Major Tech News Roundup: GPUs, CPUs, Consoles, and More

There’s been a tidal wave of news and rumors in the tech world recently. In this comprehensive roundup, we’ll cover all the biggest stories across GPUs, CPUs, gaming consoles, and other hardware. Let’s dive in!

AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT Unveil Coming at Gamescom

While not yet 100% confirmed, strong evidence points to AMD revealing its next-gen RDNA 3 graphics cards – the RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT – next week at Gamescom.

AMD’s Scott Herkelman tweeted to “join the AMD Radeon team at Gamescom next week for our next major product announcement.” The RX 7800/7700 cards would certainly qualify as major.

Rumored specs for these new GPUs:

RX 7800 XT

• 60 compute units
• 16GB GDDR6 memory
• 256-bit bus
• Performance near RTX 3080/3090?

RX 7700 XT

• 12GB GDDR6
• 192-bit bus

The RX 7800 XT looks compelling on paper if priced around $500. But we’ll need independent reviews to see how it truly stacks up against the RTX 3080 and 3090.

Stay tuned next week for the official details!

Early RDNA 4 Leaks Point to Wild Multi-Chiplet Designs

While RDNA 3 isn’t even out yet, leaks are already emerging for AMD’s next-gen RDNA 4 architecture.

This concept render shows what a high-end Navi 4X GPU could look like based on rumors. It’s potentially a multi-chiplet monster comprising:

• Processor dies
• Active interposer
• Memory dies
• Media and I/O dies

If true, this level of complexity could explain rumors of AMD canceling its highest-end RDNA 4 chip. More time may be needed to finalize such an intricate, chiplet-based design.

It will be fascinating to see if this comes to fruition in the next couple years or if we instead get a more conventional monolithic flagship.

NVIDIA RTX 50 Series Naming Scheme Leaked

NVIDIA’s upcoming Lovelace GPU architecture will allegedly shake up naming conventions, according to leaker kopite7kimi.

Rather than continue the numeric pattern of Ampere and Ada Lovelace, next-gen chips will be:

• AD102 -> RTX 5090
• AD103 -> RTX 5080
• AD106 -> RTX 5070
• AD104 -> No equivalent (Skipped)
• AD205 -> Unknown position

The missing RTX 5060 and addition of an unplaced AD205 chip are intriguing. But ultimately, it’s unclear if this naming scheme shuffle will matter much to consumers.

Intel Battlemage and XeSS Updates

In the land of Team Blue, we have two notable updates:

Intel Battlemage Xe GPUs Still in Development

Rumors are swirling about Intel canceling or postponing its next-gen Battlemage architecture.

But new test results for Battlemage interposers suggest development continues marching forward. Release still likely a couple years out.

XeSS 1.2 SDK Released

Intel pushed out version 1.2 of its XeSS upscaling SDK for game devs. It comes with quality and performance improvements but is backwards compatible with XeSS 1.0/1.1.

XeSS utilizes Intel’s GPU hardware but also works on AMD and NVIDIA cards. It could become a serious DLSS competitor if broadly adopted.

Custom Starfield PC and GPUs Look Incredible

AMD’s promotional partnership with Bethesda’s upcoming game Starfield is resulting in some drool-worthy custom PCs and graphics cards:

• This one-of-a-kind Starfield PC designed by modder Ben is a true work of art.
• 500 special edition Starfield Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPUs with themed design are being produced. Good luck getting one!
• Both the 7900 XTX and 7800 X3D will be part of Starfield bundle deals for AMD hardware.

Meanwhile, NVIDIA is bundling Overwatch 2 with RTX 40 series GPUs. Choose based on the game you want more!

Crazy 96-Core Threadripper Pro Leaks

While Threadripper isn’t for gaming, the leaked 32-core Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7995WX benchmark showing 81,408 points in Cinebench R23 is mind-blowing.

That’s up to 70% faster than the previous Threadripper 3990X. Further cementing AMD’s dominance of core wars…for now.

Intel 14th-Gen Core i7-14700K Gaming Benchmarks

We’re starting to see gaming benchmarks for Intel’s 14th Gen Core i7-14700K emerge.

But with single-thread performance nearly identical to 12th Gen, don’t expect more than a few percentage points better FPS in games.

These new CPUs will primarily boost productivity with their higher core counts.

CPU Security Issues Continue

Both Intel and AMD CPUs were recently hit by separate security vulnerabilities, requiring mitigations that negatively impact certain workloads:

• Intel Downfall – Mitigations can drop AVX2 performance up to 39%.
• AMD Inception – Similarly, mitigations reduce performance in some tests.

While concerning, the gaming impact seems relatively small so far. But it continues an unfortunate trend of CPU security playing whack-a-mole.

Lenovo’s Gaming Handheld Takes on Steam Deck

The Steam Deck kicked off a wave of handheld Windows gaming PCs. Lenovo is joining with its leaked Legion Play handheld.

But its detachable joy-con style controls seem more Versatile compared to the Deck’s fixed design. One advantage of more competition.

Even More Custom GPU Cooler Models

The flood of custom aftermarket GPU coolers and models continues unabated:

• Inno3D RTX 4070 Twin X2 – With optional backplate to hide the power cable.
• Gigabyte Aorus Arc 750 Photon – Special Asia Games 2022 Edition with custom design.
• Maxsun RTX 4070 Icraft and Terminator Models – Continuing the theme trend.
• MSI RTX 4090 Suprim White – Now with brighter colors!

The sheer variety lets builders match components aesthetically. Or just gawk at extravagant designs.

PS5 Slim Shown in Leaked Video

A video surfaced allegedly showing a slimmer PS5 console compared to the original’s massive chassis.

But other leaks suggest a true slim PS5 is unlikely this generation due to chip fabrication costs. We may just get small revisions instead.

Struggles Running Recent Games Boosts PS5 Pro Rumors

Speaking of Playstation, some major upcoming PS5 titles like Lords of the Fallen are targeting lower resolutions and 30 FPS on PS5 and Xbox Series X.

The need for heavy upscaling could give credence to rumors of mid-generation PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X|S upgrades arriving to push higher fidelity. But nothing confirmed yet.

Closing Thoughts

That wraps up our tech news roundup! From powerful new GPUs and CPUs to gaming console rumors, there’s never a dull moment in the hardware world.

Let me know which story you found most interesting. And feel free to ask any questions – I’m happy to discuss these topics in more detail. Expect rapid-fire updates as we approach major events like Gamescom reveals and new product launches later this year!