Microsoft only planned for 200,000 users for Flight Simulator launch, admits drastic underestimate led to database being overwhelmed

Microsoftrevealed in aYouTube videoWednesday that it vastly underestimated how many players would jump into Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 at launch. Despite Microsoft load testing the game's servers with 200,000 simulated users, the game suffered — and is still suffering — from overwhelmed backend services, which have been the main cause for game loading issues and crashes.According to Microsoft engineers, the game's infrastructure was stress-tested with 200,000 simulated users to ensure the game would run smoothly at launch. However, despite this preparation, the mission service database cache became (and remains) saturated, causing problems for users who are trying to do missions in the game.To combat this issue, Microsoft has implemented a throttling mechanism to limit the number of players entering the game at once. But even with throttling, the service has already crashed at least once, and restarting the service apparently takes a long time — causing even longer delays.

Lenovo warns of potential RTX 5050 mobile GPU price hike

Rumor has it that Nvidia is eying to operate sales for the RTX 4050 mobile in tandem with the upcoming RTX 5050 - hinting towards a potential price bump for budget Blackwell mobile GPUs per Lenovo's Product Manager atWeibo(viaWCCFTech). The leak also explicitly states that all other RTX 40 mobile (Ada Lovelace) offerings will be discontinued - and replaced by respective RTX 50 (Blackwell) counterparts.

Nvidia's Blackwell AI GPU overheating issues are seemingly overhyped

Reports of Nvidia's GB200 NVL72 server racks overheating have purportedly been exaggerated.Business Insiderreports that Blackwell's cooling design faults have already been addressed. Dylan Patel, chief analyst at Semianalysis, purportedly told Business Insider that Blackwell's design issues, which have been present for months, have been largely addressed, stating that the overheating issues are largely overblown.

Jaguar Shores is the successor to Intel's Falcon Shores AI accelerators

While the industry anticipates the launch of its next-gen dedicatedGaudi 3 ASICsfollowed by Falcon Shores, both pushed into 2025; Intel has already revealed Jaguar Shores as the next successor in this lineup, perHPCwire. However, we aren't sure if Jaguar Shores will combine the CPU and GPU into a single platform, as was initially planned withFalcon Shores.

China's chipmaking champion soars amid country's push for self-reliance

Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) is thesecond-largest pure-play foundry in the worldafter TSMC, and its stock price has been going on a rally in the past two months, doubling its value.Bloombergsays that China’s push for semiconductor self-reliance fuels this demand, and with U.S. sanctions making it harder for local companies to acquire chips with Western parts, they’re turning to local companies like SMIC for their needs. Aside from this, China is also investing billions of dollars into its semiconductor industry, and SMIC is benefiting from it.

Cerebras video shows AI writing code 75x faster than world's fastest AI GPU cloud

Cerebras got Meta’s Llama 3.1 405B large language model to run at 969 tokens per second, 75 times faster thanAmazonWeb Services' fastest AI service with GPUs could muster.

Rebootless updates come to Windows 11 Enterprise and 365 for security updates

Microsoftbegan rolling out the much-anticipated hot patch update forsecurityupdates inWindows 11Enterprise 24H2 andMicrosoft365 Preview Builds. Once installed, users can download and install the security patches via Windows Updates without requiring a reboot for the patch to be activated.

Bjorn is a Raspberry Pi-powered Tamagotchi-like network pen-testing tool

All models ofRaspberry Piare incredibly useful gadgets that are also really fun to play with. No one seems to understand that better thanInfinitionwho's put together a really cool project calledBjorn. This clever creation works as a useful network tool for penetration (pen) testing and the like but it also doubles as a fun experience thanks to its game-like user interface.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X PC processor to skip 2nd generation

At its latest investor day, Qualcomm hinted on the third generation of its Oryon CPU cores. According to German outletComputerBase.de(machine translated), it seems that the Oryon 2 will be skipping PCs, and will only be used in the Snapdragon 8 Elite chips. The successor to the Snapdragon X Plus and Elite chips will be powered by the Oryon 3 and is targeted to be launched around the time ofComputex2025, which coincides with theDell leak showing Qualcomm’s roadmap for its Arm-based CPUs.

Danish Navy boards Chinese ship suspected in undersea cable sabotage

Update 11/20/2024 03:38 PT:The Danish Navy has boarded and detained the Chinese Bulk Carrier Yi Peng 3 in the Danish Straits, near the exit of the Great Belt, according to reports inEurasia DailyandDefence24. The detention reportedly took place on the evening of November 18. Officials have not verified those reports, however. According to Financial Times sources, Swedish authorities are "carefully studying the Chinese vessel."

