TechPowerUP NEWS

[NextPowerUP]

Yesterday, a major leak outed AMD's alleged forthcoming refresh of "Strix Halo" silicon. According to VideoCardz's anonymous industry contacts, Team Red's codename for this new mobile processor family is "Gorgon Halo." A specific "Ryzen AI Max+ 495" SKU was brought up as an example; highlighted as a potential range-topper and successor to the current-gen Ryzen AI Max+ 395 model. Almost a day later, an HKEPC report has listed the aforementioned top ""Gorgon Halo" option, and four other options. The Hong Kong-based publication understands that the five identified "Ryzen AI MAX 400" products will utilize familiar architectures: Zen 5 for CPU cores, RDNA 3.5 for integrated graphics solutions (Radeon 8060S or 8050S), and XDNA 2 for the NPU aspect.

Naturally, these technologies form the basis of readily available "Strix Halo" APUs. HKEPC claims that the freshly-leaked "half-generation upgrade" will be the result of "enhanced chip quality." Elaborating further they propose that "Gorgon Halo" models will maintain the same TDPs as preceding equivalents, but with clock speeds increased—most notably improving multicore performance. A close-up shot of a possible engineering sample provides the "100-000002127" serial code. This OPN seems to refer to "Gorgon Halo's" least potent member—Ryzen AI Max 485. The HKEPC article anticipates a launch happening around October of this year.
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[NextPowerUP]

To all adventurers: The upcoming demo for The Eternal Life of Goldman will go live on February 19 and will be available throughout Steam Next Fest, which runs from February 23 to March 2! In this breathtaking platformer adventure, explore a vast hand-drawn Archipelago, inspired by ancient fables and depicted in classic frame-by-frame animation, and defeat a mysterious Deity.

Players will be able to experience an early playable version of The Eternal Life of Goldman starting ahead of Steam Next Fest, with the demo remaining live during the entire festival. The demo will also stay available for a limited time beyond the end of Steam Next Fest before being taken offline at a later date.
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[NextPowerUP]

We are aware of recent reports concerning AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPUs and ASUS AMD 800-series motherboards, and we have initiated an immediate internal review. Our teams are conducting preventive checks on product compatibility and performance, working closely with AMD to validate reported cases and ensure ongoing stability and quality. We are looking to provide timely solutions to ensure our products and services meet expected standards.

Users are also advised to update their ASUS AMD 800-series motherboard to the latest BIOS via ASUS EZ Flash or BIOS Flashback to help ensure system stability; we provide an official technical support FAQ with detailed instructions. Customers who are affected or have concerns are encouraged to contact ASUS customer service for direct assistance. We take this matter seriously and value our customers' trust, and we remain committed to transparency and to ensuring our products can be used with confidence.

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[NextPowerUP]

Around mid-September of last year, Intel and NVIDIA announced a somewhat surprising joint venture. At the time, the two partners teased an eventual deployment of unspecified GeForce RTX iGPU designs within futuristic Intel x86 System-on-Chips (SoCs). We have not heard much about this mainstream project since autumn time—in the meantime, Team Blue has gone all in on hyping up next-gen "Panther Lake-H" mobile processors, that utilize in-house Arc Xe3 graphics architecture. Lately, Lip-Bu Tan—CEO of Intel—has mentioned the existence another co-development with the Green Team. In a recent earnings call, regarding Q4 2025 results, the boss slipped in a brief teaser about an in-progress enterprise-grade processor design.

When discussing his company's ongoing simplification of server product roadmaps, Tan disclosed that: "we also continue to work closely with NVIDIA to build a custom Xeon fully integrated with their NVLink technology, to bring best-in-class x86 performance to AI host nodes." He swiftly moved onto talking about the Xeon division being laser-focused on getting 16-channel "Diamond Rapids" out into the wild. Naturally, it is too early to tell whether the latest Intel + NVIDIA collab will leverage sixth or seventh generation Xeon technologies. The further out "Coral Rapids" family is expected to resurrect Hyper-Threading for datacenter workflows. Tan stated that another main goal is the acceleration of Xeon "Coral Rapids" series' introduction to market. Prior to publication of Intel's Q4 '25 financial results, the semiconductor industry rumor mill proposed a second half of 2027 release window.

