Month: March 2021

MSI MEG Z590 ACE – TechPowerUp

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The MSI Enthusiast Gaming, or MEG for short, line of motherboards represents the best of the best MSI has to offer. Last year’s Z490 MEG line offered some of the best overclocking available on an Intel platform. Memory overclocking was particularly noteworthy due to such innovations as MSI’s tabbed memory trace layout. Those same innovations return on MSI’s new Z590 lineup with even more refinement. The MSI MEG Z590 ACE features a massive 19-phase VRM with top of the line 90 A power stages and a robust VRM cooling solution, four M.2 slots, Thunderbolt 4, and a plethora of overclocking features. The MSI MEG Z590 ACE has a premium spec sheet, let’s see if there is premium performance to match!

Read more @ TechPowerUp

ASRock Z590 Taichi – HKEPC

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The 11th generation Intel Core series CPU has not yet appeared, the motherboard of the Z590 chipset will be the first to enter the battle, ASRock will launch the new Z590 TAICHI, continue to use strong power supply materials and perfect peripheral connectivity as a selling point, using 14-phase 90A Dr.MOS The power supply module fully meets the power requirements of the next generation Intel Core i9 under heavy overclocking. Continue to have a full-covered heat-dissipating armor and aluminum alloy back panel design. The all-black color scheme sets off the gear decoration that symbolizes the Tai Chi series. One set of gears will rotate slowly when the system is running. I want to build the 11th generation Intel machine. Readers may wish to consider it.

Read more @ HKEPC (Chinese)

ASRock Z490 Taichi – Windows Central

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ASRock’s Taichi range of motherboard has been a solid choice for both AMD and Intel processors and the Z490 is the latest for team blue. As well as continuing the gorgeous aesthetics we’ve come to love with this series, the latest Taichi motherboard from ASRock comes with support for 10th and 11th Gen Intel processors.

Because we’re talking 11th Gen support, ASRock has worked in PCIe 4.0 tech that will be ready to go with the latest CPUs from Intel. There’s a heavy power delivery phase design with active cooling for enhanced performance and overclocking and 2.5Gb/s LAN (or Wi-Fi 6) connectivity allows for some seriously fast data transfer over networks.

Read more @ Windows Central

AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT Breaks Cover

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As you might have noticed, today marks the release of AMD’s latest Radeon RX 6700 XT. Here’s some information on this new chip, as well as a plethora of reviews to deep dive if this is the right card for you.

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card is built on 7nm process technology and AMD RDNA 2 gaming architecture, designed to deliver the optimal combination of performance and power efficiency. Additional features and capabilities include:

AMD Infinity Cache – 96MB of last-level data cache on the GPU die provides up to 2.5X higher bandwidth at the same power level as traditional architectures3 to provide higher gaming performance.

AMD Smart Access Memory – Unlocks higher performance when pairing AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series graphics cards with AMD Ryzen 5000 or select Ryzen 3000 Series Desktop Processors and AMD 500-series motherboards. Providing AMD Ryzen processors with access to high-speed GDDR6 graphics memory can deliver a performance uplift of up to 16 percent4.

12GB High-Speed GDDR6 VRAM – Designed to handle the increasing texture loads and greater visual demands of today’s modern games at higher resolutions and max settings, the new graphics card with 12GB of GDDR6 of memory allows gamers to easily power through today and tomorrow’s demanding AAA titles.

AMD FidelityFX – Integrated into more than 40 games and counting, AMD FidelityFX is an open-source toolkit of visual enhancement effects for game developers available at AMD GPUOpen. Optimized for AMD Radeon graphics, it includes a robust collection of rasterized lighting, shadow and reflection effects that can be integrated into the latest games with minimal performance overhead.

DirectX® Raytracing (DXR) – AMD RDNA 2 architecture-based graphics cards are optimized to deliver real-time lighting, shadow and reflection realism with DXR, providing a stunning gaming experience. When paired with AMD FidelityFX, developers can combine rasterized and ray-traced effects to provide an ideal balance of image quality and gaming performance.

AMD Radeon Anti-Lag5 – Now with support for the DirectX 12 API, AMD Radeon Anti-Lag decreases input-to-display response times, making games more responsive and offering a competitive edge in gameplay.

AMD Radeon Boost6 – Now with support for Variable Rate Shading, AMD Radeon Boost delivers up to a 27 percent performance increase7 during fast-motion gaming scenarios by dynamically reducing image resolution or by varying shading rates for different regions of a frame, increasing framerates and fluidity, and bolstering responsiveness with virtually no perceptual impact on image quality.

Powercolor Radeon RX 6700 XT Hellhound @ Guru3D
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT @ Hot Hardware
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT @ Guru3D
MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Gaming X @ Guru3D
XFX Radeon RX 6700 XT MERC 319 @ Guru3D
ASUS Radeon RX 6700 XT STRIX OC @ Guru3D
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT @ TweakTown
MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Gaming X @ ThinkComputers
PowerColor RX 6700 XT Red Devil @ TechPowerUp
XFX Radeon RX 6700 XT Merc 319 Black @ TechPowerUp
Sapphire Radeon RX 6700 XT Nitro+ @ TechPowerUp
MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Gaming X @ TechPowerUp
ASUS Radeon RX 6700 XT STRIX OC @ TechPowerUp
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT @ TechPowerUp
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT @ Tom’s Hardware
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT @ PC Perspective
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT @ Ars Technica
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT @ TechSpot
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT @ KitGuru

And for even more, check out the massive VideoCardz list…

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.

ASUS PRIME B550M-A (WI-FI) – Comptoir Hardware

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The B550 chipset makes it possible to bring more reasonable prices to users wishing to take advantage of PCIe 4.0 on their configuration. This has also enabled manufacturers to improve the quality of cards of a lower range than flagships, by improving the power supplies and on-board functions. So we took a look at the ASUS Prime B550M-A , in Wi-Fi version, to see what it is worth to make more affordable machines.

Read more @ Comptoir Hardware (French)

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

ASUS ROG STRIX Z590-E GAMING WIFI – GinjFo

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Listed at the recommended retail price of € 419.90, this ROG Strix Z590-E Gaming WIFI targets the high end, not to say the very high end. It is aimed at players looking for the latest technologies and an armed platform to accommodate muscle and an imposing graphics card. Its connectivity is generous while Asus deploys a host of so-called intelligent technologies. They affect different aspects ranging from cooling to overclocking through audio.

Read more @ GinjFo (French)

Intel Core i7-11700K and Core i9-11900K Hit CPU-Z

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Over on Twitter, APISAK has come across some CPU-Z benchmarks of the upcoming Intel Rocket Lake-S processor, the Core -7-11700K and Core i9-11900K. Time will tell if these score can actually be trusted, but they look interesting. For example, the Core i7-11700K posts a single threaded score of 719 at a blazing 5.3GHz. The Core i9-11900K rolled in at 716. Perhaps less reliable is the 5.9GHz report. We’ll see soon enough what the real performance of these chips are.