AMD today addressed multiple issues with its 3rd generation Ryzen processors through a highly-recommended update to its Chipset Driver software. To begin with, it stated that several users noticed anomalous behavior with 3rd generation Ryzen chips where the voltages and clock-speeds would be raised as the processor would misinterpret low-scale performance requests from certain software as a request to unlock higher performance states (combinations of higher clock-speeds and voltages to support them). This first came to light when users reported abnormally high voltages at idle when performance was measured by certain software that caused the Observer Effect. The new version 1.07.29 of AMD Chipset Drivers refine the AMD Ryzen Balanced Windows power scheme to be more aware of low-priority workloads and ensure the right state when the system is idling. AMD recommends Ryzen Master software. Version 2.0.0.1233 (or later), as they have fixes to the hardware monitoring module.

The AMD Chipset Drivers 1.07.29 also includes a "beta" fix for the bug that rendered "Destiny 2" unplayable on machines powered by 3rd generation Ryzen processors. The company had earlier tried to fix this bug through an update to its AGESA processor microcode, through ComboAM4 1.0.0.3ABA, although that particular version, not to be confused with the widely circulated 1.0.0.3AB, was found to be buggy and pulled. AMD said it's working on a newer version of AGESA, version ComboAM4 1.0.0.3ABB, which will include "a more comprehensive solution" to the bug affecting "Destiny 2."

Igor Wallossek of Igor'sLAB Germany postulated a method by which an AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT "Navi" graphics card can be made to run at clock-speeds of over 2.20 GHz (engine clock), thanks to custom SoftPowerPlay Tables (SPPTs) deployed by modifications to the Windows Registry. The AMD Radeon driver is designed such that it reads PowerPlay tables from the video-BIOS of an RX 5700-series graphics card the first time it's detected, and writes it onto the Windows Registry for quick-reference. This is called a SoftPowerPlay Table or SPPT. It's the modification of SPPTs that allows you to manipulate the power limits of RX 5700-series graphics cards, and achieve higher engine clocks than the 2150 MHz engine-clock limit of the RX 5700 XT, which is set at just 1850 MHz for the RX 5700.

Wallossek's mod involves preparing your Windows Registry with a driver cleaner such as DDU, downloading and applying Registry files for various new power-limit targets you want. The table below details the various power-limit and clock headroom on offer from each kind of registry file. There's also a registry file that cleans up your Windows Registry of any SPPTs, if you decide to roll-back your mod. You can inspect a registry file by opening it in a plaintext viewer such as Notepad. Find links to the SPPT mods, and the Registry Cleanup in the source link below. You can also watch a video presentation by Wallossek in German language here. You make any changes to your machine at your own risk, be sure to have proper custom cooling for your graphics card.

Microsoft earlier today released to market its latest version of Windows 10, the May 2019 Update (version 1903). There was quite some talk about Microsoft tweaking the kernel to improve CPU performance. Other gamer-relevant changes include updates to WDDM (display driver model), and an updated DirectX 12, which now supports variable-rate shading. A similar technology is available on Vulkan, and has already been implemented in games such as "Wolfenstein: The New Colossus." With much talk about the latest Windows being better for games than the previous Windows 10 Fall 2018 Update (1809), we decided to take it for a spin.

After backing-up our 1809 installation onto a disk image, we updated to 1903 using Windows Update, with the same driver- and game versions as our recently-updated setup (details here). We then put the machine through our entire selection of 21 games, and two high-end graphics cards, the AMD Radeon VII and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. We used driver versions 19.5.1 for AMD, and 430.64 for NVIDIA, both of which support Windows 1903. Our tests span 1920x1080 (Full HD), 2560x1440 (1440p), and 3840x2160 pixels (4K) resolutions. We present our data as percentage gain/loss over Windows 1809, with three data-points per game, each representing the three resolutions in the order "Full HD", "1440p", and "4K". The first graph below covers the RTX 2080 Ti, and the second one Radeon VII.

