TechPowerUP NEWS

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Following its successful collaboration with HoYoverse in 2024, the leading manufacturer of cutting-edge PC components HYTE announced today it will continue to work together with HoYoverse on another collaboration product lineup themed after one of Honkai: Star Rail's most iconic characters, Firefly. In addition, Tokyo Game Show attendees can get their first look at the HYTE x Firefly collaboration lineup at Hall 9, 09-E34 starting today. To learn more about this new product lineup, which is now available for pre-order, please visit: https://hyte.co/firefly-pr

"It's an absolute honor to team up with HoYoverse once again on their hit title, Honkai: Star Rail, especially in developing products around the cherished character Firefly as the star IP," said King Perez, Marketing Executive Producer at HYTE. "As devoted players and fans ourselves, we sincerely hope the community adores the Official HYTE Firefly collection in all its detail!"
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Scythe introduced the Mugen 6 Dual Fan White Edition CPU cooler (model: SCMG-6000DWR). A premium variant of the Mugen 6 that the company launched this February, the White Edition is essentially a color-inverted Black Edition. The large, cuboidal aluminium fin-stack heatsink now comes with white anodized aluminium fins, including a matte-white top-plate. Each of its six 6 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heatpipes are painted white, as is the nickel-plated copper baseplate.

The two included Scythe Wonder Tornado 120 mm fans each come with white cables, white frames, and a frosted or translucent impeller that has addressable RGB LEDs located in the impeller hub. Each of the two fans takes in 4-pin PWM input, and turns at speeds ranging between 350 and 2,500 RPM, pushing up to 75.17 CFM of airflow, at up to 3.39 mm H₂O static pressure, and 35.47 dBA maximum noise output. With its fans in place, the Scythe Mugen 6 White Edition measures 132 mm x 132 mm x 154 mm (WxDxH), weighing about 1.23 kg. CPU socket types supported include AM5, AM4, LGA1851, LGA1700, LGA1200 and LGA115x.

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Corsair, a leading global developer and manufacturer of high-performance gear and technology for gamers, content creators, and PC enthusiasts, is proud to launch the innovative new VANGUARD PRO 96 Hall Effect Gaming Keyboard and VANGUARD 96 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. These two keyboards carry on the legacy of innovation started by Corsair's trailblazing K70 keyboard series.

VANGUARD PRO 96 and VANGUARD 96 both feature Elgato Virtual Stream Deck, a vibrant LCD screen, four layers of sound dampening, FlashTap SOCD technology, 8,000 Hz hyper-polling, six programmable, Stream Deck-enabled G-keys, a rotary dial, hot swap compatibility and are customizable via Corsair Web Hub. VANGUARD 96 gaming keyboards are 96% keyboards that optimize spacing to give users the functionality of a full-sized keyboard in a footprint that rivals a tenkeyless. Between both variants, this multirole keyboard is great for intense gaming and productivity featuring smooth-actuating, pre-lubed Corsair MLX or MGX switches. Both of these keyboards are also at the forefront of a brand-new naming scheme for Corsair products which will allow for better distinction between product lines.
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Intel has initiated early-stage discussions with Apple regarding potential investment and collaboration, Bloomberg reports citing industry sources. Team Blue has also approached other companies for similar partnership deals, though no agreements are guaranteed. The Business Korea article suggests that Apple will continue with its custom silicon rather than returning to Intel's processor lineup. The report highlights Apple's reliance on TSMC for chip fabrication and Foxconn for assembly operations in Taiwan, China, and India—things that could pose challenges if U.S. tariffs are reintroduced and if domestic manufacturing demands intensify. MarketWatch analysts suggest Apple's interest focuses primarily on Intel's foundry services as an alternative production source. Given Apple's substantial U.S. manufacturing commitments, supporting Intel could improve the company's relationship with Washington policymakers, the outlet indicates.

Apple recently expanded its domestic investment pledge to $600 billion over four years, up from the previous $500 billion commitment announced at a White House event in August, according to Bloomberg. Intel's investment quest has already attracted significant backing. The U.S. government has taken close to a 10% stake in Intel via $10 billion in CHIPS Act funding, while NVIDIA invested $5 billion for a 4% share. Japan's SoftBank contributed $2 billion through its Stargate partnership with OpenAI and Oracle, securing roughly 2%. According to Investopedia, any potential partnership with Apple, particularly one involving foundry investments would reinforce Intel's efforts to reinvigorate its business.

