Friday, May 31st 2024
TechPowerUp @ Computex 2024 Preview: AI Everywhere! Next Gen Platforms and Teasers
TechPowerUp flies to Taipei this weekend to bring you our biggest ever Live coverage of what is shaping up to be the most exhaustive edition of Computex ever, with hundreds of brands and thousands of new products on display. We have scheduled meetings with all brands from the world of hardware and gaming, so that we can get you full coverage, including hands-on with the hardware you're looking forward to. Besides the show floor, there's a lot happening at Computex, with leading hardware companies announcing their latest platforms. The running theme of course is AI for everyone, and AI everywhere. Since Computex is a mainly PC-focussed expo, the dominating device is bound to be the AI PC. This would mean a slew of core hardware and peripherals enhanced with on-device AI acceleration capabilities.
After the break, we've compiled a list of announcements that we expect from major companies like Intel, AMD, NVIDIA
Intel
We expect Intel to lift the veil off its next-generation Core Ultra "Lunar Lake" processor for ultraportables, and its sibling microarchitecture, "Arrow Lake," which will power performance-thru-enthusiast notebooks, and desktops. That's right, Intel is bringing in an all new desktop processor platform this year, which will be the company's first to feature an NPU, and meet Microsoft Copilot+ AI PC logo requirements.
AMD
From AMD we expect the Ryzen 9000 "Granite Ridge" desktop processor powered by the new "Zen 5" microarchitecture. This isn't the only chip based on the new architecture, there's also the Ryzen AI "Strix Point" mobile processor series, which promises generational increases in CPU core counts besides the IPC increase from "Zen 5," a new NPU that exceeds Copilot+ requirements, and a faster iGPU. It remains to be seen if AMD announces any enterprise-segment products. AMD's Radeon RDNA 3 generation is due for an update in 2024, so it would be interesting to see some action there, too.
NVIDIA
Next up, is NVIDIA, the undisputed king of AI acceleration. The company recently announced its "Blackwell" AI GPU at GTC, and is unlikely to make any data-center announcements in a client-focussed event like Computex, but there could be several announcements related to NVIDIA's approach to AI on the PC, including AI-accelerated gaming features and utilities for gamers. Much like AMD, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX gaming GPU lineup is due for an update this year with "Blackwell," so it would be very interesting to see if NVIDIA pulls out something big.
Storage & DRAM
The PC storage industry will see the various memory manufacturers unveil high-frequency DDR5 overclocking memory kits, as both Intel and AMD are expected to launch next-generation processors that will likely be capable of higher memory speeds. DDR5 is now maturing and mainstreaming as a consumer main memory standard. We also expect to see memory in new form-factors such as CAMM2 and LPCAMM2. The non-volatile storage market led by M.2 NVMe SSDs, could see the introduction of PCIe Gen 5 drives across broader market segments, as the various SSD controller manufacturers roll out mainstream Gen 5 controllers that are built on 7 nm, and run cool.
Cases, Cooling & Power
The PC power, cases, and cooling showcase at Computex is expected to be vast and elaborate. Cases with curved, pillarless glass paneling could be all the rage. AIO liquid CPU coolers will get smarter, and pack displays on the pump+block, as would the air-type CPU coolers. More importantly, there could be support for upcoming CPU sockets. The PSU segment will see greater standardization of ATX 3.1, along with 12V-2x6 power connectors. We noticed an upward trend in wattage at CES, which we expect to continue. Can we have cases with USB4-capable type-C front-panel ports, pretty please?
See you next week, when Computex kicks off in earnest. Our news team will work round the clock to bring you hundreds of stories, so be sure to keep checking back on us!
After the break, we've compiled a list of announcements that we expect from major companies like Intel, AMD, NVIDIA
We expect Intel to lift the veil off its next-generation Core Ultra "Lunar Lake" processor for ultraportables, and its sibling microarchitecture, "Arrow Lake," which will power performance-thru-enthusiast notebooks, and desktops. That's right, Intel is bringing in an all new desktop processor platform this year, which will be the company's first to feature an NPU, and meet Microsoft Copilot+ AI PC logo requirements.
AMD
From AMD we expect the Ryzen 9000 "Granite Ridge" desktop processor powered by the new "Zen 5" microarchitecture. This isn't the only chip based on the new architecture, there's also the Ryzen AI "Strix Point" mobile processor series, which promises generational increases in CPU core counts besides the IPC increase from "Zen 5," a new NPU that exceeds Copilot+ requirements, and a faster iGPU. It remains to be seen if AMD announces any enterprise-segment products. AMD's Radeon RDNA 3 generation is due for an update in 2024, so it would be interesting to see some action there, too.
NVIDIA
Next up, is NVIDIA, the undisputed king of AI acceleration. The company recently announced its "Blackwell" AI GPU at GTC, and is unlikely to make any data-center announcements in a client-focussed event like Computex, but there could be several announcements related to NVIDIA's approach to AI on the PC, including AI-accelerated gaming features and utilities for gamers. Much like AMD, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX gaming GPU lineup is due for an update this year with "Blackwell," so it would be very interesting to see if NVIDIA pulls out something big.
Storage & DRAM
The PC storage industry will see the various memory manufacturers unveil high-frequency DDR5 overclocking memory kits, as both Intel and AMD are expected to launch next-generation processors that will likely be capable of higher memory speeds. DDR5 is now maturing and mainstreaming as a consumer main memory standard. We also expect to see memory in new form-factors such as CAMM2 and LPCAMM2. The non-volatile storage market led by M.2 NVMe SSDs, could see the introduction of PCIe Gen 5 drives across broader market segments, as the various SSD controller manufacturers roll out mainstream Gen 5 controllers that are built on 7 nm, and run cool.
