Desktop

Apple has apparently delisted the LG UltraFine 5K Display from its online retail store. This could possibly mark the end of the product and might be a harbinger of Apple selling its own professional-grade monitor. Rumors are flying that Apple will soon release a 31.6-inch 6K display for use with the Mac Pro desktop.

EA's latest quarterly earnings report shows a slight growth slowdown for Apex Legends in the last month, so the company is now planning to release a version for the mobile platforms and expand the Origin marketplace in the SEA region. A switch version could also be released at some point, but the port is said to be problematic.

The new Linux kernel update integrates support for using persistent storage as regular system memory, a new Linux Security Module (LSM), live patching, as well as multiple minor tweaks and fixes. All these will be included in the first point release that should go live later this month, but those in a hurry can grab the sources and compile the new kernel right now.

The Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities proved that most of the CPUs made by Intel and AMD in the past 10 years are susceptible to code-based attacks and the current security model of bugs and patches needs to change at a fundamental level. Researchers at the University of Michigan might have the solution with the Morpheus CPU security architecture that renders processors virtually invulnerable even to the fastest electronic hacking techniques.

While the chassis will remain the same, internal options will be updated from 12-core Xeon and Quadro RTX 6000 options to 28-core Xeon and Quadro RTX 8000 options for massive gains in performance. Units will begin shipping before the end of this month.

An entry for an Intel Xeon W-3275 processor has been discovered on Geekbench that shows a pretty remarkable result at least in the multi-core benchmark. While the single-core score for the CPU was still decent at 5,211 points, the multi-score recorded was a huge 39,869 points. The codename used in the record was Skylake-W.

A titanic score of 16,956 points has been recorded on 3DMark’s Time Spy Extreme benchmark recently. Pictures of the PC build that achieved the amazing result were shared on Twitter, and if you’re a fan of RGB lighting and perfectly ordered cases, you’ll probably want to look away. The “desktop” looks more like an engine than an actual computer.

A list of AMD Navi GPUs was revealed by AdoredTV based on his analysis of existing Navi rumors and some insider information. The Navi lineup will be apparently led by the top-end Navi20 comprised of the RX 3090 XT and RX 3090. The mid-range Navi10 will see the RX 3080 XT, RX 3080, and the RX 3070 XT while the entry-level Navi12 will feature the RX 3070 and RX 3060 SKUs. Except for Navi20, the other two are expected to launch sometime during E3 2019.

AdoredTV reports that the Navi10-based Radeon RX 3080 XT could offer similar performance to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 at a sweet price of US$330. The RX 3080 XT is said to feature 56 CUs and will have a TDP of 190 W. AdoredTV also notes that AMD engineers are struggling to hit Vega20 clocks with early Navi samples and that they seem to suffer from power and efficiency issues.

Expected to arrive in the third quarter of this year, it seems that not all the members of the upcoming family of AMD Navi-based video cards will show up at once. The Radeon Instinct, based on the Navi 20 GPU, has been apparently delayed to early 2020. However, the mainstream Navi GPUs might be available just in time for this year's winter holiday season.

Waiting for Google Stadia to finally launch? Help beta test GeForce Now in the meantime. The Nvidia game streaming service has yet to reach gold status even after all these years, but here's your chance to try it out and see what game streaming has to offer.

Those who use the latest version of Firefox (66.6) may have noticed that their usual extensions have disappeared. This is due to a bug in this browser in which an expired certificate gives the impression that all of these add-ons are corrupt. Mozilla has stated that a fix is being rolled out at present.

A couple of AMD processors have been revealed online: The Athlon 300GE and the Athlon 320GE. Unfortunately, there are almost no details to accompany the supposed names of the chips apart from the alleged base clock rates. The Athlon 300GE will apparently clock at 3.4 GHz while the Athlon 320GE offers a little more at 3.5 GHz.

A PC builder has managed to install four Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards in the tiniest of desktop cases, and then proceeded to amass a huge score of over 3,500 points on OctaneBench while claiming that none of the GPUs exceeded a temperature of 75 °C /167 °F. The customized desktop, which is apparently used for rendering work, also features an AMD CPU.

The next Windows 10 update, May 2019 (or 1903) is becoming available via early-access programs run by its maker. However, Microsoft is also still maintaining the current general build, 1809. This version of the OS now has a new patch that may fix a whole raft of issues.

Reviewers and GPU aficionados have previously observed that there are two "classes" of the dies that make up NVIDIA RTX cards. They are essentially the TU10x-xxxA and TUx-xxx chips, the "A"s of which are approved for factory overclocking. However, new variants of the same dies negate this dichotomy.

A new investor presentation from AMD has been published online and there are numerous interesting additions and omissions from the previous presentation. In comes mention of Zen 3, Zen 4, Milan and cloud gaming connected to Navi, and no doubt to the dismay of HEDT processor fans, out goes the 3rd Gen Ryzen Threadripper CPU.

Asus has been teasing the ROG Matrix GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Platinum desktop graphics card on Twitter recently, and it has already attracted some attention from interested gamers. The binned card features the company’s Infinity Loop Cooling system, which is a closed-loop water-cooling solution that is installed under the shroud.

The Universal Windows Platform created for the Microsoft Store apps could soon be ditched, as Microsoft already discontinued support for its Windows Phone devices. App developers are reluctant to create programs for his platform, since it is much easier to program apps for Android, iOS and even Windows through regular win32 code. Microsoft may completely remove the apps and keep only the games, music and video section.

Vade Secure is an email-security company that produces a series of reports called "Phisher's Favorites". The 2019 first-quarter (1Q2019) issue shows that the targeting of social media by this kind of hacker has increased by 74.7% compared to 1Q2018. Facebook and Instagram are prominent example of the sites in question.

The Recon 70 headset already exists for the Nintendo Switch; now, Turtle Beach has released variants of the same that are compatible with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The headphones have faux-leather cups over 40mm drivers, complemented by the OEM's flip-up mic.

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.