Benchmarks from Apple’s A12Z-powered Developer Transition Kit have surfaced on Geekbench, giving us our first taste of what to expect from Apple’s transition to ARM-based processors.
Though bound by a confidentiality clause, developers have begun leaking benchmarks from the Mac Mini-like DTK, which packs the same A12Z Bionic SoC as the iPad Pro 2020.
In Geekbench 5, the ARM machine achieved a score of around 800 on the Geekbench single-core test, and around 2600 on multi-core.
Although this is significantly less than the scores racked up by the latest iPad Pro, it's likely because developer kit is running through the Rosetta 2 emulation layer. As per the Geekbench listing, the benchmarks also only utilize the A12Z’s four 'performance' cores; it also boasts four low-power efficiency cores.
What’s more, even though it fails to trounce the iPad Pro, which scored 1,117 and 4,712 in the same tests, it achieves performance levels similar to the entry-level 2020 MacBook Air, which scored 1,005 in the single core and 2,000 in the multi-core tests.
This device scored around 600 in the single-core benchmark and 2,600 in the multi-core test.
"So the DTK with a two-year-old iPad chip runs x86_64 code, in emulation, faster than the Surface Pro X runs it natively. Oh boy Qualcomm, what are you even doing?," Troughton-Smith scoffed on Twitter.
While we’re still a way out from seeing the true performance of Apple Silicon, it might not be too long until we find out. Apple will release its first ARM-based MacBook later this year, which is expected to be based on the Apple A14 chipset that’s set to power the iPhone 12.
Today Qualcomm is making a big step forward in its smartwatch SoC offerings by introducing the brand-new Snapdragon Wear 4100 and Wear 4100+ platforms. The new chips succeed the aging two 2018 originating Wear 3100 platforms and significantly upgrading the hardware specifications, bringing to the table all new IPs for CPU, GPU and DSPs, all manufactured on a newer lower power process node.
AMD’s Ryzen 4000 desktop processors are about to enter mass production, according to the rumor mill, so they should be on track for a 2020 launch as has previously been insisted.
This information comes from Igor’s Lab, whose sources reckon that Ryzen 4000 CPUs have reached ‘B0 stepping’ – a technical term for a different revision of a processor – with that silicon likely to be the final version, and hence AMD’s ready to begin mass production of the finished products.
Naturally, we have to chuck in a big heap of salt with this one, given that it’s just chatter from the grapevine. And even if what the sources believe is actually true right now, there’s always the possibility that some kind of last-minute gremlin could prompt a further revision.
In other words, don’t get carried away, although it’s difficult not to get at least a little excited at the prospect that Ryzen 4000 desktop processors could be about to start rolling off assembly lines.
No pressure?
It’s still not certain exactly when these CPUs might launch, but we’ve heard the possibility of AMD unveiling the chips as early as September. In reality, as to when they might actually go on sale, it could be October, or indeed any of the closing months of 2020.
With mass production about to start – possibly – the chips could certainly come sooner rather than later, although even if the lines are cranked up, AMD may not necessarily feel a whole lot of pressure to rush Ryzen 4000 out the door (or at least not the entire range, as some other rumor mongers seem to believe that only the high-end CPUs might arrive initially).
After all, existing Ryzen 3000 processors are plenty competitive compared to Intel’s latest Comet Lake products, and indeed we have refreshed Ryzen 3000 ‘XT’ models due to debut very shortly.
With Intel’s Rocket Lake next-gen CPUs still some way off, and potentially launching in Q1 or Q2 of 2021 – and still built on 14nm (albeit with a new architecture) – AMD seems to be very much in the driving seat, and sales of desktop products clearly reflect this.
Soon after the Core i9-10900K CPU was revealed back in April, we got confirmation that the new 400-series motherboards would also support the 11th-gen Rocket Lake CPUs that are due to arrive next year.
AMD’s new Ryzen 3800XT and 3900XT processors which are set to debut imminently on July 7 just became a more attractive proposition for those who are interested in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, because rumor has it that these CPUs – and other Ryzen 7 and 9 models from the Ryzen 3000 range – will come with a free copy of the game.
That’s according to leaked promotional material highlighted by Videocardz, with the offer likely to kick off when the new XT chips are launched, although the website does note that its sources have not confirmed that timeframe (obviously it makes sense, though).
AMD Zen 3 specs: everything we know about AMD Ryzen 4000
A free copy of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will reportedly come with AMD’s Ryzen 7 3800X and Ryzen 7 3700X, as well as the Ryzen 9 3950X and 3900X, plus the aforementioned 3800XT and 3900XT (but not the new Ryzen 5 3600XT – sadly, this offer is only available for Ryzen 7 and 9 chips).
Need for Creed
The new XT models offer faster boost speeds than the existing 3800X and 3900X CPUs, and other performance optimizations, serving as something of a stopgap measure to help combat Intel’s new Comet Lake processors until Ryzen 4000 arrives on the desktop later this year.
The next instalment in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Valhalla puts the player in the shoes of a Viking raider having arrived in England in the Dark Ages, facing the might of the Saxons.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is moving away from stealth mechanics, and embracing the likes of large-scale battles and raids. The game is expected to arrive at some point during holiday 2020, so it’ll be a while before you can actually claim the offer and play it.
System76 has refreshed its high-end Oryx Pro laptop for developers and Linux enthusiasts, and it now packs Intel's 10th generation Comet Lake CPUs. Specifically, you can get this with a Core i7-10875H that offers eight cores and 16 threads - essentially a more refined, 14nm version of the Skylake architecture...
