As we witness Apple's generational updates of the M series of chips, the highly anticipated SKU of the 3rd generation of Apple M series yet-to-be-announced top-of-the-line M3 Ultra chip is growing speculations from industry insiders. The latest round of reports suggests that the M3 Ultra might step away from its predecessor's design, potentially adopting a monolithic architecture without the UltraFusion interconnect technology. In the past, Apple has relied on a dual-chip design for its Ultra variants, using the UltraFusion interconnect to combine two M series Max chips. For example, the second generation M Ultra chip, M2 Ultra, boasts 134 billion transistors across two 510 mm² chips. However, die-shots of the M3 Max have sparked discussions about the absence of dedicated chip space for the UltraFusion interconnect.

While the absence of visible interconnect space on early die-shots is not conclusive evidence, as seen with the M1 Max not having visible UltraFusion interconnect and still being a part of M1 Ultra with UltraFusion, industry has led the speculation that the M3 Ultra may indeed feature a monolithic design. Considering that the M3 Max has 92 billion transistors and is estimated to have a die size between 600 and 700 mm², going Ultra with these chips may be pushing the manufacturing limit. Considering the maximum die size limit of 848 mm² for the TSMC N3B process used by Apple, there may not be sufficient space for a dual-chip M3 Ultra design. The potential shift to a monolithic design for the M3 Ultra raises questions about how Apple will scale the chip's performance without the UltraFusion interconnect. Competing solutions, such as NVIDIA's Blackwell GPU, use a high-bandwidth C2C interface to connect two 104 billion transistor chips, achieving a bandwidth of 10 TB/s. In comparison, the M2 Ultra's UltraFusion interconnect provided a bandwidth of 2.5 TB/s.

In the world where the largest companies are riding the AI train, the biggest of them all—Apple—seemed to stay quiet for a while. Even with many companies announcing their systems/models, Apple has stayed relatively silent about the use of LLMs in their products. However, according to Bloomberg, Apple is not pushing out an AI model of its own; rather, it will license Google's leading Gemini models for its iPhone smartphones. Gemini is Google's leading AI model with three variants: Gemini Nano 1/2, Gemini Pro, and Gemini Ultra. The Gemini Nano 1 and Nano 2 are designed to run locally on hardware like smartphones. At the same time, Gemini Pro and Ultra are inferenced from Google's servers onto a local device using API and the internet.

Apple could use a local Gemini Nano for basic tasks while also utilizing Geminin Pro or Ultra for more complex tasks, where a router sends user input to the available model. That way, users could use AI capabilities both online and offline. Since Apple is readying a suite of changes for iOS version 18, backed by Neural Engine inside A-series Bionic chips, the LLM game of Apple's iPhones might get a significant upgrade with the Google partnership. While we still don't know the size of the deal, it surely is a massive deal for Google to tap into millions of devices Apple ships every year and for Apple to give its users a more optimized experience.

Samsung Electronics today unveiled the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24, unleashing new mobile experiences with Galaxy AI. Galaxy S series leads the way into a new era that will forever change how mobile devices empower users. AI amplifies nearly every experience on Galaxy S24 series, from enabling barrier-free communication with intelligent text and call translations, to maximizing creative freedom with Galaxy's ProVisual Engine, to setting a new standard for search that will change how Galaxy users discover the world around them.

"The Galaxy S24 series transforms our connection with the world and ignites the next decade of mobile innovation," said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics. "Galaxy AI is built on our innovation heritage and deep understanding of how people use their phones. We're excited to see how our users around the world empower their everyday lives with Galaxy AI to open up new possibilities."

Samsung Electronics showcased its AI-strengthened Galaxy ecosystem at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 in Las Vegas from January 9-12. The dedicated Mobile Experience Zone at Samsung's booth pulled attendees in for one last glimpse at the company's top innovations where visitors could experience the latest Galaxy products, including the Galaxy Book4 Series, and view how they are strengthened by partnerships with industry leaders. Samsung Newsroom visited the site and summarized the main highlights of the event. Read on to learn how the company is driving the hyper-connected mobile experience of the future.

New, Exciting AI Capabilities With the Galaxy Book4 Series
The new Galaxy Book4 Series was spotlighted near the entrance of the zone. Attendees could experience the strong AI performance and the incredibly responsive touchscreen display of the Galaxy Book4, released on January 4 in Korea. The Galaxy Book4 series is equipped with the new Intel Core Ultra Processor, offering expanded connectivity and a high-performance AI experience. The zone featured up-close demonstrations of the laptop's increased processing power, made possible by a newly-added Neural Processing Unit (NPU).

