Canada Daily Deals: Mechanical keyboards, Nintendo Switch, and more

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

We found plenty of great deals today that include big discounts on Aukey mechanical gaming keyboards, Nintendo switch consoles and games, Arlo Pro home security, ILIFE Robotic Vacuum Cleaners, and much more!

View the rest of the deals

Each day, the Thrifter Canada team scouts out and shares amazing deals on products you know and love, helping you find the best prices on the ‘net.

For more Canadian deals coverage, be sure to keep an eye on Thrifter CA, sign up for the Canadian newsletter and follow the team on Twitter.

AMD Ryzen will add two budget CPUs, gaming-oriented update October 29

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper 2000 range will soon be fully fleshed out with additional WX and X-series CPUs. Due to arrive on October 29, the new 2970WX and 2920X CPUs complement existing offerings with more affordable price tags than the previously released 2990WX and 2950X chips. Their release will be joined by a new software update for Ryzen Threadripper WX chips called Dynamic Local Mode, which we’re told could have a dramatic increase on gaming performance and apps that scale well with multiple cores.

AMD’s second-generation Threadripper CPUs doubled down on their predecessors with additional cores and threads, alongside a die shrink, support for faster memory, and an increase in power requirements in turn. But the August launch of the new range was only partial, with just two CPUs debuting at that time. That all changes at the end of October.

On October 29, AMD will unleash its ‘entry-level’ Threadripper CPU, the 2920X. Replacing its 2017 counterpart in the 1920X, it has the same 12 cores and 24 threads, but increases the boosted clock speed by 100Mhz and has a lower launch price of $649. It will be joined by the second most powerful CPU AMD has ever released to the public, the Threadripper 2970WX, which has no real counterpart with the last generation. It will debut with 24 cores and 48 threads, reaching a clock speed of 4.2GHz when boosted and requiring 250w of power. It will debut with a price tag of $1,299.

Their launch will flesh out the new range of Ryzen Threadripper chips, providing modern analogs for the first-generation Threadripper CPUs and offer a wide array of pricing options for prospective buyers.

Arguably the most exciting launch this October though isn’t new hardware, but new software. Dynamic Local Mode (DLM) is a feature that AMD touts as having dramatic performance-enhancing capabilities for its two WX Threadripper chips, potentially making them far more capable gaming CPUs. Neither the 2990WX or 2970WX are really designed with gaming in mind (these are the best CPUs for gaming) but DLM could make them capable of supporting gaming requirements and in theory, better at it than just about any chip AMD (and maybe even Intel) has ever released.

“Dynamic Local Mode is a new piece of software that automatically migrates the system’s most demanding application threads onto the Threadripper 2990WX and 2970WX CPU cores with local memory access,” AMD says of the new feature in a blog post.

AMD went on to cite a 47-percent improvement in performance in Battlefield 1 on a 2990WX when switching to DLM, and 18 percent in Alien Isolation. While these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, they are enticing and suggest that benchmarkers may have a new darling when it comes to pushing the boundaries of the world’s most powerful gaming PCs in the future.

Editors’ Recommendations

• AMD’s new 32-core Ryzen Threadripper desktop CPU rips into wallets at $1,800
• AMD’s new 32-core Ryzen Threadripper chip is out, and you can get one for free
• New Intel CPUs bake in gigabit wireless and Alexa support
• The best Intel processors
• AMD vs. Intel

Ready to upgrade? Intel announces the Core i9-9900K processor

At an event in New York City today, Intel officially announced the Intel Core i9-9900K processor. As long rumored, this is Intel’s first processor with a 5GHz Turbo Boost maximum, 8 cores, and 16 threads.

Intel noted this newest processor was tested with 19 of the most popular games today, and across genres, shooters, RPGs. In fact, the firm demoed in the keynote that the chip is able to run two games at once on a brand new PC. That adds up for anywhere between 10-11% more performance over the previous generation in popular games like Hitman 2 and World of Tanks.

