CPUs

The database of CPU reviews. Looking for something specific? Hit up the search, tags, or just explore through. If it’s been reviewed recently, you’ll find it here.

Alder Lake + Z690 DDR5 Performance Scaling

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The new DDR5 memory comes with the expected early-adopter tax, and prices of memory modules range wildly mostly based on frequency. A single 16 GB DDR5-4800 module costs around $120, but overclocked modules, such as DDR5-5200 and DDR5-6000, or higher, could cost double or even triple that. Granted, these only cater to a niche crowd, but we’re curious to see just how much performance you “lose” by sticking to the DDR5-4800, which Intel considers baseline for the “Alder Lake” memory controllers.

Read more @ TechPowerUp

Intel Unveils 12th Gen Intel Core, Launches World’s Best Gaming Processor, i9-12900K

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SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 27, 2021 – Today at Intel Innovation, Intel unveiled the 12th Gen Intel® Core™ processor family with the launch of six new unlocked desktop processors, including the world’s best gaming processor, the 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900K. With a max turbo boost of up to 5.2 GHz and as many as 16 cores and 24 threads, the new desktop processors reach new heights of multi-threaded performance for enthusiast gamers and professional creators.

The full 12th Gen Intel Core family will include 60 processors, set to power more than 500 designs from a broad set of partners. As detailed during Intel Architecture Day 2021, the new performance hybrid architecture, the first built on Intel 7 process, delivers scalable performance from 9 to 125 watts to enable every PC segment from ultra-thin-and-light laptops to enthusiast desktops and out to the edge. 

“The performance hybrid architecture of 12th Gen Intel Core processors is an architectural shift made possible by close co-engineering of software and hardware that will deliver new levels of leadership performance for generations,” said Gregory Bryant, Intel executive vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group. “This begins with the arrival of our flagship Core i9-12900K – the world’s best gaming processor – and you will see even more incredible experiences as we ship the rest of the 12th Gen family and beyond.”PauseMuteLoaded: 80.03%Remaining Time -0:53SharePicture-in-PictureFullscreen

Game, Create and Overclock with Unlocked 12th Gen Desktop Processors

The six unlocked desktop processors launched today are the first based on Intel’s performance hybrid architecture featuring a combination of Performance-cores (P-cores), the highest performing CPU core Intel has built, and Efficient-cores (E-cores), designed for scalable multi-threaded workload performance.

Intel® Thread Director enables the two new core microarchitectures to work seamlessly together by guiding the operating system (OS) to place the right thread on the right core at the right time. Intel has worked with the ecosystem on extensive testing to optimize performance and compatibility, and as part of the company’s reinforced investments in the developer community, has published white papers for developers with guidance on how independent software vendors can optimize applications for performance hybrid platforms.

“We’re at the beginning of a new era for the PC led by the introduction of Windows 11,” said Panos Panay, executive vice president and chief product officer, Microsoft. “With Windows 11 and Intel’s new Thread Director technology, users will see their PC performance reach new heights on the new 12th Gen Intel Core family of processors.”

The combination of Intel’s new performance hybrid architecture and new Intel 7 process technology delivers improved single-threaded and multi-threaded performance to enable:

  • The World’s Best Gaming Processor: Available with up to 16 cores and 24 threads, the new 12th Gen Intel Core processor family includes the world’s best gaming processor, the Core i9-12900K, unleashing gaming experiences across top titles. The Core i9-12900K provides amazing gen-over-gen performance increases, including up to 25% more FPS on Troy: A Total War Saga, up to 28% more FPS on Hitman 3, and up to 23% more FPS on Far Cry 63. Enhanced by Intel® Killer™ Wi-Fi 6E for up to 75% less latency while gaming when multitasking4, high-frequency P-cores paired with E-cores for offloading parallel tasks enable up to 84% more frames per second for simultaneous gaming, streaming, and recording5.
  • A Leap in Content Creation Performance: Advancements in multi-threaded performance, the responsive performance of the P-cores and the ability to move data at incredible speeds with DDR5 enable leadership across all types of content creation experiences, including:
    • Up to 36% faster photo editing performance6
    • Up to 32% faster video editing performance7
    • Up to 37% faster 3D modeling performance8
    • Up to 100% faster multi-frame rendering9
  • ​The Best Overclocking Experience10: The new processors offer industry-leading overclocking tools for the ultimate performance customization, including the ability to overclock Efficient-cores and DDR5 memory. Enthusiasts and gamers can try these new platform overclocking features as part of the latest Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) 7.5. Starting with the Core i9-12900K, XTU will also support one-click overclocking with Intel Speed Optimizer for unlocked 12th Gen processors. Further, Intel introduced the latest Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) 3.0 with support for DDR5, offering additional profiles, including new rewriteable custom profiles and flexible tuning for memory overclocking.

