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What to watch this weekend.Credit: Paramount / Peacock / NetflixIts the first weekend of 2025 and I have to admit, things are off to something of a slow start in the new year. Thats not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes its nice to not have too many new shows and movies out so that we can catch up on all the stuff we missed in the past year (or years, as is so often the case).Ive posted my Worst TV Shows and Best TV Shows of 2024 lists. The latter may give you some ideas on what to watch that may have fallen off your radar. And as always, Ive scoured the internet for whats new to stream this weekend, as well as some theatrical releases that might tickle your fancy.If you have any tips or I missed something, shoot me a message on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. You can check out last weekends streaming guide right here.Whats New & Notable This Weekend (12/13/24)Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Netflix)MORE FOR YOUThe adorable duo of Wallace and Gromit return for this family-friendly Netflix flick. This is a rare offering from Netflix in that it has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score with critics and a 98% with audiences. Thats pretty wild! Most Netflix movies barely release Fresh. Of course, fans of the lovable claymation duo expect nothing less. This should be a nice movie to watch with your kids (or just with your inner child and a bucket of nostalgia).Lockerbie: A Search For Truth (Peacock)Colin Firth stars in this harrowing true story about the December 21, 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. Firth is such a great actor and this looks absolutely incredible. He plays Dr. Jim Swire, nominated by the victims families as their spokesperson as they try to uncover the truth behind the terrorist attack, which claimed the lives of all 259 passengers. A total of five episodes will air weekly on Peacock every Thursday.The 2025 Golden Globes (Paramount+)The big Golden Globes award ceremony kicks off at 8pm ET / 5pm PT on Paramount+ and CBS this Sunday. Nikki Glaser hosts. I almost never watch award ceremonies these days, but they can have their entertaining (and frustrating) moments.The Rig - Season 2 (Prime Video)Prime Videos horror series about an offshore oil rig returns for a second season. I didnt watch the first and heard mostly mixed things. But if youre a fan of the genre or the series, you can tune back in. The entire season is out on Prime Video now.Cunk On Life (Netflix)Philomena Cunk returns to explore the meaning of life. Or something. Who knows with Cunk? Shes funny and off-kilter and her documentaries are hilarious. Cunkactually Diane Morganspoofs the documentary genre, carries out ridiculous interviews and is just a lot of fun in general.The Fall Guy (Prime Video)The Fall Guy has been available on Peacock, but now its available for many more viewers on Prime Video. Ive been meaning to watch the Ryan Gosling / Emily Blunt action movie for ages now and I think I finally will this weekend. It got great reviews, has charismatic stars and a fun premise and still somehow bombed at the box office. Go figure . . .Selling The City (Netflix)A real estate themed soap opera from the makers of Selling the OC, Selling The City takes viewers to the East Coast with a new cast of beautiful characters and melodrama. Im not above soap operasI devoured Sons Of Anarchybut I must admit this is not my cup of tea. Maybe its yours!Horizon: An American Saga Part 1 (Netflix)Kevin Costners sprawling, ambitious, old-school Western Horizon: An American Saga is just the first of four planned films, with a second part hitting theaters sometime in 2025. While the film was critically and financially a failure, its seen new life in streaming and now that its on Netflix is sure to gain an even bigger audience. I genuinely liked the film, though it certainly moves at an odd pace and eschews conventional narrative in favor of something a lot looser and less plot-driven. Hopefully Chapter 2 ties up some loose threads and gets the story rolling forward.Wicked (VOD)One of my very favorite movies of 2024 is now available to rent or purchase on Prime Video and elsewhere. I want to buy it, but I decided to order the 4K Blu-ray version instead, which wont release until next month. For the sound, for the visuals, the 4K disc will be worth the wait. I genuinely loved this adaptation of the Broadway musical, which I saw for the second time this past year when I visited NYC and went to not one, not two, not three, but four Broadway shows in two days. That was fun!Other movies out on Video-On-Demand include:The Order with Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult about an FBI agent tracking down bank robbers who are hitting banks to fund a white supremacist terrorist