The long wait for Capcom's highly-anticipated Monster Hunter Wilds is almost over as we're only a month away from its full release on February 28, 2025. However, Capcom has decided the stoke the fires of our anticipation even further by announcing a second Open Beta Test for Monster Hunter Wilds.

This Open Beta Test will take place on multiple occasions during February for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC players. It also will feature the return of an old-school monster that's been a part of the Monster Hunter franchise since its inception, the deceptively cunning Bird Wyvern, Gypceros.

Here's everything you need to know about the second Open Beta Test for Monster Hunter Wilds.

Open Beta Test content

The second Open Beta Test will contain all the content of Monster Hunter Wilds' first Open Beta Test. This includes the character creator, the introduction story mission that teaches you the basic controls, and a hunting mission where you must slay a Doshaguma. If you had already created a character and a Palico in the previous Open Beta Test, you will be allowed to transfer them over to the second Open Beta Test to save you the trouble of making new ones from scratch.

Ubisoft has shared new information about the fundamentals of Assassin's Creed Shadows' parkour system in a new blog post. Slated for a Feb. 14 release date, Assassin's Creed Shadows features two protagonists: the Shinobi, Naoe, and the Samurai, Yasuke. With Naoe proving to be the more nimble of the two leads, it only makes sense that the Shinobi is the highlight of the newly shared details about the changes to the series' much-loved parkour gameplay.

From the cathedrals of Italy to the pyramids of Egypt, Assassin's Creed has long served as a massive playground where gamers could experience historical districts via unconventional means. Parkour has cemented itself as an integral part of the Assassin's Creed series, and it should come as no surprise that it is also integral to Shadows' gameplay.

CES is home to some of the coolest, cutting-edge, and most innovative technology around. But within this sea of tech are always some pretty strange gadgets. This year’s conference was no different, packed with a whole bunch of wacky devices, some of which might have a chance of taking off, and others... maybe not so much.

 

Here’s a roundup of all the weird tech we spotted on the CES show floor and beyond.

1. Mirumi, the shy sloth-like robot

Image: Yukai Engineering

 

Mirumi is a furry little robot that latches onto your purse or backpack strap. It turns its head to look curiously around the room using built-in sensors. But much like an infant, Mirumi is designed to be a bit shy, so it might bury its face if it’s touched or approached by strangers. The company behind Mirumi, Yukai Engineering, plans to launch the bot through a crowdfunding campaign this year with an expected price of $70.

2. A phone battery charger that resembles a toaster

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

 

No, my colleague Allison Johnson isn’t sticking her phone in a toaster — that white box is actually a charging hub made by Swippitt. It’s designed to power up a series of external batteries that go into Swippitt’s Link phone case, giving your device a little extra charge. When your battery is on the verge of dying, insert your phone into the hub, and it will automatically swap out the external battery for one that’s fully charged, no cords or wireless charging stations needed.

3. This retractable keyboard

I never even thought I needed a keyboard that retracts to reveal a trackpad and number pad, and after seeing my colleague Sean Hollister use it... I still don’t think I need it. The AutoKeybo uses a built-in camera to detect the position of your hands and will automatically switch between setups when you raise them slightly. It’s supposed to help you “boost productivity” by saving you from moving your hands between your mouse and keyboard, and it comes with a pretty hefty $700 price tag.

4. An even more portable LG StanbyME display

LG is back with a second version of its portable StanbyME monitor. But this time, you can add a shoulder strap to the 27-inch monitor, letting you haul it around while on the go (or hang it up in a room). There’s even a new folio case that makes it look like an absurdly large tablet. Aside from the new accessories, the StanbyME comes with other upgrades over its predecessor, including a higher 1440p resolution, a longer four-hour battery life, and two USB-C ports.

5. SwitchBot’s modular, multitasking robot

 

SwitchBot made a modular robot capable of completing many different types of chores. Built on a version of SwitchBot’s mini robot vacuum, the Multitasking Household Robot K20 Plus Pro comes with a wheeled “FusionPlatform” that you can equip with various devices, like the company’s air purifier, fan, security camera, and more, allowing it to roll around your house while completing all kinds of tasks. It will be able to do even more in the future with the in-development robotic arms you can see in the video above.

6. An 18-karat gold smart ring

Image: Ultrahuman

 

Forget your traditional engagement ring. What about presenting your partner with an 18-karat gold smart ring? Well, Ultrahuman made just that, with its “artisanal” Rare ring, costing $1,900 in gold (or $2,200 in platinum). Aside from full access to all of Ultrahuman’s features and lifetime membership to its warranty program, this device has the same specs as the far cheaper $349 Ultrahuman Ring Air — just in a far more expensive package.

7. LG’s air purifier your cat can sit on

The LG AeroCatTower is exactly what it sounds like: an air purifier that doubles as a cat tree. In addition to providing a heated spot for your feline friend, it filters out pet dander and even weighs your cat, too. The AeroCatTower connects to the LG ThinQ app, where you can see information about your cat’s weight and track how long your cat was asleep.

8. The “world’s first wearable solar panel”

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

 

This jacket from Anker is still just a concept for now, but it gives off real Cyberpunk 2077 vibes with its LED light strips and perovskite solar cells wrapped around the outside of the cloak. It offers a 30W maximum input, along with a USB-C output you can use to charge your phone.

9. LG’s indoor gardening side table

Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

 

Like LG’s AeroCatTower, the company’s latest take on indoor gardening combines multiple functions in a single package. The device looks similar to your typical side table, but it features a lamp you can grow plants beneath. It also automatically waters your plants using its built-in tank and has a built-in speaker. LG made a taller, lamp-style garden as well.

10. Encapsulated anime girls that talk to you

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

 

This is exactly what it looks like: a pod containing 3D models of dancing anime girls. But it doesn’t have to house anime girls; you can upload any character to Character Livehouse’s 1200p display, and it will use AI to interact with you. The capsule comes equipped with cameras and microphones with sound recognition, allowing the character to detect your presence. Code 27, the company behind Character Livehouse, says the model can cheer you on in games and even “gently” wake you up. It’s headed to Kickstarter soon with a price range of $400 to $500.

 

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Key notes

• Microsoft plans 2025 layoffs targeting underperformers but will backfill roles.
• The company faced significant layoffs in 2024, mainly in gaming and cloud divisions.
• Experts, however, predict that the US tech industry will experience growth in 2025.

