Latest News - Page 307

AMD will be launching its new Instinct MI350 series AI accelerators this week during the ISC25 keynote, where AMD CTO Mark Papermaster will unveil the company's next-gen Instinct MI350 series AI chips offering up to 35x improvements in AI inferencing capabilities, and more.

We know that the AMD Instinct MI350X AI accelerator will boast up to 288GB of HBM3E memory, and inside, be powered by AMD's next-gen "CDNA 4" architecture. The new Instinct MI350 series AI accelerators will better compete with NVIDIA's new Blackwell AI GPUs, bridging the gap of AI performance between AMD and NVIDIA later this year.

AMD's new Instinct MI350 series AI accelerators should find a position in the market between NVIDIA's now-on-the-market Blackwell B200 AI GPUs, as well as its beefed-up Blackwell Ultra B300 AI GPUs.

Being able to "beat the computer" in chess has been something PC, gaming, and tech enthusiasts have discussed for decades. In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer made headlines worldwide for defeating Garry Kasparov in a chess game. Compared to the PC hardware we have in 2025, Deep Blue is now what you'd consider retro regarding its capabilities, even though it could brute force its way to evaluate 200 million chess moves per second.

Compared to Deep Blue, the Atari 2600 video game console is effectively from the Stone Age. It debuted in 1977, predating most modern gamers. With the rise of AI and chatbots like ChatGPT, you might think that it would have no problem beating Deep Blue in a round of chess, let alone going up against an Atari 2600 to play a game using the Atari Chess 'beginner' opponent difficulty setting.

You'd be wrong, as Citrix Architecture and Delivery specialist Robert Jr. Caruso decided to carry out this little experiment and posted his findings on LinkedIn.

AVerMedia's new CamStream 4K, which is launching later this month, turns your camera into a high-performance recording and streaming device. The CamStream 4K (BU113G2) connects directly to a DSLR, mirrorless, action cam like a GoPro, or camcorder to deliver low-latency, smooth 4K60 or 240FPS at 1080p streaming and recording.

The CamStream 4K offers an easy way to create professional production-quality video in real time. The device also supports the RGB24 color format for lifelike images and colors. This is a unique capture card from AVerMedia, leveraging the high-quality lenses and hardware inside pro-grade cameras as an alternative to webcams.

One of the key design points of AVerMedia's CamStream 4K is its ease of use, which can be seen with its simple plug-and-play USB-C interface. This means that you don't need to install specialized drivers - the device will just work when connected to a PC, iPad, or Android device.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is jet-setting once again, after his trips to Taiwan and the Middle East recently, where Jensen will be flying to Germany to announce the country's biggest AI factory this week.

NVIDIA has its eyes on the EU to expand its large-scale AI factory in Germany, where Jensen will meet with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin to discuss the deal. In new reports, they suggest that the EU wants to catch up in the ever-evolving AI race with the rest of the world but there is a major hurdle: it has no other option but NVIDIA for advanced AI chips.

Jensen is expected to unveil a new mega datacenter in Germany, using 100,000 of its high-end AI GPUs that come at a cost of around $30,000 per chip, which will see the project costing a total of around $3 billion for AI chips alone. The new deal would mean this is Germany's largest AI venture, and for NVIDIA it is another notch in its ever-growing AI dominance worldwide.

HP announced a few different workstation-focused laptops and Mini-PCs using AMD's new flagship Strix Halo APU, with a few of them on the market in laptop form, but now the HP Z2 Mini G1a workstation Mini-PC has launched with the new Strix Halo APU and it's available in the UK right now.

The HP ZBook Ultra 14 G1 laptop launched a few months ago with AMD's new Strix Halo APU, but now the company has its new Z2 Mini G1a workstation Mini-PC that packs more choices of AMD's new Strix Halo APUs, up to the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip.

HP offers its new Z2 Mini G1a with a flagship spec option that offers the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 395 "Strix Halo" APU, with a huge 128GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory, and 2TB Gen4 SSD. The Strix Halo APU includes an RDNA 3.5-based Radeon 8060S integrated graphics. HP lists this on its UK website for £2,663.99, which works out to around $5079 USD or so.

