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Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 G8 2023 convertible in review: Intel Raptor Lake disappoints

Lenovo offers a high-end 14-inch convertible in the Yoga 9i 14, which is now entering its 8th generation. Appearance-wise, the new Yoga 9i 14 G8 remains faithful to its predecessor, but uses Intel's new mobile processor from the Raptor Lake generation (13th gen), the Core i7-1360P. In review here is the model with the 2.8K OLED screen, but the variant with the 4K OLED, which we reviewed last year, is alternatively available. Our test device with 512 GB SSD storage currently costs US$1,499.99 on Lenovo's website in the USA; the model with 4K OLED and 1 TB SSD storage costs US$1,749.99.

Blizzard and Nvidia investigating reports Diablo 4 is killing RTX 3080 Ti GPUs

The Diablo 4 team are investigating reports of RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards crashing or dying while playing the game's closed beta. Customer support says Blizzard is "working closely with Nvidia to identify affected hardware configurations and gather as many data points as possible to assist in the investigation.

Fresh reports suggest some RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards are running horribly, or even dying, while playing the Diablo 4 closed beta over the weekend.

In what appears to be an issue closely resembling when Amazon's MMO New World was bricking RTX 3090 GPUs, the Diablo 4 beta appears to expose a potentially fatal flaw in some high-end Nvidia GPUs. Across Reddit and the Blizzard forums, users are reporting that during the beta their monitors go black, GPU fans run full speed, and their system restarts. Sometimes these symptoms are also accompanied by an error code and a dead GPU, though not every time.

It appears that most of the users affected by the issue are using RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards manufactured by Gigabyte, however, the scale of the issue is not yet known.

YouTuber Mortismal Gaming also notes they suffered the same issue on a Gigabyte RTX 3080 Ti graphics card while playing the game.

Diablo 4 is unlikely to be the cause of the issue itself, more so a catalyst for exposing a weakness that may have already been present in the affected cards. This was the case with New World. EVGA noticed some poor soldering on a batch of its cards that, when running at extremely high frame rates and with spiky load—in that case while playing New World—would result in failure.

Manufacturers will put a screen on anything' I say staring at a distro plate with a 7-inch monitor built in.

EK, manufacturer of water-cooling components, has stuck a screen on a distro plate for Lian Li's popular O11D XL case. At a whopping 7-inches, this screen isn't going to make for much of a second monitor, but it does continue a long trend of PC manufacturers slapping screens on things.

I will admit the EK-Quantum Reflection PC-O11D XL D5 PWM D-RGB – Screen Edition (catchy name) did catch my eye. Though mostly that's because distro plates are absolutely gorgeous, screen or otherwise. A few years ago I built an EK Fluid Gaming PC with an EK distro plate much like this one (sans screen) within the standard-sized Lian Li O11D case, and I often caught myself just staring at it in awe.

A part of me is a little sad that some of this particular distro plate is covered up by the 7-inch panel, but I'm sure some modder will find a way to make motion pictures a part of their build in spectacular fashion. Someone's got to put that compact IPS panel to good use, anyways.

It's easy enough to tweak the 1024 x 600 pixel panel. The EK-Quantum Lumen screen is hooked up just like any other: with an HDMI cable. There's also an internal USB 2.0 connection required to get it up-and-running.

The distro plate itself comes with all the trimmings you might expect: D5 pump; support for a CPU block, GPU block, and three radiators; and full RGB lighting around the edge. The 7-inch screen is also made out of a single piece of aluminium, and shouldn't ruin the industrial look if you're going for that.

Both this and the screen-less EK-Quantum Reflection² distro block are expected to be available from March, but do prepare to pay a tall sum for the benefit of that little 7-inch IPS. The standard plexi distro is €352.86, while the Screen Edition is €504.12. A big sum for such a tiny panel.

Fractal Design North hands-on: The PC case with "Wife Approval" factor
PC cases have undergone quite a few changes in recent years. The boring gray boxes with a purely functional designs are long gone. Nowadays, the case of the home computer has to reflect one's own taste and personality no less than a car, a smartphone, or a style of clothing.

While case trends such as tempered glass are now actually part of the basic equipment of gaming PCs, the voices for more airflow have also become louder and louder in recent years. Your high-performance hardware should not only be attractively packaged but ideally also well-cooled.

To achieve this, mesh front panels have been increasingly used, but Fractal Design goes one step further and decorates the case front of the new North series with real wood. The stylish ATX PC case is available in black or white, and in both variants, the user has the choice between a mesh side panel or the above-mentioned tinted glass. To convince ourselves of the qualities of the new case, we quickly moved our video workstation.