The latest update to CPU-Z, the popular system information and diagnostic tool, has rolled out comprehensive support for upcoming processor architectures from both AMD and Intel, along with new memory standards. Among the notable additions is support for AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which builds upon AMD's successful 3D V-Cache technology and is scheduled to launch tomorrow. The update also covers Intel's "Arrow Lake" processors, including both HX and H series variants. The Arrow Lake lineup integration spans multiple performance tiers, from the flagship Core Ultra 9 285HX down to the mainstream Core Ultra 5 series. The H-series mobile processors, including the Core Ultra 9 285H and various Ultra 7 and Ultra 5 models, are also fully supported.

Additionally, CPU-Z now recognizes Intel's complete Raptor Lake refresh, covering an extensive range of processors across different power segments. This includes the Core 7 series (160HL through 150U), Core 5 series (130HL through 120U), and Core 3 series (100HL through 100U), catering to various computing needs from high-performance to energy-efficient applications. The update extends beyond processors to support CUDIMM ((Clocked Unbuffered DIMM) DDR5 memory. CUDIMMs represent a modified DDR5 memory featuring an integrated Client Clock Driver (CKD) that generates its clock signal to minimize noise and jitter at speeds of 6400 MT/s and above, ensuring better stability and data integrity than traditional DDR5 modules.

DOWNLOAD CPU-Z 2.12 here.

Kovan Yang set a new memory frequency record of DDR5-12196 (6097.6 MHz). This was possible with an Intel Core Ultra 7 265K with 2P+0E configuration running at a low 400 MHz, an MSI MEG Z890 Unify-X motherboard, and a single Kingston FURY Renegade 24 GB CKD module. The sub-timings achieved were 48-120-120-127-2. Not much else is known about the feat, such as the cooling or DRAM voltages used. The 5°C CPU temperature reading in the CPU-Z validation page suggests that an extreme cooling solution is being used. The Core Ultra "Arrow Lake-S" processor and Z890 platform, when paired with CUDIMMs (DDR5 DIMMs with client clock drivers) yield extreme memory overclocking capabilities, with several initial memory OC records breaching the 12000 MT/s mark. The HWBOT page can be accessed here, and the CPU-Z Validation page here.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading brand of performance overclock memory and PC components, in collaboration with ASUS ROG, has set a new overclocking world record for DDR5 memory frequency, reaching an unprecedented DDR5-12112. This DDR5 memory frequency world record is submitted by ASUS ROG extreme overclocker Safedisk, using G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB DDR5 memory, ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Apex motherboard, and Intel Core Ultra 9 285K desktop processor under LN2 extreme cooling.

The record-breaking achievement of DDR5-12112 demonstrates the exceptional memory overclocking performance of the latest Intel Core Ultra 200 K-series desktop processors, Z890 motherboards, and G.SKILL DDR5 memory. The overclock record has been submitted to HWBOT and CPU-Z. Refer to the following links and screenshot to see the record submission: HWBOT | CPU-Z Validation.

A CPU-Z screenshot of an alleged Intel Core Ultra 9 285K "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processor engineering sample is doing rounds on social media, thanks to wxnod. CPU-Z identifies the chip with an Intel Core Ultra case badge with the deep shade of blue associated with the Core Ultra 9 brand extension, which hints at this being the top Core Ultra 9 285K processor model, we know it's the "K" or "KF" SKU looking at its processor base power reading of 125 W. The chip is built in the upcoming Intel Socket LGA1851. CPU-Z displays the process node as 7 nm, which corresponds with the Intel 4 foundry node.

Intel is using the same Intel 4 foundry node for "Arrow Lake-S" as the compute tile of its "Meteor Lake" processor. Intel 4 offers power efficiency and performance comparable to 4 nm nodes from TSMC, although it is physically a 7 nm node. Likewise, the Intel 3 node is physically 5 nm. If you recall, the main logic tile of "Lunar Lake" is being built on the TSMC N3P (3 nm) node. This means that Intel is really gunning for performance/Watt with "Lunar Lake," to get as close to the Apple M3 Pro as possible.

