TechPowerUP NEWS

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Want to create something monumental? Learning how to master Adobe Creative Cloud can get you one step closer, now $24.97 (reg. $180). The creative industry is going absolutely nowhere. Have you seen My Lady Jane or played the latest Switch games? Those weren't just conjured up from nowhere—there was an artist, or rather, a team of artists, that worked hard to develop ideas that inspired you and countless others.

Ever wondered if you could work in a creative field? You could, and you could get one step closer to making that dream a reality by studying up on these Adobe online courses, which offer training in video editing, web design, and image editing. Lifetime access is now available for $24.97 (reg. $180) until September 3.

Open up a new world of creative opportunities when you study with this all-in-one Adobe Creative Cloud bundle, now just $24.97 (reg. $180). This price drop only lasts until September 3 at 11:59 PM Pacific.
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AnandTech, a tech publication that practically everyone in the computing industry is aware of, announced that it is shutting down. Named after its founder, Anand Lal Shimpi, AnandTech was founded in 1997 by the then 15-year-old Anand, and went on to become one of the top sources of PC hardware and gaming news and reviews, particularly in the golden age of PC (the 1990s and the 2000s). It is one of the key sites that inspired the founding of TechPowerUp. Anand and his crew have remained our friends and peers throughout this time.

Some of the biggest tectonic shifts in the tech world were parsed through Anand's keyboard. At age 32, Anand left the publication he founded to pursue a job with Apple, handing it to his friend and editor, Ryan Smith, and publisher Purch, which was later acquired by Future PLC. The site would continue to maintain the highest standards of reporting and evaluation for the following decade. AnandTech says that Future PLC will keep the site up and running, so all of its invaluable content remains accessible. We will dearly miss you, AnandTech.

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[NextPowerUP]

Thermaltake, a leading PC DIY brand for premium hardware solutions, is pleased to launch the CT120/140 ARGB Sync PC Cooling Fan (2-Fan Pack) and the CT120/140 Reverse ARGB Sync PC Cooling Fan (2-Fan Pack) in Black, White, Hydrangea Blue, and Matcha Green. The CT ARGB Sync series is a PWM fan designed to fit all PC usage scenarios. It features upgraded fan blades to provide better cooling performance and is now available in four colors, including new reverse blade fans, enabling you to create an attractive PC without the limitation of the chassis color and airflow direction.

To meet diverse aesthetic preferences, Thermaltake has revealed numerous products in various colors, and now adding the CT ARGB Sync to the multi-color lineup. These fans come in classic black and white, as well as new colors, Thermaltake's iconic hydrangea blue and matcha green, allowing you to easily unify the PC looks with the components in the same color or design the mixed color setup you like. Additionally, many Thermaltake chassis include the CT series as pre-installed fans, so the individual 2-fan package of the CT ARGB Sync enables you to match the built-in fans inside the cases.
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Microsoft provided a detailed view of Maia 100 at Hot Chips 2024, their initial specialized AI chip. This new system is designed to work seamlessly from start to finish, with the goal of improving performance and reducing expenses. It includes specially made server boards, unique racks, and a software system focused on increasing the effectiveness and strength of sophisticated AI services, such as Azure OpenAI. Microsoft introduced Maia at Ignite 2023, sharing that they had created their own AI accelerator chip. More information was provided earlier this year at the Build developer event. The Maia 100 is one of the biggest processors made using TSMC's 5 nm technology, designed for handling extensive AI tasks on Azure platform.

Maia 100 SoC architecture features:

• A high-speed tensor unit (16xRx16) offers rapid processing for training and inferencing while supporting a wide range of data types, including low precision data types such as the MX data format, first introduced by Microsoft through the MX Consortium in 2023.
• The vector processor is a loosely coupled superscalar engine built with custom instruction set architecture (ISA) to support a wide range of data types, including FP32 and BF16.
• A Direct Memory Access (DMA) engine supports different tensor sharding schemes.
• Hardware semaphores enable asynchronous programming on the Maia system.

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According to a recent report from Bloomberg, Intel is in talks with investment banks about a possible spin-out of its foundry business, as well as scraping some existing expansion plans to cut losses. As the report highlights, sources close to Intel noted that the company is exploring various ways to deal with the recent Q2 2024 earnings report. While Intel's revenues are in decline, they are still high. However, the profitability of running its business has declined so much that the company is now operating on a net loss, with an astonishing $1.61 billion in the red. CEO Pat Gelsinger is now exploring various ways to control these losses and make the 56-year-old giant profitable again. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are reportedly advising Intel about its future moves regarding the foundry business and overall operations.

