TechPowerUP NEWS

[NextPowerUP]

NVIDIA today announced it will host its flagship GTC 2024 (https://www.nvidia.com/gtc/) conference at the San Jose Convention Center from March 18-21. More than 300,000 people are expected to register to attend in person or virtually. NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang will deliver the keynote from the SAP Center on Monday, March 18, at 1 p.m. Pacific time. It will be livestreamed and available on demand. Registration is not required to view the keynote online (https://www.nvidia.com/gtc/keynote/). Since Huang first highlighted machine learning in his 2014 GTC keynote (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37Yt41ouaNM), NVIDIA has been at the forefront of the AI revolution. The company's platforms have played a crucial role in enabling AI across numerous domains including large language models, biology, cybersecurity, data center and cloud computing, conversational AI, networking, physics, robotics, and quantum, scientific and edge computing.

The event's 900 sessions and over 300 exhibitors will showcase how organizations are deploying NVIDIA platforms to achieve remarkable breakthroughs across industries, including aerospace, agriculture, automotive and transportation, cloud services, financial services, healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing, retail and telecommunications. "Generative AI has moved to center stage as governments, industries and organizations everywhere look to harness its transformative capabilities," Huang said. "GTC has become the world's most important AI conference because the entire ecosystem is there to share knowledge and advance the state of the art. Come join us."https://tpucdn.com/img/c1O1v2yJvc35dU8C_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/c1O1v2yJvc35dU8C.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/OijWZCYMc0V6gReI_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/OijWZCYMc0V6gReI.jpg)
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[NextPowerUP]

Get ready to dive into the grimdark universe of Warhammer 40,000 like never before in this PowerWash Simulator Special Pack, coming February 27th 2024. You can find PowerWash Sim and the Warhammer 40,000 Special Pack on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S|X, Xbox One, Windows, and Steam. Are you ready to powerwash the galaxy clean????? The world of Warhammer 40,000 meets PowerWash Simulator, where you will be tasked with cleaning the vehicles of the grim dark future. This exciting announcement was made at IGN Fest, an event where fans from across the globe come together to celebrate the most anticipated upcoming titles.

Deep in the Indomitus Crusade, relentless campaigns across the galaxy have imbued a variety of Imperial machines with a litany of dirt. As a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus, it is your singular honour to perform the ultimate purification protocol. You are blessed with an all new Adeptus Mechanicus character model and well-equipped for the ritual cleansing with a custom MKII Aqua-Santica Arquebus power washer; the perfect fusion of human and machine.https://tpucdn.com/img/sisqFdbHDphzB3gT_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/sisqFdbHDphzB3gT.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/47qHDocwQmoTFahy_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/47qHDocwQmoTFahy.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/K85JUMgv7pyIum3c_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/K85JUMgv7pyIum3c.jpg)
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[NextPowerUP]

AMD's first generation XDNA-based Neural Processing Unit (NPU) arrived last year, as an onboard aspect of their "Phoenix" Ryzen 7040 (https://www.techpowerup.com/309938/amd-announces-ryzen-7040hs-zen-4-processors-for-notebooks) mobile processor series, followed many months later by Intel's similarly NPU-laden Core Ultra "Meteor Lake (https://www.techpowerup.com/316756/intel-core-ultra-meteor-lake-processor-lineup-overview)" generation. It was recently revealed that a Windows 11 DirectML preview (https://www.techpowerup.com/318850/windows-11-directml-preview-supports-intel-core-ultra-npus) grants preliminary support for Core Ultra NPUs—Microsoft's software engineering department seems to be prioritizing Intel AI tech. Team Red has already released XDNA on desktop platforms—with its Ryzen 8000G APU family (https://www.techpowerup.com/317448/amd-announces-ryzen-8000g-series-desktop-apus-select-models-feature-ryzen-ai)—and the "Hawk Point" 8040 series (https://www.techpowerup.com/316436/amd-ryzen-8040-series-hawk-point-mobile-processors-announced-with-a-faster-npu) is nearing a retail launch, but these processors (plus 7040) remain unsupported by Microsoft's DirectML API. An interesting AMD community blog entry (https://community.amd.com/t5/ai/upcoming-windows-task-manager-update-will-add-npu-monitoring-for/ba-p/664382) was posted two weeks—news outlets have been slow to pick up on its relevance.

Intel NPU activity can be monitored (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000097597/processors.html) in Windows Task Manager (see screenshot below), and an upcoming update will add competing AMD parts to the mix. Joel Hruska's Team Red community blog post reveals that NPU monitoring for Ryzen 8040 series processors is due soon: " As AI PCs become more popular, there's a growing need for system monitoring tools that can track the performance of the new NPUs (Neural Processing Units) available on select Ryzen 8040 Series mobile processors. A neural processing unit - also sometimes referred to an integrated or on-die AI engine -- can improve battery life by offloading AI tasks that would otherwise be performed on the CPU or GPU. AMD has been working with Microsoft to enable MCDM (Microsoft Compute Driver Model) infrastructure on the AMD NPU (Neural Processing Unit)-enabled Ryzen 8040 Series of mobile processors. MCDM is a derivative of Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) that is targeting non-GPU, compute devices, such as the NPU. MCDM enables NPUs to make use of the existing GPU device management infrastructure, including scheduling, power management, memory management, and performance debugging with tools such as the Task Manager. MCDM serves as a fundamental layer, ensuring the smooth execution of AI workloads on NPU devices."https://tpucdn.com/img/bzotMPm9exqA4Ffq_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/bzotMPm9exqA4Ffq.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/WSiYHWnG6aTLsG33_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/WSiYHWnG6aTLsG33.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/9OPy7Ue5qt1R33ZC_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/9OPy7Ue5qt1R33ZC.jpg)

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[NextPowerUP]

A Survival Shooter Like No Other. Innovation often comes from blending distinct genres to create a new, engaging experience for players. Geometry Survivor is a testament to this creative process, merging the fast-paced shooting action of Geometry Wars with the addictive progression and survival elements of Vampire Survivors (https://www.techpowerup.com/311191/vampire-survivors-co-op-mode-previewed-ahead-of-august-17-launch).

The Origin of the World of Geometry Survivor
The idea for the game originated from a desire to combine the high-adrenaline gameplay of classic arcade shooters with the strategic depth and character progression found in modern survival games. Geometry Wars provided the perfect template for the game's intense shooting mechanics, renowned for its vibrant visuals and dynamic enemy patterns. Meanwhile, Vampire Survivors offered a blueprint for incremental progression and survival against overwhelming odds, where players enhance their character's abilities over time to withstand hordes of enemies.https://tpucdn.com/img/bbMNLf4ex1ErvIam_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/bbMNLf4ex1ErvIam.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/b5pqxRPtG2yqdOCz_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/b5pqxRPtG2yqdOCz.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/RKDJnr9elPvpuyoI_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/RKDJnr9elPvpuyoI.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/RKtx0CYPtpih15LV_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/RKtx0CYPtpih15LV.jpg)
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[NextPowerUP]

TSMC Arizona's second semiconductor fabrication site has celebrated a "topping out" milestone—as documented in an official blog post (via LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tsmc_semiconductors-manufacturing-construction-ugcPost-7166618484355907584-C93B/)) from yesterday. Workers were photographed installing an important/final piece of structure—the aforementioned "topping out" milestone signifies: "the last steel beam being raised into place on a construction project." The Taiwanese multinational semiconductor contract manufacturer has had a rough time in establishing operations out in the desert/greater Phoenix area—the "Fab 21 Phase 2 (https://www.techpowerup.com/318013/tsmc-delays-launch-of-arizona-phase-2-facility)" plant is not expected to meet its original 2026 opening window. TSMC Chairman Mark Liu is reportedly leaving (https://www.techpowerup.com/317083/tsmc-chairman-mark-liu-rumored-to-have-been-sacked-over-delays-in-arizona-fab-construction) his position due to consistent Arizona-related problems and delays.

The TSMC LinkedIn account shared some additional and certainly much-needed positive news: "We also recently achieved the topping milestone on our second fab's auxiliary buildings, which will supply the necessary utilities infrastructure to the second fab clean room." Thursday's blog (February 22) also discloses that the primary site—Fab 21 Phase 1—is still on track to begin production within the first half of 2025, thanks to "significant" bursts in construction progress. The author moved onto future production prospects: "Once operational, our two fabs at TSMC Arizona will manufacture the most advanced semiconductor technology in the U.S., creating 4,500 direct high-tech, high-wage jobs and enabling our customers' leadership in the high-performance computing and artificial intelligence era for decades."https://tpucdn.com/img/FE1dSncHYuWTa32c_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/FE1dSncHYuWTa32c.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/nRZDwSxOpMFCb6fg_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/nRZDwSxOpMFCb6fg.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/NbX2r1POdMRoKoOH_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/NbX2r1POdMRoKoOH.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/WbsWeuhvEbliDggP_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/WbsWeuhvEbliDggP.jpg)

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[NextPowerUP]

Hello! Nick Suttner here. You may have seen my name on PlayStation Blog before in various guises (most recently, as the writer behind Carto (https://blog.playstation.com/2020/10/27/inside-the-story-of-carto-out-today-on-ps4/)), but I'm super excited to be coming to you today as co-founder of the small studio Furniture & Mattress (https://furnimat.games), to reveal our debut game Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2596420/Arranger_A_RolePuzzling_Adventure/). What the heck is role-puzzling, you may ask? Well, we've spent the past few years building the kind of world that you'd expect to find in a role-playing game: curious towns and moody wilderness areas to explore, quirky characters to meet, and weirdo monsters to battle in dungeons. But in Arranger (http://www.arranger.quest), everything is expressed through the language of a puzzle game. Hence: role-puzzling!

The entire game world exists on a sprawling, interconnected gameplay grid, and as our protagonist Jemma moves around, everything on the same row or column moves with her. She can also loop herself - or other objects - from one edge of the grid to the other. Over the course of our 8-10 hour, single-player adventure, we regularly twist and subvert these simple mechanics in a host of interesting ways, trying to keep things breezy while still providing some satisfying head-scratchers. (And several assist options to skip past them if you're not in the mood.)https://tpucdn.com/img/e8QwWluphUkKoPVC_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/e8QwWluphUkKoPVC.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/9W0gH7vZj8Ea8BQ5_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/9W0gH7vZj8Ea8BQ5.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/fYe5RmljzRqchDwQ_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/fYe5RmljzRqchDwQ.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/ITixjFAIad9TEZSJ_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/ITixjFAIad9TEZSJ.jpg)
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[NextPowerUP]

NVIDIA is reported to be setting up an AI-focused semi-custom chip design business unit, according to inside sources known to Reuters (https://www.techpowerup.com/318976/nvidia-to-create-ai-semi-custom-chip-business-unit)—it is believed that Team Green leadership is adapting to demands leveraged by key data-center customers. Many companies are seeking cheaper alternatives, or have devised their own designs (https://www.techpowerup.com/315788/microsoft-introduces-128-core-arm-cpu-for-cloud-and-custom-ai-accelerator) (budget/war chest permitting)—NVIDIA's current range of AI GPUs are simply off-the-shelf solutions. OpenAI has generated the most industry noise—their alleged early 2024 fund-raising pursuits (https://www.techpowerup.com/319023/openai-potentially-seeking-usd-5-7-trillion-investment-in-establishment-of-fab-network) have attracted plenty of speculative/kind-of-serious interest from notable semiconductor personalities (https://www.techpowerup.com/319235/jim-keller-offers-to-design-ai-chips-for-sam-altman-for-less-than-usd-1-trillion).

Team Green is seemingly reacting to emerging market trends—Jensen Huang (CEO, president and co-founder) has hinted that NVIDIA custom chip designing services are on the cusp. Stephen Nellis—a Reuters reporter specializing in tech industry developments—has highlighted select NVIDIA boss quotes (https://twitter.com/StephenNellis/status/1760450162647089568) from an incoming interview piece: "We're always open to do that. Usually, the customization, after some discussion, could fall into system reconfigurations or recompositions of systems." The Team Green chief teased that his engineering team is prepared to take on the challenge meeting exact requests: "But if it's not possible to do that, we're more than happy to do a custom chip. And the benefit to the customer, as you can imagine, is really quite terrific. It allows them to extend our architecture with their know-how and their proprietary information." The rumored NVIDIA semi-custom chip design business unit could be introduced in an official capacity at next month's GTC 2024 Conference (https://www.techpowerup.com/319316/jensen-huang-to-unveil-latest-ai-breakthroughs-at-gtc-2024-conference).https://tpucdn.com/img/7Gj1iAGjEmyd7lVd_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/7Gj1iAGjEmyd7lVd.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/i8KZIftWhOswiHGc_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/i8KZIftWhOswiHGc.jpg)

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[NextPowerUP]

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger engaged with press/media representatives following the conclusion of his IFS Direct Connect 2024 keynote speech (https://www.techpowerup.com/319465/us-commerce-chief-nation-requires-additional-chip-funding)—when asked about Team Blue's ongoing relationship with TSMC, he confirmed that their manufacturing agreement has advanced from "5 nm to 3 nm." According to a China Times news article: "Gelsinger also confirmed the expansion of orders to TSMC, confirming that TSMC will hold orders for Intel's Arrow and Lunar Lake CPU, GPU, and NPU chips this year, and will produce them using the N3B process, officially ushering in the Intel notebook platform that the outside world has been waiting for many years." Past leaks have indicated that Intel's Arrow Lake processor family will have CPU tiles based on their in-house 20A process, while TSMC takes care of the GPU tile aspect with their 3 nm N3 process node.

