Marathon recently had quite a successful server slam weekend, drawing in nearly 150,000 players at one point on Steam alone. In the hours since its March 5 launch, it has consistently played host to around 80,000 concurrent players, showing that it wasn't just the free test drawing players into the new extraction shooter. However, it seems as though Bungie wants to include as many gamers in the fun as possible, according to the game's ESRB rating, which has recently been updated to include both the Xbox One and PlayStation 5 in addition to the previous ratings for PC, Xbox Series, and PlayStation 5 platforms.

Bungie has not confirmed whether it is planning to bring Marathon to older systems, but it's curious nonetheless that the game would receive a dedicated rating for last-gen consoles, especially since older games that launched on last-gen consoles but have since become playable on new consoles, like Destiny 2, have not been updated at the ESRB to include newer console generations in their ratings. Marathon's minimum hardware requirements for PC are far from high-end, calling for just an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT and an Intel Core i5-6600 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 with 8 GB of RAM. The PS4, for its part, is powered by an AMD GCN 1.1.0 GPU with 1152 shading units, coming in at around 1.843 TFLOPS theoretical performance, which is substantially lower than the GTX 1050 Ti's 2.183 TFLOPS, but given the nature of tailored console hardware, it wouldn't be surprising if it could be run smoothly on the aging hardware. However, it has been reported that Marathon runs fairly well on Windows gaming handhelds, so it may be technically possible to get the game running on older consoles if the development team decides to put in the work.

Resident Evil Requiem recently launched as the newest installment in Capcom's zombie horror franchise, and although it received glowing reviews, even topping the Steam charts and handily beating out every other Resident Evil game on PC, gamers were a little disappointed to find out that the game was originally meant to feature a return to Raccoon City and the Spencer mansion from Resident Evil 1. According to prominent game leaker, Dusk Golem on X, part of the reason for the mansion scene being cut from Requiem was to avoid repetition in both the upcoming Code Veronica remake and a Resident Evil 1 remake.

[Editor's note: Our in-depth review of Resident Evil Requiem is now live]

According to the leaker, Resident Evil 1 is confirmed as being in early development, and a Code Veronica will be the next game in the series, which would mean having gameplay in the same mansion in three successive games, which, in the leaker's own words would "start to feel very samey & not very special at all." Resident Evil Code Veronica Remake is slated to launch in 2027, although the Resident Evil 1 remake is still in the early stages of development, so it seems like a 2029 release date would be the earliest we can expect. Supposedly, the remake will be in the updated RE Engine in which Requiem was also made and demonstrates decent visuals and performance, even with modest hardware requirements.

March is in full bloom, and that means a fresh wave of games heading to the cloud. 15 new titles are joining the GeForce NOW library this month. Leading the March lineup is Pearl Abyss' Crimson Desert, an open‑world action‑adventure set in a war‑torn fantasy land, alongside plenty of other games to explore. Whether looking to shake off the winter blues or jump into some bracket‑worthy gaming action, there's something for everyone in the cloud. March into the cloud and see what's new - and keep an eye on GFN Thursdays all month for more updates. This week kicks off the month with eight new games.

March Gaming Madness
LORT dials chaos up to 11 and snaps the knob clean off. Big Distraction's off‑the‑rails adventure hurls players into a world where every corner hides a bad idea waiting to become a great story, powered by wild weapons, weirder characters and "Did that just happen?" moments. Catch every glorious disaster in full fidelity and play it on GeForce NOW, available this week.

Over a decade ago, the BC1 Open Benchtable launched with one clear goal: the ultimate portable platform for traveling overclocking enthusiasts. Its minimalist, toolless, flat pack design proved so effective that it quickly became the benchmark for open air builds, evolving from road warrior to permanent showcase platform for hobbyists and professionals alike.

Portability demanded compromises: slim profile, simple brackets, no native support for complete vertical builds. Today we close those gaps with precision engineered accessories that extend the BC1's legendary versatility without changing its core DNA.

Keychron recently announced the new Q HE 8K gaming keyboard line-up, starting with the Q1 HE, Q3 HE, and Q6 HE, all of which feature Keychron's Ultra-Fast Magnetic Lime switches and full metal construction. Keychron has now also added the Q5 HE 8K to the list, for those who want a slightly more compact layout but don't want to sacrifice the num pad in the process. The Q5 HE 8K is available on the Keychron web store in black and white colorways for $239.99. It will likely also launch on Amazon at a later date, but it is not yet available there.

Everything about the Q5 HE 8K is just about identical to the other keyboards in the series, with the exception of the layout, from the polyurethane foam gasket mount to the aluminium plate and OSA profile double-shot PBT keycaps. The main draw over the Q5 HE 8K is that it condenses much of the same functionality as the full-size Q6 HE 8K into a small footprint—408 mm long vs 446 mm on the Q6 HE 8K—while only losing five keys and not compromising with a small zero key on the num pad. Unlike most 1800 layout keyboards, the Q5 HE 8K also has a programmable knob and a row of macro keys above the num pad. Like its brethren, the Q5 HE 8K is a wired-only keyboard, which has the side effect of bringing the front height down to 20.6 mm, and it has the same analog input features and 8 kHz polling rate as the other keyboards in the 8K series. The keyboard is also remappable and configurable in the Keychron Launcher web app, and it features all the usual analog keyboard trappings, like SOCD, DKS, Rapid Trigger, and controller emulation. It also has on-board macros with macro recording or manual programming functionality in Launcher, and it features Keychron's usual hardware OS selector switch alongside a hardware profile selector switch near the USB-C port.

imec, a global leader in nano-electronics and digital innovation, and Atlas Data Storage, a pioneer of production-scale DNA data storage, today announce a new strategic partnership to accelerate the development of digital data storage using synthetic DNA. The collaboration combines Atlas' ASIC design expertise and scalable DNA synthesis technology with imec's deep expertise in advanced chip development, fabrication, and integration. In addition to prototyping and strategic support, imec is investing in Atlas.

As data creation and storage accelerates in the AI age, magnetic media such as tape and hard disk drives face unavoidable limits in density, sustainability, cost, and long-term reliability. DNA data storage compresses vast datasets into tiny volumes while ensuring ultra-long durability with minimal energy and maintenance.

We reported that Apple's M5 Pro/Max series of SoCs is now incorporating an additional core tier alongside the usual configuration we have been seeing in the company's processors for years. The performance core has been renamed "Super Core," and Apple has introduced a middle-tier design called Performance Core, which is actually a new "M-Core," while the Efficiency Core remains the same. As the regular big P-Core has been renamed to Super-Core, Apple is updating its nomenclature even for the regular M5 SoC with the macOS Tahoe 26.3.1 update. In this update, Apple has renamed the bigger Performance core to Super-Core, meaning that the M5 SoC now has four super cores and six efficiency cores, whereas this was previously called a four performance-core and six efficiency-core design before the update.

This M5 SoC has no new "M-Cores" variants that sit between the super core and efficiency core, while the M5 Pro and M5 Max have six Super-Cores and 12 M-Cores. The M-Core is a 7-wide out-of-order execution CPU that has roughly 70% of the P-core performance with slightly lower power usage. Interestingly, the efficiency core is completely absent from the new M5 Pro/Max SoCs, resulting in a combination of performance and middle-class cores. This leaves only the regular M5 with the efficiency cores in its CPU package. This macOS software update is only meant for the M5-powered MacBook Pro, which has been shipping with older macOS versions without the Tahoe's v26.3.1 update. For the latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro equipped with M5, M5 Pro, and M5 Max SoCs, the operating system will likely already show the new naming out of the box, as Apple likely applied all OS updates before shipping. Below are screenshots courtesy of Andrew Cunningham from Ars Technica, showing the new nomenclature on the left, and old way on the right.

NuPhy recently revealed the Aquarium keycap set in its custom nSA profile for low-profile mechanical keyboards, like the Air60 HE and Node series mechanical keyboards. Now, the brand has announced the latest iteration in its nSA keycap range, the Creative Engine design, which features a much more practical design than the Aquarium set. The NuPhy Creative Engine nSA keycap set is available on the NuPhy online store for $49.95 and includes 126 keys, providing a few alternative keycaps for some modifiers and navigation keys and supporting a little more than an average 100% keyboard. That said, the keycap set does not have proper extended compatibility for odd-ball layouts or even ISO, although you could probably make it work on a split space keyboard, thanks to the 2.25u and 2.75u enter and shift keys, thanks to the uniform height.

Much like the Aquarium keycap set, the Creative Engine keycap set is designed by BOHO and manufactured by KeyTok, a well-known OEM in the mechanical keyboard space. The Creative Engine keycap set is inspired by the UI of Adobe Illustrator, with three shades of gray for the main alphanumeric keycaps and bright yellow for the accent keycaps. The legend on the keycaps echoes the Illustrator theme, with each keycap featuring dye-sublimation printed iconography and lettering for built-in Illustrator keyboard shortcuts. The nSA profile features a 5.5 mm maximum height and a spherical top—this simply means that the top curves in both the X and Y axes, unlike something like Cherry, which uses cylindrical tops that only curve in the X axis. NuPhy explicitly lists compatibility with its own Air, Kick, and Node series low-profile keycaps, but the keycaps should be compatible with any mechanical keyboard that uses MX-style switches and has a layout somewhere between 60% and 100% and uses a 6.25u space bar.

NVIDIA has reportedly halted production of its China-focused H200 "Hopper" GPU at TSMC's facilities, according to multiple reports. The company has built up an inventory of 250,000 H200 GPUs, which will be available in the Chinese market for select applications that do not compromise United States national security. After NVIDIA was granted export rights to China for its H200 accelerators, the company began stockpiling these GPUs to supply AI labs across China. However, China has also restricted what its domestic companies and AI labs can import, meaning that the import of H200 GPUs is still prohibited unless a company receives a letter of exemption from Beijing. This has resulted in NVIDIA using its TSMC N5 5 nm node capacity to create about 250,000 units, which are now stored in a warehouse awaiting export approval from the U.S. administration and import approval from Chinese customs for AI labs.

Interestingly, the Financial Times and Reuters note that NVIDIA will now "reallocate" capacity from H200 production to the new "Rubin." However, these two GPU generations do not use the same manufacturing node or packaging technology. For "Hopper," NVIDIA uses TSMC's 5 nm node with CoWoS-S packaging, while "Rubin" uses a 3 nm node with CoWoS-L packaging. These reports likely refer to some conversion of manufacturing capacity involving either the node or packaging capacity that NVIDIA has secured. It is unlikely that the 5 nm semiconductor node can be converted into a 3 nm node without significant line remodeling and changes to manufacturing equipment. However, packaging can be adjusted more easily, which is likely what these reports are indicating.

Other World Computing (OWC), a trusted leader in high-performance storage, memory, connectivity, software, and accessories that empower creative and business professionals to maximize performance, enhance reliability, and streamline workflows, today announced storage and connectivity solutions for Apple's all new MacBook Neo.

It is always an exciting moment when Apple introduces a new Mac for the people who depend on these machines to get real work done," said Larry O'Connor, Founder and CEO of Other World Computing (OWC). "The MacBook Neo brings powerful capabilities into an incredibly portable form factor and much lower price, and that means professionals, students, and creators will want tools that travel just as easily and affordably while expanding what the system can do. With solutions like the OWC Travel Dock and our USB-C storage solutions, OWC makes it simple and affordable to connect more to the Neo and easily expand your storage so users can work anywhere without compromise."

MSI, a leading brand in gaming hardware, is thrilled to partner with Pearl Abyss, the acclaimed game developer and publisher, to offer PC gamers an exclusive reward.

Embark on a thrilling adventure in Crimson Desert with MSI's high-performance motherboards
From March 6th to April 6th, 2026, gamers who purchase select MSI X870E or B850 motherboards can claim a free Crimson Desert Steam code. Experience the stunning visuals and action-packed open world of Pywel, powered by the cutting-edge performance of MSI's latest hardware.

CP156 is a ToughArmor series removable NVMe enclosure that fits into a standard external 3.5" drive bay. It allows two 7 mm U.2/U.3 NVMe SSDs to be mounted together on a single removable tray. Unlike traditional 2-bay designs where each SSD is removed separately, CP156 keeps both drives physically secured on the same tray. This ensures that:

• Drive order remains fixed
• Paired SSDs are never separated
• No accidental swapping during handling or transport

For RAID configurations, mirrored datasets, or application-specific SSD pairs, maintaining correct drive sequence is critical. CP156 eliminates the risk of mix-ups during physical movement.

Wishfully Studios and Thunderful invite players to visit a stunning world and experience a heartfelt story of companionship in Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf, available now on PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation 5 PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch for $19.99 / €19.99 / £16.99.

A Supporter Pack for the game is also available for PC and PlayStation 5, which includes a digital art book, the Novo Language Companion - a guide to the game's language - and, for PC, stunning wallpapers and backgrounds. A demo for the game launched today on Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch and remains available on PC, PlayStation and Xbox platforms.

Developer DALOAR and publisher Daedalic Entertainment are pleased to announce that the first-person horror adventure The Occultist will release on April 8, 2026. The Occultist is now also available for pre-order on PlayStation 5 and Xbox. More information can be found on the game's official website: https://www.theoccultist-game.com.

The episode explores how environmental details, distant sounds, and carefully used silence shape the experience of exploring the island. Instead of relying on jump scares or gore, the developers focus on sustained tension where atmosphere and player imagination gradually build fear throughout the journey.

System76 has refreshed its Launch mechanical keyboard lineup with a new Prism Black finish and doubleshot PBT shine-through keycaps, the latter being corrosion-resistant and keeping the RGB backlighting visible without washing it out. For the unfamiliar, System76 is based in Denver, Colorado, US, and is primarily known for its Linux-first laptops, desktops, and servers, plus the in-house Pop!_OS operating system. Both the Launch and Launch Heavy keyboards are milled from solid aluminium blocks and built around a custom open-source PCB. Switch swapping is tool-free thanks to Kailh MX hot-swap sockets, with Jade, Royal, Silent Pink, and Silent Brown variants available at purchase. The keyboards also feature per-key RGB and full N-key rollover. Firmware is QMK-based and fully open source, with layout and lighting customization handled through the System76 Keyboard Configurator app on Linux, Windows, and macOS.

Connectivity on both keyboards is wired, using a detachable USB connection, and System76 includes both USB-C to USB-C and USB-A to USB-C cables in the box. The compact Launch measures 308.3 mm x 135.1 mm x 30.6 mm, with an 84-key layout, and includes a four-port USB hub with two USB-C and two USB-A ports, all running at 10 Gbps. The Launch Heavy offers a 105-key layout, measures 394 mm x 135.1 mm x 30.3 mm, and comes with the same SuperSpeed four-port USB hub to match. The Launch starts at $285 and the Launch Heavy at $299.

In response to memory shortages, PC OEMs are exploring alternative manufacturers and suppliers for this increasingly scarce and valuable resource. Customers now need to make purchasing decisions within an hour or even prepay suppliers to secure DRAM. Recently, Lenovo has started using the Chinese memory supplier CXMT in some of its laptop models. Lenovo is officially rolling out its LPCAMM2 memory to mainstream laptops after introducing it with the ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 back in 2024. LPCAMM2 is a new memory standard that combines the performance of LPDDR5X with the upgradeability of a regular SODIMM. The ThinkBook 16+ is likely Lenovo's first consumer device to feature LPCAMM2, offering up to 32 GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory, supported by an Intel Core Ultra X7 385H and its Arc B390 iGPU, using the first CXMT memory modules.

Late last year, CXMT introduced its DDR5-8000 and LPDDR5X-10667 memory modules at the 2025 China International Semiconductor Expo. This development has likely encouraged many OEMs to seek alternatives to traditional suppliers like SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron, whose supply has been very limited outside AI accelerator workloads. Even Apple is reportedly considering partnerships with Chinese semiconductor manufacturers CXMT and YMTC for its upcoming iPhone 18 series and possibly other products like MacBooks and Mac computers. With suppliers such as Kioxia, Samsung, and SK hynix raising prices due to a significant industry shortage, Apple is experiencing pressure on its profit margins while maintaining the same MSRP for its products. To diversify its supply chain, Apple is reportedly looking into sourcing DRAM from CXMT and NAND Flash from YMTC to reduce its reliance on South Korean and Japanese suppliers.

Intel has quietly initiated open-source efforts to lay the groundwork for its next-generation Xe3P graphics within the Mesa OpenGL "Iris" and Vulkan "Anvil" drivers. According to a report from Phoronix, these efforts are not immediately focused on making the driver functional but rather on establishing code paths that can be developed for this graphics IP in the future. This means preliminary support is still a few weeks away, as additional work is needed behind the scenes. By the time Xe3P GPUs are released, open-source driver support should be ready.

We expect to see the first versions of Xe3P GPUs this year, as this IP will take on various forms. Some will be featured in the upcoming "Nova Lake" desktop processors for the consumer market, anticipated later this year. Early open-source enablement suggests "Nova Lake-P" processors will include Xe3P-LPG for integrated graphics. Additionally, "Nova Lake-P" processors will incorporate multiple new IPs like Xe3P-LPM for media processing, which handles decoding and encoding, and Xe3P-LPD for display output processing. Finally, the Xe3P IP will also be part of Intel's AI-focused "Crescent Island" inference GPU, which will feature 160 GB of onboard LPDDR5X. We are still awaiting performance claims for this Xe3P GPU, so we need to be patient a little longer.

Yesterday, Apple announced its newest low-cost MacBook Neo, starting at $599 in the United States, or about $499 for education and students. Some online criticism emerged regarding Apple's decision to offer a laptop with only 8 GB of RAM in 2026, with no options for higher RAM capacity. However, this 8 GB of RAM is a design choice Apple made at TSMC's packaging facilities for the A18 Pro chip. Inside the MacBook Neo, Apple decided to reuse the iPhone 16 Pro's chip, which comes from TSMC with 8 GB of LPDDR5X memory. This memory is attached directly above the A18 Pro SoC using Integrated Fan-Out Package on Package (InFO-PoP), creating a 3D wafer-level fan-out package. This package is designed to hold memory directly above the SoC die, resulting in a smaller PCB design without the LPDDR5X module taking up over 100 mm² of PCB area.

Therefore, Apple's MacBook Neo configurations are limited to what the A18 Pro SoC is originally packaged with. These are 8 GB LPDDR5X modules that are shipped directly to TSMC for integration into the InFO-PoP package, which is later shipped back to Apple for integration into these new MacBook Neo laptops. While offering 8 GB laptops in modern times might seem controversial, the design choices behind the SoC and the goal of keeping unit costs low are what limit Apple from providing more memory capacity. Finally, these SoCs use Unix-based macOS, which is optimized for good memory management at this capacity, ensuring that users can still have a satisfactory experience.

At MWC 2026, Fibocom unveiled its new 5G SoC Dongle solution series, designed with an all-in-one SoC architecture that integrates high-performance 5G communication, an intelligent operating system, and flexible eSIM/vSIM services. This solution aims to deliver a cost-efficient and scalable 5G terminal option for the global mobile broadband market.

SoC Integration: Redefining 5G Terminal Efficiency
The highlight of Fibocom's 5G SoC Dongle lies in its high-performance SoC-based architecture, offering advantages in performance, cost, intelligent interaction, and application flexibility.

• Performance Leap: Equipped with an octa-core CPU (up to 2.3 GHz) and Adreno 613 GPU, the dongle delivers exceptional data processing power alongside ultra-fast 5G connectivity.
• Cost Efficiency: The SoC's high level of integration minimizes peripheral components and optimizes hardware design. This not only improves production yield but also significantly reduces development and material costs, providing strong pricing competitiveness for operators and enterprise customers.

Capcom Co., Ltd. today announced that worldwide sales of Resident Evil Requiem, released on February 27, 2026, surpassed 5 million units.

Resident Evil Requiem is the latest installment in the Resident Evil series, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this month. The title successfully elevated the essence of survival horror by heightening the interplay between intense fear and exhilarating action. Resident Evil Requiem was developed using RE ENGINE, Capcom's proprietary game engine, which allowed the company to deliver visuals in photorealistic detail, including the characters' skin, teary eyes, and flowing hair, as well as the translucency of light. In addition, the title offers a new game experience for a broad fanbase through multiple difficulty settings that accommodate everyone from newcomers to experienced players, as well as allowing players to switch between first-person and third-person perspectives in real-time to suit each player's individual play styles.

TrendForce's latest research on smartphone panels reveals that shortages and rising memory prices—one of the most costly components in smartphones—are reshaping brand shipment strategies for 2026 and weakening panel demand.

Global smartphone panel shipments are projected to reach 2.14 billion units in 2026, down 7.3% YoY from 2.31 billion units in 2025. This marks the end of the growth cycle that began in 2023 and the market's first annual decline in several years.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, a mid-range GPU now two generations old, is reportedly returning to NVIDIA's supply this month. According to Chinese Board Channels, NVIDIA is planning a mid-March restock of the "Ampere" GPU, aligning with earlier rumors that suggested a Q1 2026 revival. Interestingly, it is unclear which version of the RTX 3060 will be reintroduced—whether it will be the original 12 GB model with a 192-bit wide memory bus or the newer 8 GB variant with a 128-bit bus. NVIDIA's decision to bring back this older SKU is puzzling, especially considering it is two generations old and comes amid memory supply chain shortages. However, this older SKU uses GDDR6 memory, which might be more readily available as the newer GDDR7 is being used by modern "Blackwell" GPUs and the upcoming "Rubin CPX" accelerators.

Why NVIDIA has chosen the RTX 3060 instead of a newer model like the RTX 4060 remains uncertain. Speculatively, it could be due to the fact that the RTX 4060 is based on the same NVIDIA 4N foundry node at TSMC as the current RTX 5060, while the RTX 3060, along with the rest of the GeForce "Ampere" generation, is built on the Samsung 8N (8 nm DUV) foundry node. Additionally, Board Channels note that GeForce RTX 3060 models from various brands will start arriving soon, which means NVIDIA's add-in card partners are doing much of the heavy lifting to bring back this SKU, with NVIDIA only supplying the GPU die and memory as an installation kit. AICs could start marketing this GPU again or just quietly add it to their websites. We are waiting a few more days to see how the re-launch unfolds and which SKUs we end up getting. Finally, the most important factor for considering this GPU when modern alternatives exist is the pricing, which will dictate its sales.

Antec Inc., a global leader in high-performance computer components and accessories, proudly announces the launch of the Antec 900, a next-generation full-tower chassis engineered for Edge AI workloads, professional workstations, and high-end gaming systems. Designed for demanding computing environments, the Antec 900 provides a scalable platform for AI development, engineering, content creation, and 8K-capable gaming.

The Antec 900 supports ATX, E-ATX, SSI-CEB, and SSI-EEB motherboards, including AMD Threadripper systems, and is also compatible with back-connect motherboards for cleaner cable management and improved airflow. The spacious interior accommodates multi-GPU and accelerator configurations such as NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada series GPUs. With support for graphics cards up to 495 mm in length and 160 mm in thickness, the chassis is built for the latest generation of high-performance hardware.

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS), a premier chip and silicon IP provider making data faster and safer, today announced the industry's leading HBM4E Memory Controller IP, extending its market leadership in HBM IP. This new solution delivers breakthrough performance with advanced reliability features enabling designers to address the demanding memory bandwidth requirements of next-generation AI accelerators and graphics processing units (GPUs).

"Given the insatiable bandwidth demands of AI, it's imperative for the memory ecosystem to continue aggressively advancing memory performance," said Simon Blake-Wilson, SVP and general manager of Silicon IP, at Rambus. "As a leading silicon IP provider for AI applications, we are bringing the industry's leading HBM4E Controller IP solution to the market as a key enabler for breakthrough performance in next-generation AI processors and accelerators."

NVIDIA has rolled out GeForce Hotfix Display Driver version 595.76, based on the recently released 595.71 WHQL Game Ready driver. The update specifically targets a GPU voltage cap issue affecting overclocked graphics cards, which prevented them from boosting to expected frequency levels. The voltage limitation surfaced shortly after the March 3 release of the 595.71 WHQL driver, which itself was meant to resolve problems introduced by the earlier 595.59 build. Users with RTX 50-series "Blackwell" GPUs reported reduced boost clocks and performance degradation under load, with observed core voltages sitting lower than on prior drivers. The new 595.76 hotfix restores proper voltage behavior when overclocking is applied.

Beyond the voltage fix, the hotfix addresses several game-related issues. In Resident Evil Requiem, it resolves white glowing artifacts that appeared when Subsurface Scattering was enabled and improves path tracing performance. It also fixes launch crashes in Star Citizen and corrects intermittent application crashes or driver timeouts when playing multi-key DRM content in browsers on HDCP 1.x monitors. As with all NVIDIA hotfix releases, version 595.76 is a beta, optional driver distributed through the company's Customer Care support site. It undergoes a shortened QA cycle and will be pulled once its fixes are rolled into the next official WHQL-certified release. Users seeking maximum stability may prefer to wait for that broader driver update.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce Hotfix Display Driver 595.76

An Assassin's Creed Black Flag Remake has been rumored for years at this point, with the most recent rumors claiming a 2026 launch date, but now, the new Assassin's Creed Head of Content, Jean Guedon, has confirmed in a recent brand update blog post that Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is in development. While the game's existence is now confirmed, no launch date or window has been attached yet, and Ubisoft indicated in the blog post that it is but one of several AC projects "in various stages of development."

As the title of the blog post "Assassin's Creed Into 2026" indicates, Guesdon also gives us an idea of what to expect from the franchise for 2026 onwards, aside from Black Flag. Namely, he says that the next Assassin's Creed game slated for launch is Assassin's Creed Codename Hexe, which looks to have recently received a combat rework deep into its development cycle. Hexe is confirmed to be a narrative-driven, darker twist on the franchise, and Ubisoft will "be quiet for a little longer," ahead of release, but it looks to be the closest to launch. Assassin's Creed Invictus is the name of the PVP multiplayer Assassin's Creed game that Guedon has also confirmed to be in development alongside Codename Jade, which is an open-world mobile game that will seemingly take place in China and was originally rumored for a 2023 launch.

On Monday, AMD announced its latest Ryzen AI 400 Series and Ryzen AI PRO 400 Series desktop processors, based on the "Gorgon Point" silicon and powered by the "Zen 5" core configuration. This generation follows the Ryzen 8000G series, known as "Phoenix Point." However, it has been revealed that the Ryzen AI 400 series reduces the number of usable PCIe lanes compared to the previous Ryzen 8000G generation. The new top SKU offers 16 native PCIe 4.0 lanes, but only 12 are available to the rest of the system. Four of these PCIe lanes are used for the chipset link that connects the AM5 socket to the motherboard chipset, leaving fewer lanes for the end-user. Lower-tier chips may provide as few as 10 usable lanes, which is insufficient to run a discrete GPU at its full 16x lanes in the PCIe 4.0 connector on the AM5 motherboard. When a user installs an M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, only eight lanes remain available for a discrete graphics card, meaning the GPU will operate in x8 mode instead of x16.

Interestingly, AMD hasn't fully utilized the "Gorgon Point" silicon in the desktop Ryzen AI 400G series. For example, the top model—Ryzen AI 7 450G—is configured with four "Zen 5" cores and four "Zen 5c" cores, making up an eight-core configuration. The fully unlocked "Gorgon Point" silicon in laptops has 12 cores in total, with four "Zen 5" and eight "Zen 5c" cores. This is a similar configuration to "Strix Point," but adapted for mobile. It's also worth noting AMD's approach with the iGPU. The top 450G processor model only comes with 8 iGPU compute units, which is half the CUs physically available on the silicon. Most other processor models in the series come with just 4 CUs.

NVIDIA is reportedly planning a second RTX 5050 variant with 9 GB of memory instead of the standard 8 GB, according to leaker MEGAsizeGPU who has a decent track record on NVIDIA leaks. Unlike the existing RTX 5050, which uses 8 GB of 20 Gbps GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus for 320 GB/s of bandwidth, the new model is said to adopt 3 GB GDDR7 modules. The updated configuration would total 9 GB across a 96-bit memory bus. While the narrower bus reduces interface width, the move to 28 Gbps GDDR7 would raise total memory bandwidth to 336 GB/s, a roughly 5% increase, alongside a 12.5% boost in VRAM capacity. Core specifications are expected to remain unchanged. The card would continue to use the GB207 GPU, based on the Blackwell architecture, with 2560 CUDA cores and a 130 W TDP. No changes to clock speeds or core counts have been mentioned.

The report also claims NVIDIA is preparing adjustments higher up the stack. A revised GeForce RTX 5060 may transition to the larger GB205 die, currently used in the RTX 5070, in a cut-down configuration. That would reportedly reduce the GPU from 6144 CUDA cores and a 192-bit bus to 3840 cores and a 128-bit interface. Such a move would require board partners to adopt new PCBs compatible with GB205 and standard 8-pin power connectors. According to the leak, these changes are tied to supply constraints affecting lower-tier RTX 50-series GPUs, including the RTX 5050 and RTX 5060. The GeForce RTX 5060 12 GB, which appeared in earlier roadmaps, is now reportedly canceled.

Lamptron has added silver colorways to its HC060 and HM049 hardware monitors, two compact displays built for real-time system monitoring inside or alongside a PC. The bigger of the two is the HC060, a 6-inch LCD running at 1024 x 768 and 60 Hz. It connects over HDMI and Micro USB, draws power via USB, and ties into AIDA64 for live system data, however, it can also handle photos, video, or light gaming if you want to use it that way. The unit measures 148.5 x 8.5 x 70 mm with a visible screen area of 133 x 74.5 mm and an 80° viewing angle. It can sit on a desk or be mounted inside a chassis, and supports custom skins from Lamptron or your own.