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[NextPowerUP]

Modern AI workloads demand more than raw compute—they require a tightly integrated software stack that can extract maximum performance, scale efficiently across systems, and operate reliably in production environments. With the latest ROCm 7.2 release, we're delivering a broad set of optimizations and software enhancements designed to improve developer productivity, runtime performance, and enterprise readiness.

In this blog, we highlight the latest ROCm 7.2 enhancements for AMD Instinct GPUs, designed to boost AI and HPC performance. Learn how hipBLASLt and GEMM optimizations, FP8/FP4 support in rocMLIR and MIGraphX, and topology-aware communication with GDA and RCCL deliver higher throughput and lower latency. We also cover AI model tuning for AMD Instinct MI300X and MI350 GPUs and Node Power Management (NPM) for efficient multi-GPU operation—together enabling faster, more scalable, and reliable AI workloads.
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[NextPowerUP]

The Code Vein II Character Creator Demo launches today on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam. As the start of players' time-travelling adventure approaches, the demo allows them to build and fully customise their own Revenant Hunter character with dozens of fun and creative options.

Even better, characters can be saved and transferred into the full game at launch on 30 January 2026. Players can also explore the MagMell Institute or strike a pose with their brand-new Revenant Hunter in Photo Mode. Thousands of styles. Endless possibilities. Recognize any of these looks?
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[NextPowerUP]

NVIDIA N1 and N1X mobile processors could be deployed in brand-new premium laptops and notebooks in the coming months. Earlier in the week, a DigiTimes article outlined a possible first quarter launch. This more positive prediction seemingly quashed older whispers of major developmental issues causing postponements into late 2026. Tellingly, NVIDIA and involved manufacturing partners missed a grand opportunity to unveil N1-series-powered devices at the recently concluded CES trade show. Earlier today, promising signs of pre-launch activity were sniffed out by the Huang514613 social account. In a now deleted post, the PC hardware detective outlined six Lenovo-made options, utilizing N1 or N1X APUs, destined to bolster the "Windows on Arm" initiative.

Since the publication of news reports, offending items have been removed from the Chinese manufacturer's Legion Space support page. Two pairs of unreleased IdeaPad Slim 5 and Yoga Pro 7 models are reportedly specced with the more mysterious N1 processor. Potentially, this non-X part could be a cut-down variant. The N1X processor is a better known property, with leakers linking it to Team Green's "GB10 Superchip"—this very capable package forms the basis of costly DGX Spark AI mini desktop PCs. A shipping manifest—sporting November 2025 publication date—suggested Dell's recent-ish evaluation of N1X SoC engineering samples. Lenovo has inadvertently announced that forthcoming NVIDIA-based Lenovo Yoga 9 2-in-1 16-inch and Legion 7 15" designs will feature N1X processors.
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[NextPowerUP]

A savvy DIY-er has acquired an AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D desktop processor one week in advance of the official January 29 launch day. This triumph was shared with the PC Master Race (PCMR) community. Earlier today, the lucky owner's subreddit thread gained extra attention due to prominent PC news outlet coverage of the embargo-busting purchase. The buyer—dobum—did not go into great detail when describing their major scoring of the should-not-be-out-yet desktop microprocessor product. Apparently a "local reseller" listed available stock at some point this week, and dobum seized the moment: "(they) made a mistake...and I managed to get one out of curiosity...(it will replace) a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which goes into another PC."