Sometimes choosing a CPU is hard. So we've got you covered. In our CPU Guides, we give you our pick of some of the best processors available, supplying data from our reviews. Our Best CPUs for Gaming guide targets most of the common system-build price points that typically pair a beefy graphics card with a capable processor, with the best models being suitable for streaming and encoding on the fly.
The arrival of the AMD B550 chipset is an exciting prospect for PC builders, as it’s the first to bring the potential of PCIe 4.0 to the forefront for mainstream builders. ASUS has a diverse selection of new motherboards to choose from with this chipset, and this useful B550 motherboard guide will help you figure out which one is right for you.
In ASUS B550 motherboards, the main PCIe x16 and M.2 slots are PCIe 4.0-capable. They also feature up to four USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports that clock in with a maximum supported speed of 10Gbps each. The chipset’s built-in lanes now have PCIe 3.0 connectivity as well, which is great to see. Additionally, AMD has noted that future CPUs built on the Zen 3 architecture will be fully compatible with B550 motherboards, making them a safe and long-lasting investment for people who wish to upgrade to those new processors down the line.
The claim comes from former Intel principal engineer François Piednoël (as reported by PC Gamer), who claims that the "bad quality assurance of Skylake" solidified Apple’s decision to use its own silicon, which the company finally confirmed at its WWDC event.
Apple having complete control over both the hardware and software of its Macs and MacBooks, as it does with its iPhones and iPads (which run on Apple-designed chips) makes a lot of sense, and was something the company had been considering for some time; however, according to Piednoël, Intel’s issues with its Skylake processors are what finally made Apple decide to part ways (at least, partially) with the chip-maker.
Spilling the beans
According to Piednoël, the quality assurance of Skylake was “abnormally bad. We were getting way too much citing for little things inside Skylake”, and “Apple became the number one filer of problems in the architecture. And that went really, really bad”.
While this is just the view of a single ex-Intel employee, what they're saying does make sense. After all, if a processor is causing Macs and MacBooks to encounter issues, Apple’s customers are going to start blaming Apple – and that wouldn’t have gone down well.
That, along with Piednoël’s claim that the Skylake problems were “where the Apple guys who were always contemplating to switch… looked at it and said: ’Well, we've probably got to do it’,” hints at Apple’s interest in moving to its own ARM-based chips.
Again, though, this is all the opinion of one ex-employee. It’s also worth noting that when Apple announced it was developing its own chips, CEO Tim Cook stressed that the company was “very excited“ about future Intel-based devices.
For its part, Intel has told us that “Apple is a customer across several areas of business, and we will continue to support them.“
Leaks and speculations about the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 and the RTX 3000 series in general, have been piling up, with the line rumored to get its highly anticipated release this year. Even though there’s no mention of PC gaming or GeForce GPUs when Nvidia announced Ampere for Data Center – much in the same way it did when Nvidia Volta preceded the Nvidia Turinggraphics cards – but that doesn’t mean we won’t still see the GeForce RTX 3080 this year.
That’s why leaks regarding Nvidia Ampere haven't died down, many of them speculating that it might be the graphics architecture for this upcoming slate of consumer GPUs. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has already indicated as much, announcing that the 7nm Ampere microarchitecture will be used for all of its next-generation graphics cards, which could very well include the next GeForce cards.
We’re only months away now from the RTX 3000’s rumored release date, so we thought we’d gather everything we know and have heard so far about these next generation RTX GPUs from AMD. Keep this page bookmarked to learn what’s in store for Nvidia’s upcoming line of GPUs, as we’re keeping abreast of all the rumors, leaks, speculation and gossip, and will continue to update it.
Cut to the chase
What is it? The next Nvidia GeForce flagship
When is it out? Possibly in August 2020
How much is it? Likely around the same price as the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080
(Image credit: Flickr)
RTX 3080 release date
For a while, the rumor mill was suggesting that we're going to see the next GeForce lineup make an appearance at GTC, or the GPU Technology Conference in March. But, Nvidia has since canceled its ‘exciting’ GTC graphics card revelations. Since then, Nvidia has officially announced the Nvidia Ampere for Data Center. And, as expected, it did so before the RTX 3000 lineup, just like when it launched Volta in May 2017 more than a year before Turing.
Luckily, it doesn’t seem like we have to wait until 2021 to get a glimpse of the next generation RTX cards. In the past, Nvidia GeForce lineups have been about two years apart. For instance, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 dropped back in May 2016, with the GeForce RTX 2080 succeeding it in August 2018. The time between the GTX 980 and GTX 1080 was a bit shorter, with the former arriving in September 2014. Still as a general rule, we've been able to historically count on there being a new lineup of graphics cards every couple of years.
Tweaktown has reported that Nvidia plans to unveil the Ampere GPU architecture in August this year and launch it in September at Computex 2020. Similarly, a more recent rumor has Nvidia starting mass production of the GPUs in August, and holding an official meda reveal event in September 2020. It’s also likely that Nvidia could show off the GPUs a bit earlier than the media event at a public event, possibly at Gamescom 2020 in August.
This is certainly likely, as it’s similar to how Nvidia launched Turing at Gamescom back in August 2018, and would mark a straight 2-year cycle for the current-generation cards.
We’ve heard that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, which may be up to 40% faster than its predecessor and run with hugely fast boost clocks of up to 2.2GHz as well as 18Gbps video memory, could also launch by the end of 2020.
