On June 7th, Titan Quest II made its grand appearance at the Future Games Show: Summer Showcase 2025! Our Lead Systems Designer, Balint Marczin, took the stage to give an overview of Titan Quest II - what to expect, what sets it apart, and why fans should be excited - while the audience had the chance to watch some brand-new gameplay in action.

This brand-new gameplay is featured in the deep dive video, showcasing a flurry of combat skills and their powerful modifiers - giving fans a fresh look at what's in store. You can catch the full video here:

Team Cherry first introduced Hollow Knight: Silksong back in February 2019, as a mainline sequel to the first entry (2017) in the series. Since then, the independent Australian development studio and publisher has produced a minimal amount of preview material. The last significant chunk was delivered during an Xbox 2022 presentation. Fast-forward to June (2025); many Metroidvania genre enthusiasts were hoping for some newer signs of life—potentially amid a flurry of special preview events. Pre-event SteamDB updates seemed to point to an imminent announcement of sorts. Days later, Sony's State of Play and Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest did not harbor any fresh Hollow Knight series updates.

Thankfully, yesterday's Xbox Games Showcase provided a hint of things to come. Sarah Bond (President of Xbox) discussed the status of Team Cherry's magnum opus during Microsoft's public unveiling of ASUS ROG's Xbox Ally and Ally X gaming handhelds: "the highly anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong will be available at launch, and on Game Pass, when the Ally releases later this year." Unsurprisingly, Team Cherry did not launch a parallel promotion/hype campaign. Instead, Matthew Griffin—the team's resident PR and marketing expert—headed over to the official Hollow Knight Discord community channel, and disclosed some pleasing news: "I confirmed BEFORE Holiday—we are not tied to a console release." When pressed about a specific launch window, Griffin envisioned a pre-Christmas arrival.

Over a year ago, industry moles started chattering about a potential "late 2025" launch of NVIDIA "Rubin" AI accelerators/ GPUs. According to older rumors, one of the successors to current-gen "Blackwell" hardware could debut in chiplet-based "R100" form. Weeks ahead of Christmas 2024, Taiwanese insider reports pointed to Team Green's development of the "Rubin" AI project being sixth months ahead of schedule. Despite this extra positive outlook, experts surmised that the North American giant would not be rushing out shiny new options—especially with the recent arrival of "Blackwell Ultra" products. A lot of leaks seem to be coming from sources at (or adjacent to) TSMC.

Taiwan's top foundry service is reportedly in the "Rubin" equation; with a 3 nm (N3P) node process and CoWoS-L packaging linked to "R100." According to local murmurs, the final "taping out"—of Rubin GPUs and Vera CPUs—is due for completion this month. Trial production is expected run throughout the summer, with initial samples being ready for distribution by September. According to a fresh Ctee TW news report, unnamed supply chain participants reckon that NVIDIA's "new chip development schedule is smoother than before, and mass production (of Rubin and Vera chips) will begin as early as 2026." In theory, the first publicly exhibited final examples could turn up at CES 2026.

At Digital Eclipse, we specialize in restoring historic games for modern consoles, giving legendary classics the respect they deserve. As you might imagine, we get a lot of requests from fans, and for many years now, the overwhelming number-one request has been…"MORTAL KOMBAAAAAAAAAT!" That's why we were so excited to reveal in this week's State of Play presentation that we're partnering with our friends Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to bring Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection to PC and consoles later in 2025.

With multiple 90s and 2000s games from the early days of this groundbreaking fighting game series, Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection will also provide a comprehensive, detailed look at the franchise's history ever assembled. We'll take you back to the glorious 1990s, the days of arcades and tokens, of hidden Fatalities and secret characters, with the original versions of Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. But we're not stopping there—many of the home versions of these games from vintage 16-bit consoles and, yes, even handheld systems are also included. And the arcade and console games can all be played online with rollback netcode.

TrendForce's latest investigations find that DDR4 contract prices for servers and PCs are expected to rise more sharply in the second quarter of 2025 due to two key factors: major DRAM suppliers scaling back DDR4 production and buyers accelerating procurement ahead of U.S. tariff changes. As a result, server DDR4 contract prices are forecast to rise by 18-23% QoQ, while PC DDR4 prices are projected to increase by 13-18%—both surpassing earlier estimates.

