Items tagged with (nasdaq:amd)
Much has been made about the performance impact of Windows 11 on AMD Ryzen systems, due to a pair of acknowledged bugs that AMD and Microsoft are scrambling to resolve. Patches are supposed to arrive this month, though no firm release date has been announced. In the meantime, we decided to run some tests to see just how much performance Ryzen users stand to lose by upgrading to Windows 11 before the bugs are squashed. We'll get to the numbers in a moment, but first let's recap the issues at hand. One of the bugs is throwing L3 cache latency out of whack on Ryzen and EPYC processors. In a support article, AMD said applications sensitive to memory subsystem access time may be impacted, with an...
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AMD is expanding its mainstream RDNA 2 graphics card line-up today with another Navi 23-based offering, the new Radeon RX 6600. As its name implies, the Radeon RX 6600 is a close relative to the Radeon RX 6600 XT, which launched just a few weeks back. This card also targets roughly the same audience, i.e. budget conscious 1080p gamers, though with proper support for FSR and a growing number of titles that enable it, smooth framerates at higher effective resolutions are also going to be possible. As was the case with the Radeon RX 6600 XT, AMD itself won’t be making its own reference cards for retail. Instead, AMD is leaning on its board partners for Radeon RX 6600 designs and there will...
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AMD is quickly approaching five years of its Zen architecture being out on the market, with the original set of Ryzen processors having launched to retail in February 2017. It's been one heck of a five-year run for sure. In celebration of Zen's five-year anniversary, AMD's Robert Hallock, director of technical marketing, and John Taylor, chief marketing officer, sat down to reflect on the journey to this point and the roadmap ahead. The general takeaway? AMD is supremely confident Zen can compete for years to come. This is notable, because AMD will soon be competing with a reinvigorated Intel, which earlier this year anointed Pat Gelsinger, the chief architect of yesteryear's Nehalem architecture,...
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Graphics card pricing can't actually trend upward forever, right? Right!? Please tell me I'm right. Unfortunately, that is the disheartening reality we live in at the moment, where for the past several months, the cost of buying a graphics card has consistently gone up. This has been the case since earlier July, and even a little before, depending on the exact model. By now, the reasons are clear, or at least the apparent reasons are in focus. It is a combination of factors—a global shortage of silicon, the latest generation graphics cards from both AMD and NVIDIA being in high demand, cryptocurrency mining eating into the market for GPUs, and of course the newest game consoles (PlayStation...
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Windows 11 is out, and part of the tuning that went into the OS was for it to do a better job utilizing hybrid architectures, like the one Intel is about to release with Alder Lake, and which AMD might eventually follow suit (don't rule out a hybrid future for Zen). Will it really make all that much of a difference, though? A leaked benchmark run using SiSoftware's SANDRA utility suggests it could be. At the same time, this is one of the few benchmarks leaks we've seen that puts Ryzen in front of Alder Lake, OS be damned. Benchmarks leaks can be polarizing for sure—just dip into the comments section in our article on some recent Userbenchmark numbers for a Core i9-12900K. Userbenchmark...
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HP seems to have tipped AMD's hand, in regards to a new processor launch that is perhaps coming sooner than later. That would be the Ryzen 7000 series, assuming a new listing on HP's website is accurate. The listing is for a pair of all-in-one desktops: 24-inch and 27-inch models in Starry White and Starry Forest, but it is not the choice of colors that is interesting here. What's eye-catching are the processor options. According to the listing, the upcoming all-in-one desktops can be kitted out with up to a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processors, which is Alder Lake, or up to an AMD Ryzen 7000 series processor. Here's a look at the listing... Click to Enlarge (Source: HP) There are a few different...
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When Intel brought back its former CTO Pat Gelsinger to helm the ship, the company knew it was bringing aboard a supremely confident and capable leader—Gelsinger's resume is nothing short of impressive. Since replacing Bob Swan in the role as CEO, Gelsinger has said all the right things, and put into motion an ambitious plan to return Intel to its former glory as a chip leader. And now less than nine months on the job, he's already declaring imminent victory over rival AMD. Some context is needed here. For decades, Intel has been the dominant player in the CPU space. It still is, if going by market share and revenue. But its initial struggles getting to 10-nanometer manufacturing with Cannon...
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One thing we can say with supreme confidence is that AMD is not finished fleshing out its Radeon RX 6000 series. Whether any of the cards will ever be in sufficient stock, that's another topic entirely. But there will be more SKUs. Namely, we can expect a Radeon RX 6600 (non-XT) at some point, and if the latest rumors are true, we have some idea about the specifications. First let's talk about the XT version that does exist. The Radeon RX 6700 XT is built around a Navi 23 XT GPU with 2,048 stream processors and 8GB of GDDR6 memory tied to a 128-bit bus, giving it 256GB/s of memory bandwidth. It also has a 1,958MHz base clock, 2,359MHz game clock, and 2,589MHz boost clock (reference specs). The...
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If you were eagerly anticipating that Microsoft might include a refreshed Arm-based model among its next-generation Surface announcements last week, you would have been disappointed when it didn't happen. Microsoft did introduce a Surface Pro 8 and Surface Duo 2, both with x86 hardware inside, but nothing that flexes an Arm chip. What gives? One could be in the works, and AMD might be involved with the design. This is only a rumor at present, but perhaps a plausible one, given the interest both companies have put into Arm. Let's talk about that for a minute. Earlier this month during the Deutsche Bank Technology Conference, AMD CFO Devinder Kumar fielded a question about Arm, saying AMD has a...
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Hang tight, creators and enthusiasts, eventually AMD will get around to launching its next generation of Ryzen Threadripper processors for heavy metal computing from home. It just might be a little bit longer than you hoped. Nothing has been officially announced, but rumor has it the launch has been delayed again, leading to a 2022 release. AMD's high-end desktop (HEDT) is pretty much the final destination (maybe) for AMD's Zen 3 architecture. We already have Zen 3 options among AMD's mainstream desktop and laptop processor lines, including Pro models, and APUs as well. Same goes for the server space, with the latest generation EPYC processors featuring Zen 3 inside. There are not many stones...
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As we highlighted in our Radeon RX 6900 XT review, AMD's flagship graphics card is worthy of the designation, coming within striking distance of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3090 in traditional rasterization (the gap widens in ray-traced gaming) at a lower MSRP. So it would be quite remarkable if, as some alleged specifications allude to, AMD's next-generation Radeon RX 7600 XT could perform equally well, or perhaps even be better. That's especially a tantalizing proposition considering the current landscape—GPUs are in such short supply that many PC gamers aren't even able to upgrade this round. If the shortage eases up next year, then next-gen RDNA 3 (AMD) and Ada Lovelace (NVIDIA) would conceivably...
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Shortages have become the new normal in the chip industry, as tremendous demand has unfortunately helped to exacerbate the problem. However, there may be light at the end of the tunnel regarding shortages. On Sunday, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su said that the supply of chips that fuel enthusiast hardware like CPUs and GPUs will be tight through the first half of 2022. Su's comments echo those of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. However, Su added a touch of optimism saying that supply should improve during the second half of 2022. "We've always gone through cycles of ups and downs, where demand has exceeded supply or vice versa," said Su while speaking during this week's Code Conference. "[But] this time, it's...
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Earlier this month, we got an early look at Gigabyte’s upcoming Radeon RX 6600 Eagle 8G gaming card, which slots under the Radeon RX 6600 XT. Today it’s Sapphire’s turn, as the company’s Radeon RX 6600 Pulse is now listed for preorder at European retailer PC Dig. The thing that sticks out to us the most is how small the card is while maintaining a dual-fan configuration like its Radeon RX 6600 XT Pulse counterpart. This should allow the two-slot gaming card to fit into small-form-factor (SFF) systems easily. Besides the cooling setup, which also appears to include an aluminum heatsink and heat pipes, we also see a single 8-pin power connector. Just a single connector is...
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AMD has witnessed a significant resurgence in the PC market with its Zen-based processors, which currently encompass the Ryzen 5000 family in the consumer space. However, the company is always looking for a competitive edge over its close rival Intel, and a new partnership with MediaTek could advance those efforts. DigiTimes alleges that AMD and MediaTek are looking to form a joint venture that would allow intellectual property from the latter to integrate into SoCs from the former. The two companies have previously collaborated on the standalone AMD RZ608 Wi-Fi chip, which is a rebranded version of MediaTek’s MT7921K. This new partnership would have bolder ambitions by putting MediaTek...
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Since 2020, Netflix has been able to serve up 200 gigabits per second (Gbps) of TLS-encrypted video traffic from each of its servers, but there is now a path to doubling that amount to 400Gb/s. Andrew Gallatin, a senior software engineer at Netflix, outlined how the streaming service has been able to achieve the feat using a combination of AMD's second-generation EPYC "Rome" processors and various software optimizations. That's a lot of bandwidth, and incidentally, it comes right as Netflix eyes an entry into video game streaming. Game streaming was not mentioned during the presentation, though it is an interesting aside to this latest effort. AMD's EPYC 7502P Rome processors provide the big...
