AMD has revealed more Ryzen 7 7800X3D gaming benchmarks ahead of the official launch scheduled for April 6th. AMD has previously shared some results comparing this 8-core/16-thread Ryzen 7000X3D series SKU with Intel's Core i9-13900K or the predecessor, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, showing up to 24 and 30 percent performance increase.

Now, a new slide has been leaked online, which is a part of AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D review guide, comparing it once again with the Intel Core i9-13900K, but going head to head in several more games. At 1080p resolution and high settings, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is anywhere from 2 to 31 percent faster, but there are several games where the Core i9-13900K is also faster, such as CS:GO.

AMD and JEDEC are collaborating to create a new industry standard for DDR5 memory called MRDIMMs (multi-ranked buffered DIMMs). The constant need for bandwidth in server systems provides trouble that can not easily be solved. Adding more memory is difficult, as motherboards can only get so big. Incorporating on-package memory solutions like HBM is expensive and can only scale to a specific memory capacity. However, engineers of JEDEC, with the help of AMD, have come to make a new standard that will try and solve this challenge using the new MRDIMM technology. The concept of MRDIMM is, on paper, straightforward. It combines two DDR5 DIMMs on a single module to effectively double the bandwidth. Specifically, if you take two DDR5 DIMMs running at 4,400 MT/s and connect them to create a single DIMM, you get 8,800 MT/s speeds on a single module. To efficiently use it, a special data mux or buffer will effectively take two Double Data Rate (DDR) DIMMs and convert them into Quad Data Rate (QDR) DIMMs.

The design also allows simultaneous access to both ranks of memory, thanks to the added mux. First-generation MRDIMMs can produce speeds of up to 8,800 MT/s, while the second and third generations modules can go to 12,800 MT/s and 17,600 MT/s, respectively. We expect third-generation MRDIMMs after 2030, so the project is still far away. Additionally, Intel has a similar solution called Multiplexer Combined Ranks DIMM (MCRDIMM) which uses a similar approach. However, Intel's technology is expected to see the light of the day as early as 2024/2025 and beyond the generation of servers, with Granite Rapids likely representing a contender for this technology. SK Hynix already makes MCRDIMMs, and you can see the demonstration of the approach below.

For whatever reason, all of the AMD A620 chipset based motherboards that were announced on Friday, are not showing off the capabilities of the chipset and are in fact making it look worse than it is. AMD has no doubt limited the A620 platform, with some limitations that seem arbitrary, but the motherboards makers clearly haven't helped, as they've made the platform look very unattractive, when in fact it could be entirely acceptable, for a budget build. As you can see from AMD's feature matrix below, the company has removed a fair share of features compared to the B650 chipset, but for example, two 10 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports can be implemented. Despite this, only Biostar and Gigabyte have implemented one such port each, with ASUS, ASRock and MSI implementing zero.

Yes, the platform is limited to 65 W CPUs—assuming you want your CPUs boost behaviour to work as intended—which is likely to cause some issues, as it might not be clear to potential buyers that are looking for a cheap motherboard for their system and it's something AMD and its board partners need to communicate a lot better. However, the A620 platform has enough PCIe lanes for two M.2 drives and enough left for all the peripheral connectivity and some PCIe slots, yet most of the boards appear to shun a second M.2 slot for no apparent reason beyond the cost of the physical interface. It looks as if AMD's board partners have decided to try and cut back as much as they can in terms of features that we've ended up with boards that no sensible person should be buying, as the boards are barely fit for purpose. Time will tell if we'll see some better boards down the road, but it would appear that AMD's board partner would rather sell its potential customers a more expensive B650 board, based on the weak line-up of boards that launched on Friday.

Biostar also announced a single AMD A620 chipset based motherboard today in the shape of the A620MP-E Pro, which is yet another microATX based board. Here we're looking at four DDR5 DIMM slots, a single PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, two PCIe 4.0 x1 slots, one PCIe 3.0 x1 slot, a single PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 NVMe slot and even a E Key M.2 slot for WiFi cards, which is actually something of a step up from the competition. Internal connectivity consists of four SATA 6 Gbps ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type-C header and one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A header.

