A popular WordPress theme and plugin have been found carrying vulnerabilities that allow malicious actors to elevate their privileges to admin.
WordPress security researchers Patchstack revealed the theme and plugin in question are called RealHomes and Easy Real Estate, both designed by InspiryThemes, and designed to be used in the real estate industry. The vulnerabilities are tracked as CVE-2024-32444, and CVE-2024-32555, and both have a severity score of 9.8/10 - critical. Both flaws allow malicious actors to elevate their privileges to admin, gaining full control of the WordPress site, and allowing them to install, delete, or modify plugins, tamper with the content, exfiltrate sensitive data, and more.
Citing data from Envanto Market, Patchstack says RealHomes was purchased 32,600 times, suggesting that the attack landscape is quite large.
No response from InspiryThemesPatchstack warned website admins to disable the resources immediately, since the bugs have been around for months and still have no patch in sight.
The researchers also claim they tried, on multiple occasions, to get in touch with InspiryThemes and warn them about the flaws. The company allegedly did not respond to their inquiries but has, in the meantime, released three new versions for the flawed software. In all three versions, the vulnerabilities were not addressed.
Since they are present in the newest versions as well, Patchstack urged users to disable the theme and plugin immediately, to mitigate potential risk of site takeover. Alternatively, admins could restrict user registration, since the bug cannot be exploited in an environment where new accounts cannot be generated.
Usually, when a bug is made public, threat actors start hunting for vulnerable websites, since they can easily be exploited.
WordPress plugins and themes continue to be one of the most popular targets for cybercriminals, given the website builder platform’s enormous popularity around the world.
Via BleepingComputer
You might also likeThe PowerSchool hack seems to have been much worse than originally believed, as new reports now claim more than 62 million students, and nine million teachers, were actually affected by the attack.
In late December 2024, an unidentified threat actor used stolen credentials to access its PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS) platform. From there, they were able to use the “export data manager" customer support tool to exfiltrate “Students” and “Teachers” database tables to a CSV file, which was then stolen.
The information grabbed in this attack included names, and postal addresses, and in some districts, the threat actors also obtained Social Security numbers (SSN), personally identifiable information (PII), medical information, and grades.
Ongoing investigationIt has since been reported the attackers stole the personal data of 62,488,628 students and 9,506,624 teachers, citing both the attacker, and multiple other sources. In total, it was said, 6,505 school districts in the US, Canada, and other countries, were affected. The numbers are allegedly coming from the extortion demand sent to the breached company.
Toronto District School Board, Peel District School Board, and Dallas Independent School District seem to be most impacted.
PowerSchool did not want to comment on the new findings, it was said, especially since its investigation is still ongoing. However, the company did tell the publication that the type of exposed data varies per district. This is because school districts decide what information they will store in the SIS database, based on district, or State policy requirements.
“For this reason, it is expected that less than a quarter of impacted students had their Social Security Number exposed in the breach,” BleepingComputer said, citing the company.
“We care deeply about the students, teachers, and families we serve and are wholeheartedly committed to supporting them. PowerSchool will be offering two years of complimentary identity protection services and two years of complimentary credit monitoring services for all applicable students and educators whose information was involved,” the company told BleepingComputer in a written statement.
Via BleepingComputer
You might also likeWith questionable Y2K fashion choices returning in recent years, I suppose it was inevitable – thin phones are back. I'm old enough to remember the original Motorola RAZR V3 in 2004 and just over twenty years on Samsung has tapped the early 2000s design trend with the new Galaxy S25 Edge. Only this time, it doesn't really make sense.
When the Motorola RAZR V3 launched, it was a genuine marvel. People would come down to the store room of the technology magazine I worked at just to look at it. Of course, it had an advantage that the Galaxy S25 Edge doesn't have – phones back then were largely ugly bricks.
But the RAZR V3 also actually fulfilled its design promise. Because of its clamshell design, it was under 14mm when closed – and almost worryingly-slim at its thinnest point. Its aluminum body and keyboard (made from a single sheet of metal) made it different and genuinely desirable.
The Galaxy S25 Edge badly wants to be a modern-day equivalent of the RAZR V3. We know very little about its specs, but rumors suggest it's about 6.4mm thick – which looks about right based on our brief glimpses at the S25 Unpacked launch.
But there's a problem – smartphones now need to have powerful cameras and pesky physics can't make them the same size as the RAZR V3's VGA module. So Samsung's done the only thing it can and stuck a huge protruding camera module on the back.
From the side, the Galaxy S25 Edge's camera module really stands out against its impressively slim body (Image credit: Future)What's the point of having a 6.4mm thick body with large protruding cameras, if there's no design innovation to make that work? I'm still none the wiser. Samsung says the phone is a "culmination of Samsung’s most-innovative technology" and that this is “packed into a form that is sleek, powerful and unlike anything you’ve seen before".
Unfortunately, the history of phones is littered with examples of designs that we hadn't seen before, but also made no sense (see the new Nokia Design Archive). The main aim of the S25 Edge seems to be bursting the rumored iPhone 17 Air's bubble. But for phones buyers, it seems Samsung also forgot to do anything beyond reanimating the corpse of a design trend that has no real benefit in 2025 – and that Motorola has already successfully reprised in the Motorola Razr Plus.
Slim pickings Image 1 of 1Photos of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge from Samsung Unpacked 2025. (Image credit: Future)I'm sure the Galaxy S25 Edge will be a technological marvel, in many ways. It's expected to pack in a 6.7-inch display – and there's a chance it could even be the first Samsung phone to feature a tandem OLED display.
It's also expected to pack in two cameras, which will probably be a main one (perhaps with a 200MP resolution) and an ultra-wide. Samsung could get away without a telephoto camera by going big on the resolution of the main camera and touting its AI-assisted cropping potential. That's not as good as a telephoto, but it could be enough.
These kinds of specs make the RAZR V3 look like the dinosaur it is. But a truly classic phone captures the zeitgeist in a way that goes beyond specs and dimensions – and from what I've seen so far, I doubt that the S25 Edge will achieve that.
Unlike in 2004, the majority of phone buyers use a case with their phone – particularly ones that cost as much as the S25 Edge is likely to (probably somewhere between the S25 and S25 Ultra). Alongside the camera bump, that largely negates the Edge's thinness claims or practical benefits.
Perhaps I'm being unduly harsh, but the Edge also seems to represent the laziest interpretation of phone innovation. At CES 2025, I was enamored by the TCL 60XE, which can switch its screen from color to grayscale with a button-press.
