The Sennheiser brand today announces the BTD 700, a high-performance Bluetooth dongle designed to unleash the full potential of your wireless headphones and earbuds. Whether you're immersed in work or play, the BTD 700 enables the best aptX audio codecs, Auracast, and low-latency gaming possibilities via a single plug-and-play solution.

Packing a punch
Weighing in at just 2.2 grams and measuring only 24 mm long, the BTD 700 is smaller than most flash drives, yet packs a high-tech punch for streaming, gaming, and voice communication. With a single USB-C connection, it's an effortless way to upgrade the native wireless audio performance of laptops, mobile phones and tablets. An included type -C to -A adapter leaves no device behind, easily improving the untethered audio capabilities of desktop workstations and laptops.

Samsung Electronics today announced that its 2025 OLED TV lineup will feature NVIDIA G-SYNC compatibility, delivering ultra-smooth gameplay, low latency, and enhanced responsiveness to meet the needs of gaming enthusiasts worldwide. With NVIDIA G-SYNC compatibility, Samsung's 2025 OLED TVs synchronize the TV's refresh rate with the GPU's frame rate, reducing screen tearing and stuttering for a seamless and immersive gaming experience. Paired with Samsung's Motion Xcelerator technology, which supports refresh rates up to 165 Hz, gamers can enjoy exceptionally fluid visuals and sharp clarity during fast-paced action scenes.

"With the addition of NVIDIA G-SYNC compatibility and our most advanced gaming features yet, Samsung's 2025 OLED TVs deliver elite-level performance for even the most competitive players," said Kevin Lee, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Customer Experience Team at Samsung Electronics. "By building on our leadership in display innovation and integrating real-time AI enhancements, we're redefining what gamers can expect from a TV - on and off the battlefield."

Large language models (LLMs) love large quantities of memory—so much so, in fact, that AI enthusiasts are turning to multi-GPU setups to make even more VRAM available for their AI apps. But since many current LLMs are extremely large, even this approach has its limits. At times, the GPU will decide to make use of CPU processing power for this data, and when it does, the performance of your CPU cache and DRAM comes into play. All this means that when it comes to the performance of AI applications, it's not just the GPU that matters, but the entire pathway that connects the GPU to the CPU to the I/O die to the DRAM modules. It stands to reason, then, that there are opportunities to boost AI performance by optimizing these elements.

That's exactly what we've found as we've spent time in our R&D labs with the latest AMD Ryzen CPUs. AMD just launched two new Ryzen CPUs with AMD 3D V-Cache Technology, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D, pushing the series into new performance territory. After testing a wide range of optimizations in a variety of workloads, we uncovered a range of settings that offer tangible benefits for AI enthusiasts. Now, we're ready to share these optimizations with you through a new BIOS feature: AI Cache Boost. Available through an ASUS AMD 800 Series motherboard and our most recent firmware update, AI Cache Boost can accelerate performance up to 12.75% when you're working with massive LLMs.

ZOWIE proudly announces XL2586X+, a new eSports gaming monitor featuring the latest Fast-TN panels for superior refresh speed and DyAc 2 technology for quick response times with minimal motion blur. Upgraded from 540 Hz to 600 Hz, XL2586X+ is now the fastest gaming monitor available, consistently ensuring smooth visuals during fast-motion and dramatic transitions without overclocking. It also includes auto game mode via XL Setting to Share software and industrial-grade bearings for precise height adjustment, solidifying XL-X+ series' position as the mainstream standard for eSports competitions and exemplifying ZOWIE's mission is to lead the FPS field by providing competitive players with top-tier equipment and the most seamless in-game experiences.

Our Mission
By continually developing professional eSports products specifically designed for FPS players, ZOWIE has come to deeply understand their needs. Going the extra mile and paying attention to the smallest details is how we give players the best gaming experience and help them achieve their very best.

ZOWIE is proud to introduce the XL2546X+, a new esports gaming monitor featuring the latest Fast-TN panel and DyAc 2 technology, delivering fast response time with minimal motion blur. Building on the XL-X+ series, the XL2546X+ utilizes advanced Fast-TN panel technology to increase refresh rate from 240 Hz to 280 Hz for smoother gameplay. The monitor features cutting-edge DyAc 2 motion blur reduction, auto game mode via XL Setting to Share software, and industrial-grade bearings for precise height adjustment, cementing the XL-X+ series' position as the standard for esports competitions.