TrendForce notes that DDR4 has been in the market for over a decade, and demand is increasingly shifting toward DDR5. Given the significantly higher profit margins for HBM, DDR5, and LPDDR5(X), suppliers have laid out EOL plans for DDR4, with final shipments expected by early 2026. Current EOL notifications largely target server and PC clients, while consumer DRAM (mainly DDR4) remains in production due to continued mainstream demand.

Intel's "Nova Lake-S" desktop processors are getting the finishing touches, with a likely arrival scheduled for the second half of 2026. As the successor to "Arrow Lake Refresh," Nova Lake-S introduces a modular design that separates graphics and media functions across distinct tiles. This approach builds on experience from "Meteor Lake," which splits its graphics engine from its media and display units onto separate chiplets. For Nova Lake-S, Intel plans to employ two different GPU architectures: Xe3 "Celestial" for graphics rendering and Xe4 "Druid" for media and display duties, all within a single package. Celestial will manage primary 3D rendering and gaming workloads, while Druid will handle display pipelines and hardware-accelerated video encoding and decoding. By utilizing a more advanced process node, such as TSMC's 2 nm, Intel can optimize media engine performance without increasing costs for the entire GPU subsystem.

On the CPU side, Nova Lake-S is expected to span four primary SKU tiers. The flagship model could feature 52 cores (16 P-cores, 32 E-cores, and four LPE-cores). A 28-core version may target high-end laptops and desktops with eight P-cores, 16 E-cores, and four low-power E-cores. A 16-core variant could serve both the lower-power desktop and laptop segments, featuring four P-cores, eight E-cores, and four low-power E-cores. Finally, an 8-core entry-level part offers four P-cores and four low-power E-cores. Although it remains uncertain whether all SKUs will combine both Xe3 and Xe4 tiles, Intel's tile-based strategy makes it straightforward to mix and match GPU configurations for different market segments. Rumors also suggest that Intel may use its 18A node alongside TSMC's advanced processes for various tile elements. As Panther Lake mobile parts approach the second half of 2025 and Arrow Lake Refresh prepares for its desktop release, Nova Lake-S is the pinnacle of Intel's advanced chip packaging.

Early indications of AMD's next-generation Ryzen processors have surfaced as AIDA64's newest beta release adds initial support for Ryzen 10000 "Zen 6" desktop, server, and mobile chips. The update was noted by X user HXL, suggesting that AMD has quietly shared basic specifications with developers of hardware monitoring software. Looking back, AIDA64 tends to announce chip support almost a year before official launches, so these new processors may not appear until Computex 2026. Leaks from March 2025 suggest that AMD's Zen 6 desktop lineup, currently codenamed Medusa Ridge, will remain compatible with the existing AM5 socket. This news should please PC enthusiasts because it means many users will not have to replace their motherboards when upgrading. Reports indicate that Medusa Ridge CPUs may include 12-core chiplet dies, marking a step forward from previous architectures.

These chips are expected to be manufactured using TSMC's N3P process, which is designed to deliver improved power efficiency and higher frequencies. Additionally, a Zen 6-based X3D series is likely to feature a 3D V-Cache, targeting gamers. A model like the Ryzen 7 10800X3D could follow the success of the 9800X3D by offering strong performance at its price. On the mobile side, "Medusa Point" processors are rumored to incorporate up to 22 hybrid cores that combine performance and efficiency cores under the Zen 6 architecture. However, these mobile chips seem to be further off, with a launch window set for late 2026 or early 2027. Although AIDA64's beta edition now recognizes Ryzen 10000 series chips, AMD's usual schedule suggests we will not see them in shops until mid-2026 at the earliest. Still, compatibility with AM5 and a move to a more advanced process promise meaningful improvements when Zen 6 finally arrives.

Retro enthusiasts will be pleased to know that the legendary brand Atari is doing well and remains strong, as the company has announced preliminary revenue of approximately $36 million for fiscal year 2025, an increase of 60% from the previous year that marked the company's highest revenue level in over a decade. This was mainly due to the Games Division which generated about $29 million in revenue. Atari implemented in 2022 a retro-centered strategy which now seems to be starting to pay off. The company released several titles including remakes of classic games such as Yars Rising and Breakout Beyond. The beloved Roller Coaster Tycoon franchise is now available on new platforms including Nintendo Switch. Atari also made some interesting acquisitions. Through Digital Eclipse, they've released titles such as the playable documentary Tetris Forever, while also releasing Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, Volgarr the Viking II, two DLCs for Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind. Meanwhile, the Nightdive Studios contributed with successful releases such as PO'ed, Killing Time, and The Thing: Remastered.

