DuckDodgers

MSI has responded to an inquiry about missing stock of Radeon SKUs and steep discounts on leftover quantities. Quotes Nothing unusual in this move -- several AIBs have preferred to be serving one GPU vendor exclusively, but it just confirms the market status quo between GeForce and Radeon. Sources: https://videocardz.com/newz/msi-confirms-focus-on-geforce-rtx-gpus-as-msi-radeon-cards-are-disappearing-from-stores

Hardware vendors can't catch a break. The US government is turning up the heat on export controls for advanced AI tech. Quotes Dunno what to say more about this farce, but that the looming black market for high-end GPUs amid tightening trade restrictions will push up the prices even more for all of us. Source: https://videocardz.com/newz/u-s-revises-chip-export-rules-to-china-geforce-rtx-4090d-likely-to-be-affected

In a new report, the White House Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) has called on developers to use "memory-safe programming languages," a category which excludes the popular languages. Quotes The market has been flooded with developers who have degrees or certifications with only a single semester of Java programming. Doesn't matter how "memory safe" the language is. With the incredulously low standard for programmers these days, they are all a threat. Stop blaming the language! Sources: https://www.tomshardware.com/software/security-software/white-house-urges-developers-to-avoid-c-and-c-use-memory-safe-programming-languages

Quotes How the tables have turned, indeed. A decade ago such proposition would have been unthinkable, but neither the competitive environment was that aggressive on all fronts. Also, Nvidia's market evaluation alone is several times that of AMD, Intel and Qualcomm combined. Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/intel-ceo-pat-gelsinger-i-hope-to-build-chips-for-lisa-su-and-amd

Well, there's the future of computer graphics Nvidia was probably dreaming all the time. Low resolution input model -> nextgen DLSS inference -> 4K+ 120Hz output.

Microsoft continues its battel to get rig of old unfashioned hardware for its latest Windows 11 release, this time with deeper changes. Quotes Well, you either have a PC with "new" CPU after 2008 so it doesn't matter or you don't care for Windows 11 anyway -- in both cases nothing changes for the adoption rates of this Windows generation. Source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/windows-11-24h2-goes-from-unsupported-to-unbootable-on-some-older-pcs

CUDA and OpenCL were a small revolution for GPGPU Compute back then. I could run an early sample code for path-tracing on a Radeon 5870 under OCL in 2009. The BrookGPU library was the real garbage before that, where compute code calls were mapped directly to the graphics pipeline with all the weird consequences, incl. system lockup due to unstable kernel-mode drivers not meant for this type of workload.

A new rumor mill indicates Intel is hard pitching its offerings to Microsoft for the next Xbox. If the rumor has some leg, this will be the first time in 20 years the chip veteran could find its way in a gaming console. Quotes Considering the mail source of the rumor (see below), don't put too much hope in it -- it's still hearsay with generous amount of assumptions. On the other hand, a potential deal for Intel would reinvigorate their further GPU R&D that would also be a positive contribution to the PC market competitive landscape. Sources: https://www.techpowerup.com/318820/intel-looking-to-grab-microsoft-xbox-semi-custom-soc-business-from-amd https://www.tweaktown.com/news/95974/intel-wants-to-be-inside-microsofts-next-gen-xbox-console-would-built-in-the-usa/index.html

China's economy is much too dependent on both exports and imports than US is. In fact, the US of all developed countries is by far the least dependent on the global trade and could wield a trade war with ease against China, taking much less damage. It also helps to have the world's reserve currency, the most powerful navy and hundreds of military bases and outposts around the world.

China was barred from accessing NVIDIA's H800s and A800s, which were already cut-down variants previously developed by the firm, but now is being reported that the US has blocked off access to an older AI product, the A100. Quotes Looks like Mr. Huang would need more "dance" classes with all the tightening export restrictions around Nvidia. Source: https://wccftech.com/us-government-blocks-nvidia-a100-ai-gpus-chinese-firm-technology-transfer/

Remember all those 4090 cards being frantically separated from their GPU chips in China? Well, someone found a business opportunity for all the leftover PCBs and coolers. Quotes Like usual, just beware of too good offers from shady dealers. Source: https://videocardz.com/newz/scammers-are-now-selling-rtx-4090-graphics-cards-without-gpus

AFAIK, after the source video file is uploaded to YouTube, the service encodes separate copies for all available resolutions with the appropriate bitrate. Say you have 2160p source file, so YT will encode individual copies at the original resolution and then 1440p, 1080p, 720p and so on down to 144p is the lowest I think. And this is how the "bitrate" is adjusted during playback, by switching between the different video file copies on the server. The only way to get higher bitrate, since YT doesn't expose such option, is to simply pre-encode your source material at the highest option (2160p 60FPS).

The China-specific variation of RTX4090 will reportedly only have reduced Tensor core functionality, but the rest of the GPU capabilities will remain the same. Quotes It would be rather curious to benchmark the impact of the reduced Tensor cores on the DLSS/FG/RR performance against the normal RTX 4090 and how much the AI hype is holding water. Source: https://videocardz.com/newz/chinese-nvidia-rtx-4090d-to-launch-today-with-reduced-tensor-core-specs

The 1.0 and 1.1 versions are affected and will be recalled. Users must stop using them immediately. Quotes Can the industry just update the ATX standard to 24V and move beyond this connector melting lunacy? Sources: https://videocardz.com/newz/cablemod-recalls-12vhpwr-1-0-1-1-angled-adapters-users-advised-to-stop-using-them-immediately

Intel is tightening the certification requirements around their new mobile platform to keep the integrated GFX performance leveled. Quotes The OEMs still haven't learnt from the Vista disaster with underpowered hardware, while Apple is charging $200 for 8GB of RAM upgrade. The PC ultra-portables need to level up. Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/intels-slapped-a-16gb-dual-channel-minimum-entry-requirement-on-core-ultra-laptops-if-you-want-top-gaming-performance/