US sanctions freeze Huawei's Ascend AI chips on older 7nm process node that's eight years behind TSMC, stalling progress until at least 2026

Huawei's ambitions for the AI market have faltered as the chipmaker struggles to procure bleeding-edge EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) equipment from ASML - leaving its Ascend AI chips stuck at 7nm for many years, a significant disadvantage versus Nvidia, perBloomberg. This major setback for China also portends that the technological gap will only widen in the coming years. To put this in perspective, while not entirely directly comparable, TSMC's 7nm node debuted back in 2018. SMIC's 7nm came to market in 2021, several years behind TSMC, and the rumored extension of 7nm into 2026 leaves it serving for five years as its leading-edge process node, an eternity in chip manufacturing.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 launch gets stranded on the runway, won't launch

MicrosoftFlight Simulator 2024 officially launched today at 8am PST. And that's about the best we can say about the game so far. Like countless others, we haven't been able to get the game to run correctly — and, for one of our staff members, it wouldn't even install at all. Making matters worse, Xbox Game Studios declined to provide reviewers pre-launch access, offering up this statement:

AMD crafts custom EPYC CPU with HBM3 memory for Microsoft Azure – CPU with 88 Zen 4 cores and 450GB of HBM3 may be repurposed MI300C, four chips hit 7 TB/s

Microsoftannouncedits latest high performance computing (HPC) Azure virtual machines powered by a custom AMD CPU that may have once been called MI300C.

Nvidia introduces a new merged CPU and GPU AI processor

Nvidia has announced two products: the GB200 NVL4, a monster quad-B200 GPU module featuring two Grace CPUs, and the H200 NVL PCIe GPU, aimed at air-cooled data centers.

Toshiba stuffs an entire PC into a dot matrix printer

On November 8, Toshiba Japan (Toshiba Tec) debuted the latest in its series of Jimucon AIO printer PCs, the Toshiba Tec Jimucon SJ-9500— per thePC Watchpost and the original release it cites, this AIO PC comes with a built-in ink matrix printer, a slot to store the included keyboard, and even a backup battery, all to further facilitate its intended use as a Japanese business PC. From word processing to Point of Sale (POS) systems, a setup like this can do quite a lot in the office— the 15-inch, 1024 x 768 LCD screen is more than enough for those tasks.

Prusa Announces New CORE One Flagship 3D Printer

Prusa Research caught everyone off guard with the launch of its new Core XY 3D printer, the CORE One. The printer is on display today at FormNext, an industrial trade show taking place in Frankfurt, Germany from November 19 to 22, 2024. Thefully assembled machine is available to pre-order for $1,199and will start shipping in January 2025.

Raspberry Pi 5 RAM-doubling upgrade demoed — going from 4GB to 8GB with the wave of a soldering iron

An electronics upgrade and repair wizard has demonstrated how to boost the Raspberry Pi 5’s RAM quota.MadEDoctor shared a brief video on YouTubewhere they removed the 4GB RAM chip from a Raspberry Pi 5 and soldered on an 8GB alternative, commonly used on the olderRaspberry Pi 4. No esoteric tools were used during the process, just a good quality soldering iron and hot air rework station, as you can find among ourBest Soldering Irons and Stations 2024page.

Google may be forced to sell its Chrome browser due to monopoly complaints

The Department of Justice (DoJ) may forceGoogleto give up its Chrome browser, and the tech giant is not taking the news in stride. According toBloomberg,on Wednesday, the DoJ may ask Judge Amit Mehta, who presides over the United States vs. Google antitrust case, to mandate that Google sell Chrome. Judge Mehta ruled in favor of the US government and the 17 states that joined the lawsuit in August, allowing the DoJ to consider what Google should do to lose its illegal monopoly status.

Two undersea internet cables connecting Finland and Sweden to Europe have been cut

A fiber-optic internet cable connecting Finland to Germany and another between Lithuania and Sweden, both running under the Baltic Sea, were cut within 24 hours of one another. While accidental damage on undersea cables happens,CNNsays these are rare events. So the near-simultaneous disruption of two cables around 65 miles apart is a sign of sabotage, says German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

AMD adds LLVM support for the "GFX950" GPU, likely for MI325X or the upcoming MI355X accelerator

AMD'slatest commitsto theLLVM GitHubrepository include mentions of a new "GFX950" GPU—likely the firm's recently announced Instinct MI355X or the now-launched MI325X accelerators, perPhoronix. These patches push early enablement for the accelerators in LLVM - to better optimize the compiler back-end and improve software compatibility.

This Raspberry Pi Pico-powered 'barcode beast' scans your CDs and plays your tunes via Spotify

Listening to music on Spotify can certainly be a rewarding experience but it's the way we interact with our music in the real world that can make a difference. That's why we're excited about this coolRaspberry Pi Pico-powered project created by maker and developer Bas. Using our favorite microcontroller, he's created abarcode scanning systemthat recognizes the barcodes from your favorite CDs and uses the data to queue up the music automatically on Spotify.

Ludicrous LAN Party House detailed

A Texas couple has shared expansive details of their home. But why wouldTom’s Hardwarebe interested? Because software engineer Kenton Varda and entrepreneur Jade Wang’slanparty.housewebsite boasts that they “built our house for LAN parties.” The high-tech Austin home is stuffed with 22 muscular modern gaming PCs, oodles of servers, and bucketfuls of supporting tech. Also, to prevent your body and peepers from seizing up after long LAN party sessions, there is a Dance Dance Revolution room and a 30-mile-view roof deck for the family and guests.

Latest Valve Proton Experimental update enables DLSS 3 Frame Generation

Last week,Valvereleaseda new Experimental update for its Proton compatibility later, which builds upon the stable September 19 Proton 9.0-3 release by providing fixes for dozens of games and even adding support for Nvidia's Optical Flow AI and DLSS 3 Frame Generation technologies. DLSS 3 now being supported under Proton bodes well for the future of Nvidia gaming on Linux, particularly when playing titles where framerate isn't easy to come by.

