AMD's next-gen Ryzen Threadripper High-End Desktop (HEDT) processor family remains under wraps, but the latest insider whispers indicate a potential official introduction at Computex 2025. So far, leaks have provided the majority of insights into Team Red's speculated "Shimada Peak" 9000WX series. Mid-way through this month, three more unannounced product identifiers appeared online—industry observers are still seeking out a futuristic 96-core "9995WX" model. AMD's teaser material—regarding Jack Huynh's upcoming keynote presentation—does not list anything bearing a Threadripper label. Fresh evidence—not from a shipping manifest—points to a possible upcoming inclusion. As disclosed by the PCGH.de crew; GIGABYTE has rolled out an F10a BIOS update for TRX50 AERO D motherboards—accompanying release notes mention intriguing "Next Gen CPU Support."

PCGH's investigative piece put a spotlight on an exciting specification point, but potential customers will probably be greeted by corresponding extreme "niche" pricing. The article elaborated on this fan-favorite technology: "workstation and high-end desktop processors from the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9000 and Ryzen Threadripper Pro 9000 series—also known as 'Shimada Peak'—will feature multiple 3D V-Caches consisting of up to four stacks on as many chiplets, and could thus represent, for the first time, an option for gamers who benefit from as many processor cores and massive L3 cache as possible...(this CPU platform) will continue to be housed on the already established LGA4844 ('sTR5') socket and will most likely be compatible with the two chipsets: the TRX50 and WRX90. However, the much more interesting information is provided by the UEFI/BIOS itself, as this is where the use of the CPU's 3D V-Cache can now be configured. Configurations with 1, 2, or even 4 memory 'stacks' are available, as well as a corresponding auto-feature." GIGABYTE's "official" leak suggests the distribution of evaluation samples—naturally, review outlet test rig's would require support for "Shimada Peak" CPUs.

Today, Intel introduced a new "200S Boost" factory-approved overclocking profile for the unlocked Intel Core Ultra 200S "Arrow Lake" processors. Namely, the Core Ultra 9 285K, 7 265K/265KF, and 5 245K/245KF SKUs are supported when installed on a compatible Intel Z890 motherboard with one‑DIMM‑per‑channel Intel XMP DDR5 memory. Activating the 200S Boost profile in the BIOS raises the System-on-Chip (fabric) clock from 2.6 GHz to up to 3.2 GHz and the die‑to‑die interconnect from 2.1 GHz to up to 3.2 GHz (within VccSA ≤ 1.20 V) while pushing DDR5 speeds from stock 6,400 MT/s to as much as 8,000 MT/s (VDD2/VDDQ ≤ 1.40 V). Intel has validated the profile on a selection of Z890 boards, including ASRock Z890 Taichi OCF, ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero, Gigabyte Z890 Aorus Master, MSI MEG Z890 Ace, and others. For memory kits, Intel validated DDR5 memory kits from ADATA, Corsair, G.SKILL, Team Groupp, and V‑COLOR.

Enabling 200S Boost requires a BIOS update, selecting the "Intel 200S Boost" preset under the overclocking menu, and rebooting; stability should then be verified with benchmarks like Cinebench, and thermals/voltages monitored via Intel XTU or similar tools. Perhaps the most important fact is that using the 200S Boost profile does not void Intel's three‑year limited warranty on boxed Core Ultra 200S CPUs, provided they weren't manually overclocked before profile activation. Intel cautions that actual gains depend on motherboard design, cooling, and memory quality, that two‑DIMM‑per‑channel setups aren't officially supported, and that damage to non‑Intel components remains outside warranty coverage. This is more of a safe heaven for anyone wanting to do manual tuning, but not wanting to break any warranty and thus risk damaging their CPU without a backup plan.

Going back to May 2023, an industry inside report suggested that AMD was planning a new generation Ryzen Threadripper High-End Desktop (HEDT) processor series. At the time, "Shimada Peak" was linked to a possible 2025 launch. Over the ensuing years, shipping manifests have revealed the transfer of various 9000 SKUs between Team Red facilities—starting with a mysterious 96-core prototype. Industry observers have been seeking out newer evidence of AMD's next-gen flagship "Zen 5" Threadripper chip; likely going under a "9995WX" moniker.