Enabling Desktop Platforms with Industry-Leading Features

12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors empower people with the performance and industry-leading features for exceptional experiences across gaming, content, and play for today and tomorrow.

Key platform advancements include:

  • The first processors in the industry to offer DDR5 memory for up to 4800MT/s.
  •  The first processors in the industry to offer PCIe 5.0 (up to 16 lanes), which offers up to 2X I/O throughput over PCIe 4.0, with up to an additional four lanes of PCIe 4.0 support.
  • Up to 30MB Intel® Smart Cache (L3) and 14MB L2 cache for increased memory capacity with reduced latency.
  • Integrated high-speed wireless with Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6E, which combines industry-leading Wi-Fi 6E connectivity with powerful gaming network technology to minimize lag, latency, and packet loss10.
  • Discrete Thunderbolt 4 universal cable connectivity for external device expansion.

All–New Intel 600 Series Chipset

Alongside the 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors, Intel is launching the new Intel 600 Series Chipset with advanced features for increased reliability and performance. New PCIe Gen 4.0 lanes make for 28 total lanes off the chipset, integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 provides up to double the bandwidth, DMI Gen 4.0 increases the chipset to CPU throughput for fast access to peripheral devices and networking.

For the first time, Intel is bringing Intel® Volume Management Device (VMD) to PC chipsets to simplify storage control by allowing direct control and management of NVMe-based SSDs from the PCIe bus without additional RAID controllers or other hardware adaptors.

Availability

Unlocked 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors are available now for pre-order from participating OEMs, channel partners, and retailers. Broad availability will start Nov. 4 with more than 140 customers in more than 30 countries expected to add the new processors to their lineups by the end of the year. Pricing starts at $264 to $589 for the unlocked desktop processors.

Intel expects to ship hundreds of thousands of 12th Gen Intel Core desktop “K” processors by end of year and more than 2 million by the end of March 2022. To enable the expanded offerings for desktop, mobile and commercial segments expected in early 2022, Intel is also shipping 28 of the processor SKUs in the 12th Gen Intel Core processor family to OEM partners. 

Read more @ Intel

Intel Alder Lake – Announcement Oct 27th, Launch Nov 4.

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Our sources have confirmed that the Intel 12th Gen Core processor lineup along with the Z690 motherboards will be readily available on 4th November at 6:00 AM PT. Intel will also hold a pre-launch announcement next week where they would disclose the prices, specifications, and general performance numbers of their next-gen family during 27th & 28th October during the ‘Innovation’ event.

Read more @ Wccftech

Intel Shows First Alder Lake CPUs

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Intel Alder Lake will be announced on October 28th during the Innovation event. The CPUs are expected to go on sale on the same day, however, retailers cannot ship them till November 4th, which is the official launch date of the series and also its review embargo. It is worth adding though that this date has changed at least 3 times in the past few weeks.

Read more @ Videocardz

AMD Ryzen 7 5700G – Tom’s Hardware

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The eight-core 16-thread Ryzen 7 5700G marks the arrival of AMD’s first 7nm ‘Cezanne’ Zen 3 APUs for desktop PCs, and today we’re taking an early look at the chips. AMD plans to use the Cezanne chips to plug big price gaps in its Ryzen 5000 lineup that dominates our Best CPU list and CPU Benchmark hierarchy, but they’re limited to the OEM market until the full retail launch on August 5, 2021. Anticipation is high, though, so we grabbed an off-the-shelf system from HP to take the Ryzen 7 5700G for a spin.

Read more @ Tom’s Hardware

AMD AM5 / 600-Series Chipset Specs Leak?

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Without a doubt, the biggest shock is that the AM5 platform, at least initially on the 600 series motherboards, will not offer PCI-E 5.0 support. It appears that, at least for the moment, this will remain entirely exclusive to the Zen4 Genoa platform utilized for their HEDT EPYC processors. – The plot, however, does thicken.

