It seems as though the high pricing and shortages surrounding NVIDIA's latest GeForce RTX 5000 series GPUs has resulted in gamers turning to previous GPU generations for salvation. According to the latest Newegg GPU bestseller charts, the $459.98 MSI Ventus NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB graphics card is currently the best-selling GPU. Curiously, the Gigabyte AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT OC 16 GB is close on its heels, with the Gigabyte AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT on its heels in third place. The first NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5000 series GPU on the Newegg bestseller list is the ASUS TUF Gaming RTX 5070 OC, which is in eighth place, behind several AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT, RX 9070 XT, and RX 6600 models. It's unclear whether this is due to high pricing or simply a lack of stock to sell, although the RTX 5070 OC is currently available on Newegg for $739.99. Curiously, this is also the only in-stock RTX 5000 series card amongst the top 20 best-selling GPUs on Newegg. Granted, this is only one vendor, but the majority of the GPUs on the list are either AMD Radeon RX 7000 series or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4000 series GPUs.

The most recent Steam Hardware & Software Survey, updated for March 2025, however, tells a more confusing story. While adoption rates for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5000 series GPUs is certainly slow, with the RTX 5080 being the only 5000 series GPU to even feature on the chart, with 0.19% growth over the last month, gamers seem to be moving away from the RTX 4000 series even faster. The GPU that showed the most growth during the last Steam Survey is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, which is already six years old. It's also interesting to note that most of the AMD GPUs in the Steam Survey results also saw minor upticks in adoption. Recent reports out of Japan show that AMD has garnered massive interest since the launch of the RX 9070 series GPUs, with claims of 45% market share coming as a surprise after NVIDIA reached 90% GPU market share in December last year. While NVIDIA's supply issues are likely at least partially to blame for AMD's increased popularity, there is also a growing sentiment amongst gamers, backed by some of our own testing, that NVIDIA is more interested in AI and simply isn't equipping its gaming graphics cards with enough VRAM for high-resolution and high-refresh rate gaming.

The Nintendo Switch 2, unveiled April 2, takes performance to the next level, powered by a custom NVIDIA processor featuring an NVIDIA GPU with dedicated RT Cores and Tensor Cores for stunning visuals and AI-driven enhancements. With 1,000 engineer-years of effort across every element—from system and chip design to a custom GPU, APIs and world-class development tools—the Nintendo Switch 2 brings major upgrades. The new console enables up to 4K gaming in TV mode and up to 120 FPS at 1080p in handheld mode. Nintendo Switch 2 also supports HDR, and AI upscaling to sharpen visuals and smooth gameplay.

AI and Ray Tracing for Next-Level Visuals
The new RT Cores bring real-time ray tracing, delivering lifelike lighting, reflections and shadows for more immersive worlds. Tensor Cores power AI-driven features like Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), boosting resolution for sharper details without sacrificing image quality. Tensor Cores also enable AI-powered face tracking and background removal in video chat use cases, enhancing social gaming and streaming. With millions of players worldwide, the Nintendo Switch has become a gaming powerhouse and home to Nintendo's storied franchises. Its hybrid design redefined console gaming, bridging TV and handheld play.

Yesterday, United States President Donald Trump announced a set of tariffs imposed on US trading partners, imposing a series of 10%+ tariffs on partners, calling it a "Liberation Day." Today, we are calculating how much these tariffs will impact consumers and what is most important at TechPowerUp: semiconductors powering our GPUs and CPUs. According to one of the top investment banks, Goldman Sachs, semiconductors are exempt from the reciprocal tariffs that Trump has imposed on Taiwan. However, the semiconductor manufacturing equipment used by makers like TSMC is not exempt and is expected to be hit with the 32% tariffs. This is only half of what Taiwan imposes on imports of US-made goods. For TSMC, the number one maker of GPUs and CPUs, tariffs can be tricky to navigate. While its existing manufacturing facilities use equipment sourced from Dutch ASML and a few US companies like Lam Research and KLA Corporation, it shouldn't be a problem to ship new silicon to the US.

