Corsair Platform:6 Elevate Modular Desk Review

Corsair Platform:6 Elevate Modular Desk Review

A desk for giants. Corsair's Platform:6 Elevate modular computer desk takes motorized desks to new heights with its solid and well-thought-out design.

CORSAIR ONE i500 PC officially unveiled, a compact, stylish wood-paneled RTX 4090 beast

Kosta Andreadis | Computer Systems | May 6, 2024 11:57 PM CDT

'Compact without compromise' is how Corsair describes its new CORSAIR ONE i500 PC, a stylish new off-the-shelf desktop rig sporting 'real wood panels.' With full liquid cooling and GeForce RTX 4090 level graphics, it can be customized with up to 192GB of DDR5 memory and 24TB of storage to make it an absolute monster.

CORSAIR ONE i500 PC officially unveiled, a compact, stylish wood-paneled RTX 4090 beast

We've reported on the CORSAIR ONE i500 PC a couple of times in the past week, covering a teaser and a premature retail listing for the new PC. Today, the official announcement from Corsair offers full specs and details on the rig - confirming that both the RTX 4090 GPU and the Intel Core i9-14900K processor in this beast are liquid-cooled to shrink the overall size down by up to 30% compared to standard desktop chassis.

The overall look is modern and sleek, with Corsair positioning the rig as something for content creators, AI professionals, and gamers. We're talking about a premium PC here with the Core i9-14900K, GeForce RTX 4090, 2TB M.2 SSD, and 64GB 6000 MT/s DDR5 CORSAIR ONE i500 configuration currently listed for $4,699.99 USD.

Continue reading: CORSAIR ONE i500 PC officially unveiled, a compact, stylish wood-paneled RTX 4090 beast (full post)

Microsoft is closing down the Xbox 360 Store and Marketplace on July 29, 2024

Kosta Andreadis | Gaming | May 6, 2024 11:29 PM CDT

Microsoft is set to close the Xbox 360 Store on July 29, 2024, almost 19 years after the console first debuted in November 2005. Quite possibly the most popular Xbox console of all time, both in terms of sales, market share, and iconic games like Gears of War, Halo 3, and Fable 2, sunsetting the Xbox 360 Store isn't necessarily a doom-and-gloom scenario.

Microsoft is closing down the Xbox 360 Store and Marketplace on July 29, 2024

From July 2024, players can no longer purchase new games, DLC, and other content from the Xbox 360 Store and Xbox 360 Marketplace. The Movies & TV app is also going away, with Microsoft and the Xbox team confirming that "TV and movie content will no longer be viewable on your Xbox 360."

The good news is that you will still be able to play Xbox 360 games and DLC that you have already purchased, not only on Xbox 360 consoles but also via backward compatibility on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S consoles.

Continue reading: Microsoft is closing down the Xbox 360 Store and Marketplace on July 29, 2024 (full post)

Skywind, the Elder Scrolls Morrowind fan remake in Skyrim's engine, shares a massive update

Kosta Andreadis | Gaming | May 6, 2024 11:02 PM CDT

Skywind is one of the most ambitious mod projects currently in development. It presents a complete remake of Bethersda's classic Morrowind in the Skyrim engine. The mod has been in development for well over a decade, since Skyrim was released in 2011.

Skywind, the Elder Scrolls Morrowind fan remake in Skyrim's engine, shares a massive update

Over the years, the team has been providing updates on the game's progress, with the latest outlining that it's shaping up to be a bigger game than Skyrim, with over double the NPCs and four times as many voice actors.

To put that into context, Skyrim has around 1,100 NPCs voiced by 70 actors, while Skywind has 3,000 NPCs voiced by 300 actors. The 2024 update video goes into great detail, outlining all aspects of the ambitious mod and its development progress. Covering everything from animation to art and level design, it's a fascinating insight into the mod creation process.

Continue reading: Skywind, the Elder Scrolls Morrowind fan remake in Skyrim's engine, shares a massive update (full post)

Apple is working on its own chip to run AI software in its data center servers

Anthony Garreffa | Artificial Intelligence | May 6, 2024 10:39 PM CDT

Apple is reportedly working on its own AI chip according to sources of The Wall Street Journal, which reports the Curpentino-based giant is building AI chips for its data centers to run new AI-based features that'll be announced at WWDC 2024 next month.

Apple is working on its own chip to run AI software in its data center servers

The World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) is where APple will unveil its plans for the future of AI with its products and services, with the WSJ reporting: "Apple has been working on its own chip designed to run artificial intelligence software in data center servers, a move that has the potential to provide the company with a key advantage in the AI arms race".

The project is called ACDC which stands for Apple Chips in Data Center, but I can see some truly awesome marketing from Apple using the "ACDC" branding if they do it right. Come on, Apple... you know you're going to do it anyway.

Continue reading: Apple is working on its own chip to run AI software in its data center servers (full post)

Samsung establishes dream team of engineers to win AI chip orders from NVIDIA

Anthony Garreffa | Artificial Intelligence | May 6, 2024 9:53 PM CDT

Samsung has established a new dream team of engineers to secure HBM memory chip deals for AI GPUs from NVIDIA.

Samsung establishes dream team of engineers to win AI chip orders from NVIDIA

The news is coming from South Korean outlet KED Global, which reports Samsung's new task force features about 100 "excellent engineers" who have been working on improving manufacturing yields and quality with the first objective being passing NVIDIA's tests.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang asked Samsung to raise the yields and quality of its 8-layer and 12-layer HBM3E memory chips for supply according to industry insiders on Monday. HBM3E memory is the cornerstone of NVIDIA's next-gen Blackwell B200 AI GPUs, as well as the new beefed-up Hopper H200 AI GPU, each with HBM3E memory mostly from Samsung's South Korean HBM rival: SK hynix.

Continue reading: Samsung establishes dream team of engineers to win AI chip orders from NVIDIA (full post)

PureStorage teases 150TB SSD modules are being tested, 75TB modules now shipping

Anthony Garreffa | Storage | May 6, 2024 8:45 PM CDT

Pure Storage has teased it has gigantic 150TB SSD modules in testing right now, and before you get too excited that 150TB of SSD could be inside of your gaming PC, these bad boys are enterprise storage beasts.

PureStorage teases 150TB SSD modules are being tested, 75TB modules now shipping

General Manager of Hyperscale Solutions at Pure Storage, Bill Cerreta, announced that volume shipments of Pure Storage's huge 75TB SSD have started, and that the company has "something brewing in the lab," eluding to the monster 150TB SSD module.

"In April of 2017 we shipped our first Direct Flash Module or DFM. It's hard to believe that it's been 7 years. The DFM was a new idea: using software to directly connect to raw flash, creating a simpler SSD with all the smarts elevated to the host. We had just completed a three-year project to fundamentally change storage system architectures, but how could we be sure we made the right choice? So, we hedged our bets and kept shipping off-the-shelf SSDs in parallel".

Continue reading: PureStorage teases 150TB SSD modules are being tested, 75TB modules now shipping (full post)

TSMC to expand advanced packaging capacity at 3 plants: CoWoS, SoIC, SoW for AI GPU demand

Anthony Garreffa | Artificial Intelligence | May 6, 2024 8:00 PM CDT

TSMC is focused on getting its advanced packaging production capacity to new levels, with the company boosting advanced packaging capacity at its Zhonghe, Nanka, and Jiake fabs, which are "all in the process of expanding production".

TSMC to expand advanced packaging capacity at 3 plants: CoWoS, SoIC, SoW for AI GPU demand

The news is coming from Taiwanese media outlet Ctee, reporting that the Chiayi Science Park was finalized this year and is expected to build two advanced packaging plants first. The first phase of Jiake will see the breaking ground ceremony in the coming weeks, and into operation in the second half of the year.

