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AMD Releases Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.9.3

AMD today released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition. Version 18.9.3 beta comes just in time for "Assassin's Creed: Odyssey," posting up to 5% higher performance at 1440p, when tested with a Radeon RX Vega 64; and up to 3% higher performance at 1080p, tested with an RX 580. The game also comes with optimization for "Forza Horizon 4," although AMD did not put out performance guidance for that game. AMD also addressed a couple of issues, beginning with fixing a stutter observed when exceeding FreeSync refresh-rate range in some high frame-rate scenarios. Also addressed is machines with 16 CPU cores experiencing a random system reboot during driver installation, when upgrading from 18.8.1 drivers. Grab the drivers from the link below.
DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.9.3 beta

The change-log follows.

AMD May Regain ~30% Global Desktop CPU Market Share in Q4 2018, Says Digitimes

A report coming out of Digitimes earlier today forecasts AMD to continue their momentum in the desktop CPU market thus far in 2018, with as much as a 30% market share globally by the final quarter as per their correspondents. Their unnamed industry sources say, and we quote, "AMD has drastically changed its foundry strategy, loosening ties with Globalfoundries and contracting TSMC to fabricate its GPUs, server and PC processors on 7nm process. The policy change has sent AMD share prices rallying all the way since mid-2018 amid market expectations for better chip yield rates and performances as well as normal shipments to customers."

Intel's woes with the 14 nm process node has been reported before, let alone the troubled transition to the 10 nm process, which further helps AMD's case. The report further claims that board partners including ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte "have ramped up production and shipments of devices fitted with AMD processors, driving up the chipmaker's share of the desktop processor market to over 20% in the third quarter. The company is very likely to see the figure further rebound to the level of 30% again." This, in addition to the recently announced AMD EPYC implementation contracts with Ciscoand HPE, can make that 30% number more plausible as well. It remains to be seen what the following months hold for Intel and AMD in the desktop processor market, but there is no denying that things are competitive in multiple segments at the same time, and that is always a good thing for the consumer.

Clues Gather Regarding Possible New AMD Polaris (Re)Revision Launch

Clues have been popping here and there regarding a possible new Polaris revision being launched by AMD in the (relatively) near future. Speculation first reared its head regarding a revised "Polaris 30" silicon, allegedly being built for TSMC's 12 nm process - not unlike AMD's 2000-series Ryzen CPUs. The company has been enamored with trying out and adapting new foundry processes for its products as soon as possible, now that they've found themselves fabless and not having to directly support the R&D costs necessary for process node development themselves.

Some publications are pointing towards a 15% performance improvement being achieved on the back of this process change for Polaris - which, if achieved only via a new process implementation, would require clock speed increases that are higher than that. AMD has already launched their revised Polaris 20 RX 500 series, which built upon their RX 400 series (and Polaris 10) by upping the clocks as well. A smaller node would likely be associated with higher yields and decreased costs per finished chip, which would allow AMD to further reduce pricing/stabilize pricing while introducing a new product generation to tide users over until Navi is finally ready.

More Buyers for AMD Due to Intel CPU Shortages, OEMs Unhappy

Intel is hit by crippling inventory shortages for many of its fast-selling 8th generation Core desktop processor SKUs. A number of factors are contributing to these shortages, as we discussed in this article. A key short-term consequence of shortages in Intel's inventories is more uninitiated buyers discovering AMD processors, now that they've achieved the highest levels of competitiveness against Intel in over a decade. Stock market analyst firm Jefferies has raised AMD's outlook for Q4-2018, and projects that its $30 stock price could hit $36, by raising its target price.

OEMs are not happy with Intel. Haphazard roadmap and platform changes have forced them to revise their product designs way too frequently, and now they're faced with the prospect of a short-supply. A report from research firm Fubon predicts that by next year, 1 in every 3 personal computers sold by HP (Hewlett Packard) will run an AMD processor. "Fubon's report that Intel will undersupply the PC market between 4Q18 and 2Q19 leaves us with higher conviction that AMD will report improving revenue, pricing and margins near term, and that is positioned to take share in the high end PC MPU and server market long term," said stock market analyst Mark Lipacis. He predicts that AMD's CPU market-share climbing to 30% through next year (a very huge feat for AMD).

