Cuplex Kryos NEXT RGBpx Water Blocks

Press Release by
btarunr
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The German water cooling specialist Aqua Computer is expanding its range of CPU coolers. The newly developed cuplex kryos NEXT RGBpx series not only provides excellent cooling performance but also sets unique optical accents. This is achieved above all by the integrated lighting, which enables impressive effects thanks to the 11 individually addressable RGBpx LEDs.

The lighting is housed in an elegant CNC milled, blasted and anodized aluminium frame. The threads for mounting the cooler are also located in this frame, whereby the force is evenly distributed onto the housing, thus minimizing stress onto it. Of course, the aluminium has no contact with the coolant. The Plexiglas housing is also manufactured in a complex CNC processing. During the construction, great attention was paid to long-term stability and, for example, the material was designed with large rest-thicknesses.
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Intel Reassures Investors of its Server Processor Roadmap: Ice Lake-SP in 2020, Sapphire Rapids in 2021

by
btarunr
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Intel's Investor Relations head Trey Campbell, in a "fire-side chat" with top investors at the Cowen Virtual Technology Media and Telecom Conference, reaffirmed Intel's commitment to its server processor roadmap. Intel is on course to introducing its 10 nm Xeon "Ice Lake-SP" enterprise processor family by the end of 2020, and "Sapphire Rapids" sometime within 2021.

"Ice Lake-SP" processor will introduce the new "Whitley" platform, with a new 4,189-pin LGA socket, which leverages PCI-Express gen 4.0. While retaining the DDR4 memory standard, the memory interface has been broadened to 8-channel, and reference memory clock speeds are expected to be increased to DDR4-3200. The company's "Sapphire Rapids" processor is expected to shake up the market, as it introduces next-generation I/O, when it launches alongside the "Eagle Stream" platform in 2021. The processor will be built on the refined 10 nm+ silicon fabrication node, feature "Willow Cove" CPU cores, and I/O feature set that sees the introduction of DDR5 memory standard, and PCI-Express gen 5.0.

MSI Announces the Optix PAG272 Monitor Family With Four Models - One of Them With Quantum Dot

by
Raevenlord
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MSI today announced the release of not one, not two, but four monitors to their Optix lineup, under the Optix PAG272 family. These monitors aim to cater to all budgets, apparently, as their features vary across resolution and refresh rates according to the model number. RGB lighting on the back of the monitors is stock across the lineup. Starting from the top-down in terms of specs, the Optix PAG272URV features a 27", IPS panel sporting 4K resolution, 60 Hz refresh rate, a 4 ms GtG response time, FreeSync (non-Premium), and VESA Display HDR 400 certification. I/O is taken care of by 2x HDMI (1.4), 1x HDMI (2.0) and 1x DisplayPort (1.2).

That's not the most impressive display, though - that honor is reserved for the Optix PAG272QR2. The Optix PAG272QR2 features a 27", IPS panel sporting 1440p resolution, 165 Hz refresh rate, a 1 ms GtG response time, FreeSync Premium, and an HDR-ready badge (with maximum brightness set at 300 nits). I/O is taken care of by 2x HDMI (2.0) and 2x DisplayPort (1.4). The more interesting spec in this panel, though, is the addition of a Quantum Dot layer, which greatly improves color rendition: MSI claim 10 bit colors (8 bit + FRC) with 150% of the sRGB color gamut coverage, alongside 99% of the Adobe RGB color gamut, and 98% of the DCI-P3 color space, which makes this an interesting panel not only for gaming, but also for color-sensitive tasks.
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XRSpace Launches 5G-connected VR headset

Press Release by
AleksandarK
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XRSPACE, the company pioneering the next generation of social reality, has today announced the launch of the world's first social VR platform designed for mass market users, combined with the first 5G mobile VR headset, delivering on the promise of a true social VR experience for all.

XRSPACE aims to create the social reality of the future - a world where people can interact both physically and virtually in a way that is contextual, familiar, immersive, interactive and personal. At a time when face-to-face interaction is restricted due to social distancing measures, XRSPACE is aiming to bring people together in a virtual world that is powered by cutting edge XR, AI, and computer vision technology, creating a new experience through 5G which is meaningful, anytime, anywhere.
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Qualcomm Collaborates with 15 Global Operators to Deliver XR Viewers

Press Release by
Uskompuf
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Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, today at Augmented World Expo (AWE), celebrates the milestone of partnering with global operators, smartphone OEMs and XR viewer manufacturers to deliver XR viewers to consumers and enterprises within the next year. Since Qualcomm Technologies' device category introduction of XR viewers tethered to 5G smartphones, fifteen global operators including China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, EE, KDDI, KT, LG Uplus, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, SK Telecom, SoftBank, Telefonica, Verizon and Vodafone have shared plans to sample and commercialize XR viewers to provide immersive, never-before-experiences over 5G.

Lightweight, head-worn devices that connect to a smartphone powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 or 865 Mobile Platforms, XR viewers are glasses tethered to a 5G-enabled smartphone via USB-C cable. XR viewers unlock a new generation of immersive experiences using 5G-enabled smartphones that provide high bandwidth and low latency which is essential for high-quality XR. Consumers' favorite smartphone applications can become augmented reality (AR) experiences in front of their eyes or workplace meetings can be revolutionized through holographic telepresence with virtual collaboration platforms, as XR and 5G come together to transform how the world connects, communicates and consumes content.
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AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT and Ryzen 7 3800XT Benchmarks Surface

Updated by
btarunr
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AMD's 3rd generation Ryzen "Matisse Refresh" processors surfaced on the Futuremark online database, as dug up by TUM_APISAK, where someone with access to them allegedly posted some performance numbers. Interestingly, the clock-speeds as read by the Futuremark SystemInfo module appear very different from what were previously reported. The 3800XT is shown featuring a 3.80 GHz nominal clock, boosting up to 4.70 GHz, while the 3900XT has a 3.90 GHz nominal clock, boosting up to the same 4.70 GHz as the 3800XT. APISAK reports that the 3800XT scores 25135 points in the FireStrike physics test.

A WCCFTech report presents screenshots of Cinebench R20 single-thread performance scores of the 3900XT, where it is shown beating the i9-10900K (in a single-threaded test). The 3800XT is within striking distance of the i9-10900K in this test, and beats the i7-10700KF. This single-threaded performance figure suggests that AMD's design focus with "Matisse Refresh" has been to shore up single-threaded and less-parallelized application performance, in other words, gaming performance.

HP Announces Five New Gaming Orientated Headsets & Earphones

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Uskompuf
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Ayute Co Ltd, is set to launch a series of five new HP gaming headsets and earphones this Friday May 29, 2020. The five new models include the H150, H320GS, H360GS, H500GS BLACK, and H500GS GOLD. The five new models feature prices between 20 - 60 USD and are set to be released in Japan. The H150 are budget earphones with an adjustable boom mic, the H320GS and H360GS are both entry-level gaming headsets with LED lighting while the H500GS BLACK and H500GS GOLD offer a more premium design and features.
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Samsung Reveals Launch Info of Odyssey G7 and G9 QLED Monitors, Teams Up with T1

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Samsung Electronics, the global gaming monitor market leader today announced its official partnership with global esports organization, T1 Entertainment & Sports (T1). With this partnership, all teams and players located at the T1 headquarters training facility in Seoul will practice using Samsung's latest curved gaming monitors, the Odyssey G9 and G7. The Odyssey portfolio delivers a powerful combination of high-performance 1000R curvature, QLED picture quality, rapid 1 ms response time and 240Hz refresh rate for the most immersive gaming experience.

"We are proud to partner with T1, the leader in professional esports, helping them in their continued success and global growth as official display partner," said Hyesung Ha, Senior Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. "Our line-up of Odyssey monitors provides the latest in gaming monitor technology with lightning-fast speed, comfortable curvature and a sleek design, offering professional esports gamers the competitive edge they need to make every split second count."
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QNAP NAS OS Integrates Microsoft Office Online for Efficient Document Editing

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Uskompuf
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QNAP Systems Inc, a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, has collaborated with Microsoft to integrate Office for the web into QTS, the QNAP NAS operating system. With this new feature, QTS users can right-click on Office documents and select "Edit with Office Online" to facilitate direct editing of Microsoft Office documents in the web browser, eliminating the complex and time-consuming conventional workflow of download, edit, and re-upload.

Office for the web is Microsoft's free online service that enables viewing and editing of Microsoft Office documents, including Word documents, Excel worksheets, and PowerPoint presentations, in a web interface. QNAP NAS users with proper document access permissions can quickly and easily launch Office for the web in the same browser window, boosting productivity and streamlining workflow.
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Addlink Debuts the S68 M.2 NVMe SSD Series

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btarunr
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Addlink today debuted its S68 line of mainstream M.2 NVMe SSDs. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor and taking advantage of the PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface, the S68 comes in 512 GB and 1 TB capacities. The drives combine a Phison E13T-series controller with 3D TLC NAND flash memory. The 1 TB variant offers sequential read speeds of up to 2,500 MB/s with up to 2,100 MB/s sequential writes; while the 512 GB model offers up to 2,100 MB/s reads with up to 1,700 MB/s writes. 4K random access for both drives are vaguely stated as up to 295,000 IOPS reads, and up to 430,000 IOPS writes. Write endurance of the two are rated at 400 TBW for the 512 GB model, and 800 TBW for the 1 TB model. The company is backing these drives with 5-year warranties. It didn't reveal pricing or availability information.

Intel Issues PCN Reflecting LGA1200 Support for BXTS15A Boxed Cooler

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btarunr
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Intel sells a beefed up sibling of its stock heatsink-fan separately in the DIY retail channel, called the Thermal Solution TS15A, which was originally released when Intel launched its LGA115x socket. With the new LGA1200 socket retaining cooler compatibility with LGA115x, Intel issued a PCN (product change notification) apprising its retail supply chain that a newer batch of the cooler will come with updated packaging to reflect that the cooler supports LGA1200 in addition to LGA1151. The TS15A features a copper core making contact with the processor's IHS at the base, from which aluminium fins project radially. A high power fan ventilates the cooler axially, while the cooler's design spreads some of the air onto the CPU VRM and memory.
Tuesday, May 26th 2020

Today's Reviews

Cases
Graphics Cards
Memory
Monitors
Motherboards
Mouse
Notebooks
Processors
SSD
Intel Core i5-10600K Review - All You Need for Gaming

Intel Core i5-10600K Review - All You Need for Gaming

Review Processors
The Core i5-10600K is Intel's biggest upgrade in the mid-range for years. Driven by strong competition from AMD, Intel is now giving us a 6c/12t CPU with 125 W TDP and the full compliment of 12 MB cache. Our Core i5-10600K benchmarks show it to be a formidable performer, especially in gaming.
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Seagate Announces FireCuda 120 SATA SSD for Gamers

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btarunr
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Seagate Technology plc., a world leader in data solutions, today announced the new FireCuda 120 SATA SSD designed for gamers who require speed, durability, and generous capacity to reach their peak performance and safeguard their vast digital libraries.

Underpinning the company's line of PC game storage, the FireCuda 120 takes gaming rigs to the next level with a SATA 6 Gb/s interface and roars to life with sequential read/write speeds of up to 560 MB/s reads and up to 540 MB/s writes, offering more responsive downloads, installs, and multitasking. The drive has capacities up to 4 TB, Seagate's highest capacity gaming SSD yet. Meeting the demands of sustained abuse, the FireCuda 120 was built for durability, delivering a 1.8M hour MTBF and up to 5600 TBW. For total peace of mind, Seagate backs the drive with a five-year limited warranty.
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AMD Radeon RX 5300 (Desktop) Surfaces on Geekbench

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btarunr
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AMD is coming around to launching its entry-level Radeon RX 5300 on the desktop platform, although it remains to be seen if the SKU will be released in the AIB (all-in-board) retail channel, or remains an OEM-exclusive. It surfaced an "AMD 7340:CF" graphics device on the Geekbench database, and was identified as the RX 5300 (non-mobile) by Komachi Ensaka. The OpenCL benchmark component of Geekbench identifies the card as having 24 compute units (1536 stream processors). The mobile RX 5300M has 3 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 96-bit wide memory bus, and the desktop RX 5300 appears to have the same memory configuration. The SKU hence appears to be based on the 7 nm "Navi 14" silicon, the same one that powers the RX 5500 series.

Lenovo Announces Lenovo Yoga Duet 7i and IdeaPad Duet 3i

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btarunr
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Remember when devices were designed to only do one thing, in one place, and for a single user? Not anymore. Our world is changing fast; with smarter technology more prevalent than ever in our daily lives, multitasking has increasingly become the norm. With grab-and-go form factors, our screens are our lifelines when we're on-the-go or just moving from room to room in our own homes.

As we are finding out, remote working, online learning, and virtual social gatherings do not have to be hosted from any particular place—all it takes is the right technology. In this time of connectivity, Lenovo is committed to delivering on all fronts by providing more people with the accessible and multipurpose technology they will need to thrive.
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Lenovo ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II Stars Selling

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btarunr
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For those addicted to the track-point on their ThinkPad notebook, and can't get themselves to use a mouse on their desktops, Lenovo rolled out the ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II back in January 2020, which started selling for USD $85.99. This is a wireless+wired keyboard that's laid out exactly like a ThinkPad T-series notebook's keyboard, with a track-point in the middle, and its two buttons. and a typical 13-inch class notebook's 83-key layout, plus three buttons for the track-point. There are three ways to connect this keyboard to your computer/notebook/tablet: over Bluetooth, over 2.4 GHz RF, using the included dongle, and plugging it directly with the included USB-C to USB-A cable, which charges its battery, as well as lets you use the keyboard as a USB-HID. The keyboard uses the same scissor-type switches found on ThinkPads, with Chicklet keycaps. It measures 305.5 mm x 164 mm x 13.7 (WxDxH).

AMD Re-Releases Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.4.2 as a WHQL-signed Driver

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btarunr
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AMD on Tuesday re-released its Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.4.2 graphics drivers as a WHQL-signed driver. The company hasn't released a driver update since April 21 (the same 20.4.2 as a beta). With no new AAA game releases, there probably wasn't much AMD could do. Then again, 20.4.2 beta came with a long list of "known issues" (new issues identified by AMD that needed to be solved), which could have been fixed in the last 35 days or so. The WHQL is identical to the beta. It comes with optimization for Gears Tactics and Predator: Hunting Grounds, and fixes a handful of issues. Grab the Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.4.2 WHQL from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.4.2 WHQL

New Details Surface on Intel NUC 11 Extreme: TigerLake-U & GTX 1660 Ti

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Raevenlord
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New details have surfaced on Intel's next-generation NUC systems - built with the intention to carry the highest performance density per available chassis capacity in the computer market (the aim is a 1.35 L case). We already knew Intel's Panther Canyon NUC would bring about their Tiger Lake-U designs would be carrying the company's Tiger Lake-U CPUs, which should combine next-generation "Willow Cove" CPU cores with an iGPU based on Intel's new Xe graphics architecture. A new piece of data here, as has been reported, is that Intel is also working on an enthusiast-class NUC under the "Phantom Canyon" moniker, which should bring about increased graphics performance.

Even if Intel's graphics architecture is a mindblowing performance improvement over their current graphics technologies, there's only so much an integrated graphics solution can do. Now, we seemingly have confirmation, via a 3D Max Benchmark, that Intel's Panther Canyon will be paired with an NVIDIA GeForce 1660 Ti graphics card (scoring 5,355 points). The 3D Mark TimeSpy test system uses a TigerLake-U engineering sample clocked at 2.3 GHz base and 4.4 GHz boost, alongside an 80 W NVIDIA GTX 1660 Ti (Notebook) and 8 GB of RAM.
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Xiaomi Launches RedmiBook 13, 14 and 16 Laptops Powered by AMD Ryzen 4000: Poised to Rule Them All

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Raevenlord
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Xiaomi today announced the impending release of three new laptops with 13", 14", and 16" diagonals. The ideal is tantalizingly clear: to launch a laptop available at all the most popular resolutions, with the specs to match, and pricing that's incredibly aggressive - as is Xiaomi's usual trademark. All three Xiaomi RedmiBook models carry AMD's Latest Ryzen 4000 CPUs in the form of the Ryzen 5 4500U or Ryzen 7 4700U - so you know you're in for very attractive performance and battery life metrics from the get go.

The RedmiBook 13 comes in three configurations. The base model, featuring an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U CPU, 8 GB RAM and a 512 GB SSD variant is priced at CNY 3,799 (roughly $530); the AMD Ryzen 5 4500U CPU, 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD variant is priced at CNY 3,999 (roughly $560); upgrade for an AMD Ryzen 7 4700U CPU (Vega 8 graphics) paired with 16 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD and you'll be asked for CNY 4,999 (roughly $700).
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ASUS Sneaks Out ROG Strix TRX40-XE Gaming Motherboard

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btarunr
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ASUS silently updated its socket sTRX4 motherboard lineup with the ROG Strix TRX40-XE Gaming. Whispers of this board along with a "Prime TRX40 PRO-S" model date back to February, when a Hardware Info report described them as near-identical successors of the ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming and Prime TRX40-PRO, with upgraded CPU VRM setups, as ASUS probably felt the two needed an improved VRM to cope with the rigors of a 64-core/128-thread Ryzen Threadripper 3990X processor, particularly overclocking it.

The company had already upgraded its flagship ROG Zenith II Extreme to the beefed-up Zenith II Extreme Alpha. The ROG Strix TRX40-XE Gaming is identical to the original ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming, right until you pop open its VRM heatsink. ASUS is using beefier 70 A phases with the XE, carried over from the original ROG Zenith II Extreme. The Extreme Alpha which now tops the lineup, uses even stronger 90 A power stages. The original ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming still very much does support the Threadripper 3990X, including overclocking it, though not as well as the ROG Strix TRX40-XE Gaming. The Prime TRX40 PRO-S remains elusive. ASUS is pricing the ROG Strix TRX40-XE Gaming at USD $549.
ASUS ROG Strix TRX40-XE Gaming

AMD B550 Motherboards to Restart AGESA with v2

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Raevenlord
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Apparently, AMD will be taking a slightly confusing step with its new AGESA codes - at least for the B550 platform. A report via Hardwareluxx has AMD rebooting AGESA (the most basic firmware for your motherboard and chipset support that's a requirement for correct CPU and feature support) versions back to version 1.0.0.0, but with a catch. The new AGESA version that's supposed to allow for support for AMD's Zen 3 CPUs will be coded as ComboAM4 v2 1.0.0.0 - instead of the next version in the current AGESA nomenclature, 1.0.0.6. It is still unclear if this change only refers to AMD's B550 or if it will also move on to X570's next AGESA releases.

It's expected that new motherboards based on AMD's B550 chipset will start landing in June. For now, there's confirmation on at least two motherboards running with this V2 of AGESA: MSI's MAG B550 Tomahawk (ComboAM4 v2 1.0.0.0), and the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master (ComboAM4v2 1.0.0.1). So if you're looking to use AMD's B550 motherboard (or even X570) with AMD's upcoming Zen 3 CPUs, make sure to read your motherboard manufacturers' release notes for each AGESA version, so that you install the correct one and avoid yourself a potential load of pain with a non-functioning AGESA for your shiny new Zen 3 CPU.

WB Games Announces Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath

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btarunr
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Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announced that Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath, a new expansion for the hit videogame Mortal Kombat 11, the best-selling title in franchise history, is now available digitally for PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system, PlayStation 4 Pro computer entertainment system, the Xbox One family of devices including Xbox One X, Nintendo Switch system, PC and Stadia.

Developed by award-winning NetherRealm Studios, Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath provides an all-new, cinematic story campaign that expands the Mortal Kombat 11 storyline with a time-bending narrative centered around trust and deceit. Through the immersive Story mode, players take on the role of various fighters to continue the epic saga as Fire God Liu Kang, the new keeper of time and protector of Earthrealm, must now enlist the help of unlikely allies and familiar foes to forge a new history as the fate of two worlds hang in the balance.
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Distant Blips on the AMD Roadmap Surface: Rembrandt and Raphael

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btarunr
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Several future AMD processor codenames across various computing segments surfaced courtesy of an Expreview leak that's largely aligned with information from Komachi Ensaka. It does not account for "Matisse Refresh" that's allegedly coming out in June-July as three gaming-focused Ryzen socket AM4 desktop processors; but roadmap from 2H-2020 going up to 2022 sees many codenames surface. To begin with, the second half of 2020 promises to be as action packed as last year's 7/7 mega launch. Over in the graphics business, the company is expected to debut its DirectX 12 Ultimate-compliant RDNA2 client graphics, and its first CDNA architecture-based compute accelerators. Much of the processor launch cycle is based around the new "Zen 3" microarchitecture.

The server platform debuting in the second half of 2020 is codenamed "Genesis SP3." This will be the final processor architecture for the SP3-class enterprise sockets, as it has DDR4 and PCI-Express gen 4.0 I/O. The EPYC server processor is codenamed "Milan," and combines "Zen 3" chiplets along with an sIOD. EPYC Embedded (FP6 package) processors are codenamed "Grey Hawk."
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Arm Announces new IP Portfolio with Cortex-A78 CPU

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AleksandarK
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During this unprecedented global health crisis, we have experienced rapid societal changes in how we interact with and rely on technology to connect, aid, and support us. As a result of this we are increasingly living our lives on our smartphones, which have been essential in helping feed our families through application-based grocery or meal delivery services, as well as virtually seeing our colleagues and loved ones daily. Without question, our Arm-based smartphones are the computing hub of our lives.

However, even before this increased reliance on our smartphones, there was already growing interest among users to explore the limits of what is possible. The combination of these factors with the convergence of 5G and AI, are generating greater demand for more performance and efficiency in the palm of our hands.
Arm Cortex-A78
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Kingston Ships 7.68TB Capacity for Industry-Leading High-Performance Data Center SSDs

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btarunr
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Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today began shipping the 7.68 TB model of the Data Center 500R (DC500R) and 450R (DC450R) SATA SSDs. The DC1000M 7.68 TB U.2 NVMe ships in June. The SSDs provide additional storage and implement strict QoS ensuring predictable IO and low latency for data centers using both NVMe and/or SATA.

The three SSDs join the DC1000B NVMe boot drive, DC500M (for mixed workloads) SATA SSD and Server Premier DRAM to form the most complete range of superior enterprise-class data center storage solutions in the market. "Higher capacity options for data centers enables organizations to increase storage space in their current footprint as Cloud computing continues to grow at unprecedented levels," said Tony Hollingsbee, SSD business manager, Kingston EMEA. "Our evolving line of data center storage solutions serve enterprise customers of all levels from hyperscalers on down and are a key component for organizations to keep the total cost of ownership down."
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ZADAK Enters Mainstream Cooling Market with the Launch of SPARK AIO 240 Liquid Cooler

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btarunr
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ZADAK, a leading provider of PC enthusiast components, announced today the official release of the SPARK AIO 240MM ARGB liquid CPU cooler with a 5-year warranty. With the two SPARK 120 mm fans running at speeds of 500-1800 RPM while operating under 25dBA, users can equip their PC with efficient cooling with minimal noise. Also outfitted with customizable ARGB and a sleek pump design, this latest addition expands ZADAK liquid cooling line-up from the patented MOAB II water distribution plate to mainstream cooling featuring user-centric design.

The SPARK AIO 240 is equipped with two SPARK 120 mm fans that deliver outstanding air pressure. The combination of the dual-fans running at speeds between 500-1800 RPM with a high static pressure of 2.5 mm and the aluminium radiator of the highest fin density at 22 FPI, the SPARK AIO 240 mm brings exceptional thermal exchange performance to keep even the most power hungry CPU's running at full speed. In addition, the included SPARK 120 mm fans operate at impressively quiet levels, emitting a stealthy 18-25 dBA, even while the fans are running at higher RPMs. At these levels, the fans meet the noise standards of recording studios, making the SPARK AIO cooling system suitable for those in noise-sensitive fields such as streaming or video/music production.
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Intel "Elkhart Lake" Atom Processor Surfaces on Chinese Components Marketplace, "Tremont" Meets Gen11

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btarunr
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Intel's next-generation Atom processor is codenamed "Elkhart Lake." Built on the 10 nm silicon fabrication process, the chip combines up to four CPU cores based on the "Tremont" microarchitecture, with an iGPU based on the Gen11 architecture, and a single-channel memory interface that supports DDR4 and LPDDR4. Differentiation of the processor include 2-core and 4-core CPU variants, and TDP variants spanning 6 W, 9 W, and 12 W. "Tremont" is a lightweight CPU core by Intel that lacks AVX capabilities. Besides "Elkhart Lake," the core is featured in the "Lakefield" Core heterogenous processors as the their low-power cores.

Chinese electronics B2B marketplace CogoBuy.com has the processor listed, although without listing out any processor model numbers. The marketplace is accepting RFQs (requests for quotations) for bulk purchase of these BGA chips on trays, without listing prices. Also listed is an "industrial variant" of the chip, which has an increased TJmax of 110 °C (compared to 105 °C of the standard variant). The Gen11 iGPU wasn't detailed, but it's likely to have a lower execution unit count than the variant found on "Ice Lake" processors, while retaining its display- and media-engines (ability to pull 8K60 displays).

HyperX Refreshes Pudding Keycaps for Enhanced RGB Lighting and Improved Durability

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btarunr
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HyperX, the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., today announced the release of refreshed HyperX Pudding Keycaps for mechanical gaming keyboards. Available in both black and white "pudding" color editions, the new HyperX Pudding Keycaps use a translucent dual-layer design to enhance LED and RGB lighting, allowing more light to radiate for extra brilliance.

The new dual-layer "pudding" design uses double shot construction with PBT material to provide style and reliability, ensuring long-lasting durability, resilience and keycap legends that won't fade like standard keycaps. The new pudding keycaps also feature a signature HyperX font to provide added style and optimal shine-through capabilities, improving the look and feel of the ultimate professional gaming keyboard. Compatible with all HyperX mechanical gaming keyboards and keyboards featuring Cherry MX style switch stems, the HyperX Pudding Keycaps also include a keycap removal tool.
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AOC Expands Their Business Monitors Portfolio with ten new P2 Series Models

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AleksandarK
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In the times of growing need for monitors with bigger size, improved connectivity and image quality, display specialist AOC announces the new P2 series monitors for professional users. Covering an extensive range of display sizes from 21.5" (54.7 cm), 23.8" (60.4 cm), 27" (68.6 cm) and ultra-wide 34" (86 cm), AOC acknowledges its users' distinct needs and individual setups. Except for the 34" ultrawide CU34P2A with its curved (1500R) VA panel, all other models are equipped with flat IPS panels. They ensure true-to-life colour reproduction, wide gamut coverage, and wide viewing angles (178/178°) perfectly suited for content creation and editing. Selected models (24P2C and 27P2C) with USB-C port provide an easier display, data and power connection to mobile devices with a single USB-C cable. The KVM switch included in these models allows the user to switch the keyboard and mouse between two PCs (connected via USB-C and USB hub uplink).
AOC 27P2C Monitor AOC Q24P2Q Monitor AOC U27P2 Monitor AOC Q27P2Q Monitor
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NAND Flash Revenue Undergoes 8.3% QoQ Growth in 1Q20 in Light of Surging Demand from Data Centers, Says TrendForce

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AleksandarK
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According to the latest investigations by the DRAMeXchange research division of TrendForce, NAND Flash bit shipment in 1Q20 was relatively on par with 4Q19. The overall ASP of NAND Flash products also climbed during the period. As a result, the global NAND Flash revenue for the quarter went up by 8.3% QoQ to US$13.6 billion.

In 1Q20, demand for enterprise SSDs exceeded supply because cloud service providers' procurement for data centers had been growing progressively since 4Q19. Also, inventories of NAND Flash suppliers mostly returned to normal during the period. Consequently, most NAND Flash products for the major applications experienced a rise in contract prices. As for the impact of COVID-19 during the Lunar New Year, TrendForce's investigations at the time found that the server supply chain managed to make a better recovery than the supply chains for notebook computers and smartphones. The impact of the outbreak on the storage demand from the cloud services sector was thus quite limited. On the other hand, the production of notebooks and smartphones was affected by logistical problems and breakage in the component supply chain. Because of this, notebook and smartphone manufacturers have gradually resumed production since March.
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ABKONCORE Releases The Ultra Silent Middle Tower Case S500

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Uskompuf
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ABKONCORE today released the Ultra Silent Middle Tower Case S500 designed for ultra-quiet builds with a minimalistic design. The steel case features sound-insulating material on the top, front, left, and right sides to suppress vibration and noise generated inside the case, and provides perfect quietness. The case also comes with a bottom removable dust filter along with air intakes on either side of the front bezel.

The Case measures 205 x 420 x 430 mm, comes with 2 pre-installed 120 mm fans, and can accommodate ATX motherboards. Front I/O for the case consists of x2 USB 2.0, x1 USB 3.0, HD Audio, Mic, LED Control Button, power, and reset. The case can house up to 2 3.5" drives and 6 2.5" drives and has room for a further 2 120 mm fans at the front. Pricing and availability were not announced.
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AAEON Announces UP Xtreme Embedded System

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btarunr
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UP Xtreme Smart Surveillance is an all-in-one security solution that's ready to deploy out of the box. Many developers and users of security solutions are looking for ways to get more out of their surveillance systems by deploying intelligent edge computing platforms. UP Xtreme, from AAEON's UP Board division, is being deployed along with technology from partners including Intel, Milestone and SAIMOS to bring Smart Surveillance to these customers with the UP Xtreme Smart Surveillance kit.

With the ever-increasing importance of on-site security, surveillance cameras are installed virtually everywhere, recording footage passively. Smart surveillance takes things to the next level by adding intelligent processing of data that's already being gathered to analyze traffic with heatmaps, monitor areas with virtual fences, or reacting to data in other ways to allow for automated control or alerting staff on premises. UP Xtreme Smart Surveillance provides all the technology needed to power these applications in one box, working as an AI-enabled NVR solution to proactively monitor video streams supporting up to 32 cameras simultaneously (Intel Core i7 model with Milestone XProtect Express+).
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Logitech G Announces G915 TKL, a Compact Tenkeyless Gaming Wireless Keyboard

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btarunr
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Logitech G, a brand of Logitech and leading innovator of gaming technologies and gear, announced today the Logitech G915 TKL Tenkeyless LIGHTSPEED Wireless RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, offering the same core technologies and experience of the award-winning G915, in a smaller tenkeyless form factor. The G915 TKL delivers high performance LIGHTSPEED wireless technology, LIGHTSYNC RGB and low profile mechanical gaming switches for an unrivaled ultra-thin design with superior performance and precision gameplay - all with up to 40 hours of battery life. All of these technologies and innovations have been carefully engineered into one of the industry's thinnest mechanical keyboards and Logitech G's most advanced mechanical gaming keyboard to date.

"Since the launch of the original Logitech G915, the community has consistently asked for the same technology in a compact, tenkeyless design," said Ujesh Desai, vice president and general manager of Logitech Gaming. "The G915 TKL combines LIGHTSPEED Wireless, RGB lighting and amazing battery life in a sleek, ultra-thin design that creates a new standard for gaming keyboards."
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AMD Releases APU + dGPU Combo Radeon Drivers for Dell G5 15 SE Notebooks

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btarunr
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AMD released its first Dell G5 15 SE-specific OEM driver update, with a single package providing drivers for the APU (iGPU) and Radeon RX 5600M discrete GPU of the notebook. This would be AMD's first Radeon Software release in over a month, as the AAA game release cycle has cooled down, and AMD has its hands full with several new OEM designs to develop drivers for. The G5 15 SE comes with processor options that include the "Renoir" Ryzen 5 4600H and Ryzen 7 4700H; and Radeon RX 5600M discrete GPU option.
DOWNLOAD: AMD Dell G5 15 SE iGPU+dGPU Combo Driver
Monday, May 25th 2020

Today's Reviews

Accessories
Cases
Gaming PC
Harddisks
Keyboards
Motherboards
Processors
PSUs
Speakers
Chieftronic PowerPlay 1050 W Review

Chieftronic PowerPlay 1050 W Review

Review Power Supplies
The Chieftronic PowerPlay 1050 W uses a semi-digital CWT platform that features good build quality and offers high performance. It is sold at a fair price, so you will save some money over other popular choices in this wattage category; however, most of those choices are also covered by a longer warranty.
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Teledyne e2v Introduces First Radiation-Tolerant DDR4 Memory for Space Applications

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btarunr
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Teledyne e2v has announced the DDR4T04G72M - the first radiation-tolerant DDR4 memory chip, featuring a total 4 GB capacity. Currently validated at 2133 MT/s, and targeting to offer 2400MT/s in the near future, this next-generation solution offers ultra-responsive low latency operation, while fitting into a highly compact form factor. Furthermore, high-reliability manufacturing and radiation-tolerant robustness makes it highly suitable for dealing with the rigors of space environments.

With 15 mm x 20 mm x 1.92 mm dimensions, this new space-grade device comprises an array of Micron based memory chips, integrated in a single package. It features a 72-bit bus, where 64 bits are dedicated to data and 8 bits to error correction code (ECC). Radiation tests have been performed on these memory chips and a single event effects (SEE) report is available from Teledyne e2v. In particular, the memory has been demonstrated to be single event latch-up (SEL) free up to 60+ MeV.cm²/mg.
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Linus Torvalds Upgrades to AMD Threadripper After 15 Years with Intel

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btarunr
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Linux and Git creator Linus Torvalds revealed that he upgraded to an AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X processor powered machine after 15 years of upgrading among Intel processors. This is likely his main machine from which he does pioneering work on the future of Linux and his other creations. His May 24 dated "State of the Kernel" blog post reveals that his hardware upgrade was the most exciting piece of news to share among the community.

"In fact, the biggest excitement this week for me was just that I, upgraded my main machine, and for the first time in about 15 years, my desktop isn't Intel-based. No, I didn't switch to ARM yet, but I'm now rocking an AMD Threadripper 3970x. My 'allmodconfig' test builds are now three times faster than they used to be, which doesn't matter so much right now during the calming down period, but I will most definitely notice the upgrade during the next merge window," he stated. What makes this story big is the fact that the "Zen 2" microarchitecture, and a processor with a similar multi-core architecture to AMD's EPYC enterprise processors, is now being used by the creator of the most popular enterprise operating system.

Intel Core i9-10900K der8auer De-Lidding Reveals Accurate Die-Size Measurements

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btarunr
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Professional overclocker and extreme cooling products developer der8auer de-lidded a Core i9-10900K 10-core processor to study the processor's behavior with various kinds of custom cooling setups. It was discovered that the 10-core "Comet Lake" die measures 206.1 mm² in die-area. It is 9.2 mm wide like its predecessors, "Coffee Lake" 8-core, 6-core, and 4-core, but is 22.4 mm long, with the outer edges of its packaging material barely within a couple of millimeters of the adhesion point of the integrated heatspreader (IHS). Given what we know about how much each pair of cores adds to these dies, we predict that Intel cannot elongate this die to 12 cores, without having to remove the iGPU. der8auer discovered that using liquid metal TIMs and running the processor de-lidded shaves up to 7 °C off temperatures. Find more technical commentary in the der8auer video presentation.

Xiaomi to Debut Redmi Branded Bang-for-the-Buck PC Monitors, $86 for 24-inch IPS FHD

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btarunr
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Smartphone giant Xiaomi is under aggressive expansion ever since its consumer electronics portfolio took off in 2017, with the debut of its Mi TV line of affordable smart TVs. The company is now reportedly turning its attention to the desktop PC monitor market, Shortly after its April announcement of the Mi Display 1A , the company is planning a product under its Redmi brand that rewrote the rules of "bang for the buck" in the smartphones market.

Big things have small beginnings, the Redmi Monitor 1A will be a cost-cut version of the Mi Display 1A. The monitor will offer a 23.5-inch display panel with thin bezels on three sides, likely Full HD resolution, 178°/178° viewing angles, 250 cd/m² brightness, and 60 Hz refresh-rate. Uninterested? Wait till you hear what Xiaomi is reportedly asking for this thing: USD $86. That's it. The Mi Display 1A under Xiaomi's main brand goes for $99. If these two pick up traction, even in China, Xiaomi has the guts to pull off extraordinary value propositions (think a 28-inch 4K IPS monitor under $250), spelling trouble for current monitor makers. Xiaomi plans to announce the Redmi Monitor 1A along with several other consumer electronics products tomorrow (May 26).

First Intel "Lakefield" Powered Samsung Galaxy Book S Listed on the Company's Canadian Store

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btarunr
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One of the first Intel "Lakefield" heterogenous processor-powered devices, a Samsung Galaxy Book S model, is listed by Samsung on its Canadian online store. The Galaxy Book series typically consists of Arm-powered clamshell/convertible notebooks that use Windows 10 (Arm version). The device in question is a Galaxy Book S 13.3-inch notebook bearing model number NP767XCM-K01CA, and comes in two color trims - "Mercury Gray" and "Earthy Gold."

Under the hood is an Intel Core i5-L16G7 "Lakefield" heterogenous processor that has four "Tremont" low-power cores, and a "Sunny Cove" high-performance cores, in an arrangement rivaling Arm big.LITTLE, the first of many such chips from the company, as it taps into new technologies such as heterogenous cores and advanced Foveros chip packaging to design its future processors. The notebook offers Full HD resolution, 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB or 512 GB of solid-state NVMe storage, 802.11ax 2x2 WLAN, and a 42 Wh battery, possibly with double-digit hour battery life. All of this goes into a 6.2 mm (folded) device weighing under a kilogram.

Infortrend Scale-out NAS Brings a Cost-effective Backup and Restore Solution

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Infortrend Technology, Inc., the industry-leading enterprise storage provider, developed a cost-effective backup and restore solution of massive amounts of enterprise data. With both scale-out and scale-up expandability, it adds value for price-conscious data-rich applications, such as governmental institutions files backup, surveillance footages storing. As a Veeam Ready Repository, CS can be as well deployed in IT environments applying virtualization technologies.

System crashes, human errors, malicious attacks, viruses, and physical disasters always happen unexpectedly. Thus, it is difficult to overestimate the role of backup infrastructure with expandable capacity and reliable restore capabilities for ensuring business continuity. EonStor CS scale-out NAS is expandable up to 144 nodes to achieve 100GBps overall throughput and 100PB capacity for large-scale backup requirements or connecting JBOD to expand capacity only for saving costs. CS offers a rich selection of form factors, including high-density 4U 60-bay for space-constraint server rooms.
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PAC-MAN, the Original Video Game Super Star, Celebrates His 40th Birthday

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Leading interactive entertainment company BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. today celebrates PAC-MAN's 40th birthday with upcoming activities and partnerships to commemorate this momentous milestone with fans around the world. The video game and pop culture icon steps into his 40s more relevant than ever as he stars in a bevy of new video game offerings, product partnerships, and brand collaborations.

Born on May 22, 1980, PAC-MAN immediately rose to meteoric popularity, first in video game arcades, then on the pop culture stage with hit song "PAC-MAN Fever" and through an array of branding and entertainment appearances throughout the 1980's and 1990's. With a brand recognition rate of 90% around the world, PAC-MAN's image and brand continues to be one of the most recognized on the planet.
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Researchers Deliver 44.2 Tbps Speeds on Existing Fiber Optic Infrastructure, Paving the Way for the Future of Communications

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Raevenlord
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A joint team of researchers from Australia's Monash, Swinburne and RMIT universities have developed a new interpretation of the current fiber optic infrastructure - one that managed to deliver a 44.2 Tbps throughput via existing optical lines. The achievement, which delivers speeds in excess of 1 million times greater than the average home users' internet speed (50.2 megabits per second for the US), paves the way for upgrades on the existing fiber optic network that hugely decrease costs compared to the need to implement a wholly new infrastructure.

The feat was achieved using a microcomb - a device which is able to replace a number of the currently in-use lasers for the transmission of information. A microcomb is an optical device that generates very sharp and equidistant frequency lines in a tiny microphotonic chip, and it allows researchers to make use of not only the presence of light - as it's done with the usual lasers found in optical equipment - but the lack of light as well, in what researchers call "dark" pulses of light. While nowadays no user would ever need transmission speeds in the order of the 44.2 Tbps achieved by the researchers, advancement in processing, communication technologies, and supercomputing will eventually make use of these - and even higher - throughputs, which is why it's so important that this technology has been developed on top of existing infrastructure.

Summer Game Fest With a Dash of Cyberpunk 2077 and Many EA Announcements; Developer Showcase on June 22nd

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Raevenlord
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In response to the ongoing digitization of events that has been put on an accelerated course due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summer Game Fest aims to keep the gaming scene fresh with announcements and developer deep-dives. The aim is to bring the world up to speed in game announcements and development amidst cancelled floor-like shows such as GAMESCOM and E3, and the event lasts from May through September. One of the recent announcements in the lineup for the Summer Game Fest is none other than the most awaited game of 2020 (and probably the last decade) in the form of Cyberpunk 2077.. Developer CD Projekt Red has announced a special Cyberpunk 2077 continued revel event which it's calling "Night City Wire", which will take place in a TBD hour on June 11th. Expect new trailers for the game, likely a played mission showcasing the games' systems, and a developer dive into the creation of Night City.

That same day, EA will be running their "EA Play Live 2020" event, which aims to bring new game announcements and extended information on already-announced games. According to the company, "EA Play Live 2020 is about connecting players around the world and bringing them closer to the game franchises they love. During this year's digital event, we'll showcase our games through a live broadcast, community content, and more." The EA Play show runs on June 11th as well, from 4pm PST on June 11. It surely won't coincide with CD Projekt Red's deep dive into Cyberpunk 2077.
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Acer Readies XZ270X and XZ320QX VA Monitors with 240 Hz Refreshing

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AleksandarK
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Acer is slowly rolling out its new monitors at some Chinese retailers and today we get to see their specifications. The two monitors in question are named XZ270X and XZ320QX respectively. The XZ270X is a 27-inch curved model with 1500R curvature applied, while its bigger brother XZ320QX has a 32-inch panel with 1800R curvature. Both models rock a 1920x1080p VA-type panel with a refresh rate of 240 Hz. The VA panels in question are a new breed from CSOT and they feature 4000:1 contrast ratio.

The panels are advertised with 1 ms response time and 250 nits brightness. Both monitors offer 178-degree viewing angles and the ability to represent 16.7 million colors with sRGB (72% NTSC) color gamut. For I/O, Acer has equipped these monitors with one DisplayPort, one 3.5 mm audio jack, and two HDMI connectors. There are two 2 W stereo speakers as well. The Chinese retailer lists the 27-inch model for roughly $310 and the 32-inch model for around $420.

Rumor: Noctua to Introduce NH-U12A Tower Cooler in Chromax Version

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Raevenlord
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Noctua produces some of the most well-regarded CPU coolers in the PC space, and for good reason: they usually set the benchmark in both heat dissipation efficiency and noise levels. However, one of the elements that may not make their coolers as popular as they could be (and they are immensely popular) is the color scheme the company usually favors, with its brown and beige colors being relatively hard to fit in with many system builds. The company responded by adding Chromax versions to their lineup, with a more "typical" black color scheme, which have seen great success both in the market and user opinion.

A Reddit user going by the handle hoopon, however, claims to have received a tech support answer from a Noctua representative that said that a Chromax version of the famed, high-performance Noctua NH-U12A cooler is being readied for market launch in Q3 2020. Another user, Bergh3m, echoed these claims, saying that he himself had received a Noctua answer on the same product in the beginning of the year that placed the Noctua NH-U12A Chromax as being released in Q2 or Q3 2020. However, as with everything these days, the COVID-19 situation may very well has pushed the release to a definite Q3. As always, we urge you to take these rumors with a full pint of salt.

KeysWorlds Brings You Summer Sale, Grab Discounted Genuine Software with Freebies

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btarunr
KeysWorlds brings you its Summer Sale, and an opportunity to breathe life into your new 10th generation gaming desktop with discounted, genuine Windows 10 and Office software. As part of the Summer Sale, KeysWorlds offers lifetime-valid Office 2019 and Office 2016 productivity software, with genuine Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Home included. You can also separately purchase your preferred edition of Office or Windows 10 at some of the lowest prices on the web. Get Office 2019 Professional with free Windows 10 Pro for $36.09, no coupon codes needed. Office 2016 Professional with Windows 10 Pro is going for $27.34. Also grab Windows 10 Pro standalone for just $9.49. Check out more jaw-dropping deals below.

Buy Office 2019 Professional with Free Windows 10 Pro for $36.09 | Buy Office 2019 Profession with free Windows 10 Home for $37.19 | Buy Office 2016 Professional + Windows 10 Pro for $27.34 | Buy Office 2016 Professional + Windows 10 Home for $26.68

Apply the coupon code KWS50 on the following items to get the prices you see here.
Buy Office 2016 Home and Business for Mac for $32.82 | Buy Office 2019 Home and Business for Mac at $51.96 | Buy Office 2019 Home and Student 1-user for $20.67 | Buy Office 2019 Home and Student 1-user for $39.62 | Buy Office 2019 Professional Plus 5-users for $82.05 | Buy Office 2016 Professional Plus 5-users for $56.34

Apply the code KWS38 on the following items to avail the prices you see here.
Buy Windows 10 Pro for $9.49 | Buy Windows 10 Home for $10.17 | Buy Windows 10 Pro 2-PCs for $15.59

Xbox Game Pass Late May Game Changes Announced

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Uskompuf
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Xbox Game Pass for PC and Xbox will receive some new big-name games in the coming days, besides the games released earlier this month such as Red Dead Redemption 2 and Final Fantasy 9. The biggest title set to join the program is Minecraft Dungeons a new dungeon crawler spinoff game from Microsoft's Mojang Studios. Minecraft Dungeons will be available through Xbox Game Pass on PC and Xbox from tomorrow the 26th of May.

The classic Alan Wake has been added to the platform for both PC and Xbox users along with the return of Cities Skylines. Golf with your friends was also added earlier this month for Xbox. Finally PC users will also receive Plebby Quest: The Crusades later this month.

NVIDIA GameGAN AI Recreates PAC-MAN From Gameplay Footage

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Trained on 50,000 episodes of the game, a powerful new AI model created by NVIDIA Research, called NVIDIA GameGAN, can generate a fully functional version of PAC-MAN — without an underlying game engine. That means that even without understanding a game's fundamental rules, AI can recreate the game with convincing results.

GameGAN is the first neural network model that mimics a computer game engine by harnessing generative adversarial networks, or GANs. Made up of two competing neural networks, a generator and a discriminator, GAN-based models learn to create new content that's convincing enough to pass for the original.
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CRYORIG Confirms LGA 115x Cooler Compatibility with LGA 1200

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In response to the new Intel LGA 1200 socket, CRYORIG announces that LGA 1200 socket would be compatible with all existing LGA115x supported models. The supported models include: A series liquid coolers, R1 Ultimate/Universal, C1, H5 Ultimate/Universal, H7 Series, M9I, M9 Plus, and C7 Series. As the mounting mechanism of LGA1200 is identical to LGA115x socket, users with LGA115x supported models would not require any extra upgrade kits.

MSI Releases "Sound Tune" AI-Powered Noise Cancellation Software

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MSI, a world leader in gaming and content creation hardware, unveils the MSI Sound Tune, an AI-powered noise cancellation software that filters out all the unwanted background noises to remarkably enhance users' communication experiences. "MSI is constantly pushing the boundaries of technology. The new MSI Sound Tune breaks the traditional boundaries on noise reduction by integrating deep learning AI technology to audio signal processing, allowing users who have to work from home amid the global pandemic to communicate clearly and stay productive with their tasks," said Harry Kao, MSI Technical Director.

MSI Sound Tune's AI-powered noise cancellation is achieved through Deep Neural Network (DNN) with more than 0.5 billion Synthetic Noisy Speech Data to help simulate the way human brain works. The traditional noise reduction technology, with its manually compiled algorithm, doesn't work well in environments with complicated noise sources, such as keyboard noises, construction site noises, coffee shop whispers, or the loud noise that overwhelms the vocal sounds. Comparatively speaking, the MSI Sound Tune, utilizing human brains' excellent ability to distinguish human vocal sounds from environmental noises, can extract the vocal sounds from complicated environments, giving users extra clear, noise-free commuication in various surroundings.
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QNAP Launches Quad-core TS-431KX NAS with 10GbE SFP+

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QNAP Systems, Inc., today launched the quad-core 1.7 GHz TS-431KX NAS with 10GbE SFP+ connectivity. The TS-431KX provides high bandwidth for intensive data transmission, allowing SMB and startups to easily backup/restore and synchronize data without breaking their budget. The TS-431KX supports Snapshot technology and HBS (Hybrid Backup Sync) local, offsite and cloud backup that enable a well-rounded disaster recovery plan to ensure uninterrupted services.

The TS-431KX is powered by a quad-core 1.7 GHz processor, 2GB RAM (upgradable to 8 GB) with one 10GbE SFP+ and two 1GbE network ports. Coupled with a QNAP QSW series 10GbE/NBASE-T network switch, users can easily build a high-speed 10GbE network environment to achieve faster and streamlined workflows. Featuring tool-less and lockable drive bays, the TS-431KX makes installation easier while also ensuring the drives are safe and secure.
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Sunday, May 24th 2020

Sonarworks Releases SoundID Listen: Personalized Sound on your Computer

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VSG
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Sonarworks had caught our eye back at CES 2019, when they showed off their then-still-in-progress mobile app for personalized sound signatures called True-Fi. The Latvia-based company has credentials to back all their claims, and the in-suite demo was impressive to say the least. Getting it out in the real world meant that the company had to build up their database of compatible headphones to first normalize the sound signature, and then work on the best option for recuperating R&D costs without breaking any wallets. As it turns out, the company had more insight on this at CES 2020 but are only now ready to show their retail plans in the form of SoundID.

SoundID, as both a mobile app (iOS, Android) and the new desktop SoundID Listen experience, takes over from where True-Fi started. The interface is more colorful and user-friendly to the masses, and the mobile app in the current beta form is being marketed more for profile-creation than usage, although it has the option to plug into your Spotify library. The older A/B tests are retained here, and at CES 2020 the app only had the "Core" experience. As of May, the app has new features to coincide with the desktop client's release, and read past the break for more on both.
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Possible 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen "Matisse Refresh" XT SKU Clock Speeds Surface

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btarunr
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Last week, we brought you reports of AMD inching closer to launch its 3rd generation Ryzen "Matisse Refresh" processor lineup to ward off the 10th gen Intel Core "Comet Lake" threat, by giving the "Zen 2" chips possible clock speed-bumps to shore up performance. The lineup included the Ryzen 9 3900XT, the Ryzen 7 3800XT, and the Ryzen 5 3600XT. We now have a first-look at their alleged clock speeds courtesy of an anonymous tipster on ChipHell forums, seconded by HXL @9550pro.

The XT SKUs indeed revolve around 200-300 MHz increments in base- and boost clock speeds as many of our readers predicted in the "Matisse Refresh" article's comments section. The 3900XT comes with 4.10 GHz base clock, and 4.80 GHz max boost clocks, compared to 3.80 GHz base and 4.60 GHz boost clocks of the 3900X. Likewise, the 3800XT notches up to 4.20 GHz base clock (highest in the lineup), and 4.70 GHz max boost, compared to 3.90-4.50 GHz of the 3800X. The 3600XT offers the same 4.70 GHz max boost, a step up from the 4.40 GHz of the 3600X, but has its base clock set at 4.00 GHz, compared to 3.80 GHz on the 3600X. It appears like AMD's design focus is to reduce, if not beat, Intel's gaming performance lead. The 10th generation Core "Comet Lake" tops gaming performance by a mid-high single-digit percentages over AMD's offerings, and AMD could bring them down to low single-digit percentages with the XT family.

ViewSonic Expands the ELITE XG Series with the XG270QG

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ViewSonic Corporation, a leading global provider of visual solutions, today announced worldwide availability of 27-inch Elite performance-driven gaming monitors including the XG270QC, a curved screen with native QHD resolution, the XG270QG an IPS Nano color display with a 2560x1440 (QHD) resolution, and the XG270, a G-SYNC compatible display with certified blur reduction options.

"Esports and gaming have been exploding in North America," said Marc Aflalo, Co-Host of Gamer's Edge and YourTechReport on SiriusXM. "Today, people are substituting the time they used to spend cheering on their favorite sports teams with their own gaming at home. It's also a way we can stay connected. So if you're looking to get yourself a new gaming monitor, make sure you check out ViewSonic first. In our opinion, it has the best bang-for-the-buck displays on the market."
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ASUS ROG Maximus XII Apex Hits 7.7 GHz on 10 Cores and Overclocks Memory to 6666 MHz

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ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced that overclockers have used the latest ROG Maximus XII Apex powerhouse motherboard to break a slew of world records and secure a raft of global first place scores. Marking a new performance milestone, overclockers took the Intel Core i9-10900K all the way up to 7.7 GHz frequencies on all 10 of its cores.