Sure, it's not true E Ink and only works with certain apps, but it was a piece of design that tapped into modern-day phone needs – namely, a need to escape from our always-on apps and a clever way to extend battery life. I didn't see anything at the S25 Unpacked event that beguiled me in the same way – just a tidal wave of AI features and the S25 Edge.
Of course, I'll reserve final judgement on the Edge until we get one in for review. But so far, it looks like nothing more than a reheated design trend that doesn't make much sense in 2025.
You might also likeSamsung’s Galaxy Unpacked 2025 event yesterday had no shortage of new AI tools, but one little audio tool – Audio Eraser – really stood out for me, and surprisingly I think it also got the biggest cheer from the crowd out of all the new AI tools on show.
At the Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung demoed some truly groundbreaking advancements towards the age of agentic AI, which are the first steps towards using your phone as a true virtual assistant that can perform all the tasks you tell it to without your direct involvement. But while the ability to get your phone to book you a restaurant, add it to your calendar, and invite your friends via text message is a game changer, it feels like it’s asking a lot of people to embrace this right now.
We’re still in the phase where people don’t know exactly why they need AI and have concerns about its safety and adopting AI agents wholesale will involve a significant change to how we live our lives that I’m not sure people are quite ready for.
There’s a lot to worry about in the world at the moment. There are wars, inflation, starvation, and political and economic uncertainty. With this general background of chaos, the idea of giving up even more control over our lives to make them a little bit easier, which is the big promise of AI agents, can make things seem even more uncertain.
Enter Audio EraserContrast this with a simple AI tool like Audio Eraser. Dubbed by Samsung as “A sound studio at your fingertips”, it has one job to do and it does it very well. It listens to your video clips and identifies background sounds like wind, music, nature, noise, voice and crowd, then lets you change the volume of each one so that the person speaking in the video is much easier to hear.
Watch its section in the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event video from 1.48.52.
With Audio Eraser Samsung is using AI to make a complex task simple in such an easy and accessible way. As somebody who records interviews myself, often in noisy environments this would be perfect for me. I love the idea of being able to have complete control of the different types of background noise in the clip.
At the moment I sometimes use Enhance Speech in Adobe’s AI podcast studio to accomplish the task of removing background noise from recordings, but it’s not customizable to the degree that Audio Eraser is, not to mention being able to do it all on the phone is a lot more convenient than having to upload audio clips to be worked on in the cloud.
TechRadar got hands-on with Audio Eraser to try it out, too. You can see Lance Ulanoff our US Editor in Chief and our US Managing Editor of News, Jacob Krol using it at 2.14 in this video:
You can see how quick and easy it is to use. Audio Eraser is a perfect example of how you can get people excited about AI tools without scaring them. It’s not complicated and it fits into your life without you having to change anything. I think it’s no coincidence that it got a bigger audience reaction during its demo at the event than even the most impressive AI tools involving Gemini, Gemini Live, One UI, and Galaxy AI did.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that AI assistants will be truly life-changing when they can seamlessly integrate with absolutely everything on our phones, but we’re not quite there yet, and companies like Samsung, Google, and OpenAI need to find a way to get us there in a way that makes sense with the way we live our lives now.
You might also likeTry this for size – Canon has announced a new 410MP full-frame sensor that smashes any previous records for resolution. It packs 24,592 x 16,704 pixels to be precise, which is roughly equivalent to 24K resolution.
Canon points out in its global announcement that 24K is 12 times the resolution of 8K and 198 times the resolution of HD, and suggests that the unprecedented resolution "enables users to crop any part of the image captured by this sensor and enlarge it significantly while maintaining high resolution".
The newly developed back-illuminated stacked sensor is capable of a super-fast 3,280MP p/s readout speed, meaning it's possible to shoot those 410MP stills at up to 8fps, a rate that can be upped to 24fps by selecting a pixel binning function that reduces resolution to 100MP.
It's a staggering and presumably incredibly pricey sensor that, sadly, is unlikely to ever make it to consumers, even if a trickle-down effect from its tech is possible – Canon has positioned this lens for surveillance, medicine and industry applications, for which the capacity to heavily crop into highly-detailed images is paramount.
Do we need it in the age of upscaling?In 2024, Sony impressed us with a new 247MP medium-format sensor that offers much more detail than any sensor found in a consumer camera. However, that's far fewer pixels, in a much larger sensor format, and Sony's sensor has now been put in the shade by Canon's newly-developed marvel.
More so, the best-in-class resolution for full-frame cameras available to consumers is 61MP, a sensor utilized by the Leica SL3 and Sony A7R V. This sensor isn't stacked like Canon's, and therefore can't match the readout speed – it's slower and less detailed. Put simply, we've not seen sensor tech like this before.
Canon's in-camera upscale function in action with the EOS R5 Mark II – increasing image resolution from 45MP to 180MP. (Image credit: Future | Tim Coleman)Recently, Canon has been pushing what's possible with camera tech. We loved its new in-camera upscale function that's capable of increasing image size by 400 percent. Upscaling debuted in the Canon EOS R5 Mark II and Canon EOS R1, and in the case of the EOS R5 Mark II it increases resolution from 45MP to 180MP, with impressive results.
I'm now imagining this upscale tech coupled with Canon's new 410MP sensor, we'd be talking a resolution of 1.64 gigapixels! That potential level of detail is mind blowing, but whether or not there are the necessary lenses with the optical quality to fully support this potential is another matter – and, sadly for my own curiosity, I'll unlikely ever see the new sensor in action.
You might also likeWith ransomware attacks becoming ever more common, a firm’s response can be crucial to recovery and mitigating the damage of the attack.
A new study from Hiscox has revealed a good reason not to pay attackers, finding in the vast majority of cases, even when a ransom is paid, companies don’t get their information back.
The company found only 7% of firms recovered their data in full - and in fact, 1 in 10 of the businesses who pay the ransom still had their data leaked.
Reputations to ransomAside from the obvious impacts of financial loss and stress to those involved, ransom attacks also affect reputations of companies who fall victim.
The study found of those who experienced a ransomware attack in the last 12 months, a staggering 47% reported greater difficulty in attracting new customers, and 43% have lost customers.
“Hackers are holding reputations to ransom – and no business is too small to be at risk,” said Alana Muir, Head of Cyber at Hiscox UK.
Most businesses are worried about this too, with 61% of organizations believing that the reputational damage from a cyberattack would ‘significantly damage’ their business.