Microsoft is reportedly planning for more layoffs in 2025 as a part of its performance management strategy.

Business Insider has exclusively revealed that Redmond’s next job cuts will affect various divisions, including its Security unit. As part of the initiative, the layoffs will target underperforming employees. The company, however, often replaces these roles that were cut due to underperformance to keep its workforce size steady.

“We are always working on helping people learn and grow. When people are not performing, we take the appropriate action,” Redmond’s spokesperson said, albeit refusing to pinpoint the number of jobs that are cut.

Microsoft had considerable job cuts throughout 2024, which mostly affected its gaming department in what was a challenging time for the tech industry.

In January, it cut 1,900 jobs in its gaming division following the Activision Blizzard acquisition, with Blizzard’s president stepping down. By May, it shut down several game studios under Bethesda, and in June, layoffs extended to its Azure cloud business. Most recently, in September, 650 more gaming division jobs were cut, adding to the earlier reductions.

But experts predict that the tech industry, at least in the US, will experience growth in 2025 after the rise of AI-driven hiring priorities.

Companies are moving from high-volume to quality-focused recruitment, with increased demand for AI and full-stack engineering skills. Hiring is becoming more global, with a rise in contractor roles as a cost-saving strategy.

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The simple Parkour Up button is making a return in Assassin's Creed Shadows, letting players step on the "gas pedal" to climb up a structure as fast as possible. As expected, the game's shinobi protagonist, Naoe, is much more nimble than Yasuke, letting her jump further and climb higher than the samurai protagonist.

"There are two main ways to parkour down" says Associate Game Director Simon, describing the opposite action "The classic way is to press the dodge / parkour down button near a ledge without directional input: your character will climb down and hold that ledge in climbing position. The second—and flashier way—is to perform a directional dodge over that ledge, which launches a variety of acrobatic transitions. "

Other than just for getting around faster, sprinting is a useful getaway or catchup mechanic for both protagonists. However, once again, the armored-up Yasuke has a disadvantage in this space.

Aside from being faster, Naoe also has the new Spring Dodge ability that lets her leap over and clear objects in a single dive-roll action. While doing this, she will dodge any incoming projectiles too, offering plenty of action-movie-like getaways.

Meanwhile, Yasuke's sprint is much more destructive, letting him automatically shoulder charge and bash through destructible objects that would have blocked Naoe.

Naoe's movement is also amplified by her use of the grappling hook, which is now a physics-based system. "Any proper shinobi game needs its grappling hook." says Simon. "We worked hard to ensure that the physics of our grappling hook make it a natural part extension of Naoe's overall parkour flow, allowing her to climb and swing with grace and ease."

The grapple lets Naoe quickly ascend to high ledges, swing from grapple points to cross gaps, and even wall run using it.

Ubisoft is also putting in some advanced parkour moves this time, though only for Naoe. This includes directional dodges while being prone, wall run jumps, and even a stealthy and stylish way to jump off ledges by doing a flip.

The developer added that while most of Assassin's Creed Shadows' terrain and buildings will be climbable, surfaces without handholds will not be accessible to either character, keeping some gameplay elements balanced.

"This is a pretty big deal for us," says Simon. "This means we had to be more thoughtful about creating interesting parkour highways and afforded us more control about where Naoe can go, and where Yasuke can't, making our two playstyles even more contrasted."

Assassin's Creed Shadows is out February 14, 2025, across PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.

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At CES 2025, AI is everywhere—just as expected—in the CPU and GPU announcements from the major players in the biz, where every last company is touting how their processors will be the end-all, be-all of AI-driven productivity. Never mind if you don’t know your Stable Diffusion from your DeepL Translate: Your next PC is going to be tuned for all of it.

Need help making sense of it all? We sifted through the keynotes and other announcements from the four big chipmakers at CES this year to get the lowdown on what’s in store for the PC space in the months to come. It’s all digested below but, spoiler alert, every one of them says their chips are going to be the fastest and bestest on the market.

As a foreword, note that we’re not delving into non-PC announcements here, including things like the Snapdragon Digital Chassis for automotive platforms, Nvidia’s homegrown AI foundational model Cosmos, or chips specifically designed for use in robotics or various smart home technologies.

Intel

Intel has launched a glut of new Core and Core Ultra processors—a total of eight different series across three major product lines—along with some minor upgrades to existing chips. While Intel is in the unenviable position of playing catch-up to much of the market on performance, its efficiency-focused messaging isn’t overwhelmingly convincing that things are going to change quickly—though it does have some muscle hitting the market. Here’s what’s new, and you can get the full low-down from Intel here.

Intel Core Ultra 200U/H/HX Series

Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 (Arrow Lake) launched in October to a collective groan. The chips were supposed to make Intel competitive with other platforms, but for the most part performance was static over the previous generation of Core Ultra chips, with particularly weak gaming performance. They also aren’t Copilot+ PCs: Only Intel’s Lunar Lake–based machines are able to be classified as Copilot+ PC systems, thanks to their improved neural processing unit.

The new Core Ultra laptop chips target gamers and enthusiasts (200HX), premium laptops (200H), and ultralights (200U)—with a total of 15 new SKUs announced across the Ultra 5, 7, and 9 series. Chips will have between 10 and 24 cores and do not have memory on the die. Only the 200H line will use Intel’s upscaled integrated Arc graphics; the others will opt for lower-end silicon (though 200HX systems will surely pair the chip with discrete graphics processing).

As they’re built on Arrow Lake and not the newer Lunar Lake, all three new chips will still miss out on Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC designation. Despite boasting overall performance of 99 TOPS, the NPUs on these chips won’t have enough juice to hit the requirement of 40 TOPS (Trillions of Operations Per Second) delivered on their own. For what it’s worth, Intel’s messaging strongly stresses that “TOPS alone does not define AI performance.”

Intel Core 200S/200H/100U

This series is a desktop-class chip collection denoted by the lack of an “Ultra” in the name. The 200S is a new design, formally code-named Bartlett Lake, while the 200H and 100U are updates of the 13th- and 14th-generation Intel Core “Raptor Lake” platform, which launched in October 2022. Intel didn't share much on what distinguishes these chips or where they’re likely to end up.

