Minisforum introduced a new variant called HX99G in its Neptune portfolio today. It is an upgraded version of the first member, the HX90G (5900HX processor + RX6600M GPU), which was announced in May 2022 before going up for sale in September 2022. The Neptune HX99G looks practically identical to the HX90G. Measuring 205 x 203 x 69 mm (8.1" x 8" x 2.7"), both models feature 45 watts, 8-cores/16-threads graphics and the same laptop-class discrete GPU. However, it updates the Ryzen 9 5900HX with a faster Ryzen 9 6900HX and replaces the two DP ports with two speedier USB4 ports.

R9 6900HX integrates all eight cores based on the Zen 3+ microarchitecture. It's clocked at 3.3 (guaranteed base clock) to 4.9 GHz (max boost). Ryzen 6000 brings a slew of technological advancements, like support for USB 4, PCI-E Gen 4, DDR5-4800MT/s, WIFI 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. The other AMD performance component is the RDNA 2 graphics architecture Radeon RX 6600M (GDDR6 8 GB) with a TDP of up to 100 watts. Users can expect to utilize the full performance of this dedicated GPU to handle professional-class photo and video editing as well as content creation. Also, this GPU packs enough firepower to hit 60 frames per second at 1080p (depending on the specific game and settings).

The Minisforum Neptune HX90G all-AMD high-performance mini-PC went on sale at introductory prices. The lunchbox-sized mini-PC packs some serious kit, which includes an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX "Zen 3" 8-core/16-thread processor, Radeon RX 6600M RDNA2 graphics with 8 GB VRAM, memory options that include dual-channel DDR4 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB; and storage options that include a M.2 NVMe Gen 4 SSD with up to 512 GB capacity. You can also buy it as a barebones, and drop in your own SSD and DDR4 SO-DIMM memory.

What's new here are the introductory prices. The barebones (which gives you the processor and GPU, but not memory or SSD), is priced at $799, down from its $940 regular price. The model with 2x 8 GB memory and 512 GB SSD, is priced at $909, compared to its $1,069 regular price. The 2x 16 GB memory + 512 GB SSD model is going for $969, compared to $1,129 regular price. The top model with 2x 32 GB RAM + 512 GB SSD, can be had at $1,079, compared to its $1,269 regular price.

With next-generation GPUs around the corner, the market seems to be flooded with ASICs for any board partner willing to buy them and use as they see fit—including building desktop graphics cards with mobile GPUs. Several Chinese board partners are found selling desktop graphics cards based on the mobile Radeon RX 6600M at prices ranging between the equivalent of USD $180 to $214.

The RX 6600M has essentially the same specs as the desktop RX 6600 (non-XT), with 1,792 stream processors across 28 RDNA2 compute units, 8 GB of 14 Gbps GDDR6 memory across a 128-bit wide memory bus, and similar clock-speeds of 2177 MHz (compared to 2044 MHz of the desktop RX 6600). In fact the RX 6600M has much better typical board power specs of 100 W, compared to 132 W of the desktop RX 6600. The best part of this deal has to be the price. An RX 6600 (non-XT) starts around the $250-mark in the US market. So even with shipping costs added, the $180 RX 6600M comes across as a slightly better deal.

AMD today released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin. Version 21.7.1 beta introduces optimization for F1 2021, with a 6% performance improvement seen at 4K UHD on an RX 6800 XT, over the previous drivers. Support is also introduced for the new Radeon RX 6700M and RX 6600M mobile GPUs.

Among the issues fixed are an Oculus service error preventing the Oculus Link setup from running on machines with RX 5000 and RX 6000 series graphics cards; lighting corruption noticed in Apex Legends with Radeon Boost enabled; AMD User Experience Program consuming abnormally high memory; driver version mismatch between Windows Store and AMD Support versions; high memory usage on some running 3DMark Time Spy; and an image corruption in Carrion with AF enabled.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.7.1 beta

MSI, a world-leading gaming brand, announces the all-new AMD-powered gaming laptop, Delta 15 and the revamped Alpha 15/17, equipped with the AMD Ryzen 5000 H Series Mobile Processors and the up to latest AMD Radeon RX6700M Series Mobile Graphics. MSI continues to fulfill the diverse demand of gaming and leverage the strength in the AMD product line.

Delta 15 and Alpha 15/17 all come with the latest Radeon RX6000M Series Mobile Graphics, 1.5x faster performance compared to previous generations AMD graphics. * Powered by the AMD Radeon RX 6700M, Delta 15 provides ultra-high frame rates, while the Alpha 15/17, equipped with the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, delivers 1080p gaming at max settings.

An HP Omen 16 gaming notebook powered by AMD Radeon RX 6600M graphics, was compared with those based on the GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, and the RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU. The RX 6600M was found to post significantly better performance/Watt (total graphics power/TGP) than the RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, and go on to perform in the same league as the RTX 3060 Laptop GPU. The RX 6600M trades blows with the RTX 3060 Laptop GPU across a wide variety of games at 1080p, although the NVIDIA chip has an upper hand with 1440p. The RTX 3060 Laptop GPU also owns raytracing performance. The crypto-currency mining hash-rate of the RX 6600M is significantly lower than the RTX 3060 Laptop GPU. These numbers show that for for mainstream gaming notebooks with 1080p 60 Hz displays, the RX 6600M provides a formidable alternative to the RTX 3060 Laptop GPU.More numbers follow.