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The latest hardware and software survey from Steam has detailed a good month for AMD in terms of overall processor usage and % change. It seems some gamers have been busy selecting devices with fast CPUs from Team Red, while it also appears likely that many users are relying on older and slower Intel-based computers during the coronavirus lockdown.

Steam has released its hardware and software survey for April 2020. Taking a look at the chart for PC video card usage by % change this month clearly shows that it’s not just sales or new releases affecting positions. AMD has two products in the top four movers alone, with the Radeon R7 M445 and Radeon RX 5700 XT gaining strong % changes.

The popular PC/Mac accessory-maker Cable Matters now sells a dock that combines USB type C and Thunderbolt 3 speeds. Therefore, it can drive dual 4K monitors at up to 40 gigabits per second (Gb/s). It also has 3 type A ports to accommodate peripherals or storage media.

An analyst with the ARK Investing group has reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) now has a market cap that exceeds that of Intel. Therefore, the former may now be more valuable than the latter. This is mainly attributed to the Company's smartphone SoC business.

Apparently, Nvidia underestimated the impact of AMD's 7 nm GPUs and is now looking to phase out the upcoming Ampere GPUs faster, as the green team has already pre-booked an important part of TSMC's 5 nm production capacity for 2021, when the Hopper GPUs are expected to hit the market.

Gole Technology has introduced the Gole11 all-in-one PC, which is also known as the HiGole F11APL. According to the company, the Gole11 is “the world’s cheapest all-in-one”, and it features an Intel Celeron N3450 processor and an 11.6-inch touchscreen with a 1920x1080 resolution. The device has been offered for as little as US$99 to early-bird crowdfunding backers.

Asus has added a new pre-built gaming desktop PC to its lineup in the form of the ROG Strix GT35. The device can be fitted with a Comet Lake-S processor up to the Intel Core i9-10900KF and can be configured with one of numerous high-powered graphics cards from Nvidia, including the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB.

Information about socket support for Intel Alder Lake-S has surfaced online. Alder Lake-S will require a larger LGA 1700 socket that will be compatible for at least three succeeding generations of Core processors. The 10nm++ Alder Lake-S platform is expected to sport of a mix of high-performing Golden Cove and power-efficient Gracemont cores.

MSI is updating the high-end Trident X lineup of slim gaming desktops with CPU options like the i7-10700K(F) and i9-10900K. Users can also choose among RTX 2070 Super and RTX 2080 Ti GPUs, 32 and 64 GB of RAM and may opt for a 1 TB NVMe SSD or an 1 TB NVMe SSD + 1 TB HDD combo storage solution. Other noteworthy features include 2.5 GbE + Wi-Fi 6 and Thunderbolt 3.

An intrepid modder built a DirectX 12 port of Nintendo classic Super Mario 64 for the PC. Using ReShade and its ray-tracing plugin, they were even able to get ray-traced global illumination working.

A UserBenchmark record for an AMD Ryzen 7 4700G was discovered recently, and it sparked a flurry of excitement that AMD was finally preparing to unleash Renoir desktop APUs onto the market with surprisingly good specifications. However, it seems a mischievous user has been fiddling with regedit to cloak a Ryzen 7 3700X.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has released specifications for its new DisplayPort (DP) Alt Mode version 2.0 standard. This video output modality allows USB type C ports to drive even 16K/60Hz displays, as it can leverage USB 4's 4 lanes to transmit nearly 80 gigabits of data per second.

Say goodbye to the creepy tribal mask VoodooPC logo as the Omen series will be moving forward with an updated minimalist logo that's easier on the eyes.

HP’s refresh of their OMEN gaming brand includes new desktop PCs with all-AMD combinations sold alongside the regular Intel/Nvidia or AMD/Nvidia setups. This makes HP one of the few major OEMs producing full AMD systems.

Benchmark comparisons between the AMD Ryzen 3 3100 and Intel Core i3-10100 desktop processors have been dug up that show the two budget rivals offering up a fair contest against each other. The chips were tested on 3DMark’s Fire Strike and Time Spy benchmarks, with the AMD part edging the former and the Intel CPU stronger in the latter.

Intel's Raja Koduri recently tweeted that the company's main focus is on integrated graphics, quashing hopes that high-performance Intel Xe GPUs will compete with the RTX 2080 Ti and second-gen Navi cards this year.

