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21 May 2025

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Swimmer saved by off-duty lifeguards at Piha Beach
A 26-year-old man was pulled from the water flown to hospital on Wednesday morning.

SAP unveils new Business AI tools & partnerships for growth
SAP unveils advanced AI tools and partnerships, including a smarter copilot and AI agents, aiming to boost productivity and AI accessibility for businesses.

Red Hat & AMD extend AI & virtualisation for hybrid cloud
Red Hat and AMD partner to boost AI and virtualisation options across hybrid cloud, integrating AMD GPUs with Red Hat OpenShift AI for optimised workloads.

Financial Markets Authority staff face compulsory weekly survey in strive for efficiency
The Financial Markets Authority has told staff to complete a weekly survey detailing things like hours worked, tasks completed daily and how long they took.

AMD’s monstrous Threadripper 9000 CPUs pack up to 96 (!!!) cores
AMD’s monstrous Threadripper CPU is back at Computex 2025 with both the Threadripper Pro 9000 WX series and the consumer-friendly Threadripper 9000 HEDT—both boasting a Zen 5 performance upgrade within the same socket and 350W thermal envelope. Every time AMD launches a new Threadripper generation, we have to remind readers that these are really workstation processors in desktop PC clothing, suitable for CAD work, editing applications, and so on. But that won’t stop you from goggling at the specs, yet again. AMD’s lineup feels familiar: the three-part high-end desktop (HEDT) lineup leads off with the 9980X, which includes the familiar 64 cores and 128 threads. The 3.2GHz base clock is identical to the older Threadripper 7980X, too, but the boost speed has increased from 5.1GHz to 5.4GHz. These are also 4nm parts, while the Threadripper 7000 family was built on an older 5nm process. AMD AMD also has six Threadrippers within the Pro 9000 WX series, soaring to a whopping 96 cores and 192 threads. AMD’s latest Threadrippers (previously code-named Shimada Peak) arrive a bit later than expected. AMD’s Threadripper Pro 5000 series debuted in March 2022, followed by the 7000 series in October 2023. Naturally, the one question AMD isn’t answering right now is the big one: price, though the chips will ship in July. And with tariffs and potential demand, that price could be big indeed. An illustration of a “delidded” Threadripper 9000 WX.AMD AMD’s Threadripper 9000: parts and speeds Here’s how AMD’s Threadripper 9000 (HEDT) lineup breaks down. All of the chips use the same sTR5 socket as before, with a 350W thermal envelope. That’s a lot of juice. Threadripper 9980X: 64 cores/128 threads; 3.2GHz base clock/5.4GHz boost, 256MB L3 cache Threadripper 9970X: 32 cores/64 threads; 4.0GHz base clock/5.4GHz boost, 128MB L3 cache Threadripper 9960X: 24 cores/48 threads; 4.2GHz base clock/5.4GHz boost, 128MB L3 cache Initially, AMD is being somewhat secretive about the design of the new Threadripper processors. We might assume these new chips are built the same as the 5000 series: each of what AMD calls a “Core Chiplet Die” housed eight cores and 32MB of cache. But AMD’s 9970X nudges the core count upwards without adjusting the total L3 cache. An AMD representative said that some models include disabled cores; the 32-core parts (like the 9970X) include 6 cores per CCD, and the 32-core models include 8. Each CCD still includes 32MB of cache. AMD has also advanced the Threadripper platform as a whole. The earlier 7000-series platform supported DDR5-5200 memory; the new chips support up to 8-channel DDR5-6400. AMD didn’t say what chipset these new Threadrippers would be using, either. However, both the 7000 and the new 9000-series Threadrippers use PCIe Gen 5 with the same 128 lanes of I/O. AMD isn’t yet disclosing any performance information regarding the new Threadrippers, however. If you want to know which Threadrippers workstation vendors will have access to, it will begin with the Threadripper Pro 9995WX, with 96 cores, 192 threads, a 2.5GHz base clock (up to 5.4GHz) and up to 384MB of level-3 cache. AMD’s Threadripper 9000 series.AMD We’ve seen new mobile chips debut at Computex, and new desktop parts, too. But this year? Workstations (and AI) might be what you can expect from Asia’s largest tech show this year.

