AMD has seen its Instinct GPUs continue to get traction in an increasingly competitive marketplace, as it continues to take data center market share from new and existing players and ekes out wins with gaming-centric CPUs in the consumer market.

Its most recent acquisition of MEXT, an AI-centric startup that currently deploys software that allows users to treat NAND flash as DRAM at an operating system level.

AMD says Santa Clara-based MEXT a "pioneer in AI-driven memory optimization technology".

SSD storage to DRAM for data centers?

The idea that MEXT builds on is hardly a new one, but one that it seems to have refined considerably, making it an important acquisition at a time when hyperscalers continue to struggle with limited DRAM availability, even as an even worse SSD crisis looks to be on the horizon.

MEXT's Predictive Memory is essentially a tiering engine that monitors which memory pages applications tend to access, treating regularly accessed sections as "hot" working sets kept in DRAM while offloading "cold" or less frequently accessed sections to SSDs.

This allows for a far lower performance offset than using all of one's flash memory as DRAM, with the latter being an order of magnitude faster for access, even as speed becomes a driving factor for newer chips that are increasingly memory-bound.

There is also an important economic factor at play here: DRAM is nearly 50 times more expensive than the corresponding NAND flash, making cost and scalability key considerations for most data centers looking to avoid an already expensive DRAM market that is slated to only get worse over time.

The move itself is not AMD's first foray into the storage segment, with its consumer-focused StoreMi offering essentially allowing a faster SSD to work as a cache, making up for slower drives on one's system by essentially creating a copy of files that regularly need to be loaded or accessed on the fastest possible storage solution.

Its lesser-known (and since abandoned) Radeon RAMdisk offering allows users to do the exact opposite of what MEXT is offering: creating a very fast virtual disk on existing system memory. even as enthusiasts have replicated the idea on AMD's ultra-fast 3D V-Cache tech.

AMD's purchase makes sense given how deeply embedded its hardware is expected to be in datacenters over the next decade, and one could argue that MEXT's team, which offers expertise in AI infrastructure and memory systems, could be a much more prized acquisition than the underlying technology it offers.

AI and chip talent have become increasingly difficult to lock in, with companies splurging to attract some of the biggest names in both segments, and MEXT's acquisition could help both AMD's short-term and long-term goals in the data center segment.

• Nvidia is pitching its upcoming Vera CPUs to Chinese clients while advertising availability soon
• Move into data center CPUs pits Nvidia against traditional rivals Intel and AMD, which currently control the bulk of the market in China and other regions
• Nvidia's move comes at a time when the Chinese government continues to advocate for home-grown chip solutions, and the US's chip controls have effectively reduced its share to 0% of a lucrative Chinese data center market

Nvidia is apparently pushing to win Chinese customers for what its CEO regards as the next multi-billion dollar frontier for the company: data center CPUs.

The firm has spent the past two years watching the 2nd-most important chip market in the world effectively cut it out with a mix of consumer-grade chips and homegrown solutions such as Huawei's Ascend offerings, backed by a Chinese government push for self-reliance.

While Chinese officials have held the line with soft barriers - no official restrictions on Nvidia's chip exports to China exist in the mainland - Nvidia is seemingly betting on a reset in relations when it comes to its Vera CPUs for the data center.

Why CPUs and why now for Nvidia?

Nvidia's Vera CPU is more than just another competitor in the market. It threatens to upend the existing status quo, with Intel and AMD chips dominating the market, by adopting an AI-first approach to its design.

Nvidia is presenting Vera as a CPU that is up to 1.8 times faster than current x86 CPUs from Intel and AMD in certain workloads, offers 4 times the memory bandwidth, and delivers up to a 50% increase in performance versus traditional rack-scale CPUs.

According to a Reuters report, at least one major unnamed Chinese cloud company intends to purchase 300 servers, each containing 2 Vera CPUs. The CPUs themselves are estimated to cost upwards of $20,000 before bulk discounts kick in.

However, whether this results in an order remains to be seen. Chinese regulators seem to be making a stronger push for self-sufficiency in their chip sector, prompting many of their AI startups and giants alike to opt for local chip options, such as Huawei's Ascend and T-Head's Hanguang.

Nvidia's salvation however, might come from an unexpected place, as battle lines might be different this time around: the same AI export controls that crushed its Chinese business might work in its favor now.

Not only are CPUs considerably less regulated by US export rules, but the Chinese market is also reeling from a squeeze on server CPUs, with Intel pushing delivery lead times to as much as 6 months in some cases, even as AMD noted that the CPU market remains tight, with demand outstripping supply.

If Nvidia can navigate past the politics and the incumbent x86 architecture's software advantage, as well as the ecosystem built around it, it might carve out an important piece of the lucrative Chinese data center market, even without the CUDA 'stickiness' that makes its GPUs so sought-after in this segment.

Whether that is enough to overturn the obvious advantage that both well-placed chipmakers (Intel and AMD) have in terms of an ecosystem, as well as the edge the domestic champion, Huawei, enjoys in terms of government-level backing, however, remains to be seen.

• AMD has a new marketing campaign criticizing the MacBook Neo
• The main thrust of the argument is that the Neo fails as a gaming laptop
• That's a highly confusing angle to take, seeing as this isn't what MacBooks are about – and especially not the budget-friendly Neo

AMD appears to be getting defensive about its Windows 11 laptops and the threat posed by Apple's MacBook Neo.

Tom's Hardware noticed that AMD has a new marketing campaign that intends to take the Neo down a notch or two, promoting the benefits of Ryzen AI CPUs instead.

AMD insists that: "The competition made compromises. You don't have to." It then adds that: "Everything MacBook Neo leaves out, built in with AMD Ryzen AI processors."

The main thrust of the compromise messaging is that the MacBook Neo isn't up to scratch for gaming. AMD notes that 15 of the top 20 PC games don't run natively on a MacBook Neo, and that you need 'workarounds' (emulation) to play them. The games are picked by Team Red itself, although it's a fair enough selection of esports classics and more modern efforts such as Cyberpunk 2077, Battlefield 6, and Black Ops 7.

It's not just about games, of course, but that's the lead item here. AMD also points out that Windows 11 laptops with its Ryzen AI CPUs can have touchscreens (which the MacBook Neo doesn't), and a better port selection than the MacBook Neo's two USB-C connectors.

AMD then highlights benchmarks of the Ryzen 5 220 against Apple's A18 processor as seen in the Neo, where both laptops have 8GB of RAM, but the Ryzen is up to 57% faster for multitasking, and 38% faster for content creation as measured in Blender and Cinebench, among others.

Analysis: confusion over compromises

This is an odd one, really, because what plenty of confused people on Reddit have been saying – echoing my own first thought – is: "I didn't buy a Mac to play games. That's not really what they're for."

Someone else on that thread agrees: "Ok, but no one is buying a MacBook for gaming, right?"

And a further Redditor observes: "Imagine if 'Macs don't game' is the best you've got, lol. I'd fire my marketing team."

These folks are, of course, quite right. You don't buy a MacBook for gaming, and moreover, you especially don't buy a MacBook Neo for PC games. This isn't just an Apple laptop, but a low-end one with a mobile chip designed entirely around being affordable (for students, mainly) and able to cope with daily computing workloads – and that's all.

Okay, so you might want to do a spot of casual gaming, but the MacBook Neo can cope with that just fine. What you aren't going to be looking to do on a Neo is play the top PC games, not unless you're very misguided, and okay, probably a few people out there do fall into this category.

So why AMD has led with this gaming angle in its Ryzen AI laptop marketing, versus MacBook Neo marketing, really is a head-scratcher. It isn't like the kind of Windows 11 laptops AMD is using as comparisons to the Neo, in a similar price bracket, can run those top PC games all that well, anyway.

Of course, AMD has chosen its 'top games' very carefully, which goes without saying. But still, the Radeon 760M integrated graphics (used in the comparative benchmarking) can't come close to running some of these games with any kind of fluidity, even with low details (at the Full HD resolution in which the testing was conducted).

The same cherry-picking applies to the productivity and creativity benchmarks, and the thing about the MacBook Neo is that, as we've seen at TechRadar, despite only having 8GB of RAM, it runs smoothly and responsively in everyday tasks. That's not something you can always say about a Windows 11 laptop with 8GB of RAM in the same price bracket.

Granted, Microsoft is busy working on making Windows 11 better with lower RAM loadouts, but Apple isn't standing still either, providing quite a performance boost with the recently launched beta of macOS 27.

AMD should've thought more about the positioning of this marketing piece, especially seeing as it's the Neo the company is going after. The truth is that, as far as gaming is concerned, you shouldn't expect much out of any budget-friendly laptop – even if what you get from a Windows 11 machine is obviously a better deal, thanks to the mentioned game compatibility with no need for emulation tricks.

• Researcher Paul found RCE via MITM in AMD’s auto‑updater, but bounty denied
• AMD imposed extended embargo, later changed disclosure rules after criticism
• Security community pushed back, saying new policy discourages transparency and undervalues researchers

A security researcher discovered a remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in an AMD product, but the company allegedly denied him the bug bounty it promised for such findings.

In February 2026, a researcher called Paul discovered a potential RCE flaw via a man-in-the-middle attack (MITM) in AMD’s auto-updated software. He reported it to AMD and published a blog post about his findings.

However, AMD said MITM attacks are not covered by the bounty (despite this being an RCE flaw) and asked the researcher to pull the blog offline, which he did.

Google files a lawsuit

The company asked for a 100-day embargo on breaking the news, since additional tools were allegedly vulnerable as well. That embargo later ended up being 124 days, significantly longer than the usual 90-day window.

In its writeup, Tom's Hardware argues this alone merits reconsideration over denying the $10,000 bounty reserved for such flaws.

AMD addressed the issue by reengineering the download code in the autoupdater, but then another issue arose: the updater was actually broken and unable to update itself.

To make matters worse, after news broke that it denied the researcher the bounty, AMD allegedly updated its bug bounty disclosure rules to extend the non-disclosure requirements to cover bugs deemed out of scope. According to TechSpot, critics “immediately pointed out it appeared to be a direct response to the public criticism rather than a pre-existing policy.”

The same publication also said that the security community “pushed back hard”, since the change effectively “tells future researchers that even if a bug falls outside bounty scope, they cannot immediately disclose it publicly, removing one of the only tools researchers have to pressure companies into taking their findings seriously.”

On Reddit, the community discusses if AMD “values the researchers who bring it critical vulnerabilities”.

• AMD's RX 9070 XT GPU is finally in the Steam hardware survey
• As of May 2026, it's suddenly the most popular AMD GPU
• It has a 1.33% market share, but Nvidia is still way ahead of AMD overall

While Nvidia's current focus certainly isn't on its gaming graphics cards, it still has the desktop GPU market firmly in its grasp — although things might be looking up for rival AMD.

As reported by TweakTown, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is suddenly the most popular AMD GPU, according to Valve's latest Steam Hardware Survey. As of May 2026, the 9070 XT has leapt to 1.33% of Steam's market share, placing it above the likes of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4070 Ti (whereas previously the AMD card failed to register at all in the survey).

As always, it's worth noting that Valve's Steam surveys are only a limited perspective on the whole market. Not everyone runs Steam, of course, and the survey is limited to a relatively small slice of gamers on the platform. That said, Valve's survey results are an interesting glimpse into the state of hardware and software popularity.

The RX 9070 XT's popularity shouldn't come as a huge surprise, considering its raw performance capabilities, with the additional benefit of FSR 4 (FSR Redstone) providing solid image quality and performance when upscaling.

What's more surprising is why this GPU wasn't present in Steam's GPU rankings at all before now. TweakTown theorizes that the sudden appearance of the 9070 XT could be down to recent updates to the survey regarding how GPUs are classified, which is one possibility.

Still a one-sided battle

Since the GPU market is still in disarray due to the RAM crisis and its impact on video RAM, both the Radeon RX 9070 XT and 9060 XT (which is also now present among Valve's May survey results) are arguably the most value-packed GPUs available. They're not as cheap as Nvidia's low-end RTX 5000 series GPUs, but these Radeon graphics cards are still affordable and provide much better performance.

Still, it's hard to see Nvidia's GeForce GPUs falling out of favor anytime soon, and they remain clearly dominant in the desktop arena. Team Green's DLSS upscaling technology remains superior to AMD and Intel's equivalents, and it really impresses on the image quality and performance fronts.

Nvidia's RTX 3060 is still leading as the most popular GPU, as it has for years in the Steam survey results, but it's good to see Team Red's latest GPU line-up putting up a fight finally — even if the competition is still very one-sided.

• AMD's David McAfee expects DDR5 RAM prices to 'recover slowly in the future'
• However, the exec added that DDR5 won't return to 'normal' pricing levels for some two years
• Meanwhile chatter from the rumor mill claims Lenovo is going to implement another sizeable round of price hikes with its PCs

An AMD exec has told us that DDR5 RAM pricing isn't likely to normalize until 2028, and in other news, fresh from the memory and wider component crisis, Lenovo seemingly has more price hikes in the works for its PCs.

Let's start with the AMD story. VideoCardz flagged up the interview that 4Gamers conducted at Computex 2026, in which the Taiwanese site spoke with David McAfee, who is VP and general manager of Ryzen CPU and Radeon Graphics.

When questioned on the memory shortage (bearing in mind translation issues with the article), McAfee said he expects prices to 'recover slowly in the future' but that DDR5 RAM won't return to normal pricing levels for about another two years.

VideoCardz also highlighted a post on X from leaker Harukaze5719, which in turn points to a report from Sina Finance in China that tells a separate tale of the Lenovo price hikes.

Obviously, this is just whispers from the rumor mill, but the theory is that Lenovo plans to jack up prices in China by the equivalent of $150 in July. This applies to its PCs and laptops, and, in fact, to every product line Lenovo sells, we're told (though common sense would indicate that cheap peripherals, like a basic Lenovo mouse, won't get a $150 price hike).

While this is a (rumored) move over in Asia, it would clearly make sense that mirroring cost increases in the same order (perhaps even a bit more) would be implemented in other regions.

Analysis: more urgency for laptop buyers?

The AMD exec has essentially thrown his lot in with the forecasters who see the RAM crisis ebbing away during 2028. While that still means it has a fair way to go, this is actually a relatively optimistic prediction compared to some more recent thoughts – notably from Nvidia's CEO. Jensen Huang said the memory crisis will last "quite a few years", suggesting that we may have to be patient until 2029 or 2030 to see the worst of this over. Others have guessed that we'll be sailing rough waters with RAM pricing until 2030, too.

The sad truth is that at this point, if I could have a guaranteed end-in-2028 outcome for these RAM woes (somehow), I'd take that prospect – and run. Of course, there's the question of what McAfee means exactly by returning to 'normal levels', complicated by the fact that this is a translated interview. Broadly speaking, I assume this means that prices will drop back down to more palatable levels relative to now – though I don't see them ever returning to pre-crisis levels, frankly.

It's a bleak old outlook, for sure, although there is some hope in Chinese memory chip makers tackling the RAM shortfall to some extent with increased production from these Asian giants. McAfee alludes to this when mentioning Changxin Memory in China increasing its DDR5 production capacity, but others – notably Huang – seem distinctly unswayed by such arguments.

A lot, of course, could rest on what happens with AI going forward. However, with predictions of increased memory demands one way or another in that sphere – and no remote indication of the AI 'bubble' bursting, or clever tech innovations helping out as much as some folks think they might – I'm not optimistic on the whole.

On top of this, the news from Lenovo is a further blow. If you recall, the computer giant already hiked PC prices earlier this year, and so this is another helping of RAM crisis-related cost rises for laptops and desktops (and other hardware besides, apparently).

As I've been discussing recently, after the Nvidia CEO's recent end-of-decade prediction for the extent of the memory crisis, now really does seem to be the right time to buy a laptop. The news that Lenovo may be about to pull the trigger on yet more substantial PC price rises only puts more urgency into that theory, because this surely won't happen in isolation among PC vendors.

• AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su praises AI capabilities and promise at London Tech Week 2026
• ‘We're here to use technology to solve some of the world's most important problems, to do things we never thought were possible’, she says
• But Su also cautions, “we are still so so early in the process”

AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su has hailed the early progress made by AI in just a few years, but also warned the technology still has some way to reach true usefulness for everyone.

"I love talking about AI, because it has so much capability and promise,” Su told attendees at London Tech Week 2026, “if you look at the last few years there has been so much progress, and we’ve clearly seen AI go from what was research initiatives to something that everybody is using.”

“But what I like to say is that we are still so so early in the process...I think we're early in the research and development phase, as we think about new models and where they’re going, we’re early in AI for science…in terms of what AI can do to really push the frontiers of science, and we’re still very early in what AI can do for enterprise - I can tell you that every month we’re seeing in enterprise, that we’re taking AI from something that we experiment with, to something that actually changes the way we do business.”

"Compute actually equates to intelligence"

Su was speaking at London Tech Week, where she also revealed AMD would be “substantially” increasing its investment in the UK.

The company plans to spend up to £2billion over the next five years, including support across the fields of advanced computing, scientific research and workforce development, as it looks to support what Su called the “incredibly vibrant ecosystem” in the UK.

“Overall, we want to invest in the UK as it's good for business overall for AMD,” she declared.

Elsewhere, Su noted how AMD's goal is, "to build the highest performance chips", and how the company was using AI extensively through our own research and development to achieve this.

“What I’m very passionate about is ensuring that the AI infrastructure is enabling capability that everybody in the world has access to,” she noted, “we’re in this phase where compute is actually the foundation - I like to say compute actually equates to intelligence - and so when I sit in a room with entrepreneurs and dev people, everyone’s like, ‘you know, I’d like more compute’!”

“I think compute is a foundation - but I think what’s important, and what we’re learning, is that there is no one type of compute that will satisfy every AI application - in fact, we need a whole host of compute, whether you’re talking about the latest accelerators, you’re talking about Agentic AI, the CPUs, or general AI infrastructure in terms of networking - that’s what this is about, because you need the entire ecosystem to come together and collaborate across all of those foundational elements - that’s what we really believe at AMD.”

“My view is we're here to use technology to solve some of the world's most important problems, to do things we never thought were possible,” Su added.

“AI is the tool that helps each of us become a better researcher, or a better engineer, or a better entrepreneur…technology is only as useful as the problems we solve.”

“It's an exciting time, but it's important for us to realise it's also an early time.”

Computex 2026 happened this week, and the computing extravaganza brought with it a raft of interesting hardware revelations, questions and commentary. As well as the shiny new gadgets, some of the speeches or interviews given by key players in the tech industry made us all sit up and take notice — and below we've picked out the five most pertinent quotes that tell us about the future of computing.

From Qualcomm's boss through to Nvidia's leather jacket-toting chief, we heard some weighty utterances, and there was no shortage of talk around one particular subject. AI wasn't the only topic mentioned regarding the future of computing, though — thankfully — as you'll see, but there's no denying it was a very prominent subject indeed.

1. "Resistance is futile" (Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm)

No, the Borg didn't turn up at Computex 2026 this year (though sources tell me there's a mysterious cube-shaped booth booked for 2027), but rather it was Cristiano Amon, the chief executive at Qualcomm, who told us that "resistance is futile".

What should we not waste our energy resisting, then? Well, predictably enough it's the inevitable advance of AI, and more specifically, Amon sees the irresistible force that'll pervade our lives as AI agents.

As The Register reported, the Qualcomm CEO believes that in the future, these agents – fancy AI bots that will automate tasks, do things for us, and organize our lives – will have their tendrils everywhere, in all our devices.

From your phone to your earbuds to your smart glasses (if big tech's campaign to make the latter an acceptable gadget succeeds), all of this hardware will feed data of one kind or another to the AI agent.

Amon explained: "The agent isn't tied to the device, it actually moves with the user. It's there with the user, regardless of the device that you have. Once you understand that change, you understand how the whole mobile industry is going to change."

In short, we're all going to turn into walking sensors and cameras, with 6G connectivity enabling all this to be piped back to AI which will gorge itself on this data – all for our benefit, of course. (Ahem – what could possibly go wrong?)

The 'camera' reference isn't mine, by the way, as Amon explicitly stated: "If you have smart glasses, they see what you see, so the connectivity needs to enable a very fast uplink. 6G is going to make all of us into walking cameras in this world."

Don't want your every waking moment, and probably your sleeping moments too, to be shadowed by AI? Hate this idea with every fiber of your being? Well, tough, because Amon explains that this vision of the future – which is seemingly inevitable, as this is where the "resistance is futile" remark was made – can only work by leveraging the power of all our devices.

These sophisticated agents can't be run only in the data center, and so future devices— with ever-more powerful CPUs, and of course NPUs for local AI acceleration — will take the load off with on-device processing in various degrees. And unsurprisingly, Qualcomm's hardware, in various forms, will figure in this dystopian-sounding future of omnipresent surveillance.

2. "Our goal is to deliver unmetered intelligence to every home and every desk with Windows" (Satya Nadella, Microsoft)

Qualcomm's chief exec wasn't the only CEO to be heavily pushing AI, and to no one's surprise, Satya Nadella got in on the act here. As part of Computex 2026 – or GTC 2026 Taipei therein, strictly speaking – Microsoft and Nvidia got together for the big reveal of Team Green's RTX Spark Arm-based 'superchip' which is set to drive the reinvention of the Windows PC, no less.

I'll come on to Nvidia's big quote on this project next, but Microsoft had two telling soundbites for us, one of which was from Nadella, who observed: "Our goal is to deliver unmetered intelligence to every home and every desk with Windows. RTX Spark marks a real breakthrough towards that vision."

Unmetered intelligence refers to AI, and elsewhere, Microsoft's head of Windows, Pavan Davuluri, talked about a new chapter for Windows PCs, and said: "We are building toward a future where Windows provides a unified foundation for AI, from the device in your hands to the infrastructure behind it."

So, while Microsoft has promised to cut back on AI as part of the big drive to fix Windows 11, that may mean that some Copilot options are pared back from various menus – but it absolutely doesn't mean that Microsoft is minimizing AI within the OS. As we see from these quotes, when it comes to AI agents – with agentic AI being something Microsoft has been pushing in a big way of late – Windows is very much being developed with these firmly in mind.

Much like Qualcomm's Amon, Nadella envisions AI being present in every home — and on every desk — thanks to Windows devices. (And again, are you distinctly not stoked about that idea? Well, don't worry, AI will surely be happy to listen to your feedback).

3. "We're really focused on doing something that is just such a big deal, reinventing the PC after 40 years" (Jensen Huang, Nvidia)

Naturally, Nvidia's boss had some weighty quote material to throw around at Computex 2026, and the highlight for me pertained to the Arm-based RTX Spark CPU (as mentioned above).

Huang said: "We're really focused on doing something that is just such a big deal, reinventing the PC after 40 years."

Of course, this is a collaborative venture between Nvidia and Microsoft, who according to the joint press release for the project, want to "reinvent Windows PCs for the age of personal AI".

It is, of course, a big move for Nvidia to launch a new processor for the PC, the gravity of which is reinforced by the kind of changes Microsoft is making to Windows 11 for this chip. We're talking about specific optimizations in Windows 11 for Nvidia RTX Spark, and not small moves either – sizable changes, some of which advance the cause of all Arm CPUs (like Qualcomm's) considerably with the OS. That includes a drive to support more software with Arm-based Windows 11 devices, and even to improve game compatibility (with some notable anti-cheat stumbling blocks being resolved).

As it happens, Huang's above quote actually came as part of a response to a question about whether a gaming handled might be made with the RTX Spark CPU. As PC Gamer reported, the full quote was: "If somebody wants to do it [a gaming handheld], you know, we'll work with them on it. But right now we're really focused on doing something that is just such a big deal, reinventing the PC after 40 years."

So, the idea of a handheld was brushed aside, as what this is all about, really, is that 'reinvention' of the PC around AI.

As Huang further enthused: "Can we help reinvent the PC? And, boy, if you get a chance to reinvent the single most important instrument, the single most important tool of humanity, what you and I grew up with defined just about everything about our lives, and we have an opportunity after 40 years to go reinvent it for the age of AI. Wow, we're not going to sit around, not let it get done."

When you put this together with Nadella's comment, and Amon's vision of the AI-centric future, there was a clear vibe at Computex 2026: agentic AI is coming, and you might as well accept this now.

Of course, more than most, Huang has a vested interest in promoting this line of thinking. Nvidia's done quite well out of AI so far, I believe.

4. "We know the pressures that are there in building systems aren't going away anytime soon" (David McAfee, AMD)

Not everything about the future of computing at Computex 2026 revolved around AI, of course, and there was some commentary on the dire situation around PC component price hikes — and what might be done about that going forward.

When questioned about why AMD had just released a last-gen 3D V-Cache processor as an alternative budget offering — as a reaction to rising PC build costs — rather than a current-gen Zen 5 model, AMD's VP and general manager of Ryzen CPU and Radeon Graphics, David McAfee, had something pertinent to say.

McAfee teased: "I think as we go through the rest of this year, I mean we're always looking for ways to, you know, create as many options as we can, and that [Zen 5 X3D CPU] may become… maybe something that we look at doing as a runway product later this year, simply because you know we know the pressures that are there in building systems aren't going away anytime soon."

So, we may see a Ryzen 5 9600X3D CPU (or similar) emerge as an affordable engine for a gaming rig later this year.

More broadly, this is a signal that AMD is actively thinking about how to help ease the demands that price hikes on RAM, storage, CPUs and GPUs (and more besides) are exerting on the wallets of consumers. Although it also serves as a depressing acknowledgement that pricing woes aren't going away for quite some time yet.

It was also good to see AMD underline its commitment to the AM5 chipset with support guaranteed through to 2029 at Computex, for those who aren't planning on building a new PC anytime soon. Waiting out the worst of the pricing crisis may well be the best approach, frankly, if that's a viable option in your circumstances.

5. "Longer term, I think something has to give, right? The over-inflation, we will have to keep an eye out" (Nish Neelalojanan, Intel)

Like AMD, Intel also had thoughts on the current PC component pricing nastiness which it shared at Computex 2026.

Specifically, in a chat with Tom's Hardware, Intel's Nish Neelalojanan, who is senior director of product management for client computing, said of the RAM supply crisis and spiking costs: "Longer term, I think something has to give, right? The over-inflation, we will have to keep an eye out."

Neelalojanan elaborated on this, noting that Intel was adapting its strategy to help frustrated consumers in terms of maintaining support for last-gen (DDR4) memory and older (more affordable) CPUs. The exec noted: "We do have products that support DDR4 on both desktop and mobile. Raptor Lake [13th-gen CPUs that first emerged in 2022], we're not end-of-life-ing any of them; they're there. We'll continue to make sure that there are products which can take care of older memory technologies if they're available and cheap."

With laptops, Neelalojanan pointed to Intel's new Wildcat Lake mobile silicon, of which the exec promised "we are validating lower configs", meaning lower-end notebooks starting at 8GB RAM.

Neelalojanan said: "Wildcat Lake is a single-channel product, so there are products which can leverage low memory and give reasonably good performance."

This range of mobile silicon does indeed seem like a promising addition for more affordable laptops, and so it's not all bleak news for the future of PCs in terms of the undoubtedly painful price hikes we've all sadly become accustomed to.

• AMD's David McAfee has hinted that a Ryzen 5 9600X3D could be in the cards for later this year
• This follows the launch of the Ryzen 7 7700X3D as a response to pricing pressures
• McAfee said that "we know the pressures that are there in building systems aren't going away anytime soon"

AMD appears to be considering making a new addition to the family of current-gen Zen 5 CPUs in the form of a wallet-friendly 3D V-Cache (X3D) processor.

Tom's Hardware spoke to AMD's VP and general manager of Ryzen CPU and Radeon Graphics, David McAfee, at Computex, and questioned the exec on why the company decided to release a past-gen X3D chip rather than one from the Zen 5 (Ryzen 9000) range.

The backdrop here is the launch of the Ryzen 7 7700X3D, which has just happened, and Tom's is essentially wondering why Team Red didn't go for a Ryzen 5 9600X3D.

McAfee responded that the launch of such a contemporary CPU "may be something that we look at doing… later this year."

The exec elaborated: "I think as we go through the rest of this year, I mean we're always looking for ways to, you know, create as many options as we can, and that may become… maybe something that we look at doing as a runway product later this year, simply because you know we know the pressures that are there in building systems aren't going away anytime soon."

Analysis: under pressure

Obviously this is far from a confirmation that AMD will produce a new budget X3D chip for Zen 5, but the admission that it's possible the CPU maker could start rolling such a product off the assembly lines is a hopeful nugget that Team Red is still looking to further ease the pressure on PC builders.

Right now, building a new computer is a depressing task consisting of shopping for various components, most of which have had substantial price increases applied. (And the price hikes for certain parts, notably RAM and storage, are positively astronomical in some cases). A wider choice of more affordable processors obviously won't hurt for those carrying out a DIY build, and for that matter, it'll help with pre-built computers too, as another option for PC makers looking at building cheaper gaming rigs.

Of course, McAfee's comments don't come without an element of concern, namely the casual acknowledgement that "we know the pressures that are there in building systems aren't going away anytime soon". In other words, don't expect PC component pricing pressures to ease for quite some time, and that's a prediction that has been widely made elsewhere. Most notably in recent times by the major RAM chip manufacturers – with one especially bleak forecast.

Indeed, AMD's CEO, Lisa Su, recently predicted that demand is going to wane on the consumer and gaming side for Team Red due to "higher memory and component costs" in the second half of 2026. Adding to that is further uncertainty around the global shipping situation, as continued disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is now affecting the RAM supply chain in other ways.

All in all, it's not a pretty picture, and we'll take what relief we can in terms of the prospect of more affordable components.

• AMD has announced it will be supporting Socket AM5 for CPUs through 2029
• It's following in the same footsteps of its decade-long support for Socket AM4
• The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D has also returned for the AM4 socket platform

AMD has consistently supported its Socket AM4 for CPUs over the last decade, with new additions to its Ryzen CPU lineup — and, fortunately, its current CPU socket platform is receiving the same treatment.

Announced at Computex 2026, AMD is set to extend its support of the Socket AM5 platform through 2029, after the launch of the new Ryzen 7 7700X3D processor. This comes after Team Red has offered a decade of support for AM4, as the manufacturer adheres to longevity.

It's also worth noting that the popular AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D has returned as a '10-Year AMD AM4 Anniversary Edition', serving as AMD's way of celebrating its lengthy AM4 support — and frankly, it's one of the best gaming CPUs available, and the best AM4 gaming CPU.

"For gamers, the support extension represents more time to build, upgrade, and improve a system around the same platform," AMD says in its blog post.

"A longer platform roadmap can reduce the need for full system replacements and gives PC builders more confidence when choosing AMD Ryzen processors, AM5 motherboards, and compatible memory."

Both announcements are great news for AM4 and AM5 CPU users; not only is AM5 confirmed to have at least three more years of support, but it's highly likely we'll see irregular cases of new CPUs launch for Socket AM4.

The latter means PC gamers, like myself, using AM4 motherboards can continue doing so comfortably, especially since AMD's AM6 platform doesn't seem to be launching any time soon — and it's probably better if it doesn't release for another few years, at least until this RAM crisis disappears.

Although AMD has been at the heart of the recent components craze, with its stock surging by more than 3,000% in the last few years, the company hasn't been as essential to the AI buildout as Nvidia. However, its leadership in the form of Lisa Su has, for a long time, been attuned to the changing landscape of the industry.

Overcoming bottlenecks

The world of computing was a little different in 2013, when Lisa Su delivered remarks at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) about the challenges in continuing to scale up processing power.

CPUs were still the dominant component then, but Su, who was then AMD's senior vice president and general manager for its global business units, hinted at a future in which other breeds of computing architectures would come to the fore.

The solution that Su proposed — known as heterogeneous computing — essentially involved combining CPUs with GPUs and specialized accelerators to offload processors onto chips or components that are best suited to efficiently carry them out. With these systems, shared memory pools would allow the different processors to work in harmony.

Building for the AI supercycle

If that system sounds familiar, it's because it's exactly the sort of arrangement that goes into designing systems like AMD's Instinct MI400 family of components or Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform. These are superchips that are integral to the ongoing AI buildout.

Although the rise of AI in the way that it ensued wasn't on the cards in 2013, Su, who was appointed as AMD's chief in 2014 shortly after this presentation, articulated a vision that has been realized with full force more than ten years on.

The traditional era of computing, in which CPUs are the dominant technological force within a computing system, has given way to that more heterogeneous environment — not only in data centers but in consumer devices too — with GPUs, NPUs, accelerators, and other components, all cooperating (and often pooling memory) to run as efficiently as possible.

• AMD has announced its Q1 results, with booming revenue driven by AI
• There's bad news for the gaming division, though, due to 'higher memory and component costs, ' AMD's CEO Lisa Su observed
• AMD's CFO has forecast 'gaming revenue to decline by more than 20%' in the second half of 2026 compared to the first half of the year

AMD just revealed its latest financial results, with good news for investors in the form of a major surge in revenue, but bad news for consumers, with more RAM-related worries looming on the horizon.

Tom's Hardware reports that AMD's Q1 2026 fiscal results witnessed a new record for data center revenue, as the AI boom drove further growth, but CEO Lisa Su warned of PC component price spikes going forward.

Su predicted that demand is going to wane with its client and gaming businesses – essentially the consumer side of AMD's hardware – in the second half of 2026 due to "higher memory and component costs".

So, yes, that means AMD's chief executive believes that after next month, as we head into Q3, RAM and other components are only going to get pricier.

With gaming, the damage done by price hikes could be quite considerable, as AMD's Chief Financial Officer, Jean Hu, observed: "We expect second half [of 2026] demand in gaming to be impacted by higher component and memory cost. We now expect second half gaming revenue to decline by more than 20% compared to the first half."

Analysis: Radeon price hikes – or indeed pricier consoles?

In other words, compared to the first half of the year (of which less than two months now remain – with time flying by, as ever), the second half of 2026 is going to be considerably more sluggish for AMD's gaming revenue. The expectation isn't just a 20% drop, but a more than 20% fall, so that could be a quarter less money raked in, or maybe more, up towards 30%, even.

This would seem to indicate that AMD's Radeon graphics cards are going to be in shorter supply in Q3 and Q4, and that there may be further price hikes on RX 9000 models. Clearly, AMD is expecting things to slow down with these graphics cards as 2026 rolls on, but its gaming revenue isn't just about Radeon, of course – Team Red also makes the semi-custom GPUs for the PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Sales of those consoles are softening naturally, mind you, given that they're in the later stages of their expected lifespan now, so we're reaching saturation levels for would-be buyers. What could also be factored in here is the price hikes for console hardware, causing further unwillingness to buy – or possibly, AMD is anticipating further PS5 or Xbox price rises later this year, compounding the misery.

That's just guesswork, but clearly the outlook isn't great for the second half of 2026, and this is the latest in a quickfire round of pessimistic RAM crisis predictions, two of which have come from memory chipmakers themselves. Micron has warned of growing AI demand and more pressure on RAM supply, while Samsung has observed that 'significant shortages' of memory will continue to plague us through 2027 as a best-case scenario.

There isn't much faith out there in Reddit-land that RAM pricing will recover anytime soon, or indeed that prices will ever reach the levels we saw last year, before the memory hikes started coming thick and fast.

As one Redditor put it in reaction to this news from AMD: "My prediction is that over 2027 prices will drop from an insane 400% [price increase] to a nice and summerly 200%. But they'll never fall lower than that ever again. The RAM economy will permanently change and data centers will be a nuisance for the rest of recorded time."

• AMD frames openness as essential for multi-vendor space mission architectures
• Vendor lock-in risks increase significantly in long-duration orbital deployments
• Modular systems improve flexibility across complex, multi-supplier mission environments

AMD has outlined its vision for AI in space, claiming to be a champion of open platforms and modular design in a market where monolithic solutions dominate.

The company argues no single vendor can or should dictate the full solution for space missions, which are often the work of multiple firms.

"Space missions are assembled from many specialized suppliers, and no single vendor can (or should) dictate the full solution," AMD stated in a recent announcement.

AMD pushes open platforms for space

AMD’s argument rests on the structure of the space industry itself. Missions typically combine hardware, software, and subsystems from multiple contractors.

This makes interoperability a requirement rather than a preference, as components must work together across different vendors.

In that context, proprietary platforms risk introducing dependencies that can limit flexibility or complicate long-term operations.

The company is leaning into open standards and modular design to reduce that friction.

Its strategy centers on enabling partners to integrate and validate systems across vendors without being tied to a single ecosystem.

That includes investment in open approaches to security, interconnects, and infrastructure, alongside its ROCm software stack for AI and high-performance computing.

ROCm is intended to give developers a pathway from low-level kernels to full applications on AMD accelerators.

More importantly, it represents an alternative to tightly controlled software ecosystems that dominate AI development today.

Why space amplifies the need for modular systems

AMD ties its openness strategy directly to the realities of operating in orbit. Space systems face strict power and thermal limits, intermittent communication with Earth, and long mission lifecycles.

These constraints make adaptability and resilience more critical than in most terrestrial deployments.

In such environments, reliance on a single vendor can introduce risk. If a component becomes obsolete or unsupported, replacing or upgrading it is far more complex than in ground-based systems.

AMD’s position is that modular, interoperable architectures allow mission designers to swap, upgrade, or validate components more easily over time.

The same logic extends to onboard AI. With limited bandwidth and communication windows, spacecraft increasingly need to process data locally.

AMD argues that open platforms make it easier to deploy and evolve these capabilities across heterogeneous hardware, rather than locking missions into a fixed stack from launch.

Openness alone may not be enough

The challenge for AMD is that the space market has historically rewarded proven reliability over architectural philosophy.

Competitors already have deep relationships with space agencies and, in some cases, purpose-built hardware designed specifically for radiation-heavy environments.

AMD points to its existing track record, including contributions to image processing for NASA missions.

However, extending that experience into large-scale AI infrastructure in orbit is a different step.

For now, AMD is making its case early, framing openness as not just a design preference but a requirement for resilience in space.

Whether that argument translates into contracts will depend less on philosophy and more on execution in an environment where failure is not easily tolerated.

• Most companies are planning, piloting or deploying AI PCs now
• High-performance NPUs are "critical" – performance and security benefits are key
• The most popular use cases show AI PCs being most useful for knowledge workers

New data from AMD claims AI PC adoption has increased rapidly lately, with over four in five organizations either planning, piloting or deploying AI PCs in some form.

This shows a shift from experimentation to real deployment, with enterprises set to embed AI into everyday workflows beginning with the right hardware that's capable of running some workloads locally.

Already, 70% report faster performance and reduced latency when they're using dedicate AI PCs, with 59% now seeing high-performance NPUs as "critical."

Are AI PCs the foundation to good AI deployment?

According to AMD, two in every three companies noted increased employee productivity from using AI PCs as computers shift to become execution platforms rather than just simple productivity tools.

And this has never been more critical than today, in the age of always-on AI through agentic capabilities. AMD described the latest generations of PCs as a "local execution later" for real-time, secure task processing, citing lower latency, better privacy and security, and the possibility of reducing cloud costs as key benefits.

Still, respondents saw PCs acting as an interface for cloud agents (51%) and as a secure local execution hub (47%) in near-equal measure.

Moreover, 81% of the study's participants claimed meaningful knowledge of AI PCs. As a result, while the desire to futureproof devices is a part-driver in the reason to upgrade, most companies see productivity gains, innovation, a competitive advantage and security improvements as higher priorities.

As for real-world uses (27% have already deployed them at scale), AI PCs are proving most popular among knowledge workers, helping boost efficiency across tasks like document, presentations, spreadsheets, meeting transcription and summarization. In fact, coding assistance ranks lower than image and video generation, likely due to workers preferring online Copilot tools that are cloud-first.

It's clear from AMD's research that AI PCs are shifting from a 'nice-to-have' to being a business staple. However, AI PCs aren't set to replace traditional cloud-based AI as we enter a hybrid era of local and cloud processing for the best balance of performance and security.

When it comes to system performance, stability and compatibility, it is essential to understand how gear modes work. It is gear modes that are responsible for defining the speed ratio between a CPUs integrated memory controller (IMC) and system RAM.

Intel has its own gear modes to manage super-fast memory speeds but, in this article, we’re looking specifically at how AMD gear modes work and why DDR5-6000 is often called the sweet spot.

AMD Gear Modes are the clock speed ratios of the integrated memory controller (IMC) inside the CPU to the clock speed of the memory modules.

Essentially, they dictate how fast the CPU's memory controller communicates with the RAM. For users for whom speed and performance are essential, this enables greater flexibility in achieving higher memory speeds and compatibility with various memory kits.

There are three key elements in AMD systems that determine memory performance:

1. Memory Clock (MCLK) – The speed of the memory where active data is temporarily stored for the processor.

2. Internal Memory Controller Clock (UCLK) – The speed of the processor’s memory controller that manages the communication between memory and the CPU.

3. Infinity Fabric Clock (FCLK) – The speed of the interconnect that links and coordinates data flow across the entire processor.

Any intensive computing workload, whether it’s gaming, video editing, 3D rendering, or AI processing, will depend heavily on how the three AMD clocks stay in sync. To manage this, AMD uses two operating modes: Gear 1 and Gear 2.

These modes define the relationship between the Memory Clock (MCLK) and the Memory Controller Clock (UCLK). If users have a clear understanding of how the two gears interact, this allows them to select the memory kit speed that will deliver the best performance for their needs.

Explaining clock speeds

MCLK – this is the internal clock speed of the memory, measured in megahertz (MHz). Today’s memory technology is all based on DDR (Double Data Rate), which transfers data twice per clock cycle. This means an internal clock frequency of 3000MHz translates to a memory speed of 6000MT/s (Megatransfers per second), or DDR5-6000.

UCLK – the memory controller’s clock speed. It runs either at the same speed as MCLK in Gear 1 or at half the MCLK speed in Gear 2.

FCLK – the clock speed of AMD’s Infinity Fabric interconnect, which typically defaults to 2000MHz unless manually adjusted. One important point for users is that unless they change their settings manually, the system’s BIOS will automatically select the appropriate parameters for the selected memory speed.

Gear 1 (1:1 ratio)

- IMC and the memory operate at the same frequency.

- Infinity Fabric operates at 2000MHz

• Best for gaming or latency-sensitive workloads
• By keeping the memory and IMC ratio at 1:1, you’re able to minimize latency
• DDR5-6000 is the sweet spot for AM5 systems since it is generally the highest speed that can achieve Gear 1 out of the box without adjusting additional overclock parameters
• ex: DDR5-6000 (3000MHz) → IMC runs at 3000MHz → Fabric runs at 2000MHz

Gear 2 (2:1 ratio)

- IMC operates at half the memory frequency

- Infinity Fabric operates at 2000MHz

• Best if you need memory bandwidth for AI, video editing, 3D rendering or any applications where throughput is more important than responsiveness
• Required for higher-speed memory (DDR5-6200+)
• 2:1 ratio allows for more stability, but may introduce additional latency
• Generally, DDR5-6400 to DDR5-7200 speeds will offer higher bandwidth (allow more data to move to and from the memory and processor at a time), but increased latency offsets the gains
• DDR5-7600 and higher is where we start to see the bandwidth overcome the latency penalty
• Example: DDR5-8000 (4000MHz) → IMC runs at 2000MHz → Fabric runs at 2000MHz

Benchmark results

The following AIDA64 benchmark results show how different memory speeds are affected by Gear Modes:

- Benchmark system

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Crosshair Hero X870E (BIOS v1512)
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X

Benchmark Results (All capacities: 32GB / 16GB × 2)

1. 6000 MT/s, CL30, Gear 1

• Read: 77,703 MB/s
• Write: 77,631 MB/s
• Copy: 67,837 MB/s
• Latency: 77.7 ns

2. 6400 MT/s, CL32, Gear 2

• Read: 80,231 MB/s
• Write: 84,374 MB/s
• Copy: 71,409 MB/s
• Latency: 79.9 ns

3. 7600 MT/s, CL38, Gear 2

• Read: 82,931 MB/s
• Write: 93,378 MB/s
• Copy: 75,115 MB/s
• Latency: 78.5 ns

4. 8000 MT/s, CL38, Gear 2

• Read: 85,302 MB/s
• Write: 94,818 MB/s
• Copy: 77,864 MB/s
• Latency: 75.7 ns

Important to note is that an emerging new sweet spot for systems using the Ryzen 9000 series is 6400MT.

As memory speed increases, so does memory bandwidth, but users should be aware that there’s a trade-off. When switching to Gear 2, latency rises noticeably. In fact, latency remains worse than a DDR5-6000 kit until you reach speeds around DDR5-8000, where the extra bandwidth finally offsets the higher latency.

Bringing it all together

For most gamers and everyday users, DDR5-6000 in Gear 1 offers an excellent balance of bandwidth and low latency, translating into jitter-free gameplay, higher FPS and better overall responsiveness.

However, for users whose workload involves bandwidth-heavy tasks like video editing, 3D rendering or AI processing, higher-speed memory running in Gear 2 will be significantly more advantageous. A good rule of thumb for those requiring maximum bandwidth and the lowest-possible latency, is to aim for DDR5-7600 or higher.

By clearly understanding how AMD Gear Modes affect performance, users are empowered to choose the right memory configuration and unlock the full potential from their system.

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• Codasip sale fuels speculation about GlobalFoundries expanding RISC-V processor capabilities
• Studio licensing strengthens case for customized silicon alongside manufacturing services
• Growing RISC-V portfolio raises possibility of future competition with Arm and AMD

Codasip, a Munich and Bristol-based semiconductor design company that develops RISC-V processor cores, is selling part of its business to an unnamed public U.S. semiconductor company, with speculation that the buyer could be none other than GlobalFoundries, AMD's former foundry arm.

Codasip confirmed the company will divest its low-end RISC-V processor design unit while directing future work toward security-focused chip architectures and system-level products.

That lower-end division includes processor cores used in embedded electronics, automotive systems, and industrial hardware, where efficient and customizable designs are widely used.

A three-part structure

GlobalFoundries is seen as the most likely buyer because it has spent the past year acquiring RISC-V processor technology through multiple deals.

The company already owns MIPS and has agreed to acquire ARC-V processor intellectual property from Synopsys, expanding its reach into higher-performance and specialized processor designs.

Adding Codasip’s entry-level RISC-V cores would extend that portfolio into simpler embedded designs, creating coverage across both low-power and more advanced processor tiers.

The agreement also includes a broad license to Studio, Codasip’s processor development software that allows customization of processor instructions.

That capability allows GlobalFoundries, which began as AMD’s manufacturing arm before becoming an independent semiconductor manufacturer, to support tailored chip development, giving customers the ability to modify processor behavior instead of relying only on fixed designs licensed from companies such as Arm.

Arm has long dominated embedded processor markets through royalty-based licensing, collecting fees from companies that build chips using its architecture.

A manufacturer that offers both fabrication services and tailored processor designs creates an alternative path, especially for companies developing automotive, industrial, and edge computing systems.

Continued expansion into processor technology could eventually place GlobalFoundries into competition with established chip designers.

Codasip described the sale as part of a broader change in direction toward what it calls cyber-resilient semiconductor architectures.

Its future development work centers on CHERI, short for Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions, a technology focused on limiting software exploits by enforcing stricter memory access rules directly in hardware.

“Cyber-resilience has become a strategic requirement for governments, infrastructure operators, and technology providers worldwide,” said Ron Black, Chief Executive Officer of Codasip.

“Traditional approaches inefficiently bolt security onto systems after the fact. Our focus is on enabling partners to build security into the fundamental architecture of compute systems from the beginning.”

The transaction is expected to close within about a month, and we'll know then whether GlobalFoundries is indeed the buyer of Codasip's low-end RISC-V processor design unit.

• AMD introduces dual V-cache processor aimed at heavier mixed workloads
• Zen 5 architecture, paired with expanded cache, drives a new performance focus
• AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition records modest gains across creative software and compilation tasks

AMD has introduced its most advanced desktop processor so far, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition, with cache size now forming a central part of its performance strategy.

Jack Huynh, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Computing and Graphics group at AMD, claims this is “the world’s first dual AMD 3D V-Cache technology enabled processor.”

The processor is built on the Zen 5 architecture and integrates 16 cores with a total cache of 208MB.

Dual cache and real workload impact

AMD’s 3D V-Cache design stacks additional memory directly on top of the processor die, reducing the distance data must travel.

This approach is intended to improve latency and throughput in demanding applications.

With both chiplets now using this design, the company claims a measurable shift in responsiveness rather than a marginal upgrade.

According to AMD, the chip delivers between 5% and 10% over its predecessor in workloads such as DaVinci Resolve, Blender, and large code compilation projects.

These gains are not dramatic on paper, but they suggest incremental refinement rather than a complete redesign.

“Expanded on-chip memory helps reduce latency and keep demanding workflows responsive, from complex timelines and large datasets to parallel builds and simulations,” AMD said in a YouTube video.

However, the launch of this processor raises questions about how close desktop chips are getting to workstation-class products like Threadripper and EPYC.

Those platforms have traditionally been defined by higher core counts and broader scalability, but they also come with higher costs and platform requirements.

By combining high core counts with large cache reserves, AMD appears to be reducing the practical differences for certain users.

Tasks such as rendering, simulation, and software builds are increasingly feasible on a mainstream desktop platform without moving to specialized hardware.

Alongside the processor itself, AMD continues to build around the AM5 platform, maintaining its emphasis on long-term compatibility across multiple generations.

This approach reduces the need for full system replacements when upgrading processors, extending a pattern that was already established during the AM4 era.

The new chip fits within that same framework, offering an upgrade path that does not require a complete rebuild.

This may carry practical importance for users maintaining systems over longer cycles, as AMD describes this processor as an effort to reduce trade-offs between gaming performance and productivity workloads, particularly with the introduction of dual-chiplet 3D V-Cache.

The chip is set to launch on April 22, 2026, when these performance claims will be tested against real-world use.

• PlayStation Pro architect Mark Cerny has confirmed that FSR Frame Generation will be coming to PlayStation "at some point"
• Cerny says he's "very happy with how that work is progressing"
• He adds that Sony has no more major releases planned for this year

Sony has confirmed that PlayStation will soon receive AMD's FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) Frame Generation technology.

That's according to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro console architect Mark Cerny, who discussed Sony's Project Amethyst collaboration with AMD with Digital Foundry and shared that the company's FSR tech will be coming to "PlayStation platforms".

"Just to clarify a few things about the collaboration with AMD, the new PSSR uses the same core co-developed algorithm as FSR Redstone's Upscaling (to avoid confusion, I'll use the new names today rather than FSR4)," Cerny said.

"FSR Frame Generation is also based on co-developed technology (or as my good friend Jack Huynh puts it, 'co-engineered technology'). I’m very happy with how that work is progressing, and an equivalent frame generation library should be seen at some point on PlayStation platforms."

When asked what these platforms would be, Cerny couldn't say, nor could he determine which machine-learning-based innovations would come to PS5 Pro, or which could arrive with the PS6. However, he did confirm no more major console update will arrive in 2026.

"Great questions, particularly considering that FSR Frame Generation is technology that was co-developed between SIE and AMD, we're intimately familiar with it," Cerny said. "All I can say is that we have no more releases planned for this year. And that I look forward to discussing this more in the future!"

In the same interview, Cerny revealed that Sony’s updated PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) AI upscaling technology is faster than its original incarnation.

Cerny said that the new rendition is around "100 microseconds faster" than the original and allowed Sony to introduce an improved image quality option to "force-upgrade all PSSR-supported games."

The new PSSR tech is now available for a range of games, including Resident Evil Requiem, Silent Hill f, Monster Hunter Wilds, Alan Wake 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and more. It will also be available for Crimson Desert, Cyberpunk 2077, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows soon.

• Agentic AI enables PCs to autonomously execute multiple tasks in parallel
• Persistent local AI reduces reliance on cloud computing for sensitive workflows
• Professionals can delegate urgent tasks and wake to completed project summaries

The personal computer has been central to work and creativity for four decades, allowing users to write, build, design, and analyze with professional-grade tools - but PCs have largely remained tools operated directly by humans, opening apps and performing tasks manually.

However, AMD now suggests that Agentic AI could be the killer app for even decades-old PCs, transforming them into systems that autonomously execute tasks and manage workflows.

Unlike traditional software, these AI agents can operate persistently, moving through information, drafting messages, compiling data, and summarizing key insights without constant human intervention.

Agents transform task management

In practical terms, professionals can wake up to find urgent communications addressed, briefing documents assembled, and project summaries ready for review — work that previously required hours of human attention.

Agent Computers differ from standard PCs because they are not directly operated for each action.

A user delegates responsibilities, and the agents execute tasks in parallel, continuously, and autonomously.

Dropping a request into Slack or sending a message triggers the agent to perform follow-up work, research information, and compile results in real time.

AMD argues this approach amplifies human capability rather than replacing it, allowing creators, developers, and professionals to focus on higher-value work while the machine manages logistics.

The combination of local AI persistence and autonomous execution is essential for everyday usability, particularly where privacy, cost efficiency, and control over sensitive data are required.

Running AI agents effectively demands high-performance components capable of supporting parallel workloads.

AMD’s Ryzen AI Max+ processors, including the AI Max+ 395, are designed for persistent local models and multi-agent environments.

These processors provide the bandwidth, memory capacity, and compute efficiency necessary for a system that is always on and capable of handling multiple simultaneous AI tasks.

Systems like the Framework Desktop or AMD Ryzen AI Halo are cited as practical examples of machines built to serve as Agent Computers.

The Agent Computer functions differently from regular PCs — it works for the user, not simply with them.

AMD sees this as a new evolution in personal computing where AI agents operate independently yet locally, ensuring tasks are executed efficiently while maintaining data privacy.

However, widespread adoption of this system will depend not only on hardware capability but also on software reliability, cost, and user trust in persistent AI systems.

The Agent Computer concept makes AI agents central to modern computing, requiring high-performance processors, fast memory, and always-on systems.

AMD argues that combining such hardware with agentic software extends traditional PCs into autonomous, persistent task management for users and organizations.

• Huawei Atlas 950 and TaiShan 950 SuperPoDs unveiled globally at MWC 2026
• Atlas 950 links up to 8,192 Ascend NPUs into a single logical AI system
• Huawei enters AI infrastructure race with full-stack platform to rival Nvidia and AMD

At MWC 2026, Huawei unveiled its Atlas 950 and TaiShan 950 SuperPoDs to a global audience for the first time, expanding its largest AI computing clusters beyond the Chinese market.

AI models are now measured in trillions of parameters, and agentic systems are beginning to run inside real production environments. Scaling those workloads by simply adding more servers is becoming inefficient, with coordination overhead and latency limiting performance in very large clusters.

Atlas 950 is built around up to 8,192 Ascend NPUs connected through Huawei’s UnifiedBus interconnect. Instead of operating as thousands of loosely linked accelerators, the system is engineered to behave as a single logical computer, reducing communication delays between processors during large training runs.

TaiShan 950 SuperPoD

At full configuration, the system is rated for up to 8 exaflops of FP8 performance and 16 exaflops in lower-precision formats.

It spans roughly 160 cabinets across close to 1,000 square meters, supports more than a petabyte of memory, and delivers 16.3PB/s of interconnect bandwidth.

That level of scale targets large model training and high-throughput inference workloads.

The TaiShan 950 SuperPoD, also shown off at MWC 2026, extends the same architectural approach to general-purpose computing, targeting enterprise data center workloads beyond dedicated AI training.

TaiShan 500 and TaiShan 200 servers round out the portfolio at lower performance tiers.

The global debut places Huawei in direct competition with Nvidia’s DGX SuperPOD and NVL platforms, as well as AMD’s forthcoming MegaPod systems built around Instinct accelerators (see how they compare here).

Nvidia’s advantage lies in its long-established CUDA software platform and GPU clusters that are already widely deployed in research labs and enterprise data centers.

Atlas 950 runs on Huawei’s Ascend AI chips and works with CANN, its open-sourced compute architecture that supports frameworks such as PyTorch and Triton.

That combination gives developers a way to build and run AI workloads without relying on Nvidia’s CUDA platform, offering an alternative path for large-scale AI systems.

By bringing Atlas 950 to MWC’s global stage, Huawei is presenting itself not just as a chip designer, but as a builder of complete AI computing systems competing at the highest end of the data center market.

• AMD reveals its Ryzen AI 400 series at MWC 2026 as the successor to the Ryzen 8000G range
• These chips have been refocused on AI, with an NPU that hits 50 TOPS
• It means a desktop PC will qualify for Windows 11's Copilot+ features

Over at MWC 2026 AMD has revealed new Ryzen AI processors designed to bring a powerful NPU – and Copilot+ (AI) features – to desktop PCs.

As TechSpot flagged up, the Ryzen AI 400 series (which comes alongside Pro variants for businesses) is built with Zen 5 CPU cores (as with Ryzen 9000), along with an RDNA 3.5 integrated GPU and an XDNA 2-powered NPU for accelerating on-device AI tasks.

The idea is to provide a relatively wallet-friendly all-in-one processor for more budget-oriented PCs which don't have a discrete graphics card, bringing in the ability to use AI features with an NPU that's rated at 50 TOPS. That's fast enough to qualify as a Copilot+ PC and to access Windows 11's AI trappings therein, such as Windows Studio Effects for improving video chats.

The flagship model is the Ryzen AI 7 450G, which offers eight cores (16 threads), 24MB of cache, and boosts up to 5.1GHz, packing Radeon 860M graphics. The latter is RDNA 3.5 and has eight Compute Units (CUs).

There are also Ryzen AI 5 chips, the 440G and 435G, which have six cores (12 threads) and boost up to 4.8GHz and 4.5GHz respectively (with 22MB and 14MB cache). They step down to a Radeon 840M integrated GPU with four CUs, but all chips have the full-fat NPU with (up to) 50 TOPS.

The TDP of these processors is 65W, but they also come in low-power versions (GE models) that only use 35W.

According to TechSpot, AMD (and other sources) have said that these Ryzen AI 400 desktop models won't be sold as boxed standalone products, at least not initially – they'll be for PC makers (OEMs) instead.

In other words, you'll likely only be able to buy prebuilt machines with these CPUs, with those PCs expected to debut in Q2 2026. However, later on, these chips should be available directly on retailer's shelves.

Analysis: It's all about that AI

As mentioned, these processors are targeted for budget builds with no GPU, or mini PCs, or indeed office computers (there are Ryzen AI Pro 400 versions as mentioned). If you're wondering where they fit in AMD's range of silicon, they're replacements for the old Ryzen 8000G offerings.

So, they could theoretically be Ryzen 9000G chips, but due to the new AI slant – and that much more powerful NPU for the desktop – AMD has rejigged the naming to reflect this.

These chips are mainly designed for efficiency (particularly the power-sipping GE variants) and the ability to run AI tasks swiftly, or indeed running (modest) LLMs (Large Language Models) locally.

That isn't an exciting prospect for many folks, though, and a good deal of the early online feedback very much reflects this. The Ryzen AI 7 450G flagship will make a decent enough effort at casual gaming, but there's been some disappointment around the chip's performance levels in that respect, too. Mainly because the integrated GPU has fewer CUs than its flagship Ryzen 8000G predecessor, and so isn't much of a step forward. (It's architecturally more advanced, of course, being built on RDNA 3.5, which means a refreshed RDNA 3).

Would you rather have had the extra chip space put into a powerful NPU so you can have Copilot+ offerings in Windows, or would you have rather had the effort put into a juicier integrated GPU for a machine that could handle a bit more gaming as well as office work?

We'll have to see how pricing shakes out with the prebuilt PCs that turn up with Ryzen AI 400 processors inside, but obviously the likes of Lenovo, HP and Dell are going to struggle keeping a lid on price tags with the RAM crisis still very much making life miserable for anyone looking at buying (or upgrading) a computer.

TechRadar is on the show floor for this year’s MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona, Spain, and we’ll be covering the latest news from some of the biggest names in mobile, computing, fitness and more.

• AMD expands aggressively into virtualized 5G infrastructure and edge deployments
• AMD Sorano now delivers 84 cores for demanding telecom network workloads
• Improved LDPC decoding efficiency directly affects overall network capacity scaling

AMD has introduced its latest 8005-series Epyc processors, codenamed Sorano, with a clear focus on telecom and edge infrastructure.

The new chips raise core counts to as many as 84 Zen 5 cores, marking a notable jump from the earlier Siena generation.

Its power consumption is rated at up to 225 watts, while lower thermal envelopes may follow based on previous designs.

Expanding the Zen 5 Epyc lineup for edge workloads

Sorano is built for virtualized radio access network deployments, where operators increasingly rely on standard server hardware instead of proprietary systems.

In this environment, both CPU throughput and predictable latency matter more than peak clock speed.

AMD says the architecture includes a full 512-bit data path for vector instructions, reflecting broader Zen 5 changes already disclosed by the company.

A central claim around Sorano involves improvements to low-density parity check decoding, a core requirement in 5G networks.

According to AMD, greater efficiency in LDPC handling allows operators to free compute capacity for additional Layer 1 and Layer 2 processing, which could translate into more network functions running per server inside a data center or edge facility. The company is also emphasizing energy efficiency alongside higher core density.

If Sorano mirrors Siena’s lower power variants, telecom operators may see configurations under 100 watts for specific deployments.

In edge scenarios, where thermal limits and environmental tolerances are stricter, the balance between performance and consumption carries financial implications.

AMD’s latest move does not occur in isolation. Intel continues to develop its own telecom-focused processors, including the Xeon 6E and Xeon 6 SoC lines.

The Xeon 6700E can scale up to 144 efficiency cores, trading advanced instruction features for density and lower power draw.

Meanwhile, the Xeon 6 SoC integrates accelerators aimed at vRAN workloads, alongside high-speed networking and support for AI and media tasks often handled by a GPU in broader deployments.

Companies such as Ericsson and Nokia continue to deploy Intel-based platforms in commercial networks, showing that long-term partnerships still influence procurement decisions.

AMD will need to show measurable gains beyond core counts to shift entrenched vendor relationships.

Sorano may represent the last major Zen 5 Epyc release before the arrival of Venice, AMD’s next-generation server CPU planned for 2026.

Whether this iteration materially changes telecom infrastructure economics remains uncertain — core increases alone rarely determine purchasing cycles in a conservative industry.

• Meta commits to six gigawatts of AMD Instinct GPU hardware
• Initial one-gigawatt deployment scheduled for the second half of 2026
• Custom MI450 silicon engineered specifically for Meta AI workloads

AMD and Meta have agreed to deploy up to 6GW of AMD Instinct GPUs over several generations, marking one of the largest disclosed infrastructure commitments in the AI sector.

The scale of the plan suggests a major expansion of Meta’s internal computing capacity as demand for training and running advanced AI models continues to grow.

The first phase of shipments is expected to begin in the second half of 2026 and will support an initial 1GW deployment.

First deployment timeline takes shape

That rollout will rely on a custom GPU derived from AMD’s MI450 architecture and integrated within the company’s Helios rack-scale platform.

The systems will also use sixth-generation EPYC processors, code-named Venice, alongside ROCm software.

The agreement builds on an existing relationship in which Meta has already deployed large numbers of EPYC CPUs and earlier Instinct GPUs across its global data center footprint.

As AI workloads increase in complexity, the balance between CPUs and GPUs has become more critical, particularly for orchestration, scheduling, and efficiency across massive clusters.

Beyond the hardware supply deal, the companies are co-engineering a custom GPU optimized for Meta’s AI workloads.

The custom MI450-based design is expected to support large-scale AI training and inference tasks across Meta’s services.

Meta says AI infrastructure is central to delivering services to billions of users, including recommendation systems, generative tools, and future applications that rely on intensive computation.

“We’re excited to form a long-term partnership with AMD to deploy efficient inference compute and deliver personal superintelligence,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Meta.

“This is an important step for Meta as we diversify our compute. I expect AMD to be an important partner for many years to come.”

For AMD, the agreement deepens its presence in hyperscale data centers at a time when competition in AI accelerators remains intense.

“We are proud to expand our strategic partnership with Meta as it pushes the boundaries of AI at unprecedented scale,” said Dr. Lisa Su, chair and CEO, AMD.

“This multi-year, multi-generation collaboration across Instinct GPUs, EPYC CPUs, and rack-scale AI systems aligns our roadmaps to deliver high-performance, energy-efficient infrastructure optimized for Meta’s workloads, accelerating one of the industry’s largest AI deployments and placing AMD at the center of the global AI buildout.”

The partnership also includes a performance-based warrant allowing Meta to acquire up to 160 million AMD shares, with vesting tied to shipment and stock milestones.

The first portion vests after the initial gigawatt of GPU shipments, while additional tranches depend on scaling purchases toward the full 6GW commitment.

Such structures link commercial success directly to equity participation, aligning incentives as infrastructure expands.

“We expect this partnership to drive substantial multi-year revenue growth and be accretive to our non-GAAP earnings per share,” said Jean Hu, EVP, CFO, and treasurer, AMD.

“The performance-based structure also tightly aligns AMD and Meta around execution and long-term value creation.”

• Micron has unveiled faster new GDDR7 video memory
• It runs at 36Gbps compared to 32Gbps for the initial incarnation of GDDR7
• This memory also comes in 3GB modules rather than 2GB, which is an important step forward for graphics card VRAM capacity

Micron has released a new type of GDDR7 memory for graphics cards, which is the firm's fastest such RAM yet.

Tom's Hardware reports that Micron issued a press release detailing the new GGDR7 memory, which offers a speed of 36Gbps. For perspective, the first GDDR7 modules that hit the market — and arrived on consumer GPUs with the RTX 5000 series from Nvidia — were 32Gbps modules. (Although they were run slower than that, at 28Gbps in most cases, for better thermals and stability).

Another key step forward with Micron's new GDDR7 is that it uses 3GB modules rather than 2GB (and a 24Gb density). You can only fit so many memory chips on any given graphics card — based on the bus width of the board, the lanes that link the memory to the GPU chip itself — so going from 2GB to 3GB modules allows for loading up more video RAM and a higher overall capacity.

As Micron notes: "Modern games are pushing GPU architectures harder than ever."

The firm expands on that: "As game environments expand and visual assets grow, memory capacity becomes critical to maintaining seamless, artifact-free experiences. Micron's new 24Gb density enables up to 96GB of graphics memory, giving GPUs significantly more space for high-resolution textures, expansive worlds, and advanced visual effects."

Essentially, the maximum video RAM loadout with these chips on a consumer graphics card with a 512-bit bus (as seen on the RTX 5090) is now 96GB, rather than 64GB with 2GB modules. (Note that this maximum involves using chips front and back of the board in a 'clamshell' configuration, a more complex and costlier endeavor, which is why Nvidia ran with a spec of 32GB with just modules on the front.)

Analysis: looking to the future

Right here and right now, this doesn't mean a whole lot to gamers, of course. Currently we're all more worried about the scarcity of existing forms of video RAM pushing up the prices of graphics cards slowly but surely.

And while it may seem odd to see 96GB of VRAM mentioned in relation to gaming – and to be fair, it is odd — Micron is really just promoting the benefits of 3GB modules more broadly. It's a boast of 'up to' 96GB, and the effects will be felt across whole GPU product stacks, including the likes of 128-bit affordable GPUs that have 8GB now, but could be configured with 12GB using 3GB modules. That's an important upgrade which avoids the aforementioned complications of a 'clamshell' design to increase video RAM capacity.

Micron should have angled its press release better in this respect, but instead wanted to go with an eye-catching 96GB figure, I guess — marketing is often a 'numbers game' in that respect.

At any rate, for the mentioned reasons, it's good news to see a bolstered form of GDDR7 from another memory chip maker. And I say another, because there are two other big forces in this arena, Samsung and SK Hynix, and both already have faster takes on GDDR7 that run at up to 42.5Gbps and 40Gbps respectively.

However, 36Gbps is still a more than respectable speed boost, and as I already mentioned, Nvidia hasn't even pushed to get the top speed out of the initial GDDR7 incarnation, which offered 32Gbps. As noted, all the initial Blackwell GPUs that used GDDR7 ran at 28Gbps, and just the RTX 5080 differs – and even that graphics card only pushed to 30Gbps. (A move that was implemented to make up for its much leaner memory bus compared to the RTX 5090.)

It is also noteworthy that Micron spends some time considering gaming angles in its press release, and this new GDDR7 could well be what we see in Nvidia's next-gen graphics cards. That could be true not just for RTX 6000 GPUs, but also for AMD's next-gen graphics cards. (Team Red stuck with GDDR6 in RDNA 4 this time around).

There is another possibility, though, and that's the rumored RTX 5000 Super refreshes employing this Micron VRAM. I wouldn't rule that out, as these GPUs are supposedly really beefing up memory loadouts. On the subject of these cards, the latest speculation insists that Nvidia's Blackwell Super revamps won't arrive this year (as previously hoped). So, whatever the case, it's likely we're quite a long way out from seeing this faster GDDR7 memory in consumer graphics cards.

Mind you, in the current climate, with the RAM crisis making matters difficult for graphics card makers, talk of scope for expanding VRAM loadouts feels rather pointless at best. Hopefully this isn't a situation that'll persist for too long, but the general indicators right now aren't good – certainly not for this year.

• Crimson Desert will feature both AMD's FSR Redstone and Nvidia's DLSS 4
• Redstone's Ray Regeneration will also be available
• The open-world game is being optimized to run natively, with upscaling as a secondary consideration

Pearl Abyss is working diligently to refine Crimson Desert, ensuring the open-world action adventure performs optimally for both PC and console players ahead of its March 19 launch date – and that now includes FSR Redstone support.

As reported by VideoCardz, AMD's FSR Redstone will be available in Crimson Desert at launch for RDNA 4 GPU users, providing enhanced performance and image quality via upscaling. The game will also support FSR Ray Regeneration, another part of the Redstone package designed to boost ray-traced details in-game.

While Crimson Desert is an FSR Redstone game, it's worth noting that Nvidia's DLSS 4 will also be available at launch as well.

However, Pearl Abyss has made it clear that it's not optimizing the game with upscaling in mind, but rather the developer is focusing on running natively, as noted by PR director Will Powers. In other words, Pearl Abyss isn't relying on upscaling for good performance, but instead views upscaling tools as bonuses once the game's base optimization at native resolution is complete.

There's no denying the benefits of upscaling via FSR or DLSS, as it's often handy for lower-end hardware, but having a game optimized without using either is great news for everyone. And frankly, it's a positive sign that Crimson Desert will run well on both console and PC.

Digital Foundry previously observed that Crimson Desert was running at 4K native resolution seemingly at around 40 to 50fps on a Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU at CES 2026, and that was supposedly in an older build of the game. If that's anything to go by, we should be in for a treat in terms of performance.

It's all possible thanks to the BlackSpace Engine

Pearl Abyss wanted to build its own proprietary engine for a game like Crimson Desert, and its high level of detail in aspects such as the draw distance and weather cycle is only possible thanks to that BlackSpace Engine.

Will Powers reiterated this and highlighted how Crimson Desert wouldn't be able to run on Unreal Engine 5, considering how much depth and detail are included in the visuals. The fact that Pearl Abyss is focusing hard on native frame rate optimization is a big statement.

There's still no official information on performance targets for either PC or console, but the marketing so far all sounds very promising.

The proof will be in the actual playing of the game, of course, but I've got a hunch that we could be looking at a well-optimized title at launch – and that doesn't happen very often.

• ComputerBase ran a comparison between DLSS, FSR and native 4K
• Readers watched videos of all three and voted for the best image quality
• Nvidia's DLSS came out top by far, with FSR falling behind it, and native rendering too — but we need to be careful about what conclusions we draw

Which is best for image quality: Nvidia's DLSS, AMD's FSR, or not using any upscaling at all, and running your games at native 4K resolution? If you thought native was the best choice, well, think again — because a vote held by a tech site has crowned Nvidia the clear winner here.

Tom's Hardware flagged up the intriguing test conducted by ComputerBase, with the readers of the German website being presented with three side-by-side videos.

These showed off DLSS 4.5, FSR 4 (Redstone), and native 4K, and viewers were asked to vote for the video that offered the best image quality. Both upscaling techs were running in 'quality' mode (rather than 'performance'), and native 4K had TAA applied (temporal anti-aliasing, which smooths out jagged edges).

Six games were involved here, with votes registered over two weeks. This was a blind test — meaning the videos were presented unlabelled, so biases towards AMD or Nvidia could be set aside — and readers had to choose which they thought looked best.

This was purely judged on image quality, and you could only pick a winner (no second places). However, if you couldn't tell any real difference between the choices, you could vote to say it was a tie and they were all equivalent.

The end result was a big victory for Nvidia, with DLSS snagging 48.2% of the total vote (6,700 opinions were registered, by the way). Native rendering was in second place with 24% of respondents preferring that, with FSR lagging considerably behind on 15%.

Around 12.8% of those who took the test effectively abstained, as they couldn't see any meaningful difference between the three.

The following games were tested: Anno 117, Arc Raiders, Cyberpunk 2077, Horizon Forbidden West, Satisfactory, and The Last of Us Part II.

Breaking down the results for the individual games showed some clear wins for Nvidia, which notably secured 60.9% of the vote in Satisfactory, and 56.3% in Horizon Forbidden West.

Nvidia won with every single game, although the worst result for DLSS, which was in Cyberpunk 2077, still beat out native rendering (just). Here Nvidia picked up 34.4% of the vote versus 32.4% for native 4K, with AMD hitting its lowest percentage at just 10.6%.

Interestingly, Cyberpunk 2077 was something of an outlier in that it was the only game to have considerable doubt around respondents' assessments of the best quality, with 22.6% being unable to make a call, and voting them all equivalent. With all the other games, the abstainers were in the 8% to 12% ballpark, meaning roughly one in 10 — but in the case of Cyberpunk 2077 approaching one in four gamers were unable to tell.

AMD's best result was for The Last of Us Part II where FSR captured 25.3% of the vote, but it was still in last place here, falling just behind native rendering on 25.9%, with Nvidia winning with 40.9% of the vote (its weakest showing aside from Cyberpunk 2077).

Analysis: a measure of just how good upscaling has become

This is a really interesting set of stats, and it shows just how much upscaling has supercharged contemporary GPUs in terms of producing a better-looking image than native rendering at 4K — and of course a frame rate boost, too. (Although 'quality' obviously doesn't provide the same boost as 'performance' for DLSS or FSR).

It also reflects the broader sentiment you'll find online, which is that DLSS is the reigning monarch of the upscalers. However, AMD has received considerable acclaim for the strides it has taken forward with FSR 4, but that doesn't come across clearly here.

As ComputerBase points out, though, we need to be careful about concluding that AMD FSR is worse than native rendering based on these results, as only one pick was made — for the best quality — and second or third place weren't taken into account. Having a full picture of rankings in that respect could have changed the overall findings.

It's also worth noting that the videos weren't simply uploaded to YouTube, but ComputerBase readers had to download them from the site and watch them via Nvidia's ICAT player. This was to ensure a higher level of quality for the footage and avoid YouTube's various compression antics, which would have watered down the comparison here.

This is clearly a big win for Nvidia, then, and a healthy prod for AMD in terms of needing to catch up more than Team Red has managed so far with the release of Redstone.

From browsing various online forums, you'll see that there are already a lot of gamers sold on the benefits of Nvidia DLSS over and above native rendering — but this test underlines just how good Team Green's tech is in terms of providing a more detailed, superior image quality.

If you're wondering where Intel's XeSS got to in this comparison, it was likely ruled out due to running the tests at 4K — and the lack of an appropriate high-end Intel Arc GPU in that regard — plus the fact that a fourth solution would've complicated matters considerably for ComputerBase (and the viewers judging). Discrete Arc graphics cards are, of course, very much a niche proposition anyway.

• A new report estimates GPU prices are up by 15% globally over the past three months
• Higher-end Nvidia graphics cards have been hit the hardest by price hikes
• The US is suffering from some of the most eye-watering price increases

If you needed any confirmation that GPU prices are rising, a new report shows that graphics cards are definitely getting more expensive across the globe – particularly for some Nvidia models.

As VideoCardz highlighted, TechSpot compiled some statistics which involved tracking 14 GPUs (from AMD, Intel and Nvidia) across 10 regions globally, using local price comparison websites to find the cheapest products from retailers in those countries. Only prices for models in stock and available to buy were used, as you might imagine (sold-out cheap GPUs aren't any good to anyone).

TechSpot collected the initial data on pricing in November 2025, before graphics card pricing started to spike – a side-effect of RAM shortages, which hit video memory too, of course. The second set of data was gathered this month, providing a roughly three-month snapshot of the rising costs of GPUs across the globe.

Overall, there's been a 15% increase across all models and regions on average. To put that another way, a graphics card that was $300 a few months ago now costs $345.

Nvidia graphics cards are clearly the hardest hit by price inflation here. It probably comes as no surprise to you that the RTX 5090 is the worst offender, as we've already observed that the asking price for this flagship Blackwell GPU has gone through the roof since the start of 2026 (and it was already pricey).

TechSpot estimates the overall increase for the RTX 5090 globally to be 31%, although in the US it's particularly hefty at 40% (it's actually 50%, or just over, in India and Poland).

The situation with Nvidia's RTX 5080 is almost as bad, with a 25% increase, the same as the RTX 5070 Ti. Again, in the US, the inflation of those two GPUs is around 40%, a good deal heftier than in many other countries.

Lower-end Nvidia models aren't faring quite so badly with inflation. RTX 5060 models are only up 10 to 11%, which isn't so terrible (especially not when compared with the RAM price rises out there, of course). The RTX 5070 is up 14%, but there's a notable outlier: the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is up by 22% globally.

Away from Team Green, the increases with AMD GPUs are not nearly as bad. The worst offender on the Radeon side of the fence is the RX 9060 XT 16GB, which is up by 15% worldwide, certainly an unwelcome jump. RX 9070 models are only up by 7 or 8%, though, which is relatively palatable.

There are some more uncomfortable shifts in the US retail market, mind, with the 9070 XT up by 21% in the last three months, and the 9060 XT 8GB has jumped by 20%. So that's quite brutal in both cases.

As for Intel, the Arc B580 has seen its price rise by 11% globally, but the B570 has only witnessed inflation to the tune of 4%.

Analysis: a worrying future?

Theories have been floating around about Nvidia prioritizing AI GPUs over gaming (GeForce) models since the supply of VRAM got shakier, and this evidence appears to back up those notions. Obviously, we can't read too much into this, but whichever way you slice and dice these stats, Nvidia's graphics cards are very much hit by the worst of the increases, particularly at the higher-end of the GPU scale.

The RTX 5090 remains at a ludicrous price in the US, frankly, with the cheapest model at Newegg currently maintaining an asking price of $3,600. (Meaning that buying a whole prebuilt Alienware PC with an RTX 5090 inside is only about 25% more expensive, and you're getting a whole lot of matching high-end kit for the additional premium, including some seriously expensive RAM, naturally).

The rumor that supply is dwindling with the RTX 5070 Ti – which has 16GB of VRAM – and also the RTX 5060 Ti with that same video memory loadout, appears to be backed up by what TechSpot observes here. Those GPUs are up strongly in price (25% and 22% respectively), suggesting that stock could be getting leaner – which would cause prices to rise due to demand.

All of this is grist for the rumor mill theory that Nvidia's graphics cards with higher VRAM loadouts are suffering as AI GPUs (with whopping memory pools) need to take priority, as they make a lot more in the way of profit for Team Green.

The worry here is what the future holds, and whether this kind of rise is going to be sustained – or indeed spread more to AMD's RDNA 4 GPUs. With no signs of the RAM pricing crisis abating, the knock-on effects for graphics card makers are likely to continue to be felt perhaps even more keenly as this first half of 2026 progresses.

Building a PC has certainly become a miserable business, with the huge hike in the cost of system RAM, along with storage following a similar upwards pricing trajectory, and now GPUs are causing a bit of extra chaos in the mix.

• Ayaneo announced the Next 2 handheld's specifications and price
• The new gaming handheld will cost up to $4,299, and its early bird price is $3,499
• The Next 2 will be available via Ayaneo's Indiegogo campaign this February

Gaming PC hardware is taking a huge hit thanks to the ongoing RAM crisis, with rising prices and even the delaying of the highly anticipated Steam Machine. Unfortunately, it appears as though things are only just getting started.

Handheld brand Ayaneo has revealed a wealth of new information about its upcoming Next 2 handheld gaming PC including the fact that it will cost $4,299 / around £3,160 / AU$6,130 for a 128GB RAM and 2TB storage model. That's more than an RTX 5090!

Its early bird price is set at $3,499 / around £2,570 / AU$4,990, for consumers who want to save a little by backing the Indiegogo campaign.

The Ayaneo Next 2 is a beefy handheld gaming PC, equipped with AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor, a 116WH battery, and a 9-inch OLED display. Those specifications are almost equivalent to those of a budget gaming laptop, as the Max+ 395's performance is similar to that of an RTX 4060.

While the Ayaneo Next 2 was always expected to be an expensive handheld – since all Ryzen AI Max+ 395-powered handhelds are – the $4,299 retail price tag could be a step too far, even for consumers willing to pay high prices for handheld devices, and it's largely due to the RAM crisis.

It's not just the 128GB model either, as the base model matches the RTX 5090's $1,999 MSRP, equipped with the less powerful Ryzen AI Max 385 processor and 32GB of RAM.

A model with the AI Max+ 395 has 64GB of RAM, which isn't needed for handheld gaming (and certainly not 128GB), but consumers will have to pay $2,699 to get their hands on it.

If RAM prices continue to skyrocket, there's a high chance Ayaneo's listed retail prices won't stick once it officially launches too.

Analysis: 128GB of RAM isn't necessary for handhelds

The RAM crisis isn't going anywhere any time soon, and Ayaneo hasn't made it any easier by using high RAM configurations. Most mainstream handhelds run perfectly fine with 32GB of RAM (some even with 16GB), which is why the push for 64GB and 128GB seems like complete overkill.

The AI Max+ 395 APU, 9-inch OLED display, and 116WH battery are already enough to make the Next 2 a niche device, with a high price, but the addition of 128GB of RAM makes it unattainable, even for consumers willing to spend big bucks for portable gaming.

Nvidia's RTX 5090 is hardly available at any retailer store, and the third-party options are all far above the $1,999 / £1,799 / AU$4,039 MSRP, with some almost costing $5,000 on Best Buy. That same amount can net a consumer a brand-new desktop gaming PC, which is a better option over both the Next 2 handheld and RTX 5090 GPU.

It wouldn't surprise me if new handhelds in 2026 end up creating 8GB RAM configurations, because the PC hardware market looks like it's only going to get worse at this rate.

• AMD quarterly revenue surges despite mounting pressure across the global PC market
• Memory and SSD prices are making new PC builds increasingly unrealistic
• AMD expects PC demand to decline even while its own sales rise

Memory and SSD prices have continued to rise sharply, creating major hurdles for building new PCs, as in some cases, RAM kits now cost four times more than recent lows - but despite these pressures, AMD expects its PC business to grow in 2026.

"Even in that environment, with the PC market down, we believe we can grow our PC business…I think the PC market is an important market. Based on everything we're seeing today, we're probably seeing the PC [Total Addressable Market] down a bit," AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su said announcing the company's most recent financial results.

"Our focus areas are enterprise... and just continuing to grow at the premium, you know, higher end of the market."

PC market challenges remain

AMD announced $10.3 billion in revenue for its most recent financial quarter, marking a 34% year-over-year increase and bringing total annual revenue to $34.6 billion.

The results include $440 million in inventory of Instinct MI308 accelerators, of which export controls cleared about $360 million.

Total MI308 revenue from sales to China reached about $390 million during the quarter. Gross margin stood at 54%, with net income totaling $1.5 billion.

For the full year, AMD reported a 52% non-GAAP gross margin and $6.8 billion in net income, reflecting steady financial performance despite broader market uncertainty.

AMD’s data center business is now its largest segment and generated $5.4 billion for the quarter, up 39% year-over-year.

Full year data center revenue reached $16.6 billion, representing 32% growth, although it remains smaller than Nvidia’s data center revenue of $51.2 billion.

The client and gaming segment posted $3.9 billion for the quarter, a 37% year-over-year increase, with full year revenue reaching $14.6 billion, up 51%.

Gaming-only revenue rose 50% to $843 million, driven by semi-custom consoles such as the PlayStation 5 and handheld devices like the Steam Deck, along with Radeon GPUs.

AMD’s Ryzen CPUs fall under the client business, and demand for GPUs and AI tools continues to shape revenue trends.

The embedded segment generated $950 million for the quarter, up 3% year-over-year, although full year revenue declined 3% to $3.5 billion.

AMD has said that growth in premium enterprise products and client upgrades could offset slower performance in smaller segments, particularly as RAM and SSD prices remain high.

• A Chinese manufacturer, Seaviv, has revealed a new all-in-one PC
• The AideaOne R27 is a premium-looking all-in-one like Apple's iMac, but with a big difference
• It's built around AMD's powerful Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor, backed with an eye-opening amount of RAM

AMD's flagship Strix Halo chip is the powerful engine of a new all-in-one PC that's been revealed over in Asia.

As reported by VideoCardz, Chinese manufacturer Seaviv has unveiled the AideaOne R27 all-in-one PC, which is built around a 27-inch 4K screen and AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor (which has found a home in plenty of mini PCs and handhelds).

The hardware components are in the monitor's stand, a different approach to situating them behind the screen as with a typical all-in-one device.

The AideaOne R27 is a premium-looking PC and is listed at 21,999 yuan in China, which is around $3,170 in the US. That's a big step up from the Apple iMac M4 starting at $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$1,999, but the R27 packs some seriously powerful components to justify the price.

Seaviv's all-in-one PC doesn't just have that beefy 16-core Ryzen chip, which incorporates a Radeon 8060S integrated GPU, but it's also packed with 128GB of RAM – which in itself costs a small fortune these days – as well as a 2TB SSD.

The RAM crisis has led to an unprecedented hike in prices for memory kits, so all in all, the $3,000 price tag is not that surprising. After all, this is an all-in-one PC that can tackle demanding tasks for productivity, and gaming with performance results similar to an Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU.

It's a niche product, though, obviously enough – and not one the average consumer will be able to stomach the price of, certainly not in comparison to Apple's iMac.

Analysis: the OLED factor

There's a notable weak spot with the AideaOne R27, and it's not just the availability of the device outside of Asia (which we don't have any info on). This downside is that the all-in-one PC has a rather pedestrian screen in the form of a regular 60Hz IPS monitor.

That may seem like something of a mismatch given the rest of the high-powered spec, but it's likely a reflection of the intended usage – meaning productivity, and those working with AI locally (given that massive lump of RAM inside).

It'll do gaming, and facilitate creative work, sure, but an OLED screen – which are gradually becoming more affordable and common for PC monitors – would be much better for those types of usage.

OLED offers much better contrast and color accuracy than a regular LED, of course, while delivering a punchier, more immersive image. There's no backlight bleed with OLED, either, as the tech relies on individual self-lit pixels (which allows for a truly deep black level).

Maybe in the future, we'll see an all-in-one built around the powerful Ryzen AI Max+ 395 with an OLED screen to give Apple something to really think about. Price would, of course, remain a question mark over such an all-in-one, which definitely wouldn't come cheap.

I admire niche products, like this AideaOne R27 PC, which are trying to do something different, with its peppy hardware and the approach of building the components into the stand, rather than within the display.

• Valve has said the Steam Machine is effectively delayed
• The device is now expected to arrive in the first half of 2026, so by June
• The pricing is also being revisited due to the RAM crisis, which has thrown a spanner in the works for the Steam Machine

No sooner had AMD's CEO Lisa Su said the Steam Machine was on track for its original release timeframe, Valve has told us that it's delayed – although not directly.

It's clear enough that there's been a delay, although Valve hasn't quite worded it as such in a new blog post which is framed as a kind of mini-FAQ (which was spotted by Eurogamer).

Let's look at the key part of the statement from Valve first, which addresses the two points that everyone is wondering about the most: namely the launch date and cost of the Steam Machine (as well as the Steam Frame, and Steam Controller).

Valve says: "When we announced these products in November, we planned on being able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now. But the memory and storage shortages you've likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then.

"The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing (especially around Steam Machine and Steam Frame).

"Our goal of shipping all three products in the first half of the year has not changed. But we have work to do to land on concrete pricing and launch dates that we can confidently announce."

Analysis: goalposts moved, wallets now feared for, gamers dismayed

There's something I need to take issue with immediately, and that's the stated "goal of shipping all three products in the first half of the year" not having changed. I beg to differ, because Valve said to expect these hardware releases "early in 2026" which I (and many others) took to mean Q1 2026.

Okay, so there's a reason Valve said "early" this year, rather than a more specific timeframe, and that's to avoid being pinned down to Q1 and a more exact launch target. As I've said before, April 2026 could still technically be regarded as relatively early in the year – there's a bit of room for maneuver here.

However, saying the "first half of 2026" is moving the goalposts completely. That could mean June, and in no way can that month be regarded as early in the year – it's the middle of 2026 (obviously). So, this is a delay, even though Valve has tried to couch it in terms of 'nothing having changed' here.

Clearly, things have changed – and rapidly – regarding memory pricing, as Valve states, and this has led to it revisiting the "exact shipping schedule and pricing". Indeed, Valve also told us here that the plan was to have already shared a launch date and pricing by now.

We all knew the price was always going to be a big issue here, and that Valve would likely struggle to keep a lid on it, especially given the meteoric rise of the cost of RAM and, to a lesser extent, SSDs.

So, what we have now, predictably enough, is a great deal of disappointment. Online comments lament that once again we are on 'Valve time' (meaning launch dates being pushed back), and there's a lot of skepticism about whether the first half of 2026 is even a realistic target. I can't say I blame the doubters, either.

Price-wise, the pessimistic cloud that's descended is even thicker than the murk surrounding the release timeframe. Commenters point out that Valve was already coy about sharing anything around the pricing, and we know that there'll be no subsidizing the PC to take the sting out of the MSRP that way, potentially. And now it feels like Valve is priming us to expect the worst with talk of 'revisiting' that costing exercise.

Previously, the guesswork was that the Steam Machine could be pitched starting at $800 or so. If we factor in RAM and storage price spikes, it feels like we could be looking at $900 or more likely closer to $1,000 for the recommended price at the entry level. Some even anticipate the living room PC could weigh in at more than a grand.

As one Redditor, Keraunos01, put it succinctly: "I cannot see this being affordable for most people at this rate..."

What's also worrying here is the indication that Valve isn't sitting on a bunch of component inventory for these PCs bought at previously lower (volume) prices, as we have a clear signal that the RAM price hikes will indeed be a heavy load to bear for the Steam Machine. Obviously, Valve must have some preexisting parts bought, but not nearly enough to carry any kind of launch volume through in 2026 (presumably).

In summary, then, we've moved from a Q1 to Q2 launch (in all likelihood), and from a hopeful $800 to more like looking at $1,000 for the base Steam Machine (though that remains pure guesswork, it should be noted).

A key question then becomes: would you buy the Steam Machine at these kind of asking prices rather than a cheaper PlayStation 5 Pro? (Although admittedly, game consoles may face RAM-pressured price hikes this year, too, but Sony could have a lot of room to maneuver if these Valve price predictions are anywhere near the mark).

Maybe Valve could look at alternative strategies for base-level pricing, like a barebones Steam Machine sold without RAM or storage, so some potential buyers might be able to cannibalize memory from an old PC (or grab it second-hand), for example, to achieve a more palatable bottom-tier price.

For now, though, disappointment reigns with this latest info drop from Valve. More updates via blog posts are promised from the company, and let's hope they ignite a bit more positivity around the Steam Machine again.

• AMD's GPUs are rumored to be getting more price hikes
• This follows price increases that were seemingly applied last month
• A separate claim is that AMD will also focus more on 8GB graphics cards rather than 16GB models

The GPU grapevine is again carrying chatter about AMD's plans for its Radeon graphics cards, which seemingly includes another price hike, and an adjustment of production strategy to favor 8GB products.

VideoCardz reports that these two rumors come from different sources, but they were both aired via the Board Channels over in China, which is a font of speculation from the supply chain over in Asia.

Firstly, let's look at the talk of price rises, where the claim is that either later this month or in March, some AMD graphics card makers may bump up the cost of their products, following a 5% to 10% rise that happened in January.

The extent of the increase this time round isn't known, but the expectation is that it will bring these Radeon GPUs in line with the price of comparable Nvidia models.

The second source floats the idea that AMD is going to modify its production levels of Radeon graphics cards to favor 8GB models more, but that any adjustment will be more of a tweak than a big shift on the assembly lines.

The further claim is that this new strategy will push two 8GB GPUs more to the fore with higher production levels: the RX 9060 XT 8GB (there's also a 16GB model of this card) and RX 7650 GRE.

Analysis: 8GB priority fully makes sense for both AMD and Nvidia

In case you were wondering what the RX 7650 GRE is, this is an Asia-only GPU from AMD, so you can't get it at retailers elsewhere (although you could have it shipped from Hong Kong or similar via a third-party marketplace seller, but I wouldn't recommend that for a number of reasons, such as returns and customer support for starters). It's essentially a slightly faster version of the RX 7600, although there's not a lot of difference.

As mentioned, there are two flavors of the RX 9060 XT, one with 16GB of video RAM and the other with 8GB, so gamers will doubtless be groaning to hear that the latter might be favored for stock levels.

There's long been a debate over whether 8GB of VRAM is enough for modern gaming, and I won't get into that again here, but there's certainly a lot of skepticism over this – and more to the point for me, the level of future-proofing you're getting with this amount of video memory.

Of course, with the RAM pricing crisis also affecting video memory, it only makes sense that AMD might pursue a course which shifts priorities away from more (relatively) affordable GPUs that pile up the VRAM like the RX 9060 XT 16GB. Nvidia is rumored to be doing the same thing, notably with the RTX 5060 Ti which has 8GB and 16GB spins, too.

As for the rumored price rises, AMD's GPUs are already creeping up in that respect, which may reflect the mentioned previous price bumps (which have been rumored going back some way) to an extent. Team Red has even admitted that asking prices may not 'remain flat' across its GPUs as we progress into 2026.

If we look at the RX 9060 XT 16GB, the cheapest I can see this for at the time of writing on Newegg is $440 in the US, which is almost $100 more expensive than its launch price ($349) last year. While it was good value at that release pricing, it's not looking so clever currently.

Interestingly, the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB – which is faster than the 9060 XT 16GB, but not hugely so (ray tracing aside) – has maintained the same price gap with the AMD GPU compared to their respective launch prices. They're $80 apart now (for the cheapest models on Newegg), and those recommended prices were also $80 apart. This seems to back up the idea that AMD Radeon prices will track Nvidia's mark-ups, which again, only makes sense.

We may well see GPU prices creeping up further over the next couple of months as predicted on the Board Channels – but that's hardly a shocker given the RAM crisis, which, despite some signs of it levelling out currently, is still expected to get worse throughout this first quarter of 2026.

If you're thinking of buying one of these more affordable 16GB GPUs, it's likely that now is the time to do so. Either that, or be prepared to wait out the crisis, which could last through this year and next, or at least that's what some analysts are predicting.

• AMD's CEO mentioned the Steam Machine in an earnings call
• Lisa Su said: "Valve is on track to begin shipping its AMD-powered Steam Machine early this year."
• This underlines what Valve has promised in the past in terms of an early-2026 arrival, and the device should hopefully debut in Q1

AMD's chief executive, Lisa Su, has told us that Valve is on course to release its Steam Machine early in 2026.

As Notebookcheck.net noticed, over on X Wario64 flagged up what the CEO had said during AMD's earnings call (following its Q4 fiscal report), as reported by Gamesbeat.

Su observed that: "From a product standpoint, Valve is on track to begin shipping its AMD-powered Steam Machine early this year."

She also mentioned that the next-gen Xbox is on target for a 2027 release, too, featuring an AMD chip as the engine inside.

If you recall, Valve promised that its compact living-room gaming PC would debut early in 2026, so Su is underlining that this is still the case for the Steam Machine.

Analysis: March it is, then?

So, apparently Valve still plans to launch the Steam Machine early this year, which could mean it arrives later this month, possibly, or in March. For me, the use of the word 'early' indicates Q1 of 2026, because once we move into Q2, that's technically not the beginning of the year anymore, although I guess you could argue that April is relatively early in the year at a pinch.

What makes me a bit hesitant about embracing the idea of an imminent arrival of the Steam Machine is the fact that we've heard little about it since the new year rolled in – rumors have gone pretty quiet. Still, there's not much more to know about the device, in fairness, except for that all-important price tag.

Speaking of which, you might also believe that the RAM crisis being in full swing now could give Valve pause for thought, as this is clearly going to make pitching said launch price a trickier business.

The value proposition is crucial here, sure enough, but what can Valve do about the RAM situation exactly? Nothing really (beyond what's already been done previously in terms of securing volume purchasing), and it's not like waiting for the RAM crisis to calm down is realistically an option. If anything, pricing is forecast to go up throughout this quarter, and the situation around the lean supply, and spiking pricing, with system memory may not change until next year – or even 2028 going by some assertions.

It's also interesting that Su uses the term 'shipping' in her quote, as in the Steam Machine will actually be going out to gamers within this timeframe, meaning that an announcement – and pre-orders going live before shipping starts – really could be due pretty soon. (Remember the Steam Deck handheld went on pre-order quite some time before it was shipped).

Obviously all this is just my guesswork, but the fact that Lisa Su has specifically mentioned that the release is still on course is definitely a good sign that we might see the Steam Machine launch happen in Q1, most likely next month. This is going to be a closely watched product, that's for sure, and it could be a pivotal moment to drive forward Valve's ambitions with PC gaming (and Linux to boot).

PC gaming has had its ups and downs over the years, with many games launching in a poorly optimized state. It's an issue that has been more prevalent recently, and Nvidia's DLSS and AMD's FSR upscaling have both been implemented across multiple titles to help improve performance.

Nvidia's latest iteration, DLSS 4.5, is an incredible upscaling tool that significantly improves image stability and clarity, even when using aggressive upscaling methods (namely, the DLSS Performance mode) for better frame rate results.

The DLSS Frame Generation feature plays a vital part in the tool's functionality, theoretically boosting frame rates by up to four times the base fps, leading to faster and smoother gameplay experiences (with the significant caveat that it's naturally affected by your base frame rate, meaning you'll need at least 50 to 60 fps to really benefit).

Previous iterations of DLSS have also been monumental in allowing lower-end RTX GPUs to perform at reasonable frame rates – while DLSS 4.5 is a bigger task for RTX 3000 and 4000 series cards to handle, DLSS 4 is still a viable solution.

So then, what's the issue? Why are DLSS 4.5 and other upscaling methods (like AMD's FSR and Intel's XeSS) a detriment to gaming? Well, the blame isn't on Nvidia, AMD, or Intel, but rather game developers, and here's why.

Frame generation isn't an effective solution

In several recent cases, games have launched with noticeably poor performance due to a lack of optimization, and frame generation is often touted as a solution to improve frame rates.

If you weren't aware, using frame generation in a game with a low base frame rate (or even worse, one with consistent stutters due to poor frame pacing) leads to a choppy and unresponsive experience.

Unfortunately, Capcom's Monster Hunter Wilds is a prime example, as it launched with very poor performance on both low- and high-end hardware. In the game's system requirements (which you can find on Steam), an additional note states, 'this game is expected to run at 1080p, 60 fps with Frame Generation enabled under the Medium graphics setting'.

As a Monster Hunter fan, I've played hundreds of hours of Wilds on an RTX 4080 Super, and I can attest that playing the game since its launch without DLSS Frame Generation was a nightmare. The game failed to maintain a standard 60 fps in many cases, even when actively using DLSS super resolution to upscale from 720p.

Now, a year after launch, Capcom's recent major performance patch fixed many of the performance woes by reducing stutters and improving 1% lows (that's the average framerate during the slowest 1% of gameplay). Let me make that clear: it took an entire year of relying on DLSS Frame Generation before Capcom could get Wilds to perform at an acceptable standard.

I don't think I can stress enough how untenable that is, considering many PC gamers aren't using high-end CPUs or GPUs – as evidenced by the Steam Hardware Survey – and when frame generation itself struggles, it leaves users with lower-end hardware with even bigger performance problems.

It's not just Monster Hunter Wilds, either. We've seen the same overreliance on DLSS upscaling with Borderlands 4, to the point that Gearbox Interactive's CEO, Randy Pitchford, lashed out at consumers for criticisms over the game's poor optimization, urging them to use DLSS 4 and its Frame Generation for better performance. Never mind the fact that some people literally don't have that option...

DLSS 4.5 could make matters worse

Again, I have little to no complaints with the regular resolution upscaling functionality of DLSS 4.5, as it's made PC games easier to run on low-end hardware, and further improves image quality at high resolutions on beefier PC configurations.

What concerns me is that the more DLSS improves, the more game developers may feel incentivized to rely on upscaling as a shortcut rather than spending more time and effort on optimization.

DLSS 4.5 Dynamic Multi-Frame Generation is on its way to RTX 5000 series GPUs soon, and it sounds like an amazing tool that automatically shifts between different frame gen multipliers (2x, 3x, and so on), depending on what's needed – in other words, how graphically demanding a sequence is, or high the graphical settings are.

With DLSS 4.5 6x Multi-Frame Generation also on its way, Nvidia seems intent on getting new games running at exorbitantly high frame rates. However, based on the evidence we have on developers relying on DLSS's Frame Generation feature, I'm worried that the prevalence of DLSS will make matters worse for users who don't have access to a brand-new GPU.

Fortunately, some upcoming games have given me positive signs, notably Pearl Abyss' Crimson Desert.

The open-world action-adventure game is being built using Pearl Abyss' proprietary engine, and PR director Will Powers has indicated that the developers are focused on optimizing the game natively, with tools like DLSS viewed as an optional additional boost to be applied at the player's discretion.

Unfortunately, I doubt this will be the case for most game developers, and I'm expecting multiple game titles to launch this year using upscalers and frame-gen as a stopgap fix for performance woes.

DLSS 4.5 is supposed to be a major benefit to PC game performance, but history tells me it's going to be massively misused – and I have to admit that this time around, Nvidia isn't really the one to blame.

• Sony is encouraging PS4 users to upgrade to PS5 via console messages
• A new analyst report suggests that Sony wants to extend the PS5 lifecycle to retain its current playerbase
• It's also suggested that the PS6 won't arrive until after 2028

Sony is sending messages to PlayStation users still using their PS4, suggesting that they finally switch to the current-generation PS5, and it could be tied to a PS6 launch delay.

As PushSquare reports, PS4 owners are now receiving messages from Sony, encouraging them to upgrade to a PS5, along with a QR code that takes them to PlayStation's official website, where more information about pricing and deals can be found.

"Whether you’re catching up with hits from 2025 like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, ARC Raiders, and Ghost of Yotei or getting ready for the most anticipated games of 2026, including SAROS, 007 First Light, Nioh 3, and so much more, now’s the perfect time to upgrade your PS5 console," the message reads.

Notably, all these games are only available on PS5 and other current-gen hardware, so it sounds like Sony is persuading players to finally take the plunge.

However, a new analyst report may have shed some light on the situation.

According to a recent Sandstone Insights Japan report published by senior analyst at MST, David Gibson, Sony may push the launch of the PS6 to after 2028 in order to extend the PS5's lifecycle (via IGN).

The report notes that Sony’s earnings for the third quarter are expected to exceed previous predictions, with first and third-party titles continuing to drive sales, and game and network services, including PSN subscriptions, are expected to remain strong.

In addition, Q3 sales for Sony are forecasted for around 1.8 trillion yen total (approx. $11.6 billion), with operating income at 160 billion yen (approx. $1 billion).

With the PS5 hardware and software continuing to push big numbers, it's suggested that Sony will want to expand the life of the console, therefore delaying the launch of the PS6.

"Sony expects the PS5 lifecycle to be longer than that of previous console generations," Gibson stated, adding that the PS6's launch likely won't occur until after 2028.

Gibson also suggested that Sony is more focused on retaining existing PS5 users over boosting console sales, as well as noting that PSN services and active PS5 users are at an all-time high.

"PS5 user activity continues to set all-time record highs according to usage data," Gibson said. "Sony is focusing more on retaining active users than expanding hardware sales."

The tech and games industry has suffered price hikes over the past year or so; an issue we've seen recently is due to memory shortages and the ongoing rise in tariffs.

For now, it seems like PS5 consoles aren't going to be hit with another price increase like last August, although Gibson believes it could happen eventually.

Gibson explained that "rising memory prices will not impact short-term performance thanks to Sony’s existing inventory", but said the increased memory costs could affect the company in the fiscal year, adding, "Sony might pass future cost increases onto consumers."

• AMD Ryzen 9850X3D bundles have been spotted in China
• They bundle the new CPU with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a cooler
• This could be a way to give PC builders a break on the price of memory, and might be a plan AMD brings to other regions with any luck

AMD could have a plan to tackle the pain of component price hikes – most notably the rocketing cost of RAM – and that's to sell bundles with its imminent new Ryzen X3D CPU, or at least there's some evidence to indicate this in Asia.

Tom's Hardware highlighted a post on X from Uniko's Hardware which shows a bundle that AMD is reportedly launching in China, consisting of a processor plus cooler and system RAM.

What buyers get in this package is the new Ryzen 9850X3D CPU, which was recently revealed – and is about to go on sale, looking a great addition to AMD's gaming lineup – along with a Cooler Master cooler for this chip, and 32GB of V-Color memory (a pair of 16GB DDR5 sticks to be precise).

We don't have pricing yet, only a photo of this bundle as you can see in the post above. However, what's interesting here is that this appears to be an official collaboration between AMD and V-Color alongside Cooler Master, rather than a retailer simply throwing together its own bundle, hence the logos on the box.

There's another telling difference in that the motherboard isn't bundled here. Typically you'd get a CPU and memory plus motherboard in a bundle box, but here the latter is replaced by said cooler.

Analysis: a hopeful hint in a deeply pessimistic market

Presumably, the motherboard has been dispensed with to keep the cost down, as obviously a bundled cooler in its place will ensure an overall lower price (while still making sense as a partner for a high-end gaming CPU). And the main point of this bundle is, of course, to provide DDR5 RAM at a (relatively) palatable price alongside pushing AMD's new processor.

It is, of course, likely that the V-Color DDR5 RAM comprises of affordable 16GB memory sticks, so there'll be no high-end, speedy RAM here (as that would defeat the point of an affordable bundle). As observed by Uniko's, it's likely DDR5-4800 memory (meaning it runs at a speed of 4800MT/s, which is the slowest performance for DDR5).

As Tom's further notes, what's important in that regard is that AMD has been busy making it clear that the Ryzen 9850X3D doesn't need fast RAM. In fact, there's barely any difference in performance between DDR5-4800 and faster DDR5-6000 RAM with the 9850X3D, with a less than 1% difference in frame rates (across an average of 30 games – see the above slide courtesy of VideoCardz).

In other words, whatever DDR5 RAM you're using won't make any noticeable difference with the Ryzen 9850X3D. This is true of X3D processors in general, as their beefier cache (3D V-Cache which the naming convention 'X3D' refers to) means the CPU has to tap the system RAM less often, so the speed of that memory isn't such a factor in determining overall gaming performance.

This is all well and good, but will these bundles arrive outside of Asia? That's the key question here – this and exactly where AMD might pitch pricing. On the latter point, if the bundle isn't a considerable saving on the separate parts, there would hardly be much point.

As to whether the US, or Europe, or anywhere else will see Ryzen 9850X3D plus RAM bundles, we obviously don't know. But the fact that this is happening in China is certainly an indication AMD is mulling strategies to keep RAM pricing down for PC builders – given this is an official collaboration as noted – so I don't see any reason why that strategy might not apply to the wider global marketplace. Well, except for supply worries, naturally, but this is at least a hopeful hint that similar bundles could be in the works.

Meanwhile, standalone DDR5 RAM remains at ridiculous prices, even if it's discounted as we saw yesterday.

• AMD desktop shipments rose from 3 million to over 35 million units quarterly
• Intel’s server share fell from 97% in 2019 to 72% by 2025
• AMD’s revenue from EPYC grew from under $100 million to $3.5 billion (3400%) in 8 years

Intel’s market share in the desktop segment has declined since 2017, coinciding with the introduction of AMD’s first Ryzen CPUs.

Although Intel regained some ground with its 12th Gen Alder Lake and 13th Gen Raptor Lake chips, reports indicate that performance and thermal issues in later generations pushed many DIY enthusiasts and OEMs to switch to Ryzen processors.

AMD has steadily increased its desktop share to over 30%, while Intel now holds around 60%.

AMD’s adoption trends continue to rise

Between 2017 and 2025, AMD’s desktop unit shipments rose from approximately 3 million to over 35 million per quarter.

In the notebook segment, AMD’s growth has remained limited to approximately 20% share due to competitive ARM-based alternatives.

However, Apple and AMD have indirectly benefited from Intel’s weaker positioning in this market.

Intel’s decline also appears in the server segment, where EPYC processors have driven major market shifts.

AMD launched the first EPYC family, Naples, in 2017, and early adopters reacted with surprise at its performance and efficiency.

Initial EPYC adoption accounted for roughly 5% of new server deployments in 2017 and grew to 28% by 2025.

The processors gained traction among enterprise customers and cloud hosting providers that sought higher core counts and improved performance per watt.

Intel’s server unit share dropped from 97% in early 2019 to around 72% in 2025, with revenue share falling to roughly 61%.

AMD’s EPYC now approaches 30% of the server market, up from less than 2% in 2018, according to Mercury Research.

Its revenue share also grew from under $100 million in 2017 to over $3.5 billion in 2025.

Successive Zen architecture updates and the introduction of X3D chips helped drive AMD’s rise.

Cloud storage and cloud hosting environments increasingly favor EPYC processors due to their scalability and energy efficiency.

Intel continues to compete with offerings like the 5th Gen Xeon for AI workloads and claims advantages in certain optimized scenarios.

Yet adoption data shows that its overall unit and revenue shares continue to decline across both client and server markets.

Intel’s server shipments fell from approximately 12 million units in 2019 to under 8.5 million in 2025.

Although Intel remains the largest vendor in both segments, its declining market share points to growing pressure from AMD.

Client CPU markets show slower recovery prospects, while servers and cloud infrastructure continue to shift toward high-core, high-efficiency alternatives.

Observers note that ongoing adoption of EPYC processors in cloud hosting and enterprise servers could further accelerate AMD’s growth, leaving Intel’s long-term lead increasingly uncertain.

Analysts estimate that by 2026, AMD could capture over 35% of the server market if current growth trends continue.

Via Wccf Tech

• AMD has announced that its Ryzen 9850X3D CPU will go on sale on January 29
• The new gaming chip is priced at $499 in the US
• That's a mild bump in cost of around 5% over its predecessor, with a 400MHz jump in boost speed making it a compelling new option

AMD has announced that its Ryzen 7 9850X3D processor – a chip that PC gamers are excited about as a step on from the 9800X3D –will be out in less than a week – and we've got a confirmed price.

VideoCardz reports that AMD's David McAfee, Corporate VP of the Client Channel Business, revealed on X that the "world's most advanced gaming processor just got faster" and that the Ryzen 9850X3D will retail at $499 in the US.

The CPU goes on sale on January 29, and pricing will be in line with that in other regions. To put that US price in perspective, it's just shy of a 5% increase on the MSRP that was pinned to the 9800X3D upon launch, and which is widely regarded as the current top gaming chip on the market.

The Ryzen 9850X3D offers an increase in boost speed to 5.6GHz, meaning it's 400MHz faster than its predecessor (which ran at 5.2GHz), which is a considerable bump. Other than that, though, it's the same spec as the 9800X3D.

Analysis: the price is right – assuming no stock woes or inflation

Some folks who have bought a Ryzen 9800X3D in the recent past may feel their noses have been put a bit out of joint. Especially considering that chip has held its value – it is still selling at close to MSRP – and the 9850X3D doesn't cost much more. At least not in theory, anyway, unless stock and availability issues inflate the price.

Ultimately, those who bought the 9800X3D have still got an excellent gaming CPU for their money, and the 9850X3D is essentially a higher-binned version (meaning a top-performing sample, capable of having the max boost speed pushed further, with no other changes in the spec elsewhere as noted). In fact, if you got lucky with your 9800X3D, it might even be close to the 9850X3D in gaming performance terms, anyway.

So, let go of any buyer's remorse, but that said, the Ryzen 9850X3D is a welcome option to have in terms of that faster boost. And with the price tag not being nearly as high as some rumors had us wondering about – some European retailers had pre-release pricing on their product listings as high as €700 (around $820, £600 or AU$1,200) – this is a great release for gamers who are after a fast CPU.

Although always bear in mind that the GPU is the more important part of the equation for gaming, and the processor only comes more to the forefront with certain games (or lower resolutions).

• Asus is investigating reports of issues with Ryzen 9800X3D CPUs
• These chips are failing in its 800-series motherboards, according to posts on Reddit
• This follows previous problems with the Ryzen 9800X3D in ASRock (and other) motherboards

Asus has issued a statement to acknowledge that it's investigating reports of problems where Ryzen 9800X3D CPUs are failing with its 800-series motherboards.

VideoCardz noticed the statement, which comes following a cluster of recent reports on Reddit detailing issues with these processors and Asus boards.

Asus informs us: "We are aware of recent reports concerning AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPUs and Asus AMD 800-series motherboards, and we have initiated an immediate internal review.

"Our teams are conducting preventive checks on product compatibility and performance, working closely with AMD to validate reported cases and ensure ongoing stability and quality. We are looking to provide timely solutions to ensure our products and services meet expected standards."

Obviously, it's good to hear that the worries here are being directly addressed. What's happening with these CPUs is that the reports (like this one on Reddit) indicate that they are dying and the system is failing to boot (naturally) with an error 'Q-Code 00'.

In the meantime, pending the results of the review, Asus advises those who own an 800-series motherboard to update to the latest BIOS to "help ensure system stability".

That goes for all motherboards, of course – the latest BIOS should provide the most reliable experience running your PC components (not just the CPU). Although don't confuse the 'latest BIOS' with any advance beta release – these aren't fully tested, and may cause more problems than they solve.

Stick to the latest full version, avoiding beta software, especially with something like the BIOS which is a sensitive area to be deploying technically still unfinished releases.

Analysis: a long-running saga

If all this sounds familiar, it's because there are long-running reports of problems with Ryzen 9800X3D processors falling over in this manner. In the past, these have been more of an issue with ASRock motherboards, although other brands have been hit – it's just there's a notable uptick right now with complaints around Asus boards.

Eventually, the problems with ASRock motherboards were put down to a "memory compatibility issue" with earlier BIOS versions, and that issue was fixed. Even so, after that fix, there have still been some 50 recorded cases of 9800X3D CPUs failing in the Reddit megathread about the problems with (mainly) ASRock boards. (A few of these past cases were Asus motherboards, too).

For some 9800X3D owners, the controversy continues to rage across social media posts, and there's some unhappiness (to say the least) about pinning down the root cause.

Although the truth is this could be a complex issue with multiple causes. And don't forget, the 9800X3D is the kind of gaming chip that's going to be tinkered with and overclocked – perhaps substantially by enthusiasts – which could certainly make these kinds of failures more likely to happen. (Other Ryzen 9000 chips have been affected by this problem, I should make clear, but it's mostly hitting the popular 9800X3D – perhaps partly due to its positioning with enthusiasts, as noted).

We can but hope that the investigation Asus is carrying out will shed some further light on the matter, especially seeing as there's a newcomer taking the baton from the 9800X3D now. This is the even faster, higher clocked, Ryzen 9850X3D, which AMD has just announced is coming out next week – with a more tempting price tag than expected.

• AMD Ryzen AI Halo delivers extreme compute power in a device smaller than most hands
• Developers gain full connectivity without relying on adapters or external docking stations
• Supports massive AI models locally with 128GB memory access

AMD used its CES 2026 keynote to introduce Ryzen AI Halo, a compact developer kit intended for local AI workloads rather than general consumer computing.

The system is built around processors from the Ryzen AI Max 300 series, also referred to as Strix Halo, and is scheduled for availability during the second quarter.

Close-up images now reveal how small the device actually is, which reflects AMD’s decision to emphasize form factor alongside compute density.

Extreme compactness without compromise

The Ryzen AI Halo is small enough to fit entirely in the palm of an adult hand, with a footprint smaller than most compact office desktops and a height that barely exceeds a stack of two thick external hard drives.

Its dimensions are noticeably smaller than those of typical mini PCs, which makes it one of the most compact development systems offered.

Despite this small form factor, the device includes a full complement of ports, with four USB Type-C connectors, HDMI, and Ethernet providing the connectivity normally expected from desktops many times its size.

Users do not need additional adapters or docking stations to connect displays, storage, or networking, which is unusual for a device of this volume.

The Ryzen AI Halo ships without Windows or any pre-installed operating system, which makes clear that it is a mini PC aimed at developers rather than general-use desktops.

This choice reinforces its role for running AI workloads locally under Linux or other supported environments rather than serving as a plug-and-play office device.

The casing also shows subtle attention to detail, with a checkered grid pattern on the top surface and a small AMD logo visible on close inspection.

In addition to the Strix Halo processor, which integrates CPU, GPU, and NPU resources, the device supports up to 128GB of LPDDR5 memory across four channels.

It also features a unified memory architecture that allows the GPU to access a large portion of system memory.

The market for portable PCs is crowded, with over 35 Strix Halo devices already available, and hardware alone is no longer enough to stand out.

AMD appears aware of this, which explains why the Ryzen AI Halo emphasizes compact size, a full set of connectors, and flexibility for users to choose their own operating system.

Despite its familiar mini PC appearance, AMD does not market this device as a desktop replacement or office system.

As of the time of writing, there is no official pricing information, although Strix Halo devices typically average around $1500 and can reach as high as $2500.

Via Hot Hardware | Heise | PC Watch

• CISPA researchers uncover AMD CPU flaw “StackWarp” breaking confidential VM protections
• Vulnerability enables RCE, privilege escalation, and theft of private keys in Zen processors
• AMD released patch (CVE-2025-29943), rated low severity, requiring host-level access to exploit

A newly discovered vulnerability in AMD chips allows malicious actors to perform remote code execution (RCE) and privilege escalation in virtual machines.

Cybersecurity researchers from the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security in Germany detailed a vulnerability they named StackWarp, a hardware vulnerability in AMD CPUs that breaks the protections of confidential virtual machines, by manipulating how the processor tracks the stack, and letting a malicious insider or hypervisor change program flow or read sensitive data inside a protected VM.

As a result, malicious actors can recover private keys, and run code with high privileges, even though the VM’s memory was supposed to be secure.

Silver lining

StackWarp was said to impact AMD Zen processors, 1 through 5, with the researchers demonstrating the impact in multiple scenarios. In one instance, they were able to reconstruct an RSE-2048 private key, while in another - bypassed OpenSSH password authentication.

The silver lining in the report is the fact that the malicious actor first needs privileged control over the host server running the virtual machines. That means the vulnerability can be exploited by either malicious insiders, cloud providers, or highly sophisticated threat actors with prior access.

This significantly shrinks the number of potential attackers, but it still highlights how AMD’s SEV-SNP, designed to encrypt VM memory, can be weakened and compromised.

“These findings demonstrate that CVM execution integrity—the very defense SEV-SNP aims to offer—can be effectively broken: Confidential keys and passwords can be stolen, attackers can impersonate legitimate users or gain persistent control of the system, and isolation between guest VMs and the host or other VMs can no longer be relied upon,” it was said in the report.

AMD acknowledged the findings and has released a patch, which the bug now tracked as CVE-2025-29943 and was given a low severity score (3.2/10).

Via The Register

• AMD needed a solution to product failures
• NexGen produced some powerful equipment
• The company used a unique x86 architecture

NexGen was among the highest flying semiconductor US companies during a boom time in the 1980s.

Based out of Milpitas in California, the company gained a reputation for its rather unique implementation of the x86 architecture in its processors.

Notably, CPUs developed by NexGen run code on the chip’s internal RISC architecture as opposed to translating code that was then run on the CISC-based x86 architecture.

It was a design that set the company apart at the time and drew the attention of some major industry players in years to come. Better still, its flagship processor design paved the way for a revival at one of the industries biggest manufacturers.

Here’s everything you need to know about NexGen.

NexGen’s plan to challenge Intel

The company was founded in 1986 by Thampy Thomas, who’d previously co-founded Elxski, a California-based minicomputer manufacturer. NexGen was a fabless design house, relying on other companies for product, with chips produced by IBM’s Microelectronics division in Vermont.

NexGen had some big backers during the early days, most notably Compaq, ASCII, and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins.

It’s safe to say NexGen had Intel in the crosshairs. Its first design specifically targeted Intel’s 80286 (i386) processor line, but early production challenges meant it failed to launch a challenge.

With its second product line, the Nx587, NexGen aimed to mount a direct challenge against the Intel Pentium line. There was a big stumbling block here, however.

Other chips on the market competing with Intel, such as those from AMD and Cyrix, were pin-compatible with both the Pentium range and other Intel chips.

The Nx586 wasn't, and instead required its own custom-made motherboard and chipset. Regardless, the performance of the Nx586 was impressive. The Nx586-P80 CPU, for example, could go toe-to-toe with the Pentium range, clocking in at 75MHz.

It wasn’t exactly a hit, but did see some enterprise uptake, most notably from Compaq. Its performance did catch the eye of AMD, however, and the chip giant began circling the wagons.

AMD comes knocking

Shortly after NexGen went public in 1994, AMD came knocking with a significant offer. Sales of the chip giant’s K5 chip range had flopped amid sluggish performance and efficiency.

Eyeing up a solution to the problem, AMD acquired NexGen for $850 million in 1995 - and it quickly began working to integrate the firm’s designs into its own successor range.

AMD’s K6 range drew heavily from the Nx686 design and when launched in 1997 mounted a serious challenge to Intel's Pentium dominance. The microprocessor was specifically designed to integrate with existing desktop designs which used Pentium CPUs.

Moreover, it was a powerful bit of kit for the time. The initial version clocked in at speeds of up to 200MHz, with a 233MHz version launching later in the year.

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With AI PCs continuing to grow in popularity, AMD has said this is the year it expects the technology to become mainstream.

Speaking to TechRadar Pro at the recent CES 2026, Jason Banta, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Client OEM at AMD, told us 2026 would be a significant year for adoption of AI-enabled devices.

"2026 is the year we expect to see the AI PC crossover,” he said, “we're expecting more AI PCs to be sold than non-AI PCs.”

"Crossover point" for AI PCs

“Having this crossover point this year, we think, is important,” Banta added, “that’s not just people saying an AI PC is what I expect to buy - but (for developers) that also it makes sense to adopt these capabilities and infuse them into your workflows and applications because there’s such a large base of who you can address.”

Asked if mini PCs can be used for users to pave the way to AI devices, Banta agreed, noting, “mini PC (adoption) is growing faster than a lot of people expected.”

“I think it is an important stepping stone - AI PC has been a combination of hardware and experiences in a horse race between each other,” he added.

“Mini PC is growing faster than a lot of people expected,” he said, “mini PCs are really having a moment, people are seeing the advantages of having them. Previously, you thought, OK, a big giant desktop - I get a lot of performance, a notebook - I have to make these trade-offs, but a mini PC, it's a little closer to the notebook, but now you're seeing great performance out of notebooks, great performance out of desktops - and the mini PC is really solving a lot of needs, of having that capability, just sitting on your desk.”

Banta notes that when AMD started its AI PC journey in 2023 with the 7000 series mobile, the hardware and neural processing was all there, but the experiences needed to be improved.

Since then, he says, the AI experiences and tools have improved hugely, particularly from Microsoft Copilot, and as adoption increases, as well as third party developers getting involved, meaning interest and adoption has soared.

"Experiences breed adoption - but adoption also breeds experiences,” he said, adding that this change is being recognized by developers, who are obviously keen to build for the most popular platforms.

“What we’re seeing right now is that everything is starting to come together in a much more cohesive way,” he says, referencing not only to AI PCs, but local LLMs, neural processing, and the use of GPUs for AI.

“We're getting to a point in the adoption curve where what I think you're going to see in 2026 is a lot of creative developers are going to change the world.”

Nvidia and AMD have gone head-to-head again with DLSS 4.5 and FSR Redstone, respectively, and so far, I've tested the latter, specifically analyzing its frame generation update, and I can simply say that I'm impressed.

FSR 4 upscaling has already made huge advancements compared to FSR 3.1. I covered this a long while ago and highlighted that its super-resolution image quality was great, even surpassing Nvidia's DLSS 3 (which was more relevant at that time), but still trailed behind DLSS 4.

Now, FSR Redstone is another attempt to improve upon FSR 4's image stability, especially when using ML Frame Generation, and I'm happy to report that Redstone has succeeded in that attempt, as I noticed that previous issues like ghosting and artifacts are less noticeable in motion.

Having very briefly tested Nvidia's DLSS 4.5, AMD still has a way to go in catching up to Team Green, not only in super-resolution image quality, but also with frame generation. However, FSR Redstone is a sign for me that AMD shouldn't be written off completely, and it's great to see that it isn't giving up on improving its upscaling tech for gamers.

ML Frame Generation's image quality is a huge improvement

Thanks to help from AMD and Razer, I was able to get my hands on an ASRock Challenger Radeon RX 9060 XT and the Razer Core X V2 for testing – and on this occasion, I used my Lenovo Legion Go S Z1 Extreme running the eGPU on Windows 11.

Now, I'm fully aware that this isn't the best benchmark to run, as there's a clear bottleneck with a RX 9060 XT and Z1 Extreme setup. However, image quality was my main concern, and I wanted to see how good FSR Redstone would be in a plug-and-play handheld gaming scenario.

With that in mind, I still got great results, because while running Marvel's Spider-Man 2 using the new ML Frame Generation, I hardly noticed the issues of ghosting that FSR 3.1's Frame Generation (Analytical) presented when using it with the RX 9060 XT.

With the previous model, characters and other fast-moving objects on screen would leave behind noticeable trails, and while this isn't completely absent with Redstone, it's not nearly as evident.

It might not be entirely noticeable in the screenshots above, but swinging across skyscrapers in Insomniac's massive open world was enough for me to realize that AMD has done a great job at cleaning up the frustrating artifacts frame interpolation introduces, but unfortunately, it's not all great news.

Frame pacing is still an issue and a dealbreaker

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with what FSR Redstone presented me, and particularly with how it transforms handheld gaming performance (despite the very obvious bottleneck). I mean, this eGPU dock setup makes ray tracing possible on a portable device that isn't a gaming laptop.

However, the major downside of FSR Redstone is, unfortunately, its frame pacing issues. It seems as though these problems have carried over from FSR 3.1 and remain the one problem FSR just can't shrug off.

Yes, you can say that my CPU bottleneck in this test has a part to play in these frame pacing issues, but I've tested this at higher resolutions where the CPU bottleneck is less of an issue, and also seen the same complaints from several users and reviewers, so I know I'm not alone in what I witnessed when testing.

If you look closely enough, you will likely notice a spiky frame time graph when using FSR Redstone ML Frame Generation, which results in gameplay that doesn't feel as smooth as it should, even with a high frame rate. Screen tearing and noticeable input lag are telltale signs for me, and Digital Foundry, Hardware Unboxed, and many more have highlighted the same problem.

While these frame pacing problems can be mitigated via enabling v-sync on a driver-level or in games that frame gen and v-sync work simultaneously, this will significantly increase input lag. The same can be done by limiting frame rates, but this defeats some of frame gen's purpose, which is to massively boost frame rates.

What makes matters worse is that Nvidia recently launched DLSS 4.5, which is already being praised for the improvements in image quality, thanks to its 2nd gen transformer model, and its super-resolution is available to all RTX GPU users (even if it supposedly has worse performance on older cards).

AMD's FSR 4 and FSR Redstone are exclusive to RDNA 4, so consumers with older Radeon GPUs won't even be concerned with upscaling until it's officially backported to RDNA 3. Team Red deserves credit where credit is due for the improvements made with Redstone, but it still has work to do if it wants to catch its rival.

• AMD Ryzen AI Halo delivers 16 CPU cores and 32 threads for AI workloads
• Integrates an NPU alongside Radeon GPU cores for AI tasks
• Ryzen AI Halo offers full ROCm support across Windows and Linux platforms

AMD has confirmed it will launch its first PC in 2026, named Ryzen AI Halo, a system built around its Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor with up to 16 Zen 5 CPU cores and 32 threads.

The company describes the device as a reference platform for local AI development, designed to run Windows and Linux with full support for AMD ROCm and day one AI model compatibility.

With up to 128GB of unified memory and an integrated NPU, the device can handle large generative AI models, although actual performance will depend on workload intensity.

Processing architecture and core specifications

The Ryzen AI Halo processor uses 4nm process technology with boost clocks up to 5.1GHz.

Cache specifications include 16MB of L2 and 64MB of L3, while configurable TDP ranges from 45 to 120W depending on system tuning.

The processor pairs with Radeon 8060S graphics featuring 40 cores and a maximum frequency of 2900MHz.

The GPU supports multiple display resolutions, including up to 7680x4320 at 60Hz, and includes DisplayPort 2.1 with adaptive sync, an HDMI 2.1 interface, and HDR metadata.

With this configuration, the device supports up to four displays simultaneously.

The system supports up to 128GB of LPDDR5x 8000 memory across a 256-bit interface, along with NVMe boot and RAID storage options supporting RAID0 and RAID1.

Connectivity options include two USB4 ports at 40Gbps, three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, three USB 2.0 ports, sixteen usable PCIe 4.0 lanes, and wireless features.

The system supports advanced AI capabilities rated at up to 126 TOPS overall, including 50 TOPS from the integrated NPU.

Security features include AMD Enhanced Virus Protection with the NX bit.

Ryzen AI Halo is designed to compete directly with Nvidia’s DGX Spark mini PC, a compact AI system targeting similar local AI workloads.

Both systems offer high performance computing in small form factors and support extensive memory capacity for large AI models.

DGX Spark relies on Nvidia’s HGX architecture and CUDA optimized frameworks, while Ryzen AI Halo integrates an NPU and Radeon GPU cores with full ROCm support.

This approach allows developers to run AI models locally without relying on cloud managed infrastructure.

Halo’s 128GB LPDDR5x memory capacity and 126 TOPS overall AI compute rating aim to match or exceed DGX Spark mini PC performance, offering an alternative for institutions seeking local AI experimentation.

However, Nvidia’s DGX Spark mini PC already has established benchmarks and a mature ecosystem, while Ryzen AI Halo will need to demonstrate comparable or superior performance in real world AI workflows.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• AMD targets MI500 launch in 2027 as Nvidia prepares Vera-Rubin a year earlier
• CES 2026 shows growing gap between AMD and Nvidia AI accelerator timelines
• AMD expands AI portfolio while next generation hardware remains a year out

At CES 2026, AMD discussed its near and longer term AI hardware plans, including a preview of the Instinct MI500 Series accelerators expected to arrive in 2027.

The company used the show to present an early look at Helios, a rack-scale platform built around Instinct MI455X GPUs and EPYC Venice CPUs. Helios is positioned as a blueprint for very large-scale AI infrastructure rather than a shipping product.

AMD also introduced the Instinct MI440X, a new accelerator aimed at on-prem enterprise deployments, designed to fit into existing eight GPU systems for training, fine-tuning, and inference workloads.

Nvidia Vera-Rubin also on the way

More interesting for many industry watchers, however, is what comes next. AMD said the Instinct MI500 Series is planned for launch in 2027 and will deliver a significant jump in AI performance compared with the MI300X generation.

MI500 is expected to use AMD’s CDNA 6 architecture, a 2nm process, and HBM4E memory.

AMD claims the design is on track to deliver up to a 1,000x increase in AI performance over MI300X, although because it’s still a way off, no detailed benchmarks were shared.

As exciting as this might be, the timing is awkward for AMD because Nvidia is preparing to introduce its Vera-Rubin platform this year.

At CES 2026, Nvidia also detailed its replacement for Grace-Blackwell rack-scale designs - the Vera-Rubin platform is built from six new chips designed to operate as a single rack-scale system.

These include the Vera CPU, Rubin GPU, NVLink 6 switch, ConnectX-9 SuperNIC, BlueField-4 DPU, and Spectrum-6 Ethernet switch.

In its NVL72 configuration, the system combines 72 Rubin GPUs and 36 Vera CPUs connected through NVSwitch and NVLink fabric to operate as a shared-memory system.

Nvidia says Vera-Rubin NVL72 systems cut inference cost per token for mixture-of-experts models by 10x and reduce the number of GPUs needed for training by four times.

Rubin GPUs use eight stacks of HBM4 memory and include a new Transformer Engine with hardware-supported adaptive compression, which is intended to improve efficiency during inference and training without affecting model accuracy.

Rubin-based systems will be available from partners in the second half of 2026, including NVL72 rack-scale systems and smaller HGX NVL8 configurations, with deployments planned across cloud providers, AI infrastructure operators, and system vendors.

By the time AMD’s Instinct MI500 Series arrives in 2027, Nvidia’s Vera-Rubin platform is expected to be available from partners and in use at scale.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su kicks off CES 2026 with her keynote
• Su says AI will soon need "Yottascale" power
• That's around 10,000x that needed for the previous generation of compute

The CEO of AMD has declared that the AI world is about to enter a whole new era which will require huge amounts of compute power.

Speaking at her keynote at CES 2026, Dr. Lisa Su said the world is set to enter the 'YottaScale' era as demand for AI and the power behind it continues to grow.

She predicted the world would need up to 10 YottaFLOPS (a one followed by 24 zeros) by the end of the decade - around 10,000 times the amount of global AI compute seen in 2022, which stood at about one zettaflop (a one followed by 21 zeros).

A new era

Admitting that there is currently not enough compute available for all the many things people want to do with AI, Su outlined AMD's future strategy to address this.

"There's just never, ever been anything like this in the history of computing," she admitted.

Primarily, this will involve a focus on integrated systems, bringing together CPUs, GPUs, networking, and software, which all work together to efficiently scale AI infrastructure.

"AI is the most important technology of the last 50 years, and I can say it's absolutely our number one priority at AMD," Su said.

"It's already touching every major industry, whether you're going to talk about health care or science or manufacturing or commerce, and we're just scratching the surface, AI is going to be everywhere over the next few years. And most importantly, AI is for everyone."

Su unveiled a number of new AMD products on stage during her keynote, including the company's next generation of AI chips, including its MI455 GPU, EPYC Venice CPUs, and Helios AI-rack scale solutions, all of which promises huge leaps forward in terms of performance and efficiency.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

AMD’s next-generation desktop processors still don’t have a confirmed launch date, but Team Red isn’t done with this generation just yet, unveiling the Ryzen 7 9850X3D at CES 2026 along with a host of other chips.

Starting with the 9850X3D, it is essentially a faster version of the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, featuring the same number of cores, the same cache and TDP, but with an extra 400MHz max frequency. That might not sound like a whole lot, but the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is arguably the best gaming processor ever released, so making it even faster is going to garner a lot of interest.

I will say, though, that the Ryzen 7 9850X3D is going to be largely overshadowed by the other major CES announcement from AMD, specifically the Ryzen AI 400 series laptop processors. As Team Red’s answer to the new Intel Core Ultra 300 series processors announced last year, these chips are looking to take some of the wind out of Intel's sails to start off the year.

The AMD Ryzen AI 400 series is here to bring the fight to Intel Panther Lake

With a lot of anticipation around the new Intel Core Ultra 300 series, AMD is picking the right time to launch its new lineup of mobile chips.

At the top of the stack, you have the Ryzen AI 9 HX 475, a 12-core/24-thread chip with a boost clock of 5.2GHz, up to 54W cTDP, 36MB of cache, and a 60 TOPS NPU, which AMD notes is the most powerful x86 NPU you can get. Rounding it out is a Radeon 890M iGPU with 16 compute units and a GPU boost clock of 3.1GHz.

The next step down is the Ryzen AI 9 HX 470, which looks almost identical to the HX 475 except for a slightly slower NPU with 55 TOPS. The rest of the stack fills out as expected, as you can see below.

I can’t say much about the performance claims AMD is making for these processors in their presentations and press materials, such as the purported 71% faster average performance in content creation or the 29% faster average multitasking performance for the HX 470 versus the Intel Core Ultra 9 288V.

It’s a bit of an odd comparison, since the 288V is an Intel Lunar Lake chip meant for thin and light laptops, as opposed to the more powerful Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, which is really the more appropriate comparison here, since these are the chips you’d find in gaming and creator laptops.

Will that make all that much difference in the end? We'll see once we get them all in for testing in the coming months, as the numbers will ultimately tell the tale.

AMD's new chips offer more than just added AI noise in 2026

As expected, the new lineup of AMD processors at CES 2026 leans heavily into the current AI ‘environment’ and for a lot of PC enthusiasts and gamers out there hoping for more, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D might not be enough to fully satisfy consumers.

However, the mobile landscape certainly looks much more competitive for Intel as laptop makers get ready to launch Intel Panther Lake-powered laptops over the next few months, and there’s a lot to be excited about if you’re looking to upgrade your laptop in 2026.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

• Intel places seven CPUs in PassMark's top ten price performance rankings
• AMD leads only through discounted Ryzen 5 clearance entries
• Value favors Intel across widely available desktop CPUs

Intel dominates the top end of PassMark’s price performance rankings in a way that would have seemed unlikely just a few years ago. Looking at the current leaderboard, Intel places seven CPUs in the top ten when performance is measured against price.

AMD does hold the top two spots, but don't be fooled. One comes from an entry-level Ryzen 5 benefiting from clearance pricing, while the other is an EPYC part listed at prices that are likely drawn from second-hand or refurbished markets rather than new retail.

The Ryzen 5’s position reflects its low price rather than performance that rivals AMD’s newer midrange or high-end desktop CPUs.

Intel favored across a wide spread of price points

Intel’s representation across the top ten is more consistent, with a mix of Core Ultra and older Core processors clustered closely in price efficiency without relying on clearance-level discounts.

That creates a leaderboard where Intel performs well across a wide range of price points rather than via a few isolated bargains.

Further down the table, AMD’s higher core count desktop CPUs fall behind in price performance, as their stronger raw scores don’t translate into better value once pricing is factored in.

Outside of the discounted entries near the top, much of AMD’s mainstream desktop lineup trails Intel on performance per dollar.

This matters because PassMark's chart blends current retail CPUs with clearance-priced and non-standard listings, meaning not every high-ranking position reflects what buyers will see when shopping for new parts.

Even so, the overall pattern remains clear, with Intel filling most of the highest value positions using CPUs that are current and widely available.

AMD’s strongest value showing comes from older or discounted products rather than its latest releases, which limits how broadly those results apply to new system builds.

For buyers focused on performance per dollar, PassMark’s data points toward Intel offering more predictable value across its lineup.

AMD still competes at the very top and in specific discounted cases, but the balance of everyday value now leans heavily in Team Blue’s favor.

• Intel’s flagship undercuts AMD while delivering similar overall desktop performance
• AMD charges much more for only modest gains at the very top end
• Power efficiency and pricing now define flagship CPU value

I’ve already written about Intel offering buyers better value at the low end of the desktop CPU market, asking whether the iconic chip maker is becoming the new AMD. That question feels even more relevant given that the same pattern is also noticeable when looking at top tier processors.

Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K is Team Blue's fastest desktop chip and currently sells for $519 on Amazon (discounted from $599). AMD’s competing Ryzen 9 9950X3D, positioned as a premium gaming and content creation processor, costs roughly $676 there.

Despite that price difference, benchmark results show the performance gap between the two CPUs remains relatively narrow.

Single-thread performance favors Intel

Before we go on, I should note the following comparison looks only at mainstream desktop CPUs. It doesn't include high-end desktop or server platforms such as Threadripper Pro or Xeon and EPYC processors, which target very different workloads and price ranges.

Looking at aggregate CPU benchmarks, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D leads with a CPU Mark score of around 70,155.

The Core Ultra 9 285K follows closely at about 67,427, leaving AMD ahead by a single digit percentage.

The hardware configurations explain some of the difference, but certainly not all of it.

AMD’s chip offers 16 cores and 32 threads with a 170W rating, while Intel’s processor uses 8 performance cores and 16 efficiency cores for 24 threads at 125W.

Single-thread performance favors Intel. The Core Ultra 9 285K scores about 5,092 compared with roughly 4,739 for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, which matters for games and everyday applications that don’t scale cleanly across many cores.

Power use also separates the two. Estimated yearly energy costs put the Intel chip at around $22.81, while AMD’s processor sits closer to $31.03 under similar assumptions.

That combination of pricing and efficiency explains much of the cost difference. Intel trades a small amount of peak multithreaded performance for lower power draw and a much lower retail price.

AMD’s advantage shows up most clearly in heavily threaded workloads and cache-sensitive tasks, where the X3D design can still pull ahead.

While those gains exist, they don’t double performance in the way the price difference between the two chips might suggest.

For buyers focused on creative tasks, gaming, general productivity, or mixed workloads, Intel’s top chip delivers near-flagship results without flagship pricing.

AMD still leads on absolute performance, but the premium it's charging for this certainly looks harder to justify than it once did.