In 2024, the survey found over a third (38%) of companies that fell victim to a cyberattack also suffered bad publicity resulting in damage to brand reputation, and 21% also lost business partners, showing just how detrimental attacks can be, even beyond the attack itself.
The news comes shortly after the UK Government opened a consultation to consider banning the payment of ransoms by public institutions in the event of a ransomware attack, in efforts to make critical infrastructure a less attractive target, and to disrupt criminal’s sources of income.
You might also likeCall of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2 launches on January 28 and brings a wealth of new content for Multiplayer. Black Ops 6 Zombies is also receiving some love, with plenty of big new additions.
The most significant is a whole new Zombies map, The Tomb. Set after the events of the Citadelle des Morts map, The Tomb sees protagonists Weaver, Maya, Carver, and Grey venture into a mysterious lost catacomb in the ongoing fight against the Dark Aether.
Throughout the adventure, you will be guided by a comms team of returning favorites S.A.M., Ravenow, Peck, Raptor One, and Strauss. They will be joined by the ghost of Sir Archibald, a deceased explorer from a doomed 1908 expedition into the area.
The map begins at the overground dig site, which soon gives way to ancient Neolithic Catacombs, imposing Tombs, a trap-laden Shrine, and finally a subterranean temple with a doorway to the otherworldly Dark Aether Nexus.
(Image credit: Activision)You will have to face off with new enemies, including the Shock Mimic. It can disguise itself as key items, grabbing you for a powerful electric bite if you get too close. The usual legions of hostile zombies have also received a new look, dressed as ancient laborers, worshippers, and guards.
The Tomb will feature a new Wonder Weapon, the Staff of Ice. It creates a powerful freezing magic attack and can even revive downed teammates with a ranged restorative blast. Those who manage to complete the map’s main quest will obtain the X91 Ice-Pick Wonder Weapon Skin for the staff in addition to 5,000 XP and a unique Calling Card.
Death Perception, a perk machine from Black Ops 4, is also returning. As before it lets you see enemies through walls, but has been augmented by “new abilities” for Black Ops 6. Three new GobbleGums are on the way too. Dead Drop dramatically increases the drop rates for salvage and equipment, while Modified Chaos reduces Ammo Mod cooldowns. Finally, there’s Quacknarok - which doesn’t do anything other than give every zombie a hilarious rubber duck pool lounger.
Directed Mode, which guides you through the events of the Main Quest, is expected to launch alongside the Season 2 mid-season update.
Want to give Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 a try? The game is available now for PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4.
You might also like...Nvidia's GeForce RTX 40-Series GPUs has shown off some significant advantages when it comes to dealing with 3D workflows over comparable Intel and AMD cards, new figures have claimed.
The latest Puget Systems After Effects benchmarks say Nvidia’s flagship GeForce RTX 4090 delivered up to 20 times the performance of Apple’s MacBook Pro M3 Max in 3D tasks; reflecting the card's technical design focus on GPU-intensive workloads.
The 4090, equipped with 24GB of GDDR6X memory and 16,384 CUDA cores, nearly doubles the performance of its own mid-range RTX 4060 in the Advanced 3D tests that utilize Adobe’s Advanced 3D rendering engine which is heavily dependent on GPU acceleration.
Nvidia RTX 4090 outperforms its rivalsComparatively, the RTX 4060, featuring 8GB of GDDR6 memory and 3,072 CUDA cores, outpaces AMD’s flagship Radeon RX 7900 XTX, which boasts 24GB of GDDR6 memory and 6,144 stream processors.
Despite its superior memory capacity, the Radeon GPU trails the RTX 4060 by 25% in overall 3D performance.
Intel’s Arc GPUs, such as the Arc B580 with 12GB of VRAM and 3,456 cores also fall short of Nvidia’s mid-range offerings, trailing the RTX 4060 by approximately 22%.
Apple’s M3 Max, equipped with 40 GPU cores, performs roughly 10 times slower than the RTX 4060 in GPU-accelerated 3D tasks.
However, while Nvidia leads in 3D rendering, Apple’s M3 Max performs well in 2D workflows due to its CPU efficiencies. The MacBook Pro excels in projects emphasizing 2D layers and effects, where GPU performance plays a secondary role. Nevertheless, for CPU-dependent tracking tasks, Nvidia and Apple systems perform similarly.
Nvidia owes its dominance in After Effects 3D workflows to its advanced GPU architecture and software integration. The RTX 4090, for instance, comes with technologies like the Ada Lovelace architecture and CUDA framework which optimizes 3D GPU performance.
You might also likeNetflix has just dropped its February 2025 schedule, and as a follow-up to its first streaming list of the year, I can't say that it packs a punch quite like what we saw last month. However, there's still a number of movies and shows that have caught my eye that I'm confident will find a place among the best Netflix movies and the best Netflix shows.
Despite it being on the sparse end this month, we still think that Netflix is one of the best streaming services out there, especially if you're big into reality TV. This month in particular, Netflix is doubling down in its reality TV content with the premiere of Love Is Blind season 8, and the brand new competition reality show Celebrity Bear Hunt. Reality TV aside, we also shelved Netflix's upcoming thriller series Apple Cider Vinegar as one of one-to-watch titles which will land on February 6.
On the upside, with February being as short as it is, it won't be much longer before Netflix switches up its catalog of entertainment again. In that case, I'm not dwelling on its slightly underwhelming list too much, and I'm hoping that March will be inundated with even more titles to welcome the spring.
Everything new on Netflix in February 2025Arriving on February 1
SAKAMOTO DAYS (Netflix anime)
Cult of Chucky (movie)
From Prada to Nada (movie)
Happy Feet (movie)
Happy Feet Two (movie)
Home Improvement seasons 1-8 (TV show)
It (movie)
Magic Mike XXL (movie)
Miss Congeniality (movie)
The Nice Guys (movie)
Parasite (movie)
Queen & Slim (movie)
Richie Rich (movie)
Space Jam (movie)
Spanglish (movie)
Two Weeks Notice (movie)
The Wedding Planner (movie)
Arriving on February 2
The Founder (movie)
Arriving on February 3
Bogotá: City of the Lost (Netflix original movie)
Arriving on February 4
The Graham Norton Show: Best Bits: The Week of January 24, 2025 (TV show)
Arriving on February 5
Alone Australia season 1 (TV show)
Celebrity Bear Hunt (Netflix original series)
Envious season 2 (Netflix original series)
Grimsburg season 1 (TV show)
Kinda Pregnant (Netflix original movie)
Prison Cell 211 (Netflix original series)
Sintonia season 5 (Netflix original series)
Arriving on February 6
Apple Cider Vinegar (Netflix original series)
The Åre Murders (Netflix original series)
Cassandra (Netflix original series)
Golden Kamuy -The Hunt of Prisoners in Hokkaido (Netflix original series)
Supreme Models: Limited Series (TV show)
Sweet Magnolias season 4 (Netflix original series)
Arriving on February 7
A Different World seasons 1-6 (TV show)
The Conners season 6 (TV show)
The Greatest Rivalry: India vs Pakistan (Netflix original series)
Pokémon Horizons: Season 2—The Search for Laqua part 1 (Netflix original series)
Wrong Side of the Tracks season 4 (Netflix original series)
Arriving on February 8
SAKAMOTO DAYS (Netflix anime) (new episode)
Spencer (movie)
Arriving on February 10
Aftermath (movie)
American Pickers season 16 (TV show)
Rambo (2008) (movie)
Rambo: Last Blood (movie)
Surviving Black Hawk Down (Netflix documentary)
Arriving on February 11
Felipe Esparza: Raging Fool (Netflix comedy special)
The Graham Norton Show: Best Bits: The Week of January 31, 2025 (TV show)
Peninsula (movie)
Train to Busan (movie)
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep (Netflix original movie)
Arriving on February 12
Death Before the Wedding (Netflix original movie)
Honeymoon Crasher (Netflix original movie)
Arriving on February 13
Cobra Kai season 6 part 3 (Netflix original series)
Dog Days Out (Netflix original series)
The Exchange season 2 (Netflix original series)
La Dolce Villa (Netflix original movie)
Resident Alien season 3 (TV show)
Trial by Fire (movie)
Arriving on February 14
I Am Married...But! (Netflix original series)
Love Is Blind season 8 (Netflix original series)
Melo Movie (Netflix original series)
Valeria season 4 (Netflix original series)
Dhoom Dhaam (Netflix original movie)
Love Forever (Netflix original movie)
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World (Netflix original movie)
Umjolo: There is No Cure (Netflix original movie)
Arriving on February 15
SAKAMOTO DAYS (Netflix anime) (new episode)
Arriving on February 16
Don't Let Go (movie)
Gold (movie)
Ted 2 (movie)
Arriving on February 17
Gabby's Dollhouse season 11 (Netflix original series)
Arriving on February 18
Court of Gold (Netflix original series)
The Graham Norton Show: Best Bits: The Week of February 7, 2025 (TV show)
Offline Love (Netflix original series)
Rosebud Baker: The Mother Lode (Netflix comedy special)
Arriving on February 19
My Family (Netflix original series)
To Catch a Killer (movie)
Arriving on February 20
Operation Finale (movie)
Zero Day (Netflix original series)
Arriving on February 22
SAKAMOTO DAYS (Netflix anime) (new episode)
Arriving on February 23
The 31st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (Netflix live event)
Arriving on February 25
Full Swing season 3 (Netflix original series)
The Graham Norton Show: Best Bits: The Week of February 14, 2025 (TV show)
Really Love (movie)
Watcher (movie)
Arriving on February 26
Brooklyn Nine-Nine seasons 5-6 (TV show)
Miss Italia Mustn’t Die (Netflix original documentary)
Arriving on February 27
Demon City (Netflix original movie)
Running Point (Netflix original series)
Toxic Town (Netflix original series)
The Wrong Track (Netflix original movie)
Arriving on February 28
Aitana: Metamorphosis (Netflix original documentary)
Despicable Me 4 (movie)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (movie)
Squad 36 (Netflix original movie)
Nvidia has assured us that the RTX 5090 GPU is “not expected” to have any issues with melting power connectors, as seen with the RTX 4090 (and we’ll come back to dive into the history, and current situation with the Lovelace flagship, later in this article).
South Korean tech site Quasarzone published an article detailing Nvidia’s ‘RTX AI’ day which includes a Q&A session (noticed by VideoCardz), and one of the questions asked was on the subject of the 16-pin power connectors used by the RTX 4090, and also employed in the imminent RTX 5090.
An attendee at the event noted that there was an issue with the connector melting due to overheating with the RTX 4090, and asked: “Has this been resolved with the RTX 5090?”
An Nvidia representative replied: “It is expected that such issues will not occur with the RTX 50 series. In response to the issue at the time, some changes were made to the connectors, and after about two years, we believe these problems have been resolved.”
I should note that this is translated from Korean, and we should bear that firmly in mind in terms of the accuracy of what’s been said here, and the exact meaning, but the gist is clear enough.
Analysis: Power paranoiaOkay, time to hit the rewind button for a moment. You might remember the melting cable affair with the Lovelace flagship GPU when it first came out, but it’s worth indulging in a quick recap. (Or if you want the full background, head here first).
In a nutshell, this was a problem with the 16-pin connector (12VHPWR) from the PC’s power supply to the RTX 4090 graphics card not being seated properly in the card, and overheating as a result. If that overheating got to a critical enough level, the plastic would start to melt (and a poor connection was more likely if the adapter had to be bent round at a sharper than ideal angle, due to space issues inside the PC case).
Following the emergence of these reports of melting adapters, Nvidia brought in a new 16-pin power connector design (12V-2x6, a revision of 12VHPWR) to mitigate the possible fire risk of a loosely seated connector.
Essentially, Nvidia put the problem down to a user error (not ensuring the connector was plugged in fully), then moved to change the connector to minimize any chance of that happening. This connector revision involved making changes to the length of the pins, including making the ‘sense’ pins shorter, so that if the connector isn’t fully seated, or it loosens and starts to fall out, the graphics card will power down and not work (rather than continue to operate and cause the overheating issue).
This will be the same situation for the RTX 5090, so the safety aspect should be fine, or that’s the assertion Nvidia is making here. Except that there’s a notable nuance in the (translated) language here having been couched in terms of it being ‘not expected’ that any melting issues will happen with the RTX 5090.
That’s not a cast-iron ruling out of any problem, but of course we must be wary around the translation from Korean, as already noted. The additional worry with the RTX 5070 is that it seriously ups the power usage to 575W (at least, compared to 450W with the RTX 4090), but despite that, Nvidia is saying it doesn’t expect to see any problems with melting connectors.