In any case, AIB partners are said to be clearing out their stock now, allegedly in preparation for an Nvidia Ampere launch in Q3 2020, so chances of us seeing the RTX 3080, as well as the more powerful RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090, this year are high. Though with how these things typically go, we won't actually know when the RTX 3080 is on its way until Nvidia is ready.
(Image credit: Nvidia)
RTX 3080 price
Because we're so far out from a potential GeForce RTX 3080 release, we obviously have no idea how much it will cost. But, that doesn't mean we can't do a bit of speculation about it.
Nvidia Turing graphics cards saw a large price jump over their Pascal predecessors, and we'd almost expect the same to happen with whatever comes next. However, we have heard some rumors that suggest that the next-generation graphics cards will be more affordable. That said, this rumor revolves around another rumor that the cards will be manufactured using Samsung 7nm EUV (extreme ultraviolet) manufacturing process. We'd take that one with a grain of salt.
One thing that absolutely needs to be taken into consideration when talking about RTX 3080 price is 'Big Navi'. When Nvidia Turing hit the streets it was basically completely unopposed by AMD. Even when Team Red dropped the Radeon VII in February 2019 it was totally incapable of dethroning the RTX 2080. Competition has definitely heated up since then, though.
Both the Radeon RX 5700 series and the Radeon RX 5600 XT have caused Nvidia to drop prices in response, and the threat of 'Big Navi' supposedly beating the RTX 2080 Ti by 30% could force Nvidia to drop its prices to compete. Still, we won't know the RTX 3080's price until we see Nvidia lift the veil – or at least until more substantial leaks surface.
(Image credit: TechRadar)
RTX 3080 specs
We have seen a lot of really vague speculation and rumors surrounding supposed RTX 3080 specs, but there are some constants: that it’ll be 7nm and will be faster than the RTX 2080. That second one should be super obvious, of course – why would Nvidia put out new graphics cards if they're not significantly faster?
The other rumor, the 7nm manufacturing process, is much more interesting. If you've been following the AMD vs Intel smackdown over the last year, you're probably aware that one of the things that's kept AMD on top of the CPU world is the fact that it's been able to fully adopt 7nm while Intel, at least when it comes to desktop, being stuck at 14nm. If Nvidia is able to adopt a 7nm manufacturing process for the RTX 3080, AMD won't have such an easy time dunking on it.
If these rumors are actually true, it would mean that Nvidia could significantly boost performance - up to 50% according to some rumors - while boosting power efficiency significantly. When combined with DLSS, which will absolutely be a part of whatever graphics cards Nvidia puts out next, could potentially lead to 4K graphics cards being available in the mid-range sector for the first time.
All that power requires a much more efficient cooling system, so recently leaked images showing a prototype of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 with a striking new fan design is naturally making rounds.
Hardware leaker kopite7kimi has also speculated the RTX 3080 might use the GA102-200 GPU, and that there may just be an RTX 3090 graphics card backing it up. If this educated guesswork holds water, we could be looking at an AMD Big Navi killer.
NVIDIA GA103:60 SM , 320-bit10GB/20GB Graphics MemoryNVIDIA GA104:48 SM , 256-bit8GB/16GB Graphics Memory pic.twitter.com/IaQt6mtQ4bJanuary 17, 2020
Exactly how much faster and more powerful the RTX 3080 would be, it’s too early to tell. There’s a Nvidia GPU with a whopping 33 teraflops, 24GB of memory and 1.11GHz clock that was recently spotted in a benchmark, as well as another one with 124 compute units. While these may be too powerful to be the RTX 3080, they could also hint towards what the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 may look like.
We have even seen some more specific spec leaks, notably one from hardware leaker KittyCorgi, who suggests that Nvidia's next-generation flagship could potentially come with up to 20GB of VRAM. Of course, this is a leak we'd take with a hefty dose of salt, but it could potentially prove our theory that the next graphics architecture Nvidia announces will in fact be for professionals. The Quadro RTX 6000, for instance, packs 24GB of GDDR6 - but it also costs $4,000 (£4,066, AU$6,999).
Right now, if we had to put our money down, we'd suggest that these leaked specs are for an Nvidia Quadro or Tesla card, or maybe even the follow-up to the Nvidia Titan V. Whatever the GeForce RTX 3080 looks like, we seriously doubt we've seen it yet.
Meanwhile, a massive leak from Moore’s Law is Dead reveals a GA102 GPU that will theoretically be Nvidia’s top-end Ampere consumer offering. It’s highly likely going to be named the RTX 3080 Ti, and looks to be an out-and-out beast of a graphics card with hugely fast boost clocks of up to 2.2GHz, offering 21 TFlops of raw performance, 18Gbps video memory – 864GB/s of memory bandwidth, around 40% more than the 2080 Ti (at 616GB/s), and PCIe 4.0 support.
Other lesser graphics cards in the 3000 range have been revealed as well, and they may push those boost clocks to 2.5GHz. Moore’s Law is Dead argues that 4K graphics will become the mainstream standard with these new Ampere models, and we might be looking at the future of gaming on PC coming in 4K.
Don't worry, though. We'll keep our eyes open for the next generation of GeForce, and we'll be sure to update this article as soon as we see any juicy RTX 3080 spec rumors.
Absent from the discrete GPU space for over 20 years, this year Intel is set to see the first fruits from their labors to re-enter that market. The company has been developing their new Xe family of GPUs for a few years now, and the first products are finally set to arrive in the coming months with the Xe-LP-based DG1 discrete GPU, as well as Tiger Lake’s integrated GPU, kicking off the Xe GPU era for Intel.
