Author: batteryforpc

There are no shortage of options if you are in the hunt for the best gaming monitor, and in case you have not heard, a couple of newcomers have joined the fun—Razer and Xiaomi.

We already wrote about Razer’s Raptor 27, which is now available after being introduced at CES the beginning of this year. Now we’ve learned that Xiaomi is expanding its product catalog as well.

Xiaomi is best known for its smartphones, though it does dabble in other hardware categories: smart TVs, fitness bands, battery packs, and even electric scooters. Its new Mi Surface 34, however, is the company’s first monitor.

It’s a 34-inch display sporting a curved (1500R) panel with a 3440×1440 resolution (21:9 aspect ratio). Built for gaming, it has a 144Hz refresh rate, 4ms response time, and AMD FreeSync support.

Certain details are not yet known, such as the brightness level, contrast ratio, and connectivity options. It’s also unclear what company is sourcing the VA panel. A post on Weibo suggests it’s Samsung.

The physical design is not too shabby. From the renders we’ve seen, it has thin bezels on the top and sides, and the base isn’t some crazy design.

Preorder pricing on the 34-inch Surface Mi is 1,999 Yuan, which is around $283 in US currency. After it ships, the price will go up to 2,499 Yuan (~$354). It’s not clear if Xiaomi intends to offer this display outside of China.

Xiaomi also unveiled a 23.8-inch IPS monitor with a 1920×1080 resolution. Other details are tougher to come by, though it’s priced at 699 Yuan (~$98).

The Intel graphics driver work for the Linux 5.5 kernel contains work on multi-GPU support, including handling integrated and discrete graphics concurrently.

Intel’s latest driver work for Linux 5.5 has shown that it is working on multi-GPU capabilities for its discrete Xe and Gen 12 graphics solutions. The capabilities would include integrated and discrete graphics working concurrently.

Phoronix already reported in August on work Intel has been doing for its graphics driver to support multiple devices concurrently. Phoronix said the muti-GPU support would most commonly be for the case of integrated graphics paired with a discrete Xe GPU, as the patches said: “With discrete graphics system can have both integrated and discrete GPU handled by i915 [driver].”

For multiple discrete GPU setups like SLI and CrossFire, Phoronix wasn’t expecting much on the user-space side, however, saying that the OpenCL and Vulkan APIs could handle those cases, for compute and graphics respectively.

The work is part of an ongoing effort to prepare Intel’s driver for discrete graphics support. The latest changes Phoronix reported for the upcoming Linux 5.5 kernel is code for a performance monitoring unit (PMU) for handling the integrated plus discrete graphics use-case. While it isn’t too interesting by itself, it further shows Intel’s work on Xe and multi-GPU capabilities.

Such multi-GPU capabilities are further noteworthy because there are rumors that Intel’s Arctic Sound discrete GPU will consist of a multi-chip package (MCP) of possibly four graphics dies, although it is not known if this multi-GPU work is related.

Other pieces that made it into the Linux 5.5 kernel include other work on bringing up Tiger Lake and Xe and the initial bits for Jasper Lake, a 10nm Atom SoC that probably won’t release until well into 2020, Phoronix suggested based on the timing.

It is not the first time information about Intel’s upcoming graphics has leaked via its Linux graphics driver enablement, such as a Mountain View SoC and a new display feature for Xe. Earlier this month, chief architect Raja Koduri might have suggested a June 2020 announcement for its first discrete graphics cards.

AMD’s Product Master guide, which the chipmaker has since removed, has been a source of multiple nuggets. The rumor mill continues to spin as eagle-eyed leaker @KOMACHI_ENSAKA has spotted a few interesting unannounced EPYC, codenamed Rome, enterprise chips.

The EPYC 7H12 is the crown jewel of AMD’s second-generation EPYC family of processors. The core-heavy 280W chip sports 64 cores, 128 threads and 256MB of L3 cache. It has a 2.6 GHz base clock and 3.3 GHz boost clock.

Like the EPYC 7H12, the EPYC 7742 and 7702 have the exact number of cores and L3 cache. However, the two aforementioned chips run at lower clock speeds so they aren’t exactly in the same 280W category as the EPYC 7H12. The latest sightings suggest that the EPYC 7H12 could have new company.

We don’t expect every listed processor in AMD’s document to make it to the market. But if the two mysterious EPYC do, AMD could market them as the EPYC 7R32 and 7R22. Apparently, both SKUs are rated with a 280W TDP (thermal design power).

It’s unlikely that the EPYC 7R32 and 7R22 will have more cores. Judging by the TDP alone, they will likely maintain the 64-core, 128-thread configuration. Perhaps, the pair of chips will have added features that the EPYC 7H12 currently doesn’t possess. Then there’s also the possibility that the EPYC 7R32 and 7R22 are tailored for a specific OEM so they might not be available in the general market.

Along with the other changes Reminders received with iOS 13, iPadOS 13, and macOS Catalina, there’s a useful new way to get a nudge about a reminder you’ve set when using the Messages app. Follow along for how to use the “Remind when messaging” feature on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Reminders got a big redesign with the latest software for iPhone, iPad, and Mac including the option to make subtasks and sublists, 72 options for list icons and colors, a new UI, and more.

Another subtle yet handy feature is to set a reminder to trigger when you text someone in the Messages app.

How to use the ‘Remind when messaging’ feature on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Open Reminders and add a new reminder or tap an existing one

Tap the “i” icon to the right of your reminder

Enable Remind me when messagingby tapping the toggle

Tap Choose Person

Select someone from your contacts

Tap Done in the top right corner

The next time you message the person you selected in Reminders, you’ll get an alert for your reminder. Give a tap on the notification if you’d like to mark the reminder as completed.

The process is the same on Mac, just click the “i” icon to the right of a reminder to enable Remind me when messaging.

Another neat feature to take advantage of across iPhone, iPad, and Mac is adding photos into reminders.

A Linux kernel patch from earlier this month, which was spotted by leaker @KOMACHI_ENSAKA, reportedly adds 10nm Ice Lake (ICL) desktop and server processors. Kan Liang, who is a Senior Graphics Software Engineer at Intel, signed off on the patch.

Despite recent rumors, Intel hasn’t given up on its 10nm process node for desktop chips. However, the chipmaker hasn’t dropped any specific processors names into its recent statement that it would bring 10nm chips to the desktop. However, the Linux patch does seem rather convincing that Intel’s 10nm desktop processors could debut with the Ice Lake architecture.

There are multiple mentions of the Ice Lake processors in the patch. Komachi believes the key to deciphering the different entries resides in the suffix. There isn’t any hard evidence to back this up, though, so we should interpret the product naming scheme with caution.

The IceLake entry presumably refers to desktop chips, while the IceLake_L entry could denote mobile parts. According to the leaker, the IceLake_X entry may stand for Xeon chips, while the IceLake_D entry represents both Xeon D and Xeon E offerings.

We’ve already seen what mobile Ice Lake chips can do. However, it would be fascinating to see how Ice Lake performs on the desktop when it isn’t confined to ultra-low TDP (thermal design power) envelopes like on the mobile parts. And who knows – maybe with some more breathing room, Intel’s 10nm processors might actually surprise us.