Latest News - Page 319

Just as PCIe Gen 5 is getting more traction on motherboards, with more and more Gen5 SSDs available to enterprise and consumers -- and most recently Phison with its new E28 Gen5 SSD -- we got our first glimpse into some early Gen6 tech at Computex 2025.

Trawling the halls of Nangang in Taipei at Computex 2025 this year, I bumped into a booth that had some (very) early PCIe Gen6 running. The actively-cooled Gen6 AIC was installed into a x16 slot running full PCIe Gen6 x16, with a riser card connected through Gen5. There was nothing run on it -- as there are no Gen6 SSDs available, but it was more of a showcase of what's to come in the years ahead.

You can see in the shot above that the LinkSpeed on the system says "Gen6" and it's using the full x16 lanes available, but as we said above, there's no Gen6 SSDs available. But... when they are, a Gen6 SSD installed into a x4 slot on a future-gen motherboard will provide you with an astonishing 32GB/sec.

With the Nintendo Switch 2 launch around the corner, many early adopters will consider buying a microSD card to expand the console's storage and install more games. Although many felt blindsided by the announcement that microSD cards compatible with the original Nintendo Switch won't be compatible with the Nintendo Switch 2, the decision does make a lot of sense.

Like PlayStation and Xbox, the next-gen Nintendo Switch 2 has dramatically increased the speed of its internal flash storage to cut loading times and support more data streaming for complex games, which means its microSD card slot will only be compatible with brand-new, fast microSD Express cards.

The good news is that the size of games isn't dramatically increasing with the Switch 2. Mario Kart World clocks in at 23.4 GB, Donkey Kong Bananza at 10 GB, and the Nintendo GameCube classics collection at 3.5 GB. At Computex 2025, we saw PNY's new microSD Express Flash Memory Cards with read speeds of up to 890 MB/s and write speeds of up to 750 MB/s.

You've probably seen it before, but if you haven't, ASUS had its ROG Rapture GT-BE19000AI router on display at Computex 2025... and my fear of spiders (as an Aussie) was at full alert. Check it out:

The ASUS ROG Rapture GT-BE19000AI Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 AI router has it all: 1 x 10GbE WAN/LAN, 3 x 2.5GbE WAN/LAN, 1 x 1GbE LAN, and 1 x USB 3.2 Gen1 x 1 USB 2.0 port. Inside, we've got the 32GB of flash and 4GB DDR4 RAM, with 8 x external antennas (which is why it looks like a spider).

ASUS has its iconic ROG eye front and center, lit up with RGB lighting (and even with the lights blaring in the halls of Nangang, it still looked gorgeous in the flesh). If you're after a monster router to handle multiple gaming PCs, gaming laptops, consoles, smartphones, and everything in between... the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-BE19000AI router has your back (and it looks incredible to boot).

KIOXIA had its spread of storage and memory on display at Computex 2025, including its new 10th-gen 332-layer 4.8GB/sec 3D NAND with a wicked display that breaks down how it looks (but in a gigantic version). Check it out:

The new KIOXIA 10th-gen 332-layer 4.8GB/sec 3D NAND uses Advanced Scaling Technology, revolutionary CBA (CMOS directed Bonded to Array) technology, Cell Array, and the CMOS Circuit -- all displayed directly in front of the suite at KIOXIA at Computex 2025.

KIOXIA showed off its new flagship EXCERIA PRO G2 Gen5 SSD, with sequential reads over 14GB/sec which is under development, as well as its EXCERIA PLUS G4 Gen5 SSD with sequential reads of 10GB/sec and writes of 8.2GB/sec on the 2TB variant, as well as 10GB/sec reads and 7.9GB/sec writes on the 1TB variant. Both of 1300K IOPS max random reads, and 1400K IOPS with random writes.

It's always worth checking out the free games that crop up on the Epic Games Store because sometimes they can be surprisingly good - even away from peak giveaway times like the Holiday season - and that's the case this week.

If you head down to the Epic Games Store now, there are actually three games that can be bagged for the princely sum of absolutely nothing: Sifu, Deliver At All Costs, and Gigapocalypse.

Okay, so these may not be AAA titles that'll immediately make you leap out of your gaming chair, but they're well worthwhile offerings. Sifu is the game you may have heard of - check out the trailer above - and it's a martial arts beat-em-up from Sloclap that has some seriously ardent fans.