Late last week, a fresh leak unearthed a likely sub-flagship SKU: the 9985WX. This alleged 64-core SKU was spotted—by Everest (aka Olrak29)—alongside 9955WX (16-core) and 9945WX (12-core) siblings, in a shipping manifest. As reported on TechPowerUp on March 21, the same source uncovered two other entry-level models: the 9975WX (32-core) and 9965WX (24-core) parts. Unfortunately, Team Red's rumored monstrous 96-core 9995WX processor was not listed within fresh batches of shipping documents. Industry watchdogs expect AMD to repeat its product layout from past generations; spanning from entry-tier 12-core offerings up to the aforementioned 96-core range-topper. The latest leak suggests utilization of the SP6 socket type, and 350 W TDPs (across all product identifiers).

TSMC is pushing forward its plans to make 2 nm process chips in large quantities in the second half of the year, with major customer developments coming to light. After AMD placed its order, reports suggest Intel has also become one of TSMC's first 2 nm customers aiming to use this cutting-edge technology for its next-gen desktop processors. Intel, already a big TSMC customer for advanced processes sent out key compute tiles for its Core Ultra processors to TSMC using different processes like N3B, N5P, and N6. To be exact, these were Intel Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" series laptop processors and Core Ultra 200S "Arrow Lake" series. While both companies didn't comment on the latest news, industry talk hints that they're cooperating on Intel's upcoming Nova Lake desktop processor set to launch next year (rumors suggest that it could be the Compute Tile). With the codename "NVL-S" Nova Lake combines two groups of eight high-performance "Coyote Cove" P-cores with 16 "Arctic Wolf" E-cores. It also includes four ultra-low-power LPE cores in a separate SoC tile. It is expected that Nova Lake-S will use LGA 1954, which has 1,954 active lands and might have more than 2,000 total pads when you count debug pins.

TSMC's work on 2 nm technology is moving forward as expected. The company uses first-generation nanochip transistor technology to boost performance and reduce power consumption across process nodes with big clients finishing designing silicon IPs and starting validation steps. AMD shared that its next EPYC "Venice" chip will be the first high-performance computing processor to use TSMC's 2 nm process. AMD validated it at TSMC's Arizona plant and is on track to launch it in 2026. Also, word has it that Apple's future iPhone 18 lineup will have its A20 chip made with the same TSMC 2 nm process.

Today, AMD announced the new Google Cloud C4D and H4D virtual machines (VMs) are powered by 5th Gen AMD EPYC processors. The latest additions to Google Cloud's general-purpose and HPC-optimized VMs deliver leadership performance, scalability, and efficiency for demanding cloud workloads; for everything from data analytics and web serving to high-performance computing (HPC) and AI.

Google Cloud C4D instances deliver impressive performance, efficiency, and consistency for general-purpose computing workloads and AI inference. Based on Google Cloud's testing, leveraging the advancements of the AMD "Zen 5" architecture allowed C4D to deliver up to 80% higher throughput/vCPU compared to previous generations. H4D instances, optimized for HPC workloads, feature AMD EPYC CPUs with Cloud RDMA for efficient scaling of up to tens of thousands of cores.

Mark Gurman—Bloomberg's resident soothsayer of Apple inside track info—has disclosed predictive outlooks for next-generation M5 chip-based MacBooks. Early last month, we experienced the launch of the Northern Californian company's M4 MacBook Air series—starting at $999; also available in a refreshing metallic blue finish. The latest iteration of Apple's signature "extra slim" notebook family arrived with decent performance figures. As per usual, press and community attention has turned to a potential successor. Gurman's (March 30) Power On newsletter posited that engineers are already working on M5-powered super slim sequels—he believes that these offerings will arrive early next year, potentially reusing the current generation's 15-inch and 13-inch fanless chassis designs.

In a mid-February predictive report, Gurman theorized that Apple was planning a major overhaul of the MacBook Pro design. A radical reimagining of the long-running notebook series—that reportedly utilizes M6 chipsets and OLED panels—is a distant prospect; perhaps later on in 2026. The Cupertino-headquartered megacorp is expected to stick with its traditional release cadence, so 2025's "M5" refresh of MacBook Pro models could trickle out by October. Insiders believe that Apple will reuse existing MacBook Pro shells—the last major redesign occurred back in 2021. According to early February reportage, mass production of the much-rumored M5 chip started at some point earlier in the year. Industry moles posit that a 3 nm (N3P) node process was on the order books, chez TSMC foundries.

