NVIDIA Rumoured To Relaunch GeForce RTX 2060 With Double The Graphics Memory

Back at the start of this year, a rumour began circling online that NVIDIA was planning to resurrect its Turing-powered GeForce RTX 2060, with one difference: instead of 6GB GDDR6, the revived card would instead have 8GB GDDR6. Recently, a new rumour is now suggesting that the amount of graphics memory has increased again.

According to sources close to Videocardz, NVIDIA is supposedly planning on making an RTX 2060 with as much as 12GB of GDDR6 memory, which is just as much as the non-Ti version of the Ampere-based RTX 3060. The card, goes by the model number PG161 and uses the same TU106-300 GPU as the original RTX 2060, save for the “KX” name at the end of the GPU ID.

First announced during CES 2019, the RTX 2060 has long been considered an entry-level GeForce card for the Turing GPU range. The card was popular amongst many gamers, mainly for its price-to-performance ratio and the fact that, like its brethren, it was capable of performing real-time ray-tracing, when and where applicable. Production of the card was quietly discontinued by NVIDIA last year, just as the company announced its current Ampere-based RTX 30 series graphics card.

NVIDIA’s supposed decision to resurrect the RTX 2060 has also been seen as the GPU brand’s way of tackling the ongoing shortage of its RTX 30 series GPUs. Moreover, its CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang, has also said that the shortage is likely to last well into 2022.

China’s E-Hailing Giant DiDi Files For IPO; Valuation Could Double That Of Grab

China’s largest e-hailing company, Didi Chuxing, has filed to be publicly listed in the US through an IPO (initial public offering) that could be the biggest this year. Indeed, the firm could end up with a valuation that is more than double that of Grab – the Southeast Asian giant that we’re all more familiar with.

Sources previously told Reuters that the IPO could aim for a valuation close to US$100 billion (~RM410.8 billion). And according to a Bloomberg report in April, the company was looking into a valuation of as much as US$70 billion (~RM287.6 billion) to US$100 billion. That would easily beat Alibaba’s US$25 billion (~RM102.7 billion) IPO in 2014 – the largest achieved by a Chinese company listing in the US.

As a comparison, Grab is going public in a SPAC deal worth US$39.6 billion (RM 163.7 billion) – the largest of its kind on record. For more information on what SPACs and IPOs are, you can refer to this piece. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that Didi has a substantially larger pool of potential customers (China, etc.) than Grab (Southeast Asia).

According to Reuters, Didi CEO Cheng Wei said last year that the company wants to have 800 million monthly active users worldwide and complete 100 million orders a day by 2022 – this includes e-hailing, bike and food delivery orders.

Grab, on the other hand, often touts the total population of Southeast Asia (currently 650 million) as its potential customers. As you can see, the difference is pretty staggering.

Corsair Gives A Taste Of DDR5 RAM Running At 6400MHz; Has Nearly Double The Bandwidth Than DDR4

As the DDR4 memory standard begins to enter its sundown years, many of us are patiently awaiting the arrival of the next-generation DDR5 standard. And while there have been reports about the upcoming memory modules being made by Chinese brands, it appears Corsair has beaten them to the punch by giving the world a glimpse of the memory’s performance.

According to Corsair’s official blog post, its DDR5 memory modules were tested while running at considerably higher frequencies of 6400MHz. In addition to the higher speeds, its module also had a maximum bandwidth output of 51GB/s. For comparison’s sake, that’s nearly double the bandwidth output of your average DDR4 memory module, running at 3200MHz.

In addition to achieving nearly double the bandwidth, Corsair says that its DDR5 can achieve that while consuming less power at 1.1V. Further, and unlike DDR4, it is possible for the future memory standard to ship out with as much as 128GB in a single stick, versus 32GB for DDR4.

As to when we can expect DDR5, the answer is more or less the same as before; while there is no definitive launch date, the word is that we could see the new memory standard launch at the end of this year, at its earliest. Moreover, rumours are also suggesting that it could make its appearance alongside Intel’s own 12th generation Alder Lake-S desktop CPU lineup, which is also expected to make its debut within the same timeline.

Corsair Gives A Taste Of DDR5 RAM Running At 6400MHz; Has Nearly Double The Bandwidth Than DDR4

As the DDR4 memory standard begins to enter its sundown years, many of us are patiently awaiting the arrival of the next-generation DDR5 standard. And while there have been reports about the upcoming memory modules being made by Chinese brands, it appears Corsair has beaten them to the punch by giving the world a glimpse of the memory’s performance.

According to Corsair’s official blog post, its DDR5 memory modules were tested while running at considerably higher frequencies of 6400MHz. In addition to the higher speeds, its module also had a maximum bandwidth output of 51GB/s. For comparison’s sake, that’s nearly double the bandwidth output of your average DDR4 memory module, running at 3200MHz.

In addition to achieving nearly double the bandwidth, Corsair says that its DDR5 can achieve that while consuming less power at 1.1V. Further, and unlike DDR4, it is possible for the future memory standard to ship out with as much as 128GB in a single stick, versus 32GB for DDR4.

As to when we can expect DDR5, the answer is more or less the same as before; while there is no definitive launch date, the word is that we could see the new memory standard launch at the end of this year, at its earliest. Moreover, rumours are also suggesting that it could make its appearance alongside Intel’s own 12th generation Alder Lake-S desktop CPU lineup, which is also expected to make its debut within the same timeline.

Japanese Supercomputer Finds Double Masking Doesn’t Significantly Improve Protection Against COVID

Simulations generated by a Japanese supercomputer found that double masking provided little added protection against COVID-19 compared to donning a single, properly fitted mask. The finding from the study by Riken and Kobe University seemingly contradicts the recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) but of course, things are slightly more complicated than that.

Generally, a properly fitted surgical mask blocked up to 85% of the viral particles but simulations showed that adding another mask on top of that only bumps that up to an unremarkable 89%. “The performance of double masking simply does not add up,” declared lead researcher Makoto Tsubokura, according to Reuters.

In the graphics above, the red mask is a loosely worn non-woven mask while the green mask is being worn tightly around the nose and face area. Double masking is being represented by the green and brown mask combo, which consisted of a non-woven mask with a polyurethane mask on top.

The results of the research are shown in the bar graph next to it, in the form of “droplet collection efficiency”. The blue bar represents the red mask while the red and purple bars are for the green mask and double masking, respectively.

On another hand, the CDC recently recommended double masking based on the findings of its own research which said that the mask combo can reduce cumulative exposure by up to 96.4%. The whole idea is to push and hold the edges of the disposable mask against your face, securing it tightly in place and sealing gaps better.

The Japanese researchers should agree – they found that a loose-fitting surgery mask blocked only 69% of the particles. In short, the CDC hasn’t necessarily been proven wrong.

That being said, the US government has added to the confusion by taking seemingly different positions. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the administration isn’t officially recommending wearing two masks according to CNN, even though the CDC is carrying that recommendation on its official website.

Nevertheless, we reckoned that both research generally showed the importance of wearing your face mask properly. So, make sure that the mask can fit snugly on your face as well as able to cover your nose and mouth at all times.