Danh mục: Tin tức

So you managed to buy a PlayStation 5 – congratulations, you beat supply shortages to obtain one of the most sought-after consoles in recent memory. Next comes the fun part. No PS5 is complete without a library of video games and accessories to elevate your experience. Thankfully, you won’t have as much trouble getting your hands on those. However, if you’re new to the console, the tricky part is knowing what titles and peripherals are worth your time. We’ve gathered our top picks for the best PS5 accessories here to make the search easier for you.

If the PS5 is your first console or you’re coming from an Xbox, one of the first things you’ll want to pick up is a PlayStation Plus Extra subscription. It’ll help you flesh out your library. Sony recently revamped the service to add separate tiers. Of the three tiers that are currently available, the “Extra” one is the best value. Priced at $15 per month, it grants you access to a library of up to 400 downloadable PS4 and PS5 games. Each month, you’ll also get a handful of free games and PlayStation Store discounts. The combination of those perks makes it easy to start making the most of your new PS5.

SteelSeries Arctis 7P+

Do the people you live with a favor and buy yourself a decent headset. It will help you stop nerves from fraying and is a must for any multiplayer game. The options for gaming headsets are vast, so we recommend picking one with a solid track record. SteelSeries recently updated its iconic Arctis 7 headset with the 7P+ which has improved battery life and a USB-C port for charging. What the company didn’t change was the headband design that many people credit for making the Arctis 7 one of the more comfortable headsets on the market. The 7P+ costs the same as the standard 7+ variant, but also adds full support for the PS5’s Tempest 3D audio technology.

WD Black SN850

Sony recently released an update to allow PS5 owners to expand their console’s internal storage. And it’s a good thing, because the 667GB of usable storage the console comes with can feel limiting quickly. We already published a comprehensive guide on the best SSDs you can buy for your PlayStation 5. You’ll want to check that article out for a step-by-step guide on how to upgrade your SSD. But if you want to make things as simple as possible, your best bet is a Gen4 M.2 NVME SSD with a built-in heatsink. One of the better plug-and-play options is the SN850 from WD Black. It checks off all the compatibility requirements listed by Sony and is reasonably priced, too.

Samsung T7 SSD

If you don’t feel comfortable opening your PS5 to install a new SSD, another option is to purchase an external solid-state drive. Keep in mind that you can’t play PS5 games from an external drive. However, it takes less time to copy one over from an SSD than it does to download it from the PlayStation Store. One of our favorite portable drives is the Samsung T7. It can write files at a speedy 1,000 MB/s and comes with a shock-resistant enclosure to protect the drive from physical damage. If you plan to use the SSD exclusively for storing games, you can save money by buying the standard model instead of the Shield variant, which has a ruggedized exterior for extra protection for those who are always on the go.

DualSense Charging Station

While you can charge your DualSense controller with the USB-C cable that comes with your PS5, a more elegant solution is the DualSense Charging Station. It can store and charge two controllers simultaneously. In that way, you can always have a second PS5 controller ready to go if the one you’re currently using runs out of battery. The charger will also free up the USB ports on your PS5 for other accessories.

Elden Ring

Unless you spent very little time on the internet this year, it’s safe to say it was impossible to avoid the conversation around Elden Ring. After putting about 100 hours into FromSoftware’s latest, I can safely say the praise is warranted. Like a lot of other people, I was tired of Western-style open-world games and their endless checklists by the time I got around to playing Elden Ring, but its take on the genre was anything but tired. As I stumbled my way through the game’s dark caves, ruined cathedrals and enchanted forests, I felt like there was a discovery waiting for me across every hill and river. That’s a feeling I haven’t had since I was a kid playing through the Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask.

If that’s not enough to convince you to try Elden Ring, know that the game’s maximalist approach makes it the most approachable FromSoftware release to date. Whenever you’re stuck on a boss, you can go elsewhere to level your character and master the game’s punishing combat.

God of War Ragnarök

Did you think Sony’s latest exclusive would be absent from this list? God of War Ragnarök can sometimes suffer from pacing issues and overly chatty NPCs, but there’s no denying that Santa Monica Studio has crafted another heartfelt chapter in the story of Kratos and Atreus. The PS5 is also the best place to play Ragnarök. On Sony’s latest console, the game ships with two rendering modes and support for variable and high frame rates. Provided you own a relatively recent TV, those features make it possible to play the action RPG at up to 90 frames per second in some situations. That’s a level of technical proficiency we haven’t seen in a lot of AAA console games.

Death’s Door

With a title that evokes the end of all things, you might think Death’s Door is a bleak game. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Buoyed by a beautiful soundtrack and art style, it’s one of the most thoughtful and pleasant indies I’ve played recently. Developer Acid Nerve’s tribute to The Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls is a must-play for those who love to lose themselves in a world of mystery and intrigue.

Ghosts of Tsushima Directors Cut

You’ve played games like Ghost of Tsushima before. It borrows from the familiar open-world formula popularized by Assassin’s Creed and other Ubisoft titles. But that’s not a knock against it. Far from it, Sucker Punch’s latest is so easy to recommend because it executes the open-world concept flawlessly. The studio has created a beautiful playground steeped in Feudal Japanese culture, myth and history for players to explore, with something interesting to find beyond every ridge. Combat is also a highlight, allowing you to play either as honorable samurai, terrifying assassin or a mixture of both. And once you have finished Tsushima’s touching single-player story, there’s the excellent Legends multiplayer mode to keep you busy for the long haul.

Hades

If you pick up only one game from this list, make it Hades. It is as close to a perfectly executed game as you’ll find. Everything from the art style, music, story and gameplay mechanics coalesces into one of the most memorable experiences in recent memory. Even if you’re not a fan of roguelike games, don’t worry: Hades is so successful because even when you die, it never feels like you’ve wasted your time.

As RISC-V continues to develop, so does the plethora of products around the open source processor. Unlike the Raspberry Pi which uses proprietary ARM processors, the new Lichee Pi 4A uses open source RISC-V C910 architecture. This small desktop SBC is manufacturered by Sipeed and comes in a variety of configurations. Today we’re happy to get a close look at the edition with 8GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard memory thanks to Christopher Barnatt with ExplainingComputers in his recent unboxing video over at YouTube.

Overall, Barnatt reported the out-of-the-box experience as generally positive. It comes with Debian pre-installed so very little had to be done in the way of first-time setup beyond connecting all the hardware and necessary peripherals. Although it comes with Debian preloaded, you can customize it entirely from the inside out.

The most glowing praise came after testing the unit for several hours. After observing no crashes, Barnatt said he considered this to be the most stable Linux experience he’s has so far with RISC-V. It has quality graphics processing showing excellent results with 720p video playback albeit less so with 1080p.

It comes with a selection of preinstalled tools that most average users will find handy to have readily available—such as LibreOffice. Overall the unit is very user friendly making it a great platform for RISC-V development as well as casual use.

You can find more information about the Lichee Pi 4A on the official Sipeed website. For an in depth look at its performance, check out the full unboxing and demo test video from ExplainingComputers over at YouTube.

While some buy the best CPUs, others try to smuggle them. Chinese customs authorities sized 780 Intel processors that traffickers were trying to slip through the Gongbei Port connecting Macau and Zhuhai in China.

