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First credible report of RTX 5090 FE with melted connector appears — third-party cable likely cause

One of the first credible reports of a melted power cable on the RTX 5090 has been posted on Reddit (h/t VideoCardz). According to u/ivan6953, they were playing Battlefield 5 on their gaming PC, with a power draw of 500 to 520 watts during that time, when they suddenly smelled something burning. They immediately shut off their PC, but it was too late —the damage had already been done; their RTX 5090 FE’s power connector socket and connector cable had already melted.RTX 5090FE Molten 12VHPWR from r/nvidiaOne thing to note was that they were using a Moddiy cable, not the one included in the GPU’s box. Although this is a non-official third-party cable, the company claims that it’s a 12V-2×6 cable design and is compliant with ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 specifications, up to 600 watts.The user claimed that they’ve been using the power cable for over two years on their RTX 4090 FE GPU with no issues. They also said that they securely fastened the cable and that it made an audible click when they inserted it into the GPU power connector. On consideration, the Reddit post seems to have been penned by an experienced PC builder.However, their Asus ROG Loki PSU was also affected, with the 12V-2×6 connector on it also melting. u/ivan6953 even said that they suspect that the problem originated on the PSU side, especially as it seems to have been more heavily damaged.This problem is unlikely an issue with Nvidia’s RTX 5090 design, especially as the company has reassured the public that its RTX 50 series power connectors are unlikely to melt despite its higher TDP. Furthermore, Nvidia has taken steps to reduce the strain on the GPU power port by angling the connector, ensuring that there’s less stress on the interface that could cause it to overheat and melt.Still, Nvidia’s partners, like Zotac and MSI, aren’t being complacent. They have added safety features like the 12VHPWR safety light, which prevents the GPU from powering up until the cable has been fully inserted, and a yellow-tipped 16-pin power adapter, which ensures the user that the power cable is safe and secure if they no longer see the bright yellow tip insert.The user says that they will file warranty claims with both Nvidia and Asus to address the issue, but they’re not confident they’ll be properly served because they used a third-party cable. It could also be that there was a loose connection somewhere in there which caused the cable to overheat and melt on both sides. But, whatever the case, we wish the OP the best of luck in getting the problem sorted.Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. […]

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Meta staff torrented nearly 82TB of pirated books for AI training — court records reveal copyright violations

Facebook parent-company Meta is currently fighting a class action lawsuit alleging copyright infringement and unfair competition, among others, with regards to how it trained LLaMA. According to an X (formerly Twitter) post by vx-underground, court records reveal that the social media company used pirated torrents to download 81.7TB of data from shadow libraries including Anna’s Archive, Z-Library, and LibGen. It then used this information to train its AI models.The evidence, in the form of written communication, shows the researchers’ concerns about Meta’s use of pirated materials. One senior AI researcher said way back in October 2022, “I don’t think we should use pirated material. I really need to draw a line here.” While another one said, “Using pirated material should be beyond our ethical threshold,” then they added, “SciHub, ResearchGate, LibGen are basically like PirateBay or something like that, they are distributing content that is protected by copyright and they’re infringing it.”(Image credit: Future)Then, in January 2023, Mark Zuckerberg himself attended a meeting where he said, “We need to move this stuff forward… we need to find a way to unblock all this.” Some three months later, a Meta employee sent a message to another one saying they were concerned about Meta IP addresses being used “to load through pirate content.” They also added, “torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn’t feel right,” followed by laughing out loud emoji.Aside from those messages, documents also revealed that the company took steps so that its infrastructure wasn’t used in these downloading and seeding operations so that the activity wouldn’t be traced back to Meta. The court documents say that this constitutes evidence of Meta’s unlawful activity, which seems like it’s taking deliberate steps to circumvent copyright laws.However, this isn’t the first time an AI training model has been accused of stealing information off the internet. OpenAI has been sued by novelists as far back as June 2023 for using their books to train its large language models, with The New York Times following suit in December. Nvidia has also been on the receiving end of a lawsuit filed by writers for using 196,640 books to train its NeMo model, which has since been taken down. A former Nvidia employee blew the whistle on the company in August of last year, saying that it scraped more than 426 thousand hours of videos daily for use in AI training. More recently, OpenAI is investigating if DeepSeek illegally obtained data from ChatGPT, which just shows how ironic things can get.The case against Meta is still ongoing, so we will have to wait until the court releases its decision to say if the company committed direct infringement. And even if the writers win this case, Meta, with its huge financial war chest, will likely appeal the decision, meaning we will have to wait for several months, if not years, to see the final court judgment.Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. […]

