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AMD quietly launches budget Ryzen X3D CPU for PC gamers

Kosta Andreadis | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Jun 16, 2025 2:34 AM CDT

AMD has a new budget gaming CPU option for gamers still on the AM4 platform, the Ryzen 5 5500X3D. This is the latest chip with the company's popular PC gaming-friendly 3D V-Cache technology, albeit the first-gen 7nm Zen 3 variant popularized by the Ryzen 7 5700X3D.

AMD quietly launches budget Ryzen X3D CPU for PC gamers

Like the Ryzen 5 5600X3D from 2023, the new Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a 6-core/12-thread CPU with a Base Clock speed of 3 GHz and a Boost Clock of a flat 4 GHz and the same 96MB of L3 Cache. It also sports the same 105W TDP rating and is based on the codenamed Vermeer architecture, as detailed in AMD's official product page for the new AM4 CPU.

According to reports, the new Ryzen 5 5500X3D is a new budget gaming CPU specifically for the Latin American market. It is the only piece of Ryzen hardware built for that specific audience. At this stage, it doesn't look like it will reach other regions.

Continue reading: AMD quietly launches budget Ryzen X3D CPU for PC gamers (full post)

Steam Deck prototype has half the gaming performance of the retail unit

Kosta Andreadis | Gaming | Jun 16, 2025 2:01 AM CDT

Earlier this year, we reported on "Engineering Sample 34," an early Steam Deck prototype from Valve that sold on eBay for $2000 ($1000 less than the asking price of $3000). As seen in pictures, the prototype handheld features a different design than the retail unit with blue-colored buttons, more curves, and circular trackpads.

Steam Deck prototype has half the gaming performance of the retail unit

The buyer, SadlyItsBradley, loaned the rare piece of Valve hardware history to tech YouTube channel Bringus Studios for a deep dive into the hardware. That video is now online (you can watch it in full below), and it's a fascinating look at a very early version of what would become the Steam Deck.

The hardware inside has a late 2019 production date stamped on it, which suggests that it is more of a proof-of-concept device than a functional gaming handheld. In the video, we discover that the 'Picasso APU' is a Ryzen 7 3700U with integrated Radeon Vega 10 graphics, which is far less powerful than the custom Zen 2 APU with RDNA 2 graphics on the retail model.

Continue reading: Steam Deck prototype has half the gaming performance of the retail unit (full post)

Rare GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition with 20GB of VRAM spotted

Kosta Andreadis | Video Cards & GPUs | Jun 16, 2025 1:33 AM CDT

A rare engineering sample of a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition GPU with 20GB of VRAM was recently sold on eBay for $1,999.99. This is one of those big "what if" releases for NVIDIA, as the GeForce RTX 4080 Ti was a mid-generation launch designed to offer GeForce RTX 3090 gaming performance at a more affordable price point.

Rare GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition with 20GB of VRAM spotted

Ahead of the card's debut, several reports and rumors of GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 20GB graphics cards from companies like GIGABYTE and ASUS made their way to specific markets like Russia. There was also the case of an MSI SUPRIM X variant of the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 20GB that went up for sale in Australia in 2023.

The sale of this Founders Edition model with 20GB of GDDR6X memory adds weight to the idea that NVIDIA changed the memory configuration of this graphics card at the eleventh hour. And there are, in fact, a number of these rare GPUs out in the wild.

Continue reading: Rare GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition with 20GB of VRAM spotted (full post)

MSI releases AMD AGESA 1.2.0.3e BIOS: officially supports 4 x 64GB sticks, up to 256GB RAM

Anthony Garreffa | Motherboards | Jun 16, 2025 1:11 AM CDT

MSI has officially released its new BIOS for multiple of its 800-series AM5 motherboards, supporting up to 256GB of RAM using 4 x 64GB DIMMs.

MSI releases AMD AGESA 1.2.0.3e BIOS: officially supports 4 x 64GB sticks, up to 256GB RAM

In a press release posted to its website, the company explains the new AGESA Combo PI-1.2.0.3e BIOS, with memory optimizations included to help support 4 x 64GB DIMMs for up to 256GB of system RAM. The new AGESA Combo PI-1.2.0.3e BIOS will support all AM5 motherboards, starting from the 600 series up to 800 series, meaning these RAM optimizations are available even for the A620 series mobos.

