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CORSAIR Offers a Range of High-Performance Components for 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen Threadripper Builds

CORSAIR, a world leader in PC gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced a range of products including liquid CPU coolers, high-frequency DRAM, and efficient power supplies fully tested and validated for compatibility with the new 3rd Generation AMD Ryzen Threadripper high-end desktop processors. With the highest core and thread count on the HEDT market, combined with the lightning-fast PCI-Express 4.0 platform, AMD's most powerful desktop processor can create, composite, render, encode, and deliver with unprecedented multitasking power - and CORSAIR is ready with the widest range of guaranteed-compatible products to help get the best performance out of a new Ryzen Threadripper-based PC.

AMD Paves Upgrade Path for TRX40 Platform with 64-core 3990X in 2020

AMD is hours away from market-availability and reviews of its 3rd generation Ryzen Threadripper HEDT processors, which includes two models at launch, the 24-core 3960X, and the 32-core 3970X, with prices starting at USD $1,399. The two are closely related to the 2nd generation EPYC "Rome" server processor family, which we know includes core-counts going all the way up to 64. It was hence obvious that a 64-core Threadripper will launch at some point, and that point is 2020, and the part goes by the name 3990X.

The slide detailing the 3990X mentions its core count of 64-core/128-thread, total cache (L2 + L3), which is a staggering 288 MB, and TDP of "just" 280 W. There is no mention of the chip's clock-speeds, and with the 3970X already priced close to $2,000, one can expect even higher prices for a chip with double the core count. At some point these products stop being HEDT and enter the realm of workstations. Intel's short-term response to even the 3970X could be limited to somehow sell the 28-core "Cascade Lake-SP" with quasi-HEDT branding the way it sells the Xeon W-3175X, and on a different platform than the X299.

AMD Announces Ryzen 9 3950X, Details 3rd Gen Ryzen Threadripper, unlocked Athlon 3000G

AMD today announced four new desktop processors across three very diverse markets. To begin with, the company crowned its socket AM4 mainstream desktop platform with the mighty new Ryzen 9 3950X processor. Next up, it released its new baseline entry-level APU, the Athlon 3000G. Lastly, it detailed the 3rd generation Ryzen Threadripper HEDT processor family with two initial models, the Ryzen Threadripper 3960X and the flagship Ryzen Threadripper 3970X. The company also formally released its AGESA Combo PI 1.0.0.4B microcode, and with it, introduced a killer new feature for all "Zen 2" based Ryzen processors, called ECO Mode.

The Ryzen 9 3950X is a 16-core/32-thread processor in the AM4 package, compatible with all socket AM4 motherboards, provided they have the latest BIOS update with AGESA Combo PI 1.0.0.4B microcode. The processor comes with clock-speeds of 3.50 GHz base, with 4.70 GHz maximum boost frequency, and the same 105 W TDP as the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X. With 512 KB of dedicated L2 cache per core, and 64 MB of shared L3 cache, the chip has a mammoth 72 MB of "total cache."

New Date for AMD's Announcement of 3rd Gen Ryzen Threadripper - November 7th

It's sort of a goalpost-moving world, but according to Videocardz, AMD has apparently scrapped plans to announce their new Ryzen Threadripper lineup for today, November 5th, and has since scheduled the announcement for November 7th. The website cites sources close to AMD's plans as a way to add credence to their report. This writer, for one, thinks an announcement on a day other than a 7th would be a missed opportunity, flavor-wise, considering the 7 nm manufacturing process of the new AMD HEDT lineup, but I digress.

As far as is known, all other plans are kept, including the announcement of three new processors: the Threadripper 3960X and 3970X, which will hit shelves come November 19th, when the review embargo lifts; and the Threadripper 3990X, which will only be available come January 2020. The new TRX40 platform and motherboards based on the design will also be showcased, and there should be a myriad of new product announcements on that front to accompany AMD's new products.

