Welcome to this week's DC Tech news! 

White is the new black

One of our stunning white gaming PCs

 

In the last few years, there’s been a significant increase in the demand for white components and cases. (We know as we’ve built a fair few!) And we can understand why: the aesthetics of white technology is an increasing trend that doesn’t seem to be losing steam. Taking an example such as the Playstation 5, the crisp white against solid black definitely looks awesome. And component manufacturers are taking note. More and more individual components are trying the new look and customers certainly aren’t saying no.

 

Such an example is the ZOTAC GAMING Geforce RTX 4060 Twin Edge OC White Edition, recently released and looking absolutely stunning.

 

Image credit: Zotac

 

But it’s not all about looks (but of course we always appreciate a good aesthetic!), and the ZOTAC’s RTX 4060 delivers in terms of performance as well. There is a marked 20% improvement in performance over its predecessor the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB at 1080p, which is a definite improvement. Additionally, it also supports fully DLSS 3 and can make heavy load games such as Cyberpunk 2077 run like butter without sacrificing any visual fidelity.

 

We currently live in a world that can accommodate both visual quality and performance rather than choosing one over the other. With the processing power of the ZOTAC RTX 4060, it utilises the hardware of the 40 series using its Ada Lovelace architecture, named after one of the world’s first programmer, who we’ve also written about, and is built on TSMC 4N process technology, putting it ahead of its competition. Its onboard AI-based form of upscaling means boosts in game performance without having to sacrifice visual fidelity. Its DLSS 3 combines DLSS Super Resolution, NVIDIA Reflex and Frame Generation technology to create a powerhouse of rendering, exclusive to the GeForce RTX 40 series.

 

We’ve been building with a lot of white components, so check out our Instagram and our Threads to see the very best!

 

Intel Core i7 – 14700K stats leaked

Image credit: Intel

 

…and it’s good news, guys.

 

Leaked by Twitter user Videocardz, they have revealed what looks like an 18% performance boost in its benchmark tests over the Core i7-13700K, along with expected higher frequencies also.

 

In a report detailed by Forbes, they list all of the scores in comparison to some of the 14700K's competition, and it certainly looks to be a healthy increase in performance.

 

The latest rumours indicate the i7-14700K could have a total of 20 cores, an increase of four over the i7-13700K despite the same architecture. The extra cores could be to deal with extra workloads and background tasks, which is always good news.

 

Asus card reader may run into thermal issues

Image credit: Asus

 

A design flaw discovered in the recently launched Asus ROG Ally may cause its SD card reader to malfunction.

 

In a statement released by an Asus official on the Republic of Gamers Discord, the ROG Ally may run into thermal issues under certain conditions:

 

“After confirmation from internal testing, under certain thermal stress conditions the SD card reader may malfunction.”

 

What it boils down to is the MicroSD cards fitting into the ROG Ally are being exposed to heat from the other components. This problem may present itself as the card being unable to be read by the ROG Ally or unable to be mounted. Some users have even reported the card being completely bricked by the issue, but the majority were able to recover their cards via an SD card reader using a USB.

 

Asus have said a fix to “alleviate the issue” is in the works in the form of an update that will fine-tune the fan curves to “improve reliability”, but this is not a guaranteed fix at the time of writing. Asus are likely working on revising future models of the ROG Ally in order to stamp out the issue entirely, but this is not confirmed.

 

Industry

 

Robots and humans should work together

 

In the UN AI for Good conference in Geneva this week, nine humanoid robots were gathered in order to answer questions about the future of robotics, integration into human society and potential regulations over AI.

 

The nine robots, all with distinct looks and personalities, answered questions (even with slight delays due to the Wi-Fi!) and iterated several times the benefits of robots working alongside humans to create a better world.

 

Deep philosophical questions aside, the desire to create ourselves has always been a forefront when designing robots, and all of these robots have been given faces and even expressions. Perhaps the most famous one there was Sophia, a robot that has appeared on numerous talk shows and conferences previously. For the convention, dressed in a white skirt and shirt, Sophia explained to the audience that “effective synergy” would happen when humans and AI worked together:

 

“AI can provide unbiased data while humans can provide the emotional intelligence and creativity to make the best decisions. Together, we can achieve great things.”

 

Other robots included a rock star singer called Desdemona, Ai-Da, a robot that paints portraits. Grace, a medical robot created to potentially work alongside humans, and Ameca, a robot with a strikingly realistic set of expressions and emotions.

 You can watch the entire press conference here.

 

School leavers picking up computer courses in droves

 

UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) have revealed an increased number of school-leavers keen to pursue a career with computers, which according to UCAS chief executive Clare Marchant said: “thanks to the rise of digital [technology] and AI”.

 

The rise was shown to increase by 10% in school leavers, the seventh most popular area of higher education study. This could be driven by the rise in more publicly available artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT and free tutorials on Youtube, meaning more and more people are able to access information and learn on their own initiative.

 

Have you ever picked up a skill on Youtube, or been interested in the either the software or production side of computing? We have a wide range of custom PCs for all kinds of applications to take your skills even further.

 

And that about wraps it up guys! What was your highlight this week? Let us know in the comments!