Micron has announced that it has started shipping its new HBM4 36GB 12-Hi memory to "multiple key customers" with the first to likely be NVIDIA and its next-gen Rubin R100 AI GPU.

In a press release, the US-based memory maker said it's now shipping HBM4 36GB 12-Hi memory to select customers, built on its well-established 1b DRAM process node, 12-high advanced packaging technology, and highly capable memory built-in self-test (MBIST) feature. Micron says its new HBM4 provides seamless integration for customers and partners developing next-generation AI platforms.

Micron's new HBM4 has a 2048-bit memory interface that pushes more than 2.0TB/sec per memory stack, and over 60% more performance over its previous-gen HBM3 memory. These expansions in speed are perfect for AI, which is where HBM4 will lie: with AI GPUs inside of servers.

Bloober Team's imaginative new Deus ex Machina-inspired horror game Cronos: The New Dawn brings unique psychological terror to consoles and PC this fall.

Horror fans rejoice: The spine-tingling mavens at Bloober Team have another harrowing adventure in store for 2025. Having made a name for themselves with Layers of Fear, and pushed the bar with the acclaimed Silent Hill 2 remake, the Polish game devs are bringing a new original vision to life with a very Lovecraftian horror experience called Cronos: The New Dawn.

Cronos is a dystopian third-person horror survival game that channels Dead Space's mechanics while delving headfirst into a new deep canon of hallowed lore. The world is broken by an ongoing apocalypse and players are a kind of high-tech detective, uncovering stories through interacting with the literal ghosts of the past. The ghosts themselves are basically trapped in your suit, essentially making your giant space armor kit haunted--sort of like Johann Kraus from Hellboy 2.

Windows 11 has a new option inbound for quickly reducing the size of an image you're sharing.

This comes via the new Share option, which facilitates swiftly sharing a file via various apps, and it was spotted in testing by Windows Latest.

It works using a toggle that allows you to reduce the size of any given image without changing the resolution, picking from low, medium or high options, all of which offer a considerable reduction in file size.

Microsoft's big redesign for the Windows 11 Start menu has taken a step closer to its realization with the revamp now live in testing.

Leakers first uncovered the overhauled Start menu hidden in preview builds earlier this year, before Microsoft officially confirmed the project in May, and said it'd soon be in preview builds.

And the good news is it's now in the latest Windows 11 build (26200.5641) in the Dev channel so Windows Insiders can give it a whirl.

If the new tech demo for The Witcher 4 wasn't enough to spark your interest in giving The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt a go, or for long-time fans of the series, another play through, CD Projekt Red has just put the final nail in the coffin. I'm now re-downloading The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 as I need to experience both of these games once again with what was just unveiled.

CD Projekt Red has just unveiled The Witcher 3 Immerse Gamepack, and it was introduced via a new YouTube video posted to The Witcher YouTube channel, with the video featuring Marcin Przybyłowicz, Expert Composer at CD PROJEKT RED and the mind behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt soundtrack. So, what is the Immerse Gamepack? This new purchasable DLC is an AI-powered personalized spatial audio, headtracking, and custom EQ software that players can enable and hear The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt like they never have before.

Powered by Embody, the Immerse Gamepack, which has also been released for Cyberpunk 2077, expands the soundscape of both games with 360-degree precision. Here's how it works. Players will create their own personalized profile by capturing a 10-second video of their head and ears. They will do this by holding up their smartphone device, looking into the camera as if they are performing the setup process for FaceID, and turning their head from side to side, showing off their ears. The app tells users to remove any hair away from the ears as it needs a clear view for scanning purposes.

NVIDIA commissioned Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Micron to develop SoCAMM: a new memory module standard conceived by NVIDIA, with Micron reportedly the first to receive approval for mass production... putting the US-based memory manufacturer ahead of its South Korean rivals.

In new South Korean media reports picked up by insider @Jukenlosreve, we're hearing that the new SoCAMM standard is a memory module conceived by NVIDIA, consisting of 16-stacked LPDDR5X chips bundled in groups of four.

