Benchmarks have a natural lifespan that ends when they no longer provide meaningful results on modern hardware. When old benchmarks are used with new hardware, the results can be skewed or limited in ways that reduce their accuracy and relevance.

After reviewing our product line, we've decided to end support for 3DMark Sky Diver, the 3DMark API Overhead feature test, PCMark 8, Servermark Media Transcode, and VRMark for Android. After January 14, 2021, these unsupported benchmarks will: No longer be sold by UL, Steam, or other app stores; no longer be guaranteed to work with UL's online services; no longer receive updates; no longer be eligible for customer support.

AMD's AM4 socket really is shaping up to be one of the company's most versatile to date. From true quad-core CPUS (just now available through Ryzen 3's launch through to veritable svelte behemoths 8-core, 16-thread CPUs, AM4 has something for every consumer. AMD is now taking that show further with the release of the Bristol Ridge family of APUs, which includes eight APUs and three CPUs. While pricing wasn't announced at time of writing, the top-priced part should fall below the $110 mark and bottom out at $50, so as not to collide with AMD's Ryzen 3 1200 (although these products aren't specifically overlapping anyway.)

AMD's new entry-level processors will hit a maximum of 65 W TDP, with the top spot being taken by the 2-module, 4-threads A12-9800, running at 3.8 GHz base and 4.2 GHz Turbo. This part holds a Radeon R7 GPU with 512 Stream Processors (GCN 1.3, the same as in the Fury GPUs) running at 800 MHz Base and 1108 MHz Turbo. There are three 35 W parts (denoted by a capital E after the model name.) One thing users should take into account is that the Bristol Ridge APUs deliver a maximum of 8x PCIe 3.0 lanes - thus rendering a multi-GPU solution unfeasible.

With the public release of Windows 10 coming up next week it's a good time for us to review our current line up. As a result, we have decided to move Peacekeeper, our browser benchmark, to our list of unsupported products.

Peacekeeper is a universal browser benchmark for measuring JavaScript performance. More than seven and a half million people have tested their browsers and mobile devices with Peacekeeper since its release in 2009. But today, competition between browsers has largely shifted from speed to features.

Modern browsers are typically fast enough on a wide range of hardware, and the differences in speed in everyday use are trivial. A browser's features, extensions, and memory use are now much more likely to be the deciding factors reducing the relevance of pure JavaScript performance benchmarks.

AMD today introduced the latest addition to its line of desktop A-Series processors, the A10-7870K APU, a refresh to the existing line of processors codenamed "Kaveri". The A10-7870K delivers a best-in-class experience for eSports and online gaming with superior performance, best-in-class efficiency in DirectX 12, and unique features. The new processor also delivers exceptional performance in modern workloads and is designed for the future with Microsoft Windows 10.

The latest iteration of the popular and powerful AMD A-Series APU family provides premium performance and multitasking powered by up to 12 compute cores (4 CPU + 8 GPU). The responsiveness and processing power of the A10-7870K APU enables an immersive user experience on Windows 10 PCs while offering an easy path for PC builders looking to upgrade to discrete-level graphics and faster processing at an afforadable price. The A10-7870K APU is available at e-tail now at a suggested price (SEP) of US $137, and through participating system builders.

PCMark 8, the latest release in our series of popular benchmarking tools, will be available to download and buy from Steam within the next few hours. PCMark 8 combines performance benchmarking, battery life testing, a dedicated benchmark for SSDs and HDDs, and real-world tests using popular applications from Adobe and Microsoft. It's an essential tool for anyone who wants to get the most out of their hardware.

PCMark 8 includes five new benchmark tests, each designed around a typical use scenario. Choose the benchmark that best matches your needs, or run all five for a complete picture of your PC's performance. Each benchmark produces a score you can use to compare systems as well as detailed results you can use to gain a deep understanding of system performance.