Category: Hardware

Asus tries its hand at a wireless gaming mouse with a built-in joystick

If you are in the hunt for the best gaming mouse, you might not have considered a model with a built-in joystick, though not necessarily from lack of interest—it’s a rather sparse field. It also just got a little big bigger with the introduction of the Asus ROG Chakram.

Our first impression of a mouse with a built-in joystick came by way of the Lexip PU94, and thankfully the production model we reviewed improved upon the initial design. I’m curious to see how the Chakram compares, but that will have to wait for another day.

In the meantime, Asus has provided a rundown of the specs and features of the Chakram. It’s a wireless rodent with support for the Qi standard. On the wireless side, you can connect it via RF (2.4GHz), or Bluetooth in a pinch (I would expect higher latency over Bluetooth, and Asus the joystick won’t work over Bluetooth). If you’re a ‘wired or die’ kind of person, there’s a bundled USB cable to go that route.

The built-in joystick is the primary attraction, and I’ll go over that in a moment, but it’s not the only interesting feature on this Chakram. The left and right clickers both use Omron switches, and you can access them for easy replacement by popping off the magnetic cover and buttons. No screwdriver is needed. Same goes for installing new switches, should you ever need to. They’re configured by way of an “exclusive push-fit switch socket.”

“It take just a moment to swap the switches, making it easy to drop in ones that fit your preferred operating force and feedback—or replace worn or broken switches to extend ROG Chakram’s lifespan,” Asus says.

The optical sensor is adjustable from 100-16,000 dpi. Other specs include 40g max acceleration and 400 IPS max speed.

Okay, back to the joystick. This works in both analog and digital mode. In analog mode, it’s supposed to function like an actual joystick or thumbstick, as found on pretty much any modern controller. Asus says this mode is “ideal for flight sims and racing games.”

In digital mode, which Asus recommends for first person shooters and battle royale games, it becomes a four-way programmable joystick (up, down, forward, and back). So, it sounds like there is a fair bit of versatility there.

Rather than take a one-size-fits-all approach, Asus includes both a longer and shorter joystick to pop on and off the nub embedded in the side. There’s also a socket cover if you’ve rather ditch the joystick altogether for a flush finish.

It sounds like an interesting entry in the gaming mouse space, albeit a pricey one. After showing off the Chakram at Gamescom last year, Asus says it will be available this month for ~$150.

Here’s Some DDR5-4800: Hands-On First Look at Next Gen DRAM

Just like all major makers of DRAM, SK Hynix produced its first DDR5 memory chips a couple of years ago and has been experimenting with the technology since then. To that end, it is not surprising that the company displayed its DDR5 RDIMM at CES 2020, which implies that development is proceeding as planned.

At the trade show, SK Hynix demonstrated its 64 GB DDR5 RDIMM with ECC rated for a 4800 MT/sec/pin data transfer rate. The module marked as HMCA8GR8MJR4C-EB carries 20 memory chips marked as H5CNAG4NMJ as well as IDT’s P8900-Z2 register clock driver (RCD). The memory devices are marked differently than the ones SK Hynix used for 16 GB RDIMM back in late 2018, though we do not know the difference.

The DDR5 RDIMMS feature 288 pins on a slightly curved edge connector (to reduce the insertion force on every pin), just like DDR4 modules, yet its layout and design are a bit different when compared to DDR4 to prevent installment of DDR5 modules into DDR4 slots and vice versa.

It is unknown whether SK Hynix has already started to sample its DDR5 RDIMMs with developers of server platforms and servers, but it is obvious that all DRAM makers are aligning their DDR5 production schedules with CPU designers and other companies.

At present, it is unclear when exactly the first DDR5 platforms are set to hit the market, but a good guess would be 2021. One of the first platforms to confirm support for DDR5 memory has been Intel’s Xeon Sapphire Rapids, set for deployment in the Aurora Supercomputer. AMD support for DDR5 is unknown so far.

Intel Readies Core i9-10990XE With 22 Cores & 44 Threads – 380W TDP Design & Up To 5 GHz All-Core Boost

While Intel’s X299 may not have much fuel left in it against the Ryzen or Threadripper parts, Intel still seems to be focusing their attention on the 3-year-old platform in the HEDT space if the latest rumors are to be believed, readying yet another 10th Gen Core i9 CPU.

Intel’s Core i9-10990XE Rumored To Feature 22 Cores, 44 Threads, 380W TDP & The Power To Turn Your PC Into A Nuclear Reactor

Yep, you heard it all, according to Computerbase, Intel’s board partners have revealed that the blue giant is working on yet another 10th generation HEDT CPU. It looks like Intel wasn’t that impressed with the glowing reviews that the Core i9-10980XE received so they have or are deciding to offer a new chip with an even cooler (or hotter in this case) name, the Core i9-10990XE. The CPU is stated to be in the early validation stage.

Ok so coming to the specifications of this not so mysterious chip, we are looking at 22 cores and 44 threads. It seems like the processor features the XCC (Extreme Core Count) die instead of the HCC (High Core Count) die that is featured on existing 10th Gen HEDT parts. The HCC die maxes out at 18 cores and 36 threads while the XCC die maxes out at 28 cores and 56 threads. This is why extra validation is required because an XCC die won’t just magically work on an LGA 2066 socket & there have to be a few key design changes to accommodate the new chip. There’s also going to be 30.25 MB of L3 cache on this chip.

Intel 10th Gen Core i9 ‘Cascade Lake’ X-Series CPU Lineup

In terms of clocks, another rumor on Chiphell (via Videocardz) states that this chip has a 4.0 GHz all-core frequency out of the box with a TDP of 380W. This is almost twice the TDP figure of an Intel Core i9-10980XE. But here’s the interesting part, it is said to boost to 5.0 GHz across all cores making it sound a hell of a lot like the Core i9-9990XE which had a 5.0 GHz all-core boost clock and a TDP of 255W. But do keep this in mind that the 380W figure is just for the base frequency and this chip could actually consume over 1000 Watts of power from the socket considering the Core i9-9990XE consumed around 600-700 Watts of power when pushing all of its cores to 5.0 GHz and that was a 14 core part.

The folks over at Chiphell were kind enough to show us the performance figures of the chip in the Cinebench R20 benchmark (even if they might not be real), scoring up to 14000 points which puts it slightly ahead of the 24 core Ryzen Threadripper 3960X. Now the two things to focus here would be whether Intel will offer this chip around the $1500 or the $2000 US bracket. $1500 would make it a great choice for users who want to stick the Intel route while benefitting from higher core clock that the 10990XE would have to offer over the Threadripper 3960X while a $2000 US pricing would make it another DOA part against the 3970X.

The other thing is the power draw and Intel might like to downplay by saying real HEDT users don’t care about power consumption (they might even come up with their own ‘Real World Power figures) but we will have to wait for more information about this chip. This processor would definitely be recommended for compatibility on the higher end X299 motherboards as the power delivery required to keep it up and running would have to be insane, just like the chip itself.

ASUS Unveils All-White Concept Strix X570 Motherboard

Amid a plethora of ASUS announcements and product showcases at CES 2020, one of the more interesting pieces of hardware on display came on the motherboard side. In what ASUS is currently calling a concept, it had a full system with white components on display, including an X570 Strix motherboard dressed to the nines in white heatsinks and covers.

While ASUS hasn’t given much away about which model it’s based on. the specifications list include support for DDR4-4400 memory with a capacity of up to 128 GB, with an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 wireless interface, and a Realtek RTL8125-AG 2.5 G Ethernet controller. A SupremeFX S1220A HD audio codec handles the onboard audio, while the rear panel features plenty of USB 3.2 Gen2 connectivity. The PCB, controller layout and overall PCB layout not only resemble the ASUS ROG Strix X570 E Gaming motherboard, but it has identical specifications match between the two boards.

On the rear panel cover is the typical Strix branding with an illuminated Strix RGB logo, while the M.2 heatsinks and chipset heatsink have the Strix inspired graffiti etching. A two-digit LED debugger is located at the bottom, with plenty of headers and connectors for superior connectivity; again, resemblant of the ASUS ROG Strix X570 E-Gaming. As with all other ASUS X570 models, the X570 is actively cooled. 

At present, the all-white ROG Strix X570 motherboard is just a concept, but we’ve seen ASUS release white themed models before including the Prime series, as well as limited-edition versions of its Sabertooths (now TUF). This could be one ASUS concept that makes it to retail, but it still remains to be seen. 

ASUS Showcases Concept 420mm AIO For TRX40

It’s no secret that ASUS has its fingers in multiple areas of computer components including motherboard, VGA, desktop, mobile, and peripherals. Taking into consideration the cooling requirement for AMD’s HEDT Ryzen Threadripper 3000 series of processors, it’s showcased its latest conceptual AIO CPU cooler design which features a large 420 mm radiator, supplied with three premium Noctua black fans. 

With AMD set to release its 64 core 128 thread Threadripper 3990X in the coming months, ASUS has unveiled a concept design 420 mm AIO CPU with a couple of notable features. The TR4 socket cooler which currently has no name includes an all-black design with no RGB LEDs to speak of, although the CPU block does include ASUS’s 1.77″ LiveDash OLED customizable screen. Other features include a full cover cold plate specially designed to cool the 3rd generation Threadripper processors, with an all-black design that fits well with its ROG Zenith II Extreme TRX40 motherboard.

The unnamed concept cooler as displayed at ASUS’s suite at CES 2020 includes three Noctua NF-A14 2000 PWM fans which spin up to 2000 rpm and omits RGB LEDs for an all-black look which is more subtle. ASUS hasn’t released any more information about when it may hit production, or if it will, but upon speaking to ASUS they were very keen to have it ready for the launch of AMD’s Threadripper 3990X processor which features a TDP of 280 W.

Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 SSD Makes An Appearance

Samsung’s booth at CES 2020 includes our first look at their next flagship consumer SSD, the 980 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD. This would appear to be Samsung’s first client/consumer SSD to support PCIe 4.0, which has until now only been rolled out to their high-end enterprise drives.

Since this just a low-key preview instead of a formal announcement with a press release, information is limited. The exhibit shows only sequential performance numbers: 6500 MB/s reads, 5000 MB/s writes. That’s a bit better than what we currently see with PCIe 4.0 drives using the Phison E16 controller, but by the end of this year we should start seeing the Phison E18 and other controllers offering sequential speeds around 7GB/s, so the 980 PRO may have little or no time to set throughput records for the consumer SSD market.

The available capacities will range from 250GB to 1TB, which strongly indicates that Samsung us still using 2-bit MLC for the PRO line rather than switching to 3-bit TLC NAND flash as the rest of the industry has done for their flagships. The fate of Samsung’s flagship SSD product line was a bit unclear when Samsung updated the 970 EVO with new NAND as the 970 EVO Plus but did not introduce an accompanying 970 PRO Plus.

Samsung was unable to locate any employees at their sprawling “booth” who could answer our technical questions, so we don’t have confirmation of which generation of V-NAND this uses (probably the 5th gen. 92L), nor do we have any details on the controller. We also don’t have a timeline for retail availability.

Corsair K95 RGB Platinum XT Review: Upgrading a Classic

Corsair’s flagship K95 is a classic of the gaming keyboard realm, first arriving in 2013 with the RGB model arriving a year later. The company updated the K95’s Platinum RGB model in 2017 to include an RGB light bar up top and Cherry MX Speed switches alongside MX Blue and Brown options. In its latest iteration, the K95 RGB Platinum XT adds premium Double Shot keycaps, integrated Elgato Stream Deck software support for the six macro keys on the left side and an appreciated padded wrist rest. 

Design

If you’ve used one of Corsair’s high-end mechanical keyboards in the last few years, you pretty much know what to expect in terms of physical design here. The deck is made of a single bent piece of brushed aluminum. Dedicated media controls and a nice metal volume wheel sit above the number pad, with lighting controls and a Windows key lock on the above right. Six dedicated macro keys, (which can now be used with the popular Elgato Stream Deck software), run down the left side.

There are two major physical changes as compared with the 2017 (non-XT) model. More durable, premium-feeling Double Shot keycaps are now standard. They’re made with two separate layers of plastic –translucent white underneath to let the RGB lighting shine through and black over the top– which aside from making them feel more premium and durable, should help them resist staining and wear.

Corsair also includes S-key caps to replace the pre-installed G-key caps, should you feel the need to more directly state that your extra buttons are there to do Stream Deck duty. Textured keys for WASD and QWERDF caps are also included, to help your fingers find their place in FPS or MOBA titles.

Secondly, the reversible rubber wrist rest of the previous iteration has now been replaced with a padded leatherette palm rest. The feel isn’t quite as cushy as the standalone HyperX wrist rest, but it’s a big upgrade from the rubber or rigid soft-touch plastic of most bundled wrist rests. My main complaint is that, rather than strong magnets,it attaches via long plastic clips under the keyboard, which feel like they could snap off after years of use if you aren’t careful. Given the high price of this keyboard, that’s not a great feeling.

As has been the case for years, Corsair uses a thick, permanently attached braided cable, which makes the K95 Platinum XT a little clunky and a lot less travel-friendly than models with removable USB-C cables, like the HyperX Alloy Origins. You do, though, get a USB 2.0 pass-through port on the back, near the center-mounted main cable, as well as cable routing wells on the underside. This makes the K95 a better option for those who do all of their gaming and typing at a single battlestation. 

Switch Options amd Gaming and Typing Experience 

While other keyboard companies have partnered with switch makers to design their own mechanical switches or experiment with optical and / or analogue actuation tech, Corsair has stuck with tried-and-true Cherry MX switches. Two of the three options –MX Speed and MX Brown– have been upgraded for even greater reliability, with the promise to stand up to 100 million keystrokes. But Corsair sent us the keyboard with clicky MX Blue switches, which are “only” rated to 50 million presses. The difference probably isn’t something you have to worry about unless you’re a young, prolific gamer who plans to hold onto their keyboard for decades.

I prefer Blue switches for typing, which made the K95 RGB Platinum XT excellent for my daily writing and editing tasks. And with a classic design, the K95 felt familiar while gaming. But clicky Blue switches aren’t the best for gaming, and I found myself missing the linear feel of Red switches or the shorter-actuating MX Speed switches while shooting and looting my way through Borderlands 3. If gaming is your main priority, I would definitely steer away from the MX Blue switches, as much as I like them for typing tasks. Those who are interested in switches other than the three Cherry options offered here will have to look elsewhere. 

Software

There are two software programs that you’ll want to install to take full advantage of the Corsair RGB. The company’s iCue software is a robust (if a bit clunky) program that lets you do everything from control the lighting (manually, or via pre-installed or downloadable presets), coordinate your lighting with other compatible Corsair devices, creating macros and manage onboard storage. 

While iCue isn’t the most intuitive piece of software, it lets you do a lot and the company has an active forum where users post hundreds of downloadable lighting profiles. As fun as they are to play with, the most-used feature for me in iCUE is the Instant Lighting setting, which lets you easily choose a single lighting color for all your devices. Handily, black is one of the colors you can choose, which turns off all lighting so you can watch a movie or just get a respite from the blinking RGB rainbow. 

The other software that the keyboard works with is Elgato Stream Deck. Corsair bought Elgato back in mid-2018 and its hardware and software popular among game streamers and YouTubers. So it makes sense that Corsair would integrate support for Stream Deck into its gaming hardware. 

Using Stream Deck software, you can easily program the six dedicated macro keys on the left side of the K95 Platinum XT to perform any number of tasks, from launching common programs and recording clips to performing various chat tasks, changing your in-game voice and so much more. Once again, Elgato’s hardware and software are very popular among gamers, with a robust community busy creating plugins that will let you do just about anything with the press of a button.

In short, while there’s room for improvement, the software that the K95 RGB Platinum XT is designed to work with is second to none. Though you may have to fiddle with things a bit to figure out how to accomplish some specific tasks (particularly with iCUE), there’s a ton of functionality here that lets you do a whole lot with your keyboard. My only real complaint is that it’s a bit clunky to have two separate pieces of software for your keyboard controls. Hopefully in the future Corsair will combine the features of both into one software suite for simplicity’s sake.

Bottom Line

I’ve tested dozens of mechanical keyboards over the years, and tend to keep going back to Corsair’s models when I’m not reviewing something else. I like their look and love the media controls and that luxurious volume wheel. The addition of Double Shot keycaps and a padded wrist rest easily make the K95 RGB Platinum XT the best version yet. And that’s before you consider that Elgato software support could potentially keep you from spending over $100 on a dedicated Stream Deck.

But unless this keyboard will actually save you from making that purchase, $200 is an awful lot to ask for a mechanical keyboard these days, even though this is one of the best there is. If you don’t need all these features, consider one of Corsair’s many more-affordable models. 

And if your keyboard doesn’t spend nearly all its time at the same battlestation, consider HyperX’s excellent Alloy Origins. It’s smaller, lighter, has a removable cable and feels just as premium as this Corsair model at less than half the price (currently around $110). You won’t get the nice dedicated media keys and volume rocker (which, again, I very much like). But you can at least pick up HyperX’s wrist rest for about $15 and still wind up saving about $75 over this model from Corsair. Then again, the K95 RGB Platinum XT is true keyboard luxury, and luxury and affordability rarely arrive in the same box. 

AMD Launches Threadripper 3990X and Ryzen 4000 ‘Renoir’ APUs

AMD capped it’s whirlwind 2019 with promises of more to come: In particular, the beastly 64-core 128-thread Threadripper 3990X that we now know will come with a suggested pricing of $3,990 and land on February 7, 2020. AMD also finally fleshed out its Ryzen Mobile 4000-series, otherwise known as “Renoir,” that mark the first x86 7nm processors to arrive for the mobile space. These new chips come with up to eight Zen 2 cores and 16 threads paired with a new revamped 7nm Vega graphics engine, marking a new level of competition for Intel in the laptop market. The first laptops come to market in Q1 2020, with over 100+ systems coming throughout the year.

AMD also announced its long-awaited Radeon RX 5600XT, which comes bearing the RDNA architecture, 7nm process, and PCIe 4.0 interface.

Threadripper 3990X

AMD’s launch of the Threadripper 3970X and 3960X marked the beginning of a new era of AMD dominance in the high end desktop market. In fact, these 24- and 32-core models have so much horsepower that Intel doesn’t even have a response, leaving AMD to dominate the high-end market.

But the Threadripper 3990X extends that lead even further. This new processor comes with the same 280W TDP as its counterparts, but sports an unheard-of 64-cores and 128 threads. These cores operate at a 2.9 GHz base but boost up to 4.3 GHz, which is only 100 MHz lower than the targeted peak speeds of the 32-core 64-thread Threadripper 3970X. They also come with an unprecedented 288MB of L3 cache.

These new chips drop into existing sTRX40 motherboards, so there are no special platform requirements. Existing Threadripper cooling solutions and recommendations also still apply, so the 280W TDP shouldn’t be too difficult to tame.

AMD shared some performance projections, highlighting that its Ryzen 3000 series lineup scales well with the addition of more cores, giving the company the uncontested lead on the desktop. The 3990X’s hefty price tag will certainly relegate the chip to the creator and professional markets where the price of the processor is a small consideration considering the monetary gain of getting more work done, faster. Intel has no competing chips even in the range of the 3990X, so AMD is free to rake in a premium for these powerful chips.

AMD Ryzen 4000 “Renoir” APU Family

AMD splits the Ryzen 4000 family up into U-series for ultrathins, H-series for gamers and creators, and Pro-series models for the professional market. AMD’s new Ryzen 4000 series follows the company’s standard naming convention for its APUs, so while these are branded as 4000-series processors, they still come with the same Zen 2 microarchitecture and the 7nm TSMC process as the desktop 3000 series. This makes them the first 7nm x86 mobile processors. The architectural advances and 7nm process should provide AMD a solid step forward on the power efficiency front that has been a sore point for the company’s previous-gen products, and the company also unveiled its new 7nm Vega engine and SmartShift technology.