Intel's freshly concluded Vision 2025 "Products Update and GTM" showcase included a segment dedicated to forthcoming Core Ultra 300 "Panther Lake" client processors. Industry watchdogs have grabbed a select few screenshots from Team Blue's broadcast from Las Vegas, Nevada—one backdropped slide confirms that Intel's next-generation mobile CPU series will launch in 2026. This information mirrors the company's Chinese office presenting of an AI PC roadmap—coverage of last month's event highlighted a scheduled first quarter 2026 "volume" arrival of "Core Ultra Next-gen Panther Lake (18A)."

Going back to early March, Intel leadership refuted online rumors of "Panther Lake" mobile CPUs being delayed into 2026, due to alleged problems encountered during the development of the Foundry service's 18A process node. An interviewed executive repeatedly insisted that his firm's brand-new series was on track for release within the second half of 2025. Fast-forward to the end of last week; Lip-Bu Tan expressed a similar outlook in a letter addressed to investors. The newly-established boss stated: "we will further enhance our (leadership) position in the second half of this year with the launch of Panther Lake, our lead product on Intel 18A, followed by Nova Lake in 2026." Industry insiders propose that the Core Ultra 300 series will become available in a very limited capacity come October, via an Early Enablement Program (EEP). Returning to this week—Jim Johnson, senior vice president of the firm's Client Computing Group, informed a watchful audience about the merits of his group's design: "I'm personally excited about Panther Lake because it combines the power efficiency of Lunar Lake, the performance of Arrow Lake, and is built to scale 18A and is on track for production later this year...Our client roadmap is the most innovative we've ever had, and we are far from done."

In a letter addressed to stockholders, Intel's new CEO—Lip-Bu Tan—roadmapped the importance of a couple of major upcoming product launches. Starting off, Team Blue's new chief detailed a fresh approach, with the casting off of old strategies: "achieving the results I know Intel is capable of starts by refocusing on our customers. This has been priority number one since my first day on the job. I am listening carefully to their feedback so that we continue driving the changes needed to delight our customers and strengthen our competitive position. Plain and simple, the time for talk is over. We must turn our words into action and deliver on our commitments. I have been pleased to see the leadership team has already started driving the culture change needed to make this happen. As CEO, I will continue to drive this transformation so that we move faster, work smarter and make it easier for customers to win with Intel."

Tan's mentioning of Core Ultra "Panther Lake" processors arriving within the second half of this year aligns with prior official statements. Insiders posited that Panther Lake-H (PTL-H) mobile CPUs were delayed into 2026 due to issues with the Foundry's 18A process node, but an Intel executive dismissed these claims a few weeks ago. Interestingly, the firm's Chinese office outlined an "early 2026 volume launch" of "Panther Lake (18A)" chips during a mid-March AI PC press event. A presentation slide indicated that an Early Enablement Program (EEP) is expected to start in October; Team Blue's loose terminology likely classes the sending off of samples—to OEMs, for approval—as a "real" product launch.

AMD has launched a new open-source project called, GAIA (pronounced /ˈɡaɪ.ə/), an awesome application that leverages the power of Ryzen AI Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to run private and local large language models (LLMs). In this blog, we'll dive into the features and benefits of GAIA, while introducing how you can take advantage of GAIA's open-source project to adopt into your own applications.

Introduction to GAIA
GAIA is a generative AI application designed to run local, private LLMs on Windows PCs and is optimized for AMD Ryzen AI hardware (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series Processors). This integration allows for faster, more efficient processing - i.e. lower power- while keeping your data local and secure. On Ryzen AI PCs, GAIA interacts with the NPU and iGPU to run models seamlessly by using the open-source Lemonade (LLM-Aid) SDK from ONNX TurnkeyML for LLM inference. GAIA supports a variety of local LLMs optimized to run on Ryzen AI PCs. Popular models like Llama and Phi derivatives can be tailored for different use cases, such as Q&A, summarization, and complex reasoning tasks.

Ask a typical IT professional today whether they're leveraging AI, and there's a good chance they'll say yes-after all, they have reputations to protect! Kidding aside, many will report that their teams may use Web-based tools like ChatGPT or even have internal chatbots that serve their employee base on their intranet, but for that not much AI is really being implemented at the infrastructure level. As it turns out, the true answer is a bit different. AI tools and techniques have embedded themselves firmly into standard enterprise workloads and are a more common, everyday phenomena than even many IT people may realize. Assembly line operations now include computer vision-powered inspections. Supply chains use AI for demand forecasting making business move faster and of course, AI note-taking and meeting summary is embedded on virtually all the variants of collaboration and meeting software.

