Author: Computer Tech - Page 2 - computer-tech.co.uk

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Computer Tech

This Week in Gaming (Week 10)

Welcome to the month of March and a week when almost every single new game launches on a Thursday. This week’s major release is a new 5v5 FPS shooter set in a Sci-Fi world. This is followed by alien planet colony management, a spot of museum curation, working as a car mechanic, doing battle with your best buddy in multiple imaginary worlds, with the week finally ending with some more co-op action, but puppet sized. We have four more games included at the end, but that’s only a few of the games launching this Thursday.

FragPunk / This week’s major release / Thursday 6 March
FragPunk is a fast-paced 5v5 hero shooter with powerup cards that change the rules of each round. Choose your hero, your weapons, and pick from a selection of cards that dramatically change the rules of engagement. Steam link

Deep Space Directive / Monday 3 March / Early access
Resource management without micro-management! Build, defend, and optimize your ever-growing industrial colony in a dynamic hex-tile world. Buy low, sell high to expand and upgrade your base. Even your enemies are a resource to be exploited. Profit waits for no one. Steam link Two Point Museum / Tuesday 4 March
Curate and manage incredible museums! Explore to discover amazing artifacts. Design and refine the layout, keep staff happy, guests entertained, donations plentiful… and children off the exhibits Steam link Car Mechanic Shop Simulator / Wednesday 5 March
Manage a prosperous car shop empire and enter the complex car maintenance and repair world. This simulation game offers a comprehensive, in-depth experience that combines strategic business management with the technical nuances of car maintenance. Steam link Split Fiction / Thursday 6 March
Embrace mind-blowing moments as you’re pulled deep into the many worlds of Split Fiction, a boundary-pushing co-op action adventure from the studio behind 2021 Game of the Year Winner, It Takes Two. Mio and Zoe are contrasting writers – one writes sci-fi and the other writes fantasy – who become trapped in their own stories after being hooked up to a machine designed to steal their creative ideas. Steam link Myrmidon / Friday 7 March
Invite a friend online and embark on a puzzle-platformer adventure exploring the bond between an animator and his puppet. Work together to clear obstacles across the sprawling sets of a stop-motion animation workshop and find out to what lengths the power of imagination can take you. Steam link This week’s other releases: Carmen Sandiego, Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars, Dragonkin: The Banished, Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone

Posted on March 2, 2025 by Computer Tech

Early Leak Claims AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT Might Reach NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Territory

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Saturday, March 1st 2025

Judging by the current state of gaming GPUs, it might appear to some that true budget-class cards are a thing of the past. That said, it is almost certain that both NVIDIA and AMD are cooking entry-level GPUs to cater to folks who can’t shell out the astoundingly high prices that modern mid-range and high-end GPUs command, with AMD having already confirmed the launch for RX 9060 class cards sometime in Q2 of this year. Previous leaks have indicated that the RX 9060 will likely hit the scene with 12 GB of GDDR6 VRAM, whereas its XT sibling will boast an additional 4 GB. NVIDIA is also expected to drop the RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti cards sometime towards the end of this month, likely in 8 GB and 16 GB flavors of the shinier GDDR7 spec.

Now, a fresh leak by Moore’s Law Is Dead (MLID) has claimed that the Radeon RX 9060 XT will outperform the RTX 4060 Ti in performance, slotting in between the RTX 4060 Ti and the Radeon RX 7700 XT. Moreover, he added that AMD may even push clocks to bring the card closer to the RTX 4070 territory – a sweet position to hold indeed. Regarding launch date, MLID expects the card to hit the arena sometime in April. Of course, as with all leaks and rumors, accept this information with a grain of salt, especially considering that MLID’s assertions are sourced from a single party. The RTX 5060/Ti is expected to be priced in the $400-$500 range, which means the RX 9060 XT will likely have to be priced in the lower-end of that in order to make for a compelling value proposition.