U Series

The 15W U-series lineup spans from four-core four-thread models up to eight-core 16-thread models. Yes, in a departure from its normal operating procedures, AMD has disabled SMT (threading) on some SKUs, which the company says is to accommodate custom OEM models. The U-series comes with a configurable TDP that spans from 12W to 25W

AMD says the 7nm process will bring higher core counts into the 15W power envelope, which marks the first time eight cores and 16-threads has squeezed down into thin-and-light devices. The new chips also come with a redesigned 7nm Navi graphics engine that it claims boosts performance within a much more efficient power envelope. AMD says this new engine allowed it to reduce the number of Compute Units (CU) from 11 to 8, while still maintaining what is claims is leading graphics performance compared to Intel’s Ice Lake processors. Due to the optimized 7nm Vega architecture, AMD says it can wring out 59% more performance per CU.

The Ryzen 7 4800U serves as the flagship of the U-series lineup with eight cores, sixteen threads, a 1.8 GHz base, and a 4.2 GHz boost clock speed, all within the 15W power envelope. The Vega graphics engine runs at 1750MHz.

AMD presented a range of tests comparing the Ryzen 7 4800U to Intel’s Ice Lake Core i7-1065G7, highlighting leading performance in all three key metrics: single-threaded, multi-threaded, and graphics performance. However, its noteworthy the company used the CPU-intensive 3DMark TimeSpy physics test for the projection. The company also presented a range of testing in real-world 1080P gaming and creator workloads.

Power Benefits

AMD claims the benefits of the 7nm process combine with optimizations to the SoC power delivery to yield 20% lower power consumption and twice the performance per watt. Other improvements, like a 5X reduction in power state entry and exit, along with the obvious advantages of LPDDR4x memory, also provide a significant step forward for battery efficiency. AMD presented this information for the U-series products, but did not share any power information about the H- or Pro-series processors.

AMD also introduced its new SmartShift technology, which allows the platform to monitor the power states of both the GPU and CPU, both of which provide enhanced telemetry via the Infinity Fabric, to modulate power delivery in real time. This allows the platform to deliver extra power to where it’s needed depending upon the workload, which AMD claims boosts both GPU and CPU performance. AMD says this new tech only works when its CPUs are paired with an AMD discrete GPU, so it won’t work with Nvidia-based systems. The company also announced a new “A+A+A” initiative that it says designates systems with AMD CPUs, GPUs, and drivers. This is partially to encourage OEMs to allow their customers to use AMD’s full driver suite.

H-series

AMD also has an H-series lineup that comes with a 35W nominal TDP rating, but has a configurable TDP range that extends from 35W to 45W, with a 45W nominal and 54W peak power consumption.

The Ryzen 7 4800H comes with eight cores and 16-threads that operate at a 2.9 GHz base and a 4.2 GHz boost. This chip comes with 7 CUs that run at 1600 MHz. AMD also has the six-core 12-thread Ryzen 5 4600H, which has a 3.0 GHz base and 4.0 GHz boost. This processor steps back to 6CU that operate at a 1500MHz.

This family only consists of two models, but AMD claims the flagship can take on even the desktop Core i7-9700K in both creator and gaming workloads. (AMD also used 3D Mark physics test for that gaming performance comparison). AMD also shared its internal test data of several other workloads against the Core i7-9750H.

Athlon

AMD also announced the new Athlon Gold and Silver models that flesh out its lineup of Chromebook-optimized chips.

Intel Xe DG1 GPU might not be so discrete a graphics card after all

One of the most important specs for the first Intel Xe discrete graphics card, the DG1, has now been confirmed by development kit listed on the EEC database. The post confirms the rumoured 96 execution units previously speculated as the base configuration for the initial Xe GPU, the same as has been found in the upcoming top Tiger Lake processors.