CPUID this week released the latest version of CPU-Z, and its change-log confirms the core-configurations of upcoming AMD Ryzen AI 300-series "Strix Point" processor SKUs. On paper, "Strix Point" packs a 12-core CPU based on the latest "Zen 5" microarchitecture, but there's more to this number. We've known since June 2024 that the chip has a heterogeneous multicore configuration of four full-sized "Zen 5" cores, and eight compacted "Zen 5c" cores. Only the "Zen 5" cores can reach the maximum boost frequencies rated for the chip, while the "Zen 5c" cores go a few notches above the base frequency, although it's expected that the gap in boost frequencies between the two core types is expected to slightly narrow compared to that between the "Zen 4" and "Zen 4c" cores in chips such as the "Phoenix 2."

The series is led by the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, an enthusiast segment chip that maxes out all 12 cores on the chip—that's 4x "Zen 5" and 8x "Zen 5c." This model is closely followed by the Ryzen AI 9 365, which AMD marked in its presentations as being simply a 10-core/20-thread chip. We're now learning that it has 4x "Zen 5" and 6x "Zen 5c," meaning that AMD hasn't touched the counts of its faster "Zen 5" cores. It's important to note here that "Zen 5c" is not an E-core. It supports SMT, and at base frequency, it has an identical IPC to "Zen 5." It also supports the entire ISA that "Zen 5" does.

An unnamed Intel Core Ultra "Arrow Lake-S" desktop processor engineering sample (ES) made it to the hands of someone willing to post its CPU-Z Bench screenshot. The processor allegedly scores a whopping 1143.2 points in the CPU-Bench single-thread benchmark; and 12922.4 points in the multithreaded benchmark. When compared with the internal Intel Core i9-13900K reference scores of CPU-Z, the single-thread benchmark score is a staggering 26.71% increase over that of the i9-13900K (902 points); while the multithreaded score is 22% lower.

Since we don't know which processor model this "Arrow Lake-S" ES is, we have no way of telling if it is the top SKU with its rumored 8P+16E core configuration, or a mid-tier Core i5 SKU with the expected 6P+8E configuration. The single-threaded test only loads one P-core, and here the IPC of one of the chip's "Lion Cove" P-cores is able to trounce one of the "Raptor Cove" P-cores of the i9-13900K reference score. You also have to understand that the Hyper-Threading plays no role in this thread. Where it could play a role is the multithreaded test. "Lion Cove" lacks HTT support unlike "Raptor Cove," and the i9-13900K is a 24-core/32-thread processor. It's important to note here, that "Arrow Lake" doesn't just have up to 8 "Lion Cove" P-cores, but also up to 16 "Skymont" E-cores that Intel claims to have achieved a massive IPC gain over its predecessor, bringing its IPC in the league of past-generation P-cores such as the "Raptor Cove" or "Golden Cove."

An AMD Ryzen 9000 "Granite Ridge" desktop processor engineering sample with a maximum boost frequency of 5.80 GHz was found to offer an astonishing 19% higher single-threaded performance increase over an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X. "Granite Ridge" is codename for the Socket AM5 desktop processor family that implements the new "Zen 5" CPU microarchitecture. The unnamed "Granite Ridge" processor comes with an OPN code of 100-0000001290. Its CPU core count is irrelevant, as the single-threaded performance is in question here. The processor boosts up to 5.80 GHz, which means the core handling the single-threaded benchmark workload is achieving this speed. This speed is 100 MHz higher than the 5.70 GHz that the Ryzen 9 7950X processor based on the "Zen 4" architecture, boosts up to.

The single-threaded benchmark in question is the CPU-Z Bench. The mostly blurred out CPU-Z screenshot that reveals the OPN also mentions a processor TDP of 170 W, which means this engineering sample chip is either 12-core or 16-core. The chip posts a CPU-Z Bench single-thread score of 910 points, which matches that of the Intel Core i9-14900K with its 908 points. You've to understand that the i9-14900K boosts one of its P-cores to 6.00 GHz, to yield the 908 points that's part CPU-Z's reference scores. So straight off the bat, we see that "Zen 5" has a higher IPC than the "Raptor Cove" P-core powering the i9-14900K. Its gaming performance might end up higher than the Ryzen 7000 X3D family.Many Thanks to TumbleGeorge for the tip.

