Upon launch, AMD's Ryzen 9000 series were not only slated for their less-than-impressive performance, but also received criticism over the high latency between CPU Cores. This latency was measured at around 180 ns, according to domdtxdissar on the Overclock 3D forums, which was a lot higher than that measured on the previous generation Ryzen processors (around 76 ns on the 7950X).

With the introduction of AGESA update 1.2.0.2, the core-to-core latency of Ryzen 9000 series CPUs was significantly reduced, allowing for a respectable performance uplift. We conducted our own test of AGESA 1202 and found that the stable 105W TDP mode in that update allowed for fantastic uplifts. Now we know that there was more at play.

ASUS was the first motherboard manufacturer to debut this new AGESA update in the form of a beta BIOS, this is when we tested the 105W TDP mode on the 9600X, and when we discovered around a 5% uplift in the Cinebench benchmarks - but that's just one benchmark that isn't particularly latency-bound.

Ryzen 9000 latency tests

domdtxdissar, on the Overclockers 3D forums "heard rumors" of the performance and latency improvements that the AGESA 1202 update brought and decided to put it to the test.

Using capframeX core-to-core latency, they benchmarked the 9950X and found that the cross-CCD latency was around 180 ns when performed on AGESA 1.2.0.1A. However, when they performed the same benchmark after updating to AGESA 1.2.0.2, the tests revealed a cross-CCD latency of just 75 ns, less than half of the original latency.

This seems to have fixed the issues that the Ryzen 9000 series has been having since its launch a little over a month ago. We see that the latency has improved by more than half. These results may vary for other Ryzen SKUs and motherboards.

Reviewers should now begin testing the Ryzen 9000 series again in preparation for the Core Ultra launch. AMD should just about be up to snuff in the nick of time, the more we investigate the Ryzen 9000 series, the more we seem to find wrong with it. Maybe we should just stop looking.

ASRock has revealed all and posted a page on its X870 motherboard lineup, while we only have a few of the specifications for each motherboard it's certainly enough to be excited about. AMD's X870 motherboard lineup is said to be launching on September 30th, and with that date already leaked and so much info being available already, manufacturers are sort of left to their own devices when revealing their boards properly.

This is why motherboards have been popping up left, right, and center over the last few days. While they mostly offer the same features in similar amounts, it's nice to see the effort put into the designs of the upcoming X870 motherboards. And it'll certainly be interesting to see if donning the 9000 series on an X870 over an X670 will offer any particular advantage.

ASRock X870 & X870E motherboards

Here is the selection of ASRock motherboards available on its website, there is an extensive list of motherboards made to cater to every budget. The motherboards are showcased in the order that they are on ASRock's webpage.

X870E Taichi

X870E Nova WiFi

X870 Steel Legend WiFi

X870E Taichi Lite

X870 Riptide WiFi

X870 PRO RS WiFi

X870 PRO RS

There are no prices attached to these motherboards just yet, and when you click through to the individual motherboards, it returns a 404. I guess you can't have everything just yet. ASRock's motherboards are way more popular in the US (or at least what It seems like) as we hardly ever see the likes of the Tiachi in the UK.

None of these motherboards look particularly stripped and budget, maybe ASRock is going for more of a premium feel this time around. Usually, the more budget motherboards are very barebones, but none of these seem to appear that way. Maybe it'll be left to the B80s and the A820s to play the budget picks this generation.

Motherboard manufacturers are readying themselves for the release of AMD's latest X870 chipset this month, with popular brands like MSI, ASRock, and now Gigabyte all lifting the lid on their own offerings.

The latest leak on the X870 front is from popular retailer B&H Photo Video, where product listings for its full range of X870 & X870E motherboards have been pushed live - highlighting model names and potential pricing.

Gigabyte X870 pricing leaked

According to the leak, the new boards will start at around $219 for the entry-level model, running up to $799 for the more enthusiast models. If pricing is to be confirmed, then it's pretty much in line with what you'd expect from a new range of boards - despite the AORUS XTREME AI TOP's eyewatering price point.

At the time of writing, it's unclear whether the full range of boards displayed on B&H will be available on the September 30th launch date. Review samples are seemingly being sent to reviewers as we speak, so it's only a matter of time before we find out just what these boards can do.

Below is a full list of available boards and what they could be priced at:

According to AMD, the RX 7800 XT is "the ultimate 1440p upgrade", putting it slap bang into one of the most competitive markets the GPU sector has to offer. It'll be going toe-to-toe with not only the RTX 4070 and 4070 Super, but its own RX 7700 XT - which more than excelled in our gaming benchmarks.

In our review, we test the RX 7800 XT in a plethora of different scenarios to see how it competes against the market's current crop of 1440p options, testing it in numerous games and synthetic benchmarks - concluding with our thoughts on design, value for money, and whether its worth the upgrade.

How we tested the AMD RADEON RX 7800 XT

Testing and benchmarking the hardware we receive at WePC is at the heart of everything we do. For the RX 7800 XT, we spent around a week testing it in a number of different games (over a number of resolutions) and pushing it to its limits in synthetic benchmarks - such as 3DMark and Cinebench.

We used the same tried and tested benchmarking rig that we've used for some time now, equipped with AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X and ASUS's X670E HERO motherboard. For each game, the GPU gets tested over 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions - with each test resolution being subject to three unique runs for consistency.

See our indepth testing methods here.

Test bench specs

Pricing and availability

The RX 7800 XT was launched as a mid-tier card back in September, 2023, with an MSRP of $499 - putting it around $100 cheaper than the NVIDIA RTX 4070 (which has since been superseded by the Super variant) and roughly $150 cheaper than last-gen's AMD RX 6800 XT on its launch.

That, on paper, makes the RX 7800 XT an incredibly attractive prospect, especially when you factor in the new architecture it uses - alongside the newly implement AI cores and Ray-tracing performance (which we'll touch upon in more detail later).

Of course, since its arrival back in 2023, GPU prices have continued to fluctuate quite dramatically, with the RX 7800 XT currently floating $480 mark - with deals seeing pricing fall to around $450. The RX 7800 XT is readily available at all major hardware retailers at present.

Specifications & gallery

Design

The RX 7800 XT is a medium sized, dual-fan card, that offers a fairly subtle design characterized by a near all-black color theme. It features a simple dual-fan cooling solution with very little 'gamey' accents - totally void of RGB lighting or other loud design aspects.

In fact, the design is so subtle, the RX 7800 XT reference card we tested would fit into almost any PC build - whether you're a hardcore gamer looking for a simpler aesthetic or an everyday user looking for additional graphics performance.

The card measures in at 267mm x 111mm x 50mm, making it versatile enough to fit into most smaller form factor PC builds (excluding some mini ITX builds). It requires 2 x 8-pin power connectors and features 3 x DisplayPorts alongside a solitary HDMI 2.1 port - meaning it'll be a great fit for anyone looking to power faster refresh rate monitors at higher resolutions.

The RX 7800 XT reference will only take up two slots, however, some AIB variants may differ - especially models equipped with larger triple-fan configurations.

Sadly, the RX 7800 XT does not feature an USB-C output, meaning it won't be ideal for individuals looking to create a workstation based around a USB Type-C monitor.

Overall, the RX 7800 XT is a quiet, subtle, featureless card (from a design standpoint) that doesn't need shiny lights and loud accents to look good. If you're looking for a card that offers a little more bling, there are plenty of AIBs that will do just that.

Features, chipset & architecture

AMD's RX 7800 XT runs on the brand's RDNA 3.0 architecture, utilizing the same NAVI 32 GPU found in the RX 7700 XT - albeit slightly tuned-up for additional performance. The RX 7800 XT offers up 60 Compute Units, 3,840 Shading Units, and 60 RT cores - a slight improvement over the RX 7700 XT.

In terms of clock speeds, again, the RX 7800 XT and 7700 XT are fairly close, with the 7800 XT actually slower across the board. In fact, the RX 7800 XT offers a fairly low base clock of 1,295 MHz, whereas the 7700 XT boasts a much higher 1,700 MHz, respectively. Boosted clock speeds are comparatively closer when comparing the two cards, with the 7800 XT boosting as high as 2,430 MHz.

Overall, the RX 7800 XT is slower across the board - however, as it features more of everything, it does perform to a slightly higher level. Additionally, users, in theory, should be able to increase the performance threshold with some relatively straightforward GPU overclocking.

When it comes to VRAM, the RX 7800 XT does show a clear improvement over the 7700 XT, featuring 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 192 bit memory bus. The card also offers a 624.1 GB/s bandwidth, which is around 50% up on the 7700 XT (432.0 GB/s) and 20% up on the RTX 4070 (504.2 GB/s). The RX 7800 XT's 256 bit memory bus is also a stark improvement over both aforementioned cards, highlighting a potentially missed opportunity for NVIDIA.

As far as efficiency is concerned, NVIDIA showcases far better overall TGP than the RX 7800 XT - which runs a relatively high 263W. Despite that being around 30% higher than that of the RTX 4070, it does show a decent improvement over its predecessor (RX 6800 XT 300W).

the RX 7800 XT looks and feels like a decent generational uplift over its predecessor, the RX 6800 XT. Not only does it come equipped with AMD's brand new RDNA 3 architecture, but it also offers far better value for money and efficiency too.

RX 7800 XT performance & benchmarks

Jumping into the gaming performance & benchmarks portion of the RX 7800 XT review, it's safe to say we were excited to see what this thing could bring to the table. Remember, when looking through the results we ran, AMD specifically said they were targeting the 1440p sector, meaning we should see good performance results in that particular space.

Overall, the RX 7800 XT performed to a pretty high standard when gaming, with most games hitting well over 100 FPS in both 1080p and 1440p resolutions. Some more demanding titles in 4K resolution struggled to breach 50 frames per second on average, which was no surprise when you compare the results against the RTX 4070 and RTX 4070 Super. In fact, on average, the RX 7800 XT was only only around 8-15% behind that of the RTX 4070 Super - which is a decent result when price is factored into the equation.

Gaming benchmarks

As for testing, we put the RX 7800 XT through 10 popular gaming titles and a number of synthetic benchmarks to see how it performed across the board. We'll start with the gaming results then move onto the synthetics.

We kickstarted our benchmarking with everyone's favourite FPS shooter, Counter-Strike - a low-level demanding game that runs well on pretty much any system made within the last 10 years. Jokes aside, the RX 7800 XT performed to a pretty decent standard, topping out at 120 FPS in 4K - if that's your thing. It fell to 72 FPS in the 99th percentile, offering up a pretty stable experience during 4K gameplay.

Of course, being a competitive shooter, we quickly chopped the resolution down to 1080p, with FPS spiking to around 321 on average. Again, 99th percentile results showed 185 FPS, respectively, with the RX 7800 XT producing a very fluid experience when it mattered most.

Next up was F1 23, a more demanding game that benefits from high FPS to increase the visual smoothness of the gameplay. As you can see, the RX 7800 XT did start to struggle when we cranked up the resolution to 4K settings - with 38 FPS being our average (dropping to 28 frames in the 99th percentile).

Both 1440p and 1080p were far more forgiving resolution, with 1440p averaging around 73 frames per second during a full session. In 1080p, things looked slightly better, with gameplay resulting in 109 FPS, respectively.