It is being suggested that the AM5 socket will not be introduced until 2022 (and possibly quite late in the year). This means several things. Firstly, that it’s unlikely we’re going to get Ryzen 6000 CPU releases this year. Secondly, that Intel is going to have a pretty good head start in DDR5 memory. Thirdly though, and this is a big one, the gap is going to potentially be even bigger with Intel offering PCI-E 5.0 support while AMD, even with the launch of this new AM5 platform, will apparently not.

Read more @ eTeknix

Intel Rocket Lake-S CPUs Arrive

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Today is the 30th, launch day for Intel’s latest CPUs, Rocket Lake-S. These chips are last in line (finally) for the 14nm process, and have scaled back in terms of cores in favor of IPC improvements. How do they officially stack up against the AMD Zen 3 CPUs though? Read on to find out.

Intel Core i9-11900K @ TweakTown
Intel Core i5-11600K @ TweakTown
Intel Core i5-11600K @ Guru3D
Intel Core i9-11900K @ Guru3D
Intel Core i9-11900K And i5-11600K @ Hot Hardware
Intel Core i9-11900K, Core i7-11700K, and Core i5-11600K @ AnandTech
Intel Core i9-11900K and i5-11600K @ Tom’s Hardware
Intel Core i9-11900K and i5-11600K @ @ PC Perspective
Intel Core i9-11900K @ TechPowerUp
Intel Core i5-11600K @ TechPowerUp
Intel Core i9-11900K @ PC Magazine

AGESA 1.2.0.2 BIOS Updates for USB Issues Coming Soon

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Per a prost from AMD via Reddit, we can expect an AGESA update shortly to address the known USB connectivity issues. AGESA 1.2.0.2 will be used to deploy this update to the masses:

We would like to thank the community here on r/AMD for its assistance with logs and reports as we investigated the intermittent USB connectivity you highlighted. With your help, we believe we have isolated the root cause and developed a solution that addresses a range of reported symptoms, including (but not limited to): USB port dropout, USB 2.0 audio crackling (e.g. DAC/AMP combos), and USB/PCIe Gen 4 exclusion.

AMD has prepared AGESA 1.2.0.2 to deploy this update, and we plan to distribute 1.2.0.2 to our motherboard partners for integration in about a week. Customers can expect downloadable BIOSes containing AGESA 1.2.0.2 to begin with beta updates in early April. The exact update schedule for your system will depend on the test and implementation schedule for your vendor and specific motherboard model. If you continue to experience intermittent USB connectivity issues after updating your system to AGESA 1.2.0.2, we encourage you to download the standalone AMD Bug Report Tool and open a ticket with AMD Customer Support.

AMD Brings Power of “Zen 3” to Mobile

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. 03/16/2021

Today, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) announced the AMD Ryzen™ PRO 5000 Series Mobile Processors, bringing the uncompromising performance and efficiency of the “Zen 3” core architecture to premium business laptops. Paired with AMD PRO technologies that offer strengthened multi-layer enterprise-class security features and powerhouse productivity, the new AMD Ryzen PRO 5000 Series Mobile Processors are built to meet the demands of the modern workforce. With broad availability from HP and Lenovo expected starting in Q2, the number of AMD-powered enterprise notebooks is expected to triple by the end of 2021.

“Navigating an increasingly distributed work environment requires more performance and security from our professional laptops. Businesses need to be confident they are investing in technology that will meet the needs of their employees, whether they are working remotely or from the office,” said Saeid Moshkelani, senior vice president and general manager, Client Business Unit, AMD. “The new AMD Ryzen PRO 5000 Series Mobile Processors significantly increase the capabilities of ultrathin enterprise notebooks and deliver best-in-class user experiences with leadership performance, exceptional battery life and robust security features for every work environment.”

AMD Ryzen PRO 5000 Series Mobile Processors

AMD Ryzen PRO 5000 Series Mobile Processors are built to provide a powerful computing experience with security features for today’s demanding business environments.