The other concern here, as VideoCardz points out, is that while the Nvidia rep observes that after two years the melting cable problems with the RTX 4090 appear to have been resolved, there were still reports of this happening throughout 2024 – and even as recent as this month, January 2025. That’s according to NorthridgeFix (a tech repair shop in California, US), which claims to be getting RTX 4090 boards with melted connectors on a daily basis still.
So, there’s a level of paranoia here, and that’s not unexpected in itself, particularly given, as noted, how much further the RTX 5090 pushes with its power consumption compared to its predecessor.
Ultimately, the proof will be in the power cable pudding (there’s an unenticing sounding dessert), and how folks get on with the new flagship GPU when it’s released. Until then, we obviously can’t judge the RTX 5090 on the melting score, but you’d hope that one way or another, this is an issue that it would’ve been an absolute priority for Nvidia to design against and fully put to bed.
You might also like...When is a music player not a music player? The new FiiO Snowsky Retro Nano is being pitched as a music player, but it really isn't.
So what is it? Well the first clue is it having the words BLUETOOTH AMP plastered across the front of its wonderfully Walkman-esque casing, and the words "Bluetooth and DAC Headphone Amplifier" printed on the back. What we have here, I say from underneath my deerstalker hat while puffing on a pipe, could well be a Bluetooth and DAC headphone amplifier.
So it's not a music player. But it is a well-specified amp and DAC that can upgrade the sound of, control the playback from, and make and receive calls via your phone or your laptop.
(Image credit: FiiO) FiiO Snowsky Retro Nano: key features and pricingThe FiiO Snowsky Retro Nano has a CS43131*2 DAC and supports PCM sampling of up to 16-bit/96kHz. There's Bluetooth 5.1 with aptX, aptX Adaptive and LDAC for streaming from your phone, and there's a little 0.96-inch TFT display that can make it look like you're listening to a very small cassette, which is a lovely touch.
It's very small – 55.1 x 37.5 x 13.7mm, much smaller than a credit card – and very light too, coming in at 28.3g with its removable battery included. That way smaller a lot of the best portable DACs with wireless skills.
Connection-wise there are both 3.5mm and balanced 4.4mm outputs as well as USB-C. And the physical buttons enable you to skip tracks, adjust the volume, change the mode and navigate the menu.
You can kind of think of it a way to take the best wired headphones and go wireless, adding playback controls that they may not have built-in.
The FiiO Control app works with both iOS and Android and you can use the device with your laptop via USB. We've been consistently impressed with FiiO's value audiophile gear, from its FiiO FT5 headphones to the FiiO M11S portable music player – and that one is, for sure, a music player, topping our list of the best hi-res music players.
The Snowsky Retro Nano is available now for $59.99 / £59.99 / about AU$117.
You might also likeCall of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2 is almost here, with the upcoming batch of live service content for the popular multiplayer shooter set to arrive on January 28. With a wealth of new maps, modes, and weapons, it comfortably has some of the most exciting additions yet.
For me, the new multiplayer maps are the highlight here. There will be three available at launch, Bounty, Dealership, and Lifeline. All three are brand-new environments built for Black Ops 6 and seem like a nicely varied selection. Bounty is set at the top of a fancy skyscraper, with a nightclub, rooftop, office, lobby and more.
As the name would suggest, Dealership then takes place in a car dealership - but with an interesting twist. The dealership is actually a front for an arms smuggling gang, its large showroom giving way to a sinister weapons black market. While both of these maps are geared towards 6v6 matches, Lifeline is something of a more compact environment that can be played in both 6v6 and 2v2 modes. It’s a small boat, named the Lifeline, which is moving quickly through choppy waters.
That’s not all, however, as two other maps are also being added throughout the season. The all-new Bullet is easily the coolest looking to me, letting you fight through a speeding bullet train which feels like a scene ripped straight out of a Bond movie. Playable in both 2v2 and 6v6, its tight corridor layout looks absolutely perfect for XP grinding too so I’m looking forward to putting in the hours to level up my gear.
(Image credit: Activision)The final map is a remaster of Grind, which was first featured in Black Ops 2 though I am most familiar with the Black Ops 4 version. This arena-style skatepark map is decent enough, but I personally prefer exploring layouts that we haven’t seen before.
Of course, no Call of Duty season would be complete without a smattering of new modes too. Overdrive is a brand new mode that will be available at launch, challenging you to earn stars through eliminations, headshots, and takedowns. Collecting set numbers of stars activates bonuses, such as the ability to see enemies through walls, increased movement and reload speed, or improved handling.
The classic Gun Game is also coming back, improving your gear through up to 20 different loadouts with every kill. Two limited time modes are dropping in time for Valentine's Day, the aptly named Third Wheel Gunfight and Couples Dance Off.
Two new Perks, a new Wildcard, and a new Scorestreak are being added throughout Season 2. Enforcer Perk Hunter’s Instinct increases your sprinting speed, while cutting down your Tac Sprint. Activision hasn’t revealed the name of the other perk yet, but we do know that it will highlight the next closest enemy with each successful elimination.
The new Wildcard, Flyswatter, is going to be a blessing for those sick of dying to chopper gunners or other Scorestreaks, as it lets you replace your melee weapon with a launcher. As for the new Scorestreak, War Machine is coming back - letting you call in a powerful cluster grenade launcher that’s perfect for clearing out campers.
This is all on top of four newly revealed weapons, the fast-firing PPSh-41 SMG, the reliable Cypher 091 assault rifle, the remarkably compact Feng 82 LMG, and the precise TR2 marksman rifle. These are joined by a variety of new weapon attachments, most interestingly a whole crossbow that you can stick to the bottom of your gun, plus plenty of balance changes, fixes, new bundles, a fresh battle pass, and even a Terminator crossover event.
If you’re interested in diving into Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 just in time for Season 2, the game is available now for PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4.
You might also likeFormer Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aimé has praised Team Asobi's PS5 hit Astro Bot as it claimed yet another Game of the Year accolade - this time at the New York Game Awards 2025.
“So I have to admit it, Astro Bot almost outdid Nintendo at its own game,” said Fils-Aimé (via VGC), who played host at the New York Game Awards. Not only did Astro Bot take 'Best Game of the Year' at the event, it also scooped up awards for 'Best Music in a Game' and 'Best Kids Game'.
Across all three categories it won, Astro Bot beat some stiff competition from the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Black Myth: Wukong and Metaphor: ReFantazio. Other winners included UFO 50 for 'Best Indie Game', Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree for 'Best World' and Zenless Zone Zero for 'Best Mobile Game'.
Remedy's Sam Lake, previously responsible for games like Alan Wake 2, Control and Max Payne, was also presented with the 'Andrew Yoon Legend Award'.