Intel CFO Talks About 7nm Rollout, Delay in 10nm, Increased Competition from AMD

Intel CFO George Davis in an interview with Barron's commented on the company's financial health, and some of the reasons behind its rather conservative gross margin guidance looking forward to at least 2023. Intel's current product stack is moving on to the company's 10 nm silicon fabrication process in a phased manner. The company is allocating 10 nm to mobile processors and enterprise processors, while brazening it out with 14 nm on the client-desktop and HEDT platforms until they can build 10 nm desktop parts. AMD has deployed its high-IPC "Zen 2" microarchitecture on TSMC's 7 nm DUV process, with plans to go EUV in the coming months.

"We're still keenly focused on gross margin. Everything from capital efficiency to the way we're designing our products. What we've said though, the delay in 10 nanometer means that we're going to be a little bit disadvantaged on unit cost for a period of time. We actually gave guidance for gross margin out in 2021 to help people understand. 2023 is the period that we were ultimately guiding [when] we're going to see very strong revenue growth and margin expansion. We've got to get through this period where we have the 10 nanometer being a little bit late [as] we're not optimized on a node that we're on. But [by] then we're moving to a two to two and a half year cadence on the next nodes. So we're pulling in the spending on 7 nanometer, which will start up in the second half of 2021 because we think it's the right thing to do competitively," he said.

Intel 10th Gen Core i9 XE "Cascade Lake-X" Possible Availability Date Revealed

Intel announced its 10th generation Core i9 XE "Cascade Lake-X" HEDT processor family in October. At the time, market availability of these chips was slated for November 2019, although a date wasn't specified. A report by Chinese tech publication PCDIY sheds more light. According to the report, market availability of these chips could begin from 25th November, 2019, which would be 49 days or 7 weeks following its October 7 product announcement. Intel's lean 10th gen Core HEDT processor lineup includes 10-core, 12-core, 14-core, and 18-core SKUs at price-points ranging from roughly-$600 to $1,000.

Intel Core i9-10980XE "Cascade Lake-X" Benchmarked

One of the first reviews of Intel's new flagship HEDT processor, the Core i9-10980XE, just hit the web. Lab501.ro got their hands on a freshly minted i9-10980XE and put it through their test bench. Based on the "Cascade Lake-X" silicon, the i9-10980XE offers almost identical IPC to "Skylake-X," but succeeds the older generation with AI-accelerating DLBoost instruction-set, an improved multi-core boosting algorithm, higher clock speeds, and most importantly, a doubling in price-performance achieved by cutting the cores-per-Dollar metric by half, across the board.

Armed with 18 cores, the i9-10980XE is ahead of the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X in rendering and simulation tests, although not by much (for a chip that has 50% more cores). This is probably attributed to the competing AMD chip being able to sustain higher all-core boost clock speeds. In tests that not only scale with cores, but are also hungry for memory bandwidth, such as 7-zip and Media, Intel extends its lead thanks to its quad-channel memory interface that's able to feed its cores with datasets faster.

Intel to Halve Prices of 7th and 9th Gen "Skylake-X" HEDT Processors

In a bid to clear out inventories of its 7th and 9th generation Core X HEDT processors based on the "Skylake-X" silicon, Intel is preparing to halve prices of leftover inventory in the retail channel. The move is triggered by the company's own recent launch of the 10th generation Core i9 "Cascade Lake-X" processors that are compatible with existing socket LGA2066 motherboards. With "Cascade Lake-X," Intel halved the Dollars-per-core metric across the board (i.e. doubled the performance-per-Dollar), resulting in its top 18-core i9-10980XE being priced under the $1000-mark, half of what the i9-9980XE once commanded.

With prices of Core X "Skylake-X" chips being halved, you can expect the market to be flooded with 7th and 9th generation chips that are priced marginally lesser than their 10th gen "Cascade Lake-X" siblings. The single-thread performance (IPC) is identical between the three generations. All that's changed with "Cascade Lake-X" is the introduction of the DLBoost instruction-set that speeds up AI applications (irrelevant to gamers), and an improved Turbo Boost algorithm that spreads boost clocks across more cores, including Favored Cores capability that will come alive with Windows 10 2H19 update. If you've been on one of the cheaper 8-core or 10-core LGA2066 chips, your upgrade options just increased.

