Danh mục: Tin tức

Tesla, Inc., the clean-energy company that’s about more stuff than just some of the world’s most desired electric cars, is seemingly on the lookout to improve its datacenter infrastructure. According to a new job listing on Tesla’s corporate website (spotted by Elektrek), the company is looking to hire a “Sr. Engineering Program Manager, Data Centers.” That hire is usually a good step for any company planning to operate datacenters built on custom or proprietary silicon – perhaps Tesla is looking to build a dojo for its Dojo AI accelerators?

“This role will lead the end-to-end design and engineering of Tesla’s 1st of its kind Data Centers and will be one of the key members of the factory engineering team.”

The position is based in Austin, Texas, where the company has several facilities focused on manufacturing and R&D. However, that doesn’t mean that its effects will only take effect in Austin – especially considering reports that Tesla has taken over some number of X’s (formerly Twitter) datacenters back in Sacramento. It’s also unclear whether Tesla is just being hyperbolic regarding how “first of their kind” these datacenters will be. There are multiple ways to fit that definition that doesn’t involve as much engineering work as one would expect.

Tesla originally announced its Dojo D1 (it seems the product name has since changed to Dojo V1) in 2021, even as it promised to increase the amount of processing power available for the company to train its self-driving AI systems. At the time, these Dojo ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated-Circuit) were meant to carry up to 50 billion transistors each, delivering around 362 TeraFLOPs of power per custom chip.

It’s unclear whether Tesla has toyed with the design in the meantime (although we’d say that’s likely). What is unclear, however, is that Elon Musk has clarified that the first generation ship won’t include general AI processing and will instead focus on accelerating “video training” for the firm’s computer vision systems. According to Musk, V2 of Dojo will address these limitations and eventually become a full-fledged, general AI processor not unlike NVIDIA’s hot-of-the-presses A100, H100, and its DGX GH200 supercomputing system. 

Tesla has already purchased a number of GPU accelerators from Nvidia. The company already bragged about it even when it “only” deployed 7,360 A110 accelerators. But that number has already increased; the company aims to have as many as 100 ExaFLOPs on-hand by October 2024 (already counting the deployment of its Dojo supercomputer).

Tesla designing and ordering its own custom ASICs and general-purpose AI accelerators should give the company increased control over feature-sets and reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for its datacenters. But then again, all companies designing silicon these days mostly take honey from the same TSMC-branded pot; and there’s only so much capacity to go around. 

So while Tesla is likely to enjoy several benefits by designing and integrating its own High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems, it’s unlikely that Elon Musk will find fewer reasons to complain that “everyone and their dog” is buying GPUs. There are only so many wafers to distribute across the cadre of TSMC clients, and most would also love to stay at the cutting edge of fabrication.

A new PC builder website has cropped up that helps gamers and professionals build a potent bang-for-buck system with the power of artificial intelligence. Known as pcbuilderai.com, the site aims to take the guesswork out of building an effective PC parts list and give users the best possible parts list with the best components for the price. But, despite the site’s modern and simplistic UI, some of the parts it recommends are out of whack with today’s market prices.

The creators behind PC Builder AI is a company known as AE Studios. According to the company’s Indeed page, the company has no venture capital, no outside shareholders, and is apparently focused on creating tech for the development of humanity. The company has already built several AI-generated programs, including games, image generators, and text-based AI generators.

To test the effectiveness of the PC Builder AI parts list generator, we grabbed three of our Best PC Builds for Gaming parts lists, priced at $500, $1500, and $3600, respectively, and compared them to the three parts lists the AI-accelerated site generated with the same prices.

Starting at the $500 price class, the PC Builder AI site generated a moderately decent gaming machine featuring a Ryzen 3 3200G. Still, it’s nothing special, and some components are overpriced. The biggest offender is the memory, which is $40 more expensive than the kit we recommended, which has the same capacity and speed. The storage configuration is also bizarre, consisting of a separate 1TB HDD and a tiny 120GB SATA 3 SSD reminiscent of pre-2020 era systems. With the Best SSDs priced at an all-time low right now, you can find 1TB M.2 drives for the same price as the SSD and the HDD combined. This would yield a far better gaming experience and significantly increase the storage speed overall.

The lack of a graphics card is also unfortunate for the AI generator. In our build, we could squeeze in a significantly faster Core i3 CPU and an Arc A310 discrete GPU, which will be much more capable than what the 3200G can provide.

Sadly, the $500 system was the best machine the PC Builder AI website could generate. The $1500 price bracket reveals many pricing problems with the AI system, leading to terrible component choices.

The AI generator’s most absurd component choice was the GPU, choosing a $600 RTX 3060 Ti. If you know anything about the GPU market today, you’ll know that paying $600 for a previous-generation mid-range 60 series card is utterly ridiculous. You can get a current generation RTX 4070 for that price, which is substantially faster than the 3060 Ti. If you want to step it up further, you can get an RX 6950 XT for that same price. It is AMD’s flagship graphics card from the same generation as the 3060 Ti and one of the Best GPUs for gaming.

The CPU choice is also horrible. For some reason, the AI generator chose another previous generation product, a Ryzen 5 5600X, priced at $280. In today’s market, that CPU is going for nearly half that price, and a modern Ryzen 5 7600 is still $40 cheaper. For $280, you can get a current generation i5-13600KF — one of the Best CPUs —that can run circles around the 5600X in gaming workloads and heavily multithreaded applications.

The rest of the system is also not great; the motherboard, memory, cooler, and storage options could be much better. Even though the CPU and GPUs are wildly overpriced, we could put in more storage capacity, memory capacity, a higher wattage PSU, and a better cooler in our $1500 build recommendation while spending the same amount of money on the CPU and GPU.

The same pricing errors also appear in the $3600 build, where the CPU and GPU are incredibly overpriced. The PC Builder AI generator opted for a $800 Ryzen 9 5950X and a $1200 RTX 3080 Ti in this price class. Right now, a 5950X is going for as little as $450, and a 3080 Ti class performance is going for as little as $600 in the form of a Radeon RX 6950 XT. If you want an Nvidia counterpart, the RTX 4070 Ti is roughly $800 and generally outperforms the 3080 Ti.

Thankfully, the rest of the components are not too bad for a $3600 build and have decent quality/performance for the money, but it’s not perfect. The SSD choice, in particular, is very strange, with the AI opting for a PCIe Gen 3 970 EVO Plus 1TB SSD. For just $10 more, you could get a 990 PRO that is PCIe Gen 4 capable with 2TB of storage, or opt for a 1TB Crucial T700 with PCIe Gen 5 support. The 64GB RAM option is also strange but somewhat appropriate for a $3600 build. We suspect the AI is targeting the $3600 price point with streaming in mind, which would explain the capacity choice.

