Who will we buy motherboards from now?? - Tech News May 19

[ball tingling intro music] welcome back to Paul's Tech news as the school  year winds down and the summer plans start to   heat up it's a good time to stop for a moment  take a look around and try to get a really firm   imprint in your memory of what the world was  like before AI took over because that looks to   be the way the world is headed AI was already  elbowing in on our GPU hardware supply and our   internet search results and now it's learned  to talk and see things and give us helpful   reminders in our augmented reality glasses truly  the only bright spot in the murky tableau that   is Humanity's plight in 2024 is Steve from  Gamers Nexus who has once again directed   his Fire Hose of Truth and Righteousness at  a suitably reprobate retailer, media outlet,   or manufacturer - who was it this time? ah,  Asus. damn it Asus, what the hell. what did   they do? oh their RMA service sucks. well fire  up the pitchforks boys it's time for Tech News. excellent today's video is brought to you by the  Corsair K65 Plus Wireless RGB keyboard featuring   silky smooth pre-lubricated Corsair mlx red  mechanical switches two layers of sound dampening   for softened typing Acoustics AES encrypted  connectivity via low latency 2.4 GHz wireless,   Bluetooth, or USB wired, a multi-purpose rotary  dial with function key Combos and shortcut   commands, resilient PBT die sublimated key caps,  and of course per key RGB lighting effects which   are endlessly customizable in corsair's iCue  software. for more on the Corsair K65 plus click   the sponsor Link in the video description. Asus  issued a public apology on Wednesday for "gaps"   in their RMA process after a Gamers Nexus video  posted last weekend went viral a video that in   typical GN fashion exhaustively documented  a Litany of Asus RMA service Shenanigans as   experienced directly by Gamers Nexus (who returned  an ROG Ally to have a defective thumb stick   repaired) as well as many others who emailed or  commented. the routine goes something like this:   Asus RMA Department, after accepting The Returned  product, contacts the customer and says there's   something wrong with the unit and it's often  completely unrelated to the RMA reason like gn's   Ally which Asus suddenly said needed a new screen  and had liquid damage which is an odd diagnosis   for a faulty thumb stick the asus RMA Department  then requires the customer to pay a repair fee   which can be hundreds or even thousands of dollars  as reported by one redditor who returned a $2,800   Asus RTX 4090 only to be quoted $3,758 to have it  fixed and returned. if the repair fee is not paid   Asus threatens to ship your unrepaired Hardware  back to you without even reassembling it and there   are plenty of commenters claiming Asus required  them to return things like daughter boards or   other vital accessories only to receive their bare  product back with none of that included now the   Asus PR statement is somewhat reassuring I guessed  although it uses the weakest and most roundabout   language to avoid committing to anything or  or even admitting fault for instance they are   enhancing their RMA process not fixing something  that's broken or even improving something in   adequate and they're not even really apologizing  for screwing up they are deeply apologizing to   customers and the community for any confusion and  frustration they might have experienced as they   say in the South here in the US: well bless  their heart. the previous RMA instructions   must have just been too confusing for those poor  customers and now it will be spelled out in very   small and easy to understand words why they're  refusing to repair your product under warranty   because there's a flea sized nick in the housing  several follow-up videos have been posted by   other channels now such as Louis Rossman and the  consensus among fans seems to be that motherboard   choices are pretty limited these days if you want  to buy from a brand that's drama-free all the big   manufacturers have had anti-consumer black eyes  in the past few years but you know what now that   Asus has issued an apology we should give them a  chance to see how they can improve things is what   we all said last year after they were caught being  similarly difficult with am5 motherboard returns   but no this time will be different I can tell  from this apology letter that they really mean   it this time by the way this apology letter is  for the US and Canada and I do believe this RMA   issue is a global problem hopefully we'll hear  from other regions soon also by the way full   disclosure Asus is a sponsor for my upcoming  computex coverage which was set up well before   this recent drama I considered returning it but an  Asus RMA didn't seem like the best idea right now.   speaking of the bloodstained trail of battered  businesses Gamers Nexus has left in their wake:   EK. the liquid cooling manufacturer was hit with  not one but two exposes from GN two to 3 weeks ago   alleging mismanagement missed paychecks and even  racism via company communication platforms but   CEO Edward konig isn't ready to call it quits just  yet in another rare modern example of journalistic   effort kit Guru traveled to Slovenia where senior  editor Leo waldock was able to Wrangle a sitdown   interview with ek's founder and namesake the  video is a half hour long and it's awkward and   uncomfortable for much of that time but credit  to Leo for not sugarcoating anything and getting   right to the point with the hard-hitting questions  and while I also credit Edvard for being willing   to sit for an interview giving the ongoing  controversy I'm not sure it was the best idea   some subjects couldn't be discussed at all due  to ongoing litigation and for others it was clear   that Edward simply didn't have a good answer many  of the alleged transgressions are quite serious   and simply claiming that they weren't reported  as edvard did many times isn't a satisfactory   response from a CEO who should ultimately assume  complete responsibility for the goings on within   their company their current plan appears to be  to plow ahead with their computex announcements   but it seems like they've got a lot of work  still to do if they want to win back public   trust and support there was another AI battle  this week as both Google and open ai presented   new interactive chat