HBM is a DRAM that supports GPUs in AI accelerators, but SoCAMM is a new DRAM that attaches to the CPU, and while it connects to the CPU, the primary role of SoCAMM is to provide auxiliary support to make sure AI accelerates reach their peak performance. We should expect to see SoCAMM make an appearance in NVIDIA's next-gen AI GPUs -- Rubin -- which will be dropping in 2026.

HighPoint has just announced a new "landmark pricing strategy" for its Gen5 x16 4x M.2 NVMe AIC series, at $999 and $899, the Rocket 7604A RAID AIC and Rocket 1604A Switch AIC offer over 50GB/sec+ of real-world SSD transfer speeds.

HighPoint's Rocket 7604A and Rocket 1604A AICs change up the storage game for space-constrained industrial and edge computing environments, powered by the company's in-house PCIe Gen5 Switching Architecture and Broadcom's PEX89048 PCIe Switch IC, we have over 50GB/sec+ of real-world transfer speeds using x4 lanes of dedicated Gen5 bandwidth available to each M.2 port.

In order to meet the needs of its industrial customers, HighPoint's engineering team meticulously re-engineered the AIC PCB to conform to the FH-HL form factor, resulting in an unprecedentedly compact PCIe device measuring just 167mm in length - dramatically shorter than typical 4-Port Gen5 cards, which often exceed 290mm.

SDC is a monitor manufacturer out of China that you might not have heard of, but they're the first ones to burst through the insane 700Hz refresh rate with its new Flash 540-Meta WOLED gaming monitor and its massive 720Hz refresh rate. Check it out:

We haven't had the official unveiling of SDC's new 540-Meta gaming monitor, but underneath the new 720Hz gaming monitor is using LG's new 4th Gen W-OLED panel, seeing it smash above the 600Hz offerings from both ASUS and MSI that we saw at Computex 2025 barely a month ago now.

SDC's new Flash 540-Meta gaming monitor is now officially the fastest OLED-based gaming monitor, with a refresh rate ranging between 540Hz and 720Hz, with a native 2560 x 1440 resolution (1440p). There are some glaring issues that we can see, as SDC lists that its new Flash 540-Mega gaming monitor uses an older DisplayPort 1.4 connector, versus the new DP2.1 UHBR20 port that is the only connectivity that's able to handle the insane 720Hz refresh rate through its 80Gbps of bandwidth.

One of the best things about the current home consoles, specifically the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, is that the internal storage has moved away from old-school platter hard drives to high-speed SSDs. It has been a game-changer, from more responsive menus to dramatically reduced game loading times.

However, Sony and Microsoft have taken different approaches to expanding the storage on their home consoles. Sony opted for a more open approach for the PlayStation 5, allowing users to install any PCIe Gen4 M.2 SSD as long as it meets a minimum read and write speed. Conversely, Microsoft limits storage expansion to custom proprietary Expansion Cards currently supplied by two brands: Seagate and Western Digital.

This is a roundabout way of saying that it's great to see Seagate release a new 4TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S; however, with no competition, the $499.99 price tag stings especially when you can pick up a 4TB SSD for PS5 consoles for half the price.

Developer Rebel Wolves is what you'd call a dream team, a studio headed up by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz and a team that includes several ex-CD Projekt Red developers looking to branch out and create what they feel is an evolution of the style of RPG popularized by The Witcher 3.

The studio's first game, The Blood of Dawnwalker, which Bandai Namco will publish, received its first gameplay trailer, 'Trapped Between Two Worlds,' at the recent Xbox Games Showcase. The game is set in a medieval Europe ruled by vampires, and it's a single-player RPG where you take on the role of Coen - a Dawnwalker. He's old-timey Blade in that he's got vampire powers, hates vampires, and has no trouble walking around during the day.

The trailer gives a glimpse at early gameplay, cinematics, and combat. An extended gameplay reveal event is scheduled for June 21. The game itself is on track for a 2026 release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Skyblivion is a total conversion fan-made mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that also happens to be a remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Unlike the recent Oblivion Remastered release, from Bethesda and Virtuos, which is essential Oblivion with modern Unreal Engine 5-powered visuals, Skyblivion is a remake that aims to improve and even redesign the core game.

This means redesigned combat, leveling, revamped dungeons, more diverse biomes to explore, and more. Skyblivion is one of the most ambitious mod projects currently in development, and it's on track for release later this year. It will also be compatible with GOG One-Click Mod, a new mod integration feature for GOG that aims to make installing and playing mods as easy as clicking install on a game.

One of the hardest parts of trying out a new mod is accessibility, knowing how to install it, and knowing what steps need to be taken to ensure it doesn't break the game. GOG One-Click Mod is a new system for the GOG storefront and GOG Galaxy app that removes the frustration by simplifying the process to a 'click install and then play'.

SK hynix has teased its DRAM memory chip roadmap covering the next 30 years, which will include 4F2VG (vertical gate) technology that will improve DRAM chips, overcoming manufacturing challenges, with 3D DRAM as the "main driver" of its future growth.

SK hynix presented a new DRAM technology roadmap for the next 30 years and the direction for a sustainable innovation at the IEEE VLSI symposium 2025 held in Kyoto, Japan. At the event, Cha Seon Yong, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of SK hynix, delivered a prenary session on "Driving Innovation in DRAM Technology: Towards a Sustainable Future".

In this speech, CTO Cha said that it is getting more and more difficult to improve performance and capacity with scaling through current technology platforms. He said: "in order to overcome such limitations, SK hynix will apply the 4F² VG (Vertical Gate) platform and 3D DRAM technology to technologies of 10nm level or below with innovation in structure, materials, and components".

GEEKOM has partnered with TweakTown to offer a great deal on the powerful GEEKOM Mini IT12 2025 Edition Mini PC. It has a 12th-gen Intel Core i7-1280P processor, 32GB of dual-channel DDR4 3200 MHz memory, and 1TB of fast PCIe Gen4 SSD storage.

The GEEKOM Mini IT12 2025 Edition Mini PC is perfect for those looking for a super-efficient plug-and-play performer. Its 12th-gen Intel Core i7-1280P processor, featuring 14 Cores, 20 Threads, 24MB of Cache, and a max clock speed of 4.8 GHz, only draws 28W of power, making it an ideal energy-efficient PC. It comes with Windows 11 Pro pre-installed, too, so you'll be up and running before you know it.

Whether you're looking for a compact and portable home office solution, a studio companion ready for your Adobe-powered dreams, a home theatre system that can sit snuggly below a TV, or a home console ready for 1080p gaming, the GEEKOM Mini IT12 2025 Edition Mini PC is one of the best value Mini PCs out there.

NVIDIA has been forming its quantum computing team, something that will see an alliance between American and Taiwanese companies.

In a new report from UDN spotted by Dan Nystedt on X, we're hearing that NVIDIA will be including Quanta Computing, Compal Electronics, and Supermicro for its new quantum computing plans. Quanta will be taking care of hardware testing and validation using NVIDIA's CUDA-Q, while Compal will be performing quantum optimization using CUDA-Q, leaving Supermicro to be involved with research.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said earlier this year at CES 2025 that useful quantum computers were 15-30 years away, but then just a couple of months later at GC's first-ever "Quantum Day", Jensen walked back his earlier statements saying that "quantum computing has great potential".

AMD has officially expanded its family of Ryzen Z2 SoCs with the introduction of the new Ryzen Z2 A and higher-end Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme handheld chips.

A few months ago, AMD unveiled its new custom Ryzen Z2 chips for gaming handhelds with the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, Ryzen Z2, and Ryzen Z2 Go. The first two -- the Ryzen Z2 Extreme and Ryzen Z2 -- are based on the Zen 5 and Zen 4 architectures, while the Ryzen Z2 Go is a Lenovo gaming handheld exclusive, and based on the Zen 3+ architecture.

But now, AMD has expanded the family of gaming handheld SoCs with the new Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme virtually identical to the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, but the new Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme has a dedicated NPU for AI workloads on a gaming handheld (because we all want and need that).