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Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 Has Intel, AMD CPU Options, Starting at $999

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft today announced the next iteration of its Surface laptop, the Surface Laptop 4. It will start at $999 when it goes on sale on April 15. Perhaps its biggest selling point is choice, with options for both 11th Gen Intel Core processors or an 8-core AMD Ryzen (again called the Microsoft Surface Edition).

Both the 13.5-inch and 15-inch version of the Surface Laptop 4 will offer Intel and AMD options. This is a change from the Surface Laptop 3, which offered Intel in the 13.5-incher and

AMD in the 15-incher

(with the exception of business models).

	Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (13.5-inches)	Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (15-inches)
CPU	Up to AMD Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition R5 4680U (8 cores), Up to Intel Core i7-1185G7	Up to AMD Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition R7 4980U ( 8 cores), Up to Intel Core i7-1185G7
Graphics	AMD Radeon RX Graphics or Intel Xe Graphics	AMD Radeon RX Graphics or Intel Xe Graphics
RAM	Up to 16GB (AMD), Up to 32GB (Intel), LPDDR4X 3,733 MHz	Up to 16GB (AMD, DDR4, 2,400 MHz), up to 32GB (Intel, LPDDR4, 3,733 MHz)
Storage	Up to 256GB (AMD), Up to 1TB (Intel)	Up to 512GB (AMD), Up to 1TB (Intel)
Display	13.5-inch PixelSense display, 2256 x 1504, 3:2	15-inch PixelSense display, 2496 x 1664, 3:2
Networking	Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.0	Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.0
Starting Price	$999 (AMD), $1,299 (Intel)	$1,299 (AMD), $1,799 (Intel)

The design of the Surface Laptop 4 is largely unchanged, with a 3:2 touchscreen display with 201 pixels per inch, options for Alcantara fabric or a metal deck. There is, however, one new color, ice blue, which debuted on the Surface Laptop Go last year.

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(Image credit: Microsoft)

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(Image credit: Microsoft)

Many of the biggest changes can’t be seen. For the first time, Microsoft is offering a 32GB RAM option on the Surface Laptop (with an Intel Core i7 at 1TB of RAM on both sizes). The company is claiming up to 19 hours of battery life on the smaller device with an AMD Ryzen 5 or 17 hours with a Core i7. On the bigger size, it’s suggesting up to 17.5 hours with an AMD Ryzen 7 and 16.5 hours with Intel Core i7. Microsoft is also claiming a 70% performance increase, though it doesn’t say with which processor.

The new AMD Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition chips are based on Ryzen 4000 and Zen 2, rather than Ryzen 5000 and Zen 3, which is just rolling onto the market. We understand Microsoft’s chips are somewhat customized, including frequencies similar to the newer chips. But these new processors should, in theory, lead to increased stability and battery life.

While Microsoft is being more flexible on allowing both Intel and AMD options on both size machines, you won’t find them with identical specs when it comes to RAM and storage. The 13.5-inch laptop will offer Ryzen 5 with 8GB or 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, while the Intel 11th Gen Core process range will include a Core i5/8GB RAM/512GB SSD option to start, as well as both Core i5 and Core i7 models with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage and a maxxed out version with a Core i7, 32GB of RAM and 1TB storage drive. The Ryzzen versions only come in platinum, while all but the top-end Intel model also include ice blue, sandstone and black.

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(Image credit: Microsoft)

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(Image credit: Microsoft)

On the 15-inch model, you can get a Ryzen 7 with 8GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage, or an R7 with 16GB of memory and a 512GB SSD. For intel, You can choose between an Intel Core i7 with either 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage or 32GB of memory and 1TB of storage. These only come in platinum and black.

Commercial models will add more configurations for businesses, including a 13.5-inch model with 512GB of storage and a Ryzen processor. Overall, there are a lot of configurations, so hopefully people are able to find what they want. But there are definitely more options on the Intel side of the Surface fence.

The port situation is largely the same as last year, including USB Type-A, USB Type-C, a headphone jack and the Surface Connect port. Microsoft still isn’t going with Thunderbolt, and will be using USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 on both the Intel and AMD models. The replaceable SSD is back, though Microsoft continues to state that it isn’t user serviceable, and that it should only be removed by authorized technicians.

It’s been a long wait for the Surface Laptop 4. The Surface Laptop 3 was introduced at an event in October 2019 and went on sale that November. Last year, Microsoft revealed the cheaper, smaller Surface Laptop Go but didn’t update the flagship clamshell. We’ll go hands on with the Surface Laptop 4, so let’s hope the wait was worth it.

Microsoft is also revealing a slew of accessories designed for virtual work. They include the $299.99 Surface Headphones 2+ for Business, which is certified for Microsoft Teams with a dongle, shipping this month; Microsoft Modern USB and wireless headsets ($49.99 and $99.99, respectively, releasing in June); the Microsoft Modern USB-C Speaker ($99.99, releasing in June); and the Microsoft Modern webcam, a $69.99 camera with 1080p video, HDR and a 78-degree field of view that will go on sale in June.

Ryzen 5000 Pro Zen 3 APUs Can Be A Game Changer For Businesses

Ryzen Pro Processor
(Image credit: AMD)

HP has been unintentionally exposing AMD’s Ryzen 5000 (Cezanne) APUs. Apparently, the tech giant (via momomo_us) has also shared the specifications for the Ryzen 5000 Pro lineup via the one of the company’s support documents.

The Pro series, which is oriented to business and professional users, utilizes the same formula as its mainstream counterparts. Ryzen 5000 Pro APUs come equipped with the same potent Zen 3 cores and an improved Vegas graphics engine. The processors still stick to a monolithic die design and are based on TSMC’s 7nm manufacturing process.