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Meta develops ‘hat’ for typing text by thinking — uses AI to read brain signals for keypresses

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously said that the company is working on a system that will allow you to type directly via your brain. According to MIT Technology Review, the tech giant was actually able to successfully create this technology, with the system capable of accurately determining what key the user was ‘pressing’ about 80% of the time. This probably isn’t an impressive number to skilled typists, but we must remember that this machine reads your brain signals externally — no implantation or invasive procedure required — which is a feat in and of itself.However, don’t think this is a comfortable hat that one could just wear anywhere, day to day. Instead, it’s a massive and expensive machine that needs to be used in isolation to work effectively. Forest Neurotech founder Sumner Norman likens it to “an MRI machine tipped on its side and suspended above the user’s head,” with one device estimated to cost $2,000,000.Aside from that, the magnetoencephalography scanner, which reads the magnetic signals that your neurons generate when they fire, can only be used in a shielded room. That’s because the earth’s magnetic field, which is several orders of magnitude stronger than the one in your head, will interfere with the reading. The machine also loses the signal when the subject moves their head, making it impractical to use in everyday settings.Meta Brain & AI Research Team Head Jean-Rémi King says that the research isn’t geared towards making a marketable device. “Our effort is not at all toward products,” says King. “In fact, my message is always to say I don’t think there is a path for products because it’s too difficult.”Nevertheless, the research returned meaningful results, as it discovered how the brain produces language information. Meta’s team determined that our neurons first generate a signal for a thought or sentence, which then creates subsequent signals for words, syllables, and, lastly, letters. They were then able to see how these different levels interact with each other as a system for written communication.The company could then learn how this works and use it as a way to train artificial intelligence. “Trying to understand the precise architecture or principles of the human brain could be a way to inform the development of machine intelligence,” said King. He adds, “Language has become a foundation of AI. So, the computation principles that allow the brain, or any system, to acquire such ability is the key motivation behind this work.”Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. […]

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Lenovo hybrid 2D/3D curved monitor and nine new laptops have leaked — MWC 2025 lineup exposed

Hardware leaker Evan Blass just shared alleged photos of Lenovo’s lineup for the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025 show, which will run from March 3 to 6. The X (formerly Twitter) post shows off nine new laptops and a 3D curved monitor. We’re unsure if this will be the complete roster of products the company will bring to Barcelona, but it does show off some attractive laptop models and a monitor that we haven’t seen before.The biggest thing that caught our eye is the supposedly hybrid 2D/3D 34-inch curved monitor. This is similar to Lenovo’s already existing ThinkVision 27 3D, which is a glasses-free 2D/3D compatible display, but offers a larger curved screen. It’s likely focused on professionals who are also into gaming, especially as this display sports the company’s Legion gaming brand. However, we don’t have further information about this display, so we’ll have to wait until March to get its specifications.Aside from that, we also get two new laptop models and a slew of next-generation iterations of existing options. For the former, we see the IdeaPad Slim 3x, which features a 15-inch screen and will likely run on a Snapdragon X chip, and the ThinkPad T14s 2-in-1, which will be the first time that Lenovo’s flagship ThinkPad T-series will have a 2-in-1 form factor laptop.Image […]

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Russian drone operators reportedly received explosive headsets — plans dashed by packaging

