Corsair announces SF Series PSUs for SFX enthusiasts

Fans of small form-factor PCs or SFX builds are often very limited in their choice of PSUs. First issue is that there are few PSUs that conform to that small standard to begin with, and also cable management issue in that very limited space. Corsair is expected to be ready to offer a new choice for those who like their rigs small and sweet with their SF series PSUs, the SF450 and SF600.

What’s amazing about these two SFX PSUs is that besides conforming to the standard, they are both 80 Plus Gold certified, which means that they have excellent efficiency at every load level. 100% All Japanese 105°C capacitors are used in these PSUs for enhanced reliability and solid power delivery. At low loads, the fan will shut down for zero noise emission, a great feature for those who intend to use a SFX build as a HTPC.

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Remember what we said about difficult cable management in SFX builds? Well the Corsair SF series PSUs are fully modular to make it easier to keep your cables neat in the limited space of the tiny cases. The SF comes with 4 SATA power connectors so you should be able to maximize the storage in your little SFX case.
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The Corsair SF series PSUs are expected to be available by May 2016 in all major retail stores nationwide.

Pokdepinion: While I prefer compact PCs, SFX isn’t something I am really interested in as a gamer. However for those who are, this makes for a very valid addition to their shortlist when picking a power supply.
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One of 3dfx’s Final, Quad-chip Video Card Was Sold For $15,000

The card was never sold to the public more than 20 years ago when the company was eventually folded and absorbed into NVIDIA.

The 3dfx Voodoo 5 is among the rarest video cards in existence – as it never went past the prototype phase, only a small number of them exist in the wild. Sometimes they see themselves in auction sites like eBay, in this case.

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This particular card is the Voodoo 5 6000, a quad-GPU monstrosity that was powered by, you guessed it, 4 physical graphics processors (VSA-100). Not to be confused with the multi-chip design seen in AMD’s RDNA 3 GPUs, these are the kind that have more in relation to something like NVIDIA GTX TITAN Z or the AMD Radeon R9 295X2 – except with double the chip counts.
It’s not easy to wrap around with the specs on offer here since they are, in retrospect, miniscule – but remember in early 2000s, it had 128MB of VRAM which was the largest-ever for consumer GPUs at the time. However, this being a prototype meant there’s quirks and bugs: among those include an incompatibility with Intel Pentium 4 systems due to bugs in AGP 4x support.
Image: eBay
This prototype, labeled “3700A” was apparently reworked by former 3dfx engineer Hank Semenc and supports 8x FSAA, with various bugfixes; it was sold for $15,000 USD when the bids ended at Feb 12.
Source: Videocardz | eBay
Pokdepinion: Definitely a piece of computing history living in this card.
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China’s Rocket Debris Seen Crashing Near Malaysia

The Uncontrollable Rocket Reportedly Collided into the Indian Ocean

The uncontrollable Long March 5B rocket from China reentered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, landing near Sarawak.
The re-entry of the rocket was confirmed by the US Space Command, however, it is unknown where its debris landed.

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#USSPACECOM can confirm the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Long March 5B (CZ-5B) re-entered over the Indian Ocean at approx 10:45 am MDT on 7/30. We refer you to the #PRC for further details on the reentry’s technical aspects such as potential debris dispersal+ impact location.
— U.S. Space Command (@US_SpaceCom) July 30, 2022

According to a translated post on Weibo by China’s Manned Space Agency, the rocket reentered the same site and burnt up most of the way down.
China launched a lab module to its unfinished Tiangong space station on July 24th, using the Long March 5B. Unlike other rockets, the Long March 5B uses its first stage to propel its cargo into orbit. This chunk, which is more than 100 feet long and weighs more than 22 tonnes, circles the Earth for a while before plummeting down to Earth, with no method of controlling its path.
Ambiguity over where the rocket would land spread around the world this week, with forecasts ranging from Mexico to the southern point of Africa. This is China’s third Long March 5B launch, and its third crash landing.
China sent Tiangong’s core module into orbit in 2020 using a Long March 5B rocket. The rocket’s debris landed in the Ivory Coast, and while no casualties were recorded, structural damage was sustained. China launched its first lab module atop a Long March 5B last year, with bits of it crashing down in the Indian Ocean.
Malaysian Twitter users managed to sight the rocket’s apparent return, mistaking it for a meteor.

meteor spotted in kuching! #jalanbako 31/7/2022 pic.twitter.com/ff8b2zI2sw
— Nazri sulaiman (@nazriacai) July 30, 2022

Yo meteor shower!!!! pic.twitter.com/DwzqM922N5
— 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐩 (@juuulan_) July 30, 2022

According to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, debris from the rocket may wind up near Brunei, Borneo’s northern shore though it is highly improbable that it will land in a populated region.
Alas, this isn’t the last time an out-of-control rocket will fall on Earth. China intends to launch its third and final module to Tiangong in October using a Long March 5B rocket and will use it again in 2023 to carry a telescope into orbit.
Source , Source , Source
Pokdepinion: I hope this tactic wouldn’t hurt any civilians down below and cause massive destruction. The consequences would be dire not only to the said countries but internationally.
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ASUS Announces New Fonepad 7 (FE375CG)

Kuala Lumpur (3rd September, 2014) — ASUS Malaysia today announced on the whole new ASUS Fonepad 7 (FE375CG), available in nationwide. This 7-inch tablet with dual-SIM, 3G phone functionality is powered by the latest 64-bit Intel® Atom™ Z3560 1.83GHz quad-core processor, and features a new design that is lighter and narrower than its predecessor. This narrow bezel design provides a 70% screen-to-body ratio to give Fonepad 7 a larger display area.

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A powerful tablet with dual-SIM 3G functionality
The ASUS Fonepad 7 (FE375CG) features the 64-bit Intel Atom Z3560 1.83GHz quad-core processor for powerful, efficient performance and 10.5 hours of battery life when watching videos or browsing the web, or up to 20 hours of 3G talk-time.
The Fonepad 7 features a 7-inch, 1280 x 800 IPS display and dual front speakers for immersive multimedia. There are 5-megapixel rear-facing and 2-megapixel front-facing cameras with PixelMaster technology for enhanced camera functions for high-quality images and video. The new Fonepad 7 available with 8GB onboard storage which can be further expanded by 64GB of Micro SD storage.
Built-in 3G connectivity and dual SIM slots provide crystal-clear voice calls and ensure that users are reachable on their own mobile or travel SIM numbers.
Intuitive ASUS ZenUI
The ASUS Fonepad 7 (FE375CG) runs on the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system and comes with the exclusive ASUS ZenUI mobile device interface. ZenUI features more than 200 software enhancements over previous ASUS interfaces and sports a new visual design with modern ‘flat’ icons, customizable vivid color themes that match the device color, animations, new ringtones and notification sounds, and a clean layout to clearly present information. ASUS ZenUI also includes two features — What’s Next and Do It Later — designed to free users from actively having to manage the multitude of information they are confronted with daily, thus enabling them to be more productive.
Designed for portability
The 7-inch ASUS Fonepad 7 (FE375CG) has a narrow bezel design that allows for easy one-handed use, measuring just 10.9cm wide, 9.83mm thin, and weighing only 299g.

Pricing
The 7-inch ASUS Fonepad 7 (FE375CG) available now at your local IT stores and ASUS authorized resellers starting with SRP RM649.
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ASUSTOR Unveils new Flagship NAS Models, ADM 3.0 and CMS Lite at Computex 2016

ASUSTOR Inc., a leading innovator and provider of network storage solutions, has unveiled 5 new enterprise-class flagship models for the coming year at Computex 2016 in Taipei. These new models include the 8-bay AS6208T and 10-bay AS6210T tower models along with the 4-bay AS6204RD, 4-bay AS6204RS and 12-bay AS6212RD rackmount models. These 5 models all come equipped with the newest generation of Intel quad-core processors, expandable memory, and a rich variety of I/O interfaces, providing enterprise users with a stable performing, highly usable and cost-effective cloud storage solution. At Computex, ASUSTOR will also be exhibiting the all new ADM 3.0 interface, enhanced MyArchive storage technology, more powerful multimedia functionality and CMS Lite surveillance system application. ASUSTOR will be exhibiting at Computex for 5 days starting from today until June 4th. All are invited to visit ASUSTOR at the ASUS Booth, Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, 4th floor, booth M0410 in order to experience the latest NAS technology and innovative concepts firsthand.

New ADM 3.0 Interface
The third generation ADM 3.0 interface provides users with even more customizability by adding new theme color options for a more vibrant user experience. The new ADM 3.0 interface not only supports 4K displays but also features desktop icons that can automatically adjust their size according to the screen resolution. Users will also have the option to display their desktop icons in 5×3, 6×3, 6×4, 7×3, and 7×4 formations. Furthermore, newly added desktop widgets and icon grouping functions provide even more customization possibilities while a system notification area has been added for system administrators. Administrators can now customize notification messages to be displayed to users before or after they log in to ADM.

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Enhanced MyArchive Cold Backup Technology
MyArchive is ASUSTOR’s exclusive storage management technology. The newly enhanced MyArchive increases the number of simultaneous configurable MyArchive hard disks from 2 to N-1. Users can also now format hard disks to EXT4, NTFS and HFS+ file systems, significantly expanding MyArchive disks’ flexibility and availability. When no longer needed, removed MyArchive disks can be put into eSATA/USB external enclosures and be directly accessible via Windows or Apple Mac devices. Additionally, MyArchive disks can be configured to automatically mount on up to 20 trusted NAS devices. MyArchive also now supports AES 256-bit encryption along with decryption via password, electronic key or physical USB device.