The rear I/O is home to DisplayPort 1.4, an HDMI port, two USB 2.0 ports, a PS/2 port, four USB 3.2 Gen 1 5 Gbps ports, a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet jack powered by Realtek, three audio jacks, WiFi antenna connectors and a BIOS update button. Sadly the audio side is once again utilising the old Realtek ALC897 codec. Biostar has kitted out the VRM's with a heatsink, even though it's a very minimal heatsink. Overall Biostar has done a much more impressive job than MSI here, despite being considered a more budget oriented brand.

Unlike its competitors, MSI has only revealed a single AMD A620 chipset based motherboard today and it's extra underwhelming, even though none of the boards are exactly what we'd call appealing. The Pro A620M-E only sports a pair of DDR5 DIMM slots and it has a single PCIe 4.0 x16 slot and a single PCIe 3.0 x1 slot, as well as a single PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 NVMe slot. Internal connectivity is equally sparse, with a single USB 3.2 Gen 1 5 Gbps header and four SATA 6 Gbps ports.

Around the back you'll find an HDMI 2.1 port, a VGA port, two PS/2 ports, four USB 3.2 Gen 1 5 Gbps ports, two USB 2.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet jack and three audio jacks behind the ancient Realtek ALC897 audio codec. MSI appears to have gone for potentially slightly better power regulation than its competitors, but it's hard to tell from just looking at the board, but you don't get a VRM heatsink here. The chipset heatsink also looks like something from 20 years ago, but hopefully the AMD A620 chipset doesn't run too hot. This should hopefully be a very affordable board, but judging by ASUS' pricing for its A620, it might not be under $100.

It appears that the microATX form factor is the way to go when it comes to AMD A620 chipset based motherboards and ASUS has no less than three new models, although one is technically with or without WiFi. The new models are the TUF Gaming A620M-Plus, the TUF Gaming A620M-Plus WiFi and the Prime A620M-A. All three boards sport six layer PCBs with what appears to be fairly basic power regulation, although ASUS doesn't mention how many phases either model has on its product pages. All boards feature a single PCIe 4.0 x16 slot and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots, as well as two M.2 NVMe slots that support PCIe 4.0 x4 based drives. All models also have four DDR5 DIMM slots, four SATA 6 Gbps ports and front panel connectors for a 5 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port and two 5 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports.

Around the back is where things differ a bit, as the TUF boards have two DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI port, as well as two 5 Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, a PS/2 port and a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port courtesy of a Realtek chip, as well a BIOS FlashBack button. The Prime board on the other hand replaces one DisplayPort output with a VGA connector for some reason and gets to make do with Gigabit Ethernet. The connectivity options aren't what we'd call impressive, but appears to be par for course compared to ASUS' competitors' products. Pricing appear to be in the range of €139-169.

Leading global motherboard manufacturer ASRock proudly announces its new series of AMD A620 motherboards. The latest AMD A620 platform aims at a more budget-friendly market while still offering a wide variety of features, such as DDR5 memory support, multiple M.2 slots for NVMe storage devices, and WiFi 6E for daily tasks as well as gaming.

To maximize the affordability of the AMD A620 platform, ASRock offers four models, including both 4 and 2 DIMMs motherboard layout options. If 4 DDR5 memory is a must for your next build, the A620M Pro RS will definitely be the number one choice. It offers a luxurious amount of USBs including Type-C for both front and rear panels, 3 M.2 Key-M onboard and 2 of which support PCIe Gen 4 x4 to give multiple storage options. With a 6-layer PCB and Dr.MOS for Vcore design, A620M Pro RS can fully support the latest AMD Ryzen 7000 Series Processors. A620M Pro RS also comes with a WiFi 6E variant the A620M Pro RS WiFi, an all-rounder choice for wireless environments.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions today unveiled the latest AMD A620 series motherboards with optimal memory performance and all-round features. With the perfect support of the latest AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors, GIGABYTE A620 motherboards deliver the most competitive AM5 platform for users to enjoy performance flexibly and affordably.

