Last year, AMD released the Ryzen 3000 series desktop processors in one of the most monumental hardware launches of the modern era. This final step completed the Red brand’s ascent back into the forefront of the desktop processor market that began with the launch of the first generation of Ryzen CPUs. Now, Intel is finally firing back with the launch of the 10th Gen Intel Core processors, along with a new motherboard standard to drive them.
As should be no surprise, the focus will remain on the new motherboards. While the 10th Gen Intel Core processors will not support PCIe 4.0 connectivity due to signal integrity issues, many of the Z490 motherboards are designed to support the PCIe 4.0 specification. This is accomplished by adding clock generators to help clean up the signal. Generally speaking, when it comes to long-term platform support, AMD has been the trendsetter. Has AMD’s long support of the AM4 socket on its newer-generation processors inspired Intel to take similar steps?
So what is Z490 offering right now? For starters, there has been a large focus on VRM and VRM cooling design. With the top-level Intel Core i9-10900K featuring 10 cores along with HyperThreading, the ability to deliver clean, continuous power is going to be one of the primary factors that separates a good Z490 board from the competition. With the introduction of HyperThreading on Intel’s mid-range line up, power delivery is going to be vital in all segments.
The Maximus family serves as ASUS’s flagship line for Intel motherboards, with premium looks, premium features, blazing performance, and broad overclocking support. The Maximus lineup typically comprises four models: the Hero, Apex, Formula, and Extreme. Intel’s Z490 chipset is no exception. The ASUS ROG Maximus XII Extreme serves as the capstone entry for the Maximus family, providing every bell and whistle available.
The ASUS ROG Maximus XII Extreme features a robust VRM cooling solution complete with an optional active cooling fan, all paired with no less than sixteen 90 A power stages from Infineon. Dual BIOS with BIOS flashback has also been included, as well as ASUS’s excellent BIOS designed to provide an optimal, stress-free overclocking experience. The ASUS ROG Maximus XII Extreme also offers great connectivity with not only WiFi 6 and 2.5 Gb/s LAN, but also 10 Gb/s Ethernet using an Aquantia controller. All of this performance is bundled into a sleek, modern package with excellent RGB options and a host of accessories.
Let’s take a closer look at what the ASUS ROG Maximus XII Extreme has to offer.
2x Antenna ports 1x Bios Flashback button 1x Clear CMOS button 1x Optical SPDIF out port 2x LAN (RJ45) port 1x USB 3.2 (Gen2x2) Type-C port 1x USB 3.2 (Gen2) Type-C port 6x USB 3.2 (Gen1) ports 2x USB 3.2 (Gen2) Type-A ports 2x USB 2.0 ports 5x 3.5 mm audio jacks
Audio:
1x Realtek ALC1220 Codec
Fan Headers:
14x 4-pin
Form Factor:
Extended ATX Form Factor: 12.0 x 10.9 in. / 30.5 x 27.7 cm
Home/Component/Cases/Gigabyte unveils the new Aorus C700 Glass full-tower chassis
João Silva 1 hour ago Cases, Featured Tech News
Gigabyte Aorus has unveiled a new case this week – the C700 Glass. This full-tower chassis features extensive water and air cooling support, up to E-ATX motherboards, and 10x SSDs, allowing users to create a powerful system inside it.
Featuring translucent black tempered glass panels on both sides, the case features RGB Fusion 2.0 ARGB lighting that you can synchronise with other compatible components. The side panels are easily removable without tools, making it more convenient to upgrade your components, or just cleaning dust out of your case.
The Aorus C700 Glass allows users to mount air coolers with 198mm tall heatsinks, 490mm long graphics cards, and 200mm length power supplies. The GPU can be installed either horizontally or vertically. This case supports up to 3x 120/140mm fans (3x 120mm ARGB fans included) on the top panel, 2x 120mm fans (included) or a 140mm fan at the rear, and 3x 120/140mm fans on the front panel. Radiator support is also quite extensive, allowing users to mount 420mm radiators on the top, 360mm radiator on the front, and 140mm at the rear.
There are multiple drive bays for storage drives inside the chassis, supporting up to 10x 2.5-inch drives, from which 4x drive bays also support 3.5-inch drives. The case comes with a built-in ARGB and PWM hub controller with 3x 5V 3-pin ARGB connectors and 5x PWM connectors. The front I/O panel is well equipped with 4x USB-A 3.0 ports, a USB-C 3.1 Gen2 port, a 3.5mm audio-out jack, a 3.5mm audio-in jack, RGB and fan speed buttons, and an HDMI port. Additionally, there’s a PSU shroud to hide the cabling and separate the PSU heat from the rest of the system and enough space on both left and right sides of the chassis for cable management.
Pricing and availability details of the Gigabyte Aorus C700 Glass have not been disclosed yet. You can learn more about this case HERE.
KitGuru says: What do you all think of the new Gigabyte Aorus C700 Glass? Is this a case that you would consider for your next PC build?
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The Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 650W achieves high performance and has also a dead silent operation.
For
Full power at 47 degrees Celsius
High overall performance
Efficient
Highly efficient 5VSB rail
Silent operation
Long hold-up time
Low inrush current with 115V
Fully modular
Adequate distance between the peripheral connectors
10-year warranty
Against
Mediocre transient response at 12V
No MOV in the transient filter
High OCP at 3.3V
Not fully compatible with the newest ATX spec (2.52)
Specifications and Part Analysis
The Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 650W achieves top overall performance, despite its mediocre transient response at +12V, which is the most important rail of all. With better transient response at the aforementioned rail, it could be the king in the 650W category. Still, the PF1 650W manages to earn a place in our best PSU picks article. Its major opponent is the Seasonic Focus Plus Platinum, which manages to take the lead with a small difference in overall performance.
We have already evaluated two of the three Toughpower PF1 models, with 750W and 850W capacity, so we thought also to take a look at the smallest member of the line with 650W max power output. The Toughpower PF1 650W can support systems equipped with Nvidia RTX 3070/3060Ti or the AMD RX 6800, as long as you don’t have installed other power-hungry components or a highly overclocked CPU. For the RTX 3080 and depending on the model, we would suggest an 850W power supply.
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Product Photos
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The Toughpower PF1 650W is a fully modular power supply, and like the other two of this line, it uses a platform provided by HKC. So far, this OEM didn’t have much to show in the high-end category, so it is nice to see a new contender in this category where a handful of OEMs dominate the market. The PSU has compact dimensions, measuring only 140mm in length, and it is 80 PLUS Platinum, and ETA-A rated in the Cybenetics efficiency scale. It also has a LAMBDA-A noise certification, which translates to low noise output. Typically, the higher the efficiency rating, the lower the noise output since thermal loads are at low levels, so there is no need for aggressive fan speed profiles unless the manufacturer uses tiny heat sinks or/and low-quality components which need to be kept at as low as possible operating temperatures.
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Product Photos
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Specifications
Manufacturer (OEM)
HKC
Max. DC Output
650W
Efficiency
80 PLUS Platinum, ETA-A (88-91%)
Noise
LAMBDA-A (20-25 dB[A])
Modular
✓ (Fully)
Intel C6/C7 Power State Support
✓
Operating Temperature (Continuous Full Load)
0 – 50°C
Over Voltage Protection
✓
Under Voltage Protection
✓
Over Power Protection
✓
Over Current (+12V) Protection
✓
Over Temperature Protection
✓
Short Circuit Protection
✓
Surge Protection
✓
Inrush Current Protection
✓
Fan Failure Protection
✗
No Load Operation
✓
Cooling
120mm Hydraulic Bearing Fan [TT-1225(XW12025MS)]
Semi-Passive Operation
✓ (selectable)
Dimensions (W x H x D)
150 x 85 x 140mm
Weight
1.24 kg (2.73 lb)
Form Factor
ATX12V v2.4, EPS 2.92
Warranty
10 Years
Power Specifications
Rail
3.3V
5V
12V
5VSB
-12V
Max. Power
Amps
20
20
62.5
2.5
0.3
Watts
100
648
12.5
3.6
Total Max. Power (W)
650
Cables & Connectors
Modular Cables
Cable Count
Connector Count (Total)
Gauge
In Cable Capacitors
ATX connector 20+4 pin (600mm)
1
1
16-18AWG
No
4+4 pin EPS12V (650mm)
2
2
16AWG
No
6+2 pin PCIe (500mm+150mm)
2
4
16-18AWG
No
SATA (480mm+150mm+150mm)
3
9
18AWG
No
4-pin Molex (480mm+150mm+150mm+150mm)
1
4
18AWG
No
FDD Adapter (+100mm)
1
1
22AWG
No
AC Power Cord (1400mm) – C13 coupler
1
1
18AWG
No
There are enough cables and connectors, including two EPS and four PCIe. Cable length is satisfactory, and the distance between the peripheral connectors is adequate at 150mm. Finally, there are no in-line caps on the cables, which can be a major pain during cable routing and management.
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Cable Photos
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Component Analysis
We strongly encourage you to have a look at our PSUs 101 article, which provides valuable information about PSUs and their operation, allowing you to better understand the components we’re about to discuss.
–
General Information
Manufacturer (OEM)
HKC
PCB Type
Double Sided
–
Primary Side
Transient Filter
6x Y caps, 2x X caps, 2x CM chokes
Inrush Protection
NTC Thermistor 2.5D-15 (2.5Ohm) & Relay
Bridge Rectifier(s)
2x GBU1506L (600V, 15A @ 100°C)
APFC MOSFETs
2x NCE Power NCE65TF130F (650V, 18A @ 100°C, Rds(on): 0.13Ohm)
APFC Boost Diode
1x Global Power Technology G3S06004J (600V, 4A @ 150°C)
Bulk Cap(s)
2x Rubycon (420V, 330uF each or 660uF combined, 2,000h @ 105°C, MXH)
Main Switchers
2x NCE Power NCE65TF130F (650V, 18A @ 100°C, Rds(on): 0.13Ohm)
This is a high-end HKC platform using a half-bridge topology and an LLC resonant converter on the primary side. On the secondary side, we find synchronous rectification and DC-DC converters to generate the minor rails.
Soldering quality is satisfactory, and the design leaves lots of space on the secondary side, which looks almost empty. There no heat sinks on this side, with the 12V FETs being directly exposed to the fan’s airflow since they are installed on the top side of the PCB.
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Transient filter
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The transient filter does a good job, according to our test results. The only issue is that it lacks an MOV, so there is no surge protection. On the other hand, the PSU is equipped with an NTC thermistor and a relay, with the former having low resistance. With a higher resistance NTC thermistor, the inrush currents with 230V would be even lower.
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Bridge rectifiers
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Two bridge rectifiers are bolted onto a small heatsink.
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APFC converter
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The APFC converter uses two FETs and a single boost diode. The bulk caps are provided by Rubycon and have enough capacity to allow for a higher than 17ms hold-up time.
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Main FETs and primary transformer
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The main FETs are provided by NCE Power, a Chinese manufacturer, and are installed into a half-bridge topology. An LLC converter is also used to boost efficiency.
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12V FETs and VRMs
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Six FETs handle the regulation of the 12V rail, and for the minor rails, a pair of DC-DC converters are used. The latter also uses two PWM controllers, provided by Anpec.
