TechPowerUP NEWS

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According to sources close to Seoul Economy, and reported by DigiTimes, Intel has reportedly chosen Samsung as a supplier for its next-generation Lunar Lake processors, set to debut later this year. The report notes that Samsung will provide LPDDR5X memory devices for integration into Intel's processors. This collaboration could be a substantial win for Samsung, given Intel's projection to distribute millions of Lunar Lake CPUs in the coming years. However, it's important to note that this information is based on a leak and has not been officially confirmed. Designed for ultra-portable laptops, the Lunar Lake-MX platform is expected to feature 16 GB or 32 GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory directly on the processor package. This on-package memory approach aims to minimize the platform's physical size while enhancing performance over traditional memory configurations. With Lunar Lake's exclusive support for on-package memory, Samsung's LPDDR5X-8533 products could significantly boost sales.

While Samsung is currently in the spotlight, it remains unclear if it will be the sole LPDDR5X memory provider for Lunar Lake. Intel's strategy involves selling processors with pre-validated memory, leaving the door open for potential validation of similar memory products from competitors like Micron and SK Hynix. Thanks to a new microarchitecture, Intel has promoted its Lunar Lake processors as a revolutionary leap in performance-per-watt efficiency. The processors are expected to utilize a multi-chipset design with Foveros technology, combining CPU and GPU chipsets, a system-on-chip tile, and dual memory packages. The CPU component is anticipated to include up to eight cores, a mix of four high-performance Lion Cove and four energy-efficient Skymont cores, alongside advanced graphics, cache, and AI acceleration capabilities. Apple's use of on-package memory in its M-series chips has set a precedent in the industry, and with Intel's Lunar Lake MX, this trend could extend across the thin-and-light laptop market. However, systems requiring more flexibility in terms of configuration, repair, and upgrades will likely continue to employ standard memory solutions like SODIMMs and/or the new CAMM2 modules that offer a balance of high performance and energy efficiency.

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Celebrating its centennial, beyerdynamic—the preferred audio brand for musicians and studio professionals around the world—is embarking on a new chapter with the announcement of a limited-edition version of the classic DT 770 PRO. Handmade in Germany, the all-new DT 770 PRO X Limited Edition blends the reference-setting features of the DT 770 PRO with the dynamic STELLAR.45 driver system's flexibility and a detachable cable. Redefining studio gear for a new era, the DT 770 PRO X Limited Edition is now available for pre-order at Guitar Center and Sweetwater for $199, with wider availability to come later in the year.

FLEX MARKS THE SPOT.
In today's fluid landscape of music creation, having the flexibility to work with a variety of applications is paramount. The DT 770 PRO X Limited Edition features the convenience of a detachable Mini-XLR cable so you can move freely while you create. A recess in the headband padding also protects against the pressure-sensitive fontanelle, allowing you to wear the headphones for hours on end. With premium sound quality, replaceable parts, low impedance and high-wearing comfort, the DT 770 PRO X Limited Edition is tailor-made for studio professionals, artists, filmmakers, producers and more.
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Experience an epic emotional drama. Two larger-than-life heroes brought together by the hand of fate, or perhaps something more sinister…Ichiban Kasuga, an unstoppable underdog who's no stranger to crawling up from rock bottom, and Kazuma Kiryu, a broken man facing down his last days. Join the fight with best-in-class RPG action. Experience one-of-a-kind combat with dynamic, fast-paced RPG battles where the battlefield becomes your weapon, and anything goes. Adapt your party's skills to the situation with outlandish jobs and customizations to strategically subdue enemies with over-the-top moves.

Prepare for infinite adventure—live it up in Japan and explore all that Hawaii has to offer in an adventure so big it spans the Pacific. Unforgettable moments await at every step of the journey with a unique mix of quests and activities to enjoy at your leisure. Will Kiryu accept his fate? How will Ichiban blaze a path of hope? And… wait, Tomizawa is a lovable what? Learn more about the personalities & motivations of the main characters from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
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Earlier today, Bloomberg published a report that covers expert analysis of the Nintendo Switch successor's alleged display credentials. The media outlet cites claims made by Hiroshi Hayase—Research Manager (of Small Medium Displays) at Omdia. The analyst proposes that Nintendo's hardware design team has selected an eight inch LCD screen for their "Switch 2" games console, he also believes that the launch model is due at some point this year. Hayase-san has gleaned information from supply chain insiders—the Switch successor could double shipments of entertainment-oriented "small displays." Sharp Corporation is believed to be Nintendo's main supplier, according to interpretations of deliberately vague company statements.

