Ryzen (Zen)

The new Intel Core i5-11400H laptop processor has turned up on CPU-Z Validator, and while the Tiger Lake chip certainly performed well, it seems like more can be expected from it in future. At the moment, the i5-11400H didn’t really disturb the AMD Ryzen 5 5600H in either the single-thread test or the multithread run.

Looking at previous consumer platform sockets, AMD has mostly been sticking with PGA designs. However, according to the latest leaks, AMD is making the jump to LGA with the upcoming Zen 4 CPUs, transfering all pins from the processor to the motherboard socket. AM5 will also feature dual-channel DDR5 support, but will unfortunately remain stuck on PCIe 4.0.

HP has announced a new sub-brand of gaming laptops to complement the Omen lineup. Victus by HP 16 will be available in both Intel and AMD options and offers display options up to QHD 165 Hz. Victus by HP 16 is designed to cater to those who want capable hardware without having to splurge too much on a high-end gaming laptop.

Xiaomi has announced its plans to launch a new Mi Notebook Pro 15 Ryzen Edition laptop in the near future. The Chinese OEM has confirmed a processor from AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series will be at the heart of the device. The Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro 15 Ryzen Edition will go on presale in China on May 24 and be launched shortly afterwards.

Benchmarks for the Intel Core i7-11800H have been shared, and it seems the Tiger Lake H45 laptop processor is quite a contender. The i7-11800H’s nemesis is likely going to be the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H, which has similar key specs to the Intel rival but a lower max boost clock rate. In a CPU-Z comparison, the chip from Team Blue has the slightest of edges.

Rumors of the potential existence of AMD Ryzen 9 5950XT and Ryzen 5 5600XT desktop processors have started gaining pace thanks to an alleged clock rate leak. The B2 stepping information alludes to a 6-core part and a 16-core chip, meaning Zen 3 Vermeer XT CPUs could be incoming, just in time to take on Intel’s Alder Lake hybrid processors.

AMD has been bringing an extreme amount of processing power to low-end laptops these days. Although the rest of the laptop is merely average, the Ryzen 5 5500U will give higher performance-per-dollar than most in this price range.

The Chinese mini PC maker is breaking away from its usual square-shaped builds with modest specs and is presenting its first all-AMD gaming-oriented system featuring an open air case packing a Ryzen 5 5600X processor coupled with 32 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM and 1 TB M.2 SSD storage, plus a Radeon RX 6700 XT GPU.

The HP 255 G7 offers a Ryzen 3 APU, 8 GB of RAM, a DVD drive, and a 512 GB NVMe SSD. Windows 10 Pro serves as the operating system. The built-in display disappoints in every respect.

UserBenchmark’s current bench charts make for interesting reading, even considering the site’s checkered and much-criticized past. Rocket Lake parts dominate the top of the table, while AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900X languishes in 13th position. The multi-core Zen 3 monster Ryzen 9 5950X suffers the ignominy of being outbenched by both the Intel Core i9-9900KS and the i9-11950H.

Kingston recently revealed a new lineup of HyperX DDR4 modules that clock up to 5333 MHz, which would make them among the fastest commercially available DDR4 stick on the market. The new HyperX parts will, unsurprisingly, be expensive, with a 16GB set to cost over US$1200.

AMD is a whisker away from claiming 30% of the PC processor usage share in Steam’s hardware and software survey. The latest information from the popular game platform has AMD with 29.54% share and Intel on 70.46%. However, Alder Lake could be on course to take some of the shine off Ryzen’s critical acclaim.

It's 2021, and, thus, a great time for Gigabyte to launch world-first pre-builds under its Aorus brand. The new Model X and Model S gaming PCs each have 10GB of GeForce RTX 3080 graphics, with "factory-tuned" Ryzen 5000 or Rocket Lake Core i9 platforms. The OEM claims to have crafted them "meticulously" out of first-party components, and are thus equipped to compete in the performance-focused rig space.

Some new information has emerged about AMD's upcoming Rembrandt line of processors. It is tipped to ship with Zen3+ cores, an RDNA2 GPU with up to 12 compute units (CUs), support for LPDDR5 RAM, and more.

AMD's bet on higher core counts is paying off when it comes to pure multi-thread performance. Nonetheless, Intel still has the upper hand when it comes to AI integration, single-thread performance, and native Thunderbolt support.

JD.com has the Asus VivoBook Pro 14 with Ryzen 5 5600H or Ryzen 7 5800H APU options and 2.8K OLED displays for pre-order at under $800. Great prices, no doubt, especially when factoring in the OLED specs with 90 Hz refresh rate, 600 nits peak brightness and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. However, the port selection is limited, offering no USB-C.