Next up, we played the aging title Shadow Of The Tomb Raider - the first game we could test Ray Tracing. As you can see from the results above, running the game in 1080p - whether we had RT enabled or not - resulted in well over 100 FPS. With graphics settings at their highest and RT on, the game ran at a smooth 122 FPS on average - dropping to 88 frames in the 99th percentile.

In 4K, the RX 7800 XT did struggle to maintain 60 FPS on average, dropping to 58 when RT was enabled. Overall, the gaming experience was pretty smooth, even in the more demanding parts of the game.

Next up was Rainbow 6 Siege, another classic FPS shooter than runs on pretty much anything these days. As you can imagine, the RX 7800 XT provided ample framerates when in ultra settings over numerous resolutions. Even at 4K, the 7800 XT managed to churn out well over 100 frames per second on average, with 99th percentile drops still around 110 frames.

Avatar Frontiers of Pandora was up next, the action shooter based on the popular film franchise. With plenty going on here, we saw a decent dip in performance when compared to the other less-demanding titles like CS2 and Rainbow 6 Siege. In fact, 1080p performance saw performance dip to under 100 frames per second which, despite not sounding too exciting, did still provide a smooth experience during extended gaming sessions.

There wasn't a huge difference between 1080p and 4K in this game, with 4K performance netting around 50 frames per second on average.

Assassin's Creed was up next, and as you can see, the RX 7800 XT was able to push 130 frames on average at 1080p - with 99th percentile drops to around 95. Even at 4K, we experienced decent performance of around 70 FPS on average, offering up a smooth gaming experience. The 99th percentile drops in 4K weren't too damaging to the game's feel, with 55 FPS drops being the worst of it.

One of the least demanding game in our testing roster was up next, Doom Eternal - and as you can imagine, the RX 7800 XT performed to a very high level. It produces well over 200 frames per second in all resolutions, with 4K and RT enabled even seeing a 100 FPS average. Not super surprising as the game could run on pretty much anything - but still good to see.

Lastly, we have one of the most demanding games on the market, Cyberpunk 2077. While 1080p RT OFF saw good stable performance of over 100 FPS, the same can not be said for more demanding resolutions with Ray Tracing enabled. In fact, even at 1080p, RT was such a draw on the GPU, we saw FPS fall to an average of 45.

For players wanting to enjoy 4K gaming on Cyberpunk 2077, we did manage to hit an average of 40 when playing with RT off - which is not bad if you're playing on a larger screen where you can lock the FPS to 30.

Synthetic benchmarks

We finished the benchmarking section of the review by running the RX 7800 XT through a few basic synthetic benchmarks, including Cinebench R24, HandBrake, Blender 4, and 3DMark. In 3D Mark, the RX 7800 XT scored 12,331 in Fire Strike Ultra, 9,080 in Time Spy Extreme, and 10,318 in Port Royal - around 20% up on the results were saw when testing the RX 7700 XT.

We used HandBrake to encode Tears of Steel (4K) and results saw the tool take 1 minute 13 seconds to complete - with an average FPS of 247 during the process. Afterwards, I ran the GPU through Blender 4, with results in Monster hitting 1130, Junkshop 586, and Classroom 561 samples per minute. We concluded this section by running the card through Cinebench R24 and scored 10,785 respectively.

Is the RX 7800 XT worth it?

There's been a great deal of back and forth on when we're going to see the X800 series motherboards make their debut, but it seems we're incredibly close to that time now. At a glance, these motherboards seem like they are some of the highest-tech motherboards we have ever seen. Only time will tell how all of this tech translates to performance. For now, here's the latest on the release dates.

X870 and X870E motherboard release date leaks

The X870 and X870E (extreme variant) are set to make their debut on September 30th, this is not confirmed by any manufacturers or AMD themselves, but Amazon listings have told us all we need to know regarding the release date.

This coincides with VideoCardz's claims that the review embargo lifts on the 30th of September, usually, the review embargo is pulled a day before the release, but since September only has 30 days, they'd be in October if they followed the original protocol.

We assumed that the X870 motherboards would be released around the same time as the 9000 series, as this would make sense. However since the 9000 series could land on the X670 with no issue, we assume AMD wanted to take more time to perfect the product.

During Computex, some manufacturers were granted the chance to reveal some of their work, but we only saw a handful of motherboards showcased. ASUS did reveal an X870 motherboard, the ASUS TUF, but that was all she wrote for ASUS. MSI and ASRock demonstrated a larger selection of motherboards and offered more information.

The X870 and X870E motherboards are to support the entirety of the AM5 family, meaning you can go all the way from the 7000 to the 9000 series on this motherboard. AMD themselves suggested that AM5 would be supported until 2027, following the legacy set by AM4 as it is still in support to this day.

Price of Gigabyte X870 & X870E motherboards leak on B&H

There have been a handful of price leaks over the last few weeks, ranging from the US to the UK, to France, to Germany. It seems every country wants to have an X870 price leak. If we take the latest leaks and run with them, B&H, a retailer in the US has listed more than a few Gigabyte motherboards for us all to look at.

Source: Images taken from bhphotovideo.com

As you can see, there is a wide range of motherboards and prices. Ranging from Low to high, this is what is listed on the B&H X870 webpage:

These are around the prices you would expect for a brand-new X870 or X870E motherboard, if you compare one of these motherboards to the launch price of its X670 older brother you will see that the price has jumped by around $10.

This is to be expected somewhat to account for the higher cost of materials that building motherboards now have. If we're being honest, we expected more of a price hike. This isn't representative of all motherboards or all retailers, this just covers B&H with Gigabyte motherboards.

X870 & X870E Specifications compared

We don't have all the details on the upcoming X870 and X870E motherboards, but we have enough to paint a picture of what's to be expected when the motherboards launch. We have seen information released from both AMD and leaks themselves, we'll be accumulating them to try and get the full picture.

ASUS has come to the rescue here with a full list of specifications for the X870 TUF, and the X870E ProArt which sit at quite opposite ends of the market. Here you can make a comparison between the X870 and X870E, as loose as it is. These specifications come straight off of ASUS' website on each motherboard.

This is not an apples-to-apples comparison, the motherboards are not the same board, but they are both ASUS. The ProArt is geared more towards the creative types and is quite high-end, by contrast, the X870 prime is fairly budget and aimed at budget-conscious gamers. Still, it serves as a comparison between one of the low-end motherboards, and one of the high ones.

Of course, some specifications land in between these two extremes should you want to opt for something in the middle. X870 can be seen as more of a "high-end mainstream" chipset, whereas the X870E is more enthusiast tech and geared towards the sort of people who are going to have a 9950X slapped in their motherboard with a hefty overclock.

One thing is for certain though, these are the fastest motherboards that AMD has ever had, with PCIe Gen 5 being almost standard across the board, we're going to get some blistering transfer speeds on supported hardware.

Final Word

The X870 release will soon be upon us, and it remains to be seen if the faster memory support or better greater PCIe speeds will amount to any sort of nominal increase in performance. As for whether or not you need to upgrade to an X870 motherboard, that depends on your use case. One thing remains though, this is a fantastic time to rebuild your PC if you're looking to stick with AMD for a while.

Notably, this isn't the first time we have seen a Z890 motherboard on show, as they were officially showcased at this year's Computex in June. However, due to the embargo, they were not able to be labeled as Z890 motherboards at the time.

With very little information on the Z890 motherboard chipset actually public, this new leak gives us a little more to go off - including layout and I/O ports.

Leak shows MSI MPG Z890 Carbon in the flesh

Here we have a few pictures of the MSI Carbon Z890, courtesy of the prolific leaker @momomo_us.

These are the only three photos we have of the Carbon so far, as it did not make an appearance at Computex. Interestingly enough, this motherboard shares a lot of similarities with the X870 version - which makes sense, they're basically siblings. If you didn't know better it'd be easy to mix them both up, thanks to AMD being LGA since AM5.

MSI Z890 Carbon specifications

The two motherboards are basically identical yet again, with them both featuring three PCIe X16 slots, 2.5G and 5G networking, and WiFi 7. The main difference we can see is the position of the supplementary power connector, as we explained in an earlier article.

Release dates for both the X870 and the Z890 are closing in, it seems like AMD is going to get the jump on this one as the X870 is slated for a late September release date. It remains to be seen how popular each is going to be. If we had to guess, we would take the 9000 series' lack of popularity as a sign that everyone is waiting for X3D, or to see what Intel has to offer.

Intel still has a bit of trust to build after the recent 14th and 13th-gen issues, but it has been suggested that the new Core Ultra CPUs will not suffer the same fate. AMD's rocky 9000 series launch will have driven some users into the arms of Intel. Let's just see how the Core Ultra lands.

Intel has not had the best year in 2024, with two entire generations of CPUs hit with massive instability issues, followed by a huge influx of RMA requests from unhappy consumers. Since then, the brand has tried its best in righting some wrongs, offering its users a number of patches (which were met with backlash) and even replacement units for degrading 13th & 14th Gen chips.

The latest updates from fans of the brand has showcased Intel going above and beyond this week, with some users now receiving much more than they bargained for.

One X user in particular (Pk_419) says that they managed to "trick" Intel into giving them a full refund on an unaffected 13900K CPU, receiving a cheque for $599 almost two years after its initial purchase.

User receives full $599 refund for unaffected Intel 13900K CPU

In the user's X post, they go on to say the following:

Well, it's 100% official. I received a check for $599 from Intel today for my fully functional, never gave me an issue, almost 2yrs old 13900k. They required zero proof of instability and even paid for the shipping. I wish this happened every generation!!! Lol.

While some people may get a little hot under the collar when thinking about an individual "tricking" one of the industry's biggest hardware manufacturers, it's worth remembering that the same brand is at the heart of one of the biggest instability problems in recent history.

That said, it also highlights Intel's desire to right a few wrongs here, going above and beyond for its users who, over the last decade, have received excellent service across the board.

Over on Reddit, more claims of Intel's good deeds are being shared, with one user claiming they sent a seriously affected Core i9-13900K through the RMA process and received a new Core i9-14900K in return. The post goes on to say "It took just 3 days from the day I submitted my old processor for the whole RMA to complete" showcasing a pretty impressive turn around for what is essentially a very generous upgrade.

Overall, Intel is in choppy waters right now, and if giving out full refunds or free upgrades for affected users is a way of stabilizing some of the bad press they're receiving, then its probably worth while in the long run.

An AMD Ryzen 7 9700X has been pushed far beyond what anyone expected and has managed to break the 14900KF's OC record in OCCT. This is a record achievement as the 14900KF has been on top pretty much since its launch. This has fantastic implications for AMD going forward - especially when you factor in the lackluster launch the brand's 9000 series has received so far.

The impressive thing is it's not even the 9900X or the 9950X getting the top spot, it's the middle of the pack 9700X raising the bar for the "mid-tier" CPUs. The overclock was achieved by YouTuber and OC enthusiast, ScatterBencher, who posted the following video explaining the process.

AMD's 9700X hits new OCCT record

The 9700X manages a staggering score of 269.35 in the single-core AVX instruction set benchmark, beating the record 14900K score of 255.42. The Ryzen 7 was pushed to a 6.3GHz clock speed, going far beyond PBO speeds. For comparison, the stock speeds are 5.5GHz Liquid nitrogen was required to ensure temperatures were kept under control, as a 9700X in this configuration would likely instantly overheat without it.

ScatterBencher added that "it was extremely easy to break the overclock record set by the 14900KF" going on to say that the 9700X managed to achieve 6.3GHz ALL CORE frequencies at -50 degrees Celsius.