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Samsung Display hosted its second annual OLED IT Summit in Taipei, where more than 400 representatives from leading technology firms—including Intel, Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo—were in attendance. The conference focused on accelerating OLED adoption in notebooks and desktop monitors. At the event, Samsung Display unveiled more affordable OLED products engineered for broader market adoption. These panels consolidate several driving elements into a unified IC, reducing costs without sacrificing performance. The company further presented its "UT One" low-power OLED solution, the first of its kind to support a 1 Hz variable refresh rate using Oxide TFT technology. In testing, laptops equipped with UT One panels delivered up to three additional hours of battery life over standard OLED panels. Samsung Display also presented its SmartPower HDR power-saving technology, developed jointly with Intel.

According to Omdia research, OLED displays represented 3% of laptop and monitor shipments in 2024 but are projected to reach 13% by 2029. Samsung Display disclosed that its OLED shipments reached 4.9 million units in the first half of 2024, a 50% year-on-year growth and reached 74% of the market in Q2 2024. Commenting on adoption trends, Executive Vice President Jonghyuk Lee noted that widespread integration of emerging technologies hinges on three elements: innovative user experiences, competitive pricing, and robust ecosystem alliances. The company summarized its strategy as a combination of cost optimization, low-power design innovations, and close cooperation with OEM partners to push OLED further into the mainstream. For end-users, this could result in a wider range of reasonably priced OLED products with better specs and functionality.

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Intel plans to raise prices on some 13th Generation "Raptor Lake" desktop processors by around 10%, according to DigiTimes. In the fourth quarter, Intel will reportedly adjust contracts to account for the increase. Standard RPL-S SKUs that have traded near $150 to $160 could move to about $170 to $180, driven by tight inventories and rising upstream costs for Intel to maintain older and multiple product portfolios. OEMs claim that constrained inventory ahead of major shopping events leaves them unable to stock competitive holiday deals, forcing hard choices between protecting margins and offering discounts. Even if Intel does not formally announce a hike, limited RPL-S availability combined with surging memory costs is squeezing PC makers. Some top brands report component shortages and reluctance to place long-term orders amid volatile pricing.

Older Raptor Lake parts are benefiting from buyers seeking value, while the latest Core Ultra processors have not created strong consumer demand for AI-enabled PCs. The Core Ultra 200S series has shown slowed market adoption due to its worse initial performance compared to Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh. Some vendors favor cost-effective prior-generation chips to hit aggressive price points, keeping Raptor Lake supply tight despite the parts aging in calendar years. The role of third-party foundries, which continue to support older process nodes, has also extended the lifespan of previous-generation CPUs, altering historical upgrade cycles. Reportedly, some Raptor Lake SKUs cost over $200 less than the latest SKUs, excluding the cost of a new motherboard and the transition from DDR4 to DDR5 memory. With the end of Windows 10 support and the upcoming holiday season, it will be interesting to see how PC makers respond with pricing.

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[NextPowerUP]

Avalue Technology Inc., a global leader in industrial computing solutions, proudly announces the launch of the HPS-GNRD4A workstation, designed for high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. Built to meet the demands of enterprise AI training, medical imaging analysis, and high-performance data center operations, the system supports dual Intel Xeon 6 6500P/6700P series processors with up to 350 W TDP per CPU and up to 16 DDR5 6400 MHz RDIMM and 8000 MHz MRDIMM slots, allowing for a maximum memory capacity of 4 TB and providing a stable, high-performance computing environment.

Key Features:

• Flexible Storage and Expansion: The 19-inch 4U rack-mount chassis offers abundant storage and expansion options, including one external 5.25-inch optical drive bay and three front-accessible 2.5-inch drive bays. The system supports up to three double-width GPU cards, high-speed PCIe 5.0, various NVMe/SSD/RAID cards, and other acceleration cards, easily adapting to diverse computing workloads. In addition, the system supports U.2 storage bay expansion, with high-density U.2 SSDs capable of meeting demanding high-performance application requirements.

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Photos from Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, courtesy of ComputerBase, confirm the company is pushing advanced packaging format as hard as silicon this generation: the top-tier X2E-96-100 was shown with LPDDR5X memory arrays stacked on-package around an 18-core Oryon 3 cluster. This layout is designed to reduce latency and increase sustained throughput for demanding AI and media workloads. Qualcomm appears to be offering three distinct X2 configurations to balance performance, memory bandwidth, and power: a SiP (system-in-package) Extreme with very wide memory channels for peak sustained bandwidth, plus two off-package variants that rely on narrower channels but still aim for high single-thread and burst performance.