Pre-orders on the i9-9900K processor are open today, and a ship date of October 19. New desktops from Acer Predator, Lenovo Legion, Dell Alienware will also have the processor onboard, and a few of those machines were briefly showcased on the stage during the keynote. We don’t final retail pricing yet. An earlier leak suggested a price of $580 at retail. The bulk pricing listed in the image below suggests $580 may be a bit high, but probably not far off the mark.

Other notable specs on board the Core i9-9900K processor include a base clock speed of 3.6 GHz, 16MB Intel Smart Cache, and up to 40 platform PCI-E Lanes. The Core i9-9900K processor will also be compatible with the new Intel X390 Chipset, and all Intel Series 300 Chipsets, support up to two channels of DDR4-2666 memory and come with the benefits of Intel Optane Memory and Intel Optane SSD support.

Aimed at developers, Intel announced new Xeon W-3175X and X-series processors at this event. The Xeon series processors come packed with 28 cores, 56 threads, and a 4.3 GHz frequency out of the box. As for the X-series processors, those come packed with up to 18 cores, and 36 threads, 68 lanes of Platform PCIe, Quad Channel DDR4 memory, and solder TIM for better overclocking.

Earlier in the month, the Core i9-9900K processor leaked on Amazon. That leak provided a look at some stylish dodecahedron packaging, which indeed held up to be true.

Considering that this is Intel’s response to AMD’s new eight-core Threadripper chips, there is definitely a lot to be excited about this holiday season. Keep tuned for more, as you can expect for laptop makers to refresh their devices with the new Intel processors before the end of the year.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Leak shows Intel’s 9th-gen Core i7 desktop CPU won’t have hyper-threading
• How to watch Intel’s Fall desktop event live from NYC
• Leak shows Intel’s Core i9-9900K comes in a cool 12-sided box, but costs $580
• The best Intel processors
• Intel upgrades the entry-level workstation market with six-core Xeon E CPUs

Dell’s XPS Tower, Alienware Aurora desktops get Intel 8-core 9th-gen processor

Dell took the wraps off its refreshed XPS Tower Special Edition and Alienware Aurora desktops today, October 8. The devices are packed with the much-anticipated 9th-generation K-Series processors, marking the first time that 8-core CPU configurations will be available on either desktop, with Core i5, i7, and i9 options.

With the Alienware Aurora Desktop, consumers will be able to combine the power of the 9th-generation K-Series with liquid cooling and a multipurpose-built thermally advantaged chassis. Dell promises that this makes for the “ultimate gaming experience whether it be in 4K, VR, or in the latest esports titles.” The updated model will be available globally on October 30, starting at $900, direct from Alienware.com and in retail stores.

As for the XPS Tower Special Edition, that model is aimed at consumers looking for a “subtle yet sophisticated performance-based PC,” according to Dell. This gaming desktop packs fully accessible expandability options, and will be available in the U.S. and China on October 29 with pricing starting at $1,100.

The Dell Alienware desktop

Dell also is announcing a new and updated Alienware Command Center. The software first launched with the Alienware Area-51 and gives complete control over system lighting, Alienware’s keyboards, mice, and headphone, and access to the Alienware Aurora’s advanced overclocking tools. This is meant to tie in with Intel’s new Solder Thermal Interface Material, which adds in a new simple interface for quick fixes or peeking into processor information like clocks and voltages.

Prior to today, the Alienware Aurora and XPS Tower were running 8th-Gen 6-Core Intel CPUs and the upgrade in chipset marks a significant boost in power for consumers who are looking to move beyond stock experiences.

“The Intel 9th-gen is supercharged for creating faster video editing and easy sharing using today’s top tools. Intel Quick Sync Video provides hardware acceleration for the latest video codecs, and Intel Optane memory intuitively learns what applications you use most and loads your most-used apps and tools faster,” explained Dell.

