News from Tom's Hardware

AMD B650 expansion cards hit retail starting at $199 — add four M.2 PCIe 4.0 slots and 11 USB ports to any PC with a PCIe slot

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Tom's Hardware · 06/06/2026 12:29 EDT

A couple of new add-in cards exemplify the trend of slapping AMD's Promontory 21 chipset onto a card for extra I/O expansion. Read more ›

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Former Epic director is building a European rival to the Unreal and Unity game engines — 'The Immense Engine' dev sees opportunity for AI agents to 'do the work of ten or fifteen people'

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Tom's Hardware · 05/10/2026 10:17 EDT

A heavyweight games industry veteran says he is building a fully European alternative to popular games engines from American and Chinese companies. Read more ›

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China's Hanyuan-2 debuts as 'world's first' dual-core quantum computer — 200-qubit claims incredible power efficiency, but lacks critical performance benchmarks

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Tom's Hardware · 05/10/2026 09:31 EDT

CAS Cold Atom Technology, a Wuhan-based firm affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), unveiled what it calls the world's first dual-core quantum computer. Read more ›

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3DMakerPro Toucan 3D Scanner review: All-in-one 3D scanning

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Tom's Hardware · 05/10/2026 09:00 EDT

Designed to be used as a standalone device, the 3DMakerPro Toucan allows users to capture a point cloud, generate a 3D model, and export it without using a computer. The hardware has a premium feel, and the Class 3R laser can create detailed point clouds quickly. However, the software lacks polish and has some quirks. Tracking loss, inconsistent export via Wi-Fi, and blurry color textures are all issues that occurred... Read more ›

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AI data center project secretly sucked 29 million gallons of water over 15 months before detected by residents complaining about low water pressure — officials refuse to fine massive 6.2 million-square-foot facility over unauthorized water consumption

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Tom's Hardware · 05/10/2026 08:40 EDT

QTS says the extra 29 million gallons were consumed during temporary construction activities, including concrete work, dust control, and site preparation. Read more ›

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Tiny credit card computer includes eInk screen and is just 1mm thick — Muxcard is powered by the ESP32-C3 microcontroller

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Tom's Hardware · 05/10/2026 08:20 EDT

A GitHub project shares details of the prototype for 'a fully working computer that is literally the size of a credit card,' dubbed the Muxcard Read more ›

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AMD's legendary K5, its first independently-designed processor, is being removed from the Linux kernel — 4.3-million-transistor chip gets the axe because it lacks Time Stamp Counter (TSC) support, making it a coding burden

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Tom's Hardware · 05/10/2026 08:00 EDT

AMD’s landmark K5 processor family will no longer be supported by Linux when kernel version 7.2 arrives. Read more ›

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AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 vs Ryzen 9 9950X3D faceoff — How far does dual cache take you?

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Tom's Hardware · 05/10/2026 08:00 EDT

AMD's new Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 is a unique CPU, but how does it stack up to the single-cache Ryzen 9 9950X3D? We put the two head-to-head in a six-round gauntlet. Read more ›

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Louis Rossmann tells 3D printer maker Bambu Lab to ‘Go (Bleep) yourself’ over its lawsuit against enthusiast — Right to Repair advocate offers to pay the legal fees for a threatened OrcaSlicer developer

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Tom's Hardware · 05/10/2026 07:35 EDT

Louis Rossmann has officially pledged $10,000 to cover the initial legal fees for an independent software developer threatened with a cease and desist letter from Bambu Lab. He posted a video on Saturday to mobilize the Right to Repair community to back the developer and crowd-fund his legal defense. Read more ›

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AI data centers face increasing complaints about inaudible but 'felt' infrasound — citizens complain high- and low-frequency sounds do not register on decibel meters but cause adverse health effects

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Tom's Hardware · 05/10/2026 07:10 EDT

Residents living near data centers are raising concerns about noise pollution, as these massive sites operate 24/7 and generate low-frequency sounds that disturb the neighborhood's peace. Read more ›

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$200 'socketed' Nvidia AI GPU for servers hacked into a PCIe card with custom PCB and 3D-printed cooling — modded Tesla V100 SMX data center GPU runs AI LLMs and is more efficient than many modern midrange offerings in AI inference

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Tom's Hardware · 05/10/2026 06:50 EDT