cabal. This is based on a true story and looks excellent. Im tempted to buy it but I assume it will land on a streaming service soon.The Wild Robot which was my second-favorite animated film of 2024 after Inside Out 2. Such a beautifully animated, heartwarming film thats sure to tug on parents heartstrings while delighting younger viewers.The Return stars Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus, washed up on the shores of Ithaca after the Trojan Wars. A retelling of Odysseus without all the mythology. Its gotten fairly positive reviews from critics and audiences.Small Things Like These stars Cillian Murphy as a father who discovers disturbing revelations at a local convent in Ireland in 1985. This looks both disturbing and fantastic.Nosferatu (In Theaters)I included this last week as a theatrical release worth watching, and now that Ive seen it I thought I should recommend it one more time. While I realize this will not be for everyonemy readers either loved or hated it, basicallyI fall into the loved it camp. You can read my glowing review right here.Other movies currently in theaters include Mufasa, Sonic 3, and The Brutalist. That last one is the one Id like to go see, but its not at my movie theater! It stars Adrian Brody as architect Lszl Toth who escapes postwar Europe and builds a new life in America. The movie, and its star Adrien Brody, are receiving a lot of buzz. It sounds terrific, though its a whopping 3 hours and 35 minutes long. Still, 94% of critics and 89% of audiences give this A24 film a thumbs up on Rotten Tomatoes. Not too shabby.Whats Airing WeeklyWe have certainly slowed down when it comes to shows airing each week, with many ending in the past few weeks and fewer new shows to watch, which is good because I have so much to catch up on! Since some pretty big new shows are headed our way, from Severance to Season 2 of The Night Agent, Im happy we have a brief lull in content.Dexter: Original Sin has become my most-anticipated show of the week. Im always eager for a new episode to drop each Friday on Paramount. Its amazing how good this show ismy expectations were so lowand how great the younger cast portrays their older counterparts from the original series. Heres my review. (Paramount)Star Wars: Skeleton Crew continues to be a ton of fun, a wonderfully lighthearted pirate adventure that mirrors The Goonies and pays tribute to many great classic adventure films of old. Jude Law is wonderful and the cast of kids that make up our heroes does a terrific job as well. This, along with the first two seasons of The Mandalorian and the first season of Andor, is the best Star Wars on Disney+. Only a couple more episodes to go.Im way behind on Silo (Apple TV) Landman, Outlander and still have to watch Squid Game. I havent started Creature Commandos yet, either, though it looks like a pretty fun animated DC show. Ive been catching up on Say Nothing on Hulu, however, which is excellent, exciting, disturbing and based on true stories that took place during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. I also finally watched Bad Boys: Ride Or Die which I found incredibly fun and silly, and Killers Of The Flower Moon which I reviewed right here. It should have won Best Picture over Oppenheimer.Further Reading From Yours Truly:Dont forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel!What are you watching these days? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.

Goosebumps: The VanishingCredit: Disney+Telling Rob Letterman (Goosebumps 2015, Detective Pikachu) and Hilary Winston (My Name Is Earl, Community), the executive producers on Disney+s Goosebumps: The Vanishing, that Ive grown carnivorous plants for over 30 years wasnt on my 2024 bingo card. But its exactly how our Zoom chat began a few weeks ago.I told them how watching this second season was, in effect, like going to church. A strange, hungry, vine-choked church, sure. But church, nonetheless.Im sure you had a few notes, Hilary said, laughing.Yeah, I dont know how technically accurate we were, Rob admitted.I went on to say that when David Schwimmers botanical character interacted with a sinister spore-birthed bulb for the first time in the initial Stay Out of the Basement episodes, I recognized how it was modeled after Rafflesia, the stinking corpse lily of Southeast Asia, a parasitic giant flower that feeds solely on other plants. Or in the case of Goosebumps: The Vanishing, Ross Geller from Friends.Thats probably what it is, by the way, Rob said, chuckling. I know we took it from a real-world flower.We had all those meetings with Weta, who did the VFX, with all sorts of weird plants from all over the world, Hilary added. Really cool stuff Id never seen before. Then we were like, oh, we actually have a job to do, after we looked at plants for two hours. We could have used your expertise!It seems I should