Processors - Page 34

Yesterday, we learned that AMD was delaying the launch of its new Zen 5-powered Ryzen 9000 Series CPUs from July to August due to an unspecified quality issue with the initial production run. "Out of an abundance of caution and to maintain the highest quality experiences for every Ryzen user, we are working with our channel partners to replace the initial production units with fresh units," AMD said.

With that, we've got new release and launch dates for the Ryzen 9000 Series, with the launch now spread out over two weeks. The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X will launch on August 8. The flagship Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X will follow on August 15.

In the lead-up to the new Ryzen CPU generation launch, we've seen several leaked benchmark results, alongside the Ryzen 9 9950X pushed to 6.6 GHz with LN2 cooling - the anticipation is real. And now, thanks to Hardware Unboxed, we know when we can expect official reviews to appear online.

AMD's next-generation Zen 5-based "HX" laptop "Fire Range" CPUs will arrive on the same FL1 package, meaning that laptop makers won't have to redesign motherboards from current "Dragon Range" systems.

We first learned about AMD's new Zen 5-based "Fire Range" CPU in leaks from Moore's Law is Dead back in October 2023. But In a new post by hardware reviewer and leaker "Golden Pig Upgrade" we're hearing that next-gen Ryzen HX mobile processors based on the Zen 5 architecture codenamed "Fire Range" will use the same FP1 socket as the Zen 4-based "Dragon Range" CPUs we have now. This includes up to the flagship Ryzen 9 7945HX3D processor with the Zen 4 architecture and X3D V-Cache technology.

AMD using the same FL1 package with its new Fire Range processors as its Dragon Range processors is a great thing for laptop manufacturers, as they won't need to redesign the motherboard. However, CPU competitor Intel is changing things up from its 14th Gen Core CPUs and its new Core Ultra 200 CPUs which forces laptop manufacturers to redesign their laptop motherboards.

AMD was all set to launch its next-gen Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000 series "Granite Ridge" CPUs on July 31, but the company has just moved it up to August 15 over some QA issues with the first wave of chips.

We can now expect AMD's new Ryzen 9000 series CPUs to launch on August 15, hitting retail shelves and online e-tailers like Amazon and BestBuy on that day, however the releases will be staggered. On August 15, AMD will launch its 6-core and 8-core Zen 5 chips with the releases of the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors on August 8.

The higher-end 12-core and 16-core Zen 5 processors in the Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 9 9950X chips will launch starting August 15.

Intel recently confirmed it has found the root cause of the instability problems reported by users of its 13th and 14th Gen CPUs, but, unfortunately, the chipmaker has made things quite confusing with a convoluted and seemingly contradictory response.

Intel officially published a statement about the instability reports for its Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh CPUs in the 13th and 14th Gen families. These instability reports have been stacking up for months now, and very little has been done on Intel's part to provide remedies for customers of the affected products or an explanation as to why the faults are occurring. Now, we have official confirmation from Intel that excessive voltage and oxidation are part of the problem.

The chipmaker posted a statement about the instability problems, citing an issue in the microcode algorithm that is causing incorrect voltage requests to the processor, resulting in elevated voltages. Intel said it was targeting mid-August for a microcode algorithm update. Notably, this statement didn't mention anything about oxidation, leading many to believe voltage was the root cause, and general instability problems will all be ironed out in an update in August.

If you've been keeping up to date with the goings on in the world of desktop CPUs, you'll no doubt be aware that we're on the cusp of a new generation of Ryzen chips from AMD launching with the Zen 5-powered Rzyen 9000 Series.

You'll also know that Intel has been under fire for months due to instability reports, crashing, and other issues surrounding its flagship Intel Core i9 13900K and 14900K processors being widely reported. It's been an ongoing saga, and several motherboard makers have released BIOS updates and fixes based on feedback and Intel guidance.

The other day, Intel released an official statement stating the issue relates to a microcode error and incorrect voltage and that it would issue a path in mid-August. However, that hasn't stopped many people across various industries from jumping ship to AMD and Ryzen. The latest is a VFX studio in Australia, claiming that the failure rate on its Intel Core i9 13900K and 14900K machines is around 50%.

