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While AMD is basking in the limelight with its upcoming Zen 3-based Ryzen 5000 family, Intel doesn't want to be left out of the discussion with its upcoming 11th generation Core processors. Intel previously stated that its Rocket Lake-S processors will debut during Q1 2021, and now the company is giving us some architectural details that will underpin this new family of desktop processors. At the heart of Rocket Lake-S will be new 14nm Cypress Cove CPU microarchitecture, which is in essence a back-port of 10nm Ice Lake microarchitecture. For those keeping score, this is the first major microarchitecture shift for Intel desktop processors since 14nm Skylake was introduced way...
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Are we enjoying the Chip Wars of 2020 yet? Things are just getting started, folks. AMD is talking a big game about Zen 3 and its Ryzen 5000 series, which will debut to retail next week. More than just lip service, multiple leaks suggest AMD has a real winner on its hands. This is evidenced yet again in a validated CPU-Z run underscoring the potential performance of the Ryzen 7 5800X. The Ryzen 7 5800X is one of four announced Zen 3 processors for the consumer desktop segment. It is only second from the rear, ahead of one other CPU and behind two higher end models, yet appears to pack quite the punch. Before we get to the performance figures and how it compares to Intel, let's have a quick rundown...
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It is only a matter of time before we see how Intel's Iris Xe Max graphics performs in the real world, perhaps starting with Acer's recently announced Swift 3X, the first Tiger Lake laptop to flex Intel's discrete GPU. For now, however, leaked benchmarks are the only place to find some numbers, and so it goes with a couple of new listings on Geekbench. We have not heard a whole lot about Iris Xe Max, and it was a bit of a surprise revelation when the first reference to the new part showed up in promotional video last night, which highlighted Intel's refreshed branding logos. That little blip between the 36 and 37 second mark served as confirmation that it exists, followed by Acer's Swift 3X announcement...
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On Thursday, Intel reported third-quarter financial results, which showed revenue up over expectations but down year-over-year. However, Intel also noted a rather significant dip in datacenter revenue, which spooked investors. This information was enough to kick Intel shares into a slump since the report came out, dropping the stock price approximately 11%. Bob Swan, Intel CEO, reported that Intel’s “teams delivered solid third-quarter results that exceeded our expectations despite pandemic-related impacts in significant portions of the business.” At present, Intel is predicting growth through the end of 2020 as its “remain(s) confident in our strategy." Its goal...
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In absolutely no uncertain terms, AMD claims its Ryzen 5000 desktop processors are the fastest gaming CPUs in the world," a distinction that Intel has held onto for a long time. The company is also claiming a hefty 19 percent IPC (instructions per clock) uplift over its Zen 2 stack. If you are worried it is just a bunch of lip service, you might be encouraged by PassMark's updated CPU Mark rankings, which show Zen 3 sitting on top in single-threaded performance. More specifically, the lowest end (so far) Zen 3 CPU, the Ryzen 5 5600X, leads the way with the highest benchmark score, as of this writing. AMD's other Zen 3 CPUs will undoubtedly leapfrog the Ryzen 5 5600X once they find their way to...
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Earlier today, reports started emerging that SK Hynix was in final talks to acquire Intel's NAND storage unit. Late tonight, the news has been confirmed by both parties and a deal has been reached. SK Hynix has agreed to purchase Intel's NAND memory and storage businesses for a total $9 billion. This represents a win-win for both companies, as Intel's storage business has consistently been a low-margin operation. Intel's SSDs have also traditionally not been up to snuff in performance compared to their mainstream PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0 counterparts. As for SK Hynix, it gets to expand its NAND flash footprint to make it more competitive in high-growth areas like enterprise SSDs. The two...
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Even though we have had our first glimpse of Intel's Xe graphics architecture courtesy of a reference laptop with Tiger Lake inside, there are still many questions yet to be answered. Like what specific Xe products will ultimately manifest? As it relates to that, there is another question—will there be a dual Xe GPU solution, as a new benchmark leak appears to suggest? Before we go down wade into those leaky waters, let's go over the Xe hierarchy that Intel set out during its Architecture Day this past summer. Intel laid out a GPU strategy for Xe that spans from integrated and entry level graphics solutions, all the way up to high performance computing (HPC), with a version of Xe on pace...
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Over the next few months, all eyes will be on Intel's upcoming 11th generation Comet Lake-S desktop processors, which will supplant the current 10th generation Comet Lake-S family. While still being based on the 14nm process node, Rocket Lake-S will bring support for PCIe 4.0, Thunderbolt 4, along with higher clocks (and IPC) and more performance to the table. But looking past Comet Lake-S, there's the 12th generation Alder Lake-S architecture. We've talked about it quite a bit in recent months here at HotHardware, and now we're getting our first [alleged] look at an Alder Lake-S CPU. The image comes to us from Videocardz, which shows the processor...
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When it comes to high-speed interfaces for storage and graphics, PCIe 4.0 has been a known quantity (at least for consumers) since AMD launched its Ryzen 3000 Zen 2 platform during the summer of 2019. Intel embraced PCIe 4.0 this year with the release of Tiger Lake, although laptop manufacturers have yet to leverage the higher data transfer rates available with PCIe 4.0 SSDs. To that end, Intel is already looking towards PCIe 5.0, and this week announced that it has worked with Synopsys to demonstrate operability with its next-generation Xeon Scalable processors, aka Sapphire Rapids. For the demonstration, Intel made use of the Synopsys DesignWare controller and physical interface (PHY)....
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Intel has some catching up to do, assuming AMD's recently announced Ryzen 5000 lineup lives up to the performance claims (and early benchmark results in Cinebench R20 suggest it will). How will Intel respond? With yet another iteration of its 14-nanometer manufacturing, of course. However, rumor has it Intel's upcoming Rocket Lake-S processors will bring some fast turbo clocks to the table. Raw clockspeed gains could be piece of the puzzle, in Intel's attempt to regain the performance crown, if it ends up losing it to AMD. And it likely will—Zen 3 aims to deliver a sizable IPC (instructions per clock) uplift over Zen 2, to the tune of 19 percent. And in gaming performance, AMD essentially...
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Earlier this week, Intel confirmed that its Rocket Lake-S processors are coming during Q1 2021. Interestingly, Intel made the announcement just one day prior to AMD’s unveil of its Zen 3-based Ryzen 5000 processors. Coincidence? We think not. With that being said, 11th generation Rocket Lake-S engineering samples have been running around in the wild for the past few months. Now, a new example has been spotted by ITCooker, which alleges to have obtained benchmarks confirming PCIe 4.0 support with a Z490 motherboard. Now if you recall, Z490 motherboards launched earlier this year alongside 10th generation Comet Lake-S, and some even were labeled as PCIe 4.0-ready....
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NZXT has not been in the motherboard game very long, having made a name for itself with computer cases and later branching into cooling products, power supplies, lighting, and even custom PC builds. However, it found a way to stand out from the crowd. This is exemplified again with its latest motherboard offering, the stylish N7 Z490. This is the third motherboard in NZXT's lineup, the other two being (in descending order) the N7 Z390 and its first-ever board, the N7 Z370. And like those two previous models, the N7 Z490 blends high-end features with the ability to trick out the aesthetic, using metal shrouds. There are two to choose from at the outset—matte white, as seen in the photo above,...
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Yesterday, news broke that Intel’s 11th generation Rocket Lake-S desktop processors would be arriving in March 2021 to replace the current generation Comet Lake-S family. Rocket Lake-S is scheduled to be the last desktop processor to use Intel’s long-serving 14nm process node. Today, Intel confirmed that launch timing, announcing that Rocket Lake will arrive during the first quarter of 2021. “We’re constantly looking ahead at what’s next and how we can make our desktop CPUs even better,” said John Bonini, Intel’s VP and GM of Client Computing Group Desktop, Workstations and Gaming in a blog post. “It’ll be another fantastic...
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This year will likely end without a new generation of desktop CPUs from Intel, but if recent rumors are true, Rocket Lake-S has been cleared for liftoff in March 2021. Those upcoming 11th generation Core processors will replace Intel's 10th generation Comet Lake stack, and as you would expect, new motherboard chipsets will follow suit. Before we get to those, let's talk a bit about Rocket Lake-S. This will be yet another CPU architecture that leverages Intel's longstanding 14-nanometer node, albeit another refinement (14nm+++++++++++++++?). That will be the case until Alder Lake-S arrives, with its fancy pants hybrid design and 10nm manufacturing node. So Rocket Lake-S is set to be 14nm's swan...