have let Rob and Hilary know about my carnivorous plant obsession before they wrote The Vanishing, but hey, better late than never. I was so very close to finally monetizing my extensive and utterly useless knowledge of Venus flytraps, sundews and pitcher plants. Ill have to write my own plant story, I suppose. Watch out, world.MORE FOR YOUI can see it now: A The Vanishing spin-off entitled The Famishing, and it will be about my starving, mutated, couch-sized sundew, and how its not sticky anymore, because I refuse to feed it the annoying neighborhood kids. Hit me up, Disney. My schedule is wide open.Full disclosure: We put more time into the dad plant jokes than we did into a deep dive into the plants themselves, Rob told me. Those are spot-on. We have killer plant jokes.We have extras we can share with you, from the cutting-room floor, Hilary added.I might just have to take her up on that, actually. Bonus plant dad jokes sound rather delightful, though the ones that made it into the show are already top-tier.From a planning angle, I was rather interested in how the Goosebumps show team transitioned from the first season into The Vanishing. Last years reboot surprised a lot of fans who were accustomed to the middle grade book source material, as well as the original Fox Kids TV show, both of which leaned into safer scares. Last year, the Disney+ show aged up the characters and story, which now dealt with high schoolers and darker themes.Hilary WinstonCredit: Disney+Its an anthology series, Rob began, which we kind of love, because its the nature of the books. It just felt like that was in the spirit of Goosebumps, and in the spirit of R.L. Stine never having a happily-ever-after at the end of his storiesthey always end with a twistso the first season ended in the canon of Goosebumps. When we explored doing a season two, we just wanted to swing the pendulum and do something totally different. Hilary and I zeroed in on New York pretty quickly. We thought it would be really fun to show a different side of New York and show the urban/suburban vibe, if you will, and shoot a gritty, grounded, relatable story again with a whole new set of characters.For fans of season one, and with the anthology, we wanted to make sure we were consistent in tone, and that our storytelling had some of the same DNA, Hilary continued. Much like in season one, in season two, we took a central mystery and had each of our characters [experience] their own individual journey and connection to that mystery and have their own books. We were able to [choose] another set of beloved Goosebumps booksStay Out of the Basement being one that we loved, thats one of my favorites that we didnt get to do in season one. So then when we built out that world and mapped the characters to these books and their stories, so that there is a feeling of like, this isnt totally random and new and everything is different. If you enjoyed season one, youre going to enjoy season two as well.Being a fellow writer, I went on to ask about the Goosebumps writers room. I imagined it to be a dank dungeon coated in sentient green slime, echoing with bloodcurdling howls and cackles, buzzing with malevolent spectral energy. Definitely haunted, obviously. I needed to know what their creative process looked like, how the team decided on which lucky Goosebumps titles were to be included.Oh, you mean after the chaos? Rob joked.It all starts with a Goosebumps tote bag [and] all these books that we would lug around, Hilary said. We were in-between offices, going different places and looking at the covers of these books. In all honesty, [we were] getting inspiration just like you do as a kid in the bookstore, picking out a Goosebumps title and the way you want to be scared. We would really move around the covers and be like oh, this is a great one and this is a great one and the story starts to appear, like it would be cool if a character did this or it would be cool if we focused on this.I wont spoil anything, but there are several nods to classic horror movies and books throughout The Vanishing, and Rob confirmed this.We like to dive into the subgenres of horror, and we reference a lot of our favorite films and stories of a certain era and pay homage. Pretty much every scene in every episode you can do some detective work and figure out where that came from.And speaking of horror, theres the notion of writing teenagers, its own mortification. I wanted to know: What were some of the specific challenges?The challenges are that Rob has to live with two teenagers while writing the show, Hilary joked.Rob LettermanCredit: Disney+I follow my kids around with a recorder and then I immediately text HilaryOh my God, youll never guess what they just did and said! Rob noted. My son is 18, my daughter is 16. Im in the hot zone of that all day long. But Ill say this: Especially this