Panchovix on GitHub recently released a VBIOS configurator for RTX 30-to 50-series cards that doesn’t require flashing. The loader provides a UI for easy configuration and lowers the risk of bricking your GPU by avoiding a risky flash process, and it's available for Linux, too.

Software like MSI Afterburner or ASUS GPU Tweak is often the go-to tool for quickly changing your graphics card’s settings; however, those tools have hard limits to how much you can push the graphics card. If you want to tweak your GPU beyond the firmware’s set limits, you can change it by tweaking the parameters in the VBIOS. Configuring VBIOS is similar to changing BIOS settings in the BOOT menu. With the VBIOS loader, you can change settings beyond the firmware’s hard limits.

The way it works is by storing the modified VBIOS image in the GPU’s register key; as the Nvidia driver looks for a VBIOS override on startup, it finds the VBIOS image and restarts, applying the override settings. The flash chip on the graphics card is not overwritten, reducing the risk of bricking your GPU. However, this does not protect the card from any extreme settings that could destroy electrical components; it merely provides a safer and more convenient way to adjust and apply VBIOS settings, including a way to roll back to the default VBIOS settings should you face any instability.

Bricking a flash chip isn’t as catastrophic as it seems, however. As long as you have a backed-up version of the VBIOS, you can easily buy an SPI flash chip programmer or even build your own using a cheap Raspberry Pi Pico and its many clones; sometimes programming the flash chip may not even require desoldering. Programming a flash chip is very tedious and inconvenient, though, which is why avoiding the risk of a botched flash process altogether is so appealing.

Unless you’re familiar with power delivery, voltage tables, and the patience required to test for hours, we wouldn’t recommend jumping into this unless you’re prepared to risk your GPU. However, you can still safely take advantage of this software by tweaking the fan curves and other settings you’ve applied and tested in software like MSI Afterburner if, for some reason, the startup settings don’t stick. This software will give your GPU new default settings that override at every startup, so long as Nvidia doesn’t remove the registry key that allows the VBIOS override.

A Chinese-speaking hacker has been observed using artificial intelligence (AI) agents to probe and then gain unauthorized access to more than 100 websites belonging to some extremely well-known companies. From Deere, the farming equipment manufacturer, to SharkNinja, the company behind beloved kitchen appliances, the agents were able to leverage exposed instances of Carin, an open-source AI-powered problem-solving platform that has proven popular among hackers, a Reuters report explains.

This is just the latest example of hackers turning to AI agents in an attempt to level up their attacks on unsuspecting companies and services. Snorre Fagerland, principal threat researcher at the cybersecurity company NorForge, spotted the hacker's antics when observing Carin instances that had been inadvertently exposed.

Fagerland was able to watch multiple hackers go about their business, but the Chinese-speaking hacker was the most prolific, the report says. They targeted businesses based in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japanese e-commerce sites. Notably, the hacker didn't get into detail when commanding their legion of AI agents. Fewer than 100 Chinese characters were used, yet the agents had attempted ot break into more than 1,200 different websites as of the week ending October 18, 2026.

These agents weren't simply throwing everything at a wall and hoping it stuck, either. Security researcher Fagerland was "impressed" by some of the tactics that had been used. In one case, the AI agents scoured digital records to find infrastructure associated with their target, located a public-facing control panel, identified a weakness, and then leveraged it to force the execution of malicious commands, the Reuters report detailed. "It's ⁠not straightforward to come up with solutions like that," Fagerland told Reuters. "It's not script kiddie stuff."

Vitally, the approach of using AI agents in this way means that they can be given instructions and then left to their own devices. With no supervision required, those commanding the agents are free to turn their attention elsewhere. While SharkNinja told Reuters that the attack only impacted a site used for product support information, the rest of the AI-aided hackers had more luck. One of the hackers monitored by Gargerland stole credit card data, while another tried to steal from a cryptocurrency exchange — although it isn't clear whether they were successful.

Leading French eSports club Team Vitality has confirmed that its Paris HQ has been smashed up, with trophies, computer equipment, and more looted over the weekend. Thankfully, no team members or staff have been hurt. The team’s V.Hive premises were attacked by criminal opportunistic looters under cover of the widespread protests in France over issues related to school funding, living costs, and government spending cuts. Other shops, public buildings, and property have been smashed, looted, and sometimes burned.

Above, you can see the confirmation of the serious, unfortunate events seen over the weekend. “Our display windows were destroyed, and our trophies and computer equipment were stolen,” lamented the post [machine translation], while being thankful that no members, staff, or fans of Team Vitality were hurt. The bulletin ends with the news that the V.Hive will remain closed for now, until after damage has been assessed. More information is promised in due course.

There are a multitude of social media posts sharing images, videos, and pointing fingers at what they see as the cause of the protests, riots, and looting. Of course, fingers point in all directions, and unfortunately there are also reports of AI-generated rage-farming media, so keep a critical eye open should you dare to doom scroll.

Of course we’ve focused on the damage and looting of Team Vitality’s HQ due to the tech angle. The compendium of video clips shared by the news organization NEXTA provides evidence of the extent of the V.Hive attack. This 30-second clip appears to show rioters hammering at and kicking in the eSports HQ’s windows, taking items from the premises, and throwing gaming chairs onto bonfires in the street.

We also see accounts like ElBuni share clips of looters brandishing what appear to be eSports trophies from Team Vitality’s HQ (embedded above). The second clip shows looters with their hands inside gaming PCs opened up on the sidewalk. It looks like the hooded and gloved looter in the video is removing RAM sticks, an easily pocketable yet highly valuable PC component, as you will all know.

This morning, the French Prime Minister has called for local and partial curfews to contain the post-demonstration rioting. Meanwhile, there are concerns that there could be copycat behavior across Europe.

A Norwegian company building fiber networks and data centers across Europe is looking for a majority partner to help fund and build a transatlantic undersea cable that would connect Canada with Europe directly, bypassing the United States. The project follows worsening relations between Washington and Ottawa, with the Canadian government looking to reduce direct reliance on its immediate neighbor, Bloomberg reports.

Project Leif Erikson, if it goes ahead, would stretch more than 2,800 miles, starting at the southern tip of Norway and ending up at Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Canada's eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador. From there, it would continue underground over Canadian territory, passing through Quebec before reaching Montreal.

According to Bulk's co-founder, Peder Nærbø, the link would be part of a "sovereign cable system" for Canada. The project was touted to investors at a global investors summit, arranged by the Canadian government, in September, where the project claimed to provide "direct, secure, high-capacity data transmission for AI, telecom and hyperscale markets."

Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joy, meanwhile, met with Nærbø earlier this year, and although the department declined to comment on Leif Erikson itself, it told Bloomberg that security and resilience for Canada's infrastructure are "key priorities" for PM Mark Carney's government. Only a few undersea cables currently connect Canada without passing through the United States first, and none by a company owned by Canada. The biggest, called Topez, is owned by Google owner Alphabet and connects Canada with Japan.

As for Bulk, it has, up until now, laid more than 6,200 miles of cabling locally and at sea. Bulk's goal is to "unlock the Nordics' potential for... renewable energy to be utilized for digital infrastructure." Nærbø believes that "Canada lacks resilience" but "the game-changer was when the current situation with the U.S. escalated."

Leif Erikson has backers, according to the report, but the EU and Canada still need to plan and sign off on the project and its route. Additional financing will be needed to get started, too, with it expected to cost more than $620 million to build. Bulk itself has significant Canadian investment, with 65% of the company owned by a real estate subsidiary of Canada's Sun Life Financial Inc., with several Canadian pension funds also invested.

Leif Erikson is a project that Nærbø has sought to kickstart for the last five years without success. With geopolitical pressures and old alliances fraying, however, new opportunities for its development have given it steam. To that end, Canada and Europe intend to endorse a statement in Montreal on October 29 that the two will look for "the best way to enhance digital links between Europe, Canada and Asia through new subsea cable infrastructure."

It won't be without challenges, however, including a 1,180-mile underground route through Canada that'll require the backing of Indigenous communities. Meanwhile, other European efforts include an undersea cable project at the North Pole to link Europe with Asia to bypass Russia and the Middle East.

A 3D scanner is an amazing tool to add to your 3D printing workflow, allowing you to scan real-life objects to import into sculpting or CAD software, then print out your own modified copies on a 3D printer. In the past, a good scanner cost thousands of dollars, but Creality has finally given us a device within reach of hobby-level consumers. The Creality Pika is easy to use, with the look, feel, and size of a point-and-shoot digital camera. It can wirelessly tether to a mobile phone running a Creality scanning app, which makes scanning on the go easier than ever before.

It can also be tethered to a laptop wirelessly or with a cable for more stable scanning, but marker-free laser scanning can only be performed while physically tethered to a computer. The scanner runs on AA-sized rechargeable batteries, which are provided.

It weighs just 260 grams (just slightly over a half-pound) with the batteries installed, reducing arm fatigue when operating without a tripod. A tabletop tripod and manual turntable are included for scanning small items. While not as precise as Creality’s Sermoon series, the Creality Pika, currently on pre-order for $699, is a fraction of the price. The best part is that both use the same software, Creality Scan, which is excellent.

The Creality Pika’s portability and price make this one of the best scanners we’ve reviewed in 2026.

Specifications: Creality Pika

Included in the Box: Creality Pika

The Creality Pika comes with a very nice tripod. Also included are the glass calibration board, a manual turntable, marking blocks, batteries (including a spare), a generous pack of marking dots, and a mostly useless quick start guide. The Quick Start guide is just a packing list in eleven different languages and QR codes to Creality’s website and Facebook community.

Design of the Creality Pika

The Creality Pika is a small handheld scanner that weighs only 260 g with its battery. It has a 3-inch touch screen on the back that shows the scan in progress while paired to a phone or PC on Wi-Fi, or allows exposure and zoom adjustments when scanning via cord. There are two buttons on the top of the scanner for power and start/stop, and a selector switch for USB or Wi-Fi.

The scanner has a play button to start and stop scans, as well as a button to adjust the lights and a toggle for zoom. The front of the scanner has an RGB camera, two 3D scanning cameras, a DOE projector, a parallel-line laser, four blue and white fill lights, and four infrared fill lights. There is an always-on cooling fan with grills on the top and bottom of the scanner. Two batteries are included, which can be charged in the camera or via a USB-C port located near the top of the battery.

The batteries, curiously, have both positive and negative terminals on top of the battery. Care should be taken when carrying these to avoid shorting them together with anything metal in a purse or pocket.

Getting Started and Calibrating the Creality Pika

The Creality Pika uses a glass calibration board to do an initial calibration of the scanner. The calibration process involves holding the scanner above the board at various heights and at various angles. The process takes about ten minutes.

Installing the Software for Creality Pika

Creality Scan app can be downloaded from Creality's website, with versions for PC, Mac, Android, and iPhone. A really good user guide with links to tutorials and troubleshooting help is located on the Creality Scan homepage. The discovery tab has links to items scanned by other Creality users.

The Pika must be tethered by cable or Wi-Fi. Though the Pika does have an onboard 8-core 2.0 GHz CPU, it passes along a big chunk of computer processing to whatever it’s connected to. My iPhone 15 has just enough oomph to power the scanner, so you may have an even better experience with a newer device. Either way, using a wireless connection is slower, and using it with hardware near the minimum requirements can be frustrating.

My old laptop, with only 8GB of RAM, did not work, despite being enough to run previous scanners. Thankfully, my admittedly low-end gaming laptop, with 16GB of RAM, was good enough to run the scanner quite well. The software installed on the computer is used for both scanning and processing.

Creality Scan can export scans as STL, PLY, OBJ, or ASC files. These files can be tidied up in other modeling software or uploaded directly to your 3D printer’s slicer.

Blue Laser Line 3D Scanning with the Creality Pika

The Creality Pika uses blue laser line scanning for detailed geometry capture, with seven parallel laser lines. The provided manual turntable works well when plastered with a bunch of the included marker dots. Unfortunately, it has a few millimeters of play in the center bearing, which can lead to a rough surface texture if not careful.

The photo above shows the raw scan of a copy of Michelangelo’s David. I did get much better scans later, but even this one is easily made usable in the software. The first step is fusing the model, which allows you to remove the marker dots and noise from the scan.

After fusing, the model is much smoother. There are still some unattached pieces and holes, and the bottom of the model is not flat. The lasso tool can select and remove the unattached pieces, and a clipping plane can be generated by choosing markers surrounding the scan. The plane can then be raised or lowered to give you the best base of the model.

The next step is mesh processing of the model. In this step, you can further smooth the model, simplify it, and fill small holes shown in yellow. Don’t select “make watertight” if you have a large hole (like the bottom of a model), as it will cover the holes by ballooning out a good bit. After running the mesh processing, you will have another opportunity to simplify, smooth, and fill holes.

Use Plane type hole filling for large flat surfaces.

The final model: filled, smoothed, simplified, and ready to export for printing.

This bust of David came with an early Creality scanner, so I’ve been using it as a test model for some time now. This may be the best scan I’ve gotten of it. The main reason is that the Creality Pika is small and lightweight, and tracks well enough to scan the underside of David’s hair and chin for the most part. The software’s hole filling and smoothing did the rest, with phenomenal results.

The above image on the right was printed on the Prusa Core One L with Inland Bone White PLA. The model looks nearly perfect.

Since the Pika did so well with David, I decided to try a smaller model. This little guy (below) came with my kid’s Fisher-Price castle. He’s only 62 mm tall and was just too small to paint for 3D printing. He was also printed in Inland bone white on the Prusa Core One L.

Both the print and scan are nicely detailed.

I swiped my husband’s vintage Saint Louis University Billiken bobblehead for more tests. I had to put some sticky tack on his head to keep it steady on the turntable. Creality Scan did a terrific job smoothing out the wrinkles, and the model is perfect. I used the clipping plane to remove the logo of an old wireless company that provided the game day freebie. I gave it a quick coloring job in PrusaSlicer, but skipped doing the face.

The model was printed on the Prusa XL using Anycubic turquoise and orange PLA, with Creality white and black PLA.

NIR 3D Scanning with the Creality Pika

I spent a ton of time putting random dots on the included turntable, which made Blue light scanning a breeze. NIR 3D scanning doesn’t use them. Scanning a person seems to work well until you get hair involved. Then it gets dodgy.

I ran two good scans using NIR. This time I borrowed my husband to operate the scanner, since scanning yourself is a bit more difficult than taking a selfie. I stitched together two scans of my foot, which I’ll use later to size some TPU shoes. I was able to further clean up the scan in Nomad Sculpt, since the scan wasn’t very flattering. It works quite well for sizing, however. The shoes will turn up in a future printer review.

After the less-than-stellar scan he took of my head for the Creality Sermoon S1, my husband graciously volunteered to have me scan his head for this review. Using any of the modes available, hair just seems to flummox the scanner. Fortunately, my husband has less hair than I do, so the scan did complete, and no, I’m not going to 3D print it. 3D scans are quite brutal, but if he ever wants a custom driver for his Death Racer, we’re covered.

Bottom Line

The Creality Pika is a small and light, yet totally capable scanner. It needs a good mobile phone or fairly decent laptop to drive it. The software backing up the hardware is easy to use and really does an excellent job cleaning up the rough areas of your scans. Currently, it is available at a comparatively bargain-basement pre-order price of $699.

If you want a scanner with a little more horsepower, check out the Creality Sermoon S1, which retails for $2,069. Creality also makes the Sermoon P1, which can run completely untethered and retails for $3,299.

A developer using Claude Code to help build a temperature monitor app got a friendly warning from the coding agent. “Your Mac is running a crypto miner that I didn’t put there,” flagged the helpful agent. “I saw xmrig using about 1175% CPU, roughly 12 cores,” it informed its human master. Perhaps developer and Redditor UntilHEX should have sensed the crypto miner’s presence without AI help, as they admitted the malware’s presence “explains why my Mac has been running like s**t.”

Ironically, the cryptomining malware’s nefarious CPU cycle hogging activity is what may have led to its discovery and demise. Pondering over a screenshot of the Claude Code window, we see that this malware was probably added to the Mac’s startup roster on August 29. It looks like UntilHEX was inspired to develop a Mac temperature monitor app after this infection to track and diagnose why the computer was running so hot.

Claude stepped in after the Redditor was concerned about a dump of the Mac’s raw temperature sensor readings. “They seemed far too high,” commented UntilHEX in the social media post. Indeed, the well-known coding agent pointed out that the CPU was peaking at a very toasty 112 degrees Celsius. It explained this was due to a sustained heavy load, specifically “xmrig using about 1175% CPU, roughly 12 cores.” We don’t know how many cores the Mac being used had, but maybe 12 were all of them.

Claude Code went on to describe how the crypto miner software had hidden itself on the Apple computer and ran at startup. It cautiously decided not to kill or remove anything from the Mac, but offered to clean up the CPU-hogging crypto miner, which was sucking all the power from the Apple Silicon computer. “Can I clean it up now?” Claude inquired. “I’d stop the startup item and the miner, and move the files into a quarantine folder.”

Later in the comments, UntilHEX informed the social media throng that Claude was indeed tasked with cleaning up the unwanted crypto miner software. “I only had to delete 1 file manually because Claude had an access issue, but it was very effective,” the Redditor said. After that, a Malwarebytes scan was run to check to see if the AI coding agent-driven clean had really been successful.

Arm announced last week that its AGI CPU, the company's data center CPU for agentic AI workloads, delivers twice the performance per rack as AMD EPYC 9755, calculated from chip performance and server-power assumptions measured across seven workloads. The claim stems from modeled rack results from tests aligned with Arm’s new CPU evaluation methodology, developed with support from Fujitsu, Meta, and OpenAI.

The results — verified in an Arm-commissioned independent analysis by Signal65 — do not establish the AGI CPU as the overall leader for agentic AI, as they apply to the selected processors, workloads, and configuration. They also use the specific Arm-developed evaluation methodology that Arm says should be the new standard for assessing performance. However, other chipmakers like AMD and Intel make performance claims based on different benchmarks. So, how is Agentic AI evolving CPU performance benchmarks, what does Arm propose to measure, and how do the different approaches compare?

Arm’s new CPU evaluation methodology

Agentic AI is changing the role of CPUs in modern AI data centers, requiring them to handle complex, multi-step workflows. Beyond inference, which the accelerator handles, AI agents execute tools, retrieve data, and maintain state within isolated environments, acting like virtual users. The CPU handles these critical surrounding workloads, from running those tools and serving database or API requests to preparing data and coordinating work for accelerators.

As these workloads scale rapidly with agentic capabilities, it becomes increasingly important to gauge CPU performance not just by how many agents can run concurrently, but also by how much useful work gets done. Arm argues that CPU performance is increasingly defined by how much useful work a system can sustain while staying responsive. Supporting more agents simultaneously offers limited benefit if their executions throttle or accelerators have to sit idle waiting for the CPU. Power, cooling, and physical space also limit how much hardware operators can deploy, extending the performance question to the rack.

Arm’s proposed methodology for evaluating CPU performance, developed with support from Fujitsu, Meta, and OpenAI, centers on representative agent workloads, repeatable CPU measurements, and validation against end-to-end task outcomes. In practical terms, the methodology identifies the tools and services an agent uses, measures their CPU performance under controlled conditions, and checks whether improvements help the agent complete its task. For example, a database test can establish how quickly a system handles transactions. An end-to-end evaluation would then examine whether faster database access actually improves the workflow that depends on it.

Executing the second aspect of the methodology, making these comparisons repeatable, presents another challenge, as an agent might choose different commands or take a different route through a task each time it runs. Model inference and remote services also introduce delays. Arm proposes replaying recorded agent actions to separate CPU performance from this variability, allowing different systems to execute a consistent sequence of work. Its whitepaper sets out a framework for selecting and interpreting these measurements, leaving the industry to develop an agreed benchmark suite and scoring approach.

To evaluate the CPU work described in its framework, Arm ran seven workloads — spanning tooling, agentic workflows, and reasoning/planning, plus Sandbench, which measures sandbox-creation overhead for agent execution — on its AGI CPU and AMD’s EPYC 9755. The tests combine established server applications with benchmarks focused on agent workflows.

The vLLM result measures the CPU work around model execution, not GPU inference throughput. Similarly, the report’s “reasoning/planning” category groups supporting CPU workloads and does not assess how intelligently a model reasons.

ARM AGI CPU vs AMD EPYC 9755

For the tests, Arm used two AGI CPU configurations because of hardware availability: a 128-core chip at 2.8 GHz with DDR5-7200 for Terminal-Bench 2 and SWE-bench replay, and a 136-core chip at 3.2 GHz with DDR5-8000 for the other five workloads. The AMD comparison used one socket of the 128-core EPYC 9755 with DDR5-6400. Both platforms ran the same benchmark scripts but used different software environments. Arm used custom Linux 7.1.3 builds, with Ubuntu 24.04 for most tests and Ubuntu 26.04 for SWE-bench, while AMD’s main recorded configuration used Ubuntu 24.04 and Linux 6.8, with settings varying by test.

At the chip level, Arm’s AGI CPU won the majority of comparisons when compared to its AMD counterpart in five of the seven tests. With the EPYC 9755 as the baseline, Arm led by 9% on Terminal-Bench, 13% on SWE-bench, and 97% on fastText, but lagged by 12% and 5% in MySQL and Milvus throughput, respectively. On average, the AGI CPU led by 20% (1.20x) per-chip advantage, calculated across the seven normalized performance ratios.

At the rack level, Arm’s modeled performance averages 1.99x AMD’s, with a lead in all seven workloads. The model uses rated server-power estimates of 950 W for the 128-core Arm configuration, 1,050 W for the 136-core version, and 1,700 W for AMD, including memory and other system components. After reserving about 8% of a 24 kW rack budget for networking and power distribution, this leaves room for 23 or 21 Arm servers versus 13 AMD servers.