Overall, the results AE Studio’s PC Builder AI is generating is very bizarre, and it is not a site we can recommend you use for sound guidance on PC part selection. The site never recommended a current-generation CPU or GPU and priced the graphics card options from the GPU shortage in 2021. We are unsure what AI system the site uses, but it possibly uses 2-3-year-old information, which would explain the bizarre component choices.

If you want good advice on good parts to choose for your next computer, check out our forums or our AI Chatbot, which will generate far better results.

Intel’s proposed acquisition of Tower Semiconductor has been approved by regulators across the world except in China, which is why the deal has not closed nearly 19 months after its announcement in mid-February of 2022. The deadline for Intel to close the deal after another extension is tomorrow, August 15, 2023, but the two companies cannot close it without approval from China. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether the companies will extend the closure period and refile with other regulators.

When Intel originally announced plans to take over Tower Semiconductor, it said that it would close the transaction in 12 months, by mid-February, 2023. But because China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) had not approved the deal, the companies extended the acquisition period until mid-June and then extended it again to August 15. So far, SAMR has not formally greenlit the transaction and if it does not OK it by tomorrow, Intel and Tower will either have to extend the closure period one more time, or call the deal off.

Pat Gelsinger, chief executive of Intel, recently flew to China in a bid to convince Chinese regulators to approve the deal, but the outcome is currently unknown. Since Chinese semiconductor sector is suffering from major sanctions from the U.S. government, China’s government is not really inclined to support Intel’s plan to acquire Tower and its dozens of customers and mature fabrication processes. Tower competes against China-based contract makers of chips, such as SMIC and Hua Hong, whereas Intel Foundry Services (IFS) division is barely competing against these foundries. Yet, once Tower becomes a part of Intel, the new entity will be a formidable rival for Chinese chipmakers.

To that end, SAMR is slowing down approval of the deal, even though it does not create a monopoly of any kind. In theory, companies can agree to extend the closure period of an acquisition for as long as they mutually decide. However, in practice, there are several factors that limit the feasibility of indefinitely extending the closure period.  

For example, in many jurisdictions, regulatory bodies approve mergers and acquisitions for certain periods. If companies keep extending the closure period, it might raise red flags or lead to additional scrutiny. It is possible that to prolong the closure periods, Intel and Tower will have to refile their proposals with regulators in the USA or Europe if the transaction is not approved in China by August 15.

Intel has one day left to close the Tower Semiconductor acquisition, extend the closure period, or cancel plans to take over the contract maker of chips. 

 

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger spoke at the Aspen Security Forum 2023 in July; The topic under the spotlight was that of semiconductors and national security, and the issues that have arisen from the passing of the CHIPS Act. One of Gelsinger’s most eyebrow-raising assertions was that Intel deserves a bigger slice of the $52 billion US CHIPS Act pie than foreign rivals TSMC and Samsung. It was a bold claim, and he put forward a convincing case in what could be a high-stakes / high-reward gambit (h/t to EETimes).

Security, and China export controls particularly, is a thorny topic for successful global semiconductor businesses with their roots in the US. As US sanctions on China tighten it is making business for the likes of Intel (and Nvidia, and Qualcomm, and AMD) more difficult. Last month we reported on US semiconductor industry bosses having negotiations with senior US government economics and national security figures.

At Aspen, Gelsinger put forward the case for Intel to face fewer restrictions from trade regulation and get a larger portion of the US CHIPS Act cash. His multi-pronged argument appeared to be designed to hammer home the following points:

Firstly, China represents 25% to 30% of Intel’s market, and its current $30 billion US expansion plans were partly put in place to address this demand, according to Gelsinger. If trade restrictions tighten and further cut this geographic revenue stream, then it could mean Intel may not want to continue to make a significant investment in US projects, which have been touted to be good for US jobs, the US economy, and even US national security. Overall, the point was that China export controls unfairly target Intel business and that is bad for the US.

Secondly, Gelsinger talked about the current set of trade restrictions already being excessive and badly targeted. “Today, we have over 1,000 companies on the Entity List, many of which have nothing to do with national security, and nothing to do with security concerns in China,” noted the Intel CEO. So, in essence, Gelsinger was arguing for a loosening of the restrictions now in place, to refocus tightly on areas of undeniable national security.

Lastly, and probably most controversially, Gelsinger made his case that Intel should get a bigger slice of the US CHIPS Act’s $52 billion pie. The Intel CEO’s argument was quite clear and reasoned. He said the US should celebrate the fact that TSMC and Samsung were investing in building in the US, but there is a glaring difference in their operations and Intel’s. “All of my essential R&D is done here. Most of their work is done overseas,” Gelsinger underlined. “We should benefit more.”

If you care to watch the video embedded above, you can see Gelsinger underline the necessity for the CHIPS Act, and provide some of the history leading up to its passing. Moreover, you can listen to him make Intel’s key arguments for loosening the current trade restrictions, while being more generous to Intel – and his reasoning.

As well as the interviewer Steve Clemons, an editor at Semafor, you will see Penny Pritzker, the US Commerce Secretary, sitting alongside Pat Gelsinger. Pritzker as a representative of US government, discussed the federal government’s thinking and strategy. For the US to reinvigorate the semiconductor industry, it isn’t all about throwing money at chipmakers. For example, there is the widening chasm in skilled worker requirements compared to actual labor availability.

It seems that AMD’s issued patch for its Zen 1 “Division by zero” bug wasn’t the end-all, be-all the company wanted it to be. While the company was fast in issuing a patch, there’s now the suspicion that they might’ve been just a bit too fast: according to Michael Larabel with Phoronix, AMD Linux Engineer Borislav Petkov published a new patch that fixed an issue with the original solution (also published by him). It’s just another datapoint on the difficulties of hardening against possible attack vectors.

The original bug related to how Zen 1 processed an integer calculation divided by 0 in certain circumstances: according to the findings, there was the possibility that AMD’s CPU kept “stale quotient data” within its registers even after the operation was fully finished, which could give attackers a window to retrieve sensitive information. The original workaround was to perform a final “dummy division 0/1 before returning from the #DE exception handler”. The idea is simple: whatever old data was still stored would be wiped upon the completion of the 0/1 division (whose result is always, well, zero).