However, if TSMC wants to expand its manufacturing facilities in any country that is not the US, it will have to deal with 32% tariffs on US-sourced silicon manufacturing equipment. For EU-based ASML, things are looking a little different. If over 20% of the equipment is made up of US content, a tariff exemption might apply, potentially reducing import costs. If more than one-fifth of a product's components or value originates from US sources, the equipment may be eligible for tariff relief. ASML's machines include some US components, so determining whether these machines meet the 20% threshold is crucial. If they do, the tariff exemption could help lower costs associated with importing these advanced machines, reaching up to $380 million. For non-US-injected goods, EU entities are subject to 20% tariffs.

AMD and its board partners cleared "phase one" of RDNA 4 earlier on in March, with the launch of Radeon RX 9070 Series graphics cards. At the tail end of special introductory events, Team Red representatives—on both sides of the Pacific—teased a second quarter release of lower end Radeon RX 9060 Series models. A handful of AIBs have registered multiple custom Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB and 8 GB SKUs, so expectations have been set for an imminent arrival. A fresh insider leak suggests that AMD has something else Navi 48 GPU-related in the pipeline; possibly scheduled for launch before rumored Radeon RX 9060 XT cards. Earlier today, IT Home picked up on chatter regarding a mysterious Radeon RX 9070 GRE model. Apparently Zhongzheng Computer (note: machine translated name) issued an intriguing tidbit on its WeChat official account—the March 9 bulletin stated: "friends who don't have enough budget for Radeon RX 9070 XT can wait for RX 9070 GRE, which will have a better price-performance ratio. Radeon RX 9060 XT will have to wait for a while."

Based on this news, VideoCardz believes that Chinese market stock of custom Radeon RX 9070 16 GB (non-XT) cards was not topped up last week. Local sources have observed regional market conditions with almost zero availability—conjecture points to Team Red's local office "deliberately" paving the way for "gap-filling" Radeon RX 9070 GRE 12 GB options. As reported by TechPowerUp on multiple occasions, AMD's "GRE" (aka Golden Rabbit Edition) nomenclature debuted with their introduction of a Radeon 7900 GRE 16 GB model back in 2023—the Year of the Rabbit. This (now) very out-of-date naming scheme was revised earlier this year—with a modernized abbreviation of "Great Radeon Edition." Benchlife.info weighed in on rumors regarding a new-generation GRE package: "(it) uses the same Navi 48 die, that is, the RDNA 4 GPU architecture, as the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 currently on sale, but the memory will be reduced to 12 GB and the memory interface will be 192-bit. Our sources have informed us that the Radeon RX 9070 GRE 12 GB is currently being planned by AIB partners and is ready to enter mass production." VideoCardz has kindly assembled a relevant comparison chart—see below. Naturally, these theorized specifications place the incoming GRE somewhere in between the already released Radeon RX 9070 16 GB cards, and a rumored Radeon RX 9060 XT class.

Surface defects on the GPU die of a PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 XT Hellhound have been linked to excessive thermal hotspots, according to analysis following Igor's Lab's investigation. Microscopic examination revealed 1,934 pits across the silicon die surface despite proper thermal interface material application. The defects affect over one percent of the chip's surface area, with the largest measuring 12.59 µm in depth and 212.36 µm in diameter—significantly exceeding industry tolerances. These imperfections impede heat transfer, causing localized temperatures to reach 113°C, exceeding the 110°C threshold for RDNA GPUs and triggering thermal throttling. The defects appear to stem from flaws in the backgrinding process that thins silicon wafers for packaging. Improper process control creates surface irregularities that compromise thermal conductivity and structural integrity.

The discovery raises questions about the effectiveness of automated optical inspection systems in detecting subtle surface abnormalities. TSMC, the maker of these chips, uses optical recognition tools to see if any defects occurred. AMD stated: "We are aware of the reported issue and believe this to be an isolated incident. We are working with our partners and internal teams to understand the issue." The company maintains this is an isolated case, though the findings suggest potential gaps in quality control protocols. Users experiencing thermal issues with affected RX 9070 XT units should initiate the RMA process for replacement while AMD and PowerColor investigate whether these defects exist beyond the identified sample. We hope no further issues are present, and so far, PowerColor hasn't received any customer complaints. We are on the lookout for further situation development. We reviewed PowerColor's Radeon RX 9070 Hellhound, and found no issues on our unit, so this indeed remains an isolated case so far.