  • Leading performance for top-level productivity and collaboration
    • The AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U processor, with 8 cores and 16 threads, delivers leadership CPU performance, offering up to 57%2 more multi-threaded performance than the competition.
    • AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U processor is designed for the increased demand in productivity, offering up to 23%3 faster performance for home and office productivity than the competition.
  • Enhanced power efficiency
    • Built for all-day battery life and productivity, along with the optimized 7nm “Zen 3” core architecture, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U processor offers up to 17.54 hours of battery life.
  • Modern AMD PRO Technologies
    • AMD PRO security provides a multi-layered approach to security features by embedding defenses at every level, from silicon through operating system. AMD Memory Guard, exclusive to AMD Ryzen PRO processors and automatically enabled on Microsoft Secured-Core PCs, helps enable data and identity protection, while AMD Shadow Stack helps provide hardware enabled protection against malware attacks.
    • AMD PRO manageability enables a full manageability feature set for simplified deployment, imaging and management that is compatible with modern IT infrastructures. AMD Ryzen PRO processors offer full support for Microsoft Endpoint Manager to deliver a flexible and integrated cloud management solution.
    • AMD PRO business ready technologies bring enterprise-grade computing solutions designed for quality and reliability, in addition to platform longevity. AMD Ryzen PRO processors feature 18-months of planned software stability and 24-months of planned availability. ​

Read more @ AMD Newsroom

Intel Launches 11th Gen Intel Core: Unmatched Overclocking, Game Performance

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The 11th Gen Intel® Core™ S-series desktop processors (code-named “Rocket Lake-S”) launched worldwide today, led by the flagship Intel® Core™ i9-11900K. Reaching speeds of up to 5.3GHz with Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost1, the Intel Core i9-11900K delivers even more performance to gamers and PC enthusiasts.

More: 11th Gen Intel Core Desktop (Press Kit) | Tech Minute: Intel’s Rocket Lake-S in 60 seconds (Video) | Introducing the New 11th Gen Intel Core Desktop Processors (Product Brief) | 11th Gen Intel Core Desktop Processors SKU Tables (PDF)

Engineered on the new Cypress Cove architecture, 11th Gen Intel Core S-series desktop processors are designed to transform hardware and software efficiency and increase raw gaming performance​. The new architecture brings up to 19% gen-over-gen instructions per cycle (IPC) improvement2 for the highest frequency cores and adds Intel® UHD graphics featuring the Intel® Xe graphics architecture for rich media and intelligent graphics capabilities. That matters because games and most applications continue to depend on high-frequency cores to drive high frame rates and low latency.

Designed to Game: With its new 11th Gen desktop processors, Intel continues to push desktop gaming performance to the limits and deliver the most amazing immersive experiences for players everywhere.

At the top of the stack is the 11th Gen Intel Core i9-11900K, featuring unmatched performance with up to 5.3 gigahertz, eight cores, 16 threads and 16 megabytes of Intel® Smart Cache. The unlocked 11th Gen Intel Core desktop processor supports fast memory speeds with DDR4-3200 to help enable smooth gameplay and seamless multitasking on this platform.

Improvements in this generation include:

  • Up to 19% gen-over-gen IPC performance improvement.
  • Up to 50% better integrated graphics performance with Intel UHD graphics featuring Intel Xe graphics architecture.3
  • Intel® Deep Learning Boost and Vector Neural Network Instructions support​ to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) inference — vastly improving performance for deep learning workloads.
  • Enhanced overclocking tools and features for flexible overclocking and tuning performance and experience.

Through close collaboration with more than 200 of the top game developers, Intel brings a host of game, engine, middleware and rendering optimizations to applications so they can take advantage of 11th Gen Intel® Core™ S-series processors to deliver exciting gaming experiences.

Superior Tuning and Stability: 11th Gen Intel Core desktop processors introduce new overclocking tools and features for more flexible tuning to achieve unmatched speeds and superior game performance. This generation includes real-time memory overclocking which enables changes to DDR4 frequency in real time, extending memory overclocking support for H570 and B560 chipsets allowing users to experience overclocking, Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) 2  and AVX-512 voltage guard band override, and an all new integrated memory controller with wider timings and Gear 2 support (in addition to Gear 1 support).

Media and Streaming Features for Days: The new 11th Gen Intel Core S-series delivers rich media experiences, from AAA gaming to high-definition streaming with additional features including DDR4-3200 MHz support, 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes, Intel Quick Sync Video, enhanced media​ (10bit AV1/12bit high-efficiency video coding decode and end-to-end  compression), enhanced display (Integrated HDMI 2.0, HBR3), and discrete Thunderbolt™ 4 and Intel Wi-Fi 6E support.

For more information on Intel 11th Gen Intel® Core™ S-series desktop processors, visit the 11th Gen Intel Core Desktop Processors Product Brief.

Read more @ Intel Newsroom