Ocypus proudly announces the debut of the Sigma PRO Series, a new generation of high-performance liquid coolers with minimalist design. Featuring a flagship 3.5-inch IPS display, innovative floating pump design, and an ultra-large copper base for unmatched heat dissipation, Sigma PRO is built to deliver exceptional thermal performance with aesthetics.

Flagship Screen, Brilliant Visual
At the heart of the Sigma PRO is a stunning 3.5-inch square IPS screen with 640×480 resolution and an ultra-narrow bezel, delivering sharp visuals for real-time system monitoring. The customizable screen supports videos, images, and GIFs—giving users full freedom to showcase system stats or personal style right on the pump.

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend), a global leader in embedded and consumer storage solutions, proudly announces the release of its flagship PCIe Gen 5 SSD—MTE260S. Built on the ultra-high-speed PCIe Gen 5 x4 interface and compliant with the latest NVMe 2.0 specification, the MTE260S delivers blazing-fast sequential read and write speeds of up to 14,000 MB/s and 11,000 MB/s, respectively. With up to 1,400K IOPS, it is engineered to meet the demanding needs of high-end gaming desktops, content creators' laptops, and AI computing platforms—offering next-level responsiveness and extreme transfer performance.

Extreme Speed. Redefined Performance.
Equipped with next-gen PCIe 5.0 NVMe technology and a per-lane bandwidth of 32 GT/s, the MTE260S significantly accelerates boot times, game loading, and large file transfers. It's backward compatible for broader system integration, providing a flexible and cost-effective upgrade path for a range of platforms—from gaming rigs to creative workstations and AI computing systems—delivering high-speed stability at every level.

Samsung's Exynos 2500 SoC has appeared on Geekbench, this time giving us a clearer indication of what to expect from the upcoming SoC that will power the next generation of Samsung flagship smartphones. There are three total runs that have appeared on Geekbench, putting forward anywhere between 2303 and 2356 points in the single-core Geekbench 6 benchmark and 8062 and 8076 points in the multicore benchmark. Meanwhile, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite in the current-generation Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra manages a single-core score of 2883 and a multicore score or 9518 on the same Geekbench 6 benchmark. Samsung recently made the Exynos 2500 public, with the spec sheet revealing a Samsung Xclipse 950 GPU paired with 10 Arm Cortex CPUs (1× Cortex-X5, 2× Cortex-A725 at 2.74 GHz, 5× Cortex-A725 at 2.36 GHz, and 2× Cortex A520 at 1.8 GHz).

The new SoC is reportedly the first chip to use Samsung's 3 nm GAA process, and leaks suggest that Samsung may be using the new SoC across its entire next-gen global smartphone line-up, starting with the launch of the Galaxy Z Flip 7. This would be a stark departure from previous releases, where the US versions of the Galaxy S line-up featured Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, with the international Galaxy S smartphones packing the in-house Exynos designs. In recent years, however, Samsung has pivoted to using Snapdragon SoCs across all regions.

According to the Financial Times, new restrictions—affecting the supply of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software suites to Chinese companies—will cause major disruption within the domestic chip design industry. The US government's latest trade amendments are expected to impact Xiaomi and its freshly launched flagship XRING mobile chip family; the first iteration is a compelling first-party effort. Unlike many Chinese tech firms, the popular smartphone specialist can access pretty advanced TSMC node processes. Xiaomi's CEO—Lei Jun—announced his team's 3 nm design during pre-launch preview events.

Days later, closer analysis indicated a selection of TSMC's "N3E" node process. Digital Chat Station—a noted smartphone industry expert—summarized an uncertain future: "under this ban (of EDA tools), XRING chips will not be breaking through a 2 nm barrier, and can only revolve around the (current 'N3E') 3 nm node for a long time. XRING O1 will also be the only time in recent years that it can be on par with current-gen (proprietary) Apple, Qualcomm, and MediaTek mobile chipsets." Crucially, EDA software plays an important role in creating Gate All Around Field Effect Transistor (GAAFET) structures. TSMC's upcoming 2 nm node process is a GAA product. Tom's Hardware believes that several big Chinese tech players, including Huawei, are in the process of developing in-house EDA tools. Not long after unveiling their XRING flagship, Xiaomi outlined an extended Qualcomm chip deal.