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen the widespread use of drones on both sides and now it seems that the supply chain for these units is being targeted as well. According to The War Zone, FPV goggles destined for Russian drone operators on the front line were found to have explosives buried inside them. These were set to detonate once the unit had been turned on, injuring and potentially incapacitating, or killing, the drone pilot.These goggles reportedly contained a small amount of plastic explosive — about 10 to 15 grams — but its placement near the temple of the operator makes it quite deadly. Since they were set to detonate once the goggles had been activated, it almost certainly guarantees that a drone pilot might have been wearing them when the explosive charge detonated.🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 Straight from the Israeli Playbook: Russia Intercepts Explosive-Laden AR Goggles Meant for Frontline TroopsRussian authorities have intercepted a shipment of FPV goggles rigged with explosives, allegedly intended to detonate upon first use.According to Russian war… pic.twitter.com/brmncNweZtFebruary 7, 2025The booby-trapped items in question are FPV Skyzone Cobra goggles acquired from China by reportedly unwitting volunteers, and they were transported into the country via the Russian parcel service SDEK. The operation was thwarted because the Russian military noticed the packages were seemingly tampered with, showing signs of being opened. Upon closer inspection, it was noticed that the FPV goggles looked like they had been previously opened, which led to the discovery of the hidden explosives. Perhaps the cunning saboteurs should have invested in a shrinkwrap machine.This sabotage attempt mirrors the operation that Israel conducted against Hezbollah last year. The Middle Eastern nation was able to infiltrate the supply chain and insert explosives in both pagers and handheld radios that were set to detonate upon command. However, this was a far more sophisticated attack, as the explosives were set off remotely, not when the device was turned on for the first time. Furthermore, there were no signs of tampering on the devices, so the sabotage was likely done in a facility that had the proper tools for modifying them.Russians complain about receiving humanitarian aid with explosives – FPV drone goggles that explode upon activation. Inside, an explosive device was found, discovered only during use. pic.twitter.com/rQG5WoXVNNFebruary 7, 2025Russian authorities are now investigating the matter, trying to determine where the shipment was compromised and who is involved. But even though the purported operation failed because it was discovered before it caused any injury or real damage, it would still have some psychological impact, especially as frontline troops now also must worry about their equipment exploding and turning them into casualties.You will likely not have to worry about booby-trapped electronics in your everyday gadgets, especially if you’re not in a warzone. But events like this show how a bad actor or adversary could tamper with devices to compromise security. Even something as small and innocuous as a charging cable could host some hidden sinister electronics, showing how information and physical security are so intertwined in our modern world.Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. […]

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Microsoft click-baits users with useless ‘How to Uninstall Microsoft Edge’ instruction doc

Microsoft’s Bing search engine (via PCWorld) presents a clickbait result when you ask how to uninstall Microsoft Edge. While it shows a video with instructions and features the question, “Why can’t I uninstall Microsoft Edge?” the top article is titled “How to Uninstall Microsoft Edge,” with the URL indicating it’s an official Microsoft page. However, clicking the link directs you to the Microsoft Edge homepage, which highlights everything positive about the browser and doesn’t answer your initial query.Google Chrome is still the leading browser, with StatCounter reporting a 67.08% market share. Safari is at 17.95%, but it’s only available on Apple devices. Microsoft Edge is in third place, with a distant 5.2% market share despite being bundled with Microsoft Windows.This is unfortunate, especially as Microsoft Edge is a good alternative to Chrome. Both are Chromium-based browsers, so there’s little difference in performance, and it has a few features that could give Chrome a run for its money. For example, it has a RAM limiter, which stops it from hogging your PC’s memory, while it also has a popup feature that highlights extensions that make it run slower.Image […]

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Newegg blames tariffs for RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 price hikes, but then walks it back

Nvidia RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 GPUs are in short supply, so it isn’t surprising that their prices have increased. Newegg had previously replied to a tweet that tariffs were the reason for the price hikes. However, the company has since deleted the tweet and another tweet that said its Blackwell GPUs came from China.X user Jordan Grussling asked the retailer, “Did the pricing go up on 5080s?” In a quick reply that has since been deleted, Newegg wrote, “Yeah, tariffs.” The U.S. retailer later provided a lengthier response, stating:”To add clarity, some graphics card prices have increased due to a number of factors that are, unfortunately, out of our control. We know the situation has been confusing and frustrating, but it’s important to know we are doing everything in our power to bring stability to the situation. Additionally, we are also building a new drawing system for hot items, which we will provide more details on when available. We are constantly restocking cards, so be sure to follow us for the latest updates.”Joe Rogano, another X user, questioned the place of origin of Newegg’s Blackwell GPUs, asking the store, “Aren’t these GPUs coming from Taiwan and Vietnam also, where there are no tariffs?” Newegg replied with “Our GPUs are from China,” but eventually erased that tweet.President Trump recently applied a 10% tariff on all Chinese goods, including tech products manufactured within the country. This will affect GPUs manufactured within China and its territories, such as Hong Kong. Asus and MSI have hiked their prices by up to 18%, citing this as one reason for their actions. ASRock is also moving its manufacturing out of the East Asian country, absorbing some of the increased costs while increasing some of its prices to help offset short-term capital expenses.The price hikes on Newegg listings vary, though, as noted by PCPartPicker. For example, the Asus TUF Gaming OC RTX 5080 launched at $1,349.99, but its latest price is $1,484.99 — a 10% increase. On the other hand, the MSI Gaming Trio OC RTX 5080 went up to $1,429.99, jumping by 17% from its original price of $1,219.99. The Gigabyte Aorus Master RTX 5080 also experienced a 13% price hike, with the GPU now going for $1,479.99 from its original $1,299.99 price. We’ve also seen similar price hikes across RTX 5090 GPUs.Unfortunately, these price hikes are disproportionately affecting gamers and enthusiasts. They are likely caused by a lack of supply on Nvidia’s side, some manufacturers resorting to directly selling to their customers to stop scalpers, global and local geopolitics, and plain old greed.Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.Consumers have no recourse but to wait for supply to normalize and avoid purchasing GPUs from scalpers. However, we will have to roll with the punches as China and the U.S. are engaged in a trade war that would make goods like these more expensive for the everyday PC enthusiast. […]

