Ryzen (Zen)

Lenovo announced that the Legion 5 Pro will be updated in 2021 with Ryzen 5000 silicon, RTX 30-series graphics and a 16:10 display. A Google-cached product specs reference let slip by the company ahead of its March release seems to confirm this, as well as how much RAM and storage space the machine can support.

Steam has published its hardware and software survey for January 2021 and there are certainly some differences in comparison to the previous month in terms of processor usage and share. AMD has achieved its highest share against Intel, likely aided by the uptake of fast Ryzen 5000 processors among the gaming community.

The aluminum-clad Lenovo convertible may be designed for businesses, but it works just as well for home users, too. It'll be tough to find another 13.3-inch convertible as light as this one with the same CPU and for the same price.

A new leak pertaining to AMD's upcoming EPYC Milan server lineup has revealed more information about the processor's naming scheme and also a list of SKUs that are like to launch in the coming weeks. The Milan lineup will start with the 8C/16T EPYC 72F3 and tops-out with the EPYC 7763 featuring 64 cores and 128 threads.

PassMark has recently updated its CPU Mark single-thread performance chart and two Rocket Lake chips in the forms of the Intel Core i9-11900K and i7-11700K occupy the top two positions. There was some resistance from Vermeer, especially from the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, but the i9-11900K looks to be immovable for the time being.

According to an unverified rumour from a South Korean tech forum, AMD could shift some of its GPU/APU production to Samsung. AMD wants to ramp up production, but TSMC is unable to keep up due to prior commitments.

An AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U and Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U have made their first appearances thanks to a benchmark and a manufacturer. The Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U was spotted in an EliteBook 845 G8 laptop on UserBenchmark while it seems HP managed to unveil the AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U via a prematurely published support page.

The AYA NEO Founder edition handheld console has had its release date postponed until March 10. The development process has been hit by some issues, leaving the AYA NEO portable in a situation that eerily echoes the apparent demise of the Smach Z console. The AYA NEO handheld is fitted with an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U.

Lenovo's US webstore has begun what it calls a "You Pay What We Pay" event, which apparently entails the same kinds of discounts only normally available to the OEM's staff members. They include up to US$800 off an Intel 10th-gen Legion 7i laptop, as well as deals on gaming mice and headsets.

The Intel Core i7-11700 has been spotted producing an enormous single-core score on a synthetic benchmark site. The Rocket Lake-S chip outpaced the i7-10700K by quite a margin and even scored higher than the maximum result for the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X. However, this strong i7-11700 mark was recorded on the contentious UserBenchmark site.

AMD's support for USB4 and Thunderbolt is scheduled to arrive in early 2022, and, until then, laptop OEMs are trying out alternatives. One solution would be to implement a new type of connector, like Asus has done on its new ROG Flow X13 laptops. Lenovo, on the other hand, is exploring something more simple in the form of a cable that connects external video cards to the M.2 slot inside the laptop.

Fifty gaming laptops featuring Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs from major vendors such as Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte have been listed on the Scan website. Many feature Ryzen 5000 APUs and there are a couple of Tiger Lake H-35 options too. Prices go from £998.99 (US$1,367) for an Asus TUF Dash RTX 3060 laptop up to £4,298.99 (US$5,882) for an MSI GS66 Stealth RTX 3080 laptop.

An Intel Core i7-11375H (Tiger Lake-H35) has appeared on Geekbench in an Asus TUF Dash F15 gaming laptop. The i7-11375H was measured reaching a clock rate of 5.0 GHz and produced a single-core score that beats out the i7-10750H by +24% and can even hold up against the incoming barrage from AMD’s Ryzen 5000 H-series Cezanne chips.

The Zen 3-based AMD Ryzen 3 5400U has popped up on Geekbench as part of an HP ProBook x360 435 G8 laptop. The Cezanne Ryzen 5000 part is seemingly restricted to a maximum clock of 2.60 GHz, which leaves a mixed impression against the older Ryzen 3 4300U. However, the results at base clock rate are a sign of good things to come.

A sample of the Intel Core i9-11900K has finally been unearthed on Geekbench and the Rocket Lake-S chip has produced a gigantic single-core score. Utilizing a Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Master board enabled the i9-11900K to score over +32% higher than the i9-10900K and leave the Ryzen 9 5950X and Ryzen 7 5800X playing catch up.

The Asus ROG Flow X13 GV301 laptop in combination with an AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS APU has been spotted in a couple of test runs on Geekbench. The Ryzen 9 5980HS produced strong single-core and multi-core results that hold up well against the Ryzen 9 4900H and Intel Core i7-1165G7. At one point, the Zen 3 chip was measured reaching 4.789 GHz.

