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After allegedly gaining access to Microsoft's Azure DevOps source code repositories over the weekend, the South American-based data extortion hacking group Lapsus$ has now made some of the company's internal files available online.

In a recent post on Telegram, the group shared a screenshot of Microsoft's Azure DevOps account to show that they had hacked one of the company's servers which contained the source code for Bing, Cortana and a number of other internal projects. 

Now though, Lapsus$ has made the source code for over 250 Microsoft projects available online in a 9GB torrent. According to the group, the torrent itself contains 90 percent of the source code for Bing and 45 percent of the source code for both Bing Maps and Cortana.

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While Lapsus$ says that they only leaked some of Microsoft's source code, security researchers that spoke with BleepingComputer say that the uncompressed archive actually contains 37GB of projects. After examining the contents of the torrent more closely, the security researchers are confident that the leaked files are legitimate internal source code from the company.

Paying for access

In addition to internal source code, some of the leaked projects contain emails and other documentation that was used internally by Microsoft engineers working on mobile apps. The projects themselves all appear to be related to web-based infrastructure, websites or mobile apps and at this time, it seems that Lapsus$ did not steal any source code for Microsoft's desktop software such as Windows 11, Windows Server and Microsoft Office.

Microsoft may be the latest victim but over the past few months, the Lapsus$ group has made a name for itself by successfully attacking Nvidia, Samsung, Vodafone, Ubisoft and Mercado Libre.

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While it's still unknown as to how the group has managed to target the source code repositories of so many big companies in such a short time, some security researchers believe Lapsus$ is paying corporate insiders for access. In fact, in a previous post on its fast-growing Telegram channel, the group said that it actively recruits employees and insiders at telecoms, large software and gaming companies, call centers and dedicated server hosting providers.

Besides recruitment, Lapsus$ also uses its Telegram channel to announce new leaks and attacks as well as for self-promotion. The group has already amassed close to 40k subscribers on the platform which it even uses to chat with its fans.

Now that the Lapsus$ group has gained a great deal of notoriety online, expect law enforcement agencies and even large companies like Microsoft to begin taking action to disrupt its activities before it strikes again.

• We've also featured the best firewall and the best endpoint protection software

Via BleepingComputer

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LG has unveiled the price and tentative release dates for its new 2022 OLED TV models that include the new LG C2 OLED, LG G2 OLED, LG B2 OLED and Z2 OLED. 

Pricing, as shown in a press release sent to TechRadar, shows that the LG C2 OLED will start off at $1,399 (around £1,060, AU$1,900) for the smallest 42-inch C2 OLED and rockets up to $24,999 (around £19,000, AU$34,800) if you’re after the monstrous 88-inch 8K Z2 OLED.

In terms of release dates, LG’s spread them out quite a bit with most models arriving this month in March and a few slated for release in April and May.

Here’s the pricing and release date information shared with TechRadar:

LG B2 OLED pricing and release dates 

• 55-inch OLED55B2PUA is available March 2022 for $1,499
• 65-inch OLED65B2PUA is available March 2022 for $1,999
• 77-inch OLED77B2PUA is available March 2022 for $3,299

LG C2 OLED pricing and release dates 

• 42-inch OLED42C2PUA is available May 2022 for $1,399
• 48-inch OLED48C2PUA is available March 2022 for $1,499
• 55-inch OLED55C2PUA is available March 2022 for $1,799
• 65-inch OLED65C2PUA is available March 2022 for $2,499
• 77-inch OLED77C1PUA is available March 2022 for $3,499
• 83-inch OLED83C2PUA is available April 2022 for $5,499 

LG G2 OLED pricing and release dates 

• 55-inch OLED55G2PUA is available April 2022 for $2,199
• 65-inch OLED65G2PUA is available March 2022 for $2,999
• 77-inch OLED77G2PUA is available March 2022 for $3,999
• 83-inch OLED83G2PUA is available April 2022 for $6,499

LG Z2 OLED pricing and release dates 

• 77-inch OLED778Z2PUA is available April 2022 for $12,999
• 88-inch OLED88Z2PUA is available April 2022 for $24,999

(Note that the pricing above is for the US only, but we're expecting UK and AU pricing sometime in the next few weeks - stay tuned!)

Analysis: QD-OLED has its advantages... and a price markup

Without having seen Samsung's QD-OLED TV for ourselves yet (something we're expecting will change in the next few weeks), it's hard to say how it will stack up against LG's current crop of OLED TVs.

That said, based on price alone, the Samsung QD-OLED will have to be significantly better to justify its higher price tag.