The upgrade to the 9th-generation K-Series processors marks a full 12-month gap between processor generations for Dell, and arrives just in time for the holidays. You can expect other laptop makers to come on board with the new chips soon, too, making for an exciting shopping season.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Nvidia GeForce RTX GPUs are coming to Alienware and Predator gaming desktops
• The best gaming laptops of 2018
• Alienware 17 R5 review
• The best desktop computers
• What matters (and what doesn’t) when buying a gaming desktop

A monstrous 28-core Xeon leads Intel’s new processor lineup

Alongside the new Core i9-9900K processor, Intel today also announced new high-end Xeon and Core X Series processors. The new chips come packed with increased frequencies, and more cores and threads, with the primary target on developers, creatives, and PC enthusiasts.

First up are the Intel Core X-Series processors, which come with 8- to 18-core scalable options, and a turbo boost of up to 4.5GHz. Other features on this processor include solid thermal interface material, up to 68 platform PCIe Lanes, 4 Channel DDR4 Memory Support at 2666MHz, and Intel Optane SSD Support. Intel suggests a starting bulk pricing of $585, but didn’t confirm individual pricing just yet.

Then there’s the Xeon W-3175X processor, primarily made for content creators and professionals with heavily threaded workloads. Intel noted this processor packed with 28 cores and 56 threads, and up to 4.3GHz and 38.5 MB Intel Smart Cache. The processor also has up to 68 platform PCIE Lanes, and supports 6-Channel DDR4 Memory Support, with up to 512GB at 2666MHz. Pricing was not clear, but the processor is set to shop in December, according to Intel.

Creators are the key word in this story, and Intel showcased how the Xeon and X Series processors can help game developers craft up some truly impressive games and nail the finest details. This series of processors are not necessarily for gamers, who instead might want to opt for the Core i9-9900K. That processor is Intel’s first with a 5GHz Turbo Boost maximum, 8 cores, and 16 threads, and was tested with 19 of the most popular games today, and across genres, shooters, RPGs.

In a shot at AMD, Intel went big on gaming with today’s announcements. The chipmaker had a professional CS:Go gamer, and some other notable esports gamers, on the stage at this event. There also was a lot of talk about Fortnite, and a segment featuring David Hearn from Tangent Animation. He showcased how Intel’s latest processors help the game company crunch data and craft up 3D animations with little to no latencies in the process. Though not exciting for consumers, these chips can make a difference for these studios, especially when it comes to making big games.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Ready to upgrade? Intel announces the Core i9-9900K processor
• Leak shows Intel’s Core i9-9900K comes in a cool 12-sided box, but costs $580
• Intel’s 9th-generation processor could launch next month with 8 cores
• Lenovo’s new mobile workstations pack a punch with Xeon CPUs, Quadro graphics
• How to watch Intel’s Fall desktop event live from NYC

More Spectre protection comes with some of Intel’s new 9th-gen CPUs, but not all

Intel’s newly announced 9-series CPUs bring a lot of exciting new features to the table, including higher clock speeds and the promise of greater gaming performance. But arguably one of the most important factors is in security. These chips are the first generation of new desktop CPUs to come with hardware fixes for the Spectre and Meltdown bugs which emerged in recent years.

In particular, it’s the new K-series of gaming CPUs that are receiving the fix. Those chips come with changes at the hardware level and should be far more secure against the kind of attacks that Spectre and its ilk have brought to light in recent years. Although they are still based on the same 14nm node that has dominated Intel’s chip designs since 2014, these would be the first ones to come with a fix for these sorts of bugs at the hardware level.

The second set of new 9th-gen chips, the X-series (and Xeon-class chips), don’t have those same security fixes. Because they’re based on the older Skylake-X architecture, Intel is relying solely on software updates to keep them protected against these possible vulnerabilities.

News of the fixes were shared at Intel’s recent desktop press event, where it stated that, “the new desktop processors include protections for the security vulnerabilities commonly referred to as ‘Spectre,’ ‘Meltdown,’ and ‘L1TF.’ These protections include a combination of the hardware design changes we announced earlier this year as well as software and microcode updates.”

