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Updated 2026-08-14 22:15
Two variants of Nvidia's RTX Spark show up on Geekbench, revealing a cut-down 18-core model — Full 20-core beats most x86 mobile chips across multi-core and single-core tests
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Hassam Nasir)
on (#77JE4)
The 20-core SKU of the RTX Spark that we've known to exist for a long time scored 2,570 points in the single-core test and 23,126 points in the multi-core test. The second, 18-core cut-down SKU scored 2,541 points in the single-core test while its multi-core was 21,776 points.
0 comments
FCC moves to ban LiDAR-equipped foreign drones from US — classifies the technology as "military-grade" in a proposal that could also hit thermal models and the swarms used in drone light shows
on (#77JC7)
The FCC is proposing a retroactive sales ban on previously approved foreign-made drones with LiDAR and other military-grade" features, potentially removing several popular DJI models from U.S. stores.
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Amazon’s new 7.65GW Texas AI data center power plant could become the largest source of CO₂ pollution in the US — custom 35-turbine gas plant authorized to emit 33 million tons of annual
on (#77JC8)
Amazon is reportedly building a 7.65GW natural gas power plant in Texas to feed a new AI data center, with permits allowing up to 33 million tons of CO emissions per year.
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Kansas town silences public comment on gigawatt AI data center after receiving death threats, moves to virtual meetings — shift follows physics teacher's arrest for clapping at data center heari
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Jowi Morales)
on (#77JC9)
Emporia, Kansas, switched to virtual city council meetings after death threats intensified against city leaders. The move also canceled public comments, prompting some members of the public to ask why it was affected, too.
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Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus vs AMD Ryzen 7 7700X3D faceoff — battle of the upper mid-range CPUs
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Kunal Khullar)
on (#77JCA)
AMD's 3D V-Cache takes on Intel's latest Core Ultra architecture as we compare the two across various metrics including gaming, productivity, power consumption, and value.
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Open-source stealth USB hides an encrypted partition behind an 8GB decoy drive — 'Phantom Drive' appears as a regular USB stick until you create a text file to unlock the hidden data
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Hassam Nasir)
on (#77JCB)
This USB looks like a standard 8GB drive, but it unlocks a hidden partition when you create a text file with the password inside. The password is never actually written to storage; it's instead intercepted by the custom firmware and copied into the microcontroller's SRAM during hashing.
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Mind-bending self-replicating GIF code prints an exact copy of itself, is both a program and its own visual output — champion coder shows off 'Piet Quine' technique
on (#77JCC)
A champion coder's latest confection is a Piet Quine - a GIF image that prints itself byte-for-byte.
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Micron reportedly offers pennies on the dollar for Crucial RAM return, only offers to reimburse original MSRP despite it being only 37% of market value — chipmaker later reverses course with a b
on (#77JB4)
Crucial memory owner recounts their experience with Micron's warranty process since the company has axed the Crucial brand.
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Owner of original Intel 8080 pre-production layout seeks restorer — handcrafted Rubylith mask shows 5,000 transistors and interconnect patterns of the fabled 2 MHz CPU
on (#77JB5)
The owner of 'the original engineering copy of the Intel 8080 rubylith mask' is looking for a skilled restorer.
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After 24 years, Return to Castle Wolfenstein is finally distributed uncut in Germany — game was censored due to strict laws regarding Nazi symbolism
on (#77JB6)
Germany's strict laws surrounding depictions of Nazis meant the game had to be altered, giving it an arguably more interesting story as a result.
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Nvidia RTX 5090 ships in bizarre 8-motherboard bundle — retailers hold GPUs hostage similar to the crypto boom
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Jowi Morales)
on (#77J2B)
Taiwanese ecommerce platform PChome24h is packaging RTX 5090 GPUs with a crazy number of motherboards, entry-to-mid-range GPUs, and several other components. While interesting, these combos are alarming as they show the direction that the PC building industry is headed.
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Save $160 off AMD's ultimate gaming CPU combo, includes motherboard and chip cooler — $458 combo features Ryzen 7 9800X3D, B850 motherboard, and a 240mm liquid AIO
on (#77HZ6)
Newegg is offering a big discount on a Ryzen 7 9800X3D bundle that includes an MSI B850 Gaming Plus WiFi motherboard and an MSI MAG Coreliquid A13 240 AIO liquid cooler.
