Desktop

As the 14 nm CPU shortage Intel is still in full effect, OEMs are now switching to AMD's solutions for select line of products. HP's newly announced ProDesk 405 G4 mini PCs are a good example in this regard, since they pack AMD's Ryzen Pro 2000-series coupled with up to 32 GB of DDR4-2933 RAM, plus they integrate the Vega GPUs.

Epic Games has used GDC to showcase its capabilities of its Unreal Engine 4.22 with ray tracing enabled. The demos, powered by a single Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080Ti, demonstrate jaw-dropping realism that could easily be confused for live action film.

The Mek Mini is one step up from the ZBox series in terms of performance, features, and upgradeability. Its ample ventilation grilles on five of its six sides should hopefully be enough to keep temperatures and noise in check.

Intel has been very busy during a packed presentation at the Game Developers Conference. Among all the talk about the company's Odyssey initiative there was time to flash up some design renders of the upcoming Intel Xe discrete graphics card. Images of the card's potential shroud, created by designer Christiano Siquera, were shared with an excited audience.

OWC is a company that caters to iMac fans who want to upgrade their new Apple all-in-ones. It has announced its new Memory Kits for the 2019 27-inch iMac (the 5K model). As this new 2019 variant has 4 user-accessible slots, OWC is also currently testing out the possibility of maxing its RAM to 128GB.

In a world where everyone seems to be a streamer or caster or some kind, a USB microphone may be a viable purchase. They combine the possible advantage of improved audio with a power source that is already built into your machine. A recent "data-driven" review puts the Blue Yeti at the top of a new list of the best of these devices.

An Alienware Area-51m laptop with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 GPU and an Intel Core i7-9700K processor has recorded a very impressive score of 25,039 in 3DMark’s Fire Strike 1.1 test. According to the chart details for the run, this puts this particular system ahead of 98% of all other results. The Graphics score was 30,306.

Nvidia's own game streaming service is currently featuring more than 500 game titles, and users will be able to bring more games from platforms like Steam. Backed by new RTX blade servers with scalable RTX 2080 performance and blazing fast connections all across the world via the GeForce Now Alliance, Nvidia is aiming to provide the smoothest gaming experience for more than a billion systems that do not integrate gaming GPUs.

The game streaming infrastructure envisioned by Vectordash puts GPU-based cryptomining rigs to good use in order to bring a smooth gaming experience for computers that do not integrate dedicated gaming GPUs. The service will first be available only on the West Coast, but there are plans to expand support for the East Coast.

In a move that aligns with relevant rumors from days ago, Apple has upgraded its take on the all-in-one (AIO) PC. However, these new desktops are iMacs, not iMac Pros. Nevertheless, they now come with 8th- or 9th-gen Intel processors, graphics that go up to Vega 48s and new prices.

An MSI GeForce GTX 1650 GAMING X 4G graphics card has been spotted in a listing on the website for the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC). Scant details are offered in regard to the product; however, it does seem to confirm that Nvidia will be adding to its GTX 16-series soon. There is also a rumor that a GeForce GTX 1650 Ti card is in the works.

Nvidia has announced that a number of Pascal-based graphics cards will soon be enabled to utilize DirectX ray tracing (DXR). GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB cards and higher will receive a Game Ready Driver update, which is currently expected in April, to allow their users to enjoy limited ray tracing technology in certain games.

Although Apple has already announced a March 25 event, it seems like the updated tablets will not be there, because the Cupertino-based tech giant has just introduced the new 10.5-inch iPad Air and 7.9-inch iPad Mini. However, there is still no official info regarding the rumored iMac Pro upgrade.

Nvidia has officially announced the GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card, the latest addition to the company’s GTX 16-series. Like the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, the new product is based on Turing architecture and comes at the competitive price point of US$219, depending on provider. The GTX 1660 offers 1408 CUDA cores and a boost clock of 1785 MHz (base: 1530 MHz).

Intel's latest updates for the Linux DRM kernel driver and coreboot reveal the upcoming Comet Lake CPUs that appear to be a 14 nm refresh of last year's Coffee Lake models. There will be ULV, mobile and desktop variants with up to 10 cores that are expected to be launched in mid-2019, before the anticipated 10 nm Ice Lake family.

A rumored launch date of August has been reported for the upcoming 7 nm Navi GPU series. The highly anticipated hardware from AMD has been surrounded in mystery, with details and specifications being comparatively thin on the ground. However, it seems Navi could be upon us right after AMD has finished with its Ryzen 3000-series launch.

Adobe Shockwave was once the essential plug-in for interactive website elements and functions. However, it has been long overtaken by more up-to-date options. Its maker has announced the cessation of support for this relative dinosaur, with the exception of some business-focused licenses, on April 9, 2019.

The latest build of Windows 10 available via the Insider program expands the functions of the Your Phone app on the OS. This service, which formerly gave Android users a more convenient way to move their files on their PCs, now supports screen mirroring. Unfortunately, it only works with some Samsung Galaxy-line devices so far.

Microsoft is bringing back Halo to PC after 12 years since the last ported title. The new Halo: Master Chief Collection will be released on the Windows 10 Store, as well as the Steam platform and will include all 6 FPS titles of the franchise. Microsoft is also adding PC-specific features like seamless mouse and keyboard controls with remappable key bindings, plus support for different FOVs, resolutions and aspect ratios.

AMD has announced the availability of the Radeon RX 560 XT graphics card for just the Chinese market. The GPU bridges the wide gap between the Radeon RX 560 and RX 570 and offers a base clock of 973 MHz and a boost clock of 1073 MHz. The card comes with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory.

An Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation benchmark score for a supposed Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card has been reported. According to the result, the upcoming GPU managed to score 4200 points. It’s rumored the latest addition to Nvidia’s GeForce 16-series of graphics cards will be released on March 14.