Increasingly, critical enterprise software tools incorporate built-in recommendation systems, virtual agents or some other form of AI-enabled assistance. AI is truly becoming a pervasive, complementary tool for everyday business. At the same time, today's enterprises are navigating a hybrid landscape where traditional, mission-critical workloads coexist with innovative AI-driven tasks. This "mixed enterprise and AI" workload environment calls for infrastructure that can handle both types of processing seamlessly. Robust, general-purpose CPUs like the AMD EPYC processors are designed to be powerful and secure and flexible to address this need. They handle everyday tasks—running databases, web servers, ERP systems—and offer strong security features crucial for enterprise operations augmented with AI workloads. In essence, modern enterprise infrastructure is about creating a balanced ecosystem. AMD EPYC CPUs play a pivotal role in creating this balance, delivering high performance, efficiency, and security features that underpin both traditional enterprise workloads and advanced AI operations.

Last Friday, AMD confirmed finalized price points for its upcoming Ryzen 9 9950X3D ($699) and 9900X3D ($599) gaming processors—both launching on March 12. Media outlets are very likely finalizing their evaluations of review silicon; official embargoes are due for lifting tomorrow (March 11). By Team Red decree, a drip feed of pre-launch information was restricted to teasers, a loose March launch window, and an unveiling of basic specifications (at CES 2025). A trickle of mid-January to early March leaks have painted an incomplete picture of performance expectations for the 3D V-Cache-equipped 16 and 12-core parts. A fresh NDA-busting disclosure has arrived online, courtesy of an alleged Ryzen 9 9950X3D sample's set of benchmark scores.

A pre-release candidate posted single and multi-thread ratings of 4739 and 69,701 (respectively), upon completion of PassMark tests. Based on this information, a comparison chart was assembled—pitching the Ryzen 9 9950X3D against its direct predecessor (7950X3D), a Zen 5 relative (9950X), and competition from Intel (Core Ultra 9 285K). AMD's brand-new 16-core flagship managed to outpace the previous-gen Ryzen 9 7950X3D by ~14% in single thread stakes, and roughly 11% in multithreaded scenarios. Test system build details and settings were not mentioned with this leak—we expect to absorb a more complete picture tomorrow, upon publication of widespread reviews. The sampled Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU surpassed its 9950X sibling by ~5% with its multi-thread result, both processors are just about equal in terms of single-core performance. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU posted the highest single-core result within the comparison—5078 points—exceeding the 9950X3D's tally by about 7%. The latter pulls ahead by ~3% in terms of recorded multi-thread performance. Keep an eye on TechPowerUp's review section; where W1zzard will be delivering his verdict(s) imminently.

Earlier today, AMD confirmed finalized price points and a launch date for its two incoming additions to the Ryzen 9000X3D processor lineup. The current Zen 5 processor population (with 3D V-Cache onboard) has a count of one—Team Red's reigning gaming champion: the eight-core Ryzen 7 9800X3D model. AMD's Senior Vice President and General Manager of Computing and Graphics was the first staffer to make an official announcement regarding definitive talking points. Jack Huynh stated (via a social media post): the world's best processor for gaming and content creation is almost here. Available starting March 12th. Ryzen 9 9950X3D—$699. Ryzen 9 9900X3D—$599. A huge thank you to our incredible community of gamers, creators, and innovators for your continued support. Together, we're shaping the future of gaming and content creation! Let's level up together!"

The sixteen-core Ryzen 9 9950X3D and twelve-core 9900X3D SKUs were officially unveiled at CES 2025, in early January. Since then, many leaks have emerged online—certain soothsayers were bang on with their predictions. Almost a month ago, speculative $699 and $599 price points were leaked. On two separate occasions, a—now confirmed—March 12 launch day was projected. AMD is expected to lift media embargoes on March 11; reviews of finalized silicon will finally reveal whether the two new players can beat their incumbent sibling in gaming performance benchmarks. As reported this afternoon, China's JD.com retail platform has opened its order book to customers—a limited quantity of Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D units were made available for a short period of time.