Because of the ongoing global situation, ASUS was unable to host its traditional overclocking gathering this year, so instead a smaller session took place at the ASUS headquarters in Taiwan - with local overclockers Jon 'Elmor' Sandström and Pieter 'Massman' Plaisier working alongside internal ASUS experts. Using a liquid-helium setup, the group managed to shatter the Intel Core architecture frequency record, the single-core Geekbench 4 record, and took global first-place positions in 10-core categories for Geekbench 3, Cinebench R15, and wPrime 32M.
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AMD RDNA2 "Navi 21" GPU to Double CU Count Over "Navi 10"

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btarunr
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AMD's RDNA2 graphics architecture, which sees real-time ray-tracing among other DirectX 12 Ultimate features, could see the company double the amount of stream processors generation-over-generation, according to a specs leak by _rogame. The increase in stream processors would fall in line with AMD's effort to increase performance/Watt by 50%. It may appear like the resulting SKUs finally measure up to the likes of the RTX 2080 Ti, but AMD has GeForce "Ampere" in its competitive calculus, and should the recent specs reveal hold up, the new "Navi 21" could end up being a performance-segment competitor to GeForce graphics cards based on the "GA104" ("TU104" successor), rather than a flagship-killer.

The RDNA2-based "Navi 21" GPU allegedly features 80 RDNA2 compute units amounting to 5,120 stream processors. AMD might tap into a refined 7 nm-class silicon fabrication node by TSMC to build these chips, either N7P or N7+. The die-size could measure up to 505 mm², and AMD could aim for a 50% performance/Watt gain over the "Navi 10." AMD could carve out as many as 10 SKUs out of the "Navi 21," but only three are relevant to the gamers. The SKU with the PCI device ID "0x731F: D1" succeeds the RX 5700 XT. The one bearing "0x731F: D3" succeeds the RX 5700, with a variant name "Navi 21 XL." The "Navi 21 XE" variant has a PCI ID of "0x731F: DF," and succeeds the RX 5600 XT.
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Saturday, May 23rd 2020

EK Releases Limited Edition Memorial Day Star-Spangled Velocity Water Block

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EK, the premium water cooling gear manufacturer, has decided to do something special for its American fans this Memorial Day Weekend. Apart from being the unofficial beginning of summer, the last Monday of May has a lot of meaning for many Americans. Memorial Day is the reason why EK has created a special red, white, and blue limited edition Velocity CPU water block with a genuinely noble cause.

The brand new limited version of the water block carries the name EK-Quantum Velocity Honor. It is "decorated" with the US flag and will be sold at the price of $249.99. For each water block sold, EK will donate $100 to a charitable organization. "Being a globally successful company also means that we have the ability and responsibility to make a difference and give something back to the community. We have decided to jump on a project that will make our most loyal fans happy, and at the same time, help those who are in need," said Edvard König, founder of EK.
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Matrox Now Shipping D-Series D1480 Graphics Card

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Matrox is pleased to announce that the Matrox D-Series D1480 multi-display graphics card is now shipping. Purpose-built to power next-generation video walls, this new single-slot graphics card supports up to four 4Kp60 DisplayPort monitors and can be combined to drive a high-density-output video wall of up 16 synchronized 4K displays. Along with a rich assortment of video wall software and developer tools, the D1480 card enables OEMs, system integrators, and AV installers to deploy high-performance display walls for a broad range of commercial and critical 24/7 applications, including control rooms, enterprises, industries, government, military, digital signage, broadcast, and more.

Backed by innovative technology and deep industry expertise, D1480 delivers exceptional video and graphics performance on up to four 4K DisplayPort monitors from a single-slot card. OEMs, system integrators, and AV professionals can easily add—and synchronize—displays by framelocking up to four D-Series cards via board-to-board framelock cables. In addition, D1480 offers HDCP support to display copy-protected content, as well as Microsoft DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.5, and OpenCL 1.2 support to run the latest professional applications.
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ASRock Z490 AQUA Helps Set Four 10th Gen Core Records

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Being the latest flagship and limited motherboard, the Z490 AQUA has been pleased all gamers and PC enthusiasts since its announcement. The cutting edge performance and design of Z490 AQUA push Intel 10th Gen Core CPU to 4 global first place benchmark results. The well-known overclocker, Splave achieves four Global First Places with Z490 AQUA and Intel Core i9-10900KF CPU. Our platform completed the wPrime 1024M benchmark in 35.562 seconds, which wins the Global First Place. Find the HWBot submission here.

On the GPUPI for CPU benchmark, best record is one minute and 25.015 seconds, made by using Z490 AQUA with Intel Core i9-10900KF. (Check new record here on HWBot). Splave takes a huge lead by scoring 9108 marks on Intel Core i9-10900KF with the ASRock Z490 AQUA, and captured the 1st place in the Intel 10th Gen Core CPU category (HWBot submission). In conjunction with Intel Core i9-10900KF with the ASRock Z490 AQUA, Splave creates a new record of 42.17 points on Cinebench-R11.5 and wins the Global First Place (submission).
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Lian Li and PCMR Collaborate on O11 Dynamic Space Grey Special Edition

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LIAN LI Industrial Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of aluminium chassis and PC accessories, is proud to unveil, in cooperation with the PC Master Race, the O11 DYNAMIC SPACE GREY SPECIAL EDITION - CHROME MIRROR FINISH, a limited edition case designed for the PC community. Sporting the award-winning features of the original O11 DYNAMIC, such as dual-chamber and multi radiator support, the SPECIAL EDITION adds on a mirror-like chrome front panel and accents, highly reflective tempered glass panels, and a unique ID numbered plate from 1 to 2,000 units.

"We are thrilled to be announcing the O11 DYNAMIC SPECIAL EDITION, a project in which we were able to collaborate with the PCMR community. It gives the O11D a refreshingly new take on premium design and craftsmanship for cases," says Jameson Chen, Brand Director at LIAN LI.
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AMD "Matisse Refresh" Processor SKUs Include 3900XT, 3800XT, and 3600XT

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btarunr
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Rumors of AMD refreshing its 3rd generation Ryzen desktop processor family are growing louder. On Friday (22/05), reports of the "Matisse Refresh" processor family surfaced, with talk of "Ryzen 7 3850X" and "Ryzen 7 3750X" processors headed for a June 2020 announcement followed by July availability. Turns out AMD has a different naming scheme in mind, targeted at wooing gamers. The company is reportedly bringing its "XT" brand extension over from its Radeon graphics card family over to the Ryzen line.

There are three SKUs AMD is developing, the Ryzen 9 3900XT, the Ryzen 7 3800XT, and the Ryzen 5 3600 XT. All three are likely to retain core counts of the SKUs they are displacing from current price points - with the 3900XT likely being a 12-core/24-thread part; the 3800XT an 8-core/16-thread part, and the 3600XT a 6-core/12-thread part. AMD is likely to give the three a major clock speed increase to shore up gaming performance. It won't surprise us if AMD tinkers with boost algorithms, either. GIGABYTE has already referenced "Matisse Refresh" in its motherboard product roadmaps, which adds plenty of credibilty to this rumor. With "Zen 3" based 4th gen Ryzen processors unlikely to relieve the embattled 3900X, 3800X, and 3600X in the wake of Intel's 10th gen Core "Comet Lake" launch until Q4-2020, it makes sense for AMD to plan a product stack refresh to bolster its competitiveness. AMD is reportedly planning a June 16 product announcement, followed by July 7 availability.
Friday, May 22nd 2020
Mistel MD770 Barocco RGB Keyboard Review

Mistel MD770 Barocco RGB Keyboard Review

Review Keyboards
Mistel introduces its largest entry to the Barocco split keyboard series in the form of the MD770. Adopting a 75% form factor, the MD770 comes in different versions of color, backlighting, connectivity, and switches to offer a more user-friendly, ergonomic keyboard with extensive onboard controls.
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GELID CPU Coolers Fully Compatible with Intel LGA1200

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btarunr
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The 10th generation Intel Core desktop processor family was launched recently along with its companion motherboards based on the Intel 400-series chipsets. The new processors (codename "Comet Lake-S") utilize the LGA 1200 socket which shares the same mechanicals and has the identical 75x75mm spacing of mounting holes as the older LGA 1151 and other 115x sockets. All current GELID CPU coolers that support LGA 115x are also compatible with the new LGA 1200 socket, no additional mounting kits or accessory upgrades are required.

And especially, our latest Phantom, Phantom Black and Sirocco CPU Coolers also fully support overclocking capabilities of the top unlocked Core i9-10900K, Core i7-10700K and Core i5-10600K processors enabling boosted performance and enhanced cooling for your power-hungry gaming rigs.
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Intel Rocket Lake CPU Appears with 6 Cores and 12 Threads

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AleksandarK
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We have been hearing a lot about Intel's Rocket Lake lineup of processors. They are supposed to be a backport of Willow Cove 10 nm core, adapted to work on a 14 nm process for better yielding. Meant to launch sometime around late 2020 or the beginning of 2021, Rocket Lake is designed to work on the now existing LGA1200 socket motherboards, which were launched just a few days ago along with Intel Comet Lake CPUs. Rocket Lake is there to supply the desktop segment and satisfy user demand, in light of lacking 10 nm offers for desktop users. The 10 nm node is going to present only on mobile/laptop and server solutions before it comes to the desktop.

In the latest report on 3D Mark, the hardware leaker TUM APISAK has found a Rocket Lake CPU running the benchmark and we get to see first specifications of the Rocket Lake-S platform. The benchmark ran on 6 core model with 12 threads, that had a base clock of 3,5 GHz. The CPU managed to boost up to 4,09 GHz, however, we are sure that these are not final clocks and the actual product should have even higher frequencies. Paired with Gen12 Xe graphics, the Rocket Lake platform could offer a very nice alternative to AMD offerings if the backport of Willow Cove goes well. Even though it is still using a 14 nm node, performance would be good. The only things that would be sacrificed (from backporting) are die space and efficiency/heat.
Intel Rocket Lake Benchmark Report

ADATA and XPG DRAM Integrate with Z490 Platforms for Amazing Performance

Press Release by
btarunr
 Discuss (5 Comments)
ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, and mobile accessories today announces that its XPG Overclocking Lab (XOCL), in conjunction with MSI, has overclocked the SPECTRIX D50 and D60G 32 GB RGB DDR4 memory modules to a frequency of 5000 MHz on an Intel Z490 platform. This achievement not only signifies the compatibility of XPG and ADATA DRAM modules with the latest Intel Z490 platforms, but also their ability to bring out their full performance potential. XPG reached the milestone with an Intel Core i9-10900K chipset and MSI MEG Z490 gaming motherboard. XPG also tested the D60G and D50 with Z490 platforms from other manufactures with similar results.

The D60G sports more RGB lighting per mm² than any other memory module out there, which equates to over 60% of the module's surface area. The fully exposed light diffusers are extra-wide for maximum effect, and combined with a mesmerizing multi-colored flow effect users will outshine their competition! The unique avant garde styling of the D60G will also turn heads. It includes XPG's signature X-light design with a diamond-inspired, multi-faceted surface that is a cut above the rest.
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Intel Tiger Lake Processor Spotted with Boost of 5 GHz

by
AleksandarK
 Discuss (25 Comments)
Intel is preparing to launch its next-generation Tiger Lake lineup of processors for the middle of 2020. The processors are based on the new "Willow Cove" CPU core, which supposedly brings even more IPC gains compared to previous "Golden Cove" CPU cores found in Ice Lake processors. The Tiger Lake lineup will use Intel's advanced 10 nm+ manufacturing process. This alone should bring some gains in frequency compared to the 10 nm Ice Lake processor generation, which was spotting a maximum of 4.1 GHz boost frequency on 28 W TDP model named Core i7-1068NG7. This processor is labeled as the highest-performing Ice Lake parts available today and the best 10 nm products available so far from Intel.

Thanks to the popular hardware leaker Rogame, we have evidence that the gains from 10 nm+ manufacturing process are real and that Tiger Lake will show us an amazing boost frequency of 5 GHz. In the benchmark, an unknown OEM laptop was spotted running the benchmark with a Tiger Lake CPU. This CPU is a 4 core, 8 threaded model with a base frequency of 2.3 GHz and a surprising boost frequency of 5 GHz. This information should, of course, be taken with a grain of salt until we get more information about the Tiger Lake lineup and their specifications.
Intel Tiger Lake Benchmark Report

AMD Readies 3rd Gen Ryzen "Matisse Refresh" Ryzen 7 3850X and 3750X Processors

by
btarunr
 Discuss (62 Comments)
AMD is planning to immediately update its product stack to counter the Intel 10th gen Core "Comet Lake-S" desktop processor family. Codenamed "Matisse Refresh," the processor will use existing IP, based on the 7 nm "Zen 2" microarchitecture, but could improve in areas such as clock-speeds. As it now stands, the Ryzen 9 3900X appears unfazed by the i9-10900K and i7-10700K at its new $410 price, however, competitiveness of the 3800X and 3700X could buckle under pressure from the i7-10700 series (K, KF, non-K, and F), as well as the Core i5-10600 series. To this effect, we're hearing rumors of a "Ryzen 7 3750X" and "Ryzen 7 3850X" seeing the light of the day soon, with an early-June announcement, and early-July market availability. References to the 3750X date back to October 2019.

Rumors of "Matisse Refresh" gained traction when WCCFTech editor Hassan Mujtaba tweeted a slide from a GIGABYTE AMD B550 motherboard series pre-launch presentation, which references GIGABYTE's own interpretation of AMD's roadmap. It lists out every CPU microarchitecture for the AM4 platform, and right next to "Matisse" is "& Refresh," confirming that "Matisse Refresh" is real. A microarchitecture "refresh" needn't even involve any physical changes to the processor design, core-counts, or architecture, and can sometimes even indicate something as simple as a second major wave of SKUs that replace existing SKUs in the market, leading to their phase-out (eg: Intel "Haswell Refresh" retaining the 4th gen Core model numbering). The slide also adds weight to the theory that desktop "Renoir," like its mobile counterpart, lacks PCIe gen 4.0. The slide also talks about AMD introducing the entry-level A520 desktop chipset in August, which will support PCIe gen 4 when paired with a capable processor.

'Spectra' Cyber Attack Breaks Coexistence Between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

Press Release by
Uskompuf
 Discuss (3 Comments)
Nowadays wireless technologies are increasingly sharing spectrum. This is the case for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but also some LTE bands and harmonics. Operating on the same frequency means that these different technologies need to coordinate wireless spectrum access to avoid collisions. Especially for nearby sources, as it is the case for multiple chips within one smartphone, so-called coexistence is the key to high-performance spectrum sharing.

Coexistence between wireless chips can be implemented in various ways. While there are open specifications, most manufacturers opt to develop proprietary coexistence mechanisms to further improve performance. Open interfaces are not needed on combo chips that implement multiple wireless technologies, as the manufacturer has full control.

Spectra, a new vulnerability class, relies on the fact that transmissions happen in the same spectrum and wireless chips need to arbitrate the channel access. While coexistence should only increase performance, it also poses a powerful side channel.
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Original Xbox & Windows NT 3.5 Source Code Leaks Online

by
Uskompuf
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According to The Verge, source code for the original Xbox and Windows NT 3.5 has leaked online. The leak reportedly contains the kernel for the original Xbox OS, build environments, testing emulators, and internal development documents. This leak may help further emulation efforts for the original Xbox which as of now can only play ~40 of the over 900 games released for the console. This isn't the first time Microsoft has suffered a source code leak, with partial Windows 2000 and NT 4 source code leaking back in 2004 but given the age of the software this is unlikely to be of much significance. A Microsoft spokesperson told The Verge that "We're aware of these reports and are investigating".

Twitch Exclusive New Game+ Plus Expo Announced Featuring SEGA & More

by
Uskompuf
 Discuss (5 Comments)
In light of the cancellation of E3 2020 a new digital game showcase has been announced. The New Game+ Expo will feature new and upcoming releases from a coalition of developers from around the world and be streamed exclusively on Twitch June 23rd. The 16 companies from across Japan and America involved are: Acttil, Aksys Games, Arc System Works America, GungHo Online Entertainment America, Grasshopper Manufacture, Idea Factory International, Inti Creates, Koei, Tecmo America, Natsume Inc, NIS America Inc, Playism, Sega of America, Atlus West, SNK Corporation, Spike Chunsoft Inc, and WayForward

Epic Games Store Gives Away Civilization VI

by
btarunr
 Discuss (8 Comments)
On a charm offensive with big game giveaways such as Grand Theft Auto V, and partial refunds for those who missed sales, Epic Games Store is now offering "Sid Meier's Civilization VI" for free. This is a great deal considering that the game is listed on Steam for $59.99 in the U.S. HotHardware reports that EGS has several other fairly new AAA titles lined up for the taking in the coming weeks. The store plans to give away "Borderlands: The Handsome Collection" from May 28, and "Ark Survival: Evolved" in the following week. "Civilization VI is the latest entry in the smash hit turn-based strategy franchise.
Thursday, May 21st 2020

Today's Reviews

Cases
Cooling
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Motherboards
Processors
Montech Fighter 400 Review

Montech Fighter 400 Review

Review Cases
The Montech Fighter 400 pushes the envelope in price by being a glass-equipped ATX chassis for less than $50 retail. That in itself already sounds interesting if looking for a solid budget choice, but we take a closer look to see if the details of the chassis are up to the challenge as well.
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GoodOffer24 Summer Sale Rolls On with Discounted Genuine Software

by
btarunr
GoodOffer24 lets you equip your swanky new 10th generation PCs with genuine, globally-valid software. As part of the Summer 2020 sale, get genuine Windows 10 Pro, the preferred operating system of PC enthusiasts, for just $11.90 with a TechPowerUp exclusive discount code. While you're keeping your machine cutting-edge, why not grab genuine Office 2019 Professional Plus, the most advanced productivity suite, for just $29.56 with the same code? Even better, get a combo of Windows 10 Pro and Office 2019 Professional for $35.62. Check out other great deals below. GoodOffer24 uses PayPal, so your payment instruments are secure, and so is your purchase.

Use the coupon-code TP30 at check-out to avail the prices you see here.

Buy Windows 10 Pro for $11.90 | Buy Office 2019 Professional Plus for $29.56 | Buy Windows 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC for $11.37 | Buy Windows 10 Pro twin-pack for $19.45 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2019 Professional for $35.62 | Buy Office 2019 Home and Student 1-user for $29.56
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NVIDIA Announces Financial Results for First Quarter Fiscal 2021

Press Release by
btarunr
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NVIDIA today reported revenue for the first quarter ended April 26, 2020, of $3.08 billion, up 39 percent from $2.22 billion a year earlier, and down 1 percent from $3.11 billion in the previous quarter. GAAP earnings per diluted share for the quarter were $1.47, up 130 percent from $0.64 a year ago, and down 4 percent from $1.53 in the previous quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1.80, up 105 percent from $0.88 a year earlier, and down 5 percent from $1.89 in the previous quarter.

NVIDIA completed its acquisition of Mellanox Technologies Ltd. on April 27, 2020, for a transaction value of $7 billion. It also transitioned its GPU Technology Conference to an all-digital format, drawing more than 55,000 registered participants, while NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang's keynote videos were viewed 3.8 million times in their first three days.
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Seagate Technology to Open up Patents in Fight Against COVID-19

Press Release by
btarunr
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Seagate Technology plc, a world leader in data storage and management solutions, today announced that it has signed the Open COVID Pledge. The pledge grants free access to all of Seagate's patented technologies to help enable diagnosing, preventing, containing, and treating of COVID-19.

The mission of the Open COVID Pledge is to provide access to every tool at the disposal of businesses and society toward the goal of rapid development and deployment of technologies in a massive scale without impediment, in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Seagate's mission is to maximize the potential of humanity," said Seagate's CEO Dr. Dave Mosley. "Never has that been more important than during the COVID-19 pandemic. Collaboration is going to be key in the efforts to fight the disease and minimize the lasting impact. The Open COVID Pledge is another of the amazing ways we can all work together, and Seagate is proud to be a part of this pledge to help enable critical access to powerful solutions for the good of humanity."
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OtherSide Entertainment Drops System Shock 3 Development; Chinese Tencent Now Holds the Reins

by
Raevenlord
 Discuss (13 Comments)
This is likely not the piece of news any of us wanted to hear on the development of System Shock 3. As a sequel to one of the most well-considered gaming franchises of all time, however, development of such a game is bound to be rife with difficulties - especially for an indie studio such as OtherSide Entertainment, a sentiment the developers themselves took to Twitter). AS reports surfaced earlier this year that the entire team working on the project at OtherSide had been let go, health of the development (and confidence in its development) clearly wasn't soaring. Now, OtherSide has confirmed that development of System Shock 3 has ceased - and has passed the mantle to Chinese giant Tencent.

Tencent has thus acquired the rights for development of a sequel to the System Shock franchise - Nightdive Studios, holders of the IP that licensed it to OtherSide Entertainment, have already announced the change in carrier for the sequel hopes. OtherSide places their faith in Tencent's "deep capabilities and expertise as a leading video game company will bring the franchise to new heights". Whether or not that means starting from scratch is up in the air right now, but one thing is certain: the game will take even longer than expected to release. A blue screen of death for Shodan, pending a reboot.

Razer Announces the Blade Pro 17

Press Release by
btarunr
 Discuss (10 Comments)
Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today unveiled the all-new Razer Blade Pro 17, the laptop built for professional gamers, designers and game developers. The Blade Pro 17 is available now with a 4K 120Hz display for creators requiring a high-resolution workstation and a Full-HD 300Hz option for gamers needing to see every frame of every match.

Powering these displays are the latest processors from both Intel and NVIDIA, including the 8-core 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10875H and up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER. The all-new Razer Blade Pro 17 packs the power of a desktop into a compact.78" x 10.24" x 15.5" chassis that users can easily take from the main office to the home office.
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MSI Announces its B550 Motherboard Family

Press Release by
btarunr
 Discuss (11 Comments)
MSI, the world-leading motherboard brand, continues to be dedicated to the AMD AM4 platform with the launch of the new B550 motherboards. Since AMD launched Ryzen Desktop Processors with AM4 platform, MSI has been occupied the market with our AM4 motherboards. For the B450 platform, MSI undoubtedly is in the market leadership with our iconic TOMAHAWK and MORTAR motherboards. This year, together with the 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen processors and readiness of PCIe Gen 4 technology, MSI offers a complete B550 motherboard lineup from MPG, MAG to PRO series with advanced technology and MSI exclusive features to satisfy all types of gamers and users' need.

"We are seeing increasing user demands for flexible systems that perform well in a multitude of tasks from gaming to content creation more than ever before," said Chris Kilburn, corporate vice president and general manager, client component business unit, AMD. "AMD is excited to bring the power of 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop processors and cutting edge PCIe 4.0 support to the mainstream users with our latest AMD B550 chipset. With an extensive platform lineup from our partners at MSI, AMD is confident these new B550 platforms will provide flexibility and power never seen before on a mainstream platform."
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ASUS Announces its B550 Motherboard Series: ROG, TUF Gaming, and Prime

Press Release by
btarunr
 Discuss (26 Comments)
ASUS today announced new motherboards featuring the latest AMD B550 chipset that bring the potential of PCI Express 4.0 to mainstream builds everywhere. AMD B550 motherboards enable 20 general-purpose PCIe 4.0 lanes from 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop processors. The primary PCIe slot on all new ASUS B550 boards offers 16 lanes of PCIe 4.0 connectivity, and 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen parts feature as many as four USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports running at up to 10 Gbps direct from the CPU itself.

ASUS also has exciting features to enhance its B550 motherboards like WiFi 6, 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, robust power delivery, increased DRAM speed and BIOS Flashback. The B550 chip itself gets an upgrade to PCIe 3.0 for its built-in lanes. These upgrades make B550 a tantalizing platform for mainstream builders throughout the world.
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GIGABYTE Launches its B550 Motherboard Lineup

Press Release by
btarunr
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GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, announced the launch of the newest B550 AORUS motherboards primed to unleash the potential of 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop processors. The all new B550 AORUS motherboards kick off the PCIe 4.0 era with extensive feature sets, and equip up to Direct 16 phases of digital power design with advanced thermal solutions that provide the processors and chipset more stable power supplement. Select GIGABYTE B550 AORUS motherboards feature a native USB 3.2 Gen2 interface, feature-rich I/O with a pre-installed I/O shield, the latest wireless connection, and Ultra Durable technology, set to deliver an unmatched user experience. "

We are seeing increasing user demands for flexible systems that perform well in a multitude of tasks from gaming to content creation more than ever before," said Chris Kilburn, corporate vice president and general manager, client component business unit, AMD. "AMD is excited to bring the power of 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop processors and cutting edge PCIe 4.0 support to the mainstream users with our latest AMD B550 chipsets. With overwhelming platform support from our partners at Gigabyte, AMD is confident these new B550 platforms will provide flexibility and power never seen before on a mainstream platform."
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ASRock Launches AMD B550 Motherboard Range

Press Release by
btarunr
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Leading global motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, proudly announces its latest range of motherboards featuring the new AMD B550 chipset, supporting AMD Ryzen desktop processors. "ASRock AMD B550 motherboard series brings exciting and innovating features such as PCIe 4.0 to the mainstream, ASRock offers a comprehensive range of motherboards from entry to premium, including the Taichi, PG Velocita, Extreme, Steel Legend and Pro4 series, leading features and excitement into the market." says Chris Lee, general manager of ASRock motherboard business unit.

"We are seeing increasing user demands for flexible systems that perform well in a multitude of tasks from gaming to content creation more than ever before," said Chris Kilburn, corporate vice president and general manager, client component business unit, AMD. "AMD is excited to bring the power of 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop processors and cutting edge PCIe 4.0 support to the mainstream users with our latest AMD B550 chipset. With a wide range of form factors, power delivery options, and designs from our partners at ASRock, AMD is confident these new B550 platforms will provide flexibility and power never seen before on a mainstream platform."
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Thermaltake Launches TOUGHRAM RGB DDR4-4600 Memory 16GB

Press Release by
btarunr
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Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Cooling, Gaming Gear, and Enthusiast Memory solutions, proudly announced our high clock rate memory, the TOUGHRAM RGB DDR4 4600 MHz 16 GB Memory (2x8GB), which comes in both black and white versions. Besides the previous TOUGHRAM RGB 4000 MHz and TOUGHRAM RGB 4400 MHz Memory, we have now reached a new level, the TOUGHRAM line with a new higher clock rate of 4600 MHz in 16 GB (2x8GB) to ensure that we meet the users' needs. To provide high and stable gaming performance, all ICs are tightly-screened and coated with a ten-layer PCB.

Uniquely designed TT premium heat spreader with ten high lumens individual addressable LEDs not only dispatches heat faster but can allow users to show off 16.8 million colors with countless lighting combinations. Furthermore, users can use NeonMaker to customize and control the lighting effects, or even synchronized TOUGHRAM RGB DDR4 4600 MHz Memory with the TT RGB Plus software to maximize the control of RGB effects. TOUGHRAM RGB DDR4 4600 MHz Memory is also compatible with Intel Z490 and AMD X570 chipsets and supports Intel's XMP 2.0. If you're looking for high-quality, high functioning stable memory, choose TOUGHRAM RGB DDR4 4600 MHz.
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AMD RDNA2 Based Radeon RX Graphics Cards Launching This September

by
btarunr
 Discuss (70 Comments)
AMD's next-generation RDNA2 architecture based Radeon RX series client-segment graphics cards will launch in September 2020, according to a DigiTimes report citing industry sources. This would make September a mighty busy month for hardware launches, as the company is also expected to debut its 4th generation Ryzen "Vermeer" (and possibly "Renoir) desktop processors in the AM4 package. NVIDIA is expected to debut its GeForce "Ampere" client-segment graphics cards around the same time. Although not in the same computing segment, Intel could also debut its 11th generation Core "Tiger Lake" mobile processors.

RDNA2 is an important launch for AMD as it's the company's first graphics architecture that meets the DirectX 12 Ultimate logo requirements, which include real-time ray-tracing capability leveraging DXR, variable rate shading, mesh shaders, and sampler feedback. AMD and NVIDIA will be debuting their graphics cards close to the release of CD Projekt's "Cyberpunk 2077," which is emerging as the year's most hotly anticipated game.

ASUS Prime B550M-A and TUF Gaming B550 Micro-ATX Boards Pictured

by
btarunr
 Discuss (0 Comments)
Slightly ahead of its launch, ASUS flashed a banner of its AMD B550 chipset motherboard lineup, revealing two other boards than the premium ROG Strix B550-E Gaming AMD unveiled in its platform unveil. These include an unnamed micro-ATX board slotted in the TUF Gaming series, and a entry-level Prime B550M-A micro-ATX board. The Prime board has our attention as its spartan layout could indicate that there will indeed be socket AM4 boards based on the B550 starting at $100, as AMD promised. The B550 has a distinct advantage over the B450 in the form of PCI-Express gen 4.0 for the main PEG and at least one M.2 NVMe slots; and an easier upgrade path toward 4th gen Ryzen "Vermeer" and "Renoir," than AMD's 400-series chipsets have.

VIA Announces AWS IoT Greengrass Qualified VIA Mobile360 M820

Press Release by
btarunr
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VIA Technologies, Inc. today announced that it has received AWS IoT Greengrass certification for the VIA Mobile360 M820 in-vehicle safety system. AWS IoT Greengrass seamlessly extends AWS services to edge devices and allows the systems to act in real-time using locally generated data when an internet network connection is not available - a vital feature for vehicles on the road.

"AWS Greengrass IoT certification for the VIA Mobile360 M820 underlines our commitment to providing an optimized deployment path for operators to enable AWS services across their vehicle fleets," commented Richard Brown, VP of International Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. "This highly-integrated solution accelerates the integration of advanced fleet management and in-vehicle safety applications from the edge to the cloud."
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Sabrent Launches World's First 8 Terabyte M.2 NVMe SSD

by
AleksandarK
 Discuss (36 Comments)
Sabrent, a company focused on making storage devices and PC accessories, today announced the release of the world's first 8 terabyte NVMe SSD delivered in the M.2 form factor. The new SSD dubbed Rocket Q 8 TB NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD is a real treat for all SSD enthusiasts. Besides its staggering capacity, it has plenty of features as well. Built on top of 3D QLC NAND Flash memory chips, the Rocket Q SSD is supposed to deliver very high speeds on PCIe 3.0 x4 bus. With up to 3.4 GB/sec reads, and up to 3 GB/sec writes, the SSD is pushing the limits of the PCIe 3.0 x4 bus that it is designed to work for.

Rocking a Phison's E12S controller, it is supposed to maintain high speeds even on random 4K reads and writes. The company didn't reveal too many details about the performance, however, we can wait for some reviews. The SSD is PCIe 3.1 Compliant, NVMe 1.3 Compliant, and supports SMART and TRIM commands. With a purchase of this SSD, you get a free copy of Sabrent Acronis True Image for Sabrent Software for easy cloning. Pricing and availability are unknown.
Sabrent Rocket Q 8 TB NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD Sabrent Rocket Q 8 TB NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD

BIOSTAR Launches its B550 Series Motherboards

Press Release by
btarunr
 Discuss (10 Comments)
BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today introduces the new RACING B550GTA and RACING B550GTQ motherboards designed around the B550 Chipset from AMD. Built to run the latest and greatest AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen Processors, BIOSTAR's RACING B550GTA and RACING B550GTQ motherboards are designed to be the best in business. With a flawless design language carried down from their RACING family motherboards, engineered with bleeding-edge technology to support the best hardware in the market, BIOSTAR RACING B550 series motherboards are ready to leave all competition in the dust.

The RACING B550GTA motherboard comes in an ATX form factor suitable for consumers looking to build a full-blown gaming rig that can take advantage of the additional expansion slots and connectivity that comes with the ATX architecture, while the RACING B550GTQ motherboard is built around the Micro-ATX form factor for builds that need the same level of technology and power as its ATX counterpart but take less real estate from a PC case.
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Intel Updates x86/x64 Software Developer Manual With Tremont Architecture Details

by
AleksandarK
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Intel has today released the 43rd edition of its x86/x64 ISA developer manual designed to help developers see what's new in x86 world and make software optimizations for Intel's platform. In the latest edition of the manual, Intel has revealed the details of its low-power x86 "Tremont" architecture designed for 10 nm efficient, low-power computing. Announced last year in October, Intel promised to deliver a big IPC increase compared to the previous generation low-power CPU microarchitecture like the Goldmont Plus family. To achieve extra performance, Intel has implemented a lot of new solutions.

For starters, Tremont boasts better branch prediction unit, with increased capacity for instruction queue and better path-based conditional and indirect prediction. The front-end fetch and decode pipeline have been updated as well. Now the design is a 6-wide Out of Order Execution (OoOE) pipeline which can process 6 instructions per cycle. The Data cache is now upgraded to 32 KB. The load and store execution pipelines are now doubled and they are capable of two loads and two stores, or one load and one store, depending on the application. Tremont also updates on one important point and that is a dedicated store data port for integer and vector integer/floating-point data. Another big improvement is happening in the cryptography department. Tremont now features Galois-field instructions labeled as the GFNI family of instructions. There are two AES units for faster AES encryption and decryption. The already implemented SHA-NI cryptography standard was enhanced and it now is much faster as well. For mode in-depth report please check out Intel's x86/x64 manual.
Intel Tremont

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Announced as the 2020 Dose of CoD

by
btarunr
 Discuss (2 Comments)
The end cannot be nigh as long as Activision is able to put out a Call of Duty title for the year, come war, famine, pestilence, or death. The 2020 release of CoD will be reportedly titled "Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War," signaling a game set in the era of the original Black Ops. The name first appeared on Tuesday when a an anonymous tipster tweeted it, and Eurogamer later corroborated it. If 2019's Modern Warfare is any indication, Black Ops Cold War could be a retelling of the original Black Ops storyline, away from the future-warfare theme picked up by the two most recent Black Ops titles. Activision has reportedly dropped many hints of the Cold War setting in recent content additions to Warzone.
Wednesday, May 20th 2020

Today's Reviews

Cases
Cooling
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Monitors
Motherboards
Processors
SSD
ASRock Z490 Taichi Review

ASRock Z490 Taichi Review

Review Motherboards
ASRock's award winning Taichi line is back, and aiming for the top of ASRock's Z490 stack. The cog and gear theme returns, along with a new VRM thermal solution that features a finned heat sink and active cooling. What other new tricks has ASRock included in the ASRock Z490 Taichi?
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MSI MEG Z490 Unify Review

MSI MEG Z490 Unify Review

Review Motherboards
Focused on VRM power and thermals, as well as a sleek and stealthy aesthetic, the MSI MEG Z490 Unify is shaping up to be a serious contender for the best value enthusiast board. With sixteen 90 A power stages from Intersil and active VRM cooling, no CPU is too power hungry for the Unify.
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ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming Review

ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming Review

Review Motherboards
Our first look at ASUS's Z490 lineup, the ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming features a powerful VRM, optional active VRM cooling, lots of connectivity, and of course some killer good looks. If you are searching for a board that can do it all, the ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming is a good place to start.
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ASRock Z490 PG Velocita Review

ASRock Z490 PG Velocita Review

Review Motherboards
The ASRock Z490 PG Velocita is ready for Comet Lake with Socket LGA 1200. "Velocita" is ASRock's latest addition to the award-winning Phantom Gaming motherboard line and features 2.5 Gb/s LAN, PCIe 4.0 readiness, and an uncompromising VRM thermal solution with three fans.
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MSI MEG Z490I Unify Review

MSI MEG Z490I Unify Review

Review Motherboards
MSI has stuffed a lot of power into a small package with the MSI MEG Z490I Unify. Featuring a stealthy black aesthetic and a VRM configuration with 90 A power stages, the MSI MEG Z490I Unify could be a top choice for overclockers. Just how much can MSI pack into the Mini-ITX footprint?
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AMD "Renoir" Desktop APU Could Lack PCIe gen 4.0, Hints BIOSTAR B550 Motherboard Product Page

by
btarunr
 Discuss (27 Comments)
AMD's 4th generation Ryzen "Renoir" desktop APUs, based on the "Zen 2" microarchitecture, could lack PCI-Express gen 4.0, hints the product page of an upcoming AMD B550 chipset motherboard by BIOSTAR. AMD already declared that the B550 lacks support for "Picasso," which means the "Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics" processors referenced in the BIOSTAR product page have to be "Renoir." On the mobile platform, Ryzen 4000H and 4000U series processors do lack PCIe gen 4.0, but it was expected that AMD will enable gen 4.0 for the desktop socket AM4 platform.

The lack of gen 4.0 support has implications for "Renoir." For starters, the APU, like its predecessors, spares only 8 PCIe lanes toward PEG (PCI-Express discrete graphics, or the main x16 slot you typically use for graphics cards). If these lanes are gen 3.0, then even the newer graphics cards, such as AMD's "Navi" RX 5700 XT, or next-gen GeForce "Ampere," would have to make do with a PCI-Express 3.0 x8 interface, despite being gen 4.0 x16-capable. We will test just how much of a bottleneck this poses, when the next-gen graphics cards come out.
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G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Achieves New DDR4-6666 World Record with ASUS ROG

Press Release by
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G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is thrilled to claim yet another world record, in close cooperation with the ASUS ROG team, for the fastest memory frequency at an incredible DDR4-6666, achieved by the G.SKILL Trident Z Royal DDR4 memory with the latest Intel Core i9-10900K processor and ASUS ROG Maximus XII APEX motherboard, based on the new Intel Z490 chipset. Please refer to the video below to see the exciting record breaking moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-vXqT3SKUM

Along with the latest release of the 10th Gen Intel platform, ASUS and G.SKILL worked closely to achieve a new world record for the fastest memory frequency. Using liquid nitrogen for extreme system cooling, this memory frequency world record is set at a whopping DDR4-6666. This world record is achieved with the ASUS ROG Maximus XII APEX motherboard, the latest ATX form factor motherboard based on the Intel Z490 chipset, and the Intel Core i9-10900K processor. See below for a screenshot of the world record specifications.
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ID-Cooling Rolls Out ZF-12025 in Four New Pastel Colors

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ID-Cooling unveiled four new color options for its ZF-12025 120 mm case fan with white lighting. The four new pastel color options are "Baby Blue," "Lemon Yellow," "Mint Green," and "Piglet Pink." The color scheme extends to the fan's frame and the impeller, while the vibration-dampening rubber inserts and the a ring along the bore of the frame remain in contrasting white, with a single-color white LED inside that draws power from the main 4-pin connector.

Recommended for both case ventilation and liquid-cooling applications, the ZF-12025 takes in 4-pin PWM for its main function. It spins between 900 to 2,000 RPM, pushing up to 55.2 CFM of air, with 2.13 mm H₂O pressure. ID-Cooling will reportedly introduce several of its products, including radiators, AIO CLCs, and heatsinks in these four new color schemes, matching the the ZF-12025. The fans are expected to be priced at USD $12.99 a piece, with U.S. availability expected around late-June.

Update May 21st: ID-Cooling clarified to us that the pastel color variants of the ZF-12025 lack ARGB lighting, and in place of the ARGB diffuser is a solid white color ring with a white LED. The company also revealed pricing and availability information.

Noctua Readies High-Performance Fanless Heatsink Building on 2019 Prototype

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Noctua is reportedly working on a high-performance fanless CPU cooler building on a 2019 prototype that was exhibited at last year's Computex. The final product should launch within 2020, according to an Overclock3D report. As of now there's no word on whether the said cooler will look identical to last year's prototype, but it provides a long list of capabilities that Noctua could build on. For starters, last year's prototype was capable of handling 120 W TDP in PC cases with good natural ventilation, and up to 180 W in cases with quiet fans. The company used a Core i9-9900K in a variety of workloads as a proof of the heatsink's capabilities. The prototype heatsink was also shown offering decent amount of clearance with the motherboard's memory- and VRM areas. Its only downside was the 1.5 kg weight.

Intel Showcases Ice Lake iGPU Performance in Premiere Pro 14.2

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As we reported earlier this week, the release of Adobe Premiere Pro 14.2 brought GPU acceleration to select NVIDIA and AMD GPUs taking advantage of NVIDIA's NVENC chips to boost encoding and decoding speeds. Intel has now showcased the improvements to encoding and decoding with Intel Quick Sync Video (QSV) on 11th generation iGPUs found in mobile Ice Lake chips with Adobe Premiere Pro 14.2.

Compared to the previous 9th generation graphics found in Skylake and Kabylake CPUs the new 11th generation iGPUs perform anywhere from 49-82% better. While impressive, these performance gains can only be found on limited low power 10 nm mobile chips with a maximum of four cores and are yet to arrive on desktop platforms.

Samsung Expands its Foundry Capacity with A New Production Line in Pyeongtaek

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Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced plans to boost its foundry capacity at the company's new production line in Pyeongtaek, Korea, to meet growing global demand for cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet (EUV) solutions.

The new foundry line, which will focus on EUV-based 5 nanometer (nm) and below process technology, has just commenced construction this month and is expected to be in full operation in the second half of 2021. It will play a pivotal role as Samsung aims to expand the use of state-of-the-art process technologies across a myriad of current and next generation applications, including 5G, high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI).
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MSI MEG Z490 Motherboards Secure Leading Validated i9-10900K Memory OC Records

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MSI, the world-leading motherboard manufacturer, proudly announces MEG Z490 GODLIKE and MEG Z490I UNIFY have achieved the brand new overclocking scores on both processor and DDR4 memory frequency with Intel 10th Gen Core processors for socket 1200.

MEG Z490 GODLIKE, a new flagship motherboard which is compatible with recently launched Intel 10th Gen processors, is built to deliver unbelievable performance including impressive overclocking scores. Extreme overclocking is made possibly with an aggressive MSI VRM design built with 16 phases 90 A CPU power, combining dual 8-pin power connectors, exclusive Mirrored Power Arrangement and Core Boost Technology to reach the extreme overclocking record.
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MSI B460 Chipset Motherboard Series Now Available

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MSI, the world-leading motherboard manufacturer, proudly announces Intel B460 series motherboards. Since the current Intel 10th Gen processor has doubled the efficiency of the thread, it is an excellent match with the B460 series chipset on the mainstream i5 / i7 processor, this time MSI launched 4 models of MAG series at a time, including MAG B460 TOMAHAWK in ATX size and three mATX size models including MAG B460M MORTAR, MAG B460M MORTAR WIFI, and MAG B460M BAZOOKA. This completes an enriching amount of choices for mainstream gamers.

MAG B460 TOMAHAWK is equipped with MSI Extended Heatsink Design, which is well-prepared for the potential rise in temperature. Turbo M.2 with M.2 shield Frozr allows for maximum performance without throttling condition. Adopted ASMedia 3241 controller chip brings up to 20 Gbps transfer speed with Type-C connector. 2.5G Gigabit LAN with the LAN manager offers faster networking experiences. 12+1+1 Duet Rail Power System gives more stability for entry-level gamers.
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AMD Repositions Ryzen 9 3900X at $410 Threatening both i9-10900K and i7-10700K

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AMD marshaled its retailer ecosystem to cut the pricing of its 12-core/24-thread Ryzen 9 3900X processor down to USD $410. At this price, the 3900X is poised to threaten both the 10-core/20-thread Core i9-10900K and the 8-core/16-thread Core i7-10700K. Although bearing a $489 MSRP, the i9-10900K is seen going for upwards of $510. The i7-10700K, on the other hand, is being priced around the $410 mark. The iGPU-devoid i9-10900KF is expected to be around $20 cheaper, which should put its retail pricing around $480, while the i7-10700KF could go for around $380.

Pricing of both chips are along expected lines, as retail pre-tax prices typically end up 5% above the 1,000-unit tray pricing Intel announces for its processors. The Hardware Unboxed review of the i9-10900K shows it taking a roughly 7% lead in gaming performance over the 3900X (averaged), while falling 12% behind in multi-threaded compute performance. The i7-10700K is expected to be slightly faster than the i9-9900K. Adding value to the AMD chip is the fact that it includes a cooling solution in the retail package, which Intel doesn't, for the i9-10900K/KF and the i7-10700K/KF. A February 2020 report postulated that AMD has significant headroom to cut prices of its 3rd generation Ryzen processors to maintain competitiveness against Intel, until they are relieved by the "Zen 3" based 4th gen Ryzen "Vermeer" processors in September 2020.

Hunt. Level. Adapt. Amazon Games Launches Crucible

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Crucible, the free-to-play competitive team-based shooter from Relentless Studios, an Amazon Games development studio, is now available to download for PC. In Crucible, players work with teammates to hunt their opponents and take down hostile creatures on a lush rogue planet in pursuit of Essence, a valuable resource that amplifies hunters' powers.

At launch, players can choose from a diverse roster of 10 hunters, including Earl, an interstellar trucker, Summer, a dual-flame-thrower-wielding former welder, and Bugg, a robot botanist. Each hunter in Crucible has their own unique weapons and abilities, and as they defeat opponents and the planet's flora and fauna, they level up, gaining strength and enhancing their abilities. Crucible's fast-paced combat challenges players to constantly re-evaluate and adjust their strategies, adapting to their opponents' moves and the deadly planet itself.
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SteelSeries Intros Arctis 1 Wireless Headset for Xbox

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SteelSeries today introduced the Arctis 1 Wireless for Xbox gaming headset. The headset uses a USB type-C 2.4 GHz wireless dongle, and a lossless audio format between the dongle and the headset. A type-C to type-A cable is included, as is a 4-pole male-to-male 3.5 mm cable for analog mode. The headset supports Xbox One, Xbox One X, and PlayStation 4, and SteelSeries claims it should work with the upcoming Xbox Series X. The wireless setup has a range of 9 m, and the headset has a battery life of up to 20 hours of use on a full charge.

As for its key specs, the headphones portion uses 40 mm drivers, offers 98 dB (SPL) sensitivity, 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency response, and 32 Ω impedance, with under 3% THD. The microphone, which is suspended on a detachable stock, responds to 100 Hz to 6.5 kHz, and -38 dBV/Pa sensitivity, offering bi-directional noise-cancellation (for the microphone). Available now, the Arctis 1 Wireless for Xbox is priced at USD $119.99.
Steelseries Arctis 1 for Xbox

id Software Backpedals on Doom Eternal Denuvo DRM Retrofit

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Someone at Bethesda or id Software thought it was a good idea to retrofit "Doom Eternal" with the vastly unpopular Denuvo DRM as an anti-cheat component, two months following its March launch, as part of "Update 1" (a major game patch). This invited the wrath of gamers as they review-bombed the game on Steam. The game's executive producer Marty Stratton took to Reddit, to announce that Denuvo will be removed in the game's next update (without announcing a timeline), while defending it. Stratton maintains that the performance issues noticed in Update 1 are not related to the Denuvo implementation. If you've read our comprehensive review of Denuvo, where we go into the technical aspects of the DRM solution, you'll know that it can be implemented in a number of ways, some of which inflict performance penalties.
Image Courtesy Modern Vintage Gamer

GLOBALFOUNDRIES Ceases Operations in its Chengdu Fab

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GLOBALFOUNDRIES ceased all operations in its joint-venture fab in Chengdu, China. The fab opened its doors in 2018, and was supposed to mass-produce 300 mm wafers on the 22FDX technology in a 65,000 square meter facility. The company's Chinese partner, the Chengdu Municipality, had at the time boasted of investments into the fab peaking at $10 billion. The two had also announced $2 billion in initial design wins.

GloFo's announcement to cease operations and possibly withdraw from Chengdu comes hot on the heals of a separate announcement bolstering its mainland US based facilities up to US-DoD specs for secure manufacturing, a sign that the company will scale up investment into US-based facilities. GloFo's foreshadowed withdrawal from manufacturing in China is part of the ongoing "tech war" between the US and China, with the US getting American (and West-aligned) tech companies to pull manufacturing out of China, the biggest casualties of which is Huawei.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES to Implement ITAR and Strict Security Assurances at its Advanced U.S. Semiconductor Manufacturing Facility

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GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF ), the world's leading specialty foundry and the leading U.S. pure-play manufacturer of semiconductors, today announced plans to implement export control security measures at its most advanced manufacturing facility, Fab 8, in Malta, New York. GF will bring its Fab 8 facility into compliance with both the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) standards and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), making the company the most advanced ITAR foundry in the country. By taking this significant step, GF deepens its partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the U.S. defense industrial base, and further supports ongoing development of new assurance approaches in support of national security objectives.

These new control assurances, which will go into effect later this year, will make confidentiality and integrity protections available for defense-related applications, devices or components manufactured at GF's Fab 8 facility. To date, GF has invested over $13 billion in Fab 8 and this is a significant step to serve the U.S. government and its technology needs for decades.
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Lexar Announces New Professional NM700 M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3x4 NVMe SSD

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Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, today announced the new Lexar Professional NM700 M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe SSD to its family line of SSD products. As the need for faster performance and uninterrupted application experiences increases, Lexar has developed a solution to keep videographers, photographers, and designers in the driver's seat with speeds of up 3500 MB/s read, and 2000 MB/s write. The NM700 is supported by PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe and built with 3D NAND flash for higher capacity and more efficiency without unnecessary slowdowns.

"The Lexar Professional NM700 allows our high-intensive users to experience improved performance with speeds that will keep them in front of any task. This new SSD solidifies our commitment to improving our SSD portfolio and meets the demands of our customers' needs," said Joel Boquiren, Director of Global Marketing.
Lexar NM700
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Intel Core i9-10900K Pushed to 7.707 GHz Under Liquid Helium Cooling

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An Intel Core i9-10900K processor was overclocked to 7707 MHz with all cores enabled, by professional overclocker Elmor, who participated in a collaborative overclocking session by ASUS. The frequency was achieved at 101.42 MHz BClk, and 76x multiplier. Supporting the overclock was a liquid helium evaporator. An ASUS ROG Maximus XII Apex motherboard was used for the feat, along with a single stick of DDR4-4400 memory. Also, Windows XP was used, to support the ASUS Turbo V Core tool. Find the CPU-Z validation here.
A video presentation of the feat follows.
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Intel Gen12 Xe iGPU Twice as Fast as Gen11, Enters AMD Vega iGPU Territory

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Intel Xe graphics architecture makes its commercial debut as an iGPU solution in the company's upcoming "Tiger Lake" mobile processors. The iGPU can be configured along three tiers, with GT1 featuring 48 execution units (EUs), GT2 80 EUs, and GT3 leading the pack with 96 EUs, all within a 15 W envelope (for the total chip). There's a higher tier still of GT3 that comes with higher boost frequencies, tapping into the chip's overall increased 28 W TDP, but this variant of "Tiger Lake" could likely be an Apple-exclusive like its "Ice Lake" based predecessor.

NotebookCheck compiled a 3DMark FireStrike comparison between the various tiers of the Xe iGPU, and compared it to the Gen11 iGPU found with current-generation "Ice Lake-U" processors. The graph doesn't put out scores, but relative performance. Apparently, the 48 EU version of Gen12 Xe is a little over twice as fast as Gen11 GT1, and faster than even the 64 EU Gen11 GT2. The Gen12 GT2 with 80 EUs is around 1.7x faster than the Gen11 GT2 (64 EU). The 96 EU GT3 trim is over twice as fast, and its 28 W variant faster still. These performance give Gen12 a shot against AMD's Radeon Vega-based iGPU solution found in "Renoir." AMD has slimmed the number of CUs down to 8 (512 SP) with "Renoir," down from 11 CUs in the previous generation, compensating for it with higher GPU engine clocks.

GIGABYTE Introduces AORUS RGB Memory DDR4-4400MHz 16GB

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GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, announced today the launch of AORUS RGB MEMORY 4400 MHz. The all new design memory kit features the highly-praised Hynix D die, providing high bandwidth and high performance of DDR4 XMP 4400 MHz under 8 GB x2 mainstream specifications with a friendly price tag. The AORUS RGB MEMORY 4400 MHz is qualified by the high-end platform of INTEL Z490 and AMD X570, offering distinguished quality and stability with a lifetime warranty. Through RGB 2.0 support, users can create personal stylish lighting among DRAM and system components with balance of performance, budget, and fashion.