Enterprise-Class Surveillance Center Applications
ASUSTOR NAS users can turn their NAS into a professional NVR free of charge. At Computex, ASUSTOR’s new Surveillance Center 2.5 will be paired with the AS7010T and a dual monitor display featuring 64 different surveillance feeds and electronic maps to exhibit an ideal professional surveillance solution. ASUSTOR will also be exhibiting a future function in the ASUSTOR Central Management System (CMS) Lite version. CMS Lite can take multiple ASUSTOR NVR systems and centralize them on a primary server. A maximum of 32 ASUSTOR NVR systems can be added and a maximum of 128 camera feeds can be viewed. Administrators can also configure user permissions according to each camera, satisfying the needs of medium to large sized surveillance infrastructures. Furthermore, security surveillance systems have always needed long term recording storage space. ASUSTOR provides shared folder or USB external storage device mounting that can be combined with the MyArchive function in limited storage situations to provide scheduled backups of recordings to MyArchive hard disks for organized storage. Should users need to review recordings, the MyArchive disks can be inserted back into the NAS at any time for easy access.
Introduction to Surveillance Center 2.5
Surveillance Center 2.5 satisfies Windows users’ cross-browser usage needs with support for Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer. HTTPS encrypted connections are also now available when viewing video feeds online, making configurations or playing back recordings, providing added security. Surveillance Center also provides a self-defined save location function for recording files allowing users to configure the location according to their preferences for added flexibility and freedom. Additionally, over 43 compatible camera models have been added from world renowned brands for a total of 700+ compatible camera models. Users can also now use the local display function to directly search and playback specific recording files via the timeline or calendar and listen to live audio as well.

Introduction to Multimedia Applications
ASUSTOR NAS provides more than just storage. ASUSTOR’s 31, 32, 61, 62 series devices all come equipped with HDMI ports that can combine with ASUSTOR Portal, Kodi and 4K displays to easily create a home multimedia center. Users can also install a variety of 3rd party applications to ASUSTOR Portal which include online streaming multimedia packs, social media packs, chess, Spotify and Netflix for even more digital fun at home.
LooksGood and SoundsGood
Developed by ASUSTOR, LooksGood is a web-based video player application while SoundsGood provides a web-based music player. Users can use LooksGood to manage the video collections on their NAS and play back videos. ASUSTOR NAS also features the exclusive Hyper Transcoding function that offers a tenfold decrease in file conversion times. LooksGood’s corresponding mobile app AiVideos lets users take all of their videos on the go by streaming them to their phone. As for SoundsGood, the new interface is now more intuitive and simple while its corresponding mobile app AiMusic now supports the local playback function. Users need only connect their NAS to USB speakers or HDMI/SPDIF output devices and they will be able to use their phone to control music playback. For more product information please visit:http://www.asustor.com

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OnePlus 11R Officially Unveiled With an Interesting Twist

It appears that we have a new variant of their latest flagship, the OnePlus 11R smartphone, and it comes with a rather interesting twist.
OnePlus 11R

OnePlus released a teaser for the OnePlus 11R smartphone, revealing some details ahead of the February 7 launch alongside the OnePlus 11 and other products. The phone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip (used in the OnePlus 10T) and a vapor chamber cooling system (larger than the one in the OnePlus 10 Pro). It can be configured with up to 16GB RAM, and has a new RAM-Vita feature using AI to optimize memory allocation. No information was provided on other memory and storage options.

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The OnePlus 11R boasts a 120Hz LTPS LCD screen. Its refresh rate can range from 40Hz to 120Hz, but these values are not exact and do not align with common video content like 24fps, 25fps, and 50fps. The device is equipped with 100W SuperVOOC fast charging and a 5000mAh battery, which can be fully charged in 25 minutes.
More information, including pricing and availability, will be revealed on Feb 7 during the launch of the OnePlus 11R, along with the OnePlus 11, Pad, Buds Pro 2, and the 65 Q2 Pro TV.
Source
Pokdepinion: Being an alternative to the current flagship while using the previous year’s flagship lets them offers a premium, high-end experience while still keeping prices relatively reasonable. It’s great for consumers but it can be risky for businesses as it could cannibalize sales of their own latest flagship device.
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Crash Bandicoot Mobile Game Now Out for Android Smartphones

One of PlayStation’s most iconic mascots have made his way to the mobile gaming space. Crash Bandicoot mobile game just  had its soft launch, an early release in some countries before it has a proper worldwide release.
Previously, the Crash Bandicoot mobile game was announced for both Android and iOS about a couple of months ago. It’s not going to play exactly like the console games as it’s meant to be an endless run-type game.

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In other words, you will be running along predetermined paths, moving Crash on several parallel lanes to collect as many bonuses as possible while also avoiding obstacles with the right timing. The levels themselves, at least a good amount of them, should be based on existing games for that added nostalgia factor.

Crash Bandicoot Mobile Game Description
Classic Crash in a Brand New Adventure

Jump, slide and spin through the iconic tracks of the Wumpa Island
Complete awesome battle runs
Team up with Coco to find and defeat Dr Cortex’s minions

Your Favourite Characters Are Back

Take on classic enemies and bosses including Mutagen Ant, Scorporilla, Nitrus Brio and Dingodile!
Beware of the Buzzsaw turtles and spiders!

Discover Hidden Paths

Explore lands & dodge the dangers of Turtle Woods, Lost City and Temple Ruins
Discover new paths and uncover new tracks for exclusive challenges and rewards

While it isn’t available worldwide, you can actually play the game now even if it’s not available on your Google Play Store. You can download the APK by clicking right here.
Source
Pokdepinion: Gonna give the game a try in a bit and see. I’m not exactly optimistic about it, but it’s at least worth a try.
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ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition review — the yellow beast

In Malaysia, ZOTAC gained rapid popularity with their comparatively more affordable pricing compared to the other brands, as well as the strong support in social medias. ZOTAC became one of the favorite brands among NVIDIA fans since the NVIDIA GTX 900 series graphics card.
As the new NVIDIA GTX 1000 series graphics card launched, ZOTAC Malaysia sent me a ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition to review. With its high-end features and specifications, let see what can this card offer us in gaming.
Unboxing
This time ZOTAC decided to use more bright yellow highlights on its retail box, unlike the previous GTX 900 series’ packaging which were quite dark. Its bright yellow and grey color scheme is really eye-catching and is capable of capturing the attention its potential new owners.

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Not much in the way of art-work, but more on the general specifications of the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition on the front of the box as well as a list of all the NVIDIA proprietary technologies.

More details are at the rear of the box. So the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition has IceStorm, FireStorm and also Freeze. Cool names.

As I opened the box, we have the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition itself, a driver installation DVD and an extra Molex to PCIe power connector.

Appearance
A huge card should deliver huge performance. Obviously the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition is bigger than the GTX 1070 Founders Edition, so make sure you check your casing’s clearance before getting this card. The card measures 300mm in length and 148mm wide. The card weighs 1.1kg.

The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition is cooled down by dual IceStorm fans measuring 100mm each. The fans feature a nice concentric circle pattern and the ZOTAC logo for added visual appeal, and no, these aren’t plain stickers. Beneath the fans you can find a total of five variably-sized heatpipes for maximum cooling potential. What ZOTAC calls the Carbon ExoArmor is also visible here, supposedly helping to enhance durability and provide protection to the card’s innards. Doesn’t matter, it does look great in contrast to the flat grey surfaces surrounding it.

The ZOTAC logo on the side of the card is illuminated, and is customizable with ZOTAC Spectre lighting effects. Although it does not feature RGB lighting, but for me that’s not the main selling points of graphics cards anyway. Here we see a bit of the wraparound backplate that protects the PCB’s sides as well.

Unlike the NVIDIA Maxwell architecture, the new NVIDIA Pascal cards support the new NVIDIA SLI HB bridge. The NVIDIA’s new SLI HB bridge doubles the available transfer bandwidth compared to what was available for the NVIDIA Maxwell architecture. Also worth noting is that the GTX 1070 is basically the most affordable Pascal card which supports SLI, with the GTX 1060 not having any SLI support. Delivering silky-smooth gameplay, it’s the best way to experience surround gaming — and it’s only compatible with the NVIDIA TITAN X (Pascal), GeForce GTX 1080 and 1070 graphics cards. We wish to have the opportunity to do a SLI performance test between NVIDIA Maxwell and Pascal cards in the future.

With two 6+2 pin PCIe power connectors, theoretically the card alone can consume up to 375 watts. So my minimum power supply recommendation is 500W PSU with at least 80+ Silver certification. You may ask why does it need so much power, but this is just to ensure better headroom for overclocking.

As I have mentioned earlier, the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition is quite heavy, thus a back plate is needed to support the heft of this beast. The back plate is also part of the Carbon ExoArmor, which ZOTAC claims to look good while serving its function of providing improved durability.

Another unique feature of the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition is Power Boost. Basically Power Boost works by reducing ripple noise and minimizing power fluctuation, resulting in longer lasting AMPed graphics cards. Even when pushed to the limit, it can maintain smoothness and stability.

In terms of output, there is only one DVI, one HDMI 2.0b and three DisplayPort 1.4b connectors. The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition also fully supports NVIDIA VR technology.

Test Machine
Hardware
For this review, the rig specifications are listed below. I’m using the Xeon E3 1230V3 for several reasons. Firstly, I don’t overclock and during the time I transitioned from AMD to Intel, I needed a processor with a good price-to-performance ratio. The Xeon E3 1230V3 is practically a i7-4770 sans the iGPU. Who cares about any iGPU when we are building gaming rigs, right? Since the price is much cheaper than the i7-4770, the decision was very easy to make. For a guide on how I optimized my Xeon, click here.

