CPU, APU & Chipsets News - Page 1

Intel is now hiding features of its new data center CPUs behind a paywall, with the introduction of its new "On Demand" service, effectively a pay-as-you-go service for CPUs that unlocks features as you go (and costing you money).

The new "On Demand" service from Intel will be for their data center customers for now, but I'm sure this is going to shift into consumer CPUs as the years go by, and in some cases it'll be alright -- a data center CPU can get upgraded with new features without a full CPU upgrade -- but it starts a dark path.

Intel has two different models on offer with its new On Demand program: the "Consumption Model" and "Activation Model". The Consumption Model is metered, with flexible consumption to scale performance while the Activation Model is licensed with a one-time feature and software activation.

AMD is gearing up for the unleashing of its next-gen Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000 series "Storm Peak" CPUs, with another tease at the monster everything-crunching Zen 4 processors.

AMD's new Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000 series "Storm Peak" CPUs (source: Einstein @ Home)

The new Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000 series "Storm Peak" CPUs have been spotted with AMD OPN codes scooped by Einstein @ Home, with three different chips teased: AMD Eng Sample: 100-000000884-21_N (96 Core / 192 Thread), AMD Eng Sample: 100-000000884-20_Y (96 Core / 192 Thread), and finally AMD Eng Sample: 100-000000454-20_Y (64 Core / 128 Thread).

OPN codes are just AMD product codes, with the base clocks switched out so we don't know what CPU frequencies to expect on these chips just yet... as they're finalized closer to these CPUs becoming a reality. We can see the flagship AMD Eng Sample: 100-000000884-21_N (96 Core / 192 Thread) processor there, rocking 96 cores and 192 threads which is an insane amount of CPU power.

If you haven't picked up one of AMD's new Ryzen 7000 series "Zen 4" processors, now might be the time... they're on the cheap right now with Black Friday sales, especially the flagship Ryzen 9 7950X processor.

Newegg and Amazon have the new Black Friday deals live, with the flagship AMD Ryzen 9 7950X: normally $699, down to $574, the second-best Zen 4 processor in the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X: normally $549, down to $474 while the third-best Zen 4 processor in the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X: normally $399, down to $349, leaving the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X: normally $299, down to $249.

That's not too bad, considering the Ryzen 9 7950X is a 16-core, 32-thread beast enjoying a nice 17% discount, but keep in mind that MicroCenter still gives you 32GB of DDR5 memory for free with any and all Ryzen 7000 series "Zen 4" processors.

Qualcomm has just announced its next-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen2, which is a follow-up to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 and Snapdragon 8 Gen1 SoCs... packing in everything including the kitchen sink it seems.

The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen2 is made on TSMC's fresh new 4nm process node, with the company tapping its latest Kyro CPU that packs up to 45% more CPU performance. Qualcomm is using a Cortex X3 primary core at up to 3.2GHz, as well as 4 x "performance" cores (2 x A710 and 2 x A715 both clocked at 2.8GHz) backed up by 3 x "efficiency" cores that are clocked at up to 2.0GHz.

On the GPU side of things, Qualcomm promises up to 25% more performance in its new Snapdragon 8 Gen2 SoC over its previous-gen design, while there's 40% more efficiency. Qualcomm has some big bragging points with its new Snapdragon 8 Gen2 SoC, with the company pushing hardware-enabled ray tracing... interesting.

We first heard whispers about Intel's upcoming codename "Panther Cove" CPU architecture over a year ago now, and just a couple of weeks after its first tease, we heard more leaks on Intel's upcoming "Royal Core Project" which is aiming to be an AMD Zen CPU killer.

Intel "Panther Lake" CPU details (source: Moore's Law is Dead)

Intel's upcoming Panther Cove CPU architecture is back in the news with rumors from Moore's Law is Dead, pegging Panther Cove for a 2025-2026 release and could still be on the LGA 1851 socket (with Tom noting that this hasn't been finalized yet). In the leaks, Tom goes into detail about the next-gen Meteor Lake desktop CPUs that will drop in the second half of 2023 on LGA 1851 and more.

We don't know much about Panther Cove, but Moore's Law is Dead says his sources tease Intel is aiming for "top to bottom leadership in all sectors" and that it will have "another massive" IPC improvement with Panther Cove comparable to Lion Cove. Rewinding that Intel CPU clock, we've just seen the new 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" CPU launch... after that, we'll have 14th Gen Core "Meteor Lake" in 2023, then 15th Gen Core "Arrow Lake" in 2024, 16th Gen Core "Lunar Lake" in very late 2024 or 2025, followed by 17th Gen Core "Panther Lake" in 2025-2026.

