TT Show Episode 30 - Samsung's new 4K and 8K TVs, Frame Generation on Xbox and PS5, and more!
This week on The TT Show, Jak and Kosta talk about their recent trip to Sydney, where they attended a special launch event for Samsung's impressive TV line-up for 2024. The line-up includes Samsung's new flagship 85-inch 8K display, which features the latest in AI technology, and the company's new OLEDs, which ditch the reflective finish for a more matte Glare-Free look better suited to bright rooms.
It's a lengthy discussion covering everything from TV tech for sports, games, and movies to Samsung's interesting new wall-hanging speaker. In the world of impressive displays, the duo also looks at the new Razer Blade 18 gaming laptop for 2024, which features the world's first 4K+ 200 Hz display for a portable device.
In gaming, AMD's FSR 3.1 update means that Frame Generation is finally coming to the world of consoles - with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S gamers set to get their first taste of the groundbreaking tech with Immortals of Aveum. Also, Kosta talks about how the next-gen Xbox's giant technical leap could come from AI - with Microsoft touting a suite of next-gen 'Gaming AI' technologies coming.
Your iPhone 17 Plus could have a smaller screen than previous Plus models, analyst claims
The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models might have only been on sale for a few months and the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro handsets are still months away, but some people are already starting to turn their attention to what comes next and one of those people is Ross Young. Young is a display analyst who has his finger on the pulse of the companies within Apple's supply chain. And according to him, Apple might have something of a surprise in store for the iPhone 17 Plus.
Young was writing in a paywalled post on the X social network, picked up by 9to5Mac when he said that he had heard suggestions that the iPhone 17 Plus will actually have a smaller display than previous Plus models. As a refresher, the iPhone 15 Plus has a 6.7-inch display and all of the rumors have so far suggested that the iPhone 16 Plus will also sport the same 6.7-inch display. But according to Young, things will change when the iPhone 17 Plus rolls into town.
Young says that the iPhone 17 Plus will shrink, although he didn't share specific details on what that will actually mean in terms of measurements. He did note that it will sit between the iPhone 17/iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max, so we can expect something between 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches or thereabouts.
AMD RX 6000 GPUs appear to be selling out - is this the last chance for a cheap RDNA 2 deal?
AMD's last-gen RDNA 2 graphics cards are becoming very thin on the ground, or at least that's what we're hearing from Europe.
3D Center has its finger on the pulse of the GPU market in Germany, crunching the sales figures from a major retailer in that country, MindFactory.
The upshot is that most of the RX 6000 family of graphics cards are pretty much on their last gasp in terms of the remaining stock out there, certainly with RX 6700 models and above - save for one notable exception.
PlayStation overlay, Friends lists, and even Trophies are coming to Sony's first-party PC games
Alongside releasing the PC hardware requirements for Ghost on Tsushima Director's Cut on PC, Sony has announced that it's bringing a PlayStation overlay to its PC games. The overlay will give players access to their PlayStation Profile, Friends list, Trophies, and Settings. Yes, PlayStation Trophies are coming to PC, starting with Ghost of Tsushima.
Sony recently announced that it would double down on multiplatform releases and bring more titles to PC. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hiroki Totoki said, "Strong titles that achieve growth on PS5, PCs, and other platforms will widen our margins. We believe that we have opportunities for margin improvement and intend to pursue them aggressively."
Introducing a dedicated overlay that connects to the PlayStation Network that brings PSN Friends lists and Trophies to PC? That sounds aggressive to us.
Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut PC specs revealed, GeForce RTX 4080 required for 4K 60 FPS
PlayStation 4 classic (the game also got a PS5 update) Ghost of Tsushima is headed to PC on May 16, with the Director's Cut version hitting the platform with the Iki Island expansion and the co-op multiplayer Legends mode. In a fantastic move, we've got confirmation that the co-op will support cross-play with PlayStation gamers.
With the talented Nixxes Software handling the port (the studio's most recent effort was the excellent Horizon Forbidden West for PC), Ghost of Tsushima will feature a range of visual enhancements on PC, including support for ultrawide displays (up to 48:9 resolutions), an uncapped frame rate, and upscaling tech that includes NVIDIA DLSS, Intel XeSS, and AMD FSR 3.
Nixxes says it has been working hard to make the game "run well on older hardware." With the PC specs and hardware requirements released today, the good news is that you'll only need a GeForce GTX 960 with 4GB of VRAM to play the game on the lowest settings. The bad news? You'll need a beast of a rig to play the game in 4K 60 FPS.
Microcenter's trade-in system values the GeForce RTX 4090 with just $700 trade-in value
Thought about trading in your expensive GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card through Microcenter's trade-in program? Don't. The company only estimates that a used RTX 4090 is worth a $700 trade-in.
