Desktop

Pine64 has launched a new PinePhone model that comes with a Convergence Package. The device modestly powered device runs an Alpine Linux-based PostmarketOS that has built-in smartphone and desktop modes.

For its latest keyboard, Razer has dispensed with 40% of the keys found in the regular Huntsman. In turn, the new Huntsman Mini is more compact and should give desks a cleaner look. The Huntsman Mini is available in two colours and two switch types.

Geekbench has offered an early glimpse of the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750G, and it appears as though AMD has packed plenty of performance into its upcoming 65 W APU. Based on the company's Renoir architecture, the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750G can compete against more powerful processors like the Ryzen 7 3800X and Core i7-10700K.

Fresh rumors indicate that NVIDIA Ampere GA102 may feature markedly higher base and boost clocks compared to the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. Apart from this, we also get to hear that NVIDIA could be introducing a new 12-pin power connector at least on its PG133-based Founders Edition cards to workaround the issues of current 6-pin and 8-pin power supply wires.

A video of Superman and The Witcher actor Henry Cavill is proving popular online. Having already been watched over 1 million times in under three hours, the video is accompanied by a Barry White soundtrack and highlights the many pitfalls of building a PC from scratch.

Introduced today and already available to order from QNAP's partners worldwide, the QSW-1105-5T is the company's first 2.5 GbE network switch. Its highlights include five 2.5 GbE NBASE-T RJ45 ports, plug-and-play setup, auto-negotiation, as well as automatic loop detection and blocking.

Nvidia has also announced 9 other brand new titles now available to stream on GeForce Now including Far Cry Primal, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint, and TrackMania 2 Stadium.

Mobvoi has debuted the TicKasa headphones. Although this is only the first product in this category from the band, they have progressed directly to active noise cancelling (ANC) and wireless features. They are Bluetooth 5, have 40 millimeter drivers and have button controls.

Announced earlier today, the Audeze Penrose and Penrose X will start shipping in early September, but those interested can place their orders already. The introductory price is US$249 — US$50 less than the MSRP of this wireless planar magnetic headset for Xbox One, Xbox Series X (Penrose X), PlayStation 4/5 and Mac (Penrose), and PC (both).

AMD is not pulling any punches with its new Ryzen Threadripper PRO series. Featuring 12-64 core processors, the Ryzen Threadripper PRO series apparently dwarfs competing Intel Xeon processors. AMD even claims that one Threadripper PRO 3995WX can outperform two Xeon Platinum 8280 processors in countless tasks.

The publication of the JEDEC specifications is paving the way for the accelerated adoption of the DDR5 standard. First to benefit from the new standard are the server and HPC sectors, while the consumer market may first see DDR5-ready systems in 2021. Initial speeds start at 4.8 GHz, but should hit 6.4 GHz in a few years, and capacities should gradually rise to 48-64 GB per DIMM, with a maximum of 1 TB in the foreseeable future.

Produced by BIWIN for HP, the super-light S750 is looking to be a good fit for laptops and smaller PC builds where weight is crucial. The manufacturer is promising up to 560 MB/s and 520 MB/s sequential read and write rates, respectively, for all SKUs.

Apple’s one-time head of Mac development, Jean-Louis Gassée, has posted a blog arguing that it seems inevitable that PC makers will have to switch to ARM-based designs. However, it will require Microsoft to do a lot better with Windows on ARM than is currently the case which includes supporting 64-bit x86 apps and properly port its own software to the ARM architecture.

Initial benchmarks for the Ryzen 7 4700G are here, AMD's upcoming 65 W Renoir desktop APU. The Ryzen 7 4700G has been shown to offer upwards of 25% more performance than the Ryzen 7 4800H while being competitive against the likes of the Intel Core i9-10900K.

Italian outlet Aggiornamenti Lumia claims that Apple will be releasing an as-yet-unspecified new app for the Windows 10 platform. This rumor seems to be in consonance with speculation last year that Apple was working on a “next-gen” media app for Windows. If the app is built from the ground up for UWP, it might actually make its way over to Xbox, as opposed to the current Microsoft Store version of iTunes.

Alder Lake is a code-name for Intel CPUs currently slated to come after their Rocket Lake counterparts. These processors' rumors allege a number of notable features, not the least of which is their 10 nanometer (nm) nature, new socket type and big/small core arrangement. A new leak may confirm the latter: apparently, it will be a form of Lakefield's Hybrid Technology, but for desktops.

