This week on the TT Show, Lord of the Rings superfan (and also superfan) Jak and Kosta discuss Peter Jackson returning to The Lord of the Rings franchise with the new movie 'The Hunt for Gollum.' They discuss the potential story, timeline, and their hopes for a return to the magic of the original trilogy. And not, you know, The Hobbit.

Another big story this week is Apple's apologizing for its seemingly tone-deaf iPad Pro advertisement that quickly caused a massive wave of negative backlash. Is it as bad as some of the comments? As a fan of retro hardware who doesn't like seeing it get destroyed, Kosta thinks so, while Jak is more on the fence and 'meh.'

And it wouldn't be an episode of The TT Show without GPU news, with all of the latest GeForce RTX 50 Series, Radeon, and Intel graphics talk bundled into a new section of the podcast called 'GPU Corner.' Speaking of new sections, Jak and Kosta play a round of Guess the Headline for some fun.

NVIDIA, the world's leading GPU manufacturer, has just wrapped up its first-quarter earnings report, announcing it has completely exceeded sale expectations, pushing the company's stock above the $1,000 per-share mark.

The new financial report unveiled a remarkable achievement for NVIDIA. The company's revenue for the first three months, which concluded in April, soared to an impressive $26 billion, surpassing the $24 billion expectation set in February. This is the third consecutive quarter where NVIDIA has tripled its sales from a year earlier, a testament to the company's meteoric rise.

The surge is largely attributed to the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence-powered systems by tech giants like Google, Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, and more, further solidifying NVIDIA's position as a key player in this domain.

Microsoft recently announced its Copilot+ artificial intelligence-powered tool that will be arriving on a range of new AI-powered laptops, and one the features of the new AI implementation is a Windows 11 feature called Recall.

The new Windows feature gives the PC a "photographic memory," which enables the user to travel back to a specific time on the PC. Turning on Recall will let a user retrieve their past activities on their PC, but for this feature to work, the user has to opt into Windows, taking a screenshot of their desktop every few minutes.

With these screenshots, or as Microsoft calls them, snapshots, users will be able to access the specific points in time, which Copilot+ will provide additional context on in the form of identifying objects within the screenshot, providing additional information, and more. Essentially, the tool is web browsing history, but for your whole PC. Notably, Microsoft states all of the screenshots the AI takes will be stored locally on the PC and won't be accessed by the company. Furthermore, users are free to delete any of the screenshots.

GALAX recently launched a single-slot GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB GPU that turned a few heads because it was so small and compact for a modern GPU in 2024. Now, the hardware maker and NVIDIA partner are back with a pair of 'Classic' branded compact GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER and RTX 4070 Ti SUPER graphics cards.

Like the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB, these GPUs feature a minimal, almost data center-like all-black design with a single blower fan - a throwback to the GPUs of yesteryear. This is probably why they are being called 'Classic' GPUs.

The dual-slot design makes these stand out, with both variants including the same cooling and physical design. Unlike other blower-fan designs, including GALAX's recent RTX 4060 Ti 16GB model, the heatsink looks to be partially exposed - so it's not a fully enclosed design with all air being pushed through the outtake vents on the rear.

If you've got an ASUS ROG Ally gaming handheld, you might want to check out the new Sabrent USB Type-C 3-Port Gaming Hub, which expands the device's on-the-go capabilities for just $16.99 USD.

It connects to the ROG XG Mobile Interface and USB Type-C combo port on the top of the handheld, giving you immediate USB expansion options with up to 100W USB-C upstream power delivery.

The Sabrent USB Type-C 3-Port Gaming Hub connects to the ROG Ally and includes two USB-A ports for connecting additional portable storage to the handheld or an extra device like a keyboard or mouse. In fact, as a powerful Windows 11 gaming handheld, you can connect a USB controller to play with the ROG Ally on a desk or table - like the Switch with detached JoyCons.

CD Projekt RED has launched the REDkit for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on PC, free for all owners of the game. The editor and toolset allow modders and players to create, edit, and modify various aspects of the game. From control over models and environments, there are even detailed cinematic tools and the ability to create brand-new questlines.

The Witcher 3 has a vibrant modding community on Nexus Mods, but this new update takes everything to the next level. It also adds Steam Workshop support so players can download and enable mods from the popular platform. Check out the tutorial video embedded below for a guide on installing The Witcher 3 mods via the Steam Workshop.

Having a complete game editor in the REDkit brings The Witcher 3 closer to Bethesda's iconic Skyrim in terms of what's possible. Skyrim's popularity has endured for over a decade, and the arrival of the RED Kit for The Witcher 3 could lead to a similar situation.

Valve, the creators of the iconic Half-Life, Portal, DOTA 2, and Team Fortress 2, release games so infrequently that if there's even a rumor on what it might be cooking up next - consider that major PC gaming news. Over the last few days, we've seen the PC gaming community come alive thanks to screenshots and information leaking for Valve's next big game - an Overwatch-style third-person shooter called Deadlock.

The game hasn't been officially announced, and Valve hasn't responded to the leaks or requests from outlets to confirm if the information is accurate. According to multiple sources, the 6v6 'hero shooter' is currently in the Closed Beta phase, so what we're seeing comes from an early version of the game and from players who are most likely breaking their NDA agreement with Valve.

Today, we've got our first look at the game in action, with a short clip showcasing Deadlock gameplay.

The MSI Claw Windows PC gaming handheld stands out from the competition because it uses the Intel Core Ultra 7 processor 155H with integrated Arc graphics and not the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme found in the likes of the ROG Ally from ASUS. This has led to a rocky start for the new handheld, with spotty and inconsistent gaming performance reported by those who went hands-on with a pre-release or launch version of the hardware.

Today, there's some very welcome news for MSI Claw early adopters. The company is releasing BIOS 109, which replaces BIOS 106, alongside a new version of the MSI Center M software. The latest BIOS and MSI Center M software deliver a massive 30% performance increase in titles like Forza Horizon 5.

Other popular games like Fortnite and Helldivers 2 see a sizeable 20% increase in performance with the new BIOS and MSI Center M software.

3DMark Steel Nomad is here, and it's free for all users. Check out our news story to see the 4K and Light versions of the new benchmark in action running on a GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER. Steel Nomad is the new Time Spy, a non-raytracing benchmark designed to push PC gaming hardware while showcasing modern visual effects and rendering technologies.

UL Solutions, the developers and publishers behind 3DMark, confirm that the new 4K 3DMark Steel Nomad benchmark is "roughly three times heavier for your PC than Time Spy, and almost seven times heavier than Fire Strike." Like 3DMark Time Spy, it's a cross-platform benchmark with support for Windows and Windows-on-Arm using the DirectX 12 and Vulkan APIs, Android using Vulkan, and iOS using Metal.

Alongside the launch of Steel Nomad, UL Solutions announced that since Time Spy debuted in 2016, the benchmark has been run almost 48 million times (runs from results submitted online). We also learn that average GPU performance has quadrupled in the eight years since Time Spy debuted.

3DMark Steel Nomad is the latest benchmark for joining the 3DMark suite. It's free for all current users and owners, including the free 3DMark Demo version. It's a milestone release from UL Solutions, following the popular Time Spy benchmark that launched in 2016.

3DMark Steel Nomad arrives in two versions: the baseline 3DMark Steel Nomad, which runs natively in 4K and is designed for 'high-end gaming PCs', and 3DMark Steel Nomad Light, which is for lightweight gaming PCs. Steel Nomad is a non-ray-tracing benchmark that includes new technologies like volumetric skies and procedural grass. It also includes advanced ambient occlusion and depth-of-field effects. UL Solutions notes that it's "roughly three times heavier for your PC than Time Spy, and almost seven times heavier than Fire Strike."

Watch the video above, captured with a GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER graphics card, to get a sense of the demo. As you'll notice, it's a definite GPU stress test as the high-end GeForce RTX GPU only manages to deliver frame rates in the 65-70 FPS region.

Noctua and its earthy-toned products are well-known among PC builders and modders. Noctua has created premium, quiet, stylish fans, and cooling solutions for many years. Noctua gear is highly sought after, and this has led to collaborations with companies like ASUS to create Noctua Edition GeForce RTX graphics cards and Drop to create Noctua-themed keyboard accessories.

Noctua's new HOME product line is a little different. It's designed for everything besides a PC, with "home, office, and multi-purpose ventilation" via two fan sets and nine modular accessories. This means you can install the new pivoting NV-FM1 Noctua fan mount with Noctua fans as a desk fan to keep you cool in the summer months or even mount it in the ceiling or on a wall.

One of the accessories is the new NV-AA1-12 airflow amplifier, designed for focused ventilation. The NV-MPG1-12 is a multi-purpose gasket for Noctua 120x25mm fans that the company says is ideal for "placing a fan on top of A/V receivers, DVRs, video game consoles, stereo equipment, routers, home radiators, or other devices."