Intel Twin Lake

Codenamed Twin Lake, the Intel Core 3 and the Intel (no model name) processor are both very low-power chips (as low as 6 watts) targeted at “low-power, low-cost edge systems.” Imagine these showing up in bare-bones laptops and embedded systems like storage devices, televisions, and so on.

Intel Core Ultra 200V

This is an existing Lunar Lake chip that is getting Intel vPro features, which is an enterprise management and security system.

Qualcomm

Qualcomm had a lot of news, but its PC-centric announcement list was relatively tame, limited to these two updates. Complete details can be found here.

Qualcomm Snapdragon X

This is the fourth platform in the Snapdragon series and the lowest cost of them all, designed to be installed in Copilot+ PCs in the rock-bottom $600 range. It’s a single-SKU, 8-core chip with stated performance of 45 TOPS. Qualcomm is also targeting mini desktop PCs with this chip for the first time. Devices are expected in “early 2025.”

Better Native App Support on Qualcomm PCs

Snapdragon Copilot+ PCs famously can’t run a number of applications, including most VPN software and various cloud storage apps. That’s been changing in recent weeks (many of these apps are now in beta), and Qualcomm says it’s only going to get better.

AMD

Given AMD’s recent gains in the market—it has over a third of the x86 market today—I was expecting some big news from the chipmaker, but that wasn’t the case. AMD announced a handful of new CPUs in a fairly no-nonsense presentation focused largely on its performance leadership and how much the company loved video games. Notably absent at the keynote: No announcement or even much of a mention of new Radeon GPUs, though a new series was revealed after the presentation. (About half of the presentation was dedicated to corporate devices and the company’s many enterprise partnerships.)

Here’s what’s coming, all in Q1 and Q2 of 2025. Complete details can be found here and here.

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

This is AMD’s fastest and most advanced CPU to date, featuring 16 or 12 cores and purpose-built for creators and (especially) gamers. AMD says the new chip will provide an average 8 percent performance boost on gaming framerates and a 10 percent improvement on other tasks.

AMD Ryzen AI 5, AI 7, and AI Max

The Ryzen AI chip isn’t an NPU but rather a CPU that’s tuned for overall performance, including AI workloads. The first Ryzen AI CPU—the Ryzen AI 300—launched in late 2024, and a collection of much faster follow-ups are arriving soon, topping out at the Ryzen AI Max (available in seven different SKUs). With up to 16 cores and support for 128 GB of memory, AMD says the AI Max offers NPU performance of 50 TOPS. AMD naturally says the Max is embarrassingly fast at all kinds of tasks—and boldly says it can compete with the Apple M4 CPU on some of them. Ryzen AI chips are also set to show up in mini PC designs.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 Series

AMD hasn’t revealed much detail about what would distinguish its latest GPU, except that the 9070 line is targeted at midrange users. More notable is that AMD’s naming scheme is evolving to align more closely with how Nvidia names its products. The 9070 and 9070 XT are coming this quarter.

Nvidia

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took to the stage in a sparkly jacket and spent close to two hours outlining the company’s upcoming plans—and as expected it’s virtually all about AI. But rather little of the keynote covered Nvidia’s bread-and-butter GPUs, which include this new stuff. Complete details can be found here and here.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 50 series

Surprising no one, Nvidia announced a new graphics processor, the GeForce RTX 50 series. On the desktop, these GPUs will launch at the end of January 2025. The big advance is a technology called Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) 4 and Multi Frame Generation, which uses AI techniques to generate part of the pixel stream instead of doing so via brute force tactics, dramatically improving performance. Huang says the new graphics card has up to 4,000 TOPS of AI power. The top-tier card in the series—the 5090—will run a mere $1,999.

The RTX 50 series is also being shrunk down for laptop implementations, starting in March 2025. You’ll get a bit less than half the performance from the mobile version vs. the desktop, but Huang says AI will ensure your laptop won’t melt while you’re using it. Prices for RTX 50-equipped laptops will run up to $2,899, providing a maximum power of 1,850 AI TOPS.

Nvidia GB10

This is the backbone for Nvidia Project Digits, “a personal AI supercomputer” that will bring Nvidia’s Blackwell AI platform to the masses. Want to run inference on your desktop, offline? Digits and the GB10 “AI superchip” are going to make that possible—with 1 petaflop (1,000 TOPS) of performance. The system will cost a minimum of $3,000, with availability in May 2025.

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We now know a tiny bit about one of the year's biggest upcoming games.

As part of its CES 2025 briefing, NVIDIA shared footage from a number of games benefitting from the latest technology in the 50-series graphics cards. One exciting tidbit that got buried under the chatter around the new graphics card lineup? Bethesda Softworks and id Software's DOOM: The Dark Ages will not only support DLSS 4 but will also feature path tracing.

You can check out the brief bit of new game footage for DOOM: The Dark Ages in the video below:

Qualcomm teased it was about to enter the mini desktop PC space yesterday, and now Lenovo is announcing two mini PCs that cater to consumers and businesses. Both the ThinkCentre neo 50q and IdeaCentre Mini x will include Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series chips, enabling Copilot Plus PC features in a desktop form factor.

 

The IdeaCentre Mini x is a 1-liter mini PC that’s designed for creatives who want a desktop that’s quiet and capable of productivity tasks. It comes with a built-in power supply and an easy-to-open case so you can swap components. It’s not a fan-less mini PC, though, as it has two fans inside to keep things cool.

 

Lenovo’s IdeaCentre Mini x has Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon X series chips inside.

Image: Lenovo

 

At the front, there’s a single USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port and a single USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, alongside a headphone jack and a power button. At the rear, Lenovo has equipped its IdeaCentre Mini x PC with two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a single USB-A 2.0 port, a USB-C 4 port, a HDMI 2.1 port, a DisplayPort 1.4 connection, and an ethernet port. 

 

The IdeaCentre Mini x can be configured with either a base Snapdragon X chip or the Snapdragon X Plus, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of storage. Lenovo is using the latest Wi-Fi 7 connectivity inside the IdeaCentre Mini x, too.

 

Lenovo’s ThinkCentre neo 50q is designed for small and medium businesses.