The more attractive trait with the Ryzen 5000 Pro lineup is the Zen 3 cores, which have proven to offer an IPC upgrade up to 19% in comparison to Zen 2. Unlike AMD’s Ryzen 5000 (Vermeer) chips, these new Zen 3 APUs will not offer PCIe 4.0 support. Ryzen 5000 Pro will drop into the current AM4 socket so a simple firmware upgrade should be more than sufficient to get the APUs working on existing AMD motherboards.

AMD Ryzen 5000 Pro Cezanne APU Specifications

Processor	Cores / Threads	Base / Boost Clocks (GHz)	L3 Cache (MB)	TDP (W)
Ryzen 7 Pro 5750G	8 / 16	3.8 / ?	16	65
Ryzen 7 5700G	8 / 16	3.8 / 4.6	16	65
Ryzen 5 Pro 5650G	6 / 12	3.9 / ?	16	65
Ryzen 5 5600G	6 / 12	3.9 / 4.4	16	65
Ryzen 3 Pro 5350G	4 / 8	4.0 / ?	8	65
Ryzen 3 5300G	4 / 8	4.0 / 4.2	8	65

The Ryzen 7 Pro 5750G, Ryzen 5 Pro 5650G and Ryzen 3 Pro 5350G are the Pro equivalent to the Ryzen 7 5700G, Ryzen 5 5600G and Ryzen 3 5300G, respectively. The Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 SKUs are equipped with eight and six cores, while the Ryzen 3 model sports four cores. All three processors leverage simultaneous multithreading (SMT) to tackle demanding workloads.

Frequency-wise, Ryzen 5000 Pro processors should be identical to their non-Pro versions. The biggest difference between the two product lines is the feature set. The Pro variants come with enhanced security features, 18 months of software stability, 24 months of availability and a 36-month limited warranty.

Ryzen 5000 Pro APUs operate within the 65W thermal limit so they aren’t choosy when it comes to power or cooling requirements. Unlike Ryzen 5000 processors, the Ryzen 5000 Pro APUs possess an integrated Vega engine that’s powerful enough for many daily workloads so a discrete graphics option isn’t mandatory. Many of these Zen 3 APUs will likely find their way into very compact, business-oriented systems.

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been any indication if AMD’s Zen 3 APUs will be available on the retail market. Ryzen 4000 (Renoir) desktop APUs were aimed at OEMs. However, AMD did promised that the next generation of APUs will arrive on the DIY market although the chipmaker didn’t specifically referto Ryzen 5000.

AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900 Blurs The Line Between Performance And Value

AMD Ryzen 5000 Processor
(Image credit: AMD)

Hardware detective Tum_Apisak has spotted AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900 in a new benchmark. The 12-core processor appears to be a complete monster, but it’s a shame that the chip is exclusive to OEMs.

Coming out of TSMC’s 7nm furnace, the Ryzen 9 5900 is just like any other Ryzen 5000 (Vermeer) processor. Wielding the mighty Zen 3 cores, the Ryzen 9 5900 is essentially the power-optimized version of the Ryzen 9 5900X. The Ryzen 9 5900 retains the same 12-core, 24-thread design with 64MB of L3 cache as its counterpart. Unlike the Ryzen 9 5900X’s 105W TDP, the non-X model is restricted to 65W.

With a stricter power limit, the Ryzen 9 5900 obviously arrives with lower operating clock speeds. The processor has a 3 GHz base clock, which is 700 MHz lower than the Ryzen 9 5900X. The boost clock, on the other hand, didn’t suffer a huge reduction. The Ryzen 9 5900 easily boosts to 4.7 GHz, only 100 MHz lower than the Ryzen 9 5900X.

It’s normal to wonder how the Ryzen 9 5900 performs in comparison to the Ryzen 9 5900X given the lower TDP. Being an OEM-exclusive processor, it’s hard to find benchmarks of the Ryzen 9 5900 until Tum_Apisak managed to unearth one for us. UserBenchmark doesn’t have the best street cred, but it’s what’s available so we’ll have to settle for that benchmark for now.

Ryzen 9 5900X vs. Ryzen 9 5900 (Image credit: UserBenchmark)

It’s important to highlight that the Ryzen 9 5900X’s results are based on over 30,000 user submissions, while the Ryzen 9 5900 results is from a single user. For now, approach the results with an open mind.

The Ryzen 9 5900X reportedly delivers 5% higher single-threaded performance than the Ryzen 9 5900. As for multi-threaded performance, the Ryzen 9 5900X seemingly outperformed the Ryzen 9 5900 by a margin of 7%. However, the Ryzen 9 5900X didn’t win all the rounds of the fight. The Ryzen 9 5900 appears to have a 7% lower memory latency as opposed to the Ryzen 9 5900X.

With all things considered, the Ryzen 9 5900 is a very attractive processor, and it’s a mystery while AMD won’t offer it to the retail market. The Ryzen 9 5900X has a 61.5% higher TDP, and it’s less than 10% faster than the Ryzen 9 5900. Of course, we’d have to put the Ryzen 9 5900 through its paces to see whether the performance delta from UserBenchmark is valid.

Officially, the Ryzen 9 5900 is only available to OEMs, but that’s what AMD also said with its Ryzen 4000 (Renoir) APUs, and we found them all over the place. It’s only a matter of time before the Ryzen 9 5900 hits the grey market if it hasn’t already.

