PCHardCores: November 2020

Monday 30 November 2020

ASRock x Razer: New Razer Taichi Edition X570 and B550 AMD Motherboards

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ASRock and Razer have today announced a product collaboration. Two of ASRock's premium models for AM4 are being updated with Razer styling and Razer Chroma connectivity: the X570 and B550 Taichi Razer Edition. Built upon the popular Taichi series, both of the new Razer Edition variants include a 16-phase power delivery, with official support and compatibility with Razer's Chroma RGB ecosystem.

Whenever Razer does a collaboration with any company in the hardware industry, it gets people excited and talking. One of the most prominent brands globally with its green inspired peripheral range, as well as its various wacky ideas such as an RGB gaming toaster; I can't ever be as excited for a toaster as much as the Chroma Edition.

The ASRock X570 Taichi Razer Edition Motherboard

Back to the actual hardware, and it has teamed up with ASRock, a company seemingly fearless when trying new and off-the-wall ideas. This has realised the two new models, the B550 and X570 Taichi Razer Edition. The Taichi series is one of ASRock's most popular ranges, especially in the premium motherboard space, and the new Razer Editions will build upon this with both the AMD AM4 500 series chipsets being treated to some Chroma.

Gallery: ASRock X570 Taichi Razer Edition Gallery

Both the ASRock X570 and B550 Taichi Razer Edition models will feature much of the same feature set including a large 16-phase VRM, built with premium 60 A chokes and Nichicon 12K black capacitors. In regards to the actual specifications, both of these new models correspond nearly identically with its non Chroma counterparts. The X570 Taichi Razer edition includes three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, eight SATA ports from the chipset, a 2.5 GbE port as well as a Killer AX1650 Wi-Fi 6 module. For the B550, it is slightly lower down the pecking order due to the PCIe 4.0 support coming only from the CPU. It includes one PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot, with an additional PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot with eight SATA ports, four from the chipset and four from an ASMedia SATA controller.

Gallery: ASRock B550 Taichi Razer Edition Gallery

The biggest impact and only differences between the standard X570 and B550 Taichi's compared to the Razer Edition models comes visually, with Razer's flair located around the board itself. The addition of addressable RGB headers taps into one of the biggest RGB Ecosystems around, the Razer Chroma RGB. On both models, the Razer logo can be found on the rear panel cover and the chipset heatsinks, for a bit of added flair and vibrance that RGB offers. These aren't OLED screens, just Razer branded vanity plates.

It should be noted that Razer is famous (infamous?) for doing things like green USB ports to unify the branding. That hasn't happened here however, indicating that this is more of a collaborative branding exercise rather co-design effort.

As it stands, the ASRock X570 and B550 Taichi Razer Editions aren't on the open market and neither company has opted to announce a release date or pricing. Given that both models include official pages (X570 and B550) on the ASRock website means that this launch for its target markets (TBA) should be imminent.

Thursday 26 November 2020

AMD EPYC Rome in (Deep) Mini-ITX? ASRock Rack's New ROMED4ID-2T

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ASRock Rack has unveiled its latest small form factor motherboard designed for AMD's EYPC processors, the ROMED4ID-2T. It is based on a new proprietary form factor similar to Mini-ITX, affectionally colloquialized as 'Deep' Mini-ITX, which is slightly larger than standard mini-ITX. The board supports for EPYC Rome 7002 processors up to 64 cores.

Being able to amalgamate up to 64 cores with a mini-ITX motherboard isn't a small feat; the ROMED4ID-2T does it for users looking to build a server with a small overall footprint. This model opts for a new wider proprietary design, the 'deep mini-ITX' form factor with dimensions of 6.7 x 8.2 inches, rather than 6.7-inch square for regular mini-ITX.

The main obvious limitation with such a small motherboard size and a large socket is that not all of the features of the processor is made available - there are some sacrifices to put it all in. That starts with the memory support, with this model only having four memory slots, and therefore four memory channels, rather than the standard eight channels that EPYC Rome can provide. The other is PCIe 4.0 support - there is one PCIe 4.0 x16 full length slot, and six Slimline PCIe 4.0 x8 ports, but that is still far fewer than the 128 lanes this CPU can provide.

For storage devices, other than the single M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 slot, there is plenty to accommodate multiple drives, despite the size limitations, with up to sixteen SATA ports support from two of the Slimline ports, which ASRock states can be configured within the BIOS. This also includes support for bulk U.2 storage, with two Slimline ports operating at PCIe 4.0 x8 or eight SATA ports, and the other four Slimline simply listed as being PCIe 4.0 x8 only.

Being primarily marketed as a server-focused model, it includes many of the usual suspects regarding internal headers, including one for IPMB, PMBus, and a 13-pin LPC TPM header. There are also three 4-pin fan headers, each with its own fan fail LED.

Regarding connectivity, the ASRock Rack ROMED4ID-2T includes an Intel X550-AT2 10 Gb controller, which adds two 10 GbE ports on the rear panel, as well as a dedicated Realtek RTL8211E Ethernet port for the board's IPMI. A single DB15 D-Sub video output is present for users looking to access the system psychically over the IPMI, with a UID LED button and a pair of USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports.

