CPU, APU & Chipsets News - Page 1

Intel has just announced that it has surpassed 500 AI models running optimized on its Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" CPUs.

The company issued a press release today, saying that the industry's leading AI PC processor is available right now enabling new AI experiences, immersive graphics and optimal battery life. This significant milestone is a result of the investments by Intel in client AI, the AI PC transformation, framework optimizations and AI tools including OpenVINO toolkit.

Intel said that the 500 AI models that were trained can be deployed across the CPU, GPU, or NPU, with models drawing from categories of local AI inferencing, including large language, diffusion, super resolution, object detection, image classification/segmentation, computer vision, and more.

Intel's next-generation Core Ultra 200 "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processors will launch later this year, with 6 different SKUs and a flagship 24-core CPU based on next-gen P-Core and E-Core architectures.

Now we've got some new information regarding upcoming SKUs in the Arrow Lake-S desktop CPU family, with the Core Ultra 9 285K, Core Ultra 7 265K, and Core Ultra 5 245K. The new Core Ultra 9 285K will be the successor to the Core i9-14900K, the Core Ultra 7 265K is the successor to the Core i7-14700K, and finally, the Core Ultra 5 245K is the successor to the Core i5-14600K.

We'll also see non-K variants of these processors, with the Core Ultra 9 275, Core Ultra 7 255, and Core Ultra 5 240 processors. The leaks are coming from "OneRaichi" on X, who said that "the rules of names look like a little change".

AMD is preparing a huge wave of next-gen Zen 5 processors in the coming months, with its Strix Halo APUs shaping up to be beasts.

In a new video from Moore's Law is Dead, we're hearing whispers of AMD's new Strix Halo-LP APU, which would be a low-power version of Strix Halo with 6 to 8 cores, and 20 CUs of GPU power that would provide RTX 3050 performance-per-watt-style power.

MLID says that AMD's new Zen 5-powered Strix Halo APUs will come in four different SKUs: Best, Better, Good, and the new LP model we're talking about today. The Strix Halo "Best" APU will feature 8, 12, or 16 cores based on the new Zen 5 architecture, with 40 CUs of RDNA 3.5-based GPU power that provides RTX 4070-class performance. We'll see a 256-bit memory bus on the Strix Halo "Best" APU with around 270GB/sec of memory bandwidth.

Ampere Computing already has its first-gen AmpereOne CPU on the market, but its next-generation AmpereOne-2 and AmpereOne-3 processors have been teased: AmpereOne-3 will reportedly be offered with up to 256 cores ready to go.

AmpereOne features 192 physical cores, a 350W TDP, and 8-channel DDR5 memory, meaning it competes against Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC processors, but now we're hearing about AmpereOne-2 and AmpereOne-3. The Next Platform has the scoop, with Ampere gearing up for its second-generation AmpereOne processor known as AmpereOne-2.

The new AmpereOne-2 processors will feature an upgraded "A2" core architecture, and support for 12-channel DDR5 memory for even more performance. Ampere Computing says that its next-generation AmpereOne-2 processor will have a 33% increase in DDR5 memory controllers (12-channel versus 8-channel) with 50% more memory bandwidth, which will provide some very nice performance improvements.

Intel 13th and 14th Gen Raptor Lake Core i9 processors have been making headlines recently due to widespread reports of crashing and instability, often while gaming. With CPUs drawing more and more power on the high-end, the issues are most likely related to thermal and power delivery on certain 600/700 Series motherboards - and the push to boost clock speeds, benchmark scores, and performance over stability.

ASUS has already addressed the issue with a BIOS update introducing a more sensible 'Intel Baseline Profile' for power limits using Intel's recommended settings. Other big board makers like MSI and GIGABYTE have followed suit with their own BIOS updates and revisions.

In a statement supplied to Igor's Lab, Intel blames motherboard manufacturers for disabling "thermal and power delivery safeguards designed to limit processor exposure to sustained periods of high voltage and frequency." It's a strange stance when the instability lies with the CPU.

AMD's next-gen Ryzen 9050 series "Strix Halo" APU specs have been circulating the rumor mill for a while now, but some new details have surfaced that are getting us excited.

