Hardware
The latest hardware stories — every outlet’s angle, in one place.
Modders Get Leaked DLSS 5 Neural Rendering Running on RTX 40 Series GPUs
Within days of a DLSS 5 Neural Rendering DLL leaking from an early-access NBA 2K27 build, modders swapped incompatible CUDA binaries to bring the unreleased NVIDIA upscaling tech to RTX 40 series cards, despite it being built only for Blackwell GPUs.
2 outletsHardwareMSI Brings Back DDR4 in New Katana 15 Gaming Laptop Amid DRAM Price Surge
As DRAM prices soar and DDR5 costs climb, MSI is offering the Katana 15 HX C14 gaming laptop with an option for older, cheaper DDR4 memory alongside a 14th-gen Intel processor and RTX 5070 GPU.
2 outletsHardwareDLSS 5 Leaks Early, and Modders Are Already Running It on Multiple Games and Older GPUs
A leaked file from NBA 2K27's early access build has given modders their first hands-on look at Nvidia's unreleased DLSS 5 neural rendering technology, leading to unofficial demos in Control and Skyrim, and even a patch enabling it on older RTX 4000 series cards.
2 outletsHardwareLabor Day 2025 Sales Roundup: Deals Span Outdoor Gear, Tech, Appliances and Mattresses
Retailers including REI, Amazon, Best Buy, Lowe's and HP have rolled out Labor Day sales covering outdoor apparel, Chromebooks, kitchen appliances, gaming PCs, cooling mattresses and home appliances, with discounts reported up to 65% off depending on category.
2 outletsHardwareApple Sets September 9 for 'Surprise and Shine' Event, Set to Unveil First Foldable iPhone Ultra
Apple has confirmed a September 9 event where it's expected to launch the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and its first foldable device, the iPhone Ultra. Despite a rumored price tag as high as $2,500, one analyst predicts the device could still sell 10 million units in its first year.
2 outletsHardwareWindows 11 26H2 Enters Release Preview as Microsoft Rolls Out Major Taskbar and Start Menu Customization
Microsoft has pushed Windows 11 version 26H2 to the Release Preview Channel while also releasing feature updates that bring expanded taskbar positioning, Start menu resizing, and search improvements to existing Windows 11 versions.
1 outletHardwareXeron Expands Lineup at Gamescom 2026 with New Coolers, Fans, and Cases
Following its Computex 2026 debut, PC hardware company Xeron used Gamescom 2026 to show its full product portfolio to European audiences, including a new AM5 air cooler, budget ARGB and performance fans, semi-open C Lab cases, and a 360 mm AIO liquid cooler.
1 outletHardwareSamsung Unveils 2027 Odyssey Gaming Monitor Lineup at Gamescom 2026, Including World's First 1,100 Hz Display
Samsung showcased its 2027 Odyssey gaming monitor lineup at Gamescom 2026, headlined by a 27-inch G6 that reaches a record 1,100 Hz refresh rate, alongside three new OLED monitors including a 49-inch ultrawide, a 42-inch curved model, and a 32-inch high-refresh display.
3 outletsHardwareAlienware's New 39-Inch AW3926QW OLED Monitor Draws Strong Reviews for Price and Performance
Three outlets tested Alienware's AW3926QW, a 39-inch 5K2K OLED gaming monitor with a new tandem panel design, and all found it to be a standout performer at a competitive $1,099 price.
3 outletsHardwareXbox CEO Won't Confirm Whether Next-Gen 'Project Helix' Console Will Have a Disc Drive
Asha Sharma declined to say if Xbox's next-generation console, known as Project Helix, will include a disc drive, instead pointing to affordability and efficiency concerns as PlayStation moves to end new disc production by 2028.
3 outletsHardwareNvidia Unveils NVHBM: Custom Memory Tech Promising Higher Bandwidth and Lower Power for Future AI Chips
Nvidia has announced NVHBM, a custom high-bandwidth memory design that moves the memory controller into the HBM base die instead of the compute die, claiming bandwidth, power, and area advantages over standard HBM4E. The technology will be offered to NVLink Fusion partners, with Amazon's Annapurna Labs named as the first collaborator.
3 outletsHardwareHot Chips 2026: Power and Memory, Not Raw Compute, Take Center Stage in AI Chip Designs
At Hot Chips 2026, Nvidia, Fujitsu, Arm, d-Matrix, Samsung and others presented new approaches to the two constraints increasingly limiting AI data centers: electrical power and memory bandwidth/capacity, with several companies proposing new memory tiers and dynamic power schemes rather than simply adding more compute.