The PS5 Pro is surprisingly efficient

Digital Foundry tested the PlayStation 5 Pro's power consumption and discovered some surprising results. According to its three-way discussion piece onYouTubefeaturing Richard Leadbetter, John Linneman, and Oliver Mackenzie, the PlayStation 5 Pro consumes practically no additional power than the base PS5, despite featuring a significantly more powerful GPU.

Intel Arc B580 "Battlemage" GPU boxes appear in shipping manifests

Yesterday, wereportedthat Intel might be gearing up to unleash Battlemage early in December - ahead of AMD's RDNA 4 and Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs. Today, a shipping manifest at NBD - highlighted by userjosefk972at X indicates that Team Blue has been dispatching what appears to be GPU boxes for a never-before-seen "BMG B580" card - likely referring to the Arc B580 based on Battlemage.

Gamer receives free RTX 3060 GPU from Temu

People rarely receive free gaming gear, especially something nice, such as anRTX 3060. However, LudM on thePCMR subredditrevealed he was given a free Chinese "RTX 3060" from Temu. The new RTX 3060 owner is waiting for the rest of his computer parts to arrive to build his gaming rig and verify if the card he was sent was an actual RTX 3060 and not a fake.

LG unleashes $999 OLED gaming monitor with lightning 480 Hz refresh rate

LGhas revealed its latest OLED gaming monitor, theLGUltraGear 27GX790A-B. This 27-inch, 1440p, 480 Hz, DisplayHDR True Black 400-certified gaming monitor has almost no visible border and a far more robust stand than older LG gaming monitors.

AMD-powered El Capitan is now the world's fastest supercomputer with 1.7 exaflops

AMD and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) announced today that the AMD-powered El Capitan has taken the top spot on the semi-annual Top500 list as the fastest-known supercomputer on the planet with 1.742 exaflops of performance. El Capitan debuts on the list at the top spot, catapulting over the previous leader, the 1.3 exaflop Frontier. The Intel-powered Aurora system fell to third place on the list—the system didn't submit a new benchmark run, implying that the partially operational system is stillexperiencing failure issues on numerous fronts(more below).

Arrow Lake non-K CPU pricing surges up to 13%

PC-Canada has posted preliminary listings of Intel's soon-to-launchArrow Lakenon-K 65W CPUs on its website—in both boxed and tray variations, thanks tomomomo_uson X. While these prices are in no way indicative of the final MSRP, there is a slight upward trajectory—at least for the budget CPUs, but that could boil down to currency conversion and other factors.

Teen 'swatter for hire' pleads guilty to making more than 375 swattings and fake mass-shooting and bombing calls

TheU.S. Department of Justiceannounces that Callifornia-based teenager Alan W. Filion, currently 18, has pleaded guilty to four counts of 'making interstate threats to injure the person of another' as a result of over 375 swatting and threat calls made since August 2022 up to January 2024. Filion will likely face a maximum penalty of up to five years for each count, scheduled for sentencing on February 11, 2025.

AMD Phoenix CPU brings palm-sized SBC to life for up to $329

A powerful new SBC (viaETA Prime) that puts an AMD Phoenix chip in the palm of your hand is on its way to crowdfunding. In addition to the star attraction of the Ryzen 7 7840HS processor withRadeon 780MiGPU, the device comes blessed with a trio of M.2 PCIe Gen4 SSD slots (and up to 32GB of RAM).

Maker creates thumb-sized Raspberry Pi USB-C Ethernet module using the RP2040

When theRaspberry Pi Picowas first released, the community also benefitted from access to Raspberry Pi's custom RP2040 chip. This little chip has made it possible to create a wide variety of custom boards that make use of this affordable and practical microprocessor. Today we have a lovely example to share of such a creation, this one put together by a maker and developer known as Alan. Using one of our favorite Arm processors, Alan has designed an incredibly smallEthernet modulethat also has support for USB Type-C.

ASRock launches almost 20 ATX 3.1 power supplies

ASRockreleases new generations of power supplies in different capacities and wattages with varying specifications and features. All except its low-end series use the ATX 3.1 and PCIe 5.1 standards. What's common between all these variants is the inclusion of12v-2x6cable—some with two connectors—with dual colors on the connector to give a visual indication of a proper connectionlike MSI.

Chinese DDR4 producers are undercutting South Korean rivals' pricing by 50%

Chinese DRAM makers Changxin Memory (CXMT) and Fujian Jinhua are aggressively expanding production and cutting prices, reportsDigiTimes. Right now, the two manufacturers sell their DDR4 components with a 50% discount compared to similar ICs made by South Korean makers and in some cases, these DRAMs are even cheaper than reballed (recycled/re-used) memory chips.

Intel's Core 200 family poised to mix Arrow, Lunar, Meteor, Alder, and Raptor Lake parts

Some purported specifications of Intel's upcoming Core Ultra 200U or Arrow Lake-U mobile processors have been surfaced byJaykihnat X. It turns out that despite the "Ultra" moniker; the Core Ultra 200U CPUs will utilize an updated version of the Meteor Lake architecture - reportedly using the Intel 3 node.

