Ryzen (Zen)

Not satisfied with third or fourth generation PCI Express speeds? Leapfrogging 5.0, the latest revision of PCI Express has been released for prototype designs ahead of its final launch in 2021. Featuring 4 times the bandwidth of PCIe 4.0, it may be a while before the standard reaches consumer products.

Two new X series ThinkPads are introduced today. The convertible Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Yoga will be available with an 4K UHD OLED screen, while the regular, non-convertible ThinkPad X13 introduces AMD Ryzen Pro 4000 to the ThinkPad X series.

Lenovo redesigns its affordable enterprise series, the ThinkPad L series. The new 2020 models ThinkPad L14 and ThinkPad L15 are therefore completely revamped compared to their predecessors. They also are the first affordable enterprise models from Lenovo with the Ryzen Pro 4000 CPUs.

Leaked CPU sales data from Mindfactory has shown an astonishing dominance for AMD over Intel. The overall share is 86.11% to 13.89% in favor of Team Red. The Ryzen 5 3600 chip was the bestseller for the week with 1,280 units sold, while the top-performing Intel processor was the Core i7-9700K, which only managed to secure 100 sales.

An alleged Comet Lake desktop processor, the Intel Core i9-10900, has been put through its paces on both Cinebench R15 and Cinebench R20. The engineering sample (ES) posted some unimpressive multi-core results that won’t challenge competitors such as the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X processor. However, it is likely that the final consumer variant of the Intel chip will offer better performance.

A few samples of AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper 3990X have started appearing on PassMark and the results have been outstanding. The 64-core monster unsurprisingly shot straight to the top of the CPU Mark chart, which is already dominated by AMD processors. The nearest Intel rival, the Xeon W-3275M, languishes over 20,000 points behind in eighth place.

Newegg is clearing stock of its latest AMD Ryzen laptops even though they are barely a year old. For a mid-range 15.6-inch laptop, the discounted Asus VivoBook 15 strikes a pretty good balance between performance, price, and size.

A Swiss e-retailer listed pricing and release dates for Ryzen 5 4600H and Ryzen 7 4800H-equipped Asus TUF Gaming laptops. The midrange models range from US$1114 to US$1622 and may launch on April 3rd, taking the fight to the i5-9300H and i7-9750H.

Time and again, laptop manufacturers equip their devices with up-to-date CPUs without adapting the system to the requirements of the new hardware. Asus also makes this mistake with the ZenBook 14, which raises the question of whether you should chose a slightly weaker CPU for less money.

AMD’s Ryzen 7 4800U has already been discovered going through 3DMark 11’s punishing tests and a new run has thrown up even higher scores for the Renoir mobile chip. The Ryzen 4000 APU had managed to create quite a margin between itself and Intel’s Core i7-1065G7, with the new results demonstrating the Ryzen 7 4800U’s processing capabilities.

AMD’s Renoir APU, the Ryzen 7 4800HS, has been spotted in action again. This time, the mobile processor was tested on 3DMark’s Fire Strike Ultra test, with the physics score recorded as 21,254 points. This puts it way beyond a tested Intel Core i7-9700K on 18,934 points and not a million miles behind the powerful Core i9-9900K on 24,794 points.

The latest Chrome OS update source code mentions the existence of Ryzen 7 3700C and Ryzen 3500C CPUs that appear to be derived from the Zen+ desktop-grade CPUs. Additionally, the code also includes references for Athlon Silver 3050C, Athlon Gold 3150C and Ryzen 3 3250C APUs that include Vega iGPUs.

The new Zbox Pro CA622 nano is an industrial-grade embedded mini PC with a fanless case. This barebones solution includes a Ryzen R1505G dual-core CPU with 15 W TDP and support for up to 32 GB of RAM. There also is a more expensive QC7T3000 version with an actively cooled case integrating an Intel Core i7-9750H and a professional Quadro RTX 3000 GPU.

Leaked Timespy scores hint at the existence of lower-tier Tiger Lake U SKUs. A massive difference between the 2.2 GHz and 2.7 GHz config scores implies that OEM cooling solutions could make or break performance.