That generation is expected to launch later this year—the now "officially confirmed" upgrade to 3 nm should produce pleasing performance and efficiency improvements. The current crop of Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" mobile processors has struggled with the latter (https://www.techpowerup.com/319379/intel-meteor-lake-linux-patches-set-to-optimize-default-power-modes), especially when compared to rivals. Lunar Lake is marked down for a 2025 launch window, so some aspects of its internal workings remain a mystery—Gelsinger has confirmed that TSMC's N3B is in the picture, but no official source has disclosed their in-house manufacturing choice(s) for LNL chips. Wccftech believes that Lunar Lake will: "utilize the same P-Core (Lion Cove) and brand-new E-Core (Skymont) core architecture which are expected to be fabricated on the 20A node. But that might also be limited to the CPU tile. The GPU tile will be a significant upgrade over the Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake CPUs since Lunar Lake ditches Alchemist and goes for the next-gen graphics architecture codenamed "Battlemage" (AKA Xe2-LPG)." Late January whispers (https://www.techpowerup.com/318454/intel-reportedly-selects-tsmcs-2-nanometer-process-for-nova-lake-cpu-generation) pointed to Intel and TSMC partnering up on a 2 nanometer process for the "Nova Lake" processor generation—perhaps a very distant prospect (2026).https://tpucdn.com/img/jD9RIGdwdlohLBUi_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/jD9RIGdwdlohLBUi.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/tnVOhOcwyS4Mq8x4_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/tnVOhOcwyS4Mq8x4.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/cWum6N5BfOEiboRn_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/cWum6N5BfOEiboRn.jpg)

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[NextPowerUP]

Hello Xbox community and other gaming platform populations! Today marks a monumental milestone - our medieval turn-based strategy game, Inkulinati (https://www.yazagames.com/), is leaving the Xbox Game Preview Program and you can now enjoy the full 1.0 release! To mark the occasion, we've got a brand-new shiny release trailer, voiced by famous bardcore musician Hildegard von Blingin'. Check it out below! Inkulinati 1.0 is OUT NOW on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation!

So. what is Inkulinati, you might ask? Well, it is a turn-based strategy game, where a rabbit's bottom can be deadlier than a dog's sword (trust me, this is not a mistake!). It is inspired by real medieval art and is entirely played on the pages of medieval manuscripts. If you've ever seen old medieval books with funny drawings on the sides of the pages, or even medieval memes on the internet, these hilarious doodles (called "marginalia") were used as the basis for, well, everything in our game.https://tpucdn.com/img/V1oHisilurirNDMx_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/V1oHisilurirNDMx.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/CUbpWYIgm7ZZhNO3_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/CUbpWYIgm7ZZhNO3.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/E2nNQ9mFVIhBkobQ_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/E2nNQ9mFVIhBkobQ.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/dMFHHDndc35f3MBI_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/dMFHHDndc35f3MBI.jpg)
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[NextPowerUP]

MSI is preparing to launch its new generation of MPG and MAG series QD-OLED gaming monitors—early 2024 promotional activity included a couple of pre-launch initiatives. The company's marketing division is attempting to get into good graces with the gaming community—we have already witnessed the introduction of a 3-year warranty (https://www.techpowerup.com/318772/msi-introduces-3-year-burn-in-oled-warranty) for OLED panel product, and permanent price cuts (https://www.techpowerup.com/319255/incoming-msi-qd-oled-gaming-monitors-receive-permanent-price-cuts) planned for launch day. It is highly probable that MSI is trying to attract customers away from ASUS ROG—the MPG 321URX ($949.99, formerly $1199) will be going up against the Swift OLED PG32UCDM ($1299).

The "MSI_Darutohne" Reddit account reached out to potential (and well heeled) customers on a popular premium gaming monitor discussion community: "Hello r/OLED_Gaming (https://www.reddit.com/r/OLED_Gaming/comments/1axg2qi/everything_you_need_to_know_msi_qdoleds/)! Our QD-OLED monitors are finally rolling out, and we'd love to clarify any misconceptions and make sure everyone here is making an informed purchase! Let's get started with the Six NEW QD-OLED monitors. You may find them all listed here." Many members thanked MSI for the comprehensive product rundowns and answering of questions/queries, but one participant—Mars0813—took issue with the MAG 321UPX model's apparent inability to receive software/firmware updates. MSI_Darutohne responded and confirmed: "You are correct. The MAG 321UPX QD-OLED will NOT support software updates." Subsequent repliers stated that they would cancel their pre-orders, or request refunds. Jamartty45 stated: "Appreciate you for clarifying, but I purchased this yesterday and it will be returned as soon as it gets to my door. A $900 monitor that doesn't support software updates is absurd." The more expensive MPG tier appears to be the best route for gamers who enjoy a little bit of future-proofing and bug fixing.https://tpucdn.com/img/EvyfLA8QFR5Z97Mt_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/EvyfLA8QFR5Z97Mt.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/sg6Ezy7XBr3LAuQN_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/sg6Ezy7XBr3LAuQN.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/kXgBcllEod4PiltS_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/kXgBcllEod4PiltS.jpg)

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[NextPowerUP]

The EVGA CLCx Series (https://www.evga.com/articles/01585/evga-clcx-series/) is now available to purchase—it's the remix you've been waiting for! The CLCx Series is the sequel to the award-winning EVGA CLC (https://eu.evga.com/products/productlist.aspx?type=18&family=Cooling&chipset=CPU+Closed+Loop+Cooler) All-In-One CPU Liquid Coolers. Refreshed with Asetek's 7th Generation water pump, 3 choices of radiators, an integrated 480x480 LCD, and the completely remodeled EVGA ARGB Fans. With a fresh new take on the AIO CPU liquid cooler market, the EVGA CLCx Series provides the most efficient cooling and quietest flow yet on an EVGA AIO.

Fit Your Rig
The EVGA CLCx Series is built for all types of systems and cooling needs with 3 different sizes of radiators to choose from. Select the CLCx 360 (https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=400-HY-CX36-V1) for maximum cooling, the CLCx 280 (https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=400-HY-CX28-V1) for higher-end needs, or the CLCx 240 (https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=400-HY-CX24-V1) for everything else.https://tpucdn.com/img/jEMpwsOxX4nJWnky_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/jEMpwsOxX4nJWnky.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/hOeM6q01t8i4I01W_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/hOeM6q01t8i4I01W.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/SfxM5zvY2kOX0x0w_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/SfxM5zvY2kOX0x0w.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/9p6dmCLjpgz0Fea9_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/9p6dmCLjpgz0Fea9.jpg)
Read full story (https://www.techpowerup.com/319514/evga-starts-shipping-clcx-all-in-one-cpu-liquid-cooler-series)

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[NextPowerUP]

Smartphone chipset industry watchdogs believe that the Samsung 3 nm GAA process did not meet customer expectations, due to alleged yield issues. TSMC is seemingly victorious in this segment, as reports suggest that a next-generation 3 nm node production goal of "100,000 monthly wafers by the end of 2024" has been set. Three days ago, Samsung Foundry revealed that it is working on a very advanced SF2 GAAFET process (https://www.techpowerup.com/319308/samsung-electronics-collaborates-with-arm-on-optimized-next-gen-cortex-x-cpu-using-2nm-sf2-gaafet-process)—press outlets in South Korea propose that the manufacturing giant is hoping to outmuscle its main rival in a future 2 nm node category. Tuesday's press introduction stated that a development partnership is set: "to deliver optimized next generation ARM Cortex -X CPU developed on Samsung Foundry's latest Gate-All-Around (GAA) process technology."

A Sedaily article (https://www.sedaily.com/NewsView/2D5FN8QLWD) posits that the company's cutting-edge manufacturing tech has already attracted interest from notable parties: "Samsung Electronics is taking advantage of these advantages to win orders for the 2 nm project. Samsung Electronics took its first step by winning an order to produce a 2 nm AI accelerator from Preferred Networks (PFN), Japan's largest AI company. Qualcomm, the world's largest system semiconductor design company, has entered into discussions with Samsung Electronics' System LSI Division, which designs high-performance chips, to produce 2 nm prototypes." December 2023 news reports suggested that Samsung leadership was considering a 2 nm wafer price discount (https://wccftech.com/samsung-may-discount-2nm-wafers-to-gain-advantage-over-tsmc/)—in order to stay competitive with competing foundry services. It is possible that Qualcomm is evaluating the 2 nm SF2 GAAFET process for a distant Snapdragon 8 "Gen 5" chipset, while Samsung LSI could be working on a 2 nm "Exynos 2600" SoC design.https://tpucdn.com/img/04GraW87LI5qZPvX_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/04GraW87LI5qZPvX.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/jmhSFYuw13KlNb6V_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/jmhSFYuw13KlNb6V.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/uKFO8pGl358elx8R_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/uKFO8pGl358elx8R.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/GWWNaAaO2e9MyJFZ_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/GWWNaAaO2e9MyJFZ.jpg)
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Cooler Master, a leading provider of PC components, gaming peripherals, and tech lifestyle solutions, has today announced the launch of the MK770, a state-of-the-art mechanical gaming keyboard engineered for unparalleled customization, outstanding gaming performance, and an immersive user experience. Discover a realm where each keystroke feels just right. The Cooler Master MK770 Hybrid Wireless Keyboard is more than tech—it's a genuine extension of you. Whether you're battling in a game, crafting a story, or designing tomorrow's masterpiece, the MK770 ensures every interaction is effortless. Dive deep into an experience where comfort elevates your performance and enjoyment.

Perfect for intense gaming sessions, the MK770 is built for the long haul. Reliable, programmable, durable, and efficient—the MK770 Keyboard stands as a testament to Cooler Master's commitment to quality. Whether you're engaged in a marathon gaming session or tackling a challenging design project, this keyboard promises to be your steadfast companion.https://tpucdn.com/img/jp50W438sUy8BDe8_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/jp50W438sUy8BDe8.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/RVZJP7CjlT4gPVGr_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/RVZJP7CjlT4gPVGr.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/XsvTDhUV1CNEBw8C_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/XsvTDhUV1CNEBw8C.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/T44ombVNCUk85gwp_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/T44ombVNCUk85gwp.jpg)
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Last week, AMD's Ryzen 8000GE desktop APU lineup (https://www.techpowerup.com/319109/amd-readies-ryzen-8000ge-line-of-35w-desktop-apus) appeared online—four lower power (TDP of 35 W) SKUs are set to join the already released 65 W TDP AM5 "Hawk Point" family. GucksTV has acquired a flagship 8000GE model, albeit in engineering sample form—a Hong Kong-based Ebay Store lists "AMD Ryzen 7 8700GE (https://www.techpowerup.com/cpu-specs/ryzen-7-8700ge.c3493) ES Tray" processors. At the time of writing only one unit remains in stock, priced at $298.99 with the option for free international delivery. The "hugohk (https://www.ebay.com/str/hugohk)" shop appears to specialize in supplying all sorts of Team Red engineering sample CPUs. GucksTV's German language video review pitches the Ryzen 7 8700GE engineering sample against the finalized retail release Ryzen 7 8700 (https://www.techpowerup.com/cpu-specs/ryzen-7-8700g.c3434) APU.

AMD has not made any official release date announcements regarding the leaked Ryzen 8000GE range, but VideoCardz (https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-ryzen-7-8700ge-35w-desktop-zen4-rdna-apu-tested-23-less-gpu-performance-at-half-the-power) believes that "expectations are high that these variants will hit the market soon through system integrators." The GucksTV comparison video shows that: "On average, the single-core of 8700GE performance drops by 5%, while multi-core is 17% below 8700G. For graphics, that's a 23% average drop in performance while requiring 52% less power." The reviewer noted that his engineering sample was not allowing access to memory OC profiles, until a motherboard BIOS update was implemented (most likely via Beta firmware)—granting 6400 MT/s instead of the normal JEDEC rate of 5200 MT/s. The test platform utilized an ASRock A620I Lightning WiFi Mini-ITX mainboard—finalized Ryzen 7 8700GE APUs could be ideal candidates for usage in quiet/low temperature compact form factor systems.https://tpucdn.com/img/NefRC8Arsg2am1KB_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/NefRC8Arsg2am1KB.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/W5oWG4Hpdfi0au4V_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/W5oWG4Hpdfi0au4V.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/62Fv632ias9pn0Al_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/62Fv632ias9pn0Al.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/rgKv7uSYzlujUkOZ_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/rgKv7uSYzlujUkOZ.jpg)
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[NextPowerUP]

Introducing the DataTraveler SE9 Gen 3 USB drive. Featuring a premium metal casing for durability and style paired with large capacity options, you can have form AND function. ????Experience the combination of elegance and functionality with the DataTraveler SE9 G3 USB 3.2 Gen 3 flash drive (https://shop.kingston.com/collections/usb-flash-drives/products/datatraveler-se9-g3-usb-flash-drive?variant=44571378647232), ideal for storing and sharing your data. Rediscover its timeless, award-winning design, now enhanced with high-performance speeds of up to 220 MB/s read and 100 MB/s write, ensuring swift and seamless data transfers on Type-A host devices.

Explore the expanded storage options with robust capacities now reaching up to 512 GB, providing ample space for your movies, music and diverse file storage needs. Premium metal casing for durability and style—an all-metal gold casing that's portable enough to fit in your pocket, backpack or on your keyring loop.https://tpucdn.com/img/yU3aTaFc1YwLH2dL_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/yU3aTaFc1YwLH2dL.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/DfSGEQBYhhKeo1rK_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/DfSGEQBYhhKeo1rK.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/BscImNeVpmMQzjGu_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/BscImNeVpmMQzjGu.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/lpFuo7dAQphMKc3M_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/lpFuo7dAQphMKc3M.jpg)
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[NextPowerUP]

Apple's M-series chips frighten Intel, AMD, and Microsoft like nothing else can, as they have the potential to power MacBooks to grab a sizable share of the notebook market share. This is based squarely on the phenomenal performance/Watt on offer with Apple's chips. A user installed Windows 11 Arm on a virtual machine running on an M2-powered MacBook, opened up CPU-Z (which of course doesn't detect the chip since it's on a VM). They then ran a CPU-Z Bench session for a surprising result—a single-threaded score of 749.5 points, with a multithreaded score of 3822.3 points.

The single-thread score in particular is comparable to Intel's 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" chips (their "Golden Cove" P-cores); maybe not on the fastest Core i9-12900K, but of the mid-range Core i5 chips, such as the i5-12600. It's able to do this at a fraction of the power and heat output. It is on the backs of this kind of IPC that Apple is building bigger chips such as the M3 Pro and M3 Max, which are able to provide HEDT or workstation-class performance, again, at a fraction of the power.https://tpucdn.com/img/TkFGrmrLlsVGlOMl_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/TkFGrmrLlsVGlOMl.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/nsBFUWp95CX25SG5_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/nsBFUWp95CX25SG5.jpg)

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[NextPowerUP]

We're thrilled to unveil Gigantic: Rampage Edition (https://www.gogigantic.com/en), the definitive release of the beloved MOBA hero shooter, Gigantic, created by Motiga. Developed by Abstraction Games (https://abstraction.games/), this premium edition promises both veteran players and newcomers an exhilarating journey into the world of team-based multiplayer gaming. Set to launch on April 9, 2024, across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms for $19.99, Gigantic: Rampage Edition amplifies the original game's thrills with dynamic gameplay, a diverse hero roster, and exciting new features. With zero microtransactions, players can unlock all content through gameplay or in-game currency.

Closed Beta Testing
Get a taste of Gigantic: Rampage Edition's Rush Mode in a Closed Beta Test on Steam, starting February 22 at 12:00pm PST / 9pm CET. Sign up on the game's Steam page for a chance to join the action-packed playtest. Gear up for Gigantic: Rampage Edition - the ultimate MOBA hero shooter adventure awaits! Stay tuned for more updates and announcements and join the discussion on our Gigantic Discord (https://discord.com/invite/kHsj3UcerH)!https://tpucdn.com/img/UtRwt7cCKnY7QE8m_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/UtRwt7cCKnY7QE8m.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/jEyrl9mtQSAVHAhE_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/jEyrl9mtQSAVHAhE.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/9lsw7eZfIBoKQlH2_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/9lsw7eZfIBoKQlH2.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/RoAHTEangjN43axl_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/RoAHTEangjN43axl.jpg)
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[NextPowerUP]

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 is a high performance Arm SoC designed to compete with Apple M3, with Windows 11 thin and light notebooks and Chromebooks being its main target devices. Microsoft pins a lot of hope in chips such as the Snapdragon 8cx series as they offer comparable performance and battery life to the current crop of M3 MacBooks. A lot of water has flown under the bridge since Windows RT, and the latest crop of Windows 11 for Arm has a much wider PC application support base thanks to official translation layers by Microsoft. CPUID has an Arm64 version of the popular CPU-Z utility, which correctly detects all the specs of the Snapdragon 8cx, but more importantly, has a Bench tab that can test the single- and multithreaded performance of the CPU.

A Chinese tech enthusiast wasted no time in putting the Snapdragon 8cx through this CPU-Z internal benchmark, and found surprisingly good performance numbers. The single-threaded bench, which loads one of chip's four Arm Cortex-X1C P-cores, registers a score of 543.7 points. This is roughly comparable to that of the AMD "Zen 2" or Intel "Comet Lake" x86-64 core. The multithreaded test, which saturates all four P-cores, and all four Cortex-A78C E-cores, springs up 3479.7 points, which again compares to entry/mainstream x86-64 processors from AMD or Intel. Not impressed? How about the fact that the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 is a 7 W chip that idles under 2 W for the most part, and can make do with passive cooling, posting scores comparable to 35 W x86 chips that need active cooling?https://tpucdn.com/img/IHh1tiBbGHNNvTOA_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/IHh1tiBbGHNNvTOA.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/xkKCk8fjq9JMFM5W_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/xkKCk8fjq9JMFM5W.jpg)

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[NextPowerUP]

Toward the end of 2024, Intel will update its client processor product stack with the introduction of the new "Arrow Lake" microarchitecture targeting both the desktop and mobile segments. On the desktop side of things, this will herald the new Socket LGA1851 with more SoC connectivity being shifted to the processor; and on the mobile side of things, there will be a much-needed increase in CPU core counts form the current 6P+8E+2LP. This low maximum core-count for "Meteor Lake" is the reason why Intel couldn't debut it on the desktop platform, and couldn't use it to power enthusiast HX-segment mobile processors, either—it had to tap into "Raptor Lake Refresh," and use the older 14th Gen Core nomenclature one last time.