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X Beats Intel Core i9-10980XE by 24% in 3DMark Physics

AMD's upcoming Ryzen 9 3950X socket AM4 processor beats Intel's flagship 18-core processor, the Core i9-10980XE, by a staggering 24 percent at 3DMark Physics, according to a PC Perspective report citing TUM_APISAK. The 3950X is a 16-core/32-thread processor that's drop-in compatible with any motherboard that can run the Ryzen 9 3900X. The i9-10980XE is an 18-core/36-thread HEDT chip that enjoys double the memory bus width as the AMD chip, and is based on Intel's "Cascade Lake-X" silicon. The AMD processor isn't at a tangible clock-speed advantage. The 3950X has a maximum boost frequency of 4.70 GHz, while the i9-10980XE isn't much behind, at 4.60 GHz, but things differ with all-core boost.

When paired with 16 GB of dual-channel DDR4-3200 memory, the Ryzen 9 3950X powered machine scores 32,082 points in the CPU-intensive physics tests of 3DMark. In comparison, the i9-10980XE, paired with 32 GB of quad-channel DDR4-2667 memory, scores just 25,838 points as mentioned by PC Perspective. Graphics card is irrelevant to this test. It's pertinent to note here that the 3DMark physics test scales across practically any number of CPU cores/threads, and the AMD processor could be benefiting from a higher all-core boost frequency than the Intel chip. Although AMD doesn't mention a number in its specifications, the 3950X is expected to have an all-core boost frequency that's north of 4.00 GHz, as its 12-core sibling, the 3900X, already offers 4.20 GHz all-core. In contrast, the i9-10980XE has an all-core boost frequency of 3.80 GHz. This difference in boost frequency, apparently, even negates the additional 2 cores and 4 threads that the Intel chip enjoys, in what is yet another example of AMD having caught up with Intel in the IPC game.

GIGABYTE Threadripper TRX40 AORUS Motherboard Teased

AMD is going to launch its premium HEDT Threadripper CPUs, based on 7 nm manufacturing process, as soon as November 5th arrives. To prepare for the launch, manufacturers like GIGABYTE have been working hard to bring new CPUs to life, by integrating AMD's new chipsets into the new motherboard models. Dubbed "Castle Peak" and "Sharkstooth", the two new CPU variants will be accompanied by TRX40, TRX80 and WRX80 chipsets, each enabling additional features.

We now got a hold of the first picture of what appears to be GIGABYTE's AORUS motherboard based on TRX40 chipset. Coming in with the E-ATX form factor, this motherboard is similar in size with the previous X399 AORUS Xtreme model. It features four PCIe 4.0 x16 slots and eight slots that support four-channel DDR4 memory, so it is likely that TRX40 chipset is meant only for such configuration, with TRX80 and WRX80 chipsets being reserved for eight-channel memory configurations. Another thing to note is the presence of chipset fan, indicating that the TDP of these chipsets is high and it needs to be actively cooled in normal use cases. If you remember, plenty of X570 boards have a fan on chipset as well due to their TDP.

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X, 3970X and 3990X Launch Dates Leaked

The folks over at Videocardz managed to snag some impressive information on AMD-s upcoming Threadripper lineup - their launch dates. According to the tech publication, a source within AMD provided information regarding previously-set dates for paper and hardware launches that stand at November 5th for the formal announcement of the next generation HEDT CPUs, followed by lifted embargos on reviews and actual product availability come November 19th. Apparently, AMD will only launch the Threadripper 3960X and 3970X come November 5th (remember remember the 5th of November), with a product announcement for the Threadripper 3990X which will only be launched in January 2020.

AMD will also formally unveil their next-gen Threadripper TRX40 platformon November 5th (which won't be compatible with previous-gen Threadrippers). This makes sense - CPUs without a platform to pin them onto doesn't seem like a conscientious business decision. No information was available on clockspeeds and core counts at this time, though the Threadripper 3960X, the base of the new lineup, is expected to sport 24 cores and 48 threads of Zen 2 goodness.

Intel Marketing Tries to Link Stability to Turbo Boost

There is no correlation between CPU frequency boosting behavior and system stability. Intel today launched its "10th generation" Core X HEDT processors, with core-counts ranging between 10 to 18, priced between $590 and $978. Based on the 14 nm "Cascade Lake-X" silicon, these chips have the same exact IPC as "Skylake" circa 2015, but offer nearly double the number of cores to the Dollar compared to the 9th generation Core X series; and add a couple of useful instruction sets such as DLBoost, which accelerates DNN training/building; a few more AVX-512 instructions, and an updated Turbo Boost Max 3.0 algorithm. The chips offer clock-speed bumps over the previous generation.