AMD Releases Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.9.2 Graphics Drivers

AMD today released version 18.9.2 of their Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition Graphics Drivers. This update brings with it improved or added support for F1 2018 (up to 3% faster performance on Vega 64 at 2560x1440); Fortnite (up to 5% faster performance at 1080p under a Vega 64); Shadow of the Tomb Raider (up to 4% faster performance on Vega 64 at 2560x1440); and Star Control: Origins, with up to 14% faster performance with a Vega 64 running at 4K.

Fixed issues include some particle corruption seen in Star Control: Origins. Catch up with known issues after the break. You can download these drivers right here from your favorite website in the galaxy.
DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.9.2

BIOSTAR Presents Professional Crypto Mining Motherboards with TB360-BTC Expert and TB360-BTC PRO

BIOSTAR, a leader in crypto mining motherboards, introduces two new BTC series professional crypto mining motherboards - TB360-BTC Expert and TB360-BTC PRO. Fully optimized for professional crypto mining, the TB360-BTC Expert and TB360-BTC PRO support 17 x PCI-E 3.0 and 12 x PCI-E 3.0 expansion slots respectively. Packed with features for scaling up professional mining operations of any size, the TB360-BTC Expert and TB360-BTC PRO ensure a rock-solid mining system with improved mining performance. The BIOSTAR TB360-BTC series is also the first crypto mining motherboards based on the B360 and H370 chipset, which can support 8th generation Intel Core processors.

ASUS Launches its ROG Ryujin Line of AIO Liquid CPU Coolers for AMD TR4

ASUS today launched the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Ryujin line of all-in-one liquid CPU coolers for AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors. Positioned above the ROG Ryuo series, which opened to pre-orders earlier this month, the Ryujin was first showcased at the 2018 Computex. These coolers are characterized by a somewhat square pump-block design that resembles a that of a chipset heatsink; but is embedded with a 1.77-inch color OLED display that shows an animated ROG logo by default, but can be reprogrammed to show just about anything, such as clan logos, live CPU temperature/load monitoring, etc. Another innovation that sets the Ryujin pump-block apart from every other Asetek cooler out there, is a tiny lateral-blower fan embedded into the block, which ASUS claims can bring down CPU VRM and M.2 SSD temperatures by up to 20°C.

The Ryujin series comes in two variants based on radiator size, the Ryujin 240 (120 mm x 240 mm radiator), and Ryujin 360 (120 mm x 360 mm radiator). These are 27 mm-thick aluminium radiators, which are ventilated by matte-black Noctua IndustrialPPC 120 mm PWM fans that are part of the package. These fans each spin between 450 to 2,000 RPM, pushing up to 121.8 CFM of air, with noise output up to 31 dBA. As we mentioned earlier, the product pages for both models mentions that the coolers only support AMD socket TR4, with full coverage for the AMD Ryzen Threadripper integrated heatspreader. This could help ASUS command a slightly high price, given that it's catering only to the market that can afford HEDT processors.

AMD Readying a 10-core AM4 Processor to Thwart Core i9-9900K?

To sustain its meteoric rise at the stock markets, AMD needs to keep investors convinced it has a competitive edge over Intel, even if it means investing heavily on short-term roadmap changes. According to an Elchapuzas Informatico article, AMD could be working on a new 10-core/20-thread processor for the AM4 platform, to compete with the upcoming Core i9-9900K 8-core/16-thread processor from Intel. The said processor is being labeled "Ryzen 7 2800X" and plastered over CineBench nT screenshots, where due to the sheer weight of its 10 cores, it tops the nT test in comparison to Intel's mainstream-desktop processors, including the 2P Xeon X5650 12-core/24-thread.