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced the release of its most intelligent PC lineup yet: Galaxy Book4 Ultra, Book4 Pro and Book4 Pro 360. The latest series comes with a new intelligent processor, a more vivid and interactive display and a robust security system—beginning a new era of AI PCs that offers ultimate productivity, mobility and connectivity. These enhancements not only improve the device itself but also elevate the entire Samsung Galaxy ecosystem, advancing the PC category and accelerating Samsung's vision of AI innovation—for both today and tomorrow.

"Samsung is committed to empowering people to experience new possibilities that enhance their everyday lives. This new paradigm can be achieved through our expansive Galaxy ecosystem and open collaboration with other industry leaders," said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. "The Galaxy Book4 series plays a key role in bringing best-in-class connectivity to our ecosystem that will broaden how people interact with their PC, phone, tablet and other devices for truly intelligent and connected experiences."

GIGABYTE, the world's leading computer brand, proudly introduces the latest evolution in gaming laptops for 2024 - the AORUS 17 and AORUS 15 - delivering cutting-edge performance in their signature sleek and portable package.

Powered by the all-new Intel Core Ultra 7 processors and equipped with full-powered NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Laptop GPUs alongside expandable DDR5 memory, the AORUS 17 and AORUS 15 effortlessly handle demanding gaming and creative tasks on the go. The exclusive WINDFORCE Infinity cooling technology ensures optimal performance in a super-portable chassis, while the addition of Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos technologies provides an immersive personal cinema experience.

Intel is slowly preparing to launch its next-generation Meteor Lake mobile processor family, dropping the Core i brand name in favor of Core Ultra. Today, we are witnessing some early Geekbench v6 benchmarks with the latest leak of the Core Ultra 7 155H processor, boasting an integrated Arc GPU featuring 8 Xe-Cores—the complete configuration expected in the GPU tile. This tile is also projected to be a part of the more potent Core 9 Ultra 185H CPU. The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor has been benchmarked in the new ASUS Zenbook 14, which houses a 16-core and 22-thread hybrid CPU configuration capable of boosting up to 4.8 GHz. Paired with 32 GB of memory, the configuration was well equipped to supply CPU and GPU with sufficient memory space.

Perhaps the most interesting information from the submission was the OpenCL score of the GPU. Clocking in at 33948 points in Geekbench v6, the GPU is running over AMD's Radeon 780M GPU found in APU solutions like AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS and Ryzen 9 7940U, which scored 30585 and 27345 points in the same benchmark, respectively. The GPU tile is millimeters away from closing the gap between itself and the desktop Intel Arc A380 discrete GPU, which scored 37105 points for less than a 10% difference. The Xe-LPG GPU version is bringing some interesting performance points for the integrated GPU platform, which means that Intel's Meteor Lake SKUs will bring more performance/watt than ever.

Intel's upcoming Meteor Lake processor family will see the light of the day in mobile version only, with a big re-brand of the Intel Core i naming structure. Slated for a December 14th launch, we are eager to see the official performance figures. However, we are in for a treat today as we have some early performance figures thanks to Geekbench. According to the GB5 run found by BenchLeaks, Intel's Core Ultra 9 185H CPU has appeared to show its configuration, early performance, and boost frequency that is reaching beyond the 5.0 GHz mark.

As the GB5 run suggests, Core Ultra 9 185H is a 16-core CPU with 22 threads, running at 2.5 GHz base frequency. There are six P-cores, eight E-cores, and two SoC-cores on the package of this SKU. During boost, the CPU can reach up to 5.1 GHz and was paired with 64 GB of DDR5 memory. Interestingly, the CPU scored 1849 points in single-threaded tests and 9832 points in multi-threaded tests, which currently doesn't beat top-end Intel mobile HX SKU like i9-13980HX. However, we estimate this was an early engineering sample, and the final product will be more performant.

Hello and welcome back to the world of marbles - it's been a while! Straight to the news of the day—Marble It Up! Ultra releases on August 17th! It will be available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Steam (including Steam Deck) and the Epic Store. We'll be rolling out more info over the coming weeks in anticipation of the launch!

Be sure to check out our updated FAQ and drop by the Discord Community. A very special thank you to our community. Whether you've been here from the start or are about to roll with us for the first time - this game couldn't exist without the attention and dedication of those who play it.

A few weeks ago, we spotted an Intel Core Ultra 7 1003H Meteor Lake-P processor in the wild, running a PugetBench set of benchmarks. Today, we are in luck as there is another Meteor Lake-P processor running in the wild, spotted by @InstLatX64 on Twitter. Called Intel Core Ultra 7 1002H, the CPU represents a similar SKU to the previously discovered 1003. Also, having 16 cores in total, they are split into two categories: 6 Performance cores, and ten Efficient cores, two of which are on the SoC die, divided from the remaining eight on the compute die. Interestingly, only P-cores feature 2-way hyperthreaded, so 12 threads from P-cores and ten threads from E-cores combine into 22 threads.

What we don't know is the frequency of this chip and the position it plays in the Meteor Lake-P family of processors. The screenshot states a potential base clock of 3000 MHz; however, it could be an early engineering sample chip, so we have to wait for the final design. With 1003H having exactly the same core/thread number, we expect that the newly discovered 1002H has potentially lower clocks and TDP to match.

A hardware tipster - Benchleaks - has highlighted an interesting new entry for an Intel Meteor Lake Client Platform CPU on the PugetBench site - it seems that early platform validation results have been uploaded by mistake (prior to embargo restrictions). The MTL-P CPU in question appears to be a laptop/mobile variant given its "H" designation. We are also looking at another example of Team Blue's new SKU naming system with this Core Ultra 7 1003H processor - the company has confirmed that revised branding will debut as part of the Meteor Lake family.

The previously leaked Core model (5 1003H) also sported an "Ultra" tag, so it is possible that only high-end examples have been outed online over the past month. Puget System Lightroom Classic benchmark results that were produced by the Core Ultra 7 1003H CPU were not exactly next level - scoring only 534.5 points overall - this could indicate that a prototype unit was benched. An older Core i7-8665U laptop processor only lagged behind by 32.5 points. The test platform was fitted with 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) of DDR5-5600 memory, and ran in a Windows 11 Enterprise (22621) OS environment. Intel's latest marketing spiel is bigging up the potential of Meteor Lake's AI acceleration capabilities, via the built-in neural VPU.

Xilinx Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), now part of AMD, are always in demand in the semiconductor industry. Today, AMD has shared a letter to Xilinx customers that the selected FPGA device series will receive an 8-25% price increase. Citing AMD's investment into the supply chain, along with increased prices from the suppliers, Xilinx FPGAs will get more expensive. From January 9, 2023, the cost of the Spartan 6 series will increase by 25%, the price of the Versal series will not increase, and all other Xilinx products will increase by 8%. Interestingly, the older series manufactured on 40-28 nm nodes will increase while the latest Versal series doesn't experience any change.

Regarding lead times, the 16 nm UltraScale+ series, 20 nm UltraScale series, and 28 nm 7 series all take 20 weeks from order to delivery, which will remain until the third quarter of 2023. You can read the entire document below.

LG Electronics (LG) is unveiling its latest premium monitors at IFA 2022 in Berlin, Germany, including the superb, new UltraGear OLED gaming monitor (model 45GR95QE). LG's first curved OLED display with a 240Hz refresh rate, the 45-inch model is designed for immersive gaming experiences, offering the visual performance, speed and features serious gamers demand.

Visitors to LG's booth at IFA 2022 can explore a wide range of cutting-edge LG monitor products, including the new UltraGear and the UltraFine Display Ergo AI (model 32UQ890), which delivers a truly customizable setup for superior user comfort at home or at the office.

[Editor's Note: We Reviewed Razer DeathStalker V2 Pro Optical Keyboard here.]

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the return of the acclaimed DeathStalker keyboard in the form of the new DeathStalker V2 Pro, DeathStalker V2 Pro Tenkeyless, and DeathStalker V2.

With a clean, low-profile design language running across the range, the new DeathStalker V2 line is ideal for gamers looking for a clutter-free desktop set-up. Boasting a sleek, low-profile design, the DeathStalker V2 line is all about high-profile performance, featuring both linear and clicky variants of the Razer Low-profile Optical Switches across the range. Adding to the premium experience are a slim-line aluminium top plate for superb durability, and laser-etched keycaps with an ultra-durable coating for even greater longevity.

Just a few days back, we have seen reports being made about EVGA graphics cards dying from playing a closed beta test of Amazon Game's New World MMORPG game. Multiple users are reporting on their GPUs getting fried from playing the game, and EVGA is already offering a replacement for the GPUs. However, today's situation appears to be slightly different. According to the report coming from Igor's Lab, EVGA is charging premium prices for its advanced GPU RMA service, getting some criticism from the community. For starters, the advanced RMA service is a service designed for EVGA customers to send their faulty GPUs, pay a deposit, receive a replacement GPU from EVGA, and once EVGA receives the old GPU, it returns the deposit to the person who made it. It basically allows less downtime for owners of the GPU, with a replacement quickly on the way.

All of that is working neatly in theory. However, as every person involved in the PC building recently knows, prices for GPUs are at an insane level as demand is much higher than the supply currently available. Igor's Lab has reportedly experienced a similar situation with EVGA as well. As Igor filed for the advanced RMA program, the deposit needed to be made. Instead of the regular 782 Euros (or about 931 Euros with VAT included) for EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra, EVGA asked for as much as a 1,728.20 Euro deposit to be made.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of premium gaming hardware, released the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards powered by NVIDIA Ampere architecture. GIGABYTE first launched 4 graphics cards - GeForce RTX 3090 GAMING OC 24G, GeForce RTX 3090 EAGLE OC 24G, GeForce RTX 3080 GAMING OC 10G, GeForce RTX 3080 EAGLE OC 10G. The 4 graphics cards feature GIGABYTE WINDFORCE 3X cooling system with alternate spinning fan, unique blade fan, graphene nano lubricant, screen cooling, large copper plate and heat pipe, RGB fusion 2.0, protection metal back plate, and GIGABYTE certified ultra-durable materials, so that all gamers can enjoy the ultimate gaming experience with the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs.

The new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs, the 2nd generation of RTX, features new RT Cores, Tensor Cores and streaming multiprocessors, bringing stunning visuals, amazingly fast frame rates, and AI acceleration to games and creative applications. Powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, which delivers increases of up to 1.9X performance-per-watt over the previous generation, the RTX 30 Series effortlessly powers graphics experiences at all resolutions, even up to 8K at the top end. The GeForce RTX 3090, 3080, and 3070 represent the greatest GPU generational leap in the history of NVIDIA.

Researchers at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) have unveiled the discovery of a new material, called amorphous boron nitride (a-BN), in collaboration with Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and the University of Cambridge. Published in the journal Nature, the study has the potential to accelerate the advent of the next generation of semiconductors.

Recently, SAIT has been working on the research and development of two-dimensional (2D) materials - crystalline materials with a single layer of atoms. Specifically, the institute has been working on the research and development of graphene, and has achieved groundbreaking research outcomes in this area such as the development of a new graphene transistor as well as a novel method of producing large-area, single-crystal wafer-scale graphene. In addition to researching and developing graphene, SAIT has been working to accelerate the material's commercialization.

MMD, the leading display specialist and brand license partner for Philips Monitors are releasing two new Momentum monitors, one of which includes a product collaboration with Bowers & Wilkins. The first is the 558M1RY which at 55 inches (139.7 cm) is the largest console gaming optimized monitor on the market, the second being the 278M1R, a 27-inch (68.6 cm) monitor designed for esports. The 558M1RY will bring a whole new dimension to gaming, boasting a 4K UHD resolution, up to 120Hz refresh rate, a specially designed speaker by Bowers & Wilkins, and Ambiglow which extends around the screen. The 278M1R is the first Philips monitor designed exclusively with esports players in mind, it's 27 inches and is HDR Ready. The 55" will be available end of June 2020 and the 27" as of July 2020.

The 558M1RY is a truly one box solution to immersive gaming and entertainment. Players will be completely engrossed in their games with a 55-inch screen and 3 sided Ambiglow. The monitor dazzles with its UltraClear 4K UHD resolution, featuring 3840 x 2160 pixels and DisplayHDR 1000. Users can adjust the HDR to their preferences with HDR Game, HDR Movie, HDR Photo and an HDR personal modes; HDR can also be completely turned off.

Western Digital today announced two new 96-layer 3D flash NVMe SSD families, the Ultrastar DC SN640 and Ultrastar DC SN340. Both are purpose-built for either mixed-use-case workloads or very read-intensive applications, respectively. The new Ultrastar drives help meet the evolving, and increasingly specific workload demands placed on data centers today, while building a strong, flexible foundation for the zettabyte-scale era of the future. Leveraging Western Digital's in-house SSD controller designs, firmware development and vertical integration, these new solutions underscore the company's strengths in developing innovations that allow customers' data to thrive, from edge to core to cloud.