AMD’s top-end Zen 3 Cezanne desktop APU, the Ryzen 7 5700G, has been discovered being put through its paces in a couple of synthetic benchmarks. The AMD Ryzen 7 5700G delivered the expected improvements over the Ryzen 7 4700G in terms of CPU performance and even the uninspiring integrated Radeon Vega 8 5000 iGPU offered a very positive outcome.

University of Virginia cybersecurity researchers published a paper in which they claimed that a variant of the Spectre vulnerability could potentially impact "billions" of devices, and require patches that severely hinder performance. Intel, however, refuted the claim in a statement.

With the MateBook D 16, Huawei offers a stylish laptop in a metal case with a 16.1-inch display for under 1,000 Euros (~$1,212). Is the device only compelling in terms of looks or does it also manage to convince with its components? And how does it compare to the very similar Honor MagicBook Pro?

The ~$900 Swift X model listed on the Acer Thailand site features a Ryzen 5 5500U APU coupled with 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and a 512 GB NVMe SSD, plus it features a 14-inch FHD IPS display connected to an Nvidia GTX 1650 dGPU. There should also be a Ryzen 7 5700U model with 16 GB of RAM for just under $1,000.

Microsoft advertises the new Surface Laptop 4 very aggressively, also openly attacking Apple. However, after our test of the new Surface Laptop 4 15 we are rather disappointed overall, since we don't find much innovation here.

The M1 Apple Silicon has now claimed the top spot in PassMark’s CPU Mark single-thread performance charts for both desktop and laptop CPUs, thanks to the hybrid processor turning up in devices such as the MacBook Pro 13 laptop and Mac Mini desktop. The Apple M1 managed to outscore powerful rivals such as the Intel Core i9-11900K, i9-11900F, AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS, and Ryzen 9 5900HS.

AMD could be introducing its own big.LITTLE-esque hybrid CPU architecture in 2024. Codenamed Strix Point, these will be Zen 5 Ryzen 8000 APUs fabbed on TSMC's 3 nm process. Not much information is available about Strix Point at the moment considering we are still three years away from launch. However, the grapevine is that AMD has fixed Strix Point's iGPU performance target and has incorporated "bigger changes" to the memory subsystem.

Update: Data sheet added | Lenovo is preparing to launch a new ThinkPad: The Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 3 of the affordable ThinkPad E series updates the established design of the E14 Gen 2 with newer internals, a bigger battery and a new chassis color option.

AMD might scrap plans of introducing a Zen 3 Refresh later this year. Codenamed Warhol, the speculated Ryzen 6000 family is considered to offer between 9% and 12% increased performance over Zen 3 Ryzen 5000. The probable reason for cancellation could be related to supply issues, but whether this decision makes sense or not can only be ascertained once Intel launches Alder Lake in Q4 this year.

Rumors seem to suggest a decent performance gain of up to 12% in moving from AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 Vermeer to Zen 3+ Ryzen 6000 Warhol. Warhol is expected to taken on Intel's Alder Lake hybrid CPU offerings due later this year. We are also hearing that Zen 4 Raphael Ryzen 7000 may offer a huge 45% IPC increase from Zen 2 and could pose a threat to Intel's Raptor Lake offerings in 2022.

New computer processor performance ranking charts for the first quarter of 2021 have been published by the Chinese benchmark Master Lu. The tables reveal a familiar tale: AMD dominates in performance thanks to chips like the Ryzen Threadripper 3990X, Ryzen 9 5950X, and Ryzen 9 5900HX, but Intel is still far ahead in market share.

AMD's upcoming Van Gogh APU with a Zen 2 CPU and RDNA2 iGPU will likely be positioned as a viable alternative to Tiger Lake-UP4 while offering support for LPDDR5 memory. Van Gogh could make for good test bed for AMD to test out RDNA2 iGPU implementation for upcoming APUs including Dragon Crest, Rembrandt, and probably even Raphael.

The same 12-liter chassis from previous Corsair One mini ITX models can now be equipped with up to an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X or Intel Core i9-11900K, plus a desktop-grade RTX 3080 GPU. The systems also include 32 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM, 1 TB NVMe + 2 TB HDD storage combo and quad video outputs. The Intel models come with a Thunderbolt 3 port.

AMD has released its Ryzen 5000G and Ryzen 5000GE-series of desktop processors with integrated graphics. There are currently three SKUs in each series, with the Ryzen 7 5700G being the top-end model. AMD claims the new OEM-only Cezanne Zen 3 desktop APUs have “the world’s fastest graphics in a desktop processor” with the presence of up to a Radeon Vega 8 iGPU.