At present, ASRock hasn't given any information regarding pricing or availability, but we expect to hear something shortly.

Gallery: ASRock Rack Goes DEEP (Mini-ITX) With Its ROMED4ID-2T For EPYC

Wednesday 25 November 2020

ASRock Brings Zen 2 NUC : 4X4 BOX-4800U Renoir Mini-PC Reviewed

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AMD-based ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) systems are slowly gaining market acceptance, with the Zen architecture slowly catching up with Intel on both the performance as well as power consumption front. AMD's latest and greatest has been reserved for the high-end desktop market, with the parts meant for low-power / compact systems appearing a few quarters later. Zen 3-based desktop CPUs were introduced recently. However, it is only now that Zen 2-based parts with 12-25W TDP (Renoir APUs) have started to appear in compact desktop systems. ASRock Industrial launched the Ryzen 4000U-based 4X4 BOX-4000 series in September. Read on for a review of their flagship model - the 4X4 BOX-4800U.

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Best Gaming Laptops: Holiday 2020

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Along with our quarterly laptop guide, near the end of every year we also like to take a look at the state of the gaming laptop market. With a much more cyclical upgrade cycle, gaming laptops tend to evolve in lockstep with the major components inside them. For the gaming laptop market, this includes not only more powerful CPUs, but also more unique (for a laptop) components like discrete video cards, mechanical keyboards, and perhaps an IPS panel or high-refresh TN display. All of which come together to make a breed of laptop that is very different from the kinds of machines that define the mainstream and professional markets.

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Monday 23 November 2020

“Microsoft Pluton Hardware Security Coming to Our CPUs”: AMD, Intel, Qualcomm

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One of the key tenets of having good security is reducing how attackable your system is. This is what we call an attack surface – a system needs as few attack surfaces as possible, and as small as possible, to minimize any potential unwarranted intrusion. Beyond that, any additional security to detect and protect is vital. Both hardware and software can be used for that layer of additional security, and it becomes particularly important when dealing with virtualization, especially when it comes to virtual and physical attacks. In order to create a more unified system, Microsoft’s Pluton Security Processor, which works with Windows, is coming to the three major hardware vendors that implement the OS: AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm. What makes this different is that this is a physical in-hardware implementation that will be built directly into the future processors from each of the three companies.

Pioneered in both Xbox consoles and Microsoft’s Azure Sphere ecosystem, the Pluton Security Processor enables a full-stack chip-to-cloud security akin to a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). The TPM has been a backbone of server security over the last decade or more, providing a physical store for security keys and other metadata that verifies the integrity of a system. In the mobile space, a built-in TPM allows for other security verification, such as Windows Hello or Bitlocker.

Over time, according to Microsoft, a physical TPM module in these systems have become a weak point in modern security design. Specifically, gaining physical access to the system makes the TPM useless allowing for in-transit data hijacks or man-in-the-middle data pruning. Because a TPM is an optional addition to most server environments, that physical module-to-CPU data pathway becomes an important attack surface.

What the Pluton project from Microsoft and the agreement between AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm will do is build a TPM-equivalent directly into the silicon of every Windows-based PC of the future. The Pluton architecture will, initially, build an emulated TPM to work with existing specifications for access to the current suites of security protocols in place. Because Pluton will be in-silicon, it severely reduces the physical attack surface of any Pluton-enabled device.

The Pluton architecture seems to also allow for a superset of TPM features, perhaps to be enabled in the future. Microsoft highlights both the unique Secure HArdware Cryptography Key (SHACK) technology such that security keys are never exposed outside of the hardware environment, as well as community engagement such as what has been done through Project Cerberus, part of the Open Compute Project to enable root-of-trust and firmware authentication. We are told this is particularly important as it pertains to wide-spread patching issues.

All of the silicon vendors involved will have Pluton as the first layer of security – additional layers (such as AMD’s PSP) will go below this. From the three vendors, AMD has worked with Microsoft already on Pluton for consoles, so it should not be a big step to see Pluton in AMD consumer and enterprise silicon sooner rather than later, along with AMD’s other technologies such as Secure Encryption Virtualization. Intel stated that its long-term relationship with Microsoft should lead to a smooth Pluton integration, however the company declined to comment on a potential timeline. Qualcomm is the odd-one-out in a sense, as its cycles are a little different, but the company is quoted as stated that on-die hardware root-of-trust security is an important component of the whole silicon.

A number of parallels are being drawn between Pluton and Apple’s T2 security chip, which was moved inside the recently announced M1 processor.

Sources

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AMD Precision Boost Overdrive 2: Adaptive Undervolting For Ryzen 5000 Coming Soon

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One of the ways that enthusiasts tinker with their processors is through overclocking: the attempt to get more performance by changing frequencies and voltages, up to the limits of the system. Another way is through undervolting – removing voltage from the processor to help lower temperatures and offer higher thermal headroom (or lower power consumption). It all depends on the silicon, and if it can support it: AMD (and Intel) have to set hard limits for production to enable sufficient yield and costs, but users on certain products can always poke the hardware to try and get something more. With this in mind, AMD is improving its range of overclocking tools to allow for adaptive undervolting of Ryzen 5000 processors.

