Since Alder Lake (12th‑gen Core), Intel has been using a rectangular desktop CPU socket—first LGA 1700, now LGA 1851, and at the turn of the year the LGA 1954 platform for Nova Lake is expected. These sockets, however, have been associated with complaints about CPU bending caused by the mounting mechanism and cooler pressure. With Nova Lake, Intel is preparing a solution, though it may not be available on all motherboards. Read more “Nova Lake to feature new 2L-ILM socket to prevent CPU bending”
Category: News
Further price hikes of memory and SSDs, up to 75% in spring
The second quarter has begun, and it has nasty things in store—another round of price increases for RAM and SSDs. In February we discussed a TrendForce forecast, noting that the price surge so far was likely the biggest jump in history. That itself was based just on the increases in Q4 2025 and Q1 2026. But as if those weren’t enough, another drastic price spike is coming now between April and June, making the situation even worse. Read more “Further price hikes of memory and SSDs, up to 75% in spring”
Beware of Thermal Hero! Attractive products, but…
Communication, trust, and fair dealing are fundamental. Only after that come detailed methodologies or anything else… Thermal Hero failed in this regard, did not honor what was agreed upon, and we want to use this opportunity to warn anyone who might be tempted to believe in something great. Yes, their liquid metal Metalliq looks that way, but if… let’s call it “other things” don’t work, then having a captivating product simply isn’t enough. Read more “Beware of Thermal Hero! Attractive products, but…”
Arrow Lake Refresh CPU pricing considerably higher than announced
Last year’s Nvidia GeForce RTX 5000 and AMD Radeon RX 9000 GPU launches were widely criticised for “fake MSRP.” That refers to situations where companies announce an attractive price that creates a good first impression and earns praise in reviews, only for the cards to immediately become more expensive or never actually appear at the advertised price. It now looks like something similar may be happening with Intel’s new processors. Read more “Arrow Lake Refresh CPU pricing considerably higher than announced”
Nvidia App solves the problem of long shader compilation in games
Yesterday we reported on an update to the Nvidia App utility for GeForce graphics cards, which brought owners of the latest‑generation GPUs the ability to use 6× frame generation and a dynamic mode in DLSS 4.5. But that’s not the only new feature the company has prepared. This version of Nvidia App includes another improvement that can free you from the annoying waiting for shader compilation, which often takes several minutes. Read more “Nvidia App solves the problem of long shader compilation in games”
MSI PSUs feature GPU Safeguard+ against 12V-2×6 cable melting
Unreliable 12V‑2×6/12VHPWR GPU power connectors have been causing trouble for years—especially on Nvidia hardware. Unfortunately, the problem remains unresolved because the company insists on pushing the connector, meaning the risk of overheating and melting cables can only be mitigated or worked around. MSI is now introducing its own attempt at such a workaround, adding a protection and early warning feature to its power supplies. Read more “MSI PSUs feature GPU Safeguard+ against 12V-2×6 cable melting”
New stars in the cooling hardware universe, part 7—Formula V Line
Established and well-known producers in the field are certainly familiar to our readers. In recent years, several new companies have appeared on the scene that may not yet be widely recognized. This series focuses precisely on such relatively new players. Although these brands have been on the market for a short time, their ambitions, fresh ideas, and technical solutions should not be underestimated. The last one arrived with a complete portfolio. Read more “New stars in the cooling hardware universe, part 7—Formula V Line”
Core Ultra 270K Plus beats existing high-end. No KF version, though
Intel is launching new CPUs for the LGA 1954 socket, refreshed “Plus” models of the Core Ultra 200S “Arrow Lake” lineup. These focus on offering great bang for buck, adding more cores. As a result, Intel abandoned the pricier Core Ultra 9 flagship and gave full core count to the lower-tier Core Ultra 7 270K Plus. In the end, it will even be faster than the previous Core Ultra 9 285K—in practice, ironically running at higher clock speeds. Read more “Core Ultra 270K Plus beats existing high-end. No KF version, though”
RAM errors causing PC crashes are far more common than assumed
When your web browser or a game crashes, you are likely to consider it a bug in that software. In reality, however, you may have faulty or unstable system memory without even knowing it. Unlike HDDs or SSDs, data in RAM is not protected against corruption. And it appears that unstable memory can silently cause computer trouble far more often than we think, potentially even putting your valuable data at risk. Read more “RAM errors causing PC crashes are far more common than assumed”
DeepCool Riddle (3/2026). Can you guess what’s in the photo?
In cooperation with DeepCool, we have prepared a cyclical activity for this year, which may be of interest to HWCooling readers. We’ll post a detail of some piece of hardware and you can guess what it is. You can compete (and eventually win something) on a regular basis, with a new challenge every month. But for now, you need to get “to the next round” through the next one, in March. Read more “DeepCool Riddle (3/2026). Can you guess what’s in the photo?”
New stars in the cooling hardware universe, part 6—Valkyrie
Established and well-known producers in the field are certainly familiar to our readers. In recent years, several new companies have appeared on the scene that may not yet be widely recognized. This series focuses precisely on such relatively new players. Although these brands have been on the market for a short time, their ambitions, fresh ideas, and technical solutions should not be underestimated. The sixth is inspired by Norse mythology. Read more “New stars in the cooling hardware universe, part 6—Valkyrie”
Arrow Lake Refresh Intel desktop CPUs launched: SKUs and pricing
Intel has officially released the so-called Arrow Lake Refresh CPUs for the LGA 1851 desktop socket. This platform won’t receive a new generation like laptops did in the 1.8 nm Core Ultra 300 Panther Lake CPUs. Instead, new models of the 3 nm Arrow Lake generationare coming. And although they do not have a new architecture, they should be very interesting when it comes to the bang-for-buck ratio. Read more “Arrow Lake Refresh Intel desktop CPUs launched: SKUs and pricing”
Launching outreach to schools for HWCooling Techtour ’26
Last year’s edition (HWCooling Techtour ’25) revealed many things, and we will work with that experience. Whatever can be technically improved will be. Especially regarding the live stream that you could watch. It certainly wasn’t something we were satisfied with, but we know where the “holes” are and we will do everything in our power to make the result as useful as possible for schools and at a more attractive level than before. Read more “Launching outreach to schools for HWCooling Techtour ’26”
Intel to unveil new Core Ultra 200 desktop processors next week
Originally, Intel was expected to launch the Core Ultra 200 (Arrow Lake) desktop CPU refresh right at the beginning of the year in January. That did not happen, but Intel is still preparing these new models for its lineup, and they should reach stores very soon. The dates when customers can expect them have now leaked. Earlier reports indicated March or April, but Intel will apparently manage to launch them within the first quarter after all. Read more “Intel to unveil new Core Ultra 200 desktop processors next week”
AMD FSR 4.1 incoming with improved image quality, leak suggests
In December, AMD unveiled the Redstone technology package, which builds on the AI-based FSR4 upscaling introduced with the Radeon RX 9000 series. Redstone added AI-based frame generation, Neural Radiance Caching, and Ray Regeneration. The upscaling component itself, however, was not updated to a new version. It seems that’s changing now with the FSR 4.1 update, which will apparently arrive in one of the upcoming driver releases. Read more “AMD FSR 4.1 incoming with improved image quality, leak suggests”







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