The Intel Foundry unit represents the biggest consumer of the company's funds, as the expansion plans across the US and Europe are costing Intel billions of US Dollars. Even though the company receives various state subsidies to build semiconductor manufacturing facilities, it still has to put much of its capital to work. Given that the company is running tight on funds, some of these expansion plans that are not business-critical may get scraped. Additionally, running the foundry business is also turning out to be rather costly, with Q2 2024 recording a negative 65.5% operating margin. Separating Intel Product and Intel Foundry may be an option, or even selling the foundry business as a whole is on the table. Whatever happens next is yet to be cleared up. During the Deutsche Bank Technology Conference on Thursday, Pat Gelsinger also noted that "It's been a difficult few weeks" for Intel, with many employees getting laid off to try to establish new cost-saving measures.

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[NextPowerUP]

Leading global motherboard manufacturer, ASRock has announced that its W790 series workstation motherboards, including the W790 WS and W790 WS R2.0, now support the newly released Intel Xeon W-3500 series and Xeon W-2500 series processors. This enables consumers to experience the superior performance of the latest Intel Xeon series processors.

The ASRock W790 WS series workstation motherboards feature up to 2 TB DDR5 ECC RDIMM support, PCI-Express 5.0 expansion slots, USB4/Thunderbolt 4 and Dual 10 Gbps Ethernet. A flagship-class 14-layer PCB and 20+2 phase CPU VRM ensures ultimate performance and superb reliability, even when subjected to the most demanding sustained workloads.
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ViewSonic, a leading global provider of visual solutions, expands its Luminous Superior Series by launching high-brightness laser B2B projectors. With brightness levels reaching up to 8,500 ANSI Lumens, these projectors deliver exceptional visual experiences in large venues such as auditoriums, museums, and reception areas. By adding 6 new advanced models to the DLP technology lineup, ViewSonic offers the most comprehensive projector product line available, designed to meet the diverse needs of professional AV partners.

"ViewSonic has achieved twofold growth in the 5,000 to 5,999 ANSI Lumens segment globally, driven by the launch of new laser projectors. The company has surpassed last year's performance as demand for high-brightness projectors continues to rise," said Dean Tsai, General Manager of Projector & LED Display Business Unit at ViewSonic. "The enhancement of our B2B projectors allows us to offer a broader range of brightness levels, catering to both mainstream and professional needs. This series is designed with a user-centric approach, delivering superior visual quality and performance with higher cost-effectiveness while setting new standards for sustainability in professional visual technology. This not only strengthens ViewSonic's market position but also opens up new opportunities, further reinforcing our leadership in the global projector market."
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[NextPowerUP]

Today, Efficient announced a strategic partnership with GlobalFoundries (GF) to bring to market a new high-performance computer processor that is up to 166x more energy-efficient than industry-standard embedded CPUs. Efficient is already working with select customers for early access and customer sampling by summer 2025. The official introduction of the category-creating processor will mark a new era in computing, free from restrictive energy limitations.

The partnership will combine Efficient's novel architecture and technology with GF's U.S.-based manufacturing, global reach and market expertise to enable a quantum leap in edge device capabilities and battery lifetime. Through this partnership, Efficient will provide the computing power to smarter, longer-lasting devices and applications across the Internet of Things, wearable and implantable health devices, space systems, and security and defense.
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It's time to mana-fest the spirit of adventure with Square Enix's highly anticipated action role-playing game, Visions of Mana, launching today in the cloud. Members can also head to a galaxy far, far away, from the comfort of their homes, with the power of the cloud and Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws, with early access available on GeForce NOW. Plus, be among the first to get early access to the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Open Beta on GeForce NOW without having to wait around for downloads - early access runs Aug. 30-Sept. 4 for those who preorder the game. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will join the cloud when the full game is released Oct. 25. These triple-A titles are part of 26 titles joining the GeForce NOW library of over 2,000 games this week.

Cloudy With a Chance of Mana
Visions of Mana details a whimsical journey through the enchanting world of Mana. Step into the shoes of Val, a curious young man on an epic quest to escort his childhood friend Hina to the sacred Tree of Mana. Along the way, encounter a colorful cast of characters and face off against endearing yet formidable enemies. The game's combat system blends action and strategy for real-time battles where party members can be switched on the fly. Different party members offer unique skills, such as Val's powerful sword strikes or magical spells cast by Careena's dragon companion Ramcoh. Plus, traverse the game's expansive, semi-open world on Pikuls - adorable, rideable creatures that can also ram through enemies.
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AMD has released its latest version of AMD Software Adrenalin drivers, version 24.8.1 WHQL. The latest drivers update adds game optimizations for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Open Beta, Concord, FINAL FANTASY XVI, and Star Wars Outlaws, as well as expands HYPR-Tune support. It also adds Anti-Lag 2 support for Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT and adds support and optimizations for Amuse 2.1 with FLUX.1 model on select Radeon, Radeon PRO and Ryzen AI series products.