Intel's "Nova Lake-S" desktop processors are getting the finishing touches, with a likely arrival scheduled for the second half of 2026. As the successor to "Arrow Lake Refresh," Nova Lake-S introduces a modular design that separates graphics and media functions across distinct tiles. This approach builds on experience from "Meteor Lake," which splits its graphics engine from its media and display units onto separate chiplets. For Nova Lake-S, Intel plans to employ two different GPU architectures: Xe3 "Celestial" for graphics rendering and Xe4 "Druid" for media and display duties, all within a single package. Celestial will manage primary 3D rendering and gaming workloads, while Druid will handle display pipelines and hardware-accelerated video encoding and decoding. By utilizing a more advanced process node, such as TSMC's 2 nm, Intel can optimize media engine performance without increasing costs for the entire GPU subsystem.

On the CPU side, Nova Lake-S is expected to span four primary SKU tiers. The flagship model could feature 52 cores (16 P-cores, 32 E-cores, and four LPE-cores). A 28-core version may target high-end laptops and desktops with eight P-cores, 16 E-cores, and four low-power E-cores. A 16-core variant could serve both the lower-power desktop and laptop segments, featuring four P-cores, eight E-cores, and four low-power E-cores. Finally, an 8-core entry-level part offers four P-cores and four low-power E-cores. Although it remains uncertain whether all SKUs will combine both Xe3 and Xe4 tiles, Intel's tile-based strategy makes it straightforward to mix and match GPU configurations for different market segments. Rumors also suggest that Intel may use its 18A node alongside TSMC's advanced processes for various tile elements. As Panther Lake mobile parts approach the second half of 2025 and Arrow Lake Refresh prepares for its desktop release, Nova Lake-S is the pinnacle of Intel's advanced chip packaging.

Earlier in the week, Yeston revealed a sci-fi/cyberpunk character-themed Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB Game Ace SKU. Eager followers of the Chinese brand were wondering whether additional custom designs—based on AMD's Navi 44 XT GPU—were in the pipeline, possibly ready in time for an official June 5 launch. In Yeston's case, they expect to start shipping on June 7—exclusively for the Chinese market. Fortunately, several dual-fan "GAEA" and triple-fan "Game Ace White" models have turned up on Yeston's JD.com storefront. VideoCardz has pored over the fundamentals, and quickly realized that there are key differences—in terms of GPU clock speeds—when cross-referencing entry-level/barebones GAEA 16 GB and 8 GB card specifications.

The latter variant seems to exist as Yeston's absolute baseline MSRP option; its pre-order tag is 2499 RMB, including VAT. Curiously, pre-launch info seems to show the 16 GB sibling (2899 RMB, inc. VAT) possessing elevated boost and game clocks: 3230 MHz and 2620 GHz (respectively). The lesser model makes do with Team Red's reference figures: 3130 MHz and 2530 MHz (respectively). VideoCardz believes that this is an isolated case; they have not stumbled upon similar spec disparities between product family members—be it with other AIBs or within Yeston's stable. It could be safe to assume that Yeston's product pages contain inaccurate or placeholder numbers.

Three weeks ago, Kurnal and Geekerwan dived deep into Nintendo's alleged Switch 2 chipset. The very brave Chinese leakers are notorious for their acquiring of pre-release and early silicon samples. Last week, their collective attention turned to a brand-new Xiaomi mobile chip: the XRING 01. After months of insider murmurs and official teasers, the smartphone giant recently unveiled its proprietary flagship SoC. According to industry moles, Xiaomi has invested a lot of manpower into a special chip design entity—leadership likely wants to avoid a repeat of prior first-party developed disappointments. Despite rumors of disappointing prototype performance figures, mid-May Geekbench results pointed to the emergent XRING 01 mobile chip being up there with Qualcomm's dominant Snapdragon 8 Elite platform. Die shot analysis has confirmed Xiaomi's selection of a TSMC 3 nm "N3E" node process; also utilized by the latest Apple, Qualcomm and MediaTek flagships. Overall die size is 114.48 mm² (10.8 x 10.6 mm), with 109.5 mm² of used area; comparable to Apple's A18 Pro SoC footprint (refer to Geekerwan's comparison shot, below).

