Welcome to this week in tech! Find all the latest and hottest news for all your hardware and software needs.
Hardware news
Lian Li present GALAHAD II TRINITY AIOs and UNI FANS
Image credit: Lian Li official site
In their new portfolio, Lian Li announced their new GALAHAD II TRINITY series, three models featuring new liquid cooling all-in-one solutions and fans. The three models are:
- GALAHAD II TRINITY
- GALAHAD II TRINITY SL INF
- GALAHAD II TRINITY PERFORMANCE
All three models feature three interchangeable caps for pump personalisation, as well as 45-degree rotating fittings beside the radiator, enabling for better tube positioning. The specifications of all three can be found on Lian Li’s official website, alongside a release date of 2023 Q2. A quick run down of the features to look forward to include:
- Asetek 8th Gen solution.
- Capable of uploading MP4 files, layer by layer uploading, screen capturing and screen dividing.
- 2GB of flash allowing MP4 uploading up to 3minutes.
- 88” LCD screen with 480×480 resolution.
- 280/360 variations with black and white colour.
- ARGB fans that are the same as Trinity.
- Aluminium cap with RGB lighting on two sides.
Phanteks NV7 released
Image credit: Phanteks official site
In response to more and more powerful and large component hardware, Phanteks have released their new NV7 case designed to fit cards as big as the 4090. Nvidia’s new cards don’t leave much room for anything else in some older cases and now case manufacturers are playing catch up.
Fortunately, Phanteks have cottoned on and released their new NV7, a case with ample room for your GPU and then some, whilst maintaining a smooth, clean design. More importantly, the NV7 also features glass mesh and RGB, combined with a fresh look and feel. At a recommended price of just under £200, it’s a case designed to look cool on the desk and accommodate the heftiest of components all at the same time.
Supermicro expands data centre ranges
Image credit: Computex official site
In an industry first, San Jose based tech company Supermicro has launched a new set of data centre solutions, including a liquid cooled Nvidia HGX H100 rack scale. This new technology aims to reduce the lead time for a complete installation whilst increasing performance with the ultimate aim to lower overall operating expenses and reducing PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) of data centres. Supermicro estimates the power savings could be as much as 40% when using their technology, a significant drop for companies hoping to lessen their spending and their carbon footprint simultaneously.
Using AI-optimised racks is the latest in Supermicro’s product lines, accommodating both Intel and AMD components and easily customised according to the user’s needs.
For a full breakdown of Supermicro’s offering, you can check the official Supermicro page here.
Computex 2023
Image credit: Computex official site
Computex is back as a physical event after three years, and companies are eager to show off their latest gear and upcoming releases. Beginning on Tuesday the 30th of May, many of the highlights features eco-friendly manufacturing and packaging.
Here are some of the Best in Show winners:
- Asus ROG Swift OLED PG49WCD 49 inch gaming monitor featuring 5120x1440 resolution
- Acer Aspire Vero 15 laptop with a chassic made from 40% recycled plastics
- Asus ROG Matrix RTX 4090. The first GPU to use liquid metal thermal compound rather than paste.
- Acer Swift Edge 16, an incredibly lightweight 16 inch laptop at 1.12 kg
Check Trusted Reviews full list of best in show winners.
Software and gaming
Daedalic Entertainment apologises for rocky launch of Gollum game
Image credit: Gollum official press kit
It hasn’t been a particularly good week for Daedalic Entertainment, who have faced major backlash after their release of their new game, Gollum. A game detailing the adventures of the sneaky former hobbit and his escape from Mordor, it launched riddled with bugs and earned it a current 43% rating on Metacritic, with “mostly negative” reviews from users on Steam. It managed to take the limelight from Arkane’s Redfall as many have begun declaring Gollum as the worst game of the year, and we’re barely halfway through.
Response has been swift, however, with the devs promising to work hard to win back players’ trust by releasing an official statement on Twitter, apologising for Gollum’s less than perfect launch:
"We would like to sincerely apologize for the underwhelming experience many of you have had with The Lord of the Rings: Gollum upon its release. We acknowledge and deeply regret that the game did not meet the expectations we set for ourselves or for our dedicated community. Please accept our sincere apologies for any disappointment this may have caused."
Daedalic also stated it was working hard to fix any bugs and technical issues players have been experiencing, committing to working on numerous patches to: “allow you to enjoy the game to its fullest potential.” We’ve seen success stories from these kinds of launches in the past, such as No Man’s Sky which, when the devs were allowed enough time to create the game they had in mind, they released any and all patches for their game at no extra cost, and became a truly aspiration story for all game devs working under harsh crunch times. Hopefully, Daedalic will also be able to complete and release Gollum in a way they always envisioned.
Nvidia bringing its AI avatars to games
Image credit: Computex official site
At the aforementioned Computex 2023, Nvidia announced ACE for Games, a version of its Omniverse Avatar Cloud Engine, which will animate and give a voice to in-game NPCs in real time. It works in real time, where the Ai created NPC will listen to a player’s output, and generate an in-character response, speaking the dialogue out loud whilst also animating the NPC’s face.
This new technology has great potential, showing us what game development could look like in the near future, or how it can be utilised. Huang said upon its announcement that:
“AI will be a very big part of the future of videogames.”
You can see Nvidia's demo here: