TechPowerUp today released the latest version of NVCleanstall, our lightweight utility that lets you take greater control of your NVIDIA driver software installation, letting you toggle the installation of a lot more features than what the "Custom" option in the NVIDIA installer allows. These could be important features such as Telemetry. Version 1.9.0 introduces a handful major feature updates. We've improved the driver signature rebuilding so you no longer see the "do you want to trust this publisher" warning. The "Add Hardware Support" setting has been fixed for Quadro drivers. We've also greatly reduced the app's memory footprint, with help from jgottula.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp NVCleanstall 1.9.0

TechPowerUp today released the latest version of TechPowerUp GPU-Z, the popular graphics subsystem information and monitoring utility. With the latest version 2.38.0, we are introducing the ability to detect Resizable BAR support. GPU-Z can now tell whether Resizable BAR is supported, and if so, whether it is enabled. AMD refers to Resizable BAR as AMD Smart Access Memory, but it is a feature developed by the PCI-SIG, which lets your CPU see the entire video memory of your discrete graphics card as a single addressable block, rather than through 256 MB apertures. This feature has been found to improve performance in games that can take advantage of it. Resizable BAR status can now be viewed from the main tab, right next to the multi-GPU status.

The latest TechPowerUp GPU-Z also adds support for new and upcoming GPUs, including AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, RX 6700, RX 6600 XT, RX 6600, and Ryzen "Lucienne" mobile processor iGPUs. Support is also added for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile. Other new features include the ability to monitor negative temperatures on NVIDIA GPUs. We fixed video BIOS extraction on AMD RDNA2 GPUs (Radeon RX 6000 series). Grab GPU-Z from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 2.38.0The change-log follows.

TechPowerUp today released the latest version of ThrottleStop by Kevin Glynn, a handy utility that lets you take greater control over the power-management features of your processor, so you can prevent it from unnecessarily throttling. This is particularly useful with notebooks that have aggressive CPU throttling. With the latest version 9.3, ThrottleStop introduces support for Core i9-10900K and i9-10850K processors, including a new Turbo Group access window.

The Turbo Power Limit controls have been updated with a toggle that lets you disable TPL control, along with the ability to clear TPL Lock options. The ThrottleStop Bench and C-State windows have been updated for 10th Gen Core processors. Other improvements include limit reasons for 10th and 11th Gen Core processors, improved access to Windows internal power plans, access to the PROCHOT offset variable, AVX offset control for Unlocked K-series processors, reporting and logging of Thermal Velocity Boost and Vmax stress. Several other UI changes were made. Grab ThrottleStop 9.3 from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp ThrottleStop 9.3 by Kevin GlynnThe change-log follows.

Everyone and their mother expected NVIDIA to announce - if not a SUPER refresh to their existing graphics cards with increased memory sizes - at least the RTX 3080 Ti. That card surfaced as a planned NVIDIA counter to AMD's preemptive pricing of $999 on its RX 6900 XT graphics card (which to be fair, is in itself as abundant a card as unicorns this side of the galaxy). GamersNexus reported NVIDIA partners' comments on the indefinite postponement of the RTX 3080 Ti and possible SUPER derivatives of the RTX 30-series lineup. It's being said that NVIDIA decided (smartly, I would say) to ensure consistent supply of their existing lineup to sate demand, instead of dispersing its limited chip production across even more product lines.

This would result, I have no doubt, on NVIDIA only having even more SKUs out of stock than they currently do. Considering the market's current state of mind in regards to NVIDIA's lineup, this seems like the most sensible decision possible. TechPowerUp has in the meantime confirmed this information with NVIDIA partners themselves.

The major GPU releases in 2020 are all plagued by the same problem: good product, not enough stock. This has led to a perverse situation on the market: you can't just walk into your favorite store and purchase the product you want. This is a consequence of NVIDIA and AMD going to market with tiny volumes, and extremely optimistic MSRPs which opened up the market to the phenomenon of scalping. Scalpers are individuals, or groups, who buy up whatever little volume is available, often using sophisticated online shopping bots, and resell them at exorbitant premiums on marketplaces like eBay, for profit.

This system only works because there is zero retail stock available anywhere on the planet, and whatever volume comes in, is so low that it evaporates, often before hitting retailer shelves. The only way scalping can be defeated is for manufacturers to flood the market with large volumes of product that the scalpers cannot scale their purchases up to, and possibly for crypto-currency mining to become not worth it on the latest generations of graphics cards. Until these happen, marked-up pricing is an inescapable reality for consumers.