The Forbes article that cites the Elchapuzas Informatico, however, is skeptical that AMD could make such a short-sighted product investment. It believes that development of a 10-core die on existing "Zen+" architecture could warrant a massive redesign of the CCX (Zen Compute Complex), and AMD would only get an opportunity to do so when working on "Zen 2," which AMD still expects to debut by late-2018 on its EPYC product line. We, however, don't discount the possibility of a 10-core "Zen+" silicon just yet. GlobalFoundries, AMD's principal foundry partner for CPUs, has given up on 7 nm, making the company fall back to TSMC to meet its 7 nm roadmap commitments. TSMC already has a long list of clientele for 7 nm, including high-volume contracts from Apple, Qualcomm, and NVIDIA. This could force AMD to bolster its existing lineup as a contingency for delays in 7 nm volume production.

AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 Processor to Power SMACH Z Handheld Gaming PC

Remember the SMACH Z? Me neither. It was a long attempt in the making, with multiple Kickstarter campaigns that finally resulted in an actual product coming to market later this year. The SMACH Z is a handheld gaming PC with an x86 processor, that was originally supposed to use a 5" 720p screen powered off an AMD G-series SoC (System on a Chip). It was then updated to use an AMD Merlin Falcon (Excavator) R-Series RX-421BD clocked at 2.1 GHz SoC with an integrated Radeon R7 series GPU at 800 MHz to run a 6" 1080p display, that was in turn embedded in a handheld gaming console, effectively making it a portable gaming PC. Perhaps it was a good thing that the product took its time, since they have now decided to use updated internals for the final product- once more from AMD- in the form of the Ryzen Embedded V1605B SoC with AMD Radeon Vega 8 graphics.

eBOM reports that AMD has announced it will be showcasing the SMACH Z in their booth presence at the Tokyo Game Show which commences later this week. This marks yet another gaming platform that AMD will be powering, although it is less powerful than the other ones. The SMACH Z isavailable for pre-order in three different variants (Z, Z Pro, and Z Ultra) which have different starting configurations, but can be customized as with most pre-built PCs. All variants can run off the Linux-based SMACH OS or Windows 10, retain the 6" 1080p touch screen, support up to 16 GB of dual channel DDR4 memory and 256 GB of solid state storage, and have an optional camera as well. Prices begin at $699 and go up to $1199, with a 10% discount for pre-order for the console expected to be available December, 2018. For those interested, there are some preliminary benchmarks released by SMACH from earlier this year.

AMD Ryzen 2000H Series APUs for Mainstream Notebooks Spark TDP Debate Again

AMD introduced the Ryzen 2000H series APUs for mainstream notebooks. These chips are physically identical to the Ryzen 2000U series designed for ultraportable notebooks and convertibles; but come with higher CPU and iGPU clock speeds, and hence a higher TDP. The lineup includes two models for now, the Ryzen 7 2800H, and the Ryzen 5 2600H, both of which are based on the same 14 nm "Raven Ridge" silicon as the Ryzen 2000U series.

The 2800H features a 4-core/8-thread "Zen" CPU, with 512 KB L2 cache per core, and 4 MB of shared L3 cache; with clock speeds of 3.30 GHz, with 3.80 GHz maximum boost. The iGPU is a Radeon Vega 11, with 704 stream processors, and engine clocks of up to 1.30 GHz. If you'll recall, the Ryzen 7 2700U has very similar specifications, but only differs with a lower CPU nominal clock speed of 2.20 GHz (but same boost clocks), and one of the 11 Vega NGCUs being disabled. The difference in TDP between the two chips is enormous - 45W default TDP with configurable TDP as low as 35W for the 2800H; while the 2700U is just 15W default TDP, with configurable TDP as low as 12W.

AMD Releases Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.9.1 Drivers

AMD today released Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.9.1 beta. The drivers introduce optimization of "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" and "Star Control: Origins." A number of issues are also addressed with this release. To begin with, a bug that prevented FreeSync from enabling in "Monster Hunter: World" has been fixed. Radeon Link not connecting to devices running Android 9 Pie has been fixed. Radeon ReLive not properly recording DirectX 12 games on R9 290 and R9 390 series GPUs has been fixed. A cursor lag noticed on multi-display systems with one of the monitors turned off has been fixed. The Radeon Settings context-menu item not appearing after driver installation has been fixed. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.9.1
The change-log follows.

AMD CEO Speaks with Jim Cramer About the "Secret Sauce" Behind its Giant-Killing Spree

Jim Cramer of CNBC Mad Money interviewed AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su on the floor of the NYSE remarking her company as the year's biggest tech turnaround stories. The two spoke a variety of topics, including how the company went from a single-digit stock and a loss-making entity to one of the hottest tech-stocks, which threatens both Intel and NVIDIA. Dr. Su placed emphasis on taking long term strategic decisions that bear fruit years down the line.

"We decided to make the right investments. Technology is all about making the right choices, where we're going to invest, and where we're not going to invest...three or four years ago, it was mobile phones, tablets, and IoT that were the sexy things, and we were like 'hey we know that those are good markets, but those are not AMD.' We focused on what we thought the future would hold for us," said Dr. Su. "We are making decisions now that you won't see the outcome of for the next 3-5 years. We're making some good decisions," she added.

AMD Announces 2nd Gen Ryzen Quad-core and Energy-Efficient Processor Models

AMD today announced the much-awaited 2nd generation Ryzen quad-core socket AM4 processors, in addition to two new E-series (energy-efficient) variants of its existing processor models. To begin with, the company announced the 4-core/8-thread Ryzen 5 2500X and the 4-core/4-thread Ryzen 3 2300X.

Unlike their predecessors that are carved out of the "Summit Ridge" silicon by disabling 2 cores per compute complex or CCX (2+2 CCX config), the 2500X and 2300X feature a 4+0 config, or an entire CCX in the "Pinnacle Ridge" silicon being disabled. This also means that the 2500X has just 8 MB of L3 cache (its predecessor has 16 MB). The 2300X is clocked at 3.50 GHz with 4.00 GHz boost, while the 2500X ticks at 3.60 GHz with 4.00 GHz boost. The TDP of both chips is rated at 65W.

AMD also released the "E" brand extension for its 2nd generation Ryzen series, with the new Ryzen 5 2600E, and the Ryzen 7 2700E. Both these chips sacrifice clock speeds for an impressive 45W TDP. The 2600E is clocked at 3.10 GHz, with 4.00 GHz (compared to 3.60 GHz ~ 4.20 GHz of the 2600X); while the 2700E ticks at 2.80 GHz, with 4.00 GHz boost (compared to 3.70 GHz ~ 4.30 GHz of the 2700X). The company didn't reveal pricing of the four chips.

Jon Peddie Research Releases its Q2-2018 Graphics Card Report

The add-in board market decreased in Q2'18 from last quarter, while NVIDIA gained market share. Over $3.2 billion dollars of AIBs shipped in the quarter. The market shares for the desktop discrete GPU suppliers shifted in the quarter, Nvidia increased market share from last quarter, while AMD enjoyed an increase in share year-to-year.

Add-in boards (AIBs) using discrete GPUs are found in desktop PCs, workstations, servers, rendering and mining farms, and other devices such as scientific instruments. They are sold directly to customers as aftermarket products or are factory installed by OEMs. In all cases, AIBs represent the higher end of the graphics industry with their discrete chips and private, often large, high-speed memory, as compared to the integrated GPUs in CPUs that share slower system memory.

AMD Announces "Zen" Based Athlon and 2nd Gen Ryzen PRO Desktop Processors

AMD today announced a reimagined family of AMD Athlon desktop processors with Radeon Vega graphics that have been optimized for everyday PC users: the AMD Athlon 200GE, Athlon 220GE, and Athlon 240GE processor. Combining the high-performance x86 "Zen" core and "Vega] graphics architectures in a versatile System-on-Chip (SOC) design, the Athlon desktop processors offer responsive and reliable computing for a wide range of experiences, from day-to-day needs like web browsing and video streaming through more advanced workloads like high-definition PC gaming. Complementing this news, AMD announced the availability of the commercial-grade Athlon PRO 200GE desktop processor, along with three 2nd Gen Ryzen PRO desktop processor models for the commercial, enterprise, and the public sector: the Ryzen 7 PRO 2700X, Ryzen 7 PRO 2700, and Ryzen 5 PRO 2600 processors. With these new introductions, AMD now offers a top-to-bottom line-up of professional-grade computing solutions for experiences that range from premium content creation to advanced multitasking and office productivity.

