TechPowerUP NEWS

[NextPowerUP]

Guild Wars Reforged is now available to buy and play! We're excited to be making new improvements to the adventure that started it all for us. This update makes entering the original Guild Wars story better than ever and extends new options for hardware compatibility to invite still more heroes into Tyria. For information on all the changes, read the full release notes for today's update. Beyond today's update, Guild Wars Reforged represents our commitment to ongoing improvements for Guild Wars. You can read our original announcement for more context on this project and our partnership with 2weeks that is making it possible.

Stephen Clarke-Willson, the game director for Guild Wars, said: "the positive reception to the 20th Anniversary Masterpiece Collection reinforced our drive to keep this classic MMO thriving. As new players joined and experienced players rejoined the community, we discovered that people were playing on big-screen TVs and Steam Deck and other handheld devices, and so we decided to lean into supporting these playstyles fully with deep integration of controller support and big-screen TV support. Controller support has been a tough nut to crack for MMOs, and I think we dialed it in."
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[NextPowerUP]

Colorful has launched a new flagship keyboard model in China. The Qingyu 98 Ultra model offers a compact 98% layout, custom-designed Kailh Purple Flame magnetic switches, PBT keycaps, and tri-mode connectivity. Promotional material goes heavy on a "cute idol" theme, akin to designs seen on competing company's PC hardware offerings. Unlike a handful of nearby rivals, Colorful has refrained from adorning its extensive graphics card portfolio with sci-fi and fantasy heroines. Instead, their "Hidden Princess IP" theme is present on the appropriately labelled Hidden Star gaming laptop line.

Marketing material indicates that Colorful is targeting avid competitive FPS multiplayer gamers. The Qingyu 98 Ultra's custom-designed magnetic switch (hall effect technology) are described as the best option for Delta Force, Valorant, and Counter Strike 2 sessions. As a result, the flagship device supports: "0.005 mm-level RT rapid actuation, combined with a full-range 16 kHz scan rate and wired/wireless dual 8K polling rates, achieving a minimum input latency of 0.125 ms. This provides a millisecond-level competitive performance advantage." The purple switch seems to be a Colorful board exclusive—at the time of writing, Kailh's webstore lists two magnetic options: "Yellow Flame" and "Mistral Blue."

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[NextPowerUP]

Gamers are aware of the end of life for Windows 10, which occurred on October 14, prompting a mass migration to Windows 11. They hope this new operating system will support their gaming sessions for the foreseeable future. The shift in market share between Windows 10 and Windows 11 has now become significantly pronounced, according to the latest November-based Steam Hardware and Software Survey. As the data shows, Windows 10 has dipped below 30% market share among operating systems, which is -2.08% reduction from October data. At the same time, Windows 11 gained +2.02%, which is seemingly the entire population that was lost from the Windows 10 transition.

An interesting development is the increase in Linux usage, which recorded a 0.15% gain, reaching its highest-ever share of 3.20%. This could be attributed to some Windows 10 users migrating to Linux-based operating systems. Another possibility is that from October to November, a significant number of users purchased handheld devices like the Steam Deck, which runs on SteamOS, a Linux-based system. Additionally, many gamers might have experimented with Linux operating systems in anticipation of Windows 10's end of life.
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[NextPowerUP]

On the surface, Blood: Refreshed Supply may not seem all that different from 2019's Blood: Fresh Supply. Both are remasters of the 1997 horror FPS from Monolith Productions, courtesy of the remaster specialists at Nightdive Studios. Of the two, Blood: Refreshed Supply is the definitive version. When players sink their teeth into this definitive remaster, they'll be treated to a pool of small but meaningful improvements that help it feel more authentic to the original than anything previously offered. This is in part because, unlike its predecessor, Blood: Refreshed Supply has been rebuilt from the ground up using the game's original source code.