An early review of AMD's new Ryzen 9 9900X CPU has appeared online via Italian tech outlet SaddyTech ahead of the Ryzen 9000 Series launch and official reviews from outlets receiving pre-release samples from AMD. This review is still online and hasn't been taken down because the outlet managed to snag a retail version of the CPU early.

The 12-core CPU with a Boost Clock of 5.6 GHz and a 120W power rating isn't the flagship option in the new Zen 5 line-up (that title goes to the Ryzen 9 9950X), but it's still up there as an enthusiast-grade, high-end desktop CPU. With that, SaddyTech tested the Ryzen 9 9900X in ten games, comparing performance to the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D gaming processor.

The test rig sports a GeForce RTX 4090 GPU (to minimize bottlenecks), an X670 motherboard, and DDR5-7200 memory. Gaming performance between the two CPUs is close, with the 7800X3D pulling ahead, with up to double-digit gains in some titles.

AMD's next-generation EPYC 9755 "Turin" CPU with 128 cores and 256 threads of Zen 5 processing power being tested in ES (engineering sample) form.

The leaks from the new Zen 5-powered EPYC 9755 processor with 128 cores and 256 threads with a base 2.70GHz CPU clock, and up to 4.10GHz boost clock speeds. These clock speeds might not be final, so we could expect a slight boost in base and boost clocks on the EPYC 9755 "Turin" CPU.

AMD's new EPYC 9755 "Turin" CPU also has a huge pool of cache: 512MB of L3 cache, 128MB of L2 cache, and 10MB of L1 cache for a total of 650MB of cache. The current EPYC 9654 CPU has only 384MB of L3 cache and 96MB of L2 cache. Another note is that AMD's new EPYC "Turin" Zen 5 CPUs have up to 16 x CCDs while "Zen 5c" SKUs have 8 CCDs. This means each CCD has 8 cores (16 x 8) and each CCD also features 4MB of L3 cache.

After many months of ambiguity, Intel believes it has identified the problem causing instability on its high-end CPUs.

Reports have been surfacing for many months now of users experiencing instability problems with 13th and 14th Gen Intel CPUs, of which the cause has alluded Intel, or at least the public, for quite some time. In April, Intel launched an investigation into the instability reports, and in May, the company issued guidance to motherboard partners to set new default settings for affected CPUs. These new settings restricted performance, particularly by restricting the maximum power draw of the CPU.

This bandaid fix appeared to work at first but later unfolded into more instability problems. The problem seemed to get worse when Alderon Games, an Australian-based developer, announced, "Intel is selling defective CPUs - specifically 13th and 14th Gen models". The developer claimed that affected Intel CPUs had a 100% failure rate over the 3 to 4 months of internal testing.

AMD is just days away from launching its new Ryzen AI 300 series "Strix Point" APUs in a fleet of new AI PC laptops, but the beefier "Strix Halo" APU has now been benched, teasing its upgraded performance chops.

The results are coming from the Geekbench 5 database where a purported ES (engineering sample) processor, the "Strix Halo" APU, features 16 high-performance Zen 5 cores and up to 40 Compute Units based on the upgraded RDNA 3.5 GPU architecture.

Strix Point APUs will launch with 16 or 12 Compute Units based on the same RDNA 3.5 GPU, but Strix Halo will deliver gaming performance to laptops at a level not seen before on an APU.

GIGABYTE has teased its upcoming AORUS Z890 PRO ICE motherboard with a leaked PCB, gearing us up for the big launch of Intel's next-gen Core Ultra 200 series "Arrow Lake" CPUs.

In a new post on X by leaker "9550pro" posted a picture on his account of an early PCB of GIGABYTE's upcoming AORUS Z890 motherboard. In the photo, a particular portion of the motherboard shows us that Intel is indeed using the Z890 chipset (which hasn't been confirmed, only leaked) and the Core Ultra 200 series naming scheme for its upcoming CPUs, shifting the desktop chips away from the 14th Gen Core CPU naming scheme.

Multiple motherboard manufacturers have teased next-gen Z890 motherboard designs, but they had to hide the chipset name and CPU support because they're NDA bound by Intel's strong embargo. However, some boards did tease the socking naming and chipset naming convention.

Intel's new Sapphire Rapids Refresh CPUs are on the way, with next-gen Xeon W9-3575X and W7-2595X processors with 44 cores and 26 cores, respectively.

The new Intel "Sapphire Rapids Refresh" Xeon processors will work on the W790 platform, offering more cores, more cache, and higher clock speeds. The new Xeon CPUs are being aimed at workstation platforms, with support for overclocking features on higher-end enthusiast W790 motherboards.

Now we've got some details from "SKYWALKERAMD" at HWbot, with test results on the Xeon W9-3575X with its 44 cores and 88 threads with a base 2.2GHz clock and boost of up to 4.6GHz, alongside 97.50MB of L3 cache and 88MB of L2 cache. Intel's new Xeon W9-3575X processor has a 340W TDP with 8-channel memory support, with the tests using 256GB of DDR5-7000 memory (8 x 32GB sticks) on the ASUS PRO WS W790E-SAGE motherboard.

Intel has very quietly just introduced new LGA1700 socket processors in its growing 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" range of CPUs, featuring only Performance Cores (P-Cores) without Efficient Cores (E-Cores).

The company says its new 14th Gen Core CPUs are for embedded systems and not intended for consumer use, but there's no reason at all that gamers couldn't buy one of these new CPUs. The new flagship Core i9-14901KE processors feature 8 P-Cores and no E-Cores at all, which is the trend with all of these new CPUs... they only feature P-Cores with no E-Cores at all.

Intel's new Core i9-14901KE processor features a higher base clock than the consumer CPU by over 600MHz, up to 3.8GHz, but a lower boost clock of 5.8GHz versus 6.0GHz. Intel has no F-variants of its new 14th Gen Core CPUs, so there are no integrated graphics, while the T-models of these new CPUs are 45W variants versus the 35W spec found in the consumer models.

AMD will launch its next-gen Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000 series "Granite Ridge" CPUs on July 31, with ASUS and its beefed-up X870E motherboards ready with some exclusive BIOS support for the Zen 5 chips.

A member of the HardwareLuxx forums who created the popular thread featuring AGESA updates, has provided an overview of what ASUS is cooking for its new ROG STRIX X870E-E Gaming motherboard, with features not yet supported by ASUS on its motherboards. This includes:

ASUS will allow increases to fan point adjustments to 8, compared to 4 on the previous-gen motherboard in the ROG STRIX X670E-E mobo. ASUS will also include new DDR5 memory OC and Curve Shaper support, which will also be coming to the 600-series motherboards.

AMD is just days away from unleashing its next-generation Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000 series "Granite Ridge" CPUs, with some leaked pricing on the family of Zen 5 processors leaked: flagship Ryzen 9 9950X costs $499.

The new pricing information on the new Ryzen 9000 series CPUs is coming from AnandTech forum member "Hail the Brain Slug" which knows someone who works at BestBuy. The purported BestBuy employee leaked that the Ryzen 9000 series CPUs are currently in stock, and ready for the huge retail launch on July 31.

The BestBuy staffer said there are plenty of Ryzen 9 990X and Ryzen 7 9700X processors, while there's reportedly not many (at least according to this particular BestBuy staffer) of the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors. Here's the pricing breakdown of the Ryzen 9000 series CPUs:

Intel has been in hot water since the instability reports surfaced with its flagship 13th and 14th Gen CPUs, specifically the Core i9-14900K and Core i9-13900K.

These reports have been mounting over the past several months, and in response, Intel denied any RMA requests for issues such as blue screens, intermittent errors, and system crashes. Furthermore, Intel shifted the blame to motherboard manufacturers, which responded by launching their own investigation into the issues and rolling out BIOS updates that provided workaround fixes. Overall, the process has been extremely messy and lacks transparency and frequency in responses from Intel.