Processor
Intel Xeon E3 1230V3 @ 0.86v

 Motherboard
ASUS H87-PLUS

Memory
Corsair Vengence DDR3 16GB (4x4GB)

Storage
Corsair LS 120GB (System), Western Digital Blue 1TB (game)

Power Supply
Acbel iPower 90m 600W 80+ Gold

Software

OS
Windows 10 64bit

 GPU driver
Nvidia Driver 368.81

Antivirus
Windows Defender

Utilities
FurMark, Fraps, ASUS GPU Tweak, GPUZ, OBS, Steam, Uniplay, Origin, GOG Galaxy

Games tested
Witcher 3, Battlefield 4, Grid 2, DOTA2 Reborn, CS:GO

Almost all the software used in this test are updated to the latest version. That includes the operating system, system drivers, BIOS and graphics driver.
ZOTAC FireStorm

ZOTAC’s bundled software, the FireStorm is a all-in-one tweaking and customization application. It allows you to monitor the GPU usage, overclock it and also change lighting effect on the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition.

The card doesn’t come with RGB lighting effect, but instead SPECTRA lighting offers multi-color options — 7 to be exact — but that isn’t really important to me as the performance of a graphics card is much more important than its looks.

Performance
During the review, the bench rig never consumed more than 350 watts. As the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition is theoretically capable to draw up to 375 watts alone, but it only consumes a max of 230 watts, which is very damn impressive. I didn’t do any overclocking on this card as it’s already highly overclocked out of the factory. Overclocking this card further, I don’t really see any benefit for end users, except enthusiasts who want to push the limits.

Playing DOTA 2 with the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition is quite a waste of the immense performance the card is capable of. Looking at the frame rates, you may wonder why they are quite similar for every resolution. In my observation, the GPU is very relaxed while pushing this game, with only 50-60% load at both 1080p and 1440p resolutions. But it is a different story when it comes to 4K, where the GPU is steadily running at 99% load with higher temperatures and power consumption figures too.

Similar GPU behavior is observed when playing CS: GO at both 1080p and 1440p resolutions, as the GPU doesn’t break a sweat to pump out the frames. The GPU only starts truly flexing its muscles when we got to 4K. For me playing DOTA 2 and CS: GO on 4K would be quite fun and interesting.

I have never played Battlefield 4 with average frame rates of over 120 fps before. The GTX 1070 really did a good job in keeping the game smooth with zero lag. It is worth remembering that this game is quite old already anyway. We would love to use this card for Battlefield 1 though.

GRID 2 was a piece of cake for the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition, with high FPS for every resolution tested, and even pushed a strong 79 fps at 4K.

On the Witcher 3, the is when the game where the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition begins to be truly stressed. The card is able to hit an average frame rate of 60 fps with NVIDIA Hairworks turned on at 1080p. At higher resolutions, the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition begins to show that you may need a stronger card to play it smoothly, especially if you want NVIDIA Hairworks on so you get to see Geralt’s silky smooth hair.
As can be seen in the games with less load, the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition can intelligently adjust its performance level to offer a great experience, all while consuming less power and producing less heat.

Conclusion
In term of pricing, the AMP Edition is much cheaper than the FE card. Basically when you’re paying for the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition, you will be getting a factory overclocked GP104 chip with extended warranty. In addition, the card also comes with a wrap-around metal back-plate and multi-color LED customization. Within its price range, the GTX 1070 delivers strong performance, with it being very powerful for most titles at 1440p. With its custom IceStorm cooler, ZOTAC kept the card cool and the GPU never goes above 80°C, while remaining quiet even under load.
Looking at the performance, looks, feature set and price-performance ratio, the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition is deserving of our highest award, the Gold Pokdeward. You can get the the card at most online retailers for around RM2250.
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No More Windows 10 Feature Updates, Says Microsoft

Version 22H2 is the final one as Windows 10 head towards end-of-support status in October 2025.

Still running on Windows 10 but expecting new features to arrive? We have a bad news for you. Microsoft has confirmed that last year’s update, codenamed 22H2, is the final one for the 8-year-old OS and moving forward only security updates will be provided until the OS reaches end-of-support status in 2 years’ time (with LTSC or Long-Term Servicing Channel being the sole exception for large-scale organizational deployments).

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It is worth noting that Windows 22H2 in itself actually provided no new features, and was actually focused on improving performance and general stability and security improvements. At the same time, Windows 11 got another UI update and various under-the-hood enhancements (with the same 22H2 codename).
“We highly encourage you to transition to Windows 11 now as there won’t be any additional Windows 10 feature updates,” as noted by Microsoft product manager Jason Leznek in the blog post. For reference, support for Windows 10 will cease on October 14, 2025 – provided that systems are updated to 22H2 version first. Earlier versions the OS may get phased out earlier than this date.
If you want new features, upgrading to Windows 11 is now the only option. That said, the uptake for the latest OS remained low, and Windows 10 still retains a commanding lead in market share with 73% of total Windows userbase. Transition is made more difficult due to stringent hardware requirements, including TPM 2.0 that eliminates virtually all machines prior to Ryzen 2000 or Intel 7th Gen-based systems released in 2017.
Source: PCMag
Pokdepinion: Windows 11 still needs to fix lots of UI issues before I even consider an upgrade. Long way to go.
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ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5 mobile gaming headset review

We published news of the ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5’s arrival here in Malaysia last month, a highly portable gaming headset targeted at all gamers, especially those who are on-the-go. ARMAGGEDDON gave us the chance to review the headset. After several weeks of usage, this is my review of the ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5.
Unboxing
The ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5 comes in three color, each with their own unique name. You get a choice of the Alpine Allies (Blue), Scarlet Soviets (Red) and Armaggeddon (Yellow) with the ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5. Sitting in our lab is the Armaggeddon color scheme, and I think it’s the most attractive color option to get.

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The packaging is simple, with the headset itself sitting in a snug blister packaging. You get to see the actual product before you decide to spend your money on it. On the front panel, we have the highlighted features, similar to the packaging of the other of ARMAGGEDDON’s products.

On the back we have more detailed information about the headset and a list of package contents. The package consists of the headset and an audio splitter for PC. It comes with a 1-year manufacturer warranty, which is decent considering the price.

Appearance
The ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5 features a very striking black and yellow color combination, which will definitely turn heads if you walk around with them. Depending on whether you enjoy attention, this can be either a nuisance or a boon for you. Of course, there are two other less contrasting color options if you prefer a lower profile look, but these headsets aren’t meant for you to blend in with.

The ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5 features 40mm drivers, dedicated to deliver an authentic audio for gaming experience. The driver claims to have supreme bass power which we are going to find out it later. The on-ear earcups are made of soft cushions wrapped in pleather, ensuring comfort even after long hours of usage.

Mobility is the key to be a good mobile gaming headset. The ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5 have ear cup position adjustment using a sliding mechanism. The sliding mechanism doesn’t offer too much resistance but it won’t slide around while it’s on your head.

True to it’s portable intentions, the ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5 can be folded to fit into any bag easily. It would have been even better if the earcups could swivel flat, but this will do. While made mainly of plastic, it doesn’t really feel cheap or emit creaks. Build quality seems decent enough for it last some time as long as you do not intentionally abuse it.

ARMAGGEDDON went with a combo audio jack for the Molotov 5, quite a good decision considering that it is targeting gamers on-the-go. Smartphones will definitely use a combo audio jack to enable both audio output and also microphone functions, while an increasing number of gaming laptops are also implementing combo audio jacks. The microphone here shares its home with a lone button which is for smartphones. There are no volume controls built into this headset. The gold plated connector and 1.5m braided cord are real bonuses when you consider that this is a really affordable headset.

If you aren’t a mobile gamer but still want to use both the headphone and microphone function of the ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5, ARMAGGEDDON has you covered with a audio jack splitter. This will allow you to use it with PCs that feature separate jacks for output and microphone input.

User Experience
Picking a headset for me could be difficult. I’m not an audiophile but I do appreciate a good sound stage. I have several headsets but most of it are quite affordable and are often chosen because they are recommended as some of the best bang-for-buck headsets out there in online forums. As ARMAGGEDDON says, the ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5 impact with supreme bass power but I have to disagree. Compared to my Superlux HD 681 the Molotov 5 doesn’t really shine with supreme bass power. This doesn’t mean that the ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5 lacks bass, as the amount of bass is actually appropriate for gaming and is also quite acceptable in most usage scenarios like watching action movies or electronic music genre.
When it comes to gaming specifically, I played a lot of games with it. DOTA 2, CS:GO, Battlefield 4, Witcher 3 and Grid 2 the ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5 is not bad at all. The good stereo separation is noticeable, and definitely is a plus point of the ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5.

Wearing the ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5 for long hours is actually pleasant. The plush headband and soft earcups actually feel better than what I expected when I saw the price tag. It sits firmly on my head without any worries it will fall off easily.

Conclusion
I have reviewed several “budget” gaming headset before, but if I were to compare them in terms of sound quality, I will definitely go for the ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5. With an already low RRP of RM99, you can still get it for cheaper at some online retailers if you look hard enough.

Fair audio quality with the affordable price tag is already good, but that not only the good things about this headset. The build quality of the ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5 is also something worthy of praise. Kudos to ARMAGGEDDON R&D team which succeeded in bringing an affordable gaming headset with acceptable audio quality. I grant the ARMAGGEDDON Molotov 5 with our Bronze Pokdeward and I hope ARMAGGEDDON will keep bringing more bang-for-buck gaming peripherals.
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Sleep, Hibernate, Shut Down?

