At Computex 2019 in Taipei, AMD CEO Lisa Su gave a keynote presentation announcing the first "7nm" Navi GPU and Ryzen 3000-series CPUs. All of the products will support PCI Express 4.0.
Contrary to recent reports, AMD says that the Navi microarchitecture is not based on Graphics Core Next (GCN), but rather a new "RDNA" macroarchitecture ('R' for Radeon), although the extent of the difference is not clear. There is also no conflict with Nvidia's naming scheme; the 5000-series naming is a reference to the company's 50th anniversary.
AMD claims that Navi GPUs will have 25% better performance/clock and 50% better performance/Watt vs. Vega GPUs. AMD Radeon RX 5700 is the first "7nm" Navi GPU to be announced. It was compared with Nvidia's GeForce RTX 2070, with the RX 5700 outperforming the RTX 2070 by 10% in the AMD-favorable game Strange Brigade. Pricing and other launch details will be revealed on June 10.
AMD also announced the first five Ryzen 3000-series CPUs, all of which will be released on July 7:
| CPU | Cores / Threads | Frequency | TDP | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 3900X | 12 / 24 | 3.8 - 4.6 GHz | 105 W | $499 |
| Ryzen 7 3800X | 8 / 16 | 3.9 - 4.5 GHz | 105 W | $399 |
| Ryzen 7 3700X | 8 / 16 | 3.6 - 4.4 GHz | 65 W | $329 |
| Ryzen 5 3600X | 6 / 12 | 3.8 - 4.4 GHz | 95 W | $249 |
| Ryzen 5 3600 | 6 / 12 | 3.6 - 4.2 GHz | 65 W | $199 |
The Ryzen 9 3900X is the only CPU in the list using two core chiplets, each with 6 of 8 cores enabled. AMD has held back on releasing a 16-core monster for now. AMD compared the Ryzen 9 3900X to the $1,189 Intel Core i9-9920X, the Ryzen 7 3800X to the $499 Intel Core i9-9900K, and the Ryzen 7 3700X to the Intel Core i7-9700K, with the AMD chips outperforming the Intel chips in certain single and multi-threaded benchmarks (wait for the reviews before drawing any definitive conclusions). All five of the processors will come with a bundled cooler, as seen in this list.
Not to be outdone, Intel has announced the Intel Core i9-9900KS, a selectively binned 8-core processor that can boost to 5.0 GHz on all cores. The catch? TDP and pricing are currently unknown (i9-9900K launched at $488, 95W TDP), and Tom's Hardware reports that the higher clock speed does not apply to AVX workloads (although they will get a boost). The CPU does not come with a bundled cooler.
Intel also teased Gen11 integrated graphics performance, which will be included with "10nm" Ice Lake-U APUs. Their comparison shows a significant improvement over Gen9 graphics (there is no "Gen10") and a slight edge over AMD's top mobile processor, the Ryzen 7 3700U.
Previously: "Review" of AMD's 3rd Gen Ryzen Rumors Ahead of Launch
Related: Intel Announces "Sunny Cove", Gen11 Graphics, Discrete Graphics Brand Name, 3D Packaging, and More
Intel Promises "10nm" Chips by the End of 2019, and More
Intel Details Lakefield CPU SoC With 3D Packaging and Big/Small Core Configuration
Intel's Comet Lake Could Boost Mainstream Core Count to 10 to Compete with AMD's Ryzen 3000-Series
Related Stories
Intel has announced new developments at its Architecture Day 2018:
Sunny Cove, built on 10nm, will come to market in 2019 and offer increased single-threaded performance, new instructions, and 'improved scalability'. Intel went into more detail about the Sunny Cove microarchitecture, which is in the next part of this article. To avoid doubt, Sunny Cove will have AVX-512. We believe that these cores, when paired with Gen11 graphics, will be called Ice Lake.