Chinese smugglers are always finding ways to finesse the customs authorities. Recent smuggling busts have shown that walking with hundreds of processors or M.2 SSDs strapped to your body may not be the most clever way to get through customs. Hiding contraband hardware inside scooters or in a car’s undercarriage is a no-go. 

In the latest PC hardware smuggling bust, we have a few individuals who hid 780 Intel processors inside the engine of a cross-border bus. Walking past metal detectors with pounds of metal on your body isn’t a good idea. Even a fake silicon belly can’t conceal processors from metal detectors. However, hiding metal inside other metal can prove fruitful, assuming you’re lucky and don’t get pulled over for a manual inspection.

The customs officers from the Gongbei Port noticed something fishy about the cross-border vehicle from digital imagery. Upon closer inspection of the engine, they discovered a nifty modification to conceal smuggled goods, which in this case were 780 Intel-branded processors. Customs 

The initial estimate of the smuggle bust is over one million yuan, equivalent to $137,341. Unfortunately, we can’t get a perfect view of the confiscated chips, but they appear to be from the 12th Generation Alder Lake or 13th Generation Raptor Lake series.

There’s a big grey market in China for computer hardware. Processors, graphics cards, and SSDs are the most popular components among buyers. You can get bargain prices on hardware that typically costs much more in a retail store. It’s a gamble, though, since you don’t receive the manufacturer’s warranty. So while it looks like you’ve saved money when you bought it, it’ll cost you more to replace the hardware in the future if it unexpectedly craps out on you.

Have you ever wondered where defective NAND chips or those that don’t pass the requirements go? Not inside the best SSDs, that’s for sure. However, you’ll likely find them inside knock-off SSD brands that sell for ridiculously low prices on platforms like AliExpress.

NAND yield rates are typically bad until the process node matures. Often, factories come across NAND that doesn’t meet the client’s requirements or doesn’t pass quality control. Instead of throwing the NAND away, which increases electronic waste, the factories recycle them into cheaper products or sell them to local companies, giving rise to obscure SSD brands on the Chinese market.

A Chinese data recovery YouTuber recently took apart a ShineDisk M667 (M667-120G), a 120GB SATA SSD that retails for around $13 in China, and found some alleged SK hynix-manufactured NAND for Apple devices inside. Mind you; this is a knock-off brand and not to be confused with the same SanDisk that Western Digital acquired. 

The SSD controller is the only thing that looks legit on the ShineDisk M667. The drive utilizes the SM2258XT, a DRAM-less SATA III from Silicon Motion. It’s an outdated SSD controller that powers SSDs, such as the Crucial BX500, TeamGroup EX2, and WD Blue 3D.

The NAND chips in the ShineDisk M667 are thicker than the NAND that you typically find on a regular SSD. According to the YouTuber, it’s reportedly SK hynix’s E2NAND, which appears to be a multi-chip package with an MSP controller with embedded ECC support. We looked up the E2NAND but couldn’t find any public information on SK hynix’s website. However, we did see many mentions of E2NAND associated with Apple and iPhones on various Chinese e-commerce platforms.

The origin of the NAND is unknown. It could have come from a factory that makes NAND for Apple or some third-party vendor ripping them off of defective iPhones. However, the  YouTuber suspects the former since the quality appears to have a level of professionalism.

Reprocessing components for lower-tier products or new products is a regular practice in the hardware world. Companies are always looking to maximize profits. For example, a recent report revealed that some vendors recycle server ICs into consumer memory. The problem is with reliability. 

In the case of the ShineDisk M667 SSD, we have no idea where the NAND came from. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if, one day, the ShineDisk M667 died out of nowhere. That’s the risk of an off-brand SSD that sells for $13 in a market filled with knock-offs. You’re better off looking for one of the best SSD deals on a name brand drive.

Nixie tubes can add a unique retro vibe to your project but they can run a little high price-wise. If you want to get that cool vintage vibe out of your Raspberry Pi project without all the added cost, you should take a look at this creation from maker and developer Yakroo. If that name sounds familiar, he’s the mastermind behind the neat cyberpunk Pico neck watch we recently covered. Today, we’re highlighting his Pico Nixie clock which uses LCD displays instead of expensive Nixie bulbs.

According to Yakroo, the idea was to create something simple but functional in a compact form factor. The end result is this custom Pico-powered board that sports two display modules. In addition to tracking time, it can also relay both temperature and humidity readouts with the cool Nixie bulb aesthetic.

Another driving component of this project was to create a more affordable solution for those who want to capture the look and feel of a Nixie bulb. His previous project, the Pico neck watch, also uses an LCD display to output digital Nixie-like numbers. This is just another variant of the idea with something a little more minimal.

The clock is mainly driven by a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller. It’s attached to a custom PCB that’s designed to support not only the Pico but also the other components which includes a DS3231M RTC module and two ST7789 displays. They’re mounted in an upright position so the module can sit flat on a surface with the numbers prominently on display.

The code used in this project tracks the time input from the RTC module as well as the temperature and humidity data. It then pulls from a library of graphics and updates the displays to reflect the data with the Nixie effect. The code isn’t available to explore but Yakroo confirms it’s written in MicroPython.

If you’d like to see this Raspberry Pi project in action, check out the full breakdown shared by Yakroo over at Hackster. You can also see a demo video of it in action over at YouTube. Be sure to follow him for more cool projects as well as any future updates to this one.

Steven Spielberg’s wholesome sci-fi classic, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, became a cultural touchstone following its release in 1982. The film’s hastily-developed (as in, “you have five weeks to get this to market”) Atari 2600 tie-in game became a cultural touchstone for entirely different reasons.

In his new book, The Stuff Games Are Made Of, experimental game maker and assistant professor in design and computation arts at Concordia University in Montreal, Pippin Barr deconstructs the game design process using an octet of his own previous projects to shed light on specific aspects of how games could better be put together. In the excerpt below, Dr. Barr muses in what makes good cinema versus games and why the storytelling goals of those two mediums may not necessarily align.

MIT Press

Excerpted from The Stuff Games Are Made Of by Pippin Barr. Reprinted with permission from The MIT Press. Copyright 2023.

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In the Atari 2600 video game version of the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Spielberg 1982), also called E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Atari 1982), the defining experience is falling into a pit. It’s cruelly fitting, then, that hundreds of thousands of the game’s physical cartridges were buried in a landfill in 1983. Why? It was one of the most spectacular failures in video game history. Why? It’s often put front and center as the worst game of all time. Why? Well, when you play it, you keep falling into a pit, among other things …

But was the video game E.T. so terrible? In many ways it was a victim of the video game industry’s voracious hunger for “sure fire” blockbusters. One strategy was to adapt already-popular movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark or, yes, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Rushed to market with a development time of only five weeks, the game inevitably lacked the careful crafting of action-oriented gameplay backed by audience testing that other Atari titles had. I would argue, though, that its creator, Howard Scott Warshaw, found his way into a more truthful portrayal of the essence of the film than you might expect.

Yes, in the game E.T. is constantly falling into pits as he flees scientists and government agents. Yes, the game is disorienting in terms of understanding what to do, with arcane symbols and unclear objectives. But on the other hand, doesn’t all that make for a more poignant portrayal of E.T.’s experience, stranded on an alien planet, trying to get home? What if E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a good adaptation of the film, and just an unpopular video game?

The world of video games has admired the world of film from the beginning. This has led to a long-running conversation between game design and the audiovisual language of cinema, from cutscenes to narration to fades and more. In this sense, films are one of the key materials games are made of. However, even video games’ contemporary dominance of the revenue competition has not been quite enough to soothe a nagging sense that games just don’t measure up. Roger Ebert famously (and rather overbearingly) claimed that video games could “never be art,” and although we can mostly laugh about it now that we have games like Kentucky Route Zero and Disco Elysium, it still hurts. What if Ebert was right in the sense that video games aren’t as good at being art as cinema is?

Art has seldom been on game studios’ minds in making film adaptations. From Adventures of Tron for the Atari 2600 to Toy Story Drop! on today’s mobile devices, the video game industry has continually tried for instant brand recognition and easy sales via film. Sadly, the resulting games tend just to lay movie visuals and stories over tried-and-true game genres such as racing, fighting, or match 3. And the search for films that are inherently “video game-y” hasn’t helped much either. In Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Spider-Man ends up largely as a vessel for swinging and punching, and you certainly can’t participate in Miles’s inner life. So what happened to the “Citizen Kane of video games”?

A significant barrier has been game makers’ obsession with the audiovisual properties of cinema, the specific techniques, rather than some of the deeply structural or even philosophical opportunities. Film is exciting because of the ways it unpacks emotion, represents space, deploys metaphor, and more. To leverage the stuff of cinema, we need to take a close look at these other elements of films and explore how they might become the stuff of video games too. One way to do that in an organized way is to focus on adaptation, which is itself a kind of conversation between media that inevitably reveals much about both. And if you’re going to explore film adaptation to find the secret recipe, why not go with the obvious? Why not literally make Citizen Kane (Welles 1941) into a video game? Sure, Citizen Kane is not necessarily the greatest film of all time, but it certainly has epic symbolic value. Then again, Citizen Kane is an enormous, complex film with no car chases and no automatic weapons. Maybe it’s a terrible idea.

As video games have ascended to a position of cultural and economic dominance in the media landscape, there has been a temptation to see film as a toppled Caesar, with video games in the role of a Mark Antony who has “come to bury cinema, not to praise it.” But as game makers, we haven’t yet mined the depths offered by cinema’s rich history and its exciting contemporary voices. Borrowing cinema’s visual language of cameras, points of view, scenes, and so on was a crucial step in figuring out how video games might be structured, but the stuff of cinema has more to say than that. Citizen Kane encourages us to embrace tragedy and a quiet ending. The Conversation shows us that listening can be more powerful than action. Beau Travail points toward the beauty of self-expression in terrible times. Au Hasard Balthazar brings the complex weight of our own responsibilities to the fore.

There’s nothing wrong with an action movie or an action video game, but I suggest there’s huge value in looking beyond the low-hanging fruit of punch-ups and car chases to find genuinely new cinematic forms for the games we play. I’ll never play a round of Combat in the same way, thanks to the specter of Travis Bickle psyching himself up for his fight against the world at large. It’s time to return to cinema in order to think about what video games have been and what they can be. Early attempts to adapt films into games were perhaps “notoriously bad” (Fassone 2020), but that approach remains the most direct way for game designers to have a conversation with the cinematic medium and to come to terms with its potential. Even if we accept the idea that E.T. was terrible, which I don’t, it was also different and new.

This is bigger than cinema, though, because we’re really talking about adaptation as a form of video game design. While cinema (and television) is particularly well matched, all other media from theater to literature to music are teeming with ideas still untried in the youthful domain of video games. One way to fast-track experimentation is of course to adapt plays, poems, and songs. To have those conversations. There can be an air of disdain for adaptations compared to originals, but I’m with Linda Hutcheon (2012, 9) who asserts in A Theory of Adaptation that “an adaptation is a derivation that is not derivative — a work that is second without being secondary.” As Jay Bolter and Richard Grusin (2003, 15) put it, “what is new about new media comes from the particular ways in which they refashion older media.” This is all the more so when the question is how to adapt a specific work in another medium, where, as Hutcheon claims, “the act of adaptation always involves both (re-)interpretation and then (re-)creation.” That is, adaptation is inherently thoughtful and generative; it forces us to come to terms with the source materials in such a direct way that it can lay our design thinking bare—the conversation is loud and clear. As we’ve seen, choosing films outside the formulas of Hollywood blockbusters is one way to take that process of interpretation and creation a step further by exposing game design to more diverse cinematic influences.

Video games are an incredible way to explore not just the spaces we see on-screen, but also “the space of the mind.” When a game asks us to act as a character in a cinematic world, it can also ask us to think as that character, to weigh our choices with the same pressures and history they are subject to. Hutcheon critiques games’ adaptive possibilities on the grounds that their programming has “an even more goal- directed logic than film, with fewer of the gaps that film spectators, like readers, fill in to make meaning.” To me, this seems less like a criticism and more like an invitation to make that space. Quiet moments in games, as in films, may not be as exhilarating as a shoot-out, but they can demand engagement in a way that a shoot-out can’t. Video games are ready for this.

The resulting games may be strange children of their film parents, but they’ll be interesting children too, worth following as they grow up. Video game film adaptations will never be films, nor should they be—they introduce possibilities that not only recreate but also reimagine cinematic moments. The conversations we have with cinema through adaptation are ways to find brand new ideas for how to make games. Even the next blockbuster.

Yeah, cinema, I’m talkin’ to you.

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If there’s one thing we like here at Tom’s Hardware, it’s really cool Raspberry Pi cyberdecks. Today we’ve hit the jackpot and want to show off this creation from maker and developer Ike T. Sanglay Jr. (known as Iketsj at YouTube) who’s using two Raspberry Pis in his cyberdeck. The main board is a Raspberry Pi Zero W, and it accepts input from a custom keyboard and mouse PCB that relies on an RP2040.

Sanglay has dubbed his custom PCB the Akruvia Una and offers kits for purchase if you want to tinker at home. The board supports buttons for keyboard input, larger buttons for left and right mouse clicks, and an analog thumbstick for cursor input. There are also some LEDs thrown in as indicators for things like the caps lock status.

The cyberdeck itself consists of a Raspberry Pi mounted inside custom-made housing that also supports a small LCD touchscreen and the Akruvia Una. Ports are available along the outer edges, as well, for attaching peripherals or tinkering with hardware. It also has a battery for portability, making it totally mobile.

Sanglay was kind enough to share a full breakdown of the hardware inside. He’s using a Raspberry Pi Zero W that’s connected to a 2.8-inch LCD touchscreen for video output. It has a power switch, USB hub with two ports on the side for external peripherals, a power boost module for the battery, and some 3D-printed components to help hold everything together.

Because the main board in this project is a Raspberry Pi, you can get away with using any operating system you like. Most likely you’ll want to use something standard like Raspberry Pi OS, but because there’s a Pi Zero inside, you can use it as a gaming rig by connecting a Bluetooth controller.

If you want to get a closer look at this Raspberry Pi project, check out the official video shared on YouTube by Ike T. Sanglay Jr. And be sure to follow him for more cool projects (like the Akruvia Una) as well as any future updates on this one.

The latest version of Box64, a popular x86_64 emulator for Linux running on architectures like ARM/AArch64 and RISC-V, introduces significant performance improvements, making possible gaming on RISC-V-based platforms such as the Vision Five 2 board, reports Phoronix. 

The most important addition to the Box64 version 0.2.4 is that Dynarec now works on RISC-V. This facilitates faster operations of x86_64 Linux software on RISC-V 64-bit system and makes simplistic games, such as Stardew Valley, playable on Vision Five 2-based devices. Additionally, the new version introduces several fixes for Steam, enhanced multi-threading capabilities, and broader improvements for emulation across various CPU architectures.

While titles like Stardew Valley can hardly attract avid gamers, the Vision Five 2 is not exactly designed to run games (even though it has an OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.2-capable integrated GPU), so running a game is already a kind of a breakthrough for this product. The motherboard is aimed at software developers and is based in the quad-core StarFive JH7110 SoC with SiFive U74 RV64GC cores running at 1.50 GHz and Imagination’s  BXE-4-32 GPU.

The Box64 version 0.2.4 has refined its compatibility with several modifications, which includes better handling of ELF files, added wrapped libraries and functions, expanded opcode functionalities, and preliminary WoW64 support for 32-bit operations in Wine. 

In conjunction with Box64’s release, Box86, focused on x86 32-bit emulation, launched its 0.3.2 version. This version sees improvements in system call processes, an optimized ELF loader, a decrease in memory usage, and stability improvements.

If there’s one thing that can be guaranteed, it’s that Teamgroup will put out a drive to fit any niche, and the MP44S is no exception. It comes as no surprise that Teamgroup wanted to jump on the M.2 2230 bandwagon, given the growing popularity of the Steam Deck and ROG Ally. The portable gaming PC revolution has begun in earnest, and Teamgroup has been eager to put out an SSD to help that along, one that could fulfill even the desire for up to 2TB of tiny – but fast – internal storage. The MP44S may not be the first to market, and it is just one of many. Still, it’s another fair alternative that assists in bringing down prices for this increasingly desirable form factor, especially at the most-popular 1TB capacity point.

It’s an opportunity because the hardware on many of these drives is no different than what’s on popular M.2 2280 drives. Of course, these 2230 drives usually have to be single-sided to fit nicely in portable systems, which adds physical limitations to the drive’s design. You typically won’t find DRAM on an M.2 2230 SSD, except in the rare case that the components are embedded and the drive will be limited to a single NAND package. This puts some constraints on drive capacity, but QLC makes even 2TB a reasonable option, and honestly, the performance for the Steam Deck is pretty good, even with a QLC SSD. This makes drives like the MP44S a pretty solid upgrade, especially if you saved some money going with a 64GB base Steam Deck.

Teamgroup doesn’t compromise the MP44S’s controller, using the fast Phison E21T. This controller has been at the heart of many of the best budget PCIe 4.0 SSDs on the market. The Steam Deck is restricted to the PCIe 3.0 interface, but the ROG Ally and other devices can use the additional bandwidth gifted by the 4.0 interface.

Future DRAM-less drives, including those with TLC, might pull ahead of a drive like the MP44S, but it’s a sensible option for now. SD cards are fine and dandy, but this hardware is of a higher class — something to keep in mind as the ROG Ally has had SD card issues. Portable storage also works, but you don’t always want to drag that around with you. So grab an installation guide, take your time, and enjoy a real SSD like the MP44S.

Specifications

The Teamgroup MP44S is available at 1TB and 2TB, currently for $94.99 and $199.99, respectively. This is slightly more expensive than some direct competitors like the Addlink S91. QLC isn’t quite as compelling at 1TB, but it can be workable if it undercuts the TLC alternatives by enough.

The MP44S can hit up to 5,000 / 3,500 MB/s for sequential reads and writes and up to 480K / 500K IOPS for random reads and writes. There’s a five-year warranty with 250TB and 450TB of writes for the two capacities offered. Teamgroup was unable to give us specific performance information for the 1TB, but given what we see with similar drives, it should be close to the 2TB.

Software and Accessories

Teamgroup has its own SSD SMART monitoring software, or SSD SMART Tool, available for download on its website. It comes with a manual that indicates the software can be used to grab basic drive information, such as the SMART readings, and the application also includes a built-in CrystalDiskMark-like benchmark.

A Closer Look

There’s not too much to the MP44S. It’s a single-sided SSD in the M.2 2230 form factor, short and slender enough to fit into the Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, and other portable systems. Teamgroup uses a graphene label to cover the controller and a single NAND package for heat dissipation.

This standard layout is also used on the Sabrent Rocket Q4 2230 and Addlink S91. To reach 2TB, the MP44S has to use Micron’s 176-Layer QLC (N48R), but it’s also used at 1TB. It is technically possible to use TLC flash and achieve 2TB — WD’s SN740 manages the trick — but it’s probably easier and more cost-effective to use QLC. Intel’s QLC is only found in M.2 2230 with the 1TB P41 Plus OEM drive and is, therefore, harder to compare. QLC is more of a compromise at 1TB as there’s not as much interleaving with the dies, but for this level of drive with the E21T, it’s sufficient and is mostly an option to save a few bucks over TLC.

Micron’s flash is also more efficient than WD’s BiCS5 TLC from our testing, and the 2TB SN740 — which can be gauged to some degree by looking at our SN770 review — loses some performance over its 1TB counterpart. Still, the 2TB SN740 is probably the fastest drive at 2TB, but we think that, at least for the Deck, QLC is a perfectly good compromise there. This does open the door to the 2TB OEM Crucial 2400, although that uses the SMI SM2269XT controller instead of the MP44S’s Phison E21T. In our testing of these controllers, the latter performs as well or better with better power efficiency. The competition at 1TB is much stiffer for QLC.

It’s worth looking into what performance compromises are made with QLC at 1TB. The MP44S and S91 offer this option, and the Rocket Q4 2230 may eventually do so, but there are many TLC alternatives that no longer carry a high price premium. On the other hand, requiring only eight dies of QLC for 1TB is more convenient, and if these drives end up being less expensive, they are probably still fast enough to be a worthwhile alternative.

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Before you send your design to your 3D printer and hit that “Print” button, there is a crucial decision that you need to make: should the object be printed as hollow or solid? The decision of whether to print it as hollow or solid is usually affected by several factors. One of them is the purpose of the design you are creating. A hollow design is generally preferred if you want the object to be lightweight and not subject to much stress. It helps you also conserve materials and reduce production costs.

On the other hand, if you need it to be strong, a solid design is usually better.  Additionally, the size of your material matters in determining how the internal structure should look like. If you want to save on the cost of the material, consider printing hollow instead of solid, as it uses less material.

To adjust the internal structure of your design to create a hollow or solid object, you need to change the infill settings, like the density. The infill density determines the percentage of the internal material used inside the model. It allows you to control the amount of infill used in the print, ranging from 0 to 100%.  When you set the infill density to 0%, the 3D printer creates a hollow print with no internal structure. Setting it to 100% means that the entire internal space of the 3D model will be filled with material, and the object will be solid and stronger, though it will use a lot of material. In-between values will generate an internal lattice structure, partially filling the space within the model.

