TechPowerUP NEWS

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An AMD Ryzen 5 9600X "Zen 5" processor engineering sample has been overclocked to 5.70 GHz on all cores, and put through the CPU-Z Benchmark. Here, the chip is found to score 871 points in the single-thread benchmark, and 7096 points in the multithreaded benchmark. The overclock to 5.70 GHz is significant, as this is the maximum boost frequency of the upcoming Ryzen 9 9950X flagship part. The single-thread benchmark highlights that "Zen 5" has a similar IPC to the "Raptor Cove" P-core of the Intel Core i9-14900K processor, while the 7096 points multithreaded score is higher than the that of the Ryzen 7 5800X "Zen 3," meaning that AMD is overcoming the deficit of two whole cores (33% of the core-count of the 9600X) with just IPC and faster memory. AMD is expected to launch the Ryzen 9000 series desktop processors in July 2024.

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[NextPowerUP]

Apple today previewed macOS Sequoia, the next version of the world's most advanced desktop operating system, bringing entirely new ways of working and transformative intelligence features to Mac. macOS Sequoia is full of exciting new capabilities, including iPhone Mirroring, which expands Continuity by enabling full access to and control of iPhone directly from macOS. Safari gets another big update with the new Highlights feature for effortless information discovery on webpages while browsing. The new Passwords app makes it even easier to access passwords and organize credentials all in one place. Gaming advances with a more immersive experience, as well as a breadth of new titles, including Assassin's Creed Shadows, Frostpunk 2, and more.

macOS Sequoia also introduces Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system for Mac, iPhone, and iPad that combines the power of generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence that's incredibly useful and relevant. Built with privacy from the ground up, Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, and iPadOS 18. It understands and creates language and images, takes action across apps, and draws from personal context, simplifying and accelerating everyday tasks. Taking full advantage of the power of Apple Silicon and the Neural Engine, Apple Intelligence will be supported by every Mac with an M-series chip.
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[NextPowerUP]

QCY, a premier audio brand renowned for its expertise in wireless audio technology, announces the launch of MeloBuds Pro Adaptive ANC Wireless Earbuds. These wireless earbuds deliver Hi-Res Audio and stereo sound with powerful ANC while ensuring exceptional comfort for extended wear.

Equipped with Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), MeloBuds Pro auto-adjusts noise cancellation to adapt to your ear accordingly by analyzing your ear canal structure and how you wear it. The ANC system contributes to a wide frequency range (20 Hz-2500 kHz), with maximum ANC depth as high as 46 dB. Featuring 6 microphones and a wind noise-minimizing design, AI-based voice pickup technology ensures crystal-clear calls by cancelling ambient noise while enhancing vocals.
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[NextPowerUP]

Xigmatek made huge strides in the case design game this year at Computex. The pillarless left-corner has been a recurring theme with cases this year, but Xigmatek took things up a notch or two. Firstly, it incorporated the seamless pillarless design element, where two separate glass panels don't meet at the pillarless corner creating a glass seam, but rather a single glass panel curves around the edge. Secondly, some of its case designs have clear glass top-panels. The Pano series is a great place to start our coverage. The Pano and Pano Arctic, are black and white trims of the baseline Pano case, with its seamless-pillarless design. You still get a panoramic view of your build, but the top panel metal, with a 3x 120 mm fan/radiator mount.

The vertically partitioned case sees the right compartment end just before the side-facing fan-vents, which are recessed, so even with a thick radiator and fans, nothing gets in the way of a long graphics card. The left compartment has at least 10 cm of crawl space, because the PSU is mounted sideways. This means ample room for motherboards with backside connectivity. The Pano Ultra is 25% larger in volume than the Pano, and has the same layout, except the top panel is now glass, and the bottom panel is designed such that a radiator installation there wouldn't interference with an add-on card installed in the last slot of the motherboard—so there's a compartment down there, you can install a few 3.5-inch drives if you don't have a radiator.
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[NextPowerUP]

Thermalright brought several new CPU and M.2 SSD coolers to the 2024 Computex. Our tour of the Thermalright Computex booth began with the HR10, a high-performance active cooling solution for M.2-2280 SSDs. Its design involves an aluminium base from which two heatpipes draw heat from the drive, pushing it through an aluminium fin-stack, which is ventilated by a 40 mm fan. The cooler comes in two trims—black and silver/chrome. The Frozen Infinity 360 is the company's flagship AIO liquid CPU cooler. It features a 360 mm radiator, a cube-shaped pump-block which features an infinite-reflection ARGB ornament. Each of the three included 120 mm fans has infinite reflection ARGB diffusers along their sides. The cooler comes in black- and white trims.

