Alphacool will soon be offering brackets fitted for the Alphacool Eisblock XPX and the Alphacool Eisbaer CPU AIO series. Both coolers were designed for large DIE surfaces from the beginning and provide an ideal foundation for a water cooling system on the new AMD Threadripper CPUs.

Additionally, Alphacool plans to release a special cooler later this year that is specifically made for CPUs with an extremely large DIE surface and multiple cores: The Alphacool Eisblock Flatboy. This extremely flat CPU cooler was originally designed for server systems. Because of this, it has connection points not just on its surface, but also on its sides. The side connections make the Flatboy very flat, making it easy to install in the flat casing of a 19" server rack.

Paraphrasing our own VSG, "So, this happened". AMD has gone out and done it: they've released a Beta driver specifically geared towards blockchain-based workloads, which should improve the company's GPU performance in generating money for miners. The driver is compatible with close to the entirety of AMD's GCN lineup - all the way from hot-from-the-foundry Vega to AMD's HD 7900 series. As AMD puts it, this is a driver solely purposed towards blockchain workloads - no gaming or graphics workloads (read, what graphics cards were originally meant to do) are officially supported in this release.

Apparently, AMD took it upon themselves to release this driver due to AMD's well documented DAG performance decrease for Ethereum mining hashrates. Specifically, according to Legit Reviews, the Radeon RX 480 went from an expected 14.8 MH/s at DAG #199 (down from 24.6 MH/s at DAG #130) to a prospective 24.8 MH/s DAG #199 performance according to Claymore's benchmark script. Performance improvements from the non-blockchain-geared driver release seem to stand at around 10-15%, which isn't too shabby from a single, Beta driver release.

Overclockers UK staff member Gibbo, who posted the renowned British company's Vega stocks and deals for the red team's graphics cards, has just come out with something that might put our inner buyers to attention. Apparently, AMD has allowed launch prices to be as they currently are ($499 for the Vega 64 and $399 for the Vega 56 in the Americas; £549 for the Vega 64 in the UK) through rebates and other offers to retailers, who, according to Gibbo, couldn't keep those prices at all if that was not the case. According to the Overclockers UK staffer, " (...) the good news is AMD are rebating early launch sales to allow us to hit £449.99 on the stand alone black card which has no games. This is a launch only price which AMD at present are saying will be withdrawn in the near future, when if it happens is unknown, but remember do not be shocked if the price jumps nearly £100 in a few days. This time around there is no early adopter tax, quite the opposite on the stand alone black card, so do be quick."

AMD today has made available for early adopters the Crimson ReLive Edition 17.8.1 drivers. Users of other AMD graphics cards other than the newly released RX Vega 64 beware: these drivers are for exclusive use on those graphics cards.

For those early adopters who have a Vega 64 on their hands already, these drivers are for you. If you're currently on the fence on whether or not to make the plunge to a new red-powered graphics card, make sure to read our own resident W1zzard's reviews of AMD's latest foray into the high performance graphics processing market for both the RX Vega 56 and RX Vega 64 graphics cards. You might be surprised. Download the drivers from the link below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Relive Edition Radeon RX Vega Series Driver​

In a slightly anemic post on their website, Gigabyte has been the first of AMD's AIB partners to showcase a reference design RX Vega 56 graphics card. This was a silent addition to their website; no press releases have been sent out as of yet. There is only so much a company can say about their reference design graphics cards, though, absent of coming up with interesting phrases to sell the card's capabilities. Specifically, Gigabyte praised:

Next Gen Compute Units
These revamped nCUs (1 nCU = 64 stream processors) are designed to operate at incredible clock speeds and deliver extreme gaming experiences with the newest high resolution and high refresh rate monitors.

Trying to keep our community entertained and distracted from the growing pains and expectations of waiting for the death of AMD's imposed NDAs on Vega reviews is one of our missions. As such, while we know what you want are actual performance numbers, price/performance charts, and an in-depth, independent review, you'll not find such answers in this post. You will find, however, some interesting tidbits on AMD RX Vega designs. In this case, a triple-fan cooling solution for AMD's RX Vega 56 (the smaller Vega).