2 outletsHardwareApple's Rumored iPhone 18 Lineup: Pro, Pro Max and a New Foldable Ultra
Leaks point to a September Apple event built entirely around premium phones — the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and a first-ever folding iPhone Ultra — with higher prices, bigger batteries, and possible camera differences between models.
1 outletHardwareGarmin Unveils Fenix 9 and Fenix 9 Pro at 'Play Harder' Event
Garmin confirmed long-rumored flagship watches at its 'Play Harder' livestream, launching the Fenix 9 and Fenix 9 Pro with brighter displays, a titanium case, new mapping tools, and stamina-tracking features, with pre-orders opening August 28.
1 outletHardwareCommodore Unveils Cyberpunk 2077-Themed "Commodore 77" Special Edition Computer
Commodore has partnered with CD Projekt Red to launch the Commodore 77, a Cyberpunk 2077-inspired special edition of its Commodore 64 Ultimate, featuring a faster FPGA chip and an exclusive demo cartridge.
2 outletsHardwareApple Unveils M6 Chip in Mac Mini and M5 Ultra in Redesigned Mac Studio Lineup
Apple introduced its next-generation Apple silicon, launching the 2-nanometer M6 chip in a new Mac mini and the powerful quad-die M5 Ultra alongside M5 Max in a refreshed Mac Studio, both promising major gains in CPU, GPU, and on-device AI performance.
3 outletsHardwareAsus Opens Pre-Orders for ROG Xbox Ally X20 at $1,299.99, With AR Glasses Bundle at $2,499.99
Asus has released pricing and pre-order details for the ROG Xbox Ally X20, an OLED-equipped, 20th-anniversary version of its Xbox Ally X handheld, arriving October 15 as a standalone unit or bundled with Xreal AR glasses.
2 outletsHardwareNvidia Launches DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction, Aiming to Clean Up Path Tracing's Visual Flaws
Nvidia has officially launched DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction, a new AI model designed to reduce ghosting, smudged reflections and 'boiling' noise in path-traced games. Early hands-on tests from Tom's Guide and Wccftech found clear image-quality gains with little performance cost, though Tom's Guide calls the change an iterative polish rather than a dramatic leap during actual gameplay.
2 outletsHardwareIntel Details How UCIe Interconnect Made Its Budget Wildcat Lake Chip Possible
At Hot Chips 2026, Intel explained how it used the UCIe open chiplet standard instead of its advanced Foveros packaging to build Wildcat Lake, a budget laptop chip that pairs its cutting-edge 18A node with aggressive cost cuts elsewhere in the design.
2 outletsHardwareApple Refreshes Mac Mini and Mac Studio With M6 and M5 Ultra Chips, Alongside Steep Price Hikes
Apple has unveiled a new Mac mini built around its first 2-nanometer chip, the M6, plus an M5 Pro option, along with a refreshed Mac Studio offering M5 Max and M5 Ultra chips. The launch brings faster CPUs, GPUs and AI performance, but also notable price increases and costly memory/storage upgrades.
4 outletsHardwareIBM Unveils First Dual-ISA Processor, Merging Arm and Mainframe Architectures in a Single Core
At Hot Chips 2026, IBM revealed a next-generation mainframe processor that natively executes both z/Architecture and Arm (AArch64) instructions within the same core, the result of an IBM-Arm collaboration announced in April 2026.
3 outletsHardwareNVIDIA Unveils Vera Rubin Platform Gains, Groq 3 LPX Production, and SpaceXAI Partnership
NVIDIA detailed major performance leaps for its Vera Rubin AI platform over Blackwell, announced full production of its Groq 3 LPX inference accelerator with record token-generation speeds, and revealed a new partnership with SpaceXAI covering Grok AI, orbital computing, and the Starmind satellite.
1 outletHardwareNew mVolt+ Tool Unlocks Hidden Power Controls, Pushing RTX 5090 to 700W Without Shunt Mods
An update to the mVolt+ overclocking tool has exposed low-level power and voltage controls on NVIDIA's RTX 50-series GPUs, letting enthusiasts push an RTX 5090 to 700W and an RTX 5080 to 680W without shunt modding or vBIOS flashing, raising fresh concerns about the 12V-2x6 power connector.
2 outletsHardwareIntel Reveals Xeon 7 'Diamond Rapids' Details at Hot Chips 2026: Up to 256 P-Cores, 1.28GB Cache
Intel used its Hot Chips 2026 presentation to detail the package design of its next-generation Xeon 7 'Diamond Rapids' server processors, revealing a chiplet architecture built on the 18A-P process with up to 256 P-cores, 1.28 GB of last-level cache, and a new UCIe-S based interconnect that replaces Intel's long-used EMIB packaging.