The HM049 is the smaller option at 4.9 inches, with a 960 x 320 panel at 60 Hz. Same connectivity and AIDA64 support, same skin customization, just in a more compact 148.5 x 42.5 x 66 mm body with a 111×37.5 mm display area and matching 80° viewing angle. Both models are available through the Lamptron AliExpress store and regional resellers across Europe, North America, and Asia. The HC060 starts at €149.90 and the HM049 at €79.90.

Panmnesia, an AI infrastructure link solution provider, today announced the signing of a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SK Telecom, South Korea's largest telco and a leading AI company. The agreement, signed at MWC26 in Barcelona, aims to jointly develop a CXL-based next-generation AI data center architecture.

As large-scale AI services continue to expand, data centers are investing heavily in massive deployments of high-performance GPUs, resulting in astronomical costs. Recognizing the need for sustainable scalability, SK Telecom and Panmnesia are focusing beyond simple GPU expansion to technologies that enable more efficient utilization of existing computing resources. Through this collaboration, the two companies aim to simultaneously improve cost efficiency and performance by innovating data center interconnect architecture based on Compute Express Link (CXL) technology.

Morefine has announced the N1 NAS, a tower-style NAS solution that packs the AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 8845HS, up to 96 GB of DDR5-5600 ECC memory, dual 10 GbE ports, and built-in PCIe expansion. Pricing starts at $759 for a barebones version, but 32 GB of memory bumps that up to $1,209, while the 64 GB and 96 GB versions come in at $1,569 and $1,929. The Morefine N1 has three M.2 slots for up to 12 TB of SSD storage alongside four hot-swap 3.5-inch HDD bays accessible via the top of the case for an additional 120 TB. The aluminium case itself measured 218 × 193 × 372 mm, making it considerably smaller than many ITX systems but not quite as svelte as a traditional mini PC, like the recently announced Minisforum MS-A2.

The N1 also comes with a built-in 800 W PSU with 400 W dedicated to the GPU power budget, making it adequate for something like an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, although the included PSU power connectors are not specified. Internal space for the dGPU is limited to 330 mm × 66 mm, too, so SFF GPUs will be the way to go. The port selection is also fairly decent for an SFF PC, packing dual USB 2.0, 1× USB4 port, 1× USB 3.2 Gen 2, 1× USB 3.2 Gen 1, a full size SD card reader, 1× HDMI 2.0, and dual 10 GbE RJ 45 ports. It also has a small 3-inch full color touch screen on the front of the case for displaying things like system information.

Other World Computing (OWC), a trusted leader in high-performance storage, memory, connectivity, software, and accessories that empower creative and business professionals to maximize performance, enhance reliability, and streamline workflows, today announced its unmatched roster of storage, connectivity, and expansion solutions for the newly announced Apple MacBook Pro with all new M5 Pro and M5 Max and MacBook Air with M5, as well as the Apple iPad Air, powered by M4 and Studio Display and all-new Studio Display XDR.

Apple today unveiled MacBook Neo, an all-new laptop that delivers the magic of the Mac at a breakthrough price, making it even more accessible to millions of people around the world. MacBook Neo starts with a beautiful Apple design, featuring a durable aluminium enclosure in an array of gorgeous colors—blush, indigo, silver, and a fresh new citrus. Its stunning 13-inch Liquid Retina display brings websites, photos, videos, and apps to life with high resolution and brightness, and support for 1 billion colors. Powered by A18 Pro, MacBook Neo can fly through everyday tasks, from browsing the web and streaming content, to editing photos, exploring creative hobbies, or using AI capabilities across apps. In fact, it's up to 50 percent faster for everyday tasks like web browsing, and up to 3x faster when running on-device AI workloads like applying advanced effects to photos, compared to the bestselling PC with the latest shipping Intel Core Ultra 5. Providing up to 16 hours of battery life, MacBook Neo allows users to go all day on a single charge.

A 1080p FaceTime HD camera and dual mics make it easy to look and sound great, and the dual side-firing speakers with Spatial Audio deliver crisp, immersive sound. MacBook Neo also features Apple's renowned Magic Keyboard for comfortable and precise typing, and a large Multi-Touch trackpad with support for intuitive gestures, enabling smooth and precise control. Completing the MacBook Neo experience is macOS Tahoe, with powerful built-in apps like Messages, Pages, Calendar, and Safari; seamless integration with iPhone; Apple Intelligence; as well as broad compatibility with third-party apps. And starting at just $599 and $499 for education, MacBook Neo is Apple's most affordable laptop ever, providing an unprecedented combination of quality and value. MacBook Neo is available to pre-order starting today, with availability beginning Wednesday, March 11.

Asustor has rounded out its AS72 rackmount NAS lineup with the AS7224RDX Lockerstor 24R Pro Gen 2, adding a 24-bay option to sit alongside the existing 12-bay AS7212RDX and 16-bay AS7216RDX models that launched back in August 2025. The new model supports drives up to 32 TB, giving it a raw internal capacity of 768 TB. It can be expanded to 36 bays with the AX7012R expansion unit, at which point it can pass the 1 PB internal capacity. The AS72 family runs on an AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 7745 (8 cores, up to 5.3 GHz) and comes with 16 GB of DDR5-4800 ECC memory, upgradeable to 192 GB. Networking covers dual 10 GbE and dual 1 GbE out of the box, with PCIe Gen 5 x8 and x4 slots available for 25/40/50 GbE NICs or SAS cards if you need more. Asustor quotes SMB multichannel speeds of up to 2,309 MB/s read and 1,886 MB/s write over 10 GbE in RAID 5.

The rest of the feature set is what you'd expect at this level: RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60, hot-swap bays, a hardware encryption engine, M.2 PCIe Gen 5 SSD support, four USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, and dual redundant 550 W 80 Plus Platinum PSUs. No pricing has been announced.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today unveiled the Razer BlackShark V3 X HyperSpeed for Xbox - White Edition and Razer BlackShark V3 X HyperSpeed for PlayStation - White Edition.

Bringing a clean new colorway to one of Razer's most lightweight, high-performance wireless console headsets, the White Edition is designed to complement next-generation consoles while delivering the same esports-ready performance that the BlackShark line is known for.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading innovator in computing, networking, and storage solutions, today introduced the TS-h1077AFU, a compact 10-bay SATA-based all-flash NAS designed for businesses seeking fast, reliable, and cost-effective flash storage. Built on the ZFS-based QuTS hero operating system, powered by AMD Ryzen PRO 7000 Series processors, and equipped with ECC DDR5 memory, the TS-h1077AFU delivers exceptional performance, data integrity, and deployment value. Engineered with speed, density, and reliability at its core, the TS-h1077AFU is ideal for virtualization, high-speed media workflows, database operations, and multi-site backup consolidation.

"Following the strong market reception of our 30-bay TS-h3077AFU, we developed the TS-h1077AFU to bring the same enterprise flash performance to a more compact and versatile form factor," said Alex Shih, Product Manager at QNAP. "This 10-bay model gives businesses greater flexibility when designing high-performance flash storage architectures, while retaining the reliability and data integrity that QuTS hero is known for."

The memory procurement market has adopted a new business model with hourly contracts, where quoted prices are valid for only a single hour, necessitating a new pricing quote with each change. Memory makers like SK hynix, Samsung, and Micron are responding to the massive demand for their memory solutions with new types of contracts that force OEMs to make quick decisions to procure DRAM within a very short timeframe. This means that memory makers are requiring much faster contract settlements, as the rapid increase in demand is causing product pricing to change literally by the hour. For example, large PC OEMs, who are among the biggest customers, now have to ship PCs with one pricing, while their future products are subject to price changes that fluctuate by the hour. How sustainable and stable this market will be remains to be seen.

Interestingly, the customer DRAM market is splitting into two camps. A short list of deep-pocketed customers, including large cloud providers, major automakers, and top smartphone firms such as Apple and Samsung Electronics, retain priority access to DRAM and the best pricing negotiation leverage. Memory manufacturers like SK hynix and Micron are said to prioritize these relationships above all else by favoring buyers who can prepay or settle in cash. For the vast remainder, more than 190,000 small and medium enterprises, the situation is harsher. Many lack the cash flow and bargaining leverage to accept rapid price jumps. As costs climb, some firms are revising demand forecasts downward to avoid margin erosion. Demand outside of the hyperscaler/data center sector may be revisited downward for many companies, as consumers are less keen on spending more on products that are becoming more expensive each day.

ASUS has reportedly updated its product pricing in the Chinese market to reflect the memory component shortage across the semiconductor industry. According to Board Channels, ASUS is adjusting the pricing for the GeForce RTX 50 Series "Blackwell" GPUs with GDDR7 memory, while the pricing strategy for AMD Radeon RX 9000/7000 and other series remains unchanged. At the very top, ASUS is increasing the price of its RTX 5090 D v2 SKUs by about 500 yuan, which is approximately $72 at the time of writing. Other SKUs like the GeForce RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, regular RTX 5070, and RTX 5060 Ti with 16 GB of VRAM are experiencing an increase of anywhere from $14.50 to $45. Interestingly, some older and low-end SKUs like the popular GT 1030 and GT 710 series, which provide basic graphics output for many prebuilt PCs, are also seeing a price increase of up to $8. AMD's Radeon series reportedly remains unchanged, which can be explained by these GPUs already having gone through a price increase cycle and GDDR6 memory being in better supply than GDDR7.You can check out the entire list with proposed price changes below.

TCL CSOT, a global leader in advanced display technologies and TCL Technology subsidiary, debuts its next-generation display innovation at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026. Under the theme "Super Pixel Beyond Limits," the company debuts its Super Pixel technology alongside major Inkjet-printed OLED (IJP OLED) advancements and a full portfolio of next-generation displays. These innovations reflect the APEX philosophy, prioritizing human-centric benefits and sustainability over pure specifications to inspire future possibilities.

"The APEX philosophy is our compass, guiding us to create visually stunning, healthier, more sustainable technologies," said Jun Zhao, Senior Vice President of TCL Technology and CEO of TCL CSOT. "Advancements like Super Pixel and IJP OLED aren't just single-component improvements; they represent a fundamental shift toward manufacturing stunning, flexible, and efficient displays."

Chieftec is pleased to present our new high-performance ATX workstation chassis, BW-01B-OP. Designed with a timelessly elegant front panel and a modern door concept, it combines professional aesthetics with practical functionality. Its essential front I/O, including a USB Type-C port, ensures convenient connectivity for today's workflows.

Key Features

• Modern ATX workstation with a pre-installed 120 mm PWM HDB fan
• Supports radiators up to 360 mm
• Two tool-less 5.25" drive bays
• Features 3.5" and 2.5" tool-less trays for up to 10 SSD/HDD drives
• Easy-to-remove storage cage system

EA posted a job listing seeking an engineer to port its Javelin Anticheat, a kernel-level anticheat solution, to the Windows-on-Arm (WoA) platform. This is a significant indicator of where the industry is headed, confirming that the biggest game developers are officially porting their game engines, games, and anticheat solutions to Arm-based PCs running the Windows 11 operating system. Interestingly, this coincides with NVIDIA's introduction of its N1/N1X SoCs with Arm-based CPU cores, which are expected to launch in the first half of this year. These will offer consumers 20 CPU cores, consisting of 10 Cortex-X925 and 10 Cortex-A725 CPU cores based on the Armv9.2 ISA, along with a "Blackwell" GPU optimized for low power settings with 6,144 CUDA cores. Adding to the growing ecosystem of WoA solutions, NVIDIA will be competing with Qualcomm's recent Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Plus SoCs.

If readers recall Valve's efforts to port regular Windows games to Linux, one of the biggest issues was the use of kernel-based anti-cheat solutions that simply couldn't work on the non-standard Windows 11 platform. A similar situation is now occurring even between Windows versions, as EA needs to develop a specialized solution that will work on non-x86 deployments like the standard Windows-on-Arm. It will likely be a few months before the official deployment is released, but the job listing suggests that some internal work is in progress. This means that the senior engineer EA is looking for could arrive to quickly bring these pieces together and make the new platform work without any issues.

AAEON's UP brand has announced the release of the Intelli TWL01 Edge, an Industrial Multimedia PC with dual 4K displays, multiple mounting options, and a range of Intel Core Processor N-series CPUs (formerly Twin Lake). Built to provide a cost-effective platform for multimedia solution building, the Intelli TWL01 Edge hosts two HDMI 2.0b ports capable of dual simultaneous 4K displays. In addition to this, AAEON notes that the system's Intel Processor N-series platform grants users access to both Intel UHD Graphics and DirectX 12.1 graphics API support, for the purpose of leveraging interactive dashboard functionality, reduced frame latency, and more efficient video rendering for both smaller kiosk and video conferencing suite setups as well as commercial large-scale video walls and interactive billboards.

The Intelli TWL01 Edge is both compact at 152 mm x 124.5 mm x 39 mm and fanless, a design choice driven by market user requests for a system that can be discreetly installed and operate with minimal noise. Moreover, the system offers versatile mounting options, with DIN Rail, VESA, and wall mounting available, allowing the device to be securely mounted in high-vibration settings, clutter-free integration with monitors or kiosks, and even secure media control room cabinets. In the same vein, its environmental specifications make it a relatively safe option for industrial deployment, with a broad 9 V to 36 V power input range, as well as 8 GB of soldered LPDDR5 system memory.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced a global campaign to kick off its 20th anniversary celebrations. From March 2 to April 13, ROG invites fans worldwide to celebrate by sharing content on social media and submitting their Dare-to-ROG stories via short-form videos. Entrants will complete actions and submit content types aligned with multiple fan levels (Level 1, 2, 3 and mega fans) to earn Gleam points and unlock different prize pools. ROG fans can submit their content to be eligible for a prize pool of over US $20,000.

In 2006, a group of passionate ASUS engineers joined forces to build incredible products for gamers like themselves. Out of their work, the Republic of Gamers was born. The shared love for gaming is—and always will be—the core spirit of ROG. Since then, ROG has armed gamers with high-tech PC gear crafted with vanguard spirit, dominant performance, and unmistakable attitude. The mission has never changed: to make the most powerful weapons on the battlefield for every gamer around the world.For more information, and to participate, visit this page.

Rumors recently popped up claiming that Sony would be moving away from PC ports of its major first-party game releases in 2026, especially single-player games. While those rumors have yet to be confirmed by Sony itself, Mike Ybarra, the former president of Blizzard Entertainment, has commented in a recent post on X that this may be the case, but he also points the finger at Valve's Steam Machine as partly to blame for this turn of events. He also adds that Sony sees the recent shake-up at Xbox as the "last nail in the coffin there," implying that Sony is making the right choice and that the shake-up will only embolden the Japanese gaming giant.

The former executive says that the incumbent console manufacturers "view Valve as a major new competitor" in the living room console space, adding that there will be third-party variants running SteamOS that will likely only compound this external pressure on Sony. He goes on to argue that Steam, and by extension the Steam Machine, has the biggest player base and biggest game library of all three living room console makers, and that "shipping good exclusive games matters." Ybarra also notes that Valve's independence, being a private company, allows it more freedom than Sony, who has to answer to shareholders and investors. For Sony's part, it's easy to see how cutting back on PC ports—effectively reducing the Steam Machine's library—could be an easy way to gain a competitive edge. As we discussed previously, it seems as though Sony's PC port business isn't a massive revenue driver in the first place, so it could be a low-risk way for Sony to protect its console ecosystem from incoming competition.

It's no secret that Highguard has languished under dwindling player counts and an apparent lack of funding since its launch in late January 2026, with rumors swirling that Tencent pulled funding from Studio Wildlight shortly after the launch of the game, prompting a round of layoffs that saw around 80% of the development team behind the game lose their jobs. Now, barely a month after launch, Wildlight has announced that it will shut down Highguard on March 12. Servers will remain online until March 12, but it's unclear if players will receive refunds for in-game purchases.

Despite the imminent shut-down, it seems like the developer will release the available content that has been completed in an upcoming update that will launch ahead of the shutdown and add a new Warden, a new weapon, account-level progression, and skill trees to the game—all content that may have added enough interest in the game if released earlier, but will likely suffer from being too little, too late. This isn't the first apparent last-ditch effort to save the game, with previous patches addressing complaints by adding new bases and a new game mode, among other new content, all of which again seemed to be positively received but didn't make a dent in the game's plummeting player counts.

Intel Corporation today announced that its board of directors has elected Dr. Craig H. Barratt as independent chair, effective following the company's Annual Stockholders' Meeting on May 13, 2026. Barratt will succeed Frank D. Yeary, who is retiring from the board and will not stand for reelection at the Annual Meeting. Yeary has served as a director since 2009 and as chair since 2023.

"On behalf of the board and the entire company, I want to thank Frank for his commitment to Intel and his strong leadership as chair during one of the most consequential periods in Intel's history," said Lip-Bu Tan, CEO, Intel. "Frank led the effort to bring me in as the company's CEO, encouraged disciplined board oversight, and reinforced strong board governance. With his and the board's support, I have been empowered to take decisive actions to strengthen our financial foundation, advance our process roadmap and position the company for long-term competitiveness. His leadership helped guide Intel through a period of transformation and onto firmer footing for the next phase."

Today at MWC 2026, Lenovo announced its latest consumer device innovations targeted at creators, gamers, and productivity-focused users. This includes powerful creative convertibles like the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition (14", 11), ultralight laptops like the IdeaPad Slim 5i Ultra (14", 11), productivity-on-the-go tablets like the Idea Tab Pro Gen 2, and the Yoga Pro 7a (15", 11) and the Legion 7a (15", 11)—laptops both powered by AMD Ryzen AI Max+ Series processors, delivering next-generation improvements in performance, AI experiences, and graphics.

Lenovo also unveiled proofs of concept from both its Yoga and Legion sub-brands—the Yoga Book Pro 3D Concept and the Legion Go Fold Concept—that embody Lenovo's commitment to pushing the envelope with its consumer innovations. The Yoga Book Pro 3D Concept addresses gaps in the 3D creative process by shedding the need for peripherals and streamlining user interactions. The Legion Go Fold Concept pushes the adaptability ethos of the Legion Go line of gaming handhelds even further with modularity to fit even more use cases.

AMD and Lenovo recently drew ire from the gaming community over its apparent lack of support for the original Legion Go gaming handheld, although it was subsequently revealed that ASUS had more recent updates available for the ROG Ally, which is based on the same AMD APU. More recently, it was revealed by Adam Patrick Murray on The Full Nerd podcast that Lenovo has issued a statement in response to the news reports, and that the company has confirmed it will offer support for the Legion Go at least until October 2029. Murray says that his PR contact, who clarified the state of the Legion Go's support, denounced the original comment by Lenovo support that claimed that AMD and Lenovo were no longer supporting the device as an "ugly rumor." That said, the Legion Go's support has never had the best reputation for software support, with gamers often complaining in the r/LegionGo subreddit about slow updates.

Lenovo's full statement reads:

Support for the Lenovo Legion Go (8.8", 1) has not been discontinued. Lenovo is actively continuing to support the Legion Go (8.8", 1) with necessary driver and BIOS updates and will continue to do so through October 2029. Lenovo is working in concert with AMD on driver update cadence, and new updates will be released once they have passed Lenovo's rigorous review protocols.

Ubiquiti has released a new member of its UniFi Mesh APs, called the U7 Mesh which has a rather novel design that works both indoors and outdoors, since it's IPx6 rated. The Wi-Fi 7 access point is admittedly only dual-band, we'd guess due to the short range of the 6 GHz band, which wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to include in an outdoors AP. The U7 Mesh is an upgraded version of its U6 Mesh, which is something of an odd sidegrade, as although it has been given a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port, the 5 GHz Wi-Fi radio has been downgraded from 4x4 to 2x2.

The U7 Mesh offers up to 4.3 Gbps throughput in the 5 GHz, but this is limited to devices that can use 240 MHz wide channels, which not all Wi-Fi devices support, as even some Wi-Fi 7 devices are limited to 160 MHz. The 2.4 GHz band supports speeds of up to 688 Mbps. Ubiquiti has changed the antenna design to allow for omnidirectional or directional use for the 5 GHz radio, which could be useful in a backhaul type situation. The U7 Mesh is powered via PoE and has a max power consumption of 13 W. The U7 Mesh is available now for US$199.

The global NAND Flash industry continued to benefit from AI infrastructure build-outs in 4Q25, according to TrendForce's latest research. All in all, the combined revenue of the top five NAND flash suppliers sharply rose 23.8% QoQ to US$21.17 billion.

The primary growth driver was explosive demand for enterprise SSDs, fueled by large-scale AI server deployments by North American CSPs. Meanwhile, severe HDD shortages and extended lead times accelerated a shift in orders toward NAND solutions, which further tightened supply. The resulting imbalance worsened NAND shortages and pushed prices higher, directly boosting supplier revenues.

As technology innovation accelerates both data creation and value, the need for scalable, efficient, high-performance storage solutions has never been greater. Today, Seagate Technology announced its next-generation Mozaic 4+ platform, the industry's only heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR)-based storage platform deployed at-scale, is now qualified and in production with two leading hyperscale cloud providers. Supporting capacities up to 44 TB, these qualifications reflect production-scale deployments in hyperscale environments.

With additional customer qualifications under way, Seagate is delivering on its roadmap to scale from today's 4+TB per-disk toward a future 10 TB per-disk - enabling hard drive capacities of up to 100 TB. The platform incorporates a next-generation suspension architecture and an enhanced system-on-a-chip that enables precise recording at higher densities while maintaining enterprise-class reliability. Each platform generation allows continued gains in capacity without requiring disruptive architectural shifts.

The MSI GeForce RTX 5090D v2 Lightning has officially appeared on the Chinese market, according to a Bilibili user named "Hardware Patrick Star." This China-exclusive SKU is an adaptation of the new GeForce RTX 5090D v2 with MSI's overclocking enhancements, allowing the card to reach new performance heights, paired with an all-in-one liquid cooler. The new RTX 5090D v2 retains the GB202 family's compute power, with 21,760 CUDA cores, Blackwell architecture, and a 575 W TGP, but reduces the memory to 24 GB of GDDR7 on a 384-bit bus, compared to the previous 32 GB on a 512-bit bus. MSI noted that the GeForce RTX 5090D Lightning GPU is limited to 1,300 units. However, since the China-exclusive SKU is considered a completely different graphics card, it is possible that there are another 1,300 units for the Chinese market with the RTX 5090D v2 Lightning model. The Bilibili user has SKU number 909, indicating that the rest have been distributed to retail channels.

We reviewed MSI's regular GeForce RTX 5090 Lightning graphics card and found that the GPU can reach up to 1,000 W with an OC BIOS loaded. We observed an average GPU clock speed of 3,218 MHz due to the water cooling. Independent testing might show the RTX 5090D v2 Lightning achieving similar performance levels, but since it's a China-focused SKU, we could only see reviews from Chinese hardware reviewers. Earlier claims by EXPreview indicate that hands-on testing suggests mixed results for buyers. In pure gaming, the RTX 5090D and RTX 5090D v2 cards are often nearly identical, with frame rate differences usually within a percent or two, so most current 4K titles will not noticeably suffer from the missing 8 GB. For AI workloads and model inference, the gap is more significant, with single-digit to low-double-digit performance drops where extra memory is important.

AMD is seeing server CPU demand it didn't fully anticipate, with CEO Lisa Su describing it as having "far exceeded" her expectations. Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference earlier today, Su outlined how the landscape has shifted as agentic AI applications have taken off, pushing CPUs back into the spotlight alongside accelerators. The CPU-to-GPU ratio in AI compute workloads has evolved dramatically over the past few months, and top customers reportedly told Su that CPU demand sitting alongside AI was "under-forecasted." Supply is tightening as a result. The sudden spike in customer commitments left little time for the supply chain to adjust, though AMD says it's working closely with partners to ease existing bottlenecks and expects capacity to expand over the coming year. Su expressed confidence that AMD's product lineup is well positioned to address training, inference, and agentic workloads going forward. We've also seen this play out at the customer level, with hyperscalers like Meta signing CPU agreements with AMD and NVIDIA, a sign that compute is diversifying away from a pure GPU focus.

Back in late January, Intel disclosed it had to reallocate wafer capacity from its PC division to Xeon production after hyperscalers started ordering larger quantities than anticipated, triggering a temporary shortage. Then, in early February, both Intel and AMD warned customers in China about tightening supplies, with Intel Xeon delivery times stretching to as long as six months and prices up more than 10%. AMD's situation is somewhat less difficult, but lead times have still pushed out to eight to ten weeks for some orders. On the consumer side, AMD's next-gen Ryzen 'Olympic Ridge' desktop processors based on Zen 6 are rumored to have slipped to 2027, possibly another sign that AMD is prioritizing Zen 6 chiplets for EPYC server processors.

Apple today launched its most advanced silicon design yet with the introduction of the M5 Pro and M5 Max processors for MacBook Pro laptops. These new SoCs feature an 18-core CPU with six new "super cores" and 12 performance cores. The main difference between the M5 Pro and M5 Max lies in the size of the integrated GPU and the maximum memory capacity that Apple can equip these SoCs with. With these two SoCs, Apple has added another core tier to its lineup. In the M5 Pro/Max SoCs, a new tier called "M-core" has been introduced, which sits between the Super Core and Efficiency Core. What used to be performance and efficiency cores in the regular M5 have been renamed. Essentially, Apple renamed the performance core to super core and introduced an M-core tier that sits between the super core and efficiency core. Interestingly, the efficiency core is completely absent from the new SoCs, resulting in a combination of performance and middle-class cores, which will enhance the performance of these processors. In this context, the regular M5 SoC has four super cores and six efficiency cores.

Inside these new SoCs, the six super cores run at 4.61 GHz, while the M-cores run at 4.38 GHz. The M-core is a 7-wide out-of-order execution CPU that has roughly 70% of the P-core performance with slightly lower power usage. This new core tier is expected to boost the multithreaded performance of the M5 Pro/Max processors by up to 20%, according to some preliminary estimates found on Chinese Baidu forums. For the M5 Pro, Apple has included 16 MB of cache for the super cores, 16 MB of cache for the M-cores, and 24 MB of memory cache. The memory choice is LPDDR5X, which runs at 9,600 MT/s and offers up to 64 GB of capacity. In the M5 Max, the core cache remains the same, but the memory cache is increased to 48 MB, and the memory capacity is upgraded to a configuration of up to 128 GB. Both SoCs feature GPU cores that run at 1.62 GHz, with the M5 Pro having a 20-core iGPU and the M5 Max having a 40-core iGPU.

Keychron has been revamping its mainline mechanical keyboard line-up pretty consistently lately, but its latest launch, the B11 Pro, is a deviation from those designs, falling square in the mobile productivity space rather than the enthusiast mechanical keyboard sphere. The B11 Pro adapts the ergonomic 65% Alice layout seen in Keychron's K11 Max and puts it into an ultraportable, foldable keyboard with scissor switches. The folding form factor and 65% layout mean that, when folded, the B11 Pro measures in at just 196.3 × 143 mm when folded up, making it a potential option for space-constrained travelers and commuters. The Keychron B11 Pro is currently available on the Keychron online store for $64.99, although it will likely launch on Amazon at a later date.

The B11 Pro has a 65% layout, meaning there is no num pad, nor is there an F row—likely a decision made in favor of a compact physical footprint—although there is a dedicated compact arrow cluster, which should make the adjustment to the smaller layout somewhat easier. It also uses Keychron's scissor switch mechanism and concave keycaps, meaning it should feel something akin to a laptop keyboard to type on. Keychron does not specify, but none of the other keyboards in the B Pro series feature NKRO, so it's safe to assume neither does the B11 Pro. Interestingly, Keychron has opted for a soft-touch material on the back of the B11 Pro, and the whole keyboard weighs in at just 258 g. The B11 Pro also features both 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth 5.3, and the keyboard supposedly gets around 135 hours on a single charge from a 250 mAh battery. There's also a nifty sensor that detects when the keyboard is closed—both a convenience and battery-saving feature. Keychron has also conveniently labelled the relevant modifier keycaps with both macOS and Windows legends, and the key maps themselves can be changed in Keychron Launcher, much like the brand's mechanical keyboard line-up.

NVIDIA today announced that GTC, the world's premier conference on AI and accelerated computing, will take place March 16-19 this year in San Jose, California. More than 30,000 attendees— spanning developers, researchers, business leaders and AI-native companies—will gather from over 190 countries to explore how AI is becoming essential infrastructure, powering a new industrial era.

"GTC is the epicenter of the AI industrial era," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "AI is no longer a single breakthrough or application—it is essential infrastructure. Every company will use it. Every nation will build it. From energy and chips to infrastructure, models and applications, every layer of the stack is advancing at once, and you'll see that all come to life at GTC."

Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU) today extended its leadership in low-power server memory by shipping customer samples of the industry's highest-capacity LPDRAM module—256 GB SOCAMM2. Enabled by the industry's first monolithic 32 Gb LPDDR5X design, this milestone represents a transformational step forward for AI data centers, delivering low-power memory capacity that can unlock new system architectures.

The convergence of AI training, inference, agentic AI and general-purpose compute are driving more demanding memory requirements and reshaping data center system architectures. Modern AI workloads drive large model parameters, expansive context windows and persistent key value (KV) caches, while core compute continues to scale in data intensity, concurrency and memory footprint.