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Filtering caps
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There aren’t many electrolytic caps, but the ones that HKC used are of good quality. A large number of polymer caps do the heavy lifting in ripple filtering.
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5VSB Circuit
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The standby PWM controller is a PN8141 IC, and the 5VSB rectifier is a SB1045L SBR.
Eleven polymer caps are installed on the modular board’s face to provide an extra ripple filtering layer.
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Soldering quality
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Not much to see on the solder side. This is a major difference in design compared to the other popular platforms by Seasonic, CWT, and Super Flower.
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Cooling fan
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The cooling fan has Thermaltake’s logo, and it uses a Hydraulic bearing. It’s OEM is Shenzhen Xin Wang Electronics, another Chinese fan manufacturer with better prices, most likely, compared to popular brands like Hong Hua and Globe Fan.
Gigabyte is adding a new case to its range with the Aorus C 700 Glass, which proves to be a large flagship model turns out. The striking design with the mainboard tray tilted back and numerous lighting elements is particularly striking.
Gigabyte manufactures the housing from steel, aluminum, plastic and glass. The mainboard tray, which is tilted back, not only shapes the look, but should also benefit the airflow. The complex lighting system can either be controlled and synchronized via RGB Fusion 2.0 or controlled directly via buttons in the lid. Other buttons allow you to control the fan speed. The I / O panel with USB 3.1 Gen-2 Type-C, four USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port and the audio buttons are also located in the lid.
The 301 x 714 x 671 mm (W x H x D) large and over 19 kg heavy colossus should also with inner Convincing values. Gigabyte ensures that powerful and oversized high-end components can easily be accommodated. The maximum CPU cooler height is 19, 8 cm extremely lush, the same applies to the graphics card length of up to 49 cm. If you like, you can also align your graphics card vertically, but you need a riser cable for this. The mainboard may have a maximum of E-ATX format. From the factory, three 120 – mm front fans and two 120 -mm rear fan for cooling. These five fans are PWM models, the two rear fans are illuminated by A-RGB LEDs. An A-RGB and PWM hub is included. In addition, three 120 – or 140 – mm lid fans can be installed will. The front fan slots support alternatively 140 – mm fans, at the rear the two 120 mm fan can be replaced by a 140 mm fan. Water cooling users can have a maximum of one 360 – mm radiator behind the front and even one 420 under the lid -mm radiator installed. The Aorus C 700 Glass can offer four combined 2.5- and 3.5-inch drive slots and six pure 2.5-inch drive slots.
Gigabyte does not provide any information on the price of its new flagship case. The Aorus C 700 Glass has not yet been found in German retail either.
Page 1: Case FAQ: What you should know about PC cases (Update 2021)
In cooperation with be quiet!
The housing is available when a new PCs are usually way down the list. It is one of the most durable components and therefore deserves a certain amount of attention. However, there are some pitfalls when choosing a suitable case. Our FAQ is intended to draw attention to this and make it easier to buy a housing.
At the beginning there is the question of what kind of housing is actually needed. Because PC cases are available in a wide variety of sizes, at very different prices and with very different features. Especially with high-performance PCs, it is important which cooling options the housing offers. The case also plays an important role in the volume of the system. A well-chosen case can be a loyal companion for years to come. And it is precisely the modern, often highly modular housings that offer a lot of scope for adjustments – also to meet future trends.
What housing formats and materials are there?
The size of the case depends mainly on the desired mainboard and the available space. In addition, care should be taken to ensure that other components such as processor cooler, graphics card and power supply have enough space. Corresponding information is provided on the manufacturer’s product pages and the item descriptions in most online shops. The desired cooling solution can also have an effect on the size of the housing – especially if powerful water cooling is to be installed.
Most cases are tower cases, so they protrude upwards. If the width, depth and height are approximately the same, it is called a cube. This format is mainly used for smaller housings. The classic, flat desktop case of earlier times, however, has become rare.
Tower housings are roughly divided into mini towers, midi towers and full or big towers. However, some of the terms are not entirely clear. It is important that the desired mainboard fits into the appropriate housing. The mainboard formats supported are therefore always specified in the specifications of the housing.
The most typical mainboard formats are Mini-ITX (17 × 17 cm, usually one expansion card slot) , Micro-ATX or µATX (17, 4 × 24, 4 cm, mostly four expansion card slots), ATX (30, 5 × 24, 4 cm, usually seven expansion card slots) and E-ATX (30, 5 × 33 cm, usually seven expansion card slots). Because not all E-ATX mainboards reach the full E-ATX width by a long way, cases with E-ATX support are also advertised that are not actually intended for mainboards with the maximum E-ATX width. The manufacturers then usually specify the maximum exact dimensions the E-ATX mainboard may have. Typical is something like “E-ATX (Support 12 “x 11 “)”. Because the conversion factor from inches to centimeters is 2, 54, in this case an E-ATX mainboard with a height of 28, 5 cm and a width of 28 cm .
A concrete example of a typical midi tower that accepts E-ATX mainboards in addition to ATX mainboards is the be quiet! Silent Base 802. It is used for E-ATX mainboards up to 28, 5 x 27, 5 cm released. We mainly use this be quiet! Model as an example housing in this FAQ. A really full-grown full tower, however, is the be quiet! Top model Dark Base Pro 900 Rev. 2. If you are unsure how big the individual be quiet! Housings are in comparison, you can use the size comparison on the manufacturer’s website. Wikipedia has a much more detailed overview of the different mainboard form factors.
