AMD Cuts Prices of its Ryzen 8000G Desktop APUs—8600G Now at $199

Prices of AMD Ryzen 8000G "Hawk Point" desktop APUs in the Socket AM5 package saw reductions over the week. The Ryzen 7 8700G, the fully unlocked part, is now available for $299, a $30 cut from its launch price of $329. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 5 8600G has now slipped under the $200-mark, with a $199 price-tag. The chip had originally launched at $229. Both these chips feature a 16 TOPS NPU, and are the first desktop processors that are capable of on-chip AI acceleration. Both processors are based on the 4 nm "Hawk Point" monolithic silicon, and feature "Zen 4" CPU cores. The 8700G packs an 8-core/16-thread CPU with an RDNA 3 iGPU that has 12 compute units (CU); while the 8600G is 6-core/12-thread, with an iGPU that has 8 CU.

Things get interesting with the Ryzen 5 8500G, which is now down to $159 from its launch price of $179. This new price makes the processor competitive with the 13th Gen Core i3 and the lower end of the Core i5 lineup. Unlike the other two 8000G series chips, the 8500G lacks an NPU, and is based on the 4 nm "Phoenix 2" silicon that has two "Zen 4" and four "Zen 4c" CPU cores for a 6-core/12-thread CPU configuration. Both kinds of cores share a 16 MB L3 cache. It has a heavily cut-down RDNA 3 iGPU with just 4 CU. The Ryzen 8000G desktop APU series only features PCIe Gen 4 (no Gen 5), which may not mean much for today's discrete GPUs, but limit your SSD upgrade path to Gen 4 (Gen 5 SSDs will be limited to 7 GB/s).


https://www.techpowerup.com/323778/amd-c...at-usd-199

(PR) Discover Fractal Mood, A New Streamlined PC Case

Presenting the release of Fractal Mood, a PC case designed to streamline the gaming station. It is a low-volume case in a space-saving pillar design format, which minimizes the footprint of the PC on the desk. Its outer body features breathable fabric in a clean shape and color palette to harmonize with the home.

For access to the interior, users can pop out the back panel and simply slide off the fabric-covered enclosure for full access to their build. Inside, Mood can house a graphics card up to 325 mm in length, which is easily connected through the included PCIe 4.0 riser cable. Read full story


https://www.techpowerup.com/323723/disco...ed-pc-case

AMD Ryzen AI 9 300 Posts a 20% Performance Upgrade with Both Graphics and CPU Over P

The top-spec AMD Ryzen AI 9 300 series "Strix Point" processor, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, is expected to post a 20% performance improvement over both the CPU and integrated graphics fronts, over its predecessor, the Ryzen 9 8945HS "Hawk Point," according to leak by Golden Pig Upgrade. On the CPU front, the HX 370 packs a 12-core/24-thread CPU based on a combination of four "Zen 5" and eight "Zen 5c" cores. The single-thread performance gains on the basis of the "Zen 5" microarchitecture's generational IPC increase, besides higher clock speeds; while the multithreaded performance increases on account on more cores. This performance increase isn't linearly scaling with the 50% increase in core-count.

On "Hawk Point," all eight cores are "Zen 4," capable of boosting to high frequencies, with two of them being marked as CPPC preferred cores, capable of boosting the highest. On "Strix Point," however, only four cores are based on the "Zen 5" architecture and capable of boosting to high frequency bands; while the other eight are "Zen 5c," which don't boost as high. While the IPC of "Zen 5c" is identical to "Zen 5," the fact that it doesn't boost as high, means that the generational multithreaded performance gain from the core-count increase is expected to be closer to 20%, with Golden Pig Upgrade talking about a Cinebench R23 nT score of over 20000 points, with "Hawk Point" scoring around 16000 points. Read full story


https://www.techpowerup.com/323658/amd-r...evious-gen

Intel Isolates Root Cause of Raptor Lake Stability Issues to a Faulty eTVB Microcode

Intel has identified the root cause for stability issues being observed with certain high-end 13th- and 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" processor models, which were causing games and other compute-intensive applications to randomly crash. When the issues were first identified, Intel recommended a workaround that would reduce core-voltages and restrict the boost headroom of these processors, which would end up with reduced performance. The company has apparently discovered the root cause of the problem, as Igor's Lab learned from confidential documents.

The documents say that Intel isolated the problem to a faulty value in the microcode's end of the eTVB (enhanced thermal velocity boost) algorithm. "Root cause is an incorrect value in a microcode algorithm associated with the eTVB feature. Implication Increased frequency and corresponding voltage at high temperature may reduce processor reliability. Observed Found internally," the document says, mentioning "Raptor Lake-S" (13th Gen) and "Raptor Lake Refresh-S" (14th Gen) as the affected products. Read full story


https://www.techpowerup.com/323616/intel...-algorithm

ASRock Intros Radeon RX 6500 XT 8GB Phantom Gaming

ASRock this week introduced the Radeon RX 6500 XT 8 GB Phantom Gaming graphics card. The RX 6500 XT comes with a reference memory size of 4 GB over the tiny 64-bit GDDR6 memory bus of the "Navi 24" silicon it's based on, but ASRock decided to double this, probably using high-density 32 Gbit memory chips, or two sets of 16 Gbit chips piggybacking each other. The card is spruced up with Phantom Gaming styling, is 24 cm long, standard height, and 2 slots thick. The cooling solution features an aluminium fin-stack heatsink that's ventilated by a pair of fans. Power is drawn from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. Display outputs include one each of DisplayPort 1.4, and HDMI 2.1 with VRR. This isn't the first RX 6500 XT with 8 GB, Sapphire has had an 8 GB Pulse graphics card in its lineup for a while now. ASRock didn't reveal the pricing of this card.


