Intel Arrow Lake-S rumored with Xe-LPG GPU, Arrow Lake-H receives Xe-LPG+ GPU

Anthony Garreffa | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Feb 25, 2024 9:36 PM CST

Intel will announce and release its next-gen Arrow Lake processors later this year, representing the first top-to-bottom client CPU architecture featuring totally new CPU and GPU architectures in many years from the company.

Intel Arrow Lake-S rumored with Xe-LPG GPU, Arrow Lake-H receives Xe-LPG+ GPU

Intel's current-gen Core Ultra 100 series "Meteor Lake" processors feature brand new GPU cores in Xe-LPG, but Arrow Lake CPUs will come with either Xe-LPG or Xe-LPG+ graphics, something we're learning today in some new leaks.

Intel engineer Haridhar Kalvala, explained: "Some SKUs of Arrow Lake use slightly newer Xe-LPG+ graphics IP (version 12.74). Add some additional PCI IDs and extend the code to support the newer IP version. The general code flow should continue to match existing MTL and Xe-LPG code paths".

Continue reading: Intel Arrow Lake-S rumored with Xe-LPG GPU, Arrow Lake-H receives Xe-LPG+ GPU (full post)

FurMark 2 has officially launched: melt your GPU by trying it out now

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Feb 25, 2024 9:00 PM CST

FurMark 2 is now official and available for download right now from here. The new GPU stress testing, diagnostics, and benchmarking tool has been popular for years now, but its successor is here to melt your GPU even harder.

FurMark 2 has officially launched: melt your GPU by trying it out now

The new FurMark 2 was created using the latest cross-platform tool called GeeXLab with a GUI, while the command tool uses GeeXLab SDK. You've got support with FurMark 2 and Windows 64-bit, Windows 32-bit, and even Linux 64-bit with operating systems.

The next update for FurMark 2 will include support for Linux 32-bit and Raspberry Pi, with possible MacOS support coming in the near future. Future 3D APIs can be added into FurMark 2, including OpenGL 2.1 and OpenGL 3.0/3.1 APIs, but were most likely omitted from the v2.0 release because they're not cross-platform compatible.

Continue reading: FurMark 2 has officially launched: melt your GPU by trying it out now (full post)

NVIDIA samples two new AI GPUs for China, both comply with US export restrictions

Anthony Garreffa | Artificial Intelligence | Feb 25, 2024 8:19 PM CST

NVIDIA is offering customers samples of two new artificial intelligence chips for the Chinese market, where NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang wants to defend its market dominance in China against the tides of US export restrictions on AI GPUs in the country.

NVIDIA samples two new AI GPUs for China, both comply with US export restrictions

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said: "We're sampling it with customers now. Both of them comply with the regulation without a license. We're looking forward to customer feedback on it. We're expecting that we're... going to go compete for business, and hopefully we can serve the market successfully".

Jensen didn't mention which AI GPUs NVIDIA is preparing for China, but back in November 2023, we began hearing about three new AI GPUs that the company was preparing for the country: H20, L20, and L2. These new AI GPUs are cut-down variants that meet the US export regulations, with the same latest features from NVIDIA, but their AI computing power has been culled.

Continue reading: NVIDIA samples two new AI GPUs for China, both comply with US export restrictions (full post)

PlayStation made $9.8 billion in holiday 2023, a new historic all-time high

Derek Strickland | Gaming | Feb 25, 2024 7:45 PM CST

Sony's PlayStation games division sets a new high watermark for quarterly holiday revenues.

PlayStation made $9.8 billion in holiday 2023, a new historic all-time high

Holiday 2023 was supposed to be a stellar period for PlayStation. Sony hoped to ship 25 million PlayStation 5's during FY23 and finally push the PS5 past its predecessor for the first time. While Sony did fall short of this lofty target with 16.2 million PS5s shipped during Q3, the company did break another big record with its sales performance.

According to data provided by Sony and analyzed by TweakTown, the PlayStation gaming segment generated $9.766 billion revenue during the holiday quarter running from October - December 2023. This is a new all-time high for Sony's Game & Network Services division in both total quarterly revenues and holiday Q3 period revenues.

Continue reading: PlayStation made $9.8 billion in holiday 2023, a new historic all-time high (full post)

AMD's next-gen MI400 AI GPU expected in 2025, MI300 AI GPU refresh in the works

Anthony Garreffa | Artificial Intelligence | Feb 25, 2024 6:21 PM CST

AMD launched its new Instinct MI300X not too long ago, featuring up to 192GB of HBM3 memory with 5.3TB/sec of memory bandwidth, but now the next-gen Instinct MI400X is being teased for 2025.

AMD's next-gen MI400 AI GPU expected in 2025, MI300 AI GPU refresh in the works

AMD's next-gen Instinct MI400X should be based on the next-gen CDNA 4 GPU architecture and upgraded HBM3e memory, which is faster than the HBM3 used on Instinct MI300X. According to leaker Kepler in a new post on X, AMD will reportedly also have a refreshed MI300 that should also feature HBM3e memory.

NVIDIA has its current-gen Hopper H100 AI GPU on the market with HBM3 memory, but its beefed-up H200 AI GPU features the new ultra-fast HBM3e memory, and its next-gen Blackwell B100 AI GPU is expected to debut with HBM3e later this year, after being unveiled at the GPU Technology Conference (GTC) event in March.