The Thermalright Royal Lord is a thick single fin-stack (U-type) CPU cooler. It features a large CPU base that supports HEDT processors, seven 6 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heatpipes, fully soldered construction, and a high static-pressure 120 mm fan with a fluid-dynamic bearing. This cooler supports large CPU sockets such as the Intel Socket E, or AMD sTR5. The Thermalright Burst Assassin 120 EVO, much like the Royal Lord, is a single fin-stack heatsink, but with a narrower fin-stack, a brushed metal 2-tone top-plate, and two 120 mm fans in push-pull configuration, instead of just one. This cooler uses six 6 mm-thick heatpipes, and has dark powder-coating along all its metal bits.
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[NextPowerUP]

Arm CEO Rene Haas predicts that SoCs based on the Arm CPU machine architecture will beat x86 in the Windows PC space in the next 5 years (by 2029). Haas is bullish about the current crop of Arm SoCs striking the right balance of performance and power efficiency, along with just the right blend of on-chip acceleration for AI and graphics, to make serious gains in this market, which has traditionally been dominated by the x86 machine architecture, with chips from just two manufacturers—Intel and AMD. On the other hand, Arm has a vibrant ecosystem of SoC vendors. "Arm's market share in Windows - I think, truly, in the next five years, it could be better than 50%." Haas said, in an interview with Reuters.

Currently, Microsoft has an exclusive deal with Qualcomm to power Windows-on-Arm (WoA) Copilot+ AI PCs. Qualcomm's chip lineup spans the Snapdragon Elite X and Snapdragon Elite Plus. This exclusivity, however, could change, with a recent interview of Michael Dell and Jensen Huang hinting at NVIDIA working on a chip for the AI PC market. The writing is on the wall for Intel and AMD—they need to compete with Arm on its terms: to make leaner PC processors with the kinds of performance/Watt and chip costs that Arm SoCs offer to PC OEMs. Intel has taken a big step in this direction with its "Lunar Lake" processor, you can read all about the architecture here.

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[NextPowerUP]

Valkyrie brought an exhaustive lineup of CPU coolers to the 2024 Computex. This is also the only manufacturer we've come across that put a color display on top of a tower-type CPU cooler, a feature that've we've seen catch on with nearly every AIO liquid CPU cooler manufacturer. There are air coolers with displays on top, but those are LED segment displays putting out basic information such as temperature readings from ACPI. The company displayed an aluminium fin-stack cooler with a large top-plate that has a color display embedded in it, under its Loki brand. The top-plate is wider than the heatsink, but matches the width of the cooler when you install a 120 mm fan. So for those squeamish about liquid cooling, here's a neat alternative.

The Valkyrie Loki series also includes air coolers without this display, replaced by anime art and ARGB LED diffusers. We've seen single fin-stack coolers with dual-fan ventilation (push-pull), and dual fin-stack coolers under the Loki, Merlin, and Mist brands. Switching gears to the liquid cooling lineup, and we see the all-black Valkyrie Dracula, characterized by high static-pressure fluid dynamic bearing fans, and a concealing side mounts for the fans that give the three individual fans the appearance of a compound fan. The model shown at Computex featured a 360 mm x 120 mm radiator.
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[NextPowerUP]

During the Xbox Games Showcase today, Microsoft revealed its upcoming disc-less Xbox Series X console, alongside an upgraded Xbox Series X with 2 TB of storage and a white XBox Series S with 1 TB of storage. The disc-less SKU will be known as the Xbox Series X 1 TB Digital Edition and it will at least initially, only be available in what Microsoft calls Robot White. As the name implies, it will sport 1 TB of storage and Microsoft says it's the "perfect option for digital-first players to experience the speed and performance of Xbox Series X".

The new 2 TB SKU will be known as the Xbox Series X - 2 TB Galaxy Black Special Edition and as you can see on the pictures below, it has a rather interesting pattern made up of grey and green sparkling plastic moulded into the black. The Xbox Series S - 1 TB in Robot White is simply getting half a terabyte of extra storage over the current model and it means that the white and black Series S consoles will have storage parity. However, the press release suggests that the black model might be discontinued in favour of the white model. The Xbox Series X - 1 TB Digital Edition will retail for $449.99/€499.99, with the Xbox Series X - 2 TB Galaxy Black Special Edition coming in at $599.99/€649.99 and finally the Xbox Series S - 1 TB in Robot White will cost $349.99/€349.99. All three models will be available later this year.
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[NextPowerUP]

Welcome to post Computex week and another slow week of game releases. Except for the first week of the year, no other week this year has had so few exciting new releases, but at least it gives all of you another week to enjoy your current game collection. With no further ado, below is this week's release of the most interesting games we managed to dig up.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance / This week's major release / Friday 14 June
Become a mighty demigod and battle through a decimated Tokyo in a war between angels and demons. Make new allies along your journey, engage in intense, turn-based combat, recruit hundreds of demons and forge your own path to dictate the fate of all existence. Steam Link
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[NextPowerUP]

IBASE Technology Inc., a global leader in embedded computing solutions, proudly unveils its first ultra-compact 2.5" single board computer (SBC) designed for edge computing applications. The advanced IB200 SBC offers exceptional graphics processing performance with the AMD Ryzen Embedded R2000 Series. Featuring 4 cores and 8 threads integrated with the AMD Radeon Vega graphics controller, it delivers twice the CPU core count compared to the R1000 Series.