Sources: Moore’s Law is Dead, Spotted by Notebookcheck

Posted on March 1, 2025 by Computer Tech

AMD Radeon RX 9070 Series Technical Deep Dive

Introduction

The next generation of AMD Radeon is here! The company today formally announced its Radeon RX 9070 series of performance-segment graphics cards, powered by the new RDNA 4 graphics architecture. These new cards aim to provide gamers with premium performance to max out any of today’s games at resolutions of up to 4K UHD; the company also claims to have made massive strides in AI acceleration, ray tracing, and energy efficiency. The series marks AMD reorienting itself as a high performance/cost gaming GPU vendor, targeting price points PC gamers are more familiar with and want their graphics cards at; rather than runaway increase in GPU prices each generation. In many ways, AMD’s strategy appears closer to that of Intel’s than NVIDIA’s. The RX 9070 XT comes at a starting price of $600, with the RX 9070 at $550.

AMD famously gave its Radeon 9000 series and RDNA 4 a skip at its 2025 International CES keynote address despite the two being part of pre-briefs to the press. Speculation was rife that the new series could fall woefully behind NVIDIA Blackwell, forcing AMD to fight for crumbs at the entry level with Intel. Then, something interesting happened—NVIDIA chose to build Blackwell on the same foundry node as the previous generation, going back to 2022, and the RTX 50-series SKUs launched so far don’t post the kind of generational performance gains we’ve come to expect from NVIDIA, which the RTX 40-series Ada did. For instance, the RTX 5080 does not beat the RTX 4090, whereas even the RTX 4070 Ti beat the RTX 3090.

With RDNA 4, AMD has made a tactical retreat from the enthusiast segment. There is not going to be a “big Navi” GPU based on RDNA 4, and the Navi 48 chip powering the RX 9070 series will be the biggest chip this generation. With this, AMD will look to throw everything it has to bringing the most amount of performance and value out of its RX 9070 series, and look to target price points undercutting NVIDIA’s performance-segment SKUs such as the recently announced RTX 5070 Ti, and the upcoming RTX 5070. It is unencumbered from the burden of beating the RTX 5090 or even the RTX 5080, which are both impossible to find at three-figure prices. Given that the real world pricing of the RTX 5070 Ti, particularly the custom OC cards are nearing $1,000, AMD has a great opportunity to disrupt the performance segment of the RTX 50-series the way the RX 5700 XT did for the RTX 20-series.

In this article, we will walk you through the new graphics cards AMD is launching soon, the RDNA 4 graphics architecture powering it, and what’s new on the software and gamer experience side of things, particularly with FSR 4 and AMD Software.

Posted on March 1, 2025 by Computer Tech

(PR) Splitgate 2 Open Alpha Build Available on Steam, PS5 & Xbox Series X|S

Friday, February 28th 2025

Hey, Splitfam. We’re doing an Open Alpha preview of the work we’ve done on Splitgate 2, available to everyone for four days from Feb. 27 to March 2. Come play with us! This is your first chance to check out our new Multi-Team Portal Warfare, 8v8v8 battles of colossal proportions set on a massive map. Plus, we’ve got new arena maps, new weapons, new gear, and hundreds of improvements based on community feedback. Anyone with a Steam account, a PS5, or an Xbox Series X|S can register and play—for free, as always. Read on for more details about what will be included in the Open Alpha.

Portals Change Everything
Portal into the action as an elite Ace in Splitgate 2, the only free-to-play shooter where you can teleport across the map to outsmart your opponents. Team up, customize weapons, and master portaling skills as you compete for glory in epic showdowns. This is the future of Splitgate, bringing fast-paced portal gunplay with objective-based game modes, distinctive new maps, and a wild collection of weapons. Dominate the competition with the ultimate tool: a portal gun. Flank your foes and turn the tide of combat by portaling across the map, or defy gravity to launch yourself for jaw-dropping aerial kills. Recruit your friends and compete for the respect of the entire galaxy. Take control of the Hotzone while your friends hold off enemies portaling in from all sides. Stand together and steamroll your opponents to win the match and claim victory.

LISTENING TO THE COMMUNITY

Thanks to all of the community feedback we’ve gotten from playtests and gameplay we’ve shared online, we’ve made a litany of improvements to every single aspect of the game.
We heard that you wanted more action, so we made respawns shorter and rounds longer.
We also heard that you wanted more portaling options, so we added more portal walls to our existing maps, and added new portal opportunities like a Launch Portal, a combination of a portal wall and a launch pad that will send you flying.
To learn more about how seriously we take community feedback, you can read more about the changes in this message from Ian Proulx, cofounder and CEO of 1047 Games, or watch this Dev Talk from Ian and our other co-founder, Nicholas Bagamian.

