CES 2025 is here to start the new year off strong with some spicy tech!
We love CES. There are so many amazing tech announcements and gadgets to get heart eyes over – it’s like Christmas all over again. Over the next few days, we will be updating this blog article with all the hot goss coming out of Las Vegas, so be sure to give this a bookmark and check back every day. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this year’s event, too, so get commenting!
CES 2025
CES is a yearly event that takes place in Las Vegas, where all the big names in tech come together to show off their wares. This year’s event is happening from January 7th to 10th, and NVIDIA has already kicked things off with their keynote speech that happened on the 6th. (More on that later!)
With the likes of Intel, AMD, ASUS, and MSI in attendance, we’re sure to see plenty of innovative announcements. From new hardware to advances in AI, 2025 is shaping up to be a great year for tech.
Pro Gamers Group at CES 2025
For the first time, the Pro Gamers Group is attending CES! In our booth, we’ll be showcasing a selection of our top Pro Gamersware brands, including Ducky, Aerocool, noblechairs, HAVN, Endgame Gear, APNX, Nitro Concepts, Streamplify, and ThunderX3.
Lenovo
While we are still eagerly awaiting any concrete news on the Switch 2, it seems that great handheld consoles are everywhere. Lenovo announced their Lenovo Legion Go S. Super stylish in a sleek white shell, this handheld console runs on SteamOS – as in the same one on the Steam Deck. Alternatively, you can opt for a Windows 11 model, but using SteamOS means you’ll have seamless access to your entire Steam library.
The unibody design has an overall smaller size, making the Legion Go S comfortable to hold and easy to transport. (Unlike the ASUS handheld console, which is an absolute unit!) What’s more, the improved D-Pad and trigger locks are great for all your FPS faves.
World’s First Rollable Laptop
Now, this piece of hardware is more aimed at professional use, but we couldn’t not talk about the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6. This is the world’s first rollable laptop with a screen that extends from 14” to 16.7” with the press of a button. (Or a wave at the camera if you’re feeling super futuristic!) Screen real estate is a hard thing to balance with portable devices – make it too big and suddenly your portable computer is feeling too bulky to carry around. By making a rollable OLED display, you can keep the smaller form factor and take advantage of that extra screen space.
Will this innovation make its way to gaming laptops?
LG
There were plenty of gaming monitors and smart TVs showing off their spicy new features at CES 2025, but it was the LG UltraGear 5K2K Bendable OLED Gaming Monitor that stopped us in our tracks. There are benefits to having a flat screen and others for having a curved screen. Which one you pick has always fallen down to a matter of preference (and maybe budget). Until now.
The LG UltraGear 5K2K Bendable OLED monitor can be used as both a flat and curved screen. You can go from working hard on a flat screen, to gaming on an immersive 900R curved display. On top of this, it has a 5K resolution and 165Hz refresh rate which will make all your favourite games look stunning! Alternatively, you can opt for a lower resolution and get up to a 330Hz refresh rate.
So Much Great Tech
Of course, there was so much announced and going on at CES 2025 that even if I was given all the time in the world to trawl the internet, I still wouldn’t be able to cover it all. There have been plenty of game-changing announcements and a healthy dollop of bizarre ones, too. Who knew we needed a scented laptop and a robot hoover with legs?
We’ve tried to hit a good cross-section of gaming and tech announcements in our coverage, but we’d love to hear about your favourite unhinged tech announcements – so be sure to drop those in the comments!
ASUS
With so many AI-enhanced CPUs announced, it’s no surprise that we are getting a whole bunch of AI-optimised gaming laptops in the near future. ASUS is no exception, announcing a whole bunch of ASUS ROG laptops sporting the latest tech from Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA. We can expect to see updated ROG Strix, ROG Strix Scar, ROG Zephyrus, and ROG Flow Z13 and XG Mobile laptops.
On top of using the latest CPUs and GPUs, these laptops will be packed with the best tech to enhance your gaming. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus boasts a 3K OLED display while the ROG Flow Z13 and external GPU box, XG Mobile, will connect via Thunderbolt. The Strix and Strix Scar laptops continue to be the gaming powerhouses utilising the likes of Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPUs and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs, but they also sport an updated aesthetic with a heckin’ stylish RGB halo around the base.
AI-Powered Router
It would seem AI can be used to boost performance anywhere! ASUS also announced the first AI-powered gaming router, the ROG Rapture GT-BE19000. This router has been optimised to ensure uninterrupted connectivity, so you don’t have to worry about your internet dropping your online play. Using tri-band 12-stream WiFi 7, it offers speeds up to 1.9Gbps and is equipped ASUS RangeBoost Plus and a dedicated NPU that has AI-powered security for threat detection.