This Raspberry Pi 'Expanso Football' is a cool distributed compute cluster in a briefcase

When it comes to demonstrating software at a convention, it can be tricky to develop something that's efficient and appropriately attention-grabbing. Thankfully, the team at Expanso has Sean Tracey on board who threw together this really coolRaspberry Pi-powered cluster in a briefcase he calls theExpanso Football. We think it's a super fun idea to throw so many Pis into one case so we've invited Tracey to show off his creation in our upcoming episode of The Pi Cast, linked below.

Dell ships first Nvidia Blackwell server racks — PowerEdge XE9712 servers are enterprise-ready

Jeff Clarke, chief operating officer and vice chairman ofDell, has announced that his company had started shipments of servers based on Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs for AI and HPC and Grace CPUs. The machines use liquid-cooled PowerEdge XE9712 racks and are aimed at enterprises.

Intel celebrates the arrival of MRDIMMs

When Intel introduced its Xeon 6 platform earlier this year, the company said that the new CPUs will supportmultiplexed rank dual inline memory modules (MRDIMMs)with the promise of bringing together high data transfer rates, low latency, high capacity, and predictable power consumption. Late last week, the companydecided to remindthe industry about its MRDIMM support, probably because server makers are beginning to roll out systems with such memory modules. For example,NEC recently announced its soon-to-be-built supercomputer that will use MRDIMMs. However, this type of memory has yet to be ratified by JEDEC.

OpenAI execs mused over Cerebras acquisition in 2017

OpenAI once considered buying Cerebras, an AI hardware startup, aiming to secure chipmaking capabilities that would lessen its reliance on Nvidia, reportsTechCrunch. Recent legal filings from Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI reveal discussions between Musk, OpenAI executives, and Tesla about acquiring Cerebras, though the plan ultimately did not proceed.

Nvidia's data center Blackwell GPUs reportedly overheat, requiring rack redesigns and causing delays for customers

Nvidia's next-generation Blackwell processors are facing significant challenges with overheating when installed in high-capacity server racks, reportsThe Information. These issues have reportedly led to design changes and delays and raised concerns among customers likeGoogle, Meta, andMicrosoftabout whether they can deploy Blackwell servers on time.

China to spend billions on another fab offering mature nodes

China has established the Beijing Yandong Microelectronics (YDME) semiconductor company, destined to operate a 300mm fab that will cost around $4.6 billion to get up and running. BOE Technology will support the chipmaker, which will produce microelectronics on mature process technologies such as 28nm and above, reports theSouth China Morning Post.

AMD dominates chip sales on Amazon — top ten best selling CPUs all come from Team Red

AMD has recently been on a roll with its desktop chips,growing its desktop processor market shareto 28.7% in 3Q24 versus 15.8% just five years prior. This is a stunning 81% jump for AMD, and all at the expense of Intel. You can see evidence of this for yourself when you look at thebest-selling CPUs on Amazon, with the top 10 spots held by AMD processors from the Ryzen 5000, 7000, and 9000 processor series. Intel sits awkwardly at 11th place, with its Intel Core i7-13700K, a processor two generations behind its latest parts.

Musk's concerns over Google DeepMind 'AI Dictatorship' revealed in emails from 2016

Elon Musk’slawsuit against OpenAIhas opened a can of worms, as emails between OpenAI co-founders Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Sam Altman, and Musk himself have revealed turbulent behind-the-scenes drama. According to theTransformer, an email from Musk in 2016 said, “Deepmind [sic] is causing me extreme mental stress. If they win, it will be really bad news with their one mind to rule the world philosophy.” He further aired concerns that “Demis [Hassabis] could create an AGI dictatorship.”

Intel is reportedly planning a Battlemage SoC launch event in December — probably materializing before RDNA 4 and Blackwell

Another leak has surfaced, reinforcing rumors that Intel is planning to reveal Battlemage next month. Hardware data miner and leakerTomasz Gawrońskihas shared a Battlemage SoC teaser which is sourced fromGazlog- a Japanese blog. The authenticity of this image is something we cannot be certain about. However, in tandem with previous leaks, there is a distinct possibility we will see Battlemage arrive before RDNA 4 and Blackwell.

Ryzen 7000 / 8000 random reboot virtualization issues fixed in last-minute Linux 6.12 patch

Just ahead of the intended release of Linux kernel version 6.12, AMD Linux engineer Mario Limonciello pushed an urgent fix to be merged with Linux kernel 6.12, and retroactively to other kernels. The fix gets rid of some hard crashing issues that were being experienced by Ryzen 7000 and 8000 Series processor users dabbling in virtualization, perPhoronix.

Retro beige PC case goes from April Fools' joke to retail

Cases, cooling, and power specialist SilverStone has announced that a desktop PC case that it previously showed off asan April Fools’ jokeis heading to retail. An unashamedly beige SilverStone FLP01 pre-built system was on display earlier in the week at the firm’s Japan Expo. Japanese tech media reports that FLP01 cases will be released sometime in Q1 2025 priced at JPY 19,800 (~$130).

Bug prevents M4 Macs from virtualizing pre-Ventura macOS releases

A macOS user discovered that the latest M4 Apple silicon does not support visualization of operating systems prior to macOS 13.4 Ventura, which was released in May 2023. When the user tried loading older versions of macOS, the virtual machine failed to load, with the display showing a black screen. They even tried to create the virtual machine (VM) directly on the M4 Mac, which was successful at first, but eventually resulted in the same black screen, according toThe Eclectic Light Company. So, if you need to run older macOS versions prior to 13.4 Ventura, the only current solution is to use an older Mac system.