The new Strix Halo APU will be quite the beast, offering 16 cores and 32 threads of next-gen Zen 5 processing power, with 1MB of L2 cache per core, and 32MB per CCD of unified L3 cache (MALL cache). We should see not one but two CCDs on the Strix Halo APU, which will see 8MB of L2 cache per CCD (8 cores per CCD, two CCDs = 16 cores = 16MB of L2 cache in total).

AMD's next-gen Strix Halo APU will feature an upgraded XDNA2-based NPU for AI workloads, offering a much higher 60 TOPS of AI workload performance. Remember: this is 60 TOPS just for the NPU, and not counting what will be capable from the CPU and GPU on Strix Halo. Speaking of the GPU, AMD will include an RDNA 3.5-based GPU with 20 Work Group Processors (WGP).

MSI is the latest motherboard maker to pop up with advice for those who are experiencing PC games crashing with their Core i9 14th-gen or 13th-gen processors - and it includes "some workarounds recommended by Intel."

This advice is delivered in a blog post from MSI on the topic of 'Improving Gaming Stability for Intel Core i9-13900K and Core i9-14900K' processors.

So, let's dive in: Suggested workaround number 1 is simply notching back the processor's power limit to Intel's default of 253W.

AMD will most likely announce its new line of Zen 5 desktop processors at Computex 2024 - and now we can confirm that the line-up will be called the AMD Ryzen 9000 Series thanks to GIGABYTE.

In preparation for AMD's not officially confirmed or announced next-gen Ryzen CPU launch, the big AM5 motherboard makers have started releasing BIOS updates to support future or next-gen Ryzen CPUs. Joining companies like MSI and ASUS, GIGABYTE has released an 'AM5 Next Gen' BIOS update for its GIGABYTE AM5 X670, B650, and A620 motherboards.

The announcement makes it very clear what this is for, stating that the update brings support "for the coming AMD Ryzen 9000 Series" of processors. It doesn't get any more clear-cut than that. Zen 5 is coming very soon, and the desktop line-up will be called the Ryzen 9000 Series.

Qualcomm has been trying for many, many years now to get its Windows on Arm chips up to scratch -- with very, very mixed results -- and now we're being introduced to the new Snapdragon X Elite, which Qualcomm calls the "world's fastest NPU for laptops".

The new Snapdragon X Elite laptop chip has the Qualcomm AI Engine with integrated Qualcomm Hexagon NPU (Neural Processing Unit) with 45 TOPS of AI workload performance. In comparison, Intel's current-gen Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" CPUs top out with 10 TOPS (pun not intended, but it works so well here), while AMD's new Ryzen 8040 "Hawk Point" APUs have 16 TOPS of AI performance.

Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X Elite chip has 75 TOPS of AI performance across the CPU + GPU + NPU and micro NPU, while it's made on the 4nm process by TSMC. On the CPU side of things, we've got the Arm-baed Oryon CPU with 12 cores on the Snapdragon X Elite, or 10 cores on the Snapdragon X Plus.

Capsule toy vending machines, or 'gacha' machines, can be found all over Japan. They dispense random toys and collectibles for a small fee, with themed machines covering everything from popular anime franchises to Hello Kitty to stuff as simple and pure as dinosaur toys. Now, we can add Intel CPUs to the list, as someone has spotted a capsule toy machine in Japan that dispenses random Intel CPUs.

Over on X, user @LaurieWired posted a link and YouTube clip from Sawara-San (which is in Japanese) showing that they managed to snag an Intel Core i7-8700 CPU for just 500 Yen (which is around $3 USD) from this CPU Gacha machine. The machine is located outside 1's PC, a store that sells new and second-hand PC parts and things like cameras.

The Intel Core i7 8700 is not that old, with the eighth-generation Coffee Lake from 2018 closely matching the performance of the flagship Intel Core i7 8700K. It's old by 2024 standards for mid-range CPUs, but for around $3, it's a bargain. It's a 6-core 12-thread CPU with a 4.7 GHz Boost Clock - not too shabby. Except, this random 'gacha' version ran into issues.