Intel's main trade-call for these processors? Taking another stab at AMD for falling short on boost frequency in the hands of consumers. "The chip that hits frequency benchmarks as promised, our new #CoreX -series processor, provides a stable, high-performance platform for visual creators everywhere," reads the Intel tweet, as if to suggest that reaching the "promised" clock speed results in stability. AMD was confronted with alarming statistics of consumers whose 3rd generation Ryzen processors wouldn't reach their advertised boost frequencies. The company released an updated AGESA microcode that fixed this.

Intel 10th Gen Core X "Cascade Lake" HEDT Processors Launch on October 7

October 7 promises to be an action-packed day, with not just AMD's launch of its Radeon RX 5500 series graphics card, but also Intel's 10th generation Core X "Cascade Lake" HEDT processors in the LGA2066 package. With AMD having achieved near-parity with Intel on IPC, the focus with the 10th generation Core X will be on price-performance, delivering double the number of cores to the Dollar compared to the previous generation. Intel will nearly halve the "Dollars per core" metric of these processors down to roughly $57 per core compared to $103 per core of the 9th generation Core X. This means the 10-core/20-thread model that the series starts with, will be priced under $600.

The first wave of these processors will include the 10-core/20-thread Core i9-10900XE, followed by the 12-core/24-thread i9-10920XE around the $700-mark, the 14-core/28-thread i9-10940XE around the $800-mark, and the range-topping 18-core/28-thread i9-10960XE at $999, nearly half that of the previous-generation i9-9980XE. There is a curious lack of a 16-core model. These chips feature a 44-lane PCI-Express gen 3.0 root complex, a quad-channel DDR4 memory interface supporting up to 256 GB of DDR4-2933 memory (native speed), and compatibility with existing socket LGA2066 motherboards with a BIOS update. The chips also feature an updated AES-512 ISA, the new DLBoost instruction set with a fixed-function hardware that accelerates neural net training by 5 times, and an updated Turbo Boost Max algorithm. Intel will extensively market these chips to creators and PC enthusiasts. October 7 will see a paper-launch, followed by November market-availability.

Windows 10 2H19 Update to Have "Favored Core" Awareness, Increase Single-threaded Performance

The next big update to Windows 10, slated for some time later this year, will have awareness to "favored cores." This leverages the ability of some of the latest processors to tell the operating system which of its cores are marginally "better" than the other, so it could push more of its single-threaded workloads to that core, for the highest boost clocks. Not all cores on a multi-core processor die are created equal, due to minor variations in manufacturing. Intel processors featuring Turbo Boost Max 3.0, as well as AMD Ryzen processors, have the ability to tell the operating system which of its cores are "better" than the other, which core is the "best" on the die, which is the "best" in a particular CCX (in case of "Zen" chips), and so on.

The best cores on a silicon are called "favored cores," and proper OS-level optimization could improve performance on 1-4 threaded workloads by "up to 15 percent," according to Intel. This, however, requires the processor to support Turbo Boost Max 3.0, which currently only HEDT processors do in the Intel camp. Over in the AMD front, Microsoft introduced more awareness to the multi-CCX and multi-die design of "Zen" processors with Windows 10 1903, and schedules workloads to make the most out of Zen's multi-core topology. "Zen" processors are able to report their best cores per CCX, per die, and per package, and the Ryzen Master software already displays this information, however, Windows hasn't been able to exploit favored cores. This will change with the upcoming major Windows 10 update.

Intel Cascade Lake-X Core i9-10980XE Put Through Its Paces in GeekBench

Intel's upcoming Extreme Edition Core i9-10980XE from the Cascade Lake-X family. Cascade Lake-X (CSL-X) will be Intel's next take on the High End Desktop (HEDT) systems. The Core i9-10980XE is pegged as the flagship on that lineup, sporting an 18-core, 36-thread design, and are still based on Intel's 14 nm process node. These processors will be pin-compatible with Intel's LGA 2066 platform. Caches are expected to be set at 1.125 MB, 18 MB and 24.75 MB of L1, L2 and L3.

