BATTERYFORPC BLOG
Security researcher accidentally discovers Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 zero-day
A French security researcher has accidentally discovered a zero-day vulnerability that impacts the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems while working on an update to a Windows security tool. The vulnerability resides in two misconfigured registry keys for the RPC Endpoint Mapper and DNSCache services that are part of all Windows installations. HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Serv ... Read more
2020-11-26 02:25:01
Our favorite pre-built gaming PC is the best way to get an RTX 3080 right now
Most years we're all about building the best PC you possibly can from Black Friday deal parts, but 2020 isn't exactly a normal year. AMD's brand new CPUs are scarce, and even old graphics cards are hard to find. The latest Nvidia RTX 30-series and RX 6800 from AMD? Forget about it—we can't find them in stock, let alone on sale. But there is a way to get one of these new cards, if you don't mind g ... Read more
2020-11-26 02:25:01
Initial reviews show the limitations of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold
The ThinkPad X1 Fold is finally here and in the hands of reviewers. Sadly, it is not all rosy for Lenovo's first foldable. The ThinkPad X1 Fold starts at US$2,499, although that only gets you 256 GB of storage and no accessories. Lenovo charges US$2,749 for the detachable keyboard and pen, and another US$50 if you want a Windows 10 Pro licence. Prices rise to US$3,099 though if you want 1 TB of st ... Read more
2020-11-26 02:21:50
Shortage Disaster: AMD RX 6800 & 6800 XTs Out of Stock Everywhere
If you had hopes of getting a shiny new RDNA 2 graphics card from AMD this upcoming Black Friday, you'll likely be very disappointed. Even though AMD's launch for third-party custom Radeon RX 6000 graphics cards officially occurred today, every single tech store has sold out its entire stock in both aftermarket and reference flavors. That isn't surprising, as some retailers didn't even have stock ... Read more
2020-11-26 02:21:50
Intel’s New eASIC N5X Series: Hardened Security for 5G and AI Through Structured ASICs
The programmability of a processor is a scale is all about flexibility and performance – something highly programmable and customizable is adaptable to all sort of situations, but often isn’t as fast. However, something that has a very specified compute pathway can go very fast, but can’t do much beyond that pathway. On the flexible side, we have FPGAs, that can be configured to do almost anything ... Read more
2020-11-25 01:43:03
Apple M1 chip performs admirably against AMD's Ryzen 5000 workstation with RTX3080
Despite obvious handicaps, Apple’s M1-based MacBooks delivered a laudable performance in a head-to-head against the latest performance workhorses from AMD. The tests were performed by custom high-end desktop assemblers Puget Systems who wanted to test the performance penalties of Apple’s decision to move away from Intel processors to ARM-based ones. Puget pitted two of their AMD PCs equipped wit ... Read more
2020-11-25 01:40:20
Make every game awesome with this gargantuan 55-inch Alienware OLED monitor
There's no getting away from the fact that the Alienware AW5520QF is a massive screen. It's awesomely massive though, not annoyingly so. But at 55-inches you're going to need a big ol' desk just give this somewhere to sit, and you'll want to be sat back from it as well. Because even with its native 4K resolution, you're looking at a fairly low 80ppi (pixels per inch), where we usually avoid anythi ... Read more
2020-11-25 01:40:20
Overclocker hits 7GHz on DDR4 memory. Who needs DDR5?
The longer it takes for DDR5 memory to grab a foothold in the market (none of AMD's or Intel's consumer platforms support the next-gen memory standard...yet), the higher overclockers will continue to push DDR4 RAM. Now the record to beat is a hair over 7GHz. That is incredibly fast for DDR4 memory. It was just over a year ago when I naively wondered if overclockers would break the 6GHz barrier on ... Read more
2020-11-25 01:37:21
Laptops with NVIDIA RTX 3000 GPUs and AMD Ryzen 5000H APUs to arrive in 1H 2021 from as little as US$999
The desktop versions of NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 3000 graphics cards may still be almost impossible to come across, but the company has a lot more Ampere-based SKUs planned, including three mobile variants. According to a new report by Wccftech, ASUS and MSI will begin selling RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 laptops from as early as January 2021. There will be equivalents from HP, Dell and Lenovo, but lapto ... Read more
2020-11-25 01:37:21
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 Review: Nipping at Ampere's Heels
The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and Radeon RX 6800 have arrived, joining the ranks of the best graphics cards and making some headway into the top positions in our GPU benchmarks hierarchy. Nvidia has had a virtual stranglehold on the GPU market for cards priced $500 or more, going back to at least the GTX 700-series in 2013. That's left AMD to mostly compete in the high-end, mid-range, and budget GPU m ... Read more
2020-11-24 01:47:51