24GB/48GB DDR5 modules don’t work with Ryzen CPUs, fix coming?

In the past, Intel processors could not run newer higher-capacity DDR2 and DDR3 modules, while AMD processors worked. That’s why we were sort of assuming that the currently appearing DDR5 modules with unusual “non-binary” capacities would just automatically work on AMD platforms. But that’s not true, it seems that they only work with Intel processors for now and Ryzen 7000s will only be able to use them after a future update. Read more “24GB/48GB DDR5 modules don’t work with Ryzen CPUs, fix coming?” »

Ryzen 7000X3D: technical details and asymmetric CCX handling

Last day of February, AMD started selling the Ryzen 7000 processors with 3D V-Cache, the chiplet technology increasing L3 cache capacity. Prior generation (Ryzen 7 5800X3D) proved that this benefited gaming, and it looks like the same is true now. Ryzen 7000s are aimed specifically at gaming PCs, and according to reviews, they seem to have surpassed Intel’s Raptor Lake processors in that and are now holding the gaming performance crown. Read more “Ryzen 7000X3D: technical details and asymmetric CCX handling” »

Radeon driver problem breaks Windows, avoid factory reset option

AMD released a new version of Radeon Software drivers 23.2.1 last month, which was significant in that after a hiatus where new versions were only for Radeon RX 7900s for a while, it merged the two branches and now the same driver supports all GPUs again. But it looks like there is a bug in the installer that may lead to a broken Windows installation. It’s said to happen only rarely, but there are certain situations to watch out for. Read more “Radeon driver problem breaks Windows, avoid factory reset option” »

Ryzen 9 7950X: AMD’s elite CPU beats but also doesn’t beat Core i9

We saved our tests of the most powerful Ryzen 7000 processor for last, for a number of reasons, as the last “X” model to expand the results database from this generation. The Ryzen 9 7950X, with its 32 threads, stands up to its 32-threaded competitor in the form of the Core i9-13900K with sovereignty, despite having eight fewer cores. Some might even state that it is the more cost-effective processor. But it comes down to your own point of view. Read more “Ryzen 9 7950X: AMD’s elite CPU beats but also doesn’t beat Core i9” »

A620 chipset specs leak: With PCIe 4.0 but no overclocking

In recent weeks, information about the upcoming AMD A620 chipset and cheaper AM5 boards for Ryzen 7000 CPUs based on it began to appear. One of the hardware “leakers” shared the alleged specifications that the A620 chipset is supposed to have, and also what will be the other features of the boards built on the chipset. According to earlier reports, these could start selling or at least be revealed as early as this month. Read more “A620 chipset specs leak: With PCIe 4.0 but no overclocking” »

Fact check: AMD is not limiting shipments to inflate prices

Last week, news stories have emerged that AMD is artificially inflating prices of its processors or GPUs by deliberately underselling the demand. This news has spread a lot. And yet, the report is almost certainly nonsense born out of misinterpretation (or misunderstanding of economics). There’s already been an official denial issued, but the story keeps spreading, so we feel it’s appropriate to address it a bit. Read more “Fact check: AMD is not limiting shipments to inflate prices” »

AMD Ryzen 7 7700X: More efficient, but much weaker than Core i7

It clearly outperformed its predecessors (including the R7 5800X) and also the Core i9-10900K, which has two more cores. But it can’t compare with the Core i7-13700K in heavy MT workloads, and that’s just a month after its release. In ST loads, however, it’s even performance-wise, as in games, where Ryzen 7 is more efficient. Whether the R7 7700X is worth more than the Ci7-13700K for similar money, however, you’ll have to judge for yourself. Read more “AMD Ryzen 7 7700X: More efficient, but much weaker than Core i7” »

Ryzen 5 7600: Raphael in AMD’s most popular series scores again

This time, it wasn’t as long a wait as for the Ryzen 5 5600. On the contrary, the Ryzen 5 7600 came out very shortly after the faster model with the “X” in the name. AMD apparently hurried with this lower-power model also because of dissatisfied reactions that 7600X criticize the worse cooling. With the significantly more efficient R5 7600, the situation with silicon is brighter. Plus it’s cheaper and doesn’t lose all that much in performance. Read more “Ryzen 5 7600: Raphael in AMD’s most popular series scores again” »