But those first Xe-LP products are just the tip of a much larger iceberg. Intending to develop a comprehensive top-to-bottom GPU product stack, Intel is also working on GPUs optimized for the high-power discrete market (Xe-HP), as well as the high-performance computing market (Xe-HPC).
Xe-HPC, in turn, is arguably the most important of the three segments for Intel, as well as being the riskiest. The server-class GPU will be responsible for broadening Intel’s lucrative server business beyond CPUs, along with fending off NVIDIA and other GPU/accelerator rivals, who in the last few years have ridden the deep learning wave to booming profits and market shares that increasingly threaten Intel’s traditional market dominance. The server market is also the riskiest market, due to the high-stakes nature of the hardware: the only thing bigger than the profits are the chips, and thus the costs to enter the market. So under the watchful eye of Raja Koduri, Intel’s GPU guru, the company is gearing up to stage a major assault into the GPU space.
That brings us to the matter of this week’s teaser. One of the benefits of being a (relatively) upstart rival in the GPU business is that Intel doesn’t have any current-generation products that they need to protect; without the risk of Osborning themselves, they’re free to talk about their upcoming products even well before they ship. So, as a bit of a savvy social media ham, Koduri has been posting occasional photos of Ponte Vecchio, the first Xe-HPC GPU, as Intel brings it up in their labs.
Today’s teaser from Koduri shows off a tray with three different Ponte Vecchio chips of different sizes. While detailed information about Ponte Vecchio is still limited, Intel has previously commented that Ponte Vecchio would be taking a chiplet route for the GPU, using multiple chiplets to build larger and more powerful designs. Koduri’s latest photo, in turn, looks to be a clear illustration of that, with the larger chip sizes roughly correlating to 1x2 and 2x2 configurations of the smallest chip.
And with presumably multiple chiplets under the hood, the resulting chips are quite sizable. With a helpful 18650 battery in the photo for reference, we can see that the smaller packages are around 65mm wide, while the largest package is easily approaching 110mm on a side. (For refence, an Intel desktop CPU is around 37.5mm x 37.5mm).
Finally, in a separate tweet, Koduri quickly talks about performance: “And..they let me hold peta ops in my palm(almost:)!” Koduri doesn’t go into any detail about the numeric format involved – an important qualifier when talking about compute throughput on GPUs that can process lower-precision formats at higher rates – but we’ll be generous and assume INT8 operations. INT8 has become a fairly popular format for deep learning inference, as the integer format offers great performance for neural nets that don’t need high precision. NVIDIA’s A100 accelerator, for reference, tops out at 0.624 PetaOPs for regular tensor operations, or 1.248 PetaOps for a sparse matrix.
And that is the latest on Ponte Vecchio. Though with the parts likely not shipping until later in 2021 as part of the Aurora supercomputer, it’s likely not going to be the last word from Intel and Koduri on their first family of HPC GPUs.
One of the stories bubbling away in the background of the industry is the AMD self-imposed ‘25x20’ goal. Starting with performance in 2014, AMD committed to itself, to customers, and to investors that it would achieve an overall 25x improvement in ‘Performance Efficiency’ by 2020, which is a function of raw performance and power consumption. At the time AMD was defining its Kaveri mobile product as the baseline for the challenge – admittedly a very low bar – however each year AMD has updated us on its progress. With this year being 2020, the question on my lips ever since the launch of Zen2 for mobile was if AMD had achieved its goal, and if so, by how much? The answer is yes, and by a lot.
In this article we will recap the 25x20 project, how the metrics are calculated, and what this means for AMD in the long term.
Up until very recently, if you wanted the latest and greatest motherboard for an AMD CPU you were forced to buy a motherboard with an X570 chipset, that is until AMD released the B550 to the masses. Asus has some of the largest selection of motherboards and we have the minuscule Asus ROG Strix B550-I motherboard on the test bench. The ROG Strix B550-I is a mini ITX motherboard which is great for small builds. Over the last few generations, ITX boards have been able to meet the performance of their full-size counterparts and the Strix B550-I aims to keep this trend going. ITX motherboards do make some sacrifices for size. For example, you only get one PCIe slot and two vs. four memory slots. As far as the chipset, the main difference between the X570 and B550 is the PCIe generation and the configuration. 1st off, the B550 uses PCIe 3.0 for the CPU to chipset link whereas the X570 uses PCIe 4.0. With the B550, you still get 16 lanes of PCIe Gen4 for graphics and one 4-lane PCIe 4.0 NVME slot and a ton of PCIe Gen3 lanes that the motherboard manufactures can arrange how they see fit. Also with the B550, you gain the support for dual GPUs which is something the B450 lacked. Overall, the B550 should be cheaper than the X570 boards. While there are trade-offs in I/O and the bells and whistles available on the board, is there a trade-off for performance as well? From what I know from the reviews of the X570 and B450 boards, performance differences should be minimal. I can understand AMD not wanting to give everything away on the B550 as far as available features because why would you buy an X570 board? However, I can’t see AMD penalizing you for buying a less expensive board to pair with their latest and greatest CPU. To me, that just doesn’t make sense.
Review Sample Provided by: Asus Product Name/Link to Website:Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming Product was given in exchange for work done to produce this review.
Packaging
The box features the ROG (Republic Of Gamers) logo dressed in RGB neon colors behind the graphic of the front side of the motherboard on the front of the box. Clearly, you can see what chipset and what CPU generation this motherboard is for. On the back of the box, Asus goes into a lot more detail on some of the specifications such as I/O, SATA port count, as well as some of the features of the Strix B550-I
Inside, you’ll find the motherboard wrapped in an anti-static bag. There are two compartments to the box. The top compartment holds the motherboard and the bottom compartment holds the accessories.