I just recently installed Windows 8.1 on my laptop, and one of the first things I noticed was the faster boot speed. Besides that, I was also forced to select Shut Down from a menu that lists Sleep, Hibernate and Restart. As we know usually in Windows 7 we just shut down after using the PC, but now faced with such a menu, it got me curious to find out the differences between sleep, hibernation and shutting down the PC.
Sleep
I love to sleep. But will your computer like it if you put it to sleep? Simply put, sleep for your PC is pretty much like sleep for yourself. Most of your body goes to rest, but your brain never ever shuts off. In the case of your PC, only the RAM will still be powered to keep the data in it intact, the other components are shut off. As soon as you wake it, your PC will start right back up, with all your open windows and files ready to be used again.
So why not sleep instead of shut down or hibernate since it will cut the boot time by so much? Firstly, keeping the RAM powered means there is still some minor power consumption. While there is some power consumed, you shouldn’t worry too much about your laptop running out of battery and you losing all unsaved data, as Windows will automatically switch to hibernation when your battery level is low.

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Another feature that was added since Windows Vista is Hybrid Sleep. Hybrid sleep saves the data in the RAM to the hard disk à la hibernate mode, but also keeps the RAM powered. Hybrid sleep is actually conceived for desktop PCs that might face unexpected power failures and power supplied to the RAM will be lost, thus losing all the data in the RAM. If power is not cut, the data will still be loaded from the RAM, thus still giving the user the same speed as waking up from usual sleep mode.
Hibernate
Unlike sleep, hibernation is a deeper state of rest. While humans are unable to hibernate, many animals do to conserve energy. While in hibernation, they use as little energy as possible by going into a very deep sleep. For computers, it’s almost the same thing. Even the RAM is powered off.
Bears hibernate in winter.
However, like sleep, as soon as you power up your PC, all your open windows will be ready to use once again. As the RAM is not kept alive,how is this possible? In hibernate, the data from the RAM is copied into a file named hiberfil.sys in your hard disk before everything is fully powered down. When you wake your PC from hibernation, the data from hiberfil.sys is loaded into the RAM, all your open windows and files ready for you to use again.
One thing that is notable is that if you use a SSD and really care about reducing the number of writes to your precious SSD, you should not use hibernate as the amount of data written to your SSD will be equal to the amount of data on your RAM at the time you hibernate it. It  will also prevent Windows from creating a file the size 75% (by default) of your RAM capacity  in your SSD.
Shut Down
Shut down is the classic power off where the data in your RAM is neither kept on the RAM itself or transferred to the hard disk but cleared. Shut down is also a very vital function in the most used computing of all, “have you tried turning off and turning on again?”. As shut down clears everything from the RAM, naughty stuff hiding in the RAM will be cleared off as well, hopefully giving you a properly functioning PC once again. I personally have a habit of shutting down my PC everyday.
A new feature added in Windows 8 is fast startup. It utilises something like a hybrid of hibernation and shut down. Instead of completely clearing off the RAM and powering off, it clears off the user data (all your open windows), and only saves the system’s data from the RAM to the hard disk. As Windows no longer has to wait for the kernel session to load in your next boot up, it will be quite a bit faster than a conventional boot up. An advantage of shutting down with hybrid shut down over hibernate is that it will take less time since the system data is a lot smaller in size compared to the user session. Your PC should also boot faster from hybrid shut down than hibernation since the data to be loaded is also lesser. Of course the master race with SSDs need not care about this feature much.

Testing
I did some experimenting with my own Lenovo Y50 which has a i7 4710HQ, 8GB of DDR3L RAM running at 1600MHz and a 1TB 5400 RPM hard disk. With my usual workload of browsing for information with many tabs in Chrome, I filled up to 3.1GB of my RAM. The amount of RAM utilized will affect the amount of data written to hiberfil.sys file, so it will affect the hibernation results. I will test how long it takes to Sleep and wake up, Hibernate and wake up and also Shut down and boot up with fast up enabled and disabled. I have disabled the lock screen and turn off password protection. Time taken for entering sleep mode, hibernation and shutting down is measured from clicking the respective button to the moment the system lights are all off. For waking up from sleep and hibernate modes, wake up time is measured from the push of the power button to the moment the desktop is displayed and all my peripherals are lit up and ready to use. Booting time is recorded from push of the power button to the moment the Start screen is displayed. Every scenario will be tested 3 times to get an average time.

Sleep: 6.70 seconds to be fully asleep. The system woke up in an average of 2.75 seconds.
Hibernate: 18.57 seconds to enter hibernation mode. The system woke up in 23.36 seconds.
Shut down (fast startup disabled): 18.62 seconds to full shut down and 44.63 seconds to boot up.
Shut down (fast startup enabled): 17.57 seconds to full shut down and 18.41 seconds to boot up.
A caveat in this experiment is one has to consider is that after booting up to the Start screen, it still took quite some time before I could load Chrome and continue where I left off. So it takes longer to be productive when shut down. This delay was even longer with fast startup disabled.

TL;DR
Didn’t have the time nor patience to read through that ol’ wall of text? Here is the short rundown for you lazy ones reading pokde.net.
From my simple tests above, it shows that sleep offers the fastest speed to enter the low power state and also returned to full functionality the fastest. Booting up after shutting down with fast startup disabled took the longest and is reminiscent of Windows 7 boot up times.
So which mode to use? In my opinion, use Hibernate as much as possible since it offers all the power saving of shutting down and also has the user data maintained like Sleep mode. It also has comparable start up time versus booting up with fast startup enabled but allows the user to return to work immediately after starting up, effectively being faster than shutting down.
However with UEFI, SSDs, boot times are getting shorter and shorter. Soon we may be using PCs that will enter and exit hibernation as fast as sleep mode. One of our writers actually worry that with boot times getting faster and faster, we may not be able to press BIOS hotkeys at all in the future! However I believe we will have workarounds by then.
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Cooler Master Introduces MH703 And MH710 To In-ear Headset Lineup

Cooler Master Malaysia has today announce their new addition of in-ear headphones, the MH710 and MH703.

They both offer 10mm Neodymium drivers that provide hi-fi sound. Cooler Master has included with a variety of ear tips to allow you to choose the most fitting to your ears.

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You can also use them to utilize your PC, PS4, Xbox One, as well as most mobile devices in the market.

Additionally, the MH710 is equpped with Focus FX 2.0 technology that lets you choose between immersive bass and clarity for music listening and movie watching or isolating the mids and highs during gaming to highlight sounds such as footsteps all through a simple press of a button.
Both the Cooler Master MH703 and MH710 are now available in Malaysia where they are priced at RM139 and RM189 respectively.
Pokdepinion: Hmm, seems like a pretty decent price tag. Wouldn’t mind testing them out for my own.
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AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Review — AMD’s re-entry into the high-end GPU space is pretty formidable!

After absolutely annihilating the competition in the CPU space, AMD has trained its sights on the GPU segment now with the Radeon RX 6000 series. The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is what AMD thinks will be competitive against the likes of the GeForce RTX 3080, which I must say was a pretty impressive graphics card. After a generation of absence in the high-end GPU market, can AMD make a surprising comeback? AMD has quite a few technologies up its sleeve, including Smart Access Memory, Rage Mode and even hardware-accelerated raytracing, which was notably missing in the Radeon RX 5000 series. With that said, let’s take a closer look at the cards.
Unboxing

AMD put a bit more effort into making sure that you know that they worked hard on designing the new Radeon RX 6000 reference coolers. The box features the design very prominently on the front, with the signature red being the only color standing out from the otherwise monochrome graphics.

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Once you open the box, you get another perspective of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, as well as a welcome message to the Red team. The lid is stuck at about 90° which means that you will not be able to open the box fully, but that’s probably so that you won’t miss AMD’s love letter to you.

The inner lid lifts off to show off the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT set in some thick foam. The lid itself has a pocket which contains some basic documentation. Actually it is mainly just some basic warning, with the QR code supposed to lead you to a more in-depth guide, although when we scanned it upon unboxing the card, it just brought us to AMD’s homepage.
Appearance

The fan shroud of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is made of plastic, which might be a bummer for those who were probably more accustomed to all that aluminum on AMD’s premium reference designs for their flagship cards. The triple 80mm fans are pretty similar to ASUS’ Axial Tech fans, with the blades linked together for better static pressure. AMD did put a bit of effort into painting just the leading edge of the blades silver.

The backplate is made of aluminium, which is what you would expect from a component that’s not only meant to reinforce the card structurally, but also help cool the rear side of the PCB. The mounting mechanism is similar to their previous high-end cards, and is designed to provide better mounting pressure over the GPU. AMD will probably rely on their partners to offer cards with direct exhaust through the backplate, which has been quite a popular design decision previously.

Over on the side, we have what will essentially be the main exhaust vent of the card. The other side is also open, but you would be right to assume that most of the hot air will exit on this side instead. The red trim around the vent doesn’t light up, but it does serve as a nice splash of color on an otherwise monochrome graphics card.

The selection of outputs on the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is also rather interesting. While NVIDIA offered USB-C with their Turing GPUs, before dropping it with the GeForce RTX 30 series, AMD decided to adopt it for the Radeon RX 6000 series. There are no vents here, so all the heat from the card will be recirculated in the case. Quite an interesting decision by AMD.

The other end of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is home to four screw holes, which allow you to hook it up to a support brace in server cases. We have been seeing them on recent NVIDIA cards too, so we will probably see some cases or support braces soon to let you use the holes.