The issue with that solution, as Petkov explained, was that by the time that security provision kicked in, the speculative execution attack would have already advanced too far: there would already be some amount of old data on AMD’s divider, which the attackers could get at before the dummy division kicked in. As Petkov explained it, his new solution now forces that same division in a number of scenarios:

“Initially, it was thought that doing an innocuous division in the #DE handler would take care to prevent any leaking of old data from the divider but by the time the fault is raised, the speculation has already advanced too far and such data could already have been used by younger operations.

Therefore, do the innocuous division on every exit to userspace so that userspace doesn’t see any potentially old data from integer divisions in kernel space.

Do the same before VMRUN too, to protect host data from leaking into the guest too.”

It’s already been a busy month for vulnerabilities in the CPU realm, with both AMD and Intel both having been hit with disclosures. From Intel’s more extreme Downfall vulnerability (affecting Skylake through Tiger Lake/Rocket Lake) through AMD’s SQUIP and Inception vulnerabilities (and the now re-fixed “divide by zero” vulnerability, researchers have been hard at work. It still doesn’t compare to the storied history of Meltdown and Spectre days (although these new bugs are also related to speculative execution vulnerabilities. Speculative execution refers to the way modern CPUs try to pre-empt calculation steps before they’ve even become necessary, so that the required data is already available in case it’s called to the execution. Yet while the fixes to some of those vulnerabilities have carried (sometimes severe) performance penalties, it’s at least a good sign that AMD’s 0/1 dummy division doesn’t come with additional overhead.

At the same time, it’s heartening to see that at least in this case, the security patch wasn’t issued in a sort of “set it and forget it” manner – with the sort of merry-go-round work that blue team experts have to carry, there were other ways this could have gone (the deficient patch could’ve been believed to fully work, leaving the door open to further hacking explorations down the road (with whatever impact those might carry).

Your keyboard is your primary connection to your PC, the part you touch the most. Getting a better keyboard can deliver a more immediately-noticeable difference than nearly any other upgrade — including upgrading your CPU. 

To a serious gamer, a keyboard is even more critical. Gamers need keyboards with instant response time and tactile feedback, but they also need it to be comfortable and easy to type on for long gaming and chatting sessions. And an attractive design with per-key RGB that can be customized to accompany your rig doesn’t hurt, either.

Whether you’re ducking, strafing, and sniping your way through a first-person shooter, wearing out your W-key exploring a vast open world, or chatting furiously on Discord and Twitch, your keyboard will be your main sidekick. So you don’t want to make this choice lightly.

Below, you’ll find the best gaming keyboards we’ve tested, in every size, color, and style. These keyboards hit the perfect combo of low-latency responsiveness, convenient, gamer-oriented features, high levels of customization options, and, of course, attractive RGB lighting. 

The Quick List

Best Gaming Keyboards You Can Buy Today

Best Mainstream Gaming Keyboard

The HyperX Alloy Origins’ compact and quality build makes it the best gaming keyboard for mainstream gamers who just want to get down to gaming. It’s comfortable, with a premium look and feel from its keys to its frame and vibrant RGB lighting. If you’re familiar with linear switches, which are quick but offer little feedback, you’ll feel right at home with this keyboard’s red switches. We’ve also tested the clickier version, which uses HyperX’s aqua switches and is also available  at Amazon and HyperX’s store. 

For over $100, you can find gaming keyboards with more luxuries, such as media control buttons, a USB pass-through port (for easily plugging in another accessory, like your best gaming mouse), and more advanced software. The Alloy Origins is definitely a no-frills keyboard — but what it does offer, it executes very well. 

If you’re not looking for a full-size keyboard, HyperX does offer smaller (and cheaper) versions of this keyboard. We’ve also tested the HyperX Alloy Origins 65 and the mini HyperX Alloy Origins 60, and HyperX also offers a TKL version — the HyperX Alloy Origins Core. 

Read: HyperX Alloy Origins review

Best Feature-Packed Gaming Keyboard Splurge

The Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro is the ultimate, full-size, feature-packed customizable gaming keyboard to outfit your battlestation. It’s got everything you could need or want: 8 dedicated macro keys, a programmable multi-function “Razer Command Dial,” four dedicated media keys and a volume roller, and a plush, padded detachable wrist rest that lights up when you connect it to the keyboard. 

The BlackWidow V4 Pro is a wired keyboard that comes with Razer Green (clicky) or Razer Yellow (linear) mechanical switches. It features an aluminum alloy top plate, doubleshot ABS keycaps, and has bright, per-key RGB as well as underglow with a total of 38 zones when the wrist rest is connected. It’s not our favorite gaming keyboard for typing on (that’s up next), but the typing experience is decent: the Razer Green switches are tactile, clicky, and loud, and the case has two layers of dampening foam. 

The main downside to this keyboard is its size: it will take up a large portion of your desk, especially if you use it with the detachable wrist rest. At $230, it’s also pretty pricey — those extra buttons and dials are only worth it if you actually end up using them. 

Read: Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro Review 

Best Budget Gaming Keyboard

Patriot Memory is better known for its RAM and storage than its peripherals, but the Viper V765 provides a key feel that’s second to none — in an attractive, affordable package. It’s been a while, but the Patriot Viper V765 is still a good budget option with plenty of functionality. It’s one of the rare keyboards to come with Kailh Box White switches, which actuate faster than regular Blue or Green switches thanks to their slightly reduced travel (3.6mm versus 4mm). The keys are the most responsive we’ve tested and make one of the most pleasant click sounds you’ll find anywhere.

If Kailh Box White switches aren’t enough to convince you the Viper V765 is worth buying, it’s got plenty more going for it. This full-sized keyboard has an aluminum surface with tapered edges that give it a futuristic look. The vibrant RGB keys offer dozens of different light combinations — and you don’t even need to install the software to access most of the RGB effects. The keyboard also features media keys, which are more often seen on pricier boards, as well as IP56 water and dust resistance. 

The Viper V765 currently sells for $90,  cheaper than most competitors with similar features. We wish it had taller flip-out feet and a slightly better app, but the V765 is still our favorite budget-friendly gaming keyboard.

Read: Patriot Memory Viper V765 review

Best RGB in a Gaming Keyboard

The Roccat Vulcan II Max is designed to dazzle you: This full-size wired keyboard not only features bright, per-key RGB lighting, which is on maximum display thanks to the keyboard’s flat, shallow keycaps; 24 of its switches also have dual-LEDs. The Vulcan II Max comes with a detachable silicone wrist rest that serves as a conduit for the keyboard’s lighting (it’s beautiful), and features dedicated media keys and a clickable volume knob. 

This is an attractive, unique-looking keyboard even without lighting — it has a slim, lightweight chassis with an aluminum alloy top plate, and flat, chiclet-y keycaps that leave the switches entirely exposed. The keyboard has 24 pre-programmed multi-function “smart” dual-LED keys, which light up to indicate secondary keybinds and can also change colors to display real-time info, such as headset or mouse battery life. The keyboard features Roccat’s Aimo lighting experience, which is an “intelligent” lighting system that interacts with, and reacts to, the user (and adapts over time). It’s definitely a dazzling alternative to the typical spectrum cycling, and it’s even more dazzling when paired with the Vulcan II Max’s translucent wrist rest. 

If you’re looking for a hypnotizing light show, look no further. The Vulcan II Max comes in both black and white colorways, with Roccat’s Titan II optical switches in red (linear) or brown (tactile). If you’re looking to save desk space, there’s also the 65 percent Vulcan II Mini.

Read: Roccat Vulcan II Max Review  

Best Wireless Gaming Keyboard

If you want the same experience as your typical full-sized mechanical gaming keyboard but without wires, the Razer BlackWidow V3 Pro is the best wireless gaming keyboard we’ve tested. While many wireless keyboards are built for traveling, the BlackWidow V3 Pro maintains all the size, bulk, and functionality of a full-sized mechanical keyboard — including a premium tactile volume dial, media keys, an aluminum top plate, and doubleshot ABS plastic keycaps.

Razer doesn’t skimp on the BlackWidow V3 Pro: It’s packed with up to four profiles of onboard memory and vibrant per-key RGB lighting. However, RGB doesn’t stick to profiles — advanced RGB fanatics will have to rely on software for pairing RGB, including custom effects, to profiles.

The BlackWidow V3 Pro connects to your computer via 2.4 GHz dongle (which we had no issues with during testing) or Bluetooth (up to three computers simultaneously). With RGB at max settings and no dimming effects, our test unit averaged about 14 hours of battery life — but you’ll get up to 25 hours with RGB using power saving settings. You’ll want to plug in before the battery hits 3%, as power saving settings kick in at that point and the keyboard starts acting a little wonky. 

If you’re looking for a more portable full-sized wireless gaming keyboard, the Logitech G915 Lightspeed is fantastic and reliable with low-profile switches that some will enjoy for gaming and others will enjoy for travel. But for a full-sized mechanical gaming keyboard experience, the BlackWidow V3 Pro is the premium choice. 

For more cable-free recommendations, visit our Best Wireless Keyboards page. 

Read: Razer BlackWidow V3 Pro review  

Best TKL Gaming Keyboard

SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless gives you back some desk space as well as wireless freedom, thanks to built-in dual wireless (low-latency 2.4GHz and Bluetooth 5.0). The 2022 redesign of the Apex Pro TKL features a simple, elegant chassis with an aluminum alloy top plate, double-shot PBT keycaps, and SteelSeries newest OmniPoint 2.0 linear optical switches.

Optical switches technically have mechanical parts, but they’re not the same as mechanical switches — optical switches are actuated via light, while mechanical switches are actuated via physical force. Although this makes for a less-than-ideal typing experience, it’s good news for gamers: Optical switches are speedier (and less prone to failure) than their mechanical counterparts. The Apex Pro TKL Wireless’ OmniPoint 2.0 switches offer both adjustable actuation (37 levels) and dual-action actuation, which lets you assign two actions to one key (at different actuation levels).

The main downside of the Apex Pro TKL Wireless is its $250 asking price (the keyboard also comes in a wired version, for $180), which makes it one of the priciest gaming keyboards on this list. While the Apex Pro TKL Wireless comes with plenty of premium features and accessories — including a customizable OLED smart screen and a detachable magnetic wrist rest with a soft-touch finish — these might not be enough to justify its expense. If you’d like something a little less customizable (and you don’t mind being tethered), SteelSeries’ Apex 9 TKL has an almost-identical form factor with hot-swappable optical switches — and will only set you back $140. 

Read: SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless Review 

Best Gaming Keyboard for Typing

Most gaming keyboards are designed for gaming, not typing. That doesn’t mean they’re bad for typing — they’re usually still pretty good (better than a non-mechanical keyboard, anyway), but they focus on gaming first and prioritize features like flashy RGB over tactile feel and sound. The Asus ROG Azoth, however, is one of the best keyboards for both gaming and typing that we’ve ever used — and we’re pretty impressed that it comes from a mainstream gaming company and not a boutique keyboard supplier. 

The ROG Azoth is a gasket mount mechanical keyboard with a 75 percent form factor (that’s slightly smaller than a TKL). It’s wireless, with both 2.4GHz wireless and Bluetooth connectivity, and it features doubleshot PBT keycaps, a metal top plate, and three layers of sound dampening foam inside its plastic chassis (plastic so as not to interfere with the wireless signal). It comes with Asus NX switches in Red (linear), Brown (tactile), or Blue (clicky), and Asus packages it with a full accessory kit, which includes keycap and switch pullers, extra switches, and a DIY lube station so you can have ultimate control of the keyboard’s sound and feel. 

It’s an excellent keyboard for typing, but it’s also great for gaming — thanks to its reliable, low-latency 2.4GHz wireless connection, snappy responsiveness, and incredible battery life (up to 2,000 hours over 2.4GHz, with both lighting and the OLED screen turned off). It also offers decent customization via a 2-inch OLED screen that can be programmed to display everything from a random GIF to current system info.

Read: Asus ROG Azoth Review 

Best Low Profile Gaming Keyboard

If you want the speed and slimness afforded by low-profile mechanical switches, the Logitech G915 Lightspeed is the best gaming keyboard you can buy. This is a premium gaming experience through and through. That means a row of G macro keys for leveraging during battle, dedicated media controls, including an epic volume wheel roller, and even multiple connectivity options. You can go tried-and-true wired, use Logitech’s reliable dongle connection, or store the dongle in the keyboard’s built-in compartment and use Bluetooth. This makes connecting to multiple devices a little easier too. 

The G915 Lightspeed has earned a popular reputation but comes at a price. Despite its $250 MSRP, there’s no wrist rest, USB passthrough or premium keycaps resistant to smudging. As mentioned in our Logitech G915 TKL review, the smaller version of this keyboard is more affordable but foregoes even more luxuries, most noticeably G keys. 

But in addition to being a top-notch gaming peripheral, the G915 Lightspeed (and G915 TKL) offers a surprisingly good typing experience for a low-profile keyboard. We’ve tested it with Logitech’s tactile low-profile switches for days and haven’t felt much extra exhaustion or like we were typing through sand, like we’ve suffered through on other low-profile keyboards. 

Read: Logitech G915 Lightspeed review 

Best Mini Gaming Keyboard

Ultra-compact keyboards aren’t for everyone, but if you have limited desk space or you’re looking for a gaming keyboard that’s travel-friendly, a 60 percent keyboard can be a godsend. You’ll have to give up a lot — number pad, navigation keys, function keys, and even arrow keys — but you’ll barely notice these sacrifices with the right keyboard.

SteelSeries’ Apex Pro Mini Wireless (also comes in a wired version) is the right keyboard. 

The Apex Pro Mini Wireless is a sleek, sturdily-built 60 percent keyboard featuring SteelSeries OmniPoint 2.0 switches, which feature both adjustable actuation and dual actuation (much like the Razer Huntsman Mini Analog). Because it’s so small, the Apex Pro Mini Wireless has a slew of default secondary keybinds, which are printed on the sides of the keycaps and activated using SteelSeries SS function key. These secondary keybinds are so intuitive (and can also be remapped, if you want) that you won’t feel limited by the 60 percent layout. The keyboard is highly customizable: Almost every key can be remapped (first and secondary keybinds), have its actuation point adjusted, and have its RGB set – individually. 

If anything, the Apex Pro Mini Wireless might have too much going for it — maybe you don’t need an ultra-compact keyboard with every single feature shoved into it (especially considering its premium price point). If you don’t need all of these features and you’d like to spend a little less, try the SteelSeries Apex 9 series, which comes has adjustable actuation, hot-swappable switches, and comes in both Mini and TKL layouts.

Read: SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini review 

Quick Shopping Tips

• Mechanical or bust? Most gamers probably aren’t even considering a non-mechanical keyboard — for good reason. Only mechanical keyboard switches offer the tactile feedback, precision, and accuracy most gamers need, and membrane switches feel gummy and unresponsive by comparison. Recently we’ve been seeing more and more optical keyboards, which are technically mechanical, but use light — not physical force — to actuate. Optical switches still feel a little less satisfying to type on, but they actuate faster (nothing is faster than light, after all) and last longer than fully-mechanical switches.
• RGB or not? All RGB lighting is not equal. Per-key RGB lets you program each key’s color individually, while zone lighting limits your customization to just a few areas of the board. You can save a little money by getting a keyboard with a single-color backlight, but you’ll miss out on a spectacular light show. You can also forego lighting altogether, so long as you’re a touch-typist (or gaming in a well-lit area).
• Full-size, tenkeyless, or smaller? Tenkeyless boards drop the numpad, 65 percent boards eliminate navigation keys, and 60 percent boards also cut the arrow keys. Some users, such as MMO players, want every possible key (and more), while others prefer a smaller keyboard to clear up desk space.
• Pick Your Switch The best gaming keyboards use a number of different mechanical switch types that determine the feel and sound of each key press. The type of switch you choose depends on your personal preferences for typing and gaming. For more on the ins and outs of mechanical switches, check out our guide on mechanical switch spec ranges.

☑ Clicky Tactile: Blue, Green, White
☑ Quiet Tactile: Brown, Clear
☑ Linear (quiet and go straight down): Red, Silver

If you don’t want to commit, a hot-swappable keyboard will let you swap out switches easily.

Savings on the Best Gaming Keyboards

Whether you’re shopping for one of the best gaming keyboards we listed above or a different model, you may find some discounts by checking out our list of Corsair coupon codes, Newegg promo codes or Razer coupon codes.

The Raspberry Pi fans at Tom’s Hardware love a Cyberdeck build and the pinnacle of this project has yet to be reached, despite the best efforts of makers like  Brian Corteil. Fellow maker Mike Horne (co-founder of Pi Wars) has decided to make their own Cyberdeck using off the shelf components and an old aluminum case.

Bill of Materials (BoM)

• Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
• 5-Inch HDMI Display (800 x 480 resolution)
• Pimoroni Enviro+ HAT
• Wireless Keyboard and trackpad
• LM2596S DC to DC Buck Converter (with seven segment display)
• 2200mAh LiPo battery
• Aluminum case

We’ve been following Horne’s progress since July and we just had to write about it. The Cyberdeck is currently a work in progress and so things are liable to change. Powering the project is a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, yes they do exist, but are hard to get hold of. The Pi Zero 2 W appears to be in an injection molded case (that doesn’t feature on our list of best cases!). On top of the Pi Zero 2 W is a Pimoroni Enviro+ HAT board. This hat provides a power input from the 2200 mAh LiPo battery (via the LM2596S buck converter) to power the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. It also provides a slew of environmental sensors.

Pimoroni Enviro+ Sensor List

• BME280 temperature, pressure, humidity sensor
• LTR-559 light and proximity sensor
• MICS6814 analog gas sensor
• ADS1015 analog to digital converter (ADC)
• MEMS microphone
• 0.96-inch color LCD
• Connector for particulate matter (PM) sensor
• Pimoroni breakout-compatible pin header (Stemma QT / QwST / Qwiic)

Horne isn’t too happy with the keyboard right now and is awaiting a mini Bluetooth keyboard to reduce the amount of cables squeezed into the case. This keyboard measures around 150 x 80 x 15 mm and also has a handy laser pointer for when we need to get corporate! Horne’s original idea involved a folding Bluetooth keyboard / trackpad combo that was a fraction too wide for the aluminum case.

As Horne mentions, the cabling inside the case is a mess. But it affords us a glimpse into the thinking of the project. We can see the HDMI and USB connection for the HDMI screen. We think that the USB connection provides a touch interface as well as power (we have a similar unit). There is another USB port broken out for the keyboard, and there appears to be a push button (top right of the case) and a switch. The switch must be for turning off the connection between the battery and the LM2596, and the push button for soft powering the Pi on / off. 

The aluminum case appears to be Innox branded and could be the Varicase 1 (which is currently selling for $3!). Horne has shoehorned the parts into a small case and was looking for ways to fix the HDMI display to the top lid. After seeking the knowledge of the Pi community (hot glue, epoxy etc), Horne was forced to break out the drill and mount the screen.

We’re vicariously enjoying Horne’s adventure as they work out the many problems of a build as complex as this. Keep an eye on Horne’s Twitter / X account for updates on this interesting project. 

Apple’s M3-series system-on-chips is expected to get a major performance upgrade compared to predecessors since they are projected to be made on TSMC’s N3 (3 nm-class) fabrication processor and use all-new CPU and GPU microarchitectures. Indeed, the highest-end M3 Ultra will feature 32 CPU cores and an 80-cluster GPU, but the entry-level M3 will retain eight cores, a Bloomberg report suggests.