Image: Lenovo

 

Lenovo’s ThinkCentre neo 50q is designed for small and medium businesses, and it has a similar set of specs. The ThinkCentre neo 50q will also be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chip or the X Plus, with up to 16GB of RAM instead of the 32GB found on the IdeaCentre Mini x. At the front of the ThinkCentre mini PC, there is a single USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port, a single USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, and a headphone jack and power button. At the rear, there are two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, two USB-A 2.0 ports, a HDMI 2.1 port, a DisplayPort 1.4 connection, and an ethernet port. Lenovo has also equipped the ThinkCentre neo 50q with Wi-Fi 6E connectivity, instead of the Wi-Fi 7 support available on the IdeaCentre Mini x.

 

While the IdeaCentre Mini x looks like the better option both in terms of optional specs and design, it will also be priced lower than the ThinkCentre mini PC. The IdeaCentre Mini x will be available starting in April, with an expected starting price of $659.99. Lenovo’s ThinkCentre neo 50q QC will be available slightly earlier in February, with a starting price expected at $849.

 

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After months of rumors and speculations, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang officially announced (YouTube) the RTX 50 series, including its flagship GeForce RTX 5090, the RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070. There’s no mention of RTX 5060 series, it’s expected to come some months later.

The flagship RTX 5090 graphics card comes with 92 billion transistors. The series comes with optimized streaming multiprocessor with more throughput, better Tensor Cores integration with improved neural shaders performance. It also comes with new RT Cores with 2X the ray triangle intersection rate and enhanced compression to reduce VRAM usage.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 50 series also comes with GDDR7 graphics card memory (VRAM), first in consumer graphics cards.

Nvidia also announced DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation. But more on that later.

RTX 5090 & Others Specs

First the specs.

Some specs comparison.

RTX 5090 vs RTX 4090

RTX 5080 vs RTX 4080 Super

RTX 5070 Ti vs RTX 4070 Ti Super

RTX 5070 vs RTX 4070 Super

*Unconfirmed.

Performance

When it comes to performance, Nvidia claims that all these graphics cards, that is RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 are 2X or twice the speed of their previous-gen versions. How? All thanks to DLSS 4.

Click on the slides to look at them.

It must be mentioned that these are just marketing slides. One shouldn’t take them at face value until the reviews are publicly out.

During the keynote, Jensen Huang made an interesting claim.

He claimed that RTX 5070 will perform as fast as RTX 4090 at significantly reduced price. However, what he didn’t say specifically, is that he most likely meant it with DLSS 4 enabled on RTX 5070 compared to RTX 4090 without any DLSS. So point remains. Wait for reviews.

But what about DLSS 4. Let’s read about it.

DLSS 4 With Multi Frame Generation

Nvidia also announced RTX 50 series / RTX 5000 exclusive DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation. While DLSS 3 inserted a single frame between two frames, DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation generates up to three additional frames per one traditionally rendered frame. This allows the frame rate to increase massively, up to 8X the rendered frame rate.

75 Games & Apps will immediately support the new DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation at the launch day itself.

Massive DLSS Upgrades For All RTX Graphics Cards

Not only that, Nvidia has also upgraded it’s DLSS Frame Generation, DLSS Ray Reconstruction, DLSS Super Resolution, and DLAA. With all cards that support them, including all previous-gen RTX cards to benefit from it.

For example, Nvidia claims that the new DLSS Frame Generation AI model is 40% faster & uses 30% less VRAM.

Nvidia has switched from Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to DLSS transformer model, it generates pixels that offer greater stability, reduced ghosting, higher detail in motion, and smoother edges in a scene. In other words, higher quality DLSS, faster and less VRAM consuming. Including in Ray Tracing.

Additionally, Nvidia has announced Reflex 2 for all RTX graphics cards. It will further lower the latency by up to 75%.

Price And Release Date

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 will cost $1,999 and release on 30th January. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 will release along with it and cost $999.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti will cost $749, while Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 will cost $549. Both of them will be available starting February.

The reviews from all the reviewers should be available on their release dates or around them.

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AMD’s Ryzen X3D based CPUs remain one of the most exciting CPUs in recent times. What started with Ryzen 5800X3D, later succeeded with Ryzen 7800X3D and Ryzen 9800X3D, has made sure that AMD releases the tech in other CPUs too.

So AMD Ryzen 7950X3D and Ryzen 7900X3D were announced two years ago with X3D cache on one chip and usual L3 cache on another. This helps those who want gaming and productivity in one CPU.

Today, AMD has officially announced their successors, the 9950X3D & Ryzen 9900X3D.

Ryzen 9950X3D & Ryzen 9900X3D Announced

In a keynote, AMD officially announced (YouTube) the Ryzen 9950X3D & Ryzen 9900X3D CPUs.

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D comes with 16 cores, 32 threads, boost clock of 5.7, total 144MB cache and 170W TDP.

AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D comes with 12 cores, 24 threads, boost clock of 5.5, total 140MB cache and 120W TDP.

Both the CPUs will have two chipsets, with 3D V-Cache / X3D cache being available only on one chip.

Specs

Lets us look at the specs compared to previous-gen CPUs.

As one can see, hardly any difference in specs except slightly newer TSMC process and other small things. But can that transform into performance.

Performance

AMD has made big claims when it comes to the performance of the Ryzen 9950X3D. It claims to be the world’s fastest 16-core CPU.

In gaming performance, AMD claims that the Ryzen 9950X3D is on average 8% faster than Ryzen 7950X3D and 20% faster than Intel Core Ultra 9 285K when tested at 1080p.

In productivity performance, AMD claims that the Ryzen 9950X3D is on average 13% faster than Ryzen 7950X3D and 10% faster than Intel Core Ultra 9 285K.

Release Date & Pricing

Both AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D & AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D are going to release in March this year. Pricing isn’t announced yet for these products. But just like Ryzen 7 9800X3D, expect them to be higher than previous-gen CPUs.

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The LG UltraFine 6K monitor boasts a minimal design and minimum bezels all around. It has a rectangular slab-like design and a stand that may remind you of the Apple Studio display. It uses a Nano IPS Black panel with 6K resolution, aimed at delivering stunning color accuracy and deep contrast. The new LG monitor also boasts an impressive color range covering 99.5% of Adobe RGB and 98% of the DCI-P3 color spectrum.

It could be an ideal choice for photographers, video editors, and designers. To ensure precise color performance and accuracy, the monitor also comes with calibration support software. It will allow users to tweak granular color settings for precision tasks.