Unlike nearby rivals, the XRING 01 seems to not sport an integrated 5G modem. Notebookcheck surmised: "it is rumored to use an external radio from MediaTek. It isn't located on the actual die itself, and likely a contributing factor to why its size is so small." Annotations indicate the presence of off-the-shelf/licensed Arm CPU cores (ten in total): two Cortex-X925 units, four Cortex-A725 units, two Cortex-A725 units, and two Cortex-A520 units. Additionally, an Arm Immortalis-G925 MP16 iGPU was identified. A 6-core NPU—with 16 MB of cache—was highlighted, but it is not clear whether this is a proprietary effort or something bought in. Observers have noted the absence of SLC cache. GSMArena posited: "the Geekerwan team speculates that (Xiaomi's) omission of the SLC has hurt GPU efficiency—it's pretty fast, but it uses more power than the Dimensity GPU at peak performance. The more efficient CPU combined with the fact that the GPU rarely runs at full tilt makes for pretty good overall efficiency in real-life gaming tests." The XRING department's debut product is impressive, but industry watchdogs are looking forward to refined variants or full-fledged successors.

ADATA's gaming division—XPG—has exhibited brand-new SFF-ready cases; as spin-offs from existing Valor Mesh and Valor Air product lines. So far, the Taiwanese manufacturer has released mid-tower options. At Computex 2025, company representatives presented NANO-sized offerings—in particular, a white Air demo unit was endorsed by Jensen Huang. Several XPG items were blessed with the NVIDIA chief's signature—likely coinciding with ADATA's aggressive marketing of new products being (certified) ideal fits for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series graphics cards.

The Valor NANO microATX case series was developed alongside the brand's PYMCORE SFX power supply product line. As mentioned earlier today, these ultra-compact SFX PSUs can be installed at the front of XPG's freshly revealed Nano enclosures—"allowing longer GPUs to fit into SFF builds without compromising performance." A Valor Mesh Nano-based demonstration build was configured with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition card—occupying only 304 mm of a max. 370 mm length restriction.

XPG's newly unveiled SFF-ready platform—carefully optimized for NVIDIA's omnipresent GeForce RTX 50-series—consists of several product ranges. Given the complicated nature of the manufacturer's various new item lineups, this article will concentrate on freshly unveiled power supplies units. At Computex 2025, ADATA's gaming division has keenly showed off its brand-new PYMCORE SFX PSU series. The company's ultra-compact designs are tailored for integration into VALOR AIR and MESH NANO cases—this synergistic combination is advertised as: "allowing longer GPUs to fit into SFF builds without compromising performance."

The XPG PYMCORE power supply series is fully up-to-date with modern standards—most notably, being ATX 3.1 and PCIe 5.1 compliant. A 1000 W Platinum 80+ certified flagship model offers 235% power excursion. 12V2x6 (600 W) connectors can be linked to compatible SFF-ready enthusiast-grade NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards (and a smattering of custom Radeon RX 9070 Series models). A flagship PYMCORE unit was closely inspected by a TechPowerUp staff member; they took note of three 12V2x6 outputs. One exhibited specimen was deemed very special; due to having been blessed by Jensen Huang's signature. In addition, XPG is readying 850 W and 750 W Gold-rated PYMCORE SKUs. All models are configured with 100% Japanese capacitors.

As previously promised, Dr. Rick Tsai took to the Computex 2025 stage earlier today. The MediaTek CEO's keynote speech included a teaser for next-gen. Currently, the fabless chip design firm's best offerings are manufactured at TSMC foundries—utilizing 3 nm node processes. According to inside track knowledge, the forthcoming Dimensity 9500 mobile chipset will be based on "N3P." During today's important presentation, Tsai announced his company's next major leap—with "2 nm silicon innovation." According to a presentation slide, a tape-out phase is anticipated by this September. Industry experts reckon that a futuristic flagship—perhaps "Dimensity 9600"—SoC will benefit from this generational jump. Finalized products could arrive around late 2026; with MediaTek reportedly being on TSMC's 2 nm (N2) mass production order books. Officially, MediaTek's shift from 3 nm into 2 nm is expected to improve chip performance—with an estimated 15% uplift—while reducing power consumption (by ~25%).