Continue reading: AMD's next-gen MI400 AI GPU expected in 2025, MI300 AI GPU refresh in the works (full post)

Helldivers 2 engine was discontinued in 2018: 'our crazy engineers had to do everything'

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Feb 25, 2024 5:58 PM CST

Helldivers 2 has burst onto the scene on PC and PlayStation 5, racking up 700,000+ concurrent players and overloading Arrowhead servers... with its engine discontinued back in 2018.

Helldivers 2 engine was discontinued in 2018: 'our crazy engineers had to do everything'

Say what? Helldivers 2 was created on the Autodesk Stingray engine, which was discontinued in 2018. This means the engine hasn't had any updates over the last six years, leaving developer Arrowhead needing to put in some considerable work to squeeze everything they could -- and wanted -- from Helldivers 2.

Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt confirmed the news in a post on X that explained: "This is true. Our crazy engineers had to do everything, with no support to build the game to parity with other engines. And yes. The project started before it was discontinued".

Continue reading: Helldivers 2 engine was discontinued in 2018: 'our crazy engineers had to do everything' (full post)

TSMC's new fab in Japan built in 2 years: 24-hour work days, site is called 'Nightless Castle'

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Feb 25, 2024 5:22 PM CST

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) first announced a new chip fabrication facility in Japan back in 2022, where it planned to have production up and running in 2024... and now it's operational.

TSMC's new fab in Japan built in 2 years: 24-hour work days, site is called 'Nightless Castle'

The two years flew past, and now the facility is ready to begin mass production later this year, with TSMC tapping Sony's assistance to get the plant operational in Japan. The new Kumamoto fab plant has been dubbed "Nightless Castle" as there were workers there on 24-hour shifts, which is how the new TSMC plant was built in just two years, with plants regularly taking three or more years to get up and running.

Sony is an investor and a customer for TSMC's new plant in Japan; with the new fab plant getting up and running so quickly in Japan, that wouldn't necessarily be done in other countries. Why? TSMC had efficient government support, strict construction timetables, and a low-cost workforce that was flooding the site and then working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Continue reading: TSMC's new fab in Japan built in 2 years: 24-hour work days, site is called 'Nightless Castle' (full post)

TSMC's second fab site in Arizona, USA celebrates its 'topping out' milestone

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Feb 25, 2024 4:41 PM CST

TSMC has just celebrated a "topping out" milestone event at its Phoenix, Arizona fabrication facility by placing the last steel beam on its construction project.

TSMC's second fab site in Arizona, USA celebrates its 'topping out' milestone

The company posted on its official LinkedIn, explaining that TSMC had also recently achieved the topping milestone for its second fab's auxiliary buildings, which will be supplying the required utility infrastructure to the second fab clean room.

TSMC's post on LinkedIn explained: "TSMC Arizona celebrated a "topping out" milestone today - signifying the last steel beam being raised into place on a construction project - for our second semiconductor fab in Phoenix, Arizona. We also recently achieved the topping milestone on our second fab's auxiliary buildings, which will supply the necessary utilities infrastructure to the second fab clean room. We also continue to make significant progress completing our first fab which remains on track to begin production in the first half of 2025".

Continue reading: TSMC's second fab site in Arizona, USA celebrates its 'topping out' milestone (full post)

Microsoft tried to get Apple to use Bing on the iPhone for years

Oliver Haslam | Software & Apps | Feb 25, 2024 6:15 AM CST

While it had previously been reported that Apple had been a potential buyer for Microsoft's Bing search engine business, it wasn't entirely clear just how much Microsoft had tried to make a deal happen. That is, until now.

Microsoft tried to get Apple to use Bing on the iPhone for years

The new information comes after new documents were shared as part of the US Justice Department's lawsuit which claims that Google has a monopoly in the search market. As part of Google's argument that isn't the case, it says that Apple was offered Bing as a new default search engine for the iPhone. Google says Apple decided that Bing was subpar compared to its own offering. adding that the mere fact that Apple had to consider the options suggests there is indeed competition.

Microsoft reportedly pitched Apple on switching to using Bing as the default search option for users in 2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2020. But with there being no sign of a deal being done. Microsoft also tried to get Apple to simply buy Bing as a whole. Another option was some kind of joint venture that would have seen Apple and Microsoft work on Bing together. This went down in 2018, with Apple ultimately deciding against any kind of deal.

Continue reading: Microsoft tried to get Apple to use Bing on the iPhone for years (full post)

These are the vehicles to buy if you want to use Apple's car key feature.

Oliver Haslam | Electric Vehicles & Cars | Feb 25, 2024 6:00 AM CST

It might not seem like it but it's been almost four years since Apple announced a new iPhone and Apple Watch Wallet feature that would allow car owners to unlock their vehicles without the need for a key or key card. Instead, all they would need is their iPhone or Apple Watch and they'd be able to unlock, lock, and start their vehicles. Unfortunately, that requires that carmakers also get on board.

These are the vehicles to buy if you want to use Apple's car key feature.

As is so often the case with features that Apple adds in relation to cars - CarPlay is another example - it has taken some time for carmakers to either update or release vehicles that support the new car key feature. 9to5Mac has put together a list of all the vehicles that can be used with the Wallet car key offering, and it's a surprisingly large number - although the majority have a BMW logo on the front.

The full list reads:

Continue reading: These are the vehicles to buy if you want to use Apple's car key feature. (full post)