"We are proud to expand our successful "Zen" core-based consumer and commercial product portfolios today with the addition of AMD Athlon, AMD Athlon PRO, and 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen PRO desktop processors. The new Athlon desktop processors, now incorporating the advanced "Zen" core and "Vega"3 graphics architectures, energize a legendary processor brand in AMD Athlon - a brand that consumers and PC enthusiasts alike trusted throughout nearly two decades of innovation," said Saeid Moshkelani, senior vice president and general manager, Client Compute, AMD. "Additionally, we are continuing to offer business PC users more processing power than we ever have before with the launch of 2nd Gen Ryzen PRO desktop processors into the commercial market."

AMD X499 Chipset Alive, Could See CES 2019 Unveil

AMD is going ahead with its plans to launch a new HEDT platform chipset dubbed X499, according to a HD Technologia report. Originally rumored to launch alongside the 2nd Generation Ryzen Threadripper family, X499 was delayed indefinitely, and the current X399 chipset continued as AMD's premier HEDT chipset, with existing motherboards receiving BIOS updates to support 2nd Gen Threadrippers, and some motherboard manufacturers launching newer models with beefed up CPU VRM designs to better cope with the 24-core and 32-core Threadrippers.

AMD X499 is reportedly back on the company's roadmap, and slated for a CES 2019 unveiling (January). What's interesting here is AMD sticking to the model number "499" after it emerged that Intel's next HEDT chipset could be named "X599." There's no information on what X499 brings to the table, but there are two big areas for improvement: first, the downstream PCI-Express connectivity needs to be updated to current PCI-Express gen 3.0 standards; and second, unless Threadripper WX processors are hardwired to only support quad-channel memory; X499 could introduce 8-channel memory, which could make it even more competitive against Intel's upcoming 28-core HEDT processor that has 6-channel memory.

Intel 14nm Processors Face Shortages

Intel's 8th generation Core desktop processors based on the company's 14 nm node are facing shortages in the market, according to a Tom's Hardware report. Tracking prices and availability of popular 8th generation Core SKUs such as the i5-8400, i5-8600K, and i7-8700K, the report notes that retailers are heavily marking up these SKUs above their SEP, and many of whom are running out of stock often. This may not be attributed to heavy demand.

A possible explanation for these shortages could be Intel allocating volumes from the same 14 nm++ node for its upcoming 9th generation Core processors, which debut with three SKUs - i5-9600K, i7-9700K, and i9-9900K. Intel probably wants to launch the three chips not just at competitive prices, but also good enough volumes to win the 2018 Holiday season, and repair its competitiveness damaged by AMD 2nd generation Ryzen over the past couple of quarters.

AMD Implements xGMI for "Vega 20" as Competition to NVLink

xGMI (inter-chip global memory interconnect) is a cable-capable version of AMD's Infinity Fabric interconnect. A line of code in the latest version of AMDGPU Linux drivers reveals that "Vega 20" will support xGMI. This line tells the driver to check the state of xGMI link. A practical implementation of this could be inter-card high-bandwidth bridge connectivity that would otherwise saturate the PCI-Express host bus; similar to NVIDIA's usage of the new NVLink bridge for Quadro and Tesla products based on its "Volta" and "Turing" GPU architectures.