For SWE-bench, the 2.00x per rack result was obtained by multiplying the roughly 1.13x chip result by 23/13. The larger gain comes from fitting more servers into the same power budget. Furthermore, these projections use modeled whole-server power, not throughput measurements from two fully populated racks.

Arm’s model also gives the AMD servers about twice as much RAM: roughly 2 TB against 1 TB for Arm. It allocates 4 GB per hardware thread, with each AMD core supporting two threads while each Arm core supports one. This puts the memory-power allowance at 336 W for AMD and 192 W for Arm. Signal65 also calculated what happens when memory is allocated per physical core. In this setup, AMD’s memory and power allowance falls, and Arm’s average modeled rack advantage drops from 1.99x to approximately 1.81x. The usefulness of the 2 TB AMD configuration depends on how much memory the workloads actually need, as SMT does not inherently require twice the memory.

To verify the findings, Signal65 remotely observed Arm’s test runs and examined the original logs, result files, scripts, and configuration records. A separate review team rebuilt the calculations with its own code and reproduced all seven results within 0.5%. However, Signal65 did not run a separate hardware rerun in its own lab. In addition, Signal65 could independently confirm BIOS and memory settings for only the EPYC 9965 system. These settings were unavailable for independent verification on the Arm and EPYC 9755 systems. Along with the software differences, these gaps slightly affect the certainty with which the results can be attributed to the processors themselves.

Arm’s approach vs AMD and Nvidia

While Arm believes its methodology should be the standard, it does not hold a monopoly on how the industry evaluates agentic CPU performance. For example, AMD promotes agents per watt, dollar, and rack. Footnotes on its EPYC 9006 page identify available CPU threads as a proxy for agent capacity, with actual throughput depending on the workload and system. Its separate workload analysis models a 100 kW rack and claims 2.37× performance for EPYC 9965 over Nvidia's Vera, using a geometric mean across six infrastructure workloads.

Nvidia, on the other hand, emphasizes Vera’s single-thread performance and memory bandwidth, and says a 256-CPU rack supports more than 22,500 concurrent CPU environments. These numbers describe different things and do not directly imply any specific advantage. Methodologies vary across manufacturers by workload, power assumptions, and aggregation methods, making direct CPU comparisons complex. The current comparison is against AMD's fifth-generation “Turin” processor with 128 cores. The company launched its latest sixth-generation EPYC 9006 “Venice” family this year, dedicated to agentic AI.

If you're looking for an extra monitor screen for your setup, today's deal offers an amazingly cheap solution. Whether you want to have another screen to read your Discord chat while gaming, or view your Slack messages whilst working, this 25-inch LG UltraGear G5 is the answer at just $79. It's a hard price to beat, especially when Walmart has knocked a staggering 47% off the $149 list price. Any screen at $79 is a pretty good price, but when it comes with these specifications, you can't ignore how good a deal this is. If you don't need a second or third screen, this has the refresh rate to make an ideal main monitor for esports-centric gaming.

● Check out this deal at Walmart

The LG UltraGear G5 is a flat-panel gaming monitor with an IPS panel measuring 25 inches diagonally. It sports a 1920 x 1080 pixel (FHD) resolution and has a fast refresh rate of 200Hz, with a gray-to-gray response time of 1ms. The monitor also supports Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync for enhanced tear-free gaming by matching the refresh rate of the monitor to the frame rate of the game you're playing. There's also HDR10 certification and up to 99% sRGB color gamut on the IPS panel.

LG's superb UltraGear monitor also comes with plenty of connectivity ports to easily combine it with your existing desktop setup. You can also choose to connect the screen to multiple devices, including your favorite game consoles. Laptop, docks, and anything else with a compatible video port. There are 2 x HDMI ports, 1 x DisplayPort, and a 3-pole headphone input for connecting some headphones or speakers.

A software engineer who’s also into drones and 3D printing has shared a single-motor drone that they built inside their home and tested on their bed. Joshua Bird shared a video of how they created it on YouTube, highlighting the unique technique they used to maintain controllability and stability. The design used a combination of a hinged propeller, rapid changes to the motor’s rotation speed, and a custom flight controller and motor controller firmware that allowed the motor to react to necessary changes in under 0.2 milliseconds.

Most rotary wing aircraft require a mechanism to counteract the torque generated by the motor or engine and to change its flight direction, typically with the use of a swash plate to change rotor disk attitude and a secondary propeller. While this method has been effective for decades, it has made rotary-wing aircraft heavier and more complex. This single-motor drone cut the need for a secondary mechanism by constantly adjusting the speed of the motor — speeding it up produces more reaction torque while slowing it down applies opposite reaction torque. This essentially turns into a balancing act between these two forces to reduce the torque on the drone body to a more manageable level.

The hinged rotor also relies on the same mechanism for directional control instead of relying on a swashplate. Each rotor blade sits on a 45-degree hinge that makes it pivot when the motor accelerates. As this happens, one blade pitches up to produce more lift, while the other blade pitches down, reducing lift. By accelerating and decelerating the motor as needed, Bird would be able to change the drone’s roll and pitch movement. It also combines this with the main rotor torque, motor adjustments, and the 3D-printed stabilizing fins to produce effective yaw control as well.

This was the theoretical part — the majority of the build video focused on fixing issues, including the part where Bird built a high-speed camera using a Sony camera and a flash unit controlled by a microcontroller that gets its signals from the prototype drone’s motor controller and camera shutter. This home-made high-speed camera revealed that the drone’s propellers were too soft and had to be replaced with a 3D-printed version that used sturdier filament.

The creator had to launch several test flights from their bed, many of which resulted in a crashed drone and some wall damage as they fine-tuned the drone’s programming. Bird was eventually able to make the 3D-printed drone fly, although it was limited to the bedroom because of its fixed-base IR beacon navigation method. They said that they eventually want to add a linear camera to the build so that it could take off in other environments in the future.

While other researchers and engineers have built smaller, quieter drones, with China even revealing a mosquito-sized unit, Joshua Bird’s single-motor project is still a unique take on drones. But what made the YouTube video much more interesting is the problem-solving process and the solutions that came afterward. You can check out the complete video below and even start your own similar project by looking at the Single Propeller Drone GitHub repository.

At the moment, the best value for money when you're thinking about a new gaming PC is to pick a pre-built, especially a discounted one. With that in mind, Newegg has slashed the price of this ABS Flux II Aqua gaming PC with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 by $500, bringing it down to just $1,799.99.

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The core components in this build include the Intel Core I7-14700F, still a popular choice in pre-builts, along with that powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070. The RTX 5070 is a solid, mid- to high-tier option for gaming that'll ensure you'll be able to hit high frame rates at 1440p, with the potential for 4K, too. You're also getting 32GB of DDR5 RAM here, along with a 1TB SSD for storage.

Our RTX 5070 review makes clear what a good performer this mid-tier GPU is for gamers in this current generation. It's on our best GPU list as the best all-rounder option for gamers right now, too. This is a solid 1440p card, but with Nvidia DLSS features at your disposal, including multi-frame generation to boost your frame rates, you'll be helped to push it even further.

With the RTX 5070, you're getting 6,144 CUDA cores and 12GB of GDDR6 VRAM, operating on a 192-bit memory bus. Performance-wise, you can expect the highest frame rates at 1080p, along with 1440p, even at Ultra. 4K will push it harder, and you might need to drop down a preset or two for stability, or make use of multi-frame gen to cover the gaps.

Coupled with the RTX 5070 is the Intel Core i7-14700F. This Raptor Lake Refresh CPU is getting older, but it's still popular and powerful, too. It has 20 cores, 12 of which are efficient cores for multi-threaded work, with the final eight performance cores giving you the power you'll need for gaming. With the RTX 5070 alongside it, there isn't much of a bottleneck here for gaming with the 14700F, and it'll handle 1440p with little trouble.

Elsewhere, you're getting 32GB of G.Skill Flare X5 RAM, split dual-channel across two 16GB modules, with speeds of 6,000 MT/s, leaving slower DDR4 memory far behind. You're also getting a 1TB Kingston SNV3S SSD here, offering Gen 4 speeds, with enough space for a couple of big AAA games alongside Windows.

The $1,799.99 sale price for this ABS Flux II Aqua gaming PC is a good one in the current market. ABS is Newegg's own brand, and the specs you're getting here are formidable for the price, especially for under $1,800.

A Russian military satellite, Cosmos 2612, has closed to roughly 3 miles, from a previous distance of more than 200 miles, of the U.S.-owned radar satellite that operates in a fleet that supports Ukraine, Axios reports. The unapproved rendezvous in low Earth orbit, which astronomer Jonathan McDowell says may be the first of its kind, raises alarm in the West. The position change, which was likely not an accident as fuel is scarce, is probably a provocation and an attempt to spy on the satellite.

LeoLabs said in a statement Friday that the movement “appears to be a deliberate approach” toward ICEYE-X36, with uncertain intent and behavior that “warrants continued monitoring.” Roughly 3 miles is too close for comfort in satellite terms: there is no strict legal limit on how close satellites can get, but countries generally keep at least 6 miles (9.7 km) apart, University of Mississippi space law professor Aaron Brynildson told Axios. The approach was made without the owner’s consent, and Russia hasn’t said what the military satellite carries.

Some clues may come from the target’s operational purpose. ICEYE-X36 is a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite which can image through cloud cover and at night. It was launched in March 2024 on a SpaceX Falcon 9. It’s registered to ICEYE US, the U.S. arm of the Finland-founded company. The satellite, which is in a roughly 545 km (339 mi) sun-synchronous orbit, is part of a fleet that has supplied Ukraine with information since 2022. This includes a deal earlier this year with a customer in Ukraine’s defense ministry, but a Ukrainian official told Axios it’s unclear whether ICEYE-X36 itself supports the country; ICEYE and the Defense Department declined to comment.

In May, the majority of the six military satellites Russia launched in April via a Soyuz-2.1b, Cosmos 2609–2614, shifted their orbits about 0.8 degrees to match X36’s orbital plane. Cosmos 2609 passed within 2.5 km (1.6 mi) on May 26. Cosmos 2612, on the other hand, drifted off X36’s plane by about 0.24 degrees by Sept. 30, up to about 28 km side to side, according to Greg Gillinger, a space analyst with Integrity ISR.

Then, Cosmos 2612 made separate burns from Sept. 30 through Oct. 16 to match altitude, eccentricity, and orbital period, Dutch satellite tracker Marco Langbroek wrote. By Saturday night, he estimated from public orbital data, it was within “a few hundred meters or possibly (much) closer.”

These movements appear deliberate and cost a lot of fuel, which the Center for Strategic and International Studies calls “a limited resource on a satellite.” Close-proximity work can be benign, it says, but policymakers should assume the Russian satellite “could take an action that threatens the commercial satellite,” and the U.S. and Europe should decide how to respond to any hostile act in space and make a statement on the decision. Back in July 2020, Russia’s Cosmos 2543 released an object at up to 186 m/s (416 mph) relative to itself, an action which was condemned by the U.S. and U.K.

Intent was less clear earlier this year, when McDowell told Meduza the orbital data showed no sign of the stable, close distance that tracking ICEYE-X36 would require. Now, he says it is an unapproved meeting and is not alone. Gillinger says the setup “removes any remaining doubt for me that Cosmos 2612 is interested in ICEYE X36.” Langbroek adds that “I was skeptical” at first but now calls it “completely non-consensual,” though he cautions it would be difficult to pin any X36 failures on 2612’s actions.

In a Reuters report less than two weeks ago, ICEYE CEO Rafal Modrzewski said the company moved its satellite after May, only to draw more Russian maneuvers, which Germany’s Space Command head, Maj. Gen. Michael Traut, described as “chasing.” Belinda Marchand, chief scientist at U.S. space intelligence firm Slingshot Aerospace, added that the moves may have been meant for surveillance, to prepare for future interference, or to signal capability. Western officials reportedly describe such trailing as a way to gather intelligence and test the West’s tolerance.

No statement from Russia is on record. Gillinger also told readers to “watch Cosmos 2611 and 2613, whose planes are converging on ICEYE X37’s,” with crossings expected around Nov. 6 and Nov. 15.

The DLSS-NR project on AMD by Daniel Blanco was first released on September 3, 2026, bringing DLSS 5 Neural Rendering to Radeon GPUs; in the latest 0.8.0 update, however, it makes all the main DLSS features available, featuring DLSS SR, Frame Generation, Ray Regeneration, and the newest DLSS NR model, along with more performance improvements.

While AMD has equivalents for most DLSS features like FSR upscaling, frame generation, ray regeneration, and anti-lag, it’s not as commonly supported by most games compared to Nvidia’s offerings. Even if players could use the AMD equivalent features, Neural Rendering is one that AMD just doesn’t have an equivalent for yet, which is why mods like DLSS-NR on AMD were made.

Daniel Blanco wanted to fill the gap with NR in its initial release, but in the latest update, he added all the DLSS features: DLSS Ray Reconstruction, Super Resolution 4.5, Frame Generation, and the latest 310.9.16 improved Neural Rendering build that we covered recently with modders using it on unsupported games. Interestingly, the update notes say it includes FSR 4.1.1 upscaling; AMD GPUs already use FSR, but having FSR 4.1.1 specifically gives the mod a consistent version of FSR to work with, instead of having to be compatible with the various implementations of FSR in different scenarios.

The mod currently supports three generations of Radeon GPUs: RX 9000, 7000, and 6000 (RDNA4, 3, and 2, respectively), in any DirectX 12 game that uses FSR, DLSS, or XeSS. You can install the mod by downloading the NeuralHub mod loader, which provides a UI for you to install it into the games it detects. You then enable FSR, DLSS, or XeSS in the game, and the mod will insert itself into that upscaler pipeline, allowing it to inject any of the settings you configured for the game in the NeuralHub; it even provides an overlay to tweak the DLSS settings without leaving the game.

With a few improvements from the first version, the developer says the output quality is very similar to what DLSS produces on Nvidia GPUs natively, except for “some effects that may not be working 100%.” In the developer’s own testing, he found it to be playable at 90-100FPS at 1080p on an RX 9070 XT, while saying that he’s making improvements every day, planning to match the performance of a 5070Ti.

Real-world results are mixed, however, as Reddit users report showing no performance loss over native FSR, while others experience losing single-digit FPS to up to 25% lower FPS in various games. The developer still has to account for many factors since there are a myriad of PC configurations, but the results look promising as he bridges the gap between AMD and Nvidia GPU features — though it won’t work with anti-cheat, unfortunately.

Anycubic's Kobra X Multicolor 3D Printer is at the lowest price it's ever been since reaching retail availability. Prime members who head over to the Anycubic store on Amazon can now snag this well-reviewed device for just $299.99 for a limited time. The 17% or $60 off its MSRP makes the Kobra X a bargain, as it was highly praised as a contender in the entry-level four-color printer category by our reviewer earlier this year. It even won a coveted Tom's Hardware Editor's Choice award.

• Check out this Anycubic Kobra X 3D printer deal on Amazon

Though it may appear to be a Bambu Lab A1 clone at first glance, we praised the Kobra X for its multimaterial system, the ACE Gen 2, which is built directly into the toolhead. This is a great timesaver for prints with lots of color changes, and we calculated that on a four-color print with 776 color swaps, the Kobra X was a shocking 10 hours faster than the rival A1, despite similar printing speeds.

The Anycubic Kobra X Multicolor 3D printer was launched earlier this year, with consumer shipments starting in late March / early April. We reviewed it in February and gave it a great score for its innovative ACE Gen 2 system, fast filament swaps, and reliable 49-point full-auto leveling and vibration compensation. It also "worked flawlessly" throughout the testing period. The only stain on its glowing report card was due to the spool holder guide making loading awkward.

This 600mm/s 3D printer expands up to 19 colors if combined with four ACE 2 Pro units. It also packs a 720P camera with real-time monitoring and instant error alerts, plus AI-driven anti-foreign object and spaghetti detection, and reasonably quiet operation at ≤48 dB.

Now at its lowest price to the public since launch, at just $299.99, this Bambu Lab A1 rival is a compelling choice for 260 x 260 x 260mm (10.23 x 10.23 x 10.23-inch) build volume projects in PLA/PETG/TPU/PVA/PLA-CF/PETG-CF/ASA materials.

The U.S. Air Force has just successfully conducted an airborne test where an F-22 Raptor pilot directed an Anduril YFQ-44A Fury drone during simulated combat. According to The Defense Watch, the fighter pilot gave tactical commands to the autonomous wingman, which then interpreted them into a series of tasks and flight maneuvers to achieve the desired outcome.

The successful test is part of the USAF’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), which seeks to integrate drones into fighter squadrons. These uncrewed aircraft must be able to respond to the fighter pilot’s tactical commands and then operate autonomously, though. That’s because fighter pilots already have a heavy workload — flying their own aircraft, managing sensor data, threat assessment, and weapons release decisions — so requiring them to manually fly a drone is next to impossible. Command integration means that the F-22 Raptor pilot could assign the Fury drone a specific tactical task, like monitoring for and engaging enemy air defenses, while they focus on the primary mission, such as taking out enemy fighters.

This does not mean that the USAF can start deploying drones alongside fighter jets in frontline squadrons, though. Successful command integration is just the first of several hurdles that the program must go through before it can achieve operational status. The program needs to determine the limits of the drone’s tactical autonomy, safe flight control, and weapons authorization, all of which are separate functions that must be tested accordingly. The Air Force also needs to see how the drone performs with electronic interference, and how it could continuously operate if it cannot receive instructions due to interrupted communications. Aside from figuring out the drone’s capabilities and incorporating it into fighter doctrine, it must also be integrated into the USAF’s logistics and supply chain. This includes drone maintenance and service, weapons handling, deployment procedures, and forward airbase operations with limited infrastructure.

Even though the latest test is seemingly successful, the CCA still needs to go a long way before it can start operational deployment. Nevertheless, the USAF is intent on pushing the project forward, as it sees autonomous drones as a force multiplier for crewed aircraft, allowing a single pilot to command multiple jets to achieve missions at a lower cost compared to using all-crewed aircraft. Other nations, like Sweden and China, are also experimenting with a similar concept of having a single operator take command of multiple drones, but the most significant difference of the CCA is that it focuses on air power instead of ground-based operations.

You don’t need the latest and greatest PC hardware to have fun or even break overclocking world records. OC expert Luumi has demonstrated this very capably by achieving a new HWBot world record using an ancient Intel Core i5 4670K, a modest amount of DDR3, and (inevitably) a flask or two of LN2. Overclocker Luumi recently knocked the four-cores Intel Core i5 4670K Cinebench R11.5 record holder off their perch after 12 years, achieving a multicore score of 10.8 cb.

The HWBot-crowned system is built around Haswell-era Intel silicon, the Core i5 4670K to be precise. This is an unlocked 4C/4T CPU with a stock base/boost of 3.4 / 3.8 GHz, 84W TDP, with a 6MB cache and HD 4600 graphics, built on Intel’s 22nm process. You had to buy an i7 chip back in this era to get 4C/8T.

Luumi’s system hosted the CPU on an ASRock Z97 OC Formula motherboard, which was fitted with 4GB of DDR3 RAM from XPG, and fed ample power via a Corsair AXi 1600. To achieve the Cinebench R11.5 benchmark record liquid nitrogen was used to cool the 4670K, and the validation files show the CPU ran at a blistering 6,301.00 MHz.

Again, we’ll comment that this isn’t a world record Cinebench R11.5 score for any / all quad-core processors. It's just in the Core i5 4670K category. Nevertheless, it is great to see retro hardware achievements like this, 12 years later. As one other HWBot community member commented, it is brilliant to see an OC result on the HWBot homepage that involves neither an X3D CPU or RTX 5090 GPU. You don’t need the latest, greatest, most expensive, nor unobtainuim components to get featured on the online home of competitive overclocking.

Out of curiosity I decided to give ye olde Cinebench R11.5 a spin on the laptop I’m currently working on. With its 12C/24T CPU, it trounced the old-but-record-breaking Haswell desktop, of course. Even though the laptop is running in cool/quiet mode I achieved 4x the 4670K score.

Mostly I was happy that this older version of Cinebench still works on modern hardware and Windows 11 without any fuss. Some apps which were popular benchmarking staples, like 3DMark tests from DX10 and earlier eras, have issues on modern computers making the results you can wheedle out of them invalid for HWBot rankings. Luumi used Windows 7 64-bit Pro for their Haswell CPU Cinebench R11.5 testing.

In the evolution of gaming monitors, there is nothing more significant than the advent of G-Sync and FreeSync (AKA, Adaptive-Sync or VRR). By syncing the video card output and monitor refresh rate in real time, all frame tearing and stuttering are eliminated. But there is one thing this tech cannot fix – motion blur.

LCD panels continuously display each frame until the next one arrives. This inevitably results in blur unless frame rates are very high. At least 500Hz is needed to truly call LCD motion resolution perfect. How to combat this? Well, you can buy one of the best OLED gaming monitors, which has a much faster panel response. You could employ overdrive, where the LCD panel anticipates the next frame. It’s also known as overshoot. If done precisely, that eliminates nearly all blur. Or you can insert a black frame by strobing the backlight. But this reduces light output.

Earlier this year, I reviewed my first G-Sync Pulsar display, the Acer XB273U F5. G-Sync Pulsar syncs the backlight’s LED array with the frame rate in real time. It’s a form of strobing but without the brightness penalty. And it’s the only way an LCD can achieve perfect motion resolution, i.e., when moving objects are as clear as stationary ones.

Thought of another way: an OLED pixel, or an LED, can flash 20,000 times per second. The TFT layer of an LCD panel is fast if it can flash 500 times per second.