The pictured Extreme SKU, X2E-96-100, is an 18-core part with a minimum of 48 GB and a maximum of 128 GB+ of on-package LPDDR5X memory in a 12-channel configuration, delivering 228 GB/s bandwidth. It features a CPU top clock of around 4.6 GHz with a two-core boost to 5.0 GHz, and a peak GPU clock of near 1.85 GHz. The X2E-88-100 retains the 18 cores but utilizes off-package memory on an 8-channel bus at 152 GB/s, featuring base clocks of nearly 4.0 GHz and a 2-core turbo boost up to 4.7 GHz. The more compact X2E-80-100 drops to 12 cores, also featuring off-package 8-channel memory with a bandwidth of around 152 GB/s, a 4.0 GHz baseline, and single-core and dual-core bursts of up to 4.7 GHz and 4.4 GHz, respectively. The chip is built on a 3 nm node from TSMC and offers up to a dozen PCIe Gen 5 lanes, dual PCIe 5.0 lanes for NVMe, USB4, and 3× USB-C, as well as Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity. It uses a Spectra ISP and an Adreno VPU capable of multi-8K encode/decode and simultaneous 8K workflows.

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Welcome to the last few days of September and the first few days of October, which might be nice if you live in the southern hemisphere. This week is full of Japanese games and the biggest release has something to do with catching creatures, but without the poking. This is followed by a JPRG FPS, a tactical JRPG based on a well known franchise and finally a party-based JPRG. This pivots us to a stop-motion puzzle game and we finally end the week with a touch of Slavic mythology. Don't forget to check out this week's other games, they're not Japanese.

Digimon Story Time Stranger / This week's major release / Friday 3 October
Digimon Story Time Stranger is an RPG with monster-taming elements that explores the deep bond between humans and Digimon in an epic story that unravels the mystery of the world's collapse. Embark on an adventure that spans across the human world and Digital World, collecting and raising a diverse array of Digimon to fight in turn-based battles. Steam link
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At this point, it's secret that EA Games has been in a bit of a rough spot lately, with a recent chain of layoffs resulting in the loss of hundreds of staff and the closure of multiple studios over the last two years. Now, it seems as though EA might have found a lifeline, if a recent report by The Wall Street Journal is to be believed. According to the report, a group of private investors, including Silver Lake and the Saudi Public Investment Fund, may be looking to purchase EA with a $50 billion leveraged buyout. The Saudi PIF already owns 9.4% of EA's shares, so a buyout would not be surprising. The news of a potential buyout deal comes just days after EA launched Skate to a lukewarm reception from PC gamers.

The last time rumors about an EA acquisition were doing the rounds, the company's CEO, Andrew Wilson, was quick to dismiss them and play up EA's successful earnings. Of course, the deal is not yet signed, although an announcement is expected within the next week or two. Theoretically, privatization could help EA streamline company decision-making and remove investor pressure, potentially allowing for more agile moves and interesting game releases. As we discussed late last year, EA isn't the only major publicly traded game studio that is seeking a buyout, with rumors previously spreading about Tencent potentially buying out Ubisoft.

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Digital Extremes, the game studio behind hit co-op shooter Warframe, recently hosted a Devstream on YouTube and revealed that the game's next content would arrive on October 15. The Vallis Undermind, as the update is titled, will be introducing a slew of new content to the game, not the least of which is a new playable warframe for players to unlock and play as. The update will also feature The Deepmines, which is a new playable area located under Orb Vallis and accessible via the Fortuna hub. There are also a host of visual reworks, specifically to the Tenno face visuals and animations. The long-awaited Oberon rework will also be launching on October 15, delivering a total rework of all of his abilities and stats to make him more defensive and allow him to once again act as a more flexible support frame after the companion rework.