A CPU-Z screenshot has been shared by YuuKi_AnS—the image contains details about an alleged next-gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor engineering sample (ES). The hardware tipster noted in (yesterday's post) that an error had occurred in the application's identification of this chunk of prototype silicon. CPU-Z v2.09 has recognized the basics—an Intel Granite Rapids-SP processor that is specced with 80 cores, 2.5 GHz max frequency, a whopping 672 MB of L3 cache, and a max. TDP rating of 350 W. The counting of 320 threads seems to be CPU-Z's big mistake here—previous Granite Rapids-related leaks have not revealed Team Blue's Hyper-Threading technology producing such impressive numbers.

The alleged prototype status of this Xeon chip is very apparent in CPU-Z's tracking of single and multi-core performance—the benchmark results are really off the mark, when compared to finalized current-gen scores (produced by rival silicon). Team Blue's next-gen Xeon series is likely positioned to catch up with AMD EPYC's deployment of large core counts—"Granite Rapids" has been linked to the Intel 3 foundry node, reports from last month suggest that XCC-type processors could be configured with "counts going up to 56-core/112-threads." Micron is prepping next-gen "Tall Form Factor" memory modules, designed with future enterprise processor platforms in mind—including Intel's Xeon Scalable "Granite Rapids" family. Industry watchdogs posit that Team Blue will be launching this series in the coming months.

Apple's M-series chips frighten Intel, AMD, and Microsoft like nothing else can, as they have the potential to power MacBooks to grab a sizable share of the notebook market share. This is based squarely on the phenomenal performance/Watt on offer with Apple's chips. A user installed Windows 11 Arm on a virtual machine running on an M2-powered MacBook, opened up CPU-Z (which of course doesn't detect the chip since it's on a VM). They then ran a CPU-Z Bench session for a surprising result—a single-threaded score of 749.5 points, with a multithreaded score of 3822.3 points.

The single-thread score in particular is comparable to Intel's 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" chips (their "Golden Cove" P-cores); maybe not on the fastest Core i9-12900K, but of the mid-range Core i5 chips, such as the i5-12600. It's able to do this at a fraction of the power and heat output. It is on the backs of this kind of IPC that Apple is building bigger chips such as the M3 Pro and M3 Max, which are able to provide HEDT or workstation-class performance, again, at a fraction of the power.

The first CPU-Z test results of AMD's upcoming Ryzen 7 8700G were sniffed out by serial leaker @momomo_us on X/Twitter and the new APU is looking very promising performance wise. It ends up being neck and neck with yours truly own Ryzen 7 7800X3D with a small lead to the CPU over the APU in single-threaded performance, but in the multi-threaded test the APU manages to stay ahead of the CPU, if only just. Both AMD chips are still somewhat behind Intel's Core i7-12700KF, but it has an extra four threads, even though those threads are slower due to them being on the E-cores.

The Ryzen 7 8700G test system was using an ASRock B650 Pro RS motherboard and the APU was paired with 32 GB of DDR5-6400 memory with reasonably tight timings of 32-39-39-102. The tester relied on the integrated Radeon 780M graphics in the APU and the Windows 11 operating system was installed on a 500 GB Seagate BarraCuda 510 SSD. In the single-threaded test the Ryzen 7 8700G scores 675 points vs 683 for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and in the multi-threaded tests it came in at 7318 vs 7301. Not bad for a 65 W TDP APU vs a 120 W TDP CPU. For comparison, the average for Intel's Core i7-12700KF is 7754 in the mutli-threaded test. Although CPU-Z is far from an exhaustive test, it does at least give us a first glimpse of what to expect from the new Zen 4 APUs from AMD in terms of performance and it looks like it's in line with its best Zen 4 CPUs.

GPD has disclosed to ITHome that a specification refresh of its Win Max 2 handheld/mini-laptop gaming PC is incoming—this model debuted last year with Ryzen 7040 "Phoenix" APUs sitting in the driver's seat. A company representative provided a sneak peek of an upgraded device that sports a Team Red Ryzen 8040 series "Hawk Point" mobile processor, and a larger pool of system memory (32 GB versus the 2023 model's 16 GB). The refreshed GPD Win Max 2's Ryzen 7 8840U APU was compared to the predecessor's Ryzen 7 7840U in CPU-Z benchmarks (standard and AX-512)—the results demonstrate a very slight difference in performance between generations.