Willow Cove looks like it will be a 2020 core design, most likely also on 10nm. Intel lists the highlights here as a cache redesign (which might mean L1/L2 adjustments), new transistor optimizations (manufacturing based), and additional security features, likely referring to further enhancements from new classes of side-channel attacks. Golden Cove rounds out the trio, and is firmly in that 2021 segment in the graph. Process node here is a question mark, but we're likely to see it on 10nm and or 7nm. Golden Cove is where Intel adds another slice of the serious pie onto its plate, with an increase in single threaded performance, a focus on AI performance, and potential networking and AI additions to the core design. Security features also look like they get a boost.
Intel says that GT2 Gen11 integrated graphics with 64 execution units will reach 1 teraflops of performance. It compared the graphics solution to previous-generation GT2 graphics with 24 execution units, but did not mention Iris Plus Graphics GT3e, which already reached around 800-900 gigaflops with 48 execution units. The GPU will support Adaptive Sync, which is the standardized version of AMD's FreeSync, enabling variable refresh rates over DisplayPort and reducing screen tearing.
Intel's upcoming discrete graphics cards, planned for release around 2020, will be branded Xe. Xe will cover configurations from integrated and entry-level cards all the way up to datacenter-oriented products.
Like AMD, Intel will also organize cores into "chiplets". But it also announced FOVEROS, a 3D packaging technology that will allow it to mix chips from different process nodes, stack DRAM on top of components, etc. A related development is Intel's demonstration of "hybrid x86" CPUs. Like ARM's big.LITTLE and DynamIQ heterogeneous computing architectures, Intel can combine its large "Core" with smaller Atom cores. In fact, it created a 12mm×12mm×1mm SoC (compare to a dime coin which has a radius of 17.91mm and thickness of 1.35mm) with a single "Sunny Cove" core, four Atom cores, Gen11 graphics, and just 2 mW of standby power draw.
CES 2019 Quick Bytes: Consumer 10nm is Coming with Intel's Ice Lake
We've been on Intel's case for years to tell us when its 10nm parts are coming to the mass market. Technically Intel already shipped its first 10nm processor, Cannon Lake, but this was low volume and limited to specific geographic markets. This time Intel is promising that its first volume consumer processor on 10nm will be Ice Lake. It should be noted that Intel hasn't put a date on Ice Lake launching, but has promised 10nm on shelves by the end of 2019. It has several products that could qualify for that, but Ice Lake is the likely suspect.
At Intel's Architecture Day in December, we saw chips designated as 'Ice Lake-U', built for 15W TDPs with four cores using the new Sunny Cove microarchitecture and Gen11 graphics. Intel went into some details about this part, which we can share with you today.
The 15W processor is a quad core part supporting two threads per core, and will have 64 EUs of Gen11 graphics. 64 EUs will be the standard 'GT2' mainstream configuration for this generation, up from 24 EUs today. In order to drive that many execution units, Intel stated that they need 50-60 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which will come from LPDDR4X memory. In order for those numbers to line up, they will need LPDDR4X-3200 at a minimum, which gives 51.2 GB/s. [...] For connectivity, the chips will support Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) if the laptop manufacturer uses the correct interface module, but the support for Wi-Fi 6 is in the chip. The processor also supports native Thunderbolt 3 over USB Type-C, marking the first Intel chip with native TB3 support.
Intel Lakefield is based around Foveros technology which helps connect chips and chiplets in a single package that matches the functionality and performance of a monolithic SOC. Each die is then stacked using FTF micro-bumps on the active interposer through which TSVs are drilled to connect with solder bumps and eventually the final package. The whole SOC is just 12×12 (mm) which is 144mm2.
Talking about the SOC itself and its individual layers, the Lakefield SOC that has been previewed consists of at least four layers or dies, each serving a different purpose. The top two layers are composed of the DRAM which will supplement the processor as the main system memory. This is done through the PoP (Package on Package) memory layout which stacks two BGA DRAMs on top of each other as illustrated in the preview video. The SOC won't have to rely on socketed DRAM in this case which saves a lot of footprint on the main board.