By no means should xGMI and NVLink implementations be interpreted as a coming back of multi-GPU to the gaming space. There are still no takers for DirectX 12 multi-GPU, and fewer AAA games support SLI or CrossFire. Even at higher resolutions/refresh-rates, existing SLI/CrossFire physical-layer standards have sufficient bandwidth for multi-GPU. The upcoming GeForce RTX 2000 graphics cards feature a new multi-GPU connector that's physically NVLink, but this is probably an attempt by NVIDIA to discard the legacy SLI bus and minimize redundant interfaces on its silicon. The TU102 and TU104 chips are implemented in the enterprise segment with the Quadro RTX family. The main application of xGMI/NVLink is to make multi-GPU hardware setups abstract to deep-learning software, so hardware can scale in the background with memory access spanning multiple GPUs. "Vega 20" will be launched in Radeon Pro and Radeon Instinct avatars late-2018.

The Power of Ryzen in Rackmount NAS - QNAP Introduces the TS-x77XU Series

QNAP Systems, Inc. (QNAP), a leading storage, network and computing solution provider, unveiled the high-performance TS-x77XU rackmount NAS series. This series features the 8-bay TS-877XU-RP, 12-bay TS-1277XU-RP, and 16-bay TS-1677XU-RP. Utilizing the blazing-fast AMD Ryzen processor family with high core/thread counts, the TS-x77XU series has been significantly boosted to meet the most-demanding virtualization needs of enterprises.

The TS-x77XU series is available with Ryzen 3 1200, Ryzen 5 2600, and Ryzen 7 2700 processors, all of which demonstrate astonishing processing power for versatile applications and scenarios (including desktop and server virtualization, on-the-fly video transcoding/streaming, and private cloud infrastructure). Four PCI Express (PCIe) slots are available in all models, allowing users to expand NAS functionality with network adapters (40GbE, 10GBASE-T/NBASE-T), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) cards, M.2 SSD cards, and graphics cards. The TS-1677XU comes with a 500 W power supply unit (PSU) to support a graphics card that requires additional power. Models with redundant power supplies are also available.

AMD Readies 2nd Generation Ryzen Pro Socket AM4 Processors

AMD is readying its second generation Ryzen Pro socket AM4 processors targeted at commercial desktops in a corporate environment, with additional management and security features. These chips are based on the company's new 12 nm "Pinnacle Ridge" silicon. Its biggest differentiator from the other Ryzen SKUs is the GuardMI feature, which is a collective of Secure Memory Encryption, a hardened Secure Boot feature, Secure Production Environment (useful for big organizations that oversee the manufacturing of their hardware, and fTPM.

AMD's 2nd gen Ryzen Pro lineup initially includes three models: the 8-core/16-thread Ryzen 7 Pro 2700X, the Ryzen 7 Pro 2700, and the 6-core/12-thread Ryzen 5 Pro 2600. Some of these chips are clocked marginally lower than their non-Pro siblings. The Pro 2700X ticks at 3.60 GHz, with 4.10 GHz (vs. 3.70 to 4.30 GHz of the 2700X); while the Pro 2700 and Pro 2600 are clocked on par with its non-Pro counterparts. The decision behind clocking the Pro 2700X lower could have something to do with TDP, which is now 95W, compared to the 105W of the normal 2700X.

AMD Athlon Pro 200GE Detailed: An Extremely Cut-down "Raven Ridge" at $55

AMD is giving finishing touches to its Athlon Pro 200GE socket AM4 SoC, which it could position against Intel's $50-ish Celeron LGA1151 SKUs. Leaked slides by PCEva reveals that it's a heavily cut-down 14 nm "Raven Ridge" die. For starters, unlike previous-generation Athlon-branded products on platforms such as FM2, the Athlon 200GE won't lack integrated graphics. Only 3 out of 11 Vega NGCUs will be enabled, translating to 192 stream processors, which should be enough for desktop, 2D, and video acceleration, but not serious gaming, even at low resolutions.