The main highlight of the product is the integration of Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, something that Apple introduced with its new M4 Pro Mac mini and M4 Pro MacBook Pro models, which launched in November last year. Thunderbolt 5 offers normal bi-directional data speeds of 80Gbps, along with omni-direction bandwidth speeds of up to 120Gbps for the best display experience. It also features double the PCI Express data throughput for faster storage and external graphics.

LG hasn't revealed other important details about the display, such as the refresh rate, but given the inclusion of Thunderbolt 5, it is highly likely that LG may not stick with a 60Hz refresh rate.

Source: CES (LG)

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The first laptop with the RTX 50 lineup will be available in March in Max-Q format (Nvidia's brand for mobile GPUs in thin and relatively light laptops). Nvidia says customers can expect over 40% better battery life and double the performance of the previous-gen RTX 40 models, namely the RTX 5080 Laptop vs the RTX 4080 Laptop.

Energy efficiency improvements were made possible thanks to various architectural changes, such as the ability to quickly toggle off unused parts of the graphics card and a more capable low-power state, which allows the GPU to operate at low power in more scenarios. There are also improvements to clock optimization for different loads and more energy-efficient GDDR7 memory.

Like the desktop counterpart, the mobile RTX 50 Series consists of four models: the RTX 5090 Laptop, the RTX 5080 Laptop, the RTX 5070 Ti Laptop, and the RTX 5070 Laptop. Below is a quick summary of their specs:

Despite having lower specs than the desktop lineup, the RTX 50 Laptop series features the same new features, such as full DLSS 4 support, Reflex 2, DisplayPort 2.1b support, fourth-generation RT cores and other changes under the hood.

Laptops with the RTX 50 graphics cards will be available in March, except for the RTX 5070 models, which will arrive in April.

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Nadella is on his India visit and announced the latest investment plans at the Microsoft AI Tour conference in Bengaluru. The tech giant also shared a comprehensive plan to give AI training to over 10 million people by 2030.

This builds on the announcement from early 2024 when Microsoft promised to offer AI training to over 2 million people by 2025. Microsoft surpassed its target by training over 2.4 million people in under a year. It was noted that women comprised about 65% of the participants, whereas 74% of participants came from tier II and tier III cities.

The company also saw a year-on-year increase of 122% in Indian members adding AI skills to their LinkedIn profiles, compared to 71% globally.

Microsoft has already been an early adopter of AI technology. It's a big backer of OpenAI, whose generative AI bot ChatGPT has been making rounds since 2022 (read about the major ChatGPT features from 2024).

Meanwhile, India is becoming a hotspot for technological development with its massive population and cheap internet. For instance, Apple started manufacturing its products in the country. Meta's ambitious $10 billion W-shaped internet cable planned to wrap around the world will have India as one of its touch points. India-specific features have also been added to popular apps and services.

While Microsoft plans to build its fourth datacenter facility in India by 2026, it already has over 300 datacenters spread across 34 countries. Its facilities in Hyderabad and Pune regions employ over 90 people. In a previous report, the company projected that 289 full-time employees and contractors will work across all operational facilities in India by the end of 2026.

Apart from that, Microsoft Research (MSR) Lab announced a new AI Innovation network to boost the AI ecosystem in India and "accelerate the transition from research to real, usable business solutions." MSR is working with the educational technology company Physics Wallah on math reasoning and is in ongoing discussions with other digital natives on topics such as optimizing Indic LLMs, prompt optimization, and reinforcement learning.

Source: Microsoft

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Nvidia had an impressive slate of CES 2025 announcements. Next-generation RTX 50 Series graphics cards that feature new tech like RTX Neural Shaders for reduced VRAM use, alongside gaming laptops with far less power draw and more. On the software side, Nvidia also had a major announcement for its Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology, which is being upgraded to version 4.

The biggest new feature of this version of DLSS is Multi Frame Generation. Coming as an upgrade for DLSS 3's Frame Generation, this new implementation can generate up to three frames using data from a standard "brute-force rendering" frame. Nvidia says this can improve frame rates of PC games by up to 800%.

Check out DLSS 4's Multi Frame Generation in action in the Cyberpunk 2077 comparison video below, though it doesn't show much motion in the footage.

Nvidia is also touting this fourth-generation implementation as the "biggest upgrade to its AI models since the release of DLSS 2.0 in 2020." It says DLSS Ray Reconstruction, DLSS Super Resolution, and DLAA are now all powered by transformer models similar to what AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini use. Per the company, this will allow for better image quality, less ghosting, and better details for these technologies while in motion.

As expected, the new GeForce RTX 50 Series will receive the full package of DLSS 4 features, with DLSS Multi Frame Generation being an exclusive technology for the line. However, enhancements made to previous DLSS elements will still reach other Nvidia customers. See the image below for a full rundown:

When DLSS 4 launches later this year, 75 games and apps will have support from day on. This includes Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Hogwarts Legacy, Cyberpunk 2077, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, Star Wars Outlaws, Marvel Rivals, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and many more.

For DLSS 4 unsupported games, RTX 50 Series users will also be able to use a new DLSS Override function on the Nvidia App to upgrade regular Frame Generation to Multi Frame Generation.

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Thus the RTX 5080 and 5070 respectively have 16GB and 12GB VRAM buffers despite all the criticisms from the tech press as modern high quality textures as well as ray tracing effects eat up a lot of the frame buffer.

However, Nvidia says lack of VRAM should not be a problem this time around as the company is debuting a new range of technologies to solve such issues under the ambit of "RTX Neural Shaders".

RTX Neural Shaders are essentially programmable shaders super-charged with the power of neural networks to help in various aspects of efficient game asset rendering. Texture compression is one such area and according to Nvidia, its new RTX Neural Texture Compression (RNTC) technology has the capability to compress "thousands of textures" within a minute thus saving up to seven times more GPU memory or system memory than traditional ways.

In its blog post, Nvidia writes:

RTX Neural Texture Compression uses AI to compress thousands of textures in less than a minute. Their neural representations are stored or accessed in real time or loaded directly into memory without further modification. The neurally compressed textures save up to 7x more VRAM or system memory than traditional block compressed textures at the same visual quality.

Aside from RNTC, the new RTX Neural Shader also introduces RTX Neural Materials (RNM) for in-game high-quality material processing and RTX Neural Radiance Cache (RNRC) for faster path tracing.

Here are the specs of the Nvidia RTX 5090, 5080, 5070 Ti and 5070:

In terms of performance, Nvidia says that the RTX 5090 can deliver twice the output of the RTX 4090 and the former has received a price bump since it has been pegged at $1999 compared to the 4090's launch MSRP of $1599.