Enhanced by GIGABYTE exclusive layout design and BIOS setting, the A620 lineup can achieve optimal memory performance of DDR5 EXPO/XMP overclocking up to DDR5-6400, which exerts the utmost value and performance of the AM5 platform. Boasted with comprehensive features, GIGABYTE A620 motherboards can best fit users' needs and budget, and become the best choice for users who plans on stepping up to the latest AM5 platform.Meanwhile, GIGABYTE's A620 motherboards boast the innovative PCIe EZ-Latch technology to simplify the upgrade of graphics cards, and to avoid accidental damage to the surrounding components. By GIGABYTE exclusive Q-Flash Plus feature, users can update the BIOS without installing any processor, memory, or even graphics card, making it possible for users to easily enjoy the benefits brought about by the new BIOS code and processors. Further with GIGABYTE GCC software platform, GIGABYTE delivers the competitive A620 platform with user-friendly features and multiple form factor options which covers Micro ATX to Mini ITX.

Here's the first picture of the GIGABYTE A620M Gaming X, a product the company is targeting at the entry-level gaming PC crowd. The Socket AM5 Micro-ATX motherboard is based on the AMD A620 chipset, which lacks CPU overclocking, and limits both PEG and M.2 PCIe to Gen 4. The board draws power from a 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors; and uses an 8+2 phase VRM to condition power for the processor. You get four DDR5 DIMM slots, and expansion slots that include a PCI-Express 4.0 x16, and a PCI-Express 3.0 x1.

Storage connectivity on the GIGABYTE A620M Gaming X includes an M.2 slot with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 wiring from the processor, and four SATA 6 Gbps ports from the A620 FCH. The M.2 slot gets an included M.2-2280 heatsink. Display outputs include HDMI and DisplayPort. Networking is care of a 1 GbE wired Ethernet backed by a Realtek controller; and a basic 6-channel HD audio solution consisting of a Realtek ALC887 CODEC, electrical isolation, and audio-grade capacitors. You get two 10 Gbps USB 3.2 ports, one of which is type-C. Four 5 Gbps USB 3.1 ports (two type-A on the rear panel, two via headers); and a handful USB 2.0 ports, make for the rest of it. The board's empty traces suggest that GIGABYTE has the option to create a variant that includes WiFi.

In no mood to cede its market-share growth to Intel, AMD has reportedly decided to accelerate the development of its next-generation "Zen 5" microarchitecture for debut within 2023. In its mid-2022 presentations, AMD had publicly given "Zen 5" a 2024 release date. This is part of a reading-in-between the lines for a recent GIGABYTE press release announcing server platforms powered by relatively low-cost Ryzen desktop processors. The specific sentence from that release reads "The next generation of AMD Ryzen desktop processors that will come out later this year will also be supported on this AM5 platform, so customers who purchase these servers today have the opportunity to upgrade to the Ryzen 7000 series successor."

While the GIGABYTE press release speaks of a next-generation Ryzen desktop processor, it stands to reason that it is referencing an early release of "Zen 5," and since AMD shares the CPU complex dies (CCDs) between its Ryzen client and EPYC server processors, the company is looking at a two-pronged upgrade to its processor lineup, with its next-generation EPYC "Turin" processor competing with Xeon Scalable "Emerald Rapids," and Ryzen "Granite Ridge" desktop processors taking on Intel's Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" and "Meteor Lake-S" desktop processors. It is rumored that "Zen 5" is being designed for the TSMC 3 nm node, and could see an increase in CPU core count per CCD, up from the present 8. TSMC 3 nm node goes into commercial mass-production in the first half of 2023 as the TSMC N3 node, with a refined N3E node slated for the second half of the year.