Bots that actually talk to  you and interact with the environment Google had   dibs since their Google IO developers conference  has been planned for this week for some time so   we'll start with project Astra which they demoed  running on a smartphone and also via smart glasses   the tester was able to ask Astra what it was  seeing through the smartphone camera it did some   alliterative word play identified and analyzed  encryption coding came up with a band name for   a golden retriever and even remembered where the  tester's glasses were earlier in the clip let's   do some tests tell me when you see something that  makes sound I see a speaker which makes sound what   is that part of the speaker called that is the  Tweeter it produces high frequency sounds give   me a creative alliteration about these creative  crayons color cheerfully they certainly craft   colorful Creations what does that part of the code  do this code defines encryption and decryption   functions do you remember where you saw my  glasses your glasses were on the desk near   a red apple give me a band name for this Duo  golden Stripes nice thanks Gemini all very   impressive but open AI had actually scooped Google  the day before on Monday when they revealed their   new chatbot model gp4 that can also talk to you  in real time and discuss stuff you're showing   with your smartphone camera hey how's it going  hey there it's going great how about you I see   you're rocking an open AI hoodie nice choice  what's up with that ceiling though but open AI   clearly invested some time making sure the voice  had a certain lilt a casual inflection a certain   talks like a human realness with pauses and even  a giggle here and there that just might make you   start to feel like hey I think this chat bot might  be into me in fact we've got a new announcement   to make that's exciting announcements are always  a big deal judging by the sen it looks like it's   going to be quite the professional production  which is silly right I mean it's just AI some   computer programming and machine learning and  training and whatnot but it's kind of crazy   how little it takes to cross that bridge from  a fairly detached text-based interaction as   has been the case with AI chat Bots previously  to the reaction to GPT 40's female voice which   I am admittedly basing primarily on popular  YouTube comments but I'm just going to say it   there are now way more people who want to f**k AI  that's exciting I mean just listen to that singing voice surprise guest with a playful streak fny  ears and laughter a swift Retreat a moment of joy   and the stylish s wood And now fast news - Tech  Briefs! it's recently become clear that while   Nvidia is poised to launch new gpus AMD is not -  or maybe they are but keep expectations low for   gpus based on the next gen rdna 4 architecture  if leaker wjm 47196 on the chiphell forums is   to be believed rdna 4 is more like a bug fix for  current gen rdna 3 and won't boost performance all   that much that's sad news in the short term since  those gpus haven't even been announced but the   flip side is that rdna 5 might be a completely new  design and that could give Radeon a fresh start in   the same way that first gen ryzen did for CPUs  back in 2016 sounds like a good idea but don't   expect rdna 5 gpus until 2026 or late 2025 at  the earliest speaking of radon gpus XFX has a   few new models on offer dubbed Phoenix Nirvana  they revealed a China only RX 7900 XTX variant   at the beginning of May and now there are 7900  gr and 7800 XT models available in white as well   they're overclocked and they're a bit pricier than  base models but while I found most interesting is   just how huge they are 34.6 CM or 13.6 in long for  slot triple fan coolers which seem way overbuilt   even for a 7900 XTX you know what I think I think  XFX originally designed this cooler for amd's   supposedly cancelled rdna 4 multi- chiplet  GPU which was rumored to feature between 13   and 20 chiplets and on paper at least could have  outperformed the RTX 4090 but again if rumors be   true that card was shelved so AMD could allocate  their fab time to producing far more lucrative AI   chips and GPU progress and competition has slipped  yet again as many predicted due to the continued   impact of AI. but enough about AI though let's  finish with some alternative and happier subject   matter like awesome cheap CPUs for gaming arguably  the best CPU for gaming actually the 7800x3D is on   sale yet again down to $345 or so matching the  lows it hit during pre-Christmas 2023 I even   spotted an Amazon Seller listing them for $278  earlier today but that's gone now so never mind   now if only GPU pricing was equally as aggressive  finally we close with the unprecedented news that   Rockstar has further specified the launch date  for GTA 6 fall 2025 bringing it into sharp Focus   versus the vague late 2025 time frame that  publisher Take 2 had previously disclosed   finally we can rest easy knowing that the most  anticipated Game launch of the decade won't take   place after December 21st cuz that's the first day  of winter. sometimes I do seasonal jokes. anyway   of course that will only be the beginning of the  real wait for GTA 6 to launch on PC I'm guessing   that will be the most anticipated Game launch of  the next decade just trying to stay optimistic but   there you have it guys Tech news for the week  and if you liked it click that like button or   leave me a comment down below while you're down  there all the articles I talk talked about today   are linked in the video's description if you're  interested and you can check out my store at   paulshardware.net for high quality merchandise  t-shirts hoodies beer sets and more subscribing   to my channel is always a good call too thanks  again everyone and we'll see you next week [Music]

Channel: Paul's Hardware

Views: 289,814

Keywords: computer, PC, PC gaming, personal computer, computer hardware, paulshardware, ASUS, ASUS RMA, ASUS Gamers Nexus, gamersnexus, asus returns, amd, nvidia, intel, radeon, tech news, weekly tech news, graphics cards, gaming pc, sunday tech news, AI GPUs, RTX 4090, NVIDIA AI, rtx 5090, gpu price drops, Zen 5, RTX 50 series, LGA 1851, RTX 5080, 2024, kitguru, EK, EKWB, google astra, openai gpt 4o, ai chatbots, GTA 6 launch date, 7800X3D price drop

Id: EwYn6iHR8BY

Length: 12min 18sec (738 seconds)

Published: Sun May 19 2024