VIA Labs, Inc. (VLI), a leading supplier of USB4, DisplayPort, SuperSpeed USB, USB 2.0, and USB Power Delivery Controllers, today announced at Embedded World 2026 the expansion of its industrial portfolio with the debut of the VL819i USB 5 Gbps and VL822i 10 Gbps Hub Controllers. Following the successful release of its industrial-grade VL122i STT and VL123i MTT USB 2.0 hubs earlier this year, this latest launch provides industrial partners with high-reliability, high-bandwidth applications such as machine vision, high-performance peripherals, displays, data acquisition, storage, and general connectivity. Attendees can learn more about VLI's controller silicon products during Embedded World 2026, March 10-12, at Booth 3-396 in Hall 3, Exhibition Centre Nuremberg.

VIA Labs' industrial-grade hub controllers are engineered for stable and reliable operation in extended-temperature environments from -40°C to +85°C and feature enhanced signal integrity and low-power design. They are ideal for embedded systems, servers, industrial PCs, smart retail terminals, and more.

Quectel Wireless Solutions, a global end-to-end IoT solutions provider, today announces the launch of a new intelligent CPE reference design based on the MediaTek T930 platform, integrating 5G-Advanced and Wi-Fi 8 technologies.

The solution combines the high-performance 5G-A connectivity, intelligent reliability and advanced capabilities of the MediaTek T930 platform with Quectel's deep expertise in the global Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) market. Moving beyond a simple focus on high speed, it delivers a fully integrated, all-in-one solution featuring exceptional performance, ultra-high stability, and intelligent network management.

Elgato, a brand of CORSAIR, today announced Wave Next, the company's next generation of audio products and the most significant evolution of the Wave platform since its debut in 2020. Wave Next brings together six deeply integrated products: Wave Link 3.0 software, Wave:3 MK.2, Wave XLR MK.2, XLR Dock MK.2, Wave XLR Pro, and Stream Deck + XL. Together, they form a cohesive ecosystem spanning audio capture, processing, and control, built for how modern creators and professionals actually work.

"When we launched the first Wave microphone in 2020, we set out to make audio workflows easier for creators," said Julian Fest, SVP and General Manager of Elgato. "Since then, hundreds of thousands of real-world setups have taught us what works, what is still too complicated, and where the real bottlenecks are. Wave Next is the synthesis of everything we have learned, reimagined into a single platform offering powerful software that is now free for everyone, hardware that processes audio at the source, and physical controls that make managing it all feel effortless."

Apple today announced a new family of displays engineered to pair beautifully with Mac and meet the needs of everyone, from everyday users to the world's top pros. The new Studio Display features a 12MP Center Stage camera, now with improved image quality and support for Desk View; a studio-quality three-microphone array; and an immersive six-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio. It also now includes powerful Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, providing more downstream connectivity for high-speed accessories or daisy-chaining displays.

The all-new Studio Display XDR takes the pro display experience to the next level. Its 27-inch 5K Retina XDR display features an advanced mini-LED backlight with over 2,000 local dimming zones, up to 1000 nits of SDR brightness, and 2000 nits of peak HDR brightness, in addition to a wider color gamut, so content jumps off the screen with breathtaking contrast, vibrancy, and accuracy. With its 120 Hz refresh rate, Studio Display XDR is even more responsive to content in motion, and Adaptive Sync dynamically adjusts frame rates for content like video playback or graphically intense games. Studio Display XDR offers the same advanced camera and audio system as Studio Display, as well as Thunderbolt 5 connectivity to simplify pro workflow setups. The new Studio Display with a tilt-adjustable stand starts at $1,599, and Studio Display XDR with a tilt- and height-adjustable stand starts at $3,299. Both are available in standard or nano-texture glass options, and can be pre-ordered starting tomorrow, March 4, with availability beginning Wednesday, March 11.

Apple today announced the new MacBook Air with M5, bringing exceptional performance and expanded AI capabilities to the world's most popular laptop. M5 features a faster CPU and next-generation GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core, enabling MacBook Air to power through a variety of workflows, from creative projects to complex AI tasks. MacBook Air now comes standard with double the starting storage at 512 GB with faster SSD technology, and is configurable up to 4 TB, so customers can keep their most important work on hand. Apple's N1 wireless chip delivers Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 for seamless connectivity on the go.

MacBook Air features a beautifully thin, light, and durable aluminium design, stunning Liquid Retina display, 12MP Center Stage camera, up to 18 hours of battery life, an immersive sound system with Spatial Audio, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports with support for up to two external displays. Combined with the power of macOS Tahoe and Apple Intelligence, MacBook Air delivers unmatched value for college students and creative professionals, and it's the most popular laptop for business users. Available in 13- and 15-inch models in sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver, the new MacBook Air with M5 is available for pre-order starting tomorrow, March 4, with availability beginning Wednesday, March 11.

Apple today announced the latest 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro with the all-new M5 Pro and M5 Max, bringing game-changing performance and AI capabilities to the world's best pro laptop. With M5 Pro and M5 Max, MacBook Pro features a new CPU with the world's fastest CPU core, a next-generation GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core, and higher unified memory bandwidth, altogether delivering up to 4x AI performance compared to the previous generation, and up to 8x AI performance compared to M1 models. This allows developers, researchers, business professionals, and creatives to unlock new AI-enabled workflows right on MacBook Pro.

It now comes with up to 2x faster SSD performance and starts at 1 TB of storage for M5 Pro and 2 TB for M5 Max. The new MacBook Pro includes N1, an Apple-designed wireless networking chip that enables Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, bringing improved performance and reliability to wireless connections. It also offers up to 24 hours of battery life; a gorgeous Liquid Retina XDR display with a nano-texture option; a wide array of connectivity, including Thunderbolt 5; a 12MP Center Stage camera; studio-quality mics; an immersive six-speaker sound system; Apple Intelligence features; and the power of macOS Tahoe. The new MacBook Pro comes in space black and silver, and is available to pre-order starting tomorrow, March 4, with availability beginning Wednesday, March 11.

Apple today announced M5 Pro and M5 Max, the world's most advanced chips for pro laptops, powering the new MacBook Pro. The chips are built using a new Apple-designed Fusion Architecture. This innovative design combines two dies into a single system on a chip (SoC), which includes a powerful CPU, scalable GPU, Media Engine, unified memory controller, Neural Engine, and Thunderbolt 5 capabilities. M5 Pro and M5 Max feature a new 18-core CPU architecture. It includes six of the highest-performing core design, now called super cores, that are the world's fastest CPU core. Alongside these cores are 12 all-new performance cores, optimized for power-efficient, multithreaded workloads. Collectively, the CPU significantly boosts performance by up to 30 percent for pro workloads.

The GPU scales up the next-generation architecture introduced in M5 to an up-to-40-core GPU. With a Neural Accelerator in each GPU core and higher unified memory bandwidth, M5 Pro and M5 Max are over 4x the peak GPU compute for AI compared to the previous generation. The GPU substantially increases graphics capabilities—now up to 35 percent for apps using ray tracing than M4 Pro and M4 Max—enhancing advanced visual effects and 3D rendering. With M5 Pro and M5 Max, the new MacBook Pro is the ultimate powerhouse for pros and is available for pre-order starting tomorrow, with availability beginning Wednesday, March 11.

Each week, new games and apps integrating NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex, and advanced ray-traced effects are released or announced, delivering the definitive PC experience for GeForce RTX players. DLSS 4.5 is our latest upgrade to the ever-improving DLSS Super Resolution, adding a second generation transformer model that further enhances image quality. Via the NVIDIA app, you can apply DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution to your game library on all GeForce RTX PCs and laptops, instantly upgrading clarity and quality.

This week, you can upgrade Marathon and Black One Blood Brothers with DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution, followed by Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection on March 13th. And Demonologist now includes native support for DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution. On March 19th, DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH launches, featuring DLSS 4 With Multi Frame Generation, and DLSS Super Resolution that can be upgraded to DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution via the NVIDIA app.

BenQ, the global leader in display and color-tuning innovation, today announced its MA270S, a new 27-inch 5K monitor designed to give Mac users the clarity, color, and intuitive experience they expect from a native Apple display. As the latest expansion to the Mac-optimized MA series, including the MA270U/MA270UP and MA320U/MA320UP, the BenQ MA270S is ideal for Mac users who rely on precise visual detail and text clarity to match the accuracy and sharpness of their MacBook display.

The MA270S features a Nano Gloss panel and true 5K resolution (5120x2880), matching macOS native pixel density for sharper text, lifelike images, and comfortable extended use. It delivers Mac-level color with 500-nit brightness, 99% P3 color, and a 2000:1 contrast ratio for vibrant color reproduction and crisp detail. With iKeyboard Control, users can adjust brightness and volume directly from the MacBook keyboard, creating a more seamless, native Mac experience.

Fraunhofer IIS and Airoha Technology are presenting a breakthrough multi-channel spatial audio solution for next-generation wireless headsets at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026. The collaboration integrates Fraunhofer's industry-leading LC3plus codec and Cingo spatial audio rendering solutions with Airoha's flagship Bluetooth SoC, the AB1595—enabling high-definition, low-latency, and resilient wireless multichannel audio tailored for premium mobile and XR applications.

At the core of this joint solution is a seamless, high-definition multichannel wireless transmission chain designed to meet the evolving demands of mobile devices, extended reality (XR), and immersive media ecosystems. By leveraging Airoha's proprietary High Data-rate Technology (HDT), the AB1595 platform provides the robust bandwidth required to support Fraunhofer's LC3plus codec. This combination delivers high-resolution audio with efficient bitrates and ultra-low latency—essential for scalable, multichannel headset designs that go far beyond traditional stereo limitations.

At MWC 2026, Fibocom (300638.SZ, 0638.HK) and MediaTek unveiled a flagship CPE solution powered by the FG390 5G module and Filogic 8800 Wi-Fi 8 chipset. The new design combines 5G-A's high-speed connectivity with Wi-Fi 8's enhanced wireless performance, delivering faster, smarter, and more reliable network access for global users.

Key Highlights:

• Powerful 5G + Wi-Fi 8 integration: The solution integrates with the Filogic 8800 Wi-Fi 8 platform and the FG390 5G module powered by MediaTek T930, bringing together the best of 5G-A and Wi-Fi 8 to create seamless, high-performance connectivity for homes and SMB.
• Smarter multi-AP collaboration: Reduces interference by over 40% and boosts spectrum efficiency for smoother multi-device operation.
• Extended coverage and stronger stability: With Enhanced Long-Range (ELR) and dRU technologies, wall penetration and coverage increase by up to 40%, keeping edge connections stable.
• Lower latency, higher throughput: Latency drops to sub-millisecond levels, while throughput doubles—even with 200+ devices connected simultaneously.
• Designed for the AI era: Supports 2.4/5/6 GHz tri-band concurrency, ensuring reliable connections for AI devices, AR/VR applications, and smart-home networks.

NVIDIA has reportedly lowered its performance requirements for the HBM4 memory used in "Rubin" GPUs, as SK hynix and Samsung are reportedly struggling to meet the ambitious performance targets set by NVIDIA. According to a new note from SemiAnalysis, NVIDIA is reducing its specification requirements for the upcoming GPU generation. Originally, NVIDIA targeted a total bandwidth of 22 TB/s for the Rubin chip, but memory suppliers seem to be having difficulty meeting these requirements. Initial shipments are expected to achieve closer to 20 TB/s, which translates to approximately 10 Gbps per pin for HBM4. This indicates that NVIDIA's aggressive upgrade plan for "Vera Rubin" is facing a setback, and the final performance will differ slightly.

Interestingly, NVIDIA's initial target for the "Vera Rubin" VR200 NVL72 system was 13 TB/s in March 2025, which was later upgraded to 20.5 TB/s by September. At CES 2026, NVIDIA confirmed that the VR200 NVL72 system is now operating at 22 TB/s of bandwidth. Compared to AMD's Instinct MI455X accelerator, which has 19.6 TB/s, NVIDIA initially had lower system bandwidth. They addressed this by using faster DRAM and improving interconnects between CPUs, GPUs, and the entire system. However, as memory makers like SK hynix and Samsung struggle to meet NVIDIA's performance requirements, we will see HBM4 speeds of about 20 TB/s for the entire "Vera Rubin" system.

Samsung is overhauling the power delivery network in its HBM4E memory to tackle what's becoming one of the bigger engineering headaches in next-gen AI chips. This comes just two weeks after the company shipped its first commercial HBM4, already pushing 11.7 Gbps consistently with headroom up to 13 Gbps. As designs move from HBM4 to HBM4E, the number of power bumps grows from 13,682 to 14,457, packed into the same space with thinner, denser wiring. That drives up current density and resistance, causing IR drop (voltage weakens as it travels through the circuits) while the heat generated in the process makes things worse, creating a feedback loop that can affect performance or even cause circuit failure.

To fix this, Samsung segmented the power network. The large centralized MET4 power block on the base die, previously laid out in big honeycomb-like sections near the interposer, has been split into four smaller sections, with upper layers further broken up to reduce congestion and shorten routing paths. According to Samsung, the results were significant, metal circuit defects dropped 97% compared to HBM4, and IR drop improved by 41%, giving the chip more voltage headroom for higher speeds and better reliability.

NVIDIA released its GeForce 595.71 WHQL Game Ready Drivers yesterday to address issues with the previous 595.59 WHQL version. However, troubles don't seem to be over yet, as reports are coming from multiple users running the latest driver that the new installation is restricting GPU voltages across the RTX 50 series of "Blackwell" graphics cards. As multiple reports point out, the v595.71 driver is causing users to see a significant performance drop across multiple titles, all stemming from the capped GPU core voltage that is reducing the frequency. Wccftech testing has confirmed that the MSI GeForce RTX 5090 SUPRIM X used to run at a 1.020-1.030 V range, resulting in about 3,015-3,030 MHz in FurMark stress-testing using the older v591.86 driver with a manual overclock applied.

However, without a change in settings, the GPU now runs at a lowered voltage range between 1.005 V and 1.010 V, with occasional drops to 1.0 V. This has resulted in boost frequencies that are below 3,000 MHz, degrading the GPU performance while also lowering power usage. The reasoning behind this might be that NVIDIA is experimenting with lower voltage caps to limit what the GPU is capable of boosting to, so it can draw less power and prevent the fragile nature of the 12V-2x6 connector from overheating. Yesterday's launch of the GeForce 595.71 WHQL Game Ready Driver mentioned that the previous driver issues were resolved, which included fans not spinning or not being detected at all. However, with the new driver release, we didn't receive any information about intentional or unintentional voltage regulation happening within the driver. Hence, we are left to wait for the official company response.

ASRock Industrial announces the launch of the iEPF-11000S Series, a powerful Expandable Edge AIoT Platform engineered for next-generation edge AI applications. Powered by Intel Xeon 600 processors with W890 chipset, the iEPF-11000S Series delivers professional grade CPU performance, support for up to four graphic cards, PCIe Gen 5 connectivity, and up to 2 TB of RDIMM/RDIMM-3DS DDR5 memory with ECC protection for mission-critical edge processes. Designed for versatility, the iEPF-11000S Series features a comprehensive I/O with multiple expansion slots, high-speed networking including 10 GbE, and advanced storage capabilities. Built for professional computing environments, it includes a robust 1600 W power supply unit, TPM 2.0 security, and Intel vPro manageability. With support for both 4U tower or rack-mount configurations, the series is primed for advanced edge AI computing platforms, powering Gen AI LLMs, AI training and inference, visual computing, data analytics, and compute-intensive industrial applications that demand exceptional processing power and reliability.

iEPF-11000S: Quad-GPU Edge AI Platform with Intel Xeon 600
Powered by Intel Xeon 600 processors, the iEPF-11000S Series delivers high performance for edge AI computing, real-time analytics, and compute intensive industrial automation. Supporting up to 2 TB of quad-channel DDR5 ECC RDIMM memory, it ensures fast, reliable, and memory-intensive processing for AI model training, predictive maintenance, and automation. Designed for AI acceleration, deep learning, and high-performance visual computing, the iEPF-11000S Series supports up to four discrete GPUs, delivering the compute power needed for multimodel parallel inference, AI training, and intensive visual computing. Its powerful computing resources enable accelerated deployment of real-time AI inference, data analytics, and intelligent industrial automation.

Club 3D, a Dutch technology innovator specializing in advanced computer connectivity solutions since 1997, announced its newest connectivity solutions for March. These include 2 new adapters, a USB-C to RJ45 10G Ethernet Adapter and a USB-C to HDMI 2.1 Adapter. The Club 3D CAC-2505 is a premium USB-C to HDMI 2.1 adapter that delivers next-generation visual performance in a compact form factor. It is designed to future-proof your setup by enabling stunning 8K60Hz video output from any USB-C device supporting DP Alt Mode.

The Club 3D CAC-2531 is a professional-grade USB-C to RJ45 10G Ethernet Adapter that delivers blazing-fast 10 Gbps speeds to any mobile or desktop setup. It is designed to bridge the gap between ultraportable hardware and high-speed network environments while providing a compact, plug-and-play solution for data-heavy workflows.

Huion, a trusted name in the design and manufacturing of digital drawing tablets, has officially launched its next-gen 21.5-inch pen display today, the Kamvas 22 (Gen 3). This exciting development comes at the perfect time for digital artists as we kick off the new year.

Over the past two years, Huion has consistently pushed the boundaries of innovation, advancing both technology and expanding its product lineup. This showcases the company's determination to offer a diverse range of options tailored to both entry-level and professional artists. With Kamvas 22 (Gen 3), they now have another tool to express their artistic vision.

MSI, a world-leading provider of high-performance gaming hardware, proudly announces its latest collaboration with Blizzard Entertainment to celebrate the launch of World of Warcraft: Midnight. Together, MSI and Blizzard introduce the limited edition MSI × World of Warcraft: Midnight GeForce RTX 5070 graphics cards, available in two distinct designs—Light Edition and Void Edition—bringing the legendary forces of Azeroth to life through cutting-edge performance and immersive visual storytelling.

Powered by NVIDIA Blackwell, GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs bring game-changing capabilities to gamers and creators. Equipped with a massive level of AI horsepower, the RTX 50 Series enables new experiences and next-level graphics fidelity. Multiply performance with NVIDIA DLSS 4, generate images at unprecedented speed, and unleash creativity with NVIDIA Studio.

Quectel Wireless Solutions, a global end-to-end IoT solutions provider, today announces the FCE870Q Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 module. The module's higher peak data rate of 5.8 Gbps, coupled with lower latency and strong network connection reliability, makes it ideal for over-the-top (OTT) services, high-definition video and augmented and virtual reality use cases.

Featuring 4K 4096 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), an advanced modulation technique in Wi-Fi 7 that increases data throughput by 20% compared to Wi-Fi6, the FCE870Q enables faster 4K and 8K streaming. Performance is also aided by the module's support for 320 MHz enhanced multi-link single radio (eMSLR) technology which enables the faster data rate alongside ultra-low latency. A highlight of this module is the integration of Bluetooth 6.0 featuring built-in Channel Sounding to enable enhanced ranging accuracy and advanced proximity-based applications.

Pulsar Gaming Gears, a leading developer of high-performance esports peripherals, in collaboration with Prodigy SEG, today announced the official launch of the Pulsar ZywOo The Chosen Mouse Gen 2 Limited Edition Pink. This new product launch aligns with a historic peak in the career of Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut. Recently crowned the World #1 Player for a record-breaking fourth time, ZywOo has officially become the most decorated individual in the history of the game. Coming off back-to-back championship wins at IEM Kraków 2026 and PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026, he has reached a career milestone of 30 HLTV MVP medals-shattering all previous records.

This new generation is the product of Pulsar's uncompromising eS standard, utilizing Pulsar's advanced in-house R&D and meticulous refinement to meet the exact competitive needs identified from the first generation. Designed for palm grip users, the mouse features a unique, refined shape co-created with ZyWOo, and two sizes, Mini 59 g, Medium 62 g to ensure the absolute control and consistency required for elite-tier competitive play. Speaking on the new iteration of the mouse, ZywOo emphasized the continuous drive for competitive perfection.

In February, TechPowerUp partnered with Fosi Audio to bring our readers from around the world a chance to grab one of 10 Fosi Audio C3 gaming-grade external sound cards with AI-powered DSPs. The Fosi Audio C3 is an external USB sound card (DAC + headphones amp) with a selection of parts purpose built for PC gaming. The C3 uses AI models to recognize key in-game sounds, such as footsteps, gunfire, reloads, and directional cues, and dynamically enhance what matters while reducing irrelevant or distracting noise. Rather than simply making certain frequencies louder, the system is designed to identify and prioritize important sounds depending on the gameplay context. The Giveaway is now close, and the results are in! Without further ado, here are the 10 winners!

• ShurikN from Serbia
• Bryan from Singapore
• Khusanbek from the United Kingdom
• Russel from Australia
• ushirlo from Croatia
• Yu-Jie from the United States
• Markus from Germany
• FatherOBlivion from the United States
• Xin Qi from the Netherlands
• azarel from Denmark

Huge congratulations to all 10 of you! TechPowerUp and Fosi Audio will return with more such interesting Giveaways!

Rising memory and storage costs are pricing entry-level PC buyers out of the market, which may disappear entirely. According to the analyst firm Gartner, the sub-$500 PC sector might vanish by 2028. Their analysis indicates that memory, which used to be just a small part of the total bill of materials (BOM) at 16% of the total PC cost in 2025, is expected to rise to nearly a quarter of the PC's cost at 23%, making the entry-level PC segment unsustainable. "This sharp increase removes vendors' ability to absorb costs, making low-margin entry-level laptops nonviable. Ultimately, we expect the sub-$500 entry-level PC segment will disappear by 2028," said Ranjit Atwal, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner. He added, "In addition, rising AI PC prices will delay the projected 50% market penetration of AI PCs until 2028."

We have witnessed multiple price increases across many PC components such as DRAM, NAND Flash, and GPUs. With manufacturers unable to produce PCs at any tangible profit levels in the sub-$500 PC sector, it might entirely disappear from the mainstream PC market. The concept of budget builds might become obsolete, with the majority of PCs ending up in categories above that threshold, near or beyond four figures. Gartner estimates that there will be about a 130% increase in combined DRAM and NAND Flash pricing by the end of this year, increasing PC prices by about 17% compared to 2025 levels. This situation will push consumer and enterprise demand toward premium PCs.

At MWC Barcelona 2026, Huawei debuts its latest SuperPoD product Atlas 950 SuperPoD, TaiShan 950 SuperPoD and a series of computing solutions to the global market. This embodies the company's latest endeavor to open source and open collaboration with the aim of building a resilient computing foundation and creating a new option worldwide.

Tech innovation builds a resilient computing foundation
With AI technologies evolving rapidly and models now using trillions of parameters, agentic AI is beginning to penetrate into core production processes in many industries. This is driving up demand for larger computing scale and lower latency. However, these massive models are beyond the reach of conventional horizontal scaling; larger clusters often suffer from lower utilization and frequent training interruptions.

Akasa, a leading provider of thermal solutions, has launched the AK-CC7409BP01, a low-profile CPU cooler designed for thermally demanding, space-constrained environments. Compatible with Intel LGA1851 and LGA1700 sockets, the cooler integrates a copper vapor chamber heatsink and a UL-certified side blower fan to deliver reliable, sustained cooling at only 29.5 mm in height, making it well-suited to 1U servers, SFF systems and other applications where vertical clearance is limited.

The AK-CC7409BP01 supports 12th-14th Generation Intel Core desktop processors (LGA1700 socket) and Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processors (LGA1851 socket) up to 125 W TDP.

As NAND Flash pricing has skyrocketed, reaching nearly a 500% increase over the past six months, Phison has reportedly started requiring some customers to make prepayments to control the supply. This means that customers who haven't even started a Phison order will need to send funds as a form of credit to purchase a set amount of Phison controllers, SSDs, or any other storage products. According to a notice to its customers, Phison has stated that the rapid increase in NAND Flash demand has driven various parts of the storage supply chain to seek alternative payment methods, with a focus on quicker settlements. This means customers must either accept faster contract settlements or use other forms of payment like prepayment credits.

Phison is a company primarily focused on making SSD controllers, which are manufactured at TSMC, Samsung, or other fabs as logic devices, not NAND Flash. The company's latest E28 controller is produced on TSMC's 6 nm node, a mature class of semiconductor nodes. This suggests that Phison's supply chain is largely intact. However, if Phison is arranging NAND Flash purchases on behalf of customers, that could explain why faster settlements are requested. Specific arrangements likely vary by customer and should be confirmed on a case-by-case basis. There might be situations where Phison provides SSD makers with blueprints for SSDs and handles part of the design and supply chain logistics within the company, making the situation more understandable. In such cases, Phison would need to secure a fast contract settlement to ensure the SSD maker gets the best possible price for the NAND Flash that ultimately pairs with a Phison controller. The full statement follows.

AMD earlier today announced the Ryzen AI 400 series desktop APUs in the Socket AM5 package. These are the company's second desktop APU generation on Socket AM5 following the Ryzen 8000G series "Phoenix Point." While "Phoenix Point" is based on "Zen 4," the newer Ryzen AI 400 series is built on the "Gorgon Point" silicon powered by the "Zen 5" microarchitecture. A key difference between the two APU generations is the emphasis on AI performance. "Gorgon Point" packs an XDNA 2 NPU with 50 TOPS of throughput on tap, making Ryzen AI 400 series the first socketed desktop processor that meets Microsoft Copilot+ requirements.

While "Phoenix Point" featured a single CCX design with up to eight full-sized "Zen 4" cores, "Gorgon Point" reverts to a dual-CCX design for its CPU complex. The first CCX features four full-sized "Zen 5" cores that can boost up to the maximum rated speed of the APU model, along with 8 MB of L3 cache that's shared among the four "Zen 5" cores. The second CCX features four compacted "Zen 5c" cores, with an 8 MB L3 cache shared among them. "Zen 5c" is a physically compacted version of "Zen 5," it has an identical IPC and ISA, but it caps out at roughly two-thirds the maximum boost frequency of the full-sized "Zen 5" cores. For threads to migrate between the two CCX, their instructions and data make a trip through the chip's Infinity Fabric interconnect, just like it was during the old "Zen 2" architecture days.

Manage your business finances like a pro with a lifetime license for Intuit QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus, now only $200 (reg. $699). Many small business owners start managing their finances with spreadsheets and bank portals, only to realize they need something a bit more robust. Intuit QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus gives you a full desktop accounting system with a lifetime license and no ongoing subscription, and it's on sale now for $199.97 (reg. $699).

Rich color options, powerful features, and an ultra-lightweight build—the Yunzii M1 is designed to deliver exceptional comfort and precision in every move. With its sleek design and pro-level performance, it's the perfect upgrade for your gaming desk setup and daily workflow alike.

Versatile Connectivity
The Yunzii M1 supports 2.4 GHz wireless, Bluetooth, and USB-C wired modes, offering flexible and low-latency performance across different usage scenarios. Compatible with both Windows and macOS, it transitions seamlessly between gaming, office work, and travel setups. Each package includes the Yunzii M1 mouse, a Type-C cable, a 2.4G receiver with a built-in storage compartment, and a user manual—everything you need right out of the box.

Intel has confirmed the existence of its larger Arc Pro B70 "Battlemage" graphics card, designed for professional visualization and AI workloads, through its LLM Scaler software with a small performance testing done in non-ideal scenario. The company plans to release this GPU within the current quarter, which means we could see the official launch and availability in about a month. The upcoming Arc Pro B70 and Arc Pro B65 GPUs are part of this release, utilizing the long-rumored BMG-G31 GPU die intended for higher-end models.

Starting with the more advanced Arc Pro B70, Intel plans a BMG-G31 configuration featuring 32 Xe2 cores and 32 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus. This setup translates to approximately 4,096 FP32 cores in its full configuration, doubling the core count and memory capacity of the current Arc Pro B60, within a single-GPU version. For the smaller Arc Pro B65, Intel has scaled down the BMG-G31 die to support 2,560 FP32 cores, with a total of 20 Xe2 cores. While this matches the core configuration of the Arc Pro B60, the B65 comes with 32 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is 8 GB more than the Arc Pro B60. As dual-GPU configurations were common with the Arc Pro B60, we might also see dual-GPU PCBs with the Arc Pro B70 if Intel's partners like Maxsun follow suit with their Arc Pro B60 Dual-GPU card.

According to Culpium—written by ex Bloomberg tech industry writer Tim Culpan—TSMC is now telling its customers to apply for production allocation for its N2 node, as most of it has already been booked up until the end of 2027. Lead time is said to be six quarters on what production capacity is left, which is causing problems for companies that manufacture with TSMC to live up to their own roadmaps. Even those lucky enough to have been allocated production on the N2 node are said to be looking at as much as a 12 month lead time from start of production until delivery of the finished chips.

Culpium also confirms that NVIDIA now is TSMC's biggest customer, as we reported last week. Even so, NVIDIA is also said to be affected by the N2 node production constraints, even though they might not be as badly affected as small customers of TSMC. The report mentions that there are some exceptions to the lead times, including what is referred to as hot lots or hot runs, but these come in at premium pricing for the customers, as these are last-minute production runs that don't have guaranteed lead times. This is bad news all around, as it means a lot of planned products are unlikely to see the light of day, as they will either be too costly to manufacture or it will simply take too long for it to make sense to invest in.

Today, the NanoIC pilot line, a European initiative coordinated by imec and dedicated to accelerating innovation in chip technologies beyond 2 nm, releases two first-of-a-kind advanced interconnect process design kits (PDKs): a fine-pitch redistribution layer (RDL) and die-to-wafer (D2W) hybrid bonding PDK. These early-access PDKs bring advanced packaging capabilities within reach of universities, start‑ups, and industry innovators and mark an important step in enabling high‑density, energy‑efficient chip‑to‑chip connectivity.