The Intel Xe graphics cards are launching this year. It’s pretty wild being able to type that safe in the knowledge that it’s probably true. The first of the Intel Xe discrete GPUs will appear on the the DG1 card expected to be released in the summer. And, with the latest iterations of development kits looking closer to final launch spec cards, it definitely seem like Intel is still on track to deliver by the middle of 2020.

Interestingly, the latest listings (via Komachi) don’t just detail the individual DG1 cards going out to developers in the wild, there are also two full software development platform kits too. One with an eight-core CPU and another with a six-core chip inside it. And that could suggest something far more interesting than Xe’s DG1 being just another low-end graphics card…

The solo DG1 developer kit makes sense, enabling folk to create software or driver stacks for their systems that work with Intel’s new discrete GPU. But why would Intel need to ship out software development platforms (SDP) with both an eight-core and a six-core CPU? My suggestion is that it’s because these are unreleased processors designed to work especially well with the new GPU architecture. Maybe those are engineering samples of eight- and six-core Tiger Lake CPUs, and maybe the Xe GPU isn’t always quite as discrete as we once thought.

We’ve previously seen Intel developers talking about having to rewrite driver code to support multiple GPUs, which has lead to speculation that multi-GPU support could be the killer feature for Intel’s Xe graphics card. If you can double the available GPU hardware by seamlessly linking the DG1’s 96 execution units with a Tiger Lake CPU’s own 96 EUs then you’re looking at a far more tantalising gaming prospect.

That could make both the Tiger Lake CPUs and Xe GPUs far more attractive options if they’re both better together. A 192 EU graphics pool could make for a genuinely powerful array for high-end 1080p gaming. It probably needs to be said that this isn’t really a desktop platform – Intel’s Tiger Lake is the successor to the current 10nm Ice Lake mobile range. But pairing these laptop chips with a Xe GPU could make for a genuinely powerful little gaming ultrabook setup.

The Intel DG1 chip is said to be designed with a 25W TDP, and if that little extra juice enables you to double your graphics array you could end up with some tasty little notebooks with serious gaming chops. And if Intel wants to wrest the mid-range gaming laptop market away from either Nvidia or AMD then offering the Xe GPU for a bargain price to bolster design wins seems like a smart play.

A 96 EU discrete DG1 card on the desktop, however, is going to look like pretty weak sauce. Dropped into a standard PC it’s not exactly going to set the world alight, and with the Gen12 Xe GPU architecture not filtering into desktop processor graphics any time soon, any potential multi-GPU shenanigans Intel wants to pull in the laptop space aren’t going to work on the desktop.

So maybe DG1 is a mobile-only part? That would make a whole lot more sense than shipping an add-in board that no-one wants.

But all this potentially positive Xe promise is predicated on Intel actually being able to get multiple graphics chips working together seamlessly. And that’s something neither AMD or Nvidia have been able to do successfully in all their years making GPUs.

Making the dividing line between discrete and CPU graphics invisible is the vital component in taking the burden of support away from game developers… which is where the other two graphics giants have placed it since effectively retiring both SLI and Crossfire. And that approach has basically killed any reason for creating a dual-GPU system today.

If Intel can’t make the 192 EU pool of graphics goodness appear as a single addressable graphics chip, however, then Xe’s multi-GPU feature will end up being DOA. Intel might be able to convince (read: pay) one developer to code support for the feature, but without a larger install base it would struggle to encourage other devs to spend the time and money necessary to factor it into their games.

And then it will just be another one of those Intel features that gets championed around launch, and is never seen again…

Intel Core i9-10900K 10 Core CPU Benchmarks Shows It’s More or Less A Core i9-9900K With Up To 30% Better Multi-Threading Performance

Official performance numbers for the Intel Core i9-10900K 10 Core CPU have leaked out by Tom’s Hardware. Intel’s Core i9-10900K will be the flagship chip of the 10th Gen Comet Lake family that is expected to land in the coming months but will be featuring the same 14nm architecture that has long been running since Skylake.