NVIDIA’s top-end Turing card, the US$1400 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, couldn’t even run Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs Legion at 1080p/60 FPS with ray-tracing effects turned on. This leads to speculation that users might need Ampere or Big Navi cards to properly experience ray-tracing in next-generation titles.

Rumors are coming in that NVIDIA may discontinue production of high-end Turing GPUs from the RTX 2070 all the way to the RTX 2080 Ti including the RTX 2070 Super and the RTX 2080 Super in the wake of the expected launch of Ampere in September. This delisting process coupled with low output from TSMC and increasing demand from cryptocurrency miners is expected to result in a shortage of Turing GPUs leading to inflated prices.

A leaked has confirmed the full product stack of the Ryzen Threadripper 3000 PRO series. AMD's latest Threadripper processors are expected to land on July 14 with between 12 and 64 cores.

The latest report from Gartner on the PC market shows that it had grown by 2.8% in the second quarter of 2020 (2Q2020). This may not sound like a lot, but is more encouraging in light of 1Q2020's -12.3% performance. This change suggests shipment volumes are recovering from the deleterious effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A rather peculiar NVIDIA GPU has made its way to the Geekbench 5 OpenCL benchmark. According to the listing, the card has specs that would be reminiscent of an RTX 2080 Ti Super (if it ever existed) or a gimped Titan RTX. However, this could just be some optional config or an enthusiast's experiment as the likelihood of NVIDIA releasing a high-end Turing GPU this late is very low, especially given the fact that Ampere is just around the corner.

AMD describes its latest Radeon Software Adrenalin version (20.7.1) as one of its most extensive stability-focused update in 2020 thus far. The new download also introduces the AMD Bug Report Tool (the latest method to report bugs directly to the OEM) and adds support to the recently-released title Disintegration.

GoPro has addressed an increasingly prevalent issue for many users who have shifted their work, learning or hobbies online in a new update under development at this action-cam OEM. It confers a new function on its HERO8 Black model that allows owners who also use Macs to use the device as an FHD, wide-angle upgrade on their default webcams.

Zhaoxin plans to release a 28 nm discrete GPU with 75 W TDP by 2021. Judging by the specs, this may be a mid-range solution that could perform in line with the GTX 970 cards launched back in 2014.

Dell launched a new XPS desktop today. The desktop can be configured with high-end specs like a 10th Gen Intel Core i9 CPU and either an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super or AMD Radeon RX 5700XT. The desktop is also designed to be upgraded by the end-user.

Dell has introduced new 27-inch and 32-inch monitors in its S-series lineup tailored primarily towards multimedia consumption and not-so-demanding gamers. The 27-inch lineup is comprised of 2K and 4K IPS monitors with support for AMD FreeSync while the 32-inch variant is a curved 4K VA panel.

With the entry-level and lower-mid-range RTX 3000 GPUs already in production, we could expect a complete Ampere lineup by late 2020. This way, Nvidia can better counter AMD's RDNA2 GPUs that threaten to take over the gaming GPU market in Q3 this year.

NVIDIA may be on the verge of releasing its new Ampere architecture. However, the latest Steam hardware survey reveals that many gamers have yet to move to the company's Turing architecture. Instead, Pascal generation cards remain dominant, as does a preference for gaming at 1080p.

Shengchang Chiang - also often known as Charles Chiang - has been reported dead. He had taken over as the chief executive officer (CEO) of MSI in January 2019, having served as the company's head of its desktop division prior to that. Chiang reportedly fell to his untimely demise at the OEM's Taipei headquarters.

Ryzen 4000 desktop processors will be launching this year, AMD CEO Lisa Su has confirmed. Codenamed "Vermeer", the processors are based on the company's Zen 3 architecture and an improved 7 nm process.

The Ryzen Threadripper PRO CPUs are supposed to integrate more business/workstation-oriented features along with server-oriented features borrowed from the Epyc-series like the 8-channel memory support for up to 2 TB of RAM capacity, and possibly even more cores and threads.

Logitech is back this time with a new keyboard and mouse specifically customized for use with Apple’s Macs and iPads. The new MX Keys keyboard for Mac and MX Master 3 mouse incorporate pre-set functionality and features that even Apple’s own accessories don’t offer, making them well worth a look.

NVIDIA and its partners are continuing to release TU106 and TU116 versions of the GeForce GTX 1650. At least three new partners have now released new GTX GeForce 1650 models. All include the Turing NVENC encoder, which promises to encode videos up to 15% more efficiently while minimising artefacts.

