Tenstorrent, a hardware start-up developing next generation computers, announces the addition of industry veteran Jim Keller as President, CTO, and board member. "Tenstorrent was founded on the belief that the ongoing shift towards ML-centric software necessitates a corresponding transformation in computational capabilities," said Ljubisa Bajic, Tenstorrent's CEO. "There is nobody more capable of executing this vision than Jim Keller, a leader who is equally great at designing computers, cultures, and organizations. I am thrilled to be working with Jim and beyond excited about the possibilities our partnership unlocks."

As CTO, Keller will lead Tenstorrent's efforts to be the hardware solution needed to address Software 2.0, the exciting industry shift towards using machine learning methods to solve problems previously addressed by traditional software. "Software 2.0 is the largest opportunity for computing innovation in a long time. Victory requires a comprehensive re-thinking of compute and low level software," Keller said. "Tenstorrent has made impressive progress, and with the most promising architecture out there, we are poised to become a next gen computing giant."

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today announced that all Z490 motherboards featuring PCIe 4.0 hardware design can support the 11th Gen. Intel Core processors perfectly by update to the latest F20 BIOS, and provide the extreme bandwidth and performance for PCIe 4.0 graphics cards and SSDs. With a snap update of the latest BIOS from GIGBAYTE's official site, users can enjoy the full pack of advantages and unlock the Resizable BAR function on GIGABYTE Z490 and H470 motherboards.

The latest 11th Gen. Intel Core processors will be launched on March 2021. The new processors keep the same architecture as the previous generation but they enable the PCIe 4.0 support, which meet a range of needs for users who expect broad bandwidth and super high transfer speed of PCIe 4.0 on the Intel platform. For those who own one of the current generation motherboards, it would be a great deal to enjoy the performance uplift on Z490 motherboards with PCIe 4.0 function and 11th Gen. Intel Core processors support.

Qualcomm Incorporated today announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously selected Cristiano Amon to succeed Steve Mollenkopf as CEO, effective June 30, 2021. Mollenkopf informed the Board of his decision to retire as CEO following 26 years with the Company. Amon, who has worked at Qualcomm since 1995, is currently President of the Company. Mollenkopf will continue his employment with the Company as a strategic advisor for a period of time.

Mollenkopf, 52, became CEO in March of 2014. He began his career as an engineer and, for nearly three decades, has helped define and lead Qualcomm's strategy and technology roadmap. His work helped propel smartphones into the mainstream and made Qualcomm a leader in 3G, 4G and now 5G, and he also oversaw the expansion into new industry segments such as the Internet of Things (IoT), RF Front End and Automotive. He was also instrumental in the Company's rise as a smartphone technology supplier. In addition, Mollenkopf successfully guided the Company through a number of extraordinary circumstances and challenges and begins the CEO transition process with the Company stabilized and well-positioned to continue to grow and drive value.

ADATA Technology, a manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, mobile accessories, gaming products, electric power trains, and industrial solutions, is gearing up to bring next-generation DDR5 memory modules to market to offers users a significant upgrade in speed, capacity, as well as increased bandwidth per CPU cores. ADATA has been working closely with two leading motherboard makers, MSI and Gigabyte, to ensure an optimized experience through ensuring synergies between ADATA's DDR5 modules and their latest Intel platforms.

In parallel to developing the new memory modules, ADATA has also been working closely with two leading motherboard makers MSI and Gigabyte, its long-term strategic partners, to ensure their new platforms can take full advantage of DDR5. Among other initiatives, ADATA, MSI, and Gigabyte have been conducting joint testing and research to guarantee optimum DDR5 overclocking on the latest Intel platforms to meet gamers' discerning standards. ADATA and the motherboard above makers will be launching DDR5 modules and DDR5-compliant motherboards simultaneously to offer high performance to a wide range of users, including enterprises, gamers, and creators, to name a few.

SilverStone today rolled out the FARA H1 M, a Micro-ATX tower case (model: SST-FAH1MB). It shares much of its design language with the ATX FARA B1 from 2019, but incorporates an airy mesh front-panel, with a fine steel outer mesh, and a sturdy hexagonal inner lattice. The case features a conventional horizontally-partitioned layout, with the upper compartment having room for graphics cards up to 32 cm in length, and CPU coolers up to 16 cm in height. Storage options include two 3.5-inch bays that can each hold 2.5-inch; and two additional 2.5-inch mounts.