A PCB drawing of a possible AMD A620 chipset Micro-ATX motherboard by MSI has surfaced. The drawing looks like that of a product designed to be priced well under the $100-mark. The Socket AM5 motherboard draws power from a 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors. A simple 8-phase VRM with LFPAK discrete MOSFETs condition power for the processor, which is wired to two DDR5 DIMM slots, an M.2 NVMe slot (possibly limited to Gen 4 bandwidth, if not Gen 3); and a PCI-Express x16 with Gen 3 bandwidth, if not Gen 4. The only other expansion slot is a PCI-Express 3.0 x1. There are four SATA ports on offer, Display connectivity appears to include HDMI and D-Sub. 6-channel HD audio and a 1 GbE wired network connection make for the rest of it. AMD is expected to begin rolling out cost-effective motherboard based on the A620 later this week.

UL Benchmarks today released an update to 3DMark that adds a Feature Test for AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 (FSR 2), the company's popular upscaling-based performance enhancement. This was long overdue, as 3DMark has had a Feature Test for DLSS for years now; and as of October 2022, it even got one for Intel XeSS. The new FSR 2 Feature Test uses a scene from the Speed Way DirectX 12 Ultimate benchmark, where it compares fine details of a vehicle and a technic droid between native resolution with TAA and FSR 2, and highlights the performance uplift. To use the feature test, you'll need any GPU that supports DirectX 12 and FSR 2 (that covers AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel Arc). For owners of 3DMark who purchased it before October 12, 2022, they'll need to purchase the Speed Way upgrade to unlock the AMD FSR feature test.

Although NAND suppliers have continued to roll back production, there is still an oversupply of NAND Flash as demand for products such as servers, smartphones, and notebooks is still too weak. Therefore, TrendForce predicts that the ASP of NAND Flash will continue to fall in 2Q23, though that decline may shrink to 5~10%. The key to supply and demand returning to a market equilibrium lies in whether NAND suppliers can cut back on production even more. TrendForce believes if demand remains stable, then the ASP of NAND Flash will have an opportunity to rebound in 4Q23; if demand is weaker than expected, then ASP will take longer to recover.

Client SSD: Currently, PC OEM's have managed to liquidate most of their component inventory, and are now gearing up in preparation for mid-year sales events. Suppliers are cutting prices to clear out their inventories of PCIe Gen 3 SSDs, which are gradually being phased out. Meanwhile, prices of PCIe Gen 4 SSDs continue to face downward pressure due to a slow intake of new customer orders. The continuous decline of QLC products in 1Q23 has also dragged down the prices of TLC products, and there is relatively little room for prices to keep falling in 2Q23. While it still remains unclear whether or not demand will recover, TrendForce projects that the prices of PC client SSDs will drop 5~10% in 2Q23.

Today at the Amplify Partner Conference, HP Inc. announced new products and solutions to usher in the next era of hybrid work for everyone with a comprehensive set of computing solutions for hybrid flexibility. With only 22 percent of workers describing themselves as 'thriving' in hybrid work, it's clear companies are still figuring out how to make hybrid work. "Most companies want to move past the 'forced return' to the office era of hybrid work," said Alex Cho, President of Personal Systems, HP Inc. "The challenge is, they're not sure how to. We believe the future is hybrid flexibility, which delivers the best of the home and the office to workers everywhere."

According to HP's Future of Work study, 80 percent of workers want to be in the office some of the time, but many companies continue to struggle to get workers back in the office. HP research suggests that the most significant barrier to a return to office is a sub-optimal technology experience. In fact, 89 percent say technology is the most important factor driving return to office decisions. Similarly, of those who report thriving in hybrid work, 90 percent believe that access to the right technology and tools leads to a positive work experience. To accelerate employees' return to work, the right technology is required for optimal work setups, enabling success for companies and their employees.

Creating, consuming and collaborating in a hybrid world just got easier with Lenovo's latest generation of Windows 11 Yoga laptops that deliver impressive performance, incredible versatility, and easy mobility in a sleek and portable design:

"We know that digital content creators continue to embrace the hybrid lifestyle to create anytime, anywhere, from making videos to designing graphics on the move," says Jun Ouyang, Lenovo's vice president and general manager of the Consumer Business Segment, Intelligent Devices Group. "Lenovo's latest new premium Yoga Pro laptops are made for creators. Combining performance and portability, including an impressive new Mini-LED PureSight Pro display and an upgraded keyboard, creators will revel in the exceptional user experience to create whenever inspiration strikes."