READY TO PLAY?

Thanks for reading, Splitfam. Remember, even with all of these new updates and features, this is just the beginning. The Open Alpha represents less than half of all of the new content we’re going to have in the full version at launch.
Again, you can find the Open Alpha on Steam, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. No need to sign up, just portal into the action on your gaming system of choice Feb 27 to March 2.
And to keep in the loop about our full launch later this year, be the first to know by staying in touch with us on our Discord or signing up for our newsletter on splitgate.com.

Play the Splitgate 2 Open Alpha now on PC (via Steam), PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Sources: Splitgate 2 Official Site, Splitgate 2 Steam Profile

Posted on February 28, 2025 by Computer Tech

ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Mini Review

ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Mini Review | TechPowerUp

on Feb 27th, 2025,

Packaging, Weight, Cable & Feet »

Introduction

ASUS is a Taiwan-based computer hardware and electronics company founded in 1989. As the name would suggest, the Harpe Ace Mini is a smaller variant of the Harpe Ace, though it is mostly shorter, while keeping the width almost the same. In terms of internals, the Harpe Ace Mini comes with ASUS’s latest bells and whistles: ROG Optical Switches rated for 100 million clicks are used for the main buttons, the sensor is ASUS’s AimPoint Pro capable of 42,000 CPI, and by purchasing the separately available ROG Polling Rate Booster, 8000 Hz polling becomes available for both wired and wireless usage. Without the Polling Rate Booster, the Harpe Ace Mini is restricted to 1000 Hz, and is cited to last up to 105 hours using 2.4 GHz wireless and up to 139 hours using Bluetooth, each without illumination. At 48 g, the Harpe Ace Mini weighs 6 g less than the Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition. The feet are made of pure PTFE, and a set of larger replacement feet along with a set of grip tape are included in the box. Configuration is done either through Armoury Crate or the device-specific Armoury Crate Gear. Lastly, and despite not being mentioned anywhere, the Harpe Ace Mini supports NVIDIA Reflex, allowing one to measure click latency in real time on compatible monitors. The Harpe Ace Mini is available either in black or white.

Specifications

ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Mini
Size:	117 mm x 63 mm x 37 mm
Size (inches):	5.02″ x 2.51″ x 1.56″
Ambidextrous:	Partially (side buttons on left side only)
Weight:	48 g
Number of Buttons:	5+2 (including wheel click)
Main Switches:	ROG Optical Micro Switch (100 M)
Wheel Encoder:	TTC (blue, yellow core), 9 mm
Sensor:	AimPoint Pro
Resolution:	100–42,000 CPI
Microcontroller Unit:	Nordic nRF52840
Polling Rate:	125/250/500/1000 Hz
Cable:	1.90 m, braided
Software:	Yes
Price:	$129.99
Warranty:	Two years

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Posted on February 28, 2025 by Computer Tech

(PR) Firaxis Unveils March Civilization VII Update 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 Details, as Well as Upcoming Features

Greetings, Civ fans! Since launch, the team at Firaxis Games has been working quickly to address key areas of Civilization VII that we’ve prioritized and identified with the community’s feedback and our own teams. Today, we wanted to provide a high-level overview of what you can expect in the next updates for Civilization VII.

Next Update Coming March 4
The next update for Civilization VII, Update 1.1.0, is coming on March 4, 2025, and will be deployed across PC & console. Cross-play between PC and consoles will be re-enabled with the deployment of this update. Please note: Update 1.1.0 release timing may differ on Nintendo Switch.