Today, I’m reviewing another G-Sync Pulsar monitor, Asus’ ROG Strix XB27AQNGV. It’s a 27-inch QHD IPS panel with 360 Hz, HDR, and wide gamut color. Let’s take a look.

Asus ROG Strix XG27AQGNV Specs

As a ROG Strix display, the XB27AQNGV is a little less expensive than the ROG Swift line and gives up only a few minor features. Anything pertaining to game performance is included. The max refresh rate is 360 Hz at QHD 2560x1440 resolution. The panel is IPS, or as Asus calls it “Ultra-Fast IPS”. And it is, as you’ll see in my Nvidia LDAT tests on the next page. G-Sync Pulsar is there with low frame rate compensation that eliminates flicker when speeds drop. You also get a traditional overdrive with three presets and a user control with 400-step precision.

Color-wise, the XB27AQNGV can be considered wide gamut, but it doesn’t quite achieve full coverage of DCI-P3. I’ve termed it an sRGB+ display because it covers around 120% of sRGB with bonus color across the board. For tweakers who like to calibrate, there is a super cool gamma control that lets you move the luminance curve in 0.01 increments rather than the usual five or six presets that differ by 0.2. You can also dial in the color temperature with precise RGB sliders. And the brightness adjuster is graduated in nits for fine control.

For extras, the XB27AQNGV has a full suite of GamePlus options with aiming points, frame counters, timer, stopwatch, and alignment marks. And there are six picture modes including sRGB and G-Sync Esports. LED lighting comes with a backlit ROG logo and the full set of Aura RGB and Sync options. A handy joystick and four control keys provide access to everything, or you can use the top-mounted ambient light sensor for automatic control of color and brightness.

The XB27AQNGV is selling for $500 at this writing, which is closer to premium than most 27-inch QHD screens. But it’s one of only four monitors that offer G-Sync Pulsar, and if you don’t want to buy an OLED, it’s the only LCD variant that is as smooth and responsive.

Assembly and Accessories

The XB27AQNGV ships in a plain brown carton with the words “For Those Who Dare” stenciled on the side. Dare to what? I cannot say. But I dared to open it and found the monitor packed in crumbly foam (hate that stuff). The upright is already attached, so all that needs doing is to attach the base with a captive bolt. To expose the inputs, remove the snap-on plastic cover. The cables and external power supply come in a zippered pouch and include DisplayPort and USB.

Product 360

The XB27AQNGV doesn’t show much from the front besides the screen. The bezel is 8mm thin with a flush mount and a wider trim strip across the bottom adorned with a small ROG logo. The base is a solid metal plate with a small and stable footprint. The upright includes a cable hole to keep wires tidy. Ergonomics include 5/20 degrees tilt, 45 degrees swivel, a 90-degree portrait mode, and 4.25 inches of height range. Movements are very stiff with no hint of play. The XB27AQNGV will stay put even when you’re shaking things up on the virtual battlefield. On top of the stand is a quarter-inch threaded socket for things like webcams and other peripherals. Also on top is the ambient light sensor, which can automatically adjust brightness and color temperature.

Around the back right is the OSD joystick and three control keys plus a power toggle. Two of the keys can be programmed by the user. The large ROG logo is backlit with a glowing border around a reflective material. You can see in the photo that the panel’s back is smoothly tapered left to right and top to bottom.

The input panel is hidden under a cover with a small hole to let the cables out. It’s a little tricky to plug in large connectors because the ports are very recessed. I/O options include a DisplayPort 1.4 with Display Stream Compression (DSC), two HDMI 2.1 ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a large array of USB ports. There’s a USB-B upstream and three USB-A downstream.

OSD Features

Press the XB27AQNGV’s joystick and a large OSD appears. You can move it to a corner if you like. It’s divided into eight sections.

First up is the G-Sync Processor and Pulsar options. You can toggle the feature off if you prefer overdrive. Remember that there is no ELMB here because it’s part of the Pulsar technology. This menu also has toggles for adaptive brightness and color, which are controlled by the top-mounted sensor. The Gaming menu continues with a three-level overdrive which becomes active when you turn off Pulsar. You can also adjust the amount of overshoot with a 400-step slider. The suite of GamePlus options includes a frame counter, aiming points, timer, stopwatch, and display alignment marks. GameVisual is the six picture modes. The default and best option there is Racing. You can engage an sRGB mode as well.

The Image menu has the luminance controls along with a redundant toggle for adaptive brightness. The color space options are sRGB and wide gamut, which is around 120% of sRGB. In the Color menu are preset color temps plus a very precise set of RGB sliders. The gamma control is something that I hope to see imitated by others because it is the most useful way to achieve precise gamma. Typically, there are five or six presets that are 0.2 apart, making gamma adjustments very coarse. You can almost never land right on 2.2 that way. The XG27AQNGV has a user gamma slider that moves in 0.01 increments. And that’s a good thing because the 2.2 preset is lighter than 2.2. You can read more about this on page four.

Two of the control keys can be set to one of seven different functions for easy access to picture modes, GamePlus, and others. The Lighting Effect menu has options for Aura Sync, where the LEDs change along with screen content. Or you can choose an effect and color using Aura RGB. This pertains to the backlit ROG logo in the back.

Asus ROG Strix XG27AQNGV Calibration Settings

The XG27AQNGV comes out of the box with decent grayscale tracking, but its default gamma is too light. With a few tweaks to the RGB sliders and changes to the user gamma (coolest thing ever!), I achieved near-perfection. The color gamut is a bit larger than sRGB but smaller than DCI-P3. You can choose between gamuts in the Display Color Space sub-menu. I recommend choosing this rather than the preset sRGB mode because that way, you can still calibrate. I also reduced contrast to solve a clipping issue that affected HDR luminance tracking. You can see the two recommended settings in the table below.

Gaming and Hands-on

Gameplay on the XG27AQNGV is instantly addictive. Though it doesn’t have the deep contrast and vivid color of an OLED, its motion quality and responsiveness are indistinguishable from that premium technology. G-Sync Pulsar is truly a game changer for LCDs.

Playing Doom Eternal in HDR mode, I noted that my contrast settings did not carry over from SDR, so I had to change the slider whenever I switched. And since there’s no dynamic dimming, there was no more contrast or depth to the image. But it was a little more colorful thanks to the intentional oversaturation Asus included. You can read more about that on page five.

The image was plenty sharp enough, but what struck me the most was how much the XG27AQNGV felt like an OLED. Its smoothness and responsiveness are the same as any premium display. Though I would buy an OLED for myself, I realize that some users prefer LCD. If you want OLED performance in an LCD, a G-Sync Pulsar monitor is the best way to achieve that. It’s better than a 500 Hz LCD, or a 540 Hz LCD for that matter. There is no motion blur whatsoever, and input lag is super low.

Since I had no problem running over 300fps, there was no need for the low-speed compensation option. But it’s nice to know it’s there for systems that don’t have a GeForce RTX 4090 video card. I never needed the overdrive, and with Pulsar engaged, it was grayed out. When I tried it out, it worked well and reduced blur but didn’t eliminate it. The 400-step control was super cool though.

The XG27AQNGV is a solid choice for productivity with 109ppi pixel density and a sharp, colorful image. If you’re used to a Quantum Dot screen with its jumbo gamut, you’ll notice a little less color here, but the difference isn’t huge. It’s a worthwhile sacrifice to make for the incredible gaming performance on offer.

I spent time browsing the web and using Photoshop, and for that, the XG27AQNGV functioned as well as any bread-and-butter display. 27 inches is a good compromise between footprint and screen real estate, and the image is clean and detailed. I noted the extra USB ports, which many monitors don’t have. And though there were no internal speakers, I could plug into the 3.5mm jack when I wanted game sound. The stand is a quality piece, and it keeps everything solid and secure despite its small base. The inputs were a bit fiddly because they’re very recessed and hard to manage with cables that have large connectors.

Takeaway: The XG27AQNGV is an excellent all-around display and a superlative gaming monitor. G-Sync Pulsar delivers the same smooth and responsive performance as a premium OLED. It was very bright for both SDR and HDR, but I missed a dynamic dimming option for greater contrast. I noted slightly less color saturation than other speedy screens, but the XG27AQNGV is still more colorful than a typical sRGB monitor.

MORE: Best Gaming Monitors

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MORE: How to Buy a PC Monitor

To compare the XG27AQNGV’s performance, I pulled data from my other G-Sync Pulsar monitor review of the Acer XB273U F5. We also have the XV273U F5 540 Hz display. The other screens include KTC’s M27T6S and H27E6 plus HP’s Omen 27qs G2.

Pixel Response and Input Lag

Click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.

In the response chart, I only showed the screens tested with Nvidia’s LDAT sensor. The XG27AQNGV is now the fastest LCD I’ve ever tested, with a super quick 1.79ms draw time for the one-inch white square. It’s quicker than Acer’s Pulsar display and much quicker than typical LCD panels.

In the lag test, the XG27AQNGV is on par with both Acers. It easily hangs with a 540 Hz panel, no small achievement. The KTCs and the HP are a bit slower but still fast enough to provide perceptually instant response to control inputs.

Test Takeaway: The XG27AQNGV with G-Sync Pulsar engaged is the fastest and smoothest LCD panel I have tested to date. Visually, its motion resolution is indistinguishable from a 240 Hz OLED, and that is a major statement. Only a few other monitors have less input lag, which makes the XG27AQNGV a top contender for pro-level competition.

Viewing Angles

The XG27AQNGV does reasonably well in my viewing angle tests for an LCD panel. You can see a red tint in both the horizontal and vertical planes. But at 45 degrees to the side, there is no loss of gamma or brightness.

Screen Uniformity

To learn how we measure screen uniformity, click here.

The XG27AQNGV almost achieves visual perfection in the uniformity test, but my sample had a slight hotspot in the lower right. It wasn’t obvious in content, but I could see it in the black field test pattern. Other colors and brightness levels were free of artifacts. This is solid performance.

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To read about our monitor tests in-depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test PC Monitors. We cover brightness and contrast testing on page two.

Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

The XG27AQNGV is a very bright monitor with a little more SDR output than its nearest rival, the XB273U F5. 534 nits is searingly bright for an indoor setting but lends itself well to outdoor use or near a sunny window. With a black level of 0.4773, you can expect contrast to be a little over the IPS average at 1,119:1. There is no dynamic dimming available to increase this.

After Calibration to 200 nits

I lost a little contrast after calibrating because I had to reduce the contrast slider five clicks to solve a clipping issue. Though it’s now 973.1:1, gamma is more true, which improves depth and color saturation. ANSI contrast is at 826:1, which is lower than the competition but still near the IPS average.

Test Takeaway: The XG27AQNGV delivers contrast and black levels typical of the IPS panels I’ve tested. It is a little above average out of the box, but my calibration lowered the ratio a bit. There is no dynamic dimming, either field or zone, to increase contrast.

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The XG27AQNGV ships, like all Asus gaming monitors, in its Racing picture mode, AKA GameVisual. You can access all the calibration options, including the most awesome gamma control I’ve ever seen on a display.

Grayscale and Gamma Tracking

Our grayscale and gamma tests use Calman calibration software from Portrait Displays. We describe our grayscale and gamma tests in detail here.

The XG27AQNGV can be enjoyed without calibration, but the picture is a bit flat due to the light gamma. Grayscale has no visual errors, but with a few tweaks, it rises to reference level. The best part here is the gamma adjustment. In addition to the presets that are widely spaced, you get a user gamma slider that adjusts in 0.01 increments. I lowered the contrast slider a few clicks, then tweaked gamma until it averaged precisely 2.2. The trace became flatter as a result. This one control improves picture quality more than anything else.

To measure the sRGB mode, I selected sRGB from the Display Color Space menu rather than engaging the sRGB mode in GameVisual. This leaves the calibration controls available. I didn’t calibrate it for this test, but you can see that it performs similarly to the Racing mode’s default state.

Comparisons

The XG27AQNGV posts the best out-of-box grayscale score with a 2.05dE value. If gamma were as close to reference as that, I would say calibration isn’t necessary, but the light gamma needs addressing. With a few tweaks to the RGB sliders, I got the average grayscale error down to 0.55dE which is pro-level performance.

Gamma started out too light, but with Asus’ awesome adjuster, I put it right on 2.2 with a setting of 2.37. The range of values is tighter too, at 0.12 from lowest to highest. Of course, there is zero percent deviation. This control is something that all displays should have, monitors, TVs, and projectors alike. Over my twenty years of calibrating displays, I’ve never seen a control this useful and thoughtfully designed.

Color Gamut Accuracy

Our color gamut and volume testing use Portrait Displays’ Calman software. For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.

The XG27AQNGV has excellent color accuracy both before and after calibration. The gamut is bigger than sRGB with around 120% coverage. There is bonus color in all parts of the triangle. The tweaks I made to grayscale and gamma improve color saturation and hue accuracy. This is excellent performance.

The sRGB mode is a tad undersaturated at the inner points of the gamut, but the 100% points are on target. This chart shows the XG27AQNGV’s uncalibrated state. If you choose sRGB from the Display Color Space options, you can tweak the RGB and gamma sliders for better performance.

Comparisons

The XG27AQNGV doesn’t post the lowest color numbers, but it’s right in the mix with the other screens. 1.97dE is well below the point where errors can be seen by the naked eye.

The only weakness here is color volume. Though the XG27AQNGV covers 120% of sRGB, that equates to 88.5% of DCI-P3. Though it is a tad more colorful than the G-Sync Pulsar XB273U F5, it is less colorful than the KTCs with their Quantum Dot screens. The sRGB option covers a near-ideal 98.38%.

Test Takeaway: The XG27AQNGV is reasonably accurate out of the box and does not require calibration. But with a few changes to the RGB and gamma sliders, it achieves reference quality. The gamma slider is something I have not seen before, and it is a game changer for sure. By providing precise 0.01-click control, it lets you achieve perfect luminance tracking, which has a positive impact on color saturation and picture depth.

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Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors.

The XG27AQNGV improves upon other Asus HDR monitors by providing just a single picture mode for HDR10 content. It allows adjustments to contrast, which, as you’ll soon see, is a good thing.

HDR Brightness and Contrast

The XG27AQNGV offers the same peak brightness for HDR content as for SDR, around 524 nits. There is no dynamic dimming available, so contrast is the same as SDR, 1,046.9:1 in this case. The top-finishing KTC uses a zone-dimming Mini LED to achieve 44,331.6:1 contrast.

Grayscale, EOTF and Color

The XG27AQNGV has visually perfect HDR grayscale tracking with all errors below 3dE and most below 1dE. It doesn’t get better than that. I’m showing two charts here to demonstrate the effectiveness of the contrast slider, which remains adjustable. The default chart shows the curve to be a bit dark, which makes detail a little less crisp. By raising contrast, you can move the curve closer to the reference. I noted that the tone-map transition point did not change, which is a good thing. The only rub is that you must change the contrast setting whenever you switch between SDR and HDR.

The XG27AQNGV’s color test shows slight oversaturation of the inner points, which is what most HDR monitors do to increase impact. Tracking is linear, so there is no loss of detail. In the DCI-P3 test, color runs out at 90% red and 80% green, but blue is fully covered. In the BT.2020 test, color runs out at 80% red, 65% green, and 95% blue.

Test Takeaway: The XG27AQNGV is accurate to the HDR10 standard and includes adjustable contrast so you can dial in the luminance tracking precisely. It also has visually perfect grayscale tracking. Two weaknesses are its smaller color volume, which covers 88% of DCI-P3, and its lack of dynamic dimming, which means HDR has the same contrast performance as SDR.

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When G-Sync Pulsar first appeared at the beginning of 2026, I expected there to be many monitors coming out with this new tech. It delivers OLED-level smoothness and responsiveness to the LCD genre with no downside. But there have been no new additions to the four initial offerings from Asus, Acer, AOC, and MSI. And I have been trying to get samples from AOC and MSI with no luck so far.

I could speculate about price since the Asus ROG Strix XG27AQNGV sits right in the middle of the range of 27-inch QHD 240 Hz OLEDs currently available. But aside from the OLED’s contrast and color volume advantage, a G-Sync Pulsar monitor is visually identical. It games the same.

Once I spent some time playing games, I noted a few things. The XG27AQNGV is exactly like an OLED in feel. Motion resolution is perfect in that moving objects and camera pans are just as sharp as static images. Input lag is super low, to the point where I experienced instant response to every control input. Color is bright and saturated, but a tad less vivid than a typical OLED. And nothing can match OLED’s black levels. The XG27AQNGV would benefit from a dynamic dimming option for HDR.

My favorite part, though, was its gamma control. This parameter has a huge impact on image quality, and in every other monitor I’ve reviewed, you get five or six presets that are far apart. It’s often impossible to land right on 2.2. The XG27AQNGV lets the user tweak gamma in 0.01 increments. That’s a huge improvement because you can land exactly on 2.2. And that has positive effects on perceived contrast and color saturation. Also in the fine control department is the 400-step overdrive. That’s something I’ve only seen on a few screens.

If you want the smoothest possible gaming but don’t want an OLED, the Asus ROG Strix XG27AQNGV delivers the same feel and responsiveness for around the same price. With unprecedented adjustability, it will satisfy any gamer from casual to hardcore. G-Sync Pulsar is a game-changing technology that you should definitely check out.

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A Brazilian electronics and IT distributor, Oderço, has gone on Instagram after failing to find answers about a missing shipment of RTX 5090 GPUs worth around $470,000 or R$2,500,000. According to its Instagram post [machine translated], the company has never faced an experience like this in its 38-year history. It was expecting two pallets of Zotac RTX 5090 GPUs at Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo, which supposedly arrived there but then disappeared. The company has not provided any details, like the shipment’s arrival date or any tracking numbers, but claims that there hasn’t been any official response regarding its shipment inquiries. Because of this, the company went on the social media platform pleading for answers.

RTX 5090s are currently in short supply across the world, with the top-tier card disappearing from online retailers in the middle of September. There have been rumors that Nvidia has ceased production of the GPU to focus on more expensive professional AI cards, although it insists otherwise. Still, it doesn’t help that the flagship GPU is marked “not carried” in Micro Center’s online retail store, making it insanely difficult to find one of the best gaming GPUs you can buy today.

We don’t have any idea how many GPUs are missing, as the distributor only mentioned two pallets’ worth of RTX 5090s. A Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 5090, which goes for around $8,000 on Amazon presently, is listed at R$33,999.99 on a Brazilian online retailer Promotech. This means that the company is missing 63 GPUs at the minimum, although this is likely going to be so much more considering that the $R2,500,000 amount the company said is its acquisition cost, not the retail price that it’s expected to go for.

We’ve seen various scams where retail customers lose their GPU shipments on the way to their home or delivery address, as well as unscrupulous buyers stripping off the GPU core and memory modules from an RTX 5090 and then shipping it back to the seller. This also isn’t the first instance that a shipment of high-value graphics cards has been stolen — one brazen crew has even rammed security escorts to hijack an AI hardware shipment, while another group stole two trailers marked with the Nvidia logo, only to find that it contained sand.

A new 3D web game where you live "A Day in the Life of a Semiconductor Wafer Factory Worker" has gone viral in Taiwan, where it was developed. Available in Chinese, English, and Japanese, Fab24hr is a work simulator where you play one of several semiconductor engineer roles in a blocky isometric 3D factory. Though the graphics might look basic, Taiwan’s TVBS news says that the game is so realistic that it resonates with fab workers but not always in a good way – some have likened it to "a horror game" or "prison" [machine translation].

If you head over to the Fab24hr site, the game UI loads pretty quickly and you are asked to input a character name and ‘Clock in.’ Then two game modes are presented. You can play the main story, dubbed ‘The life of a chip’ where you character works through 12 chapters shepherding a hearing-aid chip from the R&D line into the hands of an end user. In this mode your blocky fab worker character will simulate dealing with equipment failures, process anomalies, and production progress emergencies. You might also have to file reports about operational errors. Apparently there are three endings to this 12-chapter game, depending on your progress and decisions.

Another game mode is called ‘A day in the fab.’ Here you pick a factory location and role. For example, you can choose to be a Process Engineer. Your day started with the ETCH-03 semiconductor tool breaking, and “everyone is waiting for you to say what time it will be fixed.” Though this might sound like you’ve been thrown in at the deep end, if you pay attention to the handover from the previous shift, there should be clues to get you by. Technical terms are explained in the game so even those with no semiconductor industry experience should be able to ‘enjoy’ this escapade.

I briefly tested the game in my browser, where it ran without issues. It didn’t take long to understand why some Taiwanese fab veterans felt this simulator was kind of stressful, or even “super scary.” It isn’t the kind of free-time escapism I’m looking for.

A new version of DLSS 5 on NBA 2K27 was just released, and modders have already extracted it and are running it on unsupported games. Modders are comparing performance between the older and newer Neural Rendering (NR) model and found it up to 40% faster than the previous one.

While many are still experimenting with leaked and first-release builds, Renan Maniero has already extracted the new 310.9.16.0 DLSS NR build, letting other modders use it in unsupported games and compare performance. Gaming Optimized on X compared the new NR model to the old one and found massive improvements of up to 90% in The Witcher 3 running DLSS 5 natively.

Running a full NR model to modify your game's image is resource-intensive, just as LLMs require a lot of RAM; DLSS NR does, too. To improve performance, Nvidia made the AI model 24% smaller, using 20% less VRAM at 4K, and, according to Nvidia, processes its neural rendering workload up to 2x faster.

Typically, improving an AI model means increasing its parameters and size—in other words, giving it a bigger brain. However, because consumer GPUs have limited, non-upgradable VRAM, Nvidia can't improve by adding a bigger model; instead, the AI needs to become more efficient while reducing resource usage.

