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Testing has shown that SSDs placed into an M.2 slot on an Intel X890 motherboard will not operate at their peak efficiency, which is another setback for Intel’s “Arrow Lake” or Core Ultra 200S architecture. In contrast to the 14GB/s sequential read rates that PCI Gen 5 SSDs are capable of, the SSD Review (via Tom’s Hardware) discovered that SSDs installed into an X890 motherboard only managed 12GB/s sequential read speeds. Intel verified the site’s testing and said that a…

On Wednesday, Intel said that it is integrating its XeSS 2 technology into even more games, including high-end titles like Assassin’s Creed: Shadows and Diablo IV, putting them in the “definitely playable” category by boosting framerates by an astounding four times. During the announcement, Intel also disclosed that more than 200 PC games currently support XeSS in some way. At the end of 2024, XeSS 2 was introduced alongside the $250 Intel Arc B580 (“Battlemage”) architecture, a “budget” graphics card…

Microsoft has secretly increased the prices of its older Surface devices to make up for the lower-priced, smaller Surface devices that were introduced this week. A new 13-inch Surface laptop and a 12-inch Surface Pro were introduced by Microsoft, with prices starting at $899.99 and $799.99, respectively. Both the Surface Pro 11th Edition and the current, older Surface Laptop 7th Edition have starting costs of $999, making them somewhat less expensive and slightly smaller than the current Surface Laptop and…

You may still have to wait a while if you’ve been waiting for next-generation graphics cards that are more reasonably priced before upgrading. After all, “affordable” is a relative concept. However, a Brazilian reseller revealed a new Gigabyte model, suggesting that newer and less expensive AMD cards are on the horizon. The AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT is here. Before removing the page, online retailer Terabyte momentarily displayed a Gigabyte version of the as-yet-unannounced card without a price. This GPU…

About three weeks have passed since Nvidia announced the RTX 5060 Ti, which also included the less expensive RTX 5060. We didn’t have an official launch date for the 5060, just “May.” We now know it will arrive on May 19, the Monday after next week. The price in the United States is thankfully unchanged from the $299 announcement MSRP. The RTX 5060 Ti is a good 1080p gaming card, at least in its 16GB upgrade version. The 8GB version…

The latest generation of laptops using ARM processors hasn’t been selling as well as Microsoft and others had hoped. I believe consumers were anticipating better prices with those new AI-ready CPUs, even if they were lightweight, had a very long battery life, and had (largely) fixed those compatibility issues. This Lenovo convertible OLED laptop with Snapdragon X internals is available for just $429.99. Thanks to its OLED touchscreen and strong specifications, the IdeaPad 5X—one of the few new Snapdragon Copilot+…

What is the minimum speed required for your screen? If “as fast as possible” is your response, you might want to look into Acer’s most recent product. The Nitro XV250 F6’s “UltraSpeed” designation refers to its blazing 600Hz refresh rate, which is more than twice as fast as the OLED gaming panel I’m currently seeing and ten times the industry standard. But without making certain concessions, you can’t move that quickly. It’s a 24-inch, 1080p monitor, which is modest and…

Naturally, Microsoft’s Surface was among the first to acquire Qualcomm’s incredibly efficient Snapdragon chips for its most recent iteration, as it is the industry standard for Windows-powered laptops. The 13-inch base model, which is normally priced at $1,000, is currently available on eBay for $599 in refurbished condition. It’s a significant, uncommon discount. Although I should note that the fundamental specifications aren’t as good as some of the competition, $600 is a rather decent bargain for an all-aluminum, stylish laptop…

A free performance improvement is appealing to everyone. Additionally, you will receive one if your laptop or portable computer has an Intel Core Ultra 200V (Lunar Lake) CPU. On Tuesday, Intel announced that its most recent graphics driver (32.0.101.6734) offers a power-management update that increases GPU performance by roughly 10% in terms of higher frame rate. It will initially be available in handheld devices, namely the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and MSI Claw 7 AI+, but it will soon be…

MicroSD cards are undoubtedly among the most versatile devices available. These work with almost everything, including handheld game consoles, drones, smartphones, and cameras. The 512GB Samsung PRO Plus card is now only $30 on Amazon, which is a significant 40% reduction from its regular price. It also comes with a USB converter, which is wonderful news! Numerous devices are compatible with this little memory card. It is compatible with a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, GoPros that you…