In the hardware area, Atari launched the Atari 7800+ retro console with 10 new game cartridges, continuing its cartridge-based platform expansion. In the future Atari plans to launch new hardware projects to expand the Atari "Plus" platform. The company also secured new partnerships, including collaboration with Netflix for mobile and cloud gaming distribution. Recent acquisitions include the Intellivision brand and game catalog, plus publishing rights for several modern indie titles under the relaunched Infogrames label. So for those retro-nostalgic gamers and Atari fans, there's at least a shiny pixelated light, as Wade Rosen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, believes that the best is yet to come: "By focusing on areas where we have both a passion for the product and a competitive edge, we are building solid momentum which I believe will lead to lasting success in the years to come."

After recording strong results in the first quarter of 2025, IDC is increasing its traditional PC forecast for 2025—this comes despite the significant impact that US tariffs have had on its trading partners' market sentiment. Global PC volume is now expected to reach 274 million in 2025, growing +4.1% over the prior year. Beyond 2025, IDC forecasts a slight contraction in 2026 due in part from volume stabilization following Windows 11 migration and to a more difficult comparison given a stronger market in 2025.

"The 90 day pause and tariffs exemption applied to personal computers, combined with a definite level of uncertainty on what will happen after the 90 day pause, is motivating PC manufacturers to seize the moment and ship larger than anticipated volumes in the US," said Jean Philippe Bouchard, research VP with IDC's Worldwide PC Trackers. "However, expectations of worsening macroeconomic conditions around the world and in the US characterized by upward pressures on prices and degrading consumer sentiment, will impact the PC market in the second half of 2025. Nonetheless, IDC expects commercial demand for PCs to be healthy in 2025 as the Windows 11 migration continues steadily."

HP Inc. and its subsidiaries ("HP") announced fiscal 2025 second quarter net revenue of $13.2 billion, up 3.3% (up 4.5% in constant currency) from the prior-year period. "In Q2, we delivered solid revenue growth, led by strong Commercial performance in Personal Systems and continued momentum behind our future of work strategy," said Enrique Lores, President and CEO, HP Inc. "While results in the quarter were impacted by a dynamic regulatory environment, we responded quickly to accelerate the expansion of our manufacturing footprint and further reduce our cost structure. These decisive actions strengthen our foundation and position us to deliver long-term sustainable growth."

"In light of the increased macroeconomic uncertainty, we have adjusted our outlook to reflect moderated demand and the net impact of trade-related costs," said Karen Parkhill, CFO, HP Inc. "We are executing targeted mitigation strategies, and assuming current conditions remain, we expect to fully offset these costs by Q4."

Yesterday, members of the Bobantang discussion board disclosed intriguing insider knowledge. According to recent industry murmurs, AMD has informed motherboard manufacturing partners about the discontinuation of B650 chipset production. Chinese media outlets have jumped on this alleged revelation, with Western counterparts quickly joining in on the fun (hours later). ITHome and Unika's Hardware were the first channels to parse info from the Bobantang forum. Since a 2022 launch, Team Red's mid-range B650 board design has remained a firm favorite for many budget-conscious owners of Ryzen 7000 (plus 8000G and 9000) series desktop processors. A "direct" successor—B850—reached retail at the start of this year, but higher price points combined with relatively minor feature set advantages have discouraged a lot of buyers. The likes of ASUS, ASRock, Colorful and Sapphire have released (or previewed) new B650 chipset-based mainboard products in 2025—mostly in microATX form factors.

A Bobantang member has prophesized two major trends—the first being: "after AMD's B650 chip production line is shut down, its inventory is expected to be large. According to Team Red, the B650M series inventory sales plan will probably end in the third quarter (of 2025)." A second claim was outlined: "it is expected that the digestion time of the tail end stock of AMD's B650 series motherboard will be longer, at least there will be inventory to sell in the second quarter (of this year), but the inventory of B650M chips will become more and more scarce as time goes by." PC hardware watchdogs propose a fall in B850 pricing; likely expertly timed to occur shortly after the complete depletion of predecessor stock—by the fourth quarter of this year.