GPD announces official pricing for its Pocket 4 mini-laptops

Back in August, GPDannouncedthe Pocket 4 mini laptop, which was supposedly the first handheld to employ AMD's latest Strix Point APUs. Following that,GPD Game Consoleshas recently shared the pricing structure for these handhelds at X—starting at $895 with AMD's Zen 4-based Ryzen 7 8840U model and as high as $1,466 if you want the flagship Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 decked out with 64GB of RAM and 2TB of storage.

Console repairer discovers groovy PS5 Pro heatsink structure

Sony’s newPlayStation 5 Prohas quietly introduced a very interesting heatsink design change. Popular console repair YouTube channel TronicsFix discovered that the PS5 Pro heatsink isn’t glossy-smooth – it features a rectangular spiral surface detail.

Ayaneo Pocket DMG classic GameBoy-styled handheld hits crowdfunding starting from $339

Ayaneo has launched the Ayaneo Pocket DMG onto crowdfunding platformIndieGogo, debuting its Qualcomm Snapdragon G3X Gen 2-powered, GameBoy-styled OLED handheld to the masses at Early Bird pricing currently as low as $339 USD for an entry-level model with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. The high-end model runs $499 for 16GB RAM and 512GB storage, and a Limited Edition "Retro Color" version runs $589 in Early Bird pricing.

World's second-largest GPU maker flees China on cusp of RTX 5090 launch to avoid US sanctions

HKEPCreports that PC Partner, a Hong Kong-based company, will relocate its headquarters to Singapore, creating PC Partner Singapore PTE Ltd. The company, which makes GPUs for brands like Zotac, Inno3D, and Manli, is also reportedly shifting its production facilities to Indonesia. Apparently, the GPU maker shifted its base and production in time for the launch of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards, swerving any expectedhigh-tech export controlsimposed on China by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Half-Life 2 gets a major 20th Anniversary Update and bundles Lost Coast with episodes

Yesterday,Half-Life 2received a 20th Anniversary Update on Steam, bundling content from the graphics demo expansion Lost Coast, as well as Episodes One and Two. This content was made free to claim until November 18. For other contents of The Orange Box bundle, which still includes all these titles standalone for certain mods, as well asPortalandTeam Fortress 2, the entire bundle can be bought for just $1.99 until November 22.

Intel Arrow Lake T-Series CPUs show tiny improvement over prior-gen

Intel is readying budget 65W and 35W versions of its Arrow Lake CPUs under the Core Ultra 200 non-K and T lineups, which are expected to arrive byCES2025. Earlybenchmarksshow that the Core Ultra 265 family delivers up to 5% better performance than its Raptor Lake counterparts in CrossMark permomomo_uson X, which is relatively lower than expected.

Gemini AI tells the user to die

Google’s Gemini threatened one user (or possibly the entire human race) during one session, where it was seemingly being used to answer essay and test questions, and asked the user to die. Because of its seemingly out-of-the-blue response,u/dhersieshared the screenshots and a link to theGemini conversationon r/artificial on Reddit.

Bitcoin launderer hands over $400 million as he heads to prison

Crime doesn't pay- or at least that was the case with Larry Dean Harmon, who wasrecently sentencedto three years in prison and ordered to forfeit over $400 million in assets for operating a darknet-based 'mixer' called Helix which laundered his customers Bitcoins. His operation was very popular among online drug dealers who used his services to launder money.

Asus dual-screen laptop with Arrow Lake-H CPU listed for close to $3,800

A UAE and Middle East-based online retailer just listed a laptop that sports Intel’s upcoming Arrow Lake-H processor. Although it’s still marked as ‘Out of stock,’Gear-up.me(h/t @momomo_us) lists anAsus Zenbook Duo laptopwith updated specs.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 could be banned in Russia, and players could face criminal charges

The upcoming release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 could land Russian gamers in serious trouble. According toRBC-Ukraine News, the Russian government is considering a ban on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. Moreover, individuals who play it in Russia could face criminal charges for financially supporting “terrorism.”

MSI X870E Godlike motherboard drops at an eyewatering $1,099

MSI's flagship and top-of-the-line MEG X870E Godlike motherboard is now available for purchase, and it doesn't come cheap—it is priced at$1,099over at Newegg. Of course, this motherboard isn't for the faint of heart (and wallet) and requires you to shell out a pretty penny if you want the best there is—after all, it doesn't get any more premium—unless you want a Threadripper, that is.

Garbage truck driver finds a working 32-core Threadripper, RTX 2080 Ti gaming PC in the trash

If there ever was a PC gamer equivalent of the 'One man's trash is another man's treasure' story, it doesn't get any better than what Reddit user 'Siezo' had to say in thePCMR subreddit. The Redditor, who works as a garbage truck driver, found a functioning gaming PC with a 32-coreAMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970Xthat originally debuted at $1,999, a stack of 32GB DDR4 RAM, and anNvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. All it needed was to be rescued and given some love, a PSU, a storage drive, and a good cleaning with isopropyl alcohol.