MSI
CES is all about game changing technology, and MSI has delivered. Developing on Project Zero, they showcased the Project Zero X PC. Project Zero is all about using hidden connectors at the back of the PC, so your gaming hardware is on full display without any wire clutter. This new PC takes this concept and pairs it with an innovative hardware layout and I/O placement, so there are literally two cables on show. Is this the future of our gaming PCs?
Monitors, Laptops, and More AI-Enhancements
Of course, MSI manufactures all kinds of gaming hardware, from monitors to handheld consoles, each designed to support the latest advances and optimise user experience.
We particularly like their new motherboard series that balances performance and accessibility. Designed to support either Intel or AMD B chipset series for Core Ultra 200 and Ryzen 9000, these motherboards are packed with the latest innovations and EZ DIY features, like EZ PCIe Release and EZ M.2 Shield Frozr II. These simplify the PC building process, making installations and upgrades a breeze for beginners and veterans alike.
Another product that caught our eye was the MSI MPG 272QR QD-OLED X50, the world’s first DisplayPort 2.1a QHD 500Hz monitor. Using UHBR20 DP 2.1 tech with an 80Gbps bandwidth, this gaming monitor promises a 500Hz refresh rate, flawless QHD resolution, and a 0.03ms response time. Plus, it features MSI AI Navigator to add intelligent immersion to revolutionise your gaming experience. Can you imagine how good your games will look on this screen?!
With the immense scope of MSI hardware, there is so much being showcased. They also have gaming laptops with RTX 50 Series GPUs and AI-enhanced CPUs, the Claw 8 AI+ Plus handheld console which is sculpted for comfortable usage and immersive gameplay, and their own range of RTX 50 Series discrete GPUs to elevate your gaming for the AI era. So many products, too little time!
Razer
Razer has caught our attention with their Project Arielle – the first heating and cooling mesh gaming chair. Given the current cold snap, I sure as heck could use a heated gaming chair right now! This gaming chair adds an integrated fan system powered by a three-phase brushless DC motor to Razer’s flagship mesh gaming chair, the Fujin Pro. As a result, you can sit in comfort with smooth and continuous airflow. As suggested, you can use this system to circulate cool or warm air, up to 30°C, around you as the self-regulating PTC heaters ensure you won’t ever overheat. For warmer months, you can dip the perceived temperature by 2-5°C, so you can stay cool in the heat of battle.
Project Ava
AI is definitely the new tech frontier, and Razer has the ultimate AI gamer copilot for us. Project Ava will serve as everything from pro esports coach to hardware optimisation expert and omnipotent game guide. This will give you real-time expert advice as you are gaming, to help improve your play and experience. With data driven by Team Razer’s top coaches and players and countless AI game simulations, Project Ava can provide expert advice, analyse performance in a post-match recap, and even make sure all your drivers are up to date.
Project Ava is currently not available, but you can sign up to try out for the beta testing!
Intel
The highlight of Intel’s hardware announcements was the Intel Core Ultra mobile processors. With H, HX, and U models coming to the Intel Core Ultra 200 Series, there are some pretty exciting developments in gaming laptops coming our way – hopefully towards the end of Q1 2025.
The H and HX models are predominantly aimed at gamers, with the 200HX Series primed for enthusiast-grade performance and the 200H Series featuring premium integrated Intel Arc graphics. The 200U Series is more likely to be for everyday use, so we’re going to focus on the HX and H models here.