AMD did bake in lighting in their favorite color into the Radeon emblem on the side, and I do think that it looks extremely tasteful. I do prefer the cube on the end of the Vega cards, but this looks great too. Too bad it’s not RGB though…
Specifications
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

GPU
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT (Navi 21 XT)
TSMC 7nm

Clocks
Game Clock: Up to 2015MHz
Boost Clock: Up to 2250MHz

Cores
4608 Stream Processors
72 Ray Accelerators

Memory
16GB GDDR6

Memory Speed
16Gbps

Memory Interface
256-bit

Display outputs
2 x DisplayPort 1.4
1 x HDMI 2.1
1 x USB-C

Power connector(s)
2 x 8-pin

Recommend PSU
750W

Interface
PCIe 4.0 x16

Multi-GPU support
No

Dimensions
26.7 x 12.0 x 5.0 cm
(2.5 slot)

Test Machine

AMD Test System

CPU
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X @ PBO

CPU Cooler
MasterLiquid ML240R

Motherboard
ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (WiFi)

Memory
2 x 8GB T-Force Xtreem ARGB 3600MHz CL14

Storage
1TB Kingston KC2500
960GB Kingston UV500 SATA SSD
1TB Seagate FireCuda SSHD

Power Supply
Cooler Master V1200 Platinum

Monitor
BenQ EL2870U

GPU Driver
Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.45.01 (Beta)

Performance
On top of the AMD Ryzen 5000-exclusive Smart Access Memory (SAM) that allows the CPU to see the full 16GB memory on the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, AMD also proffers Rage Mode, which is an automatic overclocking profile that you can enable to eke out some extra performance without any manual effort. We will be testing the performance of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT in three modes:

Default (Balanced Mode)
Rage Mode
Rage + SAM

Synthetic

We can see that the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is definitely a lot faster than AMD’s last-gen flagship card, with close to double the score in Superposition. It is still shy of the GeForce RTX 3080 though.

In 3DMark Time Spy, it does come up ahead of the GeForce RTX 3080 Eagle OC, which is quite interesting. Faster clocked GeForce RTX 3080 cards still maintain a lead, albeit not a significant one.

Raytracing performance is somewhat lacking, with it falling behind the GeForce RTX 3080 quite significantly. But these are all synthetic benchmarks, so let’s see how it fares in gaming benchmarks.

Gaming

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is pretty strong at 4K, with the exception of titles that take advantage of DirectX Raytracing (DXR). Control with DXR enabled sees a mere 19FPS, even after enabling Rage Mode and SAM. We can also see that SAM doesn’t make a difference in most of the games we test, although in some titles like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, we can actually see a pretty significant improvement with SAM enabled.

1440p is going to see the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT deliver above 100FPS in most games, with it dropping below 100FPS only in the DXR-enabled titles, which is a recurrent theme. Hopefully when AMD is able to unveil their DirectML-based solution ASAP to bring the frame rates back up at 1440p.

The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT will be delivering above 144FPS in most games, perfect for those currently using high refresh rate monitor. However at this point, the CPU bottleneck is real, and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X used might actually be a bottleneck to the card here.
Thermals
AMD reports both GPU temperatures and also hotspot temperatures, the latter which AMD bases its boost algorithm off. AMD also makes the same “110°C is safe and within spec” claims here with the Radeon RX 6000 series, as they did with the Radeon RX 5000 series. So while what you see on the graphs might be somewhat alarming, there’s nothing to worry about, at least according to AMD. It is worth mentioning that the hotspot temperatures are not comparable to NVIDIA’s cards, simply because NVIDIA doesn’t report it.
AMD based their fan profile on the hotspot temperatures, with the fans turning on at 65°C and turning off once the hotspot temperatures are below 55°C. There’s a pretty significant delta between the hotspot temperature (hottest point on the GPU) versus the GPU temperature, with up to 41°C of difference. A better (i.e. flatter contact area) should be able to bring the delta down, as we have seen with the Red Devil Radeon RX 5700 XT. With that said, the GPU temperatures reported are always under 71°C, which is actually quite a good result for a reference cooler.

With the default Balanced Mode that the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT comes out of the box with, the highest power draw we saw was just 266W, which is actually quite significantly lower than their 300W claims. The average power draw is 254W. The highest hotspot temperatures seen were also quite reasonable, at 107°C, being just a bit below the limit, with it hovering around 102°C on average. Average clocks observed during the test were around 2281MHz, with a max of 2371MHz.

With Rage Mode enabled, AMD seems to have unlocked whatever potential that the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT has, allowing it to boost all the way to hit the 110°C. AMD begins to limit the current to the GPU at about 103°C. Now here’s the interesting part. Rage Mode actually doesn’t allow the GPU to run much faster at all. The average clocks appear to have dropped slightly to 2269MHz, although the maximum clocks observed were higher, at 2443MHz. Possibly because there’s not enough cooling to go around, and we still the overall average power draw to be 254W, which is similar to what we saw with the stock profile, although the maximum observed is much higher, with a peak of 306W seen.
GeForce RTX 3080 Killer?
Unfortunately we do not have a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition to compare against the reference AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT we have here. The ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 OC Edition is significantly beefier and also sports a higher TGP limit of 370W, which is 50W higher than NVIDIA’s reference power limit. But we can still appreciate some rather nice numbers here. We will be using the Rage Mode + SAM enabled configuration here to show off what you can get if you are deciding between pairing the GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT with your Ryzen 5 5600X.

AMD appears to have pretty significant leads in certain games like Ghost Recon Breakpoint or Dirt 5 at 4K, which is pretty impressive. Certain games do see it come up behind the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080, although not by much. NVIDIA still has the upper hand when it comes to raytracing though, with significantly better performance in games that support it.

A similar scenario is seen at 1440p, although the gap appears to have shrunken slightly here. DXR is still not the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT’s best friend here at 1440p, and DLSS serves to further widen the gap. Of course AMD has yet to unveil their DLSS-equivalent, so it isn’t exactly fair to AMD to compare the performance with said feature enabled.

There’s another thing worth considering too: the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT here pulls around 110W less than the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 OC Edition. Even after AIBs slap their own power limits on the Radeon RX 6800 XT to draw out even more performance out of the GPU, RDNA 2 appears to be a significantly more efficient architecture than Ampere. You also don’t have to worry about 12-pin cables, as the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT uses two standard 8-pin PCIe power connectors.
Conclusion
For $649 (~RM2753), the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT comes in just $50 shy of the base price for the GeForce RTX 3080 cards. Performance wise, I would say that it is a give and take situation here. As you can see, in the games optimized for AMD’s architecture, AMD actually has a pretty significant lead. It is only when it comes to raytracing that AMD falters. However we must of course remember that this is only AMD’s first try at hardware-accelerated raytracing, while NVIDIA is already on their second generation RT cores.

Choosing between AMD or NVIDIA now really depends on whether you think raytracing in games is important to you. If you do, well, you might want to go with NVIDIA for now, if you can get one in stock. AMD still has some way to catch up in that area, and while they may gain more performance over time with games being optimized to take advantage of AMD’s Ray Accelerators, there’s a good chance that NVIDIA’s DLSS 2.0 will still provide an edge when it comes to bringing the frame rates back up after it takes a hit from you enabling raytracing.
AMD’s answer to DLSS will come in the form of the upcoming FidelityFX Super Resolution, but they do not have dedicated hardware (i.e. Tensor cores) to accelerate the machine learning-based upscaling, and it is worth noting that NVIDIA’s Tensor cores do support DirectML too, which is the API AMD will be harnessing for FidelityFX Super Resolution.
If the games you play do not support DirectX Raytracing, or you don’t see yourself wanting to experience raytracing in today’s titles, then the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is a pretty great choice. Evidently, it is faster in titles optimized for AMD Radeon GPUs, and with RDNA 2 being the GPU architecture in both the latest PlayStation and Xbox consoles, having more games optimized for RDNA 2 doesn’t sound too farfetched at all. AMD cards are known for aging especially well too, which means that you might see the RDNA 2 cards creep ahead of NVIDIA Ampere ones in the future.

Now, onto the card itself. There’s a good chance you can snag one of these reference cards here in Malaysia if you prefer the reference card look, as AMD usually lets their partners sell the reference designs under their respective brands, unlike NVIDIA.
Aside from the fact that you might really dig its aesthetics, I do not have another reason why you would want one of these though. While vapor chambers are cool (figuratively) and all, I am not exactly comfortable seeing up to 110°C on the GPU hotspot temps. Personally, I would recommend waiting for good Radeon RX 6800 XT cards from Sapphire or PowerColor, as those might be better options. But then again, this is probably AMD’s best reference cooler yet, so kudos to that.

Our thanks to AMD Malaysia for sending us the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT for review.

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Tencent X Logitech Partnership Gearing Up For A Handheld Gaming Device

Tencent X Logitech Handheld Gaming Device

The folks over at Tencent Games and Logitech G have officially announced a partnership. The idea here is for both companies to create a dedicated cloud-based handheld gaming device in a collaborative effort later this year.
From what we understand, they will be leveraging the hardware expertise from Logitech and the software expertise from Tencent in order to launch this new product. It’s expected to be able to run a number of cloud gaming services such as Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce NOW but it will likely not be limited to just that. By the time it gets launched, it could always incorporate more into the hardware.

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With that being said however, there are no other details or even pictures of the product in question, likely due to the fact that nothing has been developed yet. It will likely still take some time before we got to know about pricing and launch date as well so for now, we will report more on this as soon as information becomes available so stay tuned.
Source
Pokdepinion: I’m still on the fence for cloud gaming but when technology evolves further, I’m about pretty sure it will be commonplace almost everywhere in the world. Now is just not the time yet but someone needs to take that necessary step forward. At the same time, I’m sure we’ll more services than just the aforementioned two so we will just have to wait for now.
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Transcend TS-CM80S M.2 SATA enclosure review — for small and fast external storage!