In multi-core loads, the Ryzen 9 5900HX easily steals the crown from last gen's king Ryzen 9 4900HS. However, the more impressive feat is recorded with the single-core tests that are usually dominated by Intel processors. Here, the 5900HX manages to reach the top position by defeating the workstation-grade Intel Xeon W-10885M.

Back in mid-2020, laptop OEMs explained that the inclusion of dGPUs more powerful than the RTX 2060 would not really make sense on Ryzen 4000H systems, as their performance would be limited by the 8x PCIe 3.0 lanes. However, the Ryzen 5000H systems still use only 8x PCIe 3.0 lanes, yet they come with up to an RTX 3080 dGPU option. Something is not adding up.

The Rocket Lake-S hexa-core is around 10% faster than the Comet Lake-S predecessor, and it almost matches the i7-8700K with considerably higher clocks, but it still lags behind the Ryzen 5 3600X in multi-core loads, while the Ryzen 5 5600X is on a completely different level with 31% higher multi-core results.

After we recently took a look at the MagicBook 14 with AMD's Ryzen 5 4500U, it's now the MagicBook 15's turn. It reveals small and big improvements but also known weaknesses.

The Zen 3 Cezanne part AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS has been spotted on Geekbench as part of the fascinating Asus ROG Flow X13 2-in-1 laptop. However, the results don’t seem as high as could be expected, when the Ryzen 9 5900HS should be flying past the Ryzen 9 4900HS and Tiger Lake Intel Core i7-1165G7.

HP introduces some of the first business laptops powered by AMD's Ryzen Pro 5000 APUs. The new EliteBook 805 G8 series comes with lightweight chassis and three sizes to choose from, including 13.3-inch, 14-inch and 15.6-inch. These models can be equipped with up to 64 GB of RAM and up to 2 TB NVMe SSD storage, plus quite a few display options.

Asus has released its new ZenBook 13 OLED UM325 and ZenBook 14 UM425 thin and light laptops. These ZenBooks differ primarily with respect to the display and available Ryzen 5000 APU options. While the ZenBook 13 OLED UM325 offers a mix of both Cezanne and Lucienne APUs, the ZenBook 14 offers only Lucienne parts.

Asus has upgraded its ROG Strix Scar 17 with AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX and RTX 3080 Mobile. Like all ROG models in 2021, the Scar 17 will use liquid metal as the thermal interface material for the CPU. The Scar 17 also features a 360 Hz display, optical mechanical keyboard, ROG Keystone II, and more.

The new Asus Chromebook Flip CM5 brings together a daring minimalist design and the AMD Ryzen platform (up to Ryzen 5 3500C) to deliver an excellent 15.6-inch tool for creativity. The list of specs and features includes Wi-Fi 6, up to 10 hours of battery life, as well as support for both GeForce NOW and Stadia.

A new all-in-one from Asus is (almost) ready to hit the market, and what we will get is probably a new hardware setup for one of the existing designs. The Zen AiO 24 (M5401) uses various AMD Ryzen 5 processors and features up to a 93% screen-to-body ratio, Harman Kardon-certified speakers, a built-in HD camera with privacy shutter, and more.

Gigabyte has introduced new mid-range gaming laptops powered by both Intel Comet Lake-H and AMD Ryzen 5000H Zen 3 options. These laptops are aimed at the multi-tasking crowd that also likes to game. The Intel-based Gaming G5 and G7 and the AMD-based Gaming A5 and A7 share many features with the Aorus gaming series including the Windforce cooling system.

Acer is offering an all-AMD Aspire 5 powered by AMD Ryzen 5000U APUs. The Aspire 5 is aimed at students, hobbyists, and bloggers and features the Radeon RX 640 dGPU for light graphic workloads.

Acer has introduced the Aspire 7 featuring Ryzen 5000U APUs and NVIDIA GTX 1650 graphics. The Aspire 7 features an FHD display that uses Acer Color Intelligence to adapt the display gamma and saturation in real time to deliver an optimal viewing experience.

Acer has introduced a refreshed Nitro 5 with AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX and NVIDIA RTX 3080 Mobile internals. The Nitro 5 is also being offered with three display options, one of which includes a 360 Hz FHD panel.

The new Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 desktop PC brings Ryzen 5000 series CPUs to Alienware's desktop family. The machine can be configured with a number of AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs as well as the newest GPUs from Nvidia and AMD.