Eliovp, who describes himself on GitHub as a Belgian [crypto] mining enthusiast, created what could go down as the best thing that happened to AMD Radeon users all decade. The AMD Memory Tweak Tool is a Windows and Linux based GUI utility that lets you not just overclock AMD Radeon graphics card memory on the fly, but also lets you tweak its memory timings. Most timings apply live, while your machine is running within Windows/Linux GUI, some require memory retraining via a reboot, which means they can't be changed at this time, because rebooting reverts the timings to default. The author is trying to figure out a way to run memory training at runtime, which would let you change those timings, too, in the future. While you're at it, the tool also lets you play with GPU core frequency and fan-control.

The AMD Memory Tweak tool supports both Windows and Linux (GUI), and works with all recent AMD Radeon GPUs with GDDR5 and HBM2 memory types. It requires Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.4.1 or later in case of Windows, or amdgpu-pro ROCM to be actively handling the GPU in case of Linux. The Linux version further has some dependencies, such as pciutils-dev, libpci-dev, build-essential, and git. The source-code for the utility is up on GitHub for you to inspect and test.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Memory Tweak Tool by Eliovp

The United States tech industry has overnight dealt a potentially fatal blow to Chinese electronics giant Huawei, by boycotting the company. The companies are establishing compliance with a recent Executive Order passed by President Donald Trump designed to "stop the import, sale, and use of equipment and services by foreign companies based in countries that are potential adversaries to U.S. interests," particularly information technology security. Google has announced that it will no longer allow Huawei to license Android, and will stop updates and Google Play access to Huawei smartphones. Huawei can still equip its phones with open-source Android, but it cannot use Google's proprietary software, including Google Play Store, Chrome, and all the other Google apps. Intel decided to no longer supply processors and other hardware to Huawei, for use in its laptops and server products. Sales of AMD processors will stop, too. Qualcomm-Broadcom have decided to stop supply of mobile SoCs and network PHYs, respectively. Microsoft decided to stop licensing Huawei to use Windows and Office products.

The ban is a consequence of the U.S. Government placing Huawei on a list of banned entities, forcing all U.S. companies to abandon all trade with it, without prior approval from the Department of Commerce. Trade cuts both ways, and not only are U.S. firms banned from buying from Huawei, they're also banned from selling to it. Huawei "buys from" over 30 U.S. companies, (for example, Windows licenses from Microsoft). CNN reports that U.S. firms could lose up to $11 billion in revenues.

NETGEAR Armor on your Orbi Mesh WiFi Systems is a cybersecurity solution that protects all internet-connected devices in your home from viruses, malware, stolen passwords, identity theft and hacking, whether you're at home or on the go. Many people already have some type of anti-virus software loaded onto their home computers. However, this is often not effective enough for the cyber threats in today's environment. In fact, according to research, 146 billion records of personal information, such as credit card information or national identification / social security numbers, are expected to be stolen by cybercriminals between 2018 to 2023.

NVIDIA today introduced their latest hotfix driver. Driver number 430.53 addresses reported issues of high CPU utilization (due to NVDisplay.Container.exe) on NVIDIA's previous 430.39 WHQL driver, which added support for their latest GTX 1650 graphics card as well as Windows' 1903 release.

A number of fixes have also been introduced by this driver version. Namely, flickering observed when 3DMark Time Spy is launched; BeamNG application crash on games launch; SLI freezes in Shadow of the Tomb Raider; and monitor flickering on the desktop when videos are being played on a secondary monitor. You can grab this latest hotfix driver release on the link below.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 430.53 Hotfix Driver

TechPowerUp today released GPU-Z 2.20.0 as a very quick follow-up to version 2.19.0 from a few hours ago. We have come across a few critical bugs with the older version that needed immediate fixing. To begin with, your overclock getting reset on NVIDIA graphics cards with Boost when using GPU-Z, has been fixed. A crash noticed on machines with NVIDIA "Pascal" GPUs with no driver loaded, has also been fixed. Crashes noticed on Apple machines (i.e. Windows on Apple) with AMD Radeon Vega 12 GPU have been fixed. We touched up the memory bus-width read-out to show "bit" instead of "Bit," while we were at it. Grab the download from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 2.20.0The change-log follows.