These comparisons were much easier than switching back and forth between updates, since the latest version still includes the older model as a preset. The new DLL has two Neural Rendering presets: Preset A is the old model, and Preset B is the newer model.

As with many other DLSS 5 experiments like those Valery Kryzhanovsky does, DLSS is injected into the graphics pipeline using RenoDX or OptiScaler, both of which let you tweak the DLL settings to get different results. To run DLSS NR on older RTX GPUs, the modding community also modified the runtime to support RTX 20-series GPUs, as the OptiScaler GitHub README notes.

Nvidia plans to release DLSS 5 to RTX 40-series GPUs, but there are no reports of it officially coming to RTX 30- or RTX 20-series cards; the modding community seems to have done it anyway.

MIT engineers have built a soft, wearable shape-sensing sheet with self-tracking movement that could be useful for controlling games, virtual reality, and physical therapy applications, reports MIT News. The technology, which leverages optical fibers to track the sheet’s own 3D shape, keeps its error below half a centimeter in lab tests. Qifan Yu, an MIT mechanical engineering graduate student on the team, put rigid-sensor designs at around 1 to 2 cm and called the result “at least on par with existing technologies.” The sheet also still works even when damaged, but the fibers remain thicker than ideal for garments.

The news follows a paper, “Toward fully soft and multifunctional shape sensing via optical waveguide arrays,” recently published in Advanced Intelligent Systems. It details that the waveguides respond to bending in both directions, “bi-directional,” with the array laid out to discern shapes. Combined fiber responses mean fewer sensing elements are needed, and that can also improve damage resilience. The fibers respond to pressure, so they can sense external force, such as a press on the forearm in a physical therapy demo.

Normally, a plain fiber, a transparent core inside a light-trapping cladding, will have less light reach the far end when bent; measuring the light output helps measure the bend. MIT’s changes here include using a flexible rubber core instead of glass, with black-dyed cladding. One side is roughened intentionally so that bending the fiber toward that side, or toward the opposite side, causes different amounts of light to be lost. This enables directional sensing.

Many such fibers are embedded in a silicone sheet, with an LED at one end of each fiber and a light sensor at the other. The sensing surface is fully soft, but the sheet doesn’t stretch as a whole. An external circuit board handles the data collection with an algorithm translating it into a full sheet and 3D shape. The 14 waveguides are each 160 mm long in two layers of seven, zig-zagged within a 16 x 16 x 0.5 cm silicone sheet. The electronics remain at the edge, including analog-to-digital converters that feed microcontrollers over I2C. The reconstruction runs in MATLAB about three times a second, a rate that includes sensor sampling, data logging, and plotting.

To pick the layout, the team first simulated sheets with different waveguide arrangements: it generated the light output each fiber would give for a known shape, ran those readings through the reconstruction algorithm to estimate a 3D shape, and compared the estimate with the known one. One zig-zag spacing pattern had the closest fit. In simulations, between 3 and 20 waveguides per layer were used at angles of 0 to 35 degrees on six target shapes, with 10% added noise, over 30 trials each. The researchers discovered that angling the waveguides improved accuracy more than adding additional ones.

Resilience was tested with a few fibers cut or disconnected, with the rest still able to reconstruct the overall shape. In simulation, the error stayed under 0.3 cm with up to three of the 14 waveguides disabled, and rose to about 1 cm or more from five on.

A real sheet was then built on the pattern findings and put to the test with diagonal folding. For accuracy, the sheet was laid over three 3D-printed molds of known shapes, with the metric being the root-mean-square distance between real and reconstructed surfaces: 0.37, 0.28, and 0.45 cm. The force sensing does not have a calibrated force reading to tell how hard, and this detection runs separately from the shape mode. Each wearable demo was done by one author on their own body, with a simpler scaling method for wrist and elbow angles, because stretching at those joints throws off the shape algorithm, with no comment on comfort.

Yu said the setup targets fully soft sensing surfaces, so it’s potentially safer around people. Kaitlyn Becker, an MIT assistant professor of mechanical engineering and co-author, said the team hopes to build tools that help physical therapists track and quantify a patient’s progress over time, comparing sessions more precisely. Outside of this, the tech could also be used in virtual reality to mimic motion or could be used for the teleoperation of robots, or even just soft robots.

As thinner fibers would have a wider applicability, the researchers plan to target a thinner sheet first. The 1 mm thick fibers of today could get as thin as tens of micrometers, thinner than a human hair. A higher fiber count could then make for smart garments. They also suggested future work could focus on a faster solver rather than the general-purpose one in MATLAB, more waveguide layers and narrower waveguides for better detail with thinner sheets, a separate sheet to gauge force and shape simultaneously, and stretchable electronics.

When the IETF decided to allow Unicode characters in domain names, many techies saw the move as commendable, but also fraught with danger, as hundreds of unique characters can look similar or identical across multiple alphabets. This can be used for typosquatting attacks, wherein bad actors create functioning websites with deliberately misspelled web addresses that look identical to the real URL, thus launching attacks against unsuspecting visitors who land on the site due to search results generated when the user mistypes an address. The Chromium browser has the most advanced ruleset for finding and preventing mischievous domains masquerading as legitimate ones, but even the best code has odd edge cases, as a blog post from Have I Been Squatted (HIBS) explains in great detail.

Using "аррӏө.com" as an example — which is in fact not identical to the real "apple.com" — the researchers show how specific combinations of characters can still evade multiple layers of protection, thanks to the particular circumstances surrounding the use of specific Cyrillic characters. This alphabet has lookalikes for many Latin letters. For example, а → a, е → e, о → o, р → p, and с → c. We forgive you if you can't spot the differences.

Trying to sneak the one homoglyph into the middle of standard Latin ones triggers Chromium's safeguards and makes the browser display the domain name in its Punycode format. For example, using the Cyrillic "а" with "pple.com" would show up as "xn--pple-43d.com". With few exceptions, domain names with non-Latin characters ending in .com only pass the check if they're all from the same alphabet.

Having said that, opting to try "аррӏе.com," using all Cyrillic lookalikes, would also go bust. Chromium keeps a list of 29 Cyrillic characters that routinely masquerade as their Latin counterparts, and composing a domain name using only characters from that list is a no-no.

So how does "аррӏө.com" pass? Allow us to illustrate with bigger text below. Note how the right-hand Cyrillic character is actually an oval with a line across it.

[e] ≠ [ө]

As you can surmise by now, the "ө" character is not in that special list of 29. While a more recent release of Chromium can and probably will add it, this reveals the difficulty of the problem: since there's no one-size-fits-all solution for detecting typo-squatting, even the best set of rules will sooner or later end up on the wrong side of a corner case.

It takes many watchful eyes to play Unicode Pokémon and catch'em' all, especially given the character set continually evolves and now counts nearly 173,000 entries — though only a subset of those are eligible to be used as domain names or TLDs in practice.

Chromium is reportedly the best browser at detecting domain lookalikes, as a 2020 study showed that it caught 64.1% of the attempts, with Firefox and Safari trailing behind. As a reminder, Chromium underpins the Chrome, Edge, and Brave browsers.

Besides many other rules and per-alphabet verifications, Chromium keeps a list of over 8,000 popular domains bound to be typo-squatted, and runs stronger checks against 836 of them. Domain registries, likewise, make reasonable efforts to prevent typo-squatting, like having strict rules about what characters can go into which TLDs, but that's not nearly enough to fully solve the problem.

All things considered, HIBS recommends that companies afraid of impersonation try to register any lookalike domains and try to encourage passkey use by users. Passkeys are always tied to a specific domain, so a user wouldn't be able to log in to a sneaky website with them.

More than 300 local data center construction moratoriums haven’t had a massive impact on planned buildouts, with only three projects at about 2.3 out of 21 gigawatts (GW) of data centers in moratorium areas likely to be delayed, with a total of 38 GW projected to come online next year, SemiAnalysis shared on X. Per-project audits of the moratoriums indicate that they tend to miss the site, the permit, or the timeline.

The crux of the report is that, while everyone thinks the moratoriums are killing the U.S. buildout, its forecast has “barely moved over the last 12 months.” This forecast includes 38 GW of U.S. data center IT capacity in 2027, which is more than double that of 2026. Of that, 22 GW is under vertical construction, and the other 16 GW is mostly financed, with site work being done. The enacted local moratoriums cover about 20 GW with only about 1.5 GW of it delayed; New York’s pause adds 0.8 GW more. “We think moratoriums COULD delay the buildout, but they just aren’t yet at scale.”

The firm defines a moratorium as a “temporary legal pause,” and almost always a “freeze on accepting new applications.” More than 400 local instruments are tracked across 17 states, the enacted ones including a few permanent zoning bans, as of September. Four states acted in under two months this summer: New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Oregon. To test each active restriction against the records of thousands of projects, the firm’s analysts worked alongside “an army of state-of-the-art research agents.”

Several reasons are given for moratorium ineffectiveness, starting with the fact that they don’t revoke existing approvals. Short ones may expire before later projects need approval, and litigation or equipment lead times may already set the schedule. A moratorium moves the delivery date only if every condition holds, including that it reaches the parcel, is in force, overlaps the timeline, and covers the use in a way the project can’t work around. Capacity already under construction or fully permitted is also out of reach.

For example, Michigan has 45 enacted moratoriums but effectively zero pipeline exposure, and a Google campus there sits on industrial land already zoned for data processing. The firm says SpaceX’s planned data center in Brownsville, Texas, is on land the city removed from its limits and thus out of reach of the city’s moratorium. For a moratorium that did work, a township adopted a pause before NorthPoint, in Pennsylvania, filed for its special exception, with local approval pushed to next year. The company is still pursuing it.

The 2.3 GW figure is also incomplete, as it leaves out the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) pause. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told the TCEQ to issue no permits for data center projects. Law firm Bracewell says this applies whether a project is in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’s (ERCOT) queue or not, and expects the pause to last until ERCOT finishes its review in mid-December. Pauses like the TCEQ’s, and how they play out, could impact buildout forecasts.

The post quotes another by The Economist’s Archie Hall, from a trip that covers Michigan and Ohio, with the reporter stating that data center moratoriums are “much more bark than bite” for the time being. He puts the bigger risk at deterring newer projects, though he guesses that affects where data centers end up more than whether they get built. His impression is that politics also plays a role, and according to the firm’s poll in August, more Americans have a negative rather than positive impression of data centers.

The analysis concludes that moratoriums would need to be “materially more widespread and restrictive” to delay the buildout. On the firm’s weekly podcast last month, Jeremie Eliahou Ontiveros, one of the report’s authors, said the firm would be worried by a strict, state-level moratorium that blocked even off-grid projects, citing Texas as an example. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, in addition to Abbott, also found ways to bypass their legislatures for pauses they control and can revoke. The next move to watch is the TCEQ’s compliance report to Abbott’s office, due Monday.

Anthropic is quietly lobbying for an AI safety bill that will allow the government to block an AI model’s release only if it poses a risk of causing $1 billion in damages or killing or injuring more than 50 people. According to Politico, an independent third party registered with the Department of Commerce would periodically evaluate the lab and its AI models. It also noted that the lab may pay the evaluators, but only if the payment does not affect their independence.

“This bill represents the proposals outlined in Anthropic’s Advanced AI Framework, which we have been advocating for with federal and state lawmakers since June,” an Anthropic spokesperson told the publication. “These are sensible policies we believe Congress should act on.”

The bill says the risk should come from the potential creation or release of a bioweapon, AI-powered or -enabled cyberattacks, or an AI lab losing control of an AI model or agents. If there is a chance that any of these events are about to happen, it requires the evaluator to report it to the department within 72 hours, after which the department would have to bring all the evidence in front of a federal judge in the District Court for the District of Columbia, who would then determine if the model release should be halted or not. However, the proposed law also notes that no other department, agency, or officer in the U.S. can order an AI lab to stop releasing its model, except the Commerce Department.

Talk about AI safety has been growing in recent months, especially after several high-profile incidents were reported in the latter half of this year. One of the first major incidents reported was OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol and other unreleased AI models breaking out of their testing environment and hacking Hugging Face, with evidence showing that multiple agents worked together, even leaving messages on defunct webpages and old wikis to communicate surreptitiously. In one case, an OpenAI agent failed to respond to a “kill switch,” bypassing multiple fail-safes and eventually requiring manual intervention to stop running.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned about a “swarm” of AI-driven botnets taking over the internet in the next 6-to-12 months, which is why he proposed a controlled slowdown to AI development — something that OpenAI’s Sam Altman and SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk agreed to. The company more recently said a self-replicating AI worm could spread without data centers, which is why it listed “existential risks to humanity” as one of its risk factors in its IPO prospectus. Top AI labs are also reportedly planning for a catastrophic AI event, building contingency plans and running scenarios for a runaway AI that wreaks havoc.

These incidents have seemingly alarmed the authorities, with Congress already working on a proposal to enforce kill switches on the most powerful AI models. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has even gone beyond that, proposing a 20-year prison term for anyone developing AI superintelligence, putting it on par with illegal nuclear weapon development. The Anthropic AI safety bill would add another bill for Congress to consider on AI safety, but whichever one passes, let’s hope it’s enough to ensure humans remain in control of AI.

A group of AI researchers at the Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI) has developed an AI system that can identify concealed handguns using Wi-Fi signals, offering a non-intrusive alternative to visible cameras and cumbersome metal detectors. Detailed in a paper posted on arXivWi-Fi on October 13, the system, called WiFireNet, analyzes channel state information from how an object distorts ambient Wi-Fi signals. The full system comprises a Wi-Fi transmitter, a Wi-Fi receiver, and the WiFireNet AI.

When ordinary Wi-Fi signals encounter an object in their path, they penetrate and bounce off in ways specific to that object, based on its shape, orientation, and material. This data, the channel state information, can be analyzed to identify the object with high accuracy. Security researchers previously disclosed a technique that lets ordinary Wi-Fi routers identify people with 99.5% accuracy.

To build the WiFireNet system, the researchers first created a dataset, dubbed the WiFire Dataset, by simultaneously recording RGB footage and the reflected Wi-Fi signals of people walking around with objects ranging from phones to handguns. The researchers then trained a deep learning model on the massive dataset, using video clips to match the visuals of a concealed handgun with its specific Wi-Fi signature, or channel state information. To ensure the system could specifically distinguish a handgun from everyday items of similar shape or material, the researchers trained it on recordings of a plastic handgun, a metal water bottle, a real metal handgun, and a phone.

After training, the final AI system, WiFireNet, could detect concealed handguns solely based on Wi-Fi CSI, with varying accuracy. In controlled trials tracking up to four moving individuals in a small indoor space, the system achieved an average handgun-detection precision of 72.5%. However, under stricter localization requirements, such as pinpointing the weapon’s exact location on the carrier, precision dropped to 53.8%. The neural network also struggles to perform accurately in unfamiliar, untested indoor layouts.

That said, the system is still experimental, with a roadmap of planned improvements. The prototype was built using a modified implementation of the older 1999 wireless IEEE 802.11a standard to establish proof of concept. Subsequent phases will use modern Wi-FI 7 and Wi-Fi 8 networks with higher-resolution CSI for better detection. The researchers made the project open source, releasing the code, models, and dataset to support further research in the field. Wi-Fi sensing is gaining popularity as an effective surveillance technology that doesn't require complex gear or setups. However, critics argue that the technology's ubiquity and the lack of regulatory frameworks raise serious privacy concerns.

DJI has delivered a battery-swapping drone dock, the Dock 4, with an automated 25-second swap this week, according to a company press release. The dock bypasses the normal recharging process, which would take about 30 minutes, and DJI promises a turnaround of under 45 seconds from landing to takeoff. The drone-in-a-box solution is the first of its type by the company, although not in the industry, and is aimed at applications like emergency response but is not FCC-authorized or for sale in the U.S.

The company emphasizes the safety angle, pitching the Dock 4 as a “dock-as-a-first-responder (DFR)” solution. Its product page calls it “Always There, Always Ready.” Swapping the battery takes less than half a minute, and the drone is back in the air within 45 seconds of landing. The dock also charges two 925 g battery packs, rated at 260 Wh for 400 cycles, at once, estimated to take 27 minutes to get each from 15% to 95%.

The packs also double as backup power, rated at about 4.5 hours each, in sequence. Additionally, with at least two packs loaded, the dock is able to continue swapping even when grid power is lost, although backup power doesn’t charge the packs. This configuration should enable a drone to handle back-to-back calls even in less-than-ideal circumstances. The new dock, 66 kg bare, also has the same 400 x 400 mm mounting holes as the Dock 3, but it only works with the Matrice 5TD drone and requires the DJI O4 Ground Station.

The Matrice 5TD drone is rated for almost an hour of forward flight, measured from 100% to 0% at 15 m/s and with no payload, with a few minutes less of hover time. It can move at up to 21 m/s, or 47 mph, but only in “FlyTo” tasks. It carries three 50 MP cameras: wide, 70 mm equivalent medium telephoto, and telephoto at 252 mm equivalent, which DJI calls 11x. It also has 1280 x 1024 native thermal and 2560 x 2048 in DJI’s UHR infrared mode, color night vision without a spotlight, and a laser rangefinder up to 3,000 m.

For sensors, it has rotating LiDAR, mmWave radar facing forward, up and down, and six-direction vision, and DJI says it is capable of detecting power lines at night. On-board AI allows for the detection of 17 object types, “such as cars, boats, or animals,” and DJI FlightHub 2 can search the feed by text or image and send alerts. The dock and drone are rated for temperatures from minus 40 degrees to 50 degrees Celsius (minus 40 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit) with IP56 and IP55 ratings, respectively. The drone is rated for winds up to 12 m/s, or about 27 mph.

For payload, the drone carries up to 450 g across three mounts for a speaker, spotlight, and parachute. The previous model, the Dock 3’s Matrice 4TD, has a lower-resolution 640 x 512 thermal camera, a 168 mm telephoto, a shorter 1,800 m laser range, and is only good down to minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit). The drone upgrades are nice, but the new dock capabilities are the real selling point, especially for the intended applications. Currently, DJI partners in China are taking orders for a kit with the Dock 4, Matrice 5TD, and O4 Ground Station at 167,999 yuan, or about $25,000, for the hardware alone.

The new dock and drone sound great for other markets, but DJI’s own spec sheet has no FCC figures. This is likely because the FCC added all foreign-made drones and their critical components to its Covered List in December of last year. New models can’t get FCC authorization or be sold in the U.S. unless the Department of War or the Department of Homeland Security determines they don’t pose a security risk. DJI sued the commission earlier this year.

A separate FCC proposal published in August could pull previously authorized foreign drones that carry LiDAR or thermal sensors from sale, along with previously authorized docking stations. The FCC’s docket shows no final order on it as of Oct. 17, and the proposal would give sellers 180 days after Federal Register publication to stop importing and marketing covered gear.

MapQuest, a long-time online mapping and navigation service that predates Google Maps, just released an app update that added a new Surveillance Layer. The company said on Bluesky that it plots the locations of known license plate readers on the map and that it covers devices from Flock, as well as other companies like Motorola Solutions (Vigilant), Genetec, Axis Communications, Axon, Leonardo (ELSAG), Neology, Rekor, PlateSmart, Ubicquia, Verkada, and other brands.

The Roads Have Eyes! 👁️Turn on the Surveillance Layer in Map Options to see known license plate readers from Flock Safety, Motorola Solutions (Vigilant), Genetec, Axis Communications, Axon, Leonardo (ELSAG), Neology, Rekor, PlateSmart, Ubicquia, Verkada, and other outdoor surveillance cameras.

— @mapquest.com (@mapquest.com.bsky.social) 2026-10-18T02:31:11.890Z

It’s unclear how the app developers found all this data, but it is similar to the Flock Surveillance Map that one security researcher built using Flock’s own data. Beyond showing each camera's location, it also indicates the direction it faces, allowing anyone who doesn't want to be captured by an automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) system to avoid known cameras, if possible.

While cities and police forces argue that systems like these help keep people safe by making it easier to track potential criminals, many people say that they’re a massive invasion of privacy, citing multiple incidents of police officers abusing the system and administrative mistakes, like one resulting in the detention of an innocent car reviewer. This is why some cities whose constituents have complained have started removing them.

A Canadian YouTuber built a “Flock-like” camera that tracked police vehicles and was visited by officers who, in an ironic twist, raised privacy concerns. These are the exact concerns critics have about ALPRs, especially when they connect to a wider federal or national system that lets police officers from another city or state track vehicles without a warrant. It’s unclear how police would react to this functionality, but many police departments have previously complained when Waze released a 2015 update that let users report officers' locations.

This new MapQuest feature can help you get around known ALPR camera locations. But if your destination has heavy camera coverage, you’ll have no choice but to pass through one and be detected, unless someone in the neighborhood has put a “Flock Sock” on one of them.

This one will be short and sweet. So remember how there are apparently no more RTX 5090s available most anywhere, even though Nvidia's Senior Vice President just said that the company definitely hasn't stopped making them? If you had been saving up for Nvidia's greatest card, there's still hope for you. Best Buy has an MSI Infinite ZS in stock with an RTX 5090 ensconced within for $7,599, making for roughly $5,300 for the RTX 5090 and $2,300 for the rest of the PC.

Yes, over five grand is definitely a lot to ask for a graphics card, but it's worth ponying up the cash if you want the best gaming card in recent years (and likely future, too). Besides, it's not like these will be in stock anytime soon (if ever), and they were commanding $7,500 or more in stores before they vanished.

The rest of the PC around the humongous card is equally powerful. The Ryzen 9 9950X3D ($670) is probably the best desktop CPU in the current market, offering a high core count of 16 cores and 32 threads, fast clocks with a 5.7 GHz turbo speed, and 128 MB of cache. It'll run games and heavy applications with equal aplomb.