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading manufacturer of extreme performance memory and gaming peripherals, announces all-new DDR4 specifications and expanding the Flare X series, designed for AMD processors and platforms. Compatible with the new Ryzen Threadripper processors and AMD X399 chipset motherboards, these new DDR4 specifications are designed to achieve high frequency at DDR4-3600 MHz 32GB (8GBx4), as well as a massive total capacity at DDR4-2933 MHz 128GB (16GBx8). Included in the mix of new quad-channel DDR4 memory kits are DDR4-3200 MHz CL14 32GB (8GBx4) and DDR4-3466 MHz CL16 32GB (8GBx4).

With improved overclocking performance on the latest AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors on the X399 chipset, G.SKILL is announcing the DDR4-3600 MHz CL16-18-18-38 with 32GB (8GBx4) total capacity running in quad-channel mode, under the Flare X series. Tested for maximum stability, this kit's frequency speed marks the fastest memory kit ever released thus far for an AMD platform.

It seems that AMD's RX Vega lineup won't be too far away from the norm, it seems. Street knowledge almost always says that it's the runner-up to the highest performing graphics card that is the more interesting in a price-performance ratio, and it seems that AMD knows this as well. Steve Burke from Gamer's Nexus has reported on AMD's NDA dates and the company's indications to reviewers on changing up the game leading up to reviews: they're asking that publications focus on the Vega 56 ahead of the halo Vega 64.

This might be somewhat bad news for those who wanted to see the Vega 64 compete in favorable terms with the GTX 1080; this decision by AMD is obviously geared towards making the best impact on the company's product line and image. The fact that AMD can offer a more compelling argument over the Vega 64 means that Vega 56 will probably have an easier battle in the $400 camp (if you can find it at those prices on launch, that is.)

The folks at Techgage have already put out some unboxing pictures on AMD's RX Vega 64 review sample. There's not much more new information here - however, it's an opportunity to see how lavish AMD has become with their review sampling. Gone are the times of cardboard boxes, it seems. AMD may be spending more on packaging and presentation for the review samples than for actual R&D on the graphics cards (I kid, obviously.)

AMD revealed that the pair of 8-core "Summit Ridge" dies that make up the Ryzen Threadripper multi-chip module are heavily binned. AMD hand-selects the top-5% highest performing "Summit Ridge" dies for Ryzen Threadripper manufacturing, which makes these chips of a higher grade than even what AMD sets aside for Ryzen 7-series socket AM4 chips.

AMD requires the highest grade "Summit Ridge" dies to use in Threadripper chips, to keep electrical leakage to the minimum, so the chips can run as cool as possible, with the least power-draw. Choosing the best dies could also ensure that Threadripper chips have the highest overclocking-headroom taking into account other electrical and thermal constraints. A 7-series chip such as the 1800X could still achieve higher clocks than a Threadripper chip, in that sense.

AMD built its Ryzen Threadripper HEDT (high-end desktop) processor as a multi-chip module (MCM) of two 8-core "Summit Ridge" dies, each with its own dual-channel memory controller, and PCI-Express interface. This is unlike the competing Core "Skylake-X" from Intel, which is a monolithic 18-core die with a quad-channel DDR4 interface and 44-lane PCIe on one die. AMD has devised some innovative methods of overcoming the latency issues inherent to an MCM arrangement like the Ryzen Threadripper, by tapping into its nUMA technology innovation.

To the hardware, four 8 GB DDR4 memory modules populating the four memory channels of a Ryzen Threadripper chip is seen as 16 GB controlled by each of the two "Summit Ridge" dies. To the software, it is a seamless block of 32 GB. Blindly interleaving the four 8 GB memory modules for four times the bandwidth of a single module isn't as straightforward as it is on the Core X, and is fraught with latency issues. A thread being processed by a core on die-A, having half of its memory allocation on memory controlled by a different die, is hit with latency. AMD is overcoming this by treating memory on a Ryzen Threadripper machine like a 2-socket machine, in which each socket has its own memory.

Update: Corrected socket compatibility. This is a specially-designed cooler by Arctic for AMD's HEDT platform, As such, it offers limited compatibility with CPUs of lower die sizes, which means it's only compatible with TR4, AM4, LLGA2011(v3) and LGA2066 sockets.

Arctic announced the Freezer 33 TR, a tower-type CPU air cooler, designed for AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors, with out of the box support for AMD socket TR4/SP3r2. The cooler comes in two variants based on color - black with red accents, and black with silver accents. The cooler features a conventional tower-type design, in which four 6 mm-thick copper heat-pipes, which make direct contact with the CPU at the base, pass through an aluminium fin-stack, which is ventilated by an included fan.