One of the big no-nos for some users looking to upgrade do Windows 10 was the fact that Microsoft enforced constant, 6-month update cycles independent of whether users wanted them or not. This move was done to streamline the update process and keep all users at parity when it comes to important security and feature updates that Microsoft considered relevant. However, it seems Microsoft is now abandoning this practice, which means that users that like to know exactly what is being changed in their systems - and at a time of their convenience - now have one less reason to not upgrade.

Not only will Windows no longer push updates inadvertently, now home users will also have the ability to not only pause updates, but also remove them. There's a caveat, though - you won't be able to postpone feature updates forever. As it stands, Microsoft has an 18 month "end of life" period for major Windows 10 versions, which means that after your 18 months of postponing updates are up (and all of the kinks have been ironed out), you PC will still update to the latest version. There are some other details, which I will transcribe from the Microsoft blog post for your perusal.

After the oddity that was its GeForce 419.67 WHQL Creator Ready drivers, NVIDIA launched new GeForce drivers with the same 419.67 version number, but with "Game Ready" branding. It's now clear that Creator Ready is a fork of the GeForce software, released at a slightly lesser frequency, targeting creativity and productivity software that don't quite need Quadro feature-set or certifications. GeForce 419.67 WHQL Game Ready, on the other hand, add day-one optimization for "Battlefield V: Firestorm," a new update that brings the highly addictive Battle Royale gameplay mode to the Battlefield franchise. Optimization is also added or refined for "Anthem," "Shadow of the Tomb Raider," and "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice." NVIDIA expanded the list of Adaptive Sync monitors that are now capable of G-Sync.

Among the bugs fixed are a performance drop noticed in DaVinci Resolve, overexposed brightness and color seen in "Far Cry: New Dawn" with HDR turned on; performance issues with "Total War: Warhammer 2" with AA turned on; artifacts seen in certain Adobe applications; screen corruption when switching display modes with HDR turned on in "Apex Legends," FOV reduction when recording with GeForce Experience; flickering noticed in "Star Citizen" followed by a CTD on "Turing" GPUs, abnormal time taken on GeForce GTX 980 responding to NVAPI calls; TITAN RTX overheating when enabling TCC mode via NVLink; and second monitor flickering with two monitors connected to an RTX 2070. Grab the driver from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 419.67 WHQL Game ReadyThe change-log follows.

Intel has revealed the layout and overall look (as well as functionality, though that one is always changing) of their new Graphics Command Center app, which showcases the company's vision for a graphics control hub. The design is thematically coherent (read: it's blue), and is, for now, of a simple layout. Enthusiast options are expectedly going to be added closer to or upon release of the company's discrete-level graphics architecture with Intel Xe, but the Command Center as it is showcases Intel's overall spirit to their graphics push. For now, features keep the minimalist approach of Intel's integrated graphics - this is more of a new coat of paint than a new enthusiast-grade Command Center.

Intel made a video available on its Twitter account, and announced an early access program for users that want to partake i the feature and usability development of the new Command Center. The new app is available through Microsoft's App Store on Windows.

In a report via Ars Technica, it seems that Microsoft is actually inching ever closer to having PCs powered by Xbox games (and Xbox servers). After the company pushed some free copies of State of Decay to a limited number of beta testers for its upcoming Windows 10 updates (and asking for feedback on the game's behavior), a number of users tried (and managed) to dig deeper.

It seems that Microsoft used the Xbox's distribution services instead of the usual Game Store ones for distributing State of Decay, which would mean a tight integration of its console distribution platform and its Windows PC one. Furthermore, the state of Decay files came in encoded on a proprietary, Xbox-bound .xvc file system. State of Decay, as it is being delivered, also tries to update the DirectX installation on the users' PC, which speaks of it being aware of some PC-specific requirements for it to be run, which wouldn't be present shouldn't that be the case. This is all part of Microsoft's GameCore initiative, which aims to build a common set of system services and APIs that allow for higher development integration between both the PC and Xbox platforms, lowering the coding barrier for games to run on both, and perhaps even enabling PCs to be recognized as equals to Xbox consoles when it comes to content distribution. Maybe we'll finally be able to get The Master Chief collection and... Red Dead Redemption in our PCs?