Following the innovation of computer platforms, the support of high memory XMP increases as well. GIGABYTE AORUS RGB MEMORY has won most credits consistently from the industry, and brings extra to the plate with the latest AORUS RGB MEMORY 4400 MHz 16 GB, with the specification of 8 GB x2 DDR4 XMP 4400 MHz and 19-26-26-46 timing. AORUS RGB MEMORY 4400 MHz 16 GB adopts Hynix D die which is the latest optimized option that memory overclockers highly recommend, and chose this level of product when purchasing. GIGABYTE implements this high quality material on AORUS RGB MEMORY 4400 MHz memory for overclockers who chase high memory frequency and enthusiasts can take full advantage of the various performance boosts.
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Intel Acquires Rivet Networks, Boosting Intel's Wi-Fi Offerings for PC Platforms

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Wi-Fi connectivity has become more essential than ever as we rely on it to work, teach, learn and stay connected to colleagues and loved ones. Fast, reliable and secure Wi-Fi connectivity is a necessity for keeping up as we add more connected devices and higher bandwidth applications for gaming, video streaming and content creation, as well as for processing increasingly larger file sizes. In today's homes there are an average of 11 Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Over the past few months, Comcast has reported that Wi-Fi-connected video calls and video conferencing have increased over 283%, and Charter Communications reports that over 90% of the traffic on its ISP network is Wi-Fi-based. Even in the case of your phone, more than 70% of your mobile (cellular) data traffic runs on Wi-Fi.

Intel has been investing and contributing to the evolution of Wi-Fi for more than 20 years, and today we're excited to announce another leap forward. We are acquiring Rivet Networks, a leader in software and cloud-based technologies for networking connectivity. Rivet Networks is a terrific complement to our existing Wi-Fi products and helps us further our vision of delivering PC platforms that power every person's greatest contribution. Rivet Networks' products deliver speed, intelligence and control for gamers and performance users. Its products maximize Wi-Fi bandwidth utilization and optimize the wireless network connection on your platform. In addition, Rivet Networks' products can also utilize the combination of Ethernet and Wi-Fi to prioritize traffic over both connections.
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Devolver, Croteam Share Details and New Trailer for Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass

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Devolver and Croteam today announced some details regarding their in-development Serious Sam 4. As one of the first demon-slaying, badass-filled PC games ever released, Serious Sam enjoys somewhat of a cult status. The new trailer nothing like what you'd expect, though some of the classical monsters the series is best known for are present. With Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal enjoying tremendous market success (even with a snag here and there), what does Serious Sam 4 have to offer to be able to compete?

Not an open-world, that's a given: Serious Sam 4 will present players with much bigger environments than any other previous game in the series (which is to be expected), but the gameplay will still be a linear experience (broken here and there with some optional objectives, secrets, and traps laid out by your monstrous adversaries. Motorcycles, combines, and even the Popemobile (yes, you read that right) will be present in the game to aid you in your murderous rampage. Check the new trailer after the break. Only two more months to go.
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ViewSonic Announces the ELITE XG270QC Monitor: 27" IPS, QHD, 165 Hz, 1 ms, FreeSync Premium Pro, Display HDR 400, 1500R

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ViewSonic today announces that the ViewSonic ELITE XG270QC gaming monitor is now available. ViewSonic continues to expand its gaming line-up with products that deliver the ultimate experience for a variety of gaming environments. The XG270QC delivers a 165Hz refresh rate, 3 ms (1 ms MPRT) response time and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro technology to ensure a seamless gaming experience.

As part of its ELITE gaming portfolio, the ViewSonic XG270QC is a 27-inch, curved gaming monitor that is capable of achieving a 1 ms (MPRT) response time. This gaming monitor is designed with a 1500R curvature to provide lifelike visuals and immersive gaming. It features VESA DisplayHDR 400 that delivers an entry point into HDR gaming, as well as PureXP technology to drastically reduce motion blur. With native QHD (2560x1440) resolution, along with a 550 cd/m² luminance and DCI-P3 90% color coverage, the XG270QC offers bright, sharp and detailed image quality.
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G.SKILL DDR4 Memory Reaches Extreme Speeds with 10th Gen Intel Core Processors

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G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, is always exploring the extreme limits of the latest computing platforms. With the latest release of the 10th Gen Intel Core processors and Intel Z490 chipset-based motherboards, G.SKILL demonstrates that DDR4 memory is capable of reaching a higher tier of extreme speed than ever before, at up to DDR4-5000 MHz with 8 GB and 16 GB memory modules, as well as DDR4-4400 with high-capacity 32 GB modules.

Memory capacity has come a long way, where a 64 GB kit used to require 8 memory modules. Now, 64 GB is achievable with two high-density 32 GB modules, and G.SKILL shows that a massive capacity 32 GB x2 kit is capable of an incredible DDR4-4400 with CL19-26-26-46 timings. Stress tested on the latest Z490 platform and 10th Gen Intel Core processors, see below for screenshots of the memory kit running on the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XII FORMULA motherboard with an Intel Core i7-10700K processor and the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XII APEX with an Intel Core i9-10900K processor.
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Scythe LGA115X Compatible Coolers Ready for LGA1200 Socket

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The Japanese cooler specialist Scythe confirms the compatibility of its cooler line-up to the upcoming LGA 1200 socket based Intel 10th Gen "Comet Lake-S" Desktop CPU. All Scythe CPU cooler models, which are offering compatibility to sockets LGA 1150, LGA 1151, LGA 1155 and LGA 1156, can be installed on motherboards with the new socket LGA 1200. No additional mounting clips are required and users are able to use the supplied LGA 115X clips, when installing the compatible Scythe CPU coolers on the new socket. The updated manuals are available for download on Scythe website.
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Intel 10th Generation Core Desktop Processors Start Selling

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Intel's 10th generation Core desktop processors started selling as review and retail embargoes lifted earlier today. Despite supply chain constraints, prices of the chips appear surprisingly tame, and close to Intel's announced prices. The retail Core i9-10900K is priced at USD $529 on Newegg, before it quickly ran out of stock. The Core i7-10700K is listed at $409. The mid-range Core i5-10400 is going for $195 (all USD prices without taxes). Across the pond, the i9-10900K is listed for €589, the i9-10900KF for €549, the i7-10700K for €449, the i5-10600K for €309, and the i5-10400F for €183 (all EUR prices inclusive of taxes). Retailers also began shipping socket LGA1200 motherboards for which they started taking pre-orders earlier this month.

Origin PC Updates EON17-X and NS-17 with Desktop 10th Gen Intel Core Processors

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ORIGIN PC announced the availability of the all-new EON17-X gaming laptop and NS-17 workstation laptop, both powered by 10th gen Intel Core desktop processors featuring up to 10 cores and 20 threads. Get desktop-like graphics performance with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER with Max-P design. Connect a high bandwidth accessory with a Thunderbolt 3 port. With overclockable power and performance to rival desktops, the EON17-X is the ultimate desktop replacement system.

Equipped with a powerful 10th gen Intel Core desktop processor, up to the i9-10900K, gamers and professionals can run their programs at maximum performance just like they would on a desktop. The EON17-X offers graphics card options above and beyond most mainstream laptops on the market with the inclusion of NVIDIA GeForce RTX SUPER graphics cards with Max-P design. Customizable up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX SUPER 2080 with Max-P design, experience ray-tracing and improved game performance compared to desktops. The EON17-X can support up to 64GB of RAM with space for up to four DDR4 RAM sticks with 128GB support coming soon.
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Microsoft Builds a Supercomputer for AI

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Microsoft has held a Build 2020 conference for developers from all over the world, and they live-streamed it online. Among some of the announcements, Microsoft has announced a new supercomputer dedicated to the OpenAI company, which works on building Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The new supercomputer is a part of Microsoft's Azure cloud infrastructure and it will allow OpenAI developers to train very large scale machine learning models in the cloud. The supercomputer is said to be the fifth most powerful supercomputer in the world with specifications of "more than 285,000 CPU cores, 10,000 GPUs and 400 gigabits per second of network connectivity for each GPU server."

Specific information wasn't announced and we don't know what CPUs and GPUs go into this machine, but we can speculate that the latest Nvidia A100 "Ampere" GPU could be used. The company hasn't yet submitted its entry to the Top500 website, so we can't keep track of the FLOPs count and see what power it holds.
Microsoft Azure Data Center

NVIDIA Discontinues the Tesla Brand to Avoid Confusion with Tesla Car Maker

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At its ambitious "Ampere" A100 Tensor Core processor reveal, the "Tesla" brand was nowhere to be seen. Heise.de reports that the company has decided to discontinue "Tesla" as the top-level brand for its HPC, AI, and scalar compute accelerator product line. NVIDIA introduced the Tesla compute accelerator brand along with its "Tesla" graphics architecture. It was the first major GPGPU product, and saw CUDA take flight as a prominent scalar compute language.

Over the years, NVIDIA kept the Tesla moniker as a top-level brand (alongside GeForce and Quadro), with an alphabetic portion of the model numbers denoting the graphics architecture the accelerator is based on (eg: Tesla P100 being "Pascal" based, K10 being "Kepler" based, and M40 being "Maxwell" based). The Tesla T4, based on "Turing," is the final product with the old nomenclature. Interestingly, Heise reports that NVIDIA dropped the name to avoid confusion with fellow Californian brand Tesla Inc.

Antec Announces Katana DDR4 Memory

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Antec, a leading provider of high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself market, broadens its range of memory with the new Katana DDR4 Memory. Inspired by the Japanese Samurai sword and its blade, the Antec Katana features a soft silhouette with metallic shine and lighting, adding extra style to the dream builds. "With our Katana memory modules, Antec aims at enthusiasts buying their stylish gaming cases and looking to add stylish designed components by the same brand", explains Eric Chen, Vice President at Antec. "Katana shows off a metallic shine on the silver lighting bar, while, lit up, Katana glows with soft and harmonious light effects."

The distinctive aluminium heatsink offers excellent thermal conductivity to ensure great cooling performance even during overclocking. Katana provides extensive freedom of customization with a vast array of modes and ARGB functions via motherboard synchronization.
Antec Katana
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Samsung T7 Portable SSD is Now Available for Purchase

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Following the release of Samsung's T7 Touch portable SSD in January, the T7 is now available. Samsung T7 combines sleek, compact design with the fastest transfer speeds currently available based on the USB 3.2 Gen 2 standard. The business card-sized portable SSD can be slipped into nearly any pocket and holds up to 2 TB of data. Samsung T7 is the perfect everyday storage companion for those looking to save video and photo content from a variety of USB-compatible devices. The T7 saves time with incredibly fast transfer speeds, and gives users peace of mind with data security features.

The T7 offers a significant speed upgrade over previous storage solutions. With a read speed of 1,050 MB/s and a write speed of 1,000 MB/s, it is approximately twice as fast as its predecessor, the T5, and up to 9.5 times faster than external hard disk drives. Moreover, the device can reach its maximum speed when used with the NVMe interface. With these speeds, Samsung T7 can help improve daily workflow and save valuable time for digital creative professionals.
Samsung T7
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Tuesday, May 19th 2020

Today's Reviews

Cooling
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Memory
Monitors
Motherboards
Mouse
NAS
PSUs
Sound Cards
Sharkoon Light² 200 Review

Sharkoon Light² 200 Review

Review Mice
Sharkoon joins the lightweight gaming mouse trend with the Light² 200. Weighing in at just 62 g, the right-handed ergonomic Light² 200 also brings PixArt's PMW3389 sensor, Omron switches for the main buttons, high quality mouse feet, and a flexible cable to the table, all while keeping the price wallet-friendly.
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Seagate Announces "The Last of Us Part II" Licensed Game Drives

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Seagate is pleased to introduce the Limited Edition The Last of Us Part II Officially Licensed Seagate 2 TB Game Drive, arriving alongside the game's launch on PlayStation 4 (PS4 ) and PlayStation 4 Pro (PS4 Pro). Seagate's latest addition to its popular line of storage for gamers offers an expansive 2 TB of storage, and celebrates the release of The Last of Us Part II with a laser-etched design that features Ellie's distinct tattoo. Players can download The Last of Us Part II, store the full game on this drive, and quickly start playing.

Optimized for PS4 and PS4 Pro consoles and offering seamless installation, Seagate's latest special edition Game Drive is small and lightweight enough to slip into a pocket. It does not need a separate power adapter and can store more than 50 downloaded games for playing on the go.
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KLEVV Introduces the CRAS C710 M.2 NVMe SSD

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KLEVV today introduced the CRAS C710 line of mainstream M.2 NVMe SSDs, in 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB capacities. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface, the drives combine a Silicon Motion SM2263XT DRAMless controller with 3D TLC NAND flash memory, offering intelligent SLC caching. Performance figures put out by the company read as up to 2,100 MB/s sequential reads, up to 1,650 MB/s sequential writes for the 1 TB variant. The 512 GB variant offers up to 2,050 MB/s reads, with up to 1,650 MB/s writes. The 256 GB model does up to 1,950 MB/s reads, with up to 1,250 MB/s writes. The company didn't reveal pricing information.

Minecraft Hits 200 Million Copies Sold On 11th Anniversary

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In a recent Microsoft blog post, Mojang Studios announced that Minecraft has sold over 200 million copies to date, with 126 million active monthly players. This achievement comes 11 years after the game was originally released in May 2009 as a Java applet on an online forum. To this day Minecraft has remained as one of the world's most popular games from being the most-watched game on YouTube in 2019 to getting released on almost every device imaginable and still actively receiving updates.

Epic Games Store Set To Offer Partial Refunds For Recent Sales

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Uskompuf
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It seems that Epic Games has quietly rolled out a new automated partial refund feature to games purchased via its storefront which later had their price cut in a sale. Studio Mayday founder Joshua Boggs shared an automated email he received from the Epic Games Store on Twitter, which stated that he would receive a partial refund for the difference in the game's price he recently purchased which shortly afterwards went on sale. This is the first we've heard of such a system and Epic Games may well be keeping the update quite to prevent abuse of the system.
Epic Games Store emailYou recently placed orders from the Epic Games Store. The price of the game(s) you purchased were recently lowered, so we are issuing partial refunds for the difference(s).

AxiomTek Announces QuadView CAPA13R Board with AMD Ryzen Embedded V-series Processors

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Axiomtek - a world-renowned leader relentlessly devoted in the research, development and manufacture of series of innovative and reliable industrial computer products of high efficiency - is pleased to introduce the CAPA13R, a high-performance 3.5" embedded board with quad displays. The CAPA13R is powered by the onboard AMD Ryzen Embedded V1807B/V1605B processor with AMD Radeon RX Vega graphics. The embedded board is well-suited for graphics-intensive applications such as medical imaging, video surveillance, 3D simulators, optical quality control, digital signage, kiosks/POI, thin clients, and more.

The integrated AMD Radeon RX Vega graphics with support of DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.5 deliver powerful 3D and 4K graphics to the embedded devices. The CAPA13R offers quad display capability through two HDMI, one DisplayPort and one LVDS interfaces. Its onboard CPU is attached on the rear side of the board, which can aid with heat dissipation and offers flexibility for easy system integration and minimum maintenance. Moreover, the CAPA13R offers multiple expansion interfaces with one M.2 Key E slot for wireless modules and one M.2 key B slot for storage cards. One 260-pin SO-DIMM socket on the CAPA13R supports up to 16 GB of DDR4-2400 (V1605B) and DDR4-3200 (V1807B) memory. The system has a +12V DC power input.
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Microsoft PowerToys Receives New Quick Launcher & Keyboard Mapper

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Microsoft PowerToys is an open-source suite of utilities for Windows 10 power users to customize their Windows experience, inspired by the original Windows 95 project of the same name. The latest v0.18.0 release brings two new utilities to the suite; PowerTools Run a modernized quick search launcher and Keyboard manager a new quick and easy tool to remap keys and shortcuts.

The PowerTools Run launcher is designed to be fast and offer more features for power users without sacrificing on performance. The code for the launcher is completely open-source so anyone can improve or develop modules for the launcher. The launcher can be accessed via Alt+Space and will be updated over time to receive new features much like Apple's Spotlight search.
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Lenovo Delivers Robust Revenue and All-Time Record Pre-Tax Income for FY19-20

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Lenovo Group today announced robust results for its full fiscal year and Q4, demonstrating the company's position of strength amid unprecedented global transformation. Despite a fiscal year full of macro-economic and industry challenges, the company delivered full-year revenue exceeding US$50 billion (US$50.7 billion) for the second consecutive year. Profitability remained a strength, with historical high pre-tax income of US$1.02 billion, up almost 19% year-on-year. Full-year Net Income was US $665 million, up 12% year-on-year.

Basic earnings per share for the full year were 5.58 US cents or 43.61 HK cents, and for the fourth quarter the figure was 0.36 US cents or 2.80 HK cents. Lenovo's Board of Directors declared a final dividend of 2.77 US cents or 21.50 HK cents per share for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020.
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Alienware Announces AW2521H 360Hz Gaming Monitor

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btarunr
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The new Alienware AW2521H is a 24.5-inch extreme refresh-rate gaming monitor by Dell. If you can live with its Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution, you can take advantage of its 360 Hz refresh-rate. The best part? This display uses an IPS panel (not TN-film), and supports NVIDIA G-Sync, letting it edge past the ASUS ROG Swift displays with 360 Hz. Dell did not provide an availability date, except mentioning that it will release later this year in the "Dark Side of the Moon" color scheme.

Possible AMD "Vermeer" Clock Speeds Hint at IPC Gain

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btarunr
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The bulk of AMD's 4th generation Ryzen desktop processors will comprise of "Vermeer," a high core-count socket AM4 processor and successor to the current-generation "Matisse." These chips combine up to two "Zen 3" CCDs with a cIOD (client I/O controller die). While the maximum core count of each chiplet isn't known, they will implement the "Zen 3" microarchitecture, which reportedly does away with CCX to get all cores on the CCD to share a single large L3 cache, this is expected to bring about improved inter-core latencies. AMD's generational IPC uplifting efforts could also include improving bandwidth between the various on-die components (something we saw signs of in the "Zen 2" based "Renoir"). The company is also expected to leverage a newer 7 nm-class silicon fabrication node at TSMC (either N7P or N7+), to increase clock speeds - or so we thought.

An Igor's Lab report points to the possibility of AMD gunning for efficiency, by letting the IPC gains handle the bulk of Vermeer's competitiveness against Intel's offerings, not clock-speeds. The report decodes OPNs (ordering part numbers) of two upcoming Vermeer parts, one 8-core and the other 16-core. While the 8-core part has some generational clock speed increases (by around 200 MHz on the base clock), the 16-core part has lower max boost clock speeds than the 3950X. Then again, the OPNs reference A0 revision, which could mean that these are engineering samples that will help AMD's ecosystem partners to build their products around these processors (think motherboard- or memory vendors), and that the retail product could come with higher clock speeds after all. We'll find out in September, when AMD is expected to debut its 4th generation Ryzen desktop processor family, around the same time NVIDIA launches GeForce "Ampere."

Eurocom Announces the Nightsky ARX15 Superlaptop with Ryzen 9 3950X

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EUROCOM's Nightsky ARX15 Superlaptop offers an extraordinary balance of performance and mobility, skillfully bridging the gap between a lightweight gaming laptop and a powerful mobile working platform for creative professionals. The new Nightsky ARX15 is EUROCOM's first Superlaptop powered by up to the AMD Ryzen 9 series (16cores / 32 threads) desktop processors in a laptop form factor. Paired with NVIDIA's latest generation RTX Graphics, the Nightsky ARX15 delivers power users a new level of incredible performance. Innovation is a key focus at Eurocom. Years of cultivating the research and development process along with working closely with its passionate and knowledgeable followers has culminated in the creation of the most powerful Eurocom system to date.

Introducing the first superlaptop from Eurocom equipped with a desktop AMD Ryzen 3000- series CPU, the new Eurocom Nightsky ARX15 Superlaptop. Weighing just 2.6 kg and equipped with an onboard nVidia GeForce RTX 2070 (8 GB DDR6), the Nightsky ARX15 is the perfect mix of a thin and light, yet astonishingly powerful system. With its CPU-upgradeable, User-upgradeable and modular design, the Eurocom Nightsky ARX15 grants users the power to ascend to brand new threshold of power.
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2K Announces Mafia: Trilogy

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2K and its Hangar 13 development studio today announced Mafia: Trilogy, a new collection featuring the only interactive entertainment series that lets players live the life of a gangster across three distinct eras of organized crime in America. Combined, the critically acclaimed Mafia crime dramas have sold-in more than 18 million units worldwide. Now, for the first time on modern consoles, experience all three entries of the revered action-adventure series together in one definitive organized crime saga.

Players who purchase Mafia: Trilogy digitally prior to August 28 will be able to access Mafia II: Definitive Edition and Mafia III: Definitive Edition immediately on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam, and will be able to download Mafia: Definitive Edition as soon as it becomes available on August 28. The Mafia: Trilogy physical edition will release in full on August 28, and is currently only planned for release in select EMEA and Asia regions. (For full release details, please refer to the Mafia: Trilogy fact sheet.)
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Razer Announces the Opus Wireless Headphones with ANC

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Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the launch of the Razer Opus wireless headphones. With stunning THX Certified audio and advanced hybrid Active Noise Cancellation, the Razer Opus delivers sound as the artists intended - pure, crisp and clear, without the background noise of daily life interfering with the experience.

With most streaming services now providing high quality audio, a set of headphones able to produce the detail and nuances of these high definition streams is essential. But the sounds of everyday life, from the background hum of the city to the hectic lifestyle of working from home with others around you, can intrude on the listening experience, spoiling your focus and the enjoyment of high-fidelity recordings.
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AMD Backpedals, Zen 3 Support Coming to B450 and X470

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AMD backpedaled on dropping support for its future "Zen 3" processors on AMD 400-series chipset motherboards. The company will work with its motherboard partners in integrating "Zen 3" processor support on certain beta versions of motherboard BIOSes. AMD also detailed how it plans to go about it. The said BIOS will be a one-way ticket to using "Zen 3" processors while losing support for all older microarchitectures.

The way it works is the motherboard manufacturer will integrate the Zen 3-only AGESA with a firmware that can squeeze into a 16 MB ROM. They may also choose to conserve ROM space in areas such as the UEFI setup program, which may not correspond with the motherboard's original feature-set. This is essentially similar to how MSI integrated "Zen 2" support on some of its older motherboards with 16 MB ROMs, by slimming down its UEFI setup program.
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DirectX Coming to Linux...Sort of

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Microsoft is preparing to add the DirectX API support to WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). The latest Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 will virtualize DirectX to Linux applications running on top of it. WSL is a translation layer for Linux apps to run on top of Windows. Unlike Wine, which attempts to translate Direct3D commands to OpenGL, what Microsoft is proposing is a real DirectX interface for apps in WSL, which can essentially talk to hardware (the host's kernel-mode GPU driver) directly.

To this effect, Microsoft introduced the Linux-edition of DXGkrnl, a new kernel-mode driver for Linux that talks to the DXGkrnl driver of the Windows host. With this, Microsoft is promising to expose the full Direct3D 12, DxCore, and DirectML. It will also serve as a conduit for third party APIs, such as OpenGL, OpenCL, Vulkan, and CUDA. Microsoft expects to release this feature-packed WSL out with WDDM 2.9 (so a future version of Windows 10).

Dell Announces New Generation Latitude, OptiPlex, and Precision Commercial Notebooks, Desktops, and Services

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Dell Technologies unveiled the world's most intelligent and secure business PCs across its award-winning Latitude, Precision and OptiPlex portfolios to make work more efficient and safe - no matter the location. As the industry's most sustainable commercial PC portfolio, the new devices further advance Dell's commitment to sustainability with recycled materials, sustainable packaging, energy efficient designs and EPEAT Gold registrations.

Professionals can work smarter with Dell Optimizer, the automated Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based optimization technology, now available across Latitude, Precision and OptiPlex devices. The built-in software learns how each person works and adapts to their behavior to help them focus on the tasks that matter most. It works behind the scenes to improve overall application performance; enable faster log-in and secure lock outs; eliminate echoes and reduce background noise on conference calls; and extend battery run time.
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55 AMD B550 Chipset Motherboard Model Names Revealed

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Model names of 55 motherboards based on the AMD B550 chipset were leaked to the web by momomo_us. In an unexpected surprise, it turns out that ASRock will have the largest lineup of motherboards, with 15 models. ASRock's lineup will be led by a premium Taichi model (already pictured), but will also include a Phantom Gaming Velocita model, besides Extreme4 and Steel Legend. MSI has the second largest lineup, with 14 models. There's a surprise here.

We earlier thought the MPG B550 Gaming Carbon will lead MSI's lineup, but it turns out that there will be a MEG B550 Unify model at the top. The rest of the lineup includes MPG Gaming Edge, MAG Tomahawk, MAG Mortar, and MAG Bazooka. GIGABYTE has the third largest lineup, with 12 models. The series is led by an AORUS Master model. There are several other AORUS Gaming SKUs based on this chipset - PRO, Elite, and their Mini-ITX variants. ASUS plans to bring 11 SKUs to the table, including four ROG Strix series boards that include Strix-E, Strix-F, and the Mini-ITX Strix-I. There are also three TUF Gaming SKUs, while the rest of the lineup is made up of the vanilla Prime series. Biostar has two models, and so does SOYO. AMD is expected to launch its B550 chipset in mid-June.

Xilinix Launches First 20nm Space-Grade FPGA for Satellite and Space Applications

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Xilinx, Inc., the leader in adaptive and intelligent computing, today announced the industry's first 20-nanometer (nm) space-grade FPGA, delivering full radiation tolerance and ultra-high throughput and bandwidth performance for satellite and space applications. The new 20 nm Radiation Tolerant (RT) Kintex UltraScale XQRKU060 FPGA provides true unlimited on-orbit reconfiguration, over a 10x increase in digital signal processing (DSP) performance - ideal for payload applications - and full radiation tolerance across all orbits.

The XQRKU060 also brings high performance machine learning (ML) to space for the first time. A diverse portfolio of ML development tools supporting industry standard frameworks, including TensorFlow and PyTorch, enable neural network inference acceleration for real-time on-board processing in space with a complete "process and analyze" solution. The XQRKU060's dense, power-efficient compute with scalable precision and large on-chip memory, provides 5.7 tera operations per second (TOPs) of peak INT8 performance optimized for deep learning, a nearly 25X increase compared to the prior generation.
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Sony Releases Last of Us Part II Limited Edition PS4 Pro Bundle

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We're all counting down the days till we rejoin Ellie in her journey next month, and today, we are thrilled to announce the Limited Edition The Last of Us Part II PlayStation 4 Pro bundle, which will launch alongside the game on June 19, 2020. This special bundle features a fully customized matte finish PS4 Pro console engraved with Ellie's tattoo design, a Limited Edition DualShock 4 Wireless Controller, a physical copy of The Last of Us Part II game, as well as a code to redeem digital content such as The Last of Us Part II PS4 dynamic theme, avatars, and more. This limited edition bundle will be available across the U.S. and Canada for $399.99 USD (MSRP) / $499.99 CAD (MSRP).

The Limited Edition DualShock 4 Wireless Controller also will be available as a standalone for $64.99 USD (MSRP) / $74.99 CAD (MSRP). Presented in a Steel Black matte finish with white detailing and PlayStation shapes, this Limited Edition wireless controller features Ellie's iconic fern tattoo engraved on the lower right hand side and The Last of Us Part II logo on the touchpad.
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SD Express Delivers New Gigabyte Speeds for SD Memory Cards

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The SD Association announced today the SD 8.0 Specification for SD Express memory cards receives even faster transfer speeds by using the popular PCI Express (PCIe ) 4.0 specification delivering a maximum of nearly 4 gigabytes per second (GB/s) data transfer rate. These full sized cards continue to use the NVMe Express (NVMe ) upper layer protocol enabling advanced memory access mechanism. As always SD Express memory cards using SD 8.0 specification maintain backward compatibility.

"SD Express' use of even faster PCIe and NVMe architectures to deliver faster transfer speeds creates more opportunities for devices to use SD memory cards," said Mats Larsson, Senior Market Analyst at Futuresource. "This combination of trusted and well-known technologies makes it easier for future product designs to leverage the benefits of removable storage in new ways."
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IBASE Announces AMS210 Industrial-Grade Embedded PC

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IBASE Technology Inc., a leading provider of industrial motherboard and rugged computing solutions, is pleased to announce its AMS210 high-performance embedded box PC. Designed for factory automation, machine vision, digital signage and a wide range of industrial IoT applications, the AMS210 can be outfitted with 9th/8th Gen Intel Core processors, up to 32 GB of DDR4 memory and two 2.5" disk drives with RAID 0/1.

The AMS210 has a straightforward design with front I/O accessibility, including four USB 3.1, four USB 2.0, three DisplayPorts, and a serial port to connect to a diverse set of peripheral devices, as well as four Gigabit LAN ports to handle high bandwidth data processing requirements. Two flexible expansion slots supporting a combination of PCI-E (x16), PCI-E (x4) and PCI interface are also conveniently located at the front for easy access. To achieve operational reliability in harsh industrial environments, it features an operating temperature range from 0°C to 55°C and vibration endurance of up to 3 g (with SSD).
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BIOSTAR Introduces the Latest Racing B460 Series Motherboards in ATX and Micro-ATX Form Factors

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BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today announces the new RACING B460GTA and the RACING B460GTQ motherboards designed to run the new Intel 10th Gen Processors.

Stylishly designed in BIOSTAR's signature RACING colors the RACING B460GTA and the RACING B460GTQ motherboards are built for both commercial and casual use. Due to the higher power demand of the latest 10th generation Intel processors, the 400 series motherboards from BIOSTAR have been designed with significant attention towards power efficiency and cooling. Features like Super Hyper PWM that has DCR current sensing architecture offers excellent precision in delivering stable power with 100% fixed voltage to ensure critical components of the motherboards are protected with the maximum performance and reliability.
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Windows 10 2004 May Update Brings Back Bluetooth Speaker Streaming

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Windows 10 2004 May update is set to bring a heap of new features to the OS, along with performance improvements in the form of a fixed search indexer. According to the latest report form Windows Latest, we have information that the update version 2004 will reintroduce Bluetooth A2DP sink, a feature from Windows 7 era. The Bluetooth A2DP sink allows users to stream audio from their phones to PC speakers, using Bluetooth technologies. This is a useful feature is you want to play music via your phone on louder speakers connected to your PC, and we are sure users are going to appreciate this. The Bluetooth A2DP sink feature was present in Windows 7 OS, however, Microsoft has later disabled that in Windows 8 OS and it hasn't been available since. The Windows 10 May update is expected to roll out between May 26th and May 28th.
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HP Unveils V8 RGB Series DDR4 Memory

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HP unveiled its V8 RGB line of DDR4 memory modules targeted at the DIY market. The full-height UDIMM module is characterized by dark aluminium heatspreaders and an RGB LED silicone diffuser crown. The module comes in 8 GB single-rank, and 16 GB dual-rank densities, and speeds of DDR4-3000, DDR4-3200, DDR4-3466, and DDR4-3600. The lighting supports ARGB control through popular apps such as ASUS Aura, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light, and ASRock Polychrome. HP intends to sell the V8 RGB in single-module kits. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Adobe Premiere Pro to Get More GPU Acceleration and Optimization

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Adobe is releasing an important feature update to Premiere Pro later this week, which promises to introduce significant improvements to video encoding performance by better leveraging GPU acceleration. The new version 14.2 of Premiere Pro will leverage NVENC to boost encoding by over 5 times compared to CPU. The suite leveraged shaders to accelerate video effects and improving export times, but until now hadn't leveraged NVIDIA's hardware encoder. For machines with GeForce and Quadro GPUs, this means improved export times on H.264, H.265, and HEVC codecs. Without getting into specifics, Adobe mentioned that Premiere Pro will tap into video hardware acceleration capabilities of AMD Radeon GPUs, too.

Update 07:55 UTC: Adobe posted release notes of the latest version 14.2 of Premiere Pro. The list of system requirements needed for hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC encoding appears vague beyond pointing out that you need a compatible graphics solution. The list of compatible GPUs includes a wide selection of NVIDIA GPUs covering both its professional Quadro and consumer GeForce brands. On the AMD front, however, only the professional Radeon Pro SKUs are listed, and no consumer Radeon RX series SKUs.

ADATA Launches Swordfish and Falcon NVMe SSDs for Creators

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ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, and mobile accessories, today announces the launch of two new PCIe Gen 3 x4 M.2 2280 solid state drives (SSD), the ADATA FALCON and SWORDFISH. Both SSDs were designed with creators in mind and are built with 3D NAND Flash memory and support the PCIe Gen 3 x4 interface for excellent performance and reliability.

The ADATA FALCON SSD is made to help creators up their creative power. Using the PCIe Gen 3 x4 interface and equipped with 3D NAND Flash memory, the FALCON delivers read/write speed of up to 3100/1500 MB per second for uninterrupted productivity and creativity. With 3D NAND Flash, the FALCON features higher efficiency and increased reliability compared to 2D NAND SSDs. It comes in diverse capacities, ranging from 256 GB to 2 TB and features data protection and correction technologies to expand the lifespan of SSD. What's more, the FALCON sports intelligent SLC caching, host memory buffer, and random read/write of 180/180K IOPS to give creators seamless performance for creating. The FALCON also comes with a stylish aluminium alloy heatsink for heat dissipation.
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Cooler Master Intros MasterFan MF120 Halo in White

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Cooler Master added a new White color variant to its MasterFan MF120 Halo series, which debuted in January. It sees white take up almost the entire fan frame, including the rubberized bits, a decal over the impeller hub, and the impeller itself has a brighter tint. As with the original, the MF120 Halo White is characterized by two independent lighting zones, one made up of diodes in the impeller hub, and the other along the mouth of the frame, on both ends. There are no mechanical changes from the original. The fan takes in a single 3-pin ARGB connection for both lighting zones, and 4-pin PWM header for its main function. It spins between 650 to 1,800 RPM, pushing up to 47.2 CFM of air, at 1.6 mm H₂O pressure, and noise output up to 30 dBA. Its bearing has a rated lifespan of 160,000 hours. It is expected to be priced around $18 a piece.

TSMC 5 nm Fab in Arizona will Change Global Semiconductor Supply Chain: Report

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AleksandarK
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TSMC has just recently announced that they will be building a semiconductor factory in the US, thanks to the pressure from Trump administration. The 5 nm Fab will be built in Arizona, with construction starting in 2021. It will be finished in the year 2024 when the plant will operate at a capacity of 20,000 wafers per month. This is not a high number as TSMC Fabs usually operate at a rate of 100-150K wafers per month, however, the amazing thing is the location of the Fab. The US Fab in Arizona is set to change the global landscape of the semiconductor supply chain, as per the latest report from DigiTimes Research.

Arizona is a place in the US where lots of companies are building semiconductors. Intel, Raytheon, Microchip, ON Semiconductor, VLSI, Freescale, NXP, STMicroelectronics, Honeywell, Marvel, Amkor, Philips, and Western Digital have their facilities there and Arizona can be considered one of the key places for semiconductor manufacturing in the US. With TSMC adding their manufacturing facilities to that list as well, there could be a change in the supplier ecosystem. In light of the need for TSMC 5 nm Fab, the world's leading OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) suppliers may be encouraged to set up local production in Arizona to help TSMC with its plans. A lot of OSAT providers are headquartered in Taiwan, however, if there is a need, they are possibly going to build their manufacturing facilities in Arizona. This alone could change the way semiconductor manufacturing facilities are supplied, and the US could become a major center of OSAT providers.
TSMC HQ

ZOTAC Announces VR GO 3.0 Gaming Backpack PC

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ZOTAC got around to launching the third generation of its VR GO line of gaming backpack PCs, the VR GO 3.0. ZOTAC had unveiled it at the 2020 International CES. These devices are essentially desktop-replacement notebooks minus the display, with connectivity for a VR headset, which you wear like a backpack. This is the device's first update in over two years, with the VR GO 2.0 launching in the thick of the VR craze around 2018.

The new VR GO 3.0 comes with an improved wearable design, with better thermal insulation and ventilation for the wearer. It also gets updated hardware in the form of a Core i7-9700 processor, GeForce RTX 2070 graphics, 16 GB of DDR4-2667 SO-DIMM memory, and 240 GB NVMe SSD storage. The device comes with two hot-swappable battery packs. You can swap out a battery with at least one of them in the bay, in the middle of your game. The VR GO 3.0 supports a wide range of VR HMD standards, and is based on Windows 10. The company didn't reveal pricing.

JONSBO Intros CR-1000 Plus Tower-type CPU Cooler

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JONSBO today introduced the CR-1000 Plus premium CPU air cooler. It features a aluminium fin-stack tower-type design with push-pull ventilation. The heatsink design involves four 6 mm-thick copper heat pipes making direct contact with the CPU at the base, conveying heat to the aluminium fin-stack, which is then ventilated by a pair of 120 mm fans in push-pull arrangement. The fin-stack is capped off by a steel top-plate that has heatsink-like ridges, and an addressable RGB LED ornament.

The two included 120 mm fans each take in 4-pin PWM input for their primary function, spin between 700 to 1,500 RPM, with air-flow ranging between 26.1 to 57.35 CFM, and noise output proportionately ranging between 20.55 to 31.2 dBA. The fans feature addressable RGB LEDs in the fan impeller hub. Measuring 128 mm x 101 mm x 158 mm (LxWxH), the CR-1000 Plus weighs 745 g (including fans). The company didn't put out performance figures. Among the CPU socket types supported are LGA1200, LGA115x, and AM4. The company didn't reveal pricing.
Jonsbo CR-1000 Plus

ASRock Announces Trio of Intel 400-series STEEL LEGEND Motherboards

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ASRock today launched a trio of socket LGA1200 motherboards part of its Steel Legend family. These include the H470 Steel Legend, the B460 Steel Legend, the and Micro-ATX B460M Steel Legend. All three boards offer ASRock's BFB (base frequency boost) technology that improves performance of non-K processors by letting them sustain boost frequencies better. The H470 Steel Legend leads the pack with a 11-phase CPU VRM that draws power from a combination of 8-pin and 4-pin EPS connectors; enlarged VRM heatsinks, two M.2-22110 slots with heatsinks and PCI-Express 3.0 x4 wiring; an M.2 E-key slot for WLAN cards, and connectivity that includes a premium Realtek ALC1200-based onboard audio solution, 2.5 GbE wired networking powered by a Realtek-made controller, and a couple of USB 3.2 gen 2 ports, including a type-C port.

The B460 Steel Legend uses a different PCB design from its H470-based sibling. A simpler 9-phase VRM powers the CPU, pulling power from a single 8-pin EPS connector. You still get two M.2 slots with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 wiring and heatsinks; and an M.2 E-key slot for WLAN cards. Connectivity is similar to the H470-based board, too, with a 2.5 GbE wired networking interface, and a premium onboard audio solution based on the ALC1200. Lastly, there's the B460M Steel Legend, which maximizes the Micro-ATX form-factor PCB area. The CPU VRM solution is carried over from its ATX sibling (9-phase, single 8-pin EPS). ASRock managed to squeeze in two M.2 slots (one of them with a heatsink, both with gen 3.0 x4 wiring), and preparation for WLAN. Much like the other two, you get an ALC1200-based premium onboard audio solution, and a 2.5 GbE networking interface. The company didn't reveal pricing.
ASRock H470 Steel Legend ASRock B460 Steel Legend ASRock B460M Steel Legend

Epic Games Store Finally Adds Automatic Refunds

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We've recently enabled the ability to self-refund qualifying purchases online by yourself. When you sign into your account on the Epic Games website, click the "Account" dropdown in the top right corner of the webpage, go to the "Transactions" tab and click the game title. If the game is eligible for a self-service refund, please click the "Refund" option to initiate the refund process.

All games are eligible for a refund within 14 days of purchase for any reason. However, you must not have played more than 2 hours.You will not be eligible for games from which you have been banned or for which you have otherwise violated the terms of service. In addition, you may not be eligible for refunds if Epic determines that you are abusing the refund policy.
Monday, May 18th 2020

Today's Reviews

CPU Coolers
Desktop PC
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Memory
Monitors
Mouse
NAS
PSUs
Speakers
SSD
Storage

GDP WIN Max Handheld Game Console Obliterates Indiegogo Funding Goal

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Uskompuf
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The GDP WIN Max is the latest handheld PC from GDP, described as an all in one product that combines the portability of a handheld and the graphics performance of a gaming laptop. The GDP WIN Max has smashed its Indiegogo funding goal of $25,000 currently sitting at over $1,300,000 USD, the handled PC features vastly upgraded internal from the GDP WIN 2 now featuring a 10th generation 10 nm Intel Core I5-1035G7 CPU with Iris Plus Graphics 940, paired with 16 GB of DDR4 3733 MHz ram, 512 GB M.2 SSD and 8" HD screen. The GDP WIN Max is on sale at a special crowdfunding price of $779 USD.
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QNAP Launches Budget-Friendly 2-Bay TS-230 NAS

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Uskompuf
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QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, today launched the new lightweight, quiet, and feature-rich TS-230 NAS that can easily fit into any living environment. Adorned with a refreshing baby blue hue, the TS-230 is ideal for home and daily central storage, back up, photo and video sharing. All digital assets on the TS-230 are securely protected by the powerful snapshot function. Coupled with multimedia apps and transcoding feature support, the TS-230 is an ideal entry-level NAS for creating a smart and fun lifestyle.

The TS-230 uses a Realtek RTD1296 quad-core 1.4 GHz processor and built-in 2 GB DDR4 RAM for meeting personal and home NAS applications. It provides one Gigabit port and supports SATA6 Gbps disk drives, AES-256 encryption, and SSD caching. The cooling fan uses an HDB type Sintetico bearing fan for maintaining high airflow and low noise, providing better cooling for the TS-230 to ensure constant system operation. The tool-less hard drive installation makes TS-230 setup easy even for a NAS newbie.
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Intel Gen12 Xe DG1 OpenCL Performance Geekbenched

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btarunr
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Intel's ambitious Xe graphics architecture is expected to make its first commercial debut as an iGPU that's part of the company's 11th gen Core "Tiger Lake" mobile processors, but it already received a non-commercial distribution as a discrete GPU called the DG1, with Intel shipping it to its independent software vendor ecosystem partners to begin exploratory work on Xe. One such ISV paired the card with a Core i7-8700 processor, and put it through Geekbench. While the Geekbench device identification doesn't mention "DG1," we lean toward the possibility looking at its 96 EU configuration, and 1.50 GHz clock speed, and 3 GB memory.

The Geekbench run only covers OpenCL performance of the selected device: "Intel(R) Gen12 Desktop Graphics Controller." The total score is 55373 points, with 3.53 Gpixels/s in "Sorbel," 1.30 Gpixels/sec in Histogram Equalization, 16 GFLOPs in SFFT, 1.62 GPixels/s in Gaussian Blur, 4.51 Msubwindows/s in Face Detection, 2.88 Gpixels/s in RAW, 327.4 Mpixels/s in DoF, and 13656 FPS in Particle Physics. These scores roughly match the 11 CU Radeon Vega iGPU found in AMD "Picasso" Ryzen 5 3400G processors.

GIGABYTE Supports Ryzen 5 1600 "AF" on X570 Motherboards

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btarunr
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GIGABYTE is among the first motherboard makers to come out with support for "first gen" Ryzen 5 1600 "AF" processors on its AMD X570 chipset motherboards, for those brave enough to pair the two. This support probably leverages the fact that the 1600 revision AF (model: YD1600BBM6IAF) is actually based on the 12 nm "Pinnacle Ridge" silicon and the "Zen+" microarchitecture, that's supported by the AGESA ComboAM4 microcode on X570 motherboards. Nomally, all X570 motherboards should support "Pinnacle Ridge," but the 1600 AF isn't drop-in compatible. The Ryzen 5 1600 AF is a 6-core/12-thread processor that offers performance matching the 2017 mid-range performance king, the then $200 Ryzen 5 1600, at a current price of just $85. Based on "Pinnacle Ridge," this is essentially an underclocked Ryzen 5 2600.

Trenton Systems Releases ION Mini PC

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btarunr
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Trenton Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of rugged servers, workstations, processor boards and PCIe backplanes, has officially released its made-in-the-USA ION Mini PC, perfect for military, commercial and industrial applications needing a powerful, affordable, rugged computer in a small form factor.

"The goal upfront was to create a long-life, rugged mini PC in the smallest space possible while keeping cost at the forefront," said Michael Bowling, CEO of Trenton Systems. "Trenton's engineering and production groups stepped up to the challenge. They knocked it out of the park with the ION, and I'm proud of the teams here at Trenton."
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LucidSound Releases LS50X Hybrid Wireless Gaming Headset

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btarunr
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LucidSound, announced today that the LS50X Wireless Hybrid Gaming Headset is now shipping and available on the lucidsound website, amazon and gamestop. The LS50X delivers the ultimate gaming audio experience in a design that rivals some of the best audiophile headphones on the market. The headset uses an advanced chipset that provides unparalleled wireless gaming performance and wireless mobile performance via Bluetooth. Notably, the chip allows the LS50X to deliver lag-free, uncompressed audio for gaming even in crowded WiFi areas. The LS50X is compatible with the full family of Xbox One devices, as well as the next generation of Xbox, Xbox Series X, launching Holiday 2020.

Built around the gamer's lifestyle, the LS50X can simultaneously connect to your phone or other Bluetooth device while playing on Xbox. Take a phone call while gaming or listen to your favorite tunes, all while hearing game audio and chatting with friends on Xbox Live. When you're ready to roll, the LS50X goes with you for wireless mobile gaming, music and calls. Unlike the stereotypical gaming headset designs that you would never wear outside your gaming setup, the LS50X won't kill your style.
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Doom Eternal Review-Bombed on Steam After Denuvo Anti-Cheat Inclusion in Update 1

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Raevenlord
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Doom Eternal has been review-bombed over the weekend, as disgruntled players took to Steam to show their thoughts on the the game's Update 1. The issue isn't in the update itself or it changing core gameplay functions; rather, it's based on the inclusion of Denuvo's Anti-cheat mechanism for the multiplayer component of the game, which is also running in the single-player campaign - considered to be the core of any Doom game.

Players are against the inclusion of Denuvo and its monitoring subroutines due to it having a a kernel-level service that monitors gameplay. Gamers are noting performance decreases, framerate drops, crashes, and deleted Saves after the game's latest update. Others are voicing their discontent at the fact that Denuvo has been added post-purchase of the game; players that might not choose to buy the game over that detail have already bought it, and refunds are apparently not being entertained. Doom Eternal's previous 90% user review score on Steam now stand at a measly 50%, which is absolutely undeserving of the game itself. Doom may be Eternal, but its community feedback sure isn't.

NVIDIA Investors Claw Back at Company, Claiming $1 Billion Mining GPU Revenue Hidden Away in the Gaming Division

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Raevenlord
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NVIDIA investors have recently filed a suit against the company, claiming that NVIDIA wrongfully detailed its revenue indicators between departments. The main point of contention here is that investors claim NVIDIA knowingly obfuscated the total value of the crypto market boom (and subsequent bust) from investors, thus painting a picture of the company's outlook than was different from reality (making demand for the Gaming division look higher than it was in reality) and exposing them to a different state of affairs and revenue gains than they expected. The investors say that NVIDIA knew that a not insignificant number of its graphics cards sold between 2017 and 2018 was being bought-up solely for the purpose of crypto mining, and that the company knew this (and even marketed GPUs specifically for that purpose).

The crypto mining boom had miners gobbling up all NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards that they could, with both companies seemingly increasing production to meet the crypto mining bubble demand. However, due to the economics of crypto mining, it was clear that any profits derived from this bubble would ultimately open the door to an explosive logistics problem, as miners offloaded their graphics cards to the second-hand market, which could ultimately harm NVIDIA's financial book. Of course, one can look at NVIDIA's revenue categories at the time to see that crypto would hardly fit neatly into either the Gaming, Professional Visualization, Datacenter, Auto, or OEM & IP divisions.

Acer Announces the ConceptD CM2241W Monitor for Professionals

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Raevenlord
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Creators in the visual arts, such as graphic designers and photographers, require a monitor that can quickly and smoothly perform tasks with a wide and accurate color range. The ConceptD CM2241W leverages an incredibly fast 1ms response time to support clear images and 99 percent RGB coverage to deliver bright, lifelike and professional grade colors. PANTONE validated, this display offers integrated color correction and superior fidelity in reproducing PANTONE Matching System (PMS) colors. Tested and calibrated to a low Delta E<2 rating means color reproduction is so accurate, differences are barely perceptible to the human eye.
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Comprehensive Core i9-10900K Review Leaked: Suggests Intel Option Formidable

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btarunr
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A comprehensive review of the Intel Core i9-10900K 10-core/20-thread processor by Chinese tech publication TecLab leaked to the web on video sharing site bilibili. Its testing data reveals that Intel has a fighting chance against the Ryzen 9 3900X both in gaming- and non-gaming tasks despite a deficit of 2 cores; whereas the much pricier Ryzen 9 3950X only enjoys leads in multi-threaded synthetic- or productivity benchmarks.

Much of Intel's performance leads are attributed to a fairly high core-count, significantly higher clock speeds than the AMD chips, and improved boosting algorithms, such as Thermal Velocity Boost helping the chip out in gaming tests. Where Intel loses hard to AMD is power-draw and energy-efficiency. TecLab tested the three chips with comparable memory- and identical graphics setups.

More charts follow.
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ASRock Rack's Compact Workstation with Intel Xeon W-1200 Processors and W480 Chipset Motherboard

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btarunr
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ASRock Rack, - the HPC and Workstation leading manufacturer ASRock Rack announces its new mATX workstation motherboard; the W480D4U, which supports the latest 10th Gen Intel Core and Intel Xeon W-1200 Series processors with single socket LGA1200. And the W480D4U is optimized with best compatibility and reliability by supporting the dual channel ECC-UDIMMs.

The W480D4U could be ideal candidate for light loading workstation solution by its small form factor. This compact motherboard provides 4x DDR4 ECC-UDIMMs, as well as two M.2 with PCIe3.0 x4 interface supporting Intel Optane Memory Module and Intel Rapid Storage Technology (Intel RST) in micro-ATX form factor. While having the HDMI supported by Intel CPU integrated Intel UHD Graphics, USB3.2 Gen2 and 8x SATA 6 Gb/s connections, W480D4U will also be the best choice as the light creation workstation for SOHO design studio and freelancers. Moreover, with the BMC AST2500 for IPMI remote management, W480D4U will be your new choice for entry level server solution.

ASUS Announces New and Refreshed Google Meet Hardware Kits

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btarunr
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ASUS today announced the all-new ASUS - Google Meet hardware kit, a smart video-conferencing solution that enables stunning HD visuals. The original ASUS - Google Meet hardware kit first launched in 2014, delivering a simple and intuitive video-conferencing solution. After the success of this product, ASUS is excited to continue working with Google on a redesigned hardware kit that delivers an enhanced user experience.

The new ASUS - Google Meet hardware kit includes the compact ASUS - Google Meet Compute System, which is designed with a magnetic chassis for easy installation and the ports all on one side for efficient cable management, while the slim design allows for installation in environments with restricted access. To ensure long-term reliability under prolonged use, the newly designed Meet Compute System is built and tested to exceed industry requirements.
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Unreal Engine 5 Demo to Require RTX 2070 SUPER GPU at Minimum for Smooth Gameplay

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AleksandarK
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Epic Games has just recently unveiled its Unreal Engine version 5, which was demonstrated on next-generation PlayStation 5 console. Showing off some impressive details, Epic Games has managed to use all of the power available to them from the new hardware in the PS5 console. Rocking a custom APU from AMD, the PS5 console has 10.28 TeraFLOPs of computing power, which is paired with a fast NVMe SSD. Such a combination allows for the impressive demo we have seen just a few days ago.

However, if you wonder what equivalent PC hardware would you need to run the demo on, World Today News has concluded that you would need at least to have NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER graphics card to run a demo if you could. The RTX 2070S GPU has 9 TeraFLOPs of computing power, and the demonstration would "run pretty good" on that GPU. By the time first Unreal Engine 5 based games come out, next-generation graphics cards should already be available and you wouldn't need to worry if you are getting an upgrade. For the people owning RTX 2070S and faster, they should be good to go for when games based on Unreal Engine 5 hit the market.
Unreal Engine 5 Unreal Engine 5 Unreal Engine 5 Unreal Engine 5

MediaTek Unveils Dimensity 820 5G AI-ready SoC

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btarunr
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MediaTek today announced the Dimensity 820 system-on-chip (SoC) which is optimized for premium user experiences. The Dimensity 820 delivers ultra-fast 5G speeds, and is feature-packed with MediaTek's latest multimedia, AI and imaging innovations.