The 8040 and 7040 APUs share the same "Phoenix" basic CPU design (8-cores + 16-threads) based on the prevalent "Zen 4" microarchitecture, plus an integration of AMD's Radeon 780M GPU. The former's main upgrade lies in its AI-crunching capabilities—a deployment of Team Red's XDNA AI engine. Ryzen 8040's: "NPU performance has been increased to 16 TOPS, compared to 10 TOPS of the NPU on the 'Phoenix' silicon. AMD is taking a whole-of-silicon approach to AI acceleration, which includes not just the NPU, but also the 'Zen 4' CPU cores that support the AVX-512 VNNI instruction set that's relevant to AI; and the iGPU based on the RDNA 3 graphics architecture, with each of its compute unit featuring two AI accelerators, components that make the SIMD cores crunch matrix math. The whole-of-silicon performance figures for "Phoenix" is 33 TOPS; while 'Hawk Point' boasts of 39 TOPS. In benchmarks by AMD, 'Hawk Point' is shown delivering a 40% improvement in vision models, and Llama 2, over the Ryzen 7040 "Phoenix" series."

Yesterday's CPU-Z update—now version 2.09—brings support for unreleased next generation Intel and AMD processors. PC hardware sleuths have combed through the freeware app's mid-January changelog—we first see "improved support" for Intel's recently launched 14th Generation Meteor Lake mobile CPU series, while the same line also mentions "preliminary support" for Team Blue's Arrow Lake desktop processor family. The latter is hotly anticipated to launch at the tail-end of 2024, so it is intriguing to see CPU-Z's development team getting familiar with Intel's mainstream 15th gen microarchitecture.

The main competition also makes an appearance further down—AMD's "Hawk Point and Hawk Point 2 (Zen 4/Zen 4c)" CPU families are present, although the changelog does not clarify whether this is preliminary support (or full blown). "Hawk Point" seems to be a very light refresh of their proceeding "Phoenix" product line, with some extra NPU "oomph" sprinkled in. The rumor mill has Team Red's Ryzen 8040 Series of mobile parts marked down for a first quarter 2024 launch. Version 2.09 also adds support for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER (AD104-350-A1) GPUs. We expect to see the higher-up models joining in on the fun, with upcoming CPU-Z updates.

An alleged Intel Core i9-14900K engineering sample CPU was tested out recently in CPU-Z, with results leaked onto the internet earlier this week—courtesy of wnxod—978 points in single-core and 18117.5 points in multi-core. This particular sample of the flagship Raptor Lake Refresh processor managed to surpass its predecessors quite handily—with 9.7% SC/8.4% MC gains over the i9-13900K (Raptor Lake), and an uplift of 19.4% SC/59% MC over the i9-12900K (Alder Lake). Thanks to the i9-14900K's Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) capability, it is able to hit a maximum 6.0 GHz clock speed (with P-cores) on 1.385 volts according to the leaked CPU-Z info.

Another example was put through the ringer via Geekbench 6.1.0 on Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit. The database entry popped up this morning, and several PC hardware news outlets were quick to pounce on the figures. In terms of single core performance, the benched Core i9-14900K achieved a score of 3121—blowing past a previous record holder—3089 set by a Core i9-13900KS CPU. Intel's 14th generation contender looks to be the fastest single-threaded chip out there, despite a less than optimal test system configuration—16 GB of DDR5-4800 memory on a Biostar Z790A-Silver mainboard, with Windows running a balanced power plan. The Core i9-14900K's multi-core score lagged behind its main rival—19032 versus 21678 (respectively). It would be nice to witness some nicer test builds materialize as we get closer to Intel's Innovation September event, and the rumored launch of K-series Raptor Lake Refresh processors around late October.

Multiple leakers on Twitter/X have posted screenshots or pictures of Intel's upcoming Core i5-14600K CPU and it appears that some earlier rumours about this specific SKU weren't entirely accurate. It was believed that the Core i5-14600K was to get a core bump over the Core i5-13600K, but apparently this isn't the case, if the new leaks hold true. However, it also appears that the CPU will boost higher than expected, as earlier rumours suggested 5.3 GHz max boost clock and now it appears it'll go all the way up to 5.5 GHz, which is still lower than its Core i7 and Core i9 peers. The i5 also lacks Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0, so it won't be possible to squeeze some extra performance out of this chip without overclocking it the good old fashioned way.