In addition to the infill density, there is also the infill pattern setting, which we shall look at in detail in this article, and it’s one of the settings that determine the specific geometric arrangement of the material structure within the 3D-printed model. You adjust the infill settings of your designs in a slicer like Cura. We will use Cura to demonstrate this, as it’s one of the most popular 3D slicing programs available. Like other 3D printer slicers, it offers various infill patterns, each with its characteristics, strengths, and applications. 

After importing your designs into the software, you can access the infill pattern settings by clicking on Infill in the print settings.

The table below summarizes the infill patterns available in Cura and their functions.

Below is a detailed description of each of the above infill patterns.

1. Grid Infill Pattern (Good for Prototyping

The grid infill pattern forms intersecting lines running perpendicular to each other, forming a grid. The pattern resembles a grid, with horizontal and vertical lines forming a crisscross pattern within the space of the print.

This pattern offers moderate strength while using a relatively small amount of material. It is famous for many 3D printing applications, like creating functional prototypes and objects requiring mild mechanical stress, and it’s suitable for faster 3D printing.

2. Lines Pattern (Simple 3D Prints and Prototypes)

Immediately after the grid pattern is the line infill. This pattern uses continuous lines that run in a single direction to fill the interior of a 3D-printed object. It is a good choice for rapid prototyping or parts with less critical interior strength.

It is moderately fast to print and it is a good choice for prints that do not need to be very strong. This pattern also helps avoid 3D printing pillowing, the problem where the top surfaces of your print appear uneven, giving them a pillow-like appearance. Because the lines in lines infill pattern are parallel, they distribute the weight and stress of the upper layers more evenly across the print’s interior, preventing concentrated pressure points that can cause issues on the top layers.

3. Triangles (Prototyping)

The triangles pattern contains interconnected triangles or hexagons that create a honeycomb-like structure inside the model. This pattern offers excellent structural integrity as the interlocking triangles distribute forces more evenly throughout the interior of the print, enhancing its overall strength. It is also helpful in creating prototypes which forces will be subjected perpendicular to the faces.

4. Tri-Hexagon Infill Pattern (Prototyping and Moderately Strong Parts)

This is similar to a triangle infill pattern, but the difference is that It also contains hexagons. In this infill, the lines making up the triangles and hexagons run in three directions but don’t meet in the same position. Like triangles, the tri-hexagon is helpful for creating prototypes and parts requiring moderate mechanical strength.

5. Cubic (Strong, Rigid, and Functional Parts)

It uses a combination of cubes that are stacked on top of each other. Cubic infill patterns are created by interweaving parallel lines at around 45-degree angles. The lines are spaced evenly apart and connected in a grid-like structure.

When you increase the line spacing by reducing the infill percentage, you can create lighter parts with less material, while decreasing the line spacing will make the design stronger and more rigid. Cubic infill patterns are perfect for creating functional parts that need to withstand stresses.

6. Cubic Sub-Division (Large 3D Prints Without Affecting Strength to Weight Ratio)

Cubic sub-division pattern is similar to Cubic, but the difference is that the middle section of your 3D prints is hollow. Compared to Cubic, this pattern saves material and time to 3D print the model, and it is ideal for large-volume 3D prints as it helps to improve strength-to-weight ratios. This is because the cubes are dense enough to provide support and strength, and it is light enough not to add too much weight.

7. Octect (Good for Functional 3D Prints)

The Octet infill pattern has a cross-hatched pattern or interconnected octagons, creating a strong internal structure in the design. It is efficient with the amount of material used as there are spaces left on the design and the time it takes to print too. It is also great for 3D printing complex shapes, as you can adjust the infill to fit the object’s shape.

8. Quarter Cubic (Strong and Lightweight)

The quarter cubic infill pattern contains small cubes and rectangular shapes arranged in a grid, allowing for a higher density of material and better mechanical properties. It is excellent for parts that need to be strong and lightweight at the same time. Since the pattern comprises small cubes, it offers a high density and a uniform structure. The arrangement of the cubes in a grid-like manner makes the print look more aesthetically pleasing.

9. Concentric (Best for Flexible 3D Prints)

This pattern is generated by a series of concentric circles that radiate outward from the center of each layer. It creates a distinctive visual appearance on the inside of the print and offers some unique characteristics. The infill percentage determines the size of the spaces in the circles. If it’s higher, the spaces will be smaller, and when lower, the spacing will be larger.

Concentric pattern is great for 3D printing flexible 3D prints. It’s also suitable for prints where the internal structure doesn’t need to bear significant loads or mechanical stress. The arrangement of concentric circles creates an interesting visual effect that can be visible through translucent or semi-transparent materials, and this can add a decorative touch to your 3D prints.

Because the pattern generally involves a continuous movement in a circular direction, it prints at a faster speed when compared to those that require frequent changes in direction, such as triangular or grid patterns.

10. Zig zag (Good for Fast 3D Printing)

This pattern is almost similar to the line pattern but differs by having alternating lines that move in opposite directions, resulting in a zigzag pattern. While not the strongest infill pattern available, it still provides decent support for the interior of the print. The diagonal lines intersecting with each other offer some reinforcement. It is ideal for simple designs that need to be printed faster.

11. Cross (Best for Flexible 3D Prints)

This pattern contains crossing lines that create a grid of crosses. It is not as strong as some other infill patterns, but it is flexible and can withstand much bending due to the spaces between the grid and the crosses. It’s ideal for prints that need to be able to bend or flex, like phone cases. It’s also applicable for decorative objects to add a touch of style.

12. Cross 3D (Flexible 3D Prints)

This is similar to the cross pattern, but as the name suggests, it’s a 3D version containing a 3D grid of interconnected crosses within the object’s interior. This is great for flexible parts but stiffer than the ones created in the cross pattern when you use the same infill percentage. It’s also great when you are making 3D printing time-lapses.

13. Gyroid (Good for Strong and Functional Parts)

The gyroid infill pattern has a continuous lattice that seems to twist and weave, creating an almost organic-looking structure. It resembles an intricate maze of interconnected curves, creating a captivating contrast to the solid exterior of the print, and these interconnections distribute forces evenly.

When you use a higher infill density, it will result in a more solid-looking interior. A lower density will retain the lattice structure but with more pronounced gaps between the elements. The gyroid pattern helps create functional parts that will be subjected to stress. If you want to make time lapses, you can use this pattern, too, as it can add a sense of movement to the video, as the pattern constantly changes within the frame. It can also make them look much more visually attractive than using other infill patterns.

14. Lightning (Good for Designs Requiring Internal Supports)

The lightning infill pattern is more of an internal support structure than an infill. Some 3D prints, like ornaments, require internal supports to support the overhangs, and lightning-infill patterns are the best. Its primary purpose is to provide structural reinforcement in the critical areas of your 3D print, ensuring that your prints maintain their integrity during printing. It consumes less material the print time is faster too.

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We may soon have a new contender to rival the best graphics cards. The latest rumor in China is that AMD is reportedly preparing a Radeon RX 6750 GRE with the pricing of a GeForce RTX 4060 and the performance of a GeForce RTX 4060 Ti.