Base clocks set in the Geekbench 4 entry are set at 4.1 GHz, with a maximum boost of 4.7 GHz. That's a lot of frequency on a 14 nm CPU with 18 cores; if previous entries on the Intel HEDT family (such as the i9-9980XE) sported a 165 W TDP with clocks of 3.0 GHz and 4.4 GHz respectively, it seems highly unlikely that Intel will keep the same TDP for the i9-10980XE - and even if they do, power consumption will certainly be higher. Those reported clocks for the i9-10980XE may not be right, however - we don't know the conditions of the test run.

AMD Confirms: Ryzen 9 3950X and Threadripper 3rd Generation Coming in November

AMD just released an update on their upcoming processor launches this year. First revealed at E3, just a few months ago, the Ryzen 9 3950X is the world's first processor to bring 16-cores and 32-threads to the consumer desktop space. The processor's boost clock is rated at "up to 4.7 GHz", which we might now actually see, thanks to an updated AGESA software that AMD released earlier this month. Base clock for this $749 processor is set at 3.5 GHz, and TDP is 105 W, with 72 MB cache. While AMD said "September" for Ryzen 9 3950X back at E3, it looks like the date got pushed back a little bit, to November, which really makes no difference, in the grand scheme of things.

The second big part of today's announcement is that AMD is indeed working on "Rome"-based third generation Threadripper processors (probably the industry's worst-kept secret), and that these CPUs will also be launching in November, right in time to preempt Intel from having any success with their upcoming Cascade Lake-X processors. Official information on AMD's new HEDT lineup is extremely sparse so far, but if we go by recent leaks, then we should expect new chipsets and up to 32-cores/64-threads.
AMD's full statement is quoted below.

Intel "Cascade Lake-X" HEDT CPU Lineup Starts at 10-core, Core i9-10900X Geekbenched

With its 10th generation Core X "Cascade Lake-X" HEDT processor series, Intel will not bother designing models with single-digit core-counts. The series is likely to start at 10 cores with the Core i9-10900X. This 10-core/20-thread processor features a quad-channel DDR4 memory interface, and comes with clock speeds of 3.70 GHz base, a 200 MHz speed-bump over the Core i9-9900X. The chip retains the mesh interconnect design and cache hierarchy of Intel's HEDT processors since "Skylake-X," with 1 MB of dedicated L2 cache per core, and 19.3 MB of shared L3 cache.

Geekbench tests run on the chip show it to perform roughly on par with the i9-9900X, with the 200 MHz speed-bump expected to marginally improve multi-threaded performance. Where the "Cascade Lake-X" silicon is expected to one-up "Skylake-X" is its support for DLBoost, an on-die fixed function hardware that multiplies matrices, improving AI DNN building and training; and pricing. Intel is expected to price its next-generation HEDT processors aggressively, to nearly double cores-per-Dollar.

Intel Sourgrapes AMD's Creator Performance Leadership with Laughably Dubious Data

Intel as part of its IFA Berlin client-segment presentation resorted to some very juvenile marketing tactics, inviting criticism from noted PC enthusiast Der8auer. Intel scampered to reclaim its market position in the PC gaming space with the announcement of the Core i9-9900KS 8-core processor, which armed with a 5.00 GHz all-core Turbo Boost frequency, is expected to cement the company's gaming performance leadership. The company didn't leave it at that, and went on to attack AMD's creator performance leadership.

Der8auer observed something curious about a few slides in particular that Intel used to discredit AMD's high-end desktop processors, relating to its Creator performance as tested in Maxon Cinema 4D's benchmark program, Cinebench. Intel claimed that AMD cannot use Cinebench data to represent "real-world" performance as "only 0.22 percent" of users polled by Intel's "Software Improvement Program" respondents use Maxon Cinema 4D. And who are these respondents? Close to 11 million of them, _all_ of whom are notebook and tablet users, and a majority of whom have Software Improvement Program part of OEM bloatware. This, according to Der8auer, is fundamentally dishonest on Intel's part as Maxon Cinema 4D is less likely to be used on portable computers, and more likely on premium desktops or HEDTs. You can watch Der8auer's vlog here (English) or here (German).
The complete slide-deck follows.

