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ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced the ROG Strix Aiolos SSD Enclosure, a premium external SSD enclosure built for gamers and creators who demand top-tier performance, seamless device management. Engineered for next-generation NVMe M.2 storage, the ROG Strix Aiolos delivers lightning-fast transfer speeds, enhanced thermal efficiency, and an exclusive ROG SSD Dashboard, which provides real-time drive status updates. Designed for life on the move, it also incorporates a durable metal hook with a fabric tag to ensure convenient and secure portability.

Ultra-fast transfers and smarter storage management
The ROG Strix Aiolos delivers high-speed portable performance with USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x2 connectivity supporting transfer speeds of up to 20 Gbps, enabling users to move large media files or entire game libraries with ease. Its versatile dual M.2 interface, compatible with both NVMe PCIe (2242/2260/2280) and SATA SSDs, offers flexible upgrade and expansion options for a wide range of user needs. For effortless oversight, the enclosure features the exclusive ROG SSD Dashboard, which features a custom UI that provides users with a complete real-time overview of SSD status, performance, and other key metrics. Tailored for ROG enclosures, it makes storage management simple and intuitive.[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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ZOTAC GAMING, a global leader in PC gaming hardware, is launching the ZOTAC GAMING ALLOY microATX computer case in select Asia Pacific regions.

ALLOY is The Brand's first-ever Computer Case catered to DIY PC enthusiasts looking for a relatively compact microATX (mATX) form factor and optimized cooling performance. Designed to match the distinctly robust and elegant design language of current generation ZOTAC GAMING products, the ALLOY is made with today's flagship GPUs in mind, enabling enthusiasts to build high-end, high-performance gaming PCs with ease.[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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Alphacool International GmbH from Braunschweig is a pioneer in PC water cooling technology. With one of the most comprehensive product portfolios in the industry and over 20 years of experience, Alphacool now expands its lineup with the Apex Thermal Putty X1. The Alphacool Apex Thermal Putty X1 is a high-performance alternative to conventional thermal pads. As a non-curing, electrically non-conductive silicone gel, it adapts perfectly to uneven surfaces and varying gap heights with minimal contact pressure. No need to choose pad thickness, no compromises, lower temperatures.

A key advantage of the Apex Thermal Putty lies in its optimal consistency for handling and shape stability. Under light pressure, the material adapts ideally to different gap heights while remaining dimensionally stable. This reliably compensates for unevenness and tolerances between the cooler and the component, ensuring optimal contact between the heat source and the heatsink at all times. This is especially important for modern graphics cards and other sensitive electronic components, as delicate parts such as memory chips or voltage regulators are effectively protected from damage.[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 last year, and if your computer is still running it, then your data is at risk. If you want an easy way to upgrade, right now, you can get [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] on sale for only $12.97 (reg. $199). Windows 11 Pro adds security tools that help protect your files and accounts in ways Windows 10 simply doesn't. BitLocker can encrypt your drive so someone who gets your laptop can't just pull the data off it. Smart App Control can block unknown or suspicious programs before they run, which is helpful if you download software from different places. Windows Defender works in the background to scan for threats without a separate antivirus subscription.

There are also changes that make it easier to work on a crowded desktop. Snap layouts let you click a layout and drop apps into neat side-by-side or grid views instead of dragging windows around. Virtual desktops help you keep work, personal tasks, and side projects in separate spaces on the same computer. When you plug back into a monitor or dock, Windows 11 Pro does a better job of putting windows back where they were instead of stacking them on one screen.

Right now, it's only $12.97 to get [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...], but it won't stay that way.[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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When Valve announced the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and updated Steam Controller late in 2025, it did not reveal pricing, but the gaming giant said that the hardware would launch in early 2026. [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...], but according to a [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...], it is still unable to announce pricing or specific launch dates for any of the hardware. As the announcement explains, "the memory and storage shortages you've likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then. The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing (especially around Steam Machine and Steam Frame)."

The Steam hardware is hardly the only hardware launch said to be affected by the current memory crisis, with even [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] and potentially the upcoming [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] as a result of the RAM shortage caused by the AI boom. For Valve's part, the company promises that the actual release dates have not been affected, but it just needs to find a concrete launch price that makes sense. That could mean that the Steam Machine will launch at higher prices than the [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] by many. Valve has previously said that the Steam Machine would be priced more like a PC than a console, meaning the prospective price increase will still likely be in line with what you'd expect from a similarly equipped PC. Valve also demystified some other aspects of the upcoming Steam hardware, confirming once again that the Steam Machine is able to reach 4K 60 FPS with FSR enabled, although the team admits that some games may need to be upscaled from 1080p with VRR enabled in order to guarantee a smooth gameplay experience. Valve also confirmed that it plans to make CAD files and specs available for the Steam Machine's faceplate so that gamers and third-party manufacturers can build accessories for the PC. Both the SSD and memory will also be upgradeable and easily accessible.[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

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News recently broke that [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...], but, as 2K recently announced via the official Borderlands account on X, the looter shooter is officially verified for the Steam Deck. While Borderlands 4 has been playable on the Steam Deck basically since launch, the numerous performance issues it exhibits led us to recommend against playing it on Valve's handheld in our [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]. There were signs that Gearbox was preparing Borderlands 4 for Steam Deck Verified status, specifically the updated menu screens that came to the game around a month ahead of the announcement.

Importantly, [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] include functional controller input, seamless compatibility with the Steam Deck hardware and software with no compatibility warnings, support for the default Steam Deck Display resolutions, with good default settings, and full support for Proton. Notably, performance doesn't really enter into the equation, and that has become the main focus of many online users, who pointed out on [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] and [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] pointing out that the game still doesn't run well on the Steam Deck, even after numerous performance patches nearly six months after the initial launch. Most users who have tested the game say that they still struggle to maintain a solid 30 FPS in the looter shooter on the Steam Deck's iGPU.[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

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Despite the success of the first game in the series, Overwatch 2 has had a rough time of it, with reviews on Steam rating the game "Mostly Negative," with 34% of its reviews being of a positive nature. It seems as though Blizzard is trying to change this. In one of the multiple developer-led showcases scheduled for early February, [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] that Overwatch 2 is becoming just "Overwatch," and, more importantly, receiving a number of changes that aim to make gameplay more dynamic and attract more players to the game. The change also marks a number of changes to Overwatch's structure, which will see the game feature an annual story in a system that will officially go into effect with the new Season 1 on February 10. The story will be told across six seasons throughout the year, after which a new story will kick off with a new Season 1 in the following year. The first season in the revamp is called "Reign of Talon," and the plot kicked off with an animated cinematic at the start of the Overwatch spotlight on YouTube, but the rest will be told through various in-game events, animated hero trailers, short stories, and comics released throughout the year.

Blizzard also announced 10 new characters and an all-new class system. The first five characters will launch on February with the start of Season 1, and the rest of the line-up will follow throughout the year. It seems as though the heroes released throughout the year will all somehow be related to the plot being told in that particular year and also enter the game when each respective season launches. The five heroes coming in Season 1 include Domina, a new tank, Emre, a damage hero, Mizuki, a new support, Anran, another damage who will be available to trial from February 5-10, and Jetpack Cat, a stray cat serving aerial support that will be able to move allies around the battlefield from the air. The new update also sees Overwatch's class system get an overhaul, with the main tank, damage, and support roles now divided into three or four subclasses each—initiator, bruiser, and stalwart fall under the tank class; specialist, flanker, recon, and sharpshooter fall under damage, and medic, tactician, and survivor fall under support. Each role also comes with its own set of buffs and perks to consider. Blizzard also revealed that it would be reworking some classic Overwatch heroes later in 2026, although it did not reveal which heroes would be getting reworked.[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced results for its fiscal first quarter ended December 28, 2025.