AMD’s Zen 3, Navi 2 APUs With DDR5 Support May Arrive Next Year

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

A Twitter user has shared an alleged AMD roadmap that details the chipmaker’s plans for its next-generation mobile APUs. Respected hardware leaker kopite7kimi got word that the roadmap looks accurate. Nevertheless, approach the information with caution since roadmaps are known to change as time progresses.

The roadmap reveals AMD’s upcoming mobile APUs for four categories: HP (High Power), LP (Low Power), ULP (Ultra-Low Power) and ELP (Extreme Low Power). Starting from the top, Ryzen 6000 (Rembrandt) will reportedly land next year to replace the existing Ryzen 5000 (Cezanne) lineup. If the the data is accurate, Ryzen 6000 should be based on TSMC’s 6nm manufacturing process.

On a microarchitectural level, Ryzen 6000 will utilize an optimized version of Zen 3. The Zen 3+ parts will likely arrive with optimizations in the form of a small frequency bump. According to the leaked roadmap, Ryzen 6000 will support DDR5 and LPDDR5 memory. In terms of graphics, Ryzen 6000 will finally leverage AMD’s Navi 2 (RDNA 2) graphics engine, and it’ll be the first APU to do so. As usual, Ryzen 6000 will compete in the 45W and 15W power brackets with Rembrandt-H and Rembrandt-U, respectively.

AMD Mobile APU Roadmap (Image credit: sepeuwmjh/Twitter)

In the LP class, AMD currently utilizes the Ryzen 5000 branding for both its Zen 3 (Cezanne) and Zen 2 (Lucienne) chips. Lucienne-U can be considered a refresh of Renoir, though AMD isn’t fond of people calling it that. Lucienne-U uses the Zen 2 cores like its predecessor. It would appear that AMD will replace Lucienne-U in 2022 with Barcelo-U. Barcelo-U will represent a huge upgrade since AMD will endow it with Zen 3 cores. Sadly, the graphics engine is still Vega.

AMD’s Van Gogh APUs, which compete in the ULP (Ultra-Low Power) segment, will debut sometime this year. Linux patches have revealed that the Zen 2 chips will sport Navi 2 graphics and support LPDDR5 memory. Dragon Crest is the rumored successor to Van Gogh. Since Dragon Crest seems to utilize the same recipe as Van Gogh, it’s rational to assume that Dragon Crest could be a simple refresh.

Apparently, AMD doesn’t have anything planned for the ELP category. Pollock, which is based on the Zen and Vega microarchitectures, will continue push forward through 2022.

Asus Unveils AMD Ryzen 5000 ‘Cezanne’ Powered UCFF Desktop

(Image credit: Asus)

In recent years a number of PC makers have introduced small form-factor (SFF) and ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) computers based on AMD’s latest accelerated processing units (APUs), but none of those systems are as tiny as Intel’s NUCs. Asus is one of a few manufacturers to actually offer its Mini PC PN-series AMD-powered UCFF machines that are just as compact as NUCs and they have just updated them to feature AMD Ryzen 5000 series APUs.

Asus freshly introduced Mini PC PN51 packs AMD’s Ryzen 5000U-series mobile processors with up to eight Zen 3 cores as well as up to Radeon Vega 7 graphics. The APU can be paired with a maximum of 32 GB of DDR4-3200 memory. Storage is via an M.2-2280 SSD with up to 1TB capacity, and a 2.5-inch 1 TB 7200-RPM hard drive. Meanwhile, the system still measures 115×115×49 mm has a 0.62-liter volume.

(Image credit: Asus)

The diminutive size of the Asus Mini PC PN51 does not impact the choice of ports on offer. The desktop computer is equipped with an Intel Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.0 module (or a Wi-Fi 5 + BT 4.2), a 2.5 GbE or a GbE connector, three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C receptacles (supporting DisplayPort mode), an HDMI output with CEC support, a 3-in-1 card reader, a configurable port (which can be used for Ethernet, DisplayPort, D-Sub or COM ports), and a combo audio jack.

(Image credit: Asus)

Asus seems to position the Mini PC PN51 as a universal PC suitable for both home and office. The configurable I/O port that can add an Ethernet connector or a COM header is obviously aimed at corporate and business users. In addition, the PC has a TPM module on board. Meanwhile, the system also has an IR receiver (something that many modern UCFF and SFF PCs lost following Apple’s Mac Mini) and a Microsoft Cortana-compatible microphone array that will be particularly beneficial for home users that will use the PN51 as an HTPC.

(Image credit: Asus)

As far as power consumption and noise levels are concerned, the PN51 consumes as little as 9W at idle, produces 21.9 dBA of noise at idle, and 34.7 dBA at full load.

(Image credit: Asus)

The Asus Mini PC PN51 will be available shortly. Pricing will depend on configuration as Asus plans to offer numerous models based on the AMD Ryzen 3 5300U, AMD Ryzen 5 5500U, and AMD Ryzen 7 5700U processors with various memory and storage configurations.

AMD Rolls Out Patches To Disable Predictive Store Forwarding on Zen 3 CPUs

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Making good on its promise, AMD has deployed new patches to the Linux kernel to mitigate the potential security risk with the Predictive Store Forwarding (PSF) feature. Linux publication Phoronix spotted five patches that allow users to disable Predictive Store Forwarding if security is a concern.

Predictive Store Forwarding is a feature baked into AMD’s Zen 3 processors that boosts code execution performance by predicting the relationship between loads and stores. In AMD’s whitepaper, the chipmaker exposed the benefits and security complications with Predictive Store Forwarding. The vulnerability is similar to Spectre v4 that affected Intel processors. We reached out to AMD about the feature, and the chipmaker responded with this statement:

“AMD recommends leaving the feature enabled. We do however outline methods to disable PSF if desired.”