Our Mission
Through continuous development of professional esports products for FPS players, ZOWIE has gained deep understanding of their needs. Our commitment to excellence and attention to detail enables us to deliver the best gaming experience and help players achieve peak performance.

Apple today announced the new iMac, featuring the powerful M4 chip and Apple Intelligence, in its stunning, ultra-thin design. With M4, iMac is up to 1.7x faster for daily productivity, and up to 2.1x faster for demanding workflows like photo editing and gaming, compared to iMac with M1. With the Neural Engine in M4, iMac is the world's best all-in-one for AI and is built for Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that transforms how users work, communicate, and express themselves, while protecting their privacy. The new iMac is available in an array of beautiful new colors, and the 24-inch 4.5K Retina display offers a new nano-texture glass option. iMac features a new 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View, up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports, and color-matched accessories that include USB-C. Starting at just $1,299, now with 16 GB of unified memory, the new iMac is available to pre-order today, with availability beginning Friday, November 8.

"iMac is beloved by millions of users, from families at home to entrepreneurs hard at work. With the incredible features of Apple Intelligence and the powerful performance of Apple silicon, the new iMac changes the game once again," said John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. "With M4 and Apple Intelligence, gorgeous new colors that pop in any space, an advanced 12MP Center Stage camera, and a new nano-texture glass display option, it's a whole new era for iMac."

Formovie, a leading innovator in laser TV and smart projector technologies, announces the upcoming release of their latest flagship product, the Formovie Theater Premium, set to launch on October 28, 2024 at 00:00 a.m. PDT / 3:00 p.m. CST / 9:00 a.m. CEST.

This groundbreaking 4K ultra-short-throw (UST) projector features enhanced ALPD RGB+ 4.0 triple-color laser technology, upgraded Dolby Vision for exceptional visuals and second generation Bowers & Wilkins acoustics for immersive sound. Its ultra-short throw ratio allows for a large screen in limited space, and integrated Google TV offers easy access to your favorite content, redefining your home cinema experience.

BenQ, the global No. 1 DLP 4K projector brand, announced today its newest 4K casual gaming projectors, the TK710 and TK710STi. Enhanced with 3200 ANSI lumens with high brightness and contrast, 95% Rec.709 and HDR compatibility, both projectors are easy to install and thrive in both light and dark rooms for enjoying movies and gaming. With low input lag and specialized HDR game modes, the projectors provide stunning imagery and fast-paced gaming for immersion into any entertainment.

An update to their predecessors which utilized a traditional lamp light source, the new projectors are equipped with 4K UHD laser-enhanced 3200 ANSI lumens, and each laser offers 20,000 hours of light source life. For a truly immersive gaming experience, the TK710 and TK710STi each have a low input lag of 16.7 ms (4K@60 Hz) and 4.2 ms (1080p@240 Hz), making both models ideal for gaming on the big screen.

BenQ, the global leading DLP 4K projector brand and innovator of digital lifestyle devices, today unveiled three all-new 4K HDR smart projectors. Designed specifically for AAA console gaming, each projector offers players unparalleled audiovisual experiences tailored to various rooms within the home.

Following closely after the success of the BenQ X3000i, 2022's best 4K LED gaming projector, the new models X3100i, X500i, and X300G showcase BenQ's revolutionary detail enhancement engine. They set new standards by integrating the projector-tailored HDR-PRO, CinematicColor, and CinematicSound technologies, offering a richer and more immersive gaming experience than ever before.

HyperX hopes to repeat the brand-defining success of its lightweight Cloud family of gaming headsets in the true-wireless (TWS) space, with the Cirro Buds Pro TWS. These are targeted at the entire spectrum of gamers playing on the move, be it on handhelds such as the Steamdeck or ROG Ally, or a gaming notebook. It uses Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, and can offer up to 35 hours of listening on a full charge (that's 7 hours for the earbuds, plus 28 hours from the case), when tested at 50% volume. The headphones feature Game Mode, a feature that drops audio playback latency to as low as 90 ms over the Bluetooth link layer. The earphones also feature active noise cancellation, since each of the earbud has a mic, and can sample ambient noise. The Cirro Buds Pro TWS comes in a number of color options, including gray, black, and blue.

London-based consumer tech brand Nothing has launched Ear (2), a set of true wireless earbuds that celebrates Nothing's iconic transparent design with elite engineering and next-level personalization for the ultimate audio experience.

Ear (2) delivers an authentic sound experience, boasting Hi-Res Audio certification and LHDC 5.0 technology. Users can also create their own Personal Sound Profile by completing a hearing test through the Nothing X app. Ear (2) will then adjust the equaliser settings accordingly in real-time for optimal sound quality. The earbuds feature an 11.6 mm custom driver for deep, powerful bass and crystal-clear highs, and a new dual-chamber design enhances the overall sound quality with smoother airflow. Moreover, Ear (2) features Dual Connection for easy device switching, improved wind-proof and crowd-proof Clear Voice Technology, and Personalised Active Noise Cancellation that adapts to the unique shape of a user's ear canal.

[Editor's note: This press release comes from the US division of Philips, so the news is more relevant to the USA.]

Envision Peripherals, Inc. (EPI), an affiliate of TPV Technology Limited (TPV) Philips' monitor license partner, announces the release of the world's first Designed for Xbox console gaming monitor. Philips Momentum Designed for Xbox console gaming monitors are built from the ground up to provide the ultimate experience for Xbox fans. These Designed for Xbox console gaming monitors set the standard for Xbox gaming. The inclusion of the new HDMI 2.1 spec now enables next-gen console gaming with 4K resolution and faster 120Hz refresh rates for ultra-clear and ultra-smooth gaming performance. Taking it the next level, TPV partnered with Xbox to tune these "Designed for Xbox" displays to deliver the optimal validated Xbox Series X performance from the moment you plug it in.

Unlike televisions, Philips Momentum gaming monitors are built for console gaming, with low latency and low lag as priorities to provide a much smoother, more realistic gaming experience. The series' low input lag is a great advantage when playing twitch-sensitive video games, allowing the input to register on the screen faster. The flagship 55" Philips Momentum (559M1RYV) will include a specially designed speaker enclosure from the engineers at Bowers & Wilkins, the British loudspeaker company globally renowned for their innovative designs and sound engineering, that completes the experience.

ENACFIRE, an emerging audio accessory brand, is pleased to announce the launch of its G10 wireless earbuds, the first 2-in-1 gaming and lifestyle wireless earbuds in the range. Designed for hours of gaming and music listening, they are small and comfortable to wear with a Role Switch feature and an expertly-tuned sound to enhance listening experiences. The ENACFIRE G10 gaming earbuds are extremely affordable and available to buy for $26.99 from Amazon.com and will be available on Amazon UK from May for £29.99.

With a specific focus on gaming, the G10 include a Role Switch feature to gently streamline the single mode switching process. This allows it to break through the master-slave restrictions of traditional wireless earbuds to flip between Single Earbud and Couple Earbud Mode in a second without the need for a complicated manual connection process. The ultra-low-latency technology from ENACFIRE's proprietary Bluetooth chip helps to accelerate the audio processing to provide a better gaming experience with even more detail to help players immerse themselves into new worlds. Using this Game Mode provides 40% faster speed and high 200 ms transmission delay. Whether playing or listening to music, this will enhance the experience and provide smooth audio.

ASUS Co-CEO S.Y. Hsu today unveiled the ROG Phone 3 and an array of gaming accessories and peripherals during the Game Changer virtual launch event. As the latest generation of the world's most powerful gaming smartphone series, the ROG Phone 3 redefines mobile gaming with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus 5G Mobile Platform, an ultra-responsive 144 Hz / 1 ms AMOLED 6.59-inch display, and the GameCool 3 cooling system for peak performance during extended gameplay sessions. Mobile gaming on ROG Phone 3 is enhanced by a number of expansion accessories, such as Kunai 3 Gamepad and ROG Clip for console-like controls, and TwinView Dock 3 for dual-screen gameplay.

At this event, ROG also announces the new ROG Falchion wireless gaming keyboard, ROG Cetra RGB gaming headphones, and ROG Strix XG16 portable gaming monitor. The ROG Falchion wireless mechanical keyboard offers a space-saving layout that is 65 percent of the size of a standard keyboard, a user-friendly multi-use interactive touch panel, and wireless Aura Sync lighting. ROG Cetra RGB in-ear gaming headphones feature active noise cancellation (ANC) technology and customizable RGB lighting. To round out this all-new peripheral lineup, the ROG Strix XG16 is a 15.6-inch portable gaming display with a built-in battery and user-friendly kickstand design that supports an up to 144Hz refresh rate and 1080p HD resolution.