The second layer is the Compute Chiplet with a Hybrid CPU architecture and graphics, based on the 10nm process node. The Hybrid CPU architecture has a total of five individual Cores, one of them is labeled as the Big Core which features the Sunny Cove architecture. That's the same CPU architecture that will be featured on Intel's upcoming 10nm Ice Lake processors. The Sunny Cove Core is optimized for high-performance throughput. There are also four small CPUs that are based on the 10nm process but optimized for power efficiency. The same die [has] Intel's Gen 11 graphics engine with 64 Execution Units.
[...] [Last] of all is the base die which serves as the cache and I/O block of the SOC. Labeled as the P1222 and based on a 22FFL process node, the base die comes with a low cost and low leakage design while providing a feature-rich array of I/O capabilities.
It would be nice to finally see some consumer CPUs with stacked DRAM, although the amount was not specified (8 GB?).
Intel video (1m48s). Also at Notebookcheck.
Previously: Intel Announces "Sunny Cove", Gen11 Graphics, Discrete Graphics Brand Name, 3D Packaging, and More
Intel Promises "10nm" Chips by the End of 2019, and More
Refresh Done Right? Intel Comet Lake Packs Up to 10 Cores
[coreboot], an open source project to replace the BIOS and UEFI, has some vital information on Comet Lakes. According to the Github page, Comet Lake-U (CML-U) processors, which are primarily aimed at laptops, carry up to six cores, while the Comet Lake-H (CFL-H) and Comet Lake-S (CMT-S) chips feature up to 10 cores.
Rumors on the street are that AMD's forthcoming Ryzen 3000-series desktop processors could purportedly pack a whopping 16 cores on a single chip. During AMD's presentation at the CES 2019 tech show in January, an eight-core, 16-thread Ryzen 3000-series chip was trading blows with Intel's Core i9-9900K, which could have pressured the Santa Clara chipmaker to cranking Comet Lake's core count to 10 cores for safe measure.
Intel is expected to launch its Comet Lake processors around the middle of the year. It's possible Intel could announce the chips at Computex 2019, which starts May 28.
Also at PCGamesN.
Related: AMD Announces Radeon VII GPU, Teases Third-Generation Ryzen CPU
AMD's 3rd Gen Ryzen Is The Most Exciting Processor Launch In A Decade
There have been a fair amount of rumors surrounding AMD's 3rd Gen Ryzen 'Zen 2′ processors over the last few weeks covering specifications, performance and pricing. I wrote just yesterday about the latest rumor of a supposed 16-core mainstream Ryzen CPU obtaining a huge Cinebench score and a few days ago I discussed why AMD might be considering getting rid of its low-end Threadripper CPUs too. However, leaks and rumors aside, there are far more important and genuine reasons to be excited by 3rd Gen Ryzen and what AMD will be announcing next week at Computex and after that at E3 in June.
[...] AMD could finally match or even beat Intel with Zen 2 and 3rd Gen Ryzen as lots of these issues are rumored to be solved. Memory speeds will apparently increase significantly and given the impact we've seen from relatively small boosts in memory speed, this could well see 3rd Gen Ryzen CPUs offer sizeable performance gains. Thankfully, memory prices are in AMD's favor too with kits of 16GB 3,600MHz memory retailing for less than $125 - when just before Christmas that same kit would have cost you nearly $260.
[...] The latest rumor of a Cinebench score of such a CPU puts this 16-core monster on par with Intel's Core i9-9980XE – a $2,000 CPU that requires Intel's high-end desktop motherboards, yet rumors of the supposed Ryzen 9 3850X put that CPU as retailing for less than $600. While we might not see those lofty 5GHz numbers from that CPU, they might appear lower down the stack with a 12-core model, which is likely to be a favorite for general purpose users and gamers alike.