However, that isn't the case with the RTX 5080 as it costs half that of the 5090 and thus is $200 cheaper than what the 4080 debuted at. These will be available starting January 30.

Meanwhile, the RTX 5070 Ti and 5070 are priced at $749 and $549 respectively and will be on shelves starting in February. This is what AMD's new RX 9070 XT and 9070 will likely be competing against.

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During a segment of customer testimonies at the AMD presentation, Dell's Sam Burd joined AMD's Jack Huynh on stage and the two talked about the newly formed AMD-Dell partnership.

While discussing upcoming industry changes and trends, Burd expressed his excitement about the new Copilot+ AI PCs, as a large number of systems that are on Windows 10 currently will no longer be supported and also won't be able to upgrade as they won't meet the system requirements; and as such, Dell hopes such system owners will choose to buy new Copilot+ PCs.

Sam Burd said:

We believe upgrading to AI PCs is gonna pay dividends in productivity. You think about it, there's a massive installed base of 1.5 billion PCs many of which don't meet the hardware requirements to run Windows 11. So customers that are thinking about refreshing see a world where AI is evolving faster than anyone expected and the world's greatest productivity device, the PC is poised to play a pivotal role in the AI revolution.

 

... but we've got to make it easier for CIOs to deploy AI models at scale on PCs and as we spend time with customers, we see how complex this process is today... so we are making it easier to get AI running on PCs with Dell Pro AI Studio

In a press release, Dell has touted how its new Dell Pro AI Studio can reduce deployment time by as much as 75%. The new Dell Pro AI Studio is part of the company's suite of AI deployment tools called the Dell AI Factory:

Dell is making AI development on PCs easy with the Dell Pro AI Studio, the industry’s most comprehensive AI toolkit leveraging NPU technology. ... This is expected to reduce development and deployment time by as much as 75%, going from six months to as little as six weeks.

If you recall, Microsoft had already put forth its stance previously as it officially recommends a new PC for those who want to update to Windows 11 from an old system, following which the company also recently confirmed that the requirements for Windows 11 are not being relaxed.

ESET recently expressed concern about the subject and also suggested that users on unsupported Windows 10 PCs switch to Linux instead to stay protected.

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BMW Month invites you to discover how the racetrack serves as a laboratory for the world-famous German manufacturer, where it develops new technology and pushes the boundaries of automotive engineering.

 

Experience the legacy and present-day prestige of BMW Motorsport in the BMW Tour, featuring four distinct series of races for you to complete: Early M, BMW Motorsport GT, Modern M, and BMW Motorsport Endurance.

Besides BMW-themed events, Update 16 brings balancing changes for Features Multiplayer Spec Series, namely tuning adjustments to the existing 2023 Cadillac #01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, 2021 Cadillac #31 Whelen Racing DPi-V.R, 2024 Porsche #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, and 2020 Acura #6 ARX-05 DPi cars. You can find the complete list of balance changes for each vehicle in the release notes for Update 16.

Developers improved cockpit audio for the 2021 Porsche 911 GT3 and the overall sounds of the 2002 Ferrari Enzo. Also, they restored some tracks and locations to their original in-game branding. Those include Homestead-Miami Speedway, Hakone, Maple Valley, and Homespace.

All Forza Motorsport players can now access the following cars in the Showroom:

• 2023 BMW #25 BMW Team RLL M Hybrid V8
• 2020 Formula Drift #91 BMW M2
• 2010 BMW M6 Coupe
• 2009 BMW M5
• 2008 BMW M3
• 2003 BMW M5

Finally, all players will receive a free Mobil 1 50th Anniversary Gold Livery for the 2023 Cadillac #01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R. The game will notify you with an in-game message, allowing you to claim the livery in the "My Designs" menu.

The next Forza Motorsport update is coming in February with a series focusing on Daily Racers. It will showcase modern cars "that only show their true potential once unleashed onto the track."

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On Monday, Nvidia announced Project DIGITS, a small desktop computer aimed at researchers, data scientists, and students who want to experiment with AI models—such as chatbots like ChatGPT and image generators—at home. The $3,000 device, which contains Nvidia's new GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, debuted at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. It will launch in May and can operate as a standalone PC or connect to a Windows or Mac machine.

At CES on Monday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described the new system as "a cloud computing platform that sits on your desk." The company also designed Project DIGITS as a bridge between desktop development and cloud deployment. Developers can create and test AI applications locally on Project DIGITS, then move them to cloud services or data centers that use similar Nvidia hardware.

The GB10 chip inside the Project DIGITS computer combines an Nvidia Blackwell GPU with a 20-core Grace CPU based on Arm architecture. Nvidia developed the chip in partnership with MediaTek, and it connects to 128GB of memory and up to 4TB of storage inside the Project DIGITS enclosure.

Running AI models locally

Currently, many people use AI models that must run on remote data centers due to their computational requirements. Over time, there has been a movement to slim down some AI models so they can run effectively on local, personally owned hardware. Project DIGITS can provide some of that capability at home.

A single Project DIGITS unit can reportedly run AI models with up to 200 billion parameters, while two linked units can handle models with 405 billion parameters. In AI models, parameter count roughly corresponds to an AI model's neural network size and complexity, with more parameters requiring more memory and computational power to run. Also, parameter size approximates AI model capability, though different-sized AI models perform differently depending on how they were trained and architected.

Some smaller open-weights AI language models (such as Llama 3.1 70B, with 70 billion parameters) and various AI image-synthesis models like Flux.1 dev (12 billion parameters) could probably run comfortably on Project DIGITS, but larger open models like Llama 3.1 405B, with 405 billion parameters, may not. Given the recent explosion of smaller AI models, a creative developer could likely run quite a few interesting models on the unit.

DIGITS' 128GB of unified RAM is notable because a high-power consumer GPU like the RTX 4090 has only 24GB of VRAM. Memory serves as a hard limit on AI model parameter size, and more memory makes room for running larger local AI models.

The system runs on Nvidia's Linux-based DGX OS operating system and includes access to Nvidia's AI software tools, such as the NeMo framework (which aids AI model development) and RAPIDS libraries (used by developers to create AI applications). Users can also run common AI development tools like PyTorch, Python, and Jupyter notebooks.

