Tom's Hardware

Dell’s $35 AlienFX cable kit makes Alienware Area-51 desktop compatible with third-party motherboards

(Image credit: Dell/Alienware) Dell is giving some of its Alienware gaming PCs (or one, at least) additional flexibility by enabling compatibility with third-party motherboards. The system maker has provided a new AlienFX board cable conversion kit for its flagship Alienware Area-51 gaming desktop, which provides all the necessary equipment to swap out the Area-51’s built-in… Read more

Windows 11 local account workaround discovered just as Microsoft closes previous loophole in Insider Build

(Image credit: Microsoft) A new workaround that bypasses the Microsoft account requirement when setting up a Windows 11 PC has been discovered. This comes right after an old workaround was plugged by the company. The new workaround, discovered by Wither OrNot on X (and was confirmed to work by BleepingComputer) takes advantage of one line… Read more

Nvidia confirms Nintendo Switch 2 SoC’s AI, ray tracing features, keeps real specs to itself for now

While Nintendo made a splash at yesterday’s formal unveiling of the Nintendo Switch 2, the company’s hardware developers stayed quiet on the chip powering it. Now, Nvidia, which makes the custom system on a chip, has provided some more information in a blog post. “Nintendo doesn’t share too much on the hardware spec,” Switch 2… Read more

Seven RTX 5090 GPUs power AI server worth over $30,000 — over 4000W of power and 224GB of memory in a single frame

It’s no secret that Nvidia’s RTX 5090 is a powerhouse for AI workloads, given Blackwell’s architectural improvements and support for the lower precision data formats. A Vietnamese shop, Nguyencongpc (via I_Leak_VN), recently shared a few photos of an AI rig they set up for a customer, featuring seven RTX 5090s hooked up to multiple kilowatt… Read more

China’s push for chip independence continues with its first RISC-V server CPU

RiVAI Technologies has launched the Lingyu CPU, China’s first domestically designed high-performance RISC-V server processor. The unveiling occurred in Shenzhen, reflecting the country’s ongoing push for greater self-sufficiency in semiconductor development. The Lingyu CPU adopts a one-core, dual architecture approach, integrating 32 general-purpose computing cores (CPU) alongside eight specialized intelligent computing cores (LPU). The configuration… Read more

RX 9070 GRE is reportedly in development to provide an affordable entry point into RDNA 4

AMD allegedly plans to launch a special-edition RX 9070 GRE GPU, which is considered a cost-effective RDNA 4 option for the budget market, per IThome. These special-edition GPUs were initially intended for the Chinese market, but some GRE models later became available globally. Though exact specifications are unknown, the reported 12GB of memory aligns this… Read more

Nintendo Switch 2 developers confirm DLSS, hardware ray tracing, and more

From left to right, Nintendo Switch 2 producer Kouichi Kawamoto, technical director Tetsuya Sasaki, and director Takuhiro Dohta. (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) On Nintendo’s specs page , the CPU and GPU in the Nintendo Switch 2 are boiled down to a vague “Custom processor made by NVIDIA.” At a developer roundtable with some of the… Read more

Nintendo Switch 2 Hands-on: Bigger, faster, and with mouse controls

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) The Nintendo Switch 2 feels familiar, but it doesn’t feel the same. At a hands-on event in New York, I was among the first to play the successor to Nintendo’s most popular ever console, and I came away largely excited, though that may be more because of the games than the… Read more

Intel refreshes iconic brand with ‘That’s the power of Intel Inside’ campaign

Ever since Intel launched its ‘Intel Inside’ campaign in 1991, its brand identity has become inseparable not only from PCs that contained its processors but also from PCs and ICT at large. However, a lot has changed in the last 30 years, and PCs and ICT have become inseparable parts of today’s world. So, at… Read more

Russian spy infiltrates ASML and NXP to steal technical data necessary to build 28nm-capable fabs

(Image credit: ASML) German A., a 43-year-old Russian engineer, is accused of secretly supplying sensitive technical information from ASML, NXP, and TSMC to Russia, allegedly to assist in building a 28nm-capable fab there, reports NRC. His illicit earnings were about €40,000, and he now faces 18 to 32 months in prison. Though German A. alone… Read more

Defective RX 9070 XT card with pitted silicon surface runs extremely hot — report indicates it’s unclear if this was an isolated incident

(Image credit: PowerColor) Igor’s Lab received a defective PowerColor RX 9070 XT Hellhound from a reader who had purchased the card. While it had apparently passed quality control tests, Igor found a defective RDNA 4 die that resulted in unsustainable temperatures — which persisted even after re-pasting. According to the tech outlet, the culprit was… Read more

AMD pins Ryzen 9000 ‘failures’ on compatibility issues — BIOS update recommended to avoid boot problems

There have been several reports of AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPUs refusing to boot on ASRock motherboards. The two companies have been aware of them since February 2025, with ASRock immediately releasing a beta BIOS update to address the problem. After a few weeks of investigation, the cause of the issue has finally been identified… Read more

RTX 5080 laptop GPU beats RTX 4090 counterpart — delivers 10% less performance than RTX 5090

(Image credit: Nvidia) Nvidia’s RTX 50-series laptop GPUs have recently launched, and although the availability of devices with these graphics cards is spotty at best, official benchmarks are rolling out to show us how they perform compared to other cards. We’ve already seen multiple reviews for the RTX 5090 laptop GPU, like Tom’s Hardware’s look… Read more

Amazon reserves RTX 5070, RX 9070 XT GPUs as Amazon Prime exclusives, to the dismay of scalpers

Getting hold of the latest and greatest graphics card is almost always a challenge, thanks to scalpers, and the recent market hasn’t been much different. Users are eager to get their hands on the new RTX 5000 and RX 9000 series GPUs, but finding a readily available supply is far from typical. However, Damien Mason… Read more

Chinese DRAM maker reportedly mulls DDR4 hike prices

In a surprising turn of events, Chinese DRAM maker Changxin Memory (CXMT) is considering hiking the prices of its DDR4 memory after demand and supply stabilized, according to DigiTimes. According to TrendForcethat has, CXMT is not the only company to increased DRAM pricing in recent months. Keep in mind that the information is unofficial, though…. Read more