Ventilation options on the SilverStone FARA H1 M include two 140 mm / 120 mm front intakes, two 120 mm top exhausts, and a 120 mm rear exhaust. You can mount a 240 mm x 120 mm radiator along the front panel. Front-panel connectivity includes a USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0/1.1 ports, and HDA jacks. The case measures 210 mm (W) x 392 mm (H) x 366 mm (D), and is made of SECC steel with ABS plastic bits. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Sonnet Technologies today announced the launch of the eGPU Breakaway Puck Radeon RX 5500 XT and eGPU Breakaway Puck Radeon RX 5700, the newest members of the company's popular family of portable all-in-one Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processing (eGPU) systems. Replacing the now discontinued eGFX Breakaway Puck Radeon RX 560 and Radeon RX 570 eGPUs, the new models retain the same form factor but in many cases deliver more than 300% performance improvement over the previous-generation models. The new models now include two USB ports for connecting peripheral devices and a second Thunderbolt port for fully supporting a Thunderbolt/USB-C display, including the 6K Apple Pro Display XDR.

eGPU systems boost a computer's graphics performance by connecting a more powerful graphics processor via a Thunderbolt 3 connection and bypassing the computer's onboard GPU to deliver graphics performance not otherwise possible. Sonnet's eGPU Breakaway Puck Radeon RX 5500 XT and Radeon RX 5700 systems are designed for professionals who need to run graphics-intensive applications on their Intel -based MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, or iMac with Thunderbolt 3 ports, with the focus on high performance, portability, and flexible external display connectivity plus quiet, reliable operation. eGPU Breakaway Pucks accelerate a computer's graphics performance on its built-in display (if equipped) and on up to four externally connected displays.

Dell Technologies unveiled new products and software that reimagine work so anyone can perform at their best. With a new portfolio of intelligent, collaborative and sustainable devices, Dell is transforming work experiences to give people greater flexibility to work from anywhere. "People's expectations of their technology continue to evolve. It's why we push beyond barriers to create devices that offer better experiences and are more integrated into our lives," said Ed Ward, senior vice president, Client Product Group, Dell Technologies. "Our new intelligent PCs make it possible for us to work smarter and collaborate easier, so we can give our best selves in all that we do. Secure, sustainable and smart: that's the way forward for PCs."

"The PC industry just had its biggest year in six years, closing in on roughly 300 million units in 2020," said Bob O'Donnell, president and chief analyst, TECHnalysis Research. "As we look toward the future, it's the user experiences that matter and will determine who the real winners are. Devices designed to make work easier and to help us collaborate and connect are imperative for wherever or however we work. And it goes without saying that these devices must be secure—customers need the confidence that security is built-into a device."

Apple MacBook Pro 2017 models are susceptible to a similar display flaw as the "Stage Light" or "Flexgate" issue found in the 2016 models. Our mid-2017 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, which features a 13-inch LED-backlit LCD Retina Display, is exhibiting the similar symptoms as 2016 models, which forced Apple to run a "Display Backlight Service Program" fixing the flaw for free. Unfortunately, the program does not cover 2017 (or later) models. The "Stage Light" flaw, observed in the 2016 model, can be described as a dark horizontal band that appears along the bottom edge of the display with individual LEDs casting a light similar in shape to those of theater stages.

The 2017 MacBook Pro model appears to routinely start failing on the bottom edge of the screen with a soft gray bar appearing. This flaw appears thin on a cold-booted device, and spreads over time with use, as the device heats up. It dissipates as you power the MacBook down or close the lid for a while. The band distorts all content in the region of the display that it affects, including the macOS Dock, and vertically-scrolling content such as web-pages or text documents, and can be particularly bad for content creators working on tasks that are sensitive to display quality, such as Photoshop. Apparently, a small PCB located near the base of the display panel, which handles connectivity of the display with the mainboard, heats up over time, causing the LED backlit film to distort or the display controller PCB to malfunction.

Mojang has recently announced that they will be shutting down their Augmented Reality Minecraft Earth mobile free-to-play game on June 30th. This decision comes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic limiting movement and collaborative play which are vital for the game. Mojang plans to re-allocate its resources and invest in areas more valuable for the Minecraft community. The game will receive one final update today which removes all in-app-purchases and reduces time requirements for in-game tasks. Players who made any purchase in the game will receive a free copy of Minecraft Bedrock Edition.

Mojang

---

Minecraft Earth was designed around free movement and collaborative play - two things that have become near impossible in the current global situation. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to re-allocate our resources to other areas that provide value to the Minecraft community and to end support for Minecraft Earth in June 2021.

---

PC benchmarking software company PassMark has recorded the market share of AMD and Intel processors based on their testing data. This data dates back to Q1 2014 and shows Intel dominating the desktop market. AMD has been gradually making ground on Intel since they launched their Ryzen processors in 2017 which have quickly become some of the best processors available. Thanks to the success of Ryzen the market share of AMD desktop processors recently overtook Intel reaching 50.8%, this number has now fallen to 49.8% as the data continues to be updated with new tests but the trend is clear. While AMD has made tremendous gains in the desktop market they still fall far behind in the laptop and server segments with 17% and 1.1% market shares respectively. This puts AMD's total market share across all segments at 38.2% according to PassMark data.

AMD just revealed the top four changes with its new AGESA 1.1.9.0 microcode update, which motherboard manufacturers and OEMs will release via UEFI firmware updates in January and February, 2021. Beta firmware updates with 1.1.9.0 have already been floating around for the past couple of weeks. To begin with, the new AGESA enables support for the S0i3 power state of Windows 10, more commonly known as Modern Standby. Next up, AMD claims that firmware updates with 1.1.9.0 should improve system stability in the FCLK 1800 MHz to 2000 MHz range.