GPU cooling supplier claims Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs will "seize the whole market starting in December"

According toDigiTimes Asia, some of Auras’ crucial cooling components, like cold plates and manifolds, have already been included in Nvidia’s recommended supplier list and are already being adopted by some AIB partners for the upcomingGeForce RTX 50-series(codenamed Blackwell) GPUs, which will rival thebest graphics cards.

Raspberry Pi 5 teams up with Radeon GPU to run Doom Eternal with RTX on at 4K

A leading Raspberry Pi torchbearer has demonstrated relatively modern AAA games likeDoom Eternal,Crysis Remastered,Red Dead Redemption 2, andForza Horizon 4, running at 4K on the humble $50 SBC.

Wi-Fi 8 will not improve transfer speeds

Instead of increasing the physical data transfer rate beyond the 23 Gbps offered by Wi-Fi 7, the next-generation Wi-Fi 8—based on IEEE's 802.11bn Ultra High Reliability (UHR) specification—will focus on improving connection reliability and user experience.

Summit supercomputer gets virtual farewell on Zoom

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Summit supercomputer is beingdecommissioned this monthafter spending several years churning through data 24/7. As part of its retirement, HPC Guru said onXthat the ORNL planned a virtual farewell on Zoom for theonce most powerful computer in the world. And although it’s set to be retired this month, it’s still running at almost full power, with only about 0.5% of its nodes running idle.

Intel doesn't plan to bring 3D V-Cache-like tech to consumer CPUs for now

Clearwater Forestis turning out to be an entirely different beast. It will incorporate not only the latest goods from Intel Foundry—like Foveros Direct 3D, RibbonFET, PowerVia, and EMIB 3.5D—but also 3D cache, which Intel calls "Local Cache," per an interview with Intel's Florian Maislinger conducted byder8auer and Bens Hardware. And sadly, Team Blue has no plans to introduce AMD 3D V-cache-esque capabilities in its desktop CPUs.

HighPoint launches a 492TB external NVMe RAID storage solution smaller than a shoebox

HighPointlaunched the RocketAIC 6542AWW, an industry-first external RAID storage drive with 492 TB of storage. It achieves this through eight Solidigm D5-P5336 NVME SSDs that deliver 61.44TB each while delivering a 28-GB/s “real-world” transfer speed.

Maker builds Raspberry Pi-powered Rick and Morty watch to remotely control smart home

Raspberry Picontrolled smart homes are cool enough on their own but Donutsorelse has kicked things up a notch with this awesome Rick and Morty-themedwrist watch control system! This Raspberry Pi wearable is integrated with AI for a seamless experience, enabling Donutsorelse to control a variety of smart home services in his home—as well as a few Rock and Morty easter eggs, like an awesome Mr. Meeseeks box.

U.S Department of Commerce finalizes $6.6 billion CHIPS Act funding for TSMC Fab 21 Arizona site

The U.S. government hasshed some lighton TSMC's plans concerning the new Fab 21 complex near Phoenix, Arizona and revealed the foundry's plans to eventually build chips on its A16 (1.6nm-class) and N2 (2nm-class) process technologies in America by the end of the decade. Also, TSMC and the U.S. government today finalized funding of TSMC's Fab 21 under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act.

TSMC discovers unexploded bomb at Kaohsiung chip fab construction site

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) recently discovered an unexploded bomb on the construction site of one of its fabs in Kaohsiung. According to a report byUnited Daily Newsandofficial comments from TSMC to The Register, the unexploded ordnance is significantly corroded and weighs around 500 pounds — the typical weight of a single bomb laden on World War II fighter-bombers. According toPCMag, it was unearthed by a contractor on November 11 at the Nanzih Technology Industrial Park, where work was temporarily disrupted so authorities could dispose of the old explosive properly.

Corsair expects Nvidia's RTX 50 series will retain the 12V-2x6 power connector

Nvidia's RTX 50 "Blackwell" GPUs are on the horizon and should be the only offering in the high-end "enthusiast-level" segment. APress Releasefrom Corsair reports that next-generation high-end GPUs (from Nvidia) will likely retain the updated 12V-2x6 standard, sticking to asingle16-pin connector design and could require more power.

Two Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPUs burned out on X870 motherboards

Update 11/15/2024 03:09 PTMSI has released abrief statementwhich acknowledges the report, and states that it is investigating the issue.

Chinese GPU unicorn Moore Threads inches closer to IPO: Report

Moore Threads, a Chinese GPU developer that is also focusing on AI, is progressing toward a potential IPO after restructuring as a joint-stock entity and increasing its capital base to ¥330 million ($45.6 million), reports theSouth China Morning Post. Despite being on the U.S. Entity List, the company has garnered substantial private and government funding to advance China's AI and GPU capabilities.

Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 spotted at exhibition ahead of official launch

The Raspberry PiCompute Module 5(CM5) has been spotted in the wild. This unannounced compact-optimized version of the Pi 5 is apparently on show at the electronica 2024 show in Munich, which runs until tomorrow afternoon. Twitter / X userFernandoshared a photo of the CM5 plus a glimpse of its IO Board, quickly retweeted by eminent Pi-aficionado Jeff Geerling.

GOG launches "Preservation Program" for porting and maintaining "Good Old Games" to modern PCs with 92 classic games

DRM-free game storefront GOG, per the original announcementblog post, recently announced a new "Preservation Program" for retro PC games that will be maintained for and playable on modern platforms. Any game in this program is considered a "Good Old Game" preserved by GOG, and GOG is largely dedicating its own resources to maintaining many of these long-abandoned titles.

