Hardware and Accessories

While official reviews of the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB are still under embargo until June 5th, the first comparative gaming benchmarks have surfaced online. Data stemming from an accidentally published and quickly deleted review paints a mixed picture in its showdown with its direct competitor — the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB.

According to Windows Central, Microsoft is preparing to launch a new Xbox Elite Series 3 controller. The official reveal could happen as soon as this Sunday during the upcoming Xbox showcase. This updated model is expected to significantly improve upon the current Elite controller, though specific details remain under wraps for now.

Microsoft has made significant clarifications to the Windows 11 system requirements, specifically concerning artificial intelligence (AI) features. The company's official page now clearly spells out which processor series users will need to run advanced AI capabilities in the upcoming 24H2 update.

Valve's recent SteamOS 3.7.8 update opened the door for installation on regular PCs, and one enthusiast decided to put it to the test on a budget rig. The results were mixed: while it's still far from matching Windows for everyday ease of use and features, it unexpectedly outperformed Microsoft's OS in gaming benchmarks.

Independent testing pits the Ryzen 7 9800X3D against the Core Ultra 9 285K, revealing radically different strengths: one dominates gaming and efficiency, while the other crushes demanding workloads.

X has begun closed beta testing of its new messaging app, XChat, with select paying subscribers. This service aims to fully replace the outdated Direct Messages (DM) system inherited from the platform's past. XChat promises users not just a refreshed interface, but a full-fledged messenger featuring group chats, calls, enhanced security, and an unusual "Bitcoin-style" encryption approach.

Smartphone users worldwide can now create videos directly within the Gemini app using Google’s latest AI tool, Veo 3. Alongside this rollout, Google has significantly expanded access to its premium AI tier and introduced new measures for labeling AI-generated content.

AnTuTu has released its latest flagship performance rankings, compiled from aggregated data across thousands of benchmark runs. Snapdragon-powered devices dominated the list, claiming seven out of the top ten spots.

Games using advanced ray tracing could run significantly smoother thanks to new features in the latest DirectX update. Microsoft has released Agility SDK 1.717, adding support for Shader Execution Reordering (SER) and Opacity Micromaps (OMM). These optimize GPU workloads during complex scene rendering, promising major performance gains—up to 2-3x faster in some cases.

Twitch is testing vertical video for streamers and a rewind feature for viewers – a direct response to the boom in mobile viewing.

Data has surfaced online about AMD testing a powerful engineering sample graphics card, tentatively called the Radeon RX 9080 XT ES. If the leaks hold true, its 4K performance targets competition with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5080 Super, showcasing significant gains over the current flagship RX 9070 XT.

Even though the Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t set to launch until June 5, a few lucky gamers have already gotten their hands on the console. A detailed unboxing video has surfaced online, giving fans a close look at the device and even showing off the welcome screen.

Valve has published the results of its May Steam Hardware & Software Survey, offering a snapshot of the most commonly used graphics cards, processors, languages, operating systems, and more among Steam users.

Japanese engineers have overcome a major hurdle for future networks, setting a data transmission speed record of 1.02 petabits per second (Pbit/s) over a distance exceeding 1,800 km. The technology used in the experiment paves the way for infrastructure capable of handling demanding, latency-free services.

According to industry sources, NVIDIA is deliberately cutting production of its upcoming RTX 50 series graphics cards by roughly 20-30%. The freed-up manufacturing capacity is being shifted towards more profitable AI processors.

Despite no official announcement from AMD yet, the first evidence of upcoming Ryzen 9000G hybrid processors has surfaced. An update to Gigabyte's motherboard CPU support lists surprisingly includes mentions of this series, traditionally denoting powerful integrated graphics for gaming. This suggests a refresh of the APU lineup based on the new architecture could be coming soon.

Chinese company Lisuan Technology has successfully powered up the first test samples of its G100 graphics processor, built on a 6nm process. This marks a significant, though intermediate, milestone in developing China's first domestically produced GPU of this caliber.

AMD has made a quiet but strategic move, acquiring California-based startup Enosemi, a specialist in photonic chip technology. This acquisition will accelerate AMD’s development of critical Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) technology, promising breakthroughs in connection speed and energy efficiency.

Chinese AI assistant DeepSeek R1 just got a quiet but powerful upgrade. Though developers called it a "minor" update, tests show the free model now nearly matches OpenAI’s paid ChatGPT in logic and complex problem-solving.

According to Windows Central, Microsoft has paused development of its own portable Xbox device. The company has reportedly decided to shift its focus toward improving Windows 11 performance on third-party handheld PCs that use the OS for gaming.