AMD Threadripper 3990X Review: A 64-Core Multithreaded Beast Unleashed

Although it was somewhat of a foregone conclusion that AMD would launch a monstrous 64-core / 128-thread 3rd generation Ryzen Threadripper processor ever since the initial line-up was announced a few months back, the company made it official at CES 2020 last month. AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su took to the stage during a glitzy press conference in Las Vegas, and revealed the Ryzen Threadripper 3990X 64-core HEDT processor we’ll be showing you here today. During Dr. Su’s talk, she disclosed the 3990X’s speeds and feeds and showed the beastly chip taking down a pair of 28-core Xeons worth...

AMD Unveils Ryzen 4000 Mobile Series With Bold Performance Claims, Insane 64-Core Threadripper Beast

by Dave Altavilla, Marco Chiappetta - Mon, Jan 06, 2020

AMD announced an array of new products at its CES 2020 press conference, including its first Zen 2-based Ryzen 4000 series mobile processors and a monstrous 64-core / 128-thread third-generatoin Ryzen Threadripper. In addition to the new processors, on the graphics front the oft-leaked Radeon RX 5600 XT that target’s 1080p gamers in the sweet spot of the GPU market was also made official – you can read more about the Radeon RX 5600 XT here. Thanks to the performance and efficiency enhancements that come by way of AMD’s Zen 2 architecture and the 7nm manufacturing process...

AMD Ryzen 4000 Zen 3 Rumblings Point To Huge Gains In IPC And Floating Point Performance

by Ben Funk - Sun, Dec 29, 2019

AMD has been riding high on its Zen 2 workhorses as of late, but the resurgent CPU manufacturer is hardly resting on its laurels. Processor designs tend to have long lead times, so it should be no surprise to anyone that the company has been working on its next-generation architecture for quite a while. It's not every day that a company leaks detailed, juicy tidbits about upcoming processors, though. Thanks to a couple of recent leaks in both AIDA 64 update notes and from AMD itself, however, we know Zen 3 is coming along nicely and that it'll sport a brand-new architecture. Thanks...

Qualcomm Snapdragon 865: Next-Gen Android Phone Benchmark Preview

by Marco Chiappetta - Mon, Dec 16, 2019

We are fresh back from the 2019 Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit, during which the company revealed a number of new products and technologies. In addition to the XR2 5G next-generation VR platform, new Always-Connected PC processors, and the Snapdragon 765, which will target mainstream, 5G-enabled smartphones next year, Qualcomm also announced its flagship Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform. Just like its previous-gen predecessor, the Snapdragon 855 (and 855+), the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 platform will be the foundation for an array of premium Android smartphones released throughout 2020 (and beyond)....

AMD Threadripper 3970X And 3960X Review: Multi-Threaded Domination

by Marco Chiappetta - Mon, Nov 25, 2019

AMD has been on an impressive run since the release of its first-generation Ryzen processors a couple of years back. After a long stretch playing second-fiddle to Intel in the desktop processor space, unable to effectively compete at the high-end of the market, AMD’s Zen micro-architecture propelled the company into a much more competitive position. And follow-on products turned the heat up on Intel even further. Today, that heat becomes a blazing hot inferno as AMD completely reshapes the HEDT landscape with a pair of processors as impressive as we’ve ever seen. At the risk of...

Intel Core i9-10980XE Review: 18-Core Cascade Lake-X Battles AMD [Updated]

by Marco Chiappetta - Mon, Nov 25, 2019

Intel officially took the wraps off of its upcoming Cascade Lake-X based HEDT processors back in early October, revealed its updated pricing strategy, and the new features coming to its flagship desktop processor line-up. If you missed the original announcement and array of leaked performance data since then, Cascade Lake-X is a essentially a refresh of Skylake-X (the processor cores are mostly unchanged), but with official support for faster memory, more aggressive clocking and boost algorithms, and DL Boost integration, to help accelerate and array of AI workloads. Cascade Lake-X will work in...

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X Review: A 16-Core Zen 2 Powerhouse

by Marco Chiappetta - Thu, Nov 14, 2019

When Dr. Lisu Su took to the stage at an event back in June and officially announced the Ryzen 9 3950X, it didn’t come as much of a surprise to be honest. Considering the fact that Zen 2 CPU chiplets feature 8-cores each, and the Ryzen 9 3900X with dual CPU chiplets launched with only 12-cores enabled, there was immediate speculation that a 16-core Ryzen 3000 series variant was in the works and that AMD was perhaps holding it back for strategic reasons. Of course, there were a multitude of leaks leading up to the announcement that continued to fuel the flames, but needless to say a 16-core...

Update: AMD Announces Zen 2-Powered 32-Core Threadripper 3970X, 24-Core Threadripper 3960X

by Brandon Hill - Thu, Nov 07, 2019

AMD just announced that its Ryzen 9 3950X will be shipping on November 25th priced at $749, and now the company is giving us some early details on its third-generation Ryzen Threadripper HEDT processors that are on the way. As we reported yesterday, the first two members of the family are the Threadripper 3960X and the Threadripper 3970X.  Like the "lesser" third-generation Ryzen 3000 processors, these new Threadripper processors are built on 7nm Zen 2 architecture and include all of the performance, security, and feature benefits (including PCIe 4.0 support). Both the...

Intel Core i9-9900KS Review: The Fastest Gaming CPU Bar None

by Marco Chiappetta - Wed, Oct 30, 2019

Intel has been talking about its Core i9-9900KS processor for months now. It was all the way back in May that the company first revealed what would become the new flagship processor in its mainstream computing platform. The Core i9-9900KS is not something totally new, however. As the “S” in its name implies, the Core i9-9900KS is something akin to a special edition of the existing Core i9-9900K. The processors are built from the same slab of silicon – an 8-core, Coffee Lake-refresh based die, packaged up for Intel’s LGA1151 socket. What makes the Core i9-9900KS different...

Intel Tremont CPU Microarchitecture: Power Efficient, High-Performance x86

by Marco Chiappetta - Thu, Oct 24, 2019

Late last year, at its Architecture Day event, Intel revealed a new, low-power microarchitecture, codenamed Tremont, that would power and array of processors and SoCs targeting products across the client, data center, 5G networking, and Internet of Things markets. While Intel did disclose the codename and show-off a Foveros-based SoC featuring Tremont -- codenamed Lakefield -- it did not dive deep on the microarchitecture or discuss its inner-workings. Today, however, at the Linley Fall Processor Conference that’s currently underway, Intel discussed Tremont in-depth and revealed its main...

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

by Ben Funk - Thu, Oct 10, 2019

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,...