Processor Technology Reviews, Analysis And News
Processors come in many types for different applications. However, when it comes to computing, whether mobile, on the desktop or in the Internet of Things, these chips are widely known as the "brains" of the operation. Here you'll find Hot Hardware reviews and news on products from the biggest names in PC and mobile processors from Intel and AMD, to Qualcomm, ARM and more.
AMD has officially taken the wraps off its second generation EPYC 7002 series processors. The EPYC 7002 series builds upon the success of the original EPYC processors by leveraging the Zen 2 microarchitecture, which is also at the heart of the recently released Ryzen 3000 series desktop parts. EPYC 7002 series processors maintain platform compatibility with existing first-gen EPYC parts, but significantly increase the platform’s capabilities in aggregate and per socket, and introduce a number of new features as well. In terms of the microarchitecture, all of the benefits Zen 2 afforded the desktop have an impact on EPYC 7002 series processors, codenamed Rome. AMD has made a number of enhancements...
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Back in May, Intel disclosed a number of details regarding its next-generation 10nm Ice Lake architecture and Project Athena. The latter is an innovation program Intel kicked-off in collaboration with key industry partners that’s meant to usher in a new breed of advanced laptop designs and mobile devices. Today, Intel inches closer to broad availability of its first-wave of Ice Lake-based products, with the release of 11 10th Generation Core mobile SKUs, ranging from a dual-core Core i3 with a nominal 9W TDP all the way on up to a quad-core / eight-thread Core i7, with Gen 11 Iris Plus graphics, and a 28W TDP. Over the last few months, Intel has shown some competitive data to set expectations...
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AMD renewed competition in the CPU space back in 2017, when its Zen-based Ryzen processors stormed the scene a couple of months earlier than originally anticipated. These processors combined good enough single-threaded performance with many core architectures at attractive prices. If you needed king-of-the-hill single thread performance, Intel was still on top, but Ryzen brought multi-core performance to a price point more palatable to the masses, and were great choices for general purpose workloads and multitasking alike. A year later, second-generation Ryzen CPUs based on the Zen+ architecture brought more performance per dollar, but the relative pecking order was maintained;...
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The Zen 2-based AMD Ryzen 3000 series is easily one of the most anticipated product launches in the PC space in recent memory. AMD has essentially promised to address virtually all of the perceived shortcomings of the original Zen-based Ryzen processors, with the Ryzen 3000 series, while continuing to aggressively challenge Intel on multiple fronts – performance, power, price, you name it. AMD has been extolling the virtues of Zen 2 for quite some time, but in the last few weeks the company has really turned up the heat and revealed some exciting details, like single-thread performance on-par with Intel’s best, enhanced multi-threaded performance, and huge amounts of cache to keep...
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Just prior to hosting its Next Horizon E3 Livestream event, AMD treated press and industry analysts to additional deep dive technical details regarding its next-generation Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU microarchitectures. The actual product details disclosed during the E3 Livestream, which included 16-Core Ryzen 9 3950X and Radeon RX 5700 XT specifications and pricing, are covered in our news stories here (Ryzen 9 3950X) and here (Radeon RX 5700/5700 XT). In this piece, however, we’re going to dig a little deeper and cover the new aspects of AMD's Zen 2 architecture, and what it means for the company's Ryzen 3000 series family of processors. All of the Navi and RDNA-related juicy...
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AMD has been riding high ever since Computex 2019 when it gave us our first look at the Ryzen 3000 family of Zen 2 desktop processors. At the time, the company announced a family that [for now] starts with the $199 Ryzen 5 3600 (6 cores, 12 threads) and tops out with the Ryzen 9 3900X (12 cores, 24 threads). Leading up to the Computex unveil, we had been hearing about an even more powerful 16-core/32-thread Ryzen processor, and there were even rumors that the chip had been shown behind closed doors at the show. Today, we have confirmation of this new beast processor, and it is sure to give Intel some sleepless nights. Witness the Ryzen 9 3950X, which will serve as...
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Over the last few months, Intel has disclosed a number of details regarding its next-generation 10nm processors, codenamed Ice Lake. At an Architecture Day held in December ’18, we learned about the company's Sunny Cove microarchitecture that will be employed in Ice Lake and future-generation processors, in addition to some details regarding Intel’s Gen11 graphics engine. Today, we are able to disclose even more information regarding Ice Lake, its overarching platform and new features, and about Project Athena, the innovation program Intel has started in collaboration key industry partners, that’s meant to usher in a new breed of advanced laptop designs and...