Alongside an impressive number of new case designs and components, Gamdias has presented robust gaming laptop coolers. The Aether product range is headlined by a P1 Pro model; versatile enough to accommodate 12 to 19-inch devices. High-elasticity foam padding ensures quiet operation, by minimizing unwanted vibrations. This flagship option—designed for gamers and content creators—is armed with an industrial-grade turbofan—powered via USB-C. Integrated RGB lighting zones can be controlled through a physical interface, along with fan settings.

EK, a leader in high-performance liquid cooling solutions, proudly presents the EK-Quantum Vector³ Suprim RTX 5090 - Plexi. This meticulously engineered water block is tailored for MSI's flagship Suprim RTX 5090 graphics card, delivering unparalleled thermal performance and a striking visual appeal.

Next-Generation Cooling for the RTX 5090
At the heart of the Vector³ Suprim RTX 5090 lies an advanced cooling engine, featuring an expanded fin array and optimized coolant flow paths. This design ensures efficient heat dissipation from critical components, including the GPU core, VRAM, and power stages. Complementing this is a custom CNC-machined backplate that not only reinforces the structural integrity of the card but also passively cools PCB hotspots, maintaining optimal performance under load.

ASUS today announced that its flagship high-density AI server, ESC A8A-E12U, now supports the latest AMD Instinct MI350 series GPUs. This enhancement empowers enterprises, research institutions, and cloud providers to accelerate their AI and HPC workloads with next-generation performance and efficiency—while preserving compatibility with existing infrastructure.

Built on the 4th Gen AMD CDNA architecture, AMD Instinct MI350 series GPUs deliver powerful new capabilities, including 288 GB of HBM3E memory and up to 8 TB/s of bandwidth—enabling faster, more energy-efficient execution of large AI models and complex simulations. With expanded support for low-precision compute formats such as FP4 and FP6, the Instinct MI350 series significantly accelerates generative AI, inference, and machine-learning workloads. Importantly, Instinct MI350 series GPUs maintain drop-in compatibility with existing AMD Instinct MI300 series-based systems, such as those running Instinct MI325X—offering customers a cost-effective and seamless upgrade path. These innovations reduce server resource requirements and simplify scaling and workload management, making Instinct MI350 series GPUs an ideal choice for efficient, large-scale AI deployments.

Our diverse lineup of GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards is getting even larger with the arrival of new White Editions. With these high-performance, cutting-edge cards, you'll be able to keep your frost-hued battlestation color coordinated. Check out the snazzy new White Edition offerings from ROG, TUF Gaming, and Prime.

Max out your snow-white rig with peak power from ROG Astral
If you want the most power possible in a ravishing white graphics card, consider the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 White Edition 32 GB and ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 White Edition 16 GB. These VRAM-loaded cards comprise the top of the power stack. They both feature a quad-fan design for more airflow than last-gen's flagship cards, our patented vapor chamber tech, and eight heatpipes for incredible heat dissipation. These cards also swap out thermal paste for a premium phase-change thermal pad, enhancing the longevity of the graphics card's thermal interface material.

Roughly a month ago, Vastarmor debuted its "Super-less" Radeon RX 9070 XT Alloy SKU. The Chinese manufacturer's barebones spin-off—derived from a triple-fan flagship design—was stripped of fancy ARGB trimmings. Additionally, this sober-looking alternative option was deemed unworthy of sporting 3.1 GHz boost clock credentials—instead, making do with a mere 3010 MHz setting. A brand-new "Super Alloy Ultra" model retains elite-tier membership; as demonstrated by a recently published specification sheet. The Vastarmor design team has opted into using a louder and wider color palette; clearly demonstrated by their fresh RX 9070 XT Super Alloy Ultra's zany pearlescent rainbow-spectrum shroud setup. Unfortunately, this bright aesthetic treatment did not extend to the new flagship's backplate. The AIB's Super Alloy White option was appropriately decorated; on the front and back. Vastarmor's latest offering is not expected to break retail barriers beyond Chinese markets. ASRock's premium Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi OC card is—perhaps—the closest to being a visually "eccentric" option for global audiences. Fittingly, its factory overclocked talents include a 3.1 GHz boost clock.