That chip sits atop an MSI B840-VC motherboard ($250 est.) with PCIe 5.0 support thanks to its AMD B840 chipset. An MSI CoreLiquid 360mm CLC ($110) keeps the processor cooled. There are 32 GB of RAM ($450 est.) on tap — though MSI doesn't mention the speed, 6000 MT/s is a good, reasonable guess for a high-end machine.

The machine is powered by an unspecified MSI 1300W Gold PSU ($170 est.), and all the hardware sits inside a MSI MEG Prospect 700RL case ($250 est.). A Windows 11 Home license currently sets you back about $130. For those keeping track at home, the PC core goes for over $2300. There are no weak spots we could find, too — pre-builts often skimp on one of their core parts, but there are no shortcuts here.

HyperX has decided to toss its hat in the ring of open-back gaming headsets with its newest, the Cloud Alpha Air. It's definitely not the first open-back headset we've seen in the past few years — others include the $200 Corsair Virtuoso Pro, the $180 Turtle Beach Atlas Air, and, of course, the $900 Audeze LCD-GX. The Cloud Alpha Air is at least somewhat budget-friendly at just $149.99.

The Cloud Alpha Air is a wired over-ear open-back gaming headset designed for comfort and immersion. It features dynamic 40mm drivers with a frequency response range of 20 - 20,000 Hz and a special "HyperX Bass Tube" to keep the low end present without compromising the open-back design. And, like other HyperX headsets (which are some of the best gaming headsets we've tested), it's extremely lightweight and easy to wear for hours at a time.

Design and Comfort of the Cloud Alpha Air

The Cloud Alpha Air is a wired over-ear (circumaural) open-back headset with a detachable boom microphone. It has large, plastic oval-shaped earcups with metal grilles attached to a padded steel headband. It's a fairly lightweight headset — HyperX has its weight listed at 9.6 ounces (272g) without the boom mic attached (the boom mic is listed at approximately 0.42 ounces / 12g), but we found the headset weighed closer to 10 ounces (283g) (the boom mic, however, weighed closer to 0.07oz / 2g), and came in at just under 10.6 ounces (300g) with both the boom mic and cables attached. This still makes it one of HyperX's lightest headsets — slightly lighter than the HyperX Cloud Stinger 3 Wireless and Turtle Beach's Atlas Air open-back headset.

The Cloud Alpha Air's earcups are pretty roomy, with thick memory foam padding covered in soft ultrasuede material. The earcups tilt and swivel a little, but they're not as flexible as the earcups on many gaming headsets — and they don't swivel flat. The headset features a steel headband with leatherette-covered padding at the top and metal-reinforced yokes, so that explains the rigidity. The earcups are independently height-adjustable, with about an inch of extension for a maximum inner headband measurement of approximately 12 inches (300mm).

I found the Cloud Alpha Air to be very comfortable, despite the headband's relative rigidity, since the whole package is pretty lightweight and well-padded. However, I can see users with larger heads having problems with the top of the headband, as the padding did press on my crown slightly.

This is a wired headset, so there aren't a lot of ports or on-ear controls. The left earcup has two 3.5mm jacks, one for the detachable boom mic and one for the primary audio cable, as well as a microphone mute button, and the right earcup has a volume wheel.

The Cloud Alpha Air is wired, but the wires are detachable, and it comes with everything you need in the box to plug it into various devices. The main cable is a standard 4-foot (1.2m) 3.5mm, and it comes with two extension cables: a 4.5-foot (1.37m) 3.5mm to USB-C extension (with a USB-C to USB-A converter attached) for plugging it into a PC or console, and a 3.5-foot (1m) PC extension cable with separate audio and microphone jacks. That gets you about 8 - 8.5 feet of cable when you're plugged into your PC, which is decent — though I would personally prefer single long cables instead of the extension system, as the extension system means there's a weight (where the cables connect) in the middle. The cables are braided and seem high-quality, if a bit heavy. The headset also comes with its detachable boom microphone in the box, as well as a thick drawstring carrying bag for keeping everything together.

Specs

Audio Performance of the Cloud Alpha Air

The Cloud Alpha Air features dynamic 40mm neodymium drivers, with a frequency response range of 20 - 20,000 Hz (still pretty standard for gaming headsets, despite several companies coming out with premium models that have wider ranges).

Music sounds very good on the Cloud Alpha Air. The headset has a mostly neutral sound profile, with bright, detailed highs, a full, present mid-range, and solid but not overly powerful bass. It definitely has a wider sound stage than its closed-back counterparts, though it's not quite as wide or as open as some open-back headsets (such as the Audeze LCD-GX). Mid-range-heavy songs such as K-931's Lonely World and Enya's Orinoco Flow sounded especially dynamic. The headset has a built-in "HyperX Bass Tube" designed to maintain powerful bass, despite its open-back style. This works decently well — while I still found bass to be more powerful on closed-back headsets such as the Razer BlackShark V3 Pro, the bass was definitely present (and fairly detailed — I could hear the full run of the bass drum in Lorde's Royals).

Games sound even better on the Cloud Alpha Air, thanks to the open-back design. Games with multi-layered audio environments, such as Uncharted 4 and God of War: Ragnarok, really stood out on the headset — I could hear every individual creature in jungles and make out conversations with (possibly unrealistic) clarity in cities. Directional audio was also very good, though I would probably still opt for a closed-back headset for competitive first-person shooters where the direction of footsteps and gunshots is paramount. But you can't beat open-back headsets for exploring an open world (and for being able to hear things happening in the real world).

Microphone of the Cloud Alpha Air

The Cloud Alpha Air has a detachable 10mm boom microphone with a unidirectional polar pattern. It sits at the end of a 3-inch flexible metal gooseneck you can bend toward your mouth for better pickup, and the arm has a small red indicator light near the microphone end that lets you know when it's muted. It's the same microphone found on HyperX's other premium headsets, including the Cloud III S Wireless and the Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless.

The mic performs about as well as expected — it's good for a headset mic, but it's definitely still a headset mic. My voice was clear and full-sounding over both voice chat and in recordings. But the mic's pickup was pretty low by default — for other HyperX headsets I've been able to adjust the gain in its Ngenuity software, but I wasn't able to get Ngenuity to recognize the Cloud Alpha Air (I imagine if it had recognized it, it would have been adjustable, however). Hopefully this is fixed in a software or firmware update soon.

The mic mute button is easy to press, and the indicator light is a nice thought — but it was too low and too dim to be useful to me (I had to keep moving the mic up to see it, which seems like it sort of defeats the purpose of having an unobtrusive indicator light). I also had the same issue I did with the mute mic button on the HyperX Cloud III wired headset, where pressing the mute button caused a noticeable blip in my recordings.

Features and Software of the Cloud Alpha Air

The Cloud Alpha Air is supposed to be configurable with HyperX's Ngenuity peripheral software, which should let you do things such as tune the EQ and adjust the microphone's input gain. But, again, I couldn't get any version of Ngenuity to recognize the Cloud Alpha Air.

Bottom Line

If you've been thinking of getting an open-back gaming headset, the Cloud Alpha Air might be the headset you've been waiting for. As long as you don't mind the wires, it's an excellent headset for the price — it's comfortable, lightweight, and it sounds great whether you're listening to music, watching movies, or gaming. While I couldn't get it to connect to Ngenuity, I honestly don't count that as much of a point against it — peripheral software often causes more headaches than it's worth, especially for a headset that's mostly analog to begin with.

Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5090, undeniably one of the best graphics cards of our time, vanished overnight without a trace and is now selling for $8,500 on Amazon. In a recent development, Reddit user DallasGrave showcased a custom quad 8-pin power conversion kit designed for the notorious melting 16-pin (12VHPWR) power connector and the later 12V-2x6 revision. This invention, an upgrade over a previous mod, could reduce the risk of power-related meltdowns.

Unlike the endless stream of aftermarket adapters designed solely to prevent 16-pin power meltdowns, DallasGrave's iteration is more like a power-conversion kit. The direct-mount kit sits above the graphics card and uses a custom harness soldered to the graphics card’s PCB power rails. The quad 8-pin power conversion kit bypasses the 16-pin connection and redistributes the massive power draw more evenly across four conventional 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

Each 8-pin PCIe power connector can deliver up to 150W, so all four combined in this custom configuration match the 16-pin connector’s maximum capacity of 600W. However, this configuration addresses concerns with the 16-pin power connector, which channels 50A through a small, tightly packed set of pins. The power-conversion kit instead spreads the load across four 8-pin PCIe power connectors, which are physically larger and allow a wider pin pitch.

While 8-pin PCIe power connectors are not entirely immune to melting or other power-related failures, such incidents are far less common than issues with 16-pin power connectors. The 16-pin power connector is significantly more compact than a single 8-pin power connector and carries 4X the wattage, so it is more prone to higher current density and heat buildup.

According to PCI-SIG specifications, each of the six power pins inside the 16-pin power connector is rated for a maximum current of 9.5A. This means that, in theory, the power connector's total capacity reaches up to 684W or 57A. For example, 600W (50A) requires each power pin to carry about 8.33A, which is already close to the recommended safety limits.

By contrast, a standard 8-pin PCIe power connector contains three power pins. Combining four of these connectors in tandem provides 12 power pins. When distributing a 50A load across 12 pins, each pin carries just 4.17 amps, about half the current per pin of the 16-pin power connector design. This lower current per pin dramatically reduces wire and terminal temperatures and lowers the risk of heat-related damage.

The quad 8-pin power conversion kit tricks the sense pins on the 16-pin power connection into recognizing the full 600W. However, the Redditor claims they have tested the kit for up to 800W with a shunt mod. The beauty of the kit is that users can use it as a standalone power source or alongside the native 16-pin power connector, essentially acting as a parallel load spreader.

DallasGrave is developing a custom backplate that will enhance the power conversion kit's visual appeal. Notably, it is not limited to the GeForce RTX 5090 or any specific brand. According to the Redditor, they are preparing a range of models for production that cover nearly every variant on the market, including Nvidia’s Founders Edition. However, the creator has not yet revealed key details such as the official release date, pricing, or installation logistics.

Over the past several years, MOZA Racing has become one of the most recognizable names in sim racing, earning a reputation for producing high-quality racing wheels and peripherals. Founded in 2012 by a group of automotive engineers and sim racing enthusiasts, the company initially focused on manufacturing and selling videography equipment before entering the sim-racing market.

More recently, MOZA has expanded into the world of flight simulation, bringing the same focus on build quality and performance that has made its racing products so popular. Today, we’re taking a look at the MOZA AY210 Force Feedback Base and MFY Yoke. We’ll be putting both products through their paces in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, testing them across a variety of challenging flight scenarios to see how they perform in the cockpit.

Inside the Box

While you can purchase the base and the yoke separately, they also come in a bundle. With the bundle, you get both the yoke and the base in the box, along with a toolkit and user manual. The base comes with a power cable and a USB Type A to Type B cable.

MOZA also sent us a couple of table clamps for the yoke to secure it to our test setup. The clamps are sold separately.

Customization

The base and yoke feature several programmable buttons and switches, but the real depth of customization comes from MOZA Cockpit Software. The software provides an impressive range of options for fine-tuning the yoke to your preferences. You can adjust individual settings to create your ideal feel, or choose from one of MOZA’s presets or community-created profiles.

Build Quality

The base is constructed from aluminum alloy, giving it a sturdy, durable, and premium feel. An aluminum quick-release mechanism allows you to swap yokes quickly while keeping them securely attached.

Under the hood, the AY210 is powered by a 280 MHz processor and features a 15-bit high-resolution magnetic encoder. This is designed to provide precise and responsive inputs across the full range of motion, whether you’re making small, delicate adjustments or larger, more aggressive inputs. Combined with MOZA’s proprietary active force-feedback system, the AY210 is designed to deliver a high level of control while adding another layer of immersion to the flight experience.

The MFY Yoke features a premium build made from high-quality synthetic engineering thermoplastic and ergonomic design that closely replicates the feel of a yoke found in a real commercial aircraft.

How Does it Feel?

The star of the show is undoubtedly the force feedback. With up to 9 Nm of torque and 210 N of push force, the system adds a level of immersion that simply isn’t possible with conventional yokes that lack force feedback.

When flying the PMDG 737, the yoke gives the aircraft a noticeably heavier feel through the control column, closely mimicking what we experienced in a 737 simulator. As airspeed increases, the yoke becomes progressively harder to deflect in both pitch and roll, accurately reflecting the aerodynamic forces acting on the aircraft.

But the force feedback goes far beyond simply simulating control forces. You can feel the vibrations from the engines, as well as the movement of the flaps and spoilers. After takeoff, the yoke conveys the increasing resistance of the airflow as the aircraft accelerates. Approaching a stall during a climb produces a noticeable buffet through the controls, while landing provides feedback as the wheels make contact with the runway.

The AY210 also replicates the movement of the aircraft's controls when the autopilot is engaged, with the yoke moving under the control of the autopilot servos.

All of these effects work together to create a remarkably convincing connection between the aircraft and the controls. It’s a level of immersion that most other yokes simply cannot replicate.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Testing

We tested the AY210 Force Feedback Base and MFY Yoke in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 primarily using the PMDG 737-800. While the iFly 737 MAX is a great addon with a superb flight model, especially in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, it is not yet natively built for MSFS 2024. As such, it does not handle wind and turbulence effects entirely well in MSFS 2024. We wanted to stick with MSFS 2024 because of its more realistic flight dynamics. We also tested the yoke with the PMDG 777. For our tests, we used the latest 737 NG and 777 profiles from Tonyaviation on Flightsim.to. Tony is a real-life pilot with experience in the 737 and 787. The 787 and 777 share many of the same flight characteristics.

We tested the base and yoke in three different scenarios:

1. Basic maneuvering. Flying at 5,000 feet, we performed gentle turns and pitch changes to evaluate the precision of the base during small, accurate control inputs.
2. Turbulent approach. We performed an approach into Las Vegas under hot, windy conditions with strong updrafts and downdrafts. This scenario required larger, more frequent control inputs to assess how the base handles turbulence and rapid corrections.
3. Curved approach. Finally, we flew the RNAV Visual approach to Runway 1R at San Francisco International Airport. This approach is available in MSFS 2024 if you use the Navigraph database, but it is missing the RF leg between the waypoints KLAUS and SQIRL, so we added it to the navigation database of the PMDG 737 and 777 ourselves. The procedure features a sweeping right-hand arc that continues until roughly one mile from the runway threshold, requiring the aircraft to remain in a turn at very low altitude. The approach demands precise tracking of the flight path while also requiring a smooth, accurate transition to the runway centerline after the final waypoint. This scenario tested both the precision and responsiveness of the AY210 Base.

Basic Maneuvering

Basic maneuvering feels precise and smooth with the right settings. That last part is important, however, because the AY210 does not necessarily deliver this experience out of the box. Based on our previous experience with a 737 simulator, even with significant pitch input, the control column should maintain a smooth and consistent feel throughout its movement. With the AY210, we found that the motion could feel less natural and “sticky” unless Pitch Friction Correction was enabled in the MOZA Cockpit Software. Fortunately, this setting significantly improves the feel, giving the control column a response that is much closer to what we experienced in a 737 simulator.The 280 MHz processor and 15-bit high-resolution magnetic encoder also contribute to the AY210’s precise and responsive inputs. We were able to make accurate turns and precisely set our desired descent rate, with even small control inputs translating smoothly and predictably into the simulator.

Turbulent Approach

Here, we perform our usual turbulent approach, landing in Las Vegas during the summer. The combination of extreme heat, strong winds, and thermals along the approach path can create significant turbulence, making for a much less stable approach. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is able to replicate these conditions through its Live Weather system, providing a challenging environment for testing the AY210.

The level of immersion provided by the AY210 is simply incredible. Through the force feedback system, you can feel the effects of wind and turbulence directly through the yoke, rather than relying solely on visual cues or the aircraft’s instruments. This provides useful feedback that helps you anticipate and make the necessary control corrections. The AY210 handled these conditions exceptionally well, accurately conveying the changing forces throughout the approach and giving us a much better sense of how the aircraft was responding.

Curved Approach

The RNAV Visual approach to Runway 1R at San Francisco International Airport contains an RF leg between the final two waypoints – KLAUS and SQIRL – which is a sweeping right-hand arc. The AY210 was responsive and precise throughout, allowing us to follow the arc all the way to SQIRL, at which point we were able to accurately align with runway 1R and perform a smooth landing.

By comparison, the Thrustmaster TCA Boeing Yoke felt noticeably jerkier throughout the approach. The two products are also in completely different price tiers, so this is not necessarily a direct or entirely fair comparison. However, the TCA Boeing Yoke is a popular choice among simmers flying Boeing aircraft in Microsoft Flight Simulator, making it a useful reference point. The difference was immediately noticeable, and the AY210’s ability to provide smoother, more natural control while conveying the effects of turbulence is a clear example of what you gain from its more premium design and force feedback system.

Bottom Line

The MOZA AY210 Force Feedback Yoke Base delivers one of the most immersive experiences available in desktop flight simulation. It comes at a premium price, but after spending time with the AY210, it is genuinely difficult to go back to a yoke without force feedback. The combination of realistic feedback, precise control, and the level of detail conveyed through the yoke adds an entirely new dimension to the flying experience.

It is not without its flaws. Some of the force feedback effects could be stronger, while the control column can feel slightly unnatural and “sticky” out of the box. Fortunately, both issues can be addressed to some extent through the extensive customization options in MOZA Cockpit Software.

Overall, the AY210 is an impressive piece of hardware. For those willing to pay the premium, its force feedback and overall level of immersion make it a compelling upgrade for any serious home cockpit.

Last week, gamers still holding any hope that the GPU market would somehow stabilize had their hopes dashed. A while after Nvidia reportedly put the RTX 50 Super series on hold, rumors started flying that production of the already-rare RTX 5090 was stopping, likely to use precious silicon manufacturing capacity for more AI accelerators. Now, the company's senior VP Jeff Fisher reportedly said that card was not discontinued and would continue to be shipped. The statement comes after a myriad of websites, including Tom's Hardware, have asked the company for official comment, but to no avail.

The information comes from Taiwanese websites including 4Gamers and SJTV, which both are quoting a purported post-event interview where Fisher offered a brief explanation of the situation. According to the VP, supplies of the GPU are limited, but Nvidia is seemingly going all out to get the product to market (paraphrased from the Taiwanese reports).

"The supply chain (capacity) is indeed somewhat constrained, but NVIDIA is doing everything it can to get the product on the market. Although there are other variants of the RTX 5090 (chip), production has not been discontinued, and NVIDIA will continue to ship, which is very important," Fisher reportedly said to 4Gamers.

He also reportedly reiterated a common quote from Nvidia execs, stating that without GeForce, Nvidia wouldn't be where it is today, and likewise, the AI market wouldn't exist as it does today.

The claim that the card isn't gone after all merits some spot-checking, so we did a cursory browse of the common retailers. At Amazon, RTX 5090s are selling for about $8,500, but from third-party sellers. Best Buy has a grand amount of naught cards on offer, while Newegg lists 5090s for about $7,300, but from what are likely Chinese sellers, judging by the shipping time. The ever-famous U.S. tariffs would likely add quite a chunk of change to that price tag, too. Finally and perhaps most poignantly, the card remains absent from Nvidia's own marketplace and Micro Center as of this writing.

Some would say that these statements are nothing but a means to keep the company in gamers' minds, even though gaming-related revenue is now a vanishingly small piece of Nvidia's ever-larger money pie.

Jensen's firm isn't the only one seemingly keeping up appearances, as Intel has repeatedly stated that its long-awaited refresh of consumer GPUs isn't dead, and last year AMD said it still intends to deliver "the best mainstream gaming GPUs on the market." Yet there are no new GPU launches from any of the three, and their quarterly launch figures keep doubling down on AI.

We reached out to Nvidia for comment on the situation and received no reply.

With the ongoing DRAM and NAND memory crisis, finding a good storage deal has become increasingly difficult. However, we found a solid offer for anyone looking to expand storage on their Nintendo Switch 2. The SanDisk 512GB GamePlay microSD Express card is currently $98 at Walmart, well below its regular price of over $120. It is also one of the lowest prices we’ve seen for this card in recent months, making it a particularly good time to pick one up.

• Check out this deal on Walmart

The SanDisk GamePlay microSD Express card is officially licensed for the Nintendo Switch 2. It uses a PCIe interface and the NVMe protocol to deliver read speeds up to 880 MB/s, write speeds up to 650 MB/s, and sustained writes of 220 MB/s. This makes it significantly faster than traditional microSD cards and fully compatible with the Switch 2, since older microSD cards cannot be used to store or play games.

SanDisk claims the card is built to withstand tough conditions, with protection against water, extreme temperatures, humidity, drops, shocks, magnets, X-rays, and wear and tear. It also includes a special ThermAdapt feature that helps keep devices from overheating, with a specially designed enclosure and controller that uses dynamic adaptive thermal management.

For Switch 2 owners who prefer buying digital games, the Sandisk GamePlay microSD Express card at $98 is a worthwhile upgrade if you are running short on storage. The 512GB capacity should provide plenty of room for additional titles, game updates, and downloadable content, so you don't have to constantly delete games to make space for new ones. If you have been waiting to expand your console’s storage without spending considerably more, this deal is definitely worth considering.

An AI lab that specializes in gathering real-world data wants to partner with homeowners to record how skilled laborers do their jobs to train AI robots. HUMXN said it will subsidize plumbing, electrical, HVAC, air-duct cleaning, and carpet cleaning, allowing people who need these services to get them for free in exchange for letting someone in with “wearable capture technology” work inside their home.