The hardware alterations made to the chips protect against Meltdown V3, otherwise known as the rogue data cache load bug. The L1 terminal fault exploit was also shored up with hardware changes. Software and microcode changes protect those same chips against the Spectre V2 branch target injection bug, the Meltdown V3, a rogue system register read, and the variant V4 speculative store bypass flaw.

In the laptop world, Intel has had a similar approach toward making hardware-level fixes. Some, but not all, have implemented hardware protections. Intel has been criticized in the past for the way it has handled these potentially critical flaws and has had a relatively slow move toward patching the vulnerabilities on a hardware level throughout 2018.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Is your PC safe? Foreshadow is the security flaw Intel should have predicted
• Intel’s Whiskey Lake CPUs include hardware fix for Meltdown, Amber Lake does not
• Google Chrome now consumes more memory due to a new Spectre fix
• New Spectre attack lets hackers steal data without having to run local code on PCs
• Security flaw on modern PCs could leave your encrypted data exposed

The Chromebook C423 is a new mid-ranger from Asus

There’s USB-C, a touchscreen display, and up to 10 hours of battery life.

Hot on the heels of HP’s new Chromebook x360 14, Asus is also unveiling a new Chromebook today in the form of the Asus Chromebook C423. The C423 arrived with no fanfare or proper announcement from Asus, but even so, it looks like it could be one of the better mid-range Chromebooks this holiday shopping season.

The C423 measures in at 16.1mm and weighs 1.2kg. There’s an “aluminum-finished” lid to give it a bit of polish and a 180-degree hinge that’s rated for 20,000 open and closes. Asus has packed in a 14-inch 1920 x 1080 NanoEdge touchscreen display with surprisingly thin bezels.

When it comes to ports, you’re looking at two USB-C and two USB-A ports along with a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD card slot. There’s also Wi-Fi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0. Other specs include your choice between an Intel Celeron or Pentium processor, 4 or 8GB of RAM, and an HD webcam.

Exact pricing and availability for the Asus Chromebook C423 are still up in the air, but we’ll update this post accordingly once that info is announced.

See at Asus

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• Join our Chromebook forums

Can you use multiple monitors with the Raspberry Pi 3 B+?

Best answer: Yes you can use two displays with a Raspberry Pi, but you will need to buy some other components depending on how you want to use those displays. You’ll need an adapter with a DisplayLink chip or a VGA666 Adapter to use it as a true secondary monitor. You should also know in advance: this isn’t easy to set up.

• The following products were found on Amazon:
• Raspberry Pi 3 B+ ($40)
• Cable Creations USB to VGA adapter ($31)
• EP-0073 Gert VGA666 Adapter Board ($14)

An extended desktop solution

The most common reason people want to use two monitors with a Raspberry Pi is to have an extended desktop environment like you would find on a larger, more expensive computer. This is doable with an inexpensive USB to VGA Displaylink adapter and a bit of knowledge about reconfiguring the kernel and X Windows configuration of your operating system.

You’ll need to make sure of two things on the hardware side: that the adapter you have is using a DisplayLink chipset and that the monitor you are using will accept a VGA signal, either through its own VGA port or through the use of an adapter. On the software side, you’ll need to download the Linux kernel sources and build them for the Raspberry Pi. You can do this on the Raspberry Pi itself or another computer running Linux and grabbing the kernel configuration file from the Raspberry Pi itself.

While the hardware is easy to figure out, the software can be more difficult. Luckily, the official Raspberry Pi forum has a thread dedicated to using two displays through a DisplayLink USB adapter that will walk you through the entire process.

A secondary display

You can also use the second display to run applications that drive the GPU directly like media players. This is useful for an application that might use a small LCD as a controller but display video on another screen, such as a programmable sign or kiosk. It’s also a lot simpler to set up because it doesn’t need a new kernel.

You can do this using what’s called a Gert VGA666 Adapter. It’s an open-source circuit board that you can build yourself using this layout at GitHub or buy prebuilt from several sources. It attaches to the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO pins and sends video out through an industry standard VGA 666 (6-bit red, 6-bit green, 6-bit blue) that most any monitor can decipher using the correct cabling.