Next up, AMD mentions support for "fanless X570 motherboards." We're not entirely sure whether this means a fan-down mode on existing X570 motherboards, or whether a new wave of motherboards based on the chipset is incoming, which lacks active cooling for the chipset (and makes do with passive heatsinks). One such board is the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero. Perhaps the firmware assists in helping the X570 chipset maintain a lower TDP. Wrapping things up, AMD mentions "general stability improvements," which are always welcome. Keep probing the "support" section of your motherboard's product page on its company website for the latest firmware updates.

AMD may be finding itself riding a new wave of success caused by its accomplishments with the Zen architecture, which in turn bolstered its available R&D for its graphics division and thus turned the entire AMD business on its head. However, success comes at a cost, particularly when you don't own your own fabs and have to vie for capacity with TSMC against its cadre of other clients. I imagine that currently, AMD's HQ has a direct system of levers and pulleys that manage its chip allocation with TSMC: pull this lever and increase number of 7 nm SOC for the next-generation consoles; another controls Ryzen 5000 series; and so on and so on. As we know, production capacity on TSMC's 7 nm is through the roof, and AMD is finding it hard to ship enough of its Zen 3 CPUs and RDNA2 graphics cards. The reported delay for the AMD RX 6700 series may well be a result of AMD overextending its product portfolio on the 7 nm process with foundry partner TSMC.

A report coming from Cowcotland now points towards a 1Q2021 release for AMD's high-performance RX 6700 series, which was initially poised to see the light of day in the current month of January. The RX 6700 series will ship with AMD's Navi 22 chip, which is estimated to be half of the full Navi 21 chip (which puts it at a top configuration of 2560 Stream Processors over 40 CUs). These cards are expected to ship with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory over a 192-bit memory bus. However, it seems that AMD may have delayed the launch for these graphics cards. One can imagine that this move from AMD happens so as to not further dilute the TSMC wafers coming out of the factory, limited as they are, between yet another chip. One which will undoubtedly have lower margins than the company's Zen 3 CPUs, EPYC CPUs, RX 6800 and RX 6900, and that doesn't have the same level of impact on its business relations as console-bound SoCs. Besides, it likely serves AMD best to put out enough of its currently-launched products' to sate demand (RX 6000 series, Ryzen 5000, cof cof) than to launch yet another product with likely too limited availability in relation to the existing demand.

Intel's return to discrete gaming GPUs may have had a modest beginning with the Iris Xe MAX, but the company is looking to take a real stab at the gaming market. Driver code from the latest 100.9126 graphics driver, and OEM data-sheets pieced together by VideoCardz, reveal that its next attempt will be substantially bigger. Called "DG2," and based on the Xe-HPG graphics architecture, a derivative of Xe targeting gaming graphics, the new GPU allegedly features 512 Xe execution units. To put this number into perspective, the Iris Xe MAX features 96, as does the Iris Xe iGPU found in Intel's "Tiger Lake" mobile processors. The upcoming 11th Gen Core "Rocket Lake-S" is rumored to have a Xe-based iGPU with 48. Subject to comparable clock speeds, this alone amounts to a roughly 5x compute power uplift over DG1, 10x over the "Rocket Lake-S" iGPU. 512 EUs convert to 4,096 programmable shaders.

A leaked OEM data-sheet referencing the DG2 also mentions a rather contemporary video memory setup, with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. While the Iris Xe MAX is built on Intel's homebrew 10 nm SuperFin node, Intel announced that its Xe-HPG chips will use third-party foundries. With these specs, Intel potentially has a GPU to target competitive e-sports gaming (where the money is). Sponsorship of major e-sports clans could help with the popularity of Intel Graphics. With enough beans on the pole, Intel could finally invest in scaling up the architecture to even higher client graphics market segments. As for availability, VideoCardz predicts a launch roughly coinciding with that of Intel's "Tiger Lake-H" mobile processor series, possibly slated for mid-2021.

ASUS unveiled the ProArt PA278CV, a 27-inch professional monitor for creative work at native 1440p resolution (no dpi upscaling). Its planar IPS panel packs some serious chops for creators—100% sRGB and Rec. 709 coverage, Calman Verified for ΔE <2 color accuracy factory-calibration. Designed for the latest generation of display connectivity, the PA278CV supports USB-C (DisplayPort passthrough) with 65 W power-delivery, so you can use a single cable for both power and display I/O.

In addition, you get an HDMI 1.4 and two DisplayPort 1.2 ports that support daisy-chaining. Other key display specs include 178° viewing angles, 75 Hz refresh rate with VESA Adaptive Sync support, 5 ms (GTG) response time, 350 cd/m2 brightness, and 1000:1 static contrast ratio. The display is TüV Rhineland-certified for flicker-free brightness adjustment, and low blue-light. The company didn't reveal pricing.