generation, they are exposed to so much more. Theyre so mature. Theyre just different, every generation is different. Theyre dealing with trauma, for real. Theres no monster or terrifying plant in the world thats going to be scarier than being a teenager going to high school right now. We try to be true to that and try to have an honest portrayal of what theyre like and what theyre going through when were writing.Perhaps this is why Goosebumps remains impressively evergreen; the delicate balance of comedy and horror is something kids (and adults, too) genuinely appreciate. Life is so reliably and brutally challenging, and I suppose its stress-relieving to laugh and scream in alternating fashion. Ive seen the first six episodes of The Vanishing, and David Schwimmer does an excellent job of juggling these opposing and somehow therapeutic psychic states.You know, comedians are so good at horror, Hilary explained. Theyre really walking the same line. Preparing for a joke or a scare are very similar, how you have to lead up to it and the timing it requires. Schwimmer is, one, an amazing person, but hes [also] such a great actor, such a great director, and somebody who got this project right away, got the character of Anthony. It was amazing to have somebody that is operating at such a high level and gets everything about this process. It made it so much easier for us and he elevated this season beyond with his talent.Goosebumps: The VanishingCredit: Disney+Speaking of David, apparently he got pretty engaged with the botanical aspects of his role, and judging by my own intense interest in plants, this probably means wed make for pretty good... pals? Im absolutely not going to make a Friends joke. Nope. I wont do it. Or maybe I just did? Im sorry, David. Restraint isnt my forte.To his credit, a lot of the botany jokes are from Schwimmer, Rob said. He was like, Im an actor, Im going to play this role. He did his research, he connected with botanists. He started sending us all these pictures for the t-shirts. He wanted to always be wearing a t-shirt that had a botany pun on it. So if you keep an eye on it, theres a lot of that stuff in [the show]. In episode two, he cuts into his arm. Its such an amazing performance, if you were there on the day [of shooting], because nothing is there. Hes miming the whole thing. We literally shipped that off to Weta and tried to match this performance that was perfectly intense and hilarious in moments. He poured his heart into this part. Its awesome.Ive really been enjoying the second season of Goosebumps so far, and yes, being a carnivorous plant fanatic does make me a tad biased. Still, I think Rob and Hilary (and team) have done a solid job with the writing and it was great to catch up with them and dive into some behind-the-scenes details.Its the new year and honestly, Im grateful. Would sending them thank-you Venus flytraps via FedEx be considered an overstep? Lets find out.Goosebumps: The Vanishing premieres on Disney+ and Hulu on January 10.

In a nutshell: Atari is teaming up with retro gaming company My Arcade on one of the most peculiar handheld game systems in recent memory. The Gamestation Go, teased in an X post ahead of CES, is all about control. The handheld which appears to be a revised version of the Gamestation Portable teased around this time a year ago features a traditional D-pad on the left side flanked by a trackball below and a paddle / spinner knob above. On the opposite side, you've got standard A B X Y buttons arranged in the familiar layout with a number pad below. Physical buttons labeled start, select, settings, and credit are also present on the front of the device. R1 R2 and L1 L2 shoulder buttons are positioned along the top edge of the handheld, where we can also see a microSD card slot, a power switch, a home button, a volume rocker, an HDMI-out port, a USB-C power connector, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.Most of the controls appear to be backlit or outlined with light, and a pair of USB-C ports on the rear looks to support wired controllers. All it seems to be missing is the crank control from the Playdate. Cooling vents and a kickstand can also be found on the reverse.Atari's teaser is accompanied by the tagline, "An icon, reimagined." Additional details, such as bundled games and pricing, remain a mystery for now. With so many baked in control types, the device could potentially support a range of platforms so long as the internal hardware and emulation is up for the task.Last year's Gamestation Portable was to launch by the end of 2024 for $149, so it is probably safe to assume the Go variant will come in around that same mark. // Related StoriesCES is just days away, so we'll likely get all of the missing details then. The annual trade show formally kicks off in Las Vegas on January 7 and runs through the 10th.