AMD’s Ryzen 7 4800HS APU has been spotted on the Time Spy benchmark, where it performed remarkably well judging on the reported score. Surprisingly, the chip with a 35 W TDP managed to overtake the 45 W Ryzen 7 4800H, which will undoubtedly delight future gaming-laptop buyers. Once again, Intel’s Core i7-9700K desktop CPU had to play catch up.

A retailer has posted preliminary listings for some upcoming Asus laptops. They do not contain product images, however, based on their model numbers and listed specs, they are clearly destined for the high-end gaming markets. For example, one of them appears to be for a Ryzen 9 4900H-powered Zephyrus G14.

System76 has added the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X in the list of configurable options for its Thelio Major desktop. The computer operates on either Ubuntu or Pop!_OS, and it’s possible to fit up to two graphics cards inside it, with choices ranging from AMD’s Radeon RX 5700 XT to Nvidia’s RTX Titan. System76 also shows how the 3990X will shame your current CPU in some handy tests.

The Phantom Gaming Edition of GeIL's EVO SPEAR long-form-factor DDR4 memory kits is now available on Newegg. This RAM has been developed in partnership with ASRock, and has variants specifically optimized for Ryzen-compatible boards. It has speeds from 2400 to 3200MHz, and comes in 16 or 32GB SKUs.

The AMD chips appear to be dominating the Intel and Nvidia counterparts when it comes to 3DMark's separate tests. Still, the Intel + Nvidia setup leads in the combined tests, showing that AMD might want to further optimize its chips for combo loads.

Thought you knew what AMD was planning for its Renoir processors? Better known as the Ryzen 4000 series, AMD has already confirmed Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 4000U SKUs. However, there is now evidence of there being a Ryzen 9 chip, specifically the Ryzen 9 4900U. A mere typo, perhaps? Well, that seems unlikely too.

Breaking embargo, Ukrainian outlet Overclockers.ua posted a review of the Ryzen 4500U-powered Acer Aspire SF314. The review and benchmarks provide us with a clear picture of how the Ryzen 4000-series APU performs.

Geekbench is the latest synthetic benchmark to experience the processing power of AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper 3990X, with the 64-core monster tearing the multi-core test to shreds. However, the incredible score of 22,045 points still left it trailing its Castle Peak brethren, the Threadripper 3970X, and the Intel workstation processor Xeon W-3175X.

An engineering sample of an AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X has turned up on UserBenchmark and offered up huge scores that still have room for improvement. The 64-core part was a component in a system that also featured the Prime TRX40-Pro motherboard from Asus and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. Unsurprisingly, the measured 64-core score was massive.

2019 brought the highest revenues in six years for AMD and the red team expects increased 7 nm CPU adoption for 2020 together with increased demand for custom embedded solutions via the release of the next gen consoles. CEO Lisa Su confirmed that the RDNA architecture is getting a refresh and the second half of 2020 should also bring new data center GPUs.

The official AMD site does not provide exact specs for the new Pro 500 chipsets, but it looks like Lenovo already plans to release some IdeaCentre ThinkCentre models that integrate a Pro 560 chipset. According to the Lenovo spec sheet, the Pro 560 chipset appears to support up to 32 GB DDR4-2666 RAM and is only compatible with the PCIe 3.0 standard.

Intel could be accelerating the launch of Comet Lake-H and Comet Lake-S CPUs to March this year to counter AMD's launch of Renoir Ryzen 4000 APUs around the same time. As per reports, a reduced pricing is also on the cards. The question, however, still remains. Will an early launch period help with Intel's fortunes against AMD's 7nm onslaught?

Microsoft has already confirmed that it will be releasing the Xbox Series X later this year, but there has been talk of the company having another lower-end next-gen console in development too. Now, _rogame has spotted some mysterious 3DMark listings of an AMD Ryzen APU that could be a glimpse at Microsoft's cheaper next-gen offering.

Corsair has revealed a couple of new AMD-powered gaming PCs to its lineup. The Vengeance 6180 and Vengeance 6182 both feature a Ryzen 3000 series CPU in the form of the 8-core Ryzen 7 3700X while graphics processing is carried out by the Navi-based Radeon RX 5700 XT GPU. Naturally, there are more RGB lighting options than you could shake a stick at.

AMD recently cleared the air about the online presence of a number of counterfeit Wraith Coolers, some with a different heatpipe configuration. None of the knock-offs has official sanction and AMD plans on “enforcing its rights.”