AMD has applied for a United States Patent that describes a CPU design with FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) elements integrated into its core design. Titled "Method and Apparatus for Efficient Programmable Instructions in Computer Systems", the patent application describes a CPU with FPGA elements inscribed into its very core design, where the FPGA elements actually share CPU resources such as registers for floating-point and integer execution units. This patent undoubtedly comes in the wake of AMD's announced Xilinx acquisition plans, and brings FPGA and CPU marriages to a whole other level. FPGA,as the name implies, are hardware constructions which can reconfigure themselves according to predetermined tables (which can also be updated) to execute desired and specific functions.

Intel have themselves already shipped a CPU + FPGA combo in the same package; the company's Xeon 6138P, for example, includes an Arria 10 GX 1150 FPGA on-package, offering 1,150,000 logic elements. However, this is simply a CPU + FPGA combo on the same substrate; not a native, core-integrated FPGA design. Intel's product has severe performance and latency penalties due to the fact that complex operations performed in the FPGA have to be brought out of the CPU, processed in the FPGA, and then its results have to be returned to the CPU. AMD's design effectively ditches that particular roundabout, and should thus allow for much higher performance.

ADATA Technology, a manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules, NAND Flash products, mobile accessories, gaming products, electric power trains, and industrial solutions, plans to release next-generation SD Express cards by Q2 of 2021.

With the rise of social media influencers, user-generated content, and the deployment of 5G networks worldwide, content creators and others seek high-capacity, high-performance, and portable memory products to meet their needs. To this end, the SD Association (SDA) released SD7.0, which introduced two major new functions, which include the incorporation of the PCIe and NVMe interfaces into SD memory cards for a significant upgrade in read/write speeds. These new SD cards will be known as SD Express cards. ADATA will be launching a new SD Express memory card by Q2 of 2021.

BIOSTAR has started teasing a new motherboard lineup to accompany the launch of Intel's Z500 series chipsets, which will offer support for the company's upcoming 11th gen Rocket Lake-S CPUs. So far, BIOSTAR has confirmed that two motherboards are being built around this new series, in the form of the Z590 Valkyrie (ATX) and Z590I Valkyrie (Mini-ITX). The tease showcases the motherboard series' logo, based of Valkyries' wings in what appears to be a black and white color philosophy, which might extend to the motherboards themselves. This could mean that BIOSTAR is now offering a slightly more toned-down design compared to their usual RACING motherboard series.

Mad Catz Global Limited, the leading innovators in gaming hardware, are excited to announce the new R.A.T. DWS gaming mouse, a wireless gaming mouse from the beloved Mad Catz R.A.T. series. Equipped with the hyper-responsive 2 ms DAKOTA mechanical switch, diversified accessories, and a 16K high-end sensor, R.A.T. DWS achieves the ultimate performance, tracking ability, and longevity which other gaming mice can't compete with.

R.A.T. DWS is one of the most customizable wireless gaming mice in the market. Moreover, the additional modular accessories make every game easier to maneuver. Its adjustable palm rest and swappable pinkie rests can fit into every size of hands and accommodate all grip styles. These two sets of pinkie rests enhance the grip friction and prevent you from having discomfort from long hours of play. With the Mad Catz software, you can set up various advanced hotkeys and macros on each of the 14 buttons onto 4 on-board profiles by which every magic spell or melee skill can be mastered in the fight.

Dynatron earlier this week rolled out the L15, an all-in-one, closed-loop, liquid CPU cooler. This cooler features a radiator-mounted pump, so the CPU water-block is considerably slimmer for a cooler that's capable of handling thermal loads of up to 250 W. The 240 mm x 120 mm radiator comes with a pair of 120 mm dual ball-bearing PWM fans that can turn at speeds ranging between 600 to 2,400 RPM, pushing 23 to 92 CFM of air-flow, with noise output ranging between 16 to 38 dBA. The cooler supports the latest Intel LGA1200 and LGA115x sockets, and AMD AM3+ (or older) sockets, although the company does not mention AM4 support in its data-sheet. The company didn't reveal pricing.

ASUS has today prepared a gift for everyone involved in the PC community. The company announced that starting from today, prices of PC components like graphics cards and motherboards will get increased. Apparently, ASUS has decided to adjust the prices due to the increased cost of components, logistics, and operations. It is reported that the company was working closely with its partners to minimize the increase of pricing, however, that has turned out to be impossible and ASUS has been forced to increase prices. Starting with ASUS'es official store, over the retailers like Newegg and Amazon, consumers are expected to see increased pricing of ASUS components.

Juan Jose Guerrero III - ASUS's Technical Product Marketing Manager

---

Update regarding MSRP pricing for ASUS components in 2021.This update applies to graphics cards and motherboards* We have an announcement in regards to MSRP price changes that are effective in early 2021 for our award-winning series of graphic cards and motherboards. Our new MSRP reflects increases in cost for components. operating costs, and logistical activities plus a continuation of import tariffs. We worked closely with our supply and logistic partners to minimize price increases. ASUS greatly appreciates your continued business and support as we navigate through this time of unprecedented market change. *additional models may see an increase as we moved further into Q1.