https://www.techpowerup.com/323551/asroc...tom-gaming

AMD Says Ryzen 9000 Series Won't Beat 7000X3D Series at Gaming

AMD's upcoming Ryzen 9000 "Granite Ridge" desktop processors based on the "Zen 5" microarchitecture won't beat the Ryzen 7000X3D series at gaming workloads, said Donny Woligroski, the company's senior technical marketing manager, in an interview with Tom's Hardware. The new "Zen 5" chips, such as the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 9 9950X, will come close to the gaming performance of the 7800X3D and 7950X3D, but won't quite beat it. The new processors, however, will offer significant generational performance uplifts in productivity workloads, particularly multithreaded workloads that use vector extensions such as VNNI and AVX512. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D remains the fastest gaming desktop processor you can buy, it edges out even Intel's Core i9-14900KS, in our testing.

Given this, we expect the gaming performance of processors like the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 9 9950X to end up closer to those of the Intel Core i9-13900K or i9-14900K. Gamers with a 7000X3D series chip or even a 14th Gen Core i7 or Core i9 chip don't have much to look forward to. AMD confirmed that it's already working on a Ryzen 9000X3D series—that's "Zen 5" with 3D V-cache technology, and is sounds confident of holding on to the title of having the fastest gaming processors. This doesn't seem implausible. Read full story


https://www.techpowerup.com/323529/amd-s...-at-gaming

Valkyrie CPU Coolers at Computex 2024: Color Screens Make it to Air Coolers

Valkyrie brought an exhaustive lineup of CPU coolers to the 2024 Computex. This is also the only manufacturer we've come across that put a color display on top of a tower-type CPU cooler, a feature that've we've seen catch on with nearly every AIO liquid CPU cooler manufacturer. There are air coolers with displays on top, but those are LED segment displays putting out basic information such as temperature readings from ACPI. The company displayed an aluminium fin-stack cooler with a large top-plate that has a color display embedded in it, under its Loki brand. The top-plate is wider than the heatsink, but matches the width of the cooler when you install a 120 mm fan. So for those squeamish about liquid cooling, here's a neat alternative.

The Valkyrie Loki series also includes air coolers without this display, replaced by anime art and ARGB LED diffusers. We've seen single fin-stack coolers with dual-fan ventilation (push-pull), and dual fin-stack coolers under the Loki, Merlin, and Mist brands. Switching gears to the liquid cooling lineup, and we see the all-black Valkyrie Dracula, characterized by high static-pressure fluid dynamic bearing fans, and a concealing side mounts for the fans that give the three individual fans the appearance of a compound fan. The model shown at Computex featured a 360 mm x 120 mm radiator. Read full story


https://www.techpowerup.com/323466/valky...ir-coolers

This Week in Gaming (Week 24)

Welcome to post Computex week and another slow week of game releases. Except for the first week of the year, no other week this year has had so few exciting new releases, but at least it gives all of you another week to enjoy your current game collection. With no further ado, below is this week's release of the most interesting games we managed to dig up.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance / This week's major release / Friday 14 June
Become a mighty demigod and battle through a decimated Tokyo in a war between angels and demons. Make new allies along your journey, engage in intense, turn-based combat, recruit hundreds of demons and forge your own path to dictate the fate of all existence. Steam Link Read full story


https://www.techpowerup.com/323443/this-...ng-week-24

Raijintek at Computex 2024: Magnetic Keyboard, Ampere PSUs, Metis Ultra Case, Cyclop

Raijintek brought an impressive lineup of new products to the 2024 Computex. We begin our tour with the Raijin, a pro-grade keyboard in the 87% TKL format. The keyboard features magnetic key switches for faster response time, and more accurate actuation. These are capped by PBT+SUB keycaps, with support for various keycap industry standards. The top- and main body panels are made of aluminium. Each key is individually illuminated by addressable RGB LEDs. This is a purely wired keyboard, with a type-A to type-C adapter being included.

Raijintek also brought three new lines of PSUs to Computex, the lineup is led by the Cerios white series, which comes in several medium-high wattage. The model shown was 850 W. It offers 80 Plus Gold switching efficiency, and fully modular cabling. The Ampere Bronze ATX 3.0 series comes in several medium wattage, ranging from 550 W to 1000 W, with 80 Plus Bronze efficiency, and 12V-2x6 connectors on some of the higher wattage models, such as the 750 W one shown here. The Ampere Platinum series PSUs are from a whole different league, with high-wattage models, such as the 1200 W shown here, and 80 Plus Platinum switching efficiency. Read full story


https://www.techpowerup.com/323355/raiji...yclops-aio

PowerColor Makes a Splash with Alphyn AM10 Gaming Mouse

PowerColor is known more for its AMD Radeon custom-design graphics cards, is entering the gaming peripherals market. The company already had a few mousepads, and a co-branded Ducky One X keyboard, but is now unveiling some first-party gaming mice. Leading the effort is the Alphyn AM10, a right-oriented wireless gaming mouse that's suitable for palm- and claw grip styles. It comes in black- and white body color options, and supports wireless- and wired connectivity. This includes USB for the least latency, 2.4 GHz RF for lower latency wireless (but which requires a dongle); and Bluetooth. The mouse supports 8K polling rate, Omron optical switches for the main buttons, and macros with onboard memory.


https://www.techpowerup.com/323291/power...ming-mouse