LG Electronics' (LG) latest UltraGear gaming monitor (model 25GR75FG) has been named the official display of the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) 2023. The new monitor will make its debut during the upcoming LEC season, which begins this weekend, supporting players from the region's top teams as they battle it out for tournament honors. LG UltraGear is proud to continue its strong partnership with LEC, one of the world's most popular esports leagues, and remains committed to fostering the growth of esports internationally.



Designed for competitive esports, the latest LG UltraGear gaming monitor delivers outstanding picture quality and speed thanks to a 24.5-inch Full-HD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS display with a 360 Hz refresh rate and 1 millisecond Gray-to-Gray (GTG) response time. The performance of LG's new gaming display is further boosted by the integration of NVIDIA G-SYNC technology, which minimizes screen-tearing for seamless visuals, and NVIDIA Reflex, which helps to reduce click-to-display latency for more precise control of the onscreen action. VESA Display HDR 400 certified, the 25GR75FG also ensures bright, clear images and has a 3-sided borderless design that helps increase players' sense of immersion, making it easier to focus during fierce competition.
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(PR) ASUS Announces All-New ExpertCenter Tower Desktops for 2023
ASUS today announced the latest additions to its business-friendly range of ExpertCenter desktop PCs—the all-new ExpertCenter D5 Tower (D500TE) and ExpertCenter D7 Tower (D700TE) models.



Powered by up to the latest 13th Generation Intel Core i9 processor and professional-grade NVIDIA graphics, these new ExpertCenter desktops benefit from a voluminous 27-liter case for maximum expandability. Embracing the ExpertCenter ethos, the new models are meticulously engineered to deliver professional performance, easy maintenance, enterprise-grade security and manageability. They're also built to and tested to military-grade standards of strength and resilience. Sustainability and efficiency are also cornerstones of the ExpertCenter design, from manufacturing and packaging to daily use—achieving multiple certifications for their environmental consideration.
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(PR) ASUS IoT Announces the PE3000G with Discrete GPU Support via MXM Module
SUS IoT, the global AIoT solution provider, today announced PE3000G—the industry's first edge AI system to support Mobile PCI Express Module (MXM) GPUs from both NVIDIA and Intel. Specifically, the all-new industrial PC works seamlessly with NVIDIA Ampere/Turing or Intel Arc A-series MXM GPUs. Powered by a 12th Gen Intel Core processor and up to 64 GB of DDR5 4800 MHz memory, and combining a proven power design, guaranteed and fanless thermal performance, and superior physical and mechanical ruggedness, PE3000G brings unprecedented longevity, computing power, flexibility and reliability to AI computing at the edge—making it an ideal option for scenarios where resilience, longevity and both CPU and GPU scalability are paramount.



"PE3000G is ASUS IoT's response to the burgeoning demand for accelerating AI inference and extreme deployment in industrial settings," commented KuoWei Chao, General Manager of the ASUS IoT business unit. "With robust power, thermal and mechanical design, it pushes versatile edge-AI-inference applications to business-critical applications. PE3000G is an ideal fit to accelerate edge AI inference in SWaP-constrained applications, such as machine vision in factory automation, outdoor surveillance system and AI-inference systems for autonomous vehicles."
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Intel Reincarnates VROC Functionality for Xeon Processors
Intel's Xeon processors feature a wide range of embedded functionalities that the company has developed over the years. One such is the Virtual RAID on CPU (VROC) that enabled the functionality of an NVMe RAID card on the CPU, simplifying the installation, cost, and maintenance of high-performance storage arrays. Debuting in 2017, it is present in some consumer-facing Core models and Xeon Scalable platforms where it sees the highest usage. However, on January 6, Intel posted a product change notice that notified the users that the VROC function would be discontinued, with the last orders being placed on January 23 and the last shipping with VROC being made on March 31. This caused confusion, especially in the enterprise sector, which utilizes Intel Xeon processors for their workloads and storage arrays.



Tom's Hardware has reached out to Intel for clarification and got the following statement:
Intel SpokespersonThe PCN [Product Change Notice] was prematurely posted while the decision was under evaluation. After discussing with the ecosystem and customers we realize there is significant demand for this product and intend to continue to support it.
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Microsoft to Reduce its Workforce by 5%, Almost 11,000 Jobs Impacted
Amidst the global economic downturns, Microsoft is reportedly joining other tech giants in reducing the amount of the company's working staff. According to Sky News, citing its sources, Microsoft will lay off as many as 5% of its workers. The company's massive team of over 220,000 employees will affect a large group estimated to be close to 11,000 people. In addition, Sky News' Wall Street Analyst source suggests that the people familiar with the matter would not be surprised if the reported figure is higher. If finalized, the decision is expected to be made official by Microsoft's chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella, on January 24.