Nintendo's 2017 launch model sported a 6.2-inch LCD display, a more portable Lite version arrived in 2019 with a 5.5-inch display, and a larger 7-inch OLED iteration was released back in 2021. Gaming communities have long speculated about an abandoned "Switch Pro" model—many believe that the project was dropped due to ongoing supply chain problems during lockdown periods. The Switch OLED (plus its modernized dock station) is believed to be an interim gap fill. Nintendo has revealed little about their next generation gaming console, but development partners have been making some noise lately. According to a 4Gamer.net interview article, workers at Japanese studios (CAPCOM, Koei Tecmo, and Spike Chunsoft) have expressed major excitement about the upcoming model's prospects. GDC's 2024 State of the Game Industry report revealed that 240 respondents have admitted that they are actively working on Switch 2 games software.

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MSI presented a massive table of GeForce RTX 40 SUPER series custom design graphics cards at CES 2024—TPU spent a lot of time photographing and documenting everything GPU-related at the tech company's booth. The kind-of mysterious GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16G EXPERT model seemed to get a lot of attention from online PC hardware communities. The brand new and very substantial EXPERT shroud design integrates a Zero Frozr cooling solution, but folks were quick to link its aesthetic (and vapor chamber setup) to NVIDIA's dual fan Founders Edition cooling solution. MSI has not yet published a dedicated GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16G EXPERT product page, while all of the other models from CES are uploaded and active.

A tipster on social media has posted a screenshot of the 16G EXPERT's specification sheet—wxnod has uncovered alleged factory settings ahead of review and launch day embargos, although pricing is still unknown at the time of writing. The leaked core figures include a boost clock of 2610 MHz in GAMING and SILENT modes (60 MHz above reference), while the MSI Center software suite can activate an Extreme Performance mode: 2625 MHz. These figures align with the SUPER SUPRIM model's core clock specs—the SUPRIM X sits above everything else as the fastest card in MSI's RTX 4080 SUPER stable. MSI's official introduction stated that the 16G EXPERT: "features a push-pull airflow design for enhanced cooling efficiency. The enclosure is constructed with aluminium Die-Casting for structural strength, while Core Pipe and a Vapor Chamber work to efficiently dissipate heat. Lastly, a patented fan design provides quiet yet reliable airflow." We hope to see the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16G EXPERT's addition to the TPU GPU database.

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Starfield is the first new universe in over 25 years from the award-winning creators behind Skyrim and Fallout 4, Bethesda Game Studios. Gamers from around the world were excited to jump into this interstellar universe rich with adventure, peril, and excitement. But before anyone hops into space, they need something critical: a spacesuit. So, Xbox has partnered up with the European Space Agency (ESA) to give Starfield fans around the world a chance to win the spacesuit of their dreams, in real life, in addition to other incredible Xbox prizes. This is a physical, wearable, one-of-a-kind garment, fabricated for the most intrepid explorers.

Whether using a provided template as a base, or pushing their imagination to the limit with any creative format of their choice, fans will be asked to provide both a visual illustration of the suit from all sides—hand-drawn, 3D-rendered, or however their vision sees fit—as well as a description of the inspiration of the suit. More specifically, Xbox, Bethesda and the ESA want to know what you would wear in outer space - how would your spacesuit reflect your personal style, individuality and vision for space travel?

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LaminiAI appeared to be one of the first customers to receive an initial shipment of AMD's Instinct MI300X accelerators, as disclosed by their CEO posting about functioning hardware on social media late last week. A recent Taiwan Economic Daily article states that the "MI300X is rumored to have begun supply"—we are not sure about why they have adopted a semi-secretive tone in their news piece, but a couple of anonymous sources are cited. A person familiar with supply chains in Taiwan divulged that: "(they have) been receiving AMD MI300X chips one after another...due to the huge shortage of NVIDIA AI chips, the arrival of new AMD products is really a timely rainfall." Favorable industry analysis (from earlier this month) has placed Team Red in a position of strength, due to growing interest in their very performant flagship AI accelerator.

The secrecy seems to lie in Team Red's negotiation strategies in Taiwan—the news piece alleges that big manufacturers in the region have been courted. AMD has been aggressive in a push to: "cooperate and seize AI business opportunities, with GIGABYTE taking the lead and attracting the most attention. Not only was GIGABYTE the first to obtain a partnership with AMD's MI300A chip, which had previously been mass-produced, but GIGABYTE was also one of the few Taiwanese manufacturers included in AMD's first batch of MI300X partners." GIGABYTE is expected to release two new "G593" product lines of server hardware later this year, based on combinations of AMD's Instinct MI300X accelerator and EPYC 9004 series processors.

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In a major stride toward building a shared national research infrastructure, the U.S. National Science Foundation has launched the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource pilot program with significant support from NVIDIA. The initiative aims to broaden access to the tools needed to power responsible AI discovery and innovation. It was announced Wednesday in partnership with 10 other federal agencies as well as private-sector, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. "The breadth of partners that have come together for this pilot underscores the urgency of developing a National AI Research Resource for the future of AI in America," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "By investing in AI research through the NAIRR pilot, the United States unleashes discovery and impact and bolsters its global competitiveness."

NVIDIA's commitment of $30 million in technology contributions over two years is a key factor in enlarging the scale of the pilot, fueling the potential for broader achievements and accelerating the momentum toward full-scale implementation. "The NAIRR is a vision of a national research infrastructure that will provide access to computing, data, models and software to empower researchers and communities," said Katie Antypas, director of the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure at the NSF. "Our primary goals for the NAIRR pilot are to support fundamental AI research and domain-specific research applying AI, reach broader communities, particularly those currently unable to participate in the AI innovation ecosystem, and refine the design for the future full NAIRR," Antypas added.
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BOXX Technologies, the leading innovator of high-performance computer workstations, rendering systems, and servers, today introduced RAXX S1G, a rack-mounted workstation featuring up to two NVIDIA RTX GPUs and Intel Core i7 or i9 14th gen processors. The new Intel CPUs offer outstanding performance for CAD, 3D design, motion media, and other professional software applications, while RAXX S1G delivers the power and performance of a desk side workstation in a 1U form factor for both onsite and remote creators.

"BOXX innovation has enabled us to offer a version our best-selling APEXX S3 desk side workstation in the form of rackmount platform," said BOXX CEO Wes Breyfogle. "With RAXX S1G, organizations can harness the performance of Intel Core 14th gen processors to create and render, onsite or remotely, with the most demanding 3D modeling, CAD, and motion media applications."
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MSI, a leading gaming hardware brand, announces its latest collaboration with SEGA, one of the industry's most prominent game publishers. They join forces to bring the whole new and exciting experiences to gamers to enjoy a journey from Japan to Hawaii full with varieties of challenges and refreshing landscapes in the highly anticipated game - Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Enjoy Astonishing New Mode RPG Battle
Following the flow of the story, this series first moves to the overseas region, Hawaii, and the beautiful and vivid view offers gamers a deep and memorable immersion. Moreover, Infinite Wealth comes to astonish you with new, dynamic, fast-paced RPG battles allowing gamers to enjoy unparalleled freedom and thrill in every combat.
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Western Digital Corp. today reported fiscal second quarter 2024 financial results. "Western Digital's second quarter results demonstrate that the structural changes we have put in place over the last few years and the strategy we have been executing are producing significant outperformance across our flash and HDD businesses," said David Goeckeler, Western Digital CEO. "We are seeing our efforts come to fruition as our financial performance met, or exceeded, the non-GAAP guidance ranges we provided in October, and I am confident that our strategy of managing inventory proactively, offering a broad range of products, closely controlling our product cost through focused R&D and manufacturing, and bolstering the agility of our business will allow us to improve through-cycle profitability and dampen business cycles into the future."

• Second quarter revenue was $3.03 billion, up 10% sequentially (QoQ). Cloud revenue increased 23% (QoQ), Client revenue decreased 2% (QoQ) and Consumer revenue increased 15% (QoQ).
• Second quarter GAAP earnings per share (EPS) was $(0.87) and Non-GAAP EPS was $(0.69), which includes $156 million of underutilization-related charges in Flash and HDD.
• Expect fiscal third quarter 2024 revenue to be in the range of $3.20 billion to $3.40 billion.
• Expect Non-GAAP EPS in the range of $(0.10) to $0.20, which includes $30 to $40 million of underutilization-related charges in HDD.