On some (not all) motherboards, you can run 4 x 64GB DIMMs in MSI's motherboards with the new BIOS update, and run the system with more stability than before. MSI goes as far as saying that the DDR5 memory can be overclocked to 6000MT/s or even 6400MT/s using large-capacity DRAM kits using Micron, SK hynix, or Samsung memory... all boasting up to 256GB capacities at those 6000-6400MT/s speeds.

Continue reading: MSI releases AMD AGESA 1.2.0.3e BIOS: officially supports 4 x 64GB sticks, up to 256GB RAM (full post)

GeForce RTX 5050 to use faster 20 Gbps GDDR6 memory, same as RDNA 4

Kosta Andreadis | Video Cards & GPUs | Jun 16, 2025 12:58 AM CDT

Although NVIDIA hasn't formally announced a new budget desktop gaming GPU, several sources point to the company launching the GeForce RTX 5050 in July. The company's 50-Class GPUs are considered entry-level, with the RTX 5050 set to be built using the GB207-300 chip with 2560 CUDA Cores, which is 33% fewer than the RTX 5060's and 16% fewer than the RTX 4060's CUDA Core count.

GeForce RTX 5050 to use faster 20 Gbps GDDR6 memory, same as RDNA 4

As we learned in prior leaks on the upcoming RTX 5050, the GPU will be the first graphics card in the GeForce RTX 50 Series line-up to not feature fast GDDR7 memory. Instead, its memory configuration will include 8GB of GDDR6. However, according to a new post by MEGAsizeGPU over social media, the GDDR6 in the GeForce RTX 5050 will comprise 20 Gbps memory modules.

This is the same faster GDDR6 memory found in AMD's Radeon RX 9000 Series, which means it will be quicker than the 8GB of VRAM found in the GeForce RTX 4060.

Continue reading: GeForce RTX 5050 to use faster 20 Gbps GDDR6 memory, same as RDNA 4 (full post)

Stellar Blade is now Sony's biggest single-player PC game launch

Kosta Andreadis | Gaming | Jun 16, 2025 12:26 AM CDT

Stellar Blade is a sci-fi action adventure from South Korean developer SHIFT UP Corporation that was a fan favourite and hit when it debuted on PlayStation 5 consoles last year. The game, which Sony Interactive Entertainment and PlayStation published, finally made its way to PC last week, and the Steam data shows us that it's on track to be one of the biggest PC game launches of 2025.

Stellar Blade is now Sony's biggest single-player PC game launch

As far as single-player PlayStation games that Sony has published on Steam go, Stellar Blade is the publisher's biggest hit to date. This past weekend, the Steam peak concurrent player count for the game hit an impressive 192,078, more than double Ghost of Tsushima's peak concurrent player count of 77,154.

Looking at the PlayStation Publishing page on Steam Charts, which tracks who's playing what at any given moment, Stellar Blade is proving to be more popular than massive PlayStation franchises like God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last of Us, and Uncharted.

Continue reading: Stellar Blade is now Sony's biggest single-player PC game launch (full post)

Scammers are now laser-engraving GA102 GPUs onto fake RTX 4090 cards, sold for $1400 each

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Jun 15, 2025 11:44 PM CDT

A user has been scammed with not one, not two, but four different GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards, with fake AD102 GPU labels being laser-engraved onto RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 graphics cards, a new scam exposed by a Japanese technician on YouTube. Check it out:

Scammers are now laser-engraving GA102 GPUs onto fake RTX 4090 cards, sold for $1400 each

The technician tore apart some faulty GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards that a customer send to him, with none of them working, only to discover that three of them were modded RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 graphics cards, which were picked up from seeing changes to the substrate.

Most users wouldn't be able to discover this on their own without completely tearing apart their expensive -- what they thought to be RTX 4090 graphics card -- but once they were torn down, the repairer noticed that one of fake RTX 4090 cards had a protruding capacitor in the top right, which would normally be seen on an RTX 30 series GPU. There's also a small QR code in the bottom left, which is a little higher than its usual location on the GPU.