The second phase of Jiake is expected to begin construction in Q2 2024, with operation in Q1 2027 which is still a few years away, which Ctee reports will continue to expand the market share of AI and HPC.

Continue reading: TSMC to expand advanced packaging capacity at 3 plants: CoWoS, SoIC, SoW for AI GPU demand (full post)

HBM prices to increase 5-10% in 2025, while DDR5 prices to increase 15-20% for PC gamers

Anthony Garreffa | RAM | May 6, 2024 7:43 PM CDT

The HBM market is unstoppable right now, attached to the insatiable AI demand that is fueling SK hynix and Micron to sell all of their HBM memory allocation for 2024, and 2025.

HBM prices to increase 5-10% in 2025, while DDR5 prices to increase 15-20% for PC gamers

In a new report from TrendForce, Senior Research Vice President Avril Wu says that the HBM market is poised for robust growth, "driven by significant premiums and increased capacity needs for AI chips". HBM unit sales are multiple times higher than conventional DRAM, and about 5x higher than DDR5.

Wu explains: "This pricing, combined with product iterations in AI chip technology that increase single-device HBM capacity, is expected to dramatically raise HBM's share in both the capacity and market value of the DRAM market from 2023 to 2025. Specifically, HBM's share of total DRAM bit capacity is estimated to rise from 2% in 2023 to 5% in 2024 and surpass 10% by 2025. In terms of market value, HBM is projected to account for more than 20% of the total DRAM market value starting in 2024, potentially exceeding 30% by 2025".

Continue reading: HBM prices to increase 5-10% in 2025, while DDR5 prices to increase 15-20% for PC gamers (full post)

NVIDIA and AMD have reserved all of TSMC's CoWOS and SoIC advanced packaging for 2024 and 2025

Anthony Garreffa | Artificial Intelligence | May 6, 2024 6:59 PM CDT

AMD and NVIDIA are both pumping out new generations of AI hardware, with the two GPU giants eating all of TSMC's advanced packaging capacity for not just 2024, but also 2025.

NVIDIA and AMD have reserved all of TSMC's CoWOS and SoIC advanced packaging for 2024 and 2025

In a new report from UDN, the site reports that TSMC will contract advanced packaging production capacity of its in-house CoWoS and SoIC for this and next year, as AI GPU hardware orders aren't slowing down. TSMC expects revenue contributed by server AI processors to more than double this year, and once NVIDIA's new Blackwell B200 AI GPUs are being pumped out later this year, 2025 is going to be a bananas year for TSMC.

In response to the insatiable AI demand, TSMC is now actively expanding its advanced packaging production capacity, with industry estimates that TSMC's CoWoS monthly production capacity will be between 45,000 and 50,000 by the end of 2024. This is a gigantic 3x increase from the 15,000 in 2023, and it's expected to hit 50,000 in 2025.

Continue reading: NVIDIA and AMD have reserved all of TSMC's CoWOS and SoIC advanced packaging for 2024 and 2025 (full post)

Report: Resident Evil 9 takes inspiration from Dead Island

Derek Strickland | Gaming | May 6, 2024 5:52 PM CDT

Resident Evil 9 will apparently take some cues from Dead Island when it releases in 2025.

Report: Resident Evil 9 takes inspiration from Dead Island

New reports from insider DuskGolem may shed new light on Capcom's plans for the next mainline Resident Evil game. According to inside sources, Resident Evil 9 has been in development since 2018 and has had the longest dev time of any game in the series (7 years). Sources also say RE9 has the biggest budget out of all of the zombie-infested survival games.

But what about the locale? It sounds like Resident Evil 9 could be similar to Techland's 2011 hit Dead Island. DuskGolem further states that RE9 will take place in a "fictional rural town on an island in the Southeast Asia Sea inspired by Singapore specifically."

Continue reading: Report: Resident Evil 9 takes inspiration from Dead Island (full post)