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Amazon US is currently offering XFX’s Radeon RX 590 Fatboy video card for a pinch under US$200. Buyers willing to shell out US$199.99 for this version of AMD’s board will get a piece of hardware that packs 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and a boost clock rate of 1,580 MHz. Buy it before June 8 and you will also get a download code for two new games for your Fatboy to run.

Xbox chief Phil Spencer announced that Project xCloud has already entered the "take Home" stage, so more Xbox employees can test the game streaming service. Public testing for this service should become available some time after E3 this year. The service is similar to Google's Stadia, but Microsoft claims it will have a larger game portfolio.

Happy 50th Anniversary, AMD. The red team is celebrating half a century in business, having been founded on May 1, 1969. There are numerous celebratory products brandishing a flash of gold to enliven proceedings and Newegg is offering all sorts of goodies to those who buy an AMD Ryzen 7 2700X AMD50 Gold Edition – which at one point included entry into a prize draw to win a Matisse processor.

AMD has announced in an earnings conference call that its 7nm Navi GPU series will be launched in the third quarter of 2019. It is expected that there will be some sort of revelation about Navi at this year’s Computex, which starts at the end of May, with a possible full reveal at E3 in the second week of June.

Asus has posted a statement detailing which of its motherboards will be compatible with the upcoming next-generation Ryzen 3000 series of processors from AMD. The list covers models from the 300 and 400 series of products, and Asus has added that further motherboards will be included on the list soon.

In addition to the anniversary packaging, the Gold Editions of the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X processor and Radeon VII graphics come with coupon codes for free copies of Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 Gold Edition and World War Z. The AMD50 promotional period also brings various special deals — depending on the retailer — and is set to last until early June.

NVMe SSD and mobile storage prices are at an all-time low due to NAND memory oversupplies, and, even though this greatly benefits end users, chip makers are concerned about a possible market crash. In order to avoid such complications, Intel, Micron, SK Hynix, and possibly even Samsung are looking to reduce legacy node production and overall wafer output.

Intel's new chief executive officer (CEO), Bob Swan, has conceded that the company's "supply constraints" may still impact on the diversity of the chipsets it offers as this year goes on. Swan has admitted that this will be a "challenge", even in the 3rd quarter of 2019. Then again, he has also committed to never allowing this to affect customers again.

The X570 chipset is compatible with AMD's upcoming Ryzen 3000 series. So far, we have been led to believe that it will support PCIe 4.0 and will, obviously, next-gen performance and speed. A new leak appears to confirm its all-4.0 nature, as well as the number of USB ports an X570 motherboard may have.

With the third generation of Ryzen processors looming over the horizon, now seems like a good time to pick up a second-generation processor for a bargain price. At the moment, you can purchase an AMD Ryzen 5 2600X desktop CPU for US$184.99 at Newegg. Amazon US is offering the same chip for even less, at a low price of US$179.99.

Biostar and ASRock have teased their respective X570 motherboard launches for the upcoming AMD Zen 2 Ryzen 3000 lineup. Biostar's teaser image seems to indicate an improved motherboard layout with three PCIe 4.0 x16 slots, three PCIe 4.0 x1 slots, and three M.2 slots along with an actively cooled PCH. ASRock's tease is not too detailed but does indicate aggressive styling and an emphasis on RGB lighting.

Two images of a printed circuit board (PCB) have been posted on Beidou that could be part of AMD’s upcoming Navi graphics cards. The AMD logo can clearly be seen on the PCB and there is an obvious space for a GPU. The PCB in the pictures is still covered in a protective film.

A list of purported Comet Lake CPUs has surfaced online and in addition to the U-series, we are getting to see a new G-series as well. The target segment of Comet Lake G is still unclear, but Intel is introducing a 6C/12T part in the U-series that is expected to succeed the current Whiskey Lake-U generation. The base clocks seem to be low but there is good turbo boost potential with Intel even indicating the attainable boosts based on core counts.

The device-diagnostics company Blancco claims to have bought over 100 second-hand hard drives on the eBay sites of 4 different counties, to see what data, if any, could be accessed on them. It claims that 42% of these drives still stored information from their previous owners that can be thought of as sensitive.

Intel has made its earnings report for the first quarter of this financial year (Q1FY2019) available to the public. In it, overall revenue is described as "flat" compared to Q1FY2018. Its "data" business has declined by 5% in the same terms, although its "PC-centric" revenues are up 4%.