Even though the spec sheets do not mention the exact processors, the ACH denomination added to the products names suggests that Lenovo is equipping these models with AMD's Ryzen 5000H processors. The 14p model does not get discrete graphics, but offers an OLED panel option, while the 16p version offers Nvidia RTX 3000 dGPU options and a Pantone calibrated IPS panel.

AMD has taken the wraps off the much anticipated Ryzen 5000 mobile lineup based on Zen 3 Cezanne. The Ryzen 5000 series now includes a couple of HX SKUs that can be configured with TDPs above 45 W. AMD has also updated the H and HS offerings along with enabling SMT in odd-numbered U-series chips, which are essentially Zen 2 Renoir refreshes under the codename Lucienne.

AMD has launched two new members of the Ryzen 5000 desktop processor family in the forms of the Ryzen 7 5800 and Ryzen 9 5900. Both CPUs have lower TDPs than their similarly named Zen 3 counterparts, and the Ryzen 9 5900 offers an average of 24% faster gaming performance at 1080p than the previous-generation Ryzen 9 3900.

AMD has announced that the Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3955WX, 3975WX, and 3995WX workstation processors will soon be available to private customers from major retailers. The Threadripper PRO chips offer from 16 cores to 64 cores and 32 threads to 128 threads of processing power along with support for 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes. The EPYC “Milan” series has also been teased.

The Geekbench 5 processor benchmark chart for single-core performance is currently headed by four Zen 3 parts, with the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X leading the pack on an average score of 1,680. However, Rocket Lake-S CPUs like the Intel Core i9-11900K and i7-11700K should soon roar back and likely reclaim the table for Team Blue.

Intel showed off a preview of the Rocket Lake-S Core i9-11900K and compared its gaming performance against a PC powered by the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X. The performance improvements seem within the margin of error for now. Intel also briefly mentioned about 11th gen Tiger Lake-H 45 W and Alder Lake processors coming later this year.

Latest sales data from Mindfactory has been compiled into a handful of charts and graphs that make for great reading for AMD, with both Matisse and Vermeer parts selling by the truckload. The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and Ryzen 5 5600X join the Ryzen 7 3700X in being particularly popular, leaving Intel’s Rocket Lake with a Sisyphean task in regard to attracting buyers.

An AMD Ryzen 7 5700G desktop APU has been spotted being tested on a Linux (Ubuntu) system on Geekbench 5. The Ryzen 7 5700G utilized an MSI MAG B550M Mortar motherboard and reached a boost clock of 4.66 GHz. However, the engineering sample’s results weren’t particularly greater than those of the Renoir Ryzen 7 4700G.

An engineering sample of what seems to be an AMD Ryzen 7 5700G Cezanne Zen 3 APU has leaked on Chinese site QQ along with some initial CPU-Z numbers. These numbers show the Ryzen 7 5700G ES displaying considerable gains in single and multi-thread scores over the Ryzen 7 3700X and the Ryzen 7 4700G.

More Ryzen 5000 Vermeer Zen 3-based desktop processors from AMD have been leaked in the forms of the Ryzen 9 5900 and Ryzen 7 5800. Both chips seem to offer high boost clock rates at comparatively low TDPs; however, it has been suggested that the Ryzen 9 5900 and Ryzen 7 5800 will end up being OEM-only SKUs.

Altex, a retailer from Romania, recently listed an ASUS TUF Gaming A17 laptop model configured with the GeForce RTX 3070, alongside the Ryzen 7 5800H, for less than US$1700.

An AMD Ryzen 7 5800U has been delivering some curious results thanks to recently leaked CPU-Z and Cinebench benchmarks. Single-core and single-thread scores were incredible, to the point that the laptop Ryzen 7 5800U could even outscore a desktop Intel Core i9-10900K. However, there seemed to be an issue with the Cezanne APU’s multi-core performances.

Acer has introduced the Chromebook Spin 514 — the first Chromebook to be powered by AMD Ryzen 3000C series of Chromebook APUs. The Chromebook Spin 14 is offered in both consumer and Enterprise variants and sports a durable chassis, adequate port selection, and support for Android apps from the Play Store. The Enterprise version can also be availed as part of Acer's Device-as-a-Service program.

Lenovo has launched the Yoga AIO 7 desktop PC at CES 2021. The Yoga AIO 7, also known as Yoga 27 in China, is powered by AMD Renoir 4000 H-series APUs and the NVIDIA RTX 2060 GPU. The Yoga AIO 7 comes with built-in casting hardware and a future update will enable the AIO to function as a standalone 4K smart TV as well.