NVIDIA and its laptop/notebook manufacturing partners have just about managed a very last minute launch of GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, RTX 5080 Mobile, RTX 5070 Ti Mobile GPU-powered devices at retail. According to the latest reports, yesterday's—March 31—small trickle out of high-end portable "Blackwell" hardware qualified as a launch within the first quarter of 2025. Due to Team Green's GeForce RTX 50 series being affected by ROPs anomalies—across desktop and mobile platforms—involved firms anticipated deliveries being delayed into April. As stated early last month, unnamed industry sources divulged details about official instructions: "manufacturers (must) inspect already-produced notebooks with new mobile GeForce RTX 5000 graphics chips." Going further back in time, supply chain moles predicted that the entire product stack—starting at the top with GeForce RTX 5090 M, going down to RTX 5070 M—would be subject to postponements.

PC gaming hardware watchdogs noticed a very limited supply of GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile-based laptops on "day one," at least in North America. VideoCardz spent some time combing through Newegg listings, after hearing about the Q1 launch via official social media announcements. The likes of ASUS, GIGABYTE, HP, Lenovo, MSI and Razer opened up direct pre-orders on February 25, but yesterday's embargo lift seemed to extend to general retails outlets. VideoCardz noted that the cheapest—at $4299—GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop options were already sold out. MSI's North American store lists an "out of stock" Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Norse Myth 18-inch model with an eye-watering price tag of $6199.99. Additionally, the publication pointed out the best GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop starting price: $2499.99. GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptops start at $1899.99 on Newegg, but RTX 5070 Mobile-based options seemed to be absent. The online retailer's stock notification system predicts late April or early May replenishments of higher-end stock.

Intel GPU enthusiasts have been waiting patiently for news regarding higher-end models; ever since the launches of wallet-friendly Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" B580 and B570 graphics cards. As the cliché goes; recent silence has been deafening—we last heard about a speculative expanded lineup of B-series SKUs around late January. At the time, three mysterious "Battlemage" PCI identifiers turned up online; courtesy of Tomasz Gawroński's detective work. Opinions were split about the exact nature of these leaked "BMG" IDs; one camp envisioned Team Blue having professional variants of their existing B580 in the pipeline—presumably with generously specced pools of 24 GB VRAM onboard. A more optimistic group posited that Intel's Arc Xe2 desktop gaming family would welcome more potent "B750, B770," and (maybe) "B780" SKUs.

Yesterday, Tomasz Gawroński (aka GawroskiT) interacted with another notable source of inside track information: Jaykihn (jaykihn0). Plenty of Team Blue-related "scoops" have emerged via Jaykihn's social media channel; mostly predictions regarding upcoming desktop, mobile and enterprise CPUs. Their latest leak indicates Intel's alleged abandoning of a high-end/larger "BMG-G31" GPU die in 2024; within the third quarter of that year. Insiders have long insisted that the Arc Xe2 "Battlemage" project navigated choppy waters during development; hence the appearance of endless theories about the whole caboodle being called off. Jaykihn clarified that he believes that a "retail" launch of "BMG-G31" dGPUs will no longer take place. Many watchdogs will assume that a gap will be filled by forthcoming Arc Xe3 "Celestial" discrete GPUs. Jaykihn stated that they have no fresh insights into how that project is going.

Intel has released its latest version of the Arc GPU Graphics Driver, version 101.6653 Beta. The latest GPU graphics driver update brings Game On driver support for inZOI, KARMA: The Dark World, and The First Berserker: Khazan games, and improves performance Intel Arc B-series Graphics GPUs in Rise of Ronin game. According to Intel, you can expect up to 15 percent performance increase at 1080p resolution and up to 18 percent at 1440p resolution, both with Ultra Settings.

As it is the Beta released, Intel did not fix any previously known issues, so there is still an extensive list, including issues in Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 and Call of Duty: Blackops 6 games, as well as some other applications like PugentBench, Topaz Labs Photo AI, MLPerf, Adobe Lightroom Classic, and others. You can check out the full release notes below.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.6653 Beta

While we are used to gamers buying GPUs over their MSRPs just to get the latest and greatest, it appears that there are some limits to that. According to a Redditor, who pictured a Microcenter hardware store in Dallas, Texas, there are full shelves of ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 GPUs with AIO liquid cooling. Instead of the usual sold-out reaction, gamers are drawing a line at these $3,719 GPUs, leaving shelves full of GPUs retailing for almost two times their MSRP. Despite being a flagship model with great performance (we tested an air-cooled ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 version), all its bells and whistles aren't convincing enough for gamers to justify spending almost $4,000 on a single GPU. It could be the unusual 360 mm radiator that is difficult to accommodate in most cases or the case where gamers have started waiting for more realistically priced GPUs.

