We start our mid-range Radeon 7000 tests with a more powerful model with a fully enabled Navi 32 GPU. The RX 7800 XT is mainly a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4070, which is a more expensive but also lower-power (and efficient) graphics card. However, Sapphire handled the relatively higher power draw exceedingly well, and if you have experience with “noisier Radeons”, that won’t be the case with the RX 7800 XT Nitro+ at all. Read more “Sapphire RX 7800 XT Nitro+: Radeon can be quiet too”
In the lower class of BeQuiet! liquid coolers, the new Pure Loop 2 models replace the old (Pure Loop) models in up to four formats. This means that this news may be of interest to users of SFF systems as well as those on the opposite end of the spectrum, with full tower cases. The key changes between generations are the pump upgrade (finally with PWM control) as well as fans with higher static pressure. Read more “Pure Loop 2, or BeQuiet! renewed the cheapest line of AIO coolers”
Intel took a symbolic “step into the future” by unveiling Meteor Lake processors now, for the first time using TSMC-manufactured silicon as well as advanced chiplet design with 3D Foveros technology. Meteor Lake will come out at the end of the year, but Intel has also revealed a roadmap of processors for PCs and laptops, showing what will come after it. Three new generations or families of “lake” processors are coming in 2024 and 2025. Read more “Intel plans: 2nm processors next year, 1.8nm Panther Lake in 2025”
We’ve got hold of a document that is a sort of list of features that BeQuiet! thinks you should think about when choosing a case for a gaming PC build. To what extent one can agree with it is probably individual (users’ priorities are different and some people have very specific requirements). In any case, these are materials that also give an insight into what a leading case manufacturer considers important and what questions they ask when designing. Read more “BeQuiet!: Cases for gamers – What are the important features?”
Meteor Lake is Intel’s first processor manufactured on in-house 4nm node, an important milestone. It is also, paradoxically, Intel’s first processor manufactured at TSMC, as many of its parts are outsourced in this way – a milestone too. This is the first mainstream Intel processor to use chiplets (or tiles) and advanced 3D packaging. It’s almost and extra beyond that, that there are new CPU cores, new GPU, and a new NPU for AI acceleration. Read more “Intel unveils Meteor Lake processors: 4nm, tiles, Xe LPG graphics”
If you don’t want to skimp on a motherboard for an AMD CPU, but also don’t want to pay more than you need to, the MSI B650 Gaming Plus WiFi appears to be an attractive option. The price is well under two hundred euros and yet it can handle even the Ryzen 9 7950X without any power limits. Although there are also things calling for improvement, the cheapest MSI B650 board in ATX format defends its position in a lower-budget gaming build. Read more “MSI B650 Gaming Plus WiFi: Axe for “expensive” and “weak” boards”
This year, AMD has already released the Epyc 9004 “Genoa”, a 96-core server version of the Zen 4 architecture and even the HPC Genoa-X models equipped with 3D V-Cache. Now they are joined by a separate family – processors codenamed Siena, which are specifically designed for lower power draw and lower cost. They have their own SP6 platform with six-channel memory controller (so the boards should cost less too) and TDPs starting from 70W. Read more “AMD launches Epyc 8004: lower-cost, lower-power SP6 platform”
SSDs have been steadily getting cheaper for a long time now, often to prices undreamed of a few years ago. This was due to a slump in PC demand, which left the NAND Flash memory market oversupplied. Beware, however, this price drop seems to have bottomed out and prices are expected to start going up from autumn, or at best stay flat. So the time fo any storage upgrades may be now as SSDs may get more expensive in the coming months. Read more “The days of SSDs getting cheaper are over. Prices are starting to rise”
The waiting for the next generation of Nvidia graphics cards will probably take a bit longer this time around, as Nvidia plans them for 2025 instead of fall 2024 according to the official roadmap. Still, information is starting to emerge about these upcoming GPUs that will bring the Blackwell architecture to both compute and gaming segment. And there are even first projections estimating the performance uplift over current GeForce GPUs. Read more “Nvidia Blackwell adds IPC instead of cores. Up to 70% faster?”
It gives a very good first impression. The design of the housing is something that sets this Asus ROG Strix 850G Aura PSU apart from the rest. Besides the above-standard dimensions, which suggest that it could be “rich” inside as well, there’s also a rather sophisticated cover or grille, and in line with aesthetic trends, there are also ARGB LEDs. What remains to be seen is what form the main thing will take – the electrical characteristics. Read more “Asus ROG Strix 850G Aura: Biggest power supply on the list”
Can you guess how big the difference in vibration can be between the “best” and “worst” piece of the inexpensive Endorfy Stratus 120 PWM fan? We’ll take a look at this in the future, and your job will be to guess as accurately as possible. As a reward, whoever comes closest to the correct answer will receive any “cooling” product from Endorfy. In the case of smaller items, the prize can also be made up of multiple items. Read more “Guess a fan vibration variance and win anything Endorfy”
Does it or does it not clearly beat the Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM? The Phanteks T30 doesn’t like second places, and in the vast majority of cases it doesn’t get to them, outperforming competing fans in its format (120mm) by a good chunk when optimally setup. But that was a bit of a must to justify the extra thickness, which is associated with poorer compatibility after all. Read more “Phanteks PH-F120T30: The fan that pushes boundaries”
Last week, a roadmap (or rather a cutout of it) apparently coming from one of the manufacturers of servers and similar hardware that was showing the planned products of the major players – Intel, AMD and Nvidia – was made public on the internet by leaker YuuKi_AnS. It appears to be showing the plans for 2025 or 2026, so time still quite a bit far off and product generations following those that are to come to market now. Read more “AMD Zen 6 requiring new socket? Server roadmap may suggest so”
We’ve had cases with a display in our tests before, but MSI has taken its usability to a new level. The touchpad can still be used for control, but it also serves as an indicator for various useful things. Sure, the case sits pretty high at three hundred euros, but it’s not just about the extra cost of the display. The MEG Prospect 700R also justifies the price in other aspects. For example, the really precise build quality. Read more “MEG Prospect 700R. New definition of high-end by MSI”
When Apple released their first ARM processors for computers in 2020 (Apple Silicon M1), one of the distinguishing features was that the RAM was tightly integrated directly on the processor’s package (substrate), which was called “On-Package Memory”. This allowed for a reduction in power draw and was considered one of the sources of power efficiency for these CPUs. It looks like Intel’s CPUs will now start using the same concept. Read more “Intel Meteor Lake integrates LPDDR5X memory onto the CPU”
We’ve known about Scythe’s preparations for a new fan for some time now. We are only now getting to the details of its design. While it hasn’t officially been released yet, it has appeared in Wootware catalogue – and in all its glory. In addition to the complete parameters, we have several high-resolution photos available. With the Grand Tornado fan, Scythe is sure to get a say in who has the “best” fan. Read more “This is “Grand Tornado” – finally an elite Scythe fan”
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