Computer Systems News - Page 2

AMD first announced its Project Quantum PC back in 2015, and while it didn't materialize, it was marketed in a huge way as the "best possible system for VR" when AMD had all of its blood going to its head for VR.

The fan-made AMD Project Quantum PC (source: stand_up_g4m3r)

Anyway, the awesomely-designed AMD Project Quantum system was based on an Intel CPU and what would've been a freaking wicked dual Fiji GPU design. The system was shown off during E3 2015 if you can believe that, after the company had internal discussions about using the dual-GPU solution, but later designs of the never-released Project Quantum system had better internals (AMD's new Zen CPU + Vega GPU with HBM2 memory).

But now... now a fan-made 3D project has breathed a massive breath of fresh air into AMD Project Quantum. A new system was crafted by the amazing hands and work of "stand_up_g4m3r" who used an ASRock DeskMini X300W PC on the AM4 platform, slotting in an AMD Ryzen 7 5700G APU that packs an integrated GPU and 32GB of DDR4 memory.

A Reddit user has secured themselves a decommissioned Netflix cache server, posting about his experience on Reddit.

A decommissioned Netflix cache server (source: "PoisonWaffle3" on Reddit)

Redditor "PoisonWaffle3" works for an ISP that has been getting rid of old Netflix servers, as they've been upgrading to new systems. In a thread titled "So I got a Netflix cache server..." with a bunch of pictures of the bright-Netflix-red server, and what is inside of the cache server.

PoisonWaffle3 explained on his post on Reddit that all he could find online for the Netflix cache server was overviews, installation and configuration guides for their proprietary software, and more. The Redditor noted that he had "no specs, no clue what was inside the red box".

Intel has now launched its new NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" PC, with the system arriving in a rather unique coffin-shaped retail package, which has been pictured by ETA Prime. Check it out:

The new coffin-shaped box for the Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon"

The new Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" PC includes Intel's new Core i7-12700H CPU which packs 14 cores and 20 threads at up to 4.7GHz, with 24MB of L3 cache and a 45W TDP. The Intel Arc A770M GPU has 16GB of GDDR6 memory, while for RAM there's up to 64GB of DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM memory in the NUC 12 Enthusiast PC.

The interesting coffin-shaped box that the Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" system arrives in looks awesome, which packs the PC itself, a vertical stand, and the 330W power supply. You also get some nifty replaceable side panels, which feature either a skull or serpent and are LED-illuminated... of course.

Intel's new NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" is now available for pre-order, where inside the new NUC system packs the very latest mobile CPU and mobile GPU from Intel.

The new Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" features up to an Intel Core i7-12700H "Alder Lake" mobile CPU, joined by an Intel Arc A77M0 discrete GPU meaning it's an all-Intel system (Intel CPU + Intel GPU). The new NUC packs into the usual interesting, and small chassis with 2.5L (230 x 180 x 60mm).

The Core i7-12700H CPU offers 14 cores and 20 threads at up to 4.7GHz, joined by 24MB of L3 cache and a 45W TDP. The Intel Arc A770M GPU has 16GB of GDDR6 memory, while inside the new NUC 12 Enthusiast "Serpent Canyon" system offers up to 64GB of DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM memory.

Apple "launched" its new Mac Studio earlier this year, but it seems it was just a paper launch or more of an announcement of things to come, given that 6 months later we're still waiting for it to ship to consumers.

The compounding delays from Apple to its Mac Studio is worsened for the higher-end M1 Ultra (with the higher-end 96-core GPU) versions of the system, with another 10 week delay from now... close to 9 months if you ordered the second Apple announced its new Mac Studio in March 2022.

Apple's new Mac Studio starts at $1999 with the M1 Max chip, and is still another 1-3 weeks away from shipping to consumers... and that's depending on the RAM and storage options you choose. If you opt for the flagship (and much more powerful) M1 Ultra chip, then your Mac Studio won't be shipping for another 7 weeks at the least, and that's for the standard version. If you tweak your new Apple Mac Studio with the 64-core GPU you'll be waiting up to 10 more weeks for your order.