It's not the first time Astro Bot has come up in conversation in relation to Nintendo. When the game took the coveted Game of the Year award at The Game Awards 2024, Team Asobi creative director Nicolas Doucet said the game was greatly inspired by classic Nintendo titles like Super Mario Bros.
Astro Bot has also been receiving plenty of free post-launch content since release. This includes a set of speedrun challenge levels, as well as a unique Christmas-themed stage which threw in a bunch of new costumes and classic PlayStation cameos.
You might also like...New code spotted in the latest Pixel Watch app appears to suggest that Google is working on a tweak to its Emergency SOS feature that will make pocket-dialing emergency services less likely in the future.
While the Emergency SOS features on the best iPhones, smartwatches, and devices like the Google Pixel Watch 3 can be indispensable in life-or-death situations, adding easy access to emergency calling from a smart device inevitably leads to some accidental calls. A quick glance at Reddit will show you both Pixel Watch and Apple Watch users struggling with the problem.
To that end, Android Authority reports that Google is preparing a new 'Touch & hold to call' option that should reduce those accidental calls. Specifically, strings (lines of code) reveal the feature's name and how it works: "On your watch, quickly press the crown 5 times, then touch & hold the screen for 3 seconds to call for help."
It seems this new feature will be one of two options for emergency call settings because there's also an "automatic call" option listed that will still dial 911, 999, or the emergency number wherever you are, after you press the crown five times.
Combatting rogue emergency calls Apple Watch models are also vulnerable to pocket dials (Image credit: Future)As mentioned, pocket-dialing the emergency services from your smartphone or smartwatch isn't a new phenomenon.
When Apple first introduced Crash Detection to the iPhone 14 back in 2022, the company quickly found itself dealing with complaints of calls being triggered in non-emergency situations. Notably, a 911 dispatch center near a Cincinnati amusement park received six such calls from iPhone owners riding rollercoasters.
Later that year, a Colorado ski town dispatch center fielded 71 automated calls from iPhones and Apple Watches in a single weekend.
As you can imagine, the problem is a massive drain on emergency resources. The calls take up the airwaves for dispatch centers, and emergency responders are usually sent to accidental calls to check the location. “We are not in the practice of disregarding calls," a dispatch director told The Colorado Sun in 2022.
In 2021, a Wisconsin county sheriff's office revealed it had taken more than 700 accidental 911 calls triggered by iPhones in a single year, revealing in the process the one thing you should never do if you accidentally call 911.
Next time you accidentally dial 911, stay on the line and let the dispatcher know you're alright – don't hang up the phone.
There's no timeframe for the release of this leaked feature, but with code present in the latest Pixel Watch app beta, it's unlikely to be far away.
You may also likeLots of people connect their laptops to an external display in order to extend their workspace, yet this is one area where the MacBook Air struggles. Sure, you can connect two screens to this computer, but only if you close the lid – without doing that, it only works with a single monitor. That’s less than ideal.
Fortunately, that could all be about to change with the imminent launch of the M4 MacBook Air. When the M4 chip lands in Apple’s most affordable laptop, it could finally allow for more flexible external display setups.
To understand why, we need to look at the MacBook Pro. As noted by 9to5Mac, the M4 MacBook Pro supports up to two external displays (if you have the M4 Max model, it will support up to four external screens). The M3 MacBook Pro could also support two monitors, but at lower resolutions and frame rates. In contrast, the M2 MacBook Pro only worked with one external display. That’s progress with each chip generation.
The improved external monitor support in the step up from the M2 to M3 chip was mirrored in the MacBook Air, which is able to support an additional screen as long as the laptop’s screen is closed. The implication here is that because the M4 chip improved display support in the MacBook Pro, it will do the same for the MacBook Air, as has happened with chip upgrades in the past.
Better bandwidth (Image credit: Bryce Hyland / Future)The likely reason why the M3 MacBook Air could only connect to two displays when its lid was closed came down to bandwidth: the laptop’s chip couldn’t support the required video throughput for three screens at once.
Now that the M4 MacBook Pro works with higher resolutions and frame rates, the suggestion is that it has greater video bandwidth than the M3 chip. And if that’s the case, there’s a chance that the MacBook Air could make use of that.
That means we could see the M4 MacBook Air support three screens in total: its built-in display, plus two external monitors, all without having to close its lid. That would potentially make it a very attractive device to prospective buyers.
Much of this is speculation and guesswork at the moment. But with the M4 MacBook Air expected to launch soon, it won’t be long until we find out whether it’s received this significant display upgrade.
You might also likeThe White Lotus season 3 hasn't even arrived, but HBO is clearly confident that the next chapter of its original series will be another hit, as it's confirmed that the show will return for a fourth season.
The news comes ahead of the debut of one the best Max show's third installment, the first episode of which will air on HBO's network and be released on its streaming platform on Sunday, February 16. That means we only have just over three weeks to wait until we find out what the next chapter of this social satire drama has in store for us.
Good news travels fast. #TheWhiteLotus is excited to welcome you to a new destination. pic.twitter.com/QqdonoYHdTJanuary 23, 2025
So far, we know that the new location we'll be visiting is a Thai resort, but the guest list won’t be familiar to anyone who’s seen the previous seasons, as it's a brand-new cast. Well, apart from Natasha Rothwell who plays Belinda Lindsey, who we met in The White Lotus season 2 as a resort manager.
If you've been patiently waiting for the show's return, it sounds like you'll be in for a packed new season; back in November 2023, when production was getting underway, creator Mike White revealed that season 3 will be "longer, bigger [and] crazier".
What do we know so far about The White Lotus season 4?Not a lot so far. According to Variety, HBO is eyeing 2026 to start production, which might mean that The White Lotus season 4 will be released in the following year, but of course that's just speculation at this stage as nothing has been confirmed.
If we look at the show's release schedule so far, the wait between the second and third seasons of The White Lotus has been three years, while the gap between the first and second installments was only a year, although I wouldn't read too much into that, as the Hollywood writers' strike delayed production of season 3.
With season 4 still in its very early stages, we don’t have much to go on when it comes to speculating on where the show might go next – and the ending of season 3 is unlikely to give us any clues, as The White Lotus is an anthology series that switches up its location and cast each season with a fresh story and characters.
We do know, however, that White has already pitched ideas to HBO and Max boss Casey Bloys about what a fourth season could be about. Indeed, the network boss told Variety late last year that White would "obviously" do the fourth season, although that hadn't been confirmed until today.