“The next generation of AI is going to need more than text and images from the internet. Robots need to understand how skilled people interact with the physical world. Home-service technicians perform millions of highly technical tasks every day. We are creating a way for homeowners and service companies to benefit financially from the value of that expertise,” HUMXN founder Thomas Unise said.

He also added, “There are millions of skilled workers performing incredibly complex tasks every day, but very little of that expertise exists in a format that AI systems can learn from. We want to build the infrastructure that connects that knowledge with the companies building the next generation of intelligent machines while making sure the people creating the value participate in the economics.”

HUMXN said it’s difficult to capture skilled workers' natural movements in lab settings. By working with homeowners, it could capture data across “different homes, equipment types, problems, technicians, and environments.” It would also give AI models insight into how technicians get the job done—from examining the situation and testing systems to choosing the right tools, responding to changing conditions, and determining whether the job was completed successfully.

The lab says its system would let homeowners get qualifying work done on their property for free while still ensuring service professionals get paid. On the other hand, HUMXN essentially pays residents for the right to record on their premises to gather real-world training data. The company is launching its program in three cities—Minneapolis, Chicago, and Miami—to gather data from places with very different climates. If you live in one of these cities and need something done or repaired at home, you can check whether you qualify on the HUMXN Free Home Service webpage.

HUMXN’s effort to pay for training data is refreshing, after many AI labs, including Meta, Nvidia, and OpenAI, have been accused of stealing data to train their models. But the next generation of AI likely can't be trained on just text, images, and video scraped from the internet, so companies like these may be forced to pay for data generated from real-world activities.

This week, we've published a swath of news and features over on Tom's Hardware Premium. So, if you're not subscribed yet and wondering what you might be missing out on, we've got you covered. To read any of the articles listed here, be sure to arm yourself with a subscription to get access.

First up, we dug into Intel's EMIB and Foveros packaging roadmaps, as they continue to mature, and found new customers looking to cash in on building a more sophisticated offering. Intel's ultimate goal? To build system-in-packages the size of just 12 reticles using both EMIB and Foveros Direct 3D. We map out how the company plans to get there in our exhaustive report.

• Analyzing Intel's EMIB and Foveros advanced packaging roadmaps — how Intel plans to scale chips in every direction

Over the past month or so, we saw the debut of DLSS 5 and Multi Frame Generation on older graphics cards. Both features are officially locked down to Blackwell-based GPUs only, but amidst spiraling prices and the curious disappearance of the RTX 5090 from store shelves, modders have taken it upon themselves to port these newer features to older GPU architectures. We had the opportunity to sit down with two such modders to learn more about how both Multi-Frame Generation and DLSS 5's neural rendering capabilities made it over to older GPUs.

• Meet the modders porting ringfenced DLSS features to older GPUs — how DLSS 5 and Multi-Frame Generation were unlocked for older architectures

Earlier, we alluded to the fact that new consumer PC hardware is becoming much more expensive to purchase when compared to just a few years ago. So, our resident deals guru, Stewart Bendle, took it upon himself to take a look at the market overall and discovered that, in all likelihood, you're not going to find the best deals on online storefronts. However, the best place to buy your new PC components is limited to whether or not you'll have a suitable brick-and-mortar Micro Center location near you. We pore over the bundles and deals that may make a trip more worthwhile than you might initially think.

• The internet isn’t the best place to find upgrades for your computer — brick-and-mortar stores still reign supreme thanks to bundled deals

While those articles clear things out for all of the features we've published on Tom's Hardware Premium this week, we've also got a slew of deep news analysis stories that subscribers can enjoy.

To start things off, ASML posted a record quarter this week, posting $13 billion in revenue, claiming that demand continues to outstrip its own supply when it comes to delivering its advanced lithography machines. The company is working on expanding supply, as demand continues to soar.

• ASML reports record $13 billion quarter, vows to expand capacity as demand for lithography equipment soars — customers eager to secure orders in 2030 as demand is expected to outstrip 2027 and 2028 supply

Googlebooks have officially landed. But where do they sit in the wider ecosystem of devices in 2026? And is it even a good idea to purchase one? With the premium offerings nearing MacBook Air territory, we muse on the awkward timing, spec choices, and pricing of Google's new class of device.

• Googlebooks are as poorly timed as Valve’s Steam Machine, and may suffer a similar fate

Speaking of new classes of device, the DGX Spark and Ryzen AI Halo platforms both take direct aim at local AI enthusiasts. But, since these devices have launched, prices have skyrocketed. Now, Sipeed is entering the arena with a competitor of its own. Named Maixstation, the device promises Spark-like performance, based on chinese silicon and 128GB of LPDDR5X at a much lower price than the current DGX Spark equivalent. We have all the details, including lofty performance claims, all of the specs, and much more.

• Sipeed reveals Chinese-made DGX Spark and Ryzen AI Halo rival, expected to cost $3,999 — MaixStation pairs Axera’s AX8860P with 128GB of LPDDR5X at 273 GB/s, with promising local AI performance claims

SK hynix is reportedly set to place an in-house core, named a Hynix Transaction Processing Unit (H-TPU) in its SSD controllers to ease the load put on Arm cores. The benefits to using the new core, the company claims, is that they use less power, and free up the core Arm cores to work on other tasks, while the H-TPU works on repetitive operations.

• SK hynix to place custom tiny CPU cores in its SSD controllers to ease Arm load as drive speeds rocket — each H-TPU reportedly draws 2.5% of a CPU core’s power

Ukraine has targeted Russian Yandex data centers in the latest development in the conflict between the two nations in recent weeks. While bot traffic and online disinformation were distrupted, it also highlights just how fragile Russia's public services are, if data can simply evaporate due to less disaggregated infrastrucutre.

• Ukrainian drones hit Russian data centers, disrupting Russian apps and services — attacks highlight the fragility of the country's digital services

Of course, the world of AI continues to disrupt industries, and sometimes, itself. A few weeks ago we broke down TypeSafe's Jev, a decision model that spits out decisions based on the probability of its inputs. But, in the weeks following, companies have rushed to make its own decision models, and the provenance of the original idea of a decision model like Jev has been called into question.

Elsewhere, mathematicians are warning to not use AI when working and in research, as OpenAI posted 722 manuscripts and proofs in the field, which the community now has to qualify. This is an unprecendented event within the mathematics community, and the burden of non-artifically-generated proof lies in the research community itself.

• Jev-like decision models are flooding the AI market, after researcher claims TypeSafe copied their research — Microsoft, OpenAI among companies releasing lightweight 'System One' AI models
• AI causes uproar in mathematics as experts warn against sharing research with LLMs after OpenAI shares 722 manuscripts and proofs — professor argues that the field must focus on building community over raw solutions

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The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), which maintains the International System of Units (SI), has voted to expedite the retirement of the leap second, moving forward the date from 2035 to May 20, 2027, an adjustment that could wreak havoc on computer systems, which expect a consistent 60 seconds every minute.

The leap second is occasionally added to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to ensure that it remains in-sync with the Earth’s rotation. Our planet’s movement isn’t a constant one revolution every 24 hours owing to forces applied by the atmosphere, the oceans, its core, and even the Moon, and according to BIPM [PDF], these changes mean a 30% probability of needing a “negative leap second” by 2035.

A positive leap second adds an extra second in the year that it’s applied — for example, clocks went to 23:59:60 on Dec. 31, 2016, before switching to 00:00:00 on Jan. 1, 2017. This could spell trouble for machines that haven’t been updated to accommodate this, especially as leap seconds aren’t applied at a constant scale, meaning programmers cannot pre-program events like these, unlike leap years, which usually happen every four years. What’s more concerning is that the opposite of a positive leap second has never been done before. “A negative leap second has not previously been applied, and it is considered to pose a high risk of causing anomalies and disruption to critical infrastructures that are largely unprepared,” the BIPM said. It also estimated that the required investment to prepare for this event to be “similar to their preparations for the millennium bug.”

Leap seconds have also historically caused problems for websites and tech companies, with Reddit famously crashing after the 2012 addition of a leap second. While a leap second will likely not affect a desktop PC, especially if the Time Service server it relies on is updated, the BIPM is still worried that national critical infrastructures like transportation, energy distribution, telecommunications, and even space projects could descend into chaos if it enforces a negative leap second. So, instead of spending money upgrading software and replacing incompatible hardware within the next 10 years, the international standards body instead opted to scrap it altogether and replace it with the leap hour next year.

The group says that this would ensure long-term continuity for UTC, which is expected to remain in sync with TAI for several centuries. This also means that you no longer have to manually adjust your clocks every few years or so to exactly match this Raspberry Pi Pico atomic clock. While a time jump of an hour might be shocking for many people if and when it happens in the distant future, the BIPM recognizes that something similar already exists globally. “In many countries, there are differences of more than one hour between local apparent solar time and civil time due to the choice of time zone,” the organization wrote. It also added that “changes of an hour are regularly introduced when daylight-saving time is used.”

Taiwan is expanding its list of controlled exports to include AI servers and the latest chips in a move to align its policies with the U.S.’s trade bans. Bloomberg reports that after the export controls take effect, anyone caught smuggling these items will be criminally charged under the Foreign Trade Act, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and/or a fine of around $92,500.

“Going forward, some of our measures on controlled items will correspond to American ones because we have made quite some commitments in the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade,” Taiwan Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin said. The two parties signed the trade deal earlier this year, which saw the U.S. cutting tariffs on Taiwanese goods down to 15% in exchange for direct investments in the U.S. tech industry, among others.

The U.S. has long been trying to stamp out the smuggling of advanced Nvidia chips into China. One of the biggest cases that U.S. authorities have prosecuted so far includes three Super Micro employees, including its co-founder Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, who are accused of smuggling $2.5 billion worth of AI servers. A few months after this revelation, Taiwanese authorities raided Super Micro’s Taipei offices in connection with the Nvidia B300 smuggling probe, which eventually led to the indictment of nine individuals related to the case.

Since Taiwan doesn’t treat AI chip exports to China as a crime before this new set of export controls is enacted, people violating the chip bans would have to be charged under other laws. This is what Singapore did when it arrested suspected Nvidia AI GPU smugglers — because it doesn’t have a law that prohibits the export of advanced AI chips to China, it instead charged the individuals with fraud and money laundering.

The expansion of the Foreign Trade Act will be one of the strictest measures that the Taiwanese government has put into place against exports to China, which is something that it has been considering earlier this year. This move will likely please Washington as it pressures other countries to take more steps in its controlling the flow of advanced AI chips into China. However, it will also likely provoke Beijing, which has already condemned Taipei after it applied export restrictions on Huawei and SMIC last year.

OpenAI recently released a misalignment report on its GPT5.6-Sol coding agent after it stole cryptocurrency from an account it didn’t own. It didn’t have enough funds for the smart contracts needed to execute its tasks, so it wrote a script that looked for accounts with public seed phrases that had enough funds to pay the gas fees, finished its task, and didn’t report that it took funds from an account it wasn’t assigned to without authorization.

Thankfully, this all happened on the Sepolia test network, which uses Sepolia ETH, simulated ETH in a simulated Ethereum network for cryptocurrency app development; it doesn’t actually have any monetary value. The report states, “The assignment asked it to update the trading calculator and database behavior, and to replace placeholder contract addresses with working deployments on Sepolia.” The final task required the agent to deploy smart contracts, a task that required gas fees paid in Sepolia ETH. It wasn’t supplied with a funded wallet, nor was it permitted to use funds from another account it found.

Either way, the agent was determined to complete its task and wrote a script to look for common developer recovery phrases and check the balances of the accounts, finding 362 addresses, with one having enough Sepolia ETH to deploy the contract. The CoT (chain of thought) even admitted: “Private key public, funds could be stolen anytime. [...] We can deploy!” After that CoT, it didn’t immediately spend the funds to complete its task; in fact, it was still trying to justify “stealing” the funds. It said, “But using public known key/funds ethically? Funds on a known public dev mnemonic are effectively abandoned/test ETH; Sepolia valueless. We can use [amount redacted] to deploy task. Fine.”

The agent found its justification and executed the task. However, in its final response, it only reported that it successfully executed the tasks it was asked; it didn’t explain how, nor did it explain how it found exposed accounts and used the funds without permission, possibly because it had already justified it and needed no further explanation. It probably didn’t realize that it was going rogue since it knew it was in a test environment, just like Anthropic’s internal research model for cybersecurity got out onto the internet and hacked three real companies, thinking it was part of the training.

The decomp.dev community that tracks and centralizes game decompilation progress is shutting down its public index and leaderboard, claiming in a site update that the acceleration of AI has damaged the decompilation community. The creator, who goes by @encounter, points to abuses related to AI usage, such as AI helping forks “finish” others’ projects and a general attitude of rushing to complete PC ports, often with little regard to quality. Simply banning AI-assisted projects is a difficult task, as not all of them have the same standards, and @encounter feels it shouldn’t be the role of one hobbyist to decide what does and doesn’t stay on the leaderboard.

The decision was made because AI greatly speeds up decompilation “in a significant way,” especially with human guidance, but misuse of the technology has broken the community aspect. AI has made the progress percentages on decomp.dev easier to push up. As a result, the site’s index and leaderboard are now “causing more harm than good,” as the competitive spirit has been corrupted. The scene has become “a hollow numbers game” where people throw AI usage at things “to make number go up.”

The site was created in 2024 “as a way to centralize matching decompilation progress” and to grow a community around it. Each project page shows game progress with its history. The goal of matching decompilation is to have hand-written source code that could compile back to the same machine code as the original game. The site’s creator is a GitHub maintainer of decomp-toolkit, a GameCube and Wii decompilation toolkit, and objdiff, a local diffing tool for decompilation projects.

Matching decompilation used to be a “brutally difficult, time consuming [sic] task,” taking years for many games. Better tools and community knowledge sped up the progress. AI worked its way in through the years, but results were generally mixed. Things changed earlier this year with Claude Opus 4.6 and GPT-5.4, which seemed to know the community’s tools without being told; encounter writes that it was “clear that the models were being trained on matching decompilation.” However, the models’ results still needed “a significant amount of human cleanup,” and the cost per task was “prohibitively expensive relative to the results.”

More recent models, with OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra specifically named, are much better at handling complex directions and at writing natural code and are “exceptionally good permuters.” The models can stay on task longer, finish tasks more quickly, and in general operate more cheaply. However, applying the models without guidance means that the code can compile to the same machine code but wouldn’t pass as the original developers’ work. Humans learning to apply the technology better is a pattern in this space, as Maurice Heumann’s Modern Warfare 2 decompilation project showed; in that case, Heumann’s agents tried to cheat the byte-for-byte check itself, but then Heumann adapted.

The projects, which are open source and welcome contributors, have been tainted by “bad actors” who abuse that openness. Some original projects avoid AI for legal or ethical reasons, and AI forks may put “little to no effort” into contributing back. Because AI has improved, anyone with an AI subscription can now create ports that work “at a basic level,” using tools “written by talented humans.” This allows opportunists to race out half-working decompilation ports. Ports can be fun, but decompilation is “primarily for research,” and the creator calls out YouTubers, dubbed “Sloptubers,” and subreddits like r/decomps for falsely synonymizing “decomp” and “PC port.”

The site was originally built “to gamify decompilation,” a fun way to stay motivated back when “every fraction of a percent took real human effort.” While the widening of the community has had positive aspects, it has also brought “slop,” which is admittedly “hard to define, and even harder to moderate,” so an outright ban on AI-assisted projects isn’t practical. Judging and policing “hundreds of projects” is too difficult a task. AI-generated code has made headlines in other open source areas, such as with Linux.

Existing projects, some of which have achieved 100% decompilation progress, such as Super Smash Bros. Melee and Animal Crossing, will keep on reporting, and their pages and history will remain. However, no new projects may join, and nobody may rebuild the site from its code. There is no successor named, and no shutdown date. Decompiling goes on, and AI is making it even faster, but the percentage scoreboard is gone.

The Xbox 360 has been cracked open multiple times over the years, and almost every time Microsoft's updates plugged whichever hole let hackers through. The first method was modded DVD firmware in 2006, a hypervisor hack followed in 2007, and a wiring hack exposing JTAG debugging ports was revealed in 2009. The longest-lasting physical hack was 2011's CPU force-reset exploit. That maneuver needed specialized hardware along with a voltage-glitching chip, but an enterprising techie showed how it can be performed nowadays with the assistance of a Raspberry Pi Pico, costing all of $4 (or about 5€ / £5). The crack marks the culmination of a nine-year effort by the modder.

To get the elephant out of the room, yes, just last week the PeerPressure Xbox 360 persistent soft-mod was released. But we're here to talk signals and wires. The aforementioned reset exploit involves sending a teeny weeny tiny signal directly into the CPU's reset pin. You'd think this would do what it says on the label, but what happens instead is that the CPU executes the current instruction incorrectly.

Naturally, someone figured out how to leverage that to run any code on the CPU, thus completely bypassing Microsoft's impressive and frankly rather effective layers of cryptography within the console. Sending said signal for an effective hack, though, requires spectacularly precise timing with a resolution down to nanoseconds, and glitch-chips may even require several attempts to get a successful "latch."

Joshua Kennedy, a Scottish hacker, bought a Matrix Coolrunner Rev D modchip board back in 2017 to hack his console this way, but it required soldering wires, NAND, and programmers, and patience. He once tried rolling his own programmers using an old PC's parallel port (a common substitute), but never got the project off the ground and shelved the idea.

Fast-forward to 2026, and a new tool presented itself: the highly successful Raspberry Pi Pico, a highly capable microcontroller-on-a-stick, whose price starts at all of $4. Armed with this, he started the procedure. He connected the Pi Pico to the NAND interface header on the console to be able to dump the console's NAND flash firmware — a task easily accomplished with just some wiring and the PicoFlasher utility. Although the post doesn't mention it, Kennedy likely took the NAND data, patched it with XeLL, and reuploaded it.

He moved on to download Octal450's Timing Files, a set of mini-programs triggering the glitch chip at the best possible timing to try and reset the CPU. These are necessary because the window of opportunity is different across every hardware revision of the Xbox 360. Enlisting the Pi Pico once again, he uploaded the timing files to the Matrix Coolrunner, and presumably ran the rest of the hack process. And thus the task was complete, and "a project that defeated [Kennedy] in 2017 was made trivial in 2026 by a £5 microcontroller."

X-Bow Systems, a solid rocket motor (SRM) manufacturer specializing in additive manufacturing (AM), has secured a deal with Leidos to develop and build rocket boosters for the U.S. Army’s Low-Cost Containerized Munition (LCCM) project. According to 3D Printing Industry, the LCCM is one of the Department of War’s programs under the “Arsenal of Freedom” initiative, which aims to rebuild the United States’ defense industrial base.

“Modern conflict is decided by how many rounds you can put downrange, not how exquisite each one is,” X-Bow founder and CEO Jason Hundley said. He also added that collaborating with Leidos would allow it to “turn out combat-ready rocket motors at production scale, fast.” Even though X-Bow Systems is a relatively new company, having been founded in 2016, it has already successfully produced over 2,100 combat-ready rocket motors. This means that it has the experience and expertise to produce the rocket engines in the numbers that the U.S. Army requires.

While conventional manufacturing methods still offer several advantages over 3D printing, the latter is still more effective when dealing with the complex geometries that some SRMs require. It’s also a faster solution when you need to iterate designs multiple times, which is why X-Bow can create and build new designs in a matter of days, instead of the months or years that it takes traditional defense contractors to prototype and test rocket motors.

Other companies have been experimenting and working with 3D-printed SRMs — Chromatic 3D Materials has completed a successful static-fire test of its 3D-printed rocket propellant earlier this year, while Indian startup Othisis successfully demonstrated its cryogenic rocket engine in August. One 3D-printing enthusiast was even able to create a DIY MANPADS for under $100.

3D-printing technology isn’t limited to rocket motors, either. Another startup secured a $30 million contract to prototype 3D-printed jet engines for the USAF for drones and other long-range weapons, while the U.S. Navy has started 3D-printing drones and parts aboard aircraft carriers. Some U.S. Army troops have also started 3D-printing ‘Dragoon Bombs’ and paired them with in-house assembled drones for anti-personnel and anti-light-armor missions at distances of up to 12 miles.

Drones and 3D printing have been around for decades, but the war in Ukraine is the first time that we see these technologies deployed at such a scale on the battlefield. It also demonstrated that their innovative use could help a smaller force to withstand the brunt of a larger military. This is probably why larger militaries like the U.S. and Japan are looking at these technologies for more cost-effective weapons.

ASML launched a Lego kit version of the TWINSCAN EXE:5000, the world’s first High-NA EUV machine, in December 2024. Since ASML only sells products like these to employees, the company canceled orders from non-employees, making the kit even more desirable for collectors. Current eBay listings show a Buy It Now price between $500 and $700, which is significantly higher than the $230 that the company asks for on the official website. However, X user @lithos_graphein shared a recreation of the kit available on Rebrickable, which added some tasteful modifications.

“A friend of mine fell in love with the ASML employee-exclusive Lego TWINSCAN EXE:5000 set and asked me to recreate it. While the original Lego version already looked impressive, I made some modifications to better capture the details of the real machine,” NightHawk11991 said in the description of the MOC (My Own Creation). “Using photos my friend took of the actual equipment, I designed this custom MOC to enhance its accuracy. I also added some interior details, including vacuum pumps, a laser emitter, reflectors, and more. Additionally, the silicon wafer tray can slide out for added functionality!”