The memory market starts to show a slowdown after months of steady price hikes according to TrendForce's latest memory spot price trend report. DDR5 memory prices, which had been going up consistently, are now stabilizing as they've hit fairly high levels that sometimes go beyond contract prices. While DDR5 still sees small price increases compared to DDR4, buyers and traders are growing more wary and leaning towards DDR4 products. The common DDR4 chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 3200 MT/s) saw a big 12.8% rise this week going from $2.18 to $2.46, but industry experts think these big price jumps will ease off in the third quarter.

NAND flash memory prices are cooling off after big jumps since late February. NAND flash chip costs have shot up, but customers are losing interest as more products flood the market. This change in supply and demand is showing up in the numbers - 512 GB TLC chips dipped by 0.18% this week to $2.73, as buyers take a "wait and see" approach. The big picture hints that the memory market might be settling down after months of steep price hikes. Nevertheless, major North American cloud providers' AI investments drive enterprise SSD demand surge, creating a supply shortage and supporting up to 10% quarterly price increases in Q3 2025.

Tiny PC maker Minisforum was showing off its upcoming N5 Pro NAS at Computex, and it's quite different from what most NAS makers have put out to date. For starters, it's built around AMD's Ryzen AI 9 HX Pro 370 SoC and has support for up to 96 GB of ECC DDR5 5600 MHz memory over two SO-DIMM slots. Connectivity consists of one 10 Gbps and one 5 Gbps Ethernet port, two USB4 ports—with DP Alt mode support—one HDMI 2.1 port, two USB 3.2 10 Gbps ports and one USB 2.0 port. For some reason the Oculink port, clearly visible around the back of the unit on display, isn't mentioned in the specs we were provided, but it's still mentioned on the product page, so we'll have to wait and see if that will be part of the final product or not.

On the storage side of things there's room for five 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch drives in traditional drive caddies, and drives up to 22 TB in size are supported. In addition to this, there's room for one M.2 NVMe slot which is limited to PCIe 4.0 X1, lengths of up to 110 mm are supported. There is also an extra PCB that can be slotted in that adds support for a further two NVMe drives in either the U.2 or M.2 form factor, one with a PCIe 4.0 x2 interface and one with PCIe 4.0 x1. Judging by the design of this expansion PCB, it might be a bit fiddly to install, but as the main PCB of the N5 Pro slides out for access, it could've been far worse. Internally there's also a full-length low-profile PCIe x16 slot—which was occupied by a GPU in the unit on display—although it's limited to four lanes electrically, as well as a USB 3.2 10 Gbps port. It will apparently come with MinisCloud OS, but Windows 11 is also supported, which means the N5 Pro could be used for something else than just as a NAS. No word on pricing, but the company is offering a 30 percent off discount if you sign up on their website.

This year at Computex, Apacer was showing off several new DDR5 memory modules and storage products. First up is its NOX RGB DDR5 CUDIMM which delivers a base speed of 8000 MT/s, but according to the company, can be overclocked to 9000 MT/s and there's also a non RGB version. Next up we have the Shield RGB DDR5 modules, which appears to want to take on Corsair's Dominator modules, at least design vise and these are also available without RGB. There was no mention of any speeds for these modules and as they'll only be available later this year, there's no information on the Apacer website either. Finally, Apacer has entered into a partnership with ASUS to produce TUF co-branded memory and was showing off the new NOX TUF RGB DDR5 modules. The already available non RGB version is available in speeds from 5200 MT/s to 6800 MT/s.

On the storage side, Apacer had a new external USB4 Gen 3x2—otherwise known as 40 Gbps—SSD, which is based on the Phison U21 controller. The AS741 as the drive is called, will be available in sizes from 1 TB to 4 TB and it should offer sequential read speeds of up to 4000 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 3600 MB/s. It also has an integrated cable/handle, which is the blue part in the picture, but we're not sure how it really is intended to work. Apacer also had a new PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD that goes under the name of AS2280F4U, which is based on Silicon Motion SM2508 controller and it should offer read speeds of up to 14000 MB/s and write speeds of 13000 MB/s. It will come in sizes between 1 TB and 4 TB and the heatsink has a rather tiny fan built into it. Both of the SSDs will be available later this year.