"Our Dimensity 1000 is already powering impressive flagship 5G devices in a number of markets. With the new Dimensity 820, we're now making 5G much more accessible," said Dr. Yenchi Lee, Assistant General Manager of MediaTek's Wireless Communications Business Unit. "The Dimensity 820 stands out beyond competitors by offering four high-performance Arm Cortex-A76 cores at 2.60 GHz within its octa-core CPU, delivering superb performance and responsiveness, among its incredible AI, gaming and photography experiences."
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Asetek Unveils Rad Card Industry's First Slot-In PCIe Radiator Card

Press Release Updated by
Uskompuf
 Updated: Discuss (59 Comments)
Asetek, the creator of the all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler and the global leader in liquid cooling solutions for gaming PCs and DIY enthusiasts, today announced its Rad Card GPU Cooler, bringing liquid cooled GPUs to space constrained PC cases. Asetek's Rad Card GPU Cooler, the industry's first slot-in PCIe radiator card, is first available in Dell-Alienware's newly introduced Alienware Aurora R11 PC.

Space concerns are a real issue for PC manufacturers, leaving GPU air cooling as the only option, until now. Asetek took this challenge head-on, innovating a new approach to radiator technology that reimagines the shape and location of the radiator. The Asetek Rad Card GPU Cooler fits into your motherboard's PCIe slot, just like any other add-in card. By utilizing PCIe slots, Asetek has defined a way to overcome PC manufacturers' dilemma of finding additional space inside the case for a liquid cooled GPU heat exchanger (HEx).

Update May 18th: This card may not be limited to just OEMs with Asetek tweeting "Not all of them made it to Alienware. Not what to do with these...". Asetek is very open about seeking feedback and is watching demand for this product from consumers, possibly even getting ready for a giveaway so it will be exciting to see what comes from this.
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GoodOffer24 Summer 2020 Sale Continues, Big Discounts on Genuine Software

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btarunr
GoodOffer24 rolls on with its Summer 2020 sale on genuine, discounted software, helping you upgrade your battlestation for the season. Get deep discounts on genuine software to build or upgrade new PCs. Genuine, globally-valid Windows 10 Pro can be yours for as little as USD $11.9, with a TechPowerUp-exclusive coupon code. Use the same code to avail Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC for $11.37, twin-packs of Windows 10 Pro for $19.10; and Windows 10 Home for $11.17. No home computing powerhouse is complete without a feature-rich productivity suite like Office. Grab Office 2016 Professional Plus (genuine, lifetime license) for $28.94, or a fraction of the price of an Office 365 subscription. Get the mighty Office 2019 Professional Plus for just $42.45. Combine your preferred versions of Office and Windows to save even more. GoodOffer24 uses Paypal, so both your payment instruments and your purchase itself, remain secured.

Please apply the coupon-code TP30 at check-out to avail the prices you see here.

Buy Windows 10 Pro from GoodOffer24 for $11.90 | Buy Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC for $11.37 | Buy Windows 10 Pro twin-pack for $19.10 | Buy Windows 10 Home for $11.17 | Buy Office 2016 Professional Plus for $28.94 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2016 Professional for $33.36 | Buy Windows 10 Home + Office 2016 Professional for $29.56 | Buy Office 2019 Professional Plus for $42.45 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2019 Professional for $57.23 | Buy Windows 10 Home + Office 2019 Professional for $49.27 | Buy Office 2019 Home and Student for $21.22
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NVIDIA Launches CloudXR 1.0 SDK for VR & AR Streaming

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Uskompuf
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Power up your XR displays and 5G devices because NVIDIA is taking streaming to the next level. With the announcement today of the NVIDIA CloudXR 1.0 software development kit, we're bringing major advancements to streaming augmented reality, mixed reality and virtual reality content — collectively known as XR — over 5G, Wi-Fi and other high-performance networks.

With the NVIDIA CloudXR platform, any end device — including head-mounted displays (HMDs) and connected Windows and Android devices — can become a high-fidelity XR display capable of showcasing professional-quality graphics. CloudXR is built on NVIDIA RTX GPUs and the CloudXR SDK to allow streaming of immersive AR, MR or VR experiences from anywhere, whether from the data center, cloud or at the edge. And with NVIDIA GPU virtualization software, CloudXR scales efficiently allowing multiple users or tenants to securely share GPU resources.
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Intel Jasper Lake CPU Appears with Gen11 Graphics

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AleksandarK
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Intel is preparing to update its low-end segment designed for embedded solutions, with a next-generation CPU codenamed Jasper Lake. Thanks to the popular hardware finder and leaker, _rogame has found a benchmark showing that Intel is about to bless low-end with a lot of neat stuff. The benchmark results show a four-core, four threaded CPU running at 1.1 GHz base clock with a 1.12 GHz boost clock. Even though these clocks are low, this is only a sample and the actual frequency will be much higher, expecting to be near 3 GHz. The CPU was spotted in a configuration rocking 32 GB of DDR4 SODIMM memory.

Jasper Lake is meant to be a successor to Gemini Lake and it will use Intel's Tremont CPU architecture designed for low-power scenarios. Designed on a 10 nm manufacturing node from Intel, this CPU should bring x86 processors to a wide range of embedded systems. Although the benchmark didn't mention which graphics the CPU will be paired with, _rogame speculates that Intel will use Gen11 graphics IP. That will bring a nice update over Gemini Lake's Gen9.5 graphics. That alone should bring better display output options and more speed. These CPUs are designed for Atom/Pentium/Celeron lineup, just like Gemini Lake before them.

Update: Updated the article to reflect the targeted CPU category.
Intel Tremont Intel Jasper Lake

Vicor 1200A Hydra ChiP-set Enables Higher Performance AI Accelerator Cards

Press Release by
btarunr
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Vicor Corporation today announced a ChiP-set for high performance GPU, CPU, and ASIC ("XPU") processors powered directly from 48 V. A driver, MCD4609, and a pair of MCM4609 current multiplier modules supply up to 650 A continuous and 1200 A peak. Owing to their small footprint and low profile (45.7 x 8.6 x 3.2 mm), current multipliers are placed close to the processor enabling reduced power distribution network (PDN) losses and higher power system efficiency. Powering GPU and OCP Accelerator Module (OAM) Artificial Intelligent (AI) cards, the 4609 ChiP-set is in mass production and available to new customers on the Vicor Hydra II evaluation board.

The 4609 ChiP-set adds to the Vicor Power-on-Package portfolio of Lateral Power Delivery (LPD) solutions. To raise the bar of current capability above the limits of LPD, Vicor's pioneering Vertical Power Delivery (VPD) will soon enable much higher current density. The VPD system delivers current from power converters vertically stacked under a processor through a capacitor network geared to a processor-specific pin-map. A GCM ("Gearbox Current Multiplier") is a specialized VPD embodiment incorporating a gearbox capacitor network as a layer in the vertical stack. By supplying current directly under the processor and eliminating PDN losses, GCMs will soon facilitate current densities reaching up to 2 A per mm².
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SMIC Begins Mass-Production of 14nm FinFET SoCs for Huawei HiSilicon

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btarunr
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Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), the state-backed Mainland Chinese semiconductor foundry, announced that it commenced mass-production of 14 nm FinFET SoCs for Huawei's HiSilicon subsidiary, a mere one month since Huawei shifting chip orders from TSMC to it. The company is manufacturing Kirin 710A is a revision of the original Kirin 710 SoC from 2018, built on SMIC's 14 nm node. The 4G-era SoC is capable of powering mid-range smartphones for Huawei's Honor brand, and uses an Arm big.LITTLE setup of Cortex A53 and Cortex A57 cores. This represents a major milestone not just for SMIC, but also Huawei, which has seen the company's isolation from cutting-edge overseas fabs such as TSMC. Much of Huawei's fate is riding on the success of SMIC's next-generation N+1 node, which purportedly offers a 57 percent energy-efficiency gain over 14 nm FinFET, rivaling sub-10 nm nodes such as 7 nm; enabling Huawei to build 5G-era SoCs.

Intel Takes Big Strides in Chip Packaging Tech

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btarunr
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Intel's silicon fabrication technological edge over TSMC and Samsung may have buckled, but the company appears to have made big advances in chip packaging. We've known for some time about EMIB (embedded multi-die interconnect bridge), Intel's cost-effective alternative to using full-fledged interposers; and Foveros heterogenous multi-die packaging; but the company has apparently invented more forms of 3-D chip stacking, as detailed by a WikiChip Fuse report. By leveraging ODI (omni-directional interconnect), an evolutionary next-step to EMIB and Foveros, Intel is able to stack multiple chips above the fiberglass substrate, above each other; and inside indentations and cavities of the substrate.

ODI consists of EMIB-like silicon dies that enable high-density wiring between two dies (think a GPU and its memory stack, or an SoC and core-logic); and copper poles that serve as extensions of the bumps of silicon dies getting to the substrate. There are two types of ODI. Type-1 refers to an interconnect running between two top dies, with the ODI die sitting between them and the substrate at the point of the inter-die connection region; while copper poles compensate for the Z-height difference. In scenarios without copper poles, chip designers can opt for substrates with cavities (regions with fewer layers), where the ODI die can be slotted in. In type-2 ODI, the interconnect die sits completely under a top die, providing high-density wiring either between two regions of the same die, or between two dies. The two types can be mixed and matched to achieve extremely complex MCMs.
Sunday, May 17th 2020

SteelSeries Launches Apple Exclusive Nimbus+ Wireless Gamepad Controller

Press Release by
Uskompuf
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SteelSeries, the worldwide leader in gaming and esports peripherals, today announces the Nimbus+ Wireless Gamepad Controller for Apple devices. The Nimbus+ builds on the wildly popular original Nimbus controller, adding a bevy of new features, including clickable joysticks, new Hall effect triggers, and a new 50-hour battery. Purchase of Nimbus+ also includes the new Nimbus+ iPhone Mount which allows users to attach their iPhone directly onto the controller, allowing them to play games more comfortably.

Designed specifically for gaming on Apple devices, the Nimbus+ brings console-quality game controls to iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and Apple TV. With an ergonomic design, ultra-responsive triggers and buttons, and a range of Apple connectivity options, Nimbus+ is the best solution to help bring gaming on Apple devices to the next level.
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MSI Announces New PRO 24X 10M & PRO 16T 10M All-In-One PCs

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Uskompuf
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Without question, MSI is not only the market leader in the gaming hardware industry but also the innovative pioneer of technology. MSI always showcases cutting edge technology that surprises the world. As the world tends to be unpredictable, MSI keeps on developing products with stylish, stable, and the best performance for all kinds of users. The MSI PRO series All-in-One PCs are made for both commercial and professional use. It is built to deliver powerful performance, crafted with reliable materials, and optimized for countless applications. PRO series All-in-One PCs bring the Powerful, Reliable, and Optimized benefit for every important moment.
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MSI Announces Edge PC MS-9A77 and MS-9A97 Industrial PCs

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btarunr
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MSI IPC launches the IoT edge computers, MS-9A77 & MS-9A97 positioned in high-performance products with high efficiency and low energy consumption. This ultra-compact and fanless embedded computer with 3 sides I/O interface, slim type, anti-vibration and shockproof designed to compliance IEC 61373. The DIN-rail mounting form factor is suitable to be used in control cabinet for industrial automation application.

Moreover, it also supports MSI IPC's exclusive HIDAC Industrial IoT software for smart device monitoring and management. This slim industrial computer is with DIN-rail installation and can be mounted using VESA or wall mount as an option.
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GIGABYTE Announces W480 VISION Series Motherboards

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btarunr
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GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced the new W480 VISION series creator and workstation motherboard, to complete the GIGABYTE VISION product line. These new motherboards are designed specifically for the new Intel Xeon W and 10th Gen Core processors which come with up to 12 phase digital power and the latest thermal design, features four sets of memory slots supporting dual-channel ECC and non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4 memory, Intel 2.5GbE + 1 GbE dual-server-level network, and other advanced functions. Moreover, further equipped with special functions according to different usage requirements such as Thunderbolt 3, Intel Wi-Fi 6 and SATA DOM make the construction of the workstation more efficient and stable, and content creators can fully realize the creative ideas to design unique and excellent works.

"VISION is the ability to see beyond. It is an attitude to create with tremendous dedication and craftsmanship. With VISION, you can see more, explore more, and achieve more. Let VISION help your creativity flow with its minimalist design language, thoughtful features, reliable operation, and powerful performance" says GIGABYTE. With the launch of the W480 VISION series motherboards, the previously launched VISION memory, Z490 VISION motherboards, and other related products, the entire VISION product line is now more complete.
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GIGABYTE Announces HPC Systems Powered by NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPUs

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btarunr
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GIGABYTE, a supplier of high-performance computing (HPC) systems, today disclosed four NVIDIA HGX A100 platforms under development. These platforms will be available with NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPUs. NVIDIA A100 is the first elastic, multi-instance GPU that unifies training, inference, HPC, and analytics. These four products include G262 series servers that can hold four NVIDIA A100 GPUs and G492 series that can provide eight A100 GPUs. Each series also distinguishes between two models, which support the 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor and the 2nd generation AMD EPYC processor. The NVIDIA HGX A100 platform is a key element in the NVIDIA accelerated data center concept that brings huge parallel computing power to customers, thereby helping customers accelerate their digital transformation.

With GPU acceleration becoming the mainstream technology in today's data center. Scientists, researchers and engineers are committed to using GPU-accelerated HPC and artificial intelligence (AI) to meet the important challenges of the current world. The NVIDIA accelerated data center concept, including GIGABYTE high-performance servers with NVIDIA NVSwitch, NVIDIA NVLink, and NVIDIA A100 GPUs, will provide GPU computing power required for different computing scales. The NVIDIA accelerated data center also features NVIDIA Mellanox HDR InfiniBand high-speed networking and NVIDIA Magnum IO software that supports GPUDirect RDMA and GPUDirect Storage.
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Friday, May 15th 2020

Today's Reviews

Cases
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Memory
Monitors
Mouse
Multimedia
Networking
Processors
Sound Cards
HP V6 DDR4-3200 MHz CL16 2x8 GB Review

HP V6 DDR4-3200 MHz CL16 2x8 GB Review

Review Memory
A brand new line of performance memory from none other than HP. Featuring a black and brushed silver heat spreader, wide range of specifications, and trusted brand name, the HP V6 could be the perfect foothold for the company's move into the DIY market.
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SteelSeries Arctis 1 Gaming Headset Review

SteelSeries Arctis 1 Gaming Headset Review

Review Headphones
The SteelSeries Arctis 1 is the least expensive gaming headset in the entire Arctis lineup. Even though it doesn't quite match the quality of its brethren in some aspects, you're getting a lot of bang for your buck at $50.
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Computer Upgrade King Stratos Mini ITX Review

Computer Upgrade King Stratos Mini ITX Review

Review Cases
The CUK Stratos Mini ITX ships with a 650W PSU and 240 mm AIO liquid cooling unit, alongside a whole bunch of extras, like an ARGB/fan controller, remote, and four ARGB fans. Where compact ITX cases usually demand a higher price, the Stratos Mini ITX is absolutely affordable, making it an excellent entry option into the SFF segment.
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EK Expands on Quantum Kinetic TBE Series Products With DDC-Powered Variants

Press Release by
btarunr
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EK, the premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer from Slovenia, EU, is adding more options to its Quantum Line Kinetic TBE products with DDC pump-based combo units. These new DDC-powered combos offer very high head pressure and good flow rates in a small footprint. This makes them very convenient for smaller cases that house powerful hardware with multiple water blocks. EK-Quantum products come with sophisticated addressable D-RGB 5 V LEDs that can be controlled through your motherboard's RGB control software or EK-Loop Connect controller unit. Besides the upgraded loop routing capabilities of the new small form factor combo units, EK is putting a lot of emphasis on the D-RGB implementation with no visible LED hotspots.

The most popular small form factor cylindrical pump-res combo on the market is redesigned, upgraded, and better in every way. The top is now featuring three G1/4" ports. One of the ports can be used with the included nickel-plated brass internal tube, which helps prevent the splashing of the coolant inside the reservoir if the top is to be used as an inlet. This reduces the chances of air being sucked in by the pump and foaming of the coolant as well. Any of these ports can also be used for filling the system or adding additional upcoming accessories (thermal probes, LEDs, etc.) The internal tube can not be used in conjunction with the anti-Vortex insert on 120 models due to height restrictions.
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GIGABYTE B550 AORUS Master Waltzes Around Chipset Limitations to Provide Three Gen 4 M.2 Slots

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btarunr
 Discuss (39 Comments)
GIGABYTE B550 AORUS Master is the company's most premium socket AM4 motherboard based on the upcoming AMD B550 chipset. We described this board in some detail in our older article covering an assortment of top B550 motherboards from manufacturers, but missed a key bit. At the time we assumed that the PCI-Express lane switches located below the board's main PCI-Express slot merely split its x16 connection from the AM4 SoC down to two x8 connections to share between two slots, given that AMD allows multi-GPU (including SLI) with the B550. Apparently, the lane switches are there for a different, more fascinating reason.

A BenchLife.info report points to the possibility of all three M.2 slots on this motherboard having PCI-Express gen 4.0 wiring - something that shouldn't normally be possible, since all downstream PCIe lanes put out by the B550 are gen 3.0. The way we see it, the topmost M.2 slot has a direct PCI-Express 4.0 x4 connection from the AM4 socket (as it normally should). The second- and third slots, however, pull their wiring from a series of lane switches that split the main x16 PEG slot to gen 4.0 x8/x4/x4. It's possible that one of the two x16 (electrical x4) slots has a further lane sharing arrangement with one of the two M.2 slots.
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Intel "Tiger Lake-U" Processor with Relatively High Clock Speed Spotted

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btarunr
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An unnamed Intel "Tiger Lake-U" quad-core processor was spotted on Futuremark database by _rogame, featuring 2.80 GHz nominal clock-speeds. Barring the 28 W i7-1068NG7 and i5-1038NG7, which are exclusive for MacBooks and aren't considered U-segment, all current-gen "Ice Lake" client chips have their nominal clock speeds ranging between 1.00 to 1.30 GHz. Given this, 2.80 GHz would qualify as a big jump for a U-segment "Tiger Lake" chip. We know from a separate report that "Tiger Lake" could also offer Turbo Boost frequencies as high as 4.70 GHz for the top Core i7-1185G7 part, a similar jump from the 3.90 GHz max boost of the current-gen i7-1065G7, all while retaining a 15 W nameplate TDP.

The Futuremark database listing only mentions nominal clock of 2.80 GHz, and the CPU core configuration of 4-core/8-thread. The hardcoded CPU name string of this prototype specifies "Tiger Lake U," confirming this is a 15 W part, and not a 28 W part that will be gobbled down by Apple. Intel's newfound clock-speed headroom could be attributed to the company's refined 10 nm+ silicon fabrication node. "Tiger Lake" combines "Willow Cove" CPU cores with an iGPU based on the company's ambitious new Xe graphics architecture, marking its commercial debut. "Tiger Lake" is expected to launch around September-October, 2020.

AMD Ryzen 7 4700G "Renoir" Desktop Processor Pictured

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btarunr
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Here is the first picture of the AMD Ryzen 7 4700G, the company's upcoming socket AM4 APU based on the 7 nm "Renoir" silicon, courtesy of VideoCardz. The picture reveals a standard-looking socket AM4 chip with commercial name and OPN markings (100-000000146), matching the Igor's Lab OPN code leak from earlier this week. The Ryzen 7 4700G offers an 8-core/16-thread CPU based on the "Zen 2" microarchitecture, and an integrated graphics solution that combines the SIMD machinery of the "Vega" graphics architecture, with the updated display- and media engines of "Navi." The iGPU is configured with 8 CUs (512 stream processors), which on the 4700G has an impressive maximum engine boost clock of 2.10 GHz, according to the Igor's Lab story.

The 8-core/16-thread CPU of the Ryzen 7 4700G has a nominal clock speed of 3.60 GHz, and a maximum boost frequency of 4.45 GHz, with several Precision Boost power-states in both directions of the nominal clock. The CPU features 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 8 MB of shared L3 cache (4 MB per CCX). The iGPU engine clock goes all the way up to 2.10 GHz, which could help it overcome some of the CU deficit vs. "Picasso," which has 11 CUs (704 stream processors), but clocked only up to 1.40 GHz. Since the Ryzen 5 3400G has an unlocked multiplier, it stands to reason that even the 4700G could. If the platform I/O of "Renoir" in its mobile avatar is anything to go by, then the 4700G could feature a limited PCI-Express x8 lane setup for its PEG port. AMD is rating the TDP of the 4700G at 65 W.

Atos Launches First Supercomputer Equipped with NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPU

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btarunr
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Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, today announces its new BullSequana X2415, the first supercomputer in Europe to integrate NVIDIA's Ampere next-generation graphics processing unit architecture, the NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPU. This new supercomputer blade will deliver unprecedented computing power to boost application performance for HPC and AI workloads, tackling the challenges of the exascale era. The BullSequana X2415 blade will increase computing power by more than 2x and optimize energy consumption thanks to Atos' 100% highly efficient water-cooled patented DLC (Direct Liquid Cooling) solution, which uses warm water to cool the machine.

Forschungszentrum Jülich will integrate this new blade into its booster module, extending its existing JUWELS BullSequana supercomputer, making it the first system worldwide the use this new technology. The JUWELS Booster will provide researchers across Europe with significantly increased computational resources. Some of the projects it will fuel are the European Commission's Human Brain Project and the Jülich Laboratories of "Climate Science" and "Molecular Systems". Once fully deployed this summer the upgraded supercomputing system, operated under ParTec's software ParaStation Modulo, is expected to provide a computational peak performance of more than 70 Petaflops/s making it the most powerful supercomputer in Europe and a showcase for European exascale architecture.
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EVE Distribution Announces the Spectrum Crowd-Sourced Monitor Lineup - Up to 4K 120 Hz IPS and FreeSync Premium

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Raevenlord
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EVE Distribution, the company that's already crowd-sourced the Microsoft Surface-rival Eve Hybrid, which launched to very positive feedback from the tech community (even with the incredible delays in shipping and distributing the purchased Eve Hybrids, though the company now says they've rebuilt their logistics and distribution mechanisms. Now, the company is eyeing next-generation gaming with its Spectrum monitor lineup, which aim to be both PC-centric and console-centric gaming monitors.

The three monitor models all share LG as a panel source (specifically, the same panel used in the LG UltraGear 27GL850. All of them also share the same IPS technology with 1 ms response times, 98% DCI-P3 and 100% sRGB coverage, as well as the same 1,000:1 contrast ratio. Freesync Premium (from 48 Hz VRR support through to the maximum refresh rate of every monitor) and G-Sync Compatible support is standard on all monitors. Differences start to appear when looking at maximum resolution, brightness and refresh rates.
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AOC Releases Five New Gaming Monitors - All Sporting 1080p Panels, FreeSync Premium

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Raevenlord
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Display specialist AOC announces the launch of five new Full HD monitors: three curved (C27G2ZU, C27G2ZE and C32G2ZE) and two flat models (24G2ZU, 24G2ZE) that competitive gamers have been longing for.

The new monitors range from 23.8" (60.4 cm) and 27" (68.6 cm) up to 31.5" (80 cm) and offer breathtaking specifications: a 240 Hz refresh rate and just 0.5 ms (1 ms for the 31.5" version) MPRT create an incredibly "connected" feel to the game world. All models additionally come equipped with FreeSync Premium with LFC (Low Framerate Compensation) support, providing smooth game visuals without tearing or stuttering.
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Thermalright Intros TY-121BP FDB Low Impedance Fans

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btarunr
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Thermalright introduced the TY-121BP FDB, a 120 mm case fan optimized for circulation applications. Built in a standard 25 mm-thick 120 mm format with rubberized frame mounts. The package includes rubber bolts in addition to metal screws. The fan features a long life (>40,000-hours rated) fluid-dynamic bearing. Taking in 4-pin (PWM) input, it spins between 600 - 1,800 RPM pushing 25.76 CFM of air at its lowest speed, and 77.28 CFM at top speed, with up to 2.70 mm H2O air-pressure. The noise output proportionately ranges between 19 to 25 dBA. The fan is currently selling in single-piece packages priced at $20, multi-fan packs are also in the works.

Thermaltake NeonMaker software now supports TOUGHRAM RGB Memory Series

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btarunr
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Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Cooling, Gaming Gear, and Enthusiast Memory solutions, is now announcing more excellent news for those who want to try out the NeonMaker software on other Thermaltake products. Besides Riing Quad, Riing Trio, and Floe DX series products, Thermaltake aims to expand the fun of NeonMaker to other product lines; hence, NeonMaker software now supports the TOUGHRAM RGB Series!

If users want to pair up their TOUGHRAM RGB Series lighting with cooling products, now is the time to do so. Users are able to personalize their lighting effects freely by utilizing the NeonMaker software, and users can also find out more information on the TOUGHRAM RGB Series products through AR technology by using our exclusive ARTT app. Other than that, users can also synchronize TOUGHRAM RGB Series products with the TT RGB Plus software to maximize the control of RGB effects.
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Micron Delivers Client NVMe Performance and Value SSDs With Industry-Leading Capacity Sizes and QLC NAND

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AleksandarK
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Micron Technology, Inc., today announced new client solid-state drives (SSDs) that bring NVMe performance to client computing applications, freeing laptops, workstations and other portables from legacy architectures that can rob devices of battery power, performance and productivity. The Micron 2300 SSD combines the power and density needed to drive compute-heavy applications in a compact form factor with the reduced power consumption modern mobile users demand. For the first time, Micron brings together NVMe performance and low-cost quad-level-cell (QLC) NAND in the Micron 2210 QLC SSD. It combines fast NVMe throughput and Micron's leadership in QLC technology to offer flash capabilities at hard disk drive-like price points while reducing power consumption by 15 times when compared to hard drives.
Micron 2300 NVMe SSD
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KeysWorlds Announces the Biggest Summer Sale on Genuine Software

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btarunr
KeysWorlds is an international online marketplace for genuine software and accessories, presenting the 2020 Summer Sale. Prepare your battlestation for the Summer with the latest genuine software, such as Office and Windows. Get genuine Windows 10 Pro free when you buy a qualifying edition of Office. Ready for the great deals? Do not miss the below deals, we bet you are not going to find them anywhere else. Choose from our wide ways to pay online, including PayPal, which protects your payment instruments, and get instant access to your purchase. Select any offer from below as per your requirements.

Buy Office 2019 Professional (free Windows 10 Pro) for $36.09 | Buy Office 2019 Professional (free Windows 10 Home) for $37.19 | Buy Office 2016 Professional (free Windows 10 Pro) for $20.23 | Buy Office 2016 Professional (free Windows 10 Home) for $23.78

Apply the coupon KWS50 on the following items at check-out, to avail the prices you see here.
Buy Office 2016 Home and Business for Mac for $32.82 | Buy Office 2019 Home and Business for Mac for $51.96 | Buy Office 2016 Home and Student for $20.67 | Buy Office 2019 Home and Student for $39.62 | Buy Office 2019 Professional Plus 5-PC for $82.05 | Buy Office 2016 Professional Plus 5-PC for $56.34

Apply the coupon code KWS38 on the following items.
Buy Windows 10 Pro for $9.49 | Buy Windows 10 Home for $10.17 | Buy Windows 10 Pro 2-PC for $15.19
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Hot Chips 2020 Program Announced

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AleksandarK
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Today the Hot Chips program committee officially announced the August conference line-up, posted to hotchips.org. For this first-ever live-streamed Hot Chips Symposium, the program is better than ever!

In a session on deep learning training for data centers, we have a mix of talks from the internet giant Google showcasing their TPUv2 and TPUv3, and a talk from startup Cerebras on their 2nd gen wafer-scale AI solution, as well as ETH Zurich's 4096-core RISC-V based AI chip. And in deep learning inference, we have talks from several of China's biggest AI infrastructure companies: Baidu, Alibaba, and SenseTime. We also have some new startups that will showcase their interesting solutions—LightMatter talking about its optical computing solution, and TensTorrent giving a first-look at its new architecture for AI.
Hot Chips
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Dynabook to Offer 10th Gen Intel Core vPro on Portégé X Series and Tecra A Notebooks

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btarunr
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Dynabook Americas, Inc., today announced the availability of the new 10th Gen Intel Core Processors with vPro technology on the company's premium Portégé X Series (X30-G, X30L-G, X40-G & X50-G) and performance Tecra A Series (A30-G & A40-G). The addition of the Intel vPro platform powered 10th Gen Intel Core processors deliver better overall system performance, faster data compression, stronger security and faster Wi-Fi bandwidth. Dynabook will begin shipping these laptops with the vPro platform by the end of the second quarter this year.

"The new 10th Gen Intel Core vPro processors are built to power the next generation of computing innovation which our Portégé X Series and Tecra A Series represent," said Phil Osako, vice president, marketing and engineering, Dynabook Americas, Inc. "By incorporating the latest generation of Intel commercial processors, Dynabook will deliver business solutions with technologies to address new and emerging challenges for IT and users."
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MSI Also Announces MAG CoreLiquid Series AIO Liquid CPU Coolers

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btarunr
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Take cooling underwater with MSI's very own and very first liquid cooler, the MAG CORELIQUID Series. The MAG CORELIQUID Series presents itself to the world with four models: the MAG CORELIQUID 360R, MAG CORELIQUID 360RH, MAG CORELIQUID 240R, and MAG CORELIQUID 240RH. Constructed from high-quality materials, the MAG CORELIQUID Series remain durable and delivers unstoppable cooling performance even under harsh conditions.

To dampen the sound of the overall assembly and reduce noise, the pump has been integrated into the radiator. To lengthen the life expectancy of the MAG CORELIQUID Series, a durable three-phase motor is built into the core of the pump, resulting in minimal vibrations. Furthermore, the MAG CORELIQUID Series is constructed with three-layer netted plastic tubing with a reinforced mesh exterior for resilience.
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MSI Announces MPG GUNGNIR 110 and MAG Vampiric 100 Series Cases

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btarunr
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MSI is proud to introduce three new models in the MPG GUNGNIR 110 series family: the MPG GUNGNIR 110R, the MPG GUNGNIR 110M, and MPG GUNGIR 111M. The MPG GUNGNIR 110 Series is designed for performance and loaded with features that improve functionality and convenience. All three models offer flexibility and tremendous synergy with the rest of MSI's well-established gaming ecosystem. The MPG GUNGNIR 110 Series can easily be connected to a front Type-C port on MSI motherboards. A tempered glass window showcases hardware and cooling capabilities including up to 6 system fans and models of the MSI MAG CORELIQUID Series: 240R, 240RH, 360R and 360RH. A magnetic dust filter sitting on top can be easily removed for cleaning purposes.

The intuitive Insta-Light Loop provide users with their light show of a lifetime. At the instant touch of a button, users can easily control the fans' color and lighting effects. The MPG GUNGNIR 110 Series comes with 4 ARGB fans for the 110R, 3 Auto RGB fans plus 1 system fan for the 110M, and 3 RGB fans plus 1 system fan for the 111M.
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Addlink Intros S20M SATA 2.5-inch SSD Series

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btarunr
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Addlink today refreshed its S20 line of SATA SSDs with the new S20M series. The refreshed lineup uses 96-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory, and a Maxiotek MAS080X controller replacing the Phison S11-series controller on the original S20. The 2.5-inch, SATA 6 Gbps drive comes in 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB capacities, which offer varying performance. There is no 120-128 GB variant in the series. The 1 TB variant offers sequential reads of up to 560 MB/s, and up to 500 MB/s sequential writes. The 512 GB variant offers up to 550 MB/s reads, with up to 500 MB/s writes. The 256 GB variant does up to 510 MB/s reads, and up to 400 MB/s writes. Addlink claims increased endurance and MTBF over the S20, although it didn't specify numbers. The company didn't mention pricing, although availability is expected by late-May.

ASRock Industrial Announces a Broad Range of 10th Gen Intel Core Motherboards

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btarunr
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ASRock Industrial Computer Corporation, the world's leader in Industrial PC motherboards, unveils a broad range of industrial motherboards powered by the Intel 10th Generation Core Processors (Comet Lake-S) with up to 10 Cores and supporting Intel 400-series Q470E, H420E, and W480E chipsets. Featuring improved multi-threaded computing performance and rich I/O functionality, ASRock Industrial's new series of product lineup covers comprehensive form factors, including industrial Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, and ATX motherboards, are ideal for diverse applications, such as industrial automation, retail kiosks, digital signage, and AIoT solutions.

ASRock Industrial introduces the industry's first Intel 10th Gen Core Processors Industrial Motherboards with Q470E chipset, including the IMB-1220-L/IMB-1220-D and IMB-1222/IMB-1222-WV Mini-ITX motherboards, the IMB-1313 Micro-ATX motherboard and the IMB-1711 ATX motherboard. For value and cost-effective options, there are also new Mini-ITX motherboards with H420E chipset, the IMB-1221-L/IMB-1221-D comes with high-rise IO and the IMB-1223/IMB-1223-WV with thin IO.
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ASUS Announces ROG Strix Helios White Edition Chassis

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btarunr
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ASUS today unveiled the White Edition variant of its ROG Strix Helios chassis, which the company debuted back in January. While "White Edition," normally implies a white color scheme, for the ROG Strix Helios, it means a silvery brushed-aluminium frame taking up most of the metal bits on the case's exterior. The piano black front facade along with RGB LED inserts remains, as do the black top mesh and nylon straps. The interiors are all matte-white, including the horizontal partition. ASUS suggests pairing this case with one its Prime series motherboards, or the ROG Strix Z490-A Gaming; and White Edition variants of its ROG Strix White Edition PSUs, its ROG Strix graphics cards, and gaming peripherals. The rest of its feature-set is identical to the original. The company didn't reveal pricing.
ASUS ROG Strix Helios White Edition
Thursday, May 14th 2020

Today's Reviews

Accessories
Cooling
CPU Coolers
Gaming PC
Graphics Cards
Harddisks
Keyboards
Mouse
SSD
Storage
ROCCAT Kain 200 AIMO Review

ROCCAT Kain 200 AIMO Review

Review Mice
The Kain 200 is ROCCAT's wireless addition to the Kain line-up. Much like the Kain 100 and 120, the Kain 200 has a highly sophisticated button mechanism, premium materials, and a fairly unique right-handed ergonomic shape. The biggest difference is the sensor: PixArt's flagship model for wireless applications, the PAW3335.
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Steam "Play Next" Game Recommendation Feature Now Available

by
Uskompuf
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Valve introduced "Play Next" as an experimental feature as part of Steam Labs earlier this year for testing. The feature previously known as "Experiment 008: Play Next" uses machine learning algorithms to provide suggestions to gamers with extensive libraries on what unplayed or very low playtime game in their library they should try next. This technology is also used in Valve's Interactive Recommender and works by identifying comparable games on Steam. The feature is now live for all users in the latest Steam client update and can be found under the Play Next shelf in library view.

MSI Updates Workhorse Laptops with 10th Generation Intel Core Processors & NVIDIA Quadro RTX Graphics

Press Release by
Uskompuf
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MSI has revamped its entire series logo for its ultimate mobile workstations, joining the iconic MSI dragon shield logo, the symbol of high performance! The iconic logo delivers the same promise of MSI Workstation! MSI is guaranteed to offer absolute professional experience with the certification of industry-leading ISVs and committed to providing the always first to the market and reliable device for the professionals. Now, MSI proudly launches a powerful lineup of mobile workstations, including the new WS75, WS66, WF75, and WF65 powered by up to Intel Xeon Processors or 10th Gen Intel Core i9 processors and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 graphics. Driven by Intel's latest 10th i9 CPU, MSI's workstations are now capable of delivering a 15% boost to up to 50% performance enhancements compared to its predecessor.
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TSMC Building a 5nm Fab in Arizona as the U.S. Government Gets Involved

Updated by
btarunr
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It has become a matter of national strategy (or pride) to get TSMC to build a cutting-edge silicon fabrication facility on U.S. soil. Hot on the heals of a report in which TSMC denied it has any plans to build a fab in the U.S., we're learning from a Wall Street Journal that the world's largest independent semiconductor manufacturing company, will build a facility in the U.S. after all. Apparently TSMC will build a silicon fabrication facility in the state of Arizona. The fab will manufacture 5 nm-class chips, to begin with.

TSMC got around to drawing up plans to build a stateside facility after the "involvement" of the State- and Commerce Departments of the U.S. Government. The two are involved not just in coaxing TSMC, but also in the specifics of the planning to get them to the Grand Canyon state. The Donald Trump administration made significant national policy changes with manufacturing, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic causing significant wait times in getting silicon products from Asia to the US.

Update 01:25 UTC: TSMC made its U.S. fab plans official with an announcement. Press release and additional commentary below.
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Logitech Zone Wired Headset Now Available For Purchase

Press Release by
Uskompuf
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With the recent surge in remote work, more people than ever are building out their work from home setups in order to remain productive while sheltering in place. We're happy to be able to now bring you the newly available Zone Wired headset, a wired version of the existing Zone Wireless headset that is also certified for Google Meet and Google Voice, in addition to Microsoft Teams certification.

"Remote work can be challenging, especially right now since people are setting up makeshift offices in shared spaces with loved ones," says Martin Ruddle, Director of Personal Solutions, Logitech Video Collaboration division. "With the Zone Wired headset's noise-cancellation features and dual-mic technology, you'll be able to take calls comfortably, without distraction, no matter who else is in your office, kitchen or living room."
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MSI Announces the Optix G241 and G271 Monitors: 1080p IPS, 144 Hz, 1 ms, AMD FreeSync

by
Raevenlord
 Discuss (10 Comments)
MSI today announced two new diagonally-different additions to its monitor lineup. Under the Optix branding, the Optix G241 and G271 monitors both feature a 1080p IPS panel ticking at 144 Hz refresh rates. 1 ms response time is featured in both monitors, as is support for AMD's FreeSync. Where both panels differ is in the color space they're offering: the 27" G271 offers a slightly narrower 92% DCI-P3 coverage (94% on the G241). Viewing angles (178º), maximum brightness (250 cd m²) and a 1,000:1 contrast ratio are equal between both monitors.

I/O-wise, we're looking at 2x HDMI 1.4b, 1x DisplayPort 1.2a, and 1x audio out. The Optix G271 is available starting from a very interesting $239, while the G241 is available for $189.99.

Grand Theft Auto V Premium Edition Free to Grab on Epic Games Store

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Raevenlord
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Epic Games has just done something that's sure to garner a lot of attention: they're offering free copies of Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto V. Yes, you can stop reading now and go on and grab it; you know you want to, even if you've played it on console already. The game is the latest entry in one of the most legendary franchises in gaming, and as it stands, counts with a 96 Metascore and a 7.8 user score. Even though the game has been released over five years ago, it's still one of the greatest, featuring a live community on its online components.

1MORE Announces Launch of Dual Driver ANC Pro Wireless In-Ear Headphones

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Raevenlord
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1MORE, a global premium consumer audio company, announces its launch of their CES Innovation Award Winning Dual Driver ANC Pro Wireless In-Ear Headphones. As the second product with active noise cancellation released this year, 1MORE continues to deliver high quality and feature rich products at consumer-friendly prices. For $149.99 MSRP, the Dual Driver ANC Pro Wireless headphone is available for pre-orders starting today and launching on May 21.

Boasting top-of-the-line features, the 1MORE Dual Driver ANC Pro Wireless In-Ear Headphones is the successor to the original model offering an updated design and hybrid noise cancellation, with active noise cancellation up to 35dB. Using Bluetooth 5 (improved from Bluetooth 4.2), means these headphones are optimized for better transmission and connectivity to Bluetooth enabled devices. Power-wise, the Dual Driver ANC PRO headphones offer 20-hours of battery life, which more than doubles the original model's battery life. The new addition of Wind Noise Resistance mode also suppresses the microphonic sounds caused by wind, providing clearer phone calls and a better listening experience.
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NVIDIA DGX-A100 Systems Feature AMD EPYC "Rome" Processors

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btarunr
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NVIDIA is leveraging the 128-lane PCI-Express gen 4.0 root complex of AMD 2nd generation EPYC "Rome" enterprise processors in building its DGX-A100 super scalar compute systems that leverage the new A100 "Ampere" compute processors. Each DGX-A100 block is endowed with two AMD EPYC 7742 64-core/128-thread processors in a 2P setup totaling 128-cores/256-threads, clocked up to 3.40 GHz boost.

This 2P EPYC "Rome" processor setup is configured to feed PCIe gen 4.0 connectivity to eight NVIDIA A100 GPUs, and 8-port Mellanox ConnectX 200 Gbps InfiniBand NIC. Six NVSwitches provide NVLink connectivity complementing PCI-Express gen 4.0 from the AMD sIODs. The storage and memory subsystem is equally jaw-dropping: 1 TB of hexadeca-channel (16-channel) DDR4 memory, two 1.92 TB NVMe gen 4.0 SSDs, and 15 TB of U.2 NVMe drives (4x 3.84 TB units). The GPU memory of the eight A100 units add up to 320 GB (that's 8x 40 GB, 6144-bit HBM2E). When you power it up, you're greeted with the Ubuntu Linux splash screen. All this can be yours for USD $199,000.

NVIDIA GA100 Scalar Processor Specs Sheet Released

Updated by
btarunr
 Updated: Discuss (101 Comments)
NVIDIA today unveiled the GTC 2020, online event, and the centerpiece of it all is the GA100 scalar processor GPU, which debuts the "Ampere" graphics architecture. Sifting through a mountain of content, we finally found the slide that matters the most - the specifications sheet of GA100. The GA100 is a multi-chip module that has the 7 nm GPU die at the center, and six HBM2E memory stacks at its either side. The GPU die is built on the TSMC N7P 7 nm silicon fabrication process, measures 826 mm², and packing an unfathomable 54 billion transistors - and we're not even counting the transistors on the HBM2E stacks of the interposer.

The GA100 packs 6,912 FP32 CUDA cores, and independent 3,456 FP64 (double-precision) CUDA cores. It has 432 third-generation tensor cores that have FP64 capability. The three are spread across a gargantuan 108 streaming multiprocessors. The GPU has 40 GB of total memory, across a 6144-bit wide HBM2E memory interface, and 1.6 TB/s total memory bandwidth. It has two interconnects: a PCI-Express 4.0 x16 (64 GB/s), and an NVLink interconnect (600 GB/s). Compute throughput values are mind-blowing: 19.5 TFLOPs classic FP32, 9.7 TFLOPs classic FP64, and 19.5 TFLOPs tensor cores; TF32 156 TFLOPs single-precision (312 TFLOPs with neural net sparsity enabled); 312 TFLOPs BFLOAT16 throughout (doubled with sparsity enabled); 312 TFLOPs FP16; 624 TOPs INT8, and 1,248 TOPS INT4. The GPU has a typical power draw of 400 W in the SXM form-factor. We also found the architecture diagram that reveals GA100 to be two almost-independent GPUs placed on a single slab of silicon. We also have our first view of the "Ampere" streaming multiprocessor with its FP32 and FP64 CUDA cores, and 3rd gen tensor cores. The GeForce version of this SM could feature 2nd gen RT cores.

NVIDIA DGX-Ready Partners Make AI Adoption Easy

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btarunr
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NVIDIA DGX systems make deploying AI simpler, faster and more cost-effective for organizations using the approach that's optimal for their business. Over the last four years, DGX systems have been deployed by thousands of customers around the globe, including nine of the top 10 government institutions and eight of the top U.S. universities. Today, we announced the new NVIDIA DGX A100 — the third generation of the world's most advanced, purpose-built AI system.

But there's more to AI than compute. Many enterprises need expert assistance to get up and running. That's why we have a network of partners to ease the deployment of large-scale AI infrastructure and streamline AI development workflows. Today, we're expanding that network with the NVIDIA DGX-Ready Software program, which helps customers increase their data science productivity. To access the full potential of DGX systems, NVIDIA and its technology partners offer a portfolio of certified software that enhances deployments, whether customers are working on a single system or a multi-system NVIDIA DGX POD.
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NVIDIA Announces Double-Precision (FP64) Tensor Cores with "Ampere"

Press Release by
btarunr
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What you can see, you can understand. Simulations help us understand the mysteries of black holes and see how a protein spike on the coronavirus causes COVID-19. They also let designers create everything from sleek cars to jet engines. But simulations are also among the most demanding computer applications on the planet because they require lots of the most advanced math. Simulations make numeric models visual with calculations that use a double-precision floating-point format called FP64. Each number in the format takes up 64 bits inside a computer, making it one the most computationally intensive of the many math formats today's GPUs support.

As the next big step in our efforts to accelerate high performance computing, the NVIDIA Ampere architecture defines third-generation Tensor Cores that accelerate FP64 math by 2.5x compared to last-generation GPUs. That means simulations that kept researchers and designers waiting overnight can be viewed in a few hours when run on the latest A100 GPUs.
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NVIDIA Releases Jetson Xavier NX Developer Kit with Cloud-Native Support

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btarunr
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GTC 2020—NVIDIA today announced availability of the NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX developer kit with cloud-native support — and the extension of this support to the entire NVIDIA Jetson edge computing lineup for autonomous machines. The Jetson Xavier NX module is the ideal platform to accelerate AI applications, delivering greater than 10x higher performance compared to its widely adopted predecessor, Jetson TX2. Using cloud-native technologies, developers can take advantage of the module's high AI and compute performance in its credit card-sized form factor to drive innovation and deploy AI at scale.

With support for cloud-native technologies now available across the NVIDIA Jetson lineup, manufacturers of intelligent machines and developers of AI applications can build and deploy high-quality, software-defined features on embedded and edge devices targeting robotics, smart cities, healthcare, industrial IoT and more. Cloud-native support helps manufacturers and developers implement frequent improvements, improve accuracy and use the latest features with Jetson-based AI edge devices. And developers can quickly deploy new algorithms throughout an application's lifecycle, at scale, while minimizing downtime.
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NVIDIA Announces Industry's First Secure SmartNIC Optimized for 25G

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AleksandarK
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NVIDIA today launched the NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX -6 Lx SmartNIC—a highly secure and efficient 25/50 gigabit per second (Gb/s) Ethernet smart network interface controller (SmartNIC)—to meet surging growth in enterprise and cloud scale-out workloads.

ConnectX-6 Lx, the 11th generation product in the ConnectX family, is designed to meet the needs of modern data centers, where 25 Gb/s connections are becoming standard for handling demanding workflows, such as enterprise applications, AI and real-time analytics. The new SmartNIC extends accelerated computing by leveraging software-defined, hardware-accelerated engines to offload more security and network processing from CPUs.
NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-6 Lx SmartNIC
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NVIDIA Ships World's Most Advanced AI System — NVIDIA DGX A100

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btarunr
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NVIDIA today unveiled NVIDIA DGX A100, the third generation of the world's most advanced AI system, delivering 5 petaflops of AI performance and consolidating the power and capabilities of an entire data center into a single flexible platform for the first time. Immediately available, DGX A100 systems have begun shipping worldwide, with the first order going to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, which will use the cluster's AI and computing power to better understand and fight COVID-19.

"NVIDIA DGX A100 is the ultimate instrument for advancing AI," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "NVIDIA DGX is the first AI system built for the end-to-end machine learning workflow - from data analytics to training to inference. And with the giant performance leap of the new DGX, machine learning engineers can stay ahead of the exponentially growing size of AI models and data."
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NVIDIA EGX Edge AI Platform Brings Real-Time AI to Manufacturing, Retail, Telco, Healthcare and Other Industries

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btarunr
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NVIDIA today announced two powerful products for its EGX Edge AI platform - the EGX A100 for larger commercial off-the-shelf servers and the tiny EGX Jetson Xavier NX for micro-edge servers - delivering high-performance, secure AI processing at the edge. With the NVIDIA EGX Edge AI platform, hospitals, stores, farms and factories can carry out real-time processing and protection of the massive amounts of data streaming from trillions of edge sensors. The platform makes it possible to securely deploy, manage and update fleets of servers remotely.

The EGX A100 converged accelerator and EGX Jetson Xavier NX micro-edge server are created to serve different size, cost and performance needs. Servers powered by the EGX A100 can manage hundreds of cameras in airports, for example, while the EGX Jetson Xavier NX is built to manage a handful of cameras in convenience stores. Cloud-native support ensures the entire EGX lineup can use the same optimized AI software to easily build and deploy AI applications.
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NVIDIA CEO Introduces NVIDIA Ampere Architecture, NVIDIA A100 GPU

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btarunr
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NVIDIA today set out a vision for the next generation of computing that shifts the focus of the global information economy from servers to a new class of powerful, flexible data centers. In a keynote delivered in six simultaneously released episodes recorded from the kitchen of his California home, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang discussed NVIDIA's recent Mellanox acquisition, new products based on the company's much-awaited NVIDIA Ampere GPU architecture and important new software technologies.

Original plans for the keynote to be delivered live at NVIDIA's GPU Technology Conference in late March in San Jose were upended by the coronavirus pandemic. Huang kicked off his keynote on a note of gratitude. "I want to thank all of the brave men and women who are fighting on the front lines against COVID-19," Huang said. NVIDIA, Huang explained, is working with researchers and scientists to use GPUs and AI computing to treat, mitigate, contain and track the pandemic. Among those mentioned:
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NVIDIA's New Ampere Data Center GPU in Full Production

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btarunr
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NVIDIA today announced that the first GPU based on the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, the NVIDIA A100, is in full production and shipping to customers worldwide. The A100 draws on design breakthroughs in the NVIDIA Ampere architecture — offering the company's largest leap in performance to date within its eight generations of GPUs — to unify AI training and inference and boost performance by up to 20x over its predecessors. A universal workload accelerator, the A100 is also built for data analytics, scientific computing and cloud graphics.

"The powerful trends of cloud computing and AI are driving a tectonic shift in data center designs so that what was once a sea of CPU-only servers is now GPU-accelerated computing," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "NVIDIA A100 GPU is a 20x AI performance leap and an end-to-end machine learning accelerator — from data analytics to training to inference. For the first time, scale-up and scale-out workloads can be accelerated on one platform. NVIDIA A100 will simultaneously boost throughput and drive down the cost of data centers."
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NVIDIA "Ampere" Designed for both HPC and GeForce/Quadro

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btarunr
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NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang in a pre-GTC press briefing stressed that the upcoming "Ampere" graphics architecture will spread across both the company's compute-accelerator and commercial graphics product lines. The architecture makes its debut later today with the Tesla A100 HPC processor for breakthrough AI acceleration. It's unlikely that any GeForce products will be formally announced this month, with rumors pointing to a GeForce "Ampere" product launch at a gaming-focused event in September, close to "Cyberpunk 2077" launch.

It was earlier believed that NVIDIA had forked its breadwinning IP into two lines, one focused on headless scalar compute, and the other on graphics products through the company's GeForce and Quadro product lines. To that effect, its "Volta" architecture focused on scalar-compute (with the exception of the forgotten TITAN V); and the "Turing" architecture focused solely on GeForce and Quadro. It was then believed that "Ampere" will focus on compute, and the so-called "Hopper" would be this generation's graphics-focused architecture. We now know that won't be the case. We've compiled a selection of GeForce Ampere rumors in this article.

NVIDIA Tesla A100 "Ampere" AIC (add-in card) Form-Factor Board Pictured

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btarunr
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Here's the first picture of a Tesla A100 "Ampere" AIC (add-in card) form-factor board, hot on the heals of the morning big A100 reveal. The AIC card is a bare PCB, which workstation builders will add compatible cooling solutions on. The PCB features the gigantic GA100 processor with its six HBM2E stacks, in the center, surrounded by VRM components, and I/O on three sides. On the bottom side, you will find a conventional PCI-Express 4.0 x16 host interface. Above it, are NVLink fingers. The rear I/O has high-bandwidth network interfaces (likely 200 Gbps InfiniBand), by Mellanox. The tail end has hard points for 12 V power input. Find juicy details of the GA100 in our older article.

MSI B550 Motherboard Lineup Hits the Radar

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btarunr
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MSI registered five new motherboard SKUs with the Eurasian Economic Commission, based on the AMD B550 chipset. The five new socket AM4 motherboards cover a wide range of sub-$200 (expected) price-points. The lineup is led by the MSI Performance Gaming (MPG) B550 Gaming Carbon WiFi, which was part of AMD's chipset reveal presentation; followed closely by the MPG B550 Gaming Edge WiFi, its Mini-ITX sibling, the MPG B550I Gaming Edge WiFi; the MSI Arsenal Gaming (MAG) B550M Mortar WiFi; and the B550M PRO-VDH in the entry-level. The lineup is missing a "MAG B550 Tomahawk," possibly because MSI wants to launch it later. The company launched its MAG X570 Tomahawk rather recently, and probably still has inventories of its popular B450 Tomahawk MAX motherboard launched with large 32 MB BIOS ROM chips. AMD and its motherboard partners are expected to launch B550 chipset motherboard in mid-June, 2020.

ASUS Expects a Massive 30% Surge in Notebook Shipments in Q2-2020

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btarunr
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With the COVID-19 global pandemic forcing entire payrolls to work from home, the demand for pre-built computers handed out by companies, or those purchased by workers at their own expense, has hit an all time high. ASUS expects a massive 30% surge in notebook shipments in Q2-2020, with Q1 having mopped up inventories across the globe. For Q1-2020, ASUS reported $2.12 billion in revenues, down 28.27% sequentially, and 23.3% YoY. ASUS expects that the surge in notebook sales started toward the end of March, and could go on until June.