Acer is now offering select configurations of its refreshed Nitro 5 lineup in India. The Nitro 5 will be available in both Intel and AMD flavors. The Intel SKUs feature a Core i5-11300H with GTX 1650 graphics while the AMD variants are powered by a Ryzen 5 5600H with a choice of either the RTX 3060 or the GTX 1650. Unfortunately, the higher spec options in the global variants are not yet available for the Indian market.

The new Inspiron 14 7415 convertibles come equipped with the Ryzen 5 5500U or Ryzen 7 5700U Lucienne Zen 2 APUs, 1080p 360-degree touchscreens, up to 16 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM and up to 2 TB of NVMe SSD storage + and SD card reader. Unfortunately, there is no discrete graphics option like on the Intel variants.

Key specifications for the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5750G, Ryzen 5 PRO 5650G, and Ryzen 3 PRO 5350G desktop APUs have been shared online. Unsurprisingly, the Ryzen PRO 5000G chips should offer the same specs and performance as the regular Cezanne Zen 3 desktop APU counterparts, but with the added benefit of AMD’s PRO technologies for business.

An AMD Ryzen 7 5700G desktop APU, which has appeared in a live image, has been put through both CPU and GPU benchmark tests. While the CPU part delivered a single-thread test score that places the Ryzen 5000 Cezanne chip way beyond its Renoir counterpart Ryzen 7 4700G, the Vega 8 GPU part is something of a letdown.

A new leak has further confirmed that AMD Ryzen 7000 Raphael will indeed be based on the 5 nm Zen 4 architecture and will also include a Navi 2x iGPU making it the first mainstream AMD processor to offer integrated graphics. Apart from Raphael, the 6 nm Rembrandt Zen 3 mobile parts will also sport RDNA 2 onboard graphics.

A timely reminder has been shared of how the current global chip famine has affected processor prices, in this case specifically for the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X. While retailers who have tried to stay close to MSRP are invariably out of stock, those with Ryzen 9 5950X CPUs to sell are mostly setting astronomical price tags for the Zen 3 powerhouse.

Even though the non-X processors come with a 61.5% lower TDP, 700 MHz lower base clock and 100 MHz lower boost clocks, the performance loss is barely noticeable with the UserBenchmark suite versus the 5900X models. The Ryzen 9 5900 is an OEM-only model and is now available in select pre-built gaming rigs like the Alienware Aurora.

The PN51 models come with the same chassis from last year's PN50 models and only support the Zen 2 Lucienne Ryzen 5000U processors. Despite using the same Zen 2 cores as the Ryzen 4000U models, the Lucienne processors come with upgraded memory controllers and can be coupled with up to 32 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM plus up to 2 TB of storage. There also is support for up to 4x 4K monitors.

PassMark’s CPU Mark single-thread performance chart for desktop processors now features a few more new Intel Rocket Lake chips, which have offered up a mixed bag of results. While the Intel Core i9-11900K still reigns and the i9-11900KF has performed well, both AMD’s Ryzen 5000 and Apple’s M1 have remained steadfast.

Some AMD Radeon RX 6800M specs have been revealed to us via a new leak. The Navi 22-based mobile graphics card with 12GB of VRAM has been spotted on an Asus laptop alongside a high-end Cezanne processor. It is expected to feature up to 40 CUs and draw 145W of power.

Steam has published its hardware and software survey for March and yet again AMD has pinched some more processor usage share away from Intel. However, there has been a small increase for Team Blue with Linux-based systems, and there must be some hope that Rocket Lake has the cash registers ringing soon.

An AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5750G desktop APU engineering sample has had its CPU-Z benchmark results shared, once again showing decent single-thread performance that went beyond the Ryzen 7 4700G and Intel Core i9-10900K. The Ryzen 7 PRO 5750G will be an enterprise-oriented variant of the Cezanne Zen 3 Ryzen 7 5700G APU.

AMD will reportedly improve the supply of its much-desired Ryzen 5000 chips during the second quarter of 2021. Huge demand has overwhelmed the chip designer, leading to price premiums being placed on SKUs like the Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 9 5950X. The supply bump comes just in time to counter Intel’s Rocket Lake series availability.

The inclusion of the RTX 3070 Max-Q mobile dGPU seems to be suggesting that Razer's thin and light chassis on the upcoming AMD-powered 14-inch models only allow for lower-TGP dGPU options. Can Razer also add an RTX 3080 Max-Q and are these options really making sense for such price premiums when Lenovo is offering the Max-P versions on the Legion 5 Pro and Legion 7 with superior price/performance ratios?

MINISFORUM's first mini PC of the month has a Ryzen 5 4500U inside, can be pre-ordered with 16/256 GB or 16/512 GB of memory/storage, and shipments should begin at the end of the month. The prices start at US$699 for the first configuration and go up to US$739 for the second one.