Ryzen 9000 hasn’t been the surefire hit AMD fans were hoping for. Enthusiasts are still waiting for the X3D chip in the line, but Gigabyte has already announced a new X3D Turbo Mode for its motherboards that supposedly delivers between 20% and 35% better gaming performance.
Gigabyte calls it a “revolutionary BIOS feature” that’s designed to improve performance for X870E, X870, and 600 series motherboards that can boost the Ryzen 7000X3D and Ryzen 9000 series processors.
Perhaps the most fascinating nugget from Gigabyte’s press release is mention of an “incoming Ryzen 9000 X3D” processor, which will receive the largest performance benefit of up to 35% and is already being anticipated to be among the best processors you’ll be able to buy when it eventually launches. The non-X3D Ryzen 9000 chips will get a lower 20% performance boost. Gigabyte notes that the X3D Turbo Mode ups the Ryzen 9000 chips to “achieve similar gaming performance levels as their Ryzen X3D counterparts.”
Gigabyte didn’t, however, mention the exact performance boost that would be offered to the Ryzen 7000X3D processors. As Tom’s Hardware notes, Gigabyte also doesn’t explain how exactly its new Turbo Mode works, instead referring to it as “wizardry.”
The promise of the faster performance is enticing, though, and hopefully improves the value of AMD’s Ryzen 9000 chips. AMD itself offered a 17% boost to performance on these processors a couple of months after their launch, and Gigabyte’s Turbo Mode could enhance performance even more. More than anything, confirmation of the “incoming” Ryzen 9000X3D chips was enough to get my attention.
Gigabyte says the X3D Turbo Mode is available in the latest beta BIOS release now, so you can go check out the performance gains for yourself.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.