The company's current market capitalization is $1.79 trillion, making it one of the world's most valuable companies. However, more than the investment in expanding Azure cloud services is needed to offset the stagnating consumer segment where Microsoft dominates with its Windows and Office services, so the company is forced to cut a part of its workforce. We don't have exact details on which segment is getting the highest deduction in staff; however, we expect to hear more at the company's Q4 2022 results call on January 24.

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GALAX GeForce RTX 4070 (non-Ti) Graphics Cards Pictured
Marketing pictures of two custom-design GeForce RTX 4070 "Ada" (non-Ti) graphics card models by GALAX, were leaked to the web. The more simple-looking of the two is very likely the GALAX RTX 4070 EX Gamer White; while the other more flashy of the two, could be the GALAX RTX 4070 SG White. What's interesting is that both cards are triple-slot, including with their I/O brackets, for what is supposed to be a mid performance-segment product positioned below the recently launched RTX 4070 Ti.



Rumored specifications of the RTX 4070 (non-Ti) have it, that the SKU is based on the same 4 nm "AD104" silicon as the RTX 4070 Ti, albeit significantly cut-down, with only 46 out of 60 streaming multiprocessors (SM) on the silicon being enabled (that's 76% of the available SIMD machinery). This works out to 5,888 CUDA cores, 46 RT cores, and 184 Tensor cores. The card might get the same 12 GB memory size, across the 192-bit GDDR6X memory bus of the AD104, with the same 21 Gbps memory speed, working out to 504 GB/s bandwidth. One reason why GALAX's cards look this buff could have to do with NVIDIA's partners reusing their RTX 4070 Ti board designs for their premium RTX 4070 cards.

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HiCookie and GIGABYTE Achieve DDR5-11316 Memory OC
Professional overclocker HiCookie and GIGABYTE partnered to smash the memory overclocking record out of the park, with a jaw-dropping DDR5-11316 memory OC (5567.5 MHz memory clock). This memory OC record was achieved in a single-channel (single module) configuration, on a GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS Tachyon motherboard that has a 1DPC (one DIMM per channel) memory slot topology; while the processor in charge was a Core i9-13900K. A single 16 GB GIGABYTE AORUS DDR5 memory module was used, and the DDR5-11316 speed was achieved at timings of 64-127-127-127-127, with 2T command-rate; although the DRAM voltage remains unknown. The CPUID validation can be found here, and the HWBOT listing here.

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(PR) Logitech Brio 300 Series Webcams Affordably Enhance Video Experiences
Today, Logitech unveiled its Brio 300 series, a line of compact, plug-and-play webcams with Full-HD 1080p resolution, auto light correction and a noise-reducing mic, for more natural and productive video call experiences at an attractive price. "We surveyed more than 3,000 remote workers and found that most non-webcam users struggle with poor lighting conditions, unflattering camera angles, and low-quality sound from their laptop speakers. Brio 300 series webcams are perfect for those who want to make the easy but substantial jump to significantly improve their video meeting experiences with an external webcam," said Scott Wharton, general manager of Logitech B2B. "And for companies who need to provide certified, simple-to-use webcams to employees' home or office workstations, Brio 305 is that budget-friendly option."



The Brio 300 series (Brio 300 and Brio 305) are Full-HD 1080p webcams with high dynamic contrast, auto light correction, and a single digital microphone with noise reduction, so users are seen and heard clearly despite poor lighting and background noise. With a reliable meeting experience every time, users can join video calls feeling confident and engaged. The webcams connect to computers through a USB-C port, making it simple to join video meetings. Afterward, a quick spin of the built-in privacy shutter gives users assurance the camera lens is blocked and no longer showing their workspace.
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Fractal Ridge Case PCIe Riser Has Trouble Running in PCIe Gen 4 Mode, Company Outs Workaround
The Fractal Design Ridge SFF tower-type case won critical praise including from us, for its unique design, well-planned interiors, and room for even triple-slot graphics cards with a little adjustments. The case relies on a PCIe riser cable to maintain its SFF form, since the graphics card has to be oriented vertically. The riser included with the case meets PCI-Express 4.0 standards, but end-users started experiencing problems running their latest-generation PCIe Gen 4 graphics cards with this case, with the problem being localized to the riser cable. Fractal investigated this issue, and confirmed the issue.



Apparently, the PCIe riser included with the Fractal Ridge, while rated for PCIe Gen 4, has a design flaw that affects signal integrity. The riser is found to be only stable with PCIe Gen 3 or lower. The company is recommending a workaround for end-users while it works on a solution: to confine PCIe to Gen 3 mode using the motherboard's UEFI setup program (BIOS setup program), in which you can restrict the x16 PEG slot to Gen 3 mode. "We are developing a solution to enable full PCIe 4.0 compatibility, but until that is ready, we will update our listings to reflect that only PCIe 3.0 compatibility is guaranteed," the company said in a statement.
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