An AMD Ryzen 7 4700U running on a Lenovo laptop has recently surfaced on Geekbench. The APU seems to have posted impressive single-core and multi-core scores finally giving the Intel Core i7-1065G7 and Core i7-10710U some good competition indicating the improvements brought forth by Zen 2 and the transition to 7nm.

A processor from Intel’s Tiger Lake family has been spotted achieving a credible score on 3DMark’s Time Spy test. The Tiger Lake-U chip racked up scores of 1,300 in the GPU test and 4,400 in the CPU test. A low-power APU from AMD's older Picasso lineup, the Ryzen 7 3780U, managed 1,000 and 3,100 points, respectively.

Small form factor builders who prefer to use AMD processors now have the option of Noctua's ultra-compact NH-L9a-AM4 Chromax.black for their colour themed builds. The Chromax version is better suited for windowed cases where the standard L9a would look out of place.

The in-house Walmart laptop comes with a Ryzen 3 CPU and just 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. The best part, however, is that both RAM and SSD are easily upgradeable if needed.

A Tiger Lake processor from Intel has been spotted being put through its paces on Geekbench. The unnamed Tiger Lake-U quad-core chip posted 4,920 in the multi-core test, but its single-core score was quite outstanding. At 1,400 points, this places the Intel processor ahead of such enthusiast-level chips as AMD’s Ryzen 9 3950X.

A noted data miner has dug out an impressive result for AMD’s Ryzen 7 4800H in 3DMark’s Time Spy benchmark. The Ryzen 4000 series chip from the new Renoir family of APUs amassed a total of 8,350 points in the test, putting it ahead of potential competitors such as Intel’s Core i7-9700K, which managed 8,209 points in the same benchmark.

The AMD Ryzen 4000 Renoir APUs have a reduced number of compute units (CUs) compared to Raven Ridge, but improvements to the architecture means that they can offer higher clocks and a 59% higher performance per CU. AMD plans to eventually transition these improvements into upcoming Navi generations for laptops.

Reports coming from Taiwan and China reveal that AMD will collaborate with ASMedia in order to produce all upcoming motherboard chipsets, including the more affordable B550 and A520 for Ryzen 3000 desktop CPUs, as well as the upcoming 600-series chipset for the Ryzen 4000 desktop CPUs that are scheduled to be launched in 2H 2020.

Even though the new Ryzen 4000 APUs do not integrate Navi iGPUs, the performance gains are quite substantial, at least when compared to the previous generation. According to the latest UserBenchmark tests, the new 7 nm Vega compute units should be 34% faster than similarly clocked Intel Iris Plus iGPUs, while 3DMark 11 reports that AMD's gains are only around 10%.

Zotac is the latest company to join AMD's mini PC initiative. For now, there is only a ZBOX Nano barebones model that is powered by the Ryzen 3 3200U APU with integrated Vega 3 graphics and support for up to 32 GB of DDR4-2400 RAM, but models powered by the new Ryzen 4000 APUs are also expected to launch later this year.

Industry sources claim that Microsoft has chosen Phison as the SSD controller supplier for the upcoming Xbox Series X, so there is a fair chance we could see PCIe 4.0 read speeds of up to 7,000 MB/s and 1 million IOPS, essentially allowing for more detailed textures, smoother gameplay and lightning fast load times.

A user on the ChipHell forums posted unconfirmed evidence of the Intel i9-10990XE. If the post is genuine, it could mean that Intel's attempting to brute force its way to multi-core dominance with an insane 380W, 22-core, 44-thread monster CPU.

The official page for the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X processor has gone live. Many of the details about the HEDT chip were already revealed at CES 2020 but now the powerful 64-core desktop CPU has its own home to boast of. AMD is advertising the Threadripper 3990X as the “One Processor to Render Them All”.

The Intel version will indubitably offer the faster experience, but the AMD version is not really that far behind. Don't beat yourself over for "settling" with AMD if you want to save a few hundred bucks.

Dell has introduced the G5 15 Special Edition gaming laptop that is powered by the latest AMD mobile offerings including the 7nm Ryzen 7 4800H and the Radeon RX 5600M. The Dell G5 15 Special Edition comes with an optional 144 Hz FreeSync FHD display and includes the Alienware Command Center for system tuning and personalization.