Today at the Amplify Partner Conference, HP Inc announced its latest line-up of gaming hardware and software designed to bring gamers everything they need to enjoy the games they love. The new OMEN Transcend 16 Laptop, OMEN 16 Laptop, Victus 16 Laptop, and a vast range of stunning OMEN monitors offer casual, hobbyist, lifestyle, and hardcore gamers the power and flexibility to play and work hard. To bring everything together, new enhancements in OMEN Gaming Hub offer a variety of performance and personalization features.

People everywhere seek devices that can adapt to hybrid play and work. Sixty-two percent of gamers prefer a PC that fits their entire life instead of being used for gaming only. With a billion new gamers entering the space in the last seven years and 84 percent of them using games to connect with others with similar interests, gaming devices enable access to countless games and corresponding communities.

AMD's hotly anticipated gaming CPU, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D "Zen 4," which launches early-April, is beginning to show up in online benchmark databases. The 8-core/16-thread processor has 64 MB of 3D Vertical Cache, which takes its L3 cache size up to an impressive 96 MB, and total cache up to 104 MB. The chip is showing up on the SiSoftware SANDRA online database, where it was tested on an MSI MEG X670E Ace motherboard. It obtained a score of 395.07 GOPS, with 527.56 GIPS dhrystone INT, 552.04 GIPS dhrystone long; 316 GFLOP/s whetstone single-precision floating point, and 264.71 GFLOP/s whetstone double-precision floating point.

The score puts it at roughly 37% faster than the Ryzen 7 5800X3D "Zen 3," although it's somewhere between its other 8-core "Zen 4" compatriots, the 7700X and 7700. The 7800X3D, much like its predecessor, is expected to perform either on-par or slightly worse than the 7700X in frequency/IPC dependent "lightweight" tasks, but zoom past in cache-favoring workloads such as gaming. Its predecessor, the 5800X3D, beat the fastest Intel processor of its time, the i9-12900K, so the 7800X3D has its task cut out—to beat the i9-13900K in gaming.

Cost-effective Socket AM5 motherboards are finally on the horizon, as the first marketing pictures emerged of an ASRock-branded motherboard based on the yet-unreleased AMD A620 chipset. A successor to the A520 and A320, the A620 provides the bare-minimum feature-set for the platform, and cuts out certain premium features such as CPU overclocking. The chipset limits the x16 PEG connection from the processor to Gen 4, although motherboard vendors are free to provide just Gen 3 x16. The CPU-attached M.2 NVMe interface, too, is limited to Gen 4. This ASRock motherboard appears to be offering a Gen 3-capped M.2 NVMe slot, going by the "Hyper M.2" branding that ASRock uses for Gen 3 M.2 slots. The board offers an additional M.2 NVMe slot that's wired to the A620 chipset, and interestingly, an M.2 E-key slot for WLAN modules.

The ASRock A620M-HDV/M.2 from the pictures below, is a Micro-ATX motherboard that draws power from a 24-pin ATX and a single 8-pin EPS. It offers the simplest possible 6-phase CPU VRM, with what look like 50 A DrMOS. Besides the two M.2 NVMe slots, the only storage connectivity on offer are two SATA 6 Gbps ports. Display connectivity include DisplayPort and HDMI. We count at least four type-A USB 3.x ports on the rear I/O, besides one USB type-C, and a USB 3.x internal header. 1 GbE wired networking, and 6-channel HD audio using the most basic CODEC, make for the rest of the connectivity. An interesting touch is USB BIOS Flashback, with a button on the rear I/O, which sets even the oldest inventories of this board up for future-generation Socket AM5 Ryzen processors. Motherboards based on the A620 are expected to be priced well under the $100-mark.