How does Project DIGITS stack up to other local AI options? NVIDIA says its new computer starts at $3,000, which means a fully maxed-out unit could cost considerably more. In a news release from October, Apple wrote that a Mac with an M4 Max chip can feature up to 128GB of unified memory and potentially run AI models up to 200 billion parameters in size, similar to the Project DIGITS computer.

Right now, a MacBook Pro with an M4 Max and 128GB of unified memory sells for about $4,699 in the US, making DIGITS potentially comparable in price and AI capability, though the true differences in AI performance would have to be revealed in lab testing.

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After ditching the traditional Dell XPS laptop look in favor of the polarizing design of the XPS 13 Plus released in 2022, Dell is killing the XPS branding that has become a mainstay for people seeking a sleek, respectable, well-priced PC.

This means that there won't be any more Dell XPS clamshell ultralight laptops, 2-in-1 laptops, or desktops. Dell is also killing its Latitude, Inspiron, and Precision branding, it announced today.

Moving forward, Dell computers will have either just Dell branding, which Dell’s announcement today described as “designed for play, school, and work,” Dell Pro branding “for professional-grade productivity,” or be Dell Pro Max products, which are “designed for maximum performance." Dell will release Dell and Dell Pro-branded displays, accessories, and "services," it said. The Pro Max line will feature laptops and desktop workstations with professional-grade GPU capabilities as well as a new thermal design.

Dell claims its mid-tier Pro line emphasizes durability, “withstanding three times as many hinge cycles, drops, and bumps from regular use as competitor devices.” The statement is based on “internal analysis of multiple durability tests performed" on the Dell Pro 14 Plus (released today) and HP EliteBook 640 G11 laptops conducted in November. Also based on internal testing conducted in November, Dell claims its Pro PCs boost "airflow by 20 percent, making these Dell’s quietest commercial laptops ever.”

Within each line are base models, Plus models, and Premium models. In a blog post, Kevin Terwilliger, VP and GM of commercial, consumer, and gaming PCs at Dell, explained that Plus models offer “the most scalable performance” and Premium models offer "the ultimate in mobility and design.”

By those naming conventions, old-time Dell users could roughly equate XPS laptops with new Dell Premium products.

“The Dell portfolio will expand later this year to include more AMD and Snapdragon X Series processor options," Terwilliger wrote. "We will also introduce new devices in the base tier, which offers everyday devices that provide effortless use and practical design, and the Premium tier, which continues the XPS legacy loved by consumers and prosumers alike."

Meanwhile, Dell Pro base models feel like Dell’s now-defunct Latitude lineup, while its Precision workstations may best align with 2025’s Dell Pro Max offerings.

Dell will maintain its Alienware line of gaming PCs and peripherals (Dell acquired Alienware in 2006).

Dell’s reasoning

In a press release, Dell looked to explain the changes, arguing that more “unified branding” will make it “easier and faster to find the right PCs, accessories, and services.”

The new marketing tactics also align with Dell's (and virtually every other PC brand’s) efforts to push so-called “AI PCs” onto consumers. Per Terwilliger:

The AI PC market is quickly evolving. Silicon innovation is at its strongest and everyone from IT decision makers to professionals and everyday users are looking at on-device AI to help drive productivity and creativity. To make finding the right AI PC easy for customers, we’ve introduced three simple product categories to focus on core customer needs…

Keen eyes may have seen this coming. In addition to overhauling the XPS lineup to a polarizing design—including a borderless haptic touchpad, lattice-free keyboard, and capacitive touch function row—in early 2024, Dell also discontinued the XPS 17, XPS 15, and XPS 2-in-1 detachable last year.

The 2024 XPS laptop lineup: 13-inch, 14-inch, and 16-inch.

Credit: Scharon Harding

On the other hand, Dell’s XPS lines, as well as its business lines, have become popular go-tos for consumer and business users seeking reliable performance and pricing. For the unaffiliated, it may not have been immediately obvious why one should buy an XPS over a Latitude. But after a small amount of research and years of Dell pushing these differentiated lines, many technologists had become well accustomed to Dell's branding, what each line broadly represented, and the type of users each line targeted.

The new product line names are also pretty similar to one another and to the naming of the sub-tiers. Moving to Standard, Pro, and Pro Max branding with Base, Plus, and Premium sub-tiers may not immediately convey which products are for consumers versus businesses, creative professionals, budget shoppers, or big spenders.

It’s also hard to immediately see how this new branding would help clarify the AI capabilities of computers. Simultaneously, people remain skeptical about the need for AI features in their computers at all. For example, a survey of 6,000 people in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom that Intel conducted in November found that 44 percent of respondents see AI PCs “as a gimmick or futuristic technology," and 53 percent believe that AI PCs "are only for creatives or technical professionals.” New, less imaginative branding is unlikely to clear those doubts.

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JayzTwoCents (4.15M subscribers)

January 7, 2024

Video length: 10m 50s

AMD said in 2024 that it didn’t plan to compete in the high end GPU market…we didn't expect them to drop these from their CES keynote too...

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Gamers Nexus (2.38M subscribers)

January 7, 2024

Video length: 15m 47s

AMD today announced a massive lineup for 2025, with a heavy focus in the first quarter of the year. The new AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D CPUs were announced, alongside the new Radeon RX 9070 XT and 9070 GPUs from AMD announced to the press. The company also unveiled its Z2 Extreme, Z2, and Z2 Go SOC solutions for handheld gaming devices like presumably a future Steam Deck (all but confirmed) and ASUS ROG Ally, alongside use in a confirmed Lenovo Legion Go iteration. The company also announced mobile parts, like the seemingly captcha-themed naming of the 9955HX3D. In total, specs are limited for all but the CPUs. We'll be reviewing them soon enough.

00:00 - AMD 2025 CPU & GPU Announcements

01:11 - AMD RX 9070 & 9070 XT GPUs

03:49 - AMD 9950X3D & 9900X3D CPUs

07:39 - First-Party Benchmark Claims

10:14 - AMD Z2 Extreme, Z2, & Z2 Go for Handhelds

12:37 - 9955HX3D CPU for Laptops

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Paul's Hardware (1.5M subscribers)

January 7, 2024

Video length: 11m 45s

0:00 Welcome to Paul's Hardware - AMD CES 2025 Keynote Recap

0:23 Ryzen 9950X3D and 9900X3D AM5 CPUs

3:49 Ryzen 9955HX3D, 9955HX, 9850HX Mobile CPUs

5:11 Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 GPUs / Video Cards

9:37 AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme, Z2, and Z2 Go SoC CPUs for Handheld Gaming

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The fourth official iteration of AMD's upscaling solution is being developed for graphics cards from AMD's latest RDNA 4 architecture. This means that unlike previous versions of FSR, this one will be exclusive for customers of the company's new generation of RX 9000 series graphics cards.