Another year is drawing to a close, all around the world and here on TechPowerUp as well. A special year, to say the least; it's not the worst in recorded human history, but it's been one of the hardest ever, with more limitations imposed in our lives than in any other we can remember. Most of us have adapted to a new, hopefully temporary reality, one where social distancing and face masks have become commonplace. A reality where countless human lives were lost to an invisible, undiscerning enemy; where economic recession has thrown families and friends out of business or even from their homes. Globalization is indisputable, and while it has many positives, nothing could ever be without fault; the increased interconnectedness of our world means that the system becomes all the more fragile even as it becomes stronger. And while the argument for technology being a potentiator for human loneliness and creating isles of silence between us individuals of the human species presents valid points, one can certainly say that it was technology that helped bridge sentimental and physical gaps for all of us.

AMD has launched its RDNA 2 based graphics cards, codenamed Navi 21. These GPUs are set to compete with NVIDIA's Ampere offerings, with the lineup covering the Radeon RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT graphics cards. Until now, we have had reviews of the former two, but not the Radeon RX 6900 XT. That is because the card is coming at a later date, specifically on December 8th, in just a few days. As a reminder, the Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU is a Navi 21 XTX model with 80 Compute Units that give a total of 5120 Stream Processors. The graphics card uses a 256-bit bus that connects the GPU with 128 MB of its Infinity Cache to 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. When it comes to frequencies, it has a base clock of 1825 MHz, with a boost speed of 2250 MHz.

Today, in a GeekBench 5 submission, we get to see the first benchmarks of AMD's top-end Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card. Running an OpenCL test suite, the card was paired with AMD's Ryzen 9 5950X 16C/32T CPU. The card managed to pass the OpenCL test benchmarks with a score of 169779 points. That makes the card 12% faster than RX 6800 XT GPU, but still slower than the competing NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, which scores 177724 points. However, we need to wait for a few more benchmarks to appear to jump to any conclusions, including the TechPowerUp review, which is expected to arrive once NDA lifts. Below, you can compare the score to other GPUs in the GeekBench 5 OpenCL database.

TechPowerUp today released the latest version of TechPowerUp GPU-Z, the definitive graphics sub-system information, monitoring, and diagnostic utility for PC gamers, enthusiasts, and overclockers. The new version 2.36.0 adds support for new GPUs, and introduces many new fixes. For starters, it improves support for AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6800, and adds support for BIOS extraction from RDNA2-based graphics cards. Support is added for the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, GeForce MX 450, Quadro RTX 6000 Mobile; Intel Xe MAX, Xe Pod, Xe SG-18M, and several other new Intel GPUs; and AMD Radeon Pro VII, HD 8550D, and Barco MXRT 5600. Support is also added for the EVGA iCX sensor suite on the company's latest RTX 30-series graphics cards.

Among the other things we improved are temperature reading support for AMD "Zen 3" processors, fixed ROP counts on Radeon RX 6800 series graphics cards, support for the new XFX sub-vendor ID, fixes to reported memory size on certain NVIDIA cards, clock-speed reading on NVIDIA "Ampere" cards with no drivers installed; and a BSOD error with Windows Code Integrity enabled. Grab GPU-Z from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.36.0The change-log follows.

TechPowerUp today released the latest version of TechPowerUp GPU-Z, the popular graphics sub-system information and diagnostic utility. Version 2.35.0 adds support for new GPUs, and fixes a number of bugs. To begin with, GPU-Z adds support for AMD Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs based on the "Navi 21" silicon. Support is also added for Intel DG1 GPU. BIOS extraction and upload for NVIDIA's RTX 30-series "Ampere" GPUs has finally been introduced. Memory size reporting on the RTX 3090 has been fixed. The latest Windows 10 Insider Build (20231.1000) made some changes to DirectML, which caused GPU-Z to report it as unavailable, this has been fixed.

TechPowerUp GPU-Z 2.35.0 also makes various improvements to fake GPU detection for cards based on NVIDIA GT216 and GT218 ASICs. Hardware detection for AMD Radeon Pro 5600M based on "Navi 12" has been fixed. Among the other GPUs for which support was added with this release are NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core PCIe, Intel UHD Gen9.5 graphics on the i5-10200H, and Radeon HD 8210E and Barco MXRT-6700. Grab GPU-Z from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 2.35.0The change-log follows.

TechPowerUp and be quiet! the leader in high-quality gaming PC case, power, and cooling, in September brought you a chance to bring home a be quiet! Pure Base 500DX case. The be quiet! Pure Base 500DX is a premium ATX mid-tower case targeted at those wanting to build airy high-performance gaming builds. Its large mesh-type front panel allows the intake fans to breathe freely, helping them maintain a positive air-pressure inside. The dice has been rolled, and we have three lucky winners! Without further ado, the winners:

• Audil from Ontario, Canada
• Ruben from Pennsylvania, USA
• Zac from Saskatchewan, Canada

A Huge Congratulations to you three! be quiet! and TechPowerUp will return with more such interesting giveaways.

LG UltraGear partners with TechPowerUp to present the LG UltraGear Face-Off, an online Valorant tournament roping in 20 big-ticket e-sports athletes such as xQcOW, ChicaLive, and Wardell, forming into four teams who will battle for glory on October 3, 16:00 Eastern, for the ultimate Valorant glory and hardware from LG UltraGear. Among the 20 athletes are stars from various popular FPS e-sports disciplines, including Overwatch, Apex Legends, Fortnite, and CS:GO. Find out which of these games are best suited to dominate Valorant. While they slug it out, TechPowerUp readers have a chance to win from a 100 Steam Gift Cards valued at $20 each. There are three ways to participate: by simply watching a tournament video, following LG UltraGear on Twitch so you can watch the tournament, or subscribing to the LG UltraGear channel on YouTube. Entries close 40 hours from now, and 100 lucky winners are randomly selected and announced on October 15.

The LG UltraGear 27GN950-B gaming monitor is the choice of e-sports champions. As the pioneer of IPS, the leading modern display technology, LG UltraGear designs some of the most advanced gaming monitors optimized not just for bleeding-edge, tournament-winning performance, but also top-notch display quality. LG Display has perfected a new generation of IPS panels, called Nano IPS, geared for gaming, with fast 1 ms response-time, and 144 Hz refresh-rates, making them perfect for e-sports. The LG UltraGear 27GN950-B is a 27-inch 16:9 flatscreen with 4K Ultra HD resolution, 144 Hz refresh-rate, 1 ms response time, meeting DisplayHDR 600 standards, and supporting both NVIDIA G-SYNC (compatibility) and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro.

To participate, visit this page.

Don't forget to follow LG UltraGear on Twitch, where the tournament will be streamed.

AMD earlier today announced its Ryzen 3000C-series processors targeted at Chromebooks, a segment where the company feels it can bring more to the table than Intel's entry-level Celeron, Pentium Silver, and Pentium Gold mobile processors. Responding to a questionnaire by TechPowerUp, AMD revealed a handful details about these processors. The Ryzen 3000C-series processors are based on the 12 nm "Picasso" silicon, while the Athlon Gold and Athlon Silver parts are based on 14 nm. The "Picasso" based parts combine up to 4 "Zen+" CPU cores, with an iGPU based on the "Vega" graphics architecture, with up to 10 NGCUs. AMD has optimized all SKUs for a 15 W TDP target.

Responding to a question on storage specification or possible collaboration with MediaTek on WLAN controllers, AMD responded that it wishes a diverse hardware ecosystem for its OEM partners, without getting into specifics. There was no denial on the MediaTek bit. The Ryzen 7 3700C practically maxes out the "Picasso" silicon within the 15 W TDP envelope, which got us wondering if AMD has its eyes on the premium Chromebook segment, possibly even Google's first-party Chromebook Pixel brand. To this company responded that while the 3700C has a solid feature-set for premium Chromebooks, there are no first-party Pixel products on the anvil. AMD has just entered the market, and possibly wants to make a dent on the bulk of the Chromebook market first.

Leading case, power, and cooling brand be quiet! partners with TechPowerUp to present the "Get in the Flow" Giveaway. Open to our readers from the United States and Canada, the Giveaway lets one lucky winner bring home a be quiet! Pure Base 500DX case (color of the winner's choice). Released in Spring 2020, the be quiet! Pure Base 500DX is a premium ATX mid-tower case targeted at those wanting to build airy high-performance gaming builds. Its large mesh-type front panel allows the intake fans to breathe freely, helping them maintain a positive air-pressure inside. You also get vast amounts of room—graphics cards up to 36.9 cm long, and CPU coolers up to 19 cm tall (the RTX 3090 Founders Edition will be comfy). The air-flow design focus continues into filtered 140 mm top vents, and the inclusion of three 140 mm fans. All in all, a case for your next 4K battle station you're putting together for Cyberpunk 2077. Learn more about this case in the TechPowerUp Review. Open from today, entries for the Giveaway close on October 1, 2020. To participate, simply fill up a short form to help us get back to you if you've won. Good Luck!

For more information and to participate, visit this page.

TechPowerUp and performance memory experts Team Group brought you the Cardea Ceramic C440 Giveaway earlier this month, with a lucky winner from anywhere around the globe standing a chance to bring home a 1 TB Team Group Cardea Ceramic C440 M.2 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD. The C440 uses a Team Group-patented ceramic heatspreader that efficiently spreads heat from the various hot components on the drive, and can work with M.2 slot heatsinks included with your motherboard. The drive combines a Phison E16-series controller with 3D TLC NAND flash memory, to put out blistering 5 GB/s max sequential read speeds, with up to 4.4 GB/s sequential writes. Without further ado, the winner:

• Christopher from Australia

A huge Congratulations to you, Christopher! TechPowerUp and Team Group will return with more such interesting giveaways.

Do also check out the Team Group Annual Online Launch event between September 22 to 24, where the company is announcing several new SSD and memory products for the DIY gaming PC crowd.

TechPowerUp and Team Group bring you a chance to win a Team T-Force Cardea Ceramic C440 1 TB M.2 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD. Announced this June, the T-Force Cardea Ceramic C440 is an M.2 NVMe SSD that takes advantage of PCI-Express 4.0 x4 host interface - perfect for a cutting edge build based on 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen or upcoming Intel processors. This isn't just another Phison E16 + 3D TLC NAND based drive, Team Group innovated a patented new heatspreader which uses ceramic composite materials that more effectively pull heat from the drive's controller and NAND flash components. The 1 TB variant offers blistering speeds of up to 5,000 MB/s reads, with up to 4,400 MB/s writes. Open worldwide (wherever legal), the Giveaway accepts entries until September 17, 2020. To enter, all you have to do is fill us a short form that helps us get back to you if you've won. Good Luck!

For more information, and to participate, visit this page.

With Summer drawing to a close, as is our seasonal Giveaway. Earlier in July, TechPowerUp and Montech brought you a chance to pick up some cool Montech gear, including Gamma II 650 W 80 Plus Gold power supplies, Beta 550 W 80 Plus Bronze power supplies, and the company's Air X gaming case. The three mark Montech's arrival as a formidable player in the PC cooling, power, and casing hardware business, and there are three winners for each of the three hardware. Without further ado, the winners:

Montech Gamma II 650 W PSU won by: @maxfly from Ohio, Gerado from Wisconsin, and Jon from Indiana

Montech Air X Case (Black) won by: Cody from Missouri, Aidan from Texas, and Ricky from California

Montech Beta 550 W PSU won by: Ivan from California, Mary from Texas, and Rumman from New Jersey

A Huge Congrats to the nine of you! TechPowerUp and Montech will return with more such interesting Giveaways.

TechPowerUp has today released an update to widely popular ThrottleStop software made by Kevin Glynn. Used as a tool to "monitor for and correct the three main types of CPU throttling", the new ThrottleStop software received a major update that brings a heap of new features and improvements. Starting off, one of the biggest changes in the new version 9.2, is that the tool finally restores Windows 7 compatibility, which was unavailable for that OS in the previous version 9.0. Now, the tool also brings a few more options to the table like a new TS Bench feature that allows for random MHz testing, adds support for devices that use connected standby, and fixes base clock MHz reporting when using Core Isolation.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp ThrottleStop 9.2The change-log follows.

Late July Seagate brought you the Seagate FireCuda + TechPowerUp Forums Giveaway, letting you stand a chance to bring home a sweet Seagate FireCuda 120 1 TB SATA SSD, a handy expansion that lets you expand your game library. The FireCuda 120 has sufficient performance for snappy AAA game load times, and 1 TB of space lets you dump up to 20 AAA titles. It's equally formidable as a boot drive. Check out our comprehensive review of the drive here. The Giveaway closes tomorrow, but you still have time to drop in your hat. It's open for entries worldwide (wherever legal).

Seagate doesn't pick winners by random draw, but on the basis of the best response to the sentence "I need the Seagate FireCuda 120 SSD 1 TB because _______." What better place to pen your thoughts and meet like-minded gamers and PC enthusiasts than TechPowerUp Forums? Get cracking!

For more details and to participate, visit this page.

Boy, could I use a nice big SSD to store all these 100 GB+ AAA games to grind through. Storage solutions leader Seagate is giving away a 2.5" SATA FireCuda 120 1 TB solid-state drive on TechPowerUp Forums. Open worldwide (wherever legal), the Giveaway needs you to simply reply to the Giveaway thread completing the statement "I need the Seagate FireCuda 120 SSD 1 TB because _______." Open from today (July 28), you have until August 11, 2020 to drop your hat into the ring. Be creative, because the winner isn't selected by random. The winner will be contacted by private message on TechPowerUp Forums. While you're there, don't forget to stick around our vibrant community of PC enthusiasts and gamers.

