Tom's Hardware

US to patch loopholes that allow China to buy banned AI GPUs from other countries — new regulations include national quotas on GPU exports and a global licensing system

Chinese entities have obtained advanced Nvidia GPUs for AI and HPC applications despite U.S. restrictions through an advanced underground smuggling network from third-party countries. The U.S. government is unhappy about this, so it plans to implement new regulations to limit Chinese companies from acquiring these AI GPUs from intermediary countries. The rule will purportedly go into effect… Read more

TSMC shares deep-dive details about its cutting edge 2nm process node at IEDM 2024 — 35 percent less power, or 15% more performance

(Image credit: TSMC via IEDM) TSMC revealed additional details about its N2 (2nm-class) fabrication process at the IEEE International Electron Device Meeting (IEDM) earlier this month. The new production node promises a 24 to 35% power reduction or 15% performance improvement at the same voltage, and 1.15X higher transistor density than the prior-gen 3nm process…. Read more

Qualcomm fires back at Intel’s claims of high laptop return rates — the company says Snapdragon X PCs are within ‘industry norm’ for returns

Late on Friday, Qualcomm reacted to a claim by an interim Intel co-CEO that the return rates of Qualcomm Snapdragon X-based PCs were high as customers were unsatisfied with their systems due to software incompatibilities. Qualcomm (via CRN) denied the claim and said that return rates of Snapdragon X-powered computers are within industry norms, saying customers are happy with… Read more

Intel tempers expectations for next-gen Falcon Shores AI GPU — Gaudi 3 missed AI wave, Falcon will require fast iterations to be competitive

Having dumped its Xe-HPC GPU accelerators in favor of Gaudi, and still missing its own sales goals with its Gaudi 3 AI accelerator, Intel is pinning its AI hopes on its next-gen Falcon Shores GPU platform. However, interim co-CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus said this week that Falcon Shores will be a new start requiring fast iteration, rather than… Read more

Minisforum’s AM5 mini-PC gets Ryzen 9 9950X upgrade for $919 — adding 64GB RAM and 2TB SSD pushes the price tag to $1,199

(Image credit: Minisforum) Amidst the chaos of October, Minisforum launched the MS-A1 AM5 mini-PC with both barebones and a Ryzen 7 8700G configuration— but earlier this morning, Minisforum also added a new variant with Ryzen 9 9950X. Compared to other mini PCs, which usually don’t come in alternative barebones forms, MS-A1 may be the most… Read more

Nvidia revives LAN party after 13 years to celebrate RTX 50-series GPU launch — GeForce LAN 50 is a 50-hour LAN party across four different cities

Nvidia is hosting its first LAN party in over a decade to celebrate the RTX 50 series debut at CES 2025. The LAN party (dubbed GeForce LAN 50) will start on January 4 at 4:30 pm PT and end right before Nvidia CES Jensen Huang gives his opening speech at the CES event in Las… Read more

Where to buy the Intel Arc B580 — all the different models currently available

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) The Intel Arc B580 officially launched today, December 13, 2024. It’s the new budget-friendly darling of the GPU world, ranking as one of the best graphics cards you can buy — if you can find it in stock. We’ve scoured the usual places for all the current listings and prices, and… Read more

HDMI 2.2 is set to debut at CES 2025 — the new standard brings higher resolutions, refresh rates, and bandwidth

A new HDMI standard is set to launch at CES 2025 in January. According to a report, the HDMI Licensing Administrator, Inc. (HDMI LA) has already notified media outlets about a significant announcement scheduled during the trade fair in Las Vegas. The new standard, rumored to be named HDMI 2.2, is expected to deliver higher… Read more

AI GPU clusters with one million GPUs are planned for 2027 — Broadcom says three AI supercomputers are in the works

When Elon Musk announced plans to expand xAI’s Colossus AI supercomputer from 100,000 GPUs today to 1 million GPUs in the future, the plan seemed overwhelming. But xAI will not be alone in having such a gargantuan supercomputer. Broadcom predicts that three of its clients, among hyperscalers, will deploy AI supercomputers with one million XPUs in fiscal… Read more

Intel Panther Lake samples with flagship 18A node have been powered on at eight customers — Co-CEOs dispel rumors regarding poor silicon health

Just a few months after Pat Gelsinger presented Panther Lake Engineering Samples live at the Lenovo Tech World event, Intel reports that Panther Lake has now achieved power-on status at eight customers. During the Barclays 22nd Annual Global Technology Conference, the two interim co-CEOs at Intel dispelled rumors regarding 18A and the scheduled Panther Lake… Read more

Intel’s co-CEO claims retailers say Qualcomm-powered machines have high return rates

Michelle Johnston Holthaus, an interim co-CEO of Intel, claims that a large percentage of Qualcomm-powered machines are being returned to retailers. Johnston Holthaus claims that it is retailers’ number one concern. “I mean, if you look at the return rate for Arm PCs, you go talk to any retailer, their number one concern is ‘I… Read more

Nvidia teases RTX 50 Blackwell Gaming GPUs for launch next month — The Witcher IV’s first cinematic trailer likely leveraged the upcoming RTX 5090

With less than one month before CES 2025, Nvidia has dropped the first teaser for its upcoming RTX 50 family of GPUs – employing the Blackwell architecture. According to rumors, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is set to take the stage and drop the curtains on the next-gen RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 GPUs on January… Read more

ASRock Z890 Taichi Lite Review: Slimmed down Taichi for the mid-range

Tom’s Hardware Verdict The Z890 Taichi Lite, priced at $399.99, is a solid ‘mid-range’ option in today’s high-priced motherboard realm. It offers dual LAN ports, high-quality audio, six M.2 sockets, and a neutral, RGB-free design. While not the most budget-friendly choice, it’s worth considering, especially if you have lots of M.2 SSDs. Pros + High-quality… Read more

AMD’s fastest quad-core CPU gets tested — EPYC 4124P plays games at well over 60 FPS

(Image credit: YouTube – RandomGamingInHD) It is easy to forget that quad-core CPUs still exist, but this core-count configuration is still the go-to config Intel and AMD use for their entry-level solutions. RandomGaminginHD on YouTube benchmarked AMD’s latest entry-level server processor, the AM5-based EPYC 4124P, with an RTX 4060 and an RTX 4070 Super, providing… Read more

Intel executive says spinning off manufacturing unit is an ‘open question’

(Image credit: Intel) While Michelle Johnston Holthaus, Intel’s interim co-CEO, believes that spinning off the Intel Foundry division into a completely separate entity is not a wise idea, she notes that the fate of Intel manufacturing will be decided by ‘someone,’ likely either in reference to the Intel board or a future CEO. David Zinsner,… Read more