The Radeon RX 7900 GRE was only the tip of the iceberg for AMD’s Green Rabbit Edition (GRE) series of graphics cards. According to one Weibo user, AMD purportedly is readying to launch another GRE graphics card, except this time, the chipmaker borrowing an RDNA 2 SKU rather than using one of its latest RDNA 3 silicon. The hearsay points to a Radeon RX 6750 GRE, which could be a beefed-up version of the existing Radeon RX 6750 XT.

The tech blogger allegedly confirmed the Radeon RX 6750 GRE with the boss of Yeston, a popular manufacturer with little presence outside the Asia-Pacific region. During their conversation, Yeston was reportedly the only authorized AMD AIB partner to produce the Radeon RX 6750 GRE. The leaker didn’t reveal the specifications of the Radeon RX 6750 GRE. Our only information so far is that the RDNA 2 graphics card delivers similar performance to Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, which retails for $399. However, the Weibo blogger claims the Radeon RX 6750 GRE will have the same $299 MSRP as the GeForce RTX 4060.

The Radeon RX 6750 XT already uses the full Navi 22 silicon, which has 2,560 Stream Processors (SPs). Assuming that the Radeon RX 6750 GRE is an upgraded variant of the Radeon RX 6750 XT, it’ll likely have to come with higher clock speeds or switch to another silicon, such as Navi 21, to obtain more SPs. One plausible theory is that AMD could recycle defective Navi 21 dies that don’t meet the requirements of a Radeon RX 6800 or Radeon RX 6800 XT while keeping the same number of SPs as the  Radeon RX 6750 XT but upgrade the memory subsystem.

For now, it’s hard to speculate which route AMD will go. With the Radeon RX 7900 GRE, the Navi 31-based SKU was fundamentally a lower-specced Radeon RX 7900 XT with fewer SPs and memory, lower clock speeds, and a more narrow memory interface. The thing with the Radeon RX 6750 XT is that it’s already the highest-tier Navi 21 model. Weakening the Radeon RX 6750 GRE would destroy its ability to compete with the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti.

The Radeon RX 7900 GRE is only available at retail in China. Nonetheless, the graphics card is available outside the Chinese market via prebuilt systems. We’re inclined to think that the Radeon RX 6750 GRE may follow a similar route. There’s no word when the Radeon RX 6750 GRE will launch. AMD will announce new “enthusiast-grade” Radeon RX 7000-series graphics cards at Gamescom 2023 between August 23 and 27. We wouldn’t be surprised if AMD included the Radeon RX 6750 GRE as a side dish in its announcement.

Right now at the official Corsair website, you can find the Corsair MP600 Core XT 4TB SSD for its best price to date. It’s been going for around $199 as of late but is currently marked down to just $159. This SSD isn’t quite industry leading but for a drive in its class, this price is well worh a closer look for anyone looking for more storage at a reasonable price.

We reviewed the Corsair MP600 Core XT SSD earlier this year and regarded its overall performance as mediocre due to its reliance on QLC. However, at this price the offer is much more appealing.

The Corsair MP600 Core XT SSD comes in 1TB an 2TB models but this discount applies only to the 4TB edition. It has an M.2 2280 form factor and connects using a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface. It relies on a Phison E21T controller and uses 176-Layer Micron QLC memory. It can reach read/write speeds as high as 5000/4400 Mbps.

Users can take advantage of optional 256-bit AES encryption for added security. It’s supported by Corsair’s limited 5-year manufacturer’s warranty that voids should the drive reach 900 TBW. Visit the Corsair MP600 Core XT 4TB SSD product page at Corsair for more details and purchase options. As of writing, it’s not clear for how long the offer will be made available.

It’s been a busy year for the best graphics cards, as well as cards that don’t quite make the cut. Not counting third-party cards, we’ve had fourteen “latest generation” consumer GPUs launched over the past year from the three big players. (There are also rumblings of various new GPUs from China, but all indications are that those won’t be competitive with the incumbents any time soon.) As the dust clears, we wanted to take a look back and provide some thoughts on how things have gone down and revisit the recent launches now that we’ve seen the full breadth of the product stacks.

To say that this generation has been a disappointment sums up how most people are feeling. There are some great cards, like the RTX 4090, but it’s priced out of reach of most gamers. Everything below that generally feels overpriced, underperforming, and/or cut specs too far. There are a few exceptions, GPUs that poke above the crowd for one reason or another, but even then there are caveats.

To quickly recap, Nvidia launched the first of its RTX 40-series Ada Lovelace GPUs on October 12, 2022 with the RTX 4090. Then it followed with the RTX 4080 in November, skipped a month and brought out the RTX 4070 Ti (aka the rechristened RTX 4080 12GB) in January, and more recently, the RTX 4070, RTX 4060 Ti, and RTX 4060. Now we’ve completed the set with the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB — slightly late to the party, but it’s done.

For its part, AMD hasn’t filled in all of the gaps with the new RDNA 3 RX 7000-series GPUs yet, though it’s widely expected that we’ll see the RX 7800-class and RX 7700-class GPUs in the next month or so. (AMD has stated more “enthusiast” GPUs are coming in Q3, which ends in September.) So far, we only have the RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT at the top, and the RX 7600 at the bottom, with the previous generation RX 6000-series holding down the high-end and budget forts.

Finally, Intel started shipping its Arc Alchemist GPUs in the U.S. about a year ago, with the Arc A380 blazing trail and clearing out some major driver issues. The Arc A770 and Arc A750 came next, followed by the Arc A770 8GB variant, but the A580 has quietly disappeared. That’s it for the Alchemist generation, but Intel has focused a lot on improving drivers and performance, and we’ll hopefully see the next generation Battlemage sooner rather than later — it has a tentative 2024 launch window, but Intel isn’t commenting on any precise dates yet.

Every GPU launch ends up being a snapshot in time, often one done under an extreme time crunch. Typically, we’ll get briefed on the new GPU about two weeks in advance of the launch, with hardware arriving about ten days ahead of the embargo date. It’s hectic, to say the least. The “top-down” approach to new GPUs also muddies the waters, as we can only compare new products to what is currently available.

The RTX 4060 Ti 16GB launch gives you a good idea of why sampling and embargoes happen. Due to supply (and maybe demand), even though the cards officially launched on July 18, we couldn’t acquire a card at retail until over ten days later. A previously scheduled vacation further delayed things, and our full review was finally posted a month “late.” With no embargo on testing and no hardware sampling, this would become the norm.

But that delayed approach gives us more time to reflect, and with nearly all of the cards now on the table, trends and expectations become much clearer. The latest generation hardware has been pretty weak from a consumer perspective, with only a few exceptions.

We don’t change our scores after reviews go live unless there’s some major mistake. So when we gave the RTX 4090 a 4.5-star score, that’s what we stand by. I actually feel that’s still the right score, but going down through the rest of the product stack, plus looking at GPUs from the competition, my feelings have changed and solidified over time, given the new GPU landscape. So let’s go through each GPU and provide our thoughts about where it currently sits. We also have performance results from our GPU benchmarks hierarchy, plus retail pricing data, which colors our opinions.