Intel to Increase Cores-to-the-Dollar Across the Board with Cascade Lake-X?

Intel is preparing to increase core-counts across the board with its upcoming Core X "Cascade Lake-X" HEDT processor family, launching next month. The first indication of this comes from an Intel slide that claims a 1.74 to 2.09x increase in performance-per-Dollar over "Skylake-X." The "Cascade Lake" microarchitecture already made its debut in the enterprise market as Intel's 2nd generation Xeon Scalable processors, and its IPC is similar clock-to-clock, to its predecessor (Skylake).

If Intel is claiming such performance-per-Dollar increases, it only points to a significant increase in core counts to the Dollar (think 16-core at $999, 28-core at $1999, etc.). Adding value to these chips are certain new AI accelerating instruction sets, such as DLBoost, support for Optane DC Persistent Memory, increased memory clock-speeds, and higher CPU clocks across the board compared to the Core X 9000-series. The Core X "Cascade Lake-X" processor family debuts this October.

AMD Readies Three HEDT Chipsets: TRX40, TRX80, and WRX80

AMD is preparing to surprise Intel with its 3rd generation Ryzen Threadripper processors derived from the "Rome" MCM (codenamed "Castle Peak" for the client-platform), that features up to 64 CPU cores, a monolithic 8-channel DDR4 memory interface, and 128 PCIe gen 4.0 lanes. For the HEDT platform, AMD could reconfigure the I/O controller die for two distinct sub-platforms within HEDT - one targeting gamers/enthusiasts, and another targeting the demographic that buys Xeon W processors, including the W-3175X. The gamer/enthusiast-targeted processor line could feature a monolithic 4-channel DDR4 memory interface, and 64 PCI-Express gen 4.0 lanes from the processor socket, and additional lanes from the chipset; while the workstation-targeted processor line could essentially be EPYCs, with a wider memory bus width and more platform PCIe lanes; while retaining drop-in backwards-compatibility with AMD X399 (at the cost of physically narrower memory and PCIe I/O).

To support this diverse line of processors, AMD is coming up with not one, but three new chipsets: TRX40, TRX80, and WRX80. The TRX40 could have a lighter I/O feature-set (similar to the X570), and probably 4-channel memory on the motherboards. The TRX80 and WRX80 could leverage the full I/O of the "Rome" MCM, with 8-channel memory and more than 64 PCIe lanes. We're not sure what differentiates the TRX80 and WRX80, but we believe motherboards based on the latter will resemble proper workstation boards in form-factors such as SSI, and be made by enterprise motherboard manufacturers such as TYAN. The chipsets made their way to the USB-IF for certification, and were sniffed out by momomo_us. ASUS is ready with its first motherboards based on the TRX40, the Prime TRX40-Pro, and the ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming.

ASUS Confirms Existence of X590 Boards for AMD Ryzen CPUs

According to VideoCardz'es sources at ASUS, they have received confirmation that ASUS is working on new motherboards for AMD's unannounced chipset offerings, X590 and possibly even X599. In ASUS'es internal documentation two motherboards are appearing with X590 name, PRIME X590-PRO and ROG STRIX X590-E.

These motherboards are named similarly as the current offering from ASUS, the PRIME X570-PRO and ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming, so even though that we don't know if these models will ever hit the market, there is great possibility. Additionally, there is another chipset refresh coming, but now for the HEDT space. ASUS is working on ZENITH II EXTREME, an update to first ZENITH EXTREME motherboard (based on X399 chipset), which is expected to feature updated X599 chipset and should support new ThreadRipper 3000 series of CPUs. For now, we don't have any details of either two chipsets nor the improvements they will bring.