I am quite a frequent user of external storage. I have two external hard drives which I use to keep less important files off my laptop’s hard drive. I also do backups on the external drives, albeit a lot less since I have Google Drive for most of my important files. They can work as pendrives for massive files, but they are based on spinning platter and you always run the risk of damaging them if you move them around too much. What can you get that offers more storage than any USB stick, and also runs faster than them? Well, we have the Transcend TS-CM80S M.2 SATA to USB 3.1 enclosure here, which we will be testing with a Transcend MTS800 128GB M.2 SATA SSD inside.
Unboxing

In typical Transcend fashion, the Transcend TS-CM80S comes in maroon and white packaging, with the product image on the front. There are also some highlights of the features available.

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Over on the back we have the full specifications of the Transcend TS-CM80S.

Here you have all the included accessories that came with the Transcend TS-CM80S. You get a USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A to Type-C cable, the enclosure itself, quick start guide, and even a screwdriver.
Appearance

The Transcend TS-CM80S doesn’t feature a particularly flashy look. It can be a little long as it can fit a M.2 2280 SSD within. Let’s take a closer look at its innards.

The Transcend TS-CM80S features a PCB with the M.2 connector inside. The Transcend TS-CM80S only supports M.2 SATA SSDs, so don’t go and get those M.2 PCIe NVMe SSDs and try to get them to work in the Transcend TS-CM80S.

For you geeks out there, here’s a closer look at the chips on the PCB.

Transcend has included an aluminium cover for the screw holes. I personally like looking at screws, so screw this cover. But for those who prefer a cleaner look, you know that Transcend has your back.
Specifications
Transcend TS-CM80S Enclosure

Transcend MTS800 128GB M.2 SATA SSD

Performance
Synthetic Performance
We will be testing the performance of the Transcend TS-CM80S with a Transcend MTS800 128GB M.2 SATA SSD inside it. We will be using our usual benchmark suite here. While this is marketed as a USB 3.1 enclosure, it’s running on USB 3.1 Gen1, which isn’t the full 10Gbps that the USB 3.1 Gen2 offers.

The Transcend TS-CM80S and the MTS800 SSD inside do a great job here, besting the other Transcend ESD400 SSD we have previously reviewed by quite a fat margin. USB 3.1 Gen1 is rated for 5Gbps, while SATA 3 is rated for 6Gbps. Not a big difference there, and the Transcend TS-CM80S delivers some really nice numbers for an external storage.

AS SSD Benchmark returns similar scores. The 4K-64Thrd scores here can be ignored actually, as you won’t be having so many simultaneous requests on a USB external drive.

Anvil Storage Utilities look further into the performance of the SSD, most of which are unnecessary metrics when we are talking about an external drive. The scores obtained here for the sequential read and write tally with those from the other benchmarks, and I believe those are the most important when discussing an external storage solution.
Real world performance

One of the most common usage scenarios of external storage is copying files to the drive for safekeeping, transferring or any other reason. The Transcend TS-CM80S + MTS800 128GB literally smashes any platter-based storage solutions, but doesn’t manage to keep up with the internal SSDs, taking more than double the time to copy the compressed files.
User Experience
Even if you absolutely averse to handling any computer hardware, you should find this a breeze. If you checked out the unboxing segment, the Transcend TS-CM80S even comes with a screwdriver to make the process as easy as ABC.

All you have to do is slide the M.2 SATA SSD into the slot, and secure the holding screw at the end.

The Transcend MTS800 we are using with the Transcend TS-CM80S is a M.2 2280 SSD, so you will be screwing into the last hole on the PCB. If you are using shorter SSDs, say 2242 or 2260 SSDs, rest assured that the Transcend TS-CM80S supports them as well.

Slide the PCB + SSD into the enclosure, screw on the cap and you have yourself an external M.2 SSD! Easy enough?
The Transcend TS-CM80S doesn’t come with any driver software, so it will function just like any external drive out there. Just plug and play. There is an LED on the end with the USB Type-C connector, so you know when the drive is active.
Conclusion
The Transcend TS-CM80S is pretty nice to have. It comes into its own when you have a laptop that came with, say, a 128GB M.2 SSD, and you need to upgrade it with a bigger SSD. You can reuse the older SSD and have even more fast storage at your disposal, instead of having to find a willing buyer for your SSD which is most probably not covered by warranty. The Transcend TS-CM80S enclosure costs RM119, while the 128GB Transcend MTS800 128GB M.2 SSD here will set you back RM369. I would recommend the enclosure if you have a spare M.2 SSD lying around, as it is really convenient to have a blazing fast USB drive in your bag. We would have preferred if it came with a pouch to protect it in the dangerous environment of the insides of your bag, but the aluminium should be durable enough to keep your M.2 drive safe from harm. We would award the Transcend TS-CM80S enclosure the Silver Pokdeward.

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Electronic Sports Malaysia Event Coverage

Kuala Lumpur , January 28, 2015 – eSports Malaysia (eSM), the governing sports body for electronic sports (eSports) in Malaysia launched at Dewan Perdana FELDA with the support of Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) and ASUS Malaysia, recommended gaming brand. eSM was registered under Malaysia Sports Commissioner in December 2014 with the main objective of elevating e-Sports in Malaysia.
eSM’s mission is to promote, develop and regulate the e-Sports industry to allow anyone and everyone to be part of this new world phenomenon where e-Sports is regarded as the sports of the future.

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eSM 5 STRATEGIC KEY

To be able growth e-Sports in Malaysia the most important part is Education , because right now the mentality people in Malaysia playing games or becoming gamer itself have a bad perception in their mind , its a good move by eSM to Educate people in Malaysia that by playing games and becoming a gamers are not a waste of time.
e-Sports can no longer be seen to be just a game played between a group of people. E-sports is now seen as a dynamic industry that will have a serious impact to the nation.
eSM PRESS CONFERENCE
Dato Latt Shariman Abdullah , President of eSports Malaysia known as IGN by “paktehh”
Dato Latt Shariman Abdullah , President of eSports Malaysia “We are looking for diamonds in the rough” said the president during Press Conference of eSM , eSM looking for talented player/gamers then they wanted to bring this talented player/gamers to the international level and give a recognition to the country and also to the world
The president said eSM has a lot in plan to make e-Sports become a national sport and by 5.5.2015 there will a gaming league locally in Malaysia.
Rinie Ramli (Si_Jali) Secretary General of eSM
Rinie Ramli known as (Si_Jali) Secretary General of eSM , if you do not know Rinie was ranked 4th in the world in 2005 WCG of FIFA.
During the Press Conference one of the question asked caught my attention “Will gamers in Malaysia will given an official title of Athlete and treated as other professional gamers in other country” , Rinie answered the question confidently and said yes , but to achieve that the player/gamers must have a strong commitment to the community.
“one of the criteria to become a Professional Gamer is you need to be smart , if you cant balance between studies and gaming you will not become a Professional Gamer”, said Rinie Ramli . This is true, what Rinie mean if you just play games you will not achieve anything but just pure fun of playing games, to become a PRO in a certain game you need to study its mechanics its gamestyle and master it by learning every aspect of the game , so you can control the game not let the game control you.
MINI GAMES AND EVENT
Other than Press Conference eSM also have a free to play games , DOTA 1V1 tourney and FIFA penalty kick tourney
ASUS is the main sponsor of the Mini Games Event .

The prize for DOTA 1v1 and FIFA penalty kick tourney is total worth RM2500 ASUS Strix Gaming Peripheral Set and also ASUS VX239 monitor

ASUS also sponsored 8 units of ASUS ROG GR8 for participant in the mini tourney

Aside from the mini tourney ASUS also open up a booth for several of their products to test on. ASUS MX279H

Here another booth open up by ASUS you can test the ASUS PB287Q 4K Monitor and ASUS PG278Q Gsync Monitor

Another great things to try out during the event is STRIX gaming headset , ASUS STRIX 7.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset really catch my eye because it have 10 actual discrete driver to deliver true 7.1 surround sound.

Another main attraction is amphibious vehicle , this vehicle is the first unit to arrive in Malaysia and for now is only available to police for search n rescue team.
 MINI TOURNAMENT PRIZE CEREMONY
Congratulation to all the winner !!

ITS A WRAP

2015 is the year that e-Sports will become a national sport in Malaysia , it’s is time Malaysia give birth to more Professional Gamers and treat the gaming community the same as other country that has been successful with e-Sport , its time to changes the Malaysian mentality that playing games can promise a bright future . Thank you eSM for making this possible we will be waiting more from you eSM .
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One Major Intel ARC Board Partner is Reportedly Opting Out

Things aren’t looking too great for the upcoming graphics card series as a major Intel ARC board partner has supposedly opted out. This information came from Igor Wallossek of Igor’sLAB who has confirmed this information twice recently.
While the identity of the board partner wasn’t explicitly revealed, it is possible that it might be MSI given the picture in the original report. After all, this is one of the few brands that confirmed to be producing the Intel ARC graphics cards via ads on Chinese retail sites or leaked datasheets.