The CPU config is 2-core/4-thread, with 512 KB L2 cache per core, and 4 MB shared L3 cache. The CPU is clocked at 3.20 GHz, with no Precision Boost features. You still get GuardMI commercial-grade hardware security features. There is a big catch with one of its uncore components. The PCIe root-complex only supports PCI-Express 3.0 x4 out of your motherboard's topmost x16 slot, not even x8. Ryzen "Raven Ridge" APUs already offer a crippled x8 connectivity through this slot. AMD claims that the Athlon 200GE will be "up to 19 percent faster" than Intel Pentium G4560 at productivity work. When it launches on 6th September with market availability from 18th September, the Athlon Pro 200GE will be priced at USD $55.

AMD Fast-tracks 7nm "Navi" GPU to Late-2018 Alongside "Zen 2" CPU

AMD is unique in the world of computing as the only company with both high-performance CPU and GPU products. For the past several years we have been executing our multi-generational leadership product and architectural roadmap. Just in the last 18 months, we successfully introduced and ramped our strongest set of products in more than a decade and our business has grown dramatically as we gained market share across the PC, gaming and datacenter markets.

The industry is at a significant inflection point as the pace of Moore's Law slows while the demand for computing and graphics performance continues to grow. This trend is fueling significant shifts throughout the industry and creating new opportunities for companies that can successfully bring together architectural, packaging, system and software innovations with leading-edge process technologies. That is why at AMD we have invested heavily in our architecture and product roadmaps, while also making the strategic decision to bet big on the 7nm process node. While it is still too early to provide more details on the architectural and product advances we have in store with our next wave of products, it is the right time to provide more detail on the flexible foundry sourcing strategy we put in place several years ago.

Intel Core i9-9900K De-lidded, Soldered IHS Confirmed

With its 9th generation Core processors, Intel is re-introducing soldered IHS (integrated heatspreaders), at least in its top two premium models, the Core i9-9900K, and the Core i7-9700K. Intel refers to this feature as STIM (soldered thermal interface material). AMD implements soldered IHS across its Ryzen "Summit Ridge," "Pinnacle Ridge," and Threadripper families. XFastest took apart an i9-9900K to confirm that Intel is indeed using solder. Soldered IHS is generally preferred for better heat-transfer characteristics, compared to fluid TIMs. The use of fluid TIMs prompts some serious enthusiasts to even "de-lid" (run their processors without the IHS).

The 8-core "Whiskey Lake-S" die could be around 178 mm² in area, with the addition of two more cores, and 4.5 MB more cache (L2 + L3), over its predecessor. You'll recall that the 6-core "Coffee Lake" die measures 150 mm², a 25 mm² gain over the 4-core "Kaby Lake" die. We aren't expecting Intel to change the iGPU or uncore components. Intel is building these dies on the same 14 nm++ silicon fabrication node as "Coffee Lake," with the only architectural difference being silicon-level hardening against certain security vulnerabilities.

Create Your Masterpiece With MSI MEG X399 Creation

MSI, the world-leading motherboard manufacturer, announces that MSI MEG X399 CREATION is on shelf now. MSI MEG X399 CREATION is the ultimate motherboard for creators, with design inspired by the concept of element explosion and packed with exclusive features to unleash the overall performance for incredible 32 cores CPU. This time, MEG X399 CREATION also creates incredibly OC records to highlight its maximum performance, with stunning NO.1 records on 9 benchmarks, as table shown below.

AMD Brings Faster Performance and Advanced Features to Strange Brigade

Today, gamers around the world will face off against an ancient, forgotten evil power in the highly anticipated Strange Brigade. AMD and Rebellion have worked closely to ensure smooth, immersive gameplay on Radeon RX Graphics in Strange Brigade.
  • FreeSync 2 HDR: Brings low-latency, high-brightness pixels and a wide color gamut to High Dynamic Range (HDR) content for PC displays, enabling Strange Brigade to preserve details in scenes that may otherwise be lost due to limited contrast ratios. Ultimately, it lets bright scenes to appear much brighter and dark scenes to be truly dark - all while keeping details visible.
  • Asnychronous Compute: Strange Brigade by default has asynchronous compute enabled improving GPU utilization, input latency, efficiency and performance by tapping into GPU resources that would otherwise be underutilized. For example, running various screen space effects during the shadow map rendering.
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