Update 1.1.0 includes a number of updates based on community suggestions and feedback. A full list of update notes will be shared on release, but some notable callouts of what you can expect include the following:

New Natural Wonder to discover: Bermuda Triangle (free to all players)
Additional UI adjustments, polish, and addressing of reported issues
Significant changes to the Modern Age’s Cultural Legacy Path and Victory; AI leaders will also be better at completing a Cultural Victory (so expect fewer Explorer Unit stacks!)
Now able to convert Holy Cities in the Exploration Age. Note that when players create their own Missionary Units, they will always follow the player’s chosen Religion
Naval Units will be able to disperse Coastal Independent Powers
Balance pass on several Mementos
Refinements to the Army Unpacking action
Addressing reported issues with multiplayer and adding friends with a 2K Account
For console players: all prior updates from Update 1.0.1 Patches 1, 2, and 3 will be implemented, in addition to the items noted above

Although our first in-game Event, Natural Wonder Battle, was originally planned for Update 1.1.0 on March 4, events are now being postponed to a later update to allow us more time to prioritize quality-of-life improvements for players worldwide. We’ll share more details about the first in-game event once we’re ready.

Also going live with Update 1.1.0 is the first half of the paid Crossroads of the World Collection, which is included in both the Deluxe Edition and Founders Edition of Civilization VII. Players who own either of those editions, or have purchased the Crossroads of the World Collection separately, will receive this content automatically with Update 1.1.0.

Crossroads of the World Collection – Part 1: The first half of the paid Crossroads of the World Collection includes the new leader Ada Lovelace, the new civs Great Britain (Modern Age) and Carthage (Antiquity Age), and the Natural Wonder Pack including four new Natural Wonders: Machapuchare, Mount Fuji, Vihren, and Vinicunca.

Update 1.1.1 Coming March 25
The March 4 update is the first of many future major releases coming to Civilization VII. The next major update after that, Update 1.1.1, is slated for March 25 (subject to change). Here’s a sneak peek at some of what’s planned for that update:

Additional UI improvements and refinements; specifics will be shared later with the Update 1.1.1 Notes
Note: Ongoing improvements to the User Interface continues to be a top priority for the development team. The updates being introduced on March 25 are just one part of a much larger plan that aims to improve the UI over the next several months.
Scouting and Settling improvements for AI, including less aggressive “forward” settling by AI
Adding Quick Move functionality
Adding the ability to customize the names of Commanders and Cities
Renaming the existing maps to be “Start Position: Balanced,” which will be the default Start Position setting for multiplayer games
Adding a new Start Position of “Standard,” where the landforms on maps are less predictable, closer to how map generation works in Civ VI
Adding an optional Restart button that rerolls the player’s map generation now that these less predictable start positions are possible
New Natural Wonder: Mount Everest (free to all players)

Update 1.1.1 will also include the second half of the paid Crossroads of the World Collection, which is included in both the Deluxe Edition and Founders Edition of Civilization VII. This includes a new leader, Simón Bolívar, and two new Civilizations with Bulgaria (Exploration Age) and Nepal (Modern Age).

Looking Ahead
Beyond March, we have several community-requested items on our list that are high priorities for the team. Some examples of these include:

Ongoing UI improvements
Adding a “One More Turn” button that will let you continue playing past the end of the Modern Age
Implementing Auto-Explore
New map sizes (all platforms except Nintendo Switch)
New Resource types and adjustments to map resource allocation
Teams support in multiplayer
Hot Seat local multiplayer
Research Queuing
Mod tools and Steam Workshop support
Additional game setup customization options
And more!

We’re in the process of scoping the work necessary to bring these priorities to the game as soon as we can. Some of these will be delivered as early as April (subject to change), though many will take longer to develop, test, and deploy. As always in development, plans can change and we’ll have more details to share here in the weeks and months ahead as plans solidify. We appreciate your continued patience in the meantime!

Where Can I Share Feedback?
If you’re looking to share feedback on Civilization VII, want to stay up-to-date, or are just looking for a place to talk with other Civ players, check out the Steam Discussion forums and our official Discord channel! For any bugs and issues, you can check if it’s an issue already on our radar or submit a ticket through our support portal (select Civ VII in dropdown). As always, thanks for being the best fans in gaming!

Posted on February 27, 2025 by Computer Tech

KLEVV CRAS C930 2 TB Review

Introduction

Launched in 2014, KLEVV is a brand that specializes in memory products, both DRAM and NAND. The brand is owned by Essencore, who are part of the SK Group (SK C&C), KLEVV benefits from strong ties to SK Hynix, one of the world’s largest and most respected DRAM manufacturers. The brand name “KLEVV” was chosen to suggest a clever, technically advanced choice for consumers.