To wit, pricing information sent to TechRadar last week shows that the S95B OLED TV will cost $2,199.99 for the 55-inch version and $2,999.99 for the 65-inch model. Considering that the LG C2 OLED costs just $1,799 for the same size and uses LG's OLED Evo technology, that $400 markup could be a big factor in determining which of the two models folks choose.

If you're looking to save even more, though, the LG B2 OLED in a 55-inch is only $1,499 and while it doesn't use LG OLED Evo technology for a 20% boost in brightness, it's still using a native 120Hz panel with four HDMI 2.1 inputs.

For gamers especially, it's going to be a tough year to pick out a new TV.

• QD-OLED vs OLED TVs: what’s the difference?

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It’s starting to feel like VRR support on PS5 will never arrive, but the HDMI 2.1 display feature will continue to be top of many PlayStation users’ wishlists as it can have a substantial impact on a game's performance. 

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a prime example of a game that would benefit immensely from VRR support, as it offers six graphical modes for players to choose from. The game provides two primary modes: Quality Mode, which is a high-fidelity rendering mode with ray tracing and a 30fps cap; and Performance Mode, a high-framerate mode designed for smoother gameplay with a frame rate cap of 60fps. 

However, Ghostwire: Tokyo also includes four additional modes that are prone to visual issues, all of which would be far more pleasing if PS5 had VRR support. High Framerate Quality Mode and High Framerate Performance Mode remove the 30fps and 60fps frame caps but are prone to unsightly screen tearing and visible judder as a result of the wildly fluctuating frame rates. 

High Framerate Quality (VSync) Mode and High Framerate Performance (VSync) Mode are the same as the previous two graphic modes but the implementation of VSync helps keep screen tearing in check. Unfortunately, though, the addition of VSync adds a noticeable amount of input lag and generally results in a lower frame rate overall than the uncapped options as it’s another overhead for the game’s engine to deal with. 

The wonder of VRR 

(Image credit: Future)

Annoyingly, as it stands there’s no “ideal” graphical mode to choose from in Ghostwire: Tokyo, as they all have their pros and cons. VRR support would help smooth over these visual issues, however, and would particularly benefit the game’s Performance Mode, High Framerate Quality Mode, and High Framerate Performance Mode. The display feature, which has been present on Xbox consoles since 2018, can eliminate screen tearing and reduce the visible impact of frame drops as VRR syncs the refresh rate to that of the console’s output, not your display. 

As we point out in our VRR explainer, screen tearing and judder occurs when your TV’s refresh of its image is out-of-sync with the rate at which your console or PC graphics card delivers frames. You end up with an on-screen image that sees, for example, the top half of the screen display one frame and the bottom the next. Thus, a visible tear appears across the image, which can be incredibly distracting when gaming.

The main limitation of VRR depends on the variable refresh rate range of your display. The popular LG OLED CX has a VRR range of 40 - 120Hz, which means anytime your console is outputting a game between those frame rates, VRR will be in effect. Most PS5 games now support 60fps, and VRR can work wonders at smoothing out any little dips to a game’s frame rate that would usually be noticeable when not in use.

The wait for VRR on PS5 continues 

(Image credit: 3DGuru)

While Sony continues to make the wait for PS5 VRR support an arduous affair, the fact that PS5 console exclusive Ghostwire: Tokyo has so many graphical options to choose from could be a subtle indication that VRR support will eventually arrive on PlayStation 5. Sony has also recently updated a number of its flagship TVs to include VRR support, so it makes sense that the company would want its console to utilize all the best display features available. 

But what of the lack of 1440p support, another thorn in the PS5’s side? Those who use a monitor, many of which support VRR, are still stuck with the PlayStation 5 defaulting to 1080p, albeit downscaled. Like VRR, the Xbox One actually added 1440p support in 2018, but the feature never came to PS4 or PS4 Pro. 

It remains to be seen if Sony will ever implement VRR support for PS5 in the near future, but we wouldn’t get our hopes up for 1440p output. Sony’s PlayStation hardware boss Masayasu Ito and PlayStation platform boss Hideaki Nishino have said 1440p isn’t a priority because the company wants to “prioritize support for TVs” (thanks, Eurogamer).

For now, then, we'd recommend picking the High Framerate Performance (VSync) Mode in Ghostwire: Tokyo as it gets you the best overall performance without any nasty screen tear. If you'd prefer a more consistent frame rate or only have a 60Hz display, stick with Performance Mode. 