The White Lotus season 3 will be released on Max on February 16.
You might also likeWe knew an OM System camera was on its way soon following an official letter in January for the year ahead from the brand's Representative Director and CEO, Shigemi Sugimoto. Now a teaser on OM System's Youtube channel (see below) has revealed the exact launch date, together with glimpses of what looks like a retro beauty.
Renderings give us the form factor we can expect – it's similar to existing models like the OM System OM-5, with a raised bump that's clearly a viewfinder, but seemingly without a hand grip. It's potentially doubling down on a retro design, like we get with the Olympus Pen F.
The clearest tease of what is to come is at the start of the video when a color mode dial is revealed on the camera's faux leather finish, with Color, Mono and Art settings clearly visible. Quick access to a Mono profile like in the Nikon Zf is welcome, but we don't know if OM System is expanding its selection of color profiles to emulate the success of Fujifilm's Film Simulations and Panasonic's Real Time LUTs – time will tell.
And it turns out that we won't have to wait long to find out more – the next OM System camera is set for a global announcement on February 6.
How different will this OM System camera be?I responded to OM System's suggestion of an upcoming new camera earlier this month with caution. Since it acquired Olympus four years ago, there's been little by way of new camera tech, just a refresh of existing models with new branding. That could be about to change in this next model.
The teaser gives us a limited glimpse of the new OM System camera's design, and there are subtle differences compared to what we've seen before. A seemingly OM-5 / Pen F hybrid by design, the camera that's rumored to be called an OM-3 appears to the most exciting camera from OM System yet, in that it's finally something new.
We don't know any tech specs yet, though; whether this is a beginner mirrorless camera or something pricier; whether it features an existing sensor or a new one; or if there's a new processor and features.
I'm really hoping for more than just design tweaks, because I think a more powerful retro camera with a next-gen processor for OM System could rival the likes of Fujifilm in 2025. This first teaser of the upcoming camera has certainly got me interested – it looks stunning.
You might also likeIt's fair to say that most soundbars aren't very exciting to look at, and don't tend to go beyond the familiar lozenge shape. But the Ultimea Apollo S80 soundbar is like no soundbar I've ever seen. It isn't just a soundbar. It's a TV transformer that thinks it's a Philips Hue system too.
If you look at the main image you'd think there's nothing particularly unusual going on: it's a soundbar with a separate sub unit, like so many others. But that main soundbar isn't one unit. It's three, and you can pull them apart to turn them into completely separate speakers for left, center and right channels – adding the kind of real separation that hardcore home theater enthusiasts espouse.
Once you've pulled your soundbar apart, you can then leave the speakers standing horizontally or vertically, or you can wall mount some or all of them. However, if you're thinking of wall mounting, it's worth noting that although the soundbar has Bluetooth, the speaker units need to be wired to each other.
On the plus side, not only do they separate, but the left and right speakers also have LED lighting that you can adjust with the companion app. There are six dynamic scene modes and a color wheel to get the lights just-so.
(Image credit: Ultimea) Is a splittable soundbar a good idea?The specification is decent: as Notebookcheck reports, the drivers are 2 inches, the sub is 5.25 inches and it's a 5.1 system (though that's five forward channels, not real surround) with Dolby Atmos, optical audio, HDMI eARC, USB and Bluetooth 5.3.
We’ve been quite impressed with Ultimea's affordable soundbars, such as the Ultimea Poseidon D50: while they're not up there with their more expensive rivals from the likes of Samsung or Sonos, they're relatively cheap ways to significantly upgrade the sound of your TV, and we rate the Poseidon as being among the best soundbars today if you're on a budget.
You can't fault the thinking here: it's not so much thinking outside of the box as thinking in a completely different zip code to the box. But I do wonder who the target market is for this particular unit's transforming talents, because once you've got your soundbar or speakers just-so you're probably just going to leave them where they are.
Having said that, we do like the similarly transformable JBL Bar 1300X with its rear speakers that attach to the soundbar or can be placed behind you when you want them… but those are totally wireless with built-in batteries, and rear speakers are more of an inconvenience to have permanently than front speakers, so the whole step makes more sense. And also costs many times what the Ultimea costs.
The big draw here is price: good luck putting together a similar system of separates without having to hit eBay or Aliexpress and seriously lower your standards.
The Ultimea Apollo S80 has an list price of $209 / £171 / about AU$336, but it's currently cheaper with 10% off if you buy direct from the Ultimea website.
You might also likeBlack Ops 6 Season 2 Reloaded launches Tuesday, January 28, adding new maps, four new weapons, as well as the return of a fan favorite Zombies relic.
Even without extra Season Two content, we're still having a blast with Black Ops 6, landing it a place on our list of the best FPS games to play in 2025. This upcoming seasonal update will freshen things up somewhat, giving players a new assault rifle, and SMG to work towards.
Here's what we know about Black Ops Season 2 so far, including a closer look at the confirmed release time later this week, as well as what's set to be added. As we hear more from Activision, this page will be updated.
Black Ops 6 Season 2 release time in your time zone (Image credit: Activision)The Black Ops 6 Season 2 release time is Tuesday, January 28 at 9AM PST / 12PM EST / 5PM GMT. Here's some more specifics related to the release schedule per your timezone:
Activision has now announced what'll be added to Black Ops 6 as part of Season 2. This includes new maps, a new Zombies map, and mission, as well as new weapons and updates to Warzone. Here's a brief summary of what's being added:
For a full breakdown of Black Ops 6 Season 2, head on over to the Call of Duty blog. This includes some limited-time modes that'll be available to enjoy over the holidays.
You Might Also Like...If you're looking to snag an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPU, you've come to the right place. Nvidia's latest flagship graphics card is poised to become the new best consumer graphics card on the market, delivering top-of-the-line performance without compromise.
Unfortunately, that makes it highly desired by not just PC gamers and creative professionals, but also swathes of scalpers hoping to turn a profit on Nvidia's new monster GPU. Retailing at $1,999 / £1,939 / AU$4,039 for the Founders Edition card, the RTX 5090 costs a pretty penny - but if you've got the dough, TechRadar is here to help you snap one up.
The RTX 5090 will go on sale from Nvidia itself and a range of third-party retailers on January 30 - but bear in mind that every seller will have limited stock (if previous RTX launches are any indication) so securing one might be challenging. Regardless, we'll keep updating this page regularly to help you track down this coveted GPU.