Sourcing the Code
Nightdive Studios had yet to obtain the original source code for Blood when it started working on its initial remaster, Fresh Supply. Without the source code, Nightdive's developers had to reverse-engineer any missing or incomplete pieces of content from whatever materials were available to them at the time. As meticulous and detailed as reverse engineering sounds, it's ultimately a more tedious and less precise way to remaster a game, according to Nightdive's lead KEX developer, Samuel "Kaiser" Villareal.
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[NextPowerUP]

Chinese GPU firms are bravely attempting to catch up with Western designs. Lisuan Tech is a major contender; having introduced the nation's first-ever 6 nm gaming GPU back in June. The startup's 7G106 graphics card model is based on in-house "TrueGPU" architecture. According to a fresh ITHome article, video footage of working hardware emerged online late last month. Surprisingly, the alleged Windows-based demonstration rig utilized an Arm-based P1 CP8180 12-core CPU. Elaborating further, the publication states that the 6 nm AI PC processor is a domestically designed product.

A nearby placard, captured on camera, makes a number of claims. ITHome has interpreted the demo system's major credentials, crucially that it provides: "a complete Windows on Arm (WoA) PC platform solution. Currently, graphics card manufacturers such as NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel have not officially supported WoA. Is it possible for Lisuan to achieve a leapfrog development?" A 3DMark Steel Nomad session (under DirectX 12) points to Lisuan Tech's development of a working ARM64 Windows driver. The young company is working towards a full launch of its 7G106 12 GB gaming card, and a professional 7G105 24 GB model.

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[NextPowerUP]

Micron announced today that it will exit its Crucial consumer business, bringing an end to retail sales of Crucial-branded SSDs and memory modules at major stores and online retailers. The company says it will continue shipping Crucial products through fiscal Q2 2026 (ending February 2026), after which the brand will no longer operate in the consumer channel. Warranty coverage and support will remain in place. Micron says the shift is driven by surging AI-related demand in the data center, which requires reallocating manufacturing capacity toward higher-margin enterprise and hyperscale customers. The company noted that its strategic focus is now on segments with stronger long-term growth in memory and storage rather than the competitive consumer market.

Crucial, best known for SSDs like the MX and P-series and its long-running line of desktop and laptop DRAM modules has been part of Micron's portfolio for nearly three decades. While consumer products are being phased out, Micron will continue selling Micron-branded enterprise SSDs and memory through its commercial channels. The company also stated it intends to limit workforce disruption by redeploying affected employees into open internal roles wherever possible. Micron's move comes as demand for AI hardware continues to surge. The company secured major HBM3E contracts with NVIDIA and AMD and expects to sample HBM4 next year.

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[NextPowerUP]

A look under the hood of virtually any frontier model today will reveal a mixture-of-experts (MoE) model architecture that mimics the efficiency of the human brain. Just as the brain activates specific regions based on the task, MoE models divide work among specialized "experts," activating only the relevant ones for every AI token. This results in faster, more efficient token generation without a proportional increase in compute. The industry has already recognized this advantage. On the independent Artificial Analysis (AA) leaderboard, the top 10 most intelligent open-source models use an MoE architecture, including DeepSeek AI's DeepSeek-R1, Moonshot AI's Kimi K2 Thinking, OpenAI's gpt-oss-120B and Mistral AI's Mistral Large 3.

However, scaling MoE models in production while delivering high performance is notoriously difficult. The extreme codesign of NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 systems combines hardware and software optimizations for maximum performance and efficiency, making it practical and straightforward to scale MoE models. The Kimi K2 Thinking MoE model—ranked as the most intelligent open-source model on the AA leaderboard—sees a 10x performance leap on the NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 rack-scale system compared with NVIDIA HGX H200. Building on the performance delivered for the DeepSeek-R1 and Mistral Large 3 MoE models, this breakthrough underscores how MoE is becoming the architecture of choice for frontier models—and why NVIDIA's full-stack inference platform is the key to unlocking its full potential.
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[NextPowerUP]

The long-windedly named ASUS ROG Matrix Platinum RTX 5090 30th Anniversary Edition graphics card has encountered a snag, on the cusp of being unleashed at retail. This quad-fan cooled monster enjoyed a late summer unveiling, followed shortly by influencer first impressions. Despite a generous dose of lead time, and much vaunted fault detection features, the $3999 product has seemingly stumbled at the starting line. PC hardware news outlets have picked up on a specific ASUS forum query, regarding the status of 1000 limited units at launch.