One of the main pillars that vendors of Arm-based processors often cite as a competitive advantage versus x86 processors is a keen focus on energy efficiency and predictability of performance. In the quest for higher efficiency and performance, Arm vendors have largely designed out the ability to operate on multiple threads concurrently—something that most enterprise-class CPUs have enabled for years under the technology description of "SMT"—which was also created in the name of enabling performance and efficiency benefits.

Arm vendors often claim that SMT brings security risks, creates performance unpredictability from shared resource contention and drives added cost and energy needed to implement SMT. Interestingly, Arm does support multi-threading in its Neoverse E1-class processor family for embedded uses such as automotive. Given these incongruities, this blog intends to provide a bit more clarity to help customers assess what attributes of performance and efficiency really bring them value for their critical workloads.

MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation, a leading server platform design manufacturer and a subsidiary of MiTAC Holdings Corporation, today announced the launch of its latest server systems and motherboards powered by the latest Intel Xeon 6 with P-core processors. These industry-leading processors are designed for compute-intensive workloads, providing up to twice the performance for the widest range of workloads including AI and HPC.

Driving Innovation in AI and High-Performance Computing
"For over a decade, MiTAC Computing has collaborated with Intel to push the boundaries of server technology, delivering cutting-edge solutions optimized for AI and high-performance computing (HPC)," said Rick Hwang, President of MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation. "With the integration of the latest Intel Xeon 6 P-core processors our servers now unlock groundbreaking AI acceleration, boost computational efficiency, and scale cloud operations to new heights. These innovations provide our customers with a competitive edge, empowering them to tackle demanding workloads with superior empower our customers with a competitive edge through superior performance and an optimized total cost of ownership."

LG Electronics USA (LG) today announced pricing and pre-order availability of its 2025 AI-enabled LG gram lineup, the company's first on-device AI-laptops powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 2 CPUs. Introduced at CES 2025, the new lineup includes the LG gram Pro Z90TP ($1999 to $2399), LG gram Pro Copilot+PC Z90TS ($1849 to $2399), LG gram Pro 2-in-1 T90TP ($1999 to $2399) and LG gram Copilot+PC Z90TL ($1999 to $2399). Leveraging LG's gram AI technology, and cloud AI capabilities powered by GPT-4o, these laptops deliver impressive hybrid AI performance while preserving the LG gram's iconic slim and lightweight design.

Throughout the duration of the pre-order period (Feb. 24, 2025 to March 23, 2025), customers will receive an LG gram +view IPS portable monitor (349.99 value) at no additional cost and $200 savings on select models. All standard terms of purchase apply.

MSI is pleased to announce support for the upcoming AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D processors, built on the Zen 5 architecture and featuring AMD's cutting-edge 2nd generation AMD 3D V-Cache technology. This innovative technology is designed to significantly increases the cache size, allowing faster data access and improved performance. Engineered to deliver exceptional performance, these processors meet the demands of even the most intensive gaming and content creation workloads.

At the heart of this experience is the MSI MEG X870E GODLIKE motherboard, which sets a new standard with its innovative design and robust features. The Dynamic Dashboard III, a 3.99-inch full-color LCD, offers real-time hardware monitoring, troubleshooting, BIOS update status, clock display, and personalization options, enhancing user experience and system control. MSI's EZ Link design complements this, streamlining cable management by consolidating the front panel, fan, and RGB headers into the EZ Bridge and EZ Control Hub, ensuring a cleaner build and simplified installation process.

AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D "Zen 5" processors are due for launch next month, but an exact date has not been announced. Currently, Team Red's 3D V-Cache-equipped Ryzen 9000 CPU series is composed of a single SKU: the popular eight-core Ryzen 7 9800X3D model. A new leak points to a possible imminent lineup expansion; the sixteen-core Ryzen 9 9950X3D and twelve-core Ryzen 9 9900X3D CPUs have finally popped up on Geekbench Browser. Both candidates seemed to be tested on the same PC platform; utilizing a GIGABYTE X670 AORUS ELITE AX motherboard and 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) of DDR5-4800 MT/s RAM. Notebookcheck

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D sample scored overall with 3363 (single-core) and 20,465 points (multi-core) in Geekbench 6.3. As expected, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D candidate's overall tallies came in slightly lower—it achieved 3274 (single-core) and 19,227 points (multi-core) overall. Press outlets were quick to compare these figures to prior generation outputs (refer to Wccftech's chart, below). On average, the incoming "Zen 5" parts surpass "Zen 4" equivalents by an average of 15%—in terms of single-core performance. Multi-core performance improvements are less significant; coming in at an average of 7%. The range-topping Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU's multi-core performance score is "lower than expected," but closer-to-launch optimizations could rectify this matter. Geekbench results often do not reflect the true potential of tested silicon; gamers tend to dismiss or completely ignore these data points. Last month, an AMD executive revealed that the two upcoming X3D Granite Ridge desktop chips: "will provide similar overall gaming performance to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D." Speculative price points—of $699 (16-core) & $599 (12-core)—leaked online last week.

