Podcast #621 - XFX 6700xt MERC319, Corsair Fans, MS buying Discord, Intel ticks again + More!

Join us as we turn a slow news week into the podcast event of the decade.  Hackable smartphones, AOL dialup, Android tablets w/o Google, Microsoft more fully embraces GitHub, and even BioShock 4.  There so much more to enjoy within!Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:04 Patreon02:10 Food with Josh05:04 RX 9060 non-XT benchmarks (and VRAM discussion)12:53 Goodbye to X3D on AM414:17 AOL discontinues dialup (yes it was still going)15:30 Github to be folded into Microsoft18:01 The dream of a hackable smartphone21:48 The Murena Pixel tablet offers Android without Google26:11 A very different type of "hot coffee" mod28:55 Looking at Amazon GPU sales numbers32:14 Josh brings the latest Arm news36:08 (In)Security Corner1:05:14 Picks of the Week1:16:48 Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

17 Aug 1h 17min

AMD is on the rise, and their financials show it, plus they might have won The Game.  We discover that Windows 11 SE is still a thing, PCIe 8 has been ratified, and what's the best-worst GPU of 2025!  XeSS goes cross-platform-gpu and turns out that people CAN actually detect malware if properly motivated.  All this and more!Timestamps:00:00 Intro00:37 Patreon01:52 Food with Josh04:38 AMD financials09:43 AMD claims "world's fastest processors" as Intel struggles18:57 AMD may be planning X3D on both CCDs23:18 Windows 11 SE is going away26:13 Windows Vista stricken from latest Win11 build?27:48 Getting to the nub of ThinkPad design35:49 PCI-SIG announces PCI Express 8.038:29 AMD's AM6 socket rumored to bring DDR6 and PCIe 640:44 Best of the 8GB GPUs45:53 The RX 9060 non-XT48:10 Bracing for the possibility of 100% tariffs on chips49:50 (In)Security Corner1:04:55 Gaming Quick Hits1:18:11 Promoting Jeremy's HyperX Jet wireless headset review1:19:15 Picks of the Week1:34:57 Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

8 Aug 1h 35min

Prepare to be dazzled by nearly every aspect of this podcast - unless you watch and listen closely.  We have the usual cast of characters with at least 1 shirtless moment from a special guest.   On top of all that, we go over the Intel debacle, the AMD ascendency, Windows 10 is 10, and even some Half-Life 2 updates.  Really.  More in the topics below.Timestamps:00:00 Intro00:57 Patreon01:55 Food with Josh04:18 Threadripper 9000 performance is incredible07:13 AMD is chasing down Intel in the server room13:00 Intel had a bad quarter (plus extended discussion on Intel's future)29:04 Microsoft seems confused about layoffs - or maybe it's "ai"33:00 RTX 3050 again?35:09 Here come the PCI-E 6.0 SSDs!39:10 A new 3D monitor in 202542:02 Windows 10 is 1043:58 (In)Security Corner1:03:43 Gaming Quick Hits1:10:36 Fractal Scape wireless gaming headset review1:17:06 Picks of the Week1:28:18 Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

5 Aug 1h 29min

Not only do we never underestimate the power of sunglasses, we bring you another show after a "sick" week off.  We've got some external storage to review, Threadripper high-wattage benchmarks, and some Zen time on top of all the other high quality news items and spontaneous commentary you know you want.  And need.  Topics below.Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:04 Patreon1:35 Food with Josh03:24 Next-gen Radeon may have 96 CUs, 384-bit memory14:18 Threadripper PRO 9995WX's insane Cinebench score (and power draw)17:57 AM5 motherboards revised for Zen 6 CPUs?22:55 We mention an exhaustive study of AMD memory speeds28:30 NVIDIA adding native RISC-V support to CUDA30:19 Each of us blocks Wi-Fi in our own special way33:49 MAINGEAR goes retro39:34 Self-destructing SSDs42:03 Belkin notifies users that Wemo products will be bricked45:22 (In)Security Corner1:01:26 Gaming Quick Hits1:12:00 Crucial X10 Portable SSD review1:16:52 Picks of the Week1:26:42 Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