The 4K display standard is likely to be immediately succeeded by its 8K counterpart in the fullness of time. ResearchandMarkets has estimated that, even though this next-gen solution only pulled in about US$2 billion worldwide in 2017, this will increase to just over $68 billion in 2026.

The May 2019 update is set to be the next major upgrade to Windows 10. However, those with older machines may have particular trouble with getting it to work after installing it. This is because Microsoft has raised the minimum recommended hard-drive storage to support doing so to 32GB.

A record for a processor that utilizes the Glacier Falls platform has been spotted in SiSoftware’s Sandra database. “Glacier Falls PCH” was mentioned in a leaked Gigabyte presentation slide in December and was categorized as “Extreme” with availability starting in Q3 2019. The High End Desktop (HEDT) processor in this particular case could be a member of the upcoming Cascade Lake-X series.

Danish desktop enthusiasts have built an incredible workstation based around an AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X. The desktop computer was actually undergoing a thorough upgrading session in a venture labeled “Project Threadripper”. The end product looks terrific and features hardware from Corsair, Samsung, Asus, and Cooler Master.

Microsoft’s Surface sales are up 21 percent in strong signs that its bet on hardware is starting to pay off. It is now the seventh quarter in a row that its Surface sales have topped US$1 billion.

The latest reports on the subject of new Intel platforms suggest that the first 10-nanometer (nm) chipsets will be here later in 2019. However, according to a new image characterized as the company's latest release schedule, this does not apply to commercial CPUs. It puts the launch of the next-gen architecture at the 3rd quarter of 2021.

Creative has finally joined the true wireless earphone market with the new Outlier Air buds. They boast IP5X ingress protection, 10 hours of playback on a single charge and graphene in their driver-diaphragms. These Bluetooth 5.0 buds retail for US$79.99 on the OEM's own website.

Microsoft had announced a plan to finally put the legacy app Paint to rest in future versions of Windows. However, as with the last time the company tried this, it was met with user pressure to retain the beloved old drawing utility. As a result, it has subsequently been revealed that it will make it to 1903.

Samsung has expanded the list of devices supporting its Linux on DeX project. Originally supported only on Galaxy Note 9 and Tab S4 devices, it is now supported on the Galaxy S9, S9+ and the Galaxy S10 range along with the Tab S5e.

By analyzing the latest Shield Experience software, the XDA Developers team has discovered that a new desktop-mode software feature is in the works alongside what appears to be a new hardware product. Codenamed "mystique," this device could be a 2-in-1 convertible that would compete with the Microsoft Surface Book and other similar pieces of hardware.

Compulab has announced its Airtop3 device that comes with up to an Intel Core i9-9900K CPU and Nvidia Quadro RTX 4000 graphics card. The ruggedized IoT edge server is passively cooled and has been designed for industrial use. Numerous customization options are available for the Airtop3 PC, including extended and industrial operating temperature ranges.

Another limited edition product has been unearthed that will be seemingly part of AMD’s 50th anniversary celebrations. A red version of the great value for money Radeon VII desktop graphics card has made an appearance, although it looks likely at the moment the only differences with the regular card will be design-based rather than performance-based.

A trio of IT researchers affiliated with Facebook have created a new method to turn a video of an individual performing a series of actions (e.g. a dance) into a 3D 'game character'. This character - and its associated movements - can then be transposed onto a new background. The researchers assert that this background could interact with said character.

AMD has posted a tweet on its Ryzen Twitter account showing what can be done with just one Ryzen Threadripper 1950X HEDT chip and four Radeon RX Vega 64 LC graphics cards. The builder of the custom desktop PC setup has called his system “RippinRed 2.0”, and it also features 32 GB RAM, a motherboard from Gigabyte, and four monitors from Dell and Acer.

Gigabyte Japan has announced the upcoming launch of the X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi-50 motherboard. The board will be released domestically on April 26 for about 35,000 yen including taxes (~US$310). It’s not yet known if the Taiwanese manufacturer will be bringing the limited edition motherboard to other markets.

The new NVIDIA 1650 card is to be unleashed soon. However, it seems there is also a Ti variant of this graphics solution in the works. ASUS has apparently developed several different models of this new GPU, which have surfaced on the Russian ECC certification database.

AMD’s Radeon VII, RX Vega 64 LC, and RX Vega 64 have managed to defeat Nvidia’s top-end GeForce RTX hardware, the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti, in a World War Z GPU benchmark. In one specific test, the Radeon VII was measured offering an eye-popping average rate of 192 FPS compared to the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti’s best effort of 160 FPS.