SteelSeries, the global leader in gaming peripherals, today announced its newest full-size, multi-platform controller, the Stratus Duo. Gamers can swap between the low latency 2.4GHz wireless connection for gaming on Windows, and Bluetooth for mobile gaming on Android, Oculus Go and Samsung VR. Gamers can utilize the Stratus Duo in multiple ways using the 2.4GHz wireless, Bluetooth and wired connections. With its Bluetooth connection, the Stratus Duo supports Android, Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Go. Gamers no longer need to struggle with awkward touchscreen controls while playing mobile games on their Android devices.

The Stratus Duo allows gamers to enjoy playing on their Android device via Bluetooth or on their PC via the 2.4GHz wireless connection with no additional software needed for setup. "The gaming ecosystem is continuing to evolve and grow beyond PC and consoles to include mobile devices and VR systems," said Tino Solberg, SteelSeries CTO. "The Stratus Duo allows gamers to easily navigate across several platforms through wireless and Bluetooth technology to create a truly seamless experience."

Windows Lite is a new upcoming PC operating system by Microsoft designed as a competitor to Google's ChromeOS, and being designed for machines with extremely slim hardware specifications. The OS could also target devices that work as "edge computers," with much of their processing being performed over the cloud. ChromeOS beats the bloated Windows 10 in one key department - a lightweight and uncluttered user-interface. This is the area where much of Microsoft's design efforts lie - UI elements and graphics that are lightweight not just on memory, but also Internet bandwidth, if the device is streaming a remote session (a la Citrix). Below is a concept by UX designer Jay Machalani.

The Windows Lite desktop looks familiar, with a taskbar and app buttons, and a Start menu, but one that's been redesigned without live tiles, but a simple list of icons. At this point it's unclear just how far Microsoft intends to go with the lightweight OS concept without cannibalizing sales of Windows 10 Home. The OS definitely features UWP, and from the looks of the screenshot doing rounds, also appears to support legacy Win32 apps, however, Microsoft has in the past restricted functionality of its cheapest OS products so as to not kill pricier Windows versions. Microsoft is innovating two brand new Windows user-interfaces for launches through 2019-2020, codenamed "Polaris" and "Andromeda."

While the new release of LG's Gram series is no secret, we were able to take a closer look at the 17-inch 17Z990-R.AAS8U1 and 14-inch 14T990-U.AAS8U1 models at CES 2019. These Windows 10 based offerings rival Apple's MacBook Air not only in size but in regards to specifications and looks as well. Packing a 17-inch 2560x1600 IPS display into a 15.6-inch class body the 17Z990-R.AAS8U1 packs a serious punch. It comes equipped with a 4c/8t Intel Core i7-8565U which offers a base clock of 1.8 GHz and a boost clock of 4.6 GHz. It also comes equipped with 16 GB of system memory, while a 512GB SSD handles all your potential storage needs. The inclusion of Thunderbolt 3 gives users faster file transfer speeds along with the ability to connect an extra display via a single port. Meanwhile, the 72 W battery allows for continuous operation up to 19.5 hours. With solid specifications and sleek design, it appears to be a robust system. The MSRP is currently listed at $1699.99.

The more portable 14T990-U.AAS8U1 is a far more compact 14-inch offering with a 1920x1080 IPS touchscreen that makes use of Corning's Gorilla Glass 5. Unlike the 17-inch LG Gram, the 14-inch can convert from a traditional laptop to a tablet and even comes with a Wacom AES 2.0 Pen. Like its larger sibling, it features the same 72W battery allowing for it to operate up to 21 hours. General specifications are the same as its larger sibling with the Intel Core i7-8565U, 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD all making a reappearance here. This latest 2-in-1 from LG will set you back $1499.99. For a more in-depth look at both systems check our previous coverage here.

beyerdynamic, one of the world's leading manufacturers of headphones, microphones and conferencing products, announces the TEAM TYGR bundle, pairing the TYGR 300 R gaming headphones with FOX Professional USB Studio Microphone. beyerdynamic will showcase TEAM TYGR during CES 2019 from January 8 - 11, 2019.

beyerdynamic's TYGR 300 R is the ultimate gaming headphone with adjustable yokes and a spring steel headband to adapt to any head size. Designed for gaming applications in quiet environments, the TYGR 300 R features an innovative acoustic fleece with soft ear cushions. The single-sided connection cable is terminated with a 3-pole, gold-plated mini jack plug and a screw-on gold plated adapter.

