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Chris Hook had been with ATI and then AMD for almost 20 years. The former AMD Senior Director of Marketing could be joining Intel in order to help the company launch its latest discrete GPU, first one in 20 years. AMD promptly found a suitable replacement, announcing that Hook's position will be occupied by Sasa Marinkovic.

AMD has released OEM-specific variants of RX 500 GPUs for both desktop and mobile. Dubbed the RX 500X, this is a simple re-badging exercise for OEMs help in advertising new systems. The RX 500X series are exactly the same as their corresponding base parts but OEMs can tune their clock speeds for thermal and power reasons.

The Pavilion Power series is now the more aptly-named Pavilion Gaming series to tackle on the newly announced mainstream Dell G gaming series. Currently, SKUs are limited to a single 15.6-inch chassis but with a very wide range of CPU, GPU and display options up to the Core i7-8750H with Optane memory and GTX 1060 Max-Q graphics for $1020 USD.

The GPU maker is locking certain functions on the Vega M platform that are otherwise commonly found on all other Vega GPUs including DirectX 12.1 support. In fact, the feature set of Vega M has more in common with the previous-generation Polaris platform rather than the current Vega family.

AMD’s eagerly anticipated second-generation Ryzen 7 2700X octa-core has been given the overclocking treatment ahead of its official launch this month. Two early testers were independently able to achieve overclocking speeds of 4.3 GHz across all eight cores.

GPU prices dropped considerably throughout the month of March due to a series of factors that include: Amazon and Newegg refreshing their supplies more often, rumors about a possible July launch of the GTX 11 series and a late 2018 AMD Navi launch, plus Bitmain's announcement of the E3 Ethereum ASIC that could spell the end of GPU-based cryptomining.

Pictures of Asus' X470 portfolio have surfaced online. The X470 chipset brings support for the upcoming Ryzen 2 CPUs, which are based on the Zen+ microarchitecture. While they look similar to the last generation X370 offerings, all of them now sport two M.2 slots and support for AMD's XFR 2.0 and Precision Boost 2.0 technologies. The new X470 boards also have support for the faster DDR4 3466 MHz RAM and are fully backward compatible with the first generation Ryzen CPUs.

Chuwi's answer to Intel's Hades Canyon comes in the form of the HiGame mini PC, which packs Intel's Core i5-8305G CPU + AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL iGPU with 8 GB DDR4 system memory and 128 GB NVMe SSD storage inside a 6 x 6 inch case. Standard features include a Thunderbolt 3 connector and multi-monitor support, and users will be able to upgrade the system memory and the storage setup.

AMD looks to have sewn up a deal with Sony to power its next-generation PlayStation 5. Currently in the hands of developers, details about the PlayStation 5 dev kits indicate it is powered by an AMD APU featuring Zen CPU cores and a Navi-based GPU.

Intel takes the guesswork out of game compatibility by testing the most popular games throughout the Core ix series themselves. The most recent additions are the Core i7-8809G and Core i7-8705G with suggested graphical settings on current titles for what Intel deems would be an optimal gaming experience.

AMD GPU prices may finally be coming down, but will the company’s stock follow suit? According to analyst Christopher Rolland, that may indeed be the case. A new Ethereum ASIC miner from Bitmain may threaten Team Red’s financial outlook, as Ethereum mining is estimated to be responsible for about 20% of AMD’s sales.

According to an anonymous source speaking with TweakTown, the next generation of Nvidia GPUs will not be labeled as the once-expected GTX 20 Series but will be known as the GTX 11 Series. It is even possible that Nvidia will overhaul its naming conventions and start using identifiers that end in the number 5. No doubt more details will be revealed at the upcoming GPU Technology Conference (GTC).

The Intel-AMD technology promises to be as fast as a GTX 1050 or GTX 1050 Ti all in a single 65 W processor package. The suggested starting price for just the 8 GB SKU, however, is going to burn a hole through most wallets. HP has yet to announce any plans for a SKU utilizing the even more powerful i7-8809G CPU.