Intel to Cut Prices of its Desktop Processors by 15% in Response to Ryzen 3000

Intel is embattled in the client-segment desktop processor business, with AMD's imminent launch of its 3rd generation Ryzen desktop processors. Intel's 9th generation Core processors may lose their competitiveness to AMD's offerings, and are expected to get relieved by the company's "Ice Lake" desktop processors only in 2020. Until then, Intel will market its processors through price-cuts, promotions, bundles, and focusing on their gaming prowess. The company will refresh its HEDT (high-end desktop) processor lineup some time in Q3-2019. According to Taiwan-based industry observer DigiTimes citing sources in the motherboard industry, Intel's immediate response to 3rd generation Ryzen will be a series of price-cuts to products in its client-segment DIY retail channel.

According to these sources, prices of 9th generation Core processors could be cut by a minimum of 10 percent, and a maximum of 15 percent, varying by SKUs. This could see prices of popular gaming/enthusiast SKUs such as the Core i9-9900K, the i7-9700K, and the i5-9600K, drop by anywhere between $25 to $75. AMD is launching the Ryzen 9 3900X to compete with the i9-9900K, the Ryzen 7 3800X to compete with the i7-9700K, and the Ryzen 5 3600X to take on the i5-9600K. The three SKUs, according to AMD's internal testing, match the Intel chips at gaming, and beat them at content-creation tasks. At the heart of 3rd generation Ryzen processors is AMD's new Zen 2 microarchitecture, which brings significant IPC gains. AMD is also increasing core-counts on its mainstream desktop platform with the introduction of the Ryzen 9 family of 12-core and 16-core processors in the AM4 package.

Thermaltake Intros UX100 ARGB Low-profile Top-flow CPU Cooler

Thermaltake today rolled out one of the first few low-profile top-flow air CPU coolers that feature addressable-RGB lighting, the UX100 ARGB. The cooler features a classic "fin bunch" design, in which radially-projecting aluminium fins bunch up at the center to form the base. A 120 mm fan is suspended along a shroud over this fin-bunch, which features a silicone LED diffuser along the bore of the shroud.

There are 15 aRGB LEDs studded into this diffuser, which take in 3-pin standard input for addressable-RGB control via software. The fan features a hydraulic bearing, takes in 3-pin DC input, spinning at 1,800 RPM, pushing 38.82 CFM of air, with a noise output of 26.92 dBA. The cooler measures 122.3 mm x 122.3 mm x 66.1 mm, and can handle thermal loads of up to 65W. Among the CPU socket types supported are AM4 and LGA115x (no HEDT sockets supported). The company didn't reveal pricing.

ASUS Rolls Out the Hyper M.2 x16 V2 NVMe RAID Card

ASUS today rolled out the latest in its series of M.2 NVMe RAID add-on cards, the Hyper M.2 x16 Card V2. A successor to a similar card ASUS released back in 2017, this one comes with improved electrical components, so each of its four slots is guaranteed to put out 14 Watts of power. The card splits a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 link to four M.2-22110 slots, each with PCI-Express 3.0 x4 wiring. There's no PCIe switch logic involved, so your motherboard is required to support PCIe lane segmentation (most HEDT motherboards since 2016 do). The card supports Intel VROC (virtual RAID on CPU), and is tested to work on AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors. ASUS didn't change the thermal solution. You still get a chunky aluminium shroud covering the whole card, and lateral-flow fan pushing air across the drives, which can be turned off. The company didn't reveal pricing.

GIGABYTE Unveils Three New X299 Motherboards at Computex 2019

At Computex 2019, we spotted three new socket LGA2066 motherboards from GIGABYTE, and several other manufacturers. At its Computex 2019 keynote, Intel announced that in Q3 2019, the company is launching new Core X series HEDT processor models "for creators." When combined with the handful new LGA2066 motherboard models we've spotted, it becomes highly likely that the processors Intel is launching this Fall could be LGA2066-compatible. Without further ado, the X299G Aorus Master, the X299G Aorus Xtreme Waterforce, and the X299G Designare 10G.

The X299G Aorus Master is different from the X299 Aorus Master launched last November, and the X299G Designare 10G is different from the X299 Designare EX launched way back in 2017. The X299G Aorus Xtreme Waterforce is the first "Xtreme" sub-branded LGA2066 product. What's common to these three boards is out-of-the-box support for the upcoming HEDT processor models, besides 9th generation "Skylake-X" Refresh processors, and the original "Skylake-X" chips.
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