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A lot of CPU news is coming out of Computex 2016.
Intel has launched its new Broadwell-E "Extreme Edition" CPUs for "enthusiasts". The top-of-the-line model, the i7-6950X, now includes 10 cores instead of 8, but the price has increased massively to around $1,723. Compare this to a ~$999 launch price for the 8-core i7-5960X or 6-core i7-4960X flagships from previous generations.
Intel has also launched some new Skylake-based Xeons with "Iris Pro" graphics.
AMD revealed more details about the Radeon RX 480, a 14nm "Polaris" GPU that will be priced at $199 and released on June 29th. AMD intends to compete for the budget/mainstream gamer segment falling far short of the $379 launch price of a GTX 1070, while delivering around 70-75% of the performance. It also claims that the RX 480 will perform well enough to allow more gamers to use premium virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive.
While 14nm AMD "Zen" desktop chips should be coming later this year, laptop/2-in-1/tablet users will have to settle for the 7th generation Bristol Ridge and Stoney Ridge APUs. They are still 28nm "Excavator" based chips with "modules" instead of cores.
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Thursday June 02 2016, @04:00PM
RX480 is pretty much AMD's equivalent of GTX970.
1070 is there for 2k/1080p gaming. 1080 is for 4k. RX480 will afaik save more power, but 970 will drop in price so you can think about it if you aren't actively against nvidia.
I personally own 970 so I am skipping this whole upgrade cycle. In 2-3 years I am planning to get a 4k monitor and then I will think about upgrading :)
(Score: 2) by purple_cobra on Thursday June 02 2016, @07:07PM
Ditto on the skipping this generation and for the same reason. The gaming machine has a Xeon in it so I won't be in any great rush to upgrade that either unless there is some compelling reason to do so.
One thing I would like to see from AMD is the desktop equivalent APUs to the mobile ones they announced here. A motherboard made by a reputable company with an onboard DisplayPort socket for that would be perfect; that's the last hurdle to clear before I upgrade my better half's PC. She's currently using my old Radeon card solely because the DisplayPort output on that will handle the 2560x1440 monitor she uses. I've seen a few boards meeting that requirement advertised in the US but the availability here in the UK seems to be very limited, possibly non-existent.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 02 2016, @07:26PM
Well my computer is a male and after reading about your computer he would like to go out with her.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Thursday June 02 2016, @10:17PM
Sorry, she only dates "men".
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Friday June 03 2016, @07:37AM
AMD appears to be aiming for APUs only. Both PS4 and XBONE have them already, so I am hoping in 2-3 years they will have something good for PC market too. But AMD is also, as it appears, not aiming for desktop gaming market so lets watch and see :)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday June 03 2016, @08:25PM
AMD's 14nm Zen chips for desktops will be released in 2016, up to a year before Zen chips for laptops/tablets are released.
Instead, we get Bristol/Stoney Ridge for mobile in 2016, which is still a 28nm part.
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(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Thursday June 02 2016, @11:03PM
The 970 is still up there in price, $300-350. If The RX480 does the job of the 970 for the same price but consumes less power, it's still a win on power costs alone. I'll wait for some benchmarks. And Before the Radeon 6850 I had an Nvidia 9800 GT in my older AMD so nothing against Nvidia.
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Friday June 03 2016, @07:34AM
Hmm. That appears to be the general feeling. Let's wait for the benchmarks. RX480 is also VR ready, whatever that means, so it has that too...
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday June 03 2016, @08:27PM
One good thing about VR GPU performance is that it can use a dual GPU setup more efficiently, since one GPU can be allocated to each eye (to an extent).
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(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Friday June 03 2016, @03:20PM
RX480 just is definitely turning into a good bet http://asidcast.com/rx-480-crossfire-beats-gtx-1080-in-real-world-performance/ [asidcast.com]