M3: Up to Eight Cores

Apple’s vanilla M1 and M2 SoCs are used for Mac Mini, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13, and iMac systems, which are quite popular. The company’s upcoming M3 ix expected to retain eight general-purpose cores (four high-performance and four energy-efficient cores) and an integrated GPU with up to 10 clusters. The first systems on their base are expected to hit the market earlier this year. 

Apple’s M3 will reportedly be the first SoCs from the company’s third-generation PC processors and will also be the developers N3 chip designed for desktops and laptops. Apparently, the company decided not to increase core count in this SoC compared to M2, perhaps because it wanted to ensure the lowest possible power consumption or was sure that architectural advantages coupled with higher clocks will ensure a noticeable performance boost, or just wanted to maximize yields and keep costs down.

M3 Pro: Up to 14 Cores

The situation will get substantially better with M3 Pro that is projected to get 14 general-purpose cores (eight performance cores, six efficiency cores) in its top-end configuration, but its range-topping GPU will get 20 clusters, up from 19 clusters in M2 Pro. The M3 Pro in its maximum configuration will be more powerful than M2 Max in general-purpose workloads, but the latter will still have an edge in graphics applications.

Apple’s M3 Pro and M3 Max-based machine will likely hit the market sometimes in 2024.

M3 Max: Up to 16 cores

When it comes to M3 Max SoC, it is rumored to get 16 general purpose cores (12 performance cores and four energy-efficient cores) as well as up to 40 GPU clusters. Getting four additional high-performance cores is a big deal and will certainly bring substantial benefits to demanding software that M3 Max is architected to run. These will likely end up in high end MacBook Pros, the Mac Studio and Mac Pro.

M3 Ultra Up to 32 Cores

Meanwhile, the M3 Ultra system-in-package consisting of two M3 Max chips will therefore get 32 CPU cores and up to 80 GPU clusters. While 32 cores sounds quite massive when we talk about desktops, workstation-grade processors from AMD and Intel already have 56 – 64 cores and it remains to be seen what they are going to offer when Apple’s M3 Ultra-based Mac Studio or Mac Pro systems are available in the second half of 2024. 

While Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman tends to be accurate with his reports about future Apple’s products, he is still an unofficial source and information from him should be taken with a grain of salt.

An urgent pull request was sent out this weekend,to extend the Linux 6.5 kernel’s AMD Zenbleed vulnerability mitigation to Valve’s Steam Deck. It turns out that when the kernel was patched last month, mitigations weren’t implemented for Valve’s custom AMD SoC, sometimes known as Aerith, Phoronix first reported.

AMD’s Zen 2 product stack is pretty complicated, so it is hard to be critical of the Linux dev team. Zen 2 cores debuted with the well-known Ryzen 3000 chips, but the Zen 2 architecture can be also found in some Ryzen 4000 and 5000 processors, as well as Epyc server chips, the Sony PlayStation 5, in the Microsoft Xbox Series X/S consoles, and Valve’s Steam Deck.

It has been three weeks since news of the ‘Zenbleed’ vulnerability broke. The threat to AMD Zen 2 processor users seemed to be relatively severe. Zenbleed was shown to open up simple remote attack vectors, via JavaScript embedded in a webpage, for example. After successfully exploiting the Zenbleed vulnerability, an attacker could potentially learn your encryption keys or web logins.

If you care to head on over and look at the notes of the pull request you will see that a developer notes that “the AMD Custom APU 0405 found on Steam Deck was not listed, although it is clearly affected by the vulnerability.” The dev then goes on to request the Steam Deck’s CPU is added to the Zenbleed list “in order to unconditionally enable the fallback fix until a proper microcode update is available.”

This last point is important to note. AMD hasn’t provided any of its official patches for Zenbleed as yet, except to the EPYC 7002 ‘Rome’ processors. Everyone else will have to wait until November / December this year. The chipmaker said that it is not aware of any Zenbleed exploits outside of the research environment. Some assume that microcode updates will be able to fix the Zenbleed vulnerability with little or fewer performance penalties than a software patch would, but that remains to be seen.

A performance decrease isn’t ideal for a gaming machine, but with access to web browsers from the Steam side and a full desktop on the KDE Plasma desktop side, the Steam Deck is a full-on Linux computer.

It seems like the favorite processor families of PC DIYers have been plagued with newly uncovered bugs recently. In addition to Zenbleed, last week we reported on both (Intel) Downfall and (AMD) Inception.

A Chinese firm called Erying Technology has released its first compact motherboards offering a choice of Intel Raptor Lake Mobile chips pre-installed, VideoCardz reports. It calls this PC DIY product category ‘Mobile on Desktop’, or MoDT. The new choices open to Taobao customers in China are Erying Micro-ATX form factor motherboards with either an Intel Core i5-13420H or i7-13620H pre-installed. Prices of these foundational system components start at 1299 Chinese Yuan ($180).

Once you buy the Erying motherboard, you will be stuck with your CPU, as it is soldered in place, being a laptop BGA package CPU. Other than that, these motherboards are almost as good as their thoroughbred desktop counterparts for expansion and upgrades.

Reports suggest that the chipset that is used by Erying for these refreshed MoDT components is the B760M. However, Intel’s mobile platforms have fewer PCIe lanes. There could be a little impact on a powerful gaming system based upon these boards, with the primary PCIe Gen 4 slot offering just 8 lanes for a graphics card. Such a limit isn’t thought to have serious implications in 2023, though. It is estimated that a GeForce RTX 4090, for example, will only lose low-single-digit percentage performance due to this restriction.

Beyond that primary PCIe slot limitation, the boards offer a PCIe Gen 4 x4 slot, plus two PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 NVMe slots for your SSDs. To help you get a better overall grasp of what is on offer, check out the specs and feature table below.

It is interesting to note that RPL mobile chips have better iGPUs than their desktop counterparts, which are limited to 32 EUs. However, we think that these MoDT products will be most frequently selected by those wishing to equip a discrete GPU – otherwise you could use one of many extremely compact alternatives.

If the above sounds like the foundation for a compact system that would work for you, these MoDT platforms aren’t prohibitively expensive, assuming you can get your hands on them. You are limited with regard to CPU upgrades, but if you are gaming on a modern system the CPU is rarely the bottleneck.

The Chinese retail listings show the Raptor Lake Core i5 Mobile version is 1299 Chinese Yuan ($180), and the Raptor Lake Core i7 Mobile version of the system board is 1699 Chinese Yuan ($234). Buying these products in the west might be a little tricky, but we shall have to wait and see how widely they get distributed. Previous gen Erying MoDTs are available on AliExpress, for example.