"We are pleased to deliver strong quarterly results, with record total company revenues," said Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated. "Our momentum across personal, industrial and physical AI is growing, as evidenced by recent product announcements at CES and customer traction. While our near-term handsets outlook is impacted by industry-wide memory supply constraints, we are encouraged by end-consumer demand for premium and high tier smartphones, and remain on track to achieve our fiscal 2029 revenue goals."[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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Today (Feb. 4, 2026) Arm (NASDAQ: ARM) published a letter to its shareholders containing the company's results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 ended December 31, 2025. The infographic below provides the key highlights:

Here are what the results mean and how they were achieved:

• Revenue grew 26% year-on-year to $1.24 billion, representing Arm's fourth consecutive billion-dollar revenue quarter.
• Royalty revenue grew 27% year-over-year to a record $737 million, driven by growth across Arm's target end markets, including AI and general-purpose data center, smartphones, physical AI and edge AI.
• License and other revenue of $505 million increased 25% year-over-year, as more leading companies sign high-value licenses for next-generation Arm technologies.
• Demand for Arm Compute Subsystems (CSS) continues to exceed expectations as adoption grows in light of increasingly complex chip designs. This represents a significant tailwind to royalty growth, as Arm expands both the value delivered and economics captured per chip.
  
  • During the quarter, Arm signed two CSS licenses for use in both edge AI tablets and smartphones, bringing the total number of CSS licenses to 21 across 12 companies.
  • Additionally, five customers are now shipping Arm CSS-based chips, including two shipping its second-generation platform, while the top four Android smartphone vendors are all shipping Arm CSS-powered devices.

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Despite previously taking a very pro-generative AI stance, [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...], Take-Two Interactive's CEO, Strauss Zelnick, recently commented in an [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] that generative AI was not used in the development of Grand Theft Auto VI. The CEO is quoted as saying "Specifically with regards to GTA 6, Generative AI has zero part in what Rockstar Games is building. Their worlds are handcrafted. That's what differentiates them. They're built from the ground up, building by building, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood. They're not procedurally generated, they shouldn't be. That's what makes great entertainment." He also clarifies that he doesn't think that AI can or will be able to build "great entertainment properties" by themselves, suggesting that Take-Two might think twice about putting AI assets into its games.

He does also mention, however, that he is enthusiastic about AI, and that Take-Two's "products have always been built with machine learning and artificial intelligence," and that "right now we have hundreds of pilots and implementations across our company and within our studios. And we're already seeing instances where generative AI tools are driving costs and time efficiencies." Notably, this isn't the first time we've seen similar rhetoric or AI applied similarly in game studios, [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] of generative AI in gaming. Embark, the studio behind Arc Raiders, [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] to speed up the work on voice acting, while [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] AI-generated teammates, and [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] a pivot to generative AI tools across multiple applications.[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

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Tenstorrent, a startup focused on designing high-performance AI accelerators and led by the renowned computer architect Jim Keller as CEO, has announced significant hardware updates to its existing Blackhole P150 accelerators, which include the P150a and P150b models. In the latest documentation change, the company notes that its Blackhole P150 accelerators will now work with about 14.3% fewer cores than originally advertised. In the official documents, the P150 accelerators are now shipping with 120 working "Tensix" cores instead of the previously advertised 140 cores. The reason for this change is unknown, as the company provided a vague explanation: "To present a unified interface to metal and other system software, firmware v19.5.0 and later will change the core count on all existing cards to 120. Typical workloads show a non-material (~1-2%) performance difference."

The Blackhole P150 accelerators featured 140 "Tensix" cores and 32 GB of GDDR6 memory, operating at up to 300 W in an actively cooled form factor designed for desktop workstations, and the P150a model includes four passive QSFP-DD 800G ports. However, as the number of cores is reduced by approximately 14%, TeraFLOPS take a nosedive as well. In the older documents for the 140-core SKUs, the BLOCKFP8 8-bit floating point performance was listed at 774 TeraFLOPS, while the new 120-core version reduces that number to 664 TeraFLOPS at the same precision level. Why this sudden change is happening is still a mystery. However, the HPC community with a lot of knowledge in the industry suggests a few reasons.[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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Silicon Motion Technology Corporation (NasdaqGS: SIMO) ("Silicon Motion," the "Company," "we" or similar terms) today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2025. For the fourth quarter of 2025, net sales (GAAP) increased sequentially to $278.5 million from $242.0 million in the third quarter of 2025. Net income (GAAP) also increased sequentially to $47.7 million, or $1.41 per diluted American depositary share ("ADS") (GAAP), from net income (GAAP) of $39.1 million, or $1.16 per diluted ADS (GAAP), in the third quarter of 2025.

