When Computex kicks off this month it may well be the place where we find out all the details of the next generation of gaming hardware. Those new slices of silicon nirvana which promise to deliver frame rates beyond our wildest dreams. Or, alternatively, it could be a huge anti-climax where both AMD and Nvidia nod to their new technologies without giving us anything more tangible than some chips shown off on stage, or an anonymous benchmark.
As is now traditional for the Taiwan tech show, AMD's superstar CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, is hosting one of the three CEO Keynotes, and Nvidia has just announced that it, too, will be holding a keynote the following day.
Though without a single leather jacket in sight, as Jen-Hsun is nowhere to be seen on the list of speakers for Nvidia's show. Jeff Fisher is, however, so there's a chance there'll be something there for GeForce gamers, though it may just be a quick 'and finally…' where he introduces some teaser trailer for its RTX 4000-series expected around August or September.
Or he instead teases some completely new naming scheme.
For its part, AMD's keynote is titled, "AMD Advancing the High-Performance Computing Experience" and it promises that during the address it and its ecosystem partners "will show breakthrough performance and leadership experiences for gamers, enthusiasts and creators."
We know that there are new Zen 4 CPUs and RDNA 3 GPUs on the way later in the year, likely sometime around September to October, and there is a chance Dr. Su will introduce something along those lines. Maybe those partners will come out on stage to show off Zen 4 PCs or laptop designs.
If I had to guess I'd say either Su or Mark Papermaster will wave around a Zen 4 processor with its new heatspreader, but there will be little mention of graphics cards.
On the Nvidia side, there have been some reports that its Computex keynote will present the latest gaming products. But that's based on a single line in the write-up on Nvidia's own site, which can be interpreted in a couple of different ways. The full line is:
"NVIDIA will present how AI is powering the enterprise data center and the latest products and technologies for gamers and creators."
That can either be read as "NVIDIA will present… the latest products and technologies for gamers and creators," or as "NVIDIA will present how AI is powering… the latest products and technologies for gamers and creators," which is far less tantalising.
But, like I say Jeff Fisher's there, the senior VP of GeForce, and he'll have something to say on the gaming front at least. Though hopefully, it won't be as throwaway as his brief mention of the subsequently delayed RTX 3090 Ti back at CES 2022.
Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD
Best gaming motherboard: The right boards
Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits
Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest
And where will Intel be? I'm guessing it will still be trying to sort its drivers out, hoping that it can finally get a performant discrete GPU out of the door before the end of the year. I've heard there would have been some big announcements from Intel in Computex had things gone to plan.
Overall though, I'm expecting little more than teasers as opposed to full-on details. Few companies are willing to tie their biggest launches of the year to coincide with specific shows, preferring instead to have their own events where they can dominate rather than battle with the competition for internet air time.
Still, once Computex has passed the hype machine will kick into top gear as we barrel on towards a new generation of gaming gear at the end of the year.