Earlier this month, the global ASUS website was updated with a slew of new graphics card product pages. The most striking examples—TUF Gaming and PRIME White Editions—appeared online with little PR fanfare. Fast-forward to the start of this week; with the ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) France social media account teasing already revealed models, alongside a surprise pale spin-off of a hot topic flagship. The manufacturer's air-cooled Astral GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 models were debuted during CES 2025. Since then, various special edition variants have attracted additional press and community attention—most notably, a spectacularly expensive Gold-plated MENA region-exclusive.

The French ASUS office's (May 12) message implied that company leadership had paid close attention to PC hardware community feedback. As a result of these requests, a new marketing campaign—bearing a "Stay Frosty, Play Flawlessly" slogan—is pushing alternate designs. As interpreted by the usual media outlets, the brand seems to be teasing an imminent launch: "you asked for it. We delivered. ASUS GeForce RTX 50 Series White Edition graphics cards are coming soon." Given the current lay of the land, next week's Computex trade event will serve as an ideal platform for White Edition showcasing—as hinted by an appropriate hashtag. ASUS is expected to unveil its (already leaked) portfolio of custom Radeon RX 9060 XT cards, but any in advance hype would break signed NDAs.

Late last week, Gigabyte introduced brand-new AORUS Stealth ICE X870 and B850 motherboards—utilizing reverse-connector layouts. The manufacturer's "Project STEALTH" seems to be gaining a larger presence; extending to a proprietary enclosure design. Industry observers noticed the inclusion of a semi-mysterious GeForce RTX 5090 custom card (briefly mentioned in official PR material); a promo render showcased an AORUS RTX 5090 MASTER ICE-esque unit. By reading in-between the lines and analyzing marketing imagery, VideoCardz reckons that this special card will sport a hidden power connector system—likely existing under the "Project STEALTH" banner.

Going back to 2023, a second iteration of the GeForce RTX 4090 WINDFORCE model was configured with a curious non-traditional power input placement (see example below). In recent times, Sapphire's Radeon RX 9070 XT and non-XT Nitro+ flagship cards have attracted plenty of praise—courtesy of a well-regarded hidden compartment. Gigabyte could be teasing an upcoming full reveal of its "AORUS RTX 5090 MASTER STEALTH ICE" graphics card; perhaps lined up for next week's Computex showcase. Hopefully, a forthcoming unveiling will demonstrate an innovative solution.

Last December, MSI announced the launch of its Intel "Lunar Lake" APU-powered Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ PC gaming handhelds. Almost two months later, international buyers were left puzzled by a seemingly staggered new product rollout. Despite proudly exhibiting finalized "Sandstorm-colored" units at CES 2025, North American buyers missed out on experiencing a (semi-promised) mid-January release. By March, the brand had fired up its new-gen Claw device marketing campaign again. It is not clear whether MSI shipped a lot of stock to international markets, but fresh news reports indicate an upcoming arrival of their "Polar Tempest Edition" 2 TB variant. As disclosed by Notebookcheck, this special model popped up momentarily earlier on last month.

Re-upped listings point to a potential mid-July launch; starting prices in the US are hovering around the $999 mark. Amazon Germany is accepting orders; €1107.21 (including VAT) grants access to MSI's slightly redecorated Core Ultra 7 258V-powered flagship. The manufacturer's dedicated product page states: "(our) Polar Tempest Edition features a new color scheme and MSI's custom-formulated polyurethane coating, evoking ice-blue crystals on a snow-white landscape." Despite Intel's recent boosting of "Lunar Lake" integrated graphics solution performance, the Claw 8 AI+ (and its 7-inch sibling) face strong "next-gen" competition. ASUS seems to be readying a ROG Ally sequel—according to leaks, this portable PC will make use of AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor. A distant "third-gen" MSI Claw design could be equipped with futuristic Intel gaming chipsets; in "Arrow Lake-H" or "Panther Lake" form.

For the first time in nearly two decades, Alienware is launching an Aurora class of laptops. With versatility top of mind, these laptops adapt to any environment. From intense gaming sessions to deadline-fueled commutes and airport layovers, wherever you are, Aurora laptops seamlessly shift between work and play.

This launch marks the next step in streamlining the Alienware portfolio to make it easier for you to choose the right gaming machine. Moving forward, you'll see two distinct tiers across Alienware desktops and laptops:

• Area-51: Our flagship tier designed for those who demand maximum performance and premium features in a durable, robust design.
• Aurora: Our versatility tier offering strong performance within a sleek, streamlined form factor.

