Asus just announced the ProART B550-Creator, the first AM4 motherboard to come with Thunderbolt 4 support. The motherboard will be available next month with a price tag of $299.
Like its other ProART motherboards, the ProART B550-Creator arrives with a minimalistic design that features a black exterior accented by gold accents. The motherboard employs a powerful 12+2-phase power delivery subsystem that’s cooled by a pair of thick heatsinks. The motherboard feeds the processor with a combination of a 8-pin EPS and 4-pin ATX power connectors. On the memory side, the ProART B550-Creator is equipped with four DDR4 memory slots and accommodates up to 128GB of memory. However, Asus didn’t specify up to what memory frequencies are supported.
Storage-wise, the ProART B550-Creator offers four normal SATA III connectors for conventional hard drives and SSDs. There are also a pair of M.2 ports for high-speed storage. Logically, the primary M.2 port adheres to the PCIe 4.0 x4 interface, however, the nature of the secondary M.2 port is uncertain. The ProART B550-Creator’s M.2 ports utilize Asus’ new M.2 latch mounting system that facilitates SSD installation.
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ProART B550-Creator (Image credit: Asus)
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ProART B550-Creator (Image credit: Asus)
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ProART B550-Creator (Image credit: Asus)
The ProART B550-Creator provides three PCIe x16 and two PCIe x1 expansion slots. Since the motherboard’s product page isn’t available, the speed of the expansion slots are unknown.
Being a motherboard tailored to professionals and creative artists, the ProART B550-Creator naturally has the latest in connectivity. The motherboard flaunts two Thunderbolt 4 ports as well as dual 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports. The rear panel also shows a pair of USB 2.0 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, a combo PS/2 connector, a DisplayPort In connector and a standard HDMI port.
The ProART B550-Creator’s audio system is based on Realtek’s ALC1220A audio codec. The codec itself is isolated from the other components of the motherboard. The system also includes audio-grade capacitors and an integrated amplifier. The motherboard supplies five 3.5mm audio jacks and one SPDIF-Out connector for connecting your audio devices.
AMD announced today that the Threadripper Pro desktop processors, which top out with 64 cores and 128 threads with the Threadripper Pro 3995WX, are now available for purchase worldwide. These chips were previously exclusively available in Lenovo’s ThinkStation P620 workstation that we recently reviewed, but the chips and the accompanying WRX80 motherboards are now available at retailers. Other third-party workstation vendors, like Velocity Micro and Boxx, have also now listed their new pre-built workstations with the chips, too.
The Threadripper Pro chips had already popped up at a few retailers in January, and AMD had previously shared the official pricing for the Threadripper Pro lineup, which you can see in the table below.
Surprisingly, Newegg has listed the 64C/128T Threadripper Pro 3995WX, 32C/64T 3975WX, and 16C/32T 3955WX at the suggested retail pricing, though that might not last long due to the ongoing chip shortages.
MSRP/RCP
Cores / Threads
Base / Boost (GHz)
L3 Cache (MB)
PCIe
DRAM
TDP
Threadripper Pro 3995WX
$5,489
64 / 128
2.7 / 4.2
256
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
280W
Threadripper 3990X
$3,990
64 / 128
2.9 / 4.3
256
88 Gen 4 (72 Usable)
Quad DDR4-3200
280W
EPYC 7442
$6,950
64 / 128
2.25 / 3.4
256
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
225W
Threadripper Pro 3975WX
$2,749
32 / 64
3.5 / 4.2
128
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
280W
Threadripper 3970X
$1999
32 / 64
3.7 / 4.5
*128
88 Gen 4 (72 Usable)
Quad DDR4-3200
280W
Threadripper 3960X
$1,399
24 / 48
3.8 / 4.5
*128
88 Gen 4 (72 Usable)
Quad DDR4-3200
280W
Threadripper Pro 3955WX
$1,149
16 / 32
3.9 / 4.3
64
128 Gen 4
Eight-Channel DDR4-3200
280W
Ryzen 9 5950X
$799
16 / 32
3.9 / 4.9
64
20
Dual DDR4-3200
105W
AMD’s Threadripper Pro processors represent the ultimate in threaded workstation horsepower, easily beating the standard consumer-geared Threadripper chips in workloads that prize memory throughput.
The Threadripper Pro chips rock up to 64 cores, 128 threads, and support up to 2TB of memory spread out among eight memory channels, not to mention 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0 connectivity. That is a big upgrade over the four memory channels and 72 lanes of PCIe 4.0 connectivity on the standard consumer-geared Threadripper chips, like the Threadripper 3990X that currently sits atop our multi-threaded CPU Benchmark hierarchy.
You’ll need a WRX80 motherboard to unlock the best of Threadripper Pro, but never fear, ASUS has listed the Pro WS Sage SE on B&H photo for $999. This motherboard brings the utmost in PCIe and memory connectivity to bear — it comes with seven PCIe 4.0 x16 slots and eight memory slots. The board also comes with a 16-phase power delivery substem, supports RDIMMs, and has a BMC chip for remote management.
Gigabyte also has its WRX80-SU8 waiting in the wings, but it hasn’t been listed for sale yet. This massive board also has seven PCIe slots, BMC features, two 10 GbE ports, two GbE ports, and a 7.1-channel audio system. Finally, Supermicro also has its M12SWA-TF on offer, though pricing hasn’t been announced for this board yet, either.
If you want to see how these chips compare to standard Threadripper chips in a ton of benchmarks, including gaming, head to our recent Threadripper Pro 3995WX review.
MSI has officially unlocked PCIe Gen 4.0 support for Intel’s upcoming Rocket Lake CPUs that will soon vie for a spot on our list of Best CPUs. The update comes through new BIOS updates for MSI’s entire Z490 lineup, following up on Z490’s potential to bring PCIe 4.0 support to Rocket Lake platforms.
MSI says it designed its Z490 boards specifically for Gen 4.0 support from the very beginning by implementing ” PCIe 4.0 ready clock generator, lane switch, redriver, PCIe slots, and M.2 connectors.” You can see the list of supported motherboards below.
(Image credit: MSI)
Of course, other manufacturers have designed their Z490 motherboards for Gen 4.0 support, but it remains to be seen whether these manufacturers will fully support PCIe 4.0 in all areas or if it will be supported in a limited capacity, say only on certain slots. We’ve reached out to MSI for clarification on the matter.
At least we know for certain that MSI is living up to Z490’s promise by providing PCIe Gen 4.0 support to customers who want to upgrade to Rocket Lake without the hassle of upgrading the motherboard as well. We expect that other vendors will come forward with BIOS updates as we move closer to the Rocket Lake launch at the end of the month.
The Cooler Master ML360 Sub-Zero appeals to enthusiast system builders burdened with deep pockets, seeking sub-ambient temps and ease of installation. It does well, but also comes with some distinct caveats.
For
Easy install
Single digit (or lower) idle temps can be possible
New high-flow pump
Against
Expensive
Supports only LGA1200
Under sustained loads, doesn’t cool overclocked CPUs as well as normal AIOs
High power draw during use
Features and Specifications
The terms Peltier and thermoelectric (TEC) cooling have brightened the eyes of many would-be overclockers over the years, with the promise of sub-ambient cooling under the highest of loads. But with these solutions often came the demand for required liquid cooling systems and a dedicated power supply to in order to operate, keeping them off the list of best CPU coolers for most people. The thermoelectric cooling of yesteryear was certainly interesting and saw scattered use in the most committed of overclocking and cooling forums on the web.
Enter the Cooler Master ML360 Sub-Zero, a 360mm AIO with a built-in thermoelectric cooling plate powered by an 8-pin auxiliary adapter from a standard PSU. If your power supply has the rating and available power cables, it can support this cooler in your build. Well, your system also has to be an Intel 10th Generation Intel CPU seated in a socket LGA1200 motherboard, since the Sub-Zero is limited to a specific list of hardware. Support for Rocket Lake-S will of course come once those CPUs arrive.
Ironically, while the cooler is advertised as being a Cooler Master and Intel partnership, which encourages the use of Intel’s powerful desktop overclocking software suite, Cooler Master recommends against overclocking powerful i7’s and i9’s with this cooler and suggests sticking with single core overclocking or factory boost speeds. It performs well in some respects, but this isn’t the uber-overclocking device that enthusiasts have dreamed of with peltier coolers of the past.
Specifications
The Cooler Master ML360 Sub-Zero looks the part of an ultra-high end cooling solution, with its sleek blacked-out design and a touch of opulence from the chromed Cooler Master silhouette logo across its brushed pump face. A single LED indicator light illuminates the lower corner of the pump housing, offering the working status of the cooler’s Peltier cooling system. HAL-9000 would be proud.
Thickness
1.10″ / 27.9mm (2.25″ / 57.15mm w/fans)
Width
4.75″ / 120mm
Depth
15.5″ / 394mm
Pump Height
3.75″ / 95.3mm
Speed Controller
BIOS/Software
Cooling Fans
(3) 120 x 25mm
Connectors
(4) 4-Pin PWM,
(1) 3-Pin tach,
(1) SATA
Weight
82.5 oz / 2340g
Intel Sockets
LGA1200 (only)
AMD Sockets
N/A
Warranty
5 years
Web Price
$350
Features
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Box contents for the ML360 Sub-Zero include just enough mounting hardware for Intel’s LGA1200 platform CPUs, allowing for the Peltier unit atop the CPU socket to have the tension screws integrated into the housing. A motherboard backplate, threaded standoffs and SATA power cable are included to keep things mounted and powered up, while a micro USB to 9-pin header provides the link to your best motherboard. For now at least, software support with Intel’s Cryo Cooling Technology is limited to the following silicon: i5-10600K, i5-10600KF, i7-10700K, i7-10700KF, i9-10850K, i9-10900K and i9-10900KF.
Cooler Master covers the ML360 Sub-Zero for a warranty period of 5 years.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The ML360 Sub-Zero makes use of an integrated Peltier or thermoelectric cooler (TEC), a specialized semiconductor which makes use of DC current to create a temperature differential between specific electrical junctions, using high volumes of current. In short, one side of a Peltier gets very cold while the other gets quite hot. The ML360 Sub-Zero relies on the cold side to maintain cooling against the integrated heat spreader (IHS) of the CPU, while the hot side is cooled by the rest of the AIO cooler itself.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
As an example, the cooler can easily get idle CPU temps down to actual freezing temperatures, far below ambient room readings. Normal air or liquid cooling can never allow a processor to reach sub-ambient temperatures due to the physics involved, but phase change and thermoelectric cooling makes this possible.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Requiring the use of an 8-pin auxiliary power, often used to power graphics cards, the ML360 Sub-Zero uses DC power from your power supply to power the thermoelectric Peltier cooling unit. This also requires a beefy power supply, as the cooler alone is rated to draw up to 200w by itself. So make sure to account for overall system load usage and count on investing in a high-quality, high-wattage power supply.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The base of the ML360 Sub-Zero ships with a pre-applied patch of thermal compound over a base shaped like a copper pyramid with a leveled, plateau face. Power cables from the Peltier DC controller extend down the side of the cooler, where they meet the TEC at the base.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The perimeter of the cooler features an integrated rubber boot, which is designed to create a barrier or curtain around the CPU socket once the cooler is installed. This is meant to prevent comparatively warm ambient air from circulating near the base of the copper cold plate, allowing condensation to collect near the motherboard socket. This has long been the danger of Peltier coolers, as temperature differentials causing water to form on exposed electrics is obviously very bad. The angled copper base is the area where the greatest threat of condensation or frost collection might occur and possibly drip onto motherboard circuitry below. Hence the rubber barrier around this area.
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Cooler Master utilize a new pump design, which is situated in-line between the Peltier unit and radiator. The pump itself is quite significant in both size and mass, giving every indication that it is far more powerful than what is used in standard, everyday AIOs. In fact, when accounting for noise levels, strength of vibrations and tubing pulses, it appears to encroach into custom watercooling pump territory, although this claim would require several standalone tests to confirm.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
A trio of 120mm PWM fans and an aluminum radiator make up the heat exchanger portion of the ML360 Sub-Zero. The cooling fans are devoid of any aRGB/RGB lighting effects, sticking instead with a stealth theme for discreet sub-ambient operation.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The flattened of the cooler is expertly milled to rest atop your favorite Intel LGA1200 socket CPU.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
This milled base provides for a quality mount for the ML360 Sub-Zero, making for an even distribution of thermal compound when tension is applied during the cooler installation.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
With the ML360 Sub-Zero up and running and with Intel’s Cryo Cooling Technology software installed, operation of the thermoelectric cooler is relatively simple. Select the service icon in the taskbar and choose whether to run in Cryo or Unregulated mode.
Cryo mode is the standard cooling mode when the system is under standard loads, beyond idle desktop or light web browsing. The Peltier unit will cycle into this mode and briefly off as needed based on environmental variables to maintain system safety and prevent condensed water from collecting.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Unregulated mode allows the cooler to operate to full effect, which does prompt a warning box that condensation could collect around the cooler and the motherboard, causing permanent damage. In short, clicking the box to acknowledge this warning is the electronic form of signing a waiver and understanding the consequences. Unregulated mode is typically reserved for brief sessions of cooling where an all-out assault on thermals is required.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
As 360mm coolers go, the Cooler Master ML360 Sub-Zero radiator fits a normal mount location as any other AIO we’ve tested. The standalone pump uses a pair of machine screws to mount within a set of standard chassis eyelets. While USB link cables are rather common for many AIOs, having an additional power cable running to your cooler adds a bit of extra clutter to an otherwise uneventful installation.
Choosing the best thermal paste may sound simple, but a dizzying array of options can turn this seemingly easy choice into a time-consuming task. Thermal paste is designed to minimize microscopic air gaps and irregularities between the surface of the cooler and the CPU’s IHS (integrated heat spreader), the piece of metal which is built into the top of the processor.
Good thermal paste can have a profound impact on your performance, because it will allow your processor to transfer more of its waste heat to your cooler and continue operating at a high clock speed for longer while a mediocre product will force your system to throttle in order to avoid overheating. Even the best CPUs are made better by good thermal paste.
Performance enthusiasts often swear by a favorite brand of paste, but new recipes crop up from time to time. We’ve conducted extensive testing of some of the top thermal pastes on the market, and if you’re on the hunt for more exotic pastes that are off the beaten path, we also have plenty of historical data below covering 90 different pastes (and yes, we’ve even tested toothpaste).
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Thermal paste can go by many names, such as “thermal compound,” “thermal grease,” or “TIM” (Thermal Interface Material). Most pastes are comprised of ceramic or metallic materials suspended within a proprietary binder which allows for easy application and spread as well as simple cleanup.
These thermal pastes can be electrically conductive or non-conductive, depending on their specific formula. Electrically conductive thermal pastes can carry current between two points, meaning that if the paste squeezes out onto other components, it can cause damage to motherboards and CPUs when you switch on the power. A single drop out of place can lead to a dead PC, so extra care is imperative.
Liquid metal compounds are almost always electrically conductive, so while these compounds provide better performance than their paste counterparts, they require more focus and attention during application. They are very hard to remove if you get some in the wrong place, which would fry your system.
In contrast, traditional thermal paste compounds are relatively simple for every experience level. Most, but not all, traditional pastes are electrically non-conductive. We have a detailed breakdown of the best methods for applying thermal paste here.
Here are the best thermal pastes, along with our complete test results. Keep in mind that you don’t always get what you pay for as some budget pastes come awfully close to or overtake their more-expensive competitors.
Electrically Conductive: No | Thermal Conductivity: 11.2 W/mk | Ease of Use: 4.5 (1=difficult, 5=simple) | Relative Performance: 4.0 (1=poor, 5=excellent) | Cleanup: lint-free absorbent paper towels, alcohol pads or cotton swabs and alcohol | Price per gram: $3.60
Stability
Easy to use
Easy to clean up
None
Often hanging close to, but not overtaking, liquid metal compounds in our tests, PromilaTech PK-3 Nano Aluminum paste is a moderately viscous thermal compound integrated with aluminum and zinc oxide. The paste provides good stability, making it easy to apply to all surfaces as well as simple to clean up. You really can’t go wrong with this paste — it is sufficient for most CPU applications.
Electrically Conductive: No | Thermal Conductivity: 12.5 W/mk | Ease of Use: 4.5 (1=difficult, 5=simple) | Relative Performance: 4.0 (1=poor, 5=excellent) | Cleanup: lint-free absorbent paper towels, alcohol pads or cotton swabs and alcohol | Price per gram: $9.99
Stability
Easy to use
Easy to clean up
Price per gram
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut is a mildly viscous thermal compound with good stability, making it simple to work with while also resisting drips and runs. This paste is very easy to apply and clean up, making it a favorite among system builders.
Best Budget Thermal Paste
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Noctua NT-H1
Best Budget Thermal Paste
Electrically Conductive: No | Thermal Conductivity: Unlisted | Ease of Use: 4.5 (1=difficult, 5=simple) | Relative Performance: 4.0 (1=poor, 5=excellent) | Cleanup: lint-free absorbent paper towels, alcohol pads or cotton swabs and alcohol | Price per gram: $2.26
Price/performance ratio
Easy to use and clean
None
Noctua’s NH-H1 is a relatively viscous and stable compound that applies easily and allows for easy clean-up. A screw-on cap syringe maintains compound longevity to prevent drying and is priced as an attractive paste for those on a budget. You really can’t go wrong with this paste — it is sufficient for the majority of builds.
Gelid GC-Extreme (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
4. Gelid GC-Extreme
Runner-Up: Best Budget Thermal Paste
Electrically Conductive: No | Thermal Conductivity: 8.5 W/mk | Ease of Use: 4.0 (1=difficult, 5=simple) | Relative Performance: 3.5 (1=poor, 5=excellent) | Cleanup: lint-free absorbent paper towels, alcohol pads or cotton swabs and alcohol | Price per gram: $3.70
Consistent spread
Value pricing
Easy to use and clean up
Requires some pressure on the syringe to apply correctly
Gelid GC-Extreme is a moderately viscous compound, making it very stable during application and it spreads consistently, although it requires slow consistent pressure on the syringe plunger for correct placement. This TIM is relatively easy to use and simple to clean up.
Electrically Conductive: Yes | Thermal Conductivity: 73.0 W/mk | Ease of Use: 2.0 (1=difficult, 5=simple) | Relative Performance: 4.5 (1=poor, 5=excellent) | Cleanup: lint-free absorbent paper towels, alcohol pads or cotton swabs and alcohol | Price per gram: $22.99
For extreme overclocking
High performance
Price
Difficult to apply
Electrically conductive
Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal thermal compound has a very thin, runny consistency and is applied to the CPU integrated heat spreader with a syringe delivery system and capillary needle applicator tip. Excess material can be siphoned off using a special extraction tip (by pulling the syringe plunger to withdraw excess liquid metal).
CoolLaboratory Liquid Pro (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
6. CoolLaboratory Liquid Pro
Runner-up: Best Liquid Metal Thermal Paste
Electrically Conductive: Yes | Thermal Conductivity: 79.0 W/mk | Ease of Use: 2.0 (1=difficult, 5=simple) | Relative Performance: 4.5 (1=poor, 5=excellent) | Cleanup: lint-free absorbent paper towels, alcohol pads or cotton swabs and alcohol | Price per gram: $24.94
For extreme overclocking
High performance
Price
Difficult to apply
Electrically conductive
CoolLaboratory Liquid Pro is a liquid metal compound that is applied with a syringe and capillary tip to the CPU integrated heat spreader, and it ships with a scouring pad and alcohol swab for prep and cleanup.
Application and spreading of the liquid metal are made easier with cotton swabs and generous pressure for even distribution. Liquid metal can cause reactions with some metals, such as aluminum, and some reports of reactions with copper are also documented by end-users.
Best Budget Liquid Metal Thermal Paste
Phobya Liquid Metal Compound LM (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
7. Phobya Liquid Metal Compound LM
Best Budget Liquid Metal Thermal Paste
Electrically Conductive: Yes | Thermal Conductivity: Unlisted | Ease of Use: 2.0 (1=difficult, 5=simple) | Relative Performance: 4.5 (1=poor, 5=excellent) | Cleanup: lint-free absorbent paper towels, alcohol pads or cotton swabs and alcohol | Price per gram: $9.00
For extreme overclocking
High performance
Relatively inexpensive for a liquid metal paste
Difficult to apply
Electrically conductive
For a compound that costs less than half as much as leading competitors , Phobya’s Liquid Metal Compound LM offers impressive performance, often besting the the CoolLaboratory Liquid Pro or Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut in our tests.
Liquid Metal Compound LM ships as a syringe with a capillary applicator tip. Spreading the compound is made easier with cotton swabs and generous pressure to develop a consistent coating on the CPU IHS. Can cause reactions with aluminum and other metals.
Thermal Paste Performance Rankings
Here’s a breakdown of our recent testing, and we’ll be adding new pastes to this list over the coming weeks and months. A bit further down, you’ll find our original round of testing with 85 different pastes, some of which we’ve revisited in this new performance hierarchy. That should give you a good idea of how other pastes that we haven’t retested yet would compare to the newer pastes.
We’ll go into our breakdown of how we test these thermal pastes below, but the key takeaway here is that a single thermal compound can perform differently based upon several variables, such as what type of cooler and mount you use. To cover all the bases, we’ve tested every thermal paste with three variables:
Low-tension Noctua NH-D15 mounting to model an air cooler without a backplate (like an Intel stock cooler, or push-pin coolers)
High-tension Noctua NH-D15 mounting to model higher-end air coolers with a backplate
High-tension mounting with an all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler
Below you’ll find the temperatures we measured on our standardized test bench, and as always, lower temperatures are better. We’ve also included value charts in the album below as well.
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Thermal Paste Test Results
As shown in the slides above, the outcome of the different testing scenarios resulted in some interesting comparisons among the compounds. We’ll look at the overall thermal load averages for each, as well as the relative performance value of each in terms of price-per-gram.
Air Cooling – Low Tension Mount Liquid metal compounds make their way to the top of the temperature chart with slightly cooler values than the traditional pastes. Interestingly, the difference between the top and bottom of this chart is less than 4C.
When we look at each compound in terms of unit cost-per-gram, liquid metal compounds are generally more costly, making their overall performance value more of a luxury than a necessity. However, Phobya LM bucks this trend as it shows you can get good liquid metal compound performance at bargain pricing.
Air Cooling – High Tension Mount Liquid metals are again at the top of the list, and again, there’s a relatively small 4C delta between the top and bottom of the list. Only a few minor changes to the pecking order have occurred, and these easily fall within the tight margins of standard deviation.
Small differences in temperatures jostle the chart a bit, but overall the more budget-friendly compounds show much more promising performance value due to relatively close load ranges. We see a trend that most good and great thermal compounds perform very similarly, but might be worlds apart in price per gram.
All In One (AIO) Liquid Cooler – High Tension Mount It’s no surprise that the liquid metal compounds once again sit atop the thermal comparison. Still, a 6C difference between all 15 thermal compounds tested shows there isn’t a lot of variation, even with a 360 all-in-one cooler with a push+pull fan setup for performance.
The performance value chart shows most of the liquid metal compounds with a poor value-per-gram rating, but once again, Phobya LM proves to be the outlier for that sub-category with its budget price tag.
We’re also seeing the trend of larger gram-per-package for thermal pastes (2-5g syringes) along with lower price proving to be stiff competition against the more expensive liquid metals (0.5-1.0g syringes) that cost upwards of twice as much, or more.
Key Takeaways Thermal compounds might always be compared and debated over, but the simple fact remains: PC system building needs thermal compounds to effectively dissipate thermal loads. Without them, our beloved gaming and content-producing machines would struggle to keep components cool during heated frag sessions, heavy workstation computations, or just simply browsing the web.
Not every system will need the most expensive compound, so even the most budget-minded system builders can rest easy knowing that even lower-cost pastes can still prove very effective. You can see our historical testing results with far more pastes after the test setup.
For our thermal compound tests, we use the same hardware, overclock, and configuration for each and every test to minimize environment variables in our testing.
We tested each thermal paste with a low-tension air cooler mount, high-tension air cooler mount, and a high-tension AIO liquid cooler mount. Each application was given a 1-hour burn-in using Prime95 with ten load and cooling cycles over the course of the hour; six minutes each with a ten-second cool-down between. Each testing load session was then executed for a one-hour load period, again using Prime95.
For the air cooling low- and high-tension tests, we used a large Noctua NH-D15 air cooler. We created the low tension mount environment by torquing the mounting screws to 1.13 Nm (10 in/lbs).
The low tension mounting tests help simulate cooler installs that might not use a backplate (like push-pin coolers) or those that do not allow high tension and compression across the CPU integrated heat spreader. Also, repeated tests are not consistently possible with push-pin mounted coolers: The pins can degrade after several mount cycles, which meant we needed to simulate these to maintain consistent test results.
Our high-tension air cooler mount involved tightening the mounting screws fully to the mounting plate and shows thermal paste performance with air coolers with backplates that allow for tighter mounting.
We used the EK-AIO Elite 360 D-RGB for the liquid cooling tests with all fans in a push+pull configuration. We performed these tests with the AIO pump block fully tensioned (tightened). We didn’t test the AIO with a low-tension mount because liquid coolers almost always employ a backplate that allows a high-tension mount.
Overall, each compound was evaluated and stressed over a regimen cycle covering six hours with two different coolers and different mounting tensions, making for no less than 90 hours of compound testing for our initial round of tests.
Legacy Thermal Paste Testing – 85 Pastes Tested
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Here’s our legacy thermal paste testing chart that we generated back in 2017. As you’ll notice, many of the same popular pastes in 2017 are still on the market, making it into our new round of 2021 testing.
We do have new testing equipment for our updated tests, such as a more modern CPU, motherboard, and coolers for our tests, but we adhered to the same test methodology employed in these prior tests. That means that you can use these legacy tests as a decent approximation of how the newer pastes compare to the older pastes, too.
We’ll be adding more thermal pastes to our new hierarchy; stay tuned.
The Minneapolis City Council has walked back a plan approved last week that would have paid influencers to share city-approved messages during the upcoming trial of ex-police officer Derek Chauvin, Motherboard reported. He’s one of four former Minneapolis cops charged in the May 2020 death of George Floyd, which sparked protests across the country last summer.
The Minneapolis City Council approved the plan on Friday, which called for six influencers to be paid about $2,000 each to spread the city’s messages with Black, Native American, Hmong, and Latino communities. The goal was to “address/dispel incorrect information” by using “trusted messengers,” part of a program the city refers to as its Joint Information System to share “timely and relevant information” with the public during the trial.
However, during a city council meeting on Monday, the director of the city’s Neighborhood and Community Relations Department, David Rubedor, apologized for the influencer plan, saying the term caused confusion in the community, Motherboard reported. Rubedor said the city was “not trying to change public opinion about any particular message,” but rather seeking to get information out “quickly and in an equitable way” during Chauvin’s trial.
Floyd died in police custody last May after former officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck while he lay on the ground in handcuffs. Chauvin faces second-degree murder and manslaughter charges. Jury selection for his trial will begin on March 8th. The other three ex-officers involved in the incident are due to go on trial in August.
Last year, AMD released the Ryzen 5000 series desktop processors in one of the most monumental hardware launches of the modern era. This final step completed the Red brand’s ascent back into the forefront of the desktop processor market that began with the launch of the first generation of Ryzen CPUs.
With the Ryzen 3000 launch in 2019 came the AMD X570 chipset. Featuring PCIe 4.0 support, X570 was an impressive leap from generations past. It was also hot, with motherboards often including chipset cooling fans, and, more significantly, expensive. The high cost of the chipset increased the average cost of X570 motherboards considerably over previous generations.
While AMD has done a great job of maintaining motherboard compatibility with new generation processors, none of the previous-generation AM4 motherboards featured official PCIe 4.0 support, not even for the storage and PCIe controlled by PCIe 4.0 compatible CPUs. Enter B550, the more value-oriented little brother of X570. While the B550 chipset is PCIe 3.0 only, B550 motherboards support PCIe 4.0 from the CPU to the primary PCIe slot as well as the primary M.2 slot (dependent on a PCIe 4.0 ready CPU). With PCIe 4.0 support also came increased cost. PCIe 4.0 devices are still rare in 2021, so for those on a budget, the tried and true B450 chipset is the way to go. What B450 lacks in cutting-edge features it makes up for in value.
The ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F Gaming II features a robust VRM cooling solution and a 8+4 VRM design. BIOS flashback has also been included, as well as ASUS’s excellent BIOS designed to provide an optimal, stress-free overclocking experience. The ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F Gaming II is even compatible with the latest Ryzen 5000 series processors. All of this performance is bundled into a sleek, modern package that comes in at less than US$150.
Let’s take a closer look at what the ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F Gaming II has to offer.
Specifications
Specifications
CPU Support:
AMD AM4 Socket for AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series/ 4000 G-Series/ 3rd/2nd/1st Gen
1x RJ45 Ethernet port 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 USB Type-C® 1x BIOS FlashBack™ Button 1x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port 1x DisplayPort 1x HDMI 2x USB 2.0 1x Optical S/PDIF out 5x Audio jacks
Audio:
1x Realtek ALC1220A Codec
Fan Headers:
6x 4-pin
Form Factor:
ATX Form Factor: 12.0 in x 9.6 in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm
11th Generation Rocket Lake-S CPU (Image credit: Intel)
Milwaukee PC (via Harukaze5719), a retailer that has been around since 1988, has shared the pricing for Intel’s 11th Generation Rocket Lake processors that will soon vie for a spot on our list of best CPUs for gaming. The company didn’t reveal the launch date but did affirm that the new 14nm chips are coming soon, meaning they’ll be new entries in our CPU Benchmark hierarchy soon.
The Core i9-11900K will be this generation’s flagship, and according to Milwaukee PC, the chip will retail for $599.99. For comparison, the Core i9-10900K debuted at $499.00, so we’re looking at 20.2% increase in price for its successor, despite losing two cores, but we do caution that these could be either placeholder or inflated listings. Besides, the Core i9-11900K does bring the new Cypress Cove cores along with Intel’s 12th Generation Xe LP graphics unit, so we should wait for in-depth performance testing before passing judgment. If you don’t fancy integrated graphics, the Core i9-11900KF will save you $20.
From a price-to-performance standpoint, the Core i7-11700K will likely be one of the fan favorites again. The Rocket Lake part shares the same core configuration as the Core i9-11900K, albeit slower clock speeds. Apparently, the Core i7-11700K carries a $484.99 price tag, representing a 26.3% rise in pricing compared to the previous Core i7-10700K. At least from what we’ve seen so far from benchmark leaks, the Core i7-11700K paints itself as the new Core i9-10900K.
Intel 11th Generation Rocket Lake-S Pricing
Processor
Pricing (Excl. VAT)
Cores / Threads
Base Clock (GHz)
L3 Cache (MB)
Part Number
Core i9-11900K
$599.99
8 / 16
3.5
16
BX8070811900K
Core i9-11900KF
$579.99
8 / 16
3.5
16
BX8070811900KF
Core i9-11900
$509.99
8 / 16
2.5
16
BX8070811900
Core i9-11900F
$479.99
8 / 16
2.5
16
BX8070811900F
Core i7-11700K
$484.99
8 / 16
3.6
16
BX8070811700K
Core i7-11700KF
$454.99
8 / 16
3.6
16
BX8070811700KF
Core i7-11700
$389.99
8 / 16
2.5
16
BX8070811700
Core i7-11700F
$359.99
8 / 16
2.5
16
BX8070811700F
Core i5-11600K
$309.99
6 / 12
3.9
12
BX8070811600K
Core i5-11600KF
$279.99
6 / 12
3.9
12
BX8070811600KF
Core i5-11600
$264.99
6 / 12
2.8
12
BX8070811600
Core i5-11500
$234.99
6 / 12
2.7
12
BX8070811500
Core i5-11400
$214.99
6 / 12
2.6
12
BX8070811400
Core i5-11400F
$179.99
6 / 12
2.6
12
BX8070811400F
Customers with tight budgets will be happy to know that the Core i5-11600K will only set them back $309.99. Out of the three major K-series parts, the Core i5-11600K accounts for the least price increase. The Core i5-11600K only costs 14% more than the widely popular Core i5-10600K. At launch, we crowned the Core i5-10600K as the ultimate mainstream gaming chip, but that was back before AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series landed. We’re excited to see whether the torch will pass to the Core i5-11600K.
Once again, gamers who plan to pair the Core i5-11600K could opt to grab the Core i5-11600KF. The iGPU-less variant easily nets them $30 in savings that can be put to good use in other components.
Intel has committed will launch Rocket Lake next month, and thanks to an MSI representative, we’ve narrowed the timeframe down to late March. The processors are backward compatible with the current 400-series motherboards through a simple firmware upgrade. However, motherboard manufacturers have already revealed their new 500-series offerings that are designed to extract every bit of performance out of Rocket Lake.
Rocket Lake is in all likelihood the last wave of Intel processors to grace the LGA1200 platform. Many consider it a band-aid to fend off AMD’s Ryzen 5000 (codename Vermeer) army until Alder Lake is ready. Although Intel maintains the notion that the hybrid desktop chips belong to the “performance” segment, it remains to be seen whether there is any truth in the chipmaker’s claims.
Nvidia has started to roll out support for Resizable BAR, a feature of PCI Express that can boost frame rates in certain games by up to 10 percent. The new RTX 3060 graphics card is the first to include Resizable BAR, which allows certain CPUs to access the full graphics frame buffer, instead of being limited to reading just 256MB blocks. Support for other 30-series GPUs will be available in late March.
You’ll need the right CPU, motherboard, and graphics card to utilize this new feature, and Nvidia is working with both AMD and Intel to provide chipset support. AMD’s 400 and 500 Series chipsets are supported, alongside Intel’s 10th Gen processors and the company’s upcoming 11th Gen S chips.
Nvidia’s Resizable BAR support gives CPUs access to the full graphics frame buffer.Image: Nvidia
Much like AMD’s Smart Access Memory, Resizable BAR on Nvidia GPUs can boost frame rates in certain games by up to 10 percent. The boost is really game dependent, and resolution can also impact how much performance will increase. “In our testing, we’ve found some titles benefit from a few percent, up to 10 percent,” says Nvidia. “However, there are also titles that see a decrease in performance.”
Nvidia is pre-testing titles and using special game profiles to enable Resizable BAR only where the performance increases. The following games are currently supported:
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Battlefield V
Borderlands 3
Forza Horizon 4
Gears 5
Metro Exodus
Red Dead Redemption 2
Watch Dogs: Legion
Additional games will be supported in late March, when Nvidia launches VIOS updates for the rest of its 30-series GPUs. Nvidia will supply VBIOS updates for all Founders Edition 30-series cards, and board partners will also release their own updates. You’ll also need a motherboard update that includes the necessary CPU support, and Nvidia says Asus, Asrock, Colorful, Evga, Gigabyte, and MSI have all started supporting Resizable BAR on select motherboards.
Resizable BAR support on the AMD side has been tested widely, and TechSpot found that some games making use of Smart Access Memory could see nearly a 20 percent boost at 1440p and 4K.
Most people by a laptop, never upgrade it, and toss it when it’s time for a new model. Framework, a San Francisco-based startup, hopes to upend that paradigm with its Framework Laptop, a 13.5-inch notebook that appears to be an easily upgradeable, customizable portable unlike any other. It could also greatly reduce e-waste.
To start, the laptop will run off of 11th Gen Intel Core processors, and will support up to 64DB of
DDR4
RAM and up to 4tB of PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD storage. It will offer a 13.5-inch,
3:2 display
with a 2256 x 1504 resolution. It won’t be saddled with a
720p
webcam — instead, it will offer 1080p at 60 fps.
CPU
11th Gen Intel Core Processors
RAM
Up to 64GB DDR4
Storage
Up to 4TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD
Display
13.5-inch, 3:2, 2256 x 1504
Webcam
1080p, 60 fps
Connectivity
Wi-Fi 6
But for tinkerers and environmentalists alike, it’s the repair system that sounds awesome. The ports are housed in a series of expansion cards, so you can choose the inputs and outputs you want on the laptop, as well as on which side they go. There are four port bays, from which you can choose from USB Type-C, USB Type-A, DisplayPort, HDMI, a microSD card slot, a headphone amp, or an “ultra-fast storage” bay.
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(Image credit: Framework)
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(Image credit: Framework)
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(Image credit: Framework)
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(Image credit: Framework)
The Wi-Fi, two memory slots and the SSD are all replaceable, rather than soldered. But the entire motherboard will also be replaceable so that you can put in newer processors later on. This, of course, is the tough part for a startup. Framework will ultimately have to succeed to put out new versions for the full potential to come through. Alienware had promised replaceable GPUs for the
Alienware Area-51m
gaming laptop, and those ultimately never truly came to fruition, and that was an established company.
Framework also states that “high-use” components, including the battery, display, keyboard and a bezel with customizable color options will be easy to replace and that you will be able to buy parts directly from the company. It is pledging to release updates “regularly” to the components, and that it is going to have an open system so that partners can sell their own modules through Framework’s market. Additionally, the laptop is made from 50% recycled aluminum and roughly 30% recycled plastic.
There will be pre-configured models with either
Windows 10
Home or Pro, as well as a DIY Edition, which lets you customize and assemble the modules yourself and choose either Windows or a distribution of Linux. The company says it will include a screwdriver either way for when you eventually want to open the laptop up to upgrade or repair.
Framework hasn’t yet announced the full specs, prices or configurations. It says those will come in “the next weeks,” along with a shipping date that’s more than the curent Summer 2021.
The company was founded by Nirav Patel, who worked at Oculus near the start back in 2012, and also has talent that has worked at Google, Lenovo, Apple and others. We’ll be curious to see how it fares and if Framework ultimately manages to deliver, both at launch and years down the road. It’s a lofty goal, but one that could be game-changing if it succeeds.
Fractal Design’s Meshify 2 Compact offers an excellent foundation for thermally demanding ATX gaming systems. And although it’s a bit expensive, it’s a very well thought-through chassis that ships with three good fans.
For
Thoughtful interior and classy design
Ships with three quality fans
Great cable management
Excellent thermal performance
Easy filter access for cleaning
Against
Strong competition
Materials could be better
Sticky power button (at least on our sample)
Fans don’t have PWM control
No RGB (a pro, for some)
Specifications and Features
When Fractal Design launched its Meshify 2 chassis, it impressed us so much that we had no choice but to award it a rare five stars. So you can imagine that I was quite excited when the company reached out asking if I wanted to review the new Meshify 2 Compact. In essence, it’s the same case but a little shorter, cutting back on the extreme storage or radiator setup possibilities, but offering the same basic design.
Because of this, the Meshify 2 Compact is arguably the more mainstream case suited to standard ATX setups that don’t need a ton of space – the vast majority of gaming systems. However, priced at $110, it’s not the most budget-friendly option, and it’s competing in a crowded segment. Let’s find out if Fractal Design has what it takes to earn yet another spot on our Best PC Cases list.
Specifications
Type
Mid-Tower ATX
Motherboard Support
Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, ATX
Dimensions (HxWxD)
18.7 x 8.3 x 16.8 inches (474 x 210 x 427 mm)
Max GPU Length
14.2 inches (360 mm)
CPU Cooler Height
6.7 inches (169 mm)
Max PSU Length
6.5 inches (165 mm)
External Bays
✗
Internal Bays
2x 3.5-inch
2x 2.5-inch
Expansion Slots
7x
Front I/O
2x USB 3.0, USB-C, 3.5 mm Headphone, 3.5mm Mic
Other
(Removable) Tempered Glass Panel
Front Fans
2x 140mm (Up to 2x 140mm, 3x 120mm)
Rear Fans
1x 120mm (Up to 1x 120mm)
Top Fans
None (Up to 2x 140mm)
Bottom Fans
None (Up to 1x 120mm)
Side Fans
✗
RGB
No
Damping
No
Warranty
1 Year
Features
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
For this review, I asked Fractal Design to send us the gray option as I was curious to see how this color option would turn out. We had already seen the black color on the full-size Meshify 2, and white wasn’t available just yet.
Circling around the case, it’s immediately clear that this is a Fractal Design chassis – if not from the ‘Fractal’ text on the front mesh’s door handle, you can tell from the folds in the mesh and the grille pattern that’s also unique to Fractal Design.
The sheet metal isn’t particularly thick, nor is this a heavy case. If you’re after a tank-type case, perhaps the Lian Li Lancool II Mesh is more up your alley. But the thin sheet metal here is only really noticed when you’re handling the case. Once sat in place, the Meshify 2 Compact looks like a quality piece of kit and the design efforts stand out beautifully.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
That being said, Fractal Design goes out of its way to make the case look good, almost to a fault. At the top IO, you’ll note that the tolerances between the removable top panel and the ports and buttons is extremely tight. This looks great, and for the ports it isn’t an issue, but it’s a little bit problematic on the power button. Our sample had a sticky power button. If you pressed it near the top, the button would get stuck in the down position – and yes, it did shut down our PC when we weren’t paying attention.
We didn’t experience this issue with the bigger Meshify 2, so it’s very possible that it’s something down to our sample. But if you have the same issue, don’t hesitate to ask Fractal Design for a fix . A sticking power button shouldn’t happen with any case, especially not one that costs $110.
Otherwise, top IO comprises discrete headphone and mic jacks, a USB Type-C port, and two USB 3.0 ports – all very complete.
To pull off the side panels, you simply pull them from the rear tab and take them off the case – it’s that easy. With that, we move on to the case’s internals.
Internal Layout
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
When it comes to the interior layout of the Meshify 2 Compact, there’s very little worth mentioning – it’s all very industry standard with a main motherboard compartment with room for GPUs up to 13.4 inches (341 mm) long with the front fans installed (14.2 inches, or 360 mm without), CPU coolers up to 6.7-inches (169 mm) tall, two 3.5-inch drives in the PSU compartment and two 2.5-inch drives behind the motherboard tray.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
What I also appreciate is the cable management system. The case comes with rubber grommets on almost all access points to the main compartment, which goes a long way to making things look tidy on the inside by hiding the clutter behind the motherboard tray.
Cooling
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
You can fit up to a 240mm AIO at the top of the case, along with up to a 360mm AIO at the front. The PSU shroud will be in the way of longer radiators on the intake, but it has removable pieces to make space for bigger coolers. Just note that if you do install a large radiator at the front, you’ll have to bump the HDD tray to make space. That said, 280mm radiators will fit fine without this sacrifice.
Of course, the Meshify 2 Compact’s strength is in cooling. The chassis comes from the factory with two 140mm fans on the intake and one 120mm fan at the rear exhaust, which is very complete indeed. That’s more than most cases, but it should be for $110.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Filtration is provided on every possible intake location, including the top exhaust. The front filter is easily removed by swinging the door open, pulling it out of its hinge, and then removing the filter. You can access the top filter by pulling off the top panel from the rear.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Another detail we appreciate is the bottom filter, as it’s removable from the front of the case. If you’re like us and have the back of your PC stuck near a wall, you know how annoying it can be to have to move the entire chassis to get to the PSU’s filter.
Intel’s Rocket Lake is on the launchpad for release this quarter, and in traditional fashion, the company began teasing hard gaming performance numbers during CES 2021. Now, Ryan Shrout, Intel’s Chief Performance Strategist, has teased a new benchmark result via Twitter that shows the flagship Rocket Lake Core i9-11900K beating AMD’s fastest mainstream chip, the Ryzen 9 5950X, by 11% in a storage benchmark conducted by Allyn Malventano, a Storage Technical Analyst with Intel. The company says the faster performance comes courtesy of the PCIe 4.0 interface on its 500-series motherboards for Rocket Lake.
Intel is a bit more than fashionably late to adopting PCIe 4.0, AMD embraced the speedier interface two years ago, but Intel is finally making the move with Rocket Lake. Intel’s test results slide notes that ‘results may vary,’ and as with all vendor-provided benchmarks, you should take the results with the requisite grain of salt.
At #CES21 we looked at Rocket Lake-S gaming. Here’s a sneak peek of Core i9-11900K PCIe Gen 4 storage performance – up to 11% faster on PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark vs the 5950X. Thanks @Malventano for the data. Backup: https://t.co/LcI5n5Cok2 pic.twitter.com/NhblHRQJSCFebruary 23, 2021
See more
Intel ran PCMark 10’s Quick Storage Benchmark test for its comparison, which is one of four possible benchmarks in the popular test suite. PCMark 10’s documentation points out that this “is a shorter test with a smaller set of less demanding real-world traces” that’s used to test smaller system drives that cannot run the Full System Drive benchmark that we use in our SSD reviews. This test performs mundane tasks like small file transfers/copies and runs Microsoft Excel, Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop traces that emulate real-world performance.
As noted, the other PCMark 10 storage tests are much more demanding. However, the extended benchmarks push the bottleneck back to the storage device, largely removing the CPU/interface from the equation because the tests access a very large portion of the drive (100GB+ span) to push the drive into a degraded state. This is the long way of saying that it makes sense to use the shorter benchmark in an attempt to isolate either the CPU or the PCIe 4.0 interface as the bottleneck.
Intel outfitted both test systems (500-series motherboards for both chips) with a drive for the operating system and a secondary PCIe 4.0 1TB Samsung 980 Pro (50% full) as the test device. Intel connected these drives to a riser card placed in the PCIe slot, which should remove any interference from the platform controller hub (PCH) on the test results. We’ve included the test notes below.
The results are pretty straightforward – Intel claims that Rocket Lake is 11% faster in this benchmark than the Ryzen 9 5950X, and it’s noteworthy that this doesn’t boil down to having a ‘faster’ physical PCIe 4.0 connection than present on AMD’s motherboards. Instead, storage performance is impacted by a host of factors, including system drivers, motherboard firmware, and CPU performance. All in all, Intel claims that these factors combined to give Rocket Lake the upper hand in the tests.
Fast storage performance is important, and Intel’s late move to the PCIe 4.0 interface is welcome. However, it’s noteworthy that even if Intel has taken the lead in storage performance, AMD’s modern Ryzen platforms offer up more PCIe 4.0 connectivity: Intel’s Z590 chipset features PCIe 3.0 lanes for devices connected to the PCH, while AMD’s PCH serves up PCIe 4.0.
Intel has added a single direct PCIe 4.0 x4 interface for connecting M.2 storage devices to Rocket Lake chips, and you’ll either have to use this interface or place your SSD in a riser card in the PCIe slot to unlock the best performance possible with Rocket Lake. It’s too bad that Intel killed off its Optane drives for desktop PCs, or we might see a more pronounced difference in the benchmark.
Faster storage performance will benefit users that tend to transfer large files, and also those with more prosumer-class workloads, like heavy video editing, but most gamers wouldn’t notice the difference in typical conditions. You can see everything we know about Rocket Lake here, but we’ll have to wait for the final silicon to see how the chips stack up in our CPU Benchmarks performance hierarchy.
There has been a good number of Alder Lake benchmarks that have popped up on the radar. Yesterday’s Geekbench 5 submission (via Benchleaks), however, gives us a first peek into the hybrid processor’s big cores.
Alder Lake-S will go down in Intel’s history as the first hybrid x86 desktop processor, and from how it looks so far, it may be one of the most confusing processor launches. Alder Lake-S brings together a mixture of ‘Big’ Golden Cove and ‘Small’ Gracemont cores. As you would imagine, that gives life to numerous potential configurations. As of this moment, we’ve learned from a Linux driver update that Alder Lake-S could arrive in up to 12 different flavors, assuming that Intel doesn’t have more tricks up its sleeve.
The latest Alder Lake-S sample lacks a name, but given the details that we already know about Intel’s hybrid chips, we don’t doubt its veracity. The processor under test was operating from a motherboard or test platform based on the upcoming LGA1700 socket. Alder Lake-S is pegged to support both DDR4 and DDR5 memory. Although the submission itself doesn’t specify the type of memory, the detailed report revealed the memory running with timings configured to 36-34-34-63. Given the really sloppy timings, the processor was very likely paired with DDR5 memory.
Intel Alder-Lake-S CPU (Image credit: Primate Labs Inc.)
The Alder Lake processor features eight cores and 16 threads, implying that it’s rolling with only the ‘Big’ Golden Cove cores since the Gracemont cores lack Huper-Threading support. The processor appears to feature a 3 GHz base and boost clock, but it may be an early engineering sample. Nonetheless, a previous Alder Lake-S chip emerged with a 4 GHz boost clock. However, it was the 16-core model, alluding to the eight Golden Cove cores and eight Gracemont cores. Will Intel clock the Golden Core-exclusive SKUs higher than the hybrid SKUs, or vice versa? It’s still uncertain how Alder Lake-S will play out.
Unfortunately, the Geekbench 5 submission doesn’t provide us with any meaningful insight into the Alder Lake-S chip’s performance, so it’s unclear how it will stack up in our CPU Benchmarks hierarchy. The OpenCL benchmark only taxes the graphics card, which in this case was a GeForce RTX 2080. So, we can’t really pass judgment on the Alder Lake-S processor’s gaming performance or whether it bottlenecks the Turing-based graphics card or not.
Alder Lake, which is based on Intel’s 10nm Enhanced SuperFin process, will enter mass production in the second half of this year. Not surprisingly, the processors will command fresh LGA1700 motherboards with the 600-series chipset and, of course, DDR5 memory. Upgrading to the new platform certainly won’t be easy on the pockets, and pricing will be the ultimate determinant on whether or not Alder Lake makes an appearance on our list of Best CPUs for gaming.
Only weeks ago, CD Projekt Red was the victim of a cyberattack that saw the source code for several of its titles stolen and eventually sold via an auction. The Polish developer is now looking to mitigate some of the damage by filing DMCA takedowns against anyone posting links to the stolen source code.
Last week, several Twitter users received notifications from a copyright monitoring company for providing links to torrents containing the source code. CD Projekt Red paid for exactly this sort of service, which apparently puts CDPR firmly into the big corp segment of CP77. This was first reported by Motherboard, which was able to gain access to a copy of the email sent to the Twitter users.
“Description of infringement: Illegally obtained source code of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. Posted without authorisation, not intended to be released to the public,” is what was stated in the DMCA takedown.
In addition to those Twitter users, several others also had their tweets taken down, replaced with a reply from Twitter that stated: “has been withheld in response to a report from the copyright holder.”
With the source code now in the hand/s of those who committed the cyberattack against CD Projekt Red, many had wondered how the company would attempt to protect its property. While the offenders have yet to be identified, there’s little doubt that the company has been working with various agencies to investigate the situation further. And with the recent DMCAs, we now see that they’re already policing popular locations such as Twitter.
However, DMCA takedowns aren’t the only issue that CD Projekt Red is facing. We’re five days away from the end of February 2021, and the developer has yet to make good on its promise to release a major update that many are hoping will address the performance of Cyberpunk 2077. With the title still missing on the PlayStation Store and Sony insisting they will not add it back until CD Projekt Red can assure that the game will run well on both the PS4/PS4 Pro and PS5, there’s money sitting on the table. Things aren’t much better on the Xbox One either, while the PC performance is hit or miss, depending on how beefy the PC running the game is.
These last few months have not been kind to CD Projekt Red, and we can only hope that it will be able to turn its string of bad luck around.
A slew of complaints has been posted to Reddit and user forums regarding USB connectivity bugs with Ryzen systems. AMD has announced via a forum post that it is investigating the matter, but for now, the breadth of the issue remains unknown and AMD says it impacts a “small number of users.” We’ve reached out to AMD and motherboard vendors for further comment and will update as necessary.
The issues seem confined to Ryzen 3000 and 5000 series CPUs in 500-series motherboards (i.e., X570 and B550) and consist of random dropouts for USB-connected devices. The complaints encompass a number of different types of USB devices, with issues including unresponsive external capture devices, momentary keyboard connection drops, slow mouse responses, issues with VR headsets, and, more worryingly, connection issues with external storage devices and USB-connected CPU coolers.
Naturally, poor connections to storage devices can result in data corruption, and coolers that don’t operate correctly can result in thermal throttling and reduced performance (luckily, AMD’s chips have robust protection mechanisms that prevent physical damage to the chip from excessive heat).
Some impacted AMD customers have compiled a list of 78 systems impacted by the bug. However, identifying the root issue could be daunting: a modern system relies on a wide collection of drivers, software, operating system code, and firmware to operate, and different motherboard firmware (AGESA) revisions could also be in play.
Additionally, AMD’s Ryzen processors supply some USB connectivity directly from the processor, while other USB lanes hang off the chipset. For now, it isn’t clear which set of USB ports are impacted.
To that effect, AMD has notified users that it has begun investigating the issue:
“AMD is aware of reports that a small number of users are experiencing intermittent USB connectivity issues reported on 500 Series chipsets. We have been analyzing the root cause and at this time, we would like to request the community’s assistance with a small selection of additional hardware configurations. Over the next few days, some r/Amd users may be contacted directly by an AMD representative (u/AMDOfficial) via Reddit’s PM system with a request for more information.
This request may include detailed hardware configurations, steps to reproduce the issue, specific logs, and other system information pertinent to verifying our development efforts. We will provide an update when we have more details to share. Customers facing issues are always encouraged to raise an Online Service Request with AMD customer support; this enables us to find correlations and compare notes across support claims.” – AMD Official Account.
Experimenting Ryzen users have come up with a few workarounds that seem to reduce and/or eliminate the USB dropout issues, which includes disabling Global C-States, disabling PCIe 4.0 in the BIOS and using PCIe 3.0 instead, manually uninstalling/reinstalling USB ports and root hubs, and also disabling unused USB headers. However, results vary and typically reduce, rather than eliminate, the issues.
The breadth of the issue isn’t currently known, and given the number of complaints, the spreadsheet with 78 impacted configurations obviously doesn’t include all instances of the bug — particularly given that many customers aren’t tech-savvy and wouldn’t frequent enthusiast tech forums. However, AMD has shipped over 1 million Ryzen 5000 chips (and an untold number of Ryzen 3000 chips) thus far, so it’s clear that the issue doesn’t impact all users. We’ve reached out to AMD on the matter and will update as necessary.
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