Nokko is the latest playable frame to come to the game and the 62nd warframe to launch since the game launched to open beta in March 2013. Aesthetically and in terms of abilities, Nokko follows a mushroom theme, with abilities that involve spreading poisonous, contagious spores, planting a glowing mushroom for a buff, and casting off explosive mushroom projectiles. Nokko can be built using blueprints earned via completing the new Undermined quest and parts farmed from The Deepmines on Fortuna.
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The U.S. government is considering imposing massive tariffs on semiconductor products unless manufacturers can match those volumes with chips produced in the United States. Under the current draft, companies that do not match foreign-sourced chip volumes with domestic output over time could face tariffs that, in some versions, reach 100%. The idea is an act of forceful action to speed up onshore capacity and reduce strategic dependence on overseas foundries, but they also admit that the plan faces serious practical hurdles. The core concept is simple to draft on paper, but hard to implement. For every unit brought into the U.S. from an overseas plant, such as TSMC in Taiwan and Samsung in South Korea, a corresponding unit would need to be produced domestically within a specified timeframe, or tariffs would be applied. This means that for every batch of chips NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, or Apple produce overseas, the same chip would need to be produced in the U.S.

Counting and comparing chip "units" is extremely complicated. Every semiconductor design differs wildly by complexity, cost, and function, and the typical semiconductor supply chain moves wafers, packages, and finished devices across several countries before a product reaches consumers. Even TSMC, the very maker of the chip, sometimes has a hard time confirming if the designs it makes are on the U.S. sanctions list. Like it experienced with Huawei, TSMC couldn't determine that a third-party shell company was ordering Ascend accelerator IP on behalf of Huawei—which sits on the U.S. blacklist—even with advanced detection tools. Officials are reportedly considering transitional credits and carve-outs for companies that commit to building U.S. fabs, which would allow them to import while new plants come online. Even with those credits, a question arises about how to compare a million small mobile processors against a million high-performance data center accelerators.
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In today's hybrid work environment, clear, reliable audio is essential. IT leaders and employees alike agree: seamless collaboration starts with the right tools. Enter the Dell Pro Plus Earbuds (EB525), the latest addition to Dell's AI-based audio portfolio. These earbuds combine advanced noise filtering, voice optimization and all-day comfort for employees with easy deployment and manageability for IT teams.

As the world's first earbuds to earn Microsoft Teams Open Office Certification, the Dell Pro Plus Earbuds are designed to empower effortless communication, whether you're commuting, working remotely or jumping into a quick Teams meeting. For IT, they simplify the challenge of managing audio solutions in a hybrid work environment, ensuring employees have the tools they need to stay productive, connected and focused on what matters most.
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Since the launch of the Steam Deck, Valve has been hard at work polishing its Arch-based Linux distro, SteamOS, for both its own gaming handheld and, more recently, third-party gaming handhelds. With the launch of the SteamOS 3.7.15 update, Valve has taken steps to correct a handful of gaming handheld issues. Most of the updates are bug fixes and quality of life updates, rather than new features, but there are also a number of security updates included that patch out known CVEs. This follows recent news about the official full release of the new Steam Store redesign and the Steam beta that adds support for detecting Secure Boot and TPM states for modern anti-cheat solutions. Overall, Valve seems to be working towards getting SteamOS in a state that is both user-friendly and stable in an attempt to attract and keep as many users on its platform as possible.

For the Steam Deck, the clock and power limits and Wi-Fi connection should more reliably return to their configured states after the device wakes from sleep, and the battery charge estimation has been improved. Wake-on-Bluetooth support has also been returned to all versions of the Steam Deck with support for BLE peripherals—which should prove handy when the handheld is docked. The built-in screen reader also now has multi-language support, and there are a number of audio improvements. For starters, the Steam Deck's volume will no longer jump to 100% when removing wired headphones, the Deck will now also automatically switch to USB audio devices when detected, and audio distortion in the built-in microphone has also been removed. Valve has also removed the Pro Audio profile from the KDE desktop mode—an anti-feature many Linux users will be aware of because it simply disables audio when you select it.
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Nextria, Canadian innovators in secure AI infrastructure, today unveiled the nation's first tactical AI runtime system purpose-built for Canada's defense operations. Delivering sovereign software inside a powerful supercomputer, CastleGuard AI provides a completely hardened AI system to empower missions anywhere intelligence is critical - onshore, offshore, or completely off-grid.

Sovereign AI Capabilities
CastleGuard AI is optimized for tactical deployment, with high-efficiency model training, prebuilt applications and a scalable mesh architecture that adapts to any infrastructure. The system includes the only French-Canadian language model trained on bilingual Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and Government of Canada terminology and acronyms.
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