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While the current 10th generation Comet Lake-S family rules the roost when it comes to Intel's desktop processors, a new family will be taking its place within the next 6 months. According to all of the leaked information that we've gathered over the past year, Comet Lake-S will be replaced by 11th generation Rocket Lake-S processors. A new report from Videocardz is now alleging that the first Rocket Lake-S processors will arrive in March 2021, which is a little earlier in the year than when Comet Lake-S launched during 2020. Rocket Lake-S processors will allegedly use the LGA-1200 socket that was first introduced with Comet Lake-S and will be pin-compatible with 400-Series...
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Intel is planning to bring a hybrid CPU architecture to desktops with Alder Lake-S at some point in the relatively near future, which has drawn rough comparisons to ARM's big.LITTLE approach that has worked so well in mobile designs. They are not actually the same thing, but that is a discussion for another time. As it applies to Alder Lake-S, a fresh leak has provided some interesting hardware details. What we know for sure about Alder Lake is that it will arrive in 2021, according to Intel's latest official roadmap. Intel has also revealed that Alder Lake will combine Golden Cove cores for heavy lifting with Gracemont cores for lighter duty workloads, packaged together in "one highly efficient...
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Most of the talk about PC graphics these days is split between NVIDIA's recently launched GeForce RTX 30 series (Ampere) and AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 6000 stack (RDNA 2). Fair enough, but there is another player you may have heard about: Intel. We are still waiting for Intel to release its first discrete GPU to the desktop, but in the meantime, its recently confirmed Iris Xe Max GPU has made a benchmark cameo. For anyone who missed it, Intel last month began refreshing its Core and other branding logos. It released a promo video offering "A Wonderful New Look" at the new logos, and if you freeze the video at the right moment, you can clearly see the Iris Xe Max badge. Here is what it looks like......
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Intel's ultra-portable Tiger Lake aspirations got off to a great start and reset the playing field for laptop performance, once retail examples broke cover last week. We've all been interested in seeing what the company would do for an encore in segments where power budgets are higher. Current speculation is that Intel might be ready to talk about Tiger Lake-H processors around CES, and perhaps in conjunction with its first discrete GPUs in more than 20 years. However, we might already know quite a bit more than that about the world's biggest x86 chip maker's plans, thanks to leaks inside notebook manufacturers. According to the sleuths at Notebookcheck, moles inside some OEMs have indicated...
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It is a safe bet that Intel will update its Next Unit of Computing (NUC) family with Tiger Lake at some point, as there have been a few leaks showcasing them already. The latest one is a supposed promotional document outlining some keys specifications and features. It also offers up a few renders showing certain aspects of the upcoming NUC, including the I/O port arrangement. It would be a notable upgrade because Intel's 11th generation Core Tiger Lake processors bring its Xe graphics to the table. We recently spent the better part of two weeks testing a pre-production laptop with a Core i7-1185G7 processor inside, and found that "Tiger Lake delivers in spades, offering huge gains in both single...
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It was only a few weeks ago now that Intel 11th generation Tiger Lake processors [officially] went on the prowl. Intel claims these new processors are the world’s best for thin-and-light devices. Thus, it is not surprising Tiger Lake processors are going to bring power and performance to Chrome OS soon. Intel states they “engineer our silicon to excel in performance across the widest variety of use cases, workloads and form factors.” As Chromebooks are a mainstay in an educational setting and are making their way as work-from-home devices, the performance Intel boasts is necessary for learning and productivity. By Intel’s testing, multi-tasking and overall performance...
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Intel has updated its Compute Runtime to support both its upcoming Rocket Lake desktop processors and DG1 graphics based on its Xe GPU architecture. Looking at this broadly, this can be taken as a sign that things are progressing at a steady clip for Intel's unreleased 11th Generation Core CPUs and discrete graphics. "The Intel Graphics Compute Runtime for oneAPI Level Zero and OpenCL Driver is an open source project providing compute API support (Level Zero, OpenCL) for Intel graphics hardware architectures (HD Graphics, Xe)," Intel explains. Intel's added support is listed on GitHub for version 20.37.17906. If you scroll down to the 'Important Changes' section, you will see it lists "Added...
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Intel has been showcasing its forthcoming Tiger Lake mobile processor line-up since its public debut in January of this year at CES. However, more recently the company disclosed the architecture powering the 11th Gen Core series CPUs at its Architecture Day 2020 event and then followed-up quickly with a full product stack unveil. To say anticipation is high for this product would be an understatement. Intel has a lot riding on Tiger Lake, with its Willow Cove cores and more importantly perhaps, its 10nm SuperFin transistors and Xe Graphics technologies that will underpin a whole new family of products eventually, far beyond the company’s Tiger Lake mobile offering. We suppose you could...
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