If you want to make the most out of your 9700X, then ScatterBencher has a guide to overclocking this CPU, N2 not included. This is a turned-down version of the overclock that should run stable with a decent AIO CPU cooler.

Interestingly enough, the 9700X managed to beat the record with a TDP topping out at 190W, much less than the 14900KF (presumably) the TDP isn't listed on the leaderboard. But we know that the stock PL1 of the 14900KF is already 253W.

It seems the 9700X wanted to flex a little more, as it managed to edge ahead by almost 10 points while keeping to a TDP of 64.5W. Looks like AMD's efficiency play has paid off here at the very least. These results help to put into perspective just how much work goes into not only designing and manufacturing these processors but also testing them to the extent that ScatterBencher has.

If you told us that the 9700X would go toe-to-toe with the 14900KF a couple of weeks ago, we probably wouldn't have believed you - especially before the implementation of the 105W TDP mode that we tested. This is truly a massive achievement for AMD and those involved in the benchmarking process. We can't wait to see what X3D brings.

Best gaming monitor

Acer Nitro XV240 F6

This 24-inch gaming monitor with 600Hz maximum refresh rate is the first product of its type to reach the retail market: as far as we’re aware there’s not another gaming monitor out there that’s this fast. It’s limited to 1920 x 1080 resolution, which is still (just about) the standard for competitive shooters, even if 1440p is gradually taking over. As you’d expect, you’ll need a DisplayPort 1.4 connection in order to actually enjoy this display at its maximum refresh rate.

You don’t see many TN panels in the mainstream any more, with IPS being the dominant mainstay, but outside of OLED panels they have response times that can’t be beaten. Still, TN panels also mean worse contrast, vibrancy of color, and limited viewing angles, so it’s likely this will limit its market to the hardcore players of competitive fast-paced shooters, looking to get that extra edge.

The Nitro XV240 F6 is due to hit the shelves in Q1 2025 at an MSRP of $599 / €899, so we’ll have to wait until then to see if it's truly worth the money.

Best TV

TCL X11H

Once a budget-only brand, over the last few years TCL have become a dominant name in the mid-price TV niche, releasing some quality products. This latest TCL X11H smart TV looks to continue this trend, with its bright mini-LED panel rated for 6,500 nits: substantially brighter than the current brightnest model the brand offers at 5,000 nits. Color replication has also improved substantially and as has the number of dimming zones for improved contrast (more than 10,000 on the 85-inch model). The X11H is due to release in early 2025.

Best gaming laptop

Acer Project Dual Play

Acer revealed a unique, experimental device at IFA: the Project Dual Play, which is essentially a gaming laptop with an inbuilt controller. The wireless controller acts like a trackpad when it’s docked into the front of the laptop, but if you press the release catch along the top it pops out, you flip it over, and you can use it like a regular games console controller. The controller can also be split into two mini-controllers, similar to the Joy-Cons on the Nintendo Switch, allowing you to play with a friend.

At the moment the Project Dual Play is just a concept device, so don’t hold your breath that we’ll be seeing this specific model hit the shelves any time soon. The device did however get a lot of positive attention, so we wouldn’t be surprised if Acer is considering putting out a retail version at some point.

Best productivity laptop

Lenovo Auto Twist AI

Another very interesting concept laptop we saw is the Lenovo Auto Twist AI PC, which has a unique rotating screen that can actually follow you as you move around it! The device uses AI to track your face, twisting the display panel to follow you as far as its (almost) 180° hinge allows. You can also use voice commands to get the screen to open and close, or pivot around into a portrait ‘tablet mode’. All of this could be pretty useful laptop for business people on the go who wants to make a more active presentation, or even entertainment streamers.

Although we’re unlikely to be seeing this particular version of the product hit the shelves, seeing laptops with this tech come out over the course of the next year or so could be on the cards.

Best gaming handheld

Acer Nitro Blaze 7

The major handheld release at the conference was the Nitro Blaze 7 from Acer, which comes equipped with a 7-inch, 144Hz, 1080p IPS touchscreen (reportedly with 100% sRGB coverage), a Ryzen 8840HS processor with integrated Radeon 780M graphics, and 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM running at 7500MT/s. The screen has AMD FreeSync Premium support to reduce screen tearing, which is nice to see, along with AMD Radeon Super Resolution support to boost performance.

Most impressively, you get a whopping 2TB of SSD storage for your games: the same amount I have on my desktop PC. The device is Wi-Fi 6E and comes with two USB4 Type-C ports, it uses Windows 11 but uses an app called Acer Game Space to run your games and reportedly has a battery duration of around 8 hours. The release date of this device currently remains unconfirmed.

Best phone

Honor Magic V3

The Honor Magic 3 has already been released in China, but is now coming to European markets. This is a particularly thin (9.2mm thick when folded, 4.4mm unfolded) and light (226g) foldable phone, with a 6.43” cover screen (when in ‘normal’ phone form) and a 7.92” foldable internal screen. Not only is it remarkably light and slender for a foldable device but it also comes with a 5,150mAh battery that’s capable of lasting over a day when folded, though when unfolded in demanding scenarios expect to get around 8 hours depending on how you use it; fast wired and wireless charging is capable of fully charging the phone in less than an hour. The processor is a solid Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and it comes with two telephoto rear cameras (50Mp and 50Mp 3.5x) plus a 40Mp ultrawide (though this last spec is a bit disappointing).

Best AI device

LG Self-Driving AI Home Hub

This latest smart home helper robot is both wheeled and comes with the latest ChatGPT 4.0 integration, making it probably the first we’ve seen that actually resembles something from popular Sci-Fi, which could be exciting or creepy depending upon your point of view! Certainly the animated eyes and rotating head give it more an appearance of being ‘real’.

The device uses built-in cameras and sensors to navigate around, riding about on its two wheels, and can be instructed to follow you around or anyone else in your house. It is able to perform all the usual smart home hub functions: controlling the lighting, making phone calls, changing the temperature etc. but with the inbuilt AI it can understand and respond to your commands in a much more dynamic way, plus react to external stimuli. The example given was that you could draw an image onto a companion tablet, have it scan the image, use generative AI to form a story based around this, and then when your children ask it for a bedtime story, it would learn to dim the lights without asking and then tell them the bedtime story: slightly terrifying but also mind-blowing stuff! 

If this little help-bot appeals to you, it’s due to be released in H1 2025, in South Korean markets at first but then (hopefully) elsewhere.

Best drone

DJI Neo

The newly unveiled DJI Neo is a contender for the title of smallest and lightest 4K drone, weighing in at just 135g (4.76oz), and it's also remarkably cheap, making it a very exciting entry-level proposition for the market. 

The drone has camera staibilization and AI subject tracking, meaning it can lock onto you and track you as you move, maintaining a close distance and keeping you in the centre of the frame. Besides 4K video it can also take 12MP photos. Its small size and propeller guards mean you can navigate it through tight spaces much easier. There are six ‘DJI Quickshot’ automated flight moves pre-programmed into the device: Boomerang, Circle, Dronie, Helix, Rocket, and Spotlight

The Neo has a straightforward setup, and multiple ways you can control it, either via the application on your phone, with a remote control, with FPV goggles and even has voice operation features. The drone will retail with an MSRP of $199 on its own or $289 for the Combo kit which includes a controller and accessories.

Right now, that's a pretty good deal - especially when you factor in how much this particular bundle will cost you when pricing it up at other retailers. It's unclear on just how long this bundle will remain live, however, it seems that it's part of Newegg's Build Your Combo series right now, meaning it might be around for a while.

For me, if you're looking to build a starter PC and don't want to spend a fortune on the latest hardware - while dodging Intel's 13th and 14th gen CPU lineup - then this is a great starting point.

Why choose this Newegg PC bundle?

If you're looking to upgrade to Alder Lake and take advantage of the elevated efficiency that Split Core technology brings. The 12700K is great value for money right now, especially since there are a couple of generations out ahead of it, making it all the more attractive to those looking for a cheap and easy upgrade.

Since Alder Lake, Intel has become increasingly better at multi-core performance, overtaking AMD and taking the crown shortly after Alder Lake was released. This is thanks to the Split Core technology named BIG.little. The 12700K offers 12 cores, 8P and 4E to further multi-core performance and keep efficiency up.

If you want to save even more money, you can forgo getting a GPU for now and run your display on the Intel UHD 770 graphics that come packaged on this CPU's die. It's more than capable of running office applications.

With this bundle, the hassle of selecting compatible components is gone because all the hard work has been done for you by the boffins that run Newegg. The Z790 included in this bundle is actually one of the best value motherboards that MSI makes, it offers all the features of a Z790, including 3 M.2 connectors, 2.5Gbit LAN, and WiFi 6E without breaking the bank.

Additionally, you can't really go wrong with Corsair Vengeance RAM - a stable in the memory game for as long as we can remember. Once you pair that with a tried and tested CPU that has real pedigree in both gaming and workstation tasks, then you have a fantastic DIY PC starter set.

Hardware leaks have emerged once again from probably the internet's largest hardware leaker, this time in the form of motherboard leaks. momomo_us has gotten ahead of an Asrock announcement to reveal some interesting specifications on ASRock's upcoming Z890 motherboard.

The Z890 is the flagship chipset for the upcoming Core Ultra CPUs from Intel, it's a new socket this time around with socket LGA 1851, so sorry all you LGA 1700 enjoyers, you're going to need a motherboard update for the Core Ultra.

X870 could feature huge memory speeds, says leaks

It may be a little hard to read, but the supported DDR5 speeds are up to 9200MHz, overclocked obviously. So far, the fastest supported DDR5 speed on current Z790 motherboards is 7800+(OC), which means the Z890 is capable of supporting memory that is 17% faster on average.

Intel generally isn't as reliant on fast memory as AMD is, AMD was once very reliant on memory speeds, as in the 5000 series core communication speeds were tightly correlated with memory speeds. But they have since moved away from the co-dependency on memory speed.

It's hard to tell how Intel Core Ultra CPUs will react to the increase in memory speed, but it surely can't hurt. 9200MHz is a far cry ahead of the latest leaks that suggest AMD's next motherboards only support speeds of up to 8000MHz, this is also suggested by an ASUS motherboard page on the X870-A Gaming Wifi - but that's a relatively low-level motherboard. Our assumption is that AMD will at least try to match the specifications leaked on the Z890 speeds.

Besides the high speeds, everything seems to be pretty normal, with support for 256GB of total memory, and XMP 3.0 support. We'll see how far these memory speeds will take the Core Ultra series, and just how much a kit of 9000MHz memory will cost. A kit of 32GB 8000MHz will set you back roughly $250.

Overclockers UK are one of the biggest names in prebuilt gaming PCs in the country, and since moving to a new ‘106,000 sq. ft office, tech lab, warehouse, and distribution complex’ in 2023 their operation has scaled up a notch. Pop by yourself and have a look if you’re in the area!

The company offers many different PC brands to cover a variety of needs, including the fully configurable OcUK Gaming and OcUK Tech Labs ranges, the Refract line which scales up from budget to high-end, the premium Infin8 watercooled range, and the monstrous 8Pack line of PCs created by the legendary master builder himself. For productivity users the company produces the RENDA range that caters to animators, video/audio editors, and other content creators. The Techforge brand also produces beautiful lightboxes and personisable chair designs to enhance your PC space.