As the semiconductor industry moves toward ever more complex and heterogeneous system architectures, advanced packaging has become a key enabler in supporting this progress. Instead of merely enclosing individual chips, today's packaging technologies bring multiple dies (chiplets) together into tightly integrated systems where performance, energy efficiency, and bandwidth hinge on how effectively those components can interact. By enabling chiplets to be interconnected at high density, advanced packaging provides the foundation for the next generation of high‑performance computing, AI accelerators, and data‑intensive applications.

NVIDIA has released its latest GeForce 595.71 WHQL Game Ready Driver, addressing issues from the previous 595.59 WHQL version, which caused many headaches for gamers who installed it. With the new 595.71 WHQL, NVIDIA is providing support and optimizations for games such as Resident Evil Requiem and Marathon. Alongside these games, the new 595.71 WHQL fixes problems found in 595.59 WHQL, including a bug where one or more GPU fans stopped spinning after the update. Thankfully, this has been fixed, and gamers were spared the headaches of potentially damaging their expensive GPUs. Additionally, hardware monitoring utilities can now once again recognize all GPU fans, allowing users to continue monitoring and fine-tuning fan profiles without issues. Interestingly, this comes as another game ready driver release, and not a hotfix version. NVIDIA also fixed some game artifacts that were appearing specifically with the GeForce RTX 50 series, such as green artifacts in Total War: THREE KINGDOMS and black bars appearing in The Ascent.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 595.71 WHQL

Apple today announced the new iPad Air featuring M4 and more memory, giving users a big jump in performance at the same starting price. With a faster CPU and GPU, iPad Air boosts tasks like editing and gaming, and is a powerful device for AI with a faster Neural Engine, higher memory bandwidth, and 50 percent more unified system memory than the previous generation. With M4, iPad Air is up to 30 percent faster than iPad Air with M3, and up to 2.3x faster than iPad Air with M1. The new iPad Air also features the latest in Apple silicon connectivity chips, N1 and C1X, delivering fast wireless and cellular connections—and support for Wi-Fi 7—that empower users to work and be creative anywhere. Available in two sizes and four gorgeous finishes that users love, the 11-inch iPad Air is super portable, and the 13-inch model provides an even larger display for those who want more space to multitask. With game-changing iPadOS 26 capabilities, advanced cameras, all-day battery life, a powerful app ecosystem, and support for accessories like Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard, iPad Air delivers a remarkable and versatile experience for anyone who wants to do more on iPad, from students and creators, to business users and gamers.

With the same starting price of just $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch model, the new iPad Air is an incredible value. And for education, the 11-inch iPad Air starts at $549, and the 13-inch model starts at $749. Customers can pre-order iPad Air starting Wednesday, March 4, with availability beginning Wednesday, March 11.

Intel used its MWC conference in Barcelona to showcase its most core-dense Xeon 6+ processor, codenamed "Clearwater Forest." As one of Intel's most complex chiplet designs, the package combines 12 compute chiplets manufactured on an Intel 18A node with three active base tiles on Intel 3 and two I/O tiles on Intel 7. In this configuration, each compute tile contains six modules of four "Darkmont" efficiency cores, providing 24 E-cores per tile and a maximum of 288 "Darkmont" E-cores on a single socket. A two-socket system, therefore, approaches 576 cores. The design connects clusters with a high-bandwidth on-chip fabric and stacks die using Foveros Direct 3D, while EMIB links connect multiple tiles in a 2.5D arrangement.

Each "Darkmont" E-core comes with a 64 KB instruction cache, a wider front end, and a larger out-of-order window to sustain more in-flight work. Execution resources and the number of execution ports have been increased to improve parallel integer and vector throughput. Physically, clusters are grouped in four-core units sharing about 4 MB of L2 cache per group, and the package-level last-level cache can exceed a gigabyte, with about 1,152 MB of combined last-level cache across the package. "Clearwater Forest" supports the existing Xeon server platform socket, 12 memory channels, and broad I/O, including 96 PCIe 5.0 lanes and 64 CXL 2.0 lanes. Memory speed targets push toward DDR5-8000.

Montech today unveiled the Beta 2 line of mainstream ATX 3.1 power supplies. These PSUs are designed to meet ATX 3.1 and PCIe 5.1 CEM specifications, providing mainstream-thru-performance segment gaming PC builds with a modern PSU architecture. These come in four variants based on output, 550 W, 650 W, 750 W, and 850 W. All four offer 80 Plus Bronze-rated switching efficiency. All four models come with fixed cabling, which comprises individually-sleeved wires for each cable.

The PSUs feature single +12 V rail design, DC-to-DC switching, and most common electrical protections. All four use 120 mm hydro-dynamic bearing fans, and a Japanese-made main capacitor. All four models come with 24-pin ATX and two 4+4 pin EPS connectors. The 550 W, 650 W, and 750 W models come with two 6+2 pin PCIe power connectors (which meet ATX 3.1 excursion specs); while the 850 W model offers a 450 W-rated 12V-2x6 connector besides two 6+2 pin PCIe power. Montech is backing all four models with 5-year warranties. The 550 W model is priced at $49.90, the 650 W model at $59.90, the 750 W model at $63.90, while the 850 W model goes for $69.90.

Esports is entering its most transformative era yet, according to major global research from Logitech G showing increasing cultural acceptance and a significant rise in the number of people who view professional gaming as a legitimate and aspirational career path.

The newly released study, based on 18,000 respondents across 12 countries, shows that nearly one in 10 (8 per cent) of people globally would choose to become a professional gamer if they could restart their career, ranking higher than professions such as politician (6 per cent), recruiter (6 per cent), or professional racer (5 per cent). Gen Z respondents ranked pro gaming among their top career ambitions at 15 per cent, if they had the chance to start over or pick a new career, compared with 10 per cent of Millennials, 7 per cent of Gen X, and just 3 per cent of Boomers.

At MWC 2026, TCL introduces a comprehensive tablet lineup designed to support a range of modern digital lifestyles.

Leading the Productivity Segment
The TCL Note A1 NXTPAPER follows its award‑winning debut at CES with a showcase at MWC. As TCL's first NXTPAPER e-note, it delivers a paper‑like visual experience powered by NXTPAPER Pure display technology with 3A Crystal Shield Glass. Paired with the T‑Pen Pro featuring ultra‑low latency and 8,192 pressure levels, it closely replicates natural handwriting. Integrated AI tools further enhance note‑taking and content organization, creating a focused digital workspace for professionals, students, and creators.

Samsung Display participates in MWC26, the world's largest mobile communications exhibition, held in Barcelona, Spain from March 2 to 5. Marking its fourth consecutive year at the event, Samsung Display showcases a broad portfolio of OLED technologies that serve as both interfaces and component solutions optimized for AI edge computing. Notably, reflecting the growing importance of smartphone privacy alongside enhanced AI capabilities, the company has unveiled the "Flex Magic Pixel" zone, presenting its breakthrough panel-integrated privacy technology that demonstrates its OLED innovation to a global audience.

Under this year's exhibition theme, "The IQ Era," Samsung Display has designed its booth around the concept of "Intelligent OLED City." The booth is organized into four zones: AI Square, AI Edge District, AI Entertainment District and AI Sports District.

As 5G adoption continues to accelerate, high-speed connectivity is reshaping digital experiences—yet many users worldwide still do not have access to 5G. To bridge this gap and accelerate the transition from 4G to 5G, TCL is introducing an entry-level 5G connectivity lineup at MWC26, including TCL 5G CPE B50 and TCL 5G Mobile Wi-Fi B50 Pro. Together with the brand-new Wi-Fi router TCL LINKHUB WR5360, these products deliver faster, more stable and smarter connectivity across homes, offices and mobile scenarios. By integrating 5G and Wi-Fi 7 technologies into entry-level devices, TCL continues to make premium connectivity more attainable.

TCL 5G CPE B50: A high-performance entry-level 5G foundation
Built around essential connectivity demands—including speed, stability, and multi-device capacity—B50 brings advanced 5G and Wi-Fi 7 technologies into an accessible networking solution.

TCL introduces its all-new TCL CrystalClip earbuds at MWC 2026, setting a new benchmark for open-ear audio with a seamless blend of immersive sound performance, effortless all-day comfort, refined design aesthetics, intuitive AI-powered functionality and truly enduring battery life.

Pioneering the Future of Open-Ear Comfort
The way we listen is evolving, and so are consumer expectations. Consumers are increasingly seeking solutions that offer extended comfort, maintain connection with the environment, and deliver high-quality audio throughout the day. This growing preference has paved the way for "open-ear" design to emerge as a natural evolution in personal audio.

RayNeo, a leading innovator in augmented reality (AR) wearable technology, today unveiled the Batman Edition of its latest smart glasses, the RayNeo Air 4 Pro, at MWC 2026. Available for purchase since February 27, 2026, RayNeo Air 4 Pro comes in both a Standard Edition and Batman Editions, offering consumers more personalized choices that blend practical entertainment and productivity with everyday cosplay expression.

Next-Generation Entertainment: The RayNeo Air 4 Pro
Positioned as a "new species of head-mounted TV," the RayNeo Air 4 Pro sets a new benchmark for personal entertainment by combining industry-leading display technology with premium audio. Powered by a customized Vision 4000 chip and fine-tuned in collaboration with the legendary audio brand Bang & Olufsen, the device transforms any environment into a private cinema. Whether connected to a smartphone, PC, or the newly launched Nintendo Switch 2, this "pocket magician" delivers an immersive, on-the-go viewing experience. Key features of the RayNeo Air 4 Pro include:

At the 2026 Mobile World Congress (MWC), TCL announced a groundbreaking advancement in its proprietary NXTPAPER eye-care technology. For the first time, NXTPAPER's signature full-color electronic display technology will be integrated with AMOLED displays, marking a major leap forward in the mobile viewing experience. This significant advancement combines the unparalleled picture quality, rich, finely detailed visuals and exceptional brightness of AMOLED with TCL's industry-leading eye care display performance, delivering a display that is both exceptionally vibrant and remarkably gentle on the eyes during prolonged viewing. Through natural-light-like visual comfort and an extraordinary paper-like experience, this brings global users a truly unmatched level of visual comfort on smartphones, leading the industry into a new era of intuitive, visually comfortable mobile display technology.

"As screen time continues to rise, from early messages to night scrolling, visual fatigue has become a shared modern experience. As the primary medium through which we perceive the world and access information, displays must not only deliver stunning image quality but also prioritize visual health." said Jefferson Li, General Manager of TCL Mobile Phone. "This new milestone in our NXTPAPER journey reflects TCL's unwavering commitment to human-centric innovation. By integrating NXTPAPER with AMOLED, we are addressing the market demand for displays that don't force users to choose between vivid visuals and eye comfort. This advancement brings us closer to our mission of creating a smartphone viewing experience that feels incredibly natural and comfortable while staying easy on the eyes even during prolonged use."

pureLiFi, the global leader in light-based communications, is set to challenge expectations at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026 by shattering speed barriers and solving the Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) industry's toughest challenge, delivering high quality signal indoors. LiFi is a high-speed, wireless communication technology that transmits data through the light spectrum rather than traditional radio frequencies.

The latest LiFi systems on show leverage technology trusted by international security agencies for classified networks, demonstrating that LiFi's massive capacity and military-grade security are accessible to all. Moving beyond the constraints of radio frequencies, pureLiFi is unveiling its High-Bandwidth Architecture, capable of a staggering 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps). Alongside this breakthrough, the company will showcase a powerhouse lineup of 5G FWA partner demonstrations and the latest Bridge XC Flex system.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced its industry-leading Wi-Fi 8 portfolio, a key step toward building the connectivity foundation for the AI era. The comprehensive portfolio features the Qualcomm FastConnect 8800 Mobile Connectivity System and five new Qualcomm Dragonwing Networking Platforms. Each is engineered to deliver the connectivity and compute performance required to anchor a new generation of products, leveraging unparalleled intelligence with breakthrough architecture for today's AI demand realities.

"Today's network traffic profile is fundamentally changing as AI-fueled demand requires a re-thinking of the core architecture. Qualcomm Technologies is redefining that architecture to enable AI everywhere," said Gautam Sheoran, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Connectivity, Broadband and Networking, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "Next-gen networks and devices not only need to be AI-native, but they need a new breed of intelligent, high performance connectivity. Qualcomm Technologies' Wi-Fi 8 generation of products is the whole package: faster speeds, higher reliability, longer range, and powerful AI."

Microsoft recently updated its Agility SDK to version 1.619, bringing DirectX Shader Model 6.9 alongside some new DirectX 12 improvements. However, Microsoft's latest product demo about Shader Execution Reordering (SER) now confirms a massive performance uplift across several GPUs, with up to a 90% improvement on Intel Arc B-Series and more than 80% from independent sources' benchmarks on NVIDIA "Blackwell." With SER, the API gives applications the ability to dynamically sort rays for highly optimized parallel execution, improving performance by a large margin. In Microsoft's own testing, Intel's Arc B-Series GPUs, which include "Battlemage" discrete GPUs and Xe3-based integrated GPUs in "Panther Lake," managed to achieve a 90% framerate increase in the technology demonstration, suggesting that ray tracing performance still has some tricks up its sleeve for optimization.

Meanwhile, the company also tested the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 with SER, scoring a 40% improvement over the default ray sorting in the previous execution model. Independent testing from Osvaldo Pinali Doederlein on X showed that the GeForce RTX 5080 "Blackwell" GPU scored about an 80% improvement running this demo, which gives confidence that games implementing this technology will provide gamers with a massive performance boost once implemented. Microsoft has built this D3D12RaytracingHelloShaderExecutionReordering demo with a minimum demonstration of the SER technology, so anyone can test their own hardware and the performance improvement.

At MWC 2026, Lenovo builds on the momentum from CES and Tech World to highlight its latest portfolio of AI-powered business devices, intelligent form factors, and enterprise-ready platforms, designed to help organizations scale AI with confidence. From modular AI PC concepts and rugged frontline tablets to the trusted ThinkPad portfolio and human-centric AI companions, Lenovo's MWC showcase highlights how innovation, reliability, and repairability come together to support modern work.

The new announcements reflect a continued focus on delivering democratized AI that is productive, adaptable, and protected, addressing the real-world needs of professionals, IT leaders, and enterprises operating across increasingly distributed environments. By combining AI-ready devices with strong repairability, platform choice across leading silicon partners, and enterprise-grade security and services, Lenovo is enabling businesses to adopt AI-powered computing without added complexity.

MSI, a leading global provider of high-performance server solutions, is showcasing its latest AI-vRAN solutions at MWC 2026 (Booth #5A61) to address the evolving requirements of next-generation telecom networks. MSI's AI-vRAN stack, integrated with GPU server solutions, is designed to bring AI capabilities into the core of network operations, supporting growing telecommunications workloads and accelerating the transition toward AI-powered mobile networks.

"AI is rapidly reshaping the telecommunications landscape, and MSI is focused on helping operators build scalable network architectures that support diverse applications, including voice, data, video streaming, and AI workloads, through a unified infrastructure," said Danny Hsu, General Manager of Enterprise Platform Solutions at MSI. "This AI-powered vRAN architecture delivers greater flexibility for 5G and future 6G deployments while accelerating time-to-market for new services."

At Mobile World Congress 2026, AMD announced an expanded Ryzen AI portfolio with the launch of the AMD Ryzen AI 400 Series and Ryzen AI PRO 400 Series desktop processors. The new processors deliver powerful on-device AI acceleration and next-generation performance, enabling users to run AI applications and LLMs locally and tackle compute-intensive applications, including those for design and engineering, with ease. Additionally, AMD is expanding the Ryzen AI 400 Series mobile portfolio to include workstations.

With these additions, Ryzen AI 400 Series processors enable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to offer next-gen AI PCs across high-performance desktops, laptops and mobile workstations optimized for modern workloads.

AMD has expanded the availability of its Ryzen 5 5500X3D to the Chinese market, giving new life to a processor that first appeared in Latin America last year. There was no formal launch event or major announcement. Instead, the chip appeared through retail channels quietly, with a listing price of 1,199 RMB (roughly $175). At its core, the Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a six-core, 12-thread "Zen 3" processor designed for the AM4 platform. It runs at a 3.0 GHz base frequency and can boost up to 4.0 GHz. What sets it apart from standard Ryzen 5 models of the same generation is its expanded cache configuration. With a combined 99 MB of L2 and L3 cache, it targets gaming workloads that benefit from reduced memory latency and improved data access patterns, as seen with the other X3D SKUs.

AMD lists the processor at a 105 W TDP, and buyers should note that it does not include a bundled cooler and lacks integrated graphics. At $175, this pricing positions the 5500X3D as one of the more accessible X3D options available. AMD revived its AM4 socket with an additional "Zen 3" chip, but this time in an X3D variant to keep up with modern designs in performance. With support for DDR4 memory, PCIe 4.0, and a wide range of AM4 motherboards, including X570 and B550, the 5500X3D offers existing users a relatively inexpensive drop-in upgrade. For those running Ryzen 3 or Ryzen 5 from the 5000 series, this chip could be a very good upgrade without having to switch to a completely new platform and the more expensive DDR5 memory.

We've known for a while now, that Intel's early-2026 refresh of its Core Ultra series-2 "Arrow Lake" desktop processor lineup could see a refresh with the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus and Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, with reviews tentatively going live on March 23. VideoCardz reports that the company could unveil these chips close to two weeks earlier than that, on March 11. This would probably be when the company announces the two chips and reveals some of their specs. Reviews could remain on track for March 23, with retail availability of the chips shortly after. There's no confirmation yet on whether the two chips have "KF" variants lacking integrated graphics, but that's fairly likely.

Both SKUs see increases in CPU core counts and L3 cache sizes compared to current SKUs leading the Core Ultra 5 and Core Ultra 7 brand extensions. The Core Ultra 5 250K Plus is a 6P+12E chip, with a generous 30 MB of shared L3 cache; while the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus maxes out the "Arrow Lake-S" silicon, enabling all 8 P-cores, and all 16 E-cores, with all 36 MB of shared L3 cache available; albeit with slightly lower clock-speeds than the flagship Core Ultra 9 285K. Intel reportedly dropped plans to launch the fabled "Core Ultra 9 290K Plus," which would have been a supercharged variant of the 285K with even higher clock speeds.

Micron Technology, Inc. celebrated the grand opening of its semiconductor assembly and test facility in Sanand, Gujarat, India. The state-of-the-art facility converts advanced DRAM and NAND wafers from Micron's global manufacturing network into finished memory and storage products. Once fully ramped, the first phase of Micron's Sanand operation will feature more than 500,000 square feet of cleanroom space, making it one of the world's largest single-floor assembly and test cleanrooms. The site serves customers worldwide to meet the growing global demand for memory and storage fueled by AI.

The facility represents a combined investment of approximately $2.75 billion by Micron and its government partners, advancing semiconductor manufacturing capabilities in India. Micron Chairman, President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra and other executives witnessed the opening ceremony with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendra Patel, Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & IT Ashwini Vaishnaw, U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor and other distinguished government officials and guests.

GIGABYTE Technology, a global leader known for its engineering excellence in high-performance computing and AI servers, extends its comprehensive end-to-end AI infrastructure portfolio designed specifically for the telecommunications industry at MWC 2026. GIGABYTE's end-to-end product solutions enable operators to convert massive volumes of network data into intelligence, automation, and new revenue streams, as telecommunications networks evolve from data carriers into AI-powered digital platforms.

At the core of the telco-to-AI transformation is the AI Factory, where network and subscriber data are converted into operational intelligence and commercialized AI services. GIGABYTE addresses this need with GB300 NVL72, a liquid-cooled rack-scale platform integrating 72 NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra GPUs and 36 NVIDIA Grace CPUs in a single system. Connected via NVIDIA Quantum-X800 InfiniBand or NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet and NVIDIA ConnectX -8 SuperNIC s, GB300 NVL72 is optimized for large-scale AI training and inference workloads, enabling operators to automate operations, optimize network planning, and deploy AI-driven services at telecom scale.

At MWC 2026, Lenovo introduces a new generation of adaptive AI devices and forward-looking concepts designed for business professionals, creators, students, and gamers. Headlined by new modular PC architecture, a glasses-free 3D laptop concept, a foldable gaming handheld device, and the initial rollout of Lenovo Qira, Lenovo's showcase reflects a broader shift in personal computing toward systems that adapt intelligently to people and their environments. Across its portfolio, Lenovo continues to focus on delivering technology that is more personalized, proactive, and protected, while building a unified AI ecosystem that works naturally across devices.

"The AI era will not be defined by a single device or application, but by intelligent systems that work seamlessly across everything we use," said Luca Rossi, President, Intelligent Devices Group, Lenovo. "We are demonstrating how Lenovo and Motorola are bringing that vision to life, combining adaptive hardware innovation with a single, unified system-level AI integration that works naturally across PCs, smartphones, tablets, wearables, and beyond. From premium mobile devices and transformative form factors, to the rollout of Lenovo Qira, we are building the widest AI portfolio that delivers more connected, more intuitive personal computing experiences designed around people."

Welcome to the first week of March, which kicks off with a major release from Bungie, that is not part of its Destiny universe, but rather part of a series that the company first released back in 1994 and is the fourth game in the series. If first-person shooters aren't your thing, then maybe running your own tavern is more your style? Or how about breeding and training horses in ancient Mongolia? Maybe hunting monsters in the fellowship of a cursed hat? Maybe a relaxing deck builder is more your cup of tea? Or finding lost items in a cozy world?

Marathon / This week's major release / Thursday 5 March
Infil into the dark sci-fi world of Tau Ceti IV: A derelict colony rife with rival Runners, hostile UESC security forces, and unpredictable environments. As you scavenge its zones for valuables with a crew or alone, tense moments of exploration break into fast-paced PvP combat where gunplay is responsive, supplies are finite, and preparation is rewarded. Steam link

Ubisoft has been clear that it is working on "several" new games in the Assassin's Creed franchise. One of those games is Assassin's Creed Hexe, a new open-world AC game that has been in development at Ubisoft Montreal in some form or another since 2022. Now, according to Tom Henderson on the Insider Gaming podcast, the combat for Assassin's Creed Hexe is being reworked, with a contortionist coming in to record the motion capture scenes. He also adds that the game looks to be launching sometime in 2027, despite the combat reworks. Ubisoft Montreal, the studio in charge of Hexe, was also leading the development of the recently cancelled Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake, although it seems unlikely that Hexe would be cancelled this late into development, especially since it seems to follow the established Assassin's Creed format rather closely.

Recent teasers released by Ubisoft suggest that the new game will feature themes of witchcraft and sorcery, with a distinct horror influence, and it seems like it will be set in Germany. Hexe was being directed by Clint Hocking, of Far Cry 2, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory fame, but recent changes to Ubisoft's structure resulted in his departure from the company and the project. Despite this, Ubisoft has assured gamers that Hexe has survived the tumultuous reshuffling that has seen so many other projects delayed. However, the news of the reworked combat may mean that it will need more time in the oven than originally intended.

Lenovo has officially launched the ThinkBook 16+ in China, officially kicking off its LPCAMM2 rollout to mainstream laptop after it launched the ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 with the new RAM standard as far back as 2024. LPCAMM2 is a new memory standard that allows all of the performance of LPDDR5X with the upgradeability of a regular SODIMM. The ThinkBook 16+ appears to be Lenovo's first consumer device to feature LPCAMM2, launching with up to 32 GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory backing up an Intel Core Ultra X7 385H and its Arc B390 iGPU.

Specs for the ThinkBook 14+ are not completely listed on Lenovo China, but the rest of the ThinkBook 16+'s specs impress, featuring Wi-Fi 7, 165 Hz display with 100% DCI-P3 coverage and support for VRR, and a 99.9 Wh battery. The laptop also features 2× Thunderbolt 4 ports, 2× USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, and 1× USB 2.0 Type-B port, a 3.5 mm audio combo jack, and a 4-in-1 SD card reader for SD, SDHC, SDXC, and CMMC cards. Lenovo has also equipped the ThinkBook 16+ with a Windows Hello-compatible 1080p webcam with a physical shutter as well as support for Lenovo's Magic Bay accessory ecosystem, which has started expanding to more laptops in 2026. The new ThinkBook series also features Lenovo's pressure-sensitive Forcepad, which also integrates haptic feedback and multitouch support. In China, the ThinkBook 16+ 2026 comes in at RMB 8499 ($1,240) while the ThinkBook 14+ 2026 starts at RMB 8299 ($1,210) with all of the same internal specifications. At the time of writing, though, there is no indication that these laptops will launch outside of China, although another laptop series will likely take their place in international markets.

In early February, Intel finally updated its HEDT sector with the latest "Granite Rapids-WS" Xeon 600 Series processors for workstations. The company has now published a detailed table of turbo frequencies that provides specifics on each core's boost frequency in workloads like SSE, AVX2, AVX-512, and AMX, showing how much these workloads allow the CPU cores to boost. This means that during a continuous workload like AMX, these CPUs can only run at a sustained frequency defined in the tables below. At the very top of the new "Granite Rapids-WS" stack is the Xeon 698X, featuring 86 cores and 172 threads, backed by 336 MB of L3 cache. The chip runs at a 2.0 GHz base clock, boosting up to 4.8 GHz with Turbo Boost Max 3.0, or 4.6 GHz under Turbo Boost 2.0. This CPU is fully unlocked, allowing overclocking, which is still relatively rare in the Xeon workstation space.

In non-AVX workloads, this CPU can boost up to 4.8 GHz, while its lowest-performing core, numbered 86, sits at 3.0 GHz. However, AVX2 turbo frequencies cause a significant frequency downgrade, as the base frequency drops to 1.7 GHz, and the slowest core drops to 2.9 GHz when boosting across its 86-core design. Following this are the AVX-512 turbo frequencies, which see this flagship SKU running at a base clock speed of only 1.3 GHz and only 2.5 GHz across its 86 cores. Perhaps the most demanding turbo frequency testing occurs when AMX is enabled, resulting in a base frequency of only 1.1 GHz and only 2.0 GHz across all cores at once. This significant reduction comes from the demanding scenarios of these vector and matrix instruction processing, which are very heavy on the CPU.More information about other SKUs and details in AVX2, AVX-512, and AMX turbo frequencies follow.

We recently reported on news that Sony will all but stop releasing PC ports of its single-player games on PC, and while those previous reports were from Jason Schreier, a journalist previously shown to have reputable insider sources, another insider has corroborated these claims, adding additional context in the process. According to NateTheHate2 on X, Sony made the decision in 2025 to shift its release strategy, with the result of launching fewer first-party single-player games on PC. The leaker adds that this means there will be "fewer single-player games" on PC from Sony, implying both that Sony may still port single-player games to PC—only significantly fewer of them—and that this new policy may not apply to live-service and multiplayer games.

He also mentioned that there are still single-player PC ports in development at Sony, which may eventually launch, depending on how far they are in the development process, but that these ports are no longer a priority for the Japanese gaming giant. Addressing questions about the justification for the strategy shift, NateTheHate2 commented that, while there have been a few commercially successful PC ports, they haven't been a huge revenue driver for Sony. Looking at the Steam charts data for Insomniac Games, one of Sony's most notable first-party studios, the data lends credence to these comments. The best-performing PC port from the studio is Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered, which peaked at 66,436 players on Steam. Meanwhile, the next-best performer is Marvel's Spider-Man 2, which peaked at 28,189. Nixxes Software, the studio responsible for many Sony PC ports, has seen similar successes, with the likes of Ghost of Tsushima topping the charts at 77,154 peak concurrent players, ahead of the aforementioned Spider-Man Remastered, with Horizon Forbidden West and The Last of Us Part II Remastered bringing in peaks or 40,462 and 30,690 players, respectively.

Minisforum is known for making powerful mini PCs, like the Core Ultra 9 285H-powered M1 Pro we recently reviewed, and the latest entry into the company's line-up is the MS-A2, an upgrade to 2024's MS-A1. The new mini workstation is marketed as a small form factor desktop server for programming, business, and home lab use cases, and it seems to have the specs to back that up. The whole package measures just 196×189×48 mm, or 1.78 L, making it seriously compact. Official US pricing for the MS-A2 with the Ryzen 9 9955HX starts at $799 with no RAM or storage or $1,199 with 32 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD. The mini PC with 96 GB of RAM and 2 a 2 TB SSD costs $1,919 on the Minisforum store.

The MS-A2 uses AMD's Ryzen 9 9955HX mobile CPU—with a claimed 100 W turbo TDP—paired with up to 96 GB of DDR5-5600 memory and up to three PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, for up to 12 TB total capacity, as well as support for U.2 NVMe 22110 drives, bringing total storage capacity up to 23 TB. Networking is also impressive, thanks to dual 10 Gb SFP+ ports and dual 2.5 Gb Ethernet ports. The MS-A2 also sports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connectivity, and it has more than enough ports for proper workstation use. The front of the mini PC has dual USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB 2.0 port, and a 3.5 mm audio combo jack, while the back has 2× USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports with DisplayPort 2.0 Alt mode support, 1× HDMI 2.1, 2× 2.5 Gb RJ45 ports, 2× 10 Gb SFP+ ports, 1× USB 3.1 Gen 2, and 1× USB 3.1 Gen 1 port. The Ryzen 9 9955HX has a pretty weak Radeon 610M iGPU, which will get the job done for most productivity tasks, but the MS-A2 also has a built-in full-length PCIe 4.0 ×8 slot for GPU or IO upgrades, and that slot supports can be split into two PCIe ×4 connections.