For the fourth quarter of 2025, net income (non-GAAP) increased sequentially to $42.7 million, or $1.26 per diluted ADS (non-GAAP), from net income (non-GAAP) of $33.8 million, or $1.00 per diluted ADS (non-GAAP), in the third quarter of 2025. All financial numbers are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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Saber Interactive and Focus Entertainment premiered a Gameplay Overview Trailer for 80s action-horror-inspired game John Carpenter's Toxic Commando. This new IP from the creators of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, World War Z and SnowRunner shows what it is made of - from story and missions to weapons and classes. Zombie addicts and fans of 80s silly gory action horror can finally gear up ahead of John Carpenter's Toxic Commando releasing March 12 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Get ready for non-stop zombie destruction
The trailer introduces the highly trained team of mercenaries you'll be cleaning the zombie mess as in this 4-player co-op action survival shooter, taking on multiple missions through a semi-open world infested with Sabers hellish Swarm technology, sending endless, simultaneous waves of mutated monstrosities straight at your face.[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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As February has just started, Valve finished processing data for the January edition of the Steam Hardware and Software Survey. One of the few interesting takeaways is that for the first time in months, Intel's share of consumer CPU usage has seen an uptick, instead of the slow decline it has been experiencing. According to the January update, Intel's CPU share among Steam platform users has grown to 56.64%, representing a small but pleasant increase of 0.25% over the December data. On the other hand, AMD recorded a slight decrease of 0.19%, now standing at 43.34% of the market. This means that Intel's market share has increased for the first time in months, as data from September reported a market share of 58.61%, then October showed 57.82%, 57.30% in November, and 56.39% in December. The chain of declining share has finally stopped, suggesting that Intel could have a chance to rebound in the consumer market section.

On the contrary, AMD's CPU market share has been rising for months, moving up from 41.31% in September to 43.53% in December, with a small correction now standing at 43.34%. This indicates that many new CPU purchasing decisions were made in favor of AMD, driven by the massive popularity of its Ryzen 9000X3D series, which has been well-received by PC enthusiasts. In contrast, Intel's latest "Arrow Lake" launch has faced some initial challenges with less-than-expected gaming performance, but besides discounts and firmware updates improving the situation, the community is now anticipating the launch of the "Arrow Lake Refresh" scheduled for March or April, which is expected to [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] by shipping with higher out-of-the-box frequencies and additional tuning.[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

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Borderlands 4 can't seem to escape its reputation for poor performance and demanding hardware requirements. Although the game was meant to launch on the relatively low-power Nintendo Switch 2 shortly after it launched on PC and console, the [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...], with the development team declaring that it needed more time to "deliver the best game possible" for fans of the series. Now, as of February 3, the development of Borderlands 4 for the Switch 2 has officially been put on hold. This is according to a new announcement by 2K Interactive in a recent earnings call. The gaming giant instead says that it wants to focus on optimizing Borderlands 4 for the devices on which it is already available. It's unclear whether the development will be picked up again at a later stage or if the port is effectively cancelled.

The full statement by 2K reads: "We made the difficult decision to pause development on that SKU. Our focus continues to be delivering quality post-launch content for players on the ongoing improvements to optimize the game. We're continuing to collaborate closely with our friends at Nintendo. We have PGA Tour 2K25 coming out and WWE 2K26, and we're incredibly excited about bringing more of our titles to that platform in the future." No official explanation was provided for the halt in development, but speculation has gone two ways. While some think 2K put the Switch 2 port on hold over performance concerns—[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...] that the game would run at 30 FPS "with some dips" on the Switch 2, which didn't give gamers much hope for performance—while others suspect that sales numbers simply didn't justify the increased development costs for the Switch 2. The fact that the Switch 2 version had already been indefinitely delayed lends credence to the theory that performance concerns and optimization difficulties could have had something to do with the cancellation.[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]

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