TSMC reportedly delays Fab 21 opening ceremony in Arizona until January

TSMC has reportedly delayed the opening ceremony of its Fab 21 near Phoenix, Arizona, from December 6 to sometime in late January or even February after Donald Trump takes office, reportDigiTimesandChina Times, as noticed byDan Nystedt. The decision means that the ceremony will unlikely be attended by the U.S. current President Joe Biden, or members of his administration.

Intel Arrow Lake loses DLVR bypass "Power Gate" profile in latest 0x112 microcode

Reports suggest that Intel has removed the ability for users to bypass DLVR through the BIOS in its latest 0x112 microcode—perHardwareluxx. DLVR technology on Intel'sArrow Lakelineup of CPUs is said to improve efficiency, though you could choose not to use the feature through a "DLVR bypass" setting in the BIOS in case you were overclocking (OC).

Intel postponed the Magdeburg fab in “close coordination” with the German state

Both Intel and the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, whose capital city of Magdeburg was supposed to host Intel’s Fab 29, are still interested in the project — even if Inteldelayed constructiondue toits financial woes.

Apple M4 revitalizes decades-old iMac G4

A retro tech enthusiast has revitalized a classic Apple iMac G4 ‘lampshade’ computer with a state-of-the-art M4 injection. Shoehorning one of the newMac Mini M4computers into this classic pedestal 20-inch all-in-one PC design delivers more than just a performance update. It transforms an obsolete retro curiosity from 2002 into a device that is fighting fit for 2024—and a few years beyond.

AI accelerator tinybox pro goes up for preorder for $40,000

The tinybox pro is now up for preorder on thetinygrad website, offering two more GPUs, an extra AMD Genoa EPYC processor, and three times the system RAM asthe original $15,000 TinyBox AI accelerator.

RISC-V motherboard for Framework 13 laptops and mini-PCs starts at $199

RISC-V computer firmDeepComputingannounced that it offers early access to its new motherboard for the Framework Laptop 13.

Chinese company trained GPT-4 rival with just 2,000 GPUs

As Chinese entities do not have access to tens of thousands of advanced AI GPUs from companies like Nvidia, companies from this country must innovate to train their advanced AI models. Kai-Fu Lee, the founder and head of01.ai, said this week that his company has trained one of its advanced AI models using 2,000 GPUs with just $3 million.

Diamond-cooled GPUs are coming soon

Akash Systems has signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms with the U.S. Department of Commerce for $18.2 million in direct funding and $50 million in federal and state tax credits through the CHIPS Act. Although this isn’t yet a binding contract that will give the company the promised funds, it’s an important first step in the negotiation process for the Oakland-based startup, which shows that both the company and the U.S. government are gradually moving towards a formal agreement. According toAkash Systems(h/tAxios), it will use the funds to ramp up its operations for producing diamond-cooled semiconductors for AI, data centers, space applications, and defense markets.

AMD claims the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is 75% faster than Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V in gaming

AMD has published ablog postboasting of incredible gaming performance for its Ryzen AI 300 series processors, with performance that is on average 75% faster than Intel's equivalent Lunar Lake counterpart. That number doesn't agree withour own testing of the Radeon 890M and Arc 140V integrated graphics, in part because we didn't use "performance enhancing" settings that are inherently unequal.AMD unveiled several gamingbenchmarksat 1080p medium settings, showcasing theRyzen AI 9 HX 370withRadeon 890Msignificantly outperforming Intel's competingCore Ultra 7 258Vwith Arc 140V graphics. Games selected for the comparison included Ghost of Tsushima, Cyberpunk 2077, Dying Light 2 Stay Human, Baldur's Gate 3, Spider-Man Remastered, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Hogwarts Legacy, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Borderlands 3, Doom Eternal, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Forza Horizon 5, Hitman 3, Far Cry 6, and F1 24.

Microsoft releases official Windows 11 ISO for Arm devices

Microsofthas finallylauncheda Windows 11 ISO for Arm-based systems - many months after theQualcomm Snapdragon X Elitehit shelves. While there were many workarounds to get Windows working on devices with an Arm processor - an official build from Microsoft ensures a hassle-free experience for the average consumer.

Phison intros 'world's fastest' high-capacity 128TB SSD

Phison has introduced its Pascari D205V datacenter SSD with a capacity of up to 128TB and a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface. The drive is aimed at AI training as well as media streaming applications that demand both high capacity and high performance. In an emailTom's Hardwarereceived, Phison said the SSD will be available in the second quarter of next year and its clients can use the platform to build their own drives.

Where to buy AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D — the new king of gaming CPUs

Smashing its way straight to the top spot as thebest CPU for gaming, AMD's latest release, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, is available to buy from today (November 7, 2024), and if you want the best processor for pure gaming in your PC, then I'm sure you've already got your eyes on this beast of a CPU.

AMD is laying off 4 percent of its global workforce as it sharpens focus on AI

AMD on Wednesday said that it would reduce its global workforce by 4% in a bid to focus on its main future growth opportunities. As a result of the decision, the company will have to lay off around 1,000 employees worldwide after doubling its headcount over the past three years.

