TechPowerUP NEWS

[NextPowerUP]

Maxon is thrilled to announce the highly anticipated release of Cinebench 2026, its latest iteration of the industry-standard benchmarking software, which has been a cornerstone in computer performance evaluation for two decades. Widely used by reviewers, hardware manufacturers, and everyday computer owners, Cinebench utilizes the power of Redshift, Cinema 4D's default rendering engine, to accurately assess and evaluate CPU and GPU performance using real-world 3D rendering workloads.

Cinebench 2026 takes advantage of the latest developments in hardware technology, adding compatibility with NVIDIA's new Blackwell GPUs (5000 series) and AMD 9000 series GPUs on Windows, as well as NVIDIA Hopper and Blackwell data center GPUs. Additionally, Cinebench 2026 now supports Apple M4 and M5 powered systems.
Read full story

More...

[NextPowerUP]

LG Display, the world's leading innovator of display technologies, is set to rewrite industry records once again at CES 2026, the world's largest IT and consumer electronics exhibition. During the Las Vegas show from January 6 to 9, LG Display will unveil a wide lineup of technologies and products that set new records among existing Gaming OLED panels, including the world's highest refresh rate of 720 Hz and response time of 0.02 ms, the world's first 39-inch 5K2K panel, and the world's first 240 Hz panel with an RGB stripe pixel structure.

A full showcase of Gaming OLED panels with overwhelming performance—world-first refresh rate, resolution, and pixel structure
LG Display is presenting a 27-inch Gaming OLED panel at CES 2026 that achieves a refresh rate of 720 Hz—the fastest among all Gaming OLED panels currently available. Refresh rate refers to the number of times per second a screen updates, so 720 Hz means the screen refreshes 720 times per second. LG Display is the first to achieve such an ultra-high refresh rate on an OLED panel.
Read full story

More...

[NextPowerUP]

Apple is preparing to update its Studio Display lineup in 2026 with the new Studio Display 2. Targeted squarely at creators, photography professionals, and video production crews, the new Studio Display 2 will be designed to ideally go with Mac Studio and Mac Pro workstations. Studio Display 2 surfaced in a report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who identified code in an iOS 26 build pointing to display "J527" as confirmation of a new Studio Display. Perhaps the biggest reveal from the code is that Studio Display 2 will come with ProMotion, and variable refresh rate. It will support a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz, up from the current 60 Hz of Studio Display.

The current Studio Display isn't just limited to 60 Hz, but also only has standard dynamic range (SDR). Studio Display 2 is expected to introduce HDR support, leveraging Mini LED technology. This would be similar to the latest MacBook Pro display offering ProMotion and HDR with up to 1,000 nits brightness using Mini LED illumination for sustained lighting, and an impressive 1,600 nits for HDR. Apple will likely use the latest display tech to offer a feature-packed HDR implementation for content professionals.
Read full story

More...

[NextPowerUP]

HKC Corporation, a global leader in advanced display technologies, today announced its participation in CES 2026, taking place from January 6-9, 2026, at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). At Booth No. 30739, South Hall 1, HKC Corporation will present its latest innovations across professional creation, immersive gaming, and competitive esports.

Guided by "Powering the Next Era of Play & Creation," HKC Corporation drives display innovation in panels, backlights, and intelligent imaging, empowering creators and gamers while cementing its global tech leadership. At CES 2026, HKC Corporation will showcase a curated portfolio of products across its three core brands—HKC, KOORUI, and ANTGAMER—each designed to address distinct usage scenarios and performance demands.
Read full story

More...

[NextPowerUP]

GEEKOM will make its fourth consecutive appearance at CES 2026, taking place from January 6 to 9 at Booth 35025 in LVCC South Hall 2. As a leader in the Mini PC industry, GEEKOM is presenting its most focused product launch to date, marking a major expansion into premium laptops while continuing to advance its compact computing lineup.

The centerpiece of GEEKOM's CES 2026 showcase is the GeekBook X14 Pro, a laptop that sets a new benchmark for lightweight design. Weighing just 2.2 pounds and measuring only 0.23 inches at its thinnest point, the GeekBook X14 Pro is positioned as the world's lightest all-metal laptop. It features a 2.8K OLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, delivering sharp visuals, vivid colors, and smooth performance.
Read full story

More...

[NextPowerUP]

Other World Computing (OWC), a trusted leader in high-performance storage, memory, connectivity, software, and accessories that empower creative and business professionals to maximize performance, enhance reliability, and streamline workflows, today announced the launch of its fully certified 2-meter Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) cable for Macs and PCs. Creative and business professionals now have a long-length solution - engineered with signal amplification, precision shielding, and end-to-end signal integrity - for workflows that demand maximum speed, display performance, and power delivery - along with all the capabilities of Thunderbolt 5.