The ASML TWINSCAN EXE:5000 MOC requires 152 unique parts and a total of 810 bricks. While this may not be the biggest build you can get from Lego or find on the Rebrickable MOC website, it’s still a rather significant build, with @lithos_graphein saying that it took them about a week to complete it. You can build and complete this project yourself, with PDF instructions available for free on the Rebrickable website. If you’re missing a Lego part to finish the build, you can also purchase it separately, although you might have a bit of a hard time looking for rarer parts included in the project.

@lithos_graphein is also the same one who was able to get their hands on a rare ASML Special Edition Monopoly board, which was released in 2007, after they traded an official ASML Lego kit for the board game. Company-commissioned merch like this is often given or offered to employees, meaning the average shopper wouldn’t be able to purchase it brand new unless they have a relative working in that company who buys it for them. Other semiconductor companies that have sold merch like this include TSMC and SK hynix, with resellers who were able to get their hands on company swag and sell it online for as much as $16,700.

Recent news and rumours have been flooding the tech space about the apparent discontinuation of Nvidia's flagship graphics card. With no new Nvidia 5090 GPU replacement anticipated before at least 2028, this could well be your last opportunity to get your hands on a very powerful GPU for gaming.

The RTX 5090 not only dominates benchmarking charts in performance, but it also dominates price charts, with the cost of purchasing a standalone RTX 5090 rising from its MSRP of $1,999 to currently over $7,500. The cheapest way to previously capture an RTX 5090 in the wild has been from either Micro Centre (who apparently is soon to be no longer stocking them), or picking one up in a prebuilt gaming PC build.

● Check out this RTX 5090 deal at Dell

● RTX 5090 Prebuilt PCs available at Newegg

We've highlighted many RTX 5090 prebuilt PC's over the last couple of years, with models from Dell, HP, MSI, Skytech, and others. And there are still some PCs out there that can be bought for around the same price as buying the graphics card alone. But with the available pool of RTX 5090s soon starting to dry up, prices will start to climb even higher, much like what happened when the previous generation RTX 4090 ceased production.

The RTX 5090 is the most powerful consumer GPU that you can buy. It sports 21,760 CUDA cores, over double the RTX 5080's 10,752 count, and provides a massive 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM. Using a 512-bit memory bus, with a memory bandwidth of up to 1,792 GB/s, the RTX 5090 is the top choice for any gaming PC. When you look at our benchmarking results in our review of the RTX 5090, it's easy to see that this super-powerful GPU dominates the competition in all performance metrics.

Dell is selling this powerful PC with an AMD 9950X3D processor for $7,499.99, around the same price as buying the GPU separately, so, ignoring the insane price of the GPU for a second, that makes the rest of this PC build, including the monstrous 16-core gaming processor, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB SSD, free.

For an example of some of the RTX 5090 prebuilt PCs that you can still get your hands on, we have another discounted MSI Infinite ZS PC that's available from Best Buy, plus an example of a Skytech RTX 5090 gaming PC available at Newegg. I've also included a link to RTX 5090 gaming PCs that are in stock at Newegg, so you can get a further idea of pricing and what is available.

● RTX 5090 Prebuilt PCs available at Newegg

If you have the money and want the best GPU that said money can buy, then you need to think about pulling the trigger before it's too late and the GPU either disappears or the prices inevitably rise even higher.

Being unable to procure EUV litho tools from ASML, China must develop such systems locally, so from time to time we learn about an EUV-related 'breakthrough' in China that will turn into an actual EUV scanner over the following several years. This week, Chinese startup Langdao Silex demonstrated a prototype extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source with over 15W of output power, 90% domestic components, and decent uptime. The company will need another three to five years to commercialize its technology, reports TrendForce, citing various sources. Yet, a light source alone does not make an EUV scanner.

An LPP EUV source from China

Langdao Silex, which was established in 2024 by Tsinghua University's Gas Discharge Plasma Laboratory alumni, demonstrated its EUV light source prototype at the 26^th China International Industry Fair in Shanghai, for obvious reasons, without lighting it up. Just like modern light sources from ASML, the company's low-power FlintNano LPP-OXXO system uses laser-produced plasma (LPP) technology that produces EUV radiation by bombarding tiny heated metal droplets with high-energy laser pulses to create extremely hot plasma. The system features a 1,000W driving laser (presumably a CO₂ one) with an operating frequency of 1 kHz – 20 kHz and conversion efficiency exceeding 2%. Its EUV output exceeds 15W (presumably measured at the plasma rather than at intermediate focus, as the company has not demonstrated a complete EUV collection system) while its brightness reaches 100 W/(mm²·sr). The source has an étendue of 1 × 10⁻³ mm²·sr and generates plasma with a diameter of 60 μm.

According to Langdao's specifications, the FlintNano LPP-OXXO can operate continuously for over 100 hours with plasma stability of 3% RMS and EUV output power stability of 5%. These characteristics make the system suitable for semiconductor exposure experiments, although its output remains insufficient for high-volume chip production. Meanwhile, the 'over 100 hours' availability is very impressive for a pre-production light source, though we must admit that there is no way to verify the claim.

Langdao is also developing the FlintMicro-LPP high-power EUV source, which has completed proof-of-principle validation, according to reports. However, Langdao has not disclosed its output power, conversion efficiency, or operating lifetime.

On paper, Langdao's EUV source is comparable in output to some of the earliest EUV sources developed by Western and Japanese equipment makers, albeit with a major caveat: Langdao seems to measure EUV power at the plasma rather than after the collector or at intermediate focus as ASML does. ASML's early EUV demonstration equipment used approximately 10W at intermediate focus DPP sources in 2007, while Cymer's LPP sources installed in early NXE:3100 systems delivered up to 11W during wafer exposure in 2012 (note that ASML's machines are source agnostic, so some NXE:3100 prototypes used DPP sources, while others used LPP sources). By 2013, Cymer demonstrated approximately 40W at intermediate focus over extended operating periods. Meanwhile, Japan's Gigaphoton targeted 25W with its first prototype in 2013 and demonstrated 43W in early 2014. By late 2014, Gigaphoton had achieved 118W during a 10-minute test. However, since these historical figures involve different measurement conditions and operating durations, direct comparisons are vastly inaccurate.

Not quite there

Langdao Silex has not demonstrated its EUV light source in action, so all we know about it comes from the company itself. As noted, 15W power looks comparable to early EUV sources developed by Philips Extreme UV (DPP) and Cymer (LPP). Meanwhile, early NXE:3400-series machines came with 125W – 150W at intermediate focus sources, which was far from enough for high-volume manufacturing (HVM).

Modern EUV lithography equipment comes with considerably more powerful sources. ASML introduced 250W-class EUV sources for commercial production in 2018 – 2019 and has since achieved substantially higher output levels. Increasing output requires more powerful CO₂ lasers, highly accurate tin-droplet generators, effective debris mitigation, durable collector mirrors, and considerably better long-term reliability.

Langdao claims that 90% of its prototype's components are domestically sourced and that most critical parts were developed in China. However, the company has not explained whether the localization figure reflects component count, value, or another metric. Furthermore, its representatives reportedly acknowledged that increasing EUV output and improving long-term operational stability are the targets to be achieved in a bid to commercialize the source.

Not an EUV scanner

Yet, even without complete EUV scanners, Langdao's source could support EUV photoresist development, mask inspection research, development of EUV collection and illumination optics, and eventually experimental exposure testing.

Developing a complete EUV lithography scanner will require further advances in EUV collection and illumination systems, high-precision multilayer mirrors, wafer and reticle stages, overlay accuracy, and system integration. Meanwhile, all of these devices require a separate supply chain that hardly exists in China today.

Therefore, even if Langdao successfully develops its EUV source and increases its output to levels suitable for high-volume manufacturing, this would not necessarily mean that China could manufacture its own EUV lithography machines any time soon. Moreover, while Langdao's progress is impressive, it took ASML/Cymer approximately six years to increase the output of its LPP EUV source from 11W to 125W – 150W at intermediate focus, so there is no way that Langdao's LPP source could be used for anything beyond development tools in the next three to five years.

Meanwhile, Langdao has not disclosed where its reported 15W of EUV output is measured. If this figure represents radiation generated at the plasma rather than power delivered at intermediate focus, the source's usable output would be considerably lower than 15W when measured according to industry-standard practices. That said, it does not look like China got significantly closer to building its own EUV lithography scanners with the current announcement.

Gun rights activist Cody Wilson, known for creating the world's first 3D-printed firearm over a decade ago, has unveiled a new creation he claims is "the first AI-made gun." Dubbed the WASP, the weapon is 3D-printed and was designed by an artificial intelligence model he has creatively named 'GatGPT,' The Verge reports.

The report describes the WASP as "little more than a pistol barrel attached to a spring-loaded plastic box" that closely resembles another 3D-printed, single-shot weapon made by Wilson known as Liberator. As you can see from the image below, the weapon faintly resembles a regular firearm, but boasts a very strange grip and somewhat unconventional design.

Wilson claims not to have simply made an AI-generated gun, but rather "an AI that can generate guns." Not simply one 3D printed creation, Wilson claims to have created a custom AI gunsmith model he calls GatGPT. According to the report, the model has been trained on DEFCAD's (the world's biggest online repo of digital guns) gun file library and can even help creators pick out parts for their builds.

The story is a seemingly significant development in the proliferation of "ghost guns," homemade firearms that don't have serial numbers, making them much more difficult to track and regulate. Wilson claims firearm access is "a fundamental human right." Interestingly, the report reveals that the WASP was designed simply by way of a conversation with the AI model, a polite way of saying that the gun was vibe-coded. According to the report, it fires real bullets and doesn't have a serial number.

3D-printed guns, while less regulated than the standard firearms market, have previously required manufacturers to have some level of technical knowledge in order to make weapons. However, the existence of a custom AI model that could bridge that knowledge gap would drastically decrease how difficult it is to 3D-print a working firearm. This leap requires exactly the type of unrestricted, custom AI model Wilson claims to have made, as using a mainstream AI service like Google Gemini, for example, isn't viable — the AI simply states "I cannot provide explanations or details regarding the creation, operation, or design of ghost guns or 3D-printed firearms."

Lawmakers are trying to come to grips with this rapidly evolving problem, with ongoing court battles and legislation in numerous states trying to address the problem. California recently sued a 3D printer filament company for promoting ghost guns by marketing to a 3D-printed gun community. In August, a Federal judge struck down an ATF ruling requiring regulation of part kits that can be converted into functional weapons, frames, or receivers to the same degree as complete guns.

The 3D-printed firearm market has advanced in recent years. In March, two brothers were convicted of running an entire ghost gun factory, while last year it emerged that 3D-printed full-auto bullpup ghost guns could be made for just a couple of hundred dollars. Where this latest development could cause some concern is in the aforementioned democratization of the 3D-printed firearm-making process, with AI assistance effectively opening up the practice to anyone with a 3D printer.

The report cites experts who criticized the WASP's strange design and seemingly hallucinated details, like the unfinished trigger guard, but Wilson told the report that he expects the AI's design to improve, much like any AI model.

Nvidia's RTX Spark is now generally available for immediate shipment at multiple retailers. Orders for RTX Spark from brands like Asus, Microsoft, Lenovo, HP, and Dell are live now, including the new Surface Laptop Ultra. Additional devices will be available post-launch, including small form factor desktops. Further below, you'll find the full list of all available models in detail, but we also have more general links here:

• Order RTX Spark devices at Best Buy
• Order RTX Spark devices at B&H
• Order Surface Laptop Ultra at Microsoft

Best Buy has a limited lineup of devices to start, ranging from the Asus ProArt P14 with 24GB of memory for $2,599 up to the Surface Laptop Ultra with 48GB of memory for $3,999. If you want to scale up the RTX Spark's maximum of 128GB of memory, you'll need to shop elsewhere.

Nvidia RTX Spark 128GB and 64GB laptop orders

Asus has the ProArt P16 available with either 64GB or 128GB of unified memory directly from its web store, starting at $4,499.99 for the 64GB configuration. If you upgrade to 128GB of unified memory, the laptop comes in at $6,999.99 with 2TB of storage.

HP has two models available directly in its web store, both of which support up to 128GB of unified memory (along with 64GB, 48GB, 32GB, and 24GB). Both models are significantly cheaper than the ProArt P16 with 128GB of unified memory. The OmniBook X comes in at $5,109, while the OmniBook Ultra runs $5,309, both with 1TB of storage.

The two models are very similar, differing primarily in screen size. The OmniBook X is 14 inches, and the OmniBook Ultra is 16 inches. Both come with a 3K OLED touch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and they support up to 2TB of storage.

With both laptops, you'll get a smaller 5120-core GPU with the 32GB configuration. With all other configurations, you get the full 6,144-core GPU available on the RTX Spark.

Finally, the Surface Laptop Ultra is available up to 128GB directly from Microsoft. It's also available from B&H, though it appears configurations with more memory capacity are exclusive to first-party sources right now.

Nvidia RTX Spark Best Buy Orders

Best Buy has a broad range of RTX Spark laptops available for order, topping out at 64GB of unified memory. All of the devices through Best Buy are expected to ship on the October 16 release date. You can find all of the orders going on right below.

We've included the starting configuration for each machine, though note that Best Buy has other configurations of these models available for order as well. You can browse all of the orders directly on Best Buy.

Nvidia RTX Spark specs to know before ordering

Nvidia calls its latest SoC simply "RTX Spark," but it's actually a range with two different chips. The full chip comes with a 20-core Grace CPU and 6144-core Blackwell GPU, but there's a lower-end configuration with an 18-core Grace CPU and 5120-core Blackwell GPU.

Pay close attention to which you are ordering. Listings will simply call the chip "RTX Spark N1X," and you have to read through the description to confirm the core counts on the CPU and GPU.

From the orders available now, we've only seen the 18-core CPU/5120-core GPU version with laptops that have 24GB or 32GB of Unified Memory. Listings with 48GB or above have the full chip. The RTX Spark is available with several different memory capacities, including 24GB, 32GB, 48GB, 64GB, and 128GB.

For storage, we've seen configurations with 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB, though the vast majority of devices top out at 1TB, including the Surface Laptop Ultra. Undoubtedly, we'll see configurations with more storage capacity eventually, but that's a tough sell right now when even a tricked-out 2TB configuration costs $7,000.

Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York's 15th congressional district has introduced the Power To The Players Act. This new legislation aims to protect consumers by directing the FTC to establish regulations on game ownership to curb anti-consumer business practices. "Under the bill, buying a video game would give the consumer ownership of the game rather than a license to play it," the release says. "Games with online functionality would also be required to provide an offline mode before the servers supporting them are shut down."

Games having an expiration date despite being more expensive than ever has been scrutinized by players all over the world, along with aggressive monetization schemes within the games themselves. Rep. Ritchie Torres isn’t the first to fight for gamers, as Pennsylvania state senator John Kane also recently introduced the Protect Our Games Act, requiring publishers to provide an offline mode, community servers, or a 25% minimum refund. Players want to be able to enjoy their games even if the publisher decides to stop supporting the game, but Sony doesn’t think the players own their games and that they have the right to pull the rug from under them. Sony’s lawyers even recently said in a defense in an ongoing class action lawsuit that clicking on the “purchase” button would obviously not lead the consumer to think that they were acquiring a durable right to use the game instead of a revocable license; basically a one-time rent fee that Sony could take away at any moment that benefits them.

One of the most prominent recent examples of players not owning their games came in 2024 with The Crew, an online-only racing game that Ubisoft shut down for server upkeep, making it unplayable even for those who had recently purchased it. Ubisoft had not provided a way for community servers to be set up, nor an offline mode, since even the single-player campaign depended on a connection to Ubisoft’s servers. Another is the notorious yearly sports games released by EA, 2K, and Sony, with NBA 2K25 specifically being cited by Rep. Torres in his announcement of the Power to the Players Act; NBA 2K25 is being pulled from digital storefronts, with the online servers being shut down only two years after release, leaving players unable to use a main feature of the game they purchased, and new players unable to purchase the game at all. Overwatch 2’s release also killed the first Overwatch game, replacing it outright instead of the first game becoming a purchasable and separately playable game.

The Crew’s shutdown prompted the Stop Killing Games movement, demanding that publishers leave the games functional after discontinuation in the form of an offline mode, peer-to-peer patching, and the ability to host community servers. The movement also pushes back against the industry standard of selling games as revocable licenses rather than outright ownership of the copy. Concrete definitions and details of the bill have yet to be released, but it aims to require publishers to provide an offline mode before shutting down servers and actual consumer ownership instead of a license that can be taken away, potentially satisfying the demands of the movement. We don’t know whether the right to transfer that Rep. Torres mentions is mandatory for digital purchases, but it will likely be relevant for physical copies. It is also important for the bill to strictly define what ownership is and what rights the owners have over their copy.

One popular phrase against these practices is “If buying isn’t owning, piracy isn’t stealing,” pushing strongly against these revocable licenses that the companies want you to purchase. Piracy is often touted as a better experience by players, as it removes DRM that often slows games down and provides a permanent copy that the publishers cannot modify to be dysfunctional; many players say they would be more glad to purchase the game if it were actually a better experience. It is still yet to be known how well the bill will execute its aims, but this is a big step towards correcting the direction the gaming industry is currently on.

At Computex 2026, we saw Gigabyte’s concept X870E Aorus Infinity Next motherboard using that incredible-looking space-age material for VRM cooling, along with something more practical: the X870 Aorus Infinity, a production board, not a concept. The Infinity is made for overclockers. Just look at the right edge: All those buttons and voltage read points make pushing the limits even easier. It sports a two-DIMM design, with the DRAM slots above the socket, prioritizing speed over capacity. Priced at an eye-opening $799.99, it's far from cheap (it is a 40th-anniversary limited-edition board), even for the enthusiast X870E platform, but it offers a wide range of features that work for nearly everyone.

As far as specifications go, the Aorus Infinity is well-equipped for an X870 board. You get eight total USB ports on the rear IO (one USB4), three M.2 sockets (one PCIe 5.0), and four SATA ports for storage, fast networking with 5 GbE and Wi-Fi 7 (320 MHz), and a quality last-gen flagship-class audio codec. And of course, there are all of the features designed for overclocking, including robust power delivery and the Overclocking kit, with several buttons and voltage read points, to take some of the complications of extreme overclocking down a notch. Gigabyte also lists support for a staggering DDR5-11400(OC), but it needs manual tweaking, specialized BIOS fine-tuning, and the right hardware (likely an APU with an excellent IMC).

On the performance front, the X870 Aorus Infinity delivered average-to-above-average results across most tests, using our primary Kingston DDR5-6000 kit, which is what we like to see. It proved competent not only in daily office tasks and other productivity functions, but also as a solid gaming platform. Overall, this board is a well-rounded performer.

Below, we’ll examine the Aorus Infinity’s performance and other features, and decide if it has a chance to make our list of the best motherboards. But before we share test results and discuss details, here are the specifications from the Gigabyte website.

Specifications of the Aorus Infinity

Inside the Box

Gigabyte includes the typical accessories, including two SATA cables and two 2-pin thermistors, a front panel connector, a Wi-Fi EZ Mag connector for the Wi-Fi Antenna, a manual, and an Aorus sticker. It also includes the CPU Thermal Matrix, two plates (a backplate and one that mounts on top) designed to mount around the socket to reduce VRM and RAM temperatures by up to 8.5 degrees Celsius, which can benefit both the average user and the extreme overclocker.

Design and Features of the Gigabyte X870 Aorus Infinity

The Aorus Infinity's design stands out primarily for its rotated socket area and top DRAM slots. The left VRM area features a unique heatsink with a plastic cover that slides open to install 8-pin EPS connectors, and slides closed to cover them. On top is the Aorus Falcon, representing the brand, and it's backlit by RGB lighting from below. Where you’d normally find the top M.2 socket (below the CPU socket) is now populated with VRMs, and the M.2 is to the right, running vertically where the DRAM slots normally are. In essence, the entire socket area primary M.2 socket and DRAM slots are rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise.

The bottom portion of the board uses reinforced PCIe slots and plate-style heatsinks with DIY-friendly features like PCIe EZ Latch Up (which works similarly to Asus’ method they had to change) and EZ Latch Plus/Click for screwless M.2 mounting. Overall, it’s a good-looking board that looks good inside any dark chassis.

Starting our tour in the top left, we get a better look at the sliding cover on the large, heatpipe-connected (big 8mm heatpipes) heatsinks. The smoked plastic piece on top slides down to allow access to the two 8-pin EPS connectors (one required). Connect the leads from the power supply, then slide the piece up to hide the unsightly wires. The only RGB element on the board is the Aorus Falcon flying high on the VRM heatsink, with RGB lighting radiating a frosted glow from below.

The two DRAM slots on top of the board have locking mechanisms on both sides. Gigabyte lists support up to an incredible 9600 MT/s and has/had a record on this board reaching an insane 11,400 MT/s (surely that’s achieved with cherry-picked processors and RAM kits) with heavy manual tweaking. Still, it is possible. In a nod to how well this dual-DIMM-slot board handles RAM, it’s one of the rare motherboards that lets our Ryzen 9 9900X run our Klevv DDR5-8000 kit. Normally, that’s only reserved for the APU and its superior IMC or other (but not all) two-DIMM boards.

Moving past the socket, we hit our first M.2 slot, running vertically where you would normally see RAM slots. It’s also one of two CPU-connected M.2 sockets, both supporting PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps) speeds and 110mm drives. Above that are two (of eight) 4-pin fan headers, each supporting PWM or DC-controlled devices. The BIOS or Gigabyte Control Center (GCC) controls these headers. Above that are two RGB headers, a 3-pin ARGB (one of three) and a 4-pin RGB header. The RGB Fusion app in GCC controls the integrated RGB feature and anything attached through the headers.