Computex 2025 has spawned many interesting and cool PC products for fans of the space to digest, but one that may have flown under the radar of many is a CPU cooler that loosely resembles "proof that Tony Stark has a heart."

For those who don't understand that reference, it's from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) where Tony Stark (Iron Man) is kept alive and functioning by a device called the Arc Reactor, which is placed into his chest. Ocypus had on display the Sigma Ultra, the company's flagship Closed Loop CPU Cooler (CLC) that features a round design with a true-color LCD display placed in the center.

This cooler instantly reminded me of the Arc Reactor when Ocypus showed me its differentiating factor, its ability for its side panels to open up when the cooler detects high temperatures have been reached. Ocypus told me users will be able to set the Sigma Ultra to stay open, closed, or even open halfway. As for the screen, Ocypus has equipped the Sigma Ultra with a 2.8" IPS 480 x 480 60Hz display with a maximum brightness of 450 nits.

Priced at over $10,000 in some markets, the new RTX PRO 6000 GPU is a new workstation GPU that can be viewed (in some ways) as a GeForce RTX 5090 with 96GB of VRAM. This thing is a monster, and we got to go hands-on with it at PNY's booth at Computex 2025. Well, hold it and take a look at its physical design.

Yes, it looks almost identical to the GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (check out our review here), but it has an all-black finish and an 'RTX PRO 6000' label. The cooler design and form factor are identical, with a two-slot thickness, custom PCB, and NVIDIA's new Double Flow Through cooling.

The big thing here, of course, is that it packs a whopping 96GB of fast GDDR7 memory and the full GB202 GPU chip with 24064 CUDA Cores, compared to the RTX 5090's 21760 CUDA Cores. To fit all of that memory inside the card, NVIDIA has placed 48GB on either side of the PCB.

ASRock Phantom Gaming had a few new gaming monitors to showcase at Computex 2025, and one in particular that caught my eye was a 27-inch IPS panel with a unique refresh rate.

ASRock's gaming brand "Phantom Gaming" unveiled two new gaming monitors to its growing selection of displays at Computex 2025, and speaking to the company at the booth, I learned it is particularly proud of the PG27QFW2A, a 27-inch 400Hz IPS panel that sports a 2560 x 1440p (QHD) resolution.

According to ASRock, this 400Hz is an industry first, with the categorization for the "first" being a 27-inch 1440p IPS panel with a 400Hz refresh rate. While I cannot independently confirm that claim, I haven't personally run into any 400Hz IPS panels, so for now, we will have to take ASRock's word for it.

INNO3D is a brand we've grown to admire over the years because it has consistently created compact and powerful GeForce RTX graphics cards. A two-slot RTX 5080 is one recent example; another is a dual-fan RTX 5070 that could fit inside the tiniest PC gaming case. If you're after something small, compact, and with a clean, minimal design, then INNO3D X2 or X3 cards are worth looking into.

At Computex 2025, INNO3D showed us its INNO3D GEFORCE RTX 5090 X3, in white, inside a compact ITX case. As a GeForce RTX 5090, it's still fairly big, as expected, but it was cool to see it fit inside an ITX case, keeping cool while playing DOOM: The Dark Ages at over 300+ FPS in 4K with max settings.

This is INNO3D's first White-colored GeForce RTX 5090, which the company notes is quickly becoming Asia's most popular color option for PC gaming components. We've lost count of the sheer number of white-colored PC gear we've seen this week at Computex 2025, so that remark makes a lot of sense.

QD-OLED panel technology is a big part of Computex 2025, with MSI and ASUS unveiling 500Hz options slated to hit the market in the coming weeks/months. But ASRock also has a new display worth looking into.

ASRock had multiple QD-OLED panels on display at its booth, all of which fall under the company's gaming arm, "Phantom Gaming". While many of these displays were at Computex 2024, ASRock informed me there was one that was new, the PGO32UFSA. This new QD-OLED monitor is aimed at those gamers who want the best of both worlds - a high resolution and a high refresh rate, as the PGO32UFSA is capable of hitting 4K at 240Hz.