Interestingly, the regular air-cooled variants like the ASUS TUF version or the air-cooled Astral OC are nowhere to be found, as these models are priced much lower, with the TUF version carrying a $2,450 and Astral OC air-cooled version carrying a $2,800 MSRP. Of course, while these cards are not being sold at MSRP, they are likely being sold for much less than the Astral LC version, which nears the $4,000 price point. It appears that gamers are stopping the trend of paying astronomical prices over MSRP and are waiting for the supply to improve so prices can come down. In the past period, one tracker of RTX 5090 listings on eBay, averaging data for 30 days, noted that the flagship RTX 5090 tops the chart with a staggering $4,222 on secondary markets compared to its $2,000 MSRP, an increase of roughly 111%. We hope the supply situation improves and that MSRP prices with slight premiums for high-end designs make a return.

NVIDIA's supply of Chinese market-exclusive H20 AI GPU faces an uncertain future, due to recently introduced energy-efficiency guidelines. As covered over a year ago, Team Green readied a regional alternative to its "full fat" H800 "Hopper" AI GPU—designed and/or neutered to comply with US sanctions. Despite being less performant than Western siblings, the H20 model proved to be highly popular by mid-2024—industry analysis projected "$12 billion in take-home revenue" for NVIDIA. According to a fresh Reuters news piece, demand for cut-down "Hopper" hardware has surged throughout early 2025. The report cites "a rush to adopt Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's cost-effective AI models" as the main cause behind an increased snap up rate of H20 chips; with the nation's "big three" AI players—Tencent, Alibaba and ByteDance—driving the majority of sales.

The supply of H20 AI GPUs seems to be under threat on several fronts; Reuters points out that "U.S. officials were considering curbs on sales of H20 chips to China" back in January. Returning to the present day, their report sources "unofficial" statements from H3C—one of China's largest server equipment manufacturers and a key OEM partner for NVIDIA. An anonymous company insider outlined a murky outlook: "H20's international supply chain faces significant uncertainties...We were told the chips would be available, but when it came time to actually purchase them, we were informed they had already been sold at higher prices." More (rumored) bad news has arrived in the shape of alleged Chinese government intervention—the Financial Times posits that local regulators have privately advised that Tencent, Alibaba and ByteDance not purchase NVIDIA H20 chips.

The 90° WireView Pro GPU offers the same functionality as the already available Pro variant. As the name implies, the 90° version changes the cable routing, as the 90° WireView Pro GPU acts as a right-angle adapter. This means that the 12VHPWR cable from the power supply is directed toward the case floor from the front of the GPU (when the GPU is installed horizontally).

As usual, the 90° WireView Pro GPU will be available in both "N" and "R" versions, allowing users to match the orientation of the GPU's 12VHPWR connector. Due to its design, the 90° WireView Pro GPU is not compatible with all GPU models and series. This is primarily due to the size of various cooler designs and the position of the 12VHPWR connector on the GPU's PCB.

Tom's Hardware just published an intensive data collection of online prices of the latest GPUs from AMD and NVIDIA, suggesting that real-world prices are nowhere near MSRP. With an investigation into the 30-day eBay average price based on listings, the data shows that a lot of GPU SKUs are retailing for well-above-average price premiums. The data tracker also looked for the best-priced listing of a specific SKU. For instance, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5070 is seen retailing at around $700—a 27% increase over its official MSRP of $550—while the RTX 5080 pushes these premiums even further by selling at over 50% above its suggested price. The flagship RTX 5090 tops the chart with a staggering $4,222 on secondary markets compared to its $2,000 MSRP, an increase of roughly 111%.