"OWC's 2-meter Thunderbolt 5 Cable delivers the full Thunderbolt 5 experience at extended length with no compromises," said Larry O'Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing (OWC). "It gives users the flexibility to connect high-performance devices exactly where they need them, while maintaining the performance, reliability, and compatibility Thunderbolt is known for."
Read full story

More...

[NextPowerUP]

New year, new games, all with RTX 5080-powered cloud energy. GeForce NOW is kicking off 2026 by looking back at an unforgettable year of wins and wildly high frame rates. From streams of the biggest blockbusters to new ways to play anywhere, members showed all year what happens when great games meet serious GeForce performance in the cloud. Grab a cozy spot, queue up a game and ring in the new year with GeForce NOW, starting with a fresh list of 14 titles coming to the cloud this January, with 5 available to stream this week..

Put a Bow on It
The star upgrade of 2025 was the arrival of NVIDIA Blackwell RTX in the cloud, bringing GeForce RTX 5080 power to the GeForce NOW Ultimate membership tier along with all the NVIDIA technologies that 50 Series GPU owners have access to, including DLSS 4 and 5K 120 frames-per-second (FPS) streaming. "The amazing announcement of the RTX 5080 being added to GeForce NOW with features like DLSS 4 and 5K 120 FPS streaming was a true game-changer for cloud gaming," said Nads from Cloud&Console. Luna, a GeForce NOW Discord community modder, called out how the Ultimate tier let her go topside in ARC Raiders and explore Castor Woods in Dying Light: The Beast "in areas where my local machine struggles - and now, the RTX 5080-powered cloud can push them even further."
Read full story

More...

[NextPowerUP]

YPlasma, a pioneer in solid-state thermal management with operations in Newark, NJ and Spain, today announced its participation in CES Las Vegas 2026. Located at Eureka Park, Stand #60845, YPlasma will host the World Premiere of the first-ever application of Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma actuators for consumer electronics cooling—a revolutionary solution designed to replace mechanical fans and traditional ionic wind devices.

As electronics become thinner and AI-driven processing demands more power, traditional cooling methods are reaching their physical limits. YPlasma's solid-state technology addresses these challenges by using cold plasma to generate high-velocity "ionic wind" without a single moving part.
Read full story

More...

[NextPowerUP]

Fender Audio, a consumer electronics brand owned by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) and operated under license by Riffsound Pte. Ltd., makes its CES debut with the launch of two flagship products: the ELIE portable speaker series and MIX headphones. These releases mark Fender Audio's entry into the premium personal audio market with products designed for performance, versatility, and modern lifestyles.

ELIE Speakers
The ELIE (Extremely Loud Infinitely Expressive) portable Bluetooth speaker series combines elegant design with precision audio engineering to create a new benchmark in portable sound. Available in two models—E6 and E12—each unit integrates built-in subwoofers and a world-first Waves SOC implementation to deliver powerful, distortion-free sound across a wide dynamic range. Reinventing how DSPs (Digital Signal Processors) and SOCs (System on a Chip) are utilized in speaker design, the ELIE speakers deliver more power at a higher efficiency, yielding greater volume and acoustic clarity than other portable speakers in the same size and category.
Read full story

More...

[NextPowerUP]

Acemagic has unveiled the Retro X5 mini PC, a compact system that blends an NES-style retro exterior with modern AMD hardware. The system aims at users interested in classic gaming, media playback, and everyday tasks, all of those in a small form factor with modern components. The Retro X5 is powered by the 12 cores, 24 threads AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor with a 5.1 GHz boost clock. Graphics are handled by the integrated Radeon 890M GPU with 16 compute units clocked at up to 2.9 GHz. The chip also includes an AMD XDNA 2 NPU capable of delivering up to 50 TOPS of AI compute for supported workloads.

The system ships with Acemagic's RetroPlay Box software, which bundles emulators and basic game management tools to reduce setup complexity for retro gaming. According to the company, future updates are planned to introduce AI-assisted features such as improved content recommendations, though no timeline has been shared. The Retro X5 supports expandable memory and storage and is capable of multiple displays. Front I/O includes a USB Type-C port, two USB Type-A ports, and a 3.5 mm audio jack. Full rear connectivity, pricing, and availability details have not yet been disclosed; however, we expect more information next week during CES 2026.

More...

[NextPowerUP]

ASUS introduced the Pro WS B850M-ACE SE, an AMD Socket AM5 motherboard in the microATX form-factor that's laid out like a server motherboard, but targets a range of consumers spanning from home and small-business servers, to workstations with storage-heavy loadouts. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, and 8+4 pin EPS. It supports the entire range of consumer Ryzen and commercial Ryzen PRO desktop processors from the Ryzen 7000 and Ryzen 9000 series. It also supports EPYC 4005 series server processors in the AM5 package. The board also supports ECC DDR5 unbuffered memory, with support for up to 256 GB of dual-channel (4 sub-channel) DDR5-5600 memory.

