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It's not just the GeForce RTX 5090... we've now got melting connectors on the RTX 5080
NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition graphics card was inside of a Redditor's PC, with another melted 16-pin power connector joining the issues of the RTX 5090 FE and its melted power connectors from a couple of days ago.
This seems to be the first reported GeForce RTX 5080 graphics card having a melted power connector, with Redditor r/Ambitious_Ladder1320 posting on the ASUS subreddit that he had a similar melted power connector issue with his new RTX 5080 Founders Edition powered by the ASUS ROG Loki PSU.
He said that the GPU had a flashing red light, which is an indicator of incorrect seating of a pin on his connector, noting that he did connect the connectors properly, trying again after turning off his PC. The same error didn't reappear, but his monitor resolution and refresh rate were massively downgraded, with his RTX 5080 FE running in PCIe 3.0 x3 mode, which is totally wrong.
AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 'Strix Halo' with Radeon 8060S tested: APUs go totally next-gen
AMD's new flagship Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU has been tested in 3DMark, showing its new Radeon 8060S integrated GPU showcasing its crazy 3x better GPU performance than the Radeon 890M inside of the Strix Halo APU.
Inside, AMD's new Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU features 16 cores and 32 threads of Zen 5 processing power, with a huge 40 CUs of RDNA 3.5 GPU: a massive upgrade from the 16 CUs on Strix Halo, close to 3 x the RDNA 3.5 GPU cores. In some new testing on 3DMark Time Spy, the Strix Halo APU is listed with the "Radeon 8050S" with the CPU tab listed as the "AMD Eng Sample: 100-000001243-50_Y".
But according to the OPN code spotted by our friends at Wccftech, it looks to be the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" APU with the new Radeon 8060S (so the Radeon 8050S seems to be in error). The Radeon 8050S is a slightly less powerful RDNA 3.5 GPU with 32 CUs instead of 40 CUs on the Radeon 8060S. AMD's upcoming Ryzen AI Max+ 390 "Strix Halo" APU has the Radeon 8050S and its dropped-down 12 cores and 24 threads.
Google's former chief warns AI could lead to a 'Bin Laden' style attack
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke to the BBC to discuss his concerns about artificial intelligence, highlighting a less commonly expressed fear: the possibility that AI could be weaponized for terror.
Schmidt, who led Google from 2001 to 2017, has been a strong advocate for responsible AI development. While the company is pushing towards artificial general intelligence (AGI) with heavy investments in Google Gemini, Schmidt has remained insistent on prioritizing safety throughout the process:
"It's really important that governments understand what we're doing and keep their eye on us."
Scientists 'racing' to create the first AI for animal-to-human translation
According to a recent report from Colombia One, researchers are banding together to create an AI that facilitates animal-to-human translation for the first time in history. The Coller-Dolittle Prize has offered a $500,000 reward, or $10 million in equity investments, to the researchers who make the most progress in this field.
There are currently two leading projects in the race to talk to animals. Project Ceti (Cetacean Translation Initiative), which focuses on decoding whale communication using AI. And the Earth Species Project, which aims at broader translations of animal communication, including work on crow communication.
Project Ceti's work on whales involves using AI to translate the 'click' communication used by humpback and sperm whales. The project has been in the works for over a decade and has reportedly made 'some progress' towards the ambitious goal. However, researchers are running into challenges with the lack of available data. Project Citi is currently working with just 8,000 vocalization samples, which limits the extent to which they can develop a working mode.
Until Dawn meets 'The Thing' in the latest State of Play reveal trailer
Sony's PlayStation State of Play was packed with reveals for anticipated game titles. Among them: Directive 8020, a story-based sci-fi horror experience set in space.
Directive 8020 kicks off Season 2 of The Dark Pictures Anthology, a series of shorter survival horror games with a unique story and cast in every entry. Directive 8020 was first teased during the mid-credits of The Devil in Me back in 2022, and a full announcement trailer was unveiled at Gamescom in August 2024.
Supermassive Games has always drawn inspiration from classic films. This time, they appear to be drawing on works like Alien and The Thing. The story trailer features astronauts facing an unknown alien threat while they grapple for survival aboard a spaceship called 'The Cassiopeia.'