---

Linus Torvalds, the inventor of the Linux kernel and version-control system called git, has posted another one of his famous rants, addressing his views about the lack of ECC memory in consumer devices. Mr. Torvalds has posted his views on the Linux kernel mailing list, where he usually comments about the development of the kernel. The ECC or Error Correcting Code memory is a special kind of DRAM that fixes the problems that occur inside the memory itself, where a bit can get corrupted and change the data stored, thus offering false results. ECC aims to fix those mistakes by implementing a system that fixes these small errors and avoids bigger problems. According to Mr. Torvalds, it is a technology that we need to be implemented everywhere, not just server space like Intel imagines.

Linus Torvalds

---

Intel has been instrumental in killing the whole ECC industry with it's horribly bad market segmentation... Intel has been detrimental to the whole industry and to users because of their bad and misguided policies wrt ECC. Seriously...The arguments against ECC were always complete and utter garbage... Now even the memory manufacturers are starting do do ECC internally because they finally owned up to the fact that they absolutely have to. And the memory manufacturers claim it's because of economics and lower power. And they are lying bastards - let me once again point to row-hammer about how those problems have existed for several generations already, but these f***** happily sold broken hardware to consumers and claimed it was an "attack", when it always was "we're cutting corners".

---

NVIDIA is reportedly preparing a new GeForce RTX 30-series SKU positioned around the RTX 3060 Ti and the RTX 3070, as the company looks to fine-tune its lineup against the Radeon RX 6700 series. Called the GeForce RTX 3060 Ultra, the SKU is reportedly carved out from the same 8 nm "GA104" silicon as the RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070; but with a different core-configuration, and 12 GB of GDDR6 memory. At this point, it is not known if the memory bus width is narrowed to 192-bit, or if the same 256-bit wide memory bus is used (with mixed memory chip density). WCCFTech posted a picture of the first custom-design RTX 3060 Ultra card, an ASUS TUF Gaming product, which it reports to be faster than the RTX 3060 Ti. The publication also reports the card's MSRP pricing to be USD $449.

Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Cooling, Gaming Gear, and Enthusiast Memory solutions, today is proud to present a new Air Cooler series, the TOUGHAIR CPU Air Cooler. Powered by optimized high static pressure fans that have the same design concept as the TOUGHFAN 12 fans, the TOUGHAIR CPU Air Cooler's fans are equipped with an advanced Gen.2 hydraulic bearing, LCP fan blades, and a new anti-vibration mounting system to offer outstanding reliability and serenity to any gaming build regardless of the cooling solution. The TOUGHAIR CPU Air Cooler is available in three configurations. The TOUGHAIR 110 is a top-flow design offering a compact footprint for smaller system builds; TOUGHAIR 310 and TOUGHAIR 510 are single tower designs featuring single and dual fan configurations unique heatsink fin array to maximize airflow for exceptional performance for the latest Intel and AMD Ryzen series processors.

Thermaltake had also launched the latest TOUGHFAN 12 Turbo High Static Pressure Radiator Fan on December 29th; for those that are interested in getting more information on TOUGHAIR or TOUGHFAN series products, don't forget to join the Thermaltake Expo Jan 2021.

Hot on the heels of its Geekbench score leak, we have PassMark numbers for the upcoming Core i7-11700K "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processor, leaked to the web. The PassMark online score database lists performance obtained from a single i7-11700K sample, where it's shown to be trading blows with the Ryzen 7 5800X (score averaged from over 600 samples). The Intel chip scores 3548 points single-thread rating, compared to 3509 (average) of the 5800X, while its multi-threaded score of 54255 points falls short of the 54458 points of the 5800X (average). Both these chips are 8-core/16-thread.

The Core i7-11700K has the same core configuration as the top i9-11900K part, but with lower rumored clock speeds. The Core i7 ticks at 3.60 GHz base, with up to 5.00 GHz boost, and the same 125 W TDP rating as its 10th Gen predecessor. The "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processor family sees Intel's first IPC uplift to the client-desktop platform in 5 years, on the backs of new "Cypress Cove" CPU cores. While we haven't seen evidence of core-counts above 8 for these processors, Intel's play will be to restore gaming performance leadership that it lost to AMD's Ryzen 5000 "Zen 3" processors. Plagued by scalping and limited availability to genuine customers, AMD stares at its performance leadership not translating into brand equity before Intel's next-gen parts flood the market.

Abkoncore today introduced the T750G SYNC series of ATX full-tower cases. The lineup includes two variants based mainly on the pattern of their ARGB LED lighting elements, V1 and V2. The V1 variant features tiny streaks of lighting that make up polygonal shapes, such as the trapezoid along the front-panel, and the triangle at the side; while the V2 variant features a pattern made up of ASCII characters that can be made to resemble code from "The Matrix." Tempered glass makes up the front- and left-side panels on both the variants, which are structurally identical to each other. The mid-tower comes with 7 expansion slots, and two vertical slots, including a holder for a PCIe riser (not included).