Thanks in part to our readers' comments on the back of the new Realtek 10 Gbps Ethernet solutions, we discovered a company that produces what appears to be the only 5 Gbps Ethernet switches in the entire world and it just so happens that they are attending Computex this week. The company goes under the name of Cirinet or Sirivision in China, but after our chat with them at the show, it appears that Apple has taken an issue with the company name, although it might not matter, since the company is largely an ODM/OEM. The company offers two 5 Gbps switches, both are eight port switches and are built around Realtek hardware.

The product on display at Computex is called the SR-S5G3008 and it's an 8-port managed switch, with the unmanaged model being the SRS5G1008. The SR-S5G3008 is a fully managed L3 switch and rather unusually, the company even claims to offers up its firmware for the switch under GPL terms, so at least in theory, it would be possible to download the source code and compile your own version of it. We did also ask about potential retail pricing and the company suggested a price range in the US$150-200 bracket for the unmanaged version. However, with the advent of the new Realtek 10 Gbps PHY, they expect the price difference between a 5 Gbps and a 10 Gbps version, otherwise identical, since the same switching IC would be used, to be less than US$50 in retail. This suggests that 5 Gbps switches might be dead before they've even hit the market, at least if Realtek delivers on their power consumption figures, as both options could be fanless, an advantage these two 5 Gbps switches have over 10 Gbps switches today.

Asustor didn't have any big news at Computex this year, but the company was showing it's upcoming Lockerstor 6 Gen2+, which is a slightly improved version of the current Lockerstor 6 Gen2, with the only upgrade being a move from red to blue Ethernet ports. Ok, there's a little more to it than a colour change, as the new blue ports support speeds of up to 5 Gbps vs. 2.5 Gbps for the red ports, something Asustor has done to make it easy to visually differentiate between the port speeds. The plus version is set to launch later this year, with no firm launch date as yet.

The company was also showing off its new Lockerstor 12R Pro Gen2 rack mounted NAS appliances with support for either 12 or 16 3.5-inch drives. These 3U or 4U rackmount NASes are powered by AMD's Ryzen 7 Pro processors and come standard with 16 GB of ECC DDR5-4800 memory, dual 10 Gbps Ethernet ports, plus a pair of Gigabit Ethernet ports, one M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 5.0 x4 slot for an OS drive and a PCIe x8 expansion slot.

Realtek appears to have decided that it still wants a slice of the SSD controller market and showed off two new products at Computex. The first, is a DRAM-less PCIe 5.0 NVMe controller that the company says will offer random read/write speeds of up to 10,000 MB/s, which it also delivers according to a CrystalDiskMark 8.0.4 screenshot that the company shared at the show. The RTS5781 as the controller is known as, is a typical 4-channel controller that supports ONFi 5.1 and Toggle 5.1 3D TLC/QLC NAND with I/O speeds of up to 3600 MT/s. It also supports advanced power saving features and common encryption protocols such as TCG OPAL 2.0 and AES 256. Random performance is on par with your typical DRAM-less SSD controller. The RTS5781 was originally revealed last year on a roadmap, but only announced now.

Next up is the RM1220, which is comparable to Silicon Motion's SM2322 in that it's a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20 Gbps controller that doesn't require any bridge chip for better or worse. Realtek claims the same 2,100/2,000 MB/s read and write performance as Silicon Motion and thus better performance than Phison's PS2251-18/U18 controller. However, Realtek has a couple of tricks up its sleeve to make the RM1220 stand out from the crowd, the first being an integrated addressable RGB controller for "gaming" SSDs and the other being integrated fingerprint reader support, where just the physical reader is needed, for companies that want to add some security features to their external SSDs.

Although Synology already announced its first plus series NAS in its 2025 range a month ago with the DS925+ and its accompanying expansion unit, the company had no less than six new devices on display at Computex. We also talked at length with the company and got an explanation as to why the company decided to move to supporting its own brand drives only and it turns out the situation isn't quite what Synology's press release made it seem like, but more on that after we go over the new devices.