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Today, Seagate Technology Holdings plc, a world leader in mass-data storage infrastructure solutions, launched the new Seagate IronWolf Pro 24 TB hard drive addresses the evolving data demands of SMB and enterprise network attached storage (NAS) environments. With capacities ranging from 2 TB to 24 TB, the Seagate IronWolf Pro portfolio is built to scale the needs of any growing business. With sustained transfer rates of 285 MB/s, a user workload rating of up to 550 TB/year, and 2.5M hours mean time between failures (MTBF), the new Seagate IronWolf Pro drives are engineered to deliver 24x7 uninterrupted performance, reliability, and dependability in multi-bay and multi-user collaborative environments.

The drives are optimized for NAS systems with Seagate's AgileArray technology. Using dual-plane balancing and time-limited error recovery (TLER), AgileArray helps deliver best-in-class performance in multi-bay systems. Additionally, the drives offer built-in rotational vibration (RV) sensors paired with dual plane balancing that addresses vibrations to deliver consistent high performance and reliability.
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Thrustmaster is thrilled to unveil the new generation of the ESWAP X PRO CONTROLLER gamepad with the launch of ESWAP X2: an evolution three years after the launch of the iconic first version, which captured the hearts of gamers looking for exceptional performance. Thrustmaster's modular ESWAP controllers have become the gold standard in the segment of professional-grade gamepads used at the highest level in competitive gaming. ESWAP X2 represents the new generation of ESWAP X PRO CONTROLLER, maintaining all the features that gamers have come to appreciate over the years. Hot-Swap technology allows for unlimited replacement of the S5 NXG mini-sticks, recognized for their exceptional precision in the world of esports.

This new version improves the lifespan of the mini-sticks, providing players with an extended gaming experience. What's more, the D-pad's ergonomic design has been completely reworked in order to simplify and speed up activations. ESWAP X2 includes a USB-C cable for optimal connectivity, minimizing latency during gaming sessions and ensuring maximum responsiveness between pressing a button and the action in the game.
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Samsung Electronics today at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2024 in Barcelona is showcasing how SmartThings will bolster its B2B displays to shape the future of business connectivity. Samsung's "SmartThings for Business" exhibition emphasizes the new advancements that the cutting-edge internet-of-things (IoT) platform will offer, as well as Samsung's commitment to providing more connected, easy-to-control digital signage across industries. "In a commercial display sector where operational efficiency is key, Samsung digital signage is leveraging SmartThings to deliver next-gen connectivity and features to organizations of all sizes," said SW Yong, President and Head of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. "This further expansion of the SmartThings ecosystem will serve to elevate experiences for customers and partners from a wide variety of industries."

How Businesses Can Leverage Connected Tech Through SmartThings—From the Smart Store to Smart Office
At the event, Samsung is showcasing how SmartThings enables business owners to leverage their digital signage to connect and gain more control of their smart devices across various landscapes. By offering the SmartThings connectivity feature to commercial display products such as Smart Signage and Hotel TVs, users can experience the convenience of hyper-connectivity in their business environments. These changes will include Samsung smart devices, as well as other devices that support the industry's latest IoT specifications, Matter and the Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA). Through the application of SmartThings to various business environments, Samsung contributes to the more efficient management of space and energy by transforming places of business into interconnected smart spaces. These connectivity improvements have been designed to benefit all types of business customers, from small and mid-sized business owners to enterprises. Examples of the smart spaces—including a smart store, smart office and smart hotel—are on display at Samsung's booth at ISE 2024.
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Drop, the leading community-driven mechanical keyboard brand, today launches the CSTM65 keyboard - a 65% mechanical keyboard that provides a compact canvas for personalization. On the heels of launching the CSTM80, the CSTM65 is the newest addition to Drop's CSTM line of highly customizable keyboards that offer a superior typing and customization experience.

Building upon the success of the CSTM80, the CSTM65 presents a compact 65% layout that caters to users seeking a more streamlined and portable typing experience while offering the same level of customization as its predecessor. A signature of the CSTM line, the CSTM65 features an interchangeable, magnetic case - available in polycarbonate or aluminium - that envelops nearly the entire keyboard, which not only encourages users to configure the keyboard to their liking with ease, but also provides designers with a broader canvas, fostering the creation of more imaginative designs. Designed to be easily removed and replaced, users can select from a wide range of colorful and decorative cases with stunning artwork to further personalize their keyboard. Combined with various keycap options, switches, custom weight options, switch plates, and cables, users can effortlessly mix and match designs to create a keyboard that reflects their personal style.
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