Currently, for PC Housing mainly used four different materials. Most cases have a robust steel frame. In particular, more elaborately shaped elements are made of plastic. The light metal aluminum can be used as a high-quality alternative to plastic and steel. Pure aluminum housings not only look particularly high-quality, they are also lighter than steel housings. However, because they are also significantly more expensive, manufacturers sometimes make a compromise: They manufacture the basic frame inexpensively from robust steel, but upgrade the outside of the housing with aluminum panels. In recent years, glass has finally established itself as a typical housing material. Glass side parts, but also some glass fronts and glass lids, allow glimpses into the interior. This means that the built-in hardware comes into its own even when the housing is closed.
In cooperation with be quiet!
<> Case FAQ: What you should know about PC cases ( Update 2021) What is installed where?
Although this type of PC cases are usually more common in pre-assembled equipment of manufacturers, Gigabyte has decided to independently launch its AORUS C 700 GLASS , an eye-catching PC tower that combines a tempered glass panel with an aggressive, angled shaped casing along with a software-driven ARGB lighting system RGB Fusion 2.0.
Available in full-tower format, the C 700 is capable of housing high-performance and large components, starting with E-ATX motherboards as the most cutting-edge and widest towers and ending with liquid cooling systems with radiators of 420 mm. If we opt for tower heatsinks, there is room for models of 19, 8 height cm.
The AORUS C 700 GLASS supports up to 8 fans and graphics of 49 cm
Includes five fans, two rear of 120 mm with ARGB and three fronts of 120 mm with PWM. In total, up to 8 fans can be placed.
Supports graphic cards in vertical and horizontal position with a maximum length of 49 centimeters, which means that any model on the market can be placed in this box. The power supply has space of 20 centimeters space in the bottom compartment, since as It is common, the internal design is based on a double chamber.
There is space to be able to place up to 10 2.5-inch SSD or HDD drives distributed in 6 x 2.5 “bays and 4 x 3.5 / 2.5” bays. For the PCI we have 10 slots, 8 of them vertical and 2 horizontal . Riser not included.
Front connectivity offers four USB 3.0 Type-A and one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, plus RGB and fan control and even HDMI output.
All in a tower of 19, 2 KG and some measures of 820 x 773 x 406 mm. Its price has not been revealed yet
End of Article. Tell us something in the Comments or come to our Forum!
GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition: Hail to the King!
Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition is here, claiming the top spot on our GPU benchmarks hierarchy, and ranking as the best graphics card currently available — provided you’re after performance first, with price and power being lesser concerns. After months of waiting, we finally have independent benchmarks and testing data. Nvidia has thrown down the gauntlet, clearly challenging AMD’s Big Navi to try and match or beat what the Ampere architecture brings to the table.
We’re going to hold off on a final verdict for now, as we have other third-party RTX 3080 cards to review, which will begin as soon as tomorrow. That’s good news, as it means customers won’t be limited to Nvidia’s Founders Edition for the first month or so like we were with the RTX 20-series launch. Another piece of good news is that there’s no Founders Edition ‘tax’ this time: The RTX 3080 FE costs $699, direct from Nvidia, and that’s the base price of RTX 3080 cards for the time being. The bad news is that we fully expect supply to be insufficient to keep up with what we expect to be exceptionally high demand.
The bottom line, if you don’t mind spoilers, is that the RTX 3080 FE is 33% faster than the RTX 2080 Ti, on average. Or, if you prefer other points of comparison, it’s 57% faster than the RTX 2080 Super, 69% faster than the RTX 2080 FE — heck, it’s even 26% faster than the Titan RTX!
But there’s a catch: We measured all of those ‘percent faster’ results across our test suite running at 4K ultra settings. The lead narrows if you drop down to 1440p, and it decreases even more at 1080p. It’s still 42% faster than a 2080 FE at 1080p ultra, but this is very much a card made for higher resolutions. Also, you might need a faster CPU to get the full 3080 experience — check out our companion GeForce RTX 3080 CPU Scaling article for the full details.
Nvidia GPU Specifications
Graphics Card
RTX 3080 FE
RTX 2080 Super FE
RTX 2080 FE
Architecture
GA102
TU104
TU104
Process (nm)
Samsung 8N
TSMC 12FFN
TSMC 12FFN
Transistors (Billion)
28.3
13.6
13.6
Die size (mm^2)
628.4
545
545
GPCs
6
6
6
SMs
68
48
46
FP32 CUDA Cores
8704
3072
2944
Tensor Cores
272
384
368
RT Cores
68
48
46
Boost Clock (MHz)
1710
1815
1800
VRAM Speed (Gbps)
19
15.5
14
VRAM (GB)
10
8
8
VRAM Bus Width
320
256
256
ROPs
96
64
64
TPCs
34
24
23
TMUs
272
192
184
GFLOPS FP32
29768
11151
10598
Tensor TFLOPS FP16 (Sparsity)
119 (238)
89
85
RT TFLOPS
58
26
25
Bandwidth (GBps)
760
496
448
TDP (watts)
320
250
225
Dimensions (mm)
285x112x38
267x116x38
267x116x38
Weight (g)
1355
1278
1260
Launch Date
Sep-20
Jul-19
Sep-18
Launch Price
$699
$699
$799
Meet GA102: The Heart of the Beast
We have a separate article going deep into the Ampere architecture that powers the GeForce RTX 3080 and other related GPUs. If you want the full rundown of everything that’s changed compared to the Turing architecture, we recommend starting there. But here’s the highlight reel of the most important changes:
The GA102 is the first GPU from Nvidia to drop into the single digits on lithography, using Samsung’s 8N process. The general consensus is that TSMC’s N7 node is ‘better’ overall, but it also costs more and is currently in very high demand — including from Nvidia’s own A100. Could the consumer Ampere GPUs have been even better with 7nm? Perhaps. But they might have cost more, only been available in limited quantities, or maybe they would have been delayed a few more months. Regardless, GA102 is still a big and powerful chip, boasting 28.3 billion transistors packed into a 628.4mm square die. If you’re wondering, that’s 52% more transistors than the TU102 chip used in RTX 2080 Ti, but in a 17% smaller area.