Two images of one of AMD’s upcoming Picasso range of desktop APUs have been leaked online. The pictures themselves don’t reveal very much, apart from the fact that AMD is likely preparing to finally release the desktop APU counterparts of the Picasso mobile APUs that were released earlier this year. The APU in question is believed to be the Ryzen 3 3200G.

The iBOX-R1000 from ASRock is the first mini PC to integrate the new Ryzen R1606G / R1505G embedded dual-core CPUs with Vega 3 iGPUs. It comes with up to 32 GB DDR4-2400 RAM and supports one 2.5-inch SATA SSD / HDD. This mini PC is designed for digital signage, arcade gaming and gambling, kiosks, IoT gateways and thin client terminals.

The Zen 2-based Ryzen, EPYC and Threadripper chipsets should make for exciting launches soon. This is because their state-of-the-art 7nm architectures should deliver performance improvements in many areas compared to their Zen+ predecessors. However, it appears that the Zen 3s of the future are shaping up to be even better already.

Recently, the gaming community has been set alight with rumors that Grand Theft Auto will get a new version soon. This has come about as a result of the discovery of an online resume belonging to a "3D game artist" who lists the heretofore unseen title among his experiences at Rockstar Games. This individual also specifically claims a role in GTA 5's DLC.

Microsoft has made the next upcoming version of Windows 10 available via its Insider Preview program. It is called 1903, or the May 2019 Update. An SDK for this build is also now ready to download.

The 6 nm node is scheduled to enter risk production in Q1 2020, almost 1 year after the 5 nm risk production, so the first 6 nm chips will probably ship in mid-2020. The only major benefit brought by the new node is the 18% transistor density increase over the original (non-EUV) 7 nm node and performance will see negligible gains since this is not a full node shrink.

An email that has supposedly come from MSI’s German-language tech support team has stated that the company will not be offering support for AMD’s upcoming line of Ryzen 3000 Matisse desktop processors on older motherboards (300-series). However, there has not been an official statement from the Taiwanese company in regard to this issue yet.
MSI has issued a press release stating there will be support for compatible 300-series motherboards.

Alleged specifications for “AMD Navi” have been posted online. The new information offered seems to correspond with existing rumors about the Radeon RX 3080 Navi 10 graphics solution. Apparently, the performance of the Navi GPU places it between AMD’s Vega 56 and Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1080, but the supposed price is much cheaper than Nvidia’s product.

AMD will soon be celebrating its 50th anniversary in business, and it seems Sapphire Technology wants to highlight the achievement by releasing a gold-colored Nitro+ Radeon RX 590 desktop graphics card. The special edition card has a boost clock rate of 1560 MHz and is fitted with 8 GB GDDR5 memory (2100 MHz clock that utilizes a 256-bit interface).

A piece of leaked marketing material purportedly from Gigabyte has led to considerable speculation about what could occur on the date mentioned on it. The image pertains to the gaming-related Aorus sub-brand, with some believing it will lead to an announcement of the X570 motherboards and possibly even a reveal of AMD’s Ryzen 3000 series.

AMD will soon be celebrating 50 years since its formal incorporation, and to celebrate this fact it appears there will be a 50th Anniversary Edition of the Ryzen 7 2700X processor. It’s not known if the special edition of the CPU will differ from the Pinnacle Ridge chip that was originally released in April of last year.

New information about Intel’s Coffee Lake T-series of processors has been posted online. The lineup runs from the Core i3-9100T right up to the Core i9-9900T. The chips are based on a 14nm manufacturing process and come with iGPUs. The T-series will have lower TDPs than their Coffee Lake counterparts and considerably lower base clock rates.

The next generation of AMD cards based on the Navi architecture could be unveiled at Computex this year. However, according to some other rumors, they could also have their own dedicated release event on July 7 this year. It would be a good choice of date, as the potential success of Navi hangs on its state-of-the-art 7nm nature.

ASRock has revealed its new mini desktop PC that features chips from Intel’s Whiskey Lake-U series. Along with the modern processor, the ASRock iBOX has a fanless design with fins covering the surface of the desktop to assist with cooling. The new product is expected to be utilized in industrial environments.

It’s a big day for Star Wars fans. The first trailer for the Episode IX, officially titled “The Rise of Skywalker,” has landed, along with the first game-play trailer for the new “Vader Immortal” VR game and leaked artwork from Respawn’s “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.”

The future of Microsoft PCs such as the Surface Pro may yet be Qualcomm-based. A new report on the development of Windows on ARM includes references to several prototypes from this line with Snapdragon processors rather than those from Intel. Therefore, this prospect may now be more feasible than ever.