Experience matters. And with NVIDIA Quadro Experience—a new application for Quadro GPUs—professionals across industries can boost their creativity and increase their productivity like never before.

Quadro Experience, available now, helps professionals simplify time-consuming tasks, streamline workflows and ensure your favorite applications always have the latest updates. NVIDIA Quadro Experience makes sharing content easier by providing screen capture and desktop recording in 4K, so teams can easily upload content and even broadcast their work directly from their desktop or laptop.

The "Game Mode" toggle Microsoft introduced with Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (1709), is designed to improve gaming performance by prioritizing system resources for the game at the expensive of background processes, and preventing Windows Update from performing any automatic tasks (such as GPU driver updates, which would most certainly ruin your game). With "Call of Duty Warzone," however, this toggle appears to be having the opposite effect.

The Game Mode toggle reportedly causes Warzone to stutter, and sometimes even freeze. Apparently Windows 10 doesn't recognize it as a game. The issue affects users of both AMD and NVIDIA graphics hardware. It has so far been reproduced on the likes of the GTX 1080 Ti, GTX 980, RX 5700 XT, RX 570, RX 480, and R9 290. For now there's no workaround other than to simply disable Game Mode in Windows Settings. Find it in the "Gaming" section.

Well, that proverbial storm of dirty undies did serve to rile up some people over at Intel and their paid-for stint with Principled Technologies, whose name begs for a change for honesty's sake. In wake of the controversy regarding its... flawed... testing of AMD's Ryzen 2700X performance in gaming workloads, Principled technologies has now come forward to say it's retesting AMD's processors in less... biased circumstances.

Let's start with the glass half-full part of this retesting: initial reports of memory timings on AMD's system being set in an almost "whatever" kind of way apparently weren't fair, since Principled Technologies have said they used D.O.C.P. settings for AMD's XMP-equivalent memory settings (not properly disclosed in the initial report, so, it's their own fault this happened). The good stuff ends there, though; numerous other flaws in the methodology, such as the usage of AMD's stock cooling solutions against a Noctua cooler for the Intel system (which they'll now fix on retesting), and the usage of AMD's Game Mode on their consumer Ryzen processors, which meant the usually 8-core processor was working in a 4-core mode (really, now?)... The company will now retest both CPUs in a more even-footed way. How's that for a change?

Samsung Electronics will expand the connectivity and performance capabilities of its signature curved display line-up with the debut of its new CJ791 monitor, the first curved monitor to feature Intel's Thunderbolt 3 connectivity. Designed for entertainment and business audiences, the 34-inch CJ791 model aligns single-source power and processing speed with an exceptional picture quality for a comfortable and productive user experience.

Through a single Thunderbolt 3 cable, CJ791 users can link and dock their monitor and laptop without extensive wiring. The Thunderbolt 3 connection provides processing speed of up to 40 Gigabits per second (Gbps) - a rate nearly four times faster than USB alternatives - allowing users to enjoy connectivity across a full ecosystem of docks, displays and peripheral devices including Macs, USB type-C laptops, and other desktop accessories like storage drives or external graphics cards. The Thunderbolt 3 interface also enables the CJ791 to provide up to 85 watts (W) of laptop charging power.

Microsoft made considerable noise on their vaulted Game Mode, a Windows feature which made its appearance in their latest Creators Update version of Windows 10. Game Mode was one of the foremost features in the latest Windows update, which was supposed to deliver improved performance in gaming or other full-screen 3D applications, by enabling more of the available CPU and GPU resources to be tapped into by specific applications. Specific CPU (through winding down of non-crucial processes) and GPU (through prioritization of game-related graphics memory allocation) improvements were baked into this latest version; supposedly, only performance improvements should result from this effort on Microsoft's part.

LG is looking to launch what seems to me one of the most well-rounded monitors for our use cases, with the LG 43UD79-B. Barring the enormous size of the monitor (I for one don't think a 43" on my desk would be the best way of going around computing), this monitors ticks almost all the boxes. It features 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) and an IPS panel with non-glare coating, which delivers a peak brightness of 350 cd/m2, a contrast ratio of up to 1000:1, and an 8 ms gray-to-gray (GTG) response time, which is the only sour point I see here (though it's still miles ahead of most 4K television sets.) The panel ticks on at 60 Hz, which, let's face it, is probably right for the resolution your graphics card will have to be driving anyway. The presence of Freesync here is mighty welcome indeed, ensuring you can make the most of those 60 FPS. LG mention support for 1.07 billion colors which come factory-calibrated, but the absence of any information regarding this being a 10-bit panel (which manufacturers naturally jump towards marketing) probably indicates this is actually an 8-bit panel using A-FRC to achieve a 10-bit color depth.

With the recent launch of the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft decided to make a quick reference guide to the gaming related features on one of its employee blog sites, majornelson.com. Of the things covered, streaming features via it's Beam game recording service (a recent Microsoft acquisition) took the front stage. Also covered was Game Mode, that mode that promises to eek more performance out of your video game of choice via shuffling around of processes and prioritization changes. Of course, the numerous sub-settings and other little gaming related features in the update are covered in the blog entry as well.

Even though the awaited Creators Update for Windows 10 is only set to arrive on April 11th, users who want to get ahead of the launch - and maybe themselves - can now update their version of Windows. Through the Windows 10 Update Assistant, Microsoft has made it possible for users to update to the latest version of windows ahead of time. After downloading and running the tool from Microsoft's website, it should display that Build 15063 is available - the official build number for the Creators Update.

The most awaited feature for the upcoming Windows update should be the Game Mode, though Beam live-streaming (which some say is better than Twitch) from the Game Bar, a PiP (picture-in-picture) mode for streaming videos while working on those pesky Excel budget .xlxs, and improved privacy settings (which aren't at the same level as the special edition built for the chinese market, though.) Microsoft's Edge is also seeing performance and security improvements, and Windows will now integrate a night mode that reduces blue light emissions - and thus the strain in your old eye globes. You can now also lock your Windows 10 PC at a distance through Windows Hello on your smartphone of choice, and can partake on some crazy Paint marathons with its improved 3D tool, which should elevate it to new, never before seen heights - maybe in the next update you can use the new Paint with Mixed-Reality products?

Microsoft has officially pegged its much-vaunted Creators Update for an April 11th Release (it's actually been available in its "RTM gold" state for some time via leaks on the web and even briefly via their own update tool, but there will surely be security patches between now and the release).

As far as features go, this update focuses a lot on features that Microsoft says enable users to "Unleash Creativity." This includes an update to the paint application that enables 3D functionality, improved support for Mixed Reality, a new "Game Mode" to dedicate resources to games, and a lot of features relating to broadcasting. Outside of the "creativity" theme, Microsoft claims it brings "new features to Microsoft Edge, additional security capabilities and privacy tools, and so much more."

At GDC 2017, Microsoft trickled out a few more details regarding its upcoming "Game Mode" for Windows 10. If you remember, "Game Mode" is an upcoming Windows feature which is currently going through its "Beta" phase on Windows 10's Creators Update, which will purportedly improve performance in games or similar full-screen applications.

According to the details Microsoft let out, Game Mode will ultimately dive deeper than the simple attribution of higher priority to a game's process. Instead, "Game Mode" will be able to allocate entire CPU cores (whether there is any distinction between physical or logical cores wasn't disclosed) solely to the purpose of processing your game of choice. This will probably end the dynamic allocation of threads that currently occurs, where game processing can jump around in the cores employed, while also looking to ensure that the entirety of the CPU and cache is dedicated to the game. This could, theoretically, aid performance in some more exotic core complexes (I'm looking at you, CCX).

In a bid to improve overall gaming experience on their Windows 10 operating system, Microsoft will introduce a new feature on their next big OS update. "Game Mode" is Microsoft's take on a modern, console-like take on the CPU and GPU of any given user system, so long as they are running the as of yet upcoming "Creators" update for Windows 10.

Essentially, "Game Mode" is an optional setting which dedicates more of the available CPU and GPU resources to a given gaming application - whether on Windows' new UWP or the good-old Win32 games (though Microsoft was clear in that they expect the feature to have more of an impact on UWP games simply because "Game Mode" then has more information on the game's requirements and performance profiles). This means that less of your system's resources will be available to and used by background tasks, and should make itself visible not so much on peak frame-rates, but on a arguably more important metric: a more consistent, less "stuttery" frame-rate.