They mentioned paying 450 Swiss Francs (likely including VAT) for the upgrade, reflecting similar price tags tracked by VideoCardz—when examining pre-launch conditions across Europe. dobum's own currency conversion—to USD—shows an additional $71 tacked on top of Team Red's MSRP ($499). Their post did not include a breakdown of possible delivery charges, or a customary Value Added Tax charge. Photographic evidence did not provide a look at the product's OPN, so it is not clear whether dobum picked up a boxed retail or tray OEM unit. In a follow-up reply, they stated that their newly updated PC system had booted up with the "latest MSI BIOS (from December)." A commenter, kronoseedlc, added their own findings—in the form of screenshots (see CPU-Z grab below) accompanying a story about attempts to get their own early Ryzen 7 9850X3D sample to surpass 5700 MHz on some sort of MSI MPG CARBON WIFI mainboard.

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[NextPowerUP]

As industries accelerate toward digital and connected operations, cybersecurity has become critical to maintaining trust and reliability at the edge. ASRock Industrial, the trusted pioneer in Secure Edge AI Platforms, today announced the launch of AiSafeguard, an intelligent device isolation solution designed to strengthen endpoint protection and ensure continuous, secure operations in industrial and enterprise environments. Built on ASRock Industrial's security vision of Secure Device, Secure Deployment, and Secure Operation, AiSafeguard leverages Honeypot Sandbox technology and a zero-trust architecture to seamlessly integrate with ASRock Industrial Robust Edge AIoT Platforms.

The solution automatically detects, classifies, and isolates external devices in real time, allowing trusted peripherals to access host resources securely while containing untrusted devices for behavioral analysis. With adaptive isolation, trusted access control, and centralized management, AiSafeguard establishes a robust, self-defending cybersecurity framework at the edge.
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[NextPowerUP]

According to an unreleased slide leaked by VideoCardz, AMD has prepared a section for its upcoming Ryzen 7 9850X3D CPU about difference in memory speeds affecting FPS performance. In AMD's own testing, going from DDR5-6000 to DDR5-4800 memory yield less than 1% drop of FPS, meaning that the memory selection isn't very important for this gaming CPU. The slide aims to demonstrate that even with cheaper DDR5 memory, priced around $400 for a 2x16 GB kit running at 4,800 MT/s, performance remains largely unaffected. AMD noted that a more expensive 2x16 GB DDR5 kit running at the "sweet spot" of 6,000 MT/s is priced at about $470. This means spending 17.5% more on memory does not provide significant real-world benefits. Gamers can instead to allocate their budget elsewhere and consider more affordable memory options, while keeping frame-rate in check.

Finally, this slide leaked just six days before AMD's official launch on January 29, with a suggested retail price of $499. This 8-core/16-thread processor features the "Zen 5" microarchitecture, enhanced with 3D V-Cache technology, and offers a 400 MHz speed boost over the current 9800X3D. The chip has a base frequency of 4.70 GHz and a maximum boost frequency of 5.60 GHz. Some samples have even been observed running at a 5.75 GHz boost frequency, indicating that enthusiasts might achieve even higher frequencies even under typical home conditions. As memory selection isn't a big differentiator, the 400 MHz boost increase from its sibling—Ryzen 7 9800X3D—will be the topic of discussion for third party review.

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[NextPowerUP]

Focus Entertainment and Douze Dixièmes are today celebrating MIO: Memories in Orbit's critical success with a brand-new trailer. Distinguished by its striking art direction and an equally remarkable original soundtrack, this French‑crafted metroidvania has resonated strongly with international critics, securing a Metacritic score of 83/100.

MIO: Memories in Orbit launched on January 20 and is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch (both generations), and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and Microsoft Store. The game is also playable day one on Xbox Game Pass and runs seamlessly on Steam Deck. Composed by Nicolas Gueguen, the game's original soundtrack is now available across all major streaming platforms—including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Bandcamp, and more.
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[NextPowerUP]

Yesterday, Microsoft used the fourth edition of its regular Developer_Direct showcase to promote Fable's path to release. The comedy-heavy fantasy open world experience is projected to launch this autumn on PC platforms, as well as Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 consoles. Certain industry observers have questioned the validity of this broad (Q3/Q4) timetable—weighing in with theories of Playground Games' PS5 port arriving at a later date. A simultaneous launch across multiple rival hardware systems is a tall task, especially for a studio more accustomed to making racing games on primary Xbox and PC platforms. A first try—2021's Forza Horizon 5—successfully headed over to PlayStation 5, last year. Instead of opting into using Epic's popular Unreal Engine 5, the British development outfit's Fable team has stuck with in-house ForzaTech engine tech. This week, senior Playground Games staffers have engaged with members of the press—many journalists have asked about the UK-based team's approach to getting Fable ported over to PS5.