The new range starts with the DS225+ and the DS425+, where the DS225+ is the new base model of the plus series. Both models are built around an Intel Celeron J4125—a chip that launched at the end of 2019—which is paired with 2 GB of DDR4 which can be expanded to 6 GB in total. Both models come with one 2.5 Gbps and one 1 Gbps Ethernet port, two 5 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports and two or four drive bays. The DS425+ also gets a pair of M.2 2280 NVMe SSD slots, but unless the CPU information provided is wrong, these will only be PCIe 2.0 and will most likely not sport more than one or two lanes.

It's been two years since Realtek showed off its 5 Gbps Ethernet chips at Computex and at the time, they hinted at a 10 Gbps chip. This year, the company was showing off a wide range of 10 Gbps Ethernet chips on the show, ranging from a standard consumer solution, to server chips and native USB variants. The base chip is the RTL8127, which offers the full range of speeds from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps, with a sub 2 Watt power consumption. This is followed by the RTL8127AP intended for servers, as it has full remote management support via DASH 1.2 support. Both chips sport a PCIe 4.0 x1 host interface, which for better or worse limits compatibility to more modern systems.

Next up is the fibre only RTL8127ATF, although it doesn't support 10/100 Mbps speeds, but it has a lower power consumption at just over 1 Watt. This is followed by the RTL8127AT, which is limited to the same speeds as the fibre only SKU, but it's a standard copper NIC. What sets these two SKUs apart from the previous two, is that they support PCIe Gen 3 x2 or PCIe Gen 4 x1 and they actually have a physical PCIe x2 interface, which limits compatibility with some motherboards as an add-card. Finally we have the RTL8159, which is Realtek's USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 10 Gbps chip, which again covers the full range of speed from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps. Realtek had several mockups of customer products on display, but final products might not look exactly like the ones shown.

Make some space on your calendar—the Xbox Games Showcase 2025 will be livestreamed on Sunday, June 8, starting at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK time. Following in the footsteps of the 2023 Starfield Direct and 2024 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Direct, this year we will again have a double feature, with the Xbox Games Showcase immediately followed by The Outer Worlds 2 Direct.

It all begins with our annual Xbox Games Showcase, bringing you a look at upcoming titles from across our first-party studios, in addition to incredible new titles from our third-party partners across the globe. This year, the show will be digital-only—our livestream will bring you everything you'll need to know about what's next for Xbox, no matter where in the world you're watching.

Cooler Master has revived its gargantuan Cosmos case product line; as demonstrated by the brand dedicating a whole table to two behemoth samples. Massive chassis designs are not particularly "de rigueur" nowadays, but 2025 revivals could be appropriate fits for ever-growing graphics card profiles, and extra elaborate cooling setups. Two different configurations were presented; as denoted by product placards and differentiated by modular panel selections. This year's refresh supports modern hidden and back-connector products.

The Cosmos 2025 "Water Cooling" demo unit's foundation consists of a non-specific Intel Ultra 5 processor, a customized (watercooled) GeForce RTX 5090 card, and an ASRock Z890 LiveMixer WIFI mainboard. Cooler Master has installed their fancy X Pro waterblock system; the visiting TechPowerUp team noticed that these components occupied only a small portion of internal volume. The 180 mm long MWE Gold 1250 V2 PSU looks relatively dinky, in its elevated perch. A radiator setup seems to feature absolutely huge airflow fans (maybe four in total); two of these units are visible in some of our photos.

There's no shortage of AI products at Computex this year, but MaxLinear had a demo of a router with AI support that kind of makes sense. The company has developed what it simply calls MaxAI, which allows their customers to build their own smartphone all, which is represented by the the left hand side of the screen below. This allows the owner of a router with support for Max AI to give it voice commands, but as the software is aware of the features of the router, it's possible to use it for things like QoS optimisation, speed tests and even for sending system logs to your ISP during a support call. MaxAI is also multilingual, the demo we were shown started out in Mandarin, but was switched to English for the demo and then in the end switched to Japanese.

