For a time, we weren’t sure whether AMD would stick with the current AM5 socket—used for Zen 4 and Zen 5 desktop CPUs (Ryzen 7000, 8000, and 9000)—and extend support to the next generation with Zen 6 cores. Multiple sources have now confirmed it will. What’s more, AM5 may last even longer: evidence suggests these motherboards could eventually accept upgrades to processors using an entirely new architecture. Read more “AM6 socket due in 2030. Even Zen 7 will come to AM5 boards”
AMD and Intel announced a surprising rapprochement a year ago, when both companies, together with PC manufacturers and big software players, founded a consortium to oversee the future development of x86 CPUs and their platform. Faced with the growing threat from Arm processors (which was certainly a motivation), this has proved a good choice and will help push modern extensions for the traditional PC processor platform. Read more “Intel and AMD agree on future of x86 CPUs: AMX and RAM tagging”
Intel unveiled its next generation of Core Ultra 300 laptop processors, codenamed Panther Lake last week. This wasn’t the full launch, but we did learn a lot about their layout and design, as well as the architecture and new features they’ll bring. The main strengths of Panther Lake likely won’t be the CPU cores themselves, but the whole platform’s features. Another plus is that manufacturing is moving back to Intel’s own fabs. Read more “Intel Core 300 CPUs Unveiled: Details and Features of Panther Lake”
Last week brought a sensational piece of news. Ever since AMD acquired GPU maker ATi almost twenty years ago, people have speculated whether Intel and Nvidia might one day strike a similar alliance. It seems that time has finally come, though only now that Intel is in trouble and has to push its pride aside. The two companies announced not a merger, but a far-reaching partnership. It will be interesting to watch where this leads. Read more “Nvidia and Intel team up: x86 CPUs with built-in GeForce GPUs”
A short while ago we reported on new budget Intel processor that appeared in the company’s lineup as Core 5 120. Behind this new name, however, hides a 7nm Alder Lake chip from 2021, which Intel is calling back into service simply because it doesn’t have much choice. But that was nothing compared to the oddity coming now. Intel has now put the new Core series 100 branding on an almost ancient Comet Lake generation (10th Gen Core) chip. Read more ““14nm forever” jokes coming true: Intel goes back to decade old tech”
According to earlier leaks, AMD was preparing a refresh of its Ryzen 9000 desktop lineup, something motherboard BIOS updates had hinted at for months. Among the expected additions were the affordable Ryzen 7 9700F and Ryzen 5 9500F SKUs without integrated graphics—a feature present on all other models. AMD has now made one of them official: the Ryzen 5 9500F, a CPU that could become the sweet spot for budget gaming PCs. Read more “AMD released Ryzen 5 9500F, the cheapest Zen 5 processor”
One of the major tech announcements expected this year was Nvidia’s entry into the CPU market for PCs and laptops with its own Arm-based N1 and N1X chips. While they didn’t show up at CES or Computex, Nvidia introduced something else instead — the GB10 processor for AI systems, developed in partnership with MediaTek. Interestingly, the N1X might use identical silicon. Nvidia has now revealed its specs, giving us a better idea of what to expect. Read more “GB10 or N1X? Nvidia’s Arm Superchip Packs RTX 5070–class GPU”
This year is the first time you can actually buy graphics cards using PCI Express 5.0—despite motherboards having support since 2021 for Intel and 2022 for AMD. But the PCI-SIG consortium, creator of the standard, has now officially announced work on PCI Express 8.0, the next stage of this technology, which will be eight times faster than today. Crucially, PCIe 8.0 will still be backward compatible with existing hardware. Read more “PCI Express 8.0 Coming in Three Years: 32 GB/s Per Lane”
Zen 6 based AMD Ryzen CPUs expected next year should still use the AM5 socket and remain compatible with current motherboards. A new platform is slated to arrive after that though, most likely with a socket designated AM6, and the first information about it has now appeared online. A socket change will break CPU compatibility, but the physical dimensions are expected to be similar — meaning cooler compatibility may remain intact. Read more “First information on socket AM6. Cooler compatibility retained?”
AMD was said to launch new desktop “APUs” (low-power, originally laptop SoCs with relatively powerful integrated GPUs) this year. Recently, these chips have been arriving to desktop platforms with considerable delays. The Ryzen 6000 series didn’t make it to AM5 at all. Reports of Ryzen 9000G raised hopes that current “Strix Point” chips with Zen 5 cores could finally arrive on the AM5 platform. Unfortunately, there’s bad news about that… Read more “New Ryzen 9000G APUs Allegedly Not Zen 5, but a 8000G Refresh”
We’ve already written about the painful measures Intel is implementing get out of the deep red numbers it sunk into due to maintaining and building its own chip fabs (because as a “fabless” player, Intel would be profitable). Among them, however, is one unexpected development: Intel processors are set to reintroduce Hyper-Threading technology for processing multiple threads simultaneously. And this is actually quite peculiar… Read more “Intel reverses course: Hyper-Threading returns to CPUs”
Last Friday, Intel released its Q2 financial results, reporting another $3 billion loss (though in reality, the situation isn’t as dire as the figure suggests). Alongside these results, Intel announced various measures its new CEO is taking to rescue the company from its current crisis—or at least improve its finances somewhat. The implications are far-reaching. Beyond drastic layoffs, it also means the death of European investments. Read more “Intel kills EU fabs, chip manufacturing exit after 1.4nm node?”
Gaming used to be a strength of Intel CPUs, but that changed with AMD’s “X3D” chips featuring 3D V-Cache. First the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and then last year’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D, has gained significant lead in games , while Intel’s new Core Ultra 200 lineup has disappointed. But next year, Intel may have a shot at reclaiming ground—it’s preparing its own version of CPUs with large L3 cache, which could bring similar benefits to 3D V-Cache. Read more “BLLC in Nova Lake CPUs: Intel’s Answer to AMD X3D processors”
Fans of alternative CPUs now have a new thing to talk about besides the mainstream offerings from Intel, AMD and the increasingly established Arm. Five years after Power10, a new generation is here: IBM Power11. Though it has to be said it’s focusing on enterprise systems and users, and IBM is no longer targeting mass-market servers or workstations, so this hardware is unlikely to end up in the hands of regular users. Read more “Power11 is here: New generation of IBM RISC processors detailed”
Rumors suggesting that the next generation of AMD CPUs based on the Zen 6 architecture could surpass 6 GHz have been out for quite some time (while today, Zen 5 cores top out at 5.7 GHz). However, the YouTube channel Moore’s Law is Dead has now thrown more fuel on the fire, claiming these CPUs could reach 7 GHz or even higher. But before you fall for the hype, it’s important to note that reality is likely to look a bit different. Read more “7 GHz? AMD aims high with Zen 6 clocks, but there’s a catch…”
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