Around the middle of March, GMKtec's EVO-X2 Mini PC design attracted international media attention—thanks to Dr. Lisa Su's autograph adorning a special presentation sample. During festivities, this relatively young Chinese brand—founded back in 2019—introduced the "world's first" AI mini PC equipped with AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU. This flagship "Strix Halo" chip leverages Zen 5 and RDNA 3.5 technologies; the latter aspect forms the basis of an impressively potent Radeon 8060S iGPU. This integrated graphics solution has surpassed or matched some worthy (previous-gen) discrete competitors, and apparently performs admirably in LLM inference workload scenarios. At the tail end of March, GMKtec opened up pre-orders for its $2000+ headline product—starting off in China. Back then, potential international buyers were intrigued—many envisioned a pleasing wider distribution of EVO-X2 Mini PC retail stock. Given that GMKtec had semi-recently expanded its sales operation into Europe, hopes were elevated.

As reported by TechRadar last week, Eurozone tech enthusiast prayers were answered—their coverage outlined an intriguing pre-order campaign: "buyers can unlock a reduced pre-sale price of €1,499 for the base model by paying a $100 deposit. Those who want the higher configuration need to place a €200 deposit to qualify for a discounted €1,799 final price. All orders must be completed by May 7 to receive the full discount." Days later, VideoCardz and Notebookcheck noted a similar promotion—rolled out for North American audiences. Officially, the EVO-X2 Mini PC is (tentatively) set to launch on May 20—well ahead of Framework's projected "early Q3 2025" debut shipment of "tiny 4.5L Mini-ITX" Desktop units. Time limited promo prices are in effect until next week—the 64 GB and 128 GB RAM EVO-X2 package are currently discounted: $1399 and $1799 (respectively). As expected, GMKtec's official US webshop also requires pre-order deposits—refer to these details below.

Officially, AMD is set to reveal the next wave of RDNA 4—in desktop form—at some point within the second quarter of this year. Unlike its main rival—NVIDIA—company representatives have not publicly discussed a comprehensive branch-off into dedicated laptop graphics solutions. Team Red's previous-gen "Navi Mobile" Radeon RX 7000M lineup received little fanfare, and early 2025 "official" talk indicated that company engineers were focused on delivering RDNA 4 to desktop. Additionally, late March leaks suggested an increased future reliance on integrated RDNA 3.5-based graphics solutions. Seemingly out of nowhere, All The Watts!! has produced a list of six tentative Radeon RX 9000M family variants. As interpreted by VideoCardz, the leaker has cryptically included supposed compute unit (CU) counts and VRAM configurations. A rumored Radeon RX 9080M flagship SKU could be based on AMD's Navi 48 GPU design; prepped with 64 RDNA 4 compute units (or 4096 stream processors) and 16 GB of video memory.

The leaked Radeon RX 9070M XT's basic details match certain data points present on the rumored Radeon RX 9070 GRE 12 GB desktop card's specification sheet. VideoCardz reckons that the RX 9070M XT will also utilize Team Red's Navi 48 GPU, but with a reduced compute unit count of 48 (or 3072 SPs). The four remaining RDNA 4 laptop SKUs—RX 9070M, RX 9070S, RX 9060M and RX 9060S—are said to be based on company's Navi 44 GPU IP, and configured with 8 GB pools of VRAM. Two days ago, AMD hinted about new generation Radeon Mobile gaming experiences getting introduced at next month's Computex 2025 trade show.

GALAX has deliberated over the fine-tuning of its pedigree custom GeForce RTX 5090D design throughout early 2025—mid-way through April we heard about an imminent retail release of the Chinese manufacturer's finalized Hall of Fame (HOF) Extreme Overclock (XOC) Limited Edition card. According to the latest reports, the brand has announced the availability of its ultra-premium option; featuring the very best pre-binned GB202 GPU dies and GDDR7 memory modules. Apparently reserved for upper echelon buyers; with a 29,999 RMB (~$4117 USD) launch price tag.