Nvidia RTX 40-Series Ada Lovelace GPUs

Starting with Nvidia, the RTX 4090 reigns as the fastest graphics card, period. It excels at 4K and starts to hit CPU bottlenecks — even on our Core i9-13900K test PC! — at 1440p and lower. That’s also why its average power draw looks so tame: at 1080p, the GPU ends up waiting on the CPU a lot and doesn’t come anywhere near its 450W TGP (total graphics power) rating, but focusing just on 4K it averaged 394W across our test suite. It’s expensive at $1,599, yes, but if you want the fastest graphics card that doesn’t really compromise anywhere, this is the GPU to get.

Stepping down to the RTX 4080, it’s not nearly as exciting as its bigger sibling. It’s clearly faster than any previous generation GPU, but it costs nearly as much as the 4090 while cutting performance and specs quite a bit. At 4K, for example, the 4090 is 36% faster and costs 33% more — 45% more going by the current lowest-priced retail cards. This felt like a taste of things to come, with lower performance gains and higher pricing compared to the previous generation, and it was. We also would have preferred a 320-bit interface with 20GB of VRAM (double the 3080) rather than 16GB on a 256-bit interface. This now ranks as the second fastest GPU overall, but in our view, it’s still priced about $200 higher than it warrants. It’s simply too high for what you get.

The RTX 4070 Ti echoes the 4080 story: too expensive for relatively minor generation gains in performance — unless you really love DLSS 3 Frame Generation and want to drink the Kool-Aid. DLSS 3 is okay, but the feel of games, when enabled, doesn’t match the supposed performance due to the AI interpolating of frames. It also only has 12GB when we would have liked 16GB, thanks to the 192-bit interface. That’s been a recurring theme in RTX 40-series reviews. Priced $200 higher than the previous gen 3070 Ti, the performance uplift was good (around 50% faster), but the price increase mostly wipes out those gains (e.g. it’s only 20% faster than a 3080 10GB and costs more).

Nvidia’s RTX 4070 at least feels like a move in the right direction. The generational price increase is now “only” $100, though performance is also “only” about 30% faster than the RTX 3070, or on par with the 3080. 12GB on a 192-bit interface also makes this more like a $500-class product, at most, but Nvidia opted to keep prices high. It’s a better value than the 4070 Ti and 4060 Ti 16GB, but that’s not saying much. This was supposed to be the chosen one, as the 970 and 1070 were great cards in their time, but instead of being at the lower end of the high-end price spectrum, it lands in upper high-end territory.

The RTX 4060 Ti 16GB easily ranks as the worst overall prospect for this generation of Nvidia GPUs. Unless you absolutely need VRAM capacity and not bandwidth (or compute), which might help with certain AI workloads, it’s generally not much faster than the 8GB model below. It also takes the price point of the previous generation RTX 3070, and basically matches that card on performance. If this had been the standard 4060 Ti, priced at $399, it would have been far more palatable. Getting a 192-bit interface and 12GB of memory would have sealed the deal. As it stands, we don’t recommend this card.

Cutting the memory in half and going with 8GB, the regular RTX 4060 Ti again feels like Nvidia tried to push a lower tier product into a higher tier naming and price category. Call this an RTX 4060 and price it at the level of the outgoing RTX 3060 and we could accept that. But the 128-bit interface and relatively minor generational performance gains — it’s only 11% faster than the 3060 Ti — leave us wanting a lot more.

Finally, the RTX 4060 might still have some warning signs, like the 128-bit interface and 8GB of memory, but those are far more tolerable at $299 than at $399. Generationally, it’s a 19% improvement over the 3060, and it costs $30 less. We don’t absolutely love it, and it would have looked far better as an RTX 3050 replacement, but outside of the RTX 4090, this is arguably the best latest generation Nvidia GPU, with the 4070 ranking third.

Overall, nearly every RTX 40-series GPU feels like it’s priced $100 to $200 higher than it should have been. That’s likely at least partly a result of all the cryptocurrency mining and pandemic induced GPU shortages of 2021 and 2022. Demand has dropped, supply has improved, and pricing isn’t terrible — even at the current prices, the 40-series GPUs today are all far better purchases than the 30-series was in mid-2021, where an RTX 3080 was typically going for $1,500! But it could have been better. Nvidia isn’t concerned, though, as it’s raking in billions from its AI and data center GPUs now.

AMD RX 7000-Series RDNA 3 GPUs

AMD only has three latest generation GPUs (for desktop) currently shipping, though at least two more are expected to land in the relatively near future. The RX 7900 XTX takes the halo spot, with a fully enabled Navi 31 GPU and the full complement of six MCDs (memory cache dies) providing 24GB of memory. That matches the RTX 4090, though performance on average is still 25% lower. The $999 launch price didn’t feel too egregious, and now cards are selling for $949 (sometimes on sale for as little as $899), and this is still a compelling alternative from Team Red, but it’s not a homerun.

Disabling a few cores and one MCD, the RX 7900 XT felt way too close to the XTX in pricing with its $899 launch price. Things are far better now, with cards starting at around $750. Across our full test suite (which includes a few demanding ray tracing games that heavily favor Nvidia), it goes head to head against the RTX 4070 Ti, but falls behind in the final metric. If you care more about memory capacity (20GB) and rasterization performance, though, this is a great alternative to Nvidia’s GPU at a slightly lower price. We can’t help but note that AMD managed to provide more VRAM in what is ultimately a similarly sized chip (counting MCDs and the GCD) than Nvidia, on the same 5nm-class process node (TSMC 4N is refined N5), all for a lower price.

The RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 (non-XT) are rumored to be coming in September. Based on what we’ve seen from the other RDNA 3 GPUs, we expect only moderately improved performance relative to the existing 6800 XT and 6700 XT. Prices remain an unknown, so we’ll have to wait and see where these land.

The RX 7600 fills in the bottom of AMD’s latest generation GPUs, and we’re not sure there’s room for a lower tier RX 7500 this round. Performance ends up being just slightly better than the previous generation RX 6650 XT, by about 3%. The current price is also higher, around $260 compared to $235, and power use is only slightly better at 150W versus 170W (those are our measurements, not the specifications). It’s basically a lateral move for AMD at the budget-mainstream end of the spectrum and echoes a lot of the trends we saw from Nvidia: not enough bang for the buck.

Intel Arc A-Series Alchemist GPUs

Wrapping things up with Intel, we had hopes that the Arc A770 16GB would provide some much-needed competition to the GPU space. It arrived late to the party, with driver teething pains, but at least the pricing was reasonable. The 16GB cards haven’t come down too much, still selling at $330 right now, and while we like the large quantity of VRAM, you’d be better off grabbing a discounted RTX 3060 — only slightly less performance, lower power, and the drivers are still better, all for less money. But we’re still rooting for an upset from Battlemage when it arrives next year.

The Arc A770 8GB ended up stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. Performance is close to the 16GB card, but so is the price — these start at $290 now, just $30 less than the full fat GPU. You still have some driver idiosyncrasies at times, though things have definitely improved, but if you’re staring at the A770 8GB, look down to the next card for a much better pick. It’s only a bit slower but costs a lot less.