[...] The fact is, that 1st and 2nd Gen Ryzen didn't deal a death blow to Intel. It was still faster in some areas and while its CPUs and platforms usually cost more, that doesn't always matter, especially if the differences are mere 10′s of dollars and you'll be using your PC for the next few years, reaping the benefits. However, with 3rd Gen Ryzen, all the signs are that we could finally be looking at reviewers like myself recommending AMD's CPUs across the board, and not just for certain workloads.
Could it really be that AMD's offerings will be faster, with more cores, more IPC, lower energy consumption, and cheaper all at once across vast swaths of the CPU market?
AMD's RX 3080 has been rumoured for quite some time, a GPU name which is designed to 1-up Nvidia's RTX 20XX series in a literal sense, copying the tactics of the company's CPU division when they released their Ryzen-based X370 platform to compete with Intel's Z270 offerings.
The idea is simple, you see two products on a shelf and you look at the numbers. X370 must be better than Z270; the number is bigger, right? It's a simple marketing tactic, and it makes sense for AMD to reuse it within the graphics card market. AMD's naming schemes have moved from RX 580 to RX Vega 64 to Radeon VII; it's not like AMD has a defined branding scheme to follow within the GPU market anymore, so why not piggyback on Nvidia? Nvidia even went to the effort of changing GTX to RTX on the high-end, simply begging to be confused with AMD's established RX graphics lineup.
[...] Now, it looks like Nvidia wants to stop AMD's games, with recent trademark applications showing that Nvidia claims ownership of the numbers 3080, 4080 and 5080, at least within the world of PC graphics. This move appears to be Nvidia's attempt to stop Radeon calling their next graphics card the RX 3080, a name which would inevitably cause confusion when Nvidia releases their RTX/GTX 30XX series, which should include a model called the RTX 3080.
At AMD's keynote at the 2019 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), AMD CEO Lisa Su announced three new "7nm" Navi GPUs and a new CPU.
The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT will have 2560 stream processors (40 compute units) capable of 9.75 TFLOPs of FP32 performance, with 8 GB of 14 Gbps GDDR6 VRAM. The price is $449. The AMD RX 5700 cuts that down to 2304 SPs (36 CUs), 7.9 TFLOPs, at $379. There is a higher clocked "50th anniversary" version of the 5700 XT that offers up to 10.14 teraflops for $499. A teraflop on one of these new cards supposedly means better graphics performance than older Polaris-based GPUs:
Looking at these clockspeed values then, in terms of raw throughput the new card is expected to get between 9 TFLOPs and 9.75 TFLOPs of FP32 compute/shading throughput. This is a decent jump over the Polaris cards, but on the surface it doesn't look like a huge, generational jump, and this is where AMD's RDNA architecture comes in. AMD has made numerous optimizations to improve their GPU utilization – that is, how well they put those FLOPs to good use – so a teraflop on a 5700 card means more than it does on preceding AMD cards. Overall, AMD says that they're getting around 25% more work done per clock on the whole in gaming workloads. So raw specs can be deceiving.
The GPUs do not include real-time raytracing or variable rate pixel shading support. These may appear on a future generation of GPUs. Instead, AMD talked about support for DisplayPort 1.4 with Display Stream Compression, a contrast-enhancing post-processing filter, AMD Radeon Image Sharpening, and a Radeon Anti-lag feature to reduce input lag.
Towards the end of the presentation, AMD revealed the 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X, the company's fully-fledged Ryzen CPU with two 8-core "7nm" Zen 2 chiplets. Compared to the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X CPU, the 3950X has a slightly higher boost clock and L2 cache, with the same 105 Watt TDP, for $749. This is the full lineup so far:
| CPU | Cores / Threads | Frequency | TDP | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 3950X | 16 / 32 | 3.5 - 4.7 GHz | 105 W | $749 |
| Ryzen 9 3900X | 12 / 24 | 3.8 - 4.6 GHz | 105 W | $499 |
| Ryzen 7 3800X | 8 / 16 | 3.9 - 4.5 GHz | 105 W | $399 |
| Ryzen 7 3700X | 8 / 16 | 3.6 - 4.4 GHz | 65 W | $329 |
| Ryzen 5 3600X | 6 / 12 | 3.8 - 4.4 GHz | 95 W | $249 |
| Ryzen 5 3600 | 6 / 12 | 3.6 - 4.2 GHz | 65 W | $199 |
Previously: AMD and Intel at Computex 2019: First Ryzen 3000-Series CPUs and Navi GPU Announced
Intel internal memo highlights competitive challenges AMD poses
A recent post on Intel's employee-only portal titled, "AMD competitive profile: Where we go toe-to-toe, why they are resurgent, which chips of ours beat theirs," has found its way to Reddit and offers a fascinating glimpse into how Intel perceives one of its largest competitors and the challenges it is posing to some of its divisions.