Besides their wide range of offerings, one of the best things about the brand is their commitment to quality control, plus the repair and upgrade services they provide within the 3 year warranty. Keep reading for all the details!

R&D, PC design, and the build process

In their tech lab, OcUK rigorously test and benchmark the latest components out there to find their optimal settings, cooling and compatibility with other components. This data is then used to design the optimal setup for each build (budget allowing of course).

When it comes to parts of the build like cases, waterblocks, and light boxes the Overclockers UK build team typically modify existing products to make them look or perform better, though where this isn’t possible they will design and build their own products. Most commonly, they will completely re-design and reconstruct PC cases around the base framing, such as with the 8Pack Domin8 which is based on a Corsair case.

The construction area of the complex is divided into different sections with teams dedicated to air cooled rigs, liquid cooled AIO builds, custom watercooled builds, and an overclocking bench. Each has the room needed to build to an optimal standard and a wealth of parts to choose from. In particular there’s extra space dedicated to 8Pack, Infin8, and other overclocked systems so they can be fully customised, built, overclocked and optimised.

There’s also an express lane dedicated to the more standardised pre-built systems so they’re always in stock and are able to ship the next day.

Who is 8Pack?

The 8Pack line is named after one of the world’s most famous PC overclockers, a man who has literally won awards and holds multiple world records for overclocking: Ian Parry aka 8Pack. This gentleman forms part of the Overclockers UK research and development team, and is chiefly responsible for both the Infin8 range that the company produces, as well as the eponymous 8Pack range. Chances are there’s not many of you reading this that will be able to afford any of the showpiece PCs from the 8Pack roster, but for those with the serious amount of cash required you will be taking home one of the most powerful, beautifully designed gaming rigs on Earth.

Techforge & Personalise Your Play

As mentioned, Techforge is another brand owned by OcUK that allows you to further customize your PC setup with their Lightboxes, which you can install inside your PC to make it a full-blown RGB lightshow, or to add personalised artwork to the back of your Noblechair or PC case. These custom designs are perfect for gamers, creators, and can even cater to businesses and their needs (call 01782 444447 to reach the B2B team for more information on this and other services).

You can take a closer look at the Lightboxes and how easy they are to set up in the video below.

Testing & Quality Control

Before being sent out the door, all OcUK systems are tested for at least 8 hours to determine both thermals and performance under load in various scenarios. All components are electronically checked and verified to ensure they are to spec and performing as expected. Finally, every PC is loaded with the latest updates, drivers and BIOS optimisations.

Once these tests are passed, the PCs are handed to quality control who ensure all systems are cleaned, prepared for shipment. Every system is then packed with a welcome pack containing all the relevant accessories, cables, the setup guide, and the warranty information.

Warranty & Upgrade Services

So confident are OcUK in the standard of their builds that every system they make ships with a complete 3 year warranty, which covers all parts and associated labour, including fault-finding and replacement of faulty components.

There are no tiers of service with this warranty that require you to spend more: everyone gets the same treatment and there are no hidden costs.

Initially, the team will attempt to resolve all issues remotely, so hopefully you don’t have to worry about posting your machine or bringing it into the warehouse yourself. If it does come to this though, the turnaround time will be as quick as is possible to minimise your downtime.

If there are no issues with your rig and you just want an upgrade, then you’re able to access a free upgrade service for any air-cooled prebuilt PCs as long as the new components are purchased from Overclockers UK. This offer does not include more complex custom or watercooled builds like the Infin8 and 8Pack systems, but you can still send these in for upgrading for a reasonable fee.

Grab yours now!

OcUK is undoubtedly a leading brand when it comes to prebuilt PC builds, covering a variety of budgets and use cases. There are frequently offers available on their range of PC systems on the Overclockers UK website, and we heartily recommend you check them out regularly to see what’s right for you.

AMD's 9000 series has been headline news since its launch back in August, with many reviewers slating early performance across the range. Since then, AMD has vowed to write a few wrongs by announcing BIOS updates that will help unlock the chip's full potential.

AGESA 1202 goes live in final stable form

The update in question is the AGESA 1202 update, which will allow the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X to unlock 105W TDP - upping its power draw from 65W. This, in turn, should see a decent uplift in performance when playing games and running more demanding CPU-based tasks.

Right now, there isn't a tonne of available information regarding the details of the firmware update, however, we should expect improved system performance and new 105W TDP modes for the brand's entry-level and mid-tier 9000 series CPUs.

It's worth mentioning that, earlier AGESA version (1201) did offer this feature for 105W TDP mode, but they were not in the same final stable state of the latest AGESA 1202.

AGESA 1202 still sits within the Beta area of the ASUS site, meaning that some parts of the BIOS update aren't fully stable yet. The latest firmware update is available for a number of X670E models, including the following variants:

We'll be running a number of tests to see the exact performance impacts on 1201 vs 1202, so stay tuned for our analysis coming soon.

ASUS recently released a set of BETA BIOS' that includes the last stable update to the 105W TDP mode for the 9600X and 9700X. While it is important to note that these BIOS' are still in BETA, the AGESA update that they contain is reportedly stable, says VideoCardz, and is supposedly the last update to the 105W TDP modes for the bottom-end 9000 series processors.

AMD chose to up the TDP of its bottom two chips after facing community backlash for the underwhelming performance. The main culprit of these issues was Windows, but those issues seem to have been addressed with update 23H2, which is the Windows version we are using.

Increasing the TDP essentially increases the CPU's ceiling, allowing it to consume more power to get the job done. This setting is optional, you do not have to enable this setting if you’re conscious about power draw.

As we mentioned in a separate piece, The BETA BIOS' are available to download on the ASUS forums, but they are not yet available to download through Motherboard BIOS pages.

AGESA 1202 test results in Cinebench R23

Here are the results of our testing with the 105W TDP update. (These tests were performed on Windows version 23H3)

We had to exclude the Package power metric from the GB single as the test is conducted simultaneously and there's no way to differentiate between the two.

Cinebench saw the best gains, we got roughly a 900-point increase that is far outside the margin of error, single core did see a little bump as well with a 17-point increase. It doesn't sound like a lot, but as you can see with the Munti-core results, it adds up.

Geekbench is a much wider array of benchmarking, it tests basically every function of a CPU and this includes areas where a simple TDP increase won't be enough to improve the benchmarking performance. That's why we see a much more modest improvement of 11 points in the Multi-core scores. A push in the right direction nonetheless.

As you can see there is a tangible increase in performance over the base 9600X, Package power is the amount of power used by the entire CPU package, not just the CPU itself for processing. We included this metric to make sure the CPU is indeed allowed to use up to 105W and to be able to see the performance per watt of each 'mode'.

Conclusion

All in all, the CB multi scores equate to a 5.50424% performance bump, for a power increase of 55% but this is package power though, it encompasses all of the power that a CPU uses, and some values will not change because they won't be directly attributed to components that improve performance. This increase will likely be more predominant when gaming thanks to the single-core bump.

Because this is a BETA BIOS, we recommend you wait for a stable release until you update. Whilst the AGESA update is stable, other lesser-tested portions of the BIOS may not work as intended. Only update to BETA BIOS' if you must.

Biostar has just unveiled a blast from the past today, a new RX 580 White graphics card that is designed to "dominate" the mid-range market, perfect for casual gamers and everyday users. The new card is said to deliver smooth 1080p gaming performance and will feature a sleek new white aesthetic that is ideal for bespoke DIY PC builds.

The Biostar Radeon RX 580 White edition utilizes the Polaris 20 XT, 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, and 2,048 stream processors, a slight downgrade from the originally launched RX 580 which featured 2,304. Despite the downgrade in SPs, the 2,048 variant is actually a year newer than the RX 580 that launched in 2017.

Biostar unveil new RX 580 White Edition graphics card

As you can see from the images above, the new RX 580 from Biostar will feature the brand's unique FPS dual-heatpipe cooler design, offering up efficient cooling during more demanding gaming sessions. The card will support Radeon FreeSync technology, DirectX 12, and Vulkan - enhancing gaming performance and ensuring a tear free visual experience.

PCI Express 3.0 x16 bus interface will also feature in this card, delivering efficient connectivity alongside AMD Xconnect and HDR ready features.

It seems a strange move from Biostar to release such an old GPU - especially when AMD are focusing fully on the brand's newer RNDA architecture. Additionally, we still don't have a price for the upcoming RX 580. The original card hit shelves for $229 which was great value for money back then. It'll be interesting to see what Biostar values this new, white-tailored GPU at.

Ryzen 9000 series was a little bit of a flop, especially at the low end. Microsoft and its Windows operating system played a part in that, as it was proven that 9000 series processors tested on update 24H2 yielded much better performance. Thankfully, the performance uplift was backported to 23H2 in a small update not long ago.

A recent video by Hardware Unboxed lifts the lid on the poor Ryzen 9000 series sales and compares them to the first-ever Ryzen launch by saying "At least here in Australia, this has been the worst Ryzen launch since the start of Ryzen as a whole".

After speaking to some unnamed retailers, Hardware Unboxed stated that one of the retailers said one of the Zen 5 sales figures was still in the single digits shortly after launch. But it's been around a month now since the launch of the Ryzen 9000 series, surely things have improved?

Where are the Ryzen sales figures now?

There are not many places where we have access to the sales data, but if we head over to Mindfactory, and check out the Ryzen 9000 series, we can see that the sales figures are still very underwhelming.

The sales stack up as follows:

If you compare these numbers with the likes of the 7900X, it has around 6,940 units sold. We know that it's been out far longer than the 900 sires, but if you scale up some of the numbers per month to the time that the 7900X has been around, they still don't come close.

Personally, we've seen lots of people opt for the 7000 series over the 9000, I myself am even considering upgrading to the 7000 series from my 5900X which has served me very well over the years. Either that, or I wait to see what X3D has to offer.

What will 9000 X3D have to offer?

Obviously, we don't know, it isn't out yet. But if we take some of the data from the 7000 series, we can extrapolate and predict a potential uplift this time around, even if we assume no actual progress has been made on the X3D portion of the processor.

Firstly, let's tackle the 5800X and 5800X3D, ahh, where it all started. TechSpot says that the Ryzen 7 5800X3D delivers an average bump of 15% performance in 1080p, that's over a massive 41 games no less. An extra 15% performance is nothing to scoff at if you're already getting upwards of 200 in some easier-to-run games.

Moving onto the 7000 series now, and we have many more X3D CPUs to choose from, we're going to take the 7900X and the 7900X3D as an example (as there is no base 7800X unfortunately). Here, TechSpot reports a 5% boost over the standard 7900X, but that was with scheduling issues close to launch, the real uplift is closer to 12% in games.

So if we take a ballpark figure of a 13% uplift, we can expect some pretty exciting things from 9000X3D, all this is assuming AMD has made NO improvements to the 3D V-cache at all. If you apply a 13% uplift to the 9950X (as per TechSpot's testing to keep it consistent) in TLOU Part 1 - you get 203 FPS (182 base) and that's faster than the 14900K (192 FPS).

Sure, but the 14900K is technically a generation behind, what does that matter? Yes, but the Ryzen 9000 series is much more efficient than the 14900K, there's also many more examples to apply the 13% uplift prediction. We'll just have to wait and see what the real performance numbers are.

