Zak Killian
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
There's been a lot of doom and gloom surrounding Intel lately, thanks to the much-publicized stability issues with the company's Raptor Lake processors. So, how about some good news? Intel just announced that it has working samples of both its Panther Lake mobile CPUs and Clearwater Forest server chips, meaning...
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Google has a post up on its security blog that is half advertisement and half PSA-style announcement for Android users: go into your settings and turn off the "Allow 2G" toggle. This option, added in Android 12 back in 2021, does exactly what it sounds like: it turns off support for 2G cellular networking. Why would...
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In case you missed it, just yesterday we published our in-depth review of the ASUS ROG Ally X gaming handheld with over 80 games tested. We're very fond of the machine, as it resolves nearly all of the problems with the original ROG Ally system while offering a superior gaming experience thanks mostly to an extra 8GB...
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Remember the ASUS ROG Flow Z13? We've never reviewed one, but we took a peek at them during CES in both 2022 and 2023. If you don't recall, they're kind of like the Microsoft Surface Pro, but oriented for gaming rather than productivity. They are from the "Republic of Gamers" brand, after all. The extant ROG Flow Z13...
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ASUS ROG Ally X Gaming Handheld: $799.99 at Best Buy The second gaming handheld from ASUS refines the machine significantly, fixing many issues users had with the original model. Impressive Gaming Performance Great Software Compatibility Fantastic Battery Life Outdoor-Usable Freesync Display Solid External Connectivity Drivers Only Available...
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NVIDIA's most powerful GeForce RTX graphics cards use GDDR6X memory as offers more stable signaling, in turn granting higher transfer rates—which is exactly why NVIDIA uses it. However, because the company's graphics cards are the only things that use GDDR6X memory—and the next-generation cards will use lightning-fast...
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There are basically three important characteristics for a memory technology: its latency, its bandwidth, and the power it uses. Disparate workloads have differing requirements, though. Graphics, generally speaking, cares relatively little about memory latency and will use up as much bandwidth as you can give it...
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AMD seems to like releasing technologies that aren't quite perfect out of the gate, only to release a second version that's quite good. The company did this with Precision Boost Overdrive, it did this with FidelityFX Super Resolution, and now it has done it once more with its Fluid Motion Frames feature. A new driver...
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The latest Elden Ring patch brings with it good news for weirdos who care way too much about how other people beat games, as well as big boosts for players who rely heavily on Spirit Ashes to help with the fantasy RPG's punishing combat. This patch might also make major changes to the PvP meta, as it comes with...
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All the excitement in the enthusiast scene lately has been aimed at AMD's new Zen 5-based processors. That's "Strix Point" for mobile, comprising the Ryzen AI 300 series, and then "Granite Ridge" for desktop, making up the Ryzen 9000 series, and both are launching soon—albeit not quite as soon as intended. However...
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Look, we know—AMD's got too many different chips with too many different codenames to keep track of. This one's easy: Fire Range is simply Granite Ridge (that is, the Ryzen 9000 desktop processors) for mobile, just as Dragon Range was Raphael (Ryzen 7000 desktop) for mobile. These parts have barely-there integrated...
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We're big fans of AMD's Phoenix and Hawk Point processors around these parts. A miniature monolithic die with eight fast Zen 4 CPU cores, a powerful RDNA 3 Radeon GPU, and a competent (if modest) XDNA NPU makes for tiny systems that can do just about anything a regular user wants to do. Any processor can have faults...
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Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge Laptop: Starts At $1,099; $1499 As Tested The fastest Qualcomm-powered portable we've tested to date delivers fantastic productivity, media and content creation experiences. Fantastic Native App Performance Amazing AMOLED Display Super Thin And Stylish Surprisingly Spatial Sound Excellent...
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Amidst a storm of controversy over the reliability of Intel's Raptor Lake processors, many buyers are turning to AMD as an alternative. However, the Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 processors are getting a bit long in the tooth; if folks are going to make a new purchase, they'd probably prefer to buy the latest hardware. AMD...
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There are a multitide of companies who have expended significant funds in an effort to get PC users excited about AI, but many people still think of AI products as something that is run exclusively in the cloud. Of course, that's completely incorrect; anyone with a reasonably recent discrete GPU can run many AI...
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Don't get excited; these aren't the Bartlett Lake processors that we just reported on last week. However, they are new LGA 1700 Raptor Lake processors that come with all the usual features you expect—except for Intel's heterogeneous architecture. That means that these parts are 100% composed of Raptor Lake...
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Laptops bearing AMD's Ryzen AI 300 processors, code-named "Strix Point," are expected to start appearing any day now. However, many enthusiasts are already looking past Strix Point toward a higher-end model in the same family, the so-called "Strix Halo". This unique chip promises to bring a new class of product to the...
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One of the many great effects that Steam has had on the games industry is that it has given players another way to express their displeasure with a game publisher or developer's actions. You see, the effects of "vote with your wallet" aren't that obvious when we're talking about live-service games. A sharp dip in a...
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The ASUS ROG Ally X is due to launch on the 22nd of this month. That's this coming Monday, if you haven't been keeping up. Arriving alongside the revised version of ASUS' gaming handheld is a new version of the Armoury Crate software designed specifically to improve the user experience on the handheld gaming...
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Remember that whole kerfluffle about Radeon Anti-Lag+ getting gamers banned from CS2 and other competitive titles? That's all water under the bridge now, as the new and improved Radeon Anti-Lag 2 requires game-specific support, and will no longer set off anti-cheat packages. However, that does mean it has to be added...
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The Ryzen 9 9950X isn't actually available yet, but benchmarks have been cropping up all over the web. We reported before on some leaked results in Geekbench, but today we have a pile of multi-threaded tests from a fellow on the Anandtech forums who got ahold of an ES (engineering sample) Ryzen 9 9950X and has been...
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Before we get started on this story, let's recap a bit. Intel's currently-available mobile processors are called "Core Ultra 100", codenamed Meteor Lake, and it's about to release the "Core Ultra 200V" series, codenamed Lunar Lake. There are also "Core Ultra 200" desktop processors on the way; those will be Arrow...
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