The accessory bundle for the Strix B550-I includes a rear I/O shield, SATA cables, zip ties, a USB c to 3.5mm headphone jack, an M.2 bracket, and screws, and Wifi antenna. Also included are a sticker sheet, thank you card, manual, and a DVD. Honestly, I’d rather see USB drives included for drivers rather than DVDs. Not many people that I know still have an optical drive in their PC.
Specifications
CPU
AMD AM4 Socket 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ Processors
* Refer to www.asus.com for CPU support list
Chipset
AMD B550
Memory
5100(O.C)/5000(O.C)/4800(O.C.)/4600(O.C)/4400(O.C)/4266(O.C.)/
4133(O.C.)/4000(O.C.)/3800(O.C.)/3600(O.C.)/3466(O.C.)/3400(O.C.)/
3200/3000/2933/2800/2666/2400/2133 MHz Un-buffered Memory *
Dual Channel Memory Architecture
OptiMem II
ECC Memory (ECC mode) support varies by CPU.
Graphic
1 x HDMI 2.1(4K@60HZ) *
1 x DisplayPort 1.4 *
*Graphics specifications may vary between CPU types.
Expansion Slots
1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 (x16 mode)
Storage
Total supports 2 x M.2 slots and 4 x SATA 6Gb/s ports 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ Processors :
1 x M.2_1 socket 3, with M Key, Type 2242/2260/2280 (PCIe 4.0 x4 and SATA modes) storage devices support AMD B550 Chipset :
1 x M.2_2 socket 3, with M Key, Type 2242/2260/2280 (PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA modes) storage devices support
4 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s),
Support Raid 0, 1, 10
LAN
Intel® I225-V 2.5Gb Ethernet
ASUS LANGuard
Wireless Data Network
Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX200
2×2 Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) support 1024QAM/OFDMA/MU-MIMO
Supports dual band frequency 2.4/5 GHz
Supports channel bandwidth: HT20/HT40/HT80/HT160
Bluetooth
Bluetooth v5.1*
*BT 5.1 function will be ready in Windows 10 build 19041 or later.
Audio
SupremeFX 7.1 Surround Sound High Definition Audio CODEC S1220A
– Dual OP Amplifiers
– Impedance sense for front and rear headphone outputs
– Supports: Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-retasking
– High quality 120 dB SNR stereo playback output and 113 dB SNR recording input
– Supports up to 32-Bit/192kHz playback * Audio Feature :
– Rear audio USB Type-C® port
– LED-illuminated design
– Audio Shielding
– Premium Japanese audio capacitors
USB Ports
Rear USB Port ( Total 6 )
4 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 port(s)(1 x USB Type-C® +3 x Type-A)
1 x USB 2.0 port(s)
1 x USB 2.0 port(s)(1 x audio USB Type-C® ) Front USB Port ( Total 5 )
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 front-panel connector port(s)(1 x USB Type-C®)
2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 port(s)
2 x USB 2.0 port(s)
Software Features
ROG Exclusive Software
– RAMCache III
– ROG CPU-Z
– GameFirst VI
– Sonic Studio III + Sonic Studio Virtual Mixer
– Sonic Radar III
– DTS® Sound Unbound
– Overwolf
– Anti-virus software
ASUS Exclusive Software Features
Armoury Crate
– Aura Creator
– Aura Sync
-AI Noise Cancelling Microphone
ASUS Special Features
Aura Sync
– Standard RGB header(s)
– Addressable Gen 2 RGB header(s)
ASUS Q-Design
– ASUS Q-CODE
– ASUS Q-DIMM
– ASUS Q-LED (DRAM [yellow],CPU [red], VGA [white], Boot Device [yellow green)
– ASUS Q-Slot
ASUS Thermal Solution
– Aluminum M.2 heatsink
ASUS EZ DIY
-BIOS Flashback™ button
-BIOS FlashBack™ LED
-Clear CMOS header
-Procool
-Pre-mounted I/O shield
– SafeSlot
Rear audio USB Type-C® connector
Back I/O Ports
1 x Intel® I225-V 2.5Gb Ethernet
1 x DisplayPort
1 x HDMI
4 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (1 x USB Type-C®+3 x Type-A)
2 x USB 2.0 (one port can be switched to USB BIOS FlashBack™ 1 for audio USB Type-C®)
1 x BIOS FlashBack™ Button(s)
1 x ASUS Wi-Fi Module
3 x LED-illuminated audio jacks
Internal I/O Ports
1 x CPU Fan connector(s)
1 x Chassis Fan connector(s)
1 x AIO_PUMP connector
1 x Aura RGB Strip Header(s)
1 x Addressable Gen 2 header(s)
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 front panel TypeC™ connector
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1(up to 5Gbps) connector(s) support(s) additional 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 port(s)
1 x USB 2.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 2 USB 2.0 port(s)
2 x M.2 Socket 3 with M Key design, type 2242/2260/2280 storage devices support (Supports both SATA & PCIe SSD)
4 x SATA 6Gb/s connector(s)
1 x 24-pin EATX Power connector(s)
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector(s)
1 x Front panel audio connector(s) (AAFP)
1 x Thermal sensor connector(s)
1 x Clear CMOS jumper(s)
1 x System panel connector
1 x Speaker connector
1 x VRM_HS_FAN Header
Accessories
User’s manual
I/O Shield
4 x SATA 6Gb/s cable(s)
2 x M.2 Screw Package
1 x Supporting DVD
1 x ROG Strix stickers
1 x M.2 bracket
1 x Cable ties pack(s)
1 x Wi-Fi Antenna(s)
1 x Extension cable for Addressable LED
1 x Panel cable
1 x ROG Thank you card
1 x ROG audio USB Type-C® cable
BIOS
256 Mb Flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS
Manageability
WOL by PME, PXE
Operating System
Windows® 10 64-bit
Form Factor
Mini ITX Form Factor
6.7 inch x 6.7 inch ( 17 cm x 17 cm )
The latest generation of Intel Core CPUs have arrived accompanied by the new Z490 platform. Incredibly, there are over 50 Intel Z490 motherboards on the market, with prices ranging from $150 all the way up to $1,300. Here's what you should buy.
ZADAK introduces the MOAB II ELITE, the next-gen. compact water-cooled PC case into their growing line of products. The MOAB II ELITE is a compact case (311mm x 193mm x 371mm), built around the patented CNC-milled aluminum water distribution plate. The distribution plate is meticulously designed and manufactured with built-in water channels to reduce unnecessary tubing for clean builds. The MOAB II ELITE is now compatible with graphics card of up to 280mm in length and most m-ATX motherboards. Other notable features include the world’s first capacitive touch switch for powering on/off, a digital display providing real-time water temperature measurements, and customizable ARGB accent lighting.
Water Cooling at the Core
The MOAB II ELITE also features the patented CNC-milled aluminum water distribution plate, that eliminates unnecessary tubing. The unit itself is hidden in the center of the case. While this creates a compact build, it also reduces the risk of leaking and cracking. In addition, the case includes a 240mm radiator connected to the water distribution plate, which is strategically placed on the backside.
Smart Detection and Monitoring
For monitoring, even the most power-hungry systems, the MOAB II ELITE is equipped with a digital display for real-time water temperature measurements. Users will have an accurate display of their PC water cooling temperature levels to avoid overheating. Also included is the water level indicator, which is found on the side of the case. This additional feature displays the water cooling levels so users will know when they need to make necessary adjustments.
Compact and Compatible
While maintaining its compact size, the MOAB II ELITE has updated the connecting outlet to the CPU block, allowing it to adjust horizontally and vertically making it compatible with most m-ATX motherboards. In addition, The MOAB II ELITE is now compatible with any graphics cards of up to 280mm in length and easily slotted on the side of the case.
Touch and Slide to Power On
The MOAB II ELITE features the world’s only capacitive touch power switch. This one-of-a-kind intelligent design operates the on/off function when users slide their finger across the capacitive strip, a demonstration of ZADAK’s PC innovation.
EK® Water Blocks is releasing a whole series of workstation/server-grade water blocks for some of the most powerful Workstation GPUs on the market today based on both NVIDIA® and AMD® graphics chips.
EK-Pro GPU WB Series products
These water blocks directly cool the GPU, VRAM, and the VRM (voltage regulation module) as cooling liquid is channeled directly over these critical areas. They use an Open Split-Flow cooling engine design which proved to be a superior solution for GPU water blocks. It is characterized by low hydraulic flow restriction, which means that it can be used with weaker water pumps, or pumps running on low-speed settings and still achieve top performance. The jet plate and fin structure geometry have been optimized to provide even flow distribution with minimal losses and optimal performances even when used in reversed water flow scenarios.
If you’d like to make a serviceable workstation, where any GPU could be replaced for maintenance or repair within roughly a minute, pairing up EK-Pro GPU water blocks with manifolds and quick disconnect kits allow you to remove any water-cooled GPU or CPU without draining the system.
EK-Pro GPU WB RTX water blocks
Premium industrial GPU water blocks for NVIDIA Quadro™ RTX™ and GeForce™ RTX 2080 Ti:
EK-Pro GPU WB RTX 8000 – Ni + Inox is compatible with NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 GPUs.
EK-Pro GPU WB RTX 6000 – Ni + Inox is compatible with NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 GPUs.
EK-Pro GPU WB RTX 4000 – Ni + Inox is compatible with NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 GPUs.
EK-Pro GPU WB RTX 2080 Ti – Ni + Inox is compatible with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards.
EK-Pro GPU WB WX9100 is compatible with AMD® Radeon™ Pro WX 9100 graphics cards.
EK-Pro GPU backplates
Premium CNC machined aluminum retention backplates for NVIDIA RTX and AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 graphics cards. They cover the entire length of the graphics cards PCB, serve as an aesthetic add-on, and also provide passive cooling for the backside of the GPU core and voltage regulation module.
EK-Pro GPU WB RTX 4000 Backplate– Black is compatible with NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 GPUs.
EK-Pro GPU WB RTX Backplate – Black is compatible with NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000, NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.
EK-Pro GPU WB WX9100 Backplate – Black is compatible with AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 graphics cards.
This large launch is merely one of the first big steps toward the enterprise market. In the following months, you can expect many more workstation and enterprise cooling solutions from EK.
Availability and Pricing
EK-Pro water blocks and backplates are made in Slovenia, Europe, and are available for order through EK Webshop.
One of the key drivers in the Arm server space over the last few years has been the cohesion of the different product teams attempting to build the next processor to attack the dominance of x86 in the enterprise market. A number of companies and products have come and gone (Qualcomm’s Centriq) or been acquired (Annapurna by Amazon, Applied Micro by Ampere), with varying degrees of success, some of which is linked to the key personnel in each team. One of our readers has recently highlighted us to a recent movement in this space: Gopal Hegde, the VP/GM of the ThunderX Processor Business Unit at Marvell, has now left the company.