Today we are testing the KLEVV CRAS C930, a midrange M.2 NVMe SSD that’s selling at competitive pricing. Internally, the Innogrit IG5236 controller is used, which has been on the market for quite some time now. It was first launched around 2021 and has been used on drives like the Acer Predator GM7000, HP FX900 Pro, Lexar NM800, Silicon Power X70 and XPG Gammix S70 Blade. The NAND flash is Hynix’s modern 176-layer 3D TLC NAND.

The KLEVV CRAS C930 is available in capacities of 1 TB ($76) and 2 TB ($120). Endurance for these models is set to 750 TBW and 1500 TBW, respectively. KLEVV offers a five-year warranty with the C930.

Specifications: KLEVV CRAS C930 2 TB SSD
Brand:	Klevv
Model:	K02TBM2SP0-C93
Capacity:	2000 GB (1863 GB usable) 48 GB additional overprovisioning
Controller:	Innogrit IG5236
Flash:	Hynix 176-Layer 3D TLC Rebranded to ENFGGP8NCBRR-HM
DRAM:	1x 2 GB Nanya LPDDR4-4266 NT6AN512T32AV-J1
Endurance:	1500 TBW
Form Factor:	M.2 2280
Interface:	PCIe Gen 4 x4, NVMe 1.4
Device ID:	KLEVV CRAS C930 M.2 NVMe SSD 2TB
Firmware:	3.U.J.LP
Warranty:	Five years
Price at Time of Review:	$120 / $60 per TB

Posted on February 27, 2025 by Computer Tech

(PR) NVIDIA Announces Financial Results for Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2025

Wednesday, February 26th 2025

NVIDIA today reported revenue for the fourth quarter ended January 26, 2025, of $39.3 billion, up 12% from the previous quarter and up 78% from a year ago.

For the quarter, GAAP earnings per diluted share was $0.89, up 14% from the previous quarter and up 82% from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share was $0.89, up 10% from the previous quarter and up 71% from a year ago.

For fiscal 2025, revenue was $130.5 billion, up 114% from a year ago. GAAP earnings per diluted share was $2.94, up 147% from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share was $2.99, up 130% from a year ago.

“Demand for Blackwell is amazing as reasoning AI adds another scaling law—increasing compute for training makes models smarter and increasing compute for long thinking makes the answer smarter,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA.

“We’ve successfully ramped up the massive-scale production of Blackwell AI supercomputers, achieving billions of dollars in sales in its first quarter. AI is advancing at light speed as agentic AI and physical AI set the stage for the next wave of AI to revolutionize the largest industries.”

NVIDIA will pay its next quarterly cash dividend of $0.01 per share on April 2, 2025, to all shareholders of record on March 12, 2025.

Outlook
NVIDIA’s outlook for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 is as follows:

Revenue is expected to be $43.0 billion, plus or minus 2%.
GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be 70.6% and 71.0%, respectively, plus or minus 50 basis points.
GAAP and non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be approximately $5.2 billion and $3.6 billion, respectively.
GAAP and non-GAAP other income and expense are expected to be an income of approximately $400 million, excluding gains and losses from non-marketable and publicly-held equity securities.
GAAP and non-GAAP tax rates are expected to be 17.0%, plus or minus 1%, excluding any discrete items.

Highlights
NVIDIA achieved progress since its previous earnings announcement in these areas:

Data Center

Fourth-quarter revenue was a record $35.6 billion, up 16% from the previous quarter and up 93% from a year ago. Full-year revenue rose 142% to a record $115.2 billion.
Announced that NVIDIA will serve as a key technology partner for the $500 billion Stargate Project.
Revealed that cloud service providers AWS, CoreWeave, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) are bringing NVIDIA GB200 systems to cloud regions around the world to meet surging customer demand for AI.
Partnered with AWS to make the NVIDIA DGX Cloud AI computing platform and NVIDIA NIM microservices available through AWS Marketplace.
Revealed that Cisco will integrate NVIDIA Spectrum-X into its networking portfolio to help enterprises build AI infrastructure.
Revealed that more than 75% of the systems on the TOP500 list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers are powered by NVIDIA technologies.
Announced a collaboration with Verizon to integrate NVIDIA AI Enterprise, NIM and accelerated computing with Verizon’s private 5G network to power a range of edge enterprise AI applications and services.
Unveiled partnerships with industry leaders including IQVIA, Illumina, Mayo Clinic and Arc Institute to advance genomics, drug discovery and healthcare.
Launched NVIDIA AI Blueprints and Llama Nemotron model families for building AI agents and released NVIDIA NIM microservices to safeguard applications for agentic AI.
Announced the opening of NVIDIA’s first R&D center in Vietnam.
Revealed that Siemens Healthineers has adopted MONAI Deploy for medical imaging AI.