Upon further investigation, VideoCardz has uncovered evidence of Sweden's Inet sending updates to involved customers. The e-tailer's email message reportedly stated: "I am contacting you regarding your ASUS GeForce RTX 5090 32 GB ROG Matrix Platinum 30th Anniversary Edition order. Unfortunately, we have been informed by ASUS that they have identified a quality issue with this particular model. Due to this, we are unable to deliver the card as planned. ASUS is currently working on a replacement version without these issues, but at this time there is no estimated date for when a new copy will be available. We fully understand that this is an unfortunate situation, but unfortunately it is completely beyond our control." It is not immediately clear whether finalized stock has reached retail locations. It is possible that the mysterious problem was discovered prior to widespread disperal across international distribution networks.

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[NextPowerUP]

Hello Jans! Our base is getting ready for a Free Major Content Update that is landing on December 8! This major update brings one of the largest content drops we've made so far, introducing new mechanics, new customization options, and many new ways to shape your playthrough. Those of you who joined the Open Playtests, already got a glimpse of what's coming. And now everyone will be able to experience it in-game on December 8.

The Alters is an ambitious sci-fi survival game with a unique twist. You play as Jan Dolski, the lone survivor of a crash-landed expedition on a hostile planet. To survive, you must form a new crew for your mobile base. Using a substance called Rapidium, you create alternative versions of Jan - THE ALTERS - each one shaped by a different crucial decision from the protagonist's past. As you navigate through survival and moral dilemmas, you will explore a branching narrative filled with captivating character dynamics and challenging decisions.
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[NextPowerUP]

The fate of Intel's long-rumored big "Battlemage" graphics card may not be entirely sealed, as Intel has quietly placed the name of its "BMG-G31" SKU into a VTune Profiler software update. This is so far the clearest signal yet that a formal product announcement may be approaching. The VTune entry lists support for both the BMG-G31 GPU and Intel Core Ultra 3 processors based on "Panther Lake", which is already scheduled for a public debut at CES 2026. That co-listing increases the likelihood that Intel will time a "Battlemage" reveal to coincide with or follow closely after the "Panther Lake" debut at CES 2026.

This BMG-G31 "Battlemage" part will get packaged as B770 SKU, equipped with roughly 32 Xe2 cores and 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit interface. The design is reported to offer a full PCIe 5.0 x16 connection and to be offered in multiple SKUs, which would allow Intel to segment parts for gamers and professional users. A workstation-oriented Arc Pro variant could further expand memory capacity for single-GPU configurations. However, a launch this late in the "Battlemage" family cycle might be questionable from gamer's standpoint, as Intel is already shipping Xe3-based new iGPUs inside "Panther Lake."
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[NextPowerUP]

Goodbye Desktop PC: The TUXEDO Gemini 17 represents the classic desktop replacement notebook: a large high-resolution screen, very powerful CPU and graphics card, good cooling, and a solid range of ports, including 2x USB-C and HDMI 2.1, all housed in a portable, robust chassis in an unobtrusive workstation design, make the Gemini 17 a high-performance desktop replacement for work and play.

Thanks to its highly powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti with 12 GB GDDR7 VRAM and the uncompromisingly fast Intel Core i9-14900HX with 24 cores, the 17.3-inch Linux laptop is one of the most affordable representatives of its size and performance class.
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[NextPowerUP]

Most cloud platforms charge you forever, but Internxt is offering a lifetime alternative. For $269.97 (reg. $2,999), you get 10 TB of encrypted storage that you own outright. No renewals, no monthly billing, no worrying about losing access. The long-term savings stand out. A comparable Dropbox plan runs about $15 per month, which adds up fast. With Internxt, one payment covers years of storage and removes the stress of managing another recurring subscription.