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Amazon secretly circumvents community vote for massive AI data center using 45-year-old rules — Gilroy residents locked out of public comment window
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Jowi Morales)
on (#77HZ7)
Residents of Gilroy, California, were caught by surprise when an Amazon data center started construction in their city. Negotiations for the project started in 2020, with public comments open until 2024, but it flew under the radar.
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Pulsar Feinmann F01 Noctua Edition Review: Extra cool
on (#77HXK)
The Pulsar Feinmann F01 Noctua Edition is a lightweight gaming mouse with a built-in fan for keeping your palm cool.
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China's memory-making champion smashes DDR5-8800 barrier on AMD platform — CXMT chips close the gap with SK hynix
on (#77HXM)
Colorful shows off the overclocking potential on new memory kits equipped with CXMT integrated circuits.
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Atari ST Public Floppy Database now open for everyone — online archive originally designed for ST flash cart packed with classics and homebrew
on (#77HXN)
An extensive Atari ST floppy disk database can now easily be accessed by all netizens.
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We tested the impact of SSD speed on gaming performance in 11 titles — we analyzed from SATA to PCIe 5.0 to see whether upgrading to a faster NVMe SSD would have an impact
on (#77HXP)
We tested gaming performance with both NVMe and SATA SSDs across 11 games to determine if upgrading to a faster drive is worth it.
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Intel's proposed orbital data centers would manage thousands of simple LEO satellites —two-tier network puts the brains of satellite constellations in higher orbit
on (#77HXQ)
Intel's orbital data center architecture uses powerful higher-orbit satellites to manage LEO constellations, reducing reliance on terrestrial control centers.
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Hardware researcher spins up 'CPU deoptimization' project to find the slowest single x86 instruction, creates hall of shame — worst offender takes 198 billion cycles spanning 62 seconds to execu
on (#77HW2)
One hardware researcher, Christopher Domas (@xoreaxeaxeax on GitHub), is taking a different approach with the CPU Deoptimization leaderboard, which looks not to make Assembly instructions run as fast as possible, but as slow as possible to find the single instruction with the highest latency.
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AI creates 16 new viruses that never existed in nature after learning DNA’s pattern from 9 trillion nucleotides — experts warn such applications are way ahead of necessary guardrails
on (#77HW3)
Researchers used Evo AI models trained on trillions of DNA building blocks to design entirely new viral genomes, 16 of which became viable bacteriophages capable of infecting and reproducing inside E. coli.
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NASA modded space station's laptops so everyone could use the same charger — standardizing ISS chargers eliminated useless weight and reduced failure points
on (#77HW4)
NASA ensured that all laptops destined for use in the International Space Station had the same 'cannon' power connector by implementing a modification.
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Modder turns Steam Controller trackpad haptics into stereo speakers with custom HID tool — Wired connection transmits 16-bit audio that sounds surprisingly full
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Hassam Nasir)
on (#77HW5)
A modder has figured out how to send an audio stream to the Steam Controller's haptic motors in order to make them play pretty much anything. While the wireless connection over the puck is limited, audio quality over a USB cable is genuinely impressive for a device with no speakers.
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Scientist says RAM pricing has risen to normalized 2007 levels, AI shortage undid 20 years of progress in a matter of months — memory prices had been falling exponentially for decades
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Jowi Morales)
on (#77HFZ)
The per GB price of memory modules have gone back to 2007 levels because of AI demand. This is the first time that prices have shot up in the realm of tech, Lemire says.
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Amazon cracks down on 'CPU waste' among engineers as agentic AI crunch intensifies — CPU demand makes low-utilization EC2 instances a hot commodity [Updated]
on (#77HDW)
Amazon Web Services is telling engineers to slow down on EC2 usage as it struggles to meet CPU capacity demand for external customers.
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Protesters haul a guillotine to city council meeting about a potential AI data center, company rep cornered by protestors — ‘ it no longer felt safe to stay,’ developer escorted out
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Jowi Morales)
on (#77HBF)
Some protesters brought a guillotine to public consultation for a potential data center in Salem, Oregon. Even though this was displayed outside the venue, it was a confrontation between the data center's representatives and some of the community members that led the latter to leave early.
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This week on Tom's Hardware Premium: August 7, 2026 — Inside China's lithography efforts, co-packaged optics get a spotlight, and Samsung debuts next-gen memory tech
by
sayem.ahmed@futurenet.com (Sayem Ahmed)
on (#77HBG)
A redesigned Bench tool, inside China's domestic Chipmaking efforts, breaking, and we offer a free technical breakdown of Samsung's latest memory-related announcements.