AMD also fixed several issues seen with previous drivers, including intermittent application crash or driver timeout in Black Myth: Wukong, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess on some Radeon RX 6600 and 6700 series GPUs, and Pacific Drive or KINGDOM HEARTS -HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX-. It also fixes artifacts in games like Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales or Rust, improves "Optimizing Shaders" time when launching Forza Motorsport, and fixes issues with Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering settings for some OpenGL applications. There are also several known issues, and AMD also issued an important note that it is working with the developers of Star Wars Outlaws to address an intermittent corruption issue that occurs after changing certain in-game graphics settings, which can now be resolved by relaunching the game.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Software Adrenalin 24.8.1 WHQL
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Remedy is thrilled (as thrilled as Finnish people can be) to announce that we are working together with Annapurna, who are co-financing the development of Control 2 and taking the Control and Alan Wake franchises to film, TV and beyond.

What does that mean for you, our dear fans? Above all it means Remedy is able to make Control 2 exactly the game we want it to be, while we now also have an incredible partner to extend our IPs to other mediums. We are also going to be publishing Control 2 ourselves. When I look at all the games we have in the pipeline, the future of Remedy is incredibly exciting. You can trust us to keep bringing you incredible video game experiences.
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Gabriel Ferraz, maintainer of the TechPowerUp SSD database and content creator, recently published an article that shows the relationship between SLC (Single-Level Cell) cache technology and its performance impact on SSDs. Using a Pichau Aldrin Pro 2 TB SSD featuring an Innogrit IG5236 controller and YMTC 128-layer TLC NAND, Gabriel has uncovered both the advantages and potential drawbacks of this feature. The article reveals that with SLC cache enabled, which acts as a high-speed buffer, the SSD achieved remarkable write speeds of up to 6.5 GB/s, but only until 691 GB had been written. Beyond that, speeds dropped to 2.2 GB/s and then to 860 MB/s as the drive filled up.

Disabling the SLC cache delivers more consistent performance results that are 2.1 GB/s across the whole capacity of the SSD, but with lower peak performance. Testing also examined the impact on power consumption and efficiency. With the SLC cache active, the SSD consumed approximately 5 W of power while achieving over 3000 MB/s bandwidth. Disabling the cache reduced power consumption but at the cost of halving the bandwidth to around 1900 MB/s, resulting in lower overall efficiency. Maximum power consumption with cache enabled peaked at 7.3 W, compared to a lower figure when operating in constant TLC mode. Below, you can see some performance benchmarks published on The Overclock Page.
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Dangbei, an innovator in smart entertainment, is excited to announce its participation in IFA 2024, the world's leading consumer electronics trade show. Taking place from September 6th to 10th in Messe Berlin, Germany, Dangbei will showcase its hot picks and new innovations, including the upcoming Dangbei Freedo, its first portable projector featuring a built-in battery, integrated gimbal stand, and Google TV.

Dangbei Freedo is Dangbei's first portable projector designed for on-the-go entertainment. With a built-in 60 Wh battery, Freedo delivers long-lasting, immersive viewing without the hassle of power cords. Its compact, lightweight design makes it easy to carry with just one hand. Complete with a shockproof, recyclable EPP carry case and a dust-proof bag, Freedo is ready for any adventure. The Type-C port supports power bank charging, extending the fun even further. Whether camping, hosting backyard parties, or exploring the great outdoors, this Google TV projector offers uninterrupted access to movies, live sports, and more. This means users can finish an entire movie on licensed Netflix under the stars, surrounded by natural ambiance.
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IBM and Intel announced a global collaboration to deploy Intel Gaudi 3 AI accelerators as a service on IBM Cloud. This offering, which is expected to be available in early 2025, aims to help more cost-effectively scale enterprise AI and drive innovation underpinned with security and resiliency. This collaboration will also enable support for Gaudi 3 within IBM's watsonx AI and data platform. IBM Cloud is the first cloud service provider (CSP) to adopt Gaudi 3, and the offering will be available for both hybrid and on-premise environments.

"Unlocking the full potential of AI requires an open and collaborative ecosystem that provides customers with choice and accessible solutions. By integrating Gaudi 3 AI accelerators and Xeon CPUs with IBM Cloud, we are creating new AI capabilities and meeting the demand for affordable, secure and innovative AI computing solutions," said Justin Hotard, Intel executive vice president and general manager of the Data Center and AI Group.
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CORSAIR (Nasdaq: CRSR) today announced the launch of its XENEON 34WQHD240-C QD-OLED Gaming Monitor, which offers vibrant colors, true deep blacks, and enhanced brightness for stunning visuals. Featuring a sleek, slim panel with a contemporary white design, this WQHD display meets the needs of gamers and multimedia enthusiasts seeking a more immersive experience, as well as content creators demanding superb color accuracy.

The XENEON 34 QD-OLED uses the latest 2024 Samsung QD-OLED panel to bring a visually immersive experience to the popular 34-inch monitor size. The 21:9 cinematic aspect ratio and a curved 1800R display provide a wide viewing angle for gaming, multimedia, and productivity. With up to 1000-nit peak brightness and up to 99% DCI-P3 color gamut, it reveals an amazing level of detail in every image, from the brightest highlights to the gloomiest shadows, thanks to DisplayHDR True Black 400 and a up to 1,500,000:1 contrast ratio.
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