Among its use case-specific features are IPMI, U.2, and PCIe Gen 4 MCIO NVMe interfaces. The IPMI is driven by an ASPEED AST2600 chip that includes ASUS Control Center Express IT management software. Storage options include two M.2-2280 slots each with PCI-Express 5.0 x4 wiring, a PCIe Gen 4 MCIO, a U.2 Gen 3, and four SATA 6 Gbps ports. There's also an internal microSD slot for software key storage. There are three wired LAN interfaces—a 10 GbE driven by a Realtek RTL8127 PHY, a 2.5 GbE driven by Intel i225 series controller, and a third 1 GbE interface for the IPMI controller. USB interfaces include two 10 Gbps USB-C ports on the rear panel, a 20 Gbps USB-C header, three 10 Gbps USB type-A, an internal type-A, and additional 5 Gbps ports via headers. Display outputs include HDMI and DisplayPort from the iGPU, and a D-Sub from the IPMI chip. The board is expected to be priced around the $400 mark.

More...

[NextPowerUP]

Thermaltake today introduced the TH-S V3 ARGB Sync, a line of mid-range all-in-one, liquid CPU coolers. The cooler comes in black and white color trims, and in radiator size-based variants of 240 mm and 360 mm for each. These coolers are characterized by a simple segment LED display that puts out CPU temperature, usage average, clock speed, and power draw values. It pulls these values by interfacing with software over USB, which in turn gets them from ACPI.

The display is framed by an ARGB light strip that illuminates the CPU socket area. The included 120 mm fans come with ARGB lighting of their own. Both the CPU block and fan lighting is controlled using the same TT RGB Plus software that sends ACPI readings to the segment display. The pump-block comes with a speed range of 800 to 2,500 RPM. Meanwhile, the included 120 mm fans turn at speeds ranging between 500 and 2,500 RPM, pushing up to 85.29 CFM of airflow at 3.86 mm H₂O static pressure, and maximum noise output of 37.8 dBA. The company didn't reveal pricing or availability information.

More...

[NextPowerUP]

GIGABYTE just released four new AMD Socket AM4 motherboard models as gamers seek out older PC platforms supporting DDR4 memory that's available at more affordable prices. This aligns with our recent report that talks about how acute shortage of DDR5 memory is driving consumers to older platforms with DDR4, such as AMD Socket AM4, and Intel LGA1700. AMD has been releasing new Ryzen 5000 series processor models throughout these past few years even with the advent of the DDR5-exclusive Socket AM5, meanwhile, Intel's 12th Gen through 14th Gen Core desktop processors support DDR4, and there are motherboards based on Intel 600 series and 700 series chipset with DDR4 slots.

Among the motherboards released by GIGABYTE are the A520M H ARGB, the B550I AORUS Pro AX 1.4, B550M H ARGB, and A520I AC 1.5. These are all based on entry or midsegment chipset models. The A520M H ARGB comes with a single PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, HDMI display output, and supports all Socket AM4 processors out of the box. The B550I AORUS Pro AX 1.4 is a premium Mini-ITX board based on B550, with PCI-Express 4.0 x16, and a modern Wi-Fi 6E WLAN solution. The B550M H ARGB is essentially the same board as A520M H ARGB, but with B550 and PCI-Express Gen 4 for the PEG and M.2 slots. The A520I AC 1.5 is an interesting entry-level Mini-ITX board with Gen 3 PCIe and older Wi-Fi 5 (AC) WLAN.

More...

[NextPowerUP]

Samsung Electronics today announced the global launch of The Freestyle+, its latest AI-powered portable projector designed to deliver a more flexible and personalized entertainment experience across a wide range of spaces. Unveiled ahead of CES 2026 in Las Vegas, The Freestyle+ builds on the distinctive design of the original Freestyle while introducing smarter AI capabilities, improved brightness and expanded entertainment features—allowing users to enjoy content more freely, with minimal setup or adjustment.

"The Freestyle+ reflects Samsung's vision to create displays that adapt naturally to how people live and move between spaces," said Hun Lee, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. "By combining true portability with intelligent AI that optimizes both the viewing environment and the content itself, The Freestyle+ makes it easier to enjoy a consistent, high-quality experience wherever you are."
Read full story

More...

[NextPowerUP]

LG Electronics (LG) will unveil its 2026 LG gram lineup at CES 2026, extending the brand's decade-long leadership in ultra-portable laptops. The new lineup debuts an ultra-light Aerominum material for a more portable, durable and premium design. The new models also prioritize productivity with advanced dual AI capabilities, combining on-device intelligence with cloud-based AI for more flexible work and creativity on the go.

The LG gram's evolution as the ultra-portable laptop is accelerated by Aerominum, a composition developed by LG. This innovative material reduces the laptop's weight while reinforcing its structural strength. The resulting chassis is built for life on the move, offering improved scratch resistance, meeting military-grade standards and ensuring long-lasting resilience for everyday use. Aerominum's aeroplate structure and refined atelier brushing deliver a sleek metallic finish, elevating the design without adding bulk.
Read full story

More...