Software that uses “sandboxing” is more susceptible to the exploit, which is why AMD gives users the power to turn off Predictive Store Forwarding. As Phoronix noted, Predictive Store Forwarding is enabled by default even on the patched Linux kernel. The Linux publication shared two ways to disable Predictive Store Forwarding: You can do so through the Spectre v4 mitigation control or implement the nopsfd parameter boot option.

Predictive Store Forwarding’s job is to improve performance, so you might wonder if it presents a significant performance hit. Fortunately, it doesn’t. Phoronix conducted a plethora of tests before AMD’s patches and discovered performance deltas that were less than a half percent.

Intel Core i5-11400F Review – The Best Rocket Lake

Introduction

Intel last week debuted the 11th Gen Core “Rocket Lake” desktop processor family, and we had launch-day reviews of the Core i9-11900K flagship and the mid-range Core i5-11600K. Today we bring you the Core i5-11400F—probably the most interesting model in the whole stack. The often-ignored SKU among Intel desktop processors among the past many generations, the Core i5-xx400, is also its most popular among gamers. Popular chips of this kind included the i5-8400, the i5-9400F, and the i5-10400F.

These chips feature the entire Core i5 feature-set at prices below $200, albeit lower clock speeds and locked overclocking. Even within these, Intel introduced a sub-segment of chips that lack integrated graphics, denoted by “F” in the model number; which shave a further $15-20 off the price. The Core i5-11400F starts at just $160, which is an impressive value proposition for gamers who use graphics cards and don’t need the iGPU anyway.

The new “Rocket Lake” microarchitecture brings four key changes that make it the company’s first major innovation for client desktop in several years. First, Intel is introducing the new “Cypress Cove” CPU core that promises an IPC gain of up to 19% over the previous-generation. Next up, is the new UHD 750 integrated graphics powered by the Intel Xe LP graphics architecture, promising up to 50% performance uplift over the UHD 650 Gen9.5 iGPU of the previous generation. Thirdly, a much needed update to the processor’s I/O, including PCI-Express 4.0 for graphics and a CPU-attached NVMe slot; and lastly, an updated memory controller that allows much higher memory overclocking potential, thanks to the introduction of a Gear 2 mode.

The Core i5-11400F comes with a permanently disabled iGPU and a locked multiplier. Intel has still enabled support for memory frequencies of up to DDR4-3200, which is now possible on even the mid-tier H570 and B560 motherboard chipsets. The i5-11400F is a 6-core/12-thread processor clocked at 2.60 GHz, with up to 4.40 GHz Turbo Boost frequency. Each of the processor’s six “Cypress Cove” CPU cores include 512 KB dedicated L2 cache, and the cores share 12 MB of L3 cache. Intel is rating the processor’s TDP at 65 W, just like the other non-K SKUs, although it is possible to tweak these power limits—adjusting PL1 and PL2 is not considered “overclocking” by Intel, so it is not locked.

At $170, the Core i5-11400F has no real competitor from AMD. The Ryzen 5 3600 starts around $200, and the company didn’t bother (yet?) with cheaper Ryzen 5 SKUs based on “Zen 3”. In this review, we take the i5-11400F for a spin to show you if this is really all you need for a mid-priced contemporary gaming rig.

We present several data sets in our Core i5-11400F review: “Gear 1” and “Gear 2” show performance results for the processor operating at stock, with the default power limit setting active, respecting a 65 W TDP. Next up we have two runs with the power limit setting raised to maximum: “Max Power Limit / Gear 1” and “Max Power Limit / Gear 2”. Last but not least, signifying the maximum performance you can possible achieve on this CPU, we have a run “Max Power + Max BCLK”, which operates at 102.9 MHz BCLK—the maximum allowed by the processor, at Gear 1 DDR4-3733, the memory controller won’t run higher.