Mindfactory’s sales data for March 2019 to April 2020 has been released and the CPU charts make for extremely grim viewing for Intel. In March of last year, Intel had a reasonable 31% of the sales share but that has now plummeted to just 9% by April this year. Clearly, the Zen 2-based Matisse range has been a runaway hit for AMD.

It has been speculated that Apple could decide to refresh its iMac lineup with Comet Lake-S desktop processors later this year. There have been many rumors about a potential upcoming iMac series redesign, including a new 23-inch variant. It’s possible the 27-inch iMac could be configured with the 5.3 GHz-capable Intel Core i9-10900K.

The new XMG Ultra 17 M20 desktop-replacement systems integrate an advanced cooling system that filters dust particles from heatsinks and allows for CPU TDPs of up to 125 W, with GPU TGPs of up to 200 W. Such processing power requires two 280 W PSUs and at least a 97 Wh battery. Schenker also added 240 Hz displays with 100% sRGB color gamut and a 4K display option with 100% Adobe RGB color gamut.

The roadmap leaked by a trusted source close to GamersNexus shows how AMD may skip 2021 entirely and launch the Zen 4 desktop CPUs along with the Zen 3 APUs in 2022 with support for DDR5 RAM and USB 4.0, citing the current uncertain economic climate brought upon by the global pandemic.

A leaked slide from a purported ASRock Intel 400 series presentation indicates that the company's Base Frequency Boost (BFB) technology enables overclocking on non-K Intel CPUs and non-Z motherboards.

The chipmaker will refresh the UI and add per-core tweaking options to one-up AMD Ryzen Master and appeal to more first adopters.

Intel’s new Comet Lake Core i9-10900K has been spotted in a couple of benchmarks. The 10-core desktop processor performed incredibly well in 3DMark’s Time Spy where it produced a high CPU score. However, the i9-10900K fared much worse in a Cinebench R15 multi-core comparison, lagging far behind a 16-core AMD Ryzen 9 3950X chip.

Apparently launching in Q4 2020, the proposed specifications for the RTX 3080 Ti would make it significantly more powerful than any current consumer desktop GPU. The RTX 3080, RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 do not seem half bad either, though.

Some of the highlights for the 10th gen Intel Core desktop CPUs include improved Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 with up to 5.3 GHz boost clocks, DDR4-2933 support, new Intel 400-series chipset and 2.5 GbE speeds. Note that the listed prices are only the wholesale ones, so expect retail prices to be at least US$100 higher.

The upcoming quad-core AMD Ryzen 3 3100 CPU has been doing the rounds on synthetic benchmarks lately, where overclocked samples have been chalking up some serious scores thanks to the additional voltage being pumped into them. The fastest clock rate recorded by the Ryzen 3 3100 in these particular tests was 4.60 GHz on Geekbench 5.

Rumour has it that AMD will be bringing up to 505 mm² dies to its next-generation "Big Navi" GPUs. Based on the company's RDNA 2 architecture, Navi 21, Navi 22 and Navi 23 all supposedly have larger dies than the RX 5700 XT. The Navi 21 has a larger die than the custom RDNA 2 GPU in the Xbox Series X, too.

QNAP Systems has debuted its new 1.7GHz TS-x31K series for network-attached storage (NAS) of a residential or private magnitude. It comes in 1- to 4-bay SKUs, each of which supports Gigabit Ethernet and SATA 6Gb/s. They also all have AES-256 bit encryption and lockable bays.

DigiTimes has offered up another vague report, this time about TSMC's development of 2 nm nodes. Reported last year by TechWeb, DigiTimes now claims that "progressing in research and exploratory studies" for after 2 nm, too. Either way, we are not going to be seeing 2 nm chipsets for a while yet.

The AMD Ryzen 3 3300X has been spotted on 3DMark’s Fire Strike racking up a healthy Physics Score that should please anyone considering a future purchase of this budget desktop CPU. The Ryzen 3 3300X managed to surpass the upcoming Intel Core i3-10300 and scored higher than the Intel Core i7-7700K that we have tested several times.

Intel has revealed that it has made US$19.8 billion in revenue for the first 3 months of 2020 (or 1Q2020). This represents a 23% increase year-on-year (YoY). The vast majority of its "key business" divisions (PC-centric and data-center groups included) also saw gains compared to 1Q2019.

An AMD Ryzen 3 3300X and an Intel Core i3-10300 have been spotted in a comparison on 3DMark’s Time Spy benchmark. In another blow for Team Blue, it appears that the new budget Matisse chip from AMD has the edge on the upcoming Comet Lake processor. The Ryzen 3 3300X managed a CPU score that was +3.3% over the i3-10300's result.