The Abkoncore T750 SYNC measures 225 mm x 400 mm x 465 mm (WxDxH). It gets its name from an included multi-channel ARGB controller module that can either be synced with your motherboard over a 3-pin header; or use its own 368 lighting presets. Ventilation options include the ability to mount either three 140 mm / 120 mm or two 200 mm fans along the front-panel; up to two 140 mm / 120 mm fans along the top; and a 140 mm / 120 mm rear exhaust. The largest radiators you can use with the case include a 420 mm x 140 mm along the front; a 280 mm x 140 mm along the top; and a 140 mm x 140 mm along the rear. Storage options include two 3.5-inch / 2.5-inch trays, and two 2.5-inch mounts. Front-panel connectivity includes two each of USB 3.x type-A and USB 2.0 type-A ports, and HDA jacks. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Ikea has created some new PS5 and Xbox Series X shaped enclosures to help customers find suitable Ikea products to house them. These placeholder game console boxes come with some clever comments including; "Which IKEA media storage unit will be able to fit my new, meme-ishly oversized, game console?" on the PS5. These fake consoles include dimensions that help when looking for suitable media cabinets to store the consoles. This is a clever move from Ikea as many people will be looking for a complete media center upgrade along with their new console. This smart marketing strategy has been well received by customers who have been posting about it online.

Steam has started off 2021 by breaking it's concurrent player record with a new peak of 25,416,720 players. This new record comes after the previous peak of 24 million was reached in December. This increase in concurrent players can be attributed to the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 and the COVID-19 lockdowns across the world. Several older titles such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and Rust all continue to provide a large number of concurrent players. This record is likely to be broken again as lockdowns continue.

SilentiumPC, the European manufacturer of CPU coolers, Power Supply Units and PC cases, extends the recently introduced Ventum PC Case series by four new models. The new midi-towers are designed to meet the demands for airflow-oriented systems with the latest high-end components.

The Ventum VT4 line-up offers exceptional air-flow, which has been achieved by incorporating mesh in the front and top of the chassis. In addition to that, even the interior layout has been optimized to further improve the flow of air from the front to the back and the top, depending on the user's preference. While the Ventum VT4 TG base model comes with two pre-installed 120 mm case fans, the Ventum VT4V TG and the Ventum VT4V Evo TG ARGB (Black or White) are equipped with four case fans out of the box.

Colorful has announced a limited-edition, six-part reinvention of its RTX 3090 iGame Vulcan graphics card. The new card simply adds RNG to the name, a homage to Chinese e-Sports team RNG (Royal Never Give Up), who have climbed to fame through their League of Legends antics - the perfect use-case for an RTX 3090 GPU, obviously.

Colorful has changed the color profile of the card, trading in the gray color found in the vanilla RTX 3090 iGame Vulcan for a satin gold finish. The backplate has also received a special treatment, with a golden graphic depicting all six team members of the e-Sports team. Five of these cards will be given to clan members - a great partnership payment if I've ever seen one), while the last one will be offered via social media. We're looking at another collector's graphics card, although its development nature and graphics might affect its final selling price. All in all, this 6-card edition likely represents at least half of the available stock for the RTX 3090 GPU.

Laptop screens are usually considered to be slightly behind the bend compared to TVs or PC monitors when it comes to technology and specs. For one, most laptops still ship with a 1080p panel; if you want a higher-resolution, your next best bet is in looking at a 4K panel, though these do usually max out at 60 Hz. Some 1440p panels should enter the market this year, though, and that might mean more than just a handful of models sporting higher-than-1080p resolution.

Samsung, however, has just announced that they have begun mass production of laptop-oriented OLED screens. These are being mass-produced at the 13.3" to 16" diagonals, and should mean more options from system integrators in delivering an uncompromised image quality on mobility offerings. For now, it seems these OLED panels will only feature 1080p resolution, in a bid to decrease panel costs and thus increase prevalence of OLED in the display market by catering to lower-priced products and price-conscious customers. There is no word on refresh rates at this time, but Samsung says these OLED panels offer up to 10x higher response rates than the typical laptop LCD screen, whilst offering tempting 120% DCI-P3 coverage and minimum pixel brightness of just 0.0005 nits.

In an effort to make it as easy as possible to carry your data with you everywhere, Silicon Power (SP) is releasing 3 new USB flash drives. Despite their small size, these UFDs with OTG support and COB technology are offering plenty of storage space and durability that's reliable for daily mobile usage.

With up to 128 GB of storage capacity, the Mobile C20 is the perfect solution to gain additional storage space on next-gen devices with limited expansion ports, especially smartphones and tablets. Move data between USB Type-C devices easily, or free up space on them and quickly make room for new photos, videos, songs, and apps. With USB OTG support, directly connect these devices to the Mobile C20 for quick back-ups or to easily access the additional storage space.

TechPowerUp released the latest version of TechPowerUp NVCleanstall, our lightweight utility that gives you complete control over your NVIDIA GeForce driver installation, letting you pick and choose only the components you really need, and filtering out those that you don't, including those which aren't presented as an option in NVIDIA's own driver installer.