Today at the Next@Acer conference, Acer is announcing an updated version of their compact gaming desktop, the Predator Orion 3000, and the company was able to send us a pre-production unit for a hands-on. As this is a pre-production unit, final performance is not yet fine-tuned, but we can go over the new chassis design, as well as the internals of this mid-sized tower PC.
Acer Predator Desktop
Orion 3000
CPU
10th Generation Intel Core i5 Processor
10th Generation Intel Core i7 Processor
GPU
NVIDIA GeForce GTX Options:
GTX 1650
GTX 1660
NVIDIA RTX Options:
RTX 2060
RTX 2060 Super
RTX 2070 Super
Killer E2600 Gigabit Ethernet
Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth 5.1
Cooling
Dual Predator Frostblade RGB fans
I/O - Rear
4 x USB 3.2
2 x USB 2.0
3.5 mm audio
I/O - Front
1 x USB Type-A
1 x USB Type-C
3.5mm audio
Dimensions
15.4 x 6.8 x 10.5 inches (HxWxD)
Starting Price
$999.99
Availability
September 2020
Acer’s updated Orion 3000 chassis is a well-thought out design, with some excellent features, and a compact and stylish design that would fit well on any gaming desk. Acer offers the Orion 3000 with a black perforated side panel, or you can opt for an EMI compliant tempered glass side if you want to check out the RGB-lit interior. At 18 Liters, the Orion 3000 is also surprisingly compact considering the powerful components inside.
Keeping everything cool are two Predator “Frostblade” fans, with 16.7 million colors to choose from in the PredatorSense App. The RGB also continues with two accent lights along the front of the case, and with or without the clear side panel, the lighting is plenty to create a glow around the system. Powering up the system was impressive, not only because of the random RGB color scheme, but also because the Frostblade fans were tuned for a very low noise level. The system, even as a pre-production sample, was nearly silent at idle.
The Orion 3000 isn’t just about style though. Acer has some wonderful functional elements to their design as well. The top of the case houses a built-in carrying handle, which makes the small desktop very easy to move around, and although I am not sure if Acer came up with the idea of including a headset holder built into the chassis, but it’s a brilliant idea and one I wish my own case offered. The power button is very prominent and easy to access, and for the new design Acer has moved the front panel ports behind a small door to keep them concealed when not in use. Whether or not you’d like them behind a door probably depends on how often you use them, but the door looks like it could be removed without too much effort.
As this is a pre-production unit, the cable management will likely be adjusted somewhat in the next couple of months, but even so it did not impede airflow at all.
The case has room for two 3.5-inch SATA drives, as well as an NVMe slot for the built-in storage, of which Acer is offering up to 1 TB for the boot drive. The system will have a single PCIe x16 slot for the GPU, so any expansion will have to be over USB. There’s onboard Gigabit Ethernet and Wi-Fi 6 to cover any networking needs.
Acer will be offering a wide-range of performance, with Core i5 and Core i7 models, and up to 64 GB of DDR4-2666 memory. On the GPU front, Acer is offering the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 and 1660, and RTX 2060, 2060 Super, and 2070 Super options. The sample we were provided featured a 500-Watt power supply, which should be plenty to handle everything Acer is offering.
The redesigned Predator Orion 3000 will be available in September, starting at $999.99 USD.
With the advent of higher performance Arm based cloud computing, a lot of focus is being put on what the various competitors can do in this space. We’ve covered Ampere Computing’s previous eMag products, which actually came from the acquisition of Applied Micro, but the next generation hardware is called Altra, and after a few months of teasing some high performance compute, the company is finally announcing its product list, as well as an upcoming product due for sampling this year.
Just a week after announcing premium Ultra 4K Android TVs, Vu is launching affordable 32-inch (HD) and 43-inch (Full-HD) Cinema Smart TVs. These affordable models start as low as Rs 12,999 and will be competing against the likes of Xiaomi and Realme in the segment. The new Vu smart TVs come with smaller sizes, 40W in-built soundbars and as well as Android TV 9 Pie with voice-activated Google Assistant.
In terms of specifications, the 32-inch model comes with a 1366x768 HD LED panel while the 43-inch model has a 1920x1080 Full-HD screen. And that’s pretty much the biggest difference between the two models. The displays also have Adaptive Lumia Control, PC and Game Mode, Digital MPEG Noise reduction, and Cricket Mode. The TVs are powered by a quad-core CPU and a dual-core GPU with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage.
The other shared features include Dolby Audio for the 40W soundbar, as well as Chromecast support for Apple AirPlay, and Screen Mirroring. In terms of connectivity, both the two models have WiFi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.0, three HDMI ports (two on the 32-inch), dual USB, Ethernet, AUX, and Optical Audio output. Both models come preloaded with Netflix, Prime Video, Hotstar, YouTube and Google Play. The remote has dedicated buttons for each of them. The voice assistant feature supports, apart from English, Hindi language as well.
Coming to pricing, the 32-inch variant is tagged at Rs. 12,999, while the 43-inch model goes for Rs. 21,999. The new variants of the Vu Cinema TV will go on sale on June 23 on Flipkart. The Vu Cinema TV range was first launched in January this year, priced from Rs. 26,999 onwards and available in sizes of 43 inches, 50 inches, and 55 inches.