Intel's flagship "Bartlett Lake-S" processor—Core 9 273 PQE—has reached enthusiasts who are testing whether any consumer motherboard can boot the CPU and utilize its 12 P-Core gaming performance. According to Overclock.net user "Talon2016," who managed to obtain a sample of the LGA-1700 flagship CPU SKU, the processor won't boot using a consumer ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Apex motherboard. These CPUs are designed for edge and embedded deployments with specialized platforms that lie outside the consumer sector. This high-TDP PQE variant has a base power of 125 W, powering a 12 P-Core variant with 24 threads and a base frequency of 3.4 GHz. This model can boost all 12 cores to 5.3 GHz, while a single thread can reach up to 5.9 GHz independently for tasks requiring intensive single-threaded performance. It is equipped with 36 MB of L3 cache and an integrated GPU with 32 EUs of Xe-LP graphics.

Unfortunately, regardless of the SKU or consumer motherboard choice, the platform will not work, and the CPU will not boot, as Intel has restricted "Bartlett Lake-S" to keep it away from consumers. Companies like ASRock have confirmed that the "Bartlett Lake-S" Core 200E will not be available for consumer motherboards and will only be used in the embedded and edge computer sector. This means you can technically buy and use this CPU for any Windows or Linux task, including gaming, but you will have to go through a process of acquiring an industrial-grade motherboard or a mini-PC that suits this platform. This means gaming support will be limited, as Intel explicitly will not bring any optimizations like APO/IPO to the platform for gaming. Instead, it will be treated as a generic x86-64 Intel CPU, just like any other processor. Extracting the maximum gaming performance could also be problematic, as there could be compatibility issues, given that Intel has envisioned other applications for this platform.

If you were in or around the PC building space in 2020, you'd have at least heard about the fire risk related to the PCIe riser cable on the original NZXT H1 mini ITX case, which eventually resulted in a recall and replacement PCIe riser kits being sent out. Since NZXT has launched the newest iteration of the SFF case, the H2 Flow—which TechPowerUp has reviewed—the PC case maker has seen fit to publish a blog post explaining the engineering changes it has made to the new H2 Flow's riser cable to avoid the same issues from popping up again. NZXT starts things off by reminding us that the problem with the original H1's PCIe riser cable was that the mounting screw made contact with an internal power plane in the riser cable's PCB, resulting in a short circuit that could lead to a fire.

The brand goes on to explain that the issue has been avoided in the new PCIe riser cable with two safety measures. First, there is a physical boss, or "shoulder" that extends into the PCB through-hole to protect the PCB from the screw threads and to ensure that there is a consistent and guaranteed gap between the screw and the PCB. Secondly, NZXT has changed the design of the PCB such that there are no power planes or traces surrounding the screw hole—every trace around the screw is grounded, and that ground plane extends externally to a copper screw pad on the top and bottom of the PCB, adding another layer of protection. NZXT notes that the screw pad may be missing in some early review samples, which is something you can observe in our review of the H2 Flow, but it is included in the final mass production versions of the case. NZXT claims that these measures have eliminated the failure mode that caused issues with the original H1 chassis.

Resident Evil Requiem just launched as the latest game in Capcom's long-standing horror game franchise, and almost immediately upon launching, it skyrocketed its way to the top of the Steam Top-Sellers chart and pulled impressive player counts. At its launch day peak, there were 320,056 concurrent players in the game, and, at least at the time of writing, the player count has not dropped below 230,000, according to SteamDB. Since its peak, player counts have been steadily fluctuating between 260,000 and 290,000 players.

With those player counts, it is by far the most successful Resident Evil game on Steam, surpassing the runner-up, Resident Evil 4, by almost 100% and scoring a 114,000-player lead on Resident Evil Village. It is also entirely possible that there will be another player-count spike over the weekend, since it is a game series that even many older gamers resonate with. It's worth noting that this massive player count is on Steam alone, and Requiem launched on just about every platform possible, from the PS5 and Xbox Series to the Nintendo Switch 2 and even Epic Games on PC. Requiem even reportedly runs at acceptable frame rates on the Steam Deck's humble internals, with some players even reporting as much as 60 FPS on low quality settings. In our in-depth handheld performance review of Resident Evil Requiem, we called it "one of the best AAA games in terms of PC handheld performance," thanks to its compatibility with a number of systems and its lack of visual compromises to achieve solid performance.

The gaming mouse market is currently being flooded with lightweight wireless gaming mice with flagship sensors from Chinese manufacturers who have caught onto the forged carbon fiber and magnesium alloy construction trends. The latest installment in this recent trend is the newly announced WLMouse Ying Magnesium, which takes inspiration from the industry-leading Endgame Gear OP1. We have seen this shape from WLMouse before in the Ying Carbon Fiber gaming mouse that launched in 2025, but more than just the shell material has changed for the WLMouse Ying Magnesium series.

The Ying Magnesium Alloy offers the same Omron Optical switches as the carbon fiber Ying, but it also features the option of TTC Nihil Transparent Black Dot switches for a slightly heavier click feel. The Ying Magnesium series will also feature the Nordic 52840 MCU and PixArt PAW3950 sensor, with 8 kHz polling and wireless connectivity, as is to be expected from a modern gaming mouse. WLMouse cites the weight of the WLMouse Ying Magnesium mice as 47 g (±2), and the magnesium shell will apparently be available in seven colorways, ranging from regular silver, white, and black to a baby blue and bright red versions of its Nekko patterns, a white watercolor koi fish theme, and a deep purple colorway. No pricing has yet been announced, but that is expected to be revealed alongside the full launch on March 10, 2026.

We recently reported on a Lenovo MWC leak that claimed Lenovo would show off a Legion Go Fold at Mobile World Conference in Barcelona in early March. Now, a new leak shared by evleaks on X has shown off what Lenovo will apparently call the "ThinkBook Modular AI PC Concept." The leaker didn't provide much information other than the name and two images of the device, but the combination of the word "modular" in the name and the clues from the images provide a pretty clear idea of what's going on.

From the looks of it, the ThinkBook concept will have a traditional clamshell design, but the space where the keyboard deck would usually be on a traditional laptop will instead be a space for modular accessories. The accessories shown off in the leaked renders of the device are a laptop keyboard and a display equal in size to the main display in the top of the clamshell. This looks to be an iteration of devices like the Lenovo ThinkBook Flip, although the ThinkBook Modular AI PC Concept could achieve a similar effect, especially in terms of screen real-estate and possibly ergonomics, although likely with significantly lower costs, thanks to a simpler design without a flexible OLED panel. The new concept would also offer users more flexibility—you could just leave the lower display at home or pack both displays and a mechanical keyboard and mouse for better ergonomics and all the other benefits better peripherals offer.

The Orange Pi Neo is a Linux-powered gaming handheld that was announced way back in 2024 with the goal of launching sometime in 2026. It was to be powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 7840U with 16 GB of RAM or 8840U with 32 GB of RAM, and it would run Manjaro Linux natively. Now, the developer behind the project has posted on the development log hosted on the Manjaro forum that the Orange Pi Neo-01 will be delayed due to high memory and storage prices. Originally, the handheld was meant to be priced at $450-550, depending on the CPU and memory, which is very competitive, given the 1080p, 120 Hz display, dual trackpads, and dual USB4 ports. The skyrocketing prices of DDR5 memory and storage would likely result in massive price increases or vanishingly thin margins for the Orange Pi Neo-01, so it makes sense to delay the project until things calm down. The developer does mention that FCC and CE compliances were complete and that a number of improvements had been made to Manjaro Gaming Edition in the meantime—although this means it will be challenging to update the internals if the launch is pushed back too far. Currently, it's unclear when the Orange Pi Neo-01 will launch, but it seems unlikely that the RAM crisis will end soon.

Due to high prices of DDR5 RAM and SSDs the project is currently on ice. Certifications for CE and FCC are now complete. Also a lot of improvements around the Manjaro Gaming Edition had happened. We are now waiting for a good time to launch the product.

Corsair acquired Drop in December 2023 in an effort to expand its peripheral business beyond the basic gaming keyboards and audio gear it offered at the time, and it has since adopted some of Drop's keyboard expertise into its new Corsair MAKR 75 DIY keyboard kits. Now, Drop has announced that Corsair will be fully absorbing Drop, closing down the online storefront and turning Drop.com into a showcase for all of the collaborations Drop has done in its time making premium peripherals.

The announcement makes it clear that Drop.com will no longer be an operational storefront by March 31, and anyone looking to place an order on Drop will need to do so by March 25. The announcement states that "many Drop products will continue to be offered directly from Corsair and partner channels," and while Drop says that buyers can "expect exclusive announcements, limited runs, and products shaped by partnerships and creativity," it seems like Drop's operations will be scaled back as a result of the change—by how much is unclear, though.

Razer, the leading global gaming lifestyle brand, today unveils the Razer Kraken Kitty V2 - Hello Kitty Edition, an elegant rose gold headset created in collaboration with Sanrio. Building on Razer's longstanding partnership with Sanrio, the new Target-exclusive introduces a new metallic finish to Razer's lineup of iconic Hello Kitty gaming headsets, continuing a series known for pairing character-led design with gaming-grade performance.

Style, Sound, and Sparkle
The Kraken Kitty V2 - Hello Kitty Edition features sleek metallic pink outer earcups with a soft rose gold shimmer, paired with plush pearlescent pink leatherette cushions and headband for all-day comfort. Hello Kitty's iconic ears and Razer Chroma RGB lighting complete the signature design, adding a subtle, whimsical glow that captures the timeless charm of Hello Kitty while delivering the performance and build quality synonymous with Razer.

Nintendo has officially announced Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves as the latest installment in its never-ending creature-capture series. The two new games will introduce Generation 10 Pokémon and be available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2 sometime in 2027. It will be the first Pokémon game exclusive to the Switch 2, and there's no word on whether it will launch for the original Switch or Switch OLED later down the line. An exact launch date was not revealed, although late 2027 seems likely based on previous launches.

The reveal trailer—which is not actual gameplay footage—shows a continuation of the 3D aesthetic, revealing the usual selection of biomes, including oceans, grasslands, rock outcroppings, dungeons, and forests. The trailer also gave us a glimpse at the three new starter Pokémon, Browt, the Grass type, Pombon, the Fire type, and Gecqua, the Water type. The trailer also teased underwater exploration, and what looks like an island resort or town sort of in the style of hut-over-water buildings typically found in calm tropical waters.

It was revealed in January that the PlayStation 5 Pro would get an upgraded PSSR 2.0 scaler in Q1 2026, finally unlocking the full hardware potential of the PS5. It was announced in a recent PlayStation Blog post that the aforementioned PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) update would start rolling out to the PS5 Pro globally starting on February 27, with Resident Evil Requiem being the first game to use the more advanced PSSR version. Sony says that the upgraded PSSR scaler will soon also be usable with any of the over 50 games that have so far implemented the original PSSR games. A system update will be shipped in March that will let players enable an option titled "Enhance PSSR Image Quality," to apply the upgraded model to older games.

Sony says that the new PSSR "takes a very different approach to not only the neural network but also the overall algorithm," and Masaru Ijuin, Capcom's Senior Manager of Engine Development Support Section, R&D Foundational Technology Department, explained that "With Resident Evil Requiem, we focused on enhancing the presentation quality of the protagonist through an upgraded version of RE Engine to deepen the player's immersion in horror. For example, each individual strand of hair and beard is rendered as a polygon, allowing it to move realistically in response to body motion and wind," going on to explain that the level of fidelity Capcom was able to achieve was made possible by the upgraded PSSR features, since things like hair and similar fine textures are difficult to upscale.

The hype for Marathon has been building leading up to the free server slam event on February 26-March 3, with all that excitement coming to a head at the start of the Marathon free test weekend, which kicked off with a sizeable peak player count of 143,621 players just under two hours after the start of the event. Given that the server slam event started on a Thursday, it seems likely that many of the players who have since stopped testing the new extraction shooter had real-world responsibilities to attend to. Those numbers also only represent the game's Steam market share. Accounting for players on Xbox and PlayStation 5 would likely lead to significantly higher player count figures.

Despite this success, online discussions surrounding the new shooter seem to be surprisingly divided, with players both praising and criticizing Marathon for everything from its art style and UI design to the gunplay, lack of tension and PvP action, and the NPC AI being challenging. Character balance was also a common topic that featured in critical reviews, with some players complaining that certain characters are too overpowered while others are not capable enough. While some of these complaints, like the UI being difficult to read and certain performance issues, seem to be somewhat more widespread and valid, the Marathon development team at Bungie has responded to and acknowledged almost all of the common complaints in a recent post on X, either offering some advice to improve the player experience or requesting more detailed feedback so that issues can be dealt with ahead of launch or in post-launch patches.

Blaze Entertainment has today announced the next entry in the award-winning line of Super Pocket handheld retro gaming consoles from its brand, HyperMegaTech! - Rare!

This new handheld features 14 built-in games from the history of Rare, one of the UK's most prolific game developers, and responsible for globally renowned titles, many of which are included on this handheld console. The Rare Edition of the Super Pocket will feature titles from many different consoles and, for the first time on a Super Pocket - 64-bit console and home computer titles!

OpenAI and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced a multi-year strategic partnership to accelerate AI innovation for enterprises, startups, and end consumers around the world. Amazon will also invest $50 billion in OpenAI, starting with an initial $15 billion investment and followed by another $35 billion in the coming months when certain conditions are met.

Partnering to bring new advanced AI capabilities to enterprises worldwide
OpenAI and Amazon are jointly developing a Stateful Runtime Environment powered by OpenAI's models, which will be available through Amazon Bedrock.
Stateful developer environments are the next generation of how frontier models will be used, seamlessly enabling models to access elements like compute, memory, and identity. A Stateful Runtime Environment allows developers to keep context, remember prior work, work across software tools and data sources, and access compute. They're designed to handle ongoing projects and workflows.

Rapidus has closed a 267.6 billion yen ($1.7 billion) funding round, pulling in money from both the Japanese government and a broad group of private companies. On the public side, 100 billion yen ($641 million) came from the Information-Technology Promotion Agency (IPA), following a formal selection process run by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry last autumn. Rapidus applied and was picked as the designated operator in November 2025, and the investment followed from there. The remaining 167.6 billion yen ($1 billion) came from 32 private-sector companies, a list that reads like a who's who of Japanese industry: Canon, Fujitsu, Sony, NTT, SoftBank, Honda, Kioxia, Denso, and Toyota are among the names involved, alongside banks, trading companies, and various tech firms (i.e., IBM Japan). Combined with the 7.3 billion yen raised at the company's founding, Rapidus now has a total stated capital of just under 275 billion yen ($1.76 billion).

Rapidus has already taped out a 2 nm GAA test chip using ASML EUV tools in August last year. The company's 2HP process is shaping up to be genuinely competitive, claiming a transistor density of 237 MTr/mm². The goal hasn't changed: get from R&D to full mass production of 2 nm chips by 2027 at the IIM-1 fab in Chitose, Hokkaido, located in northern Japan with around 25,000 wafers per month. Rapidus says it will keep raising money through a mix of public and private sources as it works toward that target.

It was recently revealed by Komodo Station, Valve's official retail partner for Steam hardware in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, that prices for the Steam Deck OLED prices will increase by as much as 17% in March. However, as the storefront explains in the announcement, these price increases are as a result of "increases in logistics costs and increased exchange rate volatility," not as a result of the ongoing memory shortages and price increases. It specifically notes that prices in Hong Kong remain unchanged, which should be a positive indication for western audiences that Steam Deck prices aren't about to skyrocket—yet.

While neither Valve nor Komodo has provided any indication that prices are about to increase for the Steam Deck, it has been revealed that Valve's supply chain is affected by the current memory crisis as much as any other hardware company. The gaming giant recently postponed announcing pricing for the Steam Machine and Steam Frame due to increased uncertainty and skyrocketing memory prices. The Steam Deck may still be somewhat exempt from these price increases because of Valve's pricing structure that follows the typical console model instead of a PC pricing strategy—that is to say that Valve has priced the Steam Deck very competitively in order to attract buyers to its platform and storefront. However, if Valve is already eating the cost of inflated Steam Deck memory and storage costs, it almost seems inevitable that it will eventually have to increase the price of the Steam Deck. Currently, even Nintendo is considering price increases for the Switch 2 after its LPDDR5X cost price increased by as much as 41%.

Microsoft has partnered up with ASUS and Dell to bring back the "dumb terminal," or at least something that very much reminds of it. Back in 2024 Microsoft launched its Windows 365 Link cloud PC which largely went unnoticed outside some corporate usage. Now the company has decided that it's time to let its partners get a slice of the action with the announcement of the ASUS NUC 16 for Windows 365 and the Dell Pro Desktop for Windows 365.

Based on the specs of equivalent models from ASUS and Dell, the hardware could still prove to be decent, with ASUS' coming soon page point towards DDR5 memory, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 and 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, as well as USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C connectivity. Nothing is really known about the Dell Pro Desktop, as it appears to be a new model of its current hardware, based on the picture provided by Microsoft. What makes these two devices "dumb terminals" is that they run Windows 365, which is a stripped down OS that launches you straight into Office 365. The devices aren't expected until the third quarter of this year, but are a clear sign of things to come, where Microsoft wants to push the corporate PC to be a cloud only device. This might work for some businesses that don't require any other software for their staff, but it's hard to see how this will replace the traditional PC.

She travelled across space and time to fulfil the prophecy bestowed upon her. Now Reva takes her place amongst the legendary OcUK TechForge Gaming PC range with the brand new REVAlution Gaming PC. Built to travel the universe and facilitate high-performance gaming, the OcUK TechForge REVAlution harnesses the latest gaming hardware to delivered 4K AAA gaming with ease.

Hardware built to defy destiny
Reva's Shatterclaws aren't the only tech designed with performance and strength in mind, as under the hood the OcUK TechForge REVAlution houses the very best hardware. Powering the system is AMD's brand new Ryzen 7 9850X3D, the fastest gaming CPU on the market. With 32 GB of Patriot Viper RGB XTREME 5 DDR5 RAM and Kioxia's EXCERIA 2 TB SSD NVMe M.2, the OcUK TechForge REVAlution spared no expense on its journey across space and time.

JAPANNEXT has introduced the JN-282IPS4KP-HSP monitor, a simplified follow-up to its earlier JN-282IPS4KP-HSP-C90W. The new model retains the uncommon 28.2-inch 3840 × 2560 resolution IPS panel with a 3:2 aspect ratio, but drops several connectivity features from the original. The previous HSP-C90W variant included a USB Type-C port with 90 W power delivery and USB-A ports enabling KVM functionality. The JN-282IPS4KP-HSP removes Type-C and KVM support altogether, trims maximum brightness slightly from 350 nits to 340 nits, and makes minor adjustments to the stand's range of motion. The 3840 × 2560 resolution, often referred to as "4K+", provides roughly 18% more vertical space than standard 3840 × 2160 16:9 4K. The 3:2 aspect ratio is more suited for productivity workloads specific to developers, writers, spreadsheet users, and anyone who can benefit from reduced vertical scrolling and a taller workspace.

The glossy IPS panel covers 100% sRGB and 95% DCI-P3, with 178° viewing angles, 1200:1 contrast, and 340 cd/m² brightness. It features support for HDR and Adaptive Sync, along with a 5 ms GtG response time. The monitor sports two DisplayPort 1.4 ports running up to 3840×2560 @ 60 Hz, and two HDMI 2.0 ports @ 50 Hz at native resolution. The rest of the package is fairly complete, PIP/PBP support, flicker-free backlight, blue light reduction, a pair of 3 W speakers, VESA mounting and a stand with height, swivel, and pivot support. The JN-282IPS4KP-HSP monitor is listed on the JAPANNEXT official site at 40,980 yen, roughly $263.

According to news out of Taiwan, NVIDIA has overtaken Apple, to become TSMC's largest customers based on revenue. Although TSMC never mentions specific customers in its financial reports, but rather goes with terms like "client A" and "client B", NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang let slip that NVIDIA is now TSMC's "top customer". This would mean that NVIDIA is now client A in TSMC financial reports.

This also means that NVIDIA contributed NT$726.9 billion in revenue for TSMC in 2025, or US$23.2 billion if you prefer, which is over twice that of 2024. That doesn't mean that NVIDIA is producing twice as many chips at TSMC, since the most advanced node always costs more than the previous production node and this most likely includes other services like chip packaging, testing etc. As for client B, also known as Apple, they provided a not insignificant NT$645.1 billion or US$20.5 billion in revenue for TSMC. As a share of TSMC's revenue, NVIDIA stood for 19 percent—up from 12 percent in 2024—and Apple for 17 percent, down from 22 percent in 2024.

NVIDIA is raising the MSRP of the DGX Spark AI development standalone to $4,700, which represents a $700 increase from its launch price, or a 17.5% increase. This increase in pricing adjusts for industry-wide shortage of DRAM and NAND flash, which impact the prices of the 128 GB LPDDR5X unified memory the machine uses. "The MSRP for DGX Spark (Founders Edition) has been adjusted from $3,999 to $4,699 due to memory supply constraints," NVIDIA said in a statement on its Developer forums. The new price is set to go into effect later this week. This should also impact prices of custom-design variants of the DGX Spark released by various partners.

While Xbox seems to be completely behind the idea of multi-platform day-one game launches, Sony has had a number of hit single-player games come out on PS5 in recent years, only for them to mosey over to PC years later. Now, according to notable gaming journalist, Jason Schreier (via the Triple Click podcast), even these slow PC ports may take a back seat going forward. Schreier, who is notable for his frequent insider insights, says that Sony's strategy for PC seems to hinge on its live-service games, adding that "I think the sense I'm getting is that they're backing away from putting their exclusive console stuff like traditional single-player stuff on PC." This news comes in spite of recent comments from former Sony executives who clearly believe that there is money to be made from PC ports and Sony's own planned Cross-Buy feature that would go a long way to unify game libraries across PS5 and PC.

He goes on to say that he believes that major upcoming future single-player titles may not make it to PC at all. When asked about the upcoming Wolverine game, slated to launch on September 15, he said that he "wouldn't be surprised if it never came to PC, but even if it does, you have a strong idea of what that is, and that you need a PlayStation to play it, at least for the indefinite future." Schreier, commenting on the commercial success of the PC ports we have seen come out of Sony, said that "I'm not sure how super successful those PC releases were," implying that Sony may not miss out on a lot of profit as a result of ditching PC ports. He would later take to the ResetEra forum to comment that his statements in the podcast were not speculation, saying that "I mean, it's not speculation, but sometimes topics come up on the show before I'm quite ready to publish a story about them. More to come soon I'm sure." Schreiers implication that the commercial success of PC ports may have been limited does hold some water. Aside from some of Sony's biggest hits, it's easy to see how interest in a game would wane after it has already been on the market for over a year—as much as that may be self-inflicted on Sony's part. Additionally, he mentioned in the podcast that Sony, unlike Microsoft, has never made any commitment to cross-platform game releases.

Highguard's abysmal launch and rapidly declining player counts are well documented at this point, but it recently came to light that Wildlight was not the indie darling it was portraying itself to be. According to a report by Game File, Wildlight, and by extension Highguard's development, was being funded by TiMi Studio Group—whose Montreal studio working on unannounced open-world AAA games was recently shut down. Now, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reports that Tencent pulled funding from Wildlight shortly after the game's launch, with management breaking the news of the pulled Tencent money to staff in a meeting on February 11.

This sudden loss of funding may explain why Wildlight was forced to lay off as much as 80% of the Highguard dev team so soon after the game's launch—the studio simply no longer had the financial backing to work on a game that was not an immediate success. According to inside sources, staff were under the impression that continued funding would only be guaranteed if certain player count and retention metrics were met. Former Wildlight developers put the onus for the game's failure on management, citing hubris and a misguided belief that Wildlight would be able to emulate Apex Legends's success, since the management team had previously been involved in that launch.

Surgent Studios, the game studio behind EA's acclaimed platformer, Tales of Kenzera: Zau, has revealed its latest game, FixForce, a 3D "extraction platformer." As the developer's genre-bashing description of the game suggests, FixForce is a co-op platformer that puts players into a bright, post-apocalyptic world and makes them solve environmental and movement puzzles, fix broken machines with nearby scrap and parts, and get back to the repair van before the character's battery or time runs out. The only dangers in FixForce are the water and rogue bots that either undo your work or outright attack you, and if you happen to take enough damage, your head pops off, whereupon other players can simply retrieve it and pop it onto a new body, so that you can finish the job.

The developer is targeting the same group of players who love "chaotic co-op games," like Peak and Lethal company, as well as gamers who appreciate classic physics games, like Portal, Garry's Mod, and Ratchet and Clank. FixForce features simple colors and graphics, and the minimum spec echoes that, asking for a Ryzen 5 2600 or Intel Core i7-6700K and a GeForce GTX 1060, Radeon RX 580 8 GB, or Intel Arc A580. Each round can feature up to six players in co-op. The game was originally meant to launch under Pocketpair Publishing, but the founder of Surgent Studios said that "We saw the pure chaos and hilarity FixForce unleashed as it came together, so we made the decision to move quickly and publish it ourselves," adding that FixForce is unlike anything the studio has worked on before, since it's all about chaos and fun whereas the previous two games the studio was responsible for were about abuse and grief. FixForce will launch on Steam and Epic games on March 12 in early access.

RedOctane, a relatively new game studio started by rhythm game veterans with the mission to "to bring rhythm gaming back with more power, more precision, and a deeper connection than ever before," has officially announced its first game, Stage Tour, which is slated to release on Steam and begin alpha testing in "summer 2026," or sometime around June or July. Console support is also planned, but there have been no concrete announcements of specific platforms or release dates. Stage Tour will feature instrument designs from Gibson—specifically the Gibson, Epiphone, and Kramer brands—with whom the studio says it has a multi-year partnership to license and feature designs.

Stage Tour follows the typical note highway rhythm game style that was popularized by games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The game studio says that Stage Tour is being developed as a "love letter to rhythm gaming," and that it is meant to "feel familiar and authentic," while also evolving the genre in what it calls "the right way," by using modern technology. The announcement itself doesn't make mention of custom peripherals beyond calling out plastic instruments, but there is a FAQ page that confirms that players will be able to buy the game bundled with a Gibson Kramer guitar controller, which has been a popular design in the rhythm game space—it's unclear if the Kramer's hardware will be updated for the game's launch. RedOctane is also actively recruiting for music to add to the game, although it has not revealed what music will feature in Stage Tour, aside from a mention of a "variety of music around the Rock and Metal genres."

Riot Games, the developer behind massive games like League of Legends and Valorant, recently suffered a round of layoffs after the middling console launch of 2XKO, its new 2v2 fighting game. Now, just over two weeks later, the studio has confirmed to Game Developer that it has laid off "around 12" more employees, this time in its publishing division. This round of layoffs doesn't only affect a single team after an ailing launch though, with the publication reporting that three teams have been affected by the layoffs.

Riot Games has been owned by Tencent since 2015, and it was recently revealed that Tencent shuttered a newly formed studio, TiMi Montreal, which was working on AAA, open-world, cross-platform games, but had yet to release or even announce any of those games. Tencent's other hulking Chinese rival, NetEase, also recently implemented a round of layoffs at another studio that had yet to announce or release any games, and it seems like that studio may not be in it for the long haul, if the employees posting about those layoffs are to be believed.

Windrose, formerly Crosswind, is an upcoming PvE co-op pirate survival crafting game that recently made waves during the Steam Next Fest, attracting over 22,000 concurrent players during its demo period. The Discord server for the game also ballooned to well over 20,000 members, and the hype for the game's expected release date reveal was so intense that the development team felt the need to temper expectations when it released the Raging Seas trailer for IGN Fan Fest. In the announcement following the trailer release, the developer behind the game explained that the game's potential scope made it impossible to announce a realistic launch date at the time, adding that "the full EA version of the game could be several times bigger in content and scale than the demo. Like x10 islands, x10 points of interest, more ships, enemies, crafting and building, etc."

In short, the developer asked fans to "let us cook more," explaining that the priority needs to be delivering a quality experience and shipping the game "on time and in best condition possible." The message goes on to promise fans that a release date will be revealed as soon as the development team is confident that it can deliver on all of its goals without having to delay the game. Windrose combines crafting mechanics, adventures on the high seas, and Souls-like combat in an ambitious new project. The demo offered players access to three islands, a ship and crew, early quests and boarding, and a limited selection of weapons, enemies, and survival mechanics. Obviously, the game has a pretty vast scope, and it's being developed by an indie team, so it makes sense that the developers would ask players to be patient for the release date and other information.

Razer, the global leading lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the Razer Laptop Sleeve 16" with Wireless Charging for Devices, a new addition to its lifestyle accessories lineup that blends premium protection with built-in wireless power. Designed for gamers, creators, and professionals who move between setups throughout the day, the sleeve reduces the need to carry additional cables or chargers while keeping essential devices powered and protected wherever the day leads.

At the core of the Laptop Sleeve 16" are integrated wireless charging pads housed in the sleeve's cover flap. Featuring two MagSafe-compatible charging zones, the sleeve connects to an external power source via USB-C to charge multiple devices (such as a smartphone and wireless earbuds) simultaneously. Magnetic alignment helps keep devices securely in place for consistent and efficient power delivery.

Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) announces financial results for its fiscal 2026 fourth quarter and full year ended January 30, 2026. The company also provides guidance for its fiscal 2027 first quarter and full year.