The latest version 1.8.0 improves performance with driver signature rebuilding, which previously took minutes, and now only takes a second or two. On fresh installations, NVCleanstall also prevents Windows from overriding your driver selection, by automatically downloading a driver from Windows Update. When your Internet connection drops, or you are working offline, the app no longer shows an error message and simply allows you to refresh when the connection is restored. The NVCleanstall background check can now determine whether you are using a desktop or a mobile platform, and suitably suggest the best driver. Among the interface fixes include Virtual Audio being made a dependency for Shadow Play (without which the latter would break); and a handy command-line argument to automatically install NVCleanstall.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp NVCleanstall 1.8.0The change-log follows.

AMD has recently launched its Radeon "Big Navi" 6000 series of graphics cards, making entry to the high-end market and positioning itself well against the competition. The "Big Navi" graphics cards are based on Navi 21 XL (Radeon RX 6800), Navi 21 XT (Radeon RX 6800 XT), and Navi 21 XTX (Radeon RX 6900 XT) GPU revision, each of which features a different number of Shaders/TMUs/ROPs. The highest-end Navi 21 XTX is the highest performance revision featuring 80 Compute Units with 5120 cores. However, it seems like AMD is preparing another similar silicon called Navi 21 XTXH. Currently, it is unknown what the additional "H" means. It could indicate an upgraded version with more CUs, or perhaps a bit cut down configuration. It is unclear where such a GPU would fit in the lineup or is it just an engineering sample that is never making it to the market. It could represent a potential response from AMD to NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, however, that is just speculation. Other options suggest that such a GPU would be a part of mainstream notebook lineup, just like Renoir comes in the "H" variant. We have to wait and see what AMD does to find out more.

On December 31st, AMD's Radeon group has filed a patent for a chiplet architecture of the GPU, showing its vision about the future of Radeon GPUs. Currently, all of the GPUs available on the market utilize the monolithic approach, meaning that the graphics processing units are located on a single die. However, the current approach has its limitations. As the dies get bigger for high-performance GPU configurations, they are more expensive to manufacture and can not scale that well. Especially with modern semiconductor nodes, the costs of dies are rising. For example, it would be more economically viable to have two dies that are 100 mm2 in size each than to have one at 200 mm2. AMD realized that as well and has thus worked on a chiplet approach to the design.

AMD reports that the use of multiple GPU configuration is inefficient due to limited software support, so that is the reason why GPUs were kept monolithic for years. However, it seems like the company has found a way to go past the limitations and implement a sufficient solution. AMD believes that by using its new high bandwidth passive crosslinks, it can achieve ideal chiplet-to-chiplet communication, where each GPU in the chiplet array would be coupled to the first GPU in the array. All the communication would go through an active interposer which would contain many layers of wires that are high bandwidth passive crosslinks. The company envisions that the first GPU in the array would communicably be coupled to the CPU, meaning that it will have to use the CPU possibly as a communication bridge for the GPU arrays. Such a thing would have big latency hit so it is questionable what it means really.

LG Display, the world's leading innovator of display technologies, announced today that it will showcase the world's first 48-inch Bendable Cinematic Sound OLED (CSO) optimized for gaming at CES 2021.

The 48-inch Bendable CSO display utilizes OLED's advantages as its paper-thin screen bends and unfolds with a curvature radius of up to 1,000R, meaning that it can be made to bend up to a radius of 1,000 mm without affecting the function of the display. It can therefore be turned into a flat screen while watching TV and used as a curved screen while gaming. The curved display offers a uniform viewing distance from the middle of the screen to its edge, maximizing the visual immersion that is popular among gamers.

With the desktop GeForce RTX 3080 being based on the "big" GeForce Ampere silicon, the "GA102," we wondered how NVIDIA would go about designing the RTX 3080 Mobile. It turns out that the company will max out the smaller "GA104" silicon on which the desktop RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti, are based. An unreleased ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo (GX551QS) gaming notebook's Geekbench online database entry reveals the name-string and streaming multiprocessor (SM) count of the RTX 3080 Mobile.

The Geekbench online database entry lists out the OpenCL device (GPU) name-string as "GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU," and OpenCL compute unit (SM) count as 48. This corresponds with the maximum SM count of the "GA104," which features 6,144 Ampere CUDA cores spread across 24 TPCs (48 SM), 48 2nd generation RT cores, 192 3rd generation Tensor cores, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The Geekbench entry also reveals the video memory amount as 16 GB, maxing out the 256-bit wide GDDR6 memory interface of the "GA104," likely using 16 Gbit memory chips.