• PS5 vs PS5 Digital Edition: should you ditch the disc drive?

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Ever since the first AMD Ryzen processors hit the market all the way back in 2017, Intel has kind of been on the defensive. It was stuck on a 14nm process for so long, and while it was able to keep up in single-core performance, it quickly lost the lead in multi-core performance - something that is getting more important every single year. 

However, with its 12th-generation Alder Lake processors, led by the Intel Core i9-12900K, Intel finally gained a fighting chance against the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X - a processor that was untouchable when it came out in late 2020.

And because both processors are trying to do pretty much the same thing, albeit in very different ways, we thought it was about time to take a closer look at these two processors. After all, picking out the best processor isn't just about the numbers on the box or the color theme of the brand. 

(Image credit: Future)

Intel Core i9-12900K vs AMD Ryzen 9 5900X: price

There's no way of getting around the fact that both the Intel Core i9-12900K and the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X are expensive processors. Looking to build or buy a system with either of these chips likely means you're going for a high-end device. So, it shouldn't be too surprising that they have high price tags. 

The Intel Core i9-12900K is the most recently released one, and it is still at full price pretty much everywhere. You'll find this 16-core processor at around $612 / £559 / AU$949. This is a bit higher than Intel's recommended price of $589-$599, but not by much. We imagine that prices will start to go down as the processor ages, and you should be able to find good deals on it soon. 

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, however, has been out for about a year and a half, and as such is starting to see lower prices. You can find it starting at $499 / £409 / AU$739, which is much more affordable than the Intel Core i9 at the moment. It does have fewer cores, though. But if you want an AMD 16-core chip, you could fork over around $599 / £548 / AU$919 for the Ryzen 9 5950X, instead. 

(Image credit: Future)

Intel Core i9-12900K vs AMD Ryzen 9 5900X: specs

Both the Intel Core i9-12900K and the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X are high-end CPUs, but they're quite different from one another. 

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X will look pretty familiar to anyone with passing knowledge of desktop PC CPUs. It's a 12-core, 24-thread processor with a max boost of 4.8GHz. It also comes with a whopping 70MB of Cache, split between L2 and L3, and a TDP (thermal design power) of 105W. 

The Intel Core i9-12900K is a 16-core processor, but the way those cores are laid out is quite a bit different than the AMD chip. Unlike the Ryzen processor - and Intel's previous CPUs, no less - the 12900K is using a hybrid chip design. Specifically, it follows the big.LITTLE design philosophy popularized by Arm. 

Basically, it has 8 Performance cores and 8 Efficient cores. The Performance cores are dual-threaded, just like the Ryzen Threads, but the Efficient cores are not. So, while this chip has more cores altogether, it has the same amount of threads, 24, as the Ryzen 9 5900X. 

Both Intel and Apple have moved to a hybrid chip design like this, and AMD is the only CPU manufacturer that is still using a monolithic chip layout. We're not sure how much longer AMD will stick with this design philosophy, but it seems to be working for the company for now.

(Image credit: Future)

Intel Core i9-12900K vs AMD Ryzen 9 5900X: performance

While AMD and Intel have been trading blows for the last few years, the release of the Intel Core i9-12900K sees Team Blue pulling ahead again - but this time the difference is pretty significant. 

In our review, we found that the Intel Core i9-12900K is about 21% faster than the Ryzen 9 5900X in single core workloads, particularly Cinebench. It's odd, because Cinebench has been the workload that has seen the most success on AMD processors, but Intel really pulled away this time. 

And it's not just single-core. In the Cinebench multi-core test, Intel is 23% faster, ending AMD's reign as the multi-threaded champ. This is repeated in pretty much every benchmark we ran in our review, with the 5900X not gaining a lead in any of our creative workloads. 

The closest it got was in Blender where the Ryzen 9 5900X was just 10% slower than the Core i9-12900K. But even then, that's still a pretty major loss. 

In gaming, Intel is still winning, especially in the CPU-intensive Total War: Three Kingdoms. We ran the game on low settings, to make sure it was leaning as much on the CPU as possible, and the Core i9-12900K got 480 fps to the Ryzen 9 5900X's 380 fps. 

However the tables turned in Metro: Exodus where the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X beat Intel with 251 fps to Team Blue's 246 fps. That's a small victory, but it's still a victory. 

Either way you slice it, the Intel Core i9-12900K is faster than the Ryzen 9 5900X. Whether that makes up for the price difference is up to you, though. However, Intel's support of DDR5, PCIe 5.0 and Thunderbolt may make up the difference to you. 

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