GTA 5's ex-lead just revealed a new game - fans are calling it 'GTA 2077'
Former Rockstar lead Leslie Benzies is working on a new action title set to release in the same year as GTA 6. Enter Mindseye - an action-packed third-person shooter set in a dystopian sci-fi-style cityscape, with explosive, high-octane combat taking the lead.
The two trailers, released at Sony's latest State of Play, feature protagonist Jacob Diaz - a former soldier fitted with a neural implant haunted by fragmented memories. The game centers around Jacob's journey to uncover the truth in a world fogged by AI, high-tech experimentation, and military corruption.
The developers have not specifically addressed the open-world comparison to GTA 6, instead emphasizing the cinematic narrative elements of the experience. Throughout the trailer, you'll find Jacob driving around in classic American muscle, and at the very least, it appears to be a semi-open-world experience. It also draws on the narrative third-person formula that Sony does so well, with the inclusion of high-fidelity, motion-captured cutscenes.
Borderlands 4 release date confirmed for September 23, 2025
Borderlands 4, the next entry in the long-running looter scooter co-op action FPS series, is set to launch on September 23, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store). 2K and Gearbox Software made the announcement earlier today during Sony's latest State of Play PlayStation event.
Gearbox describes the game as the "most ambitious Borderlands title to date," the trailer highlights its fast-paced action, expanded traversal, and weapons. Plus, it confirms that you'll be able to swim for the first time in the franchise. You'll no longer instantly wipe when touching the water, meaning Borderlands 4's Vault Hunters have learned how to swim.
The trailer also showcases the new grapple hook. This "fixed-point grapple" system will allow for faster movement and more aerial abilities alongside new double-jump and glide abilities. 2K notes that the Borderlands franchise has sold over 87 million copies, making it one of the publisher's most popular franchises.
Continue reading: Borderlands 4 release date confirmed for September 23, 2025 (full post)
Elden Ring Nightreign release date confirmed for PC and consoles alongside new trailer
Elden Ring Nightreign is a standalone spin-off to one of the most popular games in recent years, and it's a new co-op survival adventure game set in the Elden Ring universe. From developer FromSoftware (Dark Souls) and publisher Bandai Namco, the game is set to launch globally on May 30.
Alongside the release date announcement, Bandai Namco has announced that pre-orders for the game are now open and will ship in four versions: Standard Edition, Deluxe Edition, Seekers Edition, and Collector's Edition. The game will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam).
Hit the jump for a breakdown of the various versions.
Sam Altman backpedals on release of o3, shortly after de-hyping 'superintelligence' claims
In a recent X post, Sam Altman announced that OpenAI has decided to cancel the release of the full o3 model, which was scheduled to launch in February or March.
He cited the 'complexity' of their model and product offerings as a contributing factor and that they wished to simplify their product range. As part of the new strategy, OpenAI will be focusing all efforts towards the release of GPT-5. Which will incorporate elements of o3, along with its own features.
Last month, Sam Altman also cautioned AI fans to temper their expectations surrounding the company's progress towards superintelligence. He stated in his personal blog, "Twitter hype is out of control again," and that OpenAI will not be deploying AGI next month. He went on to mention that OpenAI is building some 'cool stuff', but for fans to cut their expectations 'by 100x'.
Assassin's Creed Shadows PC specs, GeForce RTX 4090, DLSS required for Full RT in 4K
Ubisoft's delayed Assassin's Creed Shadows is finally on track for its March 20 release on PC and consoles. This week, the company announced detailed PC specs and hardware requirements alongside a new trailer showcasing the PC version. Running on the latest version of Assassin's Creed's Anvil engine, it's another major release focusing on ray-traced visuals.
The game's 'Selective Ray Tracing' mode will limit the RT to the game's Hideout base building mode. A GeForce GTX 1070 or Radeon RX 5700 is recommended for 1080p 30 FPS gameplay with "Dynamic Resolution and Upscaling." This also includes running the game with the 'Low' quality setting. However, as you can see in the image above, the game is designed to look good across all modes.