Full-Year Summary

• Record full-year revenue of $113.5 billion, up 19% year-over-year
• Record full-year diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $8.68, up 36% year over year, and record full-year non-GAAP diluted EPS of $10.30, up 27%
• Record full-year cash flow from operations of $11.2 billion
• Announcing a cash dividend increase of 20% and $10 billion increase in share repurchase authorization
• FY27 guidance: Full-year revenue growth of 23% at the midpoint, diluted EPS growth of 33% at the midpoint, and non-GAAP diluted EPS growth of 25% at the midpoint

The head of Intel Foundry, Kevin O'Buckley, is leaving the company to join Qualcomm. He will take on the role of Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Supply Chain at Qualcomm, effective March 2, 2026. At Qualcomm, O'Buckley will oversee global semiconductor operations, including manufacturing engineering, foundry and supplier partnerships, supply chain, and procurement. He joins after less than two years leading Intel Foundry, where he served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel Foundry Services. Previous to joining Intel, O'Buckley was working at IBM, GlobalFoundries, and Marvell. At Qualcomm, he will be responsible for scaling manufacturing partnerships and overseeing how the chip designs transition into volume production.

Intel Foundry will now be led by Naga Chandrasekaran, who steps into an expanded role overseeing both technology development and manufacturing operations. As Chief Technology and Operations Officer and head of Intel Foundry, Chandrasekaran will supervise next-generation process node development, advanced packaging, test technologies, and day-to-day execution across Intel's global fabrication and assembly network. Chandrasekaran previously led front-end process technology development and manufacturing, already overseeing both the Technology Development (TD) organization and the Foundry Manufacturing and Supply Chain (FMSC) group since mid-2024. Navid Shahriari will continue to manage packaging development and operations within Intel Foundry.

Running With Scissors, the (in)famous creator of the POSTAL series, which has amassed millions of fans over nearly three decades, announces its first-ever spinoff title. Flesh & Wire, a dark and violent return to POSTAL's original theme and setting, will arrive on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam and GOG in 2027, as revealed in the IGN Fan Fest showcase.

Join forces with Angel, a seemingly normal college student suddenly swept up in a fever dream of conspiracy, blood, and vengeance. Along with her loyal sphinx cat Solomon, Angel runs afoul of the law, military, and an ominous cult. Discover the truth about her connection to the events of the first POSTAL game - and seek revenge on the series' protagonist, a man dubbed the Postal Dude.

The build-up for Bungie's new survival extraction shooter, Marathon, may be coming to its peak ahead of the upcoming server slam event and imminent launch in the following week. The new game has built up so much hype ahead of the play test that Marathon has officially blown past all of its similar competition in the Steam bestsellers chart. At the time of writing, Marathon sits in third place in Steam's official chart, which ranks game sales based on revenue earned. To reach that, it had to climb 58 places in the last week alone, surpassing both Arc Raiders and the ever-popular Warframe.

SteamDB reports that Marathon is the 35th most wishlisted game, which may not sound like a lot, but it also reveals that over 10,000 people have added Marathon to their wishlists in the last seven days. If Marathon continues on its trajectory, it will have come a long way since its early 2025 lukewarm reception, which resulted in a delay from its original September release date to March 5. Players will be able to test Marathon in an upcoming server slam event on February 26-March 2.

NVIDIA has officially pulled its latest GeForce 595.59 WHQL Game Ready driver from the downloads page as user reports of stability issues continue to pile up. Reportedly, users are experiencing fan detection issues on their GPU coolers, with only a single fan working. Some issues like clock stability have also occurred. On NVIDIA's official GeForce Forums, users have been complaining about driver stability, and the company has advised users to roll back the driver version to the previously stable 591.86 WHQL driver if they are experiencing any symptoms. The GeForce 595.59 WHQL Game Ready driver was launched as an optimization package to get Resident Evil Requiem and Marathon games running smoothly, which turned into a disaster that the community has reported.

NVIDIAFebruary 26th, 11am PT Update: We have discovered a bug in the Game Ready and Studio 595.59 WHQL drivers and have removed the downloads temporarily while our team investigates. For users that have already installed this driver, and are experiencing issues with fan control, please roll back to 591.86 WHQL. NVIDIA app users can reinstall their previous driver by clicking the three dots in the Drivers tab.

Update 06:57 UTC: We have removed the broken driver version from our downloads section.

Microsoft today released DirectX Shader Model 6.9 alongside a host of new Direct3D 12 enhancements. The company had been previewing SM 6.9 since 2025, which now attains general release. Microsoft released the update as part of Agility SDK 1.619 and the complementary DirectX Shader Compiler (DXC) version 1.9.2602.16. The company also released Agility SDK 1.719-preview, which introduces a fresh set of experimental features. At the heart of the Agility SDK 1.619 release is Shader Model 6.9, bringing powerful new processing tools to graphics developers. A standout new feature is "Long Vector" support, allowing developers to load, store, and seamlessly perform element-wise operations on HLSL vectors up to 1024 elements in length. The update also extends specialized HLSL functions, such as IsNan, IsInf, and the newly added IsNorma, to fully support 16-bit floats. Lastly, previously optional hardware capabilities, like 16-bit and 64-bit shader operations, are now strictly required.

Besides Shader Model upgrades, some key DirectX ray tracing (DXR) 1.2 features are officially exiting preview, such as OMM and SER. Opacity Micromaps (OMMs) enable hardware to handle complex alpha-tested geometry far more efficiently, bypassing costly shader invocations. The feature was announced way back in 2022 with NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace architecture. Meanwhile, Shader Execution Reordering (SER) empowers applications to dynamically sort rays for highly optimized parallel execution. Microsoft has directly addressed developer feedback by integrating several targeted quality-of-life updates. Highlights include Revised Resource View Creation API, as well as new CPU Timeline Query Resolves that eliminate unnecessary GPU overhead. The table below compares hardware support for Shader Model 6.9 across the three GPU brands.

Early access to AMD Radeon Software's "Vanguard" driver testing program has reportedly revealed a new Radeon FSR 4.1 DLL file, which is the next update for AMD's FSR 4 technology. According to the latest leak, AMD is preparing the FSR 4.1 update, which should bring some visual or performance enhancements, or both. Some Reddit PC enthusiasts are applying workarounds to run the file on RDNA 3 hardware, even though AMD officially doesn't support FSR 4 on the RDNA 3 generation due to some missing instructions on the older microarchitecture. Running these files can produce visible quality gains but are experimental, varying widely by title and system setup. Even when a leaked DLL carries a digital signature, running unofficial binaries can trigger instability, break driver integrity checks, or conflict with future official updates.

However, the enthusiast community has run the experiment and confirms that early side-by-side comparisons show small improvements in fine detail and edge definition when the leaked FSR 4.1 binary is forced into titles that previously used FSR 4.0.3. Testers describe sharper foliage and fabric textures and less ghosting. Other users report inconsistent results and artifacts, suggesting that the update is still a work in progress. We could have expected the update to land alongside AMD Software Adrenalin 26.2.2 WHQL drivers that launched today, as the DLL file was found in the beta test of the 26.2.2 driver, but since the update is still experimental, maybe the next Adrenalin update will bring the FSR 4.1 update as an official package.

Quantic Dream today opens a new chapter as Spellcasters Chronicles enters Early Access on Steam, now available to players worldwide. Spellcasters Chronicles is a free-to-play, 3v3 team-based action strategy game built around aerial combat and strategic deckbuilding. Players wield the power to soar across the battlefield, cast devastating spells, and summon powerful creatures and Titans to shift the tide of the battle.

The game's Early Access represents an open Workshop, a collaborative space where players are invited to actively shape the evolution of the game alongside the development team as a living, evolving experience shaped by community feedback. Unlike previous Closed Beta tests focused on performance work and technical stability, this phase shifts the focus toward gameplay depth, balance iteration, progression systems, and long-term feature development.

Aside from its recent side-quests, like the new K2 HE Concrete and Resin Editions, Keychron has been updating its Q- and V-series mechanical keyboards with the new Ultra designs, featuring new ZMK firmware and Silk POM switches, and the latest installments in that series are the V10 Ultra and the V0 Ultra, which have just been released with those same enhancements. The Keychron V10 Ultra, an Alice layout mechanical keyboard, retails at $124.99, while the V0 Ultra, a standalone wireless mechanical num pad, is launching at $69.99. Being part of the V-series means that both the V10 Ultra and V0 Ultra are made of ABS plastic, and, being part of the Ultra family means they will both feature 8K polling—although the usefulness of this is debatable on a mechanical keyboard. The V0 Ultra is a standard num pad with a row of four macro or navigation keys above the 10-key portion and a column of five macro keys to the left of it. It also has a programmable knob in the top left corner.

The Keychron V10 Ultra 8K features a 75% Alice layout, which is meant to improve ergonomics by allowing users to angle their hands inwards, opening up the chest and shoulders, and it has an additional column of macro keys and a programmable knob along the left edge of the keyboard. Both the V10 Ultra and V0 Ultra have south-facing per-key RGB backlighting, and the V10 Ultra has a claimed 660 hours of battery life from a 4,000 mAh battery on 2.4 GHz with the backlighting disabled. The V0 Ultra packs a smaller 1,800 mAh battery but still claims up to 360 hours of battery life with the backlighting disabled. Both the V10 Ultra and V0 Ultra feature double-shot PBT keycaps in the OSA profile, and they are available with Keychron Silk POM Red linear, Brown tactile, and Banana tactile switch options. Both keyboards are also hot-swappable with any Cherry MX-style switches. Both of the new releases also use poron gasket mounts, which help reduce negative auditory feedback and soften the typing feel. Both the keyboard and the num pad also offer Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C wired, and 2.4 GHz connectivity.

AMD today released the latest version of AMD Software Adrenalin drivers for AMD Radeon GPUs and integrated graphics solutions. Version 26.2.2 WHQL comes with optimization for "Resident Evil: Requiem" and "Marathon." The drivers fix an intermittent application crash or driver timeout when playing "Roblox Player" in the Car Zone Racing and Drifting, when task-switching on machines with Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs. A texture flickering or corruption issue noticed on Windows applications with Instant Replay and Record Desktop enabled on machines with RX 7000 series GPUs has also been fixed. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Software Adrenalin 26.2.2 WHQL

Despite recent concerns about driver updates, Lenovo's Legion Go has been a staple in the handheld gaming space since it launched, thanks to a large 8.8-inch display and the detachable controllers. Still, that large display can't compete with devices like the 11-inch OneXPlayer 2-in-1 devices as a portable general computing device. A new foldable Legion Go concept, leaked by Windows Latest, may be in development to potentially address users who want a handheld that can pull double duty as a handheld gaming device and a laptop. According to the leak, the Legion Go Fold will use a foldable POLED display that unfolds from a 7.7-inch form factor to 11.6-inches. The controllers will also allegedly connect wirelessly, enabling the display to be used in 7.7-inch mode in landscape mode or in either portrait or landscape mode while attached to the controllers in 11.7-inch mode—such a portrait mode display could conceivably be split to function somewhat like a Nintendo DS. Of course, there will also be a detachable keyboard accessory to use the Legion Go Fold as a mini laptop in 11.7-inch mode.

The specifications for the Legion Go Fold will also be nothing to sneeze at, featuring an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, 32 GB of memory, and a 48 Wh battery. Lenovo will also keep the vertical FPS mode from the Legion Go and Legion Go 2 for the Legion Go Fold Concept. While the Legion Go Fold may launch as nothing more than a concept, Lenovo is one of a few laptop makers that brings these foldable compute concepts to market, with recent examples of this including the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable. So it's not entirely impossible that Lenovo will bring something like a Legion Go Fold to market at some point. That said, it would be a niche within a niche, so it doesn't seem entirely likely that we will see a commercial version of the foldable handheld at any point soon. Regardless, Lenovo will allegedly show off the concept at MWC 2026 on March 2, 2026.

Awekeys, one of very few companies making metal keycaps for mechanical keyboards, has just announced the Awekeys Air as its latest addition to the line-up. The Awekeys Air keycaps are low-profile keycaps designed for slim mechanical keyboards, like the Iqunix Magi65 Pro, NuPhy Air series, and even split ergonomic keyboards, like the ZSA Voyager and MoErgo Go60. The Awekeys Air series is available for both cross stems—for Choc V2 and Gateron switches—and Choc V1 stems, which are common on niche low-profile split keyboards, and Early Bird Kickstarter pricing starts at $109 for a 68-key DIY kit, $139 for a 95-key 80% Base kit, and $159 for a 113-key 100% kit. These prices are only for the Ivory White and Obsidian Black, with the Titanium Black and Satin Copper coming in slightly more expensive and the limited edition Satin Silver and Satin Gold costing as much as $249 for the 80% Base kit. These prices will also increase when the keycaps hit retail. The Kickstarter campaign lists MSRP of the Ivory White and Obsidian Black 100% kit colorways as $249, but keyboards and accessories often cost less than anticipated when moving from a Kickstarter to regular retail.

The Awekeys Air keycaps come in six different colors—Titanium Black, Ivory White, Obsidian Black, Satin Copper, Satin Silver, and Satin Gold—and Awekeys is offering a hand-finished brush finish on the Gold, Silver, Copper, and Titanium colorways. The keycaps themselves are made from a recycled alloy called cupronickel, which is predominantly copper and nickel, which resists corrosion, offers some anti-microbial benefits, and is considered low allergy risk—although you may want to avoid it if you have a known nickel allergy. The keycaps are also available with legends or as blanks, and the profile has a uniform height with spherical tops and a total height of 5 mm.

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO), a global technology leader that designs, develops and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions, today announced it has begun shipping the industry's first 2 nm custom compute SoC built on its 3.5D eXtreme Dimension System in Package (XDSiP) platform. A proven modular, multi-dimensional stacked die platform, 3.5D XDSiP combines 2.5D techniques and 3D-IC integration using Face-to-Face (F2F) technology.

3.5D XDSiP is foundational to next-generation XPUs. With 3.5D XDSiP, consumer AI customers can deliver the most advanced XPU with unparalleled signal density, superior power efficiency and low latency to meet the massive computational demands of gigawatt-scale AI clusters. Broadcom's XDSiP platform allows compute, memory and network I/O to scale independently in a compact form factor, enabling high-efficiency, low-power computing at scale.

NVIDIA today released its latest GeForce 595.59 WHQL Game Ready driver, adding day-one support for Resident Evil Requiem and Marathon. The update also addresses several gaming-related issues, particularly affecting GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs. Fixes include intermittent black bar flickering in The Ascent, green artifacts in Total War: Three Kingdoms, and crash issues in Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age following recent driver updates. NVIDIA also resolved image corruption problems in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and a significant performance drop in Act 4 Part 1 of Quantum Break.

On the general fixes side, the 595.59 driver resolves an AV1 decode crash affecting certain workflows in Blackmagic Design applications when handling multiple OBUs (Open Bitstream Unit) within a single packet.

Update Feb 27th: We have removed the GeForce 595.59 WHQL driver from our Downloads section. Please clean-install an older version of the driver. NVIDIA released this statement:

We have discovered a bug in the Game Ready and Studio 595.59 WHQL drivers and have removed the downloads temporarily while our team investigates. For users that have already installed this driver and are experiencing issues with fan control, please roll back to 591.86 WHQL.

Update Feb 26 20:38 UTC: NVIDIA has pulled its GeForce 595.59 WHQL driver after users reported stability problems, including faulty fan detection leaving GPU coolers running on a single fan and clock speed issues. The company is pointing affected users back to the previous 591.86 WHQL release for now.

GeForce NOW's anniversary celebration reaches a chilling crescendo as Capcom's Resident Evil: Requiem creeps into the cloud - and the horrors look better than ever on a GeForce NOW Ultimate membership. To mark the occasion, a special launch bundle rises from the shadows, pairing the game with a yearlong Ultimate membership for a limited time. It's not a celebration party without treats. GeForce NOW is also offering members a new reward to use in Delta Force. Suit up and grab it alongside 11 new games joining the cloud this week.

The Nightmare Returns in the Cloud
A new era of survival horror dawns with Resident Evil: Requiem, the iconic Capcom series' most immersive entry yet. Follow FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft and veteran agent Leon S. Kennedy as their stories and playstyles intertwine in a chilling, emotional fight for survival. Return to Raccoon City, the ruined heart of a 1998 bioweapon disaster now buried in government secrecy. Grace investigates her mother's mysterious death while Leon, hardened by years of battling outbreaks, uncovers a new bioterror threat spreading through the Midwest. Classic Resident Evil survival horror returns with tense combat and clever puzzles - now enhanced with seamless switching between first‑ and third‑person views for a more personal nightmare.

TCL CSOT, a global leader in advanced display technologies and a subsidiary of TCL Technology (000100.SZ), is setting the tone for the industry ahead of Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026. Under the theme "Super Pixel Beyond Limits", TCL CSOT will debut its groundbreaking Super Pixel technology on the global stage, alongside a spectrum of future-shaping products including advanced FMM OLED, inkjet-printed OLED (IJP OLED) and MLED applications. Guided by its core APEX philosophy, the company is delivering immersive, sustainable, next‑generation experiences across smartphones, tablets, notebooks, monitors, and beyond.

Introducing Super Pixel: Seeing Beyond Limits
At the forefront of TCL CSOT's showcase is Super Pixel technology, an innovation poised to redefine next-generation display performance. It delivers a powerful trifecta of benefits:

• High Clarity: Achieves sharpness comparable to WQHD SPR. By increasing sub‑pixel quantity by approximately 1.8%, it renders images that are more accurate, clear, and finely detailed.
• Smart Power Use: Optimized data processing reduces power consumption by up to 25% while maintaining image quality.
• Rapid Refresh: Leveraging a Real RGB pixel layout, Super Pixel requires less bandwidth than SPR, enabling refresh rates up to 40% higher.

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry, today announced the publication of its highly anticipated JESD220H and JESD223G: Universal Flash Storage 5.0 and UFS Host Controller Interface (UFSHCI) 5.0. Designed for mobile applications, automotive and computing systems that demand high performance with low power consumption, UFS 5.0 will deliver faster data access and improved performance compared to its predecessor while maintaining compatibility with UFS 4.x hardware.

UFS offers high-performance, embedded storage with low power consumption, making it ideal for use in applications where power efficiency is essential. This includes computing and mobile systems like smartphones and wearables, as well as an expanding role in generative AI, automotive applications, edge computing and gaming consoles. Its high-speed serial interface and optimized protocol enable significant throughput for power-efficient system performance.

Phanteks today announces the 360M25-LCD AIO, a high-performance 360 mm liquid CPU cooler featuring an ultra-large 6-inch high-resolution IPS LCD as its centerpiece, combining powerful cooling performance with advanced hardware-level system customization. Built for high-end Intel and AMD platforms, the 360M25-LCD AIO features a pure copper cold plate and a 360 mm radiator paired with three M25 Gen 2 D-RGB fans, delivering strong airflow, efficient heat dissipation, and low noise under demanding workloads.

The 6-inch high-resolution (1480x720) IPS LCD offers sharp visuals with a smooth 60 Hz refresh rate and wide viewing angles while maintaining ample clearance for motherboard components and tall RGB RAM modules up to 51 mm in height. Multiple orientation options allow seamless integration across different system layouts. Customization is powered by the NEXLINQ App for Windows, enabling users to personalize the LCD with real-time system telemetry, temperatures, clock speeds, media, animations, and custom graphics. The display operates directly on the hardware, minimizing CPU overhead while ensuring smooth performance.

Supermicro, Inc., a Total IT Solution Provider for AI, Cloud, Storage, and 5G/Edge, is announcing the launch of the industry's first and highest-density blade server platform powered by the latest AMD EPYC 4005 series processors. Designed with a flexible, density-optimized blade architecture, Supermicro's new MicroBlade platform is designed for longevity and versatility. By including the latest AMD EPYC 4005 series processors, along with previous versions, the system provides seamless scalability and long-term investment protection, allowing organizations to expand and upgrade as compute requirements evolve.

"Our flexible blade architecture enables customers to mix different node types with different CPUs within a single enclosure and can incorporate up to 320 server nodes in a standard 48U rack," said Charles Liang, president and CEO of Supermicro. "Supermicro continues to lead the industry in delivering advanced, energy-efficient platforms to market that maximize scalability, lower total cost of ownership, and protecting data center investments for the long term."

NVIDIA CFO Colette Kress confirmed that the gaming sector may struggle during the company's latest Q4 earnings call. In a short but very important note, she stated, "Looking ahead, while end demand for our products remains strong and channel inventory levels are healthy, we expect supply constraints to be the headwind to Gaming in Q1 and beyond." This sentence is rather vague but conveys the message that supply constraints will definitely impact the GeForce RTX 50 series lineup in the current quarter and possibly beyond. NVIDIA's current product inventory is in good shape, meaning that both silicon from TSMC and secured GDDR7 memory are sufficient for the time being, but once the inventory levels start to deplete, availability will become a problem.

Team Green has massive capacity secured at TSMC's facilities for manufacturing "Blackwell" GPUs, meaning that no production issues stem from that end. However, memory makers, with whom NVIDIA collaborates, are supply constrained in delivering their GDDR7 memory solutions, leaving NVIDIA with little to work with outside its high-margin server sector. As NVIDIA supplies its AIC partners with both memory and GPU dies, having no memory modules to bundle with the GPUs becomes a supply bottleneck, leaving the company waiting for weeks without a fresh inventory of memory modules. Hence, NVIDIA now expects that demand will continue to be strong among gamers, but the situation may be getting slightly worse as inventory levels start to deplete.

Intel has released its latest 101.8531 Non-WHQL Arc GPU graphics drivers, offering day-one game support for titles like Marathon, Resident Evil Requiem, and the World of Warcraft: Midnight DLC expansion pack. Intel notes that with this driver version, users of Intel Arc "Battlemage" and Arc "Alchemist" integrated and discrete GPUs will experience support and some performance improvements across other games, which are now being further optimized. For example, for "Panther Lake," this beta driver delivers a 35% FPS increase in Witcher 3 at 1080p with high settings, while Arc "Alchemist" sees a Resident Evil Requiem FPS boost of up to 40% on average at 1080p with ultra settings. Interestingly, Intel is optimizing new games for its older products, which is a promising sign for anyone considering purchasing the newer "Panther Lake" chips for gaming. With Intel planning to launch Core Ultra G3 SoCs for handhelds in a few months, consistent driver optimization is quite noteworthy.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc Graphics Driver 101.8531 Beta.

TrendForce's latest findings reveal that the expansion of AI applications from LLM training to inference has prompted CSPs to broaden data center build-outs beyond AI servers to include general-purpose servers. This shift has extended memory procurement beyond HBM3e, LPDDR5X, and high-capacity RDIMMs to RDIMMs across multiple densities. Aggressive additional orders have driven a sharp increase in conventional DRAM contract prices, lifting total DRAM industry revenue to $53.58 billion in 4Q25, up 29.4% QoQ.

Across segments, buyers have struggled to secure sufficient supply amid a widening supply-demand gap. This has significantly strengthened suppliers' pricing power. Conventional DRAM contract prices rose 45-50% QoQ, while blended contract prices for conventional DRAM and HBM increased 50-55%, marking an accelerated upswing across all product categories.

HighPoint Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of high-performance PCI Express (PCIe ) switching and storage expansion solutions, is proud to announce the launch of HighPoint's External CopprLink PCIe Architecture. Anchored by the PCI-SIG CopprLink standard, this groundbreaking architecture establishes a new benchmark for disaggregated AI, HPC, and professional media workflows, delivering a massive 64 GB/s of native throughput with unprecedented interoperability.

A Vendor-Neutral Foundation for PCIe 5.0 and PCIe 6.0 Technology Interoperability
As AI and data-intensive workloads continue to outpace the thermal and power thresholds of conventional server chassis, the need for a standardized external expansion framework has become mission-critical. HighPoint's new connectivity fabric is built upon the PCI-SIG CopprLink (CDFP) specification (SFF-TA-1032) to facilitate a truly vendor-neutral hardware environment. By adhering to this open industry standard, HighPoint ensures that today's PCIe 5.0 technology investments are fully forward-compatible with the emerging PCIe 6.0 specification, providing a sustainable, long-term ROI for data centers and enterprise IT architects.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today introduced its latest Galaxy Buds4 Pro and Galaxy Buds4, redefining what premium earbuds can deliver in both superior Hi-fi audio and everyday wearability. Built to sound as good as they feel, the Galaxy Buds4 series pairs exceptional sound quality with a more refined, computationally designed fit, bringing Samsung's most advanced audio and wearability innovations together in one seamless experience. For the first time, Buds4 Pro features a Super Wide Woofer, combined with enhanced Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and an enhanced Adaptive Equalizer (EQ), to supply full-spectrum sound true to the original recording—while intelligently adapting to real-world conditions. Thoughtful design updates, intuitive hands-free controls, and deeper AI integration further underscore Samsung's commitment to earbuds designed for how people listen, move, and live throughout the day.

"Samsung understands that a truly premium audio experience combines technical sound quality with how that sound feels throughout a user's day," said Ikhyun Cho, Corporate VP of Mobile Enhancement R&D Team, Mobile eXperience. "With the Galaxy Buds4 series, our design philosophy was uncompromising, providing all-day comfort without sacrificing audio performance, because these are what consumers value most. We engineered our most powerful Hi-fi audio and our most secure, ergonomic fit to enhance one another, delivering the best and most satisfying listening experience we've ever created."

NVIDIA reported its full-year 2025 results with massive revenue of $215.9 billion, with $68.1 billion coming in the fourth quarter. The company's earnings call after the results were published contained some interesting information and confirmed that the first "Vera Rubin" VR200 racks are shipping to customers as samples, with volume shipping to commence in the second half of 2026. NVIDIA confirmed that the upcoming platform, which includes the Vera CPU, Rubin GPU, NVLink 6 switch, ConnectX-9 SuperNIC, BlueField-4 DPU, and Spectrum-6 Ethernet switch, will be powering the next-generation trillion-parameter models with only one-fourth of the GPUs compared to the previous-generation "Blackwell" and will reduce inference costs by up to 10 times.

NVIDIA CFO Colette KressWe shipped our first Vera Rubin samples to customers earlier this week, and we remain on track to commence production shipments in the second half of the year. Based on its modular, cable-free tray design, Rubin will deliver improved resiliency and serviceability relative to Blackwell. We expect every cloud model builder to deploy Vera Rubin.

February was a big month as we launched a lot of new features and updates, all with one thought in mind: improving your Xbox gaming experience. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can now stream their favorite games at up to 1440p resolution on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One X and Xbox One S consoles. On the Xbox PC app, we've added new sounds to help improve your controller navigation responsiveness. We've also listened to your feedback and added several new updates to the ROG Xbox Ally, including the ability to easily format your removable storage.

And, in case you missed it, we recently released Postgame Recaps to Xbox Insiders, which provides a recap of your recent gameplay on your PC, and the updated Xbox Cloud Gaming web experience is now in public preview for Insiders. Read all about these exciting updates, including new game additions, below.

AMD and Nutanix today announced a multi-year strategic partnership to jointly develop an open, full-stack AI infrastructure platform designed to power agentic AI applications everywhere. This agreement aligns to both companies' commitment to an open ecosystem for AI, providing customers with choice and easy-to-deploy, production ready, high-performance and efficient solutions that are optimized for Agentic AI, at the edge, inside enterprises, and across the cloud.

The partnership aligns silicon innovation, open runtime software and enterprise cloud orchestration technologies for AI to deliver scalable, production-ready agentic AI platforms across data centers, hybrid and edge environments. By optimizing the Nutanix Cloud and Nutanix Kubernetes Platforms on AMD EPYC CPUs and AMD Instinct GPUs and integrating the AMD ROCm software ecosystem and the AMD Enterprise AI platform into Nutanix AI full-stack solutions, the companies are developing an open solution for Agentic AI platforms using high-performance infrastructure and supported by a broad set of OEM partners.

Team Group Inc. today announced its strong return to Embedded World 2026, one of the world's premier events for embedded technologies, following its Embedded Award-winning presence at last year's exhibition. Building on this momentum, Team Group will focus on two core themes, "Edge to Action" and "Military", highlighting AI-driven intelligent applications alongside mission-critical data security solutions for highly sensitive environments.

The showcase will feature a comprehensive portfolio spanning high-performance embedded storage and military-grade physical destruction technologies, demonstrating Team Group's continued commitment to advancing efficiency, stability, and security across industrial and defense-related sectors while delivering end-to-end solutions that seamlessly connect edge computing with real-world deployment. Embedded World 2026 will take place from March 10-12 at the NürnbergMesse Convention Center in Nuremberg, Germany. Team Group cordially invites visitors to Hall 3 / Booth 3-349 to explore its latest embedded breakthroughs designed to enable more precise, trusted, and secure intelligent applications.

Sony is one of the gaming giants that's still stubbornly holding onto the idea of console exclusives, and Gran Turismo is one of the franchises that still sticks to Sony's living room gaming console. This isn't due to a lack of time or technical know-how, though, as is evidenced by a tidbit recently shared by industry insider, Jeff Grubb, on his podcast, Jeff Grubb's Game Mess. According to Grubb, Sony has an internal version of Gran Turismo 7 that runs on the Nintendo Switch 2, although it will seemingly never be released on Nintendo's newest handheld gaming console. This echoes previous rumors that there were other versions of Gran Turismo games with internal builds running on Windows and Linux as well as a version of Gran Turismo 6 with full VR support.

Speculation suggests that these internal, non-commercial builds of games like Gran Turismo are likely to be testing platforms for Sony's own future hardware endeavors, which the hardware and game development teams can use to gauge things like minimum required hardware specs, optimization, and even graphical fidelity options for smaller screens. The timing of this information lends credence to the existence of GT7 on the Switch 2, since Sony has allegedly been working on a full-fledged gaming portable console that is slated to launch alongside the PS6 somewhere between 2027 and 2029, depending on the state of the ongoing PC hardware shortage.