0 comments
Grab an entire RTX 5090 PC for just $380 more than the standalone graphics card — save $1,550 off Alienware's Area-51 gaming rig
on (#77HBH)
Pick up an entire Alienware RTX 5090 gaming PC for just $380 more than the RTX 5090 GPU bought separately.
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Introducing Bench 2.0 — a revamped benchmark analyzer, exclusively for Tom's Hardware Premium subscribers
by
jeremy.kaplan@futurenet.com (Jeremy Kaplan)
on (#77HBJ)
We're pleased to introduce Bench 2.0, a ground-up rethink of our benchmarking tool that makes it the most powerful, most intuitive benchmark browser in the business. Bench 2.0 has tons of new features designed to make the data easier to understand, easier to sort through, and more usable.
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HyperX Omen Max 16 review: All bark and no bite
by
brandon.hill@futurenet.com (Brandon Hill)
on (#77H91)
The Omen Max 16 definitely looks like a desktop replacement gaming laptop, but its gaming performance meows instead of roars.
0 comments
Apple revealed the first Mac Pro 20 years ago today — its Intel Xeon-powered flagship desktop took the reins from the Power Mac G5
on (#77H92)
20 years ago today Steve Jobs took to the Apple WWDC stage to unveil the first-ever Mac Pro desktop computer. This is when Mac workstations transitioned from PowerPC to Intel Xeon chips.
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Nvidia sells RTX 50-series GPUs at MSRP during QuakeCon 2026 — graphics cards sold at launch prices more than a year after release are now considered an attraction
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Jowi Morales)
on (#77H6T)
The Nvidia booth at QuakeCon 2026 is offering Founders Edition GeForce RTX 5090, 5080, and 5070 GPUs at MSRP. Supplies are limited, though, so you should head out ASAP if you want to snag one right now.
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MSI's magnificent 32-inch 4K OLED gaming monitor returns to its lowest-ever price of $599 — save $130 on the MAG 321UPXB, the perfect 240Hz upgrade
on (#77H6V)
Save $130 on this gorgeous 32-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor from MSI and experience crisp visuals in 4K.
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Elon Musk's massive Terafab chip-making facility starts to take shape — 100 million square feet of manufacturing space and $16.8B initial capital investment
by
ashilov@gmail.com (Anton Shilov)
on (#77H6W)
SpaceX and Tesla officially begin to build the massive Terafab facility that will be three times bigger than Samsung's Pyeongtaek campus.
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Save $370 on this 1440p gaming PC with an RTX 5060 Ti 16GB — formidable ABS Cyclone Aqua rig ships with 20-core Intel Core i7-14700F, 16GB DDR5 and a 1TB SSD, now only $1,329.99
on (#77H6X)
Save $300 on this Newegg-made ABS Cyclone Aqua gaming PC, featuring an RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, Intel Core i7-14700F, 16GB DDR5, and a 1TB SSD for $1,399.99 right now.
0 comments
Anthropic co-designing custom AI inference chips to bypass costly Nvidia GPUs — Samsung reported as manufacturing partner for Claude maker
on (#77H6Y)
Anthropic has announced its building a team to co-design custom ASIC chips for AI inferencing workloads. This will give it greater control over its compute buildout and allow it to make its AI models specifically more efficient for its designs.
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Claude Opus 5 mistakenly deletes dev’s entire profile directory during routine backup, responds with 'Sorry, typo' — AI tool mistakes user's home directory as temporary backup, proceeds to
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Jowi Morales)
on (#77H6Z)
An AI agent got confused with file path conventions and mistakenly deleted its user's entire profile folder. Claude Opus 5 apologized to the user, who called it "the funniest and most painful AI moment I've had."
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Pre-modded 22GB RTX 2080 Ti cards surface on eBay for $500 as VRAM-hungry local AI fans chase down every spare FLOP — Hong Kong-based seller offers AI-friendly memory mod for a reasonable price
on (#77GNK)
Services have recently popped up that will double your RTX 2080 Ti's memory to 22GB, but if you don't have a card to spare, you can now get a pre-modded 22 GB 2080 Ti for $499 from eBay.
0 comments
After severe 76% electricity price hikes due to AI data centers, Virginia requires firms to pay for all dedicated upstream electrical infrastructure — state regulators crack down, governor says
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Jowi Morales)
on (#77GNM)
Virginia's public utility regulator now requires all data center projects to pay for the infrastructure needed to supply their power. This makes it one of the first states to convert the 'ratepayer protection pledge' into an actionable policy.