The industrial-grade IB200 SBC ensures a seamless multimedia experience with two HDMI 2.0b ports supporting 4K display and a dual-channel LVDS with a resolution of 1920x1200 @ 60 Hz. It offers a comprehensive set of connectivity options, including dual Intel I226IT Gigabit LAN ports, four COM, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports with PDPC support, three USB 2.0 headers, and one M.2 2280 M-key and one M.2 2230 E-key slot, ensuring flexibility in storage selection and speed. Additionally, the board is equipped with TPM 2.0 and a SATA II interface, making it a versatile solution for various industrial IoT applications.
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[NextPowerUP]

Expanding on the success of the O11D EVO, Lian Li has collaborated with Automobili to release a mid-tower case perfect for any petrolhead, the O11 EVO RGB Automobili Lamborghini.

Overview
Italian luxury meets Taiwanese innovation; the O11 EVO RGB Automobili Lamborghini is the next release from Lian Li in the O11 series. A mid-tower case crafted to be both aesthetically stunning and yet functional, the O11 EVO RGB Automobili Lamborghini case continues with the seamless look and dual chamber design of the O11 EVO RGB with additions to really drive home the Lamborghini collaboration.
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[NextPowerUP]

Few days ago at the Xbox Games Showcase, Microsoft has pulled a rather neat surprise, announcing Gears of War: E-Day, which will be developed by The Coalition in Unreal Engine 5. Microsoft did not go into a lot of details, reveling just a few story details about this prequel to the first Gears of War and releasing the official announce trailer. Thankfully, Microsoft and the developer now shared a bit more story and technical details, also confirming that the game will support ray traced lighting, reflections, and shadows.

In an extensive blog over at the Xbox Wire, Microsoft and The Coalition talk about the story behind the Gears of War: E-Day, which will follow younger versions of the original heroes, Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago, going back to where it all started with the fight against the Locust invasion. The Creative Director Matt Searcy and Brand Director Nicole Fawcette were keen to note that the developer is working hard to recreate and improve the third-person action, storytelling, and all other things we expect from Gears of War game.
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[NextPowerUP]

MSI introduces a revolutionary case that departs from the traditional PC case design. This case features a panoramic view with 4 mm tempered glass using chamfering techniques allowing you to appreciate the internal setup from all angles. The rear of this case is decorated with metal nameplates, also comes with ARGB panels at the front bottom, presenting a subdued and refined style.

This case is compatible with both ATX and Micro-ATX Back-connect motherboards, enabling easy cable management to the back of the case. The dual-chamber design provides a spacious 90 mm area behind the motherboard for cable management. Don't worry about the cable management, the tool-free multi-functional cable covers to hide cables and install SSDs effortlessly. In addition, this case comes with tool-free panels on the top, sides, and front, reducing the hassle of dealing with screws. The integrated front I/O cable design solves the problem of small, hard-to-grasp cables and closely positioned ports, making assembly simpler. The well-arranged ventilation is on the side and bottom to provide fan installation options, and the magnetic dust filters at the side and bottom facilitate easy daily cleaning.
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[NextPowerUP]

MSI, a leading gaming hardware brand, proudly announces an exciting collaboration with SEGA, a leading Japanese game publisher, to jointly bring gamers on the exploration of the post-apocalyptic world of the newest Shin Megami Tensei game - Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance.

THE DEFINITIVE VERSION OF SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI V
Fully evolved with stunning visuals for modern consoles, the dark lore, unnerving atmosphere, and beautiful and monstrous demons are back and better than ever. Massively expanded with new areas, demons, and music, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance features more accessible gameplay, an improved battle system, new demon experiences, and greater field exploration.
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[NextPowerUP]

Use code KOOFR to get 1 TB of cloud storage for life for $119.97 (reg. $810). That's about what it costs to rent one year from other platforms. While Dropbox, OneDrive, and iCloud Drive are beloved by many, they can end up costing you hundreds over a lifetime. If you're looking for a more sustainable storage solution, you should check out Koofr. With a one-time payment, you can own a 1 TB cloud for life and it's on sale at StackSocial for $119.97 (reg. $810) with code KOOFR through June 9.

Koofr is a high-rated cloud storage platform with 290+ positive reviews. Most buyers rave about its incredible lifetime value, and we'd have to agree: With other cloud storage solutions, you're paying around $10 each month which adds up to $120 every year; while, with Koofr, you only have to pay $119.97 once for lifetime use. Your 1 TB cloud is capable of holding around 250,000 photos, 500 hours of HD video, or 6.5 million document pages. If this seems like an excess, remember that this space is intended to cover your needs for life.

Stop renting your cloud storage and own 1 TB for life with Koofr, now $119.97 (reg. $810) with code KOOFR at checkout until June 9 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
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