Despite the recent emergence of WiFi 7, WiFi 6E still qualifies as emergent. Many devices don’t yet support WiFi 6E. On a Windows PC, you’ll need an appropriate network-adapter card and Windows 11 to enjoy the 6 GHz band. If you prefer a Mac, you’ll need a device manufactured no earlier than 2023 (and even some 2023-manufactured devices won’t recognize 6 GHz).

But because WiFi 6E is no longer in the earliest stages of its emergence, networking manufacturers now offer downmarket WiFi 6E routers. They may cost a bit more than “affordable” routers that support merely the WiFi 6 protocol (after all, you’re getting not dual band but tri-band), but they’re still relatively inexpensive and low-end.

So if you want to get into WiFi 6E for cheap, you could try the Tenda RX27 Pro which, at press time, was just $110. At this price, it’s not more expensive than the pricier of the “budget” WiFi 6 routers. Its throughput on the 6-GHz band is unimpressive but it delivers low latency there and strong throughput at 5 GHz.

Design of Tenda RX27 Pro

When it comes to signal-boosting power, Tenda was not screwing around with the RX27 Pro. The router features five foldable antennas—complementing the seven high-power FEMS internally.

Aesthetically, the Tenda RX27 Pro is definitely a vibe—but, subjectively speaking, it’s not the vibe. The all-black router has three widely angled points at the front such that they are reminiscent of cold, predatory eyes. It gives the impression of a spaceship full of evil, conquest-hungry extraterrestrials. It looks like it could float—like you might wake up at 3:25am to see it hovering next to the lamp on your nightstand. Observing you. Waiting.

But hey, some people are into that sort of thing.

More objectively speaking, it is disappointing that the Tenda RX27 Pro has only three Ethernet ports. It also lacks a power button and a USB port.

Rounding out the physical features that it does have, the Tenda RX27 Pro has a WAN port, a recessed reset button (keep a paper clip handy), and a WPS button.

Specifications of Tenda RX27 Pro

Setup of Tenda RX27 Pro

In case you feel lost during the setup process, the Tenda RX27 Pro comes with thorough documentation in the form of a generous fold-out Quick Installation Guide. This Guide is welcome considering how rarely good help documentation is included with routers.

Options for setup include web interface via Ethernet or WiFi, or via smartphone app. The latter can be initiated with a QR code, if the user prefers.

The foldout takes the user through setting up the device via each of these methods. It also includes a detailed legend of the ports, buttons, and LED lights of the router. On the reverse side, it includes specific directions for setting up the router as an add-on to an existing network, as well as a troubleshooting FAQ and information for contacting technical support.

Once the process is begun, setting up the Tenda RX27 Pro is fast and painless—as simple as resetting admin credentials for each of the three bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz). Then, you’re in the friendly-looking control panel.

There is mildly mangled English on the setup screens and in the control panel that you are taken to post-setup. It doesn’t hurt anything, but it may raise a question as to quality control in other areas. (The alternative charitable explanation would be that Tenda chose to invest limited expenses into the tech more so than into overseas translations of the UI.)

Features of Tenda RX27 Pro

The Tenda RX27 Pro offers plenty of common-enough features—including security controls and firewalls, port forwarding, remote web management, VPN setup/management, router-configuration backup/restore, guest-network setup, mesh networking, and Alexa integration.

The access controls are relatively generous. The parental controls include URL restrictions, time limits, and blacklist/whitelist support—as well as batch functionality for bulk-handling clients.

The Tenda RX27 Pro also offers WiFi scheduling—letting you automatically set times for the WiFi to disable and re-enable. This feature comes in particularly handy for those with family members who might otherwise “internet forever”—as well as those who prefer to turn off their WiFi at night in a bid to reduce EMF exposure.

Speaking of scheduling, the control panel also allows you to schedule daily maintenance. The people at Tenda were also thoughtful enough to include an option to delay a router reboot if there are any active clients and network traffic exceeds 3 Kbps. (Microsoft could learn a thing or two from Tenda in this regard.)

Further helping with network maintenance, the control panel includes a tool for network diagnostics. The network-diagnosis tool purports to check connections, interference, delay, jitter, negotiation speed, upload/download speed, memory, CPU usage, and DNS—inter alia.

Performance of Tenda RX27 Pro

The Tenda RX27 Pro offers truly excellent 5-GHz performance and decent 2.4-GHz throughput, but throughput on its 6-GHz band was often slower than on 5-GHz. That’s odd, when you consider that the 6-GHz band is what makes WiFi 6E stand out. However, latency numbers were still excellent at 6 GHz, making this a good choice for gaming as the amount of data you transfer is less important than how fast your keystrokes and mouse clicks get to the server. 

Tenda has a built-in diagnostic tool that offers its take on throughput and latency, but as always, we do our own testing. For what it’s worth, the Tenda RX27 claims to offer maximums of 861 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band and 2402 Mbps on each of the 5 GHz and the 6 GHz bands. The 861 number is noteworthy considering that IEEE considers the theoretical maximum speed on 2.4 GHz to be 600 Mbps. Perhaps Tenda knows something that IEEE does not. 

We conducted our own tests repeatedly throughout the course of two weekdays in a single-family house with a 1,200-Mbps connection, using a laptop with a RealTek 8852CE network adapter as the client and another PC, attached via Ethernet, as the server to receive traffic. 

We used iPerf to test throughput and ping to test latency. Four sets of tests were conducted for each band. iPerf’s results, on every router we have tested, are typically in the 150 to 350 Mbps range so we’re not surprised when we don’t come close to the theoretical maximum bandwidth.

Near uncongested: Testing laptop approximately 7 feet away from the router, no substantial traffic being carried across other devices

Far uncongested: Testing laptop approximately 25 feet away from the router, no substantial traffic being carried across other devices

Near congested: Testing laptop approximately 7 feet away from the router; videos streaming on four devices throughout the house

Far congested: Testing laptop approximately 25 feet away from the router; videos streaming on four devices throughout the house

Here are the results we recorded from our testing:

For a router that’s less than $150, the Tenda RX270 Pro has really good speeds on the 5-GHz band. In fact, its near-location 5-GHz throughput beat all competitors except the MSI RadiX AXE6600 and, with network congestion, it even topped MSI’s router (which costs $150 more). Latency numbers were also really strong with pings in the 4 to 5 ms range.

The 2.4-GHz band’s numbers are overall quite decent (although we would have liked to have seen better throughput on the congested-traffic tests there). Latency, under congested conditions, was so-so but acceptable.