Not all laptop deals will get you a reliable device. Some budget-oriented laptop brands put the price tag above all else. That wont be an issue with the Dell Inspiron 15 3520, which you can buy from Dell with a $120 discount that drops its price to a more affordable $430 from $550. Its an excellent companion for students and work-from-home professionals, but were not sure how much time is remaining before this offer expires. If you dont want to miss out on this bargain, youre going to have to act fast add it to your cart and proceed with the checkout process as soon as possible.Made by one of the best laptop brands, the Dell Inspiron 15 3520 is a device thats similar to your daily driver. With the 12th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, and 16GB of RAM that our guide on how much RAM do you need says is on the level of top-tier machines, this laptop will be able to handle all of your everyday tasks. From managing spreadsheets to creating reports, and from watching streaming videos to browsing social media, everything will run smoothly on the Dell Inspiron 15 3520.The Dell Inspiron 15 3520 is equipped with a 15.6-inch Full HD screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes it easy on the eyes, and theres a built-in HD webcam so youll also be looking good whenever you join online conferences and answer video calls. The laptop ships with Windows 11 Home pre-installed in a 512GB SSD, which will provide lots of storage space for all the apps and files you need. For the clumsy ones, the Dell Inspiron 15 3520 promises durability, as it passed military-grade testing.RelatedFor a laptop that will function well as a daily companion, you cant go wrong with the Dell Inspiron 15 3520, especially now that its available from Dell at $120 off. From its original price of $550, its down to just $430, which is a steal considering this devices capabilities. We think this offer is already attracting a lot of attention, so if you want to get the Dell Inspiron 15 3520 for a lower price than usual, you need to complete your purchase before the stocks that are up for sale run out.Editors Recommendations

Bleeker StreetTable of ContentsTable of ContentsCaptain Fantastic (2016)Gloria Bell (2018)Pulse (2001)Its the first weekend of 2025, and youre probably too tired to do much of anything. I know I am; if I look at another firework or attend another party, I may just scream out loud. Instead, what Im doing this weekend is staying in, logging on to my Max account, and watching some good movies.The streamer has tons to choose from, including recent additions like Furiosa: A Mad Max Sagaand Juror #2. If youve already seen those excellent films, then the following three movies should be just the ticket to start your year off on the right foot.Recommended VideosWe also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max,andthe best movies on Disney+.RelatedCaptain Fantastic Official Trailer #1 (2016) - Viggo Mortensen, Kathryn Hahn Movie HDWe all share a fantasy of escaping from it all and living in the woods, secluding ourselves from the pitfalls of the modern world. But what if someone actually did that? What would life be like, not only for him, but for his family as well? Those are the questions Captain Fantastic asks, and the answers it finds arent exactly comforting.Ben (Viggo Mortensen) and his wife, Leslie, made a decision years earlier to live in the Washington wilderness on a 10-acre homestead, far away from normal society. Through the years, the couple have six children, and Leslie leaves for a while to seek help for her bipolar disorder in New Mexico. After Ben finds out Leslie has killed herself, he decides to take his children on a road trip to attend her funeral. Now exposed to the outside world, some of the kids begin to question their father and their secluded existence.Bleeker StreetCaptain Fantastic explores issues of parenting, mental health, and life on the margins of society that few other movies even attempt to confront nowadays. The supporting cast, which features Agatha All Alongs Kathryn Hahn and The Beasts George MacKay, is stellar, but its Mortensen as Ben who impresses the most. The Lord of the Rings actor earned a surprise Best Actor nomination for his performance, and by the end of the movie, youll be convinced he deserved to win the award.Captain Fantastic is streaming on Max.Gloria Bell | Official Trailer HD | A24Julianne Moore is one of the most gifted actresses alive, and she had one of her best roles in this little-seen 2018 comedy-drama thats a remake of an acclaimed 2014 Chilean film. Moore