Intel has just launched its new NUC 12 Pro "Wall Street Canyon" which is based on the Intel 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-P" series of CPUs. Check them out:

The new Intel NUC 12 Pro "Wall Street Canyon" was touted as a "Mac Studio killer" with the new NUC featuring a tiny 4x4-inch PCB design with the chassis available in both slim, and tall kits. The tall kit version of the NUC 12 Pro "Wall Street Canyon" has the ability to install an additional 2.5-inch storage drive.

Inside, you've got up to the Intel Core i7-1260P processor with 12 cores, the Core i5-1240P which also has 12 cores, or the Core i3-1220P with 10 cores. Each of the Intel 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" CPUs comes with built-in Xe graphics with 96 Execution Units, 80 Execution Units, or 64 Execution Units on the respective Alder Lake CPUs.

Lenovo has just announced the world's first all-in-one PC that uses an Intel Arc GPU, with the introduction of the Xiaoxin Pro 27.

The new Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro 27 is an all-in-one (AIO) PC that packs Intel's latest 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" CPU as well as an Intel Arc A-Series GPU in the form of the Arc A370M. Lenovo is making a 23.8-inch and 27-inch version, both with a native 2560x1440 resolution and smooth 100Hz refresh rate.

Lenovo is also baking in dual 5W speakers from JBL and a 2.5K resolution camera. The Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro 27 AIO system can be configured with either an Intel Arc A370M graphics card or NVIDIA's mid-range GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card. Gaming-wise, Lenovo is saying that its new AIO system can handle something like League of Legends (running at 1440p) at 152FPS, CS:GO (running at 1440p) at 110FPS, and World of Tanks (running at 1080p) at 142FPS.

Acer's new Nitro N50-640 pre-built gaming PC has been announced: packing the Intel 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" CPU and some mid-range GPU offerings, one of which includes the Intel Arc A380 graphics card.

French retailer Boulanger has been the first in Europe to list the Acer Nitro N50-640 pre-built gaming PC, and while we've got this listing in early-August, we won't see the Acer Nitro N50-640 gaming PC not shipping until at least October 8... two months from now.

Inside, the Acer Nitro PC packs an Intel Core i5-12400F processor, 16GB of DDR4 memory, and 500GB of SSD storage... in total we're looking at a rather high $950+ price tag. You can get the GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card inside of the Acer Nitro N50-640 system, for a bigger $1500 price (but you'll get the GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity here, too.

Minisforum has just introduced a new ultra-thin desktop PC that's based on Intel's new NUC X15 Laptop Kit.

The new Minisforum NUC X15 and X17 Mini-PCs are powered by the new Intel NUC X15, featuring Intel's 11th Gen Core "Tiger Lake" CPUs -- the Minisforum X15I5 packs an Intel Core i5-11400H CPU + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU -- offering 6 cores and 12 threads at up to 4.5GHz.

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile GPU is inside, using the GA106 GPU and 6GB of GDDR6 memory, but the higher-end model bumps up those specs a bit. Minisforum's higher-end NUCX17 uses the Core i7-12800H processor (8 cores and 16 threads) while we've got the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile GPU, with 8GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit memory bus.

Apple's new M2-powered MacBook Air is in some hot water... with its new fanless laptop being redesigned, and yet, unable to run on a sustained workload without huge drops in performance.

The new Apple M2 MacBook Air is completely fanless, but when under stress performance drops by around 25% against the fan-cooled, and higher-end M2 MacBook Pro. In a new video by The Verge, they have tested the Apple M1 MacBook Air, against the new M2 MacBook Air, and the higher-end M2 MacBook Pro in Cinebench R23.

In the first test, it's just the regular Cinebench R23 benchmark where the performance results in a score at the end: the previous-gen M1 Air scores 6803, while the new M2 Air scores 7706. But when they're run on a 30-minute loop, the performance drops to 5369 and 6757 points for the M1 Air, and M2 Air, respectively.