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Saturday 21 November 2020

GIGABYTE’s New AMD BRIX Series: Now With AMD Ryzen 4000U Renoir!

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One of the key questions when AMD launched its latest Ryzen Mobile processor family, Renoir, was when the chip would be available in the Mini-PC space. At the time, AMD made motions saying that the key market they were focusing on was for laptops, but they wouldn’t preclude partners that were interested in building miniature systems. We’re starting to see a few of them trickle through into the market now, and GIGABYTE is also going down this route with its BRIX series. The new BRIX S Mini-PCs will be offered with up to a Ryzen 7 4700U, with Vega graphics, M.2 support, Wi-Fi 6, and 2.5 gigabit Ethernet

The History

GIGABYTE briefly toyed with AMD versions of its BRIX almost seven years ago now in 2013, using Richland-based dual core processors and AMD mobile graphics. These units, while an interesting foray into AMD small form factor machines, were a hot mess – I purchased a unit recently and it overheats to the point of shutdown! It was a rushed product with bad cooling, and was removed from the market as quickly as it had arrived. At that point we weren’t sure we would see other AMD Mini-PCs, and I was somewhat aware that the focus for these companies was solely on Intel.

The Present

With Zen, and now Zen2, that has changed. It would appear that a number of companies like GIGABYTE and its competitors now see AMD’s mobile offerings as competitive in this Mini-PC space where batteries aren’t needed. Because these processors are soldered on like in the mobile form factor, a system comes as a unit with the processor attached, and so finding the right performance in the right form factor where there is demand are all dimensions to the puzzle to ensure a relevant product.

Despite AMD focusing on laptops with its Zen2 ‘Renoir’ processors, offering eight cores and sixteen threads, as well as Vega 8 graphics all within a 15-25 W form factor, this processor is very appealing for the mini-PC space. GIGABYTE has developed two product lines for its BRIX series: the standard BRIX, and BRIX S which supports an additional 2.5-inch SSD.

With the new BRIX and BRIX S series, users will also be able to support four display outputs, such as HDMI 2.0a, DisplayPort, and dual USB-C with DP passthroughs – double supported by the Mac Mini M1. Two SO-DIMM DDR4 slots enable up to 64 GB of DDR4-3200 memory, and for storage, all units will have an M.2 slot for storage which supports PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA M.2 drives. On the BRIX S, there is also a SATA port for a 2.5-inch drive as well.

For connectivity, the BRIX and BRIX S lines will have 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) with Bluetooth 5.1 and 2.5 gigabit Ethernet – this last one I wasn’t actually expecting in a form factor like this, which usually goes with one or two single gigabit Ethernet ports, but it appears GIGABYTE sees value in 2.5 GbE here. The Realtek 8125 solution is being used, which I believe is the cheaper option.

For ports, all models will have two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports (with DP), and five USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports. Audio is provided through a Realtek ALC225 controller and a headphone jack, and the BRIX S models also come with an RS232 COM port for industrial use (a key market for these). Commercial customers can also get additional support with extra LAN/COM if speaking direct to GIGABTYE.

Each unit has 75/100 VESA mount support, and the power adaptor is capable of 135 W, which seems very aggressive for a 15 W system. Even with an M.2 storage drive, 64 GB memory, and all USB ports drawing power, I can’t see the system using more than 75 W, so 135 W is a bit overkill. GIGABYTE says it is using the 15 W TDP of these processors on its website, however with this power brick I can imagine this might be a typo and actually 25 W modes are being used.

GIGABYTE AMD BRIX Series
BRIX	AnandTech	BRIX S
Ryzen 7 4800U Ryzen 7 4700U Ryzen 5 4500U Ryzen 3 4300U	CPUs	Ryzen 7 4800U Ryzen 7 4700U Ryzen 5 4500U Ryzen 3 4300U
2 x SO-DIMM Up to 64 GB DDR4-3200	DRAM	2 x SO-DIMM Up to 64 GB DDR4-3200
M.2 2280 SATA / PCIe 3.0 x4	Storage	M.2 2280 SATA / PCIe 3.0 x4 2.5-inch 9.0mm SATA
1 x HDMI 2.0a 1 x DP 2 x DP over Type-C	Video	1 x HDMI 2.0a 1 x DP 2 x DP over Type-C
Realtek 8125 2.5 GbE Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6	Networking	Realtek 8125 2.5 GbE Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6
2 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-C 5 x USB 3.2 G1 Type-A Audio Jack	Connectivity	2 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-C 5 x USB 3.2 G1 Type-A Audio Jack RS232
75mm and 100mm	VESA	75mm and 100mm
135 W	Power Adaptor	135 W
119.5 x 119.5 x 34.7 mm	Dimensions	119.5 x 119.5 x 46.8 mm

We reached out to GIGABYTE USA on these, and they are still waiting on a timeframe and price for these models. It is suspected to be within the next few weeks, given that GIGABYTE HQ just issued a press release and the relevant product pages are now online.

Gallery: GIGABYTE’s New AMD BRIX Series: Now With AMD Ryzen 4000U Renoir!