AMD is bringing real-time ray tracing technology to its GPUs this year via the open source Vulcan 3D API. You can expect to see the technology debut in a AAA title in as soon as the next couple of months, according to the company.

After months of delays and speculation, the Atari VCS (formerly the Ataribox) finally debuted in physical form at GDC. There's still a lot of information about the console that Atari is keeping close to the chest, but we do know that Atari VCS will be more akin to a Linux PC than a dedicated gaming console, which should expand its capabilities (and possibly appeal).

The AMD RX-412ND-powered QNAP TS-x73 lineup targets small businesses and power users, featuring 4, 6, and 8 drive bays. In addition to the aforementioned processor and 4 GB or 8 GB of memory, its list of features also includes 2 PCIe Gen3 x4 slots for increased flexibility, 4 USB 3.0 ports, and 4 Gigabit LAN ports.

It took AMD more than one week to fully assess the CTS Labs report regarding 13 vulnerabilities found in all Ryzen and EPYC processors, but at least AMD's official position dismisses any claims that these vulnerabilities are critical and need immediate action. According to AMD, these exploits are to be fixed with simple firmware updates released through new BIOS versions in the coming weeks.

Apart from the standard issue Radeon RX 580 GPU, the latest Gaming Box from Gigabyte comes with the usual 450 W PSU, and connectors including the Thunderbolt 3 port plus four more USB ports that let users connect peripherals like external HDDs. Additionally, there is support for three Display Port 1.3 outputs and an HDMI 2.0 port.

A recent teaser video posted by ASRock on its Youtube channel reveals the name for the soon-to-be-released lineup of gaming graphics cards. Previously rumored to focus on MXM cards for its mini PC business, ASRock now confirms it will also manufacture discrete graphic cards that will most likely be RX Vega models.

HTC’s second-generation VR headset, the Vive Pro, is now up for pre-order. Improved in every key area over the original, the company is hoping the addition of wireless support will help to attract new users put off by being tethered as with the original.

AMD's new Zen+ CPUs, the Ryzen 5 2600X and the Ryzen 7 2700X, have made their way to Geekbench and seem to have posted some impressive scores in comparison with their previous generation counterparts. The increased single-core and multi-core scores seem to be a result of some of the improvements on the original Zen architecture in this optimization cycle.

Researchers at a cyber-security consulting company in Israel have claimed that they have found 13 serious vulnerabilities in AMD processors. CTS-Labs has published details about the flaws after only giving AMD 24 hours to comply. More oddities regarding the previously unhead-of company are elaborated below and in the attached video.

A report created by Kyle Bennett of HardOCP will likely not go down well with executives at Nvidia. Bennett’s article focuses on the GPU-maker’s GeForce Partner Program (GPP), which has been introduced to “better serve gamers.” Concerns have been raised over the alleged requirement of partners having their “gaming brand aligned exclusively with GeForce.” Some commentators have suggested this could be considered an anti-consumer practice.

Leaked slides pertaining to AMD's Next-Gen High-End Desktop (NG HEDT) platform reveal that AMD is bullish with regards to continuing and refining its Threadripper lineage. The slides reveal three Ryzen Threadripper families starting with the Threadripper 2000 set to launch in 2018, the Threadripper 3000 set for 2019, and culminating in the Threadripper 4000 set for 2020.

Microsoft is readying a major update for its Xbox One S and Xbox One X consoles. Among the new features includes the ability to play nicely with monitors and displays that support AMD FreeSync.

ASRock is more likely to produce MXM graphics cards for its own mini PC lineups rather than get into discrete gaming and mining card production. However, considering the AMD partnership and the current GPU crisis, ASRock could help ramp up the graphics card production and bring down GPU prices.

"Castle Peak" will be based on the upcoming Zen 2 core, while this year's Threadripper gen 2 will feature a slightly improved 12 nm Zen+ core. The first Zen 3 cores are expected to arrive with the 2020 APUs.

There are two new mid-range and two high-end CPUs. The Ryzen 5 2600/2600X models are set to compete with Intel's i5-8600/8600K processors for a slightly lower price, while the Ryzen 7 2700/2700K CPUs should offer similar performance and pricing to Intel's i7-8700/8700K models.

The unnamed 8-core/16-thread CPU is part of the Zen+ 12nm wave of new processors that should launch this April. Boost clocks can reach up to an impressive 4.35 GHz, but the performance is marginally better when compared to last year's Ryzen 7 1700X/1800X or Intel's Core I7-8700K models.

HP has reportedly has plans for a slew of Ryzen and Vega powered Elitebooks going by a listing on its Care Pack Central support page. References to the new Elitebooks appear to have since been removed but we can expect the official unveil to be not too far away.

Dell joins the AMD mobile APU bandwagon with two Ryzen 5 2500U and two Ryzen 3 2200U notebook models. These come with 17-inch FHD screens, pre-installed Windows 10, fingerprint sensor and sub-US$1,000 prices.

A second generation Ryzen chip has leaked in the wild and it looks like it will continue the Zen architecture's success story. The new Ryzen chip is seen listed as Ryzen 7 2700X and sports the same 8C/16T configuration as the Ryzen 7 1700X but has a higher turbo clock at 4.2 GHz — 300 MHz more than what the 1700X can offer.

Those who plan on purchasing a PC powered by AMD Radeon get to claim a free copy of Far Cry 5 from a participating retailer. This offer only applies to pre-built systems sporting the RX 580, RX Vega 56, and RX Vega 64 GPUs and not to standalone Radeon GPUs.

The ThinkPad A series is a line of Lenovo ThinkPad laptops created solely for the use of AMD CPUs. According to a leaked roadmap that Notebookcheck attained, this series could be refreshed in the third quarter of 2018. It seems likely that these refreshed models will be the ThinkPad A285 and ThinkPad A485 and that they will feature Ryzen Mobile.

Thanks to the powerful Ryzen processors, AMD has experienced a renaissance. Despite this positive trend, most PCs continue to be based on Intel-CPUs. In an interview, a manager of the big PC manufacturer Dell has now explained why he believes that Intel will continue to dominate the PC sector.

A report created by research company Jon Peddie has shown that AMD has been making decent inroads into Nvidia’s overall dominance of the discrete graphics card market. Figures for the fourth quarter of 2017 show AMD with a market share of 33.7% while Nvidia has 66.3%. This is a considerable market share leap for AMD, who managed 27.2% of the market share in 3Q17.

The PC manufacturer Lenovo has two new affordable ThinkPad laptops in their release schedule. ThinkPad E485 and E585 are affordable business laptops based on the Intel models ThinkPad E480 and E580.

After 4 years of development, the Smach Z handheld PC could finally see the light of day in H2 2018. Smach partnered with AMD to include a custom embedded RX-421B CPU that integrates an 8CU R7 GPU, and the device will also include at least 4 GB of DDR4-2400 RAM and 64 GB of storage.

The Ryzen 5 2600 desktop CPU performs considerably faster than the Ryzen 5 1600 predecessor, but the Geekbench leaked specs and results might not even be final ones, as AMD could further improve base and boost clocks before the April official launch.

Intel unveiled plans for a prototype of their discrete GPU at the San Francisco ISSCC (IEEE International Solid State Circuits Conference) late last week. The 14 nm dGPU, which is still in an early prototype stage, features 1.5 billion transistors and is clocked between 50 - 400 MHz, which may hint at a focus on efficiency over raw power.

The latest variants dubbed MeltdownPrime and SpectrePrime were discovered by Nvidia and Princeton University researchers. In a nutshell, these variants force two CPU cores to react to each other in order to trick multi-core systems into giving up cached data.

Following the success of its holiday promotion on the PSVR, Sony has decided to bring the deals back for a limited time. Once again, prices have been slashed US$100 across the range bringing the starting price to just US$199.

The well-known worldwide shortage of GPUs has had an unexpected knock-on effect: It has temporarily hampered the search for aliens. Scientists working for SETI are having problems trying to purchase new GPUs which are used in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.