In contrast, earlier models like the RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti show relatively minor inflation, with increases of only about 3% and 5%, respectively, according to recent eBay averages. Still, selling years-old GPUs at MSRP today proves that there is demand. On the AMD side, the Radeon RX 9070 series is no less dramatic. The base RX 9070, with a $550 MSRP, averages around $817 in real-world sales—a nearly 48% premium—while its high-end sibling, the RX 9070 XT, jumps to approximately $1,001 from a $600 MSRP, marking an increase of roughly 66%. Early figures even suggest that first-week sales for the RX 9070 series were ten times higher than those of previous AMD models, justifying the price surge. AMD is working on addressing this supply, which should improve in April, and NVIDIA is working with AIB partners, too, to deliver more Blackwell GPUs.

In a recent interview with ASUS China Manager Tony Yu on Bilibili, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su revealed that the company's latest RDNA 4-based Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU has achieved remarkable success, with first-week sales surpassing previous generations by tenfold. "I'm very proud of the team on RDNA 4," said Dr. Su, adding, "When we design a new architecture, we plan its core features years in advance. For RDNA 4, our goal was to deliver top-tier gaming performance at an accessible price, allowing more gamers to experience this technology. The 9070 XT has been a fantastic success—it's the No. 1 selling AMD Radeon GPU in its first week, with sales 10 times higher than past generations."

While rumors suggested AMD sold 200,000 Radeon RX 9000 GPUs at launch, the company clarified that this figure was never shared, basically dismantling the rumor. When (and if) we get the official concrete sales numbers, it will show just how much of a significant milestone has been achieved by Team Red. Notably, in some specific markets like Japan, AMD has captured nearly 50% of the market share with the RX 9070 series—a first for the company. Dr. Su confirmed that AMD is ramping up production to meet surging demand. "We are very excited and increasing manufacturing to ensure more gamers can access our GPUs," she said. This move is expected to stabilize supply and pricing. Additionally, AMD hinted at more RDNA 4 releases, likely including the Radeon RX 9060 series, which will come in 16 GB and 8 GB variants later this year. With competitive pricing and strong performance, AMD's latest GPUs are well-received by the gaming community despite no high-end competition for NVIDIA's top SKUs.

AMD is likely readying its Radeon RX 9060 Series graphics cards for launch in the near future—an official Q2 2025 release window was announced late last month, but company representatives did not go into great detail regarding specifications or pricing. Early March leaks indicated that Team Red board partners were preparing custom Radeon RX 9060 XT models in 16 GB and 8 GB forms; a recent discovery—courtesy of the ever intrepid harukaze5719—corroborates these configurations. Last week, ASUS registered multiple unannounced TUF Gaming, PRIME and DUAL Radeon RX 9060 XT models with the South Korean Radio Agency. Interestingly, only the TUF Gaming OC and non-OC cards are specced with pools of 16 GB VRAM. The rest of the pack makes do with 8 GB.

Similarly, several EEC registrations of Acer "Nitro" and "Predator BiFrost" Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB and 8 GB SKUs were spotted by harukaze5719 three weeks ago. According to VideoCardz, leaked AIB technical data suggests the use of GDDR6, 20 Gbps memory chips and 128-bit memory interfaces. TechPowerUp's GPU database still specifies that the Radeon RX 9060 XT is based on a Navi 48 LE GPU variant, but other sources reckon that a "smaller" Navi 44 model would be more appropriate for this class of graphics card. With the rumored delay of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060 models, AMD's lower end RDNA 4 offerings could launch during a quiet period.

NVIDIA app is the essential companion for users with NVIDIA GPUs in their PCs and laptops. Whether you're a gaming enthusiast or a content creator, NVIDIA app simplifies the process of keeping your PC updated with the latest GeForce Game Ready and NVIDIA Studio Drivers, and enables quick discovery and installation of NVIDIA applications like GeForce NOW and NVIDIA Broadcast. In a new NVIDIA app update that's available now, we've expanded the functionality of our DLSS overrides, enabling you to fine tune image quality or boost performance for DLSS Super Resolution.

Additionally, we've brought Display Scaling and Display Color settings over from the NVIDIA Control Panel, modernizing and improving them, and taking another step towards unifying all NVIDIA GPU features in one responsive application. And via the Discover section, you can now download Project G-Assist, an experimental AI assistant that runs locally on GeForce RTX AI desktop PCs, helping users control a broad range of PC settings, from optimizing game and system settings, charting frame rates and other key performance statistics, to controlling select peripherals settings such as lighting - all via basic voice or text commands.

At Computex 2024, we showcased Project G-Assist - a tech demo that offered a glimpse of how AI assistants could elevate the PC experience for gamers, creators, and more. Today, we're releasing an experimental version of the Project G-Assist System Assistant feature for GeForce RTX desktop users, via NVIDIA app, with GeForce RTX laptop support coming in a future update. As modern PCs become more powerful, they also grow more complex to operate. Users today face over a trillion possible combinations of hardware and software settings when configuring a PC for peak performance - spanning the GPU, CPU, motherboard, monitors, peripherals, and more.

We built Project G-Assist, an AI assistant that runs locally on GeForce RTX AI PCs, to simplify this experience. G-Assist helps users control a broad range of PC settings, from optimizing game and system settings, charting frame rates and other key performance statistics, to controlling select peripherals settings such as lighting - all via basic voice or text commands.

NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang made some interesting commentary for the Financial Times, stating that the company will procure over half a trillion US Dollars worth of electronics over the next four years, and it it plans to keep hundreds of billions from the supply chain procurement in the US. "Overall, we will procure, over the course of the next four years, probably half a trillion dollars worth of electronics in total. And I think we can easily see ourselves manufacturing several hundred billion of it here in the US," said Jensen for FT. NVIDIA currently manufactures its silicon at TSMC's facilities, as well as electronics like motherboards and servers at Foxconn. However, the geopolitical situation is making NVIDIA reconsider its supply chain dependencies, and the company is looking for more US-based manufacturing.

NVIDIA confirmed that its latest "Blackwell" series of GPUs, including the latest Blackwell Ultra, are being manufactured at TSMC's Arizona facilities. TSMC announced a $100 billion investment in its Arizona expansion, and NVIDIA is ready to take up more of TSMC's capacity to meet its ever-growing demand for GPUs. During the GTC 2025 event, Jensen noted that only four cloud service providers will use 3.6 million GPUs this year. That is without any AI labs and enterprises, which are massive consumers of GPUs (xAI only has 200,000 GPU clusters). To continue manufacturing excellence so customers won't suffer, NVIDIA is also looking at other options for supply chain manufacturing partners. Intel, the only US-based company capable of producing advanced silicon, is a potential target for NVIDIA. "We evaluate their foundry technology on a regular basis, and we are ongoing in doing that... We look for opportunities to be a customer of theirs... I have every confidence that Intel can do it," added Jensen, who also stated that NVIDIA is interested in silicon manufacturing and chip packaging services, as Intel's Foveros 3D packaging and other technologies are attractive for Team Green.

The ominously named PowerColor Red Devil AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT looks to be getting the same treatment as the Hellhound Spectral White edition with an all-white Spectral Edition refresh. While the design has yet to be confirmed by PowerColor, it has seemingly leaked on Amazon ahead of the official announcement. While the page seems to have been taken down by the retail giant, VideoCardz managed to grab some images of the new white AMD RX 9070 XT GPU before it was removed.

Much like the Hellhound Spectral Edition, the Red Devil Spectral Edition has been completely drained of color. Even the hallmark Red Devil logo on the cooling fins in the backplate cutout and the illuminated Hellstone at the end of the RX 9070's shroud seems to have a clearer acrylic cover, as opposed to the smoky acrylic cover on the standard issue Red Devil card. Everything else on the Red Devil Spectral White edition seems to be identical to the regular Red Devil RX 9070 XT. Pricing also seems to be identical to the original, at $899 or €929. A launch date for the Spectral White RX 9070 XT Red Devil is unclear at the time of writing, but it will likely be soon, given its appearance on Amazon.

The "standard" ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090 OC Edition is already a really an "astronomically expensive" prospect (if you can find available stock); launch MSRP was $2800, but retailers pushed that figure beyond the $3000 mark. An even fancier golden variant exists—as a reminder; news outlets picked up on the existence of a "Dhahab" model early last month. This luxuriously decorated collector piece was likely introduced as a regional exclusive, for MENA (Middle-East and North Africa). This week, ASUS managed to sneak one gold encrusted sample out to San Francisco, California.