Cases, Cooling & Power
The PC power, cases, and cooling showcase at Computex is expected to be vast and elaborate. Cases with curved, pillarless glass paneling could be all the rage. AIO liquid CPU coolers will get smarter, and pack displays on the pump+block, as would the air-type CPU coolers. More importantly, there could be support for upcoming CPU sockets. The PSU segment will see greater standardization of ATX 3.1, along with 12V-2x6 power connectors. We noticed an upward trend in wattage at CES, which we expect to continue. Can we have cases with USB4-capable type-C front-panel ports, pretty please?
See you next week, when Computex kicks off in earnest. Our news team will work round the clock to bring you hundreds of stories, so be sure to keep checking back on us!
56 Comments on TechPowerUp @ Computex 2024 Preview: AI Everywhere! Next Gen Platforms and Teasers
May have to go Arrow Lake if it's competitive in multithtreaded apps even sans HTing.
I may be wrong but looks like TPU was wrong about every word of the Nvidia keynote prediction:
“…is unlikely to make any data-center announcements in a client-focussed event like Computex, but there could be several announcements related to NVIDIA's approach to AI on the PC, including AI-accelerated gaming features and utilities for gamers. Much like AMD, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX gaming GPU lineup is due for an update this year with "Blackwell," so it would be very interesting to see if NVIDIA pulls out something big.”
They have awesome animation :love: available on the page that it'll be unveiled (finally - full year after they showed prototype last year) at Computex 2024, but no product page yet.
For mobile though they're screwed if they don't include one so I think it was already announced they would.
I so dont give 2 shits about any of this...
That said, it would be extremely hilarious if Computex ever did have Booth Dudes; muscle guys wearing fitted shirts with some computer brand on it and them hyping it up. At the very least, it would have made that one company (in)famously memorable.
Given all the focus on AI though, I'm surprised they didn't feature more AI "waifus/husbandos" this time around to showcase the use of AI for things like advanced virtual assistants, virtual booth babes/dudes (that know the product), smart game NPCs, or even virtual concierges (to man all the reception/check-in/information desks that tend to be empty nowadays). Computex 2023 had an interactive AI (that looked like a generic Chinese NPC) that could interact with guests to a limited extent, via asking questions through a microphone, and it answering as best as it could based on its programming at the time, and I only learned of it because YTuber Dawid happened to visit the less-popular booths in a side video of his (starts at 4:38).
Heck, especially the info kiosks; this would have been a perfect time to really capitalize on the AI buzzword craze and feature "AI powered Information Desks" that let people know where each and every booth, restroom, and snack bar was, while having a virtual being to "look at", given that studies show that humans were more likely to interact with a virtual being than just a camera and speaker.
Other than gaming, I just see this more at the benefit of FAAMG. Some of the AI stuff I have used, barely uses any CPU (in some cases you can't even tell) and it really is no better than the non-AI stuff. Things like changing your voice, noise suppression, doing basic stuff in a photo/video editor, etc. Not many people do or care to say run a local LLM. Lots of people already use things like ChatGTP, but they aren't going to run these locally. They will just find a website and put their query in there. If you want to do something else "cool" there are plenty of free websites to do it. I also find Google and MS AI search to be complete and utter garbage for searches I have been doing for decades. In this regard I feel like we are taking a giant leap backwards.
Hell, I run a training model at work that processes 25 images every 15 minutes. Uses 50% of 8 cores for all of 60s to pump out my output. My NVR does "AI" image processing just fine on an 8core A53 processor. Don't need a fancy AI processor to do it.
For things like DLSS, is >300TOPs even needed? Could we get by with significantly less? Like could a 4090 with DLSS get the same level of performance if it only had the Tensor output of say the 4060 or 4070?
This raises the question yet again. If you can't really trust AI to give you correct info and you have to go back and double check the results for accuracy anyway then what is the point in asking the AI a question to begin with?
www.pcgamer.com/hardware/amds-broken-computex-ai-demo-again-proves-you-cant-trust-everything-an-ai-tells-you/
I can't imagine where AMD's AI got that information from.
'If you can't really trust crypto to not fluctuate wildly in value, and you have to double check whether your ice cream cone didn't just double in price, how can it ever be a valid way to pay things with?'
Its all more of the same. Overcomplicated 'solutions' to problems we never had and won't ever solve either. Basically the gist is: nothing is perfect and no system will ever be perfect. Because humans interact with it, you will need humans to keep it within the boundaries of what's acceptable. This applies to crypto. Its unregulated but humans keep screwing with it. And that also applies to AI: its unregulated, and humans keep screwing with it. What are they trying to replace? Regulated systems that work fine.
No system is infallible. Its the perfect thing to sell: a product that's never done, feeding on its own nonsense, and just like crypto, 'forever in beta'. 'But this time its really great'...
"You’re getting at a deeper point where hallucination is still an unsolved problem. In some ways, it’s an inherent feature. It’s what makes these models very creative. It’s why it can immediately write a poem about Thomas Jefferson in the style of Nilay. It can do that. It’s incredibly creative. But LLMs aren’t necessarily the best approach to always get at factuality, which is part of why I feel excited about Search."
Informal poll: What was the best Computex Launch/Teaser?
Lunar Lake
Strix Point
Granite Ridge
Sierra Forrest
Turin
Granite Rapids
Arrow Lake
Panther Lake
Whatever Nvidia showed