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At least one of the big board partners has even stopped the production of Intel cards completely (“due to quality concerns“), as I could find out yesterday and today. […] Other board partners have at least already completely capped their marketing activities, and it does not currently look as if there will be any real launch offensives from the board partners in the time window I mentioned between August 5, 2022 and September 29, 2022.
What will really arrive on the market (as retail) will be seen in the next few weeks. From the customer’s point of view, I can only hope for the best, I alone lack faith.
Igor’sLAB
There are a lot of uncertainties with regards to performance and pricing, which can be a big worry for board partners. Allegedly, Intel isn’t giving out any price guarantee, which makes planning a lot more difficult. This is most likely why we have only seen rumours of midrange graphics cards rather than high end ones, such as with ASUS TUF Gaming.
The GPU quality and performance could potentially lead to higher maintenance costs, higher RMA rates, and lesser demand for parts with unoptimized drivers. This poses plenty of risks which could be why the aforementioned board partner chose to opt out.
Source
Pokdepinion: If this is actually the situation behind the scenes, then I wouldn’t be surprised to see more partners opting out of the Intel ARC graphic cards. Different story if they are given a particular hook that would make them stay or attract more potential partners.
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DJI may be next to be banned in the US

US’ witch hunt for Chinese-made technology stealing American data is now targeting Chinese-made drones. The US Department of Homeland Security has issued a warning regarding Chinese-made drones which may send sensitive flight data back to their manufacturers. They didn’t name any brand, but DJI’s drones makes up 80% of the drones in the US and Canada.
DJI isn’t new to being accused of being a security concern, with the US Army banning DJI drones in 2017. DJI’s involvement in sensitive industries like local law enforcement must have ruffled a few feathers. While US hasn’t banned DJI outright like they did HUAWEI, they are urging caution among users. Among their advice is to “turn off the device’s internet connection and remove the SD cards”.

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The US government is actively targeting China-made technology as they have accused China of espionage. What do you think? Do you think DJI will get banned?
Pokdepinion: Oh well, perhaps the US is planning on reversing all the benefits they have gleaned from using drones…
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I wore the Garmin Venu 2 Plus for a week, this is what happened to me

Check out the Garmin Venu 2 Series!
New year, new me… I believe you must have heard it a thousand times over. As much as it is a cliché, the drive towards self-improvement is always the greatest at the start of the year. So, starting small, I guess it would be nice to focus on my health, since that’s not really something that I have taken much care about.
To help you understand me, you will first have to understand my job. As an editor at Pokde.net, I don’t exactly have fixed hours. And being the passionate techy I am, it generally means that I work for most of the day, while my free time is usually divided between gaming and sleep, in that specific order of priority. So obviously when it comes to taking care of my health and working out, I am not the best person to really illustrate and demonstrate what a fitness band or smartwatch can do, but, the Garmin Venu 2 Plus is definitely way, way more than just a fitness band.

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Fitness is more than just working out

Many people think our physical fitness is mainly just working out. Of course, it is undeniable that you can improve your fitness level by working out, but there are plenty of other parameters at play like your sleep quality and stress level also contributes very heavily to your overall health. I am pretty sure you have had a bad night’s sleep and found yourself all cranky the next day. That usually comes along with an elevated heart rate, and in more severe cases, palpitations, cold sweats… Well, you get the drill.

While I don’t find myself getting into those situations (much), one of the main advantages of the Garmin Venu 2 Plus is that it can collect a wide variety of data, from basic stuff like your heart rate, sleep quality and step rate, all the way to stuff like your respiration rate and SpO2, all to help you understand your body better. From all of this data, the robust software is able to gauge your stress level and also aggregate it into an easy to understand “Body Battery” metric to give you a good gauge of your body’s current status. As I frequently stay up late, the Garmin Venu 2 Plus does show that I am always on the verge of depleting my Body Battery, but at least it helps to remind me to go to bed earlier.
Or how about working on a new look?

Of course with this being a Garmin smartwatch, there are plenty of workout features to bring your fitness to the next level. You get the VO2 Max tracking to ensure that you are “in the zone” for a optimal workout, as well as the ability to put a workout coach directly on your wrist. The Garmin Connect app gives you access to a wide variety of workouts, a training plan to prepare yourself for a marathon. All of these training modules takes advantage of the other fitness data collected about you, like your body battery.
The watch also celebrates very cutely when you hit your daily step target, which is quite a good motivator. For those of you who just like a good run or ride outdoors, the Garmin Venu 2 Plus also features GPS tracking, which you can use to create courses for others to enjoy, or if you are one who can easily get lost when out exploring, it can help you find your way home with on-wrist navigation.
It’s a really smart watch
We mainly talked about what the Garmin Venu 2 Plus brings to the table when it comes to health and fitness, but it also a slew of features to improve your lifestyle. One of my favorite features is that it can let me talk on the phone by talking to my watch, like a Power Ranger. Push notifications are also delivered with a large, clear font, which is great to determine whether you should whip out your phone to reply to an important message, or was it just your friend sending you terrible memes.

You can also sync music from Spotify or JOOX, or even just transfer your favorite songs to it, so you don’t have to bring your phone out on your runs. You can have it play out of the Garmin Venu 2 Plus’ speakers, which is honestly surprisingly clear for a smartwatch, or pair the smartwatch with Bluetooth earbuds. Speaking of not having to bring your phone out, I also took advantage of Garmin Pay, which is pretty much like bringing your credit card with you, but it is on your wrist. Now you don’t even need to bring out your wallet! And there’s also more apps that you can download from the Connect IQ app to add even more features.

And of course, the Garmin Venu 2 Plus lets you take full advantage of the 1.3″ AMOLED display with support for a variety of watch faces. There are pre-installed faces baked into the Garmin Venu 2 Plus, but the Connect IQ app gives you even more options to download pre-made faces, both free and paid ones, as well as creating your own, with plenty of customization options. And of course, the straps are of the quick-release kind, letting you mix and match your style to fit any occasion. All of these is offered by the Garmin Venu 2 Plus, while still addressing one of the main grouses of smartwatches with an excellent 9 days of battery life. Having used some smartwatches that barely lasted a full day, this truly impressed me that it can go so long between charges, while offering so many features.
More than just a fitness smartwatch

As mentioned earlier, I am probably not the best person to talk about a fitness-oriented smartwatch, but the Garmin Venu 2 Plus offers plenty of features that even a rather sedentary person like me can take advantage of. The fitness tracking is great to monitor my current stress level, and it comes with reminders to take breaks to move around. The Body Battery is also a pretty good motivator to go to bed earlier. The smart features baked in are excellent as they allow me to carry less when I am out on short excursions.
I would consider the workout features to be a bonus, but I would also add that if I was ever to get started on my “new year, new me” resolution, this is definitely the smartwatch I need to get to motivate me in the right direction for on that journey, as I am more conscious than ever about my life decisions regarding my health, and I also have the tools to act on it with the training coach features baked into the Garmin Venu 2 Plus. And it definitely helps that this is a smartwatch that I don’t have to put on the charger every single day.
You can check out the Garmin Venu 2 Plus via the following links:
Check out the Garmin Venu 2 Series!
This is an exclusive article for Garmin Malaysia.
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Hands-on With The Acer Predator Thronos Gaming Chair — A Throne Fit For A King

We had a chance to experience Acer’s Predator Thronos gaming chair today. Acer is the only company to produce such a ‘gaming cave’ that has been engineered to work specifically with a set of components to bring the gaming experience to the next level. It was actually unveiled at this year’s [email protected] IFA Berlin Global Press Conference, and three months later, Acer has managed to bring it to our shores here in Malaysia.

Straight away, you could see that the Thronos is a massive setup. with three monitors spotted at the front that’s held together with the mount and they move with a simple push of a button. The gaming chair resembles a first-class airline seat that cocoons you inside of it. Standing 1.5 meters tall, it offers a steel structure and comes in a dual-tone black with white or blue accents.

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Once you’re inside, you’ll feel the immersion kicking in straight away. The Predator Thronos supports three 27-inch gaming monitors. Despite that, if you aren’t satisfied with those monitors, you can even change it to 24-inch monitors or even upgrade it even further. As for usage, you can adjust the height of the monitors to your liking at the control panel at the left side of the chair.

Here’s the look from the inside. Once the you’ve entered the Thronos, the monitors will come to a viewing level and the desk will move inwards, creating that ‘cocoon’ effect. The setup is nice but I wished that the Thronos allowed for users to customize the distance of the monitors from the seat. You wouldn’t have much space if you had a steering wheel in front of you to play your racing games by that manner. Other than that, the gaming chair offers deep impact vibration, where the Thronos vibrates upon in-game impact. Getting vibration at your back from the Thronos was a nice experience, where it felt like a massage chair (well almost) but I didn’t fancy the vibration coming from the seat itself, it just feels weird. Despite that, the vibration is adjustable and includes an ergonomic seat design, footrest and a cabin that reclines up to 140-degrees.

This is where all the magic happens. Here’ you’ve got the control panel for the Thronos as well as the controller for the vibrations. As you can see, there’s a  lot adjustments you can make, such as the monitor adjustment mentioned earlier. Getting in and out from the Thronos happens here, and talking about that, though it was rather cool that the ‘throne’ would open/close for you automatically, I wish that the time it took to complete its action was faster. I mean, who knows, you might have an emergency and need to rush to the toilet right? (we’ve all been there too). I liked the fact that they’ve prepared cup holders at the side there and there’s even a slot where you can put your headphones in place.