Intel Core i5-11400F Market Segment Analysis
	Price	Cores / Threads	Base Clock	Max. Boost	L3 Cache	TDP	Architecture	Process	Socket
Ryzen 3 3300X	$200	4 / 8	3.8 GHz	4.3 GHz	16 MB	65 W	Zen 2	7 nm	AM4
Core i3-10300	$180	4 / 8	3.7 GHz	4.4 GHz	8 MB	65 W	Comet Lake	14 nm	LGA 1200
Core i5-9400F	$150	6 / 6	2.9 GHz	4.1 GHz	9 MB	65 W	Coffee Lake	14 nm	LGA 1151
Core i5-10400F	$150	6 / 12	2.9 GHz	4.3 GHz	12 MB	65 W	Comet Lake	14 nm	LGA 1200
Core i5-10500	$215	6 / 12	3.1 GHz	4.5 GHz	12 MB	65 W	Comet Lake	14 nm	LGA 1200
Core i5-11400F	$170	6 / 12	2.6 GHz	4.4 GHz	12 MB	65 W	Rocket Lake	14 nm	LGA 1200
Ryzen 5 3600	$200	6 / 12	3.6 GHz	4.2 GHz	32 MB	65 W	Zen 2	7 nm	AM4
Core i5-9600K	$215	6 / 6	3.7 GHz	4.6 GHz	9 MB	95 W	Coffee Lake	14 nm	LGA 1151
Core i5-10600K	$230	6 / 12	4.1 GHz	4.8 GHz	12 MB	125 W	Comet Lake	14 nm	LGA 1200
Core i5-11600K	$275	6 / 12	3.9 GHz	4.9 GHz	12 MB	125 W	Rocket Lake	14 nm	LGA 1200
Ryzen 5 3600X	$250	6 / 12	3.8 GHz	4.4 GHz	32 MB	95 W	Zen 2	7 nm	AM4
Ryzen 5 5600X	$350	6 / 12	3.7 GHz	4.6 GHz	32 MB	65 W	Zen 3	7 nm	AM4
Core i7-9700K	$290	8 / 8	3.6 GHz	4.9 GHz	12 MB	95 W	Coffee Lake	14 nm	LGA 1151
Core i7-10700K	$320	8 / 16	3.8 GHz	5.1 GHz	16 MB	125 W	Comet Lake	14 nm	LGA 1200
Core i7-11700K	$420	8 / 16	3.6 GHz	5.0 GHz	16 MB	125 W	Rocket Lake	14 nm	LGA 1200
Ryzen 7 3700X	$330	8 / 16	3.6 GHz	4.4 GHz	32 MB	65 W	Zen 2	7 nm	AM4
Ryzen 7 3800XT	$450	8 / 16	3.9 GHz	4.7 GHz	32 MB	105 W	Zen 2	7 nm	AM4
Ryzen 7 5800X	$450	8 / 16	3.8 GHz	4.7 GHz	32 MB	105 W	Zen 3	7 nm	AM4
Core i9-10900	$400	10 / 20	2.8 GHz	5.2 GHz	20 MB	65 W	Comet Lake	14 nm	LGA 1200
Ryzen 9 3900X	$485	12 / 24	3.8 GHz	4.6 GHz	64 MB	105 W	Zen 2	7 nm	AM4
Ryzen 9 5900X	$550	12 / 24	3.7 GHz	4.8 GHz	64 MB	105 W	Zen 3	7 nm	AM4
Core i9-9900K	$370	8 / 16	3.6 GHz	5.0 GHz	16 MB	95 W	Coffee Lake	14 nm	LGA 1151
Core i9-10900K	$470	10 / 20	3.7 GHz	5.3 GHz	20 MB	125 W	Comet Lake	14 nm	LGA 1200
Core i9-11900K	$550	8 / 16	3.5 GHz	5.3 GHz	16 MB	125 W	Rocket Lake	14 nm	LGA 1200

AMD X570S Motherboard Listings Suggest Impending Chipset Refresh

X570 Aorus Elite
(Image credit: Gigabyte)

Today, Gigabyte (via Komachi_Ensaka) registered a ton of X570S motherboards with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC). The new submissions hint to a potential chipset refresh on AMD’s part.

EEC listings are a bit hit or miss. Vendors often register their products with the organization, but not all of them make it to the market. Sometimes companies just want to get dibs on the model names. This is the first time that the X570S chipset has come up, so take the information with some salt. However, there are a few theories to existence of the X570S chipset.

Manufacturers, including chipmakers, typically release a new chipset when a new wave of processors are on the horizon. Since AMD’s Zen 4 chips are still a long way off, the closest candidate that could warrant a new chipset is the rumored Zen 3+ (Warhol) refresh. We haven’t seen anything concrete that backs the rumor, but there is talk that Zen 3+ could drop before the year is over. If Zen 3+ is real, it will in all likelihood retain the same feature set as Zen 3. The improvements will probably come in the shape of a small frequency bump.

Gigabyte X570S Motherboards

Motherboard	Form Factor	Chipset
Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master	ATX	X570S
Gigabyte X570S Aorus Pro AX	ATX	X570S
Gigabyte X570S Aorus Elite	ATX	X570S
Gigabyte X570S Aorus Elite AX	ATX	X570S
Gigabyte X570S Gaming X	ATX	X570S
Gigabyte X570S UD	ATX	X570S
Gigabyte X570S Aero G	ATX	X570S
Gigabyte X570SI Aorus Pro AX	Mini-ITX	X570S

Another theory is that X570S may just be an optimized version of the X570 chipset. One of X570’s novelties is PCIe 4.0 support. However, it also means that the X570 chipset draws more power in comparison to the previous X470 chipset. Consequently, X570 motherboards come with active cooling for the chipset in the form of a small fan. Of course, many enthusiasts aren’t fond of that solution, and AMD later released a new AGESA code that ushered in support for passive chipset solutions.

Obviously, the biggest unknown is what the “S” in X570S stands for. By logic, one would think that it means Silence or Silent and maybe alludes to the possibility of an X570 chipset that doesn’t require a cooling fan to keep the temperature under control. The idea isn’t far-fetched, considering that are already X570 motherboards on the market that don’t rely on a chipset fan, such as Asus’ ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero or Gigabyte’s own X570 Aorus Xtreme. But those tend to rely on larger heat sinks, rather than a power optimized chip that produces less heat to begin with.

Ryzen 9 5900HX Unites With Radeon RX 6800M In The Ultimate AMD Laptop

ROG Strix G15
(Image credit: Asus)

Asus is apparently preparing what could be the ultimate AMD gaming laptop. According to a CPU-Z posting, the new iteration of the ROG Strix G15 will arrive with a lethal combination of AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900HX (Cezanne) processor and Radeon RX 6800M graphics cards.

The unreleased laptop (via Tum_Apisak) sports the G513QY model number. Unless Asus is working on a new gaming laptop, the G513 corresponds to the brand’s ROG Strix G15 G513, which was previously only available with discrete graphics options from Nvidia.

For starters, the G513QY will be based on the flagship Ryzen 9 5900HX processor. Asus already offers the ROG Strix G15 with the aforementioned processor, though. The octa-core Zen 3 chip features a 3.3 GHz base clock and a 4.6 GHz boost clock. However, the Ryzen 9 5900HX supports overclocking and a cTDP up to 54W, so there is enough wiggle room for overclocking.

In terms of discrete graphics, the G513QY will rely on the forthcoming Radeon RX 6800M, which is the mobile version of the Radeon RX 6800. AMD hasn’t officially announced the mobile RDNA 2 (Big Navi) graphics cards yet, so the specifications are unknown. However, the CPU-Z submission points to the Radeon RX 6800M having up to 12GB of GDDR6 memory, only 4GB less than the desktop counterpart.

Having an AMD processor and graphics card in the same device obviously brings benefits. The fusion will enable the G513QY to leverage AMD’s SmartShift technology that balances the power between the processor and graphics card according to the workload. AMD touts a performance boost of up to 14% with SmartShift enabled. The technology debuted with Dell’s G5 15 SE, so it’s good to see other vendors going all-in with AMD.

The Radeon RX 6800M will logically be the bell cow of the mobile RDNA 2 army. Assuming that AMD will replace every mobile RDNA 1 part with an equivalent, we could be seeing up to three more SKUs, such as the Radeon RX 6700M, RX 6600M and maybe even a RX 6500M. AMD hasn’t given any clues when it will unleash its mobile RDNA 2 offerings though.

AMD’s Zen 3 CPUs Are Susceptible To Spectre-Like Vulnerability

AMD has published a whitepaper on a potential security vulnerability that affects the company’s latest Zen 3 processors. The side-channel exploit is similar to Spectre that affected a plethora of Intel processors three years ago.

With Zen 3, AMD introduced a new technology called Predictive Store Forwarding (PSF), which helps improve code execution performance by predicting the relationship between loads and stores. In the majority of the cases, PSF’s predictions are on the spot. However, there is still a slim chance that the prediction may not be accurate, which results in an incorrect CPU speculation.

AMD’s CPU architects have discovered that bad PSF speculation is equivalent to Spectre v4. Software that relies on isolation or “sandboxing” is highly at risk when it comes to incorrect speculation. AMD provided two scenarios where an incorrect PSF prediction can occur.

“First, it is possible that the store/load pair had a dependency for a while but later stops having a dependency. This can occur if the address of either the store or load changes during the execution of the program.”

“The second source of incorrect PSF predictions can occur if there is an alias in the PSF predictor structure. The PSF predictor is designed to track stores/load pairs based on portions of their RIP. It is possible that a store/load pair which does have a dependency may alias in the predictor with another store/load pair which does not. This may result in incorrect speculation when the second store/load pair is executed.”

AMD concludes that Predictive Store Forwarding helps improve application performance, but also comes with security complications. Nevertheless, the chipmaker hasn’t seen any code that’s considered vulnerable to PSF misprediction nor are there any reported cases of such exploit. The security risk of Predictive Store Forwarding is low for most applications.

The official recommendation from AMD is to leave the Predictive Store Forwarding enabled. Since it’s a performance enhancement feature, we suspect that disabling PSF could bring a performance hit.

Consumers who work with software that employs sandboxing and are alarmed about PSF have the choice to disable the PSF functionality. AMD recently proposed Linux patches that would disable Predictive Store Forwarding as well.

Next-Gen AMD Ryzen Threadripper Might Be Coming Soon

(Image credit: AMD)

AMD’d next-generation Ryzen Threadripper might be coming soon, according to the latest patch notes for the popular HWiNFO diagnostic suite.

Realix, the developer behind HWiNFO, said earlier today that the upcoming version of the software will improve its work with AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper Pro as well as “next-generation Ryzen Threadripper” platforms. This is essentially one of the first public signs of AMD’s 4th Generation Threadripper, which is allegedly based on the Epyc ‘Milan’ design.

“Improved detection of AMD ThreadRipper Pro and next-generation ThreadRipper,” a line in the HWiNFO changelog reads.

(Image credit: HWiNFO)

Unfortunately, we’re still not certain if HWiNFO got word from AMD or is simply adapting its Milan knowledge to fit the new Threadripper.

That’s because, at this point, we don’t know much about AMD’s next-generation Ryzen Threadripper and what ‘improved detection’ means in its case. We are almost certain that the upcoming Ryzen Threadripper will be based on the 3rd Generation Epyc 7003-series ‘Milan’ design and will therefore feature Zen 3-based chiplets with a unified core complex and L3 cache architecture. We can also assume that these CPUs feature slightly different sensors, a new memory controller, and other changes. So, if HWiNFO can properly detect Epyc 7003-series, it should be able to detect most of the next-generation Threadripper’s features correctly without help from AMD.

Still, diagnostic software is also vital for hardware developers and enthusiasts that play with the latest parts. Therefore, hardware developers are eager to add support for their new and upcoming products to diagnostic software in a bid to make the lives of their partners a bit easier. That’s why it’s not uncommon to learn news about future products from various third-party software makers.

So, in the case of HWiNFO’s next-generation Threadripper announcement, we can’t confirm whether Realix got preliminary information from AMD or just learned how to use Epyc 7003-series ‘Milan’ information in context of the next-generation Ryzen Threadripper.

In any case, now that Milan is out, AMD’s 4th Generation Ryzen Threadripper is a bit closer to release too.

Razer May Finally Launch Its First AMD Gaming Laptop

Razer Blade 14
(Image credit: Razer)

Razer has been a loyal supporter of Team Blue. However, the tech giant may have finally bitten the bullet and joined up with Team Red. If the recently discovered 3DMark submissions (via _rogame) are accurate, Razer will release the company’s first-ever AMD-powered gaming laptop soon.