In an always-online world having the ability to test unknown programs or .exe files on PC has required the use of extra software which has always come with issues of its own or the more in-depth use of a virtual machine. In order to eliminate the fear of running unknown programs along with the desire to make testing them easier, Microsoft has announced the development of their Windows Sandbox. This new feature will be coming to Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise next year and as you may have guessed it allows for the creation of a temporary desktop environment. This work environment is made to be secure and disposable meaning you can run an app in the sandbox check for compatibility, possible issues, malware, etc and once done just delete the entire sandbox. Thus keeping your real operating system free and clear of any potentially hidden nasty surprises.

The entire system works by using Microsoft's Hypervisor to create an entirely separate kernel isolated from the host PC. Each time its run it creates a pristine installation of Windows as nothing persists between uses. More importantly, the prerequisites for its use are quite low, with systems currently at the minimum needing Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise Insider build 18305 or later, virtualization capabilities enabled in the BIOS, 4 GB of memory, 1 GB free disk space and 2 CPU cores. Recommended specifications include a CPU with four threads, 8 GB memory, and an SSD, which in this day and age is quite minimal all things considered. While this feature is not likely to be a game changer for the average consumer it should make the lives of IT personnel a bit easier.

"Red Dead Redemption 2" (RDR2) is arguably 2018's biggest game release, and is dominating sales on both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 platforms it debuted on. Developer Rockstar Games is now eyeing the PC platform, and is ready with an early console port to Windows. A video surfaced on YouTube by "Mrdc kll" recording menus for the PC build of RDR2 with a mouse. The number of graphics settings on offer, particularly setting such as FXAA could only point to the possibility of a PC build, rather than someone who got keyboard/mouse to work on an Xbox One. We can also vaguely make out the build number 1118.8. When this release comes to being is anyone's guess. Rockstar has, in the past, taken anywhere between a 12 to 18 months to port its flagship games to PC, and the original "Red Dead Redemption" never got a PC release.

Crossplay has become an interesting point of contention for the industry, with some very popular games and companies advocating for a unified, non-fractured player audience enjoying their games across different media consumption screens, and even gaming platforms. Microsoft has been pushing this kind of capability for some time now, launching their Xbox Play Anywhere initiative which aims to bring PC, Xbox (or both) gamers to parity - acquiring a game on one platform equals having it on both, with all game data being synced.

A new update in the Steam beta update code explicitly refers to Xbox, with an "Xbox_pairwise_id" being present, which could point towards exploration of a future feature. Microsoft adding keyboard and mouse support to their Xbox consoles, news of a new streaming-based console for Microsoft's xCloud efforts, and Steam already offering controller support are some of the little details that could make this a winning bet for both companies.

A job listing posted by Microsoft is being hailed as sign of subscription-based times to come to the company's Office 365 and Windows products. Honestly, I believe this to be a matter of time - Subscription services have been increasing at an alarming rate, Microsoft has already tasted the advantages of such a model on their bottom line with their Xbox Live and Games Pass systems, and of course, there're always the ever-giant Spotifys and Netflixes of this world.

Windows and Office as a service is nothing out of the ordinary, really. The job listing for a "Product Manager, M365 Consumer Subscription - Modern Life & Devices (MLD)", which has a job description along the lines of "market a great new Microsoft 365 Consumer Subscription" doesn't come as a surprise. Going from this Office 365 consumer subscription to a Windows one is a bit of a stretch on the basis of the job posting alone, but it is in the foreseeable future for Microsoft's strategy to safeguard Windows and its updates behind a monthly payment, ensuring that one-off purchases are no longer a thing - and guaranteeing a predictable revenue stream.

Microsoft is changing the way that hardware drivers work on the Universal Windows Platform (UWP), Windows 10 (and later), and Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (and later). Hardware running on these operating systems can use Windows Modern Drivers (also known as Universal Windows Drivers - UWDs). Note that Microsoft requires the use of Windows Modern Drivers for Windows 10 1809 (RS5) and later. Intel will begin distributing Windows Modern Drivers for its products beginning in November 2018.