'Excellent outcome': Police seize illegal firearm in Manurewa
Police arrested two people and removed a firearm following a search in south Auckland.

Biostate AI raises USD $12 million to expand RNAseq precision AI
Biostate AI has raised USD $12 million to enhance AI tech for predicting disease progression using RNA sequencing, aiming to advance personalised medicine globally.

One dead after crash on SH1 in Timaru
Part of the road is expected to remain closed until later this afternoon.

Student midwife attack: 'These after-hours assaults continue to happen'
The attack outside Christchurch Hospital's birthing unit has highlighted concerns raised for more than a decade, the NZNO says.

AMD’s Radeon RX 9060 XT beats Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti for a lot less cash
If you hang out on hardware subreddits long enough, you’ll hear the joke “Nvidia -$50” tossed around about AMD’s long-held Radeon pricing strategy. Well, AMD managed to buck that trend today, in the mainstream segment where pricing matters most. AMD revealed the Radeon RX 9060 XT during the company’s Computex keynote – and it priced the 16GB model at $349. That not only undercuts Nvidia’s avoid-at-all-costs 8GB RTX 5060 Ti by $30, but it means the 16GB 9060 XT is a whopping $80 cheaper than Nvidia’s actually-pretty-good 16GB 5060 Ti. Hot damn. Competition is back on the menu y’all! A quick peek at the Radeon RX 9060 XT’s high-level specs show that it’s available in both 8GB and 16GB configurations (more on the 8GB version below). With 32 RDNA 4 Compute Units, the 9060 XT’s GPU packs half those found in its bigger brother, the $549+ Radeon 9070 series. By pricing the 16GB Radeon RX 9060 XT so aggressively, it lets AMD show why 8GB of memory isn’t enough in 2025. The only performance-comparison slide shared with press compares the 16GB Radeon against the 8GB RTX 5060 Ti (which, again, costs more). AMD claims the Radeon tested an average of 6 percent faster across a suite of 40 games, with wins in individual games hitting up to 30 percent faster. Closely note that the testing was performed at the more memory-intensive 1440p resolution here – the numbers would no doubt be closer if AMD’s graphics card was compared against Nvidia’s 16GB version. The 9060 XT also hangs tough with the 8GB 5060 Ti in Ultra Raytracing games – typically an Nvidia strength. Here, the expanded memory capacity shines even more, driving up to 62 percent higher performance in its peak example. (Ray tracing gobbles up memory.) Speaking of ray tracing, as we saw with the Radeon RX 9070 series, AMD seriously updated its ray tracing chops this generation – at least on games with basic ray tracing features. In games with more intensive ray tracing features, including path-traced games like Cyberpunk 2077 overdrive mode and Black Myth Wukong, AMD’s RDNA 4 architecture struggled, languishing far behind Nvidia. AMD attacked the problem head-on at Computex, announcing “FSR Redstone” (Minecraft Mumbo Jumbo fans rise up). This technology takes a multi-step approach to improving visuals and performance in AI tasks, as you can see in the slides above. If it proves successful, Nvidia’s undoubted lead in ray tracing could be under assault (though Nvidia’s vaunted DLSS 4 already works in advanced versions of these features). Look for FSR Redstone to arrive sometime in the second half of 2025. It’s not the only new Radeon performance-boosting FSR tech coming: AMD says 40 games will support FSR 4 with frame generation when it launches on June 5, with the Radeon RX 9060 series. Finally, AMD also revealed its RTX 5060 competitor. The 8GB Radeon RX 9060 XT will cost $299 when it launches alongside the 16GB model on June 5. In case you don’t remember, Nvidia buried RTX 5060 reviews because 8GB of memory simply isn’t enough in 2025, even for 1080p gaming. That’s still true, even with the Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB. That being said, if the 8GB version of AMD’s new graphics card still manages to outpace the RTX 5060 at the same price, it could be a great value proposition for people who focus on esports or don’t mind turning down graphics in the latest games. Hopefully AMD provides press with 8GB versions of the Radeon RX 9060 XT for review – unlike Nvidia. (Seriously, don’t buy the RTX 5060 right now.) If not, avoid the 8GB version until independent reviews arrive.