Thank you to Lian Li for supplying the review sample.
Lian Li, founded in 1983, has a long and storied history with a reputation for excellence. Although the company was initially slow to enter new market segments, it has recently begun to tackle new challenges and markets head-on. Known for their world-renowned cases, Lian Li also produces fans, coolers, accessories, and power supplies. They continue to stay relevant in an ever-changing industry and are thriving, with recent releases like the UNI FAN P28 proving to be truly excellent performers.
The CPU cooler being reviewed today is Lian Li’s new GA II Lite 360 Performance AIO, which boasts a range of innovative features and an attractive price. Offering daisy-chained fans, clean looks, subtle ARGB lighting and a promise of excellent performance there is a lot to like from a features standpoint. Add in a solid six-year warranty along with coverage for any hardware damage caused by non-man made leaks depending on age is something I am quite surprised but also happy to see. Suffice to say they are making all the right moves, but before we start heaping any real praise it’s time to take a closer look.
Specifications
Manufacturer:
Lian Li
Model:
GA II Lite 360 Performance
Socket Support:
Intel:LGA1851, LGA 1700 AMD: AM5, AM4
CPU Block:
Base Material: Copper
Pump:
RPM: 3800
Radiator:
Dimensions: 397 x 120 x 27 mm Material: Aluminium
Fans:
Model: GF.12F2K5.000B0 Dimensions: 124 x 120 x 28 mm Fan Speed: 200–2500 RPM (max) Fan Airflow: 73.14 CFM Fan Noise: 29.8 dBA
Features:
New copper plate design with increased fin distance Straightened coolant path for increased water flow Pre-installed 28 mm thick high performance PBT fans Noise-optimized 3800 RPM performance pump ARGB illuminated pump with infinity mirror design
The EU could influence the mobile phone industry to ditch bundling wall chargers with their phones, and got them to standardize the USB-C connector, with the goal of minimizing the number of wall chargers people would have to own, which could last years, spanning many phones. It even got Apple to ditch its proprietary Lightning connector in favor of USB-C. The European Commission could be turning its attention to the way desktop PC processors are sold in the retail channel. In the OEM channels, things are golden—processors are sold by the 1,000 units in trays that aren’t all that different from egg trays sold to restaurants. In the retail channel, these processors put on elaborate packaging material that includes boxes that are about 20 times the size of the processor itself, and include stock cooling solutions that can run the processors at stock settings.
This could change, as the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) came into effect on February 11, 2025. This regulation gives manufacturers an 18-month grace period for compliance, and it affects desktop processor packaging in the retail channel. The first casualty will be special edition or flagship SKUs that come with swanky acrylic packaging, like Intel’s large dodecahedron that shipped with the Core i9-9900K. Intel has already made the switch, and its current flagship, the Core Ultra 9 285K, comes in much simpler paperboard boxes. AMD’s flagship processors also comply, as they come in compact paperboard boxes even for the top Ryzen 9 9950X. Then there’s the issue of stock CPU coolers included in these boxes, at least for the 65 W processor models.
Enthusiast-segment processor SKUs, such as Intel’s K/KF/KS series, and AMD’s X-series (TDP 105 W or higher) already lack stock coolers. The 65 W SKUs from both brands, however, tend to include coolers. PPWR could force processor manufacturers to unbundle this cooler. The cooler could be sold separately at a nominal price for those who really want a no-frills cooling solution to run their chips at stock settings, but it will no longer be in the box. This doesn’t affect the vast majority of the DIY gamer/enthusiast user-base that leaves these coolers in the box untouched, and uses aftermarket coolers.
Both Intel and AMD have made conscious efforts to ensure that CPU cooler compatibility outlasts CPU sockets. Intel’s LGA775 and LGA115x sockets have been legendary examples of this. You could have bought an LGA775 cooler way back in 2003, and used it all the way till 2009. You could then have bought an LGA1156 cooler, and used it well into 2021, spanning LGA1155, LGA1150, LGA1151, and LGA1200 along the way. AMD has cooler compatibility between sockets AM4 and AM5, so your cooler from 2017 can be used in a current platform from 2025. All this presents Intel and AMD with the perfect opportunity to unbundle stock coolers.
EU regulations tend to reach far beyond European borders, as has been the case with smartphones unbundling charters or standardizing USB-C, and we could see the trend of simpler desktop processor packaging and unbundling of coolers, similarly spread.
Lime Ears is an IEM brand based out of Poland, having made a strong name for itself among many musicians from the region and beyond. It started as a 2-person company in 2012, dedicating the next few years to making custom IEMs that are useful for stage monitoring—the real reason IEMs were made and are named accordingly. While Lime Ears continues to be popular with live performance use, and indeed a lot of its product line is available in custom-fit versions, the audiophile market tends to go with universal-fit models as a safe entry to test the fit and sound signature, since it’s also easier to re-sell/swap compared to a custom-fit one. Lime Ears debuted on TechPowerUp a few years ago with the PNEUMA, which has since been replaced by the newer PNEUMA V2, and today we examine its latest offering that has already been getting rave reviews from customers.