Ampere ends up as a split architecture, with the GA100 taking on data center ambitions while the GA102 and other consumer chips have significant differences. The GA100 focuses far more on FP64 performance for scientific workloads, as well as doubling down on deep learning hardware. Meanwhile, the GA102 drops most of the FP64 functionality and instead includes ray tracing hardware, plus some other architectural enhancements. Let’s take a closer look at the Ampere SM found in the GA102 and GA104.
Nvidia GPUs consist of several GPCs (Graphics Processing Clusters), each of which has some number of SMs (Streaming Multiprocessors). Nvidia splits each SM into four partitions that can operate on separate sets of data. With Ampere, each SM partition now has 16 FP32 CUDA cores, 16 FP32/INT CUDA cores, a third-gen Tensor core, load/store units, and a special function unit. The whole SM has access to shared L1 cache and memory, and there’s a single second-gen RT core. In total, that means 64 FP32 cores and 64 FP32/INT cores, four Turing cores, and one RT core. Let’s break that down a bit more.
The Turing GPUs added support for concurrent FP32 (32-bit floating point) and INT (32-bit integer) operations. FP32 tends to be the most important workload for graphics and games, but there’s still a decent amount of INT operations — for things like address calculations, texture lookups, and various other types of code. With Ampere, the INT datapath is upgraded to support INT or FP32, but not at the same time.
If you look at the raw specs, Ampere appears to be a far bigger jump in performance than the 70% we measured. 30 TFLOPS! But it generally won’t get anywhere near that high because the second datapath is an either/or situation: It can’t do both types of instructions on the pipeline in the same cycle. Nvidia says around 35% of gaming calculations are INT operations, which means you’ll end up with something more like 20 TFLOPS of FP32 and 10 TOPS of INT on the RTX 3080.
While we’re on the subject, let’s also point out that a big part of the increased performance comes from increased power limits. RTX 2080 was a 225W part (for the Founders Edition), and RTX 3080 basically adds 100W to that. That’s half again more power for 70% more performance. It’s technically a win in overall efficiency, but in the pursuit of performance, Nvidia had to move further to the right on the voltage and frequency curve. Nvidia says RTX 3080 can deliver a 90% improvement in performance-per-watt if you limit performance to the same level on both the 2080 and 3080 … but come on, who wants to limit performance that way? Well, maybe laptops, but let’s not go there.
One thing that hasn’t changed much is the video ports. Okay, that’s only partially true. First, there’s a single HDMI port, but it’s HDMI 2.1 instead of Turing’s HDMI 2.0b, but the three DisplayPort connections remain 1.4a. And last but not least, there’s no VirtualLink port this round — apparently, VirtualLink is dead. RIP. The various ports are all capable of 8K60 using DSC (Display Stream Compression), a “visually lossless” technique that’s actually not really visually lossless. But you might not notice at 8K.
Getting back to the cores, Nvidia’s third-gen tensor cores in GA102 work on 8x4x4 FP16 matrices, so up to 128 matrix operations per cycle. (Turing’s tensor cores used 4x4x4 matrices, while the GA100 uses 8x4x8 matrices.) With FMA (fused multiply-add), that’s 256 FP operations per cycle, per tensor core. Multiply by the 272 total tensor cores and clock speed, and that gives you 119 TFLOPS of FP16 compute. However, Ampere’s tensor cores also add support for fine-grained sparsity — basically, it eliminates wasting time doing multiplications by 0, since the answer is always 0. Sparsity can provide up to twice the FP16 performance in applications that can use it.
The RT cores receive similar enhancements, with up to double the ray/triangle intersection calculations per clock. The RT cores also support a time variable, which is useful for calculating things like motion blur. All told, Nvidia says the 3080’s new RT cores are 1.7 times faster than the RTX 2080’s, and they can be up to five times as fast for motion blur.
There are plenty of other changes as well. The L1 cache/shared memory capacity and bandwidth has been increased to better feed the cores (8704KB vs. 4416KB), and the L2 cache is also 25% larger than before (5120KB vs. 4096KB). The L1 cache can also be configured as varying amounts of L1 vs. shared memory, depending on the needs of the application. Register file size is also nearly 50% larger (17408KB vs. 11776KB) with the RTX 3080. GA102 can also do concurrent RT + graphics + DLSS (previously, using the RT cores would stop the CUDA cores).
Finally, the raster operators (ROPS) have been moved out of the memory controllers and into the GPCs. Each GPC has two ROP partitions of eight ROP units each. This provides more flexibility in performance, so where the GA102 has up to 112 ROPS total, the RTX 3080 disables two memory controllers but only one GPC and ends up with 96 ROPS. This is more critical for the RTX 3070 / GA104, however, which still has 96 ROPS even though it only has eight memory controllers. Each GPC also includes six TPCs (Texture Processing Clusters) with eight TMUs (Texture Mapping Units) and a polymorph engine, though Nvidia only enables 34 TPCs for the 3080.
With the core enhancements out of the way, let’s also quickly discuss the memory subsystem. GA102 supports up to twelve 32-bit memory channels, of which ten are enabled on the RTX 3080. Nvidia teamed up with Micron to use its GDDR6X memory, which uses PAM4 signaling to boost data rates even higher than before. Where the RTX 20-series cards topped out at 15.5 Gbps in the 2080 Super and 14 Gbps in the other RTX cards, GDDR6X runs at 19 Gbps in the RTX 3080. Combined with the 320-bit interface, that yields 760 GBps of bandwidth – a 70% improvement over RTX 2080.
The RTX 3080’s memory controller has also been improved, with a new feature called EDR: Error Detection and Replay. When the memory detects a failed transmission, rather than crashing or corrupting data, it simply tries again. It will do this until it’s successful, though it’s still possible to cause a crash with memory overclocking. The interesting bit is that with EDR, higher memory clocks might be achievable, but still result in lower performance. That’s because the EDR ends up reducing memory performance when failed transmissions occur. We’ll have more to say on this in the overclocking section.
Nvidia has radically altered the design of its Founders Edition cards for the RTX 30-series. The new design still includes two axial fans, but Nvidia heavily redesigned the PCB and shortened it so that the ‘back’ of the card (away from the video ports) consists of just a fan, heatpipes, radiator fins, and the usual graphics card shroud. Nvidia says the new design delivers substantial improvements in cooling efficiency, while at the same time lowering noise levels. We’ll see the fruits of the design later.
Aesthetics are highly subjective, and we’ve heard plenty of people like the new design, while others think it looks boring. There’s no RGB bling if that’s your thing, and the only lighting consists of a white GeForce RTX logo on the top of the card with subtle lighting around the ‘X’ on both sides of the card (but only half of the ‘X’ is lit up on the side with the “RTX 3080” logo).
Personally, I think the new card looks quite nice, and it feels very solid in the hand. It’s actually about 100g heavier than the previous RTX 2080 design, and as far as I’m aware, it’s the heaviest single-GPU card Nvidia has ever created. It’s also about 2cm longer than the previous generation cards and uses the typical two-slot width. (The GeForce RTX 3090 is about ready to make the 3080 FE look puny, though, with its massive three-slot cooler.)
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Nvidia provided the above images of the teardown of the RTX 3080 Founders Edition. We’re not ready to attempt disassembly of our card yet — and frankly, we’re out of time — but we may return to the subject soon. We’re told getting the card apart is a bit trickier this round, mostly because Nvidia has hidden the screws behind tiny covers.
The main board looks far more densely populated than previous GPUs, with the 10 GDDR6X memory chips surrounding the GPU in the center. You can also see the angled 12-pin power connector and the funky-looking cutout at the end of the PCB. Power delivery is obviously important with a 320W TGP, and you can see all the solid electrolytic capacitors placed to the left and right of the memory chips.
The memory arrangement is also interesting, with four chips on the left and right sides of the GPU, up to three chips above the GPU (two mounting positions are empty for the RTX 3080), and a final single chip below the GPU. Again, Nvidia clearly spent a lot of effort to reduce the size of the board and other components to accommodate the new and improved cooling design. Spoiler: It works very well.
One interesting thing is that the ‘front’ fan (near the video ports) spins in the usual direction — counterclockwise. The ‘back’ fan, which will typically face upward when you install the card in an ATX case, spins clockwise. If you look at the fins, that means the back fan spins the opposite direction from what we normally expect. The reason is that Nvidia found this arrangement pulls air through the radiator better and generates less noise. Also note that the back fan is slightly thicker, and the integrated ring helps increase static pressure on both fans while keeping RPMs low.
If you don’t like the look of the Founders Edition, rest assured there will be plenty of other options. We have a few third-party RTX 3080 cards in for testing, all of which naturally include RGB lighting. None of the third party cards use the 12-pin power connector, either — not that it really matters, since the required adapter comes with the card. Still, that vertically-mounted 12-pin port just looks a bit less robust if you happen to swap GPUs on a regular basis. I plan to leave the adapter permanently connected and just connect or disconnect the normal 8-pin PEG cables. The 12-pin connector appears to be rated for 25 ‘cycles,’ and I’ve already burned through half of those (not that I expect it to fail any time soon).
Current page:
GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition: Hail to the King!
Next PageGeForce RTX 3080: Initial Overclocking Results
I would like to thank Genesis for supplying the review sample.
Even though the Genesis Irid 503 ARGB is a mini-tower for M-ATX boards, it offers much of the same features as larger enclosures with its four ARGB fans, fully fledged controller, and traditional layout with liquid cooling possibilities, making it an interesting choice for a review. While the brand may not be well known, Genesis offers a wide range of products in all the usual product categories, from peripherals and cases to chairs and more.
Once again, numerous exciting articles went online on Hardwareluxx.de during Christmas week. We not only have the ASUS ROG Strix B 320 – XE Gaming WiFi or the Tenda Nova MW 12 put to the test in detail, but also the Gigabyte Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming OC, the Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 XT Nitro +, the DeepCool MACUBE 110, the Razer Tomahawk ATX and the MSI Prestige 14 Evo tested. It is still worth taking a look at this year’s Advent calendar, because it will run a few days after the turn of the year.
At this point we have summarized all articles from the last week and provided them with a small extract. With this in mind: Have fun reading!
Friday, 18. December 2020: ASUS ROG Strix B 550 – XE Gaming WiFi in the short test: hardly better than its predecessor
AMD’s new Ryzen – 5000 – Processors deliver a very good performance and can convince in all disciplines for the first time. So it’s no wonder that the Zen 3 CPUs are in great demand. In order to be well prepared for overclocking, ASUS has the ROG Strix B 550 – E Gaming (Hardwareluxx- Test) will be replaced by a new refresh model after a short time. The new ROG Strix B 320 – XE Gaming WiFi should cut a significantly better figure. In this short test we want to determine whether this is indeed the case and where the differences lie …
Saturday, 19. December 2020: Tenda Nova MW 12 in the test: Mesh system at an attractive price
In the mesh network hardware sector, Tenda is unlikely to be a household name for many, even though the company as such has been around for some time is active. In the past few months there has been more attention in this country – especially with regard to cheap, yet fast mesh hardware. One wants to have left the established providers behind. We chose the Tenda Nova MW 12 as A closer look at the entry-level solution …
Sunday, 20. December 2020: Good, but not outstanding: Gigabyte Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming OC in the test
The first custom models are followed by the Gigabyte Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming OC is now another interpretation that will sooner or later replace the popular reference design. More power and more efficient cooling are once again the main goal of such a model. But as we know, the good reference designs pose a major hurdle to the custom models. On the following pages we will clarify whether Gigabyte can skip this with the Radeon RX 5000 XT Gaming OC …
Monday, 21. December 2020: Razer Tomahawk ATX in the test: Midi-Tower with Razer Chroma RGB and swing doors
Razer is entering the housing segment – and We are testing the company’s first midi tower, the Tomahawk ATX. This gaming case already attracts attention visually with its Razer Chroma RGB lighting and glass swing doors. But the Tomahawk ATX also works functionally …
Tuesday, 22. December 2020: MSI Prestige 14 Evo in the test: Noble ultrabook with Core i7 – 1185 G7
The MSI Prestige 14 Evo is a real ultrabook with Evo certification and stands out with its good work performance and long runtimes as well as good efficiency in office use. However, the tide turns under load, as our practical test of the workhorse, which is around 1 320, shows. We have the MSI Prestige 14 Evo with Intel Core i7 – 1185 G7 put to the test in detail …
Wednesday, 23. December 2020: DeepCool MACUBE 110 in the test: Visually and financially unobtrusive
DeepCool wants to use the MACUBE 110 Offer thrifty buyers a mini-tower that is both discreetly designed and solidly equipped. In the test we find out whether this 24 – Euro model is really a price Performance recommendation deserves …
Thursday, 24. December 2020: Fast and quiet – The Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 XT Nitro + in the test
After we have already looked at the Radeon RX 6800 Nitro +, the XT model with the medium-sized Big Navi GPU follows today. There will also be a Radeon RX 6900 XT Nitro +, but we will probably not be able to test it this year. The Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 XT Nitro + should offer higher performance and more efficient cooling compared to the reference version. Now let’s see whether these claims correspond to reality …
The Polish brand SilentiumPC has once again prepared interesting computer cases for its fans. This time, the family with the designation Ventum VT4, consisting of four models, is entering the market. The new designs focus primarily on high air circulation, which was achieved thanks to the mesh front and top, as well as high-pressure fans. Of course, there was also a two-chamber interior and a side panel made of tempered glass. Consumers can choose between two color versions – black and white, variants with two or four factory fans and versions with and without ARGB LED backlight. And all this at a really attractive price as usual.
The new SilentiumPC housings have been priced quite attractive, ranging from 219 to 299 zlotys. We will pay a bit more for the white variant.
Which PC case to buy? Recommended for November 2020
The SilentiumPC Ventum VT4 family uses an identical, two-chamber framework, so all models have dimensions of the order 485 x 210 x 440 (height x width x depth) millimeters and weighs approximately 6 25 kilograms. there is only the Ventum VT4 TG variant equipped with two fans, not four.In the middle we mount motherboards in ATX, Micro ATX or Mini ITX format; CPU cooling up to 159 millimeters; graphics cards with length 345 millimeters and power supplies not longer than 180 millimeters. Two 3.5 “and two 2.5” slots are provided for data carriers. The I / O panel is located on the top of the case and hosts two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A and audio connectors.
SilentiumPC Astrum AT6V TG case test – Opus magnum?
As far as ventilation is concerned, up to eight fans can be installed here. Two 140 – or three 120 – millimeter on the front, two 140- or 120 – millimeter on top, one 120 – one millimeter on the back and two 120 – millimeter on the basement. In the case of heat sinks from AiO sets or LC systems, the maximum number of coolers 280 – millimeter ones. Two (Ventum VT4 TG) or four (Ventum VT4V TG) SilentiumPC Sigma HP fans are pre-installed here. mm CF running up to 1200 RPM. In the case of Ventum VT4V EVO TG ARGB models, the user receives not only four SilentiumPC Stella HP ARGB fans 120 mm CF, but also the Nano-Reset ARGB backlight controller. Each housing comes with magnetic dust filters. The suggested prices are as follows:
SilentiumPC Ventum VT4 TG – 219 zlotys
SilentiumPC Ventum VT4V TG – 239 zlotys
SilentiumPC Ventum VT4V Evo TG ARGB – 299 zlotys
SilentiumPC Ventum VT4V Evo TG ARGB White – 319 zlotys
Page 1: DeepCool MACUBE 110 in the test: Visually and financially unobtrusive
DeepCool wants to use the MACUBE 110 thrifty buyers a Mini -Tower that is both discreetly designed and solidly equipped. In the test we find out whether this 50 – Euro model really deserves a price-performance recommendation.
The selection of Micro-ATX cases is relatively small. With the MACUBE 100 DeepCool has brought exactly such a model onto the market. Two points in particular are noticeable: First, the extremely reduced design. The MACUBE 100 appears as a simple steel cuboid and also without RGB lighting. But there is at least one glass side panel. If you like, you can at least illuminate the interior. There is a choice of black and white color variants.
On the other hand, the mini-tower should also attract with a low price. Currently it costs around 53 Euro. Nevertheless, DeepCool promises enough space for mid-height tower coolers and most graphics cards. Up to six fan slots can be used for cooling. Also two dual radiator places for 225 – or 280 – mm radiators are not missing.
In the unpacked & touched video we take a first look at the case:
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DeepCool inserts the housing Bags with assembly material, black cable ties, instructions and a warranty card are included.
Before we start with the actual test, here are the key data of the housing in tabular form:
Key data:
Designation:
DeepCool MACUBE 110
Material:
Steel, tempered glass, plastic
Dimensions:
225 x 431 x 400 mm (W x H x D)
Form factor:
Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX
Drives:
1x 3.5 inches (internal), 1x 3.5 / 2.5 inch (internal), 2x 2.5 inch (internal)
Fan:
3x 120 / 2x 140 mm (front, optional), 1x 120 mm (rear wall, pre-installed), 2x 120 / 140 mm (cover, optional)
Radiators (maximum according to manufacturer):
Front: 240 / 280 mm, Lid: 240 / 280 mm, back wall: 120 mm
CPU cooler height (maximum according to manufacturer):
16, 5 cm
Graphics card length (maximum according to the manufacturer):
32 cm
Weight:
about 6.2 kg
Price:
round 53 Euro
<> DeepCool MACUBE 110 in the test: Visually and financially unobtrusive External appearance (1)
I would like to thank Nanoxia for supplying the review sample.
We may have not heard from Nanoxia in a while, but that does not mean that they were not working on new products. With our last review dating back a whooping five years, the excitement was great when we received the Nanoxia Deep Silence 8 Pro to see if their latest product can keep up with the modern times and offer quality, storage, and silence at a competitive price. With the Pro variant only costing around 10% more than the noticeably less capable basic version, things look promising, so let’s dive right in.
The SilverStone FARA V1M PRO mid-tower arrives with ARGB lighting on the front and support for motherboards up to Micro-ATX.
SilverStone has launched a reduced-size mid-tower to house almost any component except for motherboards, which are limited to Micro-ATX or lower formats. This manufacturer is used to launching small boxes such as SUGO 14 and SUGO 15, but The one that concerns us today does not pretend to be so small.
The SilverStone FARA V1M PRO has a front in which there are two ARGB LED strips that match perfectly with the installed ARGB fans. As standard it comes with two fans of 12 cm , counting the front with lighting. The dimensions of this tower, to get an idea, are 210 x 394 x 435 mm.
The side of The box is occupied by a large tempered glass and inside it fits CPU heatsinks with a height of up to 163 mm, graphics up to 379 mm long and fonts up to 206 mm, so there is plenty of room for these components. Ventilation can be enhanced by a total of two 14 cm front, two other identical upper and one rear of 14 cm too.
The SilverStone FARA V1M PRO mid tower comes prepared to house up to Micro-ATX motherboards
If we want to water the components, in the SilverStone FARA V1M PRO we have space for radiators up to 280 mm at the front, while at the top it is limited to radiators of 240 mm and at the rear of 120 mm .
For storage we have two 3.5 “bays and another two 2.5”, being one of the large convertible to 2.5 “. On the front panel we find connections such as 2 USB, 2 USB 3.0 and 2 3.5 mm jack for input and output. was that the price be of 100 Euros at its exit, which has been specifically announced.
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Noctua showcased a monster passive CPU cooler a year ago at CES that can cool a Core i9-9900K without any fans necessary. Now, according to @Fanlesstech, it appears Noctua is finally ready for production of this cooling behemoth.
Noctua was supposed to put this fanless CPU cooler into production by 2020; however, presumably due to the pandemic, the cooler didn’t see the light of day this year. Thankfully Noctua still wants to produce its fanless CPU cooler, so hopefully, we’ll see it by early next year.
There’s still no official name for this “fanless CPU cooler” from Noctua, and we still don’t know the full dimensions of this monster CPU cooler. Judging by the image, you will probably need a very wide ATX chassis to support it.
At CES 2019 last year, Noctua set up a demo rig running a Core i9-9900K with its fanless CPU cooler. Noctua ran Prime95 to stress test the CPU cooler fully, and surprisingly, the fanless cooler managed to keep the Core i9-9900K at a temperature of 95C. While that is very hot, keep in mind that Prime95 is a synthetic stress tester that’s designed to push CPUs to their limit, so the test isn’t fully representative of what you might see with regular applications. Also, 95C is within the safe temperature envelope for the processor. In either case, it is impressive that a fully-passive CPU cooler can cool a top-tier (at the time) Core i9-9900K being pushed as hard as it can while staying below its TJmax.
Also, Noctua says adding fans to the cooler and/or in the chassis will dramatically increase its cooling potential, from the rated 120W up to 180W. We don’t have an official launch date for this fanless CPU cooler from Noctua, but if it is entering production very soon, we should see a launch date sometime in 2021.
Page 1: Razer Tomahawk ATX in the test: Midi-Tower with Razer Chroma RGB and swing doors
Razer is entering the case segment – and we are testing the company’s first midi tower with the Tomahawk ATX. This gaming case already attracts attention visually with its Razer Chroma RGB lighting and glass swing doors. But does the Tomahawk ATX also have a functional impact?
Razer was previously not on the list as a case supplier. But if Seasonic as a power supply manufacturer brings an at least exciting case onto the market, why shouldn’t Razer also succeed? Especially since Razer already offers products far beyond the input device segment. Entry into the housing market should be successful with two models. The Tomahawk Mini-ITX is offered as the basis for powerful, but space-saving gaming systems. The Tomahawk ATX, on the other hand, is designed as a midi tower and supports a maximum of E-ATX mainboards.
Both models have a similar design with a minimalist shape but eye-catching lighting embossed. Both a central Razer logo in the front and underbody lighting light up. Swinging doors made of glass, which make the interior easily accessible in both models, are also striking.
Another thing both models have in common is their high price. The Tomahawk Mini-ITX should 199, 99 Euro. For the full-blown Tomahawk ATX, Razer uses 229, 99 Euro.
In the unpacked & touched video we take a first look at the case:
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Razer includes two bags with assembly material, instructions, black cable ties and two Velcro fasteners for cable management as well as some stickers with the Tomahawk ATX.
Before we start the actual test, here are the key data of the housing in tabular form:
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