Wccftech is the source of this story, where one of their readers pointed out that Microcenter's Trade-in Value for a high-end MSI GeForce RTX 4090 GAMING TRIO graphics card was just $699.95, with the same graphics card costing $1939.99 on Microcenter's website. That's not nice at all.
Of course, you're trading in a used graphics card, so you're not going to get what you paid for it from a mega-retailer like Microcenter. However, the GeForce RTX 4090 is still worth a hefty $1500+ on second-hand markets, as the RTX 4090 is still retailing for around $2000 (and over) at e-tailers like Amazon, BestBuy, and Microcenter.
Microsoft accidentally installed Copilot AI app on a version of Windows it wasn't meant for
You may have noticed that recently, there's been a bit of a fuss about a Copilot application being installed quietly on some Windows PCs without the user's knowledge - and this has happened again.
However, this time around, it's an even stranger scenario as the Copilot app in question has been pushed onto Windows Server 2022 installations in some cases.
Windows Latest picked up on this development and has spoken to Microsoft about what has gone on here. The long and short of it is that the app getting onto Windows Server 2022 is a mistake.
AMD unveils AI-powered Ryzen PRO 8040 and 8000 Series processors for laptops and desktops
AMD has announced the new AMD Ryzen PRO 8040 Series processors for business laptops and mobile workstations and the new AMD Ryzen PRO 8000 Series desktop processors for professionals. Designed for the age of the AI PC, it's the first set of PRO chips from AMD with built-in NPUs for AI workloads.
Like other 8000-series 'Hawk Point' and 'Phoenix' products, these are built on the tried-and-true Zen 4 architecture that has been powering Ryzen for a few years (we have to wait a bit longer until we see Zen 5). They have the bonus of AI acceleration and onboard RDNA graphics. These are similar to previous client-facing chips that launched earlier this year, with additional tweaks and services to suit the professional market.
In fact, the addition of AI hardware, the AMD Ryzen PRO 8040 Series for laptops and the AMD Ryzen PRO 8000 Series of desktop processors for workstations, have made AMD the first company to offer professional CPUs with AI NPUs for both environments. Intel has yet to launch a desktop CPU with a built-in NPU.
No Rest for the Wicked launch trailer presents a stunning take on the Diablo-style action RPG
No Rest for the Wicked is a new action RPG from the creators of the award-winning Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps platformers, with the team at Moon Studios channeling the likes of Diablo and Dark Souls to deliver a mature, story-driven, co-op loot-filled adventure in a dark and beautiful world.
Visually, No Rest for the Wicked is stunning, with a painterly art style that brings its gothic world to life. The animation is impressive; it makes the combat look intense. The game is launching into Early Access this week, on April 18 (on Steam), and the launch trailer showcases glimpses of the world, story, characters, and gameplay.
In the game, you become a "mystical holy warrior" and use your arsenal of supernatural powers to "defeat the Pestilence at any cost." At its core, No Rest for the Wicked is a Diablo-style action RPG where loot and skills will define your playstyle, with a zoomed-out isometric perspective framing exploration and action.
TSMC helped Taiwan avoid power outage: 200MW of power provided with diesel power generators
Taipower made an important call to TSMC on Monday to help generate electricity to avoid blackouts, while Taoyuen had a two-hour power outage on Tuesday.
After the earthquake in Taiwan a couple of weeks ago and with recent temperature rises as the country heads into summer, annual maintenance and the failure of air conditioners across Taiwan saw Taipower's power supply pressure immediately increase. On Monday night, Taipower called TSMC to help them generate enough electricity, which saw them close to power outages.
Taipower spokesperson Cai Zhimeng said on Tuesday that the power supply was very tight on Monday night, and that TSMC helped out greatly by turning on its own diesel generators and providing 200,000 kilowatts of electricity. Taipower quickly pointed out that TSMC was helping increase its power supply and not cause a reduction in electricity consumption or have any negative effects on TSMC's operations.
NVIDIA's new Blackwell AI GPUs drives TSMC to increase CoWoS output by over 150% in 2024
NVIDIA's new wave of Blackwell AI GPUs will boost demand for TSMC's advanced CoWoS packaging capacity by over 150% in 2024.
In a new report from TrendForce, the next-gen Blackwell AI GPU platform that includes the B200 and B100 AI GPUs -- as well as the GB200, which also features NVIDIA's in-house Arm-based Grace CPU -- all use CoWoS packaging from TSMC, and projections suggest millions of shipments of high-end B200 AI GPUs are expected in 2025 making up close to 50% of NVIDIA's high-end GPU market.
NVIDIA will launch its new GB200 and B200 in the second half of 2024, with upstream wafer packaging needing to adopt a much more complex, and high-precision CoWoS-L technology, which will make validation and testing take more time. On top of that, more time is needed to optimize the B-series for AI server systems in things like network communication and cooling performance.