AMD Ryzen 7000X3D release date revealed? (Update: Sadly not)

Last week, AMD has unveiled the awaited expansion of the AMD Ryzen 7000 processor family with “X3D” models with 3D V-Cache. It boosts performance in games, so these could be very good (maybe even the best?) gaming PC processors. AMD has disclosed the specs, but hasn’t given the availability date for these models. We already have this information though, perhaps inadvertently, divulged by the company itself on its website. Read more “AMD Ryzen 7000X3D release date revealed? (Update: Sadly not)” »

AMD launches Ryzen 7040: 4nm APU with Zen 4 and RDNA 3 iGPU

In addition to the AM5 Ryzen 7000 processors with 3D V-Cache and mainstream 65W TDP models, AMD also announced a wholly new offering at CES 2023: the first processors with Zen 4 architecture for laptops. They are based on the all-new Phoenix APU, which is the first 4nm Ryzen chip and the first processor with an integrated RDNA 3 GPU, which will also clock up to 3 GHz. So it’s going to be a very interesting laptop platform. Read more “AMD launches Ryzen 7040: 4nm APU with Zen 4 and RDNA 3 iGPU” »

AMD RDNA 3 details: architecture changes, AI acceleration, DP 2.1

November 3 saw the expected unveiling of a new generation of Radeon graphics cards from AMD with RDNA 3 architecture, a competitor to the GeForce RTX 4000, the already selling new GPU generation from Nvidia. In this article, we’ll discuss the chiplet design of the new 5nm AMD GPUs, the changes in architecture, and the new functionality and features that they bring. RDNA 3 has a lot of new stuff compared to the previous generation. Read more “AMD RDNA 3 details: architecture changes, AI acceleration, DP 2.1” »

65W CPU with Zen 4 architecture is coming: AMD Ryzen 7 7700

When the specs of the Ryzen 7000s first leaked, one thing was disappointing. These processors use 5nm process that is much more efficient, yet AMD has not exploited this potential. Likely due to pressure from Intel’s big.LITTLE processors, the company has increased power draw to raise multi-threaded performance and instead of 65W and 105W TDPs, the TDPs went up to 105W and 170W. But lower-power versions are fortunately in the pipeline. Read more “65W CPU with Zen 4 architecture is coming: AMD Ryzen 7 7700” »

Why is Zen 4 so fast in Topaz Labs AI apps? In fact it’s Intel’s doing

Ryzen 7000 with Zen 4 architecture is the first AMD processor to support 512-bit AVX-512 vector instructions. We’ve already discussed their benefits (bigger or smaller) here. But the Zen 4 cores support another instruction set extension that used to be Intel’s pride and joy, and now the roles have reversed a bit: VNNI. It seems to bring huge performance improvements in a number of apps, despite the limited 256-bit width of Zen 4 SIMD units. Read more “Why is Zen 4 so fast in Topaz Labs AI apps? In fact it’s Intel’s doing” »

AMD Ryzen 5 7600X: The most popular Core i5 declassed

The cheapest Ryzen 7000 processor (7600X) is a class above Intel’s cheapest Core i5-class processor (12400). Ryzen dominates in virtually everything, and it does so at higher efficiency. Yes, it’s not the same price range, and the R5 7600X is ultimately “killed” by the high price (not just in terms of the CPU itself, but the entire platform), but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a great processor. Read more “AMD Ryzen 5 7600X: The most popular Core i5 declassed” »

How good is AMD’s AVX-512? Does it improve Zen 4 performance?

When Intel Rocket Lake processors with AVX-512 instructions came out last year, we took the opportunity to test how they can improve performance in the x265 video encoder. Since the now-released Ryzen 7000 processors with Zen 4 architecture also support AVX-512, and there has been a lot of debate about the pros and cons with Rocket Lake, we went back to that test to see how AMD’s alternative implementation fares in it. Read more “How good is AMD’s AVX-512? Does it improve Zen 4 performance?” »