DeepCool today updated its GAMMAXX line of all-in-one liquid closed-loop CPU coolers, with the new GAMMAXX L240 A-RGB and L360 A-RGB. These are functionally the same coolers as the GAMMAXX L-series, but with a handful updates, such as an ambient air pressure balancer, and new addressable-RGB LED lighting elements on the pump-block and the included 120 mm fans. Each of the included 120 mm A-RGB fans spins between 500 to 1,800 RPM, pushing up to 69.34 CFM of air-flow, at up to 2.42 mm H?O static pressure, and up to 30 dBA noise output. The fans feature hydro-dynamic bearings. Among the CPU socket types supported include AM4, LGA1200, and LGA2066. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Samsung is reportedly readying the 870 EVO line of SATA SSDs, with the drives succeeding the 860 EVO series. While there's no word on the type of NAND flash chips used with these drives, it's very likely that they feature a new generation 3D TLC (3 bits per cell) NAND flash memory, as QLC (4 bits per cell) has been marketed by Samsung under the 870 QVO series, which the company launched back in July 2020. The new-gen 3D TLC NAND could enable the 870 EVO drives to reach capacities as high as 4 TB, and offer slightly higher sequential transfer rates, with WinFuture.de reporting up to 560 MB/s sequential reads, and up to 530 MB/s writes, compared to 550/520 MB/s for the 860 EVO series. Being based on TLC (3 bpc) should also give these drives higher write endurance than the 870 QVO series.

MSI in a customer service response that's been machine translated and tweeted by harukaze5719, revealed that Intel's 11th Gen Core "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processors arrive "by the end of March." This is the first confirmation from someone in the know that "Rocket Lake-S" won't arrive before the very end of Q1-2021, and that one should realistically expect availability only from Q2.

The same CS response also confirms backwards compatibility of the processors with existing Socket LGA1200 motherboards based on the Intel 400-series chipset. It mentions that MSI will release UEFI firmware updates that enable "Rocket Lake-S" compatibility starting with boards based on the top Intel Z490 chipset, followed by other 400-series models. Intel is expected to unveil its 11th Gen Core "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processor and compatible 500-series chipset platform in mid-January, as part of a virtual event on the sidelines of the 2021 International CES (a virtual show).

In the run-up to its mid-January unveil of its 11th Gen Core "Rocket Lake-S" desktop processors and companion Intel 500-series chipsets, we get our first look at the three 500-series chipset models from Intel's stable for the DIY client market. This includes the top-tier Intel Z590, the mid-range B560, and the entry-level H510. Intel even made logos for the three chipsets, which could appear on the retail packaging and marketing materials of motherboards. While 11th Gen Core "Rocket Lake-S" processors are expected to be backwards-compatible with existing 400-series chipset Socket LGA1200 motherboards; there are major advantages to choosing a 500-series motherboard.

To begin with, motherboards based on the Z590 chipset feature a fatter 8-lane DMI 3.0 chipset bus between the processor and the PCH, which doubles the chipset bus bandwidth to 64 Gbps per direction. 500-series chipset motherboards also feature one CPU-attached M.2 NVMe slot, which works with "Rocket Lake-S," as the processor puts out 28 PCIe lanes. 16 of these go toward the PEG interface, 8 toward the chipset bus, and four toward this dedicated NVMe slot. In related news, Chinese tech publication MyDrivers reports that Intel is staring at a motherboard chipset shortage going into Q1-2021, with availability of the entry-mid 400-series chipsets such as the H410 and B460 being scarce. This could impact motherboard pricing.

AMD is set to introduce its next-generation of Ryzen Threadripper processors in the coming weeks, and rumors are suggesting that it may happen at this year's CES. The new Ryzen Threadripper platform is codenamed Genesis Peak. If we take a look at the current 3000 series "Castle Peak" Threadripper processors, they were launched on CES 2020, with availability in February. So we are assuming that the upcoming 5000 "Genesis Peak" series is going to launch at the virtual CES event, during AMD's show. Thanks to the information from Yuri "1usmus" Bubliy, we found out that AMD is going to start the next-generation Threadripper lineup with a 16 core processor. "1usmus" posted a riddle on Twitter, that is actually a hex code that translates to "GENESIS 16 CORES".

The current generation of Threadripper Castle Peak processors is starting at 24 cores, and going up to 64-core models, so it would be interesting to see where AMD sees the 16-core model in the stack and why it chose to do it. The exact specifications of this processor are unknown, so we have to wait for the announcement event. It is also unknown if the existing TRX40 motherboard will offer support for Zen 3 based Genesis Peak 5000 series Threadripper processors or will AMD introduce a new platform for it.

According to kopite7kimi, a famous leaker of information about NVIDIA graphics cards, we have some pieces of data about NVIDIA's plans to bring back its SUPER series of graphics cards. The SUPER graphics cards have first appeared in the GeForce RTX 2000 series "Turing" GPUs with GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER and RTX 2070 SUPER designs, after which RTX 2060 followed. Thanks to the source, we have information that NVIDIA plans to give its newest "Ampere" 3000 series of GeForce RTX GPUs a SUPER overhaul. Specifically, the company allegedly plans to introduce GeForce RTX 3070 SUPER and RTX 3080 SUPER SKUs to its offerings.

While there is no concrete information about the possible specifications of these cards, we can speculate that just like the previous SUPER upgrade, new cards would receive an upgrade in CUDA core count, and possibly a memory improvement. The last time a SUPER upgrade happened, NVIDIA just added more cores to the GPU and overclocked the GDDR6 memory and thus increased the memory bandwidth. We have to wait and see how the company plans to position these alleged cards and if we get them at all, so take this information with a grain of salt.This is only a mock-up image and is not representing a real product.