Hardware
HW News - GPU Mining Phase-Out, AMD Zen 3+ Rumors Wrong, DDR5 Inbound
By Eric HamiltonLots of news to cover this week, including an interesting -- and surprising -- use of Intel’s Atom CPUs. We also have some commentary to add regarding the AMD “Warhol” rumor that ran rampant this past week. There’s news on the DDR5 front, as the new memory is nearing mass production and market-ready status, and we have something of an update on the Chia cryptocurrency story from last week. There’s plenty more, with news from AMD, Google, and Microsoft.
At GN, we recently released a pair of videos diving into the AMD-based AYA NEO: one where we looked at performance and benchmarks, and another where we tore the unit down for analysis. Outside of hardware and gaming, GN has been involved in some environmental initiatives as well, such as this rain garden we recently helped fund.
News article and video below, per the usual.
HW News - Dell's Scummy Tactics, RTX 3070 Ti Rumor, NVIDIA Challenged on ARM Purchase
By Eric HamiltonThis week, we see VESA issue a rare press release squashing a run-away rumor claiming a new VESA DisplayHDR 2000 specification. We also have new developments regarding the potential Nvidia-Arm deal, as the UK is becoming increasingly more scrutinous of the deal, now citing national security concerns. AMD also finally got around to releasing its big Radeon Software update, after delaying it out of the usual end-of-year/holiday release window. There’s plenty more to go over, of course, like RTX 3070 Ti rumors.
At GN, we recently dove into the dangers of using cheap cables, and documented the various fire hazards and false marketing therein. We also looked at how Intel has become AMD, in a sense, and looked at Intel’s Phantom Canyon NUC11PHKi7C.
HW News - RTX 3080 Ti Arriving, GPU Warranty Shadiness, Intel Fires at NVIDIA
By Eric HamiltonThis week, we have several news items anchored by fairly substantial announcements from both AMD and Nvidia. Nvidia kicked off its GTC 2021, and with it, had several key announcements, including its first data center CPU. AMD, for its part, announced a new line up of Zen 3 APUs.
In other news, Intel has stayed in the news cycle with commentary on Nvidia's latest products, as well as expressing its intent to manufacture silicon for the automotive industry. There’s also news from Atari, Nvidia commenting on GPU supply issues, an RX 580 scam, and more.
At GN, we recently announced our newest modmat: The GamersNexus “Volt” Series Modmat, which you can grab over at the GN store.
News article and video embed follow below, as usual.
HW News - GPU Smuggling, AMD Zen 3 Vulnerability, 1080 Ti Fake Rumors
By Eric HamiltonThis week, we have headlining news regarding AMD research that outlines some security implications regarding Predictive Store Forwarding on Zen 3 CPUs. For the time being, it mostly seems to be a non-issue, unlike the Spectre variants that have hit Intel CPUs hard. Also in AMD news is another patent filed that expands on AMD’s research into GPU chiplets, and is seemingly an improvement over the previous patent we saw earlier this year.
There’s also news regarding a massive haul of smuggled GPUs that were seized in Hong Kong, some discussion on Lenovo using AMD’s PSB feature on its servers and workstations, some commentary on a potential X570S chipset, and more.
At GN, we recently benchmarked Intel’s UHD 750 and UHD 630 IGPs and compared them to the low-end Nvidia GT 1030. We also reviewed the Arctic Freezer 50 CPU cooler, and detailed some of its pressure and assembly weaknesses.
Video embed and article follow below, as usual.
HW News - DDR5 512GB Sticks, Secret NVIDIA "3080 Ti," RAM Pricing Rise, Intel Name Change
By Eric HamiltonThis week, we have news regarding the emerging DDR5 memory, with Samsung and TeamGroup both announcing development milestones. Also in DRAM news, there’s the unsurprising revelation that DRAM prices will continue to rise as we move into the second quarter of 2021.
Elsewhere, we have news regarding the most recent Cyberpunk 2077 patch, as CD Projekt Red tries to rebound from its botched marketing and launch of the game. It’s also been discovered that Nvidia is quietly carving new names into its GPUs, a new Windows 10 “device usage” feature exists, TSMC is entering volume production early with N4, and plenty more.
At GN, we recently reviewed Intel’s i9-11900K, of which we found unexciting -- much like its lower-tier counterpart, the i7-11700K. We also looked at Intel’s i5-11600K, which we found more interesting. Oh, and we reviewed a case from outer space, too.