@9550pro posted a screenshot of CPU-Z in Chinese showing the Core i5-14600K running in a Gigabyte Z790 Gaming X AX motherboard, but it's unknown what the rest of the system configuration was. However, it does show the CPU having a clock multiplier ranging from 8 to 55, confirming the 5.5 GHz max CPU clock speed. @wxnod posted a picture of an MSI Z690 Edge TI WiFi DDR4 motherboard with a Core i7-14700K paired with 16 GB of DDR4 memory running at 4600 MHz on Gear 1, which in itself is a feat, although it's unknown if this was stable. The CPU was shown as running at 6.3 GHz, which is most likely a manual overclock of the CPU, as the Core i7-14700K isn't expected to be a 6 GHz plus part. We're getting close to the launch of Intel's 14th gen Core processors, so we won't have to wait too long to find out the full specs of these CPUs.

Update 07:17 UTC: Twitter/X bot Benchleaks has found some Geekbench results for the Core i5-14600K which @harukaze5719 made a nice graph of that we've added below. This suggests that Intel has managed to eke out quite a bit of extra performance from these "refreshed" CPUs.

The upcoming Core i7-14700K "Raptor Lake Refresh" processor has a core configuration of 8P+12E. That's 8 "Raptor Cove" performance cores, and 12 "Gracemont" efficiency cores spread across 3 E-core clusters. Compared to the i7-13700K, which has been carved out of the "Raptor Lake-S" silicon by disabling 2 out of the 4 available E-core clusters and reducing the L3 cache size to 30 MB from the 36 MB present; the i7-14700K gets an additional E-core cluster, and increases the shared L3 cache size to 33 MB, besides dialing up the clock speeds on both the P-cores and E-cores in comparison to the i7-13700K.

The processor likely has a P-core base frequency of 3.70 GHz, with a 5.50 GHz P-core maximum boost. In comparison, the i7-13700K tops out at 5.40 GHz P-core boost. An alleged i7-14700K engineering sample in the wild has been put through Cinebench R23, where it scores 2192 points in the single-threaded test, and 36296 points in the multi-threaded test. The processor also scored 14988.5 points in the CPU-Z Bench multi-threaded test. Intel is expected to release its 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" desktop processors some time in October 2023.

CPUID recently released version 2.06 of the globally popular free CPU-Z utility which includes updates to support reporting of a variety of recent or obscure CPU and GPU models. Intel's "Alder Lake-N", AMD's recently released "Dragon Range" mobile Zen 4 processors, Zhoaxin's KH-40000 and KX-6000G, and of course NVIDIA's RTX 4060 Ti as well as AMD's RX 7600. Most interesting of all is a small addition down at the very bottom of the list, "Preliminary support for AMD Storm Peak platform." "Storm Peak" is AMD's yet to be announced Ryzen Threadripper 7000 series which will feature "Zen 4" and hopefully heat up competition in the HEDT market. No detailed specifications or information on SKUs have been released yet with "Storm Peak" expected to receive a proper announcement sometime in Q3 2023. The mention on CPU-Z suggests that the platform is nearing market readiness, and possibly that the folks at CPUID have been seeded samples or specifications to prepare with. Threadripper 7000 is expected to be released on yet another new socket, TR5, and has been rumored to be coming in both HEDT and workstation variants.

Intel brought competition to the HEDT market for the first time in nearly 4 years with the release of their Sapphire Rapids Xeon W range of processors back in February. Xeon W features unlocked SKUs tackling AMD's Threadripper 5000 series from top to bottom; going as high as the 56-core Xeon w9-3495X at a blistering $5,889 USD to as low as ~$1,000 USD for the 12-core Xeon w5-2455X. Intel also interspersed some lower cost locked SKUs to allow system integrators to offer the new platform as workstations to the prosumer market that generally cares little about overclocking. With Intel competing directly with Threadripper again it was expected that it wouldn't be long before AMD would be cooking up a response with their latest and greatest.

While Intel 600- and 700-series chipset motherboard already support non-binary memory modules and kits, such support has yet to be implemented on AMD's AM5 motherboard, but, judging from screenshots posted on ASUS ROG forums, AMD motherboard partners are working on it and it should be just around the corner.