Once connected, commands to display software that interacts directly with the GPU can be sent to run on the connected display. It too requires some configuration, but you’ll find easy to understand directions at the official Raspberry Pi forum.

Not for the faint of heart

As you can tell, the Raspberry Pi wasn’t really designed to be used with more than one display. Clever folks have found ways to make it happen, but they aren’t ideal and may be more than you’re willing to undertake.

A Raspberry Pi is a great little device for a lot of things — including a miniature desktop PC — but it lacks the power and ports to do everything. Sometimes, you just have to go bigger. Just make sure you know what you’re doing first.

Our pick

CableCreation SuperSpeed USB 3.0 to VGA External Video Card

$31 at Amazon

Supports 1080p through USB 3.0

There are a lot of USB to VGA adapters out there, but this model is known to have a true DisplayLink chipset and work with the Raspberry Pi plus models.

Another pick

EP-0073 Gert VGA666 Adapter Board

$14 at Amazon

Prebuilt convienence

You could download the schematics to build and assemble the circuit board yourself, but sometimes it’s simpler to buy something ready-made. This is one of those times.

Essential

Raspberry Pi 3 B+

$40 at Amazon

Nothing is impossible

The Raspberry Pi 3 B+ supports almost anything, provided you’re willing to take the time to DIY it. That’s another reason we love this little single board computer!

Anker’s portable projector, the Nebula Mars II, is down to $400

Now all you need is a wall to project on.

The Anker Nebula Mars II 720p portable projector is down to $399.99 with code NEBULA10 on Amazon. Since the last deal we shared in July, the projector has been regularly selling for around $500. We have seen it drop to $430 a couple of times now, but this is a price we have only seen it drop to once before.

The Nebula Mars II can create an HD picture up to 1280 x 720 resolution with DLP IntelliBright tech for a clear image. It has two 10W audio drivers for powerful sound. Set the projector down wherever you want it, at any distance or angle, and get an auto focus picture in one second. The projector also has Android 7.1 built in so you can run streaming and media apps like Netflix, YouTube, and more. You’ll need that access because a lot of those services don’t allow themselves to be screen cast from a device to a projector like this. Compared to the original model, the Mars II adds an extra hour of run time, the auto-focus feature mentioned above, and a larger projection size.

See on Amazon

Microsoft unveils Xbox Project xCloud game streaming

Microsoft is making a move into game streaming.

At E3 2018, Microsoft announced that it was working on a game streaming service. Users would be able to play their games no matter if they were on a phone or tablet. Today, the company provided more details about “Project xCloud”. In a post on the Official Microsoft Blog, Kareem Choudhry, Corporate Vice President of Cloud Gaming said the following.

The highlights from this announcement have to be the ability to play on a smartphone or tablet, the fact that developers don’t have to do any additional work, public trials are taking place in 2019, and that it’s going to work with existing 4G networks and support 5G networks in the future.

The future of gaming is a world where you are empowered to play the games you want, with the people you want, whenever you want, wherever you are, and on any device of your choosing. Our vision for the evolution of gaming is similar to music and movies… Project xCloud is about providing gamers… new choices in when and where they play, while giving mobile-only players access to worlds, characters and immersive stories they haven’t been able to experience before… Developers of the more than 3,000 games available on Xbox One today… will be able to deploy and dramatically scale access to their games across all devices on Project xCloud with no additional work… We’ll begin public trials in 2019… Project xCloud will have the capability to make game streaming possible on 4G networks and… push against the outer limits of what’s possible on 5G networks.

The hurried Project xCloud announcement seems to be a result of Google’s Project Stream test with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. However, Microsoft may have an edge because the company is in a unique position to push out exclusive content created by teams like Playground Games or Ninja Theory. It’s unclear what the future will hold, but it’s definitely an exciting time to be a gamer. Console-quality games are going to become even more accessible in the near future.