[...] Penned by Walden Kirsch as part of "the latest in a Circuit News series on Intel's major competitors," the piece notes how AMD was the best-performing stock on the S&P 500 last year and enjoyed its second straight year of greater than 20 percent annual revenue growth in 2018. One of the reasons for AMD's resurgence, Kirsch surmises, is its strategic re-focus on high-performance products in the desktop, datacenter and server markets.
Specifically, Kirsch highlighted AMD's use of TSMC's 7nm manufacturing process, victories in public cloud offerings and its next-gen Zen-core products as factors that will "amplify the near-term competitive challenge from AMD."
[...] The company believes its 9th Gen Core processors will beat AMD's Ryzen-based products in lightly threaded productivity benchmarks as well as in gaming benchmarks. With regard to multi-threaded workloads, Intel said AMD's Matisse "is expected to lead."
Soon to be discontinued internal news series.
See also: Platform Storage Face-Off: AMD Upsets Intel
AMD Ryzen 16 Core 5.2GHz CPU Benchmark Leaked, Crushes Intel's i9 9980XE
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6 Core, 12 Thread CPU Tested on X470 Platform – Single-Core Performance On Par With The Core i9-9900K
AMD Ryzen 7 3800X Benchmarks Leaked, Crushes Intel's i9 9900K in Multi-threaded Performance
Related: Intel's Processors Lose More Performance From Vulnerability Mitigations Than AMD's
AMD and Intel at Computex 2019: First Ryzen 3000-Series CPUs and Navi GPU Announced
HP Boss: Intel Shortages are Steering Our Suited Customers to Buy AMD
AMD Details Three Navi GPUs and First Mainstream 16-Core CPU
The GeForce RTX 2070 Super & RTX 2060 Super Review: Smaller Numbers, Bigger Performance
NVIDIA is launching a mid-generation kicker for their mid-to-high-end video card lineup in the form of their GeForce RTX 20 series Super cards. Based on the same family of Turing GPUs as the original GeForce RTX 20 series cards, these new Super cards – all suffixed Super, appropriately enough – come with new configurations and new clockspeeds. They are, essentially, NVIDIA's 2019 card family for the $399+ video card market.
When they are released on July 9th, the GeForce RTX 20 series Super cards are going to be sharing store shelves with the rest of the GeForce RTX 20 series cards. Some cards like the RTX 2080 and RTX 2070 are set to go away, while other cards like the RTX 2080 Ti and RTX 2060 will remain on the market as-is. In practice, it's probably best to think of the new cards as NVIDIA executing as either a price cut or a spec bump – depending on if you see the glass as half-empty or half-full – all without meaningfully changing their price tiers.
In terms of performance, the RTX 2060 and RTX 2070 Super cards aren't going to bring anything new to the table. In fact if we're being blunt, the RTX 2070 Super is basically a slightly slower RTX 2080, and the RTX 2060 Super may as well be the RTX 2070. So instead, what has changed is the price that these performance levels are available at, and ultimately the performance-per-dollar ratios in parts of NVIDIA's lineup. The performance of NVIDIA's former $699 and $499 cards will now be available for $499 and $399, respectively. This leaves the vanilla RTX 2060 to hold the line at $349, and the upcoming RTX 2080 Super to fill the $699 spot. Which means if you're in the $400-$700 market for video cards, your options are about to get noticeably faster.
Also at Tom's Hardware, The Verge, and Ars Technica.
Previously: Nvidia Announces RTX 2080 Ti, 2080, and 2070 GPUs, Claims 25x Increase in Ray-Tracing Performance
Nvidia Announces RTX 2060 GPU
AMD and Nvidia's Latest GPUs Are Expensive and Unappealing
Related: AMD and Intel at Computex 2019: First Ryzen 3000-Series CPUs and Navi GPU Announced
AMD Details Three Navi GPUs and First Mainstream 16-Core CPU
AMD cuts Radeon 5700 GPU prices just two days before their release
When AMD announced its next-gen Navi-based Radeon RX 5700 and 5700 XT graphics cards last month, the news was just slightly underwhelming because the prices didn't necessarily make them the obvious alternative to Nvidia's rival chips.
But just two days before their July 7th launch date, AMD has taken the drastic step of dropping the prices on these new GPUs.
The Radeon 5700 XT, previously listed at $450, will now cost $400, and the Radeon 5700, previously $380, will be priced at $350. (There's also a $500 Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary Edition that'll retail for $450.)
That's just super.
Also at Tom's Hardware.
Previously: AMD and Intel at Computex 2019: First Ryzen 3000-Series CPUs and Navi GPU Announced
AMD Details Three Navi GPUs and First Mainstream 16-Core CPU
Nvidia Refreshes RTX 2000-Series GPUs With "Super" Branding
AMD's "7nm" Zen 2 8-core Ryzen 7 3700X and 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X CPUs have been reviewed:
The AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen Deep Dive Review: 3700X and 3900X Raising The Bar
From the conclusion page:
In the majority of controlled tests, AMD has done something they haven't been able to achieve in almost 15 years, since the tail-end of the Athlon 64's reign in 2005: that is to have a CPU microarchitecture with higher performance per clock than Intel's leading architecture. Zen 2 finally achieves this symbolic mark by a hair's margin, with the new core improving IPC by 10-13% when compared to Zen+.
Having said that, Intel still very much holds the single-threaded performance crown by a few percent. Intel's higher achieved frequencies as well as continued larger lead in memory sensitive workloads are still goals that AMD has to work towards to, and future Zen iterations will have to further improve in order to have a shot at the ST performance crown.
[...] In the majority of our system benchmarks, AMD more often than not is able to best Intel's Core i7-9700K and i9-9900K in terms of performance. It was particularly interesting to see the new 3rd gen Ryzens post larger improvements in the web tests, all thanks to Zen 2's improved and larger op cache.
In anything that is more than lightly multi-threaded, AMD is also able to take the performance crown among mainstream desktop processors, thanks to their inclusion of 12 cores in their top SKU Ryzen 3900X. For total MT throughput, Intel can still beat this with their massive X-series HEDT chips, but these server-derrived parts are in a completely different class in both features and price, and AMD has their own Threadripper parts to rival that. All of this means that for heavily threaded scenarios, the 3900X rules the roost among true desktop processors.
[...] Perhaps the best arguments for the 3700X and 3900X is their value as well as their power efficiency. At $329 the 3700X particularly seems exciting, and gamers will want to take note that it posts the same gaming performance as the $499 3900X. Considering that AMD is also shipping the CPU with the perfectly reasonable Wrath Spire cooler, this also adds on to the value that you get if you're budget conscious.
The 3900X essentially has no real competition when it comes to the multi-threaded performance that it's able to deliver. Here the chip not only bests Intel's mainstream desktop designs, but it's able to go toe-to-toe with the lowest rung of Intel's more specialized HEDT platforms. Even AMD's own Threadripper line-up is made irrelevant below 16 cores.
Also at Tom's Hardware, Guru3D, and Wccftech.
See also: AMD Zen 2 Microarchitecture Analysis: Ryzen 3000 and EPYC Rome
Previously: AMD and Intel at Computex 2019: First Ryzen 3000-Series CPUs and Navi GPU Announced
AMD Details Three Navi GPUs and First Mainstream 16-Core CPU
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday May 28 2019, @02:02AM (6 children)
AMD Ryzen 9 CPU With 16 Zen 2 Core Overclocked & Tested in Cinebench, Faster Than i9-9980XE – 7nm Ryzen Threadripper HEDT CPUs Still Happening [wccftech.com]
According to this info, the 16-core chip isn't impossible to make (memory bandwidth limited) or anything, and is in fact in existence. It might still need testing and won't get released until later.
There was some speculation that Threadripper 3 would be delayed or skipped. Nope, we'll see it this year, possibly including up to 64 cores.
Third-Gen Ryzen Not Fully Backward Compatible, X570 Chipset Doesn't Support First-Gen Models, AMD Explains [tomshardware.com]
I don't think anybody is going to be buying a new X570 motherboard just to run a 1st gen Ryzen on it. However, some older motherboards won't support 3rd gen Ryzens, so do some research first. Hopefully, PC Part Picker [pcpartpicker.com] will be able to prevent any tragic motherboard+CPU combos.
Intel Replies to AMD’s Demo: Platinum 9242 Based 48 Core 2S Beats AMD’s 64 Core 2S [wccftech.com]
Intel and AMD squabbling over benchmarks. Given Intel's sketchy numbers [soylentnews.org] in the last year, everything from them (and probably AMD too) should be taken with a grain of salt.
Also, if clients are running the latest security patches or disabling hyperthreading [techspot.com], performance could take a big hit.
Intel Follows AMD's Lead on Full Memory Encryption [tomshardware.com]
The Most Innovative Motherboard Concept Ever – The ASUS Prime Utopia [wccftech.com]
Wew, a motherboard with an OLED display in it.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday May 28 2019, @02:13AM (5 children)
https://adoredtv.com/good-enough-to-be-true/ [adoredtv.com]
The AdoredTV leaked pricing, naming, and release dates were way off the mark, but some details do stand out:
Predicted: Ryzen 5 3600 / 8 cores / 3.6 - 4.4 GHz / 65 W
...Actual: Ryzen 7 3700X / 8 cores / 3.6 - 4.4 GHz / 65 W
Predicted: Ryzen 7 3700 / 12 cores / 3.8 - 4.6 GHz / 95 W
...Actual: Ryzen 9 3900X / 12 cores / 3.8 - 4.6 GHz / 105 W
One conclusion that we can take away from this launch is that for the first time in a long time, Intel is the one not exerting competitive pressure on its competitor. AMD is sandbagging. Hopefully, AMD makes a lot of money, pays off debts, etc. If Intel does try to respond, AMD can pull out the 16-core Ryzen, 64-core Threadripper, and various smaller Ryzens.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28 2019, @02:33AM (4 children)
Adoredtv's leaks were fine, amd just adjusted the plan: https://old.reddit.com/r/AMD_Stock/comments/bth8qc/adoredtv_rumor_in_hindsight_and_in_context_eg_rome/eozq1kl/ [reddit.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday May 28 2019, @02:45AM (3 children)
That's basically what I implied. The only thing I'm wary of is: "hold off the 16 core cpus (for threadripper?)". Because Threadripper 3 would likely be 32-64 cores so 16 core would not encroach on it. And with AMD using the same chiplets for Ryzen, Threadripper, and Epyc product families, I think if there was a 8/8 chiplet shortage, they would be allocated to Epyc instead of the niche Threadripper.
I guess you could say that AMD is trying to sell off 16-core Threadripper 1/2 first (TR 1950X is already $500), but I don't know that the overlap is there since they use different motherboards and there is the difference with dual/quad channel memory.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28 2019, @03:26AM (2 children)
I mean basically there is no need for threadripper since their high end mainstream beats HEDT intel for about 1/3 the price...