ASUS Announces the W480 Workstation Series

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btarunr
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ASUS today announced the W480 series workstation motherboard and workstation system designed to showcase the full potential of the latest Intel Xeon W-1200 processors. The ASUS W480 workstation series is the ideal choice for small-to-medium businesses and content creators seeking workstations delivering essential performance along with professional-grade reliability and security at a budget friendly price.

Teamed up with the latest Intel Xeon W-1200 processors featuring up to 10 cores, 20 threads, 5.3 GHz clock speeds, and 125 W and 128 GB DDR4-2933 ECC memory support, the ASUS W480 workstation series is purpose-built for 2D/3D CAD applications. The ASUS W480 workstation series also supports ASUS Control Center Express and ASUS Control Center, two versions of enterprise-grade IT monitoring and management software that simplify IT operations and improve productivity with comprehensive control and intuitive functionality.
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NVIDIA Ampere A100 Has 54 Billion Transistors, World's Largest 7nm Chip

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btarunr
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Not long ago, Intel's Raja Koduri claimed that the Xe HP "Ponte Vecchio" silicon was the "big daddy" of Xe GPUs, and the "largest chip co-developed in India," larger than the 35 billion-transistor Xilinix VU19P FPGA co-developed in the country. It turns out that NVIDIA is in the mood for setting records. The "Ampere" A100 silicon has 54 billion transistors crammed into a single 7 nm die (not counting transistor counts of the HBM2E memory stacks).

NVIDIA claims a 20 Times boost in both AI inference and single-precision (FP32) performance over its "Volta" based predecessor, the Tesla V100. The chip also offers a 2.5X gain in FP64 performance over "Volta." NVIDIA has also invented a new number format for AI compute, called TF32 (tensor float 32). TF32 uses 10-bit mantissa of FP16, and the 8-bit exponent of FP32, resulting in a new, efficient format. NVIDIA attributes its 20x performance gains over "Volta" to this. The 3rd generation tensor core introduced with Ampere supports FP64 natively. Another key design focus for NVIDIA is to leverage the "sparsity" phenomenon in neural nets, to reduce their size, and improve performance.
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NVIDIA Tesla A100 GPU Pictured

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AleksandarK
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Thanks to the sources of VideoCardz, we now have the first picture of the next-generation NVIDIA Tesla A100 graphics card. Designed for computing oriented applications, the Tesla A100 is a socketed GPU designed for NVIDIA's proprietary SXM socket. In a post few days ago, we were suspecting that you might be able to fit the Tesla A100 GPU in the socket of the previous Volta V100 GPUs as it is a similar SXM socket. However, the mounting holes have been re-arranged and this one requires a new socket/motherboard. The Tesla A100 GPU is based on GA100 GPU die, which we don't know specifications of. From the picture, we can only see that there is one very big die attached to six HBM modules, most likely HBM2E. Besides that everything else is unknown. More details are expected to be announced today at the GTC 2020 digital keynote.
NVIDIA Tesla A100
Wednesday, May 13th 2020

Today's Reviews

Cases
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Monitors
Mouse
PSUs
SSD
Storage
PowerColor Radeon RX 5600 XT Red Dragon Review

PowerColor Radeon RX 5600 XT Red Dragon Review

Review Graphics Cards
PowerColor's Radeon RX 5600 XT Red Dragon is a factory-overclocked custom-design with 14 Gbps memory that is among the fastest 5600 XTs out there. Its dual-fan, dual-slot cooler works well: temperatures are good, noise levels are impressive, and idle-fan stop is included, too.
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Chieftec Polaris Series 750 W Review

Chieftec Polaris Series 750 W Review

Review Power Supplies
The Chieftec Polaris 750 W has excellent ripple suppression and is tolerant to increased operating temperatures. However, is that enough to compete with units like the Corsair RM750x and Seasonic Focus Plus Gold?
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Google Chrome Beta Receives Tab Grouping Feature

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Uskompuf
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There are two types of people in the world: tab minimalists who have just a few tabs open at a time and tab collectors who have...significantly more. For minimalists and collectors alike, we're bringing a new way to organize your tabs to Chrome: tab groups. This feature is available now in Chrome Beta. Now, with a simple right click, you can group your tabs together and label them with a custom name and color. Once the tabs are grouped together, you can move and reorder them on the tab strip.
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Zeal-All Releases H310C Motherboard with Integrated GTX 1650

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Uskompuf
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In a followup to a post a few days ago about Zeal-All's LGA1151 B150 motherboard with an integrated GTX 1050 Ti, it seems Zeal-All has released a newer board based on the H310 chipset with an integrated GTX 1650. The Zeal-All ZA-KB1650 shares a lot of similarities with the aforementioned ZA-SK1050 both with both featuring an integrated NVIDIA GPU, laptop SODIMMs, 19 V dc power, and no PCI-E expansion slots. The new Zeal-All ZA-KB1650's H310C chipset supports 6th - 9th generation Intel Core processors which is very impressive indeed.

The Zeal-All ZA-KB1650 continues the trend of non-standard form factors with a size of 234.95 mm x 197.48 mm, rear I/O consists of 19 V DC Power Input, HDMI, DisplayPort, 3x LAN (POE), 4x USB 3.0 and Mic-In/Line-Out. Internally the board features dual m.2 expansion slots for WiFi and an SSD, triple Intel i211 LAN controllers, a single SATA connector, fan connectors, and front panel USB/Power/Audio.

Epic Online Services Launches with New Tools for Cross-Play and More

Press Release by
btarunr
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Epic Games today announces the launch of Epic Online Services, unlocking the ability to effortlessly scale games and unify player communities for all developers. First announced in December 2018, Epic Online Services are battle-tested and powered by the services built for Fortnite across seven major platforms (PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android). Open to all developers, Epic Online Services is completely free and offers creators a single SDK to quickly and easily launch, operate, and scale their games across engines, stores, and platforms of their choice.

"At Epic, we believe in open, integrated platforms and in the future of gaming being a highly social and connected experience," said Chris Dyl, General Manager, Online Services, Epic Games. "Through Epic Online Services, we strive to help build a user-friendly ecosystem for both developers and players, where creators can benefit regardless of how they choose to build and publish their games, and where players can play games with their friends and enjoy the same quality experience regardless of the hardware they own."
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Microsoft Begins Phasing Out 32-Bit Support for Windows 10

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Uskompuf
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It seems Microsoft has begun the long process of phasing out 32-bit support for Windows 10 beginning with version 2004, all new OEM Windows 10 systems will be required to use 64-bit builds and Microsoft will no longer release 32-bit builds for OEM distribution. This will not affect those of you running 32-bit versions of Windows 10 who will continue to receive updates and Microsoft plans to continue to sell 32-bit versions of Windows 10 through retail channels for the foreseeable future. This is likely just the first step in what will probably be a multi-year project to gradually phase out 32-bit support as more consumers and businesses switch to 64-bit systems.

Intel "Alder Lake" LGA1700 to Feature DDR5; "Rocket Lake" Thermal Specs Leaked

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btarunr
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PTT leaked some juicy details of the upcoming Intel "Rocket Lake" and "Alder Lake" processor generations. "Rocket Lake" will power Intel's 11th generation Core processor series in the LGA1200 package, and are rumored to be a "back port" of Intel's advanced "Willow Cove" CPU cores to a 14 nm-class silicon fabrication node, with core-counts ranging up to 8. The idea for Intel is to sell high IPC, high clock-speed desktop processors for gaming.

According to the PTT report, there will be three kinds of SKUs for "Rocket Lake" based on TDP: 8-core parts with 95 W TDP rating; and 8-core, 6-core, and 4-core parts in 80 W TDP and 65 W TDP variants. For the 95 W (PL1) parts, the power-levels PL2, and PL4 are reportedly set at 173 W and 251 W, respectively, and a 56-second Tau (a timing variable that dictates how long a processor can stick around at an elevated power-state before retreating to PL1, which is interchangeable with the TDP value on the box). The 80 W TDP parts feature 146 W PL2, 191 W PL3, and 251 W PL4, but a lower Tau value of 28 seconds. For the 65 W parts, the PL2 is 128 W, PL3 is 177 W, and PL4 251 W, and the Tau value 28 seconds.
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OPNs for At Least Twelve Desktop AMD "Renoir" APUs Decoded

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btarunr
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Igor's Lab discovered that AMD may be working on as many as twelve desktop Ryzen G "Renoir" processors with integrated graphics. These include six SKUs each covering the 65 W and 35 W TDP categories, and include two each of 8-core/16-thread, 6-core/12-thread, and 4-core/8-thread SKUs per TDP category. All twelve chips feature increased power limits from their mobile siblings, and a reference memory frequency of DDR4-3200. The parts also feature iGPU maximum engine clock boost frequency as high as 2.10 GHz, to overcome the compute unit deficit "Renoir" has against its predecessor, "Picasso/Raven Ridge," with their up to 11 CUs.

The series appears to be led by an 8-core/16-thread SKU with CPU boost frequency as high as 4.45 GHz, iGPU engine clock as high as 2.10 GHz, and various power-state clock speeds detailed in the table below. The 6-core/12-thread part boosts up to 4.30 GHz, with iGPU engine clock up to 1.90 GHz. The 4-core/8-thread part boosts up to 4.10 GHz, with up to 1.70 GHz iGPU engine clocks. The 35 W TDP parts have, on average, 200-300 MHz lower max CPU core boost- and nominal clock speeds, but more aggressive power-management as defined in the various P-states. Half of these OPNs point to chips with identical clock speeds and core configurations. These are probably differentiated from each other with some of them being Ryzen PRO SKUs.
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Intel Announces 10th Gen Core vPro Processors

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btarunr
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Intel today introduced its new 10th Gen Intel Core vPro processors, built to power the next generation of business computing innovation for the increasingly remote workforce. The new mobile and desktop PC processors deliver increased productivity improvements, connectivity, security features and remote manageability - all to empower IT to deliver amazing experiences, helping employees stay connected, more productive, more secure and in the flow with minimal interruptions.

"Built for business, the Intel vPro platform is a comprehensive PC foundation for performance, hardware-enhanced security, manageability and stability. With our new 10th Gen Intel Core vPro processors, we've enhanced that solid PC foundation to help tackle not only today's challenges, but also those of future work environments across the PC lifecycle," said Stephanie Hallford, Intel vice president of the Client Computing Group and general manager of Business Client Platforms.
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Micron Increasing Production Capability of DDR4 DRAM in 1z nm Nodes

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Raevenlord
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A report via DigiTimes, citing "sources familiar with the matter", claims that Micron is ramping up production of its 1z nm nodes for DDR4 manufacturing. As the latest fabrication technology available for the DDR market, 1z nm refers to silicon manufacturing in the 12-14 nm ranges, which is the currently densest available process in the high volume manufacturing space. Micron's other fabrication technology, 1y nm (referring to manufacturing in the 14 - 16 nm range), is also seeing increased manufacturing orders as market requirements for DDR volume are only bound to increase in the foreseeable future.

Micron's ramp-up of 1z nm makes sense, as DDR4 will continue to make-up the overwhelming majority of memory needs for the market until DDR5 fully comes online - and even then, volume requirements will take a while to achieve anything that's compared to today's flow of DDR4. Micron is likely banking on increased experience on the 1z nm nodes to launch its early DDR5 products, which will exclusively use that manufacturing technology. Manufacturing increases are being reported to be mostly related to 16 Gb DRAM modules (for the desktop and laptop spaces).

Epic Games Gives Mesmerizing Look at Unreal Engine 5 Running Real Time on PlayStation 5

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Raevenlord
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Epic Games has just released a trailer for version 5 of their industry/acclaimed Unreal Engine. Dubbed "Lumen in the Land of Nanite", the demo they've shared is nothing short of mindblowing when it comes to the amount of environment and character detail. Unreal Engine 5 will feature a new geometry processing engine Epic is calling Nanite, which the company promises will virtually eliminate polygon budgets for developers, with automatic stream and scaling, thus eliminating the need to develop LOD levels for particular assets. Another addition, and an as impressive one, is the Lumen global illumination engine, which will save developers the need to manually bake lightmaps accounting for every little change in a scene's lighting - the global illumination system makes these changes in lighting conditions as seamless and integrated as they can be. This among other features already introduced with version 4.25 such as Niagara VFX and Chaos destruction systems.

Unreal Engine 5 is pegged for an early 2021 release; Epic Games has already announced they will be porting their popular Fortnite videogame into the engine, which makes sense, considering it's being particularly optimized for PC and next-generation consoles. These will become the backbone of games development - and an important source of Epic's Fortnite revenue stream. Take a look at the trailer after the break - and remember this was all running real-time in a PlayStation 5 console.
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Dell Announces its Flagship XPS 15 and XPS 17 (Spring 2020 Update)

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btarunr
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Dell today updated its premium XPS line of performance notebooks with the XPS 15 (9500) and XPS 17 (9700), as part of the company's Spring 2020 launch sequence. The two are primarily differentiated by screen size (15.6-inch vs. 17-inch). The XPS 15 comes with 16:10 resolutions of 4K UHD+ (3840 x 2400 pixels) InfinityEdge Touch, and WUXGA (1920 x 1200 pixels) InfinityEdge. Both offer Dolby Vision, and adjustable viewing angles. 10th gen Core "Comet Lake-H" processors power both.

Processor options include the Core i5-10300H, i7-10750H, i7-10875H, and i9-10885H. Memory options range between 8 GB single-channel thru 64 GB dual-channel. Graphics options start with GTX 1650 Ti for the XPS 15, and go up to RTX 2060 (mobile) for the XPS 17. Storage options only include NVMe SSDs, starting with 256 GB, and going all the way up to 1 TB. A star attraction with both is Thunderbolt 3 connectivity. The XPS 15 offers two Thunderbolt 3 ports; while the XPS 17 offers four. Killer AX1650 WLAN is standard issue.

Dell Updates its G3 and G5 Gaming Notebook Lines

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btarunr
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Besides Alienware, Dell maintains a gaming notebook line under its main brand, with the G3 and G5, both endowed with 15.6-inch displays. The G5 15 SE is AMD-powered, featuring 15.6-inch Full HD 144 Hz displays, processor options that include the Ryzen 9 4900H, Ryzen 7 4800H, and Ryzen 5 4600H. This is the first notebook from Dell to feature the Radeon RX 5600M graphics based on "Navi 10." This notebook's Intel+NVIDIA alter-ego is the G15-5500, which comes with processor options that include the i5-10300H and i7-10750H; and various NVIDIA GeForce GPU options ranging from the GTX 1650 Ti to the RTX 2070 Super Max-Q. Memory options range between 8 GB to 32 GB; and storage between 128 GB to 1 TB NVMe SSD.

The G3 is Dell's entry-level gaming-grade notebook line. It offers 15.6-inch displays with Full HD resolutions, ranging between 60 Hz to 144 Hz, processor options that include the i5-10300H and i7-10750H, and graphics options ranging between the GTX 1650 and RTX 2060 (mobile). Memory options are either 8 GB single-channel or 16 GB dual-channel, both DDR4-2933. Dell has upped the game, doing away with HDD based storage options. The G3 starts with a 128 GB NVMe SSD, with capacities ranging up to 1 TB, and option for a second NVMe drive. Networking options include Killer 802.11ax and 1 GbE.

Alienware Announces its Spring 2020 Product Update

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btarunr
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Dell's coveted Alienware gaming PC division announced three new product updates. This include the Aurora R11 desktop updated with 10th gen Intel Core processor options; updated Area 51m R2 17.3-inch gaming notebook; and a pair of m-series notebooks. To begin with, Alienware updated its Aurora R11 desktop with processor options that now include the Core i5-10400F, i5-10600KF, i7-10700KF, and i9-10900KF. Memory options now start with DDR4-2933, and go up to DDR4-3200, with size options including 8 GB single-channel, 16 GB dual-channel, 32 GB dual-channel, and 64 GB dual-channel. Storage options begin with 1 TB and 2 TB 7,200 RPM HDD; and go up to M.2 NVMe SSDs ranging between 250 GB to 2 TB, with various options for secondary drives that include SATA SSDs and HDDs. There are also options that combine Optane M10 drives with 7,200 RPM HDDs. Graphics options range all the way from GeForce GTX 1650 to RTX 2080 Super, with all SKUs along the way. 2.5 GbE connectivity is now standard, WLAN options include Intel and Killer 802.11ax + Bluetooth 5 solutions.

Next up, is the Area 51m R2, a 17.3-inch desktop-replacement gaming notebook that comes with desktop-grade hardware. Built into an airy chassis with 17.3-inch screen (options include Full HD and 4K UHD with various refresh-rate options), these notebooks come with CPU options that include Core i7-10700, i7-10700K, i7-10900, and i7-10900K; with memory options ranging between 8 GB single-channel to 32 GB dual-channel, ticking between 2933-3200 MHz. NVMe SSDs are standard issue, beginning with a 256 GB option, with dual-drive and NVMe RAID options being included. Graphics options go from GTX 1660 Ti to RTX 2080 Super (mobile).
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AMD Announces Radeon Pro VII Graphics Card, Brings Back Multi-GPU Bridge

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btarunr
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AMD today announced its Radeon Pro VII professional graphics card targeting 3D artists, engineering professionals, broadcast media professionals, and HPC researchers. The card is based on AMD's "Vega 20" multi-chip module that incorporates a 7 nm (TSMC N7) GPU die, along with a 4096-bit wide HBM2 memory interface, and four memory stacks adding up to 16 GB of video memory. The GPU die is configured with 3,840 stream processors across 60 compute units, 240 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The card is built in a workstation-optimized add-on card form-factor (rear-facing power connectors and lateral-blower cooling solution).

What separates the Radeon Pro VII from last year's Radeon VII is full double precision floating point support, which is 1:2 FP32 throughput compared to the Radeon VII, which is locked to 1:4 FP32. Specifically, the Radeon Pro VII offers 6.55 TFLOPs double-precision floating point performance (vs. 3.36 TFLOPs on the Radeon VII). Another major difference is the physical Infinity Fabric bridge interface, which lets you pair up to two of these cards in a multi-GPU setup to double the memory capacity, to 32 GB. Each GPU has two Infinity Fabric links, running at 1333 MHz, with a per-direction bandwidth of 42 GB/s. This brings the total bidirectional bandwidth to a whopping 168 GB/s—more than twice the PCIe 4.0 x16 limit of 64 GB/s.
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Intel Announces Xeon W-1200 Processor Line, Comet Lake Wears a Suit

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btarunr
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Intel today announced the Xeon W-1200 line of socket LGA1200 processors aimed at enterprises, workstations, and small-scale server builds. These processors are based on the 14 nm "Comet Lake-W" microarchitecture, and are differentiated from the 10th generation Core "Comet Lake-S" processor family in featuring ECC memory support, vPro support on select SKUs, and the UHD P630 integrated graphics solution. These processors will be supported on motherboards based on the Intel W480, W470, and possibly Q470 chipsets. The processors also introduce Turbo Boost Max 3.0 to this segment with select GPUs. Thermal Velocity Boost is available on only the top SKU.

The lineup is led by the 10-core/20-thread Xeon W-1290P, clocked at 3.70 GHz, with 5.20 GHz max boost frequency, and 20 MB of L3 cache. This SKU also features 5.30 GHz TVB and 4.90 GHz all-core TVB. This is followed closely by the Xeon W-1270P, an 8-core/16-thread part with 3.80 GHz nominal and 5.10 GHz boost frequency, and 16 MB of L3 cache. The W-1250P 6-core/12-thread chip is next in line, with its 4.10 GHz nominal, 4.50 GHz boost, and 12 MB L3 cache. All P-extension SKUs feature generally high clock speeds, and 125 W TDP. Positioned right below these are the non-P SKUs, with their 80 W TDP, and lower clock-speeds.
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Backblaze Releases Hard Drive Stats for Q1 2020 - Seagate Worst Performer

Press Release by
Raevenlord
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As of March 31, 2020, Backblaze had 132,339 spinning hard drives in our cloud storage ecosystem spread across four data centers. Of that number, there were 2,380 boot drives and 129,959 data drives. This review looks at the Q1 2020 and lifetime hard drive failure rates of the data drive models currently in operation in our data centers and provides a handful of insights and observations along the way. In addition, near the end of the post, we review a few 2019 predictions we posed a year ago. As always, we look forward to your comments.
Hard Drive Failure Stats for Q1 2020

At the end of Q1 2020, Backblaze was using 129,959 hard drives to store customer data. For our evaluation we remove from consideration those drives that were used for testing purposes and those drive models for which we did not have at least 60 drives (see why below). This leaves us with 129,764 hard drives. The table below covers what happened in Q1 2020.
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Halo 2: Anniversary Now Available in The Master Chief Collection for PC

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Raevenlord
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Microsoft Game Studios and 343 Industries have released halo 2: Anniversary for the PC platform. Being distributed as a package via The Master Chief Collection (which already includes Halo: Reach and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary), the game takes you through the second installment in the Master Chief's saga to protect humanity from the Covenant. The game has been fully optimized for the PC platform, as have previous releases.

The second installment in the sage features dual-wielding, as well as a dual-character campaign where you'll swap between the POV of the Master Chief and the Arbiter, a Sangheili commander fallen from grace in the wake of the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. The new Anniversary remaster of Halo 2 is a remaster in more than graphics, but in spirit as well, featuring added prologue and epilogue cutscenes, in-game terminals for you to bask in the glorious lore of the Halo universe, and reinterpreted cutscenes made by none-other than the amazing Blur Studios. The game and its contained updates for the Master Chief Collection will come in at 41.5 GB. Halo 2: Anniversary is available stand-alone for €9.99, or as part of The Master Chief Collection, which for €39.99, also includes Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and the storytelling masterpiece that is Halo 4.

Sony Announces PlayStation Studios Initiative

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Raevenlord
 Discuss (5 Comments)
Sony in the buildup for the launch of the PlayStation 5 has announced a new umbrella initiative focusing on its first-party studios. The new PlayStation studios umbrella will serve as a marketing branding for their first-party games, similar to Microsoft's Game Studios, which will make it loud and clear that a game has been developed in partnership with Sony. This might not mean much by itself, but it could, speculatively, serve as a way for Sony to extend its brand image to platforms other than the PS5 - case in point, PC.

Sony has already been bringing its first-party, exclusive games to the PC for a while now - Quantic Dream has already brought its full cadre of games to the PC, and Guerrilla will be launching their much-acclaimed Horizon: Zero Dawn this summer (still waiting for God of War, Sony, make it happen). This new branding initiative will appear in game trailers and in game boot sequences, but will only be imparted in games come the PS5 launch in Holiday 2020.
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Fujitsu Completes Delivery of Fugaku Supercomputer

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AleksandarK
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Fujitsu has today officially completed the delivery of the Fugaku supercomputer to the Riken scientific research institute of Japan. This is a big accomplishment as the current COVID-19 pandemic has delayed many happenings in the industry. However, Fujitsu managed to play around that and deliver the supercomputer on time. The last of 400 racks needed for the Fugaku supercomputer was delivered today, on May 13th, as it was originally planned. The supercomputer is supposed to be fully operational starting on the physical year of 2021, where the installation and setup will be done before.

As a reminder, the Fugaku is an Arm-based supercomputer consisting out of 150 thousand A64FX CPUs. These CPUs are custom made processors by Fujitsu based on Arm v8.2 ISA, and they feature 48 cores built on TSMC 7 nm node and running above 2 GHz. Packing 8.786 billion transistors, this monster chips use HBM2 memory instead of a regular DDR memory interface. Recently, a prototype of the Fugaku supercomputer was submitted to the Top500 supercomputer list and it came on top for being the most energy-efficient of all, meaning that it will be as energy efficient as it will be fast. Speculations are that it will have around 400 PetaFlops of general compute power for Dual-Precision workloads, however, for the specific artificial intelligence applications, it should achieve ExaFLOP performance target.
K SuperComputer

ADATA Announces the Falcon M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 3 SSDs

by
btarunr
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ADATA today announced the Falcon line of SSDs in the M.2-2280 form-factor, with NVMe 1.3 protocol support, leveraging PCI-Express 3.0 x4 host interface. The drives are characterized by an aluminium heatspreader on top of the NAND flash chips and controller, which isn't just an adhesive metal peal, but a 1 mm-thick metal plate. The Falcon comes in capacities of 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB; and uses 3D NAND flash memory (likely QLC).

The ADATA Falcon offers sequential speeds of up to 3,100 MB/s reads, with up to 1,500 MB/s writes; and up to 180,000 IOPS 4K random access. The 2 TB variant offers 1,200 TBW endurance, the 1 TB variant offers 600 TBW, the 512 GB variant 300 TBW, and the 256 GB variant 150 TBW. ADATA is backing the drives with a 5-year warranty. The company didn't reveal pricing.
ADATA Falcon

TSMC Says it Still Won't Build a Fab in the US

by
AleksandarK
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TSMC, as one of the largest silicon manufacturers in the world, has been subject to pressure from the Trump administration to build a Fab and manufacture silicon on US soil. The reasoning behind this is that the US government could order chips that are supposed to be used in military applications. For security reasons, they need to be manufactured on US grounds and "checked" by the US government. However, it seems like a Taiwanese company has no concrete plans to realize the building of the US Fab.

Thanks to the report of DigiTimes, TSMC has confirmed that they have resisted requests from the US government, and will not build a Fab on US soil for the government. They haven't dismissed the possibility of building one or silicon manufacturing facilities in the US completely. TSMC chairman Mark Liu has told DigiTimes previously that if the company wants to build a US Fab, it will do so because of consumer demand, not the government demand. And that is understandable. It is much easier to work with regular customers compared to the US government which would force a company to go through rigorous security levels to deliver chips.
TSMC HQ
Tuesday, May 12th 2020

Today's Reviews

Cases
Cooling
CPU Coolers
Desktop PC
Graphics Cards
Memory
Mouse
Notebooks
Speakers
SSD
Storage
HP P700 Portable SSD 1 TB Review

HP P700 Portable SSD 1 TB Review

Review Portable Storage
The HP P700 is the fastest portable SSD we've ever tested. Under the hood, the P700 uses an SMI SM2263 controller, Micron 3D TLC, and DRAM cache, which is rare on portable SSDs. With $175 for the reviewed 1 TB version, pricing is reasonable, too.
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EK-AIO 240 D-RGB All-in-One Watercooler Review

EK-AIO 240 D-RGB All-in-One Watercooler Review

Review CPU Coolers
EK looks to continue the onslaught against their competitors with the EK-AIO 240 D-RGB. Offering performance similar to its larger 360 mm sibling, it proves to be a better value for mainstream systems without sacrificing performance or looks.
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Abkoncore Rolls Out Cronos 450M Micro-ATX Case

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btarunr
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Abkoncore today unveiled the Cronos 450M Micro-ATX tower type case. Characterized by an asymmetric front design with a mesh intake towards the left side; the case features a tempered glass left side panel, and a filtered top exhaust. Inside, it offers a conventional horizontally-partitioned layout, with an internal fan mount right above the PSU bay.

Ventilation options for the Abkoncore Cronos 450M include three 120 mm front intakes, two 120 mm top exhausts, a 120 mm rear exhaust, and a 120 mm recirculator mount at the partition. Storage options include two 3.5-inch drive bays, and four 2.5-inch mounts. Front panel connectivity includes HDA jacks, two USB 2.0 ports, and a USB 3.0 type-A port. The case measures 197 mm x 340 mm x 405 mm (WxHxD). It is priced at USD $45.
Abkoncore Cronos 450M

Amazon Releases Gameplay Videos for Upcoming Crucible Game

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Uskompuf
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Amazon Game Studio's Crucible is a free-to-play team-based action shooter that's set for release on Steam May 20th. Crucible is an interesting-looking game with MOBA and hero shooter elements where you fight enemy players and AI enemies with your team while adapting to the map. When playing the game you gather Essence the in-game currency to help level up your character. The game will come with three game modes at launch Heart of the Hives a two teams of four first to three game, Alpha Hunters a eight teams of two last team standing game, and Harvester Command a two teams of eight game. You can view the gameplay trailers and more information below.
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Xbox Series X 4K 60 FPS Frame Rate "Standard," not "Guaranteed"

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btarunr
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Microsoft's next-generation Xbox Series X entertainment system has some pretty serious hardware specs, to support its lofty design goals of 4K UHD gaming at 60 Hz, with ray-tracing, and yet have 8K capability. It turns out that Microsoft isn't holding game developers to that 60 FPS number at 4K UHD, and that the minimum frame-rate is still 30 FPS. At lower resolutions such as Full HD, the console could offer high refresh-rate gaming. Apparently, the console natively displays 4K UHD at 60 Hz, and uses VESA adaptive-sync on TVs and monitors that support it; but game developers are free to cram in enough eye-candy to drive performance down to 30 FPS. This came to light when Ubisoft confirmed that "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" will run at 30 FPS on the Xbox Series X. "Developers always have flexibility in how they use the power, so a standard or common 60 FPS is not a mandate," said Aaron Greenberg, Xbox marketing head, in a Tweet Tuesday night.

Valve Rumored to Launch Steam Loyalty Scheme

by
Uskompuf
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SteamDB developer Pavel Djundik has uncovered evidence of a Steam loyalty scheme in some recent code strings. The developer detailed how the scheme may consist of a points system where users can redeem points for badge levels and possibly game discounts. This discovery comes just as the dates for the next Steam sale were leaked to be the 25th June - 9th July so this new loyalty scheme may launch alongside the sale and replace previous sale schemes.

Djundik has also discovered potential changes to the Steam review system with the introduction of user reactions. These reactions include deep thoughts, heartwarming, hilarious, hot take, poetry, and helpful. Djundik has an excellent track record for leaks regarding Steam just last week predicting the announcement of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, so it will be interesting to see if this new loyalty scheme gets released.

AOC Achieves #1 Global Gaming Monitor Market Share

Press Release by
Uskompuf
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AOC, a worldwide leader in monitor display technology, announces its AOC branded gaming monitors, owned by the parent company TPV, achieved #1 global market share among gaming PC monitor companies in 2019. AOC also grew 67% in the United States in 2019, making it the fastest growing monitor brand in North America. (Source: IDC Quarterly PC Monitor Tracker (Gaming), 2019Q4). Gaming monitors are defined by IDC as having a refresh rate of at least 100Hz by IDC.

The AOC G Series is known for being designed from the ground up for gaming, while the AGON Series, introduced in 2017, is a premium brand targeted at hardcore gamers and eSports. AGON monitors are crafted with top of the line materials and deliver competition-level performance to the most serious gamers. Since its debut, the series has received an array of awards including 15 reviews from major publications called AOC monitors "the best" in 2018-2020, including Best Gaming Monitor, Best Value, and a PC Magazine Reader's Choice Award for Most Reliable Brand.
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GIGABYTE Announces Updated UD Pro Series High-Endurance SATA SSDs

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btarunr
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GIGABYTE today announced the refreshed UD Pro line of high-endurance SATA SSDs. Built in the 2.5-inch form-factor with SATA 6 Gbps interface, the drives come in capacities of 256 GB (GP-UDPRO256G), 512 GB (GP-UDPRO512G), and 1 TB (GP-UDPRO1T). The new drives feature updated 96-layer KIOXIA 3D TLC NAND flash memory, with increased endurance rating across the board. The 1 TB variant offers a staggering 750 TBW endurance (for perspective, the NAS-optimized WD Red SA500 1 TB is rated with 600 TBW); while the 512 GB variant offers 370 TBW; and the 256 GB variant 175 TBW.

All three variants offer sequential transfer speeds of up to 550 MB/s reads, with up to 530 MB/s writes. The 1 TB variant offers up to 98,000 IOPS 4K random reads and up to 89,000 IOPS 4K random writes. The 512 GB model offers 97,000/89,000 IOPS. The 256 GB model offers 98,000/89,000 IOPS. All three drives appear to be using a Phison S10-series controller with fixed 256 MB DRAM cache across all three variants. GIGABYTE is backing these drives with 5-year warranties. The company didn't reveal pricing.

KIOXIA Showcases PCIe 4.0 SSDs, New Software-enabled Flash Tech at OCP Virtual Summit

Press Release by
btarunr
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From introducing game-changing new technologies to being the first to deliver PCIe 4.0 U.3 SSDs, KIOXIA America, Inc. (formerly Toshiba Memory America, Inc.), continues to demonstrate its commitment to delivering cutting-edge flash solutions. This dedication will be on full display at this week's Open Compute Project (OCP) Virtual Summit and Future Technologies Symposium, where KIOXIA will showcase its data center and enterprise solid state drive (SSD) portfolio.

At the Summit, KIOXIA will highlight its CM6 and CD6 Series PCIe 4.0 NVMe enterprise and data center SSDs, KumoScale storage software based on NVM Express over Fabrics (NVMe-oF ) and a new Software-Enabled Flash (SEF) technology that redefines digital storage. KIOXIA has the broadest portfolio of SSDs in the market, including SSDs for client PCs, data center, hyperscale, high-end servers and storage systems.
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ADATA Intros XPG Core Reactor PSU Series

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btarunr
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ADATA introduced the XPG Core Reactor line of gaming PC power supplies, which it unveiled at the 2020 CES, marking its entry to the PSU market. The first XPG Core Reactor model to market is the CR650, a 650-Watt model that offers fully modular cabling, a single +12V rail design with 80 Plus Gold certified efficiency, DC-to-DC switching, and a wide range of electrical protection mechanisms against surge and in-rush, over/under-volage, overload/no-load, short-circuit, and overheat. The CR650 provides four PCIe 6+2 pin cables, two 4+4 pin EPS, nine SATA power, and three Molex, besides the 24-pin ATX. It is backed by a 10-year warranty and is expected to be priced at USD $90.

Belkin Works with the University of Illinois on Flexvent Gas-operated Ventilator

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btarunr
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Belkin, global consumer electronics leader, today announces its collaboration with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Grainger College of Engineering for the design of the FlexVent Gas-Operated Ventilator ("FlexVent") and Belkin's production of the FlexVent, pending the review and approval of its Emergency Use Authorization application by Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This emergency ventilator is based on the Illinois RapidVent concept, which was published by the University of Illinois in March 2020.

This collaboration was started in response to the ongoing demand for additional, critical respiratory care supplies worldwide during the COVID-19 crisis. As proposed to FDA, the FlexVent will be used as a single-use, emergency ventilator that can provide constant-flow, pressure-cycled ventilation automatically to patients in respiratory distress.
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Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2, Remastered From Ramp to Rail on September 4

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btarunr
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The videogame that transformed the skateboarding world is back! The original birdman Tony Hawk, and Vicarious Visions, the studio that reinvigorated Crash with the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, have teamed up to bring fans remastered versions of the first two badass games in the critically acclaimed Tony Hawk franchise -- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2. To provide players with breathtaking gameplay experiences, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 will blend all the original levels, pro-skaters, old-school tricks and more that gamers remember from the '90s and '2000s with new, beautifully recreated levels. This faithful remaster will also include blockbuster songs from the original franchise. Dropping in on September 4, 2020, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 will return remastered in one awesome package for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 Pro, the family of Xbox One devices from Microsoft, including the Xbox One X, and on PC through the Epic platform.

"The original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series is a big factor in the evolution of modern skateboarding tricks and inspiring many of the pro skaters you know and love today," said Tony Hawk. "I'm excited to help inspire a new generation of skateboarders and gamers - and existing fans - to grow the sport even further."
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Samsung Unveils Innovative Storage Technology at OCP Virtual Global Summit

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btarunr
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Samsung announced today in an OCP Virtual Summit keynote that it has developed a solid state drive (PM9A3 SSD) with a SNIA-based E1.S form factor and full PCIe Gen 4 support to harness the production efficiencies of the company's sixth-generation (1xx-layer), three-bit V-NAND. At the same time, the company said that it has introduced a comprehensive reference design for its E1.S-based storage system.

The keynote, in addition to announcing the PM9A3, highlighted a new approach to open source multi-industry storage collaboration that spotlighted the development of an open-source platform (OSP) fundamentally tied to cloud-scale infrastructure deployments. It was presented by Jongyoul Lee, senior vice president of Samsung's Memory Software Development Team at the Open Compute Project Virtual Global Summit.
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EVGA Announces Frostbite 2 Thermal Interface Material

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btarunr
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Introducing EVGA Frostbite 2 Thermal Grease, the next generation in thermal interface material. Designed to deliver a highly-efficient heat transfer under any workload, Frostbite 2 is easy to apply to ensure optimal thermal contact between your CPU or GPU and its heatsink. Whether you're air cooling, water cooling, gaming or overclocking, EVGA Frostbite 2 Thermal Grease will keep your temperatures on ice.
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AMD Partners with Robot Cache Game Re-selling Platform

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btarunr
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Are you ready for a revolutionary way to buy, play, and sell games? Powered by AMD, Robot Cache is the world's first videogame marketplace to buy PC games, resell them when you're done and mine to earn free ones—and it's entering open beta with a special sale May 12 to June 12.

AMD Radeon graphics cards and Ryzen processors users will be able to get free games fast with a special advantage: a 5% perma boost until 12/31/2020! Check out the details here. As an additional bonus, you'll get a copy of TRAPPED if you sign up for a Robot Cache account during the sale between May 12 to June 12.
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NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has been Cooking the World's Largest GPU - Is this Ampere?

Updated by
AleksandarK
 Updated: Discuss (55 Comments)
NVIDIA is rumored to introduce their next-generation Ampere architecture very soon, at its GTC event happening on May 14th. We're expecting to see an announcement for the successor to the company's DGX lineup of pre-built compute systems—using the upcoming Ampere architecture of course. At the heart of these machines, will be a new GA100 GPU, that's rumored to be very fast. A while ago, we've seen NVIDIA register a trademark for "DGX A100", which seems to be a credible name for these systems featuring the new Tesla A100 graphics cards.

Today, NVIDIA's CEO was spotted in an unlisted video that's published on the official NVIDIA YouTube channel. It shows him pulling out of the oven what he calls "world's largest GPU", that he has been cooking all the time. Featuring eight Tesla A100 GPUs, this DGX A100 system appears to be based on a similar platform design as previous DGX systems, where the GPU is a socketed SXM2 design. This looks like a viable upgrade path for owners of previous DGX systems—just swap out the GPUs and enjoy higher performance. It's been a while since we have seen Mr. Huang appear with his leather jacket, and in the video, he isn't wearing one, is this the real Jensen? Jokes aside, you can check out the video below, if it is not taken down soon.
NVIDIA DGX A100 System
Update May 12th, 5 pm UTC: NVIDIA has listed the video and it is not unlisted anymore.
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Intel Apparently Reserving 28 W Ice Lake Mobile Chips for Apple, Removes Entries from ARK

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Raevenlord
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The idea of an ARK is to preserve that which enters it; however, the legend on the basis of arks and their concept must've slipped Intel's internal memos. The company has de-listed a previously detailed Ice Lake mobile CPU from its database - the Core i7-1068G7 - which was a 28 W part available for system integrators to build machines around. That part was special, because it was - then - the only 28 W part listed for mobile Ice Lake, with the rest of the CPU lineup having configurable TDPs between 12 W and 25 W - thus having a lesser maximum theoretical performance due to reduced TDP.

In its stead, Intel has entered a new, Core i7-1068NG7 (yes, the same naming with an extra N), which places this as an Apple-exclusive CPU, according to the folks over at Notebookcheck. Besides this entry, Intel has also listed the i5-1038NG7, which also features a 28 W TDP that's higher than the other available CPUs for other system integrators. If this is true, then Intel is reserving its cream-of-the-crop CPUs for Apple. Since the California-based company wouldn't be using parts with worse thermal and power consumption figures than what's available for others, the only answer to how these products came to being is that they are binned CPUs with better than average characteristics. Intel could be doing this to keep Apple happy even as the California-based company is well on its way to eschew its dependence on x86 with a fully internally-developed ARM CPU.

VIPER GAMING Launches New 64GB Kits of High-Performance VIPER 4 BLACKOUT DRAM

Press Release by
AleksandarK
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VIPER GAMING by PATRIOT, a trademarked brand of PATRIOT and a global leader in performance memory, solid-state drives, and flash storage solutions, today is proud to announce the launch of their 32 GB memory module kits as part of the VIPER 4 BLACKOUT DDR4 PERFORMANCE MEMORY, offering gamers and video content creators the ability to equip their systems with more memory and further extending the potential performance. The VIPER 4 BLACKOUT series modules have long been an excellent choice for enthusiastic builders who are looking for high-speed memory with headroom for performance tweaking and overclocking.

The series was created to be performance-oriented,and with outstanding compatibility across the latest Intel and AMD platforms, the VIPER 4 BLACKOUT series 64 GB kit are available in speeds from 3000 MHz up to 3600 MHz and built from strictly tested memory chips and components on a 10-layer PCB. Each of the 32 GB modules is wrapped by a military-grade aluminium heatspreader with an advanced pin array to maximize efficiency and thermal performance."The VIPER 4 BLACKOUT DRAM is an award-winning series and has been highly recommended by mainstream PC hardware media last year.Influencefrompositive customer feedback from our 16 GB kits encouraged us to expand the VIPER 4 BLACKOUT series to include a much larger 64 GB kit," said Roger Shinmoto, the Vice President of VIPER GAMING by PATRIOT.
Viper 4 Blackout Series DDR4 Viper 4 Blackout Series DDR4 Viper 4 Blackout Series DDR4
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Possible Release Date for Xbox Series X Set at October 23rd, Alongside Yakuza: Like a Dragon

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Raevenlord
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Yakuza: Like a Dragon was one of last week's game reveals via Microsoft's Xbox 20/20 program, which aims to provide monthly digital events leading up to the Xbox Series X's release in "Holiday 2020". Up to now, the new console release was expected somewhere around November. However, a retail listing of Yakuza: Like a Dragon has set an October 23rd release date for the title. And since it was announced as being an Xbox Series X day one title, that places the new Xbox console's launch right alongside it. The Yakuza: Like a Dragon listing has been posted by a small Finnish retailer, who apparently only posts release dates when they have been all but confirmed.

Previous rumors had already put forth a PS5 release in October, due to a job listing for one of its collaborators mentioning that month as the release window. However, Sony has already come public saying that the expected October release date is not an official stance on the matter, thus killing our aspirations. However and whenever these consoles launch, it's bound to be an interesting back-and-forth between the two companies as they jockey for position amongst consumers' wallets - both with their respective release dates and launch pricing. Look after the break for the official trailer for Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
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SilentiumPC Releases Grandis 3 EVO ARGB Dual Fin-stack CPU Cooler

Updated by
btarunr
 Updated: Discuss (5 Comments)
SilentiumPC today released an update to its Grandis line of dual fin-stack (type-D) CPU coolers, with the new Grandis 3 EVO ARGB. The cooler was last updated in 2016 with the Grandis 2 XE1436. The Grandis 3 sees the fins in both stacks do away with the perforations, increasing surface area, and now feature jagged edges. It also has a revised CPU base design with a slightly thicker mirror-finish nickel-plated copper base. The nickel plating now extends to the six 6 mm copper heat pipes (the Grandis 2 uses exposed copper).

The other, more noticeable design change, is the ventilation. The cooler now includes a pair of Pulsar HP ARGB fans. The "push" fan outside the first fin-stack is 120 mm, while the "pull" fan between the two fin-stacks is 140 mm. Both fans feature hydraulic bearings rated for 50,000 hours. The 120 mm "push" fan spins between 250 to 1,600 RPM, while the 140 mm "pull" fan does 250 to 1,400 RPM. The company didn't put out air-flow or noise output figures. The cooler has a thermal capacity of 250 W TDP, and supports several modern CPU socket types including LGA1151, LGA1200, LGA2066, and AM4. Both fans feature standard 3-pin ARGB connections for the lighting. The fan impellers and frames are made of a translucent white material that acts as diffusers for light from the diodes located in the fan hub. Measuring 159 mm x 140 mm x 131 mm (HxWxD) with its fan installed, the Grandis 3 EVO ARGB weighs 961 g, and is in fact lighter than its predecessor.
SilentiumPC Grandis 3 EVO ARGB
Update 14:14 UTC: SilentiumPC announced pricing for the Grandis 3 EVO ARGB to be 55€ (including VAT). The company also announced the 49€ Grandis 3 with non-illuminated fans, which otherwise has identical specs to the Grandis 3 EVO ARGB.

Graphics Cards Shipments to Pick Up in 2H-2020: Cooling Solution Maker Power Logic

by
btarunr
 Discuss (15 Comments)
Power Logic, a graphics card cooling solution OEM, in an interview with Taiwan tech industry observer DigiTimes, commented that it expects graphics card shipments to rise in the second half of 2020, on the backs of new product announcements from both NVIDIA and AMD, as well as HPC accelerators from the likes of Intel and NVIDIA. NVIDIA is expected to launch its "Ampere" based GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards, while AMD is preparing to launch its Radeon RX 6000-series "Navi 2#" graphics cards based on the RDNA2 graphics architecture. Power Logic has apparently commenced prototyping certain cooling solutions, and is expected to begin mass-production at its Jiangxi-based plant towards the end of Q2-2020; so it could begin shipping coolers to graphics card manufacturers in the following quarters.

Intel Capital Invests $132 Million in 11 Disruptive Technology Startups

Press Release by
btarunr
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Intel Capital, Intel Corporation's global investment organization, announced today new investments totaling $132 million in 11 technology startups. These companies bring to market breakthrough innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous computing and chip design. The companies joining Intel Capital's portfolio are Anodot, Astera Labs, Axonne, Hypersonix, KFBIO, Lilt, MemVerge, ProPlus Electronics, Retrace, Spectrum Materials and Xsight Labs.

"Intel Capital identifies and invests in disruptive startups that are working to improve the way we work and live. Each of our recent investments is pushing the boundaries in areas such as AI, data analytics, autonomous systems and semiconductor innovation. Intel Capital is excited to work with these companies as we jointly navigate the current world challenges and as we together drive sustainable, long-term growth," said Wendell Brooks, Intel senior vice president and president of Intel Capital.
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Mountain Partners with Plastic Bank to Extract 25000 kg of Ocean-bound Plastic

Press Release by
btarunr
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Mountain just released their Everest Keyboard series on Kickstarter in March and now announces a new partnership with Plastic Bank, a social enterprise that offers an internationally recognized root cause solution to preventing ocean plastic pollution. Ocean plastic is a global crisis, with the equivalent of one dump truck load of plastic every minute entering the world's oceans, mainly from Asian countries.¹ At the same time, many communities affected by plastic pollution face high levels of poverty. Plastic Bank is empowering the world to stop ocean plastic. Plastic Bank builds ethical recycling ecosystems in coastal communities, and reprocesses the materials for reintroduction into the global manufacturing supply chain.

"In this day and age everybody should think about our environment and what can be done to protect it.", said Tobias Brinkmann, CEO & Founder of Mountain. "We take our social responsibility very seriously and aim to do our part in preserving our precious planet. Minimizing the environmental impact of the production and distribution of each Everest keyboard played a large part in our design philosophy."
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Intel Core i5-10400 Tested, Significant Multi-Threaded Performance Gain Over i5-9400

by
btarunr
 Discuss (45 Comments)
Intel's upcoming Core i5-10400 processor, priced at USD $184, with an iGPU-devoid i5-10400F variant priced at $157, could be a serious mid-range price-performance package, building on the popularity of its predecessors, the i5-9400F and the i5-8400. The new chip is 6-core/12-thread, with 12 MB of shared L3 cache, or a similar die configuration to the 8th generation Core i7 series. The chip has the same 2.90 GHz nominal clock as the i5-9400, but increases the max Turbo Boost frequency by 200 MHz to 4.30 GHz.

A PC enthusiast on ChipHell, with access to an i5-10400, tested it on an MSI MAG Z490 Tomahawk motherboard, and compared its performance with the i5-9400F. Among the strictly-synthetic tests are Cinebench R15 and R20, various forms of CPU-Z bench, and SuperPi. The processor posts a tiny 2-5% performance gain in single-threaded tests that scale perfectly with its 4.8% higher max boost frequency (4.30 GHz vs. 4.10 GHz on the i5-9400F). It's the multi-threaded tests where the i5-10400 comes alive, thanks to HyperThreading. It posts massive 35-45% performance gains with CPU-Z bench multi-threaded; a 41.85% gain with Cinebench R20 nT, and 45.05% gain with Cinebench R15 nT. This would bring the i5-10400 within 10-15% of the Ryzen 5 3600X in multi-threaded Cinebench tests.

TSMC 5 nm Customers Listed, Intel Rumored to be One of Them

by
AleksandarK
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TSMC is working hard to bring a new 5 nm (N5 and N5+) despite all the hiccups the company may have had due to the COVID-19 pandemic happening. However, it seems like nothing can stop TSMC, and plenty of companies have already reserved some capacity for their chips. With mass production supposed to start in Q3 of this year, 5 nm node should become one of the major nodes over time for TSMC, with predictions that it will account for 10% of all capacity for 2020. Thanks to the report of ChinaTimes, we have a list of new clients for the TSMC 5 nm node, with some very interesting names like Intel appearing on the list.

Apple and Huawei/HiSilicon will be the biggest customers for the node this year with A14 and Kirin 1000 chips being made for N5 node, with Apple ordering the A15 chips and Huawei readying the Kirin 1100 5G chip for the next generation N5+. From there, AMD will join the 5 nm party for Zen 4 processors and RDNA 3 graphics cards. NVIDIA has also reserved some capacity for its Hopper architecture, which is expected to be a consumer-oriented option, unlike Ampere. And perhaps the most interesting entry to the list is Intel Xe graphics cards. The list shows that Intel might use the N5 process form TSMC so it can ensure the best possible performance for its future cards, in case it has some issues manufacturing its own nodes, just like it did with 10 nm.
TSMC 5 nm customers

Intel Core i9-10885H is an i9-10980HK that Trades OC Capability for vPro

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btarunr
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Intel is reportedly giving finishing touches to a new performance-segment notebook processor positioned between the Core i7-10875H and the flagship Core i9-10980HK, called the Core i9-10885H. Based on the "Comet Lake-H" silicon, this 8-core/16-thread processor has identical clock speeds to the i9-10980HK, but lacks overclocking capabilities. With its default 45 W TDP configured, the processor ticks at 2.40 GHz nominal, with up to 5.30 GHz boost - a 200 MHz speed-bump over the i7-10875H.

Apparently, the chip also features vPro capability, making it fit for commercial-segment notebooks such as the Dell Latitude and Lenovo ThinkPad T-series. Among the other Intel mobile processors with vPro capability are the new Xeon W-10855M 6-core/12-thread and W-10885M 8-core/16-thread processors; and the 15 W category i7-10810U 6-core/12-thread; and i7-10610U i5-10310U 4-core/8-thread processors. These processors are likely to formally launch on May 13.

Sid Meier's Civilization VI - New Frontier Pass to Deliver Bimonthly New Content Beginning May 21

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btarunr
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2K today announced the Sid Meier's Civilization VI - New Frontier Pass, a new season pass that brings eight new civilizations, nine new leaders, six new game modes and more to the critically-acclaimed strategy game. Content will be released in six downloadable (DLC) packs delivered on a bimonthly basis starting May 21, 2020 through March 2021.

"It's been four years since we first announced Civilization VI, and the support from fans and players has been overwhelming," said Ed Beach, franchise lead designer at Firaxis Games. "After two giant expansions in Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm, four years' worth of balance updates and more, Civilization VI has grown into the flagship title for the series."
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Tachyum Achieves 90 Percent of Silicon Laid for its Prodigy Universal Processor

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btarunr
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Semiconductor startup Tachyum Inc. announced today that it has achieved, on schedule, a major milestone in the detailed physical design of its Prodigy Universal Processor. Tachyum now has a complete chip layout, with a verified detailed physical design of more than 90 percent of the design silicon area.

Tachyum's Prodigy is the world's first Universal Processor, combining general-purpose processors, high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), deep machine learning (ML), explainable AI, bio AI and other AI disciplines within a single chip. This latest milestone achieved integration of key, high-quality Tachyum IP within a multiprocessor environment, and with DDR4/DDR5 DRAM controllers, PCIE 5.0, 112Gb SERDES, USB, GPIO, PLLs and various I/Os. Results of the layout indicate that Prodigy's die size is within product design goals with top-level clocking results that are better than expected.
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BIOSTAR Announces Racing Z490GTA and Z490GTN Motherboards

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btarunr
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BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced the new RACING Z490GTA and the RACING Z490GTN motherboards which powers the new 10th Gen Intel Core processors. Geared Towards power efficiency and flawless performance, the BIOSTAR RACING Z490GTA and the RACING Z490GTN motherboards have been built to last, with its stylish RACING DNA carried down from their premium flagship motherboard the RACING Z490GTA EVO.

Much similar to their elder sibling, BIOSTAR's RACING Z490GTA and the RACING Z490GTN motherboards are built around the new LGA 1200 socket designed to support the high power requirements of the new 10th generation of Intel Core processors with their new microarchitecture Z490 chipset, and BIOSTAR has taken extra steps to ensure that their products are designed and tuned to perfection to run these processors on blazing fast boost speeds with some radical new features such as the Super Hyper PWM system that delivers stable power with 100% fixed voltage and offers excellent precision, performance and reliability.
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AAEON Launches VPC-3350AI Embedded PC

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AAEON, a leader in AI and edge computing solutions, announces the VPC-3350AI embedded PC featuring Intel Movidius Myriad X. Built for industrial and in-vehicle use, the VPC-3350AI provides faster and smoother AI processing compared to similar systems which rely on CPU performance alone.

The VPC-3350AI is based on a flexible platform powered by Intel Atom x5 E3940 (formerly Apollo Lake) paired with two Intel Movidius Myriad X VPU modules. Together, these modules provide the VPC-3350AI with processing speeds up to 210 FPS and 8 TOPs as a dedicated neural network accelerator (evaluated by GooLeNet). This configuration of two VPUs with processor allows the VPC-3350AI to support asynchronous processing of AI models, allowing for higher framerates and faster, smoother image processing for AI inferences.
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Logitech Exceeds Full-Year Sales and Profit Outlook

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btarunr
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Logitech International today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of Fiscal Year 2020, ended March 31, 2020. "We have delivered five consecutive years at or near double-digit growth, and Logitech's products have never been more relevant," said Bracken Darrell, Logitech president and chief executive officer. "Video conferencing, working remotely, creating and streaming content, and gaming are long-term secular trends driving our business. The pandemic hasn't changed these trends: it has accelerated them."

"We finished a solid year with a very strong fourth quarter," said Nate Olmstead, Logitech chief financial officer. "The COVID-19 pandemic introduces operational challenges, yet our ability to execute and strong long-term growth drivers give us the confidence to maintain our financial outlook for Fiscal Year 2021."
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Das Keyboard Announces Updates to its 4C Tenkeyless Mechanical Keyboard

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btarunr
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Das Keyboard, the world leader in high-end mechanical keyboards, today announced updates to its 4C Tenkeyless Mechanical Keyboard for improved quality and efficiency. Designed without the traditional number pad, the 4C is Das Keyboard's most compact keyboard, and ideal for professionals using smaller workstations, home offices, or those that want more portability.

"Our updated Das Keyboard 4C Tenkeyless packs an amazing punch for today's professional looking to combine workspace efficiency and productivity at home or in the office," said Daniel Guermeur, founder and creator of Das Keyboard. "We're excited to deliver an improved Das Keyboard 4C to give users the highest-quality typing experience for years and years to come."
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Monday, May 11th 2020

Today's Reviews

CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Motherboards
Mouse
Networking
Processors
PSUs
SSD
Storage
MSI MEG Z490 Unify Preview

MSI MEG Z490 Unify Preview

Article Motherboards
Focused on VRM power and thermals, as well as a sleek and stealthy aesthetic, the MSI MEG Z490 Unify is shaping up to be a serious contender for the best value enthusiast board. With sixteen 90 A power stages from Intersil and active VRM cooling, no CPU is too power hungry for the Unify.
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MSI MEG Z490I Unify Preview

MSI MEG Z490I Unify Preview

Article Motherboards
MSI has packed a lot of power into a small package with the MSI MEG Z490I Unify. Featuring a stealthy black aesthetic and a VRM config with 90 A power stages, the MSI MEG Z490I Unify could be a top choice for overclockers. Just how much can MSI stuff into a Mini-ITX footprint?
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ASRock Z490 Taichi Preview

ASRock Z490 Taichi Preview

Article Motherboards
ASRock's award winning Taichi line is back, and aiming for the top of ASRock's Z490 stack. The cog and gear theme returns, along with a new VRM thermal solution with a finned heat sink and active cooling. What other new tricks has ASRock included in the ASRock Z490 Taichi?
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Lenovo Announces Chromebook Duet in North America

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btarunr
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The wait is over. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet, one of the thinnest, lightest and most hotly anticipated Chromebooks in the world, hits the North America market today. Designed for mobile productivity, the 2-in-1 detachable Lenovo Chromebook Duet has a 10.1-inch screen and comes with an ultrathin, detachable laptop-grade keyboard to help you get work done from the kitchen, to the home office or couch. The Lenovo Chromebook Duet runs Chrome OS - the powerfully simple operating system that boots up fast, and stays secure with seamless automatic updates for up to eight years.
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NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti and GA102 "Ampere" Specs, Other Juicy Bits Revealed

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btarunr
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PC hardware focused YouTube channel Moore's Law is Dead published a juicy tech-spec reveal of NVIDIA's next-generation "Ampere" based flagship consumer graphics card, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, citing correspondence with sources within NVIDIA. The report talks of big changes to NVIDIA's Founders Edition (reference) board design, as well as what's on the silicon. To begin with, the RTX 3080 Ti reference-design card features a triple-fan cooling solution unlike the RTX 20-series. This cooler is reportedly quieter than the RTX 2080 Ti FE cooling solution. The card pulls power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Display outputs include three DP, and one each of HDMI and VirtualLink USB-C. The source confirms that "Ampere" will implement PCI-Express gen 4.0 x16 host interface.

With "Ampere," NVIDIA is developing three tiers of high-end GPUs, with the "GA102" leading the pack and succeeding the "TU102," the "GA104" holding the upper-performance segment and succeeding today's "TU104," but a new silicon between the two, codenamed "GA103," with no predecessor from the current-generation. The "GA102" reportedly features 5,376 "Ampere" CUDA cores (up to 10% higher IPC than "Turing"). The silicon also taps into the rumored 7 nm-class silicon fabrication node to dial up GPU clock speeds well above 2.20 GHz even for the "GA102." Smaller chips in the series can boost beyond 2.50 GHz, according to the report. Even with the "GA102" being slightly cut-down for the RTX 3080 Ti, the silicon could end up with FP32 compute performance in excess of 21 TFLOPs. The card uses faster 18 Gbps GDDR6 memory, ending up with 863 GB/s of memory bandwidth that's 40% higher than that of the RTX 2080 Ti (if the memory bus width ends up 384-bit). Below are screengrabs from the Moore's Law is Dead video presentation, and not NVIDIA slides.
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Zeal-All Releases LGA1151 Motherboard with Integrated GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

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Uskompuf
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Chinese motherboard manufacturer Zeal-All has recently released a brand new LGA1151 Intel B150 motherboard with integrated GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. The bizarre motherboard supports 6th and 7th generation Intel core processors (Skylake and Kaby Lake chips). The unusual form factor of 235 x 197.5 mm is likely aimed at custom enterprise uses such as AI algorithms as noted on Zeal-All's site. Besides the uncommon form factor, the motherboard also uses laptop SODIMMs and features no typical power connections, only a barrel connector for an external 19 V power source.

In terms of I/O the motherboard comes with an interesting arrangement including HDMI, LAN, 4x USB 3.0, and Mic-in/Line-out. Internal connectors include 3x USB 2.0 Pin, 2x USB2.0 Pin, CPU Fan, System Fan, 2x LVDS Pin (support dual Channel 10 Bit), 4x SATA, Front panel Pin and Audio Pin Port. The motherboard is fitted with a Realtek 8111E LAN controller for gigabit Ethernet and a Mini-PCIe slot for a Wi-Fi expansion card.

Ubisoft Schedules Digital "Forward" Game Showcase

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Uskompuf
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As E3 2020 has been canceled due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, game developers and publishers have been scheduling their events to announce new games and more. Ubisoft will feature "exclusive game news, reveals and more" at their upcoming all-digital event "Ubisoft Forward". The event will live-streamed on YouTube and Twitch at 8 PM BST July 12th. Some games we are expecting to see showcased at the event include; Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, Rainbow Six: Quarantine, and more.

Qualcomm Releases 5G Snapdragon 768G Chip

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Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced the Qualcomm Snapdragon 768G Mobile Platform, a follow-on to the Snapdragon 765G. Snapdragon 768G is designed to bring next-level performance that enables smart, immersive gaming experiences with the integration of truly global 5G, sophisticated on-device AI and select Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite Gaming features.

"We are uniquely positioned to accelerate 5G commercialization at scale and Snapdragon 768G is an example of how we're continuing to deliver solutions to address the needs of our OEM customers," said Kedar Kondap, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "Our expanding portfolio has the potential to make 5G accessible to billions of smartphone users around the world."
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Cougar Intros MX331 Line of Mid-tower Cases

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btarunr
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Cougar late last week rolled out the MX331 line of ATX mid-tower cases. The case comes in four variants based on looks and functionality: the base variant has a mesh front and an opaque left side-panel with some fan vents. The next variant comes with a mesh front, and tempered glass side panel. The variant after that, the MX331 Mesh X, builds on this with RGB embellishments and an included 120 mm RGB rear exhaust fan. The top variant has piano-black acrylic front, with tempered glass side panels. All four variants are internally identical, the top two come with additional USB 3.x ports.

Internally, the MX331 comes with a conventional horizontally partitioned layout. The top (motherboard tray) compartment can hold graphics cards up to 35 cm in length, and CPU coolers up to 15.5 cm in height. Storage options include two 3.5-inch trays that can each hold 2.5-inch drives; and two additional 2.5-inch mounts behind the motherboard tray. Ventilation includes two 120 mm front intakes, two 120 mm exhausts at the top, and a 120 mm rear exhaust. The case measures 481 mm x 204 mm x 443 mm (HxWxD). The company didn't reveal pricing.
Cougar MX331 Mesh X Cougar MX331

ASUS Intros RT-AX86U Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 Router that's GeForce Now-Recommended

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btarunr
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ASUS today introduced the RT-AX86U, it's latest performance-segment dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) router. Armed with a triple-antenna setup (excluding a 4th discrete antenna on the PCB), the router offers dual-band speeds of up to 5700 Mbps (861 Mbps 2.4 GHz + 4804 Mbps 5 GHz), along with support for the latest WPA3 security standards. The router is NVIDIA GeForce NOW-recommended for the best possible latencies and bandwidth needed by the cloud gaming service.

The wired connections setup on this router is interesting: there are two WAN ports, one of which is 1 GbE, and the other 2.5 GbE. On the LAN-side, you get four 1 GbE connections. Besides the single 2.5 GbE connection, ASUS claims the router can aggregate bandwidth from two 1 GbE upstream connections (there aren't too many gigabit-fiber ISPs that provide fiber cable switches with 2.5 GbE ports). The router uses a 1.80 GHz quad-core Arm processor with 1 GB RAM and 256 MB flash memory size. The router also features a 5 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 1 port, to which you can plug in any USB mass-storage class device that can be shared across the network. The company didn't reveal pricing.
ASUS RT-AX86U

Intel Core i9-10900K Stressed, Package Power Reads 235W, Temperatures 93°C

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btarunr
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A stock Intel Core i9-10900K 10-core processor was subjected to FPU stress by Chinese PC enthusiast @WolStame. The power and temperature values of the processor are inside HEDT territory. With a Furmark GPU stress running on the side, under AIDA64 FPU stress, the i9-10900K measured a package power draw of up to 235.17 W, as measured using HWInfo64. The CPU package temperature shot up to 93 °C. A 240 mm AIO liquid CPU cooling solution was used in the feat. Interestingly, the processor is able to sustain clock speeds of 4.77 GHz, which is close to the advertised 4.80 GHz all-core turbo boost frequency, called for by the multi-core FPU stress.

To show that the values weren't obtained in a few seconds of test, the AIDA64 Stability Test window keeps a timestamp log and displays time elapsed into the stress. In this particular case, the all-core stress has been running for close to 48 minutes; and yet the processor is keeping up with its advertised all-core boost speed, making this an impressive feat.

HP to Release EX900 Pro M.2 NVMe 1.3 SSD

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Raevenlord
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HP is reportedly looking to releases a next-generation storage device in the form of the EX900 pro SSD. Next-generation because this SSD will ship with the NVMe 1.3 protocol over a PCIe 3.0 interface (4x). HP is quoting maximum sequential read and write speeds set at 2095 MB/s and 1965 MB/s for the 1 TB version, which will obviously be the best-performing among offered capacities (256 GB and 512 GB). Random read and write IOPS are quoted at 283 K and 286 K, respectively. Apparently, the EX900 Pro features an independent cache design, though the original report is extremely scarce on details; for this to be relevant, it should be something different from the usual DRAM and SLC-caching that is usually employed by the best-performing SSD drives.

The EX900 Pro will ship with 3D NAND of unspecified layer topology, though the 5 year warranty given across the board is a welcome sight; TBW ratings are set at 650 TBW for the 1 TB version, 320 TBW for the 512 GB, and 160 TBW for the 256 GB one. The NVMe-based SSD will also offer support for NANDXtend error correction code (ECC) technology, SRAM ECC and end-to-end data path protection technology. No word on pricing or availability was available at time of writing.

AMD Adds Four New Graphics Technologies to Its FidelityFX Software Stack via GPUOpen

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Raevenlord
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AMD today via its newly released GPUOpen website has announced that it is adding four new graphics technologies to its FidelityFX software stack. Before you ask, no; there is no included Ray Tracing graphics libraries among these four new technologies. However, considering the use-case for these is to give developers an almost plug-in flexibility on various graphics technologies they would otherwise have to find other ways to integrate in their rendering pass, added layers to GPUOpen are always a welcome sight. And rest assured that "classic" shading techniques will still be widely used even in the advent of top to bottom raytracing capabilities on graphics hardware - which likely won't happen in the next GPU hardware generation anyway.

Added technologies to the previously-released Contrast Adaptive Sharpening are libraries for SSSR (Stochastic Screen Space Reflections) for better reflections without the usage of raytracing; CACAO (Combined Adaptive Compute Ambient Occlusion) for added depth to shadows and object quality; LPM (Luminance Preserving Mapper) for eased application of an HDR rendering pipeline with correct values, preventing overblown details; and SPD (Single Pass Downsampler) which will allow developers to seamlessly downsample required assets (think something along the lines of Variable Rate Shading) to achieve FPS targets. The GPUOpen is an effort from AMD to create an open graphics library that will allow developers to easily integrate AMD-optimized technologies to their graphics workflow.
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Antec Presents New Neptune all-in-one ARGB CPU Cooler

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btarunr
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Antec Inc., leading provider of high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself market, are launching a new generation of all-in-one closed loop liquid CPU coolers: the Neptune Series. The Neptune 120 and Neptune 240 are commercially available now for 92,98 Euros and 69,90 Euros.

The Neptune with unique LED-lit ARGB design brings your build to next level. The integration of the water pump and radiator prevents the CPU from being damaged by vibration. The ultra-thin CPU block reduces the volume when installing it on the CPU. Besides the aesthetics, the efficiency of thermal control is also improved.
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OriginPC Announces EVO17-S and NT-17 Notebooks

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ORIGIN PC announced the availability of the all-new EVO17-S gaming laptop and NT-17 workstation laptop, both powered by an NVIDIA GeForce RTX SUPER graphics card with Max-Q design and an Intel Core 10th Gen processor featuring up to 8 cores and 16 threads. Each laptop offers incredible performance, a 17.3-inch screen, and improved battery life in a sleek and portable chassis.

Using next-gen hardware, the EVO17-S and NT-17 offer the latest hardware offerings from Intel and NVIDIA. Experience real-time ray-tracing and improved performance in games with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX SUPER graphics card, up to an RTX 2080 SUPER. Reach a 5.10 GHz clock speed using Intel Max Turbo with an Intel Core i7-10875H 8-core processor. The EVO17-S and NT-17 laptops are capable of supporting 64 GB RAM to make it ready to run multiple programs at the same time.
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Thermaltake Releases to Market TH120 and TH240 Liquid Coolers

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Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Cooling, Gaming Gear, and Enthusiast Memory solutions, is excited to introduce a new all-in-one liquid cooler, the Thermaltake TH120/TH240 ARGB AIO. This high-quality AIO features stunning ARGB fans set at an affordable price point, giving consumers more value for their money. The glossy surface of the copper base plate guarantees high performance and impressive heat extraction.

The top-quality pump, hidden in the glowing ARGB water block, ensures excellent coolant circulation that would keep the copper plate always cool. The large surface radiator combined with the radiator fans dispatches heat in a highly efficient way. On the high-static pressure designed radiator fans are the 16.8 million color LEDs that are ready to sync with 5 V RGB capable motherboards from ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, and ASRock, allowing users to show off their creativity. Users can also control the lighting effects of the fans through the Smart Fan Controllers that are attached to the TH120/TH240 ARGB AIO. Looking for an easy and cost-effective all-in-one solution to cool down the CPU? The TH120 and TH240 ARGB.
Thermaltake TH120 Thermaltake TH240
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Curious-looking AMD Ryzen 7 Extreme Edition with 4.30 GHz Boost Hits the Radar

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btarunr
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Hot on the heels of the Ryzen 7 4700G desktop APU reveal, a curious-looking processor reared its head on the Futuremark Database, named "AMD Ryzen 7 Extreme Edition," as unearthed by Thai PC enthusiast TUM_APISAK, who mentions that the chip is "Renoir" based, and likely a mobile part owing to its rather low nominal clock speed of 1.80 GHz, which can boost all the way up to 4.30 GHz. The chip has all 8 cores and 16 threads enabled.

Coming back to its clock speeds, the "Extreme Edition" appears to be a 100 MHz speed bump over the Ryzen 7 4800U, a 15-Watt part with 4.20 GHz max boost. The 45-Watt Ryzen 7 4800H has the same 4.20 GHz boost clock, but much higher 2.90 GHz nominal clocks. It hence stands to reason that this is a 15 W segment part, topping the 4800U, targeting ultraportables. Interestingly, a 15-Watt Renoir with these clock speeds was recently reported as the "Ryzen 9 4900U." We'll hear more in the coming weeks.

Half Life 2: Remastered Shows Up on Steam Database: An Eye-candy Uplift Mod

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btarunr
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A new game on Steam DB titled "Half Life2: Remastered" raised eyebrows across the web. Unlike "Crysis Remastered," which is an official Crytek upcoming title that adds content to the path-breaking shooter from the late-2000s, "Half Life 2: Remastered" doesn't come from Valve, as DSOGaming explains. Developed by Filip Victor, author of the community-made "Half Life 2: Update," a mod for your HL2 installation; "Remastered" adds some new content such as improved lighting, a revamped HDR implementation, and an improved fog. If "Update" is any indication, "Remastered" could be a continuous community effort, adding content to HL2. The holy grail in our opinion would be Valve releasing master versions of its textures for the game, so the game could receive a texture quality update. Find more details in the Steam DB listing here.

Supermicro Outs Z490 LGA1200 SUPERO Pro Gaming C9Z490-PGW Motherboard with Dual x16 PCIe

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btarunr
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Server motherboard specialist Supermicro has been taking steps into the client-segment for a couple of years now under its SUPERO brand. Its latest creation is a socket LGA1200 motherboard based on the Intel Z490 chipset, the Pro Gaming C9Z490-PGW. There isn't too much bling or color, except some contemporary design cues such as the rear I/O shroud, and diagonal accents on the PCH and M.2 heatsinks. The feature-set of this board looks like it's been drawn up by people who design enterprise boards. The board pulls power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, conditioning it with a 12-phase "server grade" VRM. Its BIOS ROM chip is socketed. There's equal focus on U.2 as M.2.

The star attraction is the PCIe setup. The board uses a PLX PEX8747 PCI-Express gen 3.0 x48 bridge chip to drive two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots at full x16 bandwidth, which can split between four slots in x8/x8/x8/x8 configuration when all of them are populated. Storage connectivity includes one each of M.2-2280 and M.2-22110 slots; two U.2 ports with 32 Gbps wiring; and four SATA 6 Gbps ports. Networking options include a 10 GbE interface pulled by an Aquantia AQC107 controller, a second Intel i219-V PHY handling a 1 GbE port, and 802.11ax + Bluetooth 5 wireless connectivity provided by an Intel AX201 module. USB connectivity includes four 10 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 2 ports, and six 5 Gbps gen 1 ports. The onboard audio setup features a high-grade Realtek ALC1220 codec. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Cincoze Unveils GM-1000 Rugged Compact GPU Computer

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Cincoze, a professional manufacturer of embedded systems, unveils the GM-1000 rugged GPU computer, which is powered by the 9th/8th generation Intel CPU and supports one MXM GPU module expansion. This GPU computer provides high-performance computing capability with a small footprint design, which is suitable for applications like edge computing, machine vision, image processing, and artificial intelligence.

GM-1000 can be configured with a range of 9th/8th generation Intel CPUs, including Xeon and Core i up to 8 cores. It supports dual channel DDR4 2666 MHz SO-DIMM up to 64 GB. It has abundant I/Os, including 4x COM, 2x GbE LAN, 8x USB, 1x HDMI, and 1x DVI-I. GM-1000 comes with an M.2 M key slot to support NVMe SSD, and M.2 E key slot to support CNVi for WiFi or Bluetooth connection which are commonly required in high speed data storage and communication. All these functions are integrated in a small footprint just 260 mm x 200 mm x 85 mm, making it easily installed in space-limited environments.
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DRAM Calculator for Ryzen v1.7.2 Released

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btarunr
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Yuri "1usmus" Bubliy over the weekend released the latest version of DRAM Calculator for Ryzen, the definitive tool for overclocking and optimizing memory on your AMD Ryzen-powered PC. The tool lets you calculate the best possible memory-related settings specific to your machine. Version 1.7.1 introduces several new changes. For starters, it now has updated presets for three of the most popular DDR4 DRAM die types obtained from hundreds of hours of re-testing various brands of memory modules on the latest version of AMD AGESA. These affect everything from procODT to VDDG settings, and the introduction of CL15t, which stabilizes problems encounted in finding timings with CL14t.

The R-XMP button (which attempts to translate your DIMM's XMP to AMD-compatible settings), and "Calculate EXTREME" buttons have been removed, and in their place, the "Calculate FAST" button has been optimized for the best possible stable settings; and "Calculate SAFE" for reasonably fast yet safe settings. DRAM Calculator for Ryzen now has DIMM PCB revision awareness. Several popular memory vendors have multiplie revisions of PCBs for the same DIMMs (and same DRAM chips, which can affect tuning headroom). This provides an additional layer of accuracy in calculating timings. In addition, there are several UI changes, such as a "compare timings" button with added functionality. Preliminary support is also added for future "Zen 3" based processors. Grab the tool from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: DRAM Calculator for Ryzen v1.7.2 by 1usmus
The change-log follows.

Update 09:07 UTC: The DRAM Calculator for Ryzen has just been updated to v1.7.2. Detailed below.
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Intel Xe DG1 Silicon Not Meant for Desktop Add-on Cards, Only as an MGPU

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btarunr
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Intel's 10 nm Xe DG1 silicon made its first public appearance as the DG1-SDV (software development vehicle), a desktop PCIe graphics cards that Intel shipped out to its ISVs (independent software vendors), allowing them to begin preparing software for the Xe architecture. Argonne National Laboratory, the organization behind the Aurora Supercomputing Project that implements Xe HP "Ponte Vecchio" super-scalar compute processors, in its presentation, took a brief technical detour talking a bit about the DG1-SDV.

In the presentation, it is revealed that Intel will indeed monetize (or "productize") the silicon at the heart of the DG1-SDV, only not as a desktop graphics card. The chip will be sold as a mobile GPU, not even as an MXM, but as a GPU meant to be hardwired along with its dedicated memory onto notebooks' mainboards. We predict Intel is attempting to tap into the market segment where NVIDIA sells its GeForce MX300 line of entry-level discrete GPUs. Earlier this week, we spotted a discrete GPU with the specs of the DG1 having significantly increased 1.50 GHz GPU clocks, resulting in a FP32 throughput rivaling the AMD Radeon RX 560 or the "Vega" based iGPU of "Renoir." The Xe architecture will also be released as an iGPU solution, powering Intel's "Tiger Lake" Core mobile processor. Find the Aurora presentation here (PDF).

Unfixable Flaw Found in Thunderbolt Port that Unlocks any PC in Less Than 5 Minutes

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AleksandarK
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Dutch researcher from the Eindhoven University of Technology has found a new vulnerability in Thunderbolt port that allows attackers with physical access to unlock any PC running Windows or Linux kernel-based OS in less than 5 minutes. The researcher of the university called Björn Ruytenberg found a method which he calls Thunderspy, which can bypass the login screen of any PC. This attack requires physical access to the device, which is, of course, dangerous on its own if left with a person of knowledge. The Thunderbolt port is a fast protocol, and part of the reason why it is so fast is that it partially allows direct access to computer memory. And anything that can access memory directly is a potential vulnerability.

The Thunderspy attack relies on just that. There is a feature built into the Thunderbolt firmware called "Security Level", which disallows access to untrusted devices or even turns off Thunderbolt port altogether. This feature would make the port be a simple USB or display output. However, the researcher has found a way to alter the firmware setting of Thunderbolt control chip in a way so it allows any device to access the PC. This procedure is done without any trace and OS can not detect that there was a change. From there, the magic happens. Using an SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) programmer with a SOP8 clip that connects the pins of the programmer device to the controller, the attacker just runs a script from there. This procedure requires around $400 worth of hardware. Intel already put some protection last year for the Thunderbolt port called Kernel Direct Memory Access Protection, but that feature isn't implemented on PCs manufactured before 2019. And even starting from 2019, not all PC manufacturers implement the feature, so there is a wide group of devices vulnerable to this unfixable attack.
Thunderspy attack
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Intel Accused by Workers to Prioritize Chip Output over Safety Regulations

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AleksandarK
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With the current world pandemic happening, it is quite difficult for every manufacturer to keep its production lines running, as the factory needs a big amount of staff to look out for the processes happening and that creates big gatherings, which is potentially dangerous for spreading the COVID-19. In the most recent report by Bloomberg Law, Intel has been accused to prioritize chip output over the safety of its employees, meaning that Intel is forcing CPU production, where the fab working conditions are not the best. Workers have reported that Intel has been pushing them to work in big groups, without proper protective equipment like shields or masks. It is reported that few managers have told that the 6 feet distancing rule is fine to break, as long as the contact is under 30 minutes. There have been four of such complaints filed against Intel, and Intel has already responded stating the following:
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Codemasters Reveals DIRT 5 for PC, Xbox, Playstation & Stadia

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Uskompuf
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As revealed during Microsoft's Inside Xbox show, Codemasters is delighted to announce DIRT 5, launching from October 2020 on Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, Windows PC (via Steam) and the current generation of Xbox and PlayStation consoles. A Google Stadia version will be released in early 2021. Whilst respecting the heritage and retaining the DNA of the franchise, DIRT 5 writes a new chapter in the legacy of DIRT - bolder and braver than ever before. DIRT 5 is more than relentless rallying, more than suspension-shaking jumps, more than hairpins and handbrakes. Join an energised world of off-road racing, and be part of a vibe that delivers big on epic action, pure expression, and unbridled style.
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EA Confirms its Games Will Receive Free Patches for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X Compatibility

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Uskompuf
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EA has confirmed that it's existing games for Xbox One and Playstation 4 will receive free patches to upgrade them for next-generation consoles. The PS5 and Xbox Series X both feature ways to play current-generation games, both consoles will attempt to automatically boost games up to 4k resolution. While these options ensure broad inter-generation compatibility issues can arise from game limitations, this is where manual patches come in allowing developers to take advantage of the extra performance and radically overhaul their games.

Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen confirmed in a recent earnings call that EA would not charge consumers for these patches. "As usual, we have presented the quarterly phasing of our net bookings in our earnings presentation. Note that this year, the phasing includes the effect of revenue recognition from the games we are launching for the current generation of consoles that can also be upgraded free for the next generation."

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Nintendo Takes Legal Action Against Unofficial Super Mario 64 PC Port

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Uskompuf
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An unofficial port of Super Mario 64 for PC was released on various online forums last week, this port was made possible through reverse engineering of the game's source code obtained by fans over the past few years. This PC port differed from existing options such as N64 emulation as it allows the game to run at far greater resolutions than its native resolution of 240p with resolutions such as 4K, 4K ultra-wide or even 8K now possible at uncapped frame rates. The DirectX 12 powered port came with other features such as controller support and the ability to add modern visual effects including ray tracing through third-party tools such as Reshade.

As expected Nintendo is not pleased with the port and has taken steps to get it removed from various sites, Nintendo has reportedly contracted US law firm Wildwood Law Group LLC who refer to the unofficial Super Mario 64 PC port as an "unauthorized derivative work based on Nintendo's copyrighted work." In addition to the download link takedowns, several YouTube videos featuring gameplay of the port have also been removed. Nintendo will want to get this port removed from the internet as soon as possible, especially given their plans to release new and remastered Mario games for the Nintendo Switch this year.

ASRock Rack Announces Latest Intel Z490 Server Motherboard Ready for 10th Gen Intel Core Processors

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btarunr
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ASRock Rack, - Cloud-computing server leading manufacturer ASRock Rack announced its new micro-ATX server motherboard solution; the Z490D4U-2L2T supports the latest 10th Gen Intel Core processors and is optimized with best compatibility and reliability. With supporting unlocked processors and IPMI remote management, Z490D4U-2L2T could be ideal candidate for cloud gaming server and, high frequency trading server.

Z490D4U-2L2T is a compact motherboard providing not only two 1 GbE but also incredible dual 10 GbE bandwidth via Intel Ethernet Controller X710-AT2, as well as two M.2 with PCIe 3.0 x4 interface supporting Intel Optane Memory Module and Intel Rapid Storage Technology (Intel RST) in micro-ATX form factor. While having the HDMI supported by Intel CPU integrated Intel UHD Graphics, USB3.2 Gen2 and 6 SATA 6 Gb/s connections, Z490D4U-2L2T will also be a perfect fit for the SMB, SOHO NAS, or content creation desktop.

ASUS Servers Lead SPEC Power Ranking for Energy Efficiency

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Uskompuf
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ASUS, the leading IT company in server systems, server motherboards, and workstations today announced that ASUS servers achieved the highest rankings on the SPEC Power suite of benchmarks for energy efficiency performed by the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC). ASUS selected the Intel-based RS720-E9-RS8 and AMD-based RS500A-E10-PS4 rack servers for these benchmarks to show the power and performance characteristics of ASUS servers on both CPU platforms and to demonstrate to customers how they can achieve faster deployments and higher energy efficiency for their IT infrastructures. These servers were tested using both Windows Server and Linux — the most popular operating systems used in data centers — to ensure the benchmarks results are relevant to real-world performance and operating conditions. These results are current as of April 16, 2020.
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MSI Announces MEG Z490 Unify and MEG Z490I Unify Motherboards

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btarunr
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MSI, the world-leading motherboard manufacturer, proudly introduces the latest MEG Z490 UNIFY and MEG Z490I UNIFY into MSI Z490 motherboards. Appearance wise, it is dedicated to users who prefer something other than RGB, the black design with embossed dragon mylar symbolizing a mysterious and high-quality image without the redundant LEDs. Performance wise, it is tailored for hardcore gamers and enthusiasts, emphasizing the true value of the motherboard and enhancing not only the thermal but also power solution, combines MSI's premium layout, digital power design and exclusive Mirrored Power Arrangement, MEG UNIFY series is ready for the challenge of high-end processors.

All MSI Z490 series including UNIFY motherboards are PCI-E Gen 4 ready. Adopting tons of components, enhanced layout placement and PCB design dedicated for PCI-E Gen 4 solution, the MSI Z490 series motherboards ensure higher bandwidth and faster transfer speeds stability. It is ready 4 the future.
MSI MEG Z490 Unify MSI MEG Z490I Unify
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Sunday, May 10th 2020

Cooler Master Announces the New SickleFlow 120 Series Fans

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btarunr
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Cooler Master, a global leader in designing and manufacturing innovative computer components, today announces the new version of the Sickleflow 120 mm case fans. Featuring the new air balance blades and entirely new models, the Sickleflow 120 introduces a new generation of cooling solutions. The Sickleflow 120 mm includes the new Air Balance blade technology - an optimized fan blade design with increased curvature that improves air flow and air pressure.

The MasterLiquid ML120/240L V2 features a two-tier sealing mechanism designed to improve dustproof capabilities while preventing lubricant oil leakage for overall extended lifespan and performance. The Sickleflow 120 series includes a variety of lighting and non-lighting options, including non-LED, Red/Blue LED, RGB, and ARGB. The Sickleflow 120 non-LED/LED/RGB/ARGB variants are available for purchase at select retailers, including Amazon and Newegg.
Sickleflow 120
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Did GlobalFoundries Give Up 7nm to Chase Silicon Photonics Manufacturing?

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btarunr
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A Forbes report provides a fascinating peek into something that could explain GlobalFoundries stalling its 7 nm-class silicon fabrication plans, and shedding much of its offshore foundry bulk, other than just fiscal prudence. Apparently, the company has been making moves in silicon photonics, benefiting from few of the 16,000+ patents and other forms of IP it inherited from the IBM Microelectronics business acquisition from 2015. In particular, GlobalFoundries appears interested in high-bandwidth networking physical-layer applications that involve photonics and fiber-optics.

GlobalFoundries has reportedly been engaging with customers in the telecom- and data-center industries since 2016 in offering medium-range networking physical-layer solution, providing 40 Gbps bandwidths over distances of up to 10 km (without repeaters in the middle). In 2017, it partnered with Ayar Labs to develop an optical I/O chip. This solution combines Ayar's optical CMOS I/O tech with GloFo's 45 nm CMOS process to 10x the bandwidth at 1/5th the power of a copper-based I/O. By 2018, the combine qualified a platform that can push up to 100 Gbps per wavelength, and up to 800 Gbps on the client-side. By 2019, the combine developed a supercomputing chiplet co-packed with an Intel silicon as part of DARPA's PIPES (Photonics in Package for Extreme Scalability) project. With network bandwidth demand on an exponential rise with the advent of 5G, I guess you can say that the future for GloFo's silicon photonics business looks bright.

Intel Gen12 Xe GPU with 96 Execution Units Shows Up on SiSoft Database

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btarunr
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An Intel Gen12 Xe GPU, possibly a discrete- DG1 prototype, showed up on the SiSoft SANDRA online database. The GPU is detailed by SANDRA as having 768 unified shaders across 96 execution units (EUs), a 1.50 GHz GPU clock speed, 1 MB of on-die L2 cache, and 3 GB of dedicated video memory of an unknown type (likely GDDR6). This is probably a different chip from the DG1-SDV, which caps out at 900 MHz GPU clock, although its SIMD muscle is identical.

At a clock-speed of 1.50 GHz, the chip would feature an FP32 throughput of 2,303 GFLOPs (we know this from the DG1-SDV offering 1382 GFLOPs at 900 MHz). If the software-side optimization backs this hardware, the resulting product could end up with performance in the league of the 8 CU Radeon "Vega" solution found in the AMD "Renoir" APU, or the Radeon RX 560 discrete GPU, which are just about enough for PUBG at 1080p with medium settings.

U.S. Government in Talks with Intel to Build Processor Factories on Home Soil

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btarunr
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The United States government is close to finalizing a plan rivaling China's for semiconductor manufacturing self-sufficiency. It calls for U.S. semiconductor companies, such as Intel, to manufacture high-technology products "securely" at facilities on U.S. soil, so that the U.S. market is unaffected by disruptions to multi-national supply chains brought about by global-scale events (such as the COVID-19 crisis).

Some, such as The Verge's T.C. Sottek point this out to be a de-globalization strategy. Excerpts of one such communication between Intel CEO Bob Swan and the U.S. Department of Defense, dated April 28, was posted by WSJ, where he is quoted saying that exploring a commercial chip foundry on U.S. soil was "it is in the best interest of the United States and of Intel." The last major chipmaker that attempted U.S.-made chips was AMD, by tapping into GlobalFoundries' Upstate NY-based 14 nm-class FinFET nodes to make its 1st and 2nd gen Ryzen processors. AMD had to seek out TSMC as GloFo gave up its 7 nm-class transition plans, forcing AMD to modify its wafer supply agreement. The company now only manufactures older-gen "Picasso," "Polaris 30," and I/O dies for the latest Ryzen and EPYC processors there.

AMD Ryzen 7 4700G is "Renoir" Desktop AM4 Processor: 8-core/16-thread with "Vega" iGPU

Updated by
btarunr
 Updated: Discuss (84 Comments)
It was only a matter of time before AMD brought its 7 nm "Renoir" APU silicon onto the desktop platform. The first such chip just hit the radar as the Ryzen 7 4700G. This would be the first desktop Ryzen APU graded as Ryzen 7, thanks to its CPU core count. The 4700G features an 8-core/16-thread CPU based on the "Zen 2" microarchitecture. The iGPU is a hybrid between "Vega" and "Navi."

The "Renoir" iGPU features the SIMD components of "Vega," but with the display- and multimedia-engines of "Navi." The iGPU apparently maxes out on 8 NGCUs on "Renoir," amounting to 512 stream processors. Increased iGPU engine clocks attempt to make up the CU deficit compared to the previous-generation "Picasso" (8 vs. 11). The CPU features 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 8 MB of shared L3 cache (4 MB per CCX). An AoTS run in which the processor is paired with a Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics card surfaced on social media. Bringing "Renoir" to the desktop platform at prices competitive with Intel's 10th generation Core i3 thru Core i7 will be critical for AMD, as it nullifies a key advantage Intel has - integrated graphics, so the processors could make it to the vast majority of non-gaming builds with high CPU performance demand.

Update May 10th: A possible UserBenchmark submission of this processor, where it carries the engineering sample number "100-000000149-40_40/30_Y" surfaced. It's shown having clock speeds of 3.00 GHz base and 4.00 GHz boost. We know this is a desktop platform looking at its ASRock B550 Taichi motherboard and Micron-supplied standard DIMM.
Friday, May 8th 2020

Today's Reviews

Accessories
Cases
CPU Coolers
Headphones
Monitors
Motherboards
Processors
Storage
EK-AIO 360 D-RGB All-in-One Watercooler Review

EK-AIO 360 D-RGB All-in-One Watercooler Review

Review CPU Coolers
EK looks to pummel their competition in the liquid cooler market with the EK-AIO 360 D-RGB. It features a pump based on their SPC series, which means it isn't just another Asetek design, but genuinely new from the ground up. However, does new in this case truly mean better?
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XPG Precog Review

XPG Precog Review

Review Headphones
The XPG Precog is an innovative gaming headset with a combination of dynamic and electrostatic speaker drivers, two in-line remote controllers, a detachable microphone, user-selectable sound profiles, and other interesting features. It's the most ambitious gaming headset XPG has produced to date.
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EK Introduces L-Shaped Brackets for FLT Series Reservoirs and Combo Units

Press Release by
btarunr
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EK, the premium water cooling gear manufacturer based in the EU, is introducing new L-shaped brackets for all current FLT series products. The EK-Loop Angled Bracket enables the user to mount the FLT style combo units or reservoirs perpendicular to any 120 mm fan mounting holes. This will allow more airflow to freely pass through the case, or just to offer new mounting options which are not supported by the case itself.

The new EK-Loop Angled Bracket - 120 mm can be mounted to any 120 mm (105 mm hole spacing) fan mounting holes. The bracket allows you to mount the FLT series products to your case, fans, or radiators in a perpendicular alignment. Additionally, you can use the long or the short side of your FLT product for additional mounting options.
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Computex 2020 all but Dead for PC Enthusiasts as Motherboard and VGA Vendors Mull Pulling Out

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btarunr
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Woes for Computex 2020 refuse to end, as its biggest lure for PC enthusiasts - motherboard and graphics card vendors - are reportedly planning to withdraw from this year's edition. Organizers of the popular PC ecosystem trade-show had announced a postponement of the show to late-September from its early-June original scheduled, in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Among the big companies confirmed by DigiTimes to have withdrawn from Computex 2020 are Gigabyte, MSI, TUL (parent of PowerColor), Chaintech (major OEM of several DIY brands); and ECS. ASUS said it's still following existing plans for the event. Some brands are planning online events around the same time as Computex, in which they will announce new products.

Phison Announces Support for YMTC 128-layer and 64-layer 3D NAND Flash Memory

by
btarunr
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SSD controller manufacturer Phison Electronics announced that its entire lineup of controllers are compatible with 64-layer 3D NAND flash memory chips by Yangtze Memory Technology Company (YMTC), the Chinese semiconductor firm specializing in memory devices, which is in the news for rapid product portfolio development in aid of China's plans to reduce dependence on foreign technology.

The company also announced readiness for YMTC's upcoming 128-layer 3D NAND flash memory chips. Phison's controllers feature industry-standard NAND flash interfaces, and supporting YMTC's chips would be as simple as developing an optimized firmware. YMTC leapfrogged from 64- to 128-layer, skipping the 96-layer product cycle. YMTC's 64-layer chips have been in mass-production since September 2019, and 128-layer chips will start shipping out later this year. Phison's first collaboration with YMTC will be for client-segment products, before developing enterprise-grade drives.

TechPowerUp Releases NVCleanstall 1.6.0

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btarunr
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TechPowerUp today announced the latest update to NVCleanstall, our lightweight utility that gives you a high degree of control over your NVIDIA GeForce software installation. The app lets you disable a lot more components you don't need than NVIDIA's own "custom install" option, giving you control over things such as telemetry. With the latest version 1.6.0, we have massively improved download speeds during the first 30% of the driver download. An application crash at startup with the Task Scheduler service not working, has been fixed.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp NVCleanstall 1.6.0
The change-log follows.
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AMD Ryzen 3 3100 Pushed to 5.92 GHz Under LN2 Cooling

by
btarunr
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The Ryzen 3 3100 is turning out to be a fun little toy for enthusiasts. PC enthusiast TSAIK succeeded in overclocking it to 5923 MHz under extreme cooling. The chip was fed 1.45 Volts, and put under liquid nitrogen cooling, to achieve the feat. An MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk motherboard and a single stick of 8 GB memory underclocked to DDR4-1600 made the rest of the critical hardware. The feat is the second highest OC record for a "Zen 2" powered processor, next only to TSAIK's own speed record with the flagship Ryzen 9 3950X, which was pushed to 6041 MHz. Find the HWBot submission for the Ryzen 3 3100 speed record here.

GoodOffer24 Turns Up the Heat with Great Discounts on Genuine Software

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btarunr
With the wheels of Summer turning, it's time to bring your PCs up to spec with the latest hardware and software. Thanks to GoodOffer24, one area where you can save serious cash is with genuine Windows and Office software, so you can spend more on your hardware or games to play over the Summer. TechPowerUp readers get exclusive discounts to genuine, globally-valid Windows 10 Pro for just $12.41, and Windows 10 Home for $11.64. Fully-fleged Office 2016 Professional starts at $27.01. You can get the latest and greatest Office 2019 Professional Plus for $49. Combine your favorite flavor of Office and Windows to save even more. GoodOffer24 uses the PayPal payment gateway, so your payment stays secure.

Don't forget to apply the coupon TP30 at checkout to avail the prices you see here.
Buy Windows 10 Pro from GoodOffer24 for $12.41 | Buy Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC for $11.85 | Buy Windows 10 Pro 2-PC for $19.92 | Buy Windows 10 Home for $11.64 | Buy Office 2016 Professional Plus for $27.01 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2016 Professional for $30.82 | Buy Windows 10 Home + Office 2016 Pro for $28.45 | Buy Office 2016 Home and Student for $21.34 | Buy Office 2019 Professional Plus for $49 | Buy Windows 10 Pro + Office 2019 Professional for $55.16 | Buy Windows 10 Home + Office 2019 Professional for $56.90
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MediaTek Unveils 5G-Integrated Dimensity 1000+ Chip

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AleksandarK
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MediaTek today announced enhancements to its Dimensity 5G chipset family with the Dimensity 1000+, an enhanced 5G-integrated chip with a number of leading technologies and upgrades for gaming, video and power-efficiency.

Dimensity 1000+ is based on the flagship performance of the Dimensity 1000 series and delivers a high-end, premium user experience. With years of accumulated experience in integrated chip technologies, MediaTek has made breakthroughs and innovations in all aspects and has become a pioneer in the 5G era.
MediaTek Dimensity 1000 SoC
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Nintendo Switch Sales Surge Surpassing SNES, N64, GameCube & Wii U

by
Uskompuf
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Sales of Nintendo's hybrid console the Nintendo Switch have surged with combined sales of 55.77 million units worldwide. The Nintendo Switch family of systems which includes the Nintendo Switch & Nintendo Switch Lite sold 21.03 million units last year which reflects a 24.0% increase in sales from the previous year, this was likely due in part to the launch of the Switch Lite and the recent demand from the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Software sales saw an even more impressive jump of 42.3% over the previous year with 168.72 million units sold this year which brings lifetime software sales for the Nintendo Switch to 356.24 million units. Animal Crossing: New Horizons along with other best-selling games all saw strong success. These numbers put the Nintendo Switch ahead of the failed Wii U, GameCube, Nintendo 64, and SNES. The switch is also quickly approaching the NES and will probably take its spot to become the second best-selling home console Nintendo has ever produced right after the original Wii.

Microsoft Announces List of Over 140 Publishers & Studios Working on Xbox Series X Games

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Uskompuf
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In the latest episode of Inside Xbox, Microsoft showed off trailers for several new games including Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and Dirt 5. Alongside the new game trailers, Microsoft also published a list of over 140 publishers and studios all working on games for the new console. Big names such as 2K Games, Activision, Bethesda, Bungie, Electronic Arts, SEGA, Square Enix, and Ubisoft are all present along with countless smaller publishers and studios. The full list of publishers and studios can be found below.
Thursday, May 7th 2020

Today's Reviews

Cooling
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Keyboards
Notebooks
Speakers
SSD
AMD Ryzen 3 3100 Review - Disruptive Price/Performance

AMD Ryzen 3 3100 Review - Disruptive Price/Performance

Review Processors
AMD's new Ryzen 3 3100 is the new budget king. At just $99, it offers four cores and eight threads, obsoleting most of Intel's lineup. Results in our Ryzen 3 3100 review show that it punches well above its weight, competing even with Core i5 and Ryzen 5. Overclocking worked great, too; we achieved 4.35 GHz on all cores.
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AMD Ryzen 3 3300X Review - The Magic of One CCX

AMD Ryzen 3 3300X Review - The Magic of One CCX

Review Processors
AMD Ryzen 3 3300X crams all its cores into a single CCX. We tested the CCX impact in our review with impressive results, especially in games, where the new CPU design achieves great numbers that are close enough to more expensive Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 models, especially if you consider the cost savings.
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Intel Ready with 144-layer 3D NAND On its Own, Talks 4-layer 3DXP, "Alder Stream" and "Keystone Harbor"

by
btarunr
 Discuss (45 Comments)
Intel's memory and storage products division now has a completely independent NAND flash technology development team post its split with Micron Technology, with which it was part of the IMFlash Technologies joint-venture. Intel is close to gaining a technological lead over Micron with a new 144-layer 3D NAND flash chip which will ship roughly around the time Micron begins pushing out its 128-layer 3D NAND chips. SK Hynix will begin shipping its 128-layer 3D NAND flash chips later this year. KIOXIA will put out 112-layer chips before the turn of the year. YMTC is developing its portfolio at a breakneck pace.

The 144-layer 3D NAND flash chip by Intel can handle up to four bits per cell (QLC), and can be configured to function as TLC or SLC, at lower densities. Intel will launch its first SSD based on this 144-layer QLC NAND flash chip, codenamed "Keystone Harbor," later this year. Development is underway at Intel for PLC (5 bits per cell) technology, which should drive up densities by 25 percent. Intel is also close to launching its second generation 3D X-point memory technology.
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QNAP Adds Support for Zabbix, Adding Network Managment Capabilities

Press Release by
btarunr
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QNAP Systems, Inc. (QNAP), a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, has added support for Zabbix, the Enterprise-class Network Monitoring Software. With Zabbix, system integrators and IT professionals can easily use QNAP NAS as Centralized Network Management Platforms to control multiple edge devices in real time. Administrators can also deploy Zabbix on multiple NAS to enable Distributed Network Architecture on medium/large-sized networks or to apply High Availability for enhanced network management efficiency and security.

With SNMP compliance and a Web GUI, Zabbix allows users to monitor network services and the CPU utilization, network usage, memory and storage capacity of all the connected SNMP-compliant servers/devices via the Dashboard and Analysis Report. If a default error occurs (for example, a network server is down), administrators are promptly notified via email and SMS, ensuring real-time network control and efficient troubleshooting.
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JONSBO Expands Angeleyes TW2 Pro Line of AIO CPU Coolers

by
btarunr
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JONSBO today rolled out new variants in the Angeleyes TW2 Pro line of all-in-one liquid CPU coolers. The series debuted with its top 360 mm variant in April 2019, which is now joined by smaller 240 mm x 120 mm; and 120 mm x 120 mm variants, the Angeleyes TW2-240 Pro and Angeleyes TW2-120 Pro. It features a cylindrical pump-block with an acrylic top that's studded with addressable RGB LED embellishments. The RGB bling also extends to the included fans, which feature acrylic diffusers along the bore of the frames, with 18 diodes per fan. These fans take in 4-pin PWM input, spin between 800 and 1,600 RPM, each pushing up to 42.8 CFM of airflow, with a noise output of 26 dBA at max speed. These coolers support mainstream sockets, namely the LGA115x (including upcoming LGA1200), and AM4. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Cooler Master Outs Hyper 212 ARGB Turbo CPU Cooler

Updated by
btarunr
 Updated: Discuss (7 Comments)
Cooler Master rolled out an updated version of its Hyper 212 Turbo dual-fan tower-type CPU air cooler, the Hyper 212 ARGB Turbo. This cooler is almost identical to the Hyper 212 RGB Turbo and the LED Turbo; except that it packs a pair of Sickleflow 120 ARGB fans with an updated addressable RGB LED setup. The cooler includes an ARGB controller module to which you plug in the 3-pin ARGB cables of both fans, which then lets you cycle between a presets, pulling power from a SATA power connection; although you can directly plug in the fans to any 3-pin ARGB headers.

The heatsink at the heart of the Hyper 212 ARGB Turbo is standard CM 212 issue - an aluminium fin-stack tower with four 6 mm-thick copper heat pipes that make direct contact with the CPU at the base. The "Turbo" moniker is from the fact that two 120 mm fans are included in the package, which ventilate the heatsink in a push-pull arrangement. Each of the two Sickleflow 120 ARGB spinners does 650 - 1800 RPM, pushing 61 CFM of air at top speed, with a noise output of 27 dBA (max). With its fans in place, the cooler measures 120 mm x 109 mm x 155 mm (WxDxH). Among the CPU socket types supported are LGA2066, LGA1200, LGA115x, and AM4. We expect this cooler to be priced around $50.

Update May 7th: Cooler Master confirmed to us that this cooler will initially only be released in the Asia-Pacific region, before making it to Europe, while not being sold in North America.
Cooler Master Hyper 212 ARGB Turbo

Lenovo Announces ThinkPad Laptops Powered by AMD Ryzen PRO 4000

Press Release by
btarunr
 Discuss (16 Comments)
Today, Lenovo announced the new ThinkPad E14 and E15 with up to AMD Ryzen 7 4700U processors with Radeon Graphics bringing an improved design, higher performance and enhanced productivity features for SMB customers. Also, selected ThinkPad T, X and L series powered by AMD Ryzen PRO 4000 Series Mobile Processors announced in February are coming very soon. Delivering smarter IT innovations for better user experiences, the latest ThinkPad models meet today's increasing remote working needs.

Engineered for effortless productivity virtually anywhere, the new ThinkPad E14 and E15 offers a smart choice for SMB decision makers. An updated design with an improved screen to body ratio of 85%, the E series also offers the security and durability needed in a changing world. Innovative security features are provided on ThinkPad E series for the first time, including a touch fingerprint reader and an optional IR camera with Glance by Mirametrix technology. The touch fingerprint reader integrated into the power button offers one touch power and logon. The software-enabled Glance feature responds to users' presence, automatically locking the laptop when the user steps away, and also offers a Snap Window and Smart Pointer function for multi display setups.
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Innodisk Supports Healthcare Industry with Capable Medical-grade Solutions

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btarunr
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The ongoing global health crisis is putting enormous strains on healthcare providers around the world, and has sent the demand for medical-grade equipment skyrocketing. With organizations scrambling to procure the right components, Innodisk recently provided its technical and medical sector expertise for ventilator production in China, Europe and Brazil, and doubled-down on its support of innovation in global health.

Innodisk is proud to deliver solutions used in innovative and life-saving healthcare applications such as mechanical ventilators, ultrasound systems, medical all-in-one and panel PCs, nurses' stations, and MRI machines. These medical applications put considerable demands on components that must be addressed in full by any products and solutions -- making a focus on personal data security, reliability, stability, and longevity an absolute must.
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AMD Announces Ryzen PRO 4000 Series Mobile Processors

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btarunr
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Today, AMD announced global availability of the world's first x86 7 nm commercial notebook processors, the AMD Ryzen PRO 4000 Series Mobile family, delivering the most cores and threads in an ultrathin business notebook. These new processors are fully optimized for remote work capabilities and designed to take business computing to the next level with multi-threading performance for modern productivity. Robust enterprise designs from HP and Lenovo powered by AMD Ryzen PRO 4000 Series Mobile Processors are expected to be available worldwide starting in the first half of 2020, with anywhere-anytime productivity, multiple layers of security features, seamless manageability and reliable longevity.

"With the launch of AMD Ryzen PRO 4000 Series Mobile Processors, AMD once again defines the new standard for PC experiences - from high-end desktop computing to ultrathin and gaming notebooks, and now the modern business notebook," said Saeid Moshkelani, senior vice president and general manager, client business unit, AMD. "Built on the ground-breaking "Zen 2" architecture and 7 nm process technology, the AMD Ryzen for Business portfolio delivers advanced performance, reliable security features, impressive battery life and advanced manageability to significantly elevate the capabilities of the ultrathin notebook in any work environment."
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Tile Announces Integrated Solution with Intel, Making PC Laptops Findable

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btarunr
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Tile, the world's leading smart location company, is collaborating with Intel Corporation to bring Tile's finding power to PC original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). This is the first finding technology solution to-market for a broad group of PC OEMs and means upcoming Intel-powered laptop and notebook models can be findable.

"Most of the world is working from home right now, making laptops and portable devices more critical than ever. We rely on them to maintain continuity and keep information safe. But we're also relying on them to stay connected with loved ones," said CJ Prober, CEO of Tile. "Our work with Intel means we'll be ready to help PC users avoid disruption and keep track of their devices once we're all on the move again." The updated Intel solutions are expected to be available later this year for OEM adoption and will allow PC users to find their laptop or notebook even when the device is in sleep mode. The Tile and Intel teams are already working closely with PC manufacturers to determine the best Tile experience for their customers.
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TYAN Launches AI-Optimized Server Platforms Powered by NVIDIA V100S Tensor Core GPUs

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btarunr
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TYAN, an industry-leading server platform design manufacturer and a subsidiary of MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation, has launched the latest GPU server platforms that support the NVIDIA V100S Tensor Core and NVIDIA T4 GPUs for a wide variety of compute-intensive workloads including AI training, inference, and supercomputing applications. "An increase in the use of AI is infusing into data centers. More organizations plan to invest in AI infrastructure that supports the rapid business innovation," said Danny Hsu, Vice President of MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation's TYAN Business Unit. "TYAN'sGPU server platforms with NVIDIA V100S GPUs as the compute building block enables enterprise to power their AI infrastructure deployment and helps to solve the most computationally-intensive problems."

TYAN's new Thunder HX FT83-B7119 features high density local storage within a 4U 10GPU server platform. The system is based on dual-socket 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, supporting up to 10 NVIDIA V100S or 20 T4 GPUs with 12 hot-swap 3.5" drive bays. The system provides a spare PCIe x16 slot in addition to the 10 double-wide PCIe x16 ones, and it supports high speed networking such as 100 Gigabit EDR InfiniBand or Ethernet. The chassis features tool-less drive trays for added ease of service.
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EK Releases the Long-Awaited Reflection Distro Plate for Lian LI O11D XL

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btarunr
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EK, the premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is launching a distro plate specifically designed to provide advanced water cooling with the renowned D5 pump for the LIAN LI O11D XL chassis. The EK-Quantum Reflection PC-O11D XL D5 PWM D-RGB is a custom water cooling reservoir, routing, and pump solution that seamlessly fits into the front of the case. This waterway is also equipped with a physical flow indicator that gives a nice visual representation of the pump's speed.

Designed to offer unique aesthetics and ease of use, this advanced all-in-one waterway solution also includes a pump, reservoir, simple mounting mechanism, and multiple industry-standard G1/4" threaded inlets and outlets. The placement of these inlets and outlets is aligned to fit with other EK products in order to minimize the number of bends the user has to make when creating the loop. It was engineered to support a maximum of five components - one CPU water block, two GPU water blocks, and two radiators. The maximum radiator size with the installed distro plate is 360 PE in the top, and a 360 XE in the bottom.
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SilentiumPC Announces Four Spartan 4 Series CPU Coolers

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btarunr
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The European manufacturer of CPU coolers, power supplies and PC cases, SilentiumPC, is launching four new models of the Spartan in the fourth version. The Spartan series enjoys great popularity in the entry-level segment, where the price-performance ratio is particularly important. The Spartan 3 has already positioned itself as a cost-effective alternative to the boxed cooler. From now on, the new Spartan 4 and Spartan 4 MAX models will follow in its footsteps, offering great versatility. The compact and lightweight Spartan 4 as well as Spartan 4 EVO ARGB CPU coolers rely on two copper heatpipes, a 100 mm fan and an aluminium heatsink for an optimal price-performance ratio. In contrast, both the Spartan 4 MAX and the Spartan 4 MAX EVO ARGB versions are equipped with three copper heatpipes, a larger aluminium heatsink and a 120 mm axial fan.

This makes the new Spartan 4 models ideal for ambitious PC build projects with a limited budget and as an upgrade for existing PCs with boxed coolers that are to be upgraded with more power at a lower noise level.
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GELID Announces Black Diamond Case

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btarunr
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Tech innovator GELID Solutions launches the BLACK DIAMOND - the latest Mid-Tower ATX gaming PC case. The BLACK DIAMOND is a product of GELID Solution GAMER product line.

The BLACK DIAMOND is created by gamers and for gamers. It features tempered glass bezel and side panels, enhanced cooling, robust chassis and versatile internal layout to accommodate top-performance components with extended clearance for the latest GPU, high-power PSU and high-class CPU Cooler. The BLACK DIAMOND also supports direct front vents to improve airflow inside the case and full-fledged water cooling with front, top or rear radiator mounts fitting up to a 360 mm radiator and 3 optional 120 mm fans. For ever growing storage assets, it boasts multiple storage options with 2x 3.5" HDD and 2x 2.5" SSD drive bays. And especially, a set of USB ports and HD Audio/Mic outputs are located on the top panel to facilitate connection of gaming headsets and other peripherals.
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AMD B550 Chipset Detailed, It's Ready for Zen 3, Older AM4 Motherboards not Compatible

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btarunr
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In their briefing leading up to today's Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X review embargo, AMD disclosed that its upcoming "Zen 3" 4th generation Ryzen desktop processors will only support AMD 500-series (or later) chipsets. The next-gen processors will not work with older 400-series or 300-series chipsets. This comes as a blow to those who bought premium X470 motherboards hoping for latest CPU compatibility running into 2020. At this time only B550 is available, but we expect more news on enthusiast chipsets as the Zen 3 launch date comes closer. AMD B550 is a fascinating new mid-range chipset by AMD. Launching today as a successor to the popular B450 chipset, B550 is a low-power silicon with roughly the same 5-7 W TDP as the older 400-series chipset. Although AMD won't confirm it, it's likely that the chipset is sourced from ASMedia. It brings a lot to the table that could draw buyers away from B450, but it also takes some away.

The AMD B550 currently only supports 3rd generation Ryzen "Matisse" processors. Ryzen 3000 "Picasso" APU are not supported. What's more, older Ryzen 2000 "Pinnacle Ridge," "Raven Ridge," and first gen Ryzen 1000 "Summit Ridge" aren't supported, either. The Athlon 200 and 3000 "Zen" based chips miss out, too. AMD argues that it ran into ROM size limitations when trying to cram AGESA microcode for all the older processors. We find that hard to believe because B450 motherboards with the latest ComboAM4 AGESA support 2nd gen and 3rd gen processors, including APUs and Athlon SKUs based on the two. On the bright side, AMD assured us (within its marketing slides for the B550), that the chipset will support upcoming processors based on the "Zen 3" microarchitecture. The company also came up with a new motherboard packaging label that clarifies that the processors won't work with the 3400G and 3200G.
AMD B550 chipset highlights AMD B550 processor support AMD B550 vs B450
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Assortment of Five AMD B550 Premium Motherboards Pictured

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btarunr
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Here are the first pictures of an assortment of five premium AMD B550 chipset motherboards by five different manufacturers. With PCI-Express gen 4.0 (where it matters), CPU+memory overclocking, and multi-GPU being enabled for the B550, and more importantly, the chipset not needing any fan-heatsink, the B550 could be an important chipset for AMD in the battle to come against the 10th generation Core processor and Intel B460 chipset.

We begin with the MSI MPG B550 Gaming Pro Carbon WiFi, the company's most premium B550 offering, picking up the mantle from the immensely successful B450-based predecessor. The MSI board offers a single PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slot, that's reinforced, one M.2 PCIe gen 4.0 x4 slot, a second M.2 slot that's gen 3.0 x4; and a number of x1 slots. The board uses a 14-phase CPU VRM to support CPU overclocking. Connectivity includes 802.11ax WLAN, 1 GbE wired networking, a premium ALC1220-based AudioBoost solution, and heatsinks over both M.2 slots. As a Carbon, it features plenty of RGB LED embellishments.
MSI MPG B550 Gaming Pro Carbon WiFi ASUS ROG Strix B550-E Gaming Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master ASRock B550 Taichi BIOSTAR Racing B550 GTQ
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ASRock H410 Chipset Motherboard Lineup Pictured

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btarunr
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The H410 chipset denotes the entry-level for the upcoming LGA1200 platform. This chipset will go into the vast bulk of low-cost desktops powered by Pentium, Celeron, and Core i3 processors, which [usually] don't game, and make do with integrated graphics. The lineup consists of mostly Micro-ATX boards, including the H410M-HDVP, H410M-HDVP2, H410M-HVS, H410M-HDV, and the H410M-HDV/M.2. These boards differ with a few differentiators such as HDMI, WLAN, and PCIe slots. The lineup also includes a Mini-ITX board in the H410M-ITX/ac, and a DTX board in the form of the H410M-HVS. All boards feature simple 5+2 phase VRM setups (a step up from the previous generation that used 3+1), which could slightly step up board costs.
More pictures follow.
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Bitspower Announces the CPU Block Summit ELX Waterblock, Marrying the AMD TRX40 Platform with OLED

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Raevenlord
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Bitspower has announced pre-order availability of its long-named "Bitspower CPU Block Summit ELX for AMD TRX40 Platform with OLED". The Summit ELX block is compatible with both AMD's TRX40 and X399 platforms, so you can deploy it on a last-gen Threadripper and look to upgrade in the future without having to replace your entire watercooling setup.

Bitspowers says the selling points are the OLED illumination and cooling capabilities of this waterblock, with its "clean look and high-density heat sink fin design". The "two-way tunnel design", according to Bitspower, saves you form the hassle of having to route waterways in a specific direction - you are free to routa ientry and exit points of your heatsink as it better suits your PC-building options. The Summit ELX for AMD TRX40 with OLED features a narrow footprint to ensure it doesn't interfere with the RAM slots, as well as a metal top layer and a copper base plate. The lighting elements are compatible with ASUS AURA Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync, ASRock Polychrome, and Razer Chroma. The preorder is available for TWD 4,200, which amounts to some $140.

Five AMD A520 Chipset Motherboards Listed by ASUS

by
Raevenlord
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ASUS has apparently begun listing motherboards on the as-of-yet-unreleased, as-of-yet-undetailed AMD A520 chipset. Lower in the chipset rung than AMD's X570 and B550 chipsets, the A520 is expected to not offer any dedicated PCIe 4.0 lanes by itself - at most, motherboards will support the same 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes offered by AMD's CPUs, with the rest I/O being PCIe 3.0-based in order to further cut platform and chipset costs.

All of the A520 chipset motherboards listed by ASUS seem to be in the mATX form-factor - which again makes sense, as having the most basic chipset in order to cut costs and then using the same PCB real-estate as more expensive chipset solutions doesn't seem like a wise choice. The listed motherboards are the
PRIME A520M-A; PRIME A520M-E; PRIME A520M-K; TUF GAMING A520M-A; and TUF GAMING A520M-PLUS. As you can see, these motherboards are set in the ASUS TUF and Prime product lines - there's no mention of any Strix-branded products.

MSI Announces Upgrade Program for Z490 Motherboards - Will Offer Up To $50 Steam Wallet

by
Raevenlord
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MSI has announced that it is running an upgrade program for its Z490 motherboards. The program is valid for motherboards purchased from May 6th through June 15th. This program will essentially see you being rewarded with a Steam wallet code worth $50 should you purchase a new MSI Z490 motherboard to replace the old (or maybe just last-generation) motherboard you own from Intel. To this effect, MSI is requiring users to register their new motherboard online, take a picture of the boards' serial number, and upload another picture with your new motherboard and old one side by side - the ultimate shame towards your old, trusty piece of hardware.

The promotion applies to select MSI motherboards, with rewards being tiered according to the expense you had on the new MSI board. As such, users who acquired MSI's MEG Z490 GODLIKE or MEG Z490 ACE will be rewarded with $50 back. Users who purchased the cheapest Z490 motherboard, the MPG Z490
GAMING PLUS, however, will only see a $10 credit. Interestingly, MSI has included both its own, pre-Z490 motherboards as eligible for the upgrade program... As well as ASUS'. And that's it. No other manufacturers' boards are being accepted. Make of that what you will.

NVIDIA and HiSilicon Enter Top 10 Semiconductor Suppliers List

by
AleksandarK
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HiSilicon, a subsidiary company of Huawei, has officially entered the top 10 list of the semiconductor suppliers in the first quarter of 2020. This is a very important milestone for HiSilicon, as this shows just how big demand there is for its chips. Starting from smartphone chips going inside Huawei phones, server processors, and telecommunication equipment, HiSilicon has been busy pumping out designs at a very high rate. And now, thanks to the report of IC Insights, we have information that HiSilicon has become one of the biggest players in the industry.

Ranked at number 10 spot, HiSilicon is the first company from China that has entered this list. At the number nine spot is NVIDIA, which is also a new entry to the list. Thanks to the growth of 37% for the quarter, NVIDIA can hold number nine spot. In total, the top 10 of the semiconductor suppliers have climbed 16% on year in the first quarter of 2020, which is a very impressive result, counting in the current pandemic in the world.
Top 10 Semiconductor Suppliers TSMC Sales to HiSilicon

AMD Coming Around to Launching the Radeon RX 5600M and RX 5700M?

by
btarunr
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AMD is finally coming around to launching the Radeon RX 5600M and RX 5700M based on its 7 nm "Navi 10" silicon. The company has, until now, only shipped mobile GPUs using the smaller "Navi 14" chip. A scoop by Komachi Ensaka points to an upcoming notebook combining a Ryzen 4000-H processor an "Navi-10M" GPU. With the right combination of clock speeds and memory configuration, the RX 5600M could offer performance rivaling (or beating) the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (mobile), and possibly on par with the RTX 2060 (mobile). The RX 5700M could compete with the upcoming RTX 2060 Super (mobile) and RTX 2070 (mobile). The RX 5600M could be a particularly important solution, as its desktop compatriot is designed for higher refresh-rate 1080p gaming. Much of the gaming notebook scene still revolves around 1080p, with innovations in the areas of refresh rates.

AMD gave both the RX 5600M and RX 5700M identical GPU core configurations to their desktop variants. The RX 5600M has 2,304 stream processors, 144 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and a 192-bit GDDR6 memory interface holding 6 GB of memory; while the RX 5700M tops it with 256-bit wide memory bus and 8 GB of memory. Both the RX 5700M and RX 5600M are configured with 12 Gbps memory frequency. The RX 5600M ticks at 1190 MHz (game), and 1265 MHz (boost), while the RX 5700M does 1620 MHz (game) and 1720 MHz (boost). Coming back to Komachi's leak about the Renoir + Navi 10M notebook, we predict a working implementation of AMD SmartShift technology. The company even made marketing graphics of this.
Wednesday, May 6th 2020

Today's Reviews

Cases
Cooling
Desktop PC
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Motherboards
Mousepads
Processors
SSD
NZXT H1 Review

NZXT H1 Review

Review Cases
The NZXT H1 aims to offer excellent performance, ease of assembly, and great compatibility with a clean and compact look. Having been in the works for quite some time, take a look at what can be achieved if you are able to combine a case, PSU, and AIO into a single ITX platform.
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Aerocool DUKE AeroSuede Gaming Chair Review - For Tight Budgets

Aerocool DUKE AeroSuede Gaming Chair Review - For Tight Budgets

Review Gaming Chairs
The Aerocool Duke AeroSuede is a very affordable gaming chair that supports large (and heavy) users. Its upholstery comes in four dark colors and has carbon-like patterns as visual highlights. With a price tag of only $199, it look like a real bargain, but is that truly the case?
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MSI Rolls Out MEG Infinite X 10th and MAG Infinite S Gaming Desktops

by
btarunr
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MSI expanded its lineup of gaming desktops to be refreshed with 10th generation Intel Core processors, with the high-end MEG Infinite X 10th, MAG Infinite S, and MAG Infinite 10th. The company had, earlier this week, announced the refreshed Codex R and MEG Trident X with the new chips. The new MEG Infinite X features Intel's new flagship Core i9-10900K 10-core processor, paired with an Intel Z490 chipset motherboard, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super graphics, and empty memory- and storage- options. You add your own memory - up to 128 GB of dual-channel DDR4-2933 across four DIMM slots; and your own storage - two M.2-2280 NVMe PCIe slots, two 2.5-inch SATA, and one 3.5-inch SATA drive bays. The MAG Infinite S and MAG Infinite 10th share the same chassis, but use Core i7-10700 8-core processors, and GeForce RTX 2060 graphics. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Microsoft Announces Xbox Game Pass May Game Changes

by
Uskompuf
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Microsoft has recently announced all the game arrivals and departures coming to Xbox Game Pass for PC & Xbox this month. PC gamers are receiving Halo 2 Anniversary, Final Fantasy IX, Streets of Rage 4, and Endless Legend while console gamers are getting Red Dead Redemption 2, DayZ, Final Fantasy IX, Streets of Rage 4, and Fractured Minds.

The over 10 million subscribers' strong service will also lose several games this May 15th for both PC and Xbox. PC users will lose Imperator: Rome, Rise of the Tomb Raider, The Banner Saga, West of Loathing and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus while console users will lose Grand Theft Auto V, Black Desert, Doom, Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game, Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, Metal Gear Survive, The Banner Saga, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.

Google Stadia Controller Gains Wireless Support on PC

by
Uskompuf
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The Google Stadia controller launched alongside Google Stadia 6 months ago and was touted as the controller for all platforms with integrated ultra-low latency features. However, PC users could not take advantage of the ultra-low latency features which connects the Stadia controller directly to your Wi-Fi router. PC users have instead had to connect their controller to their PC with a USB Type-C cable. Some users report that this will increase compatibility on obscure systems by offloading the input handling to Stadia's servers.

"Starting this week, you can now use the Stadia Controller to play wirelessly on your laptop and desktop. You no longer need to connect your Stadia Controller physically to your computer to play your favorite games. You'll be able to link your Stadia Controller and Stadia.com through your Wi-Fi network and play without a USB-C cable connection."

Acer Reports Q1 2020 Financial Results

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Uskompuf
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Acer Inc. announced the financial results for the first quarter of 2020: consolidated revenues were NT$48.85 (USD$1.6) billion; gross profits were NT$4.95 (USD$0.16) billion with 10.1% margin; operating income was NT$19 (USD$0.63) million; earnings before tax was NT$780 (USD$26) million; and net income was NT$558 (USD$18.6) million with earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.18 (USD$0.006).

Consolidated revenues in March grew 114% month-on-month, achieved by the velocity of actions to capture the rise in demands due to work-from-home and online learning needs. For example, the PANAM operations scored a record first-quarter in revenues over several years.

Windows 10 Game Mode Negatively Impacts "Call of Duty: Warzone" Performance

by
btarunr
 Discuss (22 Comments)
The "Game Mode" toggle Microsoft introduced with Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (1709), is designed to improve gaming performance by prioritizing system resources for the game at the expensive of background processes, and preventing Windows Update from performing any automatic tasks (such as GPU driver updates, which would most certainly ruin your game). With "Call of Duty Warzone," however, this toggle appears to be having the opposite effect.

The Game Mode toggle reportedly causes Warzone to stutter, and sometimes even freeze. Apparently Windows 10 doesn't recognize it as a game. The issue affects users of both AMD and NVIDIA graphics hardware. It has so far been reproduced on the likes of the GTX 1080 Ti, GTX 980, RX 5700 XT, RX 570, RX 480, and R9 290. For now there's no workaround other than to simply disable Game Mode in Windows Settings. Find it in the "Gaming" section.

CD Projekt RED Scrambles to Clarify "In Game Purchases" ESRB Rating for Cyberpunk 2077

by
btarunr
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CD Projekt RED scrambled to clarify the "in game purchases" ESRB rating "Cyberpunk 2077" received. The ESRB rating exploded on social media earlier this week, with gamers fearing CDPR's magnum opus action RPG to be riddled with microtransactions - something both gamers and CDPR have strong views against. A CDPR representative Twinfinite spoke with clarified that the "in game transactions" tag is now required by games that may receive expansions in the future. Most game main-menus now include some sort of shortcuts to obtain expansion DLCs or news from the developers. Implementing something of that sort in Cyberpunk 2077 would mean tripping the "in-game purchases" marker with ESRB. Cyberpunk 2077 is on-course for a September 17, 2020 release.

MSI Shares Fascinating Insights Into "Comet Lake" Binning

by
btarunr
 Discuss (30 Comments)
MSI in its weekly "MSI Insider" livestream shared fascinating insights into the way Intel appears to be sorting out its "Comet Lake" silicon across the various brand extensions of its 10th generation Core desktop processors. Its tech leads Eric Van Beurden and Michiel Berkhout spoke at length about MSI's own evaluation of the trays of Core i5-10600K/KF, i7-10700K/KF, and i9-10900K/KF chips it received (the only unlocked chips across the lineup), which they used as empirical evidence to suggest a model for Intel's binning.

MSI segregated the chips it received into three categories. Level A consists of chips that overclock higher than Intel's specifications (overclocking headroom higher than expected). Level B consists of those that overclock within Intel's specifications. Level C, on the other hand, have their overclocking headroom fall below Intel's specifications. It's important to note here that "Intel specification" doesn't mean "stock frequencies," it refers to the overclocking headroom Intel communicates to motherboard manufacturers, to give them an idea of the minimum board design requirements needed to guarantee overclocking within these specifications, for their Z490 motherboards. These are more of a guideline in nature, all three levels will overclock above stock frequencies.
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MAINGEAR Launches Ultra High-End "MAINGEAR Pro WS" Workstation PC

Press Release by
Raevenlord
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MAINGEAR, an award-winning PC system integrator of custom gaming desktops, notebooks, and workstations, today launched the MAINGEAR Pro WS, a highly-versatile workstation designed to meet the needs of professional creatives and content producers, pairing best-in-class hardware configurations with MAINGEAR's lifetime customer support to deliver maximum performance and mission-critical reliability. The MAINGEAR Pro WS is available now in customizable and pre-configured systems for several leading creative applications, including "Recommended By Luxion (Makers of KeyShot)" MAINGEAR Pro WS configurations for 3D rendering.
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Kingston Announces HyperX x Ducky One 2 Mini Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

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btarunr
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HyperX, the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., today announced a collaboration with keyboard manufacturing company DuckyChannel International Co. Ltd on a limited-edition 60 percent form factor HyperX x Ducky One 2 Mini mechanical gaming keyboard. The HyperX x Ducky One 2 Mini mechanical gaming keyboard features HyperX red linear mechanical switches built for performance, longevity and an 80 million lifetime click rating per switch. The keyboard includes RGB exposed backlit keys for brighter illumination with radiant lighting effects and utilizes the Ducky One 2 Mini keyboard design and Ducky PBT double-shot seamless keycaps.

"Ducky is happy to work closely with HyperX to develop the HyperX x Ducky One 2 Mini with HyperX switches to give users the best combined gaming keyboard experience," said Erik Hsieh, senior marketing executive, DuckyChannel International Co. Ltd. "Our collaboration with HyperX is all about delivering solid and reliable mechanical gaming keyboards, we can't wait for our users to use the HyperX x Ducky One 2 Mini."
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ADATA Launches Ultimate SU720 SSD With Up To 1 TB Capacity

Press Release by
Raevenlord
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ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash products, today announces the launch of the ADATA Ultimate SU720 SATA 6 Gb/s solid state drive (SSD). An ideal offering for those looking to make the switch to SSDs, the SU720 offers great performance and reliability at an amazing value. Equipped with 3D NAND memory and intelligent SLC caching, the SU720 reaches read/write speeds of up to 520/450 MB per second.
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Intel Core i9-10900K Cinebench 15 Benchmark Leaked: Stock 2347 Points, 3K Points @ 5.4 GHz and 1.35 V

by
Raevenlord
 Discuss (46 Comments)
Even as review embargoes remain on Intel's latest 10th Gen CPUs, benchmark scores that show what these 14 nm CPUS are capable of are already flooding the web. Case in point: a Cinebench 15 benchmark of Intel's unlocked Core i9-10900K running at an overclocked 5.4 GHz on all cores @ 1.35 V core. The 10-core CPU features a base clockspeed set at 3.7 GHz, so we're looking at a frequency increase of around 46%.

At those speeds, tested on an ASRock Phantom Gaming 4/AX motherboard and 16 GB of G.Skill DDR4-3200 MHz CL14 memory, the Intel Core i9-10900K managed to post a 3002 multi-core score. When at stock, it achieved a relatively paltry 2347 points. An AMD Ryzen 7 3800X CPU (8-core, 16-thread) typically scores around 2200 points, and an AMD Ryzen 9 3900X CPU (12-core, 24-thread) achieves a 3200 score. They do so at stock frequencies, though; and the Intel Core i9-10900K is sandwiched in-between those when it comes to core-count, but not on price: 10 Intel cores will set you back $488.00, while AMD's 8-core launched at $399 (and is now cheaper) and AMD's 12-core CPU launched for $499. Adding to the benchmarking caveat, the operating temperatures for this particular Core i9-10900K show 0º min and 69º max, so assuming the temperature report is correct, it's fair to say an air cooler wasn't used for this overclocking feat.

Intel Z490 Motherboards Open to Pre-order, Shipping Starts 20th May

by
btarunr
 Discuss (20 Comments)
Various online retailers have started taking pre-orders for new socket LGA1200 motherboards based on the Intel Z490 chipset. Prices of these motherboards appear on average 20-25% higher than older-generation Z390 motherboards at launch, and in many cases, pricier than even AMD X570 chipset ones. The cheapest Z490 motherboard on U.S. retailer Newegg is priced at $149. Mid-range boards such as the MSI Tomahawk, are priced around $190. The next segment begins bang at the $200-mark, including the Gigabyte AORUS Elite, MSI MPG Gaming Edge, and the ASRock Extreme4.

The next tier appears to be priced between $230-250, including the ASUS Prime-A, the cheapest ROG Strix-H, and the ASRock Phantom Gaming Velocita. A notch further up, around the $270-290, you'll find the MSI Gaming Pro Carbon, Gigabyte AORUS Pro, ASUS ROG Strix-F. The $290-350 band includes the ROG Strix-E, Gigabyte Vision-D, etc. The high-end segment begins at $390, with the ROG Maximus XII Hero, Gigabyte AORUS Master, MSI MPG ACE, etc. The priciest boards on offer are the ASRock AQUA at $1,099, and Gigabyte AORUS Xtreme Waterforce at $1,299. Newegg states that the boards will begin shipping from its warehouses on the 20th of May, 2020.

Microsoft Announces Surface Go 2, Surface Book 3, Surface Headphones 2 and Surface Earbuds

Press Release by
AleksandarK
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The way we work, connect and learn continues to change right in front of us. Our devices have become our window to the world - our office, our school and our social space. To help navigate the current environment people are turning to Windows PCs more than ever. In fact, over 4 trillion minutes are being spent on Windows 10 a month, a 75% increase year on year. It's not just the pull of the larger screen and better keyboard, but the versatility of a device that runs the software we need and games and entertainment we love, with cameras and mics built in to connect us to the people who matter most. This is what Windows PCs were built to do. This is what we design Surface for.

The new Surface Go 2, Surface Book 3, Surface Headphones 2, Surface Earbuds and accessories are designed to help you do what you need, from anywhere - a concept that has taken on new weight since we first started working on these products. Instead of planes, coffee shops and offices, we're moving from home office to kitchen table to couch, but our need for devices that keep us productive and connected has never been greater.
Microsoft Surface products Microsoft Surface Go 2
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Windows 10 Market Share Drops Between March and April

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AleksandarK
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Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system has historically been rising in market share thanks to the slow depreciation of Windows 7 OS, and Microsoft's efforts to push it as only Windows OS available for desktop users. However, according to the information by NetMarketShare, a company providing statistics about the market share of Internet Technologies (browsers and OSes), Windows 10 has seen a decrease in market share. This news is a surprising discovery, given that the OS is expected to be gaining new market share slowly, given that Windows 7 has reached the end of life in January.

From 57.37% of market share in February, Windows 10 got down to 57.34% in March and 56.08% in April. While this may seem just like a few percentage decrease, given the massive amount of PCs available, it can be counted in thousands. What could be the reason behind this is the current COVID-19 related pandemic and slower demand for office PCs, as everyone is working from home now. This was a big growth sector for Windows 10 as the previous version of Windows, the 7, was very popular in office space before its EoL. Of course, this is just a speculation which you should take with a big grain of salt. Some of the interesting things to point out is that Ubuntu, a Linux kernel based operating system, has massively increased its market share from 0.27% in March to 1.89% in April.
Microsoft Windows 10

TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.31.0 Released

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btarunr
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TechPowerUp today released the latest version of GPU-Z, the popular graphics subsystem information, diagnostics, and monitoring utility. Version 2.31.0 adds support for new GPUs, introduces new features, and fixes several bugs. To begin with, GPU-Z 2.31.0 adds support for the mobile and Max-Q versions of GeForce RTX 2080 Super, RTX 2070 Super, RTX 2060, RTX 2070 mobile (refresh), GTX 1650 Ti, GTX 1650, MX350, GRID RTX T10, Quadro RTX 8000, and Tesla T40. Support is also added for AMD Radeon Pro 580, Pro V340, Radeon Pro 5300M, and Radeon Pro 5500M. GPU voltage monitoring has been added for Intel integrated graphics.

With this version, we've updated the installer for those who prefer to install GPU-Z. The installer has a refresh UI, and also accepts commandline "-install" and "-installSilent" arguments. The version also fixes DirectML detection on some of the newer Windows Insider builds. Driver version detection has been improved for some systems with NVIDIA GPUs. The GPU-Z startup sequence on older machines has been improved. Grab GPU-Z from the link below.
GPU-Z 2.31
DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.31.0

The change-log follows.
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Unreal Engine 4.25 Released Featuring Beta Support for Next Generation Consoles

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Raevenlord
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EPIC Games has announced that a new version of its industry-spanning Unreal Engine is now available. Version 4.25 adds Beta support for development specifically geared for upcoming, next generation Xbox Series X and PS5 consoles, thus allowing non-first-party studios to accelerate their development on the platform using the tried and true Unreal game engine. Part of this support includes development modules for next-gen audio features - remember these consoles will feature hardware-accelerated audio that's supposed to kick audio development in games towards the next gear.

It remains to be seen what exactly developers will be ready to achieve, but has consoles become the most common development dominator for upcoming games, their specs will definitely facilitate advancements in game development for the future. High core-count CPUs and GPUs, right alongside high-speed storage in the form of NVMe-based systems will now become the norm, which means us PC gamers will also reap some benefits from these development requirements. Version 4.25 of the Unreal Engine also adds production-ready support for Niagara VFX (used for water animations), as well as for the Chaos physics and destruction system that is already employed in Fortnite. New shading capabilities are also in store for developers.

Intel Comet Lake Review Kit Unboxed, Core i9-10900K and Core i5-10600K Pictured

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AleksandarK
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It seems that today Intel lifted an embargo on the preview of its reviewer kit, and thanks to a few websites we have pictures of what the packaging looks like. And it is one fancy packaging for sure with lots of plastic this time around. Intel has decided to switch up its packaging game and now it is very different. Now Intel seems to target aesthetics very similar to AMD Threadripper packaging, with a plastic window that reveals the CPU box that has big words distinguishing whatever the model in question is a Core i5 or Core i9.

The reviewers have gotten two CPU models - Core i9-10900K and Core i5-10600K which are pictured below. Just as a reminder, reviews of these CPUs should go live on May 20th. If you want to get a Z490 motherboard for one of these CPUs, you can pre-order motherboard from your favorite vendor starting from today.

More pictures follow.
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Intel Posts Windows 10 May 2020 Update-ready Graphics Drivers

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btarunr
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Intel today released its first Graphics Drivers ready for the upcoming Windows 10 May 2020 Update (2004). Version 27.20.100.8187 of Intel Graphics Drivers are WDDM 2.7 compliant, which means support for Shader Model 6.5, and Dolby Vision, on Gen 9.5 or later iGPUs. The drivers also add readiness for OneAPI, Intel's ambitious unified programming model for x86 processors, iGPU execution units, and future Xe compute processors. For gamers, the latest drivers add optimization for "Gears Tactics," "XCOM: Chimera Squad," and "Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered), on Iris Plus or later iGPUs. As with the previous drivers, these drivers are OEM-unlocked.
DOWNLOAD: Intel Graphics Drivers 27.20.100.8187

BIOSTAR Announces the Racing Z490GTA EVO Motherboard

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btarunr
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BIOSTAR, a leading brand of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices, today announces the launch of the latest RACING Z490GTA EVO motherboard made to run Intel's 10th generation processors.

Built on Intel's Z490 platform, the RACING Z490GTA EVO motherboard is BIOSTAR's premium flagship motherboard ready to blaze past all competition with the new 10th Gen processor range from Intel. Styled with BIOSTAR's signature RACING themed design language, the RACING Z490GTA EVO motherboard has some of the most sought after features in the market like the new 16 Phase power design for a highly precise hardware power regulation, tested, optimized and manufactured to be the best in the market providing an extremely safe and long lasting product life and combined with many more lucrative functions, the RACING Z490GTA EVO motherboard brings users the extra edge and reliability familiar in a premium BIOSTAR product.
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Tuesday, May 5th 2020

Today's Reviews

Cases
CPU Coolers
Gaming PC
Graphics Cards
Headphones
Keyboards
Memory
Motherboards
Notebooks
PSUs
SSD
ASUS Radeon RX 5500 XT STRIX 8 GB Review

ASUS Radeon RX 5500 XT STRIX 8 GB Review

Review Graphics Cards
The ASUS RX 5500 XT STRIX OC is their most premium entry-level Navi design. The large triple-slot, dual-fan cooler achieves outstanding temperatures and is whisper quiet at the same time. Fan stop is included too, and the VRM design is overbuilt, which could explain the good OC results we're seeing.
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NVIDIA Underestimated AMD's Efficiency Gains from Tapping into TSMC 7nm: Report

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btarunr
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A DigiTimes premium report, interpreted by Chiakokhua, aka Retired Engineer, chronicling NVIDIA's move to contract TSMC for 7 nm and 5 nm EUV nodes for GPU manufacturing, made a startling revelation about NVIDIA's recent foundry diversification moves. Back in July 2019, a leading Korean publication confirmed NVIDIA's decision to contract Samsung for its next-generation GPU manufacturing. This was a week before AMD announced its first new-generation 7 nm products built for the TSMC N7 node, "Navi" and "Zen 2." The DigiTimes report reveals that NVIDIA underestimated the efficiency gains AMD would yield from TSMC N7.

With NVIDIA's bonhomie with Samsung underway, and Apple transitioning to TSMC N5, AMD moved in to quickly grab 7 nm-class foundry allocation and gained prominence with the Taiwanese foundry. The report also calls out a possible strategic error on NVIDIA's part. Upon realizing the efficiency gains AMD managed, NVIDIA decided to bet on TSMC again (apparently without withdrawing from its partnership with Samsung), only to find that AMD had secured a big chunk of its nodal allocation needed to support its growth in the x86 processor and discrete GPU markets. NVIDIA has hence decided to leapfrog AMD by adapting its next-generation graphics architectures to TSMC's EUV nodes, namely the N7+ and N5. The report also speaks of NVIDIA using its Samsung foundry allocation as a bargaining chip in price negotiations with TSMC, but with limited success as TSMC established its 7 nm-class industry leadership. As it stands now, NVIDIA may manufacture its 7 nm-class and 5 nm-class GPUs on both TSMC and Samsung.

Intel's next LGA1700 Socket to Last Over Two Generations

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btarunr
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The upcoming LGA1700 socket by Intel, which makes its debut with 12th generation Core "Alder Lake-S" desktop processors, could be the first in over a decade from the company, to support more than two processor generations. Intel has maintained streak of ensuring that a mainstream desktop CPU socket won't be compatible with more than two generations of Core processors. Controversy brew when the company artificially segmented the LGA1151 socket between the 6th, 7th, and 8th and 9th processor generations, with the latter two requiring a 300-series chipset motherboard and the former two not working on the newer chipset, even though all four generations are pin-compatible, and modders have been able to get the newer chips to work on older 100-series and 200-series motherboards with great success.

According to a NotebookCheck report, Intel is designing the LGA1700 socket to support at least three future generations of Core processors (that's "Alder Lake-S" and two of its successors). This should give the platform a degree of longevity as it introduces several new computing concepts to the client desktop form-factor, such as heterogenous CPU cores. "Alder Lake-S" combines 8 each of low-power "Gracemont" and high performance "Golden Cove" CPU cores in a setup rivaling the Arm big.LITTLE, where light computing workloads and system idling are completely handled by the low-power cores, while the high-performance cores are only woken up from their power-gated slumber as needed, before being put back to sleep when they're not.

XIGMATEK Announces the OMG! Case

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btarunr
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XIGMATEK today unveiled a case that screams "OMG!" or at least that's what it says on the front facade in huge letters with a red background. The case strongly resembles the Forgame OMG, and is probably a franchise branded product. The Micro-ATX tower features a red+black color scheme. Inside, you get a horizontally partitioned layout. The motherboard tray serves up room for graphics cards up to 32 cm in length, and CPU coolers up to 17 cm in height; while the bottom compartment has room for PSUs up to 16.5 cm in length.

Storage features on the XIGMATEK OMG! include two each of 3.5-inch trays and 2.5-inch mounts. Cooling features include two 140/120 mm front intakes, two 120 mm top exhausts, and a 120 mm rear exhaust. The case measures 366 mm x 210 mm x 395 mm (LxWxH), and is made of 0.5 mm-thick SECC steel. The company didn't reveal pricing.
XIGMATEK OMG

POWER-SUPPLaY Cyberattack Steals Data From Air-Gapped PC via Power Supply

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Uskompuf
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It was only a few weeks ago when we reported that Dr. Mordechai Guri and his team had devised a new cyberattack known as Air-ViBeR which could use the vibrations of a PC's fans to steal data by regulating fan speed and recording the sounds on a nearby smartphone. This time Dr. Mordechai and his team have discovered a way to silently transmit data from the ultrasonic frequencies put out by a PC power supply they have dubbed this new attack POWER-SUPPLaY. The cyberattack involves a piece of malware that can alter system load by changing the CPU workload, this causes the PC power supply to change its ultrasonic frequencies which can be detected by a smartphone at a maximum distance of 5 m.

While this cyberattack is certainly technologically impressive, it is unlikely to ever be used out of anything but a Hollywood movie due to some fatal limitations. The attack requires the computer to be compromised and for a mobile device to be within listening distance for a prolonged time, the transmission rate of the attack is only 50 bits per second, or equivalent to about 22.5 kB per hour. With such a low transmission rate the only data that could be feasibly transmitted would be plain text at a rate of 10,000 words an hour.
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Samsung Unveils Galaxy Book Flex and Ion with Smartphone Wireless Charging Capability

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btarunr
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Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Book Flex and Galaxy Book Ion ultraportable notebooks with a unique mobility enhancement - the ability to recharge your smartphone that has Qi-compatible wireless charging capability. The Galaxy Book Flex implements an "Ice Lake" Core i7-1065G7 processor with 8 GB LPDDR4 memory, a 13.3-inch Full HD QLED display, a 512 GB NVMe SSD, and a pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports.

The Galaxy Book Ion, on the other hand, features a slightly thicker form-factor, with a "Comet Lake" Core i7-10510U processor at the helm, 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch QLED Full HD display options, 8 GB of conventional DDR4 memory, and Thunderbolt 3. The wireless charging surface is part of the track pad, so you can either use the notebook or recharge your smartphone or smart watch. Don't have time for both, or your smartphone lacks wireless charging? Get a small 15 cm USB cable from Amazon Basics for like $4.

Apple WWDC 2020 Keynote To Be Held Digitally on June 22

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Apple today announced it will host its annual Worldwide Developers Conference virtually, beginning June 22, in the Apple Developer app and on the Apple Developer website for free for all developers. The company also announced the Swift Student Challenge, an opportunity for student developers to showcase their love of coding by creating their own Swift playground. Now in its 31st year, WWDC20 will be an opportunity for millions of creative and innovative developers around the world to get early access to the future of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS, and to learn from Apple engineers as they work to build app experiences that enrich the lives of Apple customers around the globe.

"WWDC20 will be our biggest yet, bringing together our global developer community of more than 23 million in an unprecedented way for a week in June to learn about the future of Apple platforms," said Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "We can't wait to meet online in June with the global developer community and share with them all of the new tools we've been working on to help them create even more incredible apps and services. We look forward to sharing more details about WWDC20 with everyone as we get closer to this exciting event."
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GeIL Announces DDR4 3200 MHz SO-DIMM 64 GB Kit

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Uskompuf
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GeIL has today announced a new line of memory for Intel 10th Gen and AMD Ryzen 4000 series mobile processors. The new 64 GB kit offered as 2x 32 GB DDR4-3200 modules is simply called "SO-DIMM". This new kit features high-density chips and a standard operating voltage of 1.2 V which helps maximize system performance. The new series of modules will also feature lower speed kits in DDR4 2933 MHz 64 GB and DDR4 2666 MHz 64 GB. The 3200 MHz kit comes with a latency of 22-22-22-52 while the 2933 Mhz features 21-21-21-48 and the 2666 MHz 19-19-19-43 which are all similar to other vendors offerings. These new kits should offer gamers and content creators a robust memory upgrade path for mobile devices, pricing and availability were not announced.

Nintendo Wii Source Code and Schematics Leak, Could Spawn a Clone Industry

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btarunr
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Software source-code and hardware schematics of the feverishly popular Nintendo Wii console leaked to the web. These include detailed Verilog design files, firmware, PCB- and chip designs, and practically everything else needed for a small company with qualified embedded systems engineers, to recreate a fully-functional Wii clone. Nintendo consoles have, in the past, sparked many clone revolutions, the most famous of which has been the NES clone and bootleg cartridge cottage industry that spread video gaming to markets that Nintendo had no presence in. The leak apparently originated when servers of BroadOn, a company Nintendo contracted during the development of Wii, were hacked.

SteelSeries Introduces New Limited-Edition CS:GO Neon Rider Collection

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Uskompuf
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SteelSeries, the leader in PC gaming peripherals, today announces the new Neon Rider collection inspired by Red Moon Workshop's beloved CS:GO skin. This exclusive collaboration combines the popular Neon Rider skin and SteelSeries' award-winning peripherals to create an exciting collection specifically made for CS:GO enthusiasts around the world. The collection includes a Neon Rider designed Sensei Ten, and Qck L and QcK Prism XL mousepads.

Our relationship with Counter-Strike is as old as we are. From creating the first products for competitive players, to being the first professional sponsors for teams and events, to creating products just for fans of the game, we are proud to continue to be a part of the world of Counter-Strike with this exclusive collaboration. With the high performing sensor and comfort of the Sensei Ten and massive size of the QcK, we picked these products to be the perfect additions to any CS:GO player's setup.
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Intel Bringing the Xeon W Brand to LGA1200 Socket?

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btarunr
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Intel is bringing its Xeon W brand extension of processors meant for workstations, to the LGA1200 socket. The Xeon W brand were typically associated with enterprise variants of HEDT platforms, with those of mainstream desktop sockets reserved for the Xeon E brand. At least 7 SKUs are in the works, beginning with the Xeon W-1290P, W-1290, and W-1290T, which are 10-core/20-thread parts based on the "Comet Lake" silicon, with TDP ratings of 125 W, 65 W, and 35 W, respectively; and nominal clock speeds of 3.70 GHz, 3.20 GHz, and 1.90 GHz, respectively.

The Xeon W-1270P and W-1270 are 8-core/16-thread parts, likely with 125 W, and 65 W TDP ratings, respectively, and clock speeds of 3.80 GHz and 3.40 GHz, respectively. Lastly, there are the 6-core/12-thread Xeon W-1260P and W-1260, clocked at 4.10 GHz and 3.60 GHz, respectively. It's likely that the processors are either compatible with the W480/W480E chipsets, or have a C-series enterprise chipset with a similar feature-set to it. The W-1290P is priced at $620.62, the W-1290 at $568.91, the W-1290T at $568.80; the W-1270P at $492.57, the W-1270 at $416.21; the W-1260P at $358.41, and the W-1260 at $293.12. All prices are per-unit in 1,000-unit tray quantities.

ASUS Announces Premium Five-year Warranty with Selected ASUS ProArt Displays

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btarunr
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ASUS today announced that ProArt Display PA and PQ series monitors purchased and registered in Europe, Middle East or Africa (EMEA) regions are now backed by a comprehensive five-year warranty. ProArt Displays are specially designed for creators working across multiple professional and prosumer disciplines, including movie production, 3D design, digital photography and more. Each ProArt Display is tailored for particular demands, with a focus on delivering outstanding visual experiences through application of the latest display technologies, while the range as a whole is designed to serve the needs of many different kinds of creator.

With ProArt Display, ASUS pioneers the new DisplayHDR 1.1 specification, the industry's first fully open standard to outlines a specific definition for high-dynamic-range (HDR) output quality. Only recently formalized by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), DisplayHDR 1.1 means that creators using ProArt Display products are assured of tighter performance requirements, including for luminance and color gamut.
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Electronic Arts Reports Q4 and Full Year FY20 Financial Results

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btarunr
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Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced preliminary financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter and full year ended March 31, 2020. "We're humbled to see people around the world connecting through our games during this unprecedented period," said CEO Andrew Wilson. "Our focus continues to be on everything we can do for our people, our players, and our communities. Thanks to the amazing dedication and determination of our teams at Electronic Arts, we're able to deliver the games, experiences and content choices that our players are looking for during this challenging time."

"We've had a strong year. Our results this quarter prove the value of the live services path we've been on now for a decade. The breadth and depth of our live services give the flexibility we need at times like this to meet player needs," said COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen. "I want to thank everyone at EA for rising to the challenge. People across the company have shown extraordinary innovation, energy and ingenuity. Learnings from this period will forever change the way we work at EA."
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Activision Blizzard Announces Strong First-quarter 2020 Financial Results

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btarunr
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Activision Blizzard, Inc. today announced first-quarter 2020 results. "Our goal to connect the world through epic entertainment is more important to our players than ever before," said Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard. "We delivered strong financial results for the first quarter, and are raising our full year outlook. I have been awestruck by the strength of our employees and their families during this difficult time. Whether managing healthcare or childcare, performing public service or community service, our teams around the world have shown ingenuity and resilience. In the face of so many difficulties, our employees have made certain that the joy, the engagement, and the benefits of gaming remain an effective way to help keep our 400 million players around the world connected and safe."

For the quarter ended March 31, 2020, Activision Blizzard's net revenues presented in accordance with GAAP were $1.79 billion, as compared with $1.83 billion for the first quarter of 2019. GAAP net revenues from digital channels were $1.44 billion, as compared with $1.39 billion for the first quarter of 2019. GAAP operating margin was 34%. GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.65, as compared with $0.58 for the first quarter of 2019.
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HP Announces New Chromebooks with 10th Gen Intel Core Processors

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btarunr
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HP Inc. today announced new laptops and solutions designed to address the evolving needs of business users everywhere, demonstrating the company's effort to help businesses and remote workers stay productive wherever they may be.

While businesses have been adopting cloud-centric solutions and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to increase security and save costs, the recent pandemic has escalated the need for devices that empower those who primarily work with web applications and virtual desktop tools. In a recent survey, HP discovered that nearly 60% of users working from home during quarantine are doing so with personal machines, presenting significant security risk from unmanaged devices. The average employee is also using 22 cloud-based apps to do their job.
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Halo 2: Anniversary Releasing on the PC on May 12th as Part of The Master Chief Collection

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Raevenlord
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Another installment in the Halo: The Master Chief Collection for PC is gearing up for release. 343 Industries via its Halo Twitter account has just posted an announcement of the coming release on the second numbered installment on the Halo series. The remastered Halo 2 Anniversary was released as part of the Master Chief Collection's original release for the Xbox One way back in 2014, remastering a 2004 video game.
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InWin Announces Availability of the 216 PC Chassis

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Raevenlord
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InWin today announced general availability of their 216 PC chassis. This is a somewhat understated design for the company, and one that will look good on either an RGB-heavy system or a more subdued take on PC technology. The front panel features a solid black, brushed aluminium cover that's classic and understated, with a single brushed aluminium side-plate that brings some color to the entire chassis. Air intakes make-up the right side of the front panel, allowing air to be pulled inside the chassis from up to 3x 120 mm fans. The tempered glass side-panel fastens with a magnetic locking mechanism, which means there's no need to tussle with screws when removing the panel to either upgrade hardware, clean up the chassis' innards, or troubleshoot.

The chassis supports anything from Mini-ITX through E-ATX motherboards, features a vertical GPU installation option (especially good if you have that sweet Cyberpunk 2077 limited edition RTX 2080 Ti, but I digress...). CPU cooler height clearance stands at 166 mm, PSU clearance at 220 mm, graphics card length at a maximum 380 mm, and its storage racks feature support for up to 2x 2.5" SSDs and 5x HDDs. The chassis also features 2x USB 3.0 ports, mic-in and audio-out on top of the front panel, and supports up to 1x 360 mm radiator (on the front of the chassis), alongside a 120 fan/radiator on the back of the chassis and 2x 120 mm fans on top. Like most cases these days, the PSU compartment features a shroud to hide away cabling. Sadly, no word on pricing was available at time of writing.

HP Announces the Omen 27i Monitor: 27" QHD, Nano IPS, 165 Hz, 1 ms, Adaptive Sync

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Raevenlord
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HP today announced the Omen 27i monitor, which promises to deliver a well-rounded amount of features for a not bank-breaking price. The Omen 27i packs a 27" panel (as the name implies) of the Nano IPS type. HP says this means the panel covers a wider color gamut (the company claims a 98% DCI-P3 coverage. This Nano IPS panel is able to achieve 165 Hz refresh rates with a 1 ms response time. That, paired with Adaptive Sync (HP markets it simply as G-Sync compatible), means this is a pretty well-rounded gaming monitor. The 1000:1 contrast ratio, while not particularly impressive, isn't all that bad either. A maximum brightness set at 350 nits, however, means you can lay your HDR dreams to rest.

I/O-wise, we're looking at 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 2x USB 3.0 (upstream) and 1x USB 3.0 (downstream). There's an RGB-lighting diamond on the back of the unit, providing you with some amount of bling. The Omen 27i will be available for $499.

GELID Solutions Launches the BATTLE STATION X PC Chassis

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Raevenlord
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Tech innovator GELID Solutions launches the BATTLE STATION X-the latest Mid-Tower ATX gaming PC case. The BATTLE STATION X is part of GELID Solution's Gamer product line. The BATTLE STATION X is designed for gaming. It features excellent style with tempered glass panels and robust chassis with highly versatile layout. Tailored to accommodate top-performance components, the BATTLE STATION X provides extended space for the latest GPU and high-power PSU,and also supports full-fledged water-cooling setups with front, top or rear radiator mounts fitting up to a 360 mm radiator and 3 optional 120 mm fans.