The screenshot from ASUS Tech Marketing person, named Raja, which was posted on ASUS ROG forums, shows the ASUS ROG STRIX X670-E motherboard running 192 GB of DDR5 memory. These are four 48 GB Corsair modules running at 2600 MHz (5200 MT/s). The post includes both CPU-Z and task manager screenshots, confirming it boots into Windows. Earlier, it has been reported that AMD motherboards can't boot into Windows with non-binary memory modules and kits, although the motherboard successfully recognizes it. There have also been rumors that AMD is working on an AGESA update that will fix this issue, and now, it looks like it could be coming sooner than we expected.

Intel released a curiously-named Core i5-13490F desktop processor SKU in the Chinese market, in what is a sign that the company is optimizing its lineup to better square off against AMD's Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 "Zen 4" processors at highly competitive pricing. The i5-13490F is positioned in between the i5-13400F and the i5-13500. It has the same 6P+4E core-configuration as the i5-13400F, and not the 6P+8E configuration of the i5-13500; but comes with a larger shared L3 cache of 24 MB, compared to 20 MB on the i5-13400F. The P-cores still only get 1.25 MB of L2 cache a piece, and the E-core clusters each only get 2 MB of shared L2 cache. As an "F" SKU, it lacks integrated graphics. The clock-speeds see the P-cores at a maximum boost frequency of 4.70 GHz (compared to 4.60 GHz of the i5-13400F). A quick CPU-Z Bench run put the processor's performance at roughly 6% higher single-threaded score than the i5-13400F, and a roughly 4.5% higher multi-threaded score.

Shortly after its announcement along with an "early next year" launch timeline, benchmarks of the upcoming Core i9-13900KS are beginning to trickle down. The first such sees an alleged CPU-Z Bench score of 18453.4 points multi-threaded score, and 982.5 points single-threaded. We have no clue about the clock-speeds, but assuming it's running at stock settings, the multi-threaded score is around 15% higher than that of the Ryzen 9 7950X, which scores around 16000 points in the multi-threaded test at stock settings (i.e. 5.10 GHz all-core boost).

Intel's Xeon Scalable "Sapphire Rapids" processor may have a tough time getting to market, as leaked benchmarks suggest that even its premium HPC models with on-package HBM2E memory are outperformed by AMD's older-generation "Zen 3" EPYC processors. The 64-core/128-thread EPYC "Milan-X" processor based on older "Zen 3" microarchitecture with 3D Vertical Cache (3DV cache) chiplets, allegedly outperforms 52-core/104-thread Xeon Platinum 8472C and 60-core/120-thread Xeon Platinum 8490H "Sapphire Rapids" engineering samples in CPU-Z Bench and V-ray tests that scale across cores. These benchmark scores were compared with those of the EPYC "Milan-X" by Tom's Hardware, in which they well woefully short of the AMD chips.

A user named "orangezone" submitted a CPU-Z validation for an alleged retail AMD Ryzen 7 7700X processor, revealing its key specs that include 5.425 GHz clocks at 1.152 V core-voltage. The submission includes a CPU-Z Bench run for the processor, which puts the single-threaded performance at 774 points, and the multi-threaded performance of the 8-core/16-thread processor at 8381 points. The single-threaded performance is around 20% higher than that of the previous-gen flagship Ryzen 9 5950X, and about 1% faster than the Core i9-12900K ("Golden Cove" P-core). This particular bench run was performed on a Gigabyte X670E AORUS Master motherboard, with DDR5-6400 CL30 memory.

In separate news, BenchLeaks spotted a Geekbench run of the Ryzen 7 7700X (by a different user); on an ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Hero and DDR5-6000 memory. Here, the processor scored 2209 points in the single-threaded test, and 14459 points in the multi-threaded one, in Geekbench 5.4.5. This is a surprising result, as it puts the single-threaded performance of the 7700X at about 16% higher than the Core i7-12700K, and a fascinating 2% higher than the 8P+4E "Alder Lake" chip in multi-threaded tests. The 7700X launches in the same market segment as the i7-12700K, when it goes on sale this September 27.