AMD announced its Ryzen AI 400 series "Gorgon Point" mobile APUs based on Zen 5 and Zen 5c cores at CES 2026 earlier this year, simultaneously showing off the AM5-based Ryzen AI 400-branded desktop APUs at the same show. Now, according to a new leak by Moore's Law is Dead on X, AMD will allegedly launch the new Ryzen AI 400-series desktop processors for AM5 in the first half of 2026. MLID adds that the launch may even happen as early as Q1. He also released what he claims to be a short promotional video of an AMD Ryzen AI 400 Pro processor in an AM5 socket to lend credence to his leak.

Exact specifications for the AM5 APUs are unconfirmed, but if they're anything like the laptop counterparts, it is expected that the new APUs will launch with the same silicon as Strix Point but with adjusted power management and increased clock speeds. This means we can expect to see the Ryzen AI 400 desktop processors top out with a 12-core (4× Zen 5; 8 × Zen 5c) CPU cluster tied to a 16 CU RDNA 3.5 iGPU, and a 60 TOPS NPU.

LG Display, the world's leading innovator of display technologies, today announced that all of its large-sized OLED panels, including those for TVs and monitors, have been recognized for their "perfect dimming technology" - earning the industry's first "100% dimming consistency" verification from UL Solutions, a global leader in applied safety science. This performance, as validated by UL Solutions, objectively demonstrates the superiority of OLED's pixel-level dimming.

Dimming consistency refers to a measurement method that evaluates, in percentage terms, how effectively a display reproduces content based on its brightness performance. A reference area is set in the center of the screen and is gradually reduced from 1/10 of the panel to 11/1000, 5/1000, and finally 2/1000. The results are expressed as a percentage: if the maximum and minimum brightness values remain the same throughout the process, dimming consistency is 100%. Conversely, as the value decreases, it means that there is light intensity variation within the same screen. In such cases, brightness differs depending on the position of the light source, even for the same color.

EA's Full Circle studio published the hotly anticipated Skate, a free-to-play live-service installment in the popular franchise, just six months ago, and to a booming 134,901 peak concurrent players. However, those figures quickly dropped to the little-over-2,000 daily players we see today, and it seems as though the dwindling player count may have been an indication of what's to come. According to a recent blog post put out by Full Circle, the studio will be "reshaping" itself, making changes to better support Skate's long-term future, and those changes mean that "some roles will be impacted," which is to say that the studio is laying off staff.

Neither EA nor Full Circle have commented on how many developers or team members are being laid off, but the studio says that these are individuals who helped build the foundation of Skate, suggesting that they were part of the core development and art teams. This announcement comes not too long after EA was bought out by a group consisting of PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, who subsequently announced a cost-savings plan that would see EA pivot to AI in order to increase efficiency, manage debt, and cut operating costs. The news of layoffs is also only the latest in a recent slew of layoffs and studio closures across the ailing gaming industry, which has seemingly hit the live-service genre particularly hard.

The State of New York's attorney general, Letitia James, has officially taken gaming giant, Valve, to court in a state court in Manhattan, alleging that the combination of games like Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, and Dota, wherein players can earn and use real money to buy loot boxes, and Steam's Community Market, where rare skins and items can be sold, often for exorbitant prices, amount to "quintessential gambling." There are reports of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skins selling for as much as $2.5 million, with the game touted as having the biggest in-game economy of any video game. Valve previously adjusted the way it presented loot boxes and their rewards to players, seemingly specifically to avoid EU gambling regulations.

The lawsuit, spotted by Reuters, alleges that "Valve's loot boxes are particularly pernicious because they are popular among children and adolescents," going on to state that these mechanics put children at risk of becoming addicted, with the complaint adding that children are four times more at risk of becoming addicted to gambling in adulthood if they are exposed to gambling before the age of 12. The lawsuit seeks restitution for players and a fine of three times Valve's earnings from any activities deemed to be illegal. Loot boxes are largely looked down on by gamers and lawmakers alike, because players are encouraged to spend money on them, and they provide no guarantee of any return or specific value. If James succeeds against Valve in the lawsuit, it could set a precedent that may result in sweeping changes across both Steam and the gaming industry at large.

SK hynix Inc. and Sandisk Corporation held "HBF Spec. Standardization Consortium Kick-Off" event at Sandisk Headquarters in Milpitas, California on the 25th (local time) announcing global standardization strategy of next-generation memory solution HBF (High Bandwidth Flash) aimed at the AI inference era. SK hynix said, "By making HBF an industry standard, together with Sandisk, we will lay the foundation for the entire AI ecosystem to grow together. A dedicated workstream under OCP will be launched with Sandisk to begin standardization work."

Recently, the AI industry is shifting from training which focuses on creating Large Language Models (LLMs) to inference, which accelerates actual AI services to users. Fast and efficient memory is essential as the number of users using AI services increases rapidly. However, the existing memory structure cannot meet the high capacity data processing and power efficiency at the same time in the inference stage and HBF technology is designed to address these limitations. HBF technology is a new memory layer between ultra-fast memory, HBM and high-capacity storage device, SSD. HBF technology can fill the gap between HBM's high performance and SSD's high capacity and ensure both capacity expansion and power efficiency required for AI inferencing. While HBM handles the high level bandwidth, HBF technology serves as a supporting layer in the architecture.

NuPhy is known for making some of the best mid-range low-profile mechanical keyboards, having recently launched the Node series, a $99.95-109.95 low-profile mechanical keyboard family shortly after releasing the V3 update for its Air series keyboards. Now, adding to its growing list of accessories for its aforementioned low-profile keyboard collection, NuPhy has released a NuPhy x Riel Aquarium nSA profile keycap set, which is available on the NuPhy site for $49.95.

[Editor's note: Our in-depth review of the NuPhy Air 60 HE is live]

NuPhy designed the Aquarium keycap set in collaboration with Riel, and the set will be manufactured by KeyTok, but it uses NuPhy's low-profile, uniform-height nSA profile, which can also be found on its pre-built low-profile keyboards. The keycap set employs a whimsical sea-life theme, featuring various shades of blue and off-white alphanumeric and modifier keys and orange navigation accent keycaps. There are also alternative white and blue modifier keycaps featuring aquarium doodles. The Aquarium nSA keycap set is made of five-sided dye-sublimated PBT, and the set has a total of 159 keycaps. Given that nSA is a uniform-height keycap set, compatibility with ortholinear and small form factor keyboards with split spaces should actually be quite high.

Back at CES 2026, we got a brief look at Keychron's resin and concrete K2 HE Special Edition wireless TMR keyboards, but the company has officially launched both the Concrete Edition and Resin Edition K2 HE keyboards, with both keyboards launching via Keychron's direct-to-consumer online store for $199.99. Both keyboards are based on the K2 HE, which has been one of Keychron's more popular models since it launched, and there isn't much by way of technical improvements over the original K2 HE aside from the design update. The resin edition features a smoky translucent case with an almost marbled aesthetic that shifts in the light, while the concrete edition has a simpler brutalist design, with color-matched keycaps and a solid gray aesthetic.

Both the K2 HE Concrete and Resin Editions are based on the same MCU, TMR sensor, and switch architectures as the original K2 HE, meaning they use the same Gateron Double-Rail Magnetic Nebula switches as the original—with 4 mm total travel and enabling all the typical analog features and online customization via Keychron Launcher—and feature the same 1 kHz polling rate and wireless connectivity via Bluetooth 5.3 and 2.4 GHz. It also goes without saying that both keyboards have the same 75% layout as the previous K2 HE keyboards. The material changes have also resulted in different dimensions. The K2 HE Resin Edition measures 321.13 × 131.3 mm, with a 27.06 mm listed front height and 4° typing angle, while the Concrete Edition comes in at 322.13 × 132.13 mm with a 27.39 mm front height and 4° typing angle. Both also use an aluminium switch plate and have a tray-mount design.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) today reported record revenue for the fourth quarter ended January 25, 2026, of $68.1 billion, up 20% from the previous quarter and up 73% from a year ago. For fiscal 2026, revenue was $215.9 billion, up 65% from a year ago.

For the quarter, GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins were 75.0% and 75.2%, respectively. For fiscal 2026, GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins were 71.1% and 71.3%, respectively.

Today during IGN Fan Fest 2026, Swedish indie publisher Raw Fury and developer Christoffer Bodegård announced that their fantasy CRPG, Esoteric Ebb, will launch on March 3 for PC. Players will soon be able to step into Esoteric Ebb's isometric, Disco-inspired TTRPG-turned-CRPG gameplay, which features deep, branching dialogue and staggering player choice, in a richly imagined Arcanepunk fantasy world.

In Esoteric Ebb, the player is the Cleric, one of many menial laborers of the city of Norvik. Tasked to solve the mystery of an exploded Tea Shop, players will roll dice against the voices in their head, explore a fantasy city on the brink of its first-ever election, and strive to become a hero of legends. Or completely ruin the campaign.

There has been a lot of talk about the new Xbox CEO, Asha Sharma, since it was announced that she would be taking over from Phil Spencer, and she has even made a handful of statements about her intent for the future of the Xbox platform—even if some of those have simply led gamers and commentators to the conclusion that she is there to usher Xbox into the night. However, in a recent interview with Windows Central, Sharma and the new Xbox CCO (Chief Content Officer), Matt Booty, have commented on the immediate future of Xbox and what Sharma previously referred to as the "return to Xbox."

According to the two executives, the next steps revolve around the next-gen Xbox hardware platform, which is rumored to launch around 2028 as a PC-console hybrid, and Microsoft's first-party development efforts. Sharma said "For me, the spirit of 'Return to Xbox' is about returning to the spirit that the team was founded on... It's that spirit of surprise, it's the spirit of building something nobody else is willing to try," going on to explain that "I think that our core Xbox fans and players have invested up to 25 years of themselves in these universes and our console. I want to make sure everybody knows I'm committed to Xbox, starting with the console. We're going to keep meeting players where they are—the world continues to evolve and change. We're going to make sure Xbox is a great place for developers and players. We want to invest in reducing the artificial divide between different types of devices that they want to use with us. I think that's going to mean a lot more investment in breaking down the barriers, in helping developers build once and show up across different hardware experience."

Samsung Electronics today announced the Galaxy S26 series, powered by the most intuitive, proactive and adaptive Galaxy AI experiences yet and designed to simplify the tasks people do on their phones every day. From managing plans and finding information to capturing and refining content, Galaxy S26 reduces the effort and number of steps required to get things done. As Samsung's third-generation AI phones, Galaxy S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra handle complex tasks in the background, allowing users to focus on results rather than how the technology works.

The Galaxy S26 series was engineered with Samsung's most advanced capabilities working together as one: incredible performance, an industry-leading camera system and Galaxy AI. This provides a strong foundation that gives Galaxy S26 users the confidence to depend on their phone throughout the day without compromising security or privacy.

The leading system integrator iBUYPOWER is pleased to announce the official launch of its new Gen 10 series of prebuilt and custom gaming PCs. Built for those that demand cutting-edge gaming performance with contemporary aesthetics, iBUYPOWER is evolving its prebuilt computers by redefining how a modern gaming system should look and perform. To learn more, please visit: https://www.ibuypower.com/gaming-pcs/signatures/gen-10-series

iBUYPOWER's Trace X and Element Pulse X cases are at the heart of its Gen 10 lineup, as both cases feature refreshed, architectural-inspired designs that emphasize clean lines, panoramic views into your system, and eye catching RGB aesthetics. Both cases are also performance optimized, supporting high-end components like large GPUs, PSUs, and air coolers, and are backed by iBUYPOWER's comprehensive three-year labor and two-year parts warranty and nationwide Micro Center service support.

Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) introduces the Dell PowerEdge XR9700 server, a first of its kind closed-loop liquid-cooled, fully-enclosed, ruggedized server engineered to run Cloud RAN and edge AI workloads in unprotected outdoor environments. Designed to mount on utility poles, rooftops and building exteriors, the PowerEdge XR9700 brings high performance computing into dense urban areas, remote locations and space-constrained facilities where traditional data center infrastructure cannot reach.

Why it matters
Telecommunications operators and those working at the edge often struggle to deploy compute due to lack of power and space. The PowerEdge XR9700 solves this, delivering high performance compute directly at the point of need in an ultra-compact, zero-footprint IP66-rated enclosure that's sealed from the elements. For telecommunications operators, it provides a flexible, software-defined alternative to traditional RAN solutions, supporting Cloud RAN and Open RAN processing at the cell site. At the same time, the platform can run edge and AI applications directly where data is created and consumed.

Valve has steadily been adding features to SteamOS and the Steam Client since the release of the Steam Deck and leading up to the Steam Machine, but the latest Steam Deck Beta client update aims to address two main issues that have apparently been prevalent in the Steam Hardware Survey, which should result in more accurate GPU data reporting. The first change fixes incorrect VRAM reporting on some GPUs, although Valve doesn't provide any explanation about which GPUs are affected by this bug, while the second change makes it so that the Steam Client automatically detects the display adaptor with the most VRAM—therefore likely the most performant or the least likely to be an iGPU—when collecting Steam Survey information.

Aside from weird edge cases, like users running both a workstation GPU and a gaming GPU in one system, these changes should result in more accurate data from the Steam Hardware Survey. It's unclear how widespread these reporting issues were or how far back they go, but the changes are unlikely to have an effect before a wider roll-out, and it's unclear when the wider roll-out will happen. The beta client update also includes two minor updates to Steam Input. The update adds a multi-button selector for the button chord activator, which Valve says will improve compatibility with extra grip buttons on modern controllers. Valve has also changed the way the Gyro to Joystick Camera output works, matching the Gyro to Joystick Deflection behavior, which it says is useful for "identifying a game's internal joystick deadzone." Polishing both the Steam Hardware Survey results and Steam Input might be steps to prepare for the launch of the Steam Controller, Steam Machine, and Steam Frame.

ACEMAGIC's K1 Mini PC, powered by Intel's 12th Gen Core i5-12600H, is currently available at a substantial discount on Amazon US. Originally priced at $579.99, the system is now listed at $399.99, with an additional 10% off promo code bringing the final price down to $359.99. The promotion runs from February 4, 2026 (04:00 PST) through March 31, 2026 (23:59 PST).

Alder Lake-H Performance in a Compact Form Factor
The ACEMAGIC K1 is built around the Intel Core i5-12600H, a 12-core (4P + 8E) / 16-thread processor based on Intel's Alder Lake architecture. With boost clocks up to 4.5 GHz, the chip offers significantly higher multithreaded performance compared to typical low-power U-series mini PC CPUs, and even outpaces processors such as the i5-12450H in many workloads.

To purchase from the United States, visit this page (Amazon link).

To purchase from Canada, visit this page (Amazon Canada link).

Micron chose to unveil its latest developments in graphics memory via a blog post titled "The new performance bottleneck: How more GPU memory unlocks next gen gaming and AI PCs" which explains that its latest GDDR7 memory will allow for graphics cards with as much as 96 GB of VRAM. Micron isn't the first company with 24 Gbit or 3 GB density GDDR7 memory chips, as Samsung sampled partners back in November of last year.

Samsung's 3 GB GDDR7 chips are also offering 36 Gbps bandwidth, so Micron doesn't stand out here either and this might be why the company snuck out the details of its new product in a blog post rather than putting out a press release. Micron claims that its new GDDR7 chips offer improved efficiency, but doesn't go into any details as to what this means. The rest of the blog post is mostly about the benefits of GDDR7 at higher density and speeds and the benefits it will bring to graphics cards, AI PCs and what not. The chips aren't listed on Micron's website as yet, despite the blog linking to Micron's GDDR7 product page.

The CP152-1 is a concept PCIe storage adapter card designed to explore market demand for a compact, rear-swappable 2.5" SATA SSD/HDD solution with built-in RAID 1 functionality. By utilizing a dual-slot PCIe form factor, the CP152-1 enables the installation of two 9.5 mm 2.5" SATA drives with RAID 1 or JBOD support, delivering a simplified approach to data protection and storage expansion without the need for traditional drive cages or backplanes.

The CP152-1 adopts a rear-accessible removable tray architecture, allowing system integrators to evaluate alternative service workflows and chassis layouts while maintaining a clean, cable-free PCIe installation.

Blizzard's recent rebrand of Overwatch 2 to just Overwatch also saw the game studio announce a series of new heroes coming in the first season of Overwatch's new era, one of which is Jetpack Cat, who quickly became a fan favorite. In a recent appearance on The Omnic Podcast, Overwatch's associate director, Alec Dawson, said that the popularity of Jetpack Cat, and other unorthodox characters, has led the development and design teams to consider more "oddball" heroes for future releases. Blizzard has promised to add one hero to the game every season for the first year—meaning a new hero every two months—but there was no word on whether the plan was to continue at this cadence indefinitely. In the podcast, though, Dawson clarifies that this is the goal as long as it's sustainable and there's no big gameplay event or similar to get in the way. He also says that this release cadence also gives the developers "a lot more opportunities to take some chances" on gameplay differentiation, different roles, and "something a little bit different" so that players can find characters they enjoy playing with or whose design they enjoy. He adds that the response to Jetpack Cat has been heard in the Overwatch team, and it "helps us think about what sort of characters and heroes we want to do in the future, as well."

At the same time, in a recent interview with PCGamesN, Dawson commented that Jetpack Cat is the most banned character in Overwatch at the moment, and that is a situation Blizzard would like to address so that she can be used more frequently in competitive matches. "We love the cat, but we are going to tone down a little bit of her aggression," he continued to explain that Jetpack Cat's ability to dive a backline will likely be somewhat suppressed in an upcoming nerf: "When she gets both her minor perk, Claws Out, and her major perk, Territorial, the combination allows her to be an absolute menace that's diving backlines and taking 1v1s. So we're going to tone that down just a little bit and see how that goes, but the cat won't be scratching as much as she is currently." He added that the hero ban feature has been helpful to guide the balance and development of heroes, which will likely only become more complicated with the new hero release cadence. Notably, Blizzard has also been responding to community feedback on topics like hero design, as was the case with another new hero, Anran, who was criticized for looking generic after her announcement.

AMD has announced its EPYC 8005 series server processors, codenamed "Sorano". These new CPUs are filling the gap between the EPYC 9005 high-end Zen 5 lineup and the lower-tier EPYC 4005 parts. The new 8005 series succeeds the EPYC 8004 "Siena" family and targets single-socket (1P) platforms with an emphasis on telecom, edge, and vRAN (Virtual Radio Access Network) workloads. Built on the Zen 5 architecture, EPYC 8005 is designed around performance-per-watt and performance-per-dollar rather than peak multi-socket scalability. With these new server CPUs, AMD is targeting the telco sector where power and space-constrained environments are key factors in cell sites and distributed edge locations. AMD has not yet published a full SKU list or detailed specifications about the EPYC 8004 CPUs. However, the company says the lineup will scale up to 84 cores in a single-socket configuration, with SKUs operating in power envelopes up to 225 W.

AMD is also highlighting wide thermal operating ranges and support for NEBS (Network Equipment-Building System) compliant platforms. For vRAN specifically, EPYC 8005 adds targeted LDPC (Low-Density Parity Check) decoding optimizations to improve Layer 1 acceleration for 5G workloads. AMD claims improved uplink throughput and more efficient forward-error-correction processing, while maintaining the deterministic behavior required in RAN environments, thanks to the updated Zen 5 execution pipeline and vector capabilities. The EPYC 8005 "Sorano" CPUs should become available in the following months, with more details about the platform and performance likely closer to launch.

The disappointing launch of Highguard has been well documented by now, but the game has just hit a new low, despite recent developer efforts to keep things afloat following a round of layoffs. According to SteamDB, Highguard's player count has continued to trend downwards, reaching a new low of just 743 peak concurrent players in the 24-hour period preceding publication. February 23 marked the first time the game dipped below 1,000 peak concurrent players in a 24-hour period—down from a launch peak of 97,249—and player counts haven't recovered since then.

No Man's Sky had a similar launch trajectory, releasing with a massive 212,000+ peak player count which quickly dwindled to just over 1,000 in 2018 before the game's surprise resurrection—it now sits at around 20,000 peak concurrent daily players. Highguard's dwindling player count is despite recent content updates reportedly bringing a bit more excitement to the gameplay—recent reviews show an uptick in positive feedback and a reduction in negative reviews.

A few days ago, we reported that AMD is seemingly ending driver support for its Ryzen Z1 Extreme SoC, just two and a half years after its launch. Since Lenovo issued product guidance that the company will no longer provide updates, and ASUS's own ROG Ally handheld console had not received an update in over six months, the situation was dire. However, ASUS today released a new driver update for its ROG Ally handheld console, which had been stuck with six-month-old SoC drivers from August 2025. This changes the situation from the platform being completely abandoned for half a year to a periodic update window that will likely continue unless gamers encounter a surprise change.

Initially, we couldn't determine the "blame" for this irregular driver update cycle, as it could have been either AMD or OEMs being slow with the driver updates. As AMD offers configurable TDP (cTDP) for the Z1 Extreme with values ranging from 9 to 30 W, this means that OEMs can get SoCs in various configurations, each needing to be tested and verified before distributing an official driver. To add more to the mess, Lenovo Korea has confirmed that their own driver update plan for the product has stopped, leaving users to switch to other platforms or use Linux-based operating systems that carry their own drivers for these platforms to extract maximum longevity. Hence, the entire situation is now more complicated.

Distant Shore is proud to announce the launch of the Distant Shore: BRETAGNE demo during Steam Next Fest! You can download this free taste of the Distant Shore: BRETAGNE world on Steam and prepare for the full release.

Distant Shore: BRETAGNE landed with a bang during its breakout reveal at the first edition of the New Game+ Showcase. We can't wait to share Distant Shore: BRETAGNE for the first time publicly during the Steam Next Fest. It's a major milestone for us, and we're excited to see how the community reacts. Distant Shore: BRETAGNE is a first-person parkour physics based game, where you wield your magnetic gauntlets to move, bend and break metal obstacles. Navigate through a ravaged world to complete the mission given by your employer.

Samsung is officially ending the production of its 2D NAND flash storage this year, and the company will be repurposing its old production lines to better fit the AI-driven demand. According to The Elec Korea, Samsung plans to officially stop 2D NAND production at its Hwaseong site, with Line 12 being the one carrying this aging technology. Instead of completely abandoning this facility, which houses plenty of chip-making tools, Samsung will repurpose them for DRAM metallization, which is the process of applying actual pathways within the DRAM itself to connect memory cells. Interestingly, the Hwaseong Line 12 holds a monthly wafer production capacity of 80,000 to 100,000 12-inch wafers. This is a significant number of wafers, which are now only used for 2D NAND Flash, a technology that is no longer needed in the wake of 3D NAND Flash technology.

Continuing the Line 12 legacy will be Samsung's 6th-generation 10 nm-class 1c DRAM, a technology used for HBM4, and Samsung expects the total wafer capacity for 1c DRAM to reach about 200,000 wafers per month in the second half of the year. Adapting the old 2D NAND Flash production site will definitely help, and Samsung will run this production along with Pyeongtaek Line 3 and Line 4.

Just ahead of CES, LG announced a range of new monitors and now, the biggest one of the new models, the UltraGear EVO 52G930B is available for pre-order. Back then, LG didn't reveal much in terms of details about its 52-inch giant, but the company did reveal the 5120 x 2160 pixel resolution, the 240 Hz refresh rate and the 1000R curvature. Now we know that the 52G930B will also support DisplayHDR 600 and 95% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. The panel is likely to cause some disappointment, as it's a VA panel with a contrast ratio of 4000:1 and a 1 ms grey to grey response time. Unfortunately LG doesn't provide any details with regards to what type of backlight is being used, but HDR600 doesn't require FALD. The 52G930B also has AMD FreeSync Premium support and a range of built in gaming features.

Somewhat disappointingly, the LG 52G930B only sports a single DisplayPort 2.1 input, but the two HDMI 2.1 ports also support the full resolution and refresh rate on offer here. The USB Type-C port seems to still be limited to DP 1.4 with DSC and possibly lower chroma subsampling, as even though it can support the full resolution, it tops out at 200 Hz. The monitor also has a pair of USB 3.0 Type-A ports and a headphone jack that supports DTS Headphone:X. There's also a pair of built in stereo speakers and some RGB lights around the rear. As with many other of LG's more premium monitors, KVM support and Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture is supported. Finally the stand is height adjustable and the display can be tilted and swiveled. LG is asking for US$1999.99 and the monitor is said to start shipping around the 22nd of March.

In Yongin, South Korea, the towering frame of a semiconductor fab has emerged, reaching the height of a 50-story apartment building to form the massive Yongin Semiconductor Cluster. With construction gaining momentum, SK hynix announced Feb. 25 that it has decided to invest approximately 21.6 trillion KRW (15 billion USD) in the new facility for the first fab by the end of December 2030. This brings the total investment for the construction of the first fab to approximately 31 trillion KRW (approx. 21.5 billion USD), which includes the approximately 9.4 trillion KRW (approx. 6.5 billion USD) facility investment previously announced in July 2024.

This investment comes from a strategic decision to proactively address rapidly growing global customer demand and further strengthen supply system stability. With the expansion of advanced industries such as AI, data centers, and high-performance computing (HPC), the demand for high-performance and high-density semiconductors is also experiencing structural growth. To keep pace with these changes, SK hynix aims to expand production capacity ahead of schedule and establish a foundation to ensure a stable supply of products for customers when they require it.

The all-white SAPPHIRE PURE X870A WIFI 7 returns with Wi-Fi 7, PCIe 5.0, SAPPHIRE CORE BIOS, and TriXX-M software, delivering high performance and striking design for gamers and PC builders.

Next-Gen Performance Meets Sleek Design
SAPPHIRE Technology today launches the SAPPHIRE PURE X870A WIFI 7, a fully white AM5 motherboard designed for gamers, system builders, and modders who want exceptional performance and standout aesthetics. Powered by the AMD X870 chipset and supporting Ryzen 7000, 8000, and 9000 Series processors, the SAPPHIRE PURE X870A WIFI 7 delivers speed, stability, and reliable gaming performance in a crisp, unified white design. SAPPHIRE PURE has always embodied a coordinated, minimalist aesthetic, and the X870A continues this legacy. Every detail, from heatsinks to layout, has been designed to create a bright, cohesive look that complements modern white-themed builds, appealing to users who value both style and substance.

HP Inc. and its subsidiaries ("HP") announced fiscal 2026 first quarter net revenue of $14.4 billion, up 6.9% (up 5.2% in constant currency) from the prior-year period.
"We are pleased to report a strong first quarter, highlighted by robust growth in Personal Systems, including the continued momentum in AI PCs. Our performance reflects the strength of our portfolio and our disciplined execution of our Future of Work strategy, even as we navigate industry-wide headwinds," said Bruce Broussard, Interim CEO, HP Inc.

• First quarter GAAP diluted net earnings per share ("EPS") of $0.58, down 1.7% from the prior year period
• First quarter non-GAAP diluted net EPS of $0.81, up 9.5% from the prior year period
• First quarter net revenue of $14.4 billion, up 6.9% from the prior-year period
• First quarter net cash provided by operating activities of $383 million, free cash flow of $175 million
• First quarter returned $0.6 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends

The popular hardware diagnostics utility HWiNFO launched its latest v8.42 version on February 24th. Interestingly, one of the main features of this release is the improved support for Intel "Nova Lake" processors, despite this CPU generation being months away from commercial launch. This means that the tool can now distinguish between different Intel processors and even run diagnostics on engineering samples of "Nova Lake-S," despite the processor not being commercially available for another few quarters. It is possible that the utility is now raising a flag when detecting "Nova Lake," which has its own unique processor ID, and this could be found in some early compiler patches for GCC and LLVM that are enabling these processors before launch. With the launch of v8.42, the tool also gains NPU stress testing, but only in the Pro version.Below is the complete changelog.

One of the simpler solutions manufacturers have come up with to mitigate the ubiquitous 12v-2×6 GPU power connector meltdowns is colored cable terminations that simply give the user an indication that the GPU power connector is properly connected. According to a recent post on r/MSI_Gaming, those colored connectors are both doing their jobs and causing concerns among MSI PSU users. The original poster shared an image of the stock 12v-2×6 power cables of an MSI MPG A1000GS ATX 3.1 PSU that had slowly been creeping out of both the PSU and PNY RTX 5080 GPU connectors over the course of two months, exposing the colored yellow connector end that is meant to serve as a warning against thermal meltdown events.

While the slowly loosening connector had not yet resulted in a meltdown, it had seemingly started causing instability in the user's system during heavy gaming loads. What's more concerning is the multitude of comments in the Reddit thread echoing the OP's story, saying that they had properly connected both ends of the cable until there was a positive click, but despite this, the cable seemed to be creeping out at one or both ends. Some commenters hypothesized that part of the reason for these meltdown events that happen so long after the system was first built is that repeated thermal cycling causes the plastic connector to expand and contract, resulting in the cable slowly coming loose. The redditor was eventually told to request a replacement unit through Amazon, but if the number of similar reports in the same thread are anything to go by, the issue appears to be at least somewhat widespread with MSI's cables.

Sony's upcoming Horizon Hunters Gathering three-player co-op game was revealed earlier this month, but it seems as though Sony is deeper into development than it let on during the announcement, because the gaming giant is apparently already ready for its first Horizon Hunters Gathering closed beta test. Sony announced the beta test via a post on the game's official X account, linking to a website where you can register to try out the game ahead of its official launch. The Horizon Hunters Gathering closed beta will take place from February 27 to March 1 for both PS5 and PC players (via Steam).