Security is a major part of the appeal. Internxt uses end-to-end encryption, post-quantum security standards, and open-source code, so the platform is transparent and privacy-focused rather than ad-driven or upsell-heavy. It also works across devices. You can store and manage files in your browser, use the desktop app, or access everything from your phone. PCWorld even gave Internxt an Editors' Choice award for its blend of simple syncing, true backup tools, and user-friendly design. For people juggling large media libraries, creative projects, work archives, or years of personal backups, having 10 TB you don't have to rent makes life noticeably easier.

Get the Internxt 10 TB lifetime plan for $269.97 (reg. $2,999) while the deal is still active.

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[NextPowerUP]

Industry sources cited by TrendForce say Dell is preparing to implement a 15-20% price hike as early as mid-December. The reason? Obviously, the recent DRAM prices, especially DDR5 that jumped around 70% year-over-year, with certain parts spiking more than 170%. Dell COO Jeff Clarke recently warned that he has "never seen memory-chip costs rise this fast," as component prices surge across the board. The other giant OEM, Lenovo, has begun notifying customers that pricing will rise in early 2026, with all current quotes expiring on January 1 due to accelerating memory shortages and AI-driven demand. Lenovo is advising customers to place orders sooner rather than later, as the next wave of adjustments is only weeks away. Other OEMs, including HP, Samsung, and LG are now rethinking 2026 product plans, particularly around AI PCs and tablets. HP CEO Enrique Lores has also indicated that H2 2026 may require further price adjustments, noting that memory accounts for roughly 15-18% of total PC cost.

TrendForce latest outlook reflects the growing pressure: rising memory prices are increasing Bill of Materials (BOM) costs and forcing brands to raise retail pricing, weakening demand. The firm has cut its 2026 notebook forecast from +1.7% YoY growth to a -2.4% decline. From the consumer point of view, 2026 seems to be a year to forget as pretty much each product category will see prices increased, low availability, and/or new products released with sub-par specifications just to keep the price reasonable. Let us not forget that just two days ago, Micron also shut down its nearly 30-year-old Crucial consumer brand, shifting those resources toward higher-margin AI products.

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[NextPowerUP]

Pleasing progress at TSMC's Arizona location has resulted in company leadership expediting a "push into advanced node deployment." Mid-October reports cited an increased domestic demand for 2 nm-class wafer products. Despite the foundry industry leader and NVIDIA's public celebration of debut "made in the USA" NVIDIA "Blackwell" wafers, TSMC's Phoenix-adjacent campus lacks in one key area: advanced packaging. Not long after the conclusion of festivities, computer hardware news outlets highlighted Fab 21-produced (4 nm) Blackwell products being sent overseas—specifically, back to Taiwan—for Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS) treatments.

Later on in October, TechPowerUp's AleksandarK covered the importance of advanced packaging on North American soil. His special editorial piece focuses on Intel Foundry's potential advantages in this area of expertise; thus poised to take a leading position within the region's semiconductor industry. Yesterday, Taiwan's Liberty Times outlined a major near-future change for one section's of TSMC Arizona's vast spread: "(leadership) plans to convert the land of the planned sixth phase fabrication plant (P6 fab) into an advanced packaging (AP) plant. If the construction goes smoothly, it is expected to be installed as early as the end of 2027 and enter the pre-production stage." Some of the claimed inside track timelines seems to roughly align with previous reports of TSMC and Amkor Technology's $7 billion forthcoming "advanced outsourced semiconductor packaging and testing" facility.

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[NextPowerUP]

Hello everyone! Sad Cat Studios is beyond thrilled to finally share some long-awaited news: REPLACED now has a final release date and is arriving March 12th, 2026. It's been a long journey, and your support has meant the world to us. Many of you have been with us since the beginning, waiting patiently as we worked to bring our vision to life. We are grateful to still have you on this journey.

Soon, you'll uncover the sinister secrets of Phoenix Corporation through the eyes of its own creation, the Artificial Intelligence R.E.A.C.H. Step into an alternate 1980s America scarred by nuclear catastrophe, where outlaws rule the streets and human life is a commodity. Every street, alley, and secret has been crafted for you to explore, and we can't wait for you to experience our cinematic cyberpunk thriller in all its detail. Thank you for sticking with us throughout this journey. We can't wait for you to finally play REPLACED and see the world we've been building all these years.
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