Gaming and AI PC

Fourth-quarter Gaming revenue was $2.5 billion, down 22% from the previous quarter and down 11% from a year ago. Full-year revenue rose 9% to $11.4 billion.
Announced new GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards and laptops powered by the NVIDIA Blackwell architecture, delivering breakthroughs in AI-driven rendering to gamers, creators and developers.
Launched GeForce RTX 5090 and 5080 graphics cards, delivering up to a 2x performance improvement over the prior generation.
Introduced NVIDIA DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation and image quality enhancements, with 75 games and apps supporting it at launch, and unveiled NVIDIA Reflex 2 technology, which can reduce PC latency by up to 75%.
Unveiled NVIDIA NIM microservices, AI Blueprints and the Llama Nemotron family of open models for RTX AI PCs to help developers and enthusiasts build AI agents and creative workflows.

Professional Visualization

Fourth-quarter revenue was $511 million, up 5% from the previous quarter and up 10% from a year ago. Full-year revenue rose 21% to $1.9 billion.
Unveiled NVIDIA Project DIGITS, a personal AI supercomputer that provides AI researchers, data scientists and students worldwide with access to the power of the NVIDIA Grace Blackwell platform.
Announced generative AI models and blueprints that expand NVIDIA Omniverse integration further into physical AI applications, including robotics, autonomous vehicles and vision AI.
Introduced NVIDIA Media2, an AI-powered initiative transforming content creation, streaming and live media experiences, built on NIM and AI Blueprints.

Automotive and Robotics

Fourth-quarter Automotive revenue was $570 million, up 27% from the previous quarter and up 103% from a year ago. Full-year revenue rose 55% to $1.7 billion.
Announced that Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, will build its next-generation vehicles on NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin running the safety-certified NVIDIA DriveOS operating system.
Partnered with Hyundai Motor Group to create safer, smarter vehicles, supercharge manufacturing and deploy cutting-edge robotics with NVIDIA AI and NVIDIA Omniverse.
Announced that the NVIDIA DriveOS safe autonomous driving operating system received ASIL-D functional safety certification and launched the NVIDIA DRIVE AI Systems Inspection Lab.
Launched NVIDIA Cosmos, a platform comprising state-of-the-art generative world foundation models, to accelerate physical AI development, with adoption by leading robotics and automotive companies 1X, Agile Robots, Waabi, Uber and others.
Unveiled the NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super, which delivers up to a 1.7x gain in generative AI performance.

Source: NVIDIA

Posted on February 26, 2025 by Computer Tech

Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite WiFi 7 Review

Introduction

For the money, Gigabyte has been pretty hard to beat recently and for a big wad of change left from $300, the Gigabyte X870 Aorus Elite Wi-Fi 7 seems to pack a punch in the value department, at least on paper. There’s the somewhat dubious upgrade over older 600-series chipset models. The board is equipped with all the modern features you would expect. These features will support you through the lifespan of Socket AM5 and possibly a year or two beyond without any future shortcomings. At $270, it’s a good deal, especially since the board also looks great in the current market climate.

From the top, the headline features are a pair of USB4 ports, Wi-Fi 7, PCIe Gen 5 support for the graphics card and an M.2 port, all the M.2 ports have heatsinks too. Gigabyte hasn’t skimped on the audio and even includes a HDMI output on the PCB for case displays and a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 front Type-C header. You have everything you need here except if you want to use more than one PCIe Gen 5 SSD, or more than two M.2 SSDs of any type in total, in which case you’ll start to steal lanes from your graphics card, but we’d imagine those configurations are probably unlikely for most users.

