Desktop

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has announced that there will be a Consumer Electronics Show (CES) scheduled for January 2021. However, it will not be held in Las Vegas as usual: instead, an "all-digital" experience is planned to replace the usual physical event. However, the Association is still confident it will be worthwhile for exhibitors and e-attendees alike.

The updated slides show that among the lineups to receive a performance boost are the Zen 4 EPYC "Genoa" server-grade CPUs, the CDNA 2 compute GPUs and the RDNA 3 gaming GPUs. Curiously enough, AMD did not update the desktop CPU roadmap past the Zen 3 Vermeer CPUs launching this year, but there are solid chances for 5 nm desktop variants to be launched by the end of 2021.

Intel is apparently seeking external assistance and it seems like a deal has already been struck with TSMC. With the latest leadership changes taking place at Intel, the chip giant is now looking to outsource part of its 10 nm and 7 nm chip production to TSMC in the next few years, but this will require some redesigning and node repurposing.

Intel’s latest Comet Lake S desktop chip is official after a few weeks of intensive leaks. As expected, the new 10-core Core i9-10850K has a base clock 100 Hz slower than the flagship Core i9-10900K and comes in a little cheaper as a result.

Scheduled to become available for download/update later today, Firefox 79 comes roughly one month after the release of Firefox 78. This light release includes just a few changes and the most obvious one is Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0. The Android version is also expected to get an update today, but there are no details available yet.

The OctaneBench results posted by OTOY CEO Jules Urbach show that the A100 GPU is ~40% faster than the RTX 2080 Ti. However, the GA100 (and all of its versions featured in the RTX 3000 GPUs) is a cut-down version of the A100, so performance gains for the RTX 3080 Ti may only be around 30%. Urbach notes that results were recorded without RTX on, so there could be some minor gains when the ray tracing cores are activated.

Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, has announced that it is also stepping into the virtual private network (VPN) arena. This new product apparently has over 280 servers in over 30 different countries, and has a no-logging or -tracking policy. However, it will be available in only 6 countries on its launch.

While Intel is yet again postponing the launch of its 7 nm processors, Chinese chip makers like Phytium are rising with big dreams of providing decent competition for AMD in the next few years. Phytium currently specializes in server-grade CPUs with 64 cores, but, by the end of 2021, the Chinese company intends to ready 128-core server chips built on TSMC's 5 nm nodes, along with 14 nm desktop and embedded CPUs.

Logitech has partnered with Herman Miller to create what they think is the ultimate gaming chair. Herman Miller is known much more for making sought-after office chairs, but it appears that the advent of COVID-19 has created a new niche that it wants to target.

Tipster @momomo_us revealed what appears to be pricing for AMD’s upcoming Renoir Ryzen 7 PRO 4750G, Ryzen 5 PRO 4650G, and Ryzen 3 PRO 4350G. The upcoming APUs slot neatly within AMD’s existing Ryzen lineup, offering enhanced graphics performance for a moderate price increase.

NVIDIA is planning to release its Ampere architecture GPUs in a matter of weeks, according to a new rumour. Previously thought to be arriving in September, Founders Edition cards may land sooner, with AIB custom versions arriving a month later.

AMD's new Ryzen 4000 PRO APUs have appeared on UserBenchmark, the divisive benchmarking website. While the website has been accused of being pro-Intel, it considers the new Renoir APUs to be "above expectations" and even goes as far as to characterise the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750G as "outstanding".

The 4x4-V2000 single-board computer has not yet been officially announced by ASRock, but it appears to be powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 4600U APU coupled with 16 GB of DDR4 RAM. This new version seems like a solid upgrade over the older V1000 model powered by a Ryzen Embedded V1650B processor.

Latest word on the street is that AMD has not yet finalized PCB designs and driver integration for the Big navi cards, so previous performance rumors are probably pure speculation. Based on this new info, AMD could push the release schedule to October or even early November.

First unveiled at CES earlier this year, LG has finally released its new 27-inch UltraGear 4K gaming monitor. The new monitor features a fast 1ms response rate which LG claims is a world-first for a 4K monitor.

Fresh reports suggest that Nvidia will only launch 8 nm GPUs this year, with a possible 7 nm "Super" refresh scheduled for 1H 2021. This could allow AMD to steal the GPU performance crown with 7 nm Big Navi GPUs this year and jump to 5 nm next year.

AMD has now officially unveiled the Ryzen 4000 APU series for pre-built OEM desktops across consumer and commercial segments. The Ryzen 4000G APUs sport the exact same configuration as their mobile counterparts but feature additional TDP headroom that allows for higher CPU and GPU clocks. AMD is pitting the Ryzen 7 4700G against the likes of the Core i7-9700 and claims that it has managed to slam dunk the competition.

AMD has formally launched its Ryzen 4000 line-up today. Of these, their PRO variants are naturally aimed at enterprise-grade desktops. The OEM asserts that these 7 nanometer (nm) solutions offer speeds that outstrip certain Intel competitors by up to 31%. By contrast, the new Athlon 3000 G-series is still based on the Zen+ architecture.

Although this feat has been achieved using ice cubes in an improvised hardware setup that cannot run for long periods under the record-breaking frequency of almost 5 GHz, it is worth mentioning that the AMD Ryzen 7 4700G Renoir APU has been pushed all the way up to 4.96 GHz across all cores.

Lenovo has also added new tower-form PCs to its new Legion gaming line-up. Its Tower 5 variant can have up to the Ryzen 9 3950X as a processor, as well as RTX 2070 SUPER graphics. The IdeaCentre Gaming 5 is a Ryzen 7 3700X/RTX 2060 machine with improved thermals.

Leaked benchmarks over on the Chiphell forums paint a positive picture of AMD’s upcoming Ryzen 7 4700G APU. Once overclocked, the APU’s Vega 8 integrated GPU delivered 3DMark Fire Strike performance that wasn’t too far off from the discrete GeForce GTX 1050 and leaked Intel Xe DG1 scores.

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.