stars as Gloria, a middle-aged divorcee with two kids who likes to spend her nights dancing. One night, she meets a fellow divorcee, Arnold (Severances John Turturro), and soon they begin a tentative romance that involves meeting each others children.Complications ensue, as they usually do in situations like this, and Gloria realizes that love in her 50s isnt the same as it was when she was younger. Even though her children are grown, she still has to be a full-time mother to them all while living a single life fraught with everyday challenges. Still, she manages to find laughter through heartbreak, and always finds time to hit the dance floor to shake away her momentary blues.A24Gloria Bell isnt anything more than a showcase for Moores talents, and to me, thats enough. Shes luminous here, and whether shes tripping her brains out in the desert or shaking her groove thang to Bonnie Tylers Total Eclipse of the Heart on the dance floor, shes never less than captivating.Gloria Bell is streaming on Max.PULSE (KAIRO) (2001) Trailer Remastered HDYouve probably heard of Ringu, the 1998 horror film that pretty much put J-horror on the map and spawned dozens of imitators, remakes, and rip-offs. Most of them arent as good as that one, but theres one thats arguably better: Pulse. Kiyoshi Kurosawas creepy horror movie melds the supernatural with technology in its tale of ghosts haunting people in downtown Tokyo via computers.The unfortunate targets for this supernatural wraith are the young employees at a plant shop. After Taguchi is found dead, hanging in his apartment, his co-workers Michi, Junko, and Yabe experience strange visions and phone calls of him staring at his computer monitor and saying, help me. Soon, one of them falls victim to this strange haunting, and its up to the survivors to figure out whats going on and how to stop it.Pulse is streaming on Max.Editors Recommendations

Jacob Roach / Digital TrendsTable of ContentsTable of ContentsAMD RX 9000 series: availabilityAMD Radeon RX 9000 series: specs and architectureAMD RX 9000 series: lineupAMDs RX 9000 series is right around the corner, and its almost ready to compete against some of the best graphics cards. While leaks about the lineup have been scarce for many months, things are getting better. As were leading up to the official announcement at CES 2025, a lot of information has come out.Initially referred to as the RX 8000 series, the RDNA 4 generation is now expected to come with a name change and an interesting spread of GPUs. Heres everything you need to know about the RX 9000 series.Recommended VideosJacob Roach / Digital TrendsA year ago, many thought that wed see the RX 9000 series in 2024. Some were optimistic and speculated that AMD would launch it in the summer of 2024. That didnt happen, and now, we know for a fact when these cards will be announced but their release dates are still a subject of speculation.Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming AMD is set to announce the RX 9000 series during its CES 2025 keynote, which will take place at 11 a.m. PT on January 6. Its currently unclear which cards will be announced, but most leakers agree that well see at least the presumed flagship RX 9070 XT, with perhaps the non-XT version or the more budget-friendly RX 9060 XT thrown into the mix.RelatedAs for availability, its anybodys guess right now. Its likely that the RX 9070 XT will be available by the end of January, although current reports say that itll be hard to come by until February.By all accounts, it seems like AMD will launch at least two to four GPUs under the RDNA 4 umbrella, and those cards are likely to be available within the first quarter of the year. For specifics, we have to wait until January 6 and possibly beyond, depending on which cards will be included in the first announcement.AMD RDNA 4Process nodeTSMC N4PArchitectureRDNA 4ChipNavi 48, Navi 44Memory typeGDDR6Maximum bus width256-bitMaximum clock speed3GHz-3.3GHzIt became clear very early on that AMD may not be trying to compete against the best of Nvidias RTX 50-series this time around. Various hardware leakers have been saying for well over a year that even AMDs flagship may only rival the likes of Nvidias upcoming RTX 5070, and this is reflected in the rumored specs for each card.AMDs senior vice president, Jack Huynh, spoke to Toms Hardware, pretty much confirming what leakers have been saying: AMDs plan for the RX 9000 series is to focus on the mainstream PC gaming market. Huynh said: Do I want to go after 10% of the total addressable market (TAM) or 80%? Im an 80% kind of guy