Intel’s Core i9-10900K 10 Core CPU Benchmarks Leaked – Same Single-Core Performance As The Core i9-9900K, But Up To 30% Faster in Multi-Threading Workloads

Just last week, we got to see the full 10th Gen Comet Lake lineup along with their detailed specs. In total, there are 11 SKUs confirmed for initial launch but the Core i9-10900K CPU would be the flag carrier of Intel’s sixth 14nm family.

Intel Core i9-10900K – 10 Cores, Up To 5.3 GHz Single-Core, 4.9 GHz All-Core

The Intel Core i9-10900K will be the flagship part of the 10th Generation Desktop CPU family. Intel has a few tricks up their sleeves to offer even better performance than the Core i9-9900KS. The i9-10900K features 10 cores, 20 threads a total cache of 20 MB and a 125W TDP. The chip has a base frequency of 3.7 GHz and a boost frequency of 5.1 GHz. However, using Intel’s Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology, the chip can boost up to 5.2 GHz on a single-core and what’s even better is the 4.9 GHz all-core boost. Some of the features of this particular chip include:

Up to 4.8 GHz All-Core Turbo

Up to 5.3 / 4.0 GHz Thermal Velocity Boost Singe / All-core Turbo

Up to 5.2 GHz Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0

Up to 10C and 20T

Up to DDR4-2933 MHz dual-channel

Enhanced Core & Memory Overclocking

Active Core Group Tuning

Here’s the interesting part, the chip would also get Thermal Velocity Boost, similar to the current flagship parts. CPUs that support this algorithm, like the Core i9-10900K, would feature even faster boost frequencies of 5.3 GHz (single-core) and 4.9 GHz (all-core). However, as the name suggests, only top-tier cooling solutions would be able to allow full utilization of the Thermal Velocity Boost feature. So unless you rock a high-end AIO liquid cooler or a closed-loop setup, don’t expect a sustained velocity boost but rather short bursts until the threshold is hit. It will be interesting to know the full extent of the features that this function has to offer and what kind of cooling would the Core i9-10900K requires in general.

Intel Core i9-10900K 10 Core CPU Benchmarks

Coming to the benchmarks, the Intel Core i9-10900K was compared against the Core i9-9900K that has 8 cores and 16 threads. Since these are not public slides but internal performance projections, Intel also listed down the PL2 power states for each chip which shows the maximum TDP when all cores are hitting the turbo frequency. The Core i9-9900K is a 95W and 210W (PL2) chip while the i9-10900K is a 125W and 250W (PL2) chip. These figures put AMD’s 7nm Ryzen chips a league ahead & we aren’t even factoring in the stunning performance AMD’s chip boasts with ECO mode applied.

Performance for the chip was measured in both single-core and multi-core scenarios with the list of benchmarks including SYSMark, SPEC, XPRT, and Cinebench R15. Surprisingly, Intel still internally uses benchmarks which they don’t consider as ‘Real-World’ performance metrics. In single-thread workloads, the chip is around 3% faster than the Core i9-9900K which is due to its higher 5.3 GHz core clock compared to 5.0 GHz on the Core i9-9900K. In multi-threaded workloads, the chip is up to 30% faster which is also due to the fact that there are 2 extra cores (25% more) than the Core i9-9900K.

Both processors were tested with the security patches up to November loaded on to the test setup of Windows 10. With little to no single-threaded performance increase and only multi-threaded up-lifts expected from the Core i9-10900K at the cost of even higher power draw, it looks like AMD can just offer a price cut on their existing Ryzen 3000 series parts when 10th Gen Core i9 parts arrive & call it a day.

AMD may not even consider offering a price cut as their Ryzen 3000 are competitive enough to compete against Intel’s 10th Gen parts unless Intel brings Core i9 down to $350-$400 US which seems unlikely but then again, they have the financial horsepower to do so to remain competitive in the desktop segment. Intel’s 10th Gen lineup may offer multi-threading on all parts along with higher clock speeds but they would require more power and beefier cooling. With Zen 3 expected next year and AMD eating up market share in all segments, Intel really needs to rethink their CPU strategy and we hope that they can hit their process roadmap goals on time if they really want to hit AMD back.