More bad news for the prospective PC builder comes out of Taiwanese research institute TrendForce, which is predicting a rise in DRAM prices of between 18 and 23% for the second quarter of 2021. While negotiations between OEMs and resellers are still ongoing, TrendForce is predicting a quarter-on-quarter price increase of 25% on 8GB DDR4 2666MHz modules, higher than expected. DRAM modules continue to be in short supply, partly due to the global chip shortage, and partly thanks to many people buying new machines to work from home during the pandemic. All kinds of RAM are affected, from mobile DRAM, GDDR modules for graphics cards, and server DRAM, which is closely related to home PC RAM and therefore more easily affected by price rises. The second quarter of the financial year is often the peak season for laptop production, and TrendForce’s figures predict a 7.9% increase in the manufacture of laptops by major manufacturers this year, which will put more pressure on … [Read more...] about Potential 23% RAM Price Rise Means It’s an Expensive Time To Build a PC
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Samsung QN90A Neo QLED 4K HDR TV review: You’ll love watching it
QN90A Neo 65 inch 4K tv Score Details DT Editors' Choice “The QN90A is a knockout of a TV.” Impressive brightness Solid black levels Excellent overall contrast Brilliant color Great for gaming One HDMI 2.1 input Potential screen uniformity issues MSRP $2,600.00 If the chatter I’m seeing online is any indication, lots of folks have questions about Samsung’s Neo QLED TVs. Well, I’m pleased to say I have answers. AND some opinions to go with them. Let’s take a look at the QN65QN90A Neo QLED TV, a set armed with thousands of mini-LED backlights and nearly 800 zones of local dimming — that’s TV speak for “sounds pretty awesome.” But does it look awesome? Let’s find out. Jump to: Out of the box | Details | User experience | What is Neo QLED | Test results | About that brightness | Color | Out of the sweet spot | Picture quality | Sound quality | Gaming | My take Out of the box A quick correction to the … [Read more...] about Samsung QN90A Neo QLED 4K HDR TV review: You’ll love watching it
Chinese Exascale Supercomputer Prototype Tested with AI Workloads
Chinese scientists have started to test a prototype of locally developed exascale supercomputer using convolutional neural networks (CNN) AI workloads. As reported by Next Platform the Tianhe-3 machine runs Armv8-based Phytium 2000+ (FTP) and the Matrix 2000+ (MTP) processors that were primarily designed for traditional supercomputing with full FP64 precision. Supercomputing and artificial intelligence are poised to become important competitive advantages that technologically developed companies and countries have against others in the coming years. Exascale supercomputers will be instrumental for traditional simulations, data analytics, and scientific discoveries, whereas AI supercomputers will be used for various pathfinding tasks, such as drug discovery or space exploration that do not necessarily require FP64 precision. The key thing is that to be competitive, supercomputing sites will need to support both AI and HPC workloads, which is why modern supercomputers use both CPUs … [Read more...] about Chinese Exascale Supercomputer Prototype Tested with AI Workloads
AMD Releases Adrenalin 21.4.1 With Ryzen CPU Monitoring and PC to PC Streaming
AMD is releasing Adrenalin driver 21.4.1 today with several improvements for some of the best graphics cards , as well as a host of new updates to AMD Link and Radeon Software. These include features such as CPU monitoring in the Radeon Software, a new GPU stress-testing utility, and a Windows 10 app for AMD Link. AMD Link — AMD's remote desktop program — has been updated to version 4.0, and includes an all-new Windows 10 app for use on any Windows 10 device. No longer are you constrained to using AMD Link on a smart TV or Arm-based smartphone/tablet. AMD also added a few extra features including 144 fps streaming support, trackpad sensitivity support, and 5.1 surround sound support. For Radeon Software, AMD added several additional features that should make the app easier to use and more useful. In the streaming department, AMD has added a new automatic quality function that allows Radeon Software to dynamically adjust your stream quality (if you're streaming from Radeon … [Read more...] about AMD Releases Adrenalin 21.4.1 With Ryzen CPU Monitoring and PC to PC Streaming
Windows 10’s Store May Open Up to More Games and Software Soon
Finding software via the Microsoft Store app for Windows 10 might be less painful soon. Windows Central today reported that Microsoft is redesigning the app to offer a better experience for developers and consumers alike with a variety of changes. Microsoft started distributing software via the Windows Store for Windows 10 in 2015. Then in 2017, it rebranded the platform to the Microsoft Store, and that version of the storefront hasn't changed much in the four years since its introduction. But that could be about to change. Windows Central said that Microsoft plans to change the Microsoft Store's user interface to better appeal to Windows 10 users while simultaneously introducing new policies to be more developer-friendly. Both aspects of that redesign will prove vital. Windows 10 users have little incentive to find apps on the Microsoft Store because it isn't comprehensive and, in many cases, it isn't much more convenient than simply downloading an ".exe" directly. … [Read more...] about Windows 10’s Store May Open Up to More Games and Software Soon