How badly do people want a standalone graphics card even though modern integrated GPUs offer decent performance and media playback capabilities? Apparently a lot, as discrete GPU vendors are resurrecting their ancient entry-level products and returning them to store shelves.
CFD (via Hermitage Akihabara), a store in Japan, has restarted selling Gigabyte’s Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 (GV-N1030D4-2GL) graphics cards, which were originally launched in 2017 and disappeared from stores in 2019 ~ 2020. A Japanese retailer restarting sales of an outdated product isn’t normally too interesting, but along with CFD, some of Amazon’s partners also restarted selling the GeForce GT 1030 products recently.
The GV-N1030D4-2GL AIB is a low-profile, single-slot adapter carrying Nvidia’s GP108 GPU (the Pascal architecture, 384 CUDA cores, 14LPP) and 2GB of DDR4 memory with a 64-bit interface. It also has an HDMI 2.0b output for modern 4Kp60 displays and a DVI-D connector for legacy monitors.
The GT 1030 Low Profile D4 2G card is without any doubt an entry-level product, but it features Gigabyte’s Ultra Durable-badged components that are supposed to be long-lasting, something that is required for small form factor systems that can be used for years for various commercial or office purposes.
Interestingly, Gigabyte’s Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 even supports an OC mode that increases its base clock from 1151 MHz to 1177 MHz and its boost clock from 1379 MHz to 1417 MHz.
From a performance point of view, Gigabyte’s GT 1030 Low Profile D4 2G should be significantly behind modern integrated GPUs from AMD and Intel. But it can certainly do the job if someone needs to repair or upgrade a legacy PC or just add another 4Kp60 display output to a modern system.
Nvidia and its distributors probably have quite a few GP107 and GP10 graphics processors left since the GPU developer never made small entry-level chips based on its Turing architecture. The smallest GPU in the Turing family — the TU117 — has a die size of 200 mm2, which is quite large for low-end AIBs that are supposed to be cheap. By contrast, the GP108 is 70 mm2 or 74 mm2, whereas the GP107 is 132 mm2. That said, expect more entry-level Pascal products to emerge in the coming months.
CFD sells Gigabyte’s Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 (GV-N1030D4-2GL) graphics card for ¥12,100 including tax ($100 without tax). Some of Amazon’s partners offer this card in the U.S. for around $200. When launched in 2017, a GeForce GT 1030 board cost around $80.
Intel’s next-generation processor for mainstream and performance-mainstream client PCs due in 2021 is codenamed Alder Lake, and its first client CPU with a 7 nm compute tile set to launch in 2023 is called Meteor Lake. What Intel has not officially disclosed so far is the codename and features of its 2022 client platform. Except, it accidentally unveiled the Raptor Lake codename on Friday.
Along with the host of details concerning its DG2 family of GPUs, Intel also revealed some basic information about its Raptor Lake processors set to arrive in 2022. The desktop Raptor Lake-S CPUs will continue to use the LGA1700 infrastructure introduced by Alder Lake-S and will likely be drop-in compatible with motherboards that are to be released later this year. Mobile Raptor Lake will continue to feature an integrated Thunderbolt 4 controller that will use the Burnside Bridge TB4 retimer.
Later this year Intel will introduce its Alder Lake platforms for desktops and notebooks that will bring in a hybrid CPU architecture to x86 PCs. Intel’s Alder Lake products will pack up to eight high-performance Golden Cove cores and eight energy-efficient Gracemont cores. They will also support DDR5 memory and will introduce a PCIe 5.0 interface.
Less is known about Intel’s Raptor Lake CPUs. Some early leaks indicate that Raptor Lake processors will essentially be revamped Alder Lake CPUs with some incremental improvements. The Raptor Lake CPUs are expected to retain eight performance and eight energy-efficient cores, but this time with some tweaks like an improved cache architecture on desktop parts and LPDDR5X support on mobile parts.
Since Alder Lake will bring in a host of new technologies, it’s uncommon for Intel to make its direct successor radically different. It’s an ‘optimization’, not an all-new architecture. Similar to previous platforms, it makes sense to use Alder Lake’s infrastructure for Raptor Lake. Although the Raptor Lake disclosure was ‘official,’ Intel will not comment on the matter since the leak was unintentional.
The first benchmark (via Tum_Apisak) of Intel’s Iris Xe DG1 is out. The graphics card’s performance is in the same ballpark as AMD’s four-year-old Radeon RX 550 – at least in the Basemark GPU benchmark.
If we compare manufacturing processes, the DG1 is obviously the more advanced offering. The DG1 is based on Intel’s latest 10nm SuperFin process node, and the Radeon RX 550 utilizes the Lexa die, which was built with GlobalFoundries’ 14nm process. Both the DG1 and Radeon RX 550 hail from Asus’ camp. The Asus DG1-4G features a passive heatsink, while the Asus Radeon RX 550 4G does require active cooling in the form of a single fan. The Radeon RX 550 is rated for 50W and the DG1 for 30W, which is why the latter can get away with a passive cooler.
The Asus DG1-4G features a cut-down variant of the Iris Xe Max GPU, meaning the graphics cards only has 80 execution units (EUs) at its disposal. This configuration amounts to 640 shading units with a peak clock of 1,500 MHz. On the memory side, the Asus DG1-4G features 4GB of LPDDR4X-4266 memory across a 128-bit memory interface.
On the other side of the ring, the Asus Radeon RX 550 4G comes equipped with 512 shading units with a 1,100 MHz base clock and 1,183 MHz boost clock. The graphics card’s 4GB of 7 Gbps GDDR5 memory that communicates through a 128-bit memory bus to pump out a memory bandwidth up to 112 GBps.
Intel DG1 vs. Radeon RX 550 (Image credit: Tum_Apisak/Twitter)
In terms of FP32 performance, the DG1 delivers up to 2.11 TFLOPs whereas the Radeon RX 550 offers up to 1.21 TFLOPs. On paper, the DG1 should be superior, but we know that FP32 performance isn’t the most important metric.
Both systems from the Basemark GPU submissions were based on the same processor, the Intel Core i3-10100F. Therefore, the DG1 and Radeon RX 550 were on equal grounds as far as the processor is concerned. Let’s not forget that the DG1 is picky when it comes to platforms. The graphics card is only compatible with the 9th and 10th Generation Core processors and B460, H410, B365 and H310C motherboards. Even then, a special firmware is necessary to get the DG1 working.
The DG1 puts up a Vulkan score of 17,289 points, while the Radeon RX 550 scored 17,619 points. Therefore, the Radeon RX 550 was up to 1.9% faster than the DG1. Of course, this is just one benchmark so it’s too soon to declare a definite winner without more thorough tests.
Intel never intended for the DG1 to be a strong performer, but rather an entry-level graphics card that can hang with the competition. Thus far, the DG1 seems to trade blows with the Radeon RX 550.
Razer has been a loyal supporter of Team Blue. However, the tech giant may have finally bitten the bullet and joined up with Team Red. If the recently discovered 3DMark submissions (via _rogame) are accurate, Razer will release the company’s first-ever AMD-powered gaming laptop soon.
The mysterious laptop emerged as the Razer PI411. There is speculation that the codename may allude to the Razer Blade 14, which debuted back in 2013. The last time Razer updated the Razer Blade 14 was in 2016, so a well-deserved update is due. Nevertheless, we can’t discard the possibility that PI411 could just be a codename for any other Razer device.
The Razer PI411 features AMD’s top-tier Ryzen 9 5900HX (Cezanne) processor. The Ryzen 9 5900HX is AMD’s first overclockable mobile processor, and the chipmaker designed it to take the fight to Intel’s HK-series of mobile chips, such as the Core i9-10900HK or the looming Core i9-11980HK.
Armed with eight Zen 3 cores and 16MB of L3 cache, the Ryzen 9 5900HX comes with a 3.3 GHz base clock and a 4.6 GHz boost clock. It has a generous cTDP (configurable thermal design power) between 35W and 54W. The last Razer Blade 14 (2016) employed the Core i7-6700HQ, a 45W processor from the Skylake days. The gaming laptop is no stranger to housing hot chips. If Razer wants to work the Ryzen 9 5900HX into the Razer Blade 14, the new iteration will likely have to rely on a more robust cooling solution than its predecessors to leave enough thermal headroom for manual overclocking.
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Razer PI411 (Image credit: _rogame/Twitter)
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Razer PI411 (Image credit: _rogame/Twitter)
The Razer PI411 is also equipped with 16GB of DDR4-3200 memory and a 512GB NVMe SSD. However, it’s probably just an engineering sample, so the final product could arrive with more memory and a bigger SSD. So far, we’ve seen the Razer PI411 with two discrete graphics card options from Nvidia. As a quick reminder, the chipmaker’s latest mobile GeForce RTX 3000 (Ampere) offerings are available at different TDP limits, which adds a lot of confusion if the vendor doesn’t specifically list the value.
The first Razer PI411 unit employs a GeForce RTX 3060. The 14 Gbps memory confirms that the Razer PI411 uses the GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile or Max-P variant as opposed to the Max-Q variant. The 900 MHz base clock points to the 80W version.
The second and most recent Razer PI411 unit, on the other hand, leverages the more powerful GeForce RTX 3070. The memory is clocked at 12 Gbps, meaning it’s the Max-Q variant. This particular GeForce RTX 3070 Max-Q sports a 780 MHz base clock, so it coincides with the 80W version as well.
The 3DMark submissions aren’t conclusive evidence that Razer is sold on the idea. We hope Razer does go through with it, though, since the laptop market could use another high-end AMD-based laptop.
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) published a report today detailing the, well, semiconductor industry’s weaknesses as the entire world attempts to figure out how to respond to the ongoing chip shortage.
Many enthusiasts probably know the biggest issue: The semiconductor industry relies on many companies around the globe, but most operate within a very specific niche, giving them significant influence over their domain. This results in a supply chain that is both dangerously small and dazzlingly large, geographically speaking.
“There are more than 50 points across the supply chain where one region holds more than 65% of the global market share,” SIA and BCG said in their report, adding that manufacturing is “a major focal point when it comes to the resilience of the global semiconductor supply chain.” They went on to explain:
“About 75% of semiconductor manufacturing capacity, as well as many suppliers of key materials — such as silicon wafers, photoresist, and other specialty chemicals — are concentrated in China and East Asia, a region significantly exposed to high seismic activity and geopolitical tensions. Furthermore, all of the world’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing capacity — in nodes below 10 nanometers — is currently located in South Korea (8%) and Taiwan (92%). These are single points of failure that could be disrupted by natural disasters, infrastructure shutdowns, or internal conflicts, and may cause severe interruptions in the supply of chips.”
We’ve seen numerous examples of those dangers in the last few months. Natural disasters? See the December 10 earthquake that shut down two Micron fabs in Taiwan or the February storm that shut down a Samsung fab in Texas. Infrastructure shutdowns? See the ongoing water rationing in Taiwan caused by record droughts.
Those examples alone have already resulted in supply issues for flash memory, in Micron’s case, as well as SSD controllers in Samsung’s. The droughts in Taiwan have threatened production related to CPUs, GPUs, single-board computers, and display panels, among other things, despite manufacturers’ efforts to mitigate their effects.
There are significant barriers to reducing that risk, SIA and BGC said, one of the most important being the fact that those companies have very complicated specialties. They explained in the report:
“Specialization across the supply chain allows the deep focus required to innovate, often pushing the boundaries of science. There are more than 30 types of semiconductor product categories, each optimized for a particular function in an electronic subsystem. Developing a modern chip requires deep technical expertise in both hardware and software, and relies on advanced design tools and intellectual property (IP) provided by specialized firms. Fabrication then typically requires as many as 300 different inputs, including raw wafers, commodity chemicals, specialty chemicals, and bulk gases. These inputs are processed by more than 50 classes of highly engineered precision equipment. Most of this equipment, such as lithography and metrology tools, incorporates hundreds of technology subsystems such as modules, lasers, mechatronics, control chips, and optics. The highly specialized suppliers involved in semiconductor design and fabrication are often based in different countries. Chips then zigzag across the world in a global journey.”
The Argument Against Self-Sufficiency
The chip shortage has prompted governments around the world to question their reliance on this global network. The European Commission said in December that it planned to invest $170 billion (145B€) to increase its production, for example, and U.S. President Joe Biden ordered a review of critical supply chains in February.
China has also pushed its chip industry towards independence and enjoyed a series of wins despite U.S. restrictions on chip-making equipment meant to impede its progress. In recent months it’s announced its first DDR4 memory, first domestic SSDs, and first 7nm data center GPU; it’s also made progress on a chip fabbing tool.
Yet true self-sufficiency is nearly unattainable, per SIA and BGC, at least to governments that aren’t willing to spend a lot more than they are now. Just check out the estimate SIA and BGC shared in the exhibit below:
(Image credit: SIA-BGC)
That’s a global upfront investment of somewhere between $900 billion and $1.2 trillion accompanied by an incremental annual cost between $45 and $125 billion. SIA and BGC said the annual cost alone “would all but wipe out the profits of the industry, which amounted to $126 billion across the entire value chain in 2019.”
SIA and BGC said this could lead to “an average increase of 35-65% in the price of semiconductors” if the manufacturers’ higher costs are fully passed on to their customers. That would almost certainly lead to higher costs for consumers, too, so you still wouldn’t be able to buy the best CPUs or best graphics cards on the cheap.
But the real cost would be even higher. “Furthermore, it is also likely that siloed domestic industries shielded from foreign competition and deprived of global scale would lose in efficiency and ability to innovate,” SIA and BGC said. “Ultimately, it would reverse the decades-long trend of making increasingly powerful and more affordable electronic devices access fo consumers around the world.”
And that’s assuming various governments simply wanted to meet the demand for chips in 2019. SIA and BGC estimated that “the industry will have to almost double its capacity by 2030 to keep up with the expected 4% to 5% average annual growth in semiconductor demand.” That would make self-sufficient supplies even more costly.
A Proposed Solution
SIA and BGC proposed an alternative solution to fully self-sufficient supplies for major regions: targeted investments. They called for the U.S. to implement a $20 to $50 billion program, for example, that would support domestic production of semiconductors used in devices critical to national security and other vital areas.
They also said that “governments with significant national security concerns related to control over semiconductor technology should establish a stable framework for restrictions on semiconductor trade” that clearly defines policy goals, restrictions, and “the expected second-order impacts on industry players” that could result.
Their final plea was for policy makers to “significantly step up the efforts to address the looming shortage of high-skill talent that threatens to constrain the semiconductor industry’s ability to keep the current pace of innovation and growth.” It turns out that we haven’t yet developed an autonomous chip industry — and probably never will — which means the human factor can’t simply be ignored.
Will any of those solutions help in the short term? Not really. Increasing production capacity is an incredibly expensive process that also takes time to complete. TSMC didn’t make a plan to spend $100 billion over the next three years for no reason; if it could reduce either the financial investment or the length of time it needs, it would.
But at least now it’s clearer than ever why this chip shortage is happening, why it’s not going to be solved over night, and how industry players think it can be addressed in the near future.
Through its GeForce 465 driver update, NVIDIA formally introduced the PCI-Express Resizable BAR feature to its GeForce RTX 30-series “Ampere” graphics cards. This feature was invented by PCI-SIG, custodians of the PCI-Express bus, but only became relevant for the PC when AMD decided to re-brand it as “AMD Smart Access Memory” (which we separately reviewed here) and introduce it with the Radeon RX 6000 series RDNA2 graphics cards. That’s probably when NVIDIA realized they too could implement the feature to gain additional performance for GeForce.
How Resizable BAR Works
Until now, your CPU could only see your graphics card’s memory through 256 MB apertures (that’s 256 MB at a time). Imagine you’re in a dark room and have a tiny pocket flashlight that can only illuminate a small part of a page from a book to you. You can still read the whole page, but you’ll have to move the flashlight to where you’re looking. Resizable BAR is the equivalent of illuminating the whole room with a lamp.
This becomes even more important if you consider that with modern APIs, multiple CPU-to-GPU memory transfers can be active at the same time. With only a single, small aperture, these transfers have to be executed in sequence—if the whole VRAM is mapped, they can operate in parallel. Going back to our reading in the dark example, we now assume that there are multiple people trying to read a book, but they only have one flashlight. Everyone has to wait their turn, illuminate the book, read a bit of text and then pass the flashlight on to the next person. With Resizable BAR enabled, everybody can read the book at the same time.
The 256 MB size of the aperture is arbitrary and dates back to the 32-bit era when address space was at a premium. Even with the transition to x86-64, the limit stayed as newer 3D graphics APIs such as DirectX 11 relied less on mirroring data between the system memory and the video memory. Perhaps the main reason nobody bothered to implement Resizable BAR until now was that modern GPUs come with such enormous video memory bandwidths that the act of reading memory through apertures had minimal performance impact, and it’s only now that both NVIDIA and AMD feel the number-crunching power of their GPUs has far outpaced their memory bandwidth requirements.
To use Resizable BAR, a handful of conditions should be fulfilled. For starters, you need a modern processor that supports it. From the AMD camp, Ryzen 3000 “Zen 2” and Ryzen 5000 “Zen 3” processors support it. On the Intel camp, hardware support technically dates back to the 4th Gen “Haswell,” but most motherboard vendors for whatever reason restricted their Resizable BAR enabling BIOS updates to the 300-series chipset, or 8th Gen “Coffee Lake” (and later) architectures, along with X299, or 7th Gen “Skylake-X” HEDT (and later). You’ll also need a compatible graphics card—NVIDIA RTX 30-series or AMD RX 6000 series. Lastly, your PC must boot in UEFI mode with CSM disabled for UEFI GOP support. With these conditions met, you’ll need to enable Resizable BAR in your motherboard’s UEFI setup program.
There are multiple methods to check if Resizable BAR is enabled. The easiest is to use GPU-Z, which now shows the Resizable BAR status on its main screen. The other options are using NVIDIA’s Control Panel and Windows Device Manager.
In this review, we will be testing four NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30-series Ampere models—RTX 3090, RTX 3080, RTX 3070, and RTX 3060 Ti, all Founders Edition cards. Each of these will have Resizable BAR enabled and disabled, across our entire test-suite of 22 games with a rich diversity of game engines and APIs.
After almost a decade of total market dominance, Intel has spent the past few years on the defensive. AMD’s Ryzen processors continue to show improvement year over year, with the most recent Ryzen 5000 series taking the crown of best gaming processor: Intel’s last bastion of superiority.
Now, with a booming hardware market, Intel is preparing to make up some of that lost ground with the new 11th Gen Intel Core Processors. Intel is claiming these new 11th Gen CPUs offer double-digit IPC improvements despite remaining on a 14 nm process. The top-end 8-core Intel Core i9-11900K may not be able to compete against its Ryzen 9 5900X AMD rival in heavily multi-threaded scenarios, but the higher clock speeds and alleged IPC improvements could be enough to take back the gaming crown. Along with the new CPUs, there is a new chipset to match, the Intel Z590. Last year’s Z490 chipset motherboards are also compatible with the new 11th Gen Intel Core Processors, but Z590 introduces some key advantages.
First, Z590 offers native PCIe 4.0 support from the CPU, which means the PCIe and M.2 slots powered off the CPU will offer PCIe 4.0 connectivity when an 11th Gen CPU is installed. The PCIe and M.2 slots controlled by the Z590 chipset are still PCI 3.0. While many high-end Z490 motherboards advertised this capability, it was not a standard feature for the platform. In addition to PCIe 4.0 support, Z590 offers USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 from the chipset. The USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 standard offers speeds of up to 20 Gb/s. Finally, Z590 boasts native support for 3200 MHz DDR4 memory. With these upgrades, Intel’s Z series platform has feature parity with AMD’s B550. On paper, Intel is catching up to AMD, but only testing will tell if these new Z590 motherboards are up to the challenge.
The ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming Velocita is a recent addition to ASRock’s arsenal. The Phantom Gaming Velocita targets the gamer market with Killer Networking for both wired and wireless connectivity and even an option to route the network traffic straight from the Killer LAN controller to the CPU. The ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming Velocita features a dependable 14-phase VRM that takes advantage of 50 A power stages from Vishay. The ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming Velocita has all the core features for a great gaming motherboard. All that is left is to see how the ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming Velocita stacks up against the competition!
1x Killer E3100G 2.5 Gb/s LAN 1x Intel I219V Gigabit LAN 1x Killer AX1675x WiFi 6E
Rear Ports:
2x Antenna Ports 1x HDMI Port 1x DisplayPort 1.4 1x Optical SPDIF Out Port 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A Port 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C Port 6x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A Ports 2x USB 2.0 Ports 2x RJ-45 LAN Ports 5x 3.5 mm HD Audio Jacks
Sony has, in a very low-key way, just announced that its upcoming Xperia event will be on April 14th (via Droid Life). The news comes from the Xperia YouTube channel’s banner, where it lays out that there will be a new product announcement happening at 4:30PM Japan Standard Time — that’s 3:30AM EST, or 12:30AM PT (if you feel like burning the midnight oil to watch live).
The banner gives no real hints as to what will be announced, but there have been a few rumors floating around — one about a new flagship, the Xperia 1 III, and one about the return of the Xperia Compact, which could end up being an Android answer to the iPhone Mini.
Image: Sony
It’s worth noting that there are other rumors that mention new versions of the Xperia 5 and 10, leaving out the Compact entirely. But pretty much every rumor indicates that we’ll see a new entry in the flagship Xperia 1 line. Leaks indicate that the 1 III will have a periscope zoom lens, and Techradar recently published what could be the full specs. It’s mostly what’s expected from a flagship Android phone: Snapdragon 888, 12GB of memory, 5G, and a 4K 120Hz screen.
It’s probably a safe bet that if there’s only one phone being announced (which is hinted at by the singular “product” in the image from Sony), the Xperia 1 III would be it — the 1 line seems to be on a yearly cycle. The Compact is much more of a wildcard — the last time Sony released a “Compact” branded phone was in 2018, though it does use the word to market the Xperia 5 II, with its 6.1-inch screen, which is around the same size as an iPhone 12 Pro or Galaxy S21. The rumors for a 2021 version of the Compact say that it’ll have a 5.5-inch display, which is only a tiny bit bigger than the screen on an iPhone Mini.
Both potential phones are rumored to come with headphone jacks. As for what we’ll actually see on the day, only time will tell — but thankfully there’s not much of it left.
(Pocket-lint) – Setting out on a mission to find the very best gaming headsets was a daunting task. There are a multitude of options out there – wired, wireless, closed and open cup designs, stereo and surround sound headsets, oval and round earcups, leather and material finishes, the list goes on and on.
A lot of what makes a great gaming headset will be down to personal preference, but what we were looking for was a product that struck a perfect balance between quality of design, value for money and features that gamers would love. To create this shortlist, we worked through a mass of PC gaming headsets (many of which are also compatible with consoles) to whittle down to a list of finalists that we’re sure you’ll love.
If you’re looking for the best gaming headset for your money, then keep with us as we break down the very best we’ve seen and the reasons why you should consider adding them to your shortlist.
Overall best surround sound gaming headset
Audeze Mobius
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100 mm Audeze planar magnetic drivers
Waves Nx fully immersive 3D audio
Closed-back earcup design
10Hz–50,000Hz frequency response
24 bit, 96KHz sample rate and bit depth
USB-C, 3.5mm and Bluetooth connection options
Uni-directional Electret condenser microphone
This is one of the most interesting gaming headsets on our list thanks to Waves Nx head tracking technology that delivers “immersive 3D audio” by changing the sound to account for the tilt or turn of your head as you play. Combine this with 7.1 virtual surround sound and hi-res audio options and you have some seriously impressive positional audio.
The Mobius boasts awesome 100mm planar magnetic drivers which are capable of delivering a max of 50,000Hz frequency response, with 96Khz sample rate and 24-bit depth resulting in a rich, impressive and convincing sound.
Deep earcups, comfortable padding and a solid build quality round off a superb package.
Verdict
The Audeze Mobius is an incredibly interesting (and incredibly expensive) gaming headset that seemingly offers it all. A premium high-quality design, fantastic audio, brilliant comfort and more. All in one package.
Most versatile wireless gaming headset
SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless
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10–40,000 Hz frequency response via 40mm Neodymium drivers
102 dB SPL sensitivity/32Ohm impedance
Ski Goggle headband and AirWeave material earcups
20-hour battery life via swappable batteries
2.4Ghz wireless and Bluetooth 4.1 support
DTS Headphone: X v2.0 surround sound/Dolby audio via optical input
SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless continues to be one of the very best gaming headsets available, thanks to great sound and incredible versatility.
It has a variety of inputs including optical and USB for PC that allow you to take advantage of the Dolby audio and DTS virtual surround sound processing power inside the transmitter box. Built-in Bluetooth and an understated design mean it can also be taken with you out of the house in place of standard headphones.
Two batteries are included, one in the headset and one in the base station which means one is always on charge so you never need to plug the headset in. The result of all this is a marvellously comfortable wireless headset with a variety of inputs, features and functionality that deliver a superb sound quality whatever you’re doing and whatever gaming system you’re playing on.
Verdict
The SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless is an expensive option but you get what you pay for, with great sound and convenience.
The most comfortable wireless gaming headset
Astro A50 wireless gen 4
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Open Air Over-Ear design
Cloth ear cushions upgradable to leather
40mm Neodymium Magnet drivers with 20Hz – 20,000Hz Frequency Response
Tuned Astro Audio V2 and two years free access to Dolby Atmos
Game/voice balance button
Optical Pass-through, USB Power & Soundcard, USB Charging Port, AUX In / Mic out (TRRS 3.5mm) inputs via basestation
Compatible with Astro Gaming Command Center
Up to 15-hours battery life and up to 30ft wireless range
The Astro A50 wireless is an uber-comfortable gaming headset. Sporting velour style cloth ear cushions, we feel like we’re wearing small puffs of heavenly goodness resting on our ears. It’s also lightweight and easy to wear for hours and hours.
Astro A50 is also able to deliver fantastic sound quality with deep bass notes and impressively convincing surround sound. A number of equaliser settings tuned Astro Audio V2 and Dolby options give you plenty to choose from sound-wise.
When not in use, this headset is simply docked into the charging base which connects to your computer via MicroUSB for power and audio. Thanks to 15-hour battery life and convenient charging we found we were able to get a full day’s use out of this headset on a regular basis without any need for extra juice.
The microphone on the Astro A50 is a pleasure to use too. It has deep and warm tones and manages to cancel out a fair amount of the surrounding environmental noise during use. It can be tweaked and customised in the software and adjusted to your personal preference.
We liked the sidetone capabilities here that allow you to hear your own voice and gauge volume with ease.
Verdict
The Astro A50 is in our mind, one of the best PC gaming headsets available. It’s convenient, capable and brilliantly designed. It’s easy to pick up and use and equally easy to drop in the charging dock when you need to.
We’re rarely left wanting when using this headset and would happily recommend it to anyone who is looking for a gaming headset that delivers constant comfort throughout the day.
Best closed cup wireless gaming headset
EPOS GSP 670
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10–23,000 Hz frequency response
112 dB sound pressure level
Dynamic, closed transducer
Bi-directional mic with 10–7,300 Hz frequency response
If you prefer a tight-fitting, all-encompassing, passive noise-cancelling headset then look no further than the EPOS GSP 670. This is a gaming headset, that not only offers some serious style, but also great sound as well.
It’s tighter than other headsets, but that’s no bad thing as it won’t fly off your head if you turn too quickly. This, along with the closed-back design means it blocks out a lot of background noise and keeps you immersed in your games.
The GSP 670 also shines thanks to a dual-connectivity option where you can connect via both a low-latency dongle and Bluetooth at the same time.
20-hour battery, fantastic sound, convenient controls and more round off an awesome headset.
Verdict
This is certainly one of the best wireless gaming headsets available. If you want great sound, a good looking headset and something that’s as durable as it is feature-rich then the GSP 670 is it.
Best headset for pro gamers
Astro A40 TR with MixAmp Pro TR
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Dynamic, Open 40mm drivers with 20 – 20,000 Hz frequency response
48 kHz @ 16-bit game audio/16 kHz @ 16-Bit
Cloth ear cushions upgradable to leather
Tuned Astro Audio V2 with two years free access to Dolby Atmos
Optical Pass-through, USB 2.0 Full Speed and USB Audio 1.0, Aux port line in/out
3-metre Micro-USB and Optical cables, detachable 3.5mm audio cable
6.0mm Uni-directional boom microphone
Optional voice isolating upgrade, sidetone and noise gate settings in software
If you’re serious about sound and your gaming, then the Astro A40 Tournament Ready edition might well be for you. Another comfortable headset from Astro, but a wired one that includes the option to daisy chain multiple headsets together for LANs or eSports events.
The Astro A40 TR is an undeniably brilliant gaming headset. It’s snazzy, comfortable and packed full of great sound possibilities. Positional audio is great in-game and you can hear footsteps of your enemies or the rumble of a car in the distance with ease.
Other highlights include long connection cables, easy controls on the MixAmp and a decent noise-isolating microphone too.
Verdict
If you’re looking for a serious headset that’s as useful in an eSports arena as it is at home, then the Astro A40 TR might well be it. It’s comfortable to wear, fantastic to hear and easy on the eye too.
Best affordable wireless surround sound headset
SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless
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40mm drivers
20-20,000 Hz frequency response
32 Ohms impedance
SteelSeries classic cushion design
Wireless and wired options via MicroUSB and USB-C dongle
MicroUSB charging cable
3.5mm jack
Equaliser pre-sets, mic volume/sidetone settings
9-metre/30-foot wireless range
2.4GHz wireless
Approximately 20 hours battery life
Bidirectional Noise-Cancelling
100-6,500Hz frequency response
Detachable design
Mic mute button on the rear
If you’re the sort of gamer that likes to play on a multitude of different devices, then you might find the Arctis 1 wireless highly appealing.
This is a wireless gaming headset that not only works on PC, but is also compatible with PS4, Nintendo Switch and even your phone. You get all those connectivity options, plus the great sound of the Arctis range at a pretty incredible price.
The build quality isn’t quite as good as others we’ve seen but for the price this headset has surprisingly good and sound and plenty more to offer. That includes 2.4GHz wireless audio transmitted over a 30-foot range for up to 20 hours. Up to 20,000Hz frequency response also results in clear and rich audio thanks to the high-quality drivers.
Despite the lack of Dolby or DTS surround sound options, this headset sounds great in-game. If you want a headset that can connect to multiple devices, has a decent battery life and still has good audio too then this is it.
Verdict
We’re thoroughly impressed with the Arctis 1. It’s an affordable, comfortable and feature-packed headset that’s well worth considering. If you want a headset that can connect to multiple devices, has a decent battery life and still has good audio too then this is it.
There’s no Bluetooth, but the USB-C wireless dongle is multi-capable and a great alternative. If you’ve been eyeing the likes of the Arctis Pro Wireless but were put off by the price, then this headset is the one for you.
Most stylish gaming headset
Logitech G Pro X wireless gaming headset
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50mm Neodymium drivers with 20 Hz – 20 kHz frequency response
32 Ohm impedance and 91.7 dB sensitivity
Faux leather or cloth ear cushion options
1.8m USB-C charging cable
Virtual DTS Headphone:X 2.0 surround sound on PC
Noise-cancelling microphone with Blue Voice technology
20 hours battery life
If style and looks matter to you and you’re bored of the same old boring headsets, then this Logitech headset might be an option. Styled more like traditional headphones, the Logitech G Pro X wireless is far more understated, doesn’t have any RGB and as is pleasing to the eyes as it is to the ears.
It’s comfortable, thanks to a choice of faux leather and cloth styled ear cups. It also has large drivers that offer a good range of sound with deep bass levels and a brilliantly immersive sound quality that gamers will love.
One of the main selling points of this headset is the microphone. This headset makes use of the Blue Voice technology (within Logitech G Hub) that allows you to customise the live sound captured from the microphone and adjust it on the fly.
Verdict
All-in-all, the Logitech G Pro X wireless is an impressive headset for the money. It’s comfortable and delivers great sound, but most importantly it does so with style. Unfortunately, there’s no Bluetooth, 3.5mm connection and you can’t connect to your phone using USB-C either. But if you’re gaming on PC and that’s all you need it for then you won’t be disappointed.
We found this headset was capable of delivering rich sound, despite not having as high a frequency response as other headsets on this list. It’s also incredibly comfortable and the choice of (included) ear cup options makes it thoroughly appealing too. The added bonus of Blue Voice tech might be a bit of a gimmick for some, but is a nice touch.
Best high-fidelity gaming headset
Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless
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High-fidelity 96kHZ/24-bit audio
Hi-Res Certified
32 Ohms @ 2.5kHz impedance
109db sensitivity
20-40,000Hz audio response over wireless
RGB lighting on earcups
Equaliser pre-sets, surround sound, RGB illumination controls and mic controls in software
Corsair iCue compatible
Virtual surround sound
RGB lighting on both earcups and mic
Omni-directional microphone with 2.0k Ohms and 100Hz – 10,000Hz frequency response
If you think of yourself as a bit of an audiophile and only the very best audio is enough whatever you’re doing then the Corsair Virtuoso RGB wireless may be for you. The Virtuoso has a few different strings to its bow that make it highly interesting. Multiple connection options, high-fidelity audio, a premium design and hours of battery life are just some of the highlights.
It’s well designed and comes with a high-quality finish that includes faux leather ear cups, a padded headband and an adjustable size that can be easily tweaked to fit your head.
The Virtuoso sports 50mm custom drivers that are capable of delivering hi-res, high-fidelity (96Khz) audio when you plug into a PC. Alternatively, you can use it wirelessly with 40,000Hz audio for as long as 20 hours.
A high-quality, broadcast-quality microphone rounds off a superb package.
Verdict
The Corsair Virtuoso is our favourite high-res, high-fidelity gaming headset with audio that really floats our boat.
Best affordable 3.5mm headset
Fnatic React
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53mm stereo drivers
1.2m and 2.0m extension 3.5mm connection cables
20Hz-40kHz frequency response
Detachable distortion-free boom mic
Large protein leather ear cups with memory foam padding
Also compatible with Xbox One, Mobile, Nintendo Switch, Mac and more
Fnatic’s React headset is interesting proof that a good gaming headset doesn’t have to cost the earth. It also shows that you can have a good set of gaming cans without all the extra bling, RGB or over-the-top features.
Highlights to this headset are the large, all-encompassing earcups that cover the entire ear and boast a premium protein leather design with memory foam cushioning. This design is not only comfortable, but blocks out a lot of external noise and prevents sound bleed too.
We were pleasantly surprised to find that, despite its price, the Fnatic React is capable of delivering a pretty impressive soundscape with a rich sound experience for the money.
The detachable microphone is also superb too. Clear, capable and convenient.
Verdict
All told, the Fnatic React is the underdog but almost certainly one of the best value for money headsets money can buy. If you’re looking for a headset that sports large, capable cans without all the extra fluff and a 3.5mm connection, then look no further. However, we will say that if you want perfect positional audio then you might like to look at others on this list. However, even the React can be improved with the addition of Dolby Atmos.
Most personalisable
Pocket-lint
nuraphone + nuraphone gaming microphone
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Bluetooth aptX H3671301D and 3.5 mm connection options
Up to 20hrs battery life, recharged in 3 hours
Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) + Dual passive isolation
Soft-Touch silicone material with over-ear and in-ear design
Unique hearing profile
This is a fairly interesting bundle that takes the unique Nuraphone headphones and transforms them into a gaming headset. We enjoyed the Nuraphone design and sound when we originally reviewed them as earphones, so we were intrigued to see what this setup could bring to gaming.
If you don’t know already, Nuraphones selling points are sound and design. These are unusual headphones which use both in-ear and over-ear designs to immerse you in the sound. The technology contained within these headphones also allows them to be personalised to your specific hearing. On initial setup, the app measures the way your eardrum responds to sound and adjusts audio accordingly. The result is incredibly personalised audio that you really need to witness to appreciate.
The in-ear and over-ear design is then backed up by active noise cancellation to really immerse you into what you’re listening too. Plug into the nura gaming microphone and you can then take this personalised sound into the gaming world as well.
This connection uses a single 3.5mm jack, meaning you need a mixed mic/headphone jack on your PC, but the result is some really interesting gaming sounds and a decent microphone to match.
Pocket-lint
The design takes some getting used to, as you have silicone tips in your ears the whole time, but the way the audio surrounds you is undeniably excellent. You can also crank the immersion up within the app and get a much more bassy experience with a warble that’s close to sticking your head near a subwoofer or next to a trundling tank (perfect for first person shooters).
Verdict
This set up certainly won’t be for everyone. The fit of these headphones is undoubtedly unique and we aren’t entirely sold on comfort, but the sound of Nuraphone is certainly something special. If you’re already a fan, then adding a mic and plugging in is an awesome way to bring that rich, personalised sound to your gaming fun as well.
Others to consider
Pocket-lint
HP Omen Blast
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53mm drivers, 24-bit USB DAC
Retractable microphone
3.5mm connection options
Adjustable headband
The HP Omen Blast is a headset that’s perfect for those with larger heads. It’s got a large flexible headband and earcups to match. It also has a 24-bit USB DAC, 7.1 surround sound and drivers capable of delivering good quality audio too.
EQ settings in the software mean you can adjust sound to focus on footsteps and get the edge on the competition in FPS and Battle Royale games.
It’s not the best looking or sounding headset on this list, but it’s still worth considering if you’re looking for something that’s solidly built and easy to wear.
If you’re looking for a large flexible wired headset that doesn’t break the bank, this might be it.
Pocket-lint
HyperX Cloud II wireless
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Dynamic, 53mm with neodymium-magnet drivers
15Hz–20kHz frequency response
Closed-back design with memory foam cushioning and faux leather earcups
30 hours battery life with 2.4 Ghz wireless (20-meter range)
Detachable mic
The HyperX Cloud II is a bold looking headset with a comfortable fit and a great overall aesthetic. It’s solidly built with an aluminium frame, memory foam cushioning and nice large earcups.
This headset sports large 53mm drivers making it loud enough for a great gaming session and it also makes use of HyperX’s own virtual 7.1 surround sound.
We found this headset not only had a great battery life but sounded fantastic while listening to music, watching movies and more. The positional audio is great and it has a fairly decent microphone too. A great all-rounder but it lacks the audio richness and bass of other headsets on this list and the mic is a bit compressed.
Razer BlackShark V2 Pro
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12 Hz – 28 kHz frequency response
50 mm Razer TriForce Titanium drivers
THX Audio
Breathable memory foam cushion ear cups
Razer HyperClear Supercardioid Mic
This is a wireless version of Razer’s BlackShark headset that Razer pitches as an “eSports Wireless Gaming headset”. It offers an interesting design, comfortable fit and great sound thanks to large drivers and THX audio. The mic isn’t as good as we’d like, but if you’re a Razer fan and want a wireless headset, this is well worth considering.
Pocket-lint
Logitech G733 Lightspeed
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PRO-G 40 mm drivers, 20 Hz-20 KHz frequency response,
29 hours battery life
Lightweight design
Blue Voice tech
DTS Headphone X 2.0 surround sound
The Logitech G733 Lightspeed is a lightweight gaming headset which comes in various different colourways but also sports some other interesting highlights that make it stand out from the crowd. It has RGB lighting that you can show off on camera if you’re a streamer, a lightweight design that makes it comfortable to wear all day long and more besides. DTS headphone X 2.0 gives this headset great surround sound and it can also manage as much as 29 hours use before it needs recharging too. If you want something snazzy, give this one a look.
SteelSeries Arctis 9
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Neodymium Drivers 40 mm with 20–20000 Hz frequency response
20 hours of battery life
Dual connectivity with Bluetooth
DTS Headphone X V2
40-foot range
The SteelSeries Arctis 9 is essentially a more affordable version of the Arctis Pro wireless but with fewer features. Nonetheless, it’s a fantastic headset with great sound, a decent microphone, good looks and more besides. The highlight of the Arctis 9 is the connection options. It’ll work with PC, PS4 and PlayStation 5 as well as a multitude of other things thanks to Bluetooth connectivity. You can also use Bluetooth and wireless at the same time, playing audio from two different places. That alone is fantastic.
EPOS GSP 601
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10–30,000 Hz frequency response
112dB sound pressure
Dynamic closed back transducer
2.5 m PC cable / 1.5 m Console cable
The EPOS GSP 601 and GSP 602 are new models in the EPOS range, with a snazzy finish and a large, wired headset design. They’re closed-back, with ergonomic leatherette earpads that block out loads of surrounding noise and let you focus on the game at hand. We prefer the GSP 670, but if you want something with stylish looks and a wired setup, then this might be the one to turn to.
Sound BlasterX G6
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Dynamic Range: 130dB
Sampling rate: up to 32bit 384kHz
Dolby audio, SoundBlasterX sound, Scout Mode, various equaliser modes
Also works with Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PS4
Although not technically a gaming headset, the Sound BlasterX G6 can be considered as an alternative to buying a gaming headset if you already own a good pair of 3.5mm headphones. This snazzy looking thing is an external DAC that works not only as a USB soundcard but also as an amplifier too.
Plug it into your PC using a USB cable and you get a boosted sound for your headphones, Dolby audio and tuned Sound Blaster sound. The G6, therefore, adds virtual surround sound to any stereo headphones plugged into it, it also ups the levels too. Not only is this Digital-to-Analog converter able to produce a sampling rate of up to 32bit 384kHz it can also deliver 130dB.
We combined it with the Logitech G Pro X, which is already on this list, to see the difference it made. The volume difference alone was staggering. Then with the accompanying software (and easy access buttons) also gave us access to more sound customisation and tweaks that weren’t present on the headset alone. Everything from equaliser changes to voice-altering settings for mic capture. The Sound BlasterX G6 is a great upgrade to your gear as an alternative to a purchase of a new gaming headset.
Turtle Beach Elite Atlas Aero
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50mm Nanoclear drivers with Waves NX 3D audio technology
Superhuman Hearing Optimized For PC
On-the-fly sidetone adjustment
Pro Specs Glasses Relief system
Up to 30 hours of battery life
The Turtle Beach Elite Atlas Aero is, in our mind, one of the very best gaming headsets we’ve seen from the company. It has a number of features that make it fairly outstanding, not least of which is a rechargeable battery system that lasts for up to 30 hours.
Other highlights include ultra-deep, uber comfortable gel-infused memory foam cushioned ear cups that do a fantastic job of blocking out external noise without making your ears unnecessarily hot. Large drivers with Waves Nx and Maxx technologies offer an impressive 3D audio experience. While the software gives you access to a wealth of customisation options that include masses of EQ presets and custom options.
The Turtle Beach Elite Atlas Aero, unfortunately, doesn’t have the same wireless range of other headsets, but it has plenty of awesome features that we love. The glasses relief system allows you to tighten up the ear cups and create a channel for your glasses so you don’t get any unnecessary pressure on your face while you game.
A detachable microphone and the ability to use this headset with other devices via a 3.5mm cable make this a capable and delightful device to own.
HyperX Cloud Orbit S
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100 mm Audeze planar magnetic drivers
Waves Nx fully immersive 3D audio
Closed-back earcup design
10Hz–50,000Hz frequency response
USB-C and 3.5mm connection options
Uni-directional Electret condenser microphone
The Cloud Orbit S is essentially a more affordable version of the Audeze Mobius, that comes with most of the same features but no Bluetooth.
The HyperX Cloud Orbit S is undeniably an expensive bit of kit, but with large capable drivers, interesting 3D audio technology and a versatile design it’s also highly appealing.
This is a comfortable, great looking headset that delivers really rich convincing audio whatever you’re doing. It’s smashing for gaming and much more besides.
Having launched high-end and performance-mainstream GeForce RTX 30-series graphics solutions for laptops, Nvidia now needs to complete the lineup with mainstream GPUs featuring the Ampere architecture. To serve this segment of the laptop market, Nvidia is preparing to launch its GeForce RTX 3050-series products, according to unofficial information reports Notebookcheck. As this is unofficial information, take the news with a pinch of salt.
Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3050 family will include two base models: the RTX 3050 with 2048 CUDA cores as well as the RTX 3050 Ti with 2560 CUDA cores, Both products are expected to be based on the yet-to-be-unveiled GA107 graphics processor, the smallest GPU in the Ampere family to date, if the information is correct.
The new graphics chip will come equipped with 4GB of GDDR6 memory that will use a 128-bit interface, though its data transfer of 5500 MT/s rate seems too low by today’s standards, so one should take it with a healthy dose of scepticism.
Nvidia is expected to use its GA107 graphics processor under the GeForce RTX 3050 and GeForce RTX 3050 Ti monikers for a wide variety of laptops. Both versions of the GPUs will be available in variants rated for a 35W, 50W, 60W, and 80W total graphics power (TGP) and will therefore feature vastly different clocks. For example, base frequencies of the RTX 3050 will range from 713 MHz to 1530 MHz, whereas base frequencies of the RTX 3050 Ti will be between 735 MHz and 1463 MHz, depending on its TGP rating.
Considering the wide variety of clocks, the performance offered by the new GeForce RTX 3050 GPUs will be dramatically different. For example, compute performance of the RTX 3050 Ti rated for 80W will peak at around 8.7 FP32 TFLOPS in boost mode, if the numbers are correct. By contrast, the RTX 3050 Ti specced for 35W will only provide up to 5.3 FP32 TFLOPS and will be left behind by the RTX 3050 rated for 50W that will offer up to 5.95 FP32 TFLOPS.
Nvidia’s mobile GPUs do not always have direct equivalents for desktop market, so we do not know how desktop GeForce RTX 3050 and GeForce RTX 3050 Ti will fare against their laptop counterparts. If the GA107 indeed has 2560 (or more) CUDA cores running at decent clocks, it could be good enough to replace Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 16-series and could even offer a decent alternative to the GeForce RTX 2060, provided that the new boards will be equipped with more than 4GB of fast memory.
Nvidia clearly needs new GeForce RTX 30-series models to complete its Ampere lineup of graphics offerings. The new products will likely carry the GeForce RTX 3050 and GeForce RTX 3050 Ti model numbers, but their exact specifications are not something that we can confirm as Nvidia does not talk about unannounced products.
Intel officially positions its Rocket Lake CPUs as the best CPUs for gaming today, yet like all desktop chips it will inevitably be used for a wide variety of applications. Nonetheless, Asus this week made a surprising move and introduced a small form-factor low-power desktop powered by Intel’s latest Rocket Lake CPU.
Measuring 175×175×42 mm, the Asus Mini PC PB62 can be equipped with Intel’s Rocket Lake processor with up to eight cores as well as a 35W or 65W TDP, up to 64 GB of DDR4 memory, two M.2-2280 SSDs with a PCIe 3.0 and 4.0 x4 interface, and one 2.5-inch HDD. Since the Asus PB62 is even smaller than Apple’s Mac Mini, it naturally cannot accommodate a discrete graphics card, so the owner will have to stick to Intel’s UHD Graphics based on the Xe architecture.
Gaming is arguably Intel’s main focus when it comes to its latest Rocket Lake CPUs, but Asus positions its Mini PC PB62 primarily for business and commercial applications, such as office PCs, digital signage, point-of-sales, and vending machines.
(Image credit: ASUS)
To address different requirements, Asus equipped its Mini PC PB62 with a plethora of connectivity technologies, including Intel’s AX201 Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5 adapter, a GbE port, seven USB Type-A connectors (including USB 2.0, USB 3.2 Gen 1, USB 3.2 Gen 2), a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port, two DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, audio connectors, and one configurable port (HDMI 2.0/VGA/COM/DisplayPort/LAN).
(Image credit: ASUS)
Depending on exact configuration, the Asus Mini PC PB62 may come equipped with a 90W, 120W, or a 150W external PSU.
Asus did not touch upon pricing of the Mini PC PB62.
As Intel’s Xeon Scalable ‘Ice Lake-SP’ processors are getting closer to formal launch, more information about their specifications appears to have leaked. This time around, famous leaker @momomo_us published a list of Ice Lake-SP CPUs with general specifications along with their prices in Southern Europe.
As it turns out, one of Intel’s partners from Portugal or Spain has either started to take orders on Intel’s upcoming 3rd-Generation Xeon Scalable processors codenamed Ice Lake-SP, or just included them in its price list.
Since the CPUs have not been announced by Intel, it is impossible to verify accuracy of their specifications, but at least their model numbers as well as general specifications corroborate with those published by Hewlett Packard Enterprise a couple of weeks ago.
The leaked list of Intel’s Ice Lake-SP processors for servers includes 18 Xeon Platinum and Xeon Gold processors with 16, 18, 28, 32, 36, 38 or 40 cores. As reported, the Xeon Platinum 8380 will feature 40 cores clocked at 2.30 GHz and will, be equipped with 60 MB of LLC (1.5 MB per core). The model 8380 will be among Intel’s highest-performing chips for datacenters and will be priced accordingly: chip is projected to cost €8,411 ($9,875) without VAT (21%).
(Image credit: @momomo_us)
Meanwhile there will also be numerous Xeon Platinum models with 38 and 36 cores that will sit below the higher end model, but will operate at higher clocks and will cost significantly less than the 40-core SKU.
Typically, Intel’s families of server CPUs are much broader, so expect the Ice Lake-SP lineup to contain more products aimed at machines that need less than 28 cores per socket or support more memory per socket.
Arm this week announced Armv9, its latest instruction set architecture that will power a broad range of processors and system-on-chips that will be launched in the coming years. The new ISA promises to enable designers to build SoCs with multiple special-purpose accelerators for artificial intelligence (AI), machine leading, digital signal processing (DSP), and security. Arm believes that SoCs and CPUs with specialized accelerators will better address existing and upcoming challenges of computing.
Arm’s Armv8 ISA unveiled a decade ago introduced 64-bit instructions, advanced SIMD instructions, cryptography extensions, virtualization, AMBA5 CHI (coherent hub interface), and a number of others. To a large degree, the Armv8 was a development of the general-purpose processor paradigm, which implicates that a CPU should perform all the tasks that a system needs. While this concept has been around for some time and will continue to exist for many reasons, special-purpose accelerators such as those used for AI/ML, graphics processing, IoT, and DSP are not only faster, but are also more energy efficient. To that end, Arm decided to build an ISA that is not only generally fast, but is more suitable for heterogeneous SoCs with accelerators aimed at all types of applications, from IoT to servers.
It is noteworthy that Arm expects CPUs based on its Armv9 instruction set architecture to offer a more than 30% performance increase over the next two generations of mobile and infrastructure processors (codenamed Matterhorn and Makalu), so performance of PCs, servers, smartphones, and other Arm-powered devices will continue to increase at a rather rapid pace.
(Image credit: Arm)
But the addition of heterogeneous processing capabilities will offer even more substantial gains, according to Arm. To make heterogeneous SoCs more robust, Arm promises new methods to increase frequency, bandwidth, and cache size, and reduce memory latency to amplify the performance of Armv9-based CPUs.
“The increasing complexity of use cases from edge to cloud cannot be addressed with a one-size-fits-all solution,” said Henry Sanders, corporate vice president and chief technology officer, Azure Edge and Platforms at Microsoft. “As a result, heterogeneous compute is becoming more ubiquitous, requiring greater synergy among hardware and software developers.”
One of the key features of Arm’s v9 ISA is the Confidential Compute Architecture (CCA) that protects potions of code and data from access or modification while in-use by making computations in a hardware-based secure environment. Arm’s CCA relies on the so-called Realms that are separated from both the secure and non-secure worlds. To some degree, Realms can be compared to sandboxes used by software. Meanwhile, Realms will use both software and hardware resources. Realms will be useful not only for client devices such as PCs or smartphones, but for servers as well as edge computing devices.
“A good example of this synergy between hardware and software are the ArmV9 confidential compute features which were developed in close collaboration with Microsoft,” added Sanders. “Arm is in a unique position to accelerate heterogeneous computing at the heart of an ecosystem, fostering open innovation on an architecture powering billions of devices.”
In addition, to address demanding AI/ML and DSP workloads, Arm teamed up with Fujitsu to design Scalable Vector Extension 2 (SVE2) technology for Armv9. Fujitsu’s custom Arm processors that are used for the Fugaku supercomputer already support SVE instructions. Going forward Arm intends to add ‘substantial enhancements in matrix multiplication within the CPU,’ which is a similar approach that Intel will support with its AMX technology featured by its upcoming Sapphire Rapids CPUs.
“The launch of the Armv9 architecture signals a new era for our company; a globally-pervasive platform driving secure AI-driven computing that will enable our ecosystem of more than 1,000 partners well into the 2030s,” said Simon Segars, CEO of Arm. “The Armv9 roadmap contains multiple new elements addressing the need for specialized compute from the smallest sensor to the largest supercomputer, but none are as important as the need to secure the world’s data.”
To date, numerous companies already announced support for Armv9, including Google, Foxconn, Microsoft, Nvidia, NXP, Marvell, Renesas, Unity, Samsung, Siemens, Volkswagen, Zoom, and others.
Performing as well as premium air cooling and costing less than expensive 360 AIOs, the IceGiant ProSiphon Elite makes for an interesting alternative for high-end performance builds. Standing tall as a monstrous, monolithic cooling solution with a commanding presence, the IceGiant ProSiphon Elite shows that big air really doesn’t get any bigger than this.
For
Retail version designed for HEDT for both Intel and AMD (incl. Threadripper)
Great cooling performance
Four fans allow for push+pull
Against
Huge and heavy
Premium price
Features and Specifications
Back in 2019 we were one of the few media outlets to get an early look at the prototype IceGiant ProSiphon, an innovative CPU-cooling behemoth that uses natural convection of warmer and cooler states of coolant to effectively ‘pump’ the energy-rich evaporated vapor through the cooler. The months since have brought us to the final version of the IceGiant ProSiphon Elite, and while it still maintains its massive stature, it is noticeably thinner due to a redesigned condenser, which improves upon the original prototype.
The new and improved IceGiant doesn’t break any records, but it does provide a great alternative for system builders who want big and bold, yet still opt to avoid large AIO liquid cooling. Currently available for order from the IceGiant website, it will soon be available for purchase at MicroCenter retail stores as well as available at e-tailers Amazon and Newegg.
Ice Giant Prosiphon Elite Specifications
Height
6.5″ / 165.1mm
Width
9.88″ / 251mm
Depth
2.0″ / 50.8mm (4.0″ / 102mm w/ fans)
Base Height
1.75″ / 44.5mm
Assy. Offset
1..0″ / 25.4mm up
0.75″ / 19.1mm forward
Cooling Fans
(4) 120 x 25mm
Connectors
(4) 4-pin PWM
Weight
70.8 oz / 2007g
Intel Sockets
1366, 115x, 1200, 2011, 2066
AMD Sockets
AM4, TR4, sTR4x
Warranty
10 years
Web Price
$170
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The IceGiant ProSiphon Elite includes mounting hardware to accommodate current processor models for both Intel and AMD, including high-end desktop (HEDT) variants like Intel’s i9 Comet Lake chips and the multi-core behemoths that are AMD’s Threadripper processors. The IceGiant makes use of four 4-pin 120mm cooling fans to allow for push+pull airflow configuration out of the box.
Mounting brackets, backplates and supports are incredibly over-engineered to account for the 2-kilogram (4.42 pounds) mass they must support. In fact, just about everything about the IceGiant feels industrial-grade, down to the syringe of high-performance Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut thermal compound included.
IceGiant covers the ProSiphon Elite with an unprecedented 10-year warranty, which includes the cooling fans.
For those who might have missed our original definition of how the IceGiant ProSiphon Elite thermosiphon cooler differs from a traditional heatpipe cooler, please allow us to gratuitously plagiarize our own coverage of the original ProSiphon Elite Protopype:
Heatpipe coolers rely on the boiling and evaporation of a liquid (typically distilled water) within each individual heatpipe, which travels up the hollow center of the pipe, begins cooling and then fully condenses further up the cooling tower, while dissipating thermal energy in the process. Once that liquid has fully converted back to liquid form, a sintered wicking material along the heatpipe walls then draws the liquid back down to the base to begin the process once again.
A thermosiphon works on similar principles, as it also requires the boiling, evaporation and condensation of a liquid–in this case, a dielectric fluid. A thermosiphon instead makes use of natural convection of warmer and cooler states of coolant to effectively ‘pump’ the energy-rich evaporated vapor through the cooler. Using large, flat condenser cores, the IceGiant ProSiphon Elite utilizes greater surface area to effectively transfer thermal energy out of the fluid vapor, into the cooling fins and away from the cooler.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The primary heat exchanger features three condenser cores, which dissipate heat provided from the evaporator in the cooler’s base. The original ProSiphon prototype featured only two condenser cores, allowing the newer retail version of the cooler to have a thinner overall profile when compared to the original. Retention hardware is engineered into the cooler’s base pedestal, which provides an anchored mount once the cooler is installed.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The ProSiphon Elite makes use of four 120mm, 4-pin PWM fans rated up to 2300 RPM for push+pull operation. The front pair push cool, ambient air into the heat exchanger and over the condenser cores, while the rear fans pull the warmed air out and away from the cooler. This provides the IceGiant plenty of fresh air in which to breathe (or rather, cool) freely.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The entirety of the IceGiant ProSiphon is made of high-grade aluminum, including the precision-milled pedestal base and mounting contact which is large enough to fully cover an AMD Threadripper CPU. Tension screws are permanently affixed to the primary tension bar on the cooler base, which ultimately adds to your advantage later during the installation process.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The base of the ProSiphon Elite is milled perfectly flat; we are unable to see any residual light peeking beneath the face of a steel rule.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The thermal paste contact patch from our i9-10850k is dwarfed by the untouched backdrop of clean, remaining aluminum of the mounting base.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
By comparison, the thermal compound patch from our Threadripper 2990WX consumes the entire canvas of the cooler base.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Remember those tidbits about the rugged mounting hardware and the tension screws mounted into the cooler base? Once the backplate and brackets are secured, the cooler base centers itself neatly into position atop the CPU, which aligns the tension screws with their sockets. Both Intel and AMD/Threadripper mounts benefit from this design.
To secure the IceGiant ProSiphon Elite, the front fans are removed and the tension screws torqued into place. Once secure, the front fans are added back and connected via PWM pigtail splitter to the other fans of the cooler to be managed by your favorite fan controller or motherboard header.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
We’ve tested some large coolers before (including the prototype predecessor to the current IceGiant), yet it always manages to bring a bit of a smirk to our faces seeing such a large piece of cooling hardware in operation. The base height of the IceGiant does allow for relatively tall memory modules to be used. But as usual, check for clearances for specific hardware as needed.
It wouldn’t be a processor launch without new memory kits. G.Skill has just announced some extremely fast ones for Intel’s 11th Generation Rocket Lake processors and corresponding Z590 platform. The memory kits will contend for a spot on our Best RAM list, but pricing might be an issue.
The new memory kits hail from G.Skill’s Trident Z Royal, Trident Z RGB and Ripjaws V families. These are not memory kits that are for the faint of heart. The frequencies range from DDR4-4266 to DDR4-5333 with capacities that are available from 16GB (2x8GB) up to 64GB (2x32GB).
The fastest memory kit from the lot checks in at DDR4-5333 with timings configured to 22-32-32-52. The 16GB (2x8GB) requires a whopping DRAM voltage of 1.6V to hit the aforementioned frequency though. If capacity is a factor, G.Skill also offers a DDR4-5066 memory kit with tighter timings and a capacity fo 32GB (2x16GB).
G.Skill Memory Kits For Intel Z590
Data Rate
Primary Timings
Voltage
Capacity
DDR4-5333
22-32-32-52
1.60V
2 x 8GB
DDR4-5066
20-30-30-50
1.60V
2 x 8GB, 2 x 16GB
DDR4-4800
17-19-19-39
1.60V
2 x 8GB
DDR4-4800
19-28-28-48
1.50V
2 x 8GB
DDR4-4800
20-30-30-50
1.55V
2 x 16GB
DDR4-4600
20-30-30-50
1.50V
2 x 32GB
DDR4-4400
17-18-18-38
1.50V
2 x 16GB
DDR4-4400
18-24-24-44
1.50V
2 x 8GB
DDR4-4266
19-26-26-46
1.45V
2 x 16GB
If you’re not shooting for world records or trying to smash RAM benchmarks, G.Skill’s DDR4-4800 memory kit with 17-19-19-39 timings has a good balance between performance and tight timings. It comes in a dual-channel package with a capacity of 16GB. Similar to the DDR4-5333 offering, the DDR4-4800 memory kit also commands a 1.6V DRAM voltage. The DDR4-4600 memory kit isn’t too shabby either. With a density of 64GB (2x32GB), the memory kit flaunts 20-30-30-50 timings and only requires 1.5V.
G.Skill didn’t reveal the pricing for the new memory kits. However, they’re scheduled to hit the market in the second quarter of this year. Given their impressive specifications and the fact that memory is expected to increase in pricing, we don’t expect G.Skill’s high-performance offerings to cost less than an arm and a leg.
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