All hopes are now pinned on "Arrow Lake," which could make up Intel's second Core Ultra mobile lineup; its first desktop Core Ultra, and possibly push "Meteor Lake" to the non-Ultra tier. "Arrow Lake" carries forward the Xe-LPG graphics architecture for the iGPU that Intel debuted with "Meteor Lake," but there's a key difference between the desktop- and mobile "Arrow Lake" chips concerning this iGPU, and it has not just to do with the Xe core counts. It turns out, that while the desktop "Arrow Lake-S" processor comes with an iGPU based on the Xe-LPG graphics architecture; the mobile "Arrow Lake" chips spanning the U-, P-, and H-segments will use a newer version of this architecture, called the Xe-LPG+.https://tpucdn.com/img/74Vce9MkaHFBDdoB_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/74Vce9MkaHFBDdoB.jpg)
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is set to open its new semiconductor fabrication plant in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, on February 24. This facility, known as Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM), represents a significant milestone for Japan's semiconductor industry. JASM spans 52 hectares and is designed to produce mature 40, 22/28, and 12/16 nm fabrication technologies in the Fab 1. The Fab 1 has an initial monthly capacity of 40,000 300 mm wafers, scalable to 50,000 wafers per month in the near term. However, TSMC is set to expand the Kumamoto facility with Fab 2, which will produce 7 nm and 6 nm nodes and is scheduled to begin operations at the end of the 2027 calendar year. The Japanese government is set to subsidize the Fab 2 expansion with around $5 billion in aid. Combining Fab 1 and Fab 2, the JASM Kumamoto facility could produce 100,000 300 mm wafers per month once the production of Fab 2 starts. According to market research firm TrendForce, JASM provides significant additional capacity for TSMC amid a global chip shortage. It also boosts Japan's domestic chipmaking capabilities, reducing reliance on imports.

JASM is the first brand-new foreign-operated fab built in Japan. The Japanese government provided grants and tax breaks to incentivize Kumamoto Fab 1 construction as part of a national strategy to re-shore more semiconductor production and is now doing it again with Fab 2. TSMC also received subsidies from customers like Sony, SSS, DENSO and Toyota. Dr. CC Wei, CEO of TSMC, stated that JASM will "shape Japan's semiconductor landscape over the next decade." TrendForce analysts echo this sentiment, noting that JASM's advanced nodes will enable cutting-edge chip designs from Japanese automotive and consumer electronics brands. The inauguration ceremony on February 24 will be attended by TSMC partners, customers, and government representatives. JASM is expected to ramp up production over the coming year. TSMC has other non-Taiwan investments, like the facility in construction in Phoenix, Arizona, which will start mass production of chips by the end of 2027 or early 2028. At that point, the global semiconductor capacity constraints will ease significantly.https://tpucdn.com/img/ZBXXegfaVpQFFiKB_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/ZBXXegfaVpQFFiKB.jpg)

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[NextPowerUP]

ASUS IoT, the global AIoT solution provider, today announced the launch of its new lineup of industrial motherboards and edge AI computers powered by the latest Intel Core (14th gen) processors. These cutting-edge solutions offer supreme computing performance, enhanced power efficiency, and accelerated connectivity, making them ideal for a wide range of industrial applications. One of the key features of these new solutions is the accelerated transfer speeds and enhanced power efficiency offered by DDR5 memory. Compared to DDR4, DDR5 memory provides 50% faster transfer speeds and 8% improved power efficiency, ensuring reliability with ECC technology.

ASUS IoT industrial motherboards also support double-speed PCI Express (PCIe) 5.0, which doubles the speed of PCIe 4.0, while maintaining full backward compatibility for system flexibility. This allows for faster data transfer and expandability, meeting the demands of modern industrial applications. The integrated Intel UHD Graphics technology in ASUS IoT motherboards supports up to 8K60 HDR video and multiple 4K60 displays, providing vivid graphics and powerful AI acceleration. This makes them ideal for various applications, including retail, healthcare and AI in smart factories.https://tpucdn.com/img/U7gHkCuUORzJ1foE_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/U7gHkCuUORzJ1foE.jpg)
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[NextPowerUP]

By the end of 2023, MSI unveiled its groundbreaking support for memory capacities of up to 256 GB. Now, both MSI Intel and AMD motherboards official support these capacities, with 4 DIMMs enabling 256 GB and 2 DIMMs supporting 128 GB. This advancement enhances multitasking capabilities and ensures seamless computing operations.

Intel Motherboard - 700 & 600 Series Platform, BIOS Rolling Out
The supported platforms for this memory capacity enhancement include Intel 700 and 600 series DDR5 motherboards. Gamers looking to benefit from these enhancements will need to upgrade to the own dedicated BIOS. MSI is currently diligently working on releasing the BIOS, with the first batch already available below. The rest of the models will be released in late February and March.https://tpucdn.com/img/xvsSVcXZ3dgYzGju_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/xvsSVcXZ3dgYzGju.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/MWh64WL9GGQF6zMt_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/MWh64WL9GGQF6zMt.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/nxnDDfwioD3fc1PY_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/nxnDDfwioD3fc1PY.jpg)
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[NextPowerUP]

NVIDIA is anticipating supply issues for its upcoming Blackwell GPUs, which are expected to significantly improve artificial intelligence compute performance. "We expect our next-generation products to be supply constrained as demand far exceeds supply," said Colette Kress, NVIDIA's chief financial officer, during a recent earnings call. This prediction of scarcity comes just days after an analyst noted much shorter lead times for NVIDIA's current flagship Hopper-based H100 GPUs tailored to AI and high-performance computing. The eagerly anticipated Blackwell (https://www.techpowerup.com/314109/nvidia-reportedly-selects-tsmc-3-nm-process-for-blackwell-gb100-gpu) architecture and B100 GPUs built on it promise major leaps in capability—likely spurring NVIDIA's existing customers to place pre-orders already. With skyrocketing demand in the red-hot AI compute market, NVIDIA appears poised to capitalize on the insatiable appetite for ever-greater processing power.

However, the scarcity of NVIDIA's products may present an excellent opportunity for significant rivals like AMD and Intel. If both companies can offer a product that could beat NVIDIA's current H100 and provide a suitable software stack, customers would be willing to jump to their offerings and not wait many months for the anticipated high lead times. Intel is preparing the next-generation Gaudi 3 and working on the Falcon Shores accelerator for AI and HPC. AMD is shipping its Instinct MI300 accelerator, a highly competitive product, while already working on the MI400 generation. It remains to be seen if AI companies will begin the adoption of non-NVIDIA hardware or if they will remain a loyal customer and agree to the higher lead times of the new Blackwell generation. However, capacity constrain should only be a problem at launch, where the availability should improve from quarter to quarter. As TSMC improves CoWoS packaging capacity and 3 nm production, NVIDIA's allocation of the 3 nm wafers will likely improve over time as the company moves its priority from H100 to B100.https://tpucdn.com/img/NCnXyG3VE28SB59h_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/NCnXyG3VE28SB59h.jpg)

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KFA2, the brand owned by Galax for specific markets in Europe, announced its GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER EX Gamer graphics card in two new trims, Pink, and White. The regular RTX 4070 SUPER EX Gamer the company launched in January comes in black. The Pink trim involves a bubblegum pink shade taking over the cooler shroud and metal backplate. Ditto with the white trim. The PCB underneath both cards remains black, but since the cooling solution dwarfs it, it most remains out of sight when installed.

Both cards feature frosted acrylic fan impellers, with addressable RGB LEDs located in the fan hubs. Besides the illuminated fans, the GeForce RTX logo on top of the card comes with RGB LED illumination. Both cards come with a mobile app-based control for the lighting. This app talks to a service installed in your PC over the Internet, which interacts with the graphics card. Much like the regular black RTX 4070 SUPER EX Gamer, the two cards stick with NVIDIA-reference clock speeds of 2475 MHz boost for the GPU, and 21 Gbps (GDDR6X-effective) for the memory. KFA2 is pricing both the Pink and White variants at 679€ including taxes, a 20€ premium over the regular black EX Gamer card.https://tpucdn.com/img/smA1GcfnSNm7wpdw_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/smA1GcfnSNm7wpdw.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/WzPdzhURbK8yUHgm_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/WzPdzhURbK8yUHgm.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/mOGaAiiKUcmkmGAB_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/mOGaAiiKUcmkmGAB.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/Gdxf04i1UW4lqKJV_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/Gdxf04i1UW4lqKJV.jpg)

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[NextPowerUP]

SilverStone today introduced the XE04-SP6P, a CPU cooler designed for AMD server/workstation sockets sTR5 and SP6, meant for those that use Ryzen Threadripper chips as server processors in rackmount cases as tall as 4U. The cooler is designed for thermal loads as high as 350 W, but is an aluminium fin-stack heatsink that measures 130 mm x 119 mm x 126 mm (WxHxD). This may look rather small for its thermal capacity in comparison to some desktop D-type coolers; but this is a server cooler, the desktop standards for fan noise go out the window, and a high-powered 92 mm fan is used to ventilate this thing. The cooler's capacity is mainly thanks to the high airflow.

The 92 mm high-powered fan comes pre-installed in a cavity between the fin-stack. It turns at speeds of up to 5,000 RPM, pushing 77.7 CFM of airflow at a phenomenal 10.67 mm H₂O static pressure, and a noise output of 43 dBA. The fan features double-ball bearings, and is rated for 90,000 hours. The nickel-plated copper base comes with a pre-applied thermal compound. From this base, six copper heatpipes convey heat through the fin-stack in a configuration similar to that of a D-type cooler. The cooler weighs 743 g, including its fan and factory-fitted RM. The company didn't reveal pricing.https://tpucdn.com/img/4UgasPL2A2kw4HLS_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/4UgasPL2A2kw4HLS.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/KwDTLum25Ptilzgq_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/KwDTLum25Ptilzgq.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/IrfDhYnAsJMTTVmt_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/IrfDhYnAsJMTTVmt.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/rFYTe6TZA21XAnKm_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/rFYTe6TZA21XAnKm.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/adpLhyCMv7j3LuME_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/adpLhyCMv7j3LuME.jpg)

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[NextPowerUP]

Colorful Technology Company Limited, a leading brand in gaming PC components, gaming laptops, and HiFi audio products, proudly announces the COLORFIRE MEOW R15 and MEOW R16 gaming laptops. Coming from the success and rising popularity of the COLORFIRE MEOW Series gaming desktop, the MEOW R15 and R16 gaming laptops are adorned with designs inspired by our beloved cat—Bobi. The laptop is littered with cat-inspired aesthetics from cat pawprints to the chic orange tabby cat color. The new MEOW Series gaming laptops are equipped with the latest AMD Ryzen 8000 Series processor designed for gaming, content creation, and entertainment. It also features the AMD Ryzen AI technology unlocking magical AI experiences.

Like a feline, the COLORFIRE MEOW R15 and R16 gaming laptops are fast and agile - swift in attacking enemies. Both laptops comes equipped with that new AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS processor with 8 cores and 16 threads, with a maximum boost clock of 5.1 GHz in a very efficient 45 W TDP power design. Designed for AI engine capabilities, its AMD Ryzen AI processor performance delivers up to 39 TOPS. For graphics, the MEOW R15 and MEOW R16 comes equipped with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 laptop GPU with up to 140 W maximum performance power.https://tpucdn.com/img/EaiicLMoKCl3rofW_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/EaiicLMoKCl3rofW.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/cWKbd3VdvwdFm7qy_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/cWKbd3VdvwdFm7qy.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/pGI5ENox9KeAqtLk_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/pGI5ENox9KeAqtLk.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/eoRhow4p9OSzDDMF_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/eoRhow4p9OSzDDMF.jpg)
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[NextPowerUP]

Sabrent today announced its latest flagship M.2 NVMe SSD series, the Rocket 5. Built in the M.2-2280 form-factor, the Sabrent Rocket 5 is sold as a bare drive, with an included fan-heatsink that you install if needed. This cooler comes with a tiny fins-stack, two copper heat pipes, and a 20 mm fan. At the heart of the drive is the new Phison PS5026-E26 Max14um controller, paired with Micron B58R 232-layer 3D NAND flash memory, and LPDDR4 based DRAM cache. The drive comes in 1 TB, 2 TB, and 4 TB capacity variants.

The company didn't put out capacity-specific performance or endurance numbers, but mentioned sequential read speeds of up to 14 GB/s, as is characteristic of the Max14um controller variant; up to 12 GB/s sequential write speeds, up to 1.55 million IOPS 4K random reads, with up to 1.8 million IOPS 4K random writes. The Rocket 5 replaces the Rocket 4 Plus as Sabrent's flagship SSD. The 4 TB variant is listed at $730, the 2 TB variant at $340, and the 1 TB variant at $190.https://tpucdn.com/img/DH9q1T4gHUN8GsgL_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/DH9q1T4gHUN8GsgL.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/wLgaWavicYOJOjWY_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/wLgaWavicYOJOjWY.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/EwAffoXB1DUA0nPi_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/EwAffoXB1DUA0nPi.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/WVpbuI3pDuiXWg7c_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/WVpbuI3pDuiXWg7c.jpg)

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[NextPowerUP]

Transcend, a premier manufacturer of embedded memory products and storage solutions, is proud to announce the launch of the all-new MTS570P, a Power Loss Protection (PLP) SSD aimed at enhancing storage reliability for embedded systems. Engineered with a compact form factor without compromising on performance, it is an ideal solution for edge servers, IoV systems, network switches, POS machines, and various other types of edge devices.