Compared to other Freezer 33 variants, the TR variant features an elongated base, for higher coverage of the Threadripper integrated heatspreader (IHS). The aluminium fins and heat-pipes feature matte-black nickel-plating. The included fan takes in 4-pin (PWM) input, spinning between 200 to 1,800 RPM. The cooler can cope with thermal loads of up to 320W, which makes it good for CPU TDP rating up to 200W, according to Arctic. Besides socket TR4, the cooler also supports AMD's AM4 socket, while Intel support stands at their LGA2011(v3), LGA2066. Available now, and backed by a generous 10-year warranty, the Freezer 33 TR is priced at 47.99€.

Thermaltake is thrilled today to launch the next generation of all-in-one liquid cooling solution - the Floe Riing RGB TT Premium Edition Series. Available in 240mm, 280mm and 360mm, the Floe Riing RGB is the world's first 16.8 million colors liquid CPU cooler series with extraordinary performance, superior quality and addressable LEDs design. The large surface radiator plus high-performance waterblock and pump delivers the ultimate CPU cooling for gaming or other GPU intense tasks.

The waterblock and fans are manufactured with multiple addressable LEDs that can be controlled by the Riing Plus RGB Software. Functions within the software also allow users to monitor fan performance and track CPU temperature. Most importantly, this brand-new cooler series supports all the latest Intel and AMD CPU socket, including Intel LGA2066 and AMD AM4. Thermaltake Floe Riing Plus RGB TT Premium Edition Series is now available for purchase on the TT Premium online shop.

Redditor "callingthewolf" has posted what is an awe-inspiring result for AMD's Ryzen Threadripper 1950X (that's an interesting username for sure; let's hope that's the only similarity to the boy who cried wolf.) The 16-core, 32-thread processor stands as the likely taker for the HEDT performance crown (at least until Intel's 14-core plus HEDT CPUs make their debut on the X299 platform.) With that many cores, highly thread-aware applications naturally look to see tremendous increases in performance from any frequency increase. In this case, the 1950X's base 3.4 GHz were upped to a whopping 4.0 GHz (@ 1.25 V core) and 4.1 GHz (at 1.4 V core; personally, I'd stick with the 4.0 GHz and call it a day.)

The feat was achieved under a Thermaltake Water 3.0 liquid cooler, on a non-specified ASRock motherboard with all DIMM channels populated with 8 x 8 GB 3066 MHz DIMMs. At 4.0 GHz, the Threadripper 1950X achieves a 3337 points score on Cinebench R15. And at 4.1GHz, the big chip that can (we can't really call it small now can we?) manages to score 58391 points in Geekbench 3. While those scores are certainly impressive, I would just like to point out the fact that this is a 16-core CPU that overclocks as well as (and in some cases, even better than) AMD's 8-core Ryzen 7 CPUs. The frequency potential of this Threadripper part is in the same ballpark of AMD's 8-core dies, which speaks to either an architecture limit or a manufacturing one at around 4 GHz. The Threadripper 1950X is, by all measurements, an impressively "glued together" piece of silicon.

ENERMAX, the designer and manufacturer of high-end PSU and CPU coolers, announces the launch of LIQTECH TR4, the closed-loop liquid coolers that are custom-designed especially for the top-end enthusiast Threadripper CPUs. The LIQTECH TR4's base plate can cover the entire Threadripper's IHS (integrated heat spreader) to deliver greater heat transfer efficiency and faster dissipation. Furthermore, with the innovative high-flow-rate pump and patented Shunt-Channel-Technology (SCT) coldplate design, LIQTECH TR4 can deliver extremely high cooling capacity of 500W+TDP for heavily overclocked CPUs and demanding HEDT systems.

Update 10/8: ENERMAX Updated the MSRP. The LIQTECH TR4 240 is priced at USD $129.99, and the LIQTECH TR4 360 at $149.99.

