Intel Gen 11 Graphics Takes Fight To AMD In Dell XPS 13 2-In-1

It's no secret that Intel has a lot riding on its "Ice Lake" 10th generation Core CPUs manufactured on its 10-nanometer fabrication process. The chipmaker got by on squeezing more power and efficiency out of its 14-nm node for what seemed like an eternity, but we're talking about a mobile sector that relentlessly demands more performance and longer battery life. This oft-delayed Intel process node promises to reduce power consumption and increase performance by a wide margin over the Kaby Lake Refresh processors that previously served as the brains for thin and light PCs. Dell's XPS 13 2-In-1 Gets...

How To Overclock Raspberry Pi 4 Over 2GHz For A Tasty Speed Bump

by Ben Funk - Mon, Oct 07, 2019

The Raspberry Pi 4 is one of the cheapest single-board computers around, and thanks to its substantial performance boost over its predecessors, it also represents a good bang for the buck if you're interested in learning Linux, or just want to kick back and play some of your favorite retro games in Lakka. The good news is, the latest version of the Raspberry Pi Foundation's Linux distribution, Raspbian Buster, comes with a new firmware revision for the tiny system which removes the previously imposed 2 GHz clock speed limit and loosens restrictions on voltage boosts, so of course we had to...

AMD EPYC 7002 Series Zen 2 Architecture Doubles Data Center Performance And Density

by Marco Chiappetta - Wed, Aug 07, 2019

AMD has officially taken the wraps off its second generation EPYC 7002 series processors. The EPYC 7002 series builds upon the success of the original EPYC processors by leveraging the Zen 2 microarchitecture, which is also at the heart of the recently released Ryzen 3000 series desktop parts. EPYC 7002 series processors maintain platform compatibility with existing first-gen EPYC parts, but significantly increase the platform’s capabilities in aggregate and per socket, and introduce a number of new features as well. In terms of the microarchitecture, all of the benefits Zen 2 afforded the...

Intel 10nm Ice Lake Benchmarks: 10th Gen Core i7 Performance Explored

by Marco Chiappetta - Thu, Aug 01, 2019

Back in May, Intel disclosed a number of details regarding its next-generation 10nm Ice Lake architecture and Project Athena. The latter is an innovation program Intel kicked-off in collaboration with key industry partners that’s meant to usher in a new breed of advanced laptop designs and mobile devices. Today, Intel inches closer to broad availability of its first-wave of Ice Lake-based products, with the release of 11 10th Generation Core mobile SKUs, ranging from a dual-core Core i3 with a nominal 9W TDP all the way on up to a quad-core / eight-thread Core i7, with Gen 11 Iris Plus graphics,...

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X Vs Intel Core i9-9900K IPC Shootout: Did AMD Close The Gap?

by Ben Funk - Thu, Jul 25, 2019

AMD renewed competition in the CPU space back in 2017, when its Zen-based Ryzen processors stormed the scene a couple of months earlier than originally anticipated. These processors combined good enough single-threaded performance with many core architectures at attractive prices. If you needed king-of-the-hill single thread performance, Intel was still on top, but Ryzen brought multi-core performance to a price point more palatable to the masses, and were great choices for general purpose workloads and multitasking alike. A year later, second-generation Ryzen CPUs based on the Zen+ architecture...

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X And Ryzen 7 3700X Review: Zen 2 Impresses

by Marco Chiappetta - Sun, Jul 07, 2019

The Zen 2-based AMD Ryzen 3000 series is easily one of the most anticipated product launches in the PC space in recent memory. AMD has essentially promised to address virtually all of the perceived shortcomings of the original Zen-based Ryzen processors, with the Ryzen 3000 series, while continuing to aggressively challenge Intel on multiple fronts – performance, power, price, you name it. AMD has been extolling the virtues of Zen 2 for quite some time, but in the last few weeks the company has really turned up the heat and revealed some exciting details, like single-thread performance on-par...

AMD Zen 2 Architecture Explored: What Makes Ryzen 3000 So Powerful

by Marco Chiappetta - Mon, Jun 10, 2019

Just prior to hosting its Next Horizon E3 Livestream event, AMD treated press and industry analysts to additional deep dive technical details regarding its next-generation Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU microarchitectures. The actual product details disclosed during the E3 Livestream, which included 16-Core Ryzen 9 3950X and Radeon RX 5700 XT specifications and pricing, are covered in our news stories here (Ryzen 9 3950X) and here (Radeon RX 5700/5700 XT).  In this piece, however, we’re going to dig a little deeper and cover the new aspects of AMD's Zen 2 architecture, and what it...

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X Drops 16-Core, 32-Thread Zen 2 Bombshell On PC Gaming Market

by Brandon Hill - Mon, Jun 10, 2019

AMD has been riding high ever since Computex 2019 when it gave us our first look at the Ryzen 3000 family of Zen 2 desktop processors. At the time, the company announced a family that [for now] starts with the $199 Ryzen 5 3600 (6 cores, 12 threads) and tops out with the Ryzen 9 3900X (12 cores, 24 threads). Leading up to the Computex unveil, we had been hearing about an even more powerful 16-core/32-thread Ryzen processor, and there were even rumors that the chip had been shown behind closed doors at the show. Today, we have confirmation of this new beast processor,...

Intel 10nm Ice Lake Architecture And Project Athena Laptops To Drive Exciting New Mobile PC Experiences

by Marco Chiappetta - Tue, May 28, 2019

Over the last few months, Intel has disclosed a number of details regarding its next-generation 10nm processors, codenamed Ice Lake. At an Architecture Day held in December ’18, we learned about the company's Sunny Cove microarchitecture that will be employed in Ice Lake and future-generation processors, in addition to some details regarding Intel’s Gen11 graphics engine. Today, we are able to disclose even more information regarding Ice Lake, its overarching platform and new features, and about Project Athena, the innovation program Intel has started in collaboration...

AMD Unveils Ryzen 3000 CPUs, 12-Core At $499, IPC Parity With Intel, Navi Ahead Of RTX 2070

by Marco Chiappetta - Mon, May 27, 2019

AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su took to the stage at Computex to kick off the show’s initial international press conference, during what was the company’s very first ever opening keynote address for this venue. Of course, AMD participates in Computex every year because it is such an important event for the PC ecosystem as a whole, but during its 50th Anniversary year, it was the first time AMD was invited to actually open up the show with a keynote address – and Dr. Su took full advantage of the opportunity. Su discussed AMD’s next-generation EPYC enterprise processors, codenamed Rome,...

Intel Launches New 9th Gen Mobile CPUs Punctuated By 8-Core Chips, WiFi 6 And A Desktop Refresh

by Marco Chiappetta - Tue, Apr 23, 2019

Intel has officially unveiled its new line-up of 9th Generation Core Mobile processors today, along with an array of adjacent products and technologies. In addition, Intel's 9th Generation Core Desktop processor line-up is been refreshed today as well, with a wide array of SKUs that cover the gamut from a new Core i9-9900 all the way on down to low-power dual-core Celeron and Pentium Gold processors. The new flagship of the 9th Generation Core Mobile processor family is the Core i9-9980HK, designed for what Intel is calling “Musclebooks” – we’ll call them powerful desktop...

Intel Unleashes 56-Core Xeon, Optane DC Memory, Agilex FGPAs To Accelerate AI And Big Data

by Marco Chiappetta - Tue, Apr 02, 2019

Intel is launching its latest salvo of data-centric products today, targeting a wide range of workloads and applications. You may think that means a fresh batch of powerful Xeons are on the way – and you’d be correct but there's more. Today marks the official arrival of Intel’s Cascade Lake, many-core 2nd Generation Xeon Scalable Series Processors, but the company is also announcing or launching a plethora of adjacent products including new FPGAs, innovative network controllers, a new server chassis platform, and Optane DC Persistent memory. And along with those powerful Xeon...

Intel Xeon W-3175X Review: Supercharged 28-Core Skylake-SP

by Marco Chiappetta - Wed, Jan 30, 2019

In October of last year, when Intel officially unveiled its 9th Generation Core series processors, the company also took the opportunity to announce a semi-new breed of workstation processor, namely the Xeon W-3175X. Technically speaking, the architecture at the heart of the Xeon W-3175X isn’t new – the monstrous 28-core / 56-thread processor is based on Skylake-SP, just like the first wave of Xeon Scalable processors that were released in 2017. What Intel has done with the Xeon W-3175X, however, is selectivity bin the die and tweak and tune the power and turbo boost profiles to increase...

Intel Shows Off 10nm Ice Lake, Confirms Systems On Track For Holiday 2019 Debut

by Brandon Hill - Mon, Jan 07, 2019

After years of delays, Intel is ready to put the pedal to metal with its 10nm computing products. Although it's been on Intel's roadmap for quite some time, Intel's first-generation 10nm platform, codenamed Ice Lake, is currently still tracking for a holiday 2019 launch for thin and light notebooks and 2-in-1 convertibles. Intel's 10nm Ice Lake The Ice Lake platform is highly integrated, but at its core is Intel's 10nm Sunny Cove processor microarchitecture. Also along for the ride is are all-new instructions dedicated to machine learning (DL Boost), native Thunderbolt 3 connectivity...