In the end, you might end up with gaming CPUs that can really compete with the next-generation Intel CPUs. AMD may have also improved the V-cache of their Zen 5 processors, allowing us more room to overclock or even get better base values out of the CPU.

At the end of the day, the Ryzen 9000 didn't offer much over the 7000 series at launch, but X3D could change all that especially if you're a gamer.

The lineup will include the C27G4ZXU, CQ27G4X, CQ32G4VE, & Q27G4XF - three of which will be curved with at least 180Hz refresh rate and one with a flat panel. The monitors look set to be available already through various vendors like Amazon, Overclockers, and Scan.

AGON monitor launch: Summarized

Press release

Amsterdam, 12 September 2024 – AGON by AOC – one of the world's leading gaming monitor1 and IT accessories brands – announces the expansion of its G4 series with four new models designed to cater to a wide range of gaming preferences and budgets. The new line-up includes the 27-inch (68.6 cm) curved AOC GAMING C27G4ZXU, CQ27G4X, and the flat-model Q27G4XF, as well as the larger variant, the 31.5-inch (80 cm) curved AOC GAMING CQ32G4VE, offering a versatile selection of displays with high refresh rates and responsive panels, perfect for entry-level and budget-conscious gamers looking to elevate their gaming experience.

Curved immersion and lightning-fast refresh rates

The AOC GAMING C27G4ZXU leads the pack with its impressive 280 Hz refresh rate on a 27-inch curved Fast VA panel. This Full HD (1920x1080) monitor features a 1500R curvature for enhanced immersion, an up to 1 ms GtG response time, and 0.3 ms MPRT for crystal-clear motion.

With a contrast ratio of 4000:1 and 300 nits brightness, it delivers vivid visuals and deep blacks, letting users enjoy visually rich games as well as competitive titles, striking a perfect balance for casual and enthusiastic gamers. The C27G4ZXU also includes built-in speakers and a 4-port USB 3.2 hub for convenient connectivity for gaming peripherals. For users looking for the same specifications (except speakers and the USB hub) with a simpler stand or to use with VESA mounts for example, AGON by AOC offers the AOC GAMING C27G4ZXE (launched June 2024).

QHD resolution for sharper visuals

For gamers seeking higher resolution without compromising on speed, the 27-inch AOC GAMING CQ27G4X and 31.5-inch AOC GAMING CQ32G4VE both offer QHD resolution (2560x1440) on curved Fast VA panels.

These models boast a 180 Hz refresh rate, an up to 1 ms GtG response time, and 0.5 ms MPRT, ensuring smooth and responsive gameplay across many titles, combining sharp details with speed. The CQ27G4X features a 1500R curvature and 4000:1 contrast ratio, while the larger CQ32G4VE offers also a 1500R curvature and 3500:1 contrast ratio, both delivering immersive visuals with 300 nits of brightness.

Flat panel option for traditional setups

Rounding off the new line-up is the AOC GAMING Q27G4XF, a 27-inch flat monitor featuring a Fast IPS panel with QHD resolution. This model combines a 180 Hz refresh rate with an up to 1 ms GtG response time and 0.5 ms MPRT, offering exceptional clarity and smoothness. With 300 nits of brightness and HDR10 compliance, it provides vibrant colours for a dynamic gaming experience.

Gaming-centric features across the board

All models in the G4 series come equipped with a range of features designed specifically for gamers. All models feature MBR (Motion Blur Reduction) Sync, enabling the backlight strobing to be synchronised with the refresh rate to reduce the perceived blur to a minimum and offer a sharp, smooth gaming experience.

Low input lag ensures immediate on-screen response to user actions, while the Dynamic Dial Point function provides a customisable crosshair overlay, which can change its colour against the background for improved visibility.This feature can better accuracy in first-person shooters. The Shadow Control feature allows users to adjust shadow and highlight details without affecting the rest of the display, ensuring optimal visibility in all gaming scenarios. Frame Counter allows users to see their framerate easily on screen. Additionally, all models support the AOC G-Menu software, enabling easy adjustment of OSD settings directly from the desktop.

Sleek design language

The G4 series showcases a modern design aesthetic that seamlessly blends into any gaming setup. With a grey and black colour scheme, slim bezels, and sharp lines reminiscent of a stealth aircraft, these monitors offer a sleek and attractive appearance. The sturdy stands with a small footprint provide a stable base without distracting from the overall aesthetic, offering ample space for keyboard and mouse movement.

With the exception of the larger CQ32G4VE, which features a tilt-adjustable stand, all three 27-inch models come equipped with height-adjustable stands (130 mm) as well as tilt and swivel support, allowing users to find their optimal viewing position for extended gaming sessions. A cable management opening in the stand foot serves to create a clutter-free desk setup. The packaging of the 27-inch models come with paper cushions, reducing their environmental impact.

Adaptive-Sync for tear-free gaming

All four new models in the G4 series support Adaptive-Sync technology, ensuring smooth, tear-free gameplay across a wide range of graphics cards. The Q27G4XF goes a step further with certified NVIDIA G-SYNC compatibility, providing an even more seamless experience for users with NVIDIA GPUs.

A monitor for every gamer

The expanded G4 series, which was introduced at the beginning of 2024 and keeps evolving and growing, demonstrates AGON by AOC's dedication to providing high-quality gaming monitors for every type of gamer and budget. Whether users prefer a curved or flat display, Full HD or QHD resolution, or a larger screen size, the new G4 line-up offers an affordable option without compromising on essential gaming features. The G4 series offers further options:

Pricing and availability

The new curved and flat G4 models will be available from September 2024. The AOC GAMING C27G4ZXU, CQ27G4X, Q27G4XF, and the CQ32G4VE will be available with the MSRPs of £189.99, £X189.99, £199.99 and £249.99, respectively.

All monitors come with a 3-year warranty, providing peace of mind for gamers investing in their setups.

A Reddit user by the name of Zacsmacs posted to the r/overclocking subreddit detailing an ongoing project to install a little upgrade to his Liquid Devil 5700XT, this upgrade goes far beyond the standard overclocking that we are used to seeing on this subreddit. It has to be one of the most intricate and involved processes we have seen in the aid of squeezing a little more out of an older GPU.

By the way, don't try this at home, it's not like baking a cake, Zacsmacs presumably knows the risks. We're not liable for any damages or voided warranties that attempting this will probably cause.

As detailed in the post, the aim is to remove the current Micron 8gbit 14gbps memory chips and replace them with new Samsung 16gbit 18gbps GDDR6 memory. The transplant has not quite been completed yet, but the old memory chips have been successfully removed from the GPU's PCB, after being baked in the oven like something you see on the Great British Bake Off.

Thankfully, the removal mostly went off without a hitch, the foil was used to protect some plastic components and Aluminium polymer caps to stop them from degrading. The only unintentional damage sustained was some scratches on the "cheap" solder mask, as Zacsmacs describes it. But no tracers or important connections were damaged as far as they could tell. They also say that the solder mask damage can be easily fixed with a UV solder mask kit that will arrive shortly.

If the transplant is successful, then Zacsmac may have the first 16gbit, 18gbps RX 5700XT, a GPU that isn't too remarkable nowadays in its standard form will be transformed into a marvel to behold. We'll also be following this process closely to see what kind of performance gains are for an upgrade of this caliber.

How will the upgrade affect performance?

We spoke to our resident GPU expert, Seb, on the matter, and he expects at least a 5-15% uplift in FPS and smoother gameplay in games that require more video memory. The idea of upgrading Vram is to allow the GPU to load and store more textures and other assets the GPU needs to call upon when gaming.

When that gets full, there's nowhere to store new assets, and the memory is purged to make room for the required data. And as you guessed it, this process is slow (relatively speaking). Ideally, GPUs will be able to one day load the entire game into memory at once.

AMD have quietly launched a new mobility GPU for its ever-growing RDNA 3 family today, aimed at high-end gaming laptops and equipped with the same compute units as the PS5 & 7800 XT. The GPU was 'announced' on the official AMD website via a product page which showcased launch dates, specifications, and more.

While no official gaming laptops have hit shelves using the newly announced RX 7800M, experts predict that stock availability for these laptops will be much higher than the flagship RX 7900M and mainstream 7600/7700 variants.

Of course, only time will tell on that front, but early signs are looking quite positive for the upcoming mobile GPU. In fact, early 3D Mark benchmarks showcase a mere 15% difference between the 7800M and 7900M, which is not horrendous when all things are considered.

AMD RX 7800M specs go live

Looking at the specifications, the 7800M is based on the 5nm NAVI 32 GPU silicon, equipped with 30WGPs and 60 Compute Units (similar to that of both PS5 Pro & RX 7800 XT). It features 3,840 stream processors on a chip that stacks 28.1 billion transistors, plus 96 ROPs and a maximum texture fill rate of 560.4 GT/s.

To put that in perspective, that's the same core count as the AMD RX 7800 XT desktop GPU and the recently announced PS5 Pro console from Sony. As for clock speeds on the newly announced 7800M, users can expect 2,145MHz in game frequency mode - which is far less than the 2,430MHz boasted by the 7800 XT. This is mainly thanks to the compromises made when working out the chips TDP.

How does the 7800M compare to the desktop 7800 XT?

Of course, comparing the mobile-tailored 7800M to the desktop 7800XT is like night and day - however, it's worth a look to get some perspective on how it may perform in flagship games.

The 7800M will feature 12GB of VRAM whereas the 7800XT offers 16GB, with the latter also featuring faster memory bandwidth, meaning it should be easily outperformed by its desktop counterpart.

All being said, when you look at mobile vs mobile options, the 7800M looks fairly well placed, boasting a 28% increase over the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070, respectively.

For those wanting a closer mobile comparison for the 7000M RNDA 3 mobility range, see our table below:

MSI has teased its latest additions to AMD motherboards in the form of the X870E tomahawk, Godlike, Carbon, and Pro, which all come with a supplemental 8-pin power connector at the bottom of the board to give you a little extra juice should you need it. Specifically, MSI likens this power connector to having an extra battery pack, designed to help stability under extremely intensive workloads, allowing the PSU to "keep up" with demand.

Supplemental power

MSI states that this supplemental connector is able to supply 252W at 21 Amps, add that to the 168W already supplied by the 24-pin connector, and you get a board that is capable of running with 420W - that's just the motherboard! The example here is the MSI MAG Tomahawk paired with the RTX 4090 and the 9950X. Let's take the Tomohawk for example.

Besides being able to handle up to 165W (2.5X the standard 75W) through the PCIe interface, the Tomohawk allocates an impressive 132W max to fans, and 36W to RGB at any one time.

The supplemental power connector is primarily intended for high-end graphics cards that sometimes experience power excursions of up to 2.5X through the PCIe interface. By including this connector, MSI ensures that this motherboard will be able to support the GPU during this peak usage.

Power stability isn't usually an issue to the average consumer, as they don't dabble in the world of extreme overclocking, or might not have the most demanding GPU, where the smallest power fluctuation can lead to critical instability or performance loss. Supplemental power isn't anything new, motherboard manufacturers have been adding these connectors to motherboards for years now in the form of 6-pin PCIe connectors. The difference now is the amount of power supplied, and the shape of the connector.

Remember, it's not just the Tomohawk that's going to be getting this feature either, according to the video that MSI posted and promotional materials for the X870E & X870 lineup, all models of the top-spec motherboards will get this feature.

