Mass Effect’s Legendary Edition remaster just got its release date set for May 14th, and the community is hard at work pulling every detail out of EA that the studio will let out into the wild. Among those uncovered details are the trilogy’s system requirements, and suffice it to say, it’s the much-needed break our systems need.
EA published the following system requirements:
Mass Effect Legendary Edition Minimum PC Requirements:
Operating System: 64-bit Windows 10
CPU: Intel Core i5 3570 or AMD FX-8350
Memory: 8 GB System Memory
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 760, AMD Radeon 7970 / R9280X
GPU Memory: 2 GB Video Memory
Storage: At least 120 GB of free space
Mass Effect Legendary Edition Recommended PC Requirements:
Operating System: 64-bit Windows 10
CPU: Intel Core i7-7700 or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Memory: 16 GB System Memory
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1070, AMD Radeon Vega 56.
GPU Memory: 4 GB Video Memory
Storage: At least 120 GB of free space
These requirements aren’t steep, which is much appreciated in a day and age where games are becoming increasingly taxing on our systems — in a time when it’s nearly impossible to get your hands on a powerful graphics card for any reasonable amount of money.
Although nobody gets away with less than 120GB of free space, a good experience can be had with modest graphics cards and old CPUs. Better hardware will, of course, help you make the most out of the unlocked framerate, though. EA is upping the textures to be 4K ready, and 21:9 support is also being added for fans of ultrawide displays.
Of course, none of this is all too surprising. The studio decided that Mass Effect Legendary Edition was best remastered on the Unreal Engine 3 the original games were built on. Using UE4 would have required a full remake instead of a polishing up become far too big a task. As a result, it’s Mass Effect 1 that will benefit most from the remastering process.
Meanwhile, although the intention was for all DLC to be included with the Legendary Edition trilogy, Mass Effect 1’s Pinnacle Station DLC won’t make the cut. The reason here is simple: the original source code wasn’t backed up properly and is now corrupted, and remaking the DLC isn’t within the scope of work EA was able to put into the project.
Intel’s 12th-Gen Alder Lake chip will bring the company’s hybrid architecture, which combines a mix of larger high-performance cores paired with smaller high-efficiency cores, to desktop x86 PCs for the first time. That represents a massive strategic shift as Intel looks to regain the uncontested performance lead against AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series processors. AMD’s Zen 3 architecture has taken the lead in our Best CPUs and CPU Benchmarks hierarchy, partly on the strength of their higher core counts. That’s not to mention Apple’s M1 processors that feature a similar hybrid design and come with explosive performance improvements of their own.
Intel’s Alder Lake brings disruptive new architectures and reportedly supports features like PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 that leapfrog AMD and Apple in connectivity technology, but the new chips come with significant risks. It all starts with a new way of thinking, at least as far as x86 chips are concerned, of pairing high-performance and high-efficiency cores within a single chip. That well-traveled design philosophy powers billions of Arm chips, often referred to as Big.Little (Intel calls its implementation Big-Bigger), but it’s a first for x86 desktop PCs.
Intel has confirmed that its Golden Cove architecture powers Alder Lake’s ‘big’ high-performance cores, while the ‘small’ Atom efficiency cores come with the Gracemont architecture, making for a dizzying number of possible processor configurations. Intel will etch the cores on its 10nm Enhanced SuperFin process, marking the company’s first truly new node for the desktop since 14nm debuted six long years ago.
As with the launch of any new processor, Intel has a lot riding on Alder Lake. However, the move to a hybrid architecture is unquestionably riskier than prior technology transitions because it requires operating system and software optimizations to achieve maximum performance and efficiency. It’s unclear how unoptimized code will impact performance.
In either case, Intel is going all-in: Intel will reunify its desktop and mobile lines with Alder Lake, and we could even see the design come to the company’s high-end desktop (HEDT) lineup.
Intel might have a few tricks up its sleeve, though. Intel paved the way for hybrid x86 designs with its Lakefield chips, the first such chips to come to market, and established a beachhead in terms of both Windows and software support. Lakefield really wasn’t a performance stunner, though, due to a focus on lower-end mobile devices where power efficiency is key. In contrast, Intel says it will tune Alder Lake for high-performance, a must for desktop PCs and high-end notebooks. There are also signs that some models will come with only the big cores active, which should perform exceedingly well in gaming.
(Image credit: Intel Alder Lake-S Demo)
Meanwhile, Apple’s potent M1 processors with their Arm-based design have brought a step function improvement in both performance and power consumption over competing x86 chips. Much of that success comes from Arm’s long-standing support for hybrid architectures and the requisite software optimizations. Comparatively, Intel’s efforts to enable the same tightly-knit level of support are still in the opening stages.
Potent adversaries challenge Intel on both sides. Apple’s M1 processors have set a high bar for hybrid designs, outperforming all other processors in their class with the promise of more powerful designs to come. Meanwhile, AMD’s Ryzen 5000 chips have taken the lead in every metric that matters over Intel’s aging Skylake derivatives.
Intel certainly needs a come-from-behind design to thoroughly unseat its competitors, swinging the tables back in its favor like the Conroe chips did back in 2006 when the Core architecture debuted with a ~40% performance advantage that cemented Intel’s dominance for a decade. Intel’s Raja Koduri has already likened the transition to Alder Lake with the debut of Core, suggesting that Alder Lake could indeed be a Conroe-esque moment.
In the meantime, Intel’s Rocket Lake will arrive later this month, and all signs point to the new chips overtaking AMD in single-threaded performance. However, they’ll still trail in multi-core workloads due to Rocket Lake’s maximum of eight cores, while AMD has 16-core models for the mainstream desktop. That makes Alder Lake exceedingly important as Intel looks to regain its performance lead in the desktop PC and laptop markets.
While Intel hasn’t shared many of the details on the new chip, plenty of unofficial details have come to light over the last few months, giving us a broad indication of Intel’s vision for the future. Let’s dive in.
Intel’s 12th-Gen Alder Lake At a Glance
Qualification and production in the second half of 2021
Hybrid x86 design with a mix of big and small cores (Golden Cove/Gracemont)
10nm Enhanced SuperFin process
LGA1700 socket requires new motherboards
PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 support rumored
Four variants: -S for desktop PCs, -P for mobile, -M for low-power devices, -L Atom replacement
Gen12 Xe integrated graphics
New hardware-guided operating system scheduler tuned for high performance
Intel Alder Lake Release Date
(Image credit: Intel via YouTube)
Intel hasn’t given a specific date for Alder Lake’s debut, but it has said that the chips will be validated for production for desktop PCs and notebooks with the volume production ramp beginning in the second half of the year. That means the first salvo of chips could land in late 2021, though it might also end up being early 2022. Given the slew of benchmark submissions and operating system patches we’ve seen, early silicon is obviously already in the hands of OEMs and various ecosystem partners.
Intel and its partners also have plenty of incentive to get the new platform and CPUs out as soon as possible, and we could have a similar situation to 2015’s short-lived Broadwell desktop CPUs that were almost immediately replaced by Skylake. Rocket Lake seems competitive on performance, but the existing Comet Lake chips (e.g. i9-10900K) already use a lot of power, and i9-11900K doesn’t look to change that. With Enhanced SuperFIN, Intel could dramatically cut power requirements while improving performance.
Intel Alder Lake Specifications and Families
Intel hasn’t released the official specifications of the Alder Lake processors, but a recent update to the SiSoft Sandra benchmark software, along with listings to the open-source Coreboot (a lightweight motherboard firmware option), have given us plenty of clues to work with.
The Coreboot listing outlines various combinations of the big and little cores in different chip models, with some models even using only the larger cores (possibly for high-performance gaming models). The information suggests four configurations with -S, -P, and -M designators, and an -L variant has also emerged:
Alder Lake-S: Desktop PCs
Alder Lake-P: High-performance notebooks
Alder Lake-M: Low-power devices
Alder Lake-L: Listed as “Small Core” Processors (Atom)
Intel Alder Lake-S Desktop PC Specifications
Alder Lake-S*
Big + Small Cores
Cores / Threads
GPU
8 + 8
16 / 24
GT1 – Gen12 32EU
8 + 6
14 / 22
GT1 – Gen12 32EU
8 + 4
12 / 20
GT1 – Gen12 32EU
8 + 2
10 / 18
GT1 – Gen12 32EU
8 + 0
8 / 16
GT1 – Gen12 32EU
6 + 8
14 / 20
GT1 – Gen12 32EU
6 + 6
12 / 18
GT1 – Gen12 32EU
6 + 4
10 / 16
GT1 – Gen12 32EU
6 + 2
8 / 14
GT1 – Gen12 32EU
6 + 0
6 / 12
GT1 – Gen12 32EU
4 + 0
4 / 8
GT1 – Gen12 32EU
2 + 0
2 / 4
GT1 – Gen12 32EU
*Intel has not officially confirmed these configurations. Not all models may come to market. Listings assume all models have Hyper-Threading enabled on the large cores.
Intel’s 10nm Alder Lake combines large Golden Cove cores that support Hyper-Threading (Intel’s branded version of SMT, symmetric multi-threading, that allows two threads to run on a single core) with smaller single-threaded Atom cores. That means some models could come with seemingly-odd distributions of cores and threads. We’ll jump into the process technology a bit later.
As we can see above, a potential flagship model would come with eight Hyper-Threading enabled ‘big’ cores and eight single-threaded ‘small’ cores, for a total of 24 threads. Logically we could expect the 8 + 8 configuration to fall into the Core i9 classification, while 8 + 4 could land as Core i7, and 6 + 8 and 4 + 0 could fall into Core i5 and i3 families, respectively. Naturally, it’s impossible to know how Intel will carve up its product stack due to the completely new paradigm of the hybrid x86 design.
We’re still quite far from knowing particular model names, as recent submissions to public-facing benchmark databases list the chips as “Intel Corporation Alder Lake Client Platform” but use ‘0000’ identifier strings in place of the model name and number. This indicates the silicon is still in the early phases of testing, and newer steppings will eventually progress to production-class processors with identifiable model names.
Given that these engineering samples (ES) chips are still in the qualification stage, we can expect drastic alterations to clock rates and overall performance as Intel dials in the silicon. It’s best to use the test submissions for general information only, as they rarely represent final performance.
The 16-core desktop model has been spotted in benchmarks with a 1.8 GHz base and 4.0 GHz boost clock speed, but we can expect that to increase in the future. For example, a 14-core 20-thread Alder Lake-P model was recently spotted at 4.7 GHz. We would expect clock rates to be even higher for the desktop models, possibly even reaching or exceeding 5.0 GHz on the ‘big’ cores due to a higher thermal budget.
Meanwhile, it’s widely thought that the smaller efficiency cores will come with lower clock rates, but current benchmarks and utilities don’t enumerate the second set of cores with a separate frequency domain, meaning we’ll have to wait for proper software support before we can learn clock rates for the efficiency cores.
We do know from Coreboot patches that Alder Lake-S supports two eight-lane PCIe 5.0 connections and two four-lane PCIe 4.0 connections, for a total of 24 lanes. Conversely, Alder Lake-P dials back connectivity due to its more mobile-centric nature and has a single eight-lane PCIe 5.0 connection along with two four-lane PCIe 4.0 interfaces. There have also been concrete signs of support for DDR5 memory. There are some caveats, though, which you can read about in the motherboard section.
Intel Alder Lake-P and Alder Lake-M Mobile Processor Specifications
Alder Lake-P* Alder Lake-M*
Big + Small Cores
Cores / Threads
GPU
6 + 8
14 / 20
GT2 Gen12 96EU
6 + 4
10 / 14
GT2 Gen12 96EU
4 + 8
12 / 16
GT2 Gen12 96EU
2 + 8
10 / 12
GT2 Gen12 96EU
2 + 4
6 / 8
GT2 Gen12 96EU
2 + 0
2 / 4
GT2 Gen12 96EU
*Intel has not officially confirmed these configurations. Not all models may come to market. Listings assume all models have Hyper-Threading enabled on the large cores.
The Alder Lake-P processors are listed as laptop chips, so we’ll probably see those debut in a wide range of notebooks that range from thin-and-light form factors up to high-end gaming notebooks. As you’ll notice above, all of these processors purportedly come armed with Intel’s Gen 12 Xe architecture in a GT2 configuration, imparting 96 EUs across the range of chips. That’s a doubling of execution units over the desktop chips and could indicate a focus on reducing the need for discrete graphics chips.
There is precious little information available for the -M variants, but they’re thought to be destined for lower-power devices and serve as a replacement for Lakefield chips. We do know from recent patches that Alder Lake-M comes with reduced I/O support, which we’ll cover below.
Finally, an Alder Lake-L version has been added to the Linux kernel, classifying the chips as ‘”Small Core” Processors (Atom),’ but we haven’t seen other mentions of this configuration elsewhere.
Intel Alder Lake 600-Series Motherboards, LGA 1700 Socket, DDR5 and PCIe 5.0
(Image credit: VideoCardz)
Intel’s incessant motherboard upgrades, which require new sockets or restrict support within existing sockets, have earned the company plenty of criticism from the enthusiast community – especially given AMD’s long line of AM4-compatible processors. That trend will continue with a new requirement for LGA 1200 sockets and the 600-series chipset for Alder Lake. Still, if rumors hold true, Intel will stick to the new socket for at least the next generation of processors (7nm Meteor Lake) and possibly for an additional generation beyond that, rivaling AMD’s AM4 longevity.
Last year, an Intel document revealed an LGA 1700 interposer for its Alder Lake-S test platform, confirming that the rumored socket will likely house the new chips. Months later, an image surfaced at VideoCardz, showing an Alder Lake-S chip and the 37.5 x 45.0mm socket dimensions. That’s noticeably larger than the current-gen LGA 1200’s 37.5 x 37.5mm.
Because the LGA 2077 socket is bigger than the current sockets used in LGA 1151/LGA 1200 motherboards, existing coolers will be incompatible, but we expect that cooler conversion kits could accommodate the larger socket. Naturally, the larger socket is needed to accommodate 500 more pins than the LGA 1200 socket. Those pins are needed to support newer interfaces, like PCIe 5.0 and DDR5, among other purposes, like power delivery.
PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 support are both listed in patch notes, possibly giving Intel a connectivity advantage over competing chips, but there are a lot of considerations involved with these big technology transitions. As we saw with the move from PCIe 3.0 to 4.0, a step up to a faster PCIe interface requires thicker motherboards (more layers) to accommodate wider lane spacing, more robust materials, and retimers due to stricter trace length requirements. All of these factors conspire to increase cost.
(Image credit: VideoCardz)
We recently spoke with Microchip, which develops PCIe 5.0 switches, and the company tells us that, as a general statement, we can expect those same PCIe 4.0 requirements to become more arduous for motherboards with a PCIe 5.0 interface, particularly because they will require retimers for even shorter lane lengths and even thicker motherboards. That means we could see yet another jump in motherboard pricing over what the industry already absorbed with the move to PCIe 4.0. Additionally, PCIe 5.0 also consumes more power, which will present challenges in mobile form factors.
Both Microchip and the PCI-SIG standards body tell us that PCIe 5.0 adoption is expected to come to the high-performance server market and workstations first, largely because of the increased cost and power consumption. That isn’t a good fit for consumer devices considering the slim performance advantages in lighter workloads. That means that while Alder Lake may support PCIe 5.0, it’s possible that we could see the first implementations run at standard PCIe 4.0 signaling rates.
Intel took a similar tactic with its Tiger Lake processors – while the chips internal pathways are designed to accommodate the increased throughput of the DDR5 interface via a dual ring bus, they came to market with DDR4 memory controllers, with the option of swapping in new DDR5 controllers in the future. We could see a similar approach with PCIe 4.0, with the first devices using existing controller tech, or the PCIe 5.0 controllers merely defaulting to PCIe 4.0.
Benchmarks have surfaced that indicate that Alder Lake supports DDR5 memory, but like the PCIe 5.0 interface, but it also remains to be seen if Intel will enable it on the leading wave of processors. Notably, every transition to a newer memory interface has resulted in higher up-front DIMM pricing, which is concerning in the price-sensitive desktop PC market.
DDR5 is in the opening stages; some vendors, like Adata, TeamGroup, and Micron, have already begun shipping modules. The inaugural modules are expected to run in the DDR5-4800 to DDR5-6400 range. The JEDEC spec tops out at DDR5-8400, but as with DDR4, it will take some time before we see those peak speeds. Notably, several of these vendors have reported that they don’t expect the transition to DDR5 to happen until early 2022.
While the details are hazy around the separation of the Alder Lake-S, -P, -M, and -L variants, some details have emerged about the I/O allocations via Coreboot patches:
Alder Lake-P
Alder Lake-M
Alder Lake-S
CPU PCIe
One PCIe 5.0 x8 / Two PCIe 4.0 x4
Unknown
Two PCIe 5.0 x8 / Two PCIe 4.0 x4
PCH
ADP_P
ADP_M
ADP_S
PCH PCIe Ports
12
10
28
SATA Ports
6
3
6
We don’t have any information for the Alder Lake-L configuration, so it remains shrouded in mystery. However, as we can see above, the PCIe, PCH, and SATA allocations vary by the model, based on the target market. Notably, the Alder Lake-P configuration is destined for mobile devices.
Intel 12th-Gen Alder Lake Xe LP Integrated Graphics
A series of Geekbench test submissions have given us a rough outline of the graphics accommodations for a few of the Alder Lake chips. Recent Linux patches indicate the chips feature the same Gen12 Xe LP architecture as Tiger Lake, though there is a distinct possibility of a change to the sub-architecture (12.1, 12.2, etc.). Also, there are listings for a GT0.5 configuration in Intel’s media driver, but that is a new paradigm in Intel’s naming convention so we aren’t sure of the details yet.
The Alder Lake-S processors come armed with the 32 EUs (256 shaders) in a GT1 configuration, and the iGPU on early samples run at 1.5 GHz. We’ve also seen Alder Lake-P benchmarks with the GT2 configuration, which means they come with 96 EUs (768 shaders). The early Xe LP iGPU silicon on the -P model runs at 1.15GHz, but as with all engineering samples, that could change with shipping models.
Alder Lake’s integrated GPUs support up to five display outputs (eDP, dual HDMI, and Dual DP++), and support the same encoding/decoding features as both Rocket Lake and Tiger Lake, including AV1 8-bit and 10-bit decode, 12-bit VP9, and 12-bit HEVC.
Intel Alder Lake CPU Architecture and 10nm Enhanced SuperFin Process
Intel pioneered the x86 hybrid architecture with its Lakefield chips, with those inaugural models coming with one Sunny Cove core paired with four Atom Tremont cores.
Compared to Lakefield, both the high- and low-performance Alder Lake-S cores take a step forward to newer microarchitectures. Alder Lake-S actually jumps forward two ‘Cove’ generations compared to the ‘big’ Sunny Cove cores found in Lakefield. The big Golden Cove cores come with increased single-threaded performance, AI performance, Network and 5G performance, and improved security features compared to the Willow Cove cores that debuted with Tiger Lake.
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(Image credit: Intel)
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(Image credit: Intel)
Alder Lake’s smaller Gracemont cores jump forward a single Atom generation and offer the benefit of being more power and area efficient (perf/mm^2) than the larger Golden Cove cores. Gracemont also comes with increased vector performance, a nod to an obvious addition of some level of AVX support (likely AVX2). Intel also lists improved single-threaded performance for the Gracemont cores.
It’s unclear whether Intel will use its Foveros 3D packaging for the chips. This 3D chip-stacking technique reduces the footprint of the chip package, as seen with the Lakefield chips. However, given the large LGA 1700 socket, that type of packaging seems unlikely for the desktop PC variants. We could see some Alder Lake-P, -M, or -L chips employ Foveros packaging, but that remains to be seen.
(Image credit: Intel)
Lakefield served as a proving ground not only for Intel’s 3D Foveros packaging tech but also for the software and operating system ecosystem. At its Architecture Day, Intel outlined the performance gains above for the Lakefield chips to highlight the promise of hybrid design. Still, the results come with an important caveat: These types of performance improvements are only available through both hardware and operating system optimizations.
Due to the use of both faster and slower cores that are both optimized for different voltage/frequency profiles, unlocking the maximum performance and efficiency requires the operating system and applications to have an awareness of the chip topology to ensure workloads (threads) land in the correct core based upon the type of application.
For instance, if a latency-sensitive workload like web browsing lands in a slower core, performance will suffer. Likewise, if a background task is scheduled into the fast core, some of the potential power efficiency gains are lost. There’s already work underway in both Windows and various applications to support that technique via a hardware-guided OS scheduler.
The current format for Intel’s Lakefield relies upon both cores supporting the same instruction set. Alder Lake’s larger Golden Cove cores support AVX-512, but it appears that those instructions will be disabled to accommodate the fact that the Atom Gracemont cores do not support the instructions. There is a notable caveat that any of the SKUs that come with only big cores might still support the instructions.
Intel Chief Architect Raja Koduri mentioned that a new “next-generation” hardware-guided OS scheduler that’s optimized for performance would debut with Alder Lake, but didn’t provide further details. This next-gen OS scheduler could add in support for targeting cores with specific instruction sets to support a split implementation, but that remains to be seen.
Intel fabs Alder Lake on its Enhanced 10nm SuperFin process. This is the second-generation of Intel’s SuperFin process, which you can learn more about in our deep-dive coverage.
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(Image credit: Intel)
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(Image credit: Intel)
Intel says the first 10nm SuperFin process provides the largest intra-node performance improvement in the company’s history, unlocking higher frequencies and lower power consumption than the first version of its 10nm node. Intel says the net effect is the same amount of performance uplift that the company would normally expect from a whole series of intra-node “+” revisions, but in just one shot. As such, Intel claims these transistors mark the largest single intra-node improvement in the company’s history.
The 10nm SuperFin transistors have what Intel calls breakthrough technology that includes a new thin barrier that reduces interconnect resistance by 30%, improved gate pitch so the transistor can drive higher current, and enhanced source/drain elements that lower resistance and improve strain. Intel also added a Super MIM capacitor that drives a 5X increase in capacitance, reducing vDroop. That’s important, particularly to avoid localized brownouts during heavy vectorized workloads and also to maintain higher clock speeds.
During its Architecture Day, Intel teased the next-gen variant of SuperFin, dubbed ’10nm Enhanced SuperFin,’ saying that this new process was tweaked to increase interconnect and general performance, particularly for data center parts (technically, this is 10nm+++, but we won’t quibble over an arguably clearer naming convention). This is the process used for Alder Lake, but unfortunately, Intel’s descriptions were vague, so we’ll have to wait to learn more.
We know that the 16-core models come armed with 30MB of L3 cache, while the 14-core / 24 thread chip has 24MB of L3 cache and 2.5 MB of L2 cache. However, it is unclear how this cache is partitioned between the two types of cores, which leaves many questions unanswered.
Alder Lake also supports new instructions, like Architectural LBRs, HLAT, and SERIALIZE commands, which you can read more about here. Alder Lake also purportedly supports AVX2 VNNI, which “replicates existing AVX512 computational SP (FP32) instructions using FP16 instead of FP32 for ~2X performance gain.” This rapid math support could be part of Intel’s solution for the lack of AVX-512 support for chips with both big and small cores, but it hasn’t been officially confirmed.
Intel 12th-Generation Alder Lake Price
Intel’s Alder Lake is at least ten months away, so pricing is the wild card. Intel has boosted its 10nm production capacity tremendously over the course of 2020 and hasn’t suffered any recent shortages of its 10nm processors. That means that Intel should have enough production capacity to keep costs within reasonable expectations, but predicting Intel’s 10nm supply simply isn’t reasonable given the complete lack of substantive information on the matter.
However, Intel has proven with its Comet Lake, Ice Lake, and Cooper Lake processors that it is willing to lose margin in order to preserve its market share, and surprisingly, Intel’s recent price adjustments have given Comet Lake a solid value proposition compared to AMD’s Ryzen 5000 chips.
We can only hope that trend continues, but if Alder Lake brings forth both PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 support as expected, we could be looking at exceptionally pricey memory and motherboard accommodations.
HP’s Spectre x360 14 is a luxury worth paying for.
I have used a heck of a lot of laptops in the past year, and some of them are quite nice. MacBooks have nailed the “premium” look and feel for years, and I’ll never waste an opportunity to gush about the build quality of Dell’s XPS line.
But I’ve never touched a consumer laptop as gorgeous as the Spectre x360 14. The new Spectre’s sturdy black body, lustrous accents, and boldly sharp edges would make it a standout among convertible laptops across the board, even if it didn’t have a slew of other excellent qualities — which, from its 3:2 screen and packaged stylus to its stellar performance and battery life, it absolutely does.
With a starting MSRP of $1,299.99 ($1,589.99 as tested) the Spectre x360 is easily my new favorite 2-in-1 laptop. Today’s market is full of capable convertibles that look good, work well, and do certain things really well. But while the Spectre x360 14 isn’t a perfect laptop, it tops the pack in almost every area. It’s a stylish chassis, premium panel options, stylus support, a powerful processor, and fantastic battery in one. It’s proof that you can have it all — for a price.
The HP Spectre line is second to none when it comes to design, and this latest model is no exception. Like its 13-inch predecessor, the Spectre x360 14 is made of CNC-machined aluminum. Also like its siblings, you can get the 14 in “nightfall black,” “Poseidon blue,” or “natural silver.” Take a look at some pictures before selecting your color because they each have pretty different vibes. The nightfall black option has a sophisticated, svelte aesthetic that looks tailor-made for a boardroom. Poseidon blue is friendlier and probably the one I’d go for myself.
The accents, though, are what make the Spectre stand out from the legions of other black laptops out there. Lustrous trim borders the lid, the touchpad, and the deck. The hinges share its color, as does the HP logo on its lid. It’s bold without being obnoxious. The two rear corners are diamond-shaped, and one of them houses a Thunderbolt 4 port on its flat edge. (On the sides live an audio jack, a USB-A, a microSD slot, and an additional Thunderbolt 4, which is a decent selection — gone is the trapdoor that covered the USB-A port on the 13-inch model.) And the edges are all beveled, making the notebook appear thinner than it actually is (it’s 0.67 inches thick). Careful craftsmanship is evident here — I’m not exaggerating when I say this Spectre feels like artwork.
Take it in.
And, as the “x360” moniker implies, the Spectre is a 2-in-1. At 2.95 pounds, it’s a bit heavy to use as a tablet for long periods, but it’s smooth and easy to fold and the hinges are quite sturdy. Unlike with many convertibles, there’s barely any wobble when you use the touchscreen. The display is also stylus-compatible; the Spectre ships with HP’s MPP2.0 pen, which attaches magnetically to the side of the chassis.
Despite its design similarities, this Spectre looks noticeably different from its ancestors, and that’s because of the screen. The new model has a 3:2 display, which is 13 percent taller than the 16:9 panel on last year’s device. (It’s kept the same 90 percent screen-to-body ratio.)
Microsoft’s Surface devices have been using the 3:2 aspect ratio for years, and I’m glad that the Spectre line is finally making the switch. If you’re used to using a 16:9 display (which many modern Windows laptops have) and you give a 3:2 a shot, you’ll see what I mean. You have significantly more vertical space, which means less scrolling up and down and less zooming out to fit everything you want to see. It makes multitasking significantly easier without adding much size to the chassis.
This 3:2 panel can come in a few different forms. My test unit has an FHD option that HP says should reach 400 nits of brightness. I measured it multiple times, but it only reached 285 in my testing — which is dimmer than I’d hope to see from a device at this price point. I’ve reached out to HP to see what’s up and will update this review if it turns out to be a bug. (Of course, 285 nits is still more than enough for indoor office work.)
The OLED panel is certified for “low blue light.”
In addition to the FHD display, you can opt for a 3000 x 2000 OLED panel (HP didn’t provide a brightness estimate for this one; LaptopMag measured it at 339 nits) or a 1,000-nit option with HP’s Sure View Reflect technology, which makes the screen difficult to read from the sides. This will mostly be a benefit for business users.
In terms of other specs, the base model pairs the 400-nit screen with a Core i5-1135G7, 8GB of memory, and 256GB of storage (plus 16GB of Intel Optane). Then, there are a few upgrades you can go for. My test unit, priced at $1,589.99, keeps the base model’s screen but has a heftier processor (the quad-core Core i7-1165G7) and double its RAM and storage. I think this model is a good option for most people — it gets you a top processor and a good amount of storage without too stratospheric of a price tag. If you want to get fancier, you can get the OLED screen and 1TB of storage (plus 32GB of Intel Optane) for $1,699, or the Sure View screen and 2TB of storage for $1,959.99.
Of course, laptops aren’t just for looking at, but you’re not compromising on performance to get this build quality. The Spectre is verified through Intel’s Evo platform, which means that it offers a number of Intel-selected benefits including Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6, all-day battery life, quick boot time, fast charging, and reliable performance. In my testing, it more than surpassed those standards.
The system handled my heavy workload of Chrome tabs, downloads, and streams speedily with no issues. Battery life was excellent; I averaged 10 hours of continuous use with the screen around 200 nits of brightness. That means if your daily tasks are similar to mine, the Spectre should make it through your workday with no problem. (You’ll likely get less if you opt for the OLED panel.) The processor also includes Intel’s Iris Xe integrated graphics. While you wouldn’t want to use those for serious gaming, they’re capable of running lighter fare.
Elsewhere, I have almost no complaints. The backlit keyboard is snappy with a solid click — it’s easily one of my favorites. The speakers sound good, with very audible bass and percussion. There’s a fingerprint sensor to the left of the arrow keys and a Windows Hello camera, neither of which gave me any trouble.
Apart from the dimness, there are only two things about this laptop that I’m not in love with. They’re both minor; the fact that I’m even mentioning either of them in this review is a testament to how excellent this device is.
The first is the touchpad. It’s quite smooth and roomy (16.6 percent larger than that of last year’s Spectre x360 13) and handles scrolling and gestures just fine. But it’s noticeably stiffer than some of the best touchpads on the market. The press required to physically click is firm enough that I ended up doing it with my thumb most of the time. On the likes of the Dell XPS 13 and the MacBook, clicking with a finger is much less of a chore. When I first clicked with the integrated buttons, I also had to overcome some initial resistance to hit the actuation point (put plainly, every click felt like two clicks). This issue resolved itself during my second day of testing, but it’s still a hiccup I generally only see with cheaper items.
My complaints are minor — this is almost perfect.
Secondly, bloatware. There are a number of junk programs preloaded onto the Spectre and several pinned to the taskbar. Dropbox, ExpressVPN, McAfee, and Netflix are all on here, and I got all kinds of notifications from them. This is an oddity at this price point, and seeing cheap McAfee alerts popping up on the Spectre is like seeing really ugly bumper stickers on a Ferrari. This software doesn’t take too long to uninstall, but I’m disappointed to see it nonetheless.
But those are really the only two complaints I have, and neither of them should stop you from buying this laptop. It’s beautiful to look at and a dream to use. I found myself using it in my free time instead of my personal device (which almost never happens with review units — I really like my products).
When we’re evaluating a convertible laptop at the Spectre’s price point, the big question is how it compares to the gold standard of Windows convertibles, the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1. The XPS has a few advantages: it’s a bit thinner and lighter, its touchpad is less stiff, and it has a more modest look that some users might prefer.
But for me, the ball game is close but clear. The Spectre x360’s meticulous craftsmanship, classy aesthetic, and 3:2 screen put it over the top. It also edges out the XPS in a few key areas: the keyboard is more comfortable, the battery life is better, and Dell’s closest-priced configuration to this unit only has half its storage. The Spectre’s smaller amenities that the XPS lacks — like the bundled stylus, the USB-A port, the blue color, and the OLED option — are icing on the cake.
If you’re looking for a premium Windows convertible with a classy aesthetic, that makes the Spectre a no-brainer purchase. This is HP at its best; it’s a luxury laptop in pretty much every area. I can’t imagine that it won’t be the next laptop I buy.
Intel has announced that it will exchange the Core i9-10900K’s fancy retail packaging in favor of the standard, folding carton box. Basically, the Core i9-10900K’s will soon share the same packaging as the Core i9-10850K. The change will come into effect starting February 28 and will affect both global and Chinese boxed SKUs.
It’s not Intel’s first time to the rodeo either. The chipmaker previously switched the Core i9-9900K’s unique dodecahedron packaging to a more simple box to facilitate shipping and handling. In the case of the Core i9-10900K, the reason seems to be the same – to improve shipping efficiency. The change in packaging will help reduce the volumetric storage requirements for the Core i9-10900K. As a result, Intel can increase the number of units per pallet from 480 to 1,620, a whopping 237.2% increase.
Intel Core i9-10900K (Image credit: Intel)
Intel’s 11th Generation Rocket Lake-S processors are slated to launch in March, meaning Comet Lake-S chips like the Core i9-10900K are on their way out. It makes sense that Intel would want to optimize its logistics to get as many Comet Lake-S processors out the door as possible to focus its efforts on delivering the new Rocket Lake-S parts to the market.
The revamped packaging should provide a slight cost reduction for Intel since the chipmaker no longer has to spend money on the more elaborate box, not to mention the money saved on shipping costs. In the end, the Core i9-10900K will basically ship in the same, boring cardboard box as the other Comet Lake-S Core i7 and Core i5 SKUs.
Razer’s Viper 8K is a refresh of the 2019 true ambidextrous Viper. For the most part, it’s identical and is now available at the same $79 asking price, but it has some key upgrades for competitive gamers who are hoping that tech might help them get the edge over their opponents.
First off, Razer now includes the Focus Plus 20,000DPI sensor used in many of its other 2020 mice, along with the latest generation of optical switches that have a more tactile click feel, according to the company (although it didn’t stand out as noticeable to me when I tested the mouse). The biggest news is that, according to Razer, the newly revised Viper can achieve the fastest polling rate of any mouse currently available: up to 8,000Hz — far higher than the industry standard of 1,000Hz.
The polling rate measures how often per second the mouse tells your computer where it’s located on-screen. The more frequent the polling is, the smoother your mouse tracking can be. In the case of Razer’s new Viper 8K, an 8,000Hz polling rate can deliver a whopping 8,000 pings to your PC per second, while reducing the response time of those pings from one millisecond to just an eighth of one millisecond. On paper, it seems really impressive.
The Viper 8K’s Speedflex is slightly thicker, a change made to better accommodate the increased polling rate.Image: Razer
But why, exactly, would anyone need a polling rate this high? Razer says this is an upgrade that you won’t necessarily feel or notice right away since this improvement slices off mere fractions of a millisecond from the response time — something I’d wager most people couldn’t delineate. However, according to Razer, it could help your movement and aim feel more responsive, and gamers who play fast-paced games, like first-person shooters, are most likely to benefit from using this mouse — even if they don’t notice it happening.
Frankly, I didn’t notice a stark difference in gameplay while testing out Ghostrunner, a first-person title that relies on fast reflexes. (I failed a lot, but honestly, that’s nothing new.) I then tried to put Razer’s 8,000Hz polling rate claim to the test with some sites that track that metric. Tools made by Mouse Insider and Zowie recorded a 4,700Hz average polling rate for this mouse. There were a few times it peaked into 5,000Hz, so it seems like it could go higher if it were physically possible for me to move my hand any faster.
This is a picture of the original Viper. The new Viper 8K looks exactly the same.Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Your PC hardware may also play a factor. Razer requested that press who were going to test the mouse have access to PCs with at least an Intel Core i5-8600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 processor, an Nvidia GTX 1080 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 or better graphics processor, and a high refresh-rate monitor at 144Hz or over. Thankfully, you don’t actually need a PC that high-end to use this mouse. Razer’s Synapse software lets you revert the polling rate to 125, 500, 1,000, 2,000, or 4,000Hz. However, since the main objective of the Viper 8K is to make your experience smoother with its high polling rate, you’ll take better advantage of this mouse’s specs if you have at least a midrange system with a high refresh rate monitor and powerful hardware.
I expect other peripheral companies will launch similar mice with high polling rates, though if you feel your needs are being met with current tech, you probably don’t need to get too excited about this feature just yet. But if you need a new mouse, this isn’t a bad choice. I like using this mouse as much as I did the original Viper. And the fast polling rate tech won’t cost you anything extra to attain since the Viper 8K is the same price as its predecessor.
(Pocket-lint) – The Apple Mac mini has been around in one form or another for the best part of 15 years. It may not be a top seller, or a model you see millions upon millions of people using, but it clearly has strong appeal that’s seen it last as long as any of Apple’s product families.
What makes it attractive now is the same thing that made it attractive back in 2005 (when the PowerPC G4 version first shipped): it’s small, it’s powerful and it’s a lot less expensive than an iMac.
And while this Mac mini looks identical to the one that’s been on store shelves for the past couple of years, it has a totally new brain: Apple’s M1 processor. So what does that mean and does it make for the best miniature desktop machine you could buy?
Minimalist to the extreme
Case built from recycled aluminium
Dimensions: 197mm square x 36mm tall / Weight: 1.2kg
Like the M1-updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, nothing has changed for the Mac mini from a visual perspective. It’s still that minimalist rounded-edged square aluminium case with the Apple logo in the centre, with nothing but a single white LED on the front. All the ‘ugly’ ports are hidden at the back, so that if you want to hide all your messy cables then it’s easy.
Size wise, it’s maybe not as ‘mini’ as it could be though. Watch enough teardown videos and you’ll see how much space there is inside the new M1-powered Mac mini. That’s because the M1 hardware and all that entails fits into a much smaller space than all the previous components. We’d be surprised if the next-generation model wasn’t even smaller for that very reason.
Still, compare it to a tower PC or any other Mac desktop computer and it takes up a lot less space than most. Despite being a bit old now, there’s something quite attractive about a sleek metal box sitting on your desk with no seams, joins or screws visible (well, unless you you turn it upside down or look at it from the back).
That minimalism also applies to the port selection on the back, but there’s still much wider support here than on either of the M1 MacBooks. For starters, you get two USB-A ports, along with the two USB 4 Type-C/Thunderbolt ports. You even get an Ethernet connection point, HDMI 2.0, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. There’s also an opening to allow airflow from the fan.
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We’d love to see one or two more Thunderbolt ports and an SD card reader in future models though (as much as the latter is highly unlikely). It certainly seems like there’s adequate space, though, so we can’t fathom why there isn’t a card reader on a machine that’s otherwise primed and ready for creators. The same can be said of the MacBook Pro, really.
It’s not unusable with this number of ports, of course, but we had to rely on a Thunderbolt 3 desktop dock to get constant access to an SD card and microSD card reader. It also expanded our options for additional ports and – just as usefully – gave us a headphone port that we didn’t need to reach around the back of a computer to gain access.
Which monitors can I use?
Thunderbolt supports 6K up to 60Hz
HDMI 2.0 port supports 4K up to 60Hz
Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2, DVI and VGA adapters available
We can’t talk ports without talking monitors, which is certainly something to consider before deciding on whether to get a Mac mini or not. In this home office there’s been a USB-C LG monitor for a good few years. Primarily because it’s a monitor with multiple input options, and because for a good chunk of time, the MacBook Pro was our home computer of choice.
The model we paired up is the LG 27UK850. It’s a 4K 27-inch monitor that supports up to 60Hz refresh rates and is pretty much perfect for the Mac mini. You can plug it either into the HDMI 2.0 port on the back, or use one of the USB-C/Thunderbolt ports.
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The good thing about this particular monitor is that it also features two USB-A ports on the back, so you can effectively use it as a desktop hub if you need to plug an extra couple of peripherals in, like a USB microphone or a wired keyboard.
Anyway, enough about the monitor. The real thing to note with this Mac is that you can connect up to two monitors. But you do need to split it between the HDMI port and one Thunderbolt port. Using two screens, you get 4K and 60Hz on both. For higher-resolution monitors, you’re limited to just one monitor and you have to use one of the Thunderbolt ports as the HDMI maxes out at 4K. Those power users who like three or more screens won’t have much luck here, but we suspect those users are few and are already using a Mac Pro.
M1 power
8 core M1 processor, 8GB or 16GB RAM
8 core GPU + 16 core Neural Engine
256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB storage
A lot has been said about Apple’s M1 processor. That’s not exactly a surprise though. Following years of partnership with Intel, Apple used the expertise it’s built up following years of putting powerful ARM-based chipsets in its smartphones and iPads, and applied that to a custom processor for ‘proper computers’.
In our use-case – primarily video editing in Final Cut Pro and Affinity Photo – the apps are already optimised for the M1 processor, so the experience is dreamy.
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It’s worth noting at this point, however, that our unit is 16GB RAM model, so it’s a custom order from Apple which – as well as being pricier than the standard configurations – takes longer to ship. Compared to the other Macs it’s by far the most affordable and best value if you have monitor, keyboard and mouse already.
It took us by complete surprise how quickly Affinity opened images. Where our older Intel Core i5-powered MacBook would take a second or two to open large image files, the M1 Mac mini is virtually instant.
Likewise when zooming and out of those images using trackpad gestures, it’s instant and smooth, making the process of editing photos so much more convenient Even compared to using our previous powerful Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080Ti-powered desktop PC with 32GB RAM and SSD storage, Affinity Photo feels much quicker. We’ve been genuinely blown away by it.
It’s a similar feeling when editing 4K video in Final Cut Pro: skimming through timelines of 4K/30 projects is smooth and rarely resulted in any noticeable frame drop. It’s worth noting, our edits aren’t especially complex – we’d have a maximum of three video streams – but it remains smooth in ways we don’t typically see.
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For instance, when we show screen recordings on top of an expanded and blurred background of that same recording, or when adding masks and censoring to parts of the screen. These are the areas when we’d typically see a little stutter or frame drop on a lot of our previous MacBook setups. With the M1 Mac mini that just didn’t happen.
Export times are fast, too, but it’s the buttery smoothness when actually working with footage, photos and timelines in the M1-optimised apps that makes the most day-to-day difference.
We also dabbled with Pixelmator Pro, using it to edit thumbnails for videos, and found it as fast and responsive as Affinity Photo. For those interested in benchmarks, there are plenty available to view on Geekbench.
For those apps that aren’t yet M1-optimised, there’s Rosetta – which is like an app translator, to ensure things can run – but the list of programmes and apps that needs Rosetta is slowly getting smaller. Both Zoom and Chrome now have M1-optimised versions, while Microsoft Edge is close at the time of writing.
For creatives, the list of apps that are M1 optimised is getting bigger too. Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom are both ready, as is Microsoft Office. In terms of video editors, both Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve have beta versions available with M1 support but – at time of writing – no official, stable release.
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Like its laptop-shaped cousins, the desktop Mac does everything quietly with a barely an audible whirr from its built-in fans. It’s just ridiculously efficient. It didn’t seem to matter what we were doing with it, we didn’t hear the fan, even when exporting a video. That would normally be enough to send an Intel Mac’s fans spinning furiously.
The best Chromebook 2021: Our pick of the top Chrome OS laptops for school, college and more
As for other apps, we tested a whole load of them during our testing of both the M1-powered MacBook Pro and M1-powered MacBook Air, both running Big Sur, and our experience was pretty much faultless. Of course, those using specific enterprise software and systems my have a different experience and it’s worth looking up examples of tests on your specific needs before making the jump to M1. For the average user though, we don’t anticipate any significant issues arising.
Verdict
This miniature desktop might be small, but it’s still mighty thanks to the M1 chipset. It won’t be for everyone, however, especially if you’ve invested in a lot of apps not yet optimised for M1 support. Otherwise it’s a speedy and reliable workhorse that, given its small size, doesn’t draw attention to itself and helps you gets stuff done quickly.
The Mac mini has long been about being a versatile tool that works for most people. Given how fast and efficient it now is, it’s also a great tool for digital creatives. Whether you edit lots of photo or video, or just need something at home that works for you.
It’s the lowest price Mac available, yet its performance with optimised apps blows away some of the supposedly more powerful Intel-powered versions that cost far more. The Mac mini M1 really delivers big bang for your buck.
AMD’s Ryzen 3000 and Athlon processors (including the unlocked $49 Athlon 3000G) have shaken up the low-cost landscape and made a splash on our CPU Benchmark Hierarchy, but crushing shortages of chips has gripped the industry, which impacts the low end of the market in a particularly painful way. So even though quad-core models with gaming-capable integrated graphics have an MSRP for a mere $100, and the Athlon lineup now dips below 50 bucks (although it’s not always easy to find the 200GE at the moment), supply is short. Intel’s response to AMD’s challenge has brought Hyper-threading to its low-end Pentium processors and two additional cores to the Core i3 line, which greatly improves performance for its budget chips even though they’re still limited in terms of their graphics.
AMD hasn’t released its Ryzen 5000 chips for the low-end yet; the series bottoms out at the Ryzen 5 family. We expect that Ryzen 3 models will come in due course, shaking up our low-end rankings. Intel also has its Rocket Lake processors incoming next month, but these chips will use the refreshed Comet Lake architecture for the Core i3 and below chips, so they probably won’t have much impact on our rankings.
The 200-series AMD chips are surprisingly capable at gaming even without a dedicated card. For more details about how the 200GE stacks up against Intel’s comparable budget chip, see our feature AMD Athlon 200GE vs. Intel Pentium Gold G5400: Cheap CPU Showdown.
For those looking for something with a bit more gaming prowess without having to resort to a dedicated graphics card, AMD’s Ryzen 5 3400G is tough to beat. While the Ryzen 4000 APUs are faster, they’re not readily available and cost a lot more. The 3400G is a solid option but doesn’t offer a big performance boost over previous-generation chips like the Ryzen 5 2400G.
If your budget is a bit more flexible and you’re looking to pair your processor with dedicated graphics for gaming, AMD’s Ryzen 3 3300X is great if you can find it at retail around the MSRP of $120, and Intel’s new Core i5-10600KF is impressive at about twice that amount. But like so many other PC components, both of these processors are hard to find in stock at reasonable prices. Hopefully availability will improve over time, but it probably won’t happen until later in 2021, at which time we’ll have new processors.
When choosing a CPU, consider the following:
You can’t lose with AMD or Intel: Both companies offer good budget chips, and overall CPU performance between comparative parts is closer than it’s been in years. You can see how the chips stack up in our CPU Benchmark Hierarchy. That said, if you’re primarily interested in gaming, Intel’s chips will generally deliver slightly better performance (and consume more power) when paired with a graphics card, while AMD’s Raven Ridge models (like the AMD Ryzen 3 2200G) do a better job of delivering gaming-capable performance at modest settings and resolutions without the need for a graphics card.
Clock speed is more important than core count: Higher clock speeds translate to snappier performance in simple, common tasks such as gaming, while extra cores will help you get through time-consuming workloads faster.
Budget for a full system: Don’t pair a strong CPU with weak storage, RAM and/or graphics.
Overclocking isn’t for everyone, but the ability to squeeze more performance out of a budget offering is enticing. Intel doesn’t have overclocking-capable processors for the sub-$125 market, but AMD’s processors allow for tuning, and in most cases the bundled AMD cooler is sufficient for the task. Automated overclocking features in most motherboards make the process easy, so even the least tech-savvy users can enjoy the benefits.
For even more information, check out our CPU Buyer’s Guide, where we discuss how much you should spend for what you’re looking to do, and when cores matter more than high clock speeds. If you can expand your budget and buy a mainstream or high-end processor, check out our lists of Best CPUs for Gaming and Best CPUs for Applications. Below, you’ll see our favorite budget picks.
The Ryzen 3 3300X unlocks a new level of performance for budget gamers with four cores and eight threads that can push low- to mid-range graphics cards to their fullest. This new processor wields the Zen 2 architecture paired with the 7nm process to push performance to new heights while enabling new features for low-end processors, like access to the speedy PCIe 4.0 interface. The 3300X’s four cores tick at a 3.8 GHz clock rate and boost to 4.3 GHz, providing snappy performance in lightly threaded applications, like games.
AMD includes a bundled Wraith Spire cooler with the processor. Still, you might consider budgeting in a better low-end cooler to unlock the full performance, particularly if you are overclocking. Speaking of which, the Ryzen 3 3300X can overclock to the highest all-core frequencies we’ve seen with a Ryzen 3000-series processor, making it a great chip for enthusiasts. Unlike AMD’s other current-gen Ryzen 3 processors, you’ll need to pair this processor with a discrete GPU, but the low price point leaves extra room in the budget for a more capable graphics card.
You can stick with the value theme and drop this capable chip into existing X470 of B450 motherboards, but you’ll lose access to the PCIe 4.0 interface in exchange for a lower price point. Better yet, AMD will have its new B550 motherboards on offer in June 2020. These new motherboards support the PCIe 4.0 interface but provide lower entry-level pricing that’s a better fit for this class of processor.
When money is tight, being able to game without a graphics card can lead to serious savings. And with RAM prices continuing to soar, those working with small budgets need to tighten the strings anywhere they can.
That makes the four-core, four-thread Ryzen 3 2200G particularly appealing for budget gaming builders and upgraders. The $99 chip delivers solid 720p performance thanks to its Vega on-chip graphics, decent CPU muscle for mainstream tasks, and can be dropped into an existing inexpensive 300-series motherboard (after a requisite BIOS update), to form the basis of a surprisingly capable low-cost PC. It’s also unlocked, so with proper cooling you can tune the graphics or the CPU to best suit your needs.
Overclocking is possible, though officially unsupported
All models provide similar performance after overclocking
Reasons to Avoid
Graphics engine and memory can’t be overclocked
Weak single-threaded performance
AMD’s Athlon 240GE serves as the flagship of the company’s budget lineup, but it still packs a convincing punch for low-end gaming systems. The integrated Radeon Vega 3 graphics facilitate playable frame rates at lower resolutions and quality settings, but the 3.5 GHz base clock is the only differentiating feature between the Athlon 240GE and its counterparts. Due to the unofficial support for overclocking, that means you can tune the Athlon 200GE to the same top performance as the more expensive chips, but at a $20 price savings.
If overclocking isn’t in your plans, the Athlon 240GE is the best budget chip in its price band. Intel’s competing Pentium lineup lacks the graphical horsepower to be serious contenders for the extreme low-end of the budget gaming market, but they are attractive if gaming isn’t your primary goal. That is, of course, if you can find them.
Overclocking is possible, though officially unsupported
All models provide similar performance after overclocking
Reasons to Avoid
Graphics engine and memory can’t be overclocked
Weak single-threaded performance
AMD’s sub-$60 Zen-based Athlon is a good all-around value, thanks to its four computing threads and Vega 3 graphics that are capable of light gaming at lower resolutions and settings. Lightly threaded performance isn’t great, but when you’re spending this little on a CPU, you should expect compromises somewhere. And while it isn’t officially supported by AMD, if you have a compatible motherboard, this chip can be overclocked to eke out some extra CPU performance.
If your build budget can swing it, the $100 Ryzen 3 2200G is a much better chip with more cores and beefier graphics. But if you can only spend $60 or less on your CPU and you aren’t adding a dedicated graphics card, the Athlon 200GE is tough to beat. Intel’s competing Pentiums, the Gold G5400 and G4560, deliver better CPU performance. But they have higher MSRPs, and production shortages have made them hard to find unless you’re willing to spend close to $100 or more, making them incomparable in terms of budget CPUs.
Read: AMD Athlon 200GE Review
Integrated Graphics Gaming Performance
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You won’t find many game titles that will play well at the popular 1920X1080 resolution on the sub-$80 chips, but there are a few. As we can see, AMD’s $100 Ryzen 3 2200G is the undisputed king of the hill for 1080p gaming on integrated graphics, but the Athlon chips also push out playable frame rates in a few titles (if you’re willing to tolerate lower graphics quality settings).
Switching over to 1280×720 finds the Athlon processors providing up to 50 FPS at stock settings and experiencing a decent performance boost from overclocking. Remember, all of the Athlon chips will benefit equally from overclocking, meaning the Athlon 200GE and 220GE will achieve the same level of performance as the overclocked Athlon 240GE. That’s an amazing value for these low-cost chips. It should go without saying, but the Ryzen 3 2200G’s Radeon Vega 8 graphics engine blows through the 1280×720 tests with ease.
Intel’s Pentium lineup, and even the Core i3-8100 for that matter, struggle tremendously under the weight of these titles. Gaming at 1920×1080 is a painful experience: You won’t find many games that are playable on Pentium processors at that resolution. Switching over to the 1280×720 resolution brings the Core i3-8100 and Pentium G5600 into acceptable territory, but those chips still can’t match the Athlon’s performance, not to mention the crazy good savings. Intel’s Pentium G5400 is particularly disappointing, though, due to its pared-down UHD Graphics 610 engine. We wouldn’t recommend this processor for gaming on integrated graphics.
But it’s hard to recommend Pentium processors at all right now. Intel is struggling with a shortage of 14nm production capacity, so these chips are extremely hard to find, and when you do find them, they are subject to severe price gouging.
Discrete GPU Gaming Performance
We focus primarily on integrated graphics gaming performance for ultra-budget chips, but these processors are also a great pairing with low-end discrete graphics cards. Below, we’ve tested the chips paired with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 2080 at the 1920×1080 resolution to remove any GPU limitations from our tests below. We tested with an Nvidia GeForce 1080 FE graphics card to remove graphics-imposed bottlenecks, but the difference between the processors will shrink with the cheaper graphics cards that are commonly found in budget builds. Provided the performance deltas are small, you can select less expensive models and enjoy nearly the same gaming experience with graphics cards on the lower-end of the GPU benchmarks hierarchy.
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Intel’s Coffee Lake Pentium models come with slight frequency improvements, a 3W increase in the TDP rating, and 4MB of L3 cache. These slight adjustments deliver a surprising boost to performance compared to the previous-gen Kaby Lake models. The Coffee Lake Pentium Gold G5600 even beats out the Kaby Lake Core i3-7100 in most of our gaming benchmarks, highlighting the impressive performance gains Intel made within a single generation.
The G5600 grapples with the Ryzen 3 2200G. The Ryzen 3 2200G is relatively simple to overclock with single-click options in the BIOS, and the bundled cooler provides enough headroom for all but the most extreme overclocking efforts. At stock settings, the 2200G trails the Intel Pentium Gold 5600, but the advantage of AMD’s unlocked multipliers is clear: At $99, the tuned Ryzen 3 2200G’s performance nearly matches the $117 Core i3-8100.
The Ryzen 3 2200G also comes with powerful integrated graphics that provide surprisingly strong gaming performance at lower resolutions and quality settings. That’s a feat the Core i3-8100 simply cannot match. If you’re seeking the absolute best gaming performance (when paired with a dedicated card) regardless of price, the Core i3-8100 fits the bill. If you want the most bang for your buck or plan on gaming on integrated graphics, the Ryzen 3 2200G is the clear value winner.
Productivity Performance
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The Core i3-8100’s solid mixture of frequency and IPC throughput delivered to our expectations. The agile processor took the lead in several of our lightly-threaded applications, like the Adobe Cloud suite, but it is also surprisingly powerful in threaded workloads. The Intel Core i3-8100 also offers superior performance in applications that use AVX instructions, like HandBrake, which is a great addition to its impressively well-balanced repertoire. Much like we observed in our gaming tests, the Core i3-8100 offers the best overall performance.
Even after overclocking, the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X isn’t competitive enough with the Core i3-8100 to justify its higher price tag, and the lack of integrated graphics also restricts its appeal.
The Ryzen 3 2200G continues to impress with its lower price point and competitive performance, not to mention the integrated Vega graphics, making it the obvious choice for budget builders who are willing to spend a little extra time on tuning.
The Pentium lineup excels in most applications, but the Athlon processors also offer an impressive level of performance. It’s also noteworthy that Intel’s Pentium processors don’t accelerate AVX instructions, a staple in many types of rendering applications, while the Athlon processors fully support the densely-packed instructions. Intel’s chips lead in lightly-threaded applications, like web browsers, but the competing AMD chips also offer more than suitable performance in those workloads.
Microsoft’s digital whiteboard is designed to improve the work of teams, both when they meet in the company and when they do it remotely. And it is also an opportunity for retailers who aim to seize the opportunities offered by smart working
of Alberto Falchi published on 22 January 2021 , at 11: 41 in the Device channel Smart Working Teams Microsoft
If there is one thing that this crisis taught us is that companies do not stop when faced with problems. Thanks to the digital technology, which shortens the distances and allows you to continue work even from home, without giving up on collaboration. It is no coincidence that solutions like Teams experienced impressive growth during 2020. They have proved to be so effective that many companies will not abandon their use once normality is back, but will integrate them into company workflows, continuing to adopt smart working even when the restrictions on circulation will disappear.
But software is only part of the solution: there are numerous hardware solutions that revolve around Teams, making it more and more effective, and among these one of the best performing is Microsoft Surface Hub 2S , a very special digital whiteboard.
Microsoft Surface Hub 2S, the whiteboard that makes meetings more effective, both in presence and remotely
In corporate meeting rooms there are two tools that are hardly missing: a large display, or a projector, and a slate that acts as a support for ac hi holds the presentation, which can use it to quickly draw diagrams and examples. Microsoft Surface Hub 2S brings these two tools together . Apparently, it looks like a generous monitor from 50 “ (but a version from will come soon “) with particular proportions, 3: 2 instead of the canons 16: 9). Analyzing it more carefully, however, it turns out that it is a real tool for simultaneous collaboration. It integrates a fairly powerful computer (8th generation Intel Core i5 with 8 GB of RAM and SSD from 128 GB) which manages the whiteboard apps and communication with Teams. The Redmond giant defines it as a compute unit due to the fact that it can be replaced in a few moments with a more powerful model, simply by extracting the “cartridge” that contains it and inserting another one with more advanced hardware.
There is also a 4K wide-range camera , able to frame all the participants present in a medium-sized room, and an array of microphones capable of capturing the voices of everyone present, even those who are further away from the device. Finally included a stylus , which will allow you to draw on the touch screen with a quality and sensitivity of inking fully comparable to physical whiteboards.
The strong point of this solution is also the perfect integration with Teams , which allows you to make presentations, both those carried out in the meeting room and those made with colleagues and customers remotely, more intriguing and effective: what is drawn on the screen will be shared with all participants, simplifying a lot of group work, which will be immediately available for all participants, before a secure cancellation of the session data ..
Suface Hub 2S, an opportunity also for resellers
Maverick AV Solutions , division of Tech Data , is the exclusive distributor sivo of Surface Hub 2S for Italy. Maverick does not sell directly to end users but goes through resellers (who must be Microsoft certified to deploy Surface Hub 2S), offering a number of benefits for those interested in distributing Microsoft’s dedicated whiteboard for collaboration.
Maverick AV Solutions, in addition to distributing the hardware, offers a series of additional services : from consulting to channel support with inspections, instructions on use, maintenance and network integration, up to support for the product itself. The company’s goal is to make the solution practically plug & play for the end user: all the evaluation, installation, configuration, integration and fine-tuning work can then be delegated by the end user to Maverick itself or to its partners.
These are not the only services offered to resellers, who will have at their disposal a team of dedicated experts which will support them through webinars, events and promotions, aimed at keeping partners updated and involving them more. In short, Maverick does not just act as a paper passer, to provide a product to sell, but aims to pass on all its wealth of expertise on the solution to its partners, starting from onboarding , when the collaboration begins. Skills not limited to Surface Hub 2S, but extended to the entire Microsoft world and, in particular, to the Teams collaboration platform .
The resellers of the Surface Hub 2S, in short, are in effect Maverick’s partners.
Maverick also offers optional accessories for Surface Hub 2s that Microsoft has made together with its partners, such as Steelcase mobile carts or the APC batteries , which provide an easily transportable support for the whiteboard so that it can be easily repositioned from one meeting room to another when needed, to reach the APC backup batteries, which guarantee approximately 90 minutes of autonomy on the blackboard if disconnected from the mains.
Tech as a Service, Tech Data’s operational rental program
Microsoft Surface Hub 2S can be purchased, also together with its services, through the program Tech as a Service by Tech Data, which eliminates the initial investments, replaced by a monthly payment that includes hardware and services. Tech as a Service also allows you to always have the most up-to-date devices, thus allowing resellers to better retain customers over time. Resellers will also be able to include their personalized services in this formula, thus increasing their profit margins and offering the opportunity to differentiate themselves from the competition.
The as-a-Service offer is not the only alternative to purchase: Tech Data’s Finance Solutions business unit also allows access to financing, rental, operating, financial and even leasing, thus covering the different needs of the company’s resellers.
Upcoming 11. the generation of Intel Core processors promises to be very intriguing. So far, the results of the engineering samples of the new chips have promised a big leap in performance, but the grain of uncertainty in this topic has been sown by the recent leaks on the 6-core Core i5 model – 11400 , which barely beat its predecessors from the previous generation, and at the same time lags behind the i7 model – 8700 K from the Coffee series Lake. However, we want to calm down enthusiasts lurking for the top Rocket Lake units – Intel Core i9 – 11900 K has just appeared in the popular Geekbench, and the result obtained allows us to believe that that the single-thread performance leader is coming.
As long as the manufacturer does not overdo the Rocket Lakes’ price and these processors are normally available, the leading Ryzen will be in a lot of trouble.
Intel Core i5 – 11400 slightly faster than Core i5 – 10400 on Geekbench test. Surprisingly low result of Rocket Lake chip
Tested Intel Core i9 – 11900 K is probably a retail version – indicate are high clock speeds of 3.5 GHz (base) and 5.3 GHz (Thermal Velocity Boost). The system was made in lithography 14 nm and has 8 cores and 16 threads. From Core i7 units 11. Generation will differ only in higher clocks. The model was placed on the Gigabyte Z motherboard 490 AORUS Master, which apparently had no problem with Rocket Lake support. The result in Single-Core was 1892 points, while in Multi-Core the processor dialed 10934 points
Intel Core i9 – 11900 K – the processor in the new CPU-Z performance test towers over the AMD Ryzen 9 chip 5950 X
For comparison, in the same AMD Ryzen 7 tests 5800 X (8R / 16 W) he noted 1669 points (SC) and 10427 (MC), AMD Ryzen 9 5950 X (16 R / 32 W) – 1682 points (SC) and 16726 (MC), and the direct predecessor of Intel Core i9 – 10900 K (10 R / 20 W) – 1402 point (SC) and 10933 (MC). As you can see, in the Single-Core category, the top Rocket Lake is second to none. In multi-core applications, there is also nothing to be ashamed of – though to 32 – thread Ryzena cannot take off, it represents Ryzen’s level 7 anyway 5800 X and i9 – 10900 K of 20 threads. As long as the manufacturer does not overdo the price and the processors are normally available, the new Ryzen will be in a lot of trouble.
The German company Tuxedo brings that 15, 6-inch notebook InfinityBook S 15 with Intel’s Tiger Lake processors and pre-installed Linux operating system. Thanks to its compact dimensions, the model is quite light, and also provides a 73 -Watt-hour battery for a long runtime.
The heart of the InfinityBook S 15 optionally forms a Core i5 – 1135 G7 or Core i7 – 1165 G7 Intel’s 10 Nanometer Production. Both come with four CPU cores, but the i7 model has a higher clock rate, uses more level 3 cache and has a more powerful graphics unit. Both models have Tuxedo with a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 28 watts run, which ensures high turbo clock frequencies.
Long battery life and many connections The 15 , 6-inch IPS display covers 74 percent of the sRGB color space and lights up with up to 300 cd / m². The housing is made of aluminum and plastic; the complete notebook weighs around 1, 74 kilograms. The battery should last up to 19 hours – under realistic office conditions, Tuxedo promises 11 hours at half display brightness.
On the connection side, the InfinityBook S is 15 well equipped: 1 × Thunderbolt 4 as USB-C port including USB 4, DisplayPort Altmode and Power Delivery, 2 × USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbit / s, once each type A and type C), 1 × USB 2.0 type A, HDMI 2.0, audio combo jack, micro SD card reader and Gigabit Ethernet. Wi-Fi 6 (WLAN 802. 11 ax) and Bluetooth 5.1 are also included.
Tuxedo InfinityBook S 15 (19 Pictures) (Image: Tuxedo) From 802 Euro can be pre-ordered The basic configuration of the InfinityBook S 15 with Core i5 – 1135 G7, 250 GByte small SATA-6G-SSD and 8 GByte DDR4-SDRAM costs just under 940 Euro. Buyers can have various operating systems preinstalled, from the Tuxedo OS they have customized themselves to Ubuntu LTS and openSUSE – Windows 10 are available at an additional cost. If you want to save money, order without an SSD and retrofit one yourself. The interior is freely accessible thanks to the removable underside. Delivery is to begin at the end of February 2020.
Comparable notebooks with Tiger Lake CPU, lightweight housing and 250 – cd / m² display are available in small numbers 700 Euro available, but without the promised Linux compatibility and less maintenance-friendly.
The first information about the new One Mix 4 Mini-Convertible from One Netbook was released a few weeks ago. Now the first pictures and specifications are finding their way to the public. The One Mix 4 has a 10, 1-inch touch screen with a resolution of 2. 560 x 1. 600 pixels, resulting in a pixel density of 300 PPI leads. The display has a 16: 10 – format and lights up with a maximum brightness of up to 320 nits. In addition, the screen can be completely folded back using the hinge, which enables it to be used as a tablet.
An Intel Tiger Lake processor works inside the One Mix 4. Customers can choose between an Intel Core i5 – 1130 G7 and a Core i7 – 1160 G7. Both processors have four cores and a TDP between 7 and 10 W as well as an integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7. In addition, depending on the configuration, up to 16 GB LPDDR4X – 4266 – RAM.
The One Mix 4 has two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a USB Type-C port. In addition, an AUX connection and a microSD card reader are available. Both WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 are available for wireless connections. A fingerprint sensor in the power button is also on board. Unfortunately, a webcam is not integrated, which is why customers have to use an external camera for use in a video conference.
The One Netbook One Mix 4 is to be delivered this spring. The price at JD.com is currently quoted as 5 699 Chinese yuan – converted to around 727 euros.
Nehalem was the codename for one of Intel’s most successful processor families in recent history. and that gave rise to the current name and classification of the company’s processors “Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7”. Launched at the end of 2008, under this architecture came models as famous as that mythical Intel Core i7 – 920 what good times did overclock lovers go through.
One of the architects of that architecture was Glenn Hinton, an engineer who worked for 35 years at the microprocessor giant until his retirement in the year 2017. Now, however, has decided to come back to work on a new project for a new high-performance CPU.
A new CPU project of high performance, and the new CEO of Intel are the reasons why he returns to the company
Glenn Hilton himself explains the reasons on his LinkedIn that prompted him to come back, reasons that basically boil down to having Pat Gelsinger as the new CEO of Intel, and the new high-performance CPU project that he will work on.
After enjoying my retirement for 3 years, I have decided to return to work at Intel (where I previously worked for 35 years). What prompted me to do something like that? I will be working on an exciting high performance CPU project. Plus, having Pat Gelsinger as CEO also helped me make up my mind to come back. “
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Antonio Delgado 10980
Computer Engineer by training , writer and hardware analyst at Geeknetic since . new hardware that we receive here for reviews. In my free time I fiddle with 3d printers, drones and other gadgets. For anything, here you have me.
The leaks so far indicate that the upcoming Intel Rocket Lake processors will literally dethrone their predecessors and raise the Blue on the seat again a leader in the segment of gaming systems. Everything clearly indicated that the new Cypress Cove architecture will bring a noticeable increase in performance, while the network has seen quite disappointing results of the mid-budget Core i5 unit – 11400, which has been tested in Geekbench. This layout was only slightly ahead of its predecessors based on the Comet Lake architecture, and at the same time it was brutally dethroned by the also 6-core, but much more expensive Ryzen 5 5600 X.
Based on the Geekbench results, AMD Ryzen 5 5600 X beats Rocket Lake by approx. 30%. The difference is therefore considerable, but let’s not forget that the Core i5 – 11400 will be a much cheaper unit. We must also take into account the fact that we did not know the exact specification of the test platform or the state of advancement of the engineering version of the chip.
Intel Core i9 – 11900 K vs AMD Ryzen 9 5900 X – the manufacturer declares the highest performance in new computer games
Intel Core i5 – 11400 is 6- core / 12 – threaded processor with 2.6 GHz clocks (base ) and 4.4 GHz in turbo mode The processor has been tested on the MSI MPG Z 490 M motherboard Gaming Edge, we are probably talking about an ES2 engineering sample, which should offer very similar performance to the retail units due in March. In Geekbench benchmarks, the chip scored 11900 point in Sing le-Core and 6197 in Multi-Core, which means that Rocket Lake is on average 9% faster than its predecessor, the model Core i5 – 10400. It is worth noting that the upcoming chip is 100 MHz faster in turbo mode. With the new Cypress Cove cores we could have expected a bit more difference.
The mysterious Intel Alder Lake-S processor has arrived in SiSoft Sandra. Has 16 cores and supports DDR5 memory 4800 MHz
Worst of all, Core i5 – 11400 looks pale compared to other 6-core species. In the same tests, Core i7 – 8700 K is on average a few percent faster, and AMD Ryzen 5 5600 X recording results in Geekbench at the level of 1605 (SC) and 8099 (MC) beats Rocket Lake by approx. 30%. The difference is therefore considerable, but let’s not forget that the i5 – 11400 will be a much cheaper unit. We must also take into account the fact that we did not know the exact specification of the test platform or the state of advancement of the engineering version of the chip. So we have every right to hope that the final performance of the upcoming Intel processors will remain at a higher level, especially as the Core i9 and Core i7 models performed very well.
Intel’s 11th Generation Rocket Lake-S processors will likely make their debut in late March, but that doesn’t mean that the rumor mill will stop churning. The Core i5-11400 and Core i7-11700 (via Tum_Apisak) are the two latest Rocket Lake-S parts to break cover, and it looks like they could shake up our CPU Benchmark Hierarchy when they come to market.
By now, Rocket Lake-S shouldn’t need any introductions. The approaching 14nm chips leverage Intel’s Cypress Cove microarchitecture, which is basically a backport of the 10nm Sunny Cove cores from Ice Lake chips. Rocket Lake-S also features Xe LP graphics and natively supports PCIe 4.0 and DDR4-3200 memory modules. The processors will continue to slot into the LGA1200 socket, but it’s probably the last generation of chips to use the socket before Intel transitions to the LGA1700 socket for Alder Lake-S.
The Core i5-11400 comes furnished with six cores, 12 threads and up to 12MB of L3 cache. The hexa-core chip seemingly features a 2.6 GHz base clock and 4.4 GHz boost clock. The Core i7-11700, in return, sports eight cores, 16 threads and a 16MB L3 cache. The processor appears to have a 2.5 GHz base clock and 2.5 GHz boost clock, but the latter looks like a misreport (or a limitation of an egineering sample). In any event, neither processor carries a suffix, conveying that these are 65W Rocket Lake-S SKUs.
The Core i5-11400 had single- and multi-core scores of 1,247 and 6,197 points, respectively, in Geekbench 5. According to the average metrics, the Core i5-10400 delivers a single-and multi-core score 1,115 points and 5,676, respectively. Therefore, the Core i5-11400 offers up to 11.8% higher single-core performance and up to 9.2% better multi-core performance than the current Core i5-10400.
The Core i7-11700’s scores are lower than the Core i5-11400, so the run was likely not particularly useful and influenced by the lower clock speed. This isn’t unusual because unreleased hardware doesn’t always play nice with some benchmarking software. As evidenced by the Core i7-11700’s low boost clock speed, something (maybe cooling or firmware) was holding the octa-core processor back during the benchmark.
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Core i5-11400 (Image credit: Primate Labs Inc.)
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Core i7-11700 (Image credit: Primate Labs Inc.)
Although Intel has allowed motherboard vendors to show off their shiny Z590 motherboards, the chipmaker hasn’t officially released Rocket Lake-S yet or provided detailed specifications. Intel has repeatedly stated that the chips will arrive in the first quarter of this year.
Since Alder Lake-S launches in the second half of the year, it’s safe to assume that Rocket Lake-S will have to debut around March time. After all, Rocket Lake-S is just the band-aid solution to hold off AMD’s Ryzen 5000 processors until Alder Lake-S is ready for airtime. Assuming Alder Lake and its Golden Cove high performance cores are up to snuff, naturally.
Demand for client PCs, consumer electronics, servers, and other high-tech equipment is driving sales of various processors and in the recent quarters semiconductor supply chain has failed to meet demand for chips. Not only do foundries not have enough capacity to build silicon for their clients, but lead times at packaging houses have also increased significantly. Based on media reports, issues with chip packaging will affect supplies of client CPUs and GPUs as well as various consumer-grade electronics throughout the whole year.
Different chips use different types of packaging. Small integrated circuits (ICs) that do not require a complex power supply and do not need many input/output pins tend to use cheap wirebond packages. More complex devices use leadframe packages (quad flat packages (QFP), quad/dual flat no-lead packages (QFN/DFN), thin small outline profile packages (TSOP), etc.), which are generally wirebond packages encapsulated into plastic or other types of mold for added rigidity and reliability.
Chips that use many power and I/O pins — such as CPUs, GPUs, and SoCs — typically use laminated flip chip ball grid array (FC-BGA) packages that provide fine pitches, low inductance, ease of surface mounting, and excellent reliability among other things. Meanwhile, there are BGAs that continue to rely on wirebonding and there are BGAs that use flip chip packaging.
Insufficient Wirebonding Capacities
Wirebonding packages are used by such popular commodity chips as display driver ICs as well as TDDI (touch with display driver integration) chip solutions. Insufficient supplies of DDICs as well as TDDIs affected shipments of monitors and notebooks last year, as some PC makers complained back in the fourth quarter.
(Image credit: Henkel Adhesives)
By now, OSAT (outsourced assembly and test) houses like ASE Technology (the world’s No. 1 chip packaging company), Greatek Electronics, and Lingsen Precision Industries have stretched their lead times for wirebonding packages to two, three, or even more months because of insufficient capacities, reports DigiTimes. OSAT companies did not comment on the news story.
Adding equipment for wirebonding is a relatively straightforward task, but because of high demand manufacturers of such tools, namely Kulicke & Soffa as well as ASM Pacific Technology, have increased their delivery lead times up to nine months. Meanwhile, Advantest, which makes test equipment for DDICs and TDDIs, has also extended its lead times to over six months.
Without sufficient wirebonding capacities, at least some display and PC makers will continue to suffer from shortages of various crucial components, such as display driver ICs, for at least two quarters. Alternatively, they will have to find additional sources of components, or their suppliers will have to find alternative assemble and test partners. In both cases, the actions will take time.
Not Enough ABF Substrates
(Image credit: ASE Group)
Laminated packages are used by a wide variety of semiconductors ranging from cheap SoCs for client PCs all the way to complex high-end CPUs for servers and 5G equipment. Chips that use laminated packaging often use IC substrates featuring insulating Ajinomoto build-up film (ABF), which are made by only one company, Ajinomoto Fine-Techno Co. Apparently, some suppliers of ABF substrates experience yield issues with their products.
Yield rate for ABF substrate production at Taiwan-based suppliers Unimicron Technology, Nan Ya PCB, and Kinsus Interconnect Technology is now about 70% or lower for high-end offerings, according to DigiTimes. The companies are trying to gradually expand production, but they will only be able to boost it by around 10% from 2021 to 2022, the report says.
In particular, Unimicron is reportedly considering repurposing one of its damaged production facilities to make ABF substrates, but the plan has not been finalized, so it unlikely that the new factory will go online earlier that at least a year from now. Neither of the companies has confirmed or denied the story. To a large degree such a small increase is a consequence of the fact that delivery lead time for ABF substrates manufacturing tools are now at now are four to three quarters, the article claims.
Since demand for advanced chips is increasing across the board, processor developers naturally give priority to higher-end products, such as those for supercomputers, datacenters, servers, and advanced client PCs. ABF substrates suppliers have to satisfy demands of their customers, which is why they naturally give priority to higher-end substrates in their production too. As a result of shifting priorities of both chipmakers and substrate suppliers, capacities for entry-level and midrange processors for laptops are shrinking, which creates further shortages on the market.
Not a Catastrophe?
It is not the first time in recent memory when the industry experienced shortages of crucial components.
(Image credit: ASE Group)
In recent years, the industry also faced a tight supply of Intel CPUs as the company could not meet demand for parts produced using its 14 nm fabrication process. The company naturally prioritized supply of its higher-end Xeon Scalable as well as Core i5/i7/i9 processors over entry-level Core i3, Pentium, or SoCs for midrange and low-end PCs. While PC makers were not exactly happy with undersupplies, they did not really struggle. This time around, the situation is different as companies like Dell or HP cannot get enough a variety of components.
Insufficient packaging capacities at some manufacturers and assembly and test services create a tight supply of ABF substrates and an unpleasant situation for the industry. Yet, it is not unfixable.
Increased delivery lead times for equipment makers indicate that there are companies, which have acquired necessary tools and which will obtain them earlier than others. These companies will use this equipment to assemble and test chips, which will reduce load on other OSAT providers. Alternatively, integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) could at least produce chips needed by the industry.
In either case, high demand for PCs, electronics, servers, and other types of equipment means higher prices, so for the next couple of quarters many products will continue to cost more than their MSRP.
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