The Lime Ears TERRA is a hybrid driver set of IEMs with six drivers in total—one dynamic driver and five balanced armature drivers in a 4-way crossover. Emil, the proprietor of Lime Ears (guess what the letters E-M-I-L spell backwards?) had me try the TERRA in its final form at CanJam London 2024 before its release, and I was immediately impressed with what he had managed to achieve. This set uses aluminium shells, yet is lighter than some resin shell IEMs. It’s small and comfortable, while also sporting a highly catchy synthetic opal faceplate that looks right in place in a terrarium—hence the name. I tried it again at the Shenzhen International Audio Show in September, and this reaffirmed my interest in the set to where I reached out to Lime Ears and here we are. So let’s dig deeper into the TERRA and see if the hype is justified under more critical listening, and begin our coverage with a look at the product specifications in the table below. Thanks to Lime Ears for providing a review sample to TechPowerUp!
Specifications
Lime Ears TERRA In-Ear Monitors
Shell:
Anodized aluminium shells with synthetic opal faceplate
Cable:
2-strand cable with high-purity copper conductor
Driver Units:
7 mm dynamic driver + five balanced armature drivers
Frequency Response:
20 Hz–25 kHz
Sensitivity:
Not provided
Impedance:
Not provided
Cable Connectors:
4.4 mm TRRRS plug to source + two 0.78 mm 2-pin plugs to IEMs
The NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti gaming GPU is expected to be available starting February 20, although whether gamers are going to be able to purchase one anytime soon is a different story entirely. That said, a recent listing on an Austrian retailer’s website has revealed the pricing details for the MSI RTX 5070 Ti Gaming Trio card – a cool €1169 (inclusive of 19% VAT), roughly equivalent to $1212. Compared to NVIDIA’s official pricing for the RTX 5070 Ti in most parts of the EU, a 33% increase in price can be observed. Of course, the MSI GAMING TRIO is quite a high-end card, but the price delta is quite surprising regardless. Depending on supply, the prices may further inflate, if the events of the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 launch are repeated.
The RTX 5070 Ti is expected to boast 8690 CUDA cores paired with 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus. Recent leaks have hinted at very mediocre performance improvements, similar to what we witnessed with the RTX 5080. As of this writing, there seems to be a decent possibility that the RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT will beat the RTX 5070 family, not just in raster performance, but also in value. Of course, since NVIDIA is clearly going to fire first, gamers will not have much of a choice before RDNA 4 hits the scene. That said if the RTX 5070 series witnesses similarly atrocious availability at launch as its siblings, a lot of folks will have no option but to wait.
DAREU is a gaming peripheral company based in China. Clearly modeled after the Logitech G502 and Razer Basilisk V3, the right-handed ergonomic A980 Pro Max comes with several features not present on either of those. While the shell is made of regular ABS plastic, the main buttons pieces are made of magnesium, to improve both click feel and durability. Internally, Kailh GM 8.0 switches are used, coupled with PixArt’s latest PAW3950 sensor, dubbed “AIM-750” by DAREU. Of note is the ability to define lift-off distance separately for lift and landing, similarly to Razer’s Asymmetric Cut-Off. The button layout includes two side buttons and a sniper button, and by designating a dedicated shift button, a secondary set of button mappings can be enabled in the software, and several such profiles may be stored to the on-board memory. On the left side of the mouse, a TFT display is present, which shows the current CPI and polling rate settings along with battery charge status, and button combinations may be used to change these settings. The A980 Pro Max features both 2.4 GHz wireless (NearLink) and Bluetooth, with up to 130 hours of battery life being cited, and polling rates of up to 8000 Hz in wired operation and up to 4000 Hz in wireless operation are supported. Configuration is done in the software, which has the usual options. The A980 Pro Max is available in black, white, or blue.
AMD’s Ryzen 9000HX lineup of “Fire Range” Zen 5 mobile processors is due for release within a vague March to April window, with the upcoming 3D V-Cache-equipped Ryzen 9 9955HX3D SKU touted to become a top choice for manufacturers of ultra high-end gaming laptops. The latest version of CPU-Z is ready (in advance) with support for Team Red’s incoming product line; CPUID’s patch notes (published on February 8) have revealed previously unannounced models. AMD’s official introduction of Ryzen 9000HX series CPUs included an opening salvo of Ryzen 9 9955HX3D (16-core), 9955HX (16-core) and 9850HX (12-core) models.
According to CPU-Z version 2.14, three additional “Fire Range” SKUs are seemingly on the way. Starting off with the Ryzen 9 9950HX3D—a (presumably) slightly less potent 3D V-Cache-sporting model—its nomenclature suggests that it will sit just below the series flagship. The 9950HX model is expected to slot just under the already announced 9955HX chip. The newly revealed 9845HX SKU could become the lowest 12-core offering within AMD’s “Fire Range” product stack.