The mysterious laptop emerged as the Razer PI411. There is speculation that the codename may allude to the Razer Blade 14, which debuted back in 2013. The last time Razer updated the Razer Blade 14 was in 2016, so a well-deserved update is due. Nevertheless, we can’t discard the possibility that PI411 could just be a codename for any other Razer device.

The Razer PI411 features AMD’s top-tier Ryzen 9 5900HX (Cezanne) processor. The Ryzen 9 5900HX is AMD’s first overclockable mobile processor, and the chipmaker designed it to take the fight to Intel’s HK-series of mobile chips, such as the Core i9-10900HK or the looming Core i9-11980HK.

Armed with eight Zen 3 cores and 16MB of L3 cache, the Ryzen 9 5900HX comes with a 3.3 GHz base clock and a 4.6 GHz boost clock. It has a generous cTDP (configurable thermal design power) between 35W and 54W. The last Razer Blade 14 (2016) employed the Core i7-6700HQ, a 45W processor from the Skylake days. The gaming laptop is no stranger to housing hot chips. If Razer wants to work the Ryzen 9 5900HX into the Razer Blade 14, the new iteration will likely have to rely on a more robust cooling solution than its predecessors to leave enough thermal headroom for manual overclocking.

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Razer PI411 (Image credit: _rogame/Twitter)

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Razer PI411 (Image credit: _rogame/Twitter)

The Razer PI411 is also equipped with 16GB of DDR4-3200 memory and a 512GB NVMe SSD. However, it’s probably just an engineering sample, so the final product could arrive with more memory and a bigger SSD. So far, we’ve seen the Razer PI411 with two discrete graphics card options from Nvidia. As a quick reminder, the chipmaker’s latest mobile GeForce RTX 3000 (Ampere) offerings are available at different TDP limits, which adds a lot of confusion if the vendor doesn’t specifically list the value.

The first Razer PI411 unit employs a GeForce RTX 3060. The 14 Gbps memory confirms that the Razer PI411 uses the GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile or Max-P variant as opposed to the Max-Q variant. The 900 MHz base clock points to the 80W version.

The second and most recent Razer PI411 unit, on the other hand, leverages the more powerful GeForce RTX 3070. The memory is clocked at 12 Gbps, meaning it’s the Max-Q variant. This particular GeForce RTX 3070 Max-Q sports a 780 MHz base clock, so it coincides with the 80W version as well.

The 3DMark submissions aren’t conclusive evidence that Razer is sold on the idea. We hope Razer does go through with it, though, since the laptop market could use another high-end AMD-based laptop.

NVIDIA PCI-Express Resizable BAR Performance Test – 22 Games, 3 Resolutions, RTX 3090, 3080, 3070, 3060 Ti

Introduction

Through its GeForce 465 driver update, NVIDIA formally introduced the PCI-Express Resizable BAR feature to its GeForce RTX 30-series “Ampere” graphics cards. This feature was invented by PCI-SIG, custodians of the PCI-Express bus, but only became relevant for the PC when AMD decided to re-brand it as “AMD Smart Access Memory” (which we separately reviewed here) and introduce it with the Radeon RX 6000 series RDNA2 graphics cards. That’s probably when NVIDIA realized they too could implement the feature to gain additional performance for GeForce.

How Resizable BAR Works

Until now, your CPU could only see your graphics card’s memory through 256 MB apertures (that’s 256 MB at a time). Imagine you’re in a dark room and have a tiny pocket flashlight that can only illuminate a small part of a page from a book to you. You can still read the whole page, but you’ll have to move the flashlight to where you’re looking. Resizable BAR is the equivalent of illuminating the whole room with a lamp.

This becomes even more important if you consider that with modern APIs, multiple CPU-to-GPU memory transfers can be active at the same time. With only a single, small aperture, these transfers have to be executed in sequence—if the whole VRAM is mapped, they can operate in parallel. Going back to our reading in the dark example, we now assume that there are multiple people trying to read a book, but they only have one flashlight. Everyone has to wait their turn, illuminate the book, read a bit of text and then pass the flashlight on to the next person. With Resizable BAR enabled, everybody can read the book at the same time.

The 256 MB size of the aperture is arbitrary and dates back to the 32-bit era when address space was at a premium. Even with the transition to x86-64, the limit stayed as newer 3D graphics APIs such as DirectX 11 relied less on mirroring data between the system memory and the video memory. Perhaps the main reason nobody bothered to implement Resizable BAR until now was that modern GPUs come with such enormous video memory bandwidths that the act of reading memory through apertures had minimal performance impact, and it’s only now that both NVIDIA and AMD feel the number-crunching power of their GPUs has far outpaced their memory bandwidth requirements.

To use Resizable BAR, a handful of conditions should be fulfilled. For starters, you need a modern processor that supports it. From the AMD camp, Ryzen 3000 “Zen 2” and Ryzen 5000 “Zen 3” processors support it. On the Intel camp, hardware support technically dates back to the 4th Gen “Haswell,” but most motherboard vendors for whatever reason restricted their Resizable BAR enabling BIOS updates to the 300-series chipset, or 8th Gen “Coffee Lake” (and later) architectures, along with X299, or 7th Gen “Skylake-X” HEDT (and later). You’ll also need a compatible graphics card—NVIDIA RTX 30-series or AMD RX 6000 series. Lastly, your PC must boot in UEFI mode with CSM disabled for UEFI GOP support. With these conditions met, you’ll need to enable Resizable BAR in your motherboard’s UEFI setup program.