As for QD-OLED panels, gamers have never been blessed with better monitor technology than what is currently available on the market. QD-OLED tech is simply the cream of the crop for gaming monitors, regardless of what brand you are buying it from, as it makes every game you are playing look stunningly vibrant, while also maintaining those higher refresh rates and extremely low response times, making it fantastic for both slower cinematic titles, and also great for fast-paced first-person-shooter games.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered has undoubtedly been a hit - a huge one, in fact - but a surprising amount of gamers haven't finished the game yet.

Indeed, those who have claimed the title of 'Champion of Cyrodiil' which is the achievement for completing the main questline was only 3% at the end of last week, and only stands at 7% now.

That's according to True Achievements (as noticed by Screen Rant) which has tracked the achievements completed by a sample base of some 185,000 Oblivion Remastered players, with only just over 13,000 of them actually having completed the RPG.

ASUS has expanded its BTF hidden cable ecosystem at Computex 2025 with new motherboards and graphics cards. What's most interesting is the reveal of a detachable power connector which adds a great deal of flexibility for users attracted to the idea of invisible cable builds.

BTF is ASUS' backside connector ecosystem. Like GIGABYTE's Stealth and MSI's Project Zero, the idea is to move the various power connectors, case headers and SATA ports to the back of the motherboard, giving builds a beautifully clean look.

ASUS' approach has always been a bit different. There's one thing that usually stands out like a sore thumb on other manufacturer's backside connector products, and that's the GPU power cable. ASUS originally went a step further when it introduced its own motherboard mounted GC-HPWR connector which eliminated the need for an external power cable. The downside was that users were locked into using ASUS BTF products.

ASRock showed off a selection of new AMD AM5 motherboards at Computex 2025, with Nova and LiveMixer models showcased. That's not all though. Overclocking enthusiasts will be drooling over the prospect of getting their hands on ASRocks's first OC Formula for the AMD platform, giving Ryzen users access to a board that offers an incredible set of features for memory tweakers and extreme overclockers alike.

The ASRock X870E Taichi OCF is poised to be one of very few motherboards specifically designed to extract every last drop of performance from AM5 CPUs. It's got a best-in-class 25-phase VRM with 110A stages, dual memory slots that can reach DDR5-10000 and well beyond (depending on your partnering silicon and cooling) and a huge array of onboard switches, buttons and headers all designed to push your chip and memory to the max.

It's not only an overclocking board, it's got nearly all the features you'd expect from a flagship offering, including a high-quality audio section, 5G LAN, WiFi 7 and USB4. ASRock said they'd be happy to send a review sample to us at TweakTown, and it's a board we're definitely looking forward to putting through its paces.

The launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 is right around the corner and for anyone that hasn't already pre-ordered the new console, maybe it's worth considering the luxury version of the Switch 2.

British luxury tech brand Truly Exquisite has officially unveiled the world's first customized luxury Nintendo Switch 2 consoles, which are arriving in three editions. Truly Exquisite is only making 250 units across the three models, of which two will be gold-designed and the third finished in platinum. The headlining edition is called "Aurum," and this model is plated in pure 24K gold. Next is the Platina Edition, which features a sleek platinum finish, and then the Luxe Rose Edition, which is an 18K rose gold finish.

Notably, each of these consoles is hand-finished and numbered, with the intention of turning a standard Nintendo Switch 2 into a highly sought-after piece of gaming history that is collectible. The launch of the three premium Nintendo Switch 2 editions marks the third luxury console launch by Truly Exquisite, with the first being the viral success of the 24K gold PS5 and Xbox Series X console. The first 25 customers to pre-order the gold-plated Nintendo Switch will receive free custom engraving, VIP first-in-line delivery, and a numbered limited edition badge.

ASUS announced its ROG Flow Z13 gaming tablet earlier this year, packing AMD's new flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU, up to 128GB of RAM, and a 13-inch 2.5K 180Hz display, and more. Check it out:

It's like a Microsoft Surface but on serious steroids -- firstly, from the new Strix Halo APU that packs 16 cores and 32 threads of Zen 5 processing power, a heavily beefed-up 40-core RDNA 3.5-based GPU, up to 128GB of RAM, and that gorgeous ASUS ROG aesthetic the company is known for.

I've been eyeing it off for many months now, but today in the halls of Nangang here in Taipei for Computex 2025 was my first chance to go hands-on with it, and it's an incredible "gaming tablet" to say the least. The big winner here is the Strix Halo APU, which increases the CPU core count, but seriously boosts the GPU core count over the Strix Point APU that is inside of laptops and Mini-PCs today.

Ever since ASUS announced its ROG NUC 2025 earlier this year, I've wanted to go hands-on -- but after hurting my back and not going to CES 2025 earlier this year, I had my chance at Computex 2025 this week -- and what an awesome little gaming PC it is. Check it out:

The ASUS ROG NUC 2025 packs some decently fast PC hardware inside of its small 3L chassis, with up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU, the system ships with 16GB of RAM but supports up to 96GB of DDR5-6400 memory, and rocks a 1TB Gen4 SSD (which can be upgraded to a 2TB Gen4 SSD).

ASUS had its ROG NUC 2025 mini-PC plugged into their new ROG Strix OLED XG32WG gaming monitor, which rocks along at 4K 165Hz, running DOOM: The Dark Ages smoothly (considering this is a tiny 3L chassis).

MSI introduced its new Expert series GPU design last year with the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT (check out our full review here). Outside of the striking RGB-free all-metal shroud, what made the Expert stand out from the pack, including MSI's other cards, was that it incorporated a push-and-pull cooling design modeled after NVIDIA's Founders Edition cards for the RTX 30 and RTX 40 Series.

The push-and-pull design puts a large fan on either side of the GPU to increase airflow and cooling in a traditional horizontal orientation. And when you pair that with the MSI Expert brushed metal finish and metallic vents, you've got a GPU that still looks unlike anything else.

Fans of the Expert design will be pleased to know that it's set to return with the new GeForce RTX 5080 16G EXPERT OC, which was announced and showcased at Computex 2025.

At Computex 2025, MSI gave us a quick tour of its GPU Vision display, which showcased a selection of graphics card and cooler designs that its team is developing. From the new flagship RTX 5090 SUPRIM TITANIUM EDITION, which features a gold-colored exterior made from lightweight titanium, to the return of the classic open-air Cyclone design, now for the GeForce RTX 5070.

MSI also showed us another blast from the distant GPU past, with a new RTX 5060 Ti 16GB TWIN FROZR 2025 that captures the look of this classic GeForce GPU. As we're talking about more fabulous designs from an era when graphics cards were nowhere near as powerful, complex, and power-hungry as they are in 2025, naturally, MSI had to reengineer the thermal designs to accommodate the GeForce RTX 50 Series.

The GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16G TWIN FROZR 2025 OC includes shifting to a copper-aluminum composite material for the fins, as the traditional all-aluminum solution simply wouldn't work. Also, there's now a nickel-plated copper baseplate for heat transfer and MSI's new STORMFORCE fans. It's retro, sure, but it's also stylish and impressive.

At Computex 2025, we got the chance to visit ASRock behind closed doors to unbox and check out its new flagship mainstream RDNA 4 GPU, the ASRock Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB Steel Legend. We're familiar with this design at TweakTown, having recently reviewed the impressive ASRock Radeon RX 9070 Steel Legend OC.

Here, we get to unbox a model straight from the production line. It is ASRock's flagship OC model for AMD's new Radeon RX 9060 XT, which was announced a day ago and will hit shelves around the world on June 5. It ships with a Boost Clock speed of 3320 MHz, a sizable increase over the 3130 MHz of the reference design. This should make it one of the fastest Radeon RX 9060 XT cards on the market.

As the more mainstream version of the 9070 Steel Legend, some key differences are that it's lighter and the bracket only features three display ports. This is standard for the Radeon RX 9060 XT, which all feature 2 x DisplayPort 2.1a and 1 x HDMI 2.1b ports. According to AMD, the reason for this is that only a fraction of people actually use more than three displays.

Microsoft reveals what--or who--stood in the way of its Xbox mobile store ambitions in a new court filing.

With consoles stagnating, mobile represents a big growth vector for Xbox, and making a bigger splash on mobile was a big reason why Microsoft shelled out $68.7 billion to buy Activision in 2023. But things haven't gone according to plan for Microsoft, and instead of launching the dedicated Xbox app that it wanted to, the company had to settle for web-based mobile storefront due to restrictions.

Now in a new amicus brief filed in the Epic v Apple appeals case (Epic Games, Inc. v. Apple Inc., 25-2935, 9th Cir.), Microsoft essentially holds Apple responsible for thwarting its mobile store ambitions.