Potential release date

MSI claims that these motherboards are to be released on September 26th, However, VideoCards suggests that reviews of these boards are set to be published on the 30th, implying a same-day embargo. Actual sales of the product usually begin on the same day, or the following day, but if the rumors are true, and we're still in for a September release, it's likely the sales will begin on September 30th.

Intel are set to launch their latest Intel Core Ultra series of CPUs next month, and despite the brand not officially announcing the products yet, early retailer pages have been going live ahead of schedule.

The latest "leak" - if you'll call it that - comes from Canadian retailer, PC Canada, which sees the entire range of CPUs listed online - alongside pricing and stock availability. The CPUs listed will range from 424.99 CAD to 847 CAD, with KF variants available for the entry-level 245 and mid-range 265 chips.

Intel are expected to officially disclose all outstanding information surrounding the Core Ultra CPU lineup on October 10th, 2024 - with the official released expected for around a week later.

Intel Core Ultra CPU pricing leaks on Canadian retailer

At the time of writing this, the current flagship i9-14900K can be found on numerous retailers for around the $580 mark - meaning if CA pricing is to be accurate, we'd see a sub-10% price difference between the two flagship variants.

Of course, nothing is official until its confirmed - and like we saw with the recent AMD Ryzen 9000 series launch, price leaks are rarely accurate (even when its a well known retailer posting them).

Thankfully, we'll only have to wait a few short weeks until we get to see exactly what Intel's new CPU lineup has to offer, with the brand set for unveilings in early October.

It features 7 uniquely-customizable design traits that allow the user to change not only the aesthetics of the keyboard, but also the performance, feel, sound, and typing style too. It will follow on from the brand's already popular GMMK 2 series, offering an entry point for individuals that want to start their journey into keyboard modding.

But does the latest mod-friendly keyboard from Glorious offer enough versatility, functionality, and customization to warrant its relatively steep price point? We take a closer look at the GMMK 3 Pro 100% keyboard to see just how intuitive keyboard customization can be and decide whether or not this premium-feeling, stellar-looking board stands up against the competition.

Models & pricing

The Glorious GMMK 3 is currently available in 4 prebuilt/barebones options, with each offering a unique list of features that tailor them towards a specific use case. As far as pricing is concerned, the range features boards that hit each financial demographic, with the GMMK 3 being your entry-level option ($119-$139), while the GMMK 3 Pro HE is the flagship model ($299-$369).

Below is the full pricing list for the available models on launch:

While pricing is seemingly steep, each board seems to be fairly well priced when compared to some of the market's like-for-like alternatives. The GMMK 3, for example, is around $20 cheaper than both the Corsair K70 RGB Pro and Razer Blackwidow V4 on their respective launch dates. That being said, with dynamic pricing and deals on keyboards regularly available, you can pick up both Razer and Corsair variants for around $120.

The same story can be found when comparing the GMMK 3 Pro to the ASUS Azoth and Blackwidow V4 75% boards, which puts the brands latest arrival at a slightly uncomfortable price point. Overall, when you look at the market right now, and factor in the respective pricing across various retailers, you'd have to say that the GMMK 3 is a little on the pricey side. That said, when you factor in the various features, design aesthetics, and customization traits of the board, it's probably still a worthwhile prospect for individuals looking in that price range.

Full specifications & gallery

Below you'll find a full list of the specifications for the models in question:

Design

Aesthetically, the GMMK 3 Pro looks and feels about as good as it gets - equipped with a design language that is clean, polished, and premium. The GMMK3 Pro is available in three distinct size variations (65%, 75%, 100%) and each is designed using a high-end CNC aluminum case and Doubleshot PBT keycaps. A 'brushed' finish has been applied to the aluminum top case we tested, but as we'll soon elude to, every component of the board's design is fully customizable through the purchasing process. The Doubleshot PBT keycaps have a slightly textured feel and utilize bold text to give the board an almost clinical aesthetic.

A tactile rotary knob (or volume wheel) can be found in the top right corner of the board alongside a metallic Glorious badge that features a small RGB light strip. The Doubleshot PBT keycaps sit nicely within the top shell of the board, with the base of the caps sitting flush with the top of the case. The caps are not of "low-profile" design, meaning some macOS users will feel slightly out of sorts using this board. For PC users, however, this should not be a problem. Two RGB light diffusers can be found on the sides of the board for a more subtle RGB experience - all of which can be fully customized using the brand's Core software suite.

The rear of the board is fairly uncharacteristic, with a large Glorious stamp being the only real talking point. Users will find eight rubber stoppers - which act as anti-slide points - that cover the screws used to open the board for further customization. A USB Type-C connection can be found at the top of the board (usual location) for connecting the board to your PC. It sits alongside a MAC/PC switch and a wired/wireless/Bluetooth switch which both feel relatively premium. Users can choose between a number of cable options, but we opted for the rugged-looking coiled keyboard cable that features a double-sleeved braided design with a 5-pin aviator detachable connector.

As far as weight and size go, the GMMK 3 Pro is an absolute beast - weighing in at 2.85 KG (according to my scales). The overall design of the board, once you factor in the hefty weight, feels absolutely rock solid - giving me confidence that this board will likely stand the test of time. It measures in at 462mm x 152mm x 44.5mm, making it a fairly standard size for a 100% keyboard.

Overall, the board is quite impressive from a design perspective - especially if you choose a cool pink on green color scheme like we did. Jokes aside, the board feels premium, looks fantastic, and with endless customization, you'll be able to tailor it to your exact needs. And better yet, if you aren't happy with one element of the design, you'll be able to tweak that part with very little fuss.

Feature packed with modding at its core

At this stage, we best talk about the elephant in the room - the GMMK 3 Pro's endless customization. As the brand state in their marketing materials, the GMMK 3 Pro (alongside the entirety of the range) is designed for users who like to customize every aspect of their keyboard, and that's exactly what you get here. Users will be able to customize 7 components of the design makeup, including the; top and bottom case, switch plate, cables, keycaps, and accent pieces - making this one of the most customizable boards on the mass market. A variety of options are available for each component of the board, giving the GMMK 3 Pro its unique "1 billion keyboards in 1" characteristic.

For me, the main feature of this board is the customization and "modding" ability it brings to the table. You can change pretty much every aspect of this board, from the switch plate to the gaskets and everything in between. And best of all, Glorious is bringing this to the mass market in a way that is incredibly intuitive and instinctive. Essentially, it's Lego for the keyboard modding world.

Physically accessing the internal design of the board is incredibly easy. Located on the underside of the board, users will find 8 rubber stoppers that cover the keyboard's screws that hold the case together. Simply use the supplied screwdriver to remove the 8 screws and voila, you're in. Carefully remove the top case to reveal the switch plate, switches, and gasket mount. At this stage, you can start your modding journey, changing the switches, adding and removing gaskets for better dampening, and even changing the switch plate all together to better suit your aesthetic requirements. Users will also be able to swap out RGB diffusers, change keycaps, and add little accents to the board's design.

To test the intuitive nature of the process, we sent the keyboard round the office to some of our least experienced colleagues to see how they faired with the process. While some felt a little nervous about meddling with the innards of a $300 keyboard, most thought the process was incredibly straight forward - even when it came to physically removing the switches and replacing them with something more suited to their needs.

While each of the GMMK 3 options comes with a slightly different switch, we opted for the brand's flagship Hall Effect switches - which offer a number of cool features. Firstly, the HE switches feature custom actuation that measures from 0.1mm to 4.0mm, giving competitive players the ability to increase the reactiveness of their keypresses. The HE switches also feature a 4 in 1 dynamic keystroke, meaning you can get 4 unique commands from one individual keypress. Not sure how competitive gaming councils will view this feature, but it's certainly cool for the hobbyist.

The GMMK 3 Pro also features hotswap compatibility with not only proprietary switches, but also 3/5-pin MX options too. Alongside this, users have the option of choosing between Doubleshot PBT keycaps or macOS keycaps - depending on what platform they're subscribed to.

If you're using the wireless option like us, the keyboard offers 2.4GHz wireless and Bluetooth connections, alongside a max polling rate of 8,000Hz when wired. Battery life is said to run in the region of 22-28 hours on 2.4GHz wireless and 51-67 hours on Bluetooth. All boards will come with Glorious' 2 year warranty.

All features are powered through the brand's Core 2.1 software suite which allows you to customize all of the above. The software package is incredibly easy to use and allows the user to set a number of profiles depending on the use case.

Performance

The GMMK 3 Pro really was a joy to type on, especially when working on longer feature pieces - such as this review we're writing here. The overall typing experience was excellent, with each key perfectly spaced to allow for fast typing accuracy and very few mistypes. The Doubleshot PBT keycaps felt very nice to use during typing sessions, especially with their slightly textured finish that offers low level of grip during typing. When comparing the PBT keycaps to their ABS counterpart, its easy to feel the difference. The PBT caps support a much more pleasant typing style and offer far less wobble during usage. Additionally, the keycaps offered an incredibly premium feel when paired with the brand's Glorious Fox HE switches, resulting in an wonderfully silky typing experience.

The dampening pad used under the switchplate also helps to give the keystrokes a characteristic thud that is far more enjoyable than that of early MX Red's or current 'clicky' alternatives. Pair that with the customizable gaskets below and you really do have a premium typing experience. Remember, if you want certain areas of your board to be less dampened, simply unscrew the board, remove the gasket, and put it back together.

Sadly, the typing feel wasn't for everyone in our office, with some low-profile users not totally sold on the "high-profile" design of the keycaps we used. That said, adjustments can be made to the keycaps to better suit a low-profile requirement.

I tested the board over a variety of games but mostly over competitive shooters like Valorant and Counter-Strike. The keyboard responded incredibly well during gaming sessions, however, some adjustments were required to dial in that perfect actuation distance. Upon starting my tests, I had the key actuation set quite low - meaning keystrokes were at their most reactive. While that was great for some situations, trying to stealthily peak a corner was sometimes met with my character simply running into the open before I expected it.

With that said, we tweaked the boards actuation distance on the core "WASD" keys and that solved the overpeeking issue relatively quickly. After this, the keyboard was incredibly nice to use and gave me real confidence in my movement in competitive shooters - a feature that can not be overlooked when you're looking to achieve the highest levels of performance.

Thanks to the above mentioning dampening pad, the rapid usage of certain keys on games like CS2 was not overly obtrusive - something that is definitely problematic when using more aggressive sounds red switches.

Overall, I really enjoyed the keyboards characteristic feel during gameplay. One downside, however, was the weight of the board. I'm the sort of player that likes to make micro adjustments during gameplay, and trying to move this thing quickly in the heat of battle simply isn't at option. However, that shouldn't really be a problem for most, as many gamers actually enjoy the opposite - a rock solid, stable board that will stay put during action.

News around AMD's 8000 series GPUs has been relatively sparse over the past couple of weeks, with most of the headline information still relatively under wraps. That said, new information is being drip fed into the community almost daily at the moment, with the brand now expected to launch 4 new NAVI 48 & NAVI 44 SKUs.

According to Benchlife, the plan for AMD's RDNA 4 GPU architecture is "very clear", with both NAVI 48 and NAVI 44 both receiving two unique SKUs - both tailored at the mainstream market.

AMD's plan for the RDNA 4 GPU architecture is actually very clear, namely Navi 48 and Navi 44. If it is further subdivided, Navi 48 will include R24D-E8, R24D-E6 and Navi 44's R25D. - Four products including P8 and R25D-P4 are in AMD's current planning.