Yet another Brix mini PC from Gigabyte has hit the scene, powered by the very modest six-watt Intel N250 CPU. Undoubtedly, this mini PC is targeted at folks with modest computing demands. If the system’s specifications are anything to go by, the BTIP-N250 is most likely to command an affordable price tag, although that cannot be said with certainty for now considering that Gigabyte is yet to reveal any pricing or availability details regarding the system.
As mentioned, the Intel N250 quad-core, quad-thread processors is not here to set any performance records. That said, the N250 is actually as performant as the Zen+ Ryzen 5 3500U, which means moderate workloads and office-based workflows are likely not going to be much of a challenge for the system. The processor can be paired with up to 16 GB of DDR5 memory, and the system supports M.2 as well as 2.5″ drives to take care of storage requirements. Dual USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, dual USB-A 3.2 gen 2, HDMI, and audio in/out ports are also present. Wireless connectivity can be added via the M.2 2230 slot, while the 1G ethernet takes care of wired networking.
The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX was unveiled by Big Blue at CES 2025, packing 8 Lion Cove performance cores and 16 Skymont efficiency cores for a total of 24 cores and 24 threads, thanks to Intel doing away with Hyper-Threading support. As such, we already had quite low expectations for multicore performance from Arrow Lake-HX, although a recently listed Cinebench R23 run appears to confirm the contrary. However, considering the nature of leaks, be sure to accept this information with a fair amount of skepticism until more information comes our way.
To be honest, this result is quite a doozy, for the aforementioned reason. Like its predecessor, the Core Ultra 9 275HX will also boast the same number of performance and efficiency cores, without Hyper-Threading support. But somehow, the result indicates that the 275HX handily outperforms the Core i9-14900HX in multicore performance by a whopping 18%, despite losing out in single-core performance by the skin of its teeth. Clearly, something is going on here, that I am unable to wrap my head around. It is possible that Intel has massively improved multicore scaling, but that is not what we witnessed with a recent Passmark result, where the Core Ultra 7 255H portrayed healthy improvements over its predecessor in single-core, but not quite so in multicore.
“Civilization VII” evolves the legendary strategy series, offering fresh mechanics, new gameplay, and greater player freedom. Expanding on its foundations, this installment introduces updated challenges and opportunities across every era of history. There’s also new leaders and wonders, and the tech tree has been revamped, too.
With enhanced AI, refined systems, and immersive details, every decision shapes the course of you civilization. Stunning visuals, intricate maps, and expanded customization provide endless strategic possibilities for players to forge their legacy.
Civilization VII is developed by Firaxis Games, the famous studio behind the series, known for its expertise with strategy games. Built on an updated version of the in-house Civilization engine, the game supports both DirectX 12 and Vulkan. You also get support for AMD FSR 3 upscaling, FSR 1 upscaling and XeSS. Curiously there is no support for any NVIDIA technology—no DLSS, and no frame generation at all. What’s also missing is support for ray tracing.
This review will evaluate the performance of Civilization 7 across a wide range of contemporary graphics cards, compare image quality settings, and analyze the game’s VRAM usage to provide insight into the hardware requirements needed for an optimal experience.
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At some point this week, HP’s North American online store was updated with new high-end EliteBooks that feature AMD Strix Point APUs. Three models appear to support up to 128 GB of LPDDR5X-8533 memory—these curious entries were highlighted by tech enthusiast Hoang Anh Phu (AnhPhuH). The advertised maximum 8533 MT/s transfer rate exceeds Team Red’s official reference figure (7500 MT/s) for the EliteBook X G1a’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 APU. Looking further up in the Team Red “Strix Point” product stack, we spotted their Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375 spec sheet boasting a maximum LPDDR5x transfer speed of 8000 MT/s. Press outlets have expressed doubt when analyzing three of HP’s EliteBook X G1a SKUs. Theories point to product pages containing possible placeholder information, or inaccuracies.
Working with the belief that the specs are legit, AnhPhuH commented: “this is the first laptop featured with 128 GB LPDDR5x-8533 128-bit memory. That would mean it’s using four 256 Gb x32 modules(?!). As far as I know, all three major DRAM manufacturers currently only have 128 Gb x32 modules…the EliteBook X G1a uses Strix Point, not Strix Halo, so it only pairs with four x32 modules (two 64-bit channels).” HP’s web shop states that the EliteBook X G1a models are due to launch on March 14. We hope that further clarification and concrete specifications appear online closer to release time. Initial pricing starts at $2749 for the lowliest of the three “128 GB LPDDR5X-8533” equipped models. The agonizingly named flagship “HP EliteBook X G1a 14 inch Notebook Next Gen AI PC Wolf Pro Security Edition” offering comes in at an eye-watering $4299.
The EU could influence the mobile phone industry to ditch bundling wall chargers with their phones, and got them to standardize the USB-C connector, with the goal of minimizing the number of wall chargers people would have to own, which could last years, spanning many phones. It even got Apple to ditch its proprietary Lightning connector in favor of USB-C. The European Commission could be turning its 
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