Ernest Cheng—Director of Marketing at the firm's North American branch—shared a photo (via LinkedIn) of the very unique ROG Astral RTX 5090 Dhahab OC Edition model; freshly scribbled on by Jensen Huang during GTC 2025. The ASUS exec commented on this blessing: "graphics card is one of a kind when it's been anointed. But it says a lot more when it's a Golden ROG RTX 5090 Astral." Press outlets reckon that this extremely special item will be auctioned off for charity; the presence of Team Green CEO's autograph and slogan ("RTX ON!") will boost its value severalfold. A Jensen Huang-signed ROG MATRIX RTX 4090 PLATINUM card attracted a top bid of $16,000; Der8auer (aka Roman Hartung) was officially congratulated as the winner back in late 2023.

Update 18:02 UTC: ASUS has confirmed that it will be supporting a local charity: "we are extremely honored to have this special edition ROG Astral RTX 5090 Dhahab OC graphics card, signed by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. This card will be officially auctioned to support relief efforts for the California wildfires in Los Angeles."

Intel has released its latest version of the Arc GPU Graphics Driver, version 101.6651 Beta. The latest GPU graphics driver update brings Game On driver support for the latest Ubisoft Assassin's Creed Shadows game on Intel Arc B-series, A-series Graphics GPUs and Intel Core Ultra with built-in Intel Arc GPUs, as well as improves performance in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Intel Arc B-series Graphics GPUs. According to Intel's release notes, you can expect up to 15 percent improvement on 1080p resolution and up to 12 percent improvement on 1440p resolution, both with Extreme Settings.

The new GPU graphics driver also fixes an issue in Black Myth: Wukong game on may experience application crash while running benchmark with Full Ray Tracing turned on Intel Arc B-Series GPUs, where the game might experience application crash while running benchmark with full ray tracing turned on. There are several new known issues which you can check out in the full release notes below.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.6651 Beta

AMD's Radeon RX 9000 series of GPUs spent just a few days on the retail market, and they are already sold out. If you are wondering just how many have been sold, AMD has a number for you. According to the information shared at the AI PC Innovation Summit in Beijing, AMD claims that it has sold as many as 200,000 Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT graphics cards in the first wave. Current retail channels show severely constrained inventory for AMD's latest GPUs, though supply chain forecasts indicate normalization expected by early Q2. Board partners have implemented significant price premiums across their custom-designed variants, with RX 9070 XT models commanding up to $200 above AMD's reference pricing structure. While AMD has issued statements advocating for adherence to suggested retail figures, the company maintains a hands-off approach to partner pricing strategies, acknowledging the market dynamics of premium component allocation.

The initial allocation bottleneck should resolve as manufacturing capacity scales to meet demand, potentially stabilizing both availability and price points by mid-April. Yeston, one of AMD's longest-standing AIBs, has suggested that "now the supply is unstable, but we will restock every week. Please don't be frustrated if you didn't get it. The supply will become stable and continue to be available after April." However, we still don't understand how AMD is counting these sales. The company noted that the first wave has been sold, and that is likely their first shipment of Navi 48 SKU from TSMC. When TSMC ships more chips, AMD distributes them to its AIB partners for assembly. That could be the second wave. As these GPUs are ordered months in advance, AMD's AIBs are likely already shipping the next wave of GPUs to retail stores.

Pat Gelsinger has quite bravely stepped into the belly of the beast this week. The former Intel boss was an invited guest at NVIDIA's GTC 2025 conference; currently taking place in San Francisco, California. Technology news outlets have extracted key quotes from Gelsinger's musings during an in-person appearance on Acquired's "Live at GTC" video podcast. In the past, the ex-Team Blue chief held the belief that NVIDIA was "extraordinarily lucky" with a market leading position. Yesterday's panel discussion provided a repeat visit—where Gelsinger repeated his long-held opinion: "the CPU was the king of the hill, and I applaud Jensen for his tenacity in just saying, 'No, I am not trying to build one of those; I am trying to deliver against the workload starting in graphics. You know, it became this broader view. And then he got lucky with AI, and one time I was debating with him, he said: 'No, I got really lucky with AI workload because it just demanded that type of architecture.' That is where the center of application development is (right now)."