For more information, and to participate visit the Seagate FireCuda 120 SSD Giveaway on TechPowerUp Forums.

TechPowerUp partners with Montech to bring you the TechPowerUp-Montech Summer Giveaway. Montech is an emerging AAA gaming PC hardware brand with top-tier gaming PC cases, power supplies, case fans, and gaming peripherals, with a vast product line under development. The company made its intentions crystal with premium cases, 80 Plus Gold-rated full-modular power supplies, and case fans with the latest impeller and bearing designs. As part of the TechPowerUp-Montech Summer Giveaway, nine lucky winners from the Continental United States stand a chance to bring home some cool Montech gear.

Three lucky winners get a Montech Air X (black+mesh) mid-tower case, each, that packs a pair of large 200 mm front intake fans that build positive air pressure along with a rear 120 mm exhaust, and give you a wealth of storage, cable-management, and liquid cooling preparation. Three other lucky winners get a Montech Gamma II 650 W, a top-shelf full-modular power supply that's 80 Plus Gold rated, offers APFC, DC-to-DC switching, flat ribbon cables, and a noise optimized 120 mm fan. Lastly, three lucky winners get a Montech Beta 550 W PSU, which covers all the bases for a gaming PC, providing all the essential connectivity for a stable single GPU build, with 80 Plus Bronze efficiency. So that's 9 lucky winners, and 9 pieces of Montech hardware to go. Open for entries from the Continental US (excluding Alaska), the giveaway runs till July 30. To participate, simply fill up a short form that helps us contact you if you've won.

For more information and to participate, visit this page.

Apple on Monday formalized the beginning of its departure from Intel x86 machine architecture for its Mac computers. Apple makes up to 4 percent of Intel's annual CPU sales, according to a MarketWatch report. Apple is now scaling up its own A-series SoCs that use Arm CPU cores, up to performance levels relevant to Macs, and has implemented support for not just new and upcoming software ported to the new Arm machine architecture, but also software over form the iOS and iPadOS ecosystems on Mac, starting with its MacOS "Big Sur" operating system. We reached out to Intel for some of its first comments on the development.

In a comment to TechPowerUp, an Intel spokesperson said "Apple is a customer across several areas of our business, and we will continue to support them. Intel remains focused on delivering the most advanced PC experiences and a wide range of technology choices that redefine computing. We believe Intel-powered PCs—like those based on our forthcoming Tiger Lake mobile platform—provide global customers the best experience in the areas they value most, as well as the most open platform for developers, both today and into the future."

TechPowerUp today released ThrottleStop 9 by Kevin Glynn, a groundbreaking update to the popular app that lets you take greater control over the power management in your Intel-powered notebook or desktop system, unleashing more performance by overriding OEM-preset processor throttling. Version 9.0 of ThrottleStop comes with system-level improvements that ensure the app isn't blocked Valorant anti-cheat, or false-positives by similar mechanisms.

The app also adds awareness and optimization for Windows 10 May 2020 Update (version 2004). Support for Intel 10th Gen Intel Core processors has been added, including Limit Reasons access. PROCHOT Offset adjustment feature has been added. The C-states window has been redesigned to make it easier to work with 6-core and 8-core processors. The throttle on the main screen has been improved to now display the type of throttling. Consistency of temperature monitoring between the notification window and main window has been improved. Grab the app from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp ThrottleStop 9.0The change-log follows.

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 1.6.0The change-log follows.

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.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.31.0

The change-log follows.

TechPowerUp has learned that Intel is planning to bring 16 cores onto the mainstream desktop platform by Spring 2021 by implementing a similar chip-design philosophy as AMD: MCMs. The new "Ozark Lake" processor will pack up to 16 cores and 32 threads by decoupling the "core" and "uncore" components of a typical Intel mainstream processor.

Intel will leverage the additional fiberglass substrate floor-space yielded from the new LGA1700 package to create a multi-chip module that has two [kinds of] dies, the "core complex" and the "uncore complex." The core complex is a 14 nm die purely composed of CPU cores and an EMIB interconnect. There will be as many as 16 "Skylake" cores in a conventional ringbus layout, and conventional cache hierarchy (256 KB L2$ and up to 2 MB/core L3$). The lack of uncore components and exclusive clock and voltage domains will allow the CPU cores to attain Thermal Velocity Boost Pro speeds of up to 6.00 GHz, if not more.