Apple M4 Max CPU transcribes audio twice as fast as the RTX A5000 GPU in user test

Apple's all-new M4 silicon excels significantly in transcribing compared to other CPUs and GPUs, even discrete GPUs.Iniysa on Xreports that Apple's M4 Max accomplished anaudiotranscode with Whisper V3 Turbo in half the time of Nvidia's Ampere-based RTX A5000 GPU while using nearly eight times less power.

Intel's Special Edition Core i9-12900KS plummets to all-time low $240

Intel's three-generation-old Core i9-12900KS special edition flagship is on the best deal it's ever been on. Originally priced at a whopping $739, this chip is now 80% off at just $240 onAmazonfor a limited time.

AMD is purportedly preparing Ryzen 200 "Hawk Point Refresh" APUs

AMD is allegedly planning to refresh its Ryzen 8040 or Hawk Point lineup of APUs using the new Ryzen 200 branding—possibly byCES2025—per theGolden Pig Upgrade Pack. This is to better align AMD's upcoming offerings—including refreshes—with its existing Ryzen AI 300 series, and future products should be named based on the same nomenclature: Ryzen AI 400, Ryzen AI 500—you get the idea.

The Best CPU for Gaming in 2024

Our picks below will show you the best CPU for gaming. Of course, when shopping for the best CPU for gaming, you'll want to balance performance and features with your budget. You can also see how all of these processors stack up in ourCPU benchmarkshierarchy, and for detailed help on picking the best processor, you can check out our2024 CPU Buying Guide. And if you're on the fence about which CPU maker to go with, ourAMD vs. Intelarticle dives deep into the topic and comes up with a winner.

Researchers develop Python code for in-memory computing

In-memory computing has been in development for a while; however, software has yet to be released or compatible with this computing architecture.Techxplorereports that Technion researchers have developed software that works with processing in memory designs, specifically with Python code.

Intel Core Ultra 5 225H delivers 14% better single core and 16% improved iGPU performance than Meteor Lake per early benchmarks

Intel's upcoming Core Ultra 5 225H from the Arrow Lake-H mobile family has been tested at Geekbench (viaBenchleaks), delivering moderate uplifts compared to its predecessor in theCPUandiGPU(OpenCL) departments. However, even this sizeable uplift is still insufficient to leapfrog Lunar Lake, which sits comfortably at the top of the table at much lower power limits.

LG working with Jim Keller on new ‘Affectionate Intelligence’ processor

LGand Tenstorrent haveannouncedthat they will expand their collaboration efforts. The tech twosome already has some SoC plans in progress, but today they voiced the intention to develop new AI chips to push forward LS’s concept of ‘Affectionate Intelligence’ in AI-powered home appliances, smart home solutions, mobility, and commercial applications.

How To Use AMD Ryzen Master

AMD Ryzen Master is a powerful utility designed for overclocking AMD Ryzen processors. This software allows users to tweak CPU settings, monitor performance, and optimize their systems for better performance. Unlike traditional BIOS overclocking, Ryzen Master provides a user-friendly interface that enables real-time adjustments and monitoring. This guide will walk you through the steps to download, install, and effectively use AMD Ryzen Master for overclocking your AMD Ryzen processor.

Preliminary specifications for Intel's 65W and 35W Core Ultra 200 Arrow Lake S CPUs leaked

Specifications of Intel's upcoming Core Ultra 200T and 200 non-K series of CPUs have been shared on X by data aggregator and leakermomomo_us. These CPUs are expected to arrive byCES2025, in tandem with cheaper B860 and even H810 motherboard chipsets - making Arrow Lake accessible for budget-conscious consumers.

AMD Ryzen 9000 pricing freefalls, hits all-time lows

AMD'sRyzen 9000(codenamed Granite Ridge) series, among thebest CPUs, has dropped to its lowest-ever prices at Micro Center—listed for up to 28% lower than their launch prices, which should increase AM5 adoption rates.

UserBenchmark suggests you buy the i5-13600K over the Ryzen 7 9800X3D — says AMD drives sales with 'aggressive marketing' rather than 'real-world performance'

UserBenchmark - the gift that keeps on giving! The website's latest review of theRyzen 7 9800X3Dhas left many in shock as it now deems spending extra on a gaming CPU pointless. Continuing its never-ending saga of denouncing AMD, which it often refers to as "Advanced Marketing Devices," UserBenchmark doubles down and names the i5-13600K and i5-14600K as worthy competitors, even though AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D has dethroned Intel's fastest gaming CPU, the i9-14900K, by almost 33% perour testing.

Intel reportedly denies RMA for crashing Core i9-14900K CPU due to liquid metal thermal paste usage

If you own an Intel 13th GenerationRaptor Lakeor 14th GenerationRaptor Lake RefreshCPU, you may want to think twice before using liquid metal as a thermal paste. The latest report fromHKEPCclaims that Intel has reportedly denied an RMA request for aCore i9-14900Kdue to the usage of liquid metal.

Intel announces Arrow Lake fix coming within a month — Robert Hallock confirms poor gaming performance is due to optimization issues

Intel's Robert Hallock has confirmed that Intel's Core Ultra 200S series launch did not go as planned. In a live stream withHotHardware on YouTube, Hallock revealed that optimization issues with the Arrow Lake platform were the primary cause of degradation in gaming (versus Intel's previous-gen Raptor Lake chips).