Intel Core Ultra 200HX Specs
| Feature | Core Ultra 9 285HX | Core Ultra 9 275HX | Core Ultra 7 265HX | Core Ultra 7 255HX | Core Ultra 5 245HX | Core Ultra 5 235HX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cores | 8P + 16E | 8P + 16E | 8P + 12E | 8P + 12E | 6P + 8E | 6P + 8E |
| Threads | 24 | 24 | 20 | 20 | 14 | 14 |
| L3 Cache | 36MB | 36MB | 30MB | 30MB | 24MB | 24MB |
| P-Core Max Clock | 5.5GHz | 5.4GHz | 5.3GHz | 5.2GHz | 5.1GHz | 5.1GHz |
| E-Core Max Clock | 2.8GHz | 2.7GHz | 2.6GHz | 2.4GHz | 3.1GHZ | 2.9GHz |
| Graphics | Intel Graphics | Intel Graphics | Intel Graphics | Intel Graphics | Intel Graphics | Intel Graphics |
| Max TDP | 57W | 57W | 57W | 57W | 57W | 57W |
Intel Core Ultra 200H Specs
| Feature | Core Ultra 9 285H | Core Ultra 7 265H | Core Ultra 7 255H | Core Ultra 5 245H | Core Ultra 5 235H |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cores | 6P + 8E + 2LPE | 6P + 8E + 2LPE | 6P + 8E + 2LPE | 4P + 8E + 2LPE | 4P + 8E + 2LPE |
| Threads | 16 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 14 |
| L3 Cache | 24MB | 24MB | 24MB | 18MB | 18MB |
| P-Core Max Clock | 5.4GHz | 5.3GHz | 5.1GHz | 5.0GHz | 4.9GHz |
| Graphics | Intel Arc Graphics | Intel Arc Graphics | Intel Arc Graphics | Intel Arc Graphics | Intel Arc Graphics |
| Max TDP | 115W | 115W | 115W | 115W | 115W |
Primed for Performance
In benchmark testing, both the 200HX and 200H Series mobile processors outperform their closest equivalent competitors. By considerable margins in certain workflows!
Of course, the buzzword from all the big manufacturers was AI, and this includes Intel. All their latest processors are enhanced by their AI Acceleration Program, which promises 200+ ISVs, 400+ AI features, and 500+ AI models supported. The dedicated NPUs are more than capable of handling current and future AI workloads.
Intel Keynote Speech
If you didn’t catch Intel’s keynote speech, you can watch it here.
AMD
The big news to come from AMD this year was all about processors, with just hints that info on RDNA 4 and FSR 4 will be coming soon. Not that they didn’t give us plenty to be excited about in the meantime!
The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D was a game changer when it launched last year, so to say we are hyped for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D is an understatement! This CPU brings 3D V-Cache to a sixteen-core processor with all the benefits of Zen 5 architecture and a tasty 5.7GHz boost speed. As a result, AMD can confidently claim this is the best processor for gaming and content creation on the consumer market. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D will also be launching at the same time, hopefully around March.
| Feature | Ryzen 9 9950X3D | Ryzen 9 9900X3D |
|---|---|---|
| Cores | 16 | 12 |
| Threads | 32 | 24 |
| 3D V-Cache | 144MB | 140MB |
| Base Clock | 4.3GHz | 4.4GHz |
| Boost Clock | 5.7GHz | 5.5GHz |
| Graphics | AMD Radeon Graphics | AMD Radeon Graphics |
| Graphics Core Count | 2 | 2 |
| TDP | 170W | 120W |
In addition to this, AMD Ryzen 9000X3D processors are coming to gaming laptops! AMD announced the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D mobile CPU, alongside the Ryzen 9 9955HX and 9 9850HX processors. Code named “Fire Range”, the flagship X3D model features 16 cores, 32 threads, Zen 5 architecture, and innovative 3D V-Cache to bring incredible gaming performance to the laptop market.
| Feature | Ryzen 9 9955X3D | Ryzen 9 9955X | Ryzen 9 9850X |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cores | 16 | 16 | 12 |
| Threads | 32 | 32 | 24 |
| 3D V-Cache | 144MB | 80MB | 76MB |
| Base Clock | 2.5GHz | 2.5GHz | 3.0GHz |
| Boost Clock | 5.4GHz | 5.4GHz | 5.2GHz |
| Graphics | AMD Radeon 610M graphics | AMD Radeon 610M graphics | AMD Radeon 610M graphics |
| TDP | 55-75W | 55-75W | 45-75W |
AI-Enhanced Mobile Processors
In June last year, AMD launched their AMD Ryzen AI 300 mobile processors. At CES 2025, they announced that Ryzen 7 and 5 models will be joining the line-up – bringing AI-enhanced performance, all-day battery life, and optimised multi-tasking to a wider range of users. Code named “Kraken Point”, these mobile processors will utilise Zen 5 architecture and an XDNA 2 NPU to optimise your gaming and AI workflows, all within thin and light laptops. These are expected at some point in Q1 2025.
On top of this, they are taking AI-enhanced mobile CPUs to the max with the AMD Ryzen AI MAX Series. These processors combine fastest integrated graphics, increased memory bandwidth, leading CPU performance, and next-gen NPUs to bring unparalleled performance in a Windows laptop chip.
On a single chip, there will be 16 Zen 5 cores to enhance multi-tasking, 40 RDNA 3.5 graphics compute units, and a 50 TOPS XDNA 3 NPU with unified memory architecture – all operating at a 55W TPD! The unified memory allows for 128GB cache for both the CPU and GPU, with a 256Gbps bandwidth.