Some new images of the upcoming GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card have found their way online. Various models from Gigabyte and EVGA are represented in the latest leak, although there is some speculation that the example from Gigabyte is possibly a fake or a hastily edited render of the GTX 1660 Ti due to a memory error spotted on the box.

War Thunder 1.87 "Locked On!" is a massive update to Gaijin Entertainment's popular vehicular combat title and — just like its predecessors — has a suggestive name. The game now features French helicopters, new cruisers, rank VII ground vehicles, advanced supersonic jets, complex radar systems, and more.

Since 3D glasses have mostly been replaced by VR headsets and TV makers already removed all 3D features from their products, Nvidia has decided that its 3D Vision tech is not cutting it anymore. The last driver to support this technology will be released with the GeForce Game Ready suite this April.

Although there is no official confirmation of the date yet, the latest rumors say that Intel will launch the Cascade Lake processors for the LGA 3647 socket next month. The Cascade Lake-X processors for the LGA 2066, on the other hand, are expected to come out in June, at this year's COMPUTEX trade show.

Some images of MSI variants of an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card have been leaked, along with alleged specifications, pricing, and release date. The non-Ti version of the Turing-based 16-series card will have slightly higher base and boost clocks than the GTX 1660 Ti, but it will have lower memory bandwidth due to the use of GDDR5 memory. It is expected to launch on March 14 at a price of US$219.

Leica has launched the Q2, the second generation of its high-end full-frame sensor module. It is capable of 4K/UHD recording, 47.3-megapixel image capture, and expanded crop functions. The new Leica Q2 also has some degree of water-ingress protection for all-weather use.

Hong Kong-based manufacturer Manli has announced two new variants of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card. The Manli GeForce GTX 1660 Ti and Manli GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Gallardo both come with twin cooling fans and two composite copper heatpipes. The Gallardo variant of the card is overclockable.

AMD has been sharing important information in an investor presentation, including a roadmap for its upcoming processors. Next in line for release is the 2nd Gen Ryzen Pro Mobile, followed by the 3rd Gen Ryzen desktop processors. Making a surprise appearance at the end of the 2019 roadmap is the 3rd Gen Ryzen Threadripper CPU.

Nvidia is currently offering a limited time deal to encourage gamers into a purchase of one of the company’s RTX 20-series graphics cards. The offer is valid for both desktop and laptop variants of the Turing-based GPUs, although to get all three games for free customers will have to choose one of the top-end RTX 2080 Ti or RTX 2080 models.

The H500 Overwatch Edition retails for US$149.99 and features the game's black, white and orange colouring. There is a backlit Overwatch logo too and a tempered glass panel to show off your build.

A motherboard compatibility document from Japanese PC maker Fujitsu has revealed all the SKUs in the Intel 9th generation Coffee Lake Refresh lineup. We are now getting to see new 'T' series chips with a low TDP of 35 W and new 'F' series processors in addition to what was announced at CES 2019 along with new Xeon E-series CPUs.

Intel has unveiled a new and powerful transceiver for 2019 at the Optical Fiber Communications (OFC) conference in San Diego. This module, the Stratix 10 TX, enables data-transmission rates of as much as 58 gigabits per second (Gb/s). In practice, this translates to Ethernet bandwidth of up to 400Gb.

The USB Promoter Group has been collaborating with Intel in order to release the USB 4.0 standard based on the USB-C interface with Thunderbolt 3 support. The new USB ports will enable data transfer speeds of up to 40 Gbps and will provide support for multiple data and display protocols, as well as advanced power delivery features for fast charging devices.

The new version of Microsoft Edge, a browser whose development is now driven by that of Chromium's, has been leaked in a set of images by Neowin. They show a browser that will indeed ring a number of bells for those who follow the open-source project. However, there is a Microsoft extensions store and Bing integration.

A blog has claimed that a GTX 1060 6GB card had gone down to €179.90 (about US$204) in a French computing store. However, this price is no longer available. In any case, it turns out that the card in question was of the single-fanned variety, and those with any more are still often above the €300 ($340) mark.

A new leak associated with the upcoming Ryzen 3000 series has surfaced. It is a pricelist that has been distributed by the IT seller Bizgram, which has an address in Singapore. This document baldly lists all the new Threadripper variants, as well as the prices at which they may be sold.

John Peddie Research has released its review of the GPU market for Q4 2018. Overall GPU shipments were down by 2.65% from the previous quarter, with Nvidia shipments decreasing by 7.62%, AMD’s by 6.81%, and Intel’s GPU shipments falling by 0.67%. However, GPU shipments for notebooks increased as the cryptocurrency crash continued to affect desktop GPU demand.

Google engineers are developing a 'back/forward cache' to reduce the latency with which Chrome returns to a previous page, or goes forward from one. This involves saving an entire webpage in memory, JavaScript included. While this may enhance the browser's UX, it also implies privacy issues.

A little bit more information about Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card has been made available thanks to a Twitter post by Andreas Schilling. The tweet includes some marketing material for the upcoming GPU and there is also a small revelation about how much and what kind of memory the GTX 1650 will have.

The 16 Gb DDR5-6400 memory chips from SK Hynix could be first to hit the market in late 2019, but the launch prices will be quite high, more appropriate for enterprise environments. On the other hand, the 8 Gb chips should be more cost-effective, thus more appropriate for consumer modules, which are expected in 2020.

The USB Implementers Forum has announced that the next generation of USB will be called USB 3.2. The new standard is capable of transferring data at 20Gbps, which puts it on a similar level to Intel’s Thunderbolt 2 technology first introduced in 2014 – the key difference is that USB is a much more generic technology and is much cheaper as a result.