Zak Killian
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
Today at the IFA Berlin tech trade show, HotHardware honcho Dave Altavilla caught up with Intel's Robert Hallock to do a quick interview concerning the company's new Core Ultra Series 2 mobile processors. This family currently comprises the Core Ultra 200V parts, code-named Lunar Lake, a set of extremely efficient...
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We've been telling you all that it's too early to count Intel out. The company has more than four decades of making chips under its belt, and there's a whole lot of talent on the blue team. Today's launch, of the "Core Ultra Mobile Processors (Series 2)"—better known to enthusiasts by its "Lunar Lake" code name—could...
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Don't blame us for the awkward construction in the headline, because Intel has formally named the stability problem affecting its 13th- and 14th-generation desktop CPUs: "Vmin Shift Instability Issue". Non-words aside, the issue is that the company's high-powered Raptor Lake desktop CPUs have issues with excess...
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RDNA4 is definitely on the way, despite the fact that AMD has said almost exactly nothing about it besides confirming that it does technically exist. As far as we know, there are two Radeon GPUs on the way based on AMD's next-generation graphics architecture, known as Navi 48 and Navi 44. According to leakers, these...
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Whatever you think about global warming, there are plenty of other serious environmental crises to worry over. One of the most pressing is the problem of what to do with all this plastic. We keep producing a near-endless quantity of plastic for all kinds of purposes, but plastics don't really degrade naturally, which...
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If you're reading HotHardware, you probably already know that displays based on Organic Light-Emitting Diodes, or "OLEDs", have a lot of advantages over more conventional liquid-crystal displays (LCDs.) They offer essentially-instant response times, highly-saturated colors, and inky blacks that make for decent final...
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Well, chalk one up for the reliability of occasional leaker chi11eddog (@g01d3nm4ng0 on Xwitter). Back on August 14th, he posted that AMD would increase the TDP of the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X from 65W to 105W in an AGESA update. Technically, he was wrong; the TDP increase is an optional toggle. However, it's...
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We were very fond of Lenovo's Legion Go gaming handheld when we reviewed it—particularly its massive 16:10 display and detachable controllers. It's arguably the most feature-filled of all of the gaming handhelds out there, and no other handheld offers the unique options that it does, like the ability to use the...
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If you recall, some benchmarks for AMD's new Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5"-based desktop processors were well behind the expected performance gains compared to the previous generation. Those expectations were set by AMD, and in response to community outcry over the missed marks, AMD gave a number of explanations. One of those...
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If you've ever directly compared modern LCDs and OLEDs, you'll know that the biggest problem with most consumer OLEDs is that they just don't get that bright. This is a problem for users who want high contrast for sharp HDR highlights, but the reason is simple -- the blue pixels will die too fast. LG Display claims to...
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Governments across the world seek to control the flow of information, particularly within their borders, and while it may be popular to think of Facebook as now being an app for grandparents and businesses, the truth is that it is still a titanic social media platform with robust utility for sharing information. With...
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For GPUs that will supposedly release within the next six months, AMD's RDNA 4-based Radeon chips have had few leaks. We don't know much, aside from that there will apparently only be two chips—Navi 44 and Navi 48—and that they will purportedly target the entry and mid-range gamer market, leaving the enthusiast tier...
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China has had a thriving game industry for a fair while now, but the country hasn't produced many developers that can stand alongside the giants of Japan, Europe, and the US. Well, now there's at least one more: Game Science, developers of new mega-hit action RPG, Black Myth: Wukong. Based around the character of Sun...
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We've never seen the source, but we can safely assume that Microsoft Windows' codebase is an absolutely sprawling spaghetti code mess. We say that because the venerable OS still includes elements dating all the way back to Windows 95. One of those is the venerable Control Panel; while earlier versions of Windows had a Control Panel, they weren't
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If you've ever rebuilt a PC, you know the struggle: the GPU is locked in the slot, and you can't get your fat adult fingers down next to the oversized CPU cooler you installed to press the retention lever down. In the words of many classic infomercials, "there has to be a better way!" Some motherboard manufacturers...
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Zen 5 is out, and AMD Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 processors are distinctly last-generation now. Only, a lot of reviewers produced benchmark data that makes Zen 5 look less like a step and more like a stumble. AVX-512 performance is fantastic, and the chips do well in Linux overall, but Windows numbers, particularly in gaming...
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These days, virtually every monitor—certainly every gaming monitor—supports at least some form of variable refresh rate technology. NVIDIA's G-SYNC was the pioneer, but AMD's FreeSync is far more ubiquitous largely due to its lower costs and less stringent requirements. Essentially, FreeSync simply requires a monitor...
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When we talk about technological advancements in video games, there are a few things that always spring to mind: new rendering techniques or paradigms, advanced physics simulation, or perhaps new ways of presenting the game, like streaming. There's an area where nothing has really changed in 40 years, though, and...
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So the reviews are out, the dust has largely settled, and the conclusion of the community is that AMD's Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000 processors are more of an iterative step than a groundbreaking leap forward. Some reviews have found excellent performance gains from Zen 5, though. Linux-focused benchmark sites like...
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Before the launch of AMD's Zen 5 CPUs, many people remarked that Intel's Raptor Lake woes had left AMD with a competitive "opening" against rival Intel. However, given the modest performance and efficiency gains over the previous-generation Zen 4 parts in client workloads, the narrative has now shifted, with some...
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This one's important, so let's get right to it: a new security flaw in all versions of Windows opens the door for a wormable remote code execution vulnerability. That means it can be exploited by an automated worm with zero user interaction required, and it gives the remote attacker the ability to execute code on the...
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When people talk about the AI race, most folks' thoughts immediately go toward large language models powering functions like ChatGPT or Google Assistant. There's a lot more going on in the AI space than just language models, though. Before convincingly-human language models became commonplace, everyone was obsessed...
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