The shadow of a ARM-based MacBook has been there for years. Rumors have been adding up, and the performance of their own mobile processors is more and more convincing with each new generation of devices. The recent launch of the iPad Pro has reinforced those signs after knowing its Apple A12X Bionic' Geekbench 4 results. According to this benchmark, the new iPad Pro isn't that far in raw performance from what we have with a Core i9-8950HK-based MacBook Pro (2018). We have a Single-Core/Multi-Core score of 5020/18217 in the iPad Pro vs the 5627/21571 on the MacBook Pro. If this seems nuts it's because it really is.

This comparison is pretty absurd in itself: TDPs are quite different on both (7 W vs 45 W) but there are also important distinctions in areas such as the memory used in those devices (most Apple laptops still use DDR-2133 modules) and, of course, the operating system on which they are based. Those numbers are just a tiny reference, but if we pay attention to Apple's recent keynote, that Photoshop CC demo can really speak for itself. And again, comparisons are hateful, but let's look for a slightly fairer comparison.

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.

ASUS, via its Republic o Gamers branding, today announced the Strix GL10CS gaming desktop, which fits full-size power into a compact 27-liter case that uses futuristic armor and ROG's obsession with speed as design inspirations.

Customizable Aura Sync RGB lighting can be controlled from Armoury Crate, a single utility that provides all-access configuration and monitoring of the GL10CS. GL10CS is equipped with up to a 6-core 12-thread Intel Core i7-8700 processor, capable of handling multiple concurrent workloads such as gaming, streaming and running voice communication for teammates. With up to 32GB of DDR4 memory, GL10CS effortlessly switches from productivity tasks to more demanding workloads provided by multi-threaded applications used by content creators.

QNAP Systems, Inc. introduces the brand-new TS-2888X AI-Ready NAS, an all-in-one AI solution combining robust storage and a ready-to-use software environment that simplifies AI workflows with high cost-efficiency. Built using next-gen Intel Xeon W processors with up to 18 cores and employing a hybrid storage architecture with eight hard drives and twenty high-performance SSDs (including 4 U.2 SSDs), the TS-2888X also supports installing up to 4 high-end graphics cards and runs QNAP's AI developer package "QuAI". The TS-2888X packs everything required for machine learning AI to help organizations quickly and easily implement AI applications.

"Compared with typical AI workstations, the TS-2888X combines high-performance computing with huge-capacity storage to greatly reduce latency, accelerate data transfer, and to eliminate performance bottlenecks caused by network connectivity," said David Tsao, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "integrating AI-focused hardware and software reduces the time and complexity for implementing and managing AI tasks, making the TS-2888X the ideal AI solution for most organizations."

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, announced the release of the Z390 DESIGNARE motherboard with full support for the newest 8-core Intel Core i9-9900K processors. The newest addition to the GIGABYTE DESIGNARE series is a feature-packed motherboard that provides content creators the fastest and most efficient tools to showcase their creativity and craftsmanship. GIGABYTE DESIGNARE Series motherboards bring out the best in workstation graphics cards, maximize M.2 SSD and DDR4 RAM performance, and fully support powerful CPUs such as the newest 8-core Intel Core i9-9900K CPU. With built in USB Type-C Thunderbolt , and native USB 3.1 Gen 2 to provide 40Gb/s transmission speed, the board is designed with effective storage performance as a key feature. GIGABYTE Ultra-Durable Technology and exclusive software also bring additional value for digital content creators and design professionals.

"Today's content creators are seeking faster and more efficient performance from their PCs. GIGABYTE created the DESIGNARE series a few years back to fulfill these user demands," stated Jackson Hsu, Deputy Director of the GIGABYTE Channel Solutions Product Development Division. "Z390 DESIGNARE is the newest addition to this constantly evolving content creation focused series and is loaded with features that enable content creators to express their artistic creativity through their PCs with excellent performance and efficiency."

GIGABYTE introduced the X299-WU8, a high-end desktop motherboard being sold as a quasi-workstation-class board, in the CEB form-factor (305 mm x 267 mm). Based on Intel X299 Express chipset, it features out-of-the-box support for Intel's socket LGA2066 Core X 9000-series processors, in addition to existing Core X 7000-series. A design focus with this board is on PCIe connectivity. The board employs two PLX PEX8747 PCIx gen 3.0 x48 bridge chips, which convert two gen 3.0 x16 links from the processor to four downstream x16 links, which can further be switched to x8. All seven expansion slots are PCI-Express 3.0 x16 physically, which are electrically "x16/NC/x16/NC/x16/NC/x16" or "x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8." The topmost slot stays x16, while the other six share three x16 links depending on how you populate them. The board has certifications for 4-way SLI and CrossFireX.

The GIGABYTE X299-WU8 draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and two 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning it for the CPU with an 8+1 phase VRM. An additional 6-pin PCIe power input, which is optional, stabilizes slot power delivery to the graphics cards. The CPU socket is flanked by eight DDR4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 128 GB of quad-channel DDR4 memory. Storage connectivity is surprisingly sparse, with just one M.2-2280 slot that has PCIe 3.0 x4 wiring, and eight SATA 6 Gbps ports. USB connectivity includes USB 3.1 gen 2 (including a type-C port), a number of USB 3.1 gen 1 ports, both on the rear panel and via headers; high-end onboard audio including an ALC1220 CODEC and headphones amp; and two 1 GbE networking interfaces. Expect this board to be priced around $600, given that the PEX8747 isn't cheap these days, and this board has two of it.

Apple today announced a slew of updates to there product lines including an all-new MacBook Air and Mac Mini. Starting with the MacBook Air, Apple has finally given the system a proper upgrade bringing it back to relevance after years of stagnation. These upgrades include a 13.3-inch Retina display, Intel's 8th generation Core i5 processor with UHD Graphics 617, up to 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 and SSDs with capacities up to 1.5 TB. In terms of design, the shell is made of 100% recycled aluminum with the entire system weighing in at just 2.75 lbs compared to the outgoing models 2.96 lbs.

On top of the various hardware improvements, Apple has also included their Touch ID fingerprint sensor which is paired with their T2 chip for a secure login much the same as the current MacBook Pro. These two inclusions, along with the T2 chips ability to deliver on-the-fly data encryption makes the MacBook Air one of the most secure notebooks on the market according to Apple. However, one thing missing here is the Touch Bar, which will likely make more than a few users happy. The keyboard also gets upgraded to the same third generation with butterfly mechanism used on the MacBook Pro lineup.

Darren McPhee worked 12 years for ATI and AMD. When he left AMD in 2015, he was one of the company's top marketing managers. For the last three years he has worked for various companies, but the surprise has come with Intel recruiting him to occupy the position of Product Marketing Manager in its 'Discrete Graphics' group, one of the most interesting initiatives in the recent times.

This division is working hard to develop a new family of discrete graphics cards that will theoretically compete with AMD and NVIDIA solutions. Intel has been steadily growing, and in fact Intel already signed Raja Koduri, AMD GPU architect, in November 2017. This firm has been attracting more and more talent from an AMD: Koduri was followed by Jim Keller, Ryzen Architect, and Chris Hook, who led AMD's Radeon Technologies Group Marketing Departmen prior to his move to Intel. These hires certainly make it clear that Intel is taking an increasingly promising project very seriously. We will have to be patient, however, because the firm already indicated in SIGGRAPH 18 that it will have its first models ready in 2020.

Intel is facing a manufacturing crisis, in which demand has far outstripped supply, and the company is firing up all its silicon fabrication facilities to manufacture 14 nm products, mainly processors under the Core and Xeon brands. We've been hearing reports since early-September of Intel seeking out third-party foundries such as TSMC to manufacture its chipsets. We now get confirmation that TSMC will also manufacture entry-level Intel processors under brands such as Atom, Celeron, and Pentium Silver SoCs, leaving the company's socketed processors to Intel's fabs. DigiTimes does not name the third-party foundry as TSMC, but mentions that the only company that meets Intel's requirements at the moment is TSMC.

[Editor's Note: Our review of the Ryzen Threadripper 2920X is out already, and that of the Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX will follow soon after.]

Today, AMD announced availability of two additional 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen Threadripper processor models, 2970WX with 24 cores and 48 threads and the Ryzen Threadripper 2920X with 12 cores and 24 threads. The Ryzen Threadripper WX series commands class-leading core counts, purpose-built for prosumers focused on raw computational power for the heaviest workloads. In turn, Ryzen Threadripper X series provides enthusiasts, gamers, and streamers high performance with a beautiful and smooth gaming experience based on higher base and boost processor clock speeds than the previous generation.

"The dramatic transformation in the HEDT and overall PC market is driven by AMD leadership and innovation, and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper family is central to this global excitement," said Saeid Moshkelani, senior vice president and general manager, Client Compute, AMD. "We are expanding this excitement while also ensuring the HEDT market remains accessible to a broader range of creators and gamers with two new Threadripper processors that start at $649."

Intel Corporation today reported third-quarter 2018 financial results. Third-quarter revenue of $19.2 billion was an all-time record, up 19 percent YoY driven by broad business strength and customer preference for performance-leading products. The Client Computing Group (CCG), the Data Center Group (DCG), the Internet of Things Group (IOTG), the Non-volatile Memory Solutions Group (NSG) and Mobileye all achieved record revenue. Collectively, data-centric businesses grew 22 percent, led by 26 percent YoY growth in DCG. PC-centric revenue was up 16 percent on continued strength in the commercial and gaming segments. Excellent operating margin leverage and a lower tax rate drove record quarterly EPS.

"Stronger than expected customer demand across our PC and data-centric businesses continued in the third quarter. This drove record revenue and another raise to our full-year outlook, which is now up more than six billion dollars from our January expectations. We are thrilled that in a highly competitive market, customers continue to choose Intel," said Bob Swan, Intel CFO and Interim CEO. "In the fourth quarter, we remain focused on the challenge of supplying the incredible market demand for Intel products to support our customers' growth. We expect 2018 will be another record year for Intel, and our transformation positions us to win share in an expanded $300 billion total addressable market."

I'm pretty sure many of our readers devote part of their time not only to enjoy video games, but also to broadcast their games via YouTube, Twitch, Mixer or some other alternative. Live Streaming has become a phenomenon for users, but also for hardware & software developers. Suddenly a new, juicy cake appears on the market, and everyone wants a piece.

That's precisely what Streamlabs, developer of Streamlabs OBS is announcing. This free broadcasting app offers more options and a faster and easier startup for beginners than the original solution, OBS (Open Broadcast Software). The company has teamed up with Intel to develop PCs specially dedicated to live streaming. They won't be alone, as they've also partnered with Shuttle, SimplyNUC, ZOTAC and Acer. All of them will join forces to offer hardware solutions with Streamlabs OBS (which by the way, is still in beta stage) and various optimizations for this field already pre-installed.

Ryan Shrout, lead editor of PC Perspective late Wednesday, announced his departure from the publication. He will be joining Intel as the Chief Performance Strategist, and his role will be to identify the nature of the demands from the computing industry, and draw out strategies for the various silicon divisions to create products for. Shrout takes with him experience not just as the face of PC Perspective, but also Shrout Research, a market research firm.

In his farewell post, Shrout concludes: "As for PC Perspective, I am confident it will continue doing reviews, news, and analysis of the hardware you love for as long as you, the reader, support them. As I said earlier; they have already been running the show without me for some time, and they will continue doing the excellent job that has brought PCPer.com to where it stands today."

Go get 'em Ryan!

Intel's next major CPU microarchitecture being designed for the 10 nm silicon fabrication process, codenamed "Ice Lake," could introduce the first major core redesign in over three years. Keen observers of Geekbench database submissions of dual-core "Ice Lake" processor engineering samples noticed something curious - Intel has increased its L1 and L2 cache sizes from previous generations.

The L1 data cache has been enlarged to 48 KB from 32 KB of current-generation "Coffee Lake," and more interestingly, the L2 cache has been doubled in size to 512 KB, from 256 KB. The L1 instruction cache is still 32 KB in size, while the shared L3 cache for this dual-core chip is 4 MB. The "Ice Lake" chip in question is still a "mainstream" rendition of the microarchitecture, and not an enterprise version, which has had a "re-balanced" cache hierarchy since "Skylake-X," which combined large 1 MB L2 caches with relatively smaller shared L3 caches.

Update: Intel has made an official statement on Twitter denying this and explaining that "Media reports published today that Intel is ending work on the 10nm process are untrue. We are making good progress on 10nm. Yields are improving consistent with the timeline we shared during our last earnings report."

Intel has been talking for years about the leap to the 10 nm process, a technology whose launch has been delayed time and time again. We were supposed to start seeing these microprocessors in 2016, but that date was postponed to 2017 and later to 2018. The manufacturer assumed the problems once again this year, but made a new promise: you will have 10 nm processors by the end of 2019.

The market seems to continue to trust Intel despite everything. Others, on the other hand, say that Intel is about to announce the total cancellation of this project. You have to take this news of Charlie Demerjian in SemiAccurate not with a grain of salt, but with a lot of grains of salt, because according to their sources, Intel would have already killed the process of 10 nm. This analyst has maintained the theory that Intel would never take that step, and in his analysis indicates that in his opinion this is the right decision. Evidently there has not been any official confirmation or comment from Intel, so for the moment Demerjian's statement raises many doubts and could be mere speculation.

Shuttle Inc., the global leader in small form factor computer technology, today announced the upgrade of its XPC cube series, the SH310R4. The SH310R4 is an entry-level mini PC with Intel 8th Gen processors. It sustained a small-form-factor of the previous-gen cube systems, but provides a significant boost in performance.

The new SH310R4 aims at a customer base of individuals and businesses whose need increased computing capability. Built upon Intel H310 chipset and support for 8th Gen Intel processors with up to six cores, the SH310R4 provides multicore and multithreaded performance for unprecedented power and responsiveness. It supports up to 32GB DDR4 memory, M.2 storage and Intel UHD graphics which give users true visual perfection in high-definition.

Intel late last week released a PCN (product change notification), which stated that it has assigned its manufacturing facilities in Vietnam as an "additional site for test and finish." This would entail final quality assurance testing of its nearly-ready products and "finishing," which involves final retail packaging. The Intel facility in Vietnam will work in concert with its largest Asian manufacturing facility, located in Malaysia. "While Assembly, Test and Finish will continue to be done in PGAT (Malaysia), Intel will also have assembled material sent to VNAT (Vietnam) to perform the Test/Finish portions of the manufacturing process. Please note that Vietnam has been certified equivalent (form, fit, function, and reliability) for the affected products and technologies of this change," the PCN reads.

The products named in the PCN are the company's new flagship MSDT processor, the 8-core/16-thread Core i9-9900K, the second-best 8-core/8-thread Core i7-9700K, and the 6-core/-6-thread Core i5-9600K. "Fab, Sort and Assembly Test Manufacturing follow a philosophy, enables delivery of product from multiple production sites, which operate as a virtual factory that performs consistently and independent of the manufacturing source site. Additional benefits include faster production ramps that improve product availability and improved consistency to quality performance," it concludes. Intel had, earlier this year, raised its capital expenditure by an additional $1 billion YoY to around $16 billion, in a bid to increase its volumes as the industry faces supply shortages from Intel, which the company claims is due to "increased demand," rather than a short-supply. Intel has also roped in its small foundry located in Leixlip, Ireland.

We kept seeing hints regarding Intel's 9000-series processors running hot, including from their own board partners. As it turned out, the actual results are a mixed bag with some running very hot and most others ending up being power-limited more so than temperature-limited. Our own review sample showed overall better load temperatures relative to the predecessor 8000-series processors thanks to the soldered TIM (sTIM) used here, to give you some context. But that did not stop overclocker extraordinaire Roman "Der8auer" Hartung from de-lidding the processor to see why they were not generally better as expected.

As it turns out, there are a few things involved here. For one, replacing sTIM with Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut (Der8auer has a financial interest in the company, but he does disclose it publicly) alone improves p95 average load temperatures across all eight cores by ~9 °C. This is to be expected given that the liquid metal has a vastly higher thermal conductivity than the various sTIM compositions used in the industry. Of more interest, however, is that both the PCB and the die are thicker with the Core i9-9900K compared to the Core i7-8700K, and lapping the die to reduce thickness by a few microns also does a lot to lower the CPU temperatures relatively. Overall, Intel have still done a good job using sTIM- especially compared to how it was before- but the current state of things means that we have a slightly better stock product with little scope for improvement within easy means to the consumer.

The Intel-Micron partnership pertaining to memory technologies is drawing to a close, with Micron today announcing they'd be acquiring remaining interest in IM Flash Technologies. IM Flash Technologies is the literal embodiment of the Intel-Micron partnership, and Micron acquiring the entire stake of it means that Intel is left out of any investment/development of 3D XPoint memory.

Micron expects to pay approximately $1.5 billion in cash for the transaction, dissolving Intel's non-controlling interest in IM Flash, and the two companies will independently drive their own future technology roadmaps. Based on prior agreements, Micron will sell 3D XPoint memory wafers to Intel for up to a year after close.

The Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities have been a real nightmare throughout this year. Those affected were quick (maybe too much) to mitigate the problems with different solutions, but months later even the most recent Intel chips aren't completely safe. Hardware fixes only work for certain Meltdown variants, while the rest are still mitigated with firmware and OS updates that have certain impact on performance.

Intel will have to redesign certain features on their future processors to finally forget Meltdown and Spectre, but meanwhile others have jumped to give some options. MIT researchers have developed a way to partition and isolate memory caches with 'protection domains'. Unlike Intel's Cache Allocation Technology (CAT), MIT's technology, called DAWG (Dynamically Allocated Way Guard) disallows hits across those protection domains. This is important, because attackers targeting this vulnerabilities take advantage of 'cache timing attacks' and can get access to sensible, private data.

We are still waiting for 10 nm to happen at Intel, and although we have recently received some good news about those chips, they won't be available until the end of 2019. The problems at Intel could be alleviated thanks to a strategic change that the company is proposing. Sohail Ahmed, who was in charge of the manufacturing group since 2016, will retire next month, and that will lead to a number of major changes in manufacturing management at Intel.

Intel will divide its manufacturing group into three new segments led by different managers, but there is no information on how the three groups will collaborate. The decision to split the manufacturing division is important, and comes at a weird time given that there hasn't been a replacement for Krzanich, who left the company in June 2018 after violating Intel's non-fraternization policy. Chief Financial Officer Bob Swan is leading the company as the interim CEO, but the six month process to find a new leader should clarify things at the company.

AMD's first response to Intel's 9th generation Core "Coffee Lake Refresh" processors could be that of 5-10% price-cuts of its Ryzen "Pinnacle Ridge" processors across the board, according to a pricing list compiled by Techspot. These cuts could see the company's Ryzen 7 2700X priced just below the $300-mark. These cuts will be introduced not just by AMD, but also retailers.

The $200-300 segment could get crowded, with the 8-core/16-thread 2700X at around $295, the Ryzen 7 2700 (non-X) at $265, and the 6-core/12-thread Ryzen 5 2600X drop to around $210. Intel's only sub-$300 offering from its 9th generation family is the 6-core/6-thread Core i5-9600K. The sub-$200 segment will see the Ryzen 5 2600 go for $160, a rather compelling price for a 6-core/12-thread chip, given that Intel's cheapest 6-core offering, the i5-8400, is now retailing for $220, and that the company only has the quad-core i3-8350K around this price, at $170.

It seems that by the time NDA drops on Intel's latest and greatest mainstream processor platform, we will have known more about it than ever before with similar launches. GIGABYTE joined the club with the release of their Z390 overclocking (OC) guide specific to their AORUS-branded motherboards. This contains a lot of useful information in general, and we certainly recommend taking a look at it in the source linked in the full post. As it is, a few items in the guide caught our eye- in particular, a direct quote saying "As you can tell from the last screenshots, the CPU temperature of the i9-9900k is quite high. This is something that we've noticed on almost all the processors. For this reason we suggest you to use a custom water-cooling and adjust the TjMAX Temperature to 110°C."

The quote references their guide to achieve a stable 5 GHz overclock on all cores on the Core i9-9900K, which was cooled via a custom watercooled setup and a Vcore ranging from 1.3-1.4 V. GIGABYTE's internal testing thus indicates that these higher end, unlocked 9000-series CPUs will run incredibly hot if you wish to push them, and the soldered IHS may not be as effective in cooling these dense processors as we may have hoped. Indeed, with news of the 28-core Xeon using thermal paste for the IHS, it appears that Intel may be conflicted on optimal cooling when battling the Core Wars with AMD.

The first official data we have received about the performance of the new Intel processors are not exactly spectacular. The Core i9-9900K has aroused considerable controversy due to the unfair Principled Technologies test bench. The results have been reviewed and confirm that the performance gain is debatable, but independent analyses have yet to appear for Core i9-9900K, Core i7-9700K and Core i5-9600K processors.

Today we have some info about one of them: a new video in China shows a Core i5-9600K being benchmarked with a MSI Z390 MEG Godlike motherboard with 16GB of DDR4 memory and a Silver Arrow Extreme cooler from Thermalright. We don't have game benchmarks, but at least we have some Cinebench results both with the processor working with its 3.7 GHz base clock and overcloked to 5.2 GHz. That process was done without problems despite using an air cooler.

Soldered thermal interface material, or STIM, has been one of Intel's key feature-additions to its high-end 9th generation Core i7 and Core i9 processors. Besides higher clock-speeds, STIM is the only feature that sets its refreshed Core X 9000-series family apart from Core X 7000-series. STIM is also only given to the i9-9900K and i7-9700K in the mainstream-desktop space. The 28-core Xeon W-3175X was touted by Intel to be a high-end desktop (HEDT) processor initially, before Intel decided to retain the Xeon brand and target the gray-area between HEDTs and workstations. This also means that the W-3175X will lack STIM, as confirmed by an Intel spokesperson in an interview with PC World.

Soldered TIM is preferred by PC enthusiasts as it offers superior heat-transfer between the CPU die and the integrated heatspreader. Intel's decision to equip the Core X 9000-series and higher-end Coffee Lake-Refresh parts with it, is aimed at improving the thermals and overclocking headrooms of its products. The lack of STIM for the W-3175X speaks for its intended use-case - a workstation processor that can be overclocked, provided it's de-lidded and cooled by exotic methods such as liquid nitrogen evaporators. Intel's branding decisions could be guided by AMD's decision to side-brand its 24-core and 32-core Ryzen Threadripper processors as "WX," which focuses on their workstation proficiency while slightly toning down their PC enthusiast appeal.