This might seem like something of a gimmicky feature, but keep in mind that most people don't know how to use a router, from setting it up, to changing any kind of settings. The potential of MaxAI is to allow users to set up their router via voice commands, which to many would be a lot easier, than using an app or logging in to a web interface. However, MaxAI isn't just about controlling your router via voice commands, as MaxLinear has also worked on a new type of QoS, where they don't do deep packet inspection, but instead have trained that AI model to detect patterns of different software. The demo was showing two video streams, one was used to simulate a teams call and by just telling the MaxAI to optimise teams, the video stream went from jerky to smooth. Obviously this assumes that the internet connection is fast enough and it's still just prioritisation, but it works much better compared to traditional QoS.

As we walked around the show floor earlier today, we walked past the USB-IF booth and spotted VLI showing off their new portable gaming dock concept. What the company has done, is to take its new VL605 USB-C DP to HDMI 2.1 PCON and combined it with the VL832 USB4 endpoint device, which under normal circumstances operate as a USB4 to USB 3.2 and DP 1.4 adapter and the VL109 which is a docking controller that also supports USB PD for up to three ports. The overall design supports up to 140 W USB PD 3.1 power passthrough as well.

The end result is a fairly small PCB that delivers an HDMI 2.1 port with VRR support, a first for a docking station solution as far as we're aware, as well as a USB Type-C with DP Alt-mode output, two USB Type-C ports with USB PD support and two USB Type-A ports. In itself it's not a unique product, but from our understanding, there aren't many docking stations out there that support VRR combined with USB ports that offer more than USB 2.0 speeds. VLI has tested it with AMD FreeSync as well as NVIDIA G-Sync compatible monitors without any problems and it's also been certified for FreeSync Premium Pro. Overall a neat little solution that could appeal to gamers that want a simple way of hooking up their peripherals to their gaming laptop when using an external monitor, keyboard and mouse.

ASRock, a global leader in motherboards, graphics cards, mini PCs, power supplies, and gaming monitors, is excited to announce the participation in Computex Taipei 2025. Under the theme Gaming Beyond Limits, AI Beyond Imagination, ASRock will showcase the dual focus on next-level gaming and AI applications. From immersive gaming setups to AI solutions, the exhibit highlights ASRock's commitment to innovation across both fields. Visitors are invited to explore the latest products and technologies, and to experience the Phantom Gaming Zone at booth L0818.

ASRock Unveils Flagship Taichi OCF and Taichi Creator AM5 Motherboards
To expand its success on AMD AM5 motherboards, ASRock will be adding more exciting products into its product portfolio. New product such as X870E Taichi OCF, the very first OC formula motherboard based on AMD platform, Phantom Gaming X870 Nova WiFi, the new high end gaming motherboard based on X870 chipset, a functional yet elegantly designed X870 Taichi Creator and also a lot more products that are based on X870 / B850 / B840 / A620A chipset.

Intel says its struggling Foundry division will finally break even in 2027, just as its advanced 14A process comes online. The announcement came during the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media & Communications Conference, where CFO David Zinsner outlined the plan to offset years of quarterly losses. Intel has been pouring billions of dollars into new fabs and equipment as it races to keep pace with TSMC and Samsung. Its first milestone is the 18A process, whose first product, codenamed Panther Lake, will arrive in client PCs late in 2025, with volume production following in 2026. Intel also plans to use 18A for its next Xeon "Clearwater Forest" server chips and offer it to a small set of external partners to prove the technology's readiness. "We have to start by using our own chips," Zinsner explained. "Once we show that Panther Lake and Clearwater Forest perform as expected, we'll see more interest from outside customers for 18A, 18A‑P, and then 14A."

He acknowledged that initial adoption is low, but expressed confidence that proven performance will drive committed volume. A key part of the strategy is the use of High‑NA EUV lithography at 14A. Zinsner admitted this will raise equipment costs at first, but he believes the improved transistor density and power efficiency will more than make up for the investment, boosting margins and factory utilization. Intel's path to break even also incorporates revenue from mature nodes such as Intel 16/12, advanced packaging services, and collaborations with UMC and Tower. Under its "smart capital" model, the company will balance internal wafer demand with third‑party work, maintaining flexibility and cost discipline. With a relatively modest external revenue target (for a cash-bleeding foundry), low to mid single‑digit billions per year, Intel Foundry aims to reach break‑even in 2027 and move into sustained profitability soon afterward. By 2027, Intel 14A node and ehnaced the 1.8 nm-class 18A-P(T) node will also complement these break-even efforts.