because I dont want AMD to be the company that only people who can afford Porsches and Ferraris can buy. We want to build gaming systems for millions of users.This mindset implies that Nvidias two most high-end cards, the RTX 5080 and the RTX 5090, will not see any direct competition in this generation.Well dive into GPU-specific leaks below, but first, lets talk about what to expect from RDNA 4 as a whole.So far, it seems that the lineup itself might be pretty slim. Only two GPUs have been mentioned: Navi 48 and Navi 44. Some leakers, such as Moores Law Is Dead, claim that the flagship used to be Navi 41, which wouldve been capable of challenging at least Nvidias RTX 5080, but it is said to have been scrapped alongside the Navi 42. That leaves us with the Navi 48 as the flagship card and the Navi 44 as the mid-to-low-range option.AMD doesnt appear to be introducing any major architectural changes in RDNA 4. Hardware leakers, such as RedGamingTech, used to mention that AMD may be switching to an MCM design in RDNA 4. Those rumors have since gone quiet were likely looking at a monolithic die.Package sizes:Navi 23: 35 x 35mmNavi 44: 29 x 29 mm Everest (@Olrak29_) October 14, 2024According to Olrak29 on X, AMD may be reducing package sizes in the new generation by a considerable amount, scaling down to 29 x 29 millimeters for Navi 44 which is the smaller of the two GPUs. AMD is also likely to switch to a more efficient node, which most leakers currently expect to be the TSMC 4nm process (most likely the N4P).The company is said to be sticking to GDDR6 memory modules for reference, Nvidia has used GDDR6X in the RTX 40-series and will use GDDR7 in Blackwell. Kepler_L2, a known leaker, also claims that AMD may limit the bandwidth to 18Gbps, whereas Nvidias RTX 5080 might use faster 30Gbps modules. Again, AMD may have planned to use GDDR7 VRAM in the high-end portion of the lineup, which is most likely not going to make it to market.Only 18Gbps Kepler (@Kepler_L2) April 23, 2024On the upside, many leakers agree that AMDs focus may have been firmly on ray tracing with the RX 9000 series. We might see the introduction of more specialized ray tracing hardware that would help boost such workloads at a hardware level.AMD CEO Lisa Su also promised major gaming improvements in the new architecture. We know that improvements are subjective here, what with the flagship potentially not rivaling AMDs current top GPU, but its still possible that well see generational gains in that mainstream bracket.Confirmed, this is RX 9070 XT. Hoang Anh Phu (@AnhPhuH) December 23, 2024For many months, almost everyone expected AMDs next-gen lineup to be called the RX 8000 series. It made sense, as this wouldve followed the naming scheme that AMD had used since the RX 5000 series. Many myself included also thought that the flagship would be the RX 8800 XT, marking the step-down from the previous RX 7900 XTX.In December, that narrative changed. Many sources reported that the RDNA 4 lineup was now being referred to as the AMD RX 9000 (or RX 90) series, and the flagship was most likely going to be the RX 9070 XT. This is pretty sudden, as just a couple of weeks before the news broke, weve seen the RX 8800 XT mentioned in Seasonics power calculator.AMD may have had a last-minute name change, but the two GPUs have remained the same. Below, Ill talk about what we can expect from the RX 9070 XT and the RX 9060 XT.AMD Radeon RX 9070 XTJacob Roach / Digital TrendsThe Radeon RX 9070 XT is currently expected to be the star of the RDNA 4 lineup, and its also the GPU Im most excited about in 2025.Current leaks estimate that the RX 9070 XT will be based on the Navi 48 XTX GPU, and itll come with 4,096 cores. Its also said to feature 16GB of VRAM across a 256-bit bus, clocked at 18 to 20Gbps. The maximum memory bandwidth to expect from such a configuration is 640GB/s.The card is also said to offer an impressive maximum clock speed that may hit as high as 3.1GHz. All of this will be achieved at a total board power of roughly 260 watts, as per VideoCardz.These specs position the RX 9070 XT as a direct rival to cards like Nvidias RTX 5070, and early performance leaks do nothing to dispel that notion. Although many believed that AMD might deliver something along the lines of the Nvidia RTX 4080 (and some still believe that), it seems like a more conservative estimate is needed but performance leaks are really all over the place.For example, zhangzhonghao on the Chiphell forums recently shared that the RTX 4080 and the RX 9070 XT are within just 5% of each other. No matter which ones the