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AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su took to the stage at Computex to kick off the show’s initial international press conference, during what was the company’s very first ever opening keynote address for this venue. Of course, AMD participates in Computex every year because it is such an important event for the PC ecosystem as a whole, but during its 50th Anniversary year, it was the first time AMD was invited to actually open up the show with a keynote address – and Dr. Su took full advantage of the opportunity. Su discussed AMD’s next-generation EPYC enterprise processors, codenamed Rome, demoed Navi, its future-generation Radeon GPU architecture, and disclosed some details regarding...
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Intel has officially unveiled its new line-up of 9th Generation Core Mobile processors today, along with an array of adjacent products and technologies. In addition, Intel's 9th Generation Core Desktop processor line-up is been refreshed today as well, with a wide array of SKUs that cover the gamut from a new Core i9-9900 all the way on down to low-power dual-core Celeron and Pentium Gold processors. The new flagship of the 9th Generation Core Mobile processor family is the Core i9-9980HK, designed for what Intel is calling “Musclebooks” – we’ll call them powerful desktop replacement and gaming notebooks. The Core i9-9980HK is a 45 watt, 8-core / 16-thread processor,...
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Intel is launching its latest salvo of data-centric products today, targeting a wide range of workloads and applications. You may think that means a fresh batch of powerful Xeons are on the way – and you’d be correct but there's more. Today marks the official arrival of Intel’s Cascade Lake, many-core 2nd Generation Xeon Scalable Series Processors, but the company is also announcing or launching a plethora of adjacent products including new FPGAs, innovative network controllers, a new server chassis platform, and Optane DC Persistent memory. And along with those powerful Xeon Scalable Series Processors, more specialized Xeon-D series products, which are designed for all sorts...
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In October of last year, when Intel officially unveiled its 9th Generation Core series processors, the company also took the opportunity to announce a semi-new breed of workstation processor, namely the Xeon W-3175X. Technically speaking, the architecture at the heart of the Xeon W-3175X isn’t new – the monstrous 28-core / 56-thread processor is based on Skylake-SP, just like the first wave of Xeon Scalable processors that were released in 2017. What Intel has done with the Xeon W-3175X, however, is selectivity bin the die and tweak and tune the power and turbo boost profiles to increase frequencies, and ultimately performance, versus earlier Skylake-SP parts. The Xeon W-3175X is...
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After years of delays, Intel is ready to put the pedal to metal with its 10nm computing products. Although it's been on Intel's roadmap for quite some time, Intel's first-generation 10nm platform, codenamed Ice Lake, is currently still tracking for a holiday 2019 launch for thin and light notebooks and 2-in-1 convertibles. Intel's 10nm Ice Lake The Ice Lake platform is highly integrated, but at its core is Intel's 10nm Sunny Cove processor microarchitecture. Also along for the ride is are all-new instructions dedicated to machine learning (DL Boost), native Thunderbolt 3 connectivity (no more need for a dedicated Intel or third-party controller), Intel's Gen 11 graphics (which...
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Intel held its 2018 “Architecture Day” yesterday, where top execs plotted out the company’s direction for architecture and product roadmaps in the near-future and further out on the horizon. The event was held at a home once owned by Robert Noyce. Noyce, known as the "Mayor of Silicon Valley" back in the day, co-founded Intel in 1968 with Gordon Moore. This mansion setting was a perfect backdrop for Intel to underscore its new direction for the analysts and journalists in attendance. Intel has been under intense pressure due to delays of volume ramp of its 10nm process fabricated CPU products, but the company apparently has more than a few tricks up its sleeve to stay ahead...
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Intel held an Architecture Day in Los Altos yesterday, where it disclosed a number of details regarding next-generation CPU and GPU architectures and manufacturing process technologies. In addition to the technical disclosures divulged to an exclusive group of attendees, Intel also talked about a shift in the company’s design and engineering model based on six strategic pillars -- Process, Architecture, Memory, Interconnect, Security, and Software – which it hopes will allow it to better address the needs of the current computing landscape moving forward. In addition to the architecture and roadmap news, Intel also talked about a new, very interesting 3D packaging technology it is...
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