Article and video embed below, as usual.
HW News - MSI Increases Video Card Prices, Intel Might Be Back, GameStop PC Hardware
By Eric HamiltonIt’s been a busy week, with Intel’s “Intel Unleashed: Engineering The Future” event being the highlight of the week. Intel is also set to finally release its Ice Lake-SP Xeons, which will be an important step for the company as it gets its manufacturing and roadmap back on track.
Outside of Intel, we have news of a massive ransomware attack against Acer, with the biggest ransom demand to date of its kind -- $50M. We have commentary on a couple of rumors regarding Nvidia and Nintendo, Microsoft reportedly in talks with Discord over an acquisition, and some industry news regarding EUV pellicles.
At GN, we’ve recently reviewed Intel’s Core i7-11700K, which we were unimpressed with. We also outlined some of the problems with Intel’s Z590 motherboards, as it pertains to our i7-11700K thermals and power consumption findings. Additionally, we tore-down Saphire’s RX 6700 Nitro+ card and assessed the PCB, build quality, repairability, and more.
HW News - AMD Fixing USB Drop-Out, New AMD CPUs, NVIDIA Crypto Lawsuit
By Eric HamiltonThis round of HW News brings in a ton of news from several corners of the industry. We have news of Nvidia winning the cryptocurrency lawsuit it found itself tangled in, which is likely some good news for both Nvidia and AMD as both companies become more involved within the cryptocurrency mining segment.
There’s also news regarding AMD’s upcoming Epyc Milan CPUs and, also on the AMD front, updates for the Ryzen USB drop-out issue. Speaking of Microsoft, the company recently reported that it has completed the acquisition of ZeniMax, which will give it access to some of the most popular gaming IPs in history.
There’s more, with news from Intel, Samsung, and Gartner. At GN, we’ve been busy with revisiting the GeForce GTX 1060 in 2021 and re-testing and X-raying NZXT’s H1 PCIe Riser. As usual, check out the article and video embed below.
HW News - Steam Survey Says RX 6800 & RTX 3070 Don't Exist, Intel $2.18B Lawsuit, Nintendo Switch 2
By Eric HamiltonIt’s been a busy week, as we have news on several fronts in the industry. There’s news of Steam's hardware survey, the discovery of several GeForce RTX 3090 models making use of a blower-style cooler disappearing from market, and Nintendo Switch 2 rumors.
We also have some news on Intel being handed a massive $2.18 billion bill for patent infringement, TSMC’s 3nm still on track for risk production this year, and reports of Texas semiconductor fabs still idling.
At GN, we recently dug into the best PC cases of 2021 so far and tore down the EVGA RTX 3060 XC Black. We also covered AMD’s announcement of its RX 6700XT, so be sure to check that out.
HW News - AMD RX 6700 XT Announcement, 3DFX Voodoo Mod, Hardware Unboxed YT Issues
By Eric HamiltonThis week, we have a lot of general industry news pertaining to the supply and manufacturing of semiconductors. There’s news on how the drought in Taiwan is affecting chipmakers, Europe looking to establish a certain amount of semiconductor self-reliance, and some discussion on interconnects limiting chip scaling.
We also have news on the AMD RX 6700 XT, Fry’s Electronics ceasing operations, HP acquiring HyperX, and more. At GN, we recently reviewed Nvidia’s RTX 3060, Fractal’s Meshify 2 case, and revisited the GTX 960 in 2021.
As always, video embed and article follow below.
HW News - AMD on USB Dropout Issues, Intel i5-11600K Leaks, NVIDIA vs. Mining
By Eric HamiltonIt’s been an interesting week or so for hardware and technology news alike, with Nvidia and LastPass making waves. Nvidia is attempting to stem the flow of GPUs to miners by artificially limiting the hashing power of its upcoming RTX 3060 GPUs, as well as announcing its new CMP HX line of dedicated mining cards.
LastPass, makers of the popular LastPass password manager, have announced some abrupt and contentious changes to its free plan, much to the chagrin of its users.
At GN, we recently looked at various Xbox Series X thermals, including memory, SoC, and VRM temperatures. We also reviewed the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 420 AIO, and discovered that frequently entering "Arctic 420" into search engines makes for some interesting targeted ads that aren’t about CPU cooling.
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