Power Loss Protection (PLP) stands as a critical feature in modern embedded systems, particularly when used in rugged environments. Its main purpose is to safeguard data integrity during unstable power supply or unexpected power loss/failure, ultimately enhancing overall system reliability and safety by providing a stable and secure storage solution.https://tpucdn.com/img/M8Tmlq8kbtwNM6hi_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/M8Tmlq8kbtwNM6hi.jpg)
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[NextPowerUP]

ASUS today introduced its custom design Radeon RX 7900 GRE graphics cards for a wider product launch outside China. These include the RX 7900 GRE DUAL OC, and the TUF Gaming RX 7900 GRE OC. Given the nearly identical 260 W total board power (TBP) and ASIC pin-map of the RX 7900 GRE to the RX 7800 XT, ASUS appears to be reusing its RX 7800 XT custom-design board designs for these cards. The RX 7900 GRE DUAL OC features a 27.9 cm length, triple-slot thickness, and 13.39 cm height, and uses an aluminium fin-stack heatsink with two 100 mm Axial Tech fans—hence the name. There is no RGB lighting or other such frills to speak of, but you get dual-BIOS. The default P-BIOS runs the card at factory-overclocked 1927 MHz Game clock (vs. 1880 MHz reference); while the quieter Q-BIOS runs it at reference speeds, with a more tame fan profile.

The TUF Gaming RX 7900 GRE features the same version of the company's DirectCU III TUF Gaming cooling solution that the company uses with its RX 7800 XT TUF Gaming product, it's 31.9 cm in length, 3-slot thick, and 15 cm tall (about a 1 cm added due to the stub toward the tail-end). The cooler features a trio of 100 mm Axial Tech fans, and as is characteristic of TUF Gaming cooler designs, is well ventilated, exposing more of the heatsink underneath; than competing cooling solutions. You get a minimal amount of RGB lighting, in the form of a diffuser near the tail-end. You also get dual-BIOS, and a more pronounced factory OC than the DUAL OC card, with the P-BIOS enabling 1972 MHz Game clocks. The Q-BIOS again sticks to reference clocks for quieter fan settings. ASUS didn't release pricing, but given that both are factory-overclocked cards, we expect the RX 7900 GRE DUAL OC to be priced around the $570-mark; and the TUF Gaming OC at $600, if not more.https://tpucdn.com/img/4MRtJ8Al7s07uwm7_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/4MRtJ8Al7s07uwm7.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/8oqn3yNbIhuIG3Fl_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/8oqn3yNbIhuIG3Fl.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/L8VYiikLBHRCoE7s_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/L8VYiikLBHRCoE7s.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/MfFb92pzYuK8VQp6_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/MfFb92pzYuK8VQp6.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/umQQIhN1OI9ANegY_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/umQQIhN1OI9ANegY.jpg)

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[NextPowerUP]

Intel today released the Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.5333 WHQL. These come with Game On (day-zero) optimization for "Last Epoch" and the new DirectX 12 update of "Sea of Thieves." The drivers also provide sweeping game DirectX 11 game performance updates for the Xe-LPG Arc iGPU powering Intel Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" processors, ranging anywhere between 6% to 155%. You can find specific performance in the list below. The company hasn't fixed any new issues with this release, but identified a handful new issues with Arc A-series GPUs, Core Ultra iGPUs, older Xe-LP based Iris Xe iGPUs, and the Arc Control application.

Among the DirectX 11 titles that get performance updates with this release at 1080p with Medium settings for "Meteor Lake" iGPUs, include "Assassin's Creed Syndicate" (+65%), "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" (+17%), "Divinity Original Sin 2" (+25%), "Far Cry 5" (+8%), "Halo: The Master Chief Collection" (+19%), "It takes two" (+24%), "Just Cause 3" (+18%), "Just Cause 4" (+155%), "Palworld" (+14), "Rise of the Tomb Raider" (+9%), "Rust" (+9%), "SCUM" (+6%), "Sid Meier's Civilization VI" (+27%), "Snowrunner" (+49%), "Warframe" (+7%), and "XCOM 2" (+8%).

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.5333 WHQL (https://www.techpowerup.com/download/intel-integrated-graphics-drivers/)https://tpucdn.com/img/nWztFjr33r44qLiR_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/nWztFjr33r44qLiR.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/VjcEzAHMD7OQlgus_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/VjcEzAHMD7OQlgus.jpg)
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[NextPowerUP]

AMD today released the latest version of AMD Software Adrenalin. Version 24.2.1 WHQL comes with optimization for "Skull and Bones," and "Nightingale." In case you're wondering where Radeon RX 7900 GRE support is; it's been around since July 2023 when the GPU was launched as a China-exclusive. With this release, AMD is also expanding the Vulkan API feature-set with new extensions as listed below. A large number of issues have been fixed with this release. To begin with; an intermittent driver-timeout issue seen with "Helldivers 2" on RX 7000 series GPUs has been addressed. Excessive stutter when playing several games, such as "Battlefield 2042," "Destiny 2," "Overwatch 2," "Monster Hunter: World," "PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS," and "STAR WARS Battlefront II," has been fixed. Excessive game loading times with "Deathloop" on cards such as RX 6900 XT, has been fixed.

"Deadspace" crashing on some RX 6000 series cards with RTAO enabled, has been fixed. First launching "Enshrouded" or changing AA settings, causes an intermittent application crash, which has been fixed. Visual artifacts with the game have been also fixed. HDR settings failing to take effect with "Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth" has been fixed. An intermittent driver-timeout with "Counterstrike 2" with FSR enabled on RX 7900 XTX, has been fixed. Incorrect reporting of graphics API as DirectX 12 in some Vulkan games has been fixed. Parsec host application experiencing a crash after reboot, has been fixed. Microsoft Teams displaying looped webcam footage on Ryzen 7 7840U has been fixed. Also fixed is a green tint noticed in Oculus Rift S with some RX 7000 series products. AFMF incorrectly displaying in hybrid GPU setups has been fixed—AFMF only works with a supported GPU is the display GPU.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Software Adrenalin 24.2.1 WHQL (https://www.techpowerup.com/download/amd-radeon-graphics-drivers/)https://tpucdn.com/img/oAkkDlwa0G4dYnTD_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/oAkkDlwa0G4dYnTD.jpg) https://tpucdn.com/img/xB8wdRFqt7HFwUyu_thm.jpg (https://www.techpowerup.com/img/xB8wdRFqt7HFwUyu.jpg)
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