TT Show Episode 13 - JerryRigEverything, RTX 4090 sold as AI GPU, OLED burn-in study, and more!
The TT Show is back, and Episode 13 covers a big week of news and fun happenings in the tech, gaming, and science space. This week, Jak and Kosta dive into the YouTube channel JerryRigEverything's lawsuit against a billion-dollar company, how the final batch of GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs in China are being repurposed for AI, and how a new rigorous study into OLED panels is ultimately good news even if the results show that all OLED displays eventually show signs of burn-in.
Oh, and then there's the curious case of Ubisoft's 'technical error' where players saw in-game full-screen pop-up ads while playing Assassin's Creed! The duo also looks at the state of cloud gaming and services like GeForce NOW, which NVIDIA is increasingly pushing to gain a foothold. And with the shift to the cloud and all things digital, there's also a lengthy tangent all about the importance of physical media in an age where content can disappear.
On the fun side, you definitely want to listen or watch the full episode as the final story involves a Meta Quest 3 and "magical pooping." And, as always, a little bit of GrandTheft auto 6 talk. The latest episode of TweakTown's official podcast can be viewed above or listened to on your favorite podcast service around the globe.
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D launching in Q1 2024, fantastic gaming CPU for AM4 socket
We've already heard reports of AMD working on X3D processors for its previous-gen AM4 platform, with new sources corroborating the leaks: AMD will be launching its Ryzen 7 5700X3D in the first few months of 2024.
AMD's upcoming Ryzen 7 5700X3D processor will be an 8-core, 16-thread CPU with 96MB of X3D cache on-board, while we're expecting a base clock of 3.0GHz and a boost clock of up to 4.1GHz. This means it is 400MHz slower in frequency over the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which AMD is probably using slightly gimped 5800X3D chips to make its upcoming 5700X3D.
There's no new information on the Ryzen 5 5500X3D, which is expected to be a more budget X3D offering as a 6-core, 12-thread offering that should have a 3.0GHz base clock and boost clock of up to 4.0GHz. ECSM is confirming this on Twitter, posting up a bunch of SKUs that it sees AMD launching in Q1 2024: Zen 3 GT, Zen 3 X3D, and Ryzen 8000 APUs that we've been hearing about for a while now.
Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.1 brings a new feature to the game that fans have been waiting for
The pre-release trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 showcased the main protagonist riding a train, so it was a little surprising when news dropped that developer CD Projekt Red wasn't planning on implementing a functional metro system in the game. Many expected a working metro system at launch and were confused when the in-game fast travel points within Cyberpunk 2077 were located at non-interactive metro stations.
Fast forward three years and Cyberpunk 2077 has transformed from a promising incomplete game into an excellent open-world cinematic action RPG with the massive Update 2.0 overhaul and the Phantom Liberty expansion. The good news is that the development team has another big update coming - Update 2.1 - and yes, you can now catch a ride on the Night City metro.
The newly implemented and working Night City Area Rapid Transit system has five separate lines. Players can travel between 19 different stations in what's described as "a proper metro ride experience."
PC shipments expected to reach 267 million units in 2024 globally, the AI PC to help the boost
PC shipments are expected to go through a huge sales boost in 2024, which will be driven by the "AI PC" wave that we're going to see begin in January 2024 and not stop throughout the year.
According to research outlet Canalys, in their new report, they see 2024 being a "delight" for the PC business. We've been seeing dips from the heights of the pandemic when pre-built system builders were essentially selling everything they could get their hands on and build.
But, after the pandemic, the PC industry saw huge drops in sales units dipping after the 2021 high, down in 2022, and down even more in 2023, but now 2024 is expected to be back up towards 2022 levels, and 2025 will get closer to 2020 levels. The entire PC business isn't doing great, but AI PCs are expected to see shipments increase by 8% up to 267 million units.
RTX 4090 ban sees Radeon RX 7900 series GPUs in hot demand in China
The price of AMD's higher-end Radeon RX 7900 series graphics cards is now getting higher now that the RTX 4090 has been banned by the US government from being sold in China.
We all know that the US government and its updated export rules seeing high-end AI hardware, and even high-end gaming GPUs like the GeForce RTX 4090, are banned not just in China but other countries throughout the world. New information from Board Channels teases that there is no ban planned for the Radeon RX 7900 series.
The report adds that AMD is having trouble getting more Navi 31 GPUs to board partners in China because more gamers want high-end GPUs in the aftermath of the RTX 4090 being banned. Board Channel's sources added that the Radeon RX 7900 series -- so that's the Radeon RX 7900 XT and Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics cards -- are seeing sales increase in China and that there's already a shortage of GPUs for board partners (but not yet for consumers).
Continue reading: RTX 4090 ban sees Radeon RX 7900 series GPUs in hot demand in China (full post)
AMD opening its largest R&D center ever in India, will work on next-gen CPUs, GPUs, and SoCs
AMD has just announced that it has opened its largest global R&D center in Bengaluru, India, where the company will boost research, development, and engineering operations in India.
The new state-of-the-art facility will host around 3000 AMD engineers over the coming years, where they will be designing and developing semiconductor technology that will include 3D stacking, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and, I'm sure so, so much more.
Recently, the new R&D campus was inaugurated by Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Cabinet Minister for Railways, Telecommunications, Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India. AMD executive leaders, including Mark Papermaster, executive vice president and chief technology officer; David Wang, senior vice president of GPU technologies and engineering; Brian Amick, senior vice president of central engineering; and Andrej Zdravkovic, chief software officer and senior vice president of GPU technologies along with the AMD India leadership team were present.
AMD's next-gen EPYC-E CPU: up to 64 x Venice Zen 6 cores, PCIe 6.0 support
AMD's next-gen Zen 6 architecture won't be hitting desktops or servers for a number of years yet... we've still got Zen 5 to get to, folks... but we're hearing about the next-gen EPYC-E processors that will be powered by the next-gen Zen 6 architecture.
The new rumors on AMD's next-gen Zen 6 architecture and EPYC-E processors are coming from leaker Moore's Law is Dead after some details on the architectural side of things for both Zen 5 and Zen 6 a few months ago in September, from a leaked internal AMD slide deck.
The codename for Zen 5 is "Nirvana," while Zen 6 is codenamed "Morpheus" where we're learning that Zen 6 will be increasing core counts up to 32 cores per chiplet (CCD) and supporting high-prevision floating point (FP16) operations acceleration for both AI and Machine Learning (ML).
Capcom now charging $69.99 for new AAA games
Capcom will officially introduce its first $69.99 game and solidify the new pricing trend for modern games.
It's official: New AAA games now officially cost $69.99 across the board (well, except for games like Alan Wake II). The new pricing trend was first introduced by Sony, Take-Two Interactive, and Electronic Arts at the early onset of the new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X generation, and one by one, major publishers and game-makers started moving towards the upped MSRP--even Nintendo, who charged $69.99 for Tears of the Kingdom.
Japanese publishers like SEGA and Capcom used to be among the last big-name publishers to keep their titles the pre-Gen 9 prices, but even they have increased costs. SEGA is charging $69.99 for the new Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth game, and Capcom, well, they're starting off their next fiscal year with their first $69.99 game.
Continue reading: Capcom now charging $69.99 for new AAA games (full post)
Sycom GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Silent Master launched: Noctua fans, chunky quad-slot design
Sycom has just launched its new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Silent Master graphics card, the latest member of their Silent Master family of cards... rocking dual Noctua fans and a huge design.
Sycom has already launched its RTX 4070 and RTX 4060 Ti Silent Master graphics cards, with each card featuring an individual cooling design, but they're all using Noctua fans. This means we get a chunky heatsink and dual Noctua fans that make for a huge quad-slot design, but that thermal system is worth it if you want virtually silent operation from the card.
Noctua's own black chromax fans are in play here, with the iconic brown and beige fan design that sits on top of a huge heatsink on the Sycom RTX 4070 Ti Silent Master. Sycom is using the Noctua NF-A12x25 PVM fans with a custom metal frame that was developed by Nagao Seisakusho, with the black frame actually handmade, exclusively designed and manufactured.
Vietnamese traders/scalpers tease 100s of GeForce RTX 4090 cards to sell to China
NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card is one of the hottest products in China right now, if you can get your hands on it, that is, you'll be paying double that price... which is seeing scalpers across the planet capitalize on expensive RTX 4090s being sold in China.
I was tagged once again by leaker I_Leak_VN on X, who pointed me to some pictures they had received from just one of the Vietnamese traders/scalpers that are hoarding GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards to sell to China. You can see in the photos above and below that the reseller has scores of ASUS, GIGABYTE, and ZOTAC custom GeForce RTX 4090 cards.. where there have to be over 100 in these photos alone.
Vietnam is also on the list of banned countries that the Biden administration and US government have been stepping down on, so it's not just China. Scalpers and resellers are always going to take advantage, especially when the price of an RTX 4090 is pushing past $4000 USD in China... it's safe to say things are out of control.
Halo season 2 could win back faithful fans, trailer shows authentic franchise themes
Following strong controversy over season 1, Paramount could redeem its Halo TV series with its upcoming second season.
Halo is returning to Paramount with a second season that debuts on February 8, 2024, the streamer has announced. The first two episodes of Halo S2 will be available on that date, with new episodes releasing every week after the premiere. Paramount has dropped a new 90 second trailer for Halo season 2 that appears to tap into the core themes of the franchise, capturing some impressive shots along the way.
The trailer really underscores the desperation and dimming hope that the human race had to face in Halo's sci-fi universe. The galaxy is on fire, ignited by a bloodthirsty alien zealots who seek to burn whole worlds in a misguided religious crusade. The footage shows planets being glassed by Covenant supercruisers, marines being brutally slashed in the shadows by a lethal elite assassin, and Master Chief going toe-to-toe with a sword-bearing elite in a sequence that can only be described as epic.