The official system requirements for the upcoming Battlefield V game have been outed, and there are three categories of such requirements now: Minimum, Recommended, and DXR. The minimum requirements are pretty steep as they are: DICE say at least an AMD FX-8350 or an i5 6600K CPU are required, alongside 8 GB of system RAM (on the graphics front, a GTX 1050 / RX 560 are mentioned).

The recommended system requirements do bring some interesting tables to the mix, though, with AMD's Ryzen 3 1300X and Intel's i7 4790 being hailed as good CPUs for the configuration. This is in stark contrast with the minimum requirements, but here's the gist: it appears that Battlefield V will be a well-paralellized game, though it will also require strong per-core performance (hence why the FX-8350 doesn't make the cut, and why a previous-gen i7 is higher on the list than the 6000 series i5 from Intel). Minimum RAM for the Recommended spec stands at a whopping 12 GB, though - I believe this is the highest I've ever seen for a game release. An RX 580 or a GTX 1060 round out the specs.

AMD gave its first major reaction to the Principled Technologies (PT) controversy, in which it came out strongly against the questionable methods PT employed, in its performance comparison between the Core i9-9900K and AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, in addition to certain other Ryzen Threadripper series products. In its response, AMD made its official position on controversy clear - it is not happy with PT.

AMD prepared a long list of flaws with PT's original testing, and the areas where it did not correct the mistakes in its second testing. The company also put out a list of its own "best practices" for comparative benchmarking, which prescribes "sanitizing the operating system," "sanitizing the platform" for stock vs. overclocked testing, "sanitizing the data," and to not create a vast disconnect between the test environment and the real-world.

Spanish language tech publication El Chapuzas Informático published the first almost-complete review of Intel Core i7-9700K processor. Without Intel disclosing the pricing of this chip, the review doesn't include price/performance numbers or a conclusion that explores the competitive landscape. You still get a sumptuous serving of 14 tests, from which 9 are some of the latest AAA games.

The bottom-line is that the i7-9700K locks horns with the Ryzen 7 2700X in most multi-threaded tests except Cinebench nT; and owing to its high clock speeds, it will end up as the fastest gaming processor around the $350-400 mark. Interestingly, the i7-9700K isn't 33% faster than the i7-8700K despite 33% more cores, because HyperThreading is sorely missed. The distinction could be reserved for the Core i9-9900K, although samples of that chip are far too rare.More graphs follow.

A number of retailers across Europe are coming up with early pricing of Intel's 9th generation Core-K processors, codenamed "Whiskey Lake" or "Coffee Lake Refresh." One such set of pricing, compiled by Czech publication Alza.cz confirms that our suspicions that Intel will establish a new $500-ish price-point in its MSDT (mainstream desktop) segment. We are not counting the anomalous / limited-edition Core i7-8086K in our assertion. The current Core i5-8600K is a $250-ish product, while the current platform flagship Core i7-8700K remains around $350. The upcoming Core i5-9600K (6-core/6-thread) and Core i7-9700K (8-core/8-thread) will succeed the two at nearly identical price-points. We expect Core i9-9900K to have a premium price around the $500-mark.

Intel arrested the growing popularity of AMD's Ryzen 5 1600 earlier this year, with its 8th generation Core i5 processors. The 2nd generation Ryzen 5 series only trade blows with Intel's competing offerings, with the Ryzen 5 2600X at best edging past the i5-8600K with a wafer-thin margin, in price-performance and absolute-performance. The Ryzen 7 2700X has more merits over the 6-core/12-thread i7-8700K, besides a slightly lower price, creating a competitive uncertainty that works to AMD's advantage; and which Intel hopes to plug with the 8-core/8-thread i7-9700K. The 8-core/16-thread i9-9900K could be double-digit percentage faster owing to HyperThreading and larger cache, and Intel could look to monetize that with a premium price.

Acer is preparing one of the first few premium gaming notebooks to pack a combination of AMD Ryzen 7 2700 8-core processor and Radeon RX Vega 56 graphics. Unlike the Intel+NVIDIA original, this Predator Helios variant makes use of desktop-on-mobile processors, as do most desktop-replacement notebooks and portable workstations. The variant benefits from the low TDP and high energy efficiency of the Ryzen 7 2700, and runs it at its stock speeds. This is no small feat, because the Intel+NVIDIA option of the notebook packs a Core i9-8950HK (6-core/12-thread) "Coffee Lake" processor with 45W rated TDP.

The Radeon RX Vega 56 is the other surprising component choice here, considering that the notebook's 17.3-inch display only has Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution, which can be hauled by an RX 580, even at higher refresh-rate, and FreeSync thrown in. The Intel+NVIDIA model's GPU option is the GeForce GTX 1070 (which is slower than the RX Vega 56). Other components include 16 GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory, 256 GB NVMe SSD storage, 1 TB of HDD storage, and Killer Doubleshot Pro networking.

Ahead of its 19th April formal launch, AMD opened up pre-orders to its 2nd generation Ryzen "Pinnacle Ridge" processors, and compatible motherboards based on AMD X470 chipset. AMD is launching this series with four SKUs, the Ryzen 7 2700X and Ryzen 7 2700 eight-core chips, and Ryzen 5 2600X and Ryzen 5 2600 six-core chips. The pricing of the four is surprisingly lower than expected. The top-dog 2700X has an SEP price of just USD $329, while the 2700 (non-X) goes for $299. The six-core parts aren't too far behind. The Ryzen 5 2600X has an SEP price of $229, and the Ryzen 5 2600 is $199. Pricing of the chips in the EU is along expected lines. The Ryzen 7 2700X is priced at 319€, followed by the Ryzen 7 2700 at 289€, Ryzen 5 2600X at 225€, and the Ryzen 5 2600 at 195€.

Based on the new 12 nm "Pinnacle Ridge" silicon, the Ryzen 7 2700X comes with higher clock speeds than the previous-generation flagship 1800X, with 3.70 GHz core, 4.30 GHz boost, and XFR boosting frequency beyond the max boost frequency. You get 8 CPU cores, and SMT enabling 16 logical CPUs, 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 16 MB of shared L3 cache. The 2700 is clocked at 3.20 GHz, with 4.10 GHz boost. The 2600X and the 2600 are 6-core/12-thread parts, with the full 16 MB L3 cache available on-die. The 2600X is clocked at 3.60 GHz with 4.20 GHz boost and XFR; while the 2600 is clocked at 3.40 GHz, with 3.90 GHz boost. All four models include stock cooling solutions, including the 2700X and the 2600X. Availability in brick and mortar stores will commence on the 19th, it's also the day the first pre-ordered chips will start getting delivered.