Intel’s Arc A750 launched at $289, then got an official price drop to $249, and right now it’s selling for just $199 at Newegg. If you’re interested in giving an Intel Arc GPU a shot, this one’s a no-brainer: The Arc A750 represents the best value among graphics cards, with performance that matches the RTX 3060 and almost catches the RX 6700 10GB, for about $70 less. Yes, power use will be higher, and the drivers still aren’t perfect. But with over 30 driver releases since Arc first appeared, the Arc experience today is much better than last year.

Last and perhaps least, we have the Arc A380. It was the scouting party for Arc, and it was poorly equipped when it got shoved out the door. The drivers were frequently broken, and the China-first launch to try and avoid negative publicity didn’t help. Even with all the driver updates, performance remains somewhat questionable. But it’s very inexpensive at just $100, and if you don’t have high graphics requirements, it’s worth a thought. The video encoding support is also good, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.

Closing Thoughts

With fourteen GPUs launched, and probably at least two more to come — maybe even five if AMD does something below the RX 7600 and Nvidia dares to try making an RTX 4050 — plus all of the previous generation cards that are still readily available at often reasonable prices (at least for the RX 6000-series and a few lower tier RTX 30-series cards), there are a lot of choices for anyone looking to pick up a new graphics card. But most people gravitate toward the latest and “greatest” offerings, assuming they’ll be better than what came before, so we’ve provided our thoughts on every current-generation card.

The GPU industry traditionally catered to gamers, but now supercomputing and AI are taking a lot of the demand and production at the high end. Cryptocurrency mining has died off, for the most part, but the effects of the last surge are still being felt. The result is that prices increased in most cases for the same level of hardware, sometimes without the expected bump in performance. It’s been a generally disappointing cycle.

Outside of the top RTX 4090 and bottom RTX 4060 (for now?), Nvidia’s latest cards haven’t really won any friends among gamers. Sure, they’re faster than the previous generation, but they also cost more. AMD hasn’t really done any better, and Intel doesn’t have a previous generation with which to compete — unless you want to somehow count integrated graphics. It was a similar situation back in 2018 with the RTX 20-series that often underwhelmed relative to their predecessors, but the 30-series attempted to correct that. And it would have succeeded if it hadn’t been for those pesky crypto-kids!

Hopefully, history will repeat that pattern, and the next generation RTX 50-series, RX 8000-series, and Arc B-series parts will deliver much more compelling price and performance. For now, with over a dozen new GPUs arriving in the past year, few have managed to rise above the rest. Most aren’t awful, but neither are they amazing. They’re mostly milling around in the middle ground of mediocrity while we wait for more parts that are clearly better than average.

If you can’t wait any longer, in our view, the best current options consist of the RTX 4090, RX 7900 XT, RTX 4070, RTX 4060, and Arc A750. Other new cards might scratch your particular itch, so that’s by no means an exclusive list, but we’re getting close to the half-way point for this cycle. If you haven’t purchased a new GPU within the next few months, you’re probably just as well off sitting back and waiting to see how the next generation fares.

Baikal Electronics, a Russian developer of processors and system-on-chips, is gearing up to develop AI processors to address the country’s needs for artificial intelligence applications. The venture expected to span three years and costing potentially 2 billion rubles ($21.25 million), according to estimates by a former employee of MCST, another Russian CPU developer.

“A new division has been formed to develop a lineup of specialized chips for artificial intelligence, which will adopt the best architectural practices existing at the moment,” said Andrey Evdokimov, chief executive of Baikal, in an interview with CNews. “A key task for the team is to build a software ecosystem for the new processors.”

The new division will focus exclusively on building application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for artificial intelligence application. The high-ranking executive of the company did not mention whether its ASIC will be designed for training or inference, or will be optimized to run both type of workloads, like Nvidia’s high-end GPUs. In fact,specific aspects like the project timeline, financial commitments, and intricate details of the chip development remain confidential.

When it comes to hardware used for AI training and inference, Nvidia leads the market and effectively monopolizes certain segments of AI hardware solutions. Meanwhile, export of high-end Nvidia products, such as A100 and H100, to China and Russia is barred by the U.S. export rules. 

“The leader in the development of specialized chips for artificial intelligence is Nvidia, which can effectively be considered a monopolist in certain segments of hardware solutions,” said Maxim Maslov, the lead developer of AI ASICs at Baikal. “The export of Nvidia products to Russia is officially prohibited, and there are also restrictions on exporting advanced solutions to China.”

While Nvidia has developed cut-down A800 and H800 versions of its compute GPUs for China, it does not look like these parts are available for Russian customers.

“Despite the critical importance of specialized hardware for the development of artificial intelligence technologies, the gap between leading global and Russian developments is evident,” Maslov added. “Existing domestic solutions are niche and do not cover the entire spectrum of necessary tasks, lacking the necessary software ecosystem.”  

Baikal believes that this gives the company a chance to address Russia’s needs for AI hardware in the coming years. What is unclear is where Baikal plans to produce its AI chips. Taiwan restricts shipments of advanced processors to Russia and Belarus, so TSMC and UMC can be excluded from the list of potential makers. U.S.-based Intel and GlobalFoundries are also unlikely candidates due to sanctions against Russia by the U.S. and Europe. In theory, China-based SMIC can make certain chips for Baikal, but it may turn such orders down fearing further scrutiny from the U.S. government.

Amazon Web Services and Google also have their own AI processors for training and inference and they are available in the cloud. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether Russian companies use these AI cloud services.

When it comes to creative solutions, no one’s better up to the task than maker and developer Ivan Kuleshov. Whether he’s hacking a Mac Mini to use PoE or developing the new soon-to-be-released Compute Blade module, Kuleshov’s creative juice is in no short supply. Today we’re sharing another project of his shared to Twitter/X, this time a medley of both Raspberry Pi and Mac Minis. Kuleshov ran into an issue recently in which a rack of 16 Mac Minis needed to be manually powered on. His solution? Use a Pi to flip the physical switches, of course!

The Pi is connected to 8 individual servo motors that are responsible for activating the power switch on two Mac Minis a piece. The Raspberry Pi is fitted with a PiKVM HAT so it does more than just power on the Mac Minis. This also meant that developing a custom case was necessary to support the additional hardware.

This project is more than just a proof of concept. We spoke with Kuleshov who confirmed the setup has successfully been implemented in a professional setting. His team works in a data center that has three shelves of Mac Minis and this Raspberry Pi rig is able to power them on using the system of servos.

The Raspberry Pi has a couple of HATs and extra hardware that required Kuleshov’s cool case design. It fits the Raspberry Pi, a PiKVM HAT, a Servo HAT and an OLED screen. A heatsink and fan were included to cool the unit, as well. The outer housing is also fitted with LEGO-compatible studs so you can attach your favorite LEGO pieces—his team chose a Stormtrooper figure.

The software involves a custom UI that Kuleshov put together that makes it easier to operate the PiKVM features and servos. Python was used to program the servos while some bash scripts enable it to interact with a separate KVM switch.

To get a closer look at this Raspberry Pi project, check out the original post shared by Ivan Kuleshov. You can also follow him at Twitter/X or Instagram to keep an eye out for future creations as well as any updates on this one.