An issue on AMD's Ryzen performance under certain Linux workloads, which caused segmentation faults in very heavy, continuous workloads on the Ryzen silicon (parallel compilation workloads in particular) has been confirmed by AMD. Tests like Phoronix's Test Suite's stress run quickly bring the Ryzen processors to their knees with multiple segmentation faults. While this problem is easy to cause under very heavy workloads, the issue is virtually absent under normal Linux desktop workloads and benchmarking,

AMD also confirmed this issue is not present in EPYC or Threadripper processors, but are isolated to early Ryzen samples under Linux (AMD's testing under Windows has found no such behavior.) AMD's analysis has also found that these Ryzen segmentation faults aren't isolated to a particular motherboard vendor, but are problems with the processors themselves. AMD encourages Ryzen customers who believe to be affected by the problem to contact AMD Customer Care. Some of those who have contacted customer care about the segmentation faults have in turn been affected by thermal, power, or other problems, but AMD says they are committed to working with those encountering this performance marginality issue under Linux. AMD will also be stepping up their Linux testing/QA for future consumer products.

Like many other manufacturers, Fractal Design isn't sleeping under the proverbial palm tree with their products. They too have sought to keep after the most promising high performance platforms for their Celsius AIOs, and have announced compatibility with Intel's latest X299 platform and AMD's X399. The S24 is one of the best 240 mm AIO coolers out there, apparently; models of this lineup feature a 12 V ceramic bearing water pump equipped with a copper cold plate. The Celsius line of coolers also come equipped with an integrated fan hub that allows end users to plug the cooler fans directly into the radiator instead of the motherboard - leaving those fan headers free for other pieces of hardware.

The compatibility will be achieved, as usual, through a separate bracket. AMD Threadripper users will be able to rest assured, since their purchase of a Threadripper CPU will already come with a Asetek retention kit inside the box (compatible with Fractal Design's coolers, naturally.) Intel X299 users will find full compatibility for the socket via the included 2011-v3 kit inside the Fractal Design Celsius AIO packaging.

An unnanounced AMD HEDT Ryzen Threadripper processor has cropped up on some of the most well known motherboard vendors' support lists. Following AMD's product stacking for the Ryzen line of processors, the Threadripper 1920 comes with the same 12 cores and 24 threads as the 1920X, although it runs at lower frequencies (3.2 GHz base, 3.8 GHz Boost on the 1920, against 3.5 GHz and 4.0 GHz on the 1920X). The lower frequency threshold means the 1920 also comes with a lower, 140 W TDP rating (the 1920X has a higher value at 180 W).

These news come courtesy of CPU support lists for the ASUS ROG Zenith Extreme, ASRock X399 Professional Gaming/X399 Taichi as well as GIGABYTE X399-Gaming 7. Expect the new Threadripper to become the sweet spot for the 12-core, 24-thread CPUs of our time, since its performance and pricing will situate it below the 1920X's $799, but above the already announced 8-core Threadripper 1900X, which will come in at $549. Remember that all AMD Zen-based processors come unlocked out of the box for your frequency-increase-through-overclocking pleasure, so it should be relatively simple to extract as much performance from the 1920 as the 1920X can deliver.

LinusTechTips has received an Alienware Area 51, the boutique system which Alienware has developed through its exclusive partnership with AMD for the 16-core, 32-thread Threadripper CPUs.

The system was tested using a proprietary Dell/Alienware motherboard, as well as 32 GB (4x 8 GB) of 2666 MHz DDR4 RAM. Graphics were handled by a Founders Edition GTX 1080 Ti, and storage was etched on a SanDisk A400 256 GB NVME drive (Up to 2050/700 MB/s Sequential Read/Write). The nature of the benchmarked systems, with their myriad of hardware parts, means that the benchmarks are not 100% representative of CPU performance deltas between the tested processors; however, they do put out some interesting numbers. The other HEDT system to be tested was an Intel-based X299 system with a stock Intel Core i9-7900X (10 cores, 20 threads) on an ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe, 4x 8 GB of 3200 MHz DDR4 memory, the same GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition, and a 512 GB Samsung 950 Pro NVME SSD.

Disclaimer: take this post with a bucket of salt. However, the information here, if true, could heavily impact AMD's RX Vega cards' stock at launch and in the subsequent days, so, we're sharing this so our readers can decide on whether they want to pull the trigger for a Vega card at launch, as soon as possible, or risk what would seem like the equivalent of a mining Black Friday crowd gobbling up AMD's RX Vega models' stock. Remember that AMD has already justified delays for increased stock so as to limit the impact of miners on the available supply.

The information has been put out by two different sources already. The first source we encountered (and which has been covered by some media outlets solo) has been one post from one of OC UK's staff, Gibbo, who in a forum post, said "Seems the hash rate on VEGA is 70-100 per card, which is insanely good. Trying to devise some kind of plan so gamers can get them at MSRP without the miners wiping all the stock out within 5 minutes of product going live."

EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia-based premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer has proven its market leadership once again by presenting Full Cover water blocks for the long awaited AMD Radeon Vega architecture based high-end graphics cards. Customers will be able to transform their GPU into a stunningly beautiful single slot graphics card and the water cooling block will allow it to reach higher frequencies, thus providing more performance during gaming or other GPU intense tasks.

EK-FC Radeon Vega
This water block directly cools the GPU, HBM2 memory, and VRM (voltage regulation module) as water flows directly over these critical areas thus allowing the graphics card and it's VRM to remain stable under high overclocks. EK-FC Radeon Vega water block features a central inlet split-flow cooling engine design for best possible cooling performance, which also works flawlessly with reversed water flow without adversely affecting the cooling performance. This kind of efficient cooling will allow your high-end graphics card to reach higher boost clocks, thus providing more performance during gaming or other GPU intense tasks. Moreover, such design offers great hydraulic performance allowing this product to be used in liquid cooling systems using weaker water pumps.

The team at Sweclockers have already received their Threadripper review kit. We know this because there was a short-lived video uploaded by the team, unboxing and perusing the contents of one of AMD's delicious Threadripper review kits. Videocardz, however, managed to snag some screenshots of the act, and that content is what we are bringing to you now. Also, kudos for that Dinklebot shirt - that wizzard might have come from the moon, but ours certainly hasn't.

AMD has published a list of coolers that are officially compatible with their upcoming Threadripper CPUs. It's no surprise there needs to be a compatibility list - the new CPUs top out at 16-core, 32-thread monsters which have never before graced the HEDT space, with an accompanying large CPU die size and heatsink. The socket being an entirely new affair, a new retention kit must also be made available by cooler manufacturers.

AMD itself will be offering an Asetek retention kit for AIO cooling solutions on their Threadripper retail packaging, which should make most Asetek-built AIOs to be compatible with the TR4 socket. These coolers are automatically added to the list. However, there may be some other coolers that are compatible with the newest socket that are not listed on AMD's site as of yet. For those cases, AMD reminds us all that we should check with our cooling solution manufacturer whether an adapter is available or not, and whether our current cooling solution is sufficient for the task at hand. Other coolers are now receiving mid-production updates after a certain date to include the compatible mounting hardware. Check the source link for the AMD compatibility page, and the below image for the current state of affairs.

TweakTown has put forth an article wherein they claim to have received info from industry insiders regarding the upcoming Vega 56's performance. Remember that Vega 56 is the slightly cut-down version of the flagship Vega 64, counting with 56 next-generation compute units (NGCUs) instead of Vega 64's, well, 64. This means that while the Vega 64 has the full complement of 4,096 Stream processors, 256 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and a 2048-bit wide 8 GB HBM2 memory pool offering 484 GB/s of bandwidth, Vega 56 makes do with 3,548 Stream processors,192 TMUs, 64 ROPs, the same 8 GB of HBM2 memory and a slightly lower memory bandwidth at 410 GB/s.

The Vega 56 has been announced to retail for about $399, or $499 with one of AMD's new (famous or infamous, depends on your mileage) Radeon Packs. The RX Vega 56 card was running on a system configured with an Intel Core i7-7700K @ 4.2GHz, 16 GB of DDR4-3000 MHz RAM, and Windows 10 at 2560 x 1440 resolution.

Noctua today presented three high-end heatsinks for the TR4 and SP3 sockets of AMD's latest Ryzen Threadripper (X399) and Epyc platforms. The new TR4-SP3 versions of the award-winning NH-U14S, NH-U12S and NH-U9 coolers are tailored custom models that feature a larger contact surface as well as a SecuFirm2 mounting system for TR4/SP3. Supplied with Noctua's renowned NF-A15, NF-F12 and NF-A9 premium fans, the new coolers combine outstanding cooling performance with exceptional quietness of operation.

"A high-end platform usually calls for high-end cooling solutions and that's precisely the case with AMD's new Epyc and upcoming Ryzen Threadripper ecosystems", explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "We have therefore customized our award-winning NH-U14S, NH-U12S and NH-U9 coolers so that users can enjoy the performance and quietness of these proven premium heatsinks on the new AMD platforms."