The latest version 2.02 of CPU-Z adds support for a handful unreleased Ryzen 7000 series "Zen 4" processors. These include "non-X" SKUs, namely the Ryzen 9 7950, and Ryzen 9 7900. Keeping up with past trends, these are possibly 65 W TDP variants of the 7900X and 7950X to be released only in the OEM market, and will make it to pre-built desktops. In the past, OEM processors by AMD have found their way to brick-and-mortar retail stores, where they're sold off the tray. The retailers get these chips from AMD by claiming to be SI (system integrators). They tend to bundle these with motherboards, memory kits, and SSDs. AMD in its announcement presentation for the Ryzen 7000 underscored the extreme levels of efficiency "Zen 4" exhibits in chips with 65 W power limits. Single-threaded or lightly threaded performance is mostly unaffected, but heavy multi-threaded workloads could see lower performance in comparison to the retail "X" chips.

A screenshot of an alleged AMD Ryzen 9 7950X "Zen 4" processor surfaced on the web, courtesy of OneRaichu, and this time there's no blur-out with the score field—15645 points. When compared to the alleged CPU-Z Bench scores of the Core i9-13900K "Raptor Lake" from last week, the Intel 8P+16E hybrid processor ends up 7.9% faster than this score, but still a very close second.

The Ryzen 9 7950X ends up a significant 23.47% faster than the leaked score of the Core i7-13700K (8P+8E), and the AMD flagship scores 33.5% faster than the previous-gen Intel flagship Core i9-12900K. While both the i7-13700K and i9-12900K are 8P+8E, the "Raptor Lake" gets ahead with higher IPC for the P-cores, slightly higher clocks, and more cache for the E-core clusters. The 7950X is also 32.12% faster than its predecessor, the Ryzen 9 5950X "Zen 3," and a whopping 58.39% faster than the Core i7-12700K (8P+4E).

An alleged AMD Ryzen 7000 pre-release sample was shown running DDR5-6400 memory speed, which is already a 23 percent memory overclock on top of the DDR5-5200 native memory clock speed support. We've known since April that the Ryzen 7000 "Zen 4" processors are being designed with a focus on good memory overclocking headroom, and this is the first instance of an enthusiast-class memory speed on this platform. The feat was pulled off by Toppc, a professional overclocker affiliated with MSI.

The most interesting aspect of this feat is the density. The machine is shown featuring 64 GB of memory—something currently only doable with 32 GB quad-rank (double-sided) DIMMs; or by populating all four slots on the motherboard with 16 GB dual-rank (single-sided) DIMMs, or a 2DPC setup, which would make this feat all the more impressive. The CPU-Z screenshot by Toppc reveals a DRAM clock of 3202 MHz (DDR5-6404), and timings of 32-38-38-96. The Socket AM5 Ryzen 7000 desktop processors only support DDR5 memory type (no backwards-compatibility with DDR4), and AMD states that since it is betting solely on DDR5 (with no DDR4 sidewheels), enthusiasts can expect a good memory overclocking experience.

More details of Intel's upcoming Raptor Lake CPUs have tipped up online, as someone submitted the results of a CPU-Z benchmark to the CPU-Z database. The CPU in question is most likely one of the by now, many ES samples of what should be the Core i9-13900K, which means the multiplier is still limited to 50x, which means the clock speeds can't go beyond 5 GHz. Even so, the extra E-cores helps it best the Core i9-12900K in the multithreaded test over 1400 points, using the average results for all 12900K CPUs in the database. It's also faster than the average Core i9-12900KF in the single-threaded test, but it doesn't quite manage to beat the Core i9-12900K results here.

The test system was admittedly not the very best possible hardware, as an MSI Pro Z690-A DDR4 motherboard was used and the CPU was paired with 32 GB of CAS19 DDR4 2666 MHz memory, so there's clearly potential for improvement here. The test system was also using Windows 10, which is potentially another bottleneck when it comes to taking advantage of all the extra E-cores. The E-Cores reached a top speed of 2.99 GHz, with the P-cores peaking at 4.99 GHz. The CPU was hitting 100 degrees C during the test, which suggests that some serious cooling is going to be needed for these CPUs. Intel is likely to reveal its Raptor Lake CPU's during the Intel Innovation '22 event in San Jose, which kicks off on the 27th of September.