Acer is making two units for this exclusive gaming chair. Interested in it? Well you better get your wallets ready as the Predator Thronos comes in at RM56,999. It is available in Malaysia with delivery, set up, and a 1 year warranty. You’d get the Predator Cestus 500 gaming mouse, Predator Galea 300 gaming headset, Predator Flare gaming keyboard, as well as the TT eSports Predator gaming chair if you purchase the Thronos. Of course, Acer has thrown in their top of the line Predator Orion 9000 and their XB271HU gaming monitor. Below are the full specifications;
Predator Orion 9000

8th Gen Intel Core i7 Processor
NVIDIA GTX 1080 Ti x 2 (SLI)
16GB RAM
256GB PCIe SSD + 2TB HDD

Predator XB271HU

IPS panel with WQHD (2560 x 1440)
4ms Gray-to-Gray response time
NVIDIA G-sync
Overclockable up to 165Hz

For those who yearn for the gaming cave that is the Predator Thronos, you can email to [email protected]
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HTC One (M8) for Windows

Love the 90% aluminium body, 4MP Duo Camera, HTC BoomSound™ stereo speakers but just can’t stand Android? Welcome the HTC One (M8) for Windows. Everything you love about the M8, but now with Windows Phone, it is dubbed as the first flagship to have multiple OSes. It is currently only exclusively available through Verizon Wireless in US but who knows HTC might spawn a global variant if there is enough interest in WP.
It’s interesting to note unlike the Google Play Edition of the M8, the HTC One (M8) for Windows actually comes with BlinkFeed and BoomSound which were exclusive to Sense only before this. It also supports the HTC Dot View case which offers a very unique way of checking the time and notifications without flipping the cover open.
In terms of hardware it may be the fastest WP8.1 phone yet, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 and 2GB RAM under the hood. It also has a microSD slot supporting up to 128GB cards for you media hoarders out there.

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So do you prefer your sexy aluminium beast running Windows, Android with HTC Sense or plain vanilla Android? Hit us in the comment sections below!
EDIT: AT&T announced they will be carrying this version too. Still no news for worldwide distribution though.
Source: HTC Blog
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HUAWEI Launches FreeBuds Pro 2 For RM899

HUAWEI Consumer Business Group (BG) officially released the FreeBuds Pro 2 in Malaysia, solidifying its partnership with Devialet for a realistic audio experience.
The FreeBuds Pro 2 was co-engineered with French audio technology firm Devialet, and it combines both HUAWEI and Devialet’s acoustic knowledge for a beautiful and dependable design that provides music fans with the audio experience they deserve.

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HUAWEI Malaysia teamed with Triplet Orchestra Association for a stunning orchestra performance at the HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro 2 Malaysia Launch. Kiki’s Delivery Service from Studio Ghibli, Violet Evergarden, and Chrysanthemum Terrace by Jay Chou were all recreated throughout the performance.
The FreeBuds Pro 2 comes with Ultra-hearing True Sound Dual Driver sound technology that automatically coordinates two drivers, allowing them to function in perfect harmony for an amazing audio performance. It employs a planar diaphragm, which is commonly seen in high-end earbuds, to provide brilliant and accurate treble and overtones, as well as a quad-magnet dynamic driver for mid and lower frequencies to provide punchier bass. As a consequence, a wide frequency range of 14Hz to 48kHz is available to correctly display sound details.
The earbuds feature Triple Adaptive EQ technology, which allows it to automatically tune music based on ear canal anatomy, wearing position, and volume level for customised sound in real-time. The audio experience is further optimised for consumers for an ultra-high-definition listening experience when combined with the LDACTM high-resolution audio codec protocol. Not only that, the earbuds are HWA and Hi-Res Sounds Wireless Certified, delivering more realistic and better resolution audio.
The FreeBuds Pro 2 provides consumers with active noise cancellation (ANC). Its Triple Mic ANC System increases average ANC depth by 15% over its predecessor, while the Intelligent Dynamic ANC 2.0 precisely analyses the external sound field environment and selects an appropriate noise cancelling mode that removes noise for pleasant listening. Even during flights, the Intelligent Dynamic ANC 2.0 suppresses roaring aircraft engine noises.

The new Pure Voice call noise cancellation technology in the FreeBuds Pro 2 provides clear, quiet calls and is based on a 4-Mic Call Noise Cancellation system paired with a HUAWEI-exclusive deep neural network (DNN) noise cancellation algorithm. The technology enables the earbuds to precisely record human sounds while increasing noise cancellation, allowing customers to enjoy great sound quality for voice or video chats regardless of location.
Furthermore. the FreeBuds Pro 2 connects to two smartphones seamlessly for automated call switching. Its dual connection is compatible with all HUAWEI devices, including compatible smartphones, tablets, PCs, and smartwatches, as well as Android and Windows smart systems.
The Audio Connection Centre function of FreeBuds Pro 2 allows users to see the last 10 devices that were linked to the earphones for quick toggling between them. It may also be identified automatically on compatible HUAWEI PCs, tablets, phones, or Vision TVs’ Super Device screen and linked with a simple drag and drop.
The FreeBuds Pro 2 is compact but powerful, with long battery life. Users may enjoy a silent experience for up to 4 hours of playback time and a total of 18 hours in the case when the ANC is turned on. With the ANC turned off, users may listen for 6.5 hours and use the case for a total of 30 hours.
The earbuds offer reverse charging with your phone or tablet via the earphones case. The FreeBuds Pro 2’s performance is unaffected by rain or perspiration thanks to IP54 water splash resistance.
The new FreeBuds Pro 2 is available nationally for RM899 and is available in three finishes: Silver Blue, Ceramic White, and Carbon Black.
When purchasing the FreeBuds Pro 2 on the HUAWEI Official Website, official online store on Shopee or Lazada, customers will receive a HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro 2 Protective Case and three months of free HUAWEI Music Premium.
Meanwhile, current HUAWEI customers may redeem RM100 vouchers through the MyHUAWEI App. The certificates may only be used to buy FreeBuds Pro 2 at any HUAWEI Experience Store or on their Official Website until 11 September 2022.
Bop To The Beat

From 25 August to 11 September 2022, customers may join in the Bop to the Beat activity and win amazing prizes such as HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro 2, Sound Joy, and FreeBuds SE.
To participate, you can:

Experience the FreeBuds Pro 2 at selected HUAWEI Experience Stores.
Receive a free surprise present in the shop on a first-come, first-served basis, while supplies last.
Follow HUAWEIMobileMY Facebook Page.
Like and share this post on your profile with Public selected.
Share your experience of the FreeBuds Pro 2 in the comment section and tag two (2) friends.
Stand a chance to win the FreeBuds Pro 2, Sound Joy and FreeBuds SE.
The winner announcement will be published on 18 September 2022 on HUAWEIMobileMY Page.

For more information about the Bop to The Beat Activity, you can click on the link here.
Pokdepinion: Great earbuds for those of you looking for a pair! If you like the features that the earbuds has, you can get them at the nearest experience stores near your homes.
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AMD Reportedly Working On Ryzen 5 5600X3D, The AM4 Epilogue
Image: @g01d3nm4ng0

AMD’s previous-generation Socket AM4 isn’t quite done yet – as new leaks from chi11eddog (@g01d3nm4ng0) has revealed a new part in the product list named Ryzen 5 5600X3D. This Zen 3 part will feature 6 cores, 12 threads; and more importantly, 96MB of combined L3 cache thanks to the 3D V-Cache architecture.
As the 5600X3D is set to be a lower-end product compared to the sole Ryzen 5000X3D product right now (the Ryzen 7 5800X3D), it loses 1MB of total L2 cache as a result of two less physical cores, while the clockspeeds are reduced slightly from 5800X3D to now 4.4GHz boost and 3.3GHz base – both 100MHz lower than the 8-core counterpart.
The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is one year old at this point, and has since been superseded by AM5-based Ryzen 7 7800X3D as well as 12-core and 16-core versions. So why is the previous generation making a comeback with a new model? It comes down to binning. AMD produce chiplets in an 8-core unit, so any defective dies deemed unqualified as an 8-core processor will then be passed down as a 6-core to recoup some of the costs (remember, semiconductor production is ridiculously expensive). This is also why 4-core Ryzen has been extremely rare in the grand scheme of things.

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The current pricing for the 5800X3D is $289 (Malaysian pricing is roughly RM1,550), so the pricing of the 6-core model should sit below it, likely in the $250 (RM1,200) region. This should be great news for budget gamers with the potential price-to-performance ratio to offer.
Source: Videocardz
Pokdepinion: Would be interesting to see the difference between two less cores and the sheer amount of L3 cache on tap. Would it cannibalize regular 5800X?
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Yes 5G Crowned Ookla Speedtest Awards As Malaysia’s Fastest Mobile Network

The provider leads the pack in the Speed Score ranking, determined by overall network speeds.

YTL Communications’ network operator, Yes, was awarded Ookla Speedtest Awards with its leading mobile network speeds in the Q3-Q4 2022 period. Ookla is the company behind the popular Speedtest.net network test tools which measures various network’s download and upload speeds across a network.

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According to Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence data analysis, Yes 5G clinched the first place with a Speed Score of 84.53, and download speeds are measured at 569.09Mbps whereas upload speeds peaked at 65.58Mbps. The Speed Score system incorporates a measure of each provider’s download and upload speed to rank network speed performance.
From left to right: Jacob Yeoh, Deputy CEO, YTL Communications; Wing K. Lee, CEO, YTL Communications; Luke Deryckx, Chief Technology Officer, Ookla; Kuljeeet Randhawa, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Sales & Enterprise Services, Ookla
Ookla CEO Dough Suttles said: “It is our pleasure to present Yes 5G with the award for Fastest Mobile Network in Malaysia. This recognition is a testament to their exceptional performance in Q3-Q4 2022 based on Ookla’s rigorous analysis of consumer-initiated tests taken with Speedtest.”
“As the pioneer in offering affordable 5G services and solutions to Malaysians and our on-going mission to provide ‘Yes 5G for All’, this award is a testament to our efforts in delivering world-class products and services to our consumers. We are truly grateful to be given this recognition by Ookla,” said Wing K. Lee, CEO of YTL Communications.
Pokdepinion: Congrats for the award Yes – although I’d like to see how fast we can push 5G (mmWave especially).
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