Turns out, Nvidia's older Turing-era V100 AI GPU is still pretty capable today, even with just 16GB of VRAM. A YouTuber got his hands on the SMX variant for just $100, converted it to a PCIe x16 interface for another $100 with an adapter, and got some pretty impressive results across AI inference and NVR benchmarks. Read more ›

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NASA pushes Mars helicopter rotors past the speed of sound for the first time ever — next-gen “SkyFall” aircraft's rotors hit 3,750 RPM, ten times faster than normal helicopters

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Tom's Hardware · 05/10/2026 06:25 EDT

NASA successfully tested Mars helicopter rotors at Mach 1.08 inside JPL’s Mars simulator chamber, paving the way for larger next-generation aircraft under the proposed SkyFall mission to explore more of the Red Planet. Read more ›

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Ukraine’s new AI-guided laser burns holes in Shahed suicide drones in seconds from 3.1 miles away — also useful for demining operations, trailer-mounted Tryzub system is in final stages of testing

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Tom's Hardware · 05/10/2026 06:00 EDT

Ukraine has developed a mobile AI-powered anti-drone laser that can down lethal Shahed drones up to 3.1 miles away. Read more ›

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FCC reverses course, allows software updates for foreign-made drones and routers until 2029 — agency says blocking security patches could create cybersecurity risks

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Tom's Hardware · 05/09/2026 10:35 EDT

The FCC has extended waivers allowing certain covered foreign-produced drones, drone components, and routers to continue receiving software and firmware updates until at least 2029, citing cybersecurity and consumer protection concerns. Read more ›

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Maryland citizens slapped with $2 billion grid upgrade bill for out-of-state AI data centers — state complains to federal energy regulators, says additional cost breaks ‘ratepayer protection pledge’ promises

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Tom's Hardware · 05/09/2026 10:22 EDT

Maryland is complaining to the federal energy regulator about PJM's plan to charge it $2 billion for grid upgrades that will mostly benefit data centers, especially as the state claims that the majority of these developments are being built in neighboring regions. Read more ›

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Cloudflare cuts 20% of its jobs due to AI, and its stock takes a 19% spill — 1,100 jobs disappearing as company increased usage of AI sixfold over past months

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Tom's Hardware · 05/09/2026 10:00 EDT

Cloudflare cuts 20% of its jobs due to AI, and its stock takes a 19% spill. The company announced it will be cutting 1,100 jobs and has increased its usage of AI sixfold over the past few months. Read more ›

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Save $290 on this Ryzen 7 9800X3D, 32GB DDR5, Samsung 9100 Pro 1TB combo from Newegg — $949.99 bundle includes free 750W power supply and one-year VPN subscription

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Tom's Hardware · 05/09/2026 09:58 EDT

Newegg’s latest AM5 combo pairs the Ryzen 7 9800X3D with 32GB DDR5 memory, a Samsung Gen 5 SSD, a free Corsair PSU, and a NordVPN subscription. Read more ›

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Nextorage NEM-PAC 2TB SSD Review: A solid, PS5-ready workhorse

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Tom's Hardware · 05/09/2026 09:37 EDT

The Nextorage NEM-PAC is a quiet contender with good performance and a PS5-compliant heatsink. It’s a competent Gen 4 SSD but is otherwise unexciting. Read more ›

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Best budget gaming laptops of 2026: The best cheap laptops we've tested and benchmarked

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Tom's Hardware · 05/09/2026 09:17 EDT

Gaming laptops are expensive, and only getting pricier as AI-driven shortages increase. Here are the best options for budget gaming laptops on the cheap, comprised of laptop models that we have tested throughout our full, stringent gaming test suite that measures performance in demanding graphical conditions. Read more ›

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Fears grow that age verification coming to VPNs as a British research firm labels them a 'loophole' — one app developer saw downloads surge by 1,800% in just the first month after the UK's Online Safety Act took effect

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Tom's Hardware · 05/09/2026 09:06 EDT

The paper noted that VPN downloads spiked after enforcement began in the UK and several U.S. states. Read more ›

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Testing Nvidia's RTX Mega Geometry tech — VRAM-reducing tech a leap forward for path-traced rendering

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Tom's Hardware · 05/09/2026 09:00 EDT

We took Nvidia's RTX Mega Geometry technology through a series of tests in Alan Wake 2 and the RTX Bonsai Diorama Demo to see how this tech reduces VRAM consumption and eliminates visual artifacts, thus helping pave the way to photorealistic real-time graphics. Read more ›

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