AMD and Nutanix have jointly developed virtualization/HCI solutions since 2019, working with major OEMs including Dell, HP and Lenovo, systems integrators and other resellers and partners. You can learn more about AMD-Nutanix solutions here.

AMD EPYC Processors
The EPYC 9004 family of high performance processors provide up to 128 cores per processor to help meet the demands of a wide range of workloads and use cases. High density core counts allow you to reduce the number of servers you need by as much as a five to one ratio when looking at retiring older, inefficient servers and replacing with a new one. Systems based on AMD processors can also be more energy efficient than many competitive processor based systems. For example, running 2000 VMs on 11 2P AMD EPYC 9654 processor-powered servers will use up to 29% less power annually than the 17 2P Intel Xeon Platinum 8490H processor-based servers required to deliver the same performance, while helping reduce CAPEX up to 46%.

Intel is reported to be eyeing a revival of its "Arrow Lake Refresh" desktop processor design—Golden Pig Upgrade disclosed this "strange" revelation via an updated Weibo blog post. Back in 2023, the Chinese hardware reviewer and leaker extraordinaire theorized that Team Blue's much-rumored shelving of "ARL-S/HX Refresh" came down to cost/benefit considerations relating to accommodating an upgraded NPU in the chip's tile-based design. Last September, reports suggested that Intel had put the final kibosh on a 14th Gen Core Ultra 8P+32E "Arrow Lake Refresh" processor series—leaked roadmaps had a launch window marked down for late 2025, going into 2026. Industry watchdogs have picked up on Golden Pig Upgrade's latest forecast—prompting further theorizing.

Intel has its mobile segment's future covered with Panther Lake (later in 2025) and Nova Lake (2026), but a notable gap exists in their desktop world. Nova Lake's desktop S-series is slated for launch at some point in 2026, so this year could be prime territory for a mild refresh of existing Arrow Lake-S processors—on the LGA1851 socket. Golden Pig Upgrade reckons that refreshes of ARL-S (desktop) and ARL-HX (high-end laptop) are back on Team Blue's upcoming product roadmap. Industry moles reckon that an updated NPU design—potentially similar to the one housed in Lunar Lake mobile chips—will be the only major upgrade lined up for the so-called "Core Ultra 300" processor series. Intel's current-gen flagship model—Core Ultra 9 285K—has NPU performance topping off at 13 TOPS. Refreshed Arrow Lake SKUs could be deployed with an improved NPU aspect, perhaps capable of hitting 48 TOPS.

A significant fix has been submitted to the Linux kernel 6.13-rc1 that addresses prolonged boot times affecting older AMD processors, specifically targeting "Zen 1" and "Zen 2" architectures. The issue, which has been present for approximately 18 months, could cause boot delays ranging from several seconds to multiple minutes in extreme cases. The problem was discovered by a Nokia engineer who reported inconsistent boot delays across multiple AMD EPYC servers. The most severe instances showed the initial unpacking process taking several minutes longer than expected, though not all boots were affected. Investigation revealed that the root cause stemmed from a kernel modification implemented in June 2023, specifically related to CPU microcode update handling.

The technical issue was identified as a missing step in the boot process: Zen 1 and Zen 2 processors require the patch buffer mapping to be flushed from the Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) after applying CPU microcode updates during startup. The fix, submitted as part of the "x86/urgent" material ahead of the Linux 6.13-rc1 release, implements the necessary TLB flush for affected AMD Ryzen and EPYC systems. This addition eliminates what developers described as "unnecessary and unnatural delays" in the boot process. While the solution will be included in the upcoming Linux 6.13 kernel release, plans are in place to back-port the fix to stable kernel versions to help cover most Linux users on older Zen architectures.