AMD prioritizes gaming GPUs over enthusiast market

It'll come as no surprise that AMD want to target the more mainstream marketplace - even more so after AMD's Senior Vice President, Jack Huynh, said the following in a Tom's Hardware interview:

So, my number one priority right now is to build scale, to get us to 40 to 50 percent of the market faster. Do I want to go after 10% of the TAM [Total Addressable Market] or 80%? I'm an 80% kind of guy because I don't want AMD to be the company that only people who can afford Porsches and Ferraris can buy. We want to build gaming systems for millions of users.

The brand is showing clear signs of moving away from the more enthusiast product space in favor of the mass market, and are doing so through its upcoming 8000 series lineup.

Below are the following SKUs that are likely to launch with the first round of 8000-series cards:

At this early stage, we're still unclear on what specifications each of the SKUs will entail - outside of the RDNA 4 architecture. We do know that the 8000 series lineup will likely be officially unveiled at next year's CES event that will take place in January, 2025.

It's also said that AMD's AIB partners have already begun boot testing the first RDNA 4 NAVI 48 and 44 silicon within their respective workshops, meaning everything should be ready to roll come next year's AMD keynote.

This all comes at a time where NVIDIA quietly plans its own 5000 series launch. It'll be interesting to see how the respective GPUs perform when push comes to shove - and whether or not AMD's renewed interest in the mainstream gaming market has paid off. Only time will tell.

Of course, these bundles come with a caveat: they’re available for in-store pickup only. But if you’re fortunate enough to live near a Micro center, this deal is tough to overlook. With the AM5 platform offering the most future-proof path for PC builders, getting your hands on a bundle featuring one of the latest Ryzen 9000 series CPUs is an opportunity you won't want to miss.

What's in this Ryzen 9600X Bundle?

The bundle includes three key components that provide a solid foundation for a powerful PC build:

First up is the Ryzen 5 9600X processor, a standout from AMD’s newest 9000 series lineup. Based on the advanced Zen 5 architecture, this CPU features 6 cores, 12 threads, and a maximum boost clock of 5.4 GHz, delivering robust performance when under load. With a base clock of 3.9 GHz, a TDP of 65W, and a 32 MB L3 cache, it's designed for efficiency as well. Users with an MSI motherboard can bump up the TDP to 105W without voiding the warranty, though early reports suggest this may not result in a noticeable improvement in gaming performance.

Next is the ASUS Prime B650M-A motherboard, which offers compatibility with the Ryzen 9000, 8000, and 7000 series processors via the AM5 socket. This versatile board can handle up to four DDR5 6400 MHz RAM sticks and has three PCIe 4.0 x16 slots. Storage options include two M.2 slots—one PCIe 4.0 and one PCIe 5.0—ensuring you have room for fast storage solutions. The board also provides an array of connectivity options, including several USB 3.2 and 2.0 ports, an HDMI, VGA, and DisplayPort, and a 2.5G Ethernet port.

Rounding out the bundle is the G.Skill Flare X5 Series 16GB DDR5 RAM, capable of speeds up to 6000 MHz. This high-speed memory ensures smooth multitasking and can handle memory-intensive applications with ease.

A Price Drop That Delivers Serious Value

What makes this bundle so appealing is its price. Normally, these components would cost $494.47 when purchased separately. However, Micro center's bundle is currently available for just $349.99, offering a substantial savings of $144.98. That’s money that can be redirected towards other necessary parts for your build, such as a case, CPU cooler, power supply, or GPU.

With deals like this, Micro center continues to deliver exceptional value to PC builders. For those looking to get the most out of the Ryzen 5 9600X, check out our recommendations for the best power supply, CPU cooler, and GPU. And for the case, consider one of the top airflow PC cases to keep your new rig running cool and efficiently.

AMD has announced its newest Anti-Lag technology today, Radeon Anti-Lag 2, which looks set to make further improvements on the brand's already popular Anti-Lag tech. The technology, which helps reduce in-game latency from input to screen, improves overall response time by optimizing the game processing pipeline - particularly good for competitive players.

AMD has recently tweeted about the new technology, stating:

Looking to get even more out of our Anti-Lag technology?

Now you can reduce your game latency even further by integrating

@amdradeon Anti-Lag 2 directly into your game, with the GPUOpen release of its SDK!

The tool will be available via the GPUOpen platform - an open-source playground for tools, resources, and technologies created for game developers looking to implement outsider tools. Game devs will be able to download Anti-Lag 2 via GPUOpen, giving them access to the tools, libraries, and documentation that helps reduce in-game latency.

In AMD's official GPUOpen announcement, the brand says:

Anti-Lag 2 does a similar thing to the driver-based Anti-Lag 1, but the point of insertion of the delay is now at the optimal point inside the game’s logic, just before the user controls (mouse/gamepad/keyboard) are sampled. This allows for an optimal alignment of the game’s internal processing pipeline (and not just the in-driver producer-consumer logic), achieving a significantly greater latency reduction.

AMD go live with Anti-Lag 2

The statement continues by stating that game developers will need to integrate the Anti-Lag 2 SDK into their games to achieve newly improved latency reductions.

AMD has posted comparative latency data (in MS) that showcases the improvements made over both Anti-Lag 1 and no Anti-Lag at all.

AMD has utilized Counter-Strike 2 as the source game to highlight the latency improvements of the tech's predecessor - a game that craves technology and hardware that helps reduce in-game latency.

As you can see from the graph above, Anti-Lag 2 looks to boast a decent reduction in latency from mouse to screen when comparing it to the current Anti-Lag technology, with most configurations seeing a decent 10-30% reduction.

Fans don't seem impressed

While the tool looks impressive on paper, many tech enthusiasts don't seem keen on the new latency solution - with one Wccftech user saying "Their Anti-lag solution is s*** creates stutter and hitching in a number of games this company's software solutions are always half-baked it's the same shit with FSR3. Go to reddit and read all the problems that Amd anti-lag is causing to games.".

It'll be interesting to see how in-game latency is affected through our own particular testing process, but early signs seem to be positive for the new technology.

This year is quickly becoming the year of the gaming handheld, with the Steam Deck now facing a new rival in the shape of Acer's Nitro Blaze 7. The device becomes the latest edition in a growing line of exciting new arrivals this year, with all major brands now vowing for gaming handheld supremacy.

The announcement was made official by Acer at this year's IFA in Berlin, where the brand took us through a number of new arrivals and technologies. And while there was plenty to admire from the keynote, one of the more exciting arrivals was the Nitro Blaze 7.

Acer's Nitro Blaze 7 gaming handheld

The latest arrival in the gaming handheld space will be powered by AMD's Ryzen 8840HS processor, with up to 39 total AI TOPS, up to 2 TB of storage, and 16 GB LPDDR5X memory.

The device looks set to offer an immersive and stutter-free visual experience in Full HD, according to the brand, thanks to its 144Hz refresh rate and IPS touch screen. the device will come equipped with AMD's Radeon 780M Graphics, Radeon Super Resolution, and FreeSync Premium technology.

The Nitro Blaze 7 will also come with a 7-inch FHD (1920x1080) IPS screen that boasts 100% sRGB coverage for an immersive, color-accurate visual experience during gameplay.

Multitasking also looks set to be a breeze on this device, with Acer offering a 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD and 16GB of LPDDR5X memory at 7500 M/s for high data transfer rates.

See a full specs list below:

Alongside the device itself, Acer has also packed it with some gaming-focused software. It comes with the Acer Game Space app (accessible via a hotkey) which "integrates mainstream gaming platforms" on the Windows 11 handheld. In other words, it keeps all your game libraries in the same place for easy access, much like rival ROG Ally. Aside from that, the Blaze also comes with 3 months of PC Game Pass when purchased.

Corsair have recently released both a new PC case and an new AIO cooling solution, so we thought it would be a smashing idea all round to combine both into a new PC build. The components in question are the Corsair 3500X case, a new, budget-friendly back-connect case compatible with both ASUS BTF and MSI Project Zero motherboards, and also the customizable iCUE Link Titan RX RGB AIO. Without further ado, let’s get stuck in!

Corsair 3500X case

The 3500 series is the latest entry to the Corsair range of back-connect PC cases, which includes the 2500 and 6500 series. Whereas these latter two case lines are both dual-chamber cases that have quite large rear compartments and are wider as a result, the 3500 series has a more conventional desktop tower form-factor, making it narrower and taller on your desk (or beneath it). There’s still enough space in the rear for all the additional cables of the back-connect build however, plus lots of space in the main compartment for airflow and larger components.

The case can accommodate graphics cards up to 410mm in length, which includes even the largest RTX 4090s currently available, so virtually any GPU you can buy. Maximum PSU length is 180mm, which means you can fit in a full-size ATX-size power supply (which measure 150mm x 86mm x 140mm as standard). In terms of cooling you can fit two 360mm radiators (each comprising up to three 120mm fans): one on the top and one going up vertically on the side close to the front panel; there’s also space for an additional 120mm fan on the back and one on the bottom.  

At present the 3500 series is limited to the 3500X with its rather fetching wraparound glass panel view. It’s possible that a mesh panel variant may be introduced in the future as was the case with the 2500D and 6500D, however the tempered glass version has always been our favourite coz it looks so damn good with all your components lit up inside. The case has screwless size, front, and roof panels so you can pop them on and off with ease if you want to have a tinker.

Probably the best thing about the case though is the price: you can pick up the most stripped down version for $84.99, the ARGB version with three pre-installed RS120 fans for £119.99, or finally the iCUE Link version with three pre-installed RX120 fans and iCUE LINK System Hub for £169.99. All of these variants are available in either black or white.

iCUE Link Titan RX RGB AIO

The iCUE Link Titan RX RGB AIO is the latest All-In-One liquid cooling setup, compatible with either Intel or AMD processors. This new model comes with customizable ‘CapSwap modules’, essentially meaning you can buy extra upgrades like an LCD screen, and mix and match them, which is a very nice feature.

As the name would suggest, it’s fully compatible with the iCUE Link system, meaning fewer cables in your build, plus extensive RGB controls for the 20 different LEDs on the pump itself, plus the eight on each of the fans.

The water block section is powered by a FlowDrive 3 phase pump and comes with an optimized convex cold plate with pre-applied XTM70 thermal paste, so you don’t have to bother yourself: it’s even applied in a pleasing pattern!

This cooling solution is high performance, yet remains nice and quiet, both in terms of the pump section and the three RX120 fans in the radiator (which used elsewhere in our build). The fans are high-static pressure models, capable of pumping air with force through and over your components without needing to spin at velocities that would cause increased noise volumes.

The components we used

We were sent the iCUE Link version of the 3500X with its three pre-installed RX120 fans and iCUE LINK System Hub, onto this we added another couple of RX120 fans, plus the iCUE Link Titan RX RGB AIO. We used the MSI Project Zero B650M as the motherboard, though other ASUS or Gigabyte back connect motherboards could be used (or just normal boards if you don’t don’t care about the back-connect feature). We had a white Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti knocking about so used this as our graphics card, and picked some of the new white Corsair Dominator Titanium (with RGB) for our memory to match the aesthetic, plus a cheap M.2 SSD drive.

Given we’ve had the latest AMD Ryzen 7 9700X in to review we thought we might as well throw this in for the processor, though do be aware you may need to flash the BIOS with a USB drive using the onboard flash utility in order to update the motherboard to make it compatible with this new CPU.

With all the above components, an 850W PSU would be quite sufficient, though we had a 1000W ATX-sized Corsair one knocking about (our favored PSU brand anyway) so just used this to power our rig.

Assembling the build

The 3500X has ample room in the main compartment area, and a respectable amount in the rear of the case as well, even if it’s not as roomy in the rear compartment as a dual-chamber build. This, plus the plentiful slots and openings to feed cables through between the two sides of the case, meant putting it together was pretty much a doddle. Obviously we’re seasoned PC builders here at WePC, but if you’re a complete newcomer then this is a good case to start on.

First, we took off the front and side glass panels to give ourselves the most amount of room in the main compartment; these come off nice and easy and are completely screwless, though have a couple of notches at the bottom to prevent the panels from just falling out when you’re taking it off. We then removed the rear mesh panel.

After installing the CPU, RAM and M.2 SDD into the motherboard, we screwed the board down onto the stand-offs that are preinstalled into the case, using the screws from the case. We then unboxed the PSU, plugged in all the power cables we needed, then screwed it into place. We plugged-in as many of the power cables as we could at this point into their respective slots on the back of the motherboard, including the power cabling for the case IO and RGB.

Next, we unboxed the Titan AIO, removed the standard mounting that came pre-attached and replaced them with the AMD mount that came in the box. After lifting off the top mesh panel, the AIO radiator (comprising of three 120mm fans) was screwed into the top. We then secured the water block to the mounts around the CPU and screwed it down. Then came the rest of the fans, which were all Corsair RX120 RGB, 120mm, iCUE Link compatible fans. Using Corsair’s own QuikTurn screws we secured three intake fans into the vertical space next to the front glass panel, another intake fan into the bottom of the case, and a final exhaust fan on the back of the case next to the rear I/O. All of these fans were daisy-chained together and to the AIO radiator, using the included cables, and attached to the iCUE LINK System Hub in the rear of the case with the rest of the wiring.

Finally we plugged in the graphics card after unscrewing and taking out two of the expansion slot plates on the back of the case, did a final check, then turned the PC on! Once we were sure everything was working correctly, we tidied up the cabling in the back and replaced all the panelling to enjoy the finished product in all its glory.

Booting it up

Once everything’s plugged in and you press the power switch, you should see your RGB components light up, including both the fans and the water block on the Titan AIO. However, you might have to go into Corsair’s iCUE Link software to get all your components to be the same color, or if there’s one or two that aren’t working: this can happen, particularly when you’re running different types of components.

First, install Windows, then make sure all the necessary drivers are downloaded and installed by searching ‘Check For Updates’ within Windows, and downloading whatever the latest driver is for your particular graphics card (this will likely require you to restart your PC). After you’ve done this, download and install the latest version of the iCUE LINK software (you can make sure you’re running the latest version by clicking the cogwheel icon in the top right of the iCUE LINK software), download all the necessary firmware for all your different pieces of ha then restart your computer once again.

Finally, open up the iCUE Link app, and under Link System Hub, navigate to Home > Lighting Setup and follow the steps of the setup wizard. You can access different animations, layers, and component groupings here. Under the Hardware Lighting section you can also set different effects, plus change the RPM curves etc. for the fans under Fan Control.

Acer's Predator Gaming X account has just launched a number of teaser trailers for what seems to be a brand new range of gaming arrivals - including what looks like a new gaming Prebuilt PC, a Predator gaming laptop, and something a little spicier too.

The obvious arrivals look set to be a new gaming PC and a new Predator gaming laptop. However, if you take a closer look at the more recent video upload, you'll see something behind the silhouette that strongly resembles a gaming handheld.

Acer could be on verge of launching new gaming handheld console

If you look at the image above, you can clearly see a laptop in the centre of the screen. To the left of that, however, lies something a little more bespoke - a square device that doesn't resemble a keyboard, headset, mouse, or controller.

The only reasonable suggestion for this is a new gaming handheld console. And with the market more popular than ever, it would seem well-timed to bring a new arrival to the table - especially with Intel's Lunar Lake launching around the same time.

With that in mind, it wouldn't be a surprise if Acer were to launch a new gaming handheld console right now, especially when you factor in how explosive the market has been in 2024. It seems everyone is vowing for the Steam Deck's crown, with ZOTAC, ASUS, and Lenovo all offering up exciting new options this year.

According to the X post, we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out exactly what's in store, with the Predator Gaming post stating:

Ready for a beast like no other, engineered to dominate all realms? Press play on 4.9.2024. #NextAtAcer #IFA2024 #AiGaming

What does look certain, however, is a new Predator gaming laptop and Predator gaming prebuilt PC - with the latter being teased on the 2nd of September, 2024, via a similar X post.

This all comes off the back of another Acer announcement where the brand confirmed it would be attending this year's IFA event in Berlin - with a few sneak peeks of AI-related products that will be unveiled on the same day. This range looks set to be branded as "human Intelligence" and revolves heavily around AI products.

All being said, we don't have to wait too long to find out exactly what Acer has in store, with the brand's keynote officially going ahead on the 4th of September, 2024. More over, with Intel officially launching its Lunar Lake processor lineup around the same time, we'll likely see the majority of the new arrivals feature Intel's latest offerings.

A new update from Hassan Mujtaba of Wccftech has shed light on the upcoming AGESA 1.2.0.2 BIOS update that is due to land later this month, reassuring fans of AMD that it will not void the warranty of their Ryzen 7 9700X & Ryzen 5 9600X processors.

The update comes after MSI's announcement of a new feature for its 600-series motherboards last week - which enables the 7600X and 7700X both to be boosted to 105W TDP via a special BIOS setting. The result will be better performance for a number of Ryzen processors, including two of the poorly received 9000-series processors that launched last month.

According to sources, the update will be included with the 800-series motherboards by default, with no need for BIOS updates.

Ryzen 9700X & 9600X performance boosting BIOS update nears

The latest updates on when the AGESA 1.2.0.2 BIOS will land are "later this month" (according to Videocardz) meaning AMD users won't have to wait too long to see what this new update has to offer.

Best of all, according to Wccftech - who are close with the MSI engineering team - the BIOS update is "warranty approved by AMD". As we know, overclocking or running your chip out of spec is typically frowned upon by manufacturers, with the warranty often voided by doing so. So this is enticing news for early adopters of the AMD's 9000-series chips.

Right now, it isn't clear whether the new mode will be available as a BIOS feature or it will be part of the Ryzen Master software suite. That said, we do know that the default and official TDP will remain at 65W for the 9600X and 9700X chips - meaning manual intervention is required for those wanting to utilize the higher 105W TDP.

Despite this being great news for AMD fans, it feels a little forced by Team Red - especially when you factor in how badly the 9000-series CPUs with received upon launch. Many reviewers concluded that the chips simply weren't good enough to recommend when using the default 65W TDP - with only minimal performance gains found when comparing the new chips against their predecessors.

It'll be extremely interesting to see what performance differences reviewers receive when utilizing the latest AGESA 1.2.0.2 update.

The Facecam Neo promises to be of significantly better quality than the bargain basement webcam someone might pick up for videoconferencing in their job say, but at a price point that’s still reasonable. Let’s see if the reality matches up.

Pricing

Currently the Elgato Facecam Neo has an MSRP of $99.99. This contrasts to the (also 1080, 60FPS) Elgato Facecam Mk 2. which sells for around $149.99. As we’ll discuss, the Facecam Neo is actually superior to the older Mk.2 in more ways than it isn’t, including having autofocus, although the MK.2 does have a lens with wider field of view: 84° specifically.

Design & Features

The Facecam Neo is a full HD (1920 x 1080) camera that shoots up to 60 Frames Per Second i.e. 1080p60. You can also record in 1080p30, 720p60, 720p30, 540p60, 540p30. It has a 1/2.9” CMOS sensor, a F/2.0 aperture, and shoots in NV12 MJPG MP4, the FOV is 77°.

Like the rest of the Neo range, the webcam comes in environmentally friendly packaging, which is nice to see.

The overall build is a bit plasticky, which isn’t surprising at this price point, though the included braided cable feels of a good quality. The cable ends in a USB-C and unfortunately there isn’t any USB-C to USB-A adapter included unfortunately (though these are cheap to buy), so if you only have USB-A slots available you’ll need to pick up one of these. There’s a slidable privacy shutter with a handle that runs across the top of the camera.

The base of the webcam has a ¼” thread which makes it compatible with a broad range of tripods. There’s a standard monitor mount base attachment that comes with the product, which has a small degree of horizontal adjustment. The overhanging foregrip section of this monitor mount is transparent, so you can still see through to any bit of the screen it might obscure on a particularly thin-bezel monitor or laptop, which is a nice design feature.

There is no in-built microphone for this webcam, though given the poor quality of the majority of webcam mics, particularly at this price point, it’s not much of a loss and we’d recommend picking up a separate dedicated mic for cheap, such as the Elgato Wave Neo, or if you’re using a laptop just using the in-built microphone within that.

Software & Installation

As mentioned, the Facecam Neo is compatible with both Windows and MacOS, and can even be used with iPads. As far as software applications are concerned, it’s compatible with all the major ones, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Facetime, Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram etc.

The Neo range is marketed as being plug and play devices with minimal setup, and we found this to be the case: there wasn’t a need to download myriad drivers nor to calibrate the camera, and the ‘Camera Hub’ software was very straightforward and user-friendly. Considering the Facecam Neo is a cheaper device, it’s quite feature rich, more like what you’d typically find in a premium webcam. You can just use the preloaded settings if you like, without even needing to go into the software, but you’ll get more out of it if you do.

For many settings the software allows for full manual control (with sliders that allow you to pick from 1-100%) of contrast, saturation, and sharpness under the ‘Picture’ settings, shutter speed and ISO settings (again with sliders) plus some fixed drop-down menu options for metering and dynamic range under the ‘Exposure’ menu, and ‘Processing’ effects such as noise reduction and anti-flicker. There’s also a ‘White Balance’ slider, HDR mode you can turn on or off, manual focus or autofocus settings, plus face tracking.

Performance

After putting the Facecam Neo through its paces we were very impressed. The colors, contrast, and depth of field all look great, with the image looking better than that on the more expensive Elgato Facecam Mk 2: the colors certainly popped more and looked warmer, with the Mk 2. looking comparatively washed out. Skin tone (at least on caucasian skin types) looked solid.

The HDR mode, which is supposed to ‘dynamically improve how the user looks in either high or low light conditions’, usually ended up producing a flatter, more  washed-out image, but it did help in more extreme ambient lighting scenarios, so it achieves its aim in this regard. Ultimately, quality looking HDR isn’t really something you should expect to look great on a cheaper webcam.

Motion capture looked great at the full 60FPS, with movement looking smooth and fluid, though it's important to note that with HDR mode enables this is capped to 30FPS.

The autofocus is a bit slow compared to more high-end camera models: first overshooting and then pulling back to focus-in, as was common in older cameras, but at least it has the feature, with the Mk 2 lacking it entirely. Autofocus is a useful utility for streamers, YouTubers, or other users that want to hold something close in front of them to show their viewers, so we’re glad to see it.

The 77° FOV is the perfect size for just capturing yourself and your very immediate surroundings, though if you’re wanting to show off more of the room you’re in, you’ll need to look elsewhere.