There are cheaper options out there of course, but even using the same chipset, you quickly start to dial up M.2 slot lane stealing and reducing the number of ports that are usable without bandwidth issues or ports being disabled. You also start to see downgrades in audio and cooling. Stepping up to X870E doesn’t immediately give you more flexibility either, as the X870E version of this board, which costs $50 more, still sees a degree of PCIe lane sharing between M.2 ports and your graphics card if you’re filling a lot of slots. You can save a bit of cash going for B650E, but again, you quickly start to see the same limitations creeping in as well as the loss of features such as Wi-Fi 7.

Specifications

Specifications
CPU Support:	AMD Socket AM5 Ryzen 7000, 8000, 9000
Power Design:	CPU Power: 16-phase SOC Power: 2-phase MISC Power: 2-phase
Chipset:	AMD X870
Integrated Graphics:	Supported 1x HDMI 1x front HDMI 1.4 (1,920 x 1,080 30 Hz) 2x DisplayPort via USB-C
Memory:	4x DIMM, Support up to 256 GB 2x Single Rank DDR5-8200 (OC)
BIOS:	256 Mbit AMI UEFI
Expansion Slots:	1x PCIe Gen 5 x16 slot 1x PCIe Gen 4 x16 slot (x4) 1x PCIe Gen 3 x16 slot (x2)
Storage:	4x SATA 6 Gb/s 3x M.2 (PCIe Gen 5 x4) 1x M.2 (PCIe Gen 4 x4)
Networking:	1x Realtek RTL8125D 2.5 Gbps Ethernet 1x MediaTek MT7925B22M Wi-Fi 7
Rear Ports:	USB BIOS Flashback button 1x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet 1x HDMI port 2x USB4 40 Gbps (Type-C) 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps (Type-A) 4x USB 3.0 (Type-A) 4x USB 2.0 (Type-A) 1x Wi-Fi antenna connectors 2x Audio jacks 1x Optical S/PDIF Out port
Audio:	Realtek ALC1220 Codec
Fan / Thermistor headers:	8x 4-pin / 2x 2-pin
Form Factor:	ATX Form Factor 12.0 x 9.6 in. / 30.5 x 24.3 cm
Exclusive Features:	Dual CPU Power Connectors WI-FI EZ-Plug EZ-Latch Plus EZ-Latch Click PCIe EZ-Latch Plus Sensor Panel Link BIOS Flashback

Posted on February 26, 2025 by Computer Tech

AMD & Capcom Reveal Monster Hunter Wilds Game Bundle

Earlier today, the AMD Rewards website was updated with a new marketing promotion—standard edition digital copies of Capcom’s Monster Hunter Wilds (due on February 28) will be bundled with qualifying purchases of select Ryzen processors, Radeon graphics card, as well as Team Red-powered gaming laptops. AMD’s previous “Game Bundle Promotion” campaign rolled out last autumn—at the time, participating customers were gifted digital copies of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 and Unknown 9: Awakening. Unfortunately, the latest iteration grants access to a single AAA title. Multiple hardware and gaming news outlets have advised prospective buyers to make use of the Monster Hunter Wilds PC performance benchmark utility; in preparation for the game’s full release. Preview builds have reportedly brought fairly potent test systems to their knees.

Curiously, AMD’s list of eligible products does not include any desktop (AM5) 3D V-Cache models—a glaring omission, given the nature of this promotion. Instead, various standard SKUs are listed; at the top we spotted their Ryzen 9 9950X CPU. The cheapest option seems to be the Ryzen 7 7700 (non-X) model. Qualifying graphics card options are restricted to the Radeon RX 7000 series; there is no mention of next-gen candidates—terms could be amended later this week; AMD will be presenting its new Radeon RX 9070 series on February 28. Team Red board partners are expected to reveal their respective participations with this Monster Hunter Wilds promo campaign; Sapphire—a well regarded AIB—announced its involvement, as of this afternoon. Interestingly, ASUS has introduced a similar marketing initiative, also involving Capcom and its popular Monster Hunter franchise.

VideoCardz and Tom’s Hardware have kindly extracted lists of qualifying products.

Eligible AMD Ryzen processor SKUs: