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 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 AMD rival Ryzen 9 5900X 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 MSI Enthusiast Gaming, or MEG for short, line of motherboards represents the best of the best MSI has to offer. Last year’s Z490 MEG line offered some of the best overclocking available on an Intel platform. Memory overclocking was particularly noteworthy due to such innovations as MSI’s tabbed memory trace layout. Those same innovations return on MSI’s new Z590 lineup with even more refinement. The MSI MEG Z590 ACE features a massive 19-phase VRM with top of the line 90 A power stages and a robust VRM cooling solution, four M.2 slots, Thunderbolt 4, and a plethora of overclocking features. The MSI MEG Z590 ACE has a premium spec sheet, let’s see if there is premium performance to match!
1x BIOS Flashback button 1x Clear CMOS button 2x SMA antenna connectors 1x HDMI port 2x USB Type-C® Thunderbolt ports 2x Mini DisplayPort input 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports (red) 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports 2x USB 2.0 ports 1x RJ-45 port 1x optical S/PDIF Out connector 5x audio jacks
Audio:
1x Realtek ALC4082 Codec
Fan Headers:
8x 4-pin
Form Factor:
ATX Form Factor: 12.0 x 9.6 in.; 30.5 x 24.4 cm
Exclusive Features:
8 layer PCB
AudioBoost 5 HD
DDR4 Boost with steel Armor
Thunderbolt 4
Mystic Light
Quad M.2 with M.2 Shield Frozr
Testing for this review was conducted using a 10th Gen Intel Core i9-10900K. Stay tuned for an 11th Gen update when the new processors launch!
In an odd disclosure that comes after Intel recently released the details of its 11th-Generation Core Rocket Lake-S processors, the company has unveiled a “new” Adaptive Bost Technology that allows the chip to operate at up to 100C during normal operation. This new tech will feel decidedly familiar to AMD fans, as it operates in a very similar fashion to AMD’s existing boost mechanism that’s present in newer Ryzen processors. This marks the fourth boost technology to come standard with some Intel chips, but in true Intel style, the company only offers the new feature on its pricey Core i9 K and KF processors, giving it a new way to segment its product stack.
In a nutshell, the new Adaptive Boost Technology (ABT) feature allows Core i9 processors to dynamically boost to higher all-core frequencies based upon available thermal headroom and electrical conditions, so the peak frequencies can vary. It also allows the chip to operate at 100C during normal operation.
In contrast, Intel’s other boost technologies boost to pre-defined limits (defined in a frequency lookup table) based on the number of active cores, and you’re guaranteed that the chip can hit those frequencies if it is below a certain temperature and the motherboard can supply enough power. Even though Intel has defined a 5.1 GHz peak for ABT if three or more cores are active, it doesn’t come with a guaranteed frequency – peak frequencies will vary based upon the quality of your chip, cooler, PSU, and motherboard power circuitry.
(Image credit: Intel)
Think of ABT much like a dynamic auto-overclocking feature. Still, because the chip stays within Intel’s spec of a 100C temperature limit, it is a supported feature that doesn’t fall into the same classification as overclocking. That means the chip stays fully within warranty if you choose to enable the feature (it’s disabled by default in the motherboard BIOS).
Intel does have another boost tech, Thermal Velocity Boost, that allows the processor to shift into slightly higher frequencies if the processor remains under a certain temperature threshold (70C for desktop chips). However, like Intel’s other approaches, it also relies upon a standard set of pre-defined values and you’re guaranteed that your chip can hit the assigned frequency.
In contrast, ABT uplift will vary by chip — much of the frequency uplift depends upon the quality of your chip. Hence, the silicon lottery comes into play, along with cooling and power delivery capabilities. We’ve included a breakdown of the various Intel boost technologies a bit further below.
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(Image credit: AMD)
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(Image credit: AMD)
Intel’s approach will often result in higher operating temperatures during intense work, but that doesn’t differ too much from AMD’s current approach because ABT is very similar to AMD’s Precision Boost 2 technology. AMD pioneered this boosting technique for desktop PCs with its Ryzen 3000 series, allowing the chip to boost higher based upon available thermal and electrical headroom, and not based on a lookup table. Still, the company dialed up the temperature limits with its Ryzen 5000 processors to extract the utmost performance within the chips’ maximum thermal specification.
As you can see in AMD’s official guidelines above, that means the processor can run at much higher temperatures than what we would previously perceive as normal, 95C is common with stock coolers, triggering some surprise from the enthusiast community. However, the higher temperatures are fully within AMD’s specifications, just as Intel’s upper limit of 100C will fall within its own boundaries.
Here’s the breakdown of Intel’s various boost mechanisms:
Turbo Boost 2.0: Increased frequency if chip operates below power, current, and temperature specifications.
Turbo Boost Max 3.0: Fastest cores are identified during binning, then the Windows scheduler targets the fastest two active cores (favored cores) with lightly-threaded applications. Chip must be below power, current, and temperature specifications.
Single-Core Thermal Velocity Boost: Fastest active favored core can boost higher than Turbo Boost Max 3.0 if below a pre-defined temperature threshold (70C) and all other factors adhere to TB 3.0 conditions.
All-Core Thermal Velocity Boost: Increases all-core frequency when all cores are active and the chip is under 70C.
Adaptive Boost Technology: Allows dynamic adjustment of all-core turbo frequencies when four or more cores are active. This feature doesn’t have a guaranteed boost threshold — it will vary based on chip quality, your cooler, and power delivery.
Overall, AMD’s Precision Boost 2 and Intel’s Adaptive Boost Technology represent both company’s attempts to extract the maximum performance possible within the confines of their respective TDP limits. In its traditional style, AMD offers the feature as a standard on all of its newer Ryzen processors, while Intel positions it as a premium feature for its highest-end Core i9 K and KF processors. As you would imagine, we’ll have full testing of the feature in our coming review.
(Pocket-lint) – The HP Spectre x360 13 is a bit of a dream convertible laptop. Not much has changed in this 2020-2021 version apart from a shift to Intel’s 11th Gen processors. But these bring a significant jump in performance, especially for gaming, with no downsides.
You have plenty of laptops to choose from with this much cash to spend. You could get a (admittedly non-convertible) MacBook Air, a Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, or a Lenovo Yoga 9i (although the Shadow Black model we saw we can’t recommend).
Particular benefits of the HP Spectre x360 13 include an ultra-small footprint, a near-perfect hinge design that’s far more sturdy than most, and a great keyboard. This is a style laptop that doesn’t compromise on the basics, and that matters because no matter how expensive a laptop looks or feels, you always take the outer gloss for granted quickly enough.
Design
Dimensions: 16.9 x 194.5 x 306mm
Weight: 1.3kg (1.28kg measured)
Unibody aluminium shell
HP Spectre laptops are some of the most striking, and perhaps contentious, slim-and-light models we review all year. The HP Spectre x360 13’s look hasn’t changed much in this latest generation, but is still worth a mention.
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It has a thing for angles – like the 45-degree cut-outs in the corners, and peaked contoured edges. It all gives the Spectre x360 a distinct and angular appearance – but not one that all will instantly like. However, HP tempers the look by keeping everything bar the screen border a sedate silver. A couple more striking two-tone finishes are available if you want to fully embrace the Spectre’s provocative style.
All the HP Spectre x360 13’s panels are aluminium, rather than magnesium. HP could have used the latter to bring the weight below its currently perfectly respectable ~1.3kg. But then you’d lose some of the cool, metallic feel that works hand-in-hand with the laptop’s severe look.
The Spectre x360 13’s build is exceptional too. There is zero keyboard flex, real Apple-grade rigidity, and the integrity of the flippy hinge is best-in-class stuff.
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Use the rival Samsung Galaxy Book Flex 2 on your knees and you’ll notice the screen actually wobbles slightly from the motion. There’s almost none of that in the Spectre x360.
However, the HP’s footprint is actually one of the most notable things here. The Spectre x360 is tiny for a 13-inch machine, shaving off a significant amount of depth. Some of you won’t appreciate this as much as the sub-1kg weight of lighter alternatives. But it helps this laptop fit in smaller bags or onto cramped tables.
Screen
13-inch IPS LCD touchscreen with stylus support
Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels)
100% sRGB colour, 460-nit brightness
Part of this footprint is down to HP’s cutting down of the screen border at the bottom edge. And, of course, because the HP Spectre x360 13 has a widescreen display rather than the 3:2 aspect ratio some prefer for productivity apps.
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Are you in that crowd? HP caters for you too, now. Hunt down the 14-inch version of the HP Spectre x360 13, which trades the small footprint for more screen space and a larger touchpad. Yes, a “14 13”, weird naming, isn’t it?
HP sent us the “entry-level” screen version of the HP Spectre x360 13. It has a Full HD IPS LCD screen, rather than the 4K OLED you can get if you’re willing to spend more (and probably sacrifice battery life as a result)
This LCD isn’t a true wide colour gamut screen – but we still think it is great. It delivers very high contrast for this style of display, making blacks look rich and deep even when the brightness is maxed. And that top brightness is high enough to work outdoors comfortably enough.
Resolution is the one obvious shortfall. While 1080p lets you see slight pixellation in text – which is why you might choose to buy a MacBook Air instead – it’s still not a low resolution per se. Where almost all Windows laptops of this type offer 1080p as a starting resolution, and an ultra-high res one as a pricey upgrade, all MacBook Air models have 1600p screens, which wipe out that slight pixellation.
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The HP Spectre x360 13 also supports a digitiser stylus, with pressure sensitivity. Looking online, it seems you may get one in the box with some packages, but ours didn’t include the stylus (based in the UK, so it may be a regional thing). This doesn’t seem as essential an accessory as it does in the Lenovo Yoga 9i, though, as there’s nowhere to store then pen in the laptop itself.
Keyboard and Touchpad
2-level backlight
Textured glass touchpad
The HP Spectre x360 13 is at heart a pretty straightforward laptop. It’s a good job, then, that HP has the basics aced.
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For one, it has a very good keyboard. There’s plenty of key travel, zero flex to the keyboard plate, and meaty-but-quiet feedback when you press the keys. This is not necessarily what you’d expect from a style-driven portable laptop in 2021. But HP has not forgotten this element is pretty important for those who actually work eight hours a day in front of the thing.
There’s a two-level backlight for confidence when typing in darker rooms. And the only concession to the Spectre’s low-depth case design is that a row of function buttons are shifted to the right of the keyboard. We guarantee you’ll press Page Up/Down accidentally a hundred times, but you’ll get used to the layout in the end.
The touchpad is trimmed down more substantially to fit the Spectre x360 13’s shape, but is still very good. It has a smooth textured glass surface, and a confident clicker that isn’t affected by pressure places around the pad itself.
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There’s a hint of pre-click float, which is usually something to complain about. But here it actually seems deliberate, to lend the pad a greater sense of click depth.
The HP Spectre x360 13 also has a little fingerprint scanner, below the arrow keys. It is not as subtle as a pad built into a keyboard key or a power button, but then HP doesn’t exactly have much space to work with here and its responsiveness is sound enough. Plus, as you can see, subtlety isn’t the name of the game when it comes to design.
There’s also, sadly, no room for a good webcam. A 720p camera sits in the screen surround, and it doles out a soft, noisy image like the vast majority of laptops in this class. Puts it on par with a MacBook then, but that’s another way of saying it’s not nearly good enough for this day and age.
Performance
Intel Core i7-1165g7 CPU
16GB DDR4 RAM
512GB Intel Optane SSD
The HP Spectre x360 13 is an Intel Evo laptop. This is a new quality seal from Intel that ensures you get quick-resume from sleep, a Thunderbolt 4 port, fairly fast charging, and good battery life too. And it all revolves around Intel’s 11th Gen processors.
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Our HP Spectre x360 13 has an Intel Core i7-1165g7 processor with 16GB RAM and a 512GB Intel Optane SSD. This makes Windows 10 fly. And while it doesn’t quite have the raw power of the MacBook Pro’s M1 processor, there are not going to be any compatibility headaches – as this is a more conventional CPU.
Gaming is the most noticeable performance improvement you’ll see in this generation. Laptops like this traditionally use the graphics chipset baked into the main processor, and Intel’s traditionally are not all that good. But the HP Spectre x360 13 has the Intel Xe chipset, which brings performance up to that of an entry-level Nvidia dedicated graphics card.
We’ve tested a bunch of laptops with Xe graphics recently. They let you play Skyrim at Ultra graphics settings, Subnautica at a fairly pretty Medium, Euro Truck Simulator 2 with everything turned on, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance at 900p with good results.
How about GTA V? That runs just fine too, delivering frame rates in the 40s at the default graphics settings. Intel has finally caught up with AMD, delivering results similar to what you’d see in a Ryzen 7 4700U laptop – like the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 – or a last-gen Intel one with a dedicated Nvidia MX350 graphics card.
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We’ve been waiting for this moment for ages: you can treat a laptop like the HP Spectre x360 13 a bit like a last-gen games console, even though it is not remotely made for the purpose.
The HP Spectre x360 13 is also silent when you do light work that doesn’t tax the processor, causing the fans to start spinning. These latest-generation chipsets seem to have a better handle on heat than their predecessors. It’s not silent when you run GTA V, of course, but avoids the annoying high-pitch whirr you sometimes get with small laptops.
The HP Spectre x360 13’s speakers are reasonable, but not quite as the same level as those of a MacBook Pro or Lenovo Yoga 9i. There’s the small portion of bass that largely separates good speakers from poor ones and the tone is even enough, but maximum volume doesn’t break out of the so-so laptop mould.
Battery Life
60Wh battery
65W charger
USB-C charging
The HP Spectre x360 13 has a 60Wh battery – the same size this series has used for a few generations now. It’s a mid-size battery – which is no surprise given the laptop’s footprint – but lasts very well considering the laptop uses an Intel CPU, which aren’t quite as frugal on power as the latest AMD Ryzen models.
Best laptop 2021: Top general and premium notebooks for working from home and more
By Dan Grabham
·
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In our hands it lasted 12 hours 15 minutes when streaming video over Wi-Fi at the sort of brightness level you might use indoors. Not bad, right? The Intel Evo mark guarantees nine hours of general use, so the HP Spectre x360 13 is a good way ahead of that.
Its charger is a 65W brick – uh oh, it’s not exactly in keeping with the laptop’s elegant style – but at least it’ll bring the charge to around 50 per cent in a mere half-hour.
Verdict
The HP Spectre x360 13 is a laptop focused on quality. Its build is exceptional. You get the cool and hard feel of aluminium, very low-flex panels and a non-wobbly convertible display hinge. Its keyboard is far better than the thin, clicky designs used in plenty of slim laptops. And while the weight isn’t dramatically low, this laptop’s footprint is among the smallest in its class.
Sure, you don’t get a slot-in stylus and for the deepest display colour you’ll need to upgrade to the 4K OLED version, but HP has aced the parts that affect your day-to-day experience using this machine. Don’t be confused by the funky angular design, HP knows the importance of getting the basics right. Oh, and it costs less than the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, which is an added bonus. It’s top marks all round.
View offer on HP Store (sponsored link)
Also consider
Dell XPS 13 2-in-1
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It’s pricier for the same spec, but you have to pay big to get the comparable Dell XPS convertible. It also has a shallower keyboard and a larger footprint, although the touchpad is a lot bigger too, which may appeal.
Read our review
MacBook Air
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Apple doesn’t make a convertible laptop – but the Air is probably the laptop you might consider in this HP’s stead. It has a sharper display and doesn’t use a fan at all, so stays silent 24/7. However, the keyboard is shallower, which may be an issue for those who spend a lot of typing tapping out emails and docs.
With memory prices falling, now is a great time to be looking for memory upgrades. Fall hardware releases are in full swing, there is competition from both Intel and AMD, and the Red brand has thoroughly fixed the memory issues of generations past. No longer do users have to worry about memory compatibility or shopping for expensive AMD-branded kits. With 3200 MHz natively supported on the new Ryzen platform, options for enthusiasts have never been more open.
The XPG SPECTRIX D50 Xtreme shares a lot of DNA with the D60G. The D60G is a memory kit that has been designed from the ground up to be the ultimate RGB LED solution for the memory market. The D50 trades some of that fancy RGB for a hefty aluminium heat spreader, which results in both a more subdued look and better thermal performance. The XPG SPECTRIX D50 Xtreme comes in speeds of up to 5000 MHz and capacities of up to 32 GB.
The XPG SPECTRIX D50 Xtreme kit I have for testing today features two 8 GB sticks at a blistering 5000 MHz with 19-28-28-46 timings. So does the XPG SPECTRIX D50 Xtreme live up to its extreme name?
Intel’s new Rocket Lake processors are its big answer to AMD’s Ryzen 5000 chips, and on the face of it, this is going to be a very interesting face-off once the embargo is lifted on reviews. That’s because, rather than follow the trend of more cores and a denser architecture, Intel has actually reduced the number of cores.
Intel claims that this change will lead to a 19% improvement in instruction per cycle (IPC) throughput and can lead to max speeds of 5.3GHz.
Alongside improved performance (at least in applications that aren’t heavily threaded), Rocket Lake will also include PCIe 4.0 interface adoption, AVX-512 support and a claimed 50% increase in Xe-powered integrated graphics performance.
For more in-depth coverage, check out our Intel Rocket Lake CPU news article from our CPU expert Paul Alcorn.
If you’re convinced, though, we’ve set up this page to collect all the different places where you can buy or pre-order a Rocket Lake CPU.
Intel Core i5-11600K: Where to Buy
(Image credit: Future)
US Intel Core i5-11600K retailers at a glance: Amazon | Best Buy | Micro Center | Newegg
Pricing across pre-order pages has been pretty inconsistent, which follows reports that some MSRPs are being jacked up for Intel’s 11th Gen CPUs. The best price comes from Best Buy, which is offering the i5-11600K for $269.99, whereas the most expensive is Micro Center at $319.
Intel Core i7-11700K: Where to Buy
(Image credit: Future)
US Intel Core i7-11700K retailers at a glance: Amazon | Best Buy | Micro Center | Newegg
When it comes to the 11th Gen i7 CPU, Newegg has the best price at $399 ($30 off), but once again there is a wide swath of pricing. The most expensive is Micro Center at $519, with Amazon and Best Buy in the middle at $418 and $419 respectively.
Also, if you don’t necessarily need an unlocked processor, you can get the standard 11700K from Newegg for $32 less.
Intel Core i9-11900K: Where to Buy
(Image credit: Future)
US Intel Core i9-11900K retailers at a glance: Amazon | Best Buy | Newegg
The 11th Gen i9 is where pre-ordering starts to get a little tricky, as it hasn’t actually started yet! The product pages are live, so keep checking back as you may get lucky.
As far as pricing goes, Amazon’s cost is not available yet, but the cheapest is Best Buy at $549. Newegg offers the CPU at a far pricier $613.
Finally, AMD’s motherboard partners have begun rolling out new BIOS updates to fix the widespread USB stability and connectivity issues. However, the current revisions are still in Beta form, with final firmware revisions due in April.
The firmware addresses widespread USB connectivity issues present on a number of Ryzen based systems equipped with Zen 2 or Zen 3 CPUs and 400- or 500-series motherboards. The problems center around random dropouts for USB-connected devices that impact several different types of devices, including unresponsive external capture devices, momentary keyboard connection drops, slow mouse responses, issues with VR headsets, external storage devices, and USB-connected CPU coolers.
The new BIOS patch appears to address the USB 2.0 controllers on 400- and 500-series motherboards. We still aren’t sure if other USB devices, like USB 3.0 headers connected to the CPU directly or other USB 3.0/3.1 controllers, were affected. Also, there is no information yet on whether or not the fix has any impact on performance.
When checking to see if your motherboard has the new fix, your board maker should address the USB 2.0 fixes in the description of the latest BIOS on the board partners’ web page. The fix’s presence is harder to detect because AMD did not update the AGESA code with a new version — instead, this fix still runs on the latest ComboV2 1.2.0.1 AGESA code.
But be patient; most boards still do not have a new BIOS ready with the new AGESA code, with only a few 500-series boards (and no 400-series boards) having the update at this time. Presumably, it will be a few weeks before all mainstream 400- and 500-series motherboards receive the update.
Performance results for Intel’s unreleased eight-core Tiger Lake-H parts are already being posted online. Benchleaks shared Geekbench 5 scores of the upcoming Core i7-11800H Tiger Lake-H CPU with impressive results.
Rumor has it that the Core i7-11800H will be one of Intel’s beefy 45W Tiger Lake-H parts featuring eight cores and 16 threads to compete with the likes of AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800H. Like Intel’s current U-series and H35 products, the eight-core Tiger Lake variants will feature Intel’s latest Willow Cove cores powered by the 10nm SuperFin architecture, allowing for up to 20% higher clock speeds than the previous models.
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(Image credit: Geekbench 5)
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(Image credit: Geekbench 5)
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(Image credit: Geekbench 5)
Strangely we have not just one, but three Geekbench results for the i7-11800H. Presumably, this was done to attain a more realistic Geekbench 5 result, as executing multiple benchmark runs and averaging the results can be more realistic than running a benchmark a single time.
When we average the three results together, the i7-11700H managed a single-threaded score of 1474 points and a multi-threaded score of 8116 points. That makes the i7-11800H around 15% faster than its predecessor, the Core i7-10875H, suggesting a healthy gen-on-gen performance improvement.
However, if we compare the i7-11800H to the best Ryzen 7 5800H Geekbench 5 scores, that puts the 5800H and 11800H within 2% of each other. That lands within the margin of error, so we can safely say that both chips offer similar performance in Geekbench 5.
If these results are true, then Intel is poised to make a major comeback in the notebook segment, finally catching up to AMD’s impressive Zen 3 notebook processors.
Intel’s next-generation desktop chips are finally here: after a brief preview at CES, the company is fully unveiling its 11th Gen Core desktop chips (better known by their codename, Rocket Lake-S.)
Leading the pack is Intel’s new flagship chip, the Core i9-11900K, with eight cores, 16 threads, boosted clock speeds up to 5.3GHz, support for DDR4 RAM at 3,200MHz, a total of 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes, and backwards compatibility with Intel’s 400 Series chipsets.
Eagle-eyed Intel fans might notice that the new chip is, on paper, actually a downgrade from last year’s top model, the Core i9-10900K, which offered 10 cores and 20 threads (and a similar boosted clock speed of 5.3GHz).
That’s because Intel is debuting a new desktop core architecture for the first time in over half a decade with its 11th Gen Rocket Lake-S chips called Cypress Cove. Cypress Cove finally replaces the Skylake microarchitecture, which the company has been using since its 6th Gen chips in 2015.
But the Cypress Cove design isn’t actually a whole new microarchitecture — it’s actually Intel’s Willow Cove chip designs and technologies that the company has been using on its 11th Gen 10nm Tiger Lake chips which Intel is backporting to its 14nm production process.
Since those designs were meant for 10nm chips, though, Intel is limited in the number of cores it can fit when scaling them up to a 14nm size; hence, the reduction in core count year over year. But Intel still says that the new chips will offer better performance (at least, in some cases) than the 10th Gen, with the core architecture enabling up to 19 percent IPC (instructions per cycle) than the previous generation.
Intel’s argument here is effectively that sheer core count isn’t enough on its own — frequency speed and performance matters, too, and thanks to the maturity of the 14nm production process, Intel is very good at cranking out every last drop of performance from these chips.
Intel 11th Gen Desktop Chips
Model
Cores/Threads
Base clock speed (GHz)
Boosted clock speed (GHz)
Turbo Boost Max 3.0 clock speed
Thermal Velocity Boost speed, single core / all cores (GHZ)
Smart Cache
TDP (W)
Graphics
Recommended Price
Model
Cores/Threads
Base clock speed (GHz)
Boosted clock speed (GHz)
Turbo Boost Max 3.0 clock speed
Thermal Velocity Boost speed, single core / all cores (GHZ)
Smart Cache
TDP (W)
Graphics
Recommended Price
i9-11900K
8/16
3.5
Up to 5.1
Up to 5.2
Up to
5.3 / 4.8
16M
125
Intel UHD Graphics 750
$539
i9-11900
8/16
2.5
Up to 5.0
Up to 5.1
Up to
5.2 / 4.7
16M
65
Intel UHD Graphics 750
$439
i7-11700K
8/16
3.6
Up to 4.9
Up to 5.0
NA
16M
125
Intel UHD Graphics 750
$399
i7-11700
8/16
2.5
Up to 4.8
Up to 4.9
NA
16M
65
Intel UHD Graphics 750
$323
i5-11600K
6/12
3.9
Up to 4.9
NA
NA
12M
125
Intel UHD Graphics 750
$262
i5-11600
6/12
2.8
Up to 4.8
NA
NA
12M
65
Intel UHD Graphics 750
$213
i5-11500
6/12
2.7
Up to 4.6
NA
NA
12M
65
Intel UHD Graphics 750
$192
i5-11400
6/12
2.6
Up to 4.4
NA
NA
12M
65
Intel UHD Graphics 730
$182
And Intel’s benchmarks (obviously) support that argument: head to head with last year’s Core i9-10900K, the i9-11900K offered between 8 to 14 percent better performance on games like Gears 5, Grid 2019, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Total War: Three Kingdoms. Intel also says that its top chip outperforms AMD’s flagship Ryzen 9 5900X processor for those titles, although by slightly smaller margins (between 3 and 11 percent better, according to Intel’s benchmarks).
That said, Intel’s tests were all running at 1080p, so we’ll have to stay tuned for more comprehensive benchmarking down the line on a wider range of titles — and particularly, at 4K resolution.
The new architecture also brings other improvements, with up to 50 percent better integrated graphics compared to Gen9 thanks to the company’s new Xe graphics, with one-third more EUs than its Gen9 graphics.
Given that these are desktop chips that will almost certainly be paired with a high-end discrete graphics card, that’s not the most groundbreaking improvement, however. And while Intel will be offering several F-series models of the new chips without GPUs, the overall design is still the same on those models. That means that Intel isn’t going to be offering any niche models that ditch integrated GPUs to try to fit in more cores, at least for now.
The new chips also feature other improvements. The 11th Gen chips add Resizable BAR, for a frame rate boost on compatible Nvidia and AMD graphics cards. There’s built-in support for both USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 at 20Gbps as well as Intel’s own Thunderbolt 4, along with DDR4-3200 RAM. And Intel has added four additional Gen 4 PCIe lanes, for a total of 20.
As is traditional for a major new chip launch, Intel is also introducing its 500 series motherboards alongside the new processors, but the Rocket Lake-S CPUs will also be backwards compatible with 400 series motherboards.
Additionally, there’s some new overclocking options with the new chips for users looking to squeeze out even more power. Specifically, Intel’s Extreme Tuning Utility software is getting refreshed with a new UI and some updated features alongside the 11th Gen chips.
The new 11th Gen Intel desktop processors are available starting today.
AMD has announced its new Ryzen Pro 5000 series mobile processors, its competitor to Intel’s vPro platform. The company claims the chips, based on the same Zen 3 architecture as most of its consumer-focused Ryzen 5000 series, will provide “uncompromised performance and battery life” for thin-and-light business laptops. They’ll appear in a slate of business notebooks including Elitebooks, ProBooks, ThinkPads, and ThinkBooks throughout this year.
On paper, the chips look pretty similar to their Ryzen 5000 counterparts. The headliner is the Ryzen 7 Pro 5850U, with eight cores, 16 threads, 20MB cache, and base frequency of 1.9 GHz with boost up to 4.4 GHz. AMD’s Ryzen line currently contains the only processors for thin-and-light laptops that use “eight high-performing cores.” Intel’s Tiger Lake vPro line is all quad-core at the moment (though its H-series has an eight-core chip on the way, and that line does appear in ultraportables from time to time) and Apple’s M1 chip uses a combination of high-power and high-efficiency cores.
The line also includes the Ryzen 5 Pro 5650U (six cores, 12 threads) and the Ryzen 3 Pro 5450U (four cores, eight threads). The three chips are identical in specs to the Ryzen 7 5800U, Ryzen 5 5600U, and the Ryzen 3 5400U, respectively; all have 15W TDP. We’ll be testing a 5800U system shortly and will have a better sense of how these chips will perform after that.
Image: AMD
What the new chips have to offer businesses specifically are some new security features. They include a new Shadow Stack (here’s an explainer if you’re curious) designed to protect against malware attacks. AMD says the chips also include “deep integration with Microsoft and OEMs” for better security, and that PCs will have FIPS encryption certification.
The chips also include AMD’s Pro Manageability platform, which is AMD’s competitor to Intel’s Active Management Technology, and include “full spectrum manageability features.” As the Ryzen Pro 4000 series did, the 5000 line supports Microsoft’s Endpoint Manager, a platform for IT workers to manage PCs, servers, and other devices in their organization.
AMD is moving its mobile Ryzen 5000 processors into business with Ryzen 5000 Pro, the company announced today. The new series consists of three chips, the Ryzen 7 Pro 5850U, Ryzen 5 Pro 5650U and Ryzen 3 5450U, and AMD claims the processors will show up in 63 laptop designs this year, including laptops from Lenovo and HP.
All three processors are on AMD’s Zen 3 architecture and 7nm process. (In fact, they are almost exactly identical, except for cache, on specs with the consumer-focused Ryzen 7 5800U, Ryzen 5 5600U and Ryzen 3 5400U)
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Cores / Threads
Frequency
Architecture
Node
L2 + L3 Cache
TDP
Ryzen 7 Pro 5850U
16-Aug
1.9 GHz base, up to 4.4 GHz
Zen 3
7nm
20 MB
15W
Ryzen 5 Pro 5650U
12-Jun
2.3 GHz base, up to 4.2 GHz
Zen 3
7nm
19 MB
15W
Ryzen 3 Pro 5450U
8-Apr
2.6 GHz. up to 4.0 GHz
Zen 3
7nm
10 MB
15W
In benchmarks released by the company, it compared the top-of-the-line, Cezanne-based AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 5850U to Intel’s 28W Core i7-1185G7 “Tiger Lake” part.
(Image credit: AMD)
AMD admitted to a 3% loss against the Core i7 in single-threaded performance (measured in Cinebench R20) but showed 65% gains in Cinebench R20 multi-thread and Passmark 10 CPU Mark, as well as Geekbench 5’s multi-core (single-core scores weren’t listed). In these tests, Intel’s chip was housed in a Dell Latitude 5420 with 32GB of RAM at 3,200 MHz and a 512GB SSD from SK Hynix, while the Ryzen Pro was in a reference platform with 16GB of LPDDR4 RAM at 4,266 MHz and a 512GB Samsung 970 Pro SSD.
(Image credit: AMD)
In productivity, the two tied in Microsoft Word and the Edge browser in AMD’s tests, but the Cezanne chip came out between 4% and 23% in other productivity benchmarks. Those tests switched the Intel laptop to an MSI Prestige 14 Evo with a 28W TDP, 16GB of RAM at 4,267 MHz, and a Kingston SSD of unspecified size. The AMD machine remained the reference design.
(Image credit: AMD)
Just to show off, AMD also picked some benchmarks comparing the Ryzen 5 Pro 5650U and the Core i7-1185G7, where its chip outperformed Intel in Passmark 10 CPU Mark (+25%), Geekbench 5 multi-core (+26%), PCMark 10 Apps (+4%) and PCMark 10 Benchmark (+20%). This round of testing also used the MSI Prestige 14 Evo and the reference design.
(Image credit: AMD)
Compared to the Latitude with Intel Core i7-1185G7, AMD claims that the Ryzen 7 Pro 5850U is up to 10% faster while running a 49-participant Zoom call and running the PCMark 10 applications benchmark.
(Image credit: AMD)
For battery life, AMD compared to previous generation Ryzen Pro chips, suggesting the 7nm process helps the new Ryzen 7 reach 17.5 hours on Mobile Mark 2018’s general computing test.
(Image credit: AMD)
The company is touting new security features for this year. AMD Shadow Stack is at the hardware level to prevent malware. It’s part of the Secured Core PC program, which Microsoft announced with Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm in late 2019, and also meets the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS).
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(Image credit: AMD)
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(Image credit: AMD)
To mark the launch, AMD is also showcasing six laptops coming from partners HP and Lenovo. The HP Probook Aero 635 G2 and HP Probook x360 435 G8 will be exclusive for 2021, and the Lenovo ThinkBook 16) is listed as an “AMD exclusive creator platform.” The company also listed the HP EliteBook 845 G8, ThinkPad T14S and ThinkBook 14S as highlighted notebooks.
(Pocket-lint) – For 2021 it seems like Asus is going after competitive gamers with the 2021 versions of the ROG Strix G15 and G17. The G15 is now not only more compact than the previous model, but also boasts Nvidia’s RTX 3000 series graphics cards. Something that’s notoriously hard to get hold of in the desktop world.
On paper, the ROG Strix G15 (G513) is a gaming beast with some great options, whether you favour fast screens or stunning visuals. That’s because not only is there a lot of power under the hood, it’s also specced with a choice of Full HD 300Hz or a WQHD 165Hz panel.
The aim to create either gaming powerhouses or the ultimate portable e-sport machines depending on your preference. Or maybe both? We’ve been living with, working with, and gaming with the Strix G15 for a couple of weeks to see how it all stacks up.
Power and prowess
Up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Max Q 8GB GDDR6 GPU
Up to AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU
Up to 32GB DDR4 3200MHz SDRAM
Up to 1TB M2 NVMe storage
Don’t be fooled by the compact-yet-snazzy frame of Asus ROG Strix G15 – this is still a powerhouse of a gaming machine. It needs to be as well, in order to reach the lofty goals Asus is aiming for and, of course, to make the most of the 300Hz refresh rate screen (as specified for this review).
On the outside, the Strix G15 retains the usual Asus ROG aesthetic. It boasts an aluminium chassis, a textured finish with ROG logo etching, and a backlit keyboard with RGB underlighting. It’s compact and stylish – but beauty is more than skin deep as the goodness continues when you open the lid and turn the device on.
As you’d expect, the G15 uses NVMe storage, so it boots to Windows in the blink of an eye when you press that power button. Your experience is going to vary depending on whether you go for the WQHD (1440p) model or the Full HD (1080p) one, but even at 1080p we were struck by just how easy-on-the-eye the panel is.
It’s rich and vivid. But more importantly, it’s fast and accurate. With Armoury Crate, you can also adjust the visuals and switch between several pre-programmed settings including Vivid, Cinema, RTS, FPS, and Eye Care. That last one is our favourite for working during the day as it reduces the blue light and makes the screen easier on the eye while you’re beavering away.
Gaming goodness
Display options: Full HD 1080p 300Hz IPS // WQHD 1440p 165Hz, 3ms response
62.5% sRGB, 47.34% Adobe RGB, Adaptive Sync
Benchmarks: PC Mark, TimeSpy, TimeSpy Extreme, Port Royale, FireStrike Ultra, FireStrike Extreme
The screen really shines when you get into a good gaming session of course. If you opt for the 300Hz panel, you can push competitive games to their limit and theoretically make the most of the display’s nifty fast refresh rate.
We played Rainbow Six Siege at around 200fps on Max settings. We managed 66fps average on Dirt 5, 80fps on Far Cry 5, 60-70fps on Assassin’s Creed Odyessy. Even outputting to a 32-inch Samsung Odyssey G7, the G15 still did the business with comparable frame rates.
Other games, including CS:Go and Apex Legends, are bound to make the most of this panel too.
Connection options and downfalls
3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C (support Display Port & 100w PD Charger)
1x LAN RJ-45 Ethernet jack, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x audio combo jack
Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax (2×2), Bluetooth w/ support for Range Boost
One of our niggles with the Strix G15 is the connection options. While there are some highlights – there’s an Ethernet port, for example – it lacks a Display Port or Display Port Mini connection unless you have a DP to USB-C adapter.
It also doesn’t have a webcam as standard. We begrudge that in a world where everyone’s on Zoom calls or Microsoft Teams meetings. Yes, it could be countered by simply buying an external webcam but that’s more expense. It also means you’d be using up one of the precious few USB ports as well. Plug in a mouse (no right-minded gamer would use a trackpad), headset and external keyboard and you’ve barely got any ports left.
That said, a nice amount of thought has been put into the overall design. The USB ports are located on the left and rear, meaning if you do plug in a gaming mouse you won’t find cables getting in the way while you play.
Great sound and positional audio too
Up to Twin 4W Smart Amp speakers
Built-in array microphone
Dolby Atmos compatibility
AI microphone noise cancellation
Compact and thin gaming laptops usually run hot and loud in our experience. Sometimes painfully so. The Strix G15 is intelligently designed with excellent cooling vents that seem to keep it running cool under pressure.
It has various different fan modes too, all of which can be switched to from within the Armoury Crate software. Choose from Windows, Silent, Performance and Turbo modes. Under general use, the Strix G15 is pleasantly quiet and barely ramps up when watching video, surfing the web or working away.
Under gaming load it remains fairly quiet too. This is in part thanks to Nvidia’s Whisper Mode technology, which uses AI-powered analysis to adjust cooling to keep things quiet as well as cool. Of course, if you need power for the best performance then you can ramp things up with Turbo and Performance modes. These bring more frames per second potential – but also more fan noise.
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We’re happy to report that even under pressure the Strix G15 is not only quieter than other gaming laptops we’ve tried, but the speakers also do a great job of overpowering any noise from the fan sufficiently enough to not spoil your gaming fun.
Those speakers are also smashing in other ways. They’re great sounding and deliver satisfying audio whatever you’re doing. A two-way AI-noise cancellation mic also removes fan noise and background noise from your chat as well – whether you’re on a work call or gaming with friends.
Battery longevity
90WHr 4-cell li-ion battery
240W AC adapter, 100W PD Charger via USB-C
Despite its compact frame, the G15 packs in some neat battery charging tech that includes the ability to fast-charge for as much as 50 per cent power in just 30 minutes at the plug.
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But the highlight for us is under standard, everyday load – browsing and working – we managed to get between five to six hours out of it before it needed charging. That’s great capacity and pleasing if you’re away from a plug or just want to work wire-free around the home.
Unlike other models we’ve tried, the Strix G15 is also capable of playing games when not plugged in with semi-decent performance. We managed to play Rainbow Six Siege at between 30-60fps while unplugged and other casual or less taxing games like Valheim will run nicely too.
Verdict
The Asus ROG Strix G15 is a great bit of kit that’s solidly built and powerful enough to make light work of modern games.
It doesn’t annoy with excessive fan noise, instead delighting with visual pleasures and audible goodness. The battery life means you can happily work all day too. Indeed, about the only irks are the limited connections and lack of webcam.
All told, the ROG Strix G15 is a great gaming device with far more delights than downfalls. It’s one of the best gaming laptops we’ve seen to date.
Also consider
Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15
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If you want something even slimmer and with extra screens then look no further than Zephyrus Duo 15. It runs a bit hotter but it’s also a really pleasing laptop whether you’re working or trying to be gaming productive.
Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 (GX550) review: Too hot to handle?
Gigabyte Aorus 17X
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If you don’t mind your laptop being a bit fatter, then the Gigabyte Aorus 17X is an interesting choice as well. It’s designed as a desktop replacement with some serious power under the hood. It also has great highlights including a mechanical keyboard and AI designed to help tune performance.
AMD unveiled its EPYC 7003 ‘Milan’ processors today, claiming that the chips, which bring the company’s powerful Zen 3 architecture to the server market for the first time, take the lead as the world’s fastest server processor with its flagship 64-core 128-thread EPYC 7763. Like the rest of the Milan lineup, this chip comes fabbed on the 7nm process and is drop-in compatible with existing servers. AMD claims it brings up to twice the performance of Intel’s competing Xeon Cascade Lake Refresh chips in HPC, Cloud, and enterprise workloads, all while offering a vastly better price-to-performance ratio.
Milan’s agility lies in the Zen 3 architecture and its chiplet-based design. This microarchitecture brings many of the same benefits that we’ve seen with AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series chips that dominate the desktop PC market, like a 19% increase in IPC and a larger unified L3 cache. Those attributes, among others, help improve AMD’s standing against Intel’s venerable Xeon lineup in key areas, like single-threaded work, and offer a more refined performance profile across a broader spate of applications.
The other attractive features of the EPYC lineup are still present, too, like enhanced security, leading memory bandwidth, and the PCIe 4.0 interface. AMD also continues its general approach of offering all features with all of its chips, as opposed to Intel’s strict de-featuring that it uses to segment its product stack. As before, AMD also offers single-socket P-series models, while its standard lineup is designed for dual-socket (2P) servers.
(Image credit: AMD)
The Milan launch promises to reignite the heated data center competition once again. Today marks the EPYC Milan processors’ official launch, but AMD actually began shipping the chips to cloud service providers and hyperscale customers last year. Overall, the EPYC Milan processors look to be exceedingly competitive against Intel’s competing Xeon Cascade Lake Refresh chips.
Like AMD, Intel has also been shipping to its largest customers; the company recently told us that it has already shipped 115,000 Ice Lake chips since the end of last year. Intel also divulged a few details about its Ice Lake Xeons at Hot Chips last year; we know the company has a 32-core model in the works, and it’s rumored that the series tops out at 40 cores. As such, Ice Lake will obviously change the competitive landscape when it comes to the market.
AMD has chewed away desktop PC and notebook market share at an amazingly fast pace, but the data center market is a much tougher market to crack. While this segment represents the golden land of high-volume and high-margin sales, the company’s slow and steady gains lag its radical advance in the desktop PC and notebook markets.
Much of that boils down to the staunchly risk-averse customers in the enterprise and data center; these customers prize a mix of factors beyond the standard measuring stick of performance and price-to-performance ratios, instead focusing on areas like compatibility, security, supply predictability, reliability, serviceability, engineering support, and deeply-integrated OEM-validated platforms. To cater to the broader set of enterprise customers, AMD’s Milan launch also carries a heavy focus on broadening AMD’s hardware and software ecosystems, including full-fledged enterprise-class solutions that capitalize on the performance and TCO benefits of the Milan processors.
AMD’s existing EPYC Rome processors already hold the lead in performance-per-socket and pricing, easily outstripping Intel’s Xeon at several key price points. Given AMD’s optimizations, Milan will obviously extend that lead, at least until the Ice Lake debut. Let’s see how the hardware stacks up.
AMD EPYC 7003 Series Milan Specifications and Pricing
Cores / Threads
Base / Boost (GHz)
L3 Cache (MB)
TDP (W)
1K Unit Price
EPYC Milan 7763
64 / 128
2.45 / 3.5
256
280
$7,890
EPYC Milan 7713
64 / 128
2.0 / 3.675
256
225
$7,060
EPYC Rome 7H12
64 / 128
2.6 / 3.3
256
280
?
EPYC Rome 7742
64 / 128
2.25 / 3.4
256
225
$6,950
EPYC Milan 7663
56 / 112
2.0 / 3.5
256
240
$6,366
EPYC Milan 7643
48 / 96
2.3 / 3.6
256
225
$4.995
EPYC Milan 7F53
32 / 64
2.95 / 4.0
256
280
$4,860
EPYC Milan 7453
28 / 56
2.75 / 3.45
64
225
$1,570
Xeon Gold 6258R
28 / 56
2.7 / 4.0
38.5
205
$3,651
EPYC Milan 74F3
24 / 48
3.2 / 4.0
256
240
$2,900
EPYC Rome 7F72
24 / 48
3.2 / ~3.7
192
240
$2,450
Xeon Gold 6248R
24 / 48
3.0 / 4.0
35.75
205
$2,700
EPYC Milan 7443
24 / 48
2.85 / 4.0
128
200
$2,010
EPYC Rome 7402
24 / 48
2.8 / 3.35
128
180
$1,783
EPYC Milan 73F3
16 / 32
3.5 / 4.0
256
240
$3,521
EPYC Rome 7F52
16 / 32
3.5 / ~3.9
256
240
$3,100
Xeon Gold 6246R
16 / 32
3.4 / 4.1
35.75
205
$3,286
EPYC Milan 7343
16 / 32
3.2 / 3.9
128
190
$1,565
EPYC Rome 7302
16 / 32
3.0 / 3.3
128
155
$978
EPYC Milan 72F3
8 / 16
3.7 / 4.1
256
180
$2,468
EPYC Rome 7F32
8 / 16
3.7 / ~3.9
128
180
$2,100
Xeon Gold 6250
8 / 16
3.9 / 4.5
35.75
185
$3,400
AMD released a total of 19 EPYC Milan SKUs today, but we’ve winnowed that down to key price bands in the table above. We have the full list of the new Milan SKUs later in the article.
As with the EPYC Rome generation, Milan spans from eight to 64 cores, while Intel’s Cascade Lake Refresh tops out at 28 cores. All Milan models come with threading, support up to eight memory channels of DDR4-3200, 4TB of memory capacity, and 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0 connectivity. AMD supports both standard single- and dual-socket platforms, with the P-series chips slotting in for single-socket servers (we have those models in the expanded list below). The chips are drop-in compatible with the existing Rome socket.
AMD added frequency-optimized 16-, 24-, and 32-core F-series models to the Rome lineup last year, helping the company boost its performance in frequency-bound workloads, like databases, that Intel has typically dominated. Those models return with a heavy focus on higher clock speeds, cache capacities, and TDPs compared to the standard models. AMD also added a highly-clocked 64-core 7H12 model for HPC workloads to the Rome lineup, but simply worked that higher-end class of chip into its standard Milan stack.
As such, the 64-core 128-thread EPYC 7763 comes with a 2.45 / 3.5 GHz base/boost frequency paired with a 280W TDP. This flagship part also comes armed with 256MB of L3 cache and supports a configurable TDP that can be adjusted to accommodate any TDP from 225W to 280W.
The 7763 marks the peak TDP rating for the Milan series, but the company has a 225W 64-core 7713 model that supports a TDP range of 225W to 240W for more mainstream applications.
All Milan models come with a default TDP rating (listed above), but they can operate between a lower minimum (cTDP Min) and a higher maximum (cTDP Max) threshold, allowing quite a bit of configurability within the product stack. We have the full cTDP ranges for each model listed in the expanded spec list below.
Milan’s adjustable TDPs now allow customers to tailor for different thermal ranges, and Forrest Norrod, AMD’s SVP and GM of the data center and embedded solutions group, says that the shift in strategy comes from the lessons learned from the first F- and H-series processors. These 280W processors were designed for systems with robust liquid cooling, which tends to add quite a bit of cost to the platform, but OEMs were surprisingly adept at engineering air-cooled servers that could fully handle the heat output of those faster models. As such, AMD decided to add a 280W 64-core model to the standard lineup and expanded the ability to manipulate TDP ranges across its entire stack.
AMD also added new 28- and 56-core options with the EPYC 7453 and 7663, respectively. Norrod explained that AMD had noticed that many of its customers had optimized their applications for Intel’s top-of-the-stack servers that come with multiples of 28 cores. Hence, AMD added new models that would mesh well with those optimizations to make it easier for customers to port over applications optimized for Xeon platforms. Naturally, AMD’s 28-core’s $1,570 price tag looks plenty attractive next to Intel’s $3,651 asking price for its own 28-core part.
AMD made a few other adjustments to the product stack based on customer buying trends, like reducing three eight-core models to one F-series variant, and removing a 12-core option entirely. AMD also added support for six-way memory interleaving on all models to lower costs for workloads that aren’t sensitive to memory throughput.
Overall, Milan has similar TDP ranges, memory, and PCIe support at any given core count than its predecessors but comes with higher clock speeds, performance, and pricing.
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Milan also comes with the performance uplift granted by the Zen 3 microarchitecture. Higher IPC and frequencies, not to mention more refined boost algorithms that extract the utmost performance within the thermal confines of the socket, help improve Milan’s performance in the lightly-threaded workloads where Xeon has long held an advantage. The higher per-core performance also translates to faster performance in threaded workloads, too.
Meanwhile, the larger unified L3 cache results in a simplified topology that ensures broader compatibility with standard applications, thus removing the lion’s share of the rare eccentricities that we’ve seen with prior-gen EPYC models.
The Zen 3 microarchitecture brings the same fundamental advantages that we’ve seen with the desktop PC and notebook models (you can read much more about the architecture here), like reduced memory latency, doubled INT8 and floating point performance, and higher integer throughput.
AMD also added support for memory protection keys, AVX2 support for VAES/VPCLMULQD instructions, bolstered security for hypervisors and VM memory/registers, added protection against return oriented programming attacks, and made a just-in-time update to the Zen 3 microarchitecture to provide in-silicon mitigation for the Spectre vulnerability (among other enhancements listed in the slides above). As before, Milan remains unimpacted by other major security vulnerabilities, like Meltdown, Foreshadow, and Spoiler.
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The EPYC Milan SoC adheres to the same (up to) nine-chiplet design as the Rome models and is drop-in compatible with existing second-gen EPYC servers. Just like the consumer-oriented chips, Core Complex Dies (CCDs) based on the Zen 3 architecture feature eight cores tied to a single contiguous 32MB slice of L3 cache, which stands in contrast to Zen 2’s two four-core CCXes, each with two 16MB clusters. The new arrangement allows all eight cores to communicate to have direct access to 32MB of L3 cache, reducing latency.
This design also increases the amount of cache available to a single core, thus boosting performance in multi-threaded applications and enabling lower-core count Milan models to have access to significantly more L3 cache than Rome models. The improved core-to-cache ratio boosts performance in HPC and relational database workloads, among others.
Second-gen EPYC models supported either 8- or 4-channel memory configurations, but Milan adds support for 6-channel interleaving, allowing customers that aren’t memory bound to use less system RAM to reduce costs. The 6-channel configuration supports the same DDR4-3200 specification for single DIMM per channel (1DPC) implementations. This feature is enabled across the full breadth of the Milan stack, but AMD sees it as most beneficial for models with lower core counts.
Milan also features the same 32-bit AMD Secure Processor in the I/O Die (IOD) that manages cryptographic functionality, like key generation and management for AMD’s hardware-based Secure Memory Encryption (SME) and Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) features. These are key advantages over Intel’s Cascade Lake processors, but Ice Lake will bring its own memory encryption features to bear. AMD’s Secure Processor also manages its hardware-validated boot feature.
AMD EPYC Milan Performance
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AMD provided its own performance projections based on its internal testing. However, as with all vendor-provided benchmarks, we should view these with the appropriate level of caution. We’ve included the testing footnotes at the end of the article.
AMD claims the Milan chips are the fastest server processors for HPC, cloud, and enterprise workloads. The first slide outlines AMD’s progression compared to Intel in SPECrate2017_int_base over the last few years, highlighting its continued trajectory of significant generational performance improvements. The second slide outlines how SPECrate2017_int_base scales across the Milan product stack, with Intel’s best published scores for two key Intel models, the 28-core 6258R and 16-core 4216, added for comparison.
Moving on to a broader spate of applications, AMD says existing two-socket 7H12 systems already hold an easy lead over Xeon in the SPEC2017 floating point tests, but the Milan 7763 widens the gap to a 106% advantage over the Xeon 6258R. AMD uses this comparison for the two top-of-the-stack chips, but be aware that this is a bit lopsided: The 6258R carries a tray price of $3,651 compared to the 7763’s $7,890 asking price. AMD also shared benchmarks comparing the two in SPEC2017 integer tests, claiming a similar 106% speedup. In SPECJBB 2015 tests, which AMD uses as a general litmus for enterprise workloads, AMD claims 117% more performance than the 6258R.
The company also shared a few test results showing performance in the middle of its product stack compared to Intel’s 6258R, claiming that its 32-core part also outperforms the 6258R, all of which translates to improved TCO for customers due to the advantages of lower pricing and higher compute density that translates to fewer servers, lower space requirements, and lower overall power consumption.
Finally, AMD has a broad range of ecosystem partners with fully-validated platforms available from top-tier OEMs like Dell, HP, and Lenovo, among many others. These platforms are fed by a broad constellation of solutions providers as well. AMD also has an expansive list of instances available from leading cloud service providers like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle, to name a few.
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Model #
Cores
Threads
Base Freq (GHz)
Max Boost Freq (up to GHz11)
Default TDP (w)
cTDP Min (w)
cTDP Max (w)
L3 Cache (MB)
DDR Channels
Max DDR Freq (1DPC)
PCIe 4
1Ku Pricing
7763
64
128
2.45
3.50
280
225
280
256
8
3200
x128
$7,890
7713
64
128
2.00
3.68
225
225
240
256
8
3200
X128
$7,060
7713P
64
128
2.00
3.68
225
225
240
256
8
3200
X128
$5,010
7663
56
112
2.00
3.50
240
225
240
256
8
3200
x128
$6,366
7643
48
96
2.30
3.60
225
225
240
256
8
3200
x128
$4,995
75F3
32
64
2.95
4.00
280
225
280
256
8
3200
x 128
$4,860
7543
32
64
2.80
3.70
225
225
240
256
8
3200
x128
$3,761
7543P
32
64
2.80
3.70
225
225
240
256
8
3200
X128
$2,730
7513
32
64
2.60
3.65
200
165
200
128
8
3200
x128
$2,840
7453
28
56
2.75
3.45
225
225
240
64
8
3200
x128
$1,570
74F3
24
48
3.20
4.00
240
225
240
256
8
3200
x128
$2,900
7443
24
48
2.85
4.00
200
165
200
128
8
3200
x128
$2,010
7443P
24
48
2.85
4.00
200
165
200
128
8
3200
X128
$1,337
7413
24
48
2.65
3.60
180
165
200
128
8
3200
X128
$1,825
73F3
16
32
3.50
4.00
240
225
240
256
8
3200
x128
$3,521
7343
16
32
3.20
3.90
190
165
200
128
8
3200
x128
$1,565
7313
16
32
3.00
3.70
155
155
180
128
8
3200
X128
$1,083
7313P
16
32
3.00
3.70
155
155
180
128
8
3200
X128
$913
72F3
8
16
3.70
4.10
180
165
200
256
8
3200
x128
$2,468
Thoughts
AMD’s general launch today gives us a good picture of the company’s data center chips moving forward, but we won’t know the full story until Intel releases the formal details of its 10nm Ice Lake processors.
The volume ramp for both AMD’s EPYC Milan and Intel’s Ice Lake has been well underway for some time, and both lineups have been shipping to hyperscalers and CSPs for several months. The HPC and supercomputing space also tend to receive early silicon, so they also serve as a solid general litmus for the future of the market. AMD’s EPYC Milan has already enjoyed brisk uptake in those segments, and given that Intel’s Ice Lake hasn’t been at the forefront of as many HPC wins, it’s easy to assume, by a purely subjective measure, that Milan could hold some advantages over Ice Lake.
Intel has already slashed its pricing on server chips to remain competitive with AMD’s EPYC onslaught. It’s easy to imagine that the company will lean on its incumbency and all the advantages that entails, like its robust Server Select platform offerings, wide software optimization capabilities, platform adjacencies like networking, FPGA, and Optane memory, along with aggressive pricing to hold the line.
AMD has obviously prioritized its supply of server processors during the pandemic-fueled supply chain disruptions and explosive demand that we’ve seen over the last several months. It’s natural to assume that the company has been busy building Milan inventory for the general launch. We spoke with AMD’s Forrest Norrod, and he tells us that the company is taking steps to ensure that it has an adequate supply for its customers with mission-critical applications.
One thing is clear, though. Both x86 server vendors benefit from a rapidly expanding market, but ARM-based servers have become more prevalent than we’ve seen in the recent past. For now, the bulk of the ARM uptake seems limited to cloud service providers, like AWS with its Graviton 2 chips. In contrast, uptake is slow in the general data center and enterprise due to the complexity of shifting applications to the ARM architecture. Continuing and broadening uptake of ARM-based platforms could begin to change that paradigm in the coming years, though, as x86 faces its most potent threat in recent history. Both x86 vendors will need a steady cadence of big performance improvements in the future to hold the ARM competition at bay.
Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait for Ice Lake to get a true view of the competitive x86 landscape over the next year. That means the jury is still out on just what the data center will look like as AMD works on its next-gen Genoa chips and Intel readies Sapphire Rapids.
Intel’s upcoming Rocket Lake CPUs are almost upon us, and yet again we have more leaked benchmarks pertaining to the Core i9-11900K, Core i7-11700K, and Core i5-11400. Tweeted by legendary benchmark database detective APISAK, we have CPU-Z benchmark results for these three chips, with the Core i9 and Core i7 pumping out some amazing single-threaded scores.
While these results are highly favorable to Intel, keep in mind that CPU-Z is just like most benchmarks and can be favor one CPU architecture over another, so be careful in trusting these results. We also aren’t sure if these tests were run at standard stock settings. In either case, the results paint a promising picture for Rocket Lake’s single-threaded performance.
CPU-Z Benchmark Results
CPUs:
CPU-Z Single Threaded Test
CPU-Z Multi-Threaded Test
Core i9-11900K
716
6539
Core i7-11700K
719
N/A
Core i5-11400
544
4012
Ryzen 9 5950X
658
12366
Ryzen 9 5900X
633
8841
Ryzen 7 5800X
650
6593
Ryzen 5 5600X
643
4814
Intel’s Core i9 and Core i7 Rocket Lake chips dominate in the single-threaded CPU-Z test — both chips sit comfortably above the 700 mark. Compared to AMD’s best offering, the 5950X, the Rocket Lake chips are roughly 7% faster.
Of course, Rocket Lake’s IPC gains won’t make up for reduced core counts, so it’s no surprise that the Ryzen 9 5950X and 5900X win in the multi-threading department.
But, if we limit our comparisons to just the eight-core parts, the Ryzen 5 5800X makes up a lot of ground against the 11900K, and is just 0.8% quicker. This is within the margin of error, so we can safely say both chips are equal in this test. Unfortunately, the 11700K has no multi-threaded score, so that chip is out of the picture for now.
We don’t know why the 5800X makes up all its performance losses from the single-threaded test in the multi-threaded test, but it could be due to reduced turbo frequencies on the Core i9 part, as well as architectural differences between the two chips.
Intel’s upcoming mid-range SKU, the Core i5-11400, is the weakest of the bunch being 18% slower than the 5600X (in the single and multi-threaded tests). However, like the previous 400- series Core i5s, we can expect the 11400 to have reduced clock speeds to help drive costs down.
We’ll have to wait for a Core i5-11600K result to have a fair comparison against AMD’s Ryzen 5 5600X.
If the CPU-Z benchmarks are to be trusted, Intel’s Core i9-11900K and i7-11700K could make our list of best CPUs and climb the ranks in our CPU Benchmark hierarchy for single-threaded workloads.
Intel may offer more information about its upcoming products soon. The company’s hosting a session at GDC Showcase that promises to offer a “first look at the new Tiger Lake H-series notebook and Rocket Lake desktop processors.”
It’s not clear what exactly Intel plans to share at GDC Showcase, which is essentially the pre-show for Game Developers Conference 2021, especially since we got our “first looks” at Tiger Lake and Rocket Lake in September and October 2020.
We already know Tiger Lake is supposed to introduce a new ultraportable gaming segment; that models with four, six, and eight cores will be available; and that Intel claims these processors will outperform AMD’s Ryzen 4000-series “Renoir” chips.
Intel’s also claimed that manufacturers have already built more than 150 products around Tiger Lake-H processors, and even though the line is supposed to be limited to notebooks, ASRock’s already planning to use the chips in several NUC models.
We also know Rocket Lake is supposed to help Intel claim more spots on our list of the best CPUs with a claimed peak boost speed of 5.3GHz, the introduction of the Cypress Cove architecture, and the inclusion of 12th-gen Xe LP Graphics.
GDC Showcase might have been a good time for Intel to announce Rocket Lake retail availability, but the company’s already said enthusiasts should be able to get their hands on the new CPUs on March 30. (Assuming they haven’t already bought some.)
But that doesn’t mean Intel will show up to GDC Showcase empty-handed. We’re still awaiting official specs for eight-core Tiger Lake models, for example, and so far the only information we have about Rocket Lake pricing has come from retailer leaks.
So far as what Intel’s said about its plans: The session will purportedly help viewers “learn how Intel empowers software developers with the latest tools and technology helping to make the best gaming and content creation experiences possible.”
Leading workstation vendors offer Linux-based machines with the latest hardware inside, but those PCs are expensive and are not exactly home-friendly due to their expansive design. Meanwhile, buying a boutique desktop PC with Linux is somewhat tricky. Fortunately for Linux users, there are companies like System76, which just launched its Thelio Mira midrange system that can be equipped with a 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X processor and a leading-edge Nvidia Quadro RTX graphics card.
System76 doesn’t label the Thelio Mira as a workstation; instead, the company brands it as a professional desktop system. Yet the PC can pack an AMD Ryzen 5000-series processor with up to 16 CPU cores, one or two Nvidia’s Quadro RTX graphics cards (up to the RTX 8000 model), up to 128GB of DDR4 RAM with ECC memory, up to 4TB of PCIe 4.0 NVMe storage (using two M.2 drives), and up to 36 TB of HDD storage. Obviously, all the connectivity features that you would expect from a 2021 desktop are all there, too: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, 2.5 GbE, USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB Type-C, and audio connectors.
Measuring 436.35 × 253 × 331mm (17.18″ × 9.96″ × 13.03″), the System76 Thelio Mira is smaller than most high-end workstations by major vendors and is more compact than the company’s top-of-the-line Thelio Major box. While the system isn’t large, it can still support two graphics cards and loads of DRAM, which is something you usually don’t find in midrange machines.
One thing to note about the System76 Thelio Mir is that it does not look as utilitarian as machines from the big suppliers. With a choice of five different wooden finishes, it can actually fit almost any home design.
System76’s Thelio Mir stats at $1,499 and comes with Pop!OS 20.10 (64-bit), Pop!OS 20.04 LTS (64-bit), or Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (64-bit) operating systems. Meanwhile, nothing is stopping you from installing Windows 10 on these PCs.
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