Now that Intel's new Core i9-13900K "Raptor Lake" CPU is in the wild, it has been ripped apart and some absolutely gorgeous CPU die shots have been taken. Check them out below:

Fritzchens Fritz is back with detailed high-res die shots of the Intel Core i9-13900K processor, where we get some juicy up-close-and-personal nudes of the Raptor Lake flagship CPU. It's quite detailed, with every part of the silicon die next to each core measured with precision (and labeled) for the ultimate in Raptor Lake nerding out.

Intel's new Core i9-13900K has a top Intel B0 die that measures in at 252mm2, with 8 x Raptor Cove CPU cores with L3 cache sitting between them. There's also 4 x Gracemont CPU clusters that each pack 4 cores each, with L2 cache on the outer side, and L3 cache sitting in the middle.

AMD has launched a few of its Ryzen 7000 series "Zen 4" CPUs now, but the mid-range Ryzen 3 7300X processor has now been teased and man, it sounds quite tasty.

AMD's upcoming Ryzen 3 7300X (4C/8T) CPU spotted on Geekbench

The upcoming AMD Ryzen 3 7300X should arrive as a 4-core, 8-thread Zen 4 CPU that boosts at up to 5.0GHz if the recent leaks on Geekbench are correct. AMD's new mid-range quad-core Zen 4 processor was installed into a GIGABYTE B650 AORUS motherboard, with 32MB of L3 cache.

AMD's upcoming Ryzen 3 7300X processor scores 1984 points in Geekbench's single-core benchmark, and 7682 points in the multi-core benchmark. If we put this up against the Zen 3-based flagship Ryzen 9 5950X (which is a monster 16-core, 32-thread chip) then the Ryzen 3 7300X demolishes it as the 5950X scored 1689 in the single-core test (versus 1984 on the 7300X).

TSMC is gearing up to mass produce Apple's next-gen M2 Pro and M2 Max SoCs for future-gen MacBook Pro laptops, with TSMC's next-gen 3nm process node being used.

The last we heard was that Apple had booked TSMC for its next-gen M2 Pro and M3 chips, but now a new report from the Commercial Times reports that Apple has booked TSMC for its 3nm node, mass-producing M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. We did hear previously that Apple would have to switch to 5nm for its chips, but it looks like TSMC will provide its new 3nm node for Apple's new MacBook Pro laptops.

Apple's new M2 Pro is reportedly codenamed "Rhodes Chop" and will house a 10-core CPU and 20-core GPU, while the beefier M2 Max is codenamed "Rhodes 1C" and will rock up to a 12-core CPU and chunkier 38-core GPU. TSMC is "racing against time" to get orders in for Apple for its higher-end M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme SoCs.

Intel's new Core i9-13900Kf "Raptor Lake" flagship CPU has been pushed up to an impressive 6.2GHz single-core overclock, noting that this is the "KF" variant that drops the integrated GPU that the "K" variant has.

Intel's new Core i9-13900KF "Raptor Lake" CPU overclocked (source: Coodie)

OCN member "Codiee1337" managed to get hands-on with Intel's new Core i9-13900KF early, installing it into an ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Apex motherboard and its on-board AI tune feature, the 6.2GHz single-core overclock on the Core i9-13900KF was easy to achieve.

The overclocker was cooling the Intel Core i9-13900KF processor with a Corsair iCUE H150i RGB Elite AIO cooler, along with the Thermal Grizzly CPU contact frame. Alongside that was some G.SKILL DDR5-6000 CL36 memory, with some benchmarks performed in both Cinebench R23 and 3DMark.

Intel's new Core i9-13900K "Raptor Lake" CPU is about to be unleashed, with some new slides from "RUBY's|RYZEN|RAYDEON RAGE 3D" teasing gaming and content creation performance of the new Raptor Lake CPU.

In the slide, Intel is comparing its new flagship Core i9-13900K processor against AMD's best new Zen 4-based Ryzen 9 7950X processor, which it appears to be around 11% faster than the Ryzen 9 7950X. The games include Armageddon, Total War: Warhammer 3, PUBG Battlegrounds, GRID Legends, Total War Saga: Troy, Far Cry 6, Hitman 3, Guardians of the Galaxy, League of Legends, Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered, Conquerer's Blade, and The Riftbreaker.

These benchmarks are new, because when Intel announced its new 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" CPUs, AMD hadn't had its new Ryzen 7000 series "Zen 4" CPUs out in the wild. Now that the Ryzen 9 7950X is out in the wild, Intel has benchmarked it and compared it against its new Core i9-13900K "Raptor Lake" CPU, which looks like a complete gaming beast.