Bravely, a select few interviewers have broached the subject of a possible Switch 2 version. Late last night, Jez Corden disclosed that he was informed about a potential conversion onto Nintendo's latest hybrid console, but this future prospect: "isn't 100% definite for now, but under consideration for the future." The Windows Central scribe/executive editor elaborated further in social media exchanges—he mentioned that "decision-making" was in the hands of "logistics," as of January 22. Corden believes that development of a speculative Switch 2 port has not started yet, but rates its chances of approval in the near future. A small selection of former Xbox exclusives have turned up on Switch 1 in the recent past. Last October, Phil Spencer—Microsoft Gaming's CEO—mentioned that Nintendo had provided "excellent support" of in-progress Xbox-to-Switch 2 titles. Weeks later, former NoA boss—the ever-dynamic Reggie Fils-Aimé—expressed surprise about the current lack of first-party Xbox games on Switch 2.

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[NextPowerUP]

Seismic Squirrel is thrilled to announce that Aether & Iron will launch on PC (Steam) in Spring 2026. This narrative-driven RPG invites players to step into the shoes of Gia, a smuggler navigating the dangerous underworld of an alternate 1930s New York City, featuring turn-based vehicular combat and storytelling from writers with credits on Mass Effect, Far Cry, and Sovereign Syndicate.

Aether & Iron takes place in an alternate 1930s New York transformed into a vertical city after the discovery of "aether" - a key component to newfound anti-gravitational technology. Customize and upgrade your fleet of aether-powered vehicles with weapons and armor, and recruit unique companions to watch your back, each armed with talents that can make all the difference. Your choices shape not just your path, but the city's fate as well.
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[NextPowerUP]

Intel has released its latest 32.0.101.8425 and 32.0.101.8362 WHQL drivers as launch drivers for the new Core Ultra Series 3 "Panther Lake" processors, featuring Arc B390 and Arc B370 integrated graphics. Alongside day-one support for these iGPUs, the latest GPU drivers introduce Intel's XeSS 3 multi-frame generation technology, which can insert up to three generated frames between two rendered frames to boost FPS by a 3:1 ratio of generated to rendered frames. Intel promises a significant performance boost for its Arc B390 and Arc B370 iGPUs on "Panther Lake," making these SoCs ideal for handheld gaming devices. In addition to new features, these drivers fix issues such as game crashes found in the demo version of Capcom's PRAGMATA SKETCHBOOK running DirectX 12. Some issues persist, which you can find in the logs below. We are updating our driver page, so be patient for the release.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.8362 WHQL
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[NextPowerUP]

AMD has introduced a new low-latency video decode solution for Radeon GPUs on Linux with the RadeonSI Gallium3D driver as part of the Mesa 26.1 release. This Linux patch, utilizing Video Core Next (VCN), is designed to maximize the performance of AMD Radeon hardware-accelerated multimedia decode and encode. The patch aims to deliver a high-performance decoding kernel that reduces video decoding latency, although it requires more power consumption from the GPU, trading off some efficiency.

For users of the RadeonSI Gallium3D driver, this option can be enabled with the AMD_DEBUG=lowlatencydec environment variable. By default, this option is turned off due to its more aggressive power profile. The default setting is a higher-latency mode, which is more power-efficient. This distinction is particularly important for AMD laptops running Radeon GPUs on Linux, as they must balance performance and efficiency. While desktop users might benefit from having the new low-latency mode enabled by default, laptop users will need to consider the trade-off between reduced battery life and faster video decoding.

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