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The CPU wars are not coming to an end anytime soon, and instead, we can expect some interesting skirmishes in the months and years ahead. It starts with Intel's next-gen Alder Lake launch that is now right around the bend. Early leaks have mostly been encouraging, including the latest one that shows a Core i9-12900K curb-stomping AMD's flagship Ryzen 9 5950X. Put the pitchforks down, there are indeed some heavy caveats and disclaimers that come with this leak. One of them is, simply, that this is a leak, and so by it's very nature, the data is not wholly reliable. Secondly, this is an Ashes of the Singularity (AOTS) benchmark comparison. AOTS is nowhere near the end-all-be-all for evaluating...
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You may have struck out trying to buy a graphics card from a first-party seller, but on the bright side, that also means you did not pay way over MSRP for one, either. Yeah, it is not much of a silver lining. The supply of graphics cards continues to fall way short of demand, and price tracking data shows that they are still commanding increasingly higher prices. It has been an interesting summer in that regard. As we headed into the summer months, prices had ballooned to all-time highs on NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 30 series and AMD's Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards, both based on each one's latest generation GPU architecture (Ampere and RDNA 2, respectively). As summer marched along, GPU prices...
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Heads up for anyone running an AMD build, there is a new chipset driver update available, and you're going to want to install it. The update patches a vulnerability that could allow a user with low privileges to access uninitialized physical memory pages that potential contain sensitive information, including passwords. The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2021-26333. In a security advisory, AMD explained that the flaw resides in the Platform Security Processor (PSP) chipset driver, and recommends either updating through Windows Update (which bumps the PSP driver to 5.17.0.0) or applying a newer chipset driver (version 3.08.17.735 or later). Security researcher Kyriakos Economou discovered the...
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It has been several months since AMD rolled out its 3rd Gen EPYC 7003 series (Milan) of big iron server chips based on its Zen 3 CPU architecture, with up to 64 cores and 128 threads to hammer data center workloads. Then came rumors of a "Milan-X" refresh featuring stacked 3D V-cache. Well, as a launch presumably nears, some leaked specifications have found their way to the web. Since those rumors first came to be, AMD subsequently confirmed plans to incorporate stacked 3D V-cache on its future CPUs, starting on the consumer side with a refreshed Ryzen 5000 lineup. This is something AMD has been collaborating on with its manufacturing partner, TSMC, and the company is pitching it as the most...
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Intel was the first GPU maker to provide official Windows 11 support in mid-July with its 30.0.100.9684 graphics driver. NVIDIA wasn’t far behind with its GeForce Game Ready 471.41 WHQL driver. Now, nearly two months after NVIDIA’s Windows 11 play, it’s AMD’s turn with the Radeon Adrenalin 2020 21.9.1 software package. “Windows 11 is just around the corner, and we know many users are participating in the Microsoft Windows Insider Program and have access to an early build of Windows,” writes AMD in its latest gaming blog. “If you’re one of those people, you can now take advantage of all the features found in Radeon Software.” With this release,...
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It has been a frustratingly long time since graphics cards were routinely in stock and selling at or near MSRP. This is largely a two-part problem, consisting of (A) a global shortage of silicon, and (B) cryptocurrency miners snapping up stock. Scalpers aren't making things any better either, though if not for the other factors, they wouldn't have much luck hawking GPUs at insane markups. During a recent webcast at the Deutsche Bank of 2021 Technology Conference, AMD CFO Devinder Kumar touched on both points. AMD is doing well for itself these days, and now routinely posts strong financial results each quarter. In its most recent quarter, for example, AMD saw a 99 percent year-over-year increase...
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The Zen 3 family of Ryzen 5000 processors have been on the market for roughly a year, and Intel's 12th generation Alder Lake processors are quickly breathing down AMD's neck. But where AMD goes from here is not as simple as moving to Zen 4 architecture and calling it a day. Instead, AMD is taking a multi-pronged approach with its next-generation consumer processors. The ever-reliable Twitter leaker Greymon55 recently broke the news that AMD's Rembrandt chips have already entered mass production, which bodes well for the company's next family of processors. According to previous reports, these Rembrandt (Zen 3+) processors will fall under the Ryzen 6000 family and replace AMD's Ryzen 5000 "Cezanne"...
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