winner in that equation, thatd be great news for the RX 9070 XT, but most leakers tend to disagree. Previous estimates pinpoint the RX 9070 XT at around the same level as the RX 7900 XT.This kind of performance level puts the RX 9070 XT in a difficult position, one where itll be forced to compete not just against cards like the RTX 4070 Super or the RTX 4070 Ti Super but also AMDs own RDNA 3 offerings. As a result, a lot of it will come down to pricing, which is still unknown at this stage.Many say that the card may cost up to $700, which would make sense given the fact that it might be marketed as a competitor to the RX 7900 XT. However, with the latter priced at $650 or less, it might be a hard sell for AMD. Its also possible that AMD may price the 9070 XT lower, in the $500 range, which would make it a great value offer, similar to the RX 7800 XT.This GPU is most likely to be the first to hit the market, with some availability expected before the end of January. AMD may also be working on an RX 9070 non-XT.AMD Radeon RX 9060 XTJacob Roach / Digital TrendsThe rumored RX 9060 XT is still a huge enigma. Its expected to be based on the Navi 44 GPU, which may, in turn, come in two flavors: one with a 192-bit bus, and the other with a 128-bit bus.We might be looking at a similar situation to what weve seen in the RX 7000 series, where AMD released an RX 7600 and an RX 7600 XT. The latter had twice the VRAM, sitting at a whopping 16GB, but still limited to a 128-bit memory bus. If the above leak is true, we might still see an RX 9060 with 8GB memory and an RX 9060 XT with 16GB, but the XT model might now get a wider, 192-bit interface.48 256 64 20 48 256 64 1848 192 48 1944 128 32 18 16 04 20 256 32 8533 04 02 64 6400 All The Watts!! (@All_The_Watts) August 28, 2024However, some leakers, such as All_The_Watts, only mention just one variant of the Navi 44. This same leaker revealed that the RX 9060 XT might come with 32 compute units (CUs) and 18Gbps of memory speed, which is the same as the RX 7600. However, architectural improvements between RDNA 3 and RDNA 4 should still hopefully provide the GPU with some sort of a boost, even if these specs check out.Availability for this card is expected around March this year. If the previous generations pricing is anything to go by, the RX 9060 XT should cost around $250 to $350.Editors Recommendations

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finally VW will offer highly competitive leases on ID.4 as sales restart Dealers can also start fixing the door handles on almost 100,000 recalled ID.4s. Jonathan M. Gitlin Jan 3, 2025 4:18 pm | 20 Instead of giving the ID.4 complicated door handles that recess into the side of the car, VW has designed these to be flush yet always accessible. Credit: Volkswagen Instead of giving the ID.4 complicated door handles that recess into the side of the car, VW has designed these to be flush yet always accessible. Credit: Volkswagen Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreLast September, faulty door handle hardware caused Volkswagen to take the rather drastic steps of suspending sales and production of the electric crossover, as well as recalling almost 100,000 customer cars. Now, it says it has new parts that will allow it to fix existing cars, lift the stop-sale order, and soon, resume production at its factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee.The ID.4, like many new EVs, features flush door handles in service of the all-important effort of drag reduction. Instead of conventional mechanical handles that interrupt the laminar air flow down the side of the car, VW instead went with an electromechanical solution.Unfortunately, the door handle assemblies weren't sufficiently waterproofed, allowing the electronics inside to corrode. Consequently, early last year VW started getting complaints of ID.4s with doors that would intermittently open while driving, with reporting almost 300 warranty claims by September, when it pulled the car from sale, issued the recall, and stopped the production line.That line will restart "in the coming weeks," VW says, and now that there are new and improved door handles available, dealers will now be able to complete the recall. That also means that any ID.4s in inventory can be fixed and then sold. To sweeten the deal, the automaker says that it will offer some "highly competitive lease offers," as it hopes to send its clean crossover back up the sales charts.Jonathan M. GitlinAutomotive EditorJonathan M. GitlinAutomotive Editor Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC. 20 Comments