In parallel, GALAX seems to be launching two "lesser" variants—as reported by VideoCardz, the "OC LAB Plus-X" (~$3595 USD) and "OC LAB" (~$3582 USD) SKUs make do with single 12V-2×6 power connectors. Despite this handicap, the Plus-X model is still a record breaker. Naturally, its XOC LE sibling—enabled with twin 12V-2×6 power inputs—sits atop global benchmark tables. GALAX currently boasts about this design achieving nine overclocking world records. Given the limited edition nature of GALAX's top 29,999 RMB offering, stock counts could be small—VideoCardz did not pick up on any local information about launch numbers or involved retail outlets/platforms. There are mutterings about a potential closing off of GB202 "Blackwell" GPU die shipments into China—in effect this could lead to the end of GeForce RTX 5090D 32 GB custom card production.

COLORFUL introduced its premium iGame GeForce RTX 5080 Vulcan OC 16 GB SKU earlier this year; complete with a mounted angle-adjustable 5th generation iGame Smart LCD screen. As of this week, the already launched standard black model is accompanied by a pale sibling—the manufacturer describes this new entry as sporting "snow-white armor." This spin-off is advertised as redefining the "visual language of high-end graphics cards." Unlike recently revealed lower end custom "Blackwell" gaming graphics cards, the quad-fan Vulcan W model gets special PR treatment—as demonstrated by COLORFUL's slick photo shoot and high-minded marketing blurb.

The Chinese AIB announced a retail launch—as of yesterday, their iGame GeForce RTX 5080 Vulcan W design headed to retail. Their own webstore and other regional platforms (JD, Tmall, Douyin, etc.) have started selling this SKU—the official starter price is 12,999 yuan (~$1784 USD). TechPowerUp's W1zzard reviewed a related (black) GeForce RTX 5080 Vulcan OC model; this triple-fan card was awarded with a "but expensive" badge—thanks to a potential $1300+ price point. COLORFUL's freshly introduced "pure white" flagship seemingly borrows cooling solution design inspiration from a key rival; the ASUS ROG Astral. A fourth 107 mm "sickle blade" fan is mounted on the Vulcan W's backplate.

Going back to May 2023, an industry inside report suggested that AMD was planning a new generation Ryzen Threadripper High-End Desktop (HEDT) processor series. At the time, "Shimada Peak" was linked to a possible 2025 launch. Over the ensuing years, shipping manifests have revealed the transfer of various 9000 SKUs between Team Red facilities—starting with a mysterious 96-core prototype. Industry observers have been seeking out newer evidence of AMD's next-gen flagship "Zen 5" Threadripper chip; likely going under a "9995WX" moniker.

Late last week, a fresh leak unearthed a likely sub-flagship SKU: the 9985WX. This alleged 64-core SKU was spotted—by Everest (aka Olrak29)—alongside 9955WX (16-core) and 9945WX (12-core) siblings, in a shipping manifest. As reported on TechPowerUp on March 21, the same source uncovered two other entry-level models: the 9975WX (32-core) and 9965WX (24-core) parts. Unfortunately, Team Red's rumored monstrous 96-core 9995WX processor was not listed within fresh batches of shipping documents. Industry watchdogs expect AMD to repeat its product layout from past generations; spanning from entry-tier 12-core offerings up to the aforementioned 96-core range-topper. The latest leak suggests utilization of the SP6 socket type, and 350 W TDPs (across all product identifiers).

Since teasing its next-gen flagship motherboard design—at CES 2025—the ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) team has spent time finalizing an option that is even more extravagant than their hardcore overclocking-oriented Crosshair X870E Apex model. Naturally, the premium sub-brand did not reveal pricing during preview events—instead, premature European e-tail listings suggested a €1200 (~$1350 USD) tag. Tony Wu and colleagues at ASUS China introduced an impressive swath of brand-new products at an official in-person showcase last week, in Changsha.

During proceedings, company representatives introduced their top-flight E-ATX format board with a hefty day one price: 9999 RMB ($1360 USD). The ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E Extreme is expected to launch later this month; likely starting off with the Chinese domestic market. At the time of writing, the manufacturer's various global branches have not disclosed localized details—be it pricing or availability. Last week's presser did not produce any surprises, since plenty of specification details (and promo shots) leaked out late last month. One interesting and very over the top feature is the model's integration of an adjustable full-color 5-inch LCD screen. The primary M.2 storage solution will be cooled by an "innovative" 3D vapor chamber heatsink. Well-heeled customers will be relieved to know that ASUS has outfitted the AAA board design with their revamped Q-Release Slim mechanism.