The BATTLE STATION X boasts multiple storage options with easy-to-use internal drive bays for 3x 3.5" HDD and 2x 2.5" SSD. And especially, a set of USB ports and HD Audio/Mic outputs are located on the top panel to facilitate connection of gaming headsets and other peripherals. "For gamers, details matter. BATTLE STATION X is energized to pursue perfection in every aspect. And you can craft a perfect home for your gaming rig with it", said Gebhard Scherrer, Sales Director of GELID Solutions Ltd. The Battle STATION X is available now and has a MSRP of USD 85.99 or Euro 79.99.
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Intel Xeon vPro and Core E "Comet Lake" Lineup Surfaces

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btarunr
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Remember DFI? Those guys are into industrial PCs and embedded systems these days, and put out data sheets of upcoming products implementing the new Intel W480 chipset. A possible step-up from Intel Qx70 series chipset family, the W480 is positioned between the Q470 and Z490, and enables certain quasi-workstation features relevant to client desktops in very big organizations. The chipset enables vPro, and certain other features that helps with remote management.

The DFI specs, without taking model numbers, names several kinds of upcoming Xeon vPro and 10th generation Core E-SKUs. Among these are Xeon vPro processors in core-counts of 10, 8, and 6; and TDP levels of 80 W, and 35 W. It's not known if the 10th gen Xeon vPro succeed the workstation-segment Xeon E-series, which typically don't work on client-segment chipsets. We also see an assortment of Core i9, Core i7, Core i5, Core i3, Pentium and Celeron processors with the "E" brand extension, across a variety of TDP options. Unless we're horribly mistaken, the "E" brand extension could denote ECC memory support, at least in the case of the W480E and Q470E chipset variants.

Zadak Announces Low-profile Twist Series DDR4 Memory Modules

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btarunr
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ZADAK, a leading provider of enthusiast PC gaming components and innovative water cooling solutions, announces the TWIST, a new DDR4 memory series featuring a low profile design with clock speeds ranging from 2666 MHz to 4133 MHz at a latency of 19-21-21-42 1.4 V, and capacity from 8 GB to 256 GB. Engineered for performance and compatibility, the TWIST DDR4 memories support Intel XMP 2.0 profiles for effortless overclocking, and offer superior heat dissipation with their aluminium alloy heat sink. With a low-profile design and extensive Qualified Vendor List (QVL) certification, they are sure to fit any build. The TWIST Series DDR4 memory modules achieve the maximum capacity of 32 GB for single slot with impressive stability.

Sporting a slim anodized aluminium alloy heat sink, the TWIST Series comes in a matte black and brushed aluminium finish for an elegant and sleek look. The refined low profile and compact design of the TWIST is well thought out to provide optimal heat dissipation without compromising on style.
ZADAK Twist
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ASRock Launches Z490 AQUA Flagship Motherboard Ready for Liquid Cooling

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btarunr
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Leading global motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, proudly announces its latest flagship motherboard, the Z490 AQUA to the delight of gamers and power hungry users alike. And to highlight our launch we are limiting the Z490 AQUA to only 999 units making it extremely valuable. Using the latest 16 Phase 90 A Dr.MOS & 2 oz copper PCBs, it delivers up to 95% VRM efficiency. To keep VRM's and 10-core processors cool even during sustained heavy loads or even overclocking, the Z490 AQUA features an advanced water cooling system that decreases heat on the CPU VRMs to reduce VRM temps dramatically.

Decked in a matte black undershell, the Z490 complements what young gamers want in a machine these days, simple, refined edges encased with a metallic armor which highlights the vibrant, techno LED lighting which screams I'm a water cooling aficionado and a PC mod enthusiast. "Be Aqua, Be Cool" highlights ASRock's determination to be the frontrunner in water-cooled gaming motherboard manufacturers and the PCIe 4.0 ready means it's prepped and the hardware is ready with PCI-Express Gen-4 support. By uniquely adding an external base clock generator, PCIe 4.0 components such as extra slots and an M.2 socket we're assured the motherboard is ready to accommodate the next generation of CPUs.
ASRock Z490 Aqua ASRock Z490 Aqua ASRock Z490 Aqua ASRock Z490 Aqua ASRock Z490 Aqua
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TSMC Secures Orders from NVIDIA for 7nm and 5nm Chips

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btarunr
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TSMC has reportedly secured orders from NVIDIA for chips based on its 7 nm and 5 nm silicon fabrication nodes, sources tell DigiTimes. If true, it could confirm rumors of NVIDIA splitting its next-generation GPU manufacturing between TSMC and Samsung. The Korean semiconductor giant is commencing 5 nm EUV mass production within Q2-2020, and NVIDIA is expected to be one of its customers. NVIDIA is expected to shed light on its next-gen graphics architecture at the GTC 2020 online event held later this month. With its "Turing" architecture approaching six quarters of market presence, it's likely that the decks are being cleared for a new architecture not just in HPC/AI compute product segment, but also GeForce and Quadro consumer graphics cards. Splitting manufacturing between TSMC and Samsung would help NVIDIA disperse any yield issue arriving from either foundry's EUV node, and give it greater bargaining power with both.

SilentiumPC Intros Spartan 4 MAX EVO ARGB CPU Cooler

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btarunr
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SilentiumPC today introduced the Spartan 4 MAX EVO ARGB, a generational update of its Spartan 3 CPU cooler. From the looks of it, the aluminium fin-stack, tower-type heatsink is unchanged from the Spartan 3. Its design involves three 6 mm-thick copper heat pipes making direct contact with the CPU at the base, conveying heat to the fin-stack, which is capped off by a top-plate. What's changed is the fan. A larger Pulsar HP 120 mm fan takes the place of its predecessor's Sigma Pro 100 mm spinner.

The Pulsar HP 120 mm fan included with this cooler features translucent white material across both the fan-frame and the impeller, with bright ARGB LEDs in the impeller hub projecting soft-glow light through both. The fan spins between 250 to 1,600 RPM, with a 50,000-hour rated hydraulic bearing. With the fan in place, the Spartan 4 MAX EVO ARGB measures 143 mm x 124 mm x 71 mm (HxWxD), weighing 497 g. Its designers rate its thermal capacity at 125 W. Among the CPU socket types supported are LGA1200, LGA115x, and AM4. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Huawei Ready to Enter PC Industry with Custom OS and Processor

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AleksandarK
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Since the debut of its plans to create a custom Operating System and make itself independent from everyone, Huawei has been working hard to bring that idea to life. Creating custom software and custom hardware solutions, Huawei's engineers have been rather busy. And now, Huawei aims to be the new player in the Chinese PC industry, replacing the already available solutions that have foreign technology with potential backdoors that could represent a threat to Chinese information security. So to prepare for that, Huawei is creating a custom OS called HarmonyOS that will accompany custom hardware solutions.

The HarmonyOS was announced last year at Huawei Developer Conference 2019 (HDC 2019) as a project Huawei is working on. However, it seems like that project will become some of the more important things the company is working on. A well-known person for tipping about the latest industry news on Weibo said that Huawei is preparing to launch custom PCs very soon for domestic (Chinese) audience. Huawei is supposedly working with major cities and regions in China to supply its infrastructure with new solutions. And what those solutions will be? Well, Huawei plans to combine the HarmonyOS with its already launched Kunpeng Desktop Board.
Huawei Kunpeng Desktop Board Huawei Kunpeng Desktop Board
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Tachyum Prodigy is a Small 128-core Processor with Crazy I/O Options, 64-core Sibling Enroute Production

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btarunr
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Silicon Valley startup Tachyum, founded in 2016, is ready with its crowning product, the Tachyum Prodigy. The startup recently received an investment from the Slovak government in hopes of job-creation in the country. The Prodigy is what its makers call "a universal processor," which "outperforms the fastest Xeon at 10X lower power." The company won't mention what machine architecture it uses (whether it's Arm or MIPS, or its own architecture). Its data-sheet is otherwise full of specs that scream at you.

To begin with, its top trim, the Prodigy T16128, packs 128 cores on a single package, complete with 64-bit address space, 512-bit vector extensions, matrix multiplication fixed-function hardware that accelerate AI/ML, and 4 IPC at up to 4.00 GHz core clock. Tachyum began the processor's software-side support, with an FPGA emulator in December 2019 (so you can emulate the processor on an FPGA and begin developing for it), C/C++ and Fortran compilers; debuggers and profilers, tensorflow compilers, and a Linux distribution that's optimized it. The I/O capabilities of this chip are something else.
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World of Warcraft Set to Receive Ray Tracing Support with Shadowlands Alpha

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Uskompuf
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Blizzard Entertainment is set to bring a significant upgrade to World of Warcraft's graphics just in time for the next expansion. A new Ray Traced Shadow option was discovered by Jaydaa over at the Wowhead forums on the Shadowlands Alpha, the ray tracing settings can be viewed on the alpha but can't be enabled yet. When Blizzard enables Ray Tracing support, players with NVIDIA RTX graphics cards will be able to take advantage of more realistic shadows and lighting within the game. The screenshots show the option for three levels of ray tracing fidelity from fair to good and up to high which will each offer higher resolution and more detailed lighting.

Leaked Benchmark Shows Intel Core i5-10400 Matching i7-9700F in Gaming Performance

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Uskompuf
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Benchmarks for one of the recently announced 10th generation Intel Core chips have been leaked early by Chinese review channel Bilibili as reported by @Momomo_US. The mid-range Intel Core i5-10400 is a new 6 core/12 thread CPU with a base clock of 2.9 GHz and a max all core boost of 4.0 GHz with a recommended customer price of $182. The Core i5-10400 was put up against the current-gen Core i5-9400F and Core i7-9700F in a variety of games by Bilibili with the i5-10400 matching or beating the i7-9700F in most tests.

The Intel Core i7-9700F is an 8 core/8 thread CPU that was released in 2019 with a recommended customer price of $310 which it still retails for today. To see the i5-10400 match the i7-9700F is significant news for gamers as Intel is forced to lower prices and increase performance as the threat of Ryzen 3000 looms. The CPU was tested in Grand Theft Auto V and Assassins Creed Odyssey at 1080p where the i5-10400 came ahead in Assassins Creed Odyssey and just behind the i7-9700F in Grand Theft Auto V. The full results can be viewed below.

QNAP Launches TS-451DeU 2.5GbE 4-Bay Rackmount NAS

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Uskompuf
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QNAP Systems, today introduced the new dual-core 2.0 GHz short depth rackmount 4-bay NAS - TS-451DeU. Featuring a compact 1U 12-inch-depth chassis that allows easy installation in small media cabinets or places with a lot of cabling, the TS-451DeU provides dual 2.5 GbE ports, two M.2 2280 SATA 6 Gb/s SSD slots, storage scalability, and highly-anticipated business and media features. The TS-451DeU is an ideal cost-effective entry-level rackmount NAS.

"The TS-451DeU presents a modern 2.5 GbE NAS solution for businesses to tackle everyday tasks like file backup/restore, and to boost team collaboration with higher productivity," said Jason Hsu, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "As the short depth design is suited for media cabinets, the TS-451DeU is also an ideal multimedia server with the support of video streaming and transcoding."
TS-451DeU
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Monday, May 4th 2020

Today's Reviews

Cases
CPU Coolers
Graphics Cards
Monitors
Motherboards
Networking
SSD
Zalman CNPS20X Review - The Noctua Killer?

Zalman CNPS20X Review - The Noctua Killer?

Review CPU Coolers
Zalman looks to KO the juggernauts of the air-cooling world with their CNPS 20X. Using a fancy 4D stereoscopic corrugated fin design along with their unique dual-blade spider ARGB fans, they are not only looking to deliver on performance but visual style as well.
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ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming Preview

ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming Preview

Article Motherboards
Our first look at ASUS's Z490 lineup, the ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming features a powerful VRM, optional active VRM cooling, lots of connectivity, and of course some killer good looks. If you are looking for a board that can do it all, the ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming is a good place to start.
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Lexar NM610 1 TB M.2 NVMe SSD Review

Lexar NM610 1 TB M.2 NVMe SSD Review

Review SSD
Lexar's NM610 is built using a Silicon Motion SM2263XT controller, paired with Intel 3D TLC flash. The pseudo-SLC cache is rather large at 128 GB, which ensures big write bursts get handled at full speed. Pricing at $155 for a DRAM-less SSD seems a bit high, though.
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ASUS Announces Tinker Edge R with AI Machine-Learning Capabilities

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btarunr
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ASUS today announced Tinker Edge R, a single-board computer (SBC) specially designed for AI applications. It uses a Rockchip RK3399Pro NPU, a machine-learning (ML) accelerator that speeds up processing efficiency, lowers power demands and makes it easier to build connected devices and intelligent applications.

With this integrated ML accelerator, Tinker Edge R can perform three tera-operations per second (3 TOPS), using low power consumption. It also features an optimized neural-network (NN) architecture, which means Tinker Edge R can support multiple ML frameworks and allow lots of common ML models to be compiled and run easily.
ASUS Tinker Edge R
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NERSC Finalizes Contract for Perlmutter Supercomputer Powered by AMD Milan and NVIDIA Volta-Successor

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btarunr
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The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), the mission high-performance computing facility for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, has moved another step closer to making Perlmutter - its next-generation GPU-accelerated supercomputer - available to the science community in 2020.

In mid-April, NERSC finalized its contract with Cray - which was acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) in September 2019 - for the new system, a Cray Shasta supercomputer that will feature 24 cabinets and provide 3-4 times the capability of NERSC's current supercomputer, Cori. Perlmutter will be deployed at NERSC in two phases: the first set of 12 cabinets, featuring GPU-accelerated nodes, will arrive in late 2020; the second set, featuring CPU-only nodes, will arrive in mid-2021. A 35-petabyte all-flash Lustre-based file system using HPE's ClusterStor E1000 hardware will also be deployed in late 2020.
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Intel "Tiger Lake" and "Lakefield" to Launch Around September-October, 2020

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btarunr
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The 11th generation Intel Core "Tiger Lake" mobile processor and pioneering "Lakefield" heterogenous x86 processor could debut around September or October, 2020, according to a leaked Lenovo internal slide posted by NotebookCheck. It also points to Intel denoting future processors' lithography with Foveros 3D Packaging as simply "3D," and not get into a nanometer number-game with AMD (which is now in 7 nm and on course to 5 nm in 2022). This makes sense as Foveros allows the combination of dies built on different silicon fabrication nodes.

"Tiger Lake" is still denoted as a 10 nm as it's a planar chip. Intel is developing it on a refined 10 nm+ silicon fabrication process, which apparently enables Intel to increase clock speeds without breaking the target power envelope. "Tiger Lake" sees the commercial debut of Intel's ambitious Xe graphics architecture as an iGPU solution. "Lakefield," on the other hand, is a 5-core processor combining four "Tremont" low power x86-64 cores with a "Sunny Cove" high-powered core, in a setup rivaling Arm big.LITTLE, enabling the next generation of mobile computing form-factors, which Intel and its partners are still figuring out under Project Athena.

NVIDIA Acquires Network-Software Trailblazer Cumulus

Press Release by
btarunr
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Cloud data centers are evolving to an architecture that is accelerated, disaggregated and software-defined to meet the exponential growth in AI and high performance computing. To build these modern data centers, HPC and networking hardware and software must go hand in hand. NVIDIA provides the leading accelerated computing platform. Mellanox is the high-performance networking leader, now part of NVIDIA in a combination described in our founder and CEO's welcome letter.

Today we announce our plan to acquire Cumulus Networks, bolstering our networking software capabilities. The combination enables the new era of the accelerated, software-defined data center. With Cumulus, NVIDIA can innovate and optimize across the entire networking stack from chips and systems to software including analytics like Cumulus NetQ, delivering great performance and value to customers. This open networking platform is extensible and allows enterprise and cloud-scale data centers full control over their operations.
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The Last of Us Part II is Now Gold, Ready for Publication, June 19 Release

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btarunr
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"The Last of Us Part II" by Naughty Dog studios, is now gold (ready for publication), according to its creative director Neil Druckmann. The game will release on June 19, 2020. Druckmann appealed to gamers to not judge the game on the basis of online leaks and actually play it. "No matter what you've seen or heard or read, nothing compares to playing this game from beginning to end. It's a video game, you've got to play it," he said. The game will debut exclusively on PlayStation 4. The latest chapter in the story-driven post-apocalyptic adventure is a sequel to the 2013 original, and has you play as the 19-year old Ellie, who must survive a mysterious cult.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 Now Available

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btarunr
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Much of the fanfare surrounding AMD's high-end Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 "Renoir" mobile processors were captured by the 14-inch ROG Zephyrus G14 notebook, and now ASUS got around to shipping its bigger (albeit lesser endowed) sibling, the Zephyrus G15 (variant: GA502IU). This gaming notebook features a 15.6-inch 144 Hz Full HD IPS display. Under the hood are an AMD Ryzen 7 4800HS (35 W) 8-core/16-thread processors, 16 GB of memory, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics, and a 1 TB NVMe SSD. Connectivity includes 802.11ax WLAN, Bluetooth 5, 1 GbE wired Ethernet, and a USB 3.2 gen 2 type-C with power-delivery compliance. It is now selling for USD $1,299.

ASUS Intros ROG Strix GT35 Gaming Desktop with 10th Gen Core Processors

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btarunr
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ASUS today rolled out its latest ROG Strix GT35 pre-built gaming desktop, powered by 10th generation Intel Core desktop processors. The top variant of this desktop is powered by an Intel Core i9-10900KF processor, paired with 64 GB of high frequency DDR4 memory, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics, an ASUS ROG Strix Z490-series motherboard, and a 240 mm x 120 mm AIO liquid CPU cooler taming the 10-core beast. Storage is care of a 1 TB NVMe SSD and a 2 TB SATA HDD. The desktop otherwise features the same chassis and connectivity options as the AMD Ryzen 9 3950X-powered ROG Strix GA35 desktop from March, which include Wi-Fi 6 and 2.5 GbE support. The company didn't reveal pricing.

AMD Formally Promotes Updating Radeon RX 5600 XT BIOS for Faster Memory

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btarunr
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AMD finally got around to officially talking about its sneaky last-minute specs update of the Radeon RX 5600 XT graphics card, which saw its memory frequency increased to 14 Gbps from its original 12 Gbps, in a bid to make it competitive against the price-cut GeForce RTX 2060. In a blog post subheaded "Unlock the full potential of your Radeon RX 5600 XT today," AMD tabulated all the graphics cards eligible for a video BIOS update that increases memory- and GPU clock speeds; along with links to support pages on their manufacturer website. We already made such a list. The AMD table also lists out certain custom-design cards that come with 14 Gbps memory out of the box, for which a BIOS update isn't needed. Find the table in the AMD blog post here.

Microsoft Delays Surface Neo Launch to 2021, if not Later

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btarunr
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Microsoft has reportedly delayed launch of its Surface Neo launch. The dual-screen foldable PC/tablet convertible was originally slated for Holiday 2020 at its October 2019 announcement, but the company feels it's not ready with it. It could now launch at an appropriate date, either in 2021 or later. Microsoft's ambitious new Windows 10X operating system, originally designed for dual-screen devices such as the Surface Neo, will now debut with single-screen devices that have a touchscreen (such as 2-in-1 notebooks in conventional 360° clamshell form-factors), confirmed Panos Panay, Windows client- and devices head, in a blog post dated Monday (4/5). From the looks of it, the company is focused on getting Windows 10 May 2020 Update (2004) out as smoothly as possible.

MSI Intros Codex R 10th and MEG Trident X Gaming Desktops with 10th Gen Core Processors

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btarunr
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MSI updated its pre-built gaming desktop product stack with the introduction of two models that are powered by 10th generation Intel Core "Comet Lake-S" desktop processors. The Codex R 10th features a more conventional ATX mid-tower design, and comes in two variants. The top variant (model: CODEXR10SC002) is powered by an Intel Core i7-10700F processor, 16 GB of memory, and GeForce RTX 2060 graphics, The value variant (CODEXR10SC003) comes with a Core i5-10400F processor, 8 GB of RAM, and GeForce GTX 1660 Super graphics. Both are based on an Intel B460 chipset motherboard, and offer a 512 GB SSD. A Clutch GM11 mouse and Vigor GK30 keyboard come included with both.

Next up, is the MEG Trident X, a high-end compact gaming desktop that brings the coveted MEG brand to the segment. Inside its 5.1" x 15.06" x 15.6" chassis is high-end hardware that comes in three variants. The top "TridentX862" variant packs a Core i9-10900K processor, 64 GB of DDR4 memory, GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics, and a combination of 1 TB NVMe SSD and 1 TB HDD. The middle variant, "TridentX863," is powered by a Core i7-10700F processor, 32 GB of memory, GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics, and 1 TB NVMe SSD. The most affordable "TridentX864" variant uses the same i7-10700F processor and 32 GB of memory, but paired with RTX 2070 Super graphics. All three use a Z490 chipset Mini-ITX motherboard. Clutch GM11 and Vigor GK30 come included with all three variants. The company didn't reveal pricing.

A Unification of DisplayPort 2.0 and USB 4.0 Is Underway, Due for 2021

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btarunr
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The graphics cards of the near-future could see a gradual phase out of standard-size DisplayPorts in favor of USB 4, starting 2021, according to a CNET report. Within the USB standard, the type-C port could see a significant growth in proliferation, and a possible phase-out of type-A ports, beginning with notebooks. The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), had in Q3-2019 announced the USB 4.0 specification, with development of the first implementations of the standard underway.

According to the CNET report, some time in 2021, USB 4.0 type-C ports could include DisplayPort 2.0 wiring, enabling 8K and 16K displays with a single cable. USB 4.0 will also make significant strides in other directions, such as support for 40 Gbps bandwidth (80 Gbps in x2 mode). It also implements tunneling technology carried over from the Thunderbolt specification, allowing you to daisy-chain devices (such as plugging in an external hard drive to a USB 4 monitor).

Intel Acquires Moovit to Accelerate Mobileye's Mobility-as-a-Service Offering

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btarunr
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Intel Corporation today announced it has acquired Moovit, a mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) solutions company, for approximately $900 million ($840 million net of Intel Capital equity gain). Moovit is known for its urban mobility application that offers travelers around the world the best multimodal trip planning by combining public transportation, bicycle and scooter services, ride-hailing, and car-sharing. The addition of Moovit brings Intel's Mobileye closer to achieving its plan to become a complete mobility provider, including robotaxi services, which is forecast to be an estimated $160 billion opportunity by 2030.

"Intel's purpose is to create world-changing technology that enriches the lives of every person on Earth, and our Mobileye team delivers on that purpose every day," said Bob Swan, Intel CEO. "Mobileye's ADAS technology is already improving the safety of millions of cars on the road, and Moovit accelerates their ability to truly revolutionize transportation - reducing congestion and saving lives - as a full-stack mobility provider."
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Intel 10th Gen Core Desktop K-SKUs Available First

Updated by
btarunr
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Intel launched its 10th generation Core desktop processor family last week, with the announcement of a staggering 22 SKUs (32 if you count energy-efficient T-SKUs). This got us wondering if some of the deliciously-priced SKUs such as the $157 6-core/12-thread Core i5-10400F would be available in the first wave. Turns out, it might not.

Apparently, Intel has a split launch schedule for these processors, but in the very first wave, only the unlocked K-SKUs will be available in the market. These would include the 6-core/12-thread Core i5-10600K at $262 (1k-unit tray pricing), the 8-core/16-thread Core i7-10700K at $374, and the flagship 10-core/20-thread Core i9-10900K at $488). The three SKUs will be available in markets within May 2020.

Update May 4th: Intel confirmed that the KF-SKUs will also be part of the first wave.

Is This the Future of Unreal Engine 4?

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Raevenlord
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The folks over at Dekogon Studios, a game art outsourcing studio, have published on their ArtStation account some Unreal Engine 4 renders to showcase their creative vision and technological mastering of Epic's acclaimed engine. Being one of the more commonly used game development engines due to its rendering quality, ease of use and pipeline flexibility, Unreal Engine is one of the benchmarks for visual quality in the gaming world. These renders from Dekogon Studios using the latest version of Unreal Engine and employing raytracing are absolutely beautiful and incredibly, richly detailed.

While we don't know how many frames per second a modern graphics card could generate at this level of detail (or if it would take seconds to generate a single frame), one can always dream of gaming in environments with the same quality as the showcased basketball court or science classroom (FEAR 2, anyone?). Other environments are slightly less impressive and seem to have taken slightly less attention, but I myself can pretty much see this level of detail on my next Life is Strange or Detroit: Become Human. So, games development studios... Make it happen, please! Look after the break for some videos showcasing these beautiful environments.
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China's Yangtze Memory Technologies' 64L Xtacking NAND Competitive Against Mainstream Manufacturers' Solutions

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Raevenlord
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China's plans for world domination include the country slowly retracting itself from its dependency on western companies' technologies, via heavy acceleration of plans for and production of a myriad of semiconductor technologies. One of the more important technologies amongst those due to its relative ease of manufacture and overall market value is, of course, NAND technology. And the days of China being undoubtedly behind other manufacturers' technologies seems to be coming to an end, with the countries' Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) 64-layer Xtacking TLC NAND design already achieving pretty impressive results compared to its mainstream counterparts.

Xtacking technology is expected to disrupt the $52 billion NAND memory market and its big players such as Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix, Kioxia, Western Digital, and Intel. The technology separates periphery circuits and memory cell operations towards a separate wafer, which allows for increased performance and throughput compared to other designs. Senior technical fellow Jeongdong Choe at Ottawa, Canada-based TechInsights (a company specializing in reverse-engineering semiconductor technology) has told EE Times YMTC's 64-layer, 256 Gb die bit density is 4.41 Gb/mm, which is higher than the Samsung equivalent 256 Gb die at 3.42 Gb/mm.
Cross-section SEM image along BL direction showing YMTC Xtacking architecture Objective Analysis’ annual report, China’s Memory Ambitions 2019
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HP Updates OMEN Desktops, Gaming Displays, and Command Center

Press Release by
btarunr
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Debuting a new OMEN look and feel, today HP unveiled the OMEN 25L and 30L Desktops, engineered for gaming performance, designed for immersion, and crafted for gaming expansion. Both desktops perfectly pair with the latest immersive OMEN 27i Gaming Monitor with powerful specs to enhance gaming experiences and let the action take center stage.

With people spending more time at home, gaming has increased dramatically as players look to find social connections and outlets for stress relief and entertainment. In late March 2020, Steam set a record with over 23.5 million concurrent active users, an increase of more than three million people compared to the then record number of users just two weeks prior. The latest OMEN devices are built with powerful premium components and technology that addresses the mounting needs of all gamers, veterans and newcomers alike.
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Apple Updates 13-Inch MacBook Pro with Magic Keyboard, Double the Storage, and Faster Performance

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btarunr
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Apple today updated the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the new Magic Keyboard for the best typing experience ever on a Mac notebook and doubled the storage across all standard configurations, delivering even more value to the most popular MacBook Pro. The new lineup also offers 10th-generation processors for up to 80 percent faster graphics performance and makes 16 GB of faster 3733 MHz memory standard on select configurations. With powerful quad-core processors, the brilliant 13-inch Retina display, Touch Bar and Touch ID, immersive stereo speakers, all-day battery life, and the power of macOS, all in an incredibly portable design, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is available to order today, starting at $1,299, and $1,199 for education.

"Whether you're a college student, a developer, or a creative pro, the 13-inch MacBook Pro delivers powerful performance, a stunning Retina display, and all-day battery life in our most portable pro notebook. Today we're adding the new Magic Keyboard, doubling the standard storage, and boosting performance, making the 13-inch MacBook Pro an even better value for our customers," said Tom Boger, Apple's senior director of Mac and iPad Product Marketing. "With these updates, our entire notebook lineup features the Magic Keyboard for the best typing experience ever on a Mac notebook, offers twice the standard storage than before, and delivers even more performance."
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OriginPC Announces EVO15-S Gaming Notebook and NT-15 Mobile Workstation

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btarunr
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ORIGIN PC announced the availability of the all-new EVO15-S gaming laptop and NT-15 workstation laptop, both powered by Intel Core 10th Gen processors featuring up to 8 cores and 16 threads. The all-new laptops offer improved performance over their predecessors, while still in a thin and light body.

The EVO15-S and NT-15 are the first laptops from ORIGIN PC to feature 10th generation Intel Core processors. Powered by an Intel Core i7-10875H 8-core processor, gamers and professionals can take advantage of a 5.10 GHz clock speed with Intel Max Turbo technology. Play the latest games with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX SUPER graphics card, up to an RTX 2080 SUPER, and enable real-time ray tracing and other RTX features. Add up to 64 GB of RAM to the EVO15-S or NT-15 laptops to run multiple programs at once.
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HyperX Chosen as Memory Provider for New HP OMEN Desktop PCs

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btarunr
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HyperX, the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., today announced it is the high-performance base memory provider for HP's new OMEN Desktops and upgrades. HyperX FURY DDR4 RGB or FURY DDR4 memory will be integrated into the OMEN 25L and OMEN 30L Desktops and are fully upgradable.

"HyperX is excited to provide high performance gaming grade memory for the new OMEN Desktops," said Larry Gonzales, sales and marketing VP, HyperX. "Gaming enthusiasts expect the best, and OMEN exemplifies a collaborative attitude to provide quality and reliable memory to satisfy gamers' performance needs."
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Intel 10th Gen Core "Comet Lake" Desktop Processor CPUID, TDP, and cTDP Revealed

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btarunr
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Internal documents of Intel's 10th generation Core "Comet Lake" processor family, leaked by momomo_us, reveal the CPUID, TDP, and configurable-TDP values of the various desktop SKUs. Intel broadly classifies Comet Lake by core-count and companion iGPU tier. The 10-core Comet Lake die ships with 125 W, 65 W, and 35 W TDP, for the K/KF, locked, and T-SKUs, respectively.

For the desktop Comet Lake-S, there are only two iGPU tiers, GT2 (iGPU present in UHD 630 flavor), or completely disabled (denoted as GT0). The charts detailing the non-Turbo clock speeds reveal that the presence or absence of iGPU has no impact on TDP, cTDP, or CPU frequencies. The "Comet Lake" 10-core + GT2 silicon is listed with a CPUID of A0655h, while the 6-core + GT2 and 4-core + GT2 variants share the A0653h CPUID.

Intel's Alder Lake Processors Could use Foveros 3D Stacking and Feature 16 Cores

by
AleksandarK
 Discuss (40 Comments)
Intel is preparing lots of interesting designs for the future and it is slowly shaping their vision for the next generation of computing devices. Following the big.LITTLE design principle of Arm, Intel decided to try and build its version using x86-64 cores instead of Arm ones, called Lakefield. And we already have some information about the new Alder Lake CPUs based on Lakefield design that are set to be released in the future. Thanks to a report from Chrome Unboxed, who found the patches submitted to Chromium open-source browser, used as a base for many browsers like Google Chrome and new Microsoft Edge, there is a piece of potential information that suggests Alder Lake CPUs could arrive very soon.

Rumored to feature up to 16 cores, Alder Lake CPUs could present an x86 iteration of the big.LITTLE design, where one pairs eight "big" and eight "small" cores that are activated according to increased or decreased performance requirements, thus bringing the best of both worlds - power efficiency and performance. This design would be present on Intel's 3D packaging technology called Foveros. The Alder Lake CPU support patch was added on April 27th to the Chrome OS repository, which would indicate that Intel will be pushing these CPUs out relatively quickly. The commit message titled "add support for ADL gpiochip" contained the following: "On Alderlake platform, the pinctrl (gpiochip) driver label is "INTC105x:00", hence declare it properly." The Chrome Unboxed speculates that Alder Lake could come out in mid or late 2021, depending on how fast Intel could supply OEMs with enough volume.
Intel Lakefield

AMD Ramps Up Custom SoC Production for Next-Generation Consoles

by
AleksandarK
 Discuss (4 Comments)
Both Sony and Microsoft are expected to soon launch their next-generation consoles, which are highly anticipated among console gamers as they will bring some of the latest advancements in graphics, like ray tracing. The current situation in the world is that everything is slowed down due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Companies across the world have mostly slowed down their production lines due to the less demand, however, AMD has done exactly the opposite for their custom SoC customers. In wake of expected high demand, AMD has ramped up its production lines so it can supply Sony and Microsoft for their next-generation consoles—PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. This is an encouraging sign that the demand is going to be strong - and that AMD is up to the task of delivering.
AMD custom SoC

Samsung/AMD Radeon GPU for Smartphones is Reportedly Beating the Competition

by
AleksandarK
 Discuss (44 Comments)
Samsung and AMD announced last year their strategic partnership to bring AMD RDNA GPUs to the Samsung mobile chips and use that as the only GPU going forward. And now, some performance numbers are going around about the new RDNA smartphone GPU that is compared to Qualcomm Adreno 650 GPU. Thanks to the South Korean technology forum "Clien", they have obtained some alleged performance results of new GPU in the GFXBench benchmark. The baseline in these tests is the Qualcomm Adreno 650 GPU, which scored 123 FPS in Manhattan 3.1 test, 53 FPS in Aztec Normal, and 20 FPS in Aztec High.

The welcome surprise here is the new RDNA GPU Samsung is pursuing. It has scored an amazing 181 FPS in Manhattan 3.1 test (up 47% from Adreno 650), 138 FPS in Aztec Normal (up almost 200% from Adreno 650), and 58 FPS in Aztec High which is 190% higher compared to Adreno 650. This performance results could be very true, as the Samsung and AMD collaboration should give first results in 2021 when the competition will be better, and they need to prepare for that. You always start designing a processor for next-generation workloads and performance if you want to be competitive by the time you release a product.
AMD RDNA GPU

KeysWorlds Announces Mother's Day Sale: Upgrade Windows for Free When You Buy Genuine Office

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btarunr
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Valve Removes SteamVR Support on macOS

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Uskompuf
 Discuss (3 Comments)
Valve has announced that SteamVR will drop support for the macOS platform so that development teams can focus on Windows and Linux support. SteamVR users running macOS who wish to continue using SteamVR will need to opt-in for legacy macOS builds from the "Beta" tab under SteamVR properties. This measure will probably stop functioning relatively quickly as new hardware and software changes appear. This move doesn't come as much of a surprise as the macOS platform isn't known for its VR activity, in the long-term macOS users will have to migrate to an alternate operating system or dual boot if they wish to continue accessing SteamVR.

GeForce NOW Gains NVIDIA DLSS 2.0 Support In Latest Update

by
Uskompuf
 Discuss (11 Comments)
NVIDIA's game streaming service GeForce NOW has gained support for NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) 2.0 in the latest update. DLSS 2.0 uses the tensor cores found in RTX series graphics cards to render games at a lower resolution and then use custom AI to construct sharp, higher resolution images. The introduction of DLSS 2.0 to GeForce NOW should allow for graphics quality to be improved on existing server hardware and deliver a smoother stutter-free gaming experience. NVIDIA announced that Control would be the first game on the platform to support DLSS 2.0, with additional games such as MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries and Deliver Us The Moon to support the feature in the future.
Sunday, May 3rd 2020

ENERMAX Launches LIBLLUSION LL30 RGB Case

Press Release by
Uskompuf
 Discuss (4 Comments)
ENERMAX, a leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance PC hardware products, announces the new addressable RGB ATX computer case, LIBLLUSION LL30 is available in Europe. LIBLLUSION LL30 comes with one SquA RGB fan at the rear; the built-in integrated hub can support up to 6 addressable RGB devices lighting in sync with an ARGB-ready motherboard software or the lighting control through this computer case.

Utilizing the line element, the front panel of LIBLLUSION LL30 is embellished by the multiple lighting strips which part of them is the reflection of the light from the interior system through the vents on the top and bottom of the front panel. The clever vent design on the front panel combines the in-take airflow efficiency and the beauty of light.
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MSI Unveils MPG Z490 Gaming Pro Carbon EK X Motherboard

by
btarunr
 Discuss (1 Comment)
MSI unveiled a premium variant of its MPG Z490 Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard with a factory-fitted monoblock, the MPG Z490 Gaming Pro Carbon EK X. As its name suggests, the monoblock is supplied by EK Water Blocks. It uses nickel-plated copper as its primary material, and has a clear acrylic top with some faux carbon-fiber embellishments. The block is studded with addressable RGB LEDs that plug into one of the motherboard's 3-pin ARGB headers.

The monoblock uses a micro fin lattice over the CPU socket, and has its main coolant channel pass through not just the CPU, but also the CPU VRM area. There's some prominent "Carbon EK X" branding over another strip of faux carbon-fiber at the PCH heatsink. The rest of the board's design and feature-set are identical to the original MPG Z490 Gaming Pro Carbon. The company didn't reveal pricing, although an EK Quantum series monoblock like the one featured here should add at least $140 to the original board's price.

Core i3-10100 vs. Ryzen 3 3100 Featherweight 3DMark Showdown Surfaces

by
btarunr
 Discuss (14 Comments)
AMD's timely announcement of the Ryzen 3 "Matisse" processor series could stir things up in the entry-level as Intel kitted its 10th generation Core i3 processors as 4-core/8-thread. Last week, a head-to-head Cinebench comparison between the i3-10300 and 3300X ensued, and today we have a 3DMark Firestrike and Time Spy comparison between their smaller siblings, the i3-10100 and the 3100, courtesy of Thai PC enthusiast TUM_APISAK. The two were benchmarked on Time Spy and Fire Strike on otherwise constant hardware: an RTX 2060 graphics card, 16 GB of memory, and a 1 TB Samsung 970 EVO SSD.

With Fire Strike, the 3100-powered machine leads in overall 3DMark score (by 0.31%), CPU-dependent Physics score (by 13.7%), and the Physics test. The i3-10100 is ahead by 1.4% in the Graphics score thanks to a 1.6% lead in graphics test 1, and 1.4% lead in graphics test 2. Over to the more advanced Time Spy test, which uses the DirectX 12 API that better leverages multi-core CPUs, we see the Ryzen 3 3100 post a 0.63% higher overall score, 1.5% higher CPU score; while the i3-10100 powered machines post within 1% higher graphics score. These numbers may suggest that the i3-10100 and the 3100 are within striking distance of each other and that either is a good pick for gamers, until you look at pricing. Intel's official pricing for the i3-10100 is $122 (per chip in 1,000-unit tray), whereas AMD lists the SEP price of the Ryzen 3 3100 at $99 (the Intel chip is at least 22% pricier), giving AMD a vast price-performance advantage that's hard to ignore, more so when you take into account value additions such as an unlocked multiplier and PCIe gen 4.0.

AMD B550 Chipset Motherboards Priced Roughly on-par with B450 Based Ones

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btarunr
 Discuss (27 Comments)
AMD's upcoming B550 desktop chipset, which plays second-fiddle to the premium X570, could bring relief to gaming PC builders wanting to put together 3rd gen Ryzen desktops with PCI-Express gen 4.0 graphics and M.2 SSD connectivity on the cheap. Pricing of a handful ASUS B550 motherboards was leaked to the web by Australian retailer ICIT.net.au, who listed the somewhat premium ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming for AUD $262.90, including GST (converts to USD $167 including all taxes). The retailer also lists TUF B550-Plus Gaming and Prime B550M-A at the same exact price, which could be pre-launch inflation (so we're going by the price of what could be the best-endowed SKUs among the three).

If this pricing holds up, B550 based boards could launch at prices close to those of B450 boards at launch. The B550 is AMD's mid-range desktop chipset that is expected to enable PCI-Express gen 4.0, at least where it matters the most (the main x16 slot and the M.2 slot that's wired to the AM4 SoC). Much like its predecessors, the B450 and B350, it could enable CPU- and memory overclocking. Reports dating back to Q3-2019 point to the B550 being ASMedia-sourced, and having a far lower chipset TDP than the X570 (making do with passive heatsinks like the AMD 400-series).

NVIDIA DGX A100 is its "Ampere" Based Deep-learning Powerhouse

by
btarunr
 Discuss (18 Comments)
NVIDIA will give its DGX line of pre-built deep-learning research workstations its next major update in the form of the DGX A100. This system will likely pack number of the company's upcoming Tesla A100 scalar compute accelerators based on its next-generation "Ampere" architecture and "GA100" silicon. The A100 came to light though fresh trademark applications by the company. As for specs and numbers, we don't know yet. The "Volta" based DGX-2 has up to sixteen "GV100" based Tesla boards adding up to 81,920 CUDA cores and 512 GB of HBM2 memory. One can expect NVIDIA to beat this count. The leading "Ampere" part could be HPC-focused, featuring a large CUDA-, and tensor core count, besides exotic memory such as HBM2E. We should learn more about it at the upcoming GTC 2020 online event.

Intel Teases "Big Daddy" Xe-HP GPU

Update 2 by
AleksandarK
 Updated: Discuss (68 Comments)
The Intel Graphics Twitter account was on fire today, because they posted an update on the development of the Xe graphics processor, mentioning that samples are ready and packed up in quite an interesting package. The processor in question was discovered to be a Xe-HP GPU variant with an estimated die size of 3700 mm², which means we sure are talking about a multi-chip package here. How we concluded that it is the Xe-HP GPU, is by words of Raja Koduri, senior vice president, chief architect, general manager for Architecture, Graphics, and Software at Intel. He made a tweet, which was later deleted, that says this processor is a "baap of all", meaning "big daddy of them all" when translated from Hindi.

Mr. Koduri previously tweeted a photo of the Intel Graphics team at India, which has been working on the same "baap of all" GPU, which suggests this is a Xe-HP chip. It seems that this is not the version of the GPU made for HPC workloads (this is reserved for the Xe-HPC GPU), this model could be a direct competitor to offers like NVIDIA Quadro or AMD Radeon Pro. We can't wait to learn more about Intel's Xe GPUs, so stay tuned. Mr. Koduri has confirmed that this GPU will be used only for Data Centric applications as it is needed to "keep up with the data we are generating". He has also added that the focus for gaming GPUs is to start off with better integrated GPUs and low power chips above that, that could reach millions of users. That will be a good beginning as that will enable software preparation for possible high-performance GPUs in future.

Update May 2: changed "father" to "big daddy", as that's the better translation for "baap".
Update 2, May 3rd: The GPU is confirmed to be a Data Center component.
Friday, May 1st 2020
Cooler Master MH630 Review

Cooler Master MH630 Review

Review Headphones
The Cooler Master MH630 is a no-nonsense $59 analog gaming headset. The MH630 should be at the top of the list for anyone who is after a brand-name gaming headset that doesn't break the bank and has a good price-performance ratio.
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Schenker Announces XMG Ultra Laptop Featuring up to Intel Core i9-10900K and up to NVIDIA RTX 2080 SUPER

by
Raevenlord
 Discuss (16 Comments)
Schenker today announced the release of their XMG Ultra laptops, which have been purpose/built as desktop alternatives. This means there are no limitations on hardware, and that portability or battery life aren't crucial factors - power is. To that effect, the XMG Ultra launches with a Z490/based motherboard and support for up to a ten-core Intel Core i9-10900K (the Core i7-10700K, with 8 cores, and the Core i7-10600K, with six cores, are also available). You can pair these CPUs with NVIDIA's RTX 2060 SUPER, 2070 SUPER, or 2080 SUPER for close to ultimate performance when it comes to available hardware. You can configure your XMG Ultra with up to 128 GB of system RAM.

Monitor options include a 17,3" 1080p 240 Hz, G-Sync panel, or an Ultra HD G-Sync panel with the same diagonal. The XMG Ultra's call to fame is that it is the first announced laptop with a 10-core Intel solution. And, since you'd be hard pressed to find an AMD offering that packs a comparable CPU with these very same graphics solutions (since OEMs, for some reason, have maxed out AMD CPU + NVIDIA GPU combos with up an RTX 2070 non-SUPER graphics card), this may be your best bet at getting a decent CPU paired with maximum mobile GPU power. Bear in mind that a pretty standard configuration will, however, set you back some €2,799.

Deepcool Announces the GAMMAXX 400 EX Tower Cooler

by
Raevenlord
 Discuss (11 Comments)
Deepcool today announced a refresh of their previously-released GAMMAXX X 400 tower cooler. The new version will see improved cooling performance, due in no small part to the new dual-fan support. DIMM clearance has also been revisited, so as to prevent the new GAMMAXX 400 EX from interfering with your DIMM slot installation. The number of fins has been increased to 56, which means an extra 20% heat dissipation are that can be served by the increased airflow from the dual-fan configuration. A 4x 6 mm sintered copper heat pipe design (sintered as in, produced via pressure or temperatures that don't liquefy the copper) with Direct Touch technology should accelerate heat transfer form the CPU heatsink through to the cooling fins.

This is kind of a weighty design, coming in at 930 g for a cooling solution. Dimensions stand at 129 mm width, 103 mm thickness, and 157.5 mm height. It's expected the GAMMAXX 400 EX will be available around the $39 mark. For that pricing, it includes 2x TF120 high performance fans.

Gigabyte Says Intel Z490 Chipset Motherboards Will Support 11th Gen "Rocket Lake-S"

by
Raevenlord
 Discuss (23 Comments)
Maybe it's hard to fathom an Intel chipset that actually supports more than a single generation of CPU designs; and if so, you're forgiven, because it seems the blue giant has mostly forgotten of thinking about platform longevity and upgradeability. However, we might be in for a rare treat, if the words from a Gigabyte representative are to be taken seriously. In a Q&A regarding Gigabyte's latest generation Z490 motherboards, a user questioned the Gigabyte representatives whether their Z490-based platforms would support upcoming Rocket Lake designs. The answer, which came with a caveat of "I don't know if this should be made public", was that yes: Z490 will support Rocket Lake-S.

If true, this may shed some light on why motherboard manufacturers have given so much importance to PCIe 4.0 marketing on their Z490 motherboards... Whose chipset doesn't support PCIe 4.0 from the get-go. However, with next-generation Rocket Lake-S expectedly sporting the same 14 nm fabrication process albeit with a new microarchitecture, a wider DMI 3.0 8x band, Intel's high-performance Xe graphics architecture design and PCIe 4.0 support on a platform level, it does begin to make sense that manufacturers would mention PCIe 4.0 support on the current Z490. Because if CPU compatibility is maintained, that means that users looking to drop-in a Rocket Lake-S CPU will at the very least be able to enjoy 20 lanes of PCIe 4.0 in these ready-made motherboards.
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CDKeySales Helps You Amp Up Your Home Office with Discounted Genuine Software

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btarunr
CDKeySales understands the unprecedented situation that forced many of us away from the comforts of our organization's PCs. Give your home computers, desktops and notebooks, the technological edge they need with the very latest operating systems and productivity software that are both genuine and heavily discounted. With a TechPowerUp-exclusive discount code, get genuine Windows 10 Pro for USD $14, and Windows 10 Home for $12. Upgrade both your notebook and desktop with a twin pack for $22. Get Office 2016 Professional Plus, a formidable productivity suite for just $29.5. The cutting-edge Office 2019 Professional Plus can be yours for $50. Combine your preferred flavors of Windows 10 and Office to save even more. Shop with confidence, as PayPal protects your payment instruments and purchase.

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ASRock Enables Overclocking on Non-Z Motherboards for 10th Generation Non-K Comet Lake CPUs

by
AleksandarK
 Discuss (22 Comments)
Historically, Intel has separated its processors and chipsets that accompany them to overclockable and non-overclockable ones. That means that only the "K" CPUs can be overclocked. With the latest generation, only some parts of the lineup are K CPUs, like the Core i9-10900K, i7-10700K, i5-10600K, etc. Those processors could only be overclocked one put in motherboards based on "Z" chipset, like Z390 and Z490. However, it seems like ASRock has developed a new technology that will overclock non-K CPUs on non-Z motherboards, which is quite impressive.

Called the Base Frequency Boost (BFB) technology, it will allow for overclocking the non-K processors on chipsets like B460 and H470. How will that work you might wonder? Well, ASRock will take the TDP of the CPUs and make it run in the PL1 mode, which increases the processor TDP form 65 W and turns it into a 125 W TDP beast. This will, of course, be user selective and case dependent, meaning that if your cooling system can not handle that much heat coming out from the overclocked processors, it is unlikely that they will reach the peak clocks ASRock can target. You can check out the slide below:
ASRock Base Frequency Boost Technology

ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4SR First ATX12VO Motherboard in the DIY-channel

by
btarunr
 Discuss (40 Comments)
The winds of change are beginning. The ATX12VO PC power-supply standard, earlier thought to be an OEM-mainstay with later introduction in the DIY retail channel, has already reached it. The ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4SR is the first board. Gone is the 24-pin ATX power connector, a smaller 5-pin pure-12 V input takes its place. A 6-pin PCIe connector takes in additional 12 V input. The 8-pin EPS connector (another pure-12 V input) is right where it should be, near the CPU VRM area. There are two small 4-pin connectors, which could be 5 V and 3.3 V outputs from the motherboard, to SATA power connectors.

The part of the PCB next to the memory area is bustling with a few more power phases than vDIMM. These convert 12 V to 5 V and 3.3 V (essentially what a PSU with DC-to-DC switching does). The rest of the board's I/O feature-set is fairly standard: four SATA ports, a single M.2-22110 slot, an M.2 E-Key slot holding an 802.11ac WLAN card, 6-channel audio, and 1 GbE wired networking driven by an Intel i219-V controller. The company didn't reveal pricing or availability.
ATX12VO Motherboard ATX12VO Motherboard ATX12VO Motherboard

ASRock Launches Intel 400-Series Motherboards

Press Release by
Uskompuf
 Discuss (3 Comments)
ASRock, proudly announces its latest range of motherboards featuring Intel 400-series chipsets and supporting the latest Intel 10th Generation processors with up to 10-cores using the LGA1200 socket.

Whatever the build requirements, with over 30 models available, ASRock has the right motherboard to meet your needs. This includes the flagship Z490 Taichi and Z490 PG Velocita for performance and overclocking enthusiasts, and extreme gamers; popular Z490 Steel Legend, Pro and Phantom Gaming series'; comprehensive mini-ITX options for SFF builds; plus H470, B460 mainstream and H410 entry options.
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Xbox Game Pass Surpasses 10 Million Subscribers

by
Uskompuf
 Discuss (4 Comments)
During Microsoft's Q3 2020FY Earnings call, it was confirmed that Xbox Live was seeing record levels of engagement with over 90 million monthly users. On top of this, Microsoft announced that Xbox Game Pass had surpassed 10 million subscribers for the video game subscription service. Xbox Game Pass is available for Xbox One and PC giving users access to a library with hundreds of games including many large recent games such as Gears Tactics, Halo Master Chief Collection, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. This makes Xbox Game Pass the largest game subscription service far outnumbering EA Access and Origin Access. Microsoft also noted that interest in Project xCloud the experimental game streaming service was high with "hundreds of thousands" of active users.

Epic Games Store Adds Support For 5 More Local Currencies

by
Uskompuf
 Discuss (4 Comments)
The Epic Games store has seen continuous updates since its launch in 2018 adding various additional features, now surpassing many other game launchers such as Origin, Uplay, and battle.net in terms of features and hot on the heels of Steam. In the latest update to the platform Epic has added support for five new local currencies, users in Canada, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway can now pay for games on the launcher in their native currencies. This addition is one of many Epic have been releasing from their public roadmap which lists trending pages, mod support, and offline sign-in all as features coming soon.
Thursday, April 30th 2020

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ASRock Z490 PG Velocita Preview

ASRock Z490 PG Velocita Preview

Article Motherboards
The ASRock Z490 PG Velocita is ready for Comet Lake with Socket LGA 1200. "Velocita" is ASRock's latest edition to the award-winning Phantom Gaming motherboard line and features 2.5 Gb/s LAN, PCIe 4.0 readiness, and an uncompromising VRM thermal solution with three fans.
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AMD and Oxide Games Join Forces to Advance Cloud Gaming Graphics

Press Release by
btarunr
 Discuss (10 Comments)
AMD and Oxide Games today announced a multi-year partnership to co-develop graphics technologies for the growing cloud gaming market. By combining leadership gaming hardware and graphics expertise from AMD with Oxide's proven development capabilities and innovative Nitrous game engine, the companies plan to create a robust set of tools and technologies for cloud rendering designed from the ground up to embrace the real-time demands of cloud-based gaming.

"At AMD, we pride ourselves on our ability to push the boundaries of what technology can do so it elevates the gaming experience," said Scott Herkelman, corporate vice president and general manager, Graphics Business Unit, AMD. "Oxide shares this passion and is an ideal partner for us as we expand the way gamers play, while delivering the quality experience they demand."
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Assassin's Creed Valhalla Announcement Trailer Released

by
btarunr
 Discuss (11 Comments)
A Viking raider named Eivor leads a group of people away from endless war in Norway, only to seek refuge in hostile 8th century England. A clash of civilizations ensues. In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, you lead deadly longship raids against rival Saxon strongholds for resources to build your settlement. "Raids will be more action-packed and brutal than anything Assassin's Creed has seen before, thanks to a visceral new combat system that lets you bash, dismember, and decapitate your foes," say the developers. Of course it wouldn't be an Assassin's Creed game without stealth assassination missions. Catch the world premiere trailer below.
The world premiere trailer follows.
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