GeForce NOW has had games made by Codemasters, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Klei Entertainment and XBOX Game Studios pulled from its platform. However, the news on NVIDIA's take on cloud gaming is not all bad: Ubisoft has added a total of 36 new games to its portfolio. A representative for this publisher has also endorsed it as "a leading-edge service".

The 2018 Intel Hades Canyon NUC was one of the only bright spots to come out of the ill-fated Kaby Lake-G series. It continues to be both the most balanced and most powerful NUC available due largely to its atypical 100 W processor. We take a look back at the mini PC to see how it holds up against the latest laptops of 2019 and 2020.

A security group has reported the detection of 267 million Facebook profiles on a server being offered in exchange for £300 (~US$340). The users in question are apparently mostly located in the United States. This allegedly hacked info includes their names and phone numbers.

The CPU and GPU clocks appear to be quite low compared to mobility models like the Ryzen 7 4700U, but the "Artic" chip proves to be faster, at least in CPU-related tests, and the DDR4-3200 support certainly helped. On the iGPU side, however, the performance is not that great, as it turned out to be slower than a Vega 6 model.

The budget AMD Ryzen 3 3300X Matisse desktop processor has been tested on Geekbench 4 in combination with an ASRock X470 Gaming-ITX/ac motherboard. The new CPU has thrown up a single-core score and multi-core score that can beat the median scores for the thousands of Intel Core i7-7700K that have appeared on the same benchmark.

An AMD Ryzen 3 3100 CPU has been spotted on Geekbench being put through its paces, and the new Matisse processor performed well considering its entry-level status. The scores it achieved are similar to those of the Kaby Lake Intel Core i7-7700K, which could indicate the Zen 2 chip’s ability to hold up well against the upcoming Intel Core i3-10100.

There is good news for those considering an upgrade from their existing rigs with a Noctua cooler and that are based on an Intel 300-series chipset to one with certain newer 400-series options instead: they may be able to switch the former from one to another. Some of this brand's products are even compatible with Comet Lake-S processors out of the box.

Crucial, Micron's main SSD brand, recently launched its PCIe Gen4 P2 and P5 SSDs. These blazing fast NVMe SSDs deliver over 3000 MB/s of performance, making them faster than the Xbox Series X. The entry-level 250 GB P2 costs just US$ 55, meaning both model lineups are likely to be cost-effective.

Steel Series has launched its Cyberpunk 2077 ahead of the game’s launch in September. The new range includes the all-new Arctis 1 Wireless headsets for Xbox, PS4, Android, Switch and PC. Users of the Arctis Pro series can also purchase Cyberpunk 2077 a themed ‘Booster Pack’ to customize their headsets as well.

AMD has introduced two new mainstream desktop processors in the Zen 2 lineup — the Ryzen 3 3100 and the Ryzen 3 3300X alongside the new B550 mid-range chipset. These CPUs are 4C/8T 65W parts and help fill the void in the US$100 to US$150 range. However, they face competition from AMD's own Ryzen 5 1600 AF and upcoming Renoir Ryzen 4000 desktop CPUs.

The high-end Asus ROG Maximus line-up is rumored to be back with Z490 support this time around. Their allegedly leaked product info sheet indicates that it has multiple SKUs, which have PCI-Express 3.0, gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1. They are also DDR4-4800 memory-compatible.

The Indian government had released new guidelines that allow online shopping sites to get up and running in the country once again. These measures, which permit order fulfilment as usual nationwide with certain necessary caveats, were to take effect from today (April 20, 2020). However, the authorities have now chosen to reverse this decision.

Prices for the 400-series of motherboards from MSI have been leaked online, with the cheapest board costing €200 (US$217) and the most expensive board costing €960 (~US$1,044). These new components will support the LGA 1200 socket that is required for Intel’s upcoming Comet Lake-S series of desktop processors.

Both the Intel Core i5-10600K and Core i5-10600KF processors have been spotted on Geekbench managing to reach peak frequencies of 4.98 GHz. The attractive single-core and multi-core scores posted by the Comet Lake processors can rival the median Geekbench results managed by the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and Ryzen 5 3600X.

There have been a lot of unexpected side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and we can add another to the list. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has revealed that March saw its second highest number of sales since it launched in 2012.

Microsoft’s next major update to Windows 10 will land in May. The new update brings some useful features to users including Cloud reset as well as the much anticipated DirectX 12 Ultimate with improved raytracing support.