26 Jul 1h 27min

Not only do we talk about the things in the description, but we talk (oh so much) about many other things! See the time stamps below for a list of most of them (because the list of digressions would exceed the character limit of this description).Come on in for the food, but stay for the review.Timestamps00:00 Intro00:28 Patreon01:59 Food with Josh04:30 NVIDIA is now a 4 trillion dollar company11:00 GlobalFoundries acquires MIPS16:47 ZLUDA lives on21:51 RTX 50 Series lands on Steam hardware survey25:17 RDNA 5 being co-developed by Sony?28:04 Windows 11 hits 50 percent marketshare31:32 Shocker - running an RTX 5090 on a Gen3 x4 connection slows it down33:11 Intel might cancel 18A38:07 HP wants CarFax style reports for PCs42:28 Podcast sponsor bzigo43:59 (In)Security Corner58:27 Gaming Quick Hit1:04:20 XFX Mercury Radeon RX 9070 XT OC Magnetic Air Edition review1:12:54 Picks of the Week1:21:12 Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

14 Jul 1h 22min

To celebrate Independence Day, we teamed up with a big imaginary Hollywood studio to produce this special episode. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll kiss three bucks goodbye. Really, of course, we are one of the top 10 best podcasts in the computer hardware field, so if you're serious about your computer hardware podcasts, you're going to check this out regardless.  We've got BSOD's, Nvidia drivers going away, and even hardcoded root passwords.Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:31 Patreon02:31 Food with Josh05:36 RTX 5050 arrives with no reviews09:23 NVIDIA confirms end of support for GTX 10 Series and older11:36 RTX 50 Series SUPER rumors14:09 Intel might have 3D V-Cache competitor with Nova Lake17:24 Stockpiled PCs are not selling23:39 Anker battery bank recall26:31 Apple to release low cost MacBook with iPhone SoC?28:50 BSOD isn't blue anymore32:42 RTX customers get free Adobe CC trials (Adobe slowly becomes the next AOL?)34:41 DDR4 becoming more expensive than DDR537:11 (In)Security Corner48:00 Gaming Quick Hits57:40 Crucial T710 Gen5 SSD Review1:05:47 Picks of the Week1:20:14 Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

7 Jul 1h 22min

After what seems like ages, but was actually only a week off, we are BACK. Enjoy what some have called "PCPer's greatest podcast episode of all time, even if it was kind of a slow news cycle".  It's the energy, really.  Have some news on AMD Threadrippers, Intel ARC, depressing Microsoft news and even Google Earth!00:00 Intro (with show and tell)04:29 Patreon05:57 Food with Josh07:49 AMD launches Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9000 and Radeon AI PRO 900013:38 Next Intel desktop CPUs to offer more cores, more lanes, 100W less power?21:37 Intel Arc A750 LE goes EOL22:51 TPU does some interesting IPC testing with recent GPU architectures26:35 PSA: Newest Steam overlay lets you track generated frames27:11 A new Sound Blaster31:12 A trio of Microsoft stories - mostly depressing40:28 Google Earth turns 2042:50 Podcast sponsor44:23 (In)Security Corner56:22 Gaming Quick Hits1:03:48 Picks of the Week1:16:48 Outro (it just sort of ends) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

29 Jun 1h 20min

A handheld Xbox that's really an ROG Ally with a new Ryzen processor?? An LCD that actually NEEDS bright sunlight like a Game Boy Color?? (Oh, and Josh's legendary food segment.)  There's some EVGA sad news mixed in there with a cool new GOG feature and too many security stories.Timestamps:00:00 Intro00:39 Patreon01:20 Food with Josh03:30 ASUS ROG Xbox Ally handhelds have new AMD Ryzen Z2 processors06:51 Nintendo sold a record number of Switch 2 consoles08:37 NVIDIA N1X competitive with high-end mobile CPUs?12:38 Samsung now selling 3GB GDDR7 modules16:27 Apple uses car model years now, and Tahoe is their last OS supporting Intel22:01 EVGA motherboards have issues with RTX 50 GPUs?27:48 Josh talks about a new PNY flash drive30:01 (in)Security Corner54:07 Gaming Quick Hits1:00:46 Eazeye Monitor 2.0 - an RLCD monitor review1:11:53 Picks of the Week1:33:21 Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

14 Jun 1h 33min