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday May 28 2019, @03:43AM (1 child)
True. And I figured they would go ahead and skip Threadripper 3. But it looks like they will do it [wccftech.com].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28 2019, @04:08AM
As someone who has one since last fall, I wouldn't upgrade so soon almost no matter the specs. The only thing to get me right now is more ram.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 28 2019, @02:26AM (7 children)
I'd really dig one but you can't disable the hardware rootkit like we're at least pretty sure you can with Intel chips . And I won't buy one even for an air gapped box if I can't at least be pretty sure I'm in charge of everything it does.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28 2019, @06:10AM
Arduino, others might but you will never need more
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28 2019, @10:12AM (3 children)
You can't disable the rootkit on Intel either. Only delete parts of the Intel Management Engine. The CPU itself is a microcoded black box with SMM as well. You don't control anything it does. The last CPU that fits your requirement is a 386 (before SL) on a motherboard without a proprietary BIOS. I don't think such a thing even exists.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Tuesday May 28 2019, @05:42PM (2 children)
Supposedly Purism can disable the Intel Management Engine, see https://puri.sm/posts/deep-dive-into-intel-me-disablement/ [puri.sm]
Some of the free-as-in-freedom software oriented shops made a business out of selling the last generation of AMD Opteron processors that had no such remote management system. Or at least, AMD hadn't announced their existence in those models or earlier.
But you do sacrifice a lot of performance. I wish every website was like sourcehut.org - simple HTML, no bullshit. Then a freakin' 2006-era PC would be great. But unless I want to give up 60% of my speed in the modern internet and also live with painfully slow application opening and compile times, I'm stuck.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 28 2019, @10:55PM (1 child)
Actually, the Phenom II x6 is still a perfectly acceptable processor today. I mean I'd greatly enjoy being able to `make -j32` and have one thread per core but it's not essential to my normal usage, even on Gentoo.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Thursday May 30 2019, @01:07AM
Heh, one of my two desktops has that model.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 28 2019, @09:36PM (1 child)
> And I won't buy one even for an air gapped box if I can't at least be pretty sure I'm in charge of everything it does.
Feel free to write your own CPU and implement it on an FPGA, then only run code that you compiled after checking every line of the source.
The rest of us just minimize our exposure, having gotten to terms with the simple fact that you can't run anything less than a decade old without begrudgingly having to trust that the millions of lines of code and the billions of transistors are mostly working for you.
I've got a full tank of gas. Mow your lawn or burn it down ?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 28 2019, @10:58PM
I ain't asking for absolute certainty. Just not having a chip that's actual purpose is to be a rootkit would be enough. Being fairly confident I can disable the worst of its functionality might even be acceptable.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28 2019, @04:13AM (1 child)
I recommend anyone who isnt aware of the revolution occuring here to watch that talk. Acer, Asus, and Microsoft reps were basically worshipping her and paying homage. Id even say she got groped a bit by the (female) ms rep.
Intel has been awful to everyone for so long, nvidia too.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday May 28 2019, @04:31AM
It can't be that unusual for Intel or AMD to interact in a friendly way with computer brands. And in the case of Microsoft, every new Xbox is packing AMD hardware, probably the next gen version as well.
The Acer co-CEO Jerry Kao was really funny. I rate him an A++++++.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday May 28 2019, @04:14PM (1 child)
Personally, I think I would like a new GPU more than anything else, but prices for Vegas haven't been reasonable until recently. Now, with the new hotness slated to come out soon, I'm sitting waiting to see what happens. Plus, I essentially did everything there is to do on Fallout 4 VR and haven't Skyrim VR just hasn't hooked me.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday May 28 2019, @07:53PM
Wait for Intel to jump in next year, then it will be a 3-way competition.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28 2019, @06:16PM
no? well if i upgrade, it sure as hell won't be while they are still new. i'll encourage clients not to buy new either. hopefully i can just wait until someone, like maybe a riscv based co., can make a processor that is not working against me behind my back and laughing at my desire security and freedom.