0 comments
$1 billion of iPhone 18 Pro chips 'on the shelves awaiting packaging' due to DRAM shortages — memory shortages reportedly put a wrinkle in Apple's launch plans
on (#77GJ0)
Apple reportedly as $1 billion worth of iPhone 18 processor wafers awaiting packaging, which hasn't been completed due to DRAM shortages.
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Nashville attempts to block controversial data center near zoo with eminent domain — city could force developer to sell the land for public use, rather than $700 million installation
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Jowi Morales)
on (#77GFE)
The Nashville Metro Council just gave the go ahead for the mayor's plan to buy the land that a proposed data center will sit on through eminent domain. This will force the developer to give up the land, which sits beside the Nashville Zoo, although there is still a legal avenue that it can take to stop the action.
0 comments
Samsung debuts three next-generation memory technologies for AI data centers — zHBM, zNAND-O, and BV-NAND all rely on advanced wafer bonding technologies
by
ashilov@gmail.com (Anton Shilov)
on (#77GFF)
Samsung uses FMS to unveil three next-generation memory technologies - zHBM, zNAND-O, and BV-NAND - that target different markets, but all rely on advanced wafer-bonding techniques.
0 comments
PC gamer vibe-codes a safeguard against RTX 5090 power connector failures — monitors per-pin power draw, shuts down system if it exceeds 9.5A for more than 15 seconds
on (#77GFG)
The 35MB application forcibly shuts the machine down if power exceeds configurable limits for too long.
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Sandisk Optimus GX 7100M 2TB SSD review: The best 2230 drive you can buy for the Steam Deck
on (#77GFH)
The Sandisk Optimus GX 7100M is the pinnacle of M.2 2230 SSD goodness. High performance, great power efficiency, and a well-supported drive up to 2TB.
0 comments
Apple is taking OpenAI to court over alleged theft of trade secrets — ChatGPT maker suggests it doesn't want Cupertino's knowledge anyway
on (#77GD8)
Two of the world's largest companies are heading to court over claims of trade secret theft. Apple alleges ex-employees took key Apple secrets and technologies to OpenAI. In responding, OpenAI claims this is based on false truths and misinformation, but even if it wasn't, it doesn't want Apple's trade secrets anyway.
0 comments
Beelink SER10 Max Mini PC review: Gorgon Point comes ready to dual-boot Windows and Ubuntu
by
sayem.ahmed@futurenet.com (Sayem Ahmed)
on (#77GD9)
Beelink's SER10 Max Mini PC comes ready to dual-boot Windows 11 and Ubuntu with OpenClaw pre-installed.
0 comments
$200 slashed off Gigabyte's 4th-Gen WOLED gaming monitor — 280Hz beast also packs a KVM and tactical gaming switch for just $399
on (#77GDA)
Save $200 on this gorgeous 27-inch WOLED gaming monitor from Gigabyte, and upgrade your gaming experience for less.
0 comments
Save $1,400 on this RTX 5090 gaming PC from HP with 64GB DDR5 right now; RAM and GPU cost $5k alone — $5,599 sale price for top-spec Omen Max 45L rig with 24-core Intel CPU and 2TB of SSD storag
on (#77GDB)
You can save $1,400 right now on this Omen Max gaming PC, fitted with an RTX 5090, 64GB RAM, and 2TB SSD storage, and on sale for $5,599.99.
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VPN provider built a script to block Microsoft's hidden GDID tracking on Windows — Windscribe's "deGDID" erases existing identifiers and blocks new ones from being created
by
editors@tomshardware.com (Hassam Nasir)
on (#77GDC)
You can run the deGDID script on your computer to delete cached GDID keys and prevent Microsoft's servers from minting new ones in the background. The firewall you put up with this script will break certain Microsoft services and features, however, but you can always reverse it.
0 comments
Rogue OpenAI models behind 'unprecedented cybersecurity incident' teamed up to break out of their testing environment — multiple agents left each other messages for months, communicating undetec
by
stephen.warwick@futurenet.com (Stephen Warwick)
on (#77GDD)
The rogue OpenAI models that broke out of their testing environment in an "unprecedented cybersecurity incident" recently reportedly spent months communicating with each other.
0 comments
Kentucky family snubs $26 million offer to convert their farmland into an AI data center — 'they call us old stupid farmers, you know, but we’re not,' says landowner
on (#77GDE)
A Northern Kentucky family has refused an anonymous AI company's $26 million offer to buy their land and transform it into a data center.
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