3 outletsHardwareIntel Details 'Crescent Island' AI Inference GPU at Hot Chips 2026
Intel has unveiled architectural details of its upcoming Crescent Island data center and workstation GPU, a 350W, air-cooled AI inference accelerator built on the new Xe3P architecture with up to 480 GB of LPDDR5X memory.
2 outletsHardwareASRock Launches Rock Series AIO Liquid Coolers with Eight Models
ASRock has introduced a new Rock Series of AIO liquid coolers aimed at everyday PC builds, offering eight variants across two sizes, two colors, and Digital or ARGB styles, backed by a 6-year warranty.
2 outletsHardwareColorful Unveils iGame X870E Vulcan W OC, an All-White Flagship AM5 Motherboard for Overclockers
Colorful has launched the iGame X870E Vulcan W OC, a white-finished flagship AM5 motherboard built for extreme memory overclocking, following recent reports of the platform pushing CXMT DDR5 chips to 9000 MT/s.
2 outletsHardwareIntel CPUs Break Back Into Amazon's Top 10 Best-Sellers After Months of AMD Dominance
Two Intel processors, the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Core i7-14700K, have re-entered Amazon's top 10 best-selling CPU list in the US, ending a long stretch in which AMD held every spot on the chart.
3 outletsHardwareAMD Pushes RDNA 4m Firmware to Linux Repository Ahead of Expected Launch
AMD has begun publishing firmware for its RDNA 4m graphics IP (GFX 11.7) to the Linux Firmware repository, a move outlets say signals the architecture's Medusa Point APU debut is drawing near.
2 outletsHardwareNvidia's Blackwell Push: $100,000 DGX Desktop and Free Wall-Mounted GPU Nodes for Homes
Two separate reports detail how Nvidia is expanding access to its Blackwell architecture — through a nearly $100,000 enterprise desktop workstation and a pilot program that mounts data-center-grade GPUs on the outside of homes at no upfront cost.
2 outletsHardwareChipmakers Race to Solve AI's Growing Memory Bottleneck as Costs Surge for Buyers
At Hot Chips 2026 and in recent industry disclosures, memory and chip companies described an intensifying 'memory wall' problem in AI computing, with rival approaches from d-Matrix, SK Hynix, Samsung, Micron, and Rapidus aiming to close the gap—while Nvidia has reportedly told customers to expect double-digit price increases on AI servers due to memory supply constraints.
3 outletsHardwareGoogle's Pixel 11 Lineup: A Disappointing New Feature, a Watch That Beats Samsung, and a Free Deal at Verizon
Tom's Guide coverage of the newly released Pixel 11 family highlights a mixed picture: the flagship Pixel 11 Pro's marquee HiLight light feature falls short of expectations, the Pixel Watch 5 edges out Samsung's Galaxy Watch 9 in a fitness-tracking test, and Verizon is offering the phone, watch and a tablet for free with a new unlimited plan.
1 outletHardwareChatGPT Gains Ability to Read and Send Apple Messages on Mac, Raising New Questions About AI Permissions
OpenAI has added a plugin letting ChatGPT search, draft, and send Apple Messages directly from a Mac — a capability Claude currently lacks. But early testing shows the feature comes with significant permission requirements and at least one unexpected side effect.
2 outletsHardwareiPhone 18 Pro: What Reviewers Want and What Apple May Be Building
Ahead of the iPhone 18 Pro launch, Tom's Guide coverage highlights two threads: a longtime Android user's list of iOS features that could win him over, and photographers' mixed take on rumored variable-aperture camera hardware for the Pro Max.
1 outletHardwareMicrosoft Says RGB Peripheral Drivers Are Behind Windows 11 Game Crashes
Microsoft has identified RGB lighting software as the cause of crashes, freezes, and blue screens affecting some games after a recent Windows 11 update, though a full fix is still pending.
2 outletsHardwarePC Shop Says It Received Two Empty Ryzen 5 9600X Boxes From Amazon in Three Days
A New York-based computer shop says it ordered an AMD Ryzen 5 9600X from Amazon twice in three days and both times received a retail box with no processor inside, raising fresh concerns about third-party sellers on the platform.
2 outletsHardwareLeaker Says $600 PlayStation 6 Handheld 'Not Possible Right Now' Amid Memory Price Surge
Hardware leaker Kepler_L2 says rising LPDDR memory prices, driven by datacenter demand, make a $600 PlayStation 6 handheld unrealistic for now, raising questions about affordability for Sony's next-generation lineup.