Assassin's Creed Shadows is launching with support for NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR, and Intel XeSS, including Frame Generation technologies. GeForce GTX 1070 owners will need to run the game with these specs using AMD's or Intel's upscaling solution, as DLSS is limited to GeForce RTX GPUs due to its requirement for AI Tensor Cores.
NVIDIA's Jensen Huang 'No AI can replace 100% of a job, but many can replace 80% of what we do'
AI won't take your job, but it will reshape it in ways we've never seen before.
In a recent interview with World Wide Technology, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang shared his vision for AI's impact on the workforce, explaining that while no AI can fully replace a human job, many can automate up to 80% of what we do.
GeForce RTX 5060 launch pushed back to April due to 'chip supply constraints'
Earlier today, we reported on the GeForce RTX 5070's launch being delayed to early March, which would see the mid-range GeForce RTX 4070 successor arrive alongside AMD's Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT combo. Although NVIDIA hasn't confirmed this timeline, additional information from insider and leaker on @mingchikuo notes that the delay is due to "chip supply constraints" for the GeForce RTX 50 Series, which is currently causing shortages for the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090.
With that, the mainstream GeForce RTX 5060 and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti cards are now on track for an April 2025 debut. NVIDIA hasn't yet confirmed the existence of the GeForce RTX 5060 Series, with the RTX Blackwell announcement at CES 2025 only covering the RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080, and flagship RTX 5090. However, inside information has previously stated that the RTX 5060 Series was on track for a March launch.
According to the source, mass production for GeForce RTX 5070 and RTX 5060 GPUs was on track for February and March of this year, but this has now been delayed to March and April, respectively. There's no mention of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, which we've previously reported is expected to launch next week on February 20.
ASUS releases BIOS update for its new ASTRAL GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs
With the arrival of the GeForce RTX 50 Series, ASUS has introduced a brand-new flagship design with the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 and ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080. "ROG's first quad-fan graphics card" sports a premium build with a custom vapor chamber, increased heatsink fin density, and a phase-change GPU thermal pad.
In our review of the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 OC Edition, we were impressed by the out-of-the-box overclock, which delivered 10% more performance than the Founder Edition model - with room to push even higher.
However, we did note that once unleashed, the four-fan design led to a louder GPU than expected. This week, ASUS released a firmware update for the 'Quiet Mode' for both ROG Astral cards, promising a "more silent fan curve." A new BIOS Update Tool (spotted by Videocardz), weighing in at 25.13 MB, is now available for both ROG Astral models via the download section on the official product pages.
AMD's new Radeon RX 9070 XT listed for $698 by Canadian retailer, RX 9070 non-XT at $586
AMD's new custom Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 non-XT graphics cards have been listed by a Canadian retailer starting at $698 and $586, respectively.
In a new listing posted by popular Canadian retailer Canada Computers, which has listed multiple custom Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 graphics cards on its website from AIB partners including PowerColor and XFX, which revealed early pricing. The post has since been removed, but the internet remembers everything.
In the listings, the custom PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 graphics cards started at CAD $839, which converts to around $586, and is the cheapest RX 9070 that Canada Computers has on offer. If you want the most expensive Radeon RX 9070, then that'll be PowerColor's new Radeon RX 9070 Red Devil graphics card which costs CAD $919, or around $642.
Overwatch 2 Season 15 starts Feb 18: lootboxes are back, new Perk system and maps teased
Blizzard is changing the game up with Overwatch 2 Season 15, just teased on X, with mechanics, new skins, new maps teased, and the return of the infamous lootboxes.
The developer is calling 2025 the "next evolution" of Overwatch 2 PvP with the introduction of the new Hero Perks mechanism, and a slew of changes to the game for Season 15 and future seasons throughout the year. The new Perks system sounds fantastic, with the Hero-specific mechanism giving players more control over how each character plays by offering exciting new upgrades two different times as you progress through a round.
Overwatch 2 Season 15 has big Competitive Mode changes, with a new competitive queue, the return of Loot Boxes, and more. Season 15 begins on February 18, with a competitive mode ranked reset, and new "competitive" Galactic Weapons that can be unlocked with rank Weapon Charms, Player Portraits, and more.