The American businessman and electrical engineer reckons that AI hardware costs are climbing to unreasonable levels: "today, if we think about the training workload, okay, but you have to give away something much more optimized for inferencing. You know a GPU is way too expensive; I argue it is 10,000 times too expensive to fully realize what we want to do with the deployment of inferencing for AI and then, of course, what's beyond that." Despite the "failure" of a much older Intel design, Gelsinger delved into some rose-tinted nostalgia: "I had a project that was well known in the industry called Larrabee and which was trying to bridge the programmability of the CPU with a throughput oriented architecture (of a GPU), and I think had Intel stay on that path, you know, the future could have been different...I give Jensen a lot of credit (as) he just stayed true to that throughput computing or accelerated (vision)." With the semi-recent cancelation of "Falcon Shores" chip design, Intel's AI GPU division is likely regrouping around their next-generation "Jaguar Shores" project—industry watchdogs reckon that this rack-scale platform will arrive in 2026.

Supermicro, Inc., a Total IT Solution Provider for AI, Cloud, Storage, and 5G/Edge, is announcing new systems and rack solutions powered by the NVIDIA's Blackwell Ultra platform, featuring the NVIDIA HGX B300 NVL16 and NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 platforms. Supermicro and NVIDIA's new AI solutions strengthen leadership in AI by delivering breakthrough performance for the most compute-intensive AI workloads, including AI reasoning, agentic AI, and video inference applications.

"At Supermicro, we are excited to continue our long-standing partnership with NVIDIA to bring the latest AI technology to market with the NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra Platforms," said Charles Liang, president and CEO, Supermicro. "Our Data Center Building Block Solutions approach has streamlined the development of new air and liquid-cooled systems, optimized to the thermals and internal topology of the NVIDIA HGX B300 NVL16 and GB300 NVL72. Our advanced liquid-cooling solution delivers exceptional thermal efficiency, operating with 40℃ warm water in our 8-node rack configuration, or 35℃ warm water in double-density 16-node rack configuration, leveraging our latest CDUs. This innovative solution reduces power consumption by up to 40% while conserving water resources, providing both environmental and operational cost benefits for enterprise data centers."

PNY announced today it is adding the new NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition, RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q Workstation Edition, RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell, RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell, and RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell graphics cards to its lineup of NVIDIA RTX PRO GPU offerings for professionals.

Built for professionals and the future of work, NVIDIA RTX PRO Desktop GPUs based on the revolutionary NVIDIA Blackwell architecture deliver exceptional performance for AI-enhanced creative, design, and engineering workflows. Featuring the latest generation Tensor Cores, RT Cores, and up to 96 GB of ultra-high-speed GDDR7 memory, they enable groundbreaking advancements in AI, ray tracing, and neural graphics technology. Supercharge workstations for the next era of AI-driven workflows with the ultimate tools for professionals.

NVIDIA has developed co-packaged optics (CPO) technology with TSMC for its upcoming Quantum-X InfiniBand and Spectrum-X Ethernet switches, integrating silicon photonics directly onto switch ASICs. The engineering approach reduces power consumption by 3.5x. It decreases signal loss from 22 dB to 4 dB compared to traditional pluggable optics, addressing critical power and connectivity limitations in large-scale GPU deployments, especially in 10,000+ GPU systems. The architecture incorporates continuous wave laser sources within the switch chassis, consuming 2 W per port, compared to the 10 W required by conventional externally modulated lasers in pluggable modules. This configuration, combined with integrated optical engines that use 7 W versus 20 W for traditional digital signal processors, reduces total optical interconnect power from approximately 72 MW to 21.6 MW in a 400,000 GPU data center scenario.

Specifications for the Quantum 3450-LD InfiniBand model include 144 ports running at 800 Gb/s, delivering 115 Tb/s of aggregate bandwidth using four Quantum-X CPO sockets in a liquid-cooled chassis. The Spectrum-X lineup features the SN6810 with 128 ports at 800 Gb/s (102.4 Tb/s) and the higher-density SN6800 providing 512 ports at 800 Gb/s for 409.6 Tb/s total throughput. The Quantum-X InfiniBand implementation uses a monolithic switch ASIC with six CPO modules supporting 36 ports at 800 Gb/s, while the Spectrum-X Ethernet design employs a multi-chip approach with a central packet processing engine surrounded by eight SerDes chiplets. Both architectures utilize 224 Gb/s signaling per lane with four lanes per port. NVIDIA's Quantum-X switches are scheduled for availability in H2 2025, with Spectrum-X models following in H2 2026.