Intel Bartlett Lake on Z790 via BIOS Mod: A Community Discovery Reveals the Line Between Socket Compatibility and Firmware Locks
A community modder successfully ran Intel’s Bartlett Lake‑S Core 9 273PQE, a 12‑core embedded processor, on an Asus Z790 consumer motherboard by applying a custom BIOS. The hack bypasses Intel’s firmware restrictions, proving that the socket and electrical design are compatible, but the platform is deliberately blocked at the BIOS level. Intel markets Bartlett Lake for edge and industrial use, and motherboard partners officially support it only on IPC boards, not on mainstream Z790 platforms. While the experiment shows the technical feasibility, it remains a niche, non‑reproducible workaround for enthusiasts.
Intel Officially Launches the Core Series 3: Wildcat Lake Brings 18A and AI Features to More Affordable Laptops
Intel launched the Core Series 3 (codenamed Wildcat Lake) on April 16, 2026, targeting affordable laptops, education, small‑business PCs and edge devices. The line uses the Core Ultra Series 3 architecture on Intel’s 18A process, offering up to 40 TOPS AI performance, Thunderbolt 4, Wi‑Fi 7 and...
Mindfactory’s Sales Plummet: The DIY PC Market Shows Clear Signs of Fatigue in April 2026
German DIY retailer Mindfactory reported a dramatic drop in CPU sales, with weekly volumes falling to roughly 1,000 units in weeks 14‑15 of 2026 – a decline of more than 50 percent. AMD still outsold Intel in unit count, but...
Nvidia Denies Rumors of a Takeover of a PC Manufacturer – And, in Doing so, Highlights Just How Nervous the...
On April 13, 2026, Nvidia publicly denied rumors that it was in talks to acquire a major PC manufacturer, a story that originated from a SemiAccurate report. The denial came after the speculation sent Dell and HP shares higher and...
The Intel Arc Pro B65 Is Launching, and Intel Is Deliberately Positioning the Workstation Graphics Card Closer to the Gaming...
Intel introduced the Arc Pro B65 workstation GPU, a 32 GB GDDR6 card that blurs the line between professional and gaming graphics. The card ships with 20 Xe cores, 160 XMX engines, 608 GB/s bandwidth, a 200‑W TDP and PCIe 5.0 ×16 support. A WHQL driver...
Gigabyte Is Pushing CQDIMM and 256 GB DDR5 Further Into the Mainstream – the Z890 Plus Becomes a Flagship Platform
Gigabyte unveiled its Z890 Plus motherboard series, featuring CQDIMM support that allows up to 256 GB DDR5 capacity using just two DIMM slots. The flagship Z890 AORUS ELITE DUO X and Z890M FORCE DUO X WIFI7 claim DDR5‑10266 speeds and an...
Anthropic Is Reportedly Testing Its Own AI Chips: No Product yet, but a Clear Signal in the Infrastructure Race
Anthropic is reportedly evaluating the development of its own AI accelerators, though no product or dedicated team has been confirmed. The move follows a surge in Claude’s demand, with projected 2026 revenue surpassing $30 billion, up from $9 billion in 2025. Anthropic...
AMD Ryzen AI 400, Aka “Gorgon Point”: Lots of New Model Names, but Based on Current Information, It Appears to...
AMD officially launched the Ryzen AI 400 series, codenamed “Gorgon Point,” in early 2026. The lineup re‑uses Zen 5/Zen 5c cores and RDNA 3.5 graphics from the earlier Strix Point and Krackan Point APUs, with modest clock‑speed and SKU tweaks rather than a new architecture. Desktop variants now...
Investigative: The Trail of Counterfeiters in China, GeekTC as a Victim, and a Lot of Criminal Activity in the Distribution...
An independent investigator uncovered a widespread counterfeit operation affecting Dow’s TC‑5888 thermal interface material, tracing the fake product from an AliExpress purchase through a complex Chinese distribution network that includes Dow’s Zhangjiagang warehouse, Silmore trading firms, and the reseller GeekTC....
NVIDIA’s Next Flagship Project? A Leak Suggests the RTX TITAN Blackwell or RTX 5090 Ti Could Launch in the Third...
A leak reported by Overclocking.com and echoed by several outlets suggests NVIDIA is developing a new high‑end Blackwell GPU, tentatively called the GeForce RTX 5090 Ti or RTX Titan Blackwell, slated for a Q3 2026 launch. The rumored card would sit above the current...
AMD Makes a Big Splash with the MI355X in MLPerf Inference 6.0: Over One Million Tokens per Second in Multi-Node...
AMD announced that its Instinct MI355X GPU achieved over one million tokens per second in multi‑node inference, topping the new MLPerf Inference 6.0 suite. The benchmark showed 1,042,110 tokens/s on Llama 2 70B and 1,031,070 tokens/s on GPT‑OSS‑120B across 11‑12 nodes, with 92‑93% scaling efficiency. MLPerf 6.0 introduces...
Intel Officially Lists the Core Ultra X9 378H in ARK: Panther Lake Gets Another X9 SKU
Intel has officially added the Core Ultra X9 378H to its ARK database, confirming a new Panther Lake mobile SKU. The processor packs 16 cores—four performance, eight efficient, and four low‑power cores—alongside an 18 MB cache, up to 5.0 GHz turbo, and a 25 W base...
AMD Expands Ryzen AI Embedded P100: More Zen 5 Cores, Up to 80 TOPS, and ROCm for Edge AI
AMD announced an expanded Ryzen AI Embedded P100 line featuring eight to twelve Zen 5 cores, RDNA 3.5 graphics, an XDNA 2 NPU and up to 80 system TOPS. The new chips claim up to 39% higher multithreaded performance and up to 2.1‑times the TOPS...
Cisco Warns of Critical IMC Vulnerabilities – Ironically, the Server Manager Itself Has Become a Point of Entry
Cisco issued critical advisories on April 1, 2026 for its Integrated Management Controller (IMC), revealing an authentication‑bypass flaw (CVE‑2026‑20093) that grants unauthenticated admin access and a suite of command‑injection/RCE bugs (CVE‑2026‑20094‑20097) that let even read‑only users execute code as root. Cisco provides...
Intel Serpent Lake with an NVIDIA RTX Tile and “Copper Shark”? A Leak Meets an Already Confirmed Intel-NVIDIA Alliance
A recent leak suggests Intel’s upcoming "Serpent Lake" SoC could embed an NVIDIA RTX GPU tile, while a new P‑core codename "Copper Shark" has surfaced. The rumor aligns with the Intel‑NVIDIA collaboration announced in September 2025 to develop x86 SoCs with...
NVIDIA Is Reportedly Shifting Its GeForce Lineup to the RTX 5060 and 8GB Models in 2026 – the Leak Comes...
NVIDIA is reportedly refocusing its 2026 GeForce roadmap on the RTX 5060, RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB, and RTX 5070, emphasizing smaller 8‑GB memory configurations. The shift aligns with a tight global DRAM market and rising AI‑driven memory demand that have pushed VRAM costs higher. Internal...
OpenAI Pulls the Plug on macOS Signatures Following a Supply Chain Incident
OpenAI disclosed a supply‑chain attack that compromised the Axios library used in its macOS app‑signing workflow on March 31, 2026. The breach gave attackers access to the certificate used to sign ChatGPT Desktop, Codex, Codex‑cli and Atlas, prompting OpenAI to revoke and...
Intel Brings Fab 34 Back: The Repurchase of the Apollo Stake Marks a Change of Course in Ireland
Intel announced on April 1, 2026 that it will repurchase Apollo’s 49 percent stake in its Fab 34 joint venture in Leixlip, Ireland, for an estimated $14.2 billion. The transaction will be funded with existing cash and roughly $6.5 billion of new debt. Fab 34, a high‑volume...
MacBook Pro on the Verge of a Major Shift: Rumors About the M6, OLED, and Touch Features Are Gaining Momentum
Multiple outlets citing Bloomberg report that Apple is planning a major redesign of its 14‑ and 16‑inch MacBook Pro. The rumored refresh would feature OLED panels, a hole‑punch or Dynamic Island‑style front camera, and touch input, all powered by the upcoming...
Japan’s Semiconductor Push Is Getting More Expensive: Rapidus Receives an Additional 631.5 Billion Yen for Its 2-Nm Roadmap
Japan announced an additional ¥631.5 bn ($3.96 bn) for Rapidus to accelerate its 2‑nm logic chip roadmap. The infusion lifts total government R&D backing to ¥2.354 tn (about $14.8 bn) as the company readies a pilot line in Chitose and verifies 2‑nm GAA transistors...
Motherboard Updates Suddenly Become Mandatory: Secure Boot Certificates Are Forcing Manufacturers and Users to Take Action Before June 2026
Microsoft will retire the 2011 Secure Boot certificates in June 2026 (with additional expirations in October), replacing them with 2023 versions. OEMs such as ASUS and MSI have already warned that BIOS updates must include the new KEK and DB...
Samsung and AMD Strengthen Memory Partnership: HBM4 for MI455X and DDR5 for EPYC Venice Are Officially Confirmed
Samsung and AMD have formalized a three‑pronged memory partnership that includes Samsung's next‑gen HBM4 for the upcoming Instinct MI455X accelerator, DDR5 for AMD's sixth‑generation EPYC "Venice" CPUs, and exploratory foundry services for future AMD silicon. Samsung’s HBM4 will use a 1‑c...
MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro Leaked: New CPU Cluster, LPDDR6, and UFS 5.0 Point to a Noticeably More Aggressive Flagship SoC
MediaTek’s rumored Dimensity 9600 Pro chipset features a 2‑3‑3 octa‑core layout with two high‑performance “Canyon” cores and a clock speed approaching 5 GHz. The leak also claims support for next‑generation LPDDR6 memory and UFS 5.0 storage, marking a generational jump from the Dimensity 9500’s LPDDR5X...
Intel Arc Pro B70 in Its First Teardown: Early Disassembly Reveals How Intel Has Packaged Big Battlemage for Workstation Use
Intel’s Arc Pro B70 has been dissected in its first public teardown, revealing a purpose‑built workstation design rather than a repurposed gaming card. The reference model uses a blower‑style cooler with a large vapor‑chamber heatsink, directing airflow out the rear for optimal...
Microsoft Is Beginning to Remove Copilot, Starting with Notepad and the Snipping Tool
Microsoft has started pulling its Copilot branding from core Windows apps, beginning with Notepad and the Snipping Tool. In Notepad the Copilot icon was swapped for a pen symbol and renamed "Writing Tools," though the underlying AI functions remain available....
Snap Is Partnering with Qualcomm for Its New Smart Glasses – Bringing AI Glasses One Step Closer to Reality
Snap has sealed a multi‑year strategic partnership between its Specs Inc. subsidiary and Qualcomm Technologies, committing future smart‑glasses to the Snapdragon XR platform. The first generation of Specs, a standalone AR wearable, is slated for launch in late 2026 and...
TSMC Grows More Than Expected in the First Quarter of 2026 – AI Demand Keeps the Company on Track Despite...
TSMC reported first‑quarter 2026 revenue of NT$1.1341 trillion (≈ $35 billion), a 35.1% year‑over‑year increase and well above the LSEG SmartEstimate of NT$1.125 trillion. March alone generated NT$415.19 billion (≈ $13 billion), up 30.7% from February, underscoring a rapid sales acceleration. Reuters attributes the surge to sustained...
Intel Nova Lake-S Could Come with Optional 2L-ILM: Leak Suggests a Flatter IHS Contact for Enthusiast Boards
A leak from VideoCardz suggests Intel’s upcoming Nova Lake‑S platform may include an optional two‑lever independent loading mechanism (2L‑ILM) for high‑end enthusiast motherboards. The 2L‑ILM would provide a flatter contact surface between the CPU’s integrated heat spreader (IHS) and the cooler,...
TSMC Is Upgrading Japan’s Second Plant to the 3-Nanometer Process. Kumamoto Is Transitioning From a Backup Site to a True...
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has received approval to launch 3‑nanometer production at its second Japanese fab in Kumamoto, with equipment installation slated for 2026 and volume output expected in 2028. The plant will initially run at a capacity of...
SiFive Raises $400 Million; Nvidia Bets on RISC-V for Data Centers
SiFive announced a $400 million Series G financing round that values the RISC‑V IP company at $3.65 billion. Nvidia participated as an investor, reinforcing a joint plan to deliver high‑performance RISC‑V CPUs with NVLink Fusion connectivity for data‑center AI workloads. The capital will...
Intel Bartlett Lake-S Launches on Z790 Motherboard: Modder Bypasses BIOS Limits, Support Remains Unofficial
A modder named “kryptonfly” successfully patched a consumer Z790 BIOS to boot Intel’s Bartlett Lake‑S Core 9 273PQE, an embedded 12‑core processor not officially supported on desktop boards. The original firmware capped supported performance cores at eight, causing boot failures until the...
Warning: CPUID Suspected of Being a Virus; Suspicious HWMonitor Downloads Raise Alarms
On April 10 2026 users downloading CPUID’s HWMonitor 1.63 encountered an unexpected installer named HWiNFO_Monitor_Setup.exe, which triggered Windows Defender warnings and displayed Russian‑language dialogs. Community reports on Reddit confirm the mismatch between the advertised hwmonitor_1.63.exe file and the received executable, suggesting a tampered...
AMD Between the Memory Crisis and Price Stability: Is the 8GB Radeon RX 9060 XT a Damage Control Measure or...
AMD officially launched the Radeon RX 9060 XT on May 20 2025 with two memory options – an 8 GB model priced at $299 and a 16 GB version at $349 – targeting the 1440p segment. At the same time, a global DRAM price surge of roughly...
Framework Warns of Further Increases in RAM and SSD Costs: The Memory Crisis Is Affecting Repairable PCs as Well
Framework updated its April 6 price list, openly warning that DRAM, LPDDR5x and NAND costs are only temporarily stabilised and will likely rise through the rest of 2026. The company left DDR5 RAM prices unchanged but raised the 4‑TB WD Black...
Lenovo Pairs Its New Blackwell Workstations with the ED1000 Battery Concept: Plenty of Local AI Power, but the Battery Is...
Lenovo unveiled a new ThinkPad and ThinkStation P series built around NVIDIA’s RTX PRO Blackwell GPUs, targeting professional visualization, simulation and on‑premises AI workloads. The flagship ThinkPad P1 Gen 9 pairs an Intel Core Ultra 3 processor with up to 16 cores and delivers 672 TOPS...
Dell Is Radically Overhauling Its Business Portfolio: Thinner Laptops, Modular Repairs, and New Pro Precision Workstations
Dell announced a sweeping redesign of its commercial PC lineup, branding the new offerings as Dell Pro and Dell Pro Precision. The portfolio features thinner laptops powered by Intel Core Ultra 3 and AMD Ryzen AI 400, as well as workstations equipped with NVIDIA RTX PRO Blackwell...
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Listed in Stores Ahead of Launch: Early Store Listings Show a Release Window, but No Confirmed...
AMD’s new Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 dual‑edition CPU is appearing in retailer catalogs ahead of its official launch, with multiple stores listing an April 22 pre‑order window. The processor retains the 16‑core/32‑thread Zen 5 core count but expands L3 cache to 192 MB and raises TDP...
ASUS Hints at a Possible Anniversary Edition with the “ROG Crosshair X870E Edition 20” And “ROG Crosshair 2006”
ASUS has filed trademark registrations for two motherboard names—ROG Crosshair X870E Edition 20 and ROG Crosshair 2006—hinting at a possible 20th‑anniversary special edition. The registrations were spotted in an EEC entry reported by VideoCardz and align with ASUS’s ongoing ROG 20‑year celebration...
AMD Medusa Point Leaked: 10 Cores, 32 MB L3 Cache, and First Geekbench Results for a Zen 6 APU
AMD’s engineering sample of the rumored Medusa Point APU surfaced on Geekbench, revealing a 10‑core, 20‑thread Zen 6 design with 32 MB of L3 cache. The sample runs at a 2.40 GHz base clock and peaked near 2.01 GHz, scoring 1,210 single‑core and 7,323...
Broadcom Secures Google’s Commitment Through 2031, and Anthropic Invests in the Next Generation of TPUs
Broadcom announced a multi‑year agreement with Google to develop and supply future generations of custom Tensor Processing Units and the networking components for AI racks through 2031. In parallel, Anthropic secured access to roughly 3.5 GW of Google‑based TPU capacity starting...
Axios Compromised: The Supply Chain Attack Shows How Thin the Line Between Everyday Packages and Malicious Code Has Become
On March 31 2026 the widely used JavaScript HTTP client Axios was compromised in the npm ecosystem. Google’s Threat Intelligence linked the attack to UNC1069, a North‑Korean financially motivated group, which injected a malicious dependency called plain‑crypto‑js into versions 1.14.1 and 0.30.4. The compromised...
Topdon TC004 Thermal Imaging Camera Review – A Solid €300 Entry Into the Semi-Professional Segment
Topdon’s TC004 thermal imaging camera enters the semi‑professional market at roughly $330, offering a 256×192 sensor, sub‑40 mK sensitivity and an 8‑hour battery life. Unlike smartphone‑linked models, it is a fully standalone handheld device with its own display, physical buttons, and...
Air Liquide Launches Advanced Materials Plant in Taiwan – Just Now, the Chemistry Behind AI Chips Is Becoming a Strategic...
On March 25, 2026 Air Liquide inaugurated its first large‑scale advanced materials plant in Taichung, Taiwan, dedicated to deposition and etch chemicals essential for sub‑2 nm semiconductor nodes. The facility focuses on atomic‑layer‑deposition precursors needed for AI and high‑performance‑computing chips. The launch...
SK Hynix Links Its Record Order From ASML to Its Plans for a U.S. Stock Market Listing, Sending a Pretty...
SK hynix announced an 11.95 trillion‑won (≈ $7.97 bn) order for ASML EUV lithography tools, the largest publicly disclosed single ASML customer deal. The machines will equip the new Yongin semiconductor cluster and the M15X site in Cheongju, supporting HBM4 and advanced 1c‑nm DRAM...
Nvidia’s RTX 50 SUPER Refresh Continues to Face Delays, and Even the RTX 60 Could Be Pushed Back Further
Rumors in early 2026 indicate NVIDIA has postponed the mid‑cycle RTX 50 SUPER refresh originally expected at CES 2026, and the mass‑production timeline for the next‑generation RTX 60 series may shift from late 2027 to 2028. The delays stem from tight GDDR7 memory supplies, which...
Windows 11 Is Phasing Out Old Kernel Drivers: Microsoft Will Permanently End Cross-Signing in April
Microsoft announced that, starting with the April 2026 security update, Windows 11 will permanently stop trusting kernel drivers signed under the old Cross‑Signed Program. The change applies to Windows 11 24H2, 25H2, 26H1 and Windows Server 2025, allowing only drivers vetted through the Windows...
With the AGI CPU, Arm Is Launching Its First Data Center Chip and Is Making a Direct Entry Into the...
Arm announced its first production silicon for AI data centers, the AGI CPU, marking a historic shift from pure IP licensing to selling its own server processors. Built on TSMC's 3‑nm N3P process, the chip offers up to 136 Neoverse...
Android 17 Upgrades the Boot Chain for the Quantum Age: Google Is Embedding Post-Quantum Cryptography Deep Within the System
Google announced that Android 17 will embed post‑quantum cryptography (PQC) across its core security stack, including Verified Boot, Remote Attestation, and the Android Keystore. The implementation relies on NIST‑approved lattice‑based algorithms such as ML‑DSA‑65 and ML‑DSA‑87, with testing slated for the...
Rumors About the GeForce RTX 5050 with 9 GB of 96-Bit Memory Point to NVIDIA’s Memory Dilemma in the Lower...
Supply‑chain leaks suggest NVIDIA is testing a GeForce RTX 5050 with 9 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 96‑bit interface, a departure from the officially announced 8 GB GDDR6, 128‑bit model. The same reports hint at a reworked RTX 5060 that would use a...
Lenovo Legion 7 and the N1X Leak: Will This Be the First Serious Windows-on-ARM Gaming Laptop?
A leaked Lenovo model code, "Legion 7 15N1X11," suggests the gaming brand may soon ship a laptop powered by NVIDIA’s upcoming N1X ARM platform. The N1X is believed to be derived from NVIDIA’s GB10 Grace‑Blackwell superchip, which combines an ARM CPU with...