According to the latest leak, AMD's upcoming Phoenix accelerated processing units (APUs) could feature a hybrid design, featuring Performance and Efficiency cores. While there are no precise details, the latest AMD processor programming guide, leaked online, clearly marks these as two types of cores, most likely standard Zen 4 and energy-efficient Zen 4c cores.

These two set of cores will features a different feature set, and the latest document gives software designers guidelines. Such hybrid CPU design, similar to ARM's BIG.little architecture, will allow AMD to be more competitive with Intel's similar P- and E-core design, allowing it to achieve certain performance levels while also maintaining power efficiency.

AMD issued briefing material earlier this month, teasing an upcoming reveal of its next generation FidelityFX at GDC 2023. True to form, today the hardware specialist has announced that FidelityFX Super Resolution 3.0 is incoming. The company is playing catch up with rival NVIDIA, who have already issued version 3.0 of its DLSS graphics enhancer/upscaler for a small number of games. AMD says that FSR 3.0 is in an early stage of development, but it is hoped that its work on temporal upscaling will result in a number of improvements over the previous generation.

The engineering team is aiming for a 2x frame performance improvement over the existing FSR 2.0 technique, which it claims is already capable of: "computing more pixels than we have samples in the current frame." This will be achieved by generating a greater number of pixels in a current frame, via the addition of interpolated frames. It is highly likely that the team will reach a point in development where one sample, at least, will be created for every interpolated pixel. The team wants to prevent feedback loops from occurring - an interpolated frame will only be shown once, and any interpolation artifact would only remain for one frame.

Despite the fact that AMD promised that $125 AM5 are coming, there aren't many such motherboards on the market. The newest addition is the Gigabyte B650M K, which is now available at $124.99. Gigabyte's B650M K will be joining the previously available ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 microATX motherboard, which was the first B650-based motherboard available at $125.

Same as the ASRock motherboard, the Gigabyte B650M K is also a micro-ATX motherboard with the same 8+2+1 VRM, but features four DIMM slots with support for up to 128 GB of DDR5-6400+ memory. Unfortunately, it apparently features two PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, rather than a PCIe 5.0 x4, and comes with a single PCI-Express 4.0 x16 slot (in addition to the PCIe 3.0 x1). The rest of the specifications include Realtek's Audio, Realtek 2.5 Gb Ethernet, couple of USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, Type-A, and USB 2.0/1.1 ports, as well as DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1 outputs. Bear in mind that both of these are $139.99 motherboards, discounted down to $124.99, so hopefully, we'll see more of these $124.99 motherboards soon.

Today, we're introducing a major set of upgrades to the Framework Laptop spanning two new models - the Framework Laptop 13 (13th Gen Intel Core) and the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen 7040 Series). We've not only scaled up performance and enabled an AMD-powered version for the first time, but we've also delivered refinements to the day-to-day user experience with a higher capacity battery, matte display, louder speakers, and more rigid hinges.

The Framework Laptop 13 (13th Gen Intel Core) and Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen 7040 Series) are now available for pre-order in all countries we currently ship to: US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Australia. First shipments for 13th Gen Intel Core systems are in May, and AMD Ryzen systems will ship in Q3. We'll be launching in Belgium, Italy, Spain and Taiwan later this year, and you can sign up for our newsletter to be notified when we are available in these and other countries. Like before, we're using a batch pre-order system, with only a fully-refundable $100/€100/£100 deposit required at the time of pre-order. As always, we have both pre-built configurations starting at $1049 USD that work out of the box with Windows 11 and the Framework Laptop DIY Edition starting at $849 USD, allowing you to bring your own memory, storage, and operating system, including Linux. You'll also now be able to select your Bezel color and Keyboard on DIY Edition when ordering, with a range of new Bezel colors coming this year.