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Zotac is selling RTX 50-series GPUs directly to customers to thwart scalpers

Zotac has devised a new way to distribute Nvidia’s latest GeForce RTX 50-series (Blackwell) GPUs to gamers. The company (via Reddit) is implementing a priority access system to directly sell GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080 GPUs to its gaming Discord server members. This will combat scalpers and ensure that only end-users get their hands on the limited supply of GPUs.Many consider Blackwell a paper launch, as gamers and enthusiasts scramble for availability, and scammers and scalpers take advantage of it. Retailers, or at least some, ensure everyone has a fair chance of snagging one of these powerful new GPUs. One Japanese computer store hosted a lottery for prospective buyers, which, unfortunately, ended in chaos and injuries. To avoid situations like this, Zotac has opted for a different approach.According to Zotac’s rules, you must be a Zotac Gaming Discord server member and “actively engage in challenges, discussions, and community activities.” There’s also a “zero-tolerance policy against re-selling & scalping” and that “all serial numbers are recorded to track and verify purchases.” While the company cannot stop anyone from breaking the re-selling or scalping rule after it has sold a GPU, anyone caught doing so will have their Discord username banned from future Zotac raffles.The company noted that this is not a raffle for a free RTX 5080 or RTX 5090 GPU; instead, it’s an opportunity for the selected Discord user to buy Nvidia’s latest GPU at MSRP. To ensure fairness, the winners would be chosen using a random number generator, but the giveaway would only be open to users based in the U.S.At the time of writing, Zotac said five RTX 5080 AMP Extreme Infinity and five RTX 5080 Solid OC GPUs are available. There are currently no RTX 5090s in stock, so those who want to get their hands on one will likely have to wait several weeks or months before they arrive in warehouses.Many gamers and enthusiasts appreciate Zotac’s move, as it ensures that only end-users can purchase these new GPUs. However, other Redditors also commented that Zotac’s Discord server is now being spammed by new users desperate to spend over $1,000 on a new GPU. Fortunately, another Redditor who claims to be a veteran member of the Discord server said its moderators created a private channel just for them, and they will have a separate raffle with higher chances of winning.This move shows how some brands care about their customer base, ensuring their fans can acquire an RTX 50-series GPU early. Hopefully, Nvidia can improve its supply of Blackwell GPUs so gamers have a better opportunity to upgrade, as some have been holding off until Blackwell.Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. […]

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Threadripper 7000 is the most reliable CPU as per Puget Systems stats — Nvidia RTX Ada Generation GPUs have the lowest failure rates

Custom PC builder Puget Systems just released its list of the most reliable hardware for 2024. Puget Systems wants to recognize the best brands and models that delivered “exceptional reliability over the last year.” However, the company noted that its list only represents its experience with its partners and “does not cover the entire computer hardware industry.”Nevertheless, Puget System’s list is quite encompassing, primarily as it works with several industry brands. The company mainly focused on its desktop workstation and rack station data and only included components with a minimum sale of 200 units.According to the company’s list, AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 and Threadripper Pro 7000WX processors were the most reliable CPUs, achieving a failure rate of 2%. While this is relatively high compared to the other component types, this is less than half of the overall failure rate of processors, which sits at 5% owing to the complexity of modern chips.Conversely, GPUs have excellent reliability, with an average failure rate of just 0.68%. The Nvidia RTX Ada Generation and Asus GeForce RTX 40-series ProArt GPUs have a lower average failure rate of less than 0.5%, but the Asus GeForce RTX 40-series TUF GPU has achieved an impressive 0% failure rate.Swipe to scroll horizontallyComponent TypeProduct NameTotal Failure RateCPUAMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 and AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000WX Series2%GPUNvidia RTX Ada Generationless than 0.5%GPUAsus GeForce RTX 40-Series Pro Artless than 0.5%GPUAsus GeForce RTX 40-Series TUF0%MotherboardAsus TUF B760M-Plus Wi-Fi IIless than 1%RAMKingston DDR5-5600 32GB (KVR56U46BD8-32)0.15%StorageKingston KC3000 series NVMe SSDs (1TB, 2TB, and 4TB)0.08%PSUSuper Flower LEADEX VII Gold ATX 3.0 1000W / 1300W and Super Flower LEADEX Titanium ATX 3.0 1600W0.26%Motherboards have a comparatively high failure rate of 4.9% for 2024, likely because of this component’s complexity. However, the Asus TUF B760M-Plus Wi-Fi II stood out from the crowd, as it only suffered two failures throughout the year, putting its failure rate at less than 1%.Kingston also flew high in Puget’s reliability list, with its memory and storage garnering a failure rate of 0.15% and 0.08%, respectively. This is less than a third of the average failure rate for RAM and an impressive 5% of the average failure rate for storage drives.Lastly, three Super Flower PSUs were graded as the most reliable power supplies, with a combined failure rate of 0.26%. Puget Systems says that Super Flower’s exceptional reliability is the reason it has stuck mainly with this brand in recent years.Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.In summary, these five brands dominated Puget’s reliability list for 2024: AMD, Nvidia, Asus, Kingston, and Super Flower. So, if you’re building a system yourself, you can look at these companies and have some confidence that you’re getting a relatively reliable component.You should note that even though these companies made some specifically reliable parts, they may also have some failures. For example, Puget Systems had issues with AMD Ryzen desktop processors last year. While it wasn’t as bad as what Intel experienced, it was still significant enough to be mentioned in the report. […]

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Arm to let Qualcomm keep its architecture license but may ask for a retrial on the Nuvia issue

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said during the company’s 1Q25 earnings conference call that Arm “has no current plan to terminate the Qualcomm Architecture License Agreement.” This announcement came soon after it won over Arm in a legal battle over the custom core designs that Nuvia made. When Qualcomm bought Nuvia for its CPU designs and used it as part of the Oryon CPUs found in its Snapdragon chips, Arm was up in arms, saying that Nuvia cannot transfer its designs without prior approval, reports The Register.This has led to a massive legal feud between the two companies, with Arm terminating Qualcomm’s license and demanding that Nuvia’s blueprints be destroyed. Arm says that it’s missing out on $50 million of annual royalties because Qualcomm did not renegotiate Nuvia’s license after the acquisition; however, the Snapdragon designer argues that its Oryon CPU cores use less than 1% of original Arm tech, saying that it’s almost entirely custom.Despite Qualcomm’s victory, Arm is still asking for further clarification on the legalities of the deal, especially as the jury is hung on whether Nuvia was in breach of its contract with the company. Because of this, there’s a chance that Arm would ask for a retrial, at least for this issue.Nevertheless, Arm’s legal defeat to Qualcomm has no expected effect on the company’s bottom line and revenue forecast. Arm CFO Jason Child said the company assumed it wouldn’t win the lawsuit and would continue receiving royalties from Qualcomm from its existing ALA and other licenses. “The primary reason for the lawsuit was very much around defending our IP and that’s important,” Child said. “But from a financial perspective, we had assumed that we’ll continue to be receiving royalties at basically the same rates that they’ve been paying for in the past and will continue to pay.”Even though Arm was unsuccessful in forcing Qualcomm to renegotiate its contracts, it still benefits from the latter’s success. During its last quarterly earnings announcement, the Snapdragon maker said that its revenue jumped by 18% yearly, leading to a 15% growth in its net income. It also claimed it cornered 10% of the U.S. Windows PC retail market for $800 and up devices. Arm’s revenue for this period also increased by 18% year over year, showing how closely the two companies are connected.Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. […]