The 64th edition of the TOP500 reveals that El Capitan has achieved the top spot and is officially the third system to reach exascale computing after Frontier and Aurora. Both systems have since moved down to No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively. Additionally, new systems have found their way onto the Top 10.

The new El Capitan system at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, U.S.A., has debuted as the most powerful system on the list with an HPL score of 1.742 EFlop/s. It has 11,039,616 combined CPU and GPU cores and is based on AMD 4th generation EPYC processors with 24 cores at 1.8 GHz and AMD Instinct MI300A accelerators. El Capitan relies on a Cray Slingshot 11 network for data transfer and achieves an energy efficiency of 58.89 GigaFLOPS/watt. This power efficiency rating helped El Capitan achieve No. 18 on the GREEN500 list as well.

Cooler Master, a leading provider of PC components, gaming peripherals, and tech lifestyle solutions, today announced that a select range of thermal solutions will be compatible with Intel's latest Core Ultra 200S Series processors. Cooler Master remains committed to providing high-performance cooling solutions that ensure optimal thermal management for Intel's cutting-edge CPUs, delivering enhanced performance and reliability.

The following Cooler Master advanced cooling technologies have been specifically engineered to complement Intel's latest CPUs, ensuring the best temperature management and sustained performance.

iBUYPOWER, a leading system integrator specializing in high-performance custom and pre-built gaming computers, announced today the availability of Intel's latest Intel Core Ultra 200S series processors across its line of gaming PCs. Starting today, those interested in experiencing the latest in AI augmented desktop gaming can now integrate an Intel Core Ultra 200S series processor into an iBUYPOWER system backed by its extensive warranty that offers three-years labor and two-years parts for comprehensive post-purchase support.

The new Intel Core Ultra desktop processors are designed for a great gaming performance with AI at the forefront and industry-leading compute, at significantly lower power for desktop PCs, as iBUYPOWER customers with the new CPU can fully optimize their PC experience by offloading various tasks, auto-framing the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for smooth game streaming, and accelerating creative tasks - all of which is powered by three AI accelerators built into the processor to keep the user's data protected and private. This new generation of desktop processors also comes equipped with 20 CPU PCIe 5.0 lanes, 4 CPU PCIe 4.0 lanes, support for 2 integrated Thunderbolt 4 ports, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. Intel Killer Wi-Fi delivers supercharged wireless performance and enables seamless, immersive online gameplay through application priority auto-detection, bandwidth analysis and management, and smart AP selection and switching.

Intel has released an updated version of its eXtreme Tuning Utility (XTU). The newest version, officially carrying the v10.0.0.76 moniker, is available to download. However, this version is designed exclusively for Intel's upcoming Core Ultra 200S series "Arrow Lake" processors. There are now two versions of Intel XTU: version 7.14.2.14, which supports unlocked Intel 14th Core and older processors, and version 10.x, which supports unlocked Intel Core Ultra Processors (Series 2) and newer. The XTU clocking utility only works on high-end Z-series boards like Z690, Z790, and the upcoming Z890 for "Arrow Lake-S." Below is a list of changes with XTU drivers now being replaced with Intel Innovation Platform Framework (IPF), which we are still trying to figure out what it is supposed to do. Many more features are listed below. However, we cannot decipher them until "Arrow Lake" reviews appear.

Today, Intel launched the new Intel Core Ultra 200S series processor family that will scale AI PC capabilities to desktop platforms and usher in the first enthusiast desktop AI PCs. Led by the Intel Core Ultra 9 processor 285K, the latest generation of enthusiast desktop processors includes five unlocked desktop processors equipped with up to 8 next-gen Performance-cores (P-cores), the fastest cores available for desktop PCs, and up to 16 next-gen Efficient-cores (E-cores) that altogether result in up to 14% more performance in multi-threaded workloads than the previous generation. The new family are the first NPU-enabled desktop processors for enthusiasts and come with a built-in Xe GPU with state-of-the-art media support.

"The new Intel Core Ultra 200S series processors deliver on our goals to significantly cut power usage while retaining outstanding gaming performance and delivering leadership compute. The result is a cooler and quieter user experience elevated by new AI gaming and creation capabilities enabled by the NPU, and leadership media performance that leverages our growing graphics portfolio." - Robert Hallock, vice president and general manager of AI and Technical Marketing, Client Computing Group.

Our preview of the Intel Core Ultra 2-series Arrow Lake-S desktop processor family is also live