The bigger headline than any of these items, however, involves the inferior throughputs on the 6-GHz band compared to those on the 5-GHz band. It’s surprising to see that , for example, the RX27 Pro had 100 Mbps higher speed at near / uncongested 5-GHz than at near / uncongested 6 GHz. You’d expect 6-GHz to have more throughput as it did on other routers. However, the good news – particularly for gamers – is that latency was really, really low at 6-GHz, besting most of its competitors.

At the same time, the 3% packet loss in our far-congested tests on the 5-GHz band is concerning. We are left to wonder if occasional modest packet loss is an issue potentially common to some low-end WiFi 6E routers; we also experienced 3% packet loss during our near-uncongested testing on the 6-GHz band of the TP-Link Archer AXE75.

It is also worth noting—though we cannot account for it—that our near-congested testing on the 2.4 GHz band underperformed performance during our far-congested testing. During the former, despite mostly ultra-low ping rates, we experienced substantial swings in ping rate to as high as 161 ms.

Bottom Line

If you’re going to buy a WiFi 6E router to go with WiFi 6E-compatible devices, you probably want to be able to get some significant performance benefits from the 6-GHz band. In this regard, the Tenda RX27 Pro is somewhat of a disappointment, offering worse throughput on 6 GHz than on 5 GHz. However, its latency numbers – most important for gaming – are much better at 6 GHz.

The Tenda RX27 Pro performed relatively strongly on the 5 GHz band (discounting the 3% packet loss in one set of our tests). The 2.4 GHz results weren’t bad either. And average ping rates were low across the board.

Tenda’s router does cut some corners. It comes without a USB port, a power button, or even a fourth LAN port. And a number of other routers seem to offer more security features.

However, for $110, the Tenda RX27 Pro offers great value considering that many Wi-Fi 6 routers are in the same price range or are more expensive. If you’re looking for strong Wi-Fi 6E performance, consider the MSI RadiX AXE6600 or the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE300, both of which cost more than $150 more. However, if you want to save money and think of it as a Wi-Fi 6 router with a 6-GHz bonus band, the RX27 Pro is a really solid choice.

The best SSDs aren’t necessarily the most energy-efficient medium for storage. According to the workloads and drive capacities, a new study from storage provider Scality shows that hard drives can offer between 19% to 94% better power density per drive than SSD.

Unlike SSDs, hard drives have many moving parts, such as mechanical platters or actuator arms. Therefore, the common misperception around SSDs is that they consume less power than hard drives because there aren’t any moving mechanisms. That may not be accurate, according to Scality’s latest tests. The company’s benchmark results reveal that hard drives have a power density advantage over high-density QLC SSDs. Scality used the Micron 6500 ION 30.72TB QLC SSD and the Seagate Exos X22 22TB 7,200 RPM hard drive for comparison. As a quick note, Scality is evaluating power consumption and not performance.

If we look at the TR/watt power-density metric, the hard drive posted 19% read-intensive numbers and 94% write-intensive numbers. At idle, the hard drive consumed 14% more power than the SSD. However, the hard drive had 37% and 68% lower power consumption during active read and write operations. Scality observed similar figures in intensive workloads. For instance, the hard drive consumed 40% and 63% less power in read-intensive and write-intensive workloads, respectively. Scality admitted that the results may change as drive capacities continue to increase in the future.

Scality utilized two different models for testing. The read-intensive workload had 10% idle, 80% reading, and 10% writing. On the contrary, the write-intensive workload consisted of 10% idling, 10% reading, and 80% writing. Each drive was in the mentioned power state for the percentage indicated.

Scality noted that “power consumption does not rise to a main criterion on which to base the SSD vs. HDD decision today.” It all depends on the workload. For example, SSDs are still the best performance option for read-intensive and latency-sensitive workloads. Meanwhile, hard drives remain the preferred medium for unstructured data workloads.

You can find the AOC C27G2Z 27-inch gaming display for one of its best prices yet. This monitor has been going for around $199 lately but today it’s discounted to $179. This is a notable deal given both its price history and specifications that set it apart from other displays in its class.

We reviewed the AOC C27G2Z and appreciated its value which makes today’s discount that much more beneficial. This gaming monitor is AMD FreeSync Premium certified which gives it a little bit of a leg up over other monitors with specs like a minimum FHD resolution and high refresh rate. In this case, the AOC C27G2Z can reach up to 240Hz. It also features low latency as well as support for low framerate compensation (LFC). 

The AOC C27G2Z features a 27-inch curved VA panel with a curvature of 1500R. It has an FHD resolution which measures up to 1920 x 1080px. The refresh rate is notoriously high, reaching up to 240Hz and is accompanies by an MPRT of .5ms.

Users have a couple of input options to take advantage of including one DisplayPort input and two HDMI ports. A 3.5mm jack is included for external audio peripherals. The purchase is supported by a limited 3-year manufacturer’s warranty from AOC alongside Amazon’s 30-day return policy.

Visit the AOC C27G2Z 27-inch curved gaming monitor product page at Amazon for more details and purchase options.

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, summer is still in full swing. If you’re still planning a summer bash or two before fall hits, you might want to take a look at this awesome pellet smoker hopper level monitor created by maker and developer Joe Pecsi. Using our favorite microcontroller, the Raspberry Pi Pico, he’s able to monitor his pellet smoker’s hopper level and keep track of it with a mobile app. 

The concept is simple but also a super effective way to monitor the pellet level in your smoker without having to get up and check. It relies on an ultrasonic sensor to measure the pellet level which is then automatically reported through a web-based app. This can be checked from any device with a browser like a PC or a smartphone.

Not only does the Pico accept input from the ultrasonic sensor, it also hosts a web server. The web app data is shared using MQTT over WiFi. This is what enables you to check the hopper level remotely. The mobile app has a few settings, as well, that you can use to make adjustments including an option to calibrate the sensor.

Pecsi was kind enough to share a complete breakdown of the hardware used in his hopper monitor setup. He’s relying on a Raspberry Pi Pico W for its wireless support and an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor. In addition to these boards, he also created a PCB from scratch just to make the setup a little more professional. Plans are in the works to create 3D printed housing for the unit as well as a battery pack.

The software used in the project has also been made open source. You can find the various repositories used in its creation over at GitHub. It includes the Python scripts used to operate the Pico and everything you need to check out how the mobile app works. According to Pecsi, he’s using Flutter to operate the web app.

If you’d like to get a closer look at this Raspberry Pi project, you can find the original thread over at Reddit. Be sure to follow Pecsi for future projects as well as any updates on this one.