WHERE TO BUY RTX 5090: US QUICK LINKSOrders for the Nvidia RTX 5090 will go live in the US on January 30, but stock is in high demand with retailers expected to sell out. We're not seeing any pre-orders popping up yet, but we'll keep you posted if that changes. Below, you can find all the retailers we recommend checking out:
Nvidia RTX 5090 deals at Nvidia
This should be your first port of call once stock drops: Nvidia sells not just third-party cards but its own Founders Edition versions of the RTX 5090 at MSRP - but this means that stock is likely to run out fast.View Deal
Nvidia RTX 5090 deals at Best Buy
Best Buy is often a good place to pick up a new RTX card at retail price, and you can get the RTX 5090 Founders Edition here too. It's also worth noting that the retailer does sometimes throttle stock of highly-desired products to prioritize My Best Buy members, so if you've got a subscription, this could be your best option.View Deal
Nvidia RTX 5090 deals at Newegg
Newegg is a trusted retailer when it comes to PC hardware, and is often worth checking out when new graphics cards drop. It also offers a GPU trade-in scheme, which can save you some cash if you offer up your old graphics card as a sacrifice to the RTX gods.View Deal
Nvidia RTX 5090 deals at B&H
Although B&H is best known as a photography retailer, it also stocks computer hardware - most crucially graphics cards. Since it's not one of the better-known GPU sellers, it can be a good place to track down stock of high-end cards.View Deal
Nvidia RTX 5090 deals at Amazon
Amazon is always worth checking, but it can also be a battleground for third-party scalpers and scammers whenever a new flagship Nvidia GPU drops, so be wary - don't drop $4,000+ on a suspect listing here.View Deal
The Nvidia RTX 5090 will go on sale in the UK on January 30 as well, though stock is likely to be limited there too. Here are the retailers we recommend keeping an eye on:
Nvidia RTX 5090 deals at Nvidia
Nvidia will be selling the RTX 5090 on its own UK website as well, but be aware that the site is liable to go down or run slowly as eager shoppers flock to Team Green's storefront. You can buy not just the Founder's Edition, but other third-party models as well.View Deal
Nvidia RTX 5090 stock at Overclockers
Overclockers UK is a great site for buying components, and if you act quickly, you might be able to get your hands on a third-party RTX 5090 model on launch day. Amusingly, Overclockers currently has the price of every 5090 card set to £25,000 - hopefully not a portent of times to come!View Deal
Nvidia RTX 5090 stock at Ebuyer
Strangely, Ebuyer only has a live hub page for RTX 5080 (not RTX 5090) cards prior to launch, but we'll keep an eye out in case this changes.View Deal
Nvidia RTX 5090 stock at Scan
Scan will also be selling a range of RTX 5090 cards, although the selection appears to be a bit limited compared to some other retailers - however, you'll also be able to pick up a fully pre-built RTX 5090 gaming PC if that takes your fancy instead.View Deal
Here we go again, folks... Nvidia is about to drop its new next-gen flagship graphics card, the RTX 5090 (as well as its little brother the RTX 5080), and you can bet that hordes of gamers - and scalpers - will be chomping at the bit to get their hands on one.
As someone who's currently got an RTX 4080 sitting inside my home PC, I'm feeling rather comfortable this time around - not beset with the urgent need to upgrade that I felt during the last big Nvidia launch. But that doesn't mean I'm not here to help you out: with the January 30 release date closing in and the review embargo lifting today, January 23, I'll be here for the next few weeks to keep tabs on stock and (hopefully!) point you in the right direction.
You'll be able to check out our review later today, but right here I've compiled all the retailers you'll want to keep an eye on when it comes to tracking down one of these highly-coveted GPUs. Some storefronts, such as Newegg, already have dedicated landing pages for the RTX 5090, but nowhere seems to be offering any sort of pre-orders yet - it's possible they won't at all. However, some retailers - including Nvidia itself - are allowing shoppers to sign up for email notifications.
Be sure to bookmark this page and check back for more updates - I'll be keeping a close watch on retailers for any updates as stock shifts, so you can be the first to know.
Although you'll still have to wait a few hours until we're allowed to publish our review - we really don't want to hear from Nvidia's legal team today! - you can check out our RTX 5090 unboxing right now to get an early sneak peek at the contents of the package.
A new type of power adapter is now included in the box, making it easier to install the GPU inside smaller PC cases and hopefully putting to bed any previous thorny issues with melting power connectors...
There have been rumors about RTX 5000 stock shortages circling for the past few days, but even if they prove to be untrue, I strongly suspect that we're going to see an absolute sell-out almost immediately on launch day. With no pre-orders in sight to secure you a unit in advance, your best bet is likely going to be camping on multiple retailer sites (which I've handily organized for you above).
The scalpers are likely to be out in force again for this launch, even now that crypto-mining isn't as widespread and prevalent as it was during previous GPU releases. The RTX 4090 never really got over its stock issues, with units still selling above MSRP on sites like Amazon. However, that was arguably down to how much of a letdown the RTX 4080 was - hopefully this time around, Nvidia will get things right with its new not-quite-flagship GPU.
Fun fact: the RTX 5090 is going to be quite a bit smaller than its predecessor the RTX 4090, despite ostensibly being a more powerful card. Yes, I have to say 'ostensibly' because we're not past the review embargo yet, but come on, we all know it's going to perform better.
I'm personally over the moon that Nvidia has opted to slim things down for this new high-end GPU, because quite frankly the RTX 4090 was a comically oversized beast of a card regardless of which model you bought. All of the Founders Edition models of every upcoming RTX 5000 card will be certified for Nvidia's own Small Form Factor Ready scheme, meaning lovers of compact PCs and living-room builds can rejoice.
If you've somehow stumbled onto the wrong page and were actually looking for Nvidia's more affordable (but still definitively high-end) new GPU, you can check out our where to buy the RTX 5080 guide instead. I'll be making sure both pages stay updated regularly up to launch day and beyond to help you track down stock, and it's worth bearing in mind that the RTX 5080 might be a little easy to get hold of than the flagship 5090 - so if you're desperate for shiny new graphics card, that could be a better bet.
The new, sleeker RTX 5000 design reportedly almost didn't happen: earlier this week, we spotted a mysterious possible RTX 5090 prototype that was a seriously beefy boy, packing specs beyond the real 5090 and a truly absurd 800W power requirement.
While that prototype remains shrouded in uncertainty, it's possible that it might rear its head further down the line if Nvidia chooses to resurrect its long-dormant Titan RTX series for professional users.