Details about the overclocking potential of the AMD Ryzen 7 4700G have been revealed online. The Zen 2 APU, which is reported to have a 4.4 GHz boost clock and a 65 W TDP, has been shown to reach over 4.7 GHz at 1.425 V. The APU is also thought to include an 8 CU GPU and will support SMT.

The Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz institute recently announced the new H.266 video codec standard as a successor to H.265. The new codec promises equivalent image quality at half the bit rate. This could make 8K and 4K content accessible to wider audiences.

Samsung promised to deliver 128 TB SSDs by 2018, but it looks like the demand for such large drives is not there yet. Nevertheless, Nimbus Data thinks that we are ready for 100 TB SSDs, unleashing this model upon us for US$40,000. There is also a 50 TB model in case your budget is only limited to US$12,500.

Tipster @kopite7kimi leaked specs for two different GA104 cards. However, contrary to expectations, we think that these might represent the same functional SKU and not two different card tiers, considering the very slight spec difference.

A new study conducted in June 2020 by the company TeamBlind indicates that 33% of the workers who participated in it have been given a date on which they can resume office work. This figure varied when corrected for location or company, however. 57% of the respondents stated that they would keep working from home given the opportunity, however.

The widget is lacking at the moment, but it's at least easy on the eyes with direct controls for brightness, colors, power plan, and live recording or streaming. A more fully-featured version of the widget is expected to come later in the year.

A new feature update coming to Chrome 86 looks set to make serious reductions in its resource usage. The experimental feature could extend battery life considerably on laptops by shutting down certain background tasks in open tabs.

A possible 2020 Apple iMac refresh device has been discovered on Geekbench with some surprising components: An unknown Intel Core i9-10910 processor and an unannounced AMD Radeon Pro 5300 desktop GPU. There has been speculation before of an upcoming refreshed 27-inch iMac being configured with a fast Comet Lake Core i9 CPU.

An Intel Core i9-10850K processor has been spotted on Geekbench, where it was recorded reaching a maximum frequency of 5.17 GHz. The Comet Lake part also amassed strong benchmark results that stand up well against an i9-10900KF and an i9-10900K. It’s possible Intel could launch the i9-10850K as a cheaper alternative to the i9-10900K.

In what is essentially an eGPU docking station in reverse, the Eurocom Riser card allows users to install laptop MXM3 graphics cards directly onto their desktop PCIe slots. The product is aimed at professionals and workstation environments for specialized SFF PCs rather than a home office.

Dutch online retailer Centralpoint.nl is already offering tray versions for AMD's top-of-the-line 65 W Ryzen 4000 desktop APUs. These are Euro prices, but we can estimate that the Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G 8-core / 16-thread should cost around US$300, while the Ryzen 5 Pro 4650G 6-core may be priced at around US$200, and the Ryzen 3 Pro 4350G quad-core may end up costing around US$150.

The HBM2E memory chips offer up to 460 GB/s bandwidth, plus they are 50% more energy efficient and come in a 30% smaller package compared to the HBM2 models. With such an improved bandwidth, the HBM2E chips are expected to significantly improve performance for Exascale computers and high-end GPUs.

The alleged 3080 Ti ROG STRIX features a triple-fan cooler with aggressive silver accents that remind of the ROG MATRIX series, plus an RGB strip at the top, suggesting that the series could potentially go into premium-grade territory.

Tipster @kopite7kimi recently stated that NVIDIA’s upcoming Ampere RTX 3000 series cards will be manufactured on Samsung’s 8nm process, not TSMC’s 7nm node. While this is unlikely to have performance implications this far down the line, it does mean that AMD will retain process leadership for another generation.

After hinting at upcoming changes to the Start menu, Microsoft has officially announced that it is coming to Window 10 in the near future. Currently only available in Windows 10 Preview build 20161, users can start to play with the new Start menu and other design and UI tweaks coming to the shipping build soon.

The NH-L12 is a cooler that, according to its maker Austria-based Noctua, offers many advantages for compact PC builds. However, it did not completely fit in the Ghost S1 case by the Swedish company Louqe. Therefore, the 2 firms have collaborated on a new variant for self-building fans of both PC-component brands.

The Aida Cache and Memory benchmarks show that the Ryzen 7 4700GE desktop APU can easily be coupled with DDR4 RAM modules running at 4333 MHz. The resulting memory latency is lower than 50 ns, which is quite the improvement over the 60 ns average latency of the Ryzen 3000 desktop APUs.