Today, Lenovo announced the latest 8th generation of Lenovo Legion Slim laptops, allowing gamers to harness the freedom that the newest series has to offer. The Lenovo Legion Slim series is all about empowering players to crush their gaming goals while also pursuing their creative passions, and there are more options than ever among the new Lenovo Legion Slim 7i and 7 (16", 8), Lenovo Legion Slim 5i and 5 (16", 8), and—an all-new size for this year—the Lenovo Legion Slim 5 (14", 8), which elevates laptop power and portability to a whole new level. This newest generation of the series is also the first to sport the Lenovo Artificial Intelligence (LA) family of chips. These are onboard physical AI chips that power Lenovo AI Engine+, which dynamically adjusts the Lenovo Legion ColdFront 5.0 thermals to optimize cooling on the fly and maintain maximum output with minimal noise.

Lenovo Legion Slim series laptops are designed to meet the multi-faceted needs of gamers, with an SD slot, rapid charging battery technology Windows 11, three months of free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, as well as access to Nahimic by SteelSeries 3D immersive audio, and Lenovo Vantage helping users get the most out of their machines. Offering peace of mind, Lenovo's Legion Ultimate Support service is available with round-the-clock tech support, guidance and assistance so gamers don't have to miss a beat, and with Legion Arena, users can create their ultimate gaming hub with all their titles accessible in one place rather than having to switch between apps. Additionally, gamers looking to expand their horizons—literally—can look forward to the new Lenovo Legion R45w-30 44.5" 32:9 ultrawide curved display and the new Lenovo Legion Y34wz-30 Gaming Monitor that delivers extreme clarity and vivid color with its 34-inch mini-LED backlit panel.

Gaming doesn't have to be enjoyed only on a high-end gaming PC. Announced today, Lenovo LOQ—pronounced "lock"—lets new gamers set out on the first steps of their gaming journeys, allowing them to explore new virtual worlds and connect with new real-world communities with gaming devices that are packed with features without breaking the bank. Offering plenty of choice, the brand-new lineup of Lenovo LOQ gaming laptops include the Intel-based Lenovo LOQ 16IRH8 and Lenovo LOQ 15IRH8 laptops as well as the Lenovo LOQ Tower 17IRB8 desktop PC, and the AMD-based Lenovo LOQ 16APH8 and Lenovo LOQ 15APH8 laptops. Inspired by Lenovo's premium Legion-branded gaming line-up, the new Lenovo LOQ line encompasses more than just design features such as the rear I/O notch on its laptops and the shared stylized 'O' in both brands' logos. The two sub-brands are complementary in catering to a wider gaming community, including beginner gamers setting off on their gaming paths to greatness with Lenovo LOQ as well as those leveling up to Lenovo Legion devices to compete against more advanced opponents.

"With the launch of the new Lenovo LOQ brand, we're building a lineage of gaming excellence and PC offerings that are not just for the gaming community's top players, but for new and future gamers alike," said Jun Ouyang, Lenovo's vice president and general manager of the Consumer Business Segment, Intelligent Devices Group. "Lenovo LOQ breaks down barriers to entry for gamers, empowering them to embark on adventures of connection and fun in the gaming world."

AMD is preparing a rather late counter to the Xeon W-2400 and W-3400 series "Sapphire Rapids" workstation platform with the Threadripper 7000 series and the Socket TR5 platform, in the second half of 2023, according to an ASUS product manager. While high core-count Threadripper Pro 5000WX processors still offer performance competitive to the latest Xeon W processors, the Intel platform offers the latest I/O, including support for faster DDR5 memory and PCIe Gen 5. The expectation with the Threadripper 7000 "Storm Peak" series is to increase CPU core IPC with the switch to "Zen 4," and introduce support for the latest DDR5 and PCIe Gen 5.

AMD's delay in releasing the Threadripper 7000 series has to do with the company wanting to push more high-margin EPYC "Genoa" processors to its large enterprise customers first; and possibly to take the time to redraw its platform to better counter the sub-classification Intel introduced within its Xeon W family, where the W-2400 series is targeted more toward the HEDT consumer, with its 4-channel memory and 64-lane PCIe interface; while the W-3400 series with its 8-channel memory interface, targets serious workstation use-cases; while both processors share a common socket and chipset. AMD could take a similar approach to the TR5 platform.