As of November 2018, any driver updates for Intel products on these operating systems will be the Windows Modern Drivers. After a driver has been updated to a Windows Modern Driver, it's possible to roll back to a legacy driver. However, rolling back isn't recommended as it involves a complex process that could result in system instability. This system instability is especially pertinent to graphics drivers. You can find more information on this subject.

DOWNLOAD: Intel UWD-compliant Graphics Driver for Windows 10 v25.20.100.6444

Microsoft has blocked rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update on systems using Intel Integrated Graphics with specific driver versions. Apparently audio playback, when using a monitor connected to the IGP, will no longer work after the upgrade to October Update.

According to Microsoft, the underlying reason for the issue is that "Intel inadvertently released versions of its display driver [...] to OEMs that accidentally turned on unsupported features in Windows."

If you want to work around this, then check your Intel driver version using GPU-Z. If you see "24.20.100.6344" or "24.20.100.6345", just upgrade your graphics drivers and you should be good to go.

Originally Microsoft shelved the Windows 10 October 2018 feature update after a data-destroying bug among other problems was detected just days after its initial rollout. Now with more than a month has passed they are finally re-releasing the update after having "thoroughly investigated and resolved" the issues, according to Microsoft's John Cable, director of Program Management for Windows Servicing and Delivery.

The decision to re-release the update was reached after the careful study of diagnostic data from millions of Windows Insiders showed no further evidence of data loss. Currently, the update is only available via media and manual updates, automatic updates will be coming later. This is because Microsoft is taking a slower more methodical approach to their updates. Taking more time for careful study of device health data in order to improve the overall user experience. This new approach will take problems like application incompatibility among other things into account in order to make sure future updates do not automatically install unless known issues have been resolved. This should help reduce the frequency of problems end users encounter.

As if the missing files bug with Windows 10 version 1809 was not enough, Microsoft has more on their plate to tackle with some reports coming from consumers that their Windows 10 Pro digital license was suddenly showing up as deactivated. This was reported by multiple Reddit users first, in an account that seemed to not be restricted to any specific region either. Indeed, many of the affected got further notices by the OS that the license was for Windows 10 Home instead, and that they had to now install that specific variant.

To their credit, Microsoft were quick to take notice of this obvious bug and one of their support team members went on to say that "Microsoft has just released an Emerging issue announcement about current activation issue related to Pro edition recently. This happens in Japan, Korea, American and many other countries. I am very sorry to inform you that there is a temporary issue with Microsoft's activation server at the moment and some customers might experience this issue where Windows is displayed as not activated. Our engineers are working tirelessly to resolve this issue and it is expected to be corrected within one to two business days." This was followed up by a statement from Jeff Jones, a senior director at the company, who went on to say "A limited number of customers experienced an activation issue that our engineers have now addressed. Affected customers will see resolution over the next 24 hours as the solution is applied automatically. In the meantime, they can continue to use Windows 10 Pro as usual."

If you happen to have this issue, try out the activation troubleshooter to see if the update was applied, and that should help resolve the bug.

The new MacBook Air with Retina display is overall a nice upgrade from the old versions of these laptops. There's one caveat, though: the new T2 chip that manages Touch ID's Secure Enclave, APFS storage encryption or UEFI Secure Boot validation will make it impossible to boot with a Linux distribution. Apple's T2 documentation (PDF) explicitly covers how the support for booting Linux is not available: the Microsoft Corporation UEFI CA 2011 certificate used also by Linux distributions isn't trusted at this moment, so the T2 chip will make it impossible to boot from Linux distributions. Only Windows is allowed to boot via Boot Camp at the moment.

Apple's Secure Boot support page shows how the new 'Startup Security Utility' can be used to disable Secure Boot, but some people have tried to boot Linux through this method and even with that change it's impossible to boot Linux. The problem extends to the rest of machines including the T2 Security Chip, like the Mac mini, the iMac Pro or the MacBook Pro 2018, for example. Apple hasn't made any comments on the issue.