• Apparently Nvidia's not launching RTX 6000 GPUs until 2028
• A leaker claims that these graphics cards have been delayed from the 2027 debut Nvidia originally planned
• Pushing back these GPUs makes sense given the RAM crisis, and some gamers are happy to wait anyway

Nvidia has pushed back its timeframe for launching next-generation graphics cards for gamers, and we're now hearing they won't arrive until 2028.

As ever, all this is theoretical – Nvidia hasn't uttered a peep about its RTX 6000 GPUs officially – but according to Kopite7kimi, a well-known leaker on X (via TweakTown), these products are now destined for a 2028 release which "means they have postponed again."

In other words, Nvidia was supposedly looking at a launch for next year, but the leaker now believes that isn't the case.

Another leaker, Moore's Law is Dead on YouTube, recently said that Nvidia is planning a 2027 launch for the RTX 6000 series, so this directly contradicts that idea. However, it's possible that this was the case, but Team Green has only just changed its mind.

Analysis: a sensible move

Of course, both of these assertions are just rumors, and we need to regard them with an equal amount of caution – but I think it makes more sense for Nvidia to delay the release of its next-gen GeForce GPUs until 2028.

Why? I have three predictable words for you: the RAM crisis. With the memory shortage – which also impacts video RAM – rapidly worsening as 2026 progresses, and predicted to descend further into nightmarish pricing territory in 2027, next year seems like a bad move for launching a family of next-gen GPUs.

Especially when you consider that the first graphics cards to emerge will doubtless be the flagship RTX 6090 and the 6080. How expensive will they be in such a climate, given that the RTX 5080 is already exorbitantly priced? The latter has reached around $1,500 in the US at this point, and is at similar levels in other regions, such as £1,350 in the UK (that's the cheapest GPU in both cases at the time of writing, I should make clear). And let's not even talk about the RTX 5090 which has got completely ridiculous.

Remember that these next-gen GPUs are going to require more memory to be an upgrade over their predecessors, and are also likely to use more expensive VRAM modules.

3GB modules will likely be used by Nvidia, or maybe even 4GB or 6GB chips, which as Wccftech reports, are rumored to debut in the next year or two (which would align with a 2028 release for RTX 6000, in theory). That's according to another prominent leaker over in Asia, Golden Pig Upgrade, as posted on Weibo.

All expectations are for the RTX 6000 series to be pricey, which is why launching them at what might be the height of the RAM crisis – 2027, going by current predictions – doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The following year seems a lot more likely, when hopefully the crisis has started to settle down and pricing is at least stabilizing to some extent (although some believe we're looking longer term for that to happen, more towards 2030).

Whatever the case, some gamers are getting jaded with the market. One of the replies to Kopite7kimi's post on X simply says of the next generation of Nvidia GeForce GPUs: "Nobody cares, nobody can afford it anyway." Others – like this Redditor, who says "I'd rather they delayed the launch to consumers" – indicate that they're happy enough to wait due to pricing or stock issues (launch quantities of GPUs would likely be thin on the ground).

The other question is whether we'll see those RTX 5000 Super refreshes that have been long rumored. I'm doubtful at this point, and I think Nvidia may be inclined to rely more on the AI and software side of the equation, principally DLSS 5, to impress gamers, rather than new (stupidly pricey) hardware.

• Acer's CEO claims RAM supply is still "quite large"
• Jason Chen does acknowledge that PC prices will rise in Q4, though, by up to 20% on average
• However, those prices will fall by mid-2027, the CEO predicts, asserting that: "It's impossible for the shortage to last until 2030!"

Not everyone is being totally downbeat about the RAM crisis, with Acer's CEO stating that he's hopeful that PC prices will drop from the middle of 2027, even if price rises are on the cards for the rest of this year.

VideoCardz higlighted a (translated) report from Taiwan's Economic Daily News that shares the most recent thoughts of Jason Chen, chief executive of Acer, on the RAM crisis.

Chen asserts that there isn't much of a DDR4 and DDR5 memory shortage at present, and that the "supply is quite large" for this RAM — we must bear in mind there may be some nuances lost in translation there — and also that there isn't much shortage of processors either.

The CEO does acknowledge that the prices of components are currently "fluctuating" at a high level, and that PC prices will continue to climb in the fourth quarter of 2026, with an average price rise of between 5% to 20%.

However, the good news, according to Chen, is that he believes PC prices should drop from mid-2027, and with more chip production coming online — especially in China — the memory shortage won't last for the rest of the decade.

Chen is pretty firm on that one, claiming that, "It's impossible for the shortage to last until 2030!"

Analysis: new hope for some stability?

As to whether there isn't much of a RAM shortage currently, almost everyone else begs to differ on that — although I accept that Chen's meaning may be altered in translation somewhat here, as noted, and perhaps the gist is that supply isn't as bad as some in the industry would have you believe.

Whatever the case, Chen is clearly sounding a more optimistic note than most. There have certainly been some analysts and prominent industry figures who are suggesting that the RAM crisis will indeed last until 2030, and those are the people who Chen is clearly directing that last comment at. The CEO does appear to be talking more about the Chinese market than the global picture here, though, and we should also bear that in mind.

Still, it's a relief to hear some more positive thinking on the RAM crisis, although there's one point that everyone can agree on: namely that prices are going to rise over the rest of 2026 and into 2027. Even Chen's predicted fall in PC pricing isn't forecast to come about until the middle of next year, and so for the time being, it's clear enough that we're stuck with rising prices.

The cost of RAM in particular has been soaring of late — against all odds, as it was already exorbitantly high — and GPUs are now being subject to some worrying price hikes (the top-end in particular is getting ridiculous), with more to come I expect. It's not pretty out there for consumers, and nothing is going to get better for some time — the question for me right now is: how much worse might things become?

I hope Chen's more positive noises here are indicative of at least some stabilizing around high pricing for PCs and components alike.

• AMD is rumored to be hiking prices for its chips
• Industry insiders in the supply chain indicate that a rise of around 10% will be applied across AMD's "entire chip line"
• This means GPUs and processors, as well as motherboards, and the hike is expected in Q4, so it could happen next month

AMD's processors and graphics cards could soon get more expensive in the latest blow from the RAM crisis rumor mill.

Wccftech spotted that leaker Harukaze5719 highlighted a post from ChannelGate (the Board Channels over in Asia) that cites sources in the supply chain who claim that TSMC has informed its customers of a 10% price rise.

The post observes that most of AMD's chips are manufactured by TSMC, and that Team Red has in turn notified its customers of a 10% "price adjustment" across its "entire chip product line".

That means everything, so on the consumer front, we can expect AMD's GPUs and Ryzen processors to be hit with price increases — and motherboard chipsets are also affected, so the price of those AMD boards will climb, too.

It's worth noting that processors aren't referred to explicitly in the post on the Board Channels, but given the mention of the entirety of AMD's chips, I think we can take that as real (as the leaker Harukaze5719 indicates).

The sources believe that AMD will enforce this new policy in Q4, so it could happen next month, in theory (although all of this remains a rumor).

In other RAM crisis bleakness, the Steam Frame arrived earlier this week with a much-inflated price tag compared to what Valve first envisioned for the VR headset. It starts at $1,059 / £889 / AU$1,609, which is a few hundred more dollars than what Valve was thinking originally.

As PC Gamer reports, a hardware engineer at Valve, Joy Lyons, said, "We set out to design [the Steam Frame] with one particular price in mind, but we've made choices to make sure that we're making a product that is choiceful, that people can purchase. They can upgrade with different features later. But we wanted to make sure we had a base product with really great performance. Then that price target shifted due to the ongoing RAM crisis around the world."

Analysis: a believable enough prediction

Sadly, the AMD rumor is another worrying doom nugget from what seems to be a never-ending supply of bad news in the past couple of months. Just this week, we've had a report that shows DDR5 RAM is somehow getting even more expensive, blowing past the levels I'd expected — not to mention the laptop price hikes.

The RAM crisis was forecast to worsen as 2026 rolled on, and that appears to be unfolding just as predicted — and there's very possibly worse to come in 2027, going by rumors elsewhere. If the pundits, analysts and insiders were right about this year, there's a fair chance they'll be right about next year, too.

Okay, so that's not a foregone conclusion, and some kind of more positive developments could yet happen — we can hope. This particular rumor must also be treated with some caution, as a Board Channels post may not have everything right (by any means), but the problem is that given the current climate, it's believable enough that AMD has price hikes in the works. Team Red already warned us earlier this year about pricing pain for the second half of 2026, after all.

• AMD is rumored to be working on its own version of DLSS 5
• A leaker says that the neural rendering tech will be launched with next-gen RDNA 5 GPUs
• That means we could be waiting until late 2027 or 2028 to see this debut, which might leave AMD lagging behind Nvidia considerably

AMD could be working on its own take on Nvidia's DLSS 5, and apparently this alternative attempt at neural rendering will be for its next-gen RDNA 5 graphics cards.

VideoCardz spotted that a known leaker in the GPU field, Kepler L2, posted on the Anandtech forum in a discussion around RDNA 5 speculation to say that: "AMD will have their own version of 'Neural Lighting' like DLSS5 next-gen."

Kepler then clarified that he didn't mean a version of Ray Reconstruction, but a take on DLSS 5 (neural rendering), and that next-gen RDNA 5 GPUs would be required because "this stuff is pretty heavy" (as in resource-intensive).

In a further post, Kepler elaborated: "There's a lot of issues with Nvidia's approach [with DLSS 5], but it's possible to have a version of this with minimal hallucinations and 'AI slop' look."

He then suggests a way that AMD could work its version to improve on DLSS 5, including giving the AI "direct access to 3D game data such as geometry, ray data, depth buffers, materials, etc so it doesn't have to guess and can accurately know how each object in a scene should interact with light."

Kepler's outline of a proposed alternative for AMD would have a separate model (AI) for lighting improvements, and another different model solely for the shading of complex surfaces. DLSS 5 bundles these together with its neural rendering system, and adds color-grading on top — to adopt what the AI judges as more natural colors — which Kepler advises that AMD should dispense with entirely.

Analysis: a race against time – or a chance to get it right?

I won't pretend to be able to critique what Kepler is suggesting as an alternative for AMD and the technical nuances therein, except to say that the idea is clearly to achieve a result that looks less like it's been 'messed' about with by AI and minimizes any 'slopification' therein — preserving more of the original artistic intent.

And that seems a laudable goal, of course, and it also brings up how AMD is in an interesting position here in lagging behind Nvidia with its graphics tech (which has, of course, been the case from the start, with FSR following DLSS — version 2.0 of Nvidia's upscaling tech was already in play, in fact, when FSR 1.0 arrived). Team Red can sit back for now and see how DLSS 5 plays out, as more games emerge that use it, and gauge the reaction of gamers, and forge its own neural rendering tech to tackle any perceived weaknesses.

The performance hit will be an obvious area to target, and if AMD can bring that down — it's substantial with DLSS 5 as it is now — that will obviously be a big win. That said, I'd expect Nvidia will be working with some haste to make DLSS 5 more performant, and as with DLSS 1, the tech will be improved considerably by the time Team Red has its own version out.

This is the other side of the equation here, where Nvidia could win out. With RDNA 5 GPUs not expected to arrive for at least a year, and quite possibly longer (the RAM crisis isn't helping), there's quite a lengthy timeframe on any AMD rival to DLSS 5. By the time it arrives, DLSS 5.5 may be in town with considerable improvements in tow. There's already been a notable turnaround in the perception of DLSS 5 with its official launch (compared to Nvidia's sneak preview earlier this year).

This is, of course, assuming AMD is indeed working on its own neural rendering technology, but I'd be surprised if this wasn't the case. For now, though, the word of a single leaker needs to be thoroughly seasoned, as ever, even though it's believable enough that Team Red would be aiming to use this on RDNA 5 graphics cards.

• DDR5 RAM has hit a new pricing high in the German market
• It's now 544% up on the price it was before the RAM crisis began
• This inflation backs up predictions of the memory shortage worsening, and Dell has just hiked the price of one of its popular laptops, too

If you wanted a telling example of how bad the cost of RAM is getting, the latest report on DDR5 pricing makes it crystal clear – and it reaches us as Dell moves to hike the price of its affordable XPS 13 laptop (in a roundabout way).

I'll come back to the ins-and-outs of what's happening with Dell, but first the DDR5 price jump, which has happened over in Germany.

3D Center keeps tabs on the monthly pricing of DDR5 memory in the German retail market – some 20 products are covered in this largest market in Europe – and as Wccftech flagged, the report for September shows this RAM is now 544% up on the price it was in July 2025 (the baseline level before the crisis began).

This is a big leap from 486% where the DDR5 price index sat in August, and since June, when it was at 419% having remained flat for much of the year. This obviously represents a depressingly hefty additional toll on the wallets of PC buyers or those upgrading their memory.

Meanwhile, as Mashable noticed, Dell has effectively upped the price of its XPS 13 laptop in the US, without actually increasing the baseline cost – instead of doing that, the laptop maker has introduced a new entry-level model with less storage.

So, previously the XPS 13 started from $699 in the US for the model with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. What Dell has done is brought in a new model with 256GB of storage at that $699 level, so while technically the cheapest XPS 13 is still at that price, you're getting a lower spec for the money.

The old baseline model with 8GB RAM and a 512GB SSD is now $799, so it's been hiked by $100 – a pretty nasty bump in cost that moves this notebook into a distinctly less affordable price bracket.

If you want the XPS 13 with 16GB of system memory (and 512GB of storage), that's also gone up $100 so it's now at $999. Do note that these are student-targeted laptops, and students get a $100 discount on the XPS 13, so you will pay less in that case. However, while $599 (with $100 off) remains a tempting price in this climate, 256GB storage is cutting it thin.

Analysis: as predicted, 2026 is turning much nastier with RAM

The DDR5 price spike is truly worrying in my opinion, simply because it's an acceleration of an already worsening picture. Yes, it's only one retail market and a snapshot of the overall landscape as such, but the same pattern is seen elsewhere. Just look at Tom's Hardware's price tracker, which shows 32GB of DDR5-5600 RAM in the US is now $409 (at the time of writing) compared to $72, which was the lowest price seen before the memory crisis.

That's over a 5.5x price increase in the US market (mirroring the German level of RAM inflation in this particular case). The end result is that what used to be a no-brainer of future-proofing any desktop PC – particularly a gaming rig – with 32GB of RAM is now a difficult choice to make, as sticking with 16GB is saving you $200 (or the regional equivalent). Bearing in mind that you're battling all sorts of other component inflation if you're building a new PC, too (most notably with the likes of SSDs and increasingly GPUs).

We were told that the second half of 2026 would see more RAM price misery, and these German market figures illustrate exactly that. Since June, buyers in the country have witnessed an effective 30% increase in the cost of DDR5 (when it was already hugely overinflated). It's worse than I imagined it could get, frankly, and I fear that the most pessimistic predictions – which also forecast a very rough 2027 – are very much on the money.

All these RAM price hikes are eventually reflected in the cost of laptops, of course, and the Dell XPS 13 provides an apt illustration here. Interestingly enough, I recently wrote about Dell's revelation of its new 14S laptop – which was shown off at IFA, but without any price tag being attached – saying that this made me nervous about how much the notebook might cost.

Given this XPS 13 hike, it's easy to see why Dell was hesitant, and to be fair to the company, it isn't the only manufacturer that's reticent to pin launch prices on incoming devices. This is becoming a trend because the memory shortage, and its knock-on effects, are making life difficult for all device makers.

• Nvidia's RTX 5090 is now over $9,000 in the US
• A new rumor suggests that RTX 6000 gaming GPUs are coming in 2027, maybe in the first half of the year
• If true, the price tag that's attached to the RTX 6090 will likely be colossal, and lower-tier GPUs could be pricey too

Nvidia's RTX 5090 flagship has hit new heights in terms of ridiculous asking prices, just as a new rumor suggests that RTX 6000 (Rubin) GPUs are coming in 2027 — earlier than anticipated, and to say the price of those next-gen offerings is a worry given the current climate is a huge understatement.

A Redditor pointed out the current state of RTX 5090 prices, which are close to commanding $10,000 in the US for some models. Notably, the Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090 will set you back a princely $9,659 on Newegg US, although that's not sold directly by the retailer.

Indeed, none of the big retailers have any stock of the RTX 5090 anymore, and the only graphics cards you can buy are from third-party marketplace sellers, often shipping from Asia (that ROG Astral GPU comes from Hong Kong).

You can find more expensive RTX 5090s than that if you want to get the gold-plated version (Dhahab Edition) of the ROG Astral, which is now $11,999. The very cheapest RTX 5090 that I could find at the time of writing is an MSI Ventus model that's priced at $6,549 on Newegg.

What about outside of the US? Price inflation is rampant in other countries too. If we take the UK as an example, you can pick up an RTX 5090 for around £4,500 on Overclockers UK, which is still an eye-watering asking price. (And those are the cheapest GPUs — they go up in price from there to £6,600 for the aforementioned Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090).

It's an alarming situation, and one that heaps worries on top of a new rumor about the RTX 6000 launch as aired by Moore's Law is Dead (MLID) on YouTube (via TweakTown).

Previous rumors have contended that Nvidia's looking at 2028 for the arrival of its next-gen GeForce graphics cards, but a source at the firm told MLID that this is incorrect, and Team Green is aiming for a 2027 launch. Moreover, the current plan is still to get the RTX 6000 ball rolling for PC gamers in the first half of next year, meaning within the next nine months.

There's an obvious sticking point here, though: if the RTX 6000 generation is this close, how come we haven't had much in the way of leaks yet, and nothing of any real substance? The source claims that this is due to Nvidia's management successfully clamping down on leaks with the next-gen products.

The first offering will presumably be the RTX 6090 (or maybe an RTX 6080 as well), and it's going to have some kind of interesting spin on the design — though we aren't told what. It could have beefed up hardware to better cope with running DLSS 5, perhaps, as that would make sense — something to help deal with the performance hit of neural rendering would clearly be very welcome.

Analysis: house deposit or GPU?

There are obvious problems with a possible RTX 6000 launch next year, if we take this rumor at face value. As noted, the RTX 5090 is now being sold for beyond ridiculous prices — and so how much is an RTX 6090 going to run? The fiscal equivalent of an ultramarathon, presumably, and with AI demand likely coming into play with this GPU, the next-gen flagship could be 'unobtainium,' as the disgruntled gamers out there are already predicting.

When you consider that the RAM crisis is going to get worse next year, going by the more recent forecasts from analysts and industry insiders, video RAM is going to be more problematic — and how much of the stuff will be on an RTX 6090? — it all adds up to a frightening prospect for an MSRP. And the likely reality is that the price to actually buy the next-gen Rubin gaming flagship will blow well past that towering recommended cost. (The RTX 6080 won't likely be much different, either.)

For all these reasons, I find it difficult to believe that Nvidia will go ahead and launch the RTX 6000 series next year. Surely it makes sense to wait longer, although what Team Green may know is that 2028 isn't going to be any better for RAM price inflation, and so perhaps that's why next year is greenlit for next-gen GeForce graphics cards to arrive. It's a sobering thought. As one Redditor observed: "Can't wait to decide if I want a down payment on a house or an Nvidia GPU."

• A new report from KB Securities gets very gloomy about the RAM crisis
• We're told the "memory chip market is heading toward a severe supply shortage" in 2027
• AI demand has ramped up massively with infrastructure investments up 60% year-on-year to $1.3 trillion, creating even more demand for memory as fuel for that rise

If you thought the RAM crisis was going to get worse next year, you're very probably right — but apparently we might suffer an even more severe shortage than some analysts already expect.

Wccftech flagged up an article from Business Korea (translated from Korean), which suggests that the RAM squeeze is tightening its grip on two of the biggest memory chip makers.

Citing a report from KB Securities, the rumor is that Samsung and SK Hynix are now down to fewer than 10 days of memory inventory, which is very close to running dry.

This has caused concerns that available memory supplies could dwindle and be depleted in 2027, with analysts believing that the "memory chip market is heading toward a severe supply shortage" (again, bear in mind this is a translation, but the message is clear enough).

KB Securities notes that the AI boom is what's causing this, as memory chip manufacturers struggle to meet demand for HBM4 memory in AI data centers. Infrastructure investments for AI development have been revised upwards to $1.3 trillion for 2027, we're told, which is a 60% year-on-year increase.

Kim Dong-won, head of research at KB Securities, told Business Korea that: "AI servers will absorb demand for not only HBM but also server DDR5 and enterprise SSDs, potentially leading to a historic shortage."

There's a brighter spot of news from laptop maker Framework though, which, as VideoCardz reports, has taken an unusual step in reducing the price of some of its products. As you may recall, Framework has been hiking laptop prices due to the increased cost of RAM (as have other notebook manufacturers), but the company just announced that it has secured some fresh memory modules at a lower price.

This means that some of its current Framework Laptop orders will be knocked down in price, and the company said on X that it's "retroactively reducing prices for orders that shipped at higher price" too.

Analysis: there's a historic level of gloom, that much is certain

It's impressive to see Framework acting in the best interests of its customers, particularly seeing as the firm could have (theoretically) kept quiet about bagging a batch of cheaper memory chips, and just kept the difference itself.

While that's commendable, it's a pretty small (but still welcome) bone we're being thrown in the face of the bad news for the RAM crisis here. Talk of a "historic shortage" is worrying, and it feels like this is an escalation of the recent chatter about global memory supply woes which has already turned highly negative.

While this latest report talks about server DDR5 RAM (and HBM), this will obviously have a bearing on consumer products, too. Those less profitable memory sticks are going to end up sidelined even further.

With rumors about GPU price hikes again coming to the fore this week, it's difficult to catch a breath between the bouts of bad news. We can hope that the pessimism is overblown here, but I can't shake the feeling that this seems unlikely.

• Japanese retailer warns of further GPU price hikes
• The retailer doesn't specify which GPUs will see increases
• Consumers are urged to buy now, but GPUs are already overpriced and unaffordable in many cases

The PC hardware market is still in disarray, with RAM shortages impacting almost every component, and unfortunately, matters could get even worse for GPU hunters.

As reported by VideoCardz, Japanese retailer Applied has warned consumers about potential price hikes for GPUs (yet again). It's unclear which GPU models this might apply to, but the retailer urges PC owners looking to upgrade their GPUs to buy as soon as possible.

VideoCardz also highlights that Japanese retailers only recently adjusted GPU prices upwards. In August, stores in Akihabara warned that pricing would be around 20% to 30% higher than usual.

Considering the recent rumblings of price hikes from Nvidia's board partners, it's fair to suggest that these increases will likely apply to other regions outside of Japan (assuming there's anything in these rumors).

If it wasn't exactly clear already, these price hikes are caused by the RAM crisis which is affecting all manner of PC components. Graphics cards are hit due to the rising cost of the video RAM on board.

Panic buying still isn't the best solution

PC owners are now hard-pressed to find affordable hardware upgrades, and it's been that way since the start of 2026. The RAM crisis is showing zero signs of slowing down, too, especially with reports from Samsung and industry analysts suggesting that the memory shortage will last past 2027 or beyond that, even.

Despite that, I still don't think it's the best idea to panic buy now when it comes to a GPU. Many Nvidia GeForce or AMD Radeon third-party GPUs are either unaffordable or overpriced at various major retailers. Prime examples of the former are the RTX 5080 at $1,699 at Best Buy in the US currently, while the RTX 5060 remains overpriced between $450 and $500, despite its $299 MSRP.

The same goes for AMD's Radeon RX 9070 XT, which has a $599 MSRP but can now cost up to $929 (specifically the Gigabyte overclocked model). The Radeon RX 9060 XT (16GB) also sits at least $200 to $300 above its MSRP, and the list goes on (in the US and elsewhere).

Simply put, buying a new GPU doesn't seem worth it unless you're a gamer looking to dive into the PC ecosystem for the first time. That's a harsh reality to accept, but panic buying might do more harm than good by increasing demand (which could lead to further short-term price hikes).

• More mods are out for DLSS 5
• They allow for the tech to be easily used with many more PC games
• One of these mods also alters the way in which DLSS 5 is applied to improve performance considerably — at a cost

As you've no doubt seen, modders have been having a field day messing about with Nvidia's DLSS 5, and the latest experiments include a trick to boost performance in a big way, and a method of easily running the tech in a lot more games.

Let's start with the latter, which as TweakTown reports is the DLSS 5 Swapper app which appeared on GitHub courtesy of developer Rakan Alkhaldi.

This takes the pain out of having to manually fudge DLSS 5 to work in unsupported games by automating the process, adding all the required files in the blink of an eye. You just drag and drop the game folder into the app, and it takes care of everything from there.

Swapper can even detect games on the PC it's installed on which can have DLSS 5 modded in. Not every game is supported, of course, but plenty are — and any given title doesn't necessarily have to have DLSS support at all, in any form (this is achieved via another community mod called DLSS 5 Feeder which is included with Swapper).

A similar tool, DLSS 5 Autopilot, published by 'Kizzuwatnaa' and also on Github, offers one-click DLSS 5 setup (via Feeder) along with an additional trick in the form of the 'neural upstream' add-on (from 'matiasLombo'). This runs the neural rendering (AI) process before the DLSS upscaling happens.

Normally, the AI polishing that DLSS 5 applies is performed as the last step of the rendering process to the upscaled final frame, but if you choose this option with Autopilot, it's happening earlier in the chain of events.

Based on experiments detailed on Reddit (posted by ToxicFatee), this makes a major difference to performance. The Redditor has an RTX 4080, and ran Assassin's Creed Shadows at 4K which went from 63 frames per second (fps) to 31fps with DLSS 5, but it was around 50fps with the neural upstream take on DLSS 5. That's a 20% loss, and a far more palatable hit on the frame rate rather than it being cut in half.

Others have aired similar results on Reddit, and there's plenty of excitement about what's being achieved with this mod (and the automated implementation of DLSS 5 across all manner of games). As one Redditor put it: "Absolutely amazing time to be a PC gamer."

Analysis: tread carefully with unofficial mods

All these latest developments with modding are great to see, but for me, it ends at just seeing this progress. By which I mean I wouldn't advise jumping in and installing these kinds of mods – as wonderful as they seem – and I'm content to merely observe, and see the frame rates and visual results, that others are getting. And we aren't short of these observations of late.

Why do I take that view? Well, for starters, I'm not keen on installing third-party software from unknown sources as a rule, because of the concerns around security that this involves. Granted, these are open-source tools (so can be checked over), and I'm sure they're on the proverbial level; but nevertheless, I'd still rather be careful around the risks of viruses and the like.

The second note of caution here pertains to the idea of messing with the rendering pipeline in terms of having DLSS 5 applied earlier in the process (with the Autopilot mod). This will likely involve image degradation or artifacts to some extent — or generally messing with the graphics more than Team Green intended — and I'm sure if this really was a genuinely better way of doing things, Nvidia would've used this route itself. As per observations on Reddit, there does appear to be a quality trade-off for the improved performance here.

All that said, perhaps there will be some kind of official option along these 'performance or quality' lines in the future, as some gamers are already hoping. However, DLSS 5 is, for now, officially designed to work with just one supported title, NBA 2K27, and it does an excellent job with that basketball game.

• The Lexar Muse SSD gets as thin as 1mm (0.04 inches)
• It comes with a proprietary connection mechanism
• 512GB and 1TB storage models of the drive will be available

Every year at the IFA tech expo, there are claims of gadgets being lighter, thinner, faster, and smarter than ever before — but amid the usual crop of claims we've seen in 2026, the Lexar Muse particularly stands out.

This is officially the thinnest portable SSD on the market, measuring a mere 1mm (0.04 inches) at its thinnest points around the edges, and a not-exactly-chunky 3.8mm (0.15 inches) at its thickest point in the middle.

It's not unlike a credit card in terms of its looks and dimensions, and Lexar seems particularly keen to promote the idea of it being used strapped to the back of a MagSafe iPhone to provide some additional storage space on the go.

The unibody metal enclosure around the drive has been formed from a single piece of metal to minimize gaps and seams, while some space saving has gone on inside with custom PCB architecture and high-density NAND stacking.

Speeds and storage

What's a little unusual here is the connectivity, which has to happen via the magnetic pogo-in connector on the back of the drive — there's no traditional USB-C port that you can plug an existing cable into.

You do get a bespoke cable included with the drive, as well as a carry case for easily attaching the drive to the back of something like an iPhone. However, the magnetic connection might not be the most robust.

The Lexar Muse offers some respectable read and write speeds of up to 1,050MB/s and 1,000MB/s respectively (so good enough for 4K 120fps Pro Res video on an iPhone), and there are going to be 512GB and 1TB models available.

As is often the case at IFA, there's no word on pricing yet, but you can expect the Lexar Muse to hit shelves before the end of the year. If you prioritize thinness and lightness over everything else, it may be worth checking out.

• CD Projekt Red's joint CEO Michal Nowakowski has confidence in game consoles coping with the RAM crisis
• Nowakowski is convinced consoles will 'weather the storm', as analysts expect shortages to continue through 2027
• Sony isn't just facing the RAM crisis, but also a major backlash over its decision to end physical game discs

The RAM crisis is continuing to cause havoc with the hardware market, affecting component prices, PC makers, and potentially delaying next-gen console launches. However, it's not so bleak as you might think, at least in the eyes of CD Projekt Red's boss.

As reported by IGN, CD Projekt Red's (CDPR) joint CEO Michal Nowakowski was interviewed by The Game Business and voiced his confidence that next-gen consoles will survive the RAM crisis despite the prospect of high pricing.

This comes amid concerns and projections from industry insiders and analysts that RAM shortages are going to get worse in 2027 and beyond. The big three memory chip makers — Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron — are expected to increase combined capital spending to nearly 340% from 2024 to 2027.

It doesn't look like RAM shortages and high hardware prices will die down anytime soon, but this doesn't faze Nowakowski, at least when it comes to ensuring CDPR delivers the best possible content.

"Consoles are still necessary to broaden the audience on the casual or semi-casual level. It's important to have easy to plug in and enjoy gaming," Nowakowski says.

"I'm a big believer that they're [consoles] going to weather the storm. Pricing is the objective challenge. And the rumors... we hear them about the next-gen being delayed. I don't know if they're true."

RAM isn't the only worry for Sony

Besides the RAM crisis pushing up prices and causing potential console launch delays, Sony in particular may have an uphill battle ahead. Its recent decision to end production of physical game discs for PlayStation consoles, starting in January 2028, already has gamers in the ecosystem protesting and planning alternatives to escape the impending doom of discs.

An all-digital future means any form of game ownership will cease to exist, as digital content can theoretically be taken away from gamers at any time, and that has led to a loud (and justified, I think) reaction from the console community.

The Game Business didn't question Nowakowski directly about physical game ownership, but did probe further on the effect that delayed next-gen consoles might have, with Nowakowski making CDPR's stance very clear.

"If the next-gen gets delayed, it could be the case that some ideas [for games] are put on a shelf for the future. We'd have to adjust. We're not worried on the commercial side. Consoles are here to stay."

It's fair to say that Nowakowski's last statement is a realistic assessment. Even given Sony's dismissal of physical game discs, this isn't going to lead to a complete collapse in the popularity of consoles.

However, Sony may not make life easy for itself and publishers such as CDPR, as from 2028, when the discs are dumped with the PlayStation ecosystem, a hit to games sales is far from impossible — especially if the ongoing backlash from gamers is anything to go by.

• Nvidia's latest graphics driver has a frustrating bug
• Version 616.56 is causing distracting screen flickers and color corruption
• A patch is coming, and there are potential workarounds — but gamers are getting fed up with the prevalence of bugs in GeForce drivers

Nvidia's latest graphics driver is causing chaos for some GeForce GPU owners in the form of a glitch that makes the screen flicker.

Wccftech spotted the bug with Nvidia's Game Ready Driver version 616.56, and as flagged by Renan Maniero on X, Team Green has said it's testing a fix for the issue (as revealed on the GeForce forums).

The screen is reportedly flickering white or black and exhibiting other brief flashes of color corruption, and this is happening in certain games (The Last of Us and Minecraft are mentioned, among others) or on the Windows desktop. It's also occurring in web browser sessions and while playing YouTube videos, based on Reddit reports — of which there are plenty.

There's no shortage of gamers losing their temper with Nvidia, too, and blasting Team Green for the quality of its graphics drivers. Many are venting with an observation that GeForce drivers just haven't been the same since the launch of the RTX 5000 series.

For example, this Redditor says: "It's been particularly bad since Blackwell [RTX 5000] release. Just on Blackwell alone, between the whole DisplayPort 2.1 not working with HDR, screen flickering, and black screens on the initial release, it's been a complete mess."

Another gamer complains: "It is pretty shocking seeing this from a trillionaire company on a stable build. Nothing about this driver is stable."

Yet another Redditor grumbles: "It's crazy how things are now. You used to be able to update each time or be one driver behind at worst. Now I'm half a year outdated and thinking I'll just leave it."

Analysis: more drivers, more problems? There are possible workarounds though

This seems like quite a widespread issue and one that affects modern Nvidia graphics cards all the way back to RTX 2000 models.

If you're getting frustrated by this bug — random screen flickering gets pretty old, pretty fast, if it's happening regularly — Maniero also shared an apparent potential workaround on X that you can try while waiting for the official fix.

Seemingly, this is a bug that mostly affects monitors in 8-bit mode, and if you switch to 10-bit color (assuming your display supports this), the problem may disappear. Maniero also suggests that you try turning on Windows Auto Color Management (ACM).

Other folks on Reddit have shared various possible remedies, including switching from DisplayPort to an HDMI connector instead, and disabling Multi-Plane Overlay (MPO) in Windows 11, as one Redditor suggested. Nvidia provides a Registry file for turning off MPO (and enabling it again), but as ever with anything in this area of Windows, proceed at your own risk. (Although this method should be much safer than trying to edit the Registry directly yourself).

Your other choice is simply to roll back driver 616.56 to an earlier version, and there's no shortage of gamers who've done exactly that and report that the problem vanishes.

Hopefully Nvidia's official flicker-begone patch will be coming soon enough in the form of a hotfix, because this is an unduly annoying gremlin in the GeForce works that needs to be sorted out promptly.

• Nvidia unveiled DLSS 5 at Gamescom 2026, showing it off in NBA 2K27
• DLSS 5 will launch alongside NBA 2K27, and be available from September 3, 2026
• DLSS 5 is exclusive to RTX 5000 GPUs, but Nvidia is working to eventually make it available on older GeForce cards

It's no secret that Nvidia's reveal of DLSS 5 earlier this year led to instant controversy and a backlash from gamers, not to mention game developers. The technology was branded as generative 'AI slop', effectively changing the look and style of character models, notably Leon S. Kennedy and Grace Ashcroft in Resident Evil Requiem.

Since then, Nvidia has worked on developing its neural rendering tech, and DLSS 5 is now ready for launch — and it's arguably being used in the game that's most appropriate for it.

DLSS 5 will debut on September 3, 2026, and will be first available in NBA 2K27 on September 4. The new tech will be exclusive to RTX 5000 GPUs, but Nvidia made it clear that it will explore ways to bring DLSS 5 to older generations of GeForce graphics cards eventually.

At Nvidia's Gamescom 2026 booth, I was treated to a brief hands-on sample of DLSS 5 running in NBA 2K27, on multiple systems including an RTX 5060 gaming laptop and also on GeForce Now.

Much to my surprise, DLSS 5 looks absolutely amazing with NBA 2K27's environments and character models, providing a level of realism that can only be described as the next leap in visuals for gaming.

The level of detail in character faces in terms of lighting and shadows is truly next-level, and it's all possible thanks to AI-enhanced lighting on the rendered frame, which Nvidia states is trained to 'preserve artistic intent'.

When DLSS 5 was first revealed in March, I was bewildered by what Nvidia was attempting, which appeared to be generative AI used to make everything in-game more lifelike. If it wasn't clear already, I have strong feelings against generative AI in gaming, but my initial fears were misplaced, as this isn't what DLSS 5 is about.

DLSS 5 uses three different models, with each including options for structure intensity, tone intensity, and masking. Structure and tone are both responsible for aspects such as ambient occlusion, contact shadows, reflections, and broader lighting.

Masking allows manual or automatic control of where each effect is applied, and Nvidia has designed DLSS 5 for developers to have full control over the final frame that's rendered.

The DLSS 5 model running in NBA 2K27 was fine-tuned directly by the game's developer, not Nvidia, and the result is way different from the first glimpse of DLSS 5 in March. What was illuminating here is that the team at Nvidia stressed that the initial reveal had the sliders for each of those models at maximum levels.

As I saw with NBA 2K27, when put in the hands of developers, it's easier to see just how great DLSS 5 is when used appropriately. Developers will be able to adjust the intensity for each scene for both the environment (foliage and other objects) as well as character models.

Performance is a different ball game too

DLSS 5 isn't exactly easy to run, which isn't a huge surprise considering how realistic the results are. However, Nvidia has made significant progress in six months: DLSS 5 required two RTX 5090 GPUs to function at the initial reveal, and now works with any RTX 5000 series GPU.

The RTX 5060 gaming laptop running NBA 2K27 displayed very smooth performance, only using Frame Generation x2 with DLSS 5 enabled. This was a big surprise to say the least, and suggests that it may not take as long as expected to introduce this new tech to RTX 4000 series GPUs (and older).

My only concern at this stage isn't related to Nvidia at all, in fact. DLSS 5 on its own now looks very useful for producing lifelike visuals, and seems set to be the future for impressively detailed graphics.

Visual Concepts, the developer behind NBA 2K27, has done enough here to quell my fears that DLSS 5 would somehow mess with game art and design direction in a negative way.

However, we're yet to see how other developers will implement the tool in their games. I'm somewhat worried that many could fall into the trap of using DLSS 5 as a shortcut for great game visuals, rather than an added bonus on top of already well-crafted graphics.

I shared similar concerns regarding Nvidia's Multi Frame Generation, and how developers may rely on this very useful tool as a band-aid for poor game optimization.

Fortunately, though, if NBA 2K27 is anything to go by in terms of what to expect from the likes of Capcom, Bethesda, and Ubisoft, then I'm excited to see DLSS 5 implemented in upcoming games. After all, it is an optional game setting, so if you don't like it, you don't have to use the tech.

• Nvidia GPUs are about to run out of road in Windows 10
• Game Ready Driver support finishes in just two months
• With the last such driver coming in October, you need to bear in mind issues around game performance optimization and fixes – but you'll still get security updates

Gamers running Windows 10 need to be aware that if they have an Nvidia GPU, they're only two months away from that graphics card running out of road for support with drivers.

VideoCardz reminded us that Nvidia's deadline for ditching Windows 10 support is now nearly upon us, with the final Game Ready Driver that supports the older operating system arriving in October 2026.

Does that mean you need to be thinking about upgrading to Windows 11 if you have an Nvidia graphics card?

No, it doesn't – well, not necessarily, although there is a major downside to remaining on Windows 10 after October of this year. In case you're at all unsure, let's dive into the exact ins-and-outs of what's happening here – as well as touching on the subject of whether Nvidia might just have a change of heart here.

You'll still be secure with an Nvidia GPU

The key point to remember is that while the Game Ready Driver that comes out in November 2026 won't support Windows 10, Nvidia will still provide security updates for your graphics card. As Team Green explained in a short FAQ: "Windows 10 driver support will transition to a quarterly security update for a period of three years where critical bug fixes will be delivered to end users through October 2029."

That means Windows 10 users will get an update every three months to fix any critical bugs or security flaws with the Nvidia drivers. This will continue for another three years, so effectively to the end of the decade.

At that point, when 2030 is about to roll around, you will then potentially be risking exposure to a vulnerability as any driver security holes will no longer be patched. But that's still a good long way off.

So what does the end of Game Ready Driver support really mean?

After October, Windows 10 PCs will only get the benefit of these quarterly security updates, and they won't be covered by Nvidia's regular Game Ready Driver packages. That means as new games come out, Windows 10 users won't get the performance optimizations that these driver releases contain – or bug fixes for these titles.

As time goes on, then, more and more PC games will be left out in the cold in terms of that tweaking and optimization. That's bad news, of course, although it doesn't mean those games will be somehow unplayable. In fact, in many cases they might be just fine – but there are no guarantees, and you may get subpar frame rates (indeed, that's quite likely to be the case to some extent).

Of course, existing games will continue to run just as they always have, and you shouldn't run into any issues on that score.

Could there yet be a reprieve from Nvidia?

If you're not happy about the idea of not getting the latest patches, tweaks, and optimizations for new PC games, then you'll have to seriously start to think about planning your upgrade to Windows 11.

Assuming you have an upgrade path, that is, because your PC may not meet the hardware requirements of the newer OS. (Although bear in mind that a simple BIOS tweak may be all that's needed to ensure compatibility with the TPM requirement). If you're looking at a major PC upgrade, or an entirely new rig, that's a painful prospect given the RAM crisis and all the price hikes around that.

As one Redditor puts it: "'This is terrible news considering PC prices."

However, as another gamer on that Reddit thread observes, there may yet be a glimmer of hope of a reprieve from Nvidia. If you recall, just a couple of months ago, Microsoft quietly extended consumer support for Windows 10 for a further year, through to October 2027.

Now, when Nvidia announced the end of driver support for October 2026, which happened last year, as far as Team Green was concerned, it was aligning the curtailment of Game Ready Driver releases for Windows 10 with Microsoft's original consumer support extension. But now Microsoft has pushed out extended support for another additional year to October 2027 – could Nvidia mirror this move?

It doesn't seem likely, in all honesty, and I'd think Nvidia would have announced this already if it was the intention. Concrete driver plans are likely already in place that can't be changed. That said, you never know – and we can't fully rule out the notion of a last-minute reprieve. Watch this space.

• GPU price hikes are coming later this year, PC Partner Group warns
• The parent company of Zotac notes that entry-level GPUs will suffer 'more severe shortages'
• A manufacturer of gaming monitors, KTC, has also warned on price hikes

PC gamers should be aware that there are further signs that GPUs could get more expensive, and gaming monitors too, so you might want to consider buying now rather than waiting.

First off, the gloomy GPU news which comes from PC Partner Group (PC PG), an Asian graphics card giant based in Singapore and the parent company of Zotac, Inno3D, and Manli.

VideoCardz reports that PC PG just published its latest fiscal results that came with a warning on GPU pricing as part of the trends and conditions which are likely to affect the company's finances in the upcoming year.

PC PG notes that "graphics memory costs are expected to rise further, leading to a substantial increase in VGA Card costs in the second half of the year." VGA Card simply refers to discrete PC graphics cards, and although it's a well outdated term now, it's one still used behind the scenes in the industry.

PC PG says that shipments of GPUs "declined substantially" in the first half of this year, and that they're likely to drop further in the second half of 2026. The firm writes that: "Beyond the price increases, entry-level VGA Cards are expected to face even more severe shortages, which may further drive ASP [the 'average selling price'] upward in the second half of 2026."

The company also highlights that other PC components, including system RAM and CPUs, are taking longer to get hold of.

VideoCardz also noticed that monitor pricing could be on an upward trajectory, too, as manufacturer KTC has issued a notice of a likely 'product price adjustment' in the future.

KTC observes that the "production cost of monitors has increased significantly" and that it can no longer absorb those pressures, therefore: "KTC's monitor product line may see a price increase in the future."

While that's just a 'may' rather than a 'will' or a certainty, it sounds like there's a high likelihood of it happening. Particularly because KTC advises: "For users with a clear need to purchase a device [monitor] in the near future, the current pricing window offers excellent value for money, and we recommend planning your purchase time accordingly."

And at the end of its statement, KTC talks about price adjustments being a "necessary measure", so it sounds pretty much like they're coming no matter what.

Analysis: is anything immune to the component crisis?

This isn't the only warning on monitor price increases, as AOC recently said that the rising cost of components for its products will mean price hikes starting from this month. Is this the start of a growing trend? The bigger monitor producers will, of course, have more financial wherewithal to weather component rises, but it may only be so long before even those firms start to jack up prices.

The way things are going, I wouldn't bet against it, and this latest news has people on social media asking what isn't immune to the RAM crisis – and what might we expect to see hit next?

How about pricier PC cases, one Redditor jokes: "Wouldn't you enjoy a simple case costing like $300?"

The crisis does feel rather relentless at this point, but the clearest worry is now GPUs. PC Gamer is tracking graphics card prices on a weekly basis, and there have been some clear cost increases coming through in the last few weeks, which suggests that PC PG's prediction is on the money here. And there are multiple other rumors of late warning that graphics cards are set for considerable price hikes. For me, this noise is becoming too consistent to ignore.

As I recently advised, if you need a graphics card upgrade, or think you will in the next year or two, I believe now is the right time to get in and buy. It's particularly notable that according to this latest rumor, entry-level GPUs are mentioned as apparently coming under more pressure, meaning that mainstream buyers are going to be suffering.

The effects of pricier video RAM, and other pressures besides, are no longer going to be mostly about high-end (or 16GB) cards becoming ridiculously expensive, and we could see some unfortunate hikes with lower-end GPUs.

There's very little good news of late across the gamut of PC components, and as we've already seen today, RAM and SSDs are getting even more expensive.

• DDR5 RAM pricing has risen swiftly again in Germany
• That means two months of sharp increases, backing up recent rumors that memory is going to get pricier
• An exec from the storage world has also said that SSD-related pricing pain is seemingly going to last until 2030

I've recently been writing about how the RAM crisis appears to be reaching new levels of severity, and unfortunately there's more evidence that the situation is worsening with the price of system memory and storage.

Wccftech noticed that 3D Center has a new set of monthly figures for the German retail market which shows that as of mid-August, DDR5 RAM pricing has risen to 486% of the cost it was in July 2025. So, effectively it's five times pricier than before the crisis began a year ago.

That's a substantial jump from the 445% level seen last month, and an even bigger increase than the previous month, in which prices were at 419%. To look at it another way, prices have risen 16% in August compared to the cost of DDR5 in mid-June.

Internal SSD prices have also increased 7.7% month-on-month in the German retail market – and those drives are now 2.2 times as expensive as they were pre-crisis – and Wccftech also picked up another interesting but bleak storage revelation.

Pua Khein-Seng, the CEO of Phison, which makes controllers for SSDs, observed that the NAND market (flash memory chips for SSDs) is in deeper trouble than was previously believed in terms of the time needed to ramp up production.

Taiwan's Commercial Times reports that Pua said he recently had a conversation with senior executives from a NAND manufacturer, and that he asked about how long it would take from investment (being made now) to actual mass production being realized.

The CEO noted (bear in mind translation issues): "He originally estimated it would take about two years, but the answer they gave was 'four years.'"

What this means is that the expectation is now that NAND supply difficulties are going to persist through to 2030 (rather than 2028).

Analysis: there may be trouble ahead…

That's an unsettling prediction from the storage world, coming as it does on top of a lot of other recent bad news suggesting that the RAM crisis will last a long time, and possibly to 2030 and beyond – and that the remainder of this year, and 2027, are going to see matters get worse.

The German retail market appears to be a clear indicator of how things are going, seeing as DDR5 pricing had dropped slightly and then plateaued (more or less) since the beginning of 2026, but started a sharp climb in July as noted. Yes, this is just one source of info, but it's a snapshot of the market of a large European country, and it correlates with all the gloomy predictions we're hearing of late.

As 3D Center points out (again, this is translated): "The bigger picture now points to a worrying price trend, which is likely to break exorbitant levels very soon, unless this trend is halted – for which there are currently no indications."

Sadly, it seems that RAM and storage prices really are going to increase as 2026 rolls on. While there would appear to still be room for further hikes to SSDs (sadly), with system RAM it's arguable how much more consumers can take before they completely refuse to buy until costs come down at least somewhat. That said, new desktops and laptops are still going to be sold, so this isn't just about refusing to upgrade your home PC's memory, of course.

• Apple's MacBook Air is facing supply constraints, as delivery estimates last up to a month
• The delivery delays are a direct result of the ongoing RAM crisis
• Consumers may have to look at Windows alternatives, as the RAM crisis gets worse

PC hardware manufacturers can't catch a break from the ongoing RAM crisis, and unfortunately, Apple arguably knows that more than anyone.

As reported by 9to5Mac, MacBook Air shortages are worsening, as delivery estimates for configurations on Apple's online store are longer than usual. Nearly all configurations have a 2-3 week shipment estimate, while those with 32GB of RAM have up to 4-5 weeks.

It's increasingly clear that RAM shortages are causing supply issues for Apple, and the extended delivery estimates come shortly after Apple's recent slate of price hikes on Macs and iPads. Notably, the MacBook Air M5 saw a $200 price increase earlier in June, and despite that, shortages remain.

Supply is so bad that 9to5Mac notes that Apple retail employees state that the MacBook Air shipments are "more constrained than they can ever recall", and that's a fitting statement since the PC hardware market is possibly at its worst state ever.

Fresh rumors also point to Apple being set on a price increase for its iPhone 17 — so without a doubt, proceedings aren't looking great for the tech giant (and several other hardware companies) in terms of supply stability.

Apple also has a history of rarely dropping prices for its devices, so the only other options consumers have are to buy MacBooks from other retailers or consider Windows alternatives.

What now?

Outside of Apple's online store, Amazon currently has the 13-inch M5 MacBook Air available at a lower price ($1,256) and a shorter delivery window using Prime. The same applies to several other configurations, including the 15-inch model.

Apple's RAM and supply constraints won't end anytime soon, so Windows alternatives are also sensible for consumers to aim for. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, Yoga Slim 7i Aura, and even Dell's XPS 13 are solid laptop options. They may not all match the MacBook Air in performance, but they are enough to get the job done.

There's no better time than now for consumers to act on purchasing a new laptop, as insiders like Mark Gurman and even Apple chief financial officer Kevan Parekh indicate that Apple's supply constraints aren't set to improve, but only worsen — and that likely extends to 2027 and beyond.

• DapuStor's R6060 packs 512TB into a single E2 form-factor drive
• The drive doubles the capacity of E3.S and U.2 alternatives
• PCIe 5.0 and NVMe 2.0 protocols power this massive drive

DapuStor has unveiled a massive 512TB NVMe SSD at the FMS 2026 storage trade show event, pushing enterprise storage capacity into half-petabyte territory for demanding data center applications.

The drive, officially named the R6060, belongs to the company's high-capacity family and uses its newer E2 form factor design for enterprise storage systems.

At 512TB, the R6060 holds exactly twice the storage capacity of E3.S or U.2 drives, which top out near 256TB.

DapuStor packs half a petabyte into one drive

The 512TB SSD belongs to DapuStor’s high-capacity NVMe family and measures approximately 200 × 76 × 9.5 mm, giving it substantial capacity within a relatively compact enterprise storage form factor for NAND placements, allowing manufacturers to pack substantially more flash memory inside each device.

The drive pairs DapuStor's in-house DP800 controller with PCIe 5.0 connectivity and the newer NVMe 2.0 protocol standard used industry-wide.

DapuStor uses QLC NAND because modern workloads increasingly require huge storage capacity rather than maximum performance from every individual drive.

Artificial intelligence workloads require large repositories for training datasets, while inference systems can also generate substantial demand for high-capacity cache storage.

Video, audio, and other rapidly expanding datasets are creating similar demands, making high-capacity drives increasingly useful for data centers managing enormous volumes of information.

A server equipped with 36 E2 drive bays could theoretically accommodate 16PB of raw storage using these 512TB drives.

That density could reduce the number of servers, processors, memory modules, and networking components required for certain storage-heavy deployments.

The approach is particularly relevant to systems designed around 1PB and beyond, where physical infrastructure can become substantial.

Bigger drives could also reduce infrastructure requirements

The E2 approach can add more storage capacity to a single-CPU or dual-CPU server, potentially reducing overall system requirements.

Fewer processors, memory modules, chassis and network interfaces could also lower power consumption when storage capacity remains the primary requirement.

However, NAND pricing has become an increasingly important factor in determining the overall economics of extremely high-capacity solid-state storage.

Higher flash memory costs can make smaller drives more attractive, as multiple lower-capacity devices may offer greater flexibility in some deployments.

E2 could nevertheless offer another option by accommodating more NAND locations while using lower-density flash components in certain configurations.

That flexibility could potentially create lower-cost capacity points without requiring manufacturers to rely exclusively on the highest-density NAND available.

The 512TB R6060 therefore tries to increase storage density for systems handling rapidly expanding datasets and AI infrastructure demands.

DapuStor has not provided a confirmed price, although current NAND pricing suggests the drive will sit in the premium segment of enterprise storage.

The DapuStor R6060 arrives as NAND and DRAM suppliers report stronger market conditions following periods of weaker demand.

Via ServeTheHome

• A new 8-in-1 smart display dock is now on Kickstarter
• Cabletime's ScreenDock features a 5.5-inch screen which can be used as a secondary display
• The device could prove an interesting alternative to Corsair's Xeneon Edge thanks to its extra docking capabilities

Multi-tasking on a PC is made easier using Corsair's Xeneon Edge touchscreen LCD as a secondary display — but now this solution seemingly has some strong competition.

As reported by Notebookcheck, the Cabletime ScreenDock is a new 8-in-1 smart dock with a 5.5-inch built-in display, and it could be ideal as a secondary display alongside a desktop PC or laptop. This device is a Kickstarter project with an early-bird price of $119.

There are some marked differences in comparison to Corsair's Xeneon Edge. The ScreenDock has a much smaller 5.5-inch display (with a 1080 x 720 resolution) instead of 14.5-inches, and it lacks any touchscreen capability. The latter is what gives the Xeneon Edge its Stream Deck-style functionality (Elgato's shortcut command center with programmable keys), especially with the official virtual Stream Deck widget.

However, the ScreenDock serves the same broad purpose as Corsair's handy display, allowing PC owners to use it for overlays, third-party applications, or simply as an extended screen on Windows 11.

And the ScreenDock has two major advantages itself. Unlike the Xeneon Edge, Cabletime's device is also a dock, with multiple USB-C, USB-A, and Ethernet ports, as well as an HDMI port (4K 60Hz). The ScreenDock has a foldable design too, helping users preserve desk space, with brightness and power on/off buttons which aren't present on Corsair's display.

Caution first

If you're liking the look of Cabletime's ScreenDock, bear in mind that it's still at a relatively early stage. A lot could go wrong with a crowdfunded device as we've seen in the past, between potential manufacturing issues or shipping delays, so be suitably cautious about committing your cash.

If this crowdfunding effort is successful, it could serve as a strong competitor to Corsair's device, which has been considered overpriced (starting at $249.99 / £219.99 / AU$389).

The ScreenDock is only at early-bird pricing right now, so naturally it will be more expensive at its full price. With its 8-in-1 smart dock capabilities, it will be interesting to see how it stacks up against Corsair's premium device.

• Someone made a tool for Asus Astral RTX 5080 and 5090 GPUs
• It's designed to prevent a melting connector, shutting down the PC before this happens
• This third-party utility – and the response to it – shows the level of paranoia out there when it comes to this issue

Do you have a high-end Nvidia Blackwell GPU, and if so, are you worried about the perils of a melted power connector? It appears that definite concerns remain in this area, to the point that a new utility has been crafted to address those worries.

An enterprising Redditor has made their own open source tool for Windows which is designed for Asus Astral RTX 5090 and 5080 graphics cards, acting as a monitoring app that will (hopefully) step in to prevent any melting disasters before they happen.

The creator, Humza Khalid, tells us how the small utility, which is available to grab on GitHub, works: "It reads per pin 12VHPWR current straight from the card's own sensor chip and force shuts down your PC if any pin stays over 9.5A for 15 seconds, before the connector can melt."

The idea is that it's a lightweight and standalone app which is an easy way to defend against the situation where there's a sustained level of too much current flowing to the Nvidia graphics card.

As noted, the PC is forced to shut down in these cases (in a safe manner, with any running or interfering apps being force-closed, we're told), before any damage is done.

The creator has taken a suggestion on board from the comments, and Khalid notes that the tool will be changed from initiating a shutdown to dropping the power limit (via the Nvidia management API) for a much faster response. (Shutting down can take a while). That change will happen in a future version of the utility, Khalid tells us.

The creator also reminds us: "This only works on Astral 5080/5090 cards because those are the only ones with per pin sensors. Windows only, needs Python. And it doesn't replace seating your connector properly, it's a last line of defense not a first one."

Analysis: default paranoia

That's all good in theory, of course, but I'd always be careful about what you're installing on your PC. Not to say this isn't a trustworthy app – I don't know whether it is or not, and that's the point. However, it is open source, so that's good, as it provides visibility into what it's doing under the hood.

Another point to note is that a co-creator of the app is listed as 'Claude', meaning that this AI has been used in making the tool. Khalid explains that they wrote the original utility, but it was based on HWiNFO, so they wanted the app rejigged to be standalone, and Claude "did a lot of the rewrite".

At any rate, Asus Astral GPU owners can make their own decision about what's worth installing, or not, although I wouldn't personally recommend installing a third-party utility from an unknown developer. As ever, if you do install such software, you do so very much at your own risk.

Regardless, what this does show is the clear level of concern about Nvidia's RTX 5090 and 5080 GPUs. One Redditor sums it up: "As a 5090 owner, I can confirm the card comes with a default paranoia about bursting into flames."

That received some pushback from other Redditors who said their overclocked RTX 5090s were just fine, and in turn, there was a further story relayed about a melting incident. Obviously, all that is anecdotal (on both sides of the coin), but the paranoia is real enough.

Cable melting worries began with the RTX 4090, of course, before the RTX 5090, and when we looked into the issues with the Blackwell flagship back at the start of last year, Nvidia firmly denied that any of this is its fault. Cable melts remain a controversial topic, though, and more recently we've even had a report of an exploding RTX 5090, no less, which PC gamers who run these high-end graphics cards probably didn't take much comfort from.