Samsung appears to be in a hurry to iterate on its current Galaxy M31 smartphone. Its successor, the Galaxy M31s, has been spotted on a variety of certification portals, the latest being Germany's TUV Rheinland. A TUV certification means the product has been tested for safety and found to meet the minimum requirements of the German Equipment and Product Safety Act.
Now, besides the certification itself, the database also suggests that the Galaxy M31s has a 6,000mAh battery which is the same as the Galaxy M31. We didn’t expect any big changes there either. Furthermore, the battery will support 22.5W fast charging, up from 15W on the Galaxy M31. This should make charging the gargantuan battery slightly faster. Apart from that, there’s the TUV Rheinland certification itself which means the handset is well-built and can withstand a good amount of wear and tear.
A few days back, the Galaxy M31s was spotted on Geekbench and it suggested that the device is powered by the Exynos 9611 SoC and it may pack 6GB of RAM. This is the same CPU as its predecessor. This too isn’t surprising as we did not expect much upgrades in the new iteration besides some minimal changes in the hardware including the camera setup. In fact, as per reports, it will have the same 64MP camera as the Galaxy M31 and the Galaxy M51.
Speaking of which, Samsung is also working on the Galaxy M51 and it could very well debut with the Galaxy M31s. Speculation is that the handset could be a slightly tweaked version of its Galaxy A51 counterpart.
As far as the launch date expectations are concerned, it could be some time off considering the Galaxy M31 is still a fresh handset launched in February. This combined with a two-month lockdown would’ve very likely frozen the supply chain inventory leading to no sales. Hence, it could be weeks before we see a successor.
After many months of rumors and speculation, Apple confirmed this morning during their annual WWDC keynote that the company intends to transition away from using x86 processors at the heart of their Mac family of computers. Replacing the venerable ISA – and the exclusively-Intel chips that Apple has been using – will be Apple’s own Arm-based custom silicon, with the company taking their extensive experience in producing SoCs for iOS devices, and applying that to making SoCs for Macs. With the first consumer devices slated to ship by the end of this year, Apple expects to complete the transition in about two years.
The last (and certainly most anticipated) segment of the keynote, Apple’s announcement that they are moving to using their own SoCs for future Macs was very much a traditional Apple announcement. Which is to say that it offered just enough information to whet developers (and consumers’) appetites without offering too much in the way of details too early. So while Apple has answered some very important questions immediately, there’s also a whole lot more we don’t know at the moment, and likely won’t known until late this year when hardware finally starts shipping.
What we do know, for the moment, is that this is the ultimate power play for Apple, with the company intending to leverage the full benefits of vertical integration. This kind of top-to-bottom control over hardware and software has been a major factor in the success of the company’s iOS devices, both with regards to hard metrics like performance and soft metrics like the user experience. So given what it’s enabled Apple to do for iPhones, iPads, etc, it’s not at all surprising to see that they want to do the same thing for the Mac. Even though the OS itself isn’t changing (much), the ramifications of Apple building the underlying hardware down to the SoC means that they can have the OS make full use of any special features that Apple bakes into their A-series SoCs. Idle power, ISPs, video encode/decode blocks, and neural networking inference are all subjects that are potentially on the table here.
One of the key metrics we’ve been waiting for since AMD launched its Zen architecture was when it would re-enter the top 10 supercomputer list. The previous best AMD system, built on Opteron CPUs, was Titan, which held the #1 spot in 2012 but slowly dropped out of the top 10 by June 2019. Now, in June 2010, AMD scores a big win for its Zen 2 microarchitecture by getting to #7. But there’s a twist in this tale.
Apple has confirmed that it's ditching Intel processors in its Mac devices in favor of ARM-based Apple silicon, enabling iPhone and iPad apps to run natively on macOS for the first time.
The move, which has been long-rumored, was announced by Apple CEO Tim Cook, who touted the switch to custom silicon as “a huge leap forward” for the Mac.
While Apple kept tight-lipped on details, the company promising that its in-house CPUs will deliver major performance gains and less power consumption than Intel processors. It's also claiming the transition will give the Mac "industry-leading" performance per watt and higher performance GPUs, and will allow developers to leverage technologies such as its Neural Engine.
In a demo using a Mac running the iPad Pro's A12Z Bionic processor, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi demoed a number of apps running natively on Apple silicon, including Microsoft Office, Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and Final Cut Pro.
All Big Sur apps are built native for Mac Silicon, but to ensure that all apps run on day one, the company has announced Rosetta 2, a tool that will automatically translate apps to be compatible with Apple's custom chips at installation. This means means that even if developers haven't fully updated their apps in Xcode, they should work without modification.
Virtualization technology also allows users to run Linux or Windows seamlessly using Apple Silicon too.
Perhaps most interestingly, Apple announced that iPhone and iPad apps will run natively on Macs with Apple silicon without developers having to make any modifications.
Apple is launching a Universal App Quick Start Program, which provides developers access to documentation, forums support, beta versions of macOS Big Sur and Xcode 12. The company will start shipping Developer Transition Kits this week, which comprises a Mac mini with an A12Z SoC,16GB RAM and 512GB SSD, and said it plans to release its first Apple Silicon-powered Mac later this year.
However, despite rumors Apple would be quick to discontinue its current lineup, the company confirmed there new Intel-based Macs still to come, with its transition to ARM expected to take two years.
Apple's shift to its own ARM-based chips comes just as the company unveils macOS Big Sur, which introduces a number of major design changes across the operating system.
The developer preview of Big Sur is available from today, with a public beta to follow in July.