AMD Radeon RX 9000 GPUs
Not to be eclipsed by the NVIDIA RTX 50 Series announcement, AMD also announced the first two models from their upcoming AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series. The Radeon RX 9070 XT and 9070 GPUs are set to be great mid-range graphics cards, bringing RDNA 4 to gamers hopefully at some point in Q1 2025.
The new naming system is designed to mirror NVIDIA’s, making it easier to draw comparisons between models. Therefore, we can assume they will perform comparatively to the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070. In terms of generation on generation, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 models are expected to hit somewhere between the RX 7900 XT and RX 7800 XT.
AMD Keynote Speech
If you missed AMD’s keynote speech, here is the full video!
NVIDIA Keynote Speech
NVIDIA knows how to kickstart CES. This year’s keynote speech was packed with spicy innovations, product announcements, and how AI is going to revolutionise tech and gaming. If you haven’t caught it yet, we have the full two-hour video right here, but we’ll be going over our highlights below.
RTX 50 Series
It’s finally here! The RTX 50 Series rumours have been circulating since last year, and we are excited to see the official announcement and specifications.
Based on Blackwell architecture, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series harnesses the full potential of AI enhancements, achieving mind-blowing results and incredible uptick in performance on Ada Lovelace architecture. The 5th-gen Tensor and 4th-gen RT cores work with up to 21,760 CUDA cores (RTX 5090) to render your games and creative workloads in phenomenal detail. Plus, advances in DLSS 4, Reflex 2, and other NVIDIA technologies are set to boost performance even further. In fact, DLSS 4 can predict and generate up to three frames ahead, while Reflex 2 will reduce latency in games by up to 75%!
The real game changer for Blackwell is neural rendering. Marking the next era of computer graphics, these GPUs integrate neural networks into the rendering process to bring a level of detail in real-time rendering that we haven’t seen before. RTX Neural Shaders, like Neural Texture Compression and Neural Material Shading, will create cinematic-quality texture and lighting in real-time and are set to drive the next decade of graphic innovations. Neural rendering is the future!
The other big upgrade is video memory. NVIDIA RTX 50 Series takes the leap from GDDR6 to GDDR7 memory. Boasting speeds up to 30Gbps and a bandwidth up to 1.8TB/s, these GPUs are equipped with the world’s fastest memory.
RTX 50 Series Models
Both dedicated GPUs and RTX 50 Series laptops were announced during CES. The RTX 5090 is set to be an absolute beast, delivering double the output of an RTX 4090 and able to play the likes of Black Myth: Wukong at 4K 240Hz/FPS with full ray-tracing and maxed out settings. Also announced were the GeForce RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070 – with release dates for January and February! The detail that really caught our eye was the fact that the RTX 5070 delivers the same performance as the RTX 4090. GeForce RTX 4090 performance at a fraction of the price? Yes, please!
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series laptops will feature an RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, or RTX 5070 – with launch dates from March. The Blackwell Max-Q suite optimises performance and battery life, enabling all that RTX 50 Series performance in a sleek, slimline package. Enjoy double the performance of RTX 40 Series laptops with 40% better battery life in a laptop as thin as 14.9mm!
If you’d like to learn more about each GPU in detail, we have a dedicated RTX 50 Series Hub with all the links you could need.
RTX 50 Series and AI
AI is the topic at the moment, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series is powered by all the latest innovations to make these graphics cards more powerful and efficient. In addition to DLSS 4, Reflex 2, and Neural Shaders, AI is being used to boost creative workflows, too. Streamers can take advantage of new features on NVIDIA Broadcast, as well as new AI agents to assist during livestreams. Game devs can use NVIDIA ACE to power NPCs and bosses to make them act more like human players and dynamically learning from player behaviour.
AI is being used to advance performance and streamline your workflows across the board, and we’re excited to see where these graphics cards take us!
Keep Up with CES 2025
With plenty more to come, be sure to bookmark this blog post and stay up to date with CES 2025. Why not drop a comment below with your favourite tech announcement?
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- 16 min read
Emily Haylock
Author
Emily is a board and cosy gamer, keyboard obsessive, and content copywriter for Overclockers UK. She has been with Overclockers UK since 2020, writing about everything from noblechairs to 8Pack PCs. She writes from within her desk nest with a foster pup at her feet. (What, a desk duvet is a totally normal thing!) In her downtime, she likes to play board games, farming sims, and old-school Final Fantasy. IX to be specific. It is the best, and that is a hill she will die on.
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