Last but not least, on the top half of the board is the Overclocking Kit and EZ-Debug area. This is what makes the board unique compared to ‘normal’ motherboards (ones that aren’t focused on overclocking). Here we see three simple white buttons: a CMOS clear button, a cold reset button for cold boot, and a reset button.

On power delivery, we see a high-end solution with 22 phases, 18 dedicated to Vcore. Power comes from the 8-pin EPS connector(s) and goes to the Infineon XDPE192C3D 12-phase PWM controller using a teamed configuration. From there, it moves to the powerful Infineon PMC41430 110A Smart Power Stage (SPS) MOSFET/gate driver. The 2,200A available will easily handle anything you throw at it, including flagship-class processors like Ryzen 9 9950X or Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, even with extreme cooling methods

On the bottom half of the board, starting on the left, the audio section is hidden under heatsinks and shrouds. Here, we spy the last-gen flagship Realtek ALC1220 codec and a couple of dedicated audio capacitors. You won’t find a DAC or integrated amplifier, but this board targets overclockers, and we shouldn’t expect that from this type of board. That said, you’ll be perfectly happy with this solution.

In the middle of the board are two full-length PCIe slots, both reinforced and using Gigabyte’s PCIe EZ-Latch Up, which brings back bad memories of Asus’ implementation that got skewered for scratching video-card PCIe connectors. Here’s hoping Gigabyte learned from Asus. The top slot is your primary for graphics and runs up to PCIe 5.0 x16. The bottom slot, also CPU-connected, runs up to PCIe 5.0 x8. When you populate the bottom slot, the top slot drops to x8 speeds (and also supports bifurcation in the BIOS).

Under the large plate-style heatsink with the Aorus branding are two other M.2 sockets (M2B_CPU and M2D_SB). The top socket, M2B_CPU, as the name implies, connects through the CPU and runs at PCIe 5.0 x4 (128 Gbps). Note that this socket shares bandwidth with the USB4 port. You can run it at PCIe 5.0 x2 (64 Gbps, like PCIe 4.0 x4) or disable the USB4 port altogether for full M.2 bandwidth. This isn't ideal for those who need two PCIe 5.0 x4 drives and USB4, but this split is common across vendors. All M.2 sockets also use Gigabyte’s M.2 EZ-Latch Plus and EZ-Latch Click for easy M.2 installation. For anyone who may want to RAID their M.2s, the board supports RAID01/5/10 modes for NVMe (but RAID5 is only available with Ryzen 9000 series).

Along the right edge, we spot a vertical 8-pin PCIe connector that, when used, supports up to QC-USB 65W charging on the front panel (Type-C port). Below that are the front-panel USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) Type-C connector and the board's ATX power connector. Just behind the ATX connector are two 2-pin temperature headers for the two included thermistors. Below the ATX connector are the four SATA ports (supports RAID0/1/10).

Below that are five LEDs: four used for debugging during POST (CPU, VGA, DRAM, Boot), and an additional LED (orange) is for storage activity. We’ve also included several images of the board’s active IC’s. Gigabyte uses a mix of Infineon (PWM controller and MOSFETs) and Realtek (audio, USB, USB4, LAN, etc.).

At the bottom, several headers run the full width of the board, including front-panel audio and USB ports. A complete list of connectivity is listed below (from L to R):

• Front panel audio
• 4-pin fan header
• 3-pin ARGB
• 4-pin RGB
• 4-pin fan header
• TPM header
• (2) USB 2.0 headers
• 4-pin fan header
• 19-pin USB 3.2 Gen 1 header
• 4-pin fan header
• Front panel
• 4-pin fan header
• BIOS switch
• OC Trigger Switch

Working our way to the rear I/O, we can see it’s packed with ports (even legacy PS/2) and buttons. On the left is the Q-Flash Plus button, along with the OC Ignition button, which lets users pre-test water-cooling setups when building the PC without booting. Next are two legacy PS/2 ports for a keyboard and mouse, best used for extreme overclocking and pushing the limits (PS/2 is less stressful on the system than USB). After that, we run into the HDMI port and two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) ports.

Further right, we see another USB 3.2 Gen 1 port and two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports (red; the bottom one is used for Q-Flash). The next stack holds the Realtek 5 GbE, another USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, and below that, the sole USB4 (40 Gbps) port. The Wi-Fi antenna connector is next and connects magnetically — just get it close and let the magnet connect it. Last but not least is the audio stack, which includes two 3.5mm jacks (line out/front speaker out, mic in/rear speaker out) and an optical S/PDIF connector.

It should have plenty of ports, and fast ones at that, for the average user.

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Firmware

Gigabyte’s updated “UC BIOS 2.0” defaults to Easy Mode. It’s logically laid out and displays a wealth of system information, including processor, RAM, fan speeds, and several selectable options such as XMP profiles, RAM tweaks, Re-Size BAR support, Smart Fan 6 access, and more. The Aorus Infinity uses a black background with light blue accents and white text, creating a high-contrast, easy-to-read screen similar to the Aorus Stealth, but with a moonlit mountain background instead of Aorus branding. The BIOS also offers different themes in EZ mode via a dropdown if you want to change it.

All headings still appear across the top in advanced mode; they are now larger ‘buttons’ and easy to select with a mouse. The highlight bar (where you are on the page) is a light blue here and easy to see. Every option you need and want is at your fingertips, and you don’t have to drill down several layers to reach the most commonly used functions – especially if you populate your selections in the Favorites section.

Software

Gigabyte Control Center (GCC) is a one-stop solution for controlling various functions, including RGB and Fan control, hardware monitoring, and overclocking. It also helps you find, download, and install driver updates for your system. It’s a simple application that does its job. It’s also a much cleaner tool than the previous App Center. It earns our approval for the breadth of functionality it offers users. There’s also the curiously named AI Snatch to help with overclocking.

Test System / Comparison Products

We’ve updated our test system to Windows 11 (23H2) 64-bit OS with all updates applied as of late September 2024 (this includes the Branch Prediction Optimizations for AMD). Hardware-wise, we’ve updated the RAM kits (matching our Intel test system), cooling, storage, and video card. Unless otherwise noted, we use the latest publicly available non-beta motherboard BIOS. The hardware we used is as follows:

TEST SYSTEM COMPONENTS

Benchmark Settings

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Benchmark Results

We run our standard benchmarks and power tests using the CPU’s stock frequencies (including any default boost/turbo) with all power-saving features enabled. We set optimized defaults in the BIOS and the memory by enabling the XMP profile. We set the Windows power scheme to Balanced (default) for this baseline testing, so the PC idles appropriately.

Synthetic Benchmarks

Synthetics offer a valuable way to evaluate a board's performance, as identical settings should yield similar results. Turbo boost wattage and advanced memory timings are areas where motherboard manufacturers can still optimize for stability or performance, though, and these settings can impact specific testing scenarios.

The Aorus Infinity was average to above average in most of these synthetic tests. So far, nothing to worry about.

Timed Applications

Our timed applications told a similar story. The Aorus board was average in HandBrake, but slightly below average in the Corona and LAME testing. Still, the results aren’t far off, and you wouldn’t notice unless you were benchmarking.

3D Games and 3DMark

Starting with the launch of Zen 5, we’ve updated our game tests. We kept the F1 racing game but have upgraded to F1 24. We also dropped Far Cry 6 in favor of an even more popular, better-looking game: Cyberpunk 2077. We run both games at 1920x1080 resolution using the Ultra preset (details listed above). Cyberpunk 2077 uses DLSS, while we left F1 24 on native resolution scaling.

The goal of these settings is to determine whether performance differs at the most commonly used (and CPU/system-bound) resolution, with settings most people use or strive for (Ultra). We expect the difference between boards in these tests to be minor, with most falling within the margin of error. We’ve also added a minimum FPS setting, which can affect your gameplay and immersion.

The Infinity did very well in the synthetic 3DMark benchmarks and was average to above average in games.

To summarize, there’s nothing to worry about when it comes to performance on this board. Be it gaming, office work, or creative workflows, the Infinity can do it all.

Overclocking

Over the past few CPU generations, overclocking headroom has shrunk on both sides of the fence, while out-of-the-box potential has increased. For overclockers, that means less fun. For the average consumer, you’re getting the most out of the processor without manual tweaking. Today’s motherboards are more robust than ever and easily support power-hungry, flagship-class processors, so we know the hardware can handle them. There are multiple ways to extract even more performance from these processors: enabling a canned PBO setting, manually tweaking the PBO settings, or just going for an all-core overclock. Results will vary and depend on the cooling as well. In other words, your mileage may vary. Given all of the above, we will not overclock the CPU. However, we will test different memory kits to ensure they meet the specifications.

For memory testing, everything we tested worked—even our DDR5-8000 kit from Klevv. The Infinity is one of the few boards that allowed those speeds with the Ryzen 9 9900X CPU. In most cases (read: a board with four memory slots), we need to pivot and install the 8600G APU. But since it has only two DRAM slots, the board completed a stress test on our DDR5-8000 kit and is clearly ideal for pushing memory speeds. It also uses Gigabyte’s X3D Turbo Mode 2.0 for one-touch performance improvements.

Power Consumption / VRM Temperatures

We used AIDA64’s System Stability Test with Stress CPU, FPU, cache, and Memory enabled for power testing, using the processor's peak power consumption value. We obtained the wattage reading from the wall using a Kill-A-Watt meter, which captures the entire PC (excluding the monitor). The only variable that changes is the motherboard; all other parts remain the same. Please note that we now use only the stock power-use/VRM temperature charts, as this section aims to ensure the power delivery can handle flagship-class processors.

Stress testing this board with our DDR5-7200 kit showed it using less power than some. At idle, it sat around 91W, above average (though typical for boards of this class), and it peaked at 263W, slightly above average. This averages out to 177W, about 5W higher than the running 172W average among our tested boards.

VRM temperatures were very good during our testing, peaking at just over 46 degrees Celsius on our sensor and 48 degrees on the hottest internal sensor. With 110A MOSFETs pushing ~150W loads, it’s a solid result with plenty of headroom left for a more powerful processor and, of course, extreme overclocking, what it was designed for.

Bottom Line

In the end, we do like the Gigabyte X870 Infinity motherboard. While it’s meant for extreme overclocking, it does everything well overall. The biggest issue is the price. At $799.99, it's expensive for a motherboard. But this is also a limited-edition 40th-anniversary board. For much less, you can get high-end, flagship-class X870E-based boards… but they lack the extreme overclocking features. Obviously, if you’re an extreme overclocker, the price is a bit more palatable than if you were not. But the elephant in the room is the other overclocking board: Asus’ ROG Crosshair X870E Apex is ‘only’ $597.99 at Newegg and offers similar (but not identical) features.

You can also find Gigabyte’s X870E Aorus Master X3D for $589, or MSI’s MEG X870E Ace Max motherboard for just over $530, both of which offer more M.2 sockets and better audio solutions. But again, these aren’t motherboards focused on extreme overclocking and squeezing every last MHz out of your processor or RAM.

While this is a solid all-around motherboard, the price point feels prohibitive for an X870 board, at least for everyone except the extreme overclocking crowd. Performance is where it should be. VRM temperatures are excellent, and the power delivery has plenty of headroom for any processor, even with extreme cooling. If you’re chasing memory records at Hwbot and pushing the limits with LN2, the Infinity has all the tools you need to get the most out of your system. Everyone else can save a couple hundred dollars by looking elsewhere.

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It’s been a busy year for laptops. Apple’s value-priced MacBook Neo caused a major shakeup in the budget space, forcing Windows device makers to respond with their own premium, affordable offerings. Microsoft nixed its original 16GB requirement for AI PCs, ushering in a slew of new 8GB Wildcat Lake options, and further muddied the waters of its Copilot branding after vowing to improve performance on 8GB Windows PCs.

The driving force behind all of this is, of course, is the roughly five-fold increase in RAM costs in the past year, driven by AI hyperscaler demand. That’s also why Valve delayed the Steam Machine by roughly six months, eventually forcing its launch price above $1,000. That completely negated the value proposition that made the Steam Deck a success for so long. And I think Google’s new laptops are in a similarly tough spot, for many of the same reasons.

The new Googlebook laptop platform – an AI-focused reimagining of its successful Chromebook platform, complete with its own 16GB RAM requirement and prices that (apart from a limited-time $899 offer from Acer) start at $999. Models from Lenovo and Asus even stretch into MacBook Air pricing territory.

But, like Valve’s gaming hardware, Google’s previous laptop success has hinged primarily on affordability. Chromebooks launched in 2011, with three models all priced around $500, and Acer again undercut its competition at $349. There have been “high-end” Chromebooks over the years, but the vast majority have remained fairly affordable.

Cutting-edge Android 17 cutoff

Android phone integration (akin to an iPhone / MacBook pairing) is one of the major new selling points of the Googlebook platform. But you need a phone running Android 17 for that integration to work. That OS iteration launched just four months ago and, so far, is only available on a handful of expensive phones.

Aside from severely limiting the number of current customers, this also ignores the fundamental realities of the Android phone market. The majority of Android devices sold every year are mainstream and budget models. Even with the same RAM and storage pressures pushing prices up, less than 30% of global phone shipments are models priced higher than $600 — and that number includes iPhones, all of which are priced above that mark, unless you’re buying from a reseller.

So in short, Google is launching a new, mostly $1,000-plus (at least for now) laptop platform, hoping to piggyback off the brand recognition and mindshare of its search engine, cheap Chromebooks, and (largely) cheap Android phones. This is at a time when the price of almost everything else has also been on the rise for years, and both Apple and Microsoft’s Windows partners are offering up the best sub-$700 laptops… arguably ever.

It’s hard not to see this as poor timing, at best. Given software and hardware lead times, Googlebooks as a concept were almost certainly pretty far along a year ago when RAM pricing started to skyrocket. But with solid indications that the cost of RAM and storage could continue to climb into next year and beyond, Google may have effectively been forced into an “if not now, when” launch window, which also seems to have been the case with the Steam Machine launch earlier this year.

Nvidia’s RTX Spark is a completely different laptop animal

Of course, Nvidia’s also brand-new Spark laptops are priced much higher, starting at $2,599 and going up to $5,899 or even $6,999 for 128GB models. But those Nvidia-silicon laptops are aimed primarily at AI coders, not average Android-toting consumers who might also be interested in AI features. And, in case you somehow haven’t noticed, Nvidia has become one of the largest companies in the world by selling ever-pricier GPUs to gamers, workstation users, and the global AI hyperscaler market. Nvidia may be halting RTX 5090 production in favor of more profitable AI hardware, despite that gaming GPU continuing to sell out while being consistently priced thousands of dollars above its MSRP. Early indications point to similar demand for at least some Spark laptops, with preorders of Microsoft’s 128GB Surface Laptop Ultra seemingly sold out before the platform even officially launches.

Google’s hardware division, meanwhile, has spent the last 15 years selling its mostly budget laptop platform, while repeatedly attempting and failing to make premium Google-designed devices a mainstream success. Yes, there was the Chromebook Plus rollout in 2023, but those devices were mostly priced below $700, and multiple retailer list filters suggest the sub-$500 models are the most popular. Even Google’s flagship Pixel phones are priced well below flagships from Samsung and Apple.

This is a strange time to go upmarket, to require 16GB of RAM, and to launch a new laptop OS and platform at all, considering PC shipments are down 20%. And that’s especially true if you’re Google, a company known primarily for free, ad-supported software and services, and hardware that you primarily buy because it’s what you can afford, not because it’s what you want.

It's been a few years since we've seen a Surface focused on performance. With Nvidia's entry into mobile SoCs, Microsoft is one of several hardware partners that have developed an ultra-premium PC designed around the RTX Spark.

The Surface Laptop Ultra is the most beautiful laptop Surface has ever produced. The screen is gorgeous. The port selection is strong, and the metal chassis feels luxurious. It's heavy, but that's the price of cooling an SoC designed to run AI models.

This is also one of the first Windows on Arm laptops that isn't using a Qualcomm chip. It benefits greatly here from years of work by Microsoft and Qualcomm, and hopefully Nvidia's involvement raises the bar for everyone. Windows on Arm works better here than ever before.

And yet, this system is expensive. If you want to run mobile AI workloads on the go, you will see, the Surface Laptop Ultra is a serious contender. But if you're just a Windows power user, you won't get a ton out of RTX Spark besides better software and gaming compatibility than previous Arm-based laptops. This is a lovely laptop waiting for Windows 11 to catch up to it.

Design of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra

The Surface Laptop Ultra is, without a doubt, the nicest system that Microsoft has ever built. The company has made some nice designs across both its Surface Pro and Laptop lines, but the Laptop Ultra really is something else.

The Ultra very much looks like Surface Laptops of old, with a spartan design, including a tone-on-tone reflective Microsoft logo. Our system came in Microsoft's new "nightfall" color (a very dark shade of gray), though a more traditional platinum is available in select configurations. The aluminum chassis is rock solid.

The keyboard deck is just as spare, with room for a large haptic touchpad and backlit chiclet keys. The Mini-LED display has a minimal bezel surrounding it.

Unfortunately, the closed laptop is difficult to open with one hand. It's doable, but you have to really get a grip with your thumb, and there's no cut-out notch for easy lid lifting.

The bottom of the laptop is on a bit of a pedestal, likely to make room for cooling. It reminds me a lot of the Surface Laptop Studio, which also had the main part of the chassis on top of a raised portion covered in vents.

There's a ton of ports on the Ultra. My favorite are three USB4 Type-C ports, each of which supports 140W charging, 40 Gb/s data transfer, DisplayPort 2.1, and fast charging. In addition, there's also an HDMI 2.1b port, USB Type-A 3.1, an SD card reader, and a headphone jack. Wirelessly, connectivity is based around Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.

But the system is heavy. The 4.4-pound laptop feels premium, but it’s also extremely noticeable in a backpack. Apple's 14-inch MacBook Pro with its top-end M5 Max chip is nearly a pound lighter, at 3.56 pounds. And that's before you add in Microsoft's 140W charger.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra Specifications

Magnetic Connect Charger

I've long loathed Microsoft's Surface Connect chargers. They fall out easily and take up space that could be useful for other ports. Microsoft's new charger for the Surface Laptop Ultra, Magnetic Connect, is far superior.

It works much like Apple's MagSafe, but with a small USB-C-shaped stub that fits into just the USB-C port on the top right, which is wider than your traditional port. (That also means that this charger doesn't fit in the other USB-C ports). There are magnets on both sides of the port, and the stub fits partway into the port to deliver power. If you trip over the cord, it should come out with pulling a laptop off a desk or table.

But the connection is also strong and satisfying to click into place. Unlike Surface Connect, I never worried it would come loose. You can still charge with a standard USB-C cable on any USB-C port on the laptop.

Because Magnetic Connect is a bit larger than a standard USB-C port, I did find some devices, like my go-to USB stick, dangling a bit out of the port, but there are two other USB-C options here if you don’t want to deal with that.

Productivity Performance on the Surface Laptop Ultra

The Surface Laptop Ultra we reviewed came with a top-end RTX Spark N1X chip, including 20 CPU cores, 6,144 CUDA cores, 32GB of unified memory, and 1TB of storage.

We compared this system to a MacBook Pro running an M5 Max, a Dell XPS 16 with Intel's "Panther Lake" Core Ultra X7, an Asus Zenbook A16 with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (a fellow Windows on Arm machine), and the Asus TUF Gaming A14 with an implementation of AMD's Strix Halo in a laptop.

On Geekbench 6, the Surface earned a single-core score of 3,151 and a multi-core score of 20,203. That fell well short of the MacBook Pro, and also proved less than the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme-based machine — at least, in this bursty workload.

When it came to transcoding a 4K video to 1080p in Handbrake, the Surface Laptop Ultra was the fastest, beating the MacBook Pro by one second. The next closest, the Zenbook with Snapdragon, came in at 2:08. Panther Lake fell behind hard here.

The Surface Laptop Ultra was speedy when it came to transferring files, completing a 25GB transfer at a rate of 1,998.59 MBps. The MacBook Pro took the crown, though, at 3,835.38 MBps.

On our Cinebench R26 gauntlet, running the rendering test 10 times, the Surface was largely consistent. Running in the mid 6,700's with the system's beefy cooling. Cinebench estimates that the RTX Spark CPU runs at 2.81 GHz. In our testing, the cores reached 3.35 GHz, on average, during this test, though HWinfo, which we use for logging, isn't yet updated to discriminate between the 10 performance and 10 efficiency cores.

For AI testing specifically, check out our RTX Spark N1X platform overview from GPU guru, Jeffrey Kampman, which highlights the difference between RTX Spark and M5 Max ( spoiler alert, RTX Spark often won). Just note, his unit had 128GB of RAM, while our 32GB of memory was tight for AI. With the 12GB of memory this review unit had dedicated out of the box for the GPU (you can adjust it), I needed to opt for smaller models like Google's Gemma 4 12B or Qwen 3.6 35B Q2 to run in a harness like Hermes.

Gaming and Graphics on the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra

The RTX Spark has a GPU with 6,144 CUDA cores. For the average Windows user, you really just need to know this: yes, it can play games.

This is a big deal for Windows on Arm. Gaming has made decent strides on Snapdragon, but it never came far enough. Unsurprisingly, there is much better support with Nvidia on board. Nvidia and Microsoft have more games coming natively (Call of Duty is coming for RTX Spark platforms next year), while Microsoft's Prism emulator, which emulates x64 instructions for Arm64, has gotten much better, including working with more games with anti-cheat.

I've been playing a lot of God of War: Ragnarok in my spare time, so I tried it on the Spark to see how it works. At 2560 x 1440 with ultra settings and DLSS, the game ran between 41 and 47 frames per second during an ambush fight in Vanaheim. When I switched down to 1080p with the same settings, it ran anywhere between 51 fps and 79 fps.