NVMe is having a great impact on enterprises and what they can do with data, particularly for real-time analytics, M2M and IoT, and emerging technologies like composable infrastructure. Data center customers understand the nature of their data streams and application workloads and are realizing that today's general-purpose architectures are inefficient and can carry resource and cost overhead.

Today EPI, an affiliate of TPV Technology Limited (TPV), who holds all Philips-branded home and personal audio licensing worldwide, announces the addition of two new high-performance monitors to its E Series Collection. The Philips 32" QHD LCD Display (326E8FJSB) with Quad HD 2560 x 1440 pixels and the Philips 27" 4K UHD Display (276E8VJSB) with 3840 x 2160 resolution join the family of stunning professional monitors for an affordable price. Both displays are now available at Amazon and NewEgg for $279.99 MSRP each.

Ideal for home entertainment, the new Philips 32'' QHD LCD Display features AMD FreeSync technology with a smooth quick refresh at 60Hz and an ultra-fast response time of 5ms, which is perfect for Console or PC gaming. Plus, the new SmartImage Game mode offers multiple options for gamers, including FPS, Racing and RTS Modes. FPS Mode improves dark themes in games, allowing users to see hidden objects in dark areas. Racing Mode adapts the display with the fastest response time, high color and image adjustments. RTS Mode has a unique SmartFrame feature which enables specific areas to be highlighted and allows for size and image adjustments. Users can save their personal customized settings depending on the game, allowing for quick access and ensuring the best performance.

At CES 2017, AMD set-up a demo room in which it showcased a PC powered by a Ryzen CPU and a Vega GPU playing Star Wars Battlefront at 60 FPS, reportedly at Ultra HD, with confirmed Ultra quality settings. Some sources do report that the frame rate at 4K Ultra settings occasionally dropped to 57 or 58 fps, but it still remains a strong showing from the company's upcoming Vega graphics architecture, as well as the prowess of its Ryzen CPUs.

LG Electronics (LG) today announced plans to introduce the world's first 21:9 "UltraWide" gaming monitor compatible with AMD FreeSync technology for fluid motion during fast gameplay.

The new monitor headlines LG's expanded lineup being unveiled next week at the 2015 International CES and further solidifies the company's leadership in the growing 21:9 segment, which caters to the digital imaging, business professional and gaming markets. Based on IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Monitor Tracker, LG is the world sales leader in this monitor segment over the last seven fiscal quarters (as of the third quarter of 2014) with a market share of 77.3 percent of the world's 21:9 monitors.

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash storage solutions, today announced the SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive, a USB flash drive featuring both a micro-USB and a USB 2.0 connector in a sleek and sturdy form factor. The SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive is designed for Android smartphone and tablet users who need an easy way to move content such as photos and videos from their mobile devices. The drive allows users to safely store and backup files, free-up space, or simply transfer multimedia between their smartphones, tablets and computers.

"The SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive provides a simple, convenient way to offload and backup files from smartphones and tablets - with the peace of mind that comes with the trusted SanDisk brand," said Dinesh Bahal, vice president, product marketing, SanDisk. "This new drive integrates with SanDisk's Memory Zone app to make freeing up space on mobile devices simpler than ever, improving the user experience."

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced official certification of the latest dual port Thunderbolt 2 technology on the GIGABYTE Z87X-UD7 TH motherboard. Code-named 'Falcon Ridge', the new Intel Thunderbolt 2 controller supports an incredible 20 Gb/s aggregated data transfer simultaneously across two channels per port.

"GIGABYTE is delighted to announce official certification of Intel's latest Thunderbolt technology on our flagship 8 series motherboard," commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. "This underlines our commitment to offering our customers the absolute fastest connectivity options, placing GIGABYTE at the forefront of technological innovation."

LG Electronics USA today launched two new "UltraWide" 21:9 aspect ratio* LED monitors designed to offer professional tools for effective multitasking and excellent gaming experience. Models EA73 and LN450W, which will be on sale in late September, also employ LG's advanced In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology and 2560 x 1080 resolution capability* to deliver exceptional picture quality. "Picture quality is always the number one priority when LG designs display products, but we also focus on versatility," said Tim Alessi, director of new product development at LG Electronics USA. "Our new UltraWide monitors exemplify that focus with features that make them ideal for home-office professionals, students, gamers and casual users alike."