The problem seemed to get worse when Alderon Games, an Australian-based developer, announced it was swapping all of its servers to AMD CPUs as it alleged "Intel is selling defective CPUs - specifically 13th and 14th Gen models". Alderon Games said it observed in its own testing conducted over the last 3 to 4 months a 100% failure rate in affected Intel CPUs.

AMD's upcoming Zen 5-based Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix Point" APU has been benchmarked again, this time in Cinebench R23 with a single-core score of 2010 points.

The new Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix Point" APU scored 2010 points in Cinebench R23's single-core test and 23302 points in the multi-core test. The single-core result beats Intel's current flagship mobile CPU, the Core Ultra 9 185 "Meteor Lake" CPU (which scores 1935 points), and just 17147 in the multi-core run against 23302 from the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370.

Intel still has the lead with its desktop-class 55W version of the Core i9-14900HX, which scores 2193 points in the single-core run of Cinebench R23, and 30411 points in the multi-core run. AMD's own Ryzen 9 7945HX3D processor also beats the new Zen 5-based Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix Point" APU, but not in single core (the 7945X3D scores 1935 points in single-core) but beats them all in multi-core scores with 32782 points.

AMD has not only confirmed it's working on Zen 6, but a future-gen Zen 7 architecture is cooking the ovens at AMD right now, which will follow up Zen 6 in the (many) years to come.

The announcement of the future-gen Zen 6 and Zen 7 architectures aren't rumors, they're coming from AMD directly during its recent Zen 5 Tech Day event. We heard details of AMD's upcoming Zen 5-based Ryzen 9 9950X processor, overclocked to an incredible 6.6GHz on LN2 cooling at the Tech Day event, a tease of Zen 6, and even a tease of the future-gen Zen 7 architecture.

AMD CTO Mark Papermaster confirmed that the company is working on the Zen 7 architecture, but it will most likely require a new socket and motherboard. AMD is committed to supporting its current AM5 platform through to 2027, but Zen 7 will slot into a new socket, and new motherboards, sometime in 2027+ and beyond.

Intel's upcoming next-generation flagship Core Ultra 9 285K "Arrow Lake-S" desktop CPU will reportedly boost up to 5.7GHz, or up to 5.4GHz across all P-Cores.

In a new post on X, leaker "Raichu" says that the flagship Core Ultra 9 285K processor will hit a 5.7GHz boost and up to 5.4GHz across all P-Cores. The E-Core clock speeds will hit up to 4.7GHz max, or an all-core E-Core boost of up to 4.6GHz.

We've been hearing through recent rumors that Intel's flagship Core Ultra 9 285K processor in ES (engineering sample) form hitting up to 5.5GHz, while QS (qualifying sample) chips were hitting 5.7GHz, while now we're hearing confirmations of the max 5.7GHz boost for Intel's flagship Arrow Lake-S chip.

We've caught another price leak for AMD's imminent Zen 5 processors, and it's for the lowest-end CPU of the initial offerings that'll be debuting with Ryzen 9000 at the end of July - but sadly, it doesn't look like great news.

Keep plenty of caution in reserve with any price leak of course. It could be a placeholder, but the source is Amazon in Canada - more reliable than your average retailer leak, in theory - and the product listing for the Ryzen 5 9600X shows a pre-order price of $472 CAD.

As Tom's Hardware, which spotted this, points out, going with a simple currency conversion to try to determine a potential US price from that isn't a very useful exercise. These things never translate directly (thanks to import and sales taxes, for starters), so we can glean more - still keep that salt handy though - from looking at comparative US Amazon pricing versus Canadian for the current-gen CPU (7600X).

Intel's next-gen Panther Lake CPU configurations have been leaked, where we can expect up to 5 Tiles on Panther Lake CPUs in the future.

In a new post on X by leaker "Jaykihn" the next-gen Panther Lake-H and Panther Lake-U processors have been detailed, with Intel confirming it has hit the "Power On" achievement on Panther Lake CPUs, entering production on Intel's in-house 18A process node in the first half of 2025, with availability sometime in 2H 2025.

The leak includes a blueprint of the Intel Panther Lake-H processor and details for three configurations. Panther Lake CPUs will be hitting laptops in thin and light designs, right up to high-end laptops of the future.