As such, the new RX 9070 XT and the RX 9070 will support FSR 4 and all its ML-powered upscaling features thanks to the new hardware's "supercharged AI compute" from AMD's 2nd generation AI accelerators. AMD says this will mean "high quality 4K upscaling" for supported games, though no exact performance numbers nor comparisons have shown up just yet. FSR 4 will work hand in hand with the company's existing frame generation solution as well as Anti-Lag 2 for low latency gameplay as well.

For those in the dark, upscaling tech has the game rendering at a lower resolution and using algorithms for image enhancement, lessening the impact of the lowered resolution on the screen but offering improved performance. So far, AMD has utilized spatial and temporal upscaling with filters for achieving its image upgrades, while Nvidia's DLSS and Intel's XeSS tech leaned on machine learning using AI models for image quality improvements.

With AMD now also going the same route, FSR 4 users may be in for a big jump in image quality. It potentially becoming an AMD graphics hardware exclusive solution much like Nvidia with DLSS may be a sticking point for some though. However, FSR 3 and frame generation should still be offered as a platform and generation-agnostic solution for games going forward.

At the same time, AMD is going all-in on AI with a new driver feature for Radeon hardware users. Dubbed AMD Adrenalin AI, this will let players generate images, summarize local documents, and even ask AMD-related questions from a dedicated chat AI, straight from the driver Radeon Settings app on Windows.

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AMD went from referring to its cards under HD 7000 series branding to R7/R9 200 series to RX 400 series to RX 5000 series (RDNA 1) in the span of a decade. After sticking to RX 6000 (RDNA 2) and RX 7000 (RDNA3), AMD is tweaking the brand again slightly.

The company did not dive super-deep into the micro-architectural advancements of the new design since this is a preview. And the highlight is mainly the new naming scheme headlined by the RX 9070 XT which will likely be the flagship of this generation.

The company did add that it has made significant improvements to the compute units to boost both IPC (instructions per clock/cycle) as well as the frequency itself with new optimized compute units, with a major focus on AI performance improvement with 2nd Gen AI accelerators as well as improved ray tracing throughput with 3rd gen ray accelerators. The display and media blocks on RDNA 4 has also been upgraded with a new 2nd Gen Radiance Display Engine.

RDNA 3 (RX 7000 series) introduced the ability to process Generalized Matrix Multiplication (GEMM) operations and AMD cards relied on this to hardware-accelerate matrix multiplications, which is one of the basis of AI/ML, with the help of Wave Matrix Multiply Accumulate (WaveMMA or WMMA) instructions.

In gaming, do not expect this to compete with Nvidia's upcoming RTX 5090 or even 5080. Leaked benchmarks (via All the Watts!! on X) have suggested that we are roughly looking at RX 7900 XT or RTX 4070 Ti levels of performance with the 9070 XT and AMD's own slide might be agreeing with it.

But that was always the plan it seems as AMD is going for scale this time over performance crown as the company wants to expand its market share. Jack Huynh, AMD's Senior Vice President & General Manager, Computing and Graphics Group, confirmed this strategy in an interview with Tom's Hardware. Thus AMD will not go toe to toe with Nvidia at the high end this time.

As for why AMD is bringing a new name again, the company says it's updating it to RX 90_0 such that it aligns with the Ryzen 9000 series and also because it will be skipping the RX 8000 series to keep that reserved for RDNA 3.5-based GPUs.

The naming scheme is also trying to be similar to Nvidia's way of calling things and this certainly appears to be a smart move given that the average Joe is much more likely to be familiar with Nvidia's cards since Team Green has stuck to the same branding for a very very long time. Thus, as discussed above, AMD is aligning the RX 9070 series with Nvidia's _070 series and the upcoming RX 9060 series with Nvidia's _060 series.

Finally, AMD says that AIB (add-in-board) RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 variants will start becoming available in Q1 2025 itself. No information on pricing was revealed today.

Aside from the hardware itself, AMD also shared some info about features and software. Radeon is finally getting AI-based image upscaling with FSR 4 and it is exclusive to RDNA 4. Speaking of AI, there are also some new AI features that will be baked into Adrenalin drivers which are meant to help in user workflow.

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Valve's Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go are the biggest releases in the handheld gaming segment in recent years, and all of them have AMD chips inside them. The RDNA 3-based Ryzen Z1 Series of processors delivered a massive amount of power for handheld PCs in 2023, and now it's almost time for the highly anticipated sequel: the Z2 Series.

Officially unveiled at CES 2025, the AMD Ryzen Z2 Series of processors will come in three flavors and are slated to become available in the first quarter of 2025.

Like its previous generation, the Z2 Extreme will be the highest performing chip from the trio, touting 8 cores and 16 threads, a 5.0 GHz max boost, 24MB of cache, and a configurable TDP of 15-35W. This will have 16 graphics cores.

The standard Z2 is next. This has the same 8-core, 16-threaded configuration, even a higher 5.1 GHz max boost, and the same 24 MB cache. However, its configurable TDP is between 15 and 30W, while 12 graphics cores are powering it.

Lastly, the Z2 Go, a chip clearly meant for much lower-end handheld products compared to the last two. It cuts down the cores to 4 and threads to 8. It has a 4.6 GHz max boost, 10 MB of cache, and 15-30W of configurable TDP range. This version will ship with 12 graphics cores.

AMD calls the handheld gaming segment a "significant and growing TAM" (Total Addressable Market), with even more OEMs joining in on designing hardware centered around its chipsets.

ASUS, Lenovo, and other companies that are keen on jumping into the handheld gaming segment—which may include Xbox soon—are expected to use these Z2 chips for their next-generation devices. While the Steam Deck has been the most popular device in the handheld market, its release was also in 2022. It's high time that Valve brings out a Steam Deck 2. If it does happen in 2025, this AMD platform may exactly be what Valve plans on using.

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