The closed beta will be limited to three playable hunts—Axle, Rem, and Sun—two game modes—Machine Incursion and Cauldron Descent—and just one environment—Colorado Springs, and only players from the USA, Canada, and much of Europe will be eligible for the closed beta, and the US play test will be limited to 4 PM-7 PM PST, while EU players will be allowed to play at 7 PM-10 PM CET. Players will also be subject to selection by Sony, so applying via the PlayStation Beta Program will not guarantee access to the beta. PlayStation players will be allowed to bring along two friends, for a full party of three, but PC players looking to test the beta with friends will need to apply separately—no free invites for friends on Steam. The play test will also be under strict NDA, which means players will not be able to share any gameplay or opinions outside of Sony's beta tester Discord server, nor will they be allowed to share screenshots or stream gameplay.

Shortly after Discord announced a plan to expand its use of Persona age verification globally as part of its new "teen-by-default" account settings, it has confirmed in a recent FAQ page update that it will not require age verification for "90%+ of users" after facing significant backlash. The social media platform explains that it will be going ahead with its teen-by-default, but that most users just don't access age-restricted content or because the internal age verification systems will be able to automatically determine age without any user action. Discord's CTO, Stanislav Vishnevskiy, said in a blog post that "we knew this rollout was going to be controversial. Any time you introduce something that touches identity and verification, people are going to have strong feelings," but effectively explained that the original announcement was misinterpreted or explained badly. He goes on to say that Discord was evaluating Persona for biometric age verification data in an experiment in January, but has since decided not to proceed with the Persona partnership because it did not meet the bar of requiring on-device verification. He does, however, say that Discord will require age verification via k-ID in countries like Australia, Brazil, and the UK, where laws require it and do not allow Discord's internal estimation system. Discord will also be introducing a new "spoiler" channel option, which will allow communities to stop using age-restricted channels to avoid discussions about spoilers and politics.

At the same time, however, it was revealed in a post on Bluesky that Twitch has adopted Persona as an age verification system for Twitch Partners in order to receive payment. The age verification process required users to submit a selfie along with an image of a government ID card, passport, or driver's license. This report of mandatory Persona age verification on Twitch comes shortly after it was reported that hackers had discovered an exposed frontend for Persona that both demonstrated the platform's lackluster security and revealed ties to the US government and a potential mass-surveillance apparatus, although these were partially explained as an upcoming partnership with the government to verify the identities of remote federal workers. It's unclear how widespread Twitch's use of Persona is at this point in time, but a number of creators have made their voices heard via an open letter in Twitch's User Voices feature in light of the recent controversies surrounding Persona.

Apple is preparing a massive refresh cycle for its 2026 MacBook Pro laptops, with the major redesign being at the very center of the laptop. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, one of the most reliable sources of Apple news, the company is preparing to implement its Dynamic Island feature on its MacBook Pro 14 and MacBook Pro 16 versions, both of which will carry the new feature. Alongside Dynamic Island, which is replacing the traditional notch we have on MacBooks today, Apple is also implementing OLED display technology that will replace the current Mini LED display found on the current generation of MacBooks.

For the Dynamic Island, Apple will bring over much of the functionality from its iPhone models, which includes status updates and a front camera cutout, but in a different shape. As the iPhone uses the Dynamic Island to host Face ID sensors, the MacBook Pro version should only include a camera sensor cutout with software support from the OS. However, the most interesting part of the announcement should be the touchscreen ability with OLED panels. Apple is reportedly optimizing its new operating system to unlock new gestures for touch, where each touch will invoke a new panel or a new interface. This design will reportedly not be similar to the iPad, but just another sensory aid to the current input method with a keyboard and a mouse.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is slated to launch on March 19 for PC after almost nine months as a PS5 exclusive, and Nixxes and Kojima Productions just revealed the minimum PC hardware requirements, as well as the supported upscaling and graphical enhancement options, in a PlayStation Blog post. According to the blog post, the absolute minimum spec, which gets you 30 FPS as 1080p with low settings, requires an AMD Ryzen 3 3100 or Intel Core i3-10100, 16 GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8 GB. Medium, or 1080p with medium settings, requires an RTX 3060 12 GB or Radeon RX 6600, and an AMD Ryzen 5 5600 or Intel Core i5-11400. Stepping it up to High (or recommended specs), which gets you 1440p at 60 FPS with high settings, requires an AMD Radeon RX 6800 or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 and an AMD Ryzen 7 5700X or Intel Core i7-11700. Very High, or 4K resolution at 60 FPS with very high settings, calls for an upgrade to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 or Radeon RX 9070 XT, while the CPU and memory specs remain the same as for the High tier. All spec tiers require 16 GB of memory, Windows 11 or Windows 10 1909 or up, and at least a 150 GB SSD.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will also offer PC players support for both 21:9 and 32:9 ultrawide aspect ratios, and players with 16:9 displays can simulate a cinematic experience by opting for a 21:9 aspect ratio with black bars on the top and bottom of the display—this option will also be introduced for PS5 at the same time as the PC release. PC players will also get support for upscaling tech from all three GPU manufacturers: NVIDIA DLSS 4, AMD FSR 4, and Intel XeSS 2, with both frame generation and upscaling options available. These upscaling options can be used in conjunction with Dynamic Resolution Scaling, and players will be able to adjust upscaling quality. The game will also see the debut of Pico—Progressive Image Compositor—on PC. This is the upscaling technology used by Death Stranding 2 on PS5 and developed by Guerrilla Games for the Decima engine, and it can also be used alongside all available frame generation options and on all available graphics card manufacturers. The game will also offer native AA options for those not interested in upscaling.

Marvel's Wolverine has been on Sony's release roster for ages, with Sony having released a brutal trailer for the game as far back as September 2025. Insomniac Games, the Studio at the game's helm, just confirmed on X that Wolverine will launch on September 15, 2026, which is right in the middle of the previously promised "fall 2026" release window. Unfortunately, as expected, Marvel's Wolverine appears to be a console exclusive, at least at launch. There is no mention of a PC or Xbox launch date anywhere on the PlayStation Store or in the release date trailer.

Marvel's Wolverine will follow the titular character as he "searches for answers about his past," and the trailer reveals that players will revisit Logan's complex history as an anti-hero, fighting against and potentially alongside the likes of Sabretooth and Mystique, with scenes from the trailer teasing locations ranging from the American west to Japanese back alleys. The PlayStation Store page also confirms that Marvel's Wolverine will be single-player only and will feature offline play. Marvel's Spider-Man 2, another Marvel game developed by Insomniac for the PS5, initially launched on PS5 in October 2023, but only made it to PC in January 2025; if that game is any indication, it'll be a little over a year after launch before Marvel's Wolverine makes it to PC.

NVIDIA has posted multiple job openings, which give us several hints about the company's plans for gaming on Linux and what the possible plan could look like. According to the now-removed listing, NVIDIA is hiring engineers to diagnose CPU and GPU performance bottlenecks on Linux when running the Proton compatibility layer and Vulkan graphics API. This suggests that NVIDIA is either refining its product support for the massive wave of gamers transitioning to Linux or preparing for an entirely new platform. For example, as NVIDIA is currently preparing N1/N1X SoCs for laptops, the company could create dedicated handheld chips for devices like Valve's Steam Deck, which currently runs on AMD's SoC. There are multiple handheld vendors now, and NVIDIA could be powering a new handheld with its laptop N1/N1X chips under Linux.

The job descriptions clearly indicate that the work will cover everything from the game engine and translation layers, such as Proton, to drivers and hardware interaction. This focus suggests that efforts will not be limited to profiling but will also include proposing API usage changes, building repeatable test cases, and collaborating with translation-layer and distribution maintainers to implement fixes. Anyone using NVIDIA graphics under Linux will also be impacted, as the company's polishing of the software stack will bring a definitive quality of life improvement to games. This can include fewer stutters, better frame pacing, and reduced CPU overhead in titles that rely on Vulkan or run under Proton, which translates Windows-specific API calls and optimizes games to run on Linux.

Shortly following the recent announcement that Phil Spencer would be leaving as the head of Xbox Gaming, the division's new CEO, Asha Sharma, released a long statement expressing her distaste for AI slop and her belief that, although "AI has long been part of gaming and will continue to be," games "are and always will be art, crafted by humans and created with the most innovative technology provided by us." Many gamers have been skeptical of these and similar statements now and in the past, but it seems as though industry veteran and founder of Xbox, Seamus Blackley, seems to be convinced that those are empty words, whether Sharma believes it or not. In a recent interview with GamesBeat, Blackley said about Sharma that he believes "her job is going to be as a palliative care doctor who slides Xbox gently into the night," going on to say that assurances like the aforementioned one by Sharma are "just what occurs to people to say when they bring in someone from an outside business into games."

In Blackley's view, Microsoft's bet on AI will result in a lot of the non-AI businesses being sunsetted, and that is what is happening to Xbox under the new CEO. He says that, just like AI has taken over "everything else," it will take over gaming as well, at least at Microsoft, going on to say that "Asha's background is entirely in software as a service and AI. The implicit thing here is that games is going to be AI-driven software as a service." Part of his justification for this belief is that, despite gaming industry veteran, Matt Booty, acting as Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, Sharma is an outsider to the gaming industry and doesn't necessarily understand the industry. His concern is that such an outsider, especially one coming from an AI background, can only see gaming in an abstract way. That said, he does admit that there have been outsiders that have succeeded in gaming, but those that have understood that gaming is a content business. He also jokingly says that her statement about the future of Xbox "reminded me of that meme 'Hello, fellow kids!'" and that she would have to figure out what's interesting about gaming.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced two new colorways for its next‑generation creator webcams, the Razer Kiyo V2 and Razer Kiyo V2 X. Now available in Quartz and White, the stunning new finishes join classic Black to give creators more ways to build a setup that reflects their personal style.

Razer Kiyo V2 gets smarter with AI Face Retouching
Alongside the new color options, the Kiyo V2 introduces AI Face Retouching via Camo Studio for instant, studio-ready polish. Designed to look natural on camera, the adjustable feature subtly smooths imperfections, while adapting to lighting and environmental changes in real time. Users can enable this new AI tool by updating to the latest version of Camo Studio.

We previously covered how enterprising gamers managed to bypass AMD's FSR 4 restrictions to get Redstone frame generation tech working on older RDNA GPUs with OptiScaler. Now, it seems as though OptiScaler has managed bypass another one of AMD's limitations that restricted FSR 4 implementations to DirectX 12 games. According to the build notes uncovered by a Reddit user u/eduhfx, OptiScaler is testing adding Vulkan support in a new test build v0.9.0-pre10. Notably, OptiScaler is using a compatibility tool to work around FSR 4's lack of Vulkan support, similarly to how Linux translates DirectX, calls to Vulkan with DXVK or VKD3D. This also means that FSR 4 on Vulkan should work on Linux systems, as well, where games often run better under Vulkan than DX12—although at the time of writing, FSR 4 w/DX12 currently has issues running on Linux due to a Mesa issue that seemingly cannot be solved by the OptiScaler team.

Added Vulkan w/DX12 support - FSR 4 VK w/DX12, FSR 2.1 VK w/DX12

Currently, known issues:
FSR 4 VK w/DX12 has issues on Linux due to missing Mesa extensions
Not interested in reports as nothing we can fix on our side as far as we know

ORIGIN PC today announced the launch of the new NEURON, marking the most dramatic evolution of the platform since its debut and redefining what a showcase desktop can look like. The new NEURON introduces a fully panoramic glass design and advanced airflow engineering that elevates both presentation and performance for gamers, creators, and hardware enthusiasts. First unveiled at CES 2026, the NEURON is now available for customers who want high-end components to be seen and kept cool under demanding workloads.

The updated NEURON features a wraparound single piece glass panel that provides near 360-degree visibility of the interior. A spacious modular layout, improved routing channels, and compatibility with today's largest GPUs allow users to create clean, presentation ready systems that highlight every component.

Endorfy is expanding portfolio with its first-ever microATX computer cases. Inspired by the popular Signum 300 series, the Signum M30 line is designed for users who want the full functionality of a modern PC in a compact mini-tower form factor.

The lineup includes two models - Signum M30 ARGB and Signum M30 Air - striking an ideal balance between compact dimensions and extensive configuration options. Both cases support graphics cards up to 345 mm in length, radiators up to 240 mm, and up to seven fans. As a result, they provide a versatile foundation for powerful gaming rigs, modern workstations, or office PCs built around microATX, Mini-ITX, or Flex ATX motherboards.

Each week, new games and apps integrating NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex, and advanced ray-traced effects are released or announced, delivering the definitive PC experience for GeForce RTX players.

DLSS 4.5 is our latest upgrade to the ever-improving DLSS Super Resolution, adding a second generation transformer model that further enhances image quality. Via the NVIDIA app, you can apply DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution to your game library on all GeForce RTX PCs and laptops, instantly upgrading clarity and quality.

Just last week, we reported on the closure of Spliced, a newly formed NetEase game studio that suffered layoffs even before it had announced or released any games. Now, that same misfortune has come for TiMi Montreal, a division of TiMi founded in mid-2021 to create AAA, open-world, multi-platform games. The studio's closure was revealed in a now-removed LinkedIn post (via Game File) by a programmer at the studio, who said that "Today, TiMi Montreal is officially closing its doors," and goes on to lament the fact that the "the public will never get to experience what this team was capable of producing."

While TiMi Studio Group has been responsible for a number of high-profile mobile and cross-platform titles, including Call of Duty Mobile, Delta Force, Arena of Valor, and Age of Empires Mobile, among others, TiMi Montreal had not even announced any projects. The studio and its parent company, Tencent, also have yet to address the alleged closure, but several other employees sounded off in the comments of the original LinkedIn post, suggesting that the news of the closure is more than just hearsay. This news also comes shortly after Sony shuttered Bluepoint games, serving as yet another indication of an ailing gaming industry. Of course, without an official statement or more information, it's difficult to know how many employees were affected by the closure or how many will go on to work internally at Tencent or other TiMi studios, for example.

Rise of Piracy is now available in Early Access on Steam. Developed as a passion-driven project, Rise of Piracy blends action, exploration, and real-time strategy into a sandbox pirate experience where players carve their own path across a fully hand-crafted world of open seas, rival factions, and large-scale warfare.

Starting their journey at sea and growing into the commander of a formidable fleet, players can trade, explore, conquer islands, engage in diplomacy, or dominate through naval firepower and coordinated land assaults. The Early Access launch delivers a complete and replayable campaign foundation, designed to expand further with community feedback.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) is proud to announce a collaboration with world-renowned game studio KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS, as well as the launch of the ROG Flow Z13-KJP along with a new lineup of KJP peripherals. ROG and KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS are driven to create products and experiences tailored for gamers.

Cutting-edge gaming hardware meets visionary storytelling
At the heart of this collaboration is 'Ludens'—the belief that humans are not only thinkers, but also players and creators. The collaboration combines the spirit of the ROG motto For Those Who Dare with KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS' vision From Sapiens to Ludens. Ludens are the ones who experiment, mod, create, and challenge what games—and gaming hardware—can be. By uniting cutting-edge ROG hardware with KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS' visionary storytelling, this partnership is a tribute to that spirit: everything we build, every detail we design, is for gamers everywhere—For Ludens Who Dare.

The MIPI Alliance, an international organization that develops specifications that standardize wired interfaces for mobile and other connected ecosystems, today announced major updates to two of its foundational specifications. MIPI UniPro v3.0 and MIPI M-PHY v6.0 offer significant performance, latency and power-efficiency improvements for next-generation JEDEC Universal Flash Storage (UFS 5.0) solutions to support greater edge AI workloads in smartphones, tablets, PCs, gaming consoles, automotive and industrial applications.

"For more than a decade, M-PHY and UniPro have served as the interconnect layer for JEDEC UFS, enabling high‑performance, low‑power flash storage across a broad range of devices," said Hezi Saar, chair of MIPI Alliance. "These latest releases build on that foundation with advances in speed and efficiency to enable emerging edge AI workloads where low‑latency, high‑bandwidth and power‑efficient data access, processing and storage are increasingly essential."

AIDA64 8.25 continues refining the modern 64-bit foundation introduced in the 8.xx generation. This update focuses on deeper hardware integration, more flexible display customization, and improved automation tools. With revamped SensorPanel monitor pinning, native NVMe support, new PSU monitoring capabilities, and expanded LCD compatibility, AIDA64 becomes even more precise and adaptable across enthusiast setups and enterprise environments.

We are also introducing the new AIDA64 Command Line Builder, an online utility that helps generate correct command line switches quickly and easily for our business line products. Whether you automate reports, deploy AIDA64 across networks, or integrate it into scripts, the builder reduces configuration errors and simplifies setup. It is accessible directly from our website. Please note, that command line options are available exclusively in our business product line.

DOWNLOAD: AIDA64 Extreme v8.25

Sandisk today announced the next generation of its portable SSD portfolio, introducing a three-tier lineup designed to support larger file sizes, AI content, and the increasingly demanding digital workflows of everyday users, creators, and professionals. The portfolio includes the Sandisk Portable SSD, Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD, and Sandisk Extreme PRO Portable SSD. Delivering nearly twice the speed of its predecessor and enhanced durability, the Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD is available today, with the full portfolio of products rolling out later this year.

"Whether at home, in the office, or on the go, this new generation of portable SSDs support customers across their storage needs," said Heidi Arkinstall, Vice President of Consumer Marketing at Sandisk. "From everyday users, to creative enthusiasts, to production professionals, the Sandisk portable SSD portfolio balances performance, portability, and durability to give people storage they can depend on as their needs evolve."

Apple today announced a significant expansion of factory operations in Houston, bringing the future production of Mac mini to the U.S. for the first time. The company will also expand advanced AI server manufacturing at the factory and provide hands-on training at its new Advanced Manufacturing Center beginning later this year. Altogether, Apple's Houston operations will create thousands of jobs.

"Apple is deeply committed to the future of American manufacturing, and we're proud to significantly expand our footprint in Houston with the production of Mac mini starting later this year," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "We began shipping advanced AI servers from Houston ahead of schedule, and we're excited to accelerate that work even further."

SambaNova today introduced their SN50 AI chip, which boasts a max speed that's 5X faster than competitive chips. The company also announced a planned collaboration with Intel to deliver high‑performance, cost‑efficient AI inference solutions, and more than $350M in investment from new and existing investors.

Positioned as the most efficient chip for agentic AI, the SN50 chip offers enterprises a 3X lower total cost of ownership - a powerful foundation to scale fast inference and bring autonomous AI agents into full production. The SN50 will be shipping to customers later this year.

AMD and Meta today announced a 6-gigawatt agreement to power Meta's next generation of AI infrastructure across multiple generations of AMD Instinct GPUs. This agreement expands on the companies' existing strategic partnership and aligns roadmaps across silicon, systems and software to deliver AI platforms purpose-built for Meta's workloads. The first deployment will use a custom AMD Instinct GPU based on the MI450 architecture to deliver AI platforms that are optimized for Meta's workloads at gigawatt-scale. Shipments supporting the first gigawatt deployment are scheduled to begin in the second half of 2026 powered by the custom AMD Instinct MI450-based GPU and 6th Gen AMD EPYC CPUs, codenamed "Venice," running ROCm software and built on the AMD Helios rack-scale architecture. AMD Helios was developed jointly by AMD and Meta through the Open Compute Project to enable scalable, rack-level AI infrastructure.

"We are proud to expand our strategic partnership with Meta as they push the boundaries of AI at unprecedented scale," said Dr. Lisa Su, chair and CEO, AMD. "This multi-year, multi-generation collaboration across Instinct GPUs, EPYC CPUs and rack-scale AI systems aligns our roadmaps to deliver high-performance, energy-efficient infrastructure optimized for Meta's workloads, accelerating one of the industry's largest AI deployments and placing AMD at the center of the global AI buildout."

NVIDIA is reportedly preparing its long-awaited new consumer laptop processor for launch in the first half of 2026, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The chip uses a system-on-chip approach integrating CPU, GPU, and NPU into a single package. Systems based on those chips could first ship from OEMs such as Dell and Lenovo within months of launch, though no products have been confirmed. These systems are expected to focus on thin-and-light designs with an emphasis on efficiency and battery life. The report says NVIDIA is working with MediaTek on the processor, which will use the Arm architecture rather than x86. Internal names mentioned include N1 and N1X. The report also references a separate project involving Intel. That design would combine an Intel x86 CPU with NVIDIA graphics and neural processing technology, targeting improved graphics in slimmer laptops without a discrete GPU.

NVIDIA has not formally announced either chip, meaning specifications, pricing, and final configurations remain undisclosed. However, we reported in January that NVIDIA's Arm-based N1 and N1X laptop chips were getting closer to launch, with Lenovo accidentally confirming several upcoming models, including Yoga and Legion designs, through a since-deleted support page listing. Dell was also spotted testing the N1X, with a November 2025 shipping manifest surfacing a "Dell 16 Premium" powered by an N1X engineering sample. According to initial leaks, both chips are based on the same GB10 Superchip found in NVIDIA's DGX Spark AI mini PC, with the N1X reportedly packing 20 Arm CPU cores and a 48-unit iGPU. Despite expectations, NVIDIA skipped CES without any official announcement, and earlier rumors of delays pushing the launch to late 2026 hadn't been fully ruled out at the time. With NVIDIA GTC 2026 just a few weeks ahead (March 16-19), that's likely the event where those new mobile processors could be announced.

GXTrust puts high-quality sound at the forefront with the Emita II microphones, featuring a premium 16 mm condenser capsule, delivering studio-quality sound that brings every word to life. With a cardioid recording pattern, they're perfectly tuned to pick up the user's voice while minimizing background noise, making these microphones ideal for any kind of streaming setup.

The Emita II includes pop and wind filters reduce plosives and distortion, ensuring clean vocals and a smooth, polished result every time. A robust metal alloy casing offers improved acoustics, while its external shock mounts block unwanted vibrations to enhance sound quality even further.

Innodisk, a leading provider of industrial-grade memory solutions, announced the CXL Add-in Card (AIC), a major addition to its CXL product portfolio. Innodisk developed this CXL-based expansion card in response to rising memory demands in next-generation computing and the limited scalability of current motherboard designs. Connecting via the widespread and mature PCIe interface, the CXL AIC delivers fast memory access without occupying system DIMM slots. It also provides greater flexibility in memory usage and allocation. Its HHHL form factor, paired with Innodisk's compact DDR5 RDIMM/RDIMM VLP, unlocks new possibilities for microdata centers and edge systems, especially in latency-critical scenarios such as 5G networking, high-frequency trading, and smart medical imaging.

Flexible Memory Expansion Up to 256 GB
The Innodisk CXL AIC features two onboard RDIMM sockets that provide flexible memory expansion up to 256 GB (128 GB x2), allowing easy capacity adjustment by swapping RDIMM modules based on system needs. By connecting through PCIe slots, it not only preserves the system's native DIMM slots but also delivers an additional 32 GB/s of bandwidth via its PCIe Gen 5 x8 interface. This minimizes latency when the CPU accesses shared memory, enabling faster data flow for bandwidth-intensive applications such as AI inference and edge processing.

Kioxia Corporation, a world leader in memory solutions, today announced that it has begun shipping evaluation samples of embedded flash memory compatible with the next-generation UFS standard, UFS 5.0, which is currently being standardized by JEDEC.

UFS 5.0 is a new standard for embedded flash storage currently being developed by JEDEC to meet the performance requirements of next-generation mobile devices such as high-end smartphones equipped with on-device AI functions. It utilizes MIPI M-PHY version 6.0 for the physical layer and UniPro version 3.0 for the protocol. M-PHY version 6.0 introduces the new HS-GEAR6 mode, theoretically supporting an interface speed of up to 46.6 Gbps per lane; with 2 lanes, UFS 5.0 can achieve approximately 10.8 GB/s of effective read/write performance.

ASUS today announced ASUS Optimized Liquid-Cooling Solutions and a strategic partner framework designed to address the escalating thermal, power, and density challenges of next-generation AI and high-performance computing data centers.

ASUS Optimized Liquid-Cooling Solutions for next-generation AI compute density
As AI and HPC workloads push compute density and power consumption beyond the capabilities of traditional air cooling, optimized liquid-cooling solutions by ASUS will provide the critical thermal management required for the next-generation NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 system based data centers. By efficiently dissipating heat from high-performance CPUs, GPUs, and accelerator-dense racks, ASUS significantly reduces energy consumption, lowers PUE, and optimizes TCO while supporting unprecedented rack density.

Shortly after news broke that Ubisoft is, in fact, working on "several" Assassin's Creed launches after its controversial Creative Houses reshuffle, the company has published an official Reddit post detailing the newly appointed lead for the Assassin's Creed franchise as well as giving gamers a taste of what's in-store for the future of the franchise. The most notable take-away from the announcement is that the Assassin's Creed franchise will be led by Martin Schelling as Head of Brand, Jean Guesdon as Head of Content, and François De Billy as Head of Production Excellence.

All three members of the Assassin's Creed leadership team have previously worked on Assassin's Creed games: Schelling was Producer and Senior Producer of Black Flag, Origins, Revelations, and Valhalla; Guesdon was Creative Director of Black Flag and Origins, among other franchise credits; and De Billy served in a number of roles on Revelations and Black Flag and as Production Director on Origins and Valhalla. Ubisoft says the new team "marks the beginning of an exciting and ambitious new chapter" for the franchise, although it will be picking up where previous leaders left off in the aforementioned Assassin's Creed projects Ubisoft already has in the works. Appropriately, given the history, it seems as though the first Assassin's Creed project that will be released after the new leaders take over is the Assassin's Creed Black Flag remake. That said, the remake is likely all but complete, especially when it comes to more meaningful gameplay and artistic elements, meaning the new team likely won't have contributed much to that, if anything.

A new patent application by Sony may provide players with an alternative to pausing a game that would ostensibly prevent halting gameplay execution by putting the game into an alternate gameplay state while players deal with momentary distractions or decide whether they want to fully pause the game to deal with something like a message. The patent, (US20260021411) filed with the USPTO, explains a number of potential ways to achieve this, seemingly with the idea that different games and genres could implement different versions of Soft Pause. Sony touts Soft Pause as particularly useful for VR use cases, in which a jarring pause and cut to a menu screen may cause nausea or dizziness

The Soft Pause concepts include everything from having the game slow down while the feature is active, making the game easier, guiding the player towards objectives or enemies, boosting player assist features—features like aim assist or stretching time windows for certain inputs—or even having a machine-learning tool take over from the player entirely while Soft Pause is active. It's unclear if that ML model would be trained on player data or if it will offer more generic support. It remains to be seen if or when this will be implemented at all, and, realistically, it could go either way. If it is implemented, it will also be interesting to see how each game implements it, especially in competitive games. Currently, being AFK in a competitive game can be disastrous, and, while something like Soft Pause might be able to provide something of a solution to short AFK moments, although games like Paladins already have an AI that takes over gameplay when players are disconnected. Other recent Sony patents include an adaptive controller of sorts that puts all controls into a touch interface.

Fosi Audio and TechPowerUp bring you the Fosi Audio C3 gaming DAC Giveaway. It's been up over the week, but entries close on February 26. Open worldwide, the Giveaway gives 10 lucky winners a chance to bag a Fosi Audio C3 external sound card (DAC + headphones amp) that's optimized for PC gaming. It packs an analog kit that's perfectly suited for various gaming genres, giving you crystal clear audio and a competitive edge in online multiplayer gaming. nlike traditional gaming sound cards that rely on fixed EQ boosts, the C3 uses AI models to recognize key in-game sounds, such as footsteps, gunfire, reloads, and directional cues, and dynamically enhance what matters while reducing irrelevant or distracting noise. Rather than simply making certain frequencies louder, the system is designed to identify and prioritize important sounds depending on the gameplay context. Sounds good? Drop your hat in before February 26!

For more information and to participate, visit this page.

Hardcore PC users tend to think of privacy risk as something that happens to other people: the careless, the click-happy, the ones who reuse passwords or fall for obvious scams. Power users, by contrast, optimize. They tweak BIOS settings, benchmark GPUs, curate mod lists, and participate deeply in the ecosystems that make PC culture what it is.

That's the problem.

For highly engaged users, having their personal data exposed is rarely the result of negligence; it's the unfortunate side of visibility. The more you understand and participate in gaming communities, online forums, and similar spaces, the more you will create an enduring, discoverable identity footprint.

This blog isn't about fearmongering over privacy, but rather about practical digital hygiene for people who are already technically savvy.

Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 last year, and if your computer is still running it, then your data is at risk. If you want an easy way to upgrade, right now, you can get Windows 11 Pro on sale for only $12.97 (reg. $199). Windows 11 Pro adds security tools that help protect your files and accounts in ways Windows 10 simply doesn't. BitLocker can encrypt your drive so someone who gets your laptop can't just pull the data off it. Smart App Control can block unknown or suspicious programs before they run, which is helpful if you download software from different places. Windows Defender works in the background to scan for threats without a separate antivirus subscription.

There are also changes that make it easier to work on a crowded desktop. Snap layouts let you click a layout and drop apps into neat side-by-side or grid views instead of dragging windows around. Virtual desktops help you keep work, personal tasks, and side projects in separate spaces on the same computer. When you plug back into a monitor or dock, Windows 11 Pro does a better job of putting windows back where they were instead of stacking them on one screen.

Right now, it's only $12.97 to get Windows 11 Pro, but it won't stay that way.