There are multiple methods to check if Resizable BAR is enabled. The easiest is to use GPU-Z, which now shows the Resizable BAR status on its main screen. The other options are using NVIDIA’s Control Panel and Windows Device Manager.

In this review, we will be testing four NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30-series Ampere models—RTX 3090, RTX 3080, RTX 3070, and RTX 3060 Ti, all Founders Edition cards. Each of these will have Resizable BAR enabled and disabled, across our entire test-suite of 22 games with a rich diversity of game engines and APIs.

AMD Ryzen 5000 Zen 3 APU Specifications Revealed

AMD Ryzen 5000 Processor
(Image credit: AMD)

HP México has inadvertently revealed the specifications for AMD’s forthcoming Ryzen 5000 (Cezanne) desktop APUs. Hardware detective momomo_us spotted the details in a document for the HP Pavilion gaming desktop TG01-2003ns.

AMD has been diligently transitioning its entire processor portfolio over to the latest Zen 3 microarchitecture. The desktop APU and Threadripper product lines are the last ones on the list to receive the Zen 3 treatment. Like the Ryzen 5000 mobile variants, desktop Cezanne will exploit the Zen 3 microarchitecture but still retain the old Vega graphics engine. However, we expect the latter to feature some improvements in terms of better clock speeds.

While we’ve seen countless leaks of the Ryzen 5000 APUs, this is the first time that we’re getting information from a solid source. As expected, AMD has prepared three Ryzen 5000 APUs to replace the current Ryzen 4000 (Renoir) APU lineup. Logically, the Ryzen 7 5700G will be the flagship APU, and the Ryzen 5 5600G is the middle man, while the Ryzen 3 5300G is the entry-level part.

AMD Ryzen 5000 Cezanne APU Specifications

Processor	Cores / Threads	Base / Boost Clocks (GHz)	L3 Cache (MB)	TDP (W)
Ryzen 7 5700G	8 / 16	3.8 / 4.6	16	65
Ryzen 7 4700G	8 / 16	3.6 / 4.4	8	65
Ryzen 5 5600G	6 / 12	3.9 / 4.4	16	65
Ryzen 5 4600G	6 / 12	3.7 / 4.2	8	65
Ryzen 3 5300G	4 / 8	4.0 / 4.2	8	65
Ryzen 3 4300G	4 / 8	3.8 / 4.0	4	65

Ryzen 5000 will stick to the same core count as its predecessor. The APUs will max out at eight Zen 3 cores. However, Ryzen 5000 will offer double the L3 cache across the board. The Ryzen 7 5700G and Ryzen 5 5600G have 16MB of L3 cache at their disposal, while the Ryzen 3 5300G is limited to 8MB.

The improvement in clock speeds isn’t significant, but Zen 3’s true value lies within its IPC. In terms of operating clocks, Ryzen 5000 appears to come with 200 MHz higher base and boost clocks in comparison to their Ryzen 4000 counterparts.

Ryzen 5000 Specifications (Image credit: momomo_us/Twitter)

The Ryzen 7 5700G arrives with eight cores and 16 threads. The octa-core part boasts base and boost clock speeds of 3.8 GHz and 4.6 GHz, respectively. The Ryzen 5 5600G, on the other hand, comes wielding six cores and 12 threads. HP listed the Ryzen 5 5600G with a 3.9 GHz base clock and a 4.4 GHz boost clock. The Ryzen 3 5300G will round off the Ryzen 5000 lineup. The APU seemingly checks in with a 4 GHz base clock and a 4.2 GHz boost clock.

The jury is still out on whether AMD will make the Ryzen 5000 desktop APUs available to the public. In case you’ve forgotten, Ryzen 4000 desktop APUs were limited to OEMs. While you could still buy one from the grey market, it was a hassle due to the overseas shipping and the fact that you’re buying a product that doesn’t come with a warranty. We’ve seen what Zen 3 can do in AMD’s Ryzen 5000 (Vermeer) processors, and it would be a shame if AMD left APU enthusiasts in the cold again.

Nvidia’s Resizable BAR frame rate boosts now available on all 30-series GPUs

Nvidia is launching Resizable BAR support today, a feature of PCI Express that can boost frame rates in certain games by up to 10 percent. Resizable BAR works by unlocking access to the full graphics frame buffer, instead of limiting it to 256MB block reads. This can improve frame rates in games, but it will require a compatible CPU, motherboard BIOS update, and even a VBIOS update for all 30-series desktop GPUs.

Nvidia has been working with both AMD and Intel to provide chipset support. AMD’s Zen 3 CPUs are supported, alongside Intel’s 10th Gen processors and the company’s new 11th Gen desktop chips that launch today. You can find Nvidia’s full FAQ on motherboard and VBIOS updates right here.

Resizable BAR works the same as AMD’s Smart Access Memory, which also promises to improve frame rates in certain games by up to 10 percent. The frame rate increase using both will really depend on the game, and resolution will also impact how much performance will improve.

The new RTX 3060 graphics card was the first to include Resizable BAR last month, and wccftech found that it improved performance between 4 and 11 percent in certain games. Nvidia initially limited support to fewer than 10 games, as the company warned enabling it on all games might result in performance decreases in some.

Nvidia is now pre-testing titles and using special game profiles to enable Resizable BAR only where the performance increases. That means that only 17 games are currently supported, including Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Watch Dogs Legion. More games will be added in future driver updates.

Resizable BAR support on the AMD side has been tested thoroughly, and TechSpot found that some games making use of Smart Access Memory could see a nearly 20 percent boost at 1440p and 4K.