Continue reading: Scammers are now laser-engraving GA102 GPUs onto fake RTX 4090 cards, sold for $1400 each (full post)

Sycom preps GeForce RTX 50 Master Series cards with both air, liquid cooling using Noctua fans

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Jun 15, 2025 11:11 PM CDT

You might not have heard about Sycom, but they're a Japanese system integrator that works on weird and wonderful things... like its new GeForce RTX 50 Silent Master graphics cards. Check it out:

Sycom preps GeForce RTX 50 Master Series cards with both air, liquid cooling using Noctua fans

Sycom released custom versions of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 40 series last year with the RTX 4080 SUPER and RTX 4070 Ti Silent Master graphics cards cooled by Noctua fans, and now the Japanese company is back with its new GeForce RTX 50 Silent Master series, cooled by Noctua fans.

The GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs have those iconic brown-and-beige Noctua fans, high-performance fans that are also ultra-quiet, with Sycom looking like they're cooking up new custom GeForce RTX 5070 and RTX 5060 series graphics cards cooled by Noctua fans. There's only a single 8-pin PCIe power connector on the smaller card, and a single 16-pin power connector on the bigger GPU.

Continue reading: Sycom preps GeForce RTX 50 Master Series cards with both air, liquid cooling using Noctua fans (full post)

Apple's foldable iPad, iPhone specs teased: 18.8-inch foldable iPad, 7.74-inch foldable iPhone

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | Jun 15, 2025 10:44 PM CDT

Apple should have its foldable iPad and foldable iPhone hitting the markets in late 2026, with some new specs revealed teasing the monster-big 18.8-inch foldable iPad that the company is reportedly working on.

Apple's foldable iPad, iPhone specs teased: 18.8-inch foldable iPad, 7.74-inch foldable iPhone

In a new report from GF Securities Hong Kong analyst Jeff Pu picked up by insider @Jukanrosleve on X, we're looking at some of the final specs of Apple's purported foldable iPad and iPhone. Apple is reportedly gearing up with a large 18.8-inch foldable display supplied by LG Display for its foldable iPad, with an SZS hinge and on-cell touch technology.

Apple is looking at a 2 to 3-month product life cycle on the foldable iPad, with mass production reportedly penciled in for Q4 2026 with Foxconn manufacturing the foldable iPad and iPhone. As for the foldable iPhone, the purported iPhone Ultra will feature a 7.74-inch foldable display with an Amphenol and SZS hinge, with the same on-cell touch technology but a far longer product life cycle of between 16 and 18 months.

Continue reading: Apple's foldable iPad, iPhone specs teased: 18.8-inch foldable iPad, 7.74-inch foldable iPhone (full post)

We can expect Gen5 SSDs to stay on the market until 2030, Gen6 SSDs aren't ready for mainstream

Anthony Garreffa | Storage | Jun 15, 2025 10:10 PM CDT

Most PC gamers don't even have a Gen5 SSD yet, but the world of Gen6 SSDs won't be thrusted upon us for years to come, says the founder and CEO of Silicon Motion.

We can expect Gen5 SSDs to stay on the market until 2030, Gen6 SSDs aren't ready for mainstream

In a new interview with Tom's Hardware, Wallace C. Kou, the founder and chief executive officer of Silicon Motion, said we won't be seeing any Gen6 SSDs for consumer PC systems until 2028. Gen4 SSDs already drive 7GB/sec+ right now, with Gen5 SSDs either requiring active cooling, a specific Gen5 SSD slot on your motherboard or inside of your laptop, but they'll drive upwards of 14GB/sec+ if you use one.

PC OEMs have zero interest in Gen6 SSDs right now, with AMD and Intel not even wanting to talk about them yet. We did see Gen6 teased at Computex 2025 in Taipei just a few weeks ago, but Gen6 SSDs won't be hitting the market until at least 2030.

Continue reading: We can expect Gen5 SSDs to stay on the market until 2030, Gen6 SSDs aren't ready for mainstream (full post)

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