2 outletsHardwareGoogle Unveils Pixel 11 Lineup, Pixel Watch 5 and Pixel Tag, With Price Hikes and Benchmark Questions
Google's Made by Google 2026 event confirmed the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold, alongside the Pixel Watch 5 and a new Pixel Tag tracker. The new phones bring a Tensor G6 chip, brighter displays, and expanded AI features, but come with $100 price increases across the board and early benchmark results showing the new chip trailing rivals.
2 outletsHardwareRazer Naga V3 Pro Brings 23 Buttons and Swappable Side Plates to MMO Mouse Lineup
Razer's newest MMO mouse updates the Naga V2 Pro with extra buttons, a refreshed sensor and switches, and a lighter build, while keeping the familiar shape and a $180 price tag.
2 outletsHardwareHow to Watch Google's Made by Google 2026 Event: Pixel 11 Series, Pixel Watch 5 and More Expected
Google's Made by Google event this week will reveal the next generation of Pixel devices, including a four-phone Pixel 11 lineup, the Pixel Watch 5, and possibly a Pixel Tag tracker. Here's how to watch and what to expect.
1 outletHardwareMarvel's Wolverine Limited Edition PS5 Is Digital-Only, But the Game Itself Will Ship Fully Playable on Disc
Sony unveiled a digital-only Marvel's Wolverine PS5 console and cover kits, while Insomniac confirmed the game itself will be fully playable on disc at launch — a detail that stands out given Sony's plan to end disc production for new releases in 2028.
3 outletsHardwareApple's September Event: Foldable iPhone Ultra Headlines a Packed Lineup, With Pre-Orders Possibly Shifted
Apple is expected to hold its September event on Wednesday, September 9, unveiling its first foldable iPhone alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup, new Apple Watches, and possibly other home devices — while pre-orders may be delayed due to the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
1 outletHardwareModders Exploit GeForce NOW File-Swap Trick to Unlock Full Windows Desktop on Nvidia's Cloud GPUs
A modder known as Zortos, working with developer dpadGuy, found a way to escape GeForce NOW's game-streaming interface and access a full Windows desktop on Nvidia's cloud hardware, effectively turning a paid subscription into a rentable cloud PC.
2 outletsHardwareReport: Apple Cancels All-Glass 'iPhone 20' Anniversary Design Over Production Yield Issues
Jefferies analyst Edison Lee says Apple's supply chain checks indicate the all-glass, 20th-anniversary iPhone has been scrapped due to low manufacturing yields, complicating Apple's plans to push higher-priced phones amid rising memory costs.
2 outletsHardwareWindows 11's Built-In Weather App Found to Use Over 1GB of RAM, Far More Than macOS Equivalent
Multiple outlets report that the default MSN Weather app in Windows 11 consumes more than 1.2GB of RAM at idle and is filled with ads, using roughly five times more memory than Apple's ad-free macOS Weather app, according to testing originally conducted by Windows Latest.
4 outletsHardwareIntel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus Hits Its Lowest-Ever Price on Amazon
Amazon has cut the price of Intel's Core Ultra 5 250K Plus to around $153-$154, its lowest price since launch, with outlets calling it one of the best CPU deals of the year for gaming and productivity.
2 outletsHardwareLeak Details Power and Cache Specs for Intel's Nova Lake-S iGPU
New leaks from Intel leaker Jaykihn outline power limits, cache size, and core configurations for the integrated graphics on Intel's upcoming Nova Lake-S desktop chips, which are being positioned to compete with AMD's Ryzen APUs.
2 outletsHardwareSamsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 Put Through Its Paces Against Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Garmin Instinct 3 in Real-World Tests
Two Tom's Guide testers wore the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 alongside rival smartwatches during a 10K run and an e-mountain biking trip, finding Samsung's bright display a standout while other results varied by activity.
1 outletHardwareTwo Guides Highlight Different Laptop Picks for Students Heading Into the School Year
PCWorld and Tom's Guide each published buying guides for student laptops, but with different focuses: PCWorld targets engineering students needing power for CAD and simulations, while Tom's Guide emphasizes budget-friendly options under $700 for general coursework.
2 outletsHardwareMacBook Neo Sparks Wave of Budget Windows Rivals and Color-Matched Accessories
Apple's MacBook Neo is reshaping the budget laptop market, prompting Windows makers like Acer to launch cheaper alternatives while accessory brands such as Satechi roll out color-matching add-ons to fix the Neo's port limitations.
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