Crytek lays off 15% of its staff, announces next-gen Crysis 4 is officially on hold
Crytek has just announced that its next-gen Crysis 4 is "on hold" as it lays off 15% of its global workforce, and puts its development focus into Hunt: Showdown 1896.
The developer announced the news in a post on X, saying that "complex, unfavorable market dynamics that have hit our industry these past several years. It pains us greatly to share today that we must lay off an estimated 15% of our around 400 employees".
Not only that, but the developer said "after putting the development of the next Crysis game on hold in Q3 2024" that Crytek has "been trying to shift developers over to Hunt: Showdown 1896". For now, let's hope that Crytek hasn't killed off its new Crysis game and that it's just on hold until the developer is in a better position, but it does NOT feel like good news for the infamous shooter.
Remedy has sold over 2M+ copies of Alan Wake 2, teases that a new project is now in production
Remedy has just announced that it has sold over 2 million copies of Alan Wake 2 as part of their full-year 2024 financial report.
Remedy CEO Tero Virtala said that the development and marketing costs of Alan Wake 2 have been recouped, with teh developer earning royalties for the game towards the end of Q4 2024. Virtala said that the continued support for Alan Wake 2 through Night Springs and Lake House expansions, as well as the beefy PS5 Pro update + RTX Mega Geometry updates, helped push sales of Alan Wake 2 up and over 2M copies.
Now that Alan Wake 2 is finished up, Remedy is now pushing full-steam ahead into its next projects including FBC: Firebreak, which Virtala confirmed for a 2025 launch. The Remedy CEO said in December 2024 that the development team had successfully conducted a closed technical test with external players, where they tested FBC: FIrebrerak and its matchmaking and backedn services, collecting as much data as they could to form the final game.
AMD RX 9070 GPU launch event rumored for February 20 - to steal NVIDIA's RTX 5070 Ti thunder?
AMD's RX 9070 graphics cards are set to be released in March, but there will be some kind of a launch announcement beforehand, and it might be pencilled in for very soon - next week, in fact.
A new rumor from the Chiphell forums, as highlighted by Tomasz Gawroński on X, claims that AMD has an RX 9070 XT launch planned for February 20.
This would be the full reveal of the graphics card (and presumably the vanilla RX 9070 as well), and previous rumors have indicated that later in February we'll get some kind of RDNA 4 press announcement from AMD. So, this very much backs up that idea (and furthermore, there's also a hint Frank Azor recently dropped that the full details on RDNA 4 graphics cards are "coming soon").
NVIDIA RTX 5070 rumor claims GPU is delayed to March, and this is seeming more and more likely
NVIDIA might be about to delay its RTX 5070 graphics card, or that's the latest from the grapevine regarding the remaining Blackwell models that Team Green has on the boil.
As you're doubtless aware, the RTX 5070 Ti has been strongly rumored for a February 20 launch, but notably, the vanilla version, the RTX 5070, has been absent from all the chatter on the rumor mill.
While NVIDIA said both the RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti will be out in February, back at the Blackwell reveal during CES 2025, it now appears that the vanilla RTX 5070 might be pushed back to March, as rumored by MegaSizeGPU on X.
AMD RDNA 4 high-end GPU rumored to debut by June with 32GB VRAM - to take on RTX 5090, or not?
Update to original story: The leaker has provided further info, asserting that this will purportedly be an RX 9070 XT variant with doubled-up VRAM to 32GB. So, technically it'll be a gaming graphics card, not a professional (Radeon Pro) product - however, the source on Chiphell claims that the GPU is still set to primarily target the AI market, and will be priced as such. (So the value proposition will not make much sense for gamers).
AMD might be developing an RDNA 4 graphics card loaded up with a potentially huge helping of 32GB of VRAM, but don't get overly enthusiastic about this prospect yet.
Before you go thinking that this could be the mighty RX 9000 gaming GPU to take on